Emiya sighed and grabbed Loki. "Calm down, Loki. You're scaring her. Let's put the recruitment aside for now. First, let's judge the food. Don't forget our job today."
Loki held Megumi's hands and refused to let go. "What is there to judge? Megumi-chan is the cutest person in the world!"
"We're judging the cooking, not the appearance. You old... ahem." Emiya quickly cleared his throat. He almost called her a pervert.
"Anyway, it's about cooking, cooking!"
Loki said impatiently, "Even in terms of cooking, Megumi-chan wins."
Emiya turned to the others. "What do you all think?"
Nyanko-sensei said, "I think the four-eyes guy is a bit better."
Kojiro Shinomiya: ...
If Hinako Inui had called him four-eyes, he would have taught her a lesson. But since the person who said it was a great spirit, he decided to accept it. So what if he was four-eyes? It was no big deal.
Takashi Natsume said slowly, "While Mr. Kojiro Shinomiya's dish was very delicious, I truly felt Miss Tadokoro's heartfelt intent. So, I would like to vote for Miss Tadokoro."
Hinoe said nonchalantly, "Since Natsume wants to vote for the girl, I'll vote for the girl too."
Kojiro Shinomiya's heart sank. He hadn't expected that three people would vote for Megumi Tadokoro. Was he really going to lose to a student?
And what was this nonsense about "heartfelt intent"?
Emiya looked at Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi seemed torn. "Both Mr. Shinomiya's and Tadokoro's dishes were very good. It's hard to vote for just one of them."
"Think about it again."
"Fine, I'll vote for Mr. Shinomiya." Haruhi decided.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
Emiya nodded and then looked at Erina Nakiri. "What do you think, Erina?"
Erina Nakiri said without hesitation, "I vote for Kojiro-senpai."
Emiya couldn't help but click his tongue. He had thought this would be a one-sided victory, but it had turned into a 3-3 tie.
Loki, Takashi Natsume, and Hinoe had voted for Megumi Tadokoro.
Nyanko-sensei, Haruhi Suzumiya, and Erina Nakiri had voted for Kojiro Shinomiya.
The crucial final vote had fallen into his hands.
Emiya's initial thought was to vote for Kojiro Shinomiya, as his dish was indeed better than Megumi Tadokoro's.
However, Loki spoke up. "Emiya, I command you, in the name of a goddess, to vote for Megumi-chan."
"Loki, that's an abuse of power."
"What does it matter? I am your superior god, you know. Are you going to disobey me?"
Emiya was speechless. Just then, he saw Kojiro Shinomiya and had an idea. He said, "Mr. Shinomiya, you must be confused, right? Your food was clearly better, so why isn't this competition a landslide, and why has it become this kind of situation?"
Kojiro Shinomiya didn't dare to argue, but he nodded.
He was holding back a breath in his heart.
Especially that great spirit named Hinoe. She didn't care about his dish at all. She just voted for Megumi Tadokoro because Natsume did.
Such a person wasn't qualified to be a judge at all.
Emiya said, "Go up and taste the Rainbow Terrine made by Megumi Tadokoro, and you'll understand just how important that 'heartfelt intent' can be to some people."
Kojiro Shinomiya was stunned for a moment, but he walked over, picked up a knife and fork, cut a piece of the Rainbow Terrine, and put it in his mouth.
Then he began to pick out a huge list of flaws. The cooking time was not right, the presentation was average, and the ingredients' flavors were a mess.
But as he spoke, Kojiro Shinomiya began to cry.
Emiya felt relieved seeing this. He hadn't expected to end this shokugeki using a method from the original story.
"Now you should understand. For some people, 'heartfelt intent' is ordinary and insignificant. But for others, it's very important. Am I right, Loki?"
"Of course," Loki said calmly. "Do you have any idea how many delicacies I've eaten in the God Realm? How can the cooking that humans have researched for a few decades compare to that of gods who have researched for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years?
Even the cooking of that little one, Hestia, is much more powerful than any human's. After eating too many delicacies, 'heartfelt intent' is undoubtedly the most important thing to me."
Emiya couldn't help but retort, "Don't keep badmouthing Goddess Hestia. She's a real goddess of the hearth, after all. The cooking of ordinary gods can't compare to hers."
"Hah? Whose Familia are you in? Why are you speaking up for that little one?" Loki looked annoyed.
"I'm just being objective."
"You're always speaking up for her. Are you trying to defect to Hestia's side or something?"
"You're overthinking it. If I had wanted to, I wouldn't have joined your Familia."
"That's true. After all, I am Orario's most powerful Familia. How could that little one, who is just a mooch at Hephaestus' Familia, compare to my Familia?"
"A mooch? So Hestia's Familia hasn't been established yet?"
Emiya remembered that after Hestia descended, she didn't immediately establish a Familia. This was because she descended too late, and the Labyrinth City of Orario already had too many Familias.
So no one was willing to join her Familia. Compared to the established Familias, Hestia's was a blank slate.
If you joined Hestia's Familia, you would have to start from scratch.
Therefore, most people would choose to join an established Familia.
Even the protagonist Bell didn't originally go to Hestia's Familia. He was rejected by almost all the Familias and then met Hestia, who invited him to join hers.
Of course, this was all later.
The newly descended Hestia couldn't form her own Familia, and since she had sealed her divine power, she couldn't support herself. So she ended up living with her divine friend Hephaestus, becoming a parasite.
Later, Hephaestus couldn't stand it anymore and kicked Hestia out, leaving her to fend for herself.
It was under these circumstances that she met the protagonist, who had also been rejected by all the Familias.
And then, the story officially began.
But Emiya was a bit surprised that Hestia was still mooching off of Hephaestus. Didn't that mean the plot hadn't started yet?
~~~~~
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