Chapter 977

"Erina-sama, are you alright? This is water, quickly rinse your mouth."

Nakiri Erina covered her mouth and hung her head, standing before the table in the Serving Area; her whole person looked somewhat unwell, and Hisako Arato hurriedly brought a bottle of Pure Water, handing it to the young lady as she spoke.

"Was it that bad-tasting?"

Broly watched Nakiri Erina rinse her mouth, then also tasted his own normally-made cooking himself, the Grilled Meat Erina had only taken one bite of.

Apart from the texture being slightly affected by his own grilling wood, and the taste also being a bit heavy-handed from his own seasoning, the rest was fine.

Hmm, mainly because the Raw Meat provided here was of very good quality; once cooked, it had a rich, fatty meat aroma when eaten.

"I think it's okay, just a bit over-grilled."

Broly self-evaluated his own Grilled Meat.

"You think Erina-sama is you? Erina-sama's God Tongue can identify the production origin of salt just by tasting it.

Your Grilled Meat looks fine on the Surface, but before Erina-sama's God Tongue, even if there's a slightly overcooked spot, that minute, imperceptible charred bitterness can all be tasted."

Hisako Arato glared at him angrily.

"Uh, sorry, I used to always grill directly with raw fire; this is my first time using electric grilling, so my heat control was a bit off."

Broly scratched his head, didn't banter with Hisako Arato, but apologized seriously and explained to this Secretary young lady the reason the meat was grilled like this.

"I see, the difference in heat control between fire grilling and electric grilling is huge; you used fire-grilling heat control to gauge electric-grilling heat control, no wonder little U

ハハラハラハラハハス

Jiang Ba Ko Ba Da Chong 1

would grill the meat into this state."

Erina finished rinsing and walked back; hearing Broly's explanation, she revealed an enlightened expression.

"Erina-sama, are you alright now?"

Hisako Arato turned back to look at her own Big Sister, asking with concern.

"No harm, just ate some poor-tasting, badly-heat-controlled cooking; but benefiting from the Ingredient quality being decent, there wasn't too great an impact on the palate. Moreover, the biggest problem right now isn't this————"

Nakiri Erina raised her hand pointing at Broly, raising her volume: "It's that this guy's real cooking level is somewhat shoddy."

Eating bad cooking is minor; letting this half-baked shoddy goods pass the Totsuki Academy Transfer Student Exam is major.

The former, as a Food Critic, she occasionally eats bad-tasting food; the latter, once the other party's real cooking level is discovered by others, this Totsuki Ten of hers will definitely lose major face.

How to deal with this guy before her is the biggest problem Nakiri Erina needs to face; Hisako Arato also saw the situation clearly, thought for a bit, then pulled her own Big Sister aside and started Secret Talk: "Erina-sama, why don't we, before others discover this guy is a cooking novice, advance-persuade this guy to withdraw from Totsuki Academy?"

Nakiri Erina nodded; her own Secretary's suggestion was indeed a method; as long as before others discover the real situation, Broly withdraws from Totsuki Academy, her mistake will never be discovered by others.

However————

Nakiri Erina thought of that Fried Rice taste eaten clean by herself, and for a moment found it hard to directly say the words agreeing to persuade Broly to withdraw.

"Would he agree?"

Of course, with Nakiri Erina's personality, it's also hard to express the true emotion of reluctance toward someone else's cooking.

"Even if I am one of the Totsuki Ten, to persuade a student to withdraw without cause, I also don't have that authority."

The Totsuki Ten have great authority within the academy, but it doesn't include directly making a fellow student withdraw.

"This————"

Hisako Arato was stumped by the question, subconsciously looking toward Broly's side.

"If you insist I withdraw, I can agree."

Broly smiled at the young lady and said.

", you heard all that?"

"My hearing is comparatively good."

Hisako Arato was somewhat embarrassed, retracted her gaze and looked at Nakiri Erina: "Erina-sama, that's what he said."

"No need for you to repeat it, I can hear."

For some reason, Nakiri Erina felt a bit restless inside.

"No, he cannot withdraw."

Pacing back and forth in the original spot a few steps, the young lady reached this conclusion.

"?"

Hisako Arato looked at her somewhat dumbfounded, not knowing why Broly was willing to withdraw but her own Big Sister was unwilling.

"This guy was recruited into Totsuki Academy by me personally passing the assessment; if he directly withdraws, wouldn't that mean I have eyes but no pearls, unable to recognize people?"

Nakiri Erina spoke like this, her tone gradually becoming firm.

"Uh, this————"

Hisako Arato found it a bit hard to evaluate her own Big Sister's left and right brain fighting each other; after all, this reason for not letting someone withdraw is somewhat far-fetched 0

【Perhaps, it's because that Fried Rice was delicious————】

Getting along morning and evening, caring for Nakiri Erina for so many years, Hisako Arato also vaguely guessed some of her own Big Sister's little thoughts.

However, she didn't expose it, instead following up with the question: "Then Erina-sama, how should we handle the other party?"

With Totsuki Academy's elimination rate as high as 90%, Broly's real cooking level might be discovered by others very soon.

"Since he can replicate cooking others have done in front of him, one would think his talent in the cooking aspect should be not bad.

Right now he merely lacks insufficient cognition of the Ingredient Processing methods themselves; of course, there's also heat control mastery when cooking ingredients with different methods, basic knowledge of various ingredient flavor-type combinations and pairings, etc., all not very good.

But as long as we supplement all this knowledge for him, it should be able to turn him from a cooking novice's shoddy level into a genuine level capable of truly enrolling in Totsuki Academy High School Division."

The simplest way to turn a shoddy Chef into a genuine Chef is to teach the other party culinary arts.

"Erina-sama, I understand; in a moment I'll go contact the Middle School Division teachers, have them help give Broly supplementary lessons on this cooking knowledge."

Hisako Arato nodded and said.

"No, can't let Middle School Division teachers supplement this knowledge; the academy's teachers' mouths aren't that tight."

However, Nakiri Erina directly rejected her words.

"Erina-sama, if not a Middle School Division teacher to tutor him, then who? Surely we can't have a High School Division cooking teacher come tutor these basics that the Middle School Division teaches?"

"What I mean is, find someone who, even if they know his true cooking level, won't leak a single bit of information to the outside, to come help him fill in these cooking basics."

"Where would we find such a person?"

"Far in the horizon, yet right before our eyes————"

Nakiri Erina looked at Hisako Arato with an expectant gaze, and answered.

"Ah, Erina-sama, you want me to tutor him?!"

Hisako Arato belatedly reacted, realizing she herself fit such conditions, and widened her eyes.

"Hisako, you are the person I trust most. I can only entrust this matter to you."

Faced with Nakiri Erina's trust, Hisako Arato wanted to refuse this troublesome matter, but the words simply would not come out.

The two whispered privately for a while, then walked back over, calling to the Saiyan youth busy in the cooking area: "Broly, come here."

Broly was just about to make ramen when he was interrupted by those words. He approached as told and asked: "Miss Hisako, what are your orders? Do you need me to apply for withdrawal from Totsuki Academy?"

"No, you don't need to withdraw. Erina-sama also won't allow you to withdraw arbitrarily, but you must fill in the cooking basic knowledge you lack."

"What should I do?"

"It's simple. I need you to come to the Sixth Cooking Building here every day from now on to receive Hisako's one-on-one tutoring. Read through all the various cooking basic textbooks that Totsuki Academy Middle School Division students study, and learn the knowledge inside into your own head."

"Uh, may I ask, roughly how many books is that?"

"Not many. Totsuki Academy Middle School Division cooking knowledge textbooks are just ten or so books, and each is about 200,000 characters or so."

Hisako Arato gave a relatively precise figure.

Hearing this, Broly fell silent for a moment, then asked in a small voice: "Can I not learn?"

"What do you think?"

Nakiri Erina raised an eyebrow at him, her gaze sharp, as if she would eat him up if he dared say no.

"Fine, I'll learn. Just, with so many books, is it only Miss Hisako teaching me alone?"

"What, do you think I, whose cooking theory grades rank among the top, can't teach a cooking beginner like you?"

"That's not it. I'm just worried that if Miss Hisako teaches me alone, she might get worn out by this beginner who knows nothing."

"I haven't even started teaching yet, and you, the one being taught, are already worried that I, the one teaching you, might get burdened?"

"Rest assured. You are the person I passed the assessment for. I won't let Hisako bear the burden of tutoring you alone. When I have free time, I'll help too."

"I see. Then I'm relieved."

Broly appeared somewhat happy. However, he wasn't happy about being taught cooking knowledge, but happy that during this teaching process, he might be able to get closer to the two in a personal relationship.

"Hmph, don't get happy too early, you guy. If, despite us teaching you wholeheartedly, you still learn poorly, don't blame me for giving you a hard time."

Nakiri Erina warned, clenching her fist. Although Broly didn't know what kind of 'hard time' she could give him, he still slapped his chest in guarantee.

"Rest assured. As long as Miss Nakiri and Miss Hisako are willing to teach me without reservation, I will definitely study hard and not disappoint your expectations."

"Alright, we'll talk about the tutoring tomorrow. We still need to go prepare some Middle School cooking basic textbooks for you. You go make ramen first."

Nakiri Erina waved her hand and sat down to watch Broly's dough-kneading technique. In Japan, most ramen is actually made using machines for pressing and cutting noodles, but at Totsuki Academy, because they pursue the upper limit of noodle texture, hand-pulled ramen is also relatively common.

However, Nakiri Erina has seen many hand-pulled ramen productions, but in terms of technique, the person before her had the most comfortable and smooth technique she had seen.

Although she is not skilled at making noodle dishes starting from flour, just watching the other party knead and manipulate the noodle dough from the side gave her an inexplicable feeling of stress relief.

As if her own mind and spirit were also kneaded into that large white ball of noodle dough along with Broly's silky smooth technique.

After three rounds of kneading and three rounds of resting, the dough was stretched into thin strips and dropped into the pot. Cooked and fished out into a bowl, the final revised pork bone soup was poured in, char siu added, green onions sprinkled, and a mixed aroma rose up.

Nakiri Erina took a deep breath. Smelling no unpleasant odor, she first picked up the soup spoon, scooped up some soup, and tasted it. The pork bone broth was thick and sweet.

The girl then picked up chopsticks, lifted the thin noodles, brushed her hair back, brought her mouth close, and slurped the thin noodles into her mouth. Chewing slightly, the wheat aroma burst forth mixed with the sweetness of the pork bone broth. The noodles were still so springy. Although the broth's thickness had decreased slightly, the taste was even better.

"Hisako, you eat too."

Erina called her little secretary. The two sat on chairs before the table in the serving area, slurping up the freshly made pork bone ramen.

From the growth of the Happiness Value, Broly could see the two's satisfaction level with this improved ramen, only slightly inferior to fried rice.

"Miss Nakiri, may I use the remaining ingredients here to make a few more pork bone ramen?"

"You want to eat them yourself? No problem. Anyway, Hisako and I can't eat this much."

"Thank you."

Broly said a word of thanks, then began kneading and resting dough again.

During this time, he washed the pots, bowls, and utensils in the cooking room that didn't need to be used.

After cooking and pouring out the ramen he prepared to bring back, the only utensil he used that wasn't cleaned up was the pot for boiling noodles.

"Lend me the bowls too. I'll return them when I come tomorrow."

"Huh? You're preparing to take them back to eat?"

"Not for myself to eat. The dormitory I was assigned has a cooking assessment. Only by passing can I move in."

"Totsuki Academy students, moving into a dormitory, have this kind of cooking assessment?"

Nakiri Erina turned her head to look at her own little secretary.

"Erina-sama, according to what I know, the student dormitories do not have this kind of cooking assessment."

Hisako Arato shook her head.

"Which place were you assigned to live in?"

"Polar Star Dormitory."

"Huh. Unexpectedly, it's that place."

"What? Is Polar Star Dormitory that special a place?"

Broly asked curiously.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure of the specifics. I only know that twenty years ago, the students living there seized management rights from the academy through a Shokugeki."

"Although the dormitory's property rights still belong to Totsuki Academy, its internal management is determined by the dorm's own administrators."

"I never expected they'd even privately establish a cooking entrance exam."

Nakiri Erina clicked her tongue in amazement.

"That place is pretty remote. Do you need me to arrange somewhere else for you?"

She asked Broly again.

"No need. That place is fine too, and I'm confident I can pass the boarding exam."

Broly shook his head and refused.

"Is that so————"

Nakiri Erina did not insist, but was somewhat dissatisfied that her goodwill had actually been refused.

"I still have to get back before mealtime, so I'll be going now."

"No need to see me off."

"Oh, right, Miss Nakiri. When I made the tonkotsu broth at noon, I forgot to record it with my phone. And the Polar Star Dorm's cooking exam requires me to cook my own dish. Could you help verify that this ramen was made by me?"

【Is it because we took his phone to inspect it that he forgot to record?】

Erina thought, then agreed: "Fine, I can help verify that for you."

Broly picked up his phone to start recording, while Erina testified before the lens with her Elite Ten status.

"By the way, while you're at Polar Star Dorm, don't expose the fact that your cooking skills are lacking."

When Broly finished taking photos and was about to leave, Erina suddenly thought of this matter and called out to him.

"Got it. I'll be careful not to expose myself."

Broly nodded in agreement, carrying two bowls of ramen as he ran downstairs.

"Speaking of which, Erina-sama, Polar Star Dorm is still quite far from our Sixth Cooking Building. If he carries the ramen over like that, the noodles will probably clump into a blob. Can he really pass that place's boarding cooking exam?"

After Broly left, Hisako Arato thought of something and asked her Big Sister.

"Then should I send a car to drive him over there?"

"I'll go arrange it."

"Never mind. It'd be better if he fails the exam."

「？」

"That way, we can keep him arranged right under our noses, so his situation is less likely to be exposed."