Food Wars!: Delicious Food of the Heavens

As Lin Yu passed by the raw meat section, his eyes were drawn to a piece of beef placed in a refrigerated display case.

It was a large, whole piece of Wagyu beef, huge in size, with a glossy, elastic surface.

Upon closer inspection, the surface of the beef is covered with a uniform layer of snowflake-like fat, like a delicate spider web. Although fine, it is evenly permeated into every muscle fiber of the beef.

In a chef's eyes, the beauty of such exquisite beef is no less than that of a stunning beauty, making one's heart stir with excitement at first glance and an irresistible desire to cook it.

"Wow, this meat is delicious!"

"Of course! This is A5 grade marbled beef!"

Lin Yu subconsciously uttered a sigh, but a voice suddenly rang out beside him.

Lin Yu was startled and turned around to find Mito Ikumi standing behind him. The voice he had just heard was naturally hers.

Lin Yu complained helplessly, "Mito Ikumi, you scared me just now. Could you please not make noises behind people suddenly in the future? It's scary."

"How can you blame me?"

Mito Ikumi pouted, clearly unconvinced.

"You were clearly too engrossed in what you were watching just now."

Suddenly, Mito Ikumi changed the subject.

"But, well, I can't blame you!"

"After all, any chef would be stunned by such a piece of A5 grade premium marbled beef."

Mito Ikumi looked intently at the beef in the refrigerated display case, and when she spoke those words, her tone became somewhat cheerful.

"Let alone you, even someone like me who has seen countless A5 cuts of beef would still lose my composure when faced with such a premium cut!"

Mito Ikumi pressed her face against the glass of the refrigerated display case, gazing with rapture at the piece of beef, which was only a few centimeters from her face and covered in snowflake-like marbling, enveloped in cold air.

"Such perfect luster, such perfect texture, such perfect fat distribution, such perfect muscle definition..."

Mito Ikumi looked completely captivated and couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"It's perfect!"

Mito Ikumi suddenly looked up at Lin Yu, her face showing a smug and self-satisfied expression.

"Although this piece of meat was only delivered to this supermarket half an hour ago, it is without a doubt the most beautiful, highest quality, and most deserving of the 'perfect' rating among all the ingredients in this supermarket!"

Lin Yu was a little embarrassed. "Isn't that... a bit of an exaggeration?"

"How could that be an exaggeration!"

Lin Yu's words struck a nerve with Mito Ikumi, causing her to suddenly become agitated. She jumped up, moved closer to Lin Yu, and glared at her angrily. "This A5 marbled beef comes from my own company. How could I not know about it?"

Lin Yu gave an awkward smile, while subtly pushing away Mito Ikumi who had gotten too close. "I don't think that's what I meant... Never mind."

Seeing the girl's defiant expression, Lin Yu quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Mito Ikumi-san, you're shopping at the supermarket today too?"

"Haha, I thought that young ladies like you could just make a phone call and have something prepared for you right away."

After all, in Lin Yu's memory, Princess Totsuki, Erina Nakiri, was like this. Except for cooking, she would personally do things, and at other times, no matter what, she would usually directly instruct her assistant Hisako Shinoto to do it, or the assistant would simply make a phone call to arrange it.

Although Mito Ikumi has a fiery personality, her family owns a large corporation, so she can be considered a young lady of high status, right?

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

Mito Ikumi looked at Lin Yu with a puzzled expression. "I'm here today to deliver goods on behalf of my family's company."

"Delivery?" Lin Yu asked curiously.

"Yes, Mito Meat Products' main product is beef, and the beef supplier for this supermarket is my family's business."

"Most of the meat in the supermarket, including beef, is supplied by my family's company."

"You, a company heiress, personally deliver goods?" Lin Yu joked. "Shouldn't this kind of thing be a simple phone call to assign someone to do it? That's how it's portrayed in movies."

"Don't take things in movies seriously!" Mito Ikumi rolled her eyes at him.

"After all, Totsuki is an important partner of our group, so we naturally attach great importance to it. In addition, I study at Totsuki, which is more convenient for me. My family told me to maintain a good relationship with Totsuki, so I usually deliver the goods from this school supermarket myself."

Lin Yu gave Mito Ikumi a thumbs-up, praising her generously, "You're quite hardworking!"

"snort!"

Mito Ikumi turned her head to the side and snorted.

"Don't imagine me as some delicate, helpless young lady from a manga!"

"How is that possible?" Lin Yu was amused by Mito Ikumi's words. "I've heard about your strength before. You could probably hold down a cow, let alone a chicken."

Mito Ikumi immediately flew into a rage. "You jerk, what you're saying is absolutely infuriating!"

Suddenly, Mito Ikumi seemed to realize something. The anger on her face vanished instantly, replaced by a sly grin of triumph. "I saw you standing in front of the refrigerated display case for ages. You must have thought this beef was of very high quality, right?"

Although Mito Ikumi's gaze made Lin Yu feel a little uneasy, he didn't lie about the question, since the quality of this marbled beef was visibly perfect.

"certainly!"

Lin Yu nodded, then pointed to the piece of beef encased in cold air. "The texture is amazing, the marbling is so beautiful. Any chef—no, even someone who isn't a chef, just an ordinary person with no cooking skills—can immediately appreciate the beauty of this beef!"

"Of course, this is my family's property!"

Hearing Lin Yu's praise, Mito Ikumi couldn't help but smile, clearly in a very good mood.

"And I can tell you, the quality of this beef is among the best, even among all A5 grade beef!"

"That's amazing!"

Lin Yu let out a subconscious exclamation, looked at the piece of beef, and carefully examined its beautiful snowflake-like texture.

Mito Ikumi is right.

The more Lin Yu examined it, the more he felt that the beauty of its layers was not like a piece of beef, but a gemstone shaped like beef.

While Lin Yu was examining the beef, Mito Ikumi stood to the side, observing Lin Yu's gaze.

Seeing that the other party had taken the bait, Mito Ikumi felt smug, and a smile crept onto her lips as she continued, "Has Lin Yu ever cooked A5 Wagyu beef of this grade before?"

"We don't have that yet," Lin Yu said with a wry smile, shaking his head.

Mito Ikumi continued, her tone tinged with barely suppressed excitement, even a hint of seduction. "Would you like to try cooking this top-grade A5 marbled beef?"

Lin Yu realized what was going on. Although he knew the other person probably had ill intentions, he still nodded and readily admitted it. "Of course I want to! Any chef would want to, right?"

"Very good!"

Mito Ikumi's eyes shone with excitement; she was so excited she almost jumped up.

"Very good?"

Lin Yu looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Feeling a little embarrassed by Lin Yu's gaze, Mito Ikumi quickly explained, "What I mean is, I can give you a chance!"

"Is Miss Mito Ikumi being so kind?" Lin Yu joked.

"Of course!"

Mito Ikumi patted her chest with such force that it made her breasts tremble.

"I've always been kind-hearted, especially towards my classmates!"

"Hahaha!"

Lin Yu didn't want to laugh, but he couldn't help it.

"Mito-kun, it's fine for you to say such things, but please don't believe them. It would be a real joke if you fooled yourself."

Mito Ikumi was provoked into a rage by Lin Yu's words.

"You...you bastard! Can't you even cooperate a little?"

"Cooperate? Why should we cooperate?"

Lin Yu looked at Mito Ikumi with an expression that said, "You're not serious, are you?"

"Just teasing you, don't be really serious, okay?"

"Who knows what you're up to, or what trap you've set for me?"

"Although I don't know the price of A5 grade marbled beef, judging from this quality, it must be incredibly expensive."

"Give it to me for free without any conditions? Why? It can't be that you see I like this piece of beef and then just give it to me, can it?"

"Don't even mention me, you probably don't believe that yourself, do you?"

"No way!" Mito Ikumi was a little confused by Lin Yu's series of words.

Lin Yu pursed his lips, "Even if you told me, I wouldn't believe it."

"You jerk, do you have to be so irritating with your words?!"

Mito Ikumi was almost driven mad by Lin Yu's words and nearly raised her fist to punch him.

But at the last moment, Mito Ikumi stopped because she suddenly remembered that in the last class, Lin Yu had wielded a huge Chinese chili pepper with one hand with great force, demonstrating his considerable arm strength.

If a fight breaks out, you'll probably be the one who suffers.

Thinking of this, Mito Ikumi felt even more frustrated and stomped her foot hard.

"Okay! I admit it, alright!"

Mito Ikumi sullenly threw out the next words.

"But I have conditions! If you agree to my conditions, I'll make the decision to give you half of this beef."

"How about it? This is top-grade A5 marbled beef. Lower-end supermarkets simply don't supply it. You definitely won't regret it!"

Lin Yu lowered his head and thought for a moment, "Tell me first, what are the conditions?"

"Food Wars!"

No sooner had Lin Yu finished speaking than Mito Ikumi loudly gave her answer.

"Food Wars?"

"That's right, a food war!"

Mito Ikumi looked at Lin Yu with a determined gaze.

"I lost the last class competition."

At this point, Mito Ikumi paused for a moment, then slowly exhaled.

"Although it was just a classroom test and not a formal food battle, I, Mito Ikumi, am not the kind of loser who would just make excuses to comfort myself."

"I'll admit defeat if I lose."

"but!"

Mito Ikumi abruptly changed the subject, her voice rising sharply.

"However, admitting defeat doesn't mean I can accept it calmly!"

"After all, the topic of that competition was completely outside my area of ​​expertise, and I didn't even manage to unleash half of my full potential!"

"I'm definitely not reconciled to this defeat! I'm extremely reconciled!"

"Lin Yu, I've been thinking about one thing these past few days, and that is... I must win back what I've lost with my own hands!"

"So, Lin Yu, I'm going to challenge you to a formal food battle, using what I'm best at, which is..."

"Meat!"

Mito Ikumi stared directly into Lin Yu's eyes, her gaze resolute, her pupils filled with intense fighting spirit, like a raging fire.

Mito Ikumi raised her hand and pointed to the refrigerated display case.

"I will use this marbled beef to bring out my best, to unleash my full potential, and to create a dish that showcases my full skill."

"I'll show you what my true strength is!"

"This food battle has no theme. If you'd like to use beef, I can give you half of this marbled beef."

"If you don't want beef and want other meats instead, I can use my family's resources to find you the best quality meat, and I will never take advantage of you in the slightest when it comes to ingredients."

"how?"

Mito Ikumi looked at Lin Yu with bright, expectant eyes, hoping he would agree to her request for a food battle.

Mito Ikumi knew that she had always been a girl who refused to admit defeat.

She herself suggested that she would accept the result of the last classroom quiz, even if she lost.

But she was unwilling! Extremely unwilling!

These days, she thinks about these things almost every day—when she wakes up, when she washes up, when she eats, and before she goes to sleep...

She couldn't stop thinking about it even during class, and because of this, she almost caused a kitchen accident for the first time because she was distracted in class.

If her teacher hadn't known that she usually got good grades, she would have definitely given her a good scolding.

Even so, Mito Ikumi felt extremely ashamed. After all, she was one of the top students in her grade at this academy, and she had never shown such an embarrassed state in class before.

Mito Ikumi knew that this was her expression of resentment, and that resentment had deeply affected her.

If she cannot erase the influence of this resentment on herself, her path as a chef will be shrouded in shadow.

Fortunately, Mito Ikumi knew how to eliminate this feeling.

Then let's have a fair and square food battle with Lin Yu.

She wanted to demonstrate her full strength, present a dish that perfectly represented her best abilities, and defeat Lin Yu fair and square.

Only in this way could she tell herself.

I didn't lose!

I, Mito Ikumi, am still the strongest.

Lin Yu stood there, having been pondering for quite some time.

Seeing Lin Yu remain silent, Mito Ikumi suddenly became nervous and couldn't help but speak up.

"how?"

"Is it absolutely necessary?"

"ha?"

Mito Ikumi didn't notice that her voice was trembling slightly.

"You...you're not scared, are you? Hey, where did that arrogant attitude you had last time go?"

Lin Yu sighed, looking directly into Mito Ikumi's eyes, "You... really need this victory?"

"I can roughly guess that you're not in a good state right now. If you win this victory, it will probably make you feel better and improve your mental state."

"but......"

Lin Yu suddenly stopped speaking, and Mito Ikumi, somewhat anxious, pressed for an answer. "But what?"

Lin Yu shook his head, his eyes filled with a mournful cry, even a hint of sadness, as he looked at Mito Ikumi...

"But Mito Ikumi-san, things might not turn out the way you expect. Since this is a formal food battle, I won't hold back, just in case..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"Who wants you to hold back!"

Mito Ikumi impatiently interrupted Lin Yu, "Just give me a straight answer, are you going to compete or not?"

"A grown man shouldn't be so fussy!"

Looking at Mito Ikumi's expression, Lin Yu knew that the other party had made up her mind.

Or rather, Mito Ikumi had no choice at all...

Lin Yu sighed, and finally

"All right!"

Mito Ikumi was somewhat excited. "You agreed?"

Lin Yu nodded. "Okay, I agree."

"Let's start tomorrow at noon, the sooner we begin, the sooner we can finish."

Mito Ikumi frowned, her tone slightly displeased. "The way you're talking... do you think you've already won?"

Lin Yu rolled his eyes. "Just saying, don't overthink it."

Mito Ikumi also realized that something was wrong with her emotions, but looking at Lin Yu, she suddenly didn't want Lin Yu to see that she was not in a good state.

She said sullenly, "Then... what ingredients do you want to use? So I can have the company staff prepare them."

"There's no need to make it so complicated."

Lin Yu pointed to the piece of beef in the refrigerated display case.

"You'll probably use this beef in the food war, right? Just give me half."

"Okay, no problem." Mito Ikumi readily agreed, "That way we'll have the same quality ingredients, so even if you lose, you won't have much to complain about."

"hehe!"

Lin Yu was immediately amused. "I've already said it... some things are best left unsaid; if you believe them yourself, you're doomed."

"You! You...you're really infuriating!"

"Whatever."

Lin Yu waved his hand and turned to leave.

His shopping cart was already overflowing with all sorts of goods he had bought, and he had had enough of Mito Ikumi's complaints, so he decided to leave first.

"I'm leaving now, Mito-kun. Remember to submit your food battle application to the Food Battle Management Bureau."

Lin Yu pushed the handcart piled high with goods, returning home fully loaded, humming an unknown tune, and disappeared from Mito Ikumi's sight.