The strongest anime shop owner

"Are you kidding me? Even a child could do that?"

"Shh, don't talk nonsense. Do you think he's just a kid? He won several food battles as soon as he entered the academy, one of which was against a second-year student, the kid known as the 'Devil'."

""

Today, it's not just people from this academy who are here; there's also a large group of people from outside. They obviously find the child's figure on the field absurd and probably look down on Totsuki, thinking that Totsuki is not as good as before. However, if they knew the truth, they would definitely not think that way, since the strength he displayed was obvious to everyone.

The person everyone was discussing was none other than Su Luo.

"For such an important occasion, even a child like this can participate. It seems you've really fallen from grace." Soon, Senpyo Orie, who was on the judges' panel, also noticed Su Luo. After all, in this kind of competition, Su Luo's height and appearance were quite outstanding, making it difficult not to be noticed. She said to Isshiki beside her.

"Is that so? I don't think so." Isshiki continued to watch the match with a smile, his expression unchanged, and said this calmly.

"Oh! Is that so? Then I'd like to see what's so special about him. But Isshiki-kun, when are you going to come to my palace?" Senpyo Orie was clearly a little surprised by Isshiki's words, so she looked over there, wanting to see what strength Su Luo had that made Isshiki say such a thing.

Su Luo began processing the ingredients she had brought. If you had to call them ingredients, they would be more like spices. As for other ingredients, there were only carrots, grapes, and rice.

After entering the venue, the system issued a task. Just like the previous training sessions, there would be no more tasks before the autumn selection: "Task: Get into the top three in the autumn selection. If you can't even do this, you might as well die. (Incomplete)"

Task Reward: Upgrade ability by one level

When Su Luo saw this mission, her eyes lit up immediately.

Right now, Su Luo is working hard to prepare the dishes.

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Chapter 170 The Match in Progress

Su Luo began grinding each spice into powder. However, this process was clearly quite lengthy, since there were many different kinds of spices, even though there were only a few ingredients. So, she was still grinding the spices.

"What is that guy doing?!"

"It doesn't seem like there are any other ingredients. I wonder what this is supposed to be for. But looking at such ordinary ingredients, it doesn't really inspire any anticipation."

"Hmm, I think it's probably curry rice, but that's a bit too ordinary."

If it weren't for Su Luo's previous reputation and age, she probably wouldn't have attracted any attention at all, since both the ingredients and other things looked very ordinary.

"Oh ho ho, Isshiki-kun, it seems your eyesight has deteriorated. I won't take such ordinary things seriously, let alone have any expectations." After seeing Su Luo's performance and the ingredients she had prepared, Senpyo Orie was almost certain that Su Luo was just an ordinary chef.

"Is that so?" Isshiki didn't answer Senpyo Orie's question. He just stroked his chin, looked at the arena, and still had a smiling face. He didn't think that Su Luo was just that simple, even though he had never specifically tasted or seen it with his own eyes. He trusted his feelings.

"Let's leave that aside for now. I've decided, I want all those people who were the center of attention just now." Seeing that Isshiki didn't reply, Senpyo Orie didn't mind and handed over the documents in her hand, saying.

"I want everything!"

"He said something so astonishing so easily!"

The examiner next to her was speechless after hearing this. In any case, it was too hasty. After all, this was only what they saw on the surface. If it was about selecting people, they should at least have looked at their abilities.

"Ah! But I don't want that girl with the braids or that little brat. They have no charm at all. I think they have no hope." After handing over the documents, Chiyo Orie said this with great certainty. After all, judging from their actions, it seemed that this was indeed the case. Whether it was Tadokoro's clumsiness or Su Luo's ordinary dish, there was nothing particularly outstanding about it.

"Hehe," Isshiki chuckled, taking the documents. He had great confidence in Su Luo, and as for Tadokoro, he had personally witnessed her continuous progress and hard work. Every step she took was bound to yield results, so he simply chuckled twice, not refuting Chipyo Orie's words, but inwardly adding, "That's not necessarily true."

"Tadokoro Megumi, I'm very interested in you, Shinomiya Kojiro—he seems to have been the first-place chef during the training camp. I always wanted to see just how strong he was, but I never got the chance. I heard you had a cooking duel with Shinomiya, you even had a face-to-face 'Food War,' is that true? And it's said that the Food War ended in a draw. You really can't judge a book by its cover." In the arena, Tadokoro was lost in memories. When the list was announced, Hojo Miyoko suddenly ran up to him and said this with such enthusiasm.

Caught off guard by this sudden revelation, Tadokoro frantically waved his hands, saying in a flustered manner, "Ah, that food battle! It wasn't a true draw!"

"Did you win? What happened? Explain yourself!" Seeing Tadokoro stammering and unable to explain, Hojo Miyoko punched the wall behind Tadokoro and shouted.

"Waaaaah! I-I-I'm so sorry!" Faced with Hojo Miyoko's rude behavior, Tadokoro blurted out these words almost immediately, but after calming down, he stammered, "That was actually Soshin-kun..."

"Yukihira Soma, that transfer student?" Hojo Miyoko asked, now that she knew Soma.

"It's all thanks to Soma-sama! I couldn't have done it all by myself!" Tadokoro replied after Hojo Miyoko asked the question, attributing all the success to Soma's help. To be honest, although she had grown a lot, she didn't know how to answer such a question for a moment, so she just blurted it out in her nervousness. She didn't realize how capable she was at all.

"What? In the end, you just found a man to help you! Sorry to bother you, I misjudged you." As she said this, Hojo Miyoko suddenly realized that she had been wrong, and the situation was not what she thought at all.

On the field, Tadokoro began processing the vegetables. After a moment, he stopped, looked at the processed vegetables, and muttered to himself, "Hmm! The vegetables are mostly processed now! What's next—"

"I always felt that the guy at the bottom of the class was just doing some inconspicuous food preparation."

As people watched Tadokoro's methods of handling the ingredients, someone spoke up. After all, from the beginning until now, Tadokoro had been behaving very normally, without anything particularly different or unique.

"Damn it, this is infuriating! After entering high school, I came in last place in the exam, and someone like that can participate in the selection while we're stuck in the audience. I'm so indignant!"

"This isn't a place for a country bumpkin like you!"

The people in the audience felt it was very unfair, since in terms of results, they were definitely better than Tadokoro in every aspect. So they were very dissatisfied and shouted at Tadokoro's location.

"Huh? You bastard, what did you just say? Say it again if you dare!"

"Go ahead and say it again if you dare!"

Seeing someone say such things about Tadokoro, Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji, who were originally cheering for Tadokoro in the Polar Star Dormitory, couldn't stand it. Since they were both of bad character to begin with, they could play the villains perfectly without even trying. So they ran over, clenched their fists, put on fierce faces, looked at those people, and said in such a tough way.

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Chapter 171 Hanging Cut

"Eeeeeeee!"

Faced with the fierce appearances of Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji, the group was indeed frightened and immediately fled.

"Stop! Ignore them!" Just as they were about to make a move, Mrs. Fumio stopped them.

"But Mrs. Fumio!" Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji were clearly unhappy that they were letting these people off so easily.

"They said it on purpose for Tadokoro to hear." Mrs. Fumio saw through it at a glance and immediately understood the truth.

"Since that's the case..."

"Oh! Let's take them down one by one..."

After hearing Mrs. Fumio's words, Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji were clearly not going to give up so easily. They both revealed evil expressions, rubbing their hands together, looking like they were about to have a big fight.

"Alright! You should probably head over to Group A soon!" Mrs. Fumio spoke up again at that moment.

"We need to cheer on Ryoko and the others too. But, Su Luo seems... he should be alright, right? Although he performed very well before, but now..." Aoki Daigo said with some concern, looking at Su Luo who was constantly handling spices on the field. It wasn't that he didn't trust Su Luo; after all, they had all seen the strength Su Luo had shown before. But... compared to his usual self, Su Luo's performance today was quite different, and the dish he made seemed rather simple.

"Don't worry, he's a member of our Polaris Dormitory. How could he be just like that? You have to believe in him." Compared to their worries, Mrs. Wenxu was obviously more open-minded and had great faith in Su Luo. After glancing at Su Luo working hard in the arena, she waved to them and said with a smile, "Alright, you should go over there and cheer for the others."

"That's true. Then I'll leave this to you, Mrs. Fumio." After saying this, Aoki Daigo and Sato Shoji walked towards Hall A.

"Oh right, I need to prepare that!" After finishing with the ingredients, Tadokoro clearly remembered something and turned to leave. In his haste, he bumped into something: "Ah..."

"Do you know who's the kind of person who gets in the way in the kitchen?" The person who bumped into Tadokoro was none other than Miyoko Hojo. After walking a short distance, Miyoko Hojo stopped and said, "It's those people who are careless and don't pay any attention to their surroundings!"

"Kita...Hojo..." After bumping into someone, Tadokoro finally realized what had happened and bowed apologetically, saying, "I'm...I'm sorry, I'll be careful..."

"Hmph..." Facing Tadokoro's apology, Hojo Miyoko was clearly not going to give him any face and simply turned and left.

"That's when Hojo added the spices!"

"Once the aroma has fully dissipated... start stir-frying the eggs and rice!" Hojo Miyoko kept stirring the pan, and with the addition of spices, the aroma became even more intense.

"So...is she going to make curry fried rice?"

"Oh my! This really makes me eager to begin the review process."

After watching what Miyoko Hojo was doing, it was clear that she was making a kind of curry fried rice. Although it was a combination of curry rice and fried rice, and it looked quite ordinary, the creativity was still very appealing. After all, this method was also an innovation.

The reason Hojo Miyoko acted this way was because—a year ago in Yokohama Chinatown, in a kitchen, a group of chefs were gathered. One of them slammed his chef's hat on the table and said, "Hmph! What a joke! Even if she's Chef Hojo's daughter..."

“I simply cannot tolerate a woman running the kitchen! Once she's in, I'll teach her a lesson she won't forget…” At this point, the balding chef, with hardly any hair left, gave a mocking smile and said, “And finally, I'll kick her out of this kitchen…”

However, what he didn't know was that Hojo Miyoko had been watching this scene from behind the door the whole time.

"Delicious...Miss Miyoko's cooking...the taste is simply not something a third-year junior high school student could make!"

"Yes! This level of completion... has already caught up with the team leader."

However, after eating Hojo Miyoko's food, they were all incredulous. The man who had just threatened to kick her out stared blankly at the spoon in his hand filled with soup, but in his heart he understood her current strength better than the others: "...No! Maybe even better than the team leader!"

"Team Leader! Three years from now... I'll be graduating from Totsuki Culinary Academy and working in this kitchen. I look forward to your guidance then, senior." Women may achieve great things in the culinary world, but for a female chef making traditional Chinese cuisine, she is generally looked down upon. This is because women are naturally weaker than men, yet strength is crucial in making this kind of cuisine. It is precisely for this reason that Hojo Miyoko works so hard.

Because she wanted to prove what she believed: "One day I will go to the battlefield full of stubborn men... I need fame. In order not to be despised as a woman, I need absolute fame as a chef - the first seat of the Elite Ten!! A student who has won the first seat as a woman... is one of the very few in the long history of Totsuki, and that is why I must... ascend to that throne!"

As Hojo Miyoko pondered these thoughts, she glanced at Tadokoro, who was frantically trying to make a move, and thought to herself, "...Tadokoro Megumi... When I heard she was having a food battle with Shinomiya, I thought she was a diamond in the rough who dared to confront a man head-on, but in reality, she's just a soft-hearted person inside and out..."

"..." While Hojo Miyoko was thinking this, she suddenly saw a movement from Tadokoro, and her eyes widened considerably, as if she had discovered something incredible.

"Hey! Look at that...!"

"What···?"

"It's anglerfish?! And... she's even planning to use the hanging cut method!"

Drop Cutting Method: The traditional method of dissecting monkfish. The monkfish's body is covered with a slippery gelatinous substance, which is difficult to handle on a cutting board. Therefore, this method is used to dissect the monkfish by hooking its lower jaw and hanging it up, and then cutting it while it is in this state.

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Chapter 172 The Techniques of Tadokoro and the Situation on Su Luo's Side

"That method of dismantling... requires cutting the fish while it's hanging unstable in the air, so it demands a high level of skill!"

"Would an average person choose such a difficult-to-handle fish in such a large-scale competition?"

"Ah... how could that loser possibly do that? He's really overestimating himself!"

"Huh? What's that guy doing?"

Although it was surprising that Tadokoro Megumi would choose this kind of fish and do it in this way, and it attracted a lot of attention, it is obvious that everyone has been enrolled for a semester, and Tadokoro even attended junior high school here. Therefore, many people know about her situation, and some are even indignant that someone as worthless as her could get in, so they make sarcastic and mocking remarks.

However, Tadokoro was used to this. After hanging the anglerfish up, he clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and recalled Soma's constant helping hands. Although he didn't know if he could complete the task, he prayed that Soma could lend him his courage. Recalling Soma's gestures to ease his tension, as if he had actually been patted on the back, he opened his eyes at that moment and mustered his courage to say, "Okay..."

After mustering his courage, Tadokoro picked up a knife and began to process the anglerfish. First, he cut off the fins, then he gutted it and removed the liver... All his movements were quick and skillful, without making a single mistake. Before long, the whole fish was processed, leaving only a clean skeleton on the hook, which looked perfectly prepared.

"She...she actually finished cutting it up..." Although processing such a large fish might seem like it would take a long time, it only took a few minutes when people were focused on it. So, seeing only the fish bones left on the hook, they were all quite surprised.

"What kind of dish is that girl making? I need to get closer and analyze it..." Chipyo Orie, who had previously looked down on Tadokoro, was involuntarily drawn in after seeing Tadokoro's amazing performance. She immediately stood up and wanted to get closer.

"Ah... Ms. Chipyo Orie? Your coming down from the stage before the review begins will be very troublesome for us...!" Just as Chipyo Orie got up and was about to walk towards Tadokoro, a staff member stopped her and said this.

"No matter what... it won't work...?" Chiyo crossed her arms, her breasts prominent, and looked at the staff member with a charming and endearing gaze.

"No...no! Please go back..." Although the staff had long been captivated by Chiyo's charming appearance, the result was regrettable: she couldn't go down; that was the rule.

"I'm so unwilling... I never expected things to turn out this way..." Chiyo Orie bit her finger, looking at Tadokoro with great resentment, but she still turned back to the examiner's seat.

"Speaking of which... can anglerfish be paired with curry?"

"Who...who knows about that kind of thing..."

"Anyway, it was something she came up with on the spur of the moment."

"But...but..."