Hearing this, Nakiri Erina was stunned for a moment, looking dejected and somewhat defeated.
She said in disbelief:
"Only a little pressure?"
"No way?"
The other girls also gasped in shock, looking at Hayashi in amazement.
In their eyes, this dish was almost impossible to complete, yet Hayashi only felt a little pressure. Did he have to be so amazing? This was simply invincible!
Tohru said incredulously:
"Hayashi, this dish sounds very difficult to make. Do you really have confidence?"
Hayashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
What kind of question was Tohru asking?
He was already in a difficult position - could he really flee from battle now?
As the saying goes, you can lose face but not momentum. Since he had agreed to the competition, he needed the determination to face any difficulty. How could he show even a hint of cowardice?
Hayashi was certain that given Nakiri Erina's care for him.
If he really showed signs of difficulty now, Erina might very well go easy on him, and it wasn't impossible that she might even deliberately lose the match.
Going even further, she might even present a very simple dish to let him succeed.
That was how considerate Nakiri Erina was.
Hayashi didn't want things to develop that way.
Moreover, he also hoped to have a proper match with Nakiri Erina.
Having been in this world for so long and made so many dishes, Hayashi was very confident in his abilities.
Not to mention the previous "Little Rabbit Be Good" dish, which was extremely difficult, even reaching an almost impossible level of difficulty.
Yet Hayashi had completed it in a short time, and the taste had received unanimous recognition from everyone.
The system's minimum food quality rating was "acceptable."
But the taste of the food Hayashi made had already reached an extremely high level, even approaching perfection.
Because of this, Hayashi was full of confidence in himself.
He felt that even without relying on the system's cooking abilities, he had already reached the peak among top-tier chefs.
If there were a national ranking, Hayashi was confident he could at least rank in the top three, or even taking first place wouldn't be a problem.
With the system's help, wouldn't this championship be easily within reach?
He could even surpass second place by a large margin, leaving them in the dust.
At this time, after Hayashi understood the preparation method for the second dish, everyone had been waiting for quite a while.
Tohru, who couldn't wait to start tasting this dark cuisine, hurriedly said:
"Hayashi-kun, can the second match begin?"
Tohru looked at Hayashi expectantly.
Hayashi nodded slightly.
Receiving the instruction, Tohru, along with Takanashi Rikka and Kanna, all excitedly sat back in their judge positions.
Meanwhile, Hayashi and Nakiri Erina also came to their contestant positions.
With Tohru's command:
"Competition begins!"
This time, Hayashi was still as gentlemanly as always, letting Nakiri Erina prepare the basic materials first and complete her initial operations before he began.
Since he had the system's help, he should also give others a chance. The rest would depend entirely on their respective abilities.
After Nakiri Erina completed her basic preparations, Hayashi immediately began working.
In less than five minutes, the preparation work was complete.
At this point, ten minutes had already passed.
Nakiri Erina had already begun steaming and cooking this dark cuisine, and Hayashi immediately began the subsequent preparation process.
As expected, everyone was watching this scene with complete concentration, not daring to be distracted for even a moment.
Even Hayashi was completely focused.
This time, he didn't have the casual ease he had shown in the previous match against Takanashi Touka.
However, some people had originally thought that faced with those two major challenges, Hayashi would also encounter some problems, even struggling to make progress.
But unexpectedly, Hayashi's movements were extremely smooth.
After just a while, when this dark cuisine was completely finished, everyone finally realized.
Hayashi had actually completed everything at an extremely smooth pace.
Meanwhile, Nakiri Erina on the side had gone from initial composure and confidence.
To later becoming somewhat distracted when she saw Hayashi's astonishingly fast speed.
This made her immediately nervous, with beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolling down her forehead.
Seeing her nervous appearance, Takanashi Touka and Arato Hisako beside her also became nervous.
Seeing this, Hayashi momentarily didn't know whether he should be happy or worried.
To be happy would seem ungentlemanly - this was a girl he cared about, so how could he feel happy about her failure?
But to say he wasn't happy, Hayashi felt he already had victory in his grasp and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
However, since it was a competition, naturally he had to give it his all.
And Hayashi believed that given Nakiri Erina's personality, she wouldn't want anyone to go easy on her during a serious competition - that would be disrespectful to her.
Just like Kamishiro Rize and Takatsuki Sen, those two were the type who wouldn't easily admit defeat.
Even though they had given their hearts to Hayashi, if faced with an important choice.
Even in a match where their own honor was at stake, if Hayashi showed them even the slightest mercy.
They would never acknowledge it, never accept it.
At this moment, Hayashi discovered that he was actually feeling secretly pleased because Nakiri Erina had made a slight mistake.
In his heart, he had already regarded Nakiri Erina as a true opponent.
Immediately, Hayashi set aside his distracting thoughts and looked forward with anticipation to whether Nakiri Erina could turn this dark cuisine into an exquisite delicacy under such extreme pressure.
Time passed minute by minute.
After Hayashi finished his dish, there were less than ten minutes remaining until the end of the competition.
This meant that Hayashi had completed everything from start to finish in just fifteen minutes.
Only five minutes more than making that "Little Rabbit Be Good" dish.
This speed was something even Hayashi himself hadn't anticipated.
Hayashi had originally estimated his speed would be around twenty-five minutes, and even going slightly slower to thirty minutes would be barely acceptable.
But he hadn't expected his current abilities had already become so astonishingly powerful.
Not only had he perfectly completed the dish, but looking at it, the appearance was peculiar, with all sorts of chaotic ingredients inside.
Even the arrangement of ingredients looked like rolling skulls, as if beckoning to people, trying to lure them into hell - truly terrifying.
Yet the aroma wafted over irresistibly.
Just one whiff made people drool, their taste buds dancing wildly, wanting to have a taste.
They couldn't wait to know what kind of ultimate deliciousness this top-tier cuisine would be.
After finishing, even Hayashi couldn't help but taste a bite. Instantly, it was as if entering fairyland - the taste was exquisite.
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