It was even more delicious than the osmanthus cake Hayashi had made before.
Truly worthy of being Nakiri Erina's masterpiece dish - it was indeed extraordinary.
During the process of making this dish.
Hayashi also deeply experienced those two extremely critical steps.
The slightest error would result in complete failure, with the entire dish being ruined.
Just one tiny mistake in the seasoning preparation would turn this top-tier delicacy into the ultimate dark cuisine.
It might even be poisonous if eaten.
Thinking of such consequences, Hayashi couldn't help but feel a chill.
He was curious about Nakiri Erina.
Under what circumstances could she transform a dark cuisine into a masterpiece dish?
What kind of technical level was this?
Hayashi was very curious about the circumstances under which Nakiri Erina had developed this top-tier dish.
Wasn't her original intention to figure out how to send people to paradise while they peacefully enjoyed delicious food?
Hayashi seriously suspected that Erina back then probably wanted to kill someone.
Because if this dish was prepared even slightly wrong, it could very well become the most terrifying thing in dark cuisine - poison.
So how could Hayashi not be shocked by this? How could he not overthink it?
And facts proved that Hayashi's thoughts were completely correct.
During the process of creating this dish, Nakiri Erina had indeed initially thought about how to make people sick from eating it. She had done it with a vengeful mindset.
However, later, just when she had successfully created this dark cuisine, her relationship with that person improved again.
This left her with no use for her painstakingly researched results.
And since dark cuisine naturally couldn't be consumed, wouldn't all her hard work have been wasted?
During the process of inventing and creating this dark cuisine, Nakiri Erina had more than once felt a peculiar sensation.
That this dark cuisine, if prepared properly, could very likely become a masterpiece delicacy.
This was an intuition born from her years of cooking experience.
And she never doubted her intuition was wrong.
Because her ability to invent over ten signature dishes was precisely due to her accurate intuition.
For this reason, she didn't hesitate to spend enormous time and energy researching this signature dark cuisine.
And in the end, she actually succeeded in her research.
She discovered that the difference between dark cuisine (poison) and masterpiece top-tier cuisine.
Lay in whether those two seasonings were combined accurately, and whether the timing of adding them to the pot was precise.
Even the slightest deviation would have unthinkable consequences.
So at this moment, after becoming slightly panicked, beads of sweat appeared on Nakiri Erina's forehead.
She wasn't afraid of failing, but worried about what would happen if she didn't do it right and turned it into poison.
If the three little judges tasted it then, wouldn't they ascend to heaven on the spot?
So she didn't dare make even the slightest mistake.
If she was certain the dish had failed, she would directly declare defeat.
Facts proved that Nakiri Erina, with her rich cooking experience, had excellent situational control.
Even under these somewhat nervous circumstances, she could still maintain her composure, steadily grasping every detail second by second with extreme focus.
Finally, just as the thirty-minute time limit was approaching, Nakiri Erina successfully completed this delicious dish.
"Success~"
Nakiri Erina let out a long breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, very satisfied with the result.
Fortunately it succeeded, otherwise she wouldn't even have a chance to be scored.
Nakiri Erina secretly glanced at Hayashi beside her, a blush appearing on her face - whether from exhaustion or shyness was unclear.
Then she quickly looked back at the dish in front of her and smiled happily at Tohru.
"My dish is also complete."
"Three little judges, you can begin scoring."
Hearing this, the faces of Tohru, Kanna, and Takanashi Rikka showed no trace of smiles, but were instead filled with terror and fear.
Tohru hurriedly spoke up with a bitter smile.
But to avoid embarrassing Nakiri Erina, she still forced a smile and said:
"Um... Erina, are you sure this dark cuisine... no, this signature dish was successfully made?"
After saying this, Tohru nervously swallowed.
She was scared! If this went wrong, she would ascend to heaven. Even being a dragon wouldn't help.
Dragons were only strong on the outside, that didn't mean their insides were equally strong.
Her internal organs were still ordinary.
If she drank poison, she would be just as doomed.
So Tohru couldn't help but panic.
Kanna and Takanashi Rikka nearby were equally nervous, nodding with thick distrust in their pretty eyes.
They could only blame Nakiri Erina for showing panic midway through.
Because she herself had said that during the making of this dish, there absolutely couldn't be even a moment of distraction.
The slightest deviation would turn this dish into poison - and deadly poison at that.
The kind of poison that would definitely be fatal if consumed.
Speaking so terrifyingly, how could they not be afraid?
In contrast, they had no worries about Hayashi's side.
After all, Hayashi had been so focused and serious during preparation, with movements flowing like water.
Especially after completing it, Hayashi had personally picked up a spoon to taste it and immediately showed a blissful expression - this clearly looked like a successfully completed masterpiece dish.
They naturally wanted to eat it without fear.
But with Nakiri Erina's side, they really couldn't feel at ease.
Takanashi Touka and Arato Hisako standing beside Nakiri Erina also looked terrified.
Takanashi Touka carefully asked:
"Erina, this dish was definitely made successfully, right? There shouldn't be any mistakes, right?"
Nakiri Erina looked at Takanashi Touka speechlessly and immediately patted her chest to guarantee:
"Of course, Touka, don't you trust me?"
"This dish was definitely successful, there can't be even the slightest problem."
"Throughout the entire process, I grasped every seasoning portion very accurately, and the timing was just right too."
"The whole process was perfect."
"Although usually when I make this ten times, only five succeed, and those five times each take twenty-five to twenty-seven minutes."
"But this time was only two minutes longer, and I feel there's definitely no problem."
Hearing this, Takanashi Touka gasped and looked at Nakiri Erina with terror.
This sounded precarious no matter how you heard it!
Since those five successful attempts were all within twenty-five to twenty-seven minutes, didn't the extra two minutes this time mean failure?
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