"In other words, the thing that attacked you all... was a demon." Dōjima Gin, a man whose physique and temperament exuded immense reliability, spoke words that seemed rather absurd to the others.
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent.
"General Head Chef Dōjima, are you telling a joke?" Sena Hiromi laughed dryly, only to find that no one else was agreeing with his sentiment.
Both Mo Bai and Zhang Yu appeared deep in thought.
"Hey, hey! I'm saying, you guys don't actually believe this, do you?!" Sena Hiromi, living in a materialistic era, cried out in a breakdown.
"Shut up. Do you think I am joking?" The look Dōjima Gin gave Sena Hiromi held not a shred of humor.
For every chef who advanced to Special-Grade, what awaited them was a reshaping of their worldview.
Dōjima Gin had simply advanced Sena Hiromi's worldview reshaping schedule a little bit.
"No, it can't be, right?" Looking at Dōjima Gin's eyes, which didn't seem to be faking it, Sena Hiromi curled up into a ball and felt a chill run through his body.
"I think he's just missing a beating from 'idealism'." Sena Hiromi's behavior of following his heart caused Mo Bai to roll his eyes.
"I can do that for you," Zhang Yu, who had been pitted earlier, interjected perfectly at just the right moment.
"No, no, no, no need!" Sena Hiromi hurriedly waved his hands. He finally recalled that, according to common sense, no one should be able to slap a handprint into a solid hardwood table.
Dōjima Gin ignored Sena Hiromi's shouting and shifted his focus to Mo Bai. He had originally thought the one shouting would be the younger Mo Bai, not Sena Hiromi, who usually seemed quite steady when he was around him.
"Chef Zhang Yu, I can understand his calmness; after all, he is a Hua nation chef. Mo Bai, your reaction surprises me a little. Have you seen those things?"
As soon as the words left Dōjima Gin's mouth, he mentally filled in the truth for himself.
"That's right. Although you aren't a Special-Grade Chef, your Culinary Heart is the real deal. It is normal for it to attract those chimi mōryō and the like."
Not knowing how to answer, Mo Bai hummed and hawed, glossing over it.
"This isn't a good thing. You must absolutely not get too close to those things." It wasn't easy for Dōjima Gin to encounter a genius who possessed a Culinary Heart at eighteen. Whether for the Far East or Tōtsuki, such a genius, rare even when looking at the whole world, was simply too precious.
Dōjima Gin did not know that the genius in his eyes who needed protection had exorcised (hammered to death) more evil spirits than Dōjima had ever seen.
"Mm, okay, I understand," Mo Bai replied obediently like a student, though his internal awkwardness meter was exploding.
Seeing that Mo Bai's attitude toward accepting this was good, Dōjima Gin looked toward Zhang Yu.
"Chef Zhang Yu, what do you think?"
"Eh? Is this tone implying he wants Chef Zhang Yu to perform an exorcism?" Mo Bai couldn't help but feel that the chefs of this world had some strange misunderstanding about Hua nation chefs.
You even want Hua nation chefs to lend a hand in exorcism?
What made Mo Bai even more awkward was that Zhang Yu actually gave a precise reply.
"It's hard to say. If it has the speed of the one that attacked last night, and if it wants to run, I really have no way to chase it." Zhang Yu slapped his thigh and hung his head dejectedly, seemingly very disappointed that he couldn't tear the little demon apart with his bare hands to avenge the sucker punch.
"...I take my leave! It is I who am untalented and shallow in learning."
Hua nation chefs—are truly f*cking hardcore!
"Is that so? When the time comes, I will still need to trouble Chef Zhang Yu to hold the line."
"Easy to say, easy to say."
"In that case, Chef Zhang Yu, please rest first. Later, I will take Mo Bai to the shrine to ask the miko for help."
"Good. Before he has the power to protect himself, he should indeed keep a distance from the likes of chimi mōryō." Zhang Yu nodded in agreement with Dōjima Gin's idea.
"Old Bai, they definitely wouldn't guess that you've already achieved the 'Sword God of Ten Mile Slope' achievement." Mo Bai heard Little Bai snickering.
Not knowing how to express himself, Mo Bai decided to play the newbie to save the worldviews of the two men before him.
=== At this moment, a Sword God of Ten Mile Slope gets into the car with a strut that disowns his own relatives ===
The temperature inside the sedan was very comfortable, and the seats were soft. Mo Bai, who had nightmares all night, soon fell into dreamland.
Until a call came by his ear.
"Are we there?" Mo Bai stretched his waist, his stomach shouting with hunger.
He glanced at the electronic clock mounted in the car.
11:25
"Did I sleep for that long?" Mo Bai was astonished.
"If you're hungry, wait until we get to the shrine on the mountain. We have to climb the mountain starting now." Dōjima Gin opened the car door. Reflected in Mo Bai's eyes was not emerald green, but a field of pure white embellished with scattered cherry blossom red.
"Snow?" Mo Bai, drilling out of the car carriage, was endlessly surprised. Clearly, it was already late spring, yet this mountain peak, which wasn't very high in altitude, was still clad in silver. What surprised him even more was the marvelous spectacle of white snow and cherry blossoms shining together.
"Where is this?" Mo Bai asked, feeling as if he had seen this combination somewhere before.
"Magical, isn't it? I was startled at first too," Dōjima Gin laughed. "This is Mt. Yukikawa. Even in midsummer, there is ice, snow, and cherry blossoms, as if the early spring season halted and stayed here."
"Alright, let's start climbing."
Amidst the marvelous scenery clustered with ice, snow, and cherry blossoms, a clean stone step path led straight into the clouds and mist halfway up the mountain. Even with the cherry blossoms fluttering down, not a single petal remained on the stone steps.
As Mo Bai climbed, he racked his brain trying to recall where exactly he had seen this combination.
Dōjima Gin, leading the way in front, was secretly alarmed. He had originally slowed his pace to accommodate Mo Bai, but after walking for half an hour and seeing Mo Bai still had energy to spare, he relaxed and accelerated forcefully. The result? Now he was already a bit tired, yet Mo Bai was still glowing with energy.
"Am I getting old?" Seeing Mo Bai's face not red and not panting, Dōjima Gin began to doubt his life.
"Eh? So fast," Mo Bai came back to his senses and said.
Dōjima Gin's old face twitched violently.
Unknown to them when it happened, what unfolded before the two was no longer the endless stone staircase. After a platform made of green stones for people to rest, a red crowned wooden gate—a Torii declaring the entrance to the divine domain—stood within the clouds and mist.
"And then? Are we not going forward?" Mo Bai was somewhat puzzled.
"We just wait here for the miko to come and pick us up," Dōjima Gin sat on a stone bench, adjusting his breathing.
"Then what if the miko doesn't come to pick us up?" Mo Bai was full of interest regarding the blurred scene behind the Torii; that thing felt just like a fog gate in Dark Souls.
"...She won't." Dōjima Gin said this quite reluctantly.
Half an hour later.
Dōjima Gin and Mo Bai stared at each other like a tortoise eyeing a green bean.
"Pfft hahaha! I can't, I really can't hold it in!" Little Bai saved the scene in time, breaking Mo Bai's enigmatic awkwardness.
"You two were led in a circle around the mountain by a shallow illusion, and now you're being blocked outside the gate by a simple blindfold spell."
"Hahahaha!"
Mo Bai's expression changed abruptly. WTF, this is a blindfold spell?
"Mo Bai, don't be rash!" Seeing Mo Bai charging aggressively toward the Torii, Dōjima Gin hurriedly shouted. "The shrine has a barrier..."
"Huh?" Mo Bai turned his head, half his head passing through the clouds and mist, half his head remaining outside. "Chef Dōjima, what did you say?"
"..." Dōjima Gin, making a desperate reaching-out gesture, widened his eyes.
"Come on in."
"Okay." With puzzlement in his heart, Dōjima Gin took a step toward the Torii.
Just as his front foot stepped into the dividing line of the Torii, a chaotic sound of silver bells, originating from who knows where, instantly resounded through the entire mountain peak.
"..." A drop of cold sweat slid down Dōjima Gin's forehead. In the blink of an eye, the two were surrounded by high walls formed of paper talismans.
"Who trespasses at the shrine?" Numerous footsteps approached from afar.
________________________________________
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