Night fell.
In the twilight, the frame of the Eiffel Tower shed its daytime brilliance.
This was the headquarters of the WGO Gourmet Organization.
Within the courtyard.
A series of vintage bronze lamps, one after another, lit up along the cobblestone path.
The warm yellow glow spilled over the ivy-covered brick walls, making a glass conservatory shine like a crystal palace.
And Nakiri Mana, the sole Special Executive Officer of the WGO, sat gracefully on a Japanese tatami mat. She was clad in an ink-black furisode kimono embroidered with gold thread depicting night cherry blossoms and crane patterns. As the wide sleeves draped down, they revealed an indigo feather-patterned lining.
Upon closer inspection, her makeup had the classic white base of a shiromuku, yet rouge traced an elegant arc at the corners of her eyes.
On the surface, she was an inheritor of Eastern aesthetics.
Beneath, however, she was the iron-fisted arbiter who controlled global culinary ratings.
...
Opening her bright eyes, Mana gazed at the plate of caviar cuisine before her, her voice as cool as the first melting ice on the Seine. "Is this the signature caviar from Kashiwaya?"
Her thoughts then drifted to the distant nation of Japan. About a 20-minute drive from the bustling center of Osaka, a restaurant was hidden away in a residential apartment district, its name:
Kashiwaya!
Since 2010, this restaurant had consistently earned a 3-star rating in the "WGO Guidebook Kyoto/Osaka."
The head chef, Matsuo Hideaki, had even fused the imagery of "ice" and "season" into his cuisine, bringing surprise to countless diners, WGO executive officers, and the culinary world!
And Kashiwaya's most renowned creation was its amber-hued caviar.
...
Plump beads of sturgeon roe, enrobed in the rich acidity of aged champagne vinegar.
When they burst on the tongue, they perfectly neutralized the unique oceanic tang of the Japanese halfbeak sashimi, pushing its fresh sweetness to the extreme.
In addition, the Japanese halfbeak, flown in daily from Hokkaido at the peak of its season, had flesh as crystalline as frost.
Together with the vinegared caviar, it formed a magnificent duet of sour and savory.
The seasonal vegetables dotting the plate showcased even more ingenuity: black bean sprouts from Tanba, Kyoto; thin slices of just-picked tomatoes from the Seto Inland Sea; and carrots from the Nagano highlands, slow-aged at a low temperature for 72 hours...
These seasonal gifts from the Japanese archipelago cleansed the palate in their most authentic form, conquering countless diners!
...
Then, filled with anticipation, Nakiri Mana, who had not eaten for a long time, began to summon her courage, preparing to taste this unprecedented caviar dish.
She scooped gently with a small silver spoon, and the sturgeon caviar quivered slightly.
The moment it entered her mouth, a storm of acetic acid was the first to sweep across her tongue.
Hmm, it wasn't a sharp, pungent acidity, but one that rose as lightly as champagne bubbles, carrying the smoky aroma of aged wooden barrels as it exploded against her upper palate.
As the sourness slightly receded, the cool, fresh sweetness of the Japanese halfbeak sashimi broke through.
The fish flesh glided silkily past her teeth.
From between the fine texture of the muscle, a faint mineral saltiness seeped out, just like the taste of a sea breeze brushing against a reef.
As for... the aftertaste of the caviar, it revealed itself at this moment.
The slightly salty, bursting sensation created a tension with the clean sweetness of the fish, while the acetic acid transformed the caviar's inherent fishiness into a unique, addictive aroma.
Every time she chewed gently, the crisp pop of the roe and the tenderness of the fish formed a dramatic contrast.
Finally, a single drop of wasabi yuzu sauce quietly blended in.
The spiciness and citrus fragrance flashed like lightning across a night sky, revitalizing the entire dish at its finish.
...
Pop!
The caviar finally burst on her tongue.
But unexpectedly, Nakiri Mana was struck by an indescribably strange, salty, and fishy taste that overwhelmed her entire mouth.
Involuntarily, she furrowed her brows.
The taste was simply nauseating.
Just as her heart filled with disgust, the scene before her eyes suddenly began to twist and distort.
Mana found herself inexplicably inside a giant underwater castle. The castle walls were built from corals of every color, shimmering with a mysterious light.
And the caviar she had just scorned had now transformed into tiny, ferocious-looking little demons.
They flapped their small wings, flying and circling around her.
Finally, they let out sharp, piercing cries:
"Picky eater!"
"Picky eater!"
"How dare you despise us!"
Seeing this, Mana fled in terror, but the little demons pursued her relentlessly.
Helpless, she could only run for her life, until she missed a step and fell into a bottomless black hole...
...
"Ah!"
Mana's eyes flew open, and she let out a scream.
She gasped for breath, her forehead beaded with sweat, her heart pounding wildly!
However, before she could recover from the horror of the hallucination, a wave of inexplicable nausea suddenly washed over her like a surging tide.
The sensation spread rapidly from her stomach to her throat.
In an instant, Mana's face turned deathly pale, and her lips lost all color.
She clamped her hands tightly over her mouth, trying to suppress the sickening feeling that was about to erupt. But it was futile. Her body lurched forward uncontrollably, and with a retch, vomit gushed from her mouth!
...
It was undeniable.
She wouldn't die, but she could barely go on living.
From the very beginning, this phrase had been Mana's fate as one afflicted by the "Curse of the God Tongue"!
The so-called Curse of the God Tongue was, in fact, the problem and suffering that those with extremely sensitive palates could not escape, no matter how hard they tried: anorexia.
Yes!
This curse originated with the head of the Totsuki Academy, Nakiri Senzaemon. His family's legend stated that every bearer of the God Tongue in the Nakiri family would, as they grew, gradually lose their sense of taste due to their weariness of fine food, eventually needing to rely on intravenous drips for nutrition.
...
Nakiri Mana's life had indeed been full of hardships.
Although she was born with the special ability known as the "God Tongue," which made her perception and sensitivity to flavor far exceed that of ordinary people, reaching an incomprehensible, god-like domain.
However, this ability also brought her immense suffering.
Because of the "God Tongue," after tasting all the world's delicacies, the foods that could satisfy her palate became increasingly rare.
Eventually, she lost all interest in food and fell into the predicament of anorexia, her body gradually weakening.
She had once hoped to escape the curse brought by the "God Tongue" by searching for cuisine that had never before existed on Earth.
To this end, the WGO held THE BLUE Culinary Arts Tournament annually, attempting to use this platform to discover a "new cuisine" that could satisfy the God Tongue.
However, years of desperate searching had all been in vain.
It reached the point where Nakiri Mana became utterly disappointed with the "front" culinary world and instead turned her hopes to the Midnight Chefs.
"Am I... going to die?"
After vomiting, Nakiri Mana collapsed weakly onto the floor, her consciousness gradually fading.