Kojiro Shinomiya frowned as he looked at Erina and Jaden.
Just from the smell alone, he already knew something was wrong.
Erina's Nine Vegetable Terrine was not made according to his recipe.
If he could, he would have failed this group on the spot.
Immediately.
No hesitation.
Unfortunately, he also knew that wouldn't be enough.
His rules worked well on ordinary students. They were strict, absolute, and effective.
But the Nakiri heiress was not an ordinary student.
Erina Nakiri was a problem.
Shinomiya sighed inwardly, picked up his knife and fork, and decided to taste it.
Just one bite.
He would let them pass afterward and move on.
As for whether the taste would be acceptable-
Are you kidding?
Would a dish made by the Nakiri family's God's Tongue ever be unacceptable?
You'd have to be insane to think that.
That was what Shinomiya believed.
At least, until now.
Jaden, meanwhile, was staring at the Nine Vegetable Terrine placed in front of Shinomiya.
He wasn't nervous.
He wasn't worried.
He was... curious.
Curious about how it tasted.
Ever since he awakened the System, something had changed in how he perceived the world.
When he looked at a dish.
When he looked at a person.
He could see something similar to a status window from an online game.
Of course, things like Life or Stamina were too subjective to display clearly.
Those never appeared.
What he could see were abnormal status effects.
And only very prominent ones.
Normal people usually had empty bars.
Only truly exceptional conditions showed anything at all.
Right now, on the Nine Vegetable Terrine that Kojiro Shinomiya was cutting and lifting with his fork-
There were two abnormal statuses.
The first was the Curse he had added himself.
The second...
Behind the Curse, there was a Buff.
Taste Buds Exploded.
Jaden focused on it.
Information expanded naturally.
[Curse: When applied to food, it is harmless to the human body, but one can slightly look forward to the taste~]
[Taste Buds Exploded: Food concocted with finesse far exceeding that of a normal person. The flavor sensors humans normally perceive will be stimulated, and flavors normally unperceived or subtly perceived will all be stimulated, maximizing the dish's flavor.]
Jaden blinked.
Then he thought of Erina.
Of her God's Tongue.
So this was it.
A trait unique to dishes prepared with the God's Tongue.
Maximized flavor.
No filtering.
No restraint.
Everything, fully perceived.
And suddenly, Jaden became even more interested.
What kind of reaction would happen when the Curse collided with this Buff?
He felt a faint sense of anticipation as he watched Shinomiya raise his fork.
Then-
Kojiro Shinomiya ate it.
Shinomiya had expected the first bite to calm him down.
A refined taste.
Perfect balance.
Something that would smooth over his irritation and confirm his assumptions.
That was what should have happened.
Instead-
Ugh-!
The moment the terrine entered his mouth, Shinomiya's face twisted violently.
The man who wore a permanent scowl looked as if he had been struck.
If there were such a thing as a Pain Mask, Jaden thought Shinomiya was wearing it now.
-Is it really that bad?
Jaden was honestly curious.
If Shinomiya knew what Jaden was thinking, he would have slammed the plate straight into his hands.
And forced him to eat it.
This flavor-
There was no doubt about it.
This dish had been delicately adjusted using the God's Tongue.
Every taste was perfectly calculated.
Sour.
Astringent.
Bitter.
With hints of salty, spicy, and sweet layered in.
The terrine melted slightly the moment it entered the mouth.
Then, whatever was hidden inside caused the inner layer to turn sticky once the outer layer dissolved.
It clung directly to the tongue.
Instinctively, Shinomiya opened his mouth.
But it wouldn't come out.
He couldn't spit it out.
Every single flavor was familiar.
There was nothing new.
Nothing foreign.
And yet-
This combination was something he had never experienced in his life.
If he could still speak, Shinomiya would have asked Erina one question.
Did you use your God's Tongue to lick feces before making this?
Otherwise-
Otherwise the taste you recreated-
He couldn't find a better word.
Feces.
That was the closest description.
The realization hit him like a hammer.
Shinomiya's eyes widened.
He stared at Erina.
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
Again and again.
No sound came out.
A prank?
No.
The cost was far too high.
This dish had clearly been tasted repeatedly using the God's Tongue.
Even if she hadn't done something disgusting-
She must have tasted her own food.
Her sense of taste was far sharper than his.
Hurting the enemy by a thousand while losing ten thousand yourself?
No.
That didn't make sense.
Had he provoked her?
Did she really believe someone from the Nakiri family could never be expelled?
Shinomiya shoved his fingers into his mouth.
It took him a long time to finally peel the terrine off his tongue.
He threw it into the trash can.
Then he drank water.
One sip.
Another.
And another.
Even so, he kept dry-heaving.
His eyes were bloodshot when he finally looked up at Erina and Jaden.
Hmm?
Erina frowned.
She had been cooking since childhood.
She had cooked countless dishes for countless people.
But this-
This was the first time she had ever seen a reaction like this.
More than that-
This was the first time someone had eaten her food and been so disgusted that they had to physically dig it out of their mouth.
Was her dish really that bad?
Impossible.
Her gaze sharpened.
In that moment, Erina began to doubt Shinomiya's qualifications as a chef.
Shinomiya, after a long time, finally steadied himself.
He looked at the terrine again.
He was certain of one thing.
If this dish were served to Gin Dojima.
If it were served to the Director.
They would react the same way.
After calming down, Shinomiya's expression turned cold.
He adjusted his glasses.
"Both of you," he said, "you failed."
Huh!?
Erina's expression froze.
Before she could respond, Shinomiya pushed the plate toward her.
"If you disagree," he continued, "taste it yourself. That should be a very simple matter for the God's Tongue, right?"
Hmph.
Erina scoffed.
"I'll taste it," she said. "But if I don't find any problem, then-"
She speared a piece of the terrine.
Jaden lifted his hand.
He wanted to stop her.
But he was too slow.
By the time his hand was halfway up, Erina had already placed the food into her mouth.
And then-
-Taste Buds Exploded!
Shinomiya's reaction had been severe.
Erina's was worse.
Far worse.
It took her an entire hour before she could barely speak again.
An hour later, she and Jaden stood outside the Totsuki resort.
Two expulsion notices in their hands.
Erina still felt numbness on her tongue.
Her body felt weak.
Jaden scratched his head.
He smiled at her.
"Nakiri-san," he said, "looks like both of us got expelled~"
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