Published at 17th of August 2019 9:30 am

Volume 20, Chapter 4: The Great War in Inner Space

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Part 1

On the midafternoon of a certain Saturday, Koutarou and the others were playing a board game they had pulled out from the wardrobe. The players were Koutarou, Yurika, Maki, Theia and Clan. Because some of the people relevant were missing there would be no movement in points in regards to the ownership of the room. They were simply playing because they wanted to. Since it was clear skies outside, the sun's light streamed through the window and into the room. While wrapped in the soft sunlight of Autumn the game slowly progressed.

“It's your turn, Aika-san”

”O-Okay”

Urged by Koutarou, Maki nervously put her hand on the game board's roulette wheel. Having grown up without playing a lot of games, she was still a little nervous even after getting more used to it.

“Ei!”

The roulette wheel spun around as Maki let out a cute shout. In the game Koutarou and the others were playing, the number given by this roulette wheel told them how far they could move in this haunted European-style building.

“... Four. Maki-chan, please move up four steps”

”One, two, three and four”

“Let's see here 'Whilst you're exploring the dining room, you hear a noise coming from thin air. Draw an event card'... I wonder what happened”

“Bertorion, the event cards”

”Here, Maki-san, draw one”

“Okay”

Obeying the instructions on the space she stopped on, Maki drew a card. The content written on the card would be what Maki experienced.

“Uhm 'A knight in armor suddenly attacks! … Or so you thought, but it was just a decoration left in the room. Nothing in particular happens' is what it says”

“Lucky”

”That might not be the case. If an enemy appears you might get some treasure”

”Yurika, you're on the safety first side, aren't you”

”If you die then everything is for nothing after all. Treasure and food are only useful if you're alive”

The girls were split on how to interpret the event. Listening in on them, Koutarou felt like the different interpretations fit the girls perfectly.

“Fufu”

That was when Maki began laughing.

“What is it, Aika-san?”

”Don't you think the horror in this game is lame?”

“Hm? Yeah, you're right”

“But when I imagined Satomi-kun attacking me... I couldn't help but find it funny”

“Ah, that's what you meant”

When mentioning a knight in armor, the first one to pop up in the minds of those related to room 106 was Koutarou. That's why, despite the horror being lame, Maki instinctively found herself calming down. There was already a serious lack in tension as they were playing the game in broad daylight, but with this any remaining tension was blown away.

“What would you do then, Aika-san?”

“I'd probably scream out and thrown a bunch of things at you”

”I can see that happening”

“Then let's throw some”

”Theia!?”

”Men, begin your attack!”

“”Yes Sir””

Following Theia's order, the girls threw things at Koutarou all at once. But they didn't want to hurt Koutarou and they didn't want to ruin the room. So they were throwing clothes, cushions, towels, newspapers and other things that wouldn't do much damage. The thing that looked like it would hurt the most was the instant noodles. Of course, it hurt Yurika the most.

How do I put this... yeah, this is hard to say but...

Koutarou couldn't really get angry at the girls when they played with such gentleness. If anything, he wanted to respond to that playfulness of theirs.

“You guys!”

“”Kyaa Kyaa Kyaa!”

So Koutarou gathered up what had been thrown at him and threw it back all at once. Being such a small room, the girls had nowhere to escape. And just like Koutarou, the girls were covered in all kinds of articles. But even then, the girls were smiling. They had expected Koutarou to counterattack like that, so it was only natural.

Part 2

Like that, the game progressed despite several derailments over unnecessary details. This time around, Maki put up a good fight as a novice, and Yurika pulled through with sheer luck and the game developed into a showdown between the two.

“Maki-chan, this is our final match!”

”I've come this far, I won't lose now, Yurika!”

Having overcome various troubles, the two now had a great relationship, and they enjoyed the confrontation as friends.

“... Yurika's only ever strong when it doesn't matter if she loses”

Koutarou smiled as he looked at the two. The fact that the two were having fun was conveyed to Koutarou as well. Considering everything that had happened, this was a warming sight.

“She's timid when it really counts after all”

Clan smiled as well. But rather than making fun of them, she had the same warming feeling as Koutarou did. Lately, Clan had started to honestly show her feelings.

“What are you saying. Even though you think Yurika is actually too strong when she truly can't afford to lose”

Theia was amazed at Koutarou's words. While Yurika was awfully weak when defeated. When punishments are given out for losing, she suddenly starts losing hard. However, when she truly can't afford to lose, in the true meaning of the word, such as when someone's life is at stake, she had the strength to never lose. And Koutarou believed that strength of hers would only bring unhappiness. That's why he welcomed this kind of situation where she can win when she's allowed to lose, and lose when she has to win. Because that meant that everything was peaceful.

“You don't have the right to laugh at Yurika winning”

“How harsh”

”Fufu, Bertorion, I bet you want Yurika to always be like a younger sister always causing trouble”

”I'm aware of that feeling”

Koutarou wanted not only Yurika, but also Maki, Theia and Clan to live peacefully as well. He no longer had any intentions of hiding those feelings.

That was when, completely ignoring the atmosphere, Koutarou's stomach let out a growl. The time was already past noon, so it was about time for lunch.

“Oh?”

“Geez, watch your manners, Koutarou”

”Sorry, sorry”

“There's no point in expecting manners from this man”

”Satomi-kun, once this is over, let's have lunch”

”Yeah, that's for the best”

“Then let's do that”

The game was already reaching its last stage, so lunch would be had once it was over. However, there was just one big problem with that.

“But who will prepare the meal? Or should we order delivery?”

The ones not here had left in the morning. With neither Kiriha nor Ruth, who usually made the meals, here, they would need to procure their lunch through some mean.

“That's right, how about the loser makes it?”

Simply deciding through rock, paper, scissors, or calling delivery would be boring. So Koutarou figured that a good idea would be to have the outcome of the game they were currently playing decide who makes lunch.

“Why would you say that now!? That's something you decide from the start!!”

Theia suddenly erupted into anger. Since she valued victory and defeat, she didn't like changing the rules part ways through.

“I'm saying it because it's now. Right now, it will either be me, you or Clan, right?”

Koutarou glanced towards Yurika as he spoke. With Yurika and Maki vying for the top spot, and the other three behind them, chances were high that one of them would have to prepare lunch. In other words, they didn't have to worry about having to eat Yurika's food.

“... You are right”

”I don't mind either”

Theia and Clan quickly caught on to Koutarou's intentions. They both shared the perception that Yurika's food was dangerous.

“It's your turn next, Satomi-san”

”Alright”

Having reached a consensus on lunch, Koutarou and the other three returned to the game. The game finished roughly 15 minutes after that.

Part 3

Maki managed to take first place in the game. She protected her lead until the end and passed the goal first. Carrying a ton of treasures, she was the top by far. Second place went to Theia, with the rule of being forced to make lunch if she lost, she improved her game by a lot, and she crawled all the way up to second place in the end. She couldn't catch up to Maki, but she easily did the best once the new rule was added, so she could take pride in her second place.

Third place went to Clan. Compared to Theia, she was more careful and more defensive, so she couldn't reach Theia in the final stages of the game. She simply played the game to avoid taking last place.

Koutarou ended up as fourth. He went out big in an attempt to beat Theia. Attempting a high risk high reward play style, he entered the treasury in the basement of the mansion. As a result, Koutarou was defeated by the board's enemies and lost a lot of treasure. If he hadn't tried to compete with Theia, he would have been a good match for Clan, but his position was a result of losing his bet.

And finally, last place went to Yurika. Despite being loaded with treasure, she was in last place by the time the game ended. Her play was enough to dumbfound the others, but at the same time make them go 'Aah, I thought so'.

“Uhh, uuuuhhh”

”Yurika... you really are weak against immediate profit...”

”Uuhh, b-but, if I had rolled high enough to get the treasure then... uuhh”

Yurika cried as she spoke the reason for her defeat. Before the goal there was a fork in the road, splitting the paths into a safe path leading directly to the exit, and a path through the treasury. When Yurika arrived at that fork, having managed to hold back Maki and her overwhelming luck, she ended up entering the treasury just because she'd end up stopping at the perfect square. She was supported by her thoughts that she wouldn't get last place because of some danger with this much treasure on her. Just like she had hoped, Yurika managed to obtain a lot of treasure, enough to convince everyone that she would finish first.

However, that was the start of her fall. After that, Yurika never stopped at a treasure square again, and ended up being attacked by enemies nonstop. If she beat an enemy she'd get treasure, but the enemies that appeared here were strong. Before long, she had been robbed of everything she had and she passed the goal with nothing to show.

“In the very end, you lost to your greed and lost your luck...”

”You really are an unfortunate fellow. Maybe you're cursed?”

Clan and Theia felt perplexed by the unexpected outcome. They had taken measures to keep Yurika from finishing last, yet Yurika had jumped into the position herself.

“Aah... then what if I make lunch?”

Unable to see any value in a lunch made from Yurika, Koutarou offered to make lunch himself. That was because excluding Yurika, he was in last place.

“That might be for the best”

“I have no objections”

Neither Theia nor Clan had any objections. Koutarou might not be the best at cooking, but he could at least make edible food. The two at least trusted that.

“That's right. That's for the best!”

Yurika was also happy that she wouldn't have to make lunch herself. She had a happy smile that made the tears from before look like a lie. Yurika found cooking to be a pain, so she didn't really want to do it. Maki sent a suspicious glance towards Yurika.

“Yurika... it's only natural that everyone says there's no way you can cook, but are you fine with that?”

”Eeeeeh!? Really!?”

With Maki pointing that out, Yurika realized for the first time that everyone were working under the assumption that she couldn't cook. Yurika puffed up her cheeks and pressed Koutarou.

“Satomi-san, I will make lunch!”

”Even if you say that, you can't cook, can you?”

It wasn't like Koutarou was trying to be malicious. He had observed Yurika's sloppy lifestyle for over a year and a half. And during that time, he had never seen her properly cook even once. Moreover, her grades in home economics were remarkably low. If she was actually good at cooking, that would be a miracle. It was because he thought of Yurika like that, that Koutarou offered to take her place.

“I can! I made food when I was together with Nana-san!!”

However, Yurika gave an unexpected response. When she had been Nana's cooperator, the two had lived together. That's why she would often be in charge of housework, and make dinner.

“W-Was that so”

”You're awful, Satomi-san. Yes, I can't cook as well as you, but I'm still a girl, it's not like I can't cook at all”

“Well, I'm sorry”

”Nana-san even praised me once, saying I was good at pouring up the hot water!!”

”Like I said, I'm sorry”

”I will make it!! I will definitely make you say it's delicious!!”

Yurika was completely sulking. She was a girl, so she was offended by Koutarou assuming she didn't have the skills a girl usually had. She couldn't stand being misunderstood by the person she wanted to see her as a girl the most. Yurika's small amount of pride was stimulated, giving her motivation.

“I wonder if we'll be okay...”

”If Yurika is going to say that much, we'll probably be okay”

”I can only hope...”

Maki was being optimistic but Clan and Theia didn't share her point of view. Their image of the normal Yurika was too strong, so they couldn't fully believe in her. Moreover, their sense of taste was different from Maki, who was born in the slums and lived off of anything she could.

After Yurika entered the question, she fell silent for a while. She didn't come asking for help, so Koutarou and the others assumed that Yurika actually could cook. However, that wasn't the case. Yurika was so quiet because she was at a loss over what to do. By the time Koutarou and the others realized their misunderstanding, the damage was already done.

“... You're telling us to eat this?”

”Uwaaaaa!!”

Yurika broke down crying over the tea table. Suspicious smoke was rising from a black something in the plates.

“What is this black mass?”

”Considering it's fully carbonized, it was probably a type of plant”

”I got it, this is yakisoba!”

“I see! So that's why it's somewhat long and thick!”

”Uwaaaaaaaa!!”

The black mass in question was yakisoba that had been cooking for too long. Of course it wasn't like Yurika wanted to make something like that. She was vaguely aware of her own abilities, so she wanted to make something simple, which was a good idea. However, she messed up the heat, and the order to put the ingredients in, and she was also distracted by what was going on in the inner room and took her eyes off the frying pan. As a result, the black mass was created. It was Yurika's pride turned into ash.

“I hate it, I hate this world where a girl's value is decided by whether or not she can cook!! I hate the people who invented cooking!!”

Yurika banged the table with her fist as she cried. She was so mortified over having shown such disgraceful behavior. This was clearly Yurika's own fault, as she cut corners during home economics, but she couldn't admit that. Yurika could only shed tears and bang on the table.

“W-Well, isn't that okay. For a girl not to be able to cook I mean”

While it may have been her own fault, Koutarou couldn't just leave her alone as she cried, and he tried to console her as he smiled wryly. That was when Yurika looked up at Koutarou with a glance of doubt.

“... Then, could you make a girl who can't cook your girlfriend, or even marry her, Satomi-san?”

When Yurika spoke those words, the remaining girls all turned to look at Koutarou. Theia, Clan and Maki were all aware that they weren't that good at cooking. That's why they were very interested in the answer to this question. Their expressions all turned stiff.

“Yeah. That's not what's important. Besides, you can practice cooking whenever you want. If you think it's necessary you can just learn it. If you have something more important, I don't mind you focusing on that”

Hearing Koutarou's clear response, the girls' expressions lightened up and showed signs of relief. They then began worrying whether they should focus on learning cooking, or something else.

“Then, imagine there being two girls with similar personalities and looks, who you have similar memories with”

”Yeah”

”One of them can cook, and the other can't. Which one would you choose?”

“Well... the one who can, right?”

”Uwaaaaaaaa!!”

“H-Hey, Yurika”

”I really am no goood!! Uaaaaaaah!!”

However, Yurika alone showed a different response to the other three girls, and she broke down over the tea table once more. That was because she had realized that she was the worst cook amongst the girls of room 106.

Part 4

When Shizuka returned to room 106, the first thing she noticed was the smell of synthetic seasoning. It wasn't an unfamiliar smell in room 106, as Yurika would often eat instant noodles. That's why Shizuka figured the situation was the same now, but reality was different.

“What's wrong everyone!? Why are you eating that!?”

For some reason, everyone was eating instant noodles. The five of them surrounded the tea table and slurped on noodles, giving off the strangest vibe. Especially Yurika as she was eating and crying at the same time.

“Well, Yurika―”

Koutarou pointed out Yurika, trying to explain the situation to Shizuka.

“Shizuka-san!!”

That was when Yurika pounced on her.

“Y-Yurika-chan!?”

”Please, please teach me how to cook!”

And as she clung onto Shizuka, she begged her to teach her how to cook with tears in her eyes. When it came to skill, Kiriha was better, but Shizuka was part of the cooking society, so she had plenty of recipes and was good at teaching. When it came to learning from the basics, Shizuka was the best.

“Please! Teach me how to cook well enough so I won't have to be ashamed!!”

“... Satomi-kun, what happened here?”

“Actually―”

Koutarou explained what happened to the perplexed Shizuka as Yurika continued to cling on to her and beg.

By the time Koutarou's explanation was over, the other girls who were out had come back as well. As a result, the number of people increased to ten. In order to reduce the crampedness, some of the girls used Clan's invention to sit on the wall and ceiling. It was a common sight in room 106 as of late.

“― and that's why today's lunch turned into instant noodles”

”I see. You really are unlucky, Yurika-chan”

”Uuhhh”

“I understand how you feel”

”Cooking, please teach me about cookiiiing”

”No problem. You can rely on me”

“Thank you very muuuch!”

Having learned of the circumstances, Shizuka accepted Yurika's request. She was a girl as well. She understood Yurika's feelings of wanting to have her dishes praised by the person she loved, and how she'd feel if she messed up. With her meddling personality included, she wanted to help Yurika if possible.

“In return, could you participate in the cook-off with a dish you've learned?”

“A cook-off?”

”That's right. The truth is that the cooking society will be holding a cook-off during the culture festival”

There was also one more reason for helping Yurika. That was to get Yurika to participate in the cook-off. Time was moving, and it would soon be October and the culture festival would take place in November. The cooking society that Shizuka was part of participated in the culture festival every year. By the way, last year they made a recipe book which also served as a report on their activities. When they were discussing what to do this year, the cook-off was brought up.

Wanting to compete on a larger scale every now and then, they easily decided on the cook-off. However, there was just one problem. That was that at the moment, there would be too few participants.

Like the name suggested, the cooking society was not a club. The regulations of Kitsushouharukaze high school said that once a society had enough members, it would be promoted to a club. But sadly, the cooking society didn't have enough for that. Which also meant that even with all of the members participating, they were still too few.

So the cooking society decided to recruit participants. People outside of the society, and even people outside of the school were ok. There were no restrictions on gender or age. By doing that, they hoped to create a large contest.

“Even if I practice a lot, would I really be okay at a cook-off...”

Yurika was uneasy. She went into deep thoughts as she wiped her tears away. That was when Sanae smiled and called out to her.

“You don't have to worry. I'm joining too”

”You too, Sanae-chan? Then, maybe I will be okay...”

Hearing that Sanae would participate, Yurika felt that the cook-off was okay with beginners as well. Sanae should be roughly as good as Yurika after all.

If I'm with Sanae-chan, even if I do poorly, I might not have to feel ashamed...

Sanae participating was reassuring for Yurika, and she became more positive in regards to participating. She also felt like it was only fair for Shizuka to want something in return for helping her how to cook.

“You'll be fine. You just have to go big”

“Maybe I will”

Sanae's confident smile was the deciding factor. Yurika decided to participate in the cook-off together with Sanae. Being together with a familiar face with similar skills was encouraging.

However, Yurika's thinking was fundamentally wrong. Like she thought Sanae-chan was a terrible cook. Even if she had time to cook, she would rather do something more fun. But that wasn't true for Sanae-san. Because of her previously weak constitution, she would rarely leave home, and learned housework from her mother, Kanae. This of course included cooking. That's why Sanae overall knew how to cook. She wasn't on the same level as Yurika.

“Thank you, Yurika-chan! Let's work hard on practicing!”

With one more participant for the cook-off decided. Shizuka grasped Yurika's hands with a big smile on her face.

“Yes, I look forward to working with you!”

Yurika squeezed Shizuka's hand in return. Like that, it was decided that Yurika would participate in the culture festival's cook-off, all the while she was unaware that she would take last place.

Part 5

Shizuka and Sanae weren't the only two, but Kiriha, Ruth and Harumi would also participate in the cook-off. They had left in the morning to join a meeting about the cook-off.

“... Since it was the first meeting, we decided on the date for the event and a rough schedule on what to do until then”

”Kiriha-san is amazing you know? She calculated how many people and things would be needed when and where in an instant. It really helped because the cooking society only had rough estimates”

Shizuka explained the situation while looking up to Kiriha. She had brought Kiriha into the contest because she held Kiriha's cooking skills in high regard, but that proved to be a huge success. If Kiriha was left in charge of management, the event would surely succeed.

“Well... compared to a surface invasion, I guess managing a contest is easy”

As Koutarou said that, Kiriha smiled.

“So it is. However, but using your head is fun. Being able to continue doing this is proof of how peaceful it is”

Kiriha was enjoying the situation. Her ideal was to only ever have to use her brain for things like this. Using it for battles or invasion was nothing but misfortune. She wished that she would only ever have to think about this.

“That's right, Kasagi-san”

With a pause appearing in the discussion, Harumi clapped her hands together and smiled. As she did, the eyes of everyone else turned towards her.

“Why not have Theiamillis-san and the others participate too?”

”Us too?”

Theia, Clan and Maki who had been left out until now all opened their eyes wide in surprise. After looking at each other for a moment, they turned back to Harumi.

“Since six out of nine are participating, why don't we all participate and have fun. We want more participants too anyways”

”You're right!”

The people not participating in room 106 were already the minority. Shizuka agreed, that they might as well all join. So she spoke to the remaining three with a smile.

“How about it, Theia-chan, Clan-san, Aika-san?”

”Cooking, huh... I haven't cooked all that much...”

Theia had learned cooking as part of her basic education. However, her personality didn't go well with detailed work. And with Ruth being a good cook, she naturally left it to her. So even though she was asked to participate she couldn't answer right away.

“Your Highness, wouldn't it be alright?”

”Ruth...”

”It wouldn't be a bad form of entertainment to try your hand at Earth's cooking at least once. It's a good opportunity to learn of the minds of the people on Earth”

However, as Ruth said that, she glanced at Koutarou for a moment, which let Theia reach her decision.

“Hm, that's a fair point. It's also a good opportunity to show my power to the people of Earth! Shizuka, I will participate too!”

Ruth was correct. She believed that cooking on her own at least once would help with her understanding of Earth.

“Then it's decided! What about you, Clan-san?”

“... What should I do”

Clan had never cooked even once in her life. She had been fully focused on science, so she had left everything else to others. All she knew about cooking were the scientific components and how to push the button on the automatic cooking machine. She had no confidence in her ability to make anything herself. As she pondered what to do, Koutarou grinned at her.

“Cooking is impossible for Clan”

“W-Why!?”

”If you could, then I wouldn't have had to suffer that much”

When Koutarou and Clan had been alone, Koutarou had to continually take care of her until they could return to the present. That's why he knew better than anyone that Clan couldn't do any housework. Of course, cooking was out of the question.

“How rude! Even I can cook!”

“You don't have to be so stubborn. You'll only regret it later”

”Science is what's needed to cook! I will prove it to you!”

”Try to keep it in moderation”

”Shizuka, I will participate too!”

Clan wanted to show Koutarou up, and decided to do so by participating in the contest. She started getting really passionate in order to get Koutarou to say it tastes good. As a result, after announcing her participation, she looked to be starting up some calculations.

“Fufu, got it”

Shizuka smiled at Clan's appearance and turned to look at Koutarou. She then, making sure Clan couldn't see, pressed her right hand thumb and index finger together to form a circle, as if to say thank you for your cooperation.

“Aika-san, what about you?”

Finally, Shizuka turned to Maki. She was the only one not showing anything.

“I don't have any confidence in my cooking though”

”Really? But...”

Shizuka got closer to Maki and whispered into her ear. As she did, Maki's expression changed.

“Really!?”

”Yeah”

“Then I'm participating! I'm definitely participating!”

Shizuka had whispered something of greet meaning to Maki, which made her decide on participating right away. She was full of motivation and in high spirits.

“Okay, then it's decided that everyone will participate”

Satisfied with the increase in participants, Shizuka flashed a big smile. Adding the girls of room 106 to the members of the cooking society meant that they now had over ten participants. Fortunately, the girls all seemed motivated, so it looked like the contest should get really heated up.

“Give it your all okay”

Koutarou cheered for the girls as if it had nothing to do with him. He didn't want to interrupt a match between girls, so he was planning on enjoying the contest as a spectator. He casually sipped on his tea as he listened to the other girls talk.

“Satomi-kun, why are you acting like you're not involved?”

”Eh?”

“It's been decided that you're going to be the judge”

”What!? This is the first I'm hearing about this!”

“I recommended you, and it was agreed on by seven votes”

Out of the seven who voted for Koutarou were Shizuka herself, Kiriha, Sanae, Harumi and Ruth. Since the cooking society didn't even have five members, these five votes alone were the majority.

“Why me!?”

”Because I thought you'd do it if I asked”

”W-Well, that's true, but...”

Like Shizuka said, Koutarou had no intentions of declining. He wouldn't refuse anything the girls were serious about challenging. However, he couldn't hide his confusion from the surprise nomination.

“We had a proper reason too”

“What kind of reason?”

”Satomi-kun is actually secretly popular with the girls. In truth, there were two more votes apart from ours, right?”

“Ehh!? … wait, that's not true”

Koutarou's eyes were wide open. He had a hard time believing her.

“I'm sure you're not aware of it yourself, but... ever since the plays, you've become famous you know? So if you're the judge, then I think there will be more participants and spectators”

That was the reason for Shizuka recommending Koutarou. Shizuka put her expectations on the pulling powers of the admired Sir Blue Knight. Her intuition told her that having Koutarou wear a blue outfit reminiscent of the Blue Knight and having him sit on the judge's chair would serve as a powerful weapon. However, there were those against that idea, and Theia was their forefront.

“However... Koutarou doesn't get any love letters of Valentine's chocolate. Aren't you expecting too much of him?”

Theia's point was very justifiable. Even after the Blue Knight plays, Koutarou showed no signs of being surrounded by girls. He didn't get any love letters, nor did he get any chocolate on Valentine's day apart from the girls of room 106, and a chocolate from the kindergarten children addressed to Baron Demon. It was hard to believe he'd be able to pull in any customers.

“The normal Satomi-kun is big and scary. That's why it's hard for them to act directly. Besides, he's always acting like an idiot”

However, Shizuka was confident. When she joined with girls from other classes during PE, Koutarou would get mentioned from time to time. He should have a high potential to attract customers, it just didn't show.

”Koutarou Isn't as easy to talk to as Glasses-kun after all”

Sanae clung onto Koutarou's back as she spoke. If he was popular it would be hard for her to do this, so she wanted him to remain unpopular.

”That's right, I'm planning on asking Mackenzie-kun to be one of the judges too”

”I see. So Mackenzie will pull in the people on the surface, while Koutarou pulls in the hidden ones”

”Please help us, Satomi-kun!”

”I don't really mind, but...”

”Alright! Thank you, Satomi-kun!”

He was still worried if they would be okay with him, but he had no reason to refuse, so he nodded towards Shizuka who had brought her hands together and lowered her head. Thus Koutarou ended up participating in the cook-off in a different fashion from the rest of the girls.

Part 6

The culture festival would be held over two days. And as usual, the final day was planned to be on the Culture Day, November 3. Since the date was now already at late September, the girls had roughly a month left. They used that limited time to prepare in their own ways.

Harumi's plan was simple. While she could cook, she didn't do so daily as she still lived at home with her parents. As a result, she wasn't as good as Ruth, Kiriha or Shizuka. So she chose something she could make without mistake, within the limited time of the cook-off. She wanted to put out something she knew that the judges would be able to eat.

“What should I do... maybe I should be a little adventurous... but it would become harder...”

Harumi was in the corner of the supermarket, and furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought. While she always seemed calm, right now she was serious. As expected, Harumi is a girl as well, so she was getting passionate about the contest.

“Maybe I should give it a try... it's more positive than not doing anything...”

Harumi was going to make a salisbury steak. It was a standard menu found in any recipe book, and Harumi had made it countless times. However, just following a recipe without any twists was less of Harumi cooking and more the writer of the recipe cooking. So Harumi wanted to add her own little twist to it. What she was thinking about was what she should do.

“Alright, let's practice it once. Then I can decide on what to do...”

Harumi was thinking of putting cheese in the salisbury steak. But doing that would of course increase the difficulty. Adding something with different characteristics such as cheese meant that she would have to adjust the temperature when cooking the salisbury steak. Moreover, depending on the amount and type of cheese she used, the temperature required for melting it would differ, and that alone would increase the variation by a lot, and as the steak was being heated up, the cheese would melt, making it easier to crumble apart. It would be a bore if the cheese was already visible before the judges could even put their knife in the dish.

That made Harumi realize that adding in cheese to the salisbury steak might be beyond her skills. Which was why she was deep in thought by the cheese corner.

“If it's too difficult, I could use cheese sauce... yeah, let's do that!”

Harumi decided to try making a salisbury steak with cheese inside, and if that seemed too difficult, she would switch to making a normal steak with cheese sauce. Rather than being obsessed with the steak itself, she could just have the dish in its entirety show her personality. It was a very Harumi-esque polite and flexible idea.

Part 7

In Ruth's case, her biggest problem was that she was an alien. When it came to cooking skills, she was second to Kiriha, but she was still learning about Earth's cooking. She was quick to understand, but she would sometimes get puzzled by the difference in methodology.

“... If it's come to this, it might be safer to make something I've made before...”

Ruth was looking over recipes in the classroom all by herself. She was operating her bracelet and stared at a list of recipes being displayed. It was a list of dishes she had made up until now.

“If I change it to display the frequency... then as expected, it would be something like this...”

If she was going to cook something she was familiar with, then the dishes she had made the most often were curry, yakiniku, hand-rolled sushi, salisbury steak and pasta, all dishes children would love. Since lots of residents in room 106 had childish tastes, it was only natural.

“Now that I think about it, Harumi-sama mentioned that she would make salisbury steak... so contest oriented dishes would be curry or pasta, or maybe even omelette with rice since it's next in line? Hmm... maybe, curry...”

As Ruth was reliant on data, she began leaning towards curry which she had made the most times. However, she was also somewhat uneasy.

“However... curry is like a national food, and there's differences between homes... that might become a problem”

There was a pitfall with curry that couldn't be seen in the data. While it might be classified the same, curry could have a different taste in every home. In other words, there were different dishes with the same name. That could be considered very dangerous.

“Alright, then let's go with omelette with rice!”

In the end, Ruth decided to go with omelette with rice. Compared to curry and pasta, there was a clearer image of how it should look. It was a simple dish consisting of a baked egg on top of chicken pilaf, with ketchup on top. It was an accessible dish with everyone sharing the same perception of it. While it wasn't as popular as curry, Ruth figured that it might actually score higher as it's image was more solid.

“Then what's important is the flag”

There was also a weapon only available to the omelette with rice. That was the flag. Unlike curry and pasta, omelette and rice could be made more playful through the use of a flag, and Ruth was aware one of the judges was very weak against playful designs like that.

Part 8

Harumi and Ruth were planning on putting out dishes with easy to understand good sides to them, but Kiriha had a different way of thinking. Rather than competing with a single dish, she was planning on placing several dishes on a tray and compete with that. Using rice and miso soup as her base, she would add on side dishes and vegetables, making something like a set meal. Though a different way to put it might be homemade food.

“Ane-san, why don't you use your special move Ho?”

”Or do you have an ace up up your sleeve Ho?”

”No, I won't do anything special. I am aiming for the ultimate normal”

”The ultimate normal Ho?”

”I don't get it Ho-!”

”A taste you'd never get tired of even if you ate it every day. And something the cook can make without change. I want to make the ultimate version of that”

Kiriha wanted to make something that could be eaten daily, and she pursued the ultimate taste that allowed that. It not only had to have a taste you couldn't get tired off, but also balanced from a nutritional standpoint. She also wanted to avoid any kind of specialization, making use of easily obtainable ingredients, and making it with normal cooking methods. As a result, the taste wouldn't be anything amazing, but in a sense, it could be considered the ultimate cooking.

“Philosophical cooking Ho-. The taste of home cooking Ho”

”But even curry and salisbury steak would be too much every day Ho-”

”Besides... it wouldn't be very mature of me to aim for the win and go all out here, would it?”

Kiriha smiled at the haniwas looking up at her with admiration. Part of the reason she was striving for the ultimate in normal, was so that the other girls could use what the haniwas called an ace or special move, easily understood tastes, like salisbury steak and curry. The time they had spent on cooking was vastly different, so if Kiriha got serious, she would probably easily win. That's why she purposefully challenged a difficult topic, to keep the contest from getting too one sided.

Of course, that's not all to it...

There was a certain desire hidden behind Kiriha's smile. She had someone she wanted to make that ultimate normal dish for. Something that could be eaten every day, could also be called a mother's taste. Since she knew of someone who desired that, she wanted to put herself to the test. This wasn't just to make the contest more fun, but also her own wish.

Part 9

Sanae could cook in general, however, that was just Sanae-san, and not Sanae-chan. So when she began researching her dish for the contest, Sanae-chan got bored and left her body, dumping all of the work on Sanae-san. Even now, Sanae-san was buying ingredients, whilst Sanae-chan was simply drifting around nearby

“Hey, Sanae-chan, you should think together with me”

”You're the one who said you wanted to participate, so you think”

”You don't have to so mean”

”You're not a kid anymore, so why don't you start becoming independent already”

“What good it would do becoming independent from myself!?”

Feeling helpless on her own, Sanae-san continually asked Sanae-chan for her cooperation. However, without any patience, Sanae-chan wasn't suited for cooking, and she continually refused to cooperate. Sanae-chan wasn't interested in meat or vegetables, but the shelves nearby.

“More importantly, let's buy some cream puffs home! For Koutarou and the others too!”

”More importantly... can't you think about it a little more seriously...”

“You can think up anything I can, so try your best alone”

”But...”

Hearing those cold words coming from herself, Sanae-san dropped her shoulders. Meanwhile, Sanae-chan was so interested in the sweets corner that she flew around the area with sparkling eyes. But even then, Sanae-san wanted Sanae-chan's cooperation, and she began thinking of how to get her help.

I'm probably the only one that has to start from this point...

While starting to feel somewhat miserable, Sanae-san began observing Sanae-chan. From what she could see, Sanae-chan was very interested in snacks and sweets, and she seemed to be wondering whether she should get cream puffs or éclairs.

“Huh? Now that I think about it...”

That was when Sanae-san came up with a revolutionary idea. It was both a means to earn Sanae-chan's cooperation and at the same time a direction for her dish.

“Hey, Sanae-chan!”

”Hm? Are we going home already? Then let's buy five cream puffs and éclairs each and go home!”

She wanted to eat cream puffs herself and have Koutarou eat the éclair so she could taste both. Sanae-chan had a revolutionary idea of her own.

“Not yet, but I'm thinking of making cream puffs or some other sweets for the cook-off”

”Cream puffs!?”

In that instant, Sanae-chan who had shown almost no interest until now, suddenly spun around to look at Sanae-san. Her eyes were sparkling brilliantly.

“You can make cream puffs yourself!?”

”Yeah. It's not as hard as you think”

“I want to make them! … wait, can you make cream puffs for a cook-off?”

“It's fine! Making sweets is a form of cooking too. Besides, I think a lot of people will overlook it so there won't be as much competition!”

Having been able to grab Sanae-chan's interest, Sanae-san followed up on it with great momentum. Her voice was bright and loud.

“Alright, then it's decided, we're making sweets for the cook-off!”

“Yeah, let's do our best!”

”Then let's buy cream puffs and éclairs for research and go home!”

“Yeah! Fufufu”

Did she use her, or was she being used herself. The interest of the two Sanaes finally matched up, and they returned home with cream puffs and éclairs. From now on they would be challenging the cook-off together.

Part 10

While Theia had decided to participate in the cook-off, she had only received basic education in cooking. Moreover, it had been Forthorthe cooking, so Japanese cooking was completely out of her element. Even though she understood the tastes, she didn't know how to make them. So the person she relied on, was of course her childhood friend, Ruth.

“The difference in culture is so big that I don't even know if I can be confident or not”

”I understand how you feel”

”So I want you to teach me an easy to understand recipe”

”I understand, I will show you some recipes”

”Please do, you're the only one I can rely on!”

Ruth responded to Theia's request, and moved to show her several recipes. Adding Theia's skill into the calculations, and choosing dishes with a nice look, Ruth placed a list of recipes printed on paper on the tea table.

“You know how to cook rice, right Your Highness?”

”Yes, I've done that several times before”

“Then this is my number one recommendation”

Ruth pointed out one of the recipes to Theia. In response, Theia looked at it and read the name out loud.

“Cold shabu-shabu, huh”

”Yes. It's made using boiled meat and raw vegetables”

”So it's like meat with salad on it”

”That is roughly correct. As long as you are careful not to over boil it, you can avoid the worst results”

”Then the rest would be up to how the sauce turns out, huh. Hmm... like you say, it seems like something even I can make”

Theia nodded approvingly. Even she could turn raw vegetables into salad. As for the shabu-shabu, she'd only need to choose a meat that has more room for boiling. The problem was the sauce, but she had over a month left to practice. It was a recipe that was hard to mess up, even for beginners, and it still looked good.

“However, there are some faults too”

“Hm?”

”If it's cold on the day of the cook-off, this recipe will be less well received”

“Because it's a cold dish after all”

“And this alone is too easy”

”I see... so to make up for those flaws, maybe I could make a soup as well”

”That's a good idea. You could also make it cold based on the temperature that day, how about a potato potage?”

A potato potage doesn't require a lot of advanced techniques either. All it takes is some light stir-frying and then putting it in a blender. And even then, it had a solid taste to it, making it a great pairing with the cold shabu-shabu.

“Hm, let's go with that. All that's left after that is cooking some rice after all”

“Yes. If you have some time to spare, you could also add a twist to the rice”

“Like seasoning it?”

”Rice balls might be a good idea too”

“As expected of you, Ruth. It's already shaping up into a good menu”

”That's my only redeeming feature after all”

“You're always a big help”

“Your words are too good for me”

The two then continued discussing about Theia's menu for a while. During that time, Ruth's own menu was being neglected, but she didn't seem to mind. Ruth's results were also Theia's, Theia's results were also Ruth's. That was how the two thought, so there was no point in trying to differentiate between them.

Part 11

As Yurika was learning off of Shizuka, the dish she would serve at the cook-off ended up the same as Shizuka's. Yurika could learn off of Shizuka if they lined up and made the same thing during home economics, and it was easier for Shizuka to explain. So it was only inevitable that the two would end up making the same thing.

“Yurika-chan, you'll cut your hand like that. You have to hold it like this”

”Like this?”

”Not like that, like this”

”Then you mean like this?”

“Close, look closer at my left hand”

“Your fingers are bent”

”That's right, that's it”

When it came to cooking, Yurika was a completely blank slate. However, that meant that she also didn't have any bad habits, so Shizuka was teaching her the skills necessary in order. It was hard to say that Yurika was a quick learner, but the situation being the situation, she was making up for her slow learning with passion. Yurika was slowly, but surely, picking up the cooking skills.

But how was she doing it when she was with Nana-san...?

Shizuka was wondering why Yurika had 0 cooking skills. There had been a time when Yurika had lived together with Nana as her cooperator. So it was hard for her to believe that Yurika couldn't do any housework, including cooking. So Shizuka stopped for a moment and tried asking Yurika.

“Hey, Yurika-chan”

”Yes?”

Yurika stopped as well and put down the knife. Since she had cut her finger while holding a knife and doing something else in the past, she had learned her lesson.

“When you were living with Nana-san, didn't you ever cook?”

“I would only pour up hot water, or press the button on the microwave, and stuff like that. Nana-san is a genius after all”

”I see, so that's why”

”If I packed ingredients into the fridge, Nana-san would make the food in an instant”

The division of work when it came to food was that Yurika gathered the ingredients, and Nana did the cooking. Since Nana really could do anything, cooking is yet another of her many skills. She worked so swiftly that before Yurika could even learn off of her, the delicious food was ready.

“... A genius is a remarkable thing isn't it”

Having understood the circumstances, Shizuka smiled wryly. She started to understand Nana's actions. It was most likely much faster for her to do it herself than to teach Yurika. She then used the freed up time to teach Yurika magic. Considering their situation, that was all she could do.

“I think so too now. It looks like Nana-san was always alone”

”... As for you, let's move forward one step at a time, okay?”

”Yes, thank you for your help”

After chatting for a moment, the two got back to practicing. Since Yurika took it very slowly, their dish, pork cutlets, didn't finish for a while longer. However, neither of them were unhappy with that. They were in a situation and with a person, where wasting time was allowed. If anything, that was something fortunate.

Part 12

Maki was well aware of the level of her own cooking, and had given up on becoming one of the top contenders from the start. However, participating with the intention to lose was just too negative. So she gave herself her own victory condition and aimed for that instead. She wanted to do the best she could right now.

“Satomi-kun, what kind of dish would you like to eat?”

Maki asked Koutarou with a wide smile during a break. Koutarou sighed a little and held his head.

“... Aika-san, did you come here to do some unfair play?”

As Koutarou was a judge, asking for his preference was an obvious rule violation. So it was only natural for him to hold his head.

“It's fine isn't it? With my skills, I can't win anyways, so at least I want to satisfy one of the judges”

The victory condition Maki had set for herself was to get at least one of the judges to say that her food was delicious. In cooking, experience played a huge part. In that regards it was the same as magic. That's why Maki believed that she wouldn't be able to satisfy many of the judges. However, she might be able to satisfy one. And if it was just one, it wouldn't affect the outcome of the cook-off. The reason that one was Koutarou was to have him leak the contents of the examination later. That was the reason for Maki's unfair play.

“I understand how you feel, but this isn't something praiseworthy”

Normally, Maki should be stopped, but like she said, the top contenders were pretty much already decided, and Maki was sadly not one of them. In other words, she could either participate without unfair play, just to pad up the numbers, or participate with unfair play to at least get the praise of one of the judges. So Koutarou couldn't be too harsh with her.

“If I seriously wanted to cheat I could just use magic”

”... That's right. Okay, I'll work with you”

Koutarou was hesitant for a moment, until he remembered that Maki was a magical girl. If she really wanted to play unfair, she could just use her magic. However, Maki wouldn't do that. So Koutarou understood she had no intentions of messing with the placement. She really just wanted him to say her food was good.

“So, what kind of dish would you like to eat, Satomi-kun?”

Maki asked once more with a wide smile.

“Let's see...”

Begged by Maki, Koutarou began thinking of what he wanted to eat. The first things that popped into his mind were things he rarely got to eat.

“Something like hamburgers or hotdogs. And big ones at that”

”You're fine with something like that?”

Maki was surprised with Koutarou's unexpected answer. Koutarou laughed and whispered to Maki.

“I'm getting three meals a day, so I rarely get any chances to eat junk food. I'm happy for the homemade food, but sometimes I feel like having some junk food too you know?”

Koutarou's current eating habits consisted of homemade dishes. As a result, he rarely ever got a chance to eat junk food. The only times he could was when he and the other guys went out to play. Which was why Koutarou replied to Maki's question with hamburgers or hotdogs.

“I see, so that's why. Fufufu”

Having understood the circumstances, Maki smiled. If she were to summarize Koutarou's request, it was that he wanted to escape from his healthy eating habits every now and again.

Now that I think about it, Satomi-kun liked traditional cola

Lately, he would drink healthy drinks, but Koutarou liked the unhealthy ones more. Looking at that, Maki could accept that he'd like junk food too.

“This has been a very big help, thank you, Satomi-kun”

”Do your best. I rarely get to eat junk food, so don't get some high quality meat and make something elegant”

“I know. The ones that are bad for your body, right?”

”That's right. That's what I want”

”Fufufu, okay”

Having found her chance in the cook-off, Maki pumped herself up. Since there would be few participants who would attack through this route, there was a high chance that Koutarou would praise her. All that was left was how close she could get to Koutarou's ideal junk food, the taste of unhealthy food.

Part 13

Polishing your skills before challenging a cook-off was inevitable. In order to create a delicious dish, cooking skills were required. However, amongst the many participants, there was one who had abandoned that inevitable approach. That was the second princess of the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire, Clariossa Daora Forthorthe.

“Fufufufufu... It's ridiculous to rely on cooking by hand in this age of science!”

Clan was trying to start a revolution in the cooking world using the theory she had created herself. What she was aiming for was applying nanotechnology to cooking. For that sake, two inventions were needed. The first was an automated cooking machine that made use of nano machines. The second was nano machine seasoning that interacted with the taste buds to create the ultimate taste. With these two inventions, she should be able to create the ultimate food. Something everyone would call the greatest taste. It would become a new era of cooking.

“Something like pouring love or sincerity into your dish is unscientific! I will abide to pure science and create the ultimate dish!!”

Clan operated a computer and worked on the program for the nano machines. Her hands flowed smoothly, operating the keyboard like a pianist operated a piano, and before long she had written tens of thousands of lines of code. Yet at the same time it was a beautiful program written through pure logic and without any waste.

“Let's start with curry! However, this curry will become the first step on my way to conquering the world!”

In the current state, the nano machines were programmed to create curry rice. However, the program would eventually be expanded on, and be used in all kinds of dishes. Clan's ambition was that before long, these nanomachines would dominate the cooking world.

“Just you wait, Bertorion! You said I couldn't cook, but I'll make you eat those words!”

However, Clan hadn't noticed that her ambitions, supported by her feelings to triumph over Koutarou, only existed because of love. In the end, she was pouring her own love into the cooking, but having lost herself to wild emotions, she didn't notice that until the end.

Part 14

Just like the entrants to the cook-off had a meeting, so did the judges. Having been chosen as judges, Koutarou and Kenji had come to the student council room on the afternoon of a certain day to hold a meeting. Apart from Koutarou and Kenji, many more were gathered here. From within the school was the principal, a popular female teacher, the student council president, a known athlete and so on. From outside the school was a chairman, a swordsmith and so on. The composition of the people in the room was wide in variety and filled with famous people in the region.

“I have gathered you all here today to talk about the schedule and the progress of the cook-off that everyone is helping with”

The person in charge was the president of the cooking society. Her voice and expression were stiff. That was because she had only just been appointed president, and she was surrounded by famous people. Being thrust into a big job right away, it was only obvious she'd get nervous.

“If you find something questionable as I speak, feel free to ask. Then first off―”

The president swiftly got down to business. As so many people had gathered, the amount of time the meeting could be held wasn't all that long. She had to hurry.

The cook-off would be held on the second day off the culture festival, on November 3. At first the plans had been to make it a small event, but with Kiriha intervening, it turned into a big event before long. Right now it had become the last event to finish off the culture festival.

Considering the time it would take to cook and judge, the cook-off was expected to take four hours. Taking the season into account, it would get cold in the afternoon, so the event was set to start at 12, so it would end before it starts getting dark. The venues would be the gym and the home economics classroom. The opening ceremony and judging would take place in the gym, while the actual cooking would be done in the home economics classroom. A large monitor would be installed in the gym to display the progress of the participants in real time. The judges would be observing them from their seats made for them on the gym's platform.

In total there were 24 participants of the cook-off, gathered from inside and outside of the school. Age, gender and occupation are all varied, and there were even pros amongst them. They were the strongest contenders, gathered to prove that they were the best cook.

The rules of the cook-off were simple. Cooking had to be completed and judged within three hours. Ingredients were prepared for them, but prior preparation or bringing in your own ingredients was allowed to a certain extent. The rules were rather loose as this was just a culture festival cook-off.

The judging would be performed by ten judges, each capable of giving up to ten points, for a total of 100. Something that tasted normal was five points, something delicious was seven and something bad was three. With that as the basic mindset, the judges were free to add or remove three points at their own discretion. For example, something normal tasting was five points, but with a very nice looking dish, it was worth seven points. This was also a very free way to grade the dishes.

Once every dish was finished with the judging, or time was up, the cook-off would end. This was the one strict rule of the otherwise rather free cook-off. With the post-festival celebrations waiting, there would be no extensions.

Once judging was over, the top six scorers would be brought up on the stage and commended. On top of that, the top three would get trophies. The school was now full of discussion over who would become the glorious first champion.

The president politely explained how the event would play out. Several questions were brought up on the way, but fortunately, there was no major confusion and the meeting ended without a hitch. When it ended, the time was past 3PM. With time to spare, Koutarou and Kenji headed out towards the station.

“By the way, Kou, do you have some business around the station?”

”The situation is looking suspect, so I was thinking of getting some insurance”

”Insurance?”

”Ah, here it is”

Koutarou took Kenji with him to the biggest drugstore in the city. There was something he wanted to buy there.

“Did you hurt yourself or something?”

The first thing that popped into Kenji's mind was that Koutarou had hurt himself somewhere. Being as active as he was, Koutarou would get hurt every now and then. So salves and bandages were indispensable.

“No”

”Then are you sick... I guess that would never happen”

Koutarou had never been truly sick. At worst he had caught a cold or two.

“Of course not”

“Then what are you buying? Just general goods?”

”Nope, this”

Koutarou brought Kenji with him to the medicine shelves. More specifically, the corner centered around remedies.

“Are you sure you're really not sick?”

“I'll be getting sick after the cook-off”

”Huh?”

Not understanding what Koutarou meant, his eyes widened behind his glasses. Koutarou pulled off a box from the shelf and presented it to Kenji.

“We will without a doubt get sick after the contest. That's why this will be needed”

”Stomach medicine... w-wait a second, what do you mean!?”

Kenji received the box and read the label. Koutarou had given him one of the most expensive stomach medicines.

“You know that Theia and the others are participating, right?”

”Yeah... they're participating because of Kasagi-san”

”But only about half of them can actually cook”

“What about the other half?”

“They're time bombs. Those bombs will probably go off on November 3”

”Whaaat!?”

Kenji was finally able to understand the situation. Koutarou had come here to buy stomach medicine in preparation for the bombs. He felt it was so dangerous he didn't even hesitate to go with the expensive brand.

“Wait, wait, are you sure!?”

”Yeah, that's kinda how it looked. So Mackenzie, make sure you're in good shape for the day”

”Kou, you...”

Kenji was surprised. However, his surprise wasn't because of the girls making something dangerous. Instead, it was because this indirectly pointed to a certain fact.

“Hey, Kou, you realized you just said an explosive statement right?”

“Explosive? Yeah, I guess I did”

Koutarou nodded. He had indeed said that half of the girls cooking were like time bombs.

“That's not what I meant. Your explosive statement is about your relationship with women”

”I didn't say anything about that”

”No, you did. You're fully aware of how good those girls are at cooking. If you weren't, you couldn't make that kind of statement”

“Well, I guess. I've been with them more than a year and a half after all”

”Idiot. If you can judge their skills, it means you’re eating their homemade food daily, or associated with them long enough to get a grasp of their skills”

“That's an explosive statement?”

“Of course it is. Not even I know the true cooking skills of the girls I've been with”

This was something only Kenji could understand from his experience of dating several different girls.

In this day and age it was difficult to understand the true cooking skills of a girl you were going out with. There were dishes that you only needed to throw on a pan, and tools were included when making sweets. Moreover, Kenji had even experienced one of the girls buying cookies from the supermarket, putting them in the oven and burning them a little, only to have her go 'I made these myself, but I messed up a little!'.

In other words, cooking skills weren't something you'd get a grasp of from dating a little. And when it came to someone with a terrible personality, they would use anything they could to make themselves look better.

“Yet you properly understand their abilities. In other words, you pretty much just said that you're going out with all of them”

”Of course not, I'm not like you. You can understand that just by associating with them as friends”

Koutarou didn't struggle. If they were talking about someone he had just met and started dating, Kenji might be correct, but Koutarou and the girls of room 106 weren't like that. They had been on bad terms at first, so they knew of each others' good and bad sides. Because their relationship had changed gradually over a long period of time, Kenji's reasoning wouldn't apply.

“Besides, Mackenzie, you know how good at cooking I am, right? It's just like that”

“... Well, I guess”

Kenji smiled wryly and nodded, but he was thinking something different.

The moat around his heart is starting to get filled up...

If the girls around Koutarou had taken the same path as Kenji, then another nine Kenjis would appear. And the girls would move to prove that they would never disappear. Just like Kenji had.

But Kou. Even if their entrance and process are the same as mine, it doesn't mean the exit will be the same. You probably don't get it...

However, there was one fundamental difference between Kenji and the girls, which was their method of proving they would never disappear would be more like that of a girl's. And as a result, Koutarou's relationship with the girls would become special. While protecting their mask of being just friends, they would get closer than anyone else.

“What are you laughing at?”

”It's nothing. So, Kou, you're buying that?”

“Of course. That's why I came”

“You're fine with one?”

”Let's get enough for all of the judges”

”Then another box it is”

Kenji chose not to say it out loud. That way would be more fun, and it was his small revenge for being called a lady killer.

Part 15

November 3 was fortunately blessed with good weather from the morning. There was also no worrisome cold, the sun was bright, the sky was blue, by afternoon the temperature had steadily increased.

“Now then everyone, it's what you've all been waiting for. It's time for the Kitsushouharukaze high school's cook-off!”

The former president of the cooking society's voice echoed through the venue as the event MC. Koutarou was sitting at the far end of the judges seats, listening to the voice coming out from the speakers.

“The cook-off is a simple contest between those from, and outside of, our school who are confident in their cooking skills”

The former president was standing on the same stage as Koutarou and the others holding a microphone, explaining the outline of the contest to the people gathered in the gym. Her smooth talking was the result of a lot of training.

“There are only two important points! Does it look good, and is it actually good! Will there be a dish that can make the stomachs of our ten judges growl? Or will they end up growling in disappointment instead! The ones with the answer to that are our 24 contestants waiting for the start signal in the home economics classroom!”

The big monitor behind the president displayed the situation in the home economics classroom. It was the relay system the Kitsushouharukaze broadcasting club and the shopping district's youth association had worked together to create.

The monitor was currently displaying the contestants. A total of 24. The majority of them were students from the school, but some of them were outsiders. There were people from the restaurants in the shopping district or simply people who loved cooking. By the way, Clan was one of those outsider participants.

“The contestants will be required to use the ingredients produced in this town that we have provided, and some ingredients they've brought in themselves, to create a dish and have it judged within three hours time. In the case that they don't make it in time, they will be failed, so adding in the time required to judge, they will have to create their dish in roughly two hours! Handling this time limit will be one of the important points for this cook-off”

After the camera filming the home economics classroom slowly panned across the room to show all of the participants, it stopped in one of the corners of the room. The ingredients for the cook-off were piled up there. These ingredients came from the cooperation of the shopping district, so on the bottom of the monitor was a note saying 'In cooperation with – Kitsushouharukaze shopping district'.

“Then let's move on to introducing the participants! First off is the pride of the cooking society, the new president―”

Once the ingredients were shown and the overall presentation was finished, they moved onto to introducing the individual participants. This would introduce the 24 participants, but out of those 24, nine of them were related to Koutarou. And before too many had been introduced, a familiar face filled up the monitor.

“Entry number 4, our society's strong arm, Kasagi Shizuka-chan!”

”Could you stop that, senpai!”

”Despite having a black belt in karate, she strives to perfect cooking as well. A rare girl striving for perfection in both literary and martial arts. In this contest, we're secretly hoping she'll split a pumpkin with her bare hands”

”I won't split one!”

The first to appear on screen was Shizuka. While it was hard to say it was an introduction, their back and forth let Koutarou know how Shizuka stood with the rest of the cooking society. He believed they probably had a lot of fun during club activities.

“Let's move on to the next contestant before the camera is split in half too!”

”Maybe I really should split it...”

Replacing the mumbling Shizuka, a girl with long black hair appeared on screen. It was Kiriha's turn now.

“Entry number 5, Kurano Kiriha-san!”

”I'm Kurano. Thank you for having me here today”

”Kurano-san is good friends with Shizuka-chan from before, and ended up participating at Shizuka-chan's request. But you can't underestimate her! According to Shizuka-chan's information, Kurano-san performs all housework perfectly, and is the perfect wife material. Of course, her cooking skills are terrifying”

”My... if you flatter me that much I'll blush”

“With this modest and graceful personality, even I'd like to marry her! I imagine even more will feel the same depending on the outcome of this contest!”

Kiriha continued hiding her true self at school. Up until now, not a single one had seen through her. Even now, she didn't let down her guard and allow for her act to slip up for even a moment.

“Moving on is entry number 6! Sakuraba Harumi-san!”

”U-Uhm, I'm Sakuraba Harumi. I'll do my best today!”

Unlike Kiriha, Harumi was full of openings. Having suddenly been called out as she was happily watching Kiriha, her voice trembled. She had less resistance to appearing in front of people, but even then, she was unused to interviews. As a result, she gave off the atmosphere of a normal girl.

“Sakuraba-san appeared as the main heroine of the plays the drama club put on last year, and as a result started attracting attention. Even now she is rising in popularity as the girl everyone wants to protect. It appears that a lot of fans have gathered in the venue. Sakuraba-san, please say something to everyone at the venue”

”Uhm... I might be nervous, but I will do my utmost. Everyone, please cheer for me”

At the end she was somewhat able to recover, as she smiled with her usual calm smile and bowed deeply. As she did, a stir began running in the gym. It seemed that there really were fans there.

“Thank you very much, Sakuraba-san. Next up is entry number 7. Higashihongan Sanae-san!”

”Today, this Higashihongan Sanae will seize victory!”

Completely opposite of Harumi, Sanae boldly made her victory declaration. That said, only half of her was being bold. From what Koutarou could tell, it was Sanae-chan speaking, with Sanae-san keeping back. Being introverted, Sanae-san would leave this part to Sanae-chan.

“That was Higashihongan-san with a powerful comment, but she comes from a family that run a shrine with a long history and tradition and she's received rigorous training to become a wife since childhood. Her comment just now is definitely not just hot air. She might be this contest's dark horse!”

”I'm the favorite, the favorite! Everyone, place your bets on me!”

”Ahahaha, don't actually place any bets! We from the cooking society strive to run a clean and right contest”

“Anyways, I will win win!”

“Thank you very much. That was the very confident Higashihongan Sanae-san”

Sanae acted the same as always, and didn't seem all that nervous.

Sanae might unexpectedly actually win this...

Normally, one would have a hard time performing at their usual peak due to the pressure of a large contest. However, Sanae in her natural state was unaffected by that, so she might actually win.

“... Hey, Kou”

That was when Kenji, who was sitting next to Koutarou, poked at him at whispered so only he could hear.

“What?”

”It doesn't seem as dangerous as you said it was”

It looked to Kenji like Shizuka, Kiriha and Harumi all knew how to cook. He also felt like he had seen them bring homemade lunches with them. The only unknown element was Sanae, but she had good intuition, so he couldn't imagine her making anything too dangerous.

“The problem starts from here on”

Koutarou smiled wryly as the next person appeared on the monitor.

“Next we have students from overseas! Since they’re childhood friends we'll introduce them together! They are Theiamillis-san and Ruthkania-san!”

The ones that appeared on the monitor were Theia and Ruth. Since she'd end up explaining it twice otherwise, the former president decided to introduce them together.

“I'm Theiamillis. Feel free to call me Theia”

“My name is Ruth. I thank you for having me and Theia-sama here”

”The two of them transferred to this school together last year. The two are very excellent, Theiamillis-san especially so at sports, and Ruthkania-san especially so at mathematics. With this event being centered around cooking, we hope to catch a glimpse of another side of them”

Theia stood proud and bold, while Ruth held back in a more modest fashion. The leading part this time around was Theia, everyone was able to sense that from the way the two were standing.

“Are those two dangerous?”

“Theia is the dangerous one. She's grown up as a very pampered rich girl, so eating is her specialty”

”Ahh, Theia-san does look like she'd hate detailed work”

Kenji had also noticed Theia's rough edge. It was something one would notice after being in the same class for a year and a half. Her handwriting was dynamic and very manly. Moreover, when cleaning, her broom handling is rather rough. So it was hard to believe that Theia would be good at cooking when it required a more delicate touch.

“Right? Her cooking is dangerous, I guarantee it. Be prepared”

”I see”

“The next one is even more dangerous”

Having understood what Koutarou meant, Kenji nodded as Koutarou pointed to the monitor. While the two had been talking, the person on display had changed.

“The next contestant is this person! When mentioning the cosplay society, you think of this person, everyone's beloved Nijino Yurika-san!”

“I'm Nijino Yurika. Uhm, uhm, I will do my best to create something delicious”

“I'm sure an explanation is unnecessary for this person. Now, everyone, please cheer for Yurika-chan!”

As she would be forced to participate and suffer at every school event, Yurika was already a school celebrity. And contrasting to Yurika's intentions, her misfortune made her popular.

“Nijino-san is participating too!?”

The moment Kenji saw Yurika's face his expression cramped up. He had convinced himself that Yurika definitely wouldn't participate because he knew just how clumsy she was.

“That's right. And as judges, we have to eat her cooking”

“Impossible!?”

”... So you've finally understood our reality, Mackenzie”

“Kou, give me some of that medicine too!”

”You should have just said so from the start”

Koutarou passed Kenji three tablets of the medicine under the table so that the audience couldn't see. Kenji tried to take them right away but Koutarou stopped him.

“Stop, they're meant to be drunk after eating”

”Okay, thank you. I'm grateful for your consideration”

”As long as you understand”

Kenji placed the medicine he received in a tissue and carefully put it away in his pocket. Those three tablets were his only life lines now.

“We also have another contender from the cosclub, and her name is Aika Maki! She is an old friend of Yurika's, and when cosplaying she will often serve as the villain. This time around she will technically be Yurika's rival again, so let's hear what she has to say!”

“Uhm, I'm not good at cooking as everyone else, but I have set my own goal and I will do my best to achieve that”

”Good girl! What a good girl! Please don't forget this even when she's acting as a villain during cosplaying!”

The introduction of participants moved on to Maki after Yurika. After listening to her introduction, Kenji poked Koutarou once more.

“Kou, what about Aika-san?”

”Aika-san knows she's bad at cooking. That's why she probably won't do anything unreasonable”

”Which means, even if she does poorly, it'll just taste bad”

”I don't think we have to worry about Aika-san. Her chocolate wasn't that bad either”

“As long as it's edible”

Having learned that Yurika would participate, Kenji began feeling that he was in danger during this cook-off, and he started getting really sensitive regarding each of the participants.

Should I tell him or not...

Koutarou knew of one participant that might be even more dangerous than Yurika. Since this was something Kenji had no way of knowing, he was wondering if he should tell him or not.

“And now we move on to the non students! First up is Clariossa-san! She is a relative of Theiamillis-san, and decided to participate while she had come over to play!”

”Nice to meet you, my name is Clariossa. Today I would like to you show my version of going all out, so please keep your expectations high”

That person more dangerous than Yurika was none other than Clan. She couldn't do any housework whatsoever. From his experience with her in the past Forthorthe, Koutarou knew that better than anyone else. Unlike Theia, she was completely and fully bred as a princess.

That alone would have been fine, but ever since it was decided that Clan would participate in the cook-off, she had for some reason shut herself in her laboratory. She also wouldn't say what she was doing in there. From that, Koutarou started feeling a fear of Clan's cooking.

But, oh well, even if I tell him, there's nothing he can do... so I guess I'll just keep quiet

In the end, Koutarou didn't divulge his information on Clan. Right now he only had his intuition to go on and even if he told Kenji, it would only make him worry more, but the situation wouldn't change at all. In that case, he might feel more at ease just thinking that Yurika was the only real danger.

Once the introduction of the 24 participants was done, they moved onto the introductions of the judges. Because Koutarou and Kenji were sitting in one of the corners, their introductions were left to the last. As Koutarou was free until it was his turn he let out a yawn as the introductions reached Kenji.

“Our ninth judge is Matsudaira Kenji-kun! The drama club's ace who will handle any handsome roles! The second generation Blue Knight-sama!”

“Mackenzie-kun!”

”Push shoulder to shoulder with Satomi-kun!”

”Okay, okay... come on Kou, smile, smile”

”Kyaa, it's kinda like that!”

As the MC presents Kenji, cheers came from audience in the gym. Since Kenji responded to those cheers, the gym started to become an uproar. This was influenced by the Blue Knight and the Silver Princess being performed with a new cast.

“... Talk about popularity”

In response to Kenji's popularity, Koutarou moved past surprise and straight into admiration. He was popular with the girls to begin with, but after showing off a flawless performance at the play, he secured many more fans.

But that's a big help in a certain way

And this wasn't bad for Koutarou either. If Kenji's reputation improved, Koutarou as the Blue Knight would start to vanish from people's memories. If possible, he didn't want to be known for acting as himself, so he welcomed this situation.

“You don't get it, Kou”

“Huh?”

”There's plenty of girls using me to get to you because you're hard to talk to”

”That's not true”

”The girls that like you are always like that, and they have always been like that too”

As Koutarou and Kenji lined up shoulder to shoulder, the girls would naturally call out to Kenji. However there was often those who went through Kenji because they didn't know how to talk to Koutarou. Kenji misunderstanding that and confessing to them only to get rejected was something that had happened more than once. That's why Kenji suspected some of the girls cheering at him were fans of Koutarou's.

“Nowadays that couldn't be true”

“We'll find out who's right very soon”

While Koutarou didn't agree, Kenji was confident. And they should find out when Koutarou was introduced.

“And finally, our tenth and final judge is this person! The legendary first generation Blue Knight who is still brought up as a topic every now and then, Satomi Koutarou-kun!”

The moment the former president introduced Koutarou, the gym that had been noisy up until now quieted down. Responding to the female students shutting their mouths, everyone in the gym fell silent. They were most likely puzzled.

“See, I told you. I'm not like you, everyone's already forgotten about me”

”That's strange, that shouldn't―”

Just as Kenji was about to make a rebuttal, the gym that had fallen silent erupted.

“Kyaaaaaaa!!”

”Blue Knight-samaaaaa!!”

Koutarou wasn't as good looking or minded his manners as well as Kenji. But the girls in the venue still hadn't forgotten about the parting scene between the Silver Princess and the Blue Knight. The large-scale event helped to push the backs of the girls who usually only looked on from afar. Their cheers were indeed directed towards Koutarou. Even a year later, Koutarou's performance of the Blue Knight was still burned into their memories.

“... Give them a wave, Kou”

”Y-Yeah...”

Whilst puzzled, Koutarou waved his hands as Kenji directed him to. As he did, the gym heated up even more. The end results were precisely what Shizuka had hoped for, but Koutarou still couldn't believe it.

“I understand how you feel, but please calm down everyone! Today is a cook-off. The stars of this show are our 24 participants!”

Thanks to the efforts of the MC, the venue started to calm down, and as if waiting for that, the monitor lit up again and displayed the 24 participants standing by their kitchen counter. All of the participants seemed nervous, and their expressions were serious. Seeing that, the people of the venue started raising their voices for the contest.

“Then I believe it's about time we begin! The glorious first annual Kitsushouharukaze high school cook-off! Start cooking!!”

Kenji's and Koutarou's popularity was certainly impressive, but the shouts and cheers as the contest were the largest yet.

Part 16

As the cook-off began, the multiple cameras set up in the home economics classroom captured the participants cooking. The former president and a cooking expert from the city explained as they cooked. They were keeping the crowd entertained until the cooking was complete.

“The ones standing out are as expected the three from the cooking society. Everything from how they wash their vegetables and handle a kitchen knife gives off a good feel”

”You've done it everyone, you're getting praise from Kashiwabara-sensei! Keep it up!”

The first ones displayed were the three members of the cooking society. Including Shizuka, they were two second years and one first year. Their ardent training every day paid off as the sight of them cooking gave the cooking expert a favorable impression of them.

“Kashiwabara-sensei, are there any other participants that catch your eye?”

“In a good sense, or a bad sense? Which would you like to hear first”

”Then let's start with the good”

”Entry number 5 and... 9 perhaps”

”Number 5 is Kurano-san and number 9 is Ruthkania-san”

“I believe these two are very used to cooking. Their movements are very functional and beautiful. In terms of students of the school, these two probably rival the cooking society”

”And what of those that aren't students?”

“I would say number 24, the master of the shopping district's 'Bird Stop'. He's very immature. If the head of that long-established chicken restaurant gets serious, there's no way students could beat him”

“I've heard he's here to display his new menu. And if he were to win, he'll pull some foul play to disqualify himself”

”If he's disqualified then ranking would move up after all. He sure is reliable...”

The big favorite was the owner of a chicken restaurant. Following him was the cooking society, and then Kiriha and Ruth. The cooking expert expected the rest to bunch up together.

“Then, how about the bad participants, Kashiwabara-sensei?”

”That would be number 10 by far. And also number 8”

”Number 10 is Yurika-chan, number 8 is Theiamillis-san. Yurika-chan was expected, but―”

“What is expected supposed to mean!?”

”What is so bad about Theiamillis-san?”

“Yes, well she is a complete beginner. It feels like she is struggling to do as she has been taught. Then there's her form when holding the knife. It looks less like cooking, and more like some kind of military arts”

“As you say, it certainly seems like the cabbage being cut up by Theiamillis-san would let out a scream”

“However, her overall dish might not be bad”

”It sounded from your tone that she would fail though”

”Well, she's chosen a good menu. She's picked dishes that even a beginner would have a hard time failing. With that strategic eye of hers, it might be enough for a competition of this level”

“In other words, she's aiming to win on a strategic level then. And as for Yurika-chan―”

”She is simply out of the question”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeh!? Why would you say something like that!?”

”For starters, she's not focusing on her cooking”

”You're right. It seems like she's more interested in us talking”

“Ugh”

“On top of that, there's her extreme tension. Can you see her hands trembling?”

”They sure are shaking. It looks like she'd easily cut far past what she wants, just looking at her makes me nervous”

”I'm still doing my best here!!”

”So let's stop talking about her. I feel my life span shortening just by watching”

“I agree”

“Uhh, t-this is too cruel”

In the battle for last place, Yurika was currently in the lead by a wide margin. Just looking at her, Yurika gave off an aura that told others that 'yup, she'll probably place last'. When it came to skill, Theia was only just above Yurika, but her choice of menu helped cover her weakness. The expert's opinion was that on a whole, Theia probably wouldn't place last.

“Then are there any other participants that catch your eye?”

“Number 7 and 12”

“That's Higashihongan Sanae-san and Clariossa-san”

”Just what is going on with these two?”

“What do you mean?”

“For starters, that number 7 girl... what she's doing is absurd. The way she's holding her chopsticks is strange, and the way she's whisking makes it look like she's a child playing with water”

“Now that you mention it... calling it childish mischief does seem fitting”

”Yet despite that, her cooking is following the rudiments of cooking theory. How she mixes her ingredients, the order of seasoning, the temperature of the oven. I don't get her”

”It's certainly a mysterious spectacle”

What was causing confusion for the cooking expert and the MC was the two personalities of Sanae. Sanae-san was the one who led the way, though because of her introverted personality, she couldn't surface in a place like this where she'd gather so much attention. So instead, Sanae-chan was working under Sanae-san's instructions. That's why her actions didn't match her results, creating an odd sight. Everyone apart from Koutarou and the others of room 106 couldn't help but look on in confusion.

“Then how about number 12, Clariossa-san?”

“Her cooking isn't cooking at all. I don't want to say it, but that's on the level of magic or psychic powers”

”... Huh?”

”Just look at her. She seems to be about to peel the potatoes”

“Okay...”

And the one that confused the people at the venue even more than Sanae was Clan.

“She pulled out a pan. Will she be throw away the skin in that, or will she put the potatoes in there instead?”

“Neither”

”Eh? Wait, aahhh!? She put the potatoes in the pan like that―!!”

“She hasn't even cleaned them”

”Clariossa-san started shaking the pan seemingly without thinking!!”

“That'd be the correct method if she was making kofukiimo [3], but this is where it gets interesting”

”Clariossa-san removed the lid on her pan and is placing the potatoes on a cutting― wait, whaaat!? What is going on!!”

”That's right, for some reason, the skin has been peeled off, and the potatoes have been cut into cubes”

“What an unbelievable sight! I can't think of this as cooking! It must be some trick, or magic... anyways, it's something different from cooking! What an unexpected development!!”

Only a few on the venue could correctly understand the eccentric behavior Clan was repeating. Koutarou was one of those few.

That idiot! So that's what she was making!!

He understood it was one of Clan's inventions right away. Though he couldn't even imagine how it worked, he was certain it made use of some advanced science. It might have looked like a pan, but it was actually something completely different.

“It seems like she intends to only cook using that pan”

“What can I say... I want that pan”

”Agreed. If this is a sales demonstration, it's a big success”

It looked like the cook-off was in for a wild ride. For better or for worse, nobody could look away. The excitement of the spectators watching over the cooking was growing non stop.

Part 17

Surprisingly, the first one to finish her dish and receive judging was Theia. While her handling might have been unsteady, her menu was simple and optimized in regards to time. Theia placed her finished dish on trays and put them down before the judges. Due to the seat order, the last tray was placed in front of Koutarou.

“Oh, a cold shabu-shabu with a potato potage, there's something in the rice too. What is it?”

”It's chicken and root vegetables. The seasoning is very European you see”

“Hmm, you've put some thought into this”

”I'm aware of my own limits. Out of the strategies I could perform, these are the top three. Besides, the first meal is the most delicious”

Koutarou listened to a very Theia-esque explanation as he carried the food to his mouth. Theia silently stared at him as he did. Her uneasy appearance made her look like a child giving away a birthday present for the first time.

“How is it? Delicious?”

“Yeah... wait, I can't answer that!”

”R-Right. Sorry”

Theia wanted to know what Koutarou thought and instinctively asked him, but this was a cook-off. The judges couldn't reveal their scores yet.

“I'll start by eating, so just wait like a good girl”

”O-Okay. I'll just do that. Phew...”

Though she hadn't gotten an answer, Theia felt some relief. When she thought about it, Koutarou's expression when he took a bite wasn't that bad. At the very least, it wasn't too bad, so she could breathe out.

Part 18

The next contender was Maki. Her simple menu made her finish up fast, but she hadn't practiced as much as Theia had, so she ended up coming out second.

“Oh, so Aika-san's made hot dogs and fries. That's right, this is what I want to eat”

”I've tried matching the seasoning to you too, Satomi-kun”

In Maki's case, her primary goal was to match her dish to Koutarou's tastes as much as possible. For that sake, she had spent a lot of time researching his tastes, leaving her less time to practice on cooking. As a result, she ended up finishing after Theia, despite having the simplest menu of the participants.

“It's totally foul play though”

”It's fine isn't it. It's not like all ten judges are going to praise me anyways, so I at least wanted one of the judges to give me ten points”

Not only were the ingredients for Maki's hot dogs picked to match Koutarou's tastes, but so was the cooking method and seasoning, and the dish was fully made to match him. The surface was crusty, with an extra helping of salt and pepper. The cabbage stuffed into the bread alongside the hot dog was not raw, but stir-fried, and it had a smell of butter. The fries had been lightly sprinkled with curry powder and had a spicy taste. The taste overall was thick, so apart from Koutarou, the overall appraisal shouldn't be that high. It was only fair as the dish was made with just Koutarou in mind.

“How many points I give you is a secret”

“Yeah. But I believe you'll give me a good score”

Maki's innocent smile tugged at Koutarou's heart. Almost to the point where he'd instinctively give her ten points. However, some sadness accompanied her innocence. Though Koutarou had to disregard all of that when he graded her, it was a truly troublesome dish.

Part 19

The third contender was Ruth. From now on the dishes started getting more complicated. Her dish consisted of omelette with rice and a vegetable soup. As Koutarou saw the food being carried in, his eyes sparkled.

“Alright, it's omelette with rice!”

”Please calm down, Ma―, uhm, Satomi-sama. The food won't run away”

Ruth said as she poked a flag through the omelette with rice she just put down.

“So it's your cooking, Ruth-san. It looks great

“My my, ufufufu”

”Then let's start right away!”

”Yes, please eat up”

The omelette with rice already looked delicious, and it was made by Ruth. Even the flag was fluttering. So Koutarou began eating the omelette with rice at the same pace he usually did.

”Yeah, this is good”

”Satomi-sama, you can't divulge your evaluation now”

”Right”

Using tomato puree and chicken, Ruth had made chicken pilaf, which she lightly stir-fried to adjust the taste, she then wrapped it with a buttered up soft-boiled egg. Carefully made demi-glace sauce had been poured on top of the dish. It was a so-called luxurious omelette with rice.

The stock of the vegetable soup had been made using the bones of a chicken, creating a consommé. The ingredients put into it were things like onion and celery, things with a refreshing taste. As the omelette with rice was thick, the soup was made light to balance it out.

No matter how you looked at it, there was no way it was bad. However, considering his position, Koutarou couldn't give out a detailed impression right now. There were still more dishes to be judged.

“If you don't stop there, you won't have enough room to eat the other dishes”

“I see. What a shame”

Koutarou saying it was a shame was practically the same as giving his opinion on the dish. So Ruth looked happily at Koutarou who had begun writing on the examination note.

Part 20

Shizuka appeared after two more dishes after Ruth's had been judged. She had brought with her a pork cutlet set meal. Her cooking was faithful to the basics, and she'd made a meat dish to appeal to the male judges. It was clear that it tasted delicious just from the mere sight of the beautifully presented dish. The ability of the cooking society's ace was being demonstrated.

“If you put sesame seeds on top of the sauce like this, the aftertaste will change a little. It will become somewhat more fragrant”

“A detailed twist isn't it”

“We're the cooking society because we research these kinds of things”

”You have a point”

As a finishing touch, Shizuka grinded up sesame seeds before the judges and sprinkled it over the pork cutlet's sauce. With that, Shizuka's cooking not only changed the taste, but also served as entertainment.

“We'll have no choice but to give this a high score”

”Thank you. However, personally, my score won't be decided by this”

”What do you mean”

”I'm talking about Yurika-chan. My challenge this time around is just how close Yurika-chan's cooking will get to this”

If she only wanted to win the contest, Shizuka probably would have chosen another dish. However, as it would also serve as guidance for Yurika, she chose this. Her goal this time around was to get Yurika to overcome the biggest obstacle when it came to deep-fried food.

“I've done my best to beat the recipe for pork cutlets into Yurika-chan's head for this past month. So keep your expectations high”

Shizuka said as she smiled. Her smile was overflowing with her wish for Yurika to put up a good fight.

“You're taking care of others as always, landlord-san”

”Maybe that's just in my nature. Also... I'm currently in my best weight, so I have more confidence”

Shizuka whispered the latter half so that others couldn't hear.

“Won't your own happiness get neglected if you're so focused on others?”

“It's fine. You've noticed after all, Satomi-kun”

Like Koutarou said, Shizuka was aware that she was putting herself behind. However, if she didn't do that, her own feelings wouldn't calm down, so up until now she had given up, accepting it as inevitable. But now she believed that this was the correct thing to do. Because she had met someone who noticed that part of her.

“You'll give me some kind words later, right?”

“No I won't”

”Then sit down and hug my knees as I face the wall”

”Okay, okay!”

Shizuka believed that she could become happy the way she was now.

Out of the girls of room 106, Harumi was fifth to appear. She was neither too fast nor too slow, it was a fitting timing for someone like her who was neither prudent nor self/asserted, and Koutarou couldn't keep himself from laughing.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I was just thinking that you're like an honors student even at times like these”

“What is that supposed to mean”

However, when it came to dealing with someone like Koutarou who she had known for a long time, she had learned to become more self-asserting, and she puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction. It was only at times like this that her honors student impression weakened.

“That's just probably who you are”

”Geez, Satomi-kun, you're really mean from time to time”

“That's probably just who I am”

”Satomi-kun!!”

Despite Harumi being angry, she seemed somewhat gentle and adorable. The goodness from within her poured out and weakened her self-assertion. In fact, despite complaining to Koutarou, she was politely handing out her dish. And the salisbury steak placed down in front of Koutarou was about as swollen as Harumi's cheeks. It was her masterpiece filled with cheese.

“It looks very delicious”

”Really?”

And the moment Koutarou spoke just one word of praise, Harumi's expression turned into a smile. Not only was she bad at attacking others, but she was also bad at maintaining her anger.

“... Whoops”

Noticing that she was smiling, Harumi forced an angry expression. However, as she already smile, her expression had no effect at all.

“... Uhm, I don't think you have to force yourself to be angry”

”Alaia-san is saying that 'it's a matter of pride!'”

“Oh? … Then how about this”

Struggling to respond, Koutarou fought back with a funny face. It was a simple gesture consisting of pushing up his cheeks with his hands and changing the shape of his eyes and mouth.

“Puh”

As he did, Harumi almost burst out laughing in an instant. Her angry expression vanished immediately. Harumi's tolerance towards laughter was low as well. Even more so when with someone she completely trusted.

“That's more like it”

“... Geez, Satomi-kun...”

”Since you're so cute, that's an extra three plus points”

”Be more serious, Satomi-kun”

Harumi raised a fist that didn't look like it could harm a fly and scolded Koutarou. It was starting to get hard to keep track of what kind of evaluation this was, but this was fun in its own way, and in the end, Harumi left satisfied.

Part 21

The next one to show up was Kiriha, but Sanae was next to her. However, that Sanae was just Sanae-chan, as she had left Sanae-san back in the home economics classroom.

“How does it look?”

“We're already half ways done”

”Hmm. Then it's about time. I should bring my dish out too”

”Hurry up”

”Oka~y”

Sanae left just as quickly as she came. She had come to survey how the judging was going. That was because her dish would taste better in the latter half of the competition. Unaware of that, Koutarou asked Kiriha, who was setting the table in front of him.

“What did she make?”

“Well, you'll just have to wait and see”

”I guess so”

”For now, only look at me”

“Don't make it sound so weird”

”No, I meant it exactly the way it sounded”

“Hey...”

”Fufufu...”

Kiriha smiled as she put down a bowl of rice in front of Koutarou. With that, all the dishes were set. Kiriha had prepared very common dishes. There was nikujaga, deep-fried tofu, boiled greens with a dressing spinach and finally rice and miso soup. There was nothing special to it, they were standard meals you could find in any home.

“This is awfully plain for you”

”Do I look like that flashy of a woman to you?”

Kiriha reached out and gently pinched the back of Koutarou's hand. It was an action telling him that she was a little upset.

“Since you're hiding your true self at school, I figured you'd come out like that”

”So how do I look in terms of the normal me?”

“It's very much like you”

“Just hearing that is enough. Now, please eat”

Kiriha smiled and urged Koutarou to start the judging. Having him eat the food while it was still warm was standard practice.

“Woah, what is this... wait a second, what about the rest...?”

Koutarou began by drinking the miso soup, but he seemed to notice something there and moved to try the other dishes as well. As he did, he understood that it wasn't just the miso soup.

“This is amazing, I don't know what to say... other than homemade food that must have taken a lot of trouble to make”

“Can you tell?”

”I can't tell any of the detailed points, only the parts that stand out. I see... so this is the challenge you took on, Kiriha-san?”

”That's right”

There was nothing special about Kiriha's homemade cooking. The ingredients and the cooking utensils were all the same as one would use at home. The problem in question was the time. It had clearly been made using more time than one could imagine spending on homemade food. You could call it super-high quality normal food.

Even the miso soup was at that high quality. The stock was very carefully made, and just taking a sip of it spread the fragrance of bonito fish through your entire mouth. Though the seasoning was the usual miso, it wasn't the taste of the typical commercial miso. Instead, several miso had been purchased in an attempt to find the ideal mix. As a result, the taste didn't clash with the stock, but harmonized instead. The ingredients consisted of seaweed and radish, but the radish had been prepared in such a way that it would go down smooth. It was so overwhelmingly high quality one couldn't help but wonder if homemade food really needed to go this far.

“It's amazingly normal― I didn't think I'd ever use these words as praise”

“Then I've done it”

Koutarou couldn't help but obediently praise Kiriha's cooking. It was extremely normal homemade food, that nobody would get tired of eating every day. This was a form of cooking that only Kiriha could pull off.

“But why did you do something like this?”

“I want to spend a life like this. I want to desperately live out a natural life”

“... I can kind of understand that”

”It's also to serve as a handicap towards Theia-dono and the others”

”I see. So it was a good chance to aim for your ideal”

“That's right”

She didn't want anything special, just a normal everyday. She'd do her best to maintain such a lifestyle as that was her ideal life, which had splendidly been recreated on the tray. And since Koutarou had shown his understanding, Kiriha happily smiled.

Part 22

Sanae showed up a little while after Kiriha had left. The judging was already in its latter half, and there was less than an hour remaining of the cook-off. Sanae believed this timing was the best for the judges to try her dish.

“Now, eat up Koutarou! You may eat your fill and praise me like crazy!”

“Hmm... so you made sweets, Sanae”

”Ehehehe, I figured there'd be less competition with sweets and it's around this time you'd like some!”

Sanae had made sweets, and it had been made with an after-meal dessert in mind. A dessert that showed up by the time the judges starting getting sick of food. With that, the change in taste would remain in the judges minds, and she'd have fewer rivals as well. It was Sanae's great plan to seize a top spot with her abilities.

“Surprisingly it's a plan you've used your head for”

”It's time for you to learn of Sanae-chan's true power!”

“Thank you for the food”

”Eat until you're full!! And praise me until you get sick of it!! And while you're at it, increase my allowance!!”

As Sanae excitedly stared at him, Koutarou picked up some of the sweets piled up on the plate and carried them to his mouth. In total there were five different types of sweets. Cream puff, eclair, chocolate mousse, raspberry tart and honey doughnut. They were all on the small size, made so that they could be eaten with ease. They were all things Sanae personally wanted to eat.

“Oh, this is surprisingly properly done”

”Damn straight!”

”This must've been a lot of work”

”No, she knows how to make all of them”

”Oh yeah, I heard you underwent training to become a wife”

“Was it good?”

”I'm not allowed to say yet”

”Hmm”

Sanae swiftly astral projected and clung onto Koutarou's back. If he wasn't allowed to say, she would just ask the voice of his heart directly. Sanae's foul play used very advanced techniques.

”Was it good?”

”Yeah, you did good”

”Ehehehe~, so which one did you like?”

”The éclair I guess. I liked the change in taste more than the cream puff”

”Me too! The way it's covered in chocolate is great, isn't it!”

Koutarou's heart couldn't fully hide his intentions. So with no other choice available, he gave up on persuading Sanae and let her amuse herself with their conversation.

Part 23

Having trained under Shizuka's instructions, Yurika made the same dish as her. However, she brought her dish in an hour after Shizuka. Most likely because of her poor workmanship.

“So you've finally come, Yurika”

“Sorry to keep you waiting”

With less than half an hour of the cook-off left, there were many running in to get their dishes judged, and Yurika was one of them.

“Ooh, it looks normal at least”

To Koutarou's surprise, Yurika's pork cutlets looked like pork cutlets. While the cut was thicker than Shizuka's, it still looked okay, and it hadn't blackened from being fried too long either.

“Ehe, ehehehe, I made extra and picked out the ones that turned out good”

Currently, Yurika's success rate for pork cutlet was around 60%. So her plan was to make 50% more cutlets than there were judges.

She understood her own capabilities after having practiced together with Shizuka.

Now that I think about it, she can pull through when she gets serious. So I guess she got serious about cooking...

When it came to fighting, and studying, Yurika would carry through without fail when she truly had to. Yurika probably demonstrated that side of her this time as well.

“I'm sorry, Yurika”

“Eh? Why?”

“No, it's nothing. Let's hurry up and eat”

“Yes. Hurry before it cools”

Koutarou rearranged his feelings, before reaching out towards the pork cutlet with his chopsticks. It seems like it had just been brought up from the frier as steam was rising from the cuts. Heat had properly passed through the meat and there were no red parts. The smell also helped bring up an appetite. The overall atmosphere was not bad at all.

“Thank you for the food”

”Yes, you're welcome”

Koutarou put the pork cutlet in his mouth and felt the crispy texture of the outer layer. Next he felt a thick taste as the batter and sauce mixed, and finally the soft pork that still had its juices inside of it. It was without a doubt the taste of pork cutlets.

“How is it?”

“Rejoice, Yurika. It's a proper pork cutlet”

”Alright!! Is it good!?”

Being told that her dish was properly made, Yurika's eyes sparkled and she slammed her hands down on Koutarou's table and leaned forward.

“If I tell you that, it wouldn't be an examination”

“Ah, r-right! I'm sorry...”

When Koutarou stopped her, Yurika fell silent and withdrew. But seeing Yurika look so apologetic, Koutarou felt bad for her and followed up a little.

“But Yurika”

“Y-Yes?”

”If you had made this back when you lost that game... I wouldn't have had any complaints”

Yurika's pork cutlet was no match for Shizuka's. The thickness of the outer layer was not uniform, and it also looked like it had been frying for too long. However, it was a proper pork cutlet, and most of all, Koutarou believe it was better than what he himself could do.

“Ah...”

Hearing that, Yurika's face brightened up with a flash and she smiled as she firmly pressed her hands against her chest. Tears started forming in the corner of her eyes.

“Thank you very much! Thank you very much! It was worth all of the effort!”

Yurika wiped away her tears as she thanked Koutarou. She was truly happy. She felt like her feminine part had been acknowledged.

“... Is it really something to cry about?”

“You wouldn't get it, Satomi-san... boys don't...”

The placing does not mattered to Yurika. Just having Koutarou acknowledge her was enough. She had been able to achieve the goal she had been striving for this past month.

Part 24

Yurika repeatedly waved her hand as she left. Seeing her off, Koutarou felt something warm spreading throughout his chest. It was very pleasant seeing someone's efforts bear fruit.

I was thinking too negatively about Yurika...

As a result, Koutarou's expectations had proven wrong. There was no need to buy stomach medicine in preparation for Yurika's cooking. That just showed that Koutarou was still making light of Yurika. However, she was no longer the same as she was. Koutarou felt it was strange that he felt that way about Yurika. In the past he had only thought of her as a useless freeloader.

Or maybe I just wanted her to be remain a problematic classmate...

Koutarou dimly stared at the clock in the gym as he thought of that. The cook-off was almost over, only ten minutes remained.

“Ohohohoho... it's finally time for the star!!”

That was when the final participant, Clan, appeared for judging with a loud laugh. And as Clan appeared, the peaceful feeling Koutarou felt vanished somewhere.

“Geez, you were still left, weren't you”

”That's how you greet me? Now that I'm here, the victory is mine”

“You were making that food using some strange techniques, but is it actually edible?”

Koutarou sent Clan a doubtful glance. She had used a very novel method consisting of only putting her ingredients into a pan and shaking it. The pan in question was without a doubt made using some kind of advanced technology, but it still remained to be seen if it was actually harmful to one's health.

“Of course! It's the duty of a scientist to examine her inventions to make sure they're practical!”

”You sure about that?”

”I've tried it myself several times! It's made safe food!”

”Then that's fine”

”Just shut up and eat, Bertorion!!”

Clan practically slammed a deep plate down in front of Koutarou. Inside was the dish Clan had made. Brown and white, it was a dish with a unique contrast.

“... Curry?”

”That's right! It's the most delicious curry in the world!”

Clan was full of confidence. With her arms crossed she threw her head back. But it certainly didn't look like it to Koutarou.

“No matter how I look at it, it's just a made-at-home curry”

Clan had announced that it was the most delicious curry in the world, but it looked far from what you'd see at a luxurious restaurant and more like something you'd eat at home or school. It was a simply curry filled with potatoes and curry.

“Less chat and more eating!”

”Okay, okay, don't shout”

Clan probably wouldn't be satisfied until he tried it for himself, so Koutarou picked up the spoon and scooped up a mouthful of curry and rice.

“Now eat up, Bertorion! And grovel before me!”

“You don't have to exaggerate that much... Mmmmm!?”

However, when Koutarou put the curry in his mouth, he realized that Clan's words were neither a lie nor an exaggeration. It looked like a plain curry, but the taste was something completely different. It confused him as the difference in taste and look was just so large.

“Clan, what is with this curry!?”

”Ohohohoho! This is the dawn of a new era of cooking! The time when all cooks grovel down before science has come!!”

”What did you do!?”

”It's simple, the nanomachines sprinkled onto the curry absorbed the taste, and completely blocked out the usual taste. It then sends the brain the false information that it's eating the most delicious curry in the world!”

Clan's two inventions worked together. The first invention, her pan, created a simple curry using nanomachines. And her second invention forcibly reedited the taste. The nanomachines sprinkled onto the curry as seasoning stepped in between the tongue and curry, and changed the taste.

“That's cheating!”

”No! This is a form of cooking that makes 0 use of the ingredients' taste!”

In other words, the curry was only made to create the proper texture, while the taste was completely fake. By just changing the taste, Clan made it easy to create the ultimate curry. Even a veteran cook would have no chance against this taste. It was only natural for Clan to boast triumphantly.

“Besides, there's no rule that forbids the use of―”

Bang.

However, that was when something unexpected happened.

“Woaaaah, w-w-what happened, Kou!!”

“―Hueh?”

Having eaten the curry, Koutarou literally spewed fire from his mouth and collapsed on the floor.

Part 25

Koutarou hadn't exploded and spewed fire because of one of Clan's misses. If anything, it was an accident caused by several factors working together.

There were nanomachines inside of Koutarou that had been injected before for medical treatment. Ruth had injected these into him for Koutarou's sake after fierce battles. These nanomachines not only healed his wounds and managed his health, but also worked to prevent invasions of foreign bodies. As a result, viruses and germs that entered his body were eliminated.

However, this time around that function had backfired. The seasoning nanomachines stuck on Koutarou's tongue feeding false information into his mind were deemed as foreign bodies and attacked in order to be eliminated. The nanomachines faithful to their duty began a counterattack the moment they were attacked. As a result, a war on a nanoscale broke out in Koutarou's mouth. The outcome of which was the explosion.

When Koutarou came to, Clan and Ruth explained what had happened to him. The nanomachines had clashed in an unexpected way, and no one in particular was to blame.

“... And that's what happened”

“I am sorry. I completely left out the possibility of you already having nanomachines inside of you”

”I also forgot to tell you”

“Hai shee, sho thathsh whath happhenhed hin mhy mhouth”

While it was on a small scale, an explosion had occurred in Koutarou's mouth, so it had gotten burnt. Which meant that he could barely speak. He was currently being treated by the medical nanomachines and magic.

“Sanae, please translate”

”Aye aye. He said 'I see, so that's what happened in my mouth'”

Fortunately, as long as he shouldered Sanae, he could get his point across. Since Sanae riding his back was a daily occurrence, he didn't feel any discomfort.

“Koutarou is saying 'What happened to the cook-off'”

While Koutarou was unconscious he had been taken to room 106. Because of that, he didn't know the results of the cook-off. So he had been wondering about it ever since he woke up. That was when Shizuka, who was part of the cooking society, began explaining.

“Well, first off... because of the commotion with Satomi-kun, the time ran out and Clan-san was disqualified”

“Well that couldn't be avoided. So I carried you back here”

“He says 'I won't say thanks'”

“I know that. You don't need to be mean”

Koutarou having suddenly collapsed was treated as him simply feeling faint. Fortunately, there was no one present that would suspect nanomachines, so the school accepted it right away. However, because of the commotion, the time ran out and with Koutarou out of commission, there weren't enough judges to score and Clan was disqualified. The moment he collapsed, Clan's disqualification was decided.

“Don't worry Glasses. Koutarou isn't really angry. But since you're so cute, he's only pretending to be”

“B-Bertorion!?”

“Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that? Sorry, Koutarou. Ehehehe”

“A-Ahem, w-well, it's true that it was partially my fault, so it would be childish of me to scold you”

Clan blushes slightly and cheered up, as the atmosphere of the room softened up. The truth was that all of the girls were curious about Koutarou's condition and mood. Sensing that change in atmosphere, Shizuka smiled and continued to speak.

“Apart from Clan-san, your paper was filled up with scores, so it was submitted as it was and the cook-off continued”

”'I see'”

“The winner was the current president of the cooking society. The runner up was the person in charge of that restaurant. And Ruth came in third!”

“'It certainly was delicious, that omelette with rice. The flag was nice too. Anyways, congratulations, Ruth-san' he says”

“Thank you very much, Master! I'm so happy right now!”

The order was sort of expected. As Kiriha challenged a special kind of cooking, Ruth ended up with a higher rank.

“That's sort of how it went”

”'Thank you very much, landlord-san'”

“You're welcome”

Koutarou was satisfied, having gotten to hear what he wanted to. He then drank the his tea that had been placed on the tea table in front of him. The tea was already cold, but he didn't make his burned mouth sting.

“Can I have a moment, Koutarou”

The next person to open her mouth was Kiriha. There was something she wanted to ask Koutarou, so she had been waiting for Shizuka to finish.

“'What?'”

“The truth is when you collapsed, I saw your score sheet, and all of our scores were at a standard seven points. I wanted to know the reason for that”

There were basic scores decided for the judging. Delicious food was seven points, normal was five and bad was three. On top of that, the judge could add or subtract three points at their own discretion. This created the possibility of a score between 0 and ten.

On Koutarou's score sheet, all of the girls of room 106 had been given a score of seven, delicious. Though the examination was only half finished, even Clan had been given seven points.

However, that was a weird scoring. Looking at it objectively, Theia, Yurika and Maki all served a dish that would be rated at five points. However, their scores were all seven without exception. Kiriha was curious about that.

“Koutarou is refusing to answer”

Koutarou had a clear answer for Kiriha's question, but he didn't want Sanae to say it. His feelings as a boy of age made him refuse speaking.

“Satomi-kun, I think answering would be better to resolve any misunderstandings”

In contrast to Koutarou who was hesitant to answer, Harumi smiled. She had more or less caught on to Koutarou's intentions. So Koutarou smiled wryly and allowed Sanae to say it.

“'Deliciousness isn't decided by taste alone'”

Having lost his mother at an early age and grown up with just his father, Koutarou would often eat alone. When eating all on his own, nothing he ate felt delicious. Koutarou didn't start feeling a difference in taste until Kenji appeared. That was why everyone had a score of seven. To Koutarou it was an obvious outcome.

“Koutarou...”

Koutarou's true feelings that Sanae had spoken, was actually something that Kiriha had said to Koutarou eleven years ago. That's why she understood the meaning of those words better than anyone. What was important was to be face to face with someone, as that gave the taste a meaning. And that wasn't limited to just taste. It would surely give meaning to living as well.

“Since I got to hear what I wanted to know... I think it's about time for dinner”

In that case, there was something Koutarou and the others should do. In the end, they only faced the judge on their own during the cook-off. So now they needed to be face to face all ten of them together.

“Now that I think about it, we only made food without eating”

“Dinner, huh... Satomi-kun, how is your mouth?”

”'It's okay, landlord-san'”

“Maki-chan, do you think Satomi-san's mouth will heal until dinner time?”

“Stop talking and you help too, Yurika!”

”I will help too”

”Clan-sama, could you prepare some pain relievers, just in case?”

”I think I had some strong ones in my laboratory”

Thus, the cook-off ended and Koutarou and the others returned to their normal life. It was a normal and peaceful everyday life that you could find anywhere.

“By the way, Satomi-san, what are you drinking?”

“He says it's stomach medicine. It looks like Koutarou wasn't trusting our cooking”

“Whaaaaaat!?”

But because of that, they were able to live facing each other. And because they could do that, there was meaning in the natural things such as the food being good, the homework being finished or the manga being interesting.

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