Chapter 23 - Sana’s Shokugeki – Part 2 (2/2)

“Sensei has also finished with her cooking ♪.”

It seemed that everyone was fired up after finishing as they brought their karaage towards me. For Sana, it was the same exact kind as the one that she had in her bentou for lunch. Hiiragi-chan’s as well, was one that knew very well. Kanata’s… rather than pieces of meat, they were each one long strip.

“Itadakimasu.”

Yeah, I’m very familiar with the taste of Sana’s and Hiiragi-chan’s. Since it was freshly fried, it tasted really good. As for Kanata…

I tried tasting one of them. Some parts were crunchy, and other parts of it was the tender meat of normal karaage. It was similar to something you might eat in an izakaya [2].

“Ah, this, can it be?”

Kanata nodded in response to my exclamation.

“… Yagen nankotsu [3]. Since I heard you were all making karaage, I thought you guys were all making the same thing. It’s quite a curveball.”

“Yagen nankotsu, I thought I was played when I was buying the ingredients.”

Hiiragi-chan looked seriously downhearted as Sana secretly asked me.

“Yagen, what? Nankotsu?”

“It’s a soft type of bone that you can crush by biting down on it.”

“B-booone? There’s no way something like that would taste good. It’s not meat after all.”

“You’re still very much a child.”

“… Sa-chan’s taste is like an elementary schooler.”

“Since it’s something that appeals to adults, it can’t be helped.”

“Uuuuuuuuuuuu, you guys are making fun of meeeee.”

Hiiragi-chan divided the cooked rice into individual portions for each person, took out the salad from the refrigerator and placed it all on the table. Gathering the karaage that everyone made, they had an early dinner together.

“Store-bought karaage tastes good, Sana-chan.”

“… Yeah, it’s good. Store-bought karaage.”

“Please stop calling it store-bought. Say that it’s Sana’s karaage! … Uuu, Sensei’s is good…”

“… Yeah, a lot of the flavor has seeped into the meat, so it’s really good.”

“Right? Right?”

While talking happily, I scored the 3 of them out of 5 points in each category.

First is Hiiragi-chan.

Friendship: 1

Effort: 1

Cooking: 5

Love: 4

When it comes to effort, she was already good in the first place, so she didn’t even need to try. Besides, I already knew that it was good in the first place so friendship and effort are both rated at 1.

Next is Sana.

Friendship: 3

Effort: 5

Cooking: 2

Love: 3

She made something that was subject to quite a lot of insult, but I do admit that she put in a lot of work so her effort is rated at 5.

Lastly, Kanata.

Friendship: 2

Effort: 3

Cooking: 4

Love: 5

Predicting that everyone would be making the same thing and that eating the same thing would be tiring, I give her a 5 for love.

For the friendship category, I had based it off of how much they had helped another for this times event. The three people around me fidgeted and took glances at me as I judged them. It seems that all of them were pretty anxious. After finishing their scoring, I handed each back their papers.

“Nii-san, who was first?”

“Is there a need for a first? It was delicious and as a dish, it could be considered a success. Isn’t it fine already?”

Originally, this was for Sana’s bride training after all. She tried hard and practiced, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun I thought. Everyone was also peaceful as they were eating together. As they all seemed to be satisfied, everyone nodded.

On the way home.

“Kana-chan, show me your score.”

“… Don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“… It’s embarrassing.”

“A score that you could be embarrassed about? Nii-san!”

“I gave a normal score. Moreover, she had the highest grading.”

“Eh. Then, why…?”

Without speaking another word, Kanata split off from us. Is it because her scoring for love was 5…?

“Sana… will work harder in cooking… losing to Sensei is annoying after all.”

Because it seemed to give Sana some motivation, I can say that this times cooking competition can be considered a big success. It’s just, that night, a call came from Hiiragi-chan.

“My love isn’t a 4, it’s 100! I thought it got through to you too, Seiji-kun.”

Hiiragi-chan ended up requesting a 100 out of 5 points maximum.

TL Note:

The golden Shounen Jump motto: “Friendship, Effort, Victory”

An izakaya is a type of informal Japanese pub. They are casual places for after-work drinking.

Yagen Nankotsu is the cartilage which comes before the breast bone