When Alice, Kurokiba Ryo, and Arato Hisako arrived at the audience seats, they just happened to see Mutou Judai carrying three bowls of instant noodles to the judges' table.
"This guy..."
Seeing this scene, Arato Hisako slowly frowned, while Kurokiba Ryo also moved his nose and then stared intently at the judges' table.
Nakiri Alice, however, had no reaction.
"Erina's little secretary, don't just look with your eyes~"
Alice said this, then saw the three judges facing the three bowls of instant noodles Mutou Judai had served. Without any hesitation or surprise, they took the bowls and started eating directly, quickly finishing all three bowls.
Seeing this scene, Alice smiled.
"See... if it were really just instant noodles, then the three judges would definitely say something at this time. Even if they didn't say anything, they'd just take a bite for courtesy's sake at most. But look, they've all eaten everything now."
Saying this, Alice was very confident.
She looked at Mutou Judai and became slightly interested in him.
"So, this must be molecular gastronomy~"
That's what Alice believed.
Because sometimes her own cooking was like this—it might look very simple on the surface, even incomprehensible from the outside, but actually wasn't that simple.
"That's what makes molecular gastronomy amazing~"
Hearing Alice say this and looking at the judges' reactions, Arato Hisako, who like Alice and Kurokiba Ryo hadn't seen the cooking process, was starting to believe Alice's explanation.
Kurokiba Ryo, who had a more sensitive sense of smell, vaguely felt something was off.
But he wasn't Hayama Akira after all—he didn't have such a keen sense of smell, so from this distance he couldn't smell what Mutou Judai had actually done.
Plus, he often saw Alice make molecular gastronomy and had some understanding of how amazing molecular gastronomy could be.
Appearance could change, and maybe smell could change too.
So he didn't say anything, and to Alice, this was equivalent to Kurokiba Ryo and Arato Hisako agreeing with her words.
After all, thinking about it...
"If it's not molecular gastronomy, surely no one would really use instant noodles for a Shokugeki~"
...
After putting the ingredients in the pot, Shinomiya Kojiro had been sitting in his chair, calculating the time while watching Mutou Judai's situation.
He wasn't Alice.
He had also seen the entire process of the other party making the dish.
So he was certain—those were just three bowls of instant noodles!
Just with an egg and some bean sprouts added to each of the three bowls... Damn it! Is this guy looking down on me!?
Shinomiya Kojiro's expression became even uglier, but compared to this possibility, he felt another possibility might be more correct.
That is—
The other party knows he doesn't have the ability to compete with me, so he's putting on this attitude for passive resistance. In the end...
Thinking this, Shinomiya Kojiro looked toward Erina, who was chatting with Dojima Gin at the entrance of the contestant passage, and snorted inwardly.
—This guy is just cannon fodder sent by that young lady to test me. That makes sense, I heard this guy got all E-grade evaluations at school too. Even if he successfully returns to Totsuki this time, he'll be eliminated sooner or later.
Hmph.
In that case, let me show that young lady a bit—this is the difference in ability!
Shinomiya Kojiro timed it perfectly, directly opened the pot lid, took out the vegetables inside to plate them, then walked to the judges' table and placed down three dishes.
"French braised cabbage rolls, please enjoy."
Shinomiya Kojiro didn't explain his dish too much because he was confident he had recorded everything in the cooking.
As long as they ate it, they would definitely understand, so there was no need for him to explain anything.
Mutou Judai's gaze now also fell on Shinomiya Kojiro's dish.
Even Eizan Etsuya's dish had some special buffs, so Mutou Judai felt Shinomiya Kojiro's dish should also have some buffs.
After all, this guy was called the Vegetable Magician, and if Eizan's cooking had a Magic (Small) buff, it wouldn't be excessive for this guy's cooking to have a Magic (Large) buff, right?
That's what Mutou Judai thought.
But actually, there was nothing.
Shinomiya Kojiro's dish had no buffs at all.
It was as if in the system's judgment, Shinomiya Kojiro's dish was simply tasty, but actually had no soul or passion.
Seeing this, Mutou Judai blinked.
—Is Shinomiya Kojiro's condition really that bad?
But it didn't matter anyway...
He simply applied three curses, then Mutou Judai closed his eyes.
The three judges at this time saw Shinomiya Kojiro's dish and finally showed smiles.
Today, the three of them had really had enough.
That guy named Mutou Judai was simply a tumor on the Shokugeki stage!
Last time he brought three bowls of instant noodles, and they all thought this kid would definitely lose, but who knew Eizan would serve them a plate of 'stones'!
That match twice refreshed their impression of Shokugeki.
—It was simply a competition to explore the lower limits of cuisine!
Then this time, when this instant noodle kid was challenging Shinomiya Kojiro, who was quite famous in the culinary world, he still brought three bowls of instant noodles...
—Did he think his luck would be that good every time?
Last time must have been because that alchemist Eizan Etsuya failed at 'alchemy'!
The three judges had such thoughts, then picked up their knives and forks, directly cutting open and spearing the vegetable rolls Shinomiya Kojiro had served.
Scritch—
The moment the crisp vegetables were easily cut by the knife, even though they already knew Shinomiya Kojiro wouldn't serve them a plate of stones, the three of them still breathed a sigh of relief.
And then...
A stench emerged from the filling of Shinomiya Kojiro's vegetable rolls...
Ah, this...
In an instant, memories of Eizan serving them 'stones' began to surface.
But the middle judge—the one who had almost broken his tooth earlier—steeled himself and directly stuffed the piece of vegetable roll into his mouth.
Mmm...
Retch—
With one bite, sour, astringent juice with a fishy smell directly exploded!
Then, unprepared, he directly spat it out.
The other two judges, seeing his reaction, hurriedly put down their knives and forks and didn't dare take a single bite.
The middle judge, with the help of service staff, got a bottle of water and rinsed his mouth several times before finally recovering.
After recovering, although he felt Shinomiya Kojiro might have urinated in the vegetable rolls, he didn't even have the mood to evaluate and directly voted for Mutou Judai.
If last time his thought was "as long as it's edible," this time his thinking changed.
It's not just about being edible—cooking must pursue flavor!
Contestant Mutou Judai's bowl of noodles... well, that bowl was quite delicious!
The other two judges looked at each other in this situation, then directly voted for Mutou Judai under Shinomiya Kojiro's bewildered expression.
Although giving an evaluation without taking a bite was somewhat unfair to their profession, looking at the middle judge's reaction...
They... didn't dare to eat!