We were in Gin's office and I could tell, Kojiro wasn't happy.
Gin: うーん。 分かりました。 (Hmm. I see.)
Inui took a bite of Megumi's Terrine and was surprised at how good it is.
Inui: おー。 彼女の料理はとてもよくできています。 どうしてそれに同意できないのですか？ このようなものは完全に合格点に値します。 小次郎、どうしてそんなに頑固なの？ あなたは豚の頭の愚か者であり、完全なナルシストです！ ばかばかしい見せびらかし！ (Oh. Her dish is so well done. How can you not agree with that? Something like this totally deserves a passing grade. Kojiro, why are you so stubborn?! You are a pig-headed fool and a complete narcissist! A show off dum dum!)
Shinomiya then held her in a way that hurt her head.
Kojiro: 口を閉じてひなこ！ (Shut your mouth Hinako!)
Inui: I-I-I-ごめんなさい！ (I-I-I-I'm sorry!)
She dropped to the floor in pain and I ran to her to see how she's feeling. I even decided to give her some water since her head was hurting.
Inui: 私は元気。 ありがとう。 (I'm fine. Thank you.)
Kojiro: 堂島シェフ、この挑戦は私だけに任せることになっていました。 (Chef Dojima, this challenge was supposed to be left only to me.)
Gin: もちろん、テストのパラメータや判断基準については何の問題もありません。 しかし、少なくとも、この若い女性は目の前の状況に対処しようとしました。 砂利が検討の余地を残していると思いませんか？ (Of course, I have no qualms with the parameters of tests or criteria for judgement. But very least, this young lady tried to cope with the situation at hand. Do you not believe that grit leaves room for consideration?)
Kojiro: いいえ、私はしません。 少しでもありません。 (No I do not. Not in the slightest.)
Inui: まあ、私はそれがいくらかの余地を残すと思います！ (Well I do think it does leave some room!)
Gin: まあ、それを回避する方法はないように見えます。 投票が多すぎます。 (Well, look like there's no way avoiding it. We have too many votes.)
Kojiro: やつら。 (These guys.)
Gin: 決定しました：私はこの非公式のフードウォーまたはオフサイトの試合を管理します。 トレーニングキャンププログラムを中断することはできないので、午後のチャレンジが終了すると、2人は小次郎と戦います。 (It's decided: I will manage this unofficial food war or offsite match. We cannot disrupt the training camp program, so you two will battle against Kojiro once the afternoon challenges are finished.)
Kojiro: ちょっと待って！ なぜ私はこれに参加しなければならないのですか- (Now hold on a second! Why do I have to take part of this-)
Gin: 私がそう言うので、小次郎。 (Because I say so, Kojiro.)
I had to interrupt without being blunt.
Y/N: シェフ、話してもいいですか？ (May I speak, Chef?)
Gin: 続行。 (Proceed.)
Y/N: 満たしてほしい条件があります。 (There's a condition that I want met.)
Gin: それでは何ですか？ (What is it then?)
I was about to say something that sounded like a good idea, but at the same time a bad idea:
Y/N: 神の舌をゲスト審査員にしてほしいです。 (I want the God Tongue to be a guest judge.)
Gin: なぜ彼女！ 彼女もエリートです！ (Why her! She's elite as well!)
Y/N: 彼女は10評議会の10位の議席であり、裁判官にとっては完璧な選択だと思います。 私が間違っている？ (She is the number ten seat on the Council of Ten, and I think she'd be a perfect choice for a judge. Am I wrong?)
Gin: いいえ、間違いありません。 解決しました。この非公式の食戟の戦争では、エリナ・ナキリさんがゲスト審査員になります。 (No. Not wrong. It's settled: Miss Erina Nakiri will be a guest judge in this unofficial food war.)
After making the food war official, well, not really official, Megumi and I walked out. She was pissed at me but who can blame her? I felt like it's my responsibility to have her win this unofficial food war.
Megumi: 私があなたをこれに巻き込んだのは私のせいです。 (It's my fault I got you into this.)
She got on her knees and cried.
Y/N: めぐみ、聞いて。 (Megumi, listen to me.)
I said as I kneeled to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
Y/N: これはあなたの責任ではないです。 自分を責めることはできません。 責任があるのは料理長です。 彼は砂利について何も知りません。 あなたがやる。 もし私があなたの先生だったら、その場で合格点をあげます。 (It's not your fault. You can't blame yourself. It's the head chef to blame. He doesn't know anything about grit. You do. If I were your teacher, I'd give you a passing grade on the spot.)
Megumi: しかし、あなたは違います！ あなたは私のような学生です。 私は十分ではありません。 さよならを言わなければならない。 私は家族の後継者というよりは敗者です！ (But you're not! You're a student like me. I'm not good enough. I have to say goodbye. I'm more of a loser than a successor to my family!)
Hearing that pissed me off. Megumi made it this far and listening to her saying that she's not good enough, that's not true.
Y/N: いいえ、そのように話さないでください。 聞いてください：彼らがそれについて確信していない限り、誰もそのように話しません。 そのようなことを言うなら、それはあなたが敗者であることを意味すると確信しています。 質問させてください、めぐみ：あなたは敗者ですか？ (No. Don't talk like that. Listen: nobody talks like that unless they're sure about it. I'm sure that if you say things like that, that means you're a loser. Let me ask you a question, Megumi: are you a loser?)
She shook her head, telling me that she's determined to fight for her scholarship.
Y/N: 私を見て。 (Look at me.)
Megumi looked at me with tears coming out of her eyes.
Y/N: 体調が悪いとは思わないでください。 あなたは今のように完璧です。 それらの考えは正常ですが、あなたが本当に誰であるかを彼らに破壊させないでください。 あなたは親切で、賢く、そして愛らしいです。 誤解しないでください。 (Don't feel like you're not good enough. You're perfect the way you are. Those thoughts are normal, but don't let them destroy who you really are. You're kind, smart, and adorable. Don't get me wrong.)
She blushed when I said that, but it wasn't intentional.
Y/N: この食の戦争では、残りの材料を使用する必要があります。 好きなものを作ることができますが、野菜の胸像が主成分です。 もう一つの条件：田所めぐみ、あなたは主任シェフ、あなたの名前、あなたはスーシェフとサポートになります。 (What I'm trying to say is that, don't give up. You have a chance to fight for your dreams. Listen to me because I'll only say this once: if you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you. Remember that, okay Megumi?)
After giving her a pep talk, she hugged me and cried. I hugged her back to help her calm down. Megumi must've been insecure since coming to Totsuki and I had no idea how deeply personal it is.
I've been like this before when I was coming to Japan and live here, but after some time over here, I survived. I want to make sure that Megumi understands that she's not alone in her journey to be the best chef she can be.
After that, she seemed determined to fight for her right to be here. I don't mind encouraging people, but they must know that any opportunity presented to them will be taken away at any moment.
Y/N: あなたは今良いですか？ (You good now?)
I ask, Megumi lets go of me and smiled.
Megumi: はい。 お名前ありがとうございます。 (Yes. Thank-you Y/N.)
Y/N: さあ、次の挑戦に取り掛かり、篠宮と戦う準備をしましょう。 (C'mon, let's get to our next challenge and get ready to battle Shinomiya.)
We both got up and walked on to the next class, but later on, we had to prepare ourselves for the battle to come.
(A/N: That means two things!)
~Late Afternoon~
It was now time. The food war to decide whether Megumi stays at Totsuki or leaves the school for good. To not interrupt the training camp program, we're doing the war in the annex of the hotel's basement.
Kojiro: あなたはここにいます。 私はあなたがそれから赤ちゃんになるだろうと思った。 (You're here. I thought you'd baby out of it.)
Y/N: もし私があなたのシェフだったら、あごを壊したくないのでなければ、あなたの口を見ていたでしょう。 (If I were you chef, I'd watch your mouth, unless you want your jaw broken.)
In the corner of my eye, I saw Erina and three other chefs waiting for us. I'm guessing they're here to judge too.
Gin: お名前のめぐみさん、後藤田奈人さん、水原冬美さん、関森仁さんにお会いしましょう。 彼らはこの食糧戦争の裁判官です。 (Y/N, Megumi, meet Donato Gotoda, Fuyumi Mizuhara, and Hitoshi Sekimori. They are the judges in this food war.)
Y/N: わかった。 それは合理的に聞こえます。 (Okay. That sounds reasonable.)
I shook all their hands and bowed in respect. When I got to Erina, I kissed her hand and she blushed as I was walking away.
When Megumi and I, as well as Kojiro went to our stations, some of the judges were talking trash about Kojiro, but Gotoda said...
Gotoda: そしてそれが彼が長い間女性を持っていない理由です。 (And that's why he doesn't have a woman for very long.)
That made me snicker a bit and they were confused until I told them that a friend back home in America just went through this. It was just like someone taking his or her cow on a walk to your local McDonald's and the cow just went "Are those my friends?! Sorry meat lovers, NOPE!"
Gin: この食の戦争では、残りの材料を使用する必要があります。 好きなものを作ることができますが、野菜の胸像が主成分です。 もう一つの条件：田所めぐみ、あなたは主任シェフ、あなたの名前、あなたはスーシェフとサポートになります。 (In this food war, you are to use leftover ingredients. You can make what you like, but the vegetables bust be the main ingredient. One more condition: Megumi Tadokoro, you are the lead chef, Y/N, you will be sous-chef and support.)
Y/N: 条件には同意しませんが、尊重します。 (I don't agree with the conditions, but I will respect them.)
Gin: 良い男。 (Good man.)
I was sous-chef AGAIN?! Well, time to bring back memories. Kojiro knew what he wanted to cook, but Megumi didn't. I had to snap her out of her insecurity and give her some advice. I gave her the line I said earlier today:
"If you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you."
That got her head out of her ass and we got to work.
Seemed like she knew what she wanted to make because Megumi was focused and didn't let Kojiro's insults get the best of her. I have an all new respect for Megumi. She was insecure about her cooking abilities, but after seeing what she can do, seems like we just might win this thing.
When we got done, Kojiro was first and he gave them a Chou Farcí. It looked good and everyone was loving every moment of it. But then, Chef Mizuhara said the most savage thing I have ever heard...
Mizuhara: それを作ったのはあなただったことを忘れさせることができれば、それは完璧だっただろう。 (If I could just make myself forget it was you who made it, it would've been perfect.)
I had to cover my mouth to hold in my laughter, and try to keep it in, but I couldn't. That was savage!
Gin: あなたは大丈夫、あなたの名前は？ (You okay, Y/N?)
Y/N: 私ですが、水原シェフが言ったのはとても野蛮でした！ 私はこれで終わりです。 あなたに正直になるためにもっとやることができるかどうかわかりません！ (I am, but what chef Mizuhara said was so savage! I'm done. I don't know if it's possible to be more done to be honest with you!)
Now it was Megumi's time to present her dish. What she made was a TERRINE, but it was different. Every vegetable that we used was smoked and it was cooked to perfect10n.