As Senzaemon gave the word, I started already.
First, I had to wash and thoroughly clean the chicken breasts before I put them in a large bowl, where I was going to add some spices.
In the bowl, I add some mixed herbs, lemon juice, vegetable oil, and salt. I mixed them in the bowl the best I can before I would start with the curry.
I put a skillet on the stove for medium-high and pan seared the chicken for a minute on both sides until it had a light brown colour and was just about cooked, now it was time for me to make the tomato basil sauce.
I heated up a saucepan with vegetable oil, add some garlic and diced onions to saute until the onions were soften and the aroma was waving in the air, which got a huge reaction from the students.
This is what Ayumi Nakamura meant, the artist for "Kaze Ni Nare", it means be the wind as violently as a storm, whether it's in life or whatever kind of profession. My profession is a chef, and a brutal one at best.
Next, I add torn basil leaves, tomato puree, some herbs, which I used curry powder to give it a curry type of flavor, red chilli powder, salt, and sugar for that traditional Italian flavor. I brought the sauce to a boil and after a few minutes, I added the grilled chicken breasts into the sauce.
I turned the heat to low, covered the pan, and cook the curry for about 10 minutes, until the chicken had absorbed all the flavors and is cooked through as well.
This is a technique that I use when it comes to cooking meatballs or sausages: sear the sausages, and when the sauce is made, put them in the sauce and close the lid so the links can cook much easier.
Once the chicken was done 10 minutes later, I turned off the heat and transferred the curry into five soup bowls.
For a little extra flare, I added a little Italian flag next to the bowl, and not inside it because it wouldn't taste that good.
Once the time was up, I volunteered to go second after a kid ended up with 30 POINTS.
I was laughing my ass off! That was so fucking funny! I'm serious, I'm literally on my ass just dying of laughter!
Also, I'm sorry. There's no way I'm taking this serious if something like that happens, I'm dying, man. I know I'm gonna be laughing because this was one of the most funniest shits I've ever seen in my life!
Soon after that little fiasco, I was up next.
Urara: あなたの名前の姓は彼の料理を完了しました！ 来上に！ (Y/N L/N had completed his dish! Come on up!)
The students cheered as I walked up towards the five judges with confidence. I'm sure I had this, I just need to be prepared for whatever happens
I then went up and served the judges my dish. When they took a bite, they were enjoying it so much that they ate it all! I was given, believe it or not: 96 POINTS! WHAT THE HELL?! I didn't think I'd pass! This must be rigged or something because it was ridiculous!
Everyone cheered while everyone else was feeling a bit scared of me, but I couldn't blame them. This is what happens when some students try to match up to me.
After I was done, there was a very bad smell, like someone or something died in the whole damn building! I then saw a girl with a creepy-ass smile showed her curry and told the judges to dig in! I had to get out of there before I choked. I quickly took a picture of my score and ran out of there as fast as I could.
I was vomiting from that smell and I didn't wanna go back in there. When Erina saw me, she came running.
Erina: Y/N! Are You okay?
Y/N: I'm fine, sweetie. There was just a smell in there.
Erina: I still cannot believe you passed, your Mom would be so proud!
Y/N: I know.
We both kissed and been like that for at least a minute until we were called to the A Block to watch Soma and Akira face off.
Erina: Want to come with me?
Y/N: Please!
We did as we held hands on the way to A Block and once we did, the judging was still going on when we went up and walked in, security tackled me!
Erina: いいえ！ 彼は私のボーイフレンドです。 彼はここに慣れています！ (No! He's my boyfriend. He's allowed up here!)
As I got up, I dusted myself and went next to her.
Y/N: So, how's everything down there?
Erina: Not much. Other than that judge giving a zero to every dish she has eaten so far.
Y/N: Seriously? A zero, on every dish so far?
Erina: Hai.
Y/N: That's amazing! She's just basically giving away spoiled candy!
She laughed but I heard another voice. ISHHIKI?! What's he doing up here?
Y/N: Isshiki?
Isshiki: あああなたの名前！ 予備を渡しておめでとうございます。(Oh Y/N! Congrats on passing.)
Y/N: ありがとう、私は誰もそれを破ることができなかった。 (Thanks, I bet no one could beat that.)
Isshiki: 私はそれほど確かにそうではないでしょう。 アリス・ナキは95を獲得したばかりです。 (I wouldn't be be so sure. Alice Nakiri just scored a 95.)
Y/N: 何を待つ？ なに？ あなたは彼女のカレーの写真がありますか？ (Wait what?! What the?! You have a picture of her curry?)
Isshiki: Hai.
He showed me the picture and I was shocked! It looked like a fucking jello mold!
As we focused on A Block, I see that Alice's assistant Ryo Kurokiba was up next. When they tasted his dish, they were going absolutely berserk! I even noticed a lobster head in his dish and they even drank from that?! I've never seen that before! After judging, they gave him 93 points! He's in first place! How can everyone beat him? Oh someone can, and I'll talk about him in a minute.
Up next was my favorite to pass the preliminaries, not Erina of course because she can't compete, Ikumi Mito, mostly because she's cute like Erina, but I think Erina is more cuter, and she has a camouflage style brassiere. That's hot as hell! What if we have a threesome in the future that would be fucking awesome!
Anyway, what she served was a Dongpo Pork Curry Bowl. After a couple of judges refusing to eat the bowl, Ikumi, I'm not kidding, juggled her.. I don't wanna say it, her tushies up and down as the judges finally did.
After suffering from serious pleasure from the food, they ended up giving Ikumi the nickname "The Meat General", which sounds pretty cool, and 86 points for her curry! That's awesome!
And here's something I learned today: When in doubt, juggle your breasts up and down to convince a judge to try a dish!
When did I come up with that? I don't even know.
Next up was Ryoko Sakaki and her dish, looked like it was made in a diner, but when the judges took a bite, they were loving every bite of it! Long story short, she ended up with 86 points, tying with Ikumi! Man, I don't know about you but I wanna get drunk on some of her rice juice right now!
Zenji was up next and seemed quite confident for a change. What he cooked was so different that I wasn't even expecting it! He did something called a "White Pottage Curry Udon".
What the hell does that even mean? Well, nerd terms for ya.
Anyway as they ate, they were eating nonstop and they gave him the nickname, "The Great Professor of Taste"! That was so fucking cool and they gave him 88 points, passing both Ikumi and Ryoko, not points-wise, but the fellow competitors. I'm so proud of him! He earned my respect, man.
Shun Ibusaki, I don't even like him, but since his specialty was smoked foods, I'll make it an exception. He did a smoked curry with a smoked bacon, egg, and potatoes?! That's awesome! The judges were loving every bite of it and that's when they gave him the nickname, "The Prince of Smoke"!
That sounds like a pothead nickname to me than a cooking nickname, but that's just my personal opinion.
He even got 88 points, knocking off Ryoko and Ikumi combined, again, not points-wised, but competitors!
And now, time for him to step up: Akira Hayama. From what I heard, this guy is similar to Soma and would think he's better at using spices than everyone else.
Would I like to challenge him? In theory, yeah.
I was not expecting him to cook such a small curry dish. When Souma, thank Christ, opened his curry first, an explosion of aroma flooded the entire building! It even reached us in the booth!
Thanks to Zenji for the knowledge, he gave us information on what Akita's dish was: it was a Pie Crust Soup. But what he did to the curry was Holy Basil and... YOGURT?! WHAT?!!
How can yogurt go inside a curry? I don't understand!
After a debate, he somehow ended up with 94 POINTS! How is that possible?! Oh welp, at least I beaten him by 2 points in B Block.
Now, Soma was up, and my word, did he do something different for his dish. And he did an omelette! And his secret weapon? Curry inside the omelette! That was so cool and he even won over three judges instead of five. And he earned 93 points! I really don't like that he was so close.
And I gotta label him the "Highlight of The Night", because I thought he deserved more than just a point away from tying with Akira instead of Ryo. I felt bad for him and I wanted to go down and see if there was anything I could do to help him.
That was it. That was the last of the selection in A Block!
Akira: 94.
Soma: 93.
Ryo: 93.
B Block Selection:
Y/N L/N: 96.
Alice Nakiri: 95.
Hisako: 92.
Takumi: 92.
Honorable mention: Megumi: 88.
I felt bad for Megumi not making it to the finals. And I know she worked her butt off to make it, but in the end, it wasn't enough.
When I saw her crying, I immediately ran and hugged her the tightest I could.
Y/N: めぐみ。 泣かないでください。 あなたは素晴らしいことをしました。 (Megumi. Don't cry. You did awesome.)
Megumi: あなたの名前 どうやってしましたか？ (Y/N. How did I do?)
Y/N: あなたは他のみんなよりも多くの心を持っていることを示すのに十分なほど、それがあなたがこれを獲得した理由です。 (You did enough to show that you got more heart than everyone else, that's why you earned this.)
I pulled this out...
She earned it, even if she didn't pass.
When I showed this to her, Megumi was so happy. She didn't cry again, but she had a couple tears coming down her face.
I put it in her hand and I said the one thing that helped her get more motivated.
Y/N: 調理を続ける。 あなたがナンバー1を持っているのであなたの不安があなたに到達させないでください。 (Keep cooking. Don't let your insecurity get to you because you're number one.)
She smiled as she and I went back to Erina, Takumi, and Isami where we were driven to the dorm. Fortunately, Erina was able to come and celebrate because she knew how special it was for us to pass it, even if Megumi didn't win.
Once the song started, I walked into a huge ovation from my friends. It was humbling as I was just being so happy about being in the tournament, but I needed to get this out of the way.
Y/N: みんなの注意をもらえますか？ (Can I have everyone's attention?)
Soma brought Megumi up to me as I spoke in Japanese.
Y/N: あなたが知っている、私はこれについて多くのことを考えていましたが、私はこれについてisamiとtakumiと議論していませんでしたが、私は正式に戸建銃のアームバンドを正式に与えていることをあなたに知らせたいです。 (You know, I had thought a lot about this and even though I haven't discussed this with Isami and Takumi, I want to let you know that I am officially giving Megumi a Totsuki-Gun armband.)
When I said that, the Aldini brothers was shocked, while Megumi was smiling with confidence.
Y/N: あなたは私を含むすべての皆を見せました、あなたはあなたがグリットを持っている、あなたは心を持っていて、あなたは私たちのグループにいるという情熱を持っています。 (You showed everyone, including me, that you have the grit, you have the heart, and you have the passion to be in our group.)
The entire dorm clapped and cheered. Megumi wrapped her arms around me, still crying. I had to hug back to calm her down.
Y/N: それは私が言いたいのですが、ありがとうございました。 (That's all I wanted to say, thank-you guys.)
They all were a little pissed off at me for giving up my spot to Megumi, but I really thought she deserved it. Takumi slapped me in the face and was pissed off.
Takumi: Che diavolo, il tuo nome! Perché l'hai dato un bracciolo?! (What the hell, Y/N! Why'd you give her an armband?!)
Y/N: Perché Megumi ha guadagnato quella bracciale e lei ha lavorato il suo culo per arrivare qui a questo punto. Sono sbagliato, Takumi? Perché se non lo vuoi nel nostro gruppo, allora puoi smettere ora. (Because Megumi earned that armband and she worked her ass off to get here to this point. Am I wrong, Takumi? Because if you you don't want her in our group, then you can quit now.)
Takumi: Bene, indovina che non posso discutere con quello. Dopo tutto. (Well, guess I can't argue with that. She did earn after all.)
Y/N: Assolutamente. Dai. Facciamo festa! (Absolutely. Come on. Let's party!)
It was a sight to see. Everyone was talking and enjoying themselves while Zenji hated that his room was being used as a party, AGAIN, but I couldn't blame him.
In the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Megumi and Souma hanging out on the balcony, and I saw them kiss! That has to be true love! I don't know if I wanna tell them congrats on becoming a couple off lovebirds, but I'm not going to interrupt their lip-lock because they deserve a moment like that.
In Erina and I's room, we were just making out and just loving the fact that I was in the tournament for my mom, you know? It's just the best thing to ever happen to happen me, but Erina to be the love of my life is even better.