CHAPTER - 27: Culinary duel.

Lessons, to the anger of all the students, lasted unbearably long. At every break, everyone was just discussing the upcoming duel. Someone supported Ikumi, someone hated Soma, but, despite this, the culinary duel between Mito Ikumi and Yukihira Soma is about to begin.

In the waiting room…

Hiro, at the moment, was heading to Soma, in order to make sure that his presence did not affect the final dish of Soma. As he approached the room, he heard a conversation.

- Here are all the ingredients that you asked me to buy, - said the guy with a very strange bang, and then continued, - where did you just get the money from! I thought you said that your self owns a diner, did you downplay its size?

- Thank you, yes, my family owns a diner, but it's not big enough to have so much pocket money, my friend lent it to me, he arrived on the same day as me, maybe you remember him? - I explained everything in order while I was examining all the ingredients for the right ones.

- Is this the student who threatened every student? Ichijo Hiroto, isn't it? - straining the convolutions of the brain, Konishi said.

- That's right, - another voice suddenly appeared, but after Soma looked at him, he immediately recognized him, - nice to meet you, even though you know my name, but let me introduce myself! I'm Ichijo Hiroto, just Hiro to my friends.

- Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Konichi Konishi, you can just Konishi, excuse me for the previous words!

- Forget it, everyone who doesn't know me thinks so, So to worry about everyone, it's some kind of nonsense!

Konishi couldn't answer with anything, so he didn't know what to say to that.

- Hey, Soma, ready? - approaching Soma, who was preparing to leave, Hiro asked.

- Yes, now I am completely sure that I will win this girl and force her to join Don's society! - Soma exclaimed, which scared Megumi, who kept looking out into the corridor, but still didn't pay attention to the newcomer.

- Did you even sleep last night? - Konishi asked, changing the subject.

- Well, I experimented on the sauce for a couple more hours! I think I definitely slept for a couple of hours. - Yukihira said with a chuckle.

Megumi, who didn't even notice Hiro's arrival because of her nerves, went to cheer Soma up, but as soon as she turned to the side, she was surprised by Hiro's sudden appearance.

- Megumi, calm down, trust Soma! - Hiro calmed the girl. After all, neither Soma nor the guy with the glued bangs paid attention to her.

- Thank you, but ... - she did not have time to finish, as voices were heard from the side of the arena, inviting participants. Mito Ikumi came out first, only then Soma and his support group came out, but Hiro is not in this group, since he said goodbye to them and went about his business.

…

- Today's match is recognized as official. And I am today's host Kawashima Urara.

- Hooray!

- And now meet our participants! - After these words, shouts and cheers were heard again.

- The first one comes out, the meat master is Mito Ikumi! - after these words, a girl with short blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a fiery bra, came out from the right side of the arena, which immediately caused a violent reaction from the male part of the audience and hatred from Urara.

- And the second participant will be Yukihira Soma! – after Soma's performance, the audience immediately started cursing him, as well as foreshadowing Ikumi's victory.

...

While Urara was explaining the topic and punishments for each side, Hiro suddenly met with Erina, although he knew that she would be present at this duel, however, his plans were not to meet with her today.

- Erina, how did you like last night? - Hiro asked as she left without saying anything.

- It's fine, but I've seen better! - the girl quipped.

- I'm glad for you! Are you here to watch the fight or do you have another goal?

- Yes, Ikumi is a member of my team, so I have to hold her! - Erina said, supporting the bust with her hands.

- Oh, so she's not your friend?

- None of your business, Hisako, come on, we're already late! - The girl immediately got angry as soon as Hiro brought up the topic of her friends.

- I heard that if someone from your team loses, then he automatically leaves your team? - not paying attention to the mood of the girl, Hiro continued to raise this topic.

- Ichijou-san, you can stop talking about it! Can't you see that Nakiri-sama doesn't like this topic! - Hisako, who had been silent before, intervened in the conversation.

- But this topic also concerns you, because if I challenge you to a duel and win, then you will have to leave your mistress's company. What will you do then? - Hiro asked, who wanted to change the outlook of both girls. One has a difficult childhood, because of which the present suffers, the other has no future growth, because of the present.

The girls who heard this looked sharply at each other. None of them wanted to believe that Hiro would do it, but something inside told them that he would do it.

- You won't do that! - almost crying, but with a threat, Erina said, and Hisako at this time could not come to her senses because of Hiro's words.

- Of course, I won't do it, but I have one condition! - Hiro said with a foxy smile.

- What is it? - the girls asked at the same time, after which they looked at each other in surprise.

- Isn't it obvious? - Hiro asked, continuing to tease them like little children. To which they only looked at him as an imbecile.

- Stop teasing us, tell us right away what we have to do! - Hisako suddenly cried out, who couldn't stand the guy's behavior.

- Okay, okay, there's nothing to get so excited about, - Hiro immediately gave up, and then said, - Erina, you have to change your attitude to others, - seeing that the girl did not understand his words, Hiro continued, - let's compare you and me, what do you think distinguishes us from each other, except that I'm a guy and you're a girl?

Asked Hiro, but hearing him, the girls blushed a little.

- Don't even think about it! I am the owner of the divine language! - the girl answered without thinking, to which Hisako also nodded in agreement.

After hearing the girls' response, Hiro couldn't blame her for it, since it was the bastard father who so intimidated his daughter that she is still afraid of him and adheres to his teachings.

- So, apart from having a divine language, you are no different from me and other people? Then listen to me, as the owner of the divine language, I will ask you again, how do we differ now? - Hiro asked with the same smile.

- What?! - shocked, both girls exclaimed, - this can't be! You're lying!

- Believe it or not, it all depends on you, but now or in the future you will have to answer the previous question. Besides, I hope you won't forget my advice that you should change your attitude towards other people! By the way, you can start with the meat master! After all, she will lose in this fight, even if you believe it. I hope you heard me. I have to go now, see you later! - after saying goodbye, Hiro went back to Soma.

When Hiro left, Erina and Hisako stood in complete silence for a couple more seconds, and only the sounds of curses from the arena brought them out of their thoughts.

- Hisako, I didn't hear wrong, did I? Did he say that he speaks the divine language? - Erina asked, turning to face her secretary, but this nickname will soon disappear from Erina's mind.

- It's exactly like that, but whether it's true, I do not know! - Hisako expressed her opinion.

- I see, let's go, it seems that something interesting has started there! – when the girl heard the sounds from the arena, she decided to take her mind off talking to Hiro for now.

…

While Hiro was returning to the rest of the dorm residents, someone called him.

- Hello! Minano-san, how are you doing? Did you get enough sleep? - Hiro asked, since he knew she hadn't slept much last night.

- I would ask Hiro not to put pressure on the patient, - the girl croaked, rubbing her eyes, - but I'm calling with good news. As you asked, we released your manga with minimal advertising, and despite this, it made a splash in the industry in half a day. In just a few hours, about a million samples were sold, if our calculations are correct, then this pace will soon sell out all our stocks, so I ordered some more! - Minano said in one breath.

- Wow! The news is really good, thank you! Is there any more news? By the way, how do your viewers like the new game? - Hiro asked with a teasing smile.

- If you hadn't asked, I would have missed it. 600,000 new people signed up for me yesterday, and many also regretted their decision that this game would not go on sale, but they very much hope that the subsequent games were not worse than this one.

- Wow! You have some weak fans! They accepted defeat too quickly! - Hiro said, which caused a misunderstanding in the girl.

- What do you mean? - Minano asked sternly, although these words did not apply to her in any way, but how could she leave everything as it is, and let the mockery of her fans pass by her ears.

- Oh, I'm sorry! I made a wrong statement, let me explain! - Hiro said with a laugh.

- Well, be so kind!

- In fact, the fact is that I am a little disappointed with the persistence of your fans, judging by your words, they immediately gave up! - Hiro expressed his opinion. If such an innovation had arrived in his past world, he was even afraid to imagine what would have happened then, and now an idea has come to him.

- We have a very good society, where it is not customary to swear in vain, if they say that something will not happen, so be it! - Minano complained over the phone.

- Minano-san, I've got an idea here! Tell me, when is your next live broadcast?

- According to the plan, instead of yesterday, she was supposed to be today, but I have already discussed it with everyone and we agreed that she will be tomorrow evening!

- How about we try to hold it at my house, and also make a small competition, the prize of which will be just this game. I can get about 300 games.

- And how will they be able to play it, because your console will not be released as soon as we would like?

- This game can be played on the computer! - Hiro answered easily.

- It's just a great idea, I think others will like it too, but what will they compete in, especially since they are in different places of the country? - Minano asked, easily agreeing to Hiro's idea.

- A little later I will send you a link to one application, warn everyone, if they want to participate in the tournament, they should download it, I'll tell you right away there are no viruses, it's just a game! - Hiro spoke up.

- The game, how will it help in this? - to which Hiro just kept silent, - okay, I'll inform and warn everyone! By the way, would you like to try to conduct a live broadcast, I think you can attract the attention of the audience!

- In principle, you can try, - Hiro expressed his opinion, - Well, today after school I'll try to start!

- That's great, otherwise my subscribers are trying to ask me about you! - Minano said, laughing.

- No problem, okay, I still have things to do, so I'm saying goodbye! We'll call you again! - Hiro said goodbye as he entered the room where the culinary duel was being held.

- Okay, I'll just have time to tell everyone the good news, don't forget to drop that link!

Hiro disconnected and immediately asked Fi to drop the link to Minano. This link was a new online game called Fortnite, which every teenager was familiar with in the past world.

…

Everyone had already started cooking, when suddenly all attention turned to the VIP room, reserved specifically for members of the elite ten.

- It's Erina-sama, but what is she doing here? – this question was on everyone's mind until they guessed.

- Ikumi is on Erina's team, so she came to support her subordinate.

- But is it true? - residents of the hostel "Polar Star" became worried. They would have believed more that Isshiki-senpai would have come there, but he did not find it necessary, so he stayed in the Polar Star.

At that moment, they were joined by Hiro, who had been in a completely different place some time ago.

- What did I miss Ryoko-chan?

- A-ah - Ryoko screamed, at the sudden appearance of Hiro next to her. Hiro had asked to take his place earlier, and by chance it happened to be next to her.

Apologizing for scaring the girl, Hiro once again repeated his question.

- Hiro, where have you been? - Before Ryoko could say anything, Yuki asked him.

- I was talking to an acquaintance, - Hiro replied, and continued, - so what did I miss?

- Yes, almost everything, they are already finishing! - Ibusaki, who had been silent before, replied.

- So, the most interesting thing is about to begin, - said Hiro, and everyone agreed with him, - was there anything interesting in the recipes of Soma and Ikumi? - Hiro asked, looking at the finished dish.

- The most interesting thing is that they both use A5 quality beef, and Soma also cut an excessive amount of onions, - Ibusaki replied, but then he remembered something, although after last night he knew the answer, - it was you who gave him the money, wasn't it?

- Yes, he didn't have enough for ingredients, and the society's money was spent by this incompetent head of the society. - Hiro replied, continuing to look at Soma's actions, and a guy with a long bang suddenly sneezed in a place for support.

Suddenly, a gong rang throughout the audience, announcing the end of cooking time.

- Attention, time has come out– - she notified everyone who still did not understand this, - and now let's move on to the assessment. First the Ikumi dish.

- A5 beef Roti-don! - Ikumi presented her dish to the judges, and the jury immediately began to inspect the dish.

- Roti means roast in French. This word is most often used to refer to dishes cooked in the oven. - Urara explained.

Each of the judges appreciated the appearance, so they started eating.

- Bon appetit! - the judges exclaimed and began to eat.

After the rice got into the judges' mouths, the sounds of blissful mooing were heard throughout the room.

- So delicious, already the body is numb! - The only female judge exclaimed.

- Here it is, in this dish the whole power of A5 meat, and how amazing are her skills in determining the baking temperature, I'm generally silent! - the skinny man spoke.

- Look what is under this meat, there is also rice with garlic! - A middle-aged man shouted, - the dish is simply excellent!

- Calm down, gentlemen, the next applicant also has A5 beef, but I completely agree with you that this dish is fantastic. - the skinny man notified his colleagues.

- Gee, even the fact that Soma used top-class meat did not change the opinion of others, everyone was still waiting for his failure. - Hiro expressed his opinion.

- It's all because of his welcoming words, which hurt the feelings of the greatness of the others! - Marui replied.

- It doesn't matter now, look at Soma being asked to provide his dishes! - Ryoko prompted.

- Then Yukihira Soma bring your dishes! - a middle-aged man suggested.

- Got it! - Soma exclaimed and went to the judges with a tray.

While Soma was approaching the table, Urara ran up to him, - Excuse me Yukihira, what did you call your don?

Hearing the question, Soma thought for a while, and then said, - How about a Chaliapin steak-don from Yukihira.

- It looks impressionable, well, let's get started!

Once they tried, they couldn't stop anymore. After a couple of minutes, the don was completely over, which surprised everyone, including Ikumi and Erina. The girl carefully watched the outcome of the duel, recalled Hiro's words.

- Supplements!

- What? What about my dish? They... they didn't finish! - Ikumi said in shock.

After seeing Ikumi's condition, Soma explained to her that her Don was not a Don at all. Which Ikumi naturally didn't believe, but after tasting the dish, she had nothing but to give up and had no choice.

The result turned out to be completely different from what it was predicted at the very beginning, as Yukihira Soma won.

...

- Hisako, ask Ikumi to come to me later! - Erina said, getting ready to leave.

- As you command! - Hisako immediately replied, with an inconspicuous smile on her face.

...

- Okay, I'll go! - said Hiro, getting up from his seat, since he saw no reason to stay here anymore, since he still needs to think about what topic to conduct a live broadcast on. In principle, Minano was right that it would not be difficult for Hiro to gain an audience, since even his appearance was outstanding, and his endless skills, which no one knew about yet, could also attract attention.

No one said anything about Hiro's departure, as they didn't see anything wrong with it.

…

While Hiro and the rest of the dorm residents were busy watching a culinary duel, in one of the academy buildings, the man listened to the report of his subordinates.

- Did you find out what I needed? - A young man with long slicked-back hair asked.

- Yes, we learned everything you asked for, except for one small detail! - sitting on an opposing chair, said a guy with a random appearance.

- Don't waste time, tell it like it is! - adjusting his glasses, the young man said.

- Good! The manga "One Piece", which caused today's revolution in the industry, was written by a student of the Totsuki Academy. Now he is studying in the first year. His name is Ichijo Hiro, an orphan, he inherited a certain amount of money. Shortly before admission, he purchased a three-story house in the academy district. At the same time, he took his manga to the company for verification, where it was easily approved.

- Wow, so he's a student of the academy, this makes it even easier, - said the guy with a smile, who was also a member of the elite ten, - then what could you not determine?

- The current relationship with the granddaughter of Director Nakiri Alice, according to our assumptions, Hiroto is Alice's boyfriend! - the assistant immediately said.

- This makes the case a little more complicated, well, we'll manage, it remains to politely ask to transfer the copyright to the manga to me. Eizan said with the same smile, with a slight squint of his eyes.