A Story Starting from Classroom of the Elite

"That bad guy can only say things like that to a silly girl like Kei-chan."

"He likes the new, but he doesn't abandon the old."

"He's lecherous, but he doesn't discard those he's been with."

I don't know, that kind of answer.

Are you, satisfied...

"Then it's a promise, you have to lie to me for a lifetime, okay?"

Karuizawa Kei lifted her head again, their eyes meeting.

"Of course, you belong to me. I will love you forever."

At this moment, both of their stomachs suddenly growled.

Yakiniku is indeed delicious.

But it doesn't keep you full for long.

After a post-meal stroll and their recent intimacy.

The food had been digested just about enough.

A perfect excuse had appeared!

Karuizawa Kei seized the opportunity to make a bold declaration.

"Once I'm full and satisfied, I'll grant you another defeat."

How cute, a fool's memory is truly useful.

It just so happened that he had bought ingredients to test the actual effects of Chef's Fortune.

Let's see what kind of effects come from dishes made with love for oneself and one's lover.

"Since we have ingredients, how about we prepare a dish for each other?"

"Su... Sure! But my cooking skills are very average."

The girl's eyes lit up, clearly tempted.

But remembering that she didn't cook often at home.

She was a little worried that what she made wouldn't taste good.

"It doesn't matter, my skills are the same."

Because Tanaka Yukishin had prepared ingredients that were easy to handle.

Like salmon, eggs...

So he wasn't worried at all about creating some kind of culinary disaster.

Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, steamed eggs, pan-seared salmon... these dishes were all very simple.

Even if the girl found it difficult, she could still make salmon sashimi.

Surely no one could fail at using a knife to slice salmon.

It was just home cooking, not a five-star hotel.

The requirements weren't that high.

And the point was for lovers to cook for each other.

That was the only thing that mattered.

In the kitchen, Karuizawa Kei's hand holding the whisk was trembling slightly.

She had chosen the seemingly simple tamagoyaki, but only realized the difficulty when she actually started.

The egg mixture kept spilling over the edges of the square pan, and it even tore a hole during the third fold.

Tanaka Yukishin silently handed over a bowl of freshly whisked egg mixture, taking the opportunity to wipe the flour off the tip of her nose.

She stole a glance and saw Tanaka Yukishin's movements as he processed the salmon were smooth and fluid.

The rustling sound of the silver blade sliding against the fish bone seemed to mock her clumsy cooking skills.

The fish on the cutting board was gradually turning into neat pink petals, while in her frying pan, the pale yellow egg skin was stubbornly rolling into a crooked cylinder.

"The oil temperature is too high."

Tanaka Yukishin's reminder came a beat too late.

Karuizawa Kei scrambled to turn off the heat, only to find the edges of the egg roll, which should have been golden, were tinged with a charred brown.

She poured another layer of egg mixture as if in a fit of pique, this time deliberately turning the heat to the lowest setting, watching the egg mixture slowly solidify into a translucent film.

When the fifth layer of egg skin finally managed to stick together, the frying pan suddenly hissed.

Tanaka Yukishin's salmon fillet was stretching its fibers in the olive oil, and a splash of oil landed on the back of Kei's hand.

She instinctively took half a step back, but as if to prove something, she grabbed a lemon and squeezed it hard, the sour, astringent scent exploding in the air along with the charred aroma.

At the final moment of plating, Karuizawa Kei used ketchup to draw a crooked heart on the surface of the rolled omelet.

The sticky sensation remaining on her fingertips reminded her of the kiss from just moments ago, and she suddenly felt that these imperfect folds were perhaps the very proof of her clumsy affection.

In front of the computer desk, Tanaka Yukishin pushed the pan-seared salmon over and moved the thick rolled omelet toward himself.

The two of them moved in unison, picking up a piece, ready to place it into their mouths.

Suddenly, Karuizawa Kei stopped Tanaka Yukishin.

"Eat your own first."

Tanaka Yukishin glanced at her with a hint of amusement.

He set his chopsticks down on the tray.

He stood up directly, reached out both hands, and lifted the idiot from the chair beside him.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden closeness made Karuizawa Kei's small face flush red.

"Dummy, don't overthink it."

He carried the girl back to his own modern chair.

Tanaka Yukishin pressed down lightly, making her lean in until her ear was pressed directly against his chest.

"If it's like this, you could have just used a bridal carry. Why use such an embarrassing way to hold me?"

Although Karuizawa Kei muttered in protest, she still stayed obediently in her lover's arms.

Complete Devotion

Tanaka Yukishin poked the slightly wobbling rolled omelet on the plate with the tip of his chopsticks, picked up the most golden-brown edge, and popped it into his mouth.

The young girl held her breath and gripped the edge of her apron, her eyelashes fluttering nervously: "How does it taste?"

He chewed.

The texture was a little bit sticky and smooth, and the flavor was just like an ordinary omelet cooked on the tender side.

Combined with the ketchup...

It could only be described as average.

"Average."

As he spoke, Tanaka Yukishin quickened his pace, and the rolled omelet on the plate vanished rapidly.

"Wait!"

Seeing this, Karuizawa Kei thought of a shoujo manga she had once read.

There was a plot in it that was very close to the current situation.

The heroine made a meal for the hero, but it tasted terrible.

As a result, the hero replied that it was delicious and finished it all immediately.

Could it be...

Patting her lover's chest proved ineffective, so she simply reached out to block him.

"What are you doing now?"

Tanaka Yukishin was a bit hungry, and being stopped while he was in the middle of eating, he helplessly pinched the idiot's waist.

"This is something I made, at least let me have a bite."

Karuizawa Kei found a somewhat forced excuse to hide her true intentions.

Then, she snatched the chopsticks from her lover's hand and ate a piece of the rolled omelet.

The moment it entered her mouth, her tense shoulders relaxed.

It was a taste so ordinary it was reassuring; there was neither a burnt bitterness nor a fishy smell, and the sticky, soft texture caused by the insufficient heat actually felt clumsily cute.

It really was just an average taste, not bad at all...

Karuizawa Kei felt a bit relieved.

It was a good thing she hadn't revealed the real reason.

Otherwise, she would definitely have been teased by the bad guy for it.

Ignoring whatever madness the person in his arms was going through.

Tanaka Yukishin flicked her forehead with his finger, and while the girl was covering her face, he snatched back the chopsticks to continue his sweep.

The bamboo chopsticks she had bitten still held the faint, sweet scent of strawberry lip balm; his chewing motion paused imperceptibly for half a second before he turned to pick up a piece of the salmon he had seared until crispy.

Applying force with the three fingers holding the chopsticks, he broke off a piece of the pan-seared salmon and chewed.

The salmon, having been pan-seared, was crispy on the surface.

The Maillard reaction had produced an enticing aroma.

After specifically using lemon juice to remove the fishy smell, it tasted even better.

However, it truly lived up to the gift description: Chef's Fortune does not affect the taste of the food.

Tanaka Yukishin evaluated the pan-seared salmon he made as ordinary.

Of course, if one were to compare, it was still tastier than Karuizawa Kei's rolled omelet (average).

As the food slid down his throat and into his stomach.

Tanaka Yukishin felt the speed at which the food was digested and absorbed increase a thousandfold.

In an instant, it transformed into a clear stream that circulated throughout his entire body.

Aside from the restless blood energy in his body calming down slightly.

His body's adaptation to the Dragon Bloodline also improved by a sliver.

Not bad.

Comparing the difference before and after, he made a rough estimate.

If the effect remained constant, the goal was to completely calm the restless blood energy.

Based on the portion he just ate, calculating the effect of cooking a meal himself.

He would need to cook at least ten meals a day.

It felt a little bit like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a waste to discard.

But for the sake of these gains, he still decided to handle his own breakfast and dinner from now on.

To become stronger, he would not feel aggrieved.

His arduous training from childhood until now had been exactly the same.

He understood the cost-performance ratio all too well.