Watching Erina Nakiri's bewildered expression, Sogo Doma was filled with delight. That's right. You don't read much, and you just started middle school. I'm totally lying to you!
Why'd you have to go and ask why I wanted to escape Japan? I'd like to, but right now... Forget it. It's a long story.
"From the look on your face, you think excavators have nothing to do with cooking, right?" Doma, wearing a sincere expression, asked again as Sogoro.
Erina Nakiri: "..."
What the hell did operating an excavator have to do with cooking? Go on, explain. Keep digging.
"Do you know tofu?" Doma, the shameless liar, continued asking.
"Hm!?" Erina seemed a little offended by the question. Was he questioning her professional expertise? As a representative of Japan's culinary world, how could she not know what tofu was?
But before she could speak, Sogo Doma continued.
"I misspoke. Not tofu—I should say Takumi Tofu..."
"Ta-Takumi Tofu?"
The new term made Erina forget her anger.
"That's right. Takumi Tofu describes tofu whose flavor unfolds in layers even without being cooked, as though it were opening up an ocean. That taste..." As he spoke, Sogo Doma narrowed his eyes, as if savoring something.
But—
"I don't believe you! Tofu is tofu. Whether it's cooked or not, it could never be like opening up an ocean..." Clearly, Erina still had some sense left at this point.
"Then would you like to try it?" Doma, the destroyer of reason, had entered the scene as Sogoro.
"What?" Erina, who had just been full of disbelief, widened her eyes. "Senpai Doma, are you saying you have Takumi Tofu?"
Mm, seemed she'd taken the bait.
"I don't have Takumi Tofu, but I do have an old book from that elderly gentleman, and I've managed to recreate Tuojiang Tofu. Its flavor is nowhere near as good as Takumi Tofu, but as an ingredient, it's one of my proudest creations."
As he spoke, Sogo Doma opened a covered dish on the counter in front of him.
The moment he lifted the lid, steam drifted out in all directions. When it cleared, a perfectly ordinary-looking block of white tofu sat inside. It was as white as jade, but that didn't change the fact that it was just a block of white tofu.
So Erina Nakiri gave him a doubtful look: "..."
She practically had "That's it?" written all over her face.
"Try it?"
"I... Mm." Sogo Doma fed her a bite.
The tofu had barely entered her mouth when Erina, who had been about to say something, fell completely silent.
H-How could this be? It was just an ordinary block of white tofu, and from its flavor, it hadn't even been cooked. But why did it feel as though she were sinking into a great river as she tasted it?
It was tofu, and its flavor burst across her mouth in layer after layer...
Wait.
Why were there fish?
Not fish from the sea, but freshwater fish from rivers and lakes. They gathered around her one by one, circling her and constantly brushing against her...
How could this be ordinary tofu?
Was this the legendary Takumi Tofu? No, Tuojiang Tofu? Why were there tears in her eyes? Was it because she had tasted such a high-grade ingredient?
Meanwhile,
Sogo Doma was thinking only this:
Umaru's leftover lunchbox tofu with a few special tricks should be enough to fool her, right? It's a level-four tofu ingredient, after all. And I even added fish juice—onion fish juice, specially made...
Erina Nakiri was still lost in her own imagination. "Th-This Tuojiang Tofu must be made from a high-grade ingredient. It would have to be prepared by a renowned restaurant chef. But what about the even more superior Takumi Tofu? Se-Senpai Doma really does know the secret of Glowing Cuisine!"
After a long while,
Erina finally came back to herself, her face flushed as she stared at Sogo Doma.
"What?" Doma asked, feeling a little guilty. At the same time, he wondered, Did she see through me?
Erina Nakiri: "..."
"The t-tofu was, was pretty good, but, but I could come up with it myself, too."
Sogo Doma looked at Erina, whose face was red and whose words were stumbling, and rubbed his chin. Is this girl tsundere?
"You want to know how I made this tofu?"
"N-No, I don't. But I'm the God's Tongue. If I wanted to..."
"Yes, yes, yes. But even if you could make my Tuojiang Tofu, what about Takumi Tofu?"
Crash.
Erina Nakiri was struck as if by a devastating blow.
After a long pause...
"N-No. An ingredient this perfect shouldn't disappear into the margins of history." As if she had made up her mind, Erina suddenly clenched her fist and stared at Sogo Doma. "Senpai Doma, we—we should go to the Celestial Empire together and learn how to make Takumi Tofu."
"Run away?" Sogo Doma echoed her own words back at her.
"That's not it! This is for the benefit of the world's cuisine!"
"The people in the Shinomiya Family won't see it that way."
Erina Nakiri: "..."
After a long pause,
she finally spoke, her face flushed. "They're holding back the development of culinary culture around the world! No, I can't let capital corrupt the culinary world. I'll go talk to Grandpa and have him negotiate with the Shinomiya Family..."
Okay, that's enough...
Watching Erina's righteous indignation, Sogo Doma wiped away imaginary cold sweat.
Though Senzaemon Nakiri was known as the Demon King of the Culinary World and owned many businesses, including the Totsuki Tea House and Totsuki Resort, he couldn't hold a candle to Commander Shinomiya.
After all, capital was far more powerful than cuisine.
So,
he quickly cut her off.
"Um, Erina, there's really no need to go to all that trouble. As long as you learn how to make Takumi Tofu, won't that be enough?"
Erina Nakiri: "..."
"Eh!?"
"Wh-What do you mean, Senpai Doma?"
Doma, Shinichi, Sogoro: "Actually, I don't want Takumi Tofu—or rather, Glowing Cuisine—to be lost, either. I think that elderly gentleman felt the same way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given me the old book. So I was thinking..."
"I-I don't need some old recipe book! If it's a dish, and I've tasted it, I can recreate most of it." Erina Nakiri seemed to have learned how to be tsundere and jumped in before he could finish.
Sogo Doma: "..."
But—
Did this tsundere think he was going to hand her the recipe book? Dream on. Where was Sogo supposed to get an old book that didn't even exist? He was just fooling a kid for fun—in other words, teasing a middle schooler to amuse himself.
Still,
seeing Erina Nakiri's conflicted expression was pretty entertaining. Sogo Doma shook his head and spoke again.
"I'd like to pass the old recipe book on to you, but it's been destroyed..."
"What? The recipe book was destroyed?" Erina instantly dropped her act.
Seeing that, Sogo Doma hurriedly continued.
"However, even without the old book, all three pieces of the puzzle for Glowing Cuisine are in the Celestial Empire. I've even told you who has them and where they are. Erina, with so many advantages, what are you waiting for?"
Erina Nakiri was once again completely bewildered: "..."
What the heck?
Wait.
"Are you telling me to go to the Celestial Empire and learn it myself, Senpai Doma?"
Before you continue