"Step, step, step..."
Chef Satou trudged toward the hall, one heavy step at a time.
I don't know which famous person once said this—what ordinary people fear is often not the result, but the process of waiting for it. It's like how the more average a student is, the more nervous they become before their test scores come out. Come to think of it, being this nervous just means I'm an ordinary chef too... he muttered inwardly as he walked forward.
Does someone as ordinary as me really deserve to stand beside Ms. Todoroki? Someone as outstanding as Ms. Todoroki should be with someone even more outstanding, right? Ah~! Damn it, why am I still letting my thoughts run wild at a time like this? Is this the anxiety brought on by nervousness? Even after all this time...
With that thought, he finally served the dish. After bowing ninety degrees, he raised his voice. "Please taste it, sir!"
"Soma, Satou's still the same as ever, huh?" Sogo Doma asked the other chef who had followed him, his face dark as he watched Satou, who had his back to them and had even delivered the dish to the wrong person.
Utaha Kasumigaoka: "..."
Still the same? How had this restaurant managed to survive in such fiercely competitive Tokyo? Though the food really did taste good—it was only slightly inferior to Kirinoya's.
"Yep, same as ever!" Soma said with narrowed eyes. "Just now, he wanted to confess to Ms. Yachiyo, but he chickened out in the end..."
"Asshole, don't go blabbing everything to outsiders!" Realizing what had happened, Satou somehow pulled out a frying pan and smacked Soma with it.
"Well~! Sir doesn't really count as an outsider. If it weren't for his guidance, we'd probably have gone back to our hometowns