In the VIP room, Akira was still going through the internet for many fast-food recipes and cooking techniques when his mother called out to him.
"Akira, it's almost time for the competition to begin. Are you ready?" Yuki asked, noticing that the 30 minutes he had to prepare were nearly up.
"Yep, just finished! But, Mother, what about the registration?" Akira asked, a bit anxious about the last-minute sign-up.
"Don't worry about that, your father took care of it. He also sent you a message," Yuki replied with a smile.
"A message? What message?" Akira asked, confused.
"Just some details about the competition, the judges, and a few tips," Yuki explained.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask about the competition rules!" Akira realized he had missed something important.
"Don't worry, I've got you covered. I read all the rules while you were busy," Yuki said with a smug smile, though her expression soon turned serious. "But the competition is going to be tougher than we thought."
"Why? Are the contestants tougher than we expected?" Akira asked. He had assumed the other participants were just kids, but if any main characters from Shokugeki no Soma were involved, it could turn into a real challenge.
He knew it was unlikely, as most of those characters only appeared in high school, and the protagonist, Soma, never took part in a competition like this as a child. Still, he couldn't be certain. After all, this world seemed to blend elements from various anime and possibly even stories from other media, so anything was possible.
"No, the contestants are just children. The ones you need to worry about are the judges," Yuki said with a serious expression.
"Who are the judges, Mother?" Akira asked, intrigued.
"There are three judges. You need to impress all of them to win. Each judge will score you out of 100, and the one with the highest points in the end will win. But it seems like they're all big names and hard to impress," Yuki sighed. "The first judge is Dojima Gin, the General Head Chef of this resort."
"Him? Well, he's the head chef here, so that makes sense," Akira thought. Dojima had appeared as a judge in several competitions in the show, so Akira didn't think he would be too difficult to please.
"The second judge is Nakiri Leonora, head of the Research Division at Nakiri International," Yuki continued.
"Huh? Her? Why? She only appeared as a judge in the finals of the Autumn Selections. What's she doing here now?" Akira wondered, a bit puzzled. Leonora was notoriously difficult to please in the show. Why would she be judging a children's cooking competition?
"And the final, and toughest judge to impress is Senzaemon-san's granddaughter, the owner of the 'God's Tongue,' Nakiri Erina," Yuki said, dropping a bomb.
Nakiri Erina, one of the main heroines and was sometimes a rival to Yukihira Soma in Shokugeki no Soma. Wielding the best palate in the world, "God's Tongue" and a member of the illustrious Nakiri family, Akira was seriously shocked when he heard she is a judge here.
"What? Her? How am I supposed to impress the 'Ice Witch'?" Akira's mind raced. He never expected Erina to be one of the judges. He knew from the anime just how impossible it was to make her say the word "delicious." Even the main character, Soma, tried everything, but she never uttered it until the very end of the story. How was he supposed to pull it off?
"Yuki-san, what is the 'God's Tongue'?" Erika asked, confused since it was the first time she'd heard of it.
"The God's Tongue is a superhuman ability passed down through the Nakiri family. It gives the wielder an ultra-sensitive sense of taste. It's said that someone with the God's Tongue can detect even the smallest flaw in a dish with just one bite," Yuki explained with a serious tone.
"Is it really that powerful? Is it magic?" Erika asked, curious if this was some sort of magical ability. She wondered if the Nakiri family might also be a family of magicians.
"No, it's not magic. It's more like a genetic mutation that has been passed down through the Nakiri family for generations. There's a lot more to the story, but I'll tell you about it another time," Yuki said.
"How old is she, Mother?" Akira asked, unsure how far along the story had progressed.
"She's about six years old, but don't underestimate her. They say she can recognize and differentiate between eight different types of salt blindfolded. She's also able to tell exactly how long a dish or ingredient has been cooked just by tasting the broth. She's a culinary genius," Yuki said with a serious expression.
"Only six? If she's still a child, maybe I've got a chance," Akira thought. Impressing the version of Erina he'd seen in the anime would have been nearly impossible, but if she was still young, perhaps he had a shot.
Seeing her son deep in thought, Yuki remembered the tip her husband had given her. "By the way, Akira, your father also said to give you a tip," she said with a smile, trying to cheer him up.
"Huh? What tip?" Akira wondered, unsure what advice his father, whom he had never seen cook, could possibly offer.
"I'm not sure why, but he said to create a 'fun dish,'" Yuki said, a little unsure why he said that herself.
"A fun dish? Oh, Haha, alright then," Akira laughed, suddenly realizing that this could be the key to winning. Given what he knew about the story, his father's advice made sense.
"Attention, all contestants! The competition is about to begin. Please assemble backstage for preparation," the announcer's voice echoed through the venue.
"Well, this is it. Wish me luck!" Akira said with a confident smile, turning to his mother and Erika.
"Good luck, Akira! Go win this!" Yuki cheered enthusiastically.
But Erika remained quiet, her face showing signs of worry. After hearing about the judges and the God's Tongue, she wasn't so sure Akira could win. She didn't want her first friend to lose, and the thought distressed her.
"What's wrong, Erika?" Akira asked, noticing her troubled expression.
"It's just… with judges like that, especially with the God's Tongue, winning seems really hard. What if they don't like your dish? Would you lose?" Erika asked, her concern evident.
"Is she worried about me?" Akira thought. Wanting to cheer her up and dispel her worries, he decided to say a line he had always wanted to use for a long time.
With a confident smile, he looked at her and said, "Nah, I'd win."