Chapter 195: Jeanne and the Lollipop
The most heated scene of the Paris Branch School's gourmet fair began. First, the participating chefs went up to the front stage, where a broadcast introduced each chef and explained the rules of the competition to the surrounding visitors, where victory was calculated by the number of empty plates.
The broadcast shouted loudly: "The cooking showdown officially begins now!"
"Hmph, Shirou! You made me wait a long time! Let's have a proper match this time!" The blonde Ojou-sama Erina, dressed in a chef's uniform, stepped out, pointed her hand, and shouted at the boy with extraordinary momentum.
"Hey, Erina, since I agreed to participate in the same event as you, you should at least show some respect to your senior, right?" Shirou said helplessly, looking at the Ojou-sama.
"Hmph! My attitude remains the same as before. I have no interest in dealing with common people whose cooking is inferior to mine. If you can truly convince me, then it might be possible," Erina said with an aloof smile.
"Is that so? Then let's compete," Shirou felt his fighting spirit ignite and looked at the girl.
"Hmph!" Erina tossed her head, and the boy turned around simultaneously. The two stopped looking at each other and walked straight to their respective cooking stations.
"What's this? A lovers' duel?" The surrounding onlookers said excitedly.
"It feels like things are going to be interesting over there. Let's go queue up!" The onlookers' eyes sparkled with gossip, and they lined up at the boy and girl's stalls.
"Damn it... is that another move?!" A male opponent shouted in surprise.
"Showing affection with your lover while cooking, having a romance in the kitchen—isn't that the life we all dream of?" A participating female chef played with her hair, exclaiming with longing, secretly glancing at a few good-looking classmates nearby.
But the male student shook his head and said seriously:
"No, I can't have a chef for a girlfriend. Otherwise, at work, I have to listen to the head chef's commands, and then in the kitchen at home, whose commands do I listen to?!"
"Then you should just marry the kitchen!" the female chef cursed viciously.
The competition entered a fierce, white-hot stage as soon as it started, whether it was the serious duel between Shirou and Erina or the Asura-like female chef.
Crimson flames were burning, covering everything in their light.
"Gaww hahaha!"
A young Black boy, holding a burning piece of firewood up to his eyes, which were crossed from looking too closely, let out a bizarre laugh that he thought sounded like a demon king. He looked with contempt at the tiny blue flame flickering on the microwave in front of the boy.
"Even if you're lighting a fire, don't play with it here. And why do I feel like I'm being looked down upon?" Shirou thought helplessly.
"Gahahaha!" The seven or eight-year-old Black boy struck a second piece of firewood and continued to laugh heartily. This level of fire was far inferior to the extent to which he burned down the entire street in the Fire Street last night. If he hadn't been hit by a car, he definitely would have burned everyone to ashes! The flames used by these mortals were truly pitiful.
Ignoring the child, Shirou had already taken out the prepared ingredients. He skillfully poured oil along the edge of the wok, then added cooking wine.
Boom!!! Tipping the wok forward slightly, the rising oil mist, combined with the cooking wine, caused sparks from the stove to instantly ignite a column of fire over a meter high, scorching the meat inside the wok.
"..." The young Black boy's mouth hung open in shock, and the matchstick in his hand fell to the ground.
Under the stunned gaze of the young Black boy, Shirou quickly tossed the wok. The pork kidneys, which he had skillfully cut into flower shapes, rolled in the flames, looking like burning red lotuses.
This is a technique in Chinese cuisine called 'Gou Huo' (hooking fire), which involves cooking the dish at a very high temperature in the shortest time possible, maximizing the preservation of the ingredient's inherent deliciousness. However, this technique requires a high degree of control over the heat by the chef.
If the oil on top burns out, the dish will instantly scorch. Even if addressed quickly, it might leave a burnt oil smell.
However, none of this was too difficult for the boy. Finally, the stir-fried pork kidney flowers was completed.
"Here. It's free for children, don't be shy. Go eat it at the empty spot over there," Shirou divided the dish into several small plates, handed one to the child, and gently pushed his back.
"Oh, oh..." The child took the plate and obediently walked towards the set-up seating area. His eyes sparkled. It turns out that besides superheroes and arsonists, chefs could also handle fire so coolly!
Thus, without the boy's knowledge, he saved the future of another mischievous child.
"We want one of that dish that just caught fire," a tourist who had queued up came forward and said.
"Us too," the next pair of guests echoed.
A large platter of stir-fried pork kidney flowers was immediately sold out.
Even though it was Europe, offal seemed to be very popular here too.
After all, these are French people who eat snails, and in addition to chicken, duck, and goose liver, and gizzards, they also make sausages using ingredients like pig stomach, large intestine, small intestine, and pig blood, as well as meat jelly made from pork head meat.
"Oh, no, it's already gone?" The couple queuing behind expressed their regret.
At this moment, a ding sound rang out from the stall.
"Please wait a moment, we still have ingredients. Quantity is not a problem. In the meantime, how about trying this grilled cheese sandwich?" Shirou smiled and opened the oven, from which a rich aroma wafted out.
The sandwich, with sausages in the filling, contained different cheeses added from left to right. Since he was fortunate enough to be in the land of cheese and the culinary department had access to ingredients, he decided to try several relatively special local cheeses.
There was brine-washed cheese with a beautiful orange-red color, which remained soft and moist even in the bowl, being very sticky inside and having a mellow flavor.
There was also the strong-smelling blue cheese. Because it contained Penicillium, blue-green veins, like natural marble, formed in the cheese after fermentation. The flavor was intense, even pungent to those unaccustomed, but it was savory and fresh upon entry, followed by a sweet and sour finish.
"Gulp~!" Men and women couldn't help but swallow their saliva when they smelled the aroma.
"I'll have one."
"Me too."
"Alright, please wait." Shirou put on insulated gloves, took out all the bread from the platter, placed them onto individual plates, and arranged them on the front counter table.
Shirou retrieved several more servings of marinated pork kidney from the cooler and sliced them into lotus shapes. He then used a knife to clean and cut the accompanying vegetables.
"Wow~!!" The surrounding tourists all took out their phones to record videos and upload them to their social media feeds.
"Hmph~!" Erina glanced over at the boy's side and began her own performance, sprinkling finely ground special spices over rows of Eggs Benedict in bowls, like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, adding glittering silver specks to the golden yolk jewels.
As more and more tourists arrived, the number of used plates neatly stacked on the table steadily increased. The other chefs also brought out their signature dishes, attracting long queues.
The tourists ate stall after stall, smiling broadly, shaking off the listlessness of the past few days, with bright, radiant expressions on their faces.
However, in the end, the number of plates used was an overwhelming victory for Shirou and Erina. This was due to both their performances and the psychology of people wanting to try some exotic food when they are in a playful mood.
Of course, the most important factor was undeniably the deliciousness—the kind of deliciousness that makes people want to eat it a second time.
With the accumulation of small advantages, by the time the competition ended, the final tally was Shirou with five hundred plates, surpassing Erina's four hundred and fifty plates.
The third-place French chef honorably achieved a round number of three hundred plates, and the others were only in the two hundreds.
"Damn it, are Eastern chefs truly monsters?!" The French culinary students huddled together in despair.
"They're not even on the same dimension as us. I hear they had legendary cooking utensils hundreds of years ago, and I heard the food they make glows!!"
"Where did you hear that?" the classmates asked in astonishment.
"I've been studying their comics recently!" The young man pulled out a paperback comic book from his clothes, with the words 'Chūka Ichiban!' written on it!
"Erina, I won this time," Shirou said, looking at the slightly pouting and sulking girl with a light smile.
"Hmph~! I guess you won this time, Shirou-senpai!" Erina turned her head away and said, crossing her arms. She had an extra hour of preparation time than the boy, although a stream of tourists who hadn't eaten breakfast had rushed over early in the morning, drawn by the reputation.
Since she had promised to help the boy in his absence, she naturally had to take on the job of making breakfast for the tourists.
"'Senpai,' you say, but I detect absolutely no respect in your tone," Shirou grumbled.
"So noisy, Shirou-senpai. Please shut up, Shirou-senpai. Please don't be so petty, Shirou-senpai," Erina said repeatedly with a look of distaste.
"That's enough. Just call me whatever you like," Shirou said helplessly.
"I am calling you whatever I like~! Shirou-senpai~!" Erina made a face, and seeing the boy's frustrated expression, she smiled contentedly.
After noon, the tourist rush for food subsided, and the chefs finally had time to rest.
Shirou walked back to his station, took a serving of each of the remaining dishes, arranged them on a tray, and offered them to the girl, asking, "Want to try some?"
"Yes! I'm annoyed, but this really is delicious!" Erina ate the boy's grilled cheese sandwich and the Japanese savory custard—chawanmushi—with a sulky air. The chawanmushi was innovatively incorporated with cheese, a French favorite, making it a East-meets-West mushroom cheese custard. It was smooth and rich, making her want to take one bite after another. Soon, the bowl was empty.
"Is that so? Then have some more. There's plenty left," Shirou said with a smile, then also turned to the French students on the other side and said, "Please try my cooking."
"Oh! Can we? Thank you, Shirou. Then try my macaron too."
"Then I'll trade you my most popular sweet biscuit."
The students in chef's uniforms spoke politely, but their hands moved quickly, snatching the few remaining dishes from the kitchen.
"Wait, shouldn't you boys let the girls go first?" The female chef who couldn't squeeze in complained.
"No. Once you step onto the professional field of a chef, there is only good cooking or bad cooking here; there is no gender distinction!" A male student stated self-righteously.
"Exactly, exactly!" The boys' attention was completely drawn to the food; they had long forgotten their manners.
"Then you'll never have girlfriends in this life!" the female chef cursed. Since the chawanmushi was gone, she could only grab the cheese bread and crepes.
"Mmmmm!!!"
After taking the first bite of Shirou's cooking, the chefs all exclaimed in admiration and were thoroughly convinced.
They sampled each other's works and exchanged ideas. Shirou also gained some inspiration here, deepening his understanding of French cuisine.
After noon, everyone made some more desserts, such as cream puffs, croissants, and palmier cookies. Since the singing competition was scheduled for the afternoon, the gourmet fair temporarily ended, leaving only a long table to provide light snacks for guests who were still hungry.
"Yo, Shirou, I'm here." Jeanne, having changed into her Shinjuku casual clothes, walked over, sucking on a lollipop. Her beautiful face attracted the curious gazes of the people around them.
"Ah, Jeanne, welcome to this world, but where is your Master?" Shirou asked curiously. If the silver-haired girl had come to this world in the same way as Artoria, shouldn't she have a Master with her?
"Ah, I already sent her away. She's not a student, and she doesn't have the time to get involved here, so there was no need to bring her over. Besides, she's the kind of person who can summon an Avenger like me. It's better if you don't get involved with her, Shirou," Jeanne said, pouting and shrugging.
"Is that so?" Shirou asked, not entirely convinced. After all, right after he drew Artoria Alter, he immediately drew the limited Jeanne Alter.
"It is so! When I say it is so, Shirou, you should just believe me!" Jeanne said awkwardly, as if feeling guilty about something.
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Meanwhile, in an apartment building in Paris, a little girl sitting down had her mouth wide open, missing two front teeth. Because of this, she usually kept her mouth shut unhappily, glaring at people and saying nothing.
But now she was staring in shock at the small mountain of snacks, candy, and chocolates piled up on the floor. Seeing such a treasure, she no longer cared about her missing teeth.
She was calculating how to distribute these candies. First, since the big sister gave them to her, she had to take half of them.
Mom is always so mean to her, and she didn't take her out today, so she didn't want to give her any, but she cooks delicious food every day and buys her snacks and toys, so she'll give her five!
Then there's Dad. He's been busy lately and hasn't played with her, so he can only have two... no, three, four, five! Five pieces, no more. And he must apologize to her before she gives him that many.
The little girl folded her arms, trying hard to figure out the candy distribution. It was quite difficult for her, as she barely understood addition.
Sometimes, too much happiness comes too suddenly and too quickly, which is not always a good thing. Even if she used the fingers on both hands and the toes on both feet, she still couldn't count them all.
At that moment, a woman opened the door and walked in. Seeing the scene, she smiled and asked,
"Oh, little Katie, who bought you so many snacks? Did Daddy come home?"
"It was the witch big sister who jumped out of the phone!" When the little girl saw her mother, she habitually closed her mouth and glared coolly at her mother, answering as such.
"Oh, hehe. And where did this sister go?" the mother asked, amused.
"She flew out the window, bought me candy, and then flew away," the little girl said.
"Honey, we're on the seventh floor. Huh? Was the window open when I went out?" the mother said dismissively, smiling.