Alice Nakiri didn't say this out of vanity, but she truly felt it.
After joining Dimension City, meeting many people from other worlds, and even traveling to other worlds herself, she had gained a much broader perspective.
Nakiri Alice felt increasingly that Totsuki was not truly worthy of such high praise.
Aside from culinary skills, it had little else to offer. No matter how powerful it was in the World of Shokugeki, as soon as other worlds intervened, it could be overturned in minutes. It was simply too fragile.
Yuuki Asuna: "..."
Hearing these words, Yuuki Asuna didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Although it was true, and she agreed, Totsuki was, after all, Nakiri Alice's family asset. Admitting it wasn't anything great felt like a slap in Nakiri Alice's face.
Fortunately, Yuuki Asuna's emotional intelligence was quite high. After hesitating for a moment, she smiled awkwardly but politely. "But it's also very unique, isn't it?"
Nakiri Alice also realized that her momentary outburst was a bit embarrassing, so she quickly changed the topic.
"Forget it, let's not talk about this."
"The competition is about to start. Are you interested in trying it?"
"If you are interested, I can arrange for you to compete on my behalf."
Earlier, the Totsuki students had complained about Nakiri Alice's privileges. This was not just speculation; it was true.
When she came back to visit relatives during the holidays, she had mentioned she might join in the fun, and Nakiri Senzaemon specifically stated that a spot had been reserved for Nakiri Alice to participate.
Nakiri Senzaemon's idea was that regardless of whether Nakiri Alice was interested in participating, the family must express their attitude and show her that even if she was away for a long time, there would always be a place for her in the family, and she would always be a recognized member of the Nakiri household.
After all, Nakiri Alice spent less and less time at home. It wasn't like before when she went overseas with her parents; instead, she went to another world alone.
She didn't have any relatives around her there. As time passed, her feelings for her family would inevitably fade and become unfamiliar.
This was what Nakiri Senzaemon didn't want to see.
First, he valued family ties deeply. He didn't want a repeat of the tragedy involving Nakiri Azami and his wife. Secondly, the future of the Nakiri family had to rely on the care of Nakiri Alice.
Not even just the future; the current Nakiri family had to rely on Nakiri Alice to take care of them. The enhanced ingredients she brought back were used to feed Nakiri Mana, and the family harmony was barely maintained because of it.
So, Nakiri Senzaemon had to start playing the emotional card in order to keep Nakiri Alice tied to the family.
Given Nakiri Alice's character, she likely wouldn't alienate herself from the family, but Nakiri Senzaemon still took these steps and granted Nakiri Alice many privileges.
Nakiri Alice might not ask for them, but he had to offer them. This was a matter of attitude.
In this regard, other members of the Nakiri family were also supportive and felt that Nakiri Alice should enjoy these privileges.
After all, she was considered to be on her own and could no longer be viewed through the same lens as a child.
It could be said that Nakiri Alice's authority at home was now not only greater than that of Nakiri Erina, the heiress, but even more powerful than her parents, almost second only to the head of the family, Nakiri Senzaemon. Although she held no official property title, as long as she spoke, all the assets of the Nakiri family would be given the green light for her.
Under such circumstances, a mere quota for the Autumn Election could only be regarded as a trivial matter.
However, Nakiri Alice was obviously not interested in participating.
In fact, this aligns with the original story. If it were not for the sake of competing with Nakiri Erina, she would not have participated in the original timeline either.
Although she was not the heir, she was still a direct member of the Nakiri family. In the future, she would have to participate in family management.
Unlike Nakiri Erina, who possessed the God Tongue, she didn't have to worry about her sense of taste going out of control. Whether or not she learned cooking skills was actually irrelevant to Nakiri Alice's primary role.
This was technically true for Nakiri Erina as well.
If there were no concerns about the God Tongue going berserk, cooking skills would be equally irrelevant to Nakiri Erina. The focus of the Nakiri family's training for them had never strictly been cooking skills, but management skills. Cooking was more of a hobby picked up in the atmosphere of the ancestral business, just a casual pursuit.
But now, Nakiri Alice had to rely on her cooking skills to survive in Dimension City.
However, with her current level, comparing her to Nakiri Erina would be a bit too much like bullying.
As the first cook to join Dimension City, Nakiri Alice was trained intensively by Takumi in terms of cooking skills.
Just like the inheritance of Liu Maoxing's cooking skills before, Takumi would give Nakiri Alice a share of any cooking-related rewards he acquired.
In addition, Nakiri Alice returned to the World of Shokugeki every time she took a vacation, and rewards were generated at least once a week.
This allowed Nakiri Alice's current cooking skills to reach an absurd level thanks to various rewards.
In addition to the inheritance of Liu Maoxing, Nakiri Alice later received the inheritance of several masters from the world of Chuuka Ichiban, such as Leon, Xie Lu, Luo Gen, and Master Bei.
There were even inheritances from the chef Takamoto Kofuku, as well as some recipes and cooking handbooks from the world of Toriko.
These were just the notable ones; other local rewards, such as Saiba Joichiro's inheritance, were too numerous to count.
Although Nakiri Alice had not yet fully understood all these inheritances—after all, what Takumi gave her was not a reward she received instantly, but rather inherited memories she needed to learn from—she was progressing rapidly.
But even so, Nakiri Alice's current cooking skills could easily defeat legendary chefs like Saiba Joichiro in the World of Shokugeki. Letting her compete against Nakiri Erina, wouldn't that just be bullying?
Therefore, in order not to hit her cousin too hard, Nakiri Alice simply did not participate in the competition.
However, while she couldn't compete, her disciples could!
Yuuki Asuna was taught by her, alongside the three girls including Miki and Hinatako, which represented her training to a certain extent.
Even though Yuuki Asuna hadn't started teaching others yet, considering that she, as a student, was still learning and improving, Yuuki Asuna was actually making continuous progress.
If you really counted, Yuuki Asuna's current level was not much worse than Alice's level before joining Dimension City, and might even be stronger.
After all, her physique and strength were superior.
To put it bluntly, cooking is a skill.
As everyone knows, skills improve alongside one's physical capabilities.
Unlike ordinary people who cannot easily improve their base strength and can only study technique, they had other options.
As they were now, if there were channels to improve their physique and strength, that improvement would mean the enhancement of skills to a certain extent.
This was mainly because the comprehensive improvement in control, reaction, memory, speed, strength, and other abilities made it possible to achieve techniques that were originally difficult to execute.
Yuuki Asuna was first enhanced by special ingredients to a level far beyond ordinary people, and later obtained the Divine Path System, which made her improvement even faster.
Therefore, Yuuki Asuna's speed in learning cooking was increasing, and she was already very talented.
So, in less than a few months, Yuuki Asuna went from being a novice in cooking to a level that surpassed Nakiri Alice's hard work in recent years.