Chapter 120
Perhaps because Erina and Alice had been teased by Mineo too many times, hearing him suddenly offer a gift voluntarily made their first instinct one of suspicion. Something felt fishy.
Alice stared at Mineo, narrowing her eyes with a searching tone. "Mineo-kun! Are you really giving us a gift? These 'good items' you're talking about... they aren't things like Maid Uniforms or Bunny Girl suits, are they? If it's something like that... I might not say anything, but I'm afraid Erina... might get very angry..."
Mineo rolled his eyes. "Since I said I'm giving you something good, of course it's not something ordinary, got it? If you want a Maid Uniform, I have those here too, I don't mind giving them to you at the same time. Just wait here a moment, I'm going to the kitchen to get the gifts. I'll let you both open your eyes wide in a second!"
Mineo stood up and headed to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he returned to the living room carrying two large plastic bags.
"Here! These are the gifts I'm giving you. When you go home later, remember to take them with you. Be careful; these things are very precious. Don't let them go to waste!"
Hearing his words, Erina and Alice grew curious. Alice opened one of the plastic bags to peek inside, but the next second, her face was clouded with disappointment.
"Seeing your serious expression, Mineo, I thought you were going to give us something valuable! It turns out the items you're giving us are just ingredients! Please, Master Mineo, do you think my cousin and I are the type of people who lack ingredients?"
"Alice, don't talk nonsense!" Erina interjected. "Since Mineo is willing to give us these ingredients, it is a gesture of his goodwill. Quickly apologize to him; what you just said was far too much!"
Erina's beautiful eyes glared at Alice before she pulled one of the bags toward her. "Thank you very much for your gift, Mineo-kun. I will accept it without hesitation."
Seeing Erina accept the gift so earnestly, even with a faint smile on her face, Alice shook her head helplessly. A woman in love is truly a fool! Just a few pieces of food can make my tsundere cousin feel this happy.
However, Alice did realize her words were a bit harsh. She turned back to him. "Anyway, thank you, Mineo-kun, for preparing gifts for the both of us! Thanks! Next time I come to your restaurant, I'll bring some good things for you too!"
Looking at their innocent expressions, Mineo couldn't help but comment: "I have to admit, a person's lack of insight is truly terrifying! Didn't I tell you? The items I'm giving you are things you couldn't buy even if you spent your entire family fortune!"
He gestured to the bags. "Take a good look at what's inside. Do you really think these are ordinary ingredients?"
"Mineo, it's just food. How could there be something money can't buy? I want to see exactly what you gave me. It's not like I haven't seen luxury items before! Things like King Crab, Bluefin Tuna, Matsutake mushrooms, or Foie Gras—I've eaten them more times than I can count, you know?"
Alice grumbled, pouting her lips as her hands opened the plastic bag. Immediately, a cut of bright red meat appeared on the dining table.
"Isn't this just a piece of meat? It looks quite large... things like this can be bought easily at a market... eh..."
Before Alice could finish her sentence, her voice suddenly died in her throat.
"No... this isn't right! What... what kind of animal is this meat from? Why does the surface of the skin... have this color? The marbling is so fine, yet the meat fibers are so coarse it's terrifying... how is this possible!"
It wasn't just Alice; even Erina, sitting beside her, was shocked. The cut of meat Mineo had produced might not look like anything special at a glance. However, as long as one was a chef with a deep understanding of ingredients, a close observation revealed the sheer abnormality of this meat!
In any animal, the marbling within the meat membranes and the texture of the fibers usually correlate. There is a saying that the finer the fiber texture, the more superior the flavor. For instance, with beef, what is the difference between A5 grade and ordinary beef? It lies in the refinement of the fibers. A5 beef has incredibly fine, dense fibers. Even with the naked eye, one can sense the superior quality. Conversely, ordinary beef—especially from grain-fed cattle—has coarse fibers, and the taste is guaranteed to be less impressive.
At the same time, in the culinary world, there is a very basic rule: the larger the fibers of a cut of meat, the larger the physical size of the animal it came from.
But what about the meat Mineo had placed before them? From the scale of the cut, it was clear the animal was not small. Yet, in Erina's vast memory, among all large land animals, not a single one possessed fibers this fine. Even just looking at it, she could faintly feel that a pure essence of meat was hidden within those fibers. The quality was at a level where you didn't even need to taste it; you could see its excellence with your eyes alone.
"Is this the meat of a land creature? Elephant? Rhino? Bear?" Erina bit her lower lip, images of various animals flashing rapidly through her mind. "No, that's not right! It's not those... But even among sea creatures, the color and texture wouldn't look like this!"
No matter how much she thought, she couldn't imagine what kind of creature this meat could possibly have come from.
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