Quarterfinals: Theme "Bento"

Alice knows there's a different appearance you can see from different people who eat dishes, for example, his grandfather.

Senzaemon has the unusual habit of striping off the top part of his yukata as a clear sign. In rare instances, Senzaemon may not disrobe himself, but his fundoshi may unravel instead. Though the crowd may not notice it, Senzaemon will be the only person to notice this and takes this as a sign of great hidden potential in a student.

Her mother, Leonora has a sort of "disrobing" that occurs when she eats a delicious dish. Her Japanese is a little poor as it is spoken in simple phrases and broken Japanese, but most consider this cute. Although she does not strip, she "strips" her poor Japanese and is able to speak perfect Japanese, though it only lasts for a brief amount of time.

And many more.

But she never sees someone who can show a different expression of the food they eat. This is her first time seeing a handsome boy become feminine girl even though he is still a boy.

"Interesting."

...

The Preliminary Round finally finish, the qualifiers are:

A Block

1st Alice Nakiri 86Arato Hisako 81

2nd Arato Hisako 81

3rd Takumi Aldini 79

4th Megumi Tadokoro 78

5th Houjou Miyoko 76

5th Isami Aldini 76

...….

Because of Lou's notorious negative points, the A Block looks like a group of noob students who just pass by a small margin of points.

But they don't know that A Block has a higher bar than any block or even the pass Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election.

"Are you going back or are you going to see Erina-sama, Lou-sama?" Hisako politely asks to see Lou stand up from his chair.

"No need, I'm going back just call me for the Quarterfinals."

"Copy that"

Lou then walked back home, when he arrived back home, he got a text from Erina about the Quarterfinals schedule.

The Quarter Finals will be held 2 days later, for the theme they will only know tomorrow.

Erina also asks if he should stop giving those ridiculous negative scores, even though the Headmaster did not even bother about Lou's scoring, Erina felt that she needed to stop Lou from doing that.

Lou texts back, and his reply makes Erina explode on the spot.

"Nope, never, let see if you can get passive score from me~ see yah~ "

Erina angrily punches a teddy bear that she is hugging from manager, Hisako who is standing next to her also helpless. She already knows that Lou is not deliberating giving those ridiculous scores, he just goes straight without any emotion when giving a score to them. That's what she feels.

"Erina who gushes her teeth from anger murmurs," Let's see if you can still give those negative scores after knowing who will be judging in the Quarterfinals."

....

2 days later~

"So…. why did i receive any reply to you after our last conversation?"

She said that they were going to notify him if the theme was finally decided but after waiting for 2 days nothing arrived.

And now, he doesn't even know what he is going to judge, just like the first round he is going to use his own feelings and knowledge to judge the dishes.

"I forgot, let me inform you first." Erina mockingly said, she prepared everything to embarrass Lou this time as payback from last time so she deliberately forgot Lou and prepared a small piece of information today.

"You need to prepare whatever you have right now, your knowledge couldn't be more superficial….. As a result of the lottery, the theme this time is "Bento"."

"You mean a Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of such items as rice, vegetables, and sashimi?"

"That's right." Erina nodded,

"Let me educate you first. Bento is a unique culture that developed here in Japan, you could even call it a field where our country leads worldwide."

"Bento catered with High-Class Ingredients from all four seasons are loved by gourmets."

"The leading foreign chefs have even taken noticed of it, and the word "Bento" is even in French Dictionaries"

"I don't know what kind of knowledge you have about Bento but still you need to be prepared."

"That's all?"

"That's all." Erina confirms.

Lou looks stupefied, what kind of knowledge is that, she just gives him some briefing and common knowledge for the theme and that's it?

Lou felt that she knew more but she didn't want to tell him at all.

"Stop looking dazed, follow me, everyone is already sitting except for you"

"I'm late again?"

"No, you're just in time."

"By the way, who's match today?" Lou asked.

"You don't even know this?"

"Are you fooling me? Of course, I don't know, you keep all the information okay?"

"It's Yukihira Sōma and Alice, I heard Alice prepared meticulously before the match just to challenge you."

"Challenge me? Is she a fool? I'm a Judge. She wants to challenge a judge?"

"I don't know what kind of magic you use making Alice take serious this time."

"... Who knows."