Culinary Competition

In the evening, in the kitchen, Armin looked at the onion mixed with the egg and the sweet potatoes with rice, his eyes showing hesitation at the vegetable mixture. 　 

It's not that Armin is not confident, but Sasha has meat, meat is something valuable and unattainable for many people, will that alone be enough to beat her? 

Jean didn't speak, he wasn't sure, after all, the ingredients were so different. 

Annie looked at Takashi with a calm face and said, "How sure are you?" 

Takashi was confident in everything he did without showing any hesitation and explained, "All things considered, is eating a dish with meat late at night satisfying? Still, the decision is not in our hands so anything can happen. Commander Pixis may think Jean's dish is good or on the other hand Sasha's, it depends on the commander's preference, we have a fifty-fifty chance of winning." 

Takashi pointed to the sweet potatoes in a small bowl mixed with the onion and garlic, "At least our taste isn't bad." 　　 

Annie and Armin's eyes lit up slightly, in fact, Jean and Sasha's cooking is the latter, the commander's taste is the key to winning this competition. 

Sasha's side was a little slower, the rabbit meat she caught was slow to prepare. Sasha tried to replicate the dish Takashi made that time they went hunting, she added some salt and started frying the meat. 

Connie looked at the fragrant and incomparably tempting chicken meat, he swallowed saliva and said confidently, "This is a sure win!" 　

Reiner was also more confident, "Someone saw that Takashi was going to help Jean, but it shouldn't matter, they didn't get any meat." 

How could they lose if they got meat? 

Sasha is full of confidence, "Don't worry, the meat is invincible! I know Takashi is very good at cooking, but they don't have any potential ingredients." 

After all, Jean didn't catch any meat so Sasha wasn't worried about losing. 

This competition is stable! 

In the evening, after all the soldiers finished their duties, they gathered in the mess hall to witness the competition of two of the training corps recruits. 

Right at eleven o'clock at night, Commander Pixis was sitting at a table, the instructor next to him announced to the recruits and some of the soldiers of the garrison corps to watch silently, "The saucer showdown between Sasha Blouse and Jean Kirstein begins." 

"Oh!" The crowd cheered. 

"Who do you think will win?" 

"Sasha, Jean doesn't seem to know how to cook, and they didn't get any prey in the afternoon."

"Many saw Takashi, Armin and Annie helping Jean to prepare her dish. Takashi and Annie are good at cooking, maybe with their help, Jean can win?"

"Haha! So far I realize that Takashi can do anything except having a girlfriend." 

"Hahaha! Thomas, if your squad leader hears you, he'll kill you.'　　 

"That Sasha wasn't his girlfriend? I heard Ymir say it in the stable at the training corps base." 

"I don't know, but I respect Takashi." 

"The difference in ingredients is too big, unless Commander Pixis is vegan, it would be impossible to win." 

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, and it was lively. Jean and Sasha had already pushed the food cart into the dining room and the food was covered. 

Takashi didn't go with Jean, Annie and Armin went up with Jean to support him, but he was just watching the amusing development from afar. 

He also heard the silly Thomas just now. He decided to go back and train Thomas under hellish conditions. All for the sake of his friend, he is so careless he must be strong, it would be bad if he was killed at the hands of titans.

Sasha served the food first, she lifted the lid and placed a rabbit dish, it was full of amazing color and smell, it was very tempting at first sight. 

"Gulu" Everyone in the audience was a little excited. 

"I suddenly feel a little hungry." 

"Me too, I should have filled my stomach with bread."

"No suspense now?" 

"It's been five years since I tasted meat, in all that time I forgot what it tastes like."

Pixis' eyes lit up behind the dining table, he cut a piece of meat with a knife and put it in his mouth with the help of a fork.

Pixis said, "It's good, it's delicious, and it's like slashing titans on the battlefield." 

"What kind of assessment is that?" Takashi went blank at Pixis' words. 

After eating a few more bites, he paused and then let Jean approach with the dining cart. 

She set the plate on the table, lifted the lid, and the contents inside are very ordinary, a small pile of rice tortilla and a small bowl of an unknown sauce. 

Everyone in the audience suddenly fell silent, a little confused, this is too common, I can do it with just wheat! 

Pixis smiled and said nothing, he slowly ate the omelet, and from time to time used a spoon to take a bit of the rice, he was slowly finishing the dish in its entirety. 

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, the commander slowly stood up and announced in front of everyone in the audience, "The winner of this cooking showdown is Jean Kirchstein!" 

The coaches below the stage suddenly became noisy. 

"My God! This result could have been turned around." 

"The meat lost its value." 

"It's a victory for the meatless kitchen!" 

"We poor people triumphed." 

Jean was also a little surprised, he really won. Sasha was stunned and unconvinced. She ran to the commander and asked, "Commander, why is this meat?" 

Pixis didn't get angry and looked at Sasha calmly, "Yes, it's meat, but it's just meat. It's a little uncomfortable to eat meat at night if you can't digest it." 

Sasha reacted and sat on the floor with a haggard face, "Did I forget to add the fixings... The potatoes and carrots I've always loved!" 

"But in the end all the meat was finished..." 

Jean reached over and reached out to pull the surprised Sasha, Sasha thought Jean would tease her, but Jean comforted her. 

This time, the culinary confrontation came to an unexpected end. 

At twelve o'clock at night, Jean left for home, back to the house she hadn't been back to in two years. 

"Dong dong!" 

There was a knock at the door, and Jean's mother opened the door suspiciously and saw her son. 

"I'm back mom." 

"What a surprise, come in the house, it's cold son." 

Homeless Jean returned home and found that he still had nothing in common with his mother, but at least he was happy to be able to spend time with his family. 

At the same time, Takashi was sitting outside the training corps base in the Trost district. 

"What a sad day, it comforts me that the stars are looking down on my frail figure." Takashi smiled slightly. 

He had a powerful Susanoo, but was hesitant to use it, he had friends but felt lonely, today he felt his mother's absence more than ever. 

"Am I crying?" Takashi wiped the tears from his eyes in embarrassment. "You fucking loser, you're in an unbelievable world!" 

"Takashi..." A voice was heard far away in the darkness. 

"Sasha?" Takashi was surprised to see Sasha with a happy expression. In her hands, she held a small plate with food. 

"Come before we are discovered, see what I have in store for you." Sasha said with a smile. Holding out his hands, Takashi looked at a rabbit leg on the plate. 

"You saved it for me?" Takashi asked with inexplicable feelings. 

"I thought you'd like it, it was the only thing I could leave for you without anyone seeing me." Sasha flashed a nervous smile. 

"Thanks, but I can't finish it alone." Takashi pulled Sasha to a corner and they sat in silence. He took the rabbit leg and with the help of a knife split the leg in two parts. 

"No, I saved it for you..." Sasha stopped her words when a piece of the rabbit leg suddenly entered his mouth. Helplessly, Takashi took his share and ate it silently. 

"Your dish tastes amazing, for me it was the best." Takashi smiled slightly. 

"Liar, it's cold and doesn't taste good anymore." Sasha thought to herself, not thinking much about the things others say about Takashi and her. 

... 

The next day was another half day exercise, in the afternoon everyone packed up, followed instructor Keith out of the Trost district and back to the Rose Wall.

Takashi raised his head and looked up at the instantly widening sky, and a feeling of freshness spontaneously arose. 

I must say that although the Trost is a good place to live, it is a bit small. The fifty-meter-high city wall always brings a depressing cage-like feeling.

The space inside the Rose Wall is much larger, but compared to the outside world, even the place is too small. 

The sunset was turning red, in front, the base of the training corps was already visible to the naked eye. 

Jean walked to Takashi's side and said, "Thanks for yesterday." 

Takashi smiled, "You're welcome." 

"I mean, if you hadn't stopped me yesterday, I would have gotten really angry for no reason and kicked my mother out." Jean smiled reassuringly. 

"It's normal to act like this at our age, as we all grow up we all have problems with our parents. However, it's our duty to stop and start appreciating every extra day our parents live. Just be careful in the future, become a military policeman and take your parents to the center of the city."

Jean Kirstein sighed and said, "Yesterday I visited my home, I still felt inexplicably strange, but your words made me calm down and spend a quiet moment together with them." 

After a short silence, Takashi pointed out, "It's less than a year to graduate." 

"Yes, let's work hard." 

...　　

In the evening, Thomas lay down on his bunk and grumbled, "The drill is finally over, Takashi, did you hear that? In the future, all days off will be canceled and only two days will be taken at the end of each month." 

Takashi was doing push-ups on the lower bunk and said without taking much breath, "It's normal, we have to leave the base in January next year and graduate directly there after three months of internship in your hometown Trost, by then you can go home every day." 

"Well, what I mean is that I want to take a break. After all, no matter how much I practice, I have no hope of being a military police officer." 

This year, because of Takashi, a guy who didn't exist before, the competition has become more intense. Although Takashi is sometimes evaluated lower than first place, he is sure to be in the top ten. 

Thomas is not bad, but it's hard to get into the top ten. This year is really a battle of giants. If Thomas is in the training corps up north, maybe he could be in the top ten from that base. 

"It's good to get used to it, isn't it just training?" 

Thomas said, "It's good to train, but it's also good to rest. I'm not like you, practicing boxing and push-ups every night, aren't you tired?" 

Takashi completed the fourth set of 100 push-ups and stopped to rest, "Fortunately, I'm not tired from training!" 

Thomas stopped talking and Takashi successfully finished the conversation, then practiced his Chakra control method.