"Honestly, I had considered the possibility of being a chef in the future, but I thought I had no interest in cooking, so I never tested it. Even recently, my desire to learn how to cook was more about solving the God's Tongue problem than genuine interest," Renz said at the office door, closing it behind him.
"Plus, from my usual conversations with Haruna and Rina, I was almost certain I had no talent in cooking. But now that I think about it, I might have been too hasty."
Renz instinctively reached out and took Erina Nakiri's hand. This was muscle memory from his current body, an unconscious reaction. Previously, when he went out with Erina Nakiri, he would subconsciously feel a "protective urge." As time went on, many habits gradually began to influence Renz's life.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Renz asked.
"Initially, I hadn't considered it," Erina Nakiri admitted readily. "But when he mentioned you might have had talent in cooking, for such a rumor to exist, it means you must have demonstrated it publicly at some point."
"Secondly, I've been reading a lot about childcare lately."
"I also noticed something else. For newborns, whether food tastes good isn't as important as whether it's nutritious, easy for them to eat, and easy to digest. Before their teeth are fully developed, their food needs to be specifically regulated."
"When Rina and Haruna were very, very young, they probably could only eat things like plain porridge. Compared to now, the variety of dishes they could eat was absolutely minimal."
"So, relatively speaking, that kind of food must have tasted worse than what they eat now. Also, a renowned chef I know, Joichiro Yukihira, has a very bad habit: he likes to try new things on customers, and sometimes the dishes he makes aren't very tasty."
"This at least shows that a chef doesn't necessarily make all food taste good."
"Considering it might have been for the children's health, prioritizing nutrition means taste can be entirely sacrificed," Erina Nakiri mused.
They say girls' hearts are more meticulous, and sometimes, it's really true. Renz indeed hadn't noticed this, which might also be related to the limited information he could obtain. Compared to Erina Nakiri, Renz had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place. He woke up to find himself in Erina Nakiri's mansion. The information he could gather during this process was simply too little.
"However, we still need to test it. You must have noticed the instinctive reactions from your body," Erina Nakiri raised her hand and said, "My knife skills and cooking techniques, these muscle memory elements, are all superior to my past self."
"Actually, we don't even need to test it," Renz stated his conclusion. "I can tell, Erina, your hobbies are very few apart from cooking."
"If we were to meet ten years ago, our connection could only have been through cooking."
"It seems that in these past ten years, I might have delved into cooking due to certain circumstances. And given my personality... if the person I love is troubled by the God's Tongue, even if it's something I have no interest in, I would give it my all." Renz analyzed as he spoke.
"Shut up!" Erina Nakiri bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "That's so cheesy, I'm getting goosebumps all over!"
"Hey, aren't I just analyzing?" Renz retorted. "I'm telling you, can't you fix this tsundere problem? And the random triggers are really making me uncomfortable."
"Sometimes I just say something, and I hit a landmine."
"I don't care!" Erina Nakiri said, annoyed.
"Fine, Erina wouldn't be the great tsundere she is if she wasn't tsundere," Renz waved his hand. "And if our relationship were bad, you wouldn't even be tsundere, right?"
"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to hit you," Erina Nakiri made a fist. But in Renz's eyes, it had no deterrent power, and their distance was quite close. From Renz's "boyfriend's perspective," Erina Nakiri's gesture looked more like pouting than a threat.
"Who told me I'm your husband? Go ahead and hit me," Renz's lips curved into a slight smile, chuckling softly. "Erina's exclusive punching bag."
"Too lazy to hit you. Humph, I've decided not to cook for you tonight. Starve yourself," Erina Nakiri said, taking a deep breath.
Chatting as they walked, they unknowingly arrived at the old man's residence.
"I'm not arguing with you anymore. Let's go to the family's kitchen first. I used to practice cooking there. For muscle memory... you can just try some knife skills."
"Hmm, how about I just give you a recipe, and you try making a dish?" Erina Nakiri suggested.
"Alright," Renz said, getting to the point and no longer teasing.
They arrived at the kitchen. As it was where Erina Nakiri once practiced her cooking, it was fully equipped. Renz glanced around and picked up a chef's knife. A familiar sensation ran through his hand.
"It seems my future self really did research cooking," Renz turned his head. "Just toss me any fruit or vegetable, and I'll see if this feeling is right."
Erina Nakiri took out a bitter gourd from the kitchen's refrigerator. Renz didn't waste any words. Gripping the chef's knife, he cleared his mind of any extra thoughts. The knife in his hand moved without warning. His slender and fair fingers held the handle, moving up and down rhythmically, like an elegant artist playing a piano piece.
"Dong dong dong..."
Up and down, the bitter gourd was slowly sliced into translucent thin pieces with each collision of the chopping board and knife. The sound wasn't noisy; instead, with its rhythmic rise and fall, it was pleasant to the ear. A smooth, flowing visual effect appeared and disappeared with each flash of the knife.
"It's done."
As Renz's words fell, Erina Nakiri picked up the bitter gourd slices from the chopping board.
They were very thin. This level was already perfect; it could even be described as an artwork. Putting aside the flamboyant and aesthetic knife skills display, the final result, to Erina Nakiri's discerning eye, immediately revealed whether it was true skill.
"Objectively speaking, from a knife skills perspective, your knife skills basically crush the contestants of this Food Soul Competition."
"It seems our guess was correct."
"The muscle memory, this level of knife skills, is enough to prove that, Renz, in the future, you are at least a renowned chef." Erina Nakiri's evaluation concluded.
A furious voice echoed.
"Erina, you scoundrel, you're finally home! You think having a husband makes you great? You think having another child makes you great? Even if I'm single, even if I never marry, I'll be happier than you!" The anger accumulated from her elder's urging to marry, Alice Nakiri unleashed without hesitation. She was about to go on a furious tirade against Erina Nakiri, but as she stormed in, she saw Renz's figure and froze for a moment.
"Oh, Renz, you're here too? Huh? Are you cooking?" Alice Nakiri felt like she had asked a foolish question, and a bad premonition slowly emerged in her heart.
"Hm? I want to cook for my wife, is there a problem?" Renz said nonchalantly.
---
What do you think Alice Nakiri will do next, now that she's confronted Renz and Erina directly and seen Renz's cooking skills?
--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter