People in Zongman: My Dimensional Cuisine

"Lucy and the others asked me to bring some drinks over and also to call you two back. What have you done?"

Albedo picked up a recipe book from the side, pointed to a beautiful picture, and said, "This is it, braised mutton stew..."

Cerberus was completely stunned. It wasn't just somewhat different from the picture; it was completely different. Cerberus stammered, "It doesn't look like it at all!"

“I feel the same way, but that’s what the recipe says. It’s a WGO recipe, and I felt it was different from normal cooking, so I followed it.”

Cerberus glanced at the black, unidentified object on the plate before looking up at the menu. After a long pause, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Hmm... wait... is a page missing?"

Nami was taken aback and tilted her head to look at the recipe. Then she looked closely at the book and saw that there were traces of missing pages on two pages. Nami and Albedo both looked like they suddenly realized what had happened.

"Let me check the menu... The braised mutton stew is surrounded by... Chinese cuisine... stir-fried mutton with scallions... I was wondering why they had to stir-fry it too..."

Albedo said with a strange expression, "I was wondering why the cooking methods were so different. I know how to cook, so why are the pages falling apart...?"

Cerberus leaned in and sniffed it before saying with a strange look, "What a weird smell. Didn't you see the page number?"

"I didn't see it." x2

"Ah... Oh..."

When Albedo and the others returned with the drinks, Lucifer immediately asked in confusion, "What were you two doing in the kitchen? You were gone for so long?"

Nami's eyes twitched and she quickly said, "It's nothing, I just went to see what food we could get."

Yuuko Ichihara tilted her head and said, "Oh, is that so? It turns out that women with good figures generally have good appetites."

Lucifer was about to retort when he silently nodded. As for Kobayashi Rindou and the others from Totsuki Academy, let's not talk about them, nor about Yuko, who has a dimensional stomach. Lucifer had been eating the whole time in the store, and Ichihara Yuko even complained, "Lucifer, you actually have the sin of gluttony."

Nami sighed and said, "I feel like my waistline has gotten a bit bigger lately, looks like I need to go to the gym..."

Glefia looked at Nami's ridiculously thin waist and said with some doubt, "You don't need to pay special attention to your waistline, do you...?"

"Really? But I have a feeling I'll have to buy more clothes."

"Why?" x5

Nami coughed lightly, glanced to the side, and said, "Um...it feels a little too small..."

Lucifer and the others looked at Nami with strange expressions. After a long while, Lucifer nodded and said, "This shows how unbalanced your diet was before. Now that you're getting better nutrition, you might even grow taller."

"Huh? Really?! You can even grow taller?!"

Yuko Ichihara waved her hand and said, "Girls tend to look taller. Nami, you have long legs, so you look great now."

"Yuko-nee, you and Hancock are the least qualified to say that..."

"is it?"

While they were chatting about girls' trivial matters, Alice in Totsuki was already slumped over the table, motionless, feeling as if she had burned out completely.

She couldn't concentrate on Chef Chappelle's long-winded explanation of French cuisine, because all she wanted was to go home after school so she could go back to the restaurant.

Erina stood outside the classroom door and sighed, saying, "Hisako, why don't you let Alice go back by herself?"

"Ms. Erina, isn't this a bit inappropriate...?"

"There are still ten minutes until school ends. Oh well... I'll wait for her a bit longer. But why isn't Alice paying attention in class? This won't do. I'll have to talk to her about it later."

"Um... Ms. Erina..."

Erina asked in confusion, "Hmm? What's wrong? Hisako, do you need to use the restroom?"

"No, what I meant was that Erina-san sometimes gets confused about who's the older sister and who's the younger sister with Alice because of her personality..."

Erina thought for a moment and said, "To be honest, most of the time I feel like I should be the older cousin..."

"Pfft... Miss Alice will have a hard time then."

After thinking for a moment, Erina tilted her head and said, "I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like I'm at home in this shop."

"It's probably because of Managi-sama... but Erina-san... you..."

"Hmm? What's wrong? Just say what's on your mind."

Hisako hesitated for a moment before whispering, "Erina-san... do you have feelings for Manager Shiraha...?"

Erina blushed and quickly shook her head, saying, "How could that be? I..."

"But Erina-san, you even sleep with the doll that Manager Shiraha gave you..."

"I...I just simply like that doll! That's all! Don't ask any more questions!"

"Oh...."

Erina immediately turned her head to look at Alice, who was slumped over the table, but her ears were already bright red. Hisako whispered, "Actually..."

"Hisako! What are you going to say?!"

"It's nothing... I just wanted to say that Miss Alice seems to really like Shopkeeper Shiraha too..."

"Um?!"

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Chapter Ten: The Unfaithful Erina, Alice's Former Follower (Please Subscribe~)

Erina felt her head go blank. She realized that after Hisako said those words, she felt a sense of crisis, as if her most cherished toy was about to be taken away.

“Ms. Erina.…”

"no!"

"Hmm? What's wrong, Ms. Erina?"

Erina suddenly blurted out something, startling Hisako. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, Erina said somewhat awkwardly, "I suddenly remembered a dish, but I realized that modifying it won't work."

Hisako exclaimed in realization, "Oh! I see! As expected of Erina-san, she's always thinking about improving herself!"

Erina nodded and said, "That's right, because my aunt and the others are such amazing executives, and Manager Shiraha is such an amazing chef. With Manager Shiraha's guidance and judges like my aunt and the others, if you can't improve yourself, you might as well just find a block of tofu and kill yourself."

Hisako paused for a moment before nodding and saying, "That seems to make a lot of sense. If that's the case, I should work harder too! Otherwise, I won't be qualified to stay by Erina's side!"

"Um... Hisako, you don't need to worry about that... because... ah... school's finally over, you idiot..."

Before Erina could finish speaking, she saw Chappelle in the classroom and said in a deep voice with a whiteboard marker, "get out of class dismissed!"

Upon hearing this, Alice immediately stood up, grabbed her phone, and disappeared in a flash. Tadokoro Megumi, sitting in front of her, stammered, "Ryoko...is that Alice Nakiri?"

"Hmm... I guess so, they really are energetic... What's the rush to do?"

"No... I don't know!"

Sitting in the front row, Yoshino Yuuki, with her hair in a bun, smiled and said, "Hey, tomorrow's Saturday, any plans?"

Tadokoro Megumi said softly, "I want to go shopping and buy some clothes."

"I was just thinking of buying something, Xiaohui, let's go together."

"it is good!"

"You guys are all going shopping... I'll go too, maybe I'll find something unexpected."

Ryoko Sakaki and Megumi Tadokoro exchanged a puzzled look and asked, "What unexpected gain?"

"I don't know, so it's an unexpected bonus... Let's go back to Polaris Dormitory first. We're having a party in Marui's room tonight, I think it's something like 'Celebrating the umpteenth Friday I've lived...'"

"What a long name!" x2

Just as everyone here was looking forward to how they would spend Saturday, Erina and her two friends were also walking towards the school gate. Alice breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Great, school's finally over! I was going to go crazy if school hadn't ended soon!"

Erina said irritably, "Alice, it turns out you still messed up."

Alice said somewhat awkwardly, "It's not my fault, I'm not one of the Ten Heroes..."

"Rindan and the others are practically graduated now. Then a new Top Ten will be selected to fill the vacancies. Alice, if you want a vacation, you'd better work hard!"

Alice puffed out her cheeks, then whispered, "Okay... you idiot Erina..."

"You rascal... By the way, where's your luggage?"

"I'm only staying for two days, what luggage do I need? By the way, Erina, when did you buy this little backpack?"

Erina paused for a moment before saying irritably, "Do I have to report to you about buying a bag? Well, you're right, since you left on a weekend night."

Alice nodded for a long time before realizing what was happening and said with a resentful look, "Erina, you don't mean you're planning not to go back this weekend, do you?"

Erina tilted her head, puzzled, and said, "Huh? How did you know? Am I that easy to understand?"

"You're just going to let me go back alone?! How can you be so disloyal?!"

Erina casually said, "You can try skipping class."

"Just because I'm one of the Elite Ten, does that mean I can do whatever I want?! That's going too far!"

"The Ten Heroes can do whatever they want..." x2

Alice felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart; she had never had such high blood pressure before, and her fair face turned slightly red with anger.

"It's just the Elite Ten! Longdan and the others are practically graduated! I refuse to believe that with so many vacant spots, I can't become one of the Elite Ten!"

Erina paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's more like it, but..."

"You idiot Erina! You're going to dampen my spirits again!"

"I'm not trying to discourage anyone, I'm just stating the facts. There are quite a few outstanding students in the same cohort. One of the students that Manager Bai Yu acknowledges is that Ye Shanliang, who is rumored to have a 'divine nose'?"

"And there's that little girl named Tadokoro Megumi whom I knew from Manager Shiraha before. Recently, I heard that the Aldini brothers are quite strong, at least the older brother is pretty good. Soma Yukihira is also the son of Saiba-senpai, and Tsukasa-senpai knows him too. He seems to have a good opinion of him."

Alice's face paled again. Erina thought for a moment and continued, "Huh? Why can't you remember anyone all of a sudden? Hisako, can you help me think of someone?"

"Let me think... Oh right! Erina-san, have you forgotten? There's also Hojo Miyoko-san, she also learned from Manager Shiraha!"

Erina paused for a moment, thought for a while, and then nodded and said, "Oh! I remember you. You're the short-haired girl I met when I was playing basketball with Manager Shiraha at the gym, right?"

"Ok!"

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing. Senior Kuga even invited her to his study group. Hmm? It seems like it's already full."

Alice swallowed hard and shouted defiantly, "I'm not afraid! I can squeeze one of them out no matter what!"

Erina glanced at Alice before suddenly realizing something, clapping her hands and exclaiming, "Oh! Right, I forgot the most important thing! There are still the second and third-year students, and most importantly... what about your sidekick? He's no pushover!"

"Erina! She's my former sidekick! Former! Former!"

"Huh? You fired him?"

"Um...."

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Chapter Eleven: Ran Mouri's Disappointment, Alice's Reason (Please Subscribe~)

Erina Nakiri and Hisako were both taken aback. They had never heard of Alice firing Ryo Kurokiba. When did this happen?

Erina asked in confusion, "Alice, when did you fire Kurokiba Ryo? How come I didn't know? Hisako, do you know?"

Hisako shook her head, and Alice's eyes twitched as she said, "What do you mean 'resigned'? I didn't even hire him in the first place. Ryo and I are friends and competitors, but in his previous kitchen, everyone had a hierarchy of big brother and little brother, so he became my follower."

Erina nodded and said, "But why are you telling me this? Do I have any interest in going to Northern Europe to recruit underlings, no... followers? I have Hisako, that's enough. What I'm concerned about is why you let Kurokiba Ryo go free?"

Alice turned her head away awkwardly at this thought. Erina narrowed her eyes, sensing that Alice's reason was not simple, and the feeling that the toy she had been waiting for was back.

Hisako tilted her head and said, "Hmm? Miss Alice, is there some reason you're not comfortable saying?"

"There's no particular reason... It's just that when I go to the shop, I usually stay there. It's all girls, and they get all cold and uncomfortable. Besides... even if he goes during the day and goes back to Totsuki at night, it's still too much of a hassle, so I gave him his freedom."

Erina narrowed her eyes and said, "While it makes sense, it feels like you're hiding quite a few things. Is it just my imagination?"

"No, I didn't hide anything. Besides, Liang and I are friends and rivals. Having a man around all the time has a significant impact on me, doesn't it?"

Erina nodded and said, "That's true, but what are your plans, Kurokiba?"

"The arrangement is still the same. Nakiri International will pay his tuition, and we'll still be friends. It's just that he doesn't have to follow me anymore. He didn't refuse, only saying that he would definitely challenge me again in the future, in a fair and square, free way. I didn't expect Ryo to say such passionate things..."

Hisako thought about Kurokiba Ryo, who seemed like he could be buried at any moment, and wondered if he could say something so passionate...

"Pfft..." x2

Erina clearly thought of that too. Alice said with a smile, "I laughed out loud at the time. Ryo was so funny. It was like he was about to die, but he said it like a protagonist from a hot-blooded manga."

Erina nodded and said, "I have that image in my mind. Speaking of which, do you think you're strong enough to be among the Elite Ten? There are some pretty strong second-year and third-year students too."

Alice sighed and said, "If I can't beat them, I can just ask Manager Bai Yu to tutor me during the summer vacation..."