10 Sonoka's Invitation

"Sorry, Miss Erina!"

The chef, despite his disheveled appearance, knelt in front of Erina and kowtowed heavily to show his remorse.

"Do you think your actions can be redeemed with just a simple apology?" Erina's gaze remained as sharp as a sword, radiating a chilling aura.

"If I recall correctly," she continued, "your ramen shop hasn't been doing well, has it? It's been 120 years, the original ramen recipe is no longer suitable for the current culinary era. Or do you think that this lobster ramen can't truly satisfy my god's tongue!"

"Is that why you had such devious thoughts?"

"Daring to add an addictive poppy shell to the broth!"

"What? A poppy shell?"

"You're despicable, using such despicable means to tarnish Miss Erina's god's tongue!"

Beside her, Hisako was furious! She quickly stepped forward and kicked the ramen chef, berating him.

"That's enough, Hisako."

"Someone as wicked as him doesn't deserve to be a chef."

With that, Erina left without giving the chef another thought, effectively putting an end to his career.

The prestigious 120-year-old Tokyo Ramen Hall was destined to be completely wiped out from history!

Seeing Erina leave, Hisako felt dissatisfied and kicked the chef once again, before hurrying to follow Erina!

...

"Miss, I'm really sorry this time."

"If I had known he would dare to do that, I would never have let him cook for you!"

Behind her, Hisako was somewhat uneasy and worried!

After hesitating for a moment, she gathered her courage and spoke, "Hisako, you don't need to apologize. After all, no one could have foreseen such a thing."

At that moment, Erina, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped and turned to look at Hisako.

She didn't seem to care much about this matter. She flicked her hair from her forehead and then asked, "What kind of dish do we have next?"

"Oh, let me see!"

After a moment of confusion, Hisako finally reacted and quickly opened the schedule of tasting dishes in her hand, quickly scanning over it.

"Miss, tonight at 7 o'clock, you... you must go to a Western-style restaurant at the Shunkatei to taste dishes."

Hisako then said, "Shunkatei?"

"Why do I feel so familiar with this restaurant?"

Hearing the name of this Western-style restaurant, Erina felt an unusually familiar feeling inside!

"Yes, Miss."

"This Western-style restaurant is operated by Sonoka, the former second among the top ten."

Seeing Erina's puzzled look, Hisako quickly continued to explain, "We received an invitation from her a year ago to taste some of her special Western-style dishes!"

"Oh, I remember."

"At that time, after tasting her dishes, I gave her very high praise."

"So her Shunkatei restaurant became very popular for a while!"

After hearing Hisako's explanation, Erina finally realized. However, she frowned when she thought of something.

"How strange, why would she invite me to taste her dishes again after just a year?"

"What... I heard that her Shunkatei restaurant hasn't been doing well recently, to the extent that it's on the brink of closing!"

Hisako scratched the back of her head awkwardly as she spoke.

She found the whole thing a bit ridiculous.

After all, she used to be the second among the top ten, and her comprehensive abilities were unquestionable.

Moreover, she had once had Miss Erina taste her cooking and received very high praise!

And yet?

In just one year.

This Western-style restaurant, previously approved by the god's tongue, was on the verge of closure!

"What? Closing down?"

"How... how is that possible?"

"Even though it's a gourmet street, the whole street is full of all sorts of restaurants and eateries."

"But with Sonoka's abilities, she shouldn't have reached such a state so quickly, right?"

Erina was amazed to hear that the Shunkatei restaurant, where she had rated highly, was on the verge of closing down!

Subsequently, she realized that she might have overreacted a bit, so she pretended to cough and continued, "So be it, let's go there tonight then!"

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements."

After saying that, Hisako tactfully stepped back.

"Shunkatei!"

"Senior Sonoka, what's... what's going on with you?"

Alone, Erina was staring blankly and seemed somewhat dazed.

Clearly, she couldn't accept this overly absurd situation!

...

Night finally fell.

At this moment, it wasn't yet 7 o'clock, so the tavern wasn't open for business.

Zane is seen drinking tea by the window on the second-floor balcony, leisurely admiring the beautiful night sky! Hmm! This is his habit.

Every time before the tavern opens, he comes here to relax. Of course, more importantly, he doesn't belong to this world.

So, involuntarily, he takes some time to reminisce about his past life...

"Phew! Time flies."

"Before I knew it, I've been in this world for over a month!"

As the moon rose, casting speckles of light onto Zane's handsome face through the window, he couldn't help but sit up straight, down his tea, and exhale a refreshing breath.

At that moment, his gaze became determined!

Even though he didn't know what the future held, he believed that with his own abilities and the system's help, he would definitely stand at the top of this world, look down upon others, and change this era of cuisine!

After that, he stretched lazily and was about to open the tavern for business.

However, at that moment, he saw a luxurious black car parked in front of the neighboring Shunkatei restaurant.

While the restaurant often had wealthy and prestigious customers, it was already 7 o'clock at night, well past business hours.

In theory, there shouldn't have been any customers arriving at this time, right?

"Hmm?"

"It's actually... her?"

Finally, when two figures stepped out of the black car, Zane was amazed!