Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 367 - 366: The Missing Store Manager

Chapter 367: Chapter 366: The Missing Store Manager

Ujou Mamie left, and Xia Yu tidied up the storefront.

Reiko leaned against the kitchen door, casting a sidelong glance at the boy washing the dishes.

Hua Mao lay halfway up the stairs, curiously observing the two people.

"You came all this way for the culinary battle at the end of July, didn’t you?" Xia Yu wiped the freshly washed dishes with a clean cloth, not turning his head as he asked.

"Yes."

"At noon, IGO’s Neon Department had already received a culinary battle request from Yuchuan Ayaka."

Saying that, Reiko returned from having stepped away and took out an envelope from her handbag that she had left in the storefront, "All the documents for the culinary battle are in here. The date is set for the end of July, but you’ll need to confirm the conditions of the battle."

"What are the conditions for winning and losing?"

Xia Yu was curious.

"The winner will gain the right to control the other," Reiko slowly explained.

Control?

Including life?

Even with mental preparation, Xia Yu still drew a cold breath.

"This is an official, public culinary battle," Liangzi Lina explained, knowing what he was thinking, "So, the so-called ’control’ is everything besides life itself."

"Property, personal freedom, and so on."

Liangzi Lina’s voice grew more somber as she said, "If you lose, you might even have to give up your nationality, your family name, and become a member of the Yuchuan family."

"Yuchuan Yu? Tsk, that actually doesn’t sound too bad, but I don’t want to marry into another family!"

Xia Yu shrugged, placed the dishes in the cabinet, took off his apron, and turned leisurely to face Reiko.

"Marry into a family?"

Reiko too was left speechless by Xia Yu’s train of thought, and it took her a while to reply with a mix of laughter and tears, "You are sixteen, only two years away from the legal marriage age in Neon, but..."

She tilted her head and surveyed the handsome Xia Yu.

The image of the Goddess-like Yuchuan Ayaka surfaced in her mind, and Liangzi Lina’s expression immediately turned strange.

"If the age gap wasn’t a decade, you two coming together could have been the real sensational news across Neon."

"After all, both of you are the most prominent geniuses of your generation."

Xia Yu had already stopped paying attention to what Reiko was saying.

He began to ponder.

The word "control" contained too many possibilities, but to put it simply, it meant whoever won could control the other.

The victor commands, the vanquished obeys.

This condition for the culinary battle was, in a sense, even more stringent than stripping the other of their chef status or life.

"That woman, she’s really confident!" Xia Yu couldn’t help but feel pressure, his face casting a slight shadow.

Even though he had passed the special grade exam successfully, the confidence in his heart to defeat Yuchuan Ayaka did not exceed fifty percent.

The special grade "killer" recipe had given him a heavy psychological burden.

"Let me think about it!"

Taking the envelope Liangzi Lina handed over, Xia Yu did not readily agree as he had done with previous culinary battles.

This required careful consideration.

Before leaving, Liangzi Lina spoke with a serious expression, "The culinary battle agreement hasn’t been established yet, so there’s no need to rush into accepting... Even if it’s delayed, it’s okay! Once the fuss dies down, no one will pay attention to a culinary battle that never started!"

Delayed?

Wouldn’t that be conceding without a fight!

Watching Reiko climb over the fence and leave the courtyard, Xia Yu shook his head. Lying low wasn’t his style; a man should live life with gusto!

He thought about it as he went up to the second-floor living room.

His phone wasn’t with him; it was on silent mode and lying on the second floor’s tea table.

As soon as Xia Yu got upstairs, he heard the vibration of his phone on the table. He walked over and saw the caller ID, uninterested, he hung up directly.

It was a call from Tiqie Helinai.

After a while, his childhood friend Sen Tian Makoto also called, but Xia Yu just crossed his arms and sat in front of the tea table, continuing to reject the calls.

He frowned as he conceived his "finishing move" recipe.

Was he supposed to use the "Fierce Ice Fresh Carving Mountain" recipe? This recipe indeed was his most likely contender for a "finishing move" in his back pocket.

But the problem was that the culinary battle clauses were yet to be established, and the culinary battle theme was unknown.

"Maybe I should propose a culinary battle condition myself, which is to have no theme!"

Xia Yu slammed his palm.

"With no theme, everyone is free to fight it out with their own methods!" The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After all, Ayaka Yuchuan had proposed a culinary battle condition, and he couldn’t be rude. He had to respond in kind.

"Super Vision" was also one of his trump cards, but it was filled with uncertainty. After all, Xia Yu had not yet tried to replicate an opponent’s "finishing move" dish, and pinning his hopes on means other than his cooking seemed like abandoning the essentials for the trivial.

Just then, another phone call interrupted his thoughts. Annoyed, Xia Yu was ready to turn off his phone, but the international long-distance number that was displayed caught him off guard, and he hesitated before pressing the answer button.

...

The next day.

Early in the morning, Tiqie Eriina got out of her car in a rage.

Bang, bang, bang!

She didn’t look anything like a proper young lady. Since the street was under renovation and deserted, only Niho Hizaki followed her, looking astonished at her furious silhouette.

Bang, bang, bang!

She continued knocking, but nobody answered after quite a while.

Her hands turning red from knocking, Tiqie Eriina simply kicked at the door and ended up painfully squatting down.

"Miss Eriina!"

Niho Hizaki hurried over.

A black car slowly approached from outside the shopping district, and Mars and Elizabeth got out.

"Is Chef Xia not opening for business today either?" Elizabeth frowned.

Mars also stepped forward to knock on the door, but again, there was no response for a while.

"Look, there’s no point in knocking anymore!"

A bespectacled white-collar beauty walked over from a construction site nearby. Feng Zhizi removed her sunglasses and took in the dignified guests blocked outside the door, saying with a wry smile, "He went out very early."

"Out? For a class?"

Tiqie Eriina turned around, planning to head back to the car quickly and go to White Seagull High School.

"Wait!"

Feng Zhizi stopped her. "He wasn’t wearing a uniform, and he didn’t take a school bag... but he took a suitcase. He’s probably already left the Tokyo area by now!"

Hearing this, Tiqie Eriina’s whole body trembled.

"Did Instructor Xia return to his country?"

Niho Hizaki covered her mouth in shock.

"Ah!"

Elizabeth then considered the upcoming end-of-the-month culinary battle, "Is he planning to flee the country to avoid the confrontation? Hmm, this is very likely! His opponent is Ayaka Yuchuan, who has the ’finishing move’ recipe and is a top-tier chef!"

Eriina and Hizaki immediately glared at her in anger.

"He won’t avoid the battle!"

"Instructor Xia is not a deserter!"

They exclaimed in unison.

Even Mars shook his head, glanced sideways at Elizabeth, and said, "You shouldn’t make unfounded speculations about a genius chef. I believe he won’t run away, just like a month ago, when he bravely faced my ’Demon’s Stomach’!"

Elizabeth pursed her lips.

Before long, Sen Tian Makoto, notified by Eriina, and Tanaka Hikari, arrived at the shopping street, breathless.

Sen Tian Makoto had the keys to the establishment. As it happened, Xia Yu had left these keys at the Sen Tian pastry shop a long time ago, in case he ever forgot his own while going out.

The group rushed into the door.

Sen Tian Makoto and Tiqie Eriina headed straight for the living quarters upstairs.

The living room and bedroom were spotlessly tidy.

However, a compartment in the wall cabinet was left open, suggesting that it used to store valuable items, but Xia Yu had taken everything with him before departing.