"The winner of the Demon King's cooking battle general is--Kyo

As soon as the name is announced, you can hear the delighted voices of all the members on our side.

That's great!　That's my Lily's man!　Cultivation hero, great!

"I did it!　Kyou-sama, nice work!

"Congratulations, Kyou-san!

"Master!　That's great!

"Pop!　Congratulations!

I believed in you, brother.

Well, let's just say that's impressive, my son.

Each of them paid tribute and congratulated me, and all of them looked happy.
It was a great pleasure to be given the joy of victory, which I hadn't been able to get at the time of the big cook-off, and I was also filled with emotion.
You're going to be able to get a good deal more information about the company.

...... I don't agree with you.

However, there was only one person who complained about the results.

My cooking is better than yours!　Referee!　Appeal to the judges!

Significance!　to object to the gourmet master by pointing her finger at him.
The gourmet master quietly explains why.

I'll tell you why first. We consider Keogh's dish the winner because it best exemplifies the concept of this dish, 'Japanese Cuisine'.

"The purpose of Japanese cuisine is ......?

In Japanese cuisine, there is more than just technique. That is the gratitude of 'Itadakimasu' for food, and the other is 'Mottainai' for food.

To Helu, who is still puzzled by this explanation, the gourmet master gives a brief explanation.

Wasted means that the value of the object is not fully utilized. The people who live in the country called Nihon are very modest and polite, and they do not leave any wastefulness in their food, they cook it nicely".

Then the gourmet master points to that uneven monster I dared to prepare.

"He dared to prepare an uneven monster. That's why. Because that is the very essence of the Japanese spirit of 'mottainai'.

At these words, Helle looks as if she realizes why I chose those ingredients.

"The taste of irregular-looking demons is actually not much different from ordinary ones. But a lot of things are discarded because of the importance of appearance, and that's why they're so misshapen. But the spirit of using such "wasteful" items as ingredients. That is the origin of Japanese cuisine. His last uncle. Literally every drop of water from the wasted pot is eaten as an ingredient for a new dish. I have come to appreciate that this is the heart of Japanese cuisine.

Yes, if it were simple deliciousness, Helu would have won, just like the past cooking contests.
However, in Japanese cuisine, which values the most "spirit" among all cuisines, this kind of spirit and feeling is the most important thing.
I would like to thank the gourmet master who noticed and appreciated the Japanese culture behind my Japanese cuisine.

But you're a good cook, too. Let's go again sometime.

With that, I held out my hand to Helu to end the battle with a bang.

You fool!

For some reason, I was shouted out.

"Why don't we play someday?　Forget about the people!　And it's disgusting to eat my food and not remember anything!　That's more annoying than winning or losing!　Stupid bakar!　You liar!

Eh, eh?　What, what?
I'm not really sure what's going on here.

I'm not sure what the situation is.

What was that? What did you forget?　Remember?　Liar?
In my confused mind, I tried desperately to sort out the situation in front of me, but all I could think of was the girl snarling in front of me, and while I was watching the scene for a while, something suddenly shone on the edge of my memory.

Yes, this is a scene that I have seen somewhere before.

It was a hot summer day when I was in elementary school.
I was into cartoons and manga, and I was at the height of my dreaming, thinking that one day I would go to another world and become a hero, because I had the dreaming personality of a young boy.
One day, my dad had a girl who was a relative of his staying with him.

She was very timid and followed me around, and as a reference to an otherworldly anime that I was really into at the time, I played the heroine of the enemy and she was the daughter of the demon king, the dark princess.
She was probably influenced by me, or maybe by manga and anime, and by the time she left, she was a complete nerd, and just before we parted, she was crying out with tears in the corner of her eyes, just like now.

What, you don't want to leave?　You want to see your mother, don't you?

...... Yeah, but I don't want to leave my brother.

It's all right. I'll come to your place next time.

"Really?!

Yeah, it's true. When I grow up and achieve my dream of becoming a hero, I'll come see you, even if it's in another world.



"Yeah!　That's a promise!　Then I'll treat you to the food I ate at my brother's place!

"Oh!　I'm sure your food will be delicious. I'm looking forward to it.

"Yes!

...... That's right.

The girl who came to my house that time.
The little girl who was always dressed in black and hiding behind me, scared.

My sister. Her name--

"...... could it be 'Hell'?"

That's when I finally called the "guy's name" for the first time.

...... that's right. He finally remembered: ...... "big brother."

Hel's words caused not only me, but all the others behind me, to gasp in surprise.