Brightest Star Above

Prologue

"Please have a taste" 

A girl with honey blonde hair presented her dish to the judges. Each of the judges stared at the plate presented. It was bound to be good. Each of the judges gulped and brought to their mouths a spoonful of the dish. As soon as they tasted it, they entered heaven. 

"The egg dish harmonizes perfectly with the ham."

"The bread was also baked perfectly. The hollandaise sauce was mixed with more lemons to bring that citric aroma"

"It truly is the perfect dish!"

The blonde girl smirked at their reactions. It as expected. After all, she is Nakiri Erina, possessor of the God Tongue and  granddaughter of Nakiri Senzaemon, Demon King of the world of food. No one could stop her. The 10th seat was hers to take. That no-name girl could not defeat her. After such high praises, no one would dare challenge her again

On the other side of the stage, a girl was plating her dish silently. She did not care about the boos of her classmates. She did not care about the praises the judges gave to Nakiri Erina. The only thing she cared about was creating the best dish. 

Erina frowns at the sight of the girl trying to defeat her. "There was no possibility of her winning. So why? Why does she keep on struggling". Erina thought.

 However, as soon as the girl started walking to the judges table, she started to feel her heart pound. Her face started to pale in fear. It was as if all the confidence she had earlier was drained. She realized that the girl in front of her was no ordinary girl.

The girl put their dishes with a lid on. It was cloudy and not a single hint of the dish could be seen. They all stared at her with boredom in their faces. They all expected it to be inferior to Nakiri Erina's dish. 

They don't know what's in store for them.

People always thought that I was just another face. I was just one of them that would fail and move on with life. They thought that I was just some mediocre girl with no spark for cooking. They always thought 'I could never beat Hayama in a shokugeki' , ' I would never be able to reach the level of Erina-sama' or 'I wish I had Alice-sama's talent' and ' I could never beat a genius like them.' Every single shokugeki it was the same. They always thought that they never could. 

I hated it.

A girl with black hair and icy blue eyes stared at the judges. All of them froze from their seats. Her eyes were saying 'bow down' and the judges could only stare at her with sheer admiration. 

The girl then smiled and said "Please enjoy my dish." 

The judges gulped at her dish. It was an egg foo young, a dish that originated in Guangdong, China. They took a bite and ... exploded.... 

"The egg foo young has both crunchiness and fluffiness."

"An addition of shrimps and scallops were added to provide a variety."

"It was as if .... I could remember my childhood. I could remember my very first time in theme park"

They all finished the dish. It truly was a dish they would eat over and over again. It was a dish that they would bring home to their families. Soon, with begging faces they asked, "Could we have a second serving?" 

The blonde princess was enraged. She had the God Tongue and yet some random girl had defeated  her. Truly, the girl was different from others. However, she is not above the God Tongue in any manner. 

"The judges will now decide the victor of the shokugeki" The emcee said.

It would take more than 10 minutes for a judge to finally decide. The choices they would make will affect the future of Tootsuki. The future of the top culinary academy is a t stake. 

A man wearing spectacles and the Tootsuki Resort uniform would stand up and say " I would like to vote for her." The man was none other than Tokohiko Sakuma, an employee of Tootsuki Resort. 

The next was a woman with short hair and slanted eyes. Her smile felt as if there was a deeper meaning to it. " I would like to vote for her as well" She was Riko Ebisawa, the 4th seat of the Elite Ten of the 70th generation.

Dojima Gin stayed silent for a moment. He was the only one left after all. Truly, Nakiri Erina's dish was superb. However, the other girl's dish had a wave of various flavors that simply surpassed Nakiri Erina's. Besides, the other girl had an edge that Nakiri Erina in her current state would never have. The man smiled.

"It's decided then. She will be the one to represent the 92nd generation for BLUE and fill in the last member who will represent Tootsuki Academy in the Cooking Grand Prix in France."

A cry of despair was heard from the blonde princess. The whole stadium could not believe that the Nakiri Erina would lose to an unknown girl. The stadium was filled with uproars from various entities.

However, there were those that would intently watch the other girl.

A certain albino Nakiri clapping in joy to see the day that her beloved cousin finally lose. Her dark haired aide watched the other girl with interest. The albino Nakiri then started formulating her plan to defeat her cousin. 

A small girl with no confidence watched with amazement the accomplishment of the other girl. She then sighed and said, "It's impossible for me to be like that."

A blond Italian was observing the girl quite intently. His little brother, then teased him of fancying the unknown girl. He blushed and noisily defended himself, causing everyone to look at them. 

A professor and her assistant watched from their television screen the defeat of the blonde princess. They could only imagine what kind of dish the other girl presented. If it was a dish able to defeat the owner of the God Tongue, just what kind of dish was it???

The white knight of Tootsuki and a cat-like girl  looked from above the VIP room. It truly was an interesting match and the cat-like girl couldn't wait to go down the stage and eat the dishes presented earlier. The knight was left in the room. He then stared at the girl thought, "I have found my new queen."

Dojima Gin went forward to the girl who was now cleaning the station she used. Her jet black hair fell until her waist. Her eyes was covered by her hair. 

"What is your name?" He asks the girl who continued to clean her station. 

She looks up at him and says, "Suzuki, Miyako" and stops cleaning the bowls she used earlier and looks at the former Tootsuki alumnus.

"That was a job well done, Suzuki-kun. However, how did you know that Nakiri Erina's dish lacked it?" He asks her.

The girl leans on the table top and says, "The manner that she communicates with the other students in the hallway, the way she would boisterously parade herself in the halls and that prideful swagger of her God Tongue is simply...annoying." She stops to think for the proper words to say. "A chef is supposed to serve the people with the best dish that they could. However, she, who walks with her head held high belittling those who do not have the same skill set as her, cannot lead Tootsuki to victory."

Dojima Gin's eyes sparked with interest at what she has said. She will be the one to stand above them all.