Chapter 217: Coach, I Want to Report Someone Cheating
"Ah, this..."
"Hey, isn't he cold?"
"Isn't this self-harm? It's just making a dish, isn't it a bit much?"
Watching Hachiman grip the ice-cold knife with his bare hands, the surrounding graduates exclaimed in surprise.
Dojima approached him, reaching out to grab Hachiman's arm holding the knife.
In an instant, a chill traveled up his arm. Just by grabbing the arm, one could feel the bone-chilling cold emanating from the knife. After minutes of cooling with liquid nitrogen, the knife's temperature had dropped to an extremely low level. At this point, the knife must be icy and piercing, and directly gripping it could lead to frostbite!
However, Hachiman firmly held the ice-cold knife without the slightest tremor. Even Dojima couldn't help but be moved by this resilience and advised.
"Hikigaya-kun, this is just an entertaining assessment; there's no need for this. You'll get frostbite."
"I'm fine, Dojima-senpai. This is necessary for cooking."
"To taste something delicious, you naturally have to pay a price."
"Like a bear that loves honey, even though it knows it will get stung by bees, it still chooses to raid the beehive for the sake of the delicacy."
Although he held the ice-cold knife, Hachiman's face showed no discomfort, continuing to speak with a smiling expression.
Indeed, to outsiders, grabbing the knife must feel icy and piercing, but with his current constitution, this low temperature meant nothing.
Moreover, he now possessed the healing power of[Light], so even if he did get frostbite, a few beams of holy light would heal it in no time.
Hearing Hachiman's words, Dojima fell silent. He knew he couldn't persuade him anymore, so he instructed someone to bring frostbite ointment and bandages to ensure Hachiman could receive timely treatment later.
Seeing him not intervening, Hachiman approached the prepared sea bream with the ice-cold knife.
Lifting the ice-cold knife slowly, the blade, emanating a chill, left a trail of ice in the air.
The[Cooking]and [Kendo], modules activated simultaneously.
In the next moment, the blade gleamed, and the ice-cold knife danced in Hachiman's hand, sending sparkling pieces of something towards the mini ice mountain with every stroke.
"Those are... sea bream slices!"
Some observant graduates exclaimed.
It was only now that others noticed that every time Hachiman made a cut, slices of sea bream flew from the blade, landing on the nearby mini ice mountain and sticking to it.
"Ah, this..."
This was truly cooking and not magic.
Witnessing this somewhat magical scene, many were left stunned.
"As expected, just as Chief Nakiri said, Hikigaya-kun's knife skills are top-notch," praised Dojima.
Are you sure this can be considered knife skills?
Many graduates who prided themselves on their knife skills began to question life.
Seeing their expressions, Dojima continued, "I heard from Chief Nakiri that Hikigaya-kun is a genius among geniuses. Not only is he proficient in cooking, but he also excels in Kendo."
"They won the championship in both the men's and women's divisions of the Kendo Inter-High School Championship, and he led the men's team to victory."
"Besides the first two matches, he won all the remaining battles single-handedly. He even defeated the previous year's men's division champion on his own."
"In the final match, he directly became the Sword Master at the pinnacle of the current Japan Kendo world, hailed as the most likely to reach the realm of Sword Saint in Japan's thousand-year history."
"And most importantly, as Chief Nakiri mentioned, whether it's cooking or Kendo, they are just hobbies for Hikigaya-kun."
Towards the end, even Dojima's expression became somewhat strange.
As for the graduates, they fell completely silent.
Hachiman is still just a high school student, and possessing culinary skills no less than theirs at this age is already quite surprising. If you add his remarkable achievements in Kendo, it can be fully described as genius.
But now you're telling me that whether it's culinary skills or Kendo, it's just a hobby...
Coach, I want to report someone for cheating.
Clearly, we're all playing Virtual Earth Online, why are you so powerful?
They guessed right; Hachiman is indeed a player using cheats.
Regardless of what they think, Hachiman continues to cut the sea bream by himself.
With each swing of the knife, the delicate sea bream slices, as thin as cicada wings, carry a glimmer like dancing butterflies, flying towards the mini ice mountain.
This beautiful scene captivates many female graduates.
Unfortunately, beautiful moments are always fleeting. Before long, the sea bream is completely cut, leaving everyone feeling as if they've just watched an exquisite yet brief movie, finding it hard to come back to reality.
Exhaling a breath of cold air, Hachiman rinses the ice-cold knife under running water and slowly releases the handle.
The technique he just used is a culinary skill from "Chuuka Ichiban" called Arhat Crystal Slash. Although it's just an imitation, with the almost maxed-out [Cooking] and [Kendo] modules, he can execute it convincingly.
Dojima also snaps back to reality and quickly has someone bring frostbite ointment and bandages for Hachiman.
Even though his palm is not seriously affected at the moment, to divert attention, he chooses to wrap the hand holding the knife.
Once Hachiman had finished handling the "injury" and regained his smile, he addressed the graduating students.
"Alright, this dish is now ready. Please, seniors, taste it."
Hearing his words, everyone snapped back to reality and quickly approached the mini ice mountain.
The ice mountain was covered with slices of sea bream, and the most astonishing part was that each slice had a smooth and bright cross-section. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a series of mirrors, even reflecting their own images on the surface.
Witnessing this scene, the graduating students once again marveled at Hachiman's knife skills.
"Hikigaya-kun, does this dish have a name?" inquired the curious Hinako.
"This dish is called 'Intense Ice Fresh Sea Bream Mountain,'" Hachiman replied with a faint smile before turning to prepare the dipping sauce.
Since sashimi emphasizes freshness, the dipping sauce is quite simple, requiring only a mixture of soy sauce and mustard.
After exchanging glances, the students finally decided to start. Dojima took the lead.
He used chopsticks to pick up a bright, mirror-like slice of sea bream, dipped it in the sauce Hachiman handed over, and placed it in his mouth.
"This is..."
As the sea bream slice touched his tongue, the highest-scoring graduate in the history of Totsuki widened his eyes in amazement.