ALL NOVEL What They Taught You Was Wrong
With everything prepared, I went on to give the girls another performance on the teppan grill.
I think I did a better job this time since I already had experience with it before and I could do more tricks with the food.
I couldn't do any egg flipping tricks but I made use of bottled eggs to draw pictures on the grill while cooking them.
Nothing complicated of course, since I wasn't an artist.
Unlike the other three, Deidre did not panic when she saw me set the grill aflame though it was obvious she looked concerned at first. But she quickly realised I had everything under control and settled back down to continue writing notes.
As for my companions, they've already seen me make use of the teppan grill before so they were enjoying the show I was putting on to the fullest.
I made another onion volcano and I got a few 'oohs' and 'aahs' from them which was really cute.
I even did a few acrobatics with the food like juggling and slicing up a few vegetables in the air with my vibration knife and that got quite enthusiastic claps from them.
It took me a little bit longer to finish cooking this time since I put up a longer performance than the previous one.
I then placed the four plates of food that I made in front of my audience before picking up the final plate for myself to join them on their side of the counter.
Deidre was looking at the plate that was piled high with steak, fish, chicken, vegetables, fried rice and fried noodles.
"How did… Why does it smell so good?" She muttered.
"Because Tera made it, duh," Amber answered her as a matter of factly.
"It not only smells good, it tastes good too," Lea added.
"And there's no food wastage too!" Ries finished cheerfully.
Noooo… Stooop… You're making me blush…
Ahem…
I nodded at her, "Go on, try it."
She picked up her spoon and gave the food a few pokes before scooping up a small portion of the rice to bring it to her nose to take a whiff.
All of us watched her slowly bring the spoon to her lips.
She then very slowly opened her mouth and delivered the spoon into her mouth, depositing the food inside it.
Deidre then pulled the spoon out of her mouth and she started to chew.
She chewed once before suddenly freezing up.
At this point, I've already seen the same scene multiple times so I already knew what would happen so I waited for the inevitable outburst.
Sure enough, she started tearing up before she continued to chew.
"This… This is… Beautiful…" She muttered after swallowing. "So this is what food can taste like…"
I also took a spoonful of my own food and scooped it into my mouth to taste.
Mmm~ Yep, not too bad. Though I think I burnt it a little around the edges for the meat but it still tastes good.
The others also started eating their share of the food as well, all of them making their own noises of pleasure as they ate the food I made for them.
Hmmm~ While the steak felt a little more overcooked than I wanted it to be, the rest was done quite well even if I say so myself.
The fish especially was quite good and also quite well seasoned, and I wasn't the only one who thought so since Ries was literally bouncing up and down her seat while she devoured her plate of fish.
Over at the other end, Deidre had already been reduced to a sobbing mess while she continued to eat. Since this wasn't the first time or even the fifth time I witnessed this, I wasn't that bothered by it anymore.
I was only just a little bit more than halfway done with my share of food when I noticed that Amber had already cleaned her plate and was just sitting there staring at me.
"Nom nom… Hmm? Do you want more?" I asked.
"Oh no, no~ I'm just enjoying the sight of you eating, don't mind me~" She giggled.
Yeah right, you can't bluff me like that.
I stabbed a piece of steak with my fork and turned to her, "Say ahhh~"
She reacted immediately, "Ahhhh~"
I fed her the piece of steak and smiled as I watched her shiver in delight at the taste of the steak.
Mmhmm~ I knew she wanted more.
I let her enjoy another piece of chicken before I felt a tug on my left side.
When I turned to look, I found Lea who had also finished her plate looking at me with a look of anticipation on her face.
Err… Does she also want more?
I stabbed my fork into a potato and presented it to her.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned forward to take the potato into her mouth, which also had the added effect of her chest pressing against my arm.
Even after she ate that potato, she still remained where she was. In fact she slipped her arm around mine before she leaned her head on my shoulder while hugging my arm.
Hmm… Well, I didn't mind her doing that so I continued eating while she hugged me.
Amber must have also had the same idea because she hugged my other arm tightly.
"Ermm… Girls? I can't eat like this…" I pointed out.
"Oh~ I can fix that!" Amber giggled, taking my fork from my hand to start feeding me instead.
I swallowed the food she just fed me before giving her a look, "You know… If you just want to feed me, you could just ask, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about~" She lied, feeding me another mouthful of food from my plate.
I decided to just let her feed me and I eventually cleaned my plate after a while.
When I looked over to Deidre's side, I actually saw her picking up her plate to lick it while still crying.
To be fair, Ries was also doing the same thing but she wasn't crying at least.
I tapped Lea and Amber by crossing my arms to let them know I was trying to get up.
They were obviously reluctant to let go but did so anyway, allowing me to approach the other chef.
By the time I got to her side, she had set her plate down with a look of defeat on her face though her eyes never left the empty plate in front of her.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"That was… The most beautiful thing I have ever experienced… I am grateful for allowing me to be part of this, teacher."
"And what have you learned?"
"I have learned that there are just people who are beyond mortal understanding and are able to make things beyond all mortal comprehension," She answered without hesitation.
Wait, no… That's not what I wanted you to learn…
I was hoping that she would realise that there wasn't a 'trash part' of a food and that using the 'best part' of the food to cook was completely stupid.
Before I could tell her that though, the other three immediately chimed in.
"Ahahaha! That's right! Tera is really great isn't she?"
"Mistress is indeed phenomenal in everything she does."
"I agree too! Boss is really awesome!"
No no no, please don't feed her delusions, girls, because I think she would actually believe what you tell her right now…
I quickly turned to her, "That's not it, Deidre… What I wanted to show you was that you could use the entire ingredient to make a delicious meal. What that school has taught you about this is definitely incorrect."
She turned to look at me, "But… That's only possible because it's you, isn't it, teacher? If I were to attempt the same thing… I wouldn't be able to achieve the same results…"
I wagged my finger at her, "Didn't you say that you felt you were stagnating? This is your chance to start improving yourself, isn't it? How can you give up now after a new goal has presented itself in front of you?"
She turned to look at my leftover ingredients, more specifically the sauces I had prepared.
"Those sauces you made… How do you even know how to make them? I don't even understand how you could make that from synthfood…"
"Umm… I combined various synthfood together to get the taste I wanted. You're a chef aren't you? You know that sometimes you need something to taste a little saltier, a little sweeter or a little sour so you put seasoning to adjust the taste right? So you have to experiment with different synthfood to get the exact taste you want to add into your creations. You can definitely do that too!"
Her eyes watered again, "Do you… Do you really think so… Teacher?"
"Of course!"
She sniffed before she actually started bawling in front of me.
Oh geez… Why are you crying now?
This is so awkward…