Shokugeki no Soma 123

Shokugeki no Soma 123

p1
Shokugeki no Soma
Shirt: Nakiri
Cutlery: Gather the balls, I'll settle this---!!
Shirt: Arato
Story: Tsukuda Yuuto
Art: Saeki Shun
Collaborator: Morisaki Yuki
(cutlery) 123 Without Fearing Spiciness

p2
Souma: Oh...
Souma: An imonikai, huh.
Sign: An evening imonikai with Isshiki Satoshi
Satoshi: That's right! The Polar Star Dorm's booth for the Moon Banquet Festival...
Cutlery: The Polar Star Dorm's booth is decided!!
Satoshi: Is an imonikai using plenty of the vegetables from the Isshiki Field!
Note: Imonikai: A get-together where people eat stews outdoors mostly hold in Tohoku and some parts of Kanto.
Yuuki: I made the design!
Daigo/Shouji: We build it!
Souma: You know...It's really well done,
Souma: It has this "School Festival!" feeling to it which is great.
Satoshi: We have a rush of reservations from the mesdames from the cooking class.
Souma: I see, you're calling customers in too...No less from Isshiki-senpai.
Souma: Well, I got all that now, but...

p3
Souma: What's the outfit for...?
Satoshi: Fufu...Well, an imonikai means---
Satoshi: There's a "river" of course...
Souma: Huh...?
Box: Imonikai are usually held in the river banks.
Satoshi: That part there...Like this......
Souma(thinks): He wants to draw the river in!?

p4
Souma: Wow...Everyone's begun preparing.
Megumi: Things will be like this every day after school from now on.
Megumi: It's a bit exciting!
Souma: Right!? It has this "youth" feeling to it which is great.
Souma: Hm?
Terunori: Hey, hey, walk, walk, walk!
Souma(thinks): That's not refreshing at all!!
Souma: Kuga-senpai! What's this...?
Terunori: Hiya, Yukihira-chin! We're just bringing some materials for our booth in, you know.
Souma: Well, it looks kinda nasty at first glance.
Guy: No! We're having fun doing it!
Souma: I-I see, good for you.
Terunori: Yukihira-chin, how's the progress on building your booth?

p5
Souma: Well...I first need to finish testing some dishes.
Terunori: The booth's appearance is a really important factor too!
Terunori: You're getting expelled if you end in the red, you know?
Terunori: Having a young talent like Yukihira-chin leave the academy...Is something I can't bear!
Souma(thinks): He definitely doesn't mean that...
Terunori: Well, do your best trying to at least avoid expulsion.
Souma: Alright...Let's do some tests, then!
Souma: Tadokoro, I had you eat the Yukihira-style mapo doufu yesterday, right?
Megumi: Yes! It was great.
Souma: But that isn't enough... I felt that after actually eating Kuga-senpai's dish
Souma: And Nakiri told me that too.

p6
Souma: First, I'll take the Yukihira Style Mapo doufu
Souma: And try adding the Má Là wèi Nakiri told me.
Souma: The "Má" was huājiāo's spiciness...
Souma: And "Là" was the chili peppers spiciness, right?
Souma: Oh......!
Souma: This is huājiāo, huh...
Souma: This really has a Chinese feeling,
Souma: I've smelled this before.
Megumi(thinks): Chinese feeling?
Souma: First, on high flame---

p7
Souma: I'll fry the minced pork!
Souma: I'll boil the firm tofu for about two minutes and strain it.
Souma: Once the minced meat's color has changed and has a fragrant crunchy feeling to it...
Souma: I'll add the core of the spicy flavor, the seasonings!
Souma: I mix chicken broth with sweet bean sauce, doubanjiang, black bean sauce, garlic, and chili powder...
Box: Tasting.
Megumi: How is it?
Souma: It's not enough yet...
Souma: The spiciness of the Chinese R.S.' dish wasn't like this...

p8
Souma: Whoaaaa! It's hot!! But it's still not enough yet!!
Souma: Not yet!!
Souma: So hot!!
Souma: I won't lose!!!
Souma: It's finished...Tadokoro!
sd: All red
Megumi(thinks): !?
Souma: Please taste it.
Megumi(thinks): His lips are all swollen already!
Megumi: .........

p9
Megumi: !!!
Megumi: I...Id's hod...
Megumi: Sho hod......!
Souma: It's incredibly spicy, right?
Souma: Well then, next,
Souma: I'm trying with other Chinese dishes I've prepared before.
Souma: Twice cooked pork! (It's pretty red)
Souma: Pepper Steak! (It's pretty red)

p10
Souma: Ah...Sorry, Tadokoro...You can rest a bit more if you want.
Megumi: No...! I must...Taste it......!
Megumi: .........! ...! ...S......Sho shpicyyyy!
Megumi: I ate it...! I could eat it, Souma-kun!
Souma: Well...I knew this already...
Souma: But this is no good at all...
Souma: I mean, it's just spicy...
Souma: The Chinese R.S.' Mapo Doufu
Souma: Had this complex refined flavor beyond all that spiciness!
Megumi: Ermm...Souma-kun,
Megumi: I heard this from Houjou-san:

p11
Megumi: It seems that in China...They have these proverbs,
Megumi: They represent the people from Sichuan...And the regions near it, Hunan and Guizhou.
Proverb: 四川人不怕辣 [Sìchuān rén búpà là]　(People from Sichuan don't fear spiciness)
Proverb: 湖南人辣不怕 [Húnán rén là búpà] (People from Hunan don't fear it even if it's spicy)
Proverb: 貴州人怕不辣　[Guìzhōu rén pà bú là] (People from Guizhou fear it's not spicy)
Souma: Hahaha...That's incredible,
Souma: Just how spicy do the people from those regions want their food to be before they are satisfied?
Megumi: And...The Doubanjiang, sweet bean sauce, black beans, oyster sauce...All the seasonings
Megumi: Which are needed to make Mapo doufu.
Megumi: It seems the ones Kuga-senpai is using for the Academy Festival are special ones he made...!
Souma: !!
Megumi: That's exactly why behind the spiciness lies such a flavor...
Souma: I see...
Souma(thinks): Kuga-senpai took a common Sichuan Cuisine dish
Souma(thinks): And inlayed his beliefs in it.

p12
Souma(thinks): It's precisely...
Souma(thinks): A dish which shows the face of the cook---...!
sd: Gyaah gyaah
Megumi: I wonder why...It's so noisy outside.
Souma: This voices are...
Erina: Really, just what are you thinking, Alice!!?
Alice: What is it!? Erina, you're in no place to get angry at me, ok!?
Souma: Just like I thought,
Erina: The Moon Banquet Festival's guidebook has been already published! And yet...

p13
Erina: You now say you want to participate...!? That's too selfish!
Alice: Then you can order a reprint with my pocket money!
Souma: Just how much would that reprint cost?
Megumi: As expected from rich people...
Alice: Besides, I could have stolen someone's booth with a shokugeki, you know?
Erina: Just what happened to you this year...? You're all motivated.
Erina: You were the one who skipped on the event last year because it was bothersome.
Souma: Hey there, Nakiris.
Alice: Oh, Yukihira-kun!
Erina: Who are you calling "Nakiris"!!?
Alice: Certainly...The Chinese R.S. has many repeating customers who visit them every day of the event.
Alice: For the customers to get so addicted and visit so many times...
Alice: There's another reason I can think of.
Souma: Reason?

p14
Alice: In physiological terms...Spiciness isn't considered part of the sense of taste
Alice: But of the "sense of pain".
Souma: .........Hmm...So it's pain, huh.
Alice: Exactly (music note)
Alice: Physiology defines five basic tastes, sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and umami......
Alice: But spiciness isn't felt with taste receptors but with vanilloid receptors.
Alice: Moreover, a strong spicy flavor makes the body secrete neurotransmisors like adrenaline and beta-endorphin...
Alice: That is what is said to cause people to get addicted.
Alice: A phenomenon that occurs precisely because spiciness is felt as pain (music note)
Souma: I see...Spiciness......
Souma: ...The kanji for spicy [辛]
Souma: Is similar to the kanji for Yukihira's "Yuki"[幸]...
Megumi: Souma-kun, calm down...
Souma: To think there's cooking that's probed so deeply into spiciness,
Souma: Chinese food is amazing.
Erina: ...Spiciness is certainly Sichuan cuisine's characteristic trait,

p15
Erina: However, Chinese cuisine isn't all about that.
Souma: ?
Erina: Didn't I tell you? China has many different cuisines throughout it!
Erina: Sichuan cuisine isn't but one of "China's eight regional cuisines".
Erina: Each of those eight has their own variety of cooking techniques and an ancient history...!
Erina: Have you understood now? Chinese cuisine isn't something half-hearted enough for you to be able to handle it.
Souma: Chinese cuisine...China......
Souma: Come to think of it...Pops said something once...
Erina(thinks): Pops...?
Souma: What he said then was---...

p16
Souma: ......!
Souma: ...Tadokoro, I want you to taste one more dish.
Megumi: !
Megumi: I-Is it another ultra-spicy dish...?
Souma: Now......
Souma: There's something...
Souma: I want to try doing...!
Box: The next day after school.
Terunori: Mmmmmmm......
Terunori: Well, I guess that's about it.

p17
Voice: This is the Chinese R.S.' booth...!
Voice: It's huge!!!
Voice: It seems they were doing foundation works last month.
Voice: It looks like it'll be amazing once it's done...!

p18
Guy: I don't want to set my booth around this one...
Guy: You said it.
Souma: Here we go.
Souma: Alright, it's ready.
Guy: It's ready!?
Souma: What's left now...? I guess having some benches around here would be nice.

p19
Guy: To think he wants to compete with our booth with such a stall!
Guy: That's ridiculous!
Terunori: Yukihira-chin...
Terunori: You're using that stall?
Souma: Ah, yes, that's right!
Souma: I've got a feeling that with this stall
Souma: I might just be able to make
Souma: Something pretty interesting.
Cutlery: What's Souma's counter-plan!? Next issue, the "festival" begins!!
Terunori(thinks): That furnace...
Terunori(thinks): It can't be---
Terunori: .........
Shokugeki no Soma
(cutlery) 123/End