Holy Aroma is the 58th chapter of Shokugeki no Soma.
Plot Summary[]
In a flashback, Jun Shiomi visits an unknown country, planning to buy high quality spices at a local market. After she buys some spices, the vendor tries to dismiss her, but a young Akira Hayama confronts the vendor, having noticed he mixed low-quality goods within the spices. Akira remarks that his nose is special, as he tells Jun this is no place for kids to go sightseeing. Jun tells him that she is actually 26 years old.
Back at the Tōtsuki Autumn Election Preliminaries, Akira serves his dish, as Makito Minatozaka believes he made a Fish-Head Curry. The judges find that he served something different however, and Akira tells them to press the spoon on the nan so that it falls into the dish. Akira then throws a spoon at Sōma Yukihira, warning him to be careful. As Sōma presses the spoon against the dish, an aroma bomb explodes, with a mellow aroma reaching even the audience.
Makito finds that under the lid, the fish head's flavor melted into a curry, which should be mixed with the nan, thus creating a delicious dish. Zenji Marui and Shun Ibusaki deduce that Akira used a technique invented by a French chef, thus using the aroma to impress the judges. Shigenoshin Kōda remarks that there is some hidden ingredient used to combine the different spices, as Natsume Sendawara finds that Akira used holy basil to send a sweet sensation throughout the body. Natsume notes that it is very difficult to find holy basil in Japan however, as Akira tells her they cultivate it at the Shiomi Seminar.
Sōma deduces there is something sour inside the dish, which he believes to be yogurt. Akira tells him that he added the yogurt to cancel out the holy basil's negative effects. Roland Chapelle and Jun find that Akira even thought about the nutritional effects. Natsume tries to recruit Akira, offering him a lot of money. Akira declines the offer, telling her that he only fights for Jun. Akira scores 94 points, thus ending up in first place. Both Natsume and Makito gave Akira a perfect score of 20 points.
At this point in time, Erina Nakiri is joined by Satoshi Isshiki and Fumio Daimidō, as judging in Block B has ended. Satoshi asks Erina if she wants to see how Sōma will fare, as Sōma serves his dish. He also gives a portion to Akira, who notices that Sōma is smiling after eating his curry. The dish turns out to be an omelette, and Sōma hits the dish with a spoon, thus revealing the rice inside the dish and another aroma spreading explosively.