Fire and Ice

Flickering Illusion

"What's with the fish that Tsukasa-senpai has chosen to work with?!" Urara yelled as everyone looked to Tsukasa's workstation. "The fish he has chosen to work with is the tanakagenge!"

"That's a deep sea fish found between the depths of 300-500 meters." Ryo explained. "It's between the northern recesses of the mountains of the Sea of Japan to... about the Sea of Okhotsk."

"Wow, that's one ugly fish." Soma chuckled as he tried to brighten up the mood. "I thought it was a mix of a monkfish and an eel." Soma looked to his sister to find that she couldn't look him in the eye still.

"Haha. That does sound like you Yukihira-kun." Isshiki smiled. "I wonder how Tsukasa-san will go about this."

"It's still moving..!" Megumi had a scared look on her face. "It's moving so violently! How is Tsukasa-senpai going to cook that?!"

Tsukasa seemed completely focused as he took a deep breath, taking a thin spike, inserting it in to the fish's head as the fish got quiet all of a sudden.

"What?" Takumi was shocked.

"It got quiet all of a sudden.." Kuga also looked confused.

"Ikejime." Nene noted. "By quickly inserting a spike into the brain, the fish is turned into a vegetable. This allows the fish to retain its freshness."

Everyone watched as Tsukasa gracefully put the knife under the gill and cut it like an eel and just as fast as he started, he had finished dressing the fish while it was still alive.

"Oh, that's so that's how he's going to do things." Aoi tilted his head as he was eating a sandwich.

"...Tsukasa Eishi." Aoi thought to himself. "I admit, you're an amazing chef. I can see that with my eyes. But... the masses are stupid. Even if your food was the "real" thing, all that hard work would mean nothing, because they will choose the fake."

"Being genuine means nothing to those who don't deserve cooking and in the end..."

"You will despair like how Tsuki did."

Tsuki finally looked up when they announced that Tsukasa was done cooking. Tsukasa looked to Tsuki as he had a smile on his face, to assure her. Tsukasa could tell, Tsuki trusted him with all her heart. "The judges will now taste Tsukasa-senpai's dish!" Urara announced as Tsukasa picked up his dish but unlike using a cover like normal, his dish was wrapped in a bundle of lotus leaves.

"So.. you've used lotus leaves to wrap up this dish?" Decora asked.

"Why don't you open it?" Tsukasa asked with a confident look on his face.

This was a dish he could be proud of.

"A large plate of mysterious food wrapped in lotus leaves!" Urara announced. "I wonder what amazing food is hiding in there!"

As the judges removed the leaves they were left with... fish bones and soup. "What's this? Did Tsukasa-senpai make a mistake? All the flesh on the fish has been turned into soup. The fish bones have left nothing but soup!" Urara exclaimed.

"Eishi..?" Tsuki looked to her lover with a confused expression.

"The judges can't even taste his food!" Urara tilted her head.

"What...?" Aoi frowned. "This is an anticlimactic finish."

"No." Tsukasa shook his head. "This is the way it's supposed to be eaten. Bouillabaisse of Genge...the fish bones are meant to be eaten!"

"Huh?!" Aeri frowned. "Don't make stuff like that up, there's no way such a dish even exists! This is supposed to be a visual battle; why would the judges even put-" Aeri looked to the judges as she froze.