Heaven's Senses

VI

~~~~Soma~~~~

I smirked over at my younger sister, the two of us knowing exactly the thoughts going through our heads: Challenge and win against the Number Seven seat on the Ten.

And we were happy to take on the challenge.

The two of us grabbed our headbands and tied them in their proper places.

"Order up!" We said and then looked down at the dish Isshiki made for us.

"What do you think sis? Got a simple breakdown for me?" I asked.

Hikari nodded, "This dish is a peppered mackerel with a puree. And judging by the way that it was prepared and the seasonings he used, he and his family has to specialize in traditional fine dining? What do you think, am I in the right area, Isshiki?"

We looked over at Isshiki, who seemed to be extremely impressed by my sister's deduction of his dish. My sister was impressive, able to pick out everything about a dish using her senses.

"I must say, Hikari, I am quite impressed. Indeed, I specialize in a traditional fine dining cooking style." Isshiki smiled.

Hikair closed her eyes and hummed for a moment, before she suddenly shot up to her feet and smiled down at me.

"I think number 20 should do well, don't you think Soma?" She said and I nodded shooting up to my feet as well.

"Yukihira number 20 of the secret menu. It's perfect!" I exclaimed.

"Yukihira?" Isshiki repeated.

"That's the name of our family restaurant." I answered, "And since mackerel is one of our most popular dishes back home, we'll do the same as you and even use spring as our theme. Think we work around that, Hikari?"

"Shouldn't be too hard to do that." She said and we tightened our headbands in place.

We went over to the small kitchen and started working on our dish. Even though she was a separate person, I think it's because we're twins that we move almost identically. It's what made us a great team.

I poured some oil onto a pan over a hot burning flame and Hikari prepared the mackerel with a careful touch while still being fast so she could work with my speed.

"Soma, the mackerel's ready. What about your end?" Hikari asked.

"I'm ready on my end. Give me the mackerel." I said and took the mackerel from her, laying them next to each other so that they could cook evenly and keep a gentle brown color.

"Switch out, big brother." Hikari said and we immediately switched our places. Hikari took a spoon and took the oil in the pan to baste the fish with the leftover oil. Meanwhile, I started on a tea that would go with the fish and sliced some chives to go with the tea and some rice that Hikari prepared before our switch.

We continued to cook until the dish was finally ready to be served.

"Order up." I called out and turned around with Hikari, only to see that a few of our new dormmates were awake again.

"Presenting Yukihira style number 20, revamped!" Hikari announced, "Mackerel onigiri chazuke."

"Now this is usually made with salmon, but Hikari and I thought that it would be cool to mix it up a little by using mackerel." I said.

"There plenty for everyone to have a serving, so please, eat while it's still hot and fresh." Hikari smiled.

Ryoko happily took one of the bowls with an excited look in her eyes.

"Wow, thanks a lot. Okay, so what do we have here?" She asked looking down at the tea we made.

"That's salted seaweed tea." I explained, "It's bold, but I thought it would finish off the meal perfectly with it's slightly salted flavor."