Heaven's Senses

XI

~~~~Mirai~~~~

Hikari and I ran out of the shack and into the forest outside. Immediately, I saw the other students rushing to the storage house to grab fishing poles and bait. 

"Mirai, where are you going?" I heard Hikari shout at me.

"What does it look like I'm doing, idiot?" I shouted back, "I'm getting fishing poles to catch fish for the assignment!"

"Seriously, you're gonna grab fish like everyone else?" She questioned me.

"Of course I am! Isn't that the safest bet when making a dish in a forest like this?" 

Hikari shook her head and had the audacity to grab my wrist and drag me away.

"What in the world are you doing?! Let me go right now!"

"Look, I'm saving you from a failing grade." She and continued dragging me further away from the fishing shack and river.

"What do you mean 'saving me from a failing grade'?" I asked.

"Look, the judge said that we had to make a dish using the resources from within the given area. That doesn't exactly mean that we have to use the fish in the river."

"Then why is everyone rushing to the river?"

"Because they don't think outside the box, unlike me." She smiled at me and we stopped in the middle of the forest where no one else was around.

"Think outside the box?" I questioned.

"Exactly." She nodded, "You see, a good chef may not have exactly all the ingredients that they need to make a dish, so from time to time you gotta think outside the box and make use of what you have on hand. And, it makes your dish stand out even more if you go against the norm."

I didn't understand what she meant, all I wanted to do was get the fish, make the dish and get a passing grade. Yet this crazy girl wants to make a dish based on something outside the safe zone? I really got the short end of the stick with this assignment.

Hikari then turned down the power on her hearing aids and closed her eyes. I watched as she listened around. After a minute, she smiled and turned up the power on her hearing aids again.

"Over that way." She said, pointing towards the fence marking the edge of the approved area, "I heard a few chickens clucking over there near the fence. Let's get going."

She started running towards the fence and I followed her. Sure enough, just like she said, there were a few chickens clucking away and pecking at the ground.

"Ok, so you were right, there are chickens here. What do we do now?" I asked.

Hikari looked around and smiled seeing a few things around.

"Well, I'll take the harder part of this challenge." She said, "I'll get the chicken and you gather some of those eggs in the bushes."

She pointed to the nearby bushes and there I saw a few eggs. I rushed over to get the eggs and grabbed as many as I could hold, and by the time I got everything collected, I turned around and saw Hikari holding a chicken by its feet.

Hikari smiled at me while holding up the chicken so I could see.

"Good, you got the eggs." She said, "Now, let's get going."

We walked back to the river and she sat down near the edge of the water.

"Right then, so what the heck are we supposed to do with the chicken and the eggs?" I asked.

"Wonder which one came first." Hikari said in a serious tone, making me enraged for a second, but then she laughed, "Sorry, bad joke. But in all seriousness, we gotta kill the chicken."