Heaven's Senses

XXX

~~~~~Mirai~~~~~

I stood in my personal kitchen as I thought about what kind of dish I would make for the competition. From what the judges told me and Hikari, the theme of the next round would be German sweets and desserts, not knowing that German desserts were one of my specialties since my father's side of the family were German while my mother was Japanese born.

For days, I flipped through pager after page in old cookbooks from my family recipes, and that's when I found it. A simple dish that I used to make with my father years ago when I was a little girl. I stayed up that night trying to find the perfect combination of ingredients and spices before finally falling asleep on the couch in the living room. It surprised my parents to see me change like this, or to see me smiling on the couch as I slept. But I was too excited about the upcoming round in the Fall Selection.

I was going to do my best, and if I didn't win, that was okay. I still got to go against a formidable opponent.

~~~~~Hikari~~~~~

One week had passed since the decision to have the winners of the next two matches take on Akira and Ryo in the finals. It was a little crazy since that decision, what with people constantly asking me about my dish for the round and how I would take being beaten by a girl with such a pedigree as Mirai's. I ignored them most of the time and went on with experimenting with my dish. Since the theme was German desserts and sweets, I had to study a lot of recipes to draw inspiration from. Not even my brother's match with another student could take me away from my work.

My brother's match was three days after Ryo and Akira's match. His theme was western cuisine and went against a student named Kyosuke Doki. The student was all too familiar with western cuisine, so my brother had a challenge, but in the end Soma won the match.

Now finally, an entire week of careful planning, balancing spices and finding the perfect timing, scents, sights, tastes, and even sensation of touch from the fingers to the tongue, I had perfected my dish for the Fall Selection. I even decided to take a risk by shifting the appearance of the dish to make it even more beautiful and eye-catching. On the day of my battle, I walked out of the kitchen with my face still covered in flour but I was still smiling with my tools and ingredients in hand.

"Hey sis!" Soma shouted as he ran down the stairs but not with the others.

"Hey Soma, where are the others?" I asked.

"They went to the arena earlier to find a good spot in the stands to cheer you on. So let's get going so we're not late for the match." He smiled and grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the dorms all the way to the arena.

Once we got to the arena, I stayed in my personal waiting room while Soma went to join the others, and I waited in that room until was finally time to go on-stage. After about an hour of waiting, a knock came to the door.

"Excuse me, Ms. Yukihira. It's about time to get going now." A man's voice said from the other side of the door. 

I smiled with confidence and grabbed my ingredients before walking out to the stadium entrance. The sounds of the other students cheering and roaring from the stands filled me with excitement, further pushing me to do my best.

Then, the Emcee started to speak.

"Welcome students of Totsuki!" She spoke, "I am your Emcee, Urara Kawashima! Today will be the deciding match that will bring forth the final contestant to a historic battle never before seen in Fall Festival history and records! Are you ready?!" 

The cheers grew louder. I could even hear my brother and the other members of the Kyokusei Dorms screaming louder than the other students in the crowd.