食戟のソーマ:暗闇の王子
第1章
"My name is nakiri erina, I have been given the duty of overseeing today's transfer exam." Said the blond girl standing at the front of the counter. Eyes widened, despair begin filling the minds of the other participants, and fear floated in the atmosphere captivating almost all of us in its claws.
"What are the guidelines for the test?" She asked the girl with purple hair by her side, apparently she was some sort of secretary, though my impression of her was that of a cultist doing the bidding of her goddess.
"As follows, miss. First, interviewers in groups of ten based on application. next , each candidate will cook two or three trial dishes. Those pass this stage will then-" She answered, before being interrupted.
"Hmph! How tedious…"She said, not once breaking her facade of superiority. "Bring the ingredient counter!" Declared the blonde. "Egg will be your main ingredient." she then proceeded to take an egg from the counter. "You will each prepare one dish, those who please my palate…" Then she made a dramatic pause, as if to torture those who were listening. "...Will earn entrance to the Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute. However…" Yet another pause, which she used to make a sadistic smirk. "For the next minute only... I will accept all withdraws from the test without question.".
Finally, the rest of the crowd gave into fear, many screamed, some with tears filling up their eyes, but necessarily all ran to the entrance, giving up.
"What the heck?!" Said the redhead by my side, but his question fell into deaf ears, as people got out of there desperately.
"They are afraid of her highness here. Have you not heard who she is?" I asked him.
"Uh, should I?" he answered meekly.
I couldn't help but chuckle. "In summary, she is the tenth best student in totsuki, and her tasting skills are considered godly for some reason I prefer not to discuss. The princess of totsuki herself, Nakiri Erina. Pleased to make your acquaintance, princess." I melodramatically bowed. The other student just exclaimed a "oh" and glared at our overseer.
"Eh, someone who actually has some decency, and the guts to take the challenge? The pleasure is mine." She returned a bow with a faint smile.
"Eto.. So we can make anything we want, right?" he asked, making her smile be completely replaced with a serious expression.
"You are free to make anything, as long as it features eggs. Are you sure you wish to continue? I don't mind tasting boy in black clothes' dish, but are you sure you're not in the wrong place? "
"Huh? Judging someone by their sheer looks? I think you missed etiquette class, princess. And I'm Positive I'm in the right place." He replied, with his tongue as sharp as his hair.
"Just who do you think she is? She is THE lady Nakiri Erina! She is valedictorian of her class and has a seat on the council of ten masters!" The secretary countered into the boy's deaf ears as he checked the knives and commented "Hoo! These are some high-quality knives you've got here."
Before she could express her frustration I asked lady Nakiri, "With your permission, Milady, may I show my skills to you? Also if the boy doesn't mind me going first-" I was cut off with his fast response, "Sure! Good luck!" he said with a smile.
"Very well, then. Would you like anything specific, lady Nakiri? Or maybe miss Secretary would like to order something?" I said with a suggestive tone.
"I don't have anything in mind right now, be free to do whatever you wish." the princess said.
"...If you don't mind, could you do one dish for me as well?" The purple-haired asked. "And please, don't call me that… you can call me Hisako…" She said with her cheeks faintly tinted with red.
"As you wish, miss Hisako. I will also do one for you, if you retribute the favor." I said to the boy.
"Deal!" He simply stated.
She quickly tried to look for my file in the pile with the other applicants'. When she did not found it, she asked me, "What would be your name?"
"Ix… Nieves Ix, at your service."
'1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 medium onion chopped,1 cup tomato sauce, 1 clove garlic minced, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped, 4 large eggs,1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese' I thought as I started getting the ingredients.
First, I drizzled olive oil into a skillet set over medium heat. Once the olive oil began to shimmer, added in the onions and cooked it until it became tender, for about 3 minutes. Then stirred in the tomato sauce, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Sprinkled with half of the parsley and allowed the tomato sauce mixture to thicken, about 5 minutes.
After that, I quickly broke an egg into a small bowl and used a large spoon to make an indention in the tomato sauce mixture, and repeated the process with the remaining eggs. Finally, topped it with the grated cheese, salt and pepper, covering the skillet and cooking it until the whites of the eggs are set and the egg yolks are cooked to the desired level of doneness. Removed the cover from the skillet and then removed the skillet from the heat. As a finishing touch, sprinkled it with the remaining parsley and it was ready to serve.
When I turned to see Erina and Hisako, both were shocked, with her mouths open with surprise and wonder. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Eggs in Purgatory, I hope you have a pleasant experience." I finally said, presenting the plate to the three of them.
After some moments of complete silence, the blond princess broke it with her comment, " This is the first time I had someone make me eggs from purgatory that look so good I actually want to taste it, the sheer smell of it is already making me hungry…"
"Eggs from purgatory; a one skillet meal that is simply a dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, yet it is so much more! It works perfectly for breakfast, a lazy weekend brunch, or as one of my very favorite easy recipes for breakfast and for supper. I wanted to do something good looking and delicious, while not taking to much preparation time. By all means, enjoy it as much as you see fit." I said nonchalantly, and silently waited as them took the first piece of it.
The first three seconds, nothing happened, until suddenly. The tree of them erupted from the pleasure coming from the egg, all of them closed their eyes and enjoyed the sensation for some more seconds, until erina said, "This dish is fantastic! It tasted as if I was listening to a full orchestra, while a furious and fierce melody was reaching its climax, and ending finally in a serene and peaceful tone. Mister Nieves, I congratulate you for being one of the few who had the capability to please god's tongue, and look forward to see what you will be able to do in the future. You passed the entrance exam.".
"You have my most sincere thanks, my princess" I said with a smirk in my face as I deeply bowed. "What did you think of it, miss Hisako?"
"It was bloody heavenly! I mean… it was alright…" she said with a pink blush taking most of her face.
"Man that was amazing! We have to compare recipes later!" The redhead said, While giving me a wide smile.
"Very well, but would you please explain why furikake rice?"
"Oh so you noticed me making it? I thought you were so into cooking your own dish that you had no notion of what I was doing." He said with a smirk of his own.
"Huh? You made furikake rice?! Did you really just do a common dish like this to get MY approval?! Hmph.. This what you would expect of a second rate cook with a third rate dish after all. You haven't stirred my appetite in the least." Erina harshly said this to the boy, then turned and started to leave. "This isn't worth my time. Hisako, let's go."
"But I haven't even finish the full shape of the dish yet." He said in a serious, almost menacing voice.
"What do you mean?" The Nakiri heiress immediately turned.
"Have a look yourself!" He said as he deployed small yellow cubes at the rice, and its heat melted them, making a seductive texture.
It began as a small chuckle, but then it escalated into I full fledged laugh.. "Hahaha, Boy, I never thought you would pull a morphing furikake rice outta nowhere! It appears I severely misjudged you, and I beg your pardon for that."
"Nah, it's fine." he said sheeply, then he turned to the tootsuki princess with a smug look in his face, "Oi, Nakiri-chan, why are you so red? Did my food seduce you~?"
"Sh-Shut up! If you want to hear my judgment… hand over that bowl!" Erina said half flustered, half determined.
"Eto… Sorry Hisako-Chan, I only had the time for making two plates. Oi, Gray-san, do you want mind sharing with her?"
"Not at all, but where did 'Gray' come from?" I asked.
"Oh, It's because you have white hair, and still you are wearing all black, so I figured I would call ya' something amongst those lines, do you mind?"
"Do as you please. Miss Hisako, would you like some of his dish?"
"I-If you're sure it's Ok…" She said, completely flustered.
"Dig in!" he declared.
Erina slowly took a piece of it and started tasting the flavor, before saying, "...You used an aspic"
"Bingo! Those golden cubes under the egg… are a chicken aspic! This is Yukihira's cooking!" After a few moments with Nakiri in deep thought, he said to her, "Well? Whatcha think? Aren't you glad you didn't just leave?" He had a lot of guts, that was for sure.
"B-Be quiet! I'm still judging!" was all that Erina could say at the moment.
While the two of them were bantering with each other, Hisako grabbed my sleeve and dragged pushed it just enough to get my attention, and almost whispered "C-could you feed it to me… We don't have any chopsticks left here, and I threw off the one I was using becau-" I then gently placed a piece of 'Yukihira's' food in her mouth and said in her ear "Less talking, please. Leave it to me, Hisako."
At that line, she melted, and enjoyed his cooking. Then, for a few moments, we were left staring each other, our eyes meeting and we deeply analyzing each other. But we were interrupted by Erina yelling, "IT WAS DISGUSTING" and proceeded to expulse us both from the kitchen.
"Tough luck, huh? If it serves as console, I liked your cooking." I told him
"Welp, I tried. But thanks, Gray" He replied
"Could you please tell me your name? Up till now I only got your surname."
"Soma, Yukihira Soma, nice to meet you."
"A pleasure as well, hope we meet someday." I bowed and then turned around, slowly waving at him.
'Yukihira Soma, What an interesting piece.' I thought to myself while walking away.
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