BO Shots
Bridge Rock:Cooking Special
"So Ayana-chan, I've heard tell that your least favorite food is peas?"
Hikaru half stated, half asked. Ayana-chan grimaced distastefully,
"Hai. Ever since junior high school."
"Oh really? What happened?"
"Well, one of my girl friend's Okaa-san had sent her to school with vegetable soup. It was this huge bowl. Too much for just one person to eat. So she begged me to help her, because, well, our school had this policy that student's had to each and every bite of their lunch, or they would get detention. Fortunately for her, I had intended to buy lunch that day, so I agreed to share it with her."
Hikaru nodded encouragingly at her faltering smile.
"Well, that was nice of you."
"Mmmm…I suppose. Anyways, there was only one bowl, so she went off to get another one. In the meantime, I talked with my other friends who were sitting nearby us. Ten minutes later, a sensei walked by and saw the soup bowl in front of me. He assumed it was mine, and chastised me for wasting food. Before I could explain the situation, he walked off telling me if every last drop wasn't gone by the time he got back or he would give me detention."
Pausing, Ayana took a deep breath looking at her folded hands.
"So I ended up eating the whole bowl of soup. My friend hadn't shown back up, so I didn't have any other choice."
Her face was a pale green. Hikaru sweatdropped.
"I'm sorry, Ayana-chan. That still doesn't explain why you don't care for peas though."
A dark cloud seemed to loom over Ayana-chan.
"My 'friend' conveniently forgot to mention that it was pea soup. There weren't that many other vegetables. Heaps and heaps of peas. And I only had fifteen minutes to finish off the entire bowls. I ended up getting ill once class started, and haven't been able to touch peas since. The next day when I saw my friend and asked her about it….she bowed and begged me to forgive her. She said she hated peas, and thought I wouldn't mind."
The set was quiet as Bridge Rock and Ayana-chan contemplated what had just been said. Seems Hikaru had once again touched upon a stormy subject. Maybe the Bo Cooking Challenge wasn't such a good idea today. Before he could say anything, Bo came out solemnly pushing a cart of dishes. One of which had peas as the main ingredient. Glancing at his fellow band members, he saw they were equally sweating at the scenario that was to take place. Focusing again on Bo, he watched as each of the dishes were set in front of Ayana-chan. Inhaling deeply, he forced a smile and silently prayed that Kyoko's cooking lived up to its usual standards.
"Well, Ayana-chan. It's time for Bo's cooking challenge. That means one of these three dishes contains peas as the main ingredient and Ayana-chan must correctly identify which one has the peas."
Hikaru stated as Bo pantomimed a star class chef. Ayana-chan took a moment to school her expression that fluctuated between glum-resigned-to falsely cheerful.
"So what do we have here? A soup, a salad, and a dessert?"
Bo nodded enthusiastically. Scrupulously examining each dish, Ayana-chan picked the dessert to try first. Who would put peas in desert? Taking a tiny pink square between her thumb and index finger, she bit into it. A delicious strawberry chocolate melted in her mouth as she chewed the uniquely crunchy filling, before a spicy aftertaste filled her mouth.
"Mmm... This is delicious, Bo-kun. I can see why everyone talks about cooking."
Bo mimed embarrassment at her words before encouraging her to try the other dishes. She picked the salad. Still cautious of peas, she balanced a bite of the salad into her mouth. A tantalizing apple-vinaigrette met her taste buds as she bit down on crunchy lettuce and chewy pasta.
"Aww….Definitely no peas in this. If you say there are, I'll have no choice but to call your lie."
Bo just waggled his wing at her, before pointing to the soup. Wavering her spoon above the bowl, she finally allowed a small trickle of soup onto the spoon before closing her eyes tightly and putting it in her mouth. Slowly opening her eyes, she pondered the spicy tomato flavor as the carrot dissolved into her mouth. Carefully she took another spoonful, but couldn't find the tell tale flavor of peas.
"It's…good. I can't believe there are any peas in here."
She commented to Hikaru and Bo. Bo just started shaking his head 'no'.
"There aren't any peas in the soup?"
A nod.
"So they were in the salad all along?"
Another shaking of the head. Surely not?
"The….dessert…?"
A feverish nodding met her disbelief. Hikaru regarded the cards in his hands.
"Hai. You tried Apple-vinaigrette pasta salad. Spicy Tomato Vegetable soup. And Strawberry Chocolate covered dried wasabi peas."
Ayana-chan glanced between them and the dessert several times.
"Hehe…well I guess all I can do is ask if I can take some home with me."
Bo put the chocolates in a small box for her.
Challenge Fic.
Happy Birthday Miyabitzora.
Thanks For Reading,
False Sourires