DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HUNTER X HUNTER NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WANT TO!


Chapter Eleven: Here's a Tip


We tried many ways to kill the giant pigs. Bleach tried throwing a huge boulder at its snout. That was a bust. Ninja Guy tried throwing his throwing stars at its snout. That didn't work either. Gon tried hitting the snout with his fishing rod head on. Gon didn't even make a dent and was launched back by the pig.

He landed his feet thankfully and was able to jump out of the way when the pig charged at him again. Instead of hitting Gon, the pig hit the apple tree behind Gon dead center, causing a jolt to go through the pig.

The pig turned to Gon, prepared to charge at him again, but an apple stopped it in its tracks. A bunch of apples fell on its head after the first came down with a resounding thud on its noggin. The pig let out a pained cry, it's snout wiggling in response.

I hummed in thought. Hmm... maybe the reason it has a large snout is to protect its weak forehead. Evolution is a strange thing sometimes...

Gon must have been thinking along the same lines since he jumped up and turned mid flight so he could land a clean hit on its forehead. The pig let out a loud cry of pain standing on its hind legs before falling on it's back dead, causing the earth to shake slightly.

"Oh, could their foreheads be their weak points?" Killua asked with a smile. In the background, I could see Leorio running from a pig that was charging after him.

"So, the pigs evolved large, strong noses in order to protect their soft foreheads," Kurapika concluded. As soon as he said this, every single one of the applicants smiled, forming up ways to kill one of the pigs with a sure-fire technique.

Killua rammed into the pig's forehead with his skateboard. Kurapika with his wooden sword. Bleach with an elbow strike. The ninja just threw his stars. Me, I did it with less finesse. I jump up and swung my heel down onto its forehead. It fell with a resounding thud.

The forest was filled with the screams of dying pigs.


Once we were back at the cooking stations and I plopped my pig on the ground and proceeded to wash my hands.

"* This... is gonna suck," I said rolling up my sleeves. I grabbed one of the bigger kitchen knives and slashed open the belly of the pig. I then proceeded to gut the pig.

(AN: I'm going to skip the details of the gutting and getting to the cooking.)

"That... was disgusting. Yeah!" I complained as I squirmed at the memory of the disgusting bloody guts. I washed my hands of the remaining blood and guts.

I looked around and saw that mostly everyone was grilling the whole pig.

That's gonna be gross!

"There's no helping them..." I said with a sigh, "No matter. I'll just have to pass this exam all by my lonesome."

And with that, I got cooking. I took one of the knives and cut twenty thick strips of meat off of the pig. Earlier when I was looking around the station, I had found some golden potatoes, some string, sake, and rosemary.

In an anime called Food Wars, the main character made a dish out of only these ingredients. It was called 'Gotcha Roast'. After watching that episode, I convinced my mom to help me make this dish and we ended up having an amazing meal that didn't too long to cook.

I took out the golden potatoes and prepared them like he did in the show, by peeling, dicing, and wrapping all of it in bacon. I wrapped it in a string and put rosemary between the string and the bacon so that it wouldn't fall off while it was cooking. Once I put in a pan, I poured red wine on top of it to bring out the flavors.

As soon as I put it in the oven, I went to see how Gon and Killua were doing.

"Hey guys, how are yall doing?" I asked them.

They both turned to me with smiles. Gon answered me first, "We're doing great Nee-san! Although... were having a little trouble cooking..." he admitted.

"Well, you're both royally screwed," I said with a smirk.

"Oi! Aren't you supposed to helping us!" Killua exclaimed.

"Hey, I'll give you some tips, but I'm not going to cook it for you," I said with a smile.

"Hm..." I heard Gon hum in thought.

"Here's a tip," I motioned them to come closer so I could whisper in their ears, "Be original."

They blinked before looking to each other and back to me.

Killua gave me a blank look, "That's not much of a hint."

"You'll figure it out eventually. Good luck on the exam my little Outotos." I said with a wave.

I took my dish out of the oven and was greeted with the aroma of awesomeness.

"I can't wait to try this thing," I said to myself.

I took out seven plates and forks and one of the smaller knives. I used the smaller knife to cut seven slices for each plate.

I took two of the seven plates up to the examiners. So far, I would be the fifth contestant to go up for judging. Bleach being the first.

I placed the two dishes in front of them, "Hi, I'm ready for evaluation." the two examiners continued to stare at my dish, "Um... hello?"

Menchi was the first to respond. She shook her head as if to shake herself back into reality, "Um, yeah sure." they both picked up their forks and took a bite, "It's a not five-star dish, but it's good. You pass." she said while she raised her stick with the red 'O' facing me. When I looked at Buhara, I saw him gobbling up his dish. He took a couple seconds to raise his stick with a red 'O' facing me as well before he went back to eating.

I smiled at this, "Thank you!" I exclaimed with a bow. I ran down the stairs passing other applicants as I went and went back to my station to eat my dish myself.

I hope Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio pass this part of the exam as well.


Thank you for reading this chapter.

* "This... is gonna suck." = this is a reference to the movie Simply Irresistible. It is a lovely romance that my mom and I watch every now and again. It stars Sarah Geller who also stars in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I recommend that you check them out.

* The dish that Mai makes is a reference to the anime Food Wars. It's an okay show (in my opinion) that has a lot of ecchi. If your into that stuff, have at it.

I'm not very proud of this chapter. I plan on going back later and updating it, but for now, this will have to do.

Anyways, thanks again. See you next chapter!~


Edited: October 10, 2016