Chapter 40: Night Canvasing

Stench and Flavour

By the end of the first day of the Moon Festival; Sōma, Megumi and Ikumi were all exhausted but also proud that their hard work had paid off with them gaining fifth place in sales ranking, for the central area. Kuga was first, no surprises there, second was El Fuego the Spanish research society, third was the Turkish research group. And following in fourth place was a booth specialising in Russian cuisine.

Leafing through the end of festival booklet, which held the rankings for the other areas of the festival, Sōma came across the rankings for the main avenue. "Hey guys", he called out distracting Ikumi from her clearing away the leftovers into a cold box. "Takumi and Isami made it to second place on the main avenue! That's so cool". Placing the last couple of prepared but uncooked Hújiāo Bîng into the cold box, the busty blonde moved over to look at the booklet over the redheads shoulder.

Ikumi suddenly felt her face warming up as she read about Takumi's success in the main avenue. "I'm happy for him", she murmured jauntily. "I've been wishing all of our friends the best of luck".

"What does it say about Alice, Ryo and Akira?" Megumi asked, leaning into Sōma. "At the opening ceremony they didn't appear to have a particularly well versed team". Ikumi snorted in agreement at that. "Isn't that the truth, Ryo and Akira looked half dead, whereas Alice looked cool and collected".

"Yeah, they had no sense of teamwork", Sōma chuckled. "But I know they'll find a way forwards in sales. All three of them would not be caught dead in last place for anything". Becoming impatient from waiting to hear about their friends, Megumi snatched the booklet from the redheads hands and flicked through the pages until she found the days sales listings.

"Hey guys!" Megumi directed Sōma and Ikumi to the booklet. "For the main avenue Alice, Ryo and Akira are last. Bowl club is currently third in sales".

Smiling for Takumi and Isami's placement, and for the well earned place of Bowl Club, all three of then chefs began to move their stall further down the street, seeking out the few remaining people that were still wandering around. As the first night of the festival was over, and no more official sales would be taken before tomorrow, Sōma had convinced the two girls to help him move the stall around the main avenue and central area to gain advice and recipe ideas by listening to customers comments. And by giving out free food.

As they passed along the main avenue, handing out some free hújiāo bîng, they were met by Nao Sadatsuka who was grinning to herself as she clearing up her food stall. Frowning as they watched the black haired girl approach them, Megumi and Ikumi both rolled their eyes as Sōma and Nao both began animatedly expressing their feelings about food that were known to be extremely repugnant but at the same time delicious and highly sought after.

"Surströmming, Shiokara and Hákarl", Nao listed three of her favourite repugnant but 'delicious' foods. "It's my dream to one day create a dish of food that is as smelly as Surströmming and Hákarl combined with the added depth of Shiokara".

Megumi and Ikumi shuddered at the thought of Sōma and Nao ever working together, and judging by the grin plastered across his face they were right to. "This is definitely a meeting that should never have happened", Ikumi whispered to the blue haired girl beside her. "Too right", Megumi frowned. "Sōma's gonna be way too inspired by Nao Sadatsuka to not make his experiments".

—-

Watching intently as both Sōma and Nao tried each others experimental dishes was unsettling, especially when Sōma chuckled that Nao understood where he was coming from about creating plates of food that were vile. "The stench... the favour... the stench... the flavour", the redhead grinned excitedly as he ate the portion of food that Sadatsuka had given him. "It grows on you doesn't it?" The girl smirked, opening a small Tupperware box given to her by Sōma, in exchange for her stalls food.

"Ooh maple syrup and saury! Intriguing". As Nao swallowed the food, a look of bliss shone on her face which delighted Sōma. Resulting in both Megumi and Ikumi shuddering even more.

"We should have gone the other way", Megumi whispered, before making her way over to separate the two maniacally giggling chefs before they could further influence each other. "Oh hey there Megumi", Sōma exclaimed pulling her down into his lap and holding out a spoonful of fermented fish soup dyed black with squid ink. "You gotta try this! It's nasty but delicious at the same time".

Taken by surprise, the bluenette barely had enough time to react to the spoon being held out for her. With two sets of eyes on her, and Ikumi keeping a safe distance, Megumi gave in and ate the spoonful of the foul-smelling, viscous black soup. Scrunching up her nose as she swallowed, she couldn't help but see Sadatsuka giggling feverishly whilst Sōma leant towards her and gently booped her on the nose.

"It's fine if you don't like it", Nao spoke, "it is an acquired taste after all. I'm just spurred on by Yukihira here seeing what I see when it comes to the different aspects of flavour and odour".

"Sōma!" Megumi managed to utter. "You should show Nao the new dish you have been trialing for tomorrow". Suddenly curious, Sadatsuka booted towards the rickety stall where Ikumi was currently handing out a few left over hújiāo bîng to a family of five children. All of whom were infused by what they were eating. Pushing himself to his feet, Sōma made his way towards his mobile stall to showcase his new recipe idea.

As he approached the stall, he noticed an elderly man decline Ikumi's offer of an oven cooked bun, saying that as it was late in the day he wanted something 'lighter' to eat. Smiling as he reached the stall, the boy spoke to the man. "Sure thing, something lighter coming right up!"

Immediately getting to work, Sōma began slicing the hújiāo bîng dough into strands for noodles, before placing them into boiling water. He was then given from Ikumi some ground pork rolled into a ball, nodding his his head in appreciation, the boy then placed the meat sphere into a frying pan with plenty of olive oil before breaking it up into a sort of mince meat look.

As the meat was cooking, and the aroma of garlic and black pepper amongst pork permeated the night air, Sōma turned his attention to making the soup. A chicken broth with spring onions, napa cabbage, ginger and white wine vinegar.

As he was cooking, Sōma noticed the awe on the elderly man's face as well as the curiosity from Sadatsuka. And so in a mere twenty minutes, two bowls of food were assembled and handed over to the interested persons. "Please enjoy", Sōma grinned, "this is what we are adding to the menu tomorrow. My version of Danzai noodle, 'Kinda sorta Danzai noodles!'"

Taking no chances of letting the food go cold, Nao Sadatsuka buried her chopsticks into the noodles and began to slurp them down, appreciating the pepper and chicken melding into the soft noodles. She then began picking at the pulled pork and savouring every bite as it practically melted in her mouth. The taste of black pepper, soy sauce and honey blended well with the chicken broth soup that there noodles were currently bathing in.

Letting out a contented sigh at the exact same time the elderly man also did, Nao looked over at the grinning faces of Yukihira and the two girls standing at his left and right. "I take it you like our food?" Ikumi Mito spoke directly. Unable to speak due to her mouth full of noodles, Sadatsuka simply nodded as she continued to shovel more food into her mouth. "She's too busy eating to reply", Megumi chuckled. "If there's anyone in this world who has the least right to talk about normal it's you, Sōma!" Ikumi playfully retorted. Grinning as he slung his arms over the shoulders of his two female team mates, Sōma looked joyful and even more determined.

"I think tomorrow is going to be great!"