"This is decent," Pierre, the gourmet, said lamely. They were two dishes into Bluebell's five entries and so far, they had one great and one decent. Lillian sat in the crowd, awaiting her turn to be called up. Grady thanked him and walked back to his seat, his face passive. At least it wasn't the worst score.
Phillip sat on the other side of the flat mountaintop, with the Konohana group. He smirked. There was no way Konohana could lose this. Surely they would win they had Yun, Reina, and Nori all competing. Yun made amazing food. The only black mark on the team had to be himself. And then there was the fact that his sister was the enemy... Phillip started to doubt winning once he was reminded of this. He also had tried to spot his sister in the crowd, but he couldn't see her anywhere.
"Lillian? Lillian, could you step forward?" Pierre called out as he lifted a bowl from the table and removed the plastic covering off.
Lillian stood, knees trembling. She hesitated for what seemed like hours. She felt a squeeze at her hand and looked down.
"You'll do fine," Ash whispered from beside her. They both nodded and Ash released her hand for her to walk up. There was no noise. No talking or chatting, not even the animals dare communicate. She stood in front of the table where Pierre sat in a tall chair that Lillian was surprised he could get into. She saw him grab a clean spoon from a little case next to him. What an odd thing, she thought to herself but kept her face still.
He dipped the spoon into the soup, getting a few chunks of fresh vegetables. He carefully lifted the spoon and tasted. He swished in his mouth, raised his brow once, twice, chewed, then swallowed finally. He continued to hesitate and Lillian was sure he hated it. She hadn't had the freshest soil, despite the mix of fertilizer she'd tried. Lillian held her breath.
Beyond the center where judging was taking place, someone else was holding their breath. Not because of fear of a bad mark, but because after days of being apart, he finally saw her. Phillip finally saw Lillian. His fists were squeezed shut on his lap and his eyes were locked on his sister. He also hasn't failed to notice whatever it was that Ash had whispered to her. It was not uncommon for a brother to be protective of his sister, but for the twins, that seemed to be tripled. As the elder twin and the man, he felt that Lillian needed someone to look out for her. Which was why he'd watch that guy. Oh, he would watch.
Phillip wasn't paying attention when the Bluebell crowd started clapping. Lillian turned, the widest smile of victory on her face. Then she scanned the Konohana crowd and spotted her brother. Their eyes locked. Lillian's face dropped, along with her stomach. She went back to her seat without a word. The fact that her brother was attending had slipped her mind. Once seated, Ash playfully shoved her shoulder before his name was called and he stood to have his food judged.
Phillip heard the boy's name announced, Ash. He watched carefully, judging every movement. He knew he was a rancher, Ina had described a kid in Bluebell that worked the local ranch there and this kid fit the bill. Then that meant the other boy had to be the florist. He knew a few things about the Bluebell folk. All they cared about was ranching.
But what was wrong with that? He loved ranching. What was he saving for, anyway? Wasn't the plan to buy a cow for his tiny barn? Phillip sighed, this farming was beginning to mess with his head. He hated the plants, the same thing every day and night. He needed to feel appreciated, he wanted living animals that would appreciate his love and care. But could he give up after all his hard work?
The goals seemed fuzzy now.
"The score to beat is 4 out of 5!" Pierre announced as the Bluebell dishes were replaced by Konohona's entries. "First up, Reina!"
Phillip smiled, surely Reina couldn't lose. She was so good with edible plants, she knew what was safe to eat.
However, Reina did not know what tasted good together, according to Pierre. It might be edible, but the combination of tastes made it too complicated. With Konohana off to a bad start, Reina's shoulders slumped as she went back to her seat. Phillip and Mako clapped anyway.
After Reina was Nori. The graceful woman quietly approached the table, her hands clasped in front of her with her back straight. Konohana was tense. If Nori lost this, Bluebell would already have won.
Pierre dipped his spoon into the soup. Tasting it after what seemed hours of him mixing the liquid, his brows lifted. The crowd was deathly quiet. Pierre lifted his eyes to Nori and swallowed.
"This is wonderful!" He squealed happily.
Konohana erupted in cheers. Bluebell stayed quiet, some of the intensity of the battle returning. Lillian noticed when Nori came back to her seat, Ina patted her back and mumbled congratulations. She wondered if Ina would have done the same, had she chosen to live in Konohana. She pushed that thought out of her mind once she saw Phillip standing at the table. She smirked, there was no way they could lose, now that she knew her culinary-impaired brother was competing. He couldn't even make toast properly without burning it to a crisp.
And in the end, Lillian was right. Bluebell could barely contain cheers and claps when Pierre's happy face turned a shade of green. Phillip tried to laugh it off, which made Pierre turn his angry little child face to him and angrily point to Phillip's chair. He was practically disqualified. And it didn't matter how well Yun and Gombe's dishes were because Bluebell had already won.
Pierre was even too ill to continue judging the food, so he left early to adjourn on another day, that being next week. Bluebell was in good spirits, but Konohana seemed to be deflated. Lillian and Cam were packing up their plates when Phillip walked over to the pair.
"Lillian," Phillip greeted her awkwardly. He shuffled his feet. They hadn't fought this long before, or even lived apart before. The tenseness about them was too much.
"Phillip," Lillian said, just as awkwardly. A pregnant pause later, Lillian gestured to the clueless florist to her left, "This is my friend, Cam."
Grateful for the topic, Phillip offered out his hand, which Cam shook. "Hello, I'm Phillip, her brother."
Cam raised his brows, "are you older?"
Phillip smirked, while Lillian rolled her eyes and beat him to it. "We're twins, but he likes to go around mentioning how he is three minutes older."
"I see," Cam shifted his gaze to Lillian, "your brother made Pierre puke." It was rhetorical, but Lillian laughed and nodded anyway.
Phillip cringed, "I even got help and I still suck at cooking."
Lillian laughed harder, barely choking out, "you got help making him puke?!"
Phillip sighed, letting her laugh it off, even noting Cam chuckling quietly. He had to admit, it was nice seeing her laughing and being happy.
Once she had finished her laughing fit, he asked, "how is ranching?"
Lillian stiffened up. Was he going to gloat? It wasn't like she was doing terrible with the beasts, she just didn't enjoy it as much. But she did enjoy it more than she thought she would. The schedule was sometimes too hectic for her. They demanded so much attention. It annoyed her to no end when, after washing them, they would get dirty in less than an hour again. But, to not lead Phillip onto thinking she was miserable, she shrugged indifferently, "it's fine. How about farming?"
Without hesitating, Phillip blurted, "it's boring. I enjoy the mountains, though," he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "My friend Reina and I forage daily."
"Cam and I, and sometimes Ash and his sister, go foraging as well," Lillian smiled at Cam lightly, as if thinking about an inside joke. Cam looked away awkwardly.
"Am I missing something?" Phillip demanded. He didn't like being left out, or the teasing look Lillian had for this boy.
Lillian laughed, "oh it's such a long story..."
"I've got time," Phillip pleaded.
"No you don't," Cam said, pointing to the departing Konohana group. Phillip admitted defeat today.
"You're right. But I will visit sometime next week and we'll catch up." He didn't even let Lillian get a word in about it because without a goodbye, he raced off to regroup with his town.