With the cooks and Jin down, and 12 hungry mouths to feed, both captains had to do the unthinkable. They assigned the youngest of the group - all three first years, Kiyota, Sakuragi and Rukawa, to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
"Sendoh!" said Maki as he looked sternly at the Ryonan's ace, "you too, to the kitchen!"
"Me?" Sendoh had the porcupine in the head light look on his face, pointing at himself.
"Yes you." replied Maki, "You are a second year, so we are your seniors. Go help the first year."
Sendoh knew it was pointless to argue with Maki, twitched his lips, and stood up.
"Oh Sendoh."
It was Akagi.
"Yes?"
"Look after those hooligans OK?"
"Hooligans?" Sendoh's mind conjured up images that were rather scary.
"I am counting on you." said Akagi with a dismissive wave of his hand.
The younger boy had no choice but to head to the kitchen.
The kitchen was, while small, industrial and functional.
There were two long benches that lined each side of the wall. The stainless steel metal gleamed under the dull, florescence lights. The floor was lined with linoleum, which was soft on the foot and helped to prevent slippage.
As the senior of the group, Sendoh began assigning task.
Sakuragi was to cook the rice, Rukawa the miso soup, and Kiyota, the youngest of all of them, was assigned the task of a kitchen helper and to cut up the pickled Daikon.
Himself, used to living alone in Kanagawa from his family in Tokyo, had mastered enough cooking skills as not to starve, would man the frying pan.
So it begun.
Sakuragi washed the rice, and measured the amount of water instructed by Sendoh, and set it on the stove.
Kiyota was beating eggs to be scrambled, making a mess as he went. Egg white on the floor, egg shells in the bowl.
Rukawa was spooning the instant miso paste from the tub into the pot of water. Since miso soup had little to do with basketball, he felt the blackness slowly creeping in around his eyes.
And Sendoh was taking the sausages out of the freezer as the oiled pan was heating up.
Then, as if without warning, Kiyota stepped on bit of the egg white that he had accidentally spilled onto the floor, slipped, fell backward and bumped into Rukawa who was standing behind him.
As Rukawa was already losing concentration, the tub fell from his grip and plopped into the pot of simmering water below.
"Oops…" he muttered.
Kiyota steadied himself, cursed, and went on working, not turning around or apologized to his rival.
'Nobody noticed anything… so I will just keep quiet…' Rukawa thought, luck was definitely on his side, and continued stirring.
Sendoh was placing the frozen sausages onto the large pan when the phone started ringing. Sarukari, half hoping that it would be his beloved Haruko, sneaked out of the kitchen to answer the phone.
It was Haruko indeed.
"Ah, Ohayo-gazaimasu Haruko-chan!" he beamed as he heard the sweet voice, "Yes, yes! Hahahaha they cannot live without this Tensai hahaha…."
The rice was now boiling.
Kiyota handed over the big bowl of beaten egg to Sendoh, which the older boy poured into a separate pan to be scrambled; and he set off to cut the soft tofu for the miso soup.
It was from the corner of his eyes that Sendoh saw Rukawa had in fact dozed off. And to his mortification there was a stream of drool that had formed from the corner of the Super Rookie's lips and was already dangling dangerously off the perfect chin.
Things went rather quickly from then on. A little too quickly, perhaps.
"Hey!" Sendoh instinctively reached out a hand and shook Rukawa by the shoulder, "Rukawa, wake up!"
It was precisely this moment that Kiyota turned around with the cut-up tofu cupped in both his hands, about to approach Rukawa.
The drool that was dangling so closely by a thread now fell into the soup by the momentum of the shake.
Rukawa was startled. He, who never forgave anyone who woke him from his sleep, peered at Sendoh; who still had one hand on his shoulder.
It was a split seconds that Sendoh thought he saw a murderous glint in the younger boy's eyes.
The rice was boiling and flowing out of the top. The pot was hissing angrily.
Sakuragi's chuckling could be heard.
A fist swung towards Sendoh's cheek at lightning speed.
The sausages began smoking desperately atop the grill.
Sendoh, while not well-versed at street fighting, had reflexes that did his genius reputation justice. He immediately released his grip on Rukawa, lowered his body and dodged his head to narrowly miss the right fist that was aiming for him; and while in a crouching position, extended his right leg and swept at Rukawa's left, causing the latter to lose balance and fall backward.
Sensing himself falling, Rukawa tried frantically to catch something, anything that could break his fall.
The closest thing to him was Kiyota, with the cut-up tofu still in his hands.
A hand grabbed Kiyota's wrist, dragging it downward and caused the younger one to release his cupped hands, and bumped clumsily against the counter where the chopping board was. Kiyota steadied himself on the first thing he touched.
The boiling liquid of the rice was now oozing and flowing desperately onto the stove top.
The cut-up tofu fell onto the floor.
The scrambled egg was jumping on the hot plate.
The handle of the knife that Kiyota happened to steady himself with, was hit at such an angle that it was sent flying into the air. It somersaulted above Rukawa, who laid helplessly on his back on the linoleum floor; his eyes transfixed on the spinning blade, reflecting the florescence light as it tumbled.
Sendoh looked up from his crouching position, horrified.
Rukawa stared from his laying position, mortified.
Kiyota was already covering his eyes, not wanting to observe the ill fate that would soon befall the person he hated and respected at the same time.
The knife was now falling free now, directing at Rukawa's left eye.
The sausages hissed some more, smoking now.
Sakuragi laughed.
Then, as if instinct, Rukawa nudged his head to the right, narrowly missing the sharp blade that pierced through the linoleum floor just millimeters from his head, severing a few strands of his raven manes.
Rukawa was now wide awake, probably more than he ever had in his life except when he was playing basketball. He felt himself trembling.
Then, as if time had stood still, all three of them stayed like that for a few seconds.
The liquid from the rice was now flowing steadily to the floor.
A charring smell now emitted from the sausages.
Smoke filled the kitchen, causing the fire alarm to go off.
The scrambled egg jumped more aggressively.
It was Sendoh who regained his composure first.
"You alright?" he asked as he extended a hand to Rukawa to help the younger boy to his feet.
Rukawa, still half in a state of shock, nodded as he took his rival's hand and stumbled to an upright position.
Kiyota was still standing there, hands covering his face, unmoving. Sendoh felt a sudden pity for the young boy, and walked towards the Kainan's palyer to comfort him; and felt something squishy under his foot.
It was the cut-up tofu.
"Oh shit….." he heard himself muttered.
Motivated by the lack of choice, he decided to scoop up the now mashed-up tofu, and washed it before returning them to their rightful place à the miso soup.
Kiyota, still trembling, picked up the knife from the floor and started cutting spring onions.
Liquid had stopped flowing from the rice pot.
Sakuragi could be heard laughing from the corridor while still on the phone.