Of Yokai and Hopeless Romantics

Chapter 4

Benihime made her way to the student kitchen underneath the dining hall, her mind was still wrapped up in the thoughts of the boy Mari had found her. Benihime knew she was getting ahead of herself, but she couldn't stop imagining what he might be like. The boy would be an artist, maybe that would mean he was more sensitive, more in touch with his feelings. Benihime truly was being silly, it made no sense to create a boy in her head, it was best to wait until tomorrow. Benihime put all thoughts of boys out of her mind, as she used the back entrance to the dining hall and went downstairs. The student kitchen was Benihime's second home, more than her own dorm room. The kitchen was state of the art, able to compare to any top of the line restaurant, paid for in part by alumni donations. The Cooking Club had already started their meeting, so Benihime quickly took her place at one of the cooking stations.

" I apologize for my tardiness Tugushi-sama, Toro-senpai," Benihime said to the Cooking Club staff representative and President.

" It's alright Toyama-san, we knew you were at the Student Council," Tugushi said. Benihime truly admired Tugushi Keiko, even though she was a human. She was a woman in her fifties, with a robust frame, hair kept in a tight bun, and a round friendly face. She had worked at world-class restaurants since her teens and still worked at one of Sasayama's most popular restaurants during school breaks, along with having won several cooking competitions and also written several cooking books. It was Benihime's plan to emulate Tugushi's success, but to a greater degree, becoming a world-renowned Iron Chef and gaining popularity among the humans. To that end, Benihime took her time at the Cooking Club seriously.

" We haven't started today's dish, we were just discussing it, we'll be making eclairs," Toro Hitomi said. Toro was a third year, she was tall for a girl, kept her hair in a ponytail, had a busty chest, and a very expressive face. Toro was a good senpai for Benihime, like her she was a twice-born, a Hannya. Instead of being a spirit of womanly vengeance, she was a spirit of a woman's jealousy. She understood some of the struggles Benihime went through when it came to her negative emotions, as she also battled with her own.

Benihime focused on the task at hand, following Tugushi's instructions down to the smallest detail. She made the vanilla filling, making sure not to overwork it and watching the heat it was cooking at. Creating the choux pastry with every element measured down to the smallest detail, and every part mixed in with an almost mechanical precision. She pipped the eclairs, used her ice powers to cool the choux pastry a bit, making it easier to shape. Every single eclair the same shape, nonconformity was not allowed in Benihime's reign. She put the eclairs to bake and as she waited, she spent some time catching up with her clubmates, but always with an eye on the clock. Finally, the choux pastry had baked. She filled them and made the most decadent dark chocolate ganache, to balance the sweet vanilla filling. She topped her eclairs with the ganache and they were completed, each looked more beautiful than a diamond to Benihime.

She looked around at her clubmates and felt a sense of pride that her eclairs were some of the best looking. Looks were an important part of food, especially desserts, but the taste was what made food great and as Benhime and her clubmates each took nibbles of each other's eclairs, she was proud that hers were some of the best. That was actually being modest, she felt she had topped Toro's eclairs and only Tugushi's were better, with her filling having something that took it from the greatness that Benihime achieved, to an unforgettable level.

" This is good Toyama-san, I think you've outdone us all today, " Toro said and many of her clubmates agreed. While Toro had complimented her, the look in her eyes said that she was not pleased with her own shortcomings. Benihime would never voice it out loud, but she enjoyed the fact that her senpai saw her as competition, she also enjoyed when she outdid her.

" Thank you Toro-senpai, you're words are very kind," Benihime said. She genuinely meant her words too. Benihime might revel in her competition with her clubmates and Toro especially, but she saw the competition as a civil one, based on mutual respect.