Heaven's Senses

XI

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small knife.

"What the heck are you doing with that in your pocket?!" I asked.

"A girl's gotta have some kind of protection. Not everyone has a bunch of bodyguards watching her every move." She said then used the knife to cut the chicken's neck.

I gagged and nearly dropped all of the eggs I gathered.

"See, the trick is to cut just below the jaw line, slicing the jugular artery. That way the chicken feels hardly any pain and the blood drains quickly while it passes out." She explained, "Now all we need to do is wait for the blood to drain and then whack off the head."

I watched as she strung the chicken onto a branch with a thin piece of vine she found on one of the nearby trees. I'd hate to admit it, but she was impressive while doing this. I never knew that kind of thing about chickens, since all the ingredients I used were already prepared and ready to use.

I didn't think I'd learn something like this from a nobody from a backwater diner like Yukihira.

~~~~Hikari~~~~

As soon as the chicken was drained of its blood, I grabbed it and took it back to the kitchen with Mirair close behind me. I was actually surprised to see how she was paying such close attention to what I was doing with the chicken. I guess she wasn't as squeamish as I initially thought. Learn something new everyday.

"So what the heck are we going to prepare?" Mirai asked.

"We're gonna make something that will rattle the judge's senses beyond recognition." I answered and began explaining the dish to her.

"Are you serious? That's a risky plan to make."

"Risk is all the excitement you would need. And it'll make us stand out against the other students, making it more likely to get a higher score. You gotta trust me on this one."

Reluctantly, she decided to go with my plan and said nothing else about it.

Once we got back to the kitchen, we went to our station and started preparing the rest of the ingredients. While I was cleaning up the chicken, I heard some of the other students gasping in awe.

"What? You were able to find duck?" One of the students asked.

I looked up and saw Takumi Aldini holding up a whole duck.

"That's not all there was." Takumi said, "There were a few chickens and rabbits out there, too. Of course, I'm not surprised that none of you bothered to look past the fishies."

"Think again, Aldini boy." I said and held up the chicken to show it off with a smirk on my face, "Didn't think you were only one to think outside the box, did you?"

Takumi just growled at me before he and his brother Isami went to their table to get started on their dish.

"Nice going, sis." Soma shouted from his table.

I nodded and took my headband from my wrist before tying up my hair, finally getting serious for this challenge.

"Mirai, can you get the veggies ready? I'll handle the chicken." I said.

"Got it." Mirai said and quickly got to work chopping the veggies while I finished with the chicken.

When I was done with the chicken, I ground it up with just a bit of salt and one of the eggs Mirai found earlier. I was so lost in preparing the dish, that I barely heard the Aldini brothers presenting their dish to the judge.

"This is an herb grilled duck with a fresh green sauce on the side." Takumi presented.

Chef Hinako happily took a bite of the dish and from her face, I could tell that she was thoroughly satisfied with the taste. Especially after pairing it with the green sauce.