Heaven's Senses

XXVIV

~~~~~Hikari~~~~~

I sat with Soma on the couch in the VIP section with Erina sitting between me and my brother.

"Why are you two acting like you belong here?!" Erina shouted at us, but I didn't budge to look at her.

"Well, it seemed like the match would get started without us if we didn't get in gear." Soma said, "Since I'm gonna face the winner of this round, I wanna get a good look for myself."

"And I just wanna see who the heck might beat my big brother." I said.

"We'll now have the second round of the semi-finals!" Dojima announced as the round began, "The theme is just the same as the first round: Western cuisine. With that... let the cooking begin!"

I watched carefully as the Ryo and Akira started making their dishes, but mainly, I took notice of Akira's sense of ingredients and spices he was using. I learned from word around campus that he is just as skilled with his sense of smell as I was with mine. In a battle of scent, I would definitely have my work cut out for me.

"Say, Erina, what do you think about Ryo? He's got spunk, but does he have the skills to beat Akira?" I asked.

"Well, I once had the same class as him." Erina answered, her hand under her chin in thought, "The dishes he made in the class were barely anything to call good. It was like he was just pushing through with the bare minimum to pass the class. That's why I was shocked to see him such an original dish in the preliminaries.."

"Oh, that's why you're so hopeless, Erina!" Alice's voice rang through the VIP box. We looked over and saw her standing tall with proud with a bright big smile on her face. I smiled at her and scooted over on the couch to let her sit.

"What are you doing, Hikari?" Erina asked.

"Well, we can't just let her stand throughout the entire round." I said and Alice happily took a spot on he couch next to me.

"Ryo's true talent cannot be measured by logic alone!" Alice said just as Ryo pulled out his main ingredient: an Eel.

"Seriously? I've heard that seafood is his specialty, but this is unexpected." Soma said.

"Well, this is a competition, best to keep the judges guessing." I said.

"Hey Alice, what did you mean by Ryo's cooking can't be measured by logic alone?"

"It's just a fact that Ryo's dishes are infused with something far beyond logic." Alice explained, "You see, Ryo survived in a kitchen straight from hell. All he had were his skills to rely on in a terrifying cooking environment. In order to survive, Ryo gained an absolute focus on taste, and a fierce combat that smothered his soul. Ryo and I competed in cooking matches almost everyday, and he's never slacked off in any of our battles."

"So he's pretty battle crazy when it comes to cooking." I said.

"Yeah, if there's something I lack in a match, that would be..." I noticed that Erina glanced over at Alice, hearing that Alice actually lacked something, "Nothing.. forget I ever said anything."

I turned my attention back to the battle. Akira had just pulled out a duck and brushed it with all sorts of spices. I could smell it from here, a mixture of spices that played a melody of pure perfection. Corriandar, oregano, fennel, that's what I could smell the most of. But when I looked over at Ryo, he didn't even flinch at the sounds of the roaring cheers.

"He can't even hear those cheers. Right now, Ryo's focus is only on the sear of his protein and the sound of the fat as it pops. He's only taking in what's in that frying pan, measuring the weight as it cooks." Alice said.