~~~~Hikari~~~~
In a little shopping district called Sumire-Dori, there's a small shop that sat in the center. A humble place know for its great food and wonderful family staff. It was the crowning jewel of Sumire-Dori. It was my family's place: The Yukihira Family Eatery, a traditional Japanese diner where people can hang out and enjoy delicious food.
"Yo, Pop!" I shouted from the kitchen bar, where I had just gotten done serving a couple of our regulars.
My dad, Joichiro Yukihira, turned to me with a big smile, "What's up, Hikari?"
"Have you seen Soma anywhere? Mayu's here toe taste test the food battle."
"Take a whiff, Hikari. You'll find him."
I sighed and rubbed the bottom of my nose to remove some of the scent blocking gel I wore. Immediately I was bombarded with the scent of grilled squid and peanut butter. I covered my nose to try and block out the horrific smell.
"Oh, seriously?! Peanut butter and squid!" I shouted, "It smells like freakin' death! Where is that idiot!?"
I rushed outside to the back door and saw my big brother sitting in front of a charcoal grill, grilling squid with peanut butter slathered all over them.
"Disgusting." He groaned and laughed, eating the squid he had just grilled, "These were never meant to go together. I'm like a genius. Squid tentacles with peanut butter... This is so nasty."
"You aren't kidding, big brother. I can smell that horrible concoction from inside the diner." I said chuckling as he turned around with a tentacle hanging from between his teeth.
"Hey, sis, what's up?" Soma asked.
"You know exactly what's up, you slacker." I said, "You got a cooking battle inside. Mayu's already here and waiting for your lazy butt to start cooking."
"Okay, okay, I'm on my way." I watched as he took the headband from his wrist and tied it around his head, "Well, let's do this. Joining in on the fun, Hikari?"
I laughed and waved my hand, "Not today, Soma. But good luck beating Pops. You're gonna need it."
We walked back into the diner and Soma, began cooking alongside our father.
~~~~Soma~~~~
The scent of fried rice wafted throughout the diner, making the customers more hungry with every passing second. I was cooking to my best with Hikari silently judging me from the other side of the diner. I could tell that even when she was looking, she was still judging, coming up with a number in her head based just on scent and hearing.
A few minutes later, the fried rice was ready and several of the customers were standing by the serving deck, waiting for the judge to taste both dishes. The judge was one of our classmates from school, Mayumi Kurase.
Dad took out the band holding his shoulder length hair into a ponytail and smiled as he gestured to his prepared dish.
"Please, enjoy." He said.
"Bon Appetite, my lady." I said doing the same thing with my headband and gesturing to the food.
Mayu took a bite from each of our dishes and quickly ate up almost all of the fried rice.
"This one here!" Mayu declared, pointing to Dad's dish, making him the winner. The customers all cheered and I could hearing Hikari laughing while she tried to balance a tray of drinks in her hand.
"Guess you needed more luck than I thought, big brother." Hikari teased.
"Looks like you still got some more learning to do, eh Soma?" Dad added.
I huffed and walked over to the undeclared judge, my twin sister, "All right sis, it's your turn. What's our rating?"
Hikari sighed and took a big bite out my dish first. After she swallowed, Hikari closed her eyes and focused as best as she could.
"I give it a seven out of ten, since this is just a friendly battle between family. Good try, Soma." She answered.
Then she tried Dad's dish and concentrated on the food, "Pops gets a 9.5 rating."
"WWHHHAAAATTTTT?!" I screamed, "What'd I do wrong this time?"
Hikari sighed again, "You undercooked the rice by three flips, not to mention you added a bit too much salt to the sauce. You gotta watch out for those things, Soma, or else you'll never beat the old man."
I fell to my knees in defeat, knowing that my sister was right. Everyone trusted her judgment when it came to food, since everything that she made tasted like it came from Heaven itself. That's what got her the nickname The Heaven's Senses. Her heightened senses were nothing to sneeze at, since everything she made was perfection. It was as if you're senses were being rattled to the core, transporting you to a place of unimaginable flavor and delight.
🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪
As the night went on, the dinner was quickly filled to the brim once again. I was handling the dining area while his dad and sister were cooking behind the counter.
"One meat and tofu! One daily!" I shouted for the next order.
"You got it!" Dad shouted then turned to Hikari. "Hikari, can you handle the daily? I'll take the meat and tofu."
"No problem." Hikari said with a smile and began making the daily special for the order.
Hours passed and the customers cleared out, happy to be full and satisfied with their meals. The dishes were clean, the dining room was swept and the tables were slowly being cleared and cleaned.
"Soma." Dad said, "When you're done with that, can you put out the charcoal?"
I hardly heard him, mentally going over the downsides and failures in my fried rice from earlier that day. I didn't mind failing, it just made me learn from my mistakes and bettering them as I grew as a chef. Same thing with Hikari, she loved making mistakes because it made us better.
Suddenly, As Hikari was sweeping the front entrance, she heard soft shuffling of feet and a loud car door slamming shut.
"Soma! Pop! We got company." She said just as the door to the diner opened.
"Oh, wel-" I was cut off when a woman and three men in suits waltzed into the diner. This woman was dressed in a short skirt that was somehow professional. Not to mention her unbuttoned shirt that allowed her enormous knockers to be flapping about every time she took a step. The men behind her were dressed in the same style, but not as lewd. The Yukihira family knew exactly who these people were. Land Sharks, led by a woman named Yaeko Minegasaki.
Hikari put up the broom and walked up next to me.
"Should I take them down now, or after we hear them flapping their gums?" She asked me.
"Keep it cool. They want us to lash out badly." I whispered to her and put my hand on her shoulder to calm her.
"Pardon the intrusion." Minegasaki said as she walked further in to the diner, "It appears you are trying to close for the night. I hope you don't mind the late hour, my apologies."
Minegasaki walked right up to us with a small fake smile and her sunglasses hiding her devilish eyes.
"Hello you two, good to see you again. You remember me?" She asked, removing her glasses and bending over, shamelessly showing off her cleavage. We sighed at her antics.
"Can we get you something?" I asked, confusing her.
"Today's specials are the kinmedai sashimi plate and-"
"Oh no thanks. The reason I'm here today is to further explain the plan that we discussed." Minegasaki cut my sister off, "I would be happy to go over it again if you would like."
She set down a flyer for an urban life company on the nearby table, "We would love to follow the Garden Residence concept and bring to the area a "comfortable and luxurious" high-rise to this.." Minegasaki was quickly cut off when set the charcoal grill on the pamphlet.
"Yeah, yeah, lady. We all know what you're trying to do to us." Soma said.
"You wanna drive us out of here, correct?" Hikari added, "Trust me, we've already heard this kind of crap you're spewing out, so why don't you just go right back home, okay? We have no intention of closing up shop."
Minegasaki merely smiled at us, "So you've said." She place her business card on the table for us to take, "I'll leave you my card, in case you change your mind. I know things aren't easy. I mean, small businesses are having it harder and harder these days. It's pretty rough out there. I've heard many shops are having trouble just getting by these days."
"Yeah, well, that's not the case with this place." I stated.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yeah, that's right lady." Hikari said, "Here at Yukihira, we take pride and responsibility in doing whatever we can to give the customer what they want."
Minegasaki chuckled, "It sounds like you guys are just the picture perfect restaurant, aren't you? However, what would you do if you couldn't give the customer what they wanted? What would you do then?"
I picked up a pair of tongs and grabbed the business card with them before holding it over the burning coals.
"If that were to happen... then we would peacefully shut our doors and go out of business for all eternity." He answered, dropping the card onto the hot grill and watching it burn to a crisp.
"Can I take your word on that?" Minegasaki asked.
Hikari and I smiled, "Yup." We answered simultaneously, something we hardly ever do unless fighting in a cooking battle, or when we're extremely agitated.
"Very well, I'll be back." The woman and her goons left, and as soon as they did, Hikari grabbed a large bag of salt.
"Here, big brother, go ahead and unsully this place." she said.
"Don't even think about it, kids. Forget about it." Dad said, finishing up in his area before heading to the upstairs apartment level of the diner.
~~~~Hikari~~~~
I sighed after that whole encounter and went upstairs to get ready for bed, but before I opened the door to my room, Dad pulled me back by the arm.
"Something up, Pop?" I asked.
"I got the new models for ya." He said, handing me a box that fit in his hand.
I opened up the box and saw a brand new pair of hearing aids, specially designed for my condition. They looked a lot like regular hearing aids, but instead of increasing my hearing, they were designed to decrease it so that my hearing wouldn't hurt me so much. Thankfully, they were colored my favorite colors, white with just a hint of gold and red.
I smiled and took the hearing aids out of the box and secured them in my ears. I turned them on and everything became quiet. I slowly turned down the dial on the sides of the hearing aids and suddenly sound came rushing into my ears, but it was at a normal human level.
"They're perfect, Dad! Thanks!" I said hugging my dad tightly as he hugged back.
"Of course, Hikari. Anything for my kids." Dad said before letting me go and going to his room.
"Hey Hikari! The bath's all yours." Soma shouted from down the hall, "Don't worry, I made sure that the water was the right temperature for ya."
I chuckled, "Thanks a lot, Soma. You're the best."
~~~~~Soma~~~~~
The next morning went by as normal for us as it could be. I yelled at my sister for sleeping in, she yelled at me for waking her up too loudly because of her sensitive hearing and then bonked me on the head because of her bad morning mood.
You'd think I'd learn to be careful when waking up my little sister, but a big brother is supposed to mess with their siblings every now and again, right?
We got up, got changed for school, and as soon as we walked into the school courtyard, the teachers spotted my sister and began chastising her for her choice of dress. Our school let a few things slide, but they didn't allow my sister to wear the boy's uniform.
At the end of the day, we began walking home, stopping by the grocery store before heading back home.
"You know, they have a longer skirt option at school." I said to Hikari, "Why not just wear that skirt all the time? Then the teachers wouldn't yell at you every morning to change into the skirt."
"And I wear that skirt during school hours." Hikari grumbled, "When we get there, school didn't officially start because the first bell didn't ring. The rule is that I have to wear the proper uniform during school hours, which I do when I change out of the pants when I get there."
"They still wouldn't yell at you in the morning if you just came to school with the uniform on."
"If I'm gonna sit in a classroom all day wearing a skirt I despise, shouldn't I at least get some comfort before then?" She scoffed, "Honestly, these teachers have nothing better to do than to harass me in the morning."
I sighed, knowing that my sister wouldn't budge when it came to her opinions. My sister never really liked skirts, not since we were kids. Then again, she had good reasons to not like skirts.
Hikari loves to run, jump and play in the mud, and for her, earing a skirt doesn't let her do that. Not to mention that my sister is really pretty and has a good personality, most of the time. Boys want to get close to her, but she always drives them away with her knife or sharp dagger-stare. When we were in primary school, a new kid got bold and tried to flip up Hikari's skirt just to mess with her.
And.... let's just say that that boy got an almost broken wrist, never bothered my sister, and Hikari got a serious lashing from our teacher. Mom and Dad praised her for beating up the boy, but after that, my sister only wore skirts when it was absolutely necessary, like at school, and only for the hours that school is going on.
If she's not wearing a skirt, she has to be wearing pants or even a pair of leggings or something like that.
"It keeps the oil from burning my legs."
Or
"It just feels natural and comfortable."
Those were her best reasons against wearing a skirt most of the time, and I was okay with that. It would just be a little weird to see my sister dressing in skirts and dresses all the time since she hardly wore then when we were kids. Just then, Hikari pointed to my back pocket.
"You're phone's vibrating." She said. I was confused, but then pulled out my phone and saw that it was Dad calling us.
"Hey Dad, what's up?" I answered.
"You two home yet?"
"Nah, we were getting some things for breakfast." Hikari answered, turning her hearing aids up just a bit to hear our Dad.
"I need to go on a little errand today. I won't be back until tomorrow, so don't bother opening the shop tonight."
"Okay then." I said.
"Hey, Soma, Hikari?" Dad asked, "What are you two planning after this school year?"
We stopped short at the sudden question.
"What are you talking about, Dad? We're both gonna practice cooking with you at the shop." I answered.
"That seems like an obvious answer, Dad." Hikari added.
"I see." The call was cut off and we were left confused.
"What was that all about?" Hikari wondered aloud.
"No idea, sis." I answered, "But what kind of errand would make our dad close the shop?"
Hikari shrugged her shoulders, "No clue. But it's gotta be important if he's not coming home tonight."
Hikari and I made it to the diner a few minutes after the call ended and went to the back door. However, Hikari's eyes widened as soon as we got to the back fence. Without warning, she jumped over the fence and grabbed her key to open the back door.
"Hikari, hold on a second!" I shouted, but she was already gone.
She slammed open the door and gasped in shock, covering her nose so she wouldn't have to smell the horrible scent of paint.
"Hikari, what's..." I asked and mirrored my sister's shock when I saw the state of our kitchen.
Every single piece of meat was ruined, destroyed with a terrible white paint. Even everything in the freezer and fridge were ruined.
"All the meat! It's ruined!" Hikari shouted, stepping back out of the kitchen so she could catch a break from the paint smell. She grabbed a bit of her scent blocking gel and rubbed more of it under her nose.
I ran inside to check the damages closer. It didn't seem like a robbery, as nothing was taken while everything in the kitchen was ruined.
"Soma, outside. At the front" She said. I rushed with her outside the front of the diner and saw drips of white paint on the street. We looked up and saw our sign covered in white paint. Nothing left of the old sign.
I took a glance at Hikari and her eyes were burning bright red with anger.
"Oh, you poor things!" A familiar voice said behind us. The voice belonged to the land shark, Ms. Minegasaki.
"You know, it does look nicer than it did yesterday." She continued, "Perhaps it's because that eyesore of a sign has been covered up."
I grabbed Hikari's hand before she could try to stomp over to the woman and knock her lights out.
"I'm in the mood to indulge in a big, thick, juicy steak. I always like to have while in Roppongi, something nice and marbled, of course. Where the natural flavors merge together in lucious harmony. There's really nothing in the world quite like it."
Ms. Minegasaki walked into the diner with her cronies and sat down as if she was a normal old customer in the diner.
"So, little ones, I would like to place an order. I would like you two to give me a big, juicy cut of meat."
We didn't say a thing to her.
"What? Don't tell me you can't make it for me. But I'm a paying customer." Minegasaki taunted, "I think I remember something you two said yesterday... what was it? That if you can't provide what the customer needs that you would close your doors. Perhaps your signage is just right, looks like you've already started. I suppose you'll start clearing everything out of the dining room next."
The woman laughed loudly like some kind of insane maniac. But she wasn't expecting what we were about to do.
"You want a juicy meat dish?" I asked.
"Will that complete your order, Ma'am?" Hikari asked. We took off our headbands from our wrists, preparing to make a dish suitable to our 'customer'.
"Sit tight, and we'll have it right out for you." Hikari said.
"And then you'll never come in this restaurant ever again." I added.
I tied my headband around my forehead while Hikari tied up her long red hair into a low ponytail. We reached into our school bags and pulled out our aprons, ready to serve up a delicious meat dish.
"ORDER UP!" We shouted and rushed to the kitchen.
We sliced up a bunch of potatoes, steamed them while chopping onions and mushrooms. Hikari set the oven heat and timer, while I wrapped the dish and made the sauce.
Minegasaki and her men stared in awe as the scent of delicious meat wafted throughout the air.
"Hold on a second..." She said to her men, "You did ruin everything in the fridge right?"
"Yeah, we ruined every scrap of meat in the kitchen." One of her men answered.
"But then how....?"
Hikari and I presented them with a dish that would exceed their expectations, even if it wasn't exactly what she was asking for.
"A pork roast?!" They shouted in confusion at the dish.
"Actually, this is just a potato wrapped up with some thick cut bacon my brother and I bought for tomorrow's breakfast." Hikari revealed, "It's a shame though, I was really looking forward to bacon tomorrow morning for breakfast."
"Yeah, I was looking forward to the same thing, sis." I said.
"A potato?" One of the suited men asked.
"Yep, that's right. First we steamed the potatoes-"
"Whatever brats." Minegasaki said, cutting off my sister, "Are you trying to pull one over on me?" She slammed her hands on the table, "I told you two to make me a meat dish. There's no room for negotiation on this. If you can't provide, you close your shop. Look here, all my head chefs are highly respected and make their livings at top notch restaurants and first rate hotels that I put together. This place is a dump, and from where I'm sitting, there's no value in this failure existing."
Hikari growled under her breath, "Then how could anything succeed?" She asked, "Without failure, how would we learn and thus succeed in life? Then how would we find our true value? If you ask me, you're being blind and stupid."
We set the dish on the table, grabbing Minegasaki's attention.
"If you want to see the value of Yukihira...." Hikari started.
"...Then you will quickly learn it from this dish."
"Please, eat up." We both said at once.
Minegasaki took in a big whiff of the dish, hesitantly taking the fork laid out for her and taking a single bite of the fake roast. And immediately began to moan from the deliciousness she was savoring. We both smiled, pleased with the fact that she was trying so hard not to enjoy the food.
"Well, it looks like someone is enjoying their meal." I said leaning close to Minegasaki, "This came from the very restaurant you were just insulting."
"Shall we tell you the secret to it's flavor?" Hikari asked. Minegasaki said nothing, which obviously means yes.
"Once the potatoes are nice and soft, we took diced onions to bump up the sweetness and some fiborus to soak up the fat. Then we kneeded it together." I explained.
"Then we wrapped the potato in the thick cut bacon and placed it in the oven to make the bacon nice and crispy, wrapping it in twine and rosemary for added flavor." Hikari continued, "The juices from the bacon seeped into the potato, absorbing the delicious juices that make your mouth water at just the scent alone."
"Next, we melted some in with red wine, sweet sake and soy sauce for a delicious sauce covering the meat." I said, "It's almost sensual, don't you think?"
The room filled with the delicious scent of the fake roast, so much so that even the men in suits wanted to have a taste of it, trying very hard to hold back from pouncing on the fake roast like a pack of wild animals.
"A while back, I made potato salad and steak meal for a customer and got the plating wrong. The juices from the meat seeped into the potato salad. That's where I got the idea for this dish."
"Sometimes my brother's failures are a stepping stone to great success." Hikari said.
Minegasaki squirmed in her chair trying to control herself from tearing into more of the fake roast.
"It's not as if this thing... could be called a meat dish." She said, but she gripped her fork tightly and prepared to take another bite. However, Hikari grabbed the plate and took it away from her.
"What are you doing?" She shouted.
"If you want this back, then make us a promise." Hikari said.
"Promise that you'll give up on shutting this place down." I finished, and yet the woman refused.
"All right then." We said and began walking to the back door.
"Then this food was a waste. Say Soma, you think that old dog is still out there somewhere?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure he'll love to have something to eat. Since this is such a disgraceful diner, the food must belong to the dogs." I answered playfully.
"WAIT!!!" Minegasaki shouted in desperation for another bite, "I PROMISE! I PROMISE! I'LL NEVER GO AFTER THIS RESTAURANT AGAIN! JUST PLEASE... LET ME HAVE MORE!"
We topped, turned around and set the dish back on the table. Immediately, Minegasaki and her cronies dug into the food, not wasting a single crumb. By the time they were finished, they had passed out on the floor from sheer delight.
We took off our headbands and smiled, "You're welcome." We said.
~~~~~Hikari~~~~~
After we finished with cooking, I called the police and had Minegasaki and her men away. In their food driven, they confessed to breaking in and entering without permission and vandilizing the shop.
After all that was over, we began cleaning up the shop and sign. By the time the sun came up the next morning, we were still cleaning the sign, at least half of it now cleaned while the other half was till covered in white paint.
"Hey, Soma, Hikari." We heard a voice call out to us. The two of us looked down from our ladders and saw Dad with a bag hung over his shoulder.
"What happened here?" He asked
We smiled, "Nothing much." I said.
"Just a customer who got a little rowdy." Soma added.
Dad smiled at us, it was kind of sad, but also filled with pride. Then, he said something that would change our lives forever.
"Soma. Hikari...... For a good while.... I'm gonna close up shop."
"WWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT?!"