Food Wars: Welcome to Culinary World

Chapter 19: Summer of Hell (Pt.5)

(2nd Person's POV)

"Kaya, wake up, dear! It's dinner time" Aimi knocked on the door, you groaned and sat up, feeling your head as heavy as a rock. Although you wanted to just go back to sleep, your stomach growled for food and wouldn't let you sleep if you ignored its demands.

"Well, someone got the rest of the day off today" Masahi expressed with a glare. "I told her to rest, she was tired! And it's a priority for a person to be fully rested. Unlike you, you were working her to death! And you're the one who I thought would let her rest" Mayumi argued.

"Right, let her rest and we waste time, and she won't be able to get into Totsuki!" Masahi hissed, crossing his arms. "There's still time, she made a lot of progress!" Mayumi retorted. The two kept arguing while you let out a low growl as you ate your dinner, already feeling irritated by this whole unnecessary and annoying conversation.

"Kaya, tomorrow mor-...Where'd she go??" Masahi stopped mid-sentence when he looked towards your seat, empty plate, and you were nowhere in sight. His wife let out a tired sigh, "She finished her dinner, honey".

You were sitting on your bed and playing some phone games for a little while before going back to sleep when you caught a glimpse of a shadow walking from under your door. Checking the time on your phone, it was around midnight, you quickly got up and opened the door to see Satomi on her way to her room.

"Sis?" you called, almost whispering, but she heard you as she turned around.

"So, how's this whole training thing going with you?" you threw yourself on her bed while she took off her coat and sat on her dresser to take off her earrings.

"Terrible! I mean, I learned a lot about food, and I can use the knives and all that, but lately it's been so stressful because I have to go beyond a customer's expectations on food! I never even had one day off to rest until today because mom said I can rest after repeating the same dish over and over again" you complained.

"Well, being a chef is no picnic in the park, little sis. Neither is being a judge" Satomi remarked as she grabbed a cotton pad and put makeup remover on it, gently rubbing the makeup off her face.

"How is being a judge difficult? All you do is sit and eat! This is probably the easiest job ever!" you glared at her with a raised brow, still lying on the bed and only looked at her upside down.

"Um, no! It's not the easiest job! A judge must evaluate everything about the dish in front of them; the cooking skills and techniques of the chef, the aesthetics of the dish, the ingredients used to make that dish, and the mixture of flavors, whether they are balanced or not. And a judge must be honest and fair when it comes to evaluating those dishes, they must keep things professional and prevent any personal issues from getting in the way of judging. Not everyone is able to taste all the flavors of the food" Satomi stated as she walked to her wardrobe and changed out of her clothes and wore something comfortable, then walked to her bathroom.

"But, like I said before, you wouldn't understand anything about culinary world. It was never just cooking and stuffing your face, and it was never just eating and judging. There are still more things I haven't told you about my work, you'll see it for yourself when you go to that academy".

"Tch, what doesn't that school do?" you clicked your tongue as you mumbled the question. "Mom then talked to me about finding my own passion in cooking, and that I reflect my feelings in my dishes".

"And she's right, if the chef is passionate about their cooking, it'll reflect on their food greatly. Take that Italian restaurant I went to before, the little Aldini brothers showed passion when they prepared the dishes, and it was just brilliant!" she yelled happily from inside the bathroom, you heard gargling sounds as you rolled your eyes. But you knew it was true, whenever you felt sad, or upset, your parents' cooking had always made you feel better. And all the feelings you've experienced were not because of the flavors only, it was also because they put all their heart into their cooking. They reflected their passion into their dishes, and every bite you took made you feel thrilled!