Food Wars: The Heaven's Senses

A Looming Shadow

Hikari woke up to the sound of an alarm going off near her bed, it was quiet, but it was loud enough for her to get a headache from it. Though she was tired, she leaned over to the nightstand and shut off the alarm. Hikari sluggishly sat up in the bed and put on her hearing aids, leveling them down so she could hear properly without pain. Just as she was getting dressed for the day, she heard a knock at the door.

"Hikari, you awake yet?" It was Akira at the door.

"Yeah, I'm up." Hikari called out and went to answer the door. On the other side was Akira wearing his normal day attire.

"Good, we gotta get a head start today. You feeling well enough to do this?" Akira asked.

Hikari chuckled and walked out of the room giving Akira a soft punch on the shoulder as she left, "Don't you worry about me. I'll be just fine, let's get the ingredients and head out Akira."

Akira chuckled at her enthusiasm and followed her to gather their ingredients and a quick breakfast before heading out to their booth.

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After heading to their booth, Akira and Hikari laid out all of their ingredients and began preparing for another busy day. Hikari was excited about this dish, but it mixed together two of her top ten cuisines: Italian food and Thai. She loved the Italian's way of cooking with meats and noodles, and the Thai spices that mingle so perfectly when used properly together.

And because it was getting chillier outside, she wanted to make a delicious warm meal that could be enjoyed by all. With Akira's help, she created an Italian-Thai fusion soup, and for an added bonus, she put in meatballs and a splash of white wine for a bit of added flavor.

"Hikari, it's almost time to get started." Akira said. Hikair smiled and took her headband off of her wrist before tying her hair back.

"Well then, no time like the present to get started, right Akira?" She asked chuckling as the guests came into the festival looking for a new wave of delicious food to try.

Hikari and Akira got to work right away as a crowd of customers came up to their stall.

"So, what's today's dish?" A woman asked as she smiled at the two students.

Hikari smiled at the woman along with the crowd that followed behind, "Welcome to the second day of the Autumn Moon Festival!" She greeted happily, "I'm proud to reveal out Italian-Thai day! Prepare to have your sense rattled once again."

Hikari poured in all of liquid ingredients into a heated pot. Once the mixture was hot enough, she added kale and tomato while Akira pureed a mix of ginger, lemongrass, garlic, green onions and cilantro, all chopped of course. He put one cup of the ginger mix into the ground meat to make the meatballs and then added the rest into the broth in the pot. Soon, the broth came to a simmer and Hikari added the pasta to cook completely through. When everything was ready, she served bowl after bowl with an added garnish of thinly sliced green onions.

"Order up!" She said, "Italian-Thai soup: Moon Festival Special!"

Everyone at the stand was happy to try another fusion cuisine and all the customers that came closer could feel their senses be rattled by just the scent of the delicious food. Customers came up by the dozen, each one wanting to taste the mysterious fusion food of the day. Hikari and Akira were having fun serving up the new dishes one by one all the way up to the point of the festival being closed for the day.

Hours had passed and the streetlights came on, the rankings were announced but Hikari wasn't exactly interested in the rating, she was just happy to be cooking in such a fierce competition. After they were finished cleaning up their station and going over their next recipe, Hikari said her goodbyes to Akira and started walking back to the Kyokusei dorms.