The Cook Off!
(This one involved
rolls, so even if someone should win… That doesn’t mean they did.)
While I did
have to take a day or two to pry Yankaka off of me once I returned home after
the storm, all was well at this point. I even managed to get through a few
years without any real troubles… Seasons passed, the competition continued to
my detriment, but eventually everything did seem to settle… That was until one
main event.
I thought I
could escape it, I thought I was the one to not have to go through it after
Blazblue, but no… No… Every harem protagonist (And Ragna) had to go through it
before me and so it was fated that everything would conspire against me.
Everything fell into place as I did my damnedest to avoid the possibility, but
no… It happened.
It was a
calm day, I was strolling through town after finishing my chores and, while I
paid note as to the fact that everyone was running around and that there were
decorations being put, I didn’t pay any attention to it all. As someone hung up
a banner, my heart sank. I had stayed in every single year, but now… now I was
caught. Scrambling to try and run off before anyone saw me, I accidentally fell
right into the trap of the harem protagonist.
As I ran
off, I tripped over a branch, which led to me crashing into a pile of crates.
The crates wobbled gently, only one falling to land in a cart and pivoted it
sharply, sending the person that was sitting at the front into the air to land
right on top of a random person who was wearing a sash. They appeared to be out
of town and, as such, that only made things that much worse for me.
It was only
an hour after that, filled with various bits of nonsense before I was sitting
at a table with four other people. I got dragged into being a judge for the
cooking contest because I accidentally took out one of the judges and was
forced to replace them. To my detriment and personal horror, the competitor
roster had four more contestants as soon as I was counted as one of the judges.
The only
real comfort I had was the fact that Bang was sitting next to me as one of the
judges, his arms crossed in front of him and a large smile on his face. “Good
to see that you joined us this year, Tadek! You’re always hiding away during
the holidays, so it’s great to see you taking up the reigns of another in their
time of need!” Celestian, who happened to be one of the other judges alongside
the teahouse woman and the café man. “Quite. You know that Cierra competes
every year. Of course, she wins every single year, as well… I would be
surprised if she even had any competition to begin with.”
I simply
leaned back into my chair and reached up to gently rub the side of my head. “Right.
Well, at least I will be getting some free food. Who were the other contestants
that signed up on the spot?” Just as I spoke, both the mayor of Bluebell and
the mayor of Konohana stepped up onto a little, makeshift stage to announce the
annual cooking competition and to present the contestants.
Cierra
stepped up, some woman from out of town, a few of the local chefs, Fia, Lina,
and then Yankaka. Of course… Why did I expect anything different? The while
they all took the competition seriously, each off in their own corner, cooking
away at a storm. I honestly expected Cierra to win in the end, but Yankaka did
have a perk for cooking, Fia was very talented when it came to learning and
practicing new skills in a short time, and Lina… I was pretty sure she was
going to poison the food.
“Bang, are
you sure that having all of our companions in the same contest a good thing?
One of them is a recovering psychopath and another once tried to drug my
coffee.” He turned over to me, offering me a quick, reassuring pat on the back.
“Oh, I am sure that everything will be alright, my friend. Besides…” Without
any warning, he jumped up onto the table and took what could only be considered
a Jojo’s pose, yelling with all his might so that all could hear.
“This is a
competition, Tadek! The heart and soul of the warring chefs of old courses
through them! They will not go against each other, they will not sabotage, for
they wish to win through sheer skill and determination! A few are here for fun,
a few for love, and a few to prove themselves, but all are in this for the
true, holy spirit of the contest!” As he finished his speech, the ground shook
a little as, apparently, Lina managed to blow up one of the kitchens in a, thankfully,
non-hazardous manner, sending Bang straight back into his chair. “Are you sure
about that?” He simply gave a nod of his head and straightened himself up. “Of
course!”
While Lina
and a few of the other contestants were taken out in the explosion, as their
dishes were destroyed, the rest were brought out. On the way to the judge’s
table, Cierra was stopped by a bee, which eventually led into her dropping her
iced soufflé falling out of her hands and straight onto my head, giving me a
bruised forehead and, sadly, disqualifying her from the competition as she no
longer had a dish.
Considering
she was about to tear up, I gave her a pat on the shoulder and assured her that
I would be more than happy to try it if she ever made it again… Later that day,
I had three different flavors of the same exact thing. Worth the tooth ache.
Fia had
prepared a salad that was a mix of mushrooms, chicken, and was actually
organized so that everything was separate and distributed evenly across what
looked like a specially made tray. It was… good… but, I wasn’t a personal fan
of salads, so my score was sadly very biased.
Yankaka
surprised me. She had managed to prepare an odd, but to me it was extremely appetizing,
meal. A mix of steamed meat buns from her home recipe, spiced steak resting
within a bowl of ramen, and even a chocolate flower set off to the side to help
counter the savoury tastes of everything else. That won her the grand prize,
considering Cierra didn’t have a dish and everything else had fallen apart…
Except for Fia’s salad, but I am a terrible person with biases about food. Sadly,
I could not remember anything after that point. During the award ceremony,
something caught the back of Yankaka’s hood and pulled it back.
The only
thing I, and anyone else, remember is waking up with no knowledge of what she
looked like and everyone in various positions of pain, disarray, and outright
horror/bliss. To me it felt like the fucking multiverse had to restart itself
and, considering even Celestian’s expression was contorted in what could only
be described as seeing something truly grotesque and what could be considered
heaven at the exact same time.
All I knew
was that Yankaka won, but I can’t for the life of me remember what she looked
like… especially considering I was on the verge of passing out from every cell
in my eyes flashing white only for the blood vessels to pop all at once, I
would be surprised if I could to begin with. That and I learned one thing that
day… Yankaka’s unknown visage is not to be seen in public.
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