"Where's Shinomiya?"
"He's having an unofficial cooking duel with some girl in his other class."
"Huh?"
The knife jittered against the chopping board, fluid and rapid movements flying across the table. Chives, onions-- he crushed the garlic, and moved over to the rest of the vegetables, expertly slicing through the right preparations for each.
"Hey, look at that."
Eda's eyes were tight and firm on the table. He tapped across the spices, and picked out one, inspecting the label. A million calculations drove across his mind, and he picked out two more, along with an orange and a stick of cinnamon.
"His knife work is amazing."
"And quick."
"Even though he was so nervous he messed up chopping apples in class?"
"Oh, he's prepping the beef now."
Eda was supposed to meet Shinomiya in the cooking classroom after class. He'd rented out the area for practice, so they had the classroom to themselves until evening.
It's bigger and more equipped than the dorm kitchen, so they were pretty excited about it. Then Shinomiya went and ran off on him to unofficial Shokugeki with some girl from his Italian class...
Eda decided to go on without him. Working alone did wonders for his cooking pace. He loved to work privately, without any pressuring eyes judging his every action.
(And in the next moment, he notices the figures outside the window and his entire ladle flies out of his hand, soaring across the room.)
Anyways, (he goes to retrieve the ladle,) he was going to take the time to experiment the new spice combinations he learned in class, anyways.
"So allspice is called that because it smells like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and others all at once," he reads from his notes. Not that he'd understand that part... "I think it was used in chai tea? And gingerbread cookies..."
"What's he mumbling about?"
"Shhhh!"
"Ah, right--" Eda remembered, "it's kinda like pepper but it's sweet or something. Okay then," and he plucked open the cap, sprinkling it over the pot before he tossed in the other spices, and a flower-shaped spice, before closing the lid over everything and letting it simmer.
And he sat down at the counter, breathing out.
He stared at the lights, mind blank, staying like that for a whole ten minutes before he stood up, stretched, yawned, and began cleaning up.
"He's so laid back..."
"I mean he just made stew, so that thing needs to simmer for a couple of hours."
"Guys, are we really going to just stare at him? Go on, ask him if we can borrow some space for our own practice."
"But you know how he is. Talking to him feels like we're being bullies."
YOU ARE READING
BiTTER (Shokugeki no Souma Fanfic)
FanfictionFumi lacks a lot of things. He's Taste-deaf. He's blind to most smells. He did not have the strength and culinary imagination many of the aspiring chefs in Tootsuki had. But he had experience, enough for a whole lifetime past. - Shokugeki no Souma ©...
