Chapter 89: Bean Sprout Party
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 89: Bean Sprout Party
After we finished grocery shopping at the supermarket, we returned to Fuma-senpai’s 33-square-meter studio apartment.
I couldn't shake the feeling we'd bought a bit too much, but hey, there were four of us. Surely we could eat it all?
"Shinji, an apron."
"Yes, ma'am."
After setting all the shopping bags on the floor, the President held out her arms.
The Vice President then produced a white apron from who-knows-where and handed it to her.
The scene looked just like something out of an operating room.
With Minami's help, the President tied the apron, placed a white bandana on her head, and finally, picked up a kitchen knife.
"I will now show you the very essence of the bridal training I have received thus far!"
She looked like a general from some great nation, marching off to the battlefield.
"Hmph, all that is just book smarts. Do you really think you can beat me, a veteran forged through countless real battles?"
Fuma-senpai, on the other hand, took advantage of her home-field advantage. Having already finished her preparations with practiced ease, she took a single blade from a kitchen cabinet.
Seeing it, the Akagi siblings gasped in shock.
"That weapon is!"
"Huhu, so you recognize it."
Fuma-senpai muttered, gripping the handle of the sword.
Sssshing!
With a clear ring of steel, the object that slid from its sheath was a ninja sword with a distinct wave-like pattern etched into the blade.
"This is the Raikirimaru, the famed sword of Tachibana Dōsetsu. One of my ancestors acquired it."
"To think I'd see the Black Yaksha's beloved blade in a place like this..."
"It has a pattern just as beautiful as the rumors say..."
I had no idea what it was, but it was clearly an incredible sword.
In any case, it seemed Fuma-senpai intended to use the sword called Raikirimaru as a kitchen knife, as she wiped its flat side with a dry cloth.
She’d just accused the President of relying on her ingredients, yet here she was, using her equipment to seize the initiative.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
"Well then, I suppose we should begin."
The President glanced at the clock on the wall.
6:00 PM.
The perfect time to start preparing dinner.
"Let's make this a 30-minute competition, starting now. I trust you agree, Fuma-san?"
Fuma-senpai crossed her arms under her ample chest and nodded.
"I agree."
"The judging will be done by Minami, Shinji, and Yoo-Sung."
"An odd number, so at least there won't be a tie."
"I've asked them both to be as objective as possible. So they won't be calling delicious food bad."
"I never worried about such a thing in the first place."
Once the conversation between the President and Fuma-senpai concluded, the Vice President prepared to start the stopwatch on his phone.
"Both sides, fight fair and square—"
Gulp.
The two stood before the small kitchen, their expressions tense.
Finally, the Vice President's right arm swung down dramatically.
"Begin!"
*
Rip!
The cooking battle began with the sound of Fuma-senpai tearing open a bag of bean sprouts.
She ripped open all five bags, dumped the sprouts into a large bowl, and began washing them vigorously under running water.
Then, perhaps to preserve their crisp texture, she left them soaking in cold water and began preparing her other ingredients.
Salt, soy sauce, sugar, and a mysterious black liquid.
This was clearly not her first time. With precise measurements, she instantly created a multi-purpose sauce to go with the sprouts. Then, she took a carrot out of a plastic bag and suddenly tossed it into the air.
"Hup!"
I wondered what on earth she was doing in the middle of cooking, but in what seemed like a flash of light, the carrot's peel was perfectly removed, and neatly sliced pieces of it rained down onto the cutting board.
Seeing this, the Vice President clenched his fists, his face flushed with excitement.
"There it is!! One of the Black Yaksha's signature moves, the Flash Blade (閃光刃)!!"
He shouted with the excited voice of a child watching a pro-wrestling match live, explaining the technique.
"A sword technique of artistic precision, swung at a speed invisible to the naked eye! As expected of that man's daughter!"
Thanks to him, I automatically learned the move's characteristics and history without having to ask. It was quite convenient.
If you could ignore the fact that he was a little loud.
I never thought I'd see a real-life version of that trope where someone throws vegetables in the air and they fall back down perfectly prepared after a flash of light, but since the person doing it was a ninja, it somehow made sense.
Is this the mysterious power of the NINJA?
Anyway, while Fuma-senpai was showing off her flashy, cooking-manga-style techniques, our President was calmly starting with the basics, preparing the broth for the shabu-shabu first.
Considering the time limit, that was the most logical approach.
And when cost was no object, making a rich broth in a short amount of time wasn't that difficult.
You just had to cram an absurd amount of ingredients into the water.
The President filled a pot with plenty of water, then added the bonito flakes, kelp, powdered anchovies, and dried shiitake mushrooms she'd bought at the supermarket and brought it to a rolling boil.
Normally, you make broth by simmering a small amount of ingredients for a long time.
However, the President did the exact opposite, adding nearly three times the normal amount of ingredients and boiling them fiercely.
This meant she would have to remove them before all their essence was extracted, but it allowed her to get a broth with a strong, infused flavor in a short amount of time.
And once the broth, the alpha and omega of shabu-shabu, was ready, all that was left was to prepare the ingredients to cook in it.
The vegetables were washed and arranged on a plate, and the A++ grade, perfect-quality meat she'd bought was more than enough for tonight's dinner, with leftovers to spare.
After transferring the meat to a plate, as if she were just swapping out its container, the President spoke with a confident expression.
"Huhu, you shouldn't underestimate my cooking skills, honed by over ten years of bridal training."
To be precise, while shabu-shabu is a type of dish, a large part of it is cooking it yourself at the table, so I was honestly a bit skeptical if it could truly showcase her cooking skills.
Still, with all the ingredients being top-of-the-line, there was no way it could fail.
At that moment, flames suddenly erupted from the frying pan Fuma-senpai was controlling with one hand.
I jolted in my seat without realizing it.
"What the—!"
She didn't even add any alcohol, yet fire just burst out on its own?!
As I shot up, startled by this cooking method that defied common sense, Minami, who was next to me, muttered with a look of awe.
"An incredible level of Fire Release..."
"To use Fire Release of this magnitude without a source of fire... Does this mean she's a former Jōnin?"
Hearing the Vice President's bitter mumble, I casually asked.
"By the way, what are your and Minami's ranks?"
They kept mentioning it, so I was honestly curious.
Hearing my question, the Vice President let out a frustrated "Kuh!" and averted his gaze as he answered.
"We're still Genin. That woman is the weird one. A Jōnin at eighteen? I've never even heard of such a thing."
In other words, Fuma-senpai was abnormally strong.
Well, seeing how she'd brilliantly bought time against Ivan, who had the aura of the strongest character in that world, she was certainly a formidable talent.
It was just hard to imagine, seeing her goofy side right now.
Soon after, Fuma-senpai, who had quickly stir-fried thinly sliced pork shoulder with bean sprouts and her special sauce over high heat, plated the dish and announced:
"Fuma-style Pork and Bean Sprout Stir-fry, complete."
As if on cue, the President, having just finished preparing the shabu-shabu ingredients, spoke at almost the same time.
"I'm ready as well."
Their gazes met naturally.
It felt like sparks were flying, but there was no time for that now.
"Hey, hey, let's eat before it gets cold."
I mediated between the two, then brought over the round dining table that was folded in the corner and set it up in the living room.
*
"First, eat the dish I made."
Fuma-senpai confidently brought over what could only be described as a mountain of bean sprouts.
Bean sprout salad, miso soup with bean sprouts, a stir-fry of bean sprouts and thinly sliced pork shoulder, and finally, bean sprout teppanyaki, made by piling sprouts on a hot plate, drizzling them with a special sauce, and quickly removing them before they lost their texture.
It was a multi-course meal so diverse it was hard to believe she'd made it in just 30 minutes.
I was sure she'd used a fair amount of other vegetables, so why was it that the only thing I could see was bean sprouts?
Pondering this question, I held a bowl of rice in one hand and muttered.
"Thanks for the food."
The first thing I reached for was the pork and bean sprout stir-fry, which could be called the main dish of the sprout course.
It was the dish she'd put the most effort into, so it was naturally the one she was most confident in.
I grabbed a heaping mouthful of sprouts and pork with my chopsticks and ate it in one bite.
Crunch!
The first thing I felt was the characteristic crisp texture of the bean sprouts.
Soon, the addictive salty-sweet flavor of the special sauce spread across my tongue, and the pork shoulder, browned and crisped from the Maillard reaction, made the dish's umami explode at the very end.
I might be trying to sound fancier than I am, but to put it simply, my evaluation of this pork and bean sprout stir-fry was...
"Another bowl, please."
This dish was a certified rice thief, the kind with a rap sheet seventeen convictions long.