[The Dueling Exam: Arc 11]
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Hill - Saturday 9:45 a.m.]
"... Thinking over what ingredients I should use - it makes me feel headache. And putting this thought aside, gathering is going to take additional time, and I barely have any time left." Tim was thinking to deep for what Kameyo would like. ".... Ugh - this is actually keeping me at bait. I have no idea what to do at this point." While Tim stood still, the rest of his allies constantly searched for ingredients. "And I only got about 10 minutes left, aaaaaaah! What the hell am I going to do?!" But while Tim scratched his head he came to an idea. "Wait. What am I thinking of, I don't need to make the food freshly of meat, it may be anything - that's it, if I can't find a boar I may as well prepare a meal without meat." Though, as soon as he spoke, Tim heard several complains in the distance, so because of his curiousness he hurried on to check by stalking behind a bush. "That boar was supposed to be mine! Why can't you find a different one?" It was Codey and Ellie, arguing once again. "Why? Because I found it first." Ellie seemed to be upset with crossed arms. "Is that so, huh? Well you may as well forget about it! It's not yours, it's gonna be mine, so I am sorry." That moment, the boar came running past them when Tim became serious. "They are too focused on arguing, and all they've gathered were some groceries." Tim claim a sudden sigh when he began chasing down a boar, carefully and slowly.
While Tim continued to be sneaky he prepared to jump at at boar, however when he came from behind the bush he froze and so have the person besides him, facing and exchanging looks, both of them became rather confused. ".....You know.... I was chasing that boar. So if you would please move aside..." Tim claimed, facing directly at the woman. "I was chasing it too..." It was Kaori who was preparing to strike. "...You know, we have only another 7 minutes...." Tim sighed. "Yes, I am aware about it, but what - do you expect me to fail, I need a boar to get my meal ready." Claimed Kaori, calmly, when Tim grabbed his forehead. "All right. Then go ahead, I'll just find a different boar and have higher chance of failing." To saying so Tim stepped behind the bush leaving the area and hopefully find another boar. "I may as well give up on finding boar and prepare something else than meal with meat, although, meat always makes everything more welcome to eat...." That moment Tim came in sight with a tree of coconuts. "Coconut is never safe to eat without additional water, so I should find some clean river or something. Although, I don't expect to find a clean river around here.... this is the end." "Wait.... better question, how is a coconut growing up on these normal trees." Tim reached for his watch and began discovery.
"Ha no seichō Coconut, in english, Leaf Growing Coconut is a fruit that provides fresh water and with different tastes. It is called 'Leaf Growing' Coconut because it grows leaves that represent the taste of them. If the leaf is more of an orange-ish colour it will be quite warm but very sour, if the leaf seems to be green, it will represent just a simple taste of water and added with a few sugar, however, if the coconut provides white leaves they are known to be very tastey with additional fruits when it comes to making a meal, it has somewhat sugary and relaxing taste, but it must be combined with water just like any other juice from coconuts, but doing that, the recommendations are to melt the coconut into juice for the best taste."
"Leaf Growing Coconut? Well that is something I surely would not expect, guess it's just a bit different than original coconut, though these leaves seems to be orange sour, so it may be good for meals that come with either meat or salad, I wonder." Tim claimed, only 3 minutes remaining to gather the ingredients.
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Hill - Saturday 9:52 a.m.]
After Tim gathered a few of the coconuts he stepped toward the lake with Kameyo standing on the other side, waiting. Ayuka was just cleaning the ingredients, bowed down while Tim stepped behind her. "Oh, you've already got the ingredients?" Tim wondered, curios, in that moment Ayuka faced behind and spoke. "Yeah, you?" She asked with a smile. "Well, I was trying to gather some meat, but that was unlucky, so I went with base fruit or groceries and now I have no idea what to do with this fruit as it is sour instead of-" But Ayuka spoke. "Not to worry, if you've gathered a few of fresh leaves, you can use that coconut's juice as vinegar. You don't have enough time to gather meat so you'll just have to go for 'no meat' strategy, either way, I did manage to catch one of the boars, though it will take much longer to roast it perfectly, but of course that's another step you must get through, pigs or in this case boars - to make them edible, you need to start slowly, over a bed of coals with minimal flame. The idea is to heat the flesh up evenly and throughout without browning the outside. Pigs are fatty animals and you want to slowly melt that fat so it bastes the meat. So you need to get a low, even heat throughout the animal to get that fat melted and distributed." Explained Ayuka.
"So you managed to caputure a boar? That's something?" Tim sighed, quite surprised. "I did, however, many have and many have not." When Ayuka spoke so she finally stood up straight and let Tim to face around. "Oh.... you're right...." Tim sighed. "As much as I expected you to get one, I was quite surprised you didn't manage, either way, all you need to manage and do is make a delicious salad, it may not be as delicious as how it would be with meat, but it will still be good enough to put you to the next round, of course, that's as long as you don't mess up the combination." Explained Ayuka after a sweat dripped down her right side. "I got way bigger one than you!" Shouted Kazuko, showing a boar. "....That was just pure coincidence!" Angrly shouted Yutaku. "Either way, good luck on cooking such a big boar!" Laughed Yutaku, showing a tongue after passing Tim and Ayuka by. "So what do you plan on roasting together with that boar....?" Wondered Tim. "I'm just making combination of several ingredients, honey, meat, and several groceries, such as carrots, dandelion and for looks and addition, basic leaves, this is why I needed to clean the leaves." Explained Ayuka. "Honey on meat? That's something I wouldn't expect existed." Sighed Tim. "Yes, but not to worry, the combination may not sound great, but trust me, it will be delicious. It'll make the examine's mouth sweat in drip." Claimed Ayuka. Codey and Ellie both managed to capture a boar and they were the last two to come back, as for 3 of the examinees, they didn't manage to come back in time. But then, the time finally reached 9:55.
[Planet Earth - Fortune Island - Fortune Hill - Fortune Lake - Saturday 9:55 a.m.]
"Well, I have seen that 38 of managed to get here in time, the ones who have not gathered the ingredients in that time will be put on failure and they will be picked up by a helicopter. But for you who have made it, please if you proceed in preparing meal, as I said before, you only have 30 minutes to prepare it." Explained Kameyo, calm and serious, moving the stick away from her mouth for a few seconds. "No time to waste, when the time reaches 10:00, you may begin, these 5 minutes remains for you to have a short rest and think about what you will make." Kameyo sat to the side, while Tim dropped his bag. "Luckily we got these perfectly bags in which we managed to put additional ingredients.." Claimed Midori, quite interested. "So, you're planning to make what, Octavius?" Wondered Eguchi, rather serious. "The most presented meal around here is boar and additional ingredients, so that is what I am doing." Claimed Octavius quite worried of his skills at preparing a meal. "I'm just gonna make a very delicious boar, as long as it is perfectly roasted, that's all I need to worry about." Sighed Eguchi and stepped toward the roasting setup.
"Shin, you planning on making a roasted pig?" Wondered Shoji quite certain. "No, I will focus on greens." Shoji was quite unamused while standing besides Kanji. "It won't matter, he's very talented in so many things, so I bet he'll manage to perfect his own meal." Smiled Kanji, talking to Shoji. "I guess, though, I don't think greens will increase his score." Sighed Shoji. "As long as he gets 5 out of 10 onward, he's going to complete the test." Smiled Kanji. "You've got a point."
On the opposite side of the lake, Ellie and Codey began to think of a meal, next to Ayuka and Tim. "Hmm.... a tasty pig? I wonder if it will be enough to surprise her." Codey thought. "Hah? Whatever you'll make will make Kameyo cry, you just watch." Laughed Ellie, pointing directly at Codey. "Would you shut up already - we don't need your complains and jealousy to be spoken out directly." Tim sighed while listening to them arguing once again. As for Kylin, she then stepped next to Sakami. "I see you're working on boar as well." Kylin smiled, interested. "...." "Um. Sakami?" But Sakami didn't give an answer. "I have never needed to prepare a meal for somebody else than me.... this feeling is kind of strange." Claimed Sakami, facing at the boar. "Um.... do you need help?" But Sakami denied Kylin's help. "I could though! Think you could give me a few heads up of ideas?" Yasu embarrassingly asked. "What do you need?" Wondered Kylin. "Do you know how long I should roast the pig?" Kylin made a smile. "It should take you 25 minutes, and if not, just use your own fire to speed up the process. But make sure to start slowly to identically roast pig's meat, all right." Claimed Kylin, quite calm but relaxed. "All right, thank you very much." Smiled Yasu. "Of course, ask away, while you still have the time."
"You don't need to worry, if the pig gets burnt, I'll just lend you some water, either way, that's in urgent cases!" Giggled Hideki. "Wow, thanks a lot, making me feel even worse, and closer to thinking that I will mess up." Yasu said unamusingly. "Well, just know that I am here, and the water is right in front of you. This is exactly why she waited for us her. Only if things get out of hands." Explained Hideki, whe beginning to prepare his stall. Many have finished preparing stalls as well and lighting up the fire.
"Hm? Why are you not just using your own flames to lit it up?" Wondered Ellie, facing at Tim in confusion, holding two of his rocks. "I rather not provide intense amount of fire just to light up the fire, this is why I am using to rocks, it's going to be the safest bet." Tim explained. "He's right, if we end up - trying to light up the fire with our own abilities, getting out of control can be problematic, and if that happens we are bound to fail, well - at least the one who has done it. Anyway, others are doing the same." Ayuka explained, showing at Kaori, Yasu, as for Octavius he was forced to use fire since he only had one hand, luckily though, he managed to do it safely. "I guess you got a point, well, there is probably like another min-" But as he spoke, Ellie's words were soon interfered.
"The 5 minutes have passed! Please if you proceed with roasting!"
To be continued...