HtH136 – A Guest(s) Has Arrived At The Theater House
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Guests begin to arrive at the house.
"Are you sure this is the place, Master? It looks so... small compared to the Galopin's."
"Fredrika, you better let me be the one who talks."
Their backs to the little rose patch behind them, two girls stand before the front doors of Theatre House Delaroux, the shorter girl with long black hair pressing down on a doorbell, which lets a pleasant chime resound through the house. Before long, the sound of running footsteps from inside prance over to greet them. Her companion with blue wavy hair is not the type to wait, and puts hands on the brass knocker, before having her hand pulled away by her 'master'!
[BANG BANG BANG!]
"What do you think you are doing, Fredrika?!"
"I'm hurrying up the service!" Fredrika tosses her hair to the side, bangs brushing past a tiny blue bird perched on her shoulder. "Rude, your friend is, keeping us waiting outside!"
Fredrika gets the claw-on-shoulders treatment from her 'master', the small and cute girl shaking some sense into her underling!
Through the shaking, the blue bird remains immovably perched on Fredrika's shoulder.
"Why, I should sock some sense into that messed-up head of yours...!"
Just before Ayano can perform her specialty on the other girl with a too-happy look on her face, the door opens...
"Hey there, welcome to Theatre House Delaroux! Would I know your names? Or perhaps, I am interrupting something?"
The girl who answered the door is our very own Hikari. She peeks through the half-open door, and finding the visitors settling themselves by adjusting their clothing amusing, the throws open the doors for the two.
Of course, it is the blue-haired girl who yaps first.
"My name is Fredrika Karring, and this is my master, the great-detective Ayano-KUH-KUH-KUH...!"
Like they had practiced this many times already, the black-haired girl slides behind Fredrika, and puts her in quick, repeated, meta-optimized rear chokeholds that would make large-sized head honchos proud at this CQC technique! From behind the wavy hair of the too-happy girl tapping Ayano's elbow. She glares death at the girl with her tongue out to retract it. Releasing the hold, she introduces herself,
"I'm Ayano. We're... Fredrika is here for the tournament."
"Ah, certainly! We have been expecting Miss Karring! Please come on in!"
With great grace, Hikari moves to one side, giving a sweeping welcome with the long sleeves of her purple kimono. Good host that she is, she keeps the front doors to the house open now, an invitation to walk in at any time!
When Fredrika's haughty gait passes through the doors...
... a set of six red-and-white balls can see seen attached to her hip!
"You are most early, Ayano-sama, Fredrika-sama. We are making the final preparations for the event as well. Please, feel free to rest in the..."
As they walk, Hikari cannot help but notice Ayano's intense stare from the side.
The top of the girl's head barely reaches Hikari's chest, so the girl had to lift her head to look up into Hikari's face.
The girl was looking into all too-familiar attire, with all the questions in the New Continent...
More importantly, she stares deeply into Hikari's short purple hair...
It felt like she was reading into something, but something else did not quite match up for her little grey cells!
"I was wondering... Is it rude to ask, Hikari, is your family name Delaroux?"
Not missing a step, Hikari laughs, continuing measured movement down the hall.
"Absolutely not a problem, dear friend!" There is a twinkle behind Hikari's eyes, "This is simply the name of our theatre house!"
"Don't mind Master, she likes to ask really useless questions." Fredrika is about to start once more, but silences herself, and instead skips around to avoid the CQC button from her master, admiring the ghostlights along the coridoor.
"Huh."
They are about to step into the Echoes room, when Ayano sniffs the air...
"That smell... It's familiar."
Meanwhile, inside the theatre house kitchen.
"Yeeeaaarrrghhh! Hiya! Hwatcha! Hyah!"
The kitchen is a flurry of activity! Across the kitchen, an entire ensemble of woks have been brought out for this event! A line of blue-flame stoves pre-heat the woks, one determined chef tossing soba noodles by the wok handle, stainless steel grippers in her other hand!
Last time, on The Bizarre Adventures of Chef Jules... the good chef had accepted the monumental task of cooking fifty take-out containers for the crowd coming by the tournament tonight!
What is fifty take-out containers to go?
It is the equivalent of a dinner service at a family restaurant!
An insurmountable task for an amateur cook!
However, there is nothing amateur about Jule's cooking!
Earlier on, the kitchen was in full-on prep mode, rhythmic knocks on the chopping board knocking out stellar, consistent cuts on every carrot, tofu slice, cucumber and green onion! Behind her, House follows up with pickling the carrots as they came by her station, working and mixing on the noodle sauce in her downtime!
With the guests liable to come in at any time now, it was imperative that the kitchen utilized 'batch cooking'!
And the key to 'batch cooking'...
"--- is heat!"
Jules declares, insisting on flash frying each component separately instead of tossing them all into the wok at once!
When too many ingredients overcrowd a pan, the stove's heat does not properly disperse throughout the food, causing an ugly monster to rear its head--- moisture! It goes without saying that soggy vegetables do not taste good, and it goes doubly so when cooking in large batches at once!
Therefore!
The pans had to be heated to the point where they could take the incoming workload...
... and yet, not burn the food in the process!
A delicate, and most dangerous process!
One small misstep, and large portions of perfectly good food could be ruined in an instant!
However, our good chef was not working alone...
"And now... the sauce!"
Jules reaches her hand out behind her, and in return, a nozzle bottle is passed to her from behind! Receiving it in one smooth motion, the chef finishes the dish on her part, the first batch of soba noodles, ingredients and all, was ready for plating!
Wiping a proud hand over her forehead, the chef calls out to House's station behind her,
"Eggs shall come last. How are we doing on the fried tofu, House?"
"Walking, chef!"
Like clockwork, House swivels from the central bench, yummy strips of golden fried tofu sliced and ready to be plated!
A breath of relief comes from Jules, the dinner plan moving as smooth as it can.
She looks over the line of woks firing.
Then across the central table, where the prepped sides are glistening under the warm kitchen lights.
Whatever happens, the house is ready.
She too, is ready.
"House, help me on the soba---"
"On it, chef!"
Just as she put hands on a wok and spatula, doesn't even turn around...
... and directs her words at the girl staring at the back of her long purple hair from outside the kitchen.
Ayano is standing there, mouth agape, an index finger pointed at the red bereted girl going hwatchachacha!
"Well, well! If it isn't Aya-chan! What's wrong? Never seen moi' put on cat-print apron before?!"
We are trying something different! This is a simul-posting at the same time as the Scribblehub release! Go check out the entire series at this link!
