[SF] / [HM] A Recipe For Catastrophe!
It was the night after trial 3. The facility was as silent as it is every time someone else dies, except this time it was not one person, but two. Two people who had gone unnoticed for the past four weeks were now being mourned as if they were everyone's best friend ever.
The silence was deafening. Horrible. Way too quiet.
Maybe because it was 3 AM.
At that hour, it was only logical for everyone to be fast asleep.
For everyone... Except for subject #18 (Real name: Iris Bonneville), who hadn't slept a wink since the trial ended.
And as expected from subject #18, she was researching old posts in an outdated forum platform called "Reddit". Something common for someone who thinks that 2020 was the peak of humanity.
Click. Click. She kept scrolling through the endless forums.
Just as she was about to close the laptop (well, what they would call a laptop in 2100), she saw a post that caught her eye. A post about making Japanese ramen: according to the post, ramen was a salty and savory noodle soup that became a worldwide hit during the 2000's anime boom. She was never into Japan or its traditions, but THIS... This looked extremely delicious. So much so, she wanted to try it right now.
Subject #18 left her room at 3:21 AM. To go for water, have a quick trip to the restroom, and check if the common kitchen has anything resembling that beautiful plate. As she was returning to her chamber, Subject #18 saw a faint blue light coming from room #7. Of course, it was that bedroom. The earliest hour that the seventh participant had gone to sleep was at 4 AM. She decided to enter the room (without permission, they had enough trust for that).
The door bursts open with Subject #18 entering the room. #7 (Real name: Tsubasa Ayane. In Japanese grammar, her name is Ayane) quickly reacts, turning her head.
"AYANE!!!!" #18 screams to #7. "Take a look at this thing I found. You're from Japan, right? You must know how to make it!"
"Iris, it's 3 in the morning. Can you at least lower your voice?" #7 (Well, Ayane) whispered. "I'm interested, though. Show me."
Iris showed Ayane the post. Ayane quickly read through it while Iris explained the extra data she found about the dish.
"Looks yummy, right~?" Iris says to break the silence.
"Yeah!" Ayane affirms. Iris' eyes are now twinkling with the expectation of the master recipe every Japanese must know. "How do we make it through?"
There is an uncomfortable silence for about 10 seconds.
Iris looked shocked. "You DON'T know how to make ramen??? The most iconic Japanese dish back in 2020???? That's-- BLASPHEMY!"
Ayane sighed. "Look, that happened 80 years ago. I only eat microwavable food. It's everything they sell in Osaka nowadays. If you want to try instant ramen, then I'm glad to help, but if you are looking for something traditional... go ask my great-grandpa."
"Hey, calm down!" Iris said nervously. "... How about we ask Shion? He's also Japanese, right?"
"... Wait, that's a great idea!" Ayane exclaimed, "Of course, how could I have forgotten? He's from Kyoto! That's like-- THE place for Japanese tradition. They still celebrate festivities from ages ago! Let's do it!"
"Amazing!" Iris beamed, "You go ask Shion, I'll prepare the kitchen."
"Nuh-uh," - Ayane said. "I've gotta bring someone first."
Not again....
"Wait. Don't tell me... are you going to bring HIM???"
Ayane smirked. "Hell yeah. Wait for me to come back, then we'll go and wake Shion up. It's better if the 4 of us go to the kitchen together. Who knows, maybe that Ashbourne dude is trying to kill us because we looked at him weird during the trial."
Iris looked disappointed. "... Alright."
With that, Ayane leaves the room.
She drifts quietly through the chambers until she finds what she's looking for. Room #14.
Ayane knocks on the door three times with impressive strength, then kicks it open.
"DU SCHLAMPE, WACH ENDLICH AUF!!!" She screams in a horrible German accent.
Participant #14 (Real name: Luka Krüger) wakes up startled and quickly turns on the lights.
"JA! GUTEN MORGEN!" He starts, until his vision finally recovers from the sudden change of lighting, enough to see the person who just woke him up. His face goes from attentive to frustrated in like a second. "Oh. Tsubasa. What do you want?"
"I want you..." Ayane started "To shut up."
"Hah. Funny." He answered in a sarcastic tone. "No, really, what is it? Because I swear if you woke me up to ask me for a charger..."
"Oh, dear Luka! We need you to join us in our humble mission of retrieving the mystical broth from the 21st century known as ramen! Well, you're not EXACTLY needed, but it felt bad to leave out our dear friend who helped us so much during the trial!" (He spent half of it complaining about a headache and the other half screaming at Iris and Shion for almost tripping)
Luka lets out a dry laugh.
"PFFT- RAMEN-! DID YOU JUST WAKE ME UP TO MAKE A FUCKING CHICKEN SOUP??? WHAT, CAN'T YOU HAVE A LITTLE RESPECT FOR PEOPLE'S SLEEP SCHEDULES?!?"
"You went to bed at 1:30 AM," Ayane replies.
"Oh." Luka sighs, "Alright, I'll go with you. But don't expect me to smile and giggle if your soup turns out ass."
"YAY!!!" Ayane exclaims triumphantly. "Okay, let's go! Iris is waiting for-"
"Wait a second." Luka interrupts her. "I know what you two are planning. You're at least staying until 7 anyway. Because of that, I might as well get ready for the day right now."
Ayane's smile drops upon hearing that statement.
"You're... What...? "
Luka stands up and starts making his bed with unexpected precision coming from someone like him. "You heard me. I don't trust your time management abilities."
Ayane wanders around the room impatiently. "So that's why Iris didn't want to bring you. I should have listened to her..."
She glances at Luka and sees that he has finished making his bed. "What now, are you gonna change and take the chance to color-code your closet?"
"Nah. It's Saturday. I got to stay in my room until 9 in those days. Perfect to take another small nap or play 30 rounds of "Happy Family Merge (IQ Ultimate test - Only 1% of users get all the questions right!)". If it were Monday and you decided to wake me up, it would have been different though." He mumbled, still half-asleep, while going to the bathroom and picking up his toothbrush.
How is this guy more organized than half of the people his age? And how come he isn't raising his voice? That's unusual.
Ayane started inspecting the room out of boredom, pacing back and forth for at least 5 minutes, until Luka finally came out of the bathroom. He looked more awake now.
"Took you long enough," She said while standing up from his chair. "Can we go now?"
"Patience is a virtue, Tsubasa," Luka stated while playfully flicking Ayane's forehead. "Let's go."
The facility's surveillance cameras had the awful (or amazing, depending on how you view it) luck to witness two participants in sleepwear arguing under their breath about a traditional Japanese kitchen. Poor artificial souls.
Ayane led the way with Luka following her. They stopped right at bedroom #15, where the aforementioned Shion was supposed to be. The two of them quietly made their way inside, only to find him sleeping peacefully while hugging a pillow.
Ayane and Luka glance at each other. They shared one thought: "This is not a good idea". But when did they give up something just because it was a bad idea? Never.
While they kept wondering what to do, Shion woke up from his bed and started making his way towards the bathroom. Even half-asleep, he moved steadily, as if it were muscle memory.
Suddenly, he stopped moving, slowly turning around to find Ayane and Luka still standing at the entrance.
A long silence followed.
"... Why are you two in my room?"
Ayane tried explaining the situation nervously. "Oh! Good morning, Shion! I'm sorry to interrupt your sleep, but my friend Iris and I were wondering if-"
"Bonneville gave Tsubasa the wonderful idea to make ramen. They can't get it off their head so now they are asking you to share your recipe since you are the only one in this group who doesn't eat wet cardboard for lunch." Luka interrupted.
"Alright, that explains her presence," Shion muttered, "but it still doesn't give me a reason to know what YOU're doing here, Krüger."
"Not even I know. That brat just entered my room and woke me up."
There was an even more awkward silence. Thirty seconds passed.
...
"Anyways, Yukimura, are you coming? Because if we are going to eat Tsubasa's microwave mess, I'd rather go back to sleep."
"Fine. But only because I would have been dead if it weren't for you two. Consider it as a debt repayment."
"Nice! Let's go meet Iris now." Ayane said.
The trio advanced through the corridors until they saw Iris waiting for them at the main staircase.
"Finally!" She exclaimed. "It's been like 30 minutes. Good morning, Shion!" She waved happily at him. "Okay, let's get going!"
"Didn't you forget to greet someone, Bonneville?" Luka asked harshly.
"Right." Iris sighed. She was still upset with him after he debunked her theories during lunchtime. "Good morning, Luka. Let's head out now." She said, starting to descend the stairway.
The four of them walked through the silent, sterile hallways, their footsteps echoing through the long corridors. Iris kept ranting about traditional noodles while Luka argued, saying it's just glorified chicken or pork soup.
Then they passed rooms #10 and #19 (The two participants who had died earlier). Instead of warm lights or a custom doorframe, they were met with their portraits marked off as "DISQUALIFIED".
Nobody dared to say anything.
Then Luka spoke.
"And that's the reason why you need to choose your partners well," he shrugged. "Imagine if we ended up as those two."
Everyone stopped to look back at him.
"Luka... That's kinda messed up." Ayane mumbled.
"... You're right. Sorry."
They kept wandering through the passageways in uncomfortable silence.
...
Iris decided to break it.
"Okay! Let's talk about something different!" Iris exclaimed, "What are we gonna add to the soup?"
"Oh! I want to try pork!" Ayane said.
Luka was suddenly very interested in the floor tiles.
They turned to look at Shion, who had an unreadable expression.
"We are not doing any of that. If we're making ramen, we'll make it the right way."
They finally arrived at the kitchen. Ayane and Luka went to the cupboard (or its 2100 equivalent) and started looking for the ingredients. Iris took out the chicken while Shion prepared the table.
Once everyone was back, he started giving instructions.
"Alright, let's start. Tsubasa, separate the chicken parts. We'll need the back, wings, and feet. Around five kilograms in total will be fine. Once you're done, soak all the parts in cold water. The traditional process takes around two hours, but we can speed it up by using the thermal accelerator over there. Krüger, prepare the condiments. A carrot, an onion, the white ends of two green onions, a small piece of ginger, and about 10 garlic cloves. Bonneville, stop opening random cabinets. I'll need your help later."
They got to work immediately. Ayane started separating the parts. It took a while, but she was finally done. She soaked everything in cold water, entered "2 hrs" in the thermal accelerator, which began counting down from 1 minute. Once it was done, she drained the water, placed the parts in a pot, boiled them, and started skimming. Everything was going smoothly to this point.
Meanwhile, Luka was chopping the vegetables with millimetric precision. Every single one of them was reduced to perfectly uniform slices. Shion went up to him and looked at what he was doing. His face twisted into an uncomfortable expression.
"Krüger, you don't need to chop the aromatics... It will make the broth look dirty."
"...You're telling me I just wasted 15 minutes doing... NOTHING?" Luka snapped.
There goes his record.
Luka slammed the knife against the counter. "WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE???"
Shion looked at him with disappointment.
"That's common knowledge. Why would you put minced vegetables in a clear broth? Find new aromatics quickly before Tsubasa finishes her part."
Luka sighs in annoyance but goes back to the cupboard.
Ayane checked her broth. There was no more scum rising to the surface. "Shion, I'm done skimming!"
Shion took a look at it. "Great. Now start boiling it on medium-high heat. Wait 10 minutes and then put it on the thermal accelerator to simulate 6 hours of boiling."
Everything (Ignoring the aromatics mess) was going decently until that point.
Then it was finally the moment Iris had been waiting for all night.
"Alright, Bonneville, you'll help me with the noodles. Add baking soda and salt to the water. In another bowl, mix wheat and flour. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients, mix well, and enter it in the machine to simulate 30 minutes. I'll go prepare the tare since I don't trust any of you with it."
"YEAH!!! Trust me, we'll make the most delicious ramen that has ever touched this earth!" Iris promised as she started preparing the dough
While Shion worked, the broth's shortened 6-hour boiling process was over. Ayane glanced at the machine. Then at the aromatics. Then at the machine again. Then at Luka.
"Hey, Tsubasa. Is it true that Japanese people eat feet?"
Shion and Iris turned their heads towards him in shock.
"Yeah! Of course! Very yummy!" Ayane said jokingly.
"Yes. But only chicken's foot." Shion stated calmly. "Tsubasa, did you finish boiling the broth? Nice, add the aromatics and simulate 1 more hour in the thermal accelerator. Do it quickly, Bonneville has to use it to freeze her noodles. Oh, right. There's another one right there. I already finished the tare, so it's free. I also made the chashu and the aromatic oil. Once you two finish it will be ready for assembling. No, let's add something else. Krüger, go boil an egg. I assume you know how to do it, am I right?"
Luka was embarrassed. "... You're right."
Shion nodded and started supervising the three of them. Ayane was almost done with the broth; only 2 minutes remained. Iris had already kneaded the dough and was now separating them in star-shaped noodles.
"Stars? Bonneville, are you serious right now?" Luka said mockingly.
"They are cute!" Iris replied.
"...Whatever you say."
About 15 minutes passed, and finally, it was time to assemble the ramen. Shion took the bowl with the tare and added it to the pot where the broth was sitting. Iris happily introduced the noodles. Then they served 4 bowls and topped each of them with an egg and a slice of chashu.
"Anddd... DONE!!!" Iris beamed. "Time to eat!"
The four of them started eating.
"Wait, this isn't half bad". Luka said after trying the soup.
"You're right! Way better than instant noodles as well." Ayane exclaimed.
"THIS IS... GLORIOUS!!!! Not as good as it seemed, though. BUT STILL YUMMY!" Iris squealed.
Then the three of them looked at Shion, who was already finishing his plate. He took the final bite of chashu, wiped his face with a napkin (that appeared out of nowhere), and subtly smiled.
"It's amazing for your first time. This portion will last about three weeks, so we are well stocked."
The group spent the rest of the early morning talking about their lives, the experiment, and what they wanted to do once they got out. It felt like they were having a normal dinner in a normal place.
"Y'know, at this rate, one of us is getting disqualified before the next trial even begins," Luka joked. "I bet it will be Tsubasa. Or Bonneville. Or Yukimura. Not me, though, I'm amazing."
Ayane looked annoyed. "Who knows. I bet you're kicking the bucket before us. Still, don't worry. If you do, we'll serve this at your funeral, in honor of the best person at preparing aromatics." She mocked him.
"YOU LITTLE--" Luka started, but got interrupted by Iris.
"You gave me an idea," she began. "The schedule says that in 3 weeks there will be a super big trial lasting from Monday to Friday. Once it ends, what if we do this again but with a different dish?"
"Oh! I'll teach you about good food!" Luka expressed with pride.
"Sounds good!" Ayane exclaimed.
"That would be nice," Shion said warmly.
All of them tidied the desk and saved the ramen in 8 separate bowls, labeled with each one's name and a "for later" below. Dawn arrived, and the four of them returned to their bedrooms.
...
Three weeks had passed. The "super big trial" had just finished. Ayane was lying on her bed, half-asleep, listening to music. She suddenly felt her stomach growl. Right. The promise. She would have gone to Shion first; his bedroom was the closest, but he had worked a lot during the trial. She figured he deserved the rest.
Ayane wandered alone through the silent, sterile hallways. No voices argued beside her about pork soup this time.
Ayane arrives at the intersection between rooms #18 and #14, where Iris and Luka were. They looked almost the same, their portraits on the doorframe, some stickers, signs, custom details, the works.
But both doors now shared one matching accessory.
A "DISQUALIFIED" sign hovered over both of their portraits.
In the refrigerator, two bowls of unfinished ramen were sitting, waiting to be finished.