[Hase Hoshi]

I will shine

With their orders placed, the sushi chef began his long practiced craft. His experience was immediately visible as he withdrew a perfectly sharp and gleaming knife, inspecting it for a moment before selecting a few choice pieces of fish and slicing them into appropriate, bite-sized pieces. All of this work was performed in open view of the two genin, as watching the chef prepare your food was considered to be a part of the sushi eating experience in most cultures and cuisines.

"No! I already said that it was alright. Let's just each pay for our own meals."

Hoshi answered with a firmness and genuineness that showed that he was set on his decision, though that seriousness was undercut by the fact that he was completely enthralled in chef's work and barely gave Kazu a second look as he responded. Once the man was done slicing the fish, he prepared a few small balls of sushi rice for Hoshi's order, placing a small amount of wasabi between the rice and the fish and shaping them with deft handiwork. It wasn't long before the sushi was placed on two separate, small wooden bowls and presented to the two genin, a small extra serving of wasabi and ginger on the edge of each plate. The chef also made sure to hand them a smaller bowl for soy sauce, if they so desired.

"Enjoy!"

Hoshi looked at his plate with mixed feelings, excitement clearly there but also apprehension. He waited to see if Kazu would take the plunge first, though if Yuki boy stared at him back he might have to be the brave one.

[Yuki Kazu]

As the chef began making both of their meals, Hoshi answered that he'd already said it was alright. Kazu put up his hands in a giving up motion, "Okay, okay. Just thought I'd suggest it since we were here anyways." Following his comment, he watched the chef cook their food. It was obvious that he was experienced in his cooking as he inspected the fish to decide which to use. Once he'd decided on that, he sliced them into very accurate bite-sized pieces for the exam participants. It was nice to be able to watch the chef cook, it reminded him of Jou a bit. 

Hoshi was just as distracted with the chef's cooking as Kazu was, giving very little attention to the Yuki Genin. As the chef finally finished, he placed the two dishes on two separate wooden bowls. Once the bowls were presented to them, along with soy sauce, Kazu gave a quick "Thank you." to the chef. 

Hoshi seemed to be waiting on Kazu to eat first, maybe he hadn't had sushi before? Kazu was okay with being the first of them to eat though and took the initiative with his first few bites. "Mmm, this is good." He would say with a smile once he finished chewing.

[Hase Hoshi]

I will shine

Kazu finally took the plunge and had a bit of his sashimi, seeming to have a very positive reaction to the flavor. That was enough for Hoshi to also begin eating, tentatively picking up one of his nigiri and dipping it into some soy sauce of his own. After one more moment of hesitation, Hoshi finally took a bite, eyes clenched as he focused on the taste. The texture was just as strange as he remembered, though the rice helped out a lot. As far as flavor went, Hoshi did recognize it seemed much more vibrant than the sushi he had from Tsuri. The chef smiled proudly at the results of his hard work, pointing to their plates as he cleaned up his workstation.

"The ginger is there to be a type of palate cleanser in between bites or types of fish. The wasabi should be mixed in with your soy sauce depending on how spicy you would like it to be."

The Ame genin considered the two things that the chef indicated, eyeing the ginger excitedly and taking a small bite of that. It was as the man said, the pickled flavor immediately flooding Hoshi's mouth and cleansing his sense of taste of his previous bites of nigiri. It was a bit sour though, and Hoshi's face puckered just a bit before he had a sip of water. Then Hoshi eyed the wasabi warily, gaze flickering over to Kazu's plate before he lit up with a sly smile.

"Wanna see who can eat the most wasabi? Or maybe not directly but who can put the most wasabi in their soy sauce?"

[Yuki Kazu]

Once Kazu started to eat his sashimi, Hoshi seemed to do the same. Kazu wouldn't notice the hesitation that Hoshi had, but he had noticed that he didn't seem like he wanted to eat the food until Kazu had begun to eat. Kazu did not dip any of his food into the soy sauce though, he really couldn't deal with spicy food.

The chef also explained the purpose of the ginger and wasabi. Neither of which Kazu wanted to try. He didn't feel like he would like the ginger based on Hoshi's puckered face, and the wasabi was meant to go with soy sauce. Yeah, those weren't gonna happen with Kazu.

Hoshi seemed to pick up on the fact that he didn't want either of them, that or it was just coincidence that he wanted to make it a competition of who could put the most soy sauce on their wasabi. "Nah I'm good man, I don't like spicy food remember? Plus, we'll have plenty of time to compete and whatnot later." He smiled, taking another bite of his sashimi, enjoying the texture as much as he could. Though, Kazu's mind couldn't help but wonder what they would do after eating. Maybe Hoshi had something in mind? "Any ideas for what we're gonna do after we eat? I don't think it's too late for us to do something else before heading back to our rooms."

[Hase Hoshi]

I will shine

Hoshi continued to eat at a steady pace, his initial wariness quickly fading as he got more used to the taste. He even found himself enjoying the ginger, the pickled flavor growing on him both on its own and as a way to cleanse his palate. Hoshi's shoulder's did slump a bit as Kazu turned down his challenge. Secretly he was happy he wouldn't have to torture himself with spiciness and Kazu did bring up a good point about more things to compete over in the future.

"Wellll... there's a bunch of stuff to do in the festival. I've had a bunch of snacks so far, but there's a ton of games that I haven't tried yet! That's something to do before we head back to our rooms."

The Ame genin took a moment to enjoy his sushi before elaborating on the options available to them.

"I'd like to do everrryyything here before the exams come to an end. Right nearby there's water balloon yoyos, goldfish scooping, we could buy some fireworks, there's fortune-telling, annndd string lottery!"

As Hoshi listed each activity, he watched Kazu's reactions carefully. He felt that the Yuki genin wasn't probably the type to flat out refuse to do an activity he wasn't whole-heartedly interested in, so he wanted to gauge Kazu's reaction to see which ones they should start with.