“I doubt it will be of much practical use, but could you create some embankments with Earth Magic, Yuki?” Haruka asked. “That way we could block some of the wind.”
“No prob! I’ll just use the rocks that fell earlier.”
“Go help Yuki with that, Touya,” said Haruka. “And Mary, please work on starting a campfire while I work with Metea to set up the tent.”
“Okay!” the sisters replied in unison.
Now that Haruka had sufficiently recovered to dish out instructions, the others were relieved, and everyone worked together to set up camp.
“Move those rocks over here, Touya,” said Yuki. “Put ’em right here on this line.”
“Roger. Here goes!”
Walls created with the Earth Wall spell gradually crumbled, but earth shaped by the spell Ground Control retained its form longer. Each spell had its own advantages. The former could be used to create walls instantaneously, but maintaining them consumed a great deal of mana, so it wasn’t suitable for the situation at hand. To conserve mana, Yuki used Ground Control to merge the rocks that Touya had lined up for her.
Meanwhile, Mary was taking firewood out of her magic bag. “Um, can you help me start a fire, Haruka-san?” she asked.
“Oh, right. Ignite.”
Thanks to their aptitude at magic, the Meikyo Shisui party finished their preparations in no time, and all of them sat around the campfire.
“Dang, this is so relaxing somehow,” said Yuki.
“Eating a little might improve our spirits as well,” said Haruka. “We may as well grill some flying needlefish while we’re here.”
“...Are you sure, big sis Haruka?”
Metea was more hesitant than usual given their situation, but her growling stomach betrayed her true feelings, as did the way her ears waggled in happiness at Haruka’s suggestion.
“Yes, of course,” Haruka said with a giggle. “We can’t just go to sleep on empty stomachs, after all. Give me a hand, Yuki.”
“Sure thing... I bet a grill would be better than skewers for these.”
Yuki arranged several stones in a square, then transferred some charcoal from the campfire and placed a grill over it. After gutting, washing, and salting the needlefish, she laid them on the grill.
“On a closer inspection, they definitely resemble ordinary flying fish, just slightly longer,” said Haruka.
“Yeah... Oh, have you actually cooked flying fish before, Haruka?” Yuki asked.
“Mm. I was able to find them in supermarkets from time to time,” Haruka replied. “They weren’t common by any means, of course.”
The most common types of fish sold in Japanese supermarkets were horse mackerel and Pacific saury, but the supermarket that Haruka frequented also offered rarities like flying fish and Japanese amberjack periodically, so Haruka, as the kind of high school girl who sometimes cooked for herself, had bought and filleted them before. From her perspective, the flying needlefish seemed to be a bit firmer than true flying fish, but the difference was so slight that the average layperson wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
“They seem kinda like bluefish,” said Yuki.
“Well, they came flying out of the waterfall, but based on the experience of filleting them, I’m inclined to agree,” said Haruka.
Haruka and Yuki tilted their heads in parallel as they watched the fish slowly brown. The bluefish they had in mind couldn’t ordinarily be found in freshwater.
“These fishes look delicious!” said Metea.
“Mm. They smell very good,” Mary added.
“And they look pretty fatty,” said Touya. “I bet they’re gonna taste good, and I bet they’re gonna be completely different from the freshwater fish we’ve been eating too.”
“Anything is acceptable to me as long as it tastes good,” said Haruka. “All right, they should be more or less ready by now. Let’s dig in.”
The skin of the flying needlefish had turned crispy. Having been cooked over a smoking charcoal grill, all of them were dripping fat. Although they’d been seasoned only with salt, they smelled wonderfully appetizing. Touya, Mary, and Metea held out their plates as if they couldn’t wait any longer, and Haruka laughed as she gave each of them one grilled needlefish.
“Thanks!” Metea said. “Wh-Whoa, this is so good!”
“I-I didn’t expect it to taste this good,” said Mary.
Meanwhile, Touya’s assessment was “Damn, this is pretty interesting!”
The beastfolk members of Meikyo Shisui devoured their fish whole, with total disregard even for the spines, but Haruka and Yuki were obliged to pick the bones out using their chopsticks, and so they enjoyed their fish more slowly.
“They taste a bit fishy, so they are kinda like bluefish in that way,” said Yuki.
“They certainly taste fishier than whitefish,” said Haruka.
In contrast to the two girls’ measured assessment, Metea and Touya, who had already consumed their entire fish, had simpler opinions.
“Really? Doesn’t bother me,” said Touya.
“The fish we usually eat is good, but this is delicious too!” said Metea.
Meanwhile, the tail of Mary’s needlefish was still sticking out of her mouth, but she nodded in agreement.
“I think this tastes good too, but I think I’d rather have it dried,” said Yuki. “Like, a whole dried fish. Since there’s stuff like flying fish broth, you can probably get rid of the fishy smell that way.”
“I’ve never had dried flying fish before,” said Haruka. “I’m not sure if we’ll be able to dry these properly.”
“I’ve seen on TV how to dry a whole Pacific saury,” said Yuki. “I bet it won’t be that hard.”
“Can you really dry a Pacific saury whole?” Haruka asked.
“Yeah, you totally can,” Yuki replied. “They didn’t even gut them before they did it—apparently you’re supposed to cook and eat ’em whole.”
Flying fish had to be grilled before you could dry them and use them to make broth. In contrast, sardines had to be simmered before they were dried, and fish like horse mackerel had to be filleted and soaked in saltwater. The important parts of these processes tended to be cut out of television shows, so it was best to avoid copying them blindly. Unfortunately for the rest of Meikyo Shisui, Natsuki wasn’t present to point this out.
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