Leorio reached Kaya in a few quick strides, hooked one arm around his neck from behind, and gently turned his head with his other hand.
"If you don't spill the truth, you're dying right here today," he threatened in a low voice.
Kaya had never intended to hide anything from them anyway, so he took the opening and told them honestly that they needed to catch fish first.
"What? Sushi is made with fish?" Leorio shouted in surprise.
"Made with fish?"
"With fish?"
"Fish?"
"Fish?"
"?"
The noise in the exam hall vanished instantly, leaving only Leorio's voice echoing through the air.
As the floor began to rumble, Kaya slowly turned toward the room in terror.
The applicants were charging toward him like wild beasts.
"No... Aah!"
As the applicants disappeared into the distance, Kaya got up out of the cloud of dust and brushed the footprints off his clothes.
"What are you staring at? Go catch some fish! Afraid you'll get there before everyone else?"
Looking at the blank expressions on Gon and the others' faces, Kaya beat his chest and stamped his feet, as frustrated as a father facing children who refused to amount to anything.
"And where's that bastard Leorio? I'm going to kill him!"
Kurapika pointed dumbly toward the park exit.
Leorio was carrying his briefcase, trying to sneak away.
The moment he looked back, he met Kaya's murderous glare.
By then, applicants could be seen everywhere along the banks of the forest's few rivers.
Leorio rubbed the other side of his face, which Kaya had now swollen with a punch, stripped off his clothes, and dove to the riverbed to catch fish.
"Menchi, they're all catching freshwater fish, but sushi calls for saltwater fish. Did you really choose this task intending to let anyone pass?"
Watching the applicants return with their catches, Buhara looked worried.
Buhara knew how passionate and exacting Menchi was about food. He worried that even the slightest flaw in the applicants' dishes might make her reject them outright.
Menchi, however, watched the busy applicants with considerable interest.
"The appeal of being a Gourmet Hunter lies in constantly trying new combinations of ingredients. Things that never change are too boring for me. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
"Listen carefully. I'm only saying this once, so keep your voices down."
The six of them huddled in a circle, bending over to look at Kaya.
"Actually, I've only eaten sushi before. But making it isn't complicated."
"Basically, you shape the rice into an elongated rectangle, about the length of your thumb and roughly a third as wide as it is long."
"Remember to mix the vinegar and rice thoroughly at a ratio of one to five before shaping the rice."
"Then cut the raw fish into slices roughly the same shape and size as the rice, and place them on top. That's it."
"It's that simple?" The others looked a little surprised.
Kaya nodded, then added, "Still, since the examiner is a Gourmet Hunter, we should prepare a little more."
"She never said we could only bring her one piece of sushi to try. What if we make just one, it doesn't meet her standards, and she's already full by the time we remake it?"
Kurapika picked up where he left off. "Then we'll make several pieces with different flavors. That way, at least one should suit her tastes."
"Exactly."
With that, Kaya took the still-unnamed blue fruits he had gathered in the underground cave out of their jar and gave everyone a few.
"Try these fruits first. I think adding them while shaping the rice will help mask the fishy smell of the raw fish."
"What are these fruits? They're delicious!"
After trying one, Killua praised them enthusiastically and polished off every fruit Kaya had given him in one go.
"Kaya, give me a few more?" Still craving them, Killua held out his hand.
"Promise you won't eat any more?" Kaya handed Killua the jar so he could take some himself.
"You nag too much!"
Killua grabbed a handful and secretly ate a few more.
Now that everyone knew the method, they all got to work.
"What is this thing? It's disgusting!"
"This one's wrong."
"The shape is wrong."
"Wrong orientation."
Not one of the dozen or so applicants who had been first to make sushi using their "rich imaginations" earned Menchi's approval. Every last one was sent back to try again.
"I'm seriously getting sick of the garbage you idiots keep making! Don't you have any powers of observation or imagination? You're driving me mad!"
Menchi hadn't eaten since that morning. Furious at the applicants' so-called "sushi," she rolled around on the couch.
"Calm down. Here's my dish."
Holding his plate, Hanzo walked confidently up to Menchi's table and lifted the cover.
"Behold my authentic ninja sushi."
The instant Menchi saw Hanzo's dish, she became ladylike and sat up properly.
"Finally, something worth trying."
She had barely put the sushi in her mouth and chewed twice before looking disappointed and handing the plate back to Hanzo.
"It doesn't taste good enough. I don't like it. Go make it again."
"Are you kidding me? Isn't sushi just rice pressed into a bite-sized piece with raw fish on top and a little wasabi in between?"
"It's nothing special! It tastes the same no matter who makes it. Tell me what you mean by it not tasting good enough and you not liking it!"
Hanzo lost his composure and rattled off a tirade, only realizing afterward that he had revealed how to make sushi.
Hearing Hanzo's excuses, Menchi's temper flared.
"Want to say that again?" She pointed at Hanzo's bald head. "You think you can make good nigiri sushi without ten years of practice? And it tastes the same no matter who makes it? How dare you spout that crap! Keep it up and I'll twist your head off and use it as a light bulb!"
The applicants Menchi had sent back to redo their dishes had been at a loss, but the moment they heard Hanzo reveal the secret, they hurried back to their cooking stations and got to work.
"That damn baldy. What an idiot."
Kaya had been minding his own business, only for disaster to fall into his lap. Hearing Hanzo's rambling gave him a headache, and he wanted nothing more than to go over and tear his mouth apart.
"Now everyone knows how to make sushi. It'll be hard for Menchi to judge by appearance alone, so she'll have to taste them to score them. We'd better hurry."
At that moment, Hanzo himself also wanted to tear his own mouth apart. He rubbed his bald head in frustration.
"Get back there and make it again!"
Seeing Hanzo still standing in front of her, Menchi angrily kicked him aside.
Just then, Leorio announced loudly, "Done!"
He carried his plate up to Menchi with a confident expression.
"Try my super nigiri sushi!"
The idiot Leorio hadn't followed Kaya's instructions to put the blue fruit inside the rice. Instead, he had placed it on the side of the plate as a garnish.
"No. You packed the rice too tightly and crushed it. Make it again!"
Yet Menchi had only examined it closely, without even tasting it.
"What?" Leorio froze. "You little brat! How can you say that when you haven't even tried it?"
Menchi swung her legs listlessly and drawled, "I don't even want to look at sushi this bad. Don't assume I'll taste every dish just because that baldy revealed how to make it. I'd rather eat shit than eat this."
Leorio looked puzzled. "Then why don't you hurry up and go eat some?"
Menchi snatched his plate, pulled a knife from behind her back, and drove it into the table.
"You little punk. Want to say that again?"
Leorio instantly bent into a ninety-degree bow, not daring to lift his head.
"I'm sorry! Beautiful Examiner Menchi, I was wrong!"
His attitude changed so quickly that Kaya and the others could only stare in exasperation.
"Get back there and make it again!" Menchi roared, her voice echoing through the room.
Buhara reminded her from the side, "Menchi, you're being too strict. This test isn't focused on how the food tastes. It's about observation and imagination."
"Stop nagging, Buhara. I have my own standards."
Under normal procedures, Menchi could have passed them once they reached the level of Hanzo and Leorio's dishes.
But ever since the second phase of the exam began, the applicants had shown varying degrees of disrespect after learning that she and Buhara were Gourmet Hunters. That was something Menchi couldn't tolerate.
On top of that, Hanzo's revelation of how to make sushi had raised Menchi's standards dramatically.
Before you continue