"Where could you buy sea bream this fresh? I drove straight here as soon as I pulled it out of Tokyo Bay. Otherwise, how could it still be so lively?" the angler said smugly.
"True. Sea bream this fresh would make delicious sashimi!" The balding man gazed at the big red fish, practically drooling.
"Too bad Mr. Takasaki isn't here. I'll have to take it home and let my wife braise it. What a waste." The angler sighed, dropped the fish back into his bucket, and picked it up to leave.
"Please wait. Could you let me prepare that sea bream?"
The person who spoke was none other than the younger sister, Takasaki Anzu. Her eyes were wide, her expression slightly grave as she made her request to the angler.
"I've always practiced my knife skills alongside my father. I've broken down fish and made sashimi several times, too."
The angler and the balding man exchanged looks. Sounding doubtful, the angler asked:
"You're so young, and you're a girl, too. Can you really do it?"
"The older sister cooks just as well as Mr. Takasaki. Maybe the younger sister's knife skills are just as good. Come on, Otsuka, let her try."
"Hasegawa, you bastard! You just want to mooch some of my fish!"
In the end, with Takasaki Anzu's earnest pleading and the balding man's support, the angler reluctantly agreed to let her prepare it.
"Anzu, can you manage? Why don't we let Uchiha do it instead?"
After Takasaki Anzu carried the bucket to the front counter, Takasaki Tsuki whispered to her sister, concern written across her face.
"I admit that pretty boy is good at cutting meat and vegetables, but sashimi is completely different! I've spent so long learning from Dad. I can definitely handle one fish!" Takasaki Anzu said defiantly.
"But you've only ever helped Dad before. You've never made sashimi all by yourself, have you?"
"So what? I've watched him so many times, I already know how!"
Takasaki Anzu's voice remained stubborn as she muttered, "I'm not going to lose to my sister."
Then she grabbed the sea bream from the bucket, laid it on the cutting board, and picked up a kitchen knife.
The izakaya's front counter was partly open to view. Seeing that sashimi was about to be prepared, several customers gathered at the bar to watch. Much like sitting at a sushi counter, watching the chef prepare sashimi was part of the diners' enjoyment.
With so many people staring at her, Takasaki Anzu couldn't help growing nervous. The hand holding her knife trembled slightly.
Don't be nervous, Takasaki Anzu. Think about how Dad does it! You can do this, too.
Takasaki Anzu tried to encourage herself, but now that the moment had come, she still felt inexplicably unsure, her mind going blank.
To make matters worse, before she could muster enough courage, the large sea bream suddenly thrashed and leaped up from the cutting board, its tail slapping hard against her chest!
The blow left Takasaki Anzu stunned. She couldn't even spare a thought for the water splashed over her hair and face. Her entire body stiffened in a reflexive response to the shock.
"Little girl, can you actually do this?"
"We've waited this long, and you haven't even started cutting. If you can't do it, stop wasting everyone's time!"
Tears began to well in Takasaki Anzu's eyes. Heartsick, Takasaki Tsuki took a towel and wiped the water off her sister, bowing repeatedly to the customers as she apologized:
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Mr. Otsuka, we can't prepare this fish right now. Please take it home for now."
"Takasaki, wait. Let me do it."
Uchiha Naruto finally spoke. He stepped forward and said calmly.
Looking at Uchiha Naruto's equally youthful and unfamiliar face, the angler was full of doubt. "Young man, can you handle it?"
"My sashimi will definitely satisfy you!"
Though Uchiha Naruto's expression was calm, his voice brimmed with unquestionable confidence!
Without waiting for the angler's answer, Uchiha Naruto walked up to the cutting board and surveyed the knives neatly arranged at the counter.
As expected of an izakaya specializing in sashimi, it had every kind of knife needed to break down a fish. They were also very well maintained, their edges gleaming coldly.
Quickly running through the techniques of the sashimi masters he'd watched in videos, Uchiha Naruto picked up the sea bream and slammed it against the cutting board, stunning it.
Then he picked up a pointed deba knife, Japan's most common and traditional single-bevel kitchen knife, and deftly gutted, scaled, and cleaned the sea bream.
Next, he switched to a lighter, more maneuverable mioroshi knife. With effortless control, he used the classic three-piece filleting method to cleanly remove the two large fillets from either side of the backbone.
Finally, he used a long, thin yanagiba knife to cut the flesh into uniformly sized slices as thin as cicada wings, arranging them in overlapping layers on a prepared plate to form a peony in full bloom.
Unlike frozen or refrigerated fish, fresh fish retained the texture of a living fish. To preserve that mouthfeel, a sashimi chef had to cut decisively, completing each slice in a single stroke.
Though the process seemed complicated at first glance, Uchiha Naruto's movements flowed seamlessly from beginning to end. Before the customers had finished marveling at his performance, the sashimi was already complete.
"Sea bream sashimi. Please enjoy!"
Shijo Hikotaka, the forty-first-generation successor of the Shijo Style, a renowned culinary school in the Island Nation, once said, "Japanese cuisine has one principle: its deliciousness must not exceed the original flavor of its ingredients."
Another culinary researcher, Okumura Ayao, had also said, "Japanese cuisine should bring out the true flavor of its ingredients, using heat as little as possible." "Japanese cuisine is a culture that relies on the kitchen knife."
Naturally, sashimi held an elevated position in a culinary culture like this.
At this time of year, sea bream had yet to enter their spawning season and were rich in fat, making it the perfect time to enjoy them. Since this was also the season when cherry blossoms bloomed, the pink fish were known as cherry blossom sea bream for their similar coloring.
The angler and the balding man stared, dumbfounded, at the beautifully arranged rings of cherry-blossom-colored sashimi, their fat forming marble-like patterns.
Although Mr. Takasaki was skilled at making sashimi, he was only at the level of a practiced professional, still some distance from being a true master. Otherwise, he wouldn't have settled for a small establishment like this in the northern ward.
Yet the knife skills displayed by this young man already far surpassed Mr. Takasaki's. Even the master chefs at the most famous sashimi restaurants could do no better.
"I never imagined you had such skill, chef. I was wrong to judge you by your looks. Well, I'll dig in!"
With a solemn expression, the angler picked up his chopsticks, lifted a slice of fish so thin that light shone through it, and placed it in his mouth. The sea bream's natural sweetness slowly spread across his tongue. With a gentle chew, the springy flesh melted effortlessly in his mouth.
Delicious!
To use a clichéd comparison, it felt as though a live sea bream were leaping between his tongue and teeth before finally jumping into his stomach.
"Let me try some, too!"
Seeing the angler's blissful, satisfied expression, the sashimi-loving balding man's appetite was whetted. He picked up his chopsticks and reached for the plate.
The angler, still lost in his delight over the sea bream sashimi, instantly snapped to attention:
"I caught this sea bream! This whole plate of sashimi is mine. Hasegawa, you bald bastard, don't even think about touching a single bite!"
Just like that, their little boat of friendship was about to capsize over a plate of raw fish.
Before you continue