Although tuna fillets in a can might seem small, an actual tuna was enormous.
A fully grown one took two people to lift.
The bluefin lying before Yuto and Erina was over two meters long, sixty centimeters wide, and thick enough around the middle to make its size impossible to ignore.
Most of the time, tuna had to be broken down by two people working together because it was too large to manage otherwise.
When professionals did it, their movements carried a flowing rhythm, resembling a performance.
Yuto took the knife and began from the tail, while Erina took her blade and started from the head.
He had switched to the long, razor-sharp knife needed for this work.
The pale silver skin tightened in ripples the instant the blade touched it. Yuto steadied his breathing and tightened his grip.
The blade slid down along the desired line.
His body was far stronger than an ordinary person's, so even a fraction of his force equaled someone else's full strength.
A good cut told you everything the moment the knife went in—a basic skill for any chef who had spent years working with meat.
Bluefin tuna flesh had a stickiness to it.
As Yuto pressed down, he could feel the springiness of the meat travel through the cold steel and into his palm.
This was only the first cut, yet it felt satisfying.
The blade dropped and met bone.
With a touch of hidden force from his wrist, the thick spinal bone gave way cleanly. After years as a chef, Yuto knew the structure of living bodies, knowing how to apply the least amount of force for the greatest effect.
Once the spine snapped, he exhaled and pressed down again.
Tak.
The knife struck the cutting board and the tail was severed.
Then came the soft, sticky sound of flesh separating, resembling honey being pulled apart.
Without the spine to support it, the meat from the tail tipped to one side, exposing the tender flesh within.
Bright, pink, and beautiful.
The cut was clean, yet the meat looked as if it had been formed from countless shining grains.
Under the light, it gleamed.
'What incredible meat.'
Yuto pressed a fingertip against it, amazed.
He had only heard of bluefin tuna by reputation and hadn't understood its steep price.
Now he did.
This was a treasure of the deep sea. In all his experience, he had never seen fish flesh like this.
It was soft as tofu, yet held a firm structure.
Its color was vivid but elegant, its grain delicate as snow and cloud, red and white layered together in a way that was too beautiful to touch.
Beside him, Erina's eyes flickered, and a new fire rose in them.
She refused to lose!
This was supposed to be teamwork, but she didn't want to fall behind.
Yuto had separated the tail section, while she hadn't started on her side.
She needed to speed up. She had to catch up.
"Hisako, help me." "Yes, Lady Erina."
At her call, mistress and aide began working together on the tuna.
Yuto glanced over, saying nothing.
The blade in his hand flashed cold and sharp as he continued working from the opened tail section.
At the cutting board, one man and two girls worked in silence.
On the board, the bluefin was broken down.
The belly was taken. The back was split. The organs were removed.
Otoro. Chutoro. Akami. Nakaochi. Jaw. Cheek. Crown...
Each cut of the bluefin was separated out.
By Yuto's estimate, this single tuna would be enough to feed more than a dozen people—excluding people like Yuyuko and Goku, of course.
While the three continued working, Tohru slipped into the kitchen.
The moment she saw the prepared cuts of fish, her eyes lit up.
But the silence in the room made her nervous to speak.
Seeing how focused Yuto was, she became unwilling to make a sound, afraid of disturbing him.
Only when the bluefin had mostly been processed did Yuto let out a breath.
That was when Tohru dared to speak.
"Booossss~" She leaned against him, tail swishing from side to side, her whole body trying to cling to him.
"What is it?" Yuto asked.
His hands were covered in fish oils and juices, so it wasn't easy to push her away.
"Boss, can I try just one little piece first? Just one little piece~ just one~" Tohru clung to him.
Yuto smiled with mild helplessness.
As time passed, he felt that Tohru had lost any trace of what a dragon was supposed to be like.
"Only one piece." He didn't mind letting her have a taste.
The restaurant wasn't open yet, and as a small reward for his hardworking employee behaving well all day, one bite seemed fair.
"Yay!!!" Tohru's eyes lit up.
Yuto washed his hands, took out two small dishes, and poured soy sauce into one and wasabi into the other.
That was all sashimi needed: a little soy sauce, a little wasabi.
The whole point was to taste the freshness of the seafood itself.
He picked up a piece of otoro. It was the richest, fattiest cut of tuna, taken from the belly. Even normally, it was expensive, but with bluefin tuna, a single bite was worth well over a hundred thousand yen.
He dipped the left end into soy sauce and the right end into wasabi, they couldn't be mixed together.
Then, like teasing a pet dog, he flicked his wrist and tossed it into the air.
Tohru leapt up and caught it in one bite. "Wahhhh!!! This is amazing!!!!"
Otoro held an enormous amount of rich fat.
For people who loved fatty meat, it was heaven.
Unlike the white fat of land animals, otoro had a faint reddish color, and the taste was on a different level.
The soy sauce and wasabi cut through its richness, turning that heavy melt into something sweet, fresh, and stimulating.
It was like putting your mouth through an intense test. It also played tricks on the heart.
Just like it was doing to Tohru now.
She hugged Yuto again, pleading for one more bite. But this time, he refused.
If he let her have another, there would be no end to it!
At the side, Erina watched Yuto deal with Tohru's clingy begging with that helpless smile, and something unwilling flashed through her eyes
She had lost.
Even with Hisako helping her, she had fallen a step behind Yuto while breaking down the bluefin.
It had been a contest she started in her own head. Even so, she had no intention of denying the result!
'Next time. I'll win next time.'