“Take your positions,” Iron Face ordered.
We moved to our assigned staircases. I stood between Jiro and Dori, with Kenji directly opposite me, out of view. Taka and Dori exchanged a quick glance before taking their places. The air buzzed with unease.
Iron Face raised an air horn. The sharp blare signaled the start, and we bolted up the stairs.
At the top, I froze. This wasn’t a stage. It was a giant steel pool filled with boiling oil.
The rising heat licked at my skin as I took in the full scope of the setup. Five rope bridges stretched across the oil, leading to a central cooking station. Each bridge had a single rope to walk on and another to hold for balance. The cooking platform in the middle was circular and unsteady; the entire design resembled a spider’s web.
Oh. That’s why it’s called the Kumo Tempura challenge. How stupid of me to think it had something to do with the FREAKING CRAB!
“This whole setup is completely unstable!” I shouted to Jiro.
“I think that’s the point,” he said.
Taka was the first to step onto a rope bridge. It swayed wildly under his weight.
Jiro stepped onto his bridge next, gripping the top rope for balance. Kenji and Dori followed. My legs locked in place, the commonsense part of my brain screaming to stay put.
Come on, Akiko. You’ve got this. Don’t be the one who can’t even make it to the cooking platform.
I took a deep breath and stepped onto the rope. It wobbled, and I steadied myself, focusing on one step at a time. Reina’s advice about balance came flooding back. She had warned me, but I wished she’d been clearer.
As I crossed, the bubbling noise hissed beneath me, a reminder of the danger below. The skin around my neck quickly turned slick, and I used the back of my hand to wipe away a trickle.
“Hurry, Akiko!” Jiro called.
The bridges swayed in tandem as we crossed, each contributing to the motion. By the time I reached the platform, Kenji was already there, prepping his batter with laser focus. The cooking station itself was no better than the bridges. It shook with every step, and there was barely enough room for us to maneuver. One wrong move could send me, or someone else, straight into the boiling oil.
I started mixing my tempura batter, my hands trembling. The heat, the instability, the stakes: Everything about this challenge was designed to break us.
A sharp crackling erupted as Kenji dropped his crab into his skillet filled with boiling oil, sending a spatter across the platform. Jiro and Taka recoiled as the droplets hit them.
“You’re a fucking asshole, Kenji!” Taka yelled, shaking his hand.
Kenji’s grin stretched wide, his eyes narrowing as they locked onto me. He looked like a devil child who had just set off firecrackers in the house, pleased by the chaos he’d caused.
Then he did the unthinkable. Kenji grabbed the edge of the tabletop and began rocking the platform deliberately. The entire setup wobbled violently, sending tremors through the structure. Oil from the skillets splashed everywhere, sizzling.
“Cut it out, Kenji!” Taka shouted, his voice filled with panic.
Kenji only laughed as he flipped his crab with tongs, the batter crackling loudly. Then he stomped his feet, shaking the platform even harder. Dori flailed, barely keeping his balance.
Taka lunged, shoving Kenji hard enough to send him teetering on the platform’s edge. Kenji managed to grab the tabletop and steady himself, his laughter now a low rumble.
“This is getting out of control!” I yelled, my voice cutting through the chaos. “If you two keep this up, we’re all going down!”
“Don’t you get it, Akiko?” Kenji slammed his foot down, throwing the platform off balance. “We’re not all supposed to make it past this challenge.”
His words hit me like a gut punch, a harsh reminder that one of us wasn’t leaving alive.
“Focus, Akiko!” Jiro said as he lowered his crab into the skillet.
“Yeah, listen to your punk boyfriend,” Kenji taunted.
Kenji finished his crab, plating it with a smug look. He grabbed the rope bridge and began his trek back to the stairs. Every step sent violent shudders through the platform, and when he reached the midpoint, he stopped and looked back at us. His grin widened.
Then he started bouncing on the rope.
