Hi everyone! Welcome to my first fanfiction in English!
If you go to my profile, you'll see that I usually write in French, my first language. I don't know why I decided to write this one in English but it's too late to change so I hope you enjoy it!
Also, I'm still looking for a beta reader. For some reasons, I can't seem to find one. So if you're interested, feel free to contact me! I'd love to hear from you.
Chapter 1: The Metamorphosis
Who is Megumi Tadokoro?
For the last two days, her name has been part of every conversation in the culinary world; Megumi Tadokoro, who until very recently was a nameless kitchen aide in the famous Trattoria Aldini, suddenly became a rising star as she managed to create and cook an incredible menu while the head chef, Takumi Aldini, reportedly had a small accident and could not attend to his duties that evening. Although the dishes had a more Japanese twist than usual, they were still far from exotic in this restaurant renowned for its surprising mix of influences, and we have to salute the amazing Jet Black Caccuccio.
Not much is known about the young aide. After attending a well-known cooking school, she arrived from Japan five month ago and has been working for the Trattoria ever since. According to her colleagues, her recent performance came as a complete surprise. "She is quite shy and easy to forget. Until now, she was merely doing her job. We never imagined she was such a great cook" reported a kitchen employee. We interviewed Isami Aldini, the co-owner and sommelier of the restaurant, who declared himself astonished. "Megumi is such a sweet and calm person, yet what she cooked yesterday was very daring and full of fire. I've always believed she had potential, but I never thought she could come up with such a menu."
Unfortunately, we could not interview her to know more about her motivations and the secret of her amazing cuisine. It has been reported that chef Aldini would be back soon but one thing is for sure: whether it was a single spark of talent or the beginning of a great career, Megumi Tadokoro is a name to remember.
Takumi slowly put the newspaper down and stared intently at his brother on the other side of the table.
"So you spent the entire evening talking about this and now they write a whole article about her in the newspaper. What exactly happened in my kitchen yesterday?"
"I told you already Nii-chan" replied Isami (he never got tired of calling his brother that in any language). "I told the staff you couldn't work that day since you badly sprained your ankle and were still a bit high on the medication the nurse gave you. So we were ready to give up on the special menu or create one from older stuff when Megumi said she had an idea and came up with the menu we ended up serving."
Takumi did his best not to cringe when his brother mentioned the medication part and failed completely; the ability to hide his feelings had never been one of his strengths. Isami still had the decency not to laugh, which was a moment rare enough to be cherished. He remained silent for a while and then blurted out:
"I'm going today. And I want to taste what Megumi cooked yesterday."
"Are you sure? You could still rest for a day or two. We can manage."
"I won't leave the kitchen unless I'm dying. Or a little sick. I'm neither of those right now and I can still cook with or without my left ankle. So I'm going with you; and since it was so amazing, I'll have some of her food"
"Fine. But don't cry if it's better than your cooking."
"It hasn't happened since middle school!" he exclaimed. "Now let's go" he added before his sweet and loving brother could find examples to prove him wrong. "I have a menu to prepare."
He got up, grabbed his crutches and limped to the entrance, quickly followed by the other. Then, before leaving the small flat they shared, Takumi paused and asked in a thoughtful tone:
"Would you really say it was better than my cooking?"
Isami opened the door without answering. However, he could not repress a smile. Now that was his Nii-chan.
.
Someone was following him. He could hear the steps right behind him, so faint he could easily miss them, which just worsened the situation. The night was cold and there were few people in the streets now that the restaurants of the area were all closed. He quickly went by the Trattoria Aldini and wondered if the rumors could be true after all. But no, these steps he heard must be his imagination anyways, he thought as he walked faster. But only because he was cold and in a hurry, obviously.
Actually, he was right. No one was following him. The real danger was in front of him and by the time he noticed, it was already too late. There was a shadow. A human shaped shadow with a white face, holding a pair of chopsticks that came dangerously close to his mouth. He tried to scream. That was a mistake.
After that, all went black. Or so he wished.
The taste of it. This thing that he doubted was ever edible. It was so awful he could feel it ruthlessly destroying his sense of taste. And there was the vision too. Fishes everywhere, wriggling, struggling all around him. The feeling of their cold body on his naked skin, blended with a gooey mixture that was probably peanut butter and jam. Their disgusting taste now filled his mouth and there was nothing he could do against it.
He might have fallen at some point because when he opened his eyes, he was curled up on the ground. The street was deserted and he would have thought it was just a bad dream if it wasn't for the awful relents of the terrible thing he was forced to eat.
The rumors were true after all. The Phantom of the Trattoria had struck again.
.
Someone was yelling angrily at a very apologetic Megumi when the brothers arrived to the restaurant. They were still a few meters away when Takumi tried to intervene, but he soon realized that he couldn't go faster than he already was, which meant that he was stuck at the speed of a one-legged platypus. A particularly slow one, at that. Isami, on the other hand, was quick to react and asked the man what he wanted.
"This is unacceptable! When are you going to do something about this whole situation?!"
"What do you mean?"
"The Phantom of course! He attacked me just last night as I was walking home!"
Both brothers sighed. They had almost forgotten about that.
The Phantom started as an urban legend. The shadow of a dark caped man armed with a pair of chopsticks, lurking around the Trattoria at night and forcing awful mixtures down people's throats. They laughed at first. And somehow this whole ghost story gave them a new sort of glory. What other restaurant in Paris could claim they were haunted by a mostly harmless though very twisted ghost? Plus, he only focused on their worst clients, as well as aggressive or drunk people who sometimes came by, so no one really cared about it.
Of course people started to accuse them of playing these pranks; but the Phantom sometimes appeared during their working hours, at times when none of them could leave neither the kitchen nor the dining room. It always happened at night though, which contributed greatly to the "supernatural being" theory. Not that anyone in their right mind really bought that, but still…
Later, he started attacking people randomly. He even began to be more aggressive than usual when his victims struggled. But since nothing bad had ensued apart from some dreadful memories and a brand new definition for "disgusting", the police didn't care about that; and until a few days ago, the Aldini brothers thought they were right. Not anymore.
They were starting to lose clients. No one would have cared if a clear conscience was enough to avoid trouble; but knowing that anyone could have to swallow a random dish from Hell if they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… this was yet another story. It still wasn't much, but they couldn't afford to let the situation get worse.
As Isami tried to calm the man down, Takumi decided he'd better check on Megumi, who looked quite relieved to see them.
"Takumi-san, you came! How is your ankle?" she asked in Japanese.
"Megumi, you know you won't make any progress if you keep speaking Japanese with us."
"Sorry…"
"It's fine" he brushed off with a smile. "And to answer your question, my ankle is not in a really good shape but it could be worse. It'll be better in a few weeks. What about you? I hope this man didn't bother you too much."
"Oh no, don't worry. I understand why he is angry."
"But it's no way to treat a woman. Or any person. It's not your fault he got attacked."
"He is still right. Maybe we should do something about it. It's always happening around here after all."
"There isn't much we can do, to be honest. The police won't take us seriously and as you know, each of our attempts to find him ourselves has failed."
They both fell silent, each of them dwelling upon their own problems.
However, they were soon interrupted by Isami who had dealt with the angry man and suggested they came inside.
"So," Takumi began as soon as they entered the restaurant. "I heard you did quite well during my absence yesterday."
"Oh, it wasn't much" Megumi answered with a halfhearted smile and a somehow uncomfortable expression.
"Don't be so humble." Isami intervened "Maybe we could have managed without you, but you really saved us a lot of trouble. I actually wonder how many people will ask for their meal to be cooked by you from now on."
Takumi huffed, looking away with an offended expression that made Isami laugh.
Megumi however didn't look convinced by his words. There was something off with her, the others thought. In the same situation, anyone would have looked at least happy or enthusiastic but not her. Isami wanted to ask if everything was fine, hoping to receive a more satisfactory answer than the day before. His brother was faster than him, and not as concerned as he was.
"By the way, would you let me try it?"
Megumi gave him a puzzled and somewhat surprised look as if she had snapped out of deep thoughts. He added:
"What you cooked yesterday. Unless you have a new idea you would like to try of course…"
"Sure. I think I'll go with something different. But the preparations for today…"
"Isami and I can take care of that as you cook, don't worry."
His brother nodded and Megumi went to the kitchen. The Aldinis exchanged a glance as she departed. She really acted in a strange way. Takumi put it on her unfortunate morning encounter and shrugged it off as he followed her, but Isami didn't. She had not been quite like herself lately and apparently, it had gotten worse since the day before.
It seemed that she didn't want to talk about it and he respected that. He simply hoped that she would soon be back to her old self, sweet and caring although shy and clumsy at times, or at least find it in herself to talk to them about her problems. Or to someone at least, though he knew she still had few people to turn to yet. She had arrived quite recently and was far from her family and friends. Even though she had received a warm welcome from everyone here, it was still a tough situation for her and he guessed that living in a small maid room above her working place was not the best either (although, by Paris standards, she was extremely lucky). Maybe that was the reason for her late change of attitude…
In the end, he decided not to give it too much thought as life had taught him that sometimes, the best thing to do is to wait and see. "Attendre et espérer", like the Count of Monte Cristo said.
"Isami," a voice came from the kitchen, "if you have time can you bring me the ingredients please? Especially those on the higher shelves…"
"Okay Nii-chan, I'm coming!"
.
Her dish was…daring. And impressive. Flamboyant, Takumi would say. Everything was balanced in the most unexpected ways and all in all, it was an extremely surprising experience. But most importantly, it was nothing like the person who cooked it. Megumi was lots of things but she was definitely neither daring nor flamboyant, yet this dish revealed a burning passion he never imagined she had in her. Of course he knew she was passionate about cooking, but in a different, calmer way. And her dormant potential was no secret either (except maybe for herself); he would never have hired her otherwise. But this…this was not Megumi.
It was closer to his own cooking in some aspects, and perhaps this was the only reason behind this. She'd had some time to learn from him after all. But somehow, that did not add up. He could taste some mystery here and the more ate, the more he wanted to find out what it was.
Nevertheless, however odd this was, there was one thing Takumi knew for sure: this dish was extremely good. Tasty, balanced, harmonious… He had refused to believe it earlier but now he had to admit it: it could definitely rival his own cooking. It wasn't better of course… Probably… But still.
"Wow Megumi, I'm impressed. How long have you planned to hide this from us?"
"I guess I just gained confidence."
"I'm glad to hear that. But honestly, this is good enough to be on today's menu."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. There is still another main dish to prepare so I'll take care of that. Let's see whose is the most popular today!"
There was fire in his eyes as he said that and Megumi shrunk a little. She seemed uncomfortable with the whole thing but he did not even realize it. Takumi was already lost in a world of his own. There was a challenge here and he was ready to face it! He could not lose in his own restaurant!
