Nakiri Alice strode happily through the main resort of Nakiri International. Tomorrow she will marry her long-time boyfriend and childhood friend and faithful aide – Kurokiba Ryo. She hummed to herself a little, thinking about how everything was ready – her beautiful, expensive white dress hung prepared in her dressing-room, the ballroom was decorated in her favorite flowers, the food was being meticulously prepared by all her friends and one dish even by Ryo-kun, her husband-to-be. The cake she prepared herself using the best techniques molecular gastronomy had to offer. The appointments with a hairdresser and a beautician were scheduled for tomorrow and, as far as she has seen him today, her husband-to-be looked delicious.
The wedding was organized for five hundred people, the ceremony being the most important wedding of the year for the culinary world in Japan, besides her friends and family that she has personally invited, the invitation was extended for every big fish in the culinary business. All the rich and the famous acknowledged by the Nakiri family were already situated in the building, accommodated in one of the two hundred and thirty rooms the estate had to offer. She herself had a big apartment that would hopefully fit all of her girlfriends, who were coming tomorrow to help her prepare for the main event – after all she and Ryo-kun were the first among their friends to tie the knot, being together the longest. We have been together before we even were together, she thinks with a smile, daydreaming.
But still, they started dating in third class of high school, and only now – after five years – decided to, in her opinion finally, get married. After all, now she was almost twenty three, and perfectly ready to marry the love of her life, the dark-haired, handsome man that surprisingly was also the angry little boy she found in the poorest district of Copenhagen. Also, his cooking was sinful, and although she still won their shokugekis from time to time, Ryo-kun was now ahead of her by at least thirty wins.
Convincing Ryo-kun to marry her was not easy, and it took her a year before he agreed, and by this she meant him screaming "Fine! Have it your way!", throwing some cheap but pretty ring at her head (it fit her finger perfectly and she wore it all the time) and storming out of the apartment she bought for both of them in his, as she called it, berserk mode.
Still. Everything was perfect and great and fantastic and she was headed to the big public bathroom of the resort to relax before the day which was supposed to change her life. For the better, of course. That was when she heard something that made her blood boil and then get as cold as ice.
"Why is she marrying him, I wonder?" – an elegant woman, aged fifty or sixty, mused to her husband. "Stupid girl, she could have anyone, even our son, and yet she wants this filthy commoner. He looks like an unkempt, wild dog. Next to her like a pauper next to a princess."
Alice fumed silently, puffed out her cheeks and listened on, red in the face. How dare they talk like that about her Ryo-kun? She even recognized these people, the prestigious Lady and Lord of the Hyuga family, owners of a few elite sushi restaurants, and their abhorrent son. He tried to grab her butt once on some gala she attended in her second class of high school. Ryo-kun, her ever faithful aide, almost knocked his teeth out for that. Today, for the first time she really regretted stopping him back then.
"True, she isn't from the main branch of the Nakiris, but still, a catch. Pretty and has money. She should have chosen you, my son." The woman continued her tirade and then pinched the cheeks of her thirty-year-old blonde pampered son, who, in Alice's opinion, looked more feminine than she did. And she just got a face mask so her skin could be as soft as a baby's for the wedding. The son started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Ugh. Disgusting." She was ready to move on her way, but the husband replied.
"I agree with you darling. She is so naïve. And the boy so cunning. A dirty nobody like him, marrying into the high family. Good-for-nothing, I bet he is a really poor cook as well. He's going to marry into the family and elevate that hideous little pub of his upon the Nakiri name. How low of him."
Alice stopped dead in her tracks and her blood run cold. It was so unfair to Ryo-kun. She felt tears in her eyes. The Hyuga family left through the door she was standing next to and didn't even bait an eye saying "Good day, Alice ojou-sama", not really caring whether she heard their conversation.
But Alice was crushed. Will everyone in the culinary world think about Ryo-kun like that?
At first, he didn't want to marry her because he thought she didn't deserve him and should marry someone of higher class and wealth. She told him that thinking like that was all bullshit – and honestly, it was stupid.
But never once had she thought that him marrying into the Nakiri family would cause such vicious rumors. Ryo-kun was a great chef, better than her (but she will never admit it to his face!) and didn't deserve any of that. She came back to her room, the bath forgotten, it wouldn't be relaxing either way.
Erina, who slept in the same room as Alice, started to say something but Alice interrupted her, saying she was tired and then lying in her bed, sleepless. She couldn't even talk to Ryo-kun before the wedding for some stupid tradition. He would undoubtedly cheer her up and fix all the problems because that's just how he was and she loved him for that.
The next day
Ryo-kun could tell something was wrong with her, Alice was aware. He kept sending her questioning glances, but it's not like she could talk to him about it in the middle of the ceremony.
And, when came this awkward moment when the celebrant asks if the bride will be taking the groom's last name or vice versa, Alice Nakiri blurts: "I always liked the sound of Kurokiba Alice, don't you all think? I believe I will take my husband's last name."
Everyone is stunned silent, even Ryo-kun, although the only visible sign on his face is his one raised eyebrow, she knows him well enough to tell that he is clearly shocked. After all, until now she had wanted him and their children (if there were any) to take the Nakiri name. Well, good to know she could still surprise him even after all those years, right?
"Alice, are you sure?" Nakiri Leonora asks, hesitantly.
"Yes, I am very sure." Alice replies and scans the crowd with her vision. When her eyes meet the high and mighty Lady of the Hyuga family, she sends her the most radiant smile.
(Plus, it's not like she could become the heir to Nakiri International, with Erina being the damn God's Tongue and everything. She and Ryo-kun can work their own name well enough with their cooking, she is sure of that.)