Elena, Prayikina, and Jun made their way to the outdoor stage. Alice's mother was testing the mic. "Hello, Elena-screeeeech. Oops sorry. But now that all of the speakers have arrived we can begin. Seated on stage were Soma, Megumi, Erina, and Akira."
"Where's my mom?" Elena asked?
The woman spoke into the mic, "My daughter, Alice, Ryo's widow, has made the decision to not attend this memorial service. Luckily I am the executor of Ryo's estate, so it is my decision and mine alone that this memorial will proceed."
"Oh, ok…" Elena said, taking a seat.
"Daddy, Nana's here!" Prayikina told Akira. Akira, in his white suit, looked to the crowd. Despite his sadness, the sight of Jun caused him to smile.
The first to deliver a speech was speech was Megumi, although she adored Megumi Elena's focus was elsewhere as she took out the notebook.
"Lobster Beef Wellington…, Oyster Rockefeller Pizza…, …Scorpion shellfish Soba."
"Hey that was your recipe from the prelims," Prayikina said. "That was so fun. Principal Soma making edible insects the theme of the Autumn finals. I always loved eating bugs, the flavor mimics a seafood taste."
Soma looked at the girls. He cupped his hand over his face. "Your father deconstructed every one of your recipes."
Each and every entry had suggestions on how to make each dish better. She turned to the last page, "Elena's sunrise soup." Elena was crying when her fingers noticed a hidden flap, like an envelope.
"Dear Elena Rose, When you read this I will be long gone from this world. I thought a lot about what I want in this life, for you. I want you to have the one thing that always seemed out of reach for me- I want you to be happy. Having you in my life was the closest I came. But now you're all grown up, and if dating the rapper son of Subaru Mimasaka and Nao Sadatsuka makes you happy…Just don't eat Nao's cooking. Or do. If you want- there's a reason she made it all the way to year 3 before dropping out to start her own food line." After that sentence, the writing became noticeably shakier.
"You and Jamie make such a great team. I promised you both I would tell you how I passed training camp. Here it is - Elena Kurokiba's Chili-egg soup. This is the recipe that cleared me 200 plates. I have it committed to memory, but I figure it should be written down someplace, so it, like my mother, is never forgotten."
The recipe called for sea water, canned tomatoes, and chilies, boiled with fish scraps then the whole thing was topped with an egg that was scrambled as the soup cooked, so add richness. There were other optional ingredients that were added if they could be afforded, like dried shrimp, or squid.
"Growing up my family was very poor, some days this was all I had to eat. But the warmth always soothed the pain in my stomach. You grandmother created this recipe, but it was the last thing I cooked for her the day she died.
Elena knew the story of the day her grandmother died. Ryo's father was a fisherman; his boat had been in a bad storm. The wreckage from the boat was recovered but no bodies were ever found.
Ryo's mother worked in the fish market cleaning and preparing fish for display. If she was lucky she would get moved to the dining area to cook for the tourists. There she would be allowed to take home food scraps. But for the past week, she had been too sick to work.
Ryo, at seven years of age, went down to the fish market. He tied on his little apron.
The large intimidating man who ran the market took one look at Ryo. "I'm not letting work your mother's shift."
"Please sir, my mother is sick, we have no money for food or medicine."
"I'm not letting some kid into my market! Tell your mother to get her a—into work or consider herself fired!" The man shoved Ryo.
Ryo fell backward hitting his head on a rock. He stood up, wiping the blood from his eyes. Ryo walked towards the butchery station. He picked up his mother's knives.
"Kid, what do you think you're doing?!" As the man grabbed Ryo, he suddenly felt a knife pressing against his throat.
"Yuri- you leave that child alone!' The female worker screamed. "That boy is Elena's son!" All of the other workers agreed.
"Let him stay!"
"He knows more about cooking then you do!"
Ryo was allowed to stay. Although small he worked as hard as his mother's co-workers. If he struggled someone was always willing to help. At the end of the day, the entire market gave Ryo their tip jars.
"But why?" the little boy asked.
A muscular elderly woman stepped forward. "All of the tourists were asking about the boy with the amazing knife skills. Take this money and go to the herbalist."
Ryo returned home with food and medicine. "Mama!"
His mother had been coughing up blood. "Is that you my love?"
"Please Mama, let me cook for you."
"Where did you get money for food? Did you steal?"
"No, Mama," Ryo crossed himself, "I would never. I made a promise to Papa. Yulia, Ekaterina, even Dmitry they convinced Yuri to let me work your shift." Ryo was even able to afford some fuel for the small charcoal stove.
He put on some water and made the simple soup.
The next morning he awoke in his mother's arms. Her body was already cold.
"I miss my mother so much which was why I wanted you to have her name. From the moment I first held you in my arms I wanted so badly for you to inherit her strength, and you have. "
Soma held Elena as she cried. "Elena, you need to keep reading."
"I can't…"
"Then I will- 'Take my edits to your recipes as suggestions, you can always do better- you will do better because you are my daughter."
Erina took to the mic for her speech. "What can I say about the remarkable life of Ryo Kurokiba… "
A voice shouted in the distance, "You f- "
"Is that your mom?" Prayikina asked.
Elena lowered her head. "Oh, crap…"
Alice shoved her way to the stage. "I cannot believe you people!"
Erina, still holding the mic attempted to block Alice from the side stairs. "You people? Ryo's real family?"
"I wanted him buried in Denmark!" Alice screamed.
"I know," her mother replied in her usual calm tone. "That was why I had him draw up a will."
"Ryo was mine! I deserved to have a place where I could always find him!"
Erina shoved her. "So he could be your attendant for all eternity? Ryo deserved better than that!" She rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised you actually wanted to bury him. I would have guessed you had plans to have him stuffed and used to decorate your living room!"
Alice punched Erina in the face.
"Enough!" shouted Soma. Once again Soma had to hold back Alice while Akira held back Erina.
"Any idea why they fight?" Prayikina asked.
"Because your mom is so much cooler than mine," Elena said. "Prayikina, where did you name come from?"
"My dad made it up," she said with a shrug. "It's kind of funny how, despite how much our mom's hate each other, how similar their lives ended up. They both married orphans, and gave birth to daughters who looked nothing like them." She considered Ryo's last request, that she may shove his balls in Erina and Alice's mouths to shut them up. But she figured that would be disrespectful to Ryo's memory. And it might get her in trouble with her father. "Hey, remember the first time I asked to play with your dad's balls? Well, the first time in front of my parents, anyway. My family visited Denmark, and your dad picked us up at the airport."
"We were five, I think. I came with him because I missed you so much."
"Do you remember what I said to your dad?"
"You asked if you could see his balls."
"No, I said 'Uncle Ryo, will you let me play with your balls, like last time? Your dad started shouting, specifying the stress balls. So much fun." Prayikina touched the metal urn. "Right, Uncle Ryo? I'll bet this is exactly how you pictured your funeral." She returned her focus to Elena. "So, Elena, what are you going to do with your portion of the ashes?"
Elena felt a gust of wind caress her cheek. Without a second thought, she opened the urn and flung the ashes towards the sky.
"That's cool," Prayikina said as she watched the ashes quickly dissipate into the air. "I see you're not as pissed as your mom about not having a place where you can visit him."
Elena kissed the notebook. "I do have a place where I can visit him- anytime I want."