Chapter 13 – Tootsuki's Summer Solstice Festival!
"Welcome to the Tootsuki Summer Solstice Festival!"
Ayame was so pumped for this evening. She thanked the female students standing in their colourful summer yukata welcoming in herself, Chizuru-chan and the festival go-ers from the opulently decorated front entrance. They were so pretty and exuberant, and Ayame received the festival guide from them with equal enthusiasm. She had practically arranged her schedule around this very day. She even made sure to call Chizuru-chan a million times so that she couldn't evade this fantastic food festival. Kuchiyose-kun on the other hand didn't need constant check-ups because once he made a decision to do something or go somewhere, he was faithfully committed.
"Over here Chizuru-chan! We need to exchange our money for their tickets!" Ayame grabbed her best friend's arm and dragged her along, dodging people until they found themselves joined in the queue for the booth responsible for exchanging their money for the special credit tickets, before it got too long.
The Summer Solstice Festival was teeming with festival-goers, the sign of a soon-to-be successful event. There were many people around their age attending and she had spotted a few students she recognised from Karakura High school amongst the throng, but they were too far away to say hello. Bright and colourful streamers, bunting and stall signs sprang up everywhere adding to the happy occasion. The soft glow of festival lanterns really impressed Ayame because it was strung up nicely like winking fireflies, bringing together the perfect festival mood. Also the loud buzzing of shouts, yells, laughter and cries of welcome was so refreshing that Ayame wished there were festival's every day. The atmosphere was saturated with the smell of delicious food from the food strip, the whole reason why they were here tonight.
"I don't get why they have this system where we have to exchange our perfectly normal Japanese yen for their weird form of festival currency" her best friend rolled her eyes and groaned.
"They are special credit tickets. These credits are used as currency to keep track of daily sales. So all the stalls can add their total earnings at the end of the day or week, or whatever, more easily and with fewer complications" explained Ayame. She bounced on the balls of her feet, brimming with so much energy.
"And the subtext was… students can't be trusted handling real money because if they did, who knows if they end up stealing a percentage of their stall earnings or Academy profits for themselves and the Academy wouldn't have a way of finding out. Therefore they invent a fake currency, exclusive to a limited-time only event that is pre-sold at the festival entrance, so that the money is guaranteed to land in their pockets before us festival-goers even go and buy the food"
Ayame really wanted to wrestle her into a headlock and give her the biggest noogie of the century. How the hell did Chizuru-chan extrapolate all that just from three sentences? However, her interpretation did ring true to some degree… Just because she was here against her will, she needn't to be a spoiled sport about it. Right?!
"You sure find the best qualities in everything you see…" Ayame's squinted her eyes in disapproval and jabbed her finger in her face, drawling sarcastically at her stubborn best friend.
"That's what I live for, sweetie" Chizuru-chan snorted triumphantly and checked her phone.
"Oh! We're at the front of the line now" Ayame skipped up, leaving her behind to continue texting.
Ayame exchanged her money for a combination of melon tickets which equated to five hundred yen and strawberry tickets which were a thousand yen. Ayame refrained from purchasing the Asagao tickets which were ten thousand yen because she didn't want to burn a hole in her wallet. Chizuru-chan did the same.
"Hey, Kuchiyose-kun is a bit late. Do you know where he is?" asked Ayame.
"I just texted him. He said that he went to buy a loop pedal for his acoustic this afternoon. Said something about not having enough time in the morning due to soccer practice" said Chizuru-chan looking around. "He said for us to go ahead without him and that he'd catch up"
Ayame thought for a moment chewing her lower lip. She supposed they could do that. She really wanted Kuchiyose-kun to be here so that they could enjoy the festival together as a group. Also that she will have a migraine if she was going to be alone with Chizuru-chan the whole time. She was liable to gripe about everything. She needed a buffer like Kuchiyose-kun to calm her best friend down. But the most important thing was that they were her two best friends in the whole world and she really wanted all of them to be together on this special event.
"I guess it can't be helped…" Ayame sighed.
"Cheer up, it will be easy to spot Kuchiyose-kun at some point since he sticks out like a sore, purple thumb" Chizuru-chan gave her a cheesy smile and the 'V' sign.
"Okay. Let's do this!"
With renewed vigour, Ayame snapped open the festival guide and eagerly scanned the list of available stalls and their grid references on the provided map. There were three different areas, they could go to. There was the Main Street area, Central area and the Uptown area. Each place was set up to feature different things. Main street for food, Central for teaching cooking techniques and of course, Uptown for the exclusive people to wine and dine. Also, there would be musical entertainment just between the Main street area and Central area. That should be a lot of fun. The aroma wafting in from the Main Street area was very distracting. Her eyes trailed downwards until it landed on a familiar name. Polar Star Dorms. According to the guide, there was an okonomiyaki and monjayaki stall set up by the Polar Star Dormitory! Tadokoro-san was so polite and generous for her time when she and her friends toured around Tootsuki, so Ayame definitely had to go pay them a visit. She hooked her elbows around Chizuru-chan's and led the way to the area where delicious Polar Star okonomiyaki and monjayaki was waiting for her.
"Come and get it! Come and get it! The best duck egg okonomiyaki you'll ever see!"
Ayame's mouth watered. Duck eggs?! She loved duck eggs! Her grandma used to make rice porridge with salted duck eggs when she was sick. Unfortunately, she was no longer a part of the living plane but the idea of duck eggs always conjured up the warm and loving memories of her grandmother.
"I'd like a duck egg okonomiyaki!" Ayame called out and slapped a melon ticket onto the counter.
"You got it!"
A ginger haired girl began pouring the okonomiyaki batter expertly on the griddle. Steam cascaded all around and Ayame was captivated at the speed and skill this girl demonstrated whilst shaping the okonomiyaki. She was incredibly animated as she cooked right before her eyes. It was so easy to see her passion in cooking, just from the way she was having immense fun despite the back-breaking work. Next she spread the toppings. This included the traditional bonito flakes, pickled ginger, slices of pork belly, seaweed sprinkles, okonomiyaki sauce and finally…
SLICED DUCK EGGS
Ayame couldn't contain herself and just moaned. The sharp sizzling of the okonomiyaki made her stomach grumble and she squeezed Chizuru-chan's elbow tighter causing her to yell in surprise. The young chef handled the sliced duck eggs with unbelievable care and respect to the point where the cooked yolk didn't even crumble an ioto or shifted at all. Ayame would trust her duck eggs with this chef at any time.
"You're a very hungry one, aren't you?" the ginger-haired chef said cheekily.
"You have no idea!" Ayame yelled in return.
She received her duck egg okonomiyaki in a foam container with wooden chopsticks and bestowed on the brilliant and energetic chef a million thanks. The ginger-haired chef struck a funny pose and it made Ayame laugh. This girl was riot! She appeared young for her age and she looked like a great person to hang out with. Ayame parted a small piece of the okonomiyaki, making sure to get some duck egg. It was absolutely divine. The duck eggs brought a new height of flavour to the okonomiyaki. The richness of the duck eggs melted in her mouth and it really did remind her of Obaa-san. The way she was so loving, caring and tender. Ayame suddenly remembered the other reason she came to the Polar Star okonomiyaki and monjayaki stall. She wanted to drop a hello to Takumi-kun's friend.
"Oh! By the way, I'm looking for Tado—"
"Oi, Yuuki-chan! Stop dilly-dallying! We have like a hundred more customers here!" somebody yelled from the other side of the stall.
"Coming Ryouko-cchi!" the ginger-haired chef named Yuuki yelled back. Ayame thought the name suited her vibrant and spunky personality.
"Sorry, I gotta go. But do come back!" with that, she hopped away to get back to work.
Ayame nodded in understanding. There was a massive flock of people around the stall. She would try to come back later. She did wonder where Tadokoro Megumi was. Perhaps she had to run a small errand? At any case, she would be back. She walked away with Chizuru-chan and shared her okonomiyaki with her. Chizuru-chan hesitantly picked at it before placing it on her tongue. Ayame watched on as she chewed the piece of Japanese pancake carefully, as if she was trying to analyse everything about it.
"Hmm. I like it. The batter is fluffy, and the cabbage is crunchy" said Chizuru-chan, helping herself to another mouthful.
"See, I told you you'd like coming here"
"Don't get your hopes up" her best friend said in a deadpanned fashion.
Ayame ignored her and she devoured the rest of the okonomiyaki and threw the foam container into an almost full rubbish can. It was a small serving but extremely satisfying and even then, she was still hungry for other dishes to try. Ayame opened up the guide again and slid her finger down the column to pinpoint her next target.
"Oh hey! There's a Korean street food stall at this end of the Main Street area. We don't have any Korean restaurants in Karakura Town, so we can't miss this" said Ayame.
"Sure, ok. Let's check it out" replied Chizuru-chan.
The two girls squeezed themselves through the crowd of teenagers as they navigated their way to a broad area where the Korean food stall was located.
"… are you sure this place is Korean?!"
Ayame and Chizuru stopped dead in their tracks when they realised this Korean food stall was absolutely abandoned, like a haunted shack. Not a single festival-goer went within three metres of the place. The pungent smell of chilli paste, fermented soybeans and other fermented things invaded her senses. It wasn't the usual fermented smell of traditional Japanese cooking. It stank! It made her nose hair curl and never want to regrow. If Ayame was a kenjutsu master swordsman like Otou-san, she could probably feel her qi smothered by the evil, ominous and sickening aura which cloaked the small stall. A random maniacal cackling erupted from within and it made Ayame want to high-tail it out of there. According to the menu board, the Korean food stall sold hotteok, tteobokki, gimbap and japchae. Ayame was unfamiliar with these dishes, and once upon a time, she wanted to try them. Now that they arrived here… she changed her mind.
'It looks so decrepit…'
"A-Aya… Let's try some other place, I'm sure there's other K-Korean food stalls around" Ayame smiled weakly and shuffled a step back and quickly turned around to make her escape.
Iron-clad fingers seized her arm in a steel-like vice.
"Ara… Where do you think you are going Ayame-chan~"
Hairs at the back of her stood at attention. Ayame slowly turned around to be sucked into the deep brown pools of Chizuru-chan's eyes, which swirled with half-cocked madness. It was horrifying! Her mouth split into a satanic grin, baring her bright, white teeth at her. Oh no… what was going on? Something insane must be possessing her mind. The only other time her best friend looked that way was when she tied up the High School Bitch of Karakuru in the bathroom and made her watch her pour her precious Chanel Eu de Parfum down the sink. According to her, the suspension was worth it. Her grip didn't loosen at all, tightened actually, even when Ayame had no way of running. Something told her she would live to regret this.
"Ch-Chizuru-chan..?" Ayame stammered.
"You dragged me to this festival when I didn't want to go, so the least you could do is try out the food I want to eat. You owe me that much, don't you?" Chizuru-chan sneered at her, like the cat cornered the mouse.
"Ahh… about that—"
"Whatever you have to say? FEEBLE EXCUSES" Chizuru-chan pulled Ayame along, who was helpless to get away.
Once they reached the front of the stall, the cackling grew into crazy murmurs. The chef in charge was too busy hovering over a full cast-iron cauldron at the back to notice them. She stirred the viscous mixture with a large stick manned by two hands, making it slop noisily over the side. It was like little devil-hand shaped things trying to claw its way out from the rim. A putrid stench flowed out from it like a radiation leak. It was as black as nightmares and bubbled, releasing a noxious purple gas. The chef lifted her head up, but still took no notice of them. She also looked like the stuff of nightmares. She reminded Ayame strongly of Sadako from The Ring, the world famous Japanese horror film. Her hair was jet black and flowed like thick trails of ink down to her lower back. Her hair covered most of her stark-pale face, giving her a more witch-like appearance. Ayame covered her nose as the stink intensified.
"Ahem!" Chizuru-chan coughed into her hand.
"What? Yes? Who is it?" the hunching chef turned around. Her eyes creeped Ayame the most. It was sinister and lacked the lustre and shine of somebody who belonged to the world of the living. Her mouth also split into a grin just as disturbing as Chizuru-chan's.
"A tray of tteobokki please" said Chizuru-chan, flashing her a melon ticket.
"My, my, my. You certainly are brave. Or maybe someone finally sees the true artistry and hidden beauty behind my eclectic cooking. Ehehehehe!" she rasped eerily.
Ayame clasped her hands over her mouth and nose tighter, adamant to not let a single whiff of the black thing make it to her olfactory senses. Was Chizuru-chan trying to kill her?!
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just hungry for some Korean food. So if you would?" Chizuru impatiently rapped her knuckles on the counter.
"Yes, yes, be patient and watch as I craft the most perfect tteobokki dish you'll ever see! Ehehehehe!"
Ayame watched in terror as Chef Sadako dunk half a packet of cylindrical rice cakes in a pot of boiling water. After a few minutes she scooped them all out into a plastic tray. So far the rice cakes looked completely normal! Even if they were just boiled. Given Tootsuki, anything could happen. Right on the money, Ayame's dream was shattered when the creepy chef slopped over a thick, black sauce and sprinkled some chopped spring onions and sesame seeds.
She presented it to them.
'There is no way in all the multi-verses that THAT is classified as food!'
"Enjoy. Ehehehe!" she cackled, rubbing her hands together.
"Ummm, tteobokki sauce is supposed to be redder than this, not black. But anyway, eat up Ayame-chan" Chizuru-chan picked up a cylindrical rice cake, basted in the evil black sauce and ate it. It was far from being red! Not even on the spectrum! Ayame held her breath, not knowing what could possibly happen.
"Hmm, not bad. It's spicy! The way Korean food should be. A little on the salty side though" Chizuru-chan, picked up another rice cake and ate it up the same way as the first one.
"Wh-What?! How could this be! How are you not, writhing with pain and pleasure from my beautifully disgusting combination of fermented sardines, black beans and gochujang?!" Chef Sadako gripped her head and shrieked at Chizuru-chan, as if her confusion from the sight of Chizuru-chan mildly enjoying her God-forsaken dish was squeezing her brain.
"Sorry, I still don't know what you're talking about. Here you go Ayame-chan~"
"Wait—mmphf!"
Just like that, Chizuru-chan stuffed into her mouth a slimy, chewy piece of the Korean rice cake, slathering it's sauce over her lips.
It was… It was… It was… good?
No! Something had to be tricking her senses. This putrid stinking thing was defecated by the devil himself! But then why did it taste good! The umami was strong in this one. It seeped through the sauce and into the heart of the tteobokki rice cakes. It stimulated her taste buds in ways she didn't think possible. Her throat was midway between swallowing and gagging. It was a perversion of the famous Korean street food dish of the highest calibre.
"It's good isn't it? Better than anything you've ever tasted. Ehehehehehe~"
'I'm...speechless!'
"It's not bad, I'll give you that. Let's go Ayame-chan. Don't you want to find Mario?" Chizuru-chan balanced the tray in her hands and took Ayame's hand in other one, pulling her away. Ayame followed suit in auto-pilot mode. Water. She wanted water. This wasn't right. It wasn't meant to taste this way. The smell was too much. That's right. The smell tricked something in her brain and made the tteobokki delicious. That was probably what happened.
As she expected, Chizuru-chan wasn't affected in the least.
"Remember my name! I am Sadatsuka Nao. Now that you've eaten my food, you won't be seeing the last of me! Ehehehehehe!"
Those were the last words Ayame heard.
"Hey! Mito-san!"
Ayame vaguely heard Chizuru-chan yell from across the Main street area. Mito-san? Were they close to her stall? She started to regain her wits about her as the pair successfully emerged from the dark aura that was the Korean Food stall and into the light of the living. Her dish was an embodiment of bipolarism! The Korean nationals were going to have a massive fit if they ever found out that a Japanese student butchered one of their dishes! Ayame weeped for all the Korean nationals of the world. It was disgusting and tasted delicious! Her mind was in a mess of cognitive dissonance where one side of her absolutely hated what she ate, while the other was loving every single drop of it. It was so mentally taxing.
"Ah! You're Takumi-san's friends. Namikaze-san and Kanda-san right?"
Ayame greeted Mito Ikumi and begged for a bottle of ice tea, which she was more than happy to sell once Chizuru-chan explained the story with lots of animated hand movements of where they had just recently been. Ayame prayed that Mito-san didn't ask to try the tteobokki, which Chizuru-chan still held with her. It looked like Mito knew exactly who it was from anyway just be the story alone.
"Hey, we're looking for Mario—"
"It's Takumi-kun!"
"—yeah, him. His and his brother's stall. You know where it is?" asked Chizuru-chan nonchalantly.
Mito-san gave them a quizzical look and handed her spatula to one of her underclassman who was also running the stall.
"You seriously can't tell? It's that one over there, the one surrounded by that embarrassing clan of fan girls"
As soon as Mito-san said 'girls' Ayame immediately sobered up and banished the horrible thoughts of that tteobokki from her mind. So… they were fangirls, were they? Chizuru-chan mentioned it one time when they all went to Meshina for ice cream together, but she thought it was a joke. Looked like it wasn't and they were all over her boyfriend's stall. The verdant eye aspiring engineer saw a problem. An engineer's job was to problem solve. This was a problem that needed solving quickly. She estimated that there were about thirty to forty girls squashed within a ten square metre area of the front of the Aldini twin's stall. The numbers were steadily increasing as more girls came and the ones who already bought their food still hung around and were taking happy snaps of it with their smart phones. Ayame straightened her back and handed Chiuzuru-chan her empty bottle of ice-tea without a word.
"Ayame-chan?"
Ayame barely listened as she marched over to them. Wading through all those bodies was going to be murder so she opted to use the back door method. Instead of meeting the Aldini brothers from the front counter and risk losing an eye from all that elbowing, Ayame ditched Chizuru-chan and bypassed the whole lot until she was directly behind the Aldini brother's stall. She stood by an empty crate and made sure not to knock over any of the large tubs of cooking oil. Takumi-kun and Isami-san didn't notice her hanging around directly behind them at all as they were hard at work. Also the girls were obviously way too focused on trying to get their attention to notice a ubiquitous girl slinking around the back.
The way the two brothers worked together was so fluid and synchronised that they could easily just be fused as one whole being. The dichotomy itself was testimony to the years of experience in working together in the family trattoria, knowing each others' strengths and weaknesses. Not a single mistake was made as they brilliantely pulled off the impossible of pumping out dish after dish of amazing Italian food. Ayame looked over and saw the cool array of dishes her boyfriend and his brother were making, if she guessed correctly their menu consisted of:
Strawberry, lemon and melon gelato wrapped in a fluffy crepe sprinkled with diced fruits and crushed nuts.
A summer vegetable frittata muffin.
Parmesan crusted chips with truffle oil.
Pumpkin and chestnut risotto for a more Autumnal theme to end the Summer.
Lots of homemade lemonade.
Ayame thought of something cheeky and crept further into the back of the stall. She tapped Isami-kun on the shoulder. It startled the brunette Italian and he whipped his head around, most likely thinking it was his older twin. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline once he realised it wasn't Takumi-kun and opened his mouth to say something, but Ayame silenced him with the tell-tale signal to stay quiet by putting her finger to her lips and winking at him. Then she pointed at Takumi-kun. Isami-kun widened his sky blue eyes and smiled brightly. He got the message and tried to stifle a chortle as he returned to what he was doing.
"Isami! I need the next back of chestnuts!" Takumi-kun called from the makeshift stove where he was preparing the pumpkin and chestnut risotto. She resisted the urge to drool on the spot.
Ayame grabbed the bag of already opened chestnuts before Isami-kun could get his hands on it and went over to Takumi-kun's side. He still didn't notice her standing right next to him, until she plopped it into his awaiting hand.
"Grazie, Frat—WAHHH! AYAME!"
Takumi-kun jolted from his spot as soon as he looked up to receive his bag of chestnuts. Ayame held back a bellow of laughter at seeing Takumi-kun's handsome and focused face transform into a red, blubbering mess.
"Dio mio! You scared me! What are you doing on this side of the stall?" he spluttered as he tried to concentrate on dumping the chestnuts into the risotto, at the same time blinking his eyes rapidly at her in disbelief.
Ayame feigned a hurtful expression. "Ayaaa… Why are you yelling at me? I just wanted to come and say hello, but it was impossible get through your customers so I decided to think laterally" she pouted at him.
By this time, the horde of female customers finally took notice of Ayame as she conversed with Takumi-kun. She could hear them begin to screech as to why was one of their own gender on the other side with their precious Aldini Princes. Takumi-kun relaxed into his usual charming smile. He set his pan of risotto on low heat and gave Ayame a peck on the cheek just as Isami came to dominate the front of the stall to hand out their gelato crepe.
Damn. She wanted those harpies to see some action.
"Sorry. I'm glad you are here mio bella. Please! Try some of the Parmesan chips with truffle oil" Takumi-kun pointed to a fresh batch and Ayame's mouth watered. She nicked a piece and popped it into her mouth. It was so hot, she had to fan her open mouth before she could chew it. The truffle oil was fragrant and it made the freshly fried chips taste high class
"Mmm! Fabulous. Like fancy chips" she said, licking the salt off her fingers.
She noticed Takumi-kun blushing heavily as he watched her from the corner of his eyes.
"Hey, can I get some lemon gelato crepe for Chizuru-chan and some of that risotto for myself?" she asked the two brothers sweetly in front of the girls who were shooting her with death glares.
"Sure! Just pop your ticket over there and it will be ready in a few moments" replied Isami-kun.
He cheerfully pointed to a huge rectangular tin box on the table next to him and the gelato machine. Ayame was completely gobsmacked at the amount of strawberry, melon and Asagao tickets stuffed neatly inside! They must have made hundreds of thousands of yen easily and this was only the first day of the festival! Once Ayame turned back around, both of the boys' focus were back onto the plethora of female customers in front of them. The boys were all smiles and charisma as they attracted more and more female customers. Upon closer inspection, some of the girls were wearing headbands saying "Takumi Love" or some rubbish like that. They must be the hardcore fan girls...
"Hey!"
Ayame turned her attention to the high pitch yell that was aimed at her.
"You should be waiting in line with the rest of us! Don't you dare take advantage of the Aldini brother's kindness like that!" she yelled at her.
Ayame channeled her inner Chizuru-chan.
"Well actually, I have an all access pass" Ayame smiled serenely at her.
"What all access pass?"
"This one" Ayame winked at the girl who had the audacity to pick on her "Hey Takumi-kun, I had a really great time last Friday night. It was my first time being in Ikebukuro too. We should definitely try out other places there" she gave him her best smile. She stood a bit more to the side as to not be in the way of the Aldini brothers, but close enough for the girls to hiss.
Takumi-kun blushed crimson as he spooned some risotto into a plastic bowl for a gushing customer. "Of course. Anything you want" he said.
"Did you hear that? They went to Ikebukuro together. AT NIGHT!"
"Isn't Ikebukuro a trendy place famous for its night life?!"
"Could this mean…?"
How did they know she and Takumi went to Ikebukuro? No matter, Ayame relished in the girls freaking out over her words. The best part was it was all true. She couldn't out-rightly tell the whole lot that she and Takumi-kun were dating because it wouldn't be as fun. She wanted to see them slowly unravel, like picking out and straightening electrical wires. Her engineering mind turned in her head. The impact was stronger when they figured it out for themselves. Fortunately for her, Takumi-kun was too absorbed with running the stall to notice her ulterior motive for chatting with him. On the other hand, Isami-kun was more perceptive of what were harmless conversation and what were masked ones. Ayame knew this from the way he was gawking at her in excitement. It looked like he wanted to be a part of what she was trying to do.
"Fratello, you know what's another good date idea? Private cooking lessons"
"Hey! You can't use my weakness as an excuse for a date" Ayame groaned back.
"What are they talking about! Did he say date?!"
"So it must be true!"
The girls surrounding the stall continued to throw inane questions at each other and Ayame began to rock on the balls of her feet, loving the way their faces twisted into fear and misery.
"I don't mind… actually, I really quite like that" Takumi-kun wiped down his now empty pan that was once cooking risotto so that he could start a new batch. Quick as flash, he sent her a look she knew all too well, one which was usually seen when he was getting cocky about something.
Ayame almost tripped over her own ankles. Did he… Did Takumi-kun just smirk at her? Suddenly he started to approach where she stood. Ayame blinked a few times and immediately, his lips were right by her ear. She could smell the risotto all over him and his distinct natural scent of cedar. The gulped nervously from their sheer proximity.
"I know what you're trying to do mio caro. I can split my attention very easily" he whispered hotly. Ayame gulped again as he reached his hands behind her and Ayame sucked in a breath, not knowing what to anticipate as his lips slowly dipped to just below her ears. Just like that, he was back at the stove and she was staring at his back.
The blonde Aldini had grabbed a bag of aborio rice from behind her. She got excited for nothing.
"Shall we make it my place this time?" Takumi-kun threw her a fleeting smoulder as he swiftly ripped open the bag with his teeth. The girls at the front of the stall swooned, from a combination of their inevitable realisation that their Prince was in fact off the market and that he was being naturally sexy.
Ayame blushed brightly and rubbed her arms up and down. Her burst of confidence blew out and all that was left was a somewhat embarrassed feeling. She thought she had the upper hand in all this, but it looked like Takumi-kun had made himself part of the game without her even knowing. She was going to be a shitty engineer if she didn't think ahead to the possibility that her boyfriend was going to catch on. He was an accomplished chef for goodness sake. Attention to minute details was part of the job description.
'That suave Italian…'
"Oh my god! You have no idea what I had just been through"
"Chizuru-chan?"
The frazzled head of her best friend popped out the front from between two squealing girls. She was huffing and puffing with an agitated look on her face. She wrinkled her nose from being in the middle of a sea of girls, all dedicated to the Aldini twins.
"I was practically stalked by that creepy chick from the Korean food asylum and who did I bump into? Hayama-san. Thankfully he threw some garlic at her and then she crawled back to whatever hole she was born in. I shook him off after he tried to get me to eat some wonder-curry because I wasn't in the mood for it. I need some gelato. NOW"
A bowl of risotto was plopped into Ayame's hand thanks to Takumi-kun. Ayame deduced that he wanted to make her a fresh batch rather than feed her the one he was making before. Isami-kun hastely gave Chizuru-chan, her lemon gelato crepe once it was finished along with other gelato crepes. She thanked him wholeheartedly and gobbled it all down. She tried to pay him but Isami-kun assured her that Ayame had already done so, so she stuffed her credit ticket back into her wallet.
"See I told you you'll like this festival" Ayame smiled at her best friend.
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Ayame-chan. Thanks Isami-san. You boys take care of her. I'm going to jet and check out other places. Your all-female cheer squad is making me feel nasty" Ayame frowned at Chizuru-chan's sudden display of crudeness. Perhaps she really underestimated her great dislike for the food festival. Chizuru-chan threw them a wave and Isami-kun waved ecstatically back whilst Takumi-kun was about to give her the one-finger salute, but Ayame yanked his hand down just in case her best friend saw it. Takumi-kun continued to cook his risotto and Isami-kun went back to checking the summer vegetable muffins in the portable oven.
"Ayame?" asked Takumi-kun cautiously.
"Yes?"
"About Namikaze-san. She looks like she absolutely hates the festival. Are you sure it was a good idea taking her?" he asked. He gestured for her to sit on a large upturned crate to eat her small bowl of risotto behind the stall.
"Oh don't mind her. She's just miffed that her League of Legends team lost a game quite recently" she said. The risotto was nice and sticky in her mouth. Takumi-kun once told her that risotto dry out really easily so it was best eaten straight away. The flavours got her really excited for Autumn.
"It's not just that. Her behaviour. It's quite… unusual" he continued.
"You can use a stronger word than that, Takumi-kun" she chuckled.
Takumi-kun lowered the heat for his pan and turned towards her.
"The first time we went out as a group, she ordered a sea-salt and custard flavoured ice-cream combination at Meshina which was highly unusual. She showed barely to no visible reactions to eating Mito-san and Hayama's shokugeki dishes on the day you guys visited Tootsuki and was unable to answer his questions. When helping me move mine and my brother's things into our apartment, she wasn't covering her nose and mouth like the rest of us upon entry. You said she only eats spicy food and yet she pigs out on all sorts of junk food. She looks like she wishes to be elsewhere right now and lastly. She reeks of Sadatsuka's food. She must have eaten it for Cristo knows what reason and is unaffected by it.
"What are you trying to get at?" asked Ayame.
He sighed. "Is there something important I should know about her?"
Ayame placed her spoon into her half empty bowl. She tilted her head to the side and chewed her lower lip in thought. Takumi-kun reached out and brushed his thumb across her mouth, instantly stopping her habit.
"If you decide to tell your brother what I'm about to say. The two of you must promise you'll keep it to yourselves"
"Cross our hearts"
Chizuru was bombarded by a large array of lights from all sides. Bright red, bright blue and bright green flashed all around it was starting to give her a bit of a headache. Not only that, the noise was full of sounds of people eating. Crunching, slurping, munching and gulping. Everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. She couldn't quite see what they were eating, as most were halfway to being finished. She threw the wet gelato crepe wrapping into the nearest overflowing rubbish can. There were so many people. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt wasn't cool enough to keep herself from being cooked in the squelching heat of combined body temperatures.
Luckily, the gelato crepe was cool and refreshing, perfect for a summer's evening.
Ayame looked nice and cosy with Mario and Luigi so it was ok to just leave her there. If Chizuru was going to be stuck in a place which equated itself to a shogi tournament at a nursing home, then the least she could do was just look around to see what other entertainment they had. Surely, it couldn't just be all about food? They should have a music stage somewhere. She suddenly remembered that the guide mentioned some music entertainment, but god damn! Where was it? Kuchiyose-kun said he was coming a bit later. She hoped he was able to get in. Maybe he wouldn't because security would probably think he looked like a dodgy motherfucker. Her imagination was running away with her now.
Soon the crowd started to thin out as she reached what she assumed was the Central Area. There were significantly less booths around and those booths had super-long lines, to the point that it wounded like hairpins. They must be really good. Not only did they sell artistic looking food, but they had some fancy cooking appliances like a wood oven for pizza or that oven for making naan bread. Chizuru began to see there was a significant difference in quality and price between the booths of the Main Street and Central area from the piling stacks of those stupid credit tickets on the stall tables.
A great, big, hulking monstrosity caught her by surprise. It looked like the Chinese Imperial Palace spawned itself a clone.
'The fuck? The Chinese Research Society Restaurant? Geez, did they need to poke people's eyes out to make a fucking point?'
Towering columns lined the front supporting a huge oriental styled roof. It looked like it could fit about four standard sized restaurants in there. It looked really exclusive because there were rows of wooden lattices with one entrance and exit, which reminded her of the ancient Chinese opium dens from Chinese dramas. She could see heaps of red lanterns strewn around the gaudy entrance. A winding line of hungry people fidgeted impatiently waiting to get in and yet still more people were trying to queue up despite it being obvious that it will be a good forty minutes to be seated.
A squeal from the left made her jolt. She turned around to see what the hell was going on, only to find that a pack of small children was clamouring over each other for some weird dessert tower. It was coated in thick, shiny strands of toffee. It was tall pyramid and was further decorated with an assortment of tiny macarons. On top was a hulking massive star made from sugar.
It was nowhere near fucking Christmas.
She turned her head away and continued on her way to an area where there was less people.
"Hey! Over here! Over here!"
She just couldn't catch a break. She groaned and turned towards which bastard was calling to her. Wasn't her face apathetic enough to scream 'Leave me alone' to them? Apparently not. She needed to kick it up a notch and pretend to have food poisoning or something. She was very good at acting like she had good poisoning. Finally, she turned around, ready to pretend puking in front of them, but was caught dead in her tracks to find it a scarlet-haired chef waving her over. Where had she met him before… Oh right, during Mario's brother's welcome home get-together. His name was Yukihira Souma. He was still waving her over like his life depended on it. Well, at least it was a familiar face that was not Hayama and he was pretty chill to talk to anyway. So she headed towards him.
"I remember you, you're Namikaze Chizuru. Takumi's girlfriend's friend. Want to try some of my food?" said that red-head Yukihira as he beamed at her. She didn't know a lot about him, just that Mario considered him to be his ultimate rival, or some other bromance. She didn't know how good he could be though. He looked like he could easily slip on a banana peel. With him, she felt she could really let her speech go without suffering anyprudish expressions on people's faces, or any similar repercussions.
"Well, I ain't here to fuck spiders" she replied.
"Haha, you could've fooled me" he replied just as easily.
Chizuru was about to rip open a fresh packet of colourful language when she spotted that mousy little chef behind him. What was her name again? Oh yes, it was Tadokoro Megumi. Mario's friend from Polar Star Dormitory. Why wasn't she at the Polar Star okonomiyaki and monjayaki booth? She thought it was better to hold her tongue. Ayame had an in-built radar for those sorts of things. Anyway, she looked like she could collapse with a seizure if she heard at least one curse word.
"What have you got?" she asked, focusing back on Yukihira.
"Bún bò Huế. It's a Vietnamese Spicy Beef Vermicelli Soup. A regional special, this one is" Yukihira served her a small bowl. He garnished it with some sliced onions, some green herbs and those white sprout thingies she didn't know the name of and passed her a pair of wooden chopsticks. Chizuru handed to him her strawberry ticket and he tucked it into his apron. Now that she thought about it, why the hell would someone run their tiny booth in front of a massive one, which was eating up almost a hundred percent of their customers?! That was rule number one, page one, volume one of 'Boy's Wonder-Book of How to Own a Fucking a Shop'. Chizuru shook her head and decided to concentrate on her steaming bowl of Bún bò Huế. She bowed her head and looked into it. It was a beige-yellowy sort of soup with splattering of reds which she knew by heart was some sort of chilli oil. She swirled her wooden chopsticks around it and found the noodles to be rather thicker and more slippery than what she was used to. The name indicated it was spicy and that pretty much all that mattered right now.
She sighed and sat down at the small bench Yukihira was gesturing to her. She decided to not fight it and just eat the damn thing before he shoved it down her throat. Chizuru lifted up some of the thick vermicelli noodles, brought it up to her lips and slowly ate it. Next, she spooned some of the soup and drank it. Finally, she bit into a thin slice of perfectly cooked medallion shaped meat.
"Well?" he asked eagerly.
"Spicy. It was good"
"How does it taste?" he asked again.
Chizuru rolled her eyes. "Spicy. It was good". Was he expecting a different answer just because he asked the same questions, only phrased differently?
Yukihira narrowed his honey gold eyes and brought his finger up to his chin in a thinking pose. He looked her over for a good minute and Chizuru was seriously contemplating just dumping the bowl of his noodle soup over his head for being impertinent.
"Hey Megumi! Could you run up to Kuga and get me a serving of his dandanmian?" He yelled to the girl manning the stall.
"Eh? But I can't. The line at his restaurant is insanely long!" she yelled back.
"Just run up the front, he'll let you in. In fact, he's going to want to come and see this" said Yukihira and gave her a thumbs-up.
'What the fuck is he on about?' Chizuru narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
Tadokoro finally conceded and grabbed some credit tickets on the table and ran up the stairs to the Chinese Research Society Restaurant, which she found looked incredibly uglier the more she looked at it. Chizuru had heard of dandanmian before. It was some sort of spicy noodles from the Sichuan province of China. No wonder, it was a Chinese Research Society Restaurant Tadokoro was running off to after all. She looked like the type of person to listen to anyone's request with no questions asked. Chizuru slowly ate her bowl of noodles and tried to ignore Yukihira as he yabbered on about his newfound rivalry with some guy named Kuga. Mario was going to be jealous if he found out. Apparently this dude he was talking about was the leader of this Chinese Cuisine Research Society. Soon the mousy girl Tadokoro came back sporting a bowl of noodles as she tried very hard not to trip on the perfectly smooth ground. Tailing her was a punk-ass looking midget about the same size as herself, cackling away like a lunatic. He must be Terunori Kuga.
"What's this Yukihira-chin? You couldn't resist my food and you had no choice but to squander away what pathetic time you have left to taste it's godliness?" the midget threw his head up and chortled heartlessly.
Chizuru snorted. Oh. Now she got why the Chinese Research Society Restaurant was so fucking big. Compensating much?
"Actually Kuga. This is for her" Yukihira waved his hands over to Chizuru. "Namikaze-san, this is Terunori Kuga. Kuga, this is Namikaze Chizuru"
Chizuru nodded slowly. This was getting fucking weird.
"Really Yukihira-chin? You're going to ask her to judge our food in front of us, when it's clear who the winner's gonna be?" the boy named Kuga crossed his arms and sneered at Yukihira. But the red-head didn't look bothered at all.
"Go for it Namikaze-san. Have a taste" he pressed his face eagerly into hers.
"Fine" she said behind gritted teeth. The quicker she ate their dishes, the faster she could get the hell out of there and go home.
She slurped up the dandanmian with ease, being very much accustomed to spicy food.
"I'm going to ask you a very important question and you have to answer truthfully" said Yukihira in a more serious tone.
Terunori Kuga and Tadokoro watched on with confusion.
"Fine. Get it over with" Chizuru sighed.
"What was the difference in taste between our dishes?"
Wh-What?"
"What was the difference in taste between our dishes?" he repeated himself.
"What the hell is going on Yukihira-chin? I got a restaurant to run, so if you could make this snappy?" Terunori Kuga huffed impatiently.
Chizuru felt her frustration build and was short of bursting. She had enough of their charade. "Fuck this! I'm out of here"
"You shouldn't have a problem answering my question right? Unless it actually is a problem" said Yukihira.
She froze.
"You know Namikaze-san, I watch all my potential customers very carefully. That includes you. What's really weird about you is that from the moment I laid eyes on you, you weren't at all interested by any of the food you see. You're surrounded by great company and great, delicious food that anyone would die to have. However, you didn't, how should I say 'follow your nose'. You didn't sniff the air. If I'm right, you haven't salivated at all once you got here. If anything, you only paid attention to food that was visually appealing, lights and loud customers".
Chizuru felt her breathing grow deeper and she clenched her fists.
"The reason why you couldn't answer my question was because you don't taste it. Am I right?"
Yukihira had a completely neutral expression on his face. He had his arms braced on the bench in front of her. His eyes pierced her own and it infuriated her beyond belief. Both Terunori Kuga and Tadokoro opened and closed their mouth like a couple of stunned fish, unable to understand what Yukihira was talking about. However, Chizuru knew exactly what he was talking about.
"You're wrong"
Yukihira blinked up in surprise, his mouth forming an 'O' shape as if he wasn't used to being wrong when it came to the matters of food.
"It's not that I don't taste it. It's that I can't taste".
"C-Can you repeat that again?" Takumi spluttered.
"Chizuru-chan was born with congenital anosmia" said Ayame.
"In other words, I was born without the ability to smell, therefore I can't taste" said Chizuru.
Ohhh kayy. For the record, that was an extremely loose and incomplete definition for congenital anosmia. I will, or rather my OCs will explain what congenital anosmia really is. I based this on one of my patients. This is the first time we're seeing from Chizuru's perspective. I found it interesting to write.
Ayame is showing her sadistic side. Something different this time! But I think it's rare of her to be this way. Who would've thought Ayame would be a jealous type haha.
Oh boy, I wonder where Kuchiyose is? I hope he isn't too lost...
I hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think! See you in 5 days' time!
Signing off
-TripWire-dono