Alice struggles with her stagiaire, and Ryo offers advice in his own way.

"There's like, a dozen men here and one little old me," Alice told Ryo, over the phone. "It stinks like man sweat all the time, you know."

"Uh-huh," Ryo said, as he turned in the key to his temporary living situation. He rented a studio unit nearer to his stagiaire, since having to travel from the Nakiri mansion daily was too long a distance. The studio was very minimal, already coming in furnished. It hardly mattered though, as Ryo often just came home to crash in bed.

Which he did the moment he took off his shoes and closed the door. He plopped onto bed, managing to keep his phone to his ear as he did so. He was plenty exhausted from his own stagiaire these days--not that it was physically demanding, no, working as Alice's aide and doing absurd errands for her was tougher in that regard. But having to be on berserk mode for every single minute of his own stagiaire was kind of exhausting.

"You're super quiet, you know," Alice said, at the other end of the line. "Like, more quiet than usual. Is your stagiaire wearing you out? You haven't even told me about it! Oooor do you just miss me already, hm?" The stagiaire was the longest the two of them have been apart from each other in a long while.

Ryo contemplated for a while if he should tell her or not. Some sort of male ego had been stopping himself from talking--he usually disliked talking about things like this unless he finally had some sort of certainty that he was going to succeed.

"...Place is full of punks," Ryo finally told her. "It's on the bad side of town, I guess. Bunch of delinquents blocking business."

"That sounds right up your alley!" Alice said. "You'll whip them into shape, won't you? You're probably a scarier delinquent than they are! Have they seen how big your arms are? Maybe you should walk around shirtless."

"...That's probably unhygienic for serving food," he told her. "...Enough about that. How are you holding up, miss?"

"Eh." Alice's tone changed almost immediately, the humor gone from it in an instant. "Like I said. Smells too much like testosterone."

"It's a noodle place, huh," Ryo said, recalling what Alice said about her stagiaire. It seemed she was working in a busy noodle restaurant, frequented by the working class. The place was already established, and had high traffic of customers, so sales wasn't an issue. Those sort of places were usually staffed by men, as it can be physically demanding having to keep up with so many orders. It was, in a way, probably the perfect place for Ryo, who grew up working in a male-dominated pub.

For Alice, it was the exact opposite. Girls--especially pampered-looking girls like Alice--would probably be unwelcome. Ryo wouldn't be surprised if the men haven't already attempted to kick her out of the kitchen. Food as ordinary as noodles and ramen weren't exactly up her alley, either.

"You'd fit in so well here, you know," Alice said, "Big, sweaty guys, yelling all the time, noisy customers, outdated cooking equipment… They told me I'm better off serving the guests instead of being in the kitchen."

Ryo's guess was spot-on. "No one's been harassing you, have they?" Ryo asked, with a hint of concern in his voice. "Tell me if anyone goes too far. Or tell your dad."

"Oh, thankfully, it's nothing like that," Alice said. "Just a couple guys calling me 'babe' or something. How rude, right? Mostly I just feel like they're not taking me seriously because I'm a girl. I can't even get an opinion in--I have plenty of ideas on how to streamline the workflow here."

Ryo took a can of soda from the mini-fridge, and popped it open. Alice's words somehow made him remember Denmark, and meeting a pushy little girl who demanded he become her aide.

"...You're good at putting rowdy men in their place, miss," he said, drinking his soda.

Alice seemed a little surprised by this statement. "What do you mean?"

"Denmark."

That was all Ryo said, but he was sure Alice would get it, no doubt remembering their days as children, and Alice walking into a male-dominated pub, with a head chef that refused to take her seriously.

"I guess I am good at putting rowdy men in their place," Alice said, and finally Ryo could hear the smile in her voice again. "Worked for you, didn't it?"

Weeks later, when his own stagiaire was going along much better, Ryo decided to drop by Alice's stagiaire site on his day off. It was partly out of curiosity, partly out of concern. As the days went on in their stagiaire, Alice's calls went down in frequency. When she used to call multiple times daily to check in on him (and rant about her own experiences), it steadily dropped down to once a day, every other day, and eventually down to one-liner text messages telling him he'd better be doing well on his own.

The noodle place was packed. The rich, fragrant aroma of broth was in the air, pulling people in. It was almost six, and the place was filled with customers about to get dinner.

Ryo walked right into the restaurant, trying to look around for a seat, without success. He instead tried to turn his attention to the kitchen, part of which was open to the dining area, so people can see the chefs coming and going and doing their work. He heard Alice's unmistakable voice, expediting and calling out orders, as if she called the shots around here. She walked into the open kitchen, carrying out bowls of noodles and order tickets, handing them to the restaurant servers.

She was glistening in sweat, dressed in the shop's plain shirt uniform, with a kitchen headband in her hair. It was the plainest Ryo has ever seen her dressed in, without a shred of makeup on her face as well.

For some reason, he found that oddly, she looked hot.

"Ryo?" Alice noticed him standing there, and she looked surprised. "What are you doing here? Were you that worried for me? How sweet!"

"...Maybe," Ryo said, walking up to her. He peered into the rest of the kitchen, and found the line cooks eyeing him almost suspiciously. They were, as Alice had described, a bunch of big, burly men. "No one's been giving you trouble, miss?"

"What, you're gonna beat them up for me?" Alice whispered almost conspiratorially, but then she quickly giggled after. "I'm kidding. My shift is almost over. Get a seat and I'll get back to you, okay?"

Ryo didn't wait for long, and in a few minutes he heard Alice saying her goodbyes to the staff.

"I'm heading out, boys! You guys behave and keep everything in order, okay?" Alice called out, as she headed out the kitchen, towards Ryo.

"Have a good day, miss Alice!" the male kitchen staff all called goodbye to her, waving--some even bowing. Ryo found this somewhat amusing. It seemed like she had them all wrapped around her little fingers now.

Alice ripped the headband off from her hair, and quickly made a beeline for Ryo, dropping a gym bag on his lap, and by that he knew that she was once again giving him the task of carrying it.

"Ugh, Ryo! I am beat. This place is hot. They need the AC replaced or something. Let's go somewhere for ice cream."

"I saw a place on my way here." Ryo said. "Looks like you managed to put the men in their place, miss Alice."

"I challenged all of them to a food battle. And won, of course. That usually makes them treat me a bit more seriously, " Alice gave him a little wink, and she had a little triumphant smile on her face. "Worked for you, didn't it?"

"That's one way, I guess," Ryo said. But oddly enough, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched. He turned back to the kitchen, and realized the kitchen staff was watching him carefully. "...Are they watching me?"

"Hmmm." Alice looked thoughtful, as if she was debating if she should tell him something or not. She decided to come out with it eventually. "Between you and me, I think some of the men are hitting on me a bit too aggressively…"

Ryo turned back to the kitchen, as if attempting to figure out who. Most of the staff were significantly older than him and Alice--it made him mad to think that they'd even come onto a highschool girl.

"I told them I already have a boyfriend, just to get them off my back," Alice said, making eye contact with Ryo when he turned back to her. "...You know."

"...Oh," Ryo said, quickly understanding. He reached out across the table, taking Alice's hand in his, making sure that everyone else could see it. He was not new to this. Pretending to be Alice's boyfriend when guys got too close for comfort was almost part of his duties as her aide now. "Got it."

Alice slowly entwined her fingers with his, as if putting on a display. "Now, where were we? How about some ice cream, dearie?"

"...Of course, honey," Ryo said, getting up and carrying Alice's bag, and then walking out of the store with her, hand in hand.

"Maybe you should ask to be assigned to a different stagiaire, miss," Ryo said, as they walked together along the street. "Tell your grandfather. He'll understand."

With the way he held onto Alice's hand tightly, she could tell he was agitated, but was trying to hold back. "It's nothing major, Ryo. I can't let everyone think I'm gonna back down just because of a couple of flirty old men. I can deal with a few. Besides, it's a great place. I get to learn a lot about what ordinary people like. You know I'm kinda out of touch with that."

Ryo looked at Alice for a while--he did think Alice would stand up for herself when things went too far. She had always been an outspoken girl. But at the same time, he had always been there to protect her should there be anyone too bothersome. He couldn't help but worry.

"Don't be such a worrywart," Alice said, as if reading his mind. "Who are you, my dad? I promise to call you if there's anything I can't handle. Okay, hon?"

Alice dragged him into the ice cream store, still holding onto his hand.

A/N: A reason I enjoy Food Wars a lot is that I worked in the food industry for a while, and can relate to a lot of things. Commercial kitchens are still mostly male-dominated, and they really tend to not take you seriously if you're a small girl, so I can imagine Alice worked hard to be taken seriously.

Reply to Winterabbit: I don't think Ryo is a simp?? Haha. There's times in the anime where he corrects her or talks back. I think apart from knowing Alice is sensitive, a big reason he holds back as well is because he owes the Nakiris some, and she is technically still his boss.

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