Continuation of 'Ice' and 'Fire'. Alice and Ryo work together and think of a dish to put up in a fight against Central.
"Ryo. I have a huuuuge favor to ask of you, okay?" An eight-year-old Alice said, making doe eyes at Ryo. "It's super important!"
Ryo was already feeling the dread, trying to imagine various things that Alice could ask for. "What is it, miss? Another shopping trip? Haven't you maxed out your dad's card yet?"
"No, it's not that! And no, I haven't… yet." Alice answered his questions. "It's about cooking, actually. You see, my grandfather will be visiting Denmark in a few weeks. I want to serve him a dish, of course! But I think I might not be able to do it well on my own, so would you be my assistant? Pretty please?"
"Miss Alice, you always manage well without me," Ryo said, genuinely confused over this request. And he was right, Alice was a well-rounded chef who barely needed his help, and at this point, she had more wins against him in their food match-ups. "The only thing I could probably help you out with is picking out your seafood or preparing it for you, but I doubt that's what you intend to cook, huh?"
"Well, you're right, I don't intend to cook some straightforward seafood dish," Alice said. Alice never cooked something straightforward. "But grandpa is one tough customer. I don't think he ever genuinely liked anything I made before."
Ryo had only seen the Nakiri family patriarch in photographs, and heard the name mentioned here and there. He knew now that the Nakiri family was a big deal in the food world in Japan, and how Alice's grandfather was currently at the helm of the family. It made sense he would be incredibly selective or picky with food.
"So whaddya want me to do, miss?" Ryo asked.
"Just… help me out with everything. From planning the dish and executing it. Maybe you can figure out what it is I'm missing."
Ryo began to look concerned. "Miss Alice… unless you haven't realized yet, we have totally different cooking styles. This sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"Ryo! You're so cruel! Just be a proper gentleman and say 'yes', okay? This is really important to me!" Alice pouted, eyes looking like she was on the verge of tears and another tantrum.
Ryo knew he had already lost then and there. "...Alright. If you say so, Miss Alice."
"Rentarou Kusonoki," Alice said, reading aloud from a post she found on her phone. "He's won most of his shokugekis, his only losses being ones when he challenged the Elite Ten. Not a shabby record."
"Don't go praising that punk," Ryo said, his head buried in a recipe book that he had found on Alice's shelf. She kept a vast expanse of European cookbooks. "Miss, what do you think's a good theme ingredient to suggest?"
"He doesn't seem to have a specific specialty we should be wary of," Alice said, scrolling down social media posts of this so-called Rentarou. "This guy's so full of himself. What's with all the photos of his face?"
Alice herself had so many posts of her face, but at least she was cute, Ryo thought. "...Overconfident punk," Ryo muttered. He turned back to Alice again. "I was asking what you thought for the theme ingredient."
Alice looked at him, as if stunned. "Are you sick? You're voluntarily asking me for my opinion?" She usually waltzed in and mouthed off her opinions and suggestions when he had a shokugeki, none of which he asked for.
"It's your research society, Chief Alice," Ryo said, deciding to humor her slightly by calling her chief. He took a pause immediately after, as if regretting it. She might grow too used to it, and then nag him to keep calling her chief from now on.
"Why, thank you, Ryo," Alice said, looking pleased, but quickly turning thoughtful. "Hmm, very well… I suggest… Salmon."
Salmon, huh?
Ryo came back to Alice the next day with a crate containing salmon.
"Salmon?" Alice asked, pinching her nose in reaction to the undoubted smell of a sea creature, flailing around in the crate. "R-Ryo, that thing is still alive!" She knew that fresh fish was best for cooking, but eight-year old Alice was still squeamish about having to end the poor thing's life.
Ryo only sighed, and quietly took the salmon onto the kitchen counter, and in one quick motion stabbed it. Alice flinched, closing her eyes to avoid seeing the moment of murder. As she opened them, Ryo had already started filleting.
His knife work was impressive and quick, showing expertise rivalling adult chefs. Alice watched him in awe, and the glistening pink meat of the salmon. He really did have a good eye for seafood.
"It's in season now, so you might want to cook salmon for your grandfather," Ryo said, as he continued working. "And then add booze. Old men love booze."
"...You do have the taste of an old man, don't you?" Alice said, sounding like a jab at him. But she was right-Ryo frequently cooked for grown men in a pub, and his tastes were shaped similarly. His masculine taste may be more suited for someone like her grandfather.
"Well, at least I don't have the taste of a kid," Ryo muttered. "But you asked for my opinion. There it is."
"Hmm…" Alice looked thoughtful, gazing at the succulent salmon. "I could brine it with white wine, and then cold-cure it in liquid nitrogen…"
Ryo recognized the process. She was talking about gravlaks, which was Scandinavian cold-cured salmon. "...You know, ordinary people would just freeze it in their fridge."
"Yes, but the condensation in freezers will cause ice crystals to form on the salmon, and liquid nitrogen doesn't do that," Alice said.
Ryo looked baffled for a minute-he still didn't know much about Alice's cooking methods. "Yeah, whatever you say, miss. But are you just going to serve cold-cut salmon by itself? Kinda feels like it needs something else."
"You're right," Alice said. "I can make an entire cold spread, or…"
Ryo shook his head. Again with Alice and the cold dishes. "He's from Japan. We eat cold meals for breakfast here in Scandinavia, but the Japanese? Your gramps probably thinks it's freezing here, the last thing the old man wants is a cold platter."
Alice pouted, and childishly stomped on the floor. "I wasn't asking your opinion, Ryo!"
"Huh? Who was the one begging me for help a few days ago?"
She went up to him, bringing a fist lightly to his shoulder in infuriation. "I don't remember such a thing!"
"And we're serving lunch, aren't we? You need to serve something substantial," Ryo went on, unflinching even as Alice kept pounding on his back. "You never cook anything filling, miss."
"And you never cook anything that's just light and refreshing!" Alice said, pouting. Their cooking styles were really at opposite ends. But she had to give Ryo's points some credit. He did have taste much closer to an old man's after all.
She recalled seeing Ryo playing around with bread dough the other day, and baking his first batch of bread-a feat for someone so young. Alice hasn't even attempted to try, intimidated by the hard work in kneading and pulling the dough. Bread would pair well with salmon, and was filling indeed. But what to do with it? Was a smorrebrod too simple? Or should she just go for rice instead?
Bread, and rice…
"Ryo," she suddenly said, as an idea hit her. "Let's make salmon coulibiac."
Ryo was pretty sure the only time he was in the same kitchen as Alice was when they were going up against each other.
He developed his entries for the Autumn Elections by himself, and so did Alice. Sure, they taste-tested things for each other on occasion, but they didn't exactly cook together.
He felt slightly off, and hyper-aware that to his side, Alice was working on her salmon dish. They (or more exactly, Ryo) had given the Cutting Edge clubroom a thorough cleaning, and since then they used it as a homebase. Alice had been wary about cooking in the Nakiri Mansion, where Azami Nakiri was a short walk away.
This wasn't a competition, not exactly. But Ryo worked on his own dish, and Alice worked on hers-they figured that was the only way they'd get ideas from each other, if they challenged each other.
"Ryo~" Alice soon sang, poking him on the shoulder blades. Ryo turned around, mindful of the food he had cooking on the stove before him. "Say 'aaahhh'!"
He just stared at her blankly, thinking that surely Alice was up to no good. But at the same time, he knew that when Alice had her mind made up, there was no changing it. He opened his mouth as she requested.
She wordlessly shoved a rice ball into his mouth, giggling.
Ryo grabbed the rice ball by the hand as he chewed on it thoughtfully. Since her stagiaire, Alice had taken a fancy to everyday food, thinking of ways on how to innovate them with molecular gastronomy. So Ryo was sure this was no ordinary rice ball. The rice was seasoned with spices and powdered seafood. The filling inside was salmon-deliciously tender and flaky. And then something else-something richer.
Caviar. Of course, Alice Nakiri would put absurdly expensive Russian caviar in a rice ball, coz why the hell wouldn't she?
"That's just for fun," Alice said, as if she read his expression and was now telling him to not judge the rice ball so harshly. "I'm just trying to bounce ideas around."
Ryo turned back to his dish, which was just about done. He put it out from the fire, and plated it. It was a spiced salmon-Alice could tell from the fragrance-on a salad bed, with yogurt dressing.
Ryo cut the salmon, and speared a portion onto a fork, offering it to Alice. "Try it, miss."
Alice didn't even take the fork-she simply opened her mouth and took the bite, much to Ryo's surprise. She chewed thoughtfully, pleasantly surprised by the mix of spices hitting her palate. Ryo had been playing around with spices more, after his stagiaire. "Cinnamon… turmeric… coriander?"
"And cumin," Ryo said, taking a bite for himself.
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not as sensitive to spices like Akira-kun!" Alice said, pouting a little. "Although, it's not bad, Ryo. But it feels a little lacking. The treatment on the salmon is still pretty minimal. If we're going to beat Central, I think we should be a little more ambitious."
...Ambitious, huh?
A memory resurfaced in Ryo's mind.
"Miss," Ryo suddenly said, and Alice looked up to him curiously. "...Let's make salmon coulibiac."
Alice made a dish that was a little too ambitious.
Soe Nakiri looked down at the dish with concern clear in his features. So this was what the kids have been so occupied with the past days in the kitchen. They caused quite a stir, and he heard that the servants occasionally had to break them up from an argument.
It turns out, they had been attempting to make coulibiac.
"...This is an interesting dish from you, Alice," Senzaemon said, voicing what even Soe thought. Under ordinary circumstances, Alice wouldn't pick this dish. Her father glanced at Ryo, who stood by Alice's side, and he wondered how much the young boy influenced Alice's choices.
"I tried experimenting a little!" Alice said, excitedly. "I won't learn anything new if I don't step out now and then, right? Please try it!"
Soe and Senzaemon smiled. They could already tell that this dish was not going to be successful-far too many components for an eight-year-old to carry out well-but at the least, it would be a learning experience.
As they took a bite, Soe smiled bitterly. He was right. This was too ambitious for the kids, despite their talent. So many things could go wrong, and the few ones that did impacted the dish greatly.
"...The butter rice is overdone, and the moisture affects the bread around it negatively," Senzaemon said, unable to hold back a critique. "The bread would benefit from being folded a couple more times."
He paused to glance at Alice, wondering how she was taking it. She was now clasping her hands together, as if to still them from shaking nervously. Senzaemon had to remind himself to go a bit easier on her-she was only eight, after all. "It was an ambitious attempt, Alice. A few things went wrong, but that's only due to inexperience. In a few years and with practice, you would greatly improve. It's good to see you step out of your usual cuisine."
Alice let out a deep sigh, as if she'd been holding her breath in for a while. It wasn't a perfect critique, but the compliments she got were enough to satisfy her. She would simply have to keep working on it a little more, right?
But the last man at the dining table hadn't made a move, hadn't even touched the dish. It was Alice's uncle, Azami. He simply sat there, with that stone-cold look on his face, and then said:
"You put things too nicely, father. The truth is, this dish is trash. Garbage."
Alice gasped, and Ryo stood there, shocked, unable to believe what the man said. Senzaemon and Soe were no different, staring at Azami in disbelief.
"...She's only eight, Azami," Soe said, attempting to reason with his brother-in-law. "That she even attempted this dish is something else."
"You dote on her too much, and let her pick up filthy, stray dogs," Azami gave the quickest glance at Ryo when he said that, as if he was too repulsed to even look at the boy. "And this is the result. Her cooking is garbage."
Alice grabbed onto Ryo's arm, as if clinging on for dear life. He could feel her shaking, and knew she was doing her best to hold in her tears. She was clearly frozen in fear, unable to get a word in.
But unlike her, Ryo wasn't afraid of adults.
"You-!"
"Get out of my house, Nakamura." Ryo almost spoke up, but he was interrupted by Soe, who suddenly stood from his seat, glaring down at his brother-in-law. He did not refer to him as a Nakiri now-but Nakamura. "Get out!"
Azami only scoffed, and got up from his seat, and left.
With a groan, Soe slumped onto his seat, exchanging a look with his father. "What the hell is wrong with that man?"
Ryo had an arm around Alice's shoulder now, as the girl seemed like she would pass out or that her knees would give away any minute now.
Finally, she was unable to hold the tears back, her face turning red as she cried.
"...I hate him!" Alice yelled, her voice wracked with sobs. "I really, really, hate him!"
That was the last time Alice and Ryo had seen Azami Nakiri. Senzaemon would later ban him from the Nakiri family, and he was honestly not missed. Yet here he was again, with Central, and his attempt at taking over Totsuki.
Ryo thought that the most appropriate dish to tell Central to go fuck themselves was the salmon coulibiac Azami had called garbage some seven years ago. Alice agreed, and they spent many nights fixing the mistakes they made seven years past, and pushing the limits of the dish.
When the salmon was muddled by the flavor of the grains, Ryo picked out a spice blend that would enhance its flavors. When the dish had become too rich and filling, Alice suggested they use disproportionate seasoning. When the dish seemed too fatty, they came up with the spinach crepe.
"Mmm, this is good, Ryo," Alice said, savoring the test coulibiac he made in the Cutting Edge clubroom. "You're definitely going to win with this, I'm sure."
Ryo shook his head, and Alice was confused at his disagreement.
"It's not my win, miss," he said, explaining. "It's our win."
Ryo could tell that the judges during the shokugeki with Rentarou knew that, as they glanced at him, and then Alice, as they ate the coulibiac.
This isn't a dish that Kurokiba Ryo couldn't have made on his own. It reflects his years of rivalry with Alice Nakiri, and how they learn from each other. This dish could have been made by either of them.
In a score of three to zero, Ryo won the first victory against Central.
Azami Nakiri had bothered to show up at the end of the shokugeki, giving a cold, almost mocking applause from up at the audience.
"Congratulations, Alice," he said, but the look on his face was nothing of warm congratulations at all. "Your Cutting Edge club was the only research club that won in today's matches. All other thirty-two clubs have been disbanded."
Alice looked up at the bleachers, staring right at her uncle. She's come a long way, Ryo thought. When she used to shake and shiver at the sight of the man, she now stood straight, and faced him head-on. "Regardless of what happened to the other clubs, we can't disregard that Ryo-my filthy, stray dog-won against one of your Central Elite. Could you really still stand there and believe that Central is the only way?"
"It is the duty of a Nakiri to uphold only the finest gourmet," Azami said. "I thought you would understand this, Alice."
"There's only one thing I have come to understand all these years, uncle," Alice said. "And it's that… I hate you."
Ryo found that he was smiling to himself.
She finally managed to tell it to his face.
In the dark pathway leading out of the stadiums and into the waiting rooms, Ryo and Alice walked side by side, as they usually did after food wars, heading out towards the parking exit to wait for their ride.
Halfway down that path, Ryo suddenly pushed Alice up against the wall, seizing her lips in a kiss.
"Mmm, Ryo!" Alice was caught off guard, but did not put up any resistance, instead kissing back fervently as Ryo inched his body closer to hers. Alice briefly glanced sideways to check if there was anyone in the vicinity, and then closed her eyes again when she thought there was no one. She threw her arms up around her aide's shoulders, and he held onto her hips, lifting her up so she was a bit more level with his height. Alice responded by wrapping her legs around his waist. As they kissed, she could almost feel Ryo smirking into her mouth.
"...Someone seems pleased," Alice said, with a teasing grin, when they both parted for air. The lip gloss she'd been wearing was a smudged up mess all over her mouth now.
"Yeah, you were kinda hot. Couldn't help it," Ryo said, that smirk still on her face. The bandana was somehow on his head now. Alice couldn't tell when he put it on.
"Me? Hot? Tell me more," she said. Alice sure loved hearing her praises.
"When you told your uncle you hated him," he said, the grin on his face almost going wider as he remembered it. "Fucking hot, miss Alice."
"That was probably one of the best moments of my life right there, not gonna lie," Alice said. She felt good, so good, to just get that out of her chest. "But you did well too, Ryo. You totally crushed that Central punk. I'm so proud."
"Of course I won," Ryo said, almost smugly. "Were you doubting me, huh?"
"I never did for one second," she said, and he believed her.
Ryo then let her down gently back on her feet, and pulled down the hem of her chef coat, which had been hiked up to her waist by his suddenness. Alice took a moment to wipe off the messy lipgloss from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"You owe me, one, Alice," Ryo said, just as he pulled out the bandana from his hair, and they resumed the walk to the parking lot, as if they weren't just torridly making out a few seconds ago.
"Well, I guess I do. You did win in my name, after all," she said, linking her arm with his. "Hmm, how about I be your girlfriend?"
"H-Huh?" Ryo was taken aback at how casually she'd just suggested it. Sure, he brought it up when that Central punk challenged him, but he didn't expect Alice to actually remember.
"Oh! The car's here!" Alice said, pointing at their limousine, as if she didn't see the thing almost daily. She let go of Ryo's arm, and ran off ahead of him.
a/n: when will I learn to write things in order of events?? Never?? orz sorry about that. Anyway that match against Central was iconic and one of my favorite things in the series. A sub (or the english dub??) that I watched before said that Ryo's dish in that match could've been made by either Alice or Ryo, which means both of them were very present in the dish, so I imagine they put their heads together for it.
In another note I'm currently following/reading Unleashed by havinglunch and Kinktober2020 by Tails is FLUFFY. Great fics! i cry tears of joy when I see other aliryo fics is2g
