Chapter 48: Der Weiße Ritter Der Tafel
Inside a building, not far from Kensuke's restaurant, Eishi Tsukasa stood alone in his kitchen cooking his nine course menu. Silently, and with great attention to detail, whilst the sole three tables available to potential customers, were full of satisfied persons. As he finalised the plating for one of the three tables to go out, the first seat wondered how Ken was doing when he suddenly noticed Rindō accompanied by a red haired boy and a blue haired girl enter the dimly lit dining area.
Whilst he knew exactly why Rindō was here, no doubt awaiting her daily engorgement of food, the appearance and arrival of the other two surprised him.
Putting that train of thought to the back burner of his mind, Tsukasa gestured for the serving staff to approach his workstation and take the plates of food towards their detained tables. "Please be careful..." he winced, noticing the two waiters shifting plates in their arms, anxiously. "Try not to jog the plating, too much okay". Nodding their heads, whilst sweat dropping, the waitstaff carried the 'precious cargo' out of the kitchen.
"Chef Tsukasa", the voice of his head of service spoke approaching him deftly. "Chef Rindō is demanding a table for herself as well as for two 'plus ones'. I told her she'd have to wait for one of the three to become available but she insists on having a table".
Running a hand though his white hair, Tsukasa tried very hard not to imagine the irate expression that Rindō was sending him from the other side of the serving window. "Just this once set up a table in the middle of the room... Rindō will kill me if I don't allow her to eat my cooking". The head waiter nodded his head and swiftly spun around to carry out his new duty.
"He better give us a table..." the second seat grumbled, as she paced back an forth. "I distinctly remember telling him that I would demand food each of the five days of the Moon Festival. Ken remembered and give me delicious food each day but Tsukasa always was a perfectionist. Even down to the number of people allowed at one time". Paling at the second seat's increasing annoyance at them being told to wait, Sōma and Megumi decided to intervene and keep chef Rindō from loosing even more of her temper.
"Chef Rindō", Sōma asked carefully keeping his voice neutral but with a an air of curiosity. "Back when I challenged Kensuke, you mentioned that you still don't know how good a chef he is... but surely if he defeated the former third seat you must have some sort of idea?" That seemed to get the desired affect. The question successfully diverted the redhead girl's irateness into fondness as she grinned and turned to the two first years, telling them about the two food wars that had led Kensuke to taking the third seat of the Ten.
All while he was still just a first year.
"His name was Tōsuke Megishima", Rindō began calmly, "that was the name of whom Ken took the third seat from. And it only took him two food wars for me and Tsukasa to recognise him as truly worthy of the Ten". Wide and starry eyed, Megumi bounded forwards. "Only two food wars? Do you remember what Ken cooked?" The corresponding grin, by Rindō, was all the evidence the first years needed to have to know that she very much remembered.
"When he first accepted a food war against Megishima it was obvious to all that he was completely unsure of himself as a chef. Still, challenging the ramen specialist with his own ramen, inspired by Icelandic Hákarl, Ken showed tremendous fortitude. Yet, Megishima still won but one that day we of the Ten, us whom are third years now, knew that Ken was someone that we should keep an eye on".
Staring up at the ceiling, Rindō allowed herself a moment of joyful recollection before returning to her anecdote.
"Little did we know that it would take Ken precisely two weeks to get revenge for his defeat... and it was from then onwards that he got his epithet: the Silent King". Grinning, she pulled out a phone from her blazer pocket and scrolled through her photos before finding one and then reversing the screen, so that Megumi and Sōma could see.
The picture showed Kensuke, albeit younger, wearing blue chefs 'whites', an apron and a topknot standing before another collapsed chef whom was in all fours and staring at the ground. "Scroll left"; Rindō instructed.
Doing so Megumi found herself staring at a photograph of a plate of food with a par of hands reaching for it. "... Is this Ken's winning dish?" She asked. Rindō simply nodded her head. "Yeah, It was so delicious! Ken and Megishima made the topic based around Laksa: to which Ken substituted chicken for cuttlefish and curry powder for jalapeño chillies".
"With one dish, and only one days worth of prior food war experience, Kensuke won the third seat. And from then on me, Ken and Tsukasa have been friends, although Tsukasa would say rivals, but for me... I wouldn't have us any other way than friends".
Seeing the genuine, although catlike, smile on the third year girl's face, Megumi felt a wave of happiness rich through her body fill in their with a strength that she hadn't realised she had needed. 'Ken is loved by his friends', she realised as she returned an equally genuine smile back to Rindō. "Thank you... chef Rindō", Megumi stuttered, "thank you for being a friend to my brother".
Rindō smiled patting Megumi on the shoulder, remembering her and Tsukasa's dismay at a fellow third year being bested by a first year. Megishima had been the ramen master and he'd been expected to become a lead in the culinary world yet Kensuke had totally usurped him. And whilst Rindō knew that Megishima wasn't the sort of person to get hung up over a food war defeat she did know that those in the ramen industry that the former third seat had supported were not so forgiving.
"Miss Kobayashi?" The smile of Rindō's face slowly disappeared as the voice of Tsukasa's head waiter reentered the conversion. The second seat hated being called by her family name, as it made her sound old and forgetful. Turning her head away for the beaming smiles of Megumi and Sōma, the second seat looked at the middle aged man in a tuxedo. "Has Tsukasa given us a table yet?" She asked, exasperatedly tapping her foot against the carpeted floor. "I reserved a table, originally for five but now for three".
The head waiter bowed his head as he apologised for the delay in setting up a table in the centre of the atmospherically lit dining room. "Please forgive me miss Kobayashi but we had already given your reservation to another table... due to your late arrival but..." he continued. "Please accept this newly setup forth table, allowed by chef Tsukasa, as an apology".
Rindō smiled cattishly before grabbing both Sōma and Megumi's hands and dragging them towards their selected table. "Tonight's menu consists of a full nine course Symphony of Fall Selections", the head waiter stated, handing over a copy of the set-menu's to each of the group.
"The first course will be ready for you shortly, and I should mention this now, that once you have finished the first course the other eight will arrive in short succession afterwards. Per, chef Tsukasa's wishes".
Rindō turned her head towards the window, from behind which, where the form of the white haired first seat was clearly visible at the stove. "Of course", she mused. "This is why I demanded five days worth of food from him and Ken after all. And now tonight makes up for them calling me a glutton. I mean come on, really?"
Turning her head back towards Sōma and Megumi, the second seat attempted to get them to side with her a though all she was met with were two sets off golden eyes averting her gaze. "You did kinda go around the festival eating... chef Rindō", Megumi stuttered. "But I'd also like to say that eating at a festival is kind of the whole point of going to a festival". Throwing her arms around the blue haired girl, Rindō grinned. "Aww thats so sweet of you to say, you're so considerate and hospitable!"
The girls were immediately distracted by the sudden arrival of the first course: Sakura Shrimp Bisque with a single tuile deftly balanced on the edge of the bowl. The elegance and simplicity were simply beguiling to witness. "Oooh!" Rindō drooled. "If the following eight courses are as beautiful to behold as this, then Tsukasa will have our done himself again!"
Looking down at the bisque in front of him, Sōma was befuddled. "I don't get it? Aren't Sakura shrimp a quintessentially spring ingredient?" His question was shared by Megumi, albeit unspoken but then immediately shelved upon dipped her spoon into the bowl and then bringing the bisque to her lips. As soon as she tasted the sweetness of the shrimps melded together, very subtly, with tomato and paprika; the blue haired girl felt a great excitement rush through her body.
Noticing the sense of joy and transcendence that were seeming to be evoked within his girlfriend, Sōma couldn't help but be immediately intrigued. And so he too dug his spoon into the bowl and drank down the bisque, with equal abandon as Megumi and Rindō were doing. As he looked over, preparing to playfully tease her, he noticed a heavy blush spread across Megumi's face. And before he could say anything, he found himself pounced upon by his girlfriend, her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips smashed against his.
"I see that you two are as inseparable and lovey dovey as ever", a calm yet authoritative voice announced. Megumi and sprang apart, abashed, and fixing their gaze upon the appearance of a frowning Eizan. "As if you two weren't annoying enough already".
"What are you doing here Eizan?" Rindō asked eyebrow raised before Sōma could even let loose an angry retort towards the ninth seat of the Ten. "I'm here, Rindō... Senpai", he swiftly corrected, "because I heard that Sōma beat Kuga in the Moon festival. Me and Tsukasa bet on who should win, and as Sōma won..." He gritted his teeth, as if saying the redhead boy's name had caused him immense pain. "... I owe Tsukasa money, and so I'm here to honour that bet".
Gripping the edge of his seat to hide his growing anger at the level of so little trust and faith that Eizan seemingly had in Kuga, Sōma was suddenly glad for the head waiter interrupted them to announce the simultaneous arrivals of the next eight courses. Grinning, as he walked past their table, Eizan bent down and whispered into Sōma's ear.
"I hope you're ready Sōma... the future of the culinary world is soon to change".
No sooner had the ninth seat left them, the second seat jumped up and bolted after him. A glorified angry scowl gracing her face. "If you'll excuse me for a moment", Rindō had muttered as she had left. "I need to kill that idiot". The irate redhead girl returned not five minutes later with a look upon her face that told the two quiet first years that she was in no mood to talk, and so they all ate and thoroughly enraptured by the first seat's food.
Just as they had put down their forks, Sōma and Megumi were approached by the tall white haired Eishi Tsukasa. Expecting him to be humble and gracious, the two first years were taken by surprise when Tsukasa immediately broke into sweats about the lighting of the room being too dark, or the temperature being too cold. And then the way he switched from being worried about his restaurant setup to having an almost iron clad certainty of his own food, stunned them.
"My cooking is all about harnessing the full potential of every ingredient I'm given, by removing any and all evidence that they have been done so by mere human hands. And then presenting the very best dish to the customers that grace my restaurant. Yet, paradoxically trying to remove any facet of my presence in my cooking, is in itself my presence, thus my need to continue harnessing my skills to the point where food is so delicious that people truly think that it must be divine".
Tsukasa's words reverberated around inside Sōma's brain as he and Megumi departed the first seats restaurant, splitting from Rindō whom said she still had to visit chef Momo's pâtisserie. Allowing himself to bask once more in the discovery of Tsukasa's culinary might, the redhead boy grinned as he began to come up with ideas that may stand up to him. "I wonder if I could get him to accept a food war challenge?"
Immediately, the boy found himself grabbed and forced to look into the narrowing eyes of his girlfriend. "No!" Megumi spoke plainly and firmly. "You almost gave me a heart attack by changing Ken and whilst I know my brother now sees you in a new light, the first seat is still relatively unknown". With both her hands on her hips and a pout on her face, framed by her twin pigtails and dressed in her academy uniform, Sōma gave in to her not subtle demand.
Taking her hand in his, the boy brought a kiss down upon her knuckle. "You know your cute when you're pouting", he chuckled before booping her on the nose. Blushing, Megumi want up on tiptoes and brushed his unruly hair out of his eyes. "You really can be sweet, when you're not being goofy", she giggled. Smiling giddily, the two teenagers walked down the street, hand in hand towards their final destination of the night.
"I really hope Erina doesn't get annoyed by us visiting this late at night", Sōma queried. "I brought a couple of Hu Jiao Bing for her and Hisako, if they'd like them" he stated holding a two napkins that were wrapped around the aforementioned food items. "I think you mean early" Megumi replied, chuckling. "It's so late it's practically morning... half past one. As soon as we're finished I want to go back to the dorm and sleep".