*SWOOSH*

The sound of a miniature hurricane rumbled inside the dojo as a blade cut through the air.

"Close, I'm so close, but I just can't get over this final wall." Masanaka muttered to himself as he fell to his knees and punched the floor in frustration. "What is this technique missing?"

Suddenly, a knock came from the door of the dojo.

"Lord Masanaka, Sir Hagimoto is here to see you." The voice of his old servant came from the other side.

Masanaka stood up and straightened his training wear. "Let him in."

The door slid open to reveal an old man in servant robes and a heavyset man in luxurious robes standing beside him. The servant gestured for the heavyset man to enter before closing the door behind him.

"Sir Hagimoto, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Masanaka greeted with a smile, his earlier frustration gone from his face.

"Lord Masanaka, your dedication to pursuing the way of the sword is admirable as always." Hagimoto smiled before putting on his business face. "I have a little problem I could use your assistance with."

"How can I help?"

"There is this establishment that has recently opened in the Isawa district."

"What about this establishment?"

"They stole a recipe from us, and even sold it to the Motoyama Inn."

"How despicable."

"Yes." Hagimoto nodded in helplessness. "We could have let it go with just that, since it was just a sauce, but one of our chefs was in the middle of coming up with a new recipe and had it written down somewhere."

"They stole it too?"

The owner of Suzuya's let out a sigh. "Yes."

"That is unforgivable!"

Masanaka thought about the technique that he put his life and soul into developing. If someone had stolen it from him he would go on a rampage.

"Worry not, Sir Hagimoto. I shall tear the establishment of these upstarts down and retrieve your recipe."

"I am grateful." The heavyset man said with a bow. "I hear Sosuke-sensei has written a new masterpiece just recently and his band are coming up from Shimamaki City to perform at the Minami-za theatre. As a token of my appreciation, I've reserved the best seats available for your family to view the play."

"A new masterpiece from Sosuke-sensei!?" Masanaka eyes lit up.

Sosuke-sensei was a vetern playwright who had written masterpieces in the past. Like Masanaka, he was rumored to have hit a wall in his writing and has fallen from grace ever since. Masanaka would love to see the new play of a man who had overcome a wall. His wife and daughters especially loved plays written by Sosuke-sensei.

"Then I gladly accept."

"This is Umezaki's?" Masanaka muttered as he looked up at the plum blossom carved into the signboard of the large two-storey building he just arrived before.

He entered the building and was greeted by a charming young girl with shoulder length hair. "Welcome to Umezaki's. Seating for one?"

"Yes." Masanaka nodded.

"Would you prefer, smoking, non-smoking, or a private room?"

'Smoking and non-smoking seating...I never heard of such a thing.'

Masanaka would have preferred a private room but he came here to observe the place.

"Non-smoking."

"This way please." The girl smiled and led him into the large hall on the right.

She led him to a table where he took off his swords and laid them on the floor beside his seat to get comfortable.

"This is our menu." The girl held out a finely painted menu for Masanaka to see.

"I have heard you serve a new dish here." Masanaka said instead. "I would like one of those."

"One hamburger it is. Would you like anything to drink with that?"

"Black tea."

"I'll be back shortly with your order."

The girl returned shortly with his tea and a steamy towel.

"You can use this to clean your hands if you'd like."

Masanaka picked up the towel and found it was a hot and damp.

'How novel, I've never had any establishment serve me a towel before.'

Masanaka observed his surroundings as he waited for his order. The restaurant had quite a few patrons for a newly opened establishment. There was a strange contrast as the establishment felt high-end but everyone was eating with their hands. The people around him were all enjoying their food.

There was pretty young girl with dark eyes sitting at the front on a small platform, playing the flute for the entire floor. Although the girl was playing, Masanaka noticed that she was still sneaking glances around the restaurant, keeping a watchful eye.

'Is this the habits of a waitress or something else?'

The style of the melody sounded nothing like he was familiar with but Masanaka couldn't help but feel entranced by the exotic sound. The second melody played was even more enthralling and Masanaka lost himself in the otherworldly music.

The waitress soon returned with his order and placed it on the table. "This is your hamburger and black tea, enjoy your meal."

"Excuse me, miss?" A young woman from the table beside Masanaka called out to the waitress.

Her companion was a young man, they seemed to be on an outing together.

"The melodies that were just playing, are those original creations? What are they called?" The young woman asked.

"The first melody is called the River Flows in You and the second one is called Mask Off."

'Mask Off...I've never heard of such a beautiful melody before.' Masanaka thought to himself. 'It's as if the melody was created solely for the flute.'

"Thank you." The young woman nodded before turning back to her companion knocking over her cup in the process.

The liquid spilled off the table and onto her sash.

"Oh no!"

There was a scramble to clean up the mess. Masanaka ignored it and turned his attention to the strange layered food in front of him.

The bottom layer was some sort of bread, followed by a large meat layer, and what looked like cheese but melted, then there was an assortment of vegetables on top, followed by another piece of bread with sesame seeds stuck to it.

Seeing as he had no choice, Masanaka picked up the hamburger with his hands like all the other patrons and bit into it.

The bread was soft but firm and the meat was juicy as the flavours exploded into his mouth. He felt a shock as flavours he had never tasted before spread through his entire mouth. The taste of sweetness, sour, and saltiness cycled through his taste buds.

It was like a hurricane had ran through his sense of taste. Masanaka looked down at the hamburger in his hands.

'To think all this came from layering the food like this...'

"That's it! Layers!" The people around him stared at him but he didn't even notice.

Suddenly, Masanaka was hit by an epiphany.

'If I layer my hurricane to create a whole like this hamburger, I can complete my technique!'

Masanaka enjoyed his hamburger as he immersed himself in his enlightenment, completely forgetting the intial reason of why he came to the establishment in the first place.

The waitress returned to the table next to his and held out another sash as she spoke to the young woman.

"The owner says that if it's not too unpleasant for you, this sash belongs to the owner's elder sister and you may wear it as a replacement for your stained one."

"Thank you very much, I had thought our outing would be ruined. I thankfully accept the owner's generosity."

"Then, this way please, we've prepared a changing room for you." The waitress led the young woman away.

Masanaka was surprised at the level of customer service they provided here. When the waitress returned, Masanaka asked for the bill. After paying for his meal he walked into the hallway and paused.

'Wait? Haven't I come here for a reason? That's right.'

Masanaka turned away from the entrance and walked towards the back of the hallway to go find the owner. Since the restaurant provided such a great experience, Masanaka decided to have a chat with the owner to determine what type of individual he was first.

'There is no way someone who provides such a dining experience, someone who treats their customers like that would steal from someone else.'

As he reached the intersection of the hallway, Masanaka noticed someone coming down the stairs from the second floor.

"Lord Saburosuke, I didn't expect to see you here. And Lady Tsuru." Masanaka bowed politely.

This surprised Masanaka.

'Wasn't Lady Tsuru sickly and rarely showed herself?'

"Lord Masanaka." Lord Saburosuke spoke as they both nodded at Masanaka. "We frequently patronize this establishment as it is a favourite of ours."

Masanaka made some polite conversation with the two before excusing himself politely.

'Good thing I had not caused any problems for this place or I wouldn't have had a good time if I angered someone of Lord Saburosuke's standing.' Masanaka thought as his back was drenched in sweat.

Masanaka decided to visit Sir Hagimoto to let him know he must have been mistaken somehow. When he arrived at Suzuya's, Masanaka noticed something was wrong. The usually busy Suzuya's had no customers and the employees were all moving furniture outside.

"What happened here?" He asked a familiar manager.

"Lord Masanaka." The manager bowed and he dared not lie to someone like Lord Masanaka. "Rats got into one of the barrels from our morning shipment of goods somehow. While we were serving breakfast they got out and swarmed the entire establishment, and now we have to shutdown to clean it up. But this will greatly affect our future business as word will spread and this may tarnish our reputation."