I don't own Toriko just My Oc.

Chapter 69

Aiko yawned and stretched at the start of the new day. She opened the window and looked up at the clear blue sky. She picked out her outfit which was some dark blue jeans and a short sleeve white blouse with converse.

'Toriko-Kun called me yesterday to meet him, Terry and Komatsu.'Aiko thought 'I'll bring Aina and Shina along I'm sure it'll be nice.'

After a while Aiko called up Shina so that she'll be ready to meet up with the guys, it only took about an hour for the girls to meet them. Aiko saw Toriko and smiled at him.

'She's here!'Toriko thought smiling at her.

"Ai-chan! Shina-san!" Komatsu said smiling at the girls.

"Hi Komatsu."Shina said giving him a soft smile.

"Yo."Aiko said

"Aiko! Hey!"Toriko said smiling at her. He turn to the giant boulder, "Okay,this'll do the trick." He turn towards the group. "What do you think about this rock?"

"What is he going to do to that rock?"Shina asked

"I think he's going to test his strength?"Aiko whispered

"Huh...Ai-chan didn't you say you like strong guys?"Komatsu said Toriko's ears perked up.

"Yeah I guess I did say that."Aiko said giving it a little thought. "Why bring that up all of a sudden?"

'She likes strong guys?...does that mean that I might have a chance with her?'He thought 'This is great motivation!'

Toriko then walked around, Komatsu and Aiko watched him as he found a giant boulder. Shocking them at the size of it.

"What's with that size?!"Komatsu nervously said

"How big is it?"Shina asked

"It's almost the size of that house that you have in the backyard!"Aiko said to Shina.

"Oh you mean the garden shed?"Shina said

"That was a garden shed?!"Aiko exclaimed she turn her head towards Toriko. "Toriko-Kun isn't that a bit much?"

"It's pretty hard to find iron ore this big, ya know."Toriko said "I've got nothing bad to say about its hardness or durability." He made a stance.

"Be careful."Aiko said

"My cells have evolved even further with the Ozone herb."Toriko said "This is a perfect way to measure that power."

'I felt that my cells evolved too. I wonder how stronger he got?'Aiko thought looking closely at Toriko.

"13...14...15 Ren kugi punch!"Toriko exclaimed punching at the giant sized rock with greet force the Rock seemed to go up by the impact of Toriko's strength. Terry,Komatsu, Aiko and Shina was impressed when the rock broke into bits.

"All right!"He said "Heh. How 'bout that, Komatsu? Terry? Aiko? Shina? Aina?"

"B-beyond amazing!"Komatsu said Terry let out a howl agreeing, Aina nodded looking impressed.

"I felt a strong breeze from the power in that punch."Shina said "I think it was amazing."

"Wow...that's amazing Toriko-Kun!"Aiko said

'She just complemented me?'Toriko thought smiling and let out a happy shout.

"Okay, let's get some grub."Toriko said "Aiko, let's go find something!" He took Aiko's hand and ran to find whatever ingredients they could find leaving Shina and Komatsu with Terry.

Komatsu glanced at Shina not knowing what to do, he never had someone like Shina around so he really didn't know how to act or do with someone that's blind at all really.

"Komatsu."Shina said

"Huh...yes?"Komatsu said

Shina placed her hand on Komatsu's face, Komatsu froze and looked at Shina he felt her soft hand carefully tracing his face.

'Shina-San? It somehow feels a bit intimate.'Komatsu thought slightly blushing looking at the blind girl.

"S-Shina-S-san."Komatsu stuttered a bit sweat dripped down his face.

"So that's what you look like? Hehe"Shina said smiling at Komatsu her hand still on his cheek.

"What's so funny?"Komatsu asked still blushing.

Shina looked the other way.

"I smell miso..."Shina said

"Really where?"Komatsu asked Shina took out her cane and grabbed his hand as she walked following the miso scent.

"Shina-San! You didn't tell me where we're going!"Komatsu said

"We'll be fine!"Shina said smiling at him. "After all Terry and Aina are here to take care of us."

Meanwhile with Aiko and Toriko

"Toriko-kun! I found something good!"Aiko said up in a tree, she looked and Toriko wasn't around.

'Where'd he go?'Aiko thought looking around for her friend, she jumped and landed safely into the ground.

"Hey!" A voice said Aiko yelped and comically smacked the person. "Ow! Hey!"

"Gah! I'm sorry Toriko-Kun! You snuck up on me!"Aiko said as she apologized to him. Toriko rubbed his cheek. "Are you okay? Here let me check."

Aiko placed her hand on his cheek where you could see the slight pink mark. "You caught me off guard." She said Toriko placed his hand over hers.

'Huh?'Aiko thought looking at Toriko somehow she saw something in his eyes, there was something there that caught her attention she couldn't explain it.

"Aiko..."Toriko whispered he leaned getting closer to her, Aiko's eyes widen when she saw Toriko Lean to her as if it was in slow motion he was inches away from her lips.

"I found you!" Shina popped up breaking the atmosphere that they had. The two quickly stepped away from eachother, Toriko slightly blushing even more.

'We...we almost kissed! I was so close!'Toriko thought

'My heart...'Aiko thought slightly blushing

"Shina-San! Don't run off like that!"Komatsu said worriedly to her.

"I'm fine Komatsu. "Shina said smiling at him.

A few minutes later... The small group prepared what they found, grilling the meat in a small portable grill.

"I give thanks to all of the ingredients in the world."Toriko said

"Itadakimasu." The group said

Toriko immediately ate a piece of meat off the grill.

"Yum! A great light meat, like chicken."Toriko said "And when prepared this way, it overflows with juicy sweet fat."

"It's good, the skin is crunchy and fragrant."Aiko said "Like Peking duck."

"Ah, what would go great with this meat is the fava bean that me and Shina picked."Komatsu said

"That would go great with it, Komatsu."Shina said smiling feeling around her bag in a small pocket taking out the bean. "Here we go."

Komatsu took the bean from her hands and added a bit to it on the meat.

"Whoa! A miso glaze!"Toriko said excitedly he started to drool at the sight of it.

"Looks good! The glaze is making it sparkle!"Aiko said

"Smell good too."Shina said

Toriko and Aiko took a bite of it.

"With the added miso flavor, the taste is much deeper."Toriko said "The fragrant smell of the Misofava bean is spreading throughout my mouth."

"Ah~ I love it!"Aiko said smiling "Good find you guys!"

"Actually, Shina is the one that found it."Komatsu said

"But you help me get it. "Shina said "It was a team effort." She smiled at Komatsu. He smiled at her, but remembered that she can't see his expression.

"Shina-San..."Komatsu whispered

"Okay, let's keep loading more on the grill!"Toriko said

"Yeah! "Aiko said

While eating, Aiko glanced at Shina talking to Komatsu.

'I'm glad she's getting along with Komatsu and the others.'Aiko thought 'I think it's early for Shina and Aina to go with me...The Gourmet world...I'm curious about it, I wonder how far will I go with my ability?'

"Really?! You'll let me go?"Shina exclaimed breaking Aiko's train of thought.

"Yeah, I'm sure my boss will be alright with you visiting the kitchen in the restaurant."Komatsu said he then felt Shina's arms around him in a hug.

"Oh thank you Komatsu!"Shina said smiling at him, her cloudy eyes glinted with happiness. Komatsu slightly blushed at Shina's action. "I can't wait!"

A few days later...

Aiko was in her house talking to one of her close friends on the phone.

"How's the restaurant business going Ikuto?"Aiko asked

"It's going alright, thanks for picking up that order for me Aiko."Ikuto said

"No problem, if you need any help just give me a call."Aiko said

"Aiko, usually you visit me at the restaurant and we just hang out. When you call me is usually for something."Ikuto said

Aiko let out a sigh she knew that Ikuto would pick something up in this friendly phone call. After a few minutes Aiko told Ikuto what she wanted to do.

"Are you serious?"Ikuto asked in a very serious voice. "You want to go to the Gourmet world?"

Meanwhile With Komatsu and Shina

"Ah~ it smells amazing."Shina said "Thanks for inviting me."

"You're welcome, Shina-San."Komatsu said he started taking out some meat and started to prep it.

"Kya! Something just poked me!"Shina squealed making Komatsu stop what he was doing. He saw Yun lightly poking at Shina.

"Shina-San, this is Yun."Komatsu said "Yun is a baby wall penguin. "

"A baby wall penguin!"Shina said Komatsu took her hand to touch Yun. "Ah! He's so soft!" She petted the penguin as Yun smiled and lightly hugged her. "He's so warm and fluffy." She giggled.

Komatsu continued his cooking while Yun stayed near Shina. Soon two other cooks looked at them.

"Chef Komatsu sure has been ridiculously focused lately."

"He even brought in a friend...she's kinda cute."

"But isn't she blind?"

"So? She's still cute. I heard that those two formed a combo with That Bishokuya Toriko guy and that Aiko girl."

"Wait, she's blind so how can she cook?"

"I think it's a bad idea having a blind girl to cook, what if she screws up at something? I mean you have to see to be able to cook."

Shina's ears perked up, and gripped her cane. Her cloudy eyes downcast to the floor her long black hair covered her face. She knew that not being able to see would be a problem and she was used to the way people talk.

"Hey can you guys keep quiet?"Komatsu said over his shoulder.

"Ah yes!"

"Shina-San can you get me the pinklemon? It's on your right."Komatsu said getting back to his cooking.

Shina smiled softly at Komatsu, Yun took her hand to lead her to the basket, the little penguin seemed to like Shina. He glanced at Komatsu and at Shina, smiling at them.

"Here you go Komatsu."Shina said handing him the fruit.

"Thanks, you want to try this?"Komatsu said "It's a soup stock that I'm working on, open up." He fed her a bit of soup.

"It's mellow...and has a slight kick...but it's missing something."Shina said "But that's just me..."

"Actually I was thinking the same."Komatsu said "But I don't know what's missing."

"Hmmm..."Shina said "Have you thought of adding a bit of at his?" She searched in the basket of ingredients and took out an herb.

"You mean that?"Komatsu said looking at the herb and smelling it, it had a light spicy scent in it.

"T-that's if you want to...I'm just following what I think it'll work."Shina said

Komatsu chopped up the herbs and added a bit of it in the stock, he then tasted it and smiled.

"You have a nice palate Shina-san." Komatsu complemented

"Thanks..."Shina said smiling a bit. "When your blind your other senses get stronger, so I guess it's got it's good and the bad."

"I think your an amazing person Shina-san..."Komatsu said

Yum looked back and forth to his owner and his guest, Yun saw Komatsu would ask Shina about anything that he could think off. Making Yun curious at why Komatsu was asking a lot of questions...Until an idea popped in his head. That Komatsu might like Shina, The baby wallpenguin looked at Shina smiling and talking to Komatsu. Yun thought that it might be nice for him and Shina to grow closer together but how?

He then remembered something about the restaurant being decorated with hearts and arrows one time. Something about a baby with wings poking people to make them fall in love. Yun stopped to think he's a baby...with wings...so does that mean he can poke them to fall in love? He tilted his head curiously at this question. He wants to see Komatsu like this around Shina...Yun already likes Shina. Komatsu would be even happier to have a girl like her.

Yun smiled and proceeded with his plan! He waddled happily to the two people and poked both of them on their behind.

"Kya!" Shina squeaked

"Ah!" Komatsu said

Komatsu looked at Yun wondering why did he poke the two? Yun had a happy look on his face as if saying that he did a good job. While the two people rubbed the spot that Yun poked.

"Komatsu, someone is here to see you." The waiter said

Komatsu had a curious look when he walked to see who it was he was surprised to see Tina.

"Komatsu-kun...I finally got a hold of you!" Tina said her face plastered onto the glass door.

"Tina-san?" Komatsu said

"Huh?" Shina said

"Something really amazing happened, I heard!" Tina said excitedly

A few minutes later Tina sat on a chair with Komatsu and Shina.

"I heard' Komatsu-Kun." Tina said smiling "So you formed a combo with Toriko? And you right? You formed a combo with Aiko! Congratulations!"

"Ah, yes. Thank you very much." Komatsu said scratching the back of his head seemingly shy.

'Word travels fast...' Shina thought sipping some tea.

"Let me hear the whole story!" Tina said taking out her camera "It'll be an exclusive interview. What was the impetus?"

"Well, uh..." Komatsu said

"Huh...I..." Shina mumbled

"Did you two asked them as chefs?" Tina asked

"Well..."

"What dreams do you four of you have?" Tina asked

"Well, I don't know about doing an interview." Komatsu honestly said

"I uh...well this is the first time that this happened to me..."Shina said

"But my immediate goal is...to get stronger and someday go to the Gourmet world with Toriko-san." Komatsu said

"Well...I want to prove to people that no matter what kind of obstacles you have in life that you can achieve your dreams...so I want to do everything I can to help Aiko...I wanna get stronger to go with her to the Gournet world with her." Shina said

Tina stood up in shock. "Gourmet world?! Are you two serious?!"

"Yes." They said simultaneously

"That's a super heaping helping dangerous place!" Tina said "Don't you know? About that famous press conference from long ago?"

Tina told them about it, that a journalist named Hatch held the conference saying that instead of a gourmet paradise it was nothing but hell. That it was increasingly dangerous by the weather, environment and wild beast. That there hasn't been a single person that made it out alive that Hatch was one of the very lucky ones. That's why there was barriers sealing off Gourmet world from the Human world.

Meanwhile with Aiko

"This is serious Aiko." Ikuto said

Aiko held her phone to her ear hearing her best friend.

"I know but...I just wanna give it a shot." Aiko said

"Give it a shot? Aiko even with what you can do, you still need more training-"

"And what's better training to experience that world." Aiko said interrupting Ikuto.

Aiko heard Ikuto let out a sigh.

'Aiko...you're not going to stop until you go...even if I try to stop you. You won't just accept it and move on.' Ikuto thought

"Are you going alone?" Ikuto asked

"No I'm going with Toriko-kun. Shina and Aina aren't ready yet." Aiko said

"Just be careful Aiko, I don't want you to get hurt or worse." Ikuto said

"Thanks for listening Ikuto, I'll be sure to visit you." Aiko said "Bye!"

"Bye Aiko." Ikuto said

Aiko hung up the phone and had a determined look on her face. She looked at a picture of her and her mom.

'Mom watch over me okay? ' Aiko thought looking at the picture and smiled.

The next day...

Toriko was looking over the cliff. He wore a dark yellow jumpsuit.

"Zabel island, the waterfall Basin of Life." Toriko said he stood up still looking at the cliff. "Here I come Gourmet world."

He then felt something grab his arm, the same familiar sept in his nose and slightly blushed looking over his shoulder to see Aiko wearing a light blue jumpsuit, her was hair loose. She smiled at him that made his heart beat a bit fast.

"Don't you leave without me." Aiko said

"Hey.."Toriko said he ruffled her hair. 'I'll be alone with you...' then it hit him he'll be alone with Aiko...no interruptions just him and Aiko. "We can go through here, the boss around here won't make a big deal so we can go."

"That's good."Aiko said looking at the cliff. "So...we just have to jump off of this cliff?"

"Yep." Toriko simply said

"There's probably a lot of tasty ingredients..."Aiko said

"Yeah doesn't it just want to make you reach out and grab them?" Toriko said he then ran, Aiko followed suit.

"Geronimo!" Aiko yelled out jumping over the cliff.

Dropping over a hundred feet or so is a rush for Aiko. Sure she panicked a bit but she felt Toriko grabbing her hand. Toriko let out a chuckle.

"I'm finally going to the gourmet world." Toriko said

"You mean we right?" Aiko said

"Yeah! Which makes it even better!" Toriko said "Because I get to have all of your cooking for myself!"

"Is that why you invited me? Because of my cooking?" Aiko said

"Well-" Toriko started but was interrupted by a large ball of concentrated wind attack hitting the duo, Toriko held Aiko before they hit the cliff's wall.

Their body's slammed making a giant hole in the impact. Pain course through them, with little movement they fell again. Toriko opened his eyes and looked at the creature kept sending them the attack. Repeating the same action to them. Toriko unleashed his flying fork attack but the attack couldn't reach the beast, Aiko unleashed her reiki but had no effect. The creature attacked them again.

"Like he'll this's gonna...beat...me..." Toriko muttered he glanced at Aiko.

"D...Damn...that attack didn't reach...him..."Aiko said

Both of them fell before they even hit the ground Toriko opened his eyes.

"No problem, Gourmet world! I'll take on anything you've got!" Toriko yelled out he saw Aiko a few feet away from him so he reached out to grab her, holding her close. He was out cold.

A few minutes later...

Toriko felt something on top of him, he felt a hand on his chest...someone breath's on his neck. When he opened his eyes he blushed madly looking at Aiko on top of him. Her long hair looked like a curtain covering them.

"Just how many meters did we fell?" Toriko muttered

He felt Aiko's breath and the way that they look so intimate like that. He tried to move but couldn't for some reason.

"My body won't move." Toriko muttered he saw Aiko slowly opening her eyes.

She slightly blushed that she was on top of Toriko. She tried to get up but she couldn't.

"Can't move..."Aiko said "Why is my body heavy all of a sudden?"

Aiko moved her head a bit but was too close to Toriko's neck, Toriko blush deeper. Aiko froze for a bit looking at Toriko.

'She's so close to me...her eyes...and cute rosy lips...I..' Toriko thought he blushed and fidget a bit trying to move, he panicked a bit. Aiko lightly blushed as well.

"Toriko-kun...is there something in your pocket? It's poking me."Aiko whispered

Before Toriko could even answer giant footsteps were heard, the duo moved their heads to see a giant three headed tiger looking at them. Both of them panicked and stared at the animal.

There you have it guys! I'd like to thank Zero the shadow warrior for letting me use her Oc Ikuto! Check out her stories! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Have an awesome day!