And we're in June 1 now. Hope everyone's been healthy! Albeit we are back to monthly updates because I'm preoccupied with doing something else (i.e. making fanart). Still! "Culinary Rivals" has surpassed 50,000 hits since I published it. Funnily enough, I found that if you search "Culinary Rivals" on the web, this fanfic will be the first thing you'll find. Updates might be quicker, but still.
My official university graduation is about two weeks from now, minus the actual ceremony :(
Enjoy a soufflé omelette and Qualot berry sauce! I'm talking to you: Cosmo light, DaX0315, darkwolf0909, LightBlack, and Ou7X! This is the kind of story that makes people go hungry.
DaX0315 and darkwolf0909: I seriously doubt this story has capacity to get to 100 though. Especially for a single story. You know, I might do a short spinoff of "Culinary Rivals" in the future that may feature Cynthia as a yandere. Maybe. But I can't guarantee.
LightBlack: writing the subplots makes it fun! As for the French, let's say I haven't practiced it for some time myself. However, vouloir wasn't the kind of noun I was going for. But that's another story (pardon the pun).
Chapter eighty-one: A Morning with Astrid
Steven had initially wanted to build a bridge that could join the restaurants together, but after a serious protest from Cynthia, the idea was dropped. Cynthia argued that such an addition would severely ruin the aesthetic of both restaurants as well as the Cyllage City atmosphere. To prove her point, she made a rough sketch to show Steven just exactly what it would look like and whether it would be sustainable. Steven agreed.
But apart from that, things were going well. Even though the two of them were difficult to spot in public, it became common knowledge at both restaurants that the two chefs were at work. Cynthia and Steven were working behind the scenes at Vue sur la Lune, planning for what changes would be made in the future. The live band Steven mentioned wasn't a bad idea, and when Cynthia asked the staff about the ritualistic competitions to improve innovation, the reactions generally were "why didn't you think of that before?". As Steven predicted, it was well-received and most of the staff agreed it would be welcome, with the remainder being indifferent to the idea.
In the past two days since discussing how the restaurants would move on, Steven and Cynthia had spent time surveying their kitchen and server staff for feedback. At the end of the day, it was to formulate a strategy for the restaurants to continue relieving Cynthia's enormous debts. Of course, that was short-run goal. Once the debts were relieved, the strategy may as well turn profitable for both sides, so that Steven and Cynthia might better off than had the restaurants competed on their own. As well, Steven and Cynthia paid a visit to Diantha at hospital, and thankfully she was doing well and Cynthia offered a small apology for lacing her biscuits with coconut.
Come to that, Steven learned Cynthia hadn't sold her villa in Cyllage City. It was only that her villa wasn't selling well on the market compared to her restaurant at the time, so she pulled it out altogether. Shocked to hear that, Steven immediately insisted she stay at that home for the time being. He insisted there was only room for one on his bed.
So it came to Wednesday morning, where they had been very busy overseeing minor renovations at their restaurants. Namely, the implementation of the live band at Le Café Sinnoh, and other administrative things to do for the merger. As agreed with and promised by Steven, Vue sur la Lune was kept as autonomous as possible, which included its name and brand largely unaffected. The only relationship between the restaurants was common ownership under one entity, and that was all.
Of course, this also meant that employees from both sides could freely mingle with each other without the danger of exposing trade secrets. This especially applied to Steven and Cynthia, whose culinary war became also common knowledge in Cyllage City. Since Vue sur la Lune had to be officially reopened anyway, there was planning for a celebration to mark the occasion. It would also serve was a welcome-back ceremony for Cynthia too. Come to that, they had extended invitations to their friends and staff to celebrate.
And yet somehow, and Cynthia had to give Steven due credit, Steven managed to squeeze in two hours on this Wednesday afternoon to do training with Astrid. At Astrid's request, she wanted to train with Cynthia, much to Cynthia's surprise. Just for Steven's sake, Cynthia agreed to come and do so.
To keep the media presence low, Steven arranged to have training done in a quiet spot on Route 8 outside the city. Cynthia ended up bringing Lucario, Garchomp, and Roserade for training, much to the sixteen-year-old's delight. What did Steven bring, though? He brought lunch, occasionally offering advice as Astrid's Absol tried fighting off Lucario (which Steven suspected was an unfair matchup and Cynthia might be trying to exact revenge).
"Cynthia… Are you alright?" he said. "There's no need to feel like your pride was harmed."
"It's not what it looks like!" Cynthia shot back, earning a laugh from Astrid.
"In that case," Astrid said, "let's keep at it! You haven't lost your edge, Cynthia!"
"Tell you what, Astrid. If you can finish today's training on a high, I might even share my lunch with you. Just like before. Sound good?" he said.
Cynthia shot Steven a wide-eyed glare and a humourless smile.
"You really are the best mentor ever, Steven!" Astrid cheered, her face brightening up like sunshine. "Alright. It's on you!"
Lucario, who was fighting on the field, agreed that Astrid's bright smile was very admirable, Who wouldn't smile at an attitude like that? Cynthia merely sighed but she smiled all the same. In the next moment, Lucario was firing one Aura Sphere after another to test Absol's agility. But Steven knew that such an attack was almost impossible to evade, owing to its homing qualities. So while the test was going on, Steven merely advised Astrid to mitigate the damage however possible. In the absence of avoiding the attack, increasing defence was the best counter.
A thought struck Cynthia's mind as the training progressed.
Did I imagine that? Or did Astrid somehow get strong just from that remark?! Cynthia shrieked in her mind. Whatever connection Astrid had with Steven, Cynthia found it was too close for comfort. It was almost annoying.
After a while, both Lucario and Absol were exhausted in their own way. Whereas Lucario had been shooting Aura Spheres rapid-fire, Absol had been constantly evading the attacks. At some point, one Pokémon or the other or both were bound to tire from the constant training. When that happened, the training was brought to an end.
"You did very well there, Astrid," Steven said, reviewing Astrid's performance. "Absol will need more time to get used to that agility. You'll get used to that too, but you also have to train your reaction time. Let's see if you can keep that up next time."
"Definitely!" Astrid nodded eagerly. "I'll remember that. I finished on a high, right? Now, can we eat?"
At the mere mention of food made Steven chuckle. Astrid was optimistic in every single way, wasn't she? He motioned for her to come to him and then he brought out a big glass container from his bag, along with a flask. Looking at the food, Cynthia recognised it immediately.
Within the glass container was one full serving of Steven's Accolade en croute. The same dish Steven had cooked that was the deciding factor at the Lumiose cook-off. Suddenly, Cynthia felt a twinge of jealously. Did Steven really have the nerve to make one of his signature dishes for Astrid?! How dare he betray her feelings like that!
"How dare you…" she mumbled to him.
"Sorry. Did you say something, Cynthia?" Steven said. He removed the lid to display the entire Stone Accolade, which was already pre-sliced and ready to eat. In a miniature plate, he also had the trademark red wine-and-cheese fondue sauce. When Cynthia shook her head, Steven turned back to Astrid. "I hope you're fine with sirop de grenadine, Astrid. It tastes excellent with what you're eating." He also took out two forks from his bag too.
Astrid gratefully accepted one fork and was about to start eating, until she said, "Just two forks, Steven? What about Cynthia? She needs to eat too."
Steven nervously rubbed his neck. "I intended to share this with Cynthia, actually. This second fork was for her. But I can't let you down now, Astrid. That would be selfish of me." His eyes shifted to Cynthia's. "Um… Cynthia? You okay? You look like you're out for blood."
Cynthia blinked and looked away. "Steven… Did you say that the second fork was for me?"
"Um… oui? Why else would I have brought two?" he replied.
An awkward silence fell between the two chefs and the only sound came from Astrid eating a slice of the pastry, taking a sip of sirop de grenadine, and sharing some of the food with Absol. "Cynthia! You have to try this! It's so good."
Was jealously getting on her nerves? Cynthia took a deep breath to calm herself down. As she did, Steven speared a slice of the pastry and offered it to Cynthia. "Come now. You need to eat too. It's delicious. You can have the first bite."
Astrid, apparently not noticing Cynthia being on edge, happily continued eating. Instead she said, "You two will be the ideal couple in no time. Just make sure you're not giving in to what the media thinks, okay? Or public opinion. You're free to make your choices."
"We know." Steven and Cynthia said together, making Astrid's smile wider.
Cynthia took a bite. The Accolade en croute was surprisingly good. Now that she thought of it, this was the first time she had ever eaten this. While she had the pleasure of trying to cook something that could beat this in a competition, she never had tried the food itself. It was missing a few things, though. Like it needed a side dish or something.
She didn't realise that Steven was looking right at her because she was so deep in thought.
"Cynthia…? What's on your mind?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking that you could compliment this with a side. Ever thought of making some mashed potatoes with this? Extra creamy too," she said.
"That's… an idea, but I think it's fine for now–" Steven started, when Astrid stood up and handed the flask back to Steven.
"If you two are going to get into a lovers' quarrel soon, I'd rather not stick around." She grinned, recalling Absol into the Poké Ball. "Let's do this again sometime!"
Cynthia was quick to react to Astrid's remark about the 'lovers' quarrel', but Steven beat her to it. "Before you go, Astrid," he said, "you probably know our restaurants are merging, right? We're holding a dinner this Friday to mark the occasion. Would you like to join us? It'll be at around six or so."
Astrid stopped to think for a moment, then said, "Yes! I would love to! I'll be sure to drop by. Oh, but you should remember to look after her…"
After that, Astrid quickly hugged Steven before setting off. Cynthia made an annoyed face and was about to complain to Steven, but she found Steven looking right back at her. He looked just as annoyed. "Oh come on, Cynthia. I've said this before…"
"It's not what you think!" Cynthia quickly said, panicking.
"Okay."
For Martine Grenadine and any local in Cyllage City for that matter, it was apparent that the Stone Bakery and Le Café Sinnoh were a perfect match. The public opinion held that the partnership couldn't have come soon enough, which led the media to speculate that there was something serious going on between Cynthia and Steven.
Like, come on, with all that media attention the two head chefs got from the Lumiose cook-off, who in every stretch of Kalos hadn't heard of the Stone Bistro and Vue sur la Lune at this point? So when it was publicly known in the city there was some kind of joint promotion between the bakery and coffee shop, everyone knew something had happened between the two presumptive lovers.
And that led to increased business at both places, which Martine reckoned might have made Steven and Cynthia happy, but it came with a buzz in the air and scrutiny.
Since Plaza Median practically was situated practically in plain sight between the Stone Bakery and Le Café Sinnoh, the square had seen a growing rise in popularity. It had become, whether people liked it or not, the de facto eating spot for customers who brought goods from these two places. The philosophy was very simple, Martine thought.
On her way to work, Martine saw a boy walk out of the Stone Bakery with a box in his hands. Perhaps it was a box of buns and LaBrie, or maybe a load of Slateport cakes. Then again, as Martine was too well aware, it had become part of the Cyllage City culture to combine a Slateport cake with coffee from Le Café Sinnoh. Everyone knew about it. Now that the two restaurants were merging, it might seem easier to scale production to more customers.
Lo and behold, Martine guessed right. It was a box of Slateport cakes. The boy had joined a group of friends sitting at Plaza Median who had hot drinks on them. They had to have come from Vue sur la Lune too. Why else would they be sitting in Plaza Median?
Now that she had a better look, she could also see some familiar faces in the plaza too. Aside from the Gym Leaders Viola, Grant, and Korrina, Diantha was also there. The latter was sporting her usual sunglasses to keep her identity hidden from the media, but then again with all the media attention on the restaurants, Diantha was overshadowed. As far as Diantha was concerned, the scrutiny on Cynthia and Steven mattered more.
"Bonjour, Diantha!" Martine greeted the Kalos Champion. "Est-ce que tu te sens mieux?"
"Oui, merci," Diantha replied, thanking Martine. Diantha guessed Martine was referring to the coconut incident on the train, but thankfully Diantha had been looking better. "Comment vas-tu?"
"Très bien!" Martine replied. "You know that Steven and Cynthia have been looking better too! They're holding that celebration together this Friday. Are you coming?"
"Indeed I am," Diantha replied. "So glad they're finally together, anyways! That should bring some relief to… practically everyone in Kalos. Who knows how many people wanted them to start dating?"
Grant, who was munching on a Slateport cake himself, swallowed his portion. "Diantha, this can't possible be worse than your side, can it? You're a movie star! Whereas those two… One is a corporation prince and the other is some kind of historian. How could they get more attention than you?"
A silence followed, but only because Grant, Viola, and Korrina went to take bites of their Slateport cakes at the same time. Finally, Korrina spoke up. "I suspect Wallace had something to do with this," she suggested. "You never know. You always see him and that… daughter of his walking around and following him. She is his daughter, right?"
"More like a niece," Martine corrected. "But we all knew this merger was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time before they became a couple. Anyways, you're all invited to that dinner, right? I am too, so I'll see you there. But there's something you might like to know…" Martine helped herself to a Slateport cake before looking at Diantha and the Gym Leaders in the eyes. "We all had to help out Steven with his love life, right?"
Korrina and Viola giggled, with Korrina saying, "He can't hide it no longer. You should have seen his face when he approached us!"
"Oh, were you all together when he approached you?" Martine balled one of her hands into a fist. "Tell me, s'il vous plaît!" She smiled widely. Anything on Steven's private life from the outside view was welcome. With her other hand, she took a bite of cake.
Viola grinned. "Let's turn the clock back to the past Saturday. You know it was shortly after we all got off the train and sent Diantha to hospital, right? Well, Wallace told us that he had broken into Vue sur la Lune to grab the list of names Cynthia was indebted to. Then on Saturday morning, Steven approached the four of us, when Diantha was out for a walk. On one hand he looked defeated, and on the other hand, he was blushing so hard that you'd think it was so unlike him!"
"I'm listening." Martine returned the grin.
"First off, he told us that he really wanted to help Cynthia. There was no denying he had feelings for her and a huge desire to help her," Korrina added, giggling to herself. "I remember it clearly. He was either depressed, or he was embarrassed! Because he didn't want to admit his feelings but at the same time he needed help. So what happened was that he wanted to talk to Cynthia's creditors but failed to do so, because all those creditors were impossible to reach!"
Martine nodded. "I remember. He wanted to get in touch with them. My friends the receptionists told me that Wallace proudly broken into the restaurant. Some nerve he has! Anyways, so what happened?"
Grant scoffed. He too looked like he was enjoying the recollection. "Steven practically gave up and he turned to us as his last hopes. If it wasn't for Diantha, we probably wouldn't have had enough influence on persuading those creditors." As he said that, he ate more cake. "So we kind of had to… use our authority as Gym Leaders to persuade our contacts to get in touch with them."
"It was almost like a pointless chase! Like chasing after the TMV on a Snorlax!" Viola crossed her arms. "Whenever we thought we got close, the contacts just seemed to get further and further away. Still…" Viola's face broke into a small grin. "This would make a good romance story. I could ask Alexa to put this on the news."
"And thanks to Steven, we know he can't hide his feelings no longer," Diantha added, smiling. "We had our work cut out for us, and thank goodness we didn't have any League work to do as of late. The contacts wouldn't reply to our phone calls or emails, so we took a day and went hunting around the Kalos region. First, we tried faxing the contacts, and then we literally went to their doorsteps to drop off letters as mail. Mind, we spent a quarter of our day riding the TMV alone."
Diantha paused. "Say, Martine. Did you not have a part to play too?"
"Not as much as you did!" Martine replied. "At least you all are located in different parts of Kalos. That sure saves you most of the work."
"Not to mention this will make a good magazine story," Viola said. "I even had Alexa, ma soeur, reach out to her media contacts in the reaches of Snowbelle City to get help. Turns out one of the contacts lives in like isolation or something. Like a hermit. But there is no place in Kalos that isn't safe from the media."
Martine rolled her eyes. "So what happened after?"
"We never got to speak to the contacts directly, but we managed to contact one of their secretaries in-person," Diantha explained, and then emphasised, "One of them. It was hard to reach! Then we heard that that same contact was leaving for vacation and could spare no time to talk to us."
"We told that to Steven," Korrina couldn't help grinning, "and Steven demanded to speak with him anyway."
"And then we made the call for him." Now it was Grant's turn to grin wider. "I don't know if he told you this, but he practically begged for time."
"Vraiment?!" Martine's eyes went wide. "That sounds so unlike him! How did it go?! What did it sound like?"
"We promised him not to tell anyone…" Grant started.
But Diantha cut in. "Oh, don't worry about it Grant. One more secret spilled doesn't seem so damaging. Besides, if we don't tell Martine, Viola and Alexa will probably write about it anyway."
"Are you serious? You found them?" Steven was surprised. He didn't want to lose hope yet, but he was about to given how elusive Cynthia's contacts were. True, he had promised to help Cynthia, yet it proved to be more work than he realised. Getting the help of Diantha and the Kalos Pokémon League was not what he had in mind.
How Cynthia became a debtor to these people was beyond him. If anything, Steven suspected Cynthia might have turned to the shadow banking system. Risky. Volatile. Unregulated. But he seriously doubted that, since Cynthia was legitimate, right? Plus, shadow banks didn't normally operate in the dark, right? Steven had no idea, since he was not a client to any shadow bank as much as he knew.
Instead, what Steven was told by Diantha was that Cynthia's creditors were powerful and were always busy. They were nearly impossible to reach, but Viola had patched the call, Diantha spoke briefly before handing the phone to Steven.
"You have two minutes. That is all. Good luck," she said.
Steven had already told this story to Cynthia yesterday, but she was more curious about the details. For what it was worth, in Steven's opinion, Cynthia deserved to know.
"And that's what happened, Cynthia. Now that you know, I suspect you won't have to read about it in the papers."
Steven and Cynthia were enjoying a serving of tea in Le Café Sinnoh. It was a quiet day and business was slow, but that was fine as that meant the two of them could enjoy some time before things became very busy. Given the imminent upcoming merger, some quiet time was welcome. Cynthia, who had demanded Steven explain how he got hold of her creditors, couldn't help smiling as a result. Steven seemed to have gone through too much for her and maybe enough to earn her trust and affection. Maybe.
"Let's be honest, Steven. Did you really do all of that for me?"
"I wouldn't have done so otherwise. I mean…" Steven was blushing. His breath short. He didn't know why he was having trouble expressing his feelings when he had already confessed to her!
However, that was the reaction Cynthia was expecting. "You don't need to say any more." She smiled as if to suppress a laugh. "Just from that reaction alone, you did! And it must have meant a lot to you too."
Laughing nervously, Steven helped himself to more tea. That was when Cynthia brought out a small container onto the table and removed the lid. "I thought you should have some of these. It's a small way of saying merci for you. Just a bit."
Looking inside, Steven saw fresh biscuits. He gratefully took one and bit half of it off, and then recognised the flavour immediately. "These… These are my langues de chat," Steven remarked, but he noticed the flavour was much different than before. "Hey! Did you change the recipe somehow?" It tasted smoother.
Cynthia chuckled and had one herself. "Maybe." She grinned. "It's all in the cheese."
It brought back haunting memories. Theses were the exact same langues de chat that Cynthia made the night she revealed herself to be Cindy.
In Steven's mind, it reminded him of heartbreak.
Now having his second bite, Steven could taste the cheese was smoother, creamier, and melted the instant it touched his lips. Was it because of Cynthia's talents as a dessert maker that this was possible? He had another one.
She noticed the curiosity in his eyes. "In case if you're wondering, I suppose it's a bit of a secret to tell you, I used the principles of making my berry cream Poffins to do it. It turned out much better than I thought! I thought you might like it."
But she was even more amused that Steven merely nodded back at her before he helped himself to a third biscuit. If that was the case, it was either Steven was hungry or that he really enjoyed her cooking, or perhaps both. For the record, it was really, really, tasty.
Afterwards, they had cleaned up their table and they went back to work feeling refreshed. Now having been assured her debts were on the road to being cleared, Cynthia personally went to supervise her kitchens and would oversee the live band implementation in Le Café Sinnoh later. Steven meanwhile went back to the Stone Bistro, where he met Martine who looked as motivated as ever.
Stay safe, everyone! Review, have some of Cynthia's version of langues de chat again! Or a slice of Accolade en croute.