Informed Decisions
From this chapter onwards A Taste of Knowledge will be M-rated, so I can write whatever I want... It'll mostly be in case of coarse language
- enjoy -
While Nakiri Erina was filing paperwork at the desk in her office, night swept its dark blanket over the land. It had been an endless string of days like this one since she took on the role as headmistress; up at dawn, in bed well past midnight. There was no longer time to party with the members of the Polar Star dorm… the last one she participated in was the 3rd day of celebrating their victory over Central. Since then it had been nothing, but work for the Blonde girl which had taken its toll on her.
The menial task she worked on this night was the worst in the four months she had held her position. The tediousness of it was so deafening, she almost overheard the strange sound. It was a metallic noise like the roar of a car engine, what person could be out and about at this hour. She looked at the clock it was almost 10 pm; quite late for someone to be driving around. She was, however, nowhere near done with her paperwork and shrugged the sound off.
In this state of boredom Erina's mind began to drift. Her thoughts drifted toward the subject it seemingly always did these day, no matter how much it infuriated her: Yukihira Soma. What antics was he up to right now. Earlier today he and Tadokoro-san had left for the hot springs town to find out what had happened to the Windvane establishment. For some reason Yukihira-kun had made a huge fuss about doing so. The headmistress had thought it could be a nice way to take a break from the daily chores of an elite ten member, while still tending to their obligations. Instead he acted like he was being wrongfully punished. She had at least 10 times as much work to do, yet he still complained like a spoiled brat… Why couldn't he just think a little about her feelings as well?
"Problems in the matter of the heart?" a dark voice said behind her. The Blonde was taken aback; she hadn't heard anyone enter, and it was certainly not Hisako asking.
When she turned around she saw a familiar figure, clad completely in black leather and holding a motorcycle helmet under his left arm. He looked tired, or maybe ill: dark circles under his eyes, his hair looked like a birds nest, and his beard made look like a homeless hillbilly. In her office stood Benjamin Williams looking like he was about to drop dead.
"It's about Yukihira-san" The tone he used made it clear that it was a statement, not a question. Despite his ragged appearance, his voice still commanded authority.
"W- why would it be about Yukihira-kun" Erina stammered. The tall Dane glanced at her indicating he wasn't buying it for a second. She knew lying to him would be futile; he had guessed the girl's crush on the redhead, before she even realized herself. The headmistress only choice was telling the truth.
"He's really been getting on my nerves lately, actually. It's like he can't understand what I have to deal with. I sent him to the hot springs town to investigate what happened, and he and the gall to be pissed about it… I can't believe him sometimes…" Erina would've continued her tirade to the heat-death of the universe, if she hadn't been cut short by Ben.
"Wait, you send him to investigate the incident I sent your way?" He looked if possible even sicker now.
"Yes, it's quite normal for elite ten members to perform these kinds of tasks. What is the problem?" By now Benjamin's facial expression had gone from bad to worse.
"What is the problem?! I specifically told you that we were dealing with chefs working for the criminal underground, since I thought you would do something rash. The reason I'm even back in Japan is because, I'd deal with the situation myself… Instead you send the most reckless of all the Tootsuki students to handle it, what were you thinking?"
Erina was beginning to get really pissed. After over 16 hours of sleep, her least favorite Dane had showed up, and started yelling at her. She took a deep breath to calm down.
"Well you didn't say, you'd deal with it yourself. Besides Yukihira-kun isn't alone, I sent Tadokoro-san with him… she can keep him in check."
Ben looked like he was on the brink of tears. "You've let Yukihira Soma and Tadokoro Megumi travel to a romantic hot springs town together, alone? Why on earth would you do that? Erina that is the last thing you do if you have a crush on the boy… don't give me that look, you know I'm right… what would you do if she has feelings for him, and decide to act upon them when they're alone? Oh for fucks sake, this is like trying to teach a toddler about quantum physics."
When the Blonde headmistress snapped at him, Benjamin mind was already broken. Mumbling about having to tell her things like this.
Erina's scolding had reached about 110 decibel, when Hisako entered her office wanting to know what the commotion was for. When she saw who her friend was yelling at, she pointed at him muttering "H- how?"
"When you were in the restroom I presume… as I said last time we met Nakiri-san, you have a bit of a security issue - if you're done shouting my ears off, I have to contact your dear cousin; she clearly hasn't been following my instructions thoroughly enough."
The headmistress was still short on breath after her verbal take down, but she managed to gasp "What does Alice have to do with any of this?"
Ben looked at her incredulously. "Quite a lot actually, I don't know how you've missed it to be honest. Then again it is not the most idiotic thing I've found out about you tonight."
Erina glared at him "What is then?" she already knew the answer, but she was trying to goat him to mess up. His answer was expected yet surprising.
"The fact that you've let your guard down. I suspect it isn't you Yukihira-san who's dealing with the situation I informed you about, and you said it was the elite ten's obligation to deal with it. Meaning, you've put the best chefs out in the field; which in turn also have let your defensive position to weaken. This was also why I wanted to work on the case myself, since a united Tootsuki would be a daunting task to challenge… But I digress; the fact is that you have no idea how deeply your cousin actually cares about you."
"You're full of it, aren't you?"
The Danes eyes were filled with equal parts disappointment and determination.
"Then let me tell you the real story of what happened the first time I met Nakiri Alice."
This concludes chapter 7 of A Taste of Knowledge, I hope you liked it. Feel free to comment if there's any problems or you have an idea for later chapters. From now on I'll try to write mostly in tandem with the manga. If everything goes according to the plan this is out on schedule, the chapter was a bit shorter this week since it was mostly a dialogue between Benjamin and everybody's favorite headmistress (That and the fact I'm currently in Norway) Next chapter will be about the ballad of Nakiri Alice's last days in Denmark.
- One-of-Stone out
