The Ballad of Nakiri Alice
"Very well Nakiri-san i'll tell you about my first encounter with your cousin:"
Around the Easter-holiday four years ago I had been contracted by an important figure in Danish politics. This person had been compromised in an intimate matter, and hired me to deal with the situation. The assignment was nothing above the normal work I do and was quickly finished. There was only one catch, which was this figure was, and still is, very busy. This meant I had to meet said person at the annual Easter party at the Nakiri estate; and thus I ended up in my personal hell, a socialite party during holidays.
Due to my upbringing, I had attended a fair share of these kinds of events, and knew what I had in store… or so I thought. This Soirée was ten times worse; calling the whole ordeal lavish would be an understatement: A white-tie event with men in the most expensive tailor-made suits, and women in extravagant 'unique' dresses. The food was unsurprisingly fantastic, but it was food meant more to look great than anything else.
I felt completely misplace in the situation: It had been around ten years since my last 'gathering', and back then it was with my family with me. This time I was alone; I didn't recognize anyone and I had no intentions of getting to know anyone there. My only goal was to finish the contract, and get the hell out of there. Luckily it was rather cold that spring or else the tuxedo would have been unbearable to wear.
It had been nearly an hour before I found my employer, and by this point I was seriously contemplating an airstrike against the whole establishment. As I was wrapping up my report, I relished the thought of getting out from this purgatory.
This was when I heard the most grating sound; it was the noise of someone throwing a temper tantrum. I made my way through various rooms and halls before I located the source: there in the middle of a living-room, stood a girl bawling her eyes out. The sight shocked me, to say the least; I expected this sort of behavior from a 10-year-old at most. Even so, the white-haired girl I saw was three years older, at least. When I got closer it became clear to me that this was the hosts' daughter, your cousin, Alice.
I offered up my assistance to help her out… my reasoning being it would be impolite not to help her, since her parents had let me come uninvited - I could always leave afterwards. When I inquired why she was upset, it quickly became clear that she had lost a stuffed animal. Your cousin gave a detailed description of its characteristics, to help me identifying it:
A caramel colored, stuffed dog standing on hind legs, wearing a chef's uniform, named 'Chefie'.
Then I asked her where she would normally take it with her… The answer was disheartening: Everywhere. Then approximately when and where had she last seen it. After a few rounds of process of elimination I had a general idea of where to find it. As I told you before it took me 12 minutes and 45 seconds to find it.
"Why would Alice freak out about a simple child's toy days before traveling to Japan's most prestigious culinary school?" Erina muttered to herself, interrupting Benjamin's story.
"My thought exactly Nakiri-san: why would a girl her age be this upset about a lost toy? It was clearly not something expensive, and she would have loads of toys from her parents'. Yet, for some reason that stuffed dog was more important than anything else, in her possession. The answer was obvious: You!"
The blonde girl looked at him in disbelief "Me?"
Ben sighed and rolled his eyes "Yes, You Nakiri-san? This toy, 'Chefie', was a gift from you which she had received just before traveling to Denmark. To you, in hindsight, it is practically worthless. But to her a girl coming to a foreign land, knowing nobody it'll have been the only comfort on many occasions… I guarantee. This also meant that losing it was unbelievably rude to you, the giver - Well back to the story."
After having found her precious stuffed animal, your dear cousin couldn't thank me enough: she even invited me to judge a cooking match between her and Kurokiba-san. I tried to explain my intention of leaving the party, but she would hear none of it. So I was forced to play games with them.
Since I was the judge, the choice of theme was mine: with my, granted limited, knowledge of cooking, I chose the theme 'Danish deserts'. This more intense than I had ever seen someone making food:
Alice was making a sauce of Danish frozen berries, all from high-end producers. Furthermore she made use of liquid nitrogen to quick-freeze whipping cream. Kurokiba-san on the other hand made another classic, even with homemade biscuits that garnishes the desert.
In the end I was presented a hot, Danish-styled berry crème* with freeze dried whipped cream. And a desert called 'koldskål' made from buttermilk and egg yolks, served with 'Kammerjunker'*. The decision was unbelievably tough, but in the end I had to go with Kurokiba's desert. Your cousin had been unfocused through the whole battle, and it had affected her dish… This was when I began suspecting she was harboring romantic feelings for her aide...
"After that I had hoped that I could leave, but I had to cook for them as well… This is the true story behind Alice and me."
The headmistress looked at the Dane incredulously; he hadn't explained at all "What does this has to do with anything?"
Ben scratched his neck, how should he explain it if she still didn't understand. "Your cousin cares about you deeply… maybe deeper than she cares for anybody else. The fact that she owed me for finding 'Chefie' meant I could ask her a favor. When I learned about your crush on Yukihira-san, I asked her to help you and report back to me."
"But why do you go above and beyond to help me? - I thought you wouldn't meddle."
Benjamin rubbed the bridge between his sleep-deprived eyes with the thumb and index finger of his left hand "because we're the same Nakiri-san. Two individuals with unique talents that distances us from our peers. I chose not to pursue love when I had the chance, and regrets it more every single day. I'm just trying to give you the tools to decide for yourself when it's time for you to make the choice."
With that Benjamin made his exit out in the night.
This concludes the eighth chapter of 'A taste of knowledge'. This chapter was particularly fun to write so I hope you enjoyed, feel free to follow or comment… Ideas are more than welcome since I don't having any specific plans for future chapters.
Danish-styled berry crème: Also known as 'Rød Grød' (lit. red porridge)Made from seasonal berries.
Kammerjunker: small biscuits usually served with 'Koldskål'
- One-of-Stone out
