Chapter 17 – Indulging in the Next Step
Takumi couldn't fathom how Shiomi-sensei decided she wanted to be a lecturer at Tootsuki for so many years. Of course she was the leading specialist for researching spices, in particular, finding ingenious ways to cultivate and store exotic spices that were not grown on Japanese soil. She was the youngest lecturer in Tootsuki. However, being highly specialised in an area like spices is great and all, but actually knowing how to educate was a different skill altogether. She was like a little peanut inside a whale's stomach. She needed a stepping stool to help her reach the top of the blackboard otherwise everyone had to squint at her writing on the bottom half of the board. She had to speak louder because she was so tiny and her voice was too soft. She was full of stutters, and every now and again, she'll fly off the trajectory and would burst into a long winded sonata about her love for spices. It kind of made it a bit tricky for him to follow her train of thought and understand absolutely everything she was talking about, so he was going to have to fully rely on whatever he managed to take down in his notebook. The blonde Italian wondered if she had a teaching degree alongside with her specialist area. He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. It kind of reminded him of the way Ayame would rattle on about the difference between Chinese and Japanese bullet trains, which he had learned was called her 'techno-babbling'.
"And that concludes today's class!"
Takumi sighed. It was the last seminar of the day and most students were already slumping in exhaustion from their first official day back in class, especially Hayama. He looked like he already knew everything on the material like the back of his hand, and rightly so. He probably couldn't wait to leave class to get on with anything else he had to do. Takumi and Isami had some recipes they wanted to try out and so promptly booked Kitchen twenty-five for a solid two-hours to finish off their day. He stretched his arms up high and pulled at his tie. He was starting to feel a bit tight around the neck and wanted to loosen it to get some air action happening around there. A collective mass of sighs whispered through the air and made him cringe. His fan club… he should've known. They were still alive and well.
Today's spice seminar was about the history of spices during the Middle Age period. It was a fascinating topic, but hardly practical to him. Takumi had an affinity for more practical classes where he could get his hand dirty in actively learning, practicing, trying out new skills and improving them. He belonged in the kitchen, not in a classroom. He had no real love for academic subjects which he deemed more useful for people who wanted to do research rather than set up and work in their own restaurant, but he could appreciate to some degree the necessity for theoretical knowledge. Therefore, he and Isami still maintained some dedication for learning the theoretical side of cooking up to an appropriate standard.
"I-I know this is only your first official day back! Umm… I have the first assignment ready f-for everyone. Your assignment is to create an original recipe fit for royalty using the ingredients and showcasing only the spices used during the Middle-Ages of a country of your choice!"
Takumi scribbled down Shiomi-sensei's instructions before she started rambling on about something else and distracted him.
"You need to write up a two-thousand-word c-critical evaluation of your recipe covering what you learnt from your research and how it applies to your dish. You also need to write a five-hundred-word reflective piece discussing your decision making process as you create your recipe"
'Ok, that doesn't sound too bad…' Takumi focused on her slowing fading voice as she struggled to project her voice across the lecture hall.
"Oh! Also your r-recipe needs to be peer-reviewed and your peer needs to write a two-hundred-word opinion piece on your recipe! Ummm… Uh… It's due in five weeks!" the little professor managed to tack on the due date before she lost her breath.
Takumi sighed and placed down his pen.
"Once you s-submit your recipe, I will be testing them out m-myself. Therefore, your writing skill needs to be precise and specific. I will follow your recipe exactly how you write it. If the product comes out unsuccessful because you forgot a step, or your instructions are too vague, then you only have yourself to blame!" she said.
Everyone groaned. Goodness. That was a lot in an assignment. That was going to be a mammoth accomplishment for her if she was seriously planning on marking and cooking recipe submitted by about two hundred student chefs. Takumi finished off highlighting the key words in his notebook so he didn't forget the important parts. He was going to need to dive into a head start on this assignment.
"Class is dismissed!" yelled Shiomi-sensei.
The students began clamouring lazily to pack their things away. The buzz of conversation took over and brought a welcomed relief that the day was finally done. Takumi finished packing his things into his book-bag and got up from the bench, having another big stretch but being careful not to hit his brother on the other side of him.
"I love it when his tie hangs loose!"
'Urghh…' Takumi hastily fastened his tie again. He will just have to endure the heat.
"Seriously, who would've thought second year was actually going to be this boring" Yukihira yawned beside him and slumped over the writing bench. He wore his uniform in the same sloppy manner, his black coat summer school uniform was unbuttoned to reveal his usual wrinkled black diner shirt and his red hair was tousled like he only managed to wake up from a nap in the last minute. He still sat with his legs crossed beneath him like a temple monk. Yukihira lacked complete style.
Takumi shook his head in exasperation "Didn't you read the second year handbook? It clearly says that this year will take a more academic approach. But it will still have practical classes of course"
"I just skimmed it. No wonder why I haven't seen Isshiiki-senpai do much last year when he was still a second year student. Hopefully things will pick up again in third year" he smiled.
First year as he remembered it was intense and filled with competitions, training camps and practical classes with a sprinkle of academic classes. In second year, they were going to be more academically challenged, with fewer practical classes, but Takumi knew not to under-estimate that, because he was sure the practical classes will be a lot more advanced too. He could only imagine what third year will be like, but that was still a year away.
"Hmm… essays aren't my thing. I don't know why Shiomi-sensei is putting emphasis on the written component. But I'm confident the recipe I come up with will be all that matters!" exclaimed Yukihira.
Takumi smirked "Just because we attend a vocational school, it doesn't mean it's ok for us to be illiterate you know, but I agree the recipe itself will score the most points. So make sure you don't slack-"
"Hey Nakiri! I Gotta ask ya something!"
Takumi bristled as that red-headed devil totally cut him off! He felt a fire brew in his belly at his insolence. He watched, dumb-struck, at Yukihira's disappearing back as he ran over to Nakiri Erina. She looked like she was trying to hurry away before she would be forced into a conversation with her arch-nemesis. He couldn't stand it when the attention on him was redirected elsewhere for a pathetic reason like calling out for Nakiri Erina, which was something Yukihira was doing too frequently. He had something important to say, damn it!
"Calm down Fratello. As long as Yukihira-kun shares your sentiment, that's all that matters" said Isami from behind him.
"Yukihira… I will crush you for this! This will be the last time you ignore me…" Takumi muttered darkly under his breath.
He barely listened to Isami's attempt to prod his anger away, his voice was muffled by is mounting annoyance for his life-long rival. His competitive nature simmered quietly as it goaded Takumi to make another official shokugeki challenge to Yukihira so that he couldn't escape the next time. He was brought out of his brooding thoughts when his brother patted him firmly on the shoulder, instantly releasing him from his abysmal thoughts. Takumi released a sigh and finally calmed down, and straightened his blazer too. He ran his hand through his blonde tresses and recomposed himself.
'I won't let him get to me'
The Aldini brothers weaved through the students as they made it outside and into the corridor. Now it was teeming with more students cheering for the first day of class being finished. However, jammed in the middle of the corridor was Yukihira and Nakiri Erina who was holding up the traffic, forcing everyone to squeeze through around them. How inconsiderate. Whatever they were talking about was getting the tenth seater all flustered and snappy and he was still the smirking, happy-go-lucky scamp he was.
"Stop asking me about the Elite Ten seats! Those vacant positions need to be reviewed before we could look at appropriate candidates and right now we have more important things to take care of!" she yelled at him.
"Like how to bust Eizan-senpai out of jail?" asked Yukihira casually. Takumi wanted to slap him over his thick head.
"S-shut up! You can't talk about these things so openly! Do you want to get expelled or something?!" she hissed back violently, her violet eyes were ablaze with grating fury. Takumi didn't think she could get any angrier but clearly he was wrong.
"Nope, but isn't that exactly what you want?" he asked cheekily as he tapped his chin.
"Of c-course I d-do!" she spluttered.
"Try saying it with a little more conviction" the red-head quirked his eyebrow at her.
Nakiri's mouth opened and closed without a single sound in utter indignation. Her face was quickly reddening and her fingers trembled as she closed her arms in front of her as if she couldn't decide if she wanted to strangle him or shield her body in defence. She was obviously having a mental fit. Meanwhile Yukihira was sporting a cheeky smile as if to say he had won and was waiting patiently for Nakiri to give him another verbal thrashing, as he was clearly enjoying watching her squirm.
"Hey, you're blocking the corridor…" muttered Takumi, pinning his eyes on Yukihira and the Nakiri princess. As much as it was entertaining to watch a well-known tsundere dig her own grave, he and Isami really needed to be elsewhere.
"Oh, sorry mate. You were saying something before, Takumi. What was it again?" asked Yukihira, only now taking notice of the Aldini brothers.
"Piss off"
"Now, now Fratello. Yukihira-kun doesn't often know what he's done wrong by you. Just take it easy"
"You piss off too, Isami"
Isami's relaxed face didn't change in the slightest, just chuckling lightly as he scratched his head. He'd always been the more placid and calm one out of the two brothers, while Takumi was quicker to temper... especially over a lost card game. Isami was made of sterner stuff than one might think, and Takumi knew he, himself, always needed a gentle hand to keep him thinking straight. The two brothers completed each other like two mezzalune forming a lunapiena or 'full-moon'. That was why he and Isami had no qualms swearing at each other on some occasions. It wasn't like their relationship was so delicate that a few harsh words would break them apart forever more. Takumi shrugged his book bag higher up his shoulder as he pushed his rival out of the way. It was his turn to snub Yukihira! Ha! He will learn to take his own medicine. Takumi threw his head back with all his dignity and strutted confidently away from them. He could hear Yukihira calling out his name but he kept going anyway.
'Yes, call my name and watch as I ignore you back!'
He could hear his brother's footsteps catch up and walk abreast with him. Takumi didn't break his pace as they turned the corner.
"I wonder what Ayame-chan would say if she knew you are sulking and throwing a tantrum because of Yukihira" cooed Isami.
"She would totally be on my side" bit out Takumi.
"I doubt that" chuckled Isami.
Speaking of Ayame, she started her classes today as well. They've been regularly texting each other good mornings and good nights every single day. It brought smiles to his face and made his heart flutter. They were very much aware that they'd be spending less time with other because of school, but they were both adamant to always be there for each other whenever they could in the time they had to spare. Unfortunately, he now had a rather heavy and time-consuming assignment thrusted on him on the first official day and he doubted he could hang out with her as much as he had hoped now. He was also sure she'll be getting pop quizzes, essays and exams too. Ayame made it very clear that she had already set her priorities for school and Takumi was more than happy to accommodate her needs.
Takumi interpreted accommodating her needs as running over to make her dinner whenever it sounded like she was most likely to pass out from hunger because Cristo knows her father was hardly there. He also made sure to sternly tell her that it was super-important for her to relax, take it easy and rest her mind from her school work, otherwise she will burn out before the second half of semester. He hated to admit it, but at least Namikaze knew how to have a good time, even if it was too much according to his bella. Perhaps she could still provide Ayame that support. Not too much support of course! Because a boyfriend such as he could still be jealous if his girl's bestie was taking over the 'going-out department'. Takumi had urged Ayame to make him her first point of call if she needed a break from school things. Ayame had a tendency for being completely focused on what she set her mind on and totally ignore everything else, such as eating. Takumi felt it was his responsibility as a boyfriend-chef to bring her back from the brink of starvation and push her robots, alarm clocks, toasters, anything mechanical in nature, far away, and sit her down for a good home-cooked meal. Ayame wasn't absent minded on purpose though and Takumi would always be happy to give her delicious reminders to just eat and enjoy life as it was as well.
"Ah! I'm so glad I caught you in time! This is for you Takumi-senpai"
Takumi and Isami spun around at the sound of a high-pitched and out of breath voice. A short and porky boy with a bob cut sucked in mouthfuls of breath as he skidded to a stop in front of the brothers. He was definitely a middle school, given by his young and fresh looking face who had yet to experience the terrors of Tootsuki's High School division. He handed Takumi a slip from his sweaty hand and Takumi thanked him cautiously.
It was a note from Isshiiki-senpai.
"What does it say?" asked Isami, perplexed, over his shoulder.
It said that he was needed in Isshiiki's office A-S-A-P. Takumi had no idea why because it wasn't stated in the note. Was he in trouble for anything? Not likely. Takumi looked up ready to ask the middle school messenger if Isshiiki-senpai mentioned anything else, but the boy had already scampered somewhere else. Last time he was in an Elite Ten office, it was Nakiri's and was because of his rescue mission for café Cioccolatini. That was a happy occasion. He had a suspicion deep in his gut that this wasn't going to be happy this time.
"Ah, go on ahead to Kitchen twenty-five, Isami. I'll catch up soon"
"Certo" Isami replied.
Takumi waved him good bye and made his way down the corridor towards the Elite Ten Council Wing.
"Glad that you could make it Aldini-kun" said the ever benevolent Isshiki-senpai.
Once again it was a strange sight to see the seventh seater in school uniform mostly because for one thing, Takumi was used to seeing him in a fundoshi and an apron whenever he visited Polar Star Dorm. That's how he knew everything was 'normal' with the residents of Polar Star as funny as it sounded. The other thing was if Isshiki-senpai was dressed in formal clothing, it meant something important or drastic was happening, so much that he needed to put on a fresh uniform. Since this was still school hours, then it should be absolutely fine for Isshiki-senpai to wear his school uniform, but Takumi couldn't help feel a twist in his stomach and anxiety creep in open seeing it.
"Please come in" Isshiki-senpai ushered him in.
"What is this about?" he asked. This was really strange. Takumi walked in and was welcomed by two strange people.
They were dressed in black.
The first was a tall red-haired man in a crisp black suit with a white dress shirt. Takumi noticed he was Caucasian straight away by his pale complexion. His scarlet-gingery locks were more vibrant than Yukihira's darker shade. It was a bit longer than the conventional length, but was swept back in a professional manner. He was a handsome man who possessed intelligent looking green eyes. Eyes that were very observant by the way he quickly scanned Takumi as soon as he entered the room. He was tall and well-built, with his suit just barely fitting across his chest and shoulders. Most strange was that he wore a medical eye patch over his right eye and there was a single but small hoop earring on the opposite earlobe glinting in the light. He gave him a friendly, laid-back smile and a small, casual wave. His solitary eye crinkled softly as he did so, appearing to be very at ease. His other hand was in his trouser pockets with only his thumb sticking out as he leaned, almost perched, on Isshiki-senpai's large desk. Takumi gulped. No matter how friendly this man looked, there was something more to that smile and it made Takumi feel on edge. And there was nothing more nail-biting than meeting a person who was damn near impossible to read.
"How are you Aldini-kun? My name is Chief Inspector Shoseki and this is Special Detective Rii. We are from TMPD. Please take a seat"
Takumi approached the plush velvet chair in front of Isshiki-senpai's desk and cautiously sat down. His neck began to sweat as nerves took hold of him. He narrowed his eyes at the two police officers in front of him in confusion. He placed his book bag by his feet and folded his hands onto his lap, being extremely aware that these two stood on each side of the large office desk, surrounding him on both sides. This was more serious than he thought. Despite the ray of sunshine Isshiki-senpai was and the real one coming from the window, the room suddenly felt a bit… grim.
He nodded slowly as he stared at the man and woman in front of him. The red-headed man who greeted him spoke in perfect Japanese and had a higher voice than Takumi expected. Takumi was thrown off by a Caucasian man with a Japanese name, but he held it together and chastised himself to being momentarily close-minded. He was half Japanese, half Italiano with both a Japanese first name and a lingua Italiana surname for goodness sakes. The Chief Inspector deftly pulled out a leather card holder from his inside jacket pocket and flipped it open to him. Takumi noted the badge was indeed TMPD, however the Kanji script for his name was not actually Shoseki like he called himself, which was supposed to mean 'Books'. But rather it was read as Bookseller or Book publisher or Bookman, something along those lines. Japanese wasn't Takumi's first language, but he was sure there was something not right there between the name he introduced himself as, and what was actually written next to his police badge. Before he could question him about it, he flipped it closed and pocketed it again. Chief Inspector Shoseki, or whatever his name really was, resumed gracing him with that same enigmatic smile.
The woman introduced as Special Detective Rii showed him her own police badge too. He noticed that her name was written in the katakana script which was exclusively reserved for foreign words or foreign names, suggesting she was not entirely Japanese. She was still oriental in appearance and wore a similar attire to him. Instead of a pencil skirt, which he was so accustomed to seeing Japanese women wearing, she wore a set of pants suit, a white blouse tucked into her pants and a black suit jacket. She was tall and very pretty. She had minimal make-up, enough to be professional. She looked quite lithe and carried herself with a good posture. She had fair skin and shiny and straight chin length hair. Her smile was soft and seemed a lot more genuine than Chief Inspector Shoseki's.
"We're here to ask you a few questions about a case we're working on. Are you familiar with Eizan Etsuya?" asked Special Detective Rii.
"Y-Yes ma'am" he said. His voice came out croakier than he intended.
Of course he knew what happened to Eizan-senpai. How could he not? To his understanding, he was arrested before the start of the school semester for some sort of illegal money business. Takumi was surprised when he heard the news from Tadokoro-san when he and Isami visited the Polar Star dorms one evening. Then again, he couldn't come up with anything he could say to defend Eizan-senpai even if his life depended on it. Takumi wasn't trusting of his upperclassman. Truth be told, the way he tried to interfere and derail Takumi during last year's Autumn's Election by pitching him up against someone disgraceful as Mimasaka meant he was forever stamped as the villain in his book. He still wondered, what information could the police possibly want from him? If they were still investigating, then that meant Eizan-senpai wasn't behind bars for good. Were they here to get information to prove him guilty? Or prove him innocent?
"We need you to be as truthful as you can. Just relax, you're not in immediate trouble" said Special Detective Rii.
"If I may interject Special Detective. If possible, I'd like to be present during the questioning, if that's ok?" Isshiiki-senpai stepped forward and plastered on a polite smile. From the corner of his eye he gave Takumi a reassuring glance.
"As you like" Chief Inspector Shoseki shrugged his shoulders.
"Have you ever spoken to Eizan-san or shared a conversation with him on any occasion?" resumed special detective Rii.
"No I haven't. I've only known him as my senpai" he replied.
"As you may have been informed, he was arrested two weeks ago on the grounds of insider trading for various food companies. We are going to ask you questions pertaining to his arrest. Have you ever known him to behave in any way that was unethical in this academy?" she asked.
Takumi paused. Just when he was reminiscing about his battle with Mimasaka, they questioned him about the circumstances surrounding that.
"Umm… Eizan-senpai was involved in choosing students to participate in our annual cooking competition called the Autumn Elections last year. He was accused of placing bias on certain candidates and pairing them up unfairly to achieve a… uh… fixed outcome" Takumi tried to phrase it as objectively as possible. He had learnt that Eizan wanted to send in a lackey to destroy him in the quater-finals to pave the way to defeat Yukihira in the semi-finals, however his plan was thwarted by the maverick chef's unbelievable ad-lib techniques in the end. The female police officer nodded as she jotted down what he said, whereas the other police officer just regarded him cooly.
"Was this issue addressed?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am" Isshiiki-senpai interjected again before the blonde Italian could say anything "Eizan-san was reprimanded forth with once it was brought to our attention and the board of directors dealt him the proper punishment promptly"
She looked up a bit surprise and graced him with a polite smile while the other one just chuckled. Did he find something funny?
"Thank you Isshiiki-san. Aldini-san, have you ever seen Eizan-san alone with anyone who was not a student on the academy grounds?"
"Only with lecturers, or academy officials" replied Takumi.
"I see. In any case, have you ever seen this man, anywhere on campus grounds or nearby the vicinity?"
Chief Inspector Shoseki placed an open manilla folder on the desk. Inside was a few bits of paperwork and a paper-clipped picture of a man amongst a busy street. He was standing next to a stop sign by a trendy looking café. The people around him were slightly blurred as their rushed movements wasn't captured well by the camera, however his image was clear enough for Takumi to see the details with no difficulty. He was holding a phone to his ear, a flip phone that was similar to his own. He seemed to be listening rather than speaking in his photo and whatever he had heard on the phone warranted him to smirk so arrogantly. He was a sort of a good-looking man with short black hair and reddish-brown eyes, but not trustworthy looking in the least with that sort of cocky and devious grin. He wore a dark jacket lined with grey coloured fur on the collar and the cuffs. The fur might've been white a long time ago and had probably aged into a greyish shade from constant use or infrequent washing. He was dressed rather darkly and plainly, ubiquitous. If Takumi had ever seen him on the busy streets or around Karakura town, he wouldn't have looked twice.
"No, I've never seen him before" said Takumi, leaning back away and examining the two police officers. Special Detective Rii glanced at Chief Inspector Shoseki and he just nodded to her. Takumi could've sworn he was only there to read body language to catch him out or something because he could always feel his eyes on him, never straying away at anything else while Special Detective Rii asked all the questions.
"His name is Orihara Izaya. He is an underground information broker based in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. We believe Eizan-san was a client of his, purchasing confidential information regarding other companies through unethical means to make unfair purchases on stocks and shares ahead of the game" said Special Detective Rii.
'Cristo… I thought Eizan was more of a lone wolf type of guy'
"If this man ever approaches you or contacts you in the future, or if you've ever seen him around here. Make sure to contact us immediately" the female officer closed the file and slid it under her arms.
"But why would he approach me?" Takumi quickly spoke up.
"We are asking that of anyone who is associated with Eizan-san. We don't believe Orihara would have a reason to, we're just taking precautionary measures" she smiled at him reassuringly. What she said was not reassuring. Takumi felt paranoia creep in. He wasn't going to sleep well at night with the prospect of being contacted by an illegal underground criminal, no matter how infinitesimal the chance.
"Here is my card. If you have any further information that could be of use to us, please don't hesitate to call me on this number" she handed him her work business card. It was the standard business card, only with the TMPD insignia. Her full name was Rii Rinari.
"Welp, we're done for the day. Thank you Aldini-kun for your time. Thanks for having us Isshiki-kun. We'll be in contact again if there's any further development" said Chief Inspector Shoseki.
He pushed himself off the table and went over to shake the seventh-seaters hand and Special Detective Rii did the same. Takumi got up and bowed to them. He watched as they exited the room, walking in a controlled and brisk pace. The way they walked definitely told them they were trained in combat. It was similar to the way Ayame's father walked. Or maybe all police officers walked like that.
"I don't think there is anything for us to be worried about, Aldini-kun. Tootsuki has given Eizan-kun the best lawyer we have. Hopefully, he will have a speedy trial and whatever the verdict will be, it will be exactly what Eizan-kun deserves" said Isshiki-senpai, as if reading his thoughts.
"Do you think he'd really do this, Isshiki-senpai?" asked Takumi.
"I don't know. If he did, I'm not entirely convinced he did this solely out of selfish or greedy reasons. Eizan-kun is not as black and white as he seems. But like I said, whatever the verdict, it will be as he deserves" he sighed.
Takumi thought that was well said. Isshiki-senpai was a fair individual and was probably the most decent one out of the Elite Ten. A small part of Takumi hoped that Eizan stayed in jail a little longer so that Tootsuki didn't have to endure any of his match-fixing crap. If Isami was with him in this room right now, he would pull him up by the ear just for ill-wishing thoughts against someone. But he wasn't here, so Takumi could mentally curse Eizan all he wanted.
"I have some paper work to catch up on now. Discussing with those two had taken a rather large chunk of my time. Run a long now!" said the seventh seater.
Isshiki-senpai hurriedly pushed Takumi out the room as soon as he grabbed his book-bag and before he knew it was standing outside a firmly shut door. That was really strange of Isshiki-senpai, but the blonde Italian decided not to think any more of it. He wondered if Isami was still in Kitchen twenty-five. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. There was still forty-five minutes left on their booked time. He could fit in one recipe to try out today before the two of them head home. There was a text message from Ayame. Takumi breathed a sigh of relief and opened it up.
'Hi Takumi-kun,
Just finished school. I had to stay back late as
I'm on library duty this week. Are you busy?
I thought we could grab a bite later :)
-Ayame
Takumi chuckled. Well, he will have time only after he and Isami were ready to leave Kitchen twenty-five, but he doubted Ayame would be able to wait that long. He sent back an apology message to his bella saying that he unfortunately didn't have time this afternoon. Instead he offered to bring her the food he planned to make in Kitchen twenty-five over for dinner instead if she'd like. Ayame sent back a picture of herself looking extremely excited and hopeful. Takumi laughed. Even in silly pictures, she looked beautiful. He made sure to save the image to his phone. Cooking for his bella will never get old.
It was now evening and Arato Hisako's secretarial duties were almost over. Except for one little thing...
If she had her way, she'd be back in her dorm room working on her assignment from Shiomi-sensei right now. But since she was a special student bestowed with important secretarial roles for an important Elite Ten member, on top of normal classes then it was expected of her to still be working way past school hours.
Hisako knocked on the door of the IT department of Tootsuki. That was correct. Tootsuki Culinary Academy had an Information Technology Department. It was a tiny one, consisting of only three personnel's. The academy had computers for their staff, the students research rooms, in the library and the Elite Ten offices, so of course they had to have a server room in the basement complete with their own IT staff. She'd rather call it the IT room because 'department' sounded too grand for three people. Hisako used to spend a lot of time in this section before she became Erina-sama's personal assistant. Being with Erina-sama was the best thing that ever happened to her! To finally officially be able to serve her mistress in any way possible was a dream come true. Her father had always told her as a child that she would be Erina-sama's right hand woman when she was ready. In the meantime, before she entered middle school, she was trained in any sort of managerial tasks ranging from secretarial to computers at a very young age in conjunction with her medicinal cooking training, all for the sake of helping to carry her mistress's burdens. All of that certainly came in handy for both Erina-sama as well as her stagiare last year with Yukihira.
"Hello? Is anyone still around?" she called out.
The room was empty. They had all gone home, but it looked like they forgot to lock up. How careless! She was hoping there might be the odd person still around but there wasn't. She remembered she had left some papers on one of the desks when she made a trip down there this morning, but had completely forgotten them until now. She will never, ever divulge this piece of imperfection to Erina-sama! She did not wish to leave on another journey for self-improvement again. Once was enough. The rosette haired student weaved through the messy desks and found the one she was looking for.
'Ah there it is!'
She scooped up her papers and was about to leave when the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrrrrr
Hisako stopped in her tracks and turned back around. How odd. Who could be ringing at this hour? She momentarily contemplated just leaving the IT room and whoever was calling could just call back the next day, but that would be extremely impolite of her. Then again, this wasn't her problem or anything…
Brrrrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrrrrr
But the OCD demon in her couldn't stand letting the phone ring unanswered! Hisako hung her head in resignation. She went back and picked up the receiver.
"Good evening, sorry but IT is clos—"
"Oh my goodness! Thank god someone is still here! The admin lady told me to ring this number instead—"
"Slow down! Sorry, I didn't catch a single word you said" said Hisako.
"S-Sorry about that. My name is a Sekito and I work in the Sh-Shokugeki Administration Bureau. I'm new and I totally forgot my account p-password and I don't have my new work laptop with me because I'm still traveling right now before I officially start. I really need access to my account because President K-Kageura needs me to log in immediately and review my details, so could you please help me out?"
Hisako mentally sighed. This man on the other side instantly reminded her of the male version of Professor Shiomi. Stuttering and stammering for being horribly forgetful. The sheer desperation in the voice of this new employee was almost comical to her because they never wanted to start off on the wrong foot in a new job. Hisako could somewhat sympathise with Sekito-san. His voice shook from absolute relief that he was finally receiving help so late in the evening.
"Well… if you really need help right this instant. I suppose I could be of some assistance…" Hisako said hesitantly. She never liked turning down an opportunity to help someone, especially if it required a technical skill she was trained in, whether it be cooking or administration type work. She checked the time again and it was almost seven o'clock. She didn't have anything else that was urgent as she already took care of Erina-sama's most important schedules for the next week.
"A thousand thanks! You're a life saver!"
"Ok. Just visit the Tootsuki staff's Learning Management System website and I can issue you a password reset to your Tootsuki-email" said Hisako. She might as well sit down, and so chose the wheelie chair beside her. She booted up the computer and logged into the desktop with her own account so that she could be of assistance to Sekito-san's password reset.
"Oh sure! Yeah, I know how to get there… Umm… it's not working? Why isn't it working? It says the website is not found… Oh my god! Why isn't it working for me?!" Sekito-san yelled on the other side.
"Calm down Sekito-san. Just double check that you've typed in the URL correctly" said Hisako.
"Hmm… it's lagging a bit I think. It's taking so long after I refresh it. I'm sure I typed it correctly…" he sighed on the other side.
Hisako put on her business persona and tried to help the new employee into accessing the password reset form on the website she had given to him. She really wasn't supposed to be doing this since she wasn't any of the IT staff, just a student, but since she had the means to help, then why not? Twenty minutes in with lots of back and forth on the phone, and she concluded that this man was so technologically inept, he probably shouldn't be allowed to use a computer at all! Hisako realised that she was already in too deep and there was no way for her to back out, not with Sekito-san singing his grateful thanks to her and apologising like no tomorrow for being such a nuisance. Hisako felt sorry for him too much to abandon him right now.
'I shouldn't have turned around. I should've just him call back tomorrow…This isn't even my job!'
Hisako grunted in frustration. She might as well get this over and done with.
"Ok Sekito-san, I know that you're having some issues with the website you're at. So listen to me carefully. Go to your browser and go to the top of the browser, do you see that bar up there? Ok, click it. Click it. You got it? Now go to your keyboard and type in the following. Are you listening? H-T-T-P-S- Don't forget the 'S' Sekito-san! It stands for 'secure'. Forward slash, forward slash, make sure the slashes are facing forward… ok… colon. Do you know what the colon is? It's the two dots on your keyboard. Do you see it? Ok, type that in. Now, W-W-W dot…"
Hisako spent the next five minutes spelling out the URL letter by letter, and back pedaling when he asked her to slow down, as if he was a four-year old. He didn't sound like he belonged to the older generation who were less familiar with computers and stuff. In fact, he sounded like he was in his mid or late twenties which was strange for someone to be this bad with computers.
"Argghhh… It's not showing up and I typed it out exactly as you said it. I'm so sorry!"
Hisako wanted to slam her head onto the table. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
"You know what, that's ok. Let me do it from here and I'll reset your password over the phone"
"Thank you so much!" now he sounded like he was going to weep with joy.
Hisako conjured up the Tootsuki staff Learning Management System website on her screen and proceeded to type in Sekito-san's account name as he told her over the phone. He had spent a ridiculous amount of time to just 'find the piece of paper he had written it on' before she could type it in. Tootsuki adopted the account name formula where it included the student's or staff's surname and a few numbers after it, so she didn't know how he needed to actually write it down to remember. When she finally got up to the password reset form, she needed a TFA, or two-factor authentication.
"Sekito-san, do you have your TFA-Token?" she asked.
"What's that?"
"It's an app on your smartphone that allows you to authorise a user log-in with two types of information. It should have been issued to you as well. First is the user ID, which I have here, and the second is a one-time-only password that the app will generate for you. Right now, you only need the one-time-only password. Do you have that?" asked Hisako as calmly as possible. Of course, he was abysmal at computers, so what chance did he have with knowing what a TFA or Two-Factor Authentication token was?
"Oh yeah! I remember it now! Oh dear… about that… I accidentally erased my smart phone while I was traveling and I don't have that TFA token app thingy installed on my phone anymore…"
'Well of course he'd do something like that…' she thought.
"That's ok Sekito-san, let me see what I can do for you…"
Hisako bit the inside of her cheek mulled over the possible solutions in her head. Sekito-san didn't have the TFA token app on his phone therefore she couldn't do a password reset for him, because that required her to put in the TFA token generated password after the newly reset password. She had an idea. Hisako instructed the helpless Sekito-san to re-install the app and set it up all over again. She issued him a four-day TFA token to him and he was expressing how eternally grateful he was to her. It brought a smile to her face. She would hate to be in his position so she tried to be as understanding as possible. Once it was all done, she got the one-time-generated password and reset the password for him and gave him further instructions over the phone. Hopefully this time, he wouldn't bungle it and spend another hour helping him out for another technical problem. Soon everything fell into place and Sekito-san was on the right track again.
"Yes! Oh my god, I finally logged in. Here we go... I can get to all the information I need now. Thank you so much young Miss. You've been MOST helpful"
"Not at all Sekito-san, remember to keep your password safe. Goodbye" she replied happily.
Once she hung up, the rosette-haired chef slumped into the wheelie chair, logged off her special secretary account on the computer and shut it down. That was enough of an adventure for this evening. She was glad she still remembered how to do these sorts of things. She was sure Erina-sama would be very impressed with her skills. It wasn't like she wished Erina-sama to forget her password for her student account so that she could show more of her technological secretarial skills to her. Hisako got up and made sure to not leave behind her papers on the desk again and proceeded to turn off all the lights and closed the door. She didn't have the keys to the IT room, so she just left it unlocked. Hisako had a skip in her step. She loved feeling useful, especially to Erina-sama, but for others who needed help, it was a good feeling too.
She hoped the new Tootsuki employee, Sekito-san, will keep his new password safe. She'd hate it if all that time went to waste and he lost access to Tootsuki's internal networks again.
I'm re-assessing my story and its trajectory in the little time I have between updates. There are some things I still need to iron out regarding the quality of my content and prose. I got the general impression from some readers that my subplot and/or change of scenes are confusing or perhaps distracting. I apologise for being too vague or unspecific if that's the problem. I'll fix that. I'm trying my best to highlight every angle of Takumi/Ayame's blossoming relationship and simultaneously be inclusive of our core Food Wars characters, and Ayame's friends' without making them ornamental. I completely understand if you guys had preferred me to keep a more simplistic and wholesome story-line about Takumi/Ayame. I'm sorry, if I've let you down.
I will do my absolute best to change and edit things to make this a smoother and more enjoyable story for everyone :)
I mentioned this to a reviewer the other day. I'm considering a Kuchiyose x Alice prequel story or a Chizuru side story in the future, but I'm anxious about how well that will go down. Thoughts?
Thanks for sticking around this long with Takumi, Ayame and I!
Signing off
-TripWire-dono
