Chapter 23 – Life Goes On & So Does the Darkness
Satoshi quickly poured Erina Nakiri and Alice Nakiri some more tea.
"Are you sure that is everything you know about your father, Nakiri-kun?" he said as gently as possible.
"Y-yes. That's everything I know" Nakiri Erina replied hoarsely.
Alice-san sat beside her and rubbed her cousin's shoulder in support and comfort.
Satoshi leaned back in his seat. He mulled over the facts to make sure he got this straight. Azami was definitely a Nakiri who married into the family. He was a former third seat in Doujima-san's generation and then rose to the first seat in the year after. According to the Nakiri cousin's, he was cold, rude, and domineering. He was the only person to ever cause the normally confident Nakiri Erina to become a terrified mess at the mention of only his name. This abhorrent man had taken advantage of his daughter's God's Tongue ability as soon as he found out and used it for his self-serving purposes. He forced her to compare dishes and throw away all the contents of the dishes that were told her was inferior.
He controlled her mind easily and she continuously submitted to his poisonous and treacherous words until her autonomy was destroyed. Nakiri Erina was too young to fight back and resist. He was her father. She didn't know any better. It also seemed like this despicable man wasn't above physical violence on his own child to get his way, as retold by the number of times he hit her and slapped her. The man should never have been a father. His mentally abusive re-education regime to harness this ability spoke volumes as to why he was banished from the Nakiri family by the head, Senzaemon-dono, and ordered never to set foot onto their school or look in their direction again. That was the last the Nakiri heiresses saw of him. He left when she daughter was ten years old.
According to Nakiri Erina, her disowned father believed that the culinary industry was rotten, riddled with corruption and it needed to change. Nakiri Azami aspired to bring the culinary industry to its pinnacle, though he considered food that was not high quality to be nothing but fodder and forcibly instilled this doctrine into his daughter. Whatever this 'pinnacle' was, it sounded more like hell than heaven. So that was the reason why Nakiri Erina was the way she was. Her behavior and cognition had been modified against her will. She knew nothing but her father's training regime, and his iron-clad rules on culinary excellence. So she had developed an elitist persona, moulded and shaped by him and that became her identity for fear she would be punished if she was anything else.
"I'd appreciate it if you both speak nothing about our conversation to anyone. Does that seem fair to you?" asked Satoshi.
"Sure. Does Ojii-sama know about this?" asked Nakiri Alice.
"Yes, I'm keeping him up to date, every step of the way"
Nakiri Alice nodded. She turned to her cousin and her face deepened into despair. The both of them were still haunted by this man. He felt bad about getting these two to cut back into an old scar, but he had no choice.
Satoshi suppressed the bile rising into his throat and he strived to keep his benevolent, kind and gentle façade, for Erina Nakiri's sake. He didn't want her to think things were as bad as it really was.
It made total sense. Nakiri Azami planned to take revenge on his family, who turned his back on him. He planned to tear down the culinary world and rebuild it into his own twisted vision, and he was going to do that by ripping it from the roots up. Take over the internationally famous culinary school and bend the minds of the fresh, young and new generation of chefs to be his soldiers, then disseminate his ideals to the world. Satoshi found out that during his excommunication, Nakiri Azami began to create a culinary business and community solely for the wealthy in America and began to expand his business in to the East, Middle East, and southern Asia. So he didn't just end up as a nothing when he left, he really made something of himself and gained a lot of influence in the gourmet food world. He was going to be a terrifyingly formidable opponent.
'He needed a way in. That's why he hired the information broker. To open a gateway for him'
"Thank you for opening up to me Nakiri-kun. Will you be alright to attend this evening's meeting with the rest of the Elite Ten and your cohort?" Satoshi stood up as soon as the two Nakiris took to their feet.
"Yes. We will be there." Said the blonde Nakiri in a monotone voice.
Satoshi escorted the two of them out and watched as they walked away in silence. Nakiri Alice continued to rest her hand on her cousin's shoulder. Once they disappeared down the hallway, he closed the door behind him and returned to his seat in quick strides. He plopped back into his seat and massaged his temples. One thing done, he was able to get some leading information from the Nakiri cousins. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to gain a proper and private audience with Senzaemon-dono. He only briefly spoke to him during Eizan's preliminary hearing. Even then he couldn't say much.
He pulled out his folder of all the research he did surrounding Nakiri Azami from his locked drawer. He's started with scouring all the school newsletters and newspaper articles, and found nothing. It was like the Nakiri family literally obliterated his existence. Then he found a bit more under 'Nakamura Azami' but it wasn't anything useful. He didn't bother doing research further than the school because he knew Chief Inspector Shoseki was handling that.
Satoshi pulled out his phone from his pocket. It wasn't his. It was given to him by the Chief Inspector who insisted he called him using this handset should anything arise in Tootsuki. He said it had been modified so the signal was masked and it couldn't be intercepted, which was safer to use. The seventh seater turned the red handset in his palm multiple times, tapping his finger on his temples as he did so.
The brunette student sighed and pressed the call button.
'Here we go again'
Akira had to water Jun's paprika sprouts. She forgot. He was already used to it but he'd appreciate it if she was less neglectful in looking after her research samples. He didn't have the heart to scold her this time because he knew she was in a very stressful position. Being the youngest and shortest professor in Tootsuki meant that she always over worked to prove to everyone that she deserved her position and her tenure. He yawned as he moved onto the next collection of little pots of spice plants. Lately she'd been frantically marking each and every Medieval Spice cuisine assignment his whole cohort had handed in last week. Day and night, she was on top of the assignments and Akira took on the responsibility to make sure she ate something otherwise she wouldn't be doing anyone any favours if she fainted from malnutrition. It was a nuisance, but he just had to deal with it.
That assignment was piss easy and he was sure he'd get full marks anyway. What he didn't like about the assignment was the way it was structured. It was too much for Jun to handle. He had implored her to make it less complicated, but she wouldn't listen. What was going through her mind to make her decide that getting students to write an essay AND design a recipe AND write a reflective piece AND write a critical peer review of another's assignment was a good idea. Never mind the students, but now she had saddled herself with a humongous task ahead. She was cooking every single recipe that was handed in to check if it was legitimate. That was over a hundred recipes! It was insane! She may be a genius in her field, but she was without any logical sense when it came to practicality. What on Earth was she thinking! He seriously recommended that she should see a counselor or a therapist to address stress management or even curb her workaholic tendencies.
Once Akira was finished, he released his hair from his low ponytail and rubbed his scalp. He took off his garden apron and popped it on the hook on the back door and returned to the main area of the spice seminar room to see what Jun was up to now.
'She's not even a quarter of the way through her marking…'
Akira groaned silently.
"Jun. Make sure you drink some water"
"Ha? Oh yes! Of course" her eye-bag ridden face flew up in surprise as she was absorbed with comparing some students' assignment with her marking rubric.
Akira was forbidden to look through or even touch any of the students' assignments. Not like he cared for that anyway, but Jun had felt she needed to make things absolutely clear as a disclaimer since he was her ward.
"Jun, it's time to eat anyway. How about you drop your marking for now and continue in the evening and rest already" said Akira.
"Oh I can't do that Hayama-kun. I have a meeting with chef Chapelle this afternoon to come up with a compromise in our lesson plans. So I need to get as much of the marking out of the way as possible before I hand them back to you guys" she said.
Jun looked terrible and Akira hated to see her this way. Her face was pasty, her eyes drooped with weariness and sleepless nights, and her eye-bags were very dark. She'd aged at least five years since she picked up her red pen. She was so gung ho in the beginning to grade everyone's papers and now she had one foot in the grave. She wasn't as jittery and jumpy as she normally was but rather moved sluggishly and hunched her back wherever she dragged her feet. He even had to grab the back of her ponytail to stop her from bumping into walls a few times and pulling her hair had the added benefit of waking her up at the same time.
'Right, we're having merged classes later on in the semester'
On top of her mountain of marking and her spice research which was seriously on hold because of all this, she and Chef Chapelle were planning on combining the practical and theoretical classes together. It was a good idea, that way he could certainly apply the new theories he learnt and get some use out of them. He flitted his green eyes over to the dried bay leaves hanging outside the window.
"Hayama-kun, have you heard of a girl born without a sense of smell?" said Jun looking more refreshed after drinking a glass of water.
"What the hell? Were you drinking again?" he raised his eyebrows dubiously at her.
"No… Yukihira-kun knows a girl like that. It's called congenital anosmia. It sounds so weird doesn't it? There is someone out there who's the complete opposite of you" she mused.
"You shouldn't believe anything he tells you"
"It's true!" Jun yelled at him.
Akira had never heard of anything like this. In his mind, everyone was the opposite of him. What was congenital anosmia? Born with no sense of smell? That was preposterous, anything to do with smelling he would have heard of it. He found it quite difficult to actually wrap his head around it. If it was possible to be born deaf or blind, then yes he could understand that. But born without a sense of smell? That was weird, unheard of to him. All his life he relied on his nose, like another extension of himself, therefore to imagine someone without it…
"Where'd he find her?" he poured himself a glass of water too.
"She's one of Takumi-san's friend. You've met his friend's haven't you?" she asked.
"Are you talking about Polar Star dorms? Of course I have" he replied.
"No, no. He's got some friends that don't go to Tootsuki. You've told me about them before actually"
"Hmmmm…"
Did he? When was the last time he spoke to Takumi Aldini? He had a lot of research cooking he had to conduct for Jun during the holidays so he barely had time to reflect on other things he did during that time. He was a very busy person. He conjured up a vague memory of having a shokugeki with Mito and Takumi Aldini took around some friends during the summer holidays to be the judges as a request. He thought about it some more. Yes, they were definitely on a tour, meaning they were outsiders. He remembered clearly now, there were two girls and one very tall boy. They were Takumi Aldini's friends. Was Jun talking about one of them? That meant she was implying one of the girls was born with no sense of smell. Which one? Takumi Aldini never introduced either of the girls with that condition. Obviously, he would have remembered something astounding as this.
"I don't know really" he replied nonchalantly.
"She would be so interesting for research purposes! N-Not like human experimentation, but to get her to sample different spice flavours and aromas and see how much she could differentiate them or even at all! And maybe we'll get an insight into how the human brain processes the sense of smell! Oh and also maybe to see what effects flavours and spices have on people, analysing what reactions she lacks!" Jun gentle tapped her cup on the table in her excitement.
Akira allowed her to ramble on as he sank deeper into his memories.
One girl stood out to him. The short one with the edgy, chin-length which flicked out. She couldn't look any more apathetic as she tried Mito and his dishes in that shokugeki. It was like she thought their dishes were subpar, and it bothered him a lot. Although she did show some preference for his dish. She was a strange one. He remembered asking her what she felt and tasted, but she took too long to answer to the point that her friend had to jump in. Maybe he was a bit too intimidating when asking her. She looked quite uncomfortable when he approached her side of the table. Scared even. He didn't mean to, but there was something about her that just drew him in. Now that he thought about it, he encountered her again during the Summer Solstice Festival. But she had turned-tail from him as soon as she recognised him. He remembered the expression on her face when he tried to offer her his curry. Her eyes blew up wide and fearful and she snarled in distaste.
He was usually bad at remembering faces, or people that were insignificant to him. He normally played it off well, unlike Yukihira who was blatantly obvious when he didn't recognise a person. He thought it was funny how he remembered that girl out of the faceless masses.
"Could you imagine that Hayama-kun? Someone who can't smell or taste food" Jun continued to ramble on as he nodded automatically.
'Can't smell… can't taste..."
Oh.
Oooh.
"Is her name… Namikaze?"
"Oh so you do know her! Yes, her name is Namikaze Chizuru, one of Yukihira-kun's and the Aldini twin's new friend" said Jun.
Akira closed his eyes and sighed.
Damn, it should have clicked with him sooner. Of course there was something seriously wrong when she was behaving so strangely towards him. It was no wonder. So that was it, the reason why she showed such a neutral disposition to food and an aversion to him was because she could not sense therefore could not comprehend the nature of smell and taste. He had proudly explained how his superior physiological ability allowed him to surpass all others in his culinary art in front of her, it looked like she sat there letting it all enter her ear and out the other.
Something tugged at his chest. The fact that this girl, Namikaze, couldn't smell didn't sit well with him. It didn't sit well at all. He couldn't place his finger on it but he regarded this source of discomfort was akin to feeling pity. Like he wanted to reach out and transmit some of his superior sense of smell to show her the gift she'd been missing, the beauty of scent. He didn't know what it was like to be born without it, let alone his unique ability, but to him, it felt like the girl was cheated by life, one of her senses robbed from her before she even entered the world. Akira didn't take much stock in religion, but he had some belief in fate and destiny. Here he was, with the acute sense of smell, crossing paths with a girl with none whatsoever.
It hardly looked like a coincidence.
"Yeah, I've met her before. She likes eating spicy food, I heard" he said, replaying his encounter with her. He spoke to her friend to get some information about her and that was what she said. She liked eating spicy food.
"Really? Well that makes sense. Anosmiacs might like food that provide more stimulation. So? What was she like?" asked Jun.
"Didn't talk to her"
"Wow. You let that chance fly right on by..." she pouted.
"I didn't even know at the time, alright?" he sighed.
Akira crossed his arms and tilted his head backwards, breathing deeply. He allowed the scent of drying herbs and spices enter his nostrils, instantly identifying each aroma like it was second nature. Cinnamon, turmeric, bayleaves, holy basil, fish mint, cardamom, saffron, garam masala and rosemary. He listened to Jun's footsteps as she hobbled her way back to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and instantly he knew by his nose that she opened a plastic container of his left over Vindaloo curry. Its aroma was severely stunted due to being stored in the fridge, the cold temperature holding the scent prisoner. However nothing could escape his nose, so he could still detect the smokiness of the Kashmiri chillies, the fragrance of the coriander seeds, turmeric and ginger, cinnamon, tamarind and the cider vinegar.
"Anyway, bring her over Hayama-kun! I'd love to meet her one day"
"Huh? Why are you asking me for! Ask Yukihira or Aldini!" Akira stood up abruptly and grabbed his empty cup and brought it over to the sink.
"Oh you're right. That's a better idea. Knowing you, you can't even get a girl's contact details to save your life" said Jun turning away, shaking her head.
Akira felt a vein pulse in annoyance and face heating up "Hmmph. Like you could do any better... You know what? Whatever. Jun, I've got somewhere I need to be, so make sure you eat before you meet with Chef Chapelle" said Akira, turning around from the sink.
"Eh? You won't eat with me?" squeaked Jun.
He shook his head and smirked "Also, you've been losing weight and I'm not getting enough weight-lifting exercises anymore when I'm carrying you up to bed when you fall asleep at the sofa."
"H-Hey! What are y-you trying to imply?!" she shrieked at him.
"I'm just saying that you're not as heavy as you used to be. Problem?"
"Yes! You're saying that I was fat before! I'm not! You're so mean, Hayama-kun…" her eyes started to shimmer and grow big with unshed tears. He wanted to flick her in the forehead because it was so funny but resisted.
"No, I'm saying that you need to eat more. That's all" he sighed in exasperation. Why did females always have to read too much into things? It was such a nuisance. Should he remind her of her negligence once again to stop her from fussing the small details? It was tempting.
But he had a meeting with the Elite Ten council to get to.
"I'm going now Jun. I'll be back in a bit" he called over his shoulder as he grabbed his on the way out.
"I'm going to stuff my face with all the Vindaloo curry and make you regret everything you just said! You hear me?!" she yelled back.
Good.
"I'm glad everyone could make it!"
Akira took his seat closest by the door, sitting next to Kurokiba. Why the hell did he always end up sitting next to him? Kurokiba may be menacing to everyone else except to his half-demented keeper, Nakiri Alice, but he was nothing to Akira. Kurokiba continued to stare overtly at him like a mooning, psychotic calf, with his undead expression, but Akira kept his eyes focused on Isshiki's desk at the front. He could stare all he liked, the bipolar mad-dog wasn't going to get a rise out of him. From his peripheral vision, he could indeed see that everyone was on time, including Takumi Aldini who wasn't present in the previous meeting. So he got himself a girlfriend, he'd heard. Looks like they'll be seeing less of Takumi Aldini now.
On one side were the remaining Elite Ten; Terunori, Kinokuni, Nakiri and Isshiki, with Eizan being absent, and the other side were the other ninety-second generation.
Akiria's eyes landed on Nakiri Erina. She looked a lot worse for wear, like she just woke up from a nightmare. Her skin had gone white, she sat with such impossible rigidity and her eyes were glazed over. She wasn't fully there. What's wrong with her? She looked like she might barf. She was probably sick. Maybe one of her taste-testing jobs probably did a number on her. Opposite her, Nakiri Alice didn't look too good either. She was hunched in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest and her legs crossed, staring out the window. Her eyes also held something in them that was a similar to loathing. Whatever that was going on between the two Nakiris was probably a family issue. He didn't have any more time to think about it when the seventh seater cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.
"We've decided to push the Elite Ten competition up forward, something came up and we had no choice but to do so"
'Something to do with Eizan, I gather'
"But the good news is that Nakiri Senzaemon-dono is back from his business abroad and would be able to oversee the competition as well. It will be held two weeks from now, not that two months I promised you"
"Two weeks? Ha, you could make it one week from now and it wouldn't do much difference. I'm sure everyone is keen and ready for anything" boasted Mimasaka from beside Yukihira which got him a nasty glare from the older Aldini twin.
"I'm sure Mimasaka-san" said the brunette upperclassman.
"So here's the rub. All of you guys are going to compete amongst yourselves with different themes. The ones who come out the winner will then compete against us Elite Ten. There are two rounds. That is how the competition will be structured. It will be a point based system. Three judges with twenty points to give, each. The winners of the first round will be ranked by points and assume they are the bottom five of the Elite Ten, whereas we will assume the positions of the top five of the Elite Ten. So for the next and final round, five of you will battle against the five of us. This will reshuffle the seats into the new Elite Ten Council." said Isshiki-senpai.
Now he was talking. Akira snorted. He had already kicked Kurokiba and Yukihira's arses in the Autumn elections, so defeating one of the Elite Ten was definitely within is sights. Out of all of them, Nakiri Erina was the easy target because she occupied the last seat. However, he no longer sought to dethrone her like in the beginning. He aimed higher than her.
Akira Hayama wanted the first seat.
'For Jun. She said I could change the world. I'll prove that she is right'
"Hang on a minute Isshiki-senpai, there's nine of us here. We can't make an even number of pairings" Yukihira spoke up.
Damn, he was right. There was just him, Kurokiba, Yukihira, Tadokoro, Arato, Nakiri Alice, the Aldini twins and Mimasaka. Only nine of them.
"I know that, I was the one who picked out the pairings out of the lottery" said Isshiki. "To solve this I've invited a special guest to come back to us for this special event to temporarily fill in the missing tenth spot for you guys and represent Eizan Etsuya's position in the last round."
Come back? What did he mean?
BAM!
"Hey guys~ Did ya'll miss me?"
Everyone twisted their heads around.
It was Kobayashi Rindou, leering at the doorway.
"Who would have figured Fratello! That one of the recent graduates would come back to do this!" said Isami. He couldn't contain his thrill.
His brother shook his head in disbelief "I feel sorry for the one who has to battle against the former Elite Ten so early on though" he said.
"Yeah, but I'm sure Alice-san could handle her. Besides if Alice-san loses, that'll mean only four of us will get through to the second round." said Isami.
That was how it was going to be. As soon as Kobayashi Rindou made her flamboyant entrance, things just got more interesting. Who would've thought she agreed to do this? Everyone was in a real state. Rumour had it that she left abroad to pursue her cooking career and make an international name for herself. She must have flown back when she had the chance to shred one of them to pieces... Isami remembered the feeling of his stomach twisting in excitement that the Elite Ten competition was drawing nearer. He and Takumi could definitely prepare in two weeks. He guaranteed that they will be in top form.
Isami could clearly see that Takumi was simmering beneath his stone-cold façade. Isami was ready to clamp his hand over his mouth if he spat out nasty words into the street at innocent passer-by's on account of Mimasaka if the dam burst, but it looked like he didn't need to. He was proud that his fratello could now hold in his temper better. Ayame-chan was definitely good for him, he was beginning to mellow out. Isami wished he could take on Mimasaka in Takumi's place. Fratello was once again paired up with that gorilla-faced oaf. Destiny had come full circle. This time, he believed fratello would defeat him for the last time. He was the one who spat chewing gum onto his brother's mezzaluna, he was the one who slandered his name in front of everyone and practically played fratello like a fiddle in the Autumn Elections. That bastardo was going to get it this time round. Takumi will be one, no, ten steps ahead this time! Isami repeated the pairings in his head.
'Hayama-kun vs. Megumi-chan
Kurokiba-kun vs. himself
Yukihira-kun vs. Arato-san
Alice-san vs. Kobayashi-senpai
Fratello vs. Mimasaka'
Isami thought about what he was going to do about Kurokiba Ryou, he wasn't someone to joke about, not when he was tied with Yukihira in the Autumn elections last year in the grand final. When Isami heard his name fall on Isshiki-senpai's lips right after Kurokiba-kun's name, he instantly looked in his direction. He was a bit perturbed that Kurokiba-kun didn't acknowledge him back, not even a glance. Isami knew that he wasn't exactly on his brother's level and Kurokiba probably thought he amounted to nothing when he didn't even make it to the quarter finals in the Autumn elections. But Dannazione! Isami had improved immensely both under Pappa's tutelage when he went back to Firenze for the summer holidays and even when he was back in Tokyo. Isami was going to show everyone, what he was truly made of and finally step away out of his brother's shadow into his own light.
The distinctive scrunch of paper told Isami that Takumi was clenching the summary sheet Isshiki-senpai handed out to everyone, with all the pairings in his pocket. He and Takumi were on their way back to their apartment. The streets were peppered with a few high school students returning from weekday cram classes and lots of business people on their way home too. The bright lights and noises from the cars provided a soothing calm to Isami. The meeting had run for about two hours and both were quite hungry. Now that they knew their pairings, everyone had the advantage to scope each other out. However, the theme of the battles won't be announced until the day before. That was just fine. He was fine with that. The biggest issue was keeping Mimasaka off his Fratello's back. How was Takumi going to do it? It was lucky that Takumi managed to figure out he was being spied three days before his battle last year. That guy was so skilled in stalking, it was creepy.
"So how are you going to practice now, Fratello. You've paired up with Mimasaka again"
"I don't know. We'll see" he said curtly.
Isami sighed. Neither was in the mood to cook right now, and they didn't have much leftovers.
"Hey. How about we get some take away bentous at the supermarket in Karakura honchou?" he offered.
Takumi nodded but didn't say anything. Isami didn't comment on his brother's decision to brood and just let him be. Soon they made it to the brightly lit supermarket. It was glaringly white and looked so clean and pristine. Isami loved the Japanese supermarkets. They sold everything he loved about Japanese culture. Lots of snacks, lots of classic Japanese food packed in convenient boxes. They all had super cute designs. His face was instantly hit with the air-conditioning of the supermarket when they made it inside. He felt his inner otaku emerge when he caught sight of the beautifully lined specials items near the checkout counter.
"Hey Isami. I'm going to buy us some drinks. I'll meet you at the checkout" said Takumi, pointing in the other direction.
"Ah sure, I'll get an unagi bentou and a tonkatsu bentou" Isami smiled back at Takumi.
Takumi finally returned the smile and went off to the drinks section. Isami knew that his brother was going to take his sweet time choosing which tea they would have tonight. Although when it came to Ayame-chan, he no problems choosing which tea to get. It was always the peach ice tea, her favourite. There were such a huge variety and that was also what Isami loved about Japanese supermarkets. Lots to choose from! Isami perused each bentou box carefully, reading the labels and looking at the actual food inside. Ever since Ayame-chan and her friends introduced him to these bentous, he couldn't get enough. Why hadn't he discover these brands before? The other brands of bentou boxes he used to eat didn't compare to these. These ones were more flavourful, and more homemade-tasting. Also, this brand come as self-heating when he pulled the string attached to the side. Japanese technology at its finest! Once he found the unagi bentou and the tonkatsu bentou, he stacked them together in his arms and stood up. Something interesting caught his attention from the corner of his eyes.
'Oh, they've got a new bentou box flavour! Chicken curry and rice'
Isami loved to try new things too. So he bent down to the side and reached for the new flavour of bentou box when suddenly he felt one of the boxes in his arms slip.
"Ah!" he retracted his hand to quickly grab the box before it hit the ground until—
"Whoops! Careful there. Wouldn't want to eat your dinner off the floor now, would we?"
Isami blinked in shock as soon as he realised the bentou box literally disappeared from view when it was mere centimetres away from being a mess at this feet. Che? Where did it go? He scrambled back to his full height and looked up into the eyes of the person who held the rescued bentou box in his grasp. It was a man. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He grinned at him with both his eyes closed. He was quite skinny, and lanky and dressed in all black. He had short dark hair and a wide friendly smile. He held out the bentou box to Isami and he received it with a bow and sigh of relief.
"Grazie. I wouldn't know what to do if one of the shop attendants came along a saw what happened" he chuckled in embarrassment.
"Oh, you're Italian huh? No worries. Happens to me sometimes. You wanted to try some of this too, right?" the kind man reached down a plucked a bentou box of chicken curry and rice that Isami was aiming for and plopped it into his arms along with the other boxes. "This one's pretty good. Just had it last night" the man tilted his head and smiled.
"Really? Good to know. I've already tried most of the bentou boxes here" said Isami.
"Well, isn't that clever. I like people who always expand their horizons. Are you an international student or something?" asked the man, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Si, my brother and I are from Italia and are studying at Tootsuki Culinary Academy" said Isami, brightly.
"I see, I see. Tough place to enter. You guys must be very talented. Hmm... Looks like it's getting dark quite fast outside. You better get going now. Who knows what unsuspecting shadows will jump out at you" said the man with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah. You're right. I've got to meet my brother at the checkout before he gets cranky. But thanks for saving our dinner… uh…" Isami's words tapered out when he realised he didn't know his name. The man opened his feline like eyes and slapped his hand gently on his forehead like he had forgotten too. Under the supermarket lighting, his irises shimmered eerily.
"My, where are my manners? The name's Orihara Izaya. See you around, kiddo"
You guys didn't forget about Hayama did you? And how about that, Rindou makes an appearance! I hope the story is traveling along at a good and natural pace.
It's normal for the Japanese police to build relationships with people who later on become their informants. They're called kyouryokusha (協力者). They're usually people who manage bars or run a pawnshop. In some cases, they are people who have already been released from jail. In this case, Chief Inspector Shoseki is using Isshiki to be one of his kyoryokusha to keep an eye out for Azami and Orihara at/around Tootsuki.
Speaking of Orihara! Isami~ my poor baby, you've had a run in with that bad, bad man. Coincidence?
I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you'll think and I'll see you soon.
Signing off
-TripWire-dono
