Big Fish
At Tōtsuki academy, the lunch break wasn't your usual kind of lunch break. Just like in most other schools, the students got some free time, in this case two hours, to use however they like. Unlike in most other schools, the student body didn't congregate in the school cafeteria, as there was no school cafeteria at Tōtsuki. It would be counter-productive to serve indigestible excuse for food to the students of the prestigious culinary academy. Instead, everyone went their own way and made their own meal, and the kitchens were all at their disposition. (The official unofficial school policy was that if someone died of malnutrition, it was a sign that they weren't fit to be a chef anyway. Survival of the fittest and all that jazz.)
When Desserts 301 ended and she changed into her regular school uniform, Rindō let her legs carry her away to one of the kitchens in the main academy building. It wasn't until she was safely away from the Desserts classroom that Rindō allowed her lips to spread into a triumphant smile. When she'd seen that tie sticking out of Eishi's bag, she knew she had to have it. She hadn't devised a plan of what to do with it yet, but snatching it up was simply too easy. The opportunity was too good to miss. Eishi had been too calm, poised, during the meeting and during class, too; she needed to shake him up a little, because, boy, was she shaken up. Simply stealing the tie would be enough to vex Eishi, so if she found another way to torture him with it, those would just be bonus points. (She was such a good friend.)
She was passing different kitchens, some already taken, some still empty, until she noticed that one was occupied by a blonde girl and her faithful pink-haired friend/secretary. She barged in and announced, "I was promised a cup of anti-headache tea brewed by the best medicinal cook of this academy!"
Nakiri Erina and Arato Hisako looked mildly startled by her sudden and rather rude appearance. "Kobayashi-senpai!" Nakiri stuttered slightly, "Of course, please join us!"
"Your headache will disappear in no time at all!" Arato was already whipping out the ingredients. And although Rindō's headache had faded since that morning (a very different kind of ache was now ruling her nether regions), she was content to settle on a barstool and lean on the kitchen counter in front of her, watching the younger girls move around the kitchen with agility and speed any aspiring chef must possess. Nakiri offered to cook up a lunch for all of them and Rindō was yet again more than happy to accept. It gave her time to think of what to do with the stolen tie. Arato handed her a cup of lemon-ginger tea (which reminded her of a day at the beach, with a spicy twist) and Rindō slowly sipped it, forming a master-plan from the maelstrom of ideas. She was just putting the finishing touches on it, when her phone vibrated, signalling a received message.
She opened the instant messenger and sure enough, an exceptionally concise text had popped up: "You thief."
Rindō's fingers flew over her screen as she tapped the letters: "New phone, who this?"
Almost instantly, she received a reply. The written words were almost dripping with annoyance: "Damnit, Rindō, I want my tie back."
She chuckled into her phone and typed: "You're gonna have to find it first."
She read the next message – "Where are you?" – and promptly pocketed her phone again. The vibrations continued in quick succession, Eishi probably still inquiring about her location. The guy was persistent.
"Kobayashi-senpai, please join us for the meal!" Nakiri put a plate in front of her. It contained a piece of salmon, covered with a layer of honey-mustard glaze and arranged on top of fried rice. The scent alone made Rindō anxious to dig in. It was, after all, the cooking of God Tongue, and she didn't doubt it would be delicious. She cut through the salmon with ease, as if the fish were eager to become a tasty bite for Rindō to enjoy. The honey enveloped her into a warm embrace and she found herself floating in a river of sunlight, the salmon merrily swimming around her. And when she tried the fried rice, Rindō realized just how thoughtfully crafted the dish was – mixed in with the rice were tea leaves, straight from Arato's lemon-ginger infusion. The dish and the drink complemented each other perfectly. Rindō closed her eyes, basking in the glory of sun and salmon. She'd never felt so relaxed.
Alas, her peaceful state was rudely interrupted when a door slammed behind her. Rindō felt a pang of irritation at being disturbed, but she kept her eyes closed. She knew who'd just burst in, anyway. And if she hadn't known already, Nakiri and Arato's proclamation "Tsukasa-senpai!" was a dead give-away (the young'uns will probably remember this day as the Day of the Rude Senpais).
"Nakiri-san, Arato-san," Eishi acknowledged. "Rindō," she finally turned at the sound of her name and looked at him. "Give it back," he was out of breath, probably from running around and looking for her. He was looking rather dishevelled, indeed. Rindō's lips curled upwards. "How did you find me?"
"Oh, you know," he waved his hand around, "Just followed the scent of a lying thief."
"Senpais, please, what is going on? Can we help?" Nakiri was looking between the two, brows slightly furrowed.
"I think that Eishi here," Rindō amiably gestured towards him, as if to accentuate his silliness, "Is under the impression that I am in possession of a missing item of his." He opened his mouth (probably to tell her to stop speaking so melodramatically), but she interrupted him, "That, of course, isn't the case! Kobayashi Rindō is no thief! So please, Eishi, forget that silly notion. Aren't you hungry?"
Eishi eyed her for a moment, "I am very hungry."
Rindō licked her lips, "Why don't you join us for lunch, then?"
"Oh, but," Nakiri piped in, "I don't think I've made enough for everyone, then."
"It's fine, I – " "Eishi and I can share" they said at the same time. Rindō gave him a sweet smile and beckoned him to join her. Under the expectant gazes of Nakiri and Arato, Eishi slumped onto a stool next to her. "I'm sure it had looked wonderful," he said looking at the garnished dish, "Before Rindō stuffed her face with it." He took a bite of salmon and rice as she shrugged, "Well, you know how much I like stuffing my face with it." It was rather amusing to watch his face turn delightfully pinkish, as he almost choked on the mouthful.
She tapped him lightly on the back as he coughed and weakly said, "My compliments to the cook." He nodded to the girls, who were both blushing and were both very puzzled.
"Now look at what you've done," Rindō scolded him, "You've made our underclassmen uncomfortable."
"I made them uncomfortable?" he protested in indignation, while the girls excused themselves and went to the far side of the kitchen to wash their dishes. Clearly chagrined, Eishi ate some more salmon (he was hungry, after all) and Rindō could see that he was enjoying the food, but was still analysing it, finding ways to improve it. Always striving for perfection – and if he applied the same principle to everything else... Rindō had a moment of self-doubt. What if she wasn't good enough for him? In every sense? But she quickly dismissed the depressing thought. That kind of thinking was for losers and she wasn't one. He was about to take another bite and she poked him in the ribs, "Hey, leave some of that for me!"
He held out the fork in front of her, "Open up."
"For you, any time," she winked and accepted the bite. This time, the sun-kissed salmon had an impact of a thousand suns. The dish was either magically transforming or some other factor was at play. In any case, she was well aware of Eishi intensely watching her lips so she licked them again, for good measure. He sighed in what she chose to interpret as frustration, "How is it that this whole day we have never once been alone in a room?"
Rindō leaned in to whisper into his ear, "If there hadn't been a bunch of other people in the class with us, I would have pounced on you." He angled his head and his lips were so tauntingly close. "If you hadn't been drunk last night, I would have bent you right over that countertop." Rindō may or may not have squealed. "Or taken you against your door." She vowed never to even touch alcohol again. "Rindō," he murmured enticingly, "Where is my tie?"
Something clanged in the background and Rindō remembered that there were two other people in the room. She withdrew from Eishi, who was silently laughing. She shifted on her seat, crossing her legs. And then her skirt rode up, revealing a strip of cloth tied around her thigh, finished off with pretty bow. Rindō watched his face when he did a double-take, realizing what her newest accessory was. "Hell, woman," he didn't finish his sentence and Rindō rejoiced. Her goal of totally throwing him off balance was finally achieved. Who's shaken up now, ha? His eyes darkened into a stormy colour and the silent promise of his smouldering gaze made her toes curl up. She was tempted to drag him out of there and into the first empty classroom, corridor, toilet, closet, or whatever empty space they stumble upon first, and have her way with him.
When he started for the tie, she smacked his hand away. It was incredibly hard to deprive herself of his touch, but she had other plans for later, "Hands to yourself, you rascal. You're going to make me late for my class. Go help Nakiri-san and Arato-san with the dishes!"
The younger girls, who had hopefully been far enough so as not to hear the whole conversation, perked up on the sounds of their names.
"No, no, it's absolutely fine," Nakiri assumingly tried to make herself disappear by energetically waving her hands. And if Rindō's eyes weren't deceiving her, the younger girl seemed quite red in the face. Hmm. Maybe Eishi and she hadn't been as inconspicuous as she'd thought they were. Rindō shoved their shared plate into Eishi's hands and pushed him toward the sink to do some housework (she did love letting other people do things instead of her). As much as she'd have loved to stay and watch Eishi get all wet and soapy, she did have a class bound to start in a couple of minutes. The lunch break was almost over.
History of Cooking 101 was an elective class Rindō had chosen on a whim. It wasn't particularly engaging, as it consisted only of theoretical knowledge data-dump (but it definitely sounded better than the other elective option, Yeast and Feast 101). They'd done a brief overview of prehistoric history, with the hunters and gatherers, and domestication of first animal kinds, and then moved onto the ancient recipes. The professor was just talking about garum, the ancient Mediterranean fermented fish sauce, when her phone vibrated.
"Are you a magician? Because that disappearing act you just pulled was mad."
Rindō snorted at the text message. "You're supposed to wait for my answer, not answer it yourself," she sent back.
"You're supposed to wear a tie around your neck, not your leg," came the reply. Rindō smirked and adjusted her thigh-tie (the name had a nice ring to it), pulling it higher up. The silky material was smooth against her bare skin and the touch was almost as feathery as Eishi's had been that same morning.
"Says Mr. I-wear-my-tie-loose-to-look-cool," she shot a text back and then considered. "Now leave me alone, I need to know how to make garum," she had no qualms about defying the stigma of double-texting. (She was rather fond of triple- and quadruple-texting, too.)
His next text was strikingly short and to the point: "And I need you." The words sent another wave of heat over her body.
"What are you gonna do about it?" she sent and impatiently waited for his reply. When it didn't come after a minute, she was irked. When it didn't come after five minutes, she was incensed. How dare he ignore her?
She put away her phone and tried to refocus on the lesson (the professor had moved on to different kinds of olive oil produced in Ancient Rome), but her treacherous thoughts kept flitting over to the infuriating, hot, and infuriatingly hot First Seat who was evidently ignoring her.
It's been barely another minute before someone rapped on the classroom door. The intruder didn't wait for an invitation. "I'm sorry, professor," Tsukasa Eishi said in his most endearing voice, "but the Elite Ten has encountered an unexpected problem and we need to solve it as soon as possible. It is very urgent," he stopped for emphasis, "So if I could borrow Kobayashi-san for a moment, that would be great."
The professor, who, like most other staff, was a tiny bit scared of Eishi, was more than happy to oblige the infamous Teacher-Crusher, "Of course, of course, take all the time you need."
Eishi nodded and then turned his attention to the rows of students. His eyes instantly landed on her. "Rindō," he said, "Are you coming?"
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A bit of a cliffhanger to keep you on the edge of your seat until the next chapter! Hope you liked it!
