Mrs. Genji, sole proprietor of the Opera House restaurant, was in her sixties and wore a black dress and walked with a large black cane.
"My granddaughter has told me a great deal about you," she said after Kyo had introduced himself. "She says you want to go to Paris and become a pastry chef?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"How admirable. Too many young people see the culinary profession as something to pay their bills while they go to school to get 'better jobs,' or just a way to get started in the work force, and that's if you're generous and consider fast food joints part of the culinary profession. We need more young people like you to see this as a calling. And to go to France for you apprenticeship! For one so young to have such a lofty goal is remarkable."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Kyohei was practically giddy - Sei was the only other person (outside his culinary school) who had ever said anything complimentary about his ambitions. And he thought, 'Maybe I was looking in the wrong place after all?'
"Follow me," Mrs. Genji said.
She led Kyohei to the kitchen and pointed to an alcove. "Uniforms are there. Once you are changed, I will give you exactly five minutes to learn where everything is, then you start taking orders form the waiters and assisting the chef. If you can keep up, the job is yours."
"Five minutes to scope this place out?"
"Are you saying you need more time?"
"I'm saying I don't need it. I saw everything I needed to see when we came through the door."
"Then get changed. You will start at once."
The next three hours were a happy blur for Kyohei. And after one hour Mrs. Genji was so impressed she allowed him to handle some orders on his own.
But what Kyo found most enjoyable was what didn't happen: He wasn't caught in the middle of mech battles; he didn't have to cower as bullets crisscrossed inches from his body; he didn't have a front row seat for a lesbian/bisexual/whatever soap opera; he wasn't teased, harassed, or lead into a forbidden part of town …
…he didn't have to struggle to look his boss in the face, as her barely-covered boobs drew his eyes down like a pair of melon-shaped magnets …
… for three hours, all he had to do was cook and not worry about anything else. He lost track of time and was surprised when the three hours were up.
"Well done, young man," Mrs. Genji said. "I would call you 'impressive,' but that would be an understatement. If you give me your account information, I will transfer your wages immediately. It may not be as much as you get paid by this 'other job' my granddaughter has mentioned, but it will be sufficient."
Kyohei grinned. "Whatever you want to pay me, Mrs. G., is fine with me."