Chapter 94: A Horse with No Name

Like a bolt of lightning to the brain the first thing that Kensuke realised, after Rindō's victory and subsequent shouting match with the Director, was that this might be perhaps what Isshiki had been trying to warn him about.

Widening his eyes slightly as he realised just what Isshiki; and by extension Megumi and the rest of her friends, had been trying to get him to understand, Kensuke immediately ran a hand through his hair as he reeled from this newly learned interpersonal experience.

Yet as unexpectedly sudden as this newfound understanding was he was immediately bombarded by troublesome memories of his own experiences with fussy and expectant chefs and critics whom overly respected him - expecting more and more from him - as well as lionising his culinary skills.

And so with a tentative frown gracing his face he subtly glanced over his shoulder towards Isshiki; trying to get a read on his expression.

After all the time they'd spent in theory classes, cooking lectures and skill tutorials Kensuke had always tried to deny the fact that the former seventh seat had managed to somehow wrangle his way into becoming his un-official best friend.

Tsukasa and Rindō were still both hugely important to him but they shared his own despair, resentment and anger towards the critical culinary establishment that, seemingly, all great chefs attracted and were afflicted by.

As such, Kensuke had always wanted to make Isshiki see and understand just how different a chef he was compared to all the other burgeoning students attending Tōtsuki. He wanted him to realise that all chefs - no matter where they came from - all experienced negative reactions to the path they all desired to continue walking, and progressing further into the culinary world was something that urgently required absolute reform.

However, much to Kensuke's envy, Isshiki seemed to possess a seemingly endless supply of pure enthusiasm and excitement that excited, inspired and motivated all those around him. And that was something that the third seat simply didn't know how to react to or deal with.

Always whenever they were paired together for ceremonies or international events that necessitated Totsuki's Council of Ten did the third seat feel particularly high levels of anxiety; which turned to depression after the event was over, in western kitchens.

Western restaurant kitchen were already said to possess the highest rates of anxiety of any restaurant kitchen anywhere else on the planet - which unbeknownst to Kensuke, Isshiki knew but never told him of for fear of making him feel worse.

Yet in those places, the other people - contestants and judges - around them always seemed so content and used to these situations. And so becoming even more closed off from his fellow second year chefs became the norm. Always hiding from peoples view and not asking for help... regardless of how much he desperately wanted it.

However, with his new realisation Kensuke now had Rindō's words to back up what he now believed many people had been trying to get him to understand.

'Assistance… or needing help doesn't always mean weakness'.

Behind his black rimmed glasses his eyes remained wide as he slowly lowed his head into his hands and hid a few stray tears of happiness from being seen.

"Ken... you okay?"

Hearing Isshiki's voice laced with worry and concern, the third seat instantly looked up and spun around glancing back over at his opponent. Expecting to find the blonde ex-seventh seat staring at him with a frown on his face, Kensuke schooled his own visage to be as neutral as he could muster.

Unfortunately he found the blonde former seventh seat smiling broadly, not a hint of anger or disappointment in his eyes, at him as he strode forwards and fist bumped him.

Seeing that smile; so genuine and heartfelt, across Isshiki's face brought Kensuke to renewed tears as his earlier realisation repeated itself within his mind.

'Isshiki…'

Recalling his earlier blunt retort and coldness towards his best friend, Kensuke hung his head in shame hiding his tears and morose expression behind both his glasses and fringe.

Wiping away his tears on his jacket sleeve before anyone could suss something was up with him, the third seat unconsciously scratched at his bandages before wincing. Looking down at his arms he saw tiny traces of blood staining the bandages on his right arm.

Suddenly feeling the weight of renewed expectation on is shoulders, as well as a renewed urge to injury himself, he made to move away from Isshiki and return to his workstation but his blonde opponent wasn't having it.

"You're not alone..." Isshiki spoke plainly. "You were never alone, your fears may have blinded you to those around you but we never stopped caring".

Suddenly feeling quite weak and queasy; plus finding that his vision was becoming temporarily hazy, the third seat stumbled slightly and almost fell over but he managed to steady himself by grabbing the edge of his workstation before taking several deep breaths to calm his emotions and allow his vision to deblur.

'Isshiki…' he thought remorsefully. 'I'm too self centred and awkward to be friends with a bright and outgoing person like you'.

Shoving aside his regret and shame, the third seat smiled sadly as he accepted that he had never taken his position as the third seat very seriously. He should have been more of a presence around campus by taking in the sights and experiences of Tōtsuki instead of aimly being so fixated on his own cooking.

Also, by looking out for all of the Tōtsuki chefs around him he would have been able to see is anyone else was affected by the culinary system as he was.

Instead, however, his own social ineptitude and his newly realised unwillingness to admit that he had always desperately wanted an out from Tōtsuki, had blinded him to the needs of the student population.

Sighing as he looked back down upon his workstation through the haze of his new understanding, Kensuke knew that he was in too deep to turn back.

He still wanted a change in the system that was used to teach and encourage work in the culinary arts, but he now saw the error and blatant disregard that Central was doing to all those being unfairly discarded.

Unilateral reform wouldn't or couldn't occur overnight. But if any reform of the culinary world was to happen then it had it happen by the book and by willing participants. Not by a one sided authoritarian revolution.

And so, accepting that his position on the Ten was now purely temporary, he doubled down with his support for the Azami Doctrine regardless of new conflicted feelings so that he could focus on enjoy the feeling of cooking one last time before he hoped someone would be able to beat him.

Simultaneously rueing and welcoming the day that he had first met Erina's father, Kensuke threw himself head first into this food war; deciding that whatever the outcome - win or loss - he would accept it.

Whether he was a Tōtsuki student as a member of Central or an independent chef outside Tōtsuki, removed from the school by means of his sister and her friends having defeated him and the current Ten, then he would accept that.

And consequently he work hard to find a new place for himself either within the culinary world in some low key way, or take some entirely new career pathway altogether.

Cooking had always meant everything to him, and he had long thought that it was the sole thing in his life that gave him purpose - without it he was better of dead - but now he began to feel that maybe, maybe, there was a chance that he could find something else to be good at aside from cooking.

Tying his regrown medium length hair up into a new topknot he recalled his previous food war against Sōma Yukihira, back at the autumn leaf viewing festival, and the words that the first year had spoken to him.

'I'll win this food war… and you will enjoy cooking again'.

Even though Sōma hadn't won, and Kensuke had felt the ever changing weight of the expectations and anticipations from gourmands and critics, he had unexpectedly felt a shift - a slight lessening of his usual anxiety in that moment. And despite having the eyes of hundreds of people on him - either from Tōtsuki staff, students or culinary personnel - he had for the first time been enjoying cooking in a large open space.

But the then the former Director had come along and made his anxiety worse by comparing the two competing chefs; which had inadvertently fired up his resentment of Senzaemon's teaching style.

However, right now, in this moment, facing off against his best friend in this team food war, he couldn't help but feel as excited as he had felt in his prior battle against the first year redhead.

"Isshiki!" Kensuke announced, startling himself as he turned back around to look at his opponent with a sad smile upon his face. "You better give this battle all you've got. I won't forgive you if you're going easy on me. Whether I stay or go, I'm always going to be grateful that you… were my first friend".


Continuing to hold the smile upon his face even as he returned his attention to his cooking, the third seat nodded at several central allied staffers whom came hurrying forwards pushing a trolley laden with an assortment of vegetables, flours, pulses and spices.

Meanwhile, another one of the venue staffers - a woman with braided black hair - came forwards carrying in one hand a large, un-butchered, wild hare and placed the dead animal down on the worktop. In the other hand she held a thick embossed red leather book.

"Kensuke-dono..." the woman spoke glowingly as she placed the book down on the table and opened it to a particular page; openly fawning over him, as she did. "Here's the recipe book you asked for, as well as all your culinary notes. Give these rebels a proper rebuking".

"Thank you Maki..." Kensuke smiled tentatively giving her a thumbs up and inadvertently making the dark haired woman blush. "I think I can handle everything else now".

Bowing her head showing her deference and adoration towards one of the top three Tōtsuki chefs, the woman left the cooking stage and returned to the sidelines of the arena, should any further assistance be required of her, to watch and organise anything that should arise.

Running a hand through her hair and attempting to calm herself from being in the presence of the 'silent king', Maki continued to grin coquettishly as she watched the culinary show.

However, unbeknownst to her, even as she stood attentively behind the other members of the Ten, the wary eyes of Isshiki, Chise and Megumi never ceased observing her. Worried about the possibility of Azami utilising some new person, whom had managed to gain Kensuke's trust, to manipulate him on the Director's behalf.


As Maki Shachi watched the third seat butcher the wild rabbit with such skill, she smiled proudly and mentally thanked Director Azami for assigning her the third seat as her mentor.

Meanwhile, as the woman herself stood by and watched her mentor participate in the cook off she became acutely aware that a person or some persons were watching her. And so scanning the rebel side of the cooking stage she finally laid eyes upon the third seat's former sous chef, Chise Nakata, glaring at her.

Grinning gloatingly at the other female on the other side of the cooking stage, Maki pointed at the three pins on her own chef's whites that denotes herself as the third seat's new sous chef.

Liking the even more furious glare she got back in response Maki decided to once prove that she was now more trusted than Chise, and so taking out a rather worn and faded green book from her satchel she sauntered back onto the stage - opening the book to a specific page - and then placing it down before Kensuke; who jumped in surprise at her re-arrival before noticing the additional book before him.

"Ahh, thanks for this Maki… I nearly forgot what I was doing", he smiled taking ahold of the book and looking genuinely grateful as he ran his fingers along the words printed on the pages. "You're such a lifesaver".

Beaming with joy and pride at the response given to her, Maki kept her expression humble and quaint as to not startle thegg by third seat. But internally she was grinning devilishly as she knew that she had just shown up the her former rival sous chef.

Running a hand through his hair the third seat frowned slightly as he glanced over at his ingredients before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. "I guess I'm gonna be making that…" he murmured, "seeing as I don't have all that I need and given how much time is left".

Looking back up from the pages of his notebook Kensuke saw, out of the corner of his eye, Isshiki's worried gaze fall upon him before quickly turning away to concentrate on his own rabbit dish.

Suddenly feeling as if a knife had been stuck in his chest, the third seat again unconsciously scratched at the bandages covering the scars on his right arm, causing a tiny amount of blood to stain the white fabric bandages.

Refocusing all his attention on gathering the ingredients needed for making the crucial ingredient for his main dish, Kensuke began hand mixing flour, egg and butter together in a bowl.

'Urgh... why is pastry such a pain', he mused to himself. 'I wish Momo had taught me more techniques'.

After successfully putting on to boil a large pan of water - in which he placed lard as well - the third seat moved back over to a side table to start on butchering the rabbit.

Placing the dead animal on the table he used a knife to remove the pelt and skin from the animal before then removing all the sinew from the outside of the saddle ; eliciting oohs, ahhs and urghs from various members of the audience.

With effortless skill the third seat cut out each portion of rabbit: saddle, loins, legs, ribs, belly and neck, and then unusually he specifically selected the kidneys from the carcass and placed them to one side.

Picking up all the joints of meat but leaving the ribs, he washed them to remove any excess blood before then placing all the rabbit joints into a large saucepan with butter, thyme and rosemary. Then along with a chopped onion that Kensuke added to the pan; he also threw in a sliced bramley apple, a bay leaf and a packet of dried cranberries.

Just before returning the lid to the pan he emptied half an entire bottle of Tempranillo red wine into the pan as well as chicken stock before then lowering the temperature so that the contents could simmer.

Moving back towards the work surface where he had butchered the rabbit Kensuke picked up the carved up rabbit carcass and placed it into a large pot of boiling water, to which he subsequently added carrots, celery and onions.

"Hmm…"

Frowning as he stared at the pot, the third seat tapped his nose before turning on the spot and walking over to the spice trolly where he hurriedly searched through the assortment of bottles and bags of spices before finally finding what he was looking for.

Returning to the boiling rabbit carcass carrying two small bottles and four bags, Kensuke immediately dropped a single cinnamon stick, two star anise and some crushed green peppercorns into the pot before replacing the lid to the simmering pot.


"Ooh…"

The voices of Decora and Corage cooed from the judging table as they realised what he was making. "Now this is a remarkable break from normality", Decora giggled coquettishly. "The third seat isn't making one of his go to Mesopotamian inspired South American dishes..."

"I must say", Corage purred sexily, "I am now rather curious to see the results of this rather shocking divergence from his usual style".

Blinking in surprise as he looked up from his almost completed his dish, Isshiki suddenly saw that Kensuke had returned to the pit of boiling water and lard before pouring the hot water into bowl containing flour. Pulling on a pair of thin gloves, the third seat began combining the entire mixture into thick rough dough.

"Oh my this is as intriguing as it is frightening…" Azami interrupted his two colleagues cooing. "I never would have expected that the Silent King would break from his usual culinary repertoire. Something must have spurred a new inspiration within him".

Putting on a grin as he tried to hide his own uncertainty about this new play of food he was going to be eating soon, Azami suddenly caught an extremely brief scent coming from the third seat's cook pots, and the delectable scent had him instantly alert and practically begging to see and experience the value and skill that he now knew he had long failed to see within Kensuke Tadokoro.

"Hand made Hot Water Crust Pastry is quite difficult to master, as the fat has to be hot rather than chilled for the pastry to form… but the texture of a perfectly made pie when the pastry is sublimely made is divine", Azami stated glowingly.

"This is going to be good. I can't wait to taste whatever Chef Kensuke brings forth".

"Exactly…" Decora interceded. "You've finally caught onto what me and Corage have. It's clear to us now that the third seat is planning to make some sort of rabbit pie for us utilising this English pastry technique..."

However, just then an aroma of herbs and meat arose from the large pot in the stove containing the boiling rabbit carcass.

"Please…" The third seat spoke tersely, his voice abruptly taking on an brusqueness that no one had ever expected from him, and as he looked over at the three judges a look of disdain crept into his eyes.

"Don't be so contrived…" the third seat continued plainly. "Or even try to place my food into such categories of deliciousness. Either it is good or it's not. You'll just have to wait and see, you plebeian tribunes".

Pushing his glasses further onto the bridge of his nose, the third seat spun around and glared indignantly up at the entire central supporting audience.

"You all will have nothing to blame but your own culinary weaknesses. All I have is depression and anxiety, and with them I have become a so-called Silent King".

Pointing outwards to all of central's international and culinary allies, as well as allied students, Kensuke tore off his central badge from his jacket and slammed it done on the worktable.

"This has brought me nothing but misery..." sighing as he glowered back at Azami and the judges before moving his gaze over towards Isshiki and Megumi, the third seat smiled joyfully as he stated his final thoughts.

"And whatever the outcome of this food war... I'm done with cooking. Never again will I stand before any of you".


R.I.P:

Ahmad Jamal. Jazz Pianist, Composer and Band Leader.

Andy Rourke. Musician and Bass Guitarist for The Smiths.

Tina Turner. The Undisputed 'Queen of Rock and Roll'

N.B.

If Music be the food of the gods... play on.