Four Years Later
It was a sunny afternoon in June now – warm, but not too much so – and Daniel was looking around seeing the customers in his café enjoying themselves. His café, called The Chocoholic's Dilemma, had become the place to go for all chocolate lovers in all of Japan. It was a place where not only was there a good quantity of items available – featuring baked goods, pastries, frozen treats, drinks, and fine chocolate candies – for the customers that came in (all of which featured chocolate as a prominent ingredient), but the quality was matched by very few, and had even developed a reputation as a chocolate destination across the globe in less than four years since its opening.
After returning from Ireland with Hisako now as his fiancé, it took six months for Daniel to get the place opened the way he wanted, with the décor in Mesoamerican and African motifs, paying homage to the origins of the shop's featured ingredient. This gave an intriguing atmosphere where the customers could admire their surroundings, as well as enjoy their treats. The menu featured many items that Daniel had developed during his time at Tostuki and that were inspired by his travels, featuring flavors from all around the world. The only items that didn't have chocolate in them were some of the coffee choices, though his drink menu also had a line of hot chocolates, which he would offer in cold brew and frozen offerings, respectively, during the warmer months.
One of the most featured and advertised items on the menu was the Luck of the Irish Chocolate Souffle he first developed during the regimental food war – promoted as the perfect thing for couples to share. There were also a limited number that would be sold on any given day, as it was not a particularly easy item to make. Daniel was able to put this item on his menu and not cause a scandal thanks to Hisako, whose expertise in Chinese medicinal cooking made it possible. Thanks to some research, she was able to find an herb that, when dried and ground into a powder, was odorless and tasteless. Most importantly, when it was mixed into the souffle batter, it suppressed the…amorous effects of the finished product – though couples who ate it did generally have increased feelings of warmth towards their romantic partners.
Daniel's reputation from his time at Totsuki, in addition to the publicity he received from his book, provided him with an initial customer base to ensure that he wouldn't be struggling at the outset of this venture. Nonetheless, it still took some time to not only hire the right personnel for his shop, but also get feedback on his offerings to figure out what items were the most popular, what flavors they wanted to see more of, and what the capacity of his operation could be at its most efficient without sacrificing quality. Plus, Daniel wanted to do right by those he received his chocolate supplies from, and made sure that the sources where got his chocolate practiced both environmentally friendly farming methods and fair labor practices. In addition, he wanted to take care of his own employees and make sure that they made a living wage, with insurance benefits. He also wanted to make sure he was able to use his shop to perform philanthropic work when he could.
Hisako couldn't help but admire how Daniel wanted to run his café, and was more than willing to wait a little longer for them to have their wedding so that he could ensure the shop was firmly established beforehand. During that time, they were able to get a modest, but comfortable, apartment for the two of them and started to live together. While Daniel ran the shop, Hisako continued to work as Erina's loyal assistant for most of the time, though every now and then, she would come by the shop to check over the accounting numbers (for which Daniel was very grateful). In addition, Hisako was developing her own reputation for her expertise in traditional Chinese medicine and medicinal cooking, and was doing some high-level consulting on her own as a result. In order to help make the most of their free time together, Daniel would also occasionally make the more amorous version of the Luck of the Irish Chocolate Souffle just for the two of them when they wanted to have…special date nights (the recipe enhanced, of course, by Hisako's "research" to eliminate much of the delay in the effects).
Two years after their trip to Ireland and about a year-and-a-half after Daniel opened his café, he and Hisako were married in a springtime wedding. Erina provided the use of one of Totsuki's finest resorts for the venue (only the best for her bestie), and thanks to the generosity of their friends and families, they were able to have a spectacular wedding. Soma, of course, was Daniel's best man for the wedding, with Takumi and Isshiki serving as ushers beside Soma. For Hisako, Erina served as her maid of honor, with Megumi and Ikumi also serving in her wedding party. It was a day and night to remember, as everyone there enjoyed themselves, and the food.
While Daniel wasn't going to be making his own wedding cake, he had the best possible alternative to take care of that – his old dessert chef mentor, Momo, was hired to make the cake. Daniel, being as smart as he was (and trusting of Hisako's aesthetic tastes), gave Hisako the primary say on what the cake would look like – the only thing he asked was that it be at least half chocolate. Hisako obliged, with a cake that had alternate layers of Momo's coconut milk chocolate cake and chai spice cake. When it was finally presented at the wedding party, everyone ooh'd and ahh'd at the elaborate and elegant cuteness of the cake, which Hisako absolutely loved (and, in turn, made Daniel happy to see). There were a number of photos taken when they did the traditional cutting and feeding each other of the first slice of cake.
After they returned from their nice two-week honeymoon vacation in Hawaii, the newlywed couple learned that their friends' relationships had progressed significantly. Not only had Soma and Erina's relationship become stronger (and more obvious to the public), but they began working together on a couple of projects to enhance Totsuki's standing. Also, Alice and Ryo had done their own thing and had eloped shortly after Daniel and Hisako had left on their honeymoon (which Alice's parents were surprisingly supportive of), though they would have a nice, lavish party for all of their friends and family later. Finally, Megumi and Takumi had decided to open a restaurant together in downtown Tokyo that would combine Megumi's regional hospitality style of cooking with Takumi's unique, yet-family oriented Italian cuisine in a place where people could have something that they couldn't find anywhere else, yet feel as though they were in the warm comforts of someone's home. Soon after, they announced their engagement.
About a year after Daniel and Hisako's wedding, Megumi and Takumi followed suit, as they also finally tied the knot together. For them, the wedding took place in Megumi's hometown, with her family and all of the people there who knew and loved her celebrating her nuptials, and getting to know the young Italian chef who was to be her husband. Although theirs wasn't as elaborate as Daniel and Hisako's, it was still a very lovely ceremony and gathering. Isami, as Takumi's brother, was the obvious best man, while Soma and Daniel were the ushers. For Megumi, her maid of honor was Ryoko, with Yuki and Erina also participating in the main wedding party.
In addition to being an usher, Daniel was also asked by the couple to make their wedding cake, which he was more than happy to do. They ended up particularly intrigued with his Mexican Chocolate Cake, which Takumi remembered from their duel during their first year Autumn Elections. For this cake, however, they requested that Daniel not include the chile spice so it would be more appealing to the rest of the guests. In addition, Megumi wanted the addition of some fruit to counter the richness of the chocolate a bit. Daniel obliged on both requests, as the filling not only had the dulce de leche, but also macerated strawberries with the prickly pear coulis. The cake was met with high praise by everyone there – particularly the happy couple.
Although the wedding itself was a private event, the guests ended up liking the cake so much that many of them commented on it through social media, which created a new demand for Daniel's shop – wedding orders. Whether it was for a wedding cake, a setup of multiple individual chocolate desserts, or a combination of the two, the requests at Daniel's shop increased dramatically, which meant he had to hire more help for a new wedding catering portion for the business. For this, he was able to expand the kitchen space to accommodate the new amount of work he had to do.
A few months after Takumi and Megumi's wedding, the thing that Daniel and Hisako had seen coming for quite some time finally happened, as Soma proposed to Erina. Although Erina pretended to be calmly happy and collected about it, Hisako knew that she was, in fact, ecstatic about Soma finally proposing, and Daniel also knew that Soma had wanted this for some time – it just took a little bit for him to figure out on his own. As a member of the main Nakiri family and the headmistress of Totsuki, Erina's marriage to one of the premier young chefs in the world and a fellow Totsuki graduate would be one of the biggest social events of the next spring wedding season, with the press clamoring to get whatever details they could.
For their wedding, although Soma wasn't normally one for fancy and elaborate shows, he was willing to go through this to make Erina happy – especially if it meant that he would have the rest of his life to get her to say that his cooking was delicious. Besides, he had Daniel there to guide him and help him keep a cool head through everything as his best man (with Takumi and Isshiki serving as ushers in the main wedding party). Meanwhile, Hisako was able to return the favor for Erina by serving as her maid of honor, with Megumi and Alice serving as the other bridesmaids. And, of course, both sets of families were there to celebrate something that, if you looked closely enough at Senzaemon's plan, was years in the making.
While the most important part of the whole thing was obviously marrying the person she loved with her friends and family in attendance, the food served at the wedding was a close second for Erina. As two of the most prominent figures in the culinary world, her marriage to Soma had to feature food that would equal their status, and the best way to do that was to have prominent Totsuki alums cater everything. For the desserts, Erina arranged for the two most prominent dessert chefs in recent history to do their thing, with Momo making the main cake, and also having Daniel provide a setup of multiple individual chocolate desserts.
As he was going through the process, Daniel wanted to do something a little extra special for his best friend, and, after making sure it was alright with his beloved wife (who actually thought it would also be a good idea for Erina), he decided to make two servings of his Luck of the Irish Chocolate Souffle for the bride and groom – of the original recipe. When he presented them to Soma and Erina during the reception as everyone was enjoying the various desserts, they were initially confused as to why Daniel said it was extra special, as they pointed out that this was something that he offered on his regular menu. "You'll find out later," he commented with a grin and a wink. "Also, I would make sure that you both feed each other at least one spoonful of the dish." While they were still confused, they nonetheless did as Daniel suggested, trusting that he knew what he was talking about.
The next morning, as Daniel and Hisako were enjoying their breakfast, Soma and Erina came up to them and asked to take them aside for a conversation that wouldn't be overheard. Once they had gotten some privacy, Soma began to grin and said to Daniel, "You've been holding out on us all this time!" As he began to chuckle, Erina was visibly blushing as she commented, "I can't believe you've been selling this at your shop." After laughing and swearing Soma and Erina to secrecy, Daniel then explained how he discovered the dish's "side effects" in the aftermath of the regimental food war, how Hisako had witnessed everything, and how she had been able to figure out how to suppress those effects so he could serve it to the general public (as well as her own special "enhancement" of the recipe for their own use). "We still keep an enhanced version of the original recipe for our special date nights…as well as for very special and unique occasions. We both felt that letting you two in on the secret was appropriate at this point. Just let one of us know if you want me to make it for you again."
Daniel couldn't help but chuckle to himself at reminiscing about that moment, which was now a month ago. Since then, he had received payment from the Nakiri family for his part of the catering, which included a very generous bonus from Erina, along with a note, saying, "I'll be taking you up on that offer in the future." This, along with the significantly increased revenue the shop was generating allowed Daniel to repay his initial sponsors, and then some, which meant that ownership was now 100% his. Soon after, Erina had also asked Daniel if he would consider becoming a guest speaker starting the following year for both the social responsibility program and the dessert studies courses. Daniel said he would think about it, now that he didn't have to worry about his investors anymore.
Now that the annual first year training camp had passed, and the Autumn Selection participants had been announced, it was relatively quiet for both Erina and Soma, which meant that they could now take the time to go on their honeymoon without having to worry much about either the school or the family diner that Soma still put his heart and soul into. Although he hoped that they were enjoying themselves and being lovey dovey on their honeymoon, Daniel also had a feeling (based on their continued behavior with each other over the years) that despite their feelings for each other, those two would also come to loggerheads on a semi-regular basis. As a result, it appeared that he and Hisako would also have to serve as de facto marriage counselors for them on occasion for the foreseeable future.
Daniel was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the bell over the door ring, indicating someone was entering the shop. He then saw his beautiful and beloved wife come up to the counter where he was. Hisako was giving a big smile as she made her way behind the counter and hugged Daniel from behind. While this wasn't an unusual occurrence in the shop, Daniel had been worried about the fact that she hadn't been feeling well the last few days – particularly in the morning. As she kissed him, Daniel asked if she was feeling better and if everything was alright health-wise.
Hisako kissed him again as she said, "I'm fine, actually – and I have some news for you." As Daniel looked at her in anticipation, she asked, "Remember a couple of months ago, when we went away to that wonderful hot springs resort for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary?" Daniel blushed as he nodded in a definitive "yes." Thinking back on it, there was really no way he was going to forget that weekend anytime soon – for all of the right reasons. "Well…," Hisako began as she gently took Daniel's right hand and placed it over her belly. It took a few moments to register what Hisako was indicating, but when he figured it out, Daniel's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"For real – are you sure!?" he asked in shock. Hisako giggled as she nodded in response and embraced her husband, asking, "Are you happy about this?" Daniel tried to assure her that he was happy, "Thrilled, in fact…and absolutely terrified at the same time." Hisako just laughed as she continued to embrace Daniel as she told him, "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll do fine. In fact, I know you're going to be a wonderful father." She then kissed him on the lips as the customers in the shop began to cheer at the news. As Hisako sat down on Daniel's lap and leaned into him, Daniel couldn't help but think about how his life had unexpectedly gone down the path it did. He regretted nothing, and with his Irish coin in his pocket (which he now saw himself passing down to his future child), his life had turned out better than he could have hoped. Whether there was something mystical about the coin or not, he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest person in the world at that moment – luck that he hoped he had a hand in creating.
And there you have it! The end of my story. I hope that you all enjoyed reading it and following the various twists and developments, as I had in writing, creating, and developing everything in the story. While I had fun doing this, it was also a lot of work, and I'm going to take some time to do some other things in my free time for a while, which means that I will not be posting new stories for some time. As I go into at least semi-retirement, let me just say to those who followed along and reviewed along the way, thank you for your feedback and your commentary. It's those reviews and comments that ultimately keep me coming back for more! In closing, I will just bid you all 'Bon Appetit!'