Chapter 15: Are We on a Date? (Patreon)

Behind him, a woman slowly drew closer.

Her gaze settled on Ramsay, tinged with amusement. “Why didn’t you accept his challenge?”

“Ramsay! Don’t tell me… Are you really that afraid of losing?”

The warm glow of the streetlamp spilled down and traced the stranger’s outline. When Ramsay saw who it was, surprise crossed his face. “Miss Nakiri? What are you doing here?”

Mana Nakiri lifted a hand toward a black sedan waiting quietly by the roadside not far off, and laughed softly.

“See? I was just passing by. I spotted someone I knew, so I got out to wait. I never expected to catch your conversation.”

Then she walked up beside him and studied the young man with a gentle gaze. “Ramsay, your rate of growth is honestly astonishing!”

“If you ask me, set a specific ingredient and theme, and face him in a cooking duel. Your odds of winning should be very, very good. So, why refuse him outright?”

The night was hushed, the streetlamps along the road flickering between light and shadow. Ramsay looked at Mana Nakiri and slowly turned over Azami Nakamura’s obsessive expression in his mind.

He knew full well. The outcome of one cooking match could never loosen the deep-rooted fixation in that man’s heart.

…

The truth was, Mana Nakiri hadn’t turned up at the restaurant on a whim.

She had just come from a large-scale gourmet business summit. With no desire to head home early, she’d decided to rest a while at the little shop where Ramsay worked!

And so she’d happened to be tucked away in a corner, hearing every word of the quarrel between Ramsay and Nakamura.

Hmm! In Mana’s eyes, Ramsay was an exceptionally interesting boy.

He was young, yet his speech and bearing carried a composure all their own. Every time they chatted, this woman gifted with the God’s Tongue could set down the weariness that had long kept her wound tight, and feel light all over!

That was why, over these past weeks, she had visited so often, and watched Ramsay grow at a speed you could see with your own eyes!

She had privately judged that if Ramsay chose a signature theme dish and met Nakamura in a shokugeki duel, his chances would actually be better!

And yet. She’d never imagined it.

Ramsay had turned down the provocation without a moment’s thought.

The brim of his hat veiled the flecks of lamplight. Ramsay still wore a faint smile as he met her bright, curious eyes, and answered softly, “There’s no need! I don’t want to spend my time on things that mean nothing!”

Hearing that, Mana’s small nose wrinkled slightly, lending her a touch of softness. “So in your view, a duel between cooks is worthless?”

Ramsay shrugged. “Going head to head with Azami Nakamura means nothing to me.”

“With that spare time, I’d rather go back to the kitchen and hone my skills. Maybe next time you visit, the dish I make will satisfy you even more!”

The words reached her ears, and the corners of Mana’s eyes curved.

Her watery eyes bent into two small crescent moons, softly captivating.

“Now I’m a little flattered! I never thought I’d become a chef’s goal on his road to growth!”

She paused, finally gathered her courage, and offered quietly, “Ramsay, would you walk with me for a while? Chatting together can’t be called pointless, can it?”

Faced with the invitation she had offered of her own accord, Ramsay nodded at once. “A customer’s invitation always carries real weight. How could it be meaningless?”

“Besides, there’s something I wanted to ask your professional advice on!”

“Oh? So it’s only a customer’s invitation?”

Mana murmured the words under her breath and didn’t press the matter.

Then she raised a hand toward a lake shimmering in the distance. “Let’s stroll along the shore up ahead!”

…

Before long, the two of them reached the water’s edge side by side.

The evening breeze brushed their faces, carrying a faint scent of water.

Mana Nakiri walked slowly beside him, hesitating a moment before she spoke. “Ramsay, there’s something I’ve been wondering about. If it’s awkward to answer, please don’t mind it.”

“I’ve always felt that there’s a deep rift between you and Nakamura. I’ve come to the shop many times, and I’ve never seen you exchange a single word.”

Ramsay smiled and answered honestly. “There’s nothing I can’t say. I just don’t like him as a person, that’s all.”

Mana didn’t dig any further. Instead she asked something deeper. “Ramsay, how do you see cooking? I’d like to hear… what you truly feel!”

Ramsay lowered his head. He looked at the broken light drifting across the lake. After a quiet moment of thought, he said what was on his mind.

“I used to have no real attachment to cooking, but now I think I’ve found my own answer.”

“I… think I truly love cooking. I love losing myself at the counter and pouring everything into one dish, and every time I finish one, a sense of accomplishment I can’t put into words wells up inside me!”

“Especially when I see the diner… No, when I see you, after you’ve tasted it, with a smile of real, unguarded joy… Yeah! That’s the sight I most want to see!”

The days spent training in kung fu cooking under Stephen Chow were punishing, and often left him drained in body and mind.

Yet after every ordeal, what settled in the depths of him was always a brimming sense of fulfillment!

Day after day of grinding had gradually become habit, and it had made Ramsay fall in love with cooking from the bottom of his heart.

A diner’s joy travels back to him through the dish, warming him in turn.

Just like the lesson Stephen Chow had taught him.

Cooking never belongs to the chef alone. It belongs to the diner who tastes it, too.

…

When Ramsay finished his candid confession, Mana Nakiri stopped short. She raised her eyes and gazed quietly at the young man beside her, a complicated feeling she couldn’t name hidden in them.

“Ramsay! Would you like to hear what I think of you, and of Nakamura?”

He nodded lightly, and she went on in a soft voice. “On overall ability alone, Nakamura is certainly above you. But it’s every dish you make that I love more!”

“The root of it is your cooking is pure enough, clean and free of stray thoughts!”

“For me, once I’ve sat down at the table, I’m just an ordinary diner. No chef should have to twist an ingredient’s true flavor out of shape just to cater to my God’s Tongue!”

“Nakamura, his dishes show deliberate polish everywhere, and aim to please the judge at every turn.”

“I think you can understand the meaning behind my words, since you’ve been growing steadily…”

“And, as for how I feel, perhaps you’ve already noticed it!”