The Yukinoshita family, somewhere in the city of Chiba.
Yukinoshita Haruno had of course already heard the news about Ryunosuke. She pursed her lips in annoyance. "Uncle Narumori really does treat me like a stranger. A talent like that sitting right there and he didn't breathe a word to me?"
She tried calling him, but the line went unanswered. She assumed he was deliberately ignoring her.
What she didn't know was that Narumori was currently in the middle of a suspension. The last thing he dared to do was pick up calls from outside. In such a delicate period, one misunderstanding could compound his troubles considerably. On top of that, he knew perfectly well what Haruno was after, and headhunting was the last thing he wanted any part of. He had already taken enough of a beating being made the scapegoat over the transfer student incident. He was not about to let Haruno drag him into anything else.
Finding no answer, Haruno decided to go complain to her mother. She tracked down Yukinoshita Hayane without delay.
"Mom! Uncle Narumori is being absolutely impossible, he won't pick up my calls!"
A graceful middle-aged woman in a kimono set down what she was working on and looked at her eldest daughter with a perfectly flat expression. "Did you make some unreasonable request and he's avoiding you because of it?" She pressed a single finger firmly against her daughter's forehead, and Haruno felt her head nearly start steaming.
"Ow, ow, that hurts! Mom, stop it, your daughter is being wronged here." Haruno scrambled back out of range of the lethal finger.
Hayane sighed. "All right, explain. What's actually going on?"
Haruno laid the whole thing out clearly. Hayane stroked her chin, thinking it over. "From what you're describing, this child does sound genuinely talented. It would be better to bring him into the Yukinoshita family."
"Exactly! I told you my judgment is never wrong." Haruno's face lit up. "Leave it to me. I'll bring our new little sibling home."
She was already at the door, head poking through the gap with a playful grin, one hand on the handle, ready to bolt at any moment. She had every intention of using this as an excuse to visit her dear little sister as well. It had been far too long since she had replenished her supply of little-sister energy. She could feel herself running dangerously low.
Hayane, who knew her eldest daughter's habits by heart, could only sigh. "Go quickly and come back quickly."
"Got it!" Haruno flashed an OK sign, stuck out her tongue to one side, and winked one eye shut, the classic airhead-moe pose, then vanished through the door.
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Elsewhere, Totsuki Culinary Academy. An elite institution of culinary arts, known simply as Totsuki Academy. Its social influence sat slightly below that of Advanced Nurturing High School or Shuchi'in Academy, but not by much. Its standing was on par with the fifth great clan, given that it controlled the palates of every person of power and prestige in the country.
Food from Totsuki Academy was not merely delicious. Even the Prime Minister of Japan would have to wait in line for a taste of something made by one of the Elite Ten. In the presence of truly exceptional cooking, social rank meant nothing. Everyone was equal.
The current headmaster and head of the Nakiri clan was Senzaemon. He had naturally received every detail about what Ryunosuke was doing at his current school, but he was keeping it buried so that his granddaughter wouldn't find out. If Erina learned the truth, he was afraid she would throw everything aside and go after him, abandoning her position among the Elite Ten without a second thought.
It gave him a genuine headache. He had ordered his staff to intercept any information before it could reach Erina's ears. He would keep it hidden for as long as he possibly could. The thought of her running off to Advanced Nurturing High School just to find that boy was something he could not allow. After all, the little troublemaker had already stolen his granddaughter's heart a full ten years ago.
Senzaemon clenched his fist until it cracked, then let it go slowly and exhaled. "Well. I can't blame the boy entirely. Without him, Erina would have suffered far worse under her father's hands. It's only natural she fell for him."
Elsewhere on the academy grounds, Erina was standing beneath a waterfall, midway through her daily God's Tongue training. Three hours of meditation under the current every day to maintain the sensitivity of her palate. Her sense of taste had been exceptional from infancy. The story went that at three months old, her first discernible utterance had been a complaint that her mother's milk didn't taste right, a comment that had dealt her mother quite a blow at the time.
Erina had beautiful golden-blonde hair and a figure that had developed well ahead of her years, likely the result of a lifetime of the highest quality food. She was striking in a way that felt almost too complete to be accidental, radiant and full of presence while remaining genuinely lovely.
She opened her large violet eyes and stepped out from beneath the waterfall. The white kimono she wore had soaked through entirely, clinging and all but translucent, revealing glimpses of pale, faintly flushed skin. A beauty that looked as though nature itself had taken particular care over it.
She called for her faithful assistant, Hisako, to help her change. She still hadn't heard anything about Ryunosuke. If she had, she would have already left to find him.
Hisako helped her change with a face gone thoroughly red, doing her very best not to let her expression give too much away.
Erina tilted Hisako's chin up with a playful lilt in her voice. "Am I beautiful?"
Hisako nodded without a moment's hesitation. "Completely beautiful! Erina-sama is the most beautiful person in the world!"
Erina smiled, satisfied. As they walked, she glanced at Hisako and said, "Come to my room tonight. I'll let you taste something I've made."
She tossed her ponytail back with easy confidence.
Hisako's eyes immediately went starry. She swayed slightly, her heart hammering.
"I get to taste Erina-sama's cooking tonight." She murmured, face glowing.
Back in her room, once she was certain no one was around, Erina shut the door firmly. She kicked off her shoes, retrieved a romance novel from its hiding place, and climbed onto the bed with it. She had changed into a pink pajama set that left her long, fair legs bare.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, novel pressed to her chest, with a look on her face that could only be described as lovesick. "I want so badly to fall in love. I wonder where Ryunosuke is right now."
A long, soft sigh.
She really did miss her stray. There might have been something more than fondness somewhere in there, but she was far too proud to admit it, even to herself.