RYENNE

[ 3.07 ] - Intermediate: It's working...

Intermediate: It's working...

[ 3.07 ]

R Y E N N E  A T S T E L L I

『 Year 12 』

The first week of the spring training camp passed without much of a hitch, but I find myself disappointed by the end of the last day.

Perhaps I've become too arrogant due to my name, thinking that this training camp would be easy to breeze through. As it turns out, I am merely a mediocre culinary chef compared to the other attendees.

Is this how Ryon and Ryun felt the first time they attended this camp? Wait, is this why Uncle Theryn gave me a warning before?

Suddenly, I felt conflicted.

Looking over to the other attendees who were cleaning their work stations, they all appeared calm and nonchalant, chatting among themselves and others around them. I, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable and stayed silent as I slowly dried my dishes and put them away.

Pursing my lips, I looked over to my father at the front of the room whom was busying himself with some paper work, but he must've felt my eyes as he looked over with a slightly raised eyebrow. I shook my head and turned away, looking outside instead. I decided I'd ask my questions after everyone else left.

Since the class was already over, once the attendees were finished cleaning their stations, they would leave after they bade farewell to the instructor. Most attendees did so, but a few liked to stay back and help others. Ezen was this type of person.

"Would you like some help? Most of everyone else has already left." He asks with his kind smile. Looking up to him, I smiled back, though it felt more forced than usual.

"It's alright. It's not fair for you to do my work—Plus, I was planning on staying back anyways..." I tell him as I gestured towards my father who was now sitting on his seat patiently as he waited for the remaining attendees to leave.

When he realized this, he made an 'o' with his mouth before saying his goodbyes. After his departure, it didn't take very long for the rest to leave as well, and once they were gone, I finally approached my dad.

He had his usual smile on his face—the seemingly sweet and innocent one, but I didn't smile back.

I just watched him with a complicated expression on my face.

"What's concerning you, Rynnie?" He asks me first. I couldn't help but just stare him down.

He wasn't fazed by this. In fact, he even seemed to be smiling more than before.

"Dad..." I trailed off, finding a way to word my thoughts in a way that it'd make sense. After a while, I sighed out of frustration. "This whole training camp, what is it's main purpose?"

My father watched me for a moment as he slightly raised an eyebrow in question. "The main purpose is to train the culinary skills of promising adolescents. What else would it be for?"

I gave my father a flat look before shaking my head. "No, that's not what I meant by that question. What I meant to ask was, what is the purpose to us—Ryon, Ryun, and I? Did you guys deliberately throw us into an unfamiliar setting just to see how we would react and perform? Or is it something else? I just can't understand why it would be now of all times."

I was finally able to ask the questions that have been floating around in my head for the past few days and somehow I felt lighter than I had before.

After listening to my questions, my father just smiled mysteriously and stayed silent for a while, as if contemplating whether to answer me or not.

"Does it seem that way to you?" He asked in return. Although I felt somewhat annoyed by my father avoiding the questions, I didn't show it and just nodded my head before elaborating my thoughts.

"It seems that testing our skills in a unfamiliar setting is a part of the reason why we are thrown into this camp the spring right before Intermediate school. The second part seems to be so that we don't get too arrogant and understand that there are many others our age or even younger who are much more skilled than we are." As I finished my thoughts, my father starts clapping with a proud smile on his face, but even still, I didn't smile.

"As expected of my daughter to figure this out so quickly. You are only second place to Ryon when it comes to these types of things." He exclaimed as I rolled my eyes.

Letting out a tired sigh, I pulled a chair and sat across from my father and just watched him with questioning eyes. "Dad?"

"Yes, Rynnie?"

Narrowing my eyes, I asked, "By throwing us with adolescents who excel in culinary compared to us, is this, by chance, your guys' way of trying to motivate us to become more serious about the business?"

"We've been found out!" My father teases as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "How'd you know this?"

"Because it's working..." I grumbled as I slumped in my seat. I didn't like getting sucked into traps, but it seems that this is a trap the family will continuously use on the younger generations and it's an extremely effective one.

My father just laughed as he stood up from his seat. "Well, I'm glad it is. Now, shall we go back to the house?"

With another sigh escaping my lips, I nodded before standing up and following my father out the building.

『 3 April x029 』

＊ ＊ ＊

Author's note:
So, by the time I'm posting this, some of you may or may not be awake.
I've been sleeping so late lately and it's no good.
Also, Animal Crossing has just updated!!!

Question:
Anyone else playing Animal Crossing: NH?

23.4.2020