"I'm going to go find the other Aldini." Yumi teetered down and picked up the wooden guillotine by its polished handle. She gave it a good look of contempt before handing it over to Megumi. Megumi yelped, surprised to suddenly be handed a dangerous item,
"I'll have to trouble you again." Yumi laughed with a wink. "Take care of it for me, okay?"
"Wait Yumi!" She exclaims as her hands shook. While holding it with a clueless look on her face.
"Bye, I'll meet up with you guys later." She waved and left the arena.
Once she had speedwalked a good distance out of there she slowed down her pace and looked around. She let out a sigh. She looked up and stared at the ceiling that are meters off the ground. This establishment is just too much, where would she even begin her search? She rubbed her fingers against her temple, groaning in frustration.
"That noir..." She stopped in her tracks, thinking back to the bartender that is Takumi's opponent. "One of Asahi's..."
'You can't taste anything can you?' His words echoed through her mind.
She frowned and shot the idea down immediately, shaking her head. "I'd rather drive a sword through my gut."
"Guess I'll solve this the only way I know how." Yumi reaches into her hood and takes out her mask, along with a short brown wig. After a bit of consideration, she took the wig and tossed it aside.
The mask is white in color; the eyes are blacked out only revealing two tiny holes and a gold outline right below the eyeline. Yumi glanced down and over the detail on the mask as she wiped off the spec of dust and dirt off the surface. She sighs at the blank spaces where the gold eyeliner flaked off. It's a pretty mask she randomly bought at an arcade and it had its fair share of discoloration; the plastic mask meant for costumes slowly grew on her through the years she wore it. It even became part of her noir persona.
"Maybe I should retire you for good," She slides the mask onto her face and heads in a different direction. "After this event, of course."
**********
"Isami?" Yumi knocked once on the door as a muffled scream answered. On the floor around her were a couple men in black suits, as well as others that didn't. They were already fighting when she got there and since she was too lazy to stop them for a conversation she just beat them all up.
"I don't know what you said but clear the way please." Yumi swung her leg and kicked the door.
...
She tilted her head when nothing significant happened. "You know? I really thought that would work." She scrummages through the disorganized straps surrounding her, pulling out various metal sticks and picks, a lock picking kit. "Plan B it is." She spent a hot minute picking at the single lock and opened it to reveal the person she was looking for.
Isami struggled to lift his head to look up, he squinted at the brightness of the light before making a series of muffled noises.
"Geez, I get tying him up and all but is the gag really necessary? I have no idea what you are saying." Yumi frowned, sticking the picks into a random pocket in exchange brought out a jagged knife. She knelt down and tugged at the rope around his arm. "Stay still, I would rather not injure you after spending so much time finding you."
"Thanks," Isami said as soon as he pulled the gag out of his mouth and shook off the rest of the rope. "Uhh... "
"Oh." Yumi blinked and took off her mask, revealing her identity to him. "Long time no see."
"Yumi?"
She nods in response. "How did you get caught?" She stepped out of the dark room and back into the hallway
"I wasn't paying attention." Isami sheepishly laughs, following closely behind. He glanced down at the piles of unconscious bodies. "Did you-?"
"Kill them? No." Yumi replies.
"Then..." His eyes scanned around once more, before asking. "Why are some of the staff on the floor as well?"
"I don't know, maybe they're sleeping on the job?" Yumi said, nervously rubbing the guilt out of her neck. "We should go back. The match should be over by now. And I don't know about mine, but your brother is definitely worried sick about you."
"Alright." He nods in response.
**************
Two days later.
"For the last match of the evening. In the red corner Takumi Aldini! versus in the blue corner Nakiri Erina!""
"It's an honor to have the chance to face you, Nakiri," Takumi said, trying to break the awkward silence between them. "Let's have a fair match."
Erina stared at him before replying dryly. "Are you sure you don't want a 2-1, like in your previous match?"
Standing on the sidelines, Yumi stood anxiously as she watched her classmate's match.
"I hate this." She murmurs blankly.
"For your friends to fight each other?" a voice crept up behind her
Startled, Yumi unclipped one of the latches on the strap across her shoulder and took out whatever was inside, and brandished it at the person behind her.
"Woah." Asahi stepped back, narrowly avoiding the tip of her weapon. "Really? A swizzle stick?"
Yumi glanced at the item in her hand and frowned at her trash luck. She averted her eyes and choked down her shame. In her hand is a stick you can find at any bar, used to pour liquid safely into a cup without splashing. She silently curses at the collection of spoils that she wears on her clothes like trophies.
"Don't you have other unsuspecting chefs to prey on and steal tools from." Yumi scoffs, placing the item back into the many pockets she wears. She leans against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You're on that list," he said, placing his hand on the wall next to her face. He leans in and places a finger on the straps running across her body, fumbling with the latch as he slides his hands down firmly against the accessory as if feeling the tools in each of her pockets. His hands stopped at the belt around her hips. His eyes glinted at his find, pressing down on what he wanted hanging from her belt, he flashed a smirk. "It's about time you accept our deal."
He pressed the knife hanging off her belt harshly against her skin. Yumi glared at him, her fingers twitched behind her at the tang of pain Asahi is inflicting on her. She flashed a fake smile, then kicked him off her.
Asahi stumbled back, he looked down at his empty hand, strangely amused.
Yumi huffs, wiping the invisible dust off her as if every place the man in front of her touched is infected with germs. She unclips the one knife Asahi deemed worthy of him from her, off her belt.
She unsheathed the knife. Y.Y. her initials, engraved into the hilt, and the words Shino's Tokyo on the flat of the blade. She stared at her reflection and frowned. It was the knife she asked for from her mentor, Chef Shinomiya. She received it a couple of weeks after the Stagiaire. Yumi rubbed the hilt anxiously, side-eyeing the person in front of her who seems to have all the patience in the world. He smiles as he waved the only knife she would ever want from him, the knife her mother gave her.
Yumi scowls, is she really going to give up a knife she got from Chef Shinomiya? Unlike the one he is returning to her in exchange, this one was used by her mentor. She stared at her mother's memento that she lost years ago longingly, then back down at the blade in her hand.
That knife is useless to him, but the one chef gave me will only make him stronger. Her head is telling her that this wasn't a fair trade, but her heart tells her that the sentimental value of her lost item was far more valuable. Chewing the inside of her cheeks anxiously, she made her decision with a heavy heart.
Yumi grit her teeth and slowly knelt down, she took a deep breath and resheathed her knife, placing it down gently onto the floor. She reluctantly stood back up and raised her head.
Asahi smirks and takes his time to muse her defeat. She glares in response.
He laughs as he tosses it over, Yumi stepped forward and caught the knife. Just as she caught the knife the audience abrupted into a series of shock.
"All the judges were knocked out the moment they tasted Nakiri Erina's dish." Yumi frowned and turned her attention back to the main attraction. "Her food freezes all who taste it! It's like magic." Yumi sighed she already knew this would be the outcome, but seeing it in person just hit differently.
"Are you saying it was so good that they can't judge it properly?"
Ashai laughed at the random commentary. "That's something Miss Zero here probably won't ever experience."
"Don't let him get to you," Yumi warns herself as she clenches her fist, if the knife in her hand wasn't within its leather sheath there would definitely be a nasty gash across her palm. Yumi took a deep breath to calm her anger down. "Just kill him later."
"This is a decent well made gourmet dish, but it does not possess anything that could be called other-worldly taste," Erina said, snatching the dish she had just created and dumping it straight into the trash. "Being satisfied with garbage like this would bring shame to the God Tongue."
"Erina..." Yumi murmured, she pressed her lips to a line, her bad feeling from earlier had been proven right.
"Don't worry about your friend." Asahi said. "The only person who can save the God Tongue is me."
"..." Yumi unsheathed the knife that she obtained from Asahi to check and make sure she wasn't scammed. Her initials, the nicks and scars on the hilt, random burn mark, the weight in her hand, she smiled faintly at the familiarity of it all.
As she was about to put it away she felt a crinkle, sounding a lot like paper. And sure enough, tucked away is a sheet of paper, discreetly hidden in the letter sheath. She looked up and suspiciously glared at him.
He responds with a faint smile.
After confirming that the knife is indeed the one she used in her childhood, she glares at him. "I'll see you in the quarter-finals."
"Already predicting your friend's defeat?" he replies with a laugh.
"Prove me wrong then." Yumi storms off leaving Chef Shinomiya's knife on the floor. "Go eat shit and die."
***********
"I'm sorry about your loss Megumi." Yumi placed a hand on her shoulders, the guillotine returned and sat by her feet. She gave it a subtle kick filled with contempt, watching it tip over with a thud, her face twitched with the joy she felt witnessing that beautiful moment.
"Never mind that right now." Megumi shook her head. "What do you mean, if you lose to Asahi you'll marry him?!" She exclaimed in shock at Erina. "Why would you make a promise like that?"
"It just happened at the moment," Erina stutters trying to explain herself. " I was just so fed up with his challenges, that-"
"This is bad! I can't believe you're in this pickle." Megumi shouts. "Is that why you were so upset during your match with Takumi?"
"Yes, that's why," Erina replies, her eyes riddled with guilt.
"You should probably apologize to him," Yumi suggests, after watching Erina fidget over the matter.
"I've never seen you apologize when you bully your opponent during a match," Soma said.
"Well, that's because I'm unsympathetic toward people I don't care about." Yumi shrugs. "That and because I never felt guilty about telling people that they suck."
"I see." Soma nodded and changed topics. "But you know Megumi you shouldn't worry too much, 'cause that will never happen."
"Huh?"
"Look at the bracket!" Soma held out a sheet of paper of the Blue Grand Champion Brackets. "If I win a few more matches, it'll be me versus Saiba Asahi, and if I beat him there, he won't even get a chance of facing Nakiri."
"Should I take you to an eye doctor, you must be blind!" Yumi jabs her pointer finger at the bracket, at the name before Soma's. "I face Asahi right before you do, and so I'm the one who you'll be seeing in the semi-finals."
"What?" Soma squints. "Before me is some guy named Zero."
"I can't believe we came out of the same womb." Yumi facepalmed. "Did I absorb all your IQ or something?"
Some explanations later...
"Damn I wanted a crack at him." Soma crosses his arm, plopping down on a nearby chair.
"My chances of winning are quite slim," Yumi admits with a shrug. She is finally fed up with the extra fifty kilos of weight on her as she unclips the strap on her body, starting with her left shoulder. "Asahi has quite the collection." She places the strap onto the table in front of them. "And I only added to it." she sighs regrettably at the memory before she goes to unclip the one on her right shoulder.
"I guess everything is up to me then." Soma grins. "I apologize in advance for stealing your chance to settle things with him." he grins at the group. Yumi rolled her eyes and plopped the second strap onto the table.
"I wonder..." Erina spoke up. "Will things really turn out like that though? You've seen it, haven't you? The strength of his cross knives." Her voice was just above a whisper. "You don't even have a superhuman power."
Yumi shrugs unbothered by the comment as she unclips everything from her belt and drops it on the table. All except the blade that was just returned to her.
"To be honest, the fact that you've made it this far is a miracle," Erina admits.
"Nakiri? What're you saying?"
"I won't know unless I try, right?" Soma replies. "Come to think of it, why are you on Asahi's side? You've been acting weird lately, you know."
"Yes, I know," Erina responds, her shoulders slumped and her head downcasted. "I'm preoccupied with... weird thoughts. Some part of me wants you two to lose."
If the mood of the room hadn't hit rock bottom yet, well it certainly feels like it did.
"Let me tell you a story. For as far back as I can remember. I can never forget..." Erina explains. "The gaunt hollow face of my mother. Every dish in front of her was sent back to the kitchen, she couldn't stand even the smell of rice. Sitting at the table or entering a kitchen was simply out of the question. And one day mother left the Nakiri household."
"If someone with the God Tongue, like herself, wins this tournament, Mother will be disappointed." Erina continues. "I have no hope of breaking through mother's despair, and that's why I think we should just bet on Saiba Asahi's power. So that we can be happy."
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to defeat Asahi," Soma spoke up. "But it seems you've got your own stuff going on."
"Things that don't concern me. Your family matters right?"
"That's!" Megumi exclaims."Soma!"
"I think I'm going to turn in for the night." Soma stood up and left the room. "Later Nakiri."
Yumi shook her head. "My brother has no tact. Well bye, you two." She hurried after Soma.
*************
The Quarterfinals:
Yumi Yukihira versus Saiba Asahi