The Forgotten Nakiri

chapter 10

as thrilled as he was to not only finally meet her, but she was now his partner for whole year. but when the professor said that Ryo would be her partner, he didn't miss the look of fear that flashed across her face. was his reputation preceding him already? although it seemed she was more concerned about how he would affect her grade rather than working with him.

"erm...sir would like me to get Mr Kurokiba up to speed on how things work in history SOC?"...."Oh yes that would be most helpful thank you...Miss Shadow" Raven turned and gave Ryo a smile and signalled him to follow her.

she lead him through the maze of towering bookshelves to a sort of lounge area where students could research recipes in comfort, and invite him to sit. "first of all history SOC is a bit different from the dorms and cooking classes in the fact there no competition between the chefs"

"what do you mean?"

"well for instance in say Mr Chapelle's class you would all follow the same recipe and whoever made the best or could make it better would pass right?"

"yeah"..."well in here it's the original recipes and techniques that are tested against the modern versions to see which is better, if they work at all and find out the reason why they have been altered. as well of course the students ability to follow and use them to the letter".

"so then no one here is a true rival to me".

"well...i don't know about rivals as in shokugekies outside...of history SOC, but in here no one is trying to make something better than you... say you've chosen a dish and it's not been well liked, you won't be at fault in anyway, it's more likely the recipe itself is to blame because it just didn't work"

after a bit more explaining Ryo and Raven/Shadow re-joined the rest of the class. she gave a quick nod to the professor letting him know all was good. she had decide on making a traditional vanilla wedding cake...well one tier at least not a whole three tiered masterpiece.

Ryo decided to do the modern version which even though desserts weren't his forte a simple vanilla sponge cake was easy. he put on his bandana and got to work.

Raven was in awe because as soon the bandana was tied he changed in both body and persona, he became a human fixing machine as his muscles which were already very prominent suddenly resembled a stallion that had puffed up his muscle readying of a fight. as if he wasn't already enough of a distraction.

A few hours later

both the cakes were done and the research and presentation for the changes to the recipes over the years, had been delivered to the class, he found that Miss Shadow is not only very beautiful but she's also very pleasant to work with and very intelligent. and upon tasting her cake for once Ryo couldn't find anything technically wrong with it. but he couldn't help noticing something wasn't right,

upon receiving their grades, naturally Ryo got A but Raven got A-? he was shocked her cake was technically perfect and yet she got a lower score than him! he was about argue this insult as he was still wearing his bandana but to his surprize Miss Shadow stopped him.

Raven saw that Ryo was about to fight the professor over her lower grade and quickly but gently grabbed his hand which thankfully gained his attention. "Ryo!...it's fine...we can talk about it later ok?" as she turned to the professor and bowed her head. "thank you sir".

as they attended their other lessons history, maths, English and so on, which came with a lot of homework. Ryo noticed that Miss Shadow was getting top marks along with him A's and A+,

so why was it just the cooking classes where she got lower than him?

Back at the mansion

it was around 4 o'clock, and they had a lot of homework to do, thankfully it was Friday and the start of the summer holidays, which meant they could relax. Raven invited Ryo to study with her in her room, surprisingly to Ryo instead of using the main entrance they took the servants, through her kitchen and into the bedroom.

Raven had a show jumping event to get ready for so the homework and Ryo would have to wait a bit. "erm...listen i've got something i have to tonight so...don't look at me like that!...am not bailing on ya"

she said as Ryo gave her 'seriously' look. she decided to show him the secret entrance unaware he already knew. "why is your room hidden away?" he asked hoping to get an answer to one of the questions that he had about her. "oh...i, it's a...long complicated story... which i rather not get into right now mainly because i really don't have time".

and because it was painful for her reliving her lonely existence which she knew would affect her badly. which she didn't need right now and with the competition a few hours way. she couldn't allow to happen.

after she had showered and got herself ready she told Ryo he could stay in her room,"i'll be back in a few hours...so you can relax for a bit and if you want take a nap that's fine Ok?" 'beep beep' "see you later!" she said as she ran out to meet the horse trailer.

instead of waiting in her room which would of been improper Ryo went back to his room to do some workouts. but he couldn't help feeling frustrated because now he had more questions than answers.

but more importantly 'i, it's a...long complicated story.' the hesitation in her voice as she said that, clearly meant whatever happened to course her to be hidden away had been very unpleasant. and because he had only just met her didn't want to pry and course her to hide from him.

although he was relieved that his Mad Dog reputation didn't frighten her, but as for the answers to his questions he decided he would wait and maybe if he spent enough time with her during the summer break, he would find out why. One, she was Ok with A- when she clearly deserved higher!? Two, What happened to course her isolation? and Three, Why even though she clearly wasn't a servant as the household staff greeted her as Miss and Milady. wasn't involved with rest of the Nakiri family.