Fiery Red Colours

Chapter 10: Back to the Grind

I am back! It's been a few days gomenasai!! I had slight writer's brain fart but I am trying ma best to pump out something from dis brain!!!

You've had enough.

After five days of awkward tension between you and Steak, you finally decided to set things straight. You thought your little prank would've eased this up a bit but it only made things worse.

I'm such an idiot.

You honestly didn't know why he was still ignoring you. Your heart clenched at the thought of Steak disliking you because of your lack of skill/ terrible whiny personality. Pushing the dull ache in your chest aside, you steadied yourself and made your way to his room.

Occupied by the thought of what you were going to say to him, you, once again, entered another person's room without knocking.

You turned the doorknob and poked your head in. "Hey Steak we need to talk..."

You stopped dead in your tracks, so did a half naked Steak, staring back at you with a look of embarrassment.

You retracted your head and quickly slammed the door shut. Why. Why do you never learn from Red Wine's knocking precautions?

You stiffly turned around to walk away from Steak's door when you heard him open it and call you back. You turned to face him, both your faces were still red.

"You... wanted to speak with me, Master?" Steak had hastily put a shirt on and wanted to get this over with ASAP. Anymore time spent with you alone would drive him nuts.

You gathered up your courage and turned to fully face him, brows knitted together. "Yes I do. I want to ask you to stop giving me the cold shoulder."

Steak remained quiet, he didn't know what to say. You sighed. "Will you at least tell me what's wrong? As your Master Attendant I really need to be able to cooperate with my food souls."

Steak looked at his feet with a scowl, ashamed of the inconvenience he had put you in because of his childish attitude. "The kiss."

"What?" You asked again.

Steak's scowl and blush deepened. "Everyone is pestering me about the kiss on your hand. It's... embarrassing."

"... seriously?" Your eyes widened in realization. It was so obvious and yet you failed to come to this simple conclusion.

"Well don't worry about it! I'll tell them to cut it out." You waved your hand around as if to fan off the heavy tension between you two. "Besides... it wasn't like I didn't like what you did that day."

Steak looked up at you, surprised.

You giggled at his dumbfounded expression "well I hope this clears things up for us." You turned around to make your leave. "And don't ever go cold turkey again!"

-few days later-

Almost everyone in your old team was up and about again. Gingerbread finally regained consciousness but was still bedridden. Tiramisu worked hard to bring her back to her usually healthy self.

Besides from the periodic delivery orders, you really didn't receive any important missions from Olivia or Ichi, so you wisely used the extra time on your hands to continue training. Steak had gotten over his unease and would partake in shaping you up for the next big fight.

"That's it. Focus on your target." Steak urged you as he blocked another punch from you. Bamboo Rice and Brownie were spectating from the sides, studying your movements and looking for flaw.

"The Master has improved a lot hasn't she?" said Brownie, impressed with your quick progress.

Bamboo Rice nodded "Yeah, I'm surprised. She doesn't suck as much anymore, though she's still got a long way to go."

You and Steak continued to spar. He did a move that had consecutive punches towards you and you managed to dodge all of them. Surprised that you were actually able to do it without fail, you let your guard down for 1 second, 1 second too late to block Steak's last punch that knocked you to your butt.

"Ow..." You winced and got up to rub your bottom. "That was kinda intense."

Steak looked at you proudly "you've managed to block most of my blows, I'm impressed! Well done Master." Steak gave you a toothy grin as he ruffled your hair. You blushed at his compliment.

"I-I'm going to go back to the restaurant for a break. We'll train again tomorrow maybe." You excused yourself and left the training grounds.

Once you were out of earshot, Bamboo Rice nudged Steak and smirked "I think she likes you back."

The bluntness made Steak splutter. "Don't be dumb. She wouldn't like someone like me." His mind thought back to last week when he had disappointed you by ignoring you due to his own issues.

Brownie sighed "I know you're thinking about what happened last week. Since you're both on good terms now, I doubt the Master would hold a grudge."

"I guess you're right. After all, you are one of her first food souls along with Milk and Black Tea."

Brownie nodded "that is correct. However Steak, my warning to you is not to love her too much. After all this is a contract and all contracts have an end. I'm sure you know what I mean."

His words were harsh but true. Steak's face hardened as he contemplated on what to do. Bamboo Rice threw his arm over Steak's shoulder "aww don't worry about it buddy! Just go with what you feel is right. We'll deal with the problems when they come."

Steak concludes that Bamboo Rice will make a better companion than Red Wine ever will.

-time skip-

"That's right! Get out of here you damn pirate!" You shook your fist at the retreating figure that you just kicked out of your restaurant. Dine and dash customers are so common, what a nuisance.

You slumped back onto a chair after the pirate left. "That's the third one today..."

Just as you began to relax a bit, the door opened to reveal a white haired boy. "Hey Y/N!"

You jolted upright to the voice "Ichi? What are you doing here? It's been a while."

Your friend placed his hand on your shoulder "I've got a mission for ya. You haven't had a mission in a week! You must be so bored cooped up in this place."

"Actually no." You sighed, slightly exhausted "I've been trying to come up with a new recipe to earn a little more fame for my place, no luck yet though."

Ichi quirked a brow "well maybe a mission will give your mind a break and hopefully some ideas will come to you!"

"I guess you're right. Well? What's the mission?"

Ichi's bright aura suddenly dampened a bit. "Remember the enhanced Uke Mochi you fought? Some villagers were attacked last night and we have reason to suspect that it was its doings."

Your eyed widened "no... it's back so soon??"

Ichi nodded "Olivia will be joining you for this battle so you're clearly more prepared for the fight this time."

"Well... I am in the mood for a little payback for what it has done to me." You said vehemently.

Kicking yourself up from your seat, you cracked your knuckles. "Alright. I'll meet you and Olivia at the entrance of the town in 3 hours."

I need help forming Olivia's team of food souls :O