Alice’s Appetite - The Pool of Tears (Patreon)

“You’re going back to basics?”

Ryo could hardly believe his ears.

The first time Alice had suggested that they take this whirlwind world tour of cooking delights, he had been certain that it was for the purpose of getting better by improving upon the skills they had already garnered over the years. France had certainly been an eye opening experience for him with the hopes of working under some of the best chefs in the business, but Alice had other plans for the two of them.

“Yep, we’re going to be living out of and running this little diner out in the sticks for a while to see if we can really make it.”

The ‘boonies’ as Alice referred to it wasn’t at all like he had imagined it would be. In fact, it was rather reminiscent of the small fishing village where he had come from all those years ago when they had first met as children. By comparison to the Nakiri family and its exorbitant wealth, he could see where Alice would draw the comparison, but there was a distinct lack of a certain something which alarmed him more so than anything.

“I see…so you’ve abandoned all of your scientific equipment then?”

“That’s right”

“Even the molecular centrifuge?”

“Yep”

“Even the electron dehydrator?”

“Oh yeah.”

“So we’re roughing it then?”

“You got it.”

“Well, I hope you’re prepared to go through hell princess, because the queen of molecular gastronomy is nothing without her toys…”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Give me about a month and I’ll show you what I can do.”

The month came and went as Alice had so declared. They converted a rundown soup kitchen between the two of them and a lot of daddy’s money into something of a fusion cuisine marvel like none in the village had ever seen. Through the sheer taste of their combined foods alone, they conjured their own form of viral advertising, spread purely from word of mouth as the flavors of their combined cooking danced upon the tongues of the lucky few who had chosen to live alongside them. Day by day their customer base kept increasing, at first doubling and then tripling overnight. By the end of the first week they were the talk of the town with hundreds queuing up to sample their most delicious dish even from the surrounding provinces.

“And who would have thought it would be french onion soup that would do it?”

Alice knew of course.

She had purposely chosen a peasant dish for the local people to specialize and hone in mass amounts. If she wanted to beat Yukihira, she would have to start thinking like him and live amongst the people for which the dish was best suited for. Onions were plentiful as was cheese and beef stock, all culminating in an oh so addictive flavor which spoke for itself.

Taste testing of course had been a crucial process to this as she had made it a point to sample a bowl of every dish that left the kitchen personally to see if it was up to standard. She might not have had her cousin’s God Tongue, but she did have “The Gifting of her family line to help determine if it was at least good enough to serve.

“Feed me something good until my clothes pop off.”

“Excuse me?” Ryo said bluntly. “I just did all the dishes and I’m not really in the mood to…”

“You know, that ‘Nakiri Gifting’ thing we have. I want to see if you’ve got what it takes?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…not with all these people around…”

“It’ll be great for business!”

“Or we’ll get arrested. This isn’t the academy where people know about this and it’s especially not Japan.”

“That’s why I picked the boonies to set up in! We’re going to get our aggressive with our marketing campaign and we’re going to let people know we’re here.”

“And if the cops come?”

“They’re already on their way,” said Alice triumphantly as she probed her braless top with a finger. ”I kind of had a little accident with the last customer this afternoon...Who would have thought they’d have such strict rules here.”

When the gifting happened, it never happened on any small scale. Upon closer inspection, he could see the outfit she was wearing now strained to contain her heaving bosom which had certainly grown a bit rounder over the last month of eating what was essentially baked cheese and onion with crunchy bread. He could only wonder what tattered remains of her usual outfit now scattered to the winds of the French countryside amidst the high pitched wail of police sirens in the distance.

“So we’re going to be moving again?”

“Think of it as part of the adventure. Also I really love the way you make that Clam Alfredo…”

“I’ll call the Aldinis to see if they want to harbor a couple of fugitives…”