Logs: The Devil Wears Aprons
Takahisa Kandori is in the food court at the KNOWS Castle. He has commandeered a large amount of floor space and rolled in a portable cart with a grill, many pans, a few shelves, and his private condiment carafe. The resulting melange of tools for cookery has not yet been employed in earnest red velvet rope having been laid around it. This was removed a short time ago.
While his cooking is usually a private thing, Kandori's lack of recipe book has required him to re-begin a dozen-year culinary journey from somewhere new the beginning. Not one to travel the same road twice the same way, he has begun studying recipes never before explored.
Today, as he rolls dumpling batter with mixing sticks and tosses in herbs and spices, Kandori reflects on the tradition of Taiyaki. And the tradition of Takoyaki. Above his cart, on a sign, characters spell out "Yaku" ("To fry or grill",).
On one side he is making a fish-shaped cake known as Taiyaki. On the other side he is using the tempura scraps from the first, mixed with diced octopus and a pan, to make Takoyaki. He has set out a few tables and is presently attempting a skillful mindscrew. There is a table right behind the stand, presumably for those who get their appointments through the chef.
Kandori has betrayed his usual suit for an apron which reads "My Other Food Stand Is A Boardroom" in huge red characters.
The KNOWS Castle is quite a wondrous place to those who don't know what truly hides behind its walls. Many people flock here after all, to help support KNOWS In their effort to help such an establishment. After all, helping kids to better themselves is good, right?
Naturally, it also draws those who wish to help others in some way. Of course, one such person just so happens to be here. A highschooler appears to have just walked out of the weapon shop, flexing a new pair of... The heck are those? They look like thick leather biker gloves, but they have a metal plate across where the first knuckles are, with what looks like industrial grade titanium bolts welded to it. Sure is odd for a weapon, but Yoh Yamagatani finds it quite potent in a strife.
The odd hairdo'ed kid flexes the gloves a few times, trying to wear them in. They are new, and rather rigid right now. It was a shame what happened to his old ones; they had become so worn that in a recent scuffle, they literally fell apart. These aren't exactly as great a quality, but they will work nicely for now. He decides to keep them on for a bit. It shouldn't make him stand out too bad. He was just wearing his usual clothes, after all.
At about that time, his stomach attacked his insides, and he held his lower chest. He hadn't eaten at ALL today. It was time for a bite to eat! He begins to head towards the food court area, unknowing that the number one person he has been warned to stay away from loomed just yards away. What a surprise he is in for.
Chizuru doesn't have much reason to visit the KNOWS Castle/Complex, quite possibly due to the fact that she's the secretary for SEBEC, that is in the Lunarvale based area. However, when your boss up and disappears in the middle of the day after lunch, he's not in his office, and your shikigami doesn't see him, it's not hard to put two and two together and figure out where he did disappear too.
As such, once she's charged the cab from Lunarvale to Inaba to her account, the dark haired woman makes her way up to the food court. She gives off little notice that she's there aside from the click-clack of her heels on the floor and the smooth motion she makes as she dodges the crowds effortlessly to approach the booth silently.
Kandori, his back to Chizuru's approach, does not seem to notice her. Except he places a plate of octopus dumplings and fried fish-shaped cakes onto the closest table and beckons her to it. He smiles and begins taking orders from curious onlookers, offering truly strange dishes like honey-garlic takoyaki (something not often seen on these shores), and Kentucky Fried Takoyaki. He also has an assortment of dipping sauces ranging from Italian to strange curry sauces.
His fingers dart from tray to tray. Pour the batter into a large pan. Drop piece of octopus into batter. Fold batter. Fry one side. Flip batter. Wait. Flip batter again. Pop onto plate or into "boat", add sauce.
He whistles lightly to himself as he works, the nimble skills of an expert chef driving him, and the enjoyment of an insomniac given cause and duty to keep him going, driving him to ingenuity.
He has no idea people are warning others not to speak to him, but he'd be highly amused if he knew.
As Yoh nears the food court, his stomach begins to dictate his movement, and his nose is the compass. Once Yoh becomes hungry, he becomes driven to eat, like some sort of starved farm animal. He drifts from the front of food location to food location, looking into each rather blankly. Of course he smells wonderful food from Kandori's cart event, and heads that direction, not even close to being aware that the person he must stay away from is like, mere feet away now.
He approaches the cart when a moment is provided, looking over the food and nigh drooling. Yoh just stares at the food, completely oblivious for the time being. "Wow, it smells great!" the boy manages to stammer out. "I think I found where I'm gonna eat here!" It was funny, the culinary masterpieces in the air make the boy think of the last time he smelled something so good. Of course he can't remember, as his mind is in his gut right now.
Yoh, look up at the chef, you moron. Ugh.
"A meal for the boy behind me, Mister Kandori." Chizuru says smoothly as he beckons her to the table, not even showing any recognition when the teen steps up nearby, her strange black eyes focused on the tall, thin, blade-whip of a man in the apron. "It should say office, not boardroom." She advises him with a perfectly straight face.
Click-clack.
The woman smoothly makes her way to the table, settling into the seat Kandori gestured, popping a dumpling into her mouth.
"Noted, Miss Ishigami.", Kandori replies, before slipping a second "boat" onto the table along with chopsticks. He asks Yoh "And to drink?"
There is a small crowd, but mostly people have been served so fast the crowd has petered off, especially this late in the evening. He hangs a "closed" sign and shuts down the grill, dishing up a third meal for himself, and sliding it onto the table along with Yoh's.
The CEO moves with eerie precision, posture perfect, a smile on his face, his movements betraying a nimbleness in his fingers that may not be entirely human.
"I thought someone was stalking me, Miss Ishigami. I thought it was more in your habit to be where I'm going ahead of time, though." he says, turning to look toward where Chizuru is standing before turning back to Yoh and awaiting his response.
Yoh ponders for a moment as he reaches for a billfold. "A Coca-Cola, if you have it, sir." As he opens it, he slowly looks up. "So, how much will it be my-- Oh crap." Yeah, he said it out loud, as he eyes the person serving him. Of all people... Yoh kind of goes pale for a moment. But still, better to try and play it cool. Maybe he won't recognize him from the Fountain, and Inaba incident cheering the fight on and yelling, even though he was the only other person present? Signs point to no.
"Well uh, nice to see you again!" Yoh tries to sound chipper. Maybe he can get out of this easily. "So, what brings you to cook here... Kandori-san, right? I think that is right." Of course how Kandori is here cooking without a visible scratch after that debilitating beatdown betwixt him and Thora is beyond him. Of course so is the fact of Personae, so might as well let it go.
Normally Yoh's very early resonance detection would be going off the handle causing that buzzing feeling in the back of his mind, but thankfully Kandori's resonance doesn't operate like most peoples do. Not that Yoh would know what was causing it anyway. "Cooking great food again?" Might as well start some casual conversation.
"It's called a free radical, Mister Kandori, where one does something that's not registered on the timeline and therefore changes it totally. You did it to me today, so therefore I'm just slightly behind on catching up to things. You have an appointment in a couple of hours, sir, but I already called and rescheduled for tomorrow as your meeting tomorrow will be calling in the morning tomorrow to reschedule their appointment to a undefined later time, which will be next Tuesday." Chizuru's voice is brisk.
She pops another dumpling into her mouth, chewing on it before she replies to Yoh this time.
"When has he ever not?"
Kandori waves a hand. "It's on Miss Ishigami's tab, which is to say my tab." He answers Yoh thus, and then thinks for a moment on what Chizuru conveys her information. "Fair enough. Now, let's see..."
Kandori, having closed up the stand, spins and places his food on the table before raking a chair out from under it with the side of his foot and falling into it in the same motion. The apron is removed and folded, then slung over the stand - Yoh being the last customer to line up in a bit. Kandori then opens a nearby briefcase and takes out a few pages. He pops one of the dumplings into his mouth, licks the sauce from his fingers, and begins to write on thick vellum.
"I'm starting the new book. I'll add these pages to the last if we ever get it back.", he imparts to Chizuru while waiting for Yoh to take a seat.
Yoh bows politely to Kandori. "Thank you, Kandori-san. Much appreciated." Huh, it looks like he was the last customer. What luck, of that is indeed the case. Of course he watches the man warily as he finishes and heads toward a table.
Maybe he should take this chance to get the heck out of here. Though, that would be rather messed up, despite what people say about him. But... should he follow him? Ugh, he was never good with decisions. Well, he might as well, after all he did just give him a free meal. And he kind of owed it to him from the fountain food as well. Might as well. Yoh heads over towards the two, and tries his best to casually take a seat by them without interrupting what they were talking about. Maybe if he is lucky, Kandori won't truly recognize him, or any conversation of Persona business, like at Inaba won't come up! He really should stop worrying about such things. He looks down at the food with near bulging eyes as he prepares his napkin to assail the food set before him.
"Do you seriously think you will get it back, Mister Kandori? Unless it's been copied online somewhere that the computer labs can crack, you may very well have to go off memory for the recipes, not that it exactly matters since you remember everything anyways, no matter where, who, or what." Chizuru points out briskly, before going back to her food as she watching the teen on the other side of the table.
Kandori dips one hand into his pocket. There is a click. He pulls out... a ballpoint pen, in a different color, and uses it in the opposite hand to add to the book. The spare hand dips back to sit in the pocket. "Well, yes, it's a pride thing though." Kandori notes, admitting his desire before turning to look toward Yoh. "So, you've had contact with other factions within the susurrating ur-world of the mind that is the Persona game."
It's a statement, not a question, but he leaves it at that unless something else is volunteered. Instead he looks toward Chizuru and says: "We'll need to re-schedule the Contract Ritual sometime soon."
He nimbly grabs a dumpling and chomps on it, then seems to remember something. Kandori points toward a nearby cabinet and shakes his wrist. The cabinet opens, revealing a cool ice bucket within. A Coke flies out and into his hand. He slides it across to Yoh.
"The tendrils of shadow, and what they do, are often unseen by those without the Power.", by way of explanation for his actions in so public a space.
Yoh begins to attack the food fiercely, finding every bite to be delicious. "Oh wow, this is good! As good as those bentos!" As he munches away, he listens to the two converse. Of course, he is suddenly confronted with the issue he did NOT expect.
The teenager nearly chokes as the word Persona is used. Of all the luck... "Er..." Great! Now what to say? Maybe he could feign innocence. Probably wouldn't work. "I guess I do. I try to keep out of it though. None of my business and whatnot!" He takes a sip of cola as he contemplates the stupidest comment he has ever made. Oh well, no looking back now. He was just a normal kid, so what concern would a normal teenager cause to a Persona user? Though he did have the Potential, a rather strong case of it. Yoh was unaware of this. Still, he nearly got killed by a random thug with those powers, even with all his martial arts training. So surely honed users would find him pointless to bother with.
Well, he could only hope this was the case. He catches the Coke as it ends up near him. "It was a pretty good show though. Well, minus the part of you guys getting hurt." Tch, yeah, compliments like that really help. Not really.
"Pride goeth before the fall." Chizuru murmurs softly. "Noted, Mister Kandori, I'll look at the schedule but we should be able to fit it in somewhere within the next couple of weeks as businesses cancel and rearrange their schedule." She holds up a hand briefly as she shakes her head. "Persona, Persona." She murmurs, very, very quietly.
Kandori just reclines in his chair, eating through his Takoyaki. He does retort to Chizuru with: "Everyone Falls. At least if I goeth before it I have a head start."
The place is relatively peaceful, and Kandori seems well at ease, there's little enough going on, and the only other business he can think of to discuss with Chizuru requires no witnesses - lest the world end.
He does keep on eating and writing, but he otherwise has little enough care for the non-persona-using boy except to wait for reflections on or opinions of his cooking.
Yoh stays quiet for a time more, waiting on some sort of response. Though it seems one never comes. Just as well, as he was dreading something being said that may involve him. He goes back to eating the food prepared, trying to mind his table manners. Of course he fails though, as usual. After taking a big sip of coca-cola, he looks back over towards the two.
It was odd, being this close to someone he shouldn't be, but he seems harmless enough toward the teen. "Mm. Good cooking once again." Yoh downs a dumpling in a single chomp, obviously enjoying the meal. After he has time to talk, the boy speaks up, trying his best to instill some non-hostile conversation. "I do like this place. First time I have been here." Hrn, maybe he should ask him something pertaining to that day. Maybe...
Chizuru holds up her chopsticks idly, examining the dumpling in it idly as she listens to Yoh and Kandori. "Your pride is infallible, your spine steel, your grit annoying, Mister Kandori. The day you fall is a interesting and odd day indeed." Not to mention confusing and a variety of other things. She then pops the dumpling into her mouth, chewing on it before she clears her throat to speak again.
"It's a mall. Not that interesting."
Yoh once again finds himself listening in on a conversation, much like their first meeting. As he finishes off his food, he glances between the two. It was almost as if they were arguing something.
"Huh. Wards?" D'oh crap, he said that aloud. Oh well, Yoh figured it wouldn't lead to anything. He must run something here. And, if he did, he couldn't be that bad. I mean, this place was great to him. He loved malls, and everything that entails them. They were great for shopping, and socializing too, much like right now. "So, do you run this mall?" Another stupid inquiry. What do wards have to do with a mall? Oi. Still, he's trying.
"I don't believe that there are many who would, Mister Kandori." comes Chizuru's retort as she gets down to her final dumpling. She examines it quietly, concentrated on the crisp skin of it before she looks back at Yoh and Kandori. "You can't even keep them on track, Mister Kandori."
"Yes. Well, the day to day running is in the hands of a competent business manager, but the dormitories upstairs are for students who have the Power and need tutors. We train them, ensure they attend and are prepared for school, and give them tutelage in controlling and using their abilities. As my associate suggests, I do tend to have my hands full with them, but am more pleased to give them their freedom in any case. Part of the point of the program in question is to make sure bullying doesn't occur, with other groups enforcing their preconceived notions onto the innocent."
As Yoh finishes the last bite of food and sip of soda, he pushes it slightly aside, now rather curious at what makes this person bad. After all, if he did run something like that, it can't be that bad! Of course, it was seven people who have all said the same thing about the man. So what he says probably shouldn't be taken lightly.
"Really? Neat." Yoh ponders for an appropriate analogy to see if he got it right. "So, like a College for Persona users? Sounds fancy." He glances over at the woman across the table. "Oh, sorry. I forget myself. I am Yoh Yamagatani. And I do apologize for barging in on your meeting. Just figure I would visit Kandori-san since I was here already. He does make excellent food." He also seems hated by everyone Yoh knows, but that is besides the point. Might as well make the best of an outing!
Kandori's PDA beeps, and he glances at it. Suddenly, he rises and makes for the exit, saying "Excuse me, duty calls." before leaving the table - and Chizuru -with their guest.
"Yamagatani. The silver of a blade, the power of the dragon. Moderation, pacifism. Yet ..." Chizuru's gaze goes strangely blank as she considers the boy. "Remind me, at a later point, to find you." Chizuru's voice goes into a soft, smooth whisper, even as the woman stands and goes after her boss.
Yoh tilts his head at the woman, confused at what she is saying. Is she analyzing him? What is she doing? Though, she suddenly gets up and takes her leave after saying something. "To find... me?"
Ah, it was too late. She was gone. Well, he was the only one there now. He gets up and throws away his trash, and makes his way for the exit. That sure was a strange encounter.
