Matsuri

300px 	300px
Vital statistics	Vital statistics
Name 	Matsuri
Aliases 	Asura Chef, Huntress Chef (former)
Gender 	Female
Race 	Human
Age 	32
Height 	176 cm
Weight 	138 kg
Affiliation 	SPICE, IGO (former), Neo-Bishokukai
Occupation 	Chef, SPICE Interim Commander, Bishokuya (former)
Status 	Alive
Matsuri is the Head Chef of the 10-star restaurant "Sublime Cuisine" and she is widely extolled as the best chef in the world. She won the Cooking Festival three times straight, losing only when she first participated. The IGO nominated her Gourmet Human National Treasure due to her skills in and contributions to cooking. An old acquaintance of Over's, she is one of the founding members of the organization known as SPICE. Following Over's death, she takes the lead of the above-mentioned organization together with Fresh.
==Appearance==
Matsuri is an attractive woman of average height. Her original hair color is black, but she dyes it dark blue. Her hairdo is composed of a ponytail on her nape, a forelock reaching right above her eyes and two longer strands framing her face. She has deep blue irises. Her chest is not very big, something that often causes her to be mocked by Fresh. She carries her knife on the back of her waist, in a scabbard secured to a belt.
Since she favors handiness over elegance, she usually wears a casual outfit, which is comprised of a waterproof black jacket, a green shirt, blue denim jeans, black sneakers and brown leather fingerless gloves. She also wears a very simple necklace.
==Personality==
Matsuri is a confident person, but she rarely becomes smug. Very earnest, cold and tough, the only man capable of riling her is Fresh, though there is a solid bond of friendship between them. The nature of her relationship with Over since they stopped being a combo is unclear, although she did cry at his death, something which greatly impressed her fellow SPICE members. She speaks only when it is necessary and never abides rules she deems useless. Her unaffective demeanor is due, in actual fact, to her inability to trust others.
==Background==
Matsuri was born in a well-off family, which granted her economical resources and an excellent education. She displayed immense talent as a chef, but the job bored her, so she hired a bishokuya to train her and so she started to hunt her Ingredients personally. When she was 23, she became the Head Chef of the famous restaurant "Sublime Cuisine". There she met Over, who, after tasting her cooking, asked her to be his combo partner. She agreed. They hunted together until he was transferred into the Gourmet World. This led her to the choice of never forming acombo again, acting as both a chef and a bishokuya. Years later, she met him again, and he invited her to join the SPICE after a few examinations. She slashed her knife at him, destroying half of the restaurant, to which he merely smiled and said she was fit.
==History==
As the IGO's last line of defense in the Gourmet World, the SPICE staff prepares to wage war against the Neo-Bishokukai, who, after abducting a large amount of chefs from the Human World, are now seeking Acacia's Full Course Menu. When Wing and Nadia reveal the true enemy is the IGO itself, whose plan is to subdue Nitro, collect the Ingredients of Acacia's Full Course Menu and conquer the Gourmet World, SPICE allies with the Neo-Bishokukai to stop it
During the confrontation between the two organizations, Over faces off alone against Luis Bar, whom he had assumed was the mole and a small maniple of Nitro who came to assist him. However, the researcher laughed, telling him that he was only partially right. He then revealed Over that he worked for the IGO Military and had been chosen to infiltrate the SPICE. The fight began, leading to Over's defeat. When Fresh and Matsuri, having sensed the clash of two astounding presences, arrived, Luis Bar informed them that the IGO had tricked the S.P.I.C.E. and the Neo-Bishokukai into battling each other. While the Nitro keep them from intervening, he murdered Over and escaped.
After the former leader's death, the remaining senior members take charge of the SPICE, also forming an alliance with the Neo-Bishokukai to defeat the IGO Military and overturn the IGO itself. Matsuri mourns at Over's funeral, and Fresh comforts her. However, she wipes off her tears and states that she was going to throw countless human lives "in the trash".
==Powers and Abilities==
Matsuri not only is widely regarded as the best chef of the age, but she is also an extremely powerful individual, one of the ten top fighters hailing from Human World. Proof is her previous partnership with Over and the fact that she is one of the senior members of the elite corp known as the SPICE. Her skills in Food Honor are equal to Daichi Zen's, putting her on the same level as a temple master, and she is also capable of a thorough Food Immersion.
Matsuri's slender frame belies incredible physical strength, which she turns out to be useful especially in empty hand combat. Her brawn is such that she can cut through materials harder than metal with her knife, and injure a powerful enemy's inner organs with her blows.
However, she favors speed over strength. In conjunction with her superb proficiency with edged weapons, it makes her one of the ten most powerful fighters on the planet, not inferior to Fresh and perhaps Luis Bar. She usually kills her enemy as soon as the battle start, moving so fast that she cannot be seen until she has carried out a lethal attack. This proves to be true even inside the SPICE, whose members, all top-notch warriors, can hardly perceive her movements.
===Chef Skills===
As demonstrated by her status as a Gourmet Human National Treasure and multiple victories at various Cooking Festivals, Matsuri is the best chef in the world. She can do the work of multiple high-class chefs at once, and she has never failed to cook a Specially Prepared Ingredient. Her mastery over Food Honor turns out to be useful especially in that case. She is also liked by Ingredients, and no one an hear their voices as clearly as she does, beside Yukio. Like the legendary God of Chefs Frohze, she can activate her Gourmet Cells while cooking to increase her already ultra first-class skills. She stated that when she does so, reality itself becomes both a cookbook and a dish.
===Intimidation===
Matsuri's Intimidation takes the form of a demon clad in black haze resembling a robe. Even inside the SPICE, only Over, Fresh and Luis Bar can witness it and remain unfazed. Her Intimidation is said to be the most vicious and merciless inside the organization, as it incarnates not only wildness and fighting spirit, but also methodology in violence, something which is a prerogative of chefs.
===Equipment===
The knife Matsuri uses is one of Melk IV's ten best creations. He gave it to her after she beat him in a fight (although she still had to pay an enormous, unknown amount of money). Its name is Moonshard. It is a double-edged knife with a curved blade and a brown plain hilt. A quillion elongates downward on the concave edge, protecting the Matsuri's little finger. Its shape was designated especially for a powerful chef to use it in combat against Special Preparation Ingredients with very high Capture Levels. As such, not only it is immensely sharp and durable, capable of cutting tons of steel without getting blunt, but it is also designed to grant the wielder the utmost degree of accuracy. Melk himself commented, however, that his works may not be enough to match Matsuri's bottomless talent.
===Techniques===
*Asura Cooking: Matsuri activates the full power of her Gourmet Cells. Her hair grows white and her skin turns red, with thin scar-like black lines running all over her body. In this state, her physical power increases manyfold, although she can not use Appetite Energy-based attacks due to the high calorie consumption required. On the other hand, the slashes of her knife become even faster, more powerful and nearly undetectable. Not having eaten Acacia's Full Course Menu, Matsuri can not mantain this state for a long time, as she may get devoured by her own cells. She admitted that occasionally she falls prey to their hunger, getting possessed by an alimentary frenzy.
*Great Flash - Heavy Scaling: One of Matsuri's fastest and deadliest attacks, she swings her knife at the enemies. Although she apparently makes just one movement, she cuts at them countless times, slicing them to tiny shreds before they notice.
*Bitter Aftertaste: More than a technique, it can be considered Matsuri's fightint style. She disappears from sight and stabs the foe in a vital point, thus ending the confrontation in a split second.
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Human
Category:Gourmet World
Category:Chef