A and K Chapter 9: The Dish

The two return home to see Shigure waiting in the living room.
Shigure: I thought today was my day.
Alexandria: Don't get mad at Kei! It was my idea.
Shigure: Very well. Come on, Alexandria, time for your first lesson of the day.
Alexandria: First lesson?
Shigure takes Alexandria into Kei's kitchen, while Kei wanders off. On the counter is plenty of different food types.
Alexandria: Wow! Look at it all!
Shigure: It is important, whether you are a man or a woman, to know how to cook.
Alexandria pays attention to Shigure's words.
Shigure: There will be times when you'll have a lot of ingredients at your disposal, and times where you have to scrounge around to find ingredients. It is important...
Alexandria: ?
Shigure: That you put love into every dish.
Alexandria: Love?
Shigure nods.
Shigure: Yes, its important to put your heart in each dish. You want to make every dish your best dish. So why don't begin with a simple dish.
Alexandria nods. Shigure quickly flips through a cook book she brought with her. Then points to a piece of paper within it.
Shigure: Why don't we start with this dish?
Alexandria: Right!
Alexandria quickly creates a pot of water, per the instructions of the dish and begins to warm it on the stove. Shigure supervises to make sure she doesn't do anything reckless. Alexandria, using a small knife begins to cut the vegetables up for the dish. Shigure helps a slight bit getting the meat ready for the dish. Alexandria works hard, and with Shigure's help puts all the vegetables and meat into the dish. She quietly begins to stir the dish. Kei, meanwhile, has sat down at the table, his nose picking up the smell of food. His stomach growled. What kind of food could those two be cooking today, he wanted to know. He waits patiently, and is rewarded with a bowl. Alexandria and Shigure look over him and she waits with hopeful eyes.
Kei: What is...?
Shigure: Chili.
Kei: Chili?
Alexandria: Yeah, Chili! Please, please! Eat it!
Kei is hesitant at first, but he grabs a spoon and picks up a spoonful. He quietly puts it in his mouth. He chews it up before swallowing.
Kei: Its delicious.
Alexandria and Shigure both look happy. Kei decides to go ahead and eat the whole bowl. Then hands it to them.
Kei: Seconds, please.
Shigure happily obliges. She replaces the empty bowl with a full one. Kei happily goes to eating it. Before long, his stomach is full.
Kei: That was delicious.
Alexandria and Shigure both wear happy smiles.
Shigure: Since Kei happily ate three bowls of chili, I'd say you pass lesson one, Alexandria.
Alexandria: Yay!
The next twenty minutes involves Alexandria and Shigure eating their fill as well. As Kei returns to his training, Alexandria and Shigure remain inside.
Shigure: Now then, our next training.
Alexandria: Next training?
Shigure: There is more than cooking and taking care of your body.
Alexandria: Huh?
Shigure points to Alexandria's head.
Shigure: You need to learn as well.
Shigure heads out of the room for a moment then returns with a bag. Alexandria is curious to the contents of the bag. She sits on the opposite side of the table again. She pulls out a book of basic arithmetic. Alexandria doesn't look so excited now.
Alexandria: Aw...schoolwork?
Shigure: You have to train your brain as well.
Alexandria looks uninterested. Kei, meanwhile, has returned to the bar where Mitch once serviced his customers. The yellow caution tape still sits around the building. Kei wanted to examine the scene but there was something he didn't understand. Seeing Aria again, Mitch's untimely death, and Alexandria the Murakumo unit, what did they all have in common? Not to mention Aria's words.
Aria: (Believe me when I say, the library is open.)
Kei: The library is open. Is Aria referring to the NOL? But they've disbanded. The NOL is no more. Unless she is trying to say that some remnants of the NOL still exist? In that case, are they targeting Alexandria as some last ditch strike? No, that doesn't sound like something the NOL'd do. They would go out in a blaze of glory. Making sure everyone knew about who they were.
That was Kei's thoughts. The NOL was seeking someway to regain its lost footholds. The remaining people that still hung fast to the NOL's principles. Who were they? Would they call themselves something else? Everything was buzzing through his head like a bee. There had to be some clue to Mitch's death, something that shouldn't add up. He crosses the yellow tape and goes into the bar. The body would've been behind the counter, which meant there had to be some sort of clue that wouldn't so easily be discovered. As he looks around, something catches his eye in the ceiling. Honestly, he thought, humans never look everywhere in these crime scenes. He grabs a step ladder from the corner and brings it to the middle of the room. He walks up the three steps and removes a kunai. Something however strikes him odd about this kunai. It was too perfect. Too easy.
Kei: Its not Aria's.
Kei pulls at the handle and a secret compartment is unveiled.
Kei: A secret compartment?
Kei pulls out a small slip of paper. On it, something was scribbled. Twenty names in all. At the bottom, signaled with the number twenty beside it, is Aria's name.
Kei: She's the bottom of the totem pole? That would make sense as a hired gun but...
Kei goes silent. Two other names, to his surprise, are on the list. Two names that he was quite familiar with. He scowls.
Kei: Saki Ueda, Kazuhiro Watanabe.
Kei knew who they were. He had been told they were casualties of war, but to see their names as part of the list. Had their deaths been a cover up for some reason?
Kei: Tch.
He folds the paper and puts it away in his pocket. Each name on that list he would throughly investigate.
Kei: So then, am I to believe that the NOL still exists in some form, and had to do with Mitch's murder? But then the question becomes why? Why kill Mitch? Why was he killed in such a way?
???: To keep him quiet.
Another voice fills the room. He turns and see a female there. A girl he didn't recognize. She was as tall as him, green eyes, a face that looked like it had never smiled in its life. A torn-up red dougi surrounded her body. The sleeves were ripped entirely off and there a tear at her stomach in the shape of an X, with her belly button in the center of it. Her red hair was short, save for the three pieces of hair that was on the front. They hung in the air like three large crescent moons. Lastly, she wore black boots that came mid-way up to her knees.
Kei: Who the hell are you?
???: There were twenty names on that piece of paper, did you even bother to read it?
Kei: ...
Rin: My name is Rin Tanaka.
Kei: And why should I care?
Rin tugs at the lowest crescent moon on her head.
Rin: I killed your friend Mitch.
Kei's eyes shoot open.
Kei: Why?
Rin: Open your ears beastkin, to keep him silent.
Kei: To keep him silent about what?
Rin doesn't respond, she simply stares at him. Kei growls, wanting a straight answer.
Rin: Why don't you check out a book, and find out?
Kei: Check out a...the hell with you all, why do you all keep speaking in riddles?
Rin: I take it you met Aria then?
Kei: The baroness of good luck herself.
Rin tugs at the lowest crescent moon again.
Rin: I admit, that girl must bathe in four leaf clovers.
Kei: So how about being straight with me. Does the NOL exist?
Rin: I told you, check out a book and find out.
Kei: ...
Now this was starting to get annoying. His thought process kept stopping at the idea of them just admitting that this remainder of the NOL personnel existed, instead of operating in such secrecy.
Rin: You can't read a book you never open.
Kei: How about organizing the shelves so I can find the book I want.
Rin: ...
Kei: (I don't even know what the hell that means.)
Rin: Very well.
Kei: (SHE UNDERSTOOD IT?!)
Rin: Your friend, he learned of our existence. The overdue fines were piling up. He had to pay.
It doesn't take long for Kei to figure that one out. Mitch had been killed for stumbling upon their organization. The 'overdue fines' were the part that was nagging him.
Kei: Overdue fines?
Rin doesn't reply, what Kei was kind of expecting anyway. Overdue fines meant being late, he knew that, but was there more of a meaning to this?
Kei: Let's put a bookmark in this book for now.
Rin: close one book, and then open another, if that is what you wish.
Kei: I'd like to know why you're here.
Before Kei can react, he hears the sound of something colliding with the wall behind him. He turns to see a kunai there. He feels something trickling down his cheek. He lifts his hand to touch it, to realize blood was there.
Kei: (How the hell? Didn't even see her reach for one...)
Rin: You also plan to keep a book longer then the due date, do you not?
Kei: If that means stand against this group of yours, the answer is yes.
Rin: Then you have chosen the shredder.
Kei slowly reaches for the sword at his side.
Rin: Worry not, beastkin, I have no intention of killing you today.
Kei: ...
Rin: That list of who you should expect, keep it as a reference for locating each book.
Kei: So you're saying the first person I have to fight is Aria.
Rin nods.
Kei: When should I expect her then?
Rin: Much like the writer of a novel, that is dependent on the author.
Kei: (I'm really sick of all these book puns.)
Rin: We are a group that values organization over chaos, so you won't face anyone higher up on that list until we either take you out of the system, or take them out of the system.
Kei: (In other words, kill or be killed.)
Rin: Have that scar on your face as a reminder as to my destructive power, I hope you reach me, because I want to be the one to eliminate you.
With that, Rin turns around and exits, once again leaving Kei to his thoughts.
Kei: So there is an unspecified time between each fight.
Kei smiles.
Kei: Fine then, let 'em come, it'll be good training for Alexandria and myself, to shake off the rust.
Category:A and K
Category:Novel Chapter