“
Just how did you know where this guy grew up?!"
"Was it mere coincidence?! No way! This has to be deliberate! But how?! What kind of magic trick is this, Miss Yamato Nadeshiko?!"
"Um, it's kind of hard to explain but... sometimes there's a certain lilt to how you pronounce your words. It sounded an awful lot like the lyrical accent unique to that area."
"Huh?"
"Eheh heh... when I'm not paying attention, sometimes my hometown accent slips outdo.
Given your outfits and brand choices, I figured you were American... so I wondered if you were born in the South near the Gulf of Mexico... which made me think you probably had gumbo a lot growing up."
"Well, I'll be! You managed to deduce all that?"
"Was I right? Oh, I'm so glad!"
"No way! I don't believe it! Just who are you?! How can you even figure something like that out?!"
"Eheheh heh... it wasn't much. I've just been doing some studying, is all."
"Voila. C'est votre monnaie. Au revoir, bonne journée."
"Merci!"
In the few months since earning my Seat on the Council of Ten... I took advantage of some of the perks it gave me... to visit a whole bunch of different countries. I went to all kinds of regions and met all kinds of people... learning firsthand what it feels like to live and thrive there.
I experienced the "taste of home" special to each place... and incorporated it into my own cooking... so that I could improve a little as a chef!
"And that's how you knew about gumbo? But still! All you did was make a dish from my hometown. That's it! There's no way it should've overwhelmed me this much! Why?! How could you manage something like that?!"
"I think it's because, deep down, this is what you've truly been searching for. Um, to go back to what I mentioned to you earlier... I think you might have the wrong idea. I'm pretty sure that isn't what real hospitality is. In your heart, the kind of hospitality you're truly looking for... isn't to be pampered and treated like a king for a day. If that kind of royal luxury was all you were looking for... you wouldn't need to come all the way to Japan. You could have just reserved a suite at any international five-star hotel to get that experience.
But you said you specifically liked Japan's rural hot springs resort towns. The kind of places so comfortable and familiar they tug at your heart... places that somehow quietly remind you of home.
"I think... no, I know...
... that what you really want...
... is simply a warm, gentle hug.
”
”
Yūto Tsukuda (食戟のソーマ 31 [Shokugeki no Souma 31] (Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, #31))