076 – Starting Hours

If I refer to literally the chapter before this, it actually may just sound like I am one of the four students in twenties of the second year that slacked off the most for the past week. No, that is not the case at all. Kaizo and Mitsumi-san are still in the appearance of an 18 year-old, so they can't just hand out a pre-made resume that they used for their company. In their case, however, they have the experience on the documents although they might be more used to seeing them in their native characters; that nevertheless made their transition to their work training. But even if that is the case, those two still have Marcel, who has thankfully quieted down, and is now easy to deal with. And so, it was arranged that the three of them will go to the same company to ease up their observation work. But on Yuzuri-san's case, it is pretty much the same as mine as she does not have to take on the subsequent parts of the portfolio since we pretty much work on the same place full time. I have to say, though; Anew employees went through their interviews with flying colors.

"Oh. Good morning, Gin. You really look old to be wearing a uniform."

On my way to the school gate, I stumbled upon the Azuki couple. Rin is a few meters behind me as she is reading a book.

"Your wife and I are just the same age but I look older. Man, talk about the stress. Anyways, morning.

By the way Rena, do you know where you will be going to? Today's the start of displacement, right?"

"Apparently, we'll be informed of that today so I still don't know."

"Did CCI open for us, Kobana?"

"Nah. The chairman didn't allow."

"I see. I'll go on ahead, then."

"Alright. Say hello to Ringo for me."

"She's right behind you, Kobana."

"Eh?! He's right…! Good morning, Ringo."

"Good morning, you two. Have you read this book already, Rena?"

"'A Peach but Without Momotaro?' Is this a comedy?"

"I find the author somewhat eccentric. But he's not as weird as Gin."

"I guess I'll give that a read."

"I'll leave you with Ringo, then. Take care, dear."

"You too."

With frowning eyebrows, what reflected on Rin's eyes is a very sweet exchange of goodbyes of the married couple in front of her.

"…

Can you not, Rena?"

"Ehhhh? What?"

"Let's just get going."

"Youth… You really forgot how it is to be a teenager when you have a son to take care of, huh…"

"You're twenty already!"

I have just pulled back from the bulletin board and those two just began walking while arguing about something. Women's topics are for women only, so I slowed down my pace until they caught up to my back. I passed through the large doorway that serves as the entrance to the buildings and stopped by to look for a shoe locker which has my name on it.

"Ehh?!"

I guess Rena is enjoying her chat with Rin for her to be suddenly shrieking in surprise upon entering through the entrance.

I saw a piece of paper taped on the door of the locker and pulled it away as I have finally seen where my shoe locker is at. I removed the pin from my tie and let it be scanned until my name appeared digitally on the screen. Afterwards, I nonchalantly placed my thumb on the fingerprint scanner several times until it reviewed it and thus the door opened. Inside, there is a pair of slip-ons which I then exchanged to my shoes.

"Ehh?!" still, Rena is screaming.

"Are you done, Potato?" Rin suddenly appeared beyond the columns of lockers.

"Did you seriously leave behind Rena?"

"She had a surprised look for some reason. I tried to pull her with me but she won't budge. She became a shocked statue. You go on ahead to the CA Room. I'll wait for her."

"'Kay. Don't be late."

And when I stepped on the very first stepping on the staircase,

"EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

Now Rin is the one screaming from the lockers, loudly at that.

"Pff… What are those two doing…"

…

"Morning, Jean," I sat on the same spot where I used to sit on the VA Room.

"Oh, morning. You really are something for being able to pull a nonchalant look. Everyone is really surprised, you know."

"Hmm? Did something happen?"

"Nothing. I'm just talking about the shoe lockers in the entrance. It's amazing how Tenth puts those things for as quick as two days. It's like you turn around and it's…-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

Thus, ice cream.

"H-Hey…! Why are shouting so loudly, Gin?! What's up with you all of a sudden…?"

I vigorously looked on my feet and saw that there is a pair of black slippers under my socks.

"…!

S-S-S-Since when did we have a shoe locker?!"

"Are you seriously that of an idiot to not notice, Gin?!" Jean angrily exclaimed, pointing out my idiocy that I did not notice at all.

I looked for my own shoe locker… scanned my pin… registered my fingerprint… placed my shoes in… and wore a slip-on and all…

Am I seriously that of an idiot to not notice?!

※ Yes, you are.

▪ ▪ ▪

"Alright, S2VA, those who will go to their work training will have twenty minutes to take your lunch. Don't forget to scan your time out with your pin once you go out."

We are indeed back in VA, but with the work training in the way, the afternoon is free for any teacher to do their lessons while keeping in mind their own schedule. But for us who is not yet going to go to our WT, it equates to a vacant time if a teacher is not free.

"So you're going out today, huh," I plainly asked Nagi as I see him taking out his own lunch.

"My schedule is Mondays and Wednesdays for our batch. We'll be in Stylo Studio."

"That's where you work a few times, right? You're the batch leader, then?"

"Yeah. I'll be with Yuuga, Poru… let's see… Yui, and then… G.

Shiro is scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays, same place. She's with Mori, Anzu, Dom and… Marie, I think?

What about you guys in CA?"

"It's ensured that they're not going out today."

"I see."

"Ah, Gin!"

"Yes, Nana-sen?"

"Sir Dean is apparently looking for you. He told me that you have to go to the staff room if I found you."

~ ~ ~

Staff room.

"Please excuse me."

"Gin, there you are. Here is the official list. You better tell Kamichi-san about that. Those five will be starting on Wednesday. Their schedule will be everyday, but remember that there is no WT every Friday."

"Alright, I guess I'll go fax this to Sis.

Hmm… nice lineup."

Fax? In this day and age? Yes.

But there, in the document says that the students that will be displaced to Giotto's South is…

Ringo Akanami, Jean Ando, Rena Azuki, Yamaha Nikudo, and Katae Suzuna and their batch leader will be Jean.

"Apples… I wonder how I'm going to explain my position to Yamaha and Kae…"

▪ ▪ ▪

Wednesday.

"Heeeeyyyy. You five in Giotto's, it's already 12:15," reminded Taiyou-sen.

"Oh, right. Are you going to go home first, Rin?"

"Yeah. No way I can move around wearing a uniform."

"I guess I'll go ahead of you all. I have to run there after I change. Off I go."

"Take care. Don't create a smoke cloud."

"Ringo~ Let's go to Giotto's together," Katae, or as they call her Kae, called out.

"Sure. Let's stop by our house first."

"So you live nearby?"

"Yep! I can walk my way to Giotto's from there, but it'll be a bit of exercise.

"Waaaahhh. Convenient."

"Ah, Rena! Want to stop by our house for a bit?"

"I'll greet your parents, then."

And thus called out Jean, "You're running late, Yuzuri-san."

Yamaha then asked, "Why'd you call her, Jean?"

"You'll know soon enough."

~ ~ ~

Contrary to impressions, the three in the group has not yet experienced the restaurant working environment apart from Rin and Jean. As for Katae Suzuna, her family runs a relatively sized diner in a nearby sector. As there is a difference between that and a restaurant, she has not yet seen and felt the "heat" inside the kitchen. She chose to study in the Culinary Arts department as a gateway to her choice of college and help grow their diner. For Yamaha Nikudo on the other hand, he decided to choose Culinary Arts as his high school course because of having found his passion of cooking. At some cases, he is similar to Shun Kiriyama of Giotto's North's enthusiasm. But their most obvious difference is that Yamaha does not throw a tantrum and wreak havoc for not having any classes.

The three girls then entered the Akanami household upon walking in, and came out on the same fashion after getting changed to adapt in the restaurant's environment. To their surprise, they saw Jean and Yamaha—who have also changed—and are sitting on the steps of the house beside.

"Huh… Is he still up there, Jean?" Rin asked while pointing up to Gin's house.

"That's not it. I only saw Haku through the window and greeted him."

"So that's the name of the cat…" Yamaha wondered.

"How'd you two get dressed, anyway?"

The only words that Jean uttered were:

"His shed was marginally less cold, which is absolutely surprising."

Thus, they went out all at the same time.

…

12:51pm.

‹Rin›

I remember that I actually haven't worked on the main branch, now that you think about it. Finally reaching the restaurant, Jean led us to the back of the restaurant instead of the front entrance.

As any sane business would be, of course their back door is somewhat reinforced and secured. Seeing that, Jean firstly took a very deep breath and rang the doorbell while looking at a somewhat hidden camera by the door. It was then opened by a cook who made the effort of making his way to greet us.

"Good afternoon, chef."

Beyond the door is a fairly large hallway which separates the offices and break room on our left and the kitchen on the opposite side. Still, we followed Jean until we made our way to the break room which has gotten a lot bigger after the renovations. He instructed us to place our bags in one place as the lockers are only used for employees.

"Bring out your DTRs. I'll setup your names in the system so we can have the time ins and outs quickly. Once you step in to this restaurant, actually, you should have inhaled so much oxygen since there is not a lot of time to breathe. You four can go out now if you're all ready. Don't mind me as I'll take a few minutes in here. Ringo, please direct them to Yuzuri-san if you see her."

"Roger."

"Yuzuri-san…?!" is what the other three could be thinking right now.

"R-Ringo? Why did Jean suddenly mention Kamichi-san?"

"It is as you heard, Yamaha.

Chef Yuzuri, we're students from Blue Ink High's work training. Thank you for having us."

"Oh my. I guess this is how it's going to be initially. Anyway, let's talk in the hallway. Where's Jean, Ringo-chan?"

"He's setting up the system for our DTR."

"Nice to see that none of you are late for your first day. We can't have anyone be tardy especially when their shifts are in-between the day just like you five. I guess that's the first rule that you have to employ.

Alright, you can introduce yourselves before I do an orientation."

I started the sequence, "I'm Ringo Akanami; I once worked as a trainee chef in Giotto's North's soft opening. I'm pleased to be working with you."

"Rena Azuki; my main verse of cooking is home cooking as I have been doing it regularly for two years. Thank you for having me."

"Cooking for your husband and son, I guess?" is what Yuzuri-san was itching to ask.

But somehow, Rena caught on to the conviction I am trying to appeal which the two did not get.

"Katae Suzuna; a student from the Culinary Arts department of Blue Ink."

"Ya-Yamaha Nikudo! Also a student from S2CA…!"

"So first of all everyone here calls me Chef Yuzu, so try to address me like that too from now on."

"YES…! Chef Yuzu-

Ow…!" I was flicked on my forehead by her.

"Too much enthusiasm. Conserve you energy."

"Understood."

"Alright. So the rules in this restaurant are pretty understandable. But perhaps one of the hardest among the rules is keeping your selves calm every time. You have to make sure that you are also presentable in front of the customers when dealing with them; always consider the discipline and promptness when facing them and the staff. Have a presence of mind every single time. We won't tolerate anyone that spaces out in the middle of work.

There are a lot of things that needs to be considered inside here, so feel free to ask away if there is something that you don't know. One more thing is that you have to be very careful with the things around the establishment. Since you are all under work training, you will not be liable for any damage that we hope to not happen. Frankly, your presence here is because of being given a favor. If you are all a member of the staff, you will of course be charged.

Lastly, this is very hard to do especially since you are just starting and are still unfamiliar with the environment, but I hope that you will have fun in your stay here.

Since you have experienced Giotto's North, Ringo-chan, was the work fun in Kyoto?"

"Are you sure you weren't tired with how much you spoke, chef?

But it was very fun, Chef Yuzu. I have enjoyed myself apart from the times when I nearly fell to my knees while cooking and assisting the chefs."

The three beside Rin hoped that what they heard was actually just a joke.

"Go back to the staff room and grab yourselves aprons. You may have heard already, but I will train you in waiting for five days. I will have to say in advance that the training may be tedious and extremely boring, but you'll have to put up with it and I am sure that you will find results once you are all done with it.

But please be informed that Jean will not join you as he has developed his skills under our sous chef's supervision for almost two years now. If anything, he has the most experience among all of you.

Alright, let's not waste our time here! You only have four hours everyday. Let us move!"

~ ~ ~

It is a very good thing that Yuzuri-san prefaced that the preliminary for waiting is tedious and boring. Frankly, it indeed is. We are once again standing in the hallway a few minutes after wearing our aprons. It's funny how we look like an entourage with how we are evenly spaced from each other. As it is now, we are holding a tray each on our hands that have ten cylinder weights each.

Ten minutes have passed without moving much our arms and I have seen the three's arms beginning to shake subtly.

As Rena was in front of me, she whispered, "You know… This is not how you hold a child…" in a struggling tone.

"For every thirty minutes, you can take a rest for five minutes. You are not allowed to put the trays down in those thirty minutes. Remember that!" is what Yuzuri-san told us.

And so, the first thirty minutes came with a timer ringing.

"Agh… This is tough…!"

"How heavy are those anyways…?" Kae asked while shaking off her hands.

As it took my attention, I abruptly replied, "Maybe 500 grams to more than a kilogram all in all?"

"Ehhhh?! It feels really heavy when it's on a tray!"

"Well… I admit that I'm kind of used to lifting heavy things so the challenge for me is balancing the tray," I added as I repositioned the weights slightly to simulate the decrease of equilibrium on the tray.

"Though actually, I think that a more than a kilogram will give us more endurance down the line."

"Wha…! That's five minutes already…!"

Thus we're back on the lifting.

This time however, I divided my focus and attention and listened to the noise surrounding the restaurant. The most sound that I hear is coming from my right in which I indeed hear a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. I can hear the sound of the metal pot, the endless pops of the oil, and the shouts that echo out. My right side has the least noise as there is almost nothing to hear with the presence of the offices and staff room. On the front however is where the most noise is heard although not as loud as the kitchen. Just from that, I can infer that there are a lot of customers even at this time of the day.

"Hoooohhhh…! Finally feeling a little cold…

Oh? Is this what Chef Yuzu told you to do?"

There is however something that I didn't think about until right now.

"Not Potato, not Potato, not Potato, not Potato, not Potato…"

Even if I tell myself that he is not Potato right now, he is still Gin.

"Please hang in there. Your first 20 hours might feel like a pain, but you will benefit from it.

Anyway, Gin Sakato here. I'm Giotto's sous chef. Pleased to be working with you."

"Likewise, Chef Gin," Rena replied.

"(° Q°)"

Seeing Gin, Yamaha and Kae's mouths opened in surprise.

"Well, I have a quick break right now so catch you all later."

And then a waiter passed by, "Chef, how many already?"

"29 dishes since I came. Good work!"

"Yes, chef!"

29 dishes in almost two hours. My memories of Kyoto are still quite vivid. I can still remember how I made 21 dishes in more than two hours without stopping. The orders really were comparable to the truck that hit Gin—there are no brakes.

"That's another thirty minutes!"

▪ ▪ ▪

Meanwhile, in Stylo Studios in the same day, a difference of work is seen when a comparison is observed between the VA and CA students. As it is Wednesday, those that are doing work training are scheduled as Nagi's batch.

For the entire duration of the work training, the company head himself, named Corik Sans, declared that Nagi is barred from touching the film department's works, as it was the work that he had done for the most of his work experience. On the other hand, Nagi had advised Ginji and Yui regarding the current courtship—which he honestly said that it will be a hindrance to their work.

While Nagi has finished the given tasks to him, he decided to walk around and observe his fellow students who were generously lent a PC and a desk.

Stylo Studios specializes mostly in graphic design and advertising arts as they were the company's top priority, while the filmography and motion graphics come second. Hence, the VA students are tasked to produce concept designs so as to contribute on the presentation of ideas to be considered when communicating with clients that varies from normal clients to companies that hires the studio to produce outputs like layouts for hard and soft advertisements and promotions, and even the motion graphics that appear on the local basketball league that is being watched via television.

But just as how a lone creative will always think that his works are mediocre, the company aims to improve even further.

The studio may not have the state-of-the-art technology that is mostly seen overseas or in the Capital, but it does not miss on the innovation that is happening over the country. One of the technological subtleties is the implementation of a studio-wide communication throughout the labeled desks that is operated through a system. It is however used only for crunch times when a lot of work is needed to be done. The reason for its seldom usage is the company head's belief that physical communication helps for a better interpersonal interaction.

"Sir Corik, I have finished my share of work!" Yuuga raised his voice, stood up and walked towards the head's desk.

"Woah, there. You could have just sent it to the cloud, Yuuga."

"Well… I also have analog designs so I might as well bring it here, and I felt that it was a waste of bandwidth."

"We're using unlimited fiber."

"Oh…"

"Anyway… My word, you painted these designs in analog and digitally? You're no way a rookie in this. What did you even do to be this skilled?"

"I… Apart from being a student, I actually make a Japanese manga for a living…"

"So you're part of the intercultural community, huh…

Anyway, I'll discuss with my staff if this is worth placing in the site's portfolio. Thanks a lot. I suggest that you write this on your weekly narrative."

"Thank you very much! Are there any tasks that I can assist on, sir?"

"I guess… how about you help out on the site management?"

"Ah, that's beyond my capabilities, sir. I think you can rely on Poru and G with this since they know things about web design."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Yes. I will take-"

"Before you leave, mind giving me your signature as an illustrator?"

"That's no problem."

…

"W-Wait?! So you're that guy I've been hearing a lot! Are you making a story right now?"

"Since Flower of the Unknown ended, I've decided to rest for a few months before I turn in a one-shot to my editor."

"That's nice. Are you going to continue this line of work until college?"

"Umm… Perhaps I will retire if my subsequent work will sell. I think that I can do a lot more than making manga. I also think that it will be best to have a lot of family time since I dream of having a wife in a few years' time. Ahaha.

How about you, Sir Sans, do you have a wife?"

"I married four years ago. She is a year older and has a neutral attitude. Even though we still don't have a kid, I'm quite fond of her brother's son. I haven't seen a four year-old being so behaved! It's quite amazing!"

"Ahahaha. I wish all kids are like that.

Before I leave, shall I make coffee, sir?"

"Oh, much appreciated. Do you make it strong?"

"Yes. I don't take energy drinks when I don't sleep on my deadline."

"Sounds rough…"

"Sir Corik, I've finished mine," Yui approached.

"Let's see. Oh, pastries made with vector? Is this traced?"

"I made the sketch from scratch."

"This is good. We can appeal to the businesses that don't use a lot of our service. Designs like this make an eye-catching logo.

Alright, you can ask the other staff if there's anything you can help with."

"Yes, sir."

▪ ▪ ▪

Thursday in Giotto's.

Another word from Chef Yuzu: "You can put down your tray if the other staff needs help. Go back immediately once you're done."

"Anyone~" Yuna called. "Can someone lend me a hand on listing down the expenses for this month? I'll teach you how to do it."

"Kae's the most proficient in accounts out of all us, Sis. You can take her in."

"Eh. What's with that stupid pose, lil sis?

So your name is Kae? Come with me then."

"Shush! I'm concentrating!" shouted Rin.

"Get off the funny pose first before I take you seriously! Lil bro will surely laugh if he sees you like that!"

"Dun' care!"

Rena then said, "You really get along well with your sister, Ringo."

"Wait, so you and Ms. Yuna are sisters…?" Yamaha asked.

"Yeah… But it should be Mrs."

"O-Oh…"

"Can you explain why you're holding imbalanced trays with one leg up, then?"

"…

I can't."

Chapter Message:

The heck is wrong with the author of this novel why is he late in releasing a chapter for two days smh my head

Even after five weeks my brain is still adjusting to telling itself that today (or at least it should be Friday) is the scheduled day to put out a chapter

Thank you for reading!

Next

077: A not so honest mistake in the kitchen.