Benihime's motivation

Itsuki shook her head as she stared at the police station across the street. "Ugh, I even ran all the way here in my work uniform. I bet I got a bunch of weird looks," she sighed to herself. She stared at the station for a bit before shaking her head and heading back the way she came. "I really should learn to calm down a bit. It would prevent me from doing dumb things like this," she thought as she turned around.

She then bumped into a middle school girl whom she had failed to notice. "I'm sorry! Are you alright?" Itsuki asked as she offered to help the girl up.

The girl shot her a glare of pure malice as Itsuki suddenly felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She turned to see a young female officer with pigtails angrily smiling. "And just what did you do to my cute little sister!?" Yumeko asked in a cheerful manner.

...

"And that's what happened," Rika said as she finished explaining what happened at the restaurant to Mimi and Waki.

"That'll make things complicated. Though considerin it's been almost a half hour since then and nothing's happened, I guess you're fine for now," Waki stated.

"Itsuki's still missing, but maybe one of you could try calling her. I already told Masaru she had to leave because she wasn't feeling well, so the excuse is taken care of, but if she tries calling him or vice versa I'm screwed."

"Don't worry! I'll handle the distractions," Mimi smiled.

"Since it's come to this, it might be time to start spilling your secret to everyone working here minus Masaru," Waki suggested.

"Though would they take it well? Itsuki was ironically the one who'd probably sympathize the most with me, yet she ran out in terror," Rika sighed.

"Never know. Benihime's prideful, but I think she's pretty understanding. Oh, there she is now."

Sure enough, Benihime had arrived. Of all the employees, Benihime and Zuina were the two Rika knew the least about. She didn't know too much about Benihime other than the fact that she was very prideful.

"Fear not! Now that the restaurant is graced with my presence, the food will be divine!" Benihime boldly declared.

"Hey Hime-sama, can I ask you a quick question?" Rika asked.

"Your princess will happily heed your request," Benihime declared.

"So, I'm asking everyone this, but what was it that made you wanna start cooking?"

"So, you wish to know my origins! Very well! I am currently the heiress of the Shirohime fortune."

"Sh- SHIROHIME!?"

"Surprised, yes? Well, I was told not to bring TOO much attention to my family, but I just feel the need to declare my lineage, so the world knows of our glory! As for my desire to cook, it started merely as a "do it yourself" type of deal after I was unsatisfied by our chef's cooking. There, I was found to be a prodigy, however, my father arrogantly posed that I adopt Makihara's gourmet ideology. I vehemently rejected his rambling, and from that point made it my mission to bring my cooking to the world and stamp out Makihara!"

"So, you decided to become a chef rather than take over the family?" Mimi asked.

"Not in the slightest! I declared my intent to succeed my father AND bring my cooking to the world! Nobles are to serve the needs of their subjects are they not? And what better way to serve them than to keep them fed with the highest quality of culinary cooking! My father was furious and threatened to simply marry me off, yet I dug my heels in. I WOULD prove to him that I was right and have him grovel in dougeza before me! All I had to do was graduate from Tabemono Gakuin which was directly managed by Makihara, and he would recognize my talents! Yet, I decided to go for insurance! I made sure every day to improve my craft and serve him my meals! By the time of my enrollment to Tabemono's middle school, he was sneaking into the fridge to eat my leftover meals. Sadly, I never got the chance to hear him admit defeat."

"What happened?"

"He was assassinated," Benihime glared as her expression darkened.

"What!?"

"I know, it is shocking to hear. But on the eve of my first day at Tabemono's high school, a fiend known as Hitokiri cutlet decapitated him as he was leaving the Diet. I wasn't there when it happened, but I heard the details from the servants, and was shown the footage of the incident. A young man, perhaps 15 at the time, 21 now, with black hair and a common haircut garbed in a high school uniform from E-Highschool wearing laced dress shoes instead of loafers approached my father and decapitated him faster than the eye could see. Even he didn't realize he'd been killed until his head rolled off and hit the ground much to everyone's horror. That boy then vanished from the footage in an instant. The private investigators I hired determined the boy was an infamous underworld assassin known as Hitokiri cutlet. Though information on his characteristics were scarce, the killing manner and technique perfectly matched his repertoire. It was at that moment that I revised my life's goal. I WOULD succeed my father, I WOULD share my cooking with the world, and I would NEVER forgive that murderous fiend and see that he is subjected to the longest, cruelest, and most inhumane death possible!"

"Wow, never knew you had such a tragic backstory. Is that why you have such a strong will?" Waki asked.

"Indeed! Yet I must exercise temperance, lest I end up barred from cooking and stuck in the courts like I was after I foolishly picked a fight with Makihara at the wrong time. Had I simply controlled my temper, I would not have been forced into a cook-off against the prodigious first year, Masaru, and graduated just fine. I suffered a 3-year parole per-say from cooking thanks to that, but now thanks to the beautiful female knight, Rika, I can cook again and set forth once again to fulfill my dream."

"No worries, I'm sorry it took a while, but at least I was able to get that asshole to let you cook again," Rika said as she mustered all her strength to smile normally.

"And that is my story. I am in your debt, my beautiful female knight. Thus, I shall happily repay my debt by offering my talents to your business," Benihime smiled as she marched towards the changing room.

"Would you really not forgive the one that killed him? Even if it was a close friend or family member?" Waki asked.

"Waki, are you implying that YOU killed him?" Benihime snarled as she stopped and drew a tantō.

"No, you idiot! But like, would you really kill them?"

"Yes, I would. They would be my enemy. Waki, do not make light of these things. This is my resolve," Benihime glared as she sheathed her tantō and headed for the changing room.

Once Benihime was gone, Rika went pale and sunk to the floor. "No way I can tell her," she trembled.

"Don't tell me you're the one that killed her father," Waki whispered.

"It was back when I was 13. It was a high-profile request and some of my sisters tagged along to make sure the deed was done. I did wear a disguise, but to think she'd be so laser focused on every detail about it. I guess I should be glad she's focused on my disguise rather than the possibility that it might be a disguise. Well, that's one less person I'll be able to tell, how fare the others?"

"How'd you not know who Benihime really was? I thought you hired her."

"I mean yeah I did, but I basically just handed all the paperwork to Masaru."

"So that's why you didn't know her family name. I don't know Zuina too well so no clue on her," Waki sighed.

"Well, that's just lovely, so how about your girlfriend?"

"Not bad. I haven't told her I'm an ex-killer either, but she might be more understanding. She's from the Myouchi cooking family, which is just as strict and elitist as the Ryonos and Makiharas, but also not as strict. They don't seem to mind if non-chefs marry into the family or get very elitist in regards to non-culinary fields. That's all she'd tell me about her family anyway."

"She doesn't like talking about herself much, so I'm in a similar boat despite being on better terms with her than you."

"She'll fall for me eventually. Anyway, since she wouldn't tell me anything, I just did some research of my own and came across something interesting. So apparently, her mother who currently works at a hair salon, actually has a criminal record."

"Well, that's news to me. So, what did she do?"

"Mainly theft related crimes like shoplifting."

"And a culinary elite married her?"

"I guess they were lovers. She actually has a different name on the court documents compared to what her legal name is now. She's spent some time in juvenile prison but didn't receive any prison time at the trial for her last crime. The case was also settled thanks to the current head of the Myouchi family, Kiji Myouchi. They married almost immediately after her name was changed and apparently, she gave birth to Matcha's older sister shortly after as well. Guess they already had sex beforehand given the timeframe."

"Huh, then maybe she'll be a bit more sympathetic considering her mother's origins, assuming she's on good terms with her mother."

"And just whose mother are you talking about?" Matcha glared as she walked in.

"Hey Matcha, we were just-"

"For the record, I'm not into women. Especially a woman that will dig up classified information on my family history. Oh, and I have little to no respect for my mother," Matcha glared.

"Well shit," Rika thought.