I've thought about this some more after remembering that Tanaka is perfectly nice to Mallory and Jaye during the breakfast scene. The most logical explanation I can come up with for her behavior towards the MC is that she's upset with him for having hurt Sarah by leaving.
Ofc it's immature or even cruel to punish someone who's still grieving the death of both his parents. And yet we get a game over if we avoid her (because I'd never make the other saving choice of asking my sister to physically attack a bigger man who's also proven to be violent and unstable and would be in self-defense).
I took the Chef Tanaka intro scene a different way.
Jaye is always busting the MC's chops - his boy band looks etc. I figured that she, with Mallory playing along, told Chef Tanaka a bit about the MC and effectively set him up to be shut down by Chef Tanaka.
That's something my sisters would do to me to keep me humble, especially at that age.
It never crossed my mind that Chef Tanaka was intentionally being cruel to the MC - only that she was predisposed to see him as just another guy trying to score with the hot Asian on the fancy yacht - something I think she's seen before...
There are two paths to success versus the assassin - and training with Chef Tanaka in self-defense is one of the ways that helps you to survive.
I appreciate that the story included another path to survive.
If the MC chose to let Jaye handle Christian - then he knows that she is capable of defending herself against a normal opponent.
This assassin is someone who is Not a normal opponent, and the MC is smart enough to recognize that he might not be up to the task to defeat him solo.
From a pragmatic perspective (and that is how I view this choice), if the assassin wins - we all die (MC, Jaye and Mallory) - so the odds of survival increase if he has two opponents to worry about, especially if one is female - who he is likely to discount compared to the MC.
Would I Want to put Jaye in harms way - No - but if I thought it was the only way she might survive - then Yes - and the MC would be right there with her, taking that risk.
Cheers!