Yumeiro Patissiere

Chapter 16 Sweet rose memory

After Ichigo fell into the lake, Makato jumped in to help her. Satsuki and Sennosuke watched in worry as Makato and Ichigo came to the surface. The rose water was okay; the lid was sealed tight. Satsuki got angry looks from Ichigo and Makato because of what he was going to do. When Ichigo and Makato tried to dry themselves off with a towel, Satsuki admitted that he was going to give up on trying making a rose pound cake. "It's no good," he said, "I can't seem to get it right".

Ichigo slapped Satsuki on the face. "Don't you dare think about giving up on the rose cake!" she shouted "it's quite clear that your dad was desperate to get the rose water to you before he died. Making rose cakes was your dream and your dad wanted you to achieve your dream. He may be gone, but that doesn't mean you should give up on the dream; your dad in heaven would be disappointed if you do". Satsuki stared at Ichigo and saw that she was right. "Okay, I'll try again," said Satsuki. Ichigo and the others were pleased to hear that. Just then Ichigo realized that her clothes started to smell because the lake water soaked her all through. "Yuck," said Ichigo "I'll have to give these clothes a good wash to get the smell out". Just then she had a thought. "I think I have an idea".

Ichigo and the boys went back to the cooking room. Ichigo explained that maybe they should try soaking the pound cake through the rose water after it was baked. Satsuki thought that might work too, so after he baked the pound cake again he poured rose syrup and rose water into a tin. Then he soaked the pound cake thoroughly with it and then everyone tried it. This time it really did taste and smell like roses and Satsuki had added rose jam to it as well. "You did it Satsuki," said Café "you made your rose pound cake". The sweets princes felt for sure that they would win the first round tomorrow.

But Ichigo was looking thoughtful. "Is something wrong Ichigo-chan?" asked Satsuki. "Yes, Kashino, Andou-Kun, you and I need to change our cakes," said Ichigo "you see the four cakes aren't even with each other. Even when you eat the pieces together the tastes will fight against each other, like the whole family is in a big argument". "It's true actually," said Sennosuke "the cakes are based on different members of a family. So what should we do?" "We shall use Hanabusa-Kun's rose cake as the subject, but we shall change the Kashino's cake, Andou-Kun's cake, and my cake to support it" said Ichigo. "We only have tonight to change it," said Makato "but let's do it". The rest of Team Ichigo agreed. The sweets spirits agreed with the plan too and offered to help. So Team Ichigo worked on through the whole night to perfect their rose cake.

The next day it was time for Team Ichigo's match against Team Ichimatsu. The cooking classroom in the middle school section was where the middle school grand Prix tournament was being held, and everything was ready. The ingredients were all set up and ready, the judges' table was set up and there was also a big scoreboard. Everyone in the audience couldn't wait for the match to start. Team Ichimatsu, in their team uniform, was ready, but Team Ichigo hadn't arrived yet.

Team Ichigo, in their team uniform, was ready too. But because they were up all night working on their cakes, there were tired. Ichigo couldn't stop yawning. "Fight your sleepiness with fighting spirit Amano" said Makato. "Speak for yourself Kashino," said Ichigo "your shadowy eyes make you look like a panda". "Shut up" said Makato, rubbing his eyes. He didn't want to admit his tiredness. Just then the spirits turned up with cups of coffee for them. It was Café's extra bitter coffee, but it did make their drowsiness go away. "We better go," said Sennosuke "it's almost time for our match". "Good luck all of you" said the spirits. As they weren't allowed to help their partners, they decided to watch from outside.

Team Ichigo turned up just in time. Karashima-sensei explained what the task and there was, and he told the teams that they had two hours to make them. He also said that the five judges would taste the cakes afterward, and the scores for taste, technique and theme will be displayed on the board. "Two circles will mean excellent, a circle will mean very good, a triangle will mean good and an x will mean bad". The five judges were the chairman, Karashima-sensei, Ameya-sensei and two other teachers. "Have you made your air freshener cake yet?" asked Takeshi, rudely. He was talking about Satsuki's cake. "Yes we have," said Ichigo, calmly "and it will beat your cake".