In the correct room where all those who passed the test were the sweets, princes were still waiting for Ichigo to join them. "She better have not messed up," said Makato. "Have faith in Amano-san?" said Sennosuke. "Yes remember she studied everything for this," said Satsuki. Just then Ichigo turned up. 'I got it right' she thought, once she saw the boys. There were a lot of other teams who passed and there were also a lot of other teams who failed. "You did it Ichigo-chan," said Satsuki. "Congratulations," said Sennosuke. "Just as expected," said Makato. "I take it you three boys believe and trust in me now?" asked Ichigo. "Of course," said Satsuki and Sennosuke. Makato just nodded.
Suddenly Ichigo was knocked onto the floor by someone. "Hey what did you do that for?!" she shouted. The one who knocked her down was a boy, with brown purple hair, and he looked a year older than Ichigo. "It's childish for a second year like you to be happy over a mere test," said the boy. "Oh yeah," said Ichigo "well it's childish for a third year like you to knock people about, especially those who are younger than you". The boy and Ichigo stared angrily at each other. "Come on Ichigo-chan," said Satsuki "don't bother with him". Ichigo felt like paying the jerk out, but she didn't know-how.
The results of the tests were in. Ten third-year groups, five second-year groups and one first-year group from the middle school section had passed the test; this made sixteen groups. The chairman explained what the first challenge in the cake grand Prix was; it was a pound cake making challenge. All members in each group had to make a pound cake each (so each team would be making four-pound cakes in total). And the theme for the pound cakes had to be family. Karashima-sensei showed a big board, which showed line ups of each round of the competition. There were four rounds to get to the finals. Karashima-sensei also presented of which group would be facing who. This was nerve-wracking especially since you could never tell who you would be challenging, until you do find out. "Each representative of each group, please come up on stage when your group is called" said the Chairman.
Ichigo's group turned out to be called Team Ichigo, which meant Ichigo was the representative of the group. "Sorry for keeping this a secret from you Amano-san," said Sennosuke "but we decided to call our team, Team Ichigo". "Yes because it has a nice impact on it" said Satsuki. Ichigo couldn't believe that she was the representative, especially since this was her first time in the cake grand Prix, but she wasn't complaining about it.
She headed for the stage but then she got nudged on the arm. It was the same boy who knocked her on the arm earlier. The boy's name was Takeshi Ichimatsu and he was the representative of Team Ichimatsu. The other members were a brown-haired girl named Ryou Amikawa, a blond boy named Reimata Shima and a blacked haired boy named Shige Yokoshima. Team Ichimatsu was the opponent for Team Ichigo in the 1st round. "As a little girl is my opponent, this win will be a piece of cake" said Takeshi, rudely. Ichigo was cross. "I doubt that you will win you big baby" she said. "Hey!" said Takeshi. "I would normally shake hands with an opponent," said Ichigo "but I won't shake hands with someone like you". The sweets princes came to her side to back her up. "If you three princes lose, then you shall be called the loser princes" said Takeshi, rudely. Team Ichigo didn't like Team Ichimatsu one bit.
In the cooking room, the spirits congratulated Team Ichigo for making it passed the preliminary test. "You four were great" said Caramel. "Well done" said Café. "I guess miracles do happen with you Amano" said Chocolat. Vanilla got cross. "Ichigo studies and practices harder than you would ever know, so there Chocolat!" she shouted and stuck her tongue out. She and Chocolat were about to fight, but Caramel stopped them.
Satsuki had bought a piece of Team Ichimatsu's pound cakes from the Salon de Marie. This was for research on Team Ichimatsu. "I'm surprised that these are sold in the Salon de Marie," said Ichigo "I mean I thought only sweets made from the high year students are sold in there". "Oh no," said Sennosuke "sweets made from the middle school section can be sold there too, but only if the sweets are acceptable by the high school council". "And Team Ichimatsu's pound cakes were approved by the council" said Makato. Takeshi's cake was Japanese chestnut, Ryou's cake was chocolate, Reimata's was coffee marble and Shige's was nuts. After trying them, Team Ichigo admitted that they were in fact delicious, but this was not a time for praising. "What pound cakes will you four be making?" asked Caramel. "Since this theme is family, I will make a strawberry pound cake because children love that" said Ichigo. Makato decided on doing a bitter chocolate and chestnut cake that was for adults, and Sennosuke decided on a sweet fermented bean green tea cake which was for the elderly. Satsuki wasn't sure about which pound cake to make yet.
Next day Ichigo, Makato and Sennosuke started to practice on their pound cakes. The strawberry, chocolate and chestnut and the green tea bean cake were soon finished and they were delicious. Vanilla, Chocolat and Caramel sent the recipe cards of the pound cakes to the queen. Satsuki was working on a rose pound cake, but he wasn't satisfied with it. He asked the others to try it. They pointed out that the cake didn't smell like a rose because the heat of the oven evaporated the natural rose water that Satsuki used. "Maybe you should use rose jam and rose syrup," said Ichigo "they have a lovely smell of rose". "Yeah maybe" Satsuki sighed. Ichigo noticed that something was wrong with Satsuki and she became worried about him. She had a sniff of the rose water and thought it had a really nice rose scent.
At that moment Team Ichimatsu turned up. "Eww what's that smell?" said Takeshi, rudely. "Smells like perfume" said Reimage. "Yeah well it stinks" said Takeshi. They saw the rose pound cake and Takeshi spoke rudely about it. "As your senior, I'll give you some advice," he said, "this is not a perfume contest and you will never win with cheap scents like this".
Ichigo was furious with Takeshi's rudeness and she wanted to hit him badly with a frying pan. But the sweets princes pulled her to outside. "You mustn't do that!" said Makato "not only would you be disqualified from the cake grand Prix, but you would also be expelled". "But we can't let Team Ichimatsu get away with their rudeness" said Ichigo. "And that's why we need to defeat them," said Makato "we can get even with them by defeating them". The others agreed, except Satsuki; he was thinking about something. "Excuse me all of you, I need to cool my head" he said and he left. Café followed him. Now Ichigo was starting to worry about Satsuki.
Ichigo couldn't concentrate on her strawberry pound cake. "Please excuse me guys, but I'm too worried about Hanabusa-Kun to concentrate," she said "I'm going to talk to him". "Amano" said Makato. "He is our friend and teammate, and true friends help each other out" said Ichigo. Just then Café turned up. "Satsuki told me to leave him alone" he said, tearfully. "Come with me Café," said Ichigo "you, Vanilla and I are both going to talk to him". The three left the room at once to see Satsuki. "What are you thinking Ichigo?" asked Vanilla. "Well to tell you the truth, I think Hanabusa-kun has been thinking about his dead father all this time," said Ichigo "since the theme for our pound cakes is family, I reckon that Hanabusa-kun wants to make a rose pound cake because of that". "That does make sense," said Vanilla "especially since he told you about his dad, being a rose grower, sometime after you attended here". "He told me about that too," said Café "and last night he was staring at the rose water bottle for ages". "Then my guess is that rose water is a memento of his dad" said Ichigo.
They found Satsuki sitting by the rose bushes; as it was still winter there were no roses on the bushes. "Hanabusa-kun," said Ichigo "the reason you want to make a rose pound cake is because of your dad right?" You can't fool me because since the theme for our cakes is family, I can tell that you have been thinking about your dad. Remember I think about my grandma all the time too". Satsuki stared at Ichigo. "You are right Ichigo-chan," he said "it is because of my dad that I wanted to make a rose cake. The truth is when my dad was alive we used to have tea in our rose garden all the time. Both my parents loved sweets and my mum baked cakes for us all the time and I ended up growing being surrounded by roses and cakes". "I remember you telling me about being surrounded by roses all your life" said Ichigo. "Yes and it was because of that, that I decided to be a patissier and make rose sweets in my own shop," said Satsuki "but I doubt I can make that dream come true". "Why though?" asked Ichigo "I mean you make excellent sweets and you are an expert on roses". "It's because of my father's death a few years ago," said Satsuki "he was in Paris at that time for work. He bought me my bottle of rosewater because he remembered my dream of making a rose cake. He was heading for the airport to come back home, but it was raining hard and my dad ended up sliding into some lamp posts, while trying to avoid hitting a child that ran into the road. Then he died from car injuries. This rose water was the last thing he bought for me so I've kept it ever since". Ichigo, Vanilla and Café felt sorry for Satsuki. "It was also that time that I decided to be nicer to my mother and all other girls". "Oh I see," said Ichigo "so that's why you act narcissistic all the time then".
Some chuckling was heard from behind a bush; it was Makato and Sennosuke. They had been worried about Satsuki too, and they intended to find out about Satsuki's problem because he was their friend. "We didn't know the story about your dad" said Sennosuke. "Well it's my fault for not telling you earlier" said Satsuki. Satsuki placed a drop of the rose water into some tea and asked Ichigo to try it. 'This tea is delicious,' she thought 'this rose scent makes me understand why Hanabusa-Kun's dad wanted to bring the rose water to him at once". "The reason I want to make a rose pound cake is that I would like to base it on a family having a fun time in a rose garden" said Satsuki. "Then we shall make it" said Ichigo. "I agree," said Sennosuke "it is a wonderful idea". The spirits liked the idea too. "We shall help you," said Makato "because we are your friends". Satsuki felt at ease with good friends beside him.
The next day Team Ichigo was working on their pound cakes again. Unfortunately Satsuki still couldn't get his rose pound cake right; the scent still kept on evaporating from the cake after it was baked. That evening Satsuki was by the school's lake and he felt like giving up on the rose pound cake. "My father left the rose water to me, but I can't make any use with it," he said "this water brings nothing but unpleasant memories of my dad's funeral. I wish that I didn't wish to make rose cakes. It's this rose water's fault that my dad died".
Satsuki was about to throw the rose water into the lake, but Ichigo shouted at him to stop. Ichigo, Makato and Sennosuke had been worried about Satsuki and they followed him to the lake to check on him. The rose water bottle felt out of Satsuki's hand and ended up falling towards the lake. Ichigo bravely grabbed onto it to save it, but she ended up falling into the lake.
The end
2120 Hope you like it