First Round (1)

Chapter 54: Episode 27 - First Round (1)

When I told Hanabusa about the bath, he quickly figured it out. He hadn't said anything until we went back to the cooking lab though, Andou and Kashino were confused since they were the only ones who didn't understand.

Once we made it back to the cooking lab, Hanabusa grabbed one of the pound cakes he made that he didn't experiment with.

"Thanks to Michiko, she gave me the idea of this when she talked about a bath for the cake. First, I'll put perfume and syrup in a pan." He'd poured some syrup into a pan and added a few drops of rose water to make it have an aroma.

He grabbed the pound cake and began soaking it in the water.

"And then, I'll soak the baked pound cake in the bath, soaking all the sides properly. Once it's permeated enough, all that's left is to eat it." Hanabusa finished and cut us a slice of the pound cake.

We smelled it and the rose aroma came from the pound cake but it wasn't too strong and it wasn't too weak. We all took a bite.

"It's delicious," I complimented as I chewed and swallowed.

"The rose's natural aroma excites my appetite," Andou said happily.

"I kneaded the rose jam into the batter when I baked it. Though this is still far from the rose cake that I had before, it's much closer to it," Hanabusa said with a pleased smile.

"You've done it, Hanabusa. You finally made the rose cake," I said with a satisfied look on my face.

'I'm glad that I was finally able to remember that memory and give him a hint to how Mom made it. Even if I hadn't, I still think that he'd figure it out eventually…'

"With this, all four are together. This will work for tomorrow, don't you think, Michiko?" Andou asked me and the sweets princes looked my way for approval.

'If I think about it, having a cake for different age groups is a good idea, but I don't think it's the greatest idea, especially against Team Ichimatsu. If we made the cakes we wanted to make, it wouldn't be a "family," it'd be a feud because our different cakes wouldn't harmonize together in flavor. If we present our cakes just as they are now, each flavor and smell would be fighting for dominance and we wouldn't make it past the first round and… I'd have to go on a date with Ichimatsu Matsuya…'

Thinking about that guy left a bad taste in my mouth as I pondered this idea. The Sweets Princes and the sweets spirits looked at me for my answer but suspected that I had something else to say about this.

"Actually, this is just a minor input, but I have a suggestion," I began and explained my idea to them.

When I finished explaining my thought process, the sweets princes and spirits decided to listen to me regardless, hearing out my logic and reason. We all had smirks on our faces and began working into the night, ready to win the first round of the Grand Prix.

* * *

It was the day of the Grand Prix and everyone was in the cooking lab. Plenty of other contestants filled the stations and everybody was prepping up. Up at the front of the large kitchen stood the student announcer holding a microphone.

"Team members, take your places," the student announcer instructed and everyone followed.

From nearby, murmuring was going on but Rumi and a few other girls from Keiko's class walked into the cooking lab to watch the competition.

"Wow, it's finally come for Keiko and the others," Rumi said from nearby and she looked at Team Ichimatsu who didn't break a sweat as they prepped up. "That's their opponent, Team Ichimatsu, huh? As expected, they're calm."

Rumi quickly shifted her attention to Keiko and the sweets princes.

"Keiko and the guys are…"

From nearby, she could see all of them nodding off tiredly.

'What the heck? They're tired?! But they seemed fine yesterday!' Rumi thought to herself anxiously.

"This isn't good, they're all sleepy! Girls, let's cheer them on," Rumi announced to the other girls who came to watch and they all nodded their heads in agreement.

"GOOD LUCK, TEAM MICHIKO!" The girls screamed in unison, catching everybody's attention.

~

As I was nodding off, we could suddenly hear screams coming from the side, cheering us on. That loud cheer caught our attention and snapped us out of our drowsiness. I turned my head toward the side to see Rumi and the girls from our class.

'Rumi, everyone…'

I shot them all a smile and peace sign.

"Oh my gosh, the Ice Princess smiled at us!"

"She's like an angel…"

"Her smile is so pretty! Keep smiling Team Michiko!"

"Okay, okay everyone, settle down!" A boy with glasses announced at the front of a podium that read: Commentary. "The broadcasting club will explain the rules for the first round."

Everyone listened to the boy at the front as we lined up in the kitchen.

"The subject for round 1 is Pound Cake. The theme is 'A cake to enjoy with family.' The time limit is two hours and 3 examiners will sample and do the judging. They will mark you on taste, skill, and theme. How you represented the theme will be evaluated with a double circle: ⦾, being the highest, a regular circle: ⚪ being high, a triangle: △ being medium, and an x: X being the lowest," the boy explained upfront at a board that had those symbols on it.

From nearby, Ichimatsu stood next to me.

"You look like you've seen better days," Ichimatsu brought up, noticing the bags under my eyes. "I hope this doesn't affect how you bake today because we won't be going easy on you or your team cuz don't forget, if we win, you'll go on a date with me."

"Well, I won't have to worry about that because there's no way that you'd win against us," I said confidently and a smirk formed on his face.

"I'm waiting to see what you have in store, Michiko Keiko," Ichimatsu said to me. As I was about to walk away, I stopped and looked at him.

"You as well, Ichimatsu Matsuya," I said before finally leaving.

"Okay, all members, take your places!" The boy announced on the microphone and everyone took their places at their stations.

"Start cooking!!!" He announced and everyone quickly reacted, beginning to make their pound cakes.