Sweets Garden (3)

Chapter 65: Episode 31 - Sweets Garden (3)

"Mr. Hisashi Ito?!" I exclaimed in surprise, looking at the man who stood before us.

"Wait. The 'Hisashi Ito' who is well-known for his extravagant and elegant plated desserts?!" Hanabusa interjected in astonishment.

"Yep, that's me!" Hisashi Ito pointed to himself proudly.

"You know him?!" All of them gazed at me in bewilderment.

"Uhm… yeah…" I admitted nervously.

"Wow… Keiko, I never expected to see you here! It's been a while, how've you been?" Mr. Hisashi asked me in excitement.

"I've been doing well. I just came over to see how the shop was doing," I gave a small smile back.

"How long has it been… 6 years, right? I'm sorry about what happened to your mother… It was unexpected," Mr. Hisashi said sadly, a grim expression forming on his face.

I took a glance back at the confused Sweets Princes and their sweets spirits and became troubled.

'Mr. Hisashi doesn't know that I haven't told anyone who my mother is. I can't let them figure it out just yet because maybe… everyone will look at me differently…'

"It's fine, I'm doing better now. But Mr. Hisashi… can I talk with you for a moment… privately?" I asked him anxiously and he looked at me confusedly but nodded his head.

"Sure…" He responded, raising an eyebrow.

"You guys can go inside the shop first, we'll talk out here for a moment," I explained to them and they hesitantly agreed, looking back at me in confusion. They walked inside the shop while Fraise, Mr. Hisashi, and I stood outside.

"So, I see that you've got a sweets spirit with you and a special one at that," Mr. Hisashi pointed out and I looked at him in surprise.

"Y-you can see her?" I pointed to Fraise who flew right beside me.

"Of course. I have a sweets spirit as well," Mr. Hisashi pointed to his sweets spirit right beside him. It was an older-looking male sweets spirit that had dark brown hair like Mr. Hisashi and green eyes.

"The name's Kiwi. Nice to meet you," Mr. Hisashi's sweets spirit introduced himself.

"My name is Fraise. It is nice to meet both of you as well," Fraise bowed her head respectively.

"Ah, I saw this one before in the past," he pointed to Fraise. "She followed you around wherever you went when you came here with your mom," Mr. Hisashi explained and I bit my lip at the mention of my mom.

'I need to tell him…'

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Mr. Hisashi asked confusedly.

"Actually… I wanted to talk to you about my mom…" I hesitated but he waited for me to explain. "I haven't actually told anyone who my mom is so… maybe it'd be best if you didn't mention her name, especially in front of the others…"

He could see the troubled expression on my face and he looked at me with sympathy.

"Why haven't you told anyone yet?" Mr. Hisashi questioned but I didn't know how to answer.

"It's just that… I want to earn achievements on my own without my mother's title… Just like her, I want to build myself up and become a world-renown patissiere on my own, so I've decided not to say anything about her," I explained seriously.

"I see…" Mr. Hisashi said, putting his hand to his chin in a thinking manner. "If that's what you want then I won't say anything." He gave an assured smile and my eyes brightened at his understanding words.

"Thank you," I said thankfully, bowing my head in respect.

"Okay then, let's go inside!" He suggested and opened the door of the shop for me. I went inside the beautiful Fournier Sucré shop and took in the scenery. It looked more or less the same with a few minor adjustments and fix-ups.

"It still looks the same," I said in amazement, gazing around.

"Of course it does. We'd be paying your mother a disservice if we'd changed too much. It still has the same name after all," Mr. Hisashi said proudly and I nodded my head.

We made our way towards the Sweets Princes who sat at a table, waiting for us to come back.

"Here, take a seat, Keiko," Mr. Hisashi offered to me and I sat down right next to the Sweets Princes.

The customers around us looked at us in amazement and confusion since the head chef and owner of the shop was hanging around mere kids and treating us kindly.

"You guys are our special guests so feel free to order whatever you want, free of charge!" Mr. Hisashi shot us a wink with a charismatic smile and the Sweets Princes gazed at him in awe.

"Thank you, sir!" Everyone said and he left us to decide what we wanted on the menu.

I looked at the contents of the menu and noticed that a few things had changed but it was to be expected since years had passed and tastes would change. I was surprised to see that a few things still stuck to the menu.

'Mr. Hisashi's famous Kiwi-Lemon cake is still here and selling well… When he managed the place when mom was busy with her other bakeries, this was my favorite dessert on the menu along with the vanilla cream puffs. Maybe I should get both? No, I think I'll just get the cake…'

I'd decided what I wanted to order along with the Sweets Princes and we gave our order to a waiter who came to our table.

As we waited for our orders to come, the Sweets Princes couldn't help but shoot me a glance of wonder.

"How do you know Hisashi Ito?" Hanabusa asked first and I thought about how I was going to answer it.

"Well… I'd usually come to this shop when I was younger with my parents and Mr. Hisashi had actually started working here when this shop was new. Back then, he was still in training but later, he became the manager of this place and is now the owner," I explained to them.

"Judging by the sign, this shop belonged to the world-renown patissiere, Ella Fournier," Kashino analyzed and I nodded my head.

"Yes, this used to be one of the many bakeries Ella Fournier owned. I was a big fan of hers so it was hard to hear that she died…" I said with a grim expression.

The waiter came back to our table with our orders to break the silence.

"Here you are!" The waiter handed out our desserts to us but I'd noticed that something else came along with my kiwi-lemon cake.

"Oh, I didn't order cream puffs with this," I said, pointing at the beautiful vanilla cream puffs placed neatly in a bag.

"Mr. Hisashi Ito insisted that you have some. He said that you'd often get them together," the waiter explained and left us alone.

'Even Mr. Hisashi remembered what I had in the past…' A small smile formed on my face at this thought and I gazed at the beautifully plated cake.

Though there was a bright green fruity jam surrounding the cake, the kiwi-lemon cake was the main focal point of the plate, as the garnishes and jam helped boost the main dessert. Although it was stunning to look at, I took a bite of the cake.

'Wow, the kiwi-lemon is sweet and sour yet subtle and the citrus-flavored sponge is so moist and fluffy that it just melts in my mouth… It brings back so many memories…'

A happy smile formed on my face as I ate the cake.