Sweets Garden (6)

Chapter 68: Episode 31 - Sweets Garden (6)

Natsuki held a pineapple, the girl with plump lips held a mango, and the twin sisters with short bobbed hair held a banana and a watermelon.

Suddenly, the music went on and they began skillfully cutting through their fruits, timing themselves to the beat of the music and humming along.

'Wow, they're cutting in time with the music! They make it look easy but being able to perform it is quite hard.' The girls had lighthearted faces as they cut the fruits while looking at us.

"They're taking it lightly but the level is quite advanced," Hanabusa noticed as well as we watched.

'How they cut the fruits gives it various appearances and shapes…'

Watching their quick and precise cuts made me want to cut some with the beat as well. They had a cart of fruits in front of them, ready for them to cut so I grabbed an orange and Natsuki looked at me in surprise when I grabbed the fruit.

"Oh, Keiko, if you know how to cut fruit, do you want to join in as well?" Natsuki asked me with a raised eyebrow and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, if it's fine with you guys…" I admitted nervously.

She gave me a cheerful smile and suddenly pulled me up from my seat.

"Of course! Just follow our lead!" Natsuki shot me an encouraging wink and I nodded my head.

She handed me a sharp knife and looked at me.

"You ready? Then let's get started!" She shouted happily that motivated me to hurry and join in. She quickly began slicing up a pineapple with the beat and I hurriedly joined in, matching up with their tempo.

I began peeling the orange and shaping it to look cute and quickly moved onto the next fruit when I finished.

My movements were quick and I caught along with them to the beat, matching up to their skills and their lighthearted fun.

"Wow, Keiko! You're good!" Natsuki noticed, glancing over to my side.

I shot her a smile and continued peeling and cutting fruit along with the other girls. The other girls who worked with Natsuki shot me a look of surprise but gave encouraging glances at me. As the Sweets Princes sat in front of us as we shaped the fruits, they looked at us in amazement from our fast pace.

Once we finished, we presented it to the Sweets Princes on the table.

"Here you go, eat up!" Natsuki encouraged them as we presented a platter of beautiful assortments of fruits. A watermelon bowl filled with watermelon balls was garnished with some flowers, and fruity parfaits I made stood before us.

"Amazing…" Andou's eyes opened in surprise.

"It's beautiful…" Hanabusa said in amazement.

As we presented the fruits, the girls shot me an anticipated glance.

"You made fruit parfaits?" They said in surprise but I nodded my head calmly.

"Yeah… I figured that this was the simplest to make," I told them and a grin formed on their faces. "I used some of the fruit I cut up and mixed them together in a cup. The juice from the fruits should sit at the bottom and make a drink."

Wow! You're so talented! I like you already!!" Natsuki shot me a warm smile. "Eat up, Keiko! You helped us out!" Natsuki offered and I nodded my head, sitting down by the Sweets Princes.

"Okay, we won't hold back," I said, shooting a small smile back.

We quickly began divulging into the beautiful fruits, drinking and eating from the fruit parfait, the watermelon bowl, and the large platter of various fruits.

They looked at us in anticipation so we could give them our feedback as we ate.

"How's the taste?" Natsuki and the girls asked nervously.

"It's delicious!" We all said as we quickly ate.

"It's amazing how sweet and juicy the pineapple is. The watermelon, mango, and oranges are very fresh and it's as if they've been raised, soaking in the tropic light… It's as if I'm in a fruit paradise," I envisioned with my eyes closed.

"Wow, this is the first time I've met someone who had such profound taste! I was amazed that you could match the beat of the music and cut with us!" Natsuki expressed happily.

"I had prior experience in playing an instrument in the past so I was able to follow along easily," I explained to them.

"But still, you're so skillful!

'Matching the tempo can be hard but since my parents enrolled me in piano classes and had me play a lot, I finally got better at matching to the beat…'

"You should work here with us!" The twin girls said to me with a bright smile but I hesitated.

"Well, I don't know if I'll be as good as you all…" I responded shyly.

"Hmm… you look familiar… What is your name?" The girl with the plump lips asked me, named Mika.

"Michiko Keiko," I replied.

"Michiko Keiko? Where have I heard that name before…?" Mika put her hand to her chin in a thinking manner.

"I think I've heard that name as well…" Natsuki mentioned but then disregarded it. "Either way, I like you! Take these home with you!" Natsuki began handing me different kinds of fruits for me to take.

"Hey—Those are the shops," one of the chefs pointed out but Natsuki ignored him.

"We'll come and eat again!" I said to them, waving goodbye as me and the Sweets Princes left the cafe.

~

"That Keiko girl is pretty…" The twin girls in the Fruits Paradise, named Emi and Rina, pointed out once Keiko and the Sweets Princes left.

"Right? I mean, she kind of looks like a princess surrounded by her three princes, right?" The girl with plump lips, named Mika, asked them.

"Not only that but she has a lot of skill as if she's been trained before… Michiko Keiko, huh?" Natsuki asked herself out loud as the girls pondered at her name.

"Hey, who was that girl that was here with those 3 boys?" One of the chefs asked the 4 girls.

"Her name is Michiko Keiko. Why? Do you need her?" Natsuki looked at the chef in bewilderment.

"I saw her skills when she performed with you girls and she was great! She'd be good here as an employee so I was thinking about giving her a job offer," the chef explained and the girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if she worked here as well!" The twin girls, Rina and Emi, voiced out loud in anticipation.

"I wouldn't mind. Her skills are comparable to ours, maybe even better? Will we even see her again?" Mika said unsurely.

"Well, she did say they'll come back so maybe we can give her a job offer," Natsuki mentioned confidently.

'But the question is when will she come back? It'd be nice to have another person here working with us…' Natsuki thought to herself.

~

The Sweets Princes and I made it back to the academy and once we'd gotten back, I'd already started brainstorming some ideas in my notebook. I drew out a few ideas and labeled each element.

It was the next day and I met up with the Sweets Princes in the cooking lab to talk about our ideas for the 2nd round of the Grand Prix.

"Look, these are the ideas I had for the plated dessert." I presented my drawings to the boys. One of them was a raspberry mousse cake with a watermelon fruity drink.

"Wow, you thought up a lot," Hanabusa looked at my various drawings.

"Ah, I thought about this one as well!" Andou said with a bright smile on his face as he looked through the assortments of drawings.

"I was inspired yesterday by Mr. Hisashi and those girls at the cafe," I explained to them.

"You're so energetic, Michiko," Hanabusa pointed out.

'Me? Energetic? I've never heard that before…'

"Oh, is that so?" I said with confusion.

"You looked kind of bothered by something so Kashino said we should take you out," Andou explained with a smile.

"Bothered?" I questioned.

'Did it look like I was bothered? Maybe…'

For some reason, I thought about the conversation I had with Kaori that had stuck to my mind ever since we'd talked. She asked if I liked these guys enough to date them… Maybe that's why I looked bothered because I'd never thought about that before.

"Although, Maa-kun gets dizzy around crowds of people," Andou added.

"Shut it, Idiot," Kashino said with an annoyed face, stuffing Andou's mouth with a banana.

I looked at Kashino who avoided eye contact with me and thought about what he'd said to me just yesterday at Sweets Garden.

"I guess putting smiles on the faces of crying kids is one of your merits…"

Andou took the banana out of his mouth and began eating it as all of them, including the sweets spirits, took a look through my various drawings.

'Who'd ever thought that I'd be bothered by the thought of dating any of these guys… It just… wouldn't happen… But, I can't be bothered by these stupid thoughts right now. I've got a dream to pursue together with everyone. We have to go to Paris no matter what!'

As I thought of this, I was already pumping myself up.

"Okay, let's do our best in the 2nd round guys! We have to win and go to Paris!" I exclaimed confidently as they looked at me in surprise and then nodded their head in agreeance.