Who Will Judge the Final Round?

Chapter 134: S2 Episode 33 - Who Will Judge the Final Round?

When the room finally quieted down, everyone brought their focus back to the competition. I had disregarded the stinging pain throughout my entire body and hid it with a neutral face. My teammates now had a look of encouragement in their eyes after all that had transpired, and we were ready to start this competition.

I took a quick glance at Tennouji Mari, who stood at the station across from me, and gritted my teeth. Honestly, I was disappointed in her.

Although she was just as good as me in hiding her emotions, even there were times where her confident and calm persona would slip away. She was visibly distracted and in a daze as she looked at her station. After what I had said, it seemed as if the worst had really happened.

'No, there's no time to focus on these trivial things! Focus, Michiko Keiko!' I told myself who was starting to get distracted as I felt the feeling of utter betrayal. I turned my attention towards the chairman, who stood in the center of the stage between the 8 of us.

The camera panned on him, and it was evident that the live broadcast had just begun.

"It is now 8:25, signalizing the start of the final round of St. Marie Academy's Cake Grand Prix. The final match between Team Tennouji and Team Michiko will take place. The theme of this round is "Dream." We will require the teams to have an entremet* (whole cake), petit gâteau* (small cakes), chocolate sculptures, and candy sculptures. All 4 will be used in their representation of 'Dream,'" Chairman Moriyama explained to the live audience who followed along.

"All 4 categories are worth 100 points along with assembling the cake. In total, the grading scale is 400 total. The time limit is 10 hours, starting from 8:30 AM until 6:30 PM. For our judges who will be judging this round, we have myself, the chairman of this academy," Moriyama pointed to himself. He then directed his hands towards a long white table that sat in front of the eight stations. With his movements, the camera followed him as he sat down at the far left end of the table and focused its attention on the four empty seats.

"Our next two judges are our professors of this academy, Teacher Ameya and Teacher Karashima," the chairman said, and as if on cue, the two teachers walked up to the stage and sat down in the two farthest seats on the right from him on the table.

It was no different from before that our cooking lab teacher would be judging us, as well as Mr. Karashima, who'd both been observing us from the very start of the Grand Prix.

"Next up, we have the famous French patissier, Henri Lucas judging this round with us!" The chairman announced, and with that, screams filled the entire room.

*KYAAA—A!!!*

"Oh my god! Henri Lucas will be judging this round?!"

"Isn't he that really handsome chef?"

"I didn't know about this!"

As Henri Lucas walked up to the stage, the camera focused entirely on him as he waved his hand at the live audience and the camera with his sweet, melting smile. And finally, he took a seat right next to the chairman, who sat on the far left.

Seeing how the public reacted to Henri Lucas being presented, it was obvious that the news of Henri Lucas judging the final round was never released to the public. The only ones who remained calm were the academy students who were fully aware since the day of the Halloween Fair.

"Lastly, our 5th judge that will be joining us today is none other than… Hisashi Ito!!!"

And with that announcement, the crowd went wild. You'd expect that maybe the public would be a bit calmer after Henri Lucas arrived, but to everyone's surprise, that wasn't the case.

The tall man with dark brown hair and emerald green eyes walked onto the stage. He shined an aura of brilliance that could make everyone's eyes follow his every movement.

"Hisashi Ito of Sweets Garden?!"

"I didn't know he'd be judging this round!"

"Isn't 'Fournier Sucre' the most famous place in Sweets Garden?!"

"That was one of Ella Fournier's bakeries in Japan! I heard it's really good!"

As a commotion stirred up when Hisashi Ito arrived, I could see that Mr. Hisashi took a glance over at my team before meeting eyes with me. His green eyes landed on me, and he gave me a small smile.

This man was now the owner of my mother's bakery, "Fournier Sucre," in the Sweets Garden that my teammates and I visited to relieve some stress. He worked by my mother's side when she was still alive, and after she'd died, he kept most of the things similar to how they were in the past. He was well-known in Japan for his outstanding plating skills that looked like expensive paintings you could hang up in 5-star restaurants.

After talking to him in Sweets Garden, I recalled that he said that he would be judging the semi-finals in the academy's Grand Prix. Since both teams skipped the semi-finals altogether, it made sense that he'd be invited to judge the Finals.

'I can't believe I almost forgot he told us that,' I thought to myself when I looked at him, who sat down in between Henri Lucas and Mr. Karashima.

"Okay then! Let's get this show rolling! Our academy's broadcasting club will be providing the round with their commentary as usual. Are there any questions?" The chairman asked our teams, who shook our heads in response.

"None? Okay then, I will hand over the mic to our broadcasting students."

As he did this, the usual broadcaster guy with the glasses received the microphone from the chairman and walked over between the eight stations.

'All right… Everything relies on this! We now have to focus.'

I looked at my team members, and each of them looked back at me.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked them confidently, trying to encourage them.

"Yes!" The three boys and their sweets spirits responded in unison, to which I nodded my head in agreement.

The cameras looked at us as we began our small, energized talk. We could feel the room's spirit get uplifted.

"Good luck, Team Michiko!"

"We're with you all the way!"

"You can do this!"

Many people from the audience seats cheered us on. We could see that in one of the rows, Kashino's extensive family of doctors sat. I noted Kashino's mother, Miss Asa, who looked at him with a proud look on her face that she never visibly showed her son.

Beside them was Andou's family of the traditional Japanese confection shop, Yumezuki. His parents, grandfather, and younger siblings were there to cheer him and our team on. Lastly, I saw Hanabusa's mother sit next to the others' families.

Although I never really saw his mom before, I could tell by the floral clothes she wore that she was the flamboyant boy's mother at a glance.

Cheering for the opposing side also began.

"Let's go, Team Tennouji!"

"Win this!"

"You guys can do it!"

All of their families were here to support them, yet my family would be watching me through the TV. It bothered me at first, but there was nothing I could do. The only thing I could do was keep pushing forward.

"Are you ready, Fraise?" I asked my sweets spirit who stood at my station. The expression on her face showed apparent surprise since I was the one who spoke up to her first.

As if the argument we had before didn't happen, she gave me an uplifting smile on her cute face.

"Yes! Let's do this!" Fraise pumped up her fists in determination, and I showed her a smile.

Everything that happened before didn't matter. All that mattered was what we did now.