Getting Closer (1)

Chapter 93: S2 Episode 1 - Getting Closer (1)

After finishing the first day of the Halloween fair, Michiko Keiko, Hanabusa Satsuki, Andou Sennosuke, and Kashino Makoto retired to the middle school division's cooking lab to discuss their service at the Halloween fair.

Michiko Keiko's POV

"This is just the first day of the fair but we're already in 1st place out of 9 teams," Andou exclaimed in amazement.

"Yeah, if we keep this up, we'll definitely go through to the next round—maybe even win this whole thing!" Hanabusa exclaimed in excitement, but I wasn't too joyous at this news.

"If you guys start getting too confident, it'll ruin our hard work up until now," Kashino scolded the two boys who were much happier than us.

"He's right. It's not the time to start celebrating now. We haven't won the Grand Prix yet," I reminded them seriously.

"You too, Michiko? Can't you two be a little happier right now?" Andou asked, pouting his mouth.

It was just too early to be letting our guards down and concluding that we'd make it to the next round. I had times when I would be optimistic or confident, but none of those feelings were appearing now. It was as if entering this entire competition had forced me to accept the worst-case scenario, and sometimes, I would. The confidence that I had from before would always be played down by myself and I was also unsure about certain things I would do. This competition was stressful, but I knew that regardless of how uncomfortable I felt, my team wanted this opportunity the Grand Prix would give us.

If we won, that meant that we could study abroad at the St. Marie Academy in France, which is more advanced than the one we're attending in Japan. If we could go there, we could meet famous and popular patissiers and get inspiration from tasting their desserts. Not only that but making it into that academy meant that we'd be even closer to our dreams.

We all had separate dreams we wanted to accomplish and studying at this academy meant one thing: We would be guaranteed success.

Because the St. Marie Academy in France was more superior and difficult to get into, it was clear that almost any student in that academy would be guaranteed a high-paying job in the best and most famous patisseries in the world. If you could work under a famous patissier, that meant you could go even further and open your own shop because of publicity and acknowledgment. Just by the sound of it, we would be ensured success if we do well in our studies.

In actuality, we'd be benefiting the most just by studying there. I needed to win this Grand Prix for my dream—to be a world-renowned patissiere like my late mother, Ella Fournier.

And no matter how hard I tried to be happy, it was difficult to force myself to express those emotions because of the worries that lingered in my mind. I enjoyed the company of my team and their sweet spirits, but if we celebrated too early and let ourselves get too carried away now, we'd only be looking like fools if we lost this competition because of our arrogance. If that were to happen… I don't know who I'd blame—Myself for letting down my team, or my teammates who let themselves get taken away by their own arrogance.

It was hard to admit this out loud but these were my true thoughts. I couldn't reveal that if we lost this Grand Prix, I might just end up blaming my teammates, but I knew this thought carried guilt. I didn't want to blame them but if they didn't put in enough effort in the future rounds, it may come down to that.

I knew that if I wanted to win this Grand Prix, I would have to push myself even harder than before to accomplish it. No matter how much sleep I lose, how often I have to train myself, how much I have to study, or how little I eat—I need to win this. If my group wouldn't push themselves, I would make sure to keep their minds in check and push them for them.

If I had to carry the team, so be it.

I was their leader so it meant bearing the responsibilities of making sure that everyone would do well and succeed. My health would no longer matter to me, so if it meant disregarding it for the sake of the Grand Prix, I would do it. I would do anything for this dream.

"All right. We'll have to decide our roles for tomorrow. Who wants to do what?" I asked them but they answered quickly.

"I think we should keep our jobs from today. Michiko can deal with the customers up at the front while Cafe and I deal with serving our eat-in guests. If we're held back by the number of orders like today, we'll go back and help Andou and Kashino prep the dishes," Hanabusa said as the two other boys nodded their heads in agreement.

"All right. I can agree with that, but Fraise, can you go in the back as well to help them? I think with you being there, we can push out the pumpkin cakes quickly and efficiently." I consulted with Fraise who willingly nodded her head with excitement. The two boys also acknowledged Fraise's help if we were to face the same thing tomorrow as we did today.

"Of course! I'll make sure we do a good job tomorrow!" She exclaimed with a happy smile.

'If we didn't have a lot of customers, I would've trusted Andou and Kashino to prepare the dessert by themselves, but if there's a large line tomorrow, service will slow down with just them back there, even with Chocolat and Caramel. Now, with Fraise's willingness to help them, there should be no more hiccups in our service,' I pondered.

"Right, tomorrow is our last day so let's get our things prepped for service," I instructed and everyone agreed.

Fraise and I began making our pumpkin-shaped cake, which was the main selling factor on our dish because of its distinct shape and realistic look.

Kashino and Chocolat carried out their white chocolate ice cream with the ghost face which helped cut the sweetness of other elements on the plate.

Hanabusa and Cafe efficiently cut thin pumpkin slices and glazed them which would add more of a pumpkin flavor to our dessert.

Lastly, Andou and Caramel worked on their caramel custard filling that I would add to the center of the pumpkin cakes. Their filling would blend in splendidly with the other elements of the dish, like the glazed pumpkin slices and the white chocolate ice cream.

All in all, our preparations were going smoothly and we were feeling good about our service tomorrow. We completed preparing 500 pumpkin cakes and about 500 servings of our other elements for tomorrow, though it had taken all afternoon until midnight to finish. We grew tired but we managed to accomplish our responsibility of preparing our dessert for tomorrow.

After completing the pumpkin cakes, we rested at our stations in the cooking lab to catch up on some needed sleep.

'I hope that our hard work will pay off for tomorrow and the entirety of the Grand Prix. I don't know what I'll feel if we don't win this competition.'