Pudding Battle (3)
Chapter 33: Episode 17 - Pudding Battle (3)
The sweets princes and their sweets spirits stood back and observed Keiko make the pudding again from afar, talking among themselves.
"They're taking pudding too lightly," Kashino said bluntly and everyone nodded.
Once they figured it was going to take some time for Keiko and Fraise to finish up with those custards, they left the cooking lab, leaving Keiko and Fraise by themselves.
Nobody noticed, but from a distance, a mysterious girl was listening in on them while they were in the cooking lab. When she realized that the sweets princes were going to leave, she ran off.
* * *
Over at Koshiro's mansion…
"Is that so? That Michiko Keiko is struggling in vain right now. Yes… I know… Ok, later," Koshiro hung up her phone as she stood in her kitchen with the highest quality ingredients before her.
"Ojou, what about Michiko?" One of her two henchmen asked.
"Seems as if she's training extra hard to defend her position with the sweets princes. But, it seems as if she's rather more experienced than I expected… Furthermore, I will not lose!" Koshiro gritted her teeth just thinking about Keiko. She definitely wasn't fond of that girl, especially when she insulted her by calling her "spoiled" and incapable to do anything without the help of her father.
"With your high-grade ingredients and your skills, it will definitely be your win. At any rate, Ojou's pudding uses first-class goods like silkie eggs, wasanbon sugar, and jersey milk," the henchman said.
"On top of that, we've purchased the same model oven used at Salon de Marie. There's no way Ojou will fail once you've become familiar with how to use it!" The other henchmen said, pointing directly at the ovens.
'I also took lessons from top-class chefs I asked Papa for, just so I can team up with my Makoto again.'
When Koshiro thought about Kashino, her heart beat faster at the sound of his name. But her thoughts were ruined by a sudden realization.
'But that damn Michiko Keiko came in partway!'
High-class strawberries were in front of her and she stabbed them violently in irritation.
"The fact that Kashino will be grouped with me, I'll let you know just that!" Koshiro laughed maniacally as she ate her strawberries.
~
'Staying up all night was the worst idea… Instead of getting a few hours of sleep, I didn't get any…' I thought to myself as I looked around to a few puddings I made sure I perfected. Although I did procrastinate for a bit to study for future tests and brainstorm for future dessert ideas, I finally managed to perfect the pudding. Looking up at the big clock at the front of the room, my eyes felt drowsy to the point where I couldn't read it.
Hearing the door creak wide open I turned my head a little bit to see who was there.
"Ah… it's Kashino… Hanabusa and Andou, too," I noticed tiredly, struggling to keep my eyes open. I sat at the table where Fraise was sleeping peacefully. Looking at her sleeping in peace made me even drowsier.
A bit confused as to what they were doing here, I decided to look at the big clock again.
"5:30?!?!" My eyes widened in surprise as I exclaimed out loud which awoke Fraise. "School begins at 7:30!" I began pacing around the room and began grabbing dirty pots and throwing them in the sink so I could wash them.
"Keiko," Fraise popped up in front of me as I began to wash the pots. "Calm down, you still have enough time. There are still a couple of hours until class starts."
I dropped the pot and backed away from the sink and turned my attention towards Kashino, Hanabusa, Andou, and the sweets spirits.
"Why are you guys here this early?" I asked as I continued to grab some pots off the table.
"The same goes for you," Kashino responded frankly.
"Well, I managed to stay up all night to perfect the pudding and I managed to do it," I said while holding the perfected pudding in my hands. "Try it."
I handed the pudding over to Kashino who glanced at my hands that got burned a few times.
"You scalded yourself while you were making these?" Kashino stated, accepting the pudding I offered.
"Oh, yeah," I looked away nervously. "As it got later into the night, I wasn't paying too much attention to the caramel sauce and so it splattered on my hands."
Everyone tasted several puddings I made.
"Wow, the caramel sauce is just right," Cafe took a bite.
"As expected of Miss Michiko," Caramel smiled happily.
"Although, it does taste different than it did yesterday," Chocolat tasted.
"I'm surprised that you really did master it in one night." Andou also tasted the pudding.
"Yeah, it's delicious." Hanabusa nodded his head in approval.
I grabbed another one of the puddings that I tasted earlier that had pores inside of them.
"I still had a bit of a challenge with the pores getting in, but in the end, I finally got it right," I explained.
"Oh, did you use this oven?" Andou pointed to one of the lower ovens on the wall by our station.
"Yeah, I did," I answered.
"This lower one bakes stronger than the others while the one on top bakes unevenly," Andou explained as I observed.
"Each machine has its own quirk, even ovens. There's no choice but to test it countless times to find out," Kashino said.
'There are still many things that I don't know…'
"Delish! Delish!" Caramel happily ate one of the ones I made too sweet.
"That one is only sweet because I didn't caramelize it enough but it's delicious to you?" I questioned and she nodded with an approving smile.
"Actually, Caramel likes it sweeter," Caramel claimed.
When I heard this statement, an idea rushed to my mind.
'She prefers sweeter things over something that is still cooked perfectly or tastes bitter. I guess preferences play a huge role in this. I still need to get a hang of things so maybe…'
I pondered my ideas for a bit before Hanabusa came up next to me.
"Michiko, are you training tonight? I'll bring some snacks over," Hanabusa offered as I picked up more dishes to clean up.
"Thanks for the offer but I have some business to attend to tonight so don't worry about me," I gave a reassuring smile as I walked over to the sink to begin cleaning.
~
"Business?" The sweets princes asked themselves.
"With that, she thinks she's already mastered it, huh," Hanabusa thought out loud.
"In that case, she's naive," Cafe stated as they observed Keiko cleaning her dishes up.
Though all of the sweets princes knew not to doubt Keiko's abilities, it differed this time around because it meant they were giving up their chances of winning the Grand Prix if they were to team up with Koshiro who only focuses on Kashino. They knew that Keiko has the capability and skills to work alongside them in the Grand Prix and they didn't want to lose her when it was possible that they could win the whole thing with her on their side. Everyone was nervous at the possibility of Keiko losing this cooking battle to Koshiro Miya who had clearly gotten better and has high-quality ingredients to cook with. Though Keiko is unmatched, their faith in her still faltered.
When Keiko offered them to leave, Hanabusa and Andou began to walk away, taking another glance at the drowsy girl who was cleaning up her station.
Keiko continued to frequently yawn, but Kashino stood a good distance away and turned to Fraise who was right beside him, to ask a question that had been on his mind.
"Has she slept at all?" Kashino asked, observing Keiko from afar.
"...No. Ever since coming to the academy, she's come up with a bad habit of getting a few hours of sleep or none at all. She's been studying for future exams and brainstorming ideas for future desserts she wants to make and she's been stressing herself out," Fraise explained to Kashino with a worried tone in her voice. "I've tried to convince her to get more sleep, eat more, and take better care of her body, but she's too caught up in what she's doing that she doesn't listen."
Kashino stood there, taking in what Fraise had explained to him.
He pondered for a quick moment and then slowly walked out of the room, following behind Hanabusa and Andou.