Taking the Lead (1)

Chapter 141: S2 - Taking the Lead (1)

My bright blue eyes were fixated on the man who wore black clothes and a black hood. In the back of my mind, I felt like I could recall him, but there was no trace of that man in my memory.

'No, Keiko! Focus on explaining your cake! Worry about that stuff later!' I reminded myself, snapping out of that daze.

That was right. I needed to fixate my attention on what was in front of me.

I stared at the cake we made to motivate myself.

But strangely, as I continued to stare at our extravagant cake that looked heavenly, I felt a pulsating pain throughout my entire body.

'GAAHHH!' I grabbed my head, which felt it the most. It was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life, as if I had been stabbed by a knife many times.

'Worry… about the pain later… Focus… now…'

Mustering up the energy to speak into the microphone as I was breaking into a sweat, I persevered through the jabbing pain that made me want to fall down and grab my stomach.

"I am Team Michiko's representative, Michiko Keiko," I began as I felt pins and needles all over my body. I masked that pain with a calm smile, pretending everything was all right. I felt myself swaying left and right, but I played it off as I looked at the audience.

"After hearing that the theme was "Dream," I realized that everyone had a dream inside of them that they wished to fulfill, whether they were young or old. When I thought of "Dreams," I envisioned a heaven that signified the thrill of trying to achieve that dream, where we are all little beings flying up that staircase and towards the light at the end. The celestial Angel in the center shows those we've lost, encouraging us to reach that dream we work so hard to achieve."

As I explained this, I looked back at the Angel, who signified my mother, leading me up that staircase. Seeing how there were butterflies that occupied the road, I noticed that there was only one butterfly placed at the bottom of the staircase. I couldn't help but glue my eyes on that butterfly who remained in place--who'll never be able to move up that staircase and toward that door at the end.

'GaAH!' After getting most of my words out, the pain started filling my chest. The only thing this told me was that I needed to finish this. Quickly.

"The bumps on the staircase are there to show the many obstacles that will come our way to stop us from reaching that light at the end, but no matter what, we all find a way around it to attain our dreams…." I finished, bowing my head to the audience.

'I-I… managed… to do it…' I thought to myself as I bowed to them. My head faced the ground so the audience couldn't see my gloomy expression.

As I brought my head back up, I put on a smile, and with this, I could hear claps throughout the room.

[APPLAUSE!]

"Just from seeing the cake, she guided us through that journey."

"Isn't it truly inspirational?"

"Amazing!"

I returned the microphone to the MC and returned to my team, trying to hold myself back up from showing discomfort.

"Thank you for your explanation, Michiko-san. Then, let the judging begin!" The guy said with a joyful smile.

Naturally, the five judges approached Team Tennouji's "Flower of Dreams" first. They carried clipboards and, as they observed, wrote down notes.

"This time, each separate part will receive five different marks and be added together. First is the sugar sculpture," the broadcaster explained as the five judges thoroughly observed the elements of Team Tennouji's cake. "Team Tennouji's sugar sculptures include the white flower, the crescent moon, and the sugar plate. Member Saeki, did you encounter any troubles?"

The broadcaster approached Saeki Ryou and held the microphone to his mouth.

"Not really," Saeki Ryou said quietly, ending his talk there and putting the boy interviewing him into an awkward position.

As the judges observed the eye-catching flower, they brought up how it was pointed at an angle that looked at the viewer.

"Hm… all are done perfectly," Chairman Moriyama said to the other judges.

"I see, because the plate is jutting out, it looks like it's floating in midair. What an interesting idea," Teacher Ameya said as she wrote down some notes on her clipboard.

"It's stunning how 4 students are capable of doing this," Hisashi Ito added as he viewed the cake from all around.

When the judges were done filling out their sheets for Team Tennouji, they walked to our cake and closely examined it.

"The shimmering gold helix staircase, the butterflies, the spiral pillars, and the white pearls were all made by Hanabusa's hands. It truly is an amazing sight to see," the MC commentated while he looked at our cake.

When the judges approached our cake, Mr. Hisashi Ito made eye contact with us. Since he was familiar with the 4 of us and our spirits after encountering him in the Sweets Garden, I could tell he couldn't believe his eyes once he glanced at our cake.

"It's astonishing that he even made the staircase glow from within. I've never seen anything like it before," Mr. Karashima examined thoughtfully.

"Not to mention how intricately he designed all of the stairway's steps and pillars. It truly is a sight to see," Henri Lucas mentioned.

"It's hard to believe that they're only in their 2nd year of middle school. It looks like professionals did this!" Mr. Hisashi Ito asserted when he looked at Hanabusa's creation.

.

.

.

"And, the scores are out!" The MC said, bringing everyone's attention to the scoreboard on the screens.

"You can do it, Team Michiko!"

"Let's go Team Tennouji!"

'Even Mr. Hisashi seems astounded by our cake so far. Hanabusa worked so hard, so I hope all of it paid off….' I clasped my hands together, anticipating the scores that would come out. Despite feeling needles throughout my body, I decided that I could pull through it until the end.

My team needed a leader who would be there, which meant I couldn't give up now!

Everyone in the crowd held their breaths as the scores for the candy sculptures tallied up.

On the screen where the judges were named, and the teams were named, there it was:

Team Tennouji—Ameya [17], Karashima [18], Hisashi [18], Lucas [17], Moriyama [16] = [86]

Team Michiko—Ameya [18], Karashima [18], Hisashi [19], Lucas [17], Moriyama [18] = [90]

"86 vs 90! Amazing! Team Michiko is leading with 4 points in sugar sculptures!" The MC said in amazement, and after we saw the results, we all couldn't believe it.

"W-what?" Hanabusa asked himself. Even he was flabbergasted.

"Good job, Hanabusa!" Andou congratulated him.

"We're leading so far!" Kashino responded with a bit of a smile.

"Wait, guys. There are still more things that have to be scored!" I corrected them, reminding them not to get too ahead of themselves.

I didn't want to be the one to bring down the mood, but we really couldn't afford to be misplacing our joy if Team Tennouji somehow managed to bounce back.

"Next is chocolate sculptures. Team Tennouji's shiny chess board is impressive. The white doors as well are white chocolate. The one in charge of this is Kaidou Rui!" The MC introduced as the judges repeated their steps in judging, walking over to Team Tennouji's cake and back to ours.

"Team Michiko's chocolate sculptures include the ethereal angel that looks like it can come to life at any second, and the gold stand it's standing out top of. The wings are large but welcoming, enticing the viewer to join hands with this angel guiding them up this staircase."

We could see that Kashino was a bit nervous about them judging his angel, but he carried a different air. The expression we could read on his face was: "I will win this."

"Let's go Kashino!"

Screams erupted from the crowd, and we noticed that our classmates from 2-A were the ones causing a ruckus. They held up posters and lightsticks with our faces on them.

"The scores are in."

On the screen in front of us, we could see the judges inputting their scores:

Team Tennouji—Ameya [17], Karashima [17], Hisashi [18], Lucas [18], Moriyama [18] = [88]

Team Michiko—Ameya [18], Karashima [18], Hisashi [19], Lucas [18], Moriyama [18] = [91]

After witnessing the results, I saw Henri Lucas make eye contact with me once he stared at the angel Kashino. By the look in his blue eyes, he could tell who that angel was.

"88 vs 91! In the battle of the chocolate sculptures, it seems like Kashino Makoto managed to score high with a 3 point difference in chocolate! He really is Team Michiko's chocolatier!" The student explained, which caused the crowd to erupt in celebration.

"Nice job, Maa-kun!" Andou motivated.

"Not too bad, Kashino," Hanabusa added with a light smile.

"That's my son!" We could hear a woman's voice from the audience, and it was Kashino Asa, Kashino's mother, who cheered the loudest in his family.

"Jeez…" Kashino rubbed his head in embarrassment after seeing how his mother reacted.

'So far, by tallying the points in both categories, Team Tennouji has 173 points while we have 181. We're only 8 points ahead of them!'

I couldn't believe that we were already ahead of them by that much already.

But as I looked at Team Tennouji, I noticed sweat forming on their foreheads after losing these two rounds. When I glanced at Mari, I saw she still held her head high. I didn't know if it was because she had that much confidence or if she was trying to mask her fear.

After seeing that calm and collected face of hers, I, for some reason, had gotten a bad premonition about what would happen.

'No, there are still two more rounds….' I worriedly thought.

"The taste testing of the petit gateau will now commence!"