Unexpected Visitor (1)

Chapter 102: S2 Episode 5 - Unexpected Visitor (1)

Halloween had ended and it was the start of November.

It was announced that Team Michiko and Team Tennouji would be battling against each other in the Cake Grand Prix finals. The date was set to a month later to give time for both teams to rest and recuperate. Normal lessons and school life would return but it was quite hard not to think about the final round of the Grand Prix. It was practically the talk throughout the whole school.

~2-A Classroom~

The Sweets Princes sat in the 2-A classroom where their classes had just ended for the day. Besides the three of them, someone seemed to be missing from the picture.

"Starting today, the normal lessons are going to feel dull *yawn*," Andou said as he stretched out his arms.

"If you're going to make such a fuss, why not have a busy life like that every day," Kashino muttered beside him.

"Anything but that," Andou replied back sheepishly.

"The finals are coming up in a month, so we've got to have a meeting soon," Hanabusa chimed in.

"Hm, I guess you're right," Kashino agreed as he closed his textbooks.

"I mean, who would've thought that the semifinals would be skipped and we'd be making it into the finals?" Andou said with an awkward smile that even the other two boys acknowledged.

"Yeah, but Henri Lucas will be judging the final round. In any case, we have to start practicing," Hanabusa brought up.

"I guess Michiko is happy about that," Andou responded, which made the head of Kashino turn around to scan the classroom.

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen her all morning," Kashino noticed, resting his elbow on his desk.

"Miss Fraise told us that she and Miss Keiko would be practicing right away. She claimed that Miss Keiko had already finished her studies and that she would also focus on baking," Caramel said, popping into the conversation.

"Sheesh, already?" Andou asked in disbelief, rubbing his head.

It hadn't even been a day since the Halloween Fair yet Michiko Keiko was already busy practicing without them? Not only that, but she had already finished all of her homework and studies just to make time to practice baking! Her actions were unbelievable but the sweets princes and their sweets spirits were already used to the workaholic nut.

But, there was something about Keiko that they could all see, and that was that after the end of the Halloween Fair, she was never the same. The expression on her face changed and it seemed as if she had come to a conclusion on something, but they didn't know what that was. They could see that in her usual bright blue eyes, there was a cloud fogging them up and it never disappeared after that day. She was knowingly stubborn when it came to her studies and baking, but they wondered if she was pushing herself too hard for this competition. When was she going to rest her mind?

This month was solely for the two teams to take a break from the competition but she was already working herself hard right when the break was declared.

If anything, the sweets princes and their sweets spirits all sighed as they thought about Keiko and Fraise.

* * *

Michiko Keiko's POV

"Keiko, can't you give it a rest already? You've been up since 4 in the morning baking! Not to mention, baking in between your breaks in class?! The Sweets Princes and the others haven't seen you at all!" Fraise advised me as we stood in the middle school division's cooking lab.

I disregarded her nagging and continued working on practicing my skills.

"Well, that's because I finished up everything I had to do for my classes. The teachers said it was fine that I practice here in between my breaks anyways," I said briefly, piping some cream onto a gateau that I had made.

"Yeah, but it's only the day after the Halloween Fair! The Grand Prix isn't until next month!" Fraise tried to fly herself in front of me so I could look at her, but I turned away and kept going.

"Which is all the more reason to start practicing now! If I don't practice now, when will I ever be ready to beat Team Tennouji?" I questioned her but she breathed in a deep sigh.

"*sigh* But you're not understanding what I have to say! You're disregarding your health! You haven't eaten anything all day and you haven't rested your body! What will happen if you—" Fraise began but I immediately interrupted her.

"—I'll be fine. I know my limits and I know that I haven't reached them yet. Stop worrying," I sternly told her and she backed off like a scared puppy. She didn't speak anymore which gave a rest to the nagging that I'd been hearing all day.

'That's right, I haven't even reached my limit yet. I need to keep practicing to make sure that I can at least match up to Team Tennouji. Maybe even now, I still can't keep up with them… I have to keep working even harder!' I thought with determination as I continued my process of making sweets while Fraise sat to the side and watched silently on the kitchen counter.

I thought back to yesterday at the Halloween fair where I had gotten angry at my team. Although I didn't mean it, it still doesn't excuse my actions for yesterday. I still held guilt and contempt towards myself after yesterday's events, but I was given a slight ray of hope after we learned that our team would be going straight into the finals. I thought about what would've happened if Koshiro Miya hadn't caused a scene that led to all of the after events, and I thought about Team Sugino forfeiting their place in the competition.

It was because of them that my team could make it to the finals to fight against Tennouji Mari and her team. Though I don't like Koshiro Miya and I don't know those who were on Team Sugino, I was slightly grateful for their actions yesterday at the chairman's speech.

Thinking back to what Koshiro Miya had done to me, it wasn't easy to forget being pushed so violently to the point where I thought I was going to fall to the concrete ground and crack my head open—and for that, I wasn't willing to forgive her. Truly, it was *her* that cheated during the 3rd round and *her* that caused me to expose her behavior to the public. If she hadn't begun framing me and my team, then I would've let her off the loose, but I wouldn't have been happy about it.

Since it's only been a day since the Halloween fair, the school board was quick to officially expel Koshiro Miya from St. Marie Academy.

She'd confessed to cheating in the 3rd round by using her father's influence, as well as recognizing her rude words targeted at me and her violent behavior that could've seriously injured me yesterday. Even her father, the rich president of Chateau Seika, could do nothing for his daughter since he was an accomplice to the dishonesty in the competition of a prestigious school.

Word had gotten to the public's ears about what happened during the fair and how his daughter reacted, and because of this, he was now facing a major backlash from people and business partners.

All that mattered to me was that Koshiro Miya would finally leave me alone and that my team and I got into the finals.

Now that the situation had turned around the way it had, I was feeling almost thankful about yesterday's events, but I also had one thing on my mind…

Why was that Henri Lucas guy protecting me? Could that even be called "protecting"? Was it because he would do that to any student in trouble? Or, was it because—no, that couldn't possibly be it.

I ignored my thoughts and continued. There was no way in hell that I would give up this precious time to be resting or thinking about pointless things. I had a competition to practice for and only a month to do so. I needed to win this—For me and for my team. No matter what it took to do it.

* * *

It was the next day during our cooking class. The Sweets Princes and I were gathered at Station A where Teacher Ameya was situated at the front with a cheerful look on her face.

"All right, everyone! Gather around!" Teacher Ameya instructed and everyone followed by gathering around her at the front of the class.

Next to her at the front of the classroom was a medium-sized whiteboard which read: "Cake Lesson - *Gâteau aux fraises".

*Translates to "Strawberry Cake"*

'We're going to be having a lesson on strawberry cakes? Haven't we already done several of those throughout the year?' I speculated in my mind along with everyone else who had confused looks on their faces.

"Today's lesson is special as an amazing chef has come here today," Teacher Ameya announced as everyone looked at each other with even more confusion.

"Amazing chef?"

"Who could it be?"

"Hell, I don't know!"

"But we've already made strawberry cakes so many times already!"

The room was full of commotion about the 'amazing chef' that would grace us with their presence, while some of it was full of complaints about a lesson that we'd already done.

"Please, come in," Teacher Ameya signaled for the person to come over and so they did.

A handsome and tall young man with bright blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and a chef's uniform walked up to the front and stood next to Teacher Ameya to face the students.

"Bonjour," the man greeted the class but I had no idea what kind of look I had on my face.

'Seriously? This guy again?' I questioned myself as I, along with everyone else in the classroom, knew who this man was.