Chapter 64: Episode 31 - Sweets Garden (2)
"Kashino?" I said in shock as he carried his school books in his hand and looked coldly at me.
'No way… he overheard me talking to my father and Kaori…'
"We don't even know the subject for the second round yet," I said defiantly but he shot me an indifferent look.
"There's such a thing as tendency and measures. The main point of the second round is a plated dessert + alpha," Kashino roughly explained.
'This round has to have a plated dessert?'
Desserts arranged on plates are required to have a beautiful appearance, giving it a more fancy look. My mother would often have different assortments of plated desserts in her bakeries, especially when she served people of high class.
Suddenly, Kashino threw something at my face.
"Whoa—" I said as the thing hit my face.
"We're going here tomorrow," Kashino stated, throwing a magazine.
"What the hell, Kashino? Where are we going?" I said rubbing my face and took a glance at the magazine that seemed like it was a dessert magazine.
"Read it. We're going to research popular sweets," he advised coldly and then walked away.
As he walked away, I took a look at the contents of the magazine.
"Sweets Garden?" I said out loud in surprise at the place mentioned in the magazine.
'This is a town of sweets made of famous shops that gather within the grounds of the park… but it's been a while since I've been there. My parents and I would usually visit this place in the past when I was younger and my mom had a bakery here, too… But, we stopped coming here after Mom died…'
I reminisced at those sweet memories, thinking back to when my parents and I enjoyed going there.
'I would often hang around in my mother's bakery in the Sweets Garden… I wonder if it's still there…'
* * *
Fraise and I got ready the next day and traveled to the Sweets Garden along with the Sweets Princes and spirits. We left the school during the late time of morning and arrived at the Sweets Garden.
An enormous sign titled: Sweets Garden, welcomed us. Before even entering, we could see children and their families happily enjoying their time in this town.
"Wow, there are so many people," Fraise noticed, flying by my side as we observed.
"This place is huge!" Cafe exclaimed in excitement.
"It's a town of sweets made of famous shops that gather within the park," Hanabusa explained as we walked through the gate.
"Let's go check out the stores!" I said in a hurry, walking ahead of them.
"Michiko, wait up!" They called out but I continued going.
'Where is it? Where is Mom's shop at?' I thought anxiously, looking around the area.
In the crowd of people, girls couldn't stop looking at the Sweets Princes.
"Look, those three guys came together!"
"They all look handsome."
"Maybe we should check them out?"
Girls giggled to themselves as they looked in the direction of the Sweets Princes. Kashino heard the girls and furrowed his eyebrows in disgust.
"I can't decide where to start," Hanabusa claimed, looking around the assortments of shops.
I glanced around the area before going anywhere, seeing if I could still remember the place well.
'It's been 6 years since I've been here but a lot of things have changed…'
Some of the shops that my family and I visited before were not around anymore and were replaced with fancier and newer shops to match up to the trends. It was a bit sad to see that most of them were replaced.
A sad smile formed on my face as we walked around and Fraise and the others noticed.
"Why do you look so sad?" Fraise asked me worriedly.
"Oh, actually… When my mom was still around, my parents and I would visit this place often but it's a bit heartbreaking to see that most of the shops here were replaced…" I admitted, looking down at the ground.
"You've been here before?" Hanabusa asked and I nodded.
"Yeah… I hung out around here quite a bit," I said.
'Though, my parents and I usually came here to check out my mom's shop…'
I gazed around for any familiar stores until something caught my eye.
"Oh?" I rushed over to a shop that grabbed my attention and the others hurriedly followed me from behind.
"This is…" I looked up at the shop that had a big, welcoming sign that read: Fournier Sucré.
'It's still here!'
A bright smile formed on my face as I looked up at the sign. Fraise could assume my excitement was from this shop since it had my mother's surname on it, but she looked at it as if she'd known about it, too.
"Hah, they didn't get rid of it…" I sighed in relief, happily smiling at the shop.
'Fournier Sucré was one of the few bakeries my mom had in Japan. I'd often come here to watch my mom and her employees bake confections and I learned a lot from them.'
"What's going on?" The Sweets Princes and their sweets spirits questioned me who stood in front of the shop excitedly.
"This was… my favorite place in the Sweets Garden…" I explained, heartwarmingly looking through the windows.
I could see many people were sitting at tables, eating beautiful sweets, laughing and smiling. "It's still the same…"
They could all see the caring gaze I showed to the store but noticed that I didn't make a move to enter.
"Well, are you going to go in?" Kashino asked bluntly as I snapped out of my daydreaming.
"Actually… I just wanted to see the shop up close. We don't have to go in—" I began but a man's voice had interrupted me.
"—Is that… Keiko?"
I turned around to see a familiar man with dark brown hair, light wrinkles on his face, and green eyes.
'H-How could he—He's still here…?'
My mouth gaped wide open in shock as I saw the man, gazing down at us.