Ichigo sighed tiredly as she rested against an apple tree, from her grandmother's fruits garden behind her uncle's shop, with Vanilla at her side eating from the strawberry pie that her uncle had made for her. Ichigo was so tired and sad that she didn't even have apetite for her favourite sweet, something that worried her sweet spirit greatly. However, the small patisserie didn't notice her she was still thinking about what her uncle had told her earlier:
"Mmm, well done Ichigo! You've improved a lot in such short span of time" Hikaru praised her niece "Not only that, your mother and dad told me how good you are progressing with your school studying. Even if it takes them quite a lot of patients and time to get you to concentrate on their lesson"
She had only arrived two weeks ago but he has been working her like never since then. He had told her that the principle problem was that she had entered one of the best patisserie schools with cero training before hand, and then she had been thrown into a lot of advanced recipes without explanation expecting her to know it already. He had also assured her that it wasn't her mistake but the school's, so he had started teaching her the basics, so she can earn a base for her technic to improve, and practicing them with simple and homemade recipes. Such as: muffins, cookies, puddings, among others. Hikaru also gave her a book for beginners in patisserie, telling her that her principle mistake was always relying on the sweet princes to teach her how to do everything or explain whatever she didn't understand. However, what she must have done besides that was to make research and be more learn on her own.
" What?" Ichigo asked as she noticed his troubled frown.
" You need to improve your decoration Ichigo" he answered her, feeling a bit bad when her crestfallen smile but soon shook it off because she was there to learn, not to be spoiled "It is good that you practice and improve in what you are good at, but when you see that you have a weak point that's what you attack and practice even more on. Especially on your case"
" My case?" Ichigo asked very confused "You mean a beginner?"
" No, well partly but not exactly what I meant. You see Ichigo, you've still haven't found your speciality. My mother and I specialized on fruit sweets, Kashino-san wants to be a chocolatier, Andou-san specializes on Japanese sweets and Hanabusa-san in caramel sculptures and flower base cakes. But you hadn't decided what you want to be, yes you know that you want a small shop one day that is popular and sells sweets that make people smile. However, have you ever stopped and thought what kind of sweets?" her uncle's question froze her on her spot, after all she had never thought about that.
" A fruit sweets patisserie?" Ichigo had anted to sound sure, but at last her statement ended as a question.
" Are you sure about that? Just because your grandmother and I decided to specialize on fruit sweets doesn't mean you have to" Hikaru assured his niece, not wanting to pressure her on a path that wasn't for her "But you need to figure out that, because that's how you know what you need to reinforce first. As Kashino-san's case is tempering.
"Ichigo!" shouted Vanilla worriedly, she had been calling out for her partner for ten minutes already and had no answer from her, she could only got Ichigo's attention when she had hit her with her magic spoon "I've been calling out for you for ten minutes! What's wrong?" Vanilla asked concerned.
"I was thinking about my conversation with my uncle" Ichigo replied, sighing and looking up at the sky.
"About finding out what kind of patisserie you want to be?" asked Vanilla softly, knowing that these last weeks had not been kind for her friend "Did you really mean when you said that you wanted to specialize on fruit sweets?"
"Yes, no, I don't know!" exclaimed a frustrated and confused Ichigo, startling her poor sweet spirit "Sorry Vanilla, is that I've been so sure that I wanted to follow my grandmother's foot steps. But right now¦ I am not so sure about that. I just don't know what I want to do anymore.
"Ichigo..." Vanilla murmured, worried for her patisserie.
"Then you'll just have to try everything until you find what's right for you" a voice behind them said, causing both females to squeak in surprise "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" the silver haired boy apologized "I am Julie Gateau, and this si my sweet spirit Shanti" he presented himself politely to the still shocked girls "We are starting to work on your uncle's shop since tomorrow, is nice to finally meet my other colleague"
"I... ano... Hi!" she suddenly stood up, standing rigidly not knowing how to react at such a polite and elegant boy "My name is Ichigo, this is Vanilla" she finally said, once she had calmed down her rapid beating heart "Nice to meet you! Let's work together and have some fun!" she extended her hand for him to shake, but he had other plans. Julie took Ichigo's hand carefully, kneeled on one knee and kissed her hand sweetly "He!!!!" Ichigo exclaimed shocked once again, Vanilla not very far away.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Amano-san, please call me Julie" he told her before getting up "I am really disappointed you didn't win the Cake Gran Prix, I liked your team's work much more than Tennouji" he confessed, making her blush.
"Really?" she asked embarrassed but content that someone preferred her over Tennouji-senpai.
"Yes, it was very creative and beautiful. I've been wanting to meet the human able to create such a thing for a while now" he assured her "Also, I have a peculiar request for you"
"What is?" she asked, after changing confused looks with Vanilla.
"I would like to be your other teacher, I think that I'll be able to help you find what kind of specialization you want to follow" he requested.
"Heeee?!!!!! Really?!!!!" Vanilla and Ichigo exclaimed very surprised.
Yes, may I?" he asked again.
What else can we loose? Vanilla told her silently with a look, as she shrugged when Ichigo looked at her for an answer.
"Ok! Take well care of me from now on Julie, and please call me Ichigo!" she replied happily for having another helping hand.
"Let's work hard Ichigo" Julie said kindly.
"Yey!" exclaimed bother Vanilla and Ichigo, causing the other two to chuckle, laughter soon followed. They stayed there for a while longer, getting to know each other until it got dark and was time to get back inside.
Maybe I am not as alone as I thought, thought Ichigo with a smile as she gazed towards Vanilla teasing Shanti and a smiling Julie.
YOU ARE READING
Sweet Practice {Yumeiro Patissiere}
Fanfiction{Sweet Tears and Sweet Love, Book 1} After loosing against Tennouji's team and having her ex-team saying that they wanted to part ways to practice on their own, Ichigo is left alone and helpless. Especially once she discovers that they had skipped a...
