"What should we do now?" Lemon asked when everyone had finally decided to help out Julian.
"We go to back to Ichigo's uncle's shop" answered the sweet's prince "The oven of the shop acts like a portal to the sweet's kingdom when it is driven by the right kind of magic".
"And let me guess, you have that 'right kind of magic'" commented Ichigo dryly.
Everyone looked at her in shock, not expecting sweet good Ichigo to act like that. Well, everyone but Vanilla and Julian who knew her well enough to know that the prince's lies hurt her so much to make her behave like that.
"Yes, I do" sighed Julian, knowing that he was going to have a lot of work to do to gain back her friendship "Ichigo I know that you are angry at me, and I well deserve that but if we want to win and save the destiny of the sweet's kingdom from the greedy hands of snobby nobles we need to leave our differences behind and work together" Julian exclaimed not knowing what else to do with her right now.
"The problem is not that we have to put aside our 'differences', the real trouble is that we don't just have differences to put behind us but a betrayal!" she exclaimed angrily, but then took a deep breath to calm herself down and then continued talking "But you are right, is I wish to keep on seeing Vanilla and my friends to see their sweet's spirits I need to forget for now how much you hurt me for the greater good".
"Good" Julian replied, gulping hard. Trying to swallow down the pain that her words caused "Shall we get going?".
He lead the way as soon as he got a nod from all of them, they made the way in complete silence. However, it wasn't a comforting silence that they sometimes were having while cooking. This was tense and dark. Luckily it extinguished a bit when they reached the sweet's kingdom. After all, no one could stay moody after they saw such a wonderful place full of life and magic.
"This way" Shanti said, guiding them through a maze of halls of the castle until they reached a huge garden in the heart of said place, where were a lot of sweet's spirits, patisseries and nobles.
"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the first Grand Sweets Tournament!" announced the Sweet's Queen, it seem like Ichigo's team had just gotten in time "The results of this competition will be decisive in the future between the sweets' kingdom and the human world".
"That is a diplomatic way of saying, fail and we're lost" scoffed Nicolas just for his team to hear, the pressure of the situation finally getting to him.
"To decide who are the most worthy we'll let the people of this kingdom choose for us" continued the queen, catching everyone's complete attention "You'll all have enough materials to open your own sweets' shop, at the end of the month there will be a recount of how many people visited and how much money did the shop recollect. Only the twelve best will pass to the second round of the competition".
"Only twelve? But there are so many teams!" exclaimed in a low tone Lemon, looking worriedly.
They've reached their shop, which was still brand new with no modification done even though they've been there for a few hours already. They were all concerned and nervous, especially since they were running on clock. The opening of the shops were all happening in a week.
"This will be hard" said Ichigo, more to herself than to the others. She had the most serious tone than she has ever wore "There has to be at least a hundred teams, and only a dozen will be accepted. We will have to work hard, not only our skills on sweets but also our abilities to attract clients" she sighed worriedly, not being able to conceal it as she wished "We must find an ability that makes us unique, and it doesn't have to be a cooking one. Our competition has more experience and knowledge than us, we would only make a laugh of ourselves".
"What do you propose then?" demanded to know Nicolas.
"She is proposing to use me" a male voice commented. A white small light appeared from under Ichigo's coat, taking the form of a blond spirit with blue eyes and blue wings "So this is the sweets' kingdom, I've always wanted to visit".
Julian and Shanti gasped, being the only ones knowing who, more exactly what, he was. The rest, in exception of Ichigo and Vanilla who already knew, were just looking at the new faery with confused expressions.
"What are you doing with a music spirit?!" exclaimed a shocked and enraged Julian.
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...
