Me: Hi! This is the second chapter of "Sweet Dream" and I hope you enjoy this as much as you did the first.
Kashino: How do you know they enjoyed the first? Maybe they hated it. *crosses his arms*
Me: ...well
Ichigo: C'mon, don't be like that. Don't listen to Kashino. You did great in my opinion.
Me: *beams at Ichigo* th-thank you!
Kashino: *hmph*
Me: As always, I do not own Yumeiro Patissiere. Enjoy!
Apple Confiture Meeting
That night, during dinner, I asked my Father about the lady I met at Bonbon Mall, Tennouji Honey. In response, his mouth dropped open and a disbelieving look spread across his face.
"W-Why do you ask?" Father asked, still in shock.
"Well, today when Yuki and I checked out the new shop that had recently opened in Bonbon Mall, I met a lady called Tennouji Honey. Her name looked familiar, so I thought you might know something about her." Why did Father look so shocked?
"Oh, I see." Father straightened himself up and coughed twice before answering any further.
"Let's just say that Honey Tennouji is actually the daughter of Mari Tennouji, who I have told you about in the past."
This time, it was me who was gaping in awe. "Are. You. Serious?! Whoa!"
"Haha, you didn't need to be that surprised," Father laughed.
"Same to you," I muttered, blushing from the comment. I wonder why I didn't notice before? I knew the name sounded familiar, but to think that she is related to Tennouji-san was just too much for me to handle.
"So did Tennouji-chan say anything to you?"
"Well, she did ask me if I wanted to attend St. Marie Academy to become a patissiere like Mom."
The moment he heard 'St. Marie Academy', Father's eyes lit up like an exploding star.
"Are you going to transfer then? I would definitely encourage you to. It's going to be so much fun; you have no idea how exciting it's going to be." Father said, grabbing my shoulders and shooting beams of joy and excitement into my eyes. On the other hand, Mother looked worried. Concern shrouded her face as she finished her meal.
xXxXx
When everyone finished eating, I cleaned up the table and went to help my mother with the dishes.
"Keiko-chan, do you love to bake?" Mother asked, not lifting her eyes off the dishes.
"I-"
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. Even if Father encourages you to go, in the end, everything's all up to you. So, don't force yourself." I didn't understand what she meant. Why would she say that?
"I'm not sure if I like baking or not, since I've only done it once or twice in the past. But, I want to go to St. Marie Academy, not for Father or anyone, but for myself." I said, looking straight into her eyes. I wanted to find my parents and my talent. I did not want to be seen as a kid no more. Why can't she understand that?
"Then, that would be fine." Mother smiled and said that I should prepare for my transfer. As she left the kitchen, I saw a tinge of concern on her face. Why?
xXxXx
Dear Tennouji-san,
It seems I will be able to attend St. Marie Academy like you suggested. I will try my best in learning the techniques to making those desserts that reminded me so much of my parents. Just thinking about making desserts that will bring up the spirits of the people eating them, makes me happy. I'm sure you felt that way too. Hope to see you soon.
-Keiko Andou
I closed my laptop and walked to the balcony of my room. In a daze, I began to wonder about what my life in St. Marie would be like. Will I meet new friends? Will I fail my first assignment? What...is dorm life like? Questions filled my mind as I stared dazed into the endless sky, flowing with stars of all sizes.
"Mom, Dad, I hope to see you soon."
xXxXx
"Mmmm..." I yawned a long while before dragging myself out of bed. It was early in the morning the next day. I didn't feel like getting out of bed, but I couldn't sleep at the same time due to my excitement and curiosity.
"Guess I'll go take a showe-" Standing at the entrance of the bathroom, I remembered that I won't be home for a long while. I looked around my room. Pastel blue walls, a white bookshelf filled with stories, a pearl colored table with pencils and books, a light brown closet stuffed with my favorite clothes, my comfy bed, which I will miss the most, and the balcony, where all my lonely feeling slept. I closed my eyes, trying engrave the whole picture into my head. "I'll miss you lots," I whispered.
After getting ready and stuffing the rest of my stuff into my luggage, it was time to head downstairs to say goodbye to my family. "Alright! Let's onward!"
I dragged my luggage down the stairs into the living room. Mother, Father, and Yuki were all waiting at the table. Mother had an encouraging smile and Father had a gentle, yet proud, smile plastered on their faces. Yuki jumped off her chair and ran to me with a slice of toast still hanging from her mouth.
"KEIKO! I-I'll miss you lots and lots, SO PLEASE DON'T GO!" Yuki shouted at the top of her lungs, dropping the toast onto the ground when she opened her mouth. Tears rimmed her small, puppy eyes as she grabbed my sleeves and begged for me to stay.
"Yuki, that's quite enough. Your sister is going off to search for her dream, so let her go," Mother said, prying the now crying Yuki off of me.
"B-But, she's not going to be home anymore! Why does she have to leave us to search for her dream? Why can't she stay with us?!" Yuki wailed, "Why...go?"
"Yuki." I didn't know that moving to the dorms would upset Yuki so much. Making her cry made my heart cringe with guilt. Yet, I also didn't want to give up this chance of finding my talent. I sighed and ruffled Yuki's orange hair. Kneeling down, I said to her, "I'll come visit now and then. If you need my help, or just want to see me, we can always chat online. Or even better, we can meet up on the weekends to talk and play all day long. How's that sound? Forgive me, Yuki?"
"P-Promise?"
"Promise."
While I took a seat across from my Father, Mother took Yuki into the bathroom to wash her face.
"Would you like to have some?" Father handed me a cup of matcha and some butter cookies for dipping.
"Thank you." As I sipped on the matcha, Father asked me a question that I thought would never be brought up.
"Are you going to search for your parents?"
"I-I...yeah."
"I see." Father picked up his cup and quietly sipped his matcha. "Can you wait here while I go grab something?"
"Mhm, okay." Father got up from his seat and left the kitchen. "I wonder what he's getting?"
Minutes later, Father came back with a book in his hand. The book had a weird looking lock with an imprinted "M" on it. "This recipe notebook was given to me by your mother when I adopted you on that day nine years ago. She instructed me to give this to you if you were to ever aim to be a patissiere one day."
I couldn't believe it. Did Mom predict that I would follow the same path she and Dad took. Or did she predict that I would come looking for them by becoming a patissiere? Either way, I was happy. I took the recipe notebook from Father's hand and was going to open the book when I noticed something was missing: the key. The key to the lock was missing.
"Did Mom say anything about the key?"
"Well, she did give me this envelope." He handed me the envelope and as I started prying the envelope open, Father stopped me and said, " 'Don't open it until you enter St. Marie Academy and meet your first sweet spirit' is what she directed."
"Oh...Wait, what's a sweet spirit?"
"You'll know when you meet one," Father smiled.
"I think I'd be freaking out and rubbing my eyes for a thousand times before believing that." Father smiled and laughed.
"Shall we go?"
I looked around the house once again, trying to remember my home and the family I lived with. When Mother and Yuki came out of the bathroom, we were ready to go. "Goodbye, my sweet home."
xXxXx
An hour or so later, we arrived. I knew that it would be difficult to separate from my family, but the feelings of finding my path, convinced me that everything was going to be okay and that no matter what, they will always be my family.
At last, it was time to say goodbye. Father helped fetch my luggage from the car trunk while Mother, Yuki, and I got together for a 'family hug'.
"You're not forcing yourself to do this, right?"
"No, I'm doing this for myself, Mother. So, you don't have to worry so much, okay?" I guess Mother still have that lingering bit of concern leftover from that night's talk.
"Mhm, if that's your final answer, then I'll do my best to support you, Keiko." Mother leaned forward and gave me a hug. Just the warmth of her embrace made me homesick, even though I haven't left them yet. Slowly, I broke away from her to prevent feelings of heartache from resurfacing. I wanted our final moments together as a family to be happy, not dismal.
"Keiko, you'll definitely visit soon, right?"
"Yeah. I'll come home as soon as I can," I promised. Looking at Yuki for the final time, I could see that the negativity lurking in her eyes were slowly replaced with the feelings of excitement to see me again.
After I said my goodbyes to Mother and Yuki, Father came forward and slowly stroked the top of my blonde hair, which at that time, had been tied up into a ponytail. "I hope you learn many things like I did during my time at this school. Don't over work yourself and come home if you need us. We'll be their for you anytime, so have fun, 'kay? And while you're at it, go find yourself a sweet spirit. It'll be lots of fun, I guarantee." Father cheered, giving me his last bit of encouragement.
"Yeah, I'll do that."
xXxXx
With confidence, I stepped past the front gate and waved my family a last goodbye. "Okay, here we go..."
I didn't know if this was real or not, but the fact that I was going to be baking in a castle-like school building from today onward, made me quiver with excitement. "This is gonna be so FUN!" I
cheered, punching my hand into the air. Suddenly, from the corner of my eyes, I saw a statue of what seemed to be a...Fairy Queen? The Fairy Queen wore a dazzling dress that perfectly matched her gentle smile. With an elegantly sculpted silver spoon in her hands, the Queen stood overlooking the whole campus.
"Why would there be a statue of a fairy in this school?" As I thought for a moment, I realized that she must be the Queen of the sweet spirits. "Wow, then the sweet spirits Father talked about must be real."
"That may be right, if you believe the legend."
"Legend? What legend...? No way! Was that a sweet spirit speaking?"
"Hahahaha! Nope, I'm a human just like you." A girl with long, blood orange hair appeared next to the statue. She looked about my age and she really was a human.
"Oh, ahahahaha, sorry!" I apologized, laughing at my silliness. "I'm Keiko Andou, and you are...?"
"Hi, I'm Shylae Fujihara, your roommate, and I've come to fetch you. Nice to meet ya!"
"Nice to meet you, too," I smiled, feeling ecstatic that I've made my first friend.
"Alright then, let's go tour the school together before the bell rings! Oh wait, you need to put down your luggage first. I'll show you to the dorm then, shall we?"
"Yeah, let's do that."
As we toured the school, Shylae told me more about the legend of the sweet spirits. "If you meet a sweet spirit and he or she becomes your partner, your dream of becoming a patissiere will come true," is what Shylae said while leading me to my first class.
"Does that mean they will make me into a patissiere? That'd be AWESOME?" I said, "I hope I meet one soon."
~~ 5 Minutes before the first class ~~
"Wow...I feel like a real patissiere just wearing this." Stretching out my sleeves, I began to wonder about the many adventures I might encounter. "Maybe I can do this."
"Better hurry, Keiko!" a voice called behind me, which was probably my classmate.
"Yeah, I will!" I replied, closing up my locker and rushing to catch up to the others.
When I stepped into my first class, the cooking room, I couldn't believe if I was dreaming or not. The thought that I'm actually standing in this grand scale kitchen was too hard to believe. Too amazed with my surroundings, I did not notice the small, blue butterfly flying outside the glass window.
"I wonder if she's worthy of being my partner?" the little, blue butterfly wondered.
I walked up to the front of the classroom and joined my classmates.
"Before we start, we shall have Andou-san demonstrate her skills," the teacher, Shizuoka-sensei, announced. "If Andou-san can awe the whole class with her dessert in the specified time of one and a half hours, then she shall join the A-Group."
"No way...she's THE Andou," one whispered.
"I wonder if she's as skillful as her Father?" another whispered.
Uh oh. It's only the beginning of my adventure and a problem has already occurred. Of course, it's not like I haven't baked before. So it shouldn't be that bad...right?
"Is there a particular type of dessert you would like me to make for you?" I inquired nervously.
"How about something with apple jam?" a classmate suggested, glancing my way.
"I approve," Shizuoka-sensei nodded.
"Apple jam...well, it's a jam so..." I tried to remember my past experiences with jam, but all I could recall was the days when Father made the anko paste for his Strawberry Daifuku. Maybe I can try cooking down the apple with some sugar like how Father made his anko and spreading them between a vanilla sheet cake."
"The time starts now."
Without giving it a second thought, I rushed around the kitchen gathering together all the ingredients needed to make the sponge cake. Sponge cake was easy to make, since I've made it many times before. When the batter was finished, it was ready to be poured into the sheet pan.
"You have 30 minutes left!" Shizuoka-sensei called.
Out of time, I pushed the pan into the preheated over and ran to the fruit counter. There were many different kinds of apples lying in front of me and most looked amazingly sweet and delicious. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the tart apples lying next to a batch of Fuji apples, which if you didn't know, were my favorite. "Apples...Granny Smith or Braeburn? Which should I use?" I wondered. Both apples were tart and excellent to help contrast the sweetness of the Brioche.
"23 minutes!"
Frustrated, I decided on the Granny Smith apples and grabbed all rest of the ingredients while I was at it. I snatched a round cake pan from one of the cabinets and placed it directed over the stove top. Then, I threw in the granulated sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel. In a rush, I cored, washed, and chopped the apples and threw everything into the sauce pan. I turned the heat on and prayed that time would be at my side for once.
"Mmmm...this smells so good. The smell of caramelized sugar wafting through the classroom is just...woooow." I couldn't help but smile when I heard this comment coming from my classmates.
"I'm glad they enjoy this."
As the jam was being prepared, the cake was baked. I pulled the cake out of the oven and carried it to the counter beside me to cool..
"Why did you use lemon peel in your jam?" Shizuoka-sensei questioned, walking towards me.
"Well, I thought the contrast of the sweet sugar with a tart background was a nice combination. And also, in the past, my Father used to make strawberry jam with lemon zest in it, which tasted so good, so I decided to add it in my apple jam."
"I see. So did you use the Granny Smith in hopes of balancing out the sweetness of the sugar in the jam and the cake?"
"Yes, that was the whole point."
When the jam was done, I poured it into a shallow bowl sitting on top of an ice water bath and waited it to cool. As the jam cooled, I worked on the sponge, slicing the cake in half.
"15 minutes!"
In a hurry, I poured the room temperature jam onto the first half of the cake. Then, I topped it off with the second half. Slowly and carefully, I evened up the sides and divided the cake into ten pieces. Lastly, as a simple decoration, I sprinkled the slices with confectionery sugar and a sprig of mint for each.
"Time's up!"
"Phew. Made it just in time," I sighed in relieve.
I moved away from the counter and waited for Shizuoka-sensei to take a bite. While she took her bite, I heard the many compliments my classmates gave as they took their bite.
"It's perfect, Kashino-san. I can't find a flaw in this," she said after a moment of silence. Though the teacher gave me her approval, I heard an uncertain tone in her voice.
Suddenly, a boy with silver hair reaching his shoulders came up to the front and pointed to my apple petit four. "May I try I this?"
"...sure," I answered, hesitantly.
As soon as I said that, chatters from my classmates scattered through the room.
"Quiet down!"
Nervously, I looked at the boy for a response. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke.
"The cake is too dense and not fluffy enough. The jam is too loose and the lemon peel is overpowering the flavor and texture of the apples. Over all, the cake is just average."
"Guh..."Why did he have to criticize so harshly? Arrows shot through my body as his criticisms continued.
Tension filled the room and all eyes laid on me. "Oh, what should I do now?"
"Ahem, A-Group, since Kashino-san has met the standard I've set for her, she will be joining your group," Shizuoka-sensei revealed.
"But-" Before the silver haired boy could complain, another boy with sea blue hair, slightly taller than his friend, covered his mouth and gave Shizuoka-sensei and understanding "Yes."
xXxXx
As night fell, I began to wonder if the world of pastry was really where I belonged.
"Are you going to accept defeat?"
"Who's there?" I looked around but saw no one.
"Are you okay with being called 'average'?" The voice continued to talk, ignoring my question.
"No...of course not," I sighed, finally giving up with the search.
"Then, why don't you go prove yourself again?"
"No. Nothing works! There's no way that I can make professional desserts like my Father when he was my age. I'll never be like that," I wailed, crying and shouting like a wild animal.
"Were you enjoying yourself when you made that apple petit four?"
"I...yeah. Even though being stared at felt stressful, the process of making the petit four felt relaxing and fun. You could say that at that time, I wished time would stop for me."
"Isn't that enough then? Go give it another try!" the voice asked, more encouraging this time.
I wanted to say that giving up is what I want to do, but then dad's and mom's assuring hugs before we parted, changed my mind. "Yeah, I think I'd like to do that."
"Then you shall." This time, the voice changed into a glowing blue butterfly that seemed to emit lights of optimism.
"Thank you."
Me: So...how was that? Enjoyed it? Please comment. I wish to know if this story is good enough to be continued. The last story was deleted because no one reviewed so, yeah.
Kashino: Now you're just forcing them to review even if they don't.
Me: Wh-...sorry. I guess you don't have to, but at least one review is enough. *umph* I'll be real happy if that happened. Oh yeah, just putting it out there, not sure if it's going to happen but, I was thinking of updating one chapter a week, like I did this time. So yeah, see ya next week?