~x~
The A Group finishes 5 minutes early. We finish a few minutes after them.
Then... it's time for the judging.
"Your sweet will be judged in four categories: theme, appearance, taste, and creativity," The judge announces.
I bite my lip, as the judge tries the A Group's sweet. It's a chocolate swan, with its wings outspread. The sweet is breathtakingly detailed... every feather is executed carefully, every detail done to perfection.
Finally, he looks up. "I'm honestly amazed. The chocolate is tempered to a smoothness that even chocolatiers struggle to achieve. The sculpture is stunningly beautiful, filled with life and beauty. This is truly the work of a professional."
He then scores them in every category.
Theme: 92
Appearance: 97
Taste: 96
Creativity: 90
Total: 375
I can barely believe my eyes... their scores are all breathtakingly high. Do we still have a chance?
The judge examines our sweet. We baked two cakes. One illustrates a bird with a broken wing. It's made out of dark chocolate, and decorated with intricate swirls of white chocolate.
The other shows the same bird, yet it's wing is not broken. It's made from chocolate and strawberries, with the light essence of green tea and rose petals.
The judge frowns noticeably. "Compared to your competitor's sweet, yours is surprisingly simple. Is there a reason for this?" He looks expectantly at us.
I step forward.
"The first bird is made solely from chocolate. If you look closely, you can see that its wing is broken. Although the bird is beautiful, it cannot fly."
"The second bird is made from chocolate, strawberries, green tea, and rose petals. We all worked together to make it. As you can see, its wing is untouched."
"While each one of us is unique, without each other, we're incomplete. Just like the bird with the broken wing, we cannot truly show our potential."
"In the end, it's others that complete us. Together, we bring out the best in each other. Together, we bring light into each other's lives. We are all birds, but it's the people around us that teach us how to fly."
The judge nods. "Very well, I will taste your sweet."
We all wait as he tries the cakes.
Finally, the judge looks up. "At first glance, your sweet appears to be much simpler than the A Group's sweet. This led me to believe that your technique, too, was lacking." My heart falls.
"However, you proved me wrong. The ingredients you used are all so different... I would never have thought to put them together. However, they compliment each other perfectly. The sweetness of the chocolate is balanced flawlessly with the tartness of the strawberries. The green tea and rose petals aren't very strong, but their impact is astounding. Together, the four ingredients make me feel like I'm a bird in flight, soaring higher and higher into the clouds."
He enters the scores one by one. The audience is silent, knowing that the four simple numbers will change everything.
Theme: 94
Appearance: 90
Taste: 96
Creativity: 98
Total: 378
"Team Amai wins!" The judge announces.
The audience bursts into applause. But the victory means nothing to me.
Because now that the competition is over... something even greater is going to happen. Something that I would trade a thousand victories to have.
I'm going home.
~x~
If you think this story is over, I'll tell you now that you're wrong.
Finally, I'm onto the interesting part. Here's when the fun stuff begins... xD
I'm so excited to write the next chapter! Trust me, this story is not going to go the way you expect it to... :D
So please bear with me until the next update!
~x~
Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! ;A; You guys make me so happy... I cannot thank you enough! ❤
1. rosette-rose
2. Marianneanimelover
3. Cally
4. Allora22701
5. TsunaMoe
6. Sparklybutterflies1
I'm endlessly grateful to you guys~ QAQ Thank you so much!