Ichigo's POV

"We'll definitely win the Grand Prix!" Ichigo shouted, suddenly passionate about a competition that she knew nothing about. Since Mari had placed her expectations on the team, and most thrillingly, Ichigo, she was determined not to let her down.

"It's not going to be so easy." Kashino interrupted. "With your current skill set, it's not possible to win the Grand Prix."

Ichigo frowned. "But-"

"He's right." Fumika stated, stepping in between the two. "I'm sorry Ichigo, but you still have a long way to go before there's even a possibility to win in the first round."

"I won this competition! I know that we can win if we try hard enough!"

"Ichigo..." Hanabusa said gently. "Yes, we will be able to win if we give it our all, but we need more than just that."

"The Grand Prix is tough." Andou added. "Effort alone won't bring you to the finals."

"Oh..." Ichigo murmured.

"You're being too happy over a small achievement like this." Kashino said, following the others as they walked away from the garden. "Although you've improved, it's far from the improvement that you need in order to win."

Ichigo stood there, stricken by their brutal honesty. "Why? I thought that I had finally become worthy of being a part of group A... why won't they let me in?"

Vanilla fidgeted. "Ichigo, they're being tough on you because they care about you! Don't you understand how they feel?"

"How should I know?" Ichigo shook her head, her accusing eyes staring right at Vanilla. "Vanilla, you're my partner! Shouldn't you understand how I feel? Shouldn't you be on my side?"

"Ichigo, you blockhead!" Vanilla shouted, clenching her fists. "Alright, I won't be your partner anymore then... I don't care anymore!"

"Vanilla..." Ichigo's lips quivered as she watched her fly away. "Why is this happening to me?"

Ichigo sniffed, her shoulders drooping as she slowly walked back to her dorm. Even though today had been such a good day, she had ruined it with her overconfidence. It was still unfair that no one had sided her. She had won the competition, so wasn't it only natural that she got a boost of confidence from that?  If it had been too much, they still could've given her leniency.
As she opened the door to the dorm, a voice called out to her. "Ichigo! I was just looking for you."

Ichigo hesitated, wiping her eyes before she turned around. Rumi was standing there, waving at her. Ichigo jogged to her side. "Oh, hey Rumi! Do you need me for something?"

"As a matter of fact..." Rumi leaned in, whispering, "There's someone here to meet you. They asked me to bring you over to them."

Ichigo tilted her head. "Who is it?"

"It's... a... secret~" Rumi grinned. "Come on, it's better if you see them in person anyway."

Ichigo watched Rumi curiously, walking behind her. Who was this person that Rumi was so excited for her to see?

"Come quickly Ichigo, we're going to the school's kitchen."

Again? Ichigo had just left there about half an hour ago because of the... competition. She didn't want to think about it.

Rumi threw open the kitchen doors, rushing towards a tall figure with blonde hair. Ichigo squinted at the figure.

"Henri-sensei?!"

~
Fumika's POV

Fumika huffed and stood beside Henri as they waited for Ichigo to run towards them. "Henri-sensei, I didn't know you were in Japan!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"I arrived yesterday and I came to visit the school today, I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier, I was busy." Henri explained. "I asked Fumika to ask you to meet me here."

Ichigo looked at Fumika with a questioning expression. However, it seemed as if she was still sensitive over what had just happened in the garden, as Ichigo didn't probe Fumika about it. "How long will you be staying here in Japan?" Ichigo asked.

"A while, most likely until the end of the Grand Prix. I have some business here." Henri informed.

Fumika rolled her eyes, knowing exactly the reason Henri needed to stay. she decided to just remain quiet about it.

"The Grand Prix? are you going to be watchin?" Ichigo questioned, getting excited

Fumika rolled her eyes. 'Forget just watching, he'll be judging all of us.'

"Yes, I plan to be there." Henri answered."Are you going to enter, Ichigo-chan?"

"Yes." Ichigo seemed in thought for a sec."Henri-sensei, is there anyway to improve faster for the Grand Prix?"

"Improve faster for the Grand Prix? If I had to say, just make sure you study the basics and prepare yourself." Henri advised

Ichigo nodded enthusiastically and excitedly, causing Fumika to sigh. "Oh that's right, Fumika, um, are you going to compete in the Grand Prix?"

Henri turned to Fumika who was behind him. Fumika glanced at Henri quickly before looking back to Ichigo."Who knows, only time will tell."

Ichigo nodded and left it at that. "Ichigo, we better hurry back to the dorm, We have to get ready." Rumi interrupted

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Bye Henri-sensei." Henri waved back as they walked out.

Fumika waited until Henri turned back to face her. He hummed. "Is there something wrong with you and Ichigo? She didn't seem to want to talk to you."

Fumika averted her gaze to the ground. "The team had a disagreement about Ichigo not being ready for the Grand Prix. I kind of told her that she still has a long way to go."

"Fumika." Henri started, disappointed." You know that Ichigo is sensitive about that because she's already not sure about her skills to begin with."

Fumika nodded."I know it wasn't right of me but I couldn't stop myself."

Henri sighed. "It can't be help, just find a way to apologize." Fumika nodded hesitantly. "Have you considered what we discussed?"

Fumika finally looked up and gave a determined nod. "Yes, and I wanna do it. After the Grand Prix, I'll carry through with the plan."

Henri nodded. "Good choice, I believe you'll be great." Henri assured.

Ichigo's POV

Ichigo gasped, stopping Rumi in her tracks. "What is it, Ichigo?"

"Rumi... isn't the project final tomorrow? We need to go buy our ingredients!" She rummaged through her bag, taking out her cell phone. "I'll call Fumika while you lead the way. I think that she hasn't gotten her ingredients yet either."

"Wait for a minute, I need to go back to the dorm to get my list of ingredients and some money. I'll grab your wallet for you." Rumi stated

"Okay." Ichigo agreed, dialing Fumika's phone number. She waited until Fumika answered. "Hello, Fumika? Rumi and I are going to buy ingredients for tomorrow. Can you come now?"

"Alright, I'll come. I've got one more ingredient to buy as well." Fumika said.

"Okay, please hurry!" Ichigo looked at the time on her phone. "I think the bus will come soon."

"I'm ready. I'll meet you guys there." Fumika replied.

~One Day Later~

"Alright, today we have a very special guest in our class. He's very busy, but he's kindly agreed to take part in our lesson today." Ameya-sensei stepped to the side, waiting as Henri walked into the classroom. "Everybody, welcome Henri-san into our classroom!"

The class erupted into cheers. Ichigo waved excitedly when Henri bowed, eyes glancing towards group A. He smiled. "I look forward to seeing everybody's creation. I'm sure that there will be some interesting and creative sweets being made here today."

"That's Henri Lucas! I heard he's one of the top chefs in the world." A girl declared in the table behind Ichigo.

"I also heard that!" Another student offered. "Wasn't he one of the teachers in the Paris branch of Saint Marie?"

"I never knew..." Ichigo said, noting the conversation. It seemed that there were still many things that she didn't know about Henri.

"Alright class, settle down, settle down. Today we are finishing our final projects, which was assigned a few days ago. I expect everyone to have their recipes and ingredients ready for today. You may begin."Ameya-sensei stated

Everyone started working on their projects as Henri and Ameya walked around. Ichigo quickly brought out her chestnut flour. She had to find a grinder to make this from her gathered chestnuts, and they had small lumps in it. She hoped that they would be gone when she mixed the ingredients together.

Ichigo planned on making a strawberry shortcake with chestnut flour as the base.

As Ichigo finished her creation, she looked over at her team's cakes. Kashino was making a chocolate cake with a shiny glaze, Andou was making matcha roll decorations balls, Hanabusa was making a cake that was covered in candy roses, and Fumika was making a cake with a galaxy glazed design that looked like space and had cream surrounding the bottom of the cake.

Ichigo gazed at all of their cakes in admiration. They all seemed so beautiful and unique in their own way.

Ameya-sensei walked towards Ichigo. "Ichigo, it seems like your cake has been completed. Please bring it forwards so that we can grade it."

"Okay, here," Ichigo brought out two plates of her cake. "I created a strawberry shortcake, but instead of wheat or grain flour, I used chestnut flour to make the taste different. I collected the chestnuts from school grounds and ground it up to make the flour."

Ichigo watched nervously as the two tasted her her cake, she hoped that the chestnuts have been fully grounded.

"It's very interesting. The flour does clash a little with the sweetness of the strawberry, but nevertheless it is still a balanced cake." Ameya-sensei mused. "82 points."

"It does have a rather... strange taste, and the egg whites seem to have been beaten until they became too stiff. Along with that, the cream is rather bland." Henri judged. "However, it's unique, and incorporating chestnut flour into the cake is a great idea. 75 points."

"Oh, okay..." Ichigo uttered, disappointed at their rather low scores.

"Ichigo, your creativity score is 83, so your final score is a total of 80." Ameya-sensei announced.