I Made A Choice (Yumeiro Patissiere 夢色パティシエール)

Chapter 20: Growing Together

Ichigo skipped happily down the street, her Sweets Spirit humming beside her.

"Vanilla, today has been amazing! All this yummy chocolate makes me feel spoiled!" Ichigo exclaimed happily.

"This last one is going to be soooo worth it!" Vanilla cheered.

Ichigo stopped skipping and looked farther down the street. Squinting, she was able to make a structure out in the distance.

"There!" Ichigo pointed, "Vanilla, you're going to have to stay in my bag while I'm in line so you don't get lost like I did earlier."

"Okay!"

Ichigo raced down the street to the line in front of the stall for her long awaited chocolate. It was a bit of a long line as some people were asking questions to the Chocolatiers. She was probably going to do the same if she didn't receive the chocolate first.

I hope this doesn't take too long because Kashino will get mad at me, Ichigo thought.

Honestly, Kashino wasn't all that bad. They were now more than just teammates. They were now friends. Ichigo felt that she could rely on the Three Princes alot and she wouldn't want to spend her next two years of schooling with anyone else.

Ichigo never thought she'd be able to call Kashino her friend. Almost immediately when they met he embarrassed her in front of the whole class as well as yelled at her for being stupid. She hated him then, but not anymore.

The line moved up a bit as Ichigo smiled to herself and stretched out her arms and faced the morning sun. This was going to be the best two years of her life!

Ichigo turned back to the line, just a few more minutes and she would have her chocolate. Hmm...would it taste better than Kashino's chocolate?

Ichigo was now third in line and the chocolate smelled amazing. Almost there.

The chocolatier handed his customer a bag of tiny chocolates with a smile. The customer thanked him and began to take out money from her wallet.

The bright sun that Ichigo had savored just a moment ago disappeared and was replaced with a dark shadow. Ichigo and those around her looked up at the sudden brightness change, but they never saw what had covered up the sun before-

BOOM!

In just a few seconds, wind rushed through the air, screams left people's mouths, the chocolate booth collapsed, and Ichigo was thrown off her feet and flung multiple feet back.

Ichigo's body bounced once as she was met with the cement floor and rolled a few times. She yelled in pain as the skin on her hands and knees were scratched off of her body. In an attempt to open her eyes, gray dust and debris blocked her vision. Her heart beat rapidly in panic, unsure and scared of what just happened.

Using her forearms she pushed her upper body off the ground, but as she was doing so the sound of a firearm went off. She screamed in fear and laid back down on the ground and covered her head.

Louder, harder, the shots came toward her.

Ichigo felt her eyes well up and tears begin to stream down her face, sobs escaping her mouth. She couldn't see anything, her mind was in panic, her heart racing. All she could feel was fear.