It was quite hard to watch as Saki attempted to comfort the poor middle schooler after her crispy black cookies came out of the oven. "Oh, c'mon. They don't look that bad," Saki said tentatively.

"Could you please stop lying to me, senpai," Chiho said, tearing up.

"I-It's not a lie! It's way better than what I could do, believe me!" Saki quickly assured her.

Though, unlike her, the boys assembled couldn't seem to open their mouths because they couldn't find anything to say.

"I could probably start a fire with these," Hiro discretely whispered to Yuji so Chiho couldn't hear.

"How did they even end up like that?" Yuji muttered.

He picked up one from the plate and unintentionally stumbled under the weight. It slipped from his fingers and hit the floor. All their faces paled when a tiny crater was left as a result.

"Th-there's a d-dent—" Hinata's shock was pushed aside when Saki's voice overlapped his.

"Seriously! I'm even failing my Home Economics class this term! You're great at this!"

Chiho, obviously still dubious, turned to the rest of them for consolation. The four boys stiffened, and immediately covered the evidence of what the cookie had just done to the ground.

"Y-yeah, Saki's right!" Hiro spoke up with a forced laugh, "Her cooking skills suck! She can't even make a sandwich without failing. She's a huge klutz too so if anything, you should be glad you're not as bad as her!"

Saki glowered at the teen instantly. "What was that, Hiro?"

Hiro froze for God knows what reason. "I was kidding, of course..."

"Yamazaki, it honestly isn't that bad!" Hinata interjected. Though, his meek smile had his true emotions written all over it.

The middle schooler sighed in defeat, "You all are horrible liars. At this rate, I won't be able to give it to..."

I spared her a glance after hearing the last of her sentences. Judging from everyone else's reactions, they didn't seem to hear it though. Hmm... 'Itsuki-kun...' A crush huh?

"No worries, Chiho-chan!" Wannabe comforted her with a charming smile; one enough to make me gag a little.

"Wannabe... please spare me the trauma," I pleaded and he gave me a confused look. Okay, sure it wasn't that bad but I didn't exactly enjoy cliché romcoms.

So what? A good mystery/thriller genre was so much better.

Oh, and reverse harems. Definitely reverse harems.

"Hoshino, you said you were good at cooking right? Teach her how to make them!" Wannabe said to me and I made a face.

"I'll pass."

"Please, Hoshino! You're our only hope!" he begged, giving me a cute puppy dog pout.

Okay, yes, it was honestly 'cute.' First time I'd admit this outside of anime or manga though. Must be his Tamaki-wannabe genes.

I awkwardly averted eye contact. "Whatever. I guess I could," I stated reluctantly and he cheered.

——————————————————

"So you do this. Then this. And don't forget to flatten this." I demonstrated to Chiho the basics as I mixed in and flattened a bunch of ingredients, working my quickest to get out of the situation.

"Wow she's quick," Yuji admired from behind me in awe.

"It looks like it's gonna taste good!" Hinata agreed.

It wasn't long before it finished baking and the cookies came out of the oven.

"The hell?" Hiro's jaw dropped, pointing incredulously at the freshly baked goods. "Are you sure you made this?"

"Why do you make it sound like it's a crime?" I asked with a frown.

"Because you'd usually think that someone with Saki's character was skilled but you are!"

I scowled at him. "Hey, that's pretty offensive. If Amano Ichigo can do it, why can't I?" They were lost to the Yumeiro Patissiere reference and I sighed for probably the fifteenth time today. "Well since I was usually at home most of my life, I took on the role of a baker and eventually learned the techniques for cooking."

"But it's amazing!" Wannabe gawked and I rolled my eyes.

I peered over at the girl who didn't say anything for a while.

"Is something the matter?" Saki asked her and she shook her head, staring towards the ground.

"I... I don't think I'm cut out for baking after all. Even if you guys help me, I'm hopeless." She feigned a smile and went on, "But, I would like to thank you all for trying though! I'm really grateful!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. These types of people are the ones who got on my nerves the most. They were nice, shy and good-willed, but gave up as soon as something got tough. Just like almost every anime heroine there ever was before, they get those words of encouragement from their friends.

As the girl kept stammering away, saying her thanks, I let out a sarcastic breath, "Jeez, go ahead and give up then. Nobody likes a spineless person like you anyway."

Everyone flinched at my words.

"Hey, Hoshino!" Hinata started.

"Wh-what are you trying to say?" Chiho asked.

I shrugged. "Exactly what I meant. The Humanity Club helps people that want to be helped. If you give up halfway, our job is over along with it. This was a waste of our time more than yours because I actually thought you'd at least follow through with this until the end."

"S-so what if I give up?" she said powerfully, anger swelling up in her words. "You guys even said that you'd help me until I felt s-satisfied, and I am. That's enough of a reason to stop here! I finally am able to realize I can't bake so I won't; I haven't wasted your time!"

I paused to send her an irritated look. "I can assure you you're not satisfied."

Her green eyes widened at first, then she glowered. "How do you know—"

"You wanted to give those cookies to somebody," I scoffed, "And now you're not so how can you be?"

She flinched, and her face blanched as if she were shocked that I had come to learn something like that.

"You don't have the right to come back and ask for our help if you're just gonna give up," I continued. "Like I said, you wasted our afternoon. I could've been watching a boatload of anime right now but no, I have to stick with a girl like you who can't even muster up the determination to see things through until the very end. You know what, thanks for being just as annoying as almost every other anime heroine out there!"

Chiho backed away from me, her jaw slack. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, reflecting her fright.

"Mi-chan, calm down," Saki said, grabbing my arm.

Bobbing my head, I took a moment to control my breathing. I discreetly looked behind me to see if Suzuki-sensei was still standing by the entrance. Fortunately, she was, her countenance mixed with awe. I smirked to myself. Score.

Now to seal the deal.

Wiping away any traces of my previous expression, I faced the middle schooler with a smile. "If you don't want to give up, don't. We, the Humanity Club, will see your request through until the end."

If this were an anime, I bet her eyes would be filled with stars. Clasping her hands together, the blonde cried, "Hoshino-senpai..." She bowed almost immediately. "I'm sorry! Even after all you've done for me, I was asking for too much when I quit! Please, help me out!"

She totally bought that crap, I snorted. All at once, all eyes shot to me and I flinched. I quickly straightened myself, putting on an ecstatic smile. "Of course, Chiho! Let's start again from scratch!"

"Hoshino-senpai...!" Chiho sniffled, eyes filled with tears.

I forced a laugh in response.

Suzuki-sensei better give me those two mangas for this.

——————————————————

"Even though she said something so inspirational... Even though she said something so kind... She's back to her regular self!" a saddened Wannabe sobbed to himself the next day, crouched in a ball at the corner of the room.

"'She,'" can hear you, you know!" I shouted, sticking a lollipop into my mouth. "Besides, acting that way towards the brat helped out the club, right? Well, I do admit helping her out was a complete pain in the neck. But since Suzuki-sensei promised me something out of it, and was watching it all happen, why not try to at least look like I cared, right?"

I kicked my legs out as I started watching an episode of Erased on my phone.

"Scary... How can someone who could cook like that be a devil?" Hiro asked Hinata who merely shrugged in response.

"It's a gift," I replied.

"More like a curse," Hiro retorted. "Why do we even have to have someone like you in this club?"

"Ask the old hag," I scoffed. My eyes widened and my body lurched upwards. "He's the killer?! No way! No way! Agh, he shouldn't have gotten into the car! He's going into the lake... Oh no, he's gonna drown. He's drowning— and it's the end of the episode. Great. Stupid cliffhangers."

"Really, why is she in our club?" Hiro groaned.

"It's not so bad," Hinata laughed.

Popping my earbud out of my ear, I smiled. "Aww, that's why I like you Hinata. You stay out of other people's business yet can be kind and outgoing. Plus, you know your place around me which makes it easier to talk to you."

Hinata smiled uncomfortably. "Was that last part necessary...?" he asked aloud.

Saki took that moment to poke her head in front of mine, wearing a wide grin.

"I'm really proud of you, Mi-chan!"

I immediately veered my gaze, making a face. "I barely did anything. I just put that girl in her place like I should, right?"

"But you still helped us!" Saki reasoned with a giggle. "You took part like an actual member! I'm so, so proud of you!"

Her unnecessary praise succeeded in summoning a flood of heat to my cheeks. I did it entirely for selfish reasons. Didn't she get that? "If you're proud of me, treat me to some anime merchandise," I said quickly. "Or otome games. Then maybe joining won't be so bad after all, and I might participate even more. So? Who's going to step up first?"

Saki weakly laughed and took a large step back. "Well..."

"Yeah right we're spending money on you," Hiro scoffed for the rest of them.

I clicked my tongue. I expected that, but... Cheapskates. As I reached for my bag, a sudden yawn overcame me. Tears swelled at the corners of my eyes and I shook my head. That all-nighter was finally starting to get to me, huh? "I'm just gonna call it a day. See ya."

I hopped to my feet and slung my bag over my shoulder. I made my way towards the doorway, suppressing yet another yawn. Though, before I could dare leave, Wannabe called out to stop me, "Wait, Hoshino! Club hours aren't over yet!"

I peered over my shoulder. Seeing that all their eyes were glued to me, as if in anticipation, made my stomach crawl from discomfort. I shrugged and turned to walk out anyway. "It's fine, right? We'll be seeing each other after school from now on anyway."

"Is she finally starting to accept it?" Yuji said after me with a laugh.

"I already know things are going to get so out of hand in the future," Hiro sighed. "Anime reference after anime reference everyday..."

I brushed aside their words as I left. They weren't wrong. That was all I went on about.

And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.