CHAPTER 3

         Shifting my gaze towards my clock on my nightstand, I paled considerably at the sight of the time displayed: '4:00 A.M.'

         Biting down on my lip, my head dropped. Great, when did it get this late...? I was just about to shut off my laptop when my gaze landed on what exactly I'd been re-watching.

         Yumeiro Patissiere episode 36.

         Ugh. There was no way I could just stop it there!

         Before I could dare click the next episode and watch it, a sense of guilt washed over me. I knew that if I didn't go to sleep now, it'd be suicide on me later on in the day, but I couldn't just wait until tomorrow! It was right there, the next episode...

         ...It'd be fine if I watched just one more episode, right?

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          I burst through the door to my homeroom classroom, breathing hard, "Dammit I'm late!"

          As I looked around, I came to realize no answer was there to greet me. Usually, Suzuki-sensei would kill me on the spot for being late—unless of course, we had a substitute today...

         I blinked rapidly when I took in the fact that nobody was even paying attention to me walking in. More than that, they were still chatting animatedly with their friends as if class wasn't going to start anytime soon. I turned my head to the front desk and noticed that a teacher wasn't even there to begin with. My attention averted upwards to the clock hanging on the wall that read '7:40 A.M.'

         "What?! I have a whole freakin' twenty minutes? Dammit, Kyo! Always tricking me to come early!" I cursed under my breath as I stomped to my seat in the back corner of the class near the window; aka the seat every anime main character sat at. I put in my earbuds, grumbling about my annoying sibling and how I had rushed myself this morning due to him yelling that I was late and would miss the bus, before resting my head onto my desk. I shut my eyes to get some rest before class started, the calming sound of music resounding in my ears.

          "Good morning, Mi-chan!"

         I raised my head to find that annoying girl from yesterday standing at the foot of my desk, a big smile slapped onto her baby face. "Ugh, it's just you..." I murmured, resting my head back down and closing my eyes.

           "Mean, Mi-chan!" she cried. "And I'm in your class, don't act as if you don't know me!"

         What? Was I in her class too? It wasn't like we'd ever talked before so why was she acting extra friendly now?

         Deciding it would be best, I didn't open my mouth to reply to her and simply ignored her as I should.

          "Mi-chan! Mi-chan! I'm talking to you! Are you even—" I increased the volume of my music— Saintly Territory from UtaPri, of course— so that I could hear her no longer. Peering out the window next to me, I yawned tiredly.

         I was so going to get Kyo back for this...

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         "Hoshino! Finally! We meet again!" Kazuya grinned once I entered through the clubroom door.

I walked right past him. "Stay away from me, Tamaki-wannabe."

          "Aha..." He laughed nervously as I found a seat at the table, and pulled out a manga from my bag. "Aren't you going to ask why I'm so happy?"

         "Hmm... did you finally get into anime?" I suggested with a yawn, already knowing the answer to that.

          To my surprise, he answered with, "Yes."

          My head whipped towards him so fast my neck almost snapped, my eyes sparked with extreme disbelief and excitement, "Really?"

         A tad freaked out at my reaction, Wannabe held up his arms. "...No."

          My expression instantly darkened at him. Did he just make fun of my love for watching anime? Ugh... May you taste the wrath of Gasai Yuno, you anime hater...

          "M-more importantly—" Wannabe began, uncomfortable under my glare but I cut him off.

          "Nothing could be more important than anime."

         He flinched and bowed his head. "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry, Hoshino..." He looked up at me, pouting, "I knew you wouldn't listen to me otherwise so..."

         I rolled my eyes. Okay, maybe that was true. But that still didn't give him a reason to mock anime like that.

         With a sour look, I waved my hand around dismissively. "You're forgiven. Continue."

         Happily, Wannabe's face lit up and he shortened the distance between our faces. "We've got a request!"

          I raised an eyebrow. A request...?

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         "So..." Wannabe began once every club member was gathered, and an unknown girl with glasses walked in. She arrived at the front of the room, next to him, her face portraying her anxiousness.

          "I-I-I'm Yamazaki Ch-Chiho and I'm in th-the Middle School Division... Um...m-my request is..." she stammered fearfully while the rest of the club members all waited for her to spit it out.

Unlike them, I was off in my own world, using my phone in the corner of the spacious room, not wanting to get involved in whatever they were doing. It seemed like it would be a lot of work so there was no way I'd get mixed up with it. I had better things to do.

          Like watch anime.

        "I-I-I need baking lessons!" she finally sputtered out.

         "Baking lessons?" Saki repeated and the blonde nodded her head.

          "Um... I-I want to make cookies...but I'm not that skilled at it...and I heard that this club was really good at helping others..." she continued in a really quiet tone.

Hinata tilted his head. "So... you want us to help you learn how to bake some cookies?"

        "Oh...uh...yes! If you could..."

         "As long as you have a request, we, the Humanity Club, will help you out until you are satisfied with what you've done!" Wannabe cheered. "We accept!"

          Everyone smiled at one another other, as if summoning a collective determination. All the while I spared them a you've-got-to-be-kidding me glance.

         I'd never seen anyone get so excited when it came to baking.

        Well, except Shinomiya Natsuki... And we all know just how that ends...

         "That includes you too, Hoshino," Wannabe called out to me once he saw my look and I snorted.

          "That's impossible. I'd rather stay here and watch you all fail in teaching her how to bake. Then if it's that bad, and you guys keep failing at whatever the hell requests we get, we'll get disbanded and I could be bailed out of here!" I began chuckling malevolently to myself at the idea. I'd be able to go home after school!

         I missed it! My freedom!

         I smirked. I'd sabotage them if I had to.

         "Is she alright?" Hiro whispered to the group around him.

         Yuji laughed. "Probably not~ She looks like she's ready to summon the devil."

         My attention jerked towards him. "I look like I'm summoning the devil?!"

        He flinched, obviously not expecting my happiness. "...What?"

         I put a hand to my chin. "Hmm... if it's summoning something sadistic and scary... I'll choose from all the yandere's I can think of. Yuno, Kuroha, Toma..." I turned to him with a frown, expectant with an answer. "I can't choose... Which set of torture do you all prefer exactly?"

          Everyone's faces paled significantly at my words. I cocked a brow. Did I say something strange?

         "H-H-Hoshino!" Wannabe grasped my shoulders and turned me away from the group, beckoning his attention towards the frozen middle schooler, "Don't scare off our guest!"

          I pushed his hand off me, looking away and crossing my arms like a child. "Fine... But if you picked Toma's you didn't even need to be that terrified. He'd still love you. Yuno's another story entirely though. She'd kill anyone except Yukiteru," I mumbled under my breath. Ugh, this is why I hated referencing animes in front of these people.

         "Anyways, there's no way I'm doing this," I said, flopping down on the couch and picking up my bag of chips to snack on. "Just forget that I'm here. Allow me to follow the path of the loner and otaku in peace and quiet."

          Wannabe sighed, "Oh how I wish I could, but I cannot." Sarcasm dripped with his voice and he held up a hand. "Are you good at baking, Hoshino?"

I merely shrugged at his question. "I make food for my bums of a family so I guess I'm alright."

He beamed. "Then all the more reason you do it!"

"Huh?" I gave him, and all the rest of them a look before scoffing, "I thought I was living in a democratic society? I thought it was for the people run by the people! Then how could you just force someone to cook if they don't want to?"

           "What the heck is she saying?" Saki's words threw me off and I glared at her.

          Before I could continue on with my pointless speech, a condescending voice laughed shortly behind me, "Nope, you're doing it."

         "Suzuki-sensei!" gasped a startled Hinata as the brunette walked in.

        "We agreed you'd join and had to participate right? You do know what happens if you don't right?"

         She sent me a cunning smirk and I scowled at her. My manga.

        I crossed my arms firmly. "That was for 'behaving,'" I pointed out, "If you want me to help them, I'll need two!"

         She returned my look, only uglier. "We'll talk about that after you do a good job. Though I really doubt you could."

         I sneered. I could never turn down a challenge. Especially with something as important as this on the line. "Please," I snorted, walking up and seizing Chiho's shoulder, "Don't underestimate our power! We, the Humanity Club, will help Chiho out until she is satisfied! Because TEAM is not spelt with an I!"

         "...I like your spirit but where's it coming from?" Wannabe commented but I ignored him.

          I would get two volumes of OHSHC if it was the last thing I do!

         Even if it means helping out this stupid club to accomplish that.

——————————————————

         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 strickened, 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 it being a fail. 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 sentence. 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 it finished baking and the cookies came out of the oven.

"The hell?" Hiro 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 awhile.

"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 given 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 an 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 that," 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 drowing— 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 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 slinging my bag over my shoulder, made my way towards to the doorway, suppressing yet another yawn. Though, before I could dare leave, Wannabe called out to stop me, "Wait, Hoshino! Club hours isn'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.