The Humanity Club | ✓

20-1. The Sket Dan had more of a following

CHAPTER 20 (PART 1)

Cookbooks, recipes, kitchen utensils, you name it—Hiro was absorbing it all.

The only thing he wasn't taking so thankfully was my input to his cooking.

And the two-plus seasons of Shokugeki no Soma I was trying to shove down his throat.

"If you just ignore the awkward naked fan service and sexy gasps and moans after every bite of food I promise it's a great anime! It has delicious food porn, great characters and guffaw-worthy humour—"

"Naked?" echoed Yuji from behind me.

"Moans?" said Saki.

"Porn?" Wannabe blinked. Immediately, he lost all colour to his complexion and gaped. "H-Hoshino, w-we're way too young to be watching that kind of stuff!"

"Not that porn, idiot," I shot and sighed. "Food porn. You know, delicious food that makes even an overgrown man drool like a baby?"

Hiro rose his hat and propped it upon his face to shield it, frowning distastefully. "I'm not watching any means of porn."

"Oh, c'mon! We've been trying to help you for how long and your cooking is somehow getting worse," I reasoned, gesturing to Kouichi sprawled out on the couch from earlier's event of us heading to the cooking labs. "It even knocked out Kouichi when the guy taste-tested it!"

At the mention of his name, Kouichi woozily picked up his head from the couch, a handkerchief over his blue, nauseated face. "N-no, I'm fine."

Saki crouched down beside him and patted his shoulders. "It's okay, rest some more."

I rose my eyebrow since I proved my point and Hiro heaved a strangled groan, shielding his face in mortification yet again.

"So let's marathon it before Sunday," I said. "A show with over-the-top battles in which the characters face head to head, knives in hand, to determine the more masterly chef! One on one cook-offs where anything and everything can be wagered—"

"No," he refused, not even letting me finish. "We only have a day left anyway, and I have no hope. Just go ahead and pack your things."

"Oh don't worry about that, I already have," I assured him, gesturing towards the corner of the room where my leftover snacks and sprawled mangas were piled.

Hiro peeked through his hat to see my words true and groaned unappealingly not long after.

"But you've been trying despite that so I want to give you some hope," I went on. "I think you need to see some visual means of good food to awaken your inner Soma."

"Nothing can help me now."

I made a face. "You're so negative..."

"I'm being realistic."

My shoulders slumped and I hovered over him again. "Please?" I urged. "For me?"

Hiro stiffened. I pried off his cap so he had no choice but to look me in the eye—and at my earnest face of opportunity to drag him down into the world of anime—and soon enough, he grimaced. It only took a couple seconds before he averted his eyes and snapped, "Fine." I brightened but he immediately added, "But this food porn better be worth it."

I threw my arms into the air. "Woo-hoo! You're the best!"

Colour tinged his cheeks and incoherent murmurs left his mouth under his breath.