Hiroyuki grabbed a huge watermelon from Megumi's shopping bag. He cuts it evenly, then smashed it until the fruit changed its form into a liquid. Then, Hiroyuki takes out two bottles with the label 'Sodium Alginate' and 'Calcium Chloride' stuck on the bottle from Megumi's shopping bag. Seeing the label of those two bottles, Alice suddenly realized what Hiroyuki intended to make.

"You know spherification?" She asked as she could not hide her curiosity.

"Yes, I know," Hiroyuki replied while he added Sodium Alginate into the liquid form of the watermelon. "While I might not study molecular gastronomy deep enough like you, I still know a lot of tricks to entertain the children here."

He mixed those two in a bowl until they blended well. Then, he took another bowl and poured water into it. He added Calcium Chloride into it and mix it just like the first bowl. He didn't realize that what he did seemed to gain the attention of the children and Megumi as they stopped their doing now and decided to take a look.

"What are you going to make, Yuki-nii?" One of the children asked with a curious face. Hiroyuki gives him a mysterious smile as he answered, "Candy," making the eyes of the children sparkles in excitement.

"Really? But Megumi-nee said eating candy will make your teeth hurt." There are a lot of gasps as one of the oldest children suddenly said with a horror face, "I have heard from my friend who has a toothache. He said that a doctor will have to pull out your teeth with pliers forcefully. He said it hurts like getting bitten by a lion!"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!"

Hiroyuki and Alice snorted in amusement while Megumi sighed as they heard cries of horror from the children. As for the kid who told the story, he lets out a chuckle after seeing the reaction of the other.

"Stop teasing your siblings like that!" Megumi scolded the kid who just rubbed his back sheepishly. Megumi shakes her head in exasperation before she turned her attention back to the frightened children.

"Don't worry about what he said. As long as you don't eat sweets too much and brush your teeth every day, you don't have to worry about the toothache. Okay?" She gives a warm smile to the children who nodded hesitantly.

Hiroyuki decided to continue what he did before. After he mixed the water with Calcium Chloride, he started to dip a spoon of the first mixture into the Calcium Chloride solutions. To the children's surprise and awe, the one spoon of watermelon liquid didn't mix with the solutions. Instead, it creates a spherical clot at the bottom of the bowl with a pretty red color.

"It is so pretty." One of the girls whispered in awe. Hiroyuki smiles at her and said,

"Do you want to try?" The girl snapped her head and looked at him in excitement. Hiroyuki nodded with a smile, resulting in a squeal from the girl.

"Can we try it too, Yuki-nii?" The other girls looked at her with hopeful faces. Hiroyuki just shrugged.

"Sure. Just make a line." The sudden excitement of wanting to try the spherification created small chaos in the orphanage. They watched as their sisters tried to do the same as Hiroyuki and squealed and clapped when they were able to create the same beautiful sphere. After they used all of the watermelon liquids, Hiroyuki took out all of the spheres from the solutions and rinsed them in clean water.

"So, who wants to give it a try?" The children suddenly created a line without being commanded, making Hiroyuki snort in amusement.

"It is so yummy!"

"Yes, it is so sweet!"

There are a lot of similar phrases that the Children said in excitement until Megumi-san clapped to gain their attention again.

"Okay, everyone. You asked me before how to cook crispy tempura, right?" This was enough for Megumi to gain the children's attention. Hiroyuki just looked at them with a satisfied smile and said,

"It is very easy to make children happy, isn't it?" Alice nodded as she watched the children with astonished expressions.

"Honestly, it is just a pure watermelon. I didn't add anything to change the sweetness in it. But since it took a different form, they still ate it with amazement. The sensation when they chewed the sphere and it burst the watermelon, I bet that is what really makes the children amazed." Then, he turned his attention to Alice.

"Can you imagine what if I change the watermelon into the ingredients which have stronger flavor? Imagine you eat a bowl of rice with a spherification of… Nori?" He muttered while looking at Alice playfully. Alice's eyes widened at the realization of the idea.

Hiroyuki feels bad for Soma, as he basically told Alice how Soma beat her in the future. But he shrugged it off as he remembers Soma is famous for his creativity, so he will be alright.

"Let's create something more for the children," Hiroyuki said as he took out a box of strawberries from the fridge.

"Oh, what do you want to make again?" Now Alice paid full attention to what he did. Hiroyuki smiles and gives her a box of candies.

"' Pop Rock'?" She frowned a bit as she reads the label. Hiroyuki just smiles and said,

"Take a look at the ingredients part and how to make it." Alice did what he said and suddenly gasps in realization.

"It contains carbon dioxide sugar? Is that why it is called Pop Rock? Because it will create a sensation like popping inside your tongue?"

"Good answer. Now, look at this." Hiroyuki melts a bar of chocolate and places it into a bowl. He dipped a strawberry into the melted chocolate for about ten seconds, then dipped it once again into the Pop Rock for the same time. Alice nodded in appreciation as she saw what Hiroyuki did.

"When sugar with carbon dioxide melts, usually because of having contact with moisture like our tongue, the carbon dioxide gas is released, resulting in a popping sensation that is felt in our mouth as we eat it. But the oils and the fats inside the chocolate would not trigger the melting process, thus the popping reaction would still be there until someone eat it. You have a creative mind, Yuki-san."

"Thanks. Now, I will cool it down until the children finished what they are doing right now. These will be their desserts after they have their dinner. Imagine, on a summer night like this, you have a cold strawberry dipped into melted chocolate. But when you eat it, you will fill a sudden pop inside your mouth, just like a firework." Hiroyuki nodded in satisfaction.

"You know, if you joined Totsuki, you would reach something you could not imagine." Alice suddenly said. However, Hiroyuki rejected the invitation without hesitation.

"No, thanks. I will pass." Leaving Alice dumbfoundedly.

"Why? With your cooking ability, you could dominate entire Japan's culinary business. Totsuki can help you reach that." Alice tried to convince him. Unfortunately, Hiroyuki is not that interested in joining Totsuki.

"Then, can you at least tell me the reason?" She asked desperately. Hiroyuki took his time to think before he replied,

"Just like what your grandfather said, Azami Nakiri is making a move toward Totsuki right now. What your grandfather didn't tell is, he is already that close to Totsuki, already having allies inside Totsuki management. If he contested the ownership of Totsuki from your grandfather, it would create chaos inside Totsuki's management, and chaos inside Totsuki will shake the stability of its ally's business.

And if the worst case happened, Azami Nakiri will take over the Totsuki Group. You are Erina's cousin and know what he did to make Erina just like she is right now. So, you should have an idea about how Totsuki would be with Azami as the leader." Alice's face paled as she imagined what Hiroyuki said.

"Now, think about it. Why should I take your offer to join the unstable Totsuki and risk the Den? Honestly, Megumi-san and I are satisfied with our condition right now and didn't have a drastic plan to change it." Hiroyuki finished his talk as he sits on the chair in front of Alice.

"Is that all?" Alice asked as she tried to calm her breath. She looked like she has a hard time accepting what Hiroyuki said before. But since she asked, Hiroyuki decided to give her his real answer.

"Not at all. The real reason is, I just don't like Totsuki at all." He smiles as he gained a stupefied expression from Alice.

"What do you mean you don't like Totsuki?" She whispered. Hiroyuki didn't give her a direct answer. Instead, he decided to explain it to her.

"Do you know the hunger percentage in Japan is about 2.5 %? It might look like a small number. But if you calculate the population number of Japan, 2.5% means there are lack of foods for at least about three million people in Japan, including this orphanage.

Now you must be wondering what is the correlation between this and Totsuki, right?" Alice nodded as she straightened her seat, ready to hear the worst.

"My problem with Totsuki is, your school is the biggest contributor to the total of food wasted in Japan. Your school waste around twenty thousand tonnes of food in a year, just for what?

Just because you are the best culinary group in Japan? Just because you said you deserve the best food then you can waste the other foods? I could not find a more ridiculous reason than this.

Honestly, I don't know how your grandfather could sleep well after reading the report of how much food his school wasted in a year, considering the struggle with lack of food he experienced when he was a child." He sighed as he took his breath. He looked at Alice who didn't dare to look back into his eyes.

"Now, you can connect the dots. What would you do if you were me, growing up with a food problem that sometimes had to eat once a day, suddenly being offered by people who waste their food just because it wasn't created with the best ingredients?

If you still have a thought that I would accept the offer, then, you are not as smart as I thought before."

He said the last part, leaving Alice alone in her thought.

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Author note:

You can also read:

- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 48

You can read all of it at my Patreon account, pat_reon.com/zwolf1 (Without '_') Thank you for your support! :)