Part of Your World (Sano Manjiro x Mermaid!Reader)

Act 8 - Grand Feast

"Now this is a vacation!" Baji cheered in glee before he downed another bottle of cold beer. He finished with a satisfied sigh was about to reach his chopsticks for another meat from the griller until a hand smacked his, causing him flinch his hand back. "Ah! Emma!" He exclaimed, brows furrowed as he glared at the blonde lass.

"Don't Emma me, you were hogging all the newly cooked meat and not leaving some for the rest!" She scolded sternly. "And eat the vegetables for pete's sake!"

"Pete..." A sniffle was heard beside Baji. Both looked and saw Chifuyu, face all red and eyes on the verge of tearing up, frowning as he stared at the bottle of beer in his hand. "Pete...Pete...Peke...Peke J..." As the name of his beloved cat passed his lips, the young lad sobbed uncontrollably which startled Emma.

"W-What happened to him?" She asked, half-concerned, half-weirded-out.

Baji sighed as he fetched some water for his vice-captain. "Don't mind him. He's a cry baby when he's drunk, and it didn't help being away from his cat for this long." He explained. He quickly switched his friend's beer bottle with a cup of water and immediately told him to drink to sober up before he could bawl his eyes out.

Emma could only sigh before she looked around the setting of the patio tonight. Since her other older brother and his friends already arrived, they've decided to do a do-over of the party that they had when they arrived. She remembered how busy they were prior to tonight — the girls along with Takemichi, Draken, Sanzu, and Hakkai went to the market to buy a massive amount of groceries, particularly meat; Izana's group went to buy drinks, charcoal, and other necessities for the party; the rest of Mikey's group were tasked to set up the patio and prepare the utensils for grilling and eating, but mostly to keep Mikey company since he was still on 'time-out' as per Izana's words.

It was challenging to make the two parties work together due to their background of being rival gangs back in their early teens — and just to clarify, it's a healthy and friendly rivalry between Toman and Tenjiku, not the bloody and violent one that they had with Mobius and Valhala. Despite them being on a permanent truce, they still couldn't resist on teasing and annoying the other party. Just a while ago, Emma had to bonk the heads of the Haitani brothers and Kawata twins as they compete on who were the best siblings, again. She, along with the only responsible adults in the group who were Kakucho, Draken, and Mitsuya, got everbody to get in line and eventually got everything done by the time the sun went down.

Their labor came into fruition as they savored the complementing taste of a freshly grilled meat and a sip of cold beer. It's amazing how food and alcohol, accompanied by a killer mix tape in courtesy of the younger Haitani, had liven up the atmosphere of the place.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

Emma groaned as she looked at the some of the boys at the far end of the patio cheered loudly as they watched Mochi and Pah's turn on the drinking relay race they were having. Although it looks fun — the player had to drink a cup of beer then do one of those cup flipping tricks so they'd end up upside down before proceeding to the next — she knew that by the end of the day, these boys will be sprawled around the house, all passed out. Luckily, she already bought enough ingredients a while ago for the perfect hangover breakfast for all them, but it still doesn't erase the fact they were still a pain in ass for her to take care of.

"You can do it, Pah-chin! Show that loser who's boss!"

"Come on, Mochi! Beat that fatso!"

Peh shot Shion a deadly glare. "What the fuck you just say, dirtbag?!" He growled, the veins on his forehead already bulging.

"You heard me, stick-boy, or are you plain deaf as you are stupid?!" Shion barked back, showing the same annoyed face as the younger male.

"You wanna go?!"