Squint for Cake [Sunuke|Ayumu]

[Kagetsu Yuii]

Lulled by the ballet of snowflakes and the bottle of wine she had downed before leaving Ayumu's residence, Yuii abandoned taking the practical but slippery rooftops in exchange for the slower safety of the streets. Even then, Yuii wobbled and teetered with every other step she took on the icy roadways as the totally not drunk Sennin forgot time and again to use chakra to steady herself. Every near fall sent her into a peel of distressed giggles and the insistence that she really didn't need any help as she struggled between the disconnect of created by alcohol and the embarrassment of almost wiping out in front of her boss. Luckily, they didn't have far to go before Yuii triumphantly pointed up the side of her precariously stacked 'apartment' building wedged between two newer and sleeker buildings.

"Here," she sang happily, scaling the building side with three leaps landing on her eighth story balcony with cat-like grace. The floor boards beneath the blanket of snow creaked in warning and sunk dangerously under their weight. Yuii dived for the less dubiously crafted doorway, lest the floor collapsed under their combined weight, and fidgeted with the handle to try and coax it open. Yuii wasn't much of a handyman, evident by the way the splintering wooden and glass sliding door stuttered and scraped noisily as she pried it open. The snow, her vigilant savour for the evening, had coated the peeling paint and uncleanable stains on the old woodwork, making the somehow excellent view of the Torre a much more interesting sight.

A bare five meters wide and half again in length, Yuii's apartment was neither large nor up to date. Her tatami mats had been switched recently, one of the pairs of doors that no doubt led to bedrooms had been painted and an effort had been made to patch several cracks that had formed on her whitewashed walls. There was nothing to speak of for decoration and her furniture was limited to practical weapons stands at the main doorway, a shelf of jutsu scrolls, a small electric heater and two seat couch and table that had the double duty as dining space. No television, just as she had said before. Someone had left the lights and it was warm enough her nose immediately began to run.

The blue haired woman ushered Ayumu in and slammed the door against the cold weather. "SuuUUuuuu-nuuuUuuu-keeee," she warbled, kicking one boot expertly across the room to the 'front' door then hopping to the couch to sit and pull off the other, "We're here to kidnap you for, uh, why was that? Squeentz? ...Is there anything to eat? I'm starviiinnggg!"

Tossing the other boot to its pair, she crawled across the floor to the small fridge tucked in the corner of her tiny kitchen. "Kogami, do you want not fancy alc- Oh no!", she began, followed by a horrified gasp and melting into the floor with despair, "The cake! It's gone!!?? Sunuke!? Where has the cake gone!?"

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Though at times Ayumu used the window of his apartment to make a quick descent down to the streets, doing so after each of them had consumed a bottle of wine was probably unwise. Fortunately, Ayumu had been of sound enough mind at that point to take the elevator. With how quickly he had consumed the wine, it hadn't hit him fully until after they had already reached the ground floor. Now they needed to make their way to Yuii's apartment in the snow while fighting against their inebriation. Ayumu had donned his jacket and a scarf to keep warm. The scarf served a duel purpose of comfort as well as partially obscuring his face. After all, the Raikage drunkenly walking around the town would potentially draw attention he didn't want.

Yuii was leading the way, walking unsteadily and nearly falling a few times on their way. Meanwhile, Ayumu followed closely behind, poorly disguising his snort laughs whenever she almost bit the dust. He had forgotten that she lived fairly close to the Torre Celeste, which meant that it took little time at all for them to reach her apartment. This was Ayumu's first time seeing it, so he was a little surprised to see that his Sennin was living in the kind of apartment Ayumu had lived in when he was a Genin. With her Sennin pay, she certainly could have afforded something a little more upscale. It made sense for her personality, when he thought about it. She was practical from what he had seen, and wasn't about to pay extra for unnecessary frills like curb appeal.

Ayumu's heart sank just a little as the woman who had just nearly slipped and fell a dozen times on their way there decided to jump up the side of the building. Somehow, she successfully managed to reach the eighth floor without taking a nasty fall. Ayumu could only guess that she had done this many times and was well practiced, even whilst tipsy as she was now. His eyes widened in fear for a moment as he spotted the sagging balcony before Yuii made it inside. Ayumu took a deep breath, unsure he was prepared to do this feat of acrobatics in his current state, but leapt up to a second story balcony and then a couple more on his way up before following Yuii's lead and hastily retreating into the door she had just opened.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ayumu peered over his shoulder to see the tower behind him as Yuii closed the door to cut off the cold air. He had to admit, the view of it was pretty nice. It probably brought up the value of these apartments, if only somewhat. Looking around the rest of the apartment, Ayumu's earlier assessment of Yuii's practical mentality was reaffirmed in his mind. She had very little in her apartment that wasn't something useful. There wasn't anything extra, only what she needed. Ayumu appreciated the idea behind it. He didn't really much care for his own decorations in his apartment. In fact, he hadn't chose any of them personally. He'd simply hired someone to make those decisions after his mother complained that he was making the Raikage's apartment look like a student's dorm room.

The lights and heat as well as Yuii's call of his name indicated that Sunuke was here. Yuii quickly cast aside her boots, but Ayumu was content to stay in all of his warm clothing for now. Ayumu took a few steps into the center of the apartment, still looking around. He picked a wall next to one of the weapon stands and inspected them curiously as Yuii began crawling around on the floor like a true drunk. It sounded as though she was about to offer him more booze, which he would have accepted if not for her sudden terror over a missing cake. Ayumu knew how she was about her cakes, so this was clearly a crisis situation for her. "They probably have shumthing you can eat at the bar," Ayumu said, covering his mouth when he realized he had slurred his words a bit.

Ayumu would look over at Sunuke and give a quick wave. The man was no doubt confused as to why Yuii was crawling around on the floor and the Raikage had shown up in their apartment. "Yo. We uh... may have had a few drinksh. Well. Does a bottle of wine count as more than one drink? It wash juss one bottle. Each, that is," Ayumu mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Hopefully he had made a strong impression on their first meeting, because this one wasn't going to be very impressive.

 

[Ko]

Snow. Why did this country snow so damn much?! It was bad enough begin in silk robes and traveling around the Lightning Country in the bitter winds. But how was he meant to travel outside of the house when it snowed half the time? Did people not hibernate like bears in this kind of temperature? It just felt all so weird and horrible to him. And definitely wasn’t the way he was sold this village by others. Sure it seemed like it was close to snowing on the day he arrived but he took for granted. Not that this place would snow half the time he was here!

Sunuke would be hiding in Yuii’s apartment, away from the cold and the sharp winds that would just through high skin with icy death. He was under blankets and drinking a mug of tea that he had just so happened to help himself to. A small cup of green tea wasn’t going to do anyone favours in the cold. No you needed a nice helping of tea to even temporarily forget that it was basically Ragnarök outside with the ice giants.

The Nanjirou sighed in relaxation as he was about to take another sip of his tea as he heard the door begin to rattle on the other side. The sword beside him began to agitate and spark to life as the resting spot next to him began to slowly rise in the air. It was poised to strike whatever was coming towards them.

The door opened, letting a blistering cold run through the house and causing the Nanjirou to feel the icy grip of the Jotün spirits run rampant around the room until Yuii shut the door behind her and her guest, which prompted the sword to drop to its lifeless state once more. She shouted towards him, before rushing to take her shoes off as the missing-nin quickly vacated his spot on the couch as she then crawled towards the fridge for her apparent cake she must have forgotten she had already eaten.

”Yuii you ate it earlier before you left. Something about lining your stomach or something like that. But I’m sure there may be something else in the fridge for you…” He wondered why Yuii didn’t remember eating her cake but maybe she wanted to literally have her cake and eat it.

Sunuke looked to see the Raikage waving a quick wave to him, causing the Nanjirou to jump slightly. Inside he had jumped out of the roof and into high heavens from the shock.

”R-raikage-san!” Sunuke exclaimed, before realising he should bow and quickly making the action. ”I-I’m sure I could make some more tea for you both if you need more drinks. It’s horribly cold out there… N-not that it’s a bad thing or anything!” Sunuke wasn’t really one for drinking alcohol, probably hadn’t even tasted wine in his life. But leaving at a young age.

”Might be best to warm you both up in this horrible weather.” He went to go set up a kettle just in case they wanted tea. ”I assume that your meeting on whatever you were doing was a success. Or maybe it should have been if it needed cake beforehand.”

MFT 540 words

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The cake really was gone! Yuii wailed and frantically checked the bottom cake tray and found it empty of any reserve rations but full of, sadistically, fresh vegetables instead. She slammed the little drawer shut her horror and disgust plain to see. Who even ate vegetables that weren't stewed and baked into a cake!? Those were food for rabbits, not something Yuii could eat!

"Why is this happening," She whined, shoving the refrigerator door shut and leaning against it dramatically, "All I wanted was a piece of cake, just one tiny piece to eat before I die of starvation! But nay, it is not meant to be!" Her knees gave way and with an irritating squeak of skin on plastic, she slid down the front of the refrigerator to make a pile of 'dead' Yuii. Her version of dead included muffled sighs and the occasional twitch to find a more comfortable position to be deceased in. In fact, she soon became so comfortable it seemed like an amazing idea just to stay right there and take a nap.

That was until Sunuke mentioned making tea. "Five sugars, please!" she called, flinging her hand up the show as many fingers. It was then it occurred to her that they had been on a mission of some sort and that tea had NOT been part of that. Earlier drama forgotten, Yuii snapped to sitting and stared bleary-eyed between Sunuke and Ayumu while she tried to remember what it was they were going to do. "We were here to do something..." she muttered under her breath, tapping her chin as her gaze narrowed in on Sunuke.

"Ah hah!" Yuii shot to her feet, teetered, caught her balance then attached herself to Sunuke's side. " We came to get you! Ayumu is going to treat us to drinks, Sunuke! And food! Good food at a good place. The right kind of food, not those yucky carrots and green things you keep buying! Right, Ayumu!?" The blue haired woman would try and tuck her freezing cold hands under any of Sunuke's available clothing openings while she spoke. He HAD said they needed to warm up. "Come and drink with us. We want you to come drink with ussss. Don't say no!"

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Upon noticing Ayumu, Sunuke turned into a stammering mess as he quickly bowed and offered to make tea for them. Ayumu sighed a little, scratching his head as he felt his face flush just a hint more than it already was. He'd hoped Sunuke wouldn't be too concerned about his title, given that the man wasn't actually a resident of the village. Ayumu wasn't his leader, after all. There were already enough people that treated him that way. Perhaps he was just trying to make a good impression, for Yuii's sake, and needed assurance that it wasn't necessary?

"You really don't have to do that... especially for tonight, maybe just pretend I'm not the Raikage?" Ayumu requested, hoping Sunuke would comply. "Just take notes from her on that," he said, gesturing to Yuii who was presently crumpled on the floor and holding up her hand to show how many sugars she wanted. Of course she had her tea with a load of sugar, this was Yuii after all. In her drunken OCD, she had completely forgot why they'd come here already. Ayumu wasn't quite that gone yet, but he figured he'd let Yuii figure out what she had forgotten on her own. A few moments passed before the light bulb clicked on in her head and her face lit up with realization.

"Ding ding~" Ayumu chimed as Yuii leapt to her feet with surprising quickness before nearly falling and latching on to Sunuke. Somehow the plan had become Ayumu treating them to drinks, something he was pretty sure he hadn't agreed to beforehand. He guessed she had to try to get Sunuke to agree somehow, but why couldn't she be the one buying the drinks? At that point, he realized he was the one of the two of them that didn't have to pay for housing.

"Don't think I ever agreed to pay but I guess it'sh only fair. Fine, I'll pick up the tab tonight," Ayumu conceded, checking to make sure he had brought his wallet. He pulled it out and opened it up. He had no cash, but inside was the Obsidian Lightning card, the fabled little plastic card granted only to the seated Raikage. The lack of paper cash wouldn't be an issue. "Shouldn't be a problem. SO yeah! Come on Sunuke, we'll show you how we have fun in Kumo, how about it?" he said, slipping his wallet back into his pocket.

 

[Ko]

Yuii perked up when she heard the idea of getting a drink of tea while Ayumu still felt uncomfortable about the honourifics he had been assigned by Sunuke. While Yuii's idea of having lots of sugar in her tea was kinda weird in his mind, at least has some kind of resemblance of tea flavour in the drink!

However it seemed this wasn't the reason why they were here, as Ayumu left Yuii to work out what they were actually doing here. It took her a little while to think about why she was actually here as she drunkenly stared at him.

She seemed to be struggling with staying awake (hence the desire for five sugars in her tea), and in return Sunuke was looking at her in puzzlement. His head was leaning slightly to the side doglike when they are confused on the sounds a human makes. But instead the Sennin finally remembered why they were here in the first place.

Yuii launched up like a rocket, grabbing a hold of her brother as she blurted out her suggestion. Ayumu seemed to be caught a little off guard by the suggestion without the obvious consultation on who was actually paying for it, but he soon accepted it.

Sunuke was a little perplexed by their desire to take him out for drinks. In all his years he never actually drank. It's not easy to afford alcohol when you're poor. You either depend on it with your cash or you dispose of it by being broke.

The Raikage pulled out a card, which meant nothing to the man who had been out of shinobi village for over ten years. His eyes looked at it with wide eyes, but mostly because Yuii slid her hand into the openings of his robes, turning his warm skin into frostbite.

He jolted inside, trying to keep his cool in front of the Raikage and the Sennin. He was in initiation to be a part of the club so he had to make sure that he looked cool. The jolt instead came out like a cough as he raised a fist to catch it.

"F-food sounds good you know? I'm sure we could enjoy some things tonight, and just you know.. relax. How about you two let me get ready before we go out!" Sunuke slipped out of the room, leaving Yuii's icy death grip to herself while he went as changed.

He first went to warm his body by rubbing his chest with his robe. Being able to finally feel warmth on his chest felt nice after all. Then the Nanjirou would switch his robe and garments for another robe, and placing the ancestral items on him as well. It would take a few minutes over all, including leaving it in a tidy mess (he already had enough lectures from Yuii on tidiness).

He would enter the room once more, shutting the bedroom door behind him and smiled to his companions for the evening. This was going to be fun! Get some nice food, drink some good teas, see the sites... Everything!

"Okay then I'm ready! Lead the way!"

Marked for late training (whoops)- 300+ words (computer is broked right now so I can't do anything but use my phone)

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

"Yay!" Yuii squealed, jumping with such enthusiasm that the tatami squeaked. Sunuke left her then, begging for a moment to get ready. Yuii couldn't understand that because she was happy to go out in her work clothing for that day, but she wrote it off as her little brother being vain. Who knew, there could be a lovely girl waiting to be swept off her feet by a galliant fire country samurai like her Sunuke. If he found a girlfriend, settled down, had adorable children, committed to staying in Kumogakure then Yuii could have her brother AND stop worrying about him. As it was, Yuii felt like she was keeping him as a pet in her cramped, ugly little apartment. He was so isolated all the time and she just wanted him to make friends and be happy there.

With Sunuke gone, and keenly aware of how very cold she was, Yuii zeroed in on body heat source number two: Ayumu. She practically leapt at her boss and chief commander, though the action was not graceful given her intoxicated state, and tried to find an opening under his shirt to warm herself on. Whether he let her or not, Yuii wouldn't stay long as her head swam and demanded she find a place to lay down. She was so much smaller than Ayumu, and had drunk that wine so quickly, it was a wonder of shinobi medical science that she was upright and functioning at all.

She chose her couch to collapse on. She stretched out across the double seats without offering one to Ayumu and completely relaxed. "I could fall asleep," she purred happily, resembling a happy cat that had found its warm place. If it wasn't for the angry growls her stomach was making while it tried to gnaw a hole in her side as punishment for not eating, Yuii probably could have taken a nap. She was a shinobi after all, which meant she had been trained to take rests when opportune.

To motivate herself back up when Sunuke returned, Yuii pictured all the delicious food that she could have paid for by that magic black card. "I want a whole chocolate cake," she babbled, squirming with delight at the thought of her favourite confection, "And a sweet wine! Really sweet! It'll be so delicious! The sweet always goes so nicely with the rich chocolate and I just- mmmm, can't wait! Do you think they have Bear country barbeque too? They have the yummiest sweet sauce!" It worked, so when Sunuke finally stopped primping, Yuii sprung to her feet with enthusiasm and ushered both men out the proper door this time. "Lead the way A-yu-mu!"

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Sunuke was on board. Success! Their party of three had been formed, and Sunuke needed only a moment to prepare himself. He disappeared briefly leaving Yuii alone with the unsuspecting Ayumu whom was busy looking at the weapon racks. Without warning, Yuii launched herself at Ayumu with her heat seeking frigid finger missiles. Ayumu was used to this from Kahako (whom also occasionally incorporated her favored ice jutsu when she felt extra sadistic), but had no reason to suspect Yuii would try anything. At least two ice cold fingers managed to contact Ayumu's skin before he jerked away and leapt back against the wall.

"Ack! Damn, Yuii, put some freakin' gloves on!" he exclaimed as he vigorously rubbed the affected area to bring back what warmth he could. Meanwhile, she had given up on that endeavor and fallen on the couch. For a moment it seemed that she might actually fall asleep, and Ayumu worried he might be left with an awkward moment when Sunuke returned and only the two of them were in any shape to go out somewhere. He envisioned the awkward small talk that would likely ensue, at least until they got a little more used to each other. That process would be a lot smoother if Yuii was there to help bridge the gap. Fortunately, the loud growl admitted from her stomach promised that she wouldn't be turning in just yet.

A moment later, Sunuke had returned with a change of clothing and was ready to go. Yuii needed a little more motivation which she promptly provided for herself as she fantasized about eating an entire cake with wine before moving on to the idea of barbecue. She succeeded in finding the motivation and leapt up from the couch, pushing Sunuke and Ayumu both towards the front door.

"You'd better eat dinner before you start thinking about desshert-- hey, Yuii! I can walk on my own!" Ayumu said before picking up the pace a little to escape Yuii's push. This resulted in a slightly off-balance stumble forward out of the door. He wasn't nearly as drunk as Yuii, but he wasn't fully sober either. He caught his balance and then stood up straight, pretending as though nothing had happened. He cleared his throat and then started walking.

"Thish way," he said, leading the way down the stairs and to the streets in the direction of the bar. Hopefully Yuii would be able to walk straight enough for them to make it there. Though, it would be hilarious if she fell into a pile of snow on the side of the road as she stumbled around. Fortunately for all of them, it wasn't a terribly long walk to get where they were going. Otherwise, it seemed Yuii might not be able to make it and Sunuke would never even get the chance to try to catch up with them. Now that Ayumu thought about it, he had no idea if Sunuke even drank.

"Hey Sunuke, is she always like this when she drinks? I bet you've got stories," Ayumu asked, wondering if this was a fairly regular thing. If it was, he might have to do this more often. It was fairly entertaining to watch. The question served the duel purpose of trying to probe into whether the two of them had done anything like this before, or more pertinently, if Sunuke did. On the other hand, maybe the interesting stories to be had were about Sunuke.

 

[Ko]

The Nanjirou wasn't sure what had gone on in the time he changed from his lounge wear to his more formal wear. The only real difference is that one had a finer silk to it. Of course it was mad to go out in this weather dressed like this but to be stoic and traditional was more important than comfort and common sense.

Yuii rushed to her feet and began to push the two men towards the door, feeling the cold child of her hands slowly conducting through the silk. He would just rush a little bit faster than her hand could touch him. He smiled at the banter between the two Cloud shinobi over sweet foods and eating them last. If you want to eat sweet foods first why not right? Why have such ridiculous standards for food.

The roads were bitter in the winds, but it would be ignored by watching the stumbling of the two ninja with him. They had already been drinking for what seemed for a rather long time. He just hoped they wouldn't fall into any trouble before they got to the place they needed to be.

Sunuke was asked a question as they were walking/stumbling about. He looked at the Raikage as he asked about what Yuii was like when she was drinking. He had to think about it for a good moment, to try and think about how she acted and the stories he had about her... hopefully he wouldn't get her in trouble.

"Yuii? Hmm I don't know... she tends to eat more sweet stuff as you can see... and she already eats a lot of sweet stuff. She's also a lot more nibbly on things that really shouldn't be eaten..." His hand went behind his back and scratched his head, hoping they'd forget this.

"She's definitely a lot more daring... there's a few villages on the borders between some countries we aren't really allowed back to because she got a little carried away on being adventurous." He looked over to Yuii and smiled at her. "Sometimes I wonder about things like that time we got chased out because we upset those spirits and they started haunting everything in the vicinity, or that we accidentally unlocked a pen of an animal they had spent 3 years hunting down. Not sure if they found it yet..."

He had only recalled a couple of stories, maybe Yuii could flush them out if she could remember...

MFT

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The Main Branch Sennin's cheeks flushed a little at Ayumu's intrusive question aimed at her little brother. Sunuke was far more forthright when it came to answering inquiries, and Yuii fretted over what kind of stories he would tell her boss. She was an extremely private person when it came to the details of her life. Luckily he started with the obvious, and the awkward stuff shoulders she had assumed under tension eased until Yuii was just wobbly again.

The woman leant her light weight against Sunuke to gain some stability and nodded sagely. "Cake is life, Sunuke," Yuii giggled, knowing that he was right. She had a habit of consuming sweets, but when it came to drinking she turned ravenous. Her bodies' natural healing burned through the sugar in her body so quickly she never gained weight, so when she was purposefully ingesting poison for the fun of intoxication Yuii grew hungry enough to eat entire wedding cakes to herself. Add the weakened willpower, and she became a perfect storm of hunger. As for nibbling on other things- that was usually once she'd become extremely intoxicated.

Much to her chagrin, Sunuke decided to dive into a few of her less epic stories. The inebriated sennin pouted and sighed, trying to make it obvious she didn't like the tales Sunuke had picked without actually saying anything. No doubt Ayumu thought this was hilarious and was eating up every word. "Oh, is Aishkoji didn't want to break his arm he should have taken my advice and not challenged me to an arm wrestling match," Yuii sighed, elaborating for the sake of saving face, "It's not my fault he was trying to cheat and held his arm wrong! And I'm not banned, they couldn't ban me because of my work, they just won't let me into the taverns and bars anymore! Also, those ghosts were going to haunt them anyways! We just happened to be there when the seal broke and ended up as convenient targets. That animal they caught was a Sumatran tiger, and Oniyuri said he said he hadn't done any of the awful things they caught him for! I caught the real culprit later, but would they listen? Noooo. Mountain people are all so superstitious."

"Remember that time that undead summoner decided she wanted you for her lover?" Yuii chimed, making playful kissing faces in Sunuke's direction, "or at least your body. Lucky bold Yuii was there to save ya, right?"She nearly slipped on the ice, but caught herself then went back to ribbing Sunuke as petty revenge, "Remember that time You got stuck waist deep in horse dung while running away from that angry farmer because you just HAD to be nice to his sweet little minx daughter and he caught her trying to take your robes off? OH! And let's not forget the time you dressed up as a girl to help me with those nuns! They weren't too happy when you tripped on your robes and let the room of them see, uh "the gods gift." Sunuke had, by Yuii's opinion, some pretty bad luck. The worst of it seemed to revolve around women, but in truth more of their adventures had been supernatural in nature. Yuii just didn't want to SAY that.

"Ne-neh Ayumu? What about you? I bet Anbu have some pretty amazing benders!" she asked, shifting attention to her drunken Raikage. He had to have some stories to share too!

 

[Kogami Ayumu]

Ayumu nodded as Sunuke mentioned the sweets, which was impossible not to notice. To be honest, Ayumu hadn't though it possible that her appetite for sweet could increase but he guessed whatever inhibition she did have was gone now. He wasn't certain what other things Sunuke was saying she might try to nibble on, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. What he was enjoying about this were the stories he might not have otherwise gotten to hear. Accidentally causing a haunting? Releasing an animal? Ayumu laughed out loud.

"How are these things that happen by accident?" he asked as Yuii pouted. She retorted, providing her own interpretation of what had happened. The man broke his own arm through no fault of hers. The tiger was totally innocent. The ghost just happened to decide to start their haunting while they were around. Ayumu kept laughing throghout Yuii's protests. This was too good and now Yuii wanted revenge so she unleashed an onslaught of embarassing stories of her own. Apparently Sunuke was an unintentional ladies man. It seemed to fit his personality pretty well. Ayumu's laughter subsided just in time for Yuii's question over his own exploits.

"Oh boy... when you say that, one incident in particular comes to mind. Unfortunately, everyone involved agreed not to speak of it again," Ayumu replied, trying to remember that night. The night itself was a blur with only bits still in tact in his mind... the morning after burned clear as the sun in his mind. Apparently, the alcohol had influenced him enough that he didn't mind sharing. 'I'll just leave out the names!' he justified in his head.

"Ah, hell with it. So we were on a mission in Kelmura, right? We had a job to do, but we got there pretty late in the day and met up with one of the higher ups who says 'screw it, let's just have fun and get to it in the morning'-- I'm paraphrasing here. I remember we hit the beach for a bit, and then the first bar. That's where the memory of that night ends," Ayumu began as he rounded a corner onto a new street.

"Next thing I remember, we're all waking up in a hotel room that's way over our budget. My sempai is sporting face paint for some reason and has a gold tooth that wasn't there before. The two girls and I are in the bed... for some reason. And all of us are naked or pretty much naked," Ayumu continued shaking his head. He still to this day didn't know what had happened that night, but the implications were there. So many implications.

"Side note, did you know? It's actually very easy to get married in Kelmura. Like, apparently they just do that shit for fun on Saturday nights or something..." he mused, recalling the cheap rings the three of them had found themselves to be wearing upon waking up. Fortunately it also wasn't too difficult to get such arrangements annulled either. "Anyway, at some point during the previous night we somehow managed to obtain the objective we had come for, after that it was just a matter of getting back home," he concluded, opting to leave out the rest which was just as strange. The length of the conversation had given them time to reach the bar and they were now standing on front of Squint's, the sign lit up in neon above the doors. The inside seemed lively with lots of laughter and conversation.

"Ah, here we are."