"Yakiniku? Can't we just grill stuff on the lawn outside? That way we don't have to worry about coming home smelling like smoke." Kyaru had a strong aversion to smoky and pungent odors, and Jhin's suggestion didn't particularly appeal to her.
"When I say yakiniku, I don't really mean yakiniku," Jhin said with a chuckle — he was just making a joke, not actually proposing a barbecue. "Didn't Pecorine mention a really good restaurant a while back? We've been a guild for this long and we've never once gone out to eat together, so I figured — no cooking at home today. Let's head out."
"As long as it's not somewhere with overpowering smells, I don't mind. It's not like I've been the one cooking anyway."
"Is it the Wild Eats place?" Pecorine perked up immediately. "That restaurant is really something — I even worked there for a little while!"
"As a chef?"
"No no no, a server! The owner's the chef."
"Then let's get going — it's almost lunchtime."
"Oh! Let's go!"
"Hold on a second!" Kyaru grabbed Pecorine by the arm and pointed at what she was wearing. "You're planning to go out to eat in your pajamas?"
"Ah, Kyaru, could you help me change?"
Kyaru let out a quiet sigh. "What am I going to do with you... And you — boy — get out of the room. Are you seriously just going to stand there and openly watch a girl change?"
"I'm going, I'm going. Kyaru's starting to sound more and more like a nagging housewife, you know."
Kyaru whipped the clothing rack by the table at him with her tail, shouting after him with full indignation: "Who's a housewife?!"
Once she'd finished helping Pecorine change and they stepped out of the bedroom, the group set off together in high spirits toward the restaurant in Landosol known as Wild Eats.
Bright sunlight fell straight down onto streets paved with blue-grey flagstones, the lively bustle of passersby filling the air with noise and energy. Pecorine walked ahead, cheerfully greeting the vendors on either side of the road. Every so often one of them would press a bit of food into her bandaged hands and remind her to take good care of herself.
"You know this many people in the city?" Kyaru muttered under her breath, genuinely taken aback. From the moment they'd entered this street, it seemed like there wasn't a single person Pecorine didn't recognize.
"I wouldn't call them close acquaintances — I just used to pass through here a lot when I was working at the restaurant, so I got to know everyone's faces."
"Even so, your social skills are honestly terrifying."
"Really? Heh heh, thanks for the compliment."
Jhin couldn't say he didn't understand why she was so popular. A bright, cheerful, strikingly well-built girl with a smile like that — who wouldn't like her?
Pecorine stopped in front of a rough-hewn restaurant with the rugged aesthetic of an outdoor camp and turned to introduce it with a beaming grin: "Everyone, this is Wild Eats!"
"Then let's go in." Jhin stepped ahead and pushed the door open. "Find us a spot with good ventilation."
"Leave it to me!" Pecorine strode inside. "Boss! I'm back!"
A weathered man with a scar over his left eye called out from behind the kitchen stove: "Oh, it's you. What happened to your hands?"
"Got hurt on an adventure with my friends."
"Good that you have friends. Find any seat you like — I'll throw in a free dish for you today."
"Thanks, Boss!"
The group settled into seats by the window. Jhin slid the menu across to the girls. "You order first."
"Don't mind if I do!" Megumin immediately snatched the menu. "I want the hamburger steak, the fried fish cutlet, curry rice, and — oh, they have deep-fried giant frog legs here?! I'll take one of those too!"
"Can you actually finish all of that?" Kyaru had serious doubts.
"It's fine — with Jhin and Pecorine here, there won't be any leftovers."
The rest of the group waited for Megumin to finish ordering, then each chose what they wanted. The server quickly began bringing the finished dishes out one by one.
On the walk over, Pecorine had suggested that Jhin feed her — it would just be easier that way — so now he was sitting right beside her.
"What do you want to start with?"
"The vegetable salad!"
"Oh? Starting light to work up an appetite?"
"Exactly — and this crispy green salad has lemon juice in the dressing, so it's tangy and a little sweet!"
Jhin picked up a pinch of the julienned salad with his chopsticks and held it up to Pecorine's lips. "Here — open up."
"Ahwu~" She wolfed it down eagerly, even sucking the salad dressing clean off the tips of the chopsticks. "Jhin, Jhin, next I want the charcoal-grilled pork sandwich!"
"Got it." Jhin cut the sandwich on the plate into small pieces and fed it to her at her urging.
"Ahwu~ Mmm~ So good!"
Jhin rubbed his thumb and index finger together. Those two fingers — the ones that had been pinching the sandwich — seemed to have been momentarily taken into her mouth. Pecorine had moved so fast he couldn't be a hundred percent certain.
"Jhin~ hurry up and give me more sandwich."
He fed her again, and this time there was no ambiguity at all. He could feel his fingers enveloped in the warmth of her mouth — and then her nimble tongue gave the pads of his fingers a light lick, tidying away the breadcrumbs.
He quietly switched from fingers to chopsticks. Pecorine didn't understand the sudden change, but she didn't say anything about it either, and happily continued demolishing her meal.
"Master, don't just focus on feeding Pecorine — you need to eat something too." Kokkoro had been watching Jhin's untouched plate and the steadily shrinking portions on everyone else's dishes. She promptly picked up a piece of fried cutlet and held it to his lips. "Please open up. Ahh~"
Jhin ate the piece Kokkoro offered him and smiled at her. "Thank you. It's delicious."
"Have more if you like — this is the fried fish cutlet Megumin ordered."
"Kokkoro, how come you're busy feeding everyone else now without eating yourself?" Megumin said, then immediately piled a heap of food into Kokkoro's bowl. "You need to eat plenty too."
And so the four of them fell into an absurd little chain: Megumin heaped food into Kokkoro's bowl, Kokkoro used what Megumin gave her to feed Jhin, and Jhin fed Pecorine. Kyaru watched this apparently endless loop in exasperated silence, calmly raising her teacup for a sip — there was absolutely no way she was joining in.
"Pfft—!" From a nearby table, a tall, lanky man with a pompadour hairstyle violently spat a mouthful of bright red tomato juice across the table and face-planted onto it.
His companion — a portly, balding man — panicked immediately. "Oi, Teppei! What's wrong?!"
"Big... Big Bro..." The tall man named Teppei, tears streaming endlessly from his eyes, rasped in a trembling voice: "I... I want so badly to feed a beautiful girl while being fed by a different beautiful girl at the same time..."
Having spoken his dying wish aloud, Teppei let his tongue loll out, his head lolled to one side, and he passed out completely.
"Teppei! TEPPEI!!!" Big Bro clutched his buddy's limp body in anguished grief. "If all you wanted was someone to feed you — I could've done that!!!!"
____
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🔥 New history: Uchiha Reborn in Jujutsu Kaisen: The System Thinks I'm in Konoha, but I'm Not
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