"Let's drink to the fullest everyone! It's on Ethan!"
"We are celebrating my discharge so why am I the one paying?"
"A promise is a promise, you said you're buying us dinner, you better fulfill it right now."
As usual, Xain was the loudest when expressing his opinion. We were gathered inside a seafood restaurant near the hospital to have a hearty meal. All my teammates — including Shelly and Wilson — all joined in on dinner.
We didn't hold back and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with tons of food and drinks. Within mere minutes of the plate being served at our table, all the food had vanished.
"Here, eat this Ethan."
Being an angel that he was, Ilyas helped me pick the dishes and served them on my plate. In fact, both Ilyas and Wilson were doing it at the same time, making my plate piled up like a mountain. When I finished one, they would immediately serve different kinds of dishes. It's almost as if they were in a competition of who's the fastest at refilling my plate.
"Ilyas, I think it's time for you to fill your own plate, I can take care of my own brother."
Wilson said it in a sarcastic way, but Ilyas didn't notice it, instead his answer was as innocent as his tone.
"No no, I don't eat much anyway, or should I fill your plate too, big bro?"
'Why are you calling him big bro too?'
I held back my thoughts and glanced at this brother of mine.
"Stop it Wilson, I don't think I could finish this all anyway. Just eat your own food."
Wilson grumbled, "Why am I being scolded? Is it a sin if I care about my brother too much?"
I chuckled at his mumbling. To cheer him up, I whispered in his ear, "I'll let you feed me later at home."
A smile formed on his face, "You can't take back your words, okay?"
Wilson hummed in joy. After getting his promise, he took out his phone and scrolled through different kinds of food in the online delivery app.
As expected, he's a thorough and thorough brocon.
"Fill my plate too Ilyas, you can't discriminate between your espers now, can you?"
Offering his plate to Ilyas, Cedric said.
"But you are not sick are you Cedric? Why do you want me to feed you when you had a perfectly functioning hand?" Ilyas said bluntly with a flat face.
"Pfft."
Xain and Wilson were holding their laughter, even Shelly – whose face hadn't changed since we entered – was starting to crack a wry smile.
The problem wasn't the seemingly sarcastic words Ilyas said, it was because he said it with such a confused yet innocent face which made it looked like he unintentionally mocked Cedric.
"Haha!"
Unlike the three of them, I couldn't keep my laughter in. Laughing my ass off in front of the already stunned Cedric might annoy him, so I kept my laughter in check by putting my head on the table, trying to muffle my laugh, but Ilyas indeed always had a bizarre way to add fuel to fire.
"Did I say something wrong? It's true no?"
"Ahahaha!"
Cedric grumbled as he raised his chopstick, glaring at me with murderous intent, "Shut up Ethan or I'll shove this food up your ass."
Ilyas frowned, "He's already recovering and now you want to make him sick again?"
I burst out laughing at another of Ilyas' remarks. I was starting to think he was doing this on purpose.
Cedric flushed in embarrassment. He stood up and started throwing up empty threats, Xain was fueling the argument while Ilyas was trying to calm them down.
It was full-on chaos.
"They sure have a fun way to tease each other. Is your team usually like this?"
Wilson asked from the sideline, which Shelly answered, "More or less."
Shelly glanced at her team, dipping her fried shrimp in soy sauce she said, "It's nice isn't it? Seeing the S-Ranks joke and have fun like this."
Team Zero was the first S-Rank only team in this world that last this long. With how high S-Rank espers' ego was, working with each other seemed impossible. But after almost a month, the team coordinated well and even achieved more than expected.
"Taking care of these kids was the most stress-free I've been since working in the bureau, it's all thanks to your brother taking care of Cedric and Xain as their captain."
She put down her chopstick, a relieved tone in her voice, "I'm grateful, really."
Wilson just smiled smugly, letting his gaze wander back to the team. The four of them had now switched from ridiculous banter to feeding each other. It was mostly Ilyas that fed the espers, but sometimes Ethan would teasingly offer the two some food while swinging the spoon, making airplane sounds. The two was of course mad being treated like a kid. The rest was guessable, they erupted into another debate with Ethan as their target.
"Let me phrase it for you again, we're not a kid!"
"Xain is younger than me, so he's still a kid in my eyes."
"Hm? Wait, that makes sense. Actually, I think I'm fine being treated like a kid by Ethan, I'm younger than him anyway."
"How does that even make sen- Ah- whatever I'm tired of debating about common sense with you guys."
The argument was somehow won by Ethan. With a victorious smile, he proudly held his nose high. Ilyas was laughing from the side, not having the slightest intention to interrupt their bickering.
The night spent in the restaurant that day definitely left a memory in everyone's mind.