#(however!!)

"If." Cheeks flushing, she glanced down at the menu. "If you need me to describe any of the drinks I can. Like the horchata is a rice milk and cinnamon drink. And the jarritos are like fruit flavored sodas."

"Anesagi is driving so we might drink too. Except Tenn. He prefers sweet drinks to alcohol."

"Oh! Can you tell him he might like the horchata or the sidral? Sidral is like an apple soda. Ringo?"

"Mh. I will."

Getting Tenn's attention, he grinned. ♡"She said to order the. Ho-hor. uh."

Glancing down, he laughed. "Can you say the name of that drink?" "Horchata!" She grinned back up at him.

♡"Rice milk and cinnamon? And the other one SiDuRaL?"♡ (He sounded it out like katakana, glancing down for affirmation and getting a nod).

Tenn cocked his head. ♡"What's that one?"♡

♡"Apple soda, apparently."♡

♡"I want that one."♡

Ari dug into her oversized purse, decorated with keychains and pins, and produced a Spy x Family pen and mini sketchbook, writing down everyone's orders. Anesagi was driving, so she ordered a piña jarritos, while Gaku and Ryuu opted to split a margarita pitcher on special. Ari ordered a water and horchata, and they ordered another water for their missing guest.

Anesagi translated the menu for her and Tenn, and Ari did the same for Ryuu and Gaku and explained menu options to Ryuu while he translated for the table. They exchanged a warm back and forth of translating while Ari tried to use her basic japanese knowledge to explain the dish ingredients when she could.

Gaku leaned behind Ari and locked eyes with Ryuu. ♡"Are you sure she's fine with this? We're not inconveniencing her right??"♡

Ryuu shrugged, raising an eyebrow. ♡"She knew we needed help before she came, so I think it's fine."♡

Huffing, Anesagi cleared her throat, overhearing the conversation. ♡"Just because she doesn't understand everything, doesn't mean you should gossip at the table, boys. Ryuu, please tell her thank you from all of us."♡

Blushing, Ryuu nodded, shutting the menu. "Ari?"

"Mhm?" She looked over, shutting the menu too. "Did you need something?"

"Mmm. Everyone just wanted to say thank you for helping."

She grinned, waving her hand. "No, it's no trouble. I'm always happy to help. Did we get everyone's final choices???"

"I think so."

"Here, scoot out and I'll go talk to the waiter. Since we already have everyone's stuff written down. Oh, wait, does everyone want corn or flour tortillas???"

After making final decisions, Ryuu slid out of the booth, letting Ari exit with a hop, and catching her hand out of instinct.

Tall. He's so tall.

"Ah. Thanks…" She held on just a little too long, pulling away to order and run to the bathroom. While she talked to the server, another brought out drinks, Ryuu sliding in to sit next to Gaku and swapping Ari's bag and drinks over.

♡"What, do I not get to sit next to her now?~"

Ryuu laughed, pouring up their drinks. ♡"Nope. Just me now."♡

♡"Unfair. Didn't take you for the jealous type."♡

Anesagi set her phone down on the table hard. ♡"Apparently our shoot director had an emergency come up so it's just us…"♡

♡"More room in our booth."♡ Tenn nodded over, taking a sip of his soda and humming. ♡"It's good. Do you want to try?"♡

She nodded, offering a sip of hers in return. Over the years, she and Tenn had become friends while Gaku and Ryuu got lost in drinking at dinner. They were used to this dynamic. They weren't quite used to adding another girl to the mix however, and the language barrier made it even more awkward.

Ari walked back to the table, grinning. "Okay, everything is in! Might take a little longer because there's a full table, but it's worth the wait. I got us bean dip too and guacamole while we're waiting."

Looking at the booth, she realized her seat had been swapped. "Hey!! You moved me?"

Ryuu gave her a big grin. "My choice. Then I don't have to get up if you need to get out again." She shoved his shoulder gently as she slid back in, grabbing her drink to take a sip.

"I figured it might be a longer wait, so I brought some games with me."

Ari pulled out a compact mancala board, a magnetic mini chess board, a deck of cards, and laid her sketchbook on the table. "Figured there would be something you guys would know."

Tenn reached for the mancala first, opening the game and sorting the pieces. ♡"I remember this one. It's more popular in the island areas, but Riku and I would play it sometimes while he was sick."♡

Anesagi nodded, still tapping on her phone. ♡"I'm so sorry to be working through dinner, boys, but I need to finish writing everything up since the time zones are different. Our sponsors are expecting a summary to make sure their funds are being used properly."♡

Standing from the table, she looked back at everyone. ♡"If you three take pictures, please don't post ones that include the girl. Our fans would riot."♡

Embarrassed, Ryuu nodded, taking a sip of his drink. Anesagi nodded back, walking out the the waiting area to write in peace for a bit.

Cocking her head, Ari looked to Ryuu for answers about the conversation. He only laughed it off, giving a half smile. "Business stuff. She's our manager and there's a lot involved."

"Right. Of course." She didn't push further, instead holding up the deck of cards with a devilish grin. "You wanna play war?"

By the time everyone got their food, the margarita pitcher was drained--Gaku tired of losing mancala to Tenn, and Ryuu nonstop giggling with a flushed face as he tried to focus on war, his deck dwindling.

Anesagi walked back to the table, sliding back in next to Tenn. ♡"What did I miss?"♡

Tenn chuckled, pulling out his silverware from the wrapped paper napkin. ♡"Gaku lost. Badly."♡

♡"He must be cheating or something!!"♡

Clicking his tongue, he glared over, shutting the board. ♡"Sore loser."♡

Anesagi glanced over at Ryuu, pursing her lips as she saw how drunk he was. ♡"Gaku… I thought you said you'd help hold him back…"♡

♡"Hm???"♡ Gaku stopped mid-bite, glancing up, at the pitcher, at Anesagi, then at Ryuu who was cheerfully exclaiming "Mensore!!"

Ari cocked her head, tapping the phrase into her phone to see if she could translate. "Mensore?"

Ryuu grinned offering back another "Mensore!!!"

Gaku sighed, directing him towards his meal. ♡"Ryuu, c'mon eat your food. It should help."♡

"Mee? Maami?! (Rice? Beans?!)"

Ari glanced over at Gaku, not recognizing any of the words from her japanese study.

Gaku racked his brain, trying to translate. "When Ryuu drinks. Home language? Okinawan."

"oH! Thanks." Ari tapped Ryuu's hand, showing him how to use the tortillas and layer the ingredients, then watched as he repeated it, biting into the final product and giving a satisfied hum. "Ippee maasan!! (it's very delicious!)"

Tenn borrowed Anesagi's phone for a second, using the translation app, then read off, "You are lucky. Sometimes Ryuu gets so drunk he begins stripping."

Ari's cheeks flushed, glancing at Ryuu, then back at Tenn. "Hontoni (Seriously?)??"

He grinned, taking a sip of his drink. "Hai (Yeah)."

Gaku sighed. ♡"That's what we're trying to prevent, Tenn."♡

♡"It's funny, Gaku. We can tease him tomorrow morning."♡

"Chimu don don (my heart's racing)!" Ryunosuke fanned himself, looking at Gaku.

♡Ryuu. Drink water. Calm down."♡ Gaku picked up the water glass and put it in his hand, nodding over.

Anesagi sighed, putting a palm over her forehead, they typing into her phone and reading the english text. "Sorry for this, Ari. He can go too far sometimes."

"Daijobu (it's okay)." She waved her hand, trying to smooth things over. It was a bit harder to communicate with Ryuu incapacitated, but she was grateful for everyone's effort to cross language boundaries.

Typing "I'll get to-go boxes for everyone if you need to go back to the hotel" into her phone and translating, she showed the Japanese text to their manager, to which she got a nod.

As soon as Ari tried to get up, Ryuu clung to her arm, snuggling into her shoulder. "Wun! (Stay!)"

She giggled, giving his hair a pat while Gaku tried to pull him away.

Pinching the bridge of her forehead, Anesagi sighed. ♡"Gaku we need to get him out of here before he does anything more reckless."♡

♡"I agree. The food is good though."♡

Tenn turned to their manager, taking control of the situation. ♡"Anesagi-san, could you go unlock the car? I'll bring your food."♡ She nodded, downing the rest of her soda, and handing her wallet to Tenn.

♡"Can you take care of the bill?"♡

♡"Of course."♡

Slipping out of the booth, she gave a smile and a gentle headpat to Ari. "Thank you for tonight. We enjoyed meeting you."

She smiled back, Ryuu almost sleeping on her arm. "Same to you."

Tenn assessed the situation from his spot in the booth--Ryuu was useless, Gaku was trapped in the back, and Tenn was responsible for all his drunk bandmates.

Mattaku… (seriously?)

Having paid, everyone finally made their way outside, Gaku holding the bags with leftovers, and Ari leading a still-drunk Ryuu to the car as he continued speaking random Okinawan on the way.

Tenn handed Anesagi's wallet back, climbing into the car. Gaku was next, looking back to help Ryuu in. Meanwhile, Ryunosuke had pulled off his shirt, ready to wave it around in a circle.

♡"RYUU!!!! GET IN THE CAR!!!"♡ Gaku grabbed at his bare shoulder, not bothering to figure out where his shirt went, and Anesagi put the car in gear, attempting to leave before another PR disaster happened with a near total stranger.