Holding a fork and a knife like they were weapons of mass consumption, Aiko called out to them with a grin. "Judge number one is ready to eat!"
Picking up a fork and knife, Koneko sat next to Aiko. “I’m here too.”
Rias noticed Koneko near Iihito, practically intruding into the picnic. “Koneko, you can’t ju-”
Gilgamesh and Saber interjected simultaneously. “You are not to deny the little one’s presence, girl. She shall eat to her heart’s content.”
Raynell placed his chicken and carne asada on the open grill and lit the wood below. “This is going to take me about an hour or so. I just need a small slice of home to bring it all together. Be right back!” He left the picnic again with a peppy step and a cheeky laugh.
Already starting to drool at the scents beginning to waft up from the grills, Aiko started to draw up some scorecards for everyone. Where she got the paper and stencils or even the permanent marker was anyone's guess, but she at least looked like she was having fun.
Pausing momentarily, Iihito considered what she could cook up. “Guess I’ll have a meat grinder... Can’t go wrong with burgers.”
Gilgamesh suddenly appeared behind her, grasping her left shoulder. “Girl, you can do that with the leftovers. Start with steak. Do not even dare to forget the sauce.”
Giving off a nod, Iihito gulped before heating the grill.
A pair of trumpets sang with pride as the chatters of a large group of around fifty people appeared. Some of them carried an assortment of stringed instruments. The six instrumentalists of the group wore matching black outfits embroidered with silver and large sombreros. Raynell led with the grito associated with the music, the children joining in. The others in the group carried an assortment of different foods. “I brought the family! Oh, and Gilgamesh. You’re a coward for refusing to grill your own meat after implying that you would.”
Gilgamesh turned towards Raynell. “A king such as myself does not cook his own food.”
Raynell’s face remained unmoved. “And?”
Gilgamesh waved off the accusation. “And that means that you’d win regardless of what I do. There is no competition should I participate.”
“That’s a sad existence you have. You won’t even try when things won’t turn out your way. At least you’d be improving your skills if you did.”
Gilshmesh shook his head. “I have no need for cooking, and I’m busy. I am currently planning on how to stabilize Afghanistan.”
Since the conversation was going in a spiral, and Aiko wasn't nearly drunk enough to deal with such things, she latched onto the new topic like it was her lifeline. "New Babylon get?"
Overhearing Aiko’s question, Gilgamesh nodded. “Yes, the region is in desperate need of a centralized government. The interference of Western nations in this instance does not help the matter.”
“America does what America wants. At least they’re not putting their full effort into it, or there’d be no Afghanistan. I’m going to spend time with my family. Maybe I should introduce Rin to them…” Raynell walked off into his boisterous crowd.
Iihito blinked, turning her head towards the sight. “Damn, I didn’t think this would become a large barbeque... Hey Aiko, I don’t think we’d be able to do that contest. Unless you want to be fed a mountain of different foods forcefully. Also, I don’t think I could catch up to this many people… Mind if I get help?”
Aiko decided to do some serious mental math. It was rather unfortunate that she was terrible at the subject. "Call in the Shirous. They'll help cook. I can probably consume an actual mountain and be fine, the kitten here will be ready for more, faster than you can make it, and if we add Issei, he can just boost his stomach capacity or something… Meh, it's doable."
Eyes bugging out of his head from Aiko’s suggestion, Issei began to panic. "Do you want me to die?! There's no way I can handle that much food!"
Iihito sighed before placing a cut of meat on the grill. “You don’t have to force yourself to eat the food if you don’t want Issei.”
Issei felt a little bad. He didn't want to imply that he didn't want to eat her food. "I can eat a little, but I'm not going to be able to try everything. I already ate a few sandwiches while we were waiting."
Brushing seasoned oil on the meat, Iihito flipped the cut of steak. “I mean, feel free to take as many as you think you can take. Just tell me when you feel like it’s too much.”
Aiko watched the steak cook with obvious intentions, ready to snatch it the moment it was done to her liking. "Hehe- HEY!"
Chewing on the cut of meat, Saber swallowed the food in her mouth. “This is a good steak.”
Walking towards Iihito, Shirou raised an arm. “Do you need help Iihito? It looks like you’ll be here for a while before everyone is fed.”
Turning towards Shirou, Iihito nodded. “Sure, you want me to make another grill for you?”
Seeing a steak nearing completion, Iihito added seasoning to the meat before placing it on a plate with sauce.
Aiko snatched the plate as soon as it was done and tore into it with gusto. "I like thish." She spoke as she ate it with speed reserved for formula one race cars.
Koneko took the opportunity to grab her own plate. “8 out of 10, cooked for a bit too long.”
Some of the elderly women in Raynell’s family noticed their speed and came over with plates of their own. They pitched their cheeks as they set the food down in front of them. “Sopes.” On each of them were thick tortillas with beans, shredded steak, sour cream, and a white, crumbly cheese piled on top of them with utmost care.
Noticing the food placed in front of her, Aiko beamed and took a few to add to her plate, devouring them at a rapid pace with a happy wagging of her tail. "Thanks! This is the best picnic ever!"
Iihito gave Issei a wave. “Hey Issei, I got a steak ready!”
Meanwhile, lancer stared at the entire scene. Absentmindedly grabbing a cut of steak into his plate as he wondered how the entire war happened without a single drop of blood... Besides his own...
~~El picnic maravilloso~~
Rias rested her eyes, finishing off her steak. “That barbeque was nice... Even if I felt like I ate a little too much, however. What do we do about the grail? I’m willing to take it back with me if nobody has any ideas.”
Iihito shook her head, taking a bite off a snag. “Not a good idea. Imagine if the other factions realize the devils have a wish-granting device.”
Resting her arms under her chest, Rias rested her eyes in disappointment. “Fair point... That might restart the war we had against the other two biblical factions.”
Looking up into the sky to see the setting sun, Aiko gave a devious smile. "I want to see if Archer can actually hit the sun from here with it. Hell, he already has the ability to make physics cry, so it would be quite fun."
Archer turned towards Rin. “Master?”
Rin sighed. The holy grail was there, within arm's reach, and they just wanted to throw it into the sun? "If it was up to me, we would just use the thing now that it's been cleansed of its taint. That being said, I'm not about to deny a beast of humanity to her face."
“Very well.” Materializing a bow and a spiral sword before turning the sword into a spear, Archer grabbed the grail before placing it in front of the spear. Pulling back the string using the spear as the arrow, Archer aimed towards the large star in the sky before releasing it.
The projectile thundered out a hollowing boom as it rushed out of the Earth’s atmosphere towards the sun.
“There, problem done. No more grail nonsense.” Archer muttered before dematerializing his bow.
~~Meanwhile~~
In Takamagahara, the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. She had paperwork completely piled up around her to the point she couldn't even move! Because of this, when an odd-looking cup beamed her in the head, she screamed in frustration, making a wish on the very heavens themselves. "Damn it all! I just wish that all my paperwork would just do itself! I don't want to do it anymore!"
The cup flashed a bright golden yellow before disappearing. And her paperwork began to fill itself out in a satisfactory manner. Looking around herself, she became confused. "How did this…"
By the time she realized it, it was already too late. "Wait! That was a wish-granting device! I could have made my faction the strongest, or gained the ultimate power! And I used it on paperwork!"
After thinking about it for a minute, she became increasingly smug. "Hehe. No more paperwork. I'll have all the time in the world!"
A tengu walked into the room holding a paintbrush and vials of ink. “Apologies for being late, Lady Amaterasu. I am here to help you sort through the papers.”
Noticing the paperwork being filled in mid-air, the tengu paused. Kneeling, the Tengu exclaimed. “Apologies for my insolence. I was not aware that you have it all handled already!”
Amaterasu's face couldn't be any more smug. "Heh."
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