After a long, magic-heavy afternoon of sparring and near-death punches, the team made their way to the Essentia Academy cafeteria.
Ezren was practically vibrating.
"It's beautiful," he whispered, staring at the food counters like a man seeing color for the first time. "I'm gonna cry."
Kagetsu rolled his eyes.
"We trained for an hour, not survived a war."
Ezren darted to the line and started ordering everything in sight.
"Yes. That, and that. Ooh, triple that. Is that glowing? I want it. No, I need it. Put gravy on it. And lightning. Can you season with lightning?"
By the time he reached the table where Kagetsu and Mira were waiting, Ezren had a tray stacked so high it looked like it was auditioning to be a tower.
"You know this is a cafeteria, not a food summoning ritual, right?" Kagetsu said, raising an eyebrow.
Ezren sat with a thud, grabbed a drumstick in each hand, and shoved half of one into his mouth.
"Mmwhaphf. Shmph prhphenal."
(Translation: "This is phenomenal.")
Kagetsu leaned back.
"I didn't know they let starving ghosts enroll."
Ezren, undeterred, kept eating like the world was ending at midnight.
Mira quietly picked at a small bowl of stew. She hadn't said much since they arrived—just observing, as usual.
Ezren attempted to talk mid-chew again.
"Y'missngh ouh Mmphra—thiff ish gud!"
Kagetsu scoffed.
"I can't even tell if you're enjoying it or choking on it."
Then, unexpectedly,
Mira spoke.
"…Does he breathe through his ears?"
Both Kagetsu and Ezren froze.
Then Kagetsu burst out laughing.
Ezren blinked, paused mid-bite, then pointed dramatically with a fork.
"You. you joked! Mira cracked a joke! Sound the bells! This is historical!"
Mira looked away, hiding her face slightly with her spoon.
But Kagetsu caught it, a tiny, amused twitch at the corner of her lips.
He smirked.
Ezren grinned, sauce on his cheek.
"Team Dysfunctional might actually be getting somewhere."
Under the warm cafeteria lights, with trays of half-eaten food and the muffled chaos of students all around them, their team felt less like a random assignment, and more like the beginning of something real.