I Shall Be Happy

"I think it's time we join the Cadet Corps."

Inside a room of 9 people, Athanatos spoke out solemnly.

"I support your decision Thana-kun. Sigh* It would have been great if no war ever happened."

Mikan said encouragingly toward the youth troupe. The day had finally arrived. They were going to leave and make good lasting changes for the world. Why should she be selfish when her children have finally decided to become independent. Rather than holding them back, she should give full support so they won't have any hard feelings of bitterness when they leave.

"Uhm." Karl, who had an unusually serious face nodded. Like Mikan. He can't hold his kids back anymore. Sooner or later, they will have to go out to the real world. And tomorrow is the day that they have been preparing for.

Silence ensued afterward. It continued for a while until Grandfather Alert finally spoke up.

"... The fools know naught of life and are only surviving. Yet... The wise man begs to differ, for he knows that he knows naught of life that he is living to know it. Do you know what this phrase means?"

The youth troupe contemplated deeply. Even Armin, who was considered to be the smartest also struggle.

"Is it because the wise man believes himself to be a fool that he strives to be different. While a fool remains content with his foolish life and forever remain foolish."

"You are right Thana-kun. We are all fools. But if you simply accept and not do anything about it, then you will never understand why life was given to us. That's why we're different. Wise men see their foolishness, and so they try to grow out of it. Even if the world tells you that you're wrong and foolish, know that at least you did something to try to prove to them that at least you were trying to be wise. Isn't that's why you want to see the outside world? To change the world for the better? It's all so we can do what we wish, and one day becomes wise. To make it simpler, just know that you are foolish but if simply remaining that way won't make you any wiser.

(A/N I'm just spouting bs here)

"Hmm... Well then. Since today is the last day we're going to be together, why don't we have a goodbye party? The butcher shop is selling an entire pig today, Let's go all out."

"Oooh! That's a good idea, Mikan." Nobody can say no to meat, and especially Athanatos. Even though he doesn't need to eat, eating is one of his favorite times of the day and meat is his favorite. He can list at least 96 reasons why meat is the greatest thing in the world. In his previous life, culinary wasn't very developed and nobody would cook for him.

So to complement that, he always tries to hunt the best animals known for their meat. Then he would cook them with extreme heat and eat it. Although the meat was extremely charred and burnt, he didn't really mind at all. The meat was good and that's all that matters. This got Athanatos confused for a while too. Why does Mikan's food taste better than the best animals known for their meat? Does it mean that his cooking is bad? Of course, he doesn't think so for he knows he's a genius. Then the only reason is Mikan's food tastes better because normal meat in this world tastes better than his last one.

"Nobody has any objection, right? Then let's go. Annie, Mikasa, Historia. You three come with me to shop for groceries. Grandfather Alert, can you prepare the vegetables from the garden? It must have been riped by now. And you Karl and you boys... hmm... just go buy some decorations."

"Ok."

"Show me your spirit. Speak louder!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Good. Try your best. Today is the last day after all."

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"So what do we buy?" After an hour of walking around the street. Athanatos had finally asked. His, and like the rest, sense of aesthetic is almost as good as a blind person. But not wanting to admit it, he tried to sound like he was actually an expert at shopping. "Karl, you the a.d.u.l.t here, what do you usually buy for decorations?"

"Huh? Oh... let me think. How about we buy some animals fur and rifles? Wouldn't that show our manliness."

"That's not bad. What about you, Eren, Armin?"

"Hmph. Just buy some paint and paint the decorations ourselves."

"Hoh... These ideas are quite good... We could also combine both." Athanatos nodded, trying to sound like a wise person. After listening to Grandfather Alert's teaching, he has been in his Sage mode for a while now, while not knowing that from an outsider perspective, he looked like an idiot.

Armin, who was simply just trailing behind the rest, sweatdropped like crazy. Even though his sense of aesthetic may not be as good as normal people, at least it wasn't... like this.

"H-hey. How about we ask that the owner of the decoration shop for advice?"

Then everybody turned to look at him. They had a serious look on their face as if they were examining a different species.

"I guess we could use that," Athanatos spoke, resuming his Sage mode.

"Whatever... My idea wasn't bad though," Eren voiced out his arrogant opinion.

"So was mine." And then there was Karl defending his own idea.

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"So can you recommend some special decorations? We need them before things get dark."

When the owner heard that, he squinted his eyes and his face turned grave.

"How big and special." He asked the group of 4 people.

While Athanatos might not know this, what he just said was a code supposedly used by drug dealers.

'Earlier someone told me that a group of 4 will come to get some goods. Is this them.' The owner of the decoration shop thought. Although he had some doubt, as long as they can reply back his words, they are the real deal.

"Well... We want to buy something that symbolizes goodbye. I think some white decorations would be good."

'They are the real deal! Who the hell would bring kids to buy drugs with them. That man looked innocent but I guess that's just the surface. Well, it's not my business. I already received the payment.'

"Alright. Wait here. I will get you the good stuff later."

"Hurry up, we don't have forever."

Then after a while, the owner brought out a small doll.

"Here it is. Glad to do business with you."

"Wtf old man! I'm a fking 12 years old boy. I don't fking play dolls."

Athanatos screamed at the owner for bringing him a girlish doll. He was just asking for some decorations. How did it get to giving him a doll?

The others also have some doubts about this shop owner. They wondered if they were in the wrong shop.

Then hold the doll in his hand, Athanatos threw it real hard on the ground, smashing the doll in the process.

"F**k. Why are there drugs!"

It was at that moment, that 3 Garrison members who were walking nearby, heard the ruckus. They ran inside the shop, only to find a group of 5 people standing on top of a broken doll. On the doll, there was a white powder, which they quickly identified as drugs.

"YOU ARE ALL UND-"

But before one of the Garrison members was able to finish his word, he and his teammates were immediately hypnotized.

Inside their head, they could hear a phrase repeating the same thing all over again.

[You can't see me. You can't see me. You can't see me...]

Then they open their eyes, only to see only one person left, which was the owner of the shop.

"You are under arrest for possessing illegal drugs. Follow us or you will be killed for retaliation."

Meanwhile, Athanatos and his group bolted out of the shop quickly. Each and every one of them ran with all their might, afraid that they would be mistakenly arrested. Of course, with Athanatos there, they wouldn't be but they don't know that.

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"Holy f**k. What the hell was that? How did you get him to sell us drugs Thana-kun."

Karl was the first one to speak up. His face was full of confusion. How did buying decorations get him into being implicated for selling drugs?

"F**k! What did you actually do? If we did get into trouble, we wouldn't be able to get accepted into the Cadet Corps."

"That's your worry Eren? Wtf. How should I know what I have done? Armin, do you know what happened? That was your idea right."

"I... I-"

Before Armin was able to speak, someone within the crowd yelled out their name.

"Hey, guys!"

Turning around to see who was yelling, they saw Mikan and the three girls following her. Annie and Mikasa were carrying a dead pig with its leg tied to a pole, while Historia and Mikan were carrying a few bags of vegetables and spices.

They approached the group of boys and questioned why they were here.

"We almost got arrested for buying drugs."

Stupid Eren was the first one to said what happened but he forgot to give out important details.

"You what!? I just tasked you to do simple stuff and now you what? Mind telling me more?"

"It's Armin's fault. It was his idea"

"What the hell Eren! Thana-kun was the one who said it! But if it's anyone, it's you guys! All your ideas were bad!"

""HMPH"" The three that were in the blamed snorted. Of course, they wouldn't admit that it was their fault when there was someone that they could blame.

"Enough! Girls, this is why you need to learn how do things on your own. You can't be useless like these bum, who only know how to rely on women to do things."

"Hey, I'm not useless!" Athanatos protested but it fell on deaf ears, except for the boys and Karl.

"That's right Mikan. How can you say that your husband is useless. You're hurting my feelings."

"Since when did you guys do any household work properly? Cook? Except for Armin, all your food are either burnt or inedible. Clean? Last time I checked, there were 3 broken furnitures because of you guys. Gardening? I'm glad that most of you know how to water plants but last time, I remembered one of you guys decided to clean the plant with soap. Why the hell did you do that?"

"Of course it was me. I mean plants are dirty right? If I clean it, wouldn't it be fresher and tastes better?"

"It was you? Goddamn it. We all had an upset stomach that evening because of you." Karl smashed his fist on Athanatos, while remembering the horrendous experience.

"..." Everyone else was speechless at Athanatos' reasoning for cleaning the plant.

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"It's time for a feast! Don't hold back."

""OHHHH!""

It was then that a battle occurred...

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"I WANT THE LEG!!" Athanatos said as he used his hand to pick out a leg from the pig

""YOU ALREADY HAVE THREE!"" The other 2 boys and Karl protested with anger on their faces. The leg was probably one of the best parts. Although not high in fat, it was extremely soft after being roasted for 3 hours. The slightly charred part on the outside greatly served to enhance the smoky flavor while increasing the savoriness of the meat inside. And by combining it with the roasted pig sauce mixed with herbs, it was heavenly. That was only if Athantos didn't take all of them.

"Thana-kun... please share with others," Mikan spoke out reprimandingly but couldn't hide the chuckle on her face.

"Sure... NOT!" Saying that he used his inhumane reflex and speed to lick all of the pork legs.

"Hehe, ¬‿¬"

""NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!""

That earned a giggle from the rest of the family.

"Well... There are still other meals. Why don't you try the chickens? It's not that bad."

But...

"Thana-kun, try these chicken legs too."

"Thana-kun, try the wings. It's the tastiest."

"Thanks, Mikasa, Annie."

""YOU!!!!!!"" They finally have had enough. Although the rest of the meal was still enough to feed all of them, having the best parts taken was not a fun experience.

"💢 Why don't we have another lesson, Tha-na--kun." Mikan, seeing her son not behaving while also flirting(?) with two girls at the same time, couldn't help but want to make sure her teaching is forever ingrained into his memory.

"N-n-no. Anything but that!"

"It's too late. Come here. I wouldn't even hurt you one bit... Just a lot of bits."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"