“Alright, food!”

Chad looked up from his new book at Jinta’s shout and blinked at the sight of Tsukabishi carrying a large platter stacked with fried chicken. He leaned forward to help clear off a spot on the table, bemused at the idea of Shinigami following such a silly ‘tradition’ when they probably remembered the inception of it.

(No matter how many years he spent in Japan, fried chicken for Christmas remained one of the things that confused him the most.)

Tsukabishi set down the platter and returned to the kitchen to bring out a stack of glasses and two pitchers of drinks for them to share. Table set, he sat down and gestured towards the platter. “Dig in. There’s more in the back when we run out.”

“Thanks!” Jinta shouted as he leaned in and snatched a few pieces from the platter.

Everyone else followed suit with the chicken, and Chad took the time to pour drinks and pass them out to the others.

Once everyone was settled and had a chance to begin eating, Urahara looked around the table and asked, “So after we eat, how about a game? We’ll either need to split into teams to play, or—”

“We could play Munchkin!” Kaito’s Shiro broke in with a sharp grin. “We got ‘nough decks t’all play at once.”

Urahara’s fan flicked open to cover his mouth as he laughed, gaze darting over the rest of the table to assess everyone else. “Any objections?”

“Munchkin?” Inoue asked with a small tilt of her head.

Chad gave Shiro a curious look as well, wondering what sort of game could interest Shiro that much. He knew the spirit enjoyed video games, but he’d not realized Shiro’s interest extended to board or card games, whichever Munchkin actually was.

“Is’a card game,” Shiro responded with an excited grin. “We all get ta be ‘venturers who’re lootin’ a dungeon! We can fight monsters an’ get loot an’ th’first ones t’level ten win!”

Kaito slipped forward to reclaim a bit of front, reiatsu shading towards amusement as he clarified, “It’s a game that’s both competitive and cooperative, depending on how you want to play it. You can choose to help other players out, or hinder their efforts with curses, traps, or extra monsters added into combat.”

“No wonder Shiro likes it,” Ichigo said, then cocked his head to one side as his gaze turned distant. “White says it sounds like fun, aaaaand now he’s sulking that we’re not as good as you about our control.”

“You’ll get it eventually. Every bit of practice helps, even something like this,” Kaito reassured Ichigo, a small, fond smile pulling at his lips. He gestured towards his eyes, which were streaked with amber due to Shiro’s proximity to front, and said, “We had to learn under duress, which is why our transitions are so seamless now, but we certainly didn’t start out this good at it.”

“Tch.” Ichigo shook his head, but the small patches of gold in his irises and the way the whites of his eyes were shading towards pale grey spoke enough in his stead.

“Kaito-kun, if you’d go fetch the decks?” Urahara asked while setting aside his plate and cleaning off his hands. “Remember to bring the rule sheets as well!”

“Aww, do we gotta?” Shiro whined playfully as they stood up, running a hand through their hair. “They can jes make shit up, right? It’s more fun tha’ way!”

“No.” Kaito cut in with a shake of their head. “They get the same chances we did when we first played.” He looked over at his father and tilted his head in curiosity. “Are we—” he tapped his chest in indication—“playing as a whole, teams, or individuals this time?”

Chad took in Kaito’s multi-colored eyes and had to wonder what playing as an individual even meant to him. Were they capable of cutting each other off completely, or had they settled on some sort of compromise for games like this?

Given the way they flowed between one another without worry within the Shoten, it was hard for him to imagine only one of them paying attention at a time. At least, not without something terrible having occurred first.

(Even in the beginning, there had always been hints of the others shining through Kaito’s facade.)

(He’d just never been able to understand what he was seeing until later.)

“Mmmmm.” Urahara fiddled with his fan as he considered Kaito’s question, then said, “Two teams this time, I think. However you want to divide—”

“I pick Zan!” Shiro announced before Urahara could finish talking.

Kaito groaned and rubbed at the bridge of their nose, giving his father an absent wave as he retreated into the back of the shoten, muttering aloud, “I fucking hate you sometimes. Why do you always do this, I swear…”

“What…?” Inoue asked in confusion once Kaito had left the room, glancing between all of them in question.

Chad shrugged in response, unable to come up with any answer that made sense.

“Shiro likes to team up with Zangetsu,” Arisawa answered as she set her plate aside and accepted a napkin from Ichigo with a nod of thanks. “Calls him an ‘evil genius’ and keeps saying that he wants to learn from the best.”

“That seems…” Ichigo hesitated, gaze sliding to the side and a touch of amusement growing as he listened to his spirits. “Absolutely terrifying,” he finished after a moment.

“What’s terrifying now?” Kaito asked, dropping the stack of boxes on the table next to Urahara and sitting back down. He leaned forward to pile another couple pieces of fried chicken on his plate and arched an eyebrow at Ichigo in question.

“Shiro learning from an evil genius,” Ichigo answered.

Kaito laughed and waved a chicken leg in the air. “You do realize who you’re talking to, right?”

“Yeah,” Arisawa agreed, looking pointedly between Kaito and his father. “All of them are learning from an evil genius. Do you guys even know half the shit they get up to together?”

“Nope, and I’d rather not,” Ichigo said while he snagged a few more pieces of chicken for himself and his sisters. “You’re the only one of us that braves his evil lair.”

“Evil—I don’t have an evil lair!” Kaito sputtered.

Arisawa snorted. “No, but your dad does. And he lets you use it.”

Kaito set his plate down, wiped his hands clean, and grabbed a piece of wrapping paper, crumpling it into a ball and flicking it at Arisawa in retaliation. She swatted it aside and threw another ball back, even as Karin yelped in protest as the first one hit her instead.

Chad smiled faintly and began to quietly turn the wrapping paper around him into ammunition. He knew exactly where this was going and he wasn’t about to be caught flat-footed.

“You are all ridiculous,” Ishido grumbled, leaning away from Kaito as both Arisawa and Karin attempted to pelt Kaito with balls of wrapping paper.

“Says the person who wears a mantle,” Kaito said in exasperation, flicking a ball at Ishida as he said that.

Ishida caught it and glowered at Kaito. “First, I have seen your bankai, and a sleeveless, open haori is just as ridiculous, and second, you used to wear a mantle too, so get off that high horse or I’ll bribe Shiro to take you down.”

“Betrayal! Conspiring with my own spirits against me!”

Shiro surged to the fore, absently batting aside a couple of balls, and eagerly asked, “Whatcha got fer me, cub?”

Ishida rolled his eyes at the nickname like he always did. “We can spend Sunday afternoon playing a video game. Enough of a bribe?”

“A’right!” Shiro cheered, volleying a few balls back at Arisawa as he did. “You betcha, cub!”

“I hate all of you,” Kaito deadpanned as he retook front, eyeing everyone at the table thoughtfully as he started to sweep the balls of wrapping paper into a pile at his side.

Chad leaned back, recognizing the look in Kaito’s eyes, all mischief and cheer like his father about to pull something ridiculous on them. And sure enough, Kaito struck before anyone else was aware of the danger, launching ball after ball from his stack of ammunition at anyone who caught his eye.

The minute Kaito began his attack, Chad picked up one of his own balls of wrapping paper and flicked it at Ichigo.

“Et tu, Chad?” Ichigo groaned as the projectile hit his shoulder, scowling at the mild look Chad gave him in return. He set aside his plate and snagged a few stray balls. “Fine, prepare to face defeat then!”

“If you think you can,” Chad answered as he bounced one off of Ichigo’s head.

Everything devolved from there, with projectiles flying every which way and the whole group — even Urahara and Tsukabishi — laughing and poking fun at each other.

The game was forgotten for the moment, but they had their own game that was just as much fun.