❝she's the glue❞

"so do you like miwa-chan?", marri asked, sitting beside mechamaru with a skewer as she offered the man some batteries.

the mechanical man turned his head towards the little girl as he cleared his throat.

"no".

"are you sure, because you're blushing whenever you look at her", marri pointed out.

"metal doesn't blush", mechamaru immediately replied.

"well then you're rusting".

"I—"

"no worries! I gotchu", marri winked as she hastily stood up, running over to satoru as she tugged on his swim trunks, asking him to bend down.

mechamaru sighed as he watched marri whisper something in satoru's ear, to which the male had nodded as who was he to refuse a request from his cute little daughter?

"OKAY~ GATHER AROUND YOU LOT! MY BRILLIANT DAUGHTER'S GOT A PROPOSITION FOR US ALL", satoru announced, successfully gaining everybody's attention.

marri was not a shy girl. she said it like no one's business, but if a situation required her to act all small and frail, she would.

and this, this was one of the situations.

"u-umm...well...I-I was wondering if we could all play together...b-BECAUSE I want to get to know everyone better...", marri mumbled, fiddling with her fingers as everyone felt an arrow pierce their heart, even the curse, who didn't even have a heart.

"aw, of course marri!! what do you suggest?", kugisaki asked.

"I'm glad you asked! so I was thinking that we could be in teams of two and do a chicken fight!!", marri exclaimed.

"oh, yeah! that sounds fun", itadori smiled.

"great! I already have the teams planned, and first up will be miwa-chan and mecha-mecha!!", marri smiled.

"eh? are you—"

"then next will be maki-chan and mai-chan", marri announced.

"no way in—"

marri just ignored mai's complaints as she moved on to the next pair.

"goomi, I reallllly want to be on a team with you, but sadly, you must be with your papa", marri slightly pouted, giggling as she pushed the dark-haired boy towards his father, who had scoffed.

"and of course papa will be with uta-san! you two have great chem...istry!", marri clapped, to which iori had to contain herself as she tried not to badmouth the little girl's father right in front of her.

"then yūji will be with mr. aoi, and noba will be with ms. momo!!"

the four glanced at each other, though nothing was more worse than inumaki getting paired with inu — marri's curse.

nanami thanked the heavens that he didn't get lumped together with satoru, as he was with ijichi, a more sensible person.

"then what about you, marri? you don't have a partner", itadori stated.

"hm? of course I do. isn't that right, s'kuna?"

sukuna popped out momentarily just to roll his eyes and let out an acknowledging grunt as he disappeared once more, to which the people from kyoto wondered what the hell that was.

"but mechamaru can't get in the water", nishimiya stated.

"well to be fair, I don't think chickens can even swim, so they can just chicken fight on the ground", marri said matter-of-factly.

"but first up is goomi's group against yūji's. oh, and curse energy allowed because I like watching you all fight", marri smiled as everyone circled around the pool, meanwhile the four got in, with megumi sitting on top of tōji's shoulders and itadori on top of tōdō's.

least to say, it was hella awkward for megumi.

"first things first, what's your type?", tōdō asked.

"JENNIFER LAWRENCE!", marri immediately answered for itadori, to which the boy grinned as he gave the little girl a thumbs up.

"yep! generally a tall girl with a big a—"

"OI!! marri's still here", megumi interrupted.

"oh right, sorry".

tōdō then started sniffling, crying, if you will.

"WHY ARE YOU CRYING?! THE FIGHT HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET", marri worried as she flailed her arms around, hastily running over to the principals as she snatched their napkins and ran by to the edge of the pool, handing them to tōdō.

"my besto friendo!"

"WHO, ME?!", marri excitedly asked, her eyes sparkling with hope as tōdō hesitated.

"what's your type?", tōdō asked, pointing his finger at marri.

"she's four!", megumi reminded.

"seafood", marri seriously answered. "but especially sushi", the girl replied, to which before tōdō could say anymore, satoru had picked marri up and placed her back on his lap.

"marri, we're all still waiting for the chicken fight, right?", satoru asked.

"oh right!! okay, on your mark, get set, AND GO!", the girl shouted, to which immediately tōji and tōdō had neared each other with megumi and itadori punching at each other, trying to knock the other off.

"can't let those two be the only ones having fun can we now?", tōji grinned as him and tōdō joined hands, pushing against each other as even though tōji had no cursed energy, the man was beyond talented.

"brother! you need to improve!", tōdō stated, to which the boy had helped the latter by instructing on how to feel and where he should be feeling his cursed energy.

marri hummed and nodded along as she watched megumi summon up some of his frogs, to which she thought was cute.

"GOOMI, YOU'RE DOING GREAT!!", marri cheered, to which tōji had snorted.

"yeah goomi, you're doing great", the man mocked, making the boy furrow his brows.

"YOU TOO MR. FISH! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK", marri continued, to which megumi smirked as he saw his dad click his tongue.

"MY NAME'S FUSHIGURO TŌJI, YOU BRAT!"

"SORRY MR. FISHIGURO!!"

"IT'S—never mind", tōji uttered as itadori had an epiphany.

"I GOT IT!!", he proclaimed as everyone watched the boy get read to punch megumi once more, except with a blue cursed energy surrounding his fist.

"THAT'S IT, BROTHER!! NICE JOB!", tōdō complimented as just before itadori could throw the punch, the boy landed in the water, making everyone gasp.

"tch! cursed energy ain't shit", tōji snorted as he got out of the pool with megumi, meanwhile marri had went up to go congratulate the two.

"you did so well goomi! and you too, mr. tōji", marri smiled, to which megumi had ruffled the girl's hair.

"all thanks to your encouragement", megumi stated.

"hah?! I basically carried the team!", tōji claimed, making megumi give his father an unamused look as marri had secretly snickered.

'all according to plan~'