Star-Moon Grass

The towering trees of the Tidal Forest block out the sun, with only dappled sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves and falling onto the decaying leaves.

Three disheveled men with matted hair and tattered clothes were strolling along, stepping on dry branches... on their way.

Riyao carried a thick wooden stick, polished to a shine and straight enough to be used as a ruler; it was the "dream stick" he had spent ages rummaging through the woods to find.

He swayed as he walked at the front, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Second Junior Brother! Third Junior Brother! Master has been captured again!"

Natsu scratched the messy back of his head, his forehead piled high with question marks that seemed about to overflow.

"What junior brother? Where did this master come from? What kind of childish nonsense are you imagining now?"

Gray rolled his eyes so wide they reached the back of his head, and ruffled his gray hair.

"Ignore him. Riyao acts crazy like this every day. You'll get used to it."

Natsu touched his stomach, and suddenly a thunderous "gurgle... gurgle..." sound exploded from his abdomen. He immediately jumped up, clutching his stomach and letting out a howl.

I'm so hungry!

A faint echo immediately drifted through the woods.

"Two... two..."

Three days had passed since they entered the Tidal Forest, Natsu had long since devoured all the rations in his backpack, leaving not even a crumb. He even chewed the last piece of hard bread into crumbs as a snack.

Natsu just wanted to eat meat; after all, in the forest, the Riyao could ripen fruit trees and provide vitamins anytime, anywhere.

Riyao tiptoed and rummaged through the leaves of the broad-leaved tree, squinting for a long time, but unfortunately the canopy was so dense that even the sun couldn't get in. He scratched his head, turned around, and called out to Gray.

Which way is east?

Gray, who had been nonchalant, suddenly frowned, clenched his fists, and rushed over to grab Riyao's tattered collar.

"You can't even tell the way, yet you dare to be a guide?!"

Riyao stubbornly refused to admit his mistake, but he was full of bravado.

"It's not that I don't know the way! It's that I can't tell directions!"

Gray rolled his eyes and pointed to the left with an annoyed look.

"That's to the east, which way do we go next?"

Riyao raised his little head and patted his chest, guaranteeing it.

"That's it! Just keep going forward!"

He froze as soon as he finished speaking, scratching the back of his head.

"Huh? Where's Natsu?"

Gray glanced around at the bushes and tree pits behind him, and was also bewildered.

"I don't know, it was just following me around, wasn't it?"

If a child is quiet, they must be up to no good!

The two quickly parted the waist-high ferns and saw Natsu lying slumped in the grass, clutching half a mushroom in his hand.

His face turned as red as a ripe berry, his lips were bluish-black, his belly was swollen like a hot air balloon, and he was muttering incoherently.

"Delicious... I'd like some more..."

It looked like it was about to kick the bucket.

Riyao, quick as lightning, grabbed the straight wooden stick and charged forward, punching Natsu's bulging belly. With a "poof," a colorful black mushroom mixed with bits of food sprayed directly from Natsu's mouth. "If you see a rainbow, eat it!"

He quickly raised his hand, and a bright green Healing Magic circle appeared in his palm with a "hum," enveloping Natsu in a warm glow. In less than two seconds, Natsu's complexion changed from bluish-green to his normal wheat color.

Riyao skillfully took out a rope, tied Natsu's hands and feet tightly, draped it over the straight wooden stick, and carried him on his shoulder as if he were carrying a wild boar he had just hunted.

Gray leaned closer, watching Natsu sway back and forth, and his lips twitched.

"Hey, is it really okay to tie him up like this? What if he wakes up and takes us all apart?"

Riyao swung the wooden stick on his shoulder, and Natsu swung it back, waving it nonchalantly.

"It's alright, it's alright! Natsu incredibly resilient! Last time he was knocked unconscious by a tree branch, he woke up and was still able to chase a squirrel for three blocks!"

He carried a wobbly, straight wooden stick, kicked around acorns, and hummed off-key so badly that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him.

"Over the mountains, over the sea, there's a group of little enemies~"

"What are you humming about? Shut up!"

"Then I'll change it to another one, 'Chicken'..."

Upon hearing this, Gray rolled his eyes so wide they seemed to reach the back of his head, clenched his fist, and charged forward, delivering a solid shoulder bump to Riyao's arm. "Hey kid! Shut up!"

Riyao was knocked off balance, and the wooden stick he was already holding onto suddenly swung up. Natsu was hanging from the stick, swayed like a pendulum without a rope, and delivered a solid elbow strike to Gray.

"Ugh~"

Gray instantly bent over like a shrimp, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.

"Oh ho! You dare hit me?"

Riyao immediately bristled, grabbed his stick and charged forward. Gray got up and, without saying a word, chased after him, grabbing at the corner of his tattered clothes.

"You directionally challenged fool, how dare you hit me with that stick! I'll freeze that piece of trash stick into Fire Poker!"

The two chased each other wildly, with Natsu being flung around on the stick, bumping into trees and occasionally being bounced over by tree trunks, looking like a moving human punching bag, truly embodying the carefree and lively spirit of teenagers.

If Natsu could speak right now, he'd probably say, "Family, who understands...?"

After all that fussing, until the sun was almost touching the forest canopy, Natsu, hanging from the stick, finally woke up with a whimper, muttering, "Mushroom... sweet..."

As soon as he lifted his eyelids, they drooped again, and he fainted, his head slumping directly onto the wooden stick.

Natsu woke up, but quickly fainted again. Natsu mistook the stick for a means of transportation, triggering the underlying code.

He untied him from the stick, and Riyao cast a bright green Healing Magic circle at Natsu, enveloping him in a warm, green light.

Natsu sneezed loudly, finally fully waking up, and sat up rubbing his stomach. "Who just hit me?"

Following the direction Gray pointed, they walked for another half hour before finally reaching a clearing overgrown with Star-Moon Grass.

A dozen or so alpacas surrounded them, staring at each other with their round, black eyes and spitting saliva. The sticky drool sprayed all over the grass, making them look both silly and cute, yet with a hint of fierceness.

Wow, it's all drool!

Riyao immediately channeled his inner drama queen, sidling up to Natsu and patting his shoulder so hard it almost shook him off, while making faces and putting on an expression that said, "I absolutely believe you."

"Natsu! I've always known you're the strongest man in Fairy Tail! These grass... alpacas are yours to handle! I believe you can drive them all away!"

Gray caught up in a second, moving to Natsu's other side and slapping him with even more force than Riyao, almost knocking Natsu forward.

"That's right! It's time to prove you're not just a glutton who only knows how to eat poisonous mushrooms!"

Natsu was so excited by the two patting him from the left and right that his blood boiled, and small orange flames suddenly appeared in his eyes. He clenched his fists and pounded his palms together.

"Wow! I'm the strongest!"

After saying that, he let out a howl and charged out, but as soon as he reached the alpaca herd, he was sprayed in the face with saliva, tumbling and scrambling as he was spitting out more than a dozen mouthfuls. He turned and ran back, shouting as he ran, "I'll definitely be back!"

The alpacas chasing behind were having a great time, spitting saliva everywhere with "tui~tui~tui~", even knocking grass blades to the ground.

Riyao and Gray spotted a thick oak tree nearby, stepped on each other's shoulders, and quickly climbed up the thick branches. Once Natsu and the alpaca herd had run far away, they immediately slid down and pounced into the Star-Moon Grass.

As Riyao plucked blades of grass and stuffed them into the pockets of his tattered coat, he chattered on without looking up.

"Gather more; I'm afraid Natsu will get hungry on the way back and need to eat."

Gray grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his pocket. "That makes sense!"

The two men, with their large buttocks sticking out, buried their heads in their work and began to grope wildly.