Sunny really couldn't think of the last time he'd been shopping for food. It seemed so quaint, which made it lovely in a certain way. But that warm, fuzzy feeling did not extend to shlepping the haul home.

"Couldn't they have used cloth bags?" Sunny lamented as he floated up the staircase. It wasn't to show off, it was just the easiest method for him.

Teppei grinned, a habit that he seemed to lean on heavily. "We could have brought our own, but these are biodegradable, don't worry."

"That's lovely, but it's not the environment I'm worried about," Sunny sighed. Gesturing with his hand, he drew Teppei's attention to the fact that his hair was festooned with grocery bags like a Christmas tree with particularly lumpy, plastic ornaments.

Teppei glanced, and then held out a black-gloved hand. "I can get those if it's too much for your hair."

"How dare you suggest my hair's weak!"

"Oops. Silence is golden."

Silence was fine with Sunny in dealing with this strange man, so he floated in peace while Teppei took the stairs with surprising grace.

"How far do those feelers go?" Teppei asked.

"Far enough," Sunny prickled. "I'm not giving information like that to someone who can put me behind bars." Let it not be said that Sunny had forgotten who put Zebra in a jail cell.

"Were you guys close? You and Zebra."

Now wasn't that an interesting question. Teppei's thick eyebrows didn't betray any particular emotion other than curiosity. Still, how probing.

"I'll tell you that but you could be kind enough to exchange information about Yosaku in turn," Sunny said.

Teppei shook his head. "No need. Look, I'll tell you anything you want. That I know. My master doesn't share a lot of stuff with me, you see."

"Well, I look forward to hearing all you don't know in lunch in a few minutes."

"Okay." Teppei grinned again.

Teppei knew something was wrong the minute he entered the lab. Call it a hunch, call it a smell, call it whatever. Maybe he could just read the tension in Yosaku's burly body all too well to know his master was in the zone. Teppei wanted to head out as soon as possible – to be honest, Yosaku's work awed him a bit too much and he would rather do something new and talk to Sunny for a while.

Sunny didn't notice, he was too busy laughing at Toriko's haircut.

Then the regeneration started, and even Sunny paid attention.

Toriko's cheeks caved, his muscles shriveled and seconds later he tottered like a skeleton towards the table of food. Teppei didn't have to see Yosaku to know his eyes were bugged out in amazement.

Teppei stumbled backward, making way for the emaciated man to reach the table of sustenance. Sunny dumped what was left in the bags onto the table with a swing of his hair, but his mouth dropped too.

During no portion of their trip to Ice Hell had Teppei truly understood how much Toriko could eat. Some living creatures had strong life forces but didn't consume much, or vice versa. Sunny knew. So Teppei assumed Sunny's slack-jawed expression wasn't in awe of the speed a steak slid down Toriko's throat, but horror at the lack of consumables.

"Tep!" he shouted.

With a nod, they bolted for the door.

Their descent down the stairs was nothing like the first time. Sunny flew and Teppei ran at full pace. Minutes later, Sunny skidded into the market, unleashing his hair.

"HAIR SHOPPING!" Tendrils shot out, grabbing apples and fish and grains indiscriminately.

Or not, so randomly, Teppei realized as he dashed for some Only Nuts to find Sunny's hair wrapped protectively around a bag.

"Do you have a good memory, Tep?" Sunny said, his arched eyebrows concentrated.

"Pretty good," he answered. Sunny's eyes darted around, like he was counting-

"That will have to do," he said, suddenly yanking several feasts worth of food from their stalls, and then some. The shopkeepers voices rose in protest.

"Hey!"

"Thief!"

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Put it on the tab of Sunny of the Four Kings!" Sunny snarled, his food-festooned hair curling into a package above his head. "Tep, you figure out how much I owe!"

"Whaaaat?!"

Before his shout had finished echoing, Sunny was out of sight.

Teppei looked around, and sighed heavily. Sure, he knew the market pretty well, but he didn't have a photographic memory or anything. Grumbling shopkeepers looked to his familiar face.

"The nerve of that guy! Is he really one of the Four Kings?"

"Yeah," Teppei said. "Tell you what, just bill Yosaku. Sunny's trying to take care of his friend who's sick. It's another one of the Four Kings."

"We get celebrities here all the time," grumbled a woman as she picked up fallen grapefruits. "And everyone here knows somebody sick."

Teppei bent to help the woman, and then help an older man pour some water back into his tray of Spiny Eels.

"I don't think the Four Kings are very used to people," he explained. " Well, at least Sunny doesn't seem that way. He was so nervous when he met Match and Takimaru. Plus I don't know why he was dillydallying around here without talking to Yosaku for so long. He must have been afraid—"

"You tell Yosaku he owes me 12,000 yen."

"400,000."

"1,200."

"Wowee, that's a lot of money," Teppei said. "Ha ha. Sure hope I don't end up footing the bill. I think all of them have more money than me."

"Teppei!" Sunny shouted.

Like an angel visiting earth, the Gourmet Hunter floated mid-air, arms crossed. Red-faced and sweaty too. "What are you doing? We've got to get more food!"

"But—"

"No excuses!" Teppei felt the silken shimmer of Sunny's hairs brushing against him as they slid towards the market again.

"No, stop!" Teppei was suddenly urgent. "You're a Gourmet Hunter, right? Let's hunt."

Sunny raised a finely manicured eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you're going to break the bank here. Well, Toriko's bank or Yosaku's bank. I hope it isn't going to be my bank, but you never can tell—"

"Stop rambling and get to the point, Reviver!" Sunny demanded.

Sometimes he really did talk too much. He opted for silence.

"Say something!" Sunny was becoming livid.

"The mouth is the root of evil."

Suddenly Sunny was in his face, hair gripping Teppei's cheeks. "Something. Useful."

Teppei flinched at the King's hot breath on his face. The tension in Sunny's ample muscles was palpable.

"Right. Back up the stairs and into the field."

"Ugh!" Sunny's feelers sliced past him less than gently as he turned to float back up the stairs.

Tight bonds cinched around Teppei's waist and arms. Seconds later, the ground sped beneath him. Sunny was carrying him.

"How can you be so heavy?!" Sunny growled.

"Ha ha, dunno," Teppei said. It was kind of insulting that Sunny didn't think he could keep up. He most definitely could. In a remarkable display of self control, Teppei let himself be carried and didn't remark how Sunny really lost his head when it came to Toriko.

A/N: SHOPPING! I always wanted to see the Toriko boys grocery shopping, because it would be completely ridiculous. Also, Sunny definitely has a complex when it comes to Toriko. So does most everybody in the series, so I guess it's not that unusual. More on that to come.