Everyone's eyes snapped toward the guild doors.
A young girl walked in slowly, carrying a pretty heavy-looking rectangular leather case.
She had gorgeous wavy blonde hair and was wearing a pale pink wide-brimmed hat decorated with ribbons. Dressed neatly and elegantly, she looked just like a refined young lady from a wealthy family.
Romeo pointed toward Lucy. "That's Lucy sis over there."
"Thank you, little sir," the girl said with a gentle smile to Romeo, her voice soft and warm.
A lot of the guys in the guild couldn't help but stare—she'd caught their attention right away.
Happy flew down, tugged lightly on Lucy's pants, and whispered, "Hey, Lucy, who's that girl? She's really pretty."
Lucy gave him a flat look. "=—= Didn't you always say you don't get human beauty standards?"
"How can you tell she's pretty all of a sudden?"
Happy's tail swished, and he waved a paw. "That was before! Geez, Lucy, you're so petty—still holding onto something from that long ago?"
"Girls who hold grudges aren't popular, you know."
"This guy..." Lucy rolled her eyes, then racked her brain trying to place the girl's face. "I've never seen her before... Maybe she's a client here to post a job request with the guild?"
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the girl walked straight up to Lucy, looked at her with clear eyes, and asked softly, "Are you Lucy Heartfilia?"
Lucy nodded politely. "Yeah, that's me."
"Um... who are you?"
"Who am I?" The girl's nose twitched at the question, her eyes visibly reddening as tears welled up.
"I'm Michelle Lobster!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, tears poured out like a dam had burst.
Happy covered his mouth with a paw and glanced sideways. "Whoa! Lucy made her cry! What a mean lady!"
"—! 0—0" Lucy panicked, waving her hands frantically.
"This has nothing to do with me! I don't even know her!!"
Michelle cried for a good while before calming down.
She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingertips and gave an apologetic, gentle smile. "Sorry about that... It's been so long, it's normal that you don't recognize me."
"Let me introduce myself properly."
"I'm Michelle Lobster."
She tilted her head slightly, her still-watery eyes gazing warmly at Lucy, full of nostalgia and joy.
"It's been a while, big sis Lucy."
The whole guild went dead silent—weirdly quiet for a full minute.
Then, an explosion of shouts: "B-big sis Lucy?!!!"
Happy raised his left paw like a serious news anchor. "Shocking news! Lucy's dad has a secret love child! Is this a twist of human nature or the fall of morality?!"
"No wonder the once-great Heartfilia family! Are we about to see a battle for the heiress title?"
He rubbed his paws together, looking around excitedly. "Ooh, is it gonna be hair-pulling or an all-out fight? I've never seen this kinda drama—gotta watch with popcorn!"
Lucy's forehead veins popped. She grabbed Happy, yanked hard on his whiskers with a "friendly" smile, and hissed, "You seem real excited about us fighting, huh, little kitty~?"
"Want me to feed you that popcorn personally~?!"
"N-no thanks!" Happy squirmed. "Lucy, you're gonna rip my whiskers out—it hurts!!"
Hearing the ridiculous misunderstanding, Michelle frantically waved her hands, face red. "No, that's not it! Everyone's got it wrong! The Lobster family is just a distant relative of the Heartfilias!"
"My family ran into some really tough problems and needed help from powerful mages, so I came looking for big sis Lucy."
She looked at Lucy sincerely. "Uncle Jude mentioned in his letters that the Fairy Tail guild—where you are—is full of amazing, justice-loving mages."
"He said someone here could definitely help with my troubles."
"Distant relatives..." Lucy tossed the pained Happy aside and thought for a second, a bit unsure. "Come to think of it... Dad did mention once that he'd been exchanging letters with a distant relative lately?"
"That's right," Michelle nodded gently, a grateful look on her face.
"But our family hit rock bottom with these huge problems."
"If Uncle Jude hadn't generously sent some travel money in his letter, I never could've afforded the train here..."
"It's... that bad?" Lucy's mouth fell open in surprise.
She was about to ask for details when a super loud, echoing gurgle came from Michelle's stomach.
Michelle's face turned bright red instantly. She turned away shyly, twisting her hands together, voice tiny. "B-because... I haven't traveled far in so long... I got lost looking for the Fairy Tail guild..."
"The travel money Uncle Jude sent... it's all gone..."
Her head dropped lower, even her ears turning red.
"So... I haven't eaten anything in... two whole days..."
The guild went quiet again, everyone imagining neat rows of "..." over their heads.
Lucy wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead and smiled warmly, though a bit helplessly. "I see... Well, dinner's on me! Order whatever you want!"
"Really?" Michelle's face lit up with joy, and she instinctively reached for Lucy's hand in excitement.
Too excited, she forgot about the heavy case she was holding.
The second her grip loosened—thud—it dropped straight onto her foot.
"Ow—!" Michelle froze solid.
"You okay?!" Lucy asked worriedly, seeing her trying to tough it out with teary eyes. "If it hurts, just yell—it's fine."
"I-I'm fine, sis..." Michelle sniffled, forcing a shaky smile through the pain, voice choking up.
"I'll help with the pain." Wendy smiled and walked over, crouching down. Her hands glowed soft blue as she hovered them over Michelle's foot (still in her shoe).
"W-wow!" Michelle's face lit up in amazement. "It doesn't hurt anymore! You healed it right through the shoe—Fairy Tail mages are incredible!"
Wendy blushed shyly at the honest praise. "Aw, it's nothing... I'm still way behind everyone else in the guild..."
After stacking the last empty bowl neatly, Michelle sighed contentedly, hands folded in her lap. "Thank you so much—I'm full."
Lucy stared at the tower of empty bowls almost as tall as Michelle and twitched. "You've got... quite the appetite."
(No magic power detected at all—how does she eat more than Natsu?)
"A good appetite means you're healthy!" Michelle dabbed her mouth gracefully with a napkin, eyes curving into a smile.
"But you know..." Levy said, resting her chin on her hand, thinking back to dinner. "Michelle eats pretty fast, but her manners are so elegant—like she's at a noble tea party."
"Yeah~" Happy drawled, glancing at Lucy on purpose. "And she's so gentle and sweet."
"Wow, both young ladies from rich families, but the difference is huge~"
Lucy's veins popped again, fists clenching. "(+皿+) Happy! What's that supposed to mean?!"
Happy spread his paws innocently. "Nothing! Just a random thought."
"Don't take it personally, Lucy~ Unless you're choosing to, then I can't stop you."
He tilted his head, whistling off-key, tail swishing smugly.
(This jerk cat!) First meeting—she couldn't lose her cool in front of Michelle. Lucy took a deep breath, forced down the rage, and explained through gritted teeth, "Of course I learned table manners as a kid! But eating with everyone in the guild, being too formal feels weird, so I relax a bit."
"And haven't you noticed I usually take small bites?"
"Have you?" Happy tilted his head like he was thinking hard.
"I seem to remember someone scarfing down half a cake in one bite at the party the other day..."
"T-that was a special case!" Lucy's face went red as she yelled. "I was competing with Lisanna! Competing—got it?!"
Happy shrugged like "whatever you say," tail flicking. "Fine, fine—if Lucy says it was a contest, then it was~"
"What do you mean 'if I say'?!" Lucy chopped his head lightly with her hand.
"It WAS a contest! Don't make it sound sketchy!"
"Ow!" Happy rubbed the bump on his head. "←—← Lucy's so rough... Totally different from sweet, considerate Miss Michelle..."
">(( ))> Stuff like that could get you called a tomboy, you know—though 'whip queen' isn't much better."
Veins kept popping on Lucy's forehead. She forced a creepy-nice smile, grabbed Happy's temples with her knuckles, and drilled hard.
"I·don't·need·you·worrying·about·my·rep!"
She ground out each word, adding more pressure. "As long as you gossip cat don't spread weird nicknames, nobody will know!!"
"Aaah—ow!!" Happy's face twisted, paws flailing. "My head's gonna fall off! Stop, Lucy—it's really coming off!!"
Watching the cat-and-girl chaos, Michelle covered her mouth and giggled. "Does big sis mess around with everyone like this every day?"
"It looks so fun."
"Not every day," Lucy said, smacking Happy one last time before waving it off with a laugh.
"We take jobs and train magic too."
"It can be tiring sometimes, but every day's fulfilling."
"Fulfilling..." Michelle's smile faded, her eyes dimming a little. She fidgeted with her skirt, voice barely audible. "That sounds nice... laughing with friends every day, having clear goals, working hard toward dreams."
"You've really changed, sis."
Noticing the mood shift, Lucy figured she was remembering unhappy family stuff and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, Michelle—what's this big problem you needed the guild's help with?"
That snapped Michelle back. She stood, fetched her leather case, and gently placed it on the table in front of everyone.
"This case... it seems to have a sealed magic item inside."
"About three months ago, my father got it from someone."
"After that, he became obsessed—pouring tons of money into researching it."
"Our savings dwindled... until recently, when a sudden explosion completely destroyed our house."
Her voice trembled, fingers tracing the case. "I was out shopping and survived by luck. When I got back, I found Father crawling weakly from the rubble. He handed me this case, said something about 'collecting them all'... then collapsed."
She looked up, eyes watery. "I didn't know what to do... Then I remembered Uncle Jude mentioning in a letter that his daughter's guild—Fairy Tail—was full of amazing mages."
"So... I came to you, sis."
"Letters..." Macao scratched his chin, puzzled. "Phones have been everywhere for two years now. You seem like a proper lady from a good family—why stick to letters with Lucy's dad?"
"My father was pretty old-fashioned," Michelle smiled helplessly.
"He wouldn't let anyone in the house use phones—he couldn't accept new tech like that."
"So letters were the only way to stay in touch with Uncle Jude."
"Ah, gotcha." Roger walked up to Michelle with a grin. "But I'm curious—why were you exchanging letters with Lucy's dad?"
"Usually adults have more to talk about. What did you two chat about in those letters?"
"Mostly about big sis," Michelle said, clasping her hands with a soft smile.
"When I was little, I lived at the Heartfilia estate with her for a while."
"Later, for some reasons, I couldn't stay... but I've always missed her."
"Recently, when Uncle Jude contacted my father, I took the chance to send letters too."
"But he said Lucy had gone missing in an accident—he was really worried. I was too... so we comforted each other through letters."
"Then we ended up sharing lots of stories about Lucy's childhood, and just kept writing."
"Dad..." Hearing how worried he'd been, Lucy remembered his weak, coughing-up-blood state not long ago—her chest felt heavy.
(As expected from the member of the new Oración Seis called "Imitatia"—the master of mimicry and deception. Half-truth lies are the most convincing.) Roger's lips curved almost imperceptibly.
(But... in the original story, Michelle didn't deliberately hide her identity.)
(Those Celestial Spirits she'd seen but never summoned, the "childhood playmate," clothes woven from flowers and grass...)
(In the original, Lucy's childhood memories were fuzzy, but this Lucy... is different.)
(If too many memories come up, will she notice something off herself?)
Shaking off her unease, Lucy patted her chest confidently. "Don't worry, Michelle—we've got this magic item!"
"We'll figure out what it is and where it came from."
"Really?" Michelle grabbed Lucy's hand, eyes sparkling.
"Thank you so much, sis!"
"No problem—you helped ease Dad's loneliness while I was sealed on Tenrou Island." Lucy winked, then carefully opened the case.
Click.
The lid lifted, revealing a long, stick-like object tightly wrapped in white bandages.
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