Over the next few days, the gloomy atmosphere in the guild remained unchanged.
The reason was simple: Mirajane was still deeply bothered by the fact that she had been forced to be Erza's maid for an entire day. Naturally, her mood was terrible.
Furthermore, when Natsu and Gray got into one of their usual fights while Erza was away on a job and accidentally bumped into her, she gave them a severe beating, making everyone in the guild even more afraid to speak up or draw her attention.
This day, Statiw came to the guild, and Mirajane happened to be absent. Macao and Wakaba immediately approached him.
"Statiw," Macao began, "Mirajane has been in a foul mood all week, and it's not brightening up at all. Can you think of a way to help?"
"What can I do?" Statiw looked puzzled, though a faint idea did cross his mind—one he wasn't entirely sure about. "I also want her to cheer up, but… besides, why are you asking me about this? Shouldn't Elfman and Lisanna be more suitable for this?"
"If asking Elfman and Lisanna worked, would we still come to you?" Macao retorted, pouting.
"Yeah, we've already asked them both, and it had no effect at all," Wakaba sighed in agreement.
Just as the two older mages were trying to persuade Statiw to take action, Lisanna walked over from the quest board, holding a request form.
"Big Brother Statiw," she said with a sweet smile, "if you want Big Sister Mirajane to be happy, then go on this quest with her. I think after you two complete it, Big Sister should cheer up."
"What?" As soon as Lisanna finished speaking, the entire guild fell into a stunned silence. Everyone turned to look at her, making it clear that Macao and Wakaba's approach to Statiw had been a collective idea.
In the sudden quiet, Natsu, who was still covered in bandages from his recent 'lesson', ran over. "Ahaha! Lisanna, let me see what kind of quest could make that Mirajane happy!" he laughed loudly.
"It's this one," Lisanna said, handing the request form to Natsu. Gray, Cana, and several others quickly gathered around to look at it.
"Maid Cafe?!" several of them shouted in surprise after reading the details.
Gray even pressed Lisanna further, "I say, with Statiw involved, will this really work? Won't it just make the problem worse?"
"Don't worry," Lisanna assured them with absolute confidence amidst everyone's doubts. "According to my speculation, as long as Big Brother Statiw takes Big Sister Mirajane to complete this quest together, there will be no problem."
With Lisanna's assurance, the guild members began to discuss amongst themselves:
"Since Lisanna said so, she must be confident. We can try it." "That's right!Besides, even if it fails, it's Statiw's problem, it has little to do with us." "Yes,that's the main point."
Listening to the discussions around him, Statiw said with a utterly speechless expression, "I say, you guys…"
He had just started speaking when Mirajane's voice cut through the noise from the guild entrance. "What are you all doing?"
As soon as they heard her voice, the members who had been loudly discussing immediately fell silent, lowering their heads like scolded children.
Just as Mirajane sensed something was wrong and her face began to darken, Lisanna walked up to her with a bright smile. "Big Sister Mirajane, Big Brother Statiw took a quest and wants you to go with him."
"Oh?" Mirajane looked at Statiw with a questioning gaze and a surprised expression.
Statiw, realizing he was committed, could only brace himself and nod. "Ah, yeah, that's right. The quest request form is in Lisanna's hand."
"Is that so? What kind of quest is it?" Mirajane nodded, then said to Lisanna, "Lisanna, let me see the request form."
"Here you go." As soon as Lisanna handed it over, the guild became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Sure enough, the next second, Mirajane's voice rose sharply. "A maid?!"
She raised her head and stared intently at Statiw.
Statiw cursed internally but began to explain aloud, "This is just work! A maid is just a profession, it's a role…"
As Statiw racked his brain for various explanations, just when everyone in the guild was sure he was about to be severely beaten, Mirajane, contrary to all expectations, simply nodded and agreed. "Alright. When do we leave?"
"Huh—?!" The collective gasp of surprise from the guild members was audible.
Ignoring them, Statiw left the guild with Mirajane. Once outside, he finally took the request form from her hand to read it properly.
"You hadn't even looked at the request form yet?" Mirajane asked, suddenly amused.
"Uh, this…" Statiw didn't know how to answer.
"Alright, you don't need to make things up anymore," Mirajane waved her hand dismissively. "Do you really think I'm blind to what's been going on in the guild these past few days?"
"You knew all along?" Statiw immediately asked. "Then why have you been…"
Before he could finish, Mirajane said with an annoyed expression, "What can I do? As soon as I think about being bossed around all day by Erza, I just get so annoyed."
At this point, she glanced at Statiw and pointed to the request form in his hand. "This idea must have come from that girl Lisanna, right?"
"Uh…" Statiw didn't know how to answer.
Then, Mirajane said, "Hmph, I knew it."
"Since you already know everything, then I won't say anything more. Let's go see the client now." Seeing that Mirajane knew everything, Statiw shrugged and changed the subject back to the job.
"Don't we only need to go tomorrow?" Mirajane asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Let's go take a look today; we have free time, don't we?" Statiw explained. "Mainly, it's to discuss the details of the quest with the client beforehand. It's better to avoid being unfamiliar with the specifics later and getting flustered, which wouldn't be good for anyone."
"That's true," Mirajane conceded, seeing the logic in his plan. After all, the quest was for a new business in Magnolia, not far from the guild at all.
Decision made, the two went together to the newly opened Maid Cafe that had posted the request.
When they found the owner, a woman, she looked Mirajane up and down and nodded with immense satisfaction. However, when her eyes fell on Statiw, she frowned deeply.
"Didn't my request state it very clearly?" she said, her tone dismissive. "We need two young women. This is a Maid Cafe. We don't need men…"