"Hmph. You said that, do you think I believe you?"
As they kept arguing, their voices quickly escalated from hush-hush whispers to full-blown, loud accusations.
Mira, who had been chatting softly with Laki, was the first to notice. She lifted her eyes, puzzled.
"What are you two arguing about?"
The moment her words landed, Kabe's reaction was lightning fast. He slapped a hand over the old man's mouth and forced on an awkward, apologetic smile.
"Oh, it is nothing. I am just asking the Master to help me find a construction team, to build our new home.
The Master here has such a big mouth. I was going to give you a surprise, and now the surprise is ruined."
As he spoke, Kabe subtly elbowed Makarov in a very meaningful way before finally letting go.
Able to breathe again, Makarov first glared at him viciously, only to meet Kabe's eyes. That look was so heavy, so warning, it made Makarov stiffen.
Now Makarov was stuck.
He wanted to report this brat's "two-timing" right in front of Mira, he really did. But feelings were ultimately a matter between young people.
And besides, Mira and Erza had somehow managed to accept each other, even after years of mutual hostility.
Makarov could not tell whether they had… silently permitted Kabe's tendency to attract flowers and butterflies.
In the end, with no good way to speak up, Makarov could only swallow a breath, then swallow the words along with it.
After glaring at Kabe one more time out of pure envy, he reluctantly nodded, accepting Kabe's explanation.
Seeing the Master nod, Mira did not doubt it. She only frowned a little and complained,
"You should at least discuss something like this with me and Erza first.
And did we not say we were buying a new place? Why are we building it ourselves now?"
"Sorry. I did not think it through enough," Kabe said smoothly, voice warm and earnest. "I just thought… if we are going to have a home, it should be something special, something that belongs only to us.
If we just buy one, it feels like something is missing."
"Hmph. That is true," Mira admitted.
Anyway, the three of them were S Class mages. A single job could easily bring in millions. Whether they bought or built did not really matter.
If anything, as Kabe said, a place with their own style, tailored to their preferences, that was the best.
"Right? Right?" Kabe leaned in, grinning. "Since you already found out, we should call Erza over and discuss it together."
He hurriedly pulled Mira away from the bar. Before leaving, he even turned back and gave Makarov a grateful little blink, like a shameless kid thanking an accomplice.
Makarov could only sigh.
In his heart, he could only lament that the world really had changed. Some relationships were simply beyond an old man with outdated "discipline" to understand.
Away from the bar, under the guild's many unfriendly stares, Kabe tugged Mira to a seat.
"Wait," Mira said.
Her butt had barely touched the chair when she sprang back up and jogged over to the corner, where Laxus… no, where a slightly plumper-looking Reedus was sketching quietly.
"Mira, wha…"
Before Reedus could finish, Mira reached over, snatched a spare stack of paper and a pen from beside his seat, and spoke briskly.
"Borrowing this."
Then she turned and walked away without another word.
Reedus opened his mouth, then gave a helpless shake of the head and returned to his drawing.
Meanwhile, Kabe was completely confused.
"What are you doing?"
"Do not talk," Mira said, eyes sharp. "I have a picture in my head now."
With that, she grabbed the pen and began "creating."
It was the first time Kabe had ever watched Mira draw. Curiosity got the better of him, and he leaned in to peek.
He only managed two glances before his expression started to freeze into something stiff and complicated.
At that moment, Erza, who had just "dealt with" Natsu, also returned.
She rubbed her wrist and turned to the swollen-faced Natsu behind her, lecturing him patiently.
"In the future, you cannot be this reckless. Consider this a lesson. After you eat, go home and rest."
Natsu, now a round-headed bruised dumpling of a boy, nodded furiously. He hurried to the bar, sat down obediently, and spoke to Laki with completely unclear diction, mouth barely functioning.
"Mmmf mmmf… mmm!"
One look at his purple-blue cheeks and bleeding nose and lips, and Laki almost dropped the glass in her hand.
Only when she noticed Happy gripping Natsu's arm, trembling like he had just witnessed something unholy, did Laki finally recognize who this "big-faced monster" was.
"Natsu? Who did this to you?!"
Natsu and Happy both stiffened, then slowly turned their heads to glance at Erza. Immediately, they shook their heads so hard they almost snapped their necks.
"Mmm mmm mmm… mmm…"
Natsu tried to explain, but it was impossible to understand a single word.
Erza, unable to watch anymore, placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder and spoke for him.
"Just grilled meat. Please hurry. Natsu is so hungry his face has already swollen up."
"Swollen?"
Laki stared. No matter how she looked at it, it did not seem like swelling. It looked like someone had beaten him into a dumpling.
But because it was Erza saying it, Laki did not dare ask further. She turned around and started preparing the food.
Makarov, watching from the side, gave Natsu a sympathetic look.
That poor kid… he is not going to tell me Erza literally whipped him awake while he was still unconscious, is he?
The mental image made Makarov understand Happy's haunted expression immediately.
Honestly, in some ways, Erza was scarier than a ghost.
Soon enough, the grilled meat was ready. When Erza saw Natsu gnawing at it while wincing, she finally nodded in satisfaction and turned toward where Kabe and Mira were sitting.
When she arrived, she happened to catch them hunched over a single sheet of paper, studying it intensely.
"What are you looking at?" Erza asked, naturally sliding in close and taking the empty seat on Kabe's right.
From the bright, chaotic, rainbow-colored paper, a masterpiece that looked like a child's crayon scribble, Kabe pulled his gaze away. He let out a long breath, then answered with a completely serious face.
"Art. Extremely simple art, returning to purity."
Mira heard the mockery in his tone, and she also knew her drawing skills were not exactly respectable. Her cheeks flushed. She shot him a sideways glare and tried to pull the paper away, not wanting Erza to see it.
But Erza scanned it quickly and gave a startled sound.
"Th, this is… a house design? Are you discussing our future home?"