"You want me to take what's inside?"
Kana looked at the excited Natsu and Happy, then at the magic card he was holding, "That's Hop's card, right? It wouldn't be right for me to take what's inside without permission..."
But Natsu persisted, "Don't you want to know what Hop put in the card space, Kana?"
Kana pointed at the card, "Can't you see? A few magic crystals."
"Yeah, a few magic crystals."
Natsu leaned in, "But have you thought, the magic crystals Hop collected must be valuable."
Kana scoffed. When she snuck into Hop's room at the guild, she found a huge pile of magic crystals under his bed—nothing special.
Seeing Kana unmoved, Natsu and Happy exchanged glances; to persuade her, they'd have to resort to that trick.
"Kana, how about I treat you to a drink?"
Kana hesitated, "Don't you know Hop and I are close comrades? I, Kana, would never betray a partner for a mere drink."
Natsu held up two fingers, "Two drinks."
Kana swallowed, struggling, "Hop is my beloved friend..."
Natsu slowly raised a third finger, "Three!"
Happy also raised a cat paw, adorably saying, "We just won a bottle of premium champagne in a store lottery, but neither we nor Natsu know what's so great about it..."
"Deal!"
Kana's eyes lit up; it's not that she couldn't resist temptation, but Natsu and the others offered too much.
"Hop, for his sister's happiness, he'll have to betray you!"
Kana snatched the card from Natsu's hand, infused it with magic and gave a slight shake; the two magic crystals that had been stored in the card space fell out.
Kana is also reasonable; she only gave Natsu two magic crystals. If they turn out to be precious treasures and Natsu misuses them, the loss for the three of them would be minimized.
Of course, if she can't afford the loss, she wouldn't mind making Hop... *spit*, paying with her own flesh... "Hey! Fire Dragon!"
Just as Natsu picked up the crystal, Gajiru and Gray came over with a volleyball; the last match among the three ended with Erusha as the winner.
Now, with Erusha absent, Gray and Gajiru want to bring Natsu in for a rematch.
Natsu refused, "What's fun about a mere volleyball? Let's study what's special about these two magic crystals instead."
"Boring."
Gajiru and Gray cast disdainful looks at Natsu; it's not that they look down on him, but the word "research" doesn't fit Natsu's character.
"How about I go get Erusha? Natsu seems off."
"This big boss agrees."
Watching the two quickly agree and turn away, Natsu shivered; if they called Erusha, his stealing Hop's card would be exposed.
He thought he'd die a terrible death... In the emergency, a flash of brilliance struck Natsu's mind; he haughtily snorted, "You two have no culture, you've lost the courage of a mage to explore the unknown."
Kana beside him was surprised; to stop Gray and the others from calling Erusha, he even resorted to reverse psychology.
"Natsu, is this your struggle to survive?"
It's such a low tactic... yet this reverse psychology works on Gray and Gajiru because the speaker is Natsu; they can be mocked by anyone except Natsu.
That's the inexplicable competitive spirit among friends!
"Tch! It's just a few magic crystals. Watch me study them for you!" Gajiru snatched a crystal from Natsu, eyes wide with Gray.
Seeing he finally got them involved, Natsu wiped sweat from his forehead, then, together with Happy, stared intently at the crystal.
Watching both sides focus, Kana got nervous; they wouldn't actually discover anything, would they?
After a minute, Natsu and Gajiru dropped the crystal, rubbing their eyes.
Kana's mouth twitched; she realized they found nothing, just stared.
Perhaps feeling Kana's scorn, Gajiru quickly offered, "If you ask me, to know what a magic crystal does, just bite it and you'll know."
Kana, Gray, Happy thought, "What a hasty method, does anyone really believe that?" Natsu nodded approvingly, "As expected of Gajiru, we thought alike." Though he had no method, he couldn't show it.
In others' eyes, Natsu's disguise was still poor; Kana, Gray, and Happy groaned, yet one fool actually believed it... Natsu grabbed the crystal, "I've ignited it, are you ready? Iron Dragon!"
Gajiru also took a crystal, "Bring it on! Fire Dragon! This big boss will be the first to discover its function!"
*Crunch*
*Crunch*
To Kana, Gray, and Happy's shocked gazes, two crisp cracking sounds came from Natsu and Gajiru's mouths—they actually bit into the magic crystals!
"Kana-chan, let's go swimming~" Lucy and Reb, in swimsuits, holding floaties and water balls, came over.
Seeing Kana's daze, Lucy also noticed the two confronting mage‑dragon slayers, curious, approached, "Natsu, why are you eating random stuff again?"
Reb leaned in, looking at Gajiru's crystal, "Hey? That crystal looks like the one from the Tower of Paradise that absorbed 'Mage Spirit Power' and turned into a magic crystal."
"But it probably only looks similar; if it were that thing, eating it would kill you..."
Upon hearing that, Kana and Happy were shocked.
Others didn't know, but the two knew the crystals came from Hop's card space, and where Hop got them.
Kana and Happy exchanged glances.
That's it!
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