Fairy Tail Guild.
Natsu and Gray were still arguing about yesterday's pillow fight. Unsurprisingly, Erza had been the victor.
After all, a monster-class pillow battle wasn't exactly fun. Just looking at Natsu and Gray now—covered in injuries—made that clear enough.
But Lucy seemed to be in a bad mood, though no one knew why.
Noel placed a cup of coffee beside her and said,
"If something's bothering you, you can talk to me. Bottling it up only makes it worse."
"It's nothing," Lucy replied.
"But you really don't look like you're in a good mood. I wonder what's wrong."
"Where's Loke?"
"Who are you?"
"Who are all of you?"
Suddenly, a huge group of women burst into the guild, no one knew why.
"What's going on?" Lucy asked.
Noel suddenly remembered. "These women… they're all Loke's girlfriends, aren't they?"
"I saw him yesterday," Noel said with a concerned tone. "He seemed distracted, like something was weighing on him."
"You ran into Loke too?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, he accidentally bumped into me…" Noel recounted what had happened.
"I ran into him as well. He even saved me yesterday," Lucy said, pouting. "But afterwards he said something really awful."
"In my impression, Loke has always been a gentleman. I can't imagine him saying something so rude." Noel took a sip of his coffee and continued, "He must have had a reason."
"Even if he did, saying something like that is still way out of line," Lucy complained angrily. "He's such an idiot."
Meanwhile, the group of women made a scene in the guild.
"Out of nowhere last night, he suddenly said we should break up. I didn't even have time to react!"
"Same here," another girl sobbed.
The girls began speculating wildly.
"Could it be… he's found the one he truly loves?"
"Don't tell me that person is in this guild?"
Mira looked troubled, clearly not sure how to handle the situation. She could only give an awkward smile.
"I don't really know anything about this…"
"Lucy, help me out here!" Mira called helplessly.
At once, the angry women turned their attention on Lucy.
"Who is this woman?"
One of them muttered jealously, "Her chest is so big…"
"Could she be Loke's true love?"
Lucy instantly felt extremely awkward. She sighed helplessly.
"Mira, don't throw such a troublesome mess at me!"
The girls quickly surrounded Lucy, making it look like they weren't going to let her leave.
"Hey, if something's bothering you, you can talk to me instead of harassing Lucy-san," Noel stepped in. "Let me tell you a secret—Lucy already has a boyfriend, and it's not Loke."
The women all sighed in relief when they heard this.
"So that's how it is. Turns out she's not the one."
"Thanks for covering for me," Lucy whispered gratefully.
"We should split up and look for him," Noel said seriously. "Something must have happened."
"Yeah." Lucy nodded.
"But there's something odd," Noel continued. "Everyone in the guild knows Loke doesn't get along well with Celestial Spirit mages. Yet he's spent so much time with you. His behavior yesterday was… way too unusual."
The more Noel thought about it, the more off Loke's actions seemed.
"I've gathered a bit of information myself," Noel admitted. "I like to keep an eye on everyone in the guild from time to time." He quickly added, "Of course, that's just a professional habit."
It wouldn't do to be mistaken for some kind of creep.
Even so, Lucy still gave him a suspicious look.
"Well, how do I put this… there's something very peculiar about Loke's aura." Noel explained.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, confused.
"The first time I saw Loke use magic, I thought something was strange. His magic system isn't like ours. It's not part of normal magic theory, and it's not alchemy either. Actually, it's more similar to the system Bickslow uses."
"That's just my guess, of course," Noel added quickly, flustered. "But I think it's worth considering."
"You're saying… Loke is a Celestial Spirit?" Lucy was stunned, her worldview shaking. How could Loke possibly be a Spirit?
After all, Spirits couldn't open their own gates. The principle was simple: only when a summoner provided them with magic could they appear in the human world.
Even if Loke were a Spirit… who was supplying him with magic power?
There were too many contradictions. Lucy gathered all the clues in her head, but the pieces simply didn't fit together. Instead, she only ended up with a headache.
She soon returned to her apartment. The guild was too dangerous for her right now—other jealous women had already started targeting her.
Once back home, Lucy locked every door and window tightly. Now it was time to begin her own investigation.
For this, she needed to ask someone knowledgeable—an expert among the Spirits.
"Open, Gate of the Southern Cross! Crux!"
Crux was a specialist in Spiritology, possessing extensive knowledge about the gates between the Celestial Spirit World and the Human World.
He was also highly respected in the Spirit World due to his age and wisdom.
Meanwhile, Noel began his own line of investigation. Maybe he was just overthinking things, but he felt it necessary.
He pulled out a book titled The Laws of Celestial Spirits. It outlined the basic rules governing Spirits and their contracts with summoners:
1. Spirits do not die. When seriously injured or when their summoner's magic runs out, they return to the Spirit World.
2. Spirits cannot harm their own summoner. If they do, they are permanently exiled to the Human World until they disappear.
3. Spirits cannot remain in the Human World indefinitely. Otherwise, they will vanish.
4. Spirits cannot open their own gates. Only when their summoner channels magic into them can they appear.
5. A Spirit's gate only closes when both Spirit and summoner are of one mind.
After reading, Noel found himself wavering. Could Loke really be a Spirit?
If he was… how had he stayed in the Human World for so long? And even if he could, why?
Noel began to doubt his own conclusion. Maybe he had gotten it wrong.
Or perhaps Loke was actually some sort of mental or illusionary mage?
His speculation grew more and more far-fetched—until even Noel himself could hardly believe it anymore.
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