"Uh..."
Staring at Cana in front of him, Gildarts's mouth fell open in utter shock.
"Is... is it you?"
Before Cana could even speak, Gildarts asked first.
At that moment, his emotions were so tangled that even he probably couldn't sort them out.
"Yes... I came to Fairy Tail because I was looking for my father..."
Looking at Gildarts, Cana lowered her eyes slightly and finally told the truth.
"So... it's me?"
Gildarts swallowed, then stupidly raised a finger and pointed at himself.
"Uh... yes. A lot happened along the way, so I never found the chance to explain it to you properly... You probably find it hard to accept, right?"
Cana stood there with both fists clenched tightly, finally forcing out the words she had kept buried in her heart all this time.
It was terribly embarrassing, but at the same time, she felt relieved.
The burden and pressure weighing on her seemed to vanish all at once.
In truth, Cana's pressure had not vanished.
It had simply been transferred.
All of it had landed on Gildarts instead.
"Whaaaat?!"
Gildarts let out an incredulous cry.
"Whose child are you?! Sara? Namu? Claire? Fina? Mary? Elisha? No, no! That's not right! None of their hair colors match!"
Looking at Cana, Gildarts blurted out a string of names, then knelt on the floor and ruled them all out one after another.
Everyone originally thought that would be the end of it, that perhaps there had been some misunderstanding, but then Gildarts started counting again.
"Emma? Layla? Gin? Sidonie? Kate? Yuko? Françoise?"
This time, the list of names was even longer than before.
Everyone was stunned speechless, completely dumbfounded for a moment.
"I mean... old man?! Just how many women have you had?!"
Cana truly couldn't hold it in anymore. She couldn't help questioning him, practically bristling from head to toe.
And it wasn't just Cana who couldn't handle it.
The watching guild members were having a hard time keeping their expressions under control too.
They all knew Gildarts was a hopeless womanizer, but this was far too ridiculous!
In just a few seconds, more than a dozen names had come out of his mouth.
"I... I know! It's Sylbia, right?! You two are exactly alike! Like... your gender and stuff..."
Under Cana's questioning, Gildarts finally gave another name, but the reason that followed made everyone dizzy.
Was that something a person should actually say?
"Who the hell is Sylbia?! And what do you mean, 'your gender and stuff'?! Honestly! You're pissing me off!"
After that ridiculous performance from Gildarts, Cana successfully shifted from embarrassment to anger.
At this point, she was already fighting the urge to hit someone.
"I can't believe you're the kind of guy who had that many women... This is awful. And all this time, Mom was still waiting for you..."
Looking at Gildarts lying on the floor and racking his brains, Cana's eyes filled with disappointment.
She had imagined many different versions of this reunion, but she had never imagined this one.
He had already named so many women, yet her mother's name had not appeared among them even once.
It wasn't as if Cana had never heard of Gildarts's reputation.
But like everyone else, she had never known the full details.
"Forget it. I've said it now, and I feel much better. Let's just leave it at that."
After leaving those words behind, Cana turned to go.
Clearly, Gildarts's chaotic reaction had hurt her.
"..."
Forget Cana—even Marco was staring in stunned silence after watching that absurd sequence.
Was this really how the plot was supposed to develop?
Wasn't this supposed to be a warm, emotional father-daughter reunion after years apart?
How had it skipped straight to the two of them nearly falling out?
The Fairy Tail members who had originally wanted to watch the excitement were now exchanging awkward looks, not knowing what to do.
Mirajane and Erza couldn't help glancing at each other.
How should they put it?
People really were afraid of comparison. With Gildarts as the contrast, Marco suddenly seemed almost upright and honorable.
At the very least, Marco would not have that many names in his mouth.
At the very least, Marco would not abandon a wife and daughter, then fail to remember who his own daughter's mother was.
"W-Wait!"
Seeing that Cana was about to leave, Gildarts hurriedly called out to her.
"I already said we can leave it at that! I didn't say this because I wanted us to become family or anything. We can just get along the same way as before. Nothing has to change..."
Being called back by Gildarts, Cana turned around and shouted angrily. It was clear she really was furious. Gildarts had gone too far.
But before Cana could finish speaking, Gildarts had already stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
"You're Cornelia's child. There's no mistake."
This time, Gildarts was clearly certain. Even his tone softened, finally carrying the warmth of a father.
"Let go of me..."
Held in Gildarts's arms, leaning against her father's shoulder, most of Cana's anger faded in an instant.
There was no helping it.
This was a feeling Cana had never experienced before.
Even though she had joined Fairy Tail at a very young age, even though she had always watched Gildarts from within the guild, she had never been this close to him.
In fact, Marco, Natsu, Gray, and the other guild members might have been closer to Gildarts than Cana, his actual daughter, had ever been.
"Why... Why did you hide it from me all this time?"
Holding his daughter, Gildarts's voice trembled slightly.
"Because... I couldn't say it. Then little by little, it became what it is now."
Cana answered him softly.
She had thought about telling him. But she had put it off again and again until things reached this point.
If Marco hadn't stepped forward and revealed it, if her repeated failures to become S-Class hadn't battered her confidence so badly, she might still never have found the courage to speak.
"Cornelia... was the only woman I ever truly loved. She was also the only woman I ever married..."
Holding his daughter, Gildarts began to explain with a heavy expression.
But that very first sentence almost made Marco lose his composure.
Was that "only" really trustworthy?
Marco didn't believe it.
Back when he first learned about this, he had already felt it was impossible.
Gildarts's personality was not exactly the type a woman could safely entrust her whole life to.
Gildarts was the sort of man whose love came quickly and faded just as quickly.
At the time, he might have been completely swept away, loving someone so intensely it seemed like life and death, but before long that passion would retreat, and the two would part ways.
He would not stay for any one person.
All his lasting love and devotion had been given to Fairy Tail.
"Eighteen years ago, because I was always obsessed with work, she left me. I knew she had passed away, but I never imagined she had already had a child... I'm sorry. I never noticed you..."
Gildarts continued explaining.
No matter how one looked at it, after spending so many years in the same guild without realizing Cana was his daughter, the blame was entirely his.
There was no shifting it onto anyone else.
"..."