Shane didn't have time to care about any of that. Nervously, he swept his gaze across the hall, trying to find that crimson figure.
"Stop looking—Erza got dragged to a meeting by the old man this morning."
A teasing voice came from beside him. Cana popped up out of nowhere.
The table that had just been thrown across the room was probably the one she always sat at; now it lay in splinters on the floor. Cana acted like this was completely normal. She sauntered over to Shane and looked at him with a smug, good luck with that grin.
"Erza's been camping you for half a month—she hasn't even taken a request. And the second the old man pulls her away, you show up."
"Haha… my luck's really that good?" Shane forced a laugh. His throat felt tight. He didn't even want to imagine what kind of "judgment" he'd face when Erza came back.
So he made himself look away, focusing on the pink-haired boy currently brawling with Gray.
The kid fought with zero technique—like a tireless little wild animal.
"By the way," Shane asked, "is he a new recruit?"
"Yeah. The old man brought him back a couple days ago. Pretty energetic, huh?" Cana replied casually, taking a swig of beer.
Shane nodded.
Watching Gray get pushed around by those chaotic, relentless punches, Shane suddenly remembered how the older members had cheered from the sidelines when he was new.
Yeah. Guild traditions needed to be passed down.
A wicked grin spread across Shane's face. He cleared his throat and shouted loudly:
"Hey, hey, Gray! You're not gonna lose to the newbie again, are you? Don't go around claiming you're 'training seriously' when every new guy who walks in can beat you! Hahaha!"
"You bastard, Shane! You're back! Which eye of yours saw me—"
Gray whirled toward Shane, furious—only to take a solid punch to the eye mid-sentence.
Thud!
"Gah!"
Gray staggered back, clutching his face as his eye started swelling.
Not just Shane—other guild members watching burst out laughing too, piling on instantly:
"Gray, you always run your mouth and still can't win! Quit acting like a senior already!"
"Yeah! I'm embarrassed for you!"
"Like hell I'd lose to him!" Gray roared, his eye already turning blue. He lunged back at the pink-haired boy.
Maybe it was all that recent "training," or maybe humiliation finally lit a fire under him—either way, Gray snapped. He powered through the kid's flurry, found an opening, and slammed him to the floor.
"Hah… hah… I won!" Gray panted, raising a fist triumphantly—only…
"Tch. Took you that much effort just to beat a newbie? You're so lame, Gray."
"Yeah, that was boring."
The crowd shrugged, lost interest the second the fight ended, and scattered back to their drinks—without even glancing at Gray still frozen in his victory pose.
"…You bastards!!!" Gray's fist hung in midair. His face went from exhilaration, to confusion, to visibly overheating with rage.
Shane's grin widened.
His own doom was already guaranteed anyway—so seeing someone else suffer alongside him was pure comfort. The schadenfreude even made him feel lighter.
"Tch—your punches are stupid strong, you know that?!"
The pink-haired boy popped up with a kip-up like nothing had happened. He rubbed his head and looked perfectly fine.
Then he noticed Gray nearby, wearing an expression like he'd just lost his soul.
The boy clicked his tongue, annoyed. "What's with that face? You won, didn't you? Why are you sulking?"
Then he turned on Shane, who was still laughing, and jabbed a finger at him. "Hey! You've been snickering this whole time like you're hot stuff! Fight me!"
"Hey! You idiot—don't pick a fight with him!"
Gray's eyelid twitched. Memories of his own "tragic" experiences provoking Shane flashed through his brain, and he shouted a warning.
The pink-haired boy didn't even look back. He only stared at Shane, burning with competitive spirit. "I'll beat him first—then I'll come back and beat you too!"
Seeing the kid completely ignore advice, Gray could only facepalm and sigh.
If this wasn't kind of the kid trying to "get back" at Shane on his behalf, Gray wouldn't have bothered warning him at all. He'd have just done what Cana had already done—somehow she'd produced a little bucket, sat down, and settled in as a happy spectator.
"Seriously energetic… and his physique is insane," Shane muttered, watching the boy's overflowing stamina. "Where did the old man even find this kind of prodigy?"
But Shane wasn't about to go easy on him.
Newbie? Please. Shane had only been in the guild a few months—he was still a "newbie" too. Veteran "guidance" must be delivered!
So when the pink-haired boy charged like a calf on a rampage, Shane's face slid into that trademark faint smile—the one he wore right before doing something terrible.
Off to the side, Gray saw it and immediately thought of several deeply unpleasant memories. He looked away on instinct.
Shane copied what he'd done to scare Everlue before. He swiped hard across his eyes—
Fwoom!
Like oil catching fire, blazing crimson flames erupted over his pupils. Heat shimmered in the air around him, and an invisible pressure spread outward.
All right. Start by intimidating him. Maybe he'll back off. That was Shane's plan.
What happened next, however, blew past "unexpected" and straight into "this isn't normal human behavior."
Faced with the Eye of Karma—something that would make most mages go pale and stumble back—the pink-haired boy didn't slow down at all.
He didn't look scared. The instant the flames ignited, his eyes lit up instead—an indescribable excitement… and something that looked an awful lot like hunger.
Then, right in front of Shane's stunned gaze, the boy rose onto his toes, craned his neck forward, opened his mouth—
"Om nom!"
And bit down.
He actually took a single bite and ate the Flame dancing over Shane's eyes—swallowing it down in one gulp.
~~~
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