"Are you even listening?"
Just as Shane was getting lost in his speculation about Lancer's true name, a slightly dissatisfied voice sounded beside his ear, and someone tugged hard on his arm.
Shane snapped back to his senses. When he turned his head, Erza was puffing out her cheeks, her pretty eyes practically spelling out, I'm not happy.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Shane asked blankly.
"You've been spacing out this whole time," she said, her tone carrying a hint of sulky resentment at being ignored.
Shane was about to toss out a casual excuse—something like I was thinking about which barbecue place is better—but then he reconsidered. With Erza, he didn't really need to dodge or hide.
So he smiled honestly and said, a little apologetic, "Sorry. I really was thinking about something else just now. I drifted."
"Hmph."
Erza made a cute little huff and shot him a very nice-looking glare, but didn't comment further. It was hard to tell whether she was annoyed that he'd apologized (making it feel distant), or if she was simply venting because he'd ignored her.
But not long after, Shane felt his arm tighten again.
He looked down and saw Erza hugging his arm with both hands—like she was afraid he'd wander off into the clouds again, or just bolt entirely.
The soft pressure came through the fabric, along with her warmth.
Yeah… she really is upset.
Shane felt guilty.
After all, just a couple of days ago—when they'd talked about the Harvest Festival—she'd been so excited, counting plans off on her fingers. Now that they were finally here, him acting absent-minded really was unfair.
Focus on what's in front of you.
He reminded himself firmly.
He decided to push the whole "Lancer true name" problem back into the corner of his mind for now, and only revisit it when the third vision arrived and gave him more solid clues.
…Except habits are scary.
The moment he thought third vision, his brain started running on its own:
Next time I get dragged into a vision, I have to choose the location carefully. Absolutely not somewhere populated. And I need to be careful if the next vision becomes even more "real," and hurts my body… and that Aurora—
Right then, the squeeze on his arm tightened again—so hard it actually started to hurt.
Shane's heart jumped.
He looked up, and sure enough, he met Erza's eyes—now completely cooled over. What had been a cute, sulky annoyance had transformed into a very real signal:
Danger.
This habit of mine…
Shane was utterly done with his own tendency to drift off at the worst times.
He shook his head hard, forcibly ejecting every stray thought, and mentally pinned "Enjoy the Harvest Festival with Erza" to the top of his priority list in bold red.
"Ahem…"
He cleared his throat and looked at the girl beside him—cheeks slightly puffed, low pressure radiating off her like a storm cloud. Erza was adorable when she got pufferfish-angry, but he couldn't just leave her like that.
After two seconds of thought, he gently pulled his arm out of her hold.
Erza blinked—her arms suddenly empty—and before her dissatisfaction could turn into surprise, Shane's right hand slid firmly between her fingers.
He laced their hands together, fingers interlocked, and held on tight.
Erza's hand wasn't the soft, boneless kind you'd expect from a sheltered lady. Years of swordwork had left a thin layer of calluses on her palm. But in his grip, it still felt warm—steady—reassuring.
"…Ah…"
Erza froze like someone had cast a paralysis spell on her.
All that built-up irritation evaporated in an instant, replaced by a flustered, racing-heart kind of restlessness that made her not know what to do with herself.
Shane watched the way her expression faltered, the blush blooming at the tips of her ears, and felt a tiny bit pleased with himself.
This was a "weakness" he'd discovered recently.
No matter how bold and unbothered Erza acted day-to-day—no matter how little common sense she sometimes showed—even to the point of not caring about exposing skin—
On some deeper level, she was shockingly pure-hearted.
Even something as simple as this kind of hand-holding could throw her off balance.
Shane didn't fully understand why, but he wasn't about to waste a reliable "Erza calming technique."
"Come on," he said.
He didn't give her time to overthink it. He tugged the still-frozen girl forward, guiding her toward the open-air stage ahead—packed so tightly with people it looked like the crowd might burst.
"Ah… yeah…" Erza's voice came out soft, her steps oddly floaty.
She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Just a minute ago she'd wanted to scold him for not paying attention—and now she couldn't get the words out at all.
…
They squeezed through the crowd and reached the front of the stage.
Shane had assumed "dance show" meant pretty dancers in revealing outfits going wild onstage.
But once it began, he realized it was actually a proper magical musical theater performance.
To make it easy for everyone in Magnolia—kids, adults, elderly—the troupe had chosen a classic fairy-tale theme: The Miracle of the Star Forest.
The plot was a little old-fashioned: a lost boy finds his way home with the help of forest spirits.
But in a world with magic, the stage effects were downright insane.
As the actors sang and danced, the mages backstage controlled sound and light with pinpoint precision. Sometimes glowing motes drifted like fireflies. Sometimes mist spread like morning fog. Sometimes a breeze brushed the audience's cheeks, carrying that fresh, green forest scent.
It was such a perfect blend of magic and art that even Shane—who'd started off lukewarm—sat up straighter and watched with genuine interest.
And yet…
Compared to Shane getting drawn in, Erza—the one who'd been most excited, the one who'd even marked this show as a "must-see"—looked oddly distracted.
She sat beside him, eyes aimed toward the stage, but her focus clearly wasn't on the performance.
Her peripheral vision kept sneaking sideways.
There, Shane was watching the show with rare ease—his profile lit by shifting magical light, his lips curved in a relaxed smile.
That expression… she didn't get to see it often.
The longer she stared, the more her heartbeat slipped out of rhythm.
She didn't even know what she was anxious about. She just couldn't settle. That strange emotion churned in her chest, leaving her unable to enjoy the story at all.
When the show ended and the crowd dispersed, Shane turned, still energized, ready to talk about it—
…and found Erza staring at him blankly.
"That spin the spirit queen did at the end—don't you think it was incredible?" he said, gesturing.
"Huh? Uh… yeah. It was great," Erza answered vaguely, then looked away like she was hiding something.
Shane gave her a strange look.
What was going on? She'd been waiting forever for this show—how did she look like she hadn't even watched it?
His brain immediately went somewhere stupid:
Did she hear "dance show" and automatically imagine the kind of swimsuit big-sister dancing you'd see in Weekly Sorcerer Magazine… then get disappointed when it turned out to be wholesome fairy-tale theater, and stopped paying attention?
Heh… so that's the kind of Erza you are.
He silently roasted her in his head.
But he also knew Erza well enough to know how to snap her out of any funk.
"By the way," he said, "our number for the 'Dream Fantasy Fruit Tart' should be coming up about now."
"Oh! Right!"
Erza's inexplicable gloom vanished instantly, replaced by pure anticipation and hunger.
"Let's go, let's go!"
Under her urging, they hurried back to the temporary dessert stall.
Sure enough, the timing was perfect—their number was up.
When the crystal-clear "Dream Fantasy Fruit Tart," available only during the Harvest Festival, was placed in front of them, Erza's eyes practically sparkled.
"It looks so good…"
She held the delicate tart with both hands like it was sacred.
She scooped up a strawberry coated in cream, didn't eat it immediately, and instead lightly licked the sugar glaze first.
Her pink tongue swept over the white cream, leaving a damp shine.
She half-lidded her eyes and hummed in satisfaction. "Mmm… so sweet…"
The way she looked—completely enchanted—was honestly a better ad than any poster.
This tart stand owes you an endorsement fee, Shane complained internally, then asked casually:
"Oh yeah—end of the year's coming. Are you going to take the S-class Mage promotion exam this year?"
It had been part of his plan from the beginning.
The condition for the [Pillar] trial was to become an S-class mage—to prove his strength.
If that hadn't been the goal, he wouldn't have spent the last couple months grinding commissions with Erza to build credentials.
"S-class exam?"
Erza paused mid-bite. A tiny smear of white cream lingered at the corner of her lips.
She tilted her head, thought seriously for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to."
"Why?" Shane asked, curious. "You want the title?"
As far as he knew, Erza was competitive, but not obsessed with status.
"It's not about the title."
Erza shook her head, then said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world:
"Because… if you become S-class, you'll be going up to the second floor all the time to take the hard missions."
"And if I don't… staying downstairs alone would be boring."