[My name is Juvia, a mage of Fairy Tail—and Gray-sama's future wife!]
[Just knowing Juvia gets to see Gray-sama again today makes her so happy!]
[But lately, Gray-sama has been shutting himself away again. Juvia is really worried about him…]
Early that morning, inside the women's dormitory that Fairy Tail had recently bought back, Juvia sat at her desk writing furiously, her face shifting through a dozen different expressions as she recorded her thoughts.
Once she finished that morning's entry in her Gray-sama Love Journal, she closed the notebook—its cover decorated with a cartoon Gray by the way—and cheerfully went to wash up.
She used soap shaped like a tiny Gray, dried herself with a towel printed with Gray's enormous face, then opened a wardrobe packed with Gray dolls in various poses and selected her clothes for the day.
After giving the giant Gray plush by her door a quick kiss on the cheek, Juvia hummed happily and stepped into the hallway.
The moment she left her room, she ran into Wendy, who had just come out as well, along with Erza, who had finished organizing the armor stored in her dorm.
"Good morning~"
Juvia greeted them with a bright smile.
Wendy and Erza waved back, and Erza asked warmly, "You seem especially happy today. Is it some kind of special occasion?"
It had only been polite conversation.
Juvia spent most of her time smiling dreamily ever since joining Fairy Tail, so Erza had not expected a serious answer.
But Juvia immediately cupped her cheeks and twisted shyly from side to side.
"Yes! Today marks exactly four hundred and thirteen days since Juvia met Gray-sama!"
"Four hundred and thirteen days?"
Wendy and Erza both paused.
Carla frowned in confusion. "That's a strangely specific number. Does it have some special meaning?"
Wendy's eyes lit up as she guessed eagerly, "Is it an important number for the two of you? Like April thirteenth?"
"No." Juvia smiled in complete satisfaction. "It's simply the four-hundred-and-thirteenth-day anniversary of when we met."
"What was yesterday, then?"
"Our four-hundred-and-twelfth-day anniversary!"
"And tomorrow?"
"Our four-hundred-and-fourteenth-day anniversary!"
"..."
Wendy and Carla exchanged a speechless look.
Erza, on the other hand, seemed genuinely moved.
She gripped Juvia by the shoulders and declared with great enthusiasm, "Finding meaning in every single day is an admirable thing!"
Juvia rubbed the back of her head bashfully.
The ever-serious Erza immediately suggested that such a "meaningful" day deserved a proper celebration.
Juvia should give Gray a gift!
The idea struck Juvia like a bolt of lightning.
She instantly pictured Gray receiving her present, being overwhelmed by her love, and proposing to her on the spot.
Her entire face lit up, and she could barely wait to begin.
The problem was that she had no idea what to give him.
At Wendy's suggestion, Juvia took out her notebook and pen and began asking the other women in the dormitory what kinds of gifts they personally liked.
The results were not especially helpful.
Erza liked weapons and armor. Wendy liked books. Cana liked alcohol. Laki liked interrogation equipment.
Evergreen, caught off guard by the question, blurted out that she liked "real men," then immediately turned bright red and overheated from embarrassment.
None of those sounded like something Gray, who had no obvious hobbies, would particularly want.
So Juvia followed another piece of advice from Wendy, her tiny strategist, and decided to ask the men instead.
After all, if the gift was for a man, asking women would only get her so far.
Inspired, Juvia's eyes lit up.
She immediately dragged Wendy and Erza toward the guild.
...
At the same time, inside the bustling guild hall, Ankh was leisurely drinking juice while watching Natsu try to entertain a child nearby.
"Huh? Natsu's playing with Asuka?" Lucy asked when she entered the guild that morning and saw the strangely wholesome scene.
"Where are Bisca and Alzack?"
Ankh took a long sip of iced watermelon juice and sighed in satisfaction.
"The two of them had to work in a city far away, so they asked me to look after Asuka."
"Then I asked Natsu to help me."
Lucy's mouth twitched as she remembered what Natsu was usually like.
"I'm amazed you were brave enough to do that…"
"You're here too, aren't you? Besides, Naciel turned out perfectly fine with Natsu looking after her."
Lucy, whose memories of the future children had vanished, stared at him in total confusion.
She was so distracted by the unfamiliar name that she completely failed to notice Ankh had just included her in the babysitting arrangement.
At that moment, Juvia and the others arrived at the guild.
The moment she entered, Juvia began asking every man she could find what kind of gift he would like to receive.
Elfman loudly declared that he wanted something "MANLY!"
Juvia immediately ignored the suspiciously compatible answer shared by that particular couple.
Gajeel wanted a new suit and a guitar.
Juvia imagined Gray in a suit for a moment, then abandoned the idea.
Gray could barely keep his clothes on as it was, and he had absolutely no interest in music.
Natsu said he wanted food.
As much of it as possible.
Juvia's shoulders slumped.
Could food really count as a gift?
Then Juvia turned her hopeful gaze toward Ankh.
Ankh immediately felt an enormous amount of pressure.
'Why does everyone blindly assume I know everything? Nobody has an answer for every tiny problem in life…'
He complained silently, but still thought about it seriously.
"I don't think Natsu's suggestion is wrong," he finally said. "There's an old saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
Everyone stared at him with sudden understanding.
Ankh raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I've never heard that saying before…" Lucy thought about it for a moment, then quickly stopped worrying about where it came from and encouraged Juvia instead.
"But Ankh's right! If you cook something yourself, Gray will definitely be happy to receive it."
"Really?"
Juvia immediately imagined Gray smiling after eating something she had made, and happiness practically radiated from her body.
"Then that's what Juvia will do!"
Her motivation fully restored, she quickly asked, "But what should Juvia make?"
Asuka, who was sitting beside Natsu and listening like a tiny adult, raised her hand.
"Cake! Asuka loves cake!"
The suggestion immediately made Asuka hungry, and she began clinging to Natsu while asking him for cake.
Natsu could take a sword to the face and punch monsters through walls, but faced with a child demanding dessert, he looked completely helpless.
Wendy stepped forward once again.
"I can make a cake for Asuka. I've been learning how recently."
The moment Erza heard that, she became intensely interested and immediately joined the baking team.
Wendy looked toward Juvia, who did not seem to know how to bake, and asked kindly, "Would you like me to help make one for you too, Juvia-san?"
"No!"
Juvia had once learned to cook from scratch just to make Gray a lunchbox, and on matters like this, she refused to compromise.
"Gray-sama's gift must be made entirely by Juvia's own hands!"
With one suggestion, the guild hall descended into chaos yet again.
Erza enthusiastically began directing Wendy's cake-making operation and announced their guiding principle.
"If we're making one, it has to be number one!"
If they were going to bake a cake, it had to be the best cake in all of Fiore.
According to Erza, no cake of that caliber could possibly be made without the legendary Golden Strawberry, said to be sweet enough to kill a person on the spot.
She immediately decided to go and gather some herself.
Panther Lily made the mistake of pointing out that Erza was probably just craving strawberries.
The domineering Erza instantly fixed her gaze on the little black Exceed and dragged him along on the expedition.
Strangely enough, once their overly enthusiastic instructor left, Wendy and Carla's baking progress became much faster.