"You just need to say it out loud. Tell everyone that you like Kabe."
"I…I… I like…"
"That is it. Say it. Say it louder!"
Erza's eyes were shining brighter and brighter, practically sparking with expectation.
...
"I like your sister!"
Cana's face flushed bright red as she roared.
"Eh?"
Erza froze, tilting her head in an adorably confused way.
"You like my sister? But I am an orphan. I do not have a sister."
She turned her head and looked around blankly, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She walked over, grabbed a dazed Lisanna, and dragged her in front of Cana.
"If I have to pick someone, Lisanna probably counts as half a little sister. So what you really like is Lisanna?
But you are both girls, so could it be that girls can also…"
"Of course not!" x3
Before that huge misunderstanding could detonate, Cana, Mirajane, and Lisanna shouted in unison, cutting her off.
"But Cana…"
Erza still wanted to continue, but Cana simply stepped forward and clapped a hand over her mouth, grinning stiffly.
"I am begging you, please stop talking. I was wrong, I was wrong, all right?"
Mira hurriedly shoved the beet red Lisanna back into the crowd, then moved up and pinned Erza's arms from behind.
"I am begging you. Do not say that kind of stupid thing again. I want to see Lisanna get married one day."
Erza, unable to move, blinked her big eyes innocently and looked left and right between them. She truly did not understand what she had said wrong.
...
At that moment, a violent explosion boomed from outside.
Following it came Kabe's cursing, Gildarts' angry roar, and the excited cheers and jeers from the guild members who loved nothing more than drama.
"Oh no, those two idiots are actually going all out."
Cana's expression changed. She instantly let go of Erza and sprinted out.
The others also threw the earlier "little accident" to the back of their minds and rushed out after her.
...
"Haah!!"
Cana was the first one out the door. She looked up just in time to see Kabe swinging her dad around by the leg like a club, spin him a few times, then smash him straight into the lake.
The next second, a rain of golden ki blasts poured down, completely covering the patch of water where Gildarts had fallen and detonating in a chain of continuous explosions.
If she did not know the two of them were actually on good terms, Cana would have thought Kabe was really trying to murder her father.
The girls who came out behind her were all quietly stunned.
Mira clicked her tongue in amazement, then raised her chin proudly.
"See that? Gildarts does not even have room to fight back in front of Kabe. From today on, the title of strongest man in the guild can officially change hands."
Cana really wanted to snap back, but when she saw Erza standing next to Mira, the words reached the tip of her tongue and she swallowed them again.
She just gave a cold little snort, cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled at the sky.
"You two, calm it down! If you make too much of a mess, once Master comes back from the Council he will beat you both!"
Up in the air, Kabe was having a great time. When he heard Cana shout, he generously gifted Gildarts one last ki bomb several meters across, then cut off the barrage and streaked back toward the girls.
In the lake, Gildarts unleashed his Crash magic in an attempt to nullify the blast.
The ki bomb shrank as it passed through that magic, but it did not completely disperse. The next second it blew right in his face.
A few minutes later, when Gildarts crawled back up out of the water, his already ragged cloak was completely gone, and the front of his shirt had a huge hole blown in it.
Seeing him in that sorry state, Kabe, whose own chest also had a big hole torn in his clothes, could not hold back his laughter.
"Hahaha, how is it, old man? Do you feel the pressure of the younger generation now? At this point, you are not my opponent anymore."
As much as he hated this brat who had such unclear business with his precious daughter, Gildarts had to admit that he really could not do anything to Kabe now.
That ki bomb that had not been completely crushed just now was proof enough.
Of course, accepting it in his heart was one thing. Admitting defeat out loud was something else entirely.
"Do not get cocky, brat. Weaklings like you, if I got serious, one finger would be enough to crush a few. I was just giving you a bit of face for Cana's sake."
"Yeah yeah, keep bragging. If I really got serious I could fly up into the sky and run circles until you pass out from exhaustion."
Kabe dug at his ear lazily, totally unimpressed. Gildarts' face darkened even further.
He grit his teeth and fumed in his heart, regretting deeply that he had not just killed this brat when he was still small.
...
The other members who had run out were all disappointed that this spectacular fight had ended so abruptly.
They started complaining loudly about why Cana had to shout for them to stop.
"Shut it, you bunch of chaos loving idiots."
Cana snapped at them with arms akimbo.
"Get your asses back and fix all the beams and walls you broke. Otherwise I will have Kabe beat you all up too!"
Not wanting to do repair work in the first place, Kabe immediately stepped forward to help, waving his sandbag sized fist around for emphasis.
Under the pressure of the two of them together, everyone reluctantly lowered their heads and shuffled back to the guild to start patching up.
Once the crowd was gone, Gildarts hurried to his daughter's side, speaking very earnestly.
"Cana, you cannot call yourself 'old lady' like that. It is not ladylike at all."
Cana waved a hand dismissively.
"I am a mage, not some noble lady."
Seeing she would not listen, Gildarts pulled an even longer face, wanting to keep nagging.
But before he could speak, Cana, who knew exactly what he was about to say, cut him off.
"All right, Dad, stop nagging. Anyway, this so called reunion between old friends turning into a brawl is your fault.
Hurry up and go help fix the guild."
She shoved him toward the building without letting him argue.
Gildarts had been thinking he might be able to escape hard labor. Hearing this, his expression turned even more tragic.
But when he saw Cana standing there with her hands on her hips and a look that clearly said "if you keep talking I will be angry," he could only hang his head with a sigh and turn away, his back full of melancholy as he trudged off to work.