For Sorano, just seeing a Celestial Spirit Mage being pushed around by her own spirit was already shocking enough.
She had not expected Kabe to be even bolder, actually flirting with a Celestial Spirit and casually suggesting a romance that crossed species.
'I can tell he is no ordinary man. Who in the world raised this monster?'
Whatever the three of them were thinking, one thing was certain: the picnic was officially ruined.
After sitting around in awkward silence for a while, they packed up their things in a hurry and headed back.
...
At the manor gates, after seeing Lucy safely home, Kabe stopped.
"That is as far as we go. I need to head back to Magnolia."
"What, you are leaving already?"
Lucy turned in surprise, her voice full of shock and unwillingness.
She pulled Kabe's shirt tighter around her shoulders, the one he had draped on her earlier, and tried to persuade him to stay.
"Stay a few more days. It has been years since we last met. I still have so many things I want to ask you.
At least stay for dinner tonight and leave tomorrow."
Her gaze was full of pleading and reluctance, but Kabe glanced at Sorano standing beside him and could only refuse with a helpless smile.
"I cannot. Sorano still has something really important to do. She needs to see our guild master and some Council members.
I need to get her back as soon as possible and help her sort everything out."
As he said that, the bad taste in him flared up again. He raised his hand and flicked Lucy lightly on the forehead with two fingers.
"Forgive me, Lucy. This will be the last time."
"Ow!"
Lucy covered her forehead and yelped. She had no idea what he meant by that or why he paired those words with that poke.
But for some reason, a little burst of happiness bubbled up inside. Her earlobes grew hot, turning so red they looked ready to drip.
"Then it is a promise. Next time you are not allowed to leave me so quickly."
She stuck out her pinky, eyes holding a trace of stubbornness that refused to take no for an answer.
"You really need to stop saying things people can misunderstand."
Grumbling, Kabe still hooked his own pinky around hers.
"Pinky swear. See you next time."
After saying goodbye, Sorano also gave Lucy a quick farewell. Then the two of them turned and left.
Lucy remained standing in place, silently watching their backs disappear at the end of the path.
Only then did she turn around sadly, ready to head back to the manor. As she moved, she suddenly realized something.
Kabe had forgotten to take his shirt back.
She turned to look again, but by now their figures had completely vanished.
Lucy clutched the shirt to her chest, thinking of something that made her cheeks warm, then hopped happily all the way back into the manor.
...
Half an hour later, at the nearest train station, Kabe stood in front of the smiling conductor who was politely asking him to leave, and finally noticed something was wrong.
"Wait… where is my shirt? No way… did I catch Gray's disease?!"
Sorano: "…Are you an idiot?"
Even though there had been a few accidents, things had at least ended without any true disaster.
...
After buying a new shirt from a nearby shop, Kabe sat down across from Sorano, arms folded.
"Seriously, you could have reminded me.
Good thing there were no reporters around. If they had taken a picture of me just now, my reputation would have been finished.
I am the most well behaved kid in our guild. I have never made the Master receive a single bill for damages or a single complaint letter.
Do you even understand what kind of achievement that is in Fairy Tail?"
"How was I supposed to know you were that dumb, that you'd walk all this way without realizing you were half naked.
And what achievement? Isn't that just what any normal, decent mage from any legal guild is supposed to do?
Exactly how terrible is your guild?"
Sorano never realized she had such talent for snark, but once she started, it all poured out at Kabe in a torrent.
Her words made Kabe a bit embarrassed. He coughed twice to cover it up.
"Quit talking back. When a good kid does something wrong, they should just admit it. Be careful or I will spank you when we get back."
"…Pervert."
Sorano gave him a disgusted side glance and turned her head toward the window.
At some point, a gentle rain had begun to fall outside. The raindrops tapping against the glass only made her mood, already sour thanks to his harassment, even worse.
Kabe, however, was suddenly energized by the way she looked at him like he was trash.
"Sorano."
"What now?"
"That expression you just made… can you do it again?"
"Huh? You really are a pervert, aren't you?!"
"Yeah, that is it. Please keep that look for a while."
"You…!"
As Kabe continued to pester her with every kind of shameless line, trying to feed his twisted little fetish, another voice suddenly cut in from behind him.
This one sounded even more disgusted than Sorano's.
"For a creep like you to actually become S Class in Fairy Tail… looks like the Master was right.
It really is a filthy, despicable, low class guild."