Mira had grown a little unhappy watching Kabe do nothing but drink with everyone.
She got to her feet, marched over, grabbed the back of his collar, and dragged him off to the side. Then she jabbed a finger hard into his chest and demanded,
"You. After all this happened, are you seriously telling me you have nothing to explain to us?"
"For example?" Kabe blinked, deliberately playing dumb just to tease her.
"Obviously your engagement to the princess. And your relationship with those women too!"
She rose up on her toes and hooked an arm around Kabe's neck, pulling his head down close against her chest.
Her other hand curled into a claw and hovered menacingly over his throat, heart, and lower body, tracing back and forth across every vital point.
"You had better give me an explanation that satisfies me. Otherwise, even I do not know what I might end up doing."
Looking at Mira's twisted expression, the dangerous light in her eyes, and the way she seemed to be drifting steadily toward full yandere territory, Kabe swallowed hard.
"Sorry. I got carried away. If something like this happens again, I swear I will ask for your approval first."
"Hah... there is going to be a next time too? Then it seems I really can't let you off today."
The arm around his neck suddenly tightened.
Even though that position let Kabe fully enjoy the softness pressing against him, this was absolutely not the moment for him to feel happy about it.
...
While Kabe was receiving the punishment he had earned, Irene was chatting on and off with Makarov and Erza.
After trading a round of enthusiastic mutual flattery with Irene, Makarov very quickly revealed his true nature.
"Lady Irene, now that you are here in Magnolia, how about joining Fairy Tail?
We may not have the largest numbers, but if we are being honest, we are still the strongest guild in Fiore. No, in all of Ishgar."
Glancing at the hopeful little old man, Irene refused him with merciless bluntness.
"My apologies, Master Makarov. Kabe already made me the same offer on the way here, and I already refused him once.
If nothing unexpected happens, I plan to open a small shop in town selling magical items and quietly enjoy my retirement."
"Is that so... so even Kabe couldn't do it..."
Makarov muttered to himself and let out a long sigh.
If even Kabe, who had managed to lure Irene all the way from the western continent, could not persuade her to join the guild, then Makarov immediately understood that this overwhelmingly powerful woman, whose magic far surpassed his own, simply had no fate with Fairy Tail.
But Makarov was not ready to give up yet.
If Irene would not join, then there were still three others.
And so the old man shamelessly turned and asked Brandish, Heine, and Juliet exactly the same question.
Unfortunately, the answers he got were perfectly uniform.
Not one of them had any interest in joining a guild.
The result left Makarov deeply dejected, unable to understand how his usually unbeatable gift of persuasion had suddenly stopped working.
"What's wrong, old man? You look pretty down."
Kabe walked over like nothing had happened, with Mira beside him, shaking out one hand with a pained look on her face.
The moment Makarov saw him, his brows knitted together. He hurriedly dragged Kabe into a corner, gestured for him to crouch down, then leaned close and whispered into his ear,
"Oi, brat. Is there something you need to tell me?"
Kabe raised a brow. For some reason, he felt like he had already heard that line somewhere recently.
"What nonsense are you talking about, you old geezer? Do I need to report to you just because I got engaged to the princess?"
"Who cares about that? No, wait, as the head of this guild family, it actually would be perfectly normal for you to report it to me."
Makarov looked displeased, but then he immediately shook his head in annoyance.
"You little bastard, stop derailing me. That's not what I'm talking about!"
Having gotten himself tangled up in his own point, Makarov simply grabbed Kabe by the head and turned his face toward Irene's table.
"Brat. Do you see it?"
Narrowing his eyes, Kabe observed them seriously for a while.
"Hm? Erza actually put on makeup today. Nice, nice. She finally grew up a bit."
"Idiot, is that what I'm asking about?!"
Makarov barked at him, yet his own gaze drifted toward Erza for two extra seconds before a sudden look of realization crossed his face.
'He's right. If the brat hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't even have noticed.'
"But that still isn't what I meant!!
Brat, haven't you noticed that Erza and Irene look incredibly alike?!"
At last, Makarov voiced the question he had been bottling up for ages.
But Kabe only gave a calm little "oh" and replied in a perfectly flat tone,
"You only just noticed? Isn't it obvious at a glance?
And it's not just you. Other than Erza and a few idiots like Natsu, everyone in the guild has probably already realized something's off."
Following the direction of Kabe's finger, Makarov looked around and immediately noticed that whether it was Macao and Wakaba, who seemed to be drinking and bragging on the surface...
Or Gray, who was busy bickering with Natsu...
Or even Laxus, pretending to be aloof...
All of them kept glancing again and again toward Erza and Irene, who were chatting and smiling at each other.
Clearly, everyone had long since noticed the issue.
They simply had not dared bring it up first, partly because of Irene's status as a Wizard Saint and partly because of the terrifying magic pressure she leaked out even without trying.
That realization made Makarov take another long look at Erza, and he could not help silently doubting the girl's intelligence.
'Please. The two of you are sitting face to face. Don't you feel even a little like you're staring into a mirror?!'
Pulling Kabe back around, Makarov lowered his voice even more and asked urgently,
"So what exactly is going on here?
Don't even think about lying to me. There is no way I'm going to believe those two have nothing to do with each other."
Kabe let out a sigh.
"With things looking like this, even if I wanted to lie, there'd be no point."