As Sorano approached, Ultear was just about to greet her when a streak of pink shot out from behind Sorano and slammed straight into her, wrapping her up in a tight hug.
"Ul, you're finally back~"
"Ow, easy there. You nearly knocked me clean off my feet."
Taking the full brunt of what amounted to a flying tackle, Ultear sucked in a sharp breath and gently peeled Meredy off of her. Realizing she'd gotten a little too excited, Meredy laughed sheepishly.
"Hehe, sorry, I just haven't seen you in forever, Ul."
Ultear ruffled the hair of the girl who kept getting clingier by the day, though not without a bit of exasperation, then finally turned her attention to the blonde standing beside Sorano.
"So you're the new recruit Laki mentioned, Lucy, right? Welcome to Fairy Tail. And yes, I'm fine with you renting the room at my place."
Realizing Ultear was addressing her directly, Lucy stepped forward a little nervously and bowed in thanks.
"Nice to meet you, Senior Ultear. I'm the new member, Lucy. Thank you so much for taking me in."
She followed up by greeting Erza and Mirajane in turn as well. Erza smiled and nodded back, inviting them all to sit before offering the visibly nervous newcomer some reassurance.
"No need to be so formal around the guild. Everyone here is a comrade, family, really. Just call us by our names."
"Yes, Miss Erza."
Lucy answered ramrod straight and far too loudly, clearly not having taken the advice to heart at all.
Mirajane crossed one long leg over the other, both wrapped in black fishnets, and leaned back with her arms folded beneath her generous chest, tilting her head to give Lucy an unabashed once over. It went on long enough that Lucy's confidence started to falter and she lowered her gaze, at which point Mirajane finally clicked her tongue and spoke.
"Tch. What is it with rich people these days, are they all missing a screw or something? You could be living the high life and instead you drag yourself into a mage guild to suffer like this."
She shook her head, clearly baffled, then extended a hand toward Lucy.
"Been a while, kiddo. Funny enough, we actually go way back. Our first meeting happened to be during the very first job I ever picked up after joining the guild."
Lucy carefully took the offered hand, marveling at how soft and smooth Mirajane's palm felt.
"Really? I guess that does mean we have quite the connection, doesn't it."
Mirajane tilted her chin up in agreement, but the next instant her grip tightened and she yanked Lucy forward, leaning in close to murmur coldly by her ear.
"But that job also happens to be the one and only failure Kabe and I ever had on record."
"Congratulations, Lucy. All on your own, you shattered our perfect track record of a hundred percent job success."
"Eek?! I, I am so, so sorry!!!"
Hearing the accusatory tone in Mirajane's voice, Lucy immediately bowed her head in a panic to apologize.
"Oh? There's a story there? Mira, spill."
Sorano's interest was piqued instantly, since she'd never known Kabe and Mirajane had ever failed a job before. Even Erza and Ultear seemed unaware of it, both leaning in with the unmistakable glint of gossip hungry curiosity.
"Hmph, don't get too excited, Sorano. Come to think of it, you're not exactly innocent in this either."
"Me?" Sorano pointed at herself and shook her head, unimpressed. "What's it got to do with me? I hadn't even joined the guild back then."
"Hmph. You won't be saying that once I'm done."
Mirajane released her grip on Lucy and began recounting how, years ago, Kabe had brought her along on a job that at first seemed simple enough.
"...In the end, that pervert and the dark guild mage working with him were dealt with easily enough between Kabe and me. But we managed to get some interesting information out of the two of them while questioning them. Apparently, the reason they were after a Zodiac key in the first place was to curry favor with a rather notorious figure in the underworld at the time. Kabe suspected this figure had to be the leader of the Six Demon Generals, someone known only as 'the Void.' After all, he happened to have a Celestial Spirit Mage among his ranks."
At that, Mirajane paused.
Lucy, who'd been listening intently, was about to ask what the Six Demon Generals were, and who this Celestial Spirit Mage after her key could possibly be, when she noticed Erza, Mirajane, and Ultear had all turned in perfect unison to look at Sorano.
Sorano, who'd already put the pieces together herself, felt a chill run through her, and turned her head away, equal parts guilty and embarrassed, avoiding all three sets of eyes.
But Mirajane wasn't about to let her off that easily, and pressed further.
"Back then, the only member of the Six Demon Generals who could use Celestial Spirit Magic was you, wasn't it, Sorano."
Sorano: ...
Lucy: "?!"
"Wait, huh?! It was Sis Sorano who tried to steal Aquarius back then?!"
Lucy stared at Sorano in disbelief, struggling to imagine her doing something like that.