"After all, she's a girl. Making her look cute is more important. Her eyes should be sparkling and shiny." Levy also picked up a brush and stepped forward, an evil glint in her eye.
"I never thought you, with those thick eyebrows and big eyes, would betray us too, Levy!" Lucy cried.
"How about we just draw her hair black? That might suit her better," Wakaba suggested.
"In that case, why not change the hairstyle altogether? Like a buzz cut or braids?" Mira and Kinana offered their own unhelpful suggestions.
For the first time, Lucy felt that time was passing painfully slowly.
'So much sorrow, so immense...'
With the noise around her growing increasingly annoying, an angry, invisible Lucy delivered a flying kick, sending the onlookers Macao, Wakaba, and the others flying into the tables.
"My face is not your toy!" Lucy shrieked.
"This is too troublesome. What's there to draw? Everyone, step aside. Leave it to me." Gray formed his signature hand seals, adopting the stance for Ice-Make.
It had to be said that Gray's mastery of Ice-Make Magic was now quite high.
The detailed ice sculpture of Lucy's face and body formed seamlessly around her floating clothes, capturing a very lively expression.
"Amazing! It's exactly the same!"
"Hehe, now you have nothing to say, right?" Gray wore an expression that screamed.
'Aren't I amazing? Praise me!'
The group hadn't marveled for long when a drop of water broke the silence... Using ice was fine, except the warmth of the guild meant it would eventually melt into water...
The ice face began to droop and deform terribly.
"You're all so rude!" Lucy yelled.
"Um... what is this?" Lucy felt her vision was completely blocked.
"This is the glossy photo from our last interview," Mira held an issue of Weekly Sorcerer, smiling with her eyes narrowed.
She slapped the magazine cutout onto Lucy's invisible face.
"Just bear with this for now."
"Putting everything else aside, this seems much better than the earlier ones," Erza nodded approvingly.
"Is that so...?" Raizel was very doubtful of their taste.
Was having a flat newspaper page pasted on her face really better...?
"We're back," Wendy, Yukino, and Carla greeted everyone, walking through the doors.
"Where did you all go earlier?"
"We went to Lucy's apartment, as Ultear instructed," Carla replied. "We went to get the empty medicine bottle and the Celestial Spirit keys."
Wendy and Yukino took out the items they had brought from her nightstand.
"Oh right! I forgot I could ask the Celestial Spirits for help! Thank you, Wendy, Yukino, Carla!"
"Give me the medicine bottle first," Ultear took the glass vial from Lucy's hand.
"Did you get the prescription recipe?" Ultear glanced at the residue in the bottle and then looked at Wendy.
"Right here. This should be it, right?" Wendy took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
After Lucy briefly scanned it and nodded in confirmation, she began examining her golden keys.
"Which Celestial Spirit should I summon to fix this?"
"Lucy, call out Gemini," Happy raised his paw and suggested.
"Gemini? Why?" Lucy was momentarily stunned.
"Aye! have them transform into you. Don't ask, just try it," Happy grinned.
"I see! Open! Gate of the Twins! Gemini!"
"Piri! Piri!" The moment Gemini appeared, they instantly took on Lucy's appearance.
"Oh! It's Lucy!"
"It looks exactly like Lucy!" Macao and Wakaba looked amazed, as if they'd never seen anything like it before.
"So this is Celestial Spirit Magic? It looks quite interesting." Yukino's eyes lit up as she watched Gemini transform flawlessly into 'Lucy.'
"As expected of Gemini!" Happy nodded with his paws on his hips, looking rather proud.
"Now, we just need to do this." Happy pulled out a dark cloth to cover the original, invisible Lucy.
He positioned the fake Gemini Lucy in front of her while waving.
"Hello everyone, I'm Lucy. Please get along well with me."
"We can just use this method from now on!"
"That makes sense, what a great idea!"
'Good grief, a two-man comic act, huh...' Raizel had no energy left to complain.
"This doesn't solve the magical problem at all!" Lucy yelled from under the sheet.
"But honestly, the more I look, the more similar they appear."
Everyone had abandoned the sheet-covered Lucy and was crowding around Gemini.
"Because I can copy the appearance and memories of whoever I transform into, including all their abilities," Gemini remained unflinching under everyone's scrutiny, nodding as they answered in Lucy's voice.
"In that case, why don't we just treat this one as the real deal?" Macao asked.
"Exactly, their appearance and abilities are the same anyway," Droy agreed.
"I actually think this one is more low-key and much better behaved," Max nodded.
Max and Droy immediately sentenced Lucy to social death.
"Hey, you guys!" Lucy shrieked.
"Sorry... just joking!"
"So, any results?" Raizel and Mira moved from the chaotic crowd of onlookers to the library area where people could actually help solve Lucy's problem.
Here sat three major figures: Ultear, Levy, and Freed.
The guild's rare bookworms.
"I'm deciphering this potion formula to analyze what Lucy-chan actually added," Levy turned her head to answer, adjusting her glasses.
"We might need to check if Lucy's measurements were wrong, or whether the formula itself has dangerous structural issues." Ultear was comparing Lucy's handwritten formula with thick alchemy books.
"If we can understand the base magic structure, perhaps my Jutsu Shiki spells can dispel it," Freed offered.
"Analysis complete." Levy handed the translated formula to Ultear and Freed.
After studying the formula, Freed turned and approached the sheet-covered Lucy. "Alright, I'll give it a try."
Freed drew his rapier and began writing glowing purple symbols on the floor around where Lucy was sitting.
Soon, Freed finished the spell formula and stood before her, slashing diagonally downward with his rapier.
"Those within this spell shall have the effects of the magic potion dispelled!"
Dark writing formed a rectangular prism enclosing Lucy, followed by a blinding flash of white light.
"Did anyone see Lucy?"
"No..."
After about a minute of tense silence, Lucy's figure slowly began to reappear beneath the sheet.
"Lucy!"
"Everyone!"
"Great! Lucy-chan, the magic has been successfully released!" Levy rushed forward to grab Lucy's hands.
"Phew... that was terrifying. My reputation almost..." Freed let out a relieved sigh.
That minute had been torturous not just for Lucy, but for Freed too.
Ultear looked at Lucy and said, "I've studied it. The formula itself has no issues. The problem must lie in the raw materials you used."
Ultear had compared what Lucy used with what was recorded in the alchemy books, finding no discrepancies in the process.
"Could it be because I bought cheaper, ordinary materials from a street vendor? I thought it wouldn't matter if the effect was slightly weaker..." Lucy tapped her chin lightly with her finger as she recalled.
"...." The other members looked at Lucy as if she were a complete idiot.
"Where did you buy it?" Ultear immediately followed up.
"By the roadside... I just happened to see it." Lucy awkwardly rubbed her nose.
"Good grief!
"I'm done!" Macao and Wakaba directly collapsed onto the floor.
"How dare you even skimp on material costs for a magic potion?!" Raizel clenched his right fist and finally slammed it on the wooden table.
He simply couldn't bear the stupidity without hitting something!
"Understood! I've learned my lesson!" Lucy apologized profusely.