'Wait, this guy Hibiki genuinely wants to become my student? To learn from me? This guy has a spirit of devotion? Possesses boundless love?'
'Bringing sunshine to more flowers' counts as boundless love now?'
"Thank you, Master, for enlightening me!" Hibiki immediately bowed deeply to Marco.
"..."
Marco's lips twitched, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Hibiki! You've finally seen the light?! Our love... should be for all women! Your heart has finally embraced this universal affection?!"
While Marco remained silent, Ichiya became passionately animated, gripping Hibiki's shoulders as if seeing a kindred spirit.
True to form, Ichiya openly declared his love for all women and the scent of perfume.
"Yes! Master Ichiya! I finally understand—my love belongs to all women!"
Hibiki matched Ichiya's fervor, the two embracing dramatically, reminding Marco of Guy and Lee.
Of course, Guy and Lee were far more "green and wholesome" in every sense—even their color schemes were literally green.
"Ahem, you two carry on."
Shaking off these absurd thoughts, Marco tossed out the remark before practically fleeing the Blue Pegasus guild.
What kind of weirdos populated this place?
As for accepting Hibiki as his student? No chance.
The guy wasn't here to learn Celestial Spirit Magic.
Taking him on would mean actually teaching him how to "bring sunshine to all flowers."
Marco shuddered.
He refused to let his "school" degenerate into that kind of establishment.
Hibiki and Ichiya were perfect for each other—they should be master and disciple.
At least Ichiya's philosophy would live on, now in a handsome package.
....
After bolting from Blue Pegasus, Marco boarded the Corvus Aircraft when a troubling thought struck him.
"Should I tell Hibiki not to mention my name as his teacher?"
The mere idea of Hibiki spreading that this "universal love" doctrine came from him threatened to ruin Marco's hard-earned reputation overnight.
While Hibiki posed no threat to Marco's standing among Mages, he could utterly destroy Marco's credibility in educational circles.
"Whatever. I never officially took him as a disciple anyway—no need to overcomplicate things."
Steering the Corvus into flight, Marco didn't look back at Blue Pegasus.
Those people had genuinely terrified him.
First up was the extremely difficult-to-handle "cross-dressing" guild master Bob—well, maybe not exactly "cross-dressing," but definitely very troublesome.
Aside from him, there was Karen, the Celestial Spirit Mage who had an awful relationship with her spirits; Ichiya, whose heart overflowed with boundless love for all women; Hibiki, who had suddenly "attained enlightenment"; Ren, who adored tanned skin and despised pale complexions and the overly enthusiastic fan Jenny Realight.
Just thinking about them made Marco's teeth ache.
He felt like the Blue Pegasus guild was somehow his kryptonite—full of nothing but troublesome people.
With that thought in mind, Marco decisively and swiftly distanced himself from Blue Pegasus, flying straight toward Magnolia City.
....
Once back in Magnolia, Marco first went to report to Makarov, informing him that both Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus had agreed to participate in the exam.
"Start setting things up." Makarov nodded, not at all surprised.
It would have been strange if those two old foxes hadn't agreed to join.
"Leave it to me."
Marco naturally took on the task—after all, it had been his idea in the first place, so he wasn't about to hand it off to someone else.
Besides, neither Laxus nor Gildarts had any interest in this kind of thing.
The only one who could actually get things done was Marco himself.
"Go ahead and handle the arrangements as you see fit."
Makarov didn't plan to interfere.
He had full confidence in Marco and trusted that he would handle everything perfectly.
Marco left the guild and headed to Fairy Home.
For the next while, the "S-Class Mages Joint Exam" would be his primary focus, and this arena was crucial.
The first thing to do, of course, was modify the Crystal Wall surrounding the arena.
During the exam, it only needed to provide basic protection—there was no need for it to reflect attacks, as that would limit the examinees' performance.
This wasn't too difficult.
Marco's connection with the Aries constellation was now strong, and he could wield about 70-80% of the Aries Gold Cloth's power.
He had mastered the Crystal Wall well enough to adjust it with careful control.
"Thankfully, we built it pretty big from the start." Marco sighed as he looked at the arena.
When he had originally planned it, he never imagined it would serve such a purpose—he hadn't expected it to come in handy like this.
Back then, he'd just thought that since there was plenty of space, they might as well make it large enough for the kids fighting inside to move freely.
"The spectator seating needs to be redesigned."
The only part of the arena that required adjustments was the seating.
When it was built, they hadn't anticipated so many people coming to watch—after all, it was originally meant for Fairy Tail's internal use.
"Mages from all three guilds will probably show up. Though the numbers aren't huge, we still need to plan the seating properly. And then there's the judges' platform—that needs special attention too."
The moment he thought of the "judges' platform," Marco recalled a classic scene—the "Navy's Three Admirals" during the Summit War.
Coincidentally, Fairy Tail also had three S-Class Mages, so this design would work perfectly.
However, the other two Wizard Guilds would also have judges, so they would have to make do with sitting on the sides.
As the host, the center stage would naturally be occupied by Fairy Tail.
Marco was also considering whether future events should continue to be hosted by Fairy Tail or if they should take turns with other guilds.
Having Fairy Tail always in charge of hosting would undoubtedly greatly enhance their influence, but would the other guilds have objections to this?
"This... we'll have to discuss it with Master Bob and Master Goldmine. Fortunately, the guilds participating for the first time are all allies, so it's easier to have an open and honest conversation about this. If we expand the scale in the future, such matters will become even more troublesome."
Marco pondered this in his heart.
This was no small matter—it would have a significant impact on the future of the magical community in the Kingdom of Fiore.