"Huh?! So Loke's already gone back to the Celestial Spirit World?"
When Kira returned to the guild with Makarov, he heard from Cana and the others that Loke had reclaimed his identity as Leo the Lion and become one of Lucy's Celestial Spirit Keys.
"What a shame. I was hoping to meet the Celestial Spirit King…" Kira sighed.
"What's with that 'I already knew' look?!" the group snapped, hands on hips. "I thought you'd be shocked about his identity!"
Kira smirked internally but played it cool. "Pfft, I figured that out ages ago. I just kept quiet out of respect for Loke's situation."
"So how'd you know something like that?!" they pressed. "Even Gray had no clue, and you and Loke don't exactly seem like the secret-sharing type…"
"Come on, I'm a famous weapons master in the magic world. I've even held four Golden Celestial Keys in my hands before. Knowing stuff like this is no big deal. Plus, there's my connection with Hibiki and Karen…"
Hibiki, the good-looking guy who uses Archive Magic and once got outshined by Kira in a magazine spread, was a friend. During the Zonia incident, Kira had asked him for research help. Karen, meanwhile, was Leo's former keyholder. Both were Blue Pegasus wizards and had been a couple—though it was more like a playgirl and a playboy vibe.
"Speaking of, what's the deal with this guy?" The Fairy Tail crowd shot suspicious glares at Gajeel, who'd followed Kira into the guild.
"Oh, you mean Gajeel?" Kira said casually. "Master's call. He's joining Fairy Tail. I'm on board with it."
"Are you kidding?! He's from Phantom Lord!"
"Phantom Lord's disbanded, isn't it? When we found him, he wasn't out causing trouble with his powers. He was just quietly munching on scrap metal in a corner. Says something about his character, right?"
"He trashed our guild!"
"Out with the old, in with the new! We've got a shiny new guildhall now, don't we? The old one was so rickety it couldn't handle your brawls. Master's been itching to rebuild for ages. Now it's new and sturdy—perfect! Besides, Master doesn't even care."
"He attacked Levy and her team!"
"Oh, don't worry about that. He'll spend a lifetime making up for it!"
No one caught the deeper meaning in Kira' words, assuming he meant Gajeel would repay the guild. They scoffed, "Like we need a guy like him!"
"Hey, what's that? You questioning Master's decision now?" Kira said with mock righteousness. "Can you forgive yourselves for letting a young guy fall into darkness?"
"What are you even talking about, Kira?!"
"Who cares about that?!"
"I'd just chug two extra barrels of booze to celebrate!"
Huh? Why're they reacting like this? Did I mess up? Kira pulled out his little notebook and double-checked. Nope, that's exactly what Master said. I thought it sounded epic at the time!
Maybe he didn't sell the delivery?
Cana, sipping her drink, muttered, "There he goes, mimicking Master again."
Mirajane giggled, nodding. "Sounds like something Master would say."
"Even if some prefer solitude… no, wait, that's not it… This isn't about redemption! It's about guiding him toward tomorrow's light!"
"Kira, stop trying to talk like Master!"
"Yeah, it's not working at all!"
"Enough!" Kira roared, tossing his notebook to the ground. "You wanna fight?"
I can't nail Master's speeches, but I can sure nail his punches!
Seeing Kira roll up his sleeves, the group backed off. "Master's one thing—he's always been like that. But why are you on board with this?"
"Because he reminds me of my late…" Kira started, but an angry Gajeel lunged, clamping a hand over his mouth. "You jerk! How many times are you gonna bring up that old hag?!"
"Shut up!" Kira broke free, giving Gajeel a weird look. "That secret of yours? I'm eating it up for life…"
Furious, Gajeel dove into a brawl with Kira and the guild, chaos erupting.
---
Thanks to magic, construction in the Fairy Tail world moves fast. In the original story, the new guildhall was built in the time it took for the Tower of Heaven arc—less than 30 chapters. Later, Magnolia's people restored the guild after seven years of disuse in just the span of the Grand Magic Games.
With round-the-clock work, Fairy Tail's new guildhall was nearly complete.
Built with special materials crafted by Kira, the walls were tougher than ever, which proved crucial for the inevitable guild brawls.
Makarov was thrilled with Kira' contributions, finally free from worrying about the rebuild.
"Come on, you all accepted Juvia pretty quickly!" Kira pointed out.
"Juvia's a girl, so of course we gave her special treatment!"
"Yeah, exactly! Juvia was recommended by Mirajane. That's totally different!"
Figures. Kira glanced back and, sure enough, it was Wakaba and Macao, the guild's resident pervs.
"Speaking of, where's Juvia?"
With such a big guild, it was odd not to see her. Unless…
Mirajane answered, "Oh, her? She saw Gray a couple days ago, fell head over heels, and snuck off to follow him."
"What, so she's a stalker now? That's… cough… pretty bad behavior!"
Guess she couldn't escape her destined pairing.
"That's rude to say about a girl!" Mirajane scolded.
I didn't say anything wrong…
"Kira is right, though. I've seen plots like that in books and movies," someone chimed in.
"Exactly!"
"Yo, lend me one of those books."
What? Sharing stuff like that in broad daylight, right in the guild?
"Hey, what's that you've got? Hand it over! As the guild's discipline officer, I need to inspect it!"
"Discipline officer? That's Erza's job! Wait, since when do we have a discipline officer?"
"Fine, call it oversight officer!" Kira snatched the book. "Point is, you're not allowed to read this… uh…"
Looking at it, Kira realized the "plot" they meant was just a sappy romance about pure-hearted teens falling in love at first sight—not anything weird. He felt a twinge of disappointment.
"Stop reading this junk. You guys are always chasing these unrealistic dreams instead of taking missions. No wonder you can't find girlfriends!"
"Says you, Mr. Single!"
"Whose book is this? I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind!"
No need to guess—it had to be one of those two pervs.
"It's Levy's!" someone said.
Pfft—!!
"What?!" Kira nearly choked, staring at Levy in disbelief.
Tiny body, massive energy. Never judge a book by its cover!
Catching Kira' odd look, Levy's face turned beet red, and she bolted.