"Well, she's cute."
"..."
"..."
Both of them fell silent.
Kazu furrowed his brows. 'It turned awkward real quick.'
He glanced at Levy and noticed she was still smiling. To a normal person, it would look like nothing changed.
However, Kazu was anything but normal. He was too experienced to miss the change in micro expressions.
"Wait, are you blushing?" Kazu dumbfoundedly asked.
"N—No", Levy stuttered. Red coloured her cheeks. Now, it was obvious to a random bystander.
'...Right. I forgot that I am physically same physical age as them. It must be weird hearing a person of the same age saying that to you.' Kazu internally nodded. He considered himself to be at least 15 years of age, but due to his experiences, he just calls himself an adult.
While Kazu was internally rambling, Cana, on the other hand, had a contemplative expression.
She broke the silence that had fallen between the trio. "Are you sick?" She asked while putting her hand on Kazu's forehead.
Kazu made a pondering expression. "My body temperature is the same, and I don't feel any discomfort. Though I am tired currently, I was able to train at peak performance, so it's highly unlikely that I am sick." He said all that in monotone, as if stating an observation without any personal bias.
Cana slowly nodded before a look of realisation flashed on her face.
"Maybe you are mentally sick?"
"..."
Kazu looked at her with a deadpan expression. 'Well, technically I am, but what she's implying is definitely not related.'
"Why do you think so?"
"I just didn't think you could say nice things, let alone such shameless things, on your first time meeting. Is this what they call hitting on people?"
Kazu furrowed his eyebrows. "Hold up. What do you mean by me being unable to say nice things? Do you see me as Gray? Also, I wasn't 'hitting' on her."
"Did somebody call me?" Kazu turned towards the new voice.
It was none other than Gray. Along with him was Erza.
"No. You are hearing things. Also, put on clothes." Cana replied to him before Kazu could say anything.
She then turned back to Kazu. "Well, you just called her cute. I wonder why... I don't think that's normal, right?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"I mean, I said what just came to my mind. Didn't give it much thought." Kazu shrugged. He then turned towards Levy.
"Did that make you uncomfortable? If it did, I would keep that in mind to not say that in the future."
"NO!"
The answer came a bit too quickly and loudly for Kazu's liking, making him flinch.
"Ahem. I mean, I don't mind it. I was just surprised by the suddenity of it." She cleared her throat as she quickly followed up.
Cana glanced at her for a few seconds before looking back at Kazu. "What do you mean that it randomly came to your mind? As if that's pretty normal."
"Well, I mean, I just told my first impressions. Like, you look cute too."
"I mean—Wait, what?" Cana paused.
"..."
Kazu's words brought back the silent environment.
He suddenly felt a pointed glare. However, before he could look—
"I don't know what happened, but Kazu, are you sick?" Gray asked with a serious expression.
"..." It was Kazu's turn to be speechless.
He glanced at Cana, who looked baffled as well.
"I am perfectly physically fine." Kazu nodded, as if to reassure himself that he was not sick.
"Maybe you are mentally sick?" Gray furrowed his eyebrows.
The deja vu Kazu felt was bizarre.
'Is this a common line of thought? First Cana and then Gray. Even the phrasing is the same. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were pranking me."
"Why do you think so?" Kazu replied in the exact manner he had to Cana.
Gray shrugged. "Well, you need to be sick in the head to say Cana of all people to be cute."
He ducked, dodging a punch from the girl in question.
"...Maybe I really am", Kazu muttered.
"What?" Cana snapped her head towards Kazu.
"I said Erza is cute too." Kazu wisely changed the subject.
"W—what? Me?" Erza suddenly found herself in the conversation... in an unexpected manner.
Kazu then turned towards Gray. "Gray also... looks cute when he is dressed."
"..."
"..."
Whatever assumptions the kids were making in their minds vaporised as Kazu called Gray cute.
'Why is everyone silent? I mean, kids are cute when they shut their mouths.' Kazu felt like he was missing some context.
He didn't need to wait to understand why everyone reacted like that as Erza's next words answered it for him.
"I can't marry you. It's too soon."
Everyone turned towards Erza.
They looked at her clueless face for a few seconds before looking at each other.
They then shook their head.
---
"It's been a while." Kazu entered the library.
He hasn't been in so long that the place now felt almost foreign. Almost.
He walked towards the bookshelf.
"Oh." Kazu noticed Levy.
She turned towards him. "Oh, are you here to read some books?"
Kazu nodded. He walked towards her table.
"If you need any help in finding books, do let me know." She smiled.
Kazu smiled back. "Well, thank you for the offer, but I know this place like the back of my hand. What are you reading?"
He looked at the stack of books and their titles.
[ Elemental Magic Made Easy. Even Babies could Learn! ]
[ Ethernano: A mystical journey. ]
[ The Final Ascent ]
[ Stealth 101. Never get caught looking. ]
[ Romeo and Juliet ]
[ Make out Paradise. ]
Kazu blankly looked at some titles.
"Do you want—" Before Levy could finish her statement, some of the books on the table disappeared.
"I am ceasing these. You are too young for this." He quickly took the last three books.
"What do you mean by too young? You are the same age as me!"
"Ahem. Indeed. I had the bad luck of reading these and regret it. Now, I stop people from making such regrets." Kazu said with the most sincere tone he could muster.
It made Levy confused for a second.
"Oh...But what about the second one? I bet that's definitely a novel, right?"
"You like novels?" Kazu raised a brow.
"...A bit."
"Sounds cool. To answer your question, yeah, it is a novel, but it has some adult content in it."
'Saying 'some' is an understatement. I still can't let go of the embarrassment I felt when I read it. It's on par with 'Make out Tactics.''
"I see." Though Levy said that, disappointment was pronounced in her tone.
Kazu felt bad seeing that.
"Well... How about I help you select some good books for learning magic theory?"
"Uhh...Okay?" Levy tilted her head, clearly confused.
Kazu paused. 'Right, now it feels like a random guy giving her advice.'
"Just to give you context, but I am already at the advanced level when it comes to direct Ethernano manipulation."
Levy's eyes widened. "Wait, like advanced, as in third-level in tiers of mastery?"
Kazu nodded.
"Aren't you like 10 years old?" Her shock was understandable. An advanced level of mastery was not something that a mage reaches after 30, even if they have talent or compensate for its lack with effort.
"Well, yeah. I mean, it's not that uncommon. Gray is very close to reaching an advanced level with his Ice-make. Heck, he might already have reached it by now." Kazu shrugged.
'Knowing him, he would probably reveal it at the most unexpected time and act all nonchalant about it. How childish.' Kazu internally shook his head.
"Anyway, I have a pretty good mastery over magic basics due to my affinity. Also, I have gone through some good books here, so I could suggest you if you don't mind."
"I don't mind." Levy was pretty quick to agree.
"Cool. Let's see, if you want to learn elemental magic, you already have the best book to start. Also, though it says that even babies can learn, it's pretty hard to learn if you don't have an affinity. Even with affinity, it would still take a large chunk of time, so don't get demotivated.
For the Ethernano book you took... hmm, I haven't seen this one. Is this a new addition?" Kazu took the book and opened it.
"Give me a few minutes to check if this one is alright." Kazu looked at the index.
"You can try these." Levy handed him a glasses.
Kazu tilted his head. "An artefact?"
"Well, I found it in the drawer. Didn't you say that you have been here for a long time?"
Kazu nodded. "More than a year. Though I never checked them properly." He put on the glasses.
Something shifted.
He felt the light in front of him bending.
It made it such that his reading speed increase by a fewfold.
"That's a cool application." 'I might be able to replicate this with my barriers one day.'
Kazu quickly flipped the pages.
A few seconds later, he closed the book.
"Okay, this book is not ideal. I don't like how the writer frames some things." Kazu shook his head in disapproval.
"You already done!? Do you know some magic to increase your processing power?"
Kazu nodded. "Well, yeah, I do know one. Though I didn't use it, as I was just skimming through it. The content was roughly the same, so I wanted to see how it was explained. Give me a few more minutes to look through the new books. If I found something better than my current choice, that would be nice."
With that, Kazu quickly went through all the new books.
"Just go with this one. Though it's not the best one, the framing is kind of like a story. You might like it. If you don't, just stick to this one." Kazu handed her two books.
"Thanks!" Levy smiled brightly. She was now reassured that her learning would at least be done efficiently compared to before.
"If you have any doubts, you can ask me, as I will be spending the next few months in the library for my next training. But please ask me only in breaks, as I don't like breaking the flow. Like, I am free during lunch or dinner. Actually, if you want to, we can schedule an hour or two in advance where you bring a bunch of queries. Is that fine?"
"Yeah. Thanks for your help."
"No worries." With that, Kazu made his way toward the Ethernano section.
He looked at the label with a pondering gaze.
'I think I might have found the quickest way to S-rank'
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