Gildarts looked at the table.
There were 3 girls and 2 boys.
'Seeing how she is supposed to be angry, she won't be sitting beside this kid. So, she is out.' Gildarts had eliminated Cana initially.
He then turned towards Levy. 'Not only is her hair too different from orange, but also the fact that she's sitting beside that naked boy. She can't be my daughter.'
He then went towards the final person left.
'She's a redhead, which is close to orange. Not only that, but I could feel that she's strong. Though not as strong as that crazy kid, she's the second strongest on the table.' Gildarts internally nodded to himself at this hypothesis.
"Uhh...You got the wrong person. She's not my mother." Erza replied with an awkward expression.
This took Gildarts aback.
He was not the only one. Everyone in the guild was shocked at what had just happened. Even the guild master almost fell off the railing he was sitting on.
They were... not serious about the betting thing as it's almost impossible to guess your own biological kid wrong... right?
Kazu glanced at Cana. She had an expression of disbelief on her face.
"Oh? Did I get it wrong? Was your mother's name Jenny? Or is it Alice?" Gildart's next question shocked everyone again.
Erza had her mouth open like a fish. "I... I meant that I am not your daughter. Not anything about the mother..."
Gildarts blinked. His eyes widened as he realised his mistake.
'I fucked up.'
He slowly turned his head towards the right and saw Cana throwing a disgusting look towards him.
Her eyes were bubbling with tears.
Kazu patted her shoulders. "It's fine. It's fine. He just seems to be a womaniser. It's one step better than a pervert like Macao. At least that guy got married, so it's not that shocking." Kazu internally felt joy at saying that.
It only increased when he felt glares from Gildart and Macao.
Without looking at him, Cana ran away.
BAM
The door slammed as she left the tavern.
"..."
The tavern became deadly silent.
"...Well, maybe you should chase after her. She must be a bit nervous to confront you with so many people." Kazu broke the silence as he looked at Gildarts.
The latter sighed as he chased after her. Not before shooting a glare towards Kazu.
"You really have the balls to joke during that tense atmosphere. Aren't you scared that Gildarts would beat you later?" Gray elbowed him.
Kazu turned towards him. He narrowed his eyes. "Right...I forgot, but I would be going on a retreat in the mountains. See you in a few months."
With that, Kazu disappeared from view.
"..." Gray blankly looked at the spot where he had been standing a few seconds ago.
"Say, I never asked, but why do you not wear a shirt?"
He turned towards Levy.
"...You don't want to know the answer," Gray said with a serious expression. 'Did Cana not say that to her? Maybe she didn't say the reason or something.'
Levy gulped. "Is it... like a curse? or..."
Gray just maintained his solemn face. His silence was interpreted by Levy just as he wanted her to.
---
"I am sorry." Gildarts looked at Cana's back as he apologised.
"What are you sorry about?" Cana snapped.
"I..." Gildarts found himself at a loss for words. What exactly was he sorry about?
Was it about being a womaniser?
Was it cause he was too fixated on his work and neglecting his wife?
Was it cause he guessed the wrong person to be his daughter?
Gildarts released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"I am sorry for not being there for you when you needed me." Gildarts had heard about what happened to Cornelia years ago, but he didn't have it in him to visit her grave.
Maybe if he had pushed his fear at that time, he might have become aware of Cana long ago.
Maybe...
"I didn't need you. Never." Cana said, still not facing Gildarts.
"I see... That's awesome. You have been in the guild for... like 3 years? Or was it 4 years? I don't remember when you joined, but seeing how you are happy, I guess, old man really runs the guild well to make everyone feel like a big family." Gildarts smiled.
Cana turned around. "Y—Yeah. I didn't need you. Everyone was already there for me." Tears were still streaming down her face, but a defiant look was on her face. She crossed her arms.
Gildarts nodded. "As I said, that's awesome."
They both looked at each other for a few seconds before Cana broke the silence.
"So...What now?"
Gildarts felt unsure about what to say next. "Well... why didn't you approach me until now? Like, why now only? You have been in the guild for a while now, no?"
"You were intimidating."
Gildarts felt as if an invisible arrow had pierced his heart.
"...I see. What changed?"
"Well..." Cana felt uncomfortable about whether to say it or not. "I almost died in a recent mission and spewed it out to my friends. They unfortunately had loose mouths..."
"You died?" Gildarts blinked. He thought about what would have happened if Cana had actually died, and he was told that he had a daughter.
"Who?"
Suddenly, an intense pressure enveloped the surroundings.
"Who was it?"
Cana felt the atmosphere suffocating.
'This is similar to that day. The killing intent is even higher than Kazu's.' Cana felt flashbacks of that day.
Gildarts realised that he was affecting the surroundings and quickly controlled his Ethernano.
"My bad. So, how did that happen?" Though Gildarts tried to smile to hide his anger, it just caused him to look even scarier.
Cana looked at his face and thought to herself. 'If I say what happened that day, I might not see Kazu tomorrow.'
Though it sounded funny, unfortunately, she didn't want to see that happen.
Even if Kazu acted like scum with how he leaked the secret recently, he was still her friend.
"Not telling." Cana shook her head.
"Huh?" Gildarts looked at her with a baffled expression. "Why?"
"Coz I dealt with that issue myself. I don't need any external interference."
"But..." Gildarts tried to think of a counterpoint. However, before he could, Cana's next statement stunned him.
"How about we instead talk about who Jenny and Alice are?"
---
'Gildarts really is strong.' Kazu thought as he climbed up the mountain. He wasn't joking with Gray when he said that he was going on a mountain retreat.
He was entering seclusion for his next part of his training.
'The man was insanely strong even before the tenrou arc—stronger than a Wizard Saint, and after the one-year time skip in the Final season, he became even stronger... Yet, he wasn't stronger than the strongest in Spriggian 12.' Kazu clenched his fists as he thought of the enemies he would have to face.
'Can I even reach their level? Will I even be able to make Zeref suffer?' These thoughts had become more frequent recently.
Kazu realised that he barely has around 7 years before the Canon starts. He still can't see himself reaching the level of those monsters.
'I could see myself as an S-rank by the time Canon starts, maybe on the level of Gildarts even. But that's it. Not anything beyond that.' Kazu sighed as he reached the destination.
He looked at the cave in front of him and then at the forest around him.
'I need to create a new technique. A technique that is going to be unique to me only. I already have the idea. It's so broken that it would bring me much closer to S-rank.' Kazu looked at his hand.
He looked at the light blue Ethernano covering his palm.
"Either I am going to waste nearly a few months to a year on this, or I am going to become S-rank" A determined expression appeared on Kazu's face.
---
x776 came to an end with this Fairy Tail's S-rank exams. Nobody passed this year either.
A few months passed with Kazu training on a nearby mountain, hidden from everybody. Only Cana had somehow managed to locate him with her cards. Anybody else either wasn't able to or didn't try.
April x777
"I heard that you wanted my help."
"AAAHhhh" Levy fell from her chair as she heard a voice next to her.
"My bad." Kazu stopped her before she could get hurt.
Levy regained her bearings and looked at Kazu. "Yeah, I did need your help. I heard that you also specialise in versatile magic, and Cana does discuss things with you."
Kazu nodded. "Yeah, I do have a decent affinity for Barrier magic, which is pretty versatile. Though unlike her, I don't have any experience with elemental variations."
"That's fine. In fact, good, as I could just take advice from Cana on that and from you on your speciality." Levy clapped her hands.
Kazu shrugged. "Just make sure that whatever area you do, it aligns with your affinities. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time."
***
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