"What kind of answer is that!?"
Kazu interrupted them, "Anyway, what I was saying is that my Ethernano reflects my emotions, which also makes me stronger when that happens. If you don't know already, but I tend to feel emotions strongly than others."
"So...how is that connected to you going berserk?" Mira furrowed her brows.
Kazu nodded. "The thing is, I artificially created a situation where I will feel a lot of emotions, and...well, it was too much such that I lost control over my reasoning..."
"And that happened." Mira completed it for him, her expression pondering.
"So, like when you were angry now, releasing red Ethernano, had you lost reasoning?" Levy asked from the side.
Kazu shook his head. "Nah. I have pretty good control over myself. Even if I am feeling intense emotions, I can still stay calm. The reason that the situation happened was that I stopped any attempts to consciously stop it."
"So, did you reach S-rank or not?" Natsu asked the most important question.
"Nope. As Laxus said, it's too dangerous to go in that state for others around me. So, I won't be using it unless push comes to shove. I am still far from reaching S-rank."
Natsu nodded.
The rest of the train ride was silent, as there wasn't much time left to reach Magnolia when Kazu had woken up.
As soon as they reached the station, Laxus disappeared.
'He really is good at hiding that he was motion sick. I guess I am not the only one who has the best poker face in the guild.' For some time, Kazu had thought that his instincts had lied. But seeing how Laxus didn't have his usual haughty or arrogant expression made Kazu believe otherwise.
"I believe that it's time I meet that angry granny everyone talks about." Kazu was unusually excited about that.
"Are you sure that you could walk alone? You won't drop in some random bush or something mid-way, right?" Levy joked.
Though Kazu's expression stiffened at that possibility.
"I...would be fine. I think you should worry about taking a bath." Levy's expression turned ashen at that reminder. She had almost forgotten.
"Then, I would be leaving first." With that, she bolted away.
"I will accompany you. You actually might drop in some random bush." Mira scanned Kazu from up and down. Kazu looked normal from the outside, but the occasional trembling of some of his muscles gave away the fact that his body was in pain.
'I wonder why he is trying to hide his pain.'
"...Fine." Kazu didn't argue.
With that, both of them headed towards the East Forest outside the Magnolia.
"Wait, what about me?" Natsu was left alone at the station.
"...It's okay. Let's go to the guild to report the mission." Happy consoled the pinkhead.
Natsu brightened at that. "Right. That's the most important part. Let's race to the tavern!" With that, Natsu bolted.
'I am pretty sure that Laxus already did that by now...' Happy opened his wings as he followed Natsu.
---
They reached outside a treehouse.
"Wait, let me just clean myself." A barrier encompassed Kazu for a few seconds before it disappeared. It was equivalent to thoroughly bathing.
"...So, you had this spell, yet you didn't use it on Levy." Mira deadpanned.
Kazu smirked. "And, where's the fun in that. Can you imagine her expression when she realises that I had this spell?"
"..."
"And do you know what the worst part is?"
"What?" Mira raised an eyebrow.
"She already knew that I had such a spell. She likely forgot." Kazu's smirk widened.
"...Now, I want to really see her expression." Mira's bully side surfaced, as her expression mimicked the one on Kazu's face.
"WHO'S MAKING NOISE SO EARLY IN THE MORNING?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud noise coming from inside.
'But, we didn't even shout. Are her ears sharp or something?' Though Kazu wanted to say that out loud, he wisely shut his mouth, afraid that she would hear that too.
BAM
The door slammed open, and a pink-haired old lady came out with a broom in her hand.
Kazu and Mira stiffened, like a deer caught in a headlight.
Porlyusica's eyes roamed on them for seconds before stopping on Kazu.
"How the hell are you even standing like that?" She briskly walked towards him before shoving her broomstick at Kazu's shoulder.
The latter put up a barrier on instinct. However—
CRACK
The barrier shattered like glass.
"Aaahhhh!" Kazu felt as if somebody had put a flaming needle inside his body. The area around his shoulder started having cramps.
For the next few seconds, the pain didn't stop, but rather increased with each second. He fell on the ground like a broken puppet, clutching his shoulder in pain.
'How much pain is he in?' Mira looked away. She finally understood why Kazu hid it. She really couldn't imagine the Kazu, who always remained strong as a pillar, to be reduced to such a state.
"That's what you get for pretending. Now, sleep." A magic circle appeared in front of Kazu's head, before his eyes rolled back.
'This lady...she is dangerous.' Though Porlyusica had knocked Kazu when he was in a vulnerable state, Mira's instincts warned her to be wary of her.
The lady in question turned to her, causing Mira to stiffen.
"You...carry him inside." With that, Porlyusica walked back into the tree house. Mira quickly grabbed Kazu's body and carried him inside.
---
"Uhh..." Kazu groaned as he opened his eyes.
He blinked slowly before opening his eyes.
'I am moving.' He looked down and found that Mira was piggybacking him.
"Wait, did I actually fall into a random bush!?" Kazu joked.
Mira stiffened due to his sudden reply, but then rolled her eyes. "Yeah...It was a pretty scary bush. So, how are you feeling?"
"Numb. Can't feel any sense of touch. Did I get anaesthesia or something? Wait, there's a spell inside my body?"
Kazu got an urge to destroy it, but his instincts warned him not to do that.
"Yeah, that old lady told not to mess with that unless you want to feel pain like before. It would disappear in a few days. Until then, you are forbidden to do anything extreme...unless you want to meet her again."
"...I would rather not meet her again." Kazu finally understood why everyone was scared of Porlyusica.
'The way she disabled my barrier. It was pretty similar to how I do Destructive Interference. Did she analyse it since she saw me? The barrier wasn't even a simple one.' Kazu felt like he was a frog in a well.
Though his instincts told him that he would survive if he fought the lady who had on, he had no confidence in defeating her.
"Healers are dangerous." He suddenly muttered.
"What? Isn't that quite contrary? Aren't healers supposed to be a symbol of safety?" Mira asked.
"Only when they are on the same side. Anyway, this is kind of context-specific. Where are we going?" Kazu looked around and found the familiar streets of Magnolia.
Several looks came their way, but he ignored them.
"Your house. I was planning to drop you there, since you were unconscious. Do you want to go to the guild?"
"Yeah. I want to talk to the master about the mission. Moreover, since I am free, I would like to just hang out in the tavern till I recover."
Mira nodded before changing her direction towards the tavern.
She walked in silence for a few minutes before Kazu opened his mouth.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"Huh?"
"The thing you are trying to say for a while now. I think you wanted to say on the train, but I guess others were there. Then, when we were going to the East forest, you seemed to try to say it a few times, but stopped." Kazu looked towards the horizon.
The sun was rising.
They left in the afternoon yesterday. The fight between Laxus, Kazu and Eris concluded around midnight.
"Wow...I didn't think you would notice that." This was completely a surprise to Mira.
"So?"
"I...I want you to train me."
Kazu blinked. "Hmm?"
"You know what you did with Gray. Something like that." Unlike Cana or Levy, Kazu had worked closely with Gray for a few months. So, his progress was pretty visible.
"I didn't know you knew about it." During that time, Mira hadn't even joined the guild. So, Kazu was surprised that she knew about it.
"I heard it from Levy. She has a pretty loose mouth."
Kazu hummed. "Why the sudden interest? Is it because of Erza?" The relationship between Erza and Mira is similar to the relationship between Gray and Natsu.
Both Erza and Gray are comparably stronger than their counterparts, partly due to Kazu's existence.
"That too. But... I almost messed up the mission yesterday."
"Oh. Right, I forgot. I never asked you how the mission went."
Mira started recounting the mission. Her pace slowed down, and she took an unnecessarily longer path to the tavern, which Kazu chose to ignore.
"Damn. This exceeded my initial expectations. Though, even without Happy's interference, you guys should have used the artefact during that critical part..." Kazu sighed.
"That's why you need experience. Guess, it's partly my fault, as I wasn't there to prevent you from making such mistakes."
"It's not your fault!" Mira's sudden shout made Kazu flinch.
"It technically is. I was supposed to guide you. Circumstances don't matter."
Kazu turned his gaze back to the sun, which had almost risen to the sky. Reddish-orange dyed the sky. It was almost an ethereal scenery.
He looked at it for a few seconds before coming to a decision.
"Fine. I will train you."
***
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