Seeing Levy smile that brightly, Cana looked up, her gaze flicking between Shane and the Gale-Force Reading Glasses.
Shane's stomach dropped. Right. He'd thought the glasses were perfect for Levy and completely forgotten about Cana.
He met her eyes—half teasing, half expectant—and, thinking fast, pasted on a solemn expression and reached into his pocket.
"Of course I prepared something for you too, Cana," he said, drawing out a 1,000 J note and offering it with both hands. "This is spoils, soaked in the blood of dark mages from Eisenwald. Truly meaningful. One of a kind."
Cana froze, glanced at the bill, then at his mock-grave face—and burst out laughing before taking it cheerfully.
"Then I'll take it!"
She hadn't really wanted a gift; it just felt a little strange watching someone else get something special right in front of her—especially when she'd known Shane first.
Holding the note up to the light, she saw it was perfectly clean—no "bloodstains" in sight—but she pretended not to notice, and simply turned to Levy. "Lend me a book for a sec."
She took a thick volume from Levy, carefully slipped the bill between its pages as a bookmark, and closed it with a gentle pat.
Only then did she look up, curious. "So you and Erza really took down that dark guild alone?"
"Yeah," Shane nodded, ready to give a quick summary—when two "refugees" barreled in.
"Hey, hey, hey! Star of the show, hiding over here?" Macao wrapped an arm around Shane's neck in a rough hug.
Wakaba sauntered up, sneaking a glance at Erza and nervously taking a swig. "Exactly! You can't lurk in the corner. Everyone wants to hear how our rookies showed off."
Without waiting for consent, they dragged Shane to the center of the hall.
Curious and approving eyes swung his way—toward the new kid who'd barely been around a few days.
Young, but clearly strong, and with a fresh record of wiping a dark guild—enough to grab everyone's attention.
Under the stares, Shane shifted, cleared his throat, and stuck to the highlights—skipping over the part where he menaced the client with a blade and neatly slaughtered every member. He kept the battle descriptions vague.
Even that was enough to send the room into a drinking frenzy.
"Nice work!"
"Kid's got chops!"
"To Shane and Erza—and to Fairy Tail—bottoms up!"
Cheers, toasts, and refilled cups boomed through the hall.
From the crowd, Makarov watched, grinning ear to ear. Another talented, reliable kid in the guild; it warmed him.
"Yesterday was a misread," he thought, sipping his drink. "The boy does know his limits."
Catching the master's pleased face, Shane laughed silently to himself. Hope you're still smiling when the Council's complaint letter arrives…
The party ran late.
Shane never touched alcohol, but got filled to the brim with juice. It was past midnight when he and Erza finally left.
Unlike last night's broke-student vibe, they walked back to the same inn flush with cash—and upgraded to two adjacent deluxe singles without a second thought.
"Strategy meeting!"
Even with separate rooms, Erza automatically went to Shane's first.
Item one: profit sharing. Shane couldn't be bothered to parse "contribution" and simply split the earnings cleanly in half.
"Here—your share. 1.9 million J." He slid a bag of bills over.
Erza accepted it without fuss. Their relationship was close enough that she didn't bother with awkward lines like you did most of the work, take more.
"Tomorrow I'm hitting the streets instead of the library," Shane said as he stacked his own cut.
It probably wasn't enough, but he was itching to learn Magnolia's housing market.
The "Initiation" trial had dragged on long enough; he wanted to buy a place and settle.
He'd even considered throwing up a shack in the hills—but scrapped it quickly. Too risky the trial wouldn't count it as a proper home and waste more time.
"Shopping?" Erza's eyes lit up instantly. Before he could finish, she declared, "I'm coming too!"
Loaded with cash and itching to spend it—she still hadn't forgotten Tomas's Coffee and its cute, delicious-smelling interior. This was the perfect excuse to upgrade her gear and get a treat.
Technically, it was "shopping." Shane shrugged. "Sure. Come get me in the morning."
Having Erza wake him was ideal. Her internal clock was steel; she rose early like clockwork. He could squeeze in a bit more sleep.
With plans set, Erza headed back to her room.
Silence returned.
Shane washed up, rubbed his hands together, and flopped onto the bed, a bit excited.
He'd already cracked Saber's True Name last night. In theory, he no longer needed dream guidance; he could just try releasing the class.
He was eager to see what Saber would do. Surely it wouldn't be yet another "body ascends to godhood, at the cost of death" type Phantasm.
He focused, summoned the dark-gold card with the upright, sword-bearing figure.
Sinking his awareness into it, he pictured the forge, the anvil, the broken blades—and quietly spoke the name with full confidence:
"Gorō Nyūdō Masamune."
…
Nothing happened.
The room stayed still but for his breathing. The card lay in his palm, inert.
He froze. That shouldn't be. With his reasoning, Masamune should have been right. Unless… you had to wait for another dream?
Doubt crept in. Reflexively, he reached for another candidate, the so-called ancestor of their swords. "Ama—"
The "-kuni" never left his tongue.
Agony like he'd never known exploded in his skull.
"—hh!"
It was as if a white-hot iron spike rammed through his skull and twisted. Shane curled up instantly, drenched in cold sweat, teeth grinding.
Not no reaction.
Wrong answer.