"That heavy, dragging feeling… Did Mystogan come by again?"
The guild's most permanent old-timers, Wakaba and Macao, rubbed their groggy heads and crawled out from under a table.
"Seriously, can't we get some peace and quiet first thing in the morning? He had to knock everyone out and leave us sleeping so badly our backs ache?"
Macao looked at the overturned mug on the table and hissed through his teeth in pain. "Aw, man, the ale I just bought spilled everywhere. What a waste!"
"No worries. Put it on me. I'll buy you both another round."
Along with that light voice, a slender hand holding several bills gently tapped them onto the table in front of them.
"Oh? Really?" Macao took the money in delight.
After getting married and having a child, his life had become pretty tight, and even drinking money had to be carefully budgeted.
"Ah, the guild keeps getting more and more newcomers, but fewer and fewer of them know how to respect their senpais like you do."
Now that someone was treating him, he immediately straightened his back and put on the air of a reliable senpai. "If you ever run into trouble in the guild, just come to me for advice!"
"Hey, Macao, take a closer look at who this is…"
Beside him, Wakaba suddenly froze. The pipe in his mouth slipped out and landed on his foot, but he didn't even notice.
"What? Can't you see I'm bonding with a newcomer?"
Macao looked up in displeasure. His gaze traveled up along that hand and finally saw that young face wearing a half-smile.
"Isn't that Shane?!"
The two of them rubbed their eyes in disbelief. After confirming it again and again, they cried out at the same time.
"Long time no see. I'm back."
Shane raised a hand with a grin and greeted them.
Truthfully, he had meant to be a little more emotional about it, but the feelings he had worked up yesterday had already been mostly spent earlier, so he really couldn't make it sentimental now.
"You little brat! That was one hell of a long nap. You had us worried sick!"
After recognizing Shane, Wakaba laughed and scolded him, then snatched back the bills that Macao hadn't even had time to warm in his hand and stuffed them back into Shane's palm.
"How could we let you treat us? Counting your age, you should finally be old enough to drink now, right? Come on, today's round is on us!"
As he spoke, the two of them hooked Shane's arms from both sides, pushed him toward the bar, and shouted for service at the tops of their lungs.
That lively reunion, however, left the younger members who had just climbed up from the floor looking at one another in confusion.
"Who's that? Is he from our guild too?" In the corner, a boy in a black skintight outfit craned his neck curiously.
"Oh, oh! That's Shane! He's a pretty senpai member. He joined the guild long before you guys did."
For some reason, Reedus—whose figure had become unusually round—cheerfully stepped in as the commentator.
"Mm… he doesn't look very sturdy."
Miki, a blue-haired girl with a little bird perched on her head, pursed her lips and critically looked over Shane's somewhat thin build.
"Don't be fooled by his harmless-looking appearance."
An older member lowered his voice and leaned in mysteriously.
"Back in the day, Shane once defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints in a one-on-one fight!"
"What?"
The newcomers collectively sucked in sharp breaths, their eyes widening in disbelief.
"No way! Who could beat monsters on the level of Erza or the Master?"
They simply could not believe that this loose, relaxed-looking guy had power that exaggerated.
Seeing the stunned disbelief on the newcomers' faces, several nimble old members had already rushed out of the hall in excitement to notify the people who hadn't arrived yet.
"Heh heh, this is definitely going to get lively."
Wakaba picked up his pipe again and snickered off to the side.
Meanwhile, Macao kept dragging Shane toward the bar, insisting on forcing a few glasses of strong liquor into him.
Just as the place descended into chaos—
Bang!
The front doors were thrown open.
Mira, who had been waiting outside the guild, saw that the sleep magic had faded and rushed in like a gust of wind.
She pushed through the crowd watching the show and charged straight up to Shane.
"I saw Mystogan leave just now. How did it go?"
"…"
Shane looked helplessly at the people gathered around him.
Step.
Mira also noticed that the situation was inconvenient. She reached out and grabbed Shane by the arm.
"I have something important to talk to him about alone!"
Without caring what anyone else thought, she forcefully pushed through the crowd and half-dragged, half-pulled him into an empty storage room in the corner of the guild.
Click.
The door locked, completely shutting out the noise of the hall.
In the cramped space, the only sound was Mira's slightly quickened breathing from nerves and anticipation.
Looking at the girl's chest rising and falling faintly in front of him, Shane hesitated for a moment.
Should he hide the possibility of "crystallization" for now, and only tell her the hopeful part—that Lisanna might be all right?
But on second thought, Mira wasn't some fragile girl who needed to be handled with care. She was stronger than anyone.
Rather than handing her a fragile bubble of hope only for reality to pop it later, it was better to be open from the start and lay every possibility on the table.
Having made up his mind, Shane did not hide anything.
He told her everything he had learned from Mystogan—the cruel reality of the situation, as well as his own plan to go to Edolas early without waiting for the "medicine."
"…"
The storage room fell into a brief silence.
Just as Shane had expected, Mira's reaction was surprisingly calm.
Clearly, during the lonely year she had spent investigating, she had already imagined the worst countless times.
She simply lowered her eyes and quietly digested the enormous amount of information for a while before lifting her head.
"But… if you decide to go early, and Mystogan refuses to guide you, what are you going to do? Other than him, we have no way to get to that world, right?"
"Stop. Not 'we.'"
Shane caught the wording immediately and frowned, his tone turning stern.
"Don't start having those unnecessary dangerous thoughts. That world lacks magic. If you go, you'll only become a burden. I'm saying this clearly in advance: I absolutely will not take you with me."
Seeing Mirajane bite her lip, clearly unconvinced and ready to argue, Shane raised a hand to cut her off.
"As for how to get there… actually, besides Mystogan, there's one other person—or rather, one other cat—who knows the way."
Mira's attention was instantly diverted, and her eyes widened.
"You mean… Carla?"
"Mm."
Shane rubbed his chin, his gaze darkening slightly. "Since she could recognize Edolas magic at a glance, I'd guess there's a high chance she came from that world too. She must have a way to get back."
At that point, his brow furrowed.
"I just don't understand. She clearly knows how much you care about Lisanna's whereabouts, so why didn't she mention it once this whole year? Why did she go in circles and lead you to Mystogan instead?"
"Carla… is a very good companion."
Mirajane shook her head. "If she did that, she must have had her reasons."
"Fine. Since you trust her that much, I won't say more."
Shane spread his hands and stopped dwelling on the matter.
"Then I'll leave it to you to sound Carla out. You know how allergic that cat is to my face. If I ask her myself, she'll probably puff up before I even finish my sentence."
"No problem. Leave it to me."
Mira patted her chest.
With the discussion settled, the two turned toward the door.
Mira's hand had just landed on the knob when she couldn't help looking back.
"If you get the method, when are you planning to leave?"
"For something like this, the sooner the better."
Shane answered without hesitation.
If possible, he didn't want to waste even a single second. Leaving today would be best.
"…"
Before Mira could respond—
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion suddenly rang out, making even the walls of the storage room tremble.
Then came the crack of splintering wood. The guild's poor double doors had been violently kicked in from the outside, shattering into pieces midair.
"Shane! Where's Shane?! Come out and duel meeeee!"
Along with that familiar, noisy voice, rolling heat waves and roaring flames surged into the hall.
"Looks like the reckless troublemaker with a death wish is here."
Shane scratched his hair with a headache and turned helplessly to Mira beside him.
"Looks like someone else who's been thinking about you has arrived. I'll get going, then. You're probably going to be busy for a while."
With the explosion, the heavy mood from a moment ago vanished. The girl covered her face, struggling not to laugh.