More than two hours later, Sister Mary closed the Bible and announced that today's lesson was over.
Kabe let out a long breath of relief. At the same time he felt like all the strength had been drained out of him and slumped bonelessly over his desk.
"Totally burned out... studying really is the most painful thing in this world."
He groaned quietly, then suddenly felt a presence. He slowly lifted his head from the desk.
Right in front of him was Sister Mary's gentle, kindly face.
She crouched down so their eyes were level, then reached out a wrinkled, calloused hand and gently rubbed his hair.
"You are Kabe, right? Master Makarov told me about you. It is your first day in class today, so you might have trouble keeping up. But you must not lose interest in knowledge. Whenever there's something you do not understand, you can come and ask me. I will always be happy to answer."
Looking at her warm, motherly expression, Kabe nodded solemnly, his tone serious.
"I understand. At the very least, I'll learn all the characters."
"Hehehe, if you can learn all the characters, that is already enough."
Still smiling, Sister Mary patted him on the head and straightened up. Seeing Gray, Cana and the others gathering around him, she added with a smile,
"Alright then, go play with your friends. Just remember not to be late tomorrow."
With that, she hugged the Bible to her chest and left the classroom.
Kabe watched her back as she walked away and scratched his cheek with a finger, muttering under his breath,
"Seriously, from yesterday until now, everyone I've met has been so nice. My luck is pretty amazing."
"Huh? What are you mumbling about?"
Gray walked over with his hands stuffed in his pockets. For once, he was actually wearing a shirt today. After throwing in that jab at Kabe, he turned around and started complaining to Cana and Erza about Kabe's shameless habit of sleeping in.
On that point, Kabe had nothing to say in his own defense.
Last night he had stayed up way too late watching Macao and the others drinking and playing cards. If Gray had not dragged him back by force, he would probably still be in bed right now.
Suddenly, Kabe rubbed his chin very seriously.
'Why do I feel like my self-control is worse than that of a ten-year-old kid...'
Finally realizing that, he could not help sinking into thought.
While Gray grumbled and Kabe reflected on himself, a small group of three walked over, led by a blue haired girl, with one black haired and one orange haired boy following behind her.
"Hey, Kana-chan, Erza-chan, and Gray, do you want to come play with us today?"
Hearing the voice, Cana brightened and waved.
"Levy, are you guys playing house again today? This time we are using my script, okay?"
The blue haired girl, Levy, nodded happily and agreed at once.
"Sure. Erza, Gray, do you want to come too?"
"I, um... I will come," Erza said, a little shy, but she still nodded in the end.
Gray just turned his head away bluntly and said he had zero interest in playing house.
The three girls clearly had not expected him to say yes anyway, so they immediately started chattering among themselves, excitedly discussing today's "story script."
None of them noticed that Kabe was staring at Levy with wide eyes, a head full of question marks.
'Levy?! Why is she here already? Did she really join in this early? That can't be right. I did not see her at the guild yesterday at all. She was supposed to be one of the later kids to join compared to others her age.'
Just as he was getting nowhere and wondering how a little butterfly like him could have flapped its wings for only one day and already caused such a big "storm," one of the boys behind Levy suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, you, spiky head, why are you staring at our Levy like that!"
The moment he said it, all eyes turned toward Kabe. Cana, Levy, Erza, everyone looked over.
The boy who spoke and his companion glared at Kabe as if he would charge in and throw hands the second Kabe dared nod and admit it.
Kabe did not pay much attention to the two jealous guard dogs. Since he could not figure it out, he simply stood up and asked Cana directly,
"Cana, are these three guildmates too? Why didn't I see them at the guild yesterday?"
"Nope," Cana replied with a smile, shaking her head before explaining.
"Levy, Jet, and Droy are all locals from Magnolia. Just like us, they come to the church school every day for lessons."
As she spoke, Cana turned and took the initiative to introduce him.
"He is Kabe, a newbie who joined our guild yesterday. He is really strong. He beat Gray as soon as he arrived and even awakened a really powerful magic."
"Hey, what do you mean, beat me? I did not use magic yesterday!" Gray protested loudly, scrambling to defend his pride.
Levy acted like she had not heard him. Her eyes went wide with surprise.
"Wow, amazing, you even beat Gray, the strongest boy in the school. Nice to meet you, I am Levy McGarden. I am not a member of Fairy Tail yet, but joining Fairy Tail is my dream too."
She held out her small hand like a little grown-up.
Under the death stares of the two would-be guardians, Kabe calmly took her hand and gave it a light shake.
"I am Kabe. No family name. Current appointed Fairy Tail mascot."
"Mascot? Who introduces themselves like that, you are funny."
Levy giggled, covering her mouth.
Seeing their goddess laughing and chatting with Kabe so quickly, Jet and Droy felt a huge surge of crisis. The hostility in their eyes only grew stronger.
Thankfully, what eased their hearts a little was that when Levy invited Kabe to join them in playing house, he refused just as firmly.
So the seven of them split up in front of the church.
Cana and Erza went off with Levy's trio to play house. Kabe and Gray, by silent agreement, chose to head back to the guild.
...
Imitating what he had seen from Makarov yesterday, Kabe walked up and slammed a heavy kick into the guild doors.
Under the gaze of the members who had not gone out on jobs, he swaggered straight up to the bar and threw both arms high.
"Quiet, all of you washed up uncles who do nothing but drink and play cards instead of working properly. Anyone here who is willing to give up your current boring, empty life and spare a little time to train me, the future number one genius of the entire Ishgar continent!"