"What's this? Gray's sleeping again?"

At night, the guild was noisy and bustling as usual. Looking around, one would have expected Gray to be joining in on the commotion as he often did, but instead the ice mage was fast asleep with his head over his arms on one of the tables.

Sitting beside him was Cana, and apparently they had been drinking together. The brown-haired mage poked Gray gently in the head, making a sound of dissatisfaction when there was no response at all.

"I leave you for a second to get a refill and this is what happens, huh? C'mon Gray, wake up. I haven't even gotten drunk yet."

"Heh, that's weird. Did you slip him something extra strong?"

Across the table from Cana sat Elfman, who glanced curiously at Gray's sleeping profile. As far as he could tell from the other mage's relaxed expression, Gray seemed to be sleeping fairly deeply, if he wasn't being roused by the racket in the building.

There was no doubt that the guild's number one heaviest drinker was Cana, but Gray was nothing to laugh at either on the occasions he felt up to it. Many times, the only one who could keep up with Cana to the end was Gray.

Although, Elfman had never seen Gray drunk under the table to the point that he would fall asleep.

Cana snorted. "What do you take me for? I didn't, by the way. He's probably just tired. Everyone's been busy lately, but that's the usual thing around here." She smiled wryly, raising an eyebrow. "I just got back yesterday after a week's outing, myself."

"…You're a monster." Grinning somewhat stiffly, Elfman's face involuntarily twitched, trying not to imagine what Cana's idea of an 'outing' was.

"Well, I can't really help it now, can I? I'm not about to go chasing after this bunch of guys." Cana winked suddenly, leaning in closer. "Or, how about it, hm? You, me, let's go out."

"N-no way. That's not a man."

"Relax, I'm just kidding."

Hurriedly trying to change the topic, Elfman blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "But recently, I don't think I've seen Gray take a job. Did he get written up for breaking something?"

"Nah, that's more Natsu's style. One of him running around's more than enough. …No, I think Gray's just going through a bit of a tough spot right now."

"Hm?"

Suddenly, although lightly, there was the feeling that the atmosphere had changed somehow, and Elfman allowed himself to blink in confusion.

Cana poked Gray's cheek again. One way or another, there was somewhat of a gently compassionate look in her eyes, even though it was much unlike her usual teasing self. But still, the look seemed to suit her in a way.

Come to think of it, these two go way back, don't they? Elfman suddenly recalled the several times he had seen a similar expression on Cana's face when she turned to Gray, or when Gray turned to her.

Being the first two veterans of the current generation of the guild, Cana and Gray had always seemed to share a special sort of relationship. It was difficult to put into words.

'Romantic' was simultaneously not enough and yet too much to describe it. There was a deep sort of understanding between the two of them that simply could not be defined. Erza had once called it something like the connection between twins, but even that was inadequate.

"…What sort of tough spot are you talking about, Cana?"

"Mm, it's just a feeling."

From her vague words, Elfman gathered that she was not talking about the fortune-telling she often did with her cards.

"But, you can bet on it. I think he'll have enough on his plate for a while."

"Eh? How do you know?"

The answer was something he still dared listen to back then, knowing what he knew now.

Still lightly prodding Gray, Cana soon let her hand drift smoothly up to run through Gray's hair, over and over again. The beast Take-Over mage could not help but feel as if he was intruding on something strangely intimate.

The card mage laughed quietly at his question, and Elfman wondered why her smile seemed just a little lonely.

"…Call it a woman's intuition."

Cana's divinations with her cards had always been uncannily accurate.

Yet what she called 'woman's intuition' was far sharper than even that.

Later on, that was what Elfman thought.

.

.

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premonition of goodbyes.