Chapter 54

8Island


Shô


It's been a few days since I officially joined Fairy Tail. I figured I might as well join since there wasn't much else for me to do anyways. I was technically on probation by the magic council, so given enough time I would be allowed to use my magic again and take on missions. In the meantime, though, along with Erza, I was tasked with manning the guild bar.

"Shô, Erza!" Master Makarov called out to us, "I have a job for you!"

Erza and I perked up and gave the Master our undivided attention. Unfortunately, it also drew the attention of Siegrain. It's not that I dislike the guy, but he can be overbearing towards us, especially Erza.

"Master Makarov, need I remind you that they can't go on missions?"

Master shook his head with a knowing smile, "They can't use magic, the order said nothing about missions."

Siegrain fell silent and I couldn't help but smirk.

"This mission won't require that they use magic anyways. Of course, if you still aren't sure, you can accompany them?"

"What exactly is this mission?

"Yajima has opened up a restaurant in Hargeon. He asked me to send some mages to help staff them from time-to-time. He specifically requested Erza and Shô actually."

Siegrain thought for a moment before replying, "If Yajima will be keeping an eye on them, I don't see any reason for me to accompany them. I don't need to be babysitting them 24/7."

I hid my glee. I was very happy to not have to deal with Siegrain. It would just be me and Sis working this job.

"If that's the case, when should we be headed out?" Erza asked.

"Whenever you're ready."

"Who'll take care of the bar?"

"I can get Mira and Lisanna to take care of it while you're gone."

Erza bowed to the Master and I followed suit. We thanked him and headed out.


After about an hour commute by train, we arrived at the 8Island restaurant. An old man with a chef's hat was waiting outside the restaurant for us, along with someone I was least expecting: Laxus Dreyar.

"Good, you're all here!" the old man exclaimed.

"Master Yajima." Erza said, bowing to him.

"Master Yajima." I repeated.

"Just Yajima will do!" he said, "Now come in!"

Erza, Laxus, and I followed Yajima into the restaurant and he threw us our uniforms. He sat down in a booth and motioned for us to follow suit. Laxus sat next to Yajima while Erza and I sat opposite of them.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? Firstly, thank you all of you for accepting my request."

I was about to say "you're welcome", but Erza piped up first.

"No, thank you."

Yajima gave her a warm smile and continued, "Now, as for your assignments: Erza, you will be on waitress duty; Shô, I want you on as host; and Laxus, you're on bus boy duty."

"What!?" Laxus snapped at the older man.

"You heard me." Yajima didn't so much as flinch, "Now go get changed, and then I'll give you your training!"

We headed back to the rest rooms and got changed. I kept my distance from Laxus, I had heard from just about everyone at Fairy Tail how powerful he was. Given what I knew about Erza, I didn't want to start anything with someone regarded as her equal. We headed back out and received our training from Yajima.

Being host was not a very difficult job for me. People came in, and I seated them. I coordinated with the other waiters/waitresses to make sure everyone had a fair share of customers. Erza wasn't the only person waiting on tables. She seemed to be handling it well though. Laxus on the other hand was none too thrilled to be working what he described as, "an unbecoming job".

"Hey, we got the hot one." I heard one of the male patrons say after Erza greeted herself and took their drink order.

"Should try and get her number." Another one suggested.

I glanced over at the table and took note of its inhabitants. They were relatively young men, about my age, and looked a little rowdy. I was sure Erza would be able to handle them just fine though.

I continued working in peace until a few minutes later, I heard a girlish yelp. I quickly turned in the direction of the sound and caught one of the rowdy men's hands up Erza's skirt! He retracted it quickly and shared a laugh at Erza's expense. Erza quickly ran away from them with a deep red blush plastered on her face.

I stopped her as she passed me, "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing."

"He just…grabbed my butt." She whispered embarrassingly, "Don't worry, I can handle it. He just…caught me off guard."

I narrowed my eyes skeptically. Erza was strong and I had no doubt that she could handle this. But ever since the Tower of Heaven, she's felt…off. Natsu had noticed it too. Erza doesn't seem like herself, so I was worried maybe she wouldn't be able to handle this on her own.

Regardless, against my better judgement, I did not engage those men. I had a feeling I should have, and I was right.

"Excuse me, could I please get a refill." One of the men asked of Erza.

"Yes, of course!"

Erza leaned over to take the glass from the man, who promptly dumped the contents of the glass onto her uniform. The glass was clearly nowhere near empty and soaked into her uniform. Erza jumped back in surprise. The liquid seeped into her uniform, causing it to stick tightly to her body. The men threw lusty gazes upon her, which greatly angering me. I was just beginning to walk over to them, when to my surprise, Laxus stepped in!

"Is there a problem here?" Laxus said, in a rather loud voice.

"What?" The men replied, still sporting cheeky grins.

I stopped cold in my tracks. The glare wasn't even directed at me, and I was still left shaken. Laxus gave these men the most horrifying death glare I had ever seen. I don't think I have ever seen even the likes of Jellal produce something this terrifying. That got through to those men though.

"N-nothing's wrong."

"Oh really, then do you mind explaining why you threw your drink at her?" Laxus leaned in closer to the group and sparks of lightning began to radiate off of him.

"I uh…" The men looked at each other and jumped out of their booth. They ran towards the exit, but I swiftly jumped in front of them.

"Dine n' dash, eh?" I said to them with the creepiest smile I could muster.

"Uh…" the men looked back at Laxus, who was still glaring at them, "No."

"Then I suggest you head back to your booth and wait for the bill?"

The men did as I said and carefully walked back to their table. They asked for their bill, which was delivered by Laxus. They got out of the restaurant as soon as they possibly could.

The rest of our shift went by without incident and soon it was time to close up.

"Erza, I am so sorry about what happened." Yajima said.

"Hopefully, they learned their lesson." Erza replied, "And thank you, Laxus."

Laxus rolled his eyes at her and walked away.

"Not much of a talker, is he?" Yajima asked.

"He…doesn't approve of me being in Fairy Tail."

"Well, it's not his choice. If Makky thinks there's still hope for you, he won't give up on you, nor will he kick you out."

"And yet he was kicked out…" Erza said remorsefully.

"But he hasn't given up on him yet." Yajima reminded her, "He may have endangered the guild, but he's still a good man."

"But I endangered the guild too." Erza argued.

Yajima shook his head in disagreement, "Yet you couldn't bring yourself to go all out against your guild-mates. I saw the reports."

I could tell by the look in Erza's eyes that she was still conflicted. I didn't really have a good measure of the difference in power between Erza and Natsu, but from what I heard, she was in a completely different league from him. The fact that Natsu bested her in combat would support the claim that she didn't go all out. Not to mention nobody, except Jellal, was ever really on board with the whole revive Zeref operation.

"It was Jellal's fault anyways." I reminded her, "He had us wrapped around his finger."

Yajima nodded in agreement, "Well, anyways, you two are always welcome to come back!"

"Thank you, Yajima!" I said with a bow.

Yajima gave us a thumbs up and a hearty smile before sending us on our way.


Laxus


I walked down the street towards my apartment. Despite being thrown out, gramps still helped me out. He helped get me a job and a place to stay. I wanted to deny him helping me, but I really did need all the help I could get.

"So, how was work?" came a male voice.

I stopped in my tracks. I wasn't intimidated at all by the person behind me. I had met with him a few times since being kicked out of the guild.

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know how work was."

I rolled my eyes, "That traitor Erza and her fake brother Shô showed up."

"And, how are they?"

"Tsk, looks like Erza lost all her confidence. Can't even stand up for herself anymore."

Although I didn't turn around, I knew the man behind me was smirking.

"So, one of Fairy Tail's best lost her confidence?"

"She can't use magic legally either." I informed him.

"Poor Fairy Tail." The man said in a mocking tone, "First you, and now her. Soon they won't have any S-Class!"

The man began to laugh behind me, much to my annoyance.

"Is that it?"

The man ceased his laughing and recomposed himself, "I guess so."

"Then I'm going."

I began to walk away when the man said one last thing, "I'll be contacting you again, son."


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