15 Hours Earlier
"Sting-kun!" Lector shook his best friend, who rolled over in bed. "Sting-kun, get up!" The Exceed hissed as quietly as he could. "You said today's the day!"
"...five more minutes…" Sting mumbled.
"That's what you said five minutes ago! Ten and twenty, too!" Lector huffed impatiently. "He's going to wake up soon!"
"What?" The young master of Saber Tooth sat up in bed squinting and cursing the lack of sunlight. Sure, as the guild master he had to wake up early to fulfill some obligations before everyone started waking up or coming in. But that didn't mean Sting woke up everyday right before the butt-crack of dawn, when hardly anybody sane would be remotely awake!
Despite the unholy hour Sting woke up to, now wasn't the time to fall back into his bed's warm embrace. He had a plan to carry out and only a limited window of time to do it. And with the first light of the sun creeping in, that window was starting to become too narrow for comfort.
"You got the camera, Lector?" Sting asked as he ran to his closet, where his outfit was already laid out for a quick change.
Lector flew over to the closet holding a camera by the strap. "Got it, Sting-kun!"
"Enough film on the roll?"
"I got a new roll for good measure!"
"Nice!" Sting shoved the curtain aside as he fixed his outfit. "Then let's—"
"You forgot your wallet!" Lector cried just before Sting put a hand on the doorknob.
"Thanks, Lector!" Sting rushed back to his nightstand, where his wallet would have sat to make Sting look like a broke fool first thing in the morning. "Wallet?"
"Check."
"Camera?"
"Check."
"Time?"
"Right pocket." Sting immediately dug through his right pants pocket for the watch Lector stashed in there.
"Any minute now, Lector!" The two hurried out of their dorm and locked it. Once Sting had that done, he tiptoed over to one of the eleven doors on the top floor where the top ten mages resided. Sting listened carefully for any sounds from the occupant inside.
Finally Sting heard the sound of a blanket being pushed aside along with a yawn. The White Dragon Slayer grinned as soon as feet hit the floor. "Let's book it, Lector!"
"I'll take us down!" Sting caught the camera while Lector activated his wings and grabbed onto Sting's back. Together the two flew past the lower levels of the guild, which Jiemma had built back then to keep all of Saber Tooth's mages under his watch. Ever since Sting took over, everyone got to choose whether they wanted to keep living inside or take up residence outside. That choice was good and all, but it did nothing to change the fact that there were too many floors to begin with!
As soon as they reached the ground floor, Lector let go of Sting, who went for the stack of job requests he had stashed under the bar last night. "Help me with the jobs, Lector?"
"I'm on it, Sting-kun!" Lector flew over with a cup of coffee right as the doors opened for Yukino to come in.
"Morning, Yukino!" Sting greeted while Lector set the coffee down for him before flying to the request board to put the jobs up.
"Sting-sama! You're up early!" Yukino cried in surprise.
"Am I seeing things?" A new voice rang from the top of the stairs. "Or is our master actually up with the sun for a change?"
Sting had to tone down the wide grin on his face when he heard the voice before he turned around to see the only other person who woke up at this hour. "Morning to you too, Dobengal!"
"I'd ask what the occasion is, but this makes my morning easier," the ninja said, walking over to the request board. As soon as he found one that caught his interest, he turned around to show Sting the request he picked out. "I'll head out with your approval, Sting."
"You're not going wait for breakfast?" Yukino asked.
"I'll grab something to eat on my way."
Sting raised a doubtful eyebrow. The Dragon Slayer had learned a few things about the ninja from several days of observation, like what time he woke up to how often he came back to the guild late at night. But this one was the real kicker. "Now how many times have I heard that before?"
"Sting?"
"Right before you leave every day, you never smell like you had anything to eat, Dobengal," Sting continued, staring down the ninja while Yukino looked worriedly between the two. "And every time, you give that same excuse."
Dobengal looked off to the side while his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "That's nothing for you to worry about, Sting," he rebuffed.
"Isn't it?" Sting chided, approaching the ninja to pluck the job request out of his grasp. "Then why don't we talk about your eating habits over crepes, Dobenii?"
"What—?" Sting grabbed Dobengal by the arm and dragged him out of the guild. "Sting, what are you doing?"
"Getting you a decent breakfast! Otherwise I'm not gonna let you go on a job!"
"Well this is new. The guild master is treating me to breakfast?" Dobengal looked up as though he expected something to fall from the sky. "What's next, rain?" he guessed.
It just so happened that a rain cloud appeared overhead and started pouring down specifically on the ninja. Thunder roared as rain turned to hail and buried the man in ice pellets. "Lector, we got him!" Sting cheered, waving to his friend in the bushes.
"Well, Sting?" The White Dragon Slayer was pulled out of his imagination by Dobengal, who looked at him expectantly and jerked his head towards the crepe stand girl. Sting realized it was his turn to order a crepe for himself. Once that was done, they were left to wait as the smell of the thin pancakes wafted through the air. "This stand always has a line whenever I pass by," Dobengal admitted.
"Lucky for us, we beat the crowd," Sting said, quickly glancing at the bushes, where Lector had hidden himself with the camera.
The shop girl returned to the front of the booth with their crepes. As soon as Dobengal grabbed his, the crepe promptly exploded and left his clothes in an absolute mess. "Lector, we got him!" Sting called.
"Sting?" Fingers snapped in front of his eyes, causing Sting to startle and look up. The crepe stand girl and Dobengal stared at him, each holding a crepe. As Sting reached for his own, he silently thanked whatever power at work that the ninja hadn't eaten his already. "So this must be why you don't wake up early," Dobengal noted dryly.
"Stuff a crepe in it, Dobengal," Sting retorted, biting into his. The ninja shrugged nonchalantly and put a finger under his mask, preparing to lower it. Sting tried not to look too obvious as he stared sideways at the man.
Without warning, all Sting could hear were the sounds of yelling and rolling wheels. Keeping one eye on Dobengal, Sting looked towards the source of the sound, only to jolt in horror as a wagon hurtled towards them. Stuffing the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, Sting sprang into action and threw himself against the wagon, digging his boots into the road in an effort to slow down the carriage. Sting felt his boot touch the front of the crepe stand as the wagon came to a halt.
"Thanks for breakfast, Sting," said a voice to his right. Much to Sting's shock, Dobengal's mask was on and the crepe was gone, replaced by a handkerchief that he used to wipe his mouth. "Now about your end of the bargain."
"Wait a minute—you were eating while I stopped the wagon on my own?!" Sting screamed.
"Orga was on the other side helping you," Dobengal defended, unfolding a familiar flyer that had Sting's hands immediately fly towards the pocket where he'd kept it.
On cue, Orga poked his head out from the other side of the carriage. "You guys all right?"
Sting shook in anger as Dobengal walked away from the scene, blissfully ignorant of all the planning Sting put into this very morning. "...you mind telling me what the hell happened, Orga buddy?"
"I just leaned against the wagon when I got back into town," Orga explained, coming around to join Sting. "One minute it's rolling down the road and the next thing I know, you and the crepe stand showed up out of nowhere!"
Sting stomped the heel of his boot onto Orga's foot, making the larger man yell in pain. "Damn it, Orga! I had him! I had him! I was going to be the first to see the ninja's freaking face and you ruined it!" Sting screamed.
"Sting-kun!"
"How was I supposed to know that of all the days you got your ass up early for once, you were going to unmask the midget?!"
"Guys, look!" Lector interrupted, pointing to the crepe stand. Sting and Orga ceased bickering and looked at the stand. The girl who ran it had was flushed pink as she leaned out of the stand to stare after the ninja in the distance, eventually falling out of the stand. Before any of them could offer help, she stood back up and sighed as hearts replaced her eyes.
Sting, Lector, and Orga stared dumbstruck after Dobengal, then at the shop girl before they finally looked at each other. "Okay—now I'm really curious!" The three declared.
Present
"And that's the reason for the blackboard you're seeing," Lector sighed sadly.
"It was all because of Orga!" Sting yelled.
"It does seem that I have no memories of Dobengal with his mask removed," Rufus noted as Orga and Sting fought in the background. "But surely you must have some kind of photographic evidence. I recall that you had a camera for this plan."
Lector slumped in shame as he handed Rufus a brown envelope he produced from his vest. "I really tried," Lector mumbled as Minerva and Rogue—joined by Frosch at his shoulder—gathered around the Memory-Make wizard to examine the photos together.
The first picture was taken as Sting and Dobengal received their crepes that morning. The second seemed to show the moment Sting noticed the wagon Orga unwittingly rolled in their direction, given by his panicked expression while the ninja had a finger under his mask as he prepared to lower it to eat. Unfortunately the third picture was the result of Lector trying to find a better angle after his original position was compromised: an overhead shot of the crepe stand where Dobengal remained while Sting had to stop the wagon from destroying the booth,
The wizards of Saber Tooth raised their eyebrows in unison at the next picture, which showed Dobengal with his mask on and a handkerchief in hand while the shop girl had a noticeable blush on her face. The last picture wouldn't have been significant if not for the shop girl leaning out of the booth with hearts in her eyes. "Are you sure the girl wasn't infatuated by 'The Great Sting' saving her from a runaway wagon?" Minerva asked.
"No," Orga grunted, standing up while Sting tried to choke him with his legs crossed around the Lightning God Slayer's neck. "We definitely saw the shop girl making goo-goo eyes at Dobengal as he left."
"'Apparently hot' indeed," Rogue remarked with a glance at the third statement Sting had written in large jagged letters. "You seem to have made good progress, Sting. Don't let me stop you."
This made Sting release his hold on Orga's neck and fall off the man's shoulders in shock. "What?!" Sting exclaimed as he pulled himself up.
"Fro agrees!" Frosch followed after Rogue as they began to return to their dorm.
"Come on, Rogue! You're supposed to have my back!" Sting cried. "Don't you wanna know if the guy has a scar under there?"
At this Rogue stopped mid-step while Rufus and Minerva considered the possibility. "Too obvious," Minerva drawled.
"It's regrettable but a scar hardly has any originality," Rufus agreed.
"Fro thinks so too!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Is a scar not a good enough reason?" Sting challenged. "Then what do you prefer? Freckles?"
Rogue's ears twitched as he slowly turned to look at Sting, eyes widened by curiosity. Rufus held his chin thoughtfully while Orga looked like he was inwardly laughing at whatever mental image he produced. Even Minerva looked intrigued and it was enough to make one of Sting's eyebrows twitch. "Really? All I needed to say was that he might have freckles?" he sneered.
"A scar is too predictable," Minerva said, "but freckles are simple enough that one wouldn't even look twice for them."
"I must say that the possibility is what makes the mystery," Rufus noted. "Though a well-planned strategy will be needed for this endeavor."
"..." It started as a small laugh before Sting cackled madly, surprising the wizards in the commons. "You think I tailed the guy and woke up at dawn for days all for one plan? You think all I had was one trick in my gloves? Of course not, Rufus. I've got way more planned to get that mask!"
"After your first attempt, we can already tell that they'll clearly work out," Minerva dismissed.
"Like you guys already have something planned!" Sting barked. "You weren't even interested in the ninja's face until a minute ago!"
"That may be, but you certainly piqued our interest," Rufus pointed out. "Joining forces will grant us a better chance of success."
"...If we do it all together, the midget will know what we're up to," Orga finally said. "Whatever we do, it's gotta be one person at a time."
"Fro thinks so too!"
"So what's the plan now, Sting?" Rogue asked.
"My next plan? It's very simple." Sting rubbed his hands together as he turned to the others with a mischievous glint to his eyes. "You're going to tail him, Rogue."
