Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 3: Genuine News & Good Impersonations
Narrator POV
Sting ran with Lucy and Risa all the way from the forest to Kogane Town, which appeared to be a large place where the streets were paved in light brown bricks, and the white dragon slayer started to nicely smile at Lucy from how she seemed impressed by how the roads of this town were made with average-sized bricks. As Sting and Risa entered the town with their new friend, Lucy also got to see how the houses and stores were mostly all in different shades of gold while they seemed to be tall or of average height with yellow roofs. Some of the houses and shops in this town also had yellow gable roofs with visible glass windows to display how they were two-story buildings, and making new houses be created while giving them little upgrades was quite a cute idea that some of the new townspeople wanted for their houses.
Lucy took notice of how only a few people had green plants outside of their houses or stores, which was a nice contrast from Tokiwa Town, and her orange eyes got to see a circular fountain of beautifully flowing blue water be in the center of what appeared to just be a square-shaped plaza paved from gold-colored bricks. Lucy took some steps towards the fountain, feeling glad that she got to see the water that came from the fountain's uppermost level in small amounts to make water fall like several small drops of rain into the lowest level, but getting closer and glancing down at all the water in the fountain made Lucy's lips slowly change from making a smile to letting a frown appear on her face.
Sting and Risa went towards the fountain to see Lucy sadly looking down at her reflection in the water, her fists starting to clench tightly from the fact that Kotomi made her have the appearance of a dark mage, and her new friends could tell that Lucy wanted to get back in her own body as soon as possible. Lucy really wished that her teammates from Fairy Tail hadn't just assumed that everything was fine enough to where they didn't even have to look for the body of Kotomi Takeuchi, but the thief probably dropped the artifact that Team Natsu needed to put back in the museum.
Since the team got that job completed, they had no reason to turn their attention to the forest at all. Lucy sighed sadly as she could understand that Natsu was always wanting to get back on the train as fast as possible, and he probably wanted to be in Magnolia again without having to worry about any enemies showing up to attack the team. However, the simple fact that Lucy didn't actually make it home with the rest of the team made her try to have some hope that Natsu and others could be informed of this situation immediately. As Lucy started walking away from the fountain, Sting lightly cleared his throat.
"It's not extremely late right now, so Rogue should still be keeping the Sabertooth guild open for me. I'll take you there Lucy, and we'll tell Natsu about what happened." Sting told her with a calm facial expression, smiling a bit.
Lucy excitedly asked him while quickly turning around, her face looking quite surprised, "You'll give Natsu the report of how Kotomi put a horrible spell of Wind Magic on me, Sting? Will you also tell him how I nearly got killed earlier, and how Risa saved me?"
Sting replied with calmness in his blue eyes, starting to smile more, "Yeah, I'll tell Natsu everything. I'll see if the body switching spell can be reversed, too."
Risa added nicely as she gave Lucy a joyful smile, using this opportunity to take the jacket out of the other girl's hands, "Lucy, I'll be thinking of a way to thank you for making me run so far! It's actually a great bit of preparation for having to quickly pick up things at the next fashion sale! Anyway, let's go straight to the Sabertooth guild!"
Risa decided to lead Lucy and Sting to the Sabertooth guild, walking to the path that was on her left, and the pink-haired girl smiled as she felt like giving Lucy a nice tour of the town where most of the Sabertooth wizards resided. Sting watched Risa act like she was going to enter a building that had some sweet pastries displayed in the glass window, showing Lucy that the town had a bakery, and Risa also stepped into a nice-looking clothing store for a few moments to show Lucy that fashion was another important aspect of Kogane.
There were also some nice restaurants that stood across from some houses, such as a restaurant that served delicious ramen noodles with many tasty additions that could be put into the soup, and the awesome smells of the different foods were quite pleasing to the noses of the three mages. Risa continued to walk down the street, before making a left turn to go up a different path that had small shops, and Lucy glanced at how the buildings had their lights off while they appeared to close when nightfall occurred. Lucy glanced back in the direction of where Risa was going, and she got to see that the group finally arrived at the Sabertooth guild. As some moonlight landed in front of the guild to give it a bit of brightness, Lucy started to look quite amazed at the Sabertooth guild's appearance.
The Sabertooth guild's building was in a gold color with light brown bricks bordering the windows of the two-story structure on both sides, and the golden building itself was quite large. The building had a yellow pitched roof with two gable roofs on both sides of it, and all of those roofs had windows that were surrounded by gold frames like the guild was really intending to be a shiny building of royalty. The roof was topped with a gold statue of a saber-toothed cat that appeared to be letting out a powerful roar like how the previous guild master wanted all of the mages to only be powerful winners, and Lucy continued to look awestruck as she walked towards the guild's wooden brown doors that had Sabertooth's insignia painted in a gold color on a light brown ledge that stood above the doorway.
"We're finally back, everyone!" Risa announced to the guild with a confident look on her face, holding up her bag of money and the jacket to display her success.
A black-haired dragon slayer responded in a calm tone, as he got up from a table to go towards Risa while smiling, "Risa, it's nice that you and Sting have finally returned."
Sting got to hear his favorite red Exceed named Lector happily exclaim while standing on a brown table, as his face showed delight, "Sting-kun, you're finally back from the forest!"
Lucy got to calmly see a certain Celestial Spirit Wizard with light blue hair ask Risa and Sting with a soft smile of curiosity on her face, "Risa-sama and Sting-sama, who is the girl that you brought here? Risa-sama, did you excitedly decide to bring back a person as a nice souvenir to show the guild?"
Sting calmly explained to his friend while noticing that she sat at the table with Lector, letting out a soft sigh after he spoke, "Risa helped her out in Tokiwa Town, but I brought her back. You may not believe this, but she's Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail. A woman named Kotomi stole her body and her identity, as well as her keys."
Upon hearing Sting's response, the blue-haired female named Yukino Aguria looked quite shocked before she got up from the table to give Lucy a very comforting hug. Yukino definitely didn't forget about her friend Lucy, as the two Celestial Spirit Wizards worked together to close the Eclipse Gate after seven dragons emerged from it to devastate the large city of Crocus, and Yukino broke the hug for a moment to see that Lucy's eyes were only filled with some happiness from being in a safe place while that particular emotion couldn't completely conceal the feeling of sadness that was also visible in her eyes.
Rogue and Lector were as shocked as Yukino to see that Lucy Heartfilia was here, and the red-eyed dragon slayer recalled that he first saw Lucy being alongside Natsu in Crocus. It didn't seem like Natsu was the type of wizard who let his friends go on jobs alone, especially since he cared about Lucy enough to where he beat Rogue and Sting in the tag-team battle by himself for how most of Team Sabertooth laughed at Lucy during the Naval Battle that occurred on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, so Rogue could only assume that Natsu's team got overwhelmed by their enemy's strength.
Since Lucy was now in the Sabertooth guild while her impostor was spending time with Natsu, Rogue had the same thought as Sting about how it would be very necessary to contact someone from Fairy Tail about this problem. He turned around to go straight into the office of the guild master, which was near the Sabertooth guild's golden request board, and Rogue would gladly get the Communications Lacrima Crystal for Sting. He was very thankful that Fairy Tail's wizards were kind enough to give out their contact info to Sabertooth's mages during the banquet that occurred after the tournament ended, and Rogue sternly narrowed his eyes as he wondered about the other abilities of the woman named Kotomi who was mentioned by Sting.
Rogue didn't take very long with giving Sting the Communications Lacrima Crystal, which appeared to be an orb that was in a sky blue color, and the black-haired male was glad that his best friend always kept that orb on the office's golden desk. Sting chose to put the orb on a table that was near the front doors of the Sabertooth guild, and he lightly tapped it with his left fist for the Communications Lacrima Crystal to begin shining in a light blue color with several light blue thin beams of magical power emanating from it.
The lights started to fade, as a rectangular Lacrima Vision screen appeared in midair for everyone in the guildhall to see that Sting was about to call someone, and Sting started to smile in a confident manner while softly rubbing the orb downward. Everyone started to see the Lacrima Vision screen display pictures of the people who were in Sting's list of contacts, some of them being nice surprises like Kagura Mikazuchi from the guild known as Mermaid Heel, and Sting simply rubbed his hand downward again for everyone to now see a picture of Natsu Dragneel smiling in a happy manner.
That caused Sting to gently tap the sky blue orb, which caused the Lacrima Vision screen to disappear while the orb began to make a cute noise that sounded like a ringtone resembling a classical song on violin being played elegantly, and Sting got to hear the ringing start to repeat itself for about thirty more seconds. He and Lucy were both waiting for Natsu to answer the call, but Sting started to look slightly impatient as Lucy started to look quite anxious. There was the possibility of Kotomi taking Natsu out to a bar for the purpose of getting him very drunk, and Lucy doubted that her friend would answer the call if he drank too much booze.
Lucy closed her eyes for a moment while wondering if Natsu went out to drink away the troubling thought of how he wasn't capable of defeating Kotomi or weakening her enough to where Erza could deliver the finishing blow, since returning the museum's beautiful artifact intact with the contrasting image of the town being horribly damaged from a battle where the enemy presumably fled would make anyone view that victory as being bittersweet. In fact, it would be like a delicious dessert that appeared to be sweet on the outer layer before the inside was extremely bitter. Lucy soon heard the blue orb stop ringing, and Natsu's face appeared in the orb with a gleeful expression as he was apparently in a bakery with the other members of Team Natsu while sitting down at a table in the shop that had a pink tiled floor with vanilla white tiled walls.
"Hey, Sting! Sorry for taking so long, but I'm eating some cherry cake! Anyway, why are you calling me?" Natsu told the light dragon slayer with a happy smile on his face, before looking very curious about this call.
Sting explained calmly, frowning a bit as he folded his arms, "Natsu, I have something to report to you and the Fairy Tail guild. Earlier this evening, my newest rookie had to save your friend Lucy Heartfilia from hostile people in Tokiwa Town. Apparently, a girl named Kotomi used a spell to switch bodies with her."
Natsu asked Sting in a puzzled manner and calmly stated more info while blinking his eyes, rubbing the Communications Lacrima Crystal with one hand to increase its volume before motioning for 'Lucy' to check this out, "Sting, what are you talking about? When I woke up after that fight, Lucy was standing over me and she even handed that emerald stone back to the museum's curator. She even went back to Magnolia with me, and I gave her extra money from my share for her rent after she stopped by the guild. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, Sting."
Lucy got to see her impostor's face start to appear in the crystal, and Kotomi stated with a look of some shock before seeming uncomfortable, "Natsu, I have no idea what your friend is talking about! That horrible girl with the Wind Magic is still alive, and I'm hoping she won't try to kill us again! That manipulative person is just being deceitful as a way to get back at me for beating her."
Kotomi's response to the situation caused Lucy to roll her eyes in a rude manner, as she could clearly tell that her evil enemy was putting on an act, and the way how Kotomi seemed to latch on to Natsu's arm in a somewhat scared manner caused the real Lucy to start frowning. She really hoped that Natsu wasn't going to fall for Kotomi's fake attitude of being worried, and Lucy was restraining herself from screaming at the sadistic thief. Getting too aggressive would probably make Team Natsu perceive that anger as being threatening towards who they thought was the real Lucy, but being too sad in her honest pleas could make Team Natsu be confused on who to believe.
Lucy watched Natsu pass the orb to Erza, who noticed that the green-haired girl standing next to Sting didn't have a single scratch on her body, and the scarlet-haired mage had a few feelings of doubt in her brown eyes. She looked at 'Lucy', who thankfully didn't have any marks on her body, and Kotomi's body seeming healed made Erza curiously look at the orb as she gathered her thoughts. If the real Lucy was somehow in someone else's body, then she would've probably been startled if Kotomi had any fellow mages hiding in the forest to heal her up. However, Sting never mentioned that any of Kotomi's accomplices were in that forest. Therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise if Kotomi had sneaky partners who helped her heal up after Lucy was determined to win. From Erza's perspective, Lucy also didn't act strange at all.
Gray proceeded to sit down next to Erza at the bakery's pink round table, and the sight of Sting's face in the blue orb appearing next to who Gray presumed to truly be Kotomi Takeuchi only made the ice-creating wizard widen his dark blue eyes in shock. He had heard Natsu's conversation with Sting, but Gray himself couldn't believe that Kotomi was still alive. He thought that Lucy would've used Gemini to activate the powerful spell known as Urano Metria, since that attack could probably leave an entire battlefield in broken ruins, but the situation looked as if Kotomi escaped the chance to be restrained in Tokiwa Town for the Rune Knights to take her away. Gray simply narrowed his eyes at the orb, looking fierce as he wouldn't forget how Kotomi confounded him throughout today's fight.
"If we're supposed to believe that you're the real Lucy, then here's a question. If you summoned Aries, did you use all that wool to stop her feet before possibly using Gemini to activate Urano Metria?" Gray calmly said, before sternly asking the question to see which person was aware of a certain trick.
The real Lucy responded to Gray's question in a calm manner, flashing back to how she fought by herself, "Gray, I couldn't do that on a street with you all being injured. Even if I stopped her feet, that girl fired wind from her mouth! If I didn't try putting up a Wool Wall and you guys or any innocent people got hurt, then I'd be no better than Kotomi."
Kotomi replied to Gray's question with a look of nervousness feigned on her face, trying to keep up her act as she made her cocoa brown eyes seem to be filled with compassion, "I used Aries to shield all of you, Gray, but that criminal broke through the wall with her destructive winds. When she suddenly got in front of me, I panicked and I tripped her to stop her from moving as fast. That allowed me to catch her off guard, and I had to improvise with a better strategy than the one you're suggesting in the heat of that moment. When she tripped, the Emerald Star fell out of her shorts and I was glad to get it back before punching her so many times to hopefully knock her out. I just really wanted to protect my friends and get the money, Gray. I'm truly Lucy Heartfilia. Please believe me..."
Gray looked at the orb with sternness in his eyes, before kindly turning his attention to the blonde-haired wizard who sat across from him, "Lucy, you're very emotional sometimes. However, I'm glad you were able to act a bit rationally before thinking too much when all of our plans seemed to be getting torn through. Lucy, it's cool how you took a risk by using your feet in a panic to make her fast-moving feet get slowed enough for a counterattack."
Natsu said while comically thinking that whole scenario through, imagining that Kotomi was sent flying into the forest instead, "Yeah... Makes sense to me."
Gray told the real Lucy with a serious look on his face, viewing the confusion to be cleared up, "Kotomi, getting tripped up is what you deserve for thinking that you could make us look stupid with that speedy spell forever. Go back to Moon Rainbow, and stop playing the victim. Lucy needs her rent money, and you need to leave our friend alone."
Sting and Lucy, as well as Yukino and Rogue, looked stunned to see Gray touch Natsu's orb gently to end the call. Sting sighed in a frustrated manner from how that call did not go as he expected, since the members of Team Natsu chose to believe Lucy's impostor, and he turned to frown at Lucy while wondering why she didn't say more to prove that this was genuine news for Fairy Tail. He watched Lucy's eyes show some sadness and regret, almost like she was thinking that she didn't seem as emotional as Kotomi, and Lucy started to turn away from the table to look at Sabertooth's front doors. Sting may have been a little upset at her, but Lucy was more upset at herself.
Since Team Natsu seemed to believe Kotomi's words, a frown appeared on Lucy's face while thinking that there was no way for her to ever get her body back from that thieving girl. Lucy's eyes were filled with some sadness from how she not only lost her body and her identity, but she no longer had her closest group of friends. In addition to those misfortunes, Lucy realized that she also lost her nice apartment to a woman who probably felt glad that her deceitful act proved to be a success. Lucy now had no place to stay, and she walked towards the guild's front doors. Some towns had places where homeless mages could stay, and Lucy would probably just have to deal with that type of life.
As Lucy was taking more steps to get herself out of the Sabertooth guild, she gasped in a surprised manner from seeing Risa suddenly drop her money and jacket to get in front of her while stretching her arms out on both sides like she was making herself be a wall that Lucy would have to get past if she wanted to be out on the street with no place to go. Risa gave Lucy a calm look while her eyes showed intense determination to not let Lucy leave, and she would stand in Lucy's way for the rest of the night if that's what it would take to keep Lucy around. As Risa frowned at her sad friend, her eyes briefly turned to Sting. He noticed her gaze, and Risa's interactions with Lucy from earlier were what helped her intend on helping Lucy now. After all, the fashionable rookie did have to properly thank Lucy for giving back her sunglasses and allowing her to experience her very first battle as a mage. From Risa's perspective, she needed to repay her new friend's kindness with something just as good.
Risa's POV
I went back to frowning at Lucy while thinking about how I couldn't just let my new friend leave without showing her any kind of appreciation, and my eyes began to be filled with amazement from realizing something that I would be able to show her my gratitude in a very nice way. Lucy seemed like she was walking out of the awesome Sabertooth guild because of how that girl who stole her body had also stolen her friends and her residence, but I refused to allow Lucy to follow her idea of thinking that her life was truly over.
Lucy's life was not over, and she continued to look at me in a surprised manner while I stood in front of her like a powerful statue. That thief may have taken away everything that Lucy loved in her life as a Fairy Tail wizard, but it was pretty obvious that she could start over as a Sabertooth wizard. Even if Lucy was going to be doing jobs as a mage of Sabertooth, she wouldn't have to worry about needing a new place where she could happily live. In fact, I felt satisfied at the fact that I could help her deal with that particular dilemma.
My eyes took notice of how Lucy started to look very curious at how I was smiling in a confident manner, and I would be glad to help her try to bounce back from such a harsh loss. If Lucy's friends from that guild were going to believe that impostor and take back the real Lucy from our guild, then we would just have take in the actual Lucy Heartfilia as a Sabertooth mage. Making Lucy become a member of our guild was a very fair consequence, especially since people from Sabertooth were the ones who allowed her to be safe from harm today.
From my point of view, Lucy didn't need to be in Fairy Tail with people who would believe someone that behaved in a way that really seemed overly dramatic. Even if Lucy Heartfilia normally cried about some incidents, Sting was not lying when he made that call on the Communications Lacrima Crystal and the green-haired girl claiming to be the real Lucy also seemed to be a good person. She was just unfortunately having to deal with someone who made good impersonations that fooled the rest of Lucy's team, and they probably wouldn't even notice if Lucy's impostor asked them to walk back with her to her residence in Magnolia. Therefore, Lucy needed a new start with Sabertooth and a new place to stay.
"Lucy, you can get your body back. Somehow, that can eventually happen. In the meantime, you could stay with me at my house in Kogane Town. I'm sure that Sting won't mind if you work for Sabertooth, either." I told her with a kind smile of assurance on my face, thinking this situation had easy solutions.
Sting responded to my words with a shocked facial expression, acting as if I was being so hasty, "Risa, slow down! You can't just decide if someone can join Sabertooth without me actually giving them approval!"
He added in a stern manner, as I could see his eyes shift to Lucy, "Also, Gray said that girl named Kotomi came from the Moon Rainbow guild. Even if Lucy wants to be out of Kotomi's body, erasing a thief's guild mark is an interesting moral decision. I'll allow Lucy to be here, but it's entirely her choice if she wants to work in Sabertooth and we can't force her to join."
That prompted me to look at Lucy, who seemed like she was trying to just take in everything that had been said, and I silently hoped that Lucy would join. It wasn't just because of how our friendship would keep being interesting, but my eyes became filled with some snarky feelings as I tried to view the situation from a funny perspective. I would love to see the actual Kotomi be stunned at news of the actual Lucy Heartfilia carrying out jobs to make a criminal seem like she could be helpful to people. I began to giggle, before lightly putting a hand over my mouth at that thought.
I also wanted to tell the real Kotomi that she couldn't fool us like how she fooled Team Natsu, since a mage who really committed crimes wouldn't have been seeming so full of fear and panicking while running down a street, but I only stayed silent because of how it truly was on the shoulders of Lucy and Sting to resolve this issue with that guy named Natsu and the other Fairy Tail mages. If they were going to be idiotic enough to not believe one of their comrades, then it would be good to let stupid people deal with the consequences of stupid decisions. After all, that's how I viewed idiots who were ordinary mages or didn't have a fashionable sense of style.
I turned to see Lucy start to smile at me, her smile being soft while her saddened eyes only showed a glimmer of relief, and Lucy proceeded to hug me tightly. I chose to hug her back, ceasing with being a blockade in front of Sabertooth's entrance, and Lucy's hug was tight like a beautiful dress that was one or two sizes too small. As I hugged my new friend, I could hear Lucy let out a deep breath. She was probably trying to exhale some of the stress that had been on her mind, and I felt like Lucy definitely needed to rest after today's event.
"Risa... Th-thank you..." Lucy told me in a kind manner, seeming somewhat timid as she was still taking in her current circumstances.
I responded to her with a happy smile on my face, feeling determined, "You're welcome, Lucy! You know, it might be hard to get you back in your own body. However, Master and I will make sure that happens!"
Sting added with a nice smile on his face, before looking irritated at the last minute as I broke the hug to face him, "Yeah, I'll help Lucy with getting some kind of cure that can switch her and Kotomi back to their proper bodies. Tomorrow, I'll see what I can do about that guild mark. Also, Risa, stop calling me Master! I never agreed to train you or lecture you to where you'd need to take notes during an explanation about outlaws!"
"Wouldn't it be dumb for me to not take any notes on an enemy, Master Sting? Or do I need to not explain to my idiotic and defeated enemies how I was able to outsmart them with my magic?" I asked nicely with a smile on my face, before making a snarky remark.
I got to hear him mutter words about how I wouldn't have time to read any notes during an actual fight against actual criminals, and I wondered if he thought that I got lucky today with my victory. Even if that crowd of people who I beat weren't criminals, that success I had with beating them still felt like a victory that I could really cherish forever. Although, I started to give Lucy an embarrassed look after I comically remembered getting paper off of a table in the guildhall during my first day in Sabertooth to take notes on Sting's words about how different types of jobs were handled in Fiore. I hope she wouldn't need my notes, or I would probably view her entire guild of people from Fairy Tail as moronic.
Since I managed to convince Lucy to become a member of Sabertooth, that only made me charge up a pink aura in my hands. I looked at everyone else in the guildhall while a pink sphere was starting to be created in my hands, and I threw the sphere up into the air. I made its level of power be minimal to where it wouldn't damage this guild, and the sphere quickly detonated to create a cute firework in the color of pink. That was my small way of celebrating the fact that we officially had a new member, and I was no longer the newest wizard in the guild. Lucy looked up at my firework, seeing the weak and thin beams of light come down on the guild's large red carpet to make tiny black scorch marks, and my eyes glanced at her body for a few seconds to see how those clothes that were worn by her enemy definitely made Lucy desperately need an upgrade with fashion. If a clothing store had cute outfits at fifty percent off the normal price, then I would definitely help Lucy not wear so much orange and green to where she looked like a major fanatic who liked citrus fruits such as oranges and limes. Also, the fact that she put me in a situation where I had to use my magic made me softly smile at how Lucy needed new magic. Not only would she hopefully sharpen her skills with that magic to eventually fight Kotomi, but it would hopefully help Lucy with missions.
My efforts with helping Lucy get new fashion with new magic would probably make Master stop scolding me about wanting to check out fashion sales, and I smiled more with delight in my cherry red eyes at the thought of him giving me an exciting job tomorrow. He'd probably let me handle a job that would pay me even more money, and I let out a happy cheer while looking over at him for about a minute. As everyone else cheered at how Lucy was our guild's newest member, I walked away from her to get my money from today's job and my cute jacket. When I turned to face Lucy and lead her out of the Sabertooth guild to take her to my house, I giggled cutely from how she smiled at Sting for a small moment before he chose to lightly smile back at her.
How was Chapter 3? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Due to Risa needing a little more expansion on her character being an optimistic and snarky rookie, I gave her a POV in this chapter. Also, the narrator POV will be sticking around. I'll also go into more detail about the Sabertooth guild a little later in the story, due to how this is only Lucy's first day of not being in her own body. Furthermore, Gray had the most doubt towards the real Lucy because having that happen with a GrayLu friendship instead of a NaLu friendship seems more creative to me. Plus, Gray does not like Kotomi Takeuchi's sadistic behavior. Also... This chapter concludes the Introductory Arc! The next chapter is where the next arc begins! I'll update soon. :)
REVIEWS!
KillerFrost07: Thank you! Lucy will hopefully get new magic in the upcoming arc!
FireBlitz: Thank you! Yeah, I intend to flesh out Risa more as a character to make some of her aspects have major importance later in the story.
OrangeDetermination: Thank you so much! Why did Risa become a mage, you ask? Her backstory (later on) may show that with flashbacks if that's necessary.
YellowThunder5: Here it is!
GreenGrass4: Thank you! Well, here are their reactions.
BlueWater234: Thank you! I'm glad you noticed all those things. Lol.
PurpleReis155: Yes, the StiCy is progressing nice and slow. Risa's unconcerned reaction to that will be explained later on. Preferably, in an arc that comes later and is focused more on her instead of just Lucy and Sting.
Matt: Thank you! StiCy is awesome!
jennie: Thank you so much!
Kiri-chan: Here you go!
Sena: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this introductory arc!