Chapter 3

According to their schedules, Mira and Evergreen started their morning together at the first shoot of the day. The studio was abuzz with activity as the assistants hurried back and forth, moving equipment or relaying directions. It took all of Laxus' patience not to shout at the runner who constantly scurried too close to where he stood along the edge of the room. He knew it would do no good, but it would make him feel better. An excited shout from the photo set drew his attention.

The photographer called out again, and the flash went off several more times. Mira, Evergreen, and six other girls held their poses. The set was of an outdoor café complete with a fake storefront for an actual high-end coffee brand. The girls were posed as friends getting lunch, fake shopping bags piled high on one side of the shot for the brand they all wore.

"Mirajane, hunny can you tip- yes!" The photographer cooed. "Can I get that fan moved to the left- just a hair!" Tthe assistants scurried to adjust the wind effect while another one fixed the lapels on one of the girl's jackets. She moved a single curl of hair on another model but hesitated and put it back a moment later. The camera snapped again.

"Let's switch you two," the lead designer called. She was an older woman with a harsh gaze. The photographer let her move Evergreen and a short strawberry blond girl to the front and seat them on the fake stone wall to the side.

"You- tip your sunglasses," the designer explained to the younger model. She looked to the photographer. "Can you see the patterning in the image now?" The photographer snapped a test shot and showed the designer.

"Good," she nodded. The assistants swarmed the set to readjust the studio lightning to hit the girl's new positions along with the natural sunlight from above. Mira sighed and watched the remaining models prepare for their shots to the sides. A few of them seemed not to have a care in the world and lounged on the couches. Others paced or chatted amongst themselves. Two of the newer girls watched the ongoing shot and tried to imitate the girls' hand positions and expressions without being too obvious about it. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary so far.

"Girls! Poses!" The photographer called out. Each model returned to their full pose, and Mira reminded herself to relax her shoulders. The dress they had her in was cute but higher cut then she was used to. The camera flashed, and they each shifted just enough. Eventually, one of their subtle expression shifts and muscle changes would result in the perfect photo. After two more adjustments by the designer and the photographer, they seemed to get what they needed.

Mira and another girl were kept for close ups on the set. Evergreen wandered back to the changing rooms with the others. Freed walked with his teammate for a moment and Mira spotted Bickslow chatting with one of the security men who worked for the building. That only left one member of their team unaccounted for.

She felt his eyes on her before she saw him. Laxus stood nearby the set now. It seemed the blond gave up on standing in the shadows and getting bumped into. He watched Mira and the photographer work to capture the new shots. It did not take long.

"Something wrong, Laxus?" Mira asked as she stepped off the set and let the next girl up. The moment the bright lights were off her, she felt a wave of nausea pass through her, and she wobbled. Laxus put a hand out to steady her.

"I'm fine," he stated, giving her a look.

"It's ok," Mira replied. "I just need to eat something."

"I don't feel any magic around," Laxus stated offhand. Mira gave him a smile and a sigh, leading him to the table with mini sandwiches and salad set out.

"So, did you notice something else then?" Mira asked him. The cucumber sandwiches sat neatly piled on ice. She filled a plate.

"Just the other security keeping a close eye on their girls. Freed suggested we should follow suit, since it's easy enough to see where everyone is otherwise," Laxus explained. With her mouth full, Mira could only nod that she understood. The food instantly soothed her and made her realized how hungry she really was. Holding the plate out, she silently offered him a sandwich, wondering if he'd eaten yet. He declined.

"It's been quiet so far," he added. Mira nodded again.

"It's only the first day," she shrugged. Their team might need to change up their current strategy of simply observation to something more active if they still had no leads by tonight. The day went on.

...

The afternoon brought the first of the large group shoots; the cliche-ed swimwear spread. Half of the girls wore one piece, high-fashion strappy selections. The others instead wore the traditionally sexier bikini styles. It did not surprise the Fairy Tail group that Mira wore a designer suit; it surprised Evergreen that she had one as well. The designers walked the girls through what they should emphasis in the posing for the studio shots as the rest of the crew managers and security inched closer to watch. It was no secret that this was the shoot they all wanted to ogle.

The crisscross strapping around Mira's black and gold suit was different then what she was used to modeling, but it gave her a new set of poses to try out. With the photographer's direction, the camera flashes and pose changes came back to her once more. The feeling her recalled at pose-off during the Grand Magic Games was nothing compared to what she felt now. She lost track of the other two girls doing their own shoots in the nearby studios. Her only focus was the photographer and her own movements.

Feeling her teammates' eyes along with the warmth of the studio lights did nothing to make her lose focus. Her hands still found their places along her hips, caressing her collarbones, above her head, all while making sure to show off the swimsuit as well as herself. She moved into her last pose, heard a single click, and then a thump. She hesitated, and her momentum broke.

The world came back into focus. A blur of green and a shout immediately grounded her. Freed ran from where he stood with Laxus watching her, to the next set over. Laxus was slower to break from his trance. Turning to see what the commotion was and avoiding thinking about him getting just as caught up in her posing as she had, she spotted one of the smaller girls crumpled on the ground. A small crowd gathered.

"Is she ok?" Mira asked, stepping closer.

"What happened?" Evergreen appeared at her side, along with a handful of other models.

"She just passed out," one of the girls explained. "She was going through her poses just fine, and then she stood up, wobbled, and went down. I hope she's ok." Evergreen nodded but noticed that Freed seemed to be keeping the group calm enough by giving directions as he knelt beside the unconscious model. No one shooed him away to take his place, so the girl must have been here without a manager or anyone else to assist. A relieved gasp went through the crowd as she blinked and tried to sit up. Both Freed and the nearby photographer who joined him kept her from moving too quickly. The other models crowded closer and tried to be helpful. Freed opened his mouth to say something, looking overwhelmed.

"Hey! Give them some space!" Laxus called out, beating Freed to the punch. His booming voice had the intended effect and the crowd backed away a few steps. Freed gave Laxus a look of gratitude and helped the girl sit up, supporting her shoulders and helping her hold a small glass of juice one of the runners retrieved. The director hurried over, following one of his security.

"What's going on? Is anyone hurt?" He asked nervously. A quick look around at the shocked faces seemed to make him even more panicked.

"Everyone! Let's take a quick break! Please return to the set in half an hour when we call you," he shouted, voice jumping an octave. The girls were slow to disperse but most everyone moved to the lounge area to stay out of the way. Freed motioned for the rest of the team to follow suit. He seemed to have things under control now that the assistants were over their shock and ready to help.

"I hope she's OK," Mira said to Evergreen.

"Yeah," Bickslow cut in. "She just fell over. It was crazy."

"Do you think she was-?"

"I didn't feel any major magic spikes," Bickslow said.

"What about you Mira? You were right next to her," Evergreen added. Mira could only sigh.

"Sorry, I was so in the moment, I didn't notice anything."

"Laxus?" asked Evergreen. He shook his head as well, otherwise silent. He looked away from them all, pretending to survey the room. They reached the lounge and walked into a very similar conversation.

"She wasn't sick earlier today, no," said one of the girls. The dark-haired girl, Nessa, made a tsking sound.

"Maybe she got hit with that weird magic disease thing. I heard rumors the last girl was in the hospital for a month-"

"No way!"

"That's so scary!"

"We can't get that unless we're wizards though, right? Is she one?"

Mira and Evergreen stood at the edge of the circle, unsure of what to tell the other girls, if anything.

"Mirajane!" Vivian called out in mock fear. She clasped the s-class wizard's hands in her own and asked, "You didn't feel anyone cast any magic on her right? You were right there!" The other models quieted to give their full attention to Mira's answer. The white hair girl supposed it should not have surprised her that they would know she was a wizard; she felt several sets of eyes fall to her guild mark, plainly exposed on her thigh. Evergreen's was half covered by the halter and ruffles of her swimsuit, but Mira knew the girls were smart enough to match the two symbols. Neither Bickslow nor Laxus had theirs on display, but Mira wondered how long it would take for someone to put all the pieces together. If they wanted to keep a low profile, this had truly blown their cover. They would have to wait and see what that meant for the mission.

"I didn't notice anything unusual," Mira stated.

"See!" Vivian smiled, turning back to the group. "If Mirajane didn't notice any magic around, then it can't be that. I'm sure she just got overheated or something." The other model's smile and obvious logic seemed to calm most of the girls. Vivian pulled both Mirajane and Evergreen into the circle and sat them down on the carpet beside her. The other girls slowly picked up conversations again, this time about more mundane topics.

"So, you're sure it wasn't magic right?" Vivian whispered to Mira. Evergreen leaned in as well.

"We're almost certain, yes," Mira explained. Vivian's expression softened instantly. "Thank goodness. It was too scary at the last shoot. The girl didn't get up, and my uncle needed to call the emergency team to rush her to the hospital. Luckily her guild knew someone to help her recover, but it was so nerve racking. The only good thing about it was that it happened on the last day of the shoots."

"She's OK now, right?" asked Evergreen. "Magic Deficiency Disease is really dangerous when it's a severe case like that."

"Were you here for the other times it happened too?" Mira asked.

"The other times?" Vivian asked. She gave Mira a probing look.

"We knew about this last incident, and the director mentioned it wasn't the only time. He wanted us to be careful," Mira said, avoiding the whole truth.

"I hope you asked for a pay raise after you found out," Vivian stated, rolling her eyes. "My uncle can't help himself when he's around models he's trying to impress. He probably would have told you anything you wanted to know."

"Your uncle is the director?" Evergreen asked.

"Oh yeah," Vivian shrugged. "He's my father's brother. I've been working for him forever. I was one of the magazine's first models."

"So, you would definitely know about the other cases," Mira smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah, but-" Vivian hesitated.

"We're not going to run off and tell anyone," Evergreen frowned. "But I'm sure you can understand why the two of us are interested in not getting a case of it." Mira nodded. Though, if worse came to worse, maybe the girl's advice would help them if they needed to bait the perpetrator into the open.

"Ok," Vivian nodded. "It's only happened a few times, and the last one was by far the most severe case. The other girls recovered within the week and were able to make it to the after party after all the shoots."

"The other girls were each wizards, right? Do a lot of them come through each issue as models?" Evergreen probed.

"Of course they were," Vivian laughed, nervously. "Usually the swimsuit or lingerie shoots give them away, if they don't go around bragging about it. Obviously, most wizards prefer to model for Sorcerers Weekly, but I've met a fair amount here."

"Did you notice anything unusual about when it happened? New security maybe? Flashing lights? Weird scents in the air? Anything?" Mira asked. Vi shrugged.

"Nothing too weird. The girls all mentioned they felt sick and were out within the hour. Only the most recent case was instant."

"What about-?"

"Girls!" The director called out, interupting Mira's next question. "I want to remind everyone to eat something. At the very least, we have juice and water on ice for you all. There's a lot of new faces, and I'd hate for any of you to not be able to have your pictures taken because you passed out as well."

"So, is she ok?" A brunette asked.

"She's fine now," the director replied. "We're looking forward to seeing her for shoots tomorrow." The collective sigh of relief was obvious. "Now, if I could get everyone to return to the studio, we're going to do the group shot before we go back to the catalog shoots you were doing."

With the tension gone after the fainting scare, the girls happily returned to the set to finish the swimsuit photos.

T-T wah!I failed to keep my schedule after only 3 chapters. boo. Hopefully you liked this one to make up for it? I'm getting to the fun parts of the story (plot and romance wise), I really am. I just like setting the scene a bit ^-^

I do apologize if anyone has done ACTUAL modeling work. I only know cosplay photo shoots tbh, so this will probably read more like one of those if they went on for days.