Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
Hisui was reading an early schematic of the school she was planning to build in the slums, though small given the little space in that area, Hisui already requested it to be as big as possible. Pleased with the outcome, Hisui decided to look at the construction zone first hand. She called for her servant and soon, they were leaving for the slums.
The slums were the same as before, filthy and unorganised, outdated newspaper were tossed around; the streets smelt of stale water; the smiles were still here. Hisui found the construction site with relative ease, it was the only space that wasn't crowded with random objects strewn all over. In the middle, a group of kids were chasing after one another. The same one Hisui met on her first trip here. Supervising the kids, was a person with pink hair. He had very developed arms and his scarf left no other need for guessing the man's identity.
"Natsu-san, are you playing with these kids?"
"Of course!" Natsu grinned. "You rested up?"
"I still have yet to give you my gratitude."
"No need for that. So, what are you two doing here?"
"We're here to look at this plot of land."
"What for?"
"I'm having a school constructed here, so the children here have easy access to a school. Though, this one is a bit special for the people here."
"What do you mean?"
"For starter, the school is going to be full funded by the city, the children won't have to pay for even lunch. Any extracurricular activities will also be free."
"Cool!"
"Anyway, Natsu-san, since I have the chance, I might as well say this now. According to your Master, you are among the most destructive people in the guild, you're giving him a hard time. Do you think that you can tone down your ahh, habits?"
"I can't help it, that happens when I get pissed off."
"Then shall I teach you etiquette? I think I can do a pretty good job. For would you prefer Erza-san to teach you, according to her, you had a great time being taught by her."
"Pl—please don't tell Erza! It was a nightmare!" Seeing the dragon slayer in such a big panic, Hisui couldn't help but laugh. "You were joking!?"
"I'm sorry," Hisui stifled another laughter. "after hearing about your reactions from Lisanna-san, I had to see it for myself."
"You scared me half to death. At least I get to see you smile after so long, you really should smile more, it suits you. Not the scary one though."
"I agree with Natsu-sama, Hisui-sama is the most beautiful when smiling earnestly."
"I don't want to be like this all the time, it's my duty to do so."
"Then take more breaks, you'll end up with a head full of white hair if you worry too much." Natsu placed his hands behind his head. "Let's start right now, after you're done with whatever you're doing, come play with us!" Natsu looked at the running children fondly.
"I'm already finished. I just came here to verify the space, since there's no problems, we can build a school here."
"Great! Let's wait for them to finish."
"I've been meaning to ask for a while now but, what are these children doing?"
"Huh? They're playing tag of course, what else did you think they are doing?" Hisui looked at Karie for explanations.
"Tag is a children's game where to goal is to have to person that is 'it' to chase the other people. Once, someone is caught by touching a person, that person is 'it'."
"That sounds simple."
"Wait, you haven't played tag before!?" Natsu asked with his mouth wide open.
"No, I was too busy study for playing. Even the times where I could play was spent with my parents. Although, can we even play tag with children? Won't that be unfair?"
"That's why we're playing hide and seek." Natsu paused. "You have played hide and seek before right?"
"Yes."
"Perfect, we'll be the seekers and the brats will be the hiders."
"Does 'we' apply to Karie as well?"
"Of course! It's boring to just watch you know?" They waited for the kids to finish their game. "Guys, we're going to play hide and seek, want to play?" A bunch of nods with no denials was more than enough for Natsu. "Me, the Princess and Kathy, are going to be the seekers."
"It's Karie!"
"You guys are being the hiders."
"It's not fair!" A child shouted. "You have three people!"
"And we're dealing with twenty!" Natsu retorted.
"Fine…"
"We're going to count to a hundred. You guys close your eyes, I'm going to start counting…one, two, three, four…" The children ran away at full speed, giggling with excitement. Hisui expected for this to be boring. However, it was more enjoyable than she thought, maybe it was the fact that she could remember playing this with her parents, or the fact that she was doing something that was lacking in her younger years. Her feet sang at the activity they were getting, her mind was free from her responsibilities, and Hisui has Natsu to thank for it.
"Thanks for doing this, I know you're busy." Natsu said, waving the children away.
"No problem, it was liberating for me too, Thank You."
"Don't worry about it." Natsu grinned. "Just don't forget to rest."
"I won't, stop reminding me." Hisui huffed, turning her head away from Natsu.
"I'm just messing with you! See ya, it was fun!" Natsu ran off, kicking up dirt along the way.
"What an interesting person." Karie noted.
"Interesting indeed."
Hisui was bringing home some documents to sign, the sky dimmed, leaving a clear amber sky, quickly turning pink and purple. She was planning on staying at the office for the night when Karie announced that a press conference was to be held tomorrow, much to the disapproval and shock of the Princess. Because of this, Hisui is walking along a dirt path to Fairy Hills to make sure that she's getting enough sleep for the press conference. The residual summer heat left behind a warm breeze to float in the air, tickling Hisui's cheeks. Her footsteps hastened seeing the Fairy Hill coming closer to view. Though Hisui hasn't spent much time with her dormmates, she's been trying to make time to do so, today is the day for getting to know her dormmates better.
"Levy-san," Hisui knocked on a white door, one arm still wrapped around her documents. "I forgot to bring back a pen with me. Can I borrow yours?" The door was opened by Levy wearing a tank top and shorts. Levy frowned at the pen that was in Hisui's hand.
"You already have one."
"Well, I wanted an excuse to come in your room, I haven't done this very often, please forgive me."
"You didn't really have to do that, I don't mind. You can come in anytime you want. As long as I'm in anyway." The door widened, and Levy ushered Hisui in. Bookshelves were everywhere, not even one was empty. Even the floor wasn't spared from the books, Hisui had to make sure that she didn't step on anything as she navigated her way through the room. "You can put your stuff on my bed, what is that anyway?" Hisui had some trouble in finding a spot to put her documents on as there already was books laid in an oval.
"These are letters and things I need to sign to improve literacy in Magnolia, I was hoping to ask for your opinion on this."
"Not that I mind but, what are you trying to do so far? Besides the schools of course, those sites on the streets told me enough." Levy pulled out a chair for Hisui and sat down on one herself.
"Well, I'm planning on encouraging students to work harder by increasing the amount of scholarships we can give out, the ones given from school aren't enough. So, I thought that one's provided by us will be better. Also, I'm discussing about suitable programmes to enrol in community centres with tutors."
"Have you increased the libraries' yearly budget? I think it'll be a good idea since it'll be easier for people to find books they want to read. For example, just last week, I was in the library to look for a book that isn't on sale anymore. It's called 'Summer Strive', have you heard of it?"
"I can't say I have."
"What a shame! I totally recommend it! It's about a child trying to find his mother after they separated from a war. It might seem strange for a book set in winter to be named after summer but, after reading it, you'll understand it without a doubt! The writing was lovely! I couldn't put the book down until after I finished reading it. Though this happened with every good book I read, I feel like this one was especially amazing!"
"Can I ask what this has to do with your trip to the library?"
"Ahh! I did it again! So—sorry, it's a bad habit of mine to get side-tracked when talking about books. Anyway, I read the book when I was a child but, I lost it somewhere along the way. So, I was hoping to find it at the library but, I couldn't."
"And that's why you suggest that I increase the budget of our libraries?"
"Yup!"
"I'll see what I can do, at this rate, I need to increase our city's revenue, or chase after the people that skips on taxes."
"I don't need to have the budget increase by that much! Just ten percent will be fine!"
"Sadly, I have other things planned, if I keep pushing things, I'll be tapping into our reserves very quickly."
"Is it because our guild destroys lots of property, so you have to repair them?"
"No, your guild is forced to pay for every bit of damage you caused. Unless special circumstances happen. In fact, I would say that Fairy Tail is a huge asset to me. Do you want to guess why?"
"It is security we provide?"
"More than that."
"Then, does the fact that we're influential have to do with it?"
"To be precise, it's the people you all draw in. When I first started to tour around the city, I saw that so many people are wearing your guild merchandise. With Fairy Tail alone, you guys attracted plenty of tourists. Of course, the tax you pay is invaluable to me as well."
"And the shops around us benefit from the additional tourists!"
"That's why Fairy Tail is so important, in more ways than one."
"What else do you plan to do?"
"A secret." Hisui stuck her tongue out playfully.
"I won't tell anyone."
"Let's just say it's a huge hassle for me, but a boon for the city. By the way Levy-san, to make sure I don't overwork myself, Karie insists that I take breaks. That's why I'm planning on reading a book during that time, do you have any recommendations?" Flipping a switch Hisui didn't mean to, she helplessly watched Levy take a ladder to climb up and down her bookshelves, extracting book after book. What was shocking Hisui the most, was that Levy didn't hesitate even once to find a book she wanted. The computer came back with a stack of books in her arms.
"I recommend all of these!" Levy held up a leather-bound book. "This one if you're feeling for something romantic." Then a blue paper back one. "This is my favourite thriller." As Levy kept explaining, Hisui looked at the blurb on the back and examined the book itself, surprised at how well preserved these books are, no creased pages or any sign of yellowing on the paper.
"When should I return them?"
"Whenever you like! Don't worry about the condition of the books, I have a trick in maintaining them."
"Thank you very much Levy-san, I'll be sure to give these a read."
"Have fun! Oh, and goodnight Hisui-sama."
"Goodnight." Hisui hauled the books along with the documents she came in with to her room. The same dreary, pale room greeted her. Except, on her bed, was a box. It seemed to be packed in a hurry, the lid wasn't close fully. And it was even dropped due to the dented corner, slightly ruining the green wrapping of the box. It was the combination of no nobles but Hisui's father knowing where she lives and the fact that the box had no sender drove Hisui to open the box. A card with messy handwriting presented itself.
"Let's…hang out…again?" Hisui managed. "This is…something the kids and I got as…thanks. Natsu…Dragneel." Underneath the card, was a potted plant. The plant was just sprouting as it was no taller than Hisui's pinkie with two healthy leaves, glimmering in the moonlight, a soft, white glow. The same glow brought a warm smile to Hisui's face, she placed the plant on a window sill and watched the spectacle grow brighter without hurting her eyes. With one plant, the room doesn't look dull at all, much like how this experience shone a light on her life.
Thanks for reading! I've been trying to balance the serious stuff and the fuzzy stuff, let me know how I did. However, since I've already written up to chapter seven and writing chapter eight as of publishing this, it might take a while for me to adjust. Or it might not, it depends on how you guys think I did.
That being said, I'm having a much better time writing these chapter. The thinking is largely done until I run out of ideas and then my suffering will start again. Though my writing is pretty fast right now, since school is starting in half a month, I don't know how will things fare afterwards, hopefully it won't affect me too much. If it does, at least I have a backlog right?
However, the next chapter will be on the shorter side like this one, but, I still want to keep my chapters between 2k to 3.5k, it seems like a pretty good spot for not overloading people and giving them a chance to break away from reading and do something else should my story lose your interest.
Until next time, I hope you enjoyed! And, have a nice day!