He was sitting alone on a bench in the middle of the park by the time she arrived. Her eyes were fixated on something she was holding in front of her, so she did not seem to notice his presence from afar.

"Hey, look who's here," he greeted pleasantly by the time she was near enough. The look of surprise in her face confirmed that she too was not expecting him. "I didn't know you'd be here."

"Oh, neither did I!" she replied in a similar good-natured manner. She strode her way towards the bench he was sitting on. "Juvia didn't tell me you'd be here too. Good to see you again."

"Likewise," he said as he watched her sit down on the empty spot beside him.

Yesterday he received a message from the water mage, inviting him to a fire-display show organized by a friend of her. While he was more a fan of anything involving lower temperatures himself, he accepted her invitation out of courtesy. Besides, he would be heading to Magnolia anyway for another package for Jura.

"So, where are they, anyway?" she asked while side-glancing at him, "I assume Gray is also here?"

"He is. They left a while ago to purchase the tickets for the show. If it weren't for me, Juvia would've bought them by herself."

Meredy took note of the rather irate tone of his voice and smirked in amusement. "Why? What happened earlier?"

He scratched the back of his neck with annoyance. "The three of us arrived here pretty much at the same time. Juvia said that she could go and buy the tickets already while we wait here. Gray really seemed like he was going to let her buy them by herself, so I volunteered to escort her. It was only then when that idiot stood up and said he'd accompany her instead."

"Aww, how sweet!" the pinkette exclaimed as she dropped the thing she was holding earlier on her lap. It was one of those lacrima-powered mobile devices. "Are you playing the 'bad guy' on purpose to give Gray a little push?"

He sighed in defeat. "He's really hopeless. Even I wouldn't say he's not interested in her. He's just too stubborn to admit it."

"I see. I was kinda wondering what's your motivation for staying around."

"Don't get me wrong, though," he said as he leaned his elbow on the back support of the bench, "This is more for Juvia. If that idiot still would not accept her feelings, I won't hesitate to sweep her off her feet again."

She only gave him a knowing smile. "Okay, if you say so."

When the atmosphere was quiet again, Lyon glanced over at her and learned that she was preoccupied with her device once more. She noticed him looking at her.

"Aii, sorry! I hope you don't find me rude for playing." Her face flushed pink in embarrassment. "To be honest I was expecting that I'd be alone today while waiting for them, so I brought this! Just let me finish this battle so I could save my progress, then I'll keep it in my bag."

He shook his head affably. "I don't mind. What are you playing, anyway?"

Her emerald orbs remained glued on the screen. "It's CaptchaMon."

"Cupcha-what?"

"Capt-cha-Mon!" she corrected, stressing greatly on each syllables of the word. "Basically your aim here is to capture these monsters, train them, and win battles against other trainers so you'd become the great CaptchaMon Champion!"

Seeing her enthusiasm, he tried to subdue a laugh while her fingers continued pressing vigorously on the screen. "Sounds pretty interesting."

"It is," she responded as she commanded her CaptchaMon to launch a powerful sun beam at her opponent, bringing its health points down.

The park was generally peaceful that day, and only the resonate sounds of Meredy's tapping fingers were heard. Lyon gradually grew content in watching her command her virtual battle pets until she offered her device for him to play with. "You should try it. It's really fun!"

"I'd rather watch you play, " he declined politely, "Besides, I don't really know how to play..."

"No no no! I insist!" She shoved her pink device on his hands. "I'll even teach you! It's pretty easy!"

The next thing he knew, she was giving him a crash course on the virtual game, patiently explaining the mechanics as Lyon maneuvered the player in the pixelated universe. Minutes passed and the quiet discussions soon erupted into passionate CaptchaMon outbursts.

"No! Why did you bring out Icee-kun against his Fire Chameleon? Don't you know that ice-types are weak against fire?!"

"In what universe is ice weak against fire?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the CaptchaMon universe?!"

"Ridiculous! I'll just overpower him with Icee-kun's superior ice moves! Icee-kun has the level advantage, anyway!"

The banter went on until Lyon emerged victorious, with Icee-kun barely having any health points left. Meredy sighed in relief.

From the distance, Juvia and Gray witnessed their rather animated exchange.

"Looks like Meredy's there already," Gray uttered with the tickets in hand. "Well, they seem to be having fun. Is that the reason why you invited them over?"

"Yes, they seem to be getting along quite well," Juvia admitted as she continued watching them, "Plus, the potatoes are in their favour!"

Gray gave her a weird look. This girl really spouted some odd words sometimes. "Potatoes?"

In the back of Juvia's mind, she somehow interconnected the image of Lyon staring happily at a potato two weeks ago, along with the sack of potatoes on Meredy's front door when they visited her on the same day.

The blue-haired mage giggled. "Nothing. Let's call them now, Gray-sama. Totomaru-kun's fire show will be starting soon!"