Updated: April 6, 2023

Chapter 7: Reward

As the first week of preparation for the school festival ended, every student of Fairy Tail High was kept busy prepping for their own class event. Students from 3-A were even busier as their event is the most anticipated activity during the school festival.

Natsu, who is one of the main cast of the play, is one of the busy students in the class. Given that Erza pays great attention to each of them, the pinkette can't easily slip out of practice. That being said, he had been bailing on Lisanna for their weekly hangout/date. Ever since summer, Lisanna and Natsu had made this routine to go out and spend time with each other. But ever since the announcement of the school festival and preparations for it started, Natsu couldn't do their routine. He felt somehow bad that he is leaving Lisanna alone. But, on the bright side, he thought, he was spending more time with his best friend. Natsu thinks it's the best time to patch things up whatever wrinkle they have in between.

"Hey, Lis," Natsu calls as he walks along with the white-haired girl toward their building, "I probably can't go tonight with you again,"

"Oh?" Lisanna then frowns as she looks away from the pinkette, "Is it the play again?"

"Yeah," Natsu then rubs his neck in guilt, "Erza said the cast will have a script reading again for this particularly difficult scene. There will be some fight scenes—"

Lisanna suddenly shook her head, making Natsu stop talking. He scrunches his brows as he looks at her.

"Why don't I stay around and wait for you? Maybe I can watch or something?" Lisanna then tilts her head and smiles sweetly at the pinkette, almost like she was alluring him to agree.

"Umm…" Natsu trails off as he becomes a little rattled by the sudden change of expression. And then he thought about Erza and remembered how they had to keep the show secret, "I'm not really sure if you can…" Lisanna then quickly raises a brow at him, making him retreat with his words, "But you can try. Maybe Erza will allow it,"

"Great!" Lisanna says as she claps her hand, "Then we can walk home together later," she then leans close to Natsu and quickly pecked his cheek, "See you later, Natsu!"

Natsu was then baffled as he watched the girl skip toward her classroom, while he worried about a certain director who will burn his ear off.

"Hey, Natsu," a voice suddenly calls the pinkette, making him turn around. He then saw Lucy next to him and she added, "Why are you just standing there? The fourth period is about to start. Come on,"

Natsu stared for a few seconds before he grasps what his best friend said. He then shakes his head, "Right, yeah…"

Lucy just then chuckles at the dumbfounded look of the boy. Soon enough, Natsu jogged after her and then walked along, "By the way Luce, I probably won't walk home with you tonight,"

"Okay," Lucy replies shrugging her shoulders. Natsu quickly lifts a brow, confused.

"But it won't be safe. You have to ask Erza or Levy, or Juvia,"

"And why would I do that?" Lucy questioned with a shake of her head, "You do know that they live in the opposite direction as we do, right?"

Natsu then grumbles, "I know! But Jellal or Gajeel will at least be there to walk them home—"

"Uh, Natsu!" Lucy half turns by their open classroom door and glares at the pinkette, "Don't be ridiculous,"

"It's not safe to go home late. Uncle Jude will bite my ear off if he knew I let you—"

"I won't walk home alone," Lucy cuts off, making Natsu pull back a little as he skeptically looked at the blonde.

"What do you mean?"

"…I won't walk home on my own," Lucy repeats as she smiles bashfully and pretends to be innocent. But with the intense gaze of the pinkette, the girl couldn't help but sigh in defeat, "I discovered that Sting lives around our neighborhood and that he said he wouldn't mind walking me home if I ever needed one,"

"Sting?" Natsu says the blonde's name almost with a hiss, "And why would he do that?! Is he asking you out or something?!"

"Yes—!" Lucy's eyes then grew big as she realized what she had blurted out. Natsu's horrified look made Lucy even more nervous.

"He's asking you out?" Natsu whispered irritated, making Lucy shiver for a moment before furrowing her brows.

"He asked me this week and I permitted him. I was planning to tell you later this afternoon," Lucy then sighs as she shakes her head in annoyance, "I don't even know why I have to tell you, as if like I'm asking for your permission. It's not like you told me about Lisanna beforehand. So why should I?"

Lucy then turns away from the pinkette and headed further inside the room. Soon enough, Lucy was back on her chair, while Natsu remained planted in the doorway. For some reason, he felt like he was stabbed right in the chest.

Natsu's POV

Of all people, Sting? Really?

I suddenly grumbled in my seat as I pretended to listen in class. Suddenly, Sting turns his head and glances at Lucy. He watched her for a moment, before glancing back at me. I then raised a brow at him, as if I were challenging him to a staring contest. But then he looked away and didn't give any attention to me again.

Really? That guy? Sting, is asking Lucy out?

I then looked at Lucy and saw she was stifling her giggles as she tilts her notebook a little. I couldn't see what she wrote but it made her and Sting snort. Seeing them like this irks me and I really couldn't pinpoint the exact reason.

Sting's face is so annoying. He looks stupid when he makes that laughing face. How can Lucy like that face? I mean look at this dude, how would anyone find that guy attractive? Just because he's got these dark blue eyes, doesn't mean he looks nice. Pfft!

Sting suddenly passes a small paper to Lucy, making me raise a brow. When Lucy slowly opens it, I lean closer to her to take a peek, almost making me stand from my chair.

"Mr. Dragneel!"

I snap my head up, startled at my teacher's attention, "Hai!" I blurt out as I stood up straight, completely aware that Lucy slowly looks at me. But then she quickly looked away and focused on her notebook.

As I try to ignore this knot in my stomach after I thought that Lucy pays little attention to me now than before, I try to keep my attention on my teacher.

"Would you please answer the question? What was the aftermath of the Battle of Ishgar with the Alvarez Empire?"

"Um…" I then tried to remember the readings I did last night. When suddenly it caught my sight how Sting tilts his notebook and showed it to Lucy.

Lunch? What the—

"Mr. Dragneel," Sensei calls me again, snapping me out of my thoughts and making me feel disoriented more than I was a while ago.

"Tsk, Mr. Dragneel, you're not doing your readings for this class. Take your seat! Ms. McGarden?"

I slowly sit down, feeling a little bit worse than I did moments ago. Lucy doesn't even bother to look at me after being scolded by sensei. She used to check up on me. Or she would even add more to the scolding. But she's just there, in front of me, stifling her laughter while she pretends to listen. Paying less attention to me, as if…

What the hell is happening? Is this some consequence I get for doing something wrong to Lucy? I mean…what exactly did I do wrong? Why does it feel like I'm losing Lucy? Why does it feel like I'm being replaced by Sting? She used to laugh with me, not him…

I sigh as I felt that troubling knot in my stomach again. It's annoying how that feels. It's like I want to punch something. Maybe Sting's face?

I then shook my head as I imaginatively hear Lucy's voice in my head telling me that I shouldn't be going around punching and destroying things. It's just infuriatingly that I want to cause havoc. I can't explain.

For the nth time, I sigh.

As lunch break begins, Natsu along with the others gathered around a table in the mess hall. Everyone was there, except for Lucy. It wasn't much of a surprise anymore compared to the past days. Lately, Lucy has been spending less time with them and tends to join another blonde boy every lunch break. At first, Mira and Cana found it interesting that the two were spending time. But the more frequently it happens, the more it becomes expected.

"Lucy is being asked out by Sting," Natsu suddenly blurts out as everyone on the table was chattering among themselves.

"And?" Lisanna suddenly replies, making the pinkette look at her. Natsu was quite astounded by her reply as if she wasn't surprised by his revelation.

"What do you mean 'and'? Sting is a suitor of Lucy. Aren't you surprised about it?" Natsu questioned, almost with annoyance in his voice. When Lisanna just shrugged her shoulders, Natsu looked around at his friends, who were now slowly paying attention to his rant.

"Well? Aren't you going to react surprised or something?" Natsu raised a brow at his friends.

Erza shrugs her shoulders, "Well, it figures. So, I'm not surprised,"

"What?!" Natsu bafflingly shook his head.

"Lucy and Sting have been spending lunch break together for the past weeks. I mean, didn't you notice?" Mira then tilts her head.

"Huh?"

"Hey, flame-brain, what the hell is going on? Haven't you realized that Lucy and Sting had become closer? I mean it's obvious, baka," Gray questioningly looks at his friend, who had been gapping at their nonchalant reaction.

"Am I the only one who didn't know?" Natsu looked around the table before looking back at Lisanna, "Did you know?"

"Natsu," Lisanna then chuckles, "Like what Gray said, it was pretty obvious that Sting was asking Lucy out,"

"From what I remember, Sting confessed to Lucy two weeks ago. She didn't answer him immediately but she considered it. So, last week, Sting officially courted Lucy," Levy states as she looks at the pinkette, who was completely shocked at the news.

It was becoming obvious to them that Natsu had no clue that Sting had confessed to Lucy and that it didn't happen randomly. Seeing his reaction, Levy couldn't help but feel a little bad for the boy.

"She really thought it hard…" Juvia suddenly adds, "Lucy-san even told her parents about it and they approve it," Juvia then sighs despondently.

"Why are you sighing like that?" Gray questioned the blunette, who only glares back at him.

"Juvia just feels jealous that Lucy has a suitor!" Juvia then rolls her eyes as Gray raises a brow at her.

"And your point is?" Gray sarcastically replies to the blue-haired swimmer as he leans closer to her.

Everyone on the table, except Natsu, chuckles at the bantering of the almost like a couple. Gray and Juvia, for a few years now, had been in that constant bantering about liking one another. But it was more like Gray being a denial of liking Juvia. The swimmer athlete had always been vocal about who is her crush.

"Forget about that," Natsu cuts off the laughing as he swipes his arms over the table, "What do we do?"

"What do you mean 'what do we do'?" Jellal suddenly questions, confused by Natsu's line of thinking.

"What? What do you mean by 'what do you mean what do we do'? It's literally the question. What do we do?" Natsu frantically looks at everybody, making each one of them scrunch their face at the pinkette.

"Boys! Shut up!" Erza suddenly cuts in, getting annoyed at the nearly endless repeating of their sentences, "You all sound stupid repeating each other's sentences."

"Tsk, ash-brain," Gajeel then chuckles before he grunts when Levy elbows him on the ribs.

"Natsu, why do you think we have to do something about Sting asking Lucy out?" Levy asks, before briefly glancing at the white-haired girl, who was curious at the pinkette's reactions.

"Levy," Natsu sighs her name as if the answer should be obvious. But the way Levy was looking at him, she was challenging him to speak up and be honest about what was really going on inside his head. "I mean do you trust him? Because hell, I don't. Sting's just trying to earn her trust,"

"Isn't that the point of courting?" Cana questions the pinkette, who looks back at her irritated, "I mean, you're doing it with Lisanna, earning her trust,"

Everyone then diverts their attention from Natsu to Lisanna. The white-haired girl seemed to be unfazed by the attention as she keeps her eyes on the pinkette. Natsu suddenly felt bashful and nervous with the way Lisanna was looking at him. So he quickly averts his gaze from her and looked at the others.

"I know and I'm sincere about it. But Sting—"

"Why do you want to stop Sting from pursuing Lucy? Shouldn't you be happy for your best friend?" Lisanna cuts short with a stern voice, almost sounding annoyed. All of a sudden a growing tension was building between them. The gang slowly felt guilty to instigate such tension.

"Umm…" Erza interrupts as she tries to rescue the pinkette from any further confrontation, "I understand your point, Natsu. I know you're just looking after your best friend. So, I get your worry."

Natsu looked at Erza and subtly sighs in relief. He was beginning to feel like he was being attacked and he couldn't refute it. He, himself, couldn't explain why he felt like it was a need to stop Sting.

"But," Erza continues as she eyes the shrinking pinkette, "You can't stop Sting. It's Lucy's choice and we, as her friends, will support whatever she wants,"

Lisanna suddenly scoffs, making everyone look at her as she stood up and left the table. Natsu somehow panics at seeing the silverette walk away. Natsu was about to stand up when Mira, who was quietly just listening, stood up first.

"It's fine, Natsu. I'll talk to my sister first," Mira smiled at the boy before she leaves the table as well and followed after her sister.

Everyone then became silent, unsure of how to proceed from that sudden strain. The boys kept their heads low, noticeably uncomfortable with that little confrontation. Meanwhile, the girls could only sigh at what happened.

"Okay, just to break the ice…" Erza then glances at Jellal, who nods his head to her before keeping his phone away after texting something to the redhead, "Um, coach Scorpio emailed us and requested that all basketball varsity players will be excused from play practice. You guys have to train for the upcoming basketball demonstration game during the school festival. I have decided that we'll reschedule our script reading instead,"

Levy then nods her head, taking note of the announcement as she will have to disseminate it in class. Erza and the others then slowly stood up, while she and Natsu remained in their spot.

"Gray! Natsu! Don't you dare skip training," Erza authoritatively said as she points at them. Gray made a salute gesture toward the red-haired director, while Natsu just nodded his head.

Soon enough, one by one, they left the table, leaving Levy and Natsu alone. The blue-haired girl just observed her friend, who was still sulking.

"You know what Natsu," Levy suddenly speaks, making Natsu look up in surprise. He gawked briefly at her before his shoulders drops and sadly looks down at his hands. "I think you need some thinking to do..."

Natsu glances up at the bluenette with furrowed brows, "Thinking?"

"Yeah," Levy nods her head, "You have got to start reevaluating your feelings for Lucy,"

Natsu was suddenly startled at Levy's words. It was like Levy had thrown an ice-cold bucket of water at him. It wasn't something he'd thought she'd say.

"I know it's not something you'd expect to hear. But, seriously, I don't know why you can't see the obvious thing between you and Lucy," Levy then shakes her head as she sighs.

"Wha—?" Natsu bafflingly utters and trails off, certainly lost for words.

"Look Natsu, I don't want to insinuate anymore. But, seriously, do some thinking. It's for your sake and Lucy's." Levy then gathers her things and stands up to leave the table.

Soon enough, Natsu was left on his own, thinking about Levy's parting words.

As Class 3-A received the news that the script reading was going to be rescheduled, cast members were happy about it. The class settled on doing the backdrop sets and continue sewing the costumes of each character. When classes ended, some remained in the classroom to continue doing the preparation, while others headed towards the gymnasium to watch the basketball training.

Many of the girls watch the basketball varsity as these boys are famous for their skills and looks. Aside from that, it's quite certain that friends and special someone of the players would watch as well. So, it wasn't a surprise to see Lisanna stand by the entrance of the gym. Although, with her previous walk out in the canteen, Natsu wasn't quite sure if Lisanna would drop by.

As the team was warming up before they began the actual game, Natsu was monitoring each athlete, until he noticed Lisanna. He suddenly stood up straighter and stared for a moment. When they had locked eyes, Natsu raised a hand to subtly wave at the white-haired girl and patiently waited if Lisanna would do the same. When Lisanna softly smiles at him and gave a small wave, he sighs in relief before concentrating back on the warm-up.

Lisanna loosens up the tension on her shoulders as she smiles to herself. She finally felt better knowing that Natsu was hoping to see her. It was a good decision for her part to show up. Soon enough, she went further inside the gym and found that a lot of freshmen and sophomores were sitting on the bleachers, cheering on their biases. Many of them cheered for Natsu, making Lisanna roll her eyes and scoff at them.

As Lisanna climbed the second floor of the gym, she suddenly spotted her friends and decided to hang around them. She thought they were the girls who had more right to cheer on the boys. Although, she wouldn't be comfortable with the idea that she and Lucy are cheering for the same guy.

"Hey, Lucy! Juvia!" Lisanna calls as she waves her hands at them. Lucy quickly sees her and waves back.

"Hey, Lis!" Lucy then scoots, giving a bigger space for Lisanna to sit on.

"Can I sit?" Lisanna humbly asks before she chuckles when Lucy pulls her down to sit next to her.

"Of course!" Lucy laughs with her, while Juvia just gave a gentle smile. Lucy almost found it weird that Juvia wasn't bantering with them, but she just brushes it off.

"What took you so long? I thought you were here already," Lucy asks, making Lisanna quite stiff before glancing at Juvia. When she saw Juvia shrug her shoulder and tilt her head, Lisanna knew that no one told Lucy about her little walk out in the cafeteria. And she's grateful for it because the last thing she wants Lucy to know was that she was the reason why she had left.

Lisanna shrugs, "I just had some things to finish before heading here. Good thing I wasn't late. Just in time for the game,"

"Yep! Though, they made groupings already," Lucy then starts to point at the players, "Loke, Gray, Natsu, Jet, and Max are Team A. Then Sting, Hibiki, Eve, Ren, and Lyon are Team B,"

"Oh, we're all in the same team then," Lisanna chuckles.

"Actually…" Lucy suddenly sheepishly smiles, "I'm for Team B,"

Lisanna suddenly widens her eyes at the blonde, "Team B?" she then grins at the girl before leaning forward to nudge the bluenette, "Juvia! Lucy is on Team B!"

Juvia chortles at the teasing of the silverette and then bumps the shoulder of the blonde, "Should we ask who you're rooting for in Team B?"

"Oh, you girls stop," Lucy then snorts as she and the other girls refocused their attention on the court.

Soon enough the game begins as the whistle blows.

The fight between Natsu and Sting's team started quite the usual. But as time goes on, a pattern started to appear. Every time a team scores, the opponent immediately tries to get a score as well. Team A and Team B had been head-to-head scoring, barely reaching a difference of 4 points. It was obvious that each team's point guard was trying to outsmart the other.

The game is lasting nearly an hour already and the scores had tied numerous times, leading them to an overtime game. Natsu wanted to win over Sting's team because he had some personal reasons. He knows Lucy is watching. After all, he had overheard Sting inviting Lucy to cheer him on. For some reason, it irked him. Lucy always watched the game to cheer him, not Sting.

"I've got to make Sting's team lose. In that way, Lucy wouldn't have to cheer for him," Natsu thought in his head as he swiftly turns away from Lyon and chases after Sting.

"We're in the last 15 seconds of the game!" the commenter shouts over the microphone, making the crowd cheer even louder.

The ball is in Sting's hand, running towards their courtside.

Lucy suddenly stands up and leans over the railing, "Go, Sting! Go!" she then jumps in her place as Juvia and Lisanna stand next to her, cheering on their own along with the other fans.

The commenter suddenly shouts again, "Oh my god! Natsu steals the ball! Team A still got time!"

"Waaah! Go, Gray-sama!" Juvia bellows over the shouting crowd.

"De Leon is now on their court and they've got 7 seconds to go! He passed it to Fullbuster! But-oh! Vastia is making it hard for Fullbuster!"

"Five seconds!" Another commenter exclaims as he slowly rises from his chair, "Fullbuster passes it to Dragneel again!

"Oh! Eucliffe is getting on Dragneel's way!"

"Two seconds!"

"Waah! Natsu out-turned Sting!"

ENNNNGGGGG!

Silence lingered as they watched the ball fly in the air before the resounding alarm blasted off.

SHWOOOSH!

"And the ball is in!"

Juvia and Lisanna hysterically shout in joy as they jump in excitement while Lucy slowed down from her cheering. Although, she still had a smile on her face, feeling happy that her friends won.

"Team A wins!" the announcer shouts, making the cheer of the crowd grow louder.

Lisanna then runs down the stairs and quickly headed towards the team, where Natsu was being tossed in the air by his teammates. Lucy and Juvia then followed and headed toward the players.

"Congrats Natsu!" Lisanna then leaps to hug Natsu, who easily caught her. But when Lisanna gasps and groans, Natsu quickly loosens his hold on the silverette and puts her down.

"Sorry, Lis!" Natsu then takes a step back as he watches Lisanna wince in disgust with the coat of sweat that stuck to her arm, "Got carried away," he said rubbing the nape of his neck when suddenly he noticed Lucy.

Natsu suddenly looked away from Lisanna as he saw Lucy walk past him while greeting the others congratulations. He was then about to grab Lucy's wrist when she suddenly sprints towards Sting.

"Sting!" Lucy calls as she stops right in front of the teen.

"Lucy, you're still here. It's embarrassing that we lost," Sting shyly kneads the back of his neck.

"Embarrassing?" Lucy repeats with an astonished voice. Natsu, who was listening to the blonde girl, a meter away, suddenly grins as he anticipates for Lucy to express her dismay about Sting's lost game.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy then shook her head as she smiles sweetly at the blonde boy, "I didn't come here to watch you win or something. I wanted to cheer for you, whether you win or not."

"But—"

Sting suddenly stops talking when Lucy grabbed a towel from him and started wiping the sweat on his face. Sting was stunned for a moment, completely blushing at the tenderness Lucy was showing him. He then thought about his odor, given he was full-on sweaty.

"Uh—Lucy, no. You'll get sticky with my sweat," Sting slightly leaned away from Lucy's touch but then she just snorted at his attempt to move away.

"Seriously? You think I care?" Lucy then grins at the boy before she shook her head and stared at him. When they had locked eyes, Lucy suddenly pursed her lips as if she was contemplating something. Sting was about to ask when suddenly, Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a brief embrace.

Sting wasn't able to react immediately as he just felt surprised and frozen by Lucy's embrace. He had never thought he'd be embraced by the girl he likes, despite his sticky and sweaty appearance.

"Even if you, guys, didn't win. You did a good job," Lucy beams a smile at the blonde as she pulls away from him.

As Natsu watched the whole scene before him, the pinkette couldn't explain the sudden pang in his chest. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Seeing Sting's stunned and blushing look made him annoyed. He wanted to make a nasty comment when suddenly Lisanna waved a hand in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Natsu, are you okay?"

"Huh? Uh—yeah." Natsu gave a strained smile at the silverette before glancing at the two blondes behind Lisanna, "I'll head to the showers then we can leave,"

"Alright, I'll wait for you at the garden grounds," Lisanna then cups his face but quickly pulls away when she felt his sweat. She turns away and headed out of the gym.

As Natsu walks into the shower room, he hears the boys cheering for their victory. Even Team B was celebrating and exclaiming how the game turned out to be an exciting one. When he spotted his teammate leaving a shower cubicle, he silently nods to him and took his place.

Natsu was silent. He wasn't happy about something despite his win.

She didn't congratulate me.

She didn't smile at me.

She didn't even glance at me.

Natsu's fist curls, making his knuckles turn white. The hot water pouring over his body didn't make the teen relax. Natsu can still feel that pang in his chest.

Why does Sting get to have a 'good job', when I won the game?

Why does Sting get to be embraced by you, and I'm just brushed off?

Why does he get to have a reward, when I get nothing from my best friend?

Why does it hurt that Lucy appreciates Sting now?

Why do I care so much for Lucy's attention…when I have Lisanna?

Natsu sighs deeply as he begins to feel frustrated and confused with his own thoughts. His feelings were everywhere and he couldn't explain any of them. Staring down at the floor, watching the water get sucked into the drain, he suddenly hears Levy's words to him that afternoon.

I don't know why you can't see the obvious thing between you and Lucy… do some thinking. It's for your sake and Lucy's.