Seeing that Mira could still curse at full volume—and even drag-race her wheelchair—Shane finally relaxed.
He lifted a hand and greeted her cheerfully.
"Yo! You've got a lot of energy! That new look really suits you!"
"You've got some nerve saying that!"
The moment Mira saw Shane's calm, easygoing face, her temper flared.
"Who was it that swore up and down my strength was comparable to Erza's?!"
Her mind replayed the fight from earlier—
No matter how she exploded with magic, no matter how flashy and vicious her attacks were, Erza just kept doing the same plain, brutal routine: swing, block, swing again.
That wall she couldn't cross made Mira's chest feel tight with frustration.
She knew she'd improved by leaps and bounds—so why did she still not have even a sliver of counterplay?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She glared at Shane like she wanted to eat him.
"Liar! Fraud! Garbage teacher!"
"…" Normally, being questioned to his face like that would've offended Shane's "half-teacher" pride.
But Mira was wrapped in bandages with only her eyes and mouth visible, looking so ridiculous he couldn't even get mad. He had to pinch his own thigh to stop himself from laughing.
He turned to Erza and pointed at Mira's sloppy mummy-wrap.
"This… was your bandaging?"
What Mira was wearing wasn't bandaging so much as hog-tying. Some parts were cinched tight enough to cut off circulation, other parts dangled loose, and there was a massive dead-knot tied on top of her head. The technique was… abstract, to put it politely.
"Mm."
Erza nodded seriously, apparently satisfied with her work.
"After the fight, I judged she had many injuries and needed emergency bleeding control and fixation, so I handled it a bit."
"'Handled it a bit'?"
Mira was so furious she almost launched herself out of the wheelchair.
She hated that expression Erza had—the "I'm completely correct" face—like reality itself had to agree with her.
"Don't think you can just manhandle me because you won!—ngh!"
She tried to force herself upright to regain some dignity, but the movement tugged her wounds and she sucked in a sharp breath.
Shane reacted fast, stepping in and pressing one hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down into the wheelchair.
"Alright, alright, settle down."
He met her angry stare and sobered up.
"Now you understand you're still not strong enough, yeah?"
"While you're recovering, calm your mindset and let it sink in. After New Year we'll keep training—there'll be a day you get your payback."
"Keep training?"
Mira snorted, not buying it at all.
After getting tricked once, she was convinced Shane and that "bad woman" Erza were basically wearing the same pair of shorts.
"What else could you possibly teach me?"
She looked him up and down with pure suspicion.
"And honestly… you might not even be able to beat Erza yourself."
Having personally experienced Erza's monster-level strength, she couldn't imagine this guy—about her age, and rarely showing his power unless she was demonized—being that strong.
Erza was already absurd. How much more absurd could Shane be?
"Cough, cough… well…"
Makarov—who'd been smiling while the kids bickered—finally chimed in at the perfect time, clearly pleased the guild vibe had returned to normal.
"Mira, don't underestimate Shane."
The old man raised two fingers, pride obvious in his tone.
"Shane is one of the only two S-class mages in our guild right now."
"Only two S-class…?"
Mira stopped rolling her wheelchair.
She'd heard the term from Shane before, but it hadn't meant much at the time. Coming from the guild master, it suddenly carried weight.
"And just so you know," Shane added, chin lifted smugly as he pointed at himself, "the other one is the guild's strongest—Gildarts. And me? I'm the other one."
"Erza isn't?!" Mira's eyes went wide.
"I'm not."
This time Erza herself answered—no evasions, no pride, just blunt honesty.
"In the S-class exam recently, I lost to Shane. He's much stronger than me."
"Tch—!"
Mira's competitive fire reignited instantly.
Even the invincible Erza wasn't S-class?
Then if Mira became S-class before Erza, wouldn't that mean she was… stronger?
That simple logic resurrected her pride on the spot.
She whipped her head around, her eyes shining through the gaps in the bandages.
The fastest way to become S-class was obvious: get help from an S-class.
Shane might be unreliable, but in Mira's mind he was still way more "reliable" than that one-time-seen scruffy uncle Gildarts.
"Hey."
She dropped the awkwardness entirely. "You're not going to back out, right? After New Year, you keep teaching me."
"Oh? Now you remember me?"
Shane raised an eyebrow, putting on a wounded expression as he looked at this brutally practical girl.
"Just a second ago you called me a garbage teacher and a fraud. And now you want to trouble me? Must be nice."
He folded his arms and deliberately made it difficult.
"Besides… we agreed. If you think my teaching is useful, you call me 'Master.' And so far? I haven't heard it."
He was certain Mira—proud, tsundere, and obsessed with saving face—could never say it in front of all these people.
But—
Mira paused for exactly one second, then said it clearly, loudly, and shamelessly:
"Master Shane."
"—KGH!"
Shane choked.
He stared at the calm, self-possessed mummy in front of him like he'd seen a ghost.
"You… you said that that easily?!"
"What's so weird about it?"
Mira didn't look embarrassed in the slightest.
"You taught me a lot. It was useful. And that was the agreement."
She was good at one thing, at least: accepting a bet she'd lost.
Seeing her unexpectedly frank, oddly adorable attitude, Shane's urge to mess with her evaporated.
"…Fine."
He scratched his cheek, helpless. "Since you said it, I'll accept it."
"But after New Year I'll probably have a bunch of things to handle—might be away for a while. The training plan will have to wait until I'm back."
"…More training…?"
Beside them, Erza's faint smile stiffened.
She watched the two of them slip into "master-and-student rapport" again, and a hint of regret surfaced.
If she'd known it would turn out like this… she should've been firmer from the start and "trained" Mira herself.
"No problem! I'll wait!"
Mira brightened even through the bandages.
Putting aside the frustration of losing to Erza, she'd honestly enjoyed the last two months with Shane.
Then, in high spirits, she threw one more threat at her nemesis.
"Erza! Just you wait!"
"Next time—next time I'm putting you on the ground!"
With that, she gritted through the pain, called for a bewildered Elfman, and rolled out to recover like a victorious general.
…
Watching her disappear through the door, Shane suddenly realized something awful.
"Wait… after New Year, I've got a lot to do."
He counted on his fingers:
Find the missing Ultear
Go to the seaside city and negotiate the magic-weapon business
Add Jellal to the "companion" list
Come back and start Mira's second-stage training…
"This schedule is insane."
He glanced at the calendar by the bar. New Year was only a few days away.
"And I still have to find time to summon a new Heroic Spirit for the experiment!"
He'd kept postponing it because of Mira and the debt. Now, at the end of it all, the debt wasn't fully gone—and the summoning experiment still hadn't happened.
If he didn't do it now, after New Year he'd be crushed under real responsibilities and never get the chance.
"Gotta move. Now."
His expression sharpened.
"Erza, I have an emergency—I need to go out. Don't wait for dinner!"
Before Erza could ask what, he was already gone—like the wind.
WHOOM—
Dragon wings spread.
Shane became a streak of light, shooting straight toward the endless snowy mountains outside Magnolia.
No people. No buildings. The perfect place to test whether the visions would "manifest" again.
…
High in the sky, the wind screamed around him.
As he flew, his awareness sank into the Hero's Book.
Staring at the glowing class icons, he fell into thought.
"Since this is an experimental pull… the goal is to see how much the visions affect reality now…"
He decided.
"This time, no filters."
"Completely random!"
~~~
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