Gajeel's topic-changing technique proved extremely effective.
Everyone's attention was drawn over in an instant.
Seeing how awkward he looked, Ankh only smiled and did not continue teasing him.
Gray, as usual, was bare from the waist up.
With a chicken leg in his mouth, he asked in confusion, "But Team A and Team B merged in the end, didn't they? Shouldn't the bet be invalid?"
Gajeel immediately became forceful and snorted. "Who said that? Before the merge, we Team B were always in the lead!"
Lucy was instantly unhappy and argued back, "But the result wasn't decided yet! If the match didn't end, how do you know who won and who lost?"
She did not want to listen to Team B's orders.
Just thinking about it told her there was no way anything good would come of it…
Laxus spoke with interest, "Oh~ So what you're saying is that if we kept competing, you were confident you could beat me and Ankh?"
Lucy: "That's… that's a different matter…"
Cana, meanwhile, hugged her wine barrel and said confidently, "The team battle was based on points. It's not like only our two teams were fighting each other. What's impossible about winning through strategy?"
Natsu, who hated losing more than anyone, stepped onto a chair and shouted, "Then let's keep competing! We'll fight now and decide the winner!"
Erza agreed. "Exactly. A wager this good can't be wasted!"
Wendy looked at her arrogant teammates with some concern, not knowing what to say for a moment.
She had a feeling…
Even if they competed again, Team B would still win!
After all, the master's team arrangement had been very clear from the start.
One team was a group of strong fighters aiming to win the championship, while the other was a group of trainees meant to gain experience and adapt to the current era.
Facing the shouting from his younger brothers and sisters, Ankh smiled faintly and said, "Then let's decide it in one round. The losing side has to obey one person from the winning side for the entire day tomorrow. How does that sound?"
"No problem!"
Erza agreed immediately.
Lucy, being rather sneaky, quickly added, "Then let's do rock-paper-scissors. Fair and square!"
Mainly because if they competed in anything else, their side probably had no chance of winning…
Juvia was so excited that water started spilling from her body, her mind already filled with fantasies of ordering Gray around for a whole day.
Being ordered around unconditionally by Gray and ordering Gray around unconditionally both gave Juvia the same kind of happiness…
"All right. Let's begin."
Ankh pulled out a chair and stood to one side, while Erza stood opposite him with a serious expression.
Behind the two of them stood their respective teammates, along with a ring of onlookers watching the fun from the outside.
Erza held her breath and focused.
Ankh remained calm and composed.
Then, in the tense atmosphere, Erza shouted, "Rock, paper—"
"Scissors!"
Erza made the scissors gesture.
Ankh made rock.
"We're finished."
The members of Team A instantly petrified.
Erza stared blankly at her scissors hand, her eyes almost losing focus, as if she could not believe her own defeat.
"You've loved throwing scissors ever since you were little. Always showing your sharp edge. You still haven't learned to change it," Ankh said calmly, withdrawing his hand with a smile in his eyes.
Laxus laughed smugly. "Then it's decided. Tomorrow, you'll all have to listen to us."
"I want Natsu and Cana!"
"Haaaah?"
Natsu looked deeply displeased and scratched at his hair in frustration, while Cana felt her future darken before her eyes.
Gajeel pointed at Lucy and revealed a villainous grin.
"Then I'll take you! Tomorrow, when I sing at the guild, you'll dance backup for me!"
Thinking of Gajeel's devilish singing voice, Lucy immediately felt her heart collapse.
As expected, Juvia chose Gray. One of them wore a lovestruck smile, while the other looked solemn as if facing a great crisis.
Mirajane, wearing a wicked grin, chose Erza.
One look at her face was enough to tell she was definitely planning something bad.
Wendy was assigned to Ankh's orders, and the little girl instantly let out a sigh of relief.
After all, compared to the rough man, the lovesick girl, and the secretly delinquent older sister next door, Ankh seemed far too gentle.
"All right! Let's all get a good sleep and prepare to welcome a not-so-wonderful day!"
The dinner continued deep into the night.
Only after everyone had eaten to their hearts' content did they finally scatter and return home to sleep.
Some people looked forward to tomorrow.
Some people feared opening their eyes.
Because of her rent problem, Erza shamelessly stayed at Ankh's house.
But when she saw that Mirajane was still there after everyone else had left, she was immediately shocked.
"Why hasn't Mira left yet?"
Mirajane had expected her reaction long ago.
She proudly touched her face and laughed wickedly. "Because we're living together now. We're even going to sleep in the same room!"
Erza instantly went red with heat.
The two of them seemed to return to the days when one was the disciplinary committee member and the other was the delinquent girl, and late at night, they started causing trouble in Ankh's house again.
In the end, Erza clung to Mirajane and insisted that Mira sleep with her.
Mirajane was so angry her teeth itched, and from the look on her face, she seemed ready to bite Erza.
Ankh helplessly had the servants clean up the tableware in the dining room, then happily drifted off to sleep.
...
The next day, Ankh enjoyed a rare peaceful sleep.
It was only during breakfast that he suddenly realized something was wrong.
Those two girls…
Usually, they were even more enthusiastic about meals than he was.
Why were they nowhere to be seen today?
Curious, Ankh picked up his milk and bread and walked toward Erza's room.
After knocking, he pushed open the door.
And then came an opening scene like a bolt from the blue.
Ankh's eyes widened sharply.
On the large bed inside the room, Erza lay limp all over, her hands and feet tied behind her back, while the arrogant Mirajane had her pinned down completely.
Mirajane was even laughing wickedly, that terrifying laughter frightening enough to make children too scared to cry.
Ankh took a deep breath, backed out of the room, and closed the door.
Then he suddenly opened it again!
'All right.'
'It was still the same scene.'
It seemed Mirajane could no longer wait and had already begun carrying out her revenge plan against Erza.
Erza was also quite something.
Even like this, she still refused to yield…
Ankh reminded Mira to be mindful of the limits, then withdrew from the room that might get locked away by the censors if he described it for even a few more lines.
He would let them play by themselves. Maybe it could even improve their relationship.
Right now, Ankh was rather curious and wanted to go see how the other punished people were doing.
...
Ankh leisurely walked to the guild.
The guild hall, still in its quiet recovery period, had quite a lot of people gathered already, though most of them had only come to play because they had nothing else to do.
Then Ankh saw Laxus enjoying the treatment of an emperor.
Behind him, Cana was kneading his shoulders with a resentful face, while Laxus kept ordering Natsu to run errands and buy things.
Gajeel had indeed started singing his awful metal rock music, and beside him was Lucy in a bunny-girl outfit, dancing in humiliation.
And Gray…
'Hm?'
'Where was he?'
Lisanna secretly pointed toward the dormitory street behind the guild and whispered to Ankh, "Gray was taken to the dorm alone by Juvia."
Ankh: !
'Oh no.'
'Gray's purity was in danger!'