Everyone who had been expecting a juicy romantic disaster could only stare at Touka as she enthusiastically cuddled Happy.
"What the heck? So this woman came looking for the tomcat?"
For some reason, Carla sounded distinctly displeased.
The tsundere little Exceed narrowed her eyes at Touka, who was rubbing her face against Happy with an expression of complete infatuation.
Wendy gently patted Carla on the head and offered an awkward smile.
"Maybe Touka-san just really likes cats…"
Of course, Wendy was only guessing.
After all, Touka had shown absolutely no interest in either Carla or Panther Lily after joining the guild.
Brandish's initial excitement had turned into complete bafflement.
"Ishgar keeps getting stranger and stranger…"
Natsu stared at Touka in confusion.
"Why are you hugging Happy while calling him my name?"
"Huh?"
Touka froze, then lifted Happy in front of herself and stared at him.
"Wait… your name isn't Natsu-sama?"
Happy raised one paw and gave his usual cheerful smile.
"Aye! I'm Happy, a mage of Fairy Tail!"
Touka's face immediately brightened again, and she hugged him tightly.
"So I really did hear it wrong that day! Haha!"
"What day?"
Natsu tilted his head, prompting Touka to explain what had happened half a year earlier.
At the time, a gang of human traffickers had been raiding villages and kidnapping young women.
Their victims were stuffed into wooden barrels, with only tiny holes through which they could see the outside world.
Natsu had accepted the job to hunt down the criminals.
When he arrived, one blast of his Brilliant Flame wiped out the entire gang and rescued the captives, Touka among them.
The problem was what Touka had actually seen from inside her barrel.
Through that tiny opening, her entire view had consisted of Happy heroically flying toward them while clutching a mass of blazing fire that vaguely resembled a dragon.
Just before the fight began, Natsu had loudly declared, "I'm Natsu, a mage of Fairy Tail!"
Then the battle had ended almost immediately.
Touka never got a clear look at who had actually shouted those words.
And so, an extraordinarily beautiful misunderstanding had been born.
There was still one part everyone found difficult to understand.
What kind of normal person saw a talking blue cat flying through the air beside overwhelmingly powerful magic and simply decided that he must have cast it?
"You're not human, are you?"
Now comfortably seated on Lucy's sofa, Ankh suddenly dropped the question without warning.
Happy's expression instantly stiffened.
He stared at the cute girl holding him with sudden horror.
Touka herself also froze. Despite how much the question sounded like an insult, nervousness immediately appeared behind her smile.
"O-Of course I am, Ankh-san. I'm completely human!"
Ankh smiled.
"Your body is built a little differently from a human's, though."
His gaze lowered slightly.
"For example, the tail coming out behind you."
Touka's expression changed.
"And while we're at it," Ankh continued, "you were also the one secretly sabotaging the other applicants during Fairy Tail's recruitment tests, weren't you?"
Touka went pale.
Erza and the others immediately became alert.
After dealing with gods, dragons, demons, demonification, and practically every other bizarre form of life imaginable, the strongest team had become extremely sensitive to the phrase not human.
Natsu, naturally, took the most direct approach possible.
He rushed forward and flipped up Touka's dress.
"KYAA!"
Touka shrieked.
Beneath the dress, emerging through her shorts, was an unmistakably fluffy cat tail.
Natsu sucked in a sharp breath, grabbed Happy, and immediately retreated to his companions.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"The leader of the White Magic Cult."
Ankh smiled, sounding genuinely surprised himself.
"I originally came along because I wanted to see why the famous White Wizard Touka—a mage supposedly important enough to be mentioned alongside Zeref—was looking for Natsu."
He glanced at the embarrassed girl.
"Turns out she really was just hopelessly infatuated."
Then his smile deepened.
"And apparently the legendary White Wizard Touka is also an Exceed."
Wendy looked at Touka in realization.
"Oh! So she learned a human transformation like Carla and Lily?"
Gray brought his hands together in a loose Ice-Make stance, visibly interested.
"The great witch Touka, huh? Sounds like she might actually be fun to fight."
Erza said nothing.
A sword had already appeared in her hand.
None of them were the inexperienced kids they had once been.
If the leader of a dangerous cult could simply infiltrate Ishgar's strongest legal guild under a false identity, the damage she might cause later was obvious.
Apparently, selecting recruits through careful testing, talent analysis, and all their modern methods still couldn't quite compare with Makarov casually stumbling across gifted children through what seemed like sheer destiny.
The atmosphere became tense in an instant.
Touka also understood now that Ankh had brought her here partly to draw out information.
But things had developed much further than she expected.
She was surrounded by some of the strongest mages on the continent.
How was she supposed to escape?
Strangely, Touka showed none of the overwhelming presence one would expect from the infamous White Wizard. Instead, she genuinely looked like a frightened young girl with no idea what to do, sweat gathering on her face as panic overtook her.
Lucy, always sensitive to other people's emotions, frowned.
"Everyone… I think there might be some kind of misunder—"
She never finished.
The terrified girl Lucy had been looking at suddenly changed.
Touka exploded into motion with startling decisiveness and lunged straight for Lucy, clearly intending to seize her as a hostage before anyone could react.
"Watch out!"
Natsu had already been wary of her.
His fist intercepted Touka's attack before she could reach Lucy, and he immediately followed with a furious barrage that drove her backward across the room.
This time, Touka revealed strength completely unlike anything she had displayed during Fairy Tail's entrance test.
Natsu's relentless assault still forced her into a messy retreat, but she reacted quickly, spotted an opening, and slipped away before throwing herself straight through the window.
Natsu vaulted after her without hesitation.
Gray and the others followed close behind, racing in the direction Touka had fled.
Ankh wasn't particularly worried.
As far as he was concerned, she was wasting her time.
He had already contacted Jellal and the others and arranged for Crime Sorcière to surround the area around Lucy's apartment before they ever brought Touka here.
Unless she suddenly grew wings, she wasn't getting far.
Then Ankh stopped.
"Hm?"
His head turned toward a nearby shadow.
Gray and the others had already rushed ahead, but Erza noticed Ankh had remained behind and immediately stopped beside him.
"What is it?"
Ankh pointed toward the darkness in the distance, his expression becoming complicated.
"Looks like we have another enemy."
"Who?"
Erza's senses weren't as sharp as Ankh's. She immediately drew Demon Blade Benizakura from her Requip space and watched the spot he indicated.
An instant later, steel flashed.
A breathtaking iai slash erupted from the darkness, carrying a torrent of Magic Power that crashed toward Erza like a waterfall.
Erza didn't panic.
Benizakura snapped upward.
CLANG—!
The two exceptional blades collided with a deafening metallic crash, sparks exploding between them.
And in that instant, Erza finally saw the familiar face hidden beneath the attacker's white robes.
Her eyes widened.
"Kagura?!"
Shock immediately replaced her battle focus.
"Why are you wearing the White Magic Cult's robes?!"