Kabe nodded.
"Yeah, yeah. Wait a sec, I need to grab a shirt."
While he turned to look for clothes, Lisanna finally had time to take in their surroundings.
She clicked her tongue as she looked around at the devastated East Forest, where the ground was pitted and uneven, trees toppled everywhere like they had been blasted by artillery.
"Big brother Kabe, you really should let East Forest live already.
Look at this, it used to be such a nice forest and you turned it into... whatever this is."
As she spoke, she glanced at the white sleeveless shirt Kabe was pulling over his head, then reached out and snatched it away.
"Ew, do not wear that. It is filthy. Let big sis Mira give you a new one when we get back."
Kabe spread his hands helplessly, now with nothing at all to wear on his upper body.
"Hold on, then how am I supposed to get back?
I am not some weirdo like Gray who likes walking around the streets half naked."
Lisanna's eyes flicked quickly over his torso, taking in the distinct muscle lines still slick with sweat.
Her cheeks reddened slightly and she turned her head away in a hurry, barking,
"What are you afraid of? You can fly. Just fly home.
Come on, hurry up, big sis is already waiting."
"Fine, fine. But you are the one who said so."
"Huh, what?"
Before Lisanna could react, Kabe shot straight into the air by himself, leaving her standing there, clutching his shirt and staring, hair ruffled by the wind.
"At least take me with you too, you idiot Kabe!"
She stomped her foot in frustration, then quickly used her Take Over magic, transforming into a flying bird form and flapping hard as she headed for home.
...
The moment she got back, Lisanna rushed into the house, shouting as she crossed the threshold,
"Big sis Mira, you need to scold Kabe!
He just flew back and left me behind all by myself!"
As she complained, her big eyes swept the room fiercely, trying to locate the culprit.
From the kitchen, Mira poked her head out and rolled her eyes.
"Give it a rest. You can fly too, so stop trying to hitch a free ride off Kabe."
Then she noticed the clothes in Lisanna's arms. After a short pause, she added,
"Kabe went to his room to shower. Take his clothes to the laundry room to soak, then come back and help."
Mira pulled her head back into the kitchen and went right on cooking.
Lisanna pouted, muttering a small "Okay..." before turning and heading for the laundry room.
After a while, with the clothes soaking, she bounced back into the kitchen again, ready to see what she could do to help.
She pushed through the doorway and saw someone already there.
It was Erza, wearing an apron, moving a bit stiffly as she helped Mira, clearly acting as an assistant.
Lisanna blinked, a little surprised, then quickly waved with a friendly smile.
"Erza, you came to learn to cook from big sis again?"
Before Erza could answer, Mira snorted.
"Hmph, with how clumsy she is, she will never learn properly in this lifetime."
Erza's shoulders drooped at once. She lowered her head, clearly wounded.
But immediately after, she heard Mira add in a different tone,
"Though at least her desserts are not bad."
Erza's gloom vanished in an instant. Her face brightened into a smile.
"Thank you, teacher. I will keep working hard."
Mira nodded, satisfied.
"Good. Tonight I will teach you how to make crystal shrimp dumplings.
For now, you and Lisanna take all the dishes out to the dining room."
"Yes, teacher!"
Watching Erza obey big sis Mira's instructions so seriously and respectfully, helping carry dish after dish, Lisanna felt like the scene in front of her was something out of a dream.
And all of this... had started about a year ago, on the day her sister passed the S Class exam.
That day, after becoming the guild's fifth S Class mage, Mira had listened to Kabe's suggestion and invited all the younger members of Fairy Tail to their home as guests.
It was then that Erza first came to the Strauss home and tasted Mira's cooking.
From that moment, she was utterly conquered.
Even while enduring Mira's cold sarcasm and relentless nitpicking, she insisted on becoming Mira's student in the kitchen.
Because of that, the relationship between the two girls had slowly improved.
They no longer started arguing and trading blows the second they met, like they had in the past.
Of course, everyone knew why Erza was working so hard at cooking in the first place.
So in the year since, while Mira patiently passed on her culinary skills, she had never let down her guard for a single moment.
...
Once the three of them had filled the large dining table, big enough for more than ten people to sit around, Lisanna glanced up at the clock on the wall.
She then turned to ask her sister, who had just taken off her apron and stepped out of the kitchen,
"Big sis Mira, what about big brother Elfman?
It is already this late and he is still not back?"
Mira dragged out a chair carelessly and sat down, crossing her long legs wrapped in black stockings as she answered,
"Forget him. Right when you went out, he sent a message saying he found a really good job and took it at the last minute."
"Tch, he ditched me again. Next time I am not taking him with me either!"
Ever since Mira became S Class a year ago, Lisanna had been doing jobs together with Elfman most of the time.
But sometimes, Elfman would leave his little sister behind and go on a job alone.
In his words, a real man had to be independent.
He could not always do every job with his sisters.
Since he always showed good sense and ran all his potential jobs past the master and Mira beforehand, they had soon stopped worrying and let him do as he liked.
Only Lisanna would grumble now and then that her big brother had grown up and did not want to spend time with her anymore.
"Creak."
The door to Kabe's room opened.
He came out in a loose short sleeved shirt and shorts, droplets of water still hanging from the tips of his hair as he walked into the room.
"Just us, huh? Then let us eat."
Mira frowned at the sight of him and stood up again. She spun him around and pushed him back toward his room, planting herself at the door with hands on her hips.
"How many times have I told you? Dry your hair after you shower before coming out.
What if you catch a cold?"
"Ugh, so troublesome. My body is really strong, you know, it is not that easy for me to get sick."
Kabe complained, but under Mira's sharp gaze he still obediently went back and towel dried his hair properly.
Only then was he allowed to return to the dining room.
Their easy, natural back and forth, like that of real family members, made something flicker in Erza's eyes.
Unable to hold it back, she muttered under her breath,
"So nice... I want to live with Kabe too."
"What was that?"
Mira had just sat down again when she turned her head, squinting as she asked.
Realizing she had accidentally spoken her thoughts aloud, Erza panicked and shook her head quickly.
"N-nothing!"
Kabe scooped up his bowl of rice and started eating in big, unhurried bites, eyes shamelessly drifting between the two girls.
In these four years, Mira had gone from the skinny girl she used to be to someone fuller and strikingly attractive.
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