Chapter 262
"What?! That’s it?! What happened inside? How did it end? Where did they even go?!"
"FIXED MATCH! Give us our damn money back!!!"
Plenty of spectators were furious, but Marshall had never cared much about what strangers thought of him.
The semifinal was over, and that was that.
As the crowd gradually began leaving the stadium, Laxus remained seated at the judges’ table with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face.
Mira glanced over curiously.
"What’s wrong? Aren’t you leaving? Marshall probably teleported away with Erza."
"...I know."
Of everyone in Fairy Tail, Laxus was probably the person taking this tournament most seriously.
After all, the entire event had originally come about because of his suggestion, and his desire to become champion was completely genuine.
Makarov had already mentioned that if Fairy Tail held another tournament like this in the future, the S-Class Mages would probably have to be excluded.
Otherwise, the difference in strength was simply too enormous for the competition to remain balanced.
Which meant this might very well be Laxus’s last chance to prove himself in an event like this.
He intended to make it count.
He had to win.
Laxus had originally planned to spend the semifinal carefully observing Marshall’s abilities, then spend the evening developing several different countermeasures so he could thoroughly beat that irritating brat tomorrow and remind him who the real senior in the guild was.
Instead, Marshall had effectively shut the door before fighting Erza.
𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Laxus had learned almost nothing.
Worse, he somehow felt as though Marshall had played him for a fool.
It was infuriating.
Still, Laxus’s instincts told him one thing with absolute certainty: that strange white-sphere spell was dangerous.
He absolutely could not allow himself to be trapped inside it. If Marshall caught him with that thing, the fight might be over immediately.
Fortunately, Laxus was extremely fast.
As long as he remained alert, avoiding the spell itself shouldn’t be too difficult.
He simply had to make sure Marshall didn’t catch him off guard.
Laxus remained in his seat, silently simulating different battle scenarios in his head with an intensity that would have embarrassed someone preparing for a university entrance exam.
Then another thought occurred to him.
Freed and the others might not necessarily be able to defeat all four girls on Marshall’s team either.
He would have to put the Thunder God Tribe through some additional training tonight.
...
While Laxus was racking his brain over tomorrow’s final, Marshall was enjoying a much more pleasant evening.
"I-I can come in too?!"
Marshall’s eyes practically lit up like floodlights!
After he brought Erza home, she had been uncomfortable from sweating so much during the match and decided to take a bath.
As she passed Marshall on her way toward the bathroom, she casually asked,
"Marshall, do you want to bathe too?"
Marshall nearly jumped to attention!
Erza herself was momentarily confused by how enthusiastic his reaction was.
As far as she remembered, Marshall had always been extremely resistant to bathing with girls when he was younger.
He had even thrown tantrums over it more than once.
Seeing him suddenly so eager now left her wondering what had changed.
"Huh? I thought you’d refuse." Erza tilted her head. "Didn’t you hate things like that when you were little?"
"That was different!" Marshall protested, his face already turning red. "Back then was back then, and now is now! Besides, something like this is obviously only fine between people who are really close. When I was little... I didn’t understand any of that!"
He was lying through his teeth.
When Marshall was younger, there were certain situations he had been far too frightened to risk getting himself into.
Now, though, the two of them had both grown older, and he no longer saw the situation quite the same way.
Erza thought about his answer for a moment but didn’t attach much importance to it.
Somewhere deep in the foundations of her worldview, bathing together had never registered as something particularly scandalous anyway.
"All right, then. We can go together. I’ll scrub your back."
"Yes!"
Marshall practically bounced in excitement.
Then, just as he was about to follow her inside, he froze.
Wait.
He had gotten older!
This might be considerably more awkward than he had imagined.
Marshall’s face grew hotter, and he abruptly turned around.
"Actually... now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn’t. You’re a girl, so it might be a little inconvenient."
Erza stared at him.
"You’re backing out now?"
She grabbed him before he could escape.
"Come back here."
"Wait, wait! I-I’m suddenly not feeling very well..."
"What are you mumbling about? Hurry up."
"N-No, Erza-nee!"
Erza gave him a knowing look.
"Oh, please. I know you. If you genuinely didn’t want to come, you would’ve teleported away already."
Her lips curved into a teasing smile.
"You were obviously happy about it. Marshall can actually be honest sometimes after all."
"...I’m not! Don’t make things up!"
In the end, Marshall failed to convince even himself and reluctantly allowed Erza to drag him into the bath.
Once inside, however, all of his earlier confidence vanished.
Marshall sat with his back toward Erza, his face bright red and unusually quiet.
Without his usual layers of clothing to hide behind, he suddenly became painfully aware that he had changed quite a bit since the days when they were children.
Erza noticed his strange behavior almost immediately.
"Marshall, why are you so quiet? That isn’t like you."
She shifted closer.
"Why are you hiding in the corner? Come here. Didn’t I say I’d scrub your back?"
"..."
...
A few moments later...
One person had entered the bathroom red-faced.
Two people eventually came out red-faced.
Obviously, it was because the bath had been very hot.
A strangely awkward atmosphere lingered between them afterward.
Erza barely even said goodbye before hurrying away, her thoughts still tangled around one particularly embarrassing realization from the bath.
She was so distracted that she nearly walked straight into a wall.
’Marshall really has grown up...’
Perhaps she needed to reconsider exactly how she thought about their relationship.
Until she figured that out, though... maybe avoiding him for a little while would be safest.
Marshall, meanwhile, was secretly delighted.
Embarrassing or not, he and Erza had unquestionably become a little closer.
He had even managed to get her to scrub his back.
For someone who normally carried herself like such a mature older sister, Erza could be astonishingly innocent sometimes.
Marshall found that ridiculously endearing.
If only the next few years would hurry up and pass.
At the rate his life kept becoming more comfortable, Marshall wasn’t entirely sure how long he could continue behaving himself.
Either way, to thank Erza for taking care of him tonight, he decided he would put in some extra effort tomorrow and bring home the championship.
...
The next day arrived.
It was time for the finals.
"People of Magnolia! The moment you’ve all been waiting for—the World’s Number One Magic Tournament Final officially begins!"
The host’s announcement was met with deafening cheers. After several days of competition, the audience’s enthusiasm had risen to an entirely different level.
"Today’s final will use a more traditional format! The championship will be decided across three events: an individual battle, a doubles battle, and a team-based special game!"
The host raised one finger.
"Our special game will be Western Gunslinger! Magic is prohibited, and both teams may only compete using specially prepared magical toy guns!"
A second finger went up.
"The doubles event will be the Fairy Heart Capture Battle! And remember—S-Class Mages are not allowed to participate in that event~"
Then he raised a third.
"And finally, we’ll finish with the most exciting event of all: a one-on-one arena battle!"
The crowd roared louder.
"Whichever team wins two of the three events will become the champion of the first World’s Number One Magic Tournament and earn Fairy Tail’s official title of—"
"STRONGEST TEAM!"
The host threw both arms into the air.
"And now—"
"LET THE FINAL BEGIN!!!"