A Man's Mouth

After Eleven promised the guild master that he absolutely would not step in to help Erza unless he had to, he finally got his wish and ran out of the guild.

Erza had not gone far. She seemed to be heading back to the girls' dormitory, and she was in no particular hurry. Eleven followed openly behind her, keeping a suitable distance that was neither too close nor too far.

"Eleven, what are you doing here?" Cana's voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Oh, Cana, good morning." Eleven turned and saw Cana standing prettily behind him, a mischievous grin on her face. He grinned at her and said good morning, not feeling guilty in the least.

"Morning... This is the girls' dormitory! Why are you here? Did you come looking for me?" Cana had meant to tease Eleven, but his sunny smile left her unsure how to continue. Instead, it seemed as though she had been reading too much into things, and her face turned a little red.

"No, I'm just... uh..."

Eleven suddenly got stuck halfway through. How was he supposed to explain this? He had not thought there was anything wrong with what he was doing before, but it would sound very strange if he told someone about it.

Could he really tell Cana, "I'm following Erza, so don't make a fuss"? Wouldn't that instantly put him on the same level as Gray?

Only then did Eleven suddenly realize that what he was doing did not seem like something he could openly boast about.

"Uh... I'm just... just taking a walk. Right, that's all! Hahaha..." Eleven was definitely not a good liar. By now, even the back of his shirt was wet. He scratched his head stiffly and laughed, trying to put on an expression that said, "I'm not fooling you, I'm definitely not lying."

"Why did your walk bring you to the girls' dormitory?" Cana stared hard at Eleven's face, looking suspicious.

"Uh, coincidence. Just a coincidence, haha..." Under her stare, Eleven began to sweat on his forehead. He guiltily looked away, unable to meet Cana's eyes.

Cana: (ㅍ_ㅍ) Stare~~

"Oh, I see." Cana looked at Eleven for a long time, then suddenly her bright eyes shifted and she smiled. Without another word, she simply stood quietly beside Eleven and stayed there.

You little punk, you think you can hide something from me? If you won't tell me, I'll just see for myself what you're up to! Hmph!

When Cana finally stopped asking questions, Eleven quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but before long, Erza came out.

The girl came running out of the girls' dormitory, dragging a large suitcase almost as tall as she was. Who knew what she had packed inside? It clattered and clanked as she went. Erza did not even look at Eleven and Cana, who were locked in a battle of wits at the entrance to the girls' dormitory. Pulling her big suitcase, she gradually disappeared into the distance.

Eleven wanted to chase after her immediately, but the gaze from behind him was too piercing for him to ignore the curious girl.

"Um, Cana, don't you have anything to do?" Eleven nervously tried to send Cana away.

"Nope, I'm always free." Cana tilted her head and looked at Eleven with a smile.

"Ah, fine, I surrender~" Eleven really could not stand the way Cana was smiling at him. He helplessly raised both hands in surrender. "I'll tell you the truth. Actually, I'm following Erza... uh..."

Before Eleven could finish, he saw Cana's gaze grow increasingly contemptuous. He felt his existence becoming more and more insignificant, approaching the level of trash.

Just then, inspiration suddenly struck Eleven, and he hurriedly continued, "This is a secret mission the guild master assigned me!"

"A secret mission?" Cana still looked doubtful, clearly not believing him.

"Yeah, yeah!" Eleven did not know what had gotten into him, but his face was no longer red, and he was no longer out of breath. He even managed to look as though it were perfectly natural as he leaned close to Cana's ear. "Look, isn't Erza about your age? But she's going out on a mission by herself, so of course the guild master is worried! That's why he told me to follow her secretly, just in case something happens."

"Then why don't you two form a team and go together?" Cana's attention was drawn by Eleven's air of mystery, but she still shrewdly spotted a hole in his story.

"Uh... well, you know what Erza's personality is like. How could she possibly team up with someone?" Eleven had stumbled for a moment and almost been stumped by the question. Luckily, he was exceptionally quick-witted right now. "And the guild master doesn't want anyone to know he's giving a young girl special treatment. That old man, tsk, tsk, tsk!"

After delivering this mysterious explanation, Eleven deliberately put on a contemptuous expression and shook his head.

"So, Cana, this is a secret mission. You're the only one I've told, so don't go telling anyone, and don't let the guild master know what I told you either. Understand?"

And that wrapped it up! Eleven felt that his wisdom was about to break through the heavens! How could there be someone as quick-witted as him in the world? Not only had he successfully fooled her, he had even blocked off the possibility of being exposed with a single sentence! Eleven had never realized he was so good at deceiv... the art of language.

By now, Cana was completely taken in and thoroughly believed Eleven's nonsense. She even hurriedly covered her cherry lips with her little hand to show she would not tell anyone.

Eleven was very pleased with Cana's reaction. He reached out and patted her little head. "All right, Cana, I have to go. Erza's already gotten far away. Remember, this is a secret between the two of us!"

Hearing this, Cana immediately turned serious. She nodded her little head vigorously and solemnly watched Eleven leave to follow Erza.

Having gotten away from Cana, Eleven let out a huge sigh of relief. He even felt a little weak all over. In that short time, his back had become soaked with sweat.

Thinking back on it now, he could hardly believe how he had performed. His logic had been so rigorous and his thinking so meticulous that he had dazzled himself until his scalp tingled. Eleven felt he ought to hurry and find somewhere to write down their conversation, then review it every day so he could appreciate his own wisdom daily.

Although he was thinking about this and that, he did not slacken in his great undertaking of tailing Erza. With his Spiritual Power to scout, it would have been hard to lose her even if he had tried. This time, though, Eleven was much more cautious. One moment he hid behind a house, the next he used a passing carriage to block the view, and then he pretended to be a customer browsing a street vendor's wares.

"Mommy, look, what's that big brother doing, sneaking around like that?"

"Be good, don't look!"

Eleven paid no attention to the strange looks from the pedestrians around him. He was completely absorbed in his own tailing techniques. It was just too cool! He did not even want to use his invisibility spell; that took far too little skill. Quietly following his target without being discovered, relying on his surroundings, made Eleven very excited!

Perhaps this was the ninja dream hidden within every boy! Although Eleven did not know what a ninja was, he had fallen in love with the feeling of watching from the shadows!