But Life Always Had Wonderful Surprises

Eleven quietly enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Only after the sun had gone down and Gray had been thoroughly beaten did he remember that he had come out to buy things.

By the time Eleven returned to the orphanage, it was completely dark. Because he was late, dinner for everyone at the orphanage was basically plain rice mixed with bread. Their resentment was almost tangible.

Under everyone's accusing stares, Eleven ate his own helping of rice and bread before he was forgiven.

It was only a small matter, and everyone soon forgot about it, because Maria had just happily announced that they would have a cake party the next day, and everyone would get a piece. The children were overjoyed.

Once Eleven started earning money, Maria refused to take it, and he didn't know how to save it himself. So he began living lavishly, spending whatever he earned.

He didn't buy luxuries, though. He bought large quantities of food and drink to bring back to the orphanage, stuffing the children with them as if he were force-feeding ducks. Maria had objected at first, but when she saw that Eleven refused to change his ways and was secretly bringing in supplies, she said no more. She was happy to improve the food at the orphanage.

The children had Eleven to thank for the homemade cake at the orphanage, too. Sugar and cream weren't cheap, after all.

"Little Eleven, invite little Cana and little Gray tomorrow, too," Maria said, smiling at him. She knew those two friends of Eleven's from Fairy Tail. As for Laxus, Maria didn't like him because he was fierce and always beat Eleven up! Besides, Laxus had gone away to train and wasn't at the guild.

"Mm, sure! Can I bring one more person?" Eleven readily agreed, hoping Maria would make an extra portion.

"Of course!" Maria nodded with a smile.

Early the next morning, Eleven ran to the guild.

After entering the guild hall, he first watched Makarov cautiously for a while. When he saw that the old man no longer seemed intent on punishing him, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Now relaxed, Eleven went back to swaggering and headed straight for Gray and Cana. Makarov, drinking at the bar, merely looked up and glared at the boy before ignoring him. He wasn't about to hold a grudge against a kid overnight.

Gray was surprised to see Eleven acting so boldly and immediately felt a little annoyed.

"Huh? Eleven, what are you doing at the guild?"

Gray spoke with exaggerated surprise, deliberately raising his voice and casting sly glances at Makarov, hoping to catch the master's attention and get him to come and continue punishing Eleven.

But Makarov ignored him entirely and carried on drinking.

Eleven ignored Gray's sneaky antics too. Instead, he grinned at Cana. "Cana, Cana, Maria's having a cake party. Do you want to come?"

"Yes, yes, I want to go!" Cana immediately broke into a bright smile and raised her little hand to sign up.

"Ah! I want to go too!" Gray shamelessly sidled over, declaring that he wanted cake too.

Eleven: (ㅍ_ㅍ) Stare~~~

Eleven's stare made Gray a little uncomfortable, and when he remembered how he had just tried to set Eleven up, he became awkward. Even so, he pretended to be calm and tried to argue his way out of it.

"Pfft! On second thought, I'm not going. Now that I think about it, only little kids want to eat cake!"

"Oh, is that so? What a shame." Eleven accepted Gray's words without hesitation, giving him no way to back down.

Rather than continue enjoying the sight of Gray's face turning red, Eleven began looking around for Erza. Sure enough, he found her in a corner of the guild again.

"Erza, we're having a cake party. Do you want to come?" Eleven ran over and sat down across from her, smiling at her.

This time, Erza wasn't quite so cold. She looked up at Eleven and asked, "Cake?"

"Mm, it's soft and fluffy and delicious!" Eleven coaxed her.

Silence followed. It lasted so long that Eleven began to wonder whether Erza had decided to ignore him again.

Just as Eleven was about to give up, Erza raised her head and said quietly, "Mm, I want to go."

"Hehe, then let's go!" Eleven smiled happily. Without asking what Erza thought, he grabbed one of her hands and pulled her out of her seat.

Then he took Cana's little hand as well, Cana on his left and Erza on his right, and hurried out with them.

Just as he was about to step through the door, Eleven looked back at Gray, who sat there alone, sulking. He shouted, "Gray, let's go! What are you sitting there for?"

Gray froze for a moment, then his face lit up with surprise and delight, and he scampered after them.

At the orphanage dining table, the children were all seated in a row. Maria was handing out the cake: exactly one piece for each person, no more and no less.

After the usual prayer, the children eagerly set to work with their knives and forks. Some even used their hands.

Erza was the exception. She was carefully examining the cake in front of her. This might have been the first time she had seen cake.

Maria had baked the orphanage's cake herself. It wasn't particularly refined, but the thick layer of cream spread over it was mouthwatering.

Although Maria called it strawberry cake, she couldn't put a strawberry on every piece, so she had to use some off-brand red jam instead. A small dab of jam adorned the creamy white cake, serving more as decoration than flavoring and making it look more appetizing.

Erza carefully pushed her little fork into the cake. The soft, fluffy feel of it made her swallow unconsciously.

As soon as the little piece of cake entered her mouth, Erza froze. Then her eyes lit up, and a look of bliss appeared on her face.

Eleven, who had been secretly watching Erza from the side, widened his eyes in shock. He felt a powerful mental fluctuation burst out of her: an overwhelming sense of happiness.

Honestly, Eleven had never felt such an intense emotional fluctuation from anyone before. He even felt as though he could see pink flowers of happiness blooming behind Erza. The emotion instantly smashed a huge hole in the seal on her mind, allowing her own mental fluctuations to pour out in a steady stream.

After spending a while lost in bliss, Erza began eating in great mouthfuls. In just a few seconds, she had polished off the cake in front of her.

Fortunately, Eleven reacted quickly. Just as Erza was about to stick out her little tongue and lick the plate, he hurriedly offered her his own untouched piece.

"Here, you can have this." At the very last moment, Eleven stopped a young girl from behaving badly.

Erza looked at the second piece of cake before her in delighted surprise, then looked up at Eleven. "I-is that okay? You're such a good person!"

Without waiting for Eleven to reply, she picked up her fork. This time, though, she ate much more carefully, seemingly wanting to savor it.

Cana, who was sitting beside Eleven, also noticed what was happening. At first, she was puzzled to see him give his cake to Erza. But when she saw how cute Erza looked, with that happy expression as she ate, Cana reluctantly pushed her own piece, more than half of which remained, in front of Erza.

Eleven patted Cana approvingly on the head, which pleased her greatly. Then both of them turned to look at Gray, who was sitting across from them.

Gray's cheeks were puffed up like a hamster's, moving as he chewed. He had nearly finished his cake too. Sensing Eleven and Cana looking at him, he raised his head in confusion.

When he saw that Eleven and Cana had both shared their cake with Erza, and saw the happy expression on her face, he felt awkward. He looked down at his pitiful plate and was too embarrassed to offer it to her.

"Um, I'll give her a piece of cake another time!" Gray didn't know why he owed Erza a piece of cake, but he didn't want to put up with Eleven and Cana's scornful looks, so he made the promise loudly.

"Mmm, you're all sho nice! Fank you!" Erza tried to thank Eleven and the others while eating, but her mouth was so full that they could barely make out what she was saying.

"All right, all right, don't talk with your mouth full." Eleven reached out to calm Erza and told her to concentrate on eating her cake first.

Eleven was happy too. He hadn't expected a little piece of cake to solve most of Erza's problem. It was a wonderful surprise!

At the same time, though, he felt a little disappointed. He hadn't expected a piece of cake to be what finally broke the deadlock! Then what was all my following her and acting for? What have I been doing these past two days?

Eleven looked resentfully at the cake disappearing into Erza's mouth. He hadn't expected to be outdone by a piece of cake!