Do You Like Him?

Mira thought for a moment, then said, "He said he has amnesia and doesn't remember where he came from."

"How do you explain that Feiyin?" Ultear asked, letting out a soft breath.

Mira was stunned.

Yes, Chiba told them that Feiyin was his sister, but he had previously said that he only remembered his own name.

Moreover, when living with them, Chiba didn't exhibit the typical confusion and helplessness of someone with amnesia; he even knew about learning Ninjutsu... The very existence of those Ninjutsu was highly suspicious...

Perhaps he had indeed forgotten, but Feiyin's "awakening" told him everything about him.

Ultear shook her head and said, "Perhaps we never truly understood him. During the time I spent with him, I always felt there was something different about his eyes compared to others."

"That bewilderment, that look in the eyes of a wanderer, like a lost soul. He knew where he came from, but he didn't know where he was going, or rather, he never intended to return to his hometown."

Ultear continued, "The first possibility is that his homeland has been destroyed, and he has nowhere to go. The second possibility is that he doesn't know how to get back."

"Even so, he's still part of Fairy Tail, and the guild is his home now," Mira said softly. "We're all his family."

She suddenly laughed, gave her a playful look, and said, "You like him, don't you?"

Mira was taken aback, then her face flushed a beautiful rosy hue, as if illuminated by the sunset.

But she hesitated to admit it.

Why?

Thinking of this, she felt a moment of panic.

From their first encounter, to becoming familiar with each other, to being banished as a demon, to his fall off a cliff, and finally to their reunion...

During the darkest period of her life, he stayed by her side, comforting her. He was like the last ray of warm light, shining into her almost cold and closed heart. At that time, she thought she had fallen hopelessly in love with him.

Later, to protect them, he fell off a cliff. She was devastated, and driven by an intense thirst for power, she fully awakened to Take Over Magic. She flew down the mountain to find him, but to no avail.

They joined Fairy Tail and gradually adapted to guild life. This bustling guild gave her a strong sense of home. Time is indeed the best healer, and she gradually recovered from her grief. Perhaps influenced by her Demon Factor, she became a carefree, combative delinquent.

But she often wakes up from nightmares, her eyes streaked with tears.

She often sat in a corner, lost in thought, her mind filled with memories of her and him.

Later, she finally got news of him.

They were finally reunited, and the joy of their reunion overwhelmed her. He wasn't dead; she had finally seen him again.

Their lives returned to normalcy, which should have brought her joy, since nothing could stand in their way anymore. They had crossed the line between life and death.

But he was always busy, busy honing his skills, busy learning Ninjutsu, and sometimes he wouldn't even come to find me when he was traveling around Magnolia with Natsu and Feiyin.

The distance between them seemed never to have narrowed, but rather to have grown further apart.

She wanted to get closer to him, so she accepted a mission with him.

That night, they stayed together, and they had never felt so close to each other before.

But after the mission ended, the distance between them seemed to have widened again.

Later she realized that he was distancing himself from her.

In the end, was it all just wishful thinking on my part?

It turns out that at that time, he was simply pitying himself, pitying the version of himself that was rejected by almost everyone. He had always been that kind of person; to be so angry over Tianna, whom he had only known for a few days, it's not incomprehensible that he pitied himself back then.

"You're wavering. You don't know if you really like him." Ultear chuckled softly. "Sometimes, gratitude isn't the same as liking."

Mira shuddered and looked at her with a look of astonishment and suspicion.

Yes, she was also wondering if she really liked him...

Was it out of gratitude, or because of genuine affection...?

Ultear tilted her head, glanced at her, and smiled...

... yet her eyes revealed a sense of confusion...

Sometimes, gratitude isn't the same as liking...

"... or?"

"Run!"

"The town is surrounded on all sides; there's absolutely no way to escape!"

"Where are the Magic Council members?!"

"They're on the front lines!"

The once bustling town was now filled with panic. The townspeople crowded the streets, their anxiety palpable, even bordering on despair.

About an hour ago, various monsters of different shapes surrounded the town from all sides. They began their attack on the town as if in an organized and planned manner. Later, under the resistance of the troops led by Tianna and the town's garrison, they were unable to break through. Then, wave after wave of mages from the Dark Guild appeared, cooperating with the monsters and attacking the defenses wave after wave. The garrison retreated step by step and is now retreating to the edge of the town.

They did not rely on towns for fighting because it was not a fortified city. They could only fight their opponents on the ground and could not rely on weapons.

People have lost hope.

Front.

The sounds of alternating magical bombardments, the clang of swords, and the piercing of bodies filled the air. One body fell, only to be replaced by another, who stepped over the corpses and continued the fight.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what a fierce battle..."

On a high hillside in the distance, a young man with short brown hair watched the deafening battle and clicked his tongue in admiration.

A mocking smile played on his lips; to him, this was nothing more than a bloody spectacle.

"Hmph... It's just a fight between ants..."

Beside him, a middle-aged man with long hair gave a faint hum.

"Speaking of which, the woman you've been longing for ran away with that man..." the middle-aged man said casually.

The young man paused, then licked his lips and chuckled coldly, "That good-for-nothing man? After this mission, I'll personally go to the Northern Region and show her that I'm not comparable to those two pieces of trash, Rina and Kruse."

"Luodi, the strongest throne [Earth Throne], no one but me knows your true strength." The middle-aged man smiled faintly, "That foolish woman actually thought we would really fight to the death against the Grimoire Heart... Did she think that fleeing to the Northern Region would allow her to escape us? Hmph..."

His gaze swept across the battlefield, finally settling on a slender, dark figure.

"But this farce should be coming to an end. Go, Luodi, kill her."

"Hmm!" Luodi's lips curled into a cruel, monstrous smile.