Dream Pearl Fish

After a while, Mirajane woke up groggily, her long eyelashes fluttering, her eyes half-open and half-closed.

She reached up and touched the corner of her mouth, rubbing her fingers back and forth on her lips twice to make sure there was no saliva before letting out a sigh of relief.

He stretched, raised his arms overhead, arched his back slightly, and his joints made a soft clicking sound. He looked like a cat that had just woken up, lazily stretching his body.

Turning around, I saw Wendy and Carla. Wendy was sitting on a small stool, and Carla was nestled on her lap. The two little ones were quietly looking at the bottles and jars on the medicine shelf.

"Huh? Wendy, Carla, what brings you here?"

Mirajane rubbed her eyes, her voice still soft and sleepy. She tilted her head and looked at them, her gaze moving from Wendy's face to Carla, then back again, her expression a little dazed.

"Sister Mira, we've come to ask Brother Riyao to help us complete our first request."

Wendy stood up, her tone serious yet tinged with anticipation.

Mirajane slapped his thigh, his palm making a crisp "smack" as he landed. A slight smile played on his lips as he thought of an interesting idea. He raised an eyebrow, instantly switching from a sleepy state to a state of high alert.

"I can take you there."

As she spoke, she patted her chest, giving off an air of "Don't worry about me," and smiled with her eyes crinkling.

Why did you slap my thigh?

Riyao was woken up by Mirajane's slap. His voice was muffled and he was grumpy from being woken up. He reached out and pinched Mirajane's face, pulling it to both sides. His fingers sank into Mirajane's soft cheeks and tugged at them.

Mirajane's face was contorted into various shapes. He grunted twice, reached out to slap Riyao's hand, but failed to slap it away. So he simply grabbed Riyao's face and pinched it back.

"I learned it from you. I'm already awake, and you're still lying in bed."

Mirajane, with an air of self-righteousness, pinched Riyao's face and wouldn't let go, even giving it a gentle shake, smiling innocently as if she wasn't the one who had just slapped the wrong person's thigh.

Riyao scratched his cheek, his lips twitched, and he decisively changed the subject, patting off non-existent wrinkles on his clothes and sitting up straight.

What were you just talking about?

"Wendy is going to do her first job and wanted you to show her around. I was thinking I could just take Wendy with me."

Mirajane released Riyao's face, straightened his disheveled collar, and smoothed it with her fingers along the edge of the collar.

"Yes, Mira can have it too."

Wendy nodded repeatedly, her little head bobbing like a chick pecking at rice.

"No, let's go together! How about we pick an S-Class mission?"

Riyao suddenly perked up, his eyes brightening.

"You cunning man! Wendy has never taken on any job other than a medical one before, and you've already accepted S-Class job."

Carla with her paws on her hips, her tail held straight up, her little face puffed out as she glared at Riyao.

"What if something happens to Wendy! You're such an unreliable mentor to the newcomer!"

The three people and the cat discussed it for a while, and decided that Wendy would go and see what kind of commission to take, Riyao and Mirajane would follow behind, and Carla would sit on Riyao's shoulder.

Wendy stared at the request form, looking conflicted. Her little hand swiped back and forth on the form, glancing at this and that, her brow furrowed and her lips slightly pouting. She was clearly suffering from decision paralysis.

Riyao leaned closer, squinted, and scanned the list of commissions. Then he pointed to one of the commissions, his finger tapping softly on the paper.

"How about this one? We can go to the beach together."

Wendy looked up and saw the highest commission. The commission slip was pasted at the very top, with a very beautiful fish drawn on it.

"Looking for the Dream Pearl Fish? The bounty is 100,000 J per fish, is the bounty really that high?"

Wendy's eyes widened suddenly, her mouth slightly open, and she tapped the number repeatedly to confirm it, as if afraid she had misread it.

Riyao wiped his drool, ran the back of his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became somewhat unfocused, as if recalling some wonderful taste. His Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

"This fish only appears in the southern waters during this season. It's very rare, extremely fast, and a bit clever. Most importantly, it tastes amazing."

When he said "It tastes amazing," his voice unconsciously lowered, and a wistful smile lingered on his lips.

"Has Brother Riyao tried it?"

Wendy tilted her head, while Carla rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I originally wanted to bring it home and raise it, but it died as soon as I wasn't careful enough. It was impossible to raise, so in the end I could only steam it and eat it."

When Riyao got to this point, his expression was one of deep sorrow, as if the loss of that fish was one of the greatest regrets of his life.

"But honestly, the taste of that fish... wow, I still can't forget it. The taste of the fish was just like its name, absolutely divine. Everyone's experience of it is different."

Carla's beard twitched, she swallowed hard, and then immediately turned her face away, pretending that she wasn't tempted.

Wendy tore off the order form and showed it to Makarov. She then ran up to Makarov with the form in her little hand and respectfully handed it over as if she were handing in homework.

"Hmm, this request is acceptable, but it's not just posted in our guild; people from other guilds will also be requesting it."

Makarov took the order form, squinted at it, stroked his beard, handed it back to Wendy, and patted her head.

"Be careful, don't get into conflicts with people from other guilds. But knowing that kid Riyao's personality... never mind, you guys just have to watch yourselves."

The group packed their luggage and set off.

Lucy hearing about the high bounty and the delicious fish, Happy and Happy both followed.

Gray, Erza, Natsu, Juvia also joined in the fun, making the guild entrance as lively as a spring outing.

"Seriously... aren't you guys that free?"

Riyao stared speechlessly at the group, one hand on his forehead and the other on his hip, his expression saying, "I knew it would turn out like this." He sighed, his shoulders slumping.

Gray scratched his head, looking speechless. He carried his bag in his other hand, the strap wrapped around his fingers twice, his expression awkward and helpless.

"I was forced into this. I was planning to complete other requests, but Erza dragged me here."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Juvia pressed herself against him, her hands clasped in front of her chest, her cheeks flushed slightly, acting all coy and shy.

"If Lord Gray goes, I want to go too! Besides, the sea is my home turf."

Gray's lips twitched, and he took a half-step to the side, but Juvia pressed against him again as if drawn by magnetism.

Ur covered her mouth and chuckled. She gave Juvia a suggestion: just keep bothering Gray; he's shy and won't chase her away.

Lucy's eyes gleamed with gold, her hands cupping her cheeks, as if she were enveloped in the glow of money. Her mouth stretched to her ears, and she gestured with her fingers in the air as if calculating.

"Two fish can pay my three months' rent, I have to catch a few! No, ten! Twenty!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, her voice growing louder and louder until she was almost shouting, her eyes seemingly sparkling with the jingling of gold coins.

Erza dragged a cart full of luggage, the wheels rumbling on the cobblestone street. The luggage was piled up like a small mountain. She waved her other hand, her tone crisp and decisive.

"Hey, let's get going."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the crowd, a slight smugness playing on her lips.

(•̀⌄•́)

"I brought beach armor, fishing gear, and three swimsuits."

Happy flew around excitedly, its little wings fluttering, circling above everyone's heads several times, its tail held high.

"Dream Pearl Fish! Fish! Aye!"

Natsu, carrying his luggage, danced around excitedly. The luggage bag swayed back and forth on his back. He raised one fist above his head and made a fishing gesture with the other hand in the air.

"I'm an exceptionally good fisherman! Igneel once praised me for it!"

Wendy smiled broadly, watching her noisy friends, covering her mouth with her little hands to giggle, her shoulders trembling slightly, her eyes curving into crescents.

"It seems like this is actually quite good."

Carla her arms and looked dissatisfied, her little paws tightly on her hips, her chin held high, and her tail swishing irritably behind her.

"Hey! This is Wendy's first job, what's with all of you showing up?"

She glared at everyone, but no one took her protest seriously. Lucy was still calculating the rent, Natsu and Gray were still arguing, and Happy was still flying in the sky shouting for fish.

Mirajane jumped onto Riyao's back, wrapped her legs around his waist, put her arms on his shoulders, rested her chin on his head, and patted his head, like riding a horse.

"Charge!!"

Riyao bounced Mirajane on his back, supporting her legs with both hands. A helpless smile curved his lips, but the joy in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"You're so nimble, where's your luggage?"

"On Erza's mountain of luggage."

Mirajane pointed to Erza's mountain of luggage, grinning as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Riyao glanced back at the small hill, then at Erza, secretly feeling that Erza harbored feelings for her Mira.

눈_눈

The group headed straight to the dock to board a boat to their destination, chattering and making a lively noise the whole way.

Erza led the way, Natsu and Gray secretly nudged each other, Lucy kept talking about the exchange rate between rent and bounty, Happy flew around Carla, but was always ignored by her.

Wendy walked beside Riyao and Mirajane, glancing up at them every now and then with a smile on her face.