Hair

Natsu and Happy cleaned the meat and fish so thoroughly that the plates didn't even need washing. Happy even used his paws to suck the fish bones until they gleamed.

The two wiped their mouths, jumped off the chairs, pushed open the guild door, and ran out to continue doing quests.

There are about ten people sitting scattered around in the guild hall right now.

Compared to the scene a few days ago when dozens of people were crammed together and making a lot of noise, this place seemed exceptionally deserted.

Some people wanted to participate in the S-Class Exam and dragged their teammates along to do missions.

Some people were drawn in by the atmosphere and wanted to join in the fun. After all, commissioning clients wasn't a bad thing, and making some money was a good thing.

After defeating the Phantom Lord Guild last time, Fairy Tail's reputation in the Kingdom of Fiore soared to its peak.

Orders flew in from all over the country, increasing several times over, which was enough for this group to wreak havoc now.

Otherwise, they would have been snatched up long ago; Natsu wouldn't have had a chance to get several by himself.

Max, holding a glass of wheat juice, leisurely strolled over and sat down next to Riyao.

He crossed his legs, took a sip of his drink, and let out a long sigh.

"Ah, Natsu and the others are so energetic. It's so good to be young."

"You talk as if you're that old."

Riyao glanced at him.

"Max, aren't you going to do the commission?"

"I'll pass."

Max waved his hand, causing the liquid in his glass to swirl.

"I'm well aware of my own capabilities. I'd better just stick to selling guild merchandise; the Fairy Tail badges sold really well last time."

"What if? There's no harm in trying."

"Stop trying to sway me." Max, holding his wine glass, leaned back against the bar.

Riyao shrugged, saying he was just saying it casually.

The guild door was pushed open, and Elfman and Lisanna walked in.

The two men were covered in dust and dirt, their hair matted with dry grass and mud, their clothes soaked in ash, as if they had just crawled out of the ground.

Lisanna spotted Mirajane immediately, ran over, opened her arms, and threw herself into Mirajane's arms, rubbing her face all over her sister's body.

"Sister! We're back!"

Mirajane looked down at her clothes.

The once clean shirt was now covered in a large gray stain, and Lisanna kept rubbing it on her face, making the stain grow larger and larger.

"Okay, Lisanna."

Mirajane reached out and grabbed Lisanna's ear, twisting her wrist.

"Ouch!! Sis! I know I was wrong! Please let me go! My ear is going to fall off! It's going to fall off!"

Lisanna tilted her head, stood on tiptoe, and was pulled to one side.

Elfman bypassed the sisters' battlefield, walked up to Riyao, scratched the back of his head, and grinned foolishly.

"Brother-in-law, um... I'm injured."

Riyao looked him up and down.

Elfman had a wound on his arm, a scratch from a monster's claws. It wasn't deep, but it was still bleeding.

There were also several bruises on his back, the bluish-purple outlines of which could be seen through his clothes.

"Where are your medicines? Have you run out?"

Elfman quickly pulled a bottle from his waist bag, shook it, and found that there was still more than half a bottle of green liquid left.

"We still have the medicine, but since we're back for a trip, we wanted to save a bottle."

"It's just a potion, nothing rare. Why try to save money?"

As Riyao said this, he had already tossed a healing orb over.

The ball of light landed on Elfman, and green light seeped into the wound, which began to heal at a visible speed, and the bruises slowly faded away.

Elfman squinted his eyes in comfort and let out a long "Ah".

The surrounding members all turned their heads at once, giving Elfman strange looks.

Elfman pretended not to see it, but the tips of his ears turned slightly red.

"A real man makes a sound when he's being healed."

No explanation needed, we all understand.

Riyao patted him on the shoulder, his expression sincere.

Mirajane released Lisanna's ear and went back into the kitchen to start preparing food for the two of them.

The sound of spatulas clattering came from the kitchen, and soon a delicious aroma wafted out.

Lucy pulled Lisanna to sit down at the bar and helped her remove the dry grass from her hair.

"Lisanna, what kind of mission are you going out on this trip?"

"It's about helping farmers clear out the wild magical beasts around the area; those beasts keep coming down the mountain to steal crops. I'll also be completing another quest: gathering some herbs."

As she spoke, Lisanna rummaged through her bag, pulled out a handful of herbs wrapped in cloth, and handed them to Riyao.

"By the way, brother-in-law, these are the herbs you requested. See if this is enough."

Riyao took the herbs, opened the cloth bag, rummaged through it, and nodded.

"Yes, that's enough."

Lucy looked at the herbs and blinked.

"Is this okay? Can guild members send it too?"

"What's wrong with that?"

Lisanna said with a grin.

"My brother-in-law is too lazy to go out and gather herbs, so he often posts quests in the guild. Anyway, it's on our way when we go out to do quests, so it's no trouble to accept them."

"What? I didn't see this kind of request."

"Hehe, because my brother-in-law gave all the commissions to me and Elfman in advance. It's for internal use only, not for outsiders."

"..."

Lucy's expression was indescribable, a mixture of envy and speechlessness, before she finally sighed.

I wish I had a brother-in-law like that.

Riyao put the herbs into the infirmary, and when he returned, he saw Lucy's strange face.

"Hey Lucy, are you constipated? Need me to prescribe some medicine for you? It'll give you a good laxative."

"No, that's not true!!"

Lucy slammed her hand on the bar, her shout echoing throughout the hall.

Riyao bypassed the flustered Lucy and casually patted Lisanna's head.

Lisanna immediately slapped Riyao's hand away, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster guarding its food.

"Brother-in-law, you're not allowed to touch my head! I'm going to tell my sister you're bullying me!"

"I didn't bully you, I was just checking if your hair was tangled."

My hair isn't tangled!

Lisanna unleashed a flurry of cat-like punches on Riyao, the punches small but incredibly frequent, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Riyao stood still, letting her scratch him.

"Lisanna, how about trying long hair?"

Riyao suddenly asked, a green light emanating from his hand.

"Don't want!"

Lisanna immediately turned her head to one side and reached out to block Riyao's green-glowing hand, as if she were pushing against a wall.

Long hair is so hard to manage! It takes forever to comb every morning, and washing it is such a hassle.

"Would Lucy like to give it a try?"

"Huh?"

Before Lucy could react, Riyao's hands were already on her head.

Green light emanated from the palms, seeping into the hair shafts.

"Hey!! I haven't agreed yet!!"

Lucy's hair began to grow wildly.

Golden hair, like sprouting vines, extended down from the top of her head, past her shoulders, across her waist, and all the way to her knees.

My hair is smoother than before, and it has a honey-like shine in the sunlight.

Riyao took two steps back, stroking his chin as he examined the man.

"Hmm, Lucy with long hair still has a chance to become the mascot."

Lisanna nodded and circled around Lucy.

"Looks great! You have much more presence than before."

Lucy frantically pulled a mirror out of her bag, looked at it closely, and froze.

She tilted her head, and the long-haired girl in the mirror tilted her head too.

She tossed her hair, the golden strands tracing an arc in the air before falling back to her shoulders.

"I never knew I looked so good with long hair!"

Lucy's lips began to curl upwards, and her eyebrows rose as well.

She stood up and spun around, her hair billowing in the arc of the spin before slowly falling back down.

"Yes, yes."

She admired herself for a full three seconds before reaching for her key pouch at her waist.

"Cancer, Caelum! Open the door!"

A golden magic circle lit up, and Cancer Caelum emerged from the light.

He held a pair of scissors in each hand, twirling them between his fingers twice to produce a crisp snip sound.

"Caelum, give me a stylish haircut!"

Caelum raised the scissors, circled Lucy twice, and carefully examined her hair through her eyes behind her sunglasses.

He held up two fingers, picked up a strand of hair, felt its texture and length, and then nodded.

The scissors began to dance.

Caelum's hands moved so fast they were just afterimages, the scissors drawing countless silver arcs in the air.

Strands of golden hair drifted to the ground, like a golden snowfall.

After a moment, Caelum stopped.

Lucy looked at herself in the mirror and frowned.

"Hmm... this hairstyle is a bit too mature, let's try a different one."

Caelum's scissors danced once more.

A few more moments passed.

"This is so cute."

The scissors danced once more.

"This fringe is so thick, you can't even see your eyes."

"This is too short; it feels like a completely different person."

"This..."

Cracks began to appear on Caelum's sunglasses.

"This... seems to be back to how it was before?"

Caelum put away the scissors, snorted, and turned to return to the Celestial Spirit World without even saying goodbye.

Lucy eventually took matters into her own hands and tied her hair into a high ponytail.

Her ponytail was tied high at the back of her head, with golden strands swaying gently behind her, giving her a clean, neat, and energetic look.

"The old version looks better."

Lucy twirled around in front of the mirror twice and nodded in satisfaction.

"Caelum will cry."

Riyao leaned against the bar, his tone full of sympathy.

"That awful client. They went to so much trouble to get so many haircuts, and you didn't like any of them. In the end, you just tied your own hair in a ponytail."

"What client?"

Lucy guiltily put the mirror away.

"Caelum wouldn't be that petty, right..."

Your last "probably" betrayed you completely.

"I'll treat him to something delicious next time!"

Lucy's voice grew softer and softer.

Mirajane came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of fried rice and placed it in front of Elfman and Lisanna.

She looked at Lucy's high ponytail in the mirror, then at her own long hair, reached out and picked up a strand, twirling it twice around her fingertips.

Riyao noticed her movement and moved closer.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Mirajane let her hair down and tilted her head.

"I just suddenly thought... should I try short hair?"

Riyao looked intently at her face, imagining what Mirajane would look like with short hair.

"You can give it a try; it'll grow back anytime anyway."

"Let's talk about it when we get home."

Mirajane smiled, turned around, and continued serving the dishes.

Lisanna buried her head in her rice, her mouth full, and mumbled something indistinctly.

"My sister would definitely look good with short hair too."

Elfman nodded in agreement, chewing as he did so, only able to make "mmm" sounds to show his approval.