Erza

Riyao and Gray unleashed a thrilling combination move in perfect sync, kicking the doors at the same time. Even the hinges gave a tortured creak.

Behind the bar, Makarov bristled instantly. The old man slammed his glass down on the counter, his white beard bristling as his roar shook dust from the rafters.

"Have you two little brats lost your minds?! Those doors were only replaced a week ago! If you can't pay for them again, I'll nail you both to the guild doors as new decorations! The repair costs are coming out of your request rewards! Don't expect a single coin to be left!"

Riyao hooked his hands into his waistband and held his head high, his confidence enough to lift the roof:

"Go ahead and deduct it! Don't you know who Gray is? How could he be short of a little repair money? Why would he be afraid of a deduction, old man?"

Without thinking, Gray picked up where he left off and shouted, his ice-blue eyes wide. "That's right! We're not—"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he saw Riyao clapping and laughing, not standing even half a step closer to him. Riyao had clearly left him hanging out to dry while slipping away himself.

Gray caught on instantly. His fists creaked as he clenched them, and he turned to glare at the back of Riyao's head and curse him.

"Hey, wait a minute, you bastard! Why are you acting like this has nothing to do with you?!"

Hearing that, Riyao looked back and burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. He swaggered along without paying the slightest attention to Gray's glare, and when he'd had his laugh, he left the bristling Gray behind and sauntered straight toward the bar.

His eyes fixed on the little red-haired girl sitting straight-backed by the counter, he leaned over and tilted his head to take a couple of looks at Erza, then turned back and waggled his eyebrows at Makarov.

"Old man, is this the new girl you mentioned? Whoa, her red hair's as bright as a burning flame. It looks great. Maybe I should dye my blond hair red too? I bet it'd look great on me?"

Makarov swung his cane at the back of Riyao's head without actually hitting him, his beard bristling and his eyes glaring.

"You brat, you're never serious! Enough wisecracks. Hurry up and take a look at the girl's eye! If you can treat it, get on with it!"

Erza wore a solemn expression as she spoke stiffly. "My name is Erza Scarlet. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Riyao put on the same solemn expression. "My name is Riyao. I don't have a surname. It's a pleasure to meet you."

At that, Cana, who was drinking juice by the bar, sprayed out a mouthful and clutched her stomach, laughing nonstop.

"Pfft, hahaha... Riyao, do you have to act like that? You were so smooth just now, being a jerk and passing the buck. Why are you suddenly acting like a new student called into the principal's office? The contrast is too much!"

Her laughter set off the others in the guild who had already been watching the show. Their laughter nearly lifted the guild's roof.

Macao, who had just finished baking honey bread in the kitchen, came over carrying a hot baking tray. The noise startled him so badly that his hand jerked, and he nearly dumped the whole tray of bread on the floor. He hurriedly steadied it, then scratched his messy hair and joined in the laughter.

"Exactly! Who would've thought the brat who was kicking down the doors with Gray just now would be more nervous introducing himself properly than a new student at a magic academy? Hahahaha!"

Gray had still been clenching his fists and glaring at Riyao. Hearing that, he bristled even more.

"You're the one who tricked me first! I even backed you up just now, saying, 'Like we're scared,' and then you turned around and used me as a backdrop!"

Makarov chuckled and tapped his cane, quieting the uproar in the room before nodding toward Riyao with his chin raised.

"All right, all right, that's enough fooling around. Riyao, take Erza into the back room for treatment. Don't dawdle here."

Erza looked a little dazed. Riyao waved a hand in front of her eyes and said cheerfully, "Come on, let's go to the reception room. I'm really good at this. Everyone who's tried it says so."

He turned and led the way. Erza followed close behind, her small hands clutching the hem of her clothes, her heart full of unease. She was afraid her hopes would be dashed again.

Before Riyao returned, Makarov had already taken Erza to see Granny Porlyusica, who had said all she could do was replace the eye with an artificial one.

The two entered the reception room. Riyao pulled the door shut behind him and locked it with a click, then rubbed his hands together with a creepy grin and slowly advanced on Erza, one step at a time.

Erza had never seen anything like this before. She panicked, her palms breaking out in sweat as she backed away involuntarily. Only when her back hit the wall did she stammer, "R-Riyao! Wh-what are you going to do?! The master and the others are still outside!"

Seeing Erza's reaction, Riyao laughed. "I'm teasing you. Go sit on the sofa."

"There are too many clumsy people in the guild. I locked the door to stop one of them from barging in."

"Oh, oh, okay."

Erza sat stiffly on the sofa, her hands resting nervously on her knees.

Only then did Riyao walk over and lean down toward her, reaching out to gently remove the dark eyepatch covering her left eye.

He frowned and examined it closely for quite a while, even waving a hand gently in front of her eye. In the end, he couldn't help letting out a soft sigh.

Erza's heart clenched instantly, and her voice grew tight.

"Riyao, is it... still impossible to treat?"

"Ah, no, it's treatable. Of course it is."

Riyao looked up at her, quickly shaking his head and smiling, his tone softening.

"I was just thinking, with an injury this severe, you've had to endure so much on your own to make it this far... It must have hurt terribly at the time, right?"

His words seemed to strike the emotions Erza had bottled up for so long. Her uninjured eye instantly misted over, and large tears rolled down her cheek. Her lips trembled badly, but she still shook her head.

"It doesn't hurt... It stopped hurting a long time ago. I'd already prepared myself to get an artificial eye. Thank you so much, Riyao... for being willing to help me."

Click. At some point, Riyao had pulled out a magic camera and taken Erza's embarrassing past.jpg.

Erza froze at the sound. As if nothing had happened, Riyao said cheerfully, "All right, stop crying. Tears will affect the treatment. Lie down."

"Um, Riyao, did you just take a picture?"

(;ﾟдﾟ)

"Oh, that's a diagnostic photo, for observing your treatment later. Don't read too much into it. I'd never show it to anyone else, really."

(・ω・)

Erza watched his eyes drift away involuntarily. A black line appeared on her forehead as she said calmly, "Riyao, your eyes wandered. You're feeling a little guilty."

"Hahaha, am I? All right, all right, hurry up and lie down."

Unable to question him any further, Erza wiped the tears from her face and lay down on the sofa as instructed.

Riyao instantly dropped his playful grin and took sterilized tweezers and a scalpel from his shoulder bag. First, he carefully cleaned the remaining blood clots and necrotic tissue from Erza's eye socket.

At the same time, he channeled healing magic filled with immense vitality, awakening the dead optic nerve and tissue in her eyeball bit by bit.

Erza had prepared herself to tremble all over from the pain, but to her surprise, she felt only a faint coolness spreading from her eye socket, without the slightest bit of piercing pain.

She couldn't help speaking hesitantly. "Riyao, I..."

Before she could finish, Riyao's low voice interrupted her. He was now focused entirely on the wound, his tone growing serious, with no trace of joking left in him.

"Don't move around. Save your strength. I can't spare a hand to chat with you right now, so just be good and wait."