Is It Really Haunted?

For seven days—seven whole days—nothing had gone right for Riyao.

Water got stuck between his teeth, and when he choked on his food, grains of rice shot straight out of his nostrils. Whenever he walked, his little toe always managed to strike the corner of a table, leaving him grimacing in pain.

Now he stared blankly at the ceiling. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out which god he had offended to suffer such outrageous bad luck.

Fortunately, he was a healing mage. Whatever injury he suffered one moment, he could heal himself the next, sparing himself from being battered beyond recognition.

Just then, a burst of mocking laughter rang out.

"Hahahahaha!"

Riyao shot upright in bed and warily scanned his surroundings, but saw no sign of anyone.

"Damn, is this place haunted? First Master, is that you? Can you cut it out? I'm easily scared, you know. I'm the most well-behaved junior in the guild!"

He spoke tentatively, his voice full of unease.

The room remained deathly silent. There was no response.

Riyao hurriedly threw on his clothes and left his room, his skin crawling. He watched his surroundings carefully along the way and discovered that nothing else went wrong.

He breathed a sigh of relief and wanted only to hurry to the guild and ask the old man what was going on.

He raced all the way to the guild entrance, wound up for a Leo flying kick, and kicked the doors open. He followed through by leaping inside, landing in a standard, showy Spider-Man pose.

"Bang!"

The door struck Gray, who crouched down clutching his head and cried out in pain. "Woohoo!"

Beside him, Levy flinched all over at the sudden crash and nearly dropped what she was holding.

As Gray scrambled to dodge, he accidentally knocked over the strawberry cake in front of Erza, splattering cream all over the table.

Erza's face instantly darkened, and the pressure around her plummeted. It clearly said: I'm unhappy. Very unhappy.

Gildarts had been helping Cana practice Card Magic, but the crash interrupted them as well.

Makarov looked helplessly at Riyao, who was still striking his flashy pose, but ultimately didn't dare raise a hand against him.

The kid had been dogged by bad luck these past few days, and it was downright uncanny. Makarov was afraid that a slap might land him in even bigger trouble.

Riyao slid forward on his knees and clung tightly to Makarov's short legs, wailing tearfully.

"Old man, my place is haunted! I was in my room just now when I suddenly heard this creepy laughter!"

Makarov raised an eyebrow, looking bewildered.

"Haunted? Has your luck gotten so bad that you've started running into ghosts? That's about as rare as seeing a fairy."

Gray finally recovered and immediately flew into a rage.

"You bastard, Riyao! Drop dead!"

He was just about to raise his hands and use Ice-Make to teach Riyao a lesson when Erza gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

A wave of bone-chilling killing intent swept over him. Gray froze on the spot and stammered out an explanation.

"Th-this isn't my fault... It-it was all that b-bastard Riyao..."

Gildarts strolled over to the bar and asked cheerfully, "What did it sound like? Describe it carefully."

Cana came over too. Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she made a startling discovery.

"Come to think of it, Riyao hasn't had any bad luck since he left home."

Riyao froze, instinctively patted himself all over, and carefully thought back over his journey. Gradually, a look of disbelief appeared on his face.

"That's right... Since I left home, I haven't been chased by wild dogs, had water thrown on me, or been hit by anything falling out of the sky..."

Cana confidently gave him a thumbs-up. "Want me to do a reading? Before, I kept drawing the Tower and the Wheel of Fortune reversed. Maybe your luck has completely changed today."

Gildarts and Makarov exchanged a glance and both nodded in agreement.

Makarov's hand clenched slightly behind his back. The moment he confirmed that the brat's bad luck had completely disappeared, he would send this troublemaker flying.

Riyao followed Cana's instructions to complete the reading, and the guild members gathered around. Many of them had anger simmering in their eyes. Riyao's string of bad luck over the past few days had dragged them into trouble too, and they had long wanted to give him a good beating.

Cana looked over the cards in her hands and pondered for a moment before decisively shouting, "Get him!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, everyone swarmed forward, chasing Riyao down and blocking his escape.

Having discovered that his bad luck was gone, Riyao no longer held back. He immediately activated Hundred Battles Magic to withstand their attacks and shouted indignantly as he dodged, "You bastards! Ganging up on someone as handsome as me—you're obviously just jealous!"

"You bastard, Riyao! This is payback for hitting me on the head with that door!"

Gray brought his hands together, and Ice-Make Magic instantly took shape.

"Riyao, you'll pay with your life for my thirteen innocent strawberry cakes!"

Erza picked up a wooden training sword nearby, her gaze icy.

"Give me back my premium tobacco! That was a prized stash I'd kept hidden for ages!"

Wakaba opened his mouth and blew out clouds of smoke.

"You call yourself handsome? How thick-skinned can you get?!"

Purple flames ignited at Macao's fingertips.

"And my dorayaki! Pay me back for my dorayaki!"

A round blue figure indignantly rummaged through his pockets.

Nobody noticed Makarov quietly extending a hand behind Riyao and gathering a trace of magic. With one swift slap, he sent him into the middle of the crowd.

Everyone piled on top of Riyao at once, pinning him down so he couldn't move.

"Whoa, wait, wait! Don't—don't hit me there! Even if I can heal myself, it still hurts!"

"And... who just blindsided me?! That's so underhanded!"

Holding a wineglass, Makarov took a sip as though it had nothing to do with him. Catching sight of Riyao being held down and beaten out of the corner of his eye, he cheerfully spoke to Gildarts.

"The kid's finally stopped having bad luck. It's time he learned a lesson."

Riyao grabbed Gray and used him as a shield, so both Gray and Riyao ended up getting beaten. Riyao thoughtfully used Healing Magic to treat Gray.

"Bastard, let go of me! Ow, ow!"

"Good brother, don't go! How could I live without you?"

Riyao remembered something and shouted, "If you keep hitting me, don't blame me for what happens next!"

A mage with a black eye jumped up and stomped on him gleefully. "Old Wang—ah, pfft, Old Ri, don't blame me. It pains me too!"

Riyao activated Healing Magic and grinned. "A bag of rice has to be carried up how many floors? Healing Magic: Life Link: Modified!"

Jade-green chains shot out, striking everyone present. When the others noticed no effect, they continued beating Gray and Riyao.

The next second, everyone felt as though they had been beaten, while Gray took double damage.

In the blink of an eye, everyone in the guild had fallen to the floor and was rolling around, wails rising one after another.

Even Makarov, holding his wineglass, and Gildarts, who had been watching the show, couldn't escape. The chains' effect spread, and the reflected force caught them off guard, leaving their bodies numb. Makarov's wineglass fell to the floor, and both men curled up, crying out in pain.

Gray lay on the floor, tears nearly spilling from the pain, and roared at Riyao, "Bastard! Why am I taking double damage?!"