A Promise Beneath the Starry Sky

That night, there was a lunar eclipse.

(I'm back.)

"Did you... just hear something?"

"No!"

Three lounge chairs stood side by side on the top floor of Aibo's house, but only Aibo was lying down.

Beside him, Cana and Erza were locked in a staring contest—or rather, Cana was glaring fiercely at Erza. Erza ignored the murderous look and calmly said:

"Sorry, I didn't hear anything either. No one spoke just now, did they?"

"So! Why! Are you here, Erza?! Tonight was supposed to be family time for Aibo and me! What are you doing here?!"

Erza tilted her head.

"I'm Aibo's sister, and therefore family as well. Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Huh?!"

"Ahem, stop fighting and look! There's a meteor!"

Aibo couldn't spare any attention for the voice he had just heard. It was probably someone's thoughts nearby that he had accidentally picked up again.

Where he pointed, a meteor appeared, flying from the ground upward.

"Where, where!? Wow! It really is a met—wait, isn't that meteor's trajectory kind of weird?"

Erza nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. So meteors can fly backward..."

"That aside, is that really a meteor? Why does it feel like it's getting closer and closer?"

Then the three of them watched the bright meteor begin to "turn," flying downward from above. It drew ever closer, streaked across the sky above Magnolia, and fell toward the forest to the east.

"..."

"Uh, did a meteor just land near our town?"

"Looks like it. But why didn't we hear it hit the ground? Did it land too far away? Oh no! I forgot to make a wish! Erza, it's all your fault!"

"? You're being unreasonable."

Erza shook her head, took a few steps forward, then reached out and lifted Aibo into her arms.

"Watch the moon with your sister tonight."

"W-Wait! Erza, what are you doing?! Put Aibo down! I'm his sister!"

Erza effortlessly knocked Cana down and said unhurriedly:

"First of all, there isn't a limit to how many sisters one can have. Second, I'm the oldest, so I'm the sister. Cana, you should call me Sister too."

"What! Did! You! Say!?"

Seeing Cana show signs of transforming into a Gorgon, Aibo sighed and hurriedly used Flash to escape Erza's arms.

"Can't you two settle down for a while? The lunar eclipse is almost over. We came stargazing tonight, didn't we? Can you both just lie down nicely?"

In the end, with Aibo mediating, he lay on the middle lounge chair while Erza and Cana pushed their chairs together, pinning him between them on either side.

The three of them lay side by side, gazing at the starry sky. No one spoke, and the atmosphere was unusually tranquil.

Though in Aibo's ears, the thoughts in their minds never stopped.

[As long as I'm beside Aibo, it's always easy to feel at peace. It wouldn't be bad if days like this could go on forever... though it'd be even better if that annoying Erza weren't here.]

[As long as I'm beside Aibo, I don't feel that loneliness anymore. I hope I can protect this happiness with my own strength... I've already lost too much. This time, I won't let go.]

"..."

Aibo didn't dare say a word. He was happy that the girls were so close to him, but wasn't this getting a little too stressful? He felt like he could barely breathe.

He had once thought it was a shame he had been born a few years later and could only be the little brother. Now, though, he was glad he was young and could only be the little brother.

No one knew how long the silence lasted...

"Cana, are you living at the church now?"

"Hmph, yeah. What about it? If the priest hadn't said I was too young to leave, I would've moved in with Aibo ages ago!"

"Nothing. It's just that I was taken in by a church before too, so I always feel a certain closeness toward you."

"Uh, I-I..."

[I have parents, okay?!]

Cana's face reddened. Though she and Erza didn't get along, she knew she couldn't say something like that aloud. Unfortunately, Aibo had already heard it.

"Even if you say that, I still won't be friends with you! Hmph!"

"Hehehe, I actually like everyone in the guild. I like Aibo, and I like you too."

"What about Gray?!"

The air abruptly fell silent. At last, Erza rubbed her forehead and commented helplessly:

"...Gray... Gray is lively and cute too."

Cana grinned wickedly.

"Then you can have Gray as your little brother. Aibo is mine!"

"I don't want him!"

Erza slapped the chair and sat up. The two stared at each other, then after a moment, both burst into laughter.

"..."

While mourning for Gray, Aibo covered his face with both hands. He wasn't laughing. He just felt that something was off with these two, that the atmosphere was strange. He decided that tonight, he would obediently be "his sisters' toy."

Erza sighed helplessly.

"Honestly, I only wanted to ease the tension between us, Cana..."

Cana flashed her a grin.

"Hasn't our relationship always been great?"

Erza froze for a moment, then smiled and lay back down.

"So I was overthinking it. Sorry. I still have much to learn about dealing with people."

"Hehe, as long as you don't fight me over Aibo, we'll be the best sisters!"

"Aibo is everyone's little brother. I think we can share him."

"Emmm, fine. Since you're my good sister, when I'm not around, I'll lend Aibo to you as a little brother!"

"..."

Aibo wanted to say something, then stopped. If he didn't know they were both still elementary school dropouts, he would have called the police.

Forget it. Nonsense.

The two "sisters" chatted for quite a while longer before realizing they seemed to have neglected their little brother. Cana leaned over and pinched his cheek.

"Aibo, why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm meditating."

"Huh?"

"Magic power is abundant tonight. It's good for training."

"Mm, that's true. I didn't even notice until Aibo mentioned it, but the magic power in the air really is much more active. Then I'll do it too!"

"Seriously? You two... do you have to work this hard?!"

It had taken Aibo a year to understand the importance of magic power. Although his magic power had not grown slowly during that time, he was still dissatisfied.

Because Erza had already surpassed him by far in magic power.

Ever since she had come to the guild and begun learning magic, Erza's strength had grown explosively. Even someone with cheats like him couldn't catch up. It was absurd.

He couldn't go back on the boasts he had made before. Aibo planned to focus on increasing his magic power from now on, so he had spent some Inspiration Points today to upgrade Meditation to LV2.

If upgrading the basic [Meditation] skill could improve the efficiency of his magic power growth, then it was time to spend a batch of Inspiration Points.

"Actually, I can chat while meditating. The two don't conflict."

"Sigh, I really don't understand why you all like training so much. I just want to stay with my family and be happy every day..."

Erza's voice was firm.

"To protect my family, I must possess even greater strength! The current me is far too weak!"

"What a... very Erza-like answer. What about you, Aibo?"

"A man needs no reason to become stronger."

"You're just a little boy who hasn't grown up yet!"

Cana pursed her lips.

"Fine. I just feel like if I don't work hard too, you'll leave me behind...

Aibo, can you teach me some magic that suits me later?"

"Of course, my Sister Cana."

"Hehe, thanks, my little brother Aibo~"

After that, the three of them kept chatting about everything under the sun—the guild, the future, their dreams...

Unfortunately, two of the three were little brats with barely any worldly experience.

Most of the time, Aibo was the one wildly bragging about random things. He had the accumulated knowledge of an entire world, so he said whatever came to mind, while the other two could only listen silently with sparkling eyes.

Before they knew it, it was time to rest.

At last, Cana reached toward the starry sky. Her tone was wistful, her gaze gentle.

"Ah, I really hope we can always be like this in the future and never be apart.

Tell me, can we be family for the rest of our lives?"

"Huh? T-Together forever?"

Feeling that something was off, Aibo inexplicably felt guilty.

But Erza suddenly got up, grabbed Cana's hand, and looked as resolute as if she were about to join a political party.

"Of course we can! We're Fairy Tail!"

"..."

W-Was that line meant for a moment like this??

Two burning gazes fell from above onto Aibo in his lounge chair. The atmosphere was inexplicably strange, even a little frightening.

No, how had things suddenly developed into this?

"Aibo!" x2

Under the strange pressure, Aibo swallowed and stretched out his little arms, placing his hands over theirs.

"O-Okay. We'll be good friends for the rest of our lives..."

"Mm! For the rest of our lives!" x2