When It Comes to Love, Sometimes You Still Need a Wingman

"What are you talking about? I only caught you because you were about to fall." Ed looked utterly righteous.

"You held me for quite a while!" The more Mira thought about it, the angrier she got. She blamed herself for somehow quietly letting this guy hold her for so long back then.

"My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror. Everything I do is justice!"

"Justice, my ass!"

Ed looked at the frantic Mira and said with a chuckle, "Back to business. Thanks to my tireless efforts just now, I successfully raised the mission reward from six million J to ten million J~ Shouldn't you thank me?"

"!!" Mira was somewhat stunned. "Ten million? That's an increase of two-thirds! Really? Was the client this generous?"

"Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, you'll find out when you collect the reward, won't you? You can't lie about something like this." Ed spoke calmly.

Mira lowered her head and fell silent for a while. Then she looked up at Ed and said seriously, "We agreed before that you'd take one-third of the reward. But without you, this mission might have been very difficult to complete, and you also saved Elfman. I thought it over. This time, you should take two-thirds."

"There's no need for that." Ed looked directly into Mira's blue eyes and replied seriously, "I did my best to finish the mission and save Elfman not to increase my reward. Besides..." Ed made a hugging gesture and grinned wickedly. "I've already received a huge reward~"

"You can't calculate it like that..." Mira blushed a little.

Ed escorted Mira to her room door and said, "All right, we've been up all night. Hurry and get some rest, or you might get dark circles under your eyes~" Mira lowered her head without saying anything. "What's wrong?" Ed asked, puzzled.

Mira suddenly threw herself into Ed's arms. Ed hurriedly caught her. "What's wrong, Mira? Are you feeling unwell? I'll go find Edward and have the doctor come back to examine you."

Mira shook her head and wrapped her arms around Ed as well. "Then... when you said you wanted to pursue me, were you serious?" Her entire face was buried in Ed's chest, making her voice sound muffled.

Ed had been completely confused, but upon hearing Mira's words, he seemed to realize something. He answered seriously as well, "Yeah. I was serious." "In that case... consider this the rest of your reward. The one-third we agreed on won't change, okay~" Mira hugged Ed tightly, then slipped straight out of his embrace and smiled at him.

Ed froze for a moment, then smiled too. "The additional reward has been received~ If possible, I'd appreciate a little more."

"In your dreams. All right, go get some rest." With her little face flushed red, Mira returned to her room. The moment she entered, she saw Lisanna staring intently at her with sparkling eyes. "W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?" Mira felt uncomfortable.

"Mira, what exactly happened between you and Ed?" Lisanna was full of curiosity. "I saw it just now—you two were hugging at the door~ Could it be... you've got something going on~"

"Of course not! Why did you say it with that weird rolling tone?" Mira protested in embarrassment. "That was just... right! It was only to thank him for saving Elfman! Yes, that's all it was!" Mira tried to convince both herself and Lisanna.

"Really?" Lisanna was not fooled at all. "Forget it. As long as you've thought it through, Elfman and I will support you. But you absolutely have to remember this!" Lisanna suddenly looked very serious.

"W-what?"

"Don't ever run away with Ed just because you're afraid the two of us might not approve~"

"! You still dare bring that up? It was because of your nonsense that..." The two sisters tussled and played around before going to rest.

A few days later, Ed and the others had mostly recovered from their injuries. After bidding Edward farewell, they set out on their journey home. On the train, Lisanna kept trying to pry into whether Ed and Mira had made any new progress over the past few days, but Mira either changed the subject or physically suppressed her.

Watching the two sisters fool around, along with Elfman, who looked curious but did not dare ask, Ed decided to take the initiative.

"By the way, Mira, did that shop you took me to last time get any new stock? Want to go browse together?" Ed extended a date invitation. Mira froze completely, then, amid Lisanna and Elfman's gossip-hungry expressions, stammered, "I-I don't know... If no one else is going with you... then I... wouldn't mind reluctantly accompanying you..."

"Then it's settled~" Ed said happily.

Seeing her younger sister's burning gaze and her younger brother's expression like he wanted to say something, Mira could no longer keep it together. She could only lie facedown on the table and play dead. "I'm going to rest for a while. Wake me when we arrive." She activated do-not-disturb mode. Seeing his sister curl up like a turtle, Lisanna immediately shifted her target to Ed. "Ed, were you serious when you said you wanted to pursue Mira?"

"Of course." Ed was completely unfazed. After all, the most important thing when pursuing a girl was having thick skin. Otherwise, were you expecting the girl to take the initiative?

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Lisanna grew even more excited. Her powerful gossip instinct drove her to keep asking, "But Ed, you obviously didn't know Mira before, right? Why did you suddenly confess to her? Are you usually this casual?"

"How could I be casual about it? By the way, do you believe in love at first sight?" Ed paused, then continued, "I fell for Mira the moment I first saw her. That's why I confessed to her in public." Seeing the side of Mira's face and her ears redden as she lay on the table pretending to be dead, Ed decided to add fuel to the fire.

"Then what do you like about my sister, Ed? You're not allowed to brush it off by saying you like everything about her~" Lisanna had also noticed Mira's red ears and continued asking, eager to stir things up.

"The most eye-catching thing would definitely be her white hair. To be honest, I have a thing for white hair." Ed looked serious. "Huh? But my hair is white too, just like Mira's?"

"I also have a thing for long hair!" Ed declared proudly. "Just hair? Isn't that a little too casual?" Lisanna was somewhat dissatisfied.

"Of course it's not just her white hair. To be honest, I also like women who are a bit more assertive." Ed's tastes were actually fairly similar to Minato's. "And honestly, Mira is really beautiful, isn't she? She has a great figure too. The more I get to know her, the more I feel that she may look rebellious or wild on the outside, but she's actually very delicate and gentle inside. With so many good qualities, isn't it perfectly normal for me to fall for her?" "That's right. Mira is actually very gentle." Elfman voiced his agreement as well.

Mira could not take it anymore. "Do you all think I'm dead? What nonsense are you talking about over there?! Lisanna! Elfman! And you!" Seeing Mira bristle, Lisanna pounced on her and started playfully wrestling with her again. Ed and Elfman both smiled.