A dark purple fist came hurtling toward him.
Erza had already drawn her knight's sword, holding the blade crosswise between them. "Stop!"
"Don't order me around!" Mira's claw knocked the blade aside without slowing.
Erza was about to go after her, but Makarov raised a hand to stop her. He could tell that fierce as Mira's punch was, she hadn't truly lost her reason.
Lin Yuan turned his head aside. The fist grazed his cheek and struck the wooden pillar behind him.
With a crack, the pillar, as thick as a waist, snapped in two.
"Mira!" Lisanna cried.
Mira didn't stop. Her demon claw gripped the broken pillar and swept it backhanded at Lin Yuan. Tables and chairs tumbled across the room as the onlookers quickly cleared a space.
Lin Yuan ducked beneath the pillar, changing direction several times as he circled around to Mira's right.
She was strong, but her heavy demon arm slowed her down. If he could get close to her right shoulder, he would be in the position where she would have the hardest time bringing her strength to bear.
Lin Yuan thrust a palm toward her elbow.
Mira seemed ready for him. Her left hand suddenly seized his collar, and she slammed her forehead into him.
Bang!
They both staggered back.
Lin Yuan's nose stung. This was the first time he had faced an opponent who didn't care at all how her moves looked.
"You and Natsu should get along."
"Don't compare me to anyone else!"
Mira charged again.
"I didn't say you were a monster," Lin Yuan explained as he blocked her attacks.
"You just told me to get lost!"
"I told you to stay away from them for the time being because you can't control your magic power."
"What do you know?!"
Her demon arm swept across. Lin Yuan crossed his arms in front of his chest to block, but the tremendous force drove him several meters back, leaving two long streaks from his soles on the floor.
His right arm went numb, but the bones hadn't broken.
A flicker of surprise crossed Mira's eyes. She knew how hard that punch had been, and that only made Lin Yuan's calm tone more intolerable.
It was as though he had already seen through her, yet didn't take that power seriously at all.
"Can you control your own magic?"
Mira pointed at the crystal fragments on the floor. There hadn't been time to clear them all away yet.
"At least I don't pretend I know everything!"
The words made Lin Yuan pause for an instant.
Mira seized the chance and punched at his stomach.
Lin Yuan turned sideways to deflect the force, caught her wrist with both hands, and used her momentum to throw her toward the floor. But her demon claw stabbed into the boards before she landed, forcibly stopping her from flipping over.
Mira twisted at the waist and threw Lin Yuan toward the bar instead.
Lin Yuan adjusted himself in midair, planted both feet on the edge of the bar, and leaped back.
They threw punches at the same time.
A giant hand descended from above, pinning each of them to opposite ends of the floor.
"Have you had enough?!"
Makarov's roar made the glasses tremble.
Lin Yuan tried to lift his head, but the palm on his back pressed down harder. On the other side, Mira's demon arm kept struggling, but it couldn't budge the giant hand either.
"Taking the Guild apart on your first day as a member. You've got a bright future ahead of you," Makarov said, staring at Mira.
Then he turned to Lin Yuan.
"And you! Your mouth is for making yourself clear, not for poking people where it hurts most!"
"I didn't fight back."
"Who was it that got thrown just now?"
"That was defense."
"Shut up!"
Erza sheathed her sword and added sternly, "Attacking a fellow member and damaging the Guild building on your first day. Both will be recorded."
"Redhead, you're really annoying!"
"My name is Erza."
The Guild members struggled to hold back their laughter. Natsu lay under a table, pumping his fist excitedly. "Let them go! They haven't settled who wins yet!"
Gray kicked him back under the table.
Lisanna ran to Mira's side. "Mira, he wasn't telling you to leave the Guild. He was worried that Elfman and I would get hurt by your magic power."
Elfman nodded vigorously too. "And he said your hand wasn't a curse."
Mira's struggles slowly stopped.
Still pinned beneath the other giant palm, Lin Yuan added, "By ordinary people, I meant people who haven't learned magic yet. I wasn't saying they were weak, or that you would hurt them on purpose."
"Then why couldn't you have made that clear to begin with?"
"I thought I already had."
"How was any of that clear?!"
"So the master was right to scold me." Lin Yuan fell silent for a moment. "I was wrong in how I said it."
The retort Mira had prepared caught in her throat.
She hadn't expected the guy who looked least likely to back down to admit he was wrong in front of the entire Guild.
"What about you?" Makarov asked.
"What about me?"
"He did say the wrong thing, but who attacked first?"
Mira gritted her teeth, her gaze lingering for a moment on the scrape on Lin Yuan's face.
"...Me."
"And your apology?"
"Don't push your luck, old man!"
The veins bulged on Makarov's forehead again.
At last, both giant hands released them.
Before Lin Yuan and Mira could get to their feet, each was handed a tool.
A mop and a broom.
"Repair the tables and chairs you damaged, and clean the floor yourselves. If you don't finish cleaning today, neither of you gets dinner!"
The Guild members scattered, none willing to be grabbed to help.
As the sun set, Lin Yuan crouched on the floor, piecing the broken boards together, while Mira stood at the other end with a broom. A mess lay between them, and neither spoke first.
After a long while, Mira kicked a board that had landed by her feet over to him.
"Let's get one thing straight. I haven't forgiven you yet."
Lin Yuan caught the board. "What a coincidence. Neither have I."