Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 359: You said Lucy was cute, and you hugged her

Gray didn't dare eat the lunch box, so Natsu snatched it away.

In the corner, Juvia pouted in disappointment. She had gotten up early in the morning to make that lunch.

"Ooh~~ This is really good! Delicious!" Natsu mumbled as he devoured it. But since it was Gray's, he at least asked, "Want a bite?"

Gray declined. "Forget it."

He looked around. "Come to think of it. I haven't seen Lucy all morning. Did she head out on a job?"

Natsu answered through a full mouth, "She's probably still at home, yeah? Maybe drooling all over her pillow."

Happy suggested, "Why don't you just ask Mira and Rhodes?"

"Good idea," Gray nodded and headed to the counter.

Rhodes set down his chopsticks and replied, "I think I saw her hanging around the mission board earlier. Didn't she ask you to team up on a request?"

"No," Mira said firmly. "Lucy didn't take any jobs. She looked at the board for a while, then left."

"Yesterday she said she didn't have money for rent..." Rhodes thought aloud. "Is she being too selective? Maybe she thinks it's her fault the guild's still not functioning normally."

Gray frowned. "Either way, we should check on her."

Mira smiled slyly, resting her chin in her hand. "You sure seem worried about Lucy."

Gray's gaze wavered. "Well... Lucy's new. After everything that's happened, it's natural to worry about her a little more."

Rhodes couldn't resist jumping in. "When I was new, I don't remember you worrying about me this much."

Gray shot back, "Wasn't Mira enough to keep you in line?"

"It was more than enough," Rhodes said as he grabbed Mira's hand and waved it at Gray. "So what you're saying is... your urge to 'look after' Lucy is the same as Mira's urge to 'look after' me?"

"No way!" Gray's face flushed bright red. "Anyway, I'm going to check on Lucy now!"

As he bolted, Rhodes called after him, "Don't forget to put on your clothes!"

Gray doubled back, hastily pulled on his shirt, and sprinted away. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"Maybe Gray really does like Lucy," Mira said, eyes sparkling with excitement. "New gossip!"

"What did Gray do now?"

Of course, they wouldn't let Rhodes finish a meal in peace. Just as Gray left, Natsu and Happy appeared again.

"He went to Lucy's place," Rhodes said. "Guess he's worried something happened to her."

Without another word, Happy zipped off into the sky. "So sneaky! Let's go visit Lucy too!"

"Wait for me, Happy!" Natsu yelled, tossing the empty lunch box on the counter before dashing after him.

"You two! You're on shift this afternoon!" Erza called after them, and chased after them too.

Rhodes blinked, a little dazed. "Wait... is this really turning into something serious? They're all going after her one after another. This feels like the setup to something big."

Mira glanced at him and said gently, "If you're worried too, you could go check on her."

"Should I?"

"Yes." Mira pulled Rhodes's half-eaten lunch box over to her side and added with a teasing smile, "I seem to recall that you care about Lucy too."

"Do I?"

Elfman slammed his hand on the table and started to stand. "Rhodes, are you abandoning my sister!?"

But before he could rise fully, Mira calmly pressed him back into his seat with one hand.

"Didn't I say there was a special reason."

"Yes, I remember," Mira replied quietly, her eyes lowered as she fiddled with the tableware. Her voice was soft, not angry at all. In fact, she sounded almost relieved.

"I remember that on the day we got back, you caught Lucy at the last second... called her cute, and then held her like this," she said, lightly miming a hug.

"That..." Rhodes froze. Her tone was calm, but it sent a chill down his spine. Beside them, Elfman looked like he was seconds away from lunging across the table.

Mira continued, as if thoughtfully recounting a memory. "And I also remember you once made a bet with me over Lucy."

"..."

Rhodes was now absolutely sure she was messing with him.

"I lost that bet," he muttered, trying to shift the mood. "We never followed through on it."

"Go away," Mira said, using a spoon to push his face to the side. "You smell like sweat."

Rhodes sighed in surrender. "Alright, fine. What's my punishment?"

"I'll punish you... with two things."

"I accept my fate."

Mira gave him a mischievous smile. "Then you'd better be ready."

Rhodes smiled back, hand on his chin. "I'm a man of my word."

"Okay. First, you finish the rest of your lunch. Second, you go to Lucy's house and bring back the luggage I left there."

She blinked sweetly at him. "Think you can handle that?"

Rhodes stared at her for a moment, lips twitching upward. "Yeah. I'm doomed."

Mira smiled brightly and pushed his lunch box back toward him. "Eat up. The warming spell on it's going to wear off soon."

Elfman scratched his cheek, utterly confused. He glanced between his sister and Rhodes, trying to figure out what just happened.

'Was Rhodes in trouble? Was his sister mad? Or... did Rhodes switch sides?!'

...

When Rhodes arrived at Lucy's house, the front door was already open.

Inside, Erza was calmly brewing tea with Lucy's personal teapot, as if she'd done it a hundred times.

"She might be in the shower," Gray said as he headed toward the bathroom, his voice weirdly hopeful. "Maybe we'll get one of those cliché scenes?"

But before he could get there, Natsu burst out of the bathroom. "She's not inside."

"You're too fast!" Gray snapped, suddenly adopting Lucy's usual tone of exasperation. "Why do you always charge into the bathroom first?!"

Rhodes knocked lightly on the open door. "You guys seriously have no sense of privacy."

"Oh, Rhodes, you're here too?" Erza said, calmly setting the teapot and cups onto the table. "Would you like some tea?"

Rhodes nodded. "Yeah, I just finished lunch and was feeling a bit thirsty."

Gray sat down beside him with a scoff. "You're just as shameless."

Rhodes picked up the teacup with practiced grace and replied without missing a beat, "Completely different. I said ahead of time that I'd be coming. Now... where's Lucy?"

"She's not home," Natsu answered while glancing around. "We're trying to find clues."

Suddenly, his eyes locked on the suitcase sitting by the window. "That's suspicious. Lucy might be hiding in there!"

Gray gave him a withering look. "Who the hell hides inside a suitcase?"

But Natsu was already moving. "Only one way to find out!"

Just as he reached for the suitcase, Rhodes calmly placed one hand on the table, vaulted over it with an elegant gymnastic flip, slid past Gray, and launched a flawless side kick—

WHAM!

—sending Natsu flying out the second-story window.

"Waaah—!" Natsu screamed as he dropped like a stone. His limbs flailed before he hit the street below with a thud, twitched a few times, and then lay still.

Pedestrians nearby gasped. When they saw the familiar cherry-pink hair and the Fairy Tail emblem on his arm, they all wisely stepped around him.

"Fairy Tail wizard. He'll live. Second floor. Not worth getting involved."

Sure enough, Natsu shot back to his feet moments later and shouted up at the window, "Rhodes, what's wrong with you?! Are you picking a fight?!"

Rhodes looked down calmly and said, "I saved you. Anyone who touches that box... dies."

Erza tilted her head slightly. "Is there something wrong with the box?"

Happy tiptoed closer, curiosity practically leaking from his body. He peeked toward the suitcase with round, sparkling eyes.

"This is Mira's luggage," Rhodes explained, smiling faintly. "She asked me to bring it back for her."

Then he looked directly at Happy, still smiling, but with a subtle, dangerous glint in his eye.

"Would you like to take a look inside?"

"A-Aye..." Happy stammered as sweat began to pour down his face. "N-No thanks!"