Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
January, x786.
At the Fairy Tail guild hall, around the same time Alfonzo and Jura shook hands after their spar, Shizuka, who had just finished her shift as a nurse, was sitting at the table where Alfonzo, Elicia, and their friends usually sat with her head hanging low while poking at the meal she just ordered with a fork.
"Hey, Shizuka, what's wrong?" Rika asked curiously while placing her left hand on Shizuka's back.
"*Sigh* I wanted to go with Fonzie to see the other guild." Shizuka replied as she finally speared a vegetable with her fork. "But I wasn't allowed because of my work in the infirmary."
"Yeah, it would have been fun to see how other guilds operate, wouldn't it?" Rika replied with a question of her own. "But since we've all been here for such a short time, it makes sense that we, as newcomers, couldn't go."
"Hmph!" Saya snorted, looking as though she was in a bad mood, as well. "I'm a genius, I already understand how the guild works. So, I should have been able to go. Instead, I'm stuck here learning about the guild with the rest of you."
"Come on, Saya." Kohta said with a wry smile. "Taking quests to get used to all the different kinds of quests isn't that weird, is it?"
"Hmph! Maybe for you, Fat Ass." Saya replied sharply while glaring at Kohta. "But I'm a freaking genius. I shouldn't be held to the same standards as the rest of you."
"Translation: I have a crush on Alfonzo, and I wanted to spend more time with him." Cana said, cutting into the conversation, with a grin.
Immediately, Saya's face reddened fiercely as she shot her glare in Cana's direction.
"What are you talking about, Cana. I don't have a crush on Alfonzo!" Saya shouted, hiding her embarrassment with anger.
Meanwhile, at a table not far from the table where Alfonzo and his friends sat, Laxus clenched his fist angrily.
'Why does she have to have a thing for that guy?' Laxus asked himself while staring at Saya. 'Doesn't he have enough girls already?'
However, Laxus was unaware of Alfonzo's thoughts on the matter. In fact, Alfonzo really had no romantic interest in Saya. Despite the fact that he had noticed her feelings. He already dealt with someone who was unable to be honest with their feelings before he got with Mirajane. And he really did not have the time or the energy to break through another shell like that one again.
And if Laxus had known that Alfonzo was thinking of ways to get him and Saya together, he would drop any jealousy he was feeling immediately. Instead, he would be looking to give Alfonzo a hug.
Meanwhile, back at the table where Alfonzo, Elicia, and their group of friends sat, Elicia was watching Cana and Saya bicker while Rika continued to try and console Shizuka. Then, she shifted her attention to Saeko, who was eating her meal silently while watching the dispute between Cana and Saya.
"What about you, Saeko?" Elicia asked curiously. "Didn't you wanna go see Lamia Scale, too?"
"I do." Saeko replied with a nod before taking a bite of her meal. She then continued after chewing and swallowing the food in her mouth. "I mean, I've lived in Takanosu for my entire life. And I've only left the town a handful of times. So, seeing the rest of the kingdom, and eventually the continent sounds wonderful."
Nodding in understanding, Elicia smiled as she waited for Saeko to continue. And she did not have to wait for long.
"On top of that, I would have liked to go with Alfonzo on this trip to have more time to get to know him, as well." Saeko said as she picked up more of her food.
Watching Saeko take another bite of her food, Elicia's smile widened.
'So, there are two who are confirmed to have feelings for Fonzie.' Elicia thought to herself as her gaze swept over Saeko and Saya. Then, she looked at Shizuka once again. 'And I'm fairly certain that Shizuka is starting to like him, too. But her emotions are harder to read. I wouldn't be surprised if she was unaware of how she felt at the moment. But since most of the things she gets excited or depressed about have something to do with Fonzie, I'm ninety percent sure of my guess.'
"Anyway, where is Alzack?" Rika said after Shizuka seemed to cheer up a little. "He's usually here by now, right? Ur asked him to go with me on my first A-Class quest. I'm not sure why, though. I mean, I've been doing stuff like this for years as a knight."
"It's to make sure you handle the quest like a wizard instead of a knight." Bisca replied while narrowing her eyes at Rika, wondering if she was trying to steal Alzack away from her.
"Yeah, I get that." Rika said in a huff. "But I thought I had shown that I can handle it when I completed those B-Class quests before."
As Rika said, Ur had been sending senior wizards along with Rika on her quests ever since she started taking quests for the guild. And although making sure that Rika did not start handling things like the knights do was the initial reason, that quickly changed.
In fact, the reason for that change was simple. Like Alfonzo and Elicia, Rika had yet to cause any property damage while out on a quest. So, she sent the more senior wizards with her to learn from her.
Even though most of the wizards of Fairy Tail had dialed back their destructive tendencies quite a bit since the point system was put in place, they were still prone to destroying things on quests. However, now, instead of destroying everything they touched, they had brought down their destruction of property to a level that matched the average guild in Fiore.
"Either way, Alfonzo said that if I could finish all my A-Class quests without causing any property damage by the time he gets back, he would make me a new sniper rifle. One that could change forms into a melee weapon." Rika said with a smile. Then, Rika grinned in Bisca's direction, having a good idea of what she was thinking. "Besides, Alzack would have to be a better shot than me before I even considered getting with him. So, you don't have to worry about me taking your man, Bisca."
Hearing that, Bisca, like Saya had done earlier, reddened fiercely. Then, to hide her embarrassment, she looked away. However, as soon as she turned her head, she found Alzack sitting next to her.
'Huh? When did he get there?' Bisca asked herself in surprise. 'And if he had been there for a while, why did Rika act like she didn't know where he was? And why is he smiling at me like that?'
While those thoughts were racing through Bisca's head, Alzack slipped out of his chair and dropped to one knee. Then, he reached into the pocket of his over coat and pulled out a small box… A ring case.
"Alzack, what are you…?" Bisca asked with surprise written all over her expression.
Bisca's exclamation naturally drew the attention of the rest of those sitting at the table, as well as the attention of those sitting at nearby tables.
"Bisca, we've known each other for almost seven years now.' Alzack said, interrupting Bisca's question. "And ever since you joined the guild, I've spent more time looking at you than I can remember. And no matter how much time I spend looking at you, I never get tired of what I see."
As Alzack began to speak, the guild hall fell silent with everyone paying attention to what looked and sounded like a proposal.
And with every word, Alzack's face reddened further and further from all the attention he was getting.
"And to be honest, there's only one thing I regret about the time I've known you." Alzack said as he lowered his head, continuing his speech, despite the number of eyes focused on him. "And that's the fact that you're not the first thing I see when I wake up or the last thing I see when I go to sleep. So, in the hopes of fixing that regret, I ask you, Bisca Mulan, will you marry me?"
With that, Bisca completely froze with her eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Holy shit… He actually did it." Macao muttered from a nearby table.
"Yeah, I didn't see that coming." Wakaba added in a whisper of his own.
"Doesn't it feel like he skipped a few steps?" Lisanna asked while her gaze switched between Alzack and Bisca.
"It does." Mirajane said with her usual pleasant smile on her face. "I mean, they haven't been on a first date or had a first kiss yet, have they?"
"Unless they've been hiding it, I don't think so." Levy replied as she looked at Gajeel intently.
In fact, ever since Alzack went fishing with the guys, he had been trying to drum up the courage to tell Bisca how he felt. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so. A few days before Alfonzo left for his job at Lamia Scale, however, Alfonzo told him that if he did not tell her before he got back, he would take matters into his own hands.
And as he said so, Alfonzo wore quite the sinister smile, scaring Alzack to no end. So, the day Alfonzo left with Ultear and Juvia for Akane Beach to pick up Sixth Sense, Alzack panicked. Then, while frantically thinking about how he could confess to Bisca, he ended up buying an engagement ring, completely skipping all the usual steps of courtship.
"Why do you even need to worry about it?" Elfman, the only one to not whisper in this situation, asked. "He handled it like a real man!"
Elfman's usual exclamation caused everyone in the guild hall, without exception to glare at him for destroying the mood. However, it was also enough to bring Bisca out of her daze.
"*Sigh* You know, Alzack, I was only hoping for dinner and flowers when you finally confessed to me." Bisca said in an exasperated tone. Though, the bright smile on her face let anyone who looked at her know how she really felt about Alzack's proposal.
Hearing Bisca's tone, Alzack could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he lowered his head even further, realizing that he had skipped quite a few steps in his panic. However, before the tears could fall, he felt a pair of hands on his cheeks. Then, his head was gently raised, forcing him to look up at Bisca.
And when Alzack saw Bisca's face, he was thoroughly surprised.
Currently, Bisca was smiling brightly with tears sliding down her cheeks. And if the smile was any indication, Alzack knew that those tears were happy tears.
"Although you've skipped a few steps…" Bisca said, maintaining her smile as the number of tears running down her face increased. "… I've been having the same regret as you for a long time now. So, to answer your question, I will."
Then, before giving Alzack time to properly register her answer to his proposal, Bisca leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
Immediately after Bisca kissed Alzack, the entire guild burst into loud cheers. However, after two minutes of cheering, Alzack and Bisca were still kissing, seeming to have forgotten everything else around them.
Eventually, the atmosphere in the guild hall got quite awkward as no one knew what to do.
"Um… Should we stop them?" Lisanna asked while stealing glances at Natsu. "I mean, we can't congratulate them if they stay like that, right?"
"No, I think we should let them be." Marin said with a smile. "It looks like they're making up for lost time."
Hearing that, most of the people at the table giggled, despite how awkward it was to sit at a table with a couple making out like they were the only ones in the room.
"Yeah, but if they start undressing, I'm gonna freeze them." Gray said with an eyebrow twitching.
'If Juvia weren't so… intense… that could be us.' Gray thought as he glanced at Alzack and Bisca. 'Damn it… What am I thinking? I blame this on Master. She keeps trying to make me a couple with Juvia. And now I start thinking about it even when she's not here. It's just like when she made me strip to train in the cold. I do that involuntarily, too.'
"I can practically taste the irony in that statement." Cana said as she glanced at Gray. "You should probably put your own clothes on before saying stuff like that, Gray."
"Huh? Aww…Damn it!" Gray exclaimed as he frantically dressed himself.
*Sneeze!*
Meanwhile, up in her office, Ur was filling out paperwork for the Magic Council. However, she was forced to stop when she sneezed.
"Somehow I bet that brat Gray is thinking something rude about me." Ur said as she wiped her nose with a handkerchief. "Oh well, I can deal with him later. Instead, I need to vote for someone to fill the last of the seats on the Ten Wizard Saints. I'm actually surprised that it stayed vacant for this long. And I'm even more surprised that there are three candidates from Fairy Tail on the list."
As she reached that point, Ur read the list of names that were being considered in the proposal she received earlier today.
"… Fairy Tail: Ur Milkovich, Gildarts Clive, Alfonzo Marcus." Ur said with a smile on her face. "Well, I know I won't be voting for myself. And if I voted for Gildarts, the guild's reputation would end up falling lower than it was before the point system was implemented. Well… Sorry, Kid. It looks like you'll be the one."
With a sinister smile on her face, Ur finished filling out the voting form. Then, she placed it in an envelope before sealing it. A moment later, she stood up and stretched.
"Well, I guess I'll take this to the post office myself." Ur said with a smile. "I haven't really stretched my legs today. *Sigh* If he is chosen, I wonder what he'll think about becoming one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Hehehe. I wonder what he'll think about all the paperwork, too."