9 Erza's house

Yasu was walking a little behind Erza as she showed him the way toward her house.

This time, the way people looked at him turned 180 degrees. Before, they were looking at him with disgust and hatred in their eyes. He had offended many of Erza's fans by walking hand in hand with her before. Now, with his appearance, they only showed jealousy, and this time, it was Erza who received a hatred gaze from the women.

The latter didn't seem to care about it. Instead, as if to tease them, she took his arm with a smirk on her face. Of course, there wasn't any other meaning in her innocent action. Yasu didn't care about physical contact with her, but he still felt strangely proud seeing her act.

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"There we are," Erza said when they arrived at her house.

It was a two-story apartment house with red walls and a dark-brown sloping roof with two chimneys and two dormer windows. In the interior, the walls were colored in pink. There were a lot of girly things like cute clothes. Yasu didn't understand why she had them as she seemed to always wear her armor.

"I will make dinner for us. You can just wait in the living room."

Hearing this, Yasu shook his head. "I can't let you do everything for me. Let me help you."

In the end, as Yasu didn't know how to cook, he only acted as an assistant. He was quite surprised seeing her so focused when cooking. She had even made a strawberry cake that she called "Cakza."

Erza appreciated the fact that Yasu came to help her. As she had lived alone for years, she found Yasu's presence comforting. He made her feel more secure. At first, he acted coldly toward her, but as they got to know each other better, Erza found him as a very caring person. He was very receptive to her as he didn't respond to her various physical act that would make other people behave awkwardly. Which is why she loved clinging to him so much. His attractive face only made her want to do it even more.

When Yasu first put the food in his mouth, he stopped his action. The taste was so good that it made him stunned. He had only eaten bland food in the forest. Even in the past, he had eaten trash food. So this was his first time consuming something so good.

"Is there something wrong ?"

Erza saw tears welling up in his eyes, so she was worried that he didn't like her dish.

"No, there is nothing. It tastes great." Yasu said hurriedly. Seeing her like that made his heart ached for some reason.

"I am relieved to know that."

Both continued to talk to each other. Erza asked him about his past. Yasu didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't possibly say, "I came from another world." So he made up a story with some truth.

"My parents died when I was 3 years old, I do not even remember their faces. Then, my uncle took me in but for him, I was nothing more than an inconvenience, so he maltreated me for years. Eight months ago, I had awakened my magic and due to a sudden burst of emotions, I was not able to control my magic and froze him to death. I then lived in the forest alone and trained in magic there.."

"So it was the reason you have lived in that forest for nearly a year ?"

Yasu nodded his head to her words.

"That's why you looked so lonely...It must have been painful for you..." Erza said, looking at Yasu with a worried expression.

Hearing this, Yasu gently smiled toward her as he stated, "I am not alone anymore, I have you Erza."

Returning to her usual self, Erza giggled at his words. "I am also glad to have you...There, say aaaaaah"

Erza leaned toward Yasu, intending to give him a piece of her cakza.

Yasu's face turned red in embarrassment. However, seeing the hopeful look on her face, he quickly gave in as he tilted forward and took a bite on her spoon.

"It's delicious, right ?" Erza said, also tasting the cake.

"Indeed, you should make more."

After that, they took a bath together just before going to sleep. In the bathroom, they had washed each other's back. As it was his first time taking a bath, Yasu nearly fell asleep on Erza. It made her laughed at him for that and causing him to blush in shame.

When they were finally in bed, Yasu thought about everything he did today. He had joined a prestigious guild like Fairy Tail, he got to discover exciting things, he became good friends with Erza, and they had spent a lot of time together. Then, he thought about everything she had done for him.

"Erza, why are you doing so much for me? Even to the point of inviting me to your house. You don't need to do that much if you want to thank me for healing your eye."

The bedroom was the safest place in the world, so he was surprised that she let him sleep with her. When life gets too busy, confusing, or upsetting, our bedrooms are sometimes the place we retreat to. We can be alone, be quiet, and think through​.

Turning her head toward him, Erza stared at him for a few seconds in the eyes and said, "I did it not because I feel indebted to you. You know, when I looked at your eyes in our first meeting. I recognized the hints of loneliness contained within them. This reminded me of my earlier days at Fairy Tail. I can understand your fears so it makes me want to melt away that barrier around you and see the gentle boy within."

Hearing that, Yasu looked at her with tears coming out of his eyes. At that moment, he felt that Erza had become much more beautiful than before. Unknown to him, the way he looked at her had changed since that moment.