Chapter 101: Expectations vs. Reality

Goodman and Ajima came to Magnolia to watch Fairy Tail's magical parade and, incidentally, to visit their old friend.

Makarov had originally planned to bring them to the guild to show off his outstanding young members.

And the result...

Fortunately, the two weren't really outsiders; they knew what Fairy Tail was like.

The three of them chatted in the guild, slurped down a bowl of ramen, and then left together to visit Porlyusica.

"Hurry up and get to work! It's our fault that the guild master lost face!"

Before leaving, the guild master had entrusted Erza with overseeing the guild's repairs. As a result, Erza changed into a worker's outfit, donned a safety helmet, held a paper megaphone in her hand, and earnestly took on the role of supervisor.

Gray's shirt had gone missing again. Holding a hammer, he tapped away at the wall, complaining, "Laki, can't you just fix it directly?"

Laki waggled her finger, "No can do. Erza said I can only fix tables and chairs—I'm not allowed to mess up the construction plan."

Wakaba grumbled with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, "Why do we have to listen to her?"

Macao gave a thumbs-up, "Well said, Wakaba! Go and take down Erza!"

Wakaba pointed at himself, "Me? Are you kidding?"

Mira and Rhodes brought tea to comfort their hardworking companions—one with a smile, the other holding back laughter.

Jet complained unhappily, "Rhodes, you sure ran away quickly!"

Droy chimed in, "That's right! I remember you were supposed to be in the innermost part!"

"I just felt sorry for the guild master and didn't want to participate in the destruction. What did I do wrong?" Rhodes looked at Levy, "Levy, how about I teach you how to write the character '惨' (miserable) today?"

Levy smiled wryly and waved her hand.

Jet and Droy jumped up, "You jerk!"

"Hmm?" Supervisor Erza glanced over, and the two squatted back down, obediently returning to work.

Rhodes poured a cup of tea for Erza.

He also poured a cup for the half-dead Natsu.

After a busy day, evening came—the long-awaited training time.

Yesterday, Mira had said she would accompany him.

What Rhodes imagined training together would be like:

After various exercises, they'd check on each other to see if they were tired, wipe away sweat, drink water, and chat.

What training together actually was:

"Manly man!"

Rhodes looked at Mira, "Why is Elfman here too?"

Mira chuckled mischievously, "Because when Elfman heard I was going to try resuming training, he insisted on coming along, because..."

Elfman was doing deep squats with a barbell on his shoulders, energetically shouting, "As a man, I must train with all my might to protect my sister!"

"Ha, haha, that's great." Rhodes busied himself with his own exercises.

Having Elfman around was fine; later, when practicing Take Over magic, he'd have another opponent.

After all, he couldn't spar with Mira—losing would be frustrating, winning would make him feel guilty.

Mira watched the two men sweat it out with a smile, then went to change into appropriate workout clothes and started training herself.

Her goal was to increase strength, improve flexibility, and restore her magic power, but without gaining too much muscle.

As for how to increase strength without building muscle, wizards have their own methods—guaranteed to be unscientific.

In the small courtyard behind the guild, the sounds of counting, spirited shouts of "Hey! Ha!" and Elfman's cries of "Manly man!" echoed one after another.

During a mid-session break, Rhodes and Elfman drank the lightly salted water that Mira had prepared, watching her practice punches.

Mira wore black athletic shorts and a short sports tank top that allowed for easy movement, exposing a section of fair skin at her waist.

Her long white hair was tied into a high ponytail, swaying left and right with her punching motions.

Looking at her like this, one could really see a bit of the delinquent girl from the photos.

Of course, her current demeanor was more like a sunny and lively sporty girl.

Rhodes watched silently for a while. "Her punches are so sharp."

Elfman said, "Of course! My sister used to be very strong. Manly man!"

"Does your sister know you call her a 'manly man'?"

"A manly man is a manly man!"

Communicating with this future brother-in-law is tough; maybe I'll just talk with my fists later.

After a while, Mira seemed tired too. She raised her arm, casually wiping the sweat from her forehead as she walked toward Rhodes and Elfman.

Her face was flushed from the exercise, sweat trickling down her cheeks, with a few strands of damp hair clinging to her face.

Elfman stood up and said, "Sister, if it's too hard, you don't have to force yourself."

Rhodes didn't say anything; he handed her a cup of water with one hand and a towel with the other.

Mira smiled, took the cup, and sipped half of it.

"It's okay, Elfman. Exercising after work makes my body feel less stiff."

Mira said as she wiped her sweat.

Elfman turned to look at Rhodes; he suddenly felt like he'd lost.

But Rhodes hadn't done anything or said anything—strange.

"If Sister is working so hard, I can't slack off either! Manly man!"

"Want to spar?" Rhodes extended his arm to the side; it turned into a furry wolf claw, then was covered with green chitin.

"Manly man!"

"Then I'll be the referee!" Mira flicked the towel twice, cheerful like an ordinary girl.

Rhodes wasn't worried at all that she'd play favorites.

The two of them started sparring in the courtyard with punches and kicks.

"Elfman, you can do it! Rhodes, don't hold back!"

Mira cheered for one, then encouraged the other, emphasizing impartiality.

Only using 'Partial Take Over' to fight Elfman, Rhodes felt a bit constrained.

In the Shadow Wolf form, while receiving wolf claws, he could actually release the wolf spirit circling around him to launch a surprise attack from behind.

But using such moves against Elfman didn't seem appropriate.

Better to fight head-on honestly; at worst, if they reached a stalemate, he'd use Full Body Take Over.

Not being able to use surprise attacks in a fight was really frustrating.

After the battle ended, cheerleader and referee Miss Mira suddenly switched roles to become the coach.

She pointed out moments when Elfman didn't seize opportunities, and places where Rhodes's movements were off.

Rhodes followed her instructions to pose, throwing punches or kicks, then asked for her opinion.

Mira stepped forward, lifting Rhodes's arm, patting his knee, helping him adjust his posture.

"Is this right?"

"The fist should be like this."

Mira straightened Rhodes's wrist, patted his shoulder and waist, "Then when punching, you need to exert force here and here, like this—hey!"

As she spoke, she demonstrated.

Rhodes mimicked her posture, even deliberately imitating her voice, "Hey~"

Elfman punched the sandbag twice with a thud; he suddenly wanted to spar with Rhodes again.

Since Elfman was accompanying her, Rhodes didn't suggest walking her home; he just lent her a Swift Crab.

She knew how to control it.

The three parted ways, and the next day they trained together like this again. Then, it was finally the day of the Harvest Festival.