Rika's Declaration

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

July 8, x788.

While most of the ladies were broken up into smaller groups and chatting, the young men of Fairy Tail were at the mansion's indoor basketball court playing a game of five-on-five, with Alfonzo and Laxus leading the teams.

"Alright, this is the last one." Alfonzo said as he received the inbound pass from Alzack. "I wanna go to sleep soon. So, someone can take my place after I get this next bucket."

"You're talking pretty big, aren't you, Alfonzo?" Laxus asked aggressively. "You make it sound so easy to score on us."

"Oh, I can score whenever I want." Alfonzo said nonchalantly. "As long as we're not using magic, no one can stop me."

"Hmph!" Laxus snorted. "Why don't you show me just how great you are, then?"

"If that's what you want." Alfonzo replied with a smile as he started dribbling the ball up court.

Irritated by Alfonzo's attitude, Laxus, who still considered himself Alfonzo's rival, decided he would make him eat is words. So, before Alfonzo even reached half court, Laxus had already come to defend.

Seeing this, Alfonzo shook his head while he continued to smile. Then, once he was close to Laxus, his expression finally turned serious. He then burst into motion, with the ball on his right, Alfonzo faked hard to that side, causing Laxus to shift his feet to his left.

In the next instant, Alfonzo dribbled the ball through his legs to the left, causing Laxus to quickly correct his position. And just at that moment, Alfonzo dribbled behind his back, sending the ball back to his right. Then, he took off at full sprint.

Meanwhile, Laxus, who changed directions one too many times in quick succession, fell to the court when his feet got tangled. In the end, the only thing he could do was stare at Alfonzo's back with disbelief written all over his face.

"What the hell was that?" Laxus muttered to himself before quickly scrambling back to his feet and chasing after Alfonzo.

'Hmph!' Alfonzo snorted internally. 'I might have taught you everything you know about basketball, but that doesn't mean I taught you everything I know.'

After that, and before Laxus could catch up, Alfonzo blew past the 3-point line before Fried and Bickslow, two of Laxus' teammates could react. In the end, the only person between Alfonzo and the basket was Elfman, the only member of the guild taller than Alfonzo.

Even so, Alfonzo had no intention of slowing down or pulling up for a jumper. The only thing on his mind at the moment was taking the ball straight to the hole.

"I'll stop you Alfonzo!" Elfman shouted as he got ready to jump with Alfonzo. "Like a real man!"

"We'll see about that." Alfonzo said with a grin.

In the next instant, both Alfonzo and Elfman jumped. However, despite being taller with longer arms, Elfman's hands never reached the same height as Alfonzo's when they were both at the peak of their jumps.

*Bang!*

Then, with little in the way of resistance, Alfonzo, with one hand, dunked the ball hard enough to make the whole backboard shake. On top of that, the collision between the two resulted in Elfman falling to the court on his butt with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Meanwhile, after his dunk, Alfonzo landed, raised his arms, and...

"Ahh~~~~~~~~~~~~!"

Roared at the top of his lungs in triumph.

"Tch! Show off." Laxus grumbled.

"Haha... I just had to remind you that I'm still the best at what I do." Alfonzo said smugly. "Anyway, I'm gonna go take a shower. I'm tired after all that driving, cooking, and basketball dominance."

"Just go." Laxus said sharply. "Ugh... Hearing you gloat makes me wanna punch you in the face."

"You can try." Alfonzo said. "But how has that worked out for you in the past?"

"God, you're so irritating." Laxus said.

Laughing once again, Alfonzo high fived his teammates, Alzack, Natsu, Gajeel, and Alphonse, on his way out of the gymnasium.

"Hey, Ed, the team is SHORT a man." Alfonzo said just before leaving the gym. "Why don't you step in?"

"Screw you!" Edward shouted back. "Don't call me short!"

Alfonzo laughed once again as he walked through the doors without turning back. Then, while greeting the few people he came across while on his way to his bedroom, he eventually made his way into his bathroom to wash off all the sweat accumulated during the game.

Not to say that any of the certified superhumans in the guild would normally work up a sweat playing a game like basketball. However, the tension between the members created from the various rivalries was enough to make the difference.

About twenty minutes later, Alfonzo came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and another draped over his head. Meanwhile, his hands were rapidly rubbing the towel on his head in order to dry his hair. A moment later, he sat down on the side of his bed while continuing to dry his hair.

At the same time, Alfonzo looked to his left. Neatly laid out on the bed next to him was a pair of boxers, a tank top, a pair of nylon shorts, and a pair of socks for him to change into after he was done in the shower.

"Miyuki really is attentive." Alfonzo said while smiling and shaking his head. "I didn't even see any of the maids on my way from the gym to my room. But she somehow knew I was taking a shower."

In fact, the reason Alfonzo did not know when Miyuki came in to lay out his clothes was quite simple. Like most of the wizards of Fairy Tail, Alfonzo usually did not deploy [Magic Power Detection] while in Magnolia. On top of that, after he taught Grayfia and the other maids how to use [Magic Power Detection], they all used it constantly, just covering the mansion's premises.

So, as long as they were awake, all the maids were always aware of everyone on the property's location. And after Grayfia realized that [Magic Power Detection] was harder to detect the better the user's magic power control was, she forced the other maids to train diligently as to not disturb their employer while monitoring the mansion grounds.

After a few more moments, when Alfonzo felt that he could not dry his hair any better with the towel, he tossed it aside and reached for the boxers on the bed right next to him.

*Bang!*

Before he could grab a hold of the underwear, however, Alfonzo was surprised when the door was slammed open. Looking towards the door, he was even more surprised when he saw Shizuka.

Though, seeing Shizuka was not all that surprising. Instead, it was because she was dragging Rika, who wore a resigned expression, behind her with an excited smile on her face.

When Shizuka saw that Alfonzo was sitting on the edge of his bed, her smile widened. Then, with even more force, she pulled Rika towards Alfonzo and flopped down on his lap, while pulling Rika to sit on his other leg.

Naturally, this caused the towel wrapped around Alfonzo's waist to come unwrapped. Luckily, because the two ladies were sitting on his lap and he was sitting down, there was no accidental exposure... for now.

"What's up, Shizuka?" Alfonzo asked with a thoroughly confused expression on his face. "And couldn't this wait until I was dressed?"

Just then, Shizuka's expression finally changed from the excited one she was wearing. Then, she noticed Alfonzo's state of undress... and licked her lips. A moment later, however, she forcefully shook off what she was thinking.

"Go ahead, tell him, Rika!" Shizuka exclaimed.

Curiously, Alfonzo turned his gaze from Shizuka to Rika. Then, he waited for Rika to tell him whatever it was that she wanted to say.

"*Sigh* You're not gonna let me leave unless I say it, are you?" Rika muttered. A moment later, she looked Alfonzo in the eye with her usual confident expression on her face. "Alfonzo... I..."

"Come on, Rika!" Shizuka cheered. "You can do it!"

"You're not making this any easier." Rika muttered once again. Shaking her head, she then looked Alfonzo in the eyes again as she continued. "Alfonzo, you know I said I would never even consider being with someone who couldn't outshoot me, right?"

"Yeah, I remember you saying something like that." Alfonzo replied with a nod while desperately trying to suppress the erection that was forming while Shizuka and Rika sat on his lap.

"Well, I realized that if I held to those words, I would be single forever." Rika said matter of factly.

"You're definitely confident." Alfonzo said with a chuckle. "But I can't really deny that, either."

"So, I decided to alter my criteria." Rika said as she blushed slightly. "Instead of finding someone who can shoot better than me, I decided to find someone who can make me a better shot."

By this point, if Alfonzo did not know what was going on, he would be as dense as the densest harem anime protagonists in history. And he was definitely not that dense.

"And there are only two people on Ishgar that can make me a better shot than I already am." Rika said with a smile. "But I'm not really into old women. So, Master Goldstein is out. So, that leaves... you."

As she spoke the word, "you," Rika raised her hand and poked Alfonzo in the center of his chest.

"So, I've decided that you're going to be my man." Rika said aggressively. "And I won't be taking no for an answer so, get ready for--- Mmph!"

Before Rika could finish, Alfonzo leaned over and closed her mouth with his own, causing Rika to open her eyes wide in surprise. Then, he aggressively invaded her mouth with his tongue.

Inexperienced with this kind of thing, Rika was quickly subdued, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around Alfonzo's neck to enjoy the feeling of her first kiss to the fullest.

Meanwhile, Shizuka watched the two, her best friend and her husband, with a smile. However, when she felt Alfonzo's hand start to roam on her back, down to her butt, she bit her lips with a seductive expression on her face as she began rubbing her hands up and down his chest and abdomen.

At the same time, watching the scene through the partially closed door, Irene, who had finally been convinced to at least give dating Alfonzo a try, was unsure what she should do. So, she turned to Erza, who had led her here.

"Looks like we came at a bad time." Irene said with a strange smile on her face.

"Not really." Erza replied while shaking her head. "Let's just go inside and you can tell him."

Irene could only look at Erza dumbfoundedly after hearing that. Then, she shook her head in exasperation.

"Even if I'm accustomed to taking what I want..." Irene said, not knowing how to finish that thought. "But you're something else."

"What's the issue, Mother?" Erza asked while tilting her head in confusion. "You can tell him how you feel and seal the deal in one go. Isn't that efficient?"

"Is efficiency really the issue here?" Irene asked. "Don't you feel bad about interrupting them?"

"No, not really." Erza replied. "Very rarely do things like this happen without at least one or two people coming to join in. And Elicia is the one who comes to join the most often."

As if she were waiting for Erza to say that, another door on the corridor opened, and out walked Elicia, whose Fonzie Sense was telling her that something fun was happening. So, she left Carla, who was lying down with Amar'e, to watch her son, as she quickly left the room to join the fun.

"Speak of the devil." Erza said with a smile when she noticed Elicia approaching.

"Oh, hey, Erza." Elicia said with a smile. "Did you feel something fun was about to happen, too?"

"No, I brought my mother to talk to Alfonzo about becoming one of Alfonzo's girlfriends." Erza replied casually.

Haring that, Elicia's eyes lit up as she turned to look at Irene excitedly.

"Oyakodon..." Elicia muttered with her eyes shining like torch lights.

"*Sigh* Am I getting old?" Irene asked herself. "Back in my day, women only chose to share a man when they had no other choice. Yet, the crazy women of this generation seem happy to welcome more women into the fold. What's next, making love to sentient weapons?"

After muttering that to herself, Irene felt cold sweat forming on her back.

"Maybe I shouldn't allow Heine and Juliet to spend time with this group of degenerates anymore." Irene mumbled. "Unfortunately, now that both Erza and Elicia have a hold on me, it's probably too late for me to get away. *Sigh*"