The girl began telling Kenzo her tale. Normally, he wasn’t one to peek into other’s past. He had learned that the more you knew about someone, the harder it was to cut ties with them. Honestly, it was something obvious, but he couldn’t help but think about it every time he met someone new. That was just the way he was, maybe under other circumstances it’d be different.
Losing himself in his train of thought for a moment, he once again began paying attention to the girl. Still with his face resting on his palm, Kenzo heard Natsumi talk about her parents. From what he got; they were both fire mages. Airheaded ones at that. In contrast, Natsumi seemed the intellectual type. The kind of person that had grown surrounded by books and learned everything from them. The girl told the man that she wanted to change her fighting style to be similar to her parents’. It seemed weird for the male. Copying someone else’s fighting style was a sure way to hit a limit in their development in the future. But to each, their own, I guess. As she told him a story about how they solved their problems through their fists and that her parents usually fought a lot, she began digressing mindlessly for a whole lot more. Maybe her parent’s absentmindedness had brushed on her in other ways.
After what seemed to be the better of 20 minutes, a loud microphone’s echo was heard through the cafe. Kenzo had not noticed, but the place had filled almost to the brim by now. Every table was taken with couples from Fairy Tail. Apparently, the guild was in Crocus for a ball that had been celebrated previously. As he peeked his face to look around, he instantly saw a familiar face. A young man in his early twenties with light brown hair looked directly at Kenzo. When their eyes met, the Fairy Tail male grinned devilishly. Kenzo went stiff. He was part of the group that was present when he had lost the bet with Batra. Specifically, this guy was the one in charge of making sure he kept his end of the quest. Namely, be Natsumi’s boyfriend for the day. Sure, the girl herself said she’d speak with Batra so he could get his money, but the sly owner would surely be unsatisfied by that. Before Kenzo could avert his gaze and pretend he didn’t notice him, the guy signaled the mercenary with his middle and index fingers. His message was clear. ”I’m watching you.”
In a bit of a hurry, Kenzo looked back at Natsumi and took her hands with a smile. Before he could open his mouth, the lights of the cafe went out before the voice of a man filled the hall through a lacrima enhanced microphone. ”HEEEEELLO EVERYONE!!!! WELCOME TO FAIRY TAIL’S VALENTINE MEETUP. This year we’ve prepared a ton of activities for all of you lovey-dovey couples.” A spotlight illuminated a stage at the front of the place. The crowd instantly burst into cheers and applause. ”What the?”
”To begin with! We’ll have a karaoke couple contest!! Please do your best effort to transmit the love you share with the rest of us through a romantic performance~ The best couple will receive a reward that they’ll never forget.” A woman with an obnoxiously corny tone took the stage now. Hearing the announcements, Kenzo started to get nervous. ”This is just too much…To hell with the money” Sure, the man was a mercenary through and through. Money was his moral compass. But some lines were better not crossed. Leading Natsumi by the hand, the male silently stood up from the table making a beeline to the door.
Not a second had passed after his escape plan was in motion before Kenzo was blessed by lady bad luck once again. A bright sudden flash blinded the man. A spotlight was lit from the ceiling and now shone a line at Kenzo and Natsumi. ”Here are our first participants!~ Please come to the front. They will be our first couple of the night! Let’s welcome them with a big round of applause everyone~”
The crowd burst into cheers and applause. Several of the people near Kenzo’s table had stood up and now guided the pair up the stage. However, the mercenary was now disconnected, he had completely passed to autonomous mode. For a split second, his mind was transported to the night he met the mysterious woman by the name of Nuala. Her words before departing echoed time and time again inside him. “You should hurry about finding a cure. You reek of bad luck and it seems you’ve been attracting plenty of it.” Truer words had never been spoken.
Kenzo now stood in the stage with Natsumi. He didn’t even notice when he was handled the microphone in his hand. The spectating crowd was now silencing in preparation for their performance. Giving their backs to the crowd, the hosts explained Kenzo and Natsumi how they had to follow the lyrics projected by the vision lacrima. When they finished, the mercenary was completely defeated. Strength had left his body as well as his will to struggle. The song’s track was about to begin. There was no turning back. Shrugging off everything from his mind, Kenzo slapped both his cheeks to compose himself again. “Fuck this, let’s do i-“ The words were directed at Natsumi. Turning his head to face her, the mercenary’s sentence was cut short by the sight before him. Running through the door, microphone still in hand, a frail body crossed the street at full speed and far away from the cafe.
The song began sounding in the background…