Magnolia's fashion magazine shop.
Lucy pushed open the door and began browsing the shelves for fashion magazines on styling.
Back at her rented place, wanting to try a new style, she hadn't been satisfied with the haircut Cancer had given her. So she had come here.
As she searched, suddenly, a brightly titled book caught her eye: Fated Meeting.
Remembering Cana's fortune-telling, Lucy's eyes widened. She wondered whether this was coincidence or if it truly meant something.
If I buy this book, there will be another person who also wants it.
Lucy thought to herself. Will it happen this scene that seems straight out of a novel?
Driven by curiosity and romantic impulse, after a few seconds of entanglement, she inexplicably reached out her right hand, the one with the Fairy Tail emblem.
The next second, a large male hand suddenly reached in from the side. Their hands touched in mid-air.
It really happened!!
Startled, Lucy quickly withdrew her hand. She looked sideways. The person was a refined-looking handsome man wearing glasses and a satchel.
"Ah? Sorry, sorry. You take it." The handsome man politely offered the magazine to Lucy.
Lucy was about to decline when she looked down and saw the cover: a handsome man and beautiful woman in a pink, romantic style.
NANI (voice crack)?!
"N-No, I don't need it. You take it!"
Panicking, Lucy shoved the magazine into his arms and fled the store without looking back.
Although she owned clothes so daring they would shock even Erza, when it came to romance involving herself, she was a block of wood even fire couldn't burn.
"Geez, that scared me. Meeting a stranger like that is way too reckless!" Lucy muttered as she hurried along, head down.
"Um, excuse me? Are you from this city?"
The glasses-wearing handsome man followed her out. Seeing Lucy stop, he introduced himself. "I like to travel around, collecting interesting stories for derivative works. Could you show me around this magical city?"
"Don't worry. I won't ask you to do it for free. I'll give you this magazine as a gift!"
With that, he politely held out the copy of Fated Meeting he had bought from the shop.
"Collecting stories for writing? A novelist?!"
Lucy was very surprised. After all, she secretly wrote adventure stories about Fairy Tail herself.
This incredibly coincidental shared hobby made her even more suspicious that this man was Cana's "fated man." She grew even more flustered.
"That's too grand a title. 'Hobbyist writer' would be more accurate than novelist." The glasses-wearing handsome man smiled.
"Ahaha. I understand that completely." Lucy nodded in agreement.
"You write novels too?"
Meeting a fellow practitioner in a foreign land, the glasses-wearing handsome man couldn't help but get excited. "My pen name is 'Lazy Calf.' May I ask yours?"
That question stumped Lucy.
She had dreamed of having her stories serialised in a magazine and of them becoming a huge hit. But now he had mentioned it, she realised with a start that she hadn't even chosen a pen name, the most important thing of all!
"I'm just an amateur!" I-I have to go. Sorry, find someone else!'
Thinking the reporter from Weekly Sorcerer would have arrived by now, Lucy firmly refused the glasses-wearing handsome man's request and hurried away.
And so, her heart a mess, she returned to the guild. Aside from a better hairstyle, she looked completely unchanged.
Just as she walked in, she saw a thin man with a camera hanging around his neck taking crazy photos of Chase striking various strange poses.
"Cool~! Cool~! Cool~!"
"As expected of my lifesaver, Mr. Chase is super cool no matter what!"
"Can you recreate the pose from Demon Ruins Island, protecting the tourists as they evacuated? Yes, yes, that back! Cool~!!!"
Lucy: "...If I'm not mistaken, this extremely excited person is the reporter from Sorcerer Magazine?"
No matter how she looked at it, such a person didn't seem like her fated romantic encounter.
She wouldn't want him even if he was!
"Yes, his name is Jason. He's been to the guild a few times. He's practically an acquaintance." Erza walked over.
Lucy noticed she had changed back into her regular armor. "Erza, what about your dress?"
"Apparently, this is the 'true Fairy Queen.' I can't do anything about him." Erza shook her head helplessly.
Just then, Jason, satisfied with his photo shoot of Chase, turned and flew over.
"Cool! This is it! This armor!"
Click, click. The sound of the shutter was constant.
A true professional, Jason transitioned into work mode almost seamlessly.
"Erza, how many sets of armor do you have in total?"
"Over a hundred"
"Cool! Which is your favorite?"
"Bunny girl. The ears are very cute."
"Cool! What's your favorite food?"
"That would have to be cheesecake and soufflé."
"COOL!!!"
Watching Erza effortlessly answer questions and the excited, gesticulating Jason, Lucy silently clenched her fist to encourage herself. She was determined to use this opportunity to appear in Weekly Sorcerer.
So, she flipped her hair, took a confident stride, walked up to Jason, who had finished the interview, and fanned herself with her hand, putting on an act.
"It's so hot~ Why is the guild so hot today~"
Seeing Jason's gaze successfully drawn to her, Lucy immediately stopped and coyly turned sideways, trying to show her best side to the camera.
Then, she was knocked flying by Jason.
"Happy, Happy! Why are you blue?"
"Aye~ Because I'm a cat."
"COOL~!!"
Lucy on the ground: "..."
My existence isn't even worth a cat's?!
What she hadn't expected was that the heavy blows were just beginning. No matter how hard she tried — even resorting to her signature seduction technique — she remained as invisible as a see-through in Jason's eyes.
Jason asked Gray why he always took off his clothes, asked Cana about her alcohol tolerance, said hello to Macao and Wakaba. Even when Natsu slapped him flying to the ground, he still furiously scribbled down the interview.
Even Juvia, who had joined the guild after her, received special attention!
Finally, caught in the crossfire of Natsu and Gajeel's inevitable brawl, the professional magazine reporter took two heavy punches and, in his excitement, happily passed out.
In a sense, doing a feature on Fairy Tail was more dangerous than being a war correspondent.
The little girl, desperate to appear in the magazine, was utterly heartbroken. She dragged her tired body out of the guild.
Passing the fashion magazine shop, she encountered the glasses-wearing handsome man again, squatting by the city river, writing diligently.
This time, her spirit dead, she no longer had any attachments. She took the initiative to invite him to tour Magnolia.
Not for the damn fated encounter, but out of mutual appreciation as fellow fiction writers.
The glasses-wearing handsome man was grateful, repeatedly thanking her.
With the "local" Lucy as guide, they visited the renovated cathedral, the southern park square, the small riverbank where Natsu and Gray used to fight as children, and other landmarks full of Magnolia's character and stories.
With the shared topic of novel writing, after spending half a day together, they got along like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.
At parting, to express his thanks, the glasses-wearing handsome man invited Lucy to a late-night barbecue at a restaurant north of town.
But at the agreed time, she never showed up.
From Mira, Lucy learned that Natsu and Happy had found her an easy job that wouldn't cause destruction.
After long struggle, Lucy finally chose to follow her heart, not to believe in fated encounters. She chased after Natsu and Happy and boarded the night train to the job location.
Natsu slumped in his seat, vomiting continuously. His embarrassing state made Lucy feel disgusted. Yet, a smile of relief lingered on her face.
As expected, being with Natsu and Happy was much more reassuring!
"Hey, hey, Lucy. Strange smiles make wrinkles appear more easily, you know."
"Huh? Where, where? Hurry, get me a mirror!"
"You're taking it too seriously, Lucy. I was just speaking figuratively."
"...Damn cat. Can you not ruin the mood at such an emotional moment?!"
As they bickered, a little blue-haired girl carrying books quietly passed by in the carriage aisle.
The magic books, over half a meter tall, blocked the girl's view. They passed each other without a glance.
***
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