Amid the guild's roaring laughter, Natsu and Gray were officially nailed to the guild's pillar of shame. After this now legendary case, every non S-Class member of the guild would think twice before entertaining any funny ideas, wondering whether they could survive this kind of public humiliation themselves.
Watching the boys gloat over someone else's misfortune, Ultear rolled her eyes and dropped her gaze back to the magazine in her hands. Lucy's eyes, meanwhile, kept darting around, clearly harboring no small interest in the photo collection Natsu, Gray, and Happy were about to so selflessly contribute. But she couldn't quite bring herself to be as shameless about it as Kabe and the others were.
After having a good laugh at Natsu and the others' expense with Macao and the rest, Kabe grinned and dropped into the seat across from the two women, a juice he'd swiped from somewhere in hand. Ultear glanced up at him, not letting up on turning her pages, voice flat.
"You're usually dead asleep at this hour. What's gotten into you, up this early today?"
Kabe's face lit up with excitement, and he raised his voice as though fishing for praise.
"It's all for catching those three, obviously. I knew from the start they'd try to make a run for it, so I made a point of going to bed early last night, all just so I could get up first thing this morning and catch them."
Ultear choked slightly, then looked up to roll her eyes at him, hard.
"You really do have too much time on your hands. This is about the only kind of thing that can get your brain to stop running on perverted autopilot for even five minutes."
Though Ultear was mocking him outright, Kabe didn't seem the least bit bothered. He happily took a sip of his juice. Just picturing Natsu and Gray in all sorts of dresses later, maybe even bikinis, posing away for Jason's camera, put him in such a good mood that no amount of sarcasm could touch it.
Just as he was chatting idly, on and off, with the two women in his excellent mood, a figure suddenly shot up from beneath the table, passing straight through the tabletop like a true ghost, appearing right in front of Kabe's face, practically nose to nose.
"Aah—"
Kabe barely reacted at all, but across from him Lucy jumped so hard she lost her balance and tumbled clean off the bench. Mavis glanced back at Lucy, who'd been startled half to tears, gave her an apologetic smile, said a quick sorry, and only then floated over to settle down beside Kabe.
"Honestly, Lady Mavis, could you maybe not scare people like that next time? At least give some kind of warning first."
Lucy grumbled under her breath, rubbing her backside as she climbed back into her seat.
"Sorry. I'll be more careful next time, I promise."
Having apologized once more, Mavis turned her head, eyes sparkling, and looked over at Kabe.
"Kabe..."
"Stop right there. If this is about making me Guild Master again, you can save your breath."
Before Mavis could get another word out, Kabe raised a hand to cut her off. Interrupted mid buildup, Mavis didn't seem bothered in the least. Instead, she produced a newspaper from seemingly nowhere and pointed at a picture on one of the pages.
"It's not that. It's this. I think this boy is destined to be part of Fairy Tail. I want you to go bring him back."
"Destined how?"
Kabe leaned back reflexively, half convinced Mavis had just returned from some kind of finishing course in the afterlife. There was no other explanation for something this shameless coming out of her mouth.
"Destined, of course. Look, he's a Dragon Slayer too. Our guild's already got two Dragon Slayers, and you happen to be close with Irene, the Mother of Dragon Slayers herself. Doesn't that count as destiny?"
"Hold on. Let me see that paper first."
Hearing the word Dragon Slayer, Kabe was suddenly wide awake, and reached out for the newspaper. The moment it was in his hands, he ran his fingers over it and checked the date, confirming it really was today's issue, which only left him wondering how exactly Mavis had managed to carry a physical newspaper along with her while phasing through walls and floors. Setting that minor detail aside for the moment, his attention was quickly pulled in by one of the stories printed on the page.
"Huh? So it's this guy."