"You... how did you get beaten up so badly?"
Gray's tough act didn't fool Natsu.
He immediately noticed something was off about Gray.
It's true that your greatest rival knows you best - even the slightest irregularity can be detected by your opponent, even by someone as thick-skulled as Natsu.
Gray remained silent for a moment, but Natsu had already learned to answer first.
"You challenged Marco!" Natsu declared with certainty, knowing he'd found the answer.
"I want to try too!"
Instead of mocking Gray for overestimating himself, Natsu made a surprising decision.
Even after seeing how badly Marco had beaten Gray, he still wanted to challenge Marco.
Gray's mouth fell open.
He thought to himself, 'That's Natsu for you.'
He should have known - of course Natsu wouldn't mock him for being overambitious, since Natsu himself often did the same thing.
He was actually the boldest one.
"Natsu..."
Meanwhile, Happy looked on with pity.
He genuinely didn't want to see Natsu get beaten up.
Challenging Marco? Wasn't that just asking for a beating?
Well, similar beat-seeking behaviors included challenging Mirajane, Erza, Laxus, and Gildarts.
If Mystogan weren't always absent, Natsu would probably challenge that guy too.
As Natsu's almost constant companion, Happy had lost count of how many times he'd seen Natsu get beaten to a pulp.
He felt sorry for Natsu, but unfortunately, Natsu never felt sorry for himself.
"Tomorrow."
Marco shook his head with a smile, rejecting Natsu's challenge.
He'd had enough exercise for today - this beating would have to wait until tomorrow.
"Great! It's settled then!"
Natsu excitedly jumped up and clenched his fist.
No one understood why getting beaten up tomorrow made him so happy - neither Gray nor Happy could comprehend it.
Marco returned home, with Gray, Natsu, and Happy following behind.
"Natsu, you apply this ointment to Gray."
Marco raised his hand and tossed the ointment he'd obtained from Granny Porlyusica directly to Natsu, instructing him to apply it to Gray.
"Why do I have to do it?!" Natsu immediately protested.
He didn't want to help Gray apply ointment!
"I don't want you applying it either! Give me the ointment!"
Hearing this, Gray immediately glared angrily at Natsu and reached for the ointment.
It wasn't like he couldn't apply it himself.
"If you don't help him apply it, I won't fight you tomorrow."
Marco's faint voice came from where he was preparing to take a bath.
This immediately changed Natsu's attitude.
The Fire Dragon retrieved the ointment he was about to hand over and without another word, prepared to apply it to Gray.
"Hey! I'll do it myself!"
"That's not up to you!"
Gray still resisted, but Natsu had already covered his hand with ointment.
What was supposed to be ointment application turned into the two wrestling with each other.
"What are you two doing?"
Erza, who had just entered, looked surprised at the sight of Natsu and Gray wrestling in Marco's living room.
Lucy beside her also watched the two clowns curiously.
"Natsu's applying ointment to Gray."
Happy explained while flying nearby.
He didn't find this scene strange at all.
"You wouldn't know unless someone told you." Lucy complained." This was clearly a fight, wasn't it?
'Thump! Thump!'
After two hits from Erza, the living room quieted down.
With a large bump on his head, Natsu obediently applied ointment to Gray, who also had a large bump on his head.
The two had switched to battling with their eyes.
Erza stood with her arms crossed, her posture stood straight as she supervised the two.
Her sharp gaze swept between Natsu and Gray like a searchlight, the invisible pressure making the air feel several degrees heavier.
The slightest unusual movement from either Natsu or Gray could invite the iron fist of her righteous judgment.
Watching this inexplicably harmonious scene, Lucy couldn't help but lower her head and suppress a chuckle.
She secretly gave Erza a thumbs-up, silently expressing her admiration for the "Queen's" powerful suppression effect—Natsu and Gray were both behaving as meekly as two little chicks.
After receiving Erza's slight nod in response, Lucy briskly climbed the stairs, familiarly crossed the second-floor hallway, and headed straight for Marco's study.
As Marco's apprentice and a companion who had grown up with him in the guild since she was twelve—almost treating this place as her second home—Lucy naturally felt no need to be polite at Marco's house.
Lucy loved reading, and Marco's study was naturally open to her, just as the recording studio was open to Mira and the music room to Hisui.
Of course, before going to the study, Lucy had dutifully asked Marco for permission and received a response from him while he was bathing.
Lucy pushed open the heavy wooden door of the study, and a comforting scent—a blend of old book paper, ink, and the distinctive aroma of wooden bookshelves—washed over her.
She took a deep breath of the familiar smell, her gaze habitually sweeping toward the large desk placed by the window.
"The Return?!"
As Lucy looked at the desk, she naturally spotted the still "new document" version of The Great Detective Holmes V: The Return, which made her eyes instantly light up like an explorer who had discovered treasure.
She immediately moved closer.
Sure enough, Marco hadn't lied to her—The Great Detective Holmes 4: The Final Problem wasn't the end; Holmes' story was still continuing!
Unfortunately, it hadn't truly started yet, so she couldn't sneak a peek.
Feeling quite disappointed, Lucy turned her attention to the bookshelf, planning to pick any book to read and relieve her boredom.
First, she scanned the bookshelf on the right side of the desk but found nothing that caught her interest.
Then she walked over to the left bookshelf, and her eyes were immediately drawn to a book in the middle.
"Four-Leaf Clover? What kind of book is this?"
Staring at the book, Lucy unconsciously held her breath, a strong curiosity and an inexplicable thrill rising in her heart.
Rising onto her tiptoes, she carefully reached out and took the book, which seemed to radiate an unusual aura, from the shelf.
As her fingertips touched the spine, the four-leaf clover on the cover seemed to glow brighter for a moment before returning to its steady, mysterious pulsation.
The study was exceptionally quiet, with only the occasional chirping of birds outside and the faint noise from downstairs.