【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

61: Who Screamed?

The time for departure finally arrived. People all across the capital would gather around the streets to send off Fairy Tail, the number one guild in Fiore. It wasn't just them though since other guilds were also receiving send offs by their fans.

"And to think that about a week ago, they were all booing at us." Lucy smiled at the sight.

Next to her, Karissa chuckled softly while adjusting her book bag that hung on her shoulder. Normally, she would have dropped the rest of her stuff on Erza's giant moving pile but they were able to use a postal service to have most of their things shipped back to Magnolia instead of lugging it around. The perks of winning the annual games was being able to spend freely. "The reality is that people are quick to be swept away with the opinion of the masses. Think of it as sheep and shepherd."

"Think of Phantom Lord." Gray chimed in from Karissa's other side.

"Ah, right." Lucy sighed.

"Well, at least this outcome is a good one." Wendy clapped her hands together with an optimistic smile. She knew about the Phantom Lord incident by Mirajane when she innocently inquired about Juvia's infatuation with Gray.

"A damn good one!" Natsu grinned with his fangs, hands behind his head.

"Aye sir!" Happy shouted with a similar grin.

Erza smiled silently as her friends behind her kept chatting about this wonderful outcome. Even if some people merely saw this as an old fan favourite becoming number one again, they would never truly understand the conviction in that guild's heart that wanted to be number one again to simply thank those who were left behind and waiting for them to return. That was the heart of it.

And it was fine if people didn't thoroughly understand this.

As Karissa and Lucy talked with each other, Gray couldn't help but notice a man squeezing himself through the surrounding crowd from the corner of his eye. He was quick to recognize him. It was that young man that was interviewing Karissa before the ball. He was able to approach them with a beaming smile. From that alone he could feel his energy that matched a certain reporter.

Quite the contrast from his meek self.

"Gray Fullbuster!" Canus exclaimed with a notebook in hand, eyes shining with excitement. "Hello! I'm a big fan! Can you please answer some questions before you guys leave?"

Karissa looked to the side when she recognized the voice. "Oh, hey Canus." She greeted him.

The brown haired reporter's eyes widened. "You know my name...? How did you know...? I didn't think you'd know my name since I'm basically a nobody to you! Did Jason tell you my name? Wow! But hey, I'm not complaining!"

... Huh?

Did this guy forget her face or something?

"Ah, well..." Karissa could tell he was presenting the same kind of energy as Jason. It was kind of an early morning so she wanted to avoid these reporters until she got home.. "I can excuse myself since you already interviewed me, right?" She joked.

Canus paused, blinking. "I arrived just last night. Are you sure you didn't mistake me for another reporter?"

Gray and Karissa fell silent.

What?

―

...

...

...

The exchange with Canus left the two ice mages feeling all sorts of confused with a sprinkle of suspicion. Of course, they shared this with their team as soon as they got in the carriage. Since they were tight on schedule to catch the train after traveling with the carriage, they were able to avoid Canus without issue.