When Mirajane's dare is picked out of the hat, Fairy Tail's second year at their magic high school becomes much more interesting.
After all, the girls must find their soulmate before the end of the winter term, or else Mira's wrath will be thrust up...
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I watched my Gray-sama cheering when an ice bucket fell on Natsu Dragoneel's head. Two other girls came up to him and applauded. I clenched my hands into fists.
It wasn't fair.
I'd tried everything to catch Gray-sama's attention, but he still didn't seem to know who I was. Annoyed, I decided to join Gray-sama. Pushing myself up from my chair, I stalked towards him, passing my homework.
"Gray-sama... here's Juvia's homework, if you need it," I said, pushing in front of the other two classmates.
"Ah," he said, surprised. "Thanks. How did you know I needed it?"
Because I notice you, but you don't notice me.
Ignoring his friends' jokes of me being his 'stalker', I walked back to my table to prepare for class. Gray-sama never asked for my name, nor ever tried to spark conversation with me. It was always me who did so, but he never seemed interested in taking our talks any further from a short response.
Groaning, I hid my head in my arms.
How could I get Gray-sama to notice me?
~~~
"Hmm? Is something wrong, Juvia?" Lucy asked, snacking on her lunch. Erza briefly looked up at me from her strawberry cake.
Imagining Lucy as Gray-sama's boyfriend, I shivered. "Love-rival," I muttered, growing increasingly jealous.
"Ehh?" Lucy's spoon had stopped mid-way in the air.
Sighing, I answered Lucy, "Juvia's annoyed that Gray-sama won't notice her!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "What can Juvia do?"
"Maybe you can try and stand out," Levy suggested, still engrossed in her book. "You're good at swimming, aren't you, Juvia-san?"
"That's true," Erza said, pushing her plate aside. "We need more girls on our sports team," she added.
Yukino clasped her hands together. "That'll definitely make him notice you!"
Kagura, although expressionless, gave a small nod. Only Mirajane shared the same excitement as Yukino and Lucy. "That'll be perfect," she gushed. "If Gray doesn't notice you for that, he's blind!"
Slightly more hopeful than before, I gave a smile. "Juvia hopes so, too."
~~~
When Erza blew the whistle, I pushed off from the wall with as much force as possible, before undulating into dolphin stroke. The water rushed past me, but before long it calmed as I used my water magic.
Slamming my fist on the wall, I looked up from the water to see Erza stopping the stop watch. "Good time," she nodded. "But we've got to push harder to be the best. I'll test you again next week."
Breathing heavily from the sprint, I managed to get out, "Thanks for the help, Erza-san."
She shrugged. "We've got to beat Jellal's team this year."
Jellal was Erza's rival; they'd been battling it out since first year, and Erza had been sulking at her loss from last term's for the whole holiday.
"Juvia won't disappoint," I promised, preparing for more laps and re-adjusting my cap.
Erza nodded in approval and left the pool whilst I swam eight lengths of front crawl for a cool down.
~~~
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Covering my head with my blazer, I dashed off into the streets, cursing ever so often when I accidentally splashed in a puddle. The rain was getting heavier now, and didn't seem to want to stop any time soon.
Surprised, I squinted my eyes to see a blue-haired girl, holding a pink umbrella. I recognised her to be the girl who'd given me her homework that morning.
Somehow she sensed me nearby and turned around abruptly, smiling at the sight of me. "Gray-sama!" Her expression darkened when she saw my soaking state. "You're going to catch a cold!"
She ran straight back down the street to hurriedly pass me her umbrella, before preparing to dash off again. She always did that — disappear before I could thank her properly.
"What's your name?" I asked, grabbing her by her sleeve and pulling her under the umbrella.
She turned her head, now holding her nose. "J-jubbia... Bo, Juvvvia..."
"Are you okay?" My eyes widened when I saw blood coating her knuckles. She has a nose bleed? Now? Oh, someone help me.
Hurrying to pass her a tissue, I gave her my own blazer in case she was going to catch an illness. Her face turned incredibly pink, making me worry at whether it would actually make her nosebleed even worse.
We ended up staying at the same place on the pavement, under her umbrella, until her nosebleed resided.
But for the strangest reason, I found that I didn't mind at all.
