"Sorry Gray... Looks like I won't be able to make it for tomorrow..." Vyera said while her eyes were still looking at the letter, reading it once again to make sure she didn't read it wrongly.
"Eh?? What do you mean?" Gray said, frowning.
"Here... Read this." She handed the letter to him and started to check all other letter she was holding on her other hand.
He read quickly, his eyes going from left to right numerous times. "Why should this come at time like this..." he sighed, "But you don't have other choices... It is your priority right? As one of the-"
She immediately closed his mouth with her hand right away, stopping whatever he was going to say, "Don't say it so casually! It is supposed to be a secret by their rules!" She warned him.
"Oh yeah... Sorry. Why don't they just send a magic letter rather than usual letter?"
"If the letter suddenly talks out loud in the middle of the town, this secret won't be a secret anymore..." She explained.
"... Troublesome."
"Agreed. Although being inside had its benefit, I think I am quitting it..."
Both of them headed upstairs of the apartment. It looked like the landlady was not at home again since her room on the first floor was pretty quiet and looked deserted. Both of them had never seen inside of her room before. It was mysterious enough to make them curious, although no plan to enter it.
The second floor was Gray's room and Vyera's was on the last floor. Gray followed her to the last floor to help her cleared the letter.
Her room didn't have so many things, only a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a door to the bathroom on the right side of the room. The same interior applied to Gray's room, though his room was messier. She threw the letters on the desk after she opened the door to her room.
"Gray, you want to wait? I'm going to take a bath." She said
He thought for a while, "I'll just go to my room for a bathe too... I'll come up again later." He said and headed downstairs.
She took a shower. The warm water was perfect. She also took the chance to wash her hair. After 15 minutes, she was pretty much done and dried up herself with a towel. She just realized she didn't get her change of clothes. She wrapped the towel around her body, in case someone was in her room, and went out from the bathroom. No one was there. She took a simple tank top and shorts, changed in the bathroom and everything was done.
Gray also came up with some snacks, again, wearing only his shorts without a top.
"Vye, are you done?"
"Sure am..." She took one of the snacks and opened it, then took a bite. Then went over to her desk.
However, a sudden pain hit her chest. The pain was killing. She couldn't bear with it and fell kneeling on the floor, holding her chest.
"H-Hey, Vye! What's wrong?!" Gray asked worriedly, immediately went over, holding her.
But the pain was gone almost as soon as it came. "... It's alright... The pain is gone..." Vyera did not know what was going on too. She did not have any injury.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, still worried.
"Yeah... Don't worry..." She said, getting up and took a seat on the chair in front of her desk.
She started checking the letters while Gray sat on her bed and ate his snacks, though Vyera could feel his eyes were watching her, still unconvinced that she was really okay. Vyera really appreciated his concern but she really was okay.
"Okay, done. Nothing's important here." She said and gathered all the letters together, packed them up and put them in the drawer. "Only some magazine subscriptions and useless magic tools promotion..." She informed. She caught Gray's eyes. His eyes still showed worries. She could only smile and sat beside him on the bed. "I'm really okay... So don't look at me like that..." She said softly.
"Promise me one thing..." Gray said with unusually serious face, "Don't ever hide anything from me."
She just chuckled and replied, "I promise."
"Why are you laughing? I'm serious."
"I know... Just that your serious face isn't something I get to see often." Vyera said, still giving small laughs.
"Cheh." He avoided her eyes and blushed.
"Oh well... Let's get some sleep. Or else, you will really be slaughter by Erza if you are late tomorrow." She joked but it seemed effective, looking at his pale and nervous face. "Good night, Gray."
She gave him a kiss on his cheek before he went down the stairs, which made him blush madly when he left the room, "Good night." He replied.
And then... let's fast forward to tomorrow. Vyera got up early and packed a few things in a small bag and it was done. She wore another tank top and jeans shorts. She also took her long coat, to look more formal, since she would be meeting some 'important' people.
She doubt it would take her to stay overnight so she only took necessary items to travel. She went down to Gray's room. Both of them had each other's room keys. Even so, she knocked on his door.
"Hey, Gray! Are you awake?" She called, almost shouting.
No reply from inside the room. She reluctantly took out the key to open the door. As expected, he was still on bed, sleeping soundly. His room was as messy as ever. Clothes were everywhere on the floor. The only place that seemed new was his desk, since he never used it. She already gave up long ago. His habits couldn't be changed no matter what.
Vyera put down her bag on his desk and walked up to him. Without thinking much, she shouted directly on his ear.
"Hey!! Erza is already waiting outside!!!"
"WHAT?!?!" he just rushed into the bathroom without a second thought, which she was not sure it was to hide or to get ready. While waiting, she took care of his clothes that were scattering on the floor.
Then he came out from the bathroom 5 minutes after that, fully dressed, "Hey, Vye, don't scare me like that... After I think it over, Erza is not the type that will wait. She will just bust the door open and dragged me out..."
"If I didn't do it like that, will you get up?" She replied while still tidying up his clothes.
"...If it's you, I'll surely get up." He said that, blushed a bit.
"Heeeeh... Are you sure?" She said, narrowing your eyes a bit, not believing his words. "Anyway... Are you done?" She asked, putting his last few pieces of shirts into his wardrobe and closed it.
"Yep." He answered and put on his bag. "Let's go. Oh by the way, where is Ice? I didn't see him since yesterday..."
"He slept at Lucy's house... Since Natsu and Happy went there to play last night." She answered, locking his room. Both of them headed to Magnolia Station.
Lucy, Natsu, Ice and Happy were already there. As usual, Natsu's hyper attracted many attentions, while Lucy was pretty embarrassed to be beside him.
"Hey guys!" Vyera waved to them.
"Vyera!" Lucy waved back, "Only Erza is left then..."
As usual, Natsu and Gray got into an argument again and pretty much fighting. She put on her long coat. Ice, again, climbed up to the height of Vyera's shoulder. Not long after that, Erza came with her abnormal luggage, which completely filled up a wagon. Vyera really felt sorry for the wagon for having to work so hard for Erza. It was going to break any moment.
"Hey, Erza. " She called," I can't go with you."
"Why is that so?" she said, looked a bit angry and glaring at her.
"Something came up. I will need to go to Clover. I'll catch up as soon as I finish the matter there. How does that sound?"
"Can I say no?" She replied, "No problem, these two should be more than enough. Just in case anything happened... since this job is quite risky. If you are there, I am more reassured."
"Risky!?" Lucy was shocked, pretty much scared.
"Ah you are?" Erza asked, since Lucy was a new member and hadn't had a time to introduce herself to Erza yesterday.
"I'm the new member, Lucy. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too. I heard you had achieved pretty much..."
"Ah... That's all Natsu's doing..." she mumbled, apparently Erza didn't hear it.
"Who are you dealing with?" She asked Erza in a serious tone.
"... Eligor from Eisenwald."
She just grinned hearing that dark guild name. "You should be fine... Be careful though. I will be going now." She checked your watch, "I'll leave those two to you. See you guys."
"Hey, Vye, be careful." Gray warned, of course it was about the pain in your chest.
"Don't worry..." She smiled and headed to the train leaving for Clover.
On the train, she totally had nothing to do and had nobody to talk to. She left Ice with Lucy just now, which she regretted it pretty much now. Vyera took out the Ophiuchus key and examined it. Since her Master's message reached her, she had been carrying it around or else she was feeling insecure.
She recalled what her Master's message, *... 'The crescent moon when the tenth month dies'... when the tenth month dies... which means... 31st October... ... ... Wait, 31st October?? If I remembered correctly from what I got on my family info... ... It can't be... that's my birthday?!*
After she thought and thought, she could not think of any answer. The info she had on her family was far too little. She only knew who they were, what her real name was, and where they lived. The reason they disowned her was unknown until this day although she had a memory from when she was a baby, but it was not a clear one.
"... Clover station... Clover station... Please do not forget to take your belongings... Clover station..." the announcer said from through the broadcast system in the train.
*Oh, it's my stop.* She took her bag and went down the train before it started to move again.
She wandered around the town. "Let's see... They said to meet at the bar near the station... but where the hell is-" Just then she spotted a bar at the back of a shop, which was quite hidden from the street view.
She went in, feeling that it was the correct one. The bar looked quite dark and eerie. Only a few people were there, including the bartender, only 6 people. She only recognized 2 of them, the ones she was supposed to meet. She took a seat at their tables without saying anything.
"Any order?" asked the older one of them.
"No, thanks... Make this quick, since I need to catch up with others..." she replied and took out some documents from her bag.
"Hey, relax... After all, we haven't met for a while now..." said the younger one.
She paid little attention to him and immediately shoved the documents to them. "Here." She pushed it over the table, "From last 3 months until today..."
The older one took a look at it, while the younger one just took his time, drinking his coffee and doing nothing. This made Vyera wondered why he even bothered to come in the first place.
"... Where is your partner?" She asked the younger one.
"She is running an errand for me..."
"No wonder... It is unusual to see you alone... Some dangerous errand, I believe?"
"Quite... But she'll manage... Why don't you work under me? After all you are one of us... though you are special... Am I right, Vye- No, Secret Inspection Mage of Magic Council?"