"Juvia, over here. You've got to check it out."
It's been a few minutes since Kyoya and Juvia agreed to spend the festival together. Kyoya held Juvia's hand as he was pointing towards a stand that was selling crepes. With a smile on his face, he bought two of them for Juvia and himself. When they looked at the crepes, they both had the same thought.
"So beautiful.............."
As Kyoya and Juvia took a bite of their crepes, Juvia saw Kyoya swaying side to side as he had a bright smile on his face. Soon the boy puts a hand on his cheek as he couldn't stop smiling.
"This tastes great. I wonder if they even have cotton candy here."
"It's still surprising that you have such a sweet tooth. Do any of your squad members know about it?"
"Hell no. If they did, two things would happen. They would either try to bribe me with sweets or eat my horde of sweets. I'm okay with the first option, but the second option is too bad to consider. Especially with Charmy in my squad."
Juvia smiled as she heard Kyoya being so open right now. As she looked at him, she began to realize something. Besides his love for sweets, does she really know anything about him? Soon she decided that she wanted to know more about him.
"So Kyoya, do you have any goals in mind?"
"Goals?"
"Yeah. Most wizards would want to be the Wizard King, right? I was wondering if you were interested in that."
As Juvia said this, she saw the boy was lost in thought. To be honest, what was his goal? No, Kyoya knew the answer to that already but he couldn't say it. He didn't want to ruin the good mood in the festival.
"To be honest, I don't want to be the Wizard King."
"Really how come?"
"The Wizard King is basically in charge of protecting the Clover Kingdom and leads the magic knights. Someone like me could never do that..........i've already failed to save three people after all."
Juvia couldn't hear the last part of what Kyoya said since he merely mumbled it. Seeing her confused reaction, he also decided to give her another honest answer.
"That and I HATE paperwork with a passion."
"That's both lazy and understandable at the same time. But I think you could do a great job at protecting people. After all, you were the reason the people in Sosshi Village made it through the attack from Mukuro. Besides, i'm sure even your squad mates can agree when I say this....you're a nicer person than you give yourself credit for."
As Juvia said that, Kyoya didn't know how to react to that statement. He just simply turned around and ate his crepe with a slight tint of red on his face. When he looked to the sky, he saw that it was nighttime.
"I guess the ceremony is about to start. Should I even bother since we're always in last place?"
"Come on, don't be like that. You and your squad can do amazing things. I'm sure you might surprise everyone."
Before Kyoya could reply, Juvia took his hand as they got closer to the center of the festival to hear the rankings of all the magic knights. When Kyoya got there, he saw two new captains for the Crimson Lion Kings and Purple Orcas. Not only that, both Juvia and himself noticed that almost all of the captains were standing with the Wizard King except for their own.
"Huh? It's not like Captain Charlotte to be late. I wonder what could've happened."
"Captain Yami probably has something to do with it. Who cares, i've already given up on making him take things seriously."
~With Julius~
"I've told them repeatedly to be punctual. I can expect this from Yami, but this isn't like Charlotte at all."
As Julius was thinking to himself, he saw a white owl resting upon the roof of a building near the festival. With a small smile on his face, he decided to continue the ceremony.
After everyone heard the Black Bulls got second place, everyone was surprised. When Juvia turned to Kyoya, she saw the boy's mouth agape as streams of tears ran down his face while he said nothing. Soon Juvia began to shake his shoulder.
"Kyoya, since the captain of the Black Bulls isn't here a member should step in. Why don't you do it?"
"...heh. Sorry but no thanks. After all, I can only imagine one person who deserves to be up there."
As Kyoya said this, he could've sworn he heard someone screaming. When he looked at the air, he saw Asta heading for the stage. Soon Asta took out his anti-magic sword and stuck it into the stage as he lands. Seeing this, the Wizard King spoke.
"These two rookies have only been in the magic knights for half a year and they've produced excellent results. Not only them, but other magic knights have worked hard for the sake of our kingdom. Now then, since the announcement ceremony is over, I shall turn things over to the ruler of our kingdom."
As Julius said this, a single man made his way towards the stage. When Kyoya saw the man, he felt nothing but disappointment when he saw the king of the Clover Kingdom.
"I wish the Wizard King was the real King."
"My citizens, i hope you enjoy the festival. I am King of the Clover Kingdom, Augustus Kira Clover the 13th."
As the king introduced himself, Kyoya and Juvia just had a blank stare while the king was met with silence and not cheering. Soon the king snapped at their lack of reaction.
"YOU COULD AT LEAST TRY!!!!! I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON HERE! My thoughts, my appearance, everything about me is righteous!"
Once more the king was met with more silence. Meanwhile, Kyoya was biting his tongue so he wouldn't call him out on how dumb he his. Kyoya wanted to, but it was so easy that even he wouldn't have any fun. Soon the king decided to make an important announcement to win the support of his people.
"Citizens, I have important news to share. We have successfully located the Eye of The Midnight Sun's hideout. So far, we've always been one step behind but not now! We're planning to launch our own counterattack. To do so, we plan to gather the absolute best from each magic knights squad to create an elite group of mages to destroy our enemy. That unit shall be called the Royal Knights!!!!!"
As soon as the king said this, everyone in the area was surprised to hear that their enemies hideout has been located. While this happened, a white owl flew closer to where the festival was as the king continued.
"A week from now, I will hold an exam for all magic knights. Only those who have passed the exam may join my Royal Knights. Then we will obliterate our enemies. Magic Knights, offer up your grimoires in service to our country!"
Soon everyone in the audience began to cheer. While Juvia seemed excited, Kyoya was in silence when he heard the news. Should he be apart of this? Would he really make a difference? Soon he stopped thinking to himself as he felt someone's gaze. When he looked ahead, he could've sworn he saw the new captain of the Crimson Lion Kings staring at him.
As Mereoleona looked at Kyoya from a distance, she remembered something that happened outside of Sun Village. During her fight with a man who used smoke magic, he said something that stood out to her.
~Flashback~
As Mereoleona looked at Kurono, he swung his right arm in the air as he released more smoke. When this happened, Mereoleona charged forward as she threw a punch at him. When the smoke cleared, she was covered in several slash marks while he coughed up blood from her attack.
"You're strong. Too strong. Time to look for a new job I guess."
As Kurono said this, he started to walk away. Before he could, he felt something like a paw holding onto his head. When he turned around, he saw Mereoleona using her flame magic to hold him in place.
"Tell me, what are you doing here? Just what exactly is your goal."
"There's an ice mage here that I love to bully. I just needed to confirm if he was alive or not. Plus I had to play my role. Though it pains me to say this, you Clover Kingdom mages need to raise him to be strong. While the thought of not being able to bully him makes me sad, i'd rather him be strong than to lose that weakling entirely. Watch closely, flame mage. Behind that fear and insecurity he has, lies potential and greed."
~Flashback ends~
As she recalled this, everyone was dismissed from the area as she went to go look after her brother's squad. While this happened, she thought to herself.
"Well then, let's see if that mage was right about him. If so, I may have found a way to motivate my brother's squad."