Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck — Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Chance Encounter with Juvia

After a long afternoon of playful roughhousing and hauling lumber, the sky above Magnolia gradually bruised into deep shades of purple and orange. Seeing the daylight fading, the guild members finally wrapped up their lively discussions about Lucy and the Hartfilia Consortium, filtering out of the dusty construction site one by one to head home.

Since their apartments were in the same direction, Lucy had sought Chase out, claiming she wanted to walk back together.

Of course, it was a painfully obvious excuse.

Night fully descended by the time they reached the wide cobblestone street bordering the city’s central canal. The blonde Celestial Mage walked along the riverbank, her arms spread wide as she unsteadily balanced on the stone railing. Trailing faithfully behind her was the trembling, perpetually sick-looking little Canis Minor, Plue.

“Hey there, cute little miss! Watch your step in the dark!”

A local fisherman, appearing with the precise timing of a town NPC, rowed his small wooden boat down the canal. He leaned on his oars, shouting the friendly reminder over the gentle lapping of the water.

“Got it! Thanks, mister!”

Dark Magician Girl, floating just ahead of Lucy, flashed her signature bright smile. She threw up a cheerful peace sign and waved enthusiastically at the fisherman.

Then, completely distracted by her own greeting, her boot slipped off the edge of the stone. She lost her balance instantly, her arms flailing as she plummeted clumsily toward the dark river below.

Right before she hit the water, a brilliant pink stream of light erupted. She activated Flash, instantly teleporting her safely back to her original spot on the pavement with a soft pop.

Down in the canal, the kind fisherman sat frozen, his jaw hanging open in stunned silence as his boat drifted away.

“This idiot…”

Walking a few paces behind, Chase let out a long, exasperated sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a wave of secondhand embarrassment, before shifting his gaze to the unusually quiet blonde beside him. “Lucy, you didn’t just ask to walk back with me because it was on the way, did you?”

Lucy blinked, pulled from her deep thoughts. She paused her balancing act and hopped down from the railing, nodding absently. “Huh? Oh… yeah.”

For the entire walk, her mind had been spinning in circles. She couldn’t stop wondering exactly what method Chase had used to make her notoriously stubborn, cold-hearted father change his tune so drastically. Jude Hartfilia never backed down. But no matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t find a logical explanation.

It couldn’t be that Chase just went there and beat him to a pulp… right?!

“So, um… Chase,” Lucy began, her voice tentative as she fiddled with her keys. “Did you actually go to the Hartfilia estate today?”

“I did,” Chase admitted easily, his expression hardening just a fraction. “Even if he’s your father, launching an attack on the guild like that meant he had to be held accountable.” He lightly clenched his fist. “Hearing Natsu and Erza talk about the aftermath, it seems my words actually managed to get through to Jude’s thick skull.”

Since Lucy was asking directly, Jude had clearly sent her a message or spoken to her.

“Your words?” Lucy stopped in her tracks, unable to hold back her curiosity anymore. “Chase, what exactly did you say to him?”

“Well, I just reasoned with him. After all, he’s the wealthiest man in Fiore. We can’t just use our fists to solve every single problem, right?”

Hearing that, Lucy snapped her head up, staring intently at Chase’s calm face. Her beautiful brown eyes flickered with absolute skepticism.

Her expression screamed: I don’t believe a single word of that!

The Jude Hartfilia she knew didn’t even bother to listen to the thoughts and feelings of his own flesh and blood. How could he possibly be swayed by a polite conversation with a Fairy Tail mage he had never met before? Let alone undergo such a massive shift in personality!

But deep down, Lucy knew that wasn’t the real issue bothering her. She didn’t actually want to pry into the violent details of what might have happened in that mansion.

“There was a much faster, much more convenient way to solve this, Chase. Why… why did you go to such lengths?”

She lowered her head, her blonde bangs shadowing her eyes. She stared down at the neatly laid floor tiles beneath her boots, her expression twisting with conflict.

Having spent enough time fighting alongside him, she knew exactly how Chase operated. He was the type who never wasted breath if a fight could settle things. He was the absolute embodiment of ‘if you’re not convinced, I’ll beat it into you.’ Even against the Hartfilia Consortium, an entity with terrifying economic and political influence across Fiore, Chase wouldn’t have hesitated to tear the place down.

In truth, Lucy already knew the answer. But having lost her mother at a young age and having grown up in a freezing, heartless mansion, she simply didn’t know how to process the overwhelming surge of warmth and happiness swelling in her chest.

In the quiet night air, she suddenly felt a heavy, reassuring weight rest on top of her head.

“Silly girl. Because we’re family.”

Lucy’s breath hitched.

“Beating Jude within an inch of his life would definitely be the most efficient way to handle it,” Chase said, gently ruffling her blonde hair. “But if I did that, you would have been forced to choose between Fairy Tail and the Hartfilia name.” He offered her a soft, knowing smile. “And making that choice would have been incredibly painful for you, right?”

Even though she had already guessed it, hearing Chase say it out loud broke her defenses. Her nose stung sharply, and hot tears instantly welled up, blurring her vision.

Seeing the waterworks about to start, Chase’s eyes widened in mild panic. He quickly yanked his hand back and pointed forward. “Dark Magician Girl, go!”

“Understood!”

The spellcaster, who had been quietly hovering nearby and watching the emotional scene, instantly caught his drift. She bounded over, her boots tapping lightly against the cobblestones.

Before Lucy could even process the command, Dark Magician Girl’s slender, gloved hands darted out, ruthlessly attacking Lucy’s sides.

“Wait—wait! Dark Magician Girl, what are you doing?! Ah! Ha! That’s—that’s so itchy! Ahahaha! Stop, stop it!”

Completely blindsided by the tickle attack, Lucy twisted and squirmed, trying desperately to dodge the relentless fingers while bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Tears—a messy mix of lingering emotional relief and sheer physical ticklishness—spilled from the corners of her squeezed-shut eyes.

“Hahaha! That’s much better,” Chase laughed, folding his arms across his chest as he watched the two blonde girls pushing and tumbling around the street. “You have to laugh out loud to get a proper happy ending.”

He let out a quiet breath. Dealing with a crying girl was infinitely more exhausting than fighting a terrifying dark guild.

But for Lucy, today was destined to be a day she would never forget.

The next morning.

The reconstruction of the Fairy Tail guildhall was proceeding at a blistering pace. Magic made construction work terrifyingly efficient; in just two or three days, the entire first floor of the new building was already taking distinct shape.

Massive load-bearing pillars and thick walls had risen from the dirt, surrounded by a neat labyrinth of wooden scaffolding ready for the next phase of labor.

Chase, having enjoyed a deep and comfortable sleep, woke up early. He spent an hour inside his deck space, running through a rigorous set of God Slayer Magic drills, before leisurely strolling toward the construction site.

He hadn’t even crossed the perimeter fence when the familiar, echoing shouts of Natsu and Gray bickering reached his ears.

As he approached the entrance, a strange movement in a dark, inconspicuous corner of the wooden fencing caught his eye. Someone was wriggling against the boards.

“Ah… ahhh… Juvia also wants to press her forehead against Gray-sama’s!”

It was Juvia. Dressed in her signature blue coat and hat, she was crouching in the shadows like a seasoned burglar, clutching a neatly wrapped lunchbox to her chest. Her eyes sparkled with intense, obsessive light as she peered through a narrow gap in the fence, staring directly at the shirtless Ice Mage in the distance.

“Oh, really? And then what?” Chase asked casually, leaning against the wood right beside her.

“Then, at such an intimate distance, our lips will inevitably brush against each other, and Juvia can slip her tongue—!”

Juvia, completely submerged in her steamy fantasy, suddenly froze. She snapped her head up, realizing someone had spoken to her. The moment she locked eyes with Chase, she shrieked, scrambling backward at the speed of light until her back hit a barrel.

“Y-You! You are the terrifying Chase who fought Guild Master Jose!”

The lovestruck hearts in her eyes instantly shattered, replaced by sheer, trembling vigilance. She knew perfectly well she was absolutely no match for the monster standing in front of her.

“Don’t be so tense. We aren’t enemies anymore,” Chase said, waving a hand dismissively. He gave her an amused smile. “Relax. Since you’re Gray’s girlfriend, you’re practically a member of Fairy Tail anyway.”

“G-Girlfriend?!”

Hearing that specific word, Juvia’s defensive posture evaporated. She froze stiff as a board. Steam practically whistled out of her ears as her face turned the color of a ripe tomato.

“Girlfriend?! Lover?! Wife?! Mother to thirty of his children?!!”

Her eyes rolled back into her head. With a heavy thud, she collapsed flat onto the dirt, completely passed out with a blissfully euphoric smile plastered across her flushed face.

Chase stared down at her unconscious form, utterly deadpan.

That reaction… is way more exaggerated than I thought.