Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck — Chapter 63

Chapter 63: A Three-Man Date

The bustling streets of Magnolia parted like the Red Sea. Residents hurriedly stepped aside, casting wary glances at the trio strolling down the cobblestone path.

Chase walked with his hands tucked casually into his pockets. “Strange,” he mused, glancing at the wide berth the townsfolk were giving them. “Elfman, is your reputation in town really that terrible?”

“What are you talking about?!” Elfman crossed his massive arms, his biceps bulging against his jacket. “My manliness has been recognized by countless people! This is definitely Loke’s problem.”

“Hmm, you make a fair point. After all, he is always messing around,” Chase nodded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Hey! You two can stop right there!” Loke snapped, his handsome features twisting into a scowl. He adjusted his tinted glasses. “I happen to rank highly on the Sorcerer Weekly ‘Most Popular Male Mage’ list!”

“The Sorcerer Weekly list doesn’t hold much weight,” Chase chuckled dryly. “I was at the absolute top of the Magic Council’s property destruction watch-list a year ago. That takes real effort.”

“That’s exactly why they’re running away from us!” Loke shouted, his composure shattering.

Even now, he couldn’t fathom why he was forced into this bizarre three-way “date” with these two lunatics.

“Hmm? Dave’s Wonderful Pub?” Chase paused, his gaze landing on a rustic wooden sign hanging over a lively corner of the district. “Since this is a date, we need a proper place to sit and set the mood. Let’s head in here.”

“A real man doesn’t hesitate!” Elfman roared in agreement.

Loke just sighed. His refusal wouldn’t matter anyway.

Inside, the tavern was quiet. The evening drinking rush hadn’t started yet, leaving only a few scattered patrons. A young boy with a fresh buzz cut, no older than seven, sat perched on a barstool, aggressively erasing a hole into his homework.

The moment the tavern doors swung open, the boy looked up. The dull, lifeless stare of a kid doing math vanished, replaced by pure, starry-eyed awe.

“Big Brother Chase!”

The boy abandoned his pencil, hopped off the tall stool, and sprinted across the floorboards toward the S-Class Mage. This was Tom, the kid Chase had rescued from a rampaging, alcohol-enraged magical beast in the suburbs a year prior.

“Oh, little Tom. I haven’t seen you in a year. You’ve grown a few inches, haven’t you?” Chase smiled, reaching down to ruffle the boy’s short hair.

“Hehe! Brother Chase, I saw the newspaper articles!” Tom beamed, his eyes practically sparkling with hero worship. “You were super cool, protecting all those tourists on the island! I’m gonna be a strong man just like you when I grow up!”

“Hahaha! Then you’d better study your magic theory hard,” Chase laughed, a warm, genuine sound.

Elfman and Loke stood frozen near the doorway, exchanging bewildered looks. Wait… this Chase? The walking natural disaster? He actually had devoted, starry-eyed fans in Magnolia?

“Huh? Chase?! Why are you here?!”

A panicked shout shattered the wholesome atmosphere. Dave, the burly pub owner, sprinted out from the back room. He grabbed his son by the collar, yanked him away from Chase, and scrambled backward several meters until his back hit the bar.

The unwritten First Rule of Magnolia: When there is no visible danger around, Chase himself is the most dangerous thing in the room.

“Come on, Dave. It’s been over a year. Is this how you treat an old friend?” Chase offered a relaxed smile, completely unfazed by the man’s terror. “I brought two buddies over for some drinks. Got a table for us?”

Thanks to the beast attack last year, Chase actually had a solid rapport with this establishment.

“No! We’re closed!” Dave barked decisively, crossing his arms to form an ‘X’.

A second later, Dave’s jaw locked as Chase simply ignored him, strolling right past the counter and leading Elfman and Loke to a spacious booth by the window. They sat down without a care in the world.

“Let me think… for a romantic date, let’s start with two bottles of your best red wine,” Chase said, holding up two fingers with a charming grin.

Dave glared at the S-Class Mage’s shameless behavior. He didn’t actually kick them out, though. Instead, he grumbled impatiently, “You want some free peanuts with that?”

“Naturally.”

“You’re an S-Class Mage and you’re still this cheap. Fine, I’ll even throw in the leftover fried chicken legs from the kitchen!” Dave huffed, looking away in a classic display of stubborn deflection. “Don’t get the wrong idea! It’s not like I wanted to give them to you. They’re just leftovers from yesterday!”

Deep down, Dave could never truly refuse the man who saved his son’s life. Forget two bottles of wine—if Chase asked, he’d probably hand over the deed to the pub without blinking.

“Dad, what do you mean?” little Tom piped up from behind the counter. “You just fried those chicken legs fresh this morning…”

Smack.

Dave chopped the top of his son’s head. “Loose lips sink ships, brat!”

Seeing his foolish son rubbing his head in confusion, Dave pointed furiously at the scattered papers on the floor. “Pick up your homework! I told you to finish your math!”

With that, the flustered owner tied his apron tight and stomped toward the kitchen. ‘For Chase, I can’t serve cheap frozen poultry. I’ll fry up a fresh batch,’Dave thought to himself.’Wait a minute… What did he just say? A date? With those two guys?!’

If the patrons knew the kind of wild misunderstandings brewing in the owner’s head, they might have choked on their drinks.

The wine and food arrived promptly. As Dave set the plates down, he cast a deeply complicated look at the three men sitting around the table. Suspicion, ambiguity, and utter bewilderment warred in his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask, hesitated, and ultimately decided his sanity was better off not knowing.

Once Dave retreated, a suffocating, awkward silence descended upon the booth. It stood in stark contrast to the lively clatter of dice and boisterous laughter from a neighboring table.

Three grown men stared at each other over a plate of steaming fried chicken. No one knew what to do next.

They couldn’t possibly act like a real couple on a date. Even Chase, with his notoriously thick skin, felt a line had to be drawn somewhere. Staring deeply into Elfman’s intense eyes or Loke’s tinted glasses was simply too nauseating to bear.

Time crawled by.

Ten minutes later.

Elfman, unable to handle the agonizing quiet, slammed his massive palms onto the table. The wood groaned in protest as he shot to his feet.

“We must do exactly what my sister Mira told us to do!” Elfman bellowed, his voice echoing off the tavern walls. “Chase! Loke! Let’s go out there and do what normal couples do!!”

The entire pub went dead silent. A collective gasp rippled through the patrons.

Chase merely smiled, shaking his head with a dry chuckle. “As expected of Mirajane’s little brother. Full of spirit.”

Loke, however, went pale. He stared at Elfman’s dead-serious expression, realizing the large man wasn’t joking in the slightest.

He’s not actually going to go through with this, is he?! Loke panicked, suddenly feeling a phantom chill run down his spine and a distinct sense of danger regarding his backside.

Loke didn’t get a chance to protest. Elfman grabbed him by the collar, dragging the terrified mage out of the pub while Chase followed leisurely behind, tossing a few coins onto the table.

A short, highly unwilling march later, the trio arrived at the grassy riverbank running through the heart of Magnolia—the exact spot where Natsu and Gray used to brawl as children.

“A man’s date should be forged in the fires of passion!!”

Elfman roared to the heavens. His right arm expanded, scales ripping through his sleeve as he activated his Beast Arm. Without a shred of hesitation, he unleashed a devastating Rising Dragon Fist straight into Loke’s jaw.

BAM!

Loke was launched into the air, his mind completely blank. In your meathead brain, the thing normal couples do on a date… is beat the living daylights out of each other?! Damn it all!!!

His signature glasses shattered upon impact with the ground. Loke lay flat on his back in the dirt by the river, staring up at the clouds as silent tears streamed down his bruised face. His desire to flee back to the Celestial Spirit World had never been stronger.

“Hahaha! Elfman, your Take Over magic is getting sharper by the day,” Chase praised, casually leaning against a nearby tree as he watched the one-sided beatdown. He paused, his playful tone shifting into something slightly more measured. “It’s a shame, though. With your magic power, you should be more than capable of achieving a Full-Body Take Over by now.”

The real reason Chase had agreed to this ridiculous “date”—aside from the comedic value of watching the playboy Loke suffer—was far more serious.

He intended to completely sever the heavy chains binding the hearts of these two men.

Elfman was paralyzed by his lingering terror of the Beast King, the form that had inadvertently taken his sister Lisanna’s life.

And Loke was drowning in a slow, agonizing self-blame, convinced he was the murderer of his former Celestial Spirit Mage, Karen Lilica.