With the meeting over, everyone dispersed to head home—except for Marco and Makarov, who had to stay behind to repair the venue.

Using a lacrima capable of video communication, they had already informed the rest of the guild.

Under the leadership of Uncle Reinhardt, the 'Fairy Tail Construction Team' sprang into action once again.

This time, it was official business and the compensation was generous.

The members happily rushed over and quickly completed the repairs.

Now that's professionalism!

The trip back was lively—their guild alone took up an entire train car, returning to the guild in high spirits.

BANG!

Makarov kicked the door open and swaggered inside, only to be met with an eye-roll from Airo.

"You went out for a routine meeting and blew nearly ten million J. Now that you're back, could you not wreck guild property? Laki works hard enough as it is," Airo called out from behind the bar, multitasking as she tossed in the complaint.

Laki just stuck out her tongue and stayed silent.

She didn't dare criticize the guild master anymore—though she had done so openly when she first joined.

Her impression of Makarov had changed significantly since then; she now knew he wasn't actually a pervert, even if he acted like one.

"Quit nagging, Airo. A good chunk of that ten million J went to the guild members—consider it an indirect bonus. I don't see anything wrong with that," Makarov replied dismissively.

Airo shook her head.

There was no reasoning with the guild master—she just had to humor him.

They said old people turned into children, and it was true: the older he got, the more childish he became.

Meanwhile, among the actual children, Marco became the center of attention the moment he returned, with all the kids crowding around him.

"Line up, line up—there's enough for everyone." Marco smiled and directed them to line up to receive their gifts.

Due to the renovation of the usual meeting venue, Marco had stayed in Crocus for a few extra days and had taken the opportunity to buy presents for everyone.

They were all fun little trinkets—nothing too expensive, just tokens of thoughtfulness.

For example, there was a scarf for Natsu (which he could actually use), a pair of shorts for Gray (also practical, since even though Gray sometimes stripped down to nothing, he usually kept his shorts on) and a brightly colored parrot as a pet for Elfman.

"And this is for Cana—a treasure I found at the Cait shelter guild. According to old man Robaul, it's a divination tool from centuries ago."

Marco handed Cana a turtle shell engraved with mysterious symbols.

He wasn't sure if it was genuine or not, but Robaul had vouched for it, and given the old man's strength, it wasn't surprising he'd have such relics lying around.

Cana's eyes lit up the moment she saw the shell.

She took it and immediately began studying it, even drawing Levy's attention with her fascination over the symbols.

For Levy, Marco had brought some ancient texts—also from Cait shelter.

With nothing else to do in Crocus, he'd made a trip there and ended up "borrowing" quite a few things before Robaul who's fed up with him and finally kicked him out.

"Thank you, Marco!"

Now that she had the books, Levy no longer fought with Cana over the turtle shell.

Hugging the box of ancient texts, she looked as if she'd found priceless treasure, her face beaming with joy.

The kids in the guild were all so pure-hearted.

"And this is for Erza."

Marco presented Erza with a suit of armor—though not a magical one, it was still an antique piece.

As for its origin… well, let's just say Robaul had good reason for kicking him out.

"Thank you! It's a very unique design."

Erza admired the armor with delight.

She had a hobby of collecting armor—not every set she bought was practical for battle, but she never sold them, preferring to keep them as prized possessions.

This one, in particular, seemed like a valuable addition to her collection.

She had once gifted Marco a suit of armor, and now he had returned the gesture.

The smile on Erza's face showed just how happy she was.

Soon, Lisanna and Wendy also received their gifts—a delicate hairpin for Lisanna and a hair ribbon for Wendy.

Lisanna had short hair, while Wendy was growing hers out, so Marco had specifically picked a ribbon for her to tie it up with.

The two girls jumped for joy after getting their presents.

They had been inseparable lately, and their bond had grown even stronger.

Mirajane stood silently to the side.

Even Jet and Droy had gotten gifts, but Marco still hadn't called her over…

As Jet and Droy collected their presents and the line began to disperse, Mirajane bit her lip, hesitating whether to step forward or not.

"Mira, this is for you."

But before she could decide, Marco had already finished distributing the gifts and walked over to her.

"F-for me?"

Looking at the gift held out before her, Mira flustered, fumbling awkwardly as she hesitated to reach out and take it.

"Yep, bought this just for you." Marco tilted his head slightly, a bit puzzled by her reaction.

What was a common thing for him seemed extraordinary to Mira.

Could it be that this girl had never received a gift before?

Now that he thought about it, that might very well be the case.

"I still owe you money..." Mira spoke up, her reluctance to accept the gift stemming from this very concern.

How could she take a gift from Marco when she still owed him money?

What kind of person would that make her?

"Those are two separate things, Mira. This is a gift I picked out especially for you. If you don't want it, I'll just have to throw it away." Marco chuckled helplessly.

Mira was truly stubborn, clinging tightly to the debt in her mind—so much so that she couldn't even bring herself to accept a gift before repaying him.

But Marco himself didn't care about the money at all.

In fact, he felt a twinge of regret—had lending Mira money to build her house only ended up adding to her burdens?

"Why would you throw it away?!"

The moment Marco mentioned discarding it, Mira's reaction intensified, her voice rising as her earlier hesitation vanished.

She snatched the gift bag from him and peeked inside, only to freeze at the sight of an apron.

"Such a nice apron... how could you throw it away? You could just give it to someone else..."

Mirajane murmured softly as she stared at the apron in the bag.

"Nope, that won't do. I picked this out just for you—how could I give it to someone else? If you don't want it, it's going in the trash."

Marco shook his head, his tone firm.

"..."

Mirajane fell silent.

Staring at Marco's bright, smiling face, she asked blankly.

"Why... an apron?"

"I noticed how relaxed you are when you cook, Mira. You must really enjoy preparing food, right? So I picked out this apron specially, hoping I'll get to eat your cooking often. It's truly delicious—just talking about it makes my mouth water." Marco answered with a grin.

He had indeed noticed this—Mira wasn't just skilled at cooking out of necessity as the eldest sister or due to life's hardships.

While those might have played a part, she genuinely loved the act of cooking itself.

"...Thank you. I'll accept it, then." Marco's words made Mira's expression waver.

Pressing her lips together, she tightened her grip on the gift bag and thanked him.

"That's more like it, Mira. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Things are different now—you have plenty of family to rely on. Don't just focus on your small household. You've got the guild, your bigger family. Look at Lisanna and Elfman—aren't they happy here?" Marco spoke softly as he reached out and ruffled Mira's hair.

When she wasn't in her delinquent mode, she was quite adorable.

Smack!

"Stop treating me like a kid, Marco!"

Mira swatted his hand away from her head, scrunching her nose as she glared at him with a fierce little pout.

"Haha~ Don't be so feisty. The Mira from earlier was way cuter~" Marco laughed, teasing her.

"Hmph!" Mira's cheeks flushed slightly as she let out a light hum and turned her head away, refusing to look at Marco.

"Marco!"

But before Mira could say anything else, a loud shout made her turn back.

She saw a figure rushing in energetically—the same figure who had called Marco's name.

With golden hair and headphones on his head, it was Laxus.

Mira and Laxus didn't interact much.

She wasn't very social, and Laxus rarely paid attention to others.

Up until now, the two had barely exchanged more than a few words.

At this moment, Laxus dashed up to Marco, staring at him with an expression of utter disbelief.

"What's wrong, Laxus?" Marco looked puzzled at Laxus's strange expression.

Could it be that Laxus wanted a gift too?

"Of course, I got yours."

Without waiting for Laxus to speak, Marco directly lifted a bag and handed it to the dumbfounded Laxus.

"That's not important!"

Laxus pushed the bag aside and fixed his burning gaze on Marco, asking.

"Marco, did you defeat Jose Porla? A Ten Wizard Saint?!"

Laxus's voice carried complex emotions—thick with disbelief, as if unwilling to accept it, yet also faintly tinged with anticipation and pride.

"Well, not really. Gramp was the main force in that fight. I just managed to make Jose Porla suffer quite a bit."

Marco scratched his head awkwardly.

The whole situation was genuinely embarrassing because the rumors outside had blown things way out of proportion.

The story had spread until it became 'Marco single-handedly defeated Jose Porla'.

Seriously?

Just skipping over the main fighter like that?!

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