CHAPTER 17

A/N: Hey guys. So I know its been a while since I've updated this fic, and I myself am very sorry that it has taken me so long to do even this much.

I have been very busy with my studies at the moment, and it takes up a lot of my time, I've also had to start an internship so I have even less time to write.

I want to extend my thanks to you wonderful readers for sticking with me and this fic for so long. You are what motivates me to keep writing, and I promise that I will not abandon this or any of my fics. Anyway, this chapter is pretty fun, I want to see how many of you can figure out what anime I used as a reference at the end of this chapter.

Please enjoy, and feel free to leave a review letting me know what you think XD


The past week had been one of the most exhausting and never-ending for Kagura since she had been made Student Council President. Not only did she have an endless supply of documents and permission slips to go over she also had to personally deal with nagging students and their parents who weren't too happy about having to 'mingle' with students from Fairy Academy.

Those people drove her insane, she could not believe that some people thought that they could avoid punishment simply because they had big wallets, she was utterly appalled.

However she did have sympathy for Lucy and her friends, they weren't even involved with the archery club yet they managed to receive the same punishment as well. But Lucy was not one to hold a grudge or blame people, she had taken the punishment without so much as a fuss; well Kagura threw a fuss in her place, especially after she saw that her leg had been injured.

After Kagura had called Lucy, Levy and Juvia into the student council room she once again apologized for their punishment. She started fussing over Lucy because of her injured leg and kept on blaming herself and saying that Lucy could hit her if it would make her feel better but Lucy told her not to worry and that the injury was really just from her own clumsiness, Kagura calmed down slightly and went back to her professional demeanour. The main reason she had called them there in the first place was to ask how their parents had reacted to the news of the inter-school counselling news.

Lucy cringed and said her father was not happy about it for various reasons but that there shouldn't be any problems from him about the matter since despite being overly-doting he was a man who understood the concept of fairness.

Levy's parents weren't too happy about the fact that her study time was now being taken away, but they would make sure that she would pick up any slack she lost because of this. However Levy was still not happy that her reading time had been cut into.

Juvia's parents were indifferent about the matter and made no arguments. This was normal for Juvia since her parents tended to be more focused on their jobs than worrying about her, but Lucy and Levy knew how she felt.

Once Kagura had heard them all say their piece she excused them with a heavy sigh. She asked one of her co-workers how Mira was handling the news; since she was a teacher present during the incident she was also required to chauffer and attend the counselling. Suffice to say she was acting pouty and childish the whole day.

Kagura sighed in exhaustion and looked at the documents on her desk.

'One week until we have to meet again…'


Back at Fairy Academy Erza Scarlet also sighed in exhaustion after a long day of work, luckily for her most parents of the students didn't make much of a fuss over the inter-school counselling since they understood that their kids could act wild and impulsive at times. Fairy Academy was known for having students that were a little on the wild side after all. But since Fairy Academy would be hosting this thing Erza had a lot of paperwork to deal with.

She stretched her arms up and looked out the window, only to find that the sun was setting.

How long had she been working?! She looked at her watch and saw that it was already five thirty, she blinked in surprise and stood up from her chair. She had to start locking up and head to her part-time job soon.

Erza filed her documents and made sure she had everything she needed with her, she grabbed the keys for the classroom and locked it as she left and made her way to the teachers' lounge to hang the keys up.

She entered the teachers lounge and hung the keys in their designated place, when in the corner of her eye she spotted a familiar head of brown hair lying down on one of the teachers chairs.

"Cana?" asked Erza with a raised brow.

Said girl lifted her head and twisted it to look at where the voice came from.

"Oh, hey Prez, finally finished working?" asked Cana while texting on her phone.

"Not quite, there's still a lot to do but it can wait until tomorrow" said Erza as she folded her arms.

"Man that sucks, glad I don't work in the student council, this lazy student thanks you for your hard work!" she said with a mock salute as she still focused on her phone.

Erza rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her hip "What are you doing in here Cana?" she asked in exasperation.

"Relax Prez, I'm just waiting for my old man to finish fixing a door he broke so that I can go home, for some reason he wants to spend even more time with me. He's so doting its driving me crazy" muttered Cana in annoyance.

Erza smiled at this and let out a small laugh "You know he does it because he loves you" she said.

"Yeah, well can he not love me so much? I can't even bring my boyfriend over without him getting the third degree every time!" she complained as she looked at Erza for pity.

Erza just shook her head humorously and shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what else she could say at this point.

"By the way Erza, you have work today?" asked Cana with a curious glint in her eyes.

Erza raised a brow "Yes, I'm on my way there right now actually" she said.

Cana finally got up from her chair and leaned against the back as she gave her attention fully to Erza.

"Why do you work there anyway Erza? I mean aren't there places that pay better, and are not as… demanding?" she asked with concern.

Erza huffed in amusement at Cana's apparent cluelessness when it came to her job.

"While I can't say there aren't places that pay better, and are probably closer to home, I happen to love my job very much, and am proud to be working in such an establishment!" said Erza with her eyes shining with pride.

Cana smiled nervously at Erza's reaction, in all honesty she should have seen that response coming considering what she was doing at her job.

"I-I see-"

"I mean after all, how often is it that you find a job that combines your two favourite things and pays you for it?! There's no way I would ever turn my back on such an amazing opportunity!" she continued.

It seemed that Erza had entered her 'proud working girl' mode, Cana had to hurry and divert her attention or else she would go on for at least an hour.

"Well if you don't hurry you'll be late for your precious job" she said nervously while pointing at the clock on the wall.

Erza gasped "Oh you're right! If I don't leave now I'll be 1 minute late! Bye Cana!" yelled Erza as she dashed out the door.

Cana waved slowly and went back to her phone "Good luck…" she said absentmindedly.

Cana thought to herself for a minute after Erza left.

'I wonder if I should work part-time too. Gildarts would hate it, so there's a bonus, plus some extra cash for my booze… but at Erza's place… nah, that place is waaay too much for me to handle'

"Cana Sweetie! I fixed the door! Now we can spend some quality time together!" cheered Gildarts as he opened the door to the staff lounge.

Cana rolled her eyes and gave her father an exasperated smile, she loved him, but she was pretty sure if she spent any more time with him she'd kill him.

Erza ran down the streets towards her part-time job and thought to herself, if Cana hadn't stopped her from rambling she would have said something she would have preferred not to out loud.

'It's the one place I can go to where I won't have to worry about school and student council work…'


Ultear had just about had it with Jellal and his depressing mood. He was behaving like an emo teenager trying to figure out why he was still alive or something.

'All this because of Scarlet?' she thought to herself in annoyance.

Children these days had just too much drama.

She still did not completely understand the situation, or the reason that Jellal seemed to have ties with not only Erza, but Kagura and Milliana as well. All she knew was that this whiney excuse of a man was pining over Erza and for some reason refused to pursue her.

She wanted to rip her hair out in frustration, she knew the second she spoke to him that Jellal was a deep thinker, he delved way too far into things and became emotionally invested easily, and when things went bad he would make sure to take all the blame by himself and try not to involve others.

"What an annoying guy…"

"You say something Ultear?" asked Jellal looking up from his text book. Apparently he wanted to make sure he would be ready for his first lecture… that will only start a week from now.

"Not a thing" she said in a sing-song voice, she had not meant to say that out loud.

They were currently in the University Library, Jellal still didn't completely know his way around and had asked Ultear for help getting to the Library, she had been worried about his sudden depressing attitude and decided to stick around just in case.

Did these kids not know how sacred the time they have on this earth is?! And that they're wasting it for stupid reasons!?

'Knowing Erza, she won't seek Jellal out, she's too shy when it comes to matters of real-life romance, and Jellal seems determined to avoid her at all costs… seems I need to take matters into my own hands' she thought with a conniving smirk, one that did not go unnoticed as she pulled out her cell phone to text a certain someone.

-Hey little Miss Drunk

-Wassup Gray's Onee-san?

-Is Erza going to her job today?

-Huh? Why?

-Just answer the question already

-What do I get for answering?

Ultear rolled her eyes, trust Cana to be the one person she couldn't manipulate for information without paying.

-I'll buy you a pint of beer sometime, happy?

-Making a screenshot so you can't take that back! She just walked in, lemme ask her quick

Ultear waited a few minutes in annoyance, it was getting late, actually now that she thought about it, why would Erza still be at school at this hour? Was student council work really piling on that much?

Suddenly her cell phone vibrated and a text from Cana appeared.

-Looks like she's headed to work right now

Ultear smirked to herself and chuckled lowly, making Jellal glance at her wearily.

-Much appreciated, I'll be sure to get you that pint sometime soon

-Damn right you will! But why did you wanna know if she was working? And why ask me?

-Let's just say I'm feeling generous and don't feel like dealing with crap from a cheaply written love novel. Plus if I asked Meldy she'd let it slip to Erza that I asked

-I don't know what's going on, but have fun! And try not to start any fights

Ultear rolled her eyes and locked her phone screen.

'Alright, so I know where she is, in fact I couldn't have planned that more perfect myself, now to get Jellal to get there…' she thought while scrutinizing him.

Jellal was trying to act indifferent, he really was, but with the creepy laughing and the staring and texting he was staring to think that Ultear was hiring someone to end him. To be fair, he was acting unlike himself for the past few days.

He had not planned on seeing Erza Scarlet ever again, at least not so soon! He had barely been back to town for a few days and already they had crossed paths. He may as well have moved back into his childhood home and become her bloody neighbour again!

Not to mention the last time he had seen her they were only children, now… she was a full-grown woman!

Her hair had grown to such an amazing length, and Jellal couldn't quell the urge to run his fingers through the thick strands. He was sure they would feel like silk.

He tried to keep all thoughts on Erza focused on her hair, for should he dare to think about any other part of her body he would face certain problems if he tried to stand up, and he did not need that kind of humiliation before lectures started.

Redirecting his semi-lewd thoughts to the sadistic women in front of him Jellal started when he noticed she was peering at him with a soft smile on her face.

She wanted something, and from the looks of things he wasn't gonna get a say either way.

'May as well get this over with' he thought reluctantly.

Jellal cleared his throat nervously, lest he stutter in front of the terrifying woman, he would never give her that satisfaction of knowing she scared him.

"Something on your mind Ultear?" he asked as he bookmarked his place in his book and closed it.

Her smile widened slightly.

'Crap, was this a trap?' he thought nervously while trying to maintain his poker face.

"Well my dear kouhai. It has gotten so late, and I assumed you neglected to eat lunch today?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Why did she have to ask in such a creepy way? Did she enjoy messing with people psychologically? No wonder she was studying to be a criminal psychologist.

Jellal looked at his watch and noticed that it was already 6pm. And as Ultear had thought, he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

"Well no, I can't say that I had any" said Jellal with slight nervousness.

"Excellent!" yelled Ultear as she slammed her hands on the table and got up and went over to pull Jellal from his seat.

The resounding 'Shushes' for her outburst went ignored as she focused on Jellal and dragging him out of his chair.

"Come on, I know this cute little café a dear friend of mine works at. We'll get a pretty good discount if we go eat there" she said as she stuffed Jellal's books into his carrier bag and pulled him out of his seat. Jellal was too unprepared for her sudden suggestion and outburst that he didn't even notice he had been dragged out of the Library until the cool night air hit his face.

"Wait, what?"


Jellal looked at the sign of the café Ultear had dragged him to with a mixture of fear and contempt. Of all the places he could have been taken to for food, he never thought he would end up… here.

"What am I doing here Ultear?" asked Jellal with a sceptical glare.

"We're here to eat of course" she answered with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Don't be a smartass, what I mean is why you chose this café of all places to eat?" he asked as his eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"Like I told you earlier, I have a friend who works here. She'll give us a discount on whatever we order, and since you just moved here I take it you need to save up until you grab a part-time job right?" said Ultear with an all-knowing smile.

Jellal scowled at her reasoning, while it was true that he couldn't exactly spend any of his savings on whatever he pleased, he wasn't sure that discounted food would really be worth it if he entered this… establishment.

"Oh come on Jellal, get off your judgemental high horse! These kinds of places aren't as bad as you think, just grow a pair and try it at least once!" said Ultear in irritation.

Jellal sighed, Ultear did have a point. And while he was sceptical the fact that the food would be cheaper was an appealing factor.

Jellal sighed in defeat "Very well Ultear, let's go in already. I feel awkward just staring at it" muttered Jellal in irritation.

Ultear subtly held her fist in victory and smiled in excitement.

"Great! Let's go!" she cheered as she opened the door, making the bell jingle as they entered.

"Welcome back Master!"

Jellal blinked at the brightness of the inside of the café, he stood still in silence as he and Ultear were greeted by three waitresses dressed as maids who bowed when they entered.

But seeing maids greet him at the entrance of a Maid Café was not what shocked him the most that day. No, in fact it was the fact that one of these waitresses happened to have scarlet red hair.

Once the red haired waitress lifted her head to look at the new customers that had entered her face went white once she made eye contact with Jellal.

"Jellal?"

He was pretty sure he had just swallowed his tongue right there.

"E-Erza?"


Hope you liked this chapter, again, sorry for the long hiatus I will try to update as much as I can in the future so please bear with me.

So how many of you figured out what her job was before I mentioned it? XD

As always, please leave a lovely review, or even a rant about how mad you are that I took so long, either way. It is much appreciated XD