The other boy and girl had nothing covering their faces, so Kabe recognized them at a glance.
'The Strauss siblings, huh. Did not think they joined around this time.'
He did not make a fuss about it. He just nodded casually to the three of them and said,
"Well, I felt like trying handstands this time, so I walked all the way back from Clover Town on my hands."
"Clover? That is the town north of Magnolia, right?! You walked all the way back from there on your hands?!"
It was not just Cana who was stunned. Even the three siblings, who had no impression of the name "Clover Town" at first, all dropped their jaws once they processed what that meant.
'Monster.'
For the first time, Mirajane felt that, compared to herself, who was always feared as a demon, this boy who looked around her age was the one who truly deserved to be called a monster.
While the others were still gaping, Kabe opened his mouth and let out a huge yawn.
"Haah... hurried on the road all day, I am dead tired. Whatever it is, talk tonight. I am going to catch up on some sleep."
He tossed that line over his shoulder, picked up his little pack and walked straight out of the guild.
"Oi, Natsu, why are you sleeping in the middle of the road? If you are tired, go home and sleep."
His voice drifted in from outside, getting farther and farther away.
Cana snapped out of it, scratched her head in embarrassment, then turned back to the three siblings and apologized.
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce you. But seeing the spaced out state he is in right now, he will probably forget even if I do. I will properly introduce you to each other tonight."
Elfman and Lisanna nodded again and again. They were still just kids. All they saw was that Kabe was strong and cool, and both of them really wanted to be friends with this amazing big brother.
Only Mirajane kept her face blank, lips pressed tight, no telling what she was thinking.
...
Training was not just endless grinding. You had to understand the balance between work and rest.
So when Kabe left the guild again, he dropped the whole handstand routine and walked properly toward the boys' dorm.
Only, when he reached the hillside behind the guild where the boys' dorm used to stand, all he saw was an empty patch of ground and the rubble of a demolished building.
He stared at the ruins, completely lost.
"Wait, where is my huge dorm?"
The boys' dorm was gone. Fortunately, the girls' dorm not far away was still intact.
Kabe thought about thickening his skin and bunking in the girls' dorm for a while, but the dorm matron, old lady Hilda, chased him out with a broom before he could even get close.
"Brat, as long as this old woman is here, do not you even think about setting one foot in there!"
"But my dorm is gone. The guild cannot seriously be planning to leave me homeless, right?"
Kabe pulled a long face and protested.
Hilda did not care. Her job was simple and absolute, guarding the girls' dorm so not a single male life form could enter.
"Stop making excuses. Either rent a room in town or stay at an inn. In any case, this is the girls' secret garden. Boys are not allowed."
"'Secret garden', sure. As if I do not know that girls' rooms are probably even messier than boys'..."
He grumbled under his breath, very quietly, or so he thought. Hilda heard every word loud and clear.
"What was that, you little brat?! Get lost and do not let me see you here again!"
Seeing Hilda brandishing her broom like she was ready to fight to the death, Kabe could only raise his hands in defeat, grab his pack and run for it.
...
Twenty minutes later, wearing the sourest expression, Kabe slapped money on a counter, took a key and checked into a small inn.
"Damn it, so the guild boys' dorm blew up while I was away, huh? That has to be those idiots Gray and Natsu again. I am going to hang those two morons up and beat them later tonight."
Muttering complaints under his breath, he climbed up to the second floor and found his room.
It was a simple single room with its own shower and toilet. For a short stay, it was good enough.
As soon as the door closed, he stripped off his filthy clothes at the door, the stench of sweat sour enough to make his nose wrinkle.
That was when he suddenly remembered that all his spare clothes were still buried somewhere in the rubble behind the guild.
He cursed Natsu and the others again in his heart, then walked into the bathroom stark naked and turned on the water.
A few minutes later, squeaky clean and feeling several kilos lighter, Kabe threw himself onto the soft bed and sank into sleep almost instantly.
...
When night fell, the guild hall was as lively and rowdy as ever.
At a long table reserved for the kids, Natsu, whose face was still mottled with bruises, was still sulking about what had happened earlier.
"Damn Kabe, leaving without accepting my challenge. I will never admit that a gutless guy like that is stronger than me!"
At the neighboring table, Cana rested her chin on one hand and watched the adults drinking themselves silly. Hearing that, she shot Natsu a look full of contempt and said,
"What nonsense are you spouting, Natsu? You rushed him and got sent flying. Anyone watching would say you lost."
"That did not count as a fight!"
Natsu's face turned bright red. He slapped both hands on the table and jumped to his feet, insisting loudly,
"When I say challenge, I mean a real fight, fists against fists. Not some fooling around where he just whacks me with his tail!"
"Are your brains broken or something? You cannot even beat his tail, you idiot. What makes you think he would take you seriously?"
Cana felt completely defeated by Natsu's single track mind.
Just how many times did this hot blooded moron need to lose before he could finally see the gap between himself and that monster Kabe?
That guy was already the strongest among their age group in the guild, apart from Laxus, the older kid Kabe had never actually fought yet. Even most of the adults in Fairy Tail could not beat Kabe anymore.
As for Natsu, this blockhead could not even beat Erza.
He really should stop dreaming about defeating Kabe.
She thought this as she roasted Natsu in her heart, but her own mood was far from relaxed.
Watching one after another of her friends who had joined later surpass her, while she herself was stuck in place with nothing but a deck of cards that could barely impress ordinary people and rookies, Cana felt both anxious and frustrated.
She had tried everything she could think of.
But no matter if it was Kabe's self torment level training methods, or the natural gifts that Erza, Gray, Natsu and the others were born with, those were not things she could copy just because she wanted to.
As she grew older, that sense of difference, that widening gap, only grew stronger.
More and more, Cana felt that someone as weak as her had no right to stand in front of that man.
Sometimes she even wanted to be like Uncle Macao and the rest, using alcohol to numb herself, to forget all these nagging worries for a while.
...