Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Chapter 201

"Erza really wasn’t being fair. Something that big happened and she didn’t even take us with her!"

Up on the guild’s second floor, Natsu complained to Gray while enthusiastically working his way through a plate of flames.

"You just wanted an excuse to fight somebody," Gray replied without looking particularly impressed.

"Besides, that was a battle at the level of the Ten Wizard Saints. Even if you’d gone, you wouldn’t have been much help."

"What?! Are you saying I’m weak, you bastard ice block?!"

"Idiot."

"Will you two stop arguing?"

Down on the first floor, Mira sat at the piano, her fingers moving smoothly across the keys as a beautiful melody drifted throughout the guild hall.

Quite a few members had already fallen quiet, simply listening to the music.

At the edge of the second floor, however, Marshall was leaning against the railing and staring absently in the direction Erza had left earlier, his thoughts clearly somewhere else.

There was no doubt about it: the song Mira was performing was music Marshall had known in his previous life.

She had obtained the score through the cross-world terminal, pulling it from Lisanna on the other side, and apparently the piece itself had been composed by "Eminem."

Marshall had already suspected there was something strange about his counterpart in the other world, and at this point that suspicion was becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss.

Edolas and Earth Land were effectively parallel worlds, so there was nothing particularly surprising about the existence of counterparts who looked and behaved very similarly to one another.

What bothered Marshall was that his other-world counterpart somehow knew music from Marshall’s original world.

Even so, that other Marshall probably wasn’t a transmigrator.

According to his biological older sister in that world—the other Lucy—her younger brother had been perfectly ordinary as a child.

If there was anything unusual about him, it was that he had apparently been born with an extraordinary gift for music, with beautiful notes occasionally appearing in his mind seemingly from nowhere.

If all of that truly was a coincidence, then the implications were strange in a completely different way.

Much of the other Marshall’s talent seemed to come from knowledge belonging to another world, as though he had somehow awakened access to those fragments much earlier.

The more Marshall thought about it, the stranger it became.

After arriving in this world, many of his own memories had become vague.

It was similar to what happened with textbooks from middle school: he knew he had studied them before, but once enough time passed without using the information, most of the details simply faded away.

So what if his memories of his previous life had never actually been complete?

What if the Marshall who arrived in this world had retained only the majority of those memories, while some of the missing fragments had somehow fallen into a parallel world instead?

Taking the speculation one step further, was it even possible that his memories had been deliberately adjusted?

Perhaps by that "mysterious person"...

Thanks to that bastard, Marshall was beginning to develop something dangerously close to a persecution complex.

There was only one thing he could say with certainty: every memory he had formed since the moment his past-life memories "awakened" was genuinely his.

Nobody had tampered with those experiences, and everything he had lived through since then had been real.

And honestly...

perhaps that was enough.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?"

Something cold suddenly pressed against Marshall’s cheek.

He flinched and looked over to find Mira smiling beside him, holding an iced cup against his face.

"How was it?" she asked brightly. "Did your big sister sing well?"

Marshall smiled.

"Of course. Mira-nee has the best singing voice."

"Hehe~ And the song your sister just sang was written by ’Marshall’ too."

Mira leaned closer, clearly entertained by the whole situation.

"I never expected the Marshall from another world to be some great musician. No matter which world you’re in, you really are a genius. You just happen to specialize in different things."

"Hmph. I’m good at everything."

Marshall folded his arms with obvious dissatisfaction.

"Look at Wrath. She plays the drums really well too, and that talent came from me. I just never bothered putting much effort into music."

He raised his chin.

"It’s not that I lack talent. I’m just not interested! If I actually wanted to, I could do better than that guy too!"

Mira burst out laughing.

"Yes, yes. Our Marshall is the greatest."

Still smiling, she pulled him into her arms and vigorously rubbed his hair.

"You’re actually getting jealous of another version of yourself. What an idiot."

"Huh?! Who’s jealous?"

Marshall immediately protested.

"And I don’t acknowledge that I have anything to do with that guy. He’s just some stranger from another world."

Mira merely smiled indulgently and kept him comfortably tucked against her.

"Marshall~ You’ve been a little restless lately, haven’t you?"

Her voice softened.

"Are you feeling down? If something’s bothering you, you can always tell your big sister. I’ll stay by your side."

Marshall went quiet.

He hadn’t expected Mira to notice his anxiety.

And now she was the one comforting him.

Had he really been acting that obviously?

Marshall sighed and allowed himself to sink more comfortably into her embrace.

"It’s nothing serious. I just feel like... I’m still not strong enough."

Mira pinched his cheek.

"Marshall, you really are too greedy."

She gave him a helpless smile.

"You’re already ridiculously strong. Who in this guild can even beat you anymore? Why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

Her expression softened further.

"That doesn’t sound like you."

"Well..."

Marshall hesitated.

He knew she was right, but he had no idea how he was supposed to explain the real reason.

That one minute in which the Heart of Time had completely seized control of his body had genuinely shaken him.

It had been the first time in a very long while that something had happened entirely beyond his control, leaving him completely powerless to do anything about it.

That helplessness was what had made him restless.

But Marshall had no intention of admitting something like that aloud.

He would rather pretend to be childish and run around acting spoiled with the girls than expose that kind of vulnerability in a situation like this.

So he chose a different answer.

"I just... want to protect everything I care about."

Marshall’s voice grew quieter.

"If I become strong enough, then I’ll be able to protect everyone."

Mira studied him for a moment before gently pinching his cheek again.

"You know, the Marshall I’m looking at right now reminds me a little of how I used to be."

"Eh?"

"I always tried to act strong and thought I had to protect Elfman and Lisanna forever with my own strength."

Marshall immediately frowned.

"I’m not pretending to be strong!"

Mira laughed softly.

"Marshall, sometimes you should trust your companions a little more too."

She held him closer.

"We’re Fairy Tail, remember? We’re family."

Resting in Mira’s warm embrace, Marshall felt the tension that had been weighing on him gradually ease.

This was what he wanted to protect.

This warm, genuine happiness.

Maybe there really was nothing he needed to be so afraid of.

He was already someone with an absurd advantage, and if even he couldn’t accomplish something, then who could?

All he had to do was keep believing in himself and continue moving forward.

Besides, he wasn’t alone anymore.

"Thanks, Mira..."

Marshall had barely finished speaking when Cana’s dissatisfied voice came from nearby.

"Hey, hey. What are you two doing hugging each other like that in public?"

Before either of them could react, Cana stepped forward and snatched Marshall straight out of Mira’s arms.

"I’m Marshall’s good big sister. Mira, back off!"

Mira’s smile instantly became dangerous.

"Huh? Cana, you’ve been secretly drinking again, haven’t you? Don’t teach Marshall bad habits, you damn alcoholic!"

"I-I have not!"

Cana immediately became defensive.

"I didn’t sneak any drinks!"

"Marshall, come on. Let’s stay away from this drunk."

"All right, all right."

Marshall nodded solemnly.

"A Cana who secretly drinks really is no good."

"Eh?! Don’t abandon me!"

Not far away, Gray watched the ridiculous scene while angrily shoveling down a large cup of shaved ice.

"That bastard Marshall..."

He ground his teeth.

"I’m seriously jealous."

"Exactly!" Natsu immediately agreed. "Why does Marshall get to go fight with Erza while we have to stay here? That’s not fair!"

Gray glanced toward Elfman.

"...Elfman, why do you never give Marshall any attitude? As Mira’s actual little brother, you’re seriously failing at your job."

Elfman crossed his arms.

"Hmph! Because Marshall is a real man!"

Then, after a brief pause, he admitted the actual reason.

"..."

"...Mostly because I can’t beat him. Nothing I can do about that."

Gray stared at him.

"You coward! Picking on people weaker than you and backing down from stronger ones."

Elfman’s eye twitched.

"You wanna fight?!"