Lucy was taken aback: "Know what?"
A cheeky handsome guy with his hands in his pockets stood next to Gray and smiled at Lucy: "I'm Gray's partner."
"Eh? Eh~~~~" Lucy almost jumped up, when did Loki pop over?
"Loki?" Except for Wendy, everyone greeted him.
"Long time no see, everyone." Loki waved, "And Lisana, I was shocked to hear about your situation. Although it's a bit late to say this now, welcome back!"
Lisana smiled: "Thanks... I was also shocked to hear you're a Star Spirit. Should I be calling you Leo now?"
"Both names are important to me, so call me anything you like."
Loki joined the Guild three years ago, while Lisana disappeared two years ago, but the two weren't particularly close.
——Mainly because Loki had been warned by Mira.
Lucy watched Loki chatting with everyone and exclaimed, "Wait, why did you say you're Gray's partner?"
Gray also asked: "You haven't told Lucy yet?"
"Sorry, I had some personal matters to handle, so I didn't have time." Loki didn't mention what those personal matters were, but everyone except Wendy more or less understood.
"This was a promise I made with Gray last year." Loki chuckled, "So Lucy, I'm applying to temporarily terminate our contract during the exam. Oh, and I can open the door with my own Power, so it won't drain your Magic Power or affect your summoning of other Star Spirits; rest assured."
"I really can't rest assured, I have to help my partner too!" Lucy, a bit overwhelmed, clasped her head.
She had said she'd gather information on others, but before even starting, she lost her strongest Star Spirit in terms of combat ability.
But Lucy couldn't bring herself to say no; the word 'promise' was just too impactful for her.
Since Loki and Gray had promised to become partners, she'd support them no matter what.
Elfman asked: "But wouldn't it be against the rules to have you as a partner?"
"No way, I'm not leaving the Guild."
"I've decided... to leave Fairy Tail."
Two voices of Loki resonated almost simultaneously, and everyone, including Loki himself, was stunned before they all looked towards Rhode's direction.
Rhode held a piece of letter paper, with a small projection of Loki hovering above it, speaking.
Rhode looked at Loki cheerfully.
"What... what is that..." Loki, usually calm, unexpectedly panicked.
Rhode was holding the farewell letter Loki wrote when he decided to disappear.
It was surprising that after all this time, the letter was still around.
The small projection of Loki pushed up his glasses, bowed his head, and continued, "From now on, I will no longer be a member of Fairy Tail, so you don't need to look for me. I have somewhere I must go. Goodbye... no, farewell forever."
"Why do you still have that thing!" Loki, blushing, for one of the few times in his Star Spirit life, found himself in an embarrassing piece of history.
"Because I always thought this kind of letter was interesting and wanted to study it, so I kept it around." Actually, he usually studied letters Mira wrote to him; Loki's was just a backup.
Turns out it came in handy now.
Watching Loki's projection disappear, a magical glow flickered at the tips of Rhode's fingers, lightly touching the letter.
Loki's projection reappeared, passionately reiterating the letter's content.
"Give it back to me!" Loki lunged at Rhode.
Rhode swiftly dodged and tapped the end of the letter with his finger, as if scrolling through a video timeline.
"...Goodbye... no, farewell forever."
"Don't play it again..."
Loki pounced, and Rhode dodged again, tapping his finger:
"...Goodbye... no, farewell forever."
"...Goodbye... no, farewell forever."
...
Loki collapsed to the floor in a cycle of his emotional farewells, feeling an overwhelming urge to crawl into the gaps in the floor.
The handsome guy was so embarrassed he almost wanted to cry; it was quite a pitiful sight.
But, whether it was Rhode, Gray, or Elfman, even the usually sympathetic Lucy didn't help him up.
They were all trying hard not to laugh.
Serves you right; who told this guy not to share something so big with everyone and just up and leave.
"Alright, enough kidding around, here you go." Rhode squatted down and handed the letter over.
Loki glanced around at the people holding back laughter and felt slightly moved.
Until Rhode spoke again: "Storage fee, 10,000 J."
Give me back my heartfelt emotions!
Loki snatched the letter back, leaped up energetically, and boldly stated: "Lucy, lend me some money!"
Lucy yelled: "No way!"
"Oh, don't say that. Though I'm going to be Gray's partner, the one I love the most is always you~" Loki cheekily gave Lucy a princess carry and walked towards the Guild's exit, "So let's have a long-overdue heart-to-heart chat."
"What heart-to-heart! And what's long-overdue? We've never had a chat!"
"Then let's start now~"
Lucy slapped Loki on the forehead, broke free, and as she walked back, she complained: "Honestly, what a casual Star Spirit!"
"Loki, well done." Macao and Wakaba gave a thumbs-up with playful grins, as they were in just the right position.
"Hey!" Lucy covered her skirt, blushing, "That's too much!"
Rhode tilted his head to the ceiling; he swore he saw nothing.
"Gr... Gray-sama!" Jubia fidgeted, "Jubia can also... also..."
"Ah?" Gray, unsure if he was pretending or genuinely clueless, casually patted Jubia's shoulder, "Is it about the exam? Did you also qualify? I'm kind of looking forward to battling against you."
"Jubia~~~"
Just hearing the word 'battle' made Jubia's imagination run to all sorts of unhealthy places, her face turning red, as if her body might turn into water at any moment.
"Rhode, it's time to work!" Marcus called out to Rhode, as he needed to take on missions to earn a living.
"Coming!" Rhode shouted back and then reminded Wendy to help gather info on who else were partners before heading out.
Rhode was unaware that once he left, Elfman started teasing: "If you guys... run into sis... encounter Rhode, can you handle it?"
Lisana smiled, Elf brother was being too much; once they became rivals, he didn't even call him brother-in-law anymore.
Wendy kindly chimed in: "No, no need to think about dealing with Brother Rhode, right? Aren't there two spots?"
Gray corrected her: "No, it's not two spots, it's up to two spots."
Lucy asked, puzzled: "What do you mean?"
"The number of spots for the S-Class Exam has always been a maximum cap, not a minimum. It means that no matter how many spots are allocated, in the end, there's a chance no one may pass." Gray explained.
"If you think about backing down when encountering Rhode, you'll definitely be eliminated, so that guy is still an opponent we can't overlook."