Once the Sky Reaches the Flames

Chapter 48: Insecurity

"Here we are!"

"Wow, this plaza is huge! And it's surprisingly not crowded, huh?"

A day after the kraken incident, the wizards went with Erza's idea to check out the resort plaza. Many shops scattered the various floors of the plaza, selling nearly everything they could think of. With the fireworks festival just around the corner, Erza suggested getting new clothes to dress for the occasion. On top of clothes shopping, they'd also go souvenir hunting to buy gifts for themselves, each other, and their family back at the Fairy Tail guild.

"What a fine day for shopping!" Erza exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with golden stars. "So many shops condensed into a single plaza! I've never seen anything of this scale before."

"Me neither." Gray agreed. "We probably won't have enough time to check all of them."

"I suppose we could come to those that catch our interest." Jellal smiled.

"We'll stick to our plan of splitting up into three groups." Erza said. "You've all prepared your lists, I believe?"

"Yeah!" Everyone exclaimed back, showing off their shopping lists. These lists were actually names of their fellow friends.

"After we're done shopping, we'll gather up in that restaurant over there." Gray pointed to a rather fancy looking restaurant in the corner of the plaza. "That's where we'll meet again."

"Very well!" Erza pumped her fists up. "Let's begin our march! Onward!" She grabbed Jellal's wrist and rushed into the plaza.

"W-Woah, Erza, slow down!"

"And there she goes..." Gray ruffled his hair and sighed as the two wizards vanished in the distance. "She's awfully excited about this."

"Let's not falter behind!" Juvia wrapped her arms around his, holding it close to her chest. "Come on, darling!"

"It seems you're excited." Gray shyly smiled at her. I suppose I am, too. "Let's go!"

Both the ice and water wizards went on their merry way, leaving only the dragon slayers to their company.

"I don't even know where to start!" Natsu scanned his shopping list. The sheer size of the plaza and the lengthy list in his hands were a bit overwhelming.

"We'll cross each name one at a time, Natsu!" Wendy intertwined her fingers with his own. "Don't worry!"

"Haha, maybe you're right!" Natsu grinned. Time for an adventure! Hand in hand, they both walked into the plaza.

"Let's take it from the top." Wendy held her shopping list on the other hand. Though shopping was definitely the agenda of the day, she saw this as another date with Natsu. Spending time with him was always a win for her book. Just the two of us shopping together...

"Let's think about... Happy and Carla!" Natsu said. "Let's get stuff for them first!"

"Don't forget Lily!" she winked. They were starting with the Exceeds, so they kept their eye out for pet shops as there weren't any shops catering to Exceeds.

The two browsed through various shops, looking through the glass displays to see if anything caught their interest. Natsu stopped at a particular bag store.

"See anything interesting, Natsu?" Wendy asked.

"Bags... I think Happy could use a new bag." He replied. "He's always carrying fish around with him."

"He always is, isn't he?" Wendy smiled sweetly. "I think he'd appreciate being able to carry more fish."

"Then, it's settled!" Natsu clenched his free hand into a fist. "I'm getting Happy a new bag!"