Chapter 353: FTG Chapter 350: Missing the Finals, the Conclusion of the Sports Meet

The golden sun sank to the west, its slanting rays illumination the evening. The buildings of Fairy Academy were dyed a deep red by the lingering glow of the setting sun, resembling a quiet, elegant, and scholarly beauty draped in a pale golden veil, standing silently in the wind, waiting for the return of her traveling husband.

"Not good! I..."

Erzi snapped her eyes open and sat up, throwing off the blanket. When she clearly saw the environment she was in, her voice stopped abruptly.

"This is... the academy’s infirmary?"

Just then, a wave of noisy sounds drifted in through the window.

Erzi got up, walked to the window, and looked out. She saw students gathered in small groups, laughing and chatting, or strolling through the woods. Further away, at the venues where the sports meet had been held, the facilities had been completely dismantled, leaving only a few staff members clearing up the aftermath.

What are they doing?

Erzi froze for a moment, then was suddenly startled: "No way, the staff are already dismantling the facilities? What about the sports meet?!"

"At this hour, the sports meet is naturally already over!"

A voice came from behind her.

Erzi turned around and saw Natsu, Cana, Gray, Brandish, and their recently made little companion Happy filing through the doorway of the infirmary.

"Yo, Erzi!"

"You’re finally awake? Is your body okay?"

"You must be hungry. We brought you some snacks!"

"If you feel like you don’t have much of an appetite, I can reluctantly help you finish them off..."

Faced with the warm concern of her companions, Erzi’s heart felt warm: "Mmh, I’m fine now."

"You guys just said the sports meet is over?"

"It seems I slept for too long and missed the final match, right?"

The others nodded.

Erzi let out a long sigh and asked again: "Then... who won the Individual Combat Tournament in the end?"

Cana replied: "In your match against Mira, although both of you fell into unconsciousness due to depleted magic power, you had the upper hand in the final move and blasted Mira out of the arena, so the referee counted it as your victory."

Hearing this, Erzi felt slightly comforted.

"Then where is Mira? Why isn’t she here? How is her condition?"

Since Mira fell unconscious just like her, she should have been sent to the infirmary afterward too. But upon waking up just now, Erzi had looked around and found she was the only one in the room, so she couldn’t help but worry about Mira’s status.

"You can rest easy about that!"

"She woke up several hours ago and went home with Elfman and Lisanna."

Although both fell unconscious from magic depletion, Mira’s recovery rate was much stronger than Erzi’s.

"Uh... okay, it’s good that she’s fine."

Erzi nodded and asked again: "How did the subsequent matches go?"

Brandish said: "In the second match of the semifinals, the one between Ultear and that guy Jellal, Ultear won."

"Then in the afternoon, because you were absent from the grand finals, Ultear won by default and automatically took the championship."

"I see..."

Learning that she had ultimately missed out on the championship title, Erzi felt a bit of regret. However, since the top spot wasn’t taken by an exchange student but was won by Ultear instead, the situation wasn’t too terrible.

"This time, that girl Ultear is going to be the Academy chief for another four years!"

Speaking of this, Brandish couldn’t help but complain again: "Honestly, I don’t know what that girl is competing with her juniors for, when she has less than a year left at the academy..."

Pausing for a moment, she cast an inquiring look at Gray: "Or does she plan to continue to university and pursue deeper research into magic?"

Gray shook his head and threw up his hands: "I’ve never heard her mention anything about that, and my old man and old lady don’t pay much attention to it either, saying it’s entirely up to her own ideas. But in my impression, she doesn’t seem like the type of person who enjoys researching magic..."

The group chatted casually for a bit before dropping the subject. After all, whether Ultear went to university or not had little to do with them right now, nor would it have much impact on their lives.

"Alright, alright, let’s not talk about that!"

"I say, Erzi, you really made a huge name for yourself in the academy this time!"

Natsu said with a grin, his face beaming with excitement, showing that he was truly happy for Erzi.

"Uh... really?"

Erzi was quickly infected by Natsu’s smile, and her mood brightened considerably.

Gray suddenly reached out and nudged Cana beside him, smiling teasingly: "But out of all of us, the happiest one should still be Cana."

"Uh? Why??"

Erzi was puzzled upon hearing this and looked at Cana, only to see her wearing a smug expression, smiling gently without responding.

"Naturally because this girl bet on you to win in the club’s betting pool!"

"Although you couldn’t take the stage for the final match due to being unconscious, you pulled off major upsets in the previous rounds, especially by beating Mira in the semifinals, which allowed her to make an absolute fortune!"

"The afternoon tea we just had was entirely her treat!"

"Eh? Cana?!"

Erzi snapped her head around to look at Cana. After a brief moment of shock, she was so moved she nearly moved to tears.

Regarding the betting pool organized by the Fairy Club for the school sports meet’s Individual Combat Tournament, Erzi had heard about it earlier. She just hadn’t expected that the bets weren’t solely placed on the ultimate champion, but that a pool was opened for every single match.

What she expected even less was that Cana had so much faith in her that she had bet on her to win the entire way through. They really were best friends!

Cana smiled and waved her hand: "Actually, it wasn’t that much. Everyone keep it low-key, low-key..."

Looking at her completely smug smile, a single thought popped into everyone’s minds simultaneously: This girl definitely made a killing!

A short while later, Erzi felt that she had recovered, so she straightened her clothes, followed the group out of the infirmary, and returned to the guild.

Upon arriving at Fairy Tail, the companions who had already heard the results of the Individual Combat Tournament surrounded Erzi once again to celebrate and congratulate her. The group hung out in a lively manner for half the day, and it wasn’t until nightfall that everyone went back to their respective homes.

...

A few days after the conclusion of the sports meet.

On this particular afternoon, Erzi saw Natsu, Gray, and the others gathered in the guild, appearing to be plotting something, so she approached curiously.

Coming closer, she discovered that the one surrounded in the center making wild proclamations was none other than Happy, the little cat who had partnered up with Natsu not long ago and started hanging out with everyone.

"What I’m saying is true!"

Happy looked completely earnest, a hint of lingering terror and timidity still visible in his eyes as he spoke.

"Last night, I ran into something dirty in the academy!"