“Lady Kitten… Lady Kitten, it is time to wake up,” hearing someone calling out my name and feeling like my body is being shaken, I sit up in bed while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
“Good, now that you are awake, would you wake Lady Rin,” turning towards the voice, I see Sophia standing beside the bed.
Complying while wondering why Sophia is the one waking me up, I turn and shake Rin who probably, once again, snuck into my bed while I was sleeping. After a bit of shaking, Rin slowly starts to wake up while sleepily mumbling about something soft getting away, but as she lazily glances at Sophia, Rin immediately snaps awake.
While giving her an Icy glare, Rin flatly asks Sophia, “Why are you here?”
While busying herself with laying out a set of clothes and two sets of underwear, Sophia answers Rin in her usual blunt tone, “I am here to wake Lady Kitten as instructed by the madam if anyone shouldn’t be here, isn’t it you Lady Rin? Now please get up and dress, the meal will be served once you are both present in the dining room.”
Deciding not to reply further, Rin gives a hmph and gets off the bed. Letting the negligee she is wearing fall to the ground, Rin takes the clothing and one set of underwear that Sophia has laid out. Following Rin’s example, I get down from the bed and draw in my molded nightgown, while grabbing the remaining set of underwear.
Seeing both me and Rin exposing ourselves without a second thought, Sophia interjects on the situation, “Lady Rin, you are setting a bad example for Lady Kitten by undressing with others present.”
Looking up and glancing around, Rin goes back to dressing while responding in a cold voice, “I don’t see any people other than me and sis, so undressing in this room is fine.”
While fiddling with the bra I am trying to put on, I wonder what could have happened between the two of them for Rin to be acting like she currently is. I have only known her for two days, but so far, I don’t think I have seen Rin express negative feelings towards anyone else. If anything, Rin has come off as the cheerful type. I would really like to ask her about it, but considering Rin’s current attitude towards Sophia, the subject is probably rather taboo.
After watching me struggle trying to get my bra to fit comfortably, Sophia walks over and helps me with it, while explaining to me what I was doing wrong. Once Sophia separates from me, I mold myself an outfit and decide not to ask Sophia about her relationship with Rin. Remembering the conversation we had when she was washing me, I don’t think Sophia would ever give away personal information having to do with her master's family without permission.
Since me and Rin are now both dressed, Sophia guides us to the dining room to help me further memorize the layout of the mansion. As we walk Rin retakes the demeanor I have gotten used to her having, but she still treats Sophia like she isn’t there at all.
When we reach the dining room, me and Rin sit down at the table with our parents, before Rin asks, “Mommy, why did she come to wake up sis?”
“Hmm, I wonder why you know that I sent Sophia to wake Kitten. If I am correct, you should have been in your own room sleeping. But, we can talk more about that after the meal, the topic coincides well with another important upcoming matter.” with mother's response the conversation ends there and we silently wait for the meal to be served, though father does try to spark some small talk, he ultimately fails.
After our meal is served, we eat in silence and after everyone's done eating mother finally breaks the quiet atmosphere, “Alright, since you were quite patient and ate without making a fuss, we can have our discussion now. Firstly, since you have refused time and time again to have Sophia as your personal maid, I am instead going to have her serve Kitten. But, before you complain, allow me to explain my reasoning, since you have probably forgotten an important upcoming event.”
In an instant, Rin’s face goes from looking like she is about to explode into complaints to completely confused and mother continues with her talk, “I decided to assign Sophia as Kitten’s personal maid since it would be best for her to have another presence nearby because you will be departing for school in Specialist Academy City soon-.”
With a look of realization, Rin interrupts mother and quickly interjects, “I completely forgot about that! But, mommy can’t sis just go with me, If she is going to become an explorer, then it’s okay right? If sis can’t go yet, then it’s okay if I don’t go yet, I can wait until sis is older and we can go together.”
“Rin, there is almost nothing more me and your father can teach you if you stay here. If you truly wish to be an explorer, then going to the academy city is your best choice. You can choose not to go, but you are already at the optimal age for admission. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be, even with a recommendation from us,” mother calmly admonishes Rin’s idea of delaying her departure, while giving her thoughts on the matter.
Looking at Rin, I can tell that she is completely torn on what to do from the look on her face. While I am not sure exactly what the Specialist Academy City is, from what I understood in the conversation Rin and mother are having, Rin is currently weighing pursuing her dream of being an explorer against staying with me.
I don’t really want Rin to leave, but I don’t want her to let go of her dreams just so I can have her here either, so I share my thoughts on the matter, “You should go there.”
Hearing what I said, Rin seems even more torn on the matter so I decide to give one last push. Hugging her for the first time, I wait until I can talk again and say, “It’s your dream, right?.”
I feel Rin hug me back, but before she can say anything, I hear mother speak again, “The two of you will still have some time together before Rin leaves and, if it is what she wants, Kitten will also attend school at Specialist Academy City when she is old enough in two years. It may seem like a long time, but two years passes faster than you might expect. There is still a week before you have to make your final decision, so you don’t have to make your choice right now, but Rin, do think your choice over carefully. Also today, as a belated birthday present to you Rin, Sophia is going to take the both of you to visit the explorers guild branch in the city.”
“I finally get to go down to the city! What are we waiting for then, let's go, let's go!” shouting excitedly, Rin is about to drag me off, but Sophia stops her before she does.
Rin scowls at Sophia, but my mother quickly follows up on the situation, “If you keep trying to drag your sister along like that someone is going to get hurt one day. You are not going to get there faster if you rush and for today Sophia’s word is law, you obey her instructions no questions asked. Sophia, I trust that you will keep my daughters out of harm, but do try to let them enjoy themselves.”
Answering mother with a bow, Sophia leads me and Rin out of the mansion. Once we get outside Sophia instructs us to wait for her and she goes back inside, I would guess, to prepare some things for going down to the city.
Sitting and waiting for Sophia, Rin is almost hopping up and down in excitement so I decide to take a better look around the mansion's front yard. But, there really isn’t anything to see. There is a lot of space, but the only other things of any relative interest is how well kept such a large plot of land is and the tall spiked metal fence that extends all the way around the property.
Looking to see if I can spot anything else interesting, I see what looks like a green squirrel, the size of a Shiba Inu I had in my other life, basking in the sunlight near the mansion. Curious I decide to point it out to Rin, “What is that?”
“Tatsu!” with a shout Rin runs over to the big squirrel and scoops it up into her arms before starting to walk back over.
Since Rin seems so comfortable with it and she called it by, what sounded like, a name, the big squirrel must be some kind of pet. Though, a squirrel that big is rather strange and I am curious why it’s green.
Stolen story; please report.
Thinking further on it, this is probably the first time in this life I have seen an animal, I have heard a lot about monsters, but I have never seen anything of the like. Then again, I was isolated for a long time, so that fact isn’t really surprising.
As I am thinking, Rin gets close enough that I can get a better look at the creature in her arms. But, other than being much bigger and green, the animal she is holding looks no different than squirrels from my other life.
Once Rin is within touching distance of me the squirrel in her arms look rather wary of me, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she says, “Sis, you haven’t met Tatsu yet right? Well, sis this is Tatsu, Tatsu this is sis. Mommy and daddy got Tatsu from the tamers guild when they were still explorers. Tatsu is really strong, but he is also really friendly. He also likes being scratched behind the ears like this, see?”
Demonstrating as she talks Rin starts scratching the squirrel named Tatsu behind his ears and he begins to make what almost sounds like a deep purr, which sounds odd considering it’s coming from an oversized squirrel.
Remembering my past life, I was never really socially proficient and because of that, most of the time I found myself getting along with animals more than people. So even though the situation in front of me is rather odd, seeing something like Tatsu in front of me, I can’t help but want to pet him.
“Do you want to try holding him while we wait?” as if sensing what I’m thinking about, Rin talks while holding the purring Tatsu out to me.
With intent to take Rin up on her offer, I slowly move my hands to grab Tatsu, but once my hands are about to make contact with him Tatsu abruptly stops purring, snaps his eyes open to look at me, and starts loudly screeching. Surprised, I jerk my hands back to myself and Tatsu uses Rin’s surprise to wriggle out of her grasp. Once he hits the ground Tatsu runs off as fast as he can screeching all the way.
Looking at her empty hands, Rin slowly pulls them back to her chest looking confused, but, at least, it doesn’t look like Tatsu hurt her during his escape. Rin turns to look towards where Tatsu dashed off to, but he is already long out of site. Turning back, she slowly walks over and pulls me into a hug without saying anything.
Reflecting on what just happened, it’s still rather surprising. In my other life there were, of course, animals that were wary of me, that’s only natural, but what I saw in Tatsu’s eyes, that wasn’t wariness. The look in his eyes and his reaction, what they displayed was outright terror.
“What happened? I heard shrieking, so I expected something must have broken into the yard, but instead, I rush back only to find the two of you completely dazed.” Sophia’s voice suddenly cuts through the silence, causing Rin separate from me with a start.
Without any of her previous enmity towards Sophia, Rin slowly manages to stammer out a recounting of what just happened. Closing her eyes, Sophia seems to think about something before saying, “I can’t say I know why Tatsu would have such a reaction, but it can be discussed with the madam later. Even if I was interrupted, this amount of preparation should be fine, unless that is, you wish to cancel today's planned excursion into the city?”
Regaining some of her previous excitement Rin grabs my hands and exclaims, “No we still want to go, right sis?”
Giving a small nod to Rin, I free my hands and turn to look at Sophia. Noticing that she has changed out of her maid outfit, I examine her current choice of clothing. Though, rather than clothing, Sophia’s current wear looks more akin to light leather armor, designed to protect most of the body while still allowing for a complete range of movement to the joints and waist.
Seemingly satisfied with our responses, Sophia starts giving out instructions, “Good, now I am going to set some ground rules and once we get down to the city, if you fail to follow any of these I am going to force you to hold my hand the entire time we are there. Do I make myself clear?”
With her statement getting a firm nod out of both me and Rin, Sophia continues with her instructions, “If both of you understand then this will be simple, when we are in the city, neither of you are to leave my side, unless I say it is alright, do not talk to strangers, and finally, if you wish to visit something, it will wait until after we have been to the explorers guild branch. Also, Lady Kitten, I would ask that you wrap your tail around your waist like it was when we first met.”
Doing like Sophia has asked, I manipulate my tail until it looks convincingly enough like a belt. Looking satisfied Sophia motions for us to follow her and leads us towards the large gate in the fence surrounding the mansion's yard. Crossing through the gate, there are two men standing guard, stopping us, Sophia tells them what Rin relayed to her about the incident with Tatsu and that, on mothers orders, we are headed down to the city.
Hearing about what happened with Tatsu, one of the men gives a firm nod before heading through the gate towards the mansion. The other man wishes us a good time in the city today and sends us on our way.
As we descend the gentle slope, Rin talks excitedly about all the things she has only gotten to see from the carriage windows on the few occasions that she has gotten to ride it through the city. Funnily enough, Rin seems to be excited enough to ignore Sophia’s presence, but it could also simply be that she has temporarily forgotten about her distaste thanks to her excitement.
After about a half hour of walking, we are finally close enough to the city for me to get a better look at it. At least, that should be the case, but the city, as far as I can see, is surrounded by a large rampart. Looking at such large walls, I can’t help but wonder what they are keeping out with them.
Within a few more minutes of walking, we finally reach the walls surrounding the city. Rin is so excited that she nearly dashes off, but Sophia firmly grasps her shoulder while saying, “Lady Rin, have you already forgotten the rules I set, or could it be that you wish to hold my hand for the rest of the day?”
Having issued her warning, Sophia continues to lead us forward towards a large gate set into the cities walls, but I am somewhat surprised that I can’t see anyone coming in or out. I would have thought that any gate would see activity in such a large looking city.
As we reach the gate a man in what looks like light plate armor walks over and addresses Sophia, “It’s a rare sight when, that, Sophia isn’t alone on her way into the city. May I know who the two girls with you are?”
Though Sophia’s expression doesn’t change the tone she uses to answer the man is colder than her usual way of speaking, “When have you ever been allowed to ask about any of my business? You guard the Natsumi family’s personal gate to the city, but you may not be long for that position if you continue to ask questions needlessly. Now, may we pass, or do you have more needless questions?”
“Fine, fine, glad to see you are all business as usual, but at least let me give the identity of these mysterious girls one guess. Yesterday I heard from two passing maids that the Natsumi’s adopted a young girl into their household and their first daughter should be sixteen this year. So could these two maybe be the mysterious daughter and even more mysterious adopted daughter? Alright, alright, that’s crazy and I know it, that over protective mother would never…” as the man talks, Sophia starts scowling at him and he goes slightly slack jawed mid sentence.
Composing himself the man turns around while rubbing his chin and says, “Right, you are free to pass, but I am obligated to ask how long you believe your business in the city will take.”
Ignoring the man's question, Sophia leads us through the gate and I finally get to see my first city in this life.