Steph, Sophia's little sister, had found the couple while they were shopping together, as the picture the two had sent her before contained the address of the store in the background. After that, she immediately headed out to reunite with her big sister.
She also had no plans to ever let go of Sophia again, either, and wanted her to stay now. The taller blonde had already decided that she would continue her new life because that, her sister aside, was vastly superior to her old one. Hearing that, Steph changed her approach and decided she would come with her instead.
“...” After their train ride home, the group arrived at Sophia's old apartment, where Steph had been living since. "It still looks basically the same..." The taller blonde seemed slightly nostalgic.
“It’s cozy.” Maya was also looking around. “I like the layout.”
“Yep.” She nodded. “Well, it doesn’t hold up to our new place, but I liked it here.”
"I think comparing them to each other is pretty unfair." The white-haired girl scratched her cheek while thinking about their mansion.
“Fair point.” Sophia agreed with that assessment while the trio got comfortable in the living room. On the sofa there, her little sister immediately clung harder to her arm again. She definitely had no intention of parting with her again.
“You two already moved in together...?” Steph’s expression turned a little complicated.
"Kinda...?" Her older sister tilted her head. "It's more like we moved into the same place? Though, it’s also more temporary? We plan to leave in spring, I guess? Also, it’s not just us there.”
“It is your place, though.”
"Are you trying to help me, or are you just enjoying the show?" Sophia glared at her girlfriend in response.
“I’m just being honest towards the little sister of my partner.”
“5 points to the new girl!” Steph liked her response. “I better hope that place has room for one more girl!” She was already hellbent on coming with them.
“If you’re okay with a guestroom for now.” The incognito cat just kept on going.
“Fine by me!”
"W-Will you shut up already?! The situation is way too complicated for me already!"
“I’m just trying to make you give up by breaking your obstinacy.”
“Another 5 points!” For the little sister, Maya was making a more-than-good figure.
"I'm going to return everything we bought earlier later... Everything.” Sophia had a different opinion.
“I-I know that this one here will make you happy in the long run, so I’m reluctantly okay with that.” The white-haired girl would miss the toys a lot, but she was willing to make that sacrifice.
“I’m starting to like you. I might actually accept you as Sophia’s partner.”
“G-Good to hear.” Maya got nervous again.
“I wonder if there’s anything left to accept at the end of the day..." The taller blonde was getting rather pouty.
“Tell me what’s going on already!” Steph was getting impatient.
“I-I still don’t know how to explain it... It’s that complicated... Also, I still don’t know what I can tell you... There’s some funky stuff that you’re better off not knowing...”
“I beg to differ!”
“...”
“For goodness sake!” Maya also had enough. “She’s your sister! From her messages, she is probably the most loyal and caring person I have ever met, too! She's been searching for you every day for almost the whole past year since you disappeared from here! If you aren't going to tell her, I will!" She snapped after Sophia tried to avoid this very situation so much today.
“M-Maya?!”
“Thank you...” Steph showed her a genuine smile before she faced her older sister. “Please...”
“Haa...” Sophia hung her head in response. “W-Where would I even start...?”
“From the beginning, obviously.” The incognito cat looked at her. “It all happened because you almost died, right? Start with that.”
“WHAT?!” Steph instantly got loud gain. “Y-You almost died?!”
"Thank you, Maya... Thank you so very much for your help...” She sounded rather tired. “You’re banned from talking for the next 30 minutes. I’m serious, by the way.”
“...”
“S-Sophia...?” Steph’s expression was anything but good right now.
“I, uhhh... I might’ve gotten, err... uncomfortably close to the front end of a bus... A driving one, I mean...”
“S-So, you actually did almost... d-die...?”
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“T-The important part here is that I didn’t, isn’t it?” Sophia tried to focus on the positive part of the story to stop her sister's tears. “In fact, I’m better than ever!”
“O-Okay...”
"Things took a weird turn after I got saved, though..."
“Someone saved you...?”
“More or less... But, from here on, things will get super complicated and a gigantic mess..."
“You almost dying, wasn't?!"
“Not at all...”
“E-Eh...?”
“It’s also the part where you will call me a liar and or crazy...”
“I-I would never!”
“Well, I would call you crazy if you wouldn’t, though…” Sophia knew how ridiculous her story was, after all.
“What do you want me to do, then…?”
“Maya, I still don’t think this is a good idea…”
"…" As she was banned from talking, she decided to stay silent.
“Since when do you listen to me?!”
“…”
“I hate you…”
“C-Could you give me a chance already…?” Steph looked at her sister with pleading eyes. “L-Let me decide how unbelievable it is…”
“Fine…” Sophia finally gave up. “BUT! No interruptions, and questions only after I finished! Let me tell you everything, and afterward, we can talk about it…"
“Okay!”
Afterward, Sophia told her almost everything that happened after her disappearance for the following hours. Canir. Her boosts and personality changes. The new world. Fen. The monster country. Magic. The adventurer group they save. Maya. Their travels. The dungeon and all the other little mishaps. Her romance with the white-haired girl and how she fixed her. Aura. The capital and the royal family. Around half an hour was spent on Ellie alone. Ari. More magic stuff. Their mansion. Chloe. That, and much more, including everything that happened in between. Finishing off with how she ended up here again on accident.
There was only one specific thing she had left out of her recap. The state of the humans in that world, and how no one of her friends, not even Maya, actually was a human. She had left out the whole beastfolk part. Sophia also hadn’t told her about the transformation into a tiger-girl.
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“W-Well, that's pretty much it…" A few hours later, the taller blonde finally finished her story and showed Steph a wry smile. "Feel free to call me an idiot and or liar now…”
“…” The little sister just stayed silent instead.
“That’s also why I looked so, uhh… curious about everything I saw earlier…" As Maya's speaking ban had been lifted a while ago because the story took so long, she tried to genuinely help now. "I'm from a really remote place… One that’s not in this world…”
“…” Steph rubbed her temples a couple of times before eventually facing Sophia again. “Proof…”
“Eh?”
“I want proof!" Her stare intensified. "I know you like to bend the truth and omit things to fit your narrative, but you never outright lied before… This is too much, though…”
“How… How can I show you any proof…? Any of this happened in the other world… Right now, only my improved personality is with me. I mean, uhh… me having a girlfriend is probably the most unbelievable part of the whole story, no? So, actually… Maya is my biggest proof, after all?”
“T-That might be true, but… but…” Steph had to give it to her. “M-Magic! Show me some actual magic, and I will believe you!"
“I’m, uhh… perplexed you’re even considering the possibility of believing me…”
“Because I want to! It sounds amazing! Still, there’s just no way… You’re my sister, though… I want to believe you! I want to trust you not to lie to me in such a grand way! Even so, you told me about a different world and gods…”
“Overseer. Not god.”
“What’s the difference?”
“…” Sophia had no reply to that. “It’s just important to make that distinction, okay…?”
“It’s a bit of a touchy subject.” Maya smiled at Steph. “It’s best not to go into detail there…”
“I see…?” It didn’t seem like she did, though. "A-All that aside…”
“You actually want to see me use magic…?”
“YES!”
“Well, magic is not native in this world, and my powers are quite limited because of that. So… nothing grand is possible, but… my portals are quite flashy…?” She looked at her incognito cat for confirmation.
“Very flashy.” She nodded a few times.
“Do you really want to see this…?” Sophia went back to face her sister. “I can’t take it back afterward.”
“W-Who would say no now?!” Steph raised her voice even more.
“Alright, here goes nothing…” Still having a bad feeling about this, the taller blonde hesitated for another moment but then went ahead and opened one of her purple portals with a diameter of roughly a meter right in front of them. Afterward, she put her hand inside and pulled a small brown bag out of it. “Uhh… some snacks? The nuts you can get there are delicious…”
"…" Steph ignored her and stared at the portal with wide-open eyes. "Eh…?" It was too much.
“I told you it’s a little unbelievable…”
“I-Is… Is that really magic…?” All sorts of emotions were visible on her face.
“I don’t remember any technology like that, at least…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “You also know how bad I am with new tech, so…”
“E-Eh…?” The little sister needed another minute. “S-So… you a-actually spent the last year in a different world…? One with m-magic of all things…? Played around all day and camped outside during the night, under a starry sky completely different from ours…? You traveled and explored places no one here could ever even dream of and made all sorts of friends wherever you went…?”
“P-Pretty much, yes…”
“…” She went back to staring daggers at her older sister. “G-Give me a moment!” Afterward, she disappeared from the living room into an adjacent room.
"A-Ah…” Sophia just looked at her leaving.
“Is that her room…?”
"More or less..." Sophia nodded. "Even before I left, she was mostly living here already, so I gave her that room because I wasn't really using it anyway…"
“I see… Well, it was a lot to take in, I guess…?” Maya could see why she needed a moment. “I mean, I, uhh… also ran away from you when you told me.”
“Yeah… Fair point, I guess.”
“Can I see your room?” The white-haired girl tried to liven up the mood. “While we wait, I mean. I’m a little curious~.”
“We can do that, yeah. Oh, we could also get a couple more movies, series, and another TV, actually… I don't need any of that here. I amassed quite the collection before I decided that watching stuff online makes much more sense. My old laptop and tablet, as well.”
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Afterward, while waiting for Steph to recover from the story, the couple decided to watch and plunder Sophia’s old room.
“Ohh! So much decoration and stuff!” Maya seemed to like her room. “Your bed looks super comfy, too!”
“Ahaha, I used to collect all sorts of stuff.” The blonde looked a little awkward. “Also, sleep had always been very important to me~.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised about that.”
“Hehe.” The two looked around for a couple of minutes before Sophia seemed to have an idea. “Ohh!” A moment later, the whole room started to glow in the same purple color as her portals, and shortly after, it was completely empty. “I put everything into my storage~.”
“Makes going through stuff a lot easier.” Maya wasn’t even surprised anymore.
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Once her room was empty, literally, the duo headed back to the living room, and soon enough, the door to Steph's room also opened again.
“Alright, I got a few clothes and some other necessities!” With a big smile on her lips, the little sister held up a medium-sized bag. “Let’s go!”
“Eh…?” The duo had completely misinterpreted her earlier reaction.
"I told you I'm serious about never leaving you again!” She sounded incredibly motivated. “And after what I just heard, there’s no way we’re going to stay here! Let's go to your new world!”
As the situation seemed to be getting more complicated rather than easier, everyone got comfortable again because there was much more to take care of and discuss.