Still on her knees after being magnificently defeated by Sophia in a magic fight, the white-haired cat-girl Maya requested to beco her disciple all of a sudden. This resulted in making the girl in question look very confused and troubled.
"Disciple, you say…" Sophia didn't know what to do. "I'm still learning magic myself, you know?" She glanced at her own teacher Fen, but the wolf instantly turned away his head, clearly not wanting to have anything to do with this situation. "I don't think there's anything I can teach you."
"Are you seriously saying that after what you did to ?" Maya wasn't buying it.
"T-That phrasing…" She was concerned about the cat-girl's ambiguous wording. "E-Even if that's the case, I'm not going to stay for long here, so-"
"I'll co with you, then!" She was very committed to her decision.
"Ehh, I don't even know where I'm going next… I want to explore the world! We might end up at the other side of the continent, maybe even further." Sophia tried to talk her out of it.
"Sounds fun!" It had the opposite effect.
"Seriously…?"
"Yeah, I always wanted to travel anyway. I just never had the opportunity!"
"I-Is that so? What about your family? Won't your parents say anything?"
"Ahaha. Despite my looks, I'm already old enough to make my own decisions!" She looked smug while exclaiming so.
"Really…? Wait, how old are you, then?" She noticed that Maya had a slightly more mature feel to her, at least when it ca to her expressions, just like she had, but she didn't think much about it until now.
"H-Huh? Why would that matter?!"
"It just does." As Sophia was the sa, being older than her looks suggested, it was a topic of great interest to her. Also, she felt guilty just thinking about taking a girl much younger than herself on a journey with her. That alone was a knock-out criterion for taking her in. An age gap later in life doesn't an much, but sothing like around 16 and Sophia's ntal 23 was a different story.
"2-…22…" The cat-girl had gotten embarrassed. It seemingly was a touchy subject for her. Nobody likes to talk about their real age, after all. No matter how much of a non-issue the early twenties are.
"Hee, is that so?" Finding out the two were basically the sa age, she felt kinda happy.
"What's that supposed to an?!" Maya had misinterpreted her and got angry. "Do you have a problem with that?! How old are you then? Being a demon, your looks might not imply what age you are either, right?!"
"Not telling you."
"Ehh…? That's not fair!"
"Why?"
"Because I told you about my age!"
"And?"
"I want to know, too!"
"Nope."
"You're such a bully, Sophia!" Maya was getting angry enough that even her tail began to swish from side to side in a frantic motion.
"C-Cute…" Sophia got distracted by the tail, and her eyes were glued to it.
"What?"
"N-Nothing!" She realized her mistake and was happy she hadn't heard her. "A-Anyways, it's a secret."
"So an…" Feeling dejected, the cat-girl's pure white tail stopped swishing angrily and lifelessly plopped on the ground.
"…" Holding back her voice while enjoying its movents, Sophia felt like she went a little overboard. "Maya, do you really want to travel with Fen and ?"
"Eh?!" Her tail instantly perked up again. She was a very expressive girl, both in body-, and spoken language.
"…A-Am I weak against tails?" Sophia muttered because she wasn't able to peel her eyes away from it. "Now, do you?"
"Yes!" Not a shred of hesitation.
"Hmm…" She didn't have a reason to say no. However, she still felt hesitant because the girl was almost too cute for her, being a possible problem for her ntal sanity in the future. Seeing the cat-girl's happily twitching tail and sparkling eyes, Sophia wasn't sure whether she was able to continue staying calm around her. She was only learning to deal with people again, after all. Maya gave off a final boss feeling in that regard. "I'm staying in the city for maybe a week or so? I don't know yet. If you still want to by then, I'll think about it."
"Really?! Okay! I won't leave your side until I convince you!" She suddenly beca extraordinarily motivated.
"H-Huh?"
"Prepare yourself, Sophia! I will definitely win you over for sure!"
"…" Stumbling over her super ambiguous wording once more, she tried to collect herself. "Haa…" Sophia took a good look at Maya again. Her happily swishing tail and fluffy-looking cat ears, which slightly twitched from ti to ti. Her blue eyes and the snow-white hair. For so reason, that didn't calm her down in the slightest, though. If anything, it was the exact opposite. "Fine. W-Whatever, do your… worst!" Feeling her boosts were reaching their limits, Sophia gave up before she lost her cool completely, implying there was anything left. She was concerned about making so sort of embarrassing mistake soon. Again.
"Yes!"
"…" Looking at the overly excited and happy cat-girl, she just knew she wouldn't last much longer.
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Once the two finished their little bickering, the rest of their group walked up to the two girls with wildly varying expressions.
"So, the rock golems really were on the sa level as small fries for her…" The lizardman, Rashk, couldn't believe just how enormous Sophia's powers were.
"Such magic… incredible!" Masi was still so amazed that he could barely speak.
"Showoff." Fen was a little harsh, though far from being wrong.
"Maya, you idiot!" Chiyo's reaction was sowhat different.
"Eh? W-Why?!" The idiot in question obviously had no idea what she had done to warrant such a treatnt.
"Forget it…" Even so, the other cat-girl was clearly pouting.
"No, seriously, what did I do?"
"N-Not telling!"
"Co on!" Maya walked up to Chiyo and started pestering her about it.
"What's wrong with Chiyo?" Sophia had regrouped with Fen and asked him about the weird situation.
"I'm not sure because these sorts of relations have been a while for , but I think she's jealous."
"I see… Wait, what?" It took a mont before the words registered. "Chiyo jealous…? Of whom?"
"Maya."
"Huh? Why? What did I miss when I was busy with her?"
"That's exactly the reason why she seems to be jealous."
"Ehh…?" She couldn't see the connection.
"It appears that Chiyo might be harboring so… positive feelings towards you, Sophia, or is at least curious about you in that regard."
"Ah, so that's what it? Ehm, wait…" She needed a minute. "C-C-Chiyo does…? Eh?"
"So it seems."
"Err, no…" Sophia had stopped working. "W-Why...?"
"Interesting… So, romance completely fries your boost, huh?" Fen noticed how the girl had beco a useless ss in an instant.
"E-E… Even if she… does… which makes… no sense… We barely… know each other!" Her face had turned bright red. "W-Why would she be… jealous of M-Maya…?"
"Well, she most likely didn't enjoy seeing the two of you so openly flirting in front of everyone, I guess."
"Yeah, that makes sense… NOT!" Sophia had lost it. "F-Flirting… what? I was just ssing with her a bit… and we were bickering a little?"
"Yes… that's what we would call a form of flirting in this world, especially because it seed both of you were enjoying your back and forth."
"W-We were…?" She hadn't noticed. "Well, I had fun t-teasing her, but…"
"You even called her cute. Again."
"A-Ah, you heard that, huh…? That was s-sohow… out of my control… S-So embarrassing!"
"I do think that Maya was enjoying herself as well. Ah, maybe not the whole bullying part, though." The wolf had to take a jab at her.
"Uhh… I-I've never f-flirted with anyone before… never had the… chance to… D-Did I really…?!"
"Both of you did it unconsciously? You seem to be quite compatible with each other."
"…D-Do we…?" Sophia wasn't able to speak in coherent sentences anymore.
"Are you interested in Maya?" The wolf seed strangely invested in the topic.
"I-I… do think she's… a-a-adorable, but I… don't even know her yet…"
"But you are not, not interested?"
"…" She didn't feel like dealing with the overly curious wolf anymore, as it had beco too embarrassing for her.
"Are you looking for a mate then?"
"…" She looked at Fen in disbelief and simply turned around. "H-Hey, Rashk!" Deciding on a quick tactical retreat, Sophia addressed the first person her eyes fell on.
"Yes?"
"Uhh… Ah, a-are there any inns in the town? It's already really late, and the match with… M-Maya made a little tired…"
"Yeah, that makes sense. Even though your fight has completely sobered up, I'm tired as well. An inn, huh? Ah, I can recomnd the Sun Inn on the central street. It has very nice rooms, comfortable beds, and the rent's reasonable for what you're getting there.
"Sounds good, thanks."
Having decided on a plan, Sophia and the group made their way back to the city. After arriving at the inn, she opted to get a room of her own, and so did Fen. They even had rooms to accommodate full beastpeople. The group split up for the ti being. Once she noticed the fluffy-looking bed, she stopped caring about everything that happened this day. She fell asleep in around three seconds after jumping headfirst onto the bed.
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