NOVEL NEXT Chapter 328 – Reunited
Sophia and Maya had finally finished their shopping trip in the electronics store. After the cameras and the tablets, they also got two TVs, Blu-ray players, and hundreds of movies and series boxsets that should last a while. Afterward, the blonde also decided to get a video game console together with some multiplayer party games and all sorts of stuff that they may or may not need to operate all the things they got, like cables and batteries, for example.
Once the duo exited the store, things quickly took a drastic turn, though. Outside, another blonde girl, slightly smaller than the tiger version of Sophia and with dark blue eyes instead, was already waiting for them with tears in her eyes. She wore an oversized white hoodie over a black jacket, shorts, sheer overknees, and sneakers. Not only that, but she also violently slapped Sophia's cheek the moment they saw each other. Afterward, she immediately jumped into her arms, though. As it turned out, the girl seemed to be Steph, Sophia's little sister she had to leave behind when she got transported to Maya’s world.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The trio, still standing in front of the store, Steph hugging Sophia with all her might, she hugging her back just as strong, and Maya watching the exchange, had nothing to say for quite a while. It also didn’t seem like the sisters would let go of each other anytime soon. Neither of the two had stopped crying ever since, either. Even the incognito cat had trouble holding back a few tears of her own once she finally understood what was happening.
“…” The two kept embracing each other for what felt like another five minutes. Still, Maya was slowly starting to wonder about their next steps. “Uhh…” She obviously didn’t want to interrupt them, but it also seemed like if no one was going to say anything now, the sisters probably would stay there for the rest of the day.
"A-Ah…” Hearing her voice, Sophia slowly came back to reality. Still, it took her another moment to let go of Steph again. Although, eventually, she finally pulled her arms away from the other’s waist.
“I’m not letting you go, though!” Her sister had other plans and only increased her grip around the taller girl's neck even more. “Y-You’ll just run away again else…”
“Uuh… I-I'm sorry..." Sophia took a lot of damage from that remark. "I-I… I didn't run away, though… W-What happened to me was, uhh… a little outside of my influence…”
“Do… Do you have any idea how fishy that sounds…?” Hearing that, Steph finally loosened her embrace on the taller blonde. Once she let go of her neck, she immediately grabbed one of Sophia’s hands in return. “J-Just to make sure you don’t actually run, after all!”
“…” She took even more damage from her being so overcautious and scared of losing her older sister again. "T-That much is fine… More than welcome, actually… Also, it may sound fishy, but for the actual events that happened… fishy doesn't even come close to describing it…"
“I’m all ears!” Steph stared right at her. “It better be a great story, or else I will never forget you for having left me without saying a word! Even if it is, I might still be angry at you for another year!”
“…” Naturally, there were some slight issues with explaining her disappearance. “Uhh…” Having no idea what to say, Sophia looked at her girlfriend for help. "A-Ah, Maya!” She then noticed she had a handy distraction nearby.
“Err… H-Hello…" The distraction in question had no idea what to do and just awkwardly waved at Steph.
“Wait, you’re the one from the picture…” As the little sister was preoccupied with reuniting with Sophia, she hadn’t paid much attention to the other girl yet. “Y-You’re actually real…?”
“Err… I think so…?” The white-haired girl wasn’t sure how to react to that.
“Sophia, talk to her!”
“Ehhh…?”
“Do you actually believe I buy that you’re able to talk to girls now?”
“Ahh…” She awkwardly scratched her cheek. “Maya, uhh… Wait, it’s surprisingly hard to come up with something on the spot…”
“Wow, that’s a new one.” Speechless Sophia was a rare occurrence, after all.
“My brain is complete mush after everything today, so cut me some slack… Also, no, you don’t have to comment on my usual mushy brain levels.”
"Well, I would say it's about twice as mushy as normal."
"Considering the circumstances, I'm unsure whether that's an insult or a compliment…"
“Yes.” Maya just smiled at her.
“That gets you another month.” The incognito cat's ban from testing the new toys was still increasing.
"A-Ah…” She really didn’t like the sound of that. “My sass is not doing me much good today…”
“It sure isn’t.” Sophia also started smiling. “Well, it’s kinda 50:50 today. You also had some good ones.”
“Good enough!”
“W-Wow!” Steph interrupted their little bantering. “T-That just now was more than you talked with girls the last five years in total!”
“You were actually that bad before…?” Maya stared at her girlfriend with big eyes.
“S-Shush!” She wasn’t in the mood for that.
“H-How did you manage to do that?!” Steph focused her attention on the white-haired girl. “Do you have any idea how hard I tried for that?!”
“It was a long and hard fight…” She smiled at the little sister. “One that paid off, though. She was worth all the pain I had to go through to get inside that thick skull of hers!”
“H-Hey!”
"I know perfectly well that she's worth all the pain, of which there was lots to have with her!" Steph sounded a little proud.
"H-Hey!" The pain in question repeated herself.
“There are many more questions I have for you… and I still have to find out whether you’re worthy of my big sister, but there are more pressing issues!” Steph tried to stay on topic.
“Urgh…” Maya looked slightly scared.
“S-Sophia! I'm still waiting for an explanation of why you left us! It better be a good one!”
"A-Ah…" Unfortunately, her distraction wasn't as good as she had hoped. "I'm, err… I'm still trying to come up with a way to explain it… What exactly to tell you, too… It’s rather complicated… I need more time to sort this out…”
“You have 30 seconds.”
“Nonono, I’m serious! I have to prepare myself for this!” There was no way Sophia would be able to tell her everything this fast. “Also, I need a place where it's just us for that…”
“Alright, let’s head home, then!” Saying so, as she was still clinging to her hand, Steph immediately started dragging her away.
“E-Eh?!” Unable to stand up against her, the taller blonde only managed to grab Maya’s hand as well, and the three left together.
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A few minutes later, the trio found themselves on a train leading toward Sophia's old apartment, where Steph had basically fully moved in after her disappearance.
“...” Maya was curiously watching everything inside the train and was really mesmerized by the scenery speeding past them on the outside. Naturally, she wanted to ask a ton of questions because all of this was utterly alien to her. Still, having Steph with them, she decided to swallow it because she had no idea how Sophia planned to solve this situation. Instead, she simply continued to take it all in with sparkling eyes.
“Why do I feel like watching an overly curious cat when looking at you...?” The little sister still noticed that something was odd here.
“E-Eh...?” She panicked a little and actually put a hand on top of her head. As she didn’t feel any ears there, the white-haired girl relaxed a little and tried to come up with an excuse. “W-Well, I am from a very remote place, and I, uhh... never visited such a city... There’s a lot of things I’ve never seen before...” In a way, Maya told nothing but the truth.
"Hmm..." Steph felt like something was odd about her reply and decided to stare at the girl for a while.
“S-Steph!” Sophia had a bad feeling about this and tried to divert her attention. “How... How did you even find me...? It didn’t seem like that was a coincidence, and more like you were waiting for me..."
“Because I was waiting for you!” She took the bait. “I left home the second I got the picture of the two of you!”
“Eh...?”
"I know that electronics store, idiot! I was there just last week to get a new phone!"
"B-But there was only a part of the store in the background, right...? Also, that place is a chain, isn't it...? Don't they all look the same inside...?"
“Yeah... and every store has the city name and the street they’re on right below the entrance inside to clarify exactly where you are... For example, when you want to reserve something online or stuff like that."
“Uhh...?”
“Here...” Steph pulled out her phone and opened the picture she had gotten earlier. Afterward, she zoomed in on the background, which showed the store's entrance, including the city and street name."
"A-Ah.” The taller blonde had no idea what to say. “I didn’t notice that at all...”
"That wasn't on purpose because you had to be cryptic for some reason...?" The little sister tilted her head.
"If I wanted you to find me... I would've just said where I was or got home myself..."
“?!” Steph didn’t like anything about this reply.
"A-Ah!”
“Yeah, Sophia tried really hard to avoid you, even though I said she should just go and see you.” Maya spoke without a care for her words.
“!?!” She only made more of a scene.
“M-MAYA!?” The older sister had about as much of a reaction to her. "WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?!"
"Not yours. Obviously." She wanted to have her meet her little sister since the moment they arrived here, after all.
“W-Why...?” New tears had appeared in the corners of Steph’s eyes again.
“I-It’s not what it sounds like... M-Maya and I only got here on accident, and our time is really... really limited... T-There was nothing more that I wanted other than seeing you... I-I just didn’t want to hurt you even because I’m going to disappear again...”
“WHY?!” She got even louder. “DON’T!” She also gripped the taller blonde’s hand she was still holding even stronger. “STAY!”
"..." In the end, the situation Sophia had feared the most had inevitably happened. “I-It’s not that easy...”
“Why?!”
“...” She was suffering a lot from this. “I-It wasn’t the plan, not at all, but I started a new life. I made a lot of friends. Important friends that mean a lot to me. Many people depend on me, too, now... T-There’s also Maya... she has all of her family and relatives there, too... I can’t make her do the same I put you through...”
“S-So, their and Maya’s feelings are more important than mine...?” Steph was properly crying again by now. “T-That’s unfair!”
“...”
“I-It’s also unfair that I’m saying that, but... but...!” She noticed that she was being selfish. “Stay! I don’t want to lose you again!”
“...” Sophia was at a loss. She had already decided that her new life was the one she wanted to live, but her sister really wasn’t making it easy. There was no way she could blame her for that, though. She had all the rights in the world not to accept it.
"Alright, then, take me with you!" Steph changed her approach. “There’s nothing important enough here to keep me from leaving! I’ve grown to hate this place, anyway!”
“Mhmm...” She had the feeling that the last part was her fault.
“Tell me one good reason not to bring me with you! ONE!”
"W-Why do I feel like even if I come up with one, you won't care, either...?"
“Because we're sisters, and you know me!"
“...”
Immediately afterward, the train reached their station, and Sophia managed to talk her sister into continuing this conversation at home because the whole situation was becoming too complicated to speak about outside.
