Chapter 33: Chapter 31 – Getting ready to leave

Sophia took her time getting back to the city after her scary experience of accidentally stopping time out of all things. Once she made it there, she trotted towards the inn and noticed Fen outside of it. He was lying on a patch of grass next to the building, relaxing in the warming rays of the sun.

"Feeen~!" Seeing the wolf, she walked up to him and buried her face into his furry side, wishing he would turn back to his original size for extra fluff, but he unfortunately couldn't do that in the city.

"Sophia…?"

"I-, I messed up… very big…" Her voice was muffled while she was speaking into his fur.

"I see." He said nothing more.

Sophia stayed like that for a good ten minutes, slowly getting healed by the fluffiness of Fen's fur after her scary experience. Eventually, Maya showed up at the inn as well and noticed the two.

"Err…" She looked at them, Fen relaxing on the grass with Sophia having her face deeply buried into his side. "Am-, Am I interrupting?" A grave misunderstanding happened.

"You are not." The wolf gave a clear answer.

"I see?" That cat-girl seemed confused, and even her tail formed into something resembling a question mark. "Soo… What's going on?" She kneeled down next to Sophia and patted her head, checking whether the girl's still alive.

"Actually, I have no idea."

"Ehh?" She got even more puzzled after the wolf's reply.

"Hmm…?" Sophia finally noticed that she wasn't alone with Fen anymore. She lifted her face, and once she saw Maya and her oddly question-mark-shaped tail, a goofy smile appeared on her face. "Just what I needed~."

"What?" She was in dire need of some context. "Seriously?! What's going on here, Sophia?!"

"My magic's… too powerful."

"Yeah." The cat-girl gave a blunt reply, lacking any emotion. "Any other news that, you know, actually are news?"

"So mean! I messed up while thinking of some ways to improve my reaction time. I don't want to get surprised by an attack like the ones of the griphon again! One thing led to another… and I somehow, uhh, accidentally ended up stopping time…"

"What kind of crazy thing were you even trying in the first place to accidentally stop… time… Wait, what?" Maya had only just processed the information and reacted with a blank face.

"You did what?!" Fen reacted much stronger as he shouted while getting up from the grass.

"O-Ouch!" Having leaned onto his body until now, Sophia lost her balance and fell face-first down on the ground.

"Did you seriously just say that you stopped time, girl?!"

"Yes… As expected, that was something I really shouldn't have done, huh?" She had the feeling before that it wasn't something she was supposed to do.

"No, it's impossible!" Fen didn't believe her.

"Trust me, it isn't… That frighteningly scary experience definitely was no imagination of mine!" She got goosebumps just remembering it.

"Sophia…?" Maya seemed worried as she looked at her.

"I accidentally, uhh, launched myself into a tree with earth magic, don't ask." Sophia noticed the what-is-this-girl-even-doing? – kind of expression on her face. "Before the impact, I strongly wished for a timeout with all my might because I didn't want to crash into a massive tree. When I opened my eyes again, everything around me had actually been frozen in time, and not a single thing was moving anymore…"

"T-That does sound scary." She nodded in understanding.

"This wasn't even the terrifying part! I had no idea how to… un-stop time again! I was panicking like crazy because I thought I would be trapped like that… No matter what I tried, nothing at all worked!"

"Scary!" The cat-girl had a similarly horrified expression.

"Yes! I was so unbelievably happy once I got it working again!"

"No… I've been experimenting with time for hundre-, erm, many years, and I was sure it's impossible!" Fen was in despair for a different reason. "Yet-, Yet, she did it on accident…? T-That can't be!"

"How old is this guy, really?" Sophia muttered to herself as she didn't miss his slip-up.

"Sophia, what exactly did you do?!"

"I don't know. I don't care. I'm never doing it again!" It had left a big scar on her.

"N-No way…" The wolf looked like the world was ending.

"Even if… I really, honestly, have not the slightest clue what I did exactly."

"…" Fen wasn't happy at all. "It can't be helped for now, but I'll get back to you for this!"

"Please don't."

"I get the distinct feeling that Sophia shouldn't be allowed to roam around on her own." Maya felt like it was a bad idea to leave her alone.

"Agreed!" The wolf shared her opinion.

"Hey! Wait! When I was with you, Maya, I still got attacked by a griphon and all!"

"That… is true, but you at least didn't break the world on accident when we were together."

"Uuh…" There was nothing she could say in her defense.

"Okay, with that being settled,"

"Ehh? It's settled already? Well, I actually don't mind not being alone… Okay, go on." On second thought, Sophia didn't hate the idea.

"What is our plan about leaving the city?"

"Hmm, that's a good question."

"Should I start preparing already?"

"I think that would be for the best. I actually want to leave sooner rather than later." Sophia seemed like she was ready to continue her travels. "I also want to get away from bars for a while. Fen gets way too talkative when he's drunk, and it's too much work to keep him silent, not to mention embarrassing if I don't!"

"Nonsense! Alcohol has no effect on me!"

"It sure has!" Both girls answered at the same time, having witnessed it before.

"…" He didn't, no, couldn't answer anymore.

"Is tomorrow too early for you, Maya?"

"I guess that should work." She didn't seem to have much of a problem with it. "Ah, but you have to tell Chiyo and the group about it. Especially Chiyo."

"Okay?" Sophia didn't understand why she mentioned her twice. "Yeah, I should do that."

"Great. Alright, with that being said, I have to take care of some things as well. See you later then, Sophia, Fen." After that, the cat-girl left the place with a slight wave of her hand.

"Bye." She waved back. "Well, I'll go look for Chiyo and the gang. Better get over with it soon."

"Don't leave the city, or that girl will get angry with you for going on another unsupervised adventure."

"Haha, I get it." Leaving Fen behind, Sophia began to look around for the group. Luckily, it didn't take long to run into them.

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"Sophia?" Chiyo and her two companions were walking along the main road when they spotted each other. "What's up?"

"Ahh, hello there…" She didn't know how to start. "Hmm, I never said goodbye to anyone ever before… How does one… do… Ah." Sophia stopped talking. "I said that out loud, right? I sooo have to get rid of that habit of mine!"

"Y-You're leaving already…?" The cat-girl reacted to it with a sad expression.

"Yeah, I want to see more of the world, so… I also need to get stronger, meaning I have to find some ways to train."

"Stronger?!" Rashk unconsciously screamed out.

"Yes. Okay, not my raw power, but polish the way I use it."

"Ah, that makes a little more sense. Well, let me thank you again for saving our lives during the golem attack. We'll forever be grateful to you for that. It definitely was… an experience knowing you, my common sense will take years to recover, but I'll miss these days." Rash was the first one to say goodbye out of the group.

"What he said." Masi continued. "Really, thank you very much! You seriously made me want to restart as a magician. Next time we'll meet, you're going to be the surprised one!"

"I'm looking forward to that!" She accepted his challenge.

"S-Sophia…?" Chiyo finally addressed her again.

"Yes?"

"Are you… free for a little while now?"

"Yeah, after that disaster earlier, I have nothing planned for the rest of the day."

"Disaster?"

"Forget it… So, what do you want to do, Chiyo?"

"Just walk around a bit… and chat."

"Sure, we can do that, no problem."

"Great… Rashk, Masi, see you later, okay?" She said goodbye to her companions before focusing on Sophia.

"Do your best!"

"Fight!" The two were encouraging her for some reason.

"Hmm?" Sophia tilted her head.

"L-Let's go!"

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Afterward, the two leisurely and side by side walked through the city for a while. As it seemed like this would continue, Sophia addressed fidgeting and nervous-looking cat-girl eventually.

"I'm no expert at this whole talking thing, but... didn't you want to chat?"

"A-Ah! Yes…" She froze up for a moment. "Is-, Is Maya really coming with you?"

"Yeah, we talked about leaving earlier, and she's currently getting ready for tomorrow."

"I see… lucky her." Chiyo seemed jealous. "Will she be a help to you?"

"Help?" If anything, Sophia had the feeling that she's going to have a lot more stress and mental fatigue in the future. All of which will be her own fault, though. "Well, she is really strong, that's for sure, and she's a fast learner when it comes to magic. It will definitely be interesting with her around."

"Magic, huh? Yeah, I can't compete with that…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you… D-Do you like… Maya, Sophia…?" Chiyo decided to get to the point.

"W-W-What?!" For her, this came completely out of the blue. She began to stutter while her face turned red due to the embarrassment. "W-Where does this come… from?" She wasn't able to deal with that kind of topic yet.

"J-Just… interested…" Chiyo's expression turned dark after seeing her over-the-top reaction. "And…?"

"A-And…? No… I wouldn't say so… Y-Yes, I think she's… c-cute, extremely so, but… You are, too…" Though the levels of cuteness were on a different scale in her opinion, Sophia still told the truth. "A-Ah, uhh, so embarrassing!" She took some damage herself after realizing she blurted it out loud again.

"W-Wha-?! D-Do you really think so…?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"I see, ehehe~." Chiyo's face brightened up, and she smiled shyly. "I'm happy."

"…" She wasn't sure how to react.

"Sophia?"

"Y-Yes…?" She felt very tense for some reason.

"Will you… ever come back to this city?"

"Uh," She thought about it and decided to be honest. "I don't know. Probably, but if I do so, it won't be any time soon… Sorry."

"I understand… I thought as much already." Chiyo's expression became lonely again. "Can I make one… just one request with no question asked?

"A-As long as it's not too outrageous."

"I hope it's not…" The cat-girl got closer to Sophia and suddenly, but gingerly wrapped her arms around the other girl's waist. After pulling her closer in a tight hug, Chiyo rested her head on Sophia's shoulder, staying like that for a while.

"H-Huh?!" Panicking, the hugged girl couldn't comprehend what was going on. The drastic increase of hugs she received lately wasn't good for her heart, especially because the previous amount was zero.

"We said no questions, right?"

"Y-Yes…" Even so, tons of them were racing through her head as the cat-girl was silently embracing her. "D-Don't tell me, was Fen actually right?! But we barely even know each other?" Mumbling to herself in shock, she remembered the conversation with the drunk wolf, where he implied that Chiyo might have some sort of feelings for her. "Nonono… no way!"

"Thank you…" The cat-girl finally parted from her again and thanked Sophia with a shy expression.

"S-Sure…" Her mind was somewhere else entirely.

"I won't say goodbye… Instead, I'll use see you. Is that okay?" It was a small but significant difference for her.

"Yeah, I like that."

"Great…" Chiyo took two or three steps and faced her again. "Well then, see you, Sophia!" Her smile seemed slightly forced, but the cat-girl tried while she waved at her a last time before being on her way.

"Yes, see you, Chiyo…" She awkwardly waved back before she finally disappeared into the distance. Sophia stared in the direction of her in silence for a while. "T-There's no way! No way that Fen was telling the truth, right? R-Right…?" She couldn't think of it as anything but a misunderstanding. "It makes no sense at all… We barely knew each other, and there was nothing that could've made her i-interested in me, w-was there? In the first place… why would she… f-fall for me?" Her previous life still had a big influence on her self-esteem.

She was bewildered about the weird turn of events that her meeting with Chiyo was, and Sophia stayed rooted in the same place. Recovering for a while, it took some time before she eventually made it back to the inn for her last night in the beastfolk city.

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