Chapter 108 – Homesick

Once Sophia finished her conversation with Canir, which ended up being pretty lengthy, she reappeared back in his shrine, where Maya was already waiting for her. As she talked with him about magic, the humans, and her family, the blonde was gone for way longer than she had initially planned.

"Welcome back! You sure took your time." Maya sounded slightly impatient.

"I'm back... Sorry about that..." She was still lost in thoughts after Canir reminded her about her family right before leaving.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" The cat-girl immediately noticed that something was going on.

"No, we talked about something that made me feel... down..."

"What did he say to you?!"

"No, I brought it up..." She took a short break. "To be honest, I'm feeling pretty... homesick right now..."

"Huh...?" Maya's face instantly lost its color. For a moment, she thought she also could use magic to stop time because it felt like everything around her froze up for a second. "W-Why...? Don't tell me... are... are you going... b-back?" She sounded so insanely worried and scared about the possibility that the cat-girl almost lost the ability to speak. "I... I don't want that..." Her voice trailed off.

"Eh?! That's... not what I... Wait a moment!" Sophia wanted to clear the misunderstanding, but once she looked at the emotional cat-girl and saw how she tried to hold back her tears, and more importantly, was failing at it, she also panicked. "I'm not going anywhere! I would never leave you! I've never been happier! Why would I give up on that?!" She desperately wanted to calm her down before she loses the possibility to.

"Then why...? Why would you feel h-homesick...?" Maya lost the fight entirely, and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"M-Maybe homesick isn't actually the right word..." The tiger-girl wasn't missing her home, but rather her family there, or how she couldn't have met them a last time. "Do you... Do you miss your family, Maya?" Tears appeared in the corners of Sophia's eyes, as well, by just mentioning it.

"My family...? Yes, I do miss them a little. It's the first time I haven't seen them for such a long time. But at the same time, it's exciting because I'm finally fully independent from them!"

"Hehe. I was also really excited when I became independent, even though it was scary at first." Sophia looked nostalgic for a second. "Did you do anything with them the day before we left?"

"Of course! Unfortunately, my big brother wasn't there because he's traveling himself for a while already, but I spent the entire evening and night with my parents." She wiped away her tears and smiled at the memory. "I told them how I found this very interesting girl and how I want to explore the world with her. I want to learn magic from this person, and she seems really funny, so I'm sure it's going to be exciting! They were surprised because I never paid much attention to other people, but after they saw how happy I seemed, my parents supported me. Sure, they were sad, and so was I, but they were glad that I found something I want to do."

"How nice..." Sophia was clearly envious of the memory. "You were close to your family, huh?"

"Yes!"

"I was also really close with them in my old world..." Her voice turned somber again. "Do you remember how I ended up here? How I got into an accident that ended my life in my old world...?

"l... I do remember that..."

"Because of that, I couldn't say goodbye to my family..."

"O-Oh..." Maya started to see the issue.

"That's not even the worst part. For me, it's just... unfortunate because especially my sister was really important to me. She was about the only person I regularly spent time with, and she really helped me staying sane by not feeling too lonely... I was really close with her. It hurts not having seen her or my mother a last time..."

"..." She couldn't find any helpful words.

"Now imagine their side... For them, I was just suddenly gone, disappeared into thin air. It's been… I don't know, half a year already...?" Sophia was now the one who failed at holding back her tears. "I'm sure they must think I'm dead, but they'll never find out... I don't even exist in their world anymore, after all. Just thinking about how they won't ever get any closure about me, I... I..." More and more tears were falling.

"I-I'm sorry!" Out of nowhere, Maya suddenly apologized and jumped at the blonde. She tightly hugged her while the cat-girl gently caressed her back for a while. "I hadn't... I had never thought about that before... You never said anything, either... I'm so sorry for selfishly just thinking about myself earlier! When you were hurting so much more..."

"..." She just buried her face in her nape while staying silent.

"Why didn't you tell me...? Please remember that your problems are my problems. I admit this is a little above my abilities... but I would've offered you my shoulder much sooner!"

"..." She needed another moment. While still in the embrace of Maya, she eventually opened up, though. "I had no idea, either. At least not that it had affected me by this much... I mean, I missed them, of course, but... I guess the feelings kept accumulating somewhere in my subconscious. When I met Canir again, the only link between my new and old life... it probably finally overflowed..."

"I see... What are you going to do now...? Now that those feelings are out..." The cat-girl's voice also got heavier again.

"Don't worry," Sophia returned Maya's embrace by wrapping her arms around the other's waist. "I won't leave my... new f-family to see my old one again. It hurts, but I have to look forward, not behind."

"New family...?" Her ears twitched and perked up after hearing those words.

"Y-Yes. There's Fen, who's like that one, slightly eccentric uncle everyone has and denies to know, but secretly loves."

"I think he's more like the overprotective father every daughter has and lover fears..." Maya still clearly remembered the time when she had started dating Sophia, and Fen made it very clear that she should never hurt her.

"Hmm? Well, there's also Aura now. Though we only met her recently, I have a good feeling about her."

"Yes, she seems nice."

"And then there's this overly emotional cat-girl who effortlessly managed to speed run her way into my heart."

"Oh no, it took some effort, alright?!" She lightly pummeled Sophia's back while complaining.

"Ehehe~. You're the main reason I'm having such a great time. You have become the by far most important person in my life, Maya. I can't think of anything that would make me feel like leaving you because I love you from the bottom of my heart. You're the center of my new family."

"T-Thank you..." She got a little shy from the straightforward confession. "I love you, too."

"Yay~. Wow, that was embarrassing..."

"You don't say!" Throwing the jab back at her, Maya finally let go of the girl. "You're too smooth sometimes."

"Better than you who's too smooth all the time. Anyway, are you feeling better now?"

"I should be the one asking you this question! But yes, I am... I'm sorry for freaking out without taking your side into consideration..."

"It's fine. If anything, it makes me happy that you were scared of losing me."

"Urgh..." Maya had mixed feelings about being so unstable when it came to the blonde. "But really, what about you? I don't think that is something even you can get over so easily."

"Yes... Canir offered to look for my family and tell me how they're dealing with what happened to me... If he finds them and they're still hurting, I'll do my best to convince him to let them get a message from me... Something along the lines of 'I'm sorry', or 'I'm doing fine, please don't worry anymore' and a 'I love you, goodbye'. It's not much, but everyone should get some sort of closure this way..." A couple of fresh tears appeared after the last line. "Myself included…"

"Canir sounds way nicer than you give him credit for, Sophia."

"Yes, irritatingly so..." She enjoyed blaming him for everything, so him acting like a good person rubbed her the wrong way. "Okay, can we talk about something else? It's getting depressing."

"Of course, but if something makes you sad next time, please tell me immediately!"

"I will. The same goes for you."

"Naturally."

"Okay… Putting all that aside, I'm also reeeally hungry!" Sophia started to feel better.

"Ehehe~." She liked the sound of that. A hungry tiger was a good sign. "Oh, while you were gone, I scouted the area a little and found this shop where they sell this thing called piizza. I had a slice, and it was amazing! You have to try it!"

"Eh, pizza?!" Hearing this familiar word, even though the intonation was slightly different again, the blonde got highly excited. The heavy mood was immediately forgotten and replaced by her desire to get a pizza, something that almost sounded nostalgic to her already.