Still on her knees after being magnificently defeated by Sophia in a magic fight, the white-haired cat-girl Maya requested to become 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 me?" 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 come 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 came 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 same, 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 mean much, but something like around 16 and Sophia's mental 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 same age, she felt kinda happy.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" 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 mean…" 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 movements, Sophia felt like she went a little overboard. "Maya, do you really want to travel with Fen and me?"

"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 mental 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 became 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 time to time. Her blue eyes and the snow-white hair. For some 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 some 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.

----------------

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 same 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 somewhat different.

"Eh? W-Why?!" The idiot in question obviously had no idea what she had done to warrant such a treatment.

"Forget it…" Even so, the other cat-girl was clearly pouting.

"No, seriously, what did I do?"

"N-Not telling!"

"Come 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 me, but I think she's jealous."

"I see… Wait, what?" It took a moment 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 some… 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 become a useless mess 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 messing 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 seemed 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-somehow… 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 seemed 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 become 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 me a little tired…"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Even though your fight has me completely sobered up, I'm tired as well. An inn, huh? Ah, I can recommend 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 time 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.