"I love you."

"Eh?" Sophia stopped working upon hearing those words.

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After Maya confessed to Sophia, seemingly out of nowhere for the girl, she had no idea what to say and was frozen in shock. Just a little while ago, she was desperately hoping that the cat-girl wouldn't leave her for good, and now she confessed to her all of a sudden. It was only natural that Sophia was unable to wrap her head around it.

"Eh?" She repeated herself a couple of times. "Ehhh?!" And again, but for a different reason now. Getting a glimpse of her surroundings and Maya in front of her, Sophia noticed that she wasn't the only one frozen up, though not in shock. "Huh? T-Time stopped again?!" Nothing around the girl was moving anymore. "M-Maya...?" She stared at the motionless cat-girl in front of her, but there was no response whatsoever.

"W-Why?! I didn't ask for that! I-I hate this! How did that even happen?! Wait... was the shock so big that some sort of self-defense mechanism kicked in?! Do I have a feature like that now?! How handy!"

"WAIT! That's so not important right now, me!" She slapped her cheeks to get back on track. "What just happened?!" No matter how severe time stopping was, there was a more important thing going on right now. Being confessed to was much more of a big deal than breaking the world.

"Maya... c-confessed?! To me, of all people? Eh?" Her entire being was unable to accept it. "How did... why did... Ehh?" She was getting nowhere. "That super cute Maya over here... to me?" She took a good look at the frozen cat-girl from every angle. "T-Time being stopped might have its perks..."

Because she couldn't get embarrassed by the cat-girl's reactions, Sophia could stare all she wanted. Her ears, beautiful face, the snow-white hair, ears, arms, legs, her slender yet curvy body in certain areas. Sophia circled around Maya to also get a look at her back, these fluffy ears again, and the equally white tail of the cat. She paid extra good attention to her ears.

"Okay, I'm feeling guilty now..." Sophia's face had turned red, and she stopped staring, having gotten flustered all on her own after all. "Not only her looks, her personality's great as well... I had so much fun ever since we met... Though there were a lot of embarrassing moments as well... Such a girl c-confessed to me? Yeah, no way. But... she did say that, right? A Joke? Prank? Is she getting back at me for telling her about my past so late? She doesn't believe it, and that's her version of messing with me?" She came up with all sorts of explanations, refusing to believe the easiest, most logical one of them.

"Would Maya really do that? Sure, she likes to tease me, but that would just be mean, downright evil. I don't think she'd go that far. But, then, what else is it supposed to mean?" Sophia was back at the start once more. Accidentally stopping time was the best that could've happened to her because this would take a while.

"Is she actually interested in me? Why? A girl like her could have anyone. But she wants me? That makes no sense! I'm just a shy girl without any remarkable traits whatsoever. No, wait... that's the old me. I'm not, uhh, quite like that anymore! Huh...? Wait, am I actually a viable choice now? Yeah, no way that's possible." Sophia's self-confidence was still stuck in the past, and had yet to adapt to her new person. "But maybe...? Still, Maya, out of all people? A girl that should be out of reach for everyone?" Her evaluation of the cat was extremely high.

"I-If that's the case... assuming she actually does l-love me... What would that mean? Eh, what about me? What about my feelings? I like her, definitely, but do I l-love her? Huh, what's the difference in the first place? Urgh... is this a case of having no experience in something you need to have experience for? Without, you can't understand it? Stupid me!" Everything about this situation was new for Sophia.

"Do I know her enough to love her? Do I even need to? Is that a requirement? She's cute, and it's fun with her around. Isn't that enough? She's also totally my type. Blue eyes and snow-white hair? How awesome is that? A-And her figure... wow! I was also always fond of cats, so..." She stopped for a moment. "Okay, I mean obviously not in that way, definitely not, but... Maya's tail is adorable, and her ears... such fluffy awesomeness! The rest of her body is like that of a human, so there are no problems in that regard... The cat addons only make her better than a normal human. Still just because that's all green..." Sophia definitely finds her attractive, but that doesn't automatically mean it's a no-brainer in her eyes. That's what she tried herself to talk into, at least. A part of her still unconsciously wanted to find a way out because it seemed to be too good to be true.

"Let's go deeper here… What did I f-feel every time we took a bath together, the look and feel of her n-naked body when she touched me? Or when we hugged, when she held my hand or clung to me? When I slept on her lap? When she slept on mine, and I petted her, played with her hair and ears? Uhh..." She stopped for a second, her face getting even redder. "Now that I said all that out loud... we d-did quite a lot, huh? So, really, how did I feel when doing all that? Embarrassed, duh! No... it was nice. Really nice... I felt all tingly and fluffy, just like when I think about her- A-Ah! That's it, isn't it?" She stopped midsentence as she was slowly realizing something.

"Is it comparable to Chiyo? The only other girl I met besides Maya? I know that I couldn't see her in that way at all because she was a bit too much cat for me... Those paws, while fluffy looking, were no good, for many reasons. Was Chiyo cute? Absolutely. Would I want to pet her ears? I can't deny that… Would I want to take a bath with her? I don't think so? I have no desire to see her naked. Huh…?" Sophia had to take another break.

"Eh? When did I start wanting to see Maya...?" She was more and more realizing what was going on. "Would I want to hold hands with Chiyo? Err... would I want to lock arms with her instead?" There was a physical problem with holding hands to some degree. "I don't think I would, uhh, mind, but other than that, like wanting to do so? I don't think so. My cat-girl, though..." Sophia remembered the lonely feeling she had whenever Maya stopped clinging to her. Since day one, actually.

"The same goes for the lap-pillows... it's a kinda indifferent feeling when it comes to Chiyo. But, on the other hand, I don't think I can sleep without either having Maya on my lap or using hers anymore... I said that I might've liked to touch Chiyo's ears, but... to the same amount I indulged myself with that pair of snow-white ears the other day? No way! In the first place, Chiyo never made my heart skip a beat like Maya always does! Eh?! WAIT!" As her scream echoed through the area, it fully dawned on Sophia.

"My heart constantly skips a beat or goes in overdrive when I'm with her, doesn't it? Eh? It wasn't just because she was messing with me…? It was something else, huh? Actually, that goes all the way back to when I first saw her and made a total idiot of myself... Getting overwhelmed by her beauty and calling Maya cute the moment I met her!" It was both a happy and embarrassing memory at this point.

"Especially lately, just looking at her is enough to-" Saying so, she took another glance at the still frozen-in-time cat-girl in front of her. "Y-Yep... this tingly feeling... and my heart's definitely beating faster. When did it get to that point? How?! No, scratch that. I have a pretty good idea. With everything we did together, I actually went and fell for her without realizing it…? How pathetic am I? Very. Well, I'm trying to change! Give me a break!" She started arguing with herself. The girl needed a way to deal with the strain the situation was putting on her.

"Now wait, let me get this right... I'm pretty sure I l-love Maya. No, I-I definitely do... and she actually confessed? It's mutual? Eh? What? Have I died and went to heaven? Err, no, I went through that already. Dream? That would be one heck of a long and elaborate dream! Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landsl— Stop that, idiot!" She scolded herself for getting sidetracked again. "In the first place, fantasy already became the real life for me, so... Is that even still fantasy then...? ANYWAY!" She drifted away even more. Her brain was slowly but surely frying itself.

"It's mutual? It's actually mutual?! The feelings I just became aware of are reciprocated already?! No, I'm actually the one reciprocating her feelings! What a twist!" Her brain had turned into mush from being overworked at this point, causing the girl to be all over the place. More than usual, even. "What does that mean now? We both feel the same? So... If I return her confession, we become a c-couple? Eh? It's that easy?! I've ruined most of my past life for something this uncomplicated? No way! Are you kidding me?! That can't be..."

She felt incredibly stupid and regretful for a moment. "No! As painful as it was... All of that was responsible for me being here right now. Without suffering so much under my own idiocy, I never would've met Maya! A girl that no one on Earth could even dream of competing with!" Sophia managed to find something positive about her previous life. "It probably wasn't easy, either, right? I was just lucky this time. No, exceptionally fortunate. It was worth not ever having been lucky before in my life! It seems like I was unconsciously saving it up for something truly miraculous. The miracle called Maya."

"Such an awesome girl fell in... love, with me? What? The next time I see Canir, I'll thank him... and then punch him because, uhh, well, he's Canir, that's why. Still, he gave me this second chance and made me able to change myself. He's made me suffer a lot, but he's also the reason I was able to meet Maya. Yep, it's going to be a light punch." No matter how incredibly thankful she was, Sophia still held a grudge towards the overseer for messing so much with her.

"What's the plan now? Return her confession, that's for sure! H-How does one do that, though? Kiss her? Yeah, no. N-No way! I-I mean, uuh, now that I said it out loud... I kind of want to do it... BUT! B-But... there's no way I could do it. That's waaay too much of a hurdle for me! Unfortunately... I would die!" Embarrassed, Sophia looked for another way. "Die, I say!" She had to say it again first for some reason.

"Okay, s-setting this idea aside for the time being… Yeah, there's only one other choice, huh? Easy but effective! I just have to repeat her confession, saying I f-feel the same way, right? Okay, here goes absolutely nothing!" Because her idea of a kiss was way too much, she didn't notice that returning a confession was rather embarrassing, as well, but it most likely was for the better.

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Feeling that her boosts were working at total capacity right now, Sophia gathered all of her courage and ignored everything around her because nothing else was of importance right now. Deciding to use it all up in one go to get her feelings across in this once-in-a-lifetime confession of hers, she put her heart into it as much as she ever could hope to. It's only something she has to do once, after all.

"Yes. I love you too, Maya. I was curious about you ever since we met, but it has become so much more. I'm so happy we feel the same!" She wanted to say some more, how she fell for her and how she noticed, but Sophia was sure that she would burn out any second now and bust her confession, which she miraculously managed to do without even stuttering. Because of that, she went for a safe route and kept it short.

"..." There was no reply.

"Hmm? A-AH!" Because she was so busy with herself and everything that was going on, Sophia overlooked something major. Realizing her horrible mistake, the girl dramatically fell on her knees with a crestfallen expression on her face.

"I FORGOT THAT THE TIME'S STILL STOPPED!" Her desperate cry wasn't heard by anyone, either.

Having wasted all of her courage on a confession not noticed by her target of affection, Sophia just wanted to lay down and cry a lot. Her once-in-a-lifetime confession ended up being one she had to do twice.