The last magic training session of the girls had become a lot more interesting than the two had imagined. Not only had Sophia gotten attacked by a mighty monster called griphon that even managed to hurt her, leaving the girl with bloody cuts all over her body and in tattered clothes, Sophia also managed to teach Maya how to use water magic afterward. This meant that the cat-girl was allowed to travel together with her and Fen. Unable to contain her excitement, Maya hugged the girl with all her might, which ended up with her also being covered up in blood thanks to the wounds Sophia received.

"…"

"…" They stared at each other's state for a while, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"Wanna go home?" Maya felt like it was time to call it a day.

"Uhh," Sophia finally got up from the grass before looking at herself. Her short pants had turned into something like shredded hot pants, and her green top was in such tatters that one could even see parts of her bra and lots of extra skin, not to mention all the blood on the girl. "I would like to, but… it would be super… embarrassing to be seen like that!"

"True… White, huh?" The cat-girl looked at her again and mumbled something. "I'm actually not sure where to, uh, focus my eyes on…" She seemed a little bit embarrassed, too.

"Uuh…" Sophia shyly turned around, trying to hide herself, unaware that the back of her top was missing even more fabric, almost being completely gone.

"…" Another glance later, Maya spoke up again. "W-Want to wear my vest, Sophia? It's bloody as well, but hey, it's your blood in the first place. Most importantly, it's still in one piece."

"Are you sure?

"Of course!" She quickly took off her vest and handed it over to her. "Here!"

"T-Thanks…" Hesitatingly, she accepted the offer and wore it over her shredded shirt.

"Well, the coordination sucks, but it works…" Maya judged her new style with a giggle.

"What coordination? There isn't anything left on me to match your vest with!" Sophia, too, had to laugh at her ridiculous remark.

"The bloody pattern matches, though."

"Sure does."

"Okay, good, with that taken care of, let's go back~." The cat-girl held out her hand and waited for the other.

"…" Sophia alternatingly stared at Maya's hand and her face. "E-Eh?" Sophia's brain couldn't process her gesture.

"Your arms are no good, right?" She questioningly looked at her. "They're all cut up, bloody, and hurting after all, right? So, I can't use them."

"Uh, yes?" It had actually stopped hurting quite a while ago, and it even felt like most of her cuts had already healed again, which was worrisome on its own. Still, Sophia couldn't think about that right now.

"That's why, let's do that." She wiggled her hand around to make her point clear.

"W-When did my arms become y-yours to use in the first place?

"The moment we met." Maya was slightly unreasonable.

"Hmm, I must've m-missed that somehow…"

"As long as you now know." She looked smug.

"B-But-" Sophia couldn't accept it just like that.

"Don't be such a pain~." Having had enough of playing around the bush, the cat-girl simply grabbed her hand. "See, it wasn't that hard, was it?"

"N-No…" Sophia stared at their joined hands for a while before turning her head away, too embarrassed to continue. The warmth she felt radiating from her hand didn't let her calm down, either. To further distract herself, Sophia instead focused on Maya's tail, happily swinging around. This cute sight finally managed to help her maintain a certain level of peace of mind while the two walked hand in hand towards the beastfolk city.

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

They caught a couple of confused glances on the way, but no one caused much of a fuss, at least not until the girls arrived at the city's entrance.

"Maya?" A fellow cat-girl, going by the name of Chiyo, spotted her and lightly waved. "Ah, Sophia's there, as well." She noticed her behind the first girl a second later and walked up to the couple. Following her, her comrades, the lizardmen Rashk and the panda-eared Masi, showed up as well.

"C-Chiyo?" Maya somehow reacted strongly to the sight of the girl as her tail first perked up and then flopped on the ground while she let go of Sophia's hand.

"What are you doing he- H-Huh?!" She was about to ask why the two were out here when Chiyo noticed the bloody stains on Maya's clothes. "W-What happened to you?!" Her face turned white in worry.

"It's not my blood, okay? Ah, but…" She wanted to calm her down, but it wouldn't actually help in this case. Still, having no other choice, she gave up on explaining and stepped to the side.

"A-Ah." Sophia had been half-hiding behind Maya until now but was now in full view. "H-Hello…" She awkwardly waved while everyone could see her tattered clothes and bloody body. "Err, some of my blood, uhm, ended up on Maya, but she's actually not hurt at all." She tried to explain the situation, but it made things only worse.

"S-S-Sophia?!" Having gotten a good view of the messy girl for the first time, Chiyo managed to turn even whiter.

"Ahaha…" She only managed to muster a dry laugh in response.

"W-What happened?! Are you hurt?! How bad does it hurt?! Do you need a healer?! Who attacked you?! How much blood have you lost?! How did even your clothes get destroyed?!" She continued to barrage Sophia with questions as she worriedly patted down her entire body with her paws.

"C-Calm down, C-Chiyoo…" Sophia tried her hardest to stifle her laugh. Not because the cat-girl's reaction was so over the top, but because her paws left a very particular and ticklish feeling behind on her, though she thought it didn't feel bad. "I-It looks worse than it is."

"R-Really? A-Ahem," The cat-girl took a deep breath and distanced herself slightly. "I-Is that so?"

"Yeah, I'm A-okay~." She made some silly movements to prove she's not hurt.

"Still… Really, what happened?" Rashk took over for the still slightly panicky cat-girl. "Did you get attacked by a dragon or what?"

"…" Sophia and Maya stayed silent.

"E-Eh?! I was just kidding, okay?! I mean, you probably need something like that to put Sophia in such a state, but…"

"No, it was no such grand thing. I just got punished by playing around with the monster too much, and it got me when I wasn't paying enough attention."

"I see. Even someone like Sophia can get hurt by a monster if she doesn't pay attention, huh?" Rashk nodded in understanding. "So, what monster was it?"

"Uhh," She had already forgotten. "Some kind of bird… What was its name again, Maya?"

"Griphon…" She muttered in a low voice.

"E-Excuse me, but I didn't quite catch that." Cold sweat was running down Rashk's scaly back. "It almost sounded like you said griphon just now…"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"N-No way! How did you even manage to escape?!"

"Escape?" Sophia sounded confused.

"E-Eh?!"

"Huh?" The two weren't on the same page.

"D-Don't tell me…"

"Yeah, after the two of us finished playing, I went ahead and killed it." Her answer was as nonchalant as it could get.

"S-Seriously?" Just like his female companion, the lizardmen turned as white as a sheet.

"Did I do something I shouldn't have done?"

"No, my head just hurts a bit…" Sophia's lack of common sense had actually managed to cause him a migraine. "Did-, Did you collect anything from the griphon's body…? There never was such a case before, but whatever you got, it will sell for a fortune."

"Err, no, actually… I got kinda angry towards the end because he had hurt me... I went all out and burned it to absolute nothingness."

"Aww, too bad…"

"Y-You're way too reckless, Sophia!" Chiyo only now finished recovering.

"Ahaha," Another dry laugh escaped her lips. "Maya said the exact same thing before."

"Because it's true!" The white-haired cat-girl supported her.

"I get it. I get it~."

"Do you really, now?" Maya doubted her and pushed her face right up against Sophia's. "You surely don't sound like you do, though."

"I-It's true!"

"Hmm…" She continued to stare at Sophia with a judging expression.

"Probably…" Sophia caved in under the pressure.

"Hey!" She got even closer to her face and wanted to say some more but hadn't gotten the chance to.

"A-Ahem!" Chiyo made an audible cough as she noticed how close the two girls were, causing them to look at her instead.

"S-Sorry…" Sophia didn't know what was going on, but she felt like apologizing again.

"As long as you understand."

"S-Sure…" She didn't understand a thing, though.

"Err, Chiyo, do you guys mind if we continue this chat later on? I'm pretty tired, and I reeealy want to take a bath! I'm sure Sophia feels the same, right?" Maya looked at her even more beat-up companion with a wry smile.

"Absolutely!" She gave a big nod.

"A-Ah, of course…" Chiyo could at least understand that much and let them go. For the time being, at least. "Let's meet up in our usual bar later in the evening and continue."

"Yes…"

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

Having agreed on that, the group split up. After saying goodbye to Maya, Sophia went back to her inn. There, she promptly ran into Fen.

"…"

"…" They stared at each other for a moment in silence.

"What happened?"

"Played around too much."

"What was the enemy?"

"A griphon."

"Why do you always get all the fun?!" Fen's reaction was a little bit different from the others. "So unfair!"

"Ahaha…"

"But, a griphon in this area?"

"Do you remember that bird thingy I accidentally killed back when I was searching for you?"

"Probably, yes."

"That apparently was a griphon as well, and I think that one was its child or something like that."

"Ah, so it was looking for revenge, huh?"

"I think so, too." Sophia had the same idea.

"Happens all the time, doesn't it?"

"Absolutely."

Finishing their slightly outrageous conversation, Sophia went to her room, where she finally could take her well-earned bath. Once she was done with that, she also needed to get some new clothes and went to the clothing store next to the inn. She liked her old green shirt and actually managed to find one that looked the same. Unfortunately, the store only had a limited variety of pants. It seemed skirts were a lot more popular in this world, or at least this city. Sophia had to get yet another pair of pants that were too short for her liking, covering only the minimum amount of decency. The only redeeming point was that the new clothes felt way nicer and softer to the touch. While she was at it, the girl also got a small backpack to carry a couple of things, like the gold from the golem eyes, for example. Afterward, the girl met up with Fen again and told him about the invitation to the bar. While the two were walking side by side towards the place, Sophia remembered something she noticed while taking her bath.

"Hey Fen, I think I found something else that got boosted."

"Oh, what is it?"

"I'm healing, like, super-fast…"

"That sounds handy."

"That stupid bird had cut my entire body all up with some wind blades, but look," She showed him her arm, which was previously full of cuts and blood, but not even a scratch could be seen anymore.

"Not bad."

"Yeah… Well, it's a bit scary thinking about it, but I'm not going to complain." While the two chatted about Sophia's newly discovered boost, they had reached the bar. Upon entering, the two saw that the others were waiting for them already.