"Is this... my home?"
Taking in the familiar surroundings, Sense quickly sorted through her whirling thoughts.
Had she truly arrived in the past? It seemed so — after all, none of those strange little trinkets Fíliya had given her were anywhere to be seen.
If she really had reached the exact point in time she'd been aiming for...
Sense slowly sat up from the bed, retrieved a set of casual clothes from the wardrobe she remembered, and made her way to the bathroom.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror — and the word slipped out before she could stop it.
"So small."
She had already noticed it while changing: her hands, her body — nothing was the way it should have been.
"So I've taken over my old self's body... I didn't expect it to work like this. Is it because two versions of 'me' can't exist at the same time?"
Sense immediately set about processing the situation with the analytical mind of a mage.
"And how will the time I spend here be counted? When I go back... how long will Lady Serie and the others have been waiting?"
A torrent of anxieties flooded her head all at once, and in the end they dissolved into a single helpless sigh.
"Forget it. There's no point overthinking it... For now, I should go find Fíliya."
The moment she thought of that girl, her heart began to race. It had been so long since she had last seen Fíliya.
They had been apart for nearly two years before, but this time was different — Fíliya had become something else entirely, a being of a different race. And so Sense had been haunted, without rest, by the thought that she might never see her again.
Sense quickly got ready to head out — but just then, a knock came at her door.
Her heart lurched. She forced herself to stay calm, then slowly opened the door.
And standing before her was the very person she had been longing for, day and night.
Though right now, Fíliya was an absolute little gremlin — she looked no older than seven or eight.
Sense was struck speechless.
She had prepared so many things to say — and yet, faced with this tiny Fíliya, she could do nothing but stand there, frozen.
"Hm? Oh, Sense, you're already up."
Fíliya, completely oblivious to the subtle shift in Sense's expression, broke into a bright smile.
"What do you mean, 'already up'?"
Sense was still a little dazed.
"You've been unconscious for two days. I heard you got into another fight with the Empire's Mage Intelligence Corps? Tch. Who was it that hurt you? Tell me — when I get the chance, I'll drag every last one of them out and kill them."
Ah... so it was this moment.
It all clicked into place. This was the point in time right after she had fought her way out from a whole squad of Mage Intelligence Corps operatives.
As for why she had slept so long — it wasn't from any serious injury. She had simply pushed her mana well past its limits.
Not that it mattered. The other side had come off far worse.
Looking at Fíliya's indignant, righteous little face, Sense couldn't help herself — she reached out and ruffled the top of her small head.
"Relax. Do I look like someone who takes losses? You don't need to avenge me... By the way, what's that?"
As she spoke, her gaze drifted naturally to the square wooden box Fíliya was holding in both arms.
"This? You'll find out soon enough — aren't you going to let me in first?"
Fíliya grinned.
This little brat...
Sense looked at Fíliya's face, and at last, a smile crept onto her own without her realizing it.
Fíliya had always been like a miniature adult, even as a child — never once going through the hazy, uncertain phase that most children passed through. Perhaps that was exactly why she had been able to reach such extraordinary heights.
Sense thought as much, then brought Fíliya inside.
Fíliya set the wooden box on the table and, without any preamble, lifted the lid.
Inside was a bowl of... thick, steaming congee. Floating on its surface were leaves of vegetables and thin shreds of tender meat.
"Did you make this?"
At the sight of the congee, Sense's first reaction was something closer to bewilderment than hunger.
She knew Fíliya's cooking ability. All too well.
"O-of course I made it."
Fíliya's wavering tone gave her away immediately — but she puffed out her flat little chest and put on an air of supreme self-evidence.
"Really?"
Sense looked her dead in the eye with a teasing smile, the kind that said she already knew everything.
Under that gaze, Fíliya caved almost immediately.
"Alright, fine... I bought it. You know how it is, Sense — no matter what I try to cook, no matter how carefully I follow every step, what ends up in the pot is always pitch-black, burnt sludge stuck to the bottom. It's genuinely baffling. I follow what people tell me to do, and yet..."
Fíliya made a deeply troubled face. In response, Sense simply reached out again and patted her on the head.
"You don't have to force yourself to do something you're bad at. Even if you bought it, the thought behind it counts just as much."
"...Mm. Okay."
Reassured, Fíliya quickly recovered her mood. She plopped herself down in the chair beside the table, propped her chin in both hands, and watched Sense with bright, curious eyes.
"How come you're not eating? You should be starving right now, shouldn't you?"
Right — I just woke up after two days unconscious. I really should be acting weaker...
Sense caught herself. But the problem was, she was feeling so many things at once that she had no appetite at all — and Fíliya had brought a very generous portion on top of that.
Still, she had no choice but to eat.
Sense sighed inwardly, then reached out and lifted the bowl of congee.
"Hmm... something's off. Sense, are you not hungry? But why wouldn't you be hungry?"
Fíliya narrowed her eyes, watching Sense eat with almost absurd delicacy, and immediately grew suspicious.
"N-no, I'm hungry, I just... didn't want to show it in front of you."
Now it was Sense's turn to falter.
"Oh? So you didn't want me to see you shoveling food down? You care that much about your image in front of me?"
Fíliya seemed quite pleased with that answer, and a smile spread naturally across her face.
Sense found herself at a loss.
Fíliya had always looked at her with that strange little expression, even back then. At the time, Sense had thought it merely a little odd and left it at that — but now, experiencing it all again through the eyes of someone who knew how everything turned out, she noticed something that was... rather hard to put into words.
This child. Had Fíliya had her eye on her since she was this young?
Sense had never once imagined that she and Fíliya would end up in the kind of relationship they had — something like sisters, something like mother and daughter, and something more like lovers still. A bond that defied every proper category.
But even now, given the chance to go back and choose again, Sense knew without hesitation that she had no regrets. Not a single one. She even cherished it — everything that she and Fíliya were to each other.
____
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