“Mom…”

“Hahaha...it can’t be helped. It seems your mother needs help. I will come back after to properly explain. Anyway, you can think of it as a protective charm.” Talia got off from the bed and headed for the door. As she was holding the handle she turned toward Sanya.

“I am going down. What are you going to do?”

“I will clean up the mess that we made and change my clothes. I am still wearing my school uniform.” The entropy in the room had increased quite a bit since they came back from school. The bed sheets were wrinkled and a few objects had moved because of Talia’s display of power. Also, Sanya had not taken the time to change.

“Ugh... Sorry, it's my fault… “ Talia felt guilty about it, but Sanya just waved it.

“Don't mind it, don't mind it. More importantly, you know my mom doesn't like waiting.” hearing this Talia’s face turned bitter. She could still remember the time when she was working as a part-timer. Her mother was kind but strict. In the end, Talia went downstairs.

“...”

Sanya was waiting until she could not hear the footsteps coming from the staircase. Suddenly her body went limp on the bed. She was staring at the ceiling with an expressionless expression. A few seconds later her mouth turned into a grin as her arms and her legs started flapping around, hitting the top of the bed. Her bell rang in sync.

‘Talia is my girlfriend! We are dating!” After a full 5 seconds of intense bed beating, Sanya calmed down. She then thought about the feeling that she recalled several minutes ago. This feeling was love! Sanya noticed her love for Talia the first day after her disappearance. Even so, she didn't know since when she had fallen for her. It might have been years, or only recently. She was also not sure that Talia was feeling the same way, so she had not thought of confessing. But, Talia’s confession made her also take a step. Sanya pinched her cheek to check that it was not a dream.

“...Ouch.” It was the reality.

“...Lying around will not help with anything. I should clean the room.” Sanya got up from her bed and cleaned up the mess. Well, calling it messy was a bit exaggerated. Not even 5 minutes later, the bed was made and Sanya changed into more casual clothes and settled down in her chair. Her gaze was wandering around, thinking about something.

‘Now that we are dating, we should probably tell mom. She likes Talia quite a lot, so there should not have a problem with it. The thing is Talia’s family. I don’t really know their stance about two girls dating.’ Sanya was sure that her mother was not against her daughter being lesbian. However, it was possible that the same was not true for Talia’s family. Sanya was also rather close to them and they were friendly with her, but she still didn’t know if they would approve of her relation.

All the events of the day made Sanya’s head a bit slow to think because if she thought about with a clear mind she would not be so worried.

Since the rise of abilities, a lot of questions about the definition of a human had also emerged. Were the ones with abilities mutants, or were the ones without abilities failures of evolution? this had caused debates and philosophical notions arose. Along with it, questions about the sexuality and others matters were also held. In the end, the world had become a lot more in favor of things that were before out of the norms. Such as same-sex couple. In nearly every country, same-sex couples were much more socially accepted and the number of countries which allowed two people of the same sex to wed had kept increasing since the last dozens of years.

In others words, it was not strange to see two women or two men together, or even married to each other. This would not have been the case if abilities had not appeared.

Sanya’s gaze was still wandering and it suddenly landed on the alarm clock beside her bed. Her brain took a few seconds to process and after realizing what time it was, her feet sprang her up.

“...It’s already near 7 o'clock. Talia had not called at her home, right? Won’t they be worried?” Talia and Sanya arrived at slightly more than 5 pm. It seemed that Talia’s explanation had lasted a bit less than two hours. But, this was not what Sanya was concerned about. Most of the students at their age were generally at home by this hour. Even more, Talia had already disappeared once, so not informing her family about her whereabouts was quite a bad idea. Sanya headed toward her door in order to go see Talia. She tried to turn the handle.

“..What? Why can’t I open it?” Sanya tried to turn the handle, but no matter what she was trying, it would not budge. At first, Sanya thought that Talia pulled a prank on her, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Talia was not the type to do this, even more to the girl she loved. Sanya was becoming uneasy.

Suddenly, white particles started to appear in the middle of her room. they spread as to cover the whole room. Looking at this, Sanya was sure that something was happening and this something was not related to her world, but more related to Talia. Knowing it was something impossible for her to handle, she decided to rely on the one in who she had the most confidence.

“TALIA!”

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

When Talia arrived downstairs, she first searched for Cathia, while also making her earing once more invisible. The first floor was not really big, with only a kitchen, a storage room, and a living room. Cathia’s room was also on the second floor, like Sanya’s.The kitchen used for the bakery was located in the back of the shop. This one was bigger than the one in the house.

Talia sensed a presence in the kitchen, so she directly went there. Indeed, Cathia was here preparing dinner, with Fluffypaw sleeping on a chair a few meters from her. It was at this point that Talia realized the time and that she didn’t call home! She was already feeling bad for disappearing for 10 days. Cathia saw her, with her mouth wide open and a trace of regret flashing on her face. Toward this, Cathia just laughed as she waved her hand to reassure her. “Don’t worry, kid. I already called your home and I told them that you eat here tonight.”

Talia’s expression instantly changed to surprise. “Thank you, but why?”

Cathia was preparing some kind of soup with pieces of meat and vegetables. She put a lid on the pot and wiped her hands on her apron while walking up to Talia. She flashed a big grin as she rubbed Talia’s hair. Talia was docile in response, not really knowing what to do. “It seemed you needed time alone with Sanya, so when you went upstairs I called your home to explain the situation. I told them that you will surely eat here, so they don’t have to worry. However, a meal is important, so even if you still need to talk, it will be after dinner. Anyway, come help me a bit.”

Cathia was kind but forceful. If this was some kind of another guest at home she would not act so familiar with them. However, Talia had been working at the bakery for more than 2 years now and she was really close to her daughter. Since the loss of her husband her family was only composed of 2 members. So, Cathia could not help but sometimes think of Talia as her own daughter.

Talia knew that Cathia was kind but strict with the one she liked. When she had first started working at the bakery, she had thought that Sanya’s mother might not be as gentle as her daughter, but after interacting with her more and more she had realized the reasons behind her attitude. All of this caused a smile to appear on Talia’s face, but also to make her wonders about the reasons behind the fact that she wanted to commit suicide 50 years ago. Talia followed Cathia while being deep in thoughts.

She was liked by her family, Sanya and even her mother. Yes, of course, she had been bullied, but was it really the only reason? Talia thought that there was maybe something more than this. ‘Well, it’s been 50 years. I will surely remember if I need to.’

In the end, Talia decided to stop thinking about it. They arrived in the back of the bakery. The shop was linked to the house, so it was possible to go there directly. in the kitchen, there were a few furnaces and numerous strays. On a nearby workbench, there were two baskets filled with bread, viennoiseries, and so on. It looked like it was the leftovers from the day. Looking at them, Cathia sighed a bit.

“I made too much by mistake, so I have quite a few on my hands. Also, as you were absent from your shift this weekend, I had to close earlier. I hope you are hungry because tonight it’s soup with the leftover bread. As for the desserts, there are a few chocolate-filled brioche and croissants. You still like sweets, right?” Talia tried to remain expressionless as she nodded, but she had to wipe a trace of saliva from her mouth. Seeing her, Cathia chuckled. She totally knew that Talia loved sweets.

“The reasons I asked you to come were to inform you about the earlier call and to help me bring this in. After this, can you go get Sanya in order to set up the table, please?” As she said this, she grabbed a basket with both hands. One basket was too big to be held with one hand. Talia took the remaining basket and entered once more in the house’s kitchen.

When Talia was about to go get Sanya, Cathia seemed to recall something. “Ah, I have work tomorrow, so even if you still have to talk to Sanya, don’t be as noisy as before. What were you doing for making so much noise?”

Cathia smiled teasingly toward Talia. Talia had used a simple magic from the Darkness attribute as to reduce the sound coming from the room when she was showing Master level magic. However, it seemed that it was still not enough as Cathia could still hear something. Even more, she purposely misunderstood the reason for the sound. But, Talia could not help but blush a bit when she thought of the kiss after Sanya’s confession. Seeing her reaction Cathia’s face turned into a playful expression. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the red-faced little girl.