Sofony thanked the woman for her kind words, then led the crying girl out of the municipal hall. Steffy took quite a while to calm herself down. The weird stares from the passerby helped out a little.
As they stood in the jeep terminal, Sofony sighed. She recalled the last thing she learned from the information clerk.
"Steffy, that kind Miss told us that the mayor built a memorial for every victim of the landslide. Would you like to visit it?"
The girl bit her lips then began thinking. To Sofony, it looked like some sort of emotional and mental war was ongoing within her sister's mind.
Sofony didn't wait long. In the end, Steffy couldn't fight back against the voice in her head which truly wished to at least pray at the memorial. The voice was probably from the real Steffy. It was urging the new owner of its memories to at least pray for its deceased family.
The two sisters joined the flock of jeepney passengers intending to go to Leaflike Village. It only took them more or less fifteen minutes to get there since the said place was still quite near to the center of the town.
"The kind-hearted lady said, the memorial should be located near the entrance. It's something built to commemorate many villagers that had passed away so it should be quite eye-catching enough. I think it is probably close to the sole chapel of Leaflike."
Sofony nodded to Steffy's words as her eyes roamed around. The jeepney driver dropped them off near the village entrance. The place was very peaceful and the only color people would see, aside from the sky blue above, was the lush green of the trees and ornamental plants in the surrounding. Without advancing deep into the village, it would be hard to imagine that a landslide claimed the lives of most of the villagers. Sofony sighed as she mulled about this. Then when Steffy mentioned 'chapel', her eyes caught one in the distance.
"Should be that, right?"
Her younger sister replied. "Yeah. It's that one."
She looked around that chapel as they walked near it. They found next to the bell tower was the tall memorial monument they were looking for. Steffy sped up by herself to immediately reach it. Then she joined the few people standing in front of the marble surfaced memorial.
When Sofony caught up and stood next to her sister, she saw that Steffy was already tearing up. It was her third for this day. Sofony sadly shook her head and pulled her sister's body closer to her. The other girl didn't protest though, but her gaze never strayed away from the monument.
The other visitors gave them a few glances before resuming their prayers. Sofony saw it and felt like since they were there honoring the real Steffy's memories of her loved ones, praying was also a must thing to do. A few well-wishings for the dead would not hurt. Considering this, Sofony patted Steffy's head and gently whispered.
"Let's offer our relatives... and your other neighbors some prayers. Let's hope they are doing well in heaven. Also pray for them to look out for us from up above."
Steffy's trembling shoulders stopped for a moment. She raised her tear-stained face and dumbfoundedly met her older sister's beautiful and expressive black eyes. The mentioned of the word 'heaven' struck something in her mind.
Heaven. For the souls. For the deceased.
Steffy once again lowered her face as she resumed her sobbing, her visage really looked very pitiful. Still, she didn't forget to nod. In her heart, she still hoped that her relatives were okay. When she prayed, she did for a very long while, and most of the content of her prayer was her pious begging to let her still unfound relatives and family members to survive. More than a week already went by, but she still hoped for them to have a chance of survival.
Sofony joined her in praying, both of them kneeling by the feet of the memorial. Flowers and some potted ornamental plants lined up on the sides. Their eyes closed and their hands clasped in front, they began murmuring soft prayers. But unlike Steffy, she did not pray anything related to survival. The system already informed her that nobody from the group of the still-missing-people was alive. It was no use to mention that in her prayer.
Instead, she asked for forgiveness. From all spirits related to Steffy Jimenez.
After uttering the words she wanted to pray, she stood up. Her eyes went to Steffy. The girl's eyes were still closed, tears still streaming down. For a moment, it was like the person next to her was the original one - as if the girl known as Steffany Jimenez really possessed the body of Steffany Mendez.
A wave of unease and guilt flooded over her heart. And Sofony closed her eyes again to once again pray for forgiveness, this time, from the soul of the real Steffy.
.........
The sisters arrived at the only KFC branch in the town for lunch. Thankfully, there were still a few tables vacant even though it was already past twelve noon. Sofony couldn't help but think that maybe the heavens decided to bless them with some luck today since they just finished honoring the dead.
"Just sit here, don't let our table be taken away by others."
"Steffy, don't treat me like someone who's never eaten at a fast-food chain."
The girl whose eyes were still scarily red chucked. "Can't help it. You said you're a cafe owner so I assumed you're rich."
"No!" Sofony laughingly denied.
"Whatever. I'll go now. I know more here since I grew up in this town. I'm more knowledgeable of this branch's layout. Just wait here, okay? I'll line up now to order."
Sofony nodded. The other girl then turned around and was already heading towards the counter, when Sofony suddenly remembered something and she grabbed her sister's arm.
"Hey, wait. Do you even know what I want to order?"
"Oops." Steffy looked back to her with an 'I forgot' look followed by an awkward laugh.
The older one shook her head. She reached out to her sister's hand and stuffed her walled into it. "Order whatever you like, anything will do for me. Just don't forget my mushroom soup, chocolate sundae, and fries, okay?"
"Got it!" Steffy smiled. Before walking away, she inspected the cutely fashioned wallet, her eyes not lingering on the kiddie dolphin keychain, but on the wad of cash inside. A few giggles escaped from her lips as she glanced red-eyed at the menu slideshow on the huge rectangular screen above.
'I'm glad she looks somehow okay now.'
A small smile rose from Sofony's perfectly shaped lips. The slight smear of red lipstick she applied before leaving the house enhanced the beauty on it. As she followed the figure of her sister who was now lining up to the counter, not few eyes were also following Sofony's every movement, both men and women encapsulated by her high charm.
...........
After eating, Steffy and Sofony left the restaurant. Their luck continued outside as they managed to chance upon a taxi on its way back to St. Mary City.
They returned to the terminal in the city and got into a bus there back to the capital. Steffy returned to her cheerful state and didn't stop bombarding Sofony with so many stories about her whole life that she didn't know how Steffy managed to remember all.
For a very long time, she pretended listening to Steffy's stories. Initially, she was actually listening - attentively at that. It's just that after a little more than two hours that she couldn't speak to interfere from her sister's one-sided talk, her lips started twitching and her mind could no longer focus on everything the other girl was saying. She felt like four walls of text suddenly appeared to surround her and squeeze her in. The headache spread, and now, she was only nodding off from time to time whenever Steffy paused to observe if she was still listening. The girl would happily continue once she detected Sofony still seemingly all ears on her. But in reality, no more content was reaching her brain.
That was when she heard the unruly laughter of the devil inside her brain.
With a hidden sigh, she replied. 'I should have not let her talk.'
Another sigh came out from her. In her right side, Steffy was now beginning to describe how her most hated Auntie from Leaflife Village poisoned the dog Steffy raised just because the dog bit and chased away some of the chicken the auntie was raising. A while ago, her story was about a suspected hexer living deep in the mini-forest of their village.
Sofony pursed her lips in helplessness. Even though she badly wanted to chime in or make her sister take a break, she couldn't. The girl was very engrossed in her one-sided discussion. Steffy couldn't even care less about the irritated glares from the other passengers distracted by her endless talking. She probably didn't even hear when one grumpy elder woman sarcastically commented that Steffy was way more talkative than any radio DJ the elderly woman had ever listened to.
Surely, even her own chastising wouldn't make much difference, right? Put that aside, Steffy must be distracting herself from sad thoughts through this.
The older girl shook her head as she stared at the younger one. She was like that for a long time, when she suddenly remembered her talk with the system this morning.
'System, now that I recalled. You mentioned that Steffy's innocence is one of the future problems, correct?'
Her eyes darted to the ceiling of the bus while thinking. Sofony already recognized that the problem was how Steffy knew, based on her memories, that she had no experience in physical love. But that would be rectified once Steffy marries and learns that she was no longer virgin. It's good if the man she'd love would not inquire about it. Unfortunately, Steffy would surely ask herself why was that. And if ever the man inquires about it, how would she answer if she, herself, was clueless?
Sofony's eyes flashed when she thought she should just check her shop for it.
'Maybe there's something in here that could solve my problem. Hey, system. Are there any item you can recommend to me?'
Sofony's eyes widened in disbelief, then they reddened out of anger. 'You're so much! So annoying! I'm just asking for items that could help me! And I'm buying from you! What kind of seller are you that even asking for recommendation requires 25 Points?'
The irritation in her heart was almost reaching its peak when a burst of laughter resounded loudlyin her head.
Steffy's still speaking nonsense next to her. Thankfully the girl was not paying much attention to her or else she'd discover that Sofony's hands had balled into a fish and that she was slightly trembling.
Not long after, she sighed in surrender. The system happily deducted the points and then told her about the Hymen Installer. The item plus the installation cost her 250 Points which meant that just for this day, she spent 275 Pleasure Points.
'Well, it's okay. At least, Steffy won't have to worry about it later.'
'... Go to hell.'
As Sofony continued to speak with the devil in her mind, Steffy was also not stopping any time soon from her relentless story-telling. At this time, their bus already caught up with the heavy traffic. In fact, the bus hardly moved forward due to being stuck in the traffic.
'We're back to Alina City.' Despite the current situation, her mood got uplifted and she began smiling at the rows of tall buildings and billboards that started appearing outside the bus' window.
"Sis, I want you to know that this city is wonderful."
Out of a sudden, Steffy's face was next to hers as they gazed through the transparent glass window.
"Yes," she replied.
"But, the traffic here is very annoying. I calculated the distance, sis. And if we've been caught in the heavy traffic before getting to St. Mary City, then we're gonna be stuck on the road for at least two hours, meaning a four-hour ride will become six-hour! Ack! Terrible!"
"Steffy, it's normal. You should get used to it. If you don't want to experience being forced to sleep on the road for a couple of hours just to pass the time, then you have to learn when it's advisable to go or not."
"Like learning when it is a rush hour?" asked her sister.
"Yeah."
"Heh. Sis, in my town, we also know this concept. Basically avoid traveling at times when most students and workers to go to work or school, have lunch, and go home. But, it's especially bad here! See, our bus hasn't moved for more than ten minutes!"
Sofony laughed and pushed away Steffy's face. The other girl complained and tried to pinch her cheeks, but Sofony always managed to catch her hand. Steffy was probably in the mood to play around with her older sister, but then grew frustrated due to Sofony being stronger than her. Every time she tried to snake her hand towards Sofony's cheeks, she always got caught, the grip very firm yet controlled. A while later, her puzzled eyes went to Sofony's thin arms, and she started wondering how those fair but seemingly fragile arms become so strong, almost iron-like.
"Hey, what are you doing?" The older quizzically watched as Steffy caught her right hand.
The studious glint in the other's eyes almost made Sofony laugh. She watched as Steffy poked her skin and inspect its smoothness.
As if not content on feeling her skin, the girl began to trace it up until it was only a couple of inches away from her underarm. Sofony's eyes twinkled in amusement and before the other managed to tickle her underarm, she had already pulled her arm away. Her two hands appeared near Steffy's waist to tickle her instead.
"Stupid girl! You think I don't have an idea of what you're scheming!"
"Ai!!!" Steffy moved her body away from her sister to escape from the tickling hands.
"You want to tickle me?"
Steffy protested but sadly, she was no match against her sister. She ended up laughing and wiggling on her seat, further lowering the opinion of some elderlies nearby.
"Sis, l-let me off already!" Steffy pleaded with tears on her eyes as she laughed.
Sofony froze for a second, then started rolling her eyes at the system. She was about to go back to tickling Steffy, but a loud voice in front made her postpone it.
"Dear passengers, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. But right now, we have to ask everyone to transfer or wait for the next buses. Something happened to our engine, and we have no mechanic onboard. Sorry once again for this. Please get off after asking for reimbursement from our ticket collector."
Steffy raised a voice in confusion. "Huh? Flat tire or what?"
"You're not listening, he said something broke down in the engines. Who knows. We better get off now and transfer to another bus."
Sofony tapped Steffy on the shoulder and led her to the long line of irritated passengers in the aisle. It took a long while before they could get off since the ticket collector was manually computing how much should be given back to every person. Sofony thought it was also annoying but understood that the ticket collector still has to deduct the money corresponding to how far the bus drove for them. After all, that was still quite a distance, and gas was still spent.
"I guess, in life, we can't always have a smooth journey." Sofony shook her head as she looked up to the slightly cloudy skies.
Her younger sister shrugged. "At least we don't have to roast ourselves under the sun while waiting for the next bus."
Sofony's gaze was on the blue bus lying motionless four or five meters away from them on the wide road when she laughed. "I guess, you're right."
A minute later, while chatting as they waited on the sidewalk, they just saw the middle-aged driver and the scrawny ticket collector hurrying down the exit of the said bus. Their faces white and fear was painted on their countenance. As they ran away, people next to the two sisters watched them with irritated or confused eyes. Some of them loudly and jokingly taunted them for going AWOL. Maybe most of the people left standing on the sidewalk were just angry at having to leave the public transport and look for another bus. Maybe some were anxious to get to their destination and were getting impatient from all the wait. But the driver and the ticket collector paid them no heed and ran as far as they could.
For some reason, after seeing the state of the two fleeing men, Sofony's pupils contracted and it was like she had smelled some danger. It was like she heard some warning bells ringing in her head. From the sidewalk, she suddenly couldn't help grabbing Steffy by the hand. Then when the two men overtook them as they shouted 'run', she didn't hesitate to pull her sister and started sprinting away.
"S-sis?" Steffy cried when she was almost tripped by the sudden pull. "Wait! What's the matter?"
Sofony merely looked back and didn't stop pulling her sister away. "They said run away from the bus!" She loudly said to also remind the others still standing near the vehicle.
A few of the previous passengers standing near the two began to follow them, though confusion was written all over their faces. The others looked at them with disdain and impatiently stared at the road, ready to hail the next passing cabs or buses. Most of these people were ladies wearing high heels. A minority were either proud people or deaf people, the latter the kind that always plugged in earphones on their ears even if they were in the middle of the street.
As Sofony ran away with her sister and some others, she once looked back and a little further at the back of the bunch who were not fleeing away, she saw a suspicious looking 12 0r 13 years old kid smirking at the sight before him. He was wearing a black jacket and brown jerseys, a camouflaged pattern backpack strapped on his back. A black hood hid some parts of his face, but Sofony clearly saw him smirk as he looked at the crowd a few meters away from him. Not a long time passed, he retreated a few meters more at the back like he had calculated his desired distance. And then not long after, she saw him began to giggle.
When Sofony had gotten at least ten meters away, she stopped running and stood at her spot. Her face turned to that direction. Before her eyes, there was a blue bus lying near the sidewalk. It only looked like being stuck in the middle of a vehicle procession because at its right, front and back, there were cars and buses surrounding it. But upon seeing this, Sofony couldn't shake off the bad feeling.
It intensified as seconds passed, and when her eyes went back to that hoody wearing kid again, when she saw him starting to laugh, she felt like time had stopped, and in her mind, she seemed to hear the system loudly snickering as well.
A second later, a loud, tumultuous noise madly began to deafen her ears.
.............