The girl who claimed to be his girlfriend turned out to be none other than Satella, his little sister!
Satella was a beautiful girl, standing at around 1.6 meters. While he recognized her beauty, most people were unaware due to the fact that she always wore huge black-rimmed glasses that covered almost half of her face.
In America, where most girls tended to flaunt their skin, Satella's way of dressing was surprisingly conservative and stood in stark contrast to girls her age.
Her black hair was styled in innocent twin braids, and her entire figure was concealed in a long, buttoned black dress, giving her the appearance of somewhat looking like a nun.
...
Wait, what's she doing here?
Wasn't she supposed to be in their hometown right now?
Shocked, Austin momentarily fell into a daze.
Taking advantage of his momentary lapse, Satella, as if she had done it countless times, naturally linked their palms together and shifted her eyes between the big-chested girl and Austin before declaring possessively, "He's mine. Don't even think about it."
The big-chested girl wasn't naive enough to believe Satella's words straight away. As she was about to argue, she noticed Satella lowering her eyeglasses slightly, and instinctively, she caught a glimpse of her eyes.
Upon seeing Satella's eyes, the big-chested girl was immediately stunned. Satella's scarlet pupils appeared to constrict, emitting a malevolent light that engulfed the big-chested girl's vision. Panic gripped her as the light now occupied her entire field of view.
To her shock, the light abruptly turned into a torrential sea of blood, crashing toward her, a force so intense it felt as if her bones were cracking under the pressure, with death looming on the side.
After what seemed like an eternity, her vision snapped back to reality, and she saw Satella had worn her eyeglasses back.
The scene of the sea of blood only flashed briefly, as if what she had just experienced was only a hallucination, but the fear and the pain lingered.
It was a suffocating and terrifying moment that instantly brought her to tears.
"Waa...hiks...hiks.."
Unable to support her legs any longer, the big-chested girl slumped weakly to the ground.
The people around her were puzzled as to why the big-chested girl wailed and had the look of just seeing a ghost. Their attention turned to the girl.
Satella, wearing a satisfied smile, led the dazed Austin out of the track field.
...
At some point, Austin found himself leading Satella to one of the park benches.
After recovering his senses, Austin scolded her in frustration. "What are you doing here? Don't you know it's dangerous to travel alone? Did Mom send you here? I'm going to call her now. I can't believe she dares to send you here on your own."
He was about to dial his mother's number when a hurried hand stopped him.
"No! Brother, don't call Mom!" Satella said somewhat anxiously.
"Why couldn't I call Mom?" Austin asked suspiciously.
"Err... Mom might be busy. You shouldn't disturb her," Satella rambled randomly.
"Is that so?" Austin raised his eyebrows. Satella was about to heave a sigh of relief when she heard his next words. "Then, I should just text her, letting her know that you've arrived."
"No!" Satella's eyes widened in horror before she tried to reach for his phone again.
However, this time, Austin was prepared and deftly evaded her hand.
With his eyebrows still raised, he seemed to have grasped something. "Satella, tell me the truth. Did you come here without Mom's permission?"
Satella looked nervous as she fiddled with the hem of her dress. "T-that... well, the truth is, I did ask for her permission."
Austin kept his silence, patiently waiting for her reply.
She pouted as she realized Austin wasn't going to let her off. Eventually, she confessed everything. "It's just that I told Mom I was going to sleep over at my friend's house. She wouldn't expect me to come to Alves at all, especially by plane."
"Y-you!" Austin found himself utterly speechless.
He wanted to scold her more, but when he saw her crestfallen face, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He ended up sighing and unconsciously softened his tone. "Why couldn't you just message me prior to coming here? I could have at least picked you up from the airport."
Satella's face bloomed into a sweet smile, noticing Austin wasn't angry anymore. "I-I wanted to surprise you!" saying that, her face abruptly turned into anger. "But I saw a pest trying to flirt with you. So I had to abandon my plan, hmph!"
"Then again, you've become more handsome in the three months since we last saw each other, brother," Satella added shyly.
Austin subconsciously touched his face as he recalled his own image in the mirror this morning.
Indeed, he couldn't deny that his appearance had somehow improved. He suspected it had to do with his identity now being that of a demon. But, for confirmation, he might as well ask Alysia later.
...
"So, you went this far just for the sake of seeing my face?" Austin said in an incredulous tone. "Didn't we just have a video call exactly like yesterday?"
Satella blushed. "O-of course not. I-I also want us to go play somewhere..." Suddenly, she shook her head, her braids lightly hitting his arm. "It's your fault!"
"Huh? What did I do?" Austin asked in exasperation.
"You could've chosen to enroll in the college in our city. Why must you choose Alves, a place that's quite far?" Satella grieved.
"That..." Austin was at a loss for words. He couldn't bring himself to say the reason. After all, the main reason involved her.
So, with swift thinking, he changed the subject. "How long do you plan on staying here?"
"You want me to go home already?" Satella lifted her head and stared at Austin with an aggrieved expression.
Seeing her expression, Austin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I'm just asking because you only brought a small suitcase."
"Oh...oh! W-well, how about a month?" Satella cutely raised one finger.
"Don't joke around," Austin rolled his eyes. "You have school the day after tomorrow. At most, you can only stay until Sunday night."
"What?! That's too little. Today is Saturday!" Satella complained.
"Then do you want Mom to spank your ass for not attending the school?" Austin rebuked calmly.
"W-well..." Satella's expression looked conflicted. "I-i think it's fine? I can stay with you longer that way."
"Even if you're fine with it, I'm not," Austin smiled. "Anyway, don't think too much. We can discuss it later with Mom. Where do you plan to stay for tonight?"
"Your dorm?" Satella suggested.
"No! Obviously no!" Austin immediately denied. He didn't want to think negatively about his friend, but Lester was just too perverted. There's a reason why he nicknamed him 'Discord Moderator.'
"Why not?" Satella innocently asked.
"Why not? I'm sharing the room with a bunch of guys. Wouldn't it be kind of awkward if you stayed with us—a girl in a boy's room?" Austin explained.
"Then, where should I stay?" Satella looked a bit lost. "I also don't have any money left to book a hotel room. I spent all my savings to book the plane ticket."
"You should've thought about that before you came," Austin knocked on his sister's forehead. "Lucky for you, I've done some part-time jobs. I have some money with me, I'll book you a hotel later."
As he thought of a hotel, he recalled the various rooms in Alysia's mansion. Her mansion definitely had a lot of rooms. If he told her he wanted to borrow a room, would she spare one?
However, he soon dismissed the idea. Their relationship wasn't yet that close. He wasn't shameless enough to ask such a thing from her.
Just then, his phone vibrated.
He quickly took it out and saw it was a call from a contact named 'Master.'
At first, he was a bit confused as to who this person was, until he remembered it was Alysia.
What a coincidence!
He quickly accepted the call, and her shout almost made him jump out of his seat.
"AUSTIN! What the heck did you just do?!" Alysia's voice blasted through his phone.
This was the first time he heard Alysia call him by his name. Usually, she would refer to him as 'friend' or just 'you.'
However, not only did he not get a giddy feeling from being called by his name for the first time by the most beautiful woman in his college, one of the goddesses, Alysia. Her shout almost made his ears bleed.
Thoughts racing, he stammered out a response, "What do you mean?"
"Your morphing must be accelerated, right?" Alysia asked again, this time with a slightly lower tone.
"How did you know?" Austin blurted out in astonishment.
"I have my ways. Anyway, how did you do it? Did you... complete one of the seven sins?" Alysia inquired after a slight pause.
"Yeah, I think I just completed the sin of pride. I saw a rune spelled 'pride' in my mind just now." Austin told her the truth.
There was a definite pause in the call. Austin even suspected the call got disconnected. "Hello? Are you still there?"
On the other end, Alysia, who was driving her car, abruptly hit the brakes upon hearing Austin's answer.
What had she just heard?
He completed the sin of pride?
How much time had passed since she'd left him?
Ignoring the few car honks behind her, she glanced at the time displayed on her phone and couldn't help but suck in a deep breath.
In less than a couple of hours, somehow, Austin had completed one of the seven deadly sins?
Wasn't this time frame too... unrealistic?
She wondered whether she just passed through a wormhole just now, which teleported her a few years into the future.
If not, she wondered whether the sin of pride had taken a hit to the head, rendering it unable to think clearly.
Otherwise, how else could Austin gain approval from the sin of pride in just a couple of hours, when other reincarnated demons typically spent a few years doing so?