Big Sister

-----Mai's POV

I've been hanging around Yui since for a while now as it seems like her mother, Natalie, a couple butlers and herself are now in a carriage, bringing what looks to be another mattress and a few chairs. I've been keeping myself hidden as I really don't feel like I have a place there next to them, especially after what I said to Yui. I don't want to ruin her life any more than I already have.

Neda: "I'm back~"

Erytheia: "I swear..."

Mai: "That was fast."

Neda: "I managed to drag the others here! Just as promised."

I guess this is a perfect time as any to take my mind off of Yui. And seeing Neda succeeding in bringing the others here makes me feel the corners of my mouth rising.

Melanthos: "Is that really you, Leuce?"

Mai: "Yup."

That deep growling voice does bring back a lot of memories. For the longest time, it was only us two until the others showed up. We don't talk much, but nevertheless we have a strong bond.

Melanthos: "To think you had a physical form like that. Strange."

Neda: "Eh? How is it strange? I think Leuce looks cool!"

Galatea: "Regardless, Leuce. You shouldn't be down there."

And here we have the monotone, dead fish tone. Galatea never was one to talk much, nor were they interested in interacting with us.

Mai: "Not that I really had a choice."

Melanthos: "What do you mean?"

Erytheia: "She got herself attached to a couple mortals down there! She can't return."

Melanthos: "What?!"

Mai: "Ahaha. Something like that."

Neda: "Stuck or not, I'm still jealous of you, Leuce."

Melanthos: "I'm curious as to how you managed to attach yourself to someone though."

Neda: "Yes, yes! Leuce. I brought them here, so you'll tell me, right?"

Well I'd be telling all of them if they all choose to stick around and listen. And actually knowing Galatea, they might've already left after telling me off. I may as well just get straight to the point quickly.

Mai: "Alright, but like I said, getting myself stuck was purely an accident. What I wanted to accomplish was to save a life in this world."

Neda: "And?"

Mai: "In order to do that, I needed a much stronger life force from somewhere. I felt like it was necessary to find the perfect replacement, so I searched all your worlds quickly in order to find a soul that was ideal. I ended up finding that soul in Erytheia's world."

Erytheia: "Still pissed that you stole from me."

Mai: "Hehe. Sorry about that."

Melanthos: "I know that we can manipulate a lot of things in our worlds, but to take a soul from another world?"

He's right. Like Erytheia spoke to me earlier a while ago, since I'm still technically the overseer of this world, Erytheia isn't able to use all of her powers on this world. She can only do so much. Like for me, if I wasn't bound to Kaede, I could drive out someone's soul, killing them instantly if I wanted to. That's actually what I did for the first human family that wanted magic. I extracted several monsters in order to make the first vessels. But Erytheia shouldn't be able to do that.

However in Kaede's case. Her soul was floating freely, unbound to anything. Erytheia could even steal a soul from this world like that if she wanted to.

Mai: "It's not that hard. You can't force a soul out of course, but if the soul's there, then it's easy pickings."

Melanthos: "I never knew we could do that."

Galatea: "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. We can do many things, but to bring something from one world to another... It's madness."

Mai: "That might be so."

Neda: "Yeah yeah, shush! Now, you were saying, Leuce?"

Erytheia: "Hahh~"

I missed these guys. Back then, I probably would've been annoyed by all of this, but after being stuck here, I've grown to learn a lot of things. And hearing Neda's enthusiasm really does make me happy, along with hearing Erytheia sighing, as if giving up. But seeing Melanthos being curious about this and even Galatea is surprising.

Mai: "Okay. So of course I've never done this before, but I figured if I just join these two souls together, that'd be it. But as I went and did it, I realized that I had already become a catalyst for it."

Neda: "What do you mean?"

Mai: "Essentially, I'm what's joining the two souls together."

Galatea: "Then why don't you just let go of both the souls?"

Mai: "Do you think I haven't tried that? Like I said, I'm stuck. Once I merged the souls, I found myself trapped like this."

Melanthos: "I see."

Neda: "Woah~ Wait, so do you think there's another way to travel down there without being stuck?"

Mai: "It's not like I could have done it more than once, hehe."

To be honest, looking back, I could've done it a bit more safely. I was just in so much of a rush to save Selene that I made a mistake. But even if I could've merged Kaede's and Selene's souls together without attaching myself to them, I would still be stuck in the ethereal plane. So I find this to be a happy accident.

Melanthos: "...Wait, then what happens when they die?"

Erytheia: "That's what I was saying! Leuce will die, right?"

Neda: "Eh?"

Mai: "Maybe. But it's also likely that I could also return to you guys if they do, since I'd be no longer bound to them."

Melanthos: "Hmmm. Then what would happen if you attached yourself to just one soul?"

Mai: "Huh?"

Neda: "Ohh!~ Then you wouldn't need to be a catalyst!"

Woah... Why hadn't I thought of that? I mean, I wouldn't of done such a thing in the past as it's not really part of who we are. I only got attached because of wanting to save someone. Selene and Lilith brought me so much enjoyment that I didn't want it to end short like it did.

Erytheia: "Wait, wait! Hang on. That's only under the impression that Leuce is stuck ONLY because she's holding two souls together. She could still be stuck simply because she's attached to a soul, whether it be one or two."

Galatea: "I agree with Erytheia. It's nonsense to even consider attaching yourself to a soul."

Neda: "But what if I'm right? You could return as you please and still enjoy the world. Just like what Leuce is doing now."

Melanthos: "I have to side with Neda on this one."

Erytheia: "What?!"

Neda: "Hehe."

Melanthos: "I'm quite sick of just looking after a world, especially if I have no personal attachment to it."

I didn't really know what to expect with everyone here, but I'm glad that Melanthos seems to be interested in such an idea. Of course Neda seems like she's already about to attach herself to some random soul out there.

Neda: "Wait! But you said before that you cannot communicate with us like before?"

Mai: "Yes. I can only communicate openly like this."

Neda: "Hmmm. Then I wouldn't want to attach myself to someone from my world on the off chance that I would be stuck there. It's been ages since we last spoke, so I don't really want to say goodbye like that."

Oh? Now this isn't what I expected. It's true that if they all went into their worlds that there would be no way for us to talk with one another. But is Neda actually considering coming down into this world? It sounds fun, but I can't help but feel like that's a bad idea.

Galatea: "Neda. Don't be stupid."

Neda: "I don't think it's stupid at all. My world seems to be fine on it's own. I only have to tweak little things every few centuries or so. And even if I do get stuck, the mortals in my world don't last that long, So I'd be free before I need to do any changes."

Galatea: "That's just complete recklessness..."

I agree with Galatea here. I have yet to confirm if I'd still be alive after Kaede and Selene dies, so Neda would be placing all her faith in me.

Neda: "Fine. Then you can stay here and be boring. Erytheia, you'll follow me, right?"

Erytheia: "You're really considering jumping down into this world?"

Neda: "Mhmm!"

Erytheia: "Hahh~ Well... I honestly hate my world. So if you're going Neda, then I'll follow you."

Neda: "Yay!~"

Galatea: "H-Hold on you two!"

Suddenly, Galatea's voice becomes louder and even higher pitched. Something I've never heard before. They always seemed so laid back, but now they're actually seeming to be feeling worried. So cool!

Melanthos: "Leuce."

Mai: "Hmm?"

Melanthos: "What are the odds?"

Mai: "To return?"

Melanthos: "Mm."

Mai: "...70%"

I do think it's more likely that we'll return once our partner dies. I'm not even sure we even have souls to begin with, so I can't imagine us going anywhere except for back in the ethereal plane.

Melanthos: "I'll join as well."

Galatea: "Melanthos! You're serious?"

Melanthos: "I trust Leuce's judgement. She's been around much longer than I."

Galatea: "And that same Leuce also made a mistake by getting trapped down there."

Neda: "But it came with a nice discovery~"

Galatea: "You guys... You seriously expect to abandon your worlds?"

Melanthos/Neda/Erytheia: "Yes."

Galatea: "Fine! But don't ask me to look after them! I'm leaving. Do what you want."

I was hoping to get all of them to join me in this idea of mine, but three out of four isn't that bad. But what I never could've expected was for the three of them to all choose to come into this world. I do wonder what the differences would be, considering that this isn't their world, but I'd rather let them figure it out themselves.

Mai: "Hehehe."

Erytheia: "This was all part of your plan, wasn't it?"

Mai: "May-be~"

Neda: "Okay, okay. So then who do you recommend?"

Mai: "To attach to?"

Neda: "Mhmm!"

And just then, Yui comes back into my mind. I just forgot about all of that, and now it's all flooding back. If one of them attaches themselves to Yui, then that'd cut Yui's chances at returning back to her old world. But actually, if we all get stuck, then it's all up to Galatea to move Yui's soul back to her original world. I think either way, Yui's chances are slim, but it seems like she's not going back anytime soon, so maybe this is the best choice.

Mai: "Anyone nearby I suppose. But not Yui."

I point down at the moving carriage that's now exiting the city walls. Even though Yui will most likely remain here, I still don't want to limit her options any more than I have.