47 Trip 1 (1/2)

Not much happened after the lunch break slapping incident last Monday. The rest of the weekdays passed so swiftly wherein the incident had been the main talk of the week, edging only a bit against the Felicity Scandal.

The main catch of the event was how the fifth person of the Goddesses List suddenly turned berserk. Twenty slaps rained down from the palm of the usually collected and gentle beauty! When all of these happened, every spectator was made speechless. People were amazed by how a silent flower vase could turn into an exploding volcano once provoked.

Watching this was oddly refreshing!

Well, after witnessing this, some criticized her and started spreading groundless rumors that she was a two-faced woman who could slap someone to death if you annoy her. Sofony was not really liked by everyone as she had just joined the ranks of campus queens. Her previous nerdy personality was taken by many as her being a weakling who was dependent on her best friend's protection.

Now that Sofony suddenly showed a fierce side, her haters, mostly fans of the girls like Gilla Broe who were not pleased by her sudden ascension to the list, took this chance to smear a bit of dirt on her name. Some even said that she was a witch, a malicious hexer. Someone who drank a beautification potion just to become what she was today. Of course, those who said this turned into huge jokers the next day.

On the other hand, many still admired her for her actions. The opposing side was not a likable person anyway. And she just merely stood up for her bullied sister. Her haters were actually quite few, and the majority still liked her and commended her for finally being a brave girl.

As for Wendy, not many knew how Wendy did it, but the police did come and arrested Vienna. The latter was taken to the precinct due to piled up cases of bullying, drug-pushing, and assaults that the police suddenly brought up. People thought it was all orchestrated by Wendy so they grew to admire and fear their Miss Number One more.

In reality, those cases were correct. And Vienna only managed to dodge getting thrown into jail last time due to her age. Now that Vienna was eighteen years old, the precinct could now freely jailed her behind the bars. Her parents could bail her out, but no matter what, they still would lose some money and Vienna would still taste the air of the jail. Wendy laughed when she shared the news to everybody. She was pleased since she knew that the other convicts would help her teach Vienna a thorough lesson.

'Female criminals are no worse than male criminals, you know? They don't care if one of your cheeks is already like that of a pig. Or maybe they will, and then gladly help you even it out with the rest of your body.' That was what Wendy told her best friend and Clea.

As of Steffy, she'd been the target of everyone's pity and received her fair share of care from the concerned students and teacher. A new transfer student and was already limping her way to the school. Many felt angered by Vienna's actions and even would have lashed out to that violent girl, if not for the Violent Goddess backing her.

Speaking of the Violent Goddess, she uncharacteristically didn't seek revenge for her lackey. Every student wondered if the campus beauty was busy, not really concerned about her lackey's wellbeing, or simply frightened by Wendy. Their Miss Number One, after all, was said to be influential in West Alina City Police Branch. However, since she was still the person behind Vienna, they didn't dare try for themselves if Clarissa Guzman would really not mind if they punished Vienna.

Oh, well, maybe they really didn't have to anymore. Maybe the nerdy gentle goddess' slaps and her best friend's act of throwing her to jail were enough lessons for Vienna to digest for a long time.

And the still persistent anti-fans? Clea mysteriously but beautifully made those mongers shut up. She spread the truth about the matter that later on turned into a normal gossip, er, words of mouth. Really the Gossip Queen, fully displaying to the world that her title was due to her abilities to direct everyone's words to her convenience. Long ago, Miss Number One left a statement, that more than a person who only knew violence, a person who could manipulate words of mouth was much more frightening. No one would know when they've been destroyed socially.

Indeed, it held some truthfulness. It seemed that as long as they were Clea's friends, they wouldn't have to fear being wrong in people's eyes. Sofony was relieved. After all, when she realized that she was provoking the well-known Violent Goddess, she was somehow scared. Out of fear that she would encounter another Floyd again, she bought another bug device and asked the system to attach it directly to Clarissa Guzman.

Three days later.

Saturday.

Due to Steffy's insistence, Sofony and Steffy rode a bus going to Cotton Province early in the morning to visit the latter's 'hometown'. The two sisters were on casual getup. They had jackets on though, as the bus was airconditioned. They felt especially cold since they boarded it around 5:30 am when the sky was still quite dark.

It was a nice thing to not be caught by heavy traffic as the scene beyond their windows smoothly transitioned from tall and magnificent buildings into limitless paddies of rice. That was one of the few advantages of riding a bus early.

Their destination, Cotton Province was more or less four hours away from their city. A while ago, she asked why it was named Cotton Province and Steffy only said that it was due to it being a province of cotton. Sofony shook her head at this remarkable answer. In reality, she doesn't know what cotton plant looks like, but she knows what rice plant looks like. The actual reason she asked why the province was named like that was that she was amazed yet puzzled by the long stretch of green in the horizon, which she could make out as miles of rice plantation.

Sitting next to the clear glass window, third row on the left, Sofony was supporting her chin with one hand as her half-opened sleepy eyes wandered outside.

”Are we still far?” She asked after yawning.

Steffy, who was relying on the memories in her mind, replied, ”Probably ten more minutes and we will reach the terminal.”

Sofony's head automatically lowered down to the phone on her hand. When she pressed its power button, the digital clock backgrounded by her photo immediately displayed.

”8:20. It's so early... Every Saturday, it's my routine to sleep until noon, so why am I here today?” Her resentful eyes turned to her right.

Steffy, who received her sister's glare, was kind of scared by Sofony's reddish eyes. She hurriedly put her palms together and said, ”You're my only relative left. Of course, you're the only one I can trouble to accompany me there.”

When her sister did that, Sofony's eyes caught sight of the still bandaged arm. Steffy took that time to say more.

”And you know, sis. Even though the city is much livelier and prettier than my hometown, I still can't shake off the feeling of wanting to return there. I can't really explain. And I don't know if a city person like you will understand. However, I truly want to at least take a glimpse.” Steffy paused for a while, then continued in a soft and sad manner, ”I, want to at least see if their bodies are already found...”

Sofony couldn't help holding her breath when she saw Steffy suddenly lowering her head, and puckering her lips. Her sister turned silent after saying the last phrase. A while later, she started crying. Of course, the elder sister was caught off guard.

”I-I'm sorry. It's okay. Believe in your locale's authorities. Everything's gonna be fine. It'll be okay.”

Sofony hugged her sister and patted her back while she cried. She repeated what she said earlier to calm the other down, hoping that those phrases could somehow give her comfort. ”It's gonna be alright. I'm here.”

Steffy couldn't stop crying though as they hugged. And as her sister, Sofony could only do her best to provide a warm shoulder for her sister to cry on. The other passengers gave them all sorts of stares, but Sofony politely gave them an apologetic smile before focusing on coaxing Steffy.

The system didn't forget to make snide remarks.

<System: Hehe, so epic.>

Sofony bit her lips. She could already foretell what the damn thing would say next.

<System: It's really epic. Your new sister truly believed that her memories are real. That she was Stefany Jimenez, now Stefany Mendez, a landslide survivor from a rural village somewhere. If she only knew. How will she react?>

She closed her eyes.

'I'd rather not let her know. Let her past be buried completely. Only you and I can know.'

<System: Yeah, yeah. So that the truth won't hurt her. Sighs. It's just that as a knowing party, I can't help but marvel on how she truly think of herself as Steffy Mendez. Don't you think it's amazing?>

'She's Steffy Mendez, my sister. Don't act dumb that you didn't see her new birth certificate! We already registered it and not even the Statistics Authority would be able to refute!'

<System: Oh. Fine. Let me throw those words back to you though, Host. Don't act dumb and stop brainwashing yourself that just because you let her have a new face and memories by sacrificing some of your points, she is already an entirely different person. You know, that's gonna happen. That's impossible. In the end, not even the great me can perfectly rewrite a person's core being. Heck, I won't even be able to rewrite an already existing DNA.>

Her gaze shook a little. Her brain immediately guessed what the system was trying to make her realize.

<System: Your stories have so many loopholes, if you don't understand. True, she's now directly implanted with the memories of the real Steffy who's now probably dead under a pile of debris and rocks. She's safe for the time being. No one would be able to see any holes in her memories. But... When the time comes, how are you going to defend her origins once somebody raises a fuss about the real Steffy's remains? You know that the memories in your sister's brain are merely harvested from a recently deceased person. And sadly, the person was someone with a real body somewhere.>

'...'

<System: Hehe, and the most troublesome matter is not that. But this new Steffy herself. You know what kind of person she truly is. She has an entirely different personality buried deep in her subconscious. Without biannual brainwashing therapy from you, her real personality will resurface. That is still worrisome even if the real memories are securely erased. You know what kind of body she has. Even if you already brainwashed her that love is between two people only, and that she could only do it with the person she truly loves, what about her chastity?>

Sofony tightened her hug of the person in question. She was silent for a long while as she pondered and distressed over the matter.