41 Introductions already!

"U-uhh hey Mum, s-sorry, I-I kind of made a friend and decided to hang out after school… speaking of whi-"

"Heyyy~" Before I could even finish explaining myself, Lyra put a hand on my shoulder and pushed herself up while waving. 

'Oh god it's over for me.' I wanted to die of embarrassment right then and there. 

"...." After Lyra's greeting, my mother stayed completely silent and I was afraid she was about to start yelling. 

"Am I seeing things? You made a friend, Saki." However, despite what I thought would happen, my mother seemed to be in shock instead.

"She sure did. I'm Lyra Owlvil by the way." Lyra answered for me and introduced herself.

 "I can't believe it… I'm so proud of you Saki. I was worried you would be alone." Suddenly, my mother rushed towards me and squeezed me tightly in a hug, almost suffocating me in the process. 

"H-haha I thought I would be too." Realistically, not in this attempt, but my usual expectation is sitting in the corner alone. 

"Well, I'm glad that didn't turn out to be the case. I'm Kurumi Saki's mother, now hurry on inside, it's getting cold." My mother let me go of her vice grip and rushed back to the kitchen. I turned to Lyra only to see her grinning, that screamed, "Look at how cute you two were". 

"I-I guess I was worried for nothing." I definitely had the wrong impression of what was going to happen, which was a good thing, but damn, it feels embarrassing. 

"It's fine, plus I'm your first friend so there was no telling how she would of reacted." Lyra dropped the grin and gave me a warm smile, understanding my inner turmoil.

"A-anyway, welcome. Do please take off your shoes and leave them at the front." Now that Lyra was accepted into the house, best to lay out the rules as I'm sure it's way different from the mansion she lives in. 

"Okay~." 

Taking our shoes off, we walked down the hall that led into the kitchen and living room. My house was quite small, but it was two stories, with the upstairs just being one room and that room being my mother's. 

As for other rooms, one was a separate bathroom, a spare room that we use for storage and of course, my room. It was definitely reminiscent of the house I lived in when my mother was alive before I was taken into foster care. 

"Quite a cosy place." Lyra was basking in every detail as we walked and she almost looked happier here than in the mansion. Personally, I couldn't live in one, as it's way to big for my tastes. I would rather a small, compact place with everything close by, not a set of stairs and 100 metre long hallways. 

"It isn't much, but its enough for me and my mum." Entering the kitchen, my mother was making dinner, but she also couldn't keep her eyes off Lyra. 

"I have to say, your friend is quite pretty. Also, where have I heard Owlvil from? It sounds familiar." I saw Lyra blush slightly at the compliment, which was no surprise. With her gothic style, its rare for anyone to really compliment her at all. 

"Thats probably because my family runs the night flying network, we are part owl after all." This was news to me and made me realise I didn't even know what her family did for a living. 

"Ohhh those Owlvil's, the origin family of feathers. Now that's a surprise, wasn't expecting Saki to befriend a noble." The tone in my mother's voice shifted slightly, which caused me to panic slightly. Now that she knows that Lyra is a noble, I was concerned that my mother might kick her out. 

"I may be a noble, but I could care less about that… My siblings get more of the attention anyway." Lyra was careful with her words to not reveal any personal issues while still showing she was quite distant from her family. 

"Hmm, okay. Do your parents know you are here?" The tone shifted again, but this time it was more curious than threatening. 

"I don't think they would even notice that I was gone, haha." Lyra let out a nervous chuckle, as they definitely would know. For some reason, they seem to watch Lyra like a hawk while also treating her like shit. 

"I-Is it alright if Lyra stays for the night, Mum? I know it's a bit sudden, but Lyra and I figured it would be good if w-" I quickly jumped in to ask the question, as from how things were going, my mother had a favourable impression, but I was cut off mid explaining my excuse. 

"It's okay Saki, no need to overexplain. Lyra can stay the night." Hearing that it was okay for Lyra to stay, a huge weight was lifted off my chest. 

"T-thank you Mum." Fidgeting with my hands, I hoped that my mother didn't get any funny ideas, as the last thing I want is to think I'm fooling around. 

'Unless its normal, I guess the last thing she expects is for me to start dating Lyra… Wait, what if my mother thinks I'm lesbian anyway.' Before I knew it, I was going down another spiral of possibilities.

"See, it didn't go as bad as you thought it did." Lyra elbowed me in the arm, which snapped me out of the daze I was getting myself into. 

"Y-yeah." It still felt unreal that this was happening, but here we are. 

"Dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes, so you two can hang out for the time being." My mothers tone was back to normal, which indicated that she approved of Lyra. It also partly confirmed my suspicion that there is some kind of disdain for nobles. 

'I still need to find out whats going on with my family in this life too.' It was another plot line that I had left on the back burner since there wasn't much to go off. However, the interaction between Lyra and my mother told me that she is at least cautious around them.

"I'll show you my r-room then." Besides what my mother is hiding, there are much more pressing and embarrassing matters at hand.

'Urgh, I hope I didn't leave anything out.' Leading Lyra towards my room, I opened the door slightly slowly while scanning the entire room to make sure there wasn't anything revealing lying there. 

If my old habits were to go off anything, I would totally leave my sleepwear just on my bed.

'Phew in the clear.' 

"So yeah, this is my room, it isn't much, as I said before." My heart was beating fast as Lyra silently judged everything, reminding me of when she first saw my room in my past life.

"You have quite a lot of room and it feels very much like you. Love the bookshelf and is that some papers on the desk of an upcoming novel I see?" Lyra's attention was instantly brought to my desk, which had some papers on it.

'Oh fuck, I forgot that this female version of myself had done some writing. Even I haven't read them yet.' It had totally left my mind that the body I inhabit is still me, so of course I would've experimented like I always did. 

"N-no they are not." Quickly rushing over to my desk, I quickly piled them up and hugged them tightly so Lyra couldn't read them.

"Please let me read them, I'm really curious on what kind of ideas you have." The door shut behind us as I was no longer holding it, allowing Lyra to be a bit more bold. It also doesn't help that the house is pretty soundproof, so I could yell and no one would hear. 

"L-like I said, it's a work in progress, so it isn't ready yet!" Even though I haven't read it, I already felt my inner self cringe at what I probably wrote. I could guarantee it was some fantasy romance with a couple I wish were real. 

"But won't some feedback help? Trust me, I won't judge you no matter the quality." Lyra walked up to me, putting her face right into mine, like she was giving me puppy eyes.

"Mmmmm, it's still to embarrassing!" I turned my face away, trying to avoid those eyes of her, as they were enchanting and I wasn't about to fall into some charming spell.

"Come-on, pleaseeee." Lyra tried to grab the papers out of my hands, but I shuffled away. 

"N-not yet." Lyra continued to try to pinch the papers, but I kept dodging her advances, slowly backing away. This continued until I couldn't move back any further because of my bed, giving Lyra the opportunity to go for another grab. To avoid this one, I quickly raised my hands in the air with the papers. 

However, as I did, I lost my balance and so did Lyra, causing us to fall onto my bed with Lyra… on top of me.