"Shali, you're finally back?" Sonia exclaimed, overjoyed.
"So I ask you again: why won't you call me Goddess Shali? And besides, I'm not dead yet!"
The Bear Girl sheepishly scratched her cheek, laughed three times, and picked up the three cigarettes stuck in the ground before crushing them.
"And you—why are you still completely lacking in vigilance?" Shali's voice sounded even more exasperated.
Sonia then realized that the other girl's voice had sounded inside her mind. With her limited knowledge of the occult, she knew this was telepathy, a very basic psionic technique.
Of course, whether it was basic depended on the circumstances. A master could silently infiltrate an opponent's mental domain, but an amateur couldn't establish a mental connection without the other person's consent—and might even be taken as making the gravest kind of provocation.
Fortunately, the Bear Girl was a kind, pure-hearted, honest, and sturdy young woman. Even though her long-lost friend had invaded her mind with telepathy, she didn't feel provoked at all.
Following her instincts, she quickly started climbing toward the summit.
There was an entrance to a Losar underground palace up there, a little secret shared between her and Shali. After Shali left, it had become the Bear Girl's secret base.
Sonia soon reached the broad hall deep within the underground palace, a chamber so vast it looked like a plaza. There she saw her good friend, whom she hadn't seen in months. Shali was standing by the entrance, glaring at the Bear Girl with an expression like she was badly constipated.
The "mysterious girl" called Shali looked just as she had when they parted a few months ago. Her figure, features, and hairstyle hadn't changed at all. Of course, perhaps to maintain the image of someone just back from an interstellar trip, she'd finally