Chapter Text
Sophia was a little nervous to meet her cousin, but Akira insisted that Lavenza would love her.
“Plus,” Ryuji explained, “It would be nice for her to have another girl to play with. She loves her brother, but Morgana doesn’t half wind her up sometimes.”
He pulled her to one side just before Akira and his family got there and said, quiet enough that no one could hear, “You know you don’t have to be her friend to be a part of this family, right?”
Sophia nodded. “I want to be her friend, though.”
“Okay,” said Ryuji with a smile, and the doorbell rang. “That’ll be them… Are you nervous?”
“A little…”
“If you need a minute, you can always tell me or your mom. No shame in it.”
“I know, Dad. You’ve said that a million times.”
“Just making sure you know,” said Ryuji with a chuckle, going to unlock the front door. He gave Akira a massive bear hug, saying, “It’s so good to see you, Bro.”
“It’s been a week ,” laughed Akira.
Ryuji chuckled. “What can I say? I missed my brother.” He turned to Sumire, offering her a slightly less crushing hug, which she gladly returned.
“I wanna hug too!” demanded Morgana. Ryuji ruffled his hair and picked him up, squeezing him tightly, making Morgana grin. “You give the best hugs, Uncle,” he said, which was high praise for Morgana. Immediately after that, he scrambled to be let go so he could play outside.
“Sorry about him,” said Akira, “he’s a little high-energy right now.”
“Someone gave him coffee,” grumbled Sumire.
“He wanted to try it!” exclaimed Akira.
“He’s six !”
The pair bickered for a few minutes, though Ryuji could tell it was affectionate, and neither of them were actually mad.
“Sophia’s been excited to meet you,” said Ryuji, getting down on Lavenza’s level. “I hope you two get along.”
Lavenza nodded and looked over at Sophia, before going over and sitting next to her on the sofa. With a smile on his face, Ryuji ushered Akira and Sumire into the kitchen, leaving the cousins alone.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Lavenza broke the silence to say, “Thank you for helping my family.”
“They helped me too,” replied Sophia. “Without them, I never would have realised my true purpose.”
She wasn’t just humanity’s companion. She was a part of this family, like Lavenza. Ryuji and Haru had gladly taken on the role of her parents and for the first time, she was genuinely happy.
Lavenza studied her for a long moment, before speaking again. “Has Akira explained the concept of the Arcana to you?”
“No?”
“Each person he has a powerful connection to has an Arcana associated with them. Your Dad is the Chariot, for example. Yours is the Hope Arcana, representative of optimism and positivity. However, it can also symbolise despair and negativity, depending on the card's orientation,” explained Lavenza.
“Oh, that makes a lot of sense.”
“Yes,” Lavenza smiled softly. “You have the capacity for great positivity and great negativity too, depending on how you choose to live your life. So, have hope, Sophia. Have hope and good things will come to you.”
Lavenza stood up again, offering out her hand. “Let’s go play with Morgana outside. He certainly has a lot of energy to burn off today.”
Sophia took her hand, and decided she would take Lavenza’s advice.
All she had to do was have hope, right?
So far, so good.