The couple finished exploring the maze build by the wolves and ended up beneath the royal castle. Deciding to pay their friends there a visit, they dug up a tunnel and exited in a hidden area in the castle's garden before letting it disappear again.

"Oh, there she is." Thanks to her detection magic, it didn't take Sophia long to find Anna. The princess was sitting at a table on the big terrace behind the castle. The table was filled with a couple of books and lots of paper scribbled on with all kinds of stuff.

"Eh?" She noticed the couple and became confused. "Sophia? Maya? Where did the two of you come from?"

"Ah." The two hadn't thought about how their sudden appearance out of nowhere could be suspicious. "Uhh...

"So, what are you up to, princess?" Maya didn't address it and simply tried to divert her attention.

"Homework..." Any enthusiasm had instantly left her voice.

"Well, that doesn't sound like fun." The blonde wasn't overly interested in that.

"Tell me about it... Though, right now, I'm just killing time to wait for Ari. We wanted to do it together, but she's still a little busy."

"Weren't you in something that was called magic academy?" Sophia got a little interested in the end.

"It's also a normal school, but magic's the focus. Well, thanks to me being the princess of this nation, I had private teachers ever since I can remember, and I don't really have the need to, but school seemed fun, and I dragged Ari with me to attend together."

"Hmm..." Sophia had a hard time imagining school being fun. These two things didn't work together in her eyes.

"Homework's a different topic, though. Well, and anything related to magic after meeting your group..."

"What do you mean?" The couple tilted their heads.

"Here," While saying so, Anna gestured at the textbooks on the table.

"Let's see..." The blonde grabbed one and flipped through the pages. "Eh...?" The more she looked at, the blanker her face became. "The importance of chants and how to word them properly to get the most out of it... A quick introduction to activation words, the pinnacle of magic... How to find out which element you're capable of using... Merits and demerits of each element - Find out where your specialties are and which future you should pursue... Chantless magic - A special gift for the elite with dozens of years of training... Uncategorized magic - The romantic myth..." She listed a couple of headliners in the textbooks. "What kind of joke is that?"

"Ahaha..." The princess could only laugh.

"It's been a while..." Maya seemed nostalgic. "Pre-Sophia magic."

"Why are you still learning this...? It's wrong. Basically all of this." The girl in question developed a slight headache just from reading it.

"Well, I know that, and so does the royal family after meeting you... Father still has no idea how to make these new discoveries public, though. So, the school's, of course, still teaching the old ways."

"I see..."

"Isn't it super hard for you to take any of this seriously after I taught you another element? And after Sophia demonstrated what real magic is?" Maya couldn't even imagine ever going back.

"Of course! No one wants to learn stuff they're never going to use anywhere!"

"Why did you want to go to a school again…?" Sophia had to make a silent retort.

"That's why I need Ari for the magic-related homework. She hasn't been, uhh, corrupted by your group yet and can still follow the old teachings."

"So you can copy it, huh?" The cat-girl saw through her.

"W-Well, yeah... I-It can't be helped, okay?! I'm good at every other topic, so I can help her with whatever she struggles with!" She tried to justify it.

"Heh~, is that so~?" Maya honestly didn't care, but it was a chance to tease the princess, and that, she cared about.

"Ugh, I can't wait for Eluna to arrive later this week..."

"Elu…? Ah, the bakery granny!" Sophia needed a moment to connect the name. "She wanted to see more of my magic, didn't she?"

"Yes," Anna nodded. "I hope she forms a plan with father to make the new magic public soon. I don't want to learn this outdated stuff anymore! Maybe she can even come to the academy, too, to teach us there. Together with the two of you."

"Eh?" The couple looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Eluna is a magic instructor in the first place. Sophia's the poster girl of the magic revolution, and Maya's actually capable of teaching normal people."

"When did I become poster girl?!" She hadn't heard about this. "Fen's the one I learned it from."

"You're cuter, though. A much better fit for a poster girl." The princess mixed in something relatively unrelated.

"W-What?! What has that to do with anything...?" She was still weak against receiving compliments out of nowhere.

"She's right, though." Maya sided with Anna. "If you want to sell anything, you have to be the face of it, Sophia."

"Why do I feel like you're biased?"

"Because I am." She didn't try to hide it.

"Urgh..."

"I think it could be a lot of fun if the two of you teach us in the academy for a while."

"I don't know..." Sophia had mixed feelings. "I kinda agreed before, but I already had my doubts about this possible school arc before… Doing that as a teacher sounds like hard mode, then..."

"I think it might be worth a try," Maya said something unexpected. "We should help to get the hard elements system abolished as soon as possible."

"Really? You like the idea, Maya? Really?" The princess only stared at her.

"What Anna said." The tigers were confused about the cat.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Me teaching in front of a group of teenagers in Anna's age... Judging from previous... experiences..."

"And how you reacted the last time I suggested Sophia visiting my school!"

"Ah." The cat-girl noticed the issue. "T-That's old Maya! New Maya's a lot calmer in that regard."

"Great, that means you're going to teach us in the academy if it comes up?"

"I see no problem with that!" Maya fell for the bait.

"Great!"

"Whatever..." Sophia gave up.

"By the way, I'm super popular in school." Anna looked at the cat-girl. "Everything else aside, a lot of people also try to get close to me because I'm the princess. Ari's, too, as she's the closest to the royal family there. I bet Sophia's going to become an instant hit." She used the chance to tease her back.

"Uhh... what?" New Maya had a slight hiccup.

"It's going to be sooo much fun~!"

The dynamic between Anna and Maya was rather peculiar since the beginning, and ever since Sophia turned the princess down, it's gotten a lot more playful. She was initially sad about the lost chance, but it happened early enough to not burn any bridges. Anna needed a little time to recover but still wanted to be friends with the two.

----------------

The trio chatted for a while longer, mostly the princess and the cat teasing each other. Eventually, Ari, who was wearing the same school uniform as Anna this time, finally appeared on the terrace. Noticing the arrival of the black-haired jaguar, the couple decided to leave them alone to let them do their homework in peace. While leaving, Sophia witnessed something that confused her greatly, though.

"H-Huh?!" The two had just entered the castle, but the tiger was still staring at the terrace.

"What's wrong?"

"Ari totally glared at me just now... right before sitting down next to the princess."

"Why would she do that?" Maya tilted her head.

"I have no idea. We haven't spoken a single word yet."

"Are you sure she was glaring at you? Maybe you just imagined it?"

"Hmm... It sure seemed like it. She definitely looked angry when glancing in my direction for some reason..."

"Weird." The cat-girl had no real explanation for it. "Well, not everyone will always like you. She sure has a bad taste, though." It was the only thing that made sense to her.

"Haha. Still... we haven't actually met yet, let alone exchanged a single word..." Humans aside, it was the first time Sophia came across someone she didn't befriend at first glance, and she didn't like that feeling. She knew that it was nothing noteworthy, but it still bugged her because it slightly reminded her of her previous life. She unconsciously got used to being popular, and potential embarrassment aside, she enjoyed it very much.

"Let's ask the princess the next time we see her. The two seem to be super close, so she might know what's going on."

"Good idea. There's always the chance I messed up with something and left a bad impression on Ari. I would like to correct any potential misunderstanding."

"Yeah, you have the tendency to do that."

"Oh, shut up." The tiger's mood brightened up again.

"Hehe."

"Ah, I detected myself an Ellie nearby!" Luckily, as always, Sophia's attention was extremely easy to divert. Putting the issue with the black jaguar to the side for the time being, she decided to look for her favorite tiger in the castle instead. Maya obviously tagged along because she, too, had taken a liking to the little princess, after all.