The duo consisting of Ari and Sophia were still happily chatting the day away. The blonde gave the jaguar many tips to get closer to her princess by recalling how she and Maya started out and how it progressed over time. Once the two had formed a plan to go further, they decided to look for their girls, who were busy training the new magic to Eluna for most of the day.

“My, would you look at that?”

“The runaway couple’s back, huh?”

“We didn’t run away!” Walking through the castle’s garden for a while, Ari and Sophia eventually ran into their girls, who immediately had to make a comment once they saw the duo.

“Who’s the one who preferred to train Eluna over playing with me?” The blonde tried a reversal. “I had to busy myself with something else, didn’t I?”

“Exactly!” The jaguar joined in. “I was free because a certain someone wanted to mess around with magic. Meeting Sophia was a lucky coincidence, and I decided to spend some time with her instead.”

“Ah…” Anna paused for a moment. “Wait! You were the one who forced me to train with Eluna! I wanted to stay with you instead!” She got loud.

“You got me there.”

“Anything interesting happened?” Maya faced her tiger. “I was the one who suggested playing with her in the first place, so I just wanted to tease a bit~.”

“A ton of things~.” She sounded really cheerful.

“S-Sophia?!” Ari started panicking. She naturally didn’t want Anna to find out about their conversation.

“Don’t worry, everything that happened will be our little secret~.”

“G-Good…”

“Oh?” The princess and cat-girl didn’t like this development whatsoever.

“Why do you have secrets again?!” Anna got even louder and used the chance to jump at the jaguar. She shook her a few times to make Ari spill the beans, but once she understood that her lips were sealed, Anna opted to cling to her arm instead while she was at it already. “So unfair!”

“Ahh…” Sophia’s expression softened up when she saw the duo.

“So?” Maya got closer to the blonde and started whispering. “What’s going on?”

“Sorry, not telling~. It’s something Ari told me in secret. It involves neither of us, so there’s nothing to worry about, though.” She kept out the birthday plans she formed with the jaguar, but that wasn’t the main topic, anyway.

“Hmm…?” She stared at her for a while but eventually noticed that Sophia didn’t flinch, which made her believe it in the end. “Well, the princess and I have one or two secrets, as well, so I guess that’s only fair.”

“E-Eh?!” Now it was Sophia’s time to get suspicious.

“Same as yours. It doesn’t involve either of us.”

“I-I see…” She needed a moment. “Well then...”

“Sharing secrets with friends is great, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” The blonde gave her a big nod. “It’s so much fun!”

“Hehe.” Maya liked her expression. “You sure are adorable.”

“S-Shut up… I just enjoy finally having friends.”

“I wasn’t trying to tease you there.”

“Is that so…?”

“Sophia!” Anna got loud again.

“Yes…?” She reluctantly changed her attention to the princess.

“You didn’t flirt with Ari again, did you?!”

“Hmm…” The blonde wanted to play a bit. “Did I? Did I not?”

“S-Sophia?!” Ari also raised her voice once more.

“It really is sooo much fun.” She faced Maya again while showing her a big grin.

“I love you.” The cat-girl enjoyed that reaction a whole lot.

“Don’t worry, princess, there was no flirting.”

“G-Good.”

“At least none that I’m aware of.”

“H-Hey!”

“Hehe. No, I think everything was fine in that regard. Though, I need a lot of Ari’s time in the near future because we have some things planned.”

“I don’t like the sound of that!” Anna wasn’t a fan.

“C-Calm down, okay…?” With a slight blush on her cheeks, Ari tried to push herself away, and the princess reluctantly let go of the jaguar’s arm after a while. “Sophia wants to teach me chantless magic, and that’s going to take a while…” She managed to come up with an excuse on the spot. It wasn’t really an excuse because the two planned to do that, too. Still, the duo mostly wanted to take care of the Anna issue and have Sophia learn how to cook as a surprise for Maya on her birthday, but the other two couldn’t find out about that.

“I-I see…” There was little the princess could say here. “Still no flirting!”

“I’ll try.” The blonde’s and jaguar’s voices perfectly overlapped.

“H-Hey!”

The duo kept teasing Anna for a bit longer, but Sophia and Maya eventually decided to head back to their mansion because it was getting late after they had spent almost the entire day on the castle grounds.

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

“Alright, spill the beans.” The couple was back in their home and currently sitting on one of the sofas in their living room when Maya suddenly started questioning the tiger.

“A-About what…?”

“Those little secrets you and the jaguar have. I can smell something juicy~.”

“Nothing juicy!” Sophia was loudly protesting. “We just had some fun girls-talk, nothing more! Ari wants to keep it a secret, and so I will.”

“Ehh…? Now I want to know it even more~.” Maya enjoyed that type of conversation, too.

“Nope. How about you tell me about Anna’s secrets instead? I also like the sound of that! Give it to me!”

“Later, we’re currently chatting.” The cat-girl smirked at her.

“Hmm… A-Ah.” She paused for a moment and developed a slight blush after she realized what other possible interpretations her words had. “Y-Yeah, sounds good.”

“Hehe, great!” Maya seemed to be looking forward to it.

"Yeah... Wait! Oi! Don't make me get sidetracked here!" Sophia noticed her plan.

“Whatever do you mean~? Anyway, no can do. Anna also made me pledge secrecy on the topic.”

“See?! Why should I tell you, then?!”

“Because I wanna know~.” The cat-girl sounded a little whiny.

“Nuh-uh.” The blonde didn’t let her have it. Telling her Ari’s secret, that is.

“Fine…” She eventually gave up.

“Good.” Wanting to keep Ari’s secret and not accidentally spill the beans about her plans of surprising Maya with a self-cooked and fancy dinner, the tiger happily changed the topic. “How is it going on the Eluna front?”

“Pretty well, actually. Anna had been teaching her while we were, uhh… busy with your and Fen’s little accident. She really understands the idea now and even learned another category. The king has also suggested that we should visit the princess’ school soon.”

“A-Ah…” Sophia stopped for a moment. “I already forgot about that part again… Are we actually going to play teachers there…?”

“That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah… I’m going to be sooo useless~.”

“Absolutely.”

“Hey!” Sophia raised her voice.

“Hehe. Well, you’re more the poster girl, so it’s fine.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that, either…” She had mixed feelings about being nothing more than a demonstration of real magic.

“You’re also good at destroying common sense, but I’m not sure how that would be helpful.”

“I don’t destroy common sense! I create an alternative view on it!” She got loud. “No, wait! My nonsense actually makes sense! When it comes to magic, everyone’s common sense is wrong, and I found out what’s actually going on! No one can blame me for that!”

“Err…” Maya was at a loss for words.

“I’m right, aren’t I?!”

“I don’t want to answer this.”

“Ha!” Sophia looked incredibly smug.

“You’re still breaking the common sense of everyone…” She tried a weak counter. “Just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean that, uhh…”

“Isn’t it a good thing if I keep breaking it, then?”

“N-No comment…”

“Ha! Flawless victory! Alright, I’ll break everyone's mind in Anna’s school!”

“That sounds so incredibly bad…”

“F-Fair point…” The blonde noticed the ambiguity in her wording.

“Could you take it a bit easy…? You don’t want the king’s head to explode, do you?” Maya was sure Menzor would die if she were to do that.

“Ah.” Sophia hadn’t thought about the collateral damage. “Fine, I might do a little demonstration or two before I let you, Anna, and Eluna do the actual work…” She gave up.

“On behalf of the king’s migraine, I thank you.”

“Well, if I can’t play, maybe I’ll go and look for some new friends while you are busy teaching instead. That sounds like fun, too.”

“Y-You looking for friends in a school full of teens while I’m doing something else…?”

“Yep.” Sophia gave her a nod. “I bet there are lots of cute girls in her school.”

“H-Huh?!” The cat-girl froze up. “Y-You know what, I bet the king has his personal armada of healers at his disposal. A little migraine won’t hurt him…” She’d changed her mind.

“Ahaha.” The tiger started laughing. “Jealous Maya can be fun every once in a while~.”

“S-Shut up.”

“Wow, I’m on a roll today.” Her expression turned even smugger. “You know that I won’t do anything stupid.”

“And what about the girls there?! Imagine a whole group of girls who are as, if not thirstier as the princess when she went after you.”

“A-Ah…” She stopped to think about it for a second. “Y-Yeah, I need you as a guard there…”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

“I still would like to get another friend or two out of it…” Sophia’s voice turned a little more serious. “I want more of them!”

“Sure, if you find someone who actually just wants to be your friend, I see absolutely no problem in it. Go for it, tiger.” Maya cheered her on. “Wow, I wasn’t going for it, but that wordplay was perfect, wasn’t it?”

“What a dork.” She rolled her eyes in return.

“It almost hurts if you’re the one saying it...”

“Hehe.”

The couple kept chatting like that for a while and kept themself busy with other things until it was time for dinner. It was also when the wolves showed up again, too. The two were working on the underground maze and apparently made some great progress, as well.