The group finished installing the heated floors in every room in the mansion and had spent a very relaxing evening in their toasty living room. It was actually still warm enough without it, but no one cared about that. On the following day, the couple went back to the royal castle to inform the king about the invention, who then decided to send over Kira soon to test it out. After that, Sophia and Maya decided to visit Anna and Ari.

“Hey there~.” The couple had just entered the room and greeted the duo sitting at the table there. Sophia also decided not to comment on how suspiciously close Anna was sitting to the jaguar while Ari tried her best to hold back her blush. Although, she also looked a tiny bit disappointed that sticking close to each other was all the two were doing while being alone.

“Welcome~.” The princess energetically greeted them back.

“H-Hello.”

“What are the two of you up to?” Maya took a better look at the table and noticed the textbooks. “Looks like homework?”

“Yeah…” Both let out a sigh.

“Now that Ari got corrupted as well, even she has issues with the magic-related lessons…”

“Somehow, sorry…” Sophia decided to apologize.

“No…” Anna didn’t want to blame her. “I just can’t wait till the two of you visit the school with Eluna. Once the new form of using magic becomes public, we can stop dealing with this farce.”

“I see...” Sophia then had a better idea. “Want to do something else instead?”

“Yes!” The princess didn’t even wait for her suggestion.

“That’s more like it!” The blonde liked her enthusiasm. “Though we have to split up for that. Maya wanted to play with you, and I have some stuff to do with Ari.”

“Ah, is that so…?” She suddenly sounded a lot less energetic.

“You don’t want to play with me?” The cat-girl knew why the princess reacted like that, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t use this chance. “I’m hurt!”

“O-Of course I do!”

“Good.”

“Alright, let’s head out, Ari. There’s a lot we have to do!”

“Sure.”

Saying so, the duo left the room, leaving Maya and Anna behind before going wherever they planned to go. The cat-girl walked over to the princess and sat down where Ari was before, though they increased the distance from each other quite a bit.

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

“Seems like you took my advice to heart, huh?” Maya smirked at her. “You sure were sticking close to her~.”

“A-Ah…” She averted her face. “I-I’m trying my best…”

“How is it going?”

“I’m not sure…?” Anna tilted her head. “It’s a lot of fun, though.”

“Well, that’s already something, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” The princess gave her a big nod. “It’s also really embarrassing…”

“Yeah, those things often go hand in hand.” Maya had some experience with that, too, after all.

“You are able to get embarrassed…?”

“Of course, I am… More often than I’d like to, too.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“It’s not!” Maya didn’t like getting embarrassed. “So, what did you do to, err… with Ari?”

“Hey!” Anna got loud for a moment. “Well, I’m trying everything you suggested to me… We even started sleeping in the same bed again most of the nights.”

“Really? Good job.” She sounded proud of her. “How is it?”

“It’s really, really nice. Having someone sleep next to you is amazing!”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Yes! Though, I have developed some very embarrassing habits already…” Anna’s face turned a little redder.

“Oh?”

“I, uhh… I always end up hugging Ari in my sleep…”

“Aww, isn’t that nice?” Maya liked what she was hearing.

“I-It is… but the way I do it is especially embarrassing…”

“How so?” She tilted her head.

“I… I, well… I pull her close to me and always end up pushing her face deep into my chest…”

“What a lucky girl.” The cat-girl stared at a particular area of the princess’ body while replying.

“H-Hey!" Anna covered her chest with her arms in response. “They’re not for you!”

“I know~.” She liked her reaction. “That’s why I only enjoy the view. While Sophia’s are small, a lot of the time, it’s still fun playing with them because they’re really sens-, Anyway…” She noticed that she was going a bit too far. Maya had also only mumbled the middle part about the size to herself.

“G-Good…” The princess relaxed again.

“Looks like you, or your body, has unconsciously decided that they’re for your jaguar, though, huh?”

“A-Ah!” Her face turned into a deeper shade of red. “That’s…”

“Am I wrong?”

“I-I don’t know… M-Maybe…?”

“Good enough.” The cat-girl didn’t want to push her too far. Yet. “How did Ari react to the hugging? And the chest diving…”

“Y-Yesterday, it almost looked a little like she was about to, uhh… suffocate when I woke up…”

“That’s…” Maya had no idea how to react to that. “I-I mean, I’m not small, either, but that’s… wow…”

“Uuh…” Anna turned her head away. “T-That’s why I said it’s embarrassing!”

“You know… Suffocating most likely is not nice, but death by boobs might be not the worst way to, err… leave this world.”

“Shut up!” The princess got loud again. “I don’t disagree but shut up!”

“Hehe.” She chuckled for a second before continuing. “So… when her life, well… wasn’t in danger, how was her reaction, then?”

“It’s hard to say because I was busy being embarrassed, b-but… I don’t think she disliked it…”

“That’s a start, isn’t it?”

“Actually, it was also Ari who suggested sleeping together yesterday…”

“Really?”

“Y-Yeah…” She sounded bashful. “We were doing homework and studied together and when she mentioned, I almost messed up because I was so surprised and got excited, but I think I managed to hide how happy I was.”

“Why would you want to hide it?”

“I-I thought that showing her a stupid and goofy grin after she suggested to sleep together wouldn’t be the best idea… We already were kinda close, and it even got a little c-cuddly when we were studying, so it would've been really awkward if I behaved weirdly in that situation...”

“Good thinking. Also, good job on the cuddly part~.”

“T-Thanks…”

“And as a reward, you almost killed her with your boobs?”

“Stop focusing on my chest already!” Anna got a little angry.

“I’m trying, but they’re hard to ignore.” The cat-girl was a little drawn to them. Anna’s breasts were a popular topic amongst every girl in their little group.

“Uuh…” The princess blushed even more.

“Anyway,” Maya decided to finally move on. “How about you try a different position when the two of you are sleeping in the same bed? Hug her from behind instead, for example.”

“W-Well… I’m not consciously h-hugging her in the first place… It happens when I’m asleep…”

“Fair enough…” She paused for a moment. “How about you do that? Try hugging her in a way it’s comfortable for both of you before falling asleep.”

“T-That’s way too embarrassing!”

“So, you don’t want to try?”

“I absolutely DO want to try it!” Anna wasn’t good at hiding her real feelings.

“Ehehe.” Maya let out another chuckle. “You’ll have to power through your embarrassment, then.”

“Uuh…”

“You could also bait her into hugging you?”

“How?!” She got loud. The princess seemed to be slightly interested in this topic.

“You really are an honest one, aren’t you?”

“S-Shut up…”

“Okay.” She stopped talking.

“Tell me!”

“Decide, girl!”

“P-Please tell me how I can get Ari to hug me!"

“Sure~.” Maya actually did want to help her, after all. “Well, it’s actually up to Ari if she wants to initiate it herself, now that it has happened so often already. Just turn around when the two of you get to sleep. Show her your back and pretend to ignore her.”

“I can’t ignore Ari!” She didn’t like the plan.

“Even if the result could be the two of you getting closer?”

“G-Go on…”

“People get used to things incredibly quick. If the jaguar really didn’t mind getting hugged by you, or even liked it, she doesn’t want it to suddenly stop. If you don’t do it anymore, there’s a chance that she’ll give it a try instead.”

“How… How do you know that?”

“As usual, the answer here is Sophia.” The cat-girl looked slightly smug. “My blonde behaved exactly like that. Whenever I was pushing her, she eventually tried it herself. It worked even better than I had thought, hence me getting embarrassed over it from time to time…”

“Is that so…?”

“Yep.”

“B-But treating Ari coldly… I’m not sure I can do that…” Anna had her doubts.

“You don’t have to treat her coldly, idiot. You just have to refrain from shoving your breasts into her face when you’re sleeping, pervert!”

“I’m not a…” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

“You’re not a what?”

“L-Leave me alone…” Her face was basically on fire by now.

“Okay.” Saying so, Maya stood up from the chair she was sitting on.

“Don’t leave!” The princess immediately grabbed her arm.

“Wow, you’re almost as jumpy as Sophia.” She sat down again. "Is that a common trait for tigers?” The cat-girl knew that the blonde was already jumpy long before becoming a tiger, but she wanted to include the princess in her claim.

“Uuh…” Anna turned her head away again while starting to pout. “You really enjoy this, don’t you?!”

“You have no idea~.” Maya was smiling broadly. “Still, I’m trying my best to help you, aren’t I?”

“Y-Yes…” She reluctantly faced her again. “T-Thank you for that…”

“You’re welcome~.” The cat-girl liked her reply. “Seriously, I think it’s worth a try for you to hold back a bit when the two of you are sleeping. If she actually tries to hug you, I can promise you that you’ll thank me a lot more. There’s only one thing better than hugging your loved one while sleeping, and that is getting hugged by her.”

“R-Really…?”

“Yes!” Her voice was brimming with confidence.

“O-Okay, you convinced me… I’ll try it out tonight…”

“Great! Oh, already having decided that you sleep together again today?”

“I’ll, uhh… I’ll just go over to her room in the evening…”

“Oho, how bold. Yeah, there’s no way she could send you away again that way.”

“S-Shut up…”

“Okay.” Maya did just that. The dynamic of the duo really had changed a lot since their first meeting.

“Hey!”

Once Anna got the cat-girl to talk again, the two planned some more things while Maya continued to give the lovestruck princess some more tips to get her jaguar to love her back. They didn’t know that this would be a relatively easy task, after all.