Sophia and Ari went to one of the kitchens in the castle, and once they finished their own little love talk, the duo got to the main reason they got together today. Ari teaching the tiger some sort of dish she could surprise Maya on her birthday with, that is. Once the two had decided on a course. The blonde talked the jaguar into cooking up a sample dish because she’d gotten hungry over talking about food so much.

“Haa~, that was good!” Sophia had just finished taste-testing the sample dish Ari had created for her and was rubbing her stomach with a satisfied expression. “The princess was right. You really are a good cook, Ari.”

“Thank you very much.” The jaguar started to smile after getting complimented. “I put in a little extra effort for the occasion, too. We want you to be able to cook Maya the best version possible, after all, don’t we?”

“Yes!” She gave her a big nod.

“Do you think you could recreate it already?” Ari looked at the tiger. “You were watching over my shoulders really intently, after all. It’s good that Anna and Maya were busy because it felt like you tried to hug me from behind from time to time…”

“Ahaha… While you do look huggable, no… I just wanted to make sure not to miss anything.”

“I know~. Thanks for the flattery, though.”

“That was no flattery. I bet Anna feels the same. That’s one of the things we shorter girls have going for us, you know? Being huggable, that is. I’m sure that’s why we end up as hug pillows every so often, too. Maya likes to do that, too.”

“Don’t give me too much hope...”

“I know it’s pretty wild coming from me, but you should have more confidence. Then again, you actually are super confident…” Sophia tilted her head. “You are a bit timid and get embarrassed as easily as I do, but you’re actually flirty, as well, and don’t hold back when it comes to Anna…”

“W-Well…” Ari wasn’t sure what to say. “The flirty thing isn’t happening consciously, you know…? For the Anna part… We grew up together. There are limits I decided not to cross for a long time, but… We’re so close that, while I get embarrassed, my reservations get easily overthrown when it comes to her…”

“That’s good in this case, isn’t it?”

“I’ll tell you after it worked out or not…”

"A-Ah…” The tiger wasn’t sure what to reply here. “Anyway… While I said that us being small increased our huggability, clinging to bigger, err… I mean, taller girls is great, too.”

“Because they’re bigger?” Ari naturally didn’t miss her slip of the tongue.

“In certain areas, yes.”

“You…” The jaguar rolled her eyes at Sophia’s shamelessness.

“Well, make sure to find out the differences between getting hugged and hugging yourself tonight, okay?”

“I-I’ll try my best.”

“Good.”

“…” Ari’s face kept getting redder.

“I’ll be expecting a positive report tomorrow.” The blonde stared right at her.

“Uuh… Are you coming over again tomorrow?”

“No running away now! Not after I gave you homework!”

“Y-Yes!”

“It looks like I really have to come and check on you, huh?”

“T-There’s no need for that!” Ari wanted Sophia to have more faith in her. “Then again, Anna and the others have another training session with Eluna tomorrow, so I’m free… Well, feel free to come over.” She’d changed her mind.

“Oh, that means Maya will be here, too… I actually had some plans already, but… Oh, how about you come and visit my place for a change? You haven’t been there yet, have you?”

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t.”

“We could also take a look at our kitchen, and you can tell me what kind of stuff I need to buy to prepare the dish for Maya. Not to mention that the two won’t accidentally walk in on us which, would spoil the surprise, then…”

“Well, why not. It sounds like it could be fun.” The jaguar had nothing against the plan.

“Great!” She sounded happy. “Oh, there’s also something else at my place that I want to show you!”

“Should I be concerned…?” Ari raised an eyebrow as she stared at the tiger.

“Not at all! I invented a little something, and I want to get another opinion on it. Maya really loves it, so I’d love to see how others feel about it.”

“I see. Well, if it’s nothing dangerous, I’ll gladly take a look at it.”

“Thanks!”

“Not a problem.”

The duo chatted for a little bit longer, but once they had cleaned up the kitchen together, both decided to head back to Anna’s room to meet up with their girls again. There, everyone had a great time together for another hour or two before Sophia and Maya eventually decided to head back to their own home for the time being.

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

“I’ve heard that there’s another training session with Eluna tomorrow?” The couple was back in their living room and relaxing on one of their sofas as usual.

“Yeah.” Maya nodded. “Haven’t I told you?”

“I don’t think so…?” Sophia tilted her head. “Probably?”

“Sorry if I didn’t, I guess?”

“Nah, I don’t mind at all.”

“Good. Are you coming as well, then? Ari should be free, too, after all.”

“She’s actually coming to visit me here.”

“Really…?” Maya wasn’t sure how to reply here.

“Yep.”

“Why…?”

“Why not?” Sophia returned the question.

“Well… Yeah, that’s true.” The cat-girl wasn’t against it, but rather just confused because that hadn’t happened before.

“I wanted to get her opinion on the heated floors, too.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Maybe she has another idea what we could change before the queen comes over to evaluate it.”

“Yep. Though, I have no idea what you could improve there.” Sophia was really proud of her invention.

“True.”

“If anything, I’m slightly concerned about Ari turning just as useless as us when being subjected to it.”

“That’s… That’s… the most likely thing to happen, yeah.” Maya had nothing to add. “Well, have fun with her tomorrow.”

“I will~.”

“Not too much, though.”

“Of course, idiot.” The tiger started to smile.

“Don’t worry, we’ll watch over her.” The wolves suddenly entered the living room and got comfy on their place. The sheepskin rug, that is.

“Thank you very much.”

“There’s no need for any watching!” Sophia got loud.

“We’re just making a joke.” Maya let out a giggle. “I know that I can trust you.”

“Good.”

“Well, the only concern is that both of you are naturally flirty…”

“T-That’s a different topic.” The tiger averted her face. “I-It’s not that much of an issue if we get flirty when there are no feelings, right…? Wow, wait, that sounds really bad without context…”

“It sure does.” The cat-girl nodded. “You’re not exactly wrong, but it’s still not nice to look at from my perspective.”

“That’s understandable.” Sophia saw the issue. “I’ll continue to try my best that it doesn’t happen unconsciously.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay,” The blonde then looked at the wolves. “Did you make any progress on the maze?”

“…” The wolves turned their heads away for some reason.

“Hmm?” She tilted her head.

“The two of you lazed around in the mansion all day, didn’t you?” Maya had seen through their reaction. “You couldn’t get away from the heated floors, right?”

“…” They still didn’t answer.

“Ahh…” Sophia started smiling again. “Were there any issues with the floors?”

“None.” Aura finally replied after a little while.

“Great!” She was glad that everything was working as intended. “Still, Maya and I want to explore the maze again! Please don’t abandon it, okay?”

“Yes…” Fen also turned his head around again. “It’s fun working on it, too, after all. We won’t abandon it over some heated floors…”

“That’s good to hear!”

“We might get back to it tomorrow.” Aura continued. “We’re about to finish another room, and I want to see it done~. I might be skipping on the Eluna thing then, though.”

“I like the sound of that.” The cat-girl was looking forward to it, too. “Yeah, that’s no problem. Anna and I can teach her alone. She’s picked up enough already, after all.”

“That’s true. It’s more of a matter of her getting used to it by repeating everything she’s learned at this point.”

The group chatted for a little longer until Maya eventually started preparing dinner for everyone. Luckily, Sophia could always eat, so she could hide the fact that she had already eaten something back in the castle with ease. Afterward, the group went back to relaxing while also enjoying the heated floors some more. They still didn’t actually need it yet because the weather was still okay, but, just like the day before, none of them cared about this fact.

It eventually started to get late, though, and the couple decided to turn in for the night. The following day seemed to become a busy one once again, after all. Maya even decided to head over to the castle in the morning already. Which, in return, made Sophia even happier that she talked Ari into visiting her instead. That meant she could sleep in, after all. Though, the cat-girl made a joke about sending the jaguar over the moment she arrives to get her tiger out of bed, but not even Maya would be that cruel, after all.