Sophia had shared her production method regarding the heating ore with the manufacturers usually handling the product. They were very shocked about the new way of using it, but also loved the opportunities it brings. Many new products could be made now, and existing ones will be improved. Afterward, the couple went to their usual place for care products. Sophia needed a couple of different shampoos and conditioners to experiment with because she planned to invent a version of a hair straightening iron from her old world in this place.

“Hmm…” Back in the living room of their mansion, Sophia was sitting cross-legged on a sofa there while grumbling of a few pieces of paper.

“What is this…?” Maya sat down next to her and picked up one of these papers. “It looks a bit like tongs for cooking… With a comb attached to the ends…?” She couldn’t make any sense of the sketch the tiger had scribbled on it.

“Ahh…” The blonde scratched her cheek. “It’s been a while since I used one of those straightening irons, and I’m trying to remember how it looked.”

“Oh, I see.” She eyed the sketch once more. “And?”

“I think that one’s the closest.”

“Really…? How does it work again?”

“See the top part of the tongs? The part that looks like it has a wide-tooth comb attached to it?” Sophia adjusted her explanation based on the cat’s observations.

“Yeah?”

“That’s the actual ironing part. The rest is just for better handling because it’s easier to grip it that way. The comb, too, is more of a guide for your hair.

“Oh, I see.” Maya was starting to understand the design.

“The two flat areas behind the comb are where the heating happens. You put a strand of your hair between it and close the tongs. Afterward, you slowly glide over your hair, starting from the roots all the way to the ends. Depending on how unruly your hair is, you have to repeat it a couple of times. It’s pretty important that you don’t stop on the same spot for too long because the heat can damage your hair.”

“Interesting.” The cat-girl tilted her head. “It can take multiple runs for unruly hair, huh?” She glanced at the tiger’s mane. “Do you think that thing can handle you? Your fluffiness already is amazing, after all. It’s only starting, too, right?”

“Urgh… I-It can’t make it worse either, though!”

“Except for the part where there’s a chance to burn and destroy your hair…?”

“Shut up, Maya.”

“Ahaha.” She started laughing after seeing the tiger’s cute pout as she turned her face away.

“W-While I said that I don’t want to change the properties of my hair with magic directly because I want to stay a full tiger, if I burn it with my invention, there’s no reason for me not to fix it with appearance magic.”

“That’s a good point. No one can get suspicious if you only fix it after experimenting.”

“Exactly!” Sophia looked smug again.

“That means you also won’t be fixing the new super light blonde your hair’s becoming, right?” Maya looked at the tips of the girl’s hair that had already faded out quite a bit.

“Not at all! If anything, I want it to happen faster because I can’t wait to see how it will look. This kind of blonde is new and exciting!” She grabbed a few strands of her hair and stared at it. “Hurry up!”

“Great! I’m looking forward to it, too.”

“You’re getting a lot of value out of a single girlfriend, aren’t you?”

“There really is a lot of Sophia.” Maya nodded. “Too much from time to time, even.”

“Hehe.” She knew how much of a handful she could be, after all.

“Are you going to try making it now?” The cat-girl focused on the tiger’s sketches again.

“Do you have any better suggestions for the afternoon? I’m up for pretty much anything.”

“Hmm…” Maya paused for a moment before showing her a slight smirk. “Not really, no. Nothing that can’t wait until nighttime~.”

“…” Sophia stared at her for a few seconds. “Sure.”

Once the two had planned out the rest of the day, Sophia concentrated on the hair straightening iron again.

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

An hour or two had passed, and some sort of prototype actually came to life after some trial and error.

“You’re going to buy me new tongs, right?” The cat-girl stared at the makeshift hair iron. “You totally stole that thing from my kitchen, didn’t you?”

“Err…” The tiger scratched her cheek. “I go with a definite maybe here.”

“Really now?”

“It was easier to use those as a base, okay?!” She caved in. Her prototype was basically a pair of tongs she’d attached a comb to. Afterward, she filled the top of the tongs with the heating ore mixture and made its surface super smooth by polishing it with magic.

“It’s alright. I don’t really mind.” Maya wasn’t actually angry.

“I need to buy some other materials for it, anyway. I’ll get you some fancy premium tongs while I’m at it, then.” Sophia played along.

“Thanks~.” She started smiling. “Time to try it?” She glanced at the blonde’s invention again.

“I have to prepare my hair first… I need to wash it, and also want to try using the straightening and moisturizing shampoo and conditioner on it.”

“Is that so?” The cat-girl thought about it for a moment. “Should we go and take an early bath today?”

“Oh, I like that idea!”

“Great!” Saying so, Maya stood up from the sofa, grabbed the tiger’s hand, and the two disappeared upstairs for their usual bath in the cozier tub there.

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An hour and a half later, the couple was back in the living room, and Sophia was still busy drying their hair.

“The non-tiger shampoo and the conditioner is kinda, no… very disgusting!” She was patting down her hair with a towel while having a complicated expression. “If this works, I’ll have the store mix a moisturizing and straightening product that doesn’t feel so bad for tigers...”

“Stop whining so much.” Maya rolled her eyes.

“Touch my hair!” She got loud.

“Sure…” The cat-girl did just that. “Urgh, slimy…” She didn’t like it.

“I know, right?! It doesn’t soak into the hair at all! It might help with the straightening iron, though. It’s really easy to glide through my hair that way. I have to dry it some more, though.” Saying so, Sophia put the towel away and started using air magic to dry her hair with a warm wind. Five minutes passed, and she finally seemed to be done. “I still don’t like the feel, but it’s dry and super easy to glide through now…”

“Which is quite impressive because it feels like you’ve gained even more volume after the bath and the warm air now.” Maya stared in awe at the other’s fluffy hair.

“Time to test!” She suddenly sounded even more motivated. “Err… how hot has it to be again…?” The blonde had hit a roadblock fairly quick.

“Are you asking me…?”

“Just thinking out loud… I did burn my fingers more than once on it, that’s for sure… It wasn’t ‘burn your hands on a stove hot’, though… Maybe something between 150 and 200°C? Let’s go with 175, then~.”

“You can adjust the temperature that well with the heating ore plastered on a tong?”

“Nope.” She quickly shrugged her shoulders.

“Dork.”

“Hehe.” Chuckling for a second, Sophia then poured a bit of her magic into the ore before touching it. “Hot!” Afterward, she started blowing on her slightly red fingers.

“…” Maya reacted only by facepalming.

“It felt similar to touching a cookie sheet you try to take out of the oven without gloves on. That should be a good temperature.”

“How often did you burn yourself in the past?” The cat-girl was wondering about her experience.

“I am pretty clumsy and carefree.”

“And dumb.”

“True.” She nodded without thinking. “Hey!”

“Then stop burning yourself on everything!”

“Okay, that point goes to you.” There was little ground to defend herself on. “Whatever, time to try it out!” Sounding motivated, the tiger sectioned off her hair to make it easier to put strands into the iron. Once she put a section onto the heated plate on one side of the tong and pressed it together, a slight sizzling sound could be heard.

“Did you just burn your hair in an instant…?” Maya didn’t like the sound.

“T-That probably was just the remains of the conditioner.” While saying so, Sophia finished going over the strand of hair with her makeshift straightening iron. “And?”

“Well, it’s not burned, at least…”

“But?”

“I don’t see any difference, either…”

“Ahh…” She paused for a moment. “Well, it would be too easy having it work on the first try, right…?”

“Would also be great, though.”

“Yes…” Sophia hung her head before concentrating again. “Hmm… It’s cooled down quite a bit… I might have to find a way to keep the temperature consistently high. Let’s just reheat it for now and try again!” Saying so, the blonde did just this. Three times in total, to be exact. Every time she used the hot iron to glide through the same strand of her hair.

“Ohh?” Maya was intently watching her and eventually noticed a change. “I think it’s actually working… It looks a bit smoother now.

“Really?!” She put away the straightening iron and touched the strand of hair she was working on. “You’re right! It feels a lot better now! Yay, it’s working!”

“Good for you!” The cat-girl was happy for her. “Still… It took like 20 minutes for a single strand… If you do all your hair that way, it’ll take forever.”

“True… I need to experiment a bit more with the right temperature. Still, before that, I have to find a way to keep it consistent and high, though. Without that, it’ll always take forever.”

“How about a different hairstyle, too? It might save you some time.”

“Oh?” The tiger sounded interested.

“You could braid a part of your hair. You wouldn’t need to iron that area, then.”

“Hmm… I’ve never braided my hair before… I like the idea!”

“Should I braid it for you?”

“Please!”

And so, the straightening iron was put on a temporary hold until Sophia could come up with a way to improve it. In the meanwhile, Maya started playing with the blonde’s hair to find out what kind of braid would fit the tiger best.