Chloe had accompanied the group to their mansion and had just finished her bath there. Her nature of being an arctic fox wasn't the most compatible with the heating there, so she decided to skimp a bit on her clothes to make it more bearable for her. As the couple was quite taken by her looks before already, this sight, together with now being sure that her chest actually is at least as big as Anna’s now that it wasn’t hiding beneath the sweater anymore, the two had a hard time looking at her and decided to take their own bath to cool down.

“Haa~." After around half an hour, the couple reunited with everyone in the living room again while Maya let out a satisfied sigh. “I needed that~.”

“Yep, a bath is always nice~.” Sophia had the same expression as the cat-girl.

“Welcome back.” Chloe smiled at the two before taking a better look. "For the reaction you two earlier had, the way either of you is dressed isn't any better now, is it?" She noticed that Sophia was wearing almost the same clothes as the fox-girl, black shorts with a pink top, only for her camisole to be a slightly darker pink while showing even more of her stomach. Maya wore a blue off-shoulder crop top, showing just as much belly, combined with white shorts. "In fact, both of you are dressed skimpier than I am! Also, I’m not complaining, just wanting to point it out!”

“Ahaha…” The two could only react with a dry laugh.

“They’re always dressing like that lately.” Aura looked at them before replying to Chloe. “There’s no deeper meaning here.”

“Oh, I see.” That apparently worked for her.

"If they are dressed..." Aura added her own bit.

"H-Hey!"

"Oh?" Chloe tilted her head

"Anyway…" Sophia scratched her cheek. "Yeah... even we are aware that we're overdoing it a little with the heating, but rather than turning it down a notch, wearing fewer and lighter clothes is way more comfortable! Cats be cats, I guess…"

“Thanks for saying it yourself. I didn't want to mention it.” Chloe reacted with a weak smile. “Though, after the two of you had such a reaction with me earlier…”

“Well, there is a lot to see after the sweater is gone.” Maya tried not to directly look at her for a change.

“It’s not like you’re small by any stretch of the meaning. Far from it!” On the other hand, Chloe looked straight at her. Not at her eyes, though.

"A-Ah…” The cat-girl just let it happen.

“You absolutely don’t have to hide, either!” She then focused her attention on Sophia. “In fact, I like that sight even more.” She looked at her a good bit longer than at Maya.

“T-Thanks…”

“Chloe.” The cat-girl then stared right at her. “The store Sophia told you about earlier. Please go and visit that tomorrow.” The fox-girl looked a bit too thirsty for her liking. “There are also other ways to get rid of the excess energy without visiting that shop immediately, as well.”

"…" Her face instantly turned bright red after hearing that. “Y-You told her about that?!” She faced the tiger with an embarrassed expression.

“Sure~.”

“Uuh…” The shade of red on her cheeks got even more intense.

"Don't worry. The walls are quite thick here, so no one will disturb you." Maya really wanted that she gets it out of her system.

“…” Fen wanted to say something, but after thinking about it for a split second, he decided that he didn't want to get involved. After nudging Aura and indicating that she should also stay silent, he turned around on the sheepskin rug and ignored their conversation.

“C-Can we please stop this conversation…?” Small tears had formed in the corners of the fox-girl’s eyes. “I get it, so I’ll try to hold back a bit more…”

“Yes…” The teary-eyed expression made Maya a little weak. “It’s still my suggestion, but I might’ve gone a little overboard. I’m sorry about that…”

“No, from your point of view, it totally makes sense.” Chloe wasn't going to blame her. "You do also have a point with everything you said…” Her cheeks turned redder again.

“Anyway!” Sophia finally had enough of all of this. “Let’s put the planned solo fun time aside for the time being and get back on track!”

“…” Instead of changing the topic, the tiger only dealt the final blow to the fox, and she needed a moment to recover from this. “O-Okay, gladly…”

"Is there anything specific you want to do now that you're in the capital again?" Noticing that she actually made it worse, the tiger finally found something easy to chat about.

“That’s a good question…” Chloe tilted her head. “I wasn’t expecting to end here like that, so I had no time to prepare. I definitely want to do some shopping. Normal shopping.” She somehow felt she had to add that part. “I need some things for my hair and fur, together with some general care products like hand-crème and the likes. While I'm at it, I'm definitely going to get some of the fluff protection spray Aura mentioned before! I need that!”

“Ohh!” Hearing that, the ears of the female wolf perked up. “Let’s do that tomorrow! I’ll accompany you!”

“Of course!” The fox-girl gladly accepted the invitation. “I look forward to it!”

“Hmm… Maya and I just stocked up on stuff, and we planned to go over there in a few days again for a meeting, so… Have fun with Aura there!” Sophia didn’t feel like joining in on that. “Any other plans?”

“Let’s see…” She gave it some more thought. “Maybe some clothes?”

“Oh, I like the sound of that!” The tiger’s motivation grew in an instant. “We need to get some more clothes for the fall and winter season, anyway! Anna and Ari wanted to join in on the shopping for that, as well. I think it would be a ton of fun to do that as a group!”

“I wouldn’t mind that at all.” Chloe nodded a few times. “Meeting the first princess and her maid sounds really interesting! Also, after the two of you mentioned them so often, I actually look forward to getting to know them!”

"Perfect!" From the excited tone in her voice, it seemed like she could hardly wait for it. "What else?"

“Food!” The fox-girl suddenly raised her voice. “I never stayed in the capital for too long, so I didn’t have the chance to fully explore it yet. I want to find all the places that serve some interesting or unusual food!"

“Maya!” Hearing that, Sophia also got loud. “Cancel all my appointments! We’re going on a mission!” She was a big fan of the idea.

“What appointments…?” She was a little less enthusiastic.

"I don't care! Just make sure to cancel them!"

“Sure…” With a roll of her eyes, the cat-girl soon started to smile, as well. “It’s okay if I join, right? I already know a nice place or two, but I definitely want to find more of them, too!” After all, while not entirely on the level of Sophia, Maya also really enjoyed good food. Be it eating or cooking it.

“Of course!” The duo gave her a hearty nod.

“Alrighty, that sounds like a solid plan for the next couple of days!” The tiger was in an excellent mood.

“Yes!” So was Chloe.

“I guess we should ask Anna and Ari when they want to do the shopping?” Maya started planning already.

“Wait a moment!” Sophia suddenly raised her voice again. “Speaking of those two, didn’t we give them some homework? My deadline for Ari was due today!”

“You’re right! I gave Anna an ultimatum, as well!” The cat-girl looked back at her. "And yet, I still got no report! I’m going to tease her all day tomorrow! I'll make her spill the beans!"

"Then again…" The blonde suddenly tilted her head. "We weren't home at all, so… maybe there was some progress, but they were unable to meet us?"

“Did you really just make a sound argument…?”

“I know. I feel dirty now…”

“What is this all about…?” Chloe naturally just got confused by their conversation.

“Uhh…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “Maya, please explain it to her.”

“Long story very short, those two are complete idiots.”

“Okay…?” This explanation didn’t seem to help the fox-girl that much.

“We got fed up with them being so dense even though it’s so obvious to absolutely everyone that they’re in love with each other. Because of that, we individually forced them to take the next step and finally get over it. If they aren’t going to at least kiss each other before we see them again, we’re going to spill the beans for them.”

“I see…” Chloe paused for a moment. “So, if I ever find a girl I’m really interested in, I shouldn’t be dense because else you two will become active?”

“Yup.” They just nodded.

“That’s good to know…”

“Well, you have to be really dense for that, though. I mean, you barely know Anna and Ari, and you still thought they already were a couple…" Maya continued her explanation. "They play with each other’s tails all the time, sleep and cuddle together, are inseparable, at least as flirty as Sophia, and I are… Anna’s mother, the queen, also got fed up with both of them because she couldn't watch it anymore. Everyone in their school is rooting for them, and… Yeah, you have to be really dense.”

“Okay.” The pink-haired girl gave it some thought. “I think I can be better than that if it ever becomes relevant for me.”

“Good.” Maya liked her answer.

“Now I wonder what they’re up to, though…” Sophia closed her eyes while saying so. “My detection magic says they’re together right now, but it doesn't show me many details. Okay, that is a good thing, but it's also kinda disappointing…"

As there was nothing they could add to that topic anymore, the group decided to let it be for the time being but continued to chat about various other things for a long while.