The girls were having a good time chatting together during the evening. The big cats, Sophia, Anna, and Ari, were very interested in Chloe's story about the jungle she had visited in the past, and they made a promise to visit that place the moment it gets warm in spring again. Afterward, the group made more specific plans about their scheduled shopping trip to get some clothes for the fall and winter seasons. And some skimpy clothes for Sophia as revenge for having put Ari into them.

“Good morning~…” The following day started a little late. For some of them, at least. Maya and Ari had been up for a while already and were currently in the middle of preparing breakfast when their sleepy-looking tigers arrived in the kitchen together while letting out a small yawn at the same time.

“Oho, the loud one from last night is finally up!” Maya smiled at the princess. “Good morning.”

“E-Eh?!” Anna’s face immediately went red.

“Ah, right!” Sophia’s face lit up. “I totally forgot about that, but seriously…" She then looked at Ari. "You two sure are intense for the noise to even reach our bedroom."

“E-Eh?!” The jaguar had the same reaction. “Y-Y-You heard us?!”

“T-There’s no way!” Anna raised her voice. “I-I even had Ari press a pillow on my face so that I shut up when my voice…”

“Wow.” The duo seemed impressed. “Kinky.”

“Uuh…” Their faces got even redder.

“By the way,” The cat-girl’s grin got even bigger. “We didn’t hear a thing.”

“Yup.” Sophia nodded. “We just wanted to mess with you a little bit.”

“Thanks for the confirmation, though.”

“A-Ah!” Anna and Ari hid their faces behind their hands to hide their embarrassment.

“Good morning!” While the duo was having a great time teasing the couple, Chloe also arrived in the kitchen and gave everyone an energetic greeting.

“Oh, there's the other loud one!” Maya went for it a second time.

“Yeah!” Sophia was directly in on it. "Quite the feat for being alone. Were the goods from your shopping trip that good?” She remembered when she mentioned the toy store to the fox-girl to get rid of some things that had pent up.

“There's just no way you heard me.” Surprisingly, Chloe had stayed completely calm. “I used magic to block every sound coming out or going into my room. It’s simply impossible for you to have heard me trying out the stuff I bought.”

"You're right. We didn't hear a thing." Sophia smiled at her. “We were just messing with you.”

“Thanks for the confirmation, though.” Maya also was smiling broadly.

"A-Ah…" Her expression turned much less calm in an instant, and the color of her cheeks turned to the same red as the still blushing couple.

"So many perverts here…" The blonde let out a sigh afterward.

“Should I tell them what you did last night?” Maya wasn’t done with her morning teasing routine yet.

“N-No, I’m good…” There really were a lot of perverts in the mansion right now. “You started it, though.”

“That’s a different topic.”

“I hate you…”

"You fooled me really well last night, then."

“Urgh…”

“Hehe~.” Maya enjoyed her reaction before she suddenly stared at Chloe again. “Wait a moment… What did you just say?! You used magic to mask the noise coming from your room?!”

"YES!" Anna and Ari stopped being embarrassed instantly and stared at the fox-girl. “TEACH US HOW TO DO THAT!” They were very interested in it.

“Sophia, why haven’t you come up with that yet?!” Maya looked back at her tiger. “It could’ve saved us a lot of trouble with our wolves!”

"Well…" The blonde awkwardly scratched her cheeks. "It's not that I didn't come up with it, but I knew I'd forget to use it. After all, a certain someone is always so eager, and we always forget about all kinds of precautions.”

“Then stop being so eager all the time!”

“Shut up.” Sophia didn't let her cat have this round.

"Fair enough." She didn't fight back.

“Uuuh…” Chloe was still embarrassed, but she also had something to add. "You could permanently use it on a room… and automatically power it with your magic when you’re inside. A little like the heated floors…”

“A-Ah…” The blonde awkwardly scratched her cheek again. “I hadn’t thought about that…”

“We’re doing that right this evening!” Maya liked the idea.

“Uuh…” Ari and Anna started trembling a little. "I-If only we would've met you a week earlier and found out about this magic…" The jaguar looked devastated.

“Ahaha…” Chloe had no idea what to say other than reacting with an awkward laugh. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault…”

“Anyway,” Sophia seemingly had enough about the topic. “How’s breakfast coming along?”

“Just a couple more minutes," Maya answered her. "Feel free to get the table ready if you want to."

“Sure!” Nodding a few times, the blonde went over to the cupboard with the dishes to get everything she needed for that.

“I’ll help!” Chloe went right after her.

"I'll do anything to change the topic for good…" With her head still hung, Anna also followed the duo.

“Should we finish the preparations for the breakfast?” Afterward, the cat-girl glanced back at the jaguar while showing her a slight smile.

“Yes…”

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

A little while later, the girls all had breakfast together while chatting about meaningless topics only for a change. Sophia and even Maya felt it was time to take a break from it for a little while.

“Haa, that was good~.” The blonde was in a good mood after they were done with their breakfast. “Thanks!”

“Yeah~.” She wasn’t alone with that.

“Alrighty, I want to head over to the castle immediately! It feels like forever since I last cuddled with Ellie!” Sophia was very giddy.

"Doesn't the saying usually say that you haven’t seen someone in forever?” Chloe tilted her head in response.

“No.”

"Okay." She had no intention of asking any further questions. “Before you go, could you place the two portals in the basement for me to experiment on like we mentioned yesterday?”

“Ah, of course!” The blonde nodded a few times in agreement. “Any other requests before we go?”

“If you could fetch some clothes for us, that would be amazing!” Anna also looked at her.

“Sure, no problem.”

“Some of our pajamas, too!” Ari immediately joined the conversation.

“On second thought, I’m not sure if we have the time to collect clothes.” Sophia immediately changed her opinion.

“Yeah, we’re on a tight schedule with Ellie.” Maya felt the same about the topic. Them not wanting to tease them didn’t last overly long.

"HEY!" The two didn't like the reaction.

“Hehe~.” Maya liked theirs, though. “Sure, we see what we can do.”

“T-Thank you…”

“Can you also, uhh… try and find out how the mood in the castle is…?” Anna’s face turned slightly red again. “I want to know how bad it really is…”

“Oh, that sounds like fun!” The blonde was a fan of the idea.

“IT DOES NOT!” The couple had a different opinion again.

“Well, I felt like paying the king a visit, anyway. I'll try to see how he feels about the whole situation. Don't worry. If our dear Menzor gets complicated, I'll kick his butt."

“T-Thank you very much!”

“What a thing to say!” Chloe was amazed by the casual-sounding conversation that involved kicking the king of the nation they were in.

“He’s earned his fair share of kicks already, don't worry.” Sophia just smiled at her.

“I am not exactly sure if that makes me less worry…"

“It’s fine~.” She was still smiling at the fox-girl. “Anything else we should bring?” The blonde then faced the couple again. “Bathroom goods? Cremes, conditioners? Anything on you in case period’s coming up?”

“And you compared me to a mom in the past…” Ari just stared at her.

"A-Ah…” Sophia wasn’t sure how to reply to that. “W-Well, you two went through a lot… and I teased you a lot, so… Let me be helpful!”

“Thank you. I’ll ignore the teasing part.” The jaguar liked her intention. Most of it, at least.

"Mine should actually come up soon, so I managed to prepare for it," Anna replied to her. "I’m good in that regard.”

“I also threw half of my bathroom utensils into one of the bags we brought with us. When it comes to all of that, we’re more than prepared.”

“And yet, you forgot to bring pajamas or anything else to sleep in…?” The blonde tilted her head.

“…”

“Alrighty!” Sophia felt like it was enough.

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

Afterward, the group went into the basement, where Sophia created two portals for Chloe to play with to find out how they work. After all, it would probably help them a lot when they want to enchant items with the same technique to make them portable.

"I'm going to have so much fun with this!" The fox-girl was smiling broadly while staring at the portals with sparkling eyes.

“Ari…” Seeing that, Maya faced the jaguar. “I’m a little worried about the mansion. Would you mind checking in on her once in a while…? Judging by my experience with Sophia, she shouldn't be left unsupervised for too long.”

“Of course.” She understood perfectly what the cat-girl was implying. “I want to spend some time with Anna, but I’ll have an eye on her every now and then. I’m also a little interested in it, after all.”

“Don’t be too loud during your time with the princess, though.” Sophia couldn’t let go of it. “Maya already upset our neighbors quite a bit when she couldn’t stop with the explosions in our garden, so I don’t want to get on their bad side even more.”

“HEY!” Anna, Ari, and Maya got loud.

“Good thing we’re in the basement.”

“Oh!” Chloe suddenly clapped her hands while she smiled at the couple. “Should I use my sound-dampening magic on your room? You can be as loud as you want, then.”

"I didn't mean that when saying that I want to spend time with her!" The jaguar raised her voice even more when she glared at the fox-girl.

“Oh. I see.” There was not a hint of sass or teasing in her voice. “Well, just ask me if you change your mind.”

“S-Sure…” Ari didn’t know how to react to her earnest reply.

Once all of that was dealt with, Sophia and Maya finally left to meet up with Ellie in the castle, silently hoping their mansion would still be there when they returned.