Sophia introduced chocolade-chip cookies to the world, and they were a big hit. The other girls all loved them. There was a tiny bit of drama because, once again, the blonde tiger and Ari were caught by their girls in a slightly flirty situation while feeding each other. Luckily, aside from Anna being jealous about the jaguar doing things she'd never done with the princess, nothing much happened.

"By the way," The girls were still snacking on the cookies the duo made when Sophia looked at the princess and her cat. "Have you and Eluna already reported the progress to the king? I kinda don't want to deal with that today anymore."

"Don't worry, he came back to the training fields before we ended our session, and we gave him a quick update." Maya had good news for her.

"Great!"

"Father asked us to continue tomorrow, though."

"Oh, well, that makes sense." Sophia nodded before looking at the jaguar. "Ari, are you free tomorrow, then?"

"I have no plans yet. Ah, do you want to do the thing we talked about? She remembered that the blonde wanted to get a cooking lesson.

"Yeah, let's do it together!" Sophia liked the idea.

"..." Maya and the princess stared at each other with a very complicated expression.

"First, they plan a new date without asking us..."

"... and then they obviously have yet another secret, and the two want to do it together." The new friendship of the duo caused Anna and Maya to be emotionally all over the place a lot of times already.

"Ah." Said duo noticed their mistake. Afterward, the two needed roughly 15 minutes to explain everything while somehow being able to hide Sophia's plan to surprise the cat-girl with a meal she prepared all on her own.

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Once everything was back to normal between the girls, the couple decided to head back to their mansion. Maya and the princess had powered themselves out quite a bit while trying to teach Eluna, and the troublemaker duo, too, seemed to be exhausted after questioning the very foundation of magic, and baking a ton of cookies. Before leaving the castle, though, the two made a quick stop in Ellie's room to give her some cookies, as well. The little princess wanted to play with them for a while, but they decided to do that some other time because the two were too tired for it at that moment.

"Haa~." Back in their home, the couple got comfortable on one of the sofas in the living room. Sophia took the opportunity to claim Maya's lap and tried to sprawl out all over it.

"Settle down, will you?"

"Fine..." As struggling to find the best position seemed like a pain to her, the tiger eventually simply plopped down her head on Maya's thighs.

"Good." With a gentle smile, the cat-girl started petting her head.

"Mhmm~." Sophia seemingly enjoyed that very much as she let out a deep, almost purr-like hum.

"Is something wrong?'

"What do you mean?" The blonde didn't understand her question.

"I don't know. You seem kinda low on energy, I guess?" She wasn't sure what it was, but something felt different about the tiger to her.

"Well, I do feel a little more tired than usual. I'm currently recovering, though~." While she said so, Sophia wiggled her head around, causing her hair and ears to rub against the cat's legs.

"Hehe." Maya enjoyed the skinship and the underlying activity of being marked by her girlfriend. "Tired, huh? Played around too much with the jaguar?"

"N-No, it was a reasonable amount of playing!" She had to retort.

"I know. Okay, there are a few things between the two of you that I find, uhh... questionable, but that's mostly because both of you seem to be good at creating misunderstandings."

"It's my biggest talent."

"True." She gave her a big nod. "Still, tired, huh? Maybe you just haven't slept well?"

"Unlikely. After all, I've shared the bed with you. I haven't slept badly ever since we started sleeping together during our travels."

"W-Wow..." The cat-girl needed a moment to cool down her face. "It's almost scary how naturally smooth you can be. "

"Like you're one to talk when it comes to that."

"Thanks." Maya took it as a compliment. "Any other symptoms besides being a bit tired?"

"Hmm, I have a bit of a headache, now that you mention it. Not too bad, though."

"Didn't Ari mention the same?" She remembered having heard it before and then looked down at Sophia on her lap. "You also do look like you're missing a bit of color, I think."

"Really?"

"Yes." Maya then placed a hand on the tiger's forehead. "Oh, you do have a bit of a temperature, too. The kitchen you two were in did feel a little chilly compared to the outside... Maybe you and Ari managed to catch a cold, and the symptoms are starting to show? Your jaguar also mentioned being tired, as well. It would explain a lot."

"Seriously?!" Sophia didn't like the sound of that. "Wait, that can't be! Only idiots are supposed to catch a summer cold!"

"And?" Maya only tilted her head.

"Ari isn't an idiot." Sick or not, she was still self-aware.

"Okay, fair point. You probably infected her, then. Definitely your fault she's feeling sick."

"Ah." Sophia had no retort to that. "Still, my body heals on its own in a matter of minutes after tanking attacks from a griphon. Shouldn't it be impossible for me to catch a cold?"

" You're right... Maybe your self-regeneration only works on physical injuries but is useless when you're sick?"

"That would suck… Well, your guess is as good as mine." Sophia herself didn't know much more about her body works, either. "I'll try to apply some healing magic on myself later and go to bed a little early."

"That sounds like a good plan." Maya then caressed the head of her tiger some more to let her relax.

"Mhmm~." The blonde was a big fan of being spoiled.

"Still, if Ari really got a cold from you, I hope she's going to be okay. Imagine your cold is as overpowered and unreasonable as you are."

"A-Ah!" She instantly became worried. "Don't do that to me! I'm sick! I need pampering, not having to feel bad and responsible!"

"Immediately using the cold to your advantage, huh?" Even so, Maya also started using her second hand to play with Sophia's hair while she continued to lovingly pet her head.

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"Mmmh~. Ehehe." The tiger wiggled around in the cat's lap with the biggest smile possible. "With you, even being sick is amazing!"

"Happy to hear. I expect the same treatment if I ever catch a cold, okay?"

"Of course! It'll be my pleasure~."

"I look forward to it."

"Well, I would prefer if you don't get sick, though." Sophia suddenly let out a reasonable argument. Her cold seemed to be quite severe.

"..." She had no reply in store.

"Anyway, Ari should be fine regardless. She lives in the royal castle, is the daughter of the head maids, and the best friend of the princess. If she needs any sort of healing magic or any other type of medical attention, she'll get it in a matter of minutes."

"That's true."

"Besides, it's just a cold. The only type of suffering Ari will go through is Anna enjoying nursing her back to health too much."

"Ahaha, I can see that happening. What's going on between those two, anyway? The princess seems way more attached to her than she ever was to you, and Anna planned to marry you..."

"That's an excellent question." Sophia wondered about the same.

"Oh, while we're at it, what's that one secret between you and Ari about the princess?"

"It's about Anna being a slight M. We're pretty sure that Ari's responsible for that."

"Eh, the jaguar's also an S?" Maya didn't see that one coming.

"Also is the right word, coming from you. "

"Well, we both are~." The cat-girl didn't deny it. "Okay, you're maybe a bit of a switch with a preference."

"Err..." Sophia wasn't sure what to say, especially because she kind of had to agree to it. "Well, me being all over the place fits my personality."

"Ha. So, about Ari?"

"No, but she has the talent to awaken your inner M. Her way of scolding does things to you."

"Uhh... Should I rethink my opinion about your friendship with her?"

"Please don't! Anyway, the two grew up together, and Ari's been scolding or giving the princess tips to behave probably since the beginning. I've heard that Anna's always been rather loud and hard to deal with, after all."

"Oh, so the jaguar's unconsciously been, let's say, training her?"

"That's the conclusion I came to, too."

"Good job, Ari~." Maya liked the result.

"You dork. I'm still amazed at how attached you got to the princess after the rough start you had with her. Preferences aside, you are actually kinda similar."

"Yeah... The restart we had after you turned her down was good. Still, as if you and Ari are one to talk."

"True. She and I are surprisingly similar, too."

"Eh? I meant the restart… You seem like complete opposites, though? Like, she's reasonable and levelheaded."

"No, we both are kinda unconsciously flirty from time to time and get super embarrassed once we notice. That's another part of the secret we were keeping from the princess. Ari became aware that she was pretty flirty with Anna from time to time without noticing and wanted to stop that. I thought it would be a waste and convinced her to continue."

"Nicely done." Maya agreed with her. "Especially because the princess is at least as flirty with her, too. Not to mention how jealous both got because of us."

"I thought the same. They are childhood friends, after all. They shouldn't hold back with each other. I would get jealous, too, when seeing my oldest friend getting along so well with someone without knowing what's going on. Not that I have any experience with that.

"Is that really it?" Maya tilted her head. "Well, it could be, whatever." She didn't feel like questioning it and dropped the topic. "How are you feeling by now, Sophia?"

"The chatting was a bit distracting, but I'm tired... and I feel sluggish. Head's also hurting, and I'm a bit dizzy..."

"Is it getting worse?"

"Much." The tiger gave a weak nod. "Actually... While we were, chatting, I constantly applied healing magic to myself, and it did nothing. If anything, it actually feels like that made it worse..."

"That doesn't sound too good." The cat-girl retook Sophia's temperature by placing her hand on the blonde's forehead once more. "Wow, you got quite a bit hotter."

"Thanks~." She was still feeling good enough to be playful.

"Idiot." Maya couldn't help but smile. "How about I make us a quick dinner, and we get you to bed afterward?"

"To be honest, I'm not hungry at all..."

"What?!" The cat's smile vanished in an instant, and her expression was filled with worry. "That's it, you go to bed right now!" She knew that if it was enough to kill the tiger's appetite, it had to be something serious.

"I look forward to it~. Nnngh... Ah." While she said so, the tiger tried to get up from Maya's lap, but it didn't seem to work. "Err... I think we can add severe muscle fatigue and pain to my symptoms now..."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah... I don't think I can move. How are the chances for you to carry me upstairs?"

"Of course!" The cat-girl gave her a hearty nod.

"Yay! Being sick is the best!"

"Is it?"

"Not at all! It super sucks! Anyway, I want a princess carry, please~."

"Well, you are a spoilt princess, so I can't say no to that."

"Ehehe~." Despite the circumstances, Sophia's mood was excellent.

Afterward, Maya got up from the sofa and gently lifted up her tiger. Then, while she was holding her in her arms, the two made their way upstairs. Arriving in their bedroom, the cat placed Sophia on the bed with the utmost care before putting the blanket over her. It turned out that the blonde was so exhausted that she fell asleep in a matter of seconds. Maya gave her a soft good night kiss on her forehead and once more noticed the rather high temperature of the girl before leaving the room. The cat wanted to let Sophia rest for a while without any sort of disturbance.

 

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