Just as Sophia had a great time questioning Ari, Maya was having a ton of fun while chatting with Anna and finding out how the duo finally became an official couple. The cat-girl wanted to hear all the details, but she got more than she bargained for. While their first time wasn’t exactly bad, compared to what the new couple experienced, it might as well have been, after all.

“Hey, I brought the pervert with me. Can we switch to a group chat?" Sophia, while dragging Ari behind her by holding her hand because the jaguar seemed to be trying her best not to follow her, had arrived in the living room. "Maya, I can't deal with her on my own anymore. I need some-… Oh." She only then noticed that her cat seemed equally overwhelmed after having had her chat with the princess.

“Hey!” The black-haired pervert, who was currently trying to free herself from Sophia's hand, got loud.

“Give me one reason not to call you one.” The blonde lightly glared at her.

“…” Ari only hung her head.

“Good.” It was exactly the reaction she wanted. “Alright, go and sit down with your equally perverted girlfriend. Maya, I need you for a second.”

“Hey!” The other pervert, the royal one, also got loud.

“Shut up.” Now it was the cat-girl’s time to glare at the princess before looking at Sophia. “Sure.”

“Uuh…” Also hanging her head in response, Anna then patted down the spot next to her on the sofa, indicating that Ari should come to her.

“…” Without saying a word, the jaguar was finally allowed to leave, as Sophia had let go of her hand, and joined the other tiger on the sofa.

“Have you also had an, uhh… interesting conversation with the jaguar…?” Maya had walked over to her tiger and looked at her with a slightly tired expression.

“That’s putting it lightly. Very lightly…” She nodded a few times. “Say… Why did it take so long for our first time, not to mention how awkward it was when those two went at it like rabbits the moment they confessed…?"

“I have no idea… Not even the slightest.”

“I’m jealous!” Sophia’s real issue with the situation leaked out.

"Weren't you saying that we shouldn't rush things? While I'm not such a pervert who would've done it immediately after having confessed to you…” For some reason, Maya raised her voice quite a bit during that part again before lowering it again. “I was giving you hints way before we finally did it.”

"…" Anna and Ari, having heard that specific part, hung their heads even further.

"A-Ah…” So did the blonde. “E-Even so, why were we so awkward when theirs was just intense? I thought you were the biggest pervert around?"

“Hey!” Now it was Maya’s time to complain. “Well, it seems like those two are clearly the bigger perverts!”

“For sure!” Sophia also raised her voice.

“…” The couple still was unable to say anything.

“Well…” The cat-girl then scratched her cheek. “To be fair, they grew up together and have known each other for their entire lives. Compared to that, we were actually quite fast. We first had to learn to trust each other, after all. Not to mention that while you had already gotten much better back then, you were still quite the mess when it came to getting embarrassed.”

“F-Fair point…”  Sophia’s cheeks turned slightly red to prove the point. "You are right. With all of it… Also, while the two perverts' first time sounds like it was amazing, our awkward experience will always be a fond memory of mine~.”

“Yes!” The cat-girl felt the same.

“Alright!” Having dealt with that issue, the tiger then looked at the couple on the sofa with a big smile. “Sorry about that. Because you two are such gigantic perverts, Maya and I needed to have a little chat first.~”

“Uuh…” Whenever she heard the word, the blush on Anna’s face increased.

“I-Is there really a need for all this t-teasing…?” Ari was also blushing. “J-Just because we couldn’t hold back…? Or is it because we had a more i-intense f-first time…?”

“Yeah, we can put a hold on that topic for now.” While not answering the question, Maya, together with Sophia, sat down on the sofa opposite the couple. "Though, I'll eventually get back to the experiment you two had in the bath Anna mentioned. I'm really interested in that.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. I made Ari tell me earlier after I recovered from the shock.” Sophia looked at her. “Those two really are something else! Even we haven’t done that yet!”

“Seriously?!” The cat-girl looked surprised.

“I’ll tell you everything later.” She gave her a thumbs up. "I really want to try it, too!"

“Perfect!”

"A-Ari!” The princess raised her voice again. “W-Why did you tell her?!”

“I-I’m sorry! It, uhh… it just happened…” The jaguar couldn’t face her while admitting it.

"You said that a lot while telling me everything that happened during the last day.” Sophia just looked at her.

"A-Ah…” Ari had nothing to say in her defense.

“I look forward to it~.” Maya smiled at the blonde before eventually facing the new couple again. “I get that it was a lot because you two absolutely gave it your best, but I still don’t get why the two of you don’t want to live in the castle anymore…”

“Right!" The tiger then also focused on the two. "Ari also never told me about that it in the end…"

“…” The two turned silent again.

“Can it really be even more intimate and or embarrassing than what you told us already…?” Sophia just tilted her head.

“It’s at least five times worse!” Ari got loud.

“How is that even possible?” Maya also didn’t believe her.

“W-When Anna and I were… were, uhh… c-celebrating finally having become a couple… the only thing we paid attention to was each other and…” The jaguar needed a short break and rummaged in one of her pockets for a moment. “H-Here, my parents left this letter in front of my room’s door the morning after…”

"Let's see…" Sophia grabbed the piece of paper before reading it together with Maya, who was looking over it next to her, as well. “W-Wow…” Her face turned red just reading it.

“That is… wow…” Even Maya was affected by it.

“E-Earlier, when we left the castle…” Anna was holding her face again while she tried to add something to the story. “Everyone… A-Absolutely everyone was staring at us…”

“Alright, I’ll get fresh bedding ready for one of the guest rooms.” Sophia felt extremely sorry for them.

“T-Thank you…”

“Well, I don’t mind it, either…” The cat-girl gave them a nod. “It might be a good idea to let it cool down a couple of days, but… I’m pretty sure you have to face it eventually. I mean, your parents even wrote that they want to see you, and parents can be quite the persistent bunch."

“Y-Yes…” Ari reacted with a weak nod. “I-I just can’t meet them right now… I’d die… If they left the letter at my room… that means… that means that they were right on the other side of the door when Anna and I… when we… loud enough for half of the castle to hear…”

“I hadn’t even thought about that yet!” The princess’ face managed to turn even redder. “I want to die!”

“Yes…”

“Now now…” Maya wasn’t sure what to say.

"T-Those two are also best friends with mother, so she most likely already knows about it, too."

“If she hasn’t heard it herself.”

"A-Ah.”

“Not helping, Maya!” Sophia instantly glared at her. “Also, Kira already knew that you two are in love with each other. In fact, she told us that she’s aware of Ari liking our dense princess for years already.”

"Seriously?!" The jaguar's face lit on fire as well again.

“How was that any more helpful now?” Maya looked back at her tiger.

"A-Ah.” She noticed her mistake. “Stay as long as you want, you two.”

“Yeah.” The cat-girl only nodded.

“T-Thank you…” The couple was grateful for it.

“I guess that means you’re going to meet Chloe when she comes back later today, huh?” Sophia changed the topic. “She’s also staying here right now, after all.”

“Who’s Chloe…?” Ari tilted her head.

"A fox-girl we met in the village we mentioned the other day. She wanted to go to the capital again, so we just took her with us. Don't worry, she's a great girl!”

“She’s also a bit of a pervert, so you should become fast friends.” Maya just couldn’t let a chance pass.

"I-I see…" The jaguar seemed to have mixed feelings about it. “I, uhh… I was actually hoping to relax and not have to hold back when staying here…"

“You really don’t have to hold back.” The blonde just waved her hand. “She's incredibly sweet and friendly. Also, she already knows that the two of you are in love with each other.”

“She knows?!” Ari got loud again. “You told a stranger about it?!”

"Not really." Sophia shook her head. "I told her about Anna because she's a fellow tiger, and Chloe asked about her jaguar girlfriend because she loves your hair, Ari…”

"She only saw the two of you walking around in the capital a few times when she was visiting, and that was all she needed to see that you two love each other." Anna stared at the two. "That's how bad both of you were at hiding your feelings."

“…” The couple was speechless.

“That really says a lot about how frustrated you made Maya and me, huh?” The blonde had to rub salt in the wound.

“W-We’re terribly sorry…”

“As long as you understand.” As it turned out well in the end, the duo wasn’t really all that mad about it. “You two really are soo very bad at hiding it.”

“H-Hey…” Ari got a little pouty. “I managed to hide it for years, you know…? It only got too bad once I accidentally told Sophia about it…”

“Is that so…?” Maya just looked at her.

“Y-Yes!” She nodded. “I bet this Chloe is just super sharp!”

"Hmm…" The cat-girl tilted her head. "Kira aside, I guess all the girls in the academy are quite sharp as well, then."

“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” The jaguar didn’t like the sound of that.

"Well, on our first day there, when I went to the bathroom, I got swarmed by a group of girls trying to ask me about Sophia. All of them got extremely disappointed that she was taken by me while complaining that all the tigers are already spoken for. Mumbling how they had given up on the princess because her maid was so obviously in love with her and how their one hope of a striped girlfriend got crushed again."

“Why haven’t I noticed anything about that in the school…?” Sophia looked confused.

"Because you've slept through most, if not all of it."

"Ahh…" As it sounded like her, the blonde stopped complaining.

“S-Seriously?!” Ari looked terrified. "A-Anna, can we take some days off from the academy, as well…?"

“Normally, I’d say gladly, now more than ever…” The princess didn’t seem like she was looking forward to it, either. “Unfortunately, Eluna needs me again starting Monday for the advanced magic teachings. As that needs to spread among the folk as soon as possible, I can’t be skipping on that. Sorry.”

“W-Why are you taking your princess duties seriously now?!”

“I always do when it’s important!” Anna didn’t like that retort. “Making the kingdom a better place by teaching the folk something useful that benefits them is the most important there is!”

“Right, that is true…” Ari hung her head. “Stupid easygoing but dutiful tigers…”

“Hey!” Both tigers raised their voices.

Afterward, as the group, first and foremost Ari, had gotten a little tired, they decided to take another small break for the time being.

 

 

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