Things had taken a weird turn when the couple was shopping with Ellie as they had run into Maya's parents, who ended up visiting the capital. To make things even more complicated, Maya's parents were the very same couple Ari and Sophia had run into the day before already and helped them find their way back to their inn. Once Sophia had brought Ellie back home, she reunited with the family because there was lots of explaining to do.

“Sophia?” The blonde had returned to the mansion and ran into Chloe, Ari, and Anna in the living room when the fox-girl looked at her. “Back again?”

"Oh, have you two stopped being horny?" She faced the couple. She seemed to be in a hurry, but there always had to be time for light teasing.

"A-Ah!”

“I think they’re just taking a break.” Chloe rolled her eyes.

“H-Hey!” The two got loud.

“Unfortunately, you two have to take a longer break…”

“H-Hey!” They got even louder.

“Did something happen?” The pink-haired girl tilted her head.

"Yeah, I need all of you to leave for a while…" Sophia made a short break. "I need the mansion empty…"

“Huh?!” All three raised their voices.

“Chloe, can you show the two the elven village and maybe have them stay a night at your place?”

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Anna's mood had changed relatively quick.

“Well, sure… but…?”

“Maya’s parents are in the capital… We ran into them earlier… There’s a lot we have to explain to them, and I want to do that here in peace…”

“You two didn’t know about them being here…?” Ari tilted her head.

"We had no idea! They simply walked past the store we were in when Maya recognized them…"

“What a coincidence…” The jaguar almost looked impressed.

“Want to hear something even more amazing?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember Eve and Theo from when we went shopping?”

“Of course.”

“Well, they’re Maya’s parents.”

“S-Seriously?!” Ari was shocked.

“Yup…”

“Wow.” She had no better words.

“I know!” Sophia stared right at her. “That’s why I need everyone to leave for a while.”

"Of course." The girls just nodded.

Afterward, the couple grabbed the bag with clothes Sophia and Maya had gotten for them earlier just in case, and the trio went back to the portal room to go to Chloe's village.

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

Immediately after, the tiger returned to the café where Maya and her parents still were, and her cat-girl immediately got loud.

“Why did you take so long?!” She was waiting in front of the toilets for some reason.

“I took a quick portal to our mansion and chased the girls out. They’re spending the night at Chloe’s place.”

“Why?”

“This here will take forever, and I really don’t feel like explaining a lot of things in public… Let’s head home with them.”

"Why are you dealing with all of this so well…?!" Maya didn’t understand why she was so calm. "It was amazing how quickly you came up with asking a waitress about Ellie, too!"

“I have no idea!” The blonde was the most shocked. “That might be the other reason I want to go home… To not have a meltdown here…”

“Ah, I see…” She looked strangely understanding.

“Well, to be fair…” Sophia started scratching her cheeks. “I might’ve stopped time 17 times so far to come up with my answers…”

“I hate you.” Maya’s reply came in an instant.

“Isn't that a little harsh?”

“No.”

“I guess it is a bit unfair, huh? To get as much time as you need to come up with an answer.”

“Very!”

"Alright then, should we head over to our place?" She just dropped the topic.

“I am a little hesitant to tell them that we own a mansion… We weren’t poor, not at all, but a mansion is on another level…”

“Oh, I hadn't thought about that…”

“One gets used to stuff fast, huh?”

“Absolutely.” Sophia just nodded. “I still think that’s better than doing all that in the café here, though. Not to mention that our home will come up eventually, anyway…”

“Yet another sound argument…” She stared right into the tiger’s eyes.

“I-I didn’t stop time to come up with that!”

“Hmm…” Maya stared at her for a little longer before eventually turning around. “Yeah, let’s go home. I think I'll be able to relax a little more there, too.”

"Alright, let's head back to the table and tell them!" The tiger was motivated to go home, and the couple returned to the cat-girl's parents.

“Mom, dad, do you mind if we take this talk somewhere else? Sophia’s nature as a tiger tends to draw more attention than is preferable for all of this…”

“Of course.” Her mother nodded. “Where, though? Should we go to our inn?”

“Uhh… I was more thinking about the place Sophia and I are staying. It’s relatively close to here, too.” She decided to keep it vague for the time being.

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

Around 20 minutes later, the group was already quite close to the mansion, and Maya's parents naturally started to notice how much the neighborhood had changed.

"So many mansions!”

“Why are we in the noble area of the capital…?” The eyes of Theo and Eve were darting all over the place.

"Well, strictly speaking, the two of us are part of the nobility in the capital, so it’s not that odd for us to stay in the corresponding area, right?” Somehow, it seemed like Sophia’s body twitched for a moment before she answered them.

"…" Maya just stared at her after noticing that she wasn't in the exact same position a moment ago.

"Oh, I see." Eve nodded a few times in understanding. "Wait, what?" She hadn't understood after all while staring at her daughter with big eyes. "W-What's that supposed to mean?!"

“Good job, Sophia…”

"A-Ah…" She noticed that she had made it worse. "A-Anyway, there we are…” Luckily, they had arrived at their mansion at the perfect moment.

“Uhh…”

“That doesn’t look like an inn, though…?” It didn’t help them calm down at all, though.

“Mom… She’s a tiger, you know? Yes, she doesn’t act like a noble, though all I met so far are just as friendly, but… Anyway, Menzor actually forbade us to stay in an inn…”

“Menzor…?” Theo tilted his head. “Where have I heard… WAIT, isn’t that the name of our KING? Why do you call him by his name so casually, my dear daughter?!”

“Good job, Maya…” The blonde just had to get back to her for earlier. “Well, let’s go inside.” She unlocked the front gate and gestured everyone inside. “It sounds like there is a lot we have to talk about…”

Finally, inside the mansion, the group went to the living room, and Maya's parents sat down on one sofa, while Sophia took the one opposite them. Maya remained standing for some reason.

“I’ll prepare something to drink for everyone. Sophia, keep them company and maybe tell them a thing or two about you in the meantime.”

“H-Huh?!” The blonde sprang up from the sofa again. She obviously had something against being alone with her girlfriend’s parents out of nowhere. “I-I’ll help!”

“Stay put.” The cat-girl just stared at her. “No.”

“Uuh…” She sat down again.

“Good girl.” Saying so, Maya smiled at her before she went to the kitchen.

“…”

“…”

“…” Her disappearance was followed by awkward silence.

“Okay…” Theo finally gave up and stared at the tiger. “What is going on here…?”

“Yes!” Eve followed immediately after him. “Wait! Yesterday, when we talked about our daughter and were hoping to get you interested… You said that you already have a partner… How you and our daughter are acting with each other… Is she actually your partner? The one you mentioned?”

“…” Sophia didn’t react at all for a moment. “If I, uhhh… If I were to say yes here, w-what, err… what would that mean to you…?”

“…” The two also said nothing at first, but they then suddenly stood up. They walked around the coffee table, separating the sofas, and hugged the blonde from each side.

“H-Huh?!” The tiger, not having expected that, had no idea how to react. Even so, after a few moments of being bewildered, she started to notice how oddly comforting the hug felt and decided to return it.

The trio stayed like that for a little while. Still, Maya's parents eventually let go of Sophia again before returning to their sofa.

“Welcome to the family!” The two smiled at the blonde.

“E-Eh?!” She stared right back at them. “I-Isn’t that way too easy?!” She naturally had no idea how meeting the parents of your lover works, but she was pretty sure that it wasn’t supposed to work that way. At least when it came to how differently it was depicted in TV, movies, and the like.

“Why not?” Eve tilted her head. “I mean, I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to create a better first impression than you did.”

“What…?” Sophia looked more confused than ever. “That’s the exact opposite of everything I heard so far…” She was skilled at leaving lasting impressions, but good wasn’t necessarily the most fitting description in the past.

“Is that so?” Theo was still smiling at her. “Helping a clueless and lost couple back to their inn, even though we never asked for it, sure left a positive expression on me.”

“Exactly.” Eve nodded a few times. “I also really enjoyed the conversations we had while we were walking around together. You seem like an extraordinarily sweet and lovely girl.”

“T-Thank you…” She got more than a little bashful. “Ehehe~.” The tiger didn’t dislike it in the slightest, though.

“If anything, we should warn you about our Maya. She can be quite rowdy, after all. For us, she’s obviously the best daughter you can have, but you might be able to find someone that fits better for you…”

"That sure doesn't sound like I'm the best daughter there is, though." At the perfect moment, Maya had reunited with everyone while holding a tray of drinks.”

"A-Ah!” Her parents turned their heads away.

“Well, you waiting behind the door, listening to our conversation, and entering at the exact perfect moment just to be sassy, does help their case a little.” Sophia just stared at her.

"A-Ah." She had the same reaction as her parents before.

Afterward, as she had nothing to talk back to anymore, Maya placed the drinks on the table before sitting down next to her tiger. There was still a lot more to discuss, after all.

 

 

 

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