Maya was spending her time with Anna in the garden of the royal castle, and the two had something pretty interesting going on. The princess was complaining about Ari and Sophia having gotten that close, obviously sounding jealous, while the cat-girl tried to explain why she didn't have to. For some reason or another, Maya decided to show it to the tiger by holding her hand, though.

"So, what are you feeling, princess?" She addressed her while looking at their joined hands.

"Hmm..." Anna looked in the same direction and focused her gaze on their interlocked fingers. "Your hand's a bit cold? It feels fresh. I kinda like that, though I probably still prefer Ari's warmer ones..."

"Yep, Sophia's toasty ones are the best~." The two had a similar preference. "Other than that?"

"Hrmn... No idea." The princess gave up with a shrug. "I like it, but what am I supposed to feel here?"

"See? That's why you don't have to be worried about Sophia and Ari."

"Ehh...?" She was more than just a little lost after Maya's explanation. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Perfect." While saying so, the cat let go of Anna's hand, and the two sat down normally again. "So, no fuzzy feeling or a tingling in your stomach? Maybe a slightly elevated heartbeat?"

"Not really, no?" She tilted her head. "Okay, my heart raced for a moment when I thought about Sophia spotting us, but nothing besides that."

"Yeah, that doesn't count."

"Hmm... Ah! It feels like my whole body just started shaking..." Anna looked a bit bewildered.

"I, uhh... feel that, too..." Maya looked around them and noticed that the plants in the garden also moved around much more than they were supposed to be. "Is that an earthquake...?"

"It seemed like it..." She nodded. "Weird, we hadn't one of those in forever. It's really strong, too, but also feels pretty far away... I wonder what happened..."

"Well, it happens from time to time. It doesn't seem to be stopping, either, though..." The cat-girl didn't put much thought into it. "Perfect timing aside, no, that obviously doesn't count, either..." They decided to ignore the ongoing earthquake as it had no relation to them.

"Okay... and? What does that mean, then?" The tiger wasn't any less confused.

"It means you aren't in love with me. By the way, that's mutual." Maya obviously had none of these feelings for her, either.

"Huh...?"

"When you hold the hands of someone you love, you know it. Ari and Sophia, just like us, enjoyed holding hands, but none of us has any actual feelings that go above some sort of affection for the other."

"I see..." Anna gave her a slight nod. "Wait!" Then, her entire face suddenly turned red. "I-If you hold someone's hand and you feel all tingly and fuzzy, i-it means you love her?!"

"Does it feel nice? The fuzzy tingling, I mean."

"Y-Yes... It makes one kind of... h-happy?"

"Yep, that could be a strong indicator of having such feelings for that person."

"R-Really...?" Anna's face lit up even more.

"Do you want to tell me something~?" Maya's expression changed into a grin.

"N-No! I, uhh... yes, I was just hypothetically speaking!"

"Is that so?"

"A-Absolutely!" The princess was flailing around with her arms while trying her best to deny it. "I-I wasn't thinking about anyone specific whatsoever!"

"Aww..." She played along. "Alright, let's talk about someone completely unrelated, then." The cat's grin got bigger. "Why are you getting this jealous when something involves Ari, anyway?"

"W-What do you mean...?" Her composure was nonexistent by now.

"It did seem like you fell in love at first sight with my Sophia. After all, you were quite aggressive and even were okay with marrying her."

"Well... She is super cute, and m-marrying her seemed like a jackpot."

"True." Maya gave her an approving nod. "Even so, while I noticed that you were envious of me, you've never gone to such lengths compared to when you protected Ari from Sophia or tried to cling to my tiger as much as you do to your jaguar."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"L-Like I said before, we grew up together, and I might've gotten a little... possessive because of that."

"More than someone you planned to marry...?"

"A-Ah." Anna had nothing to reply to that.

"You never really were that interested in Sophia, were you?"

"T-That!"

"You were interested in her. She's cute, after all. You also weren't against a marriage for the same reason, but that's about it, right?"

"..."

"It was more of a crush, huh? One that burned hard... and fast."

"Mhh..."

"That's also the reason why, while you undoubtedly were sad by her rejection, you got over it relatively quick and still enjoy spending time with both of us."

"Uhh..." The princess didn't know what to say.

"Am I wrong?"

"I... don't know?" Anna needed a moment. "It still occasionally... stings when I look at her... or the two of you being flirty, but... I honestly expected being rejected by my first love to hurt more, much more, and longer, too..."

"Is she your first love, though?" Maya was slowly getting to her main agenda.

"What do you mean?"

"To me, a certain black-haired girl sounds way more special to you."

"A-Ari?!" Her blush intensified even more.

"I don't think I ever saw you blush when talking about Sophia, either. Which is a good thing because that sight makes even me a little weak. That gap of yours really is something else."

"Ari and I are j-just childhood friends." She had utterly missed the cat's other remark.

"You know, while not to the extent of living together in the same place, I actually have some childhood friends myself. The city I grew up in wasn't that big, so I basically knew everyone my age since I could walk. I loved spending time with them, but I never really cared when they were with other people."

"Y-You didn't...?" Anna seemed honestly shocked.

"To be honest, I only found out that I'm this possessive after I met Sophia. I never even imagined to be like that."

"Uuh..."

"I do think that your strong feeling to monopolize Ari means something." Maya was pushing her a lot. "I feel that whatever's going on between the jaguar and you is much more genuine."

"..." Anna couldn't look at her for a while. "I still think Sophia was my first love, though." She decided to ignore the cat.

"How so?"

"I've, uhh... always thrown a bit of a tantrum whenever someone tried to get close to Ari. I'm really glad that she sticks to me all the time in school because I can act as a buffer when someone tries to get close to her that way. But..."

"But?"

"Wanting to monopolize her that much and getting j-jealous to such an extent when someone does get close to her... That didn't happen before, only after Sophia t-turned me down..."

"Ohh~." Maya once more showed her a big smile.

"W-What...?" The princess didn't like her expression.

"In other words, your crush on my tiger, and it not being reciprocated, made you aware of your actual feelings for Ari."

"T-That's not what I said..."

"It sounds like that, though."

"D-Does it...?"

"Yep."

"You think I'm in... I-love with... Ari?"

"Mhhm." Maya only nodded. "I mean, the way you flirted with her yesterday, after getting jealous, even Sophia and I got embarrassed from watching you."

"Seriously?!"

"If that doesn't mean something, I don't know anymore."

"..." The princess needed a few seconds to process these words. "How... How do I... stop that? Stop being in I-love with Ari...?"

"Ehhh...?" It wasn't the reaction the cat-girl was expecting. "Why? In my eyes, Ari's super cute. She's no Sophia, but still... wow."

"She's the cutest!" Anna blurted it out without thinking, not helping her argument in the slightest.

"Mh-hmm."

"I... don't w-want to be in I-love with her..."

"Why not?" Maya couldn't understand her.

"Ari's my best friend... Everything about our dynamic is perfect. I don't want to mess it up and risk what we have..."

"Mature. Very mature."

"Y-You think so?"

"Nope. It's just wishful thinking." The cat-girl immediately shot her down.

"H-How do you know that...?"

"Well, it's not like I planned to fall in love with Sophia, either. I started traveling with her because I wanted to learn magic from that interesting new friend I made."

"Ugh..."

"It actually took me a while to notice that I was in love, rather than wanting to get closer to a friend."

"T-There's no need to emphasize friend all the time..."

"Once I became aware of my feelings, was made aware of them, I actually had a similar reaction. I wanted to wait or even ignore them because I didn't want to bother Sophia as she was going through a lot at that time."

"And..."

"I almost exploded and basically confessed to her immediately afterward."

"I-I see... So, you mean I probably can't stop being in I-love with her in an instant...?"

"Why would you even want to?" Maya still didn't understand her motivation.

"W-Well..."

"Being in love is great, you know?"

"It also hurts. It breaks your heart and makes you cry..." Anna's voice became somber.

"A-Ah." The cat-girl needed a moment after that. "You are afraid that she's going to reject you...?"

"Y-Yes... I almost ruined our friendship because of it, and we barely even knew each other. I've been with Ari my entire life. That's over 17 years! I don't even want to imagine what would happen if she turns me down, too..." Anna looked miserable just thinking about it.

"Okay, that's understandable. Is Ari straight? That would indeed be a problem."

"No, we're both into girls. The two of us often looked together at, err... uhh..." Her words turned into mumbling towards the end, and Anna didn't finish the sentence.

"Ohh~, what a perverted princess~."

"S-Shut up!"

"Well, I can't blame anyone for being curious~."

"Uuh..."

"So, what's the problem?" While Maya was having a splendid time teasing her, she really wanted to help the princess, too. "I have no problems with admitting that you're extremely attractive, Anna. My type has kinda changed since meeting Sophia because I now lean more towards shorter girls, but a tall feline girl with such a style and figure... I doubt many wouldn't turn around for you." The cat-girl's love for massive assets wasn't anything new, after all.

"T-Thank you..." The tiger was trying to beat Sophia's record on constant blushing today. "Y-Yes, shorter and medium-sized girls are the best."

"Hehe. While Ari is a little taller, she's very similar to Sophia when it comes to her figure. You definitely have a type, Anna."

"Y-Yeah, I have..." She had no reason to deny it.

"So, once again, what's the problem with you and your jaguar? Everything seems to line up for me."

"..." The princess didn't answer and closed her eyes to concentrate. It seemed hard for her to put it into words, and she needed some time to prepare.