While the princess and Maya were having a rather lively chat in Anna’s room, the other duo went to a kitchen the furthest away from them in the castle. The cat-girl’s birthday was soon, and Sophia wanted to surprise her with a fancy home-cooked meal for her on that day. Unfortunately, cooking really wasn’t her forte, and so she had Ari teach her in secret.

“Alright, master, what could you teach an idiot like me?” Sophia was very motivated about this.

“Master…?” The jaguar wasn’t sure how to feel about this. “I’m no professional, either, you know?”

“Don’t sweat the small details~. Also, that’s what you comment on? Not the idiot part?”

“A-Ah.” Ari turned her head away.

“Just kidding.” She naturally wasn’t angry. “I am one, after all.”

“W-Well, I wouldn’t go that far… How about we call you an amateur.”

“Gosh, you are sooo sweet.” Sophia felt touched.

“T-Thanks.”

“Speaking of sweet, how is it going with the princess?”

“I-I almost suffocated yesterday when she was hugging me in her sleep.”

“R-Really…?” The blonde wasn’t sure what to say. “Death by boobs?! Again?”

“H-Hey!”

“Wow… While suffocating wouldn't be great, still if I had to leave the world, I may wouldn’t mind it being like this.” She left a world before, and she’d vastly prefer this over getting hit by a bus.

“H-Hey!” Ari got louder. “I agree, okay, but still, hey!”

“Hehe.” The tiger let out a chuckle. “If I ever die by getting suffocated by boobs, it’s going to be Maya’s fault. Anna’s chest is yours, after all.”

“Anna’s chest is Anna’s!”

“You don’t want it to be yours?”

“That’s a different topic!”

“I see~.”

“A-Ah.” The jaguar noticed her mistake.

“I really like how honest you are.” Sophia had a great smile on her lips.

“Uuh…” Ari averted her face again. Despite everything, both duos were shockingly similar at times.

“Okay, I’ll stop.” She didn’t want to tease her too much. “Except for the most preferable way of dying, that luckily got prevented, how is it going?”

“W-Well…” The black-haired girl faced her again. “It’s still embarrassing, but sharing a bed with Anna is a lot of fun.”

“Yep, sharing a bed with your loved one is the best thing ever.”

“Y-Yes… I even managed to invite her yesterday…” Ari sounded a little bashful.

“Really? Good job.”

“T-Thank you.”

“Keep it up. Next, you should try to hug her instead.”

“I-I don’t know how…” She looked down at her feet. “She falls asleep in three seconds and always wraps her arms around me before I even have the chance to do anything… Returning the hug when she’s already doing it is way too embarrassing, too!” Her face turned red. “I can’t do that when she’s awake and looking at me!”

“That’s fair. Eye contact makes being bold really hard.”

“Yes!” Ari gave her a big nod.

“Well, that means you have to wait till she turns around in the bed.”

“That hasn’t happened once since we started sleeping together…”

“Wow, the princess sure is determined… That’s a tough one, then…”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Do you have fixed sides in the bed when you sleep together?”

“W-We do… Anna tends to sleep on the right side of her bed, so I ended up using the left side…”

“I see.” Sophia tilted her head. “What about your bed?”

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“We’ve always slept in Anna’s room until now.”

“Alright, change that!”

“Why?”

“It’s your rules in your bed, so you can decide which side to sleep on.”

“Okay…?” She got confused.

“If you change sides, she might get confused and shows you her back.”

“I see…”

“If that happens, directly go for it!”

“E-Eh?! That’s way too embarrassing!” Ari’s face turned red just thinking about it.

“Doesn’t matter!” Sophia raised her voice. “Trust me, everything about being in love is embarrassing!” She was speaking from experience, after all. “You have to power through that! It’s beyond hard, impossible even, you might think, but it isn’t it! Also, the reward, if you manage to pull through it, is amazing! Remember, Anna is the reward in your case!”

“Uuh…”

“Even I managed to do that, okay? I couldn’t even talk to girls without having a mental meltdown before meeting Maya, and look where we are today!”

“O-Okay!”

“Also, when you hug Anna from behind, she won’t see that you’re embarrassed and blushing.” She saved the best argument for last.

“Right!” The jaguar sounded a lot more confident all of a sudden. “Just how could I get her to my room, though…?”

“That’s a good question.” Sophia tilted her head. “Inviting her to your room out of nowhere could be a bit suspicious if you’ve already formed a routine by sleeping in her bed… Have you already arranged something for tonight?”

“No, not yet…” She shook her head.

“I see… Oh, how about you just stay in your room without saying a word during the evening?”

“Eh?”

“That way, she has to come and get you if she wants to sleep with you again. Once in your room, say that you’re too tired to walk over today and… Tada, problem solved.”

“W-What if she doesn’t come over to get me…?”

“You’ve slept together every day for over a week already now, right?”

“Yes…”

“People are creatures of habit. I bet she’s gotten so used to it already that it’s hard for her to sleep alone.”

“Why do you think so…?” The jaguar wondered about her knowledge.

“That’s what happened with me when Maya insisted on sleeping with me. I got super lonely whenever we didn’t do that, even in the times where I was completely unaware of my feelings for her.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Absolutely.” The tiger was sure of her theory. “Also, if I’m wrong, and you’re unable to wait any longer, you can still go over to her room at a later time. If she asks what happened, you can always say that you simply got held up by cosplaying as… err, I mean doing maid stuff.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry!”

“Grr…” The jaguar growled at the tiger for a second before relaxing again. “W-Well, it sounds like it could work out, I guess…?”

“There’s no harm in trying~!”

“True…” Ari paused for a moment to motivate herself. “Okay, I’ll try your suggestion tonight!”

“Great!” Sophia applauded her determination.

“Alright,” The jaguar took a deep breath to regain her calmness. “Thank you for helping me with Anna. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem~. As my reward, I chose some very in-depth cooking lessons!”

“I think we can arrange that~.” Both had a playful tone in their voices.

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

After the two finished their usual girls-talk, the duo returned to today’s main quest, teaching Sophia one or two cooking-related tricks.

“So, again… Master, what’s the plan?”

“First, stop calling me master. I don’t like that.”

“Alright! What’s step two, captain?”

“Why captain?!” The jaguar tilted her head. “Master made some sort of sense, at least.”

“No idea! It was the first thing that came to mind.”

“Just call me Ari!”

“Boring…Okay, fine.” Sophia gave up with a slight pout.

“Good…” She already sounded slightly tired. “First, what and how much do you want to learn? Should I teach you the basics first, and we continue from there?”

“That would be the ideal approach, wouldn’t it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Do we have enough time for that, though? Maya’s birthday is on the weekend of next week, after all.”

“That could be a little problematic…”

“Yeah…” The tiger nodded. “Are there any dishes that don’t need much prep but still are something for the eye, as well? Once Maya’s birthday is over, I’ll happily learn all the basics!”

“Yes, there are lots of those kinds of dishes.”

“Alright, I’d like to go with that option first!”

“Sure.” Ari had no problems with that approach. “Is there anything your cat especially likes? Or dislikes, for that matter.”

“Hmm… I don’t think there’s anything she dislikes…” Sophia closed her eyes to think about it. Still, as Maya’s the one who usually cooks for them, she had no idea if there’s anything she doesn’t like. After all, why would Maya cook it if she doesn’t like it? “She really cares about the nutritional side, though. I’ve never eaten more balanced meals than after meeting her.”

“Oh, good for you.”

“Absolutely!”

“Nutritional and balanced, huh?”

“And fancy!” The blonde wanted to impress her, after all.

“Take it easy, tiger.” She stopped her enthusiasm. “One step after another.”

“Y-Yes…” She was too proud of Ari’s accidental tiger pun to talk back.

“Hehe.” She liked the docile Sophia. “However,… Hmm, how does seafood sound to you?”

“Yummy!” Her stomach answered for the blonde.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, I like the idea, but… Isn’t seafood super complicated to prepare?”

“Not really.” Ari shook her head. “Shrimp, for example, are really easy. They tend to get chewy if you overcook them, but they only need a few minutes, and it’s super easy to tell when they’re done.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they change color once they’re done. They go from a transparent gray to an opaque pink.”

“Oh, I might be able to do that…”

“Great. Let’s see… Oh!” The jaguar seemed to have come up with a dish. “Since we have decided on shrimps now… How about some quick and easy shrimp Pasta?”

“Cooking pasta is one of the few things I’m confident in.”

“G-Good. You add some oil, garlic, and butter to a pan and sauté it together. After that, you add the shrimps and cook them for two or three minutes. You also add some white wine with a couple of spices, reduce it to a sauce, and you’re done already.”

“Again, yummy.” She repeated herself. “Also, I’m starting to feel like Canir had reincarnated someone from Italy in the past. First, the pizza, and now this…” She mumbled this to herself only.

“It’s quick and easy, too.”

“That all sounds really good!” Sophia paused for a moment. “Ari…?”

“Yes?”

“I’m hungry.” All this talking about food had an obvious effect on the tiger.

“Ahaha…” She had to laugh at her. “Sure… How about I show you the way it’s meant to be cooked before we get to the training? To show you how it’s supposed to taste, of course.”

“Yes!” She answered with a big nod. “I like that idea, and I’ll be forever grateful to you!”

“Because I cook something for you?”

“I’m not a complicated girl in that regard.”

“I see…”

Afterward, the two collected the ingredients they needed, and Ari got to the demonstration for Sophia.