The group chatted a little longer about the portal idea Sophia and Chloe had that would help Anna and Ari to join them whenever they wanted or when there was something interesting to look at. The chaos duo decided to first sleep a night over it to make sure they weren't too hasty as it might be dangerous, though.

Afterward, the topic drifted over how long everyone wanted to stay at their mansion. Unfortunately, Ari and much more so Anna had a deadline as they had to attend the queen's birthday the following week. Chloe was much freer, so she did not need to decide on a date to leave again. As they were five girls right now, food supplies weren’t up to the need, though. Hearing that they had to go shopping for more, Sophia and the fox-girl got excited because they had been chatting about pizza just the day before, and they really wanted some now.

“So, what do we need for this pizza dish?” A little while had passed since then, and Ari was currently walking through the capital with Sophia as the two had decided to go shopping together. The blonde knew what was needed for the pizza, and the jaguar knew where to get said ingredients.

“Hmm… As there aren’t any Italians around to kill me…” She mumbled a few words before facing the black-haired girl. “Basically, it's a flat bread covered in a tomato-based sauce together with some cheese and other savory toppings. Very roughly speaking, that is.”

“I see…” She paused for a moment. “It does sound delicious, but I might need to see the final dish first to evaluate. What kind of dough is used for the bread part?”

“It’s a simple yeast dough… As far as I remember, it’s… bread flour, water, some oil and a bit of salt and then the yeast and a little sugar to get it going…” Sophia never was any good at cooking, but remembering simple recipes was a different topic. “No idea about the ratios and all that, though…”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.” Ari nodded a few times. “It just doesn’t have to be too watery and enough yeast and sugar to make it rise. Salt is salt, you always need a pinch of that, and the oil probably is used to make it a little smoother.”

"Wow, you are good." The blonde sounded impressed. "I'm not sure if we have bread flour, and we definitely need yeast. We have plenty of the other stuff at home, though.”

"Alright, that's easy to get. Let's go over the other ingredients before deciding on a route to get everything. What do we need for the sauce?”

“Let’s see…” Sophia tried to remember the taste. “Hmm… Is, do you know tomato puree…? Maybe even something more concentrated?" She had no idea how much processed foods are a thing in this world.

“Sure, cooked and strained tomatoes. Do we need it? I know a place that sells jars of it.”

“Perfect! Other than that, we need onions, a ton of garlic, and various spices and herbs like oregano for the sauce.”

“I think we might be able to get all of those things at the same place.”

“I like the sound of that!” The tiger was a fan of not having to go to many different stores.

“What are the toppings? Cheese is pretty self-explanatory.”

“Whatever you want, really.” Sophia shrugged her shoulders while thinking about it. “Meat, seafood, veggies, nothing… Whatever tickles your fantasy.”

“Oho, sounds like fun!” Ari liked the idea of it being so variable. "Well, we'll come along plenty of stores selling meat and the like. It might be best to stock up on that for the next few days, anyway.”

“Great idea!”

“Alright, let’s head over to the first store.”

“Yes!” Having decided what to get, the two finally started grocery shopping for real.

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

“By the way, what's going on between you and Chloe…?” While the two were walking around, Ari suddenly got curious about something.

“Eh…?” Sophia looked more than confused while she looked back at her.

“You two are sooo similar!”

“Ahh…”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Did you grow up together or something like that?” The jaguar tilted her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re sisters, you know? Well, half-sisters, at least because of the fox-tiger thing.”

“No, we are not. I seriously highly doubt that. For various reasons...”

“…” Something felt off about the tiger’s reply, so she decided not to further pursue her idea for the time being. "It is fascinating, though. I honestly thought you were one of a kind. Yet, that fox was directly on board with your portal thingy idea and knew exactly what was going on. Even now, I’m completely confused about most of your ideas.”

“Great minds think alike~.” Sophia started smiling again.

“I don’t even know what to say now… That was too good.”

“Thanks!”

"You must admit it's a little weird, though, don't you?"

"Not really, no." She shook her head. "After all, for me, it's weird that no one else has the ideas I have… In that regard, Chloe's the most normal girl I have met so far."

“…” Ari just stared at her for a couple of moments. “You’re actually serious right now, aren’t you?”

“I always am!”

“I-I see… Well, I am starting to like her, she seems nice, but I’m a little worried that there might be two of you now…”

“Maya said the same thing.”

"For a good reason!"

“Hehe.” The blonde let out a small chuckle. “It’s going to be fun!”

“I’m worried!”

"Chloe really is a nice girl, though, isn't she? She also loves your hair~.”

“I-I heard that…” Ari got a little bashful. “I’m getting more used to being proud of it thanks to all of you, too… I’ve never seen someone with such pink hair such as hers, so being complimented by another unique, just like you, does feel nice…”

“Glad to hear!”

“Chloe’s friendliness and how approachable she is, it also reminds me of you, though." She looked at the blonde for a second. "I just met the fox, and even though I normally have a hard time making friends, it feels like I’ve known her for years already. Her aura somehow makes one drop your guard. The same goes for you.”

“Even though you genuinely hated me when we first met?”

"A-Ah…” She had already forgotten about that part.

“Even though I was your best ally when it came to the princess… *sniff*.” Sophia went for the extra mile and shed a fake tear.

“I’m sorry, okay…?” Fake or not, Ari still felt bad about it. “I-I meant after we cleared that misunderstanding and started spending time together…"

“I see~.”

“After that, it felt like we became friends in an instant.”

“Ehehe.” She liked hearing that.

“Chloe seems similar to that. It feels like she's been part of the group forever already, even though we just met.”

“The power of the little sister character.”

“Hmm…?”

“Someone that soothes your soul, and you can't help but want to spoil."

“Oh, yeah, that seems like a fitting description for her so far.”

“She also secretly quite a bit of a pervert, so she perfectly fits in with all the other perverts in our group.”

“…”

“No comebacks on that?” The tiger looked just a little smug right now.

“I would really like to, but I’m unfortunately in no position to complain right now…” Ari’s cheeks only turned red in response.

“What a great reply~.”

“S-Shut up.” She got even more embarrassed. “S-She doesn’t look like it, though...”

“Neither do you.” Sophia’s smile got brighter.

“…” The jaguar just started walking. “L-Let’s get the shopping done…”

“Sure~.”

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

Afterward, the two went to the first store Ari had recommended for the pizza dough. Once they got everything they needed there and some more general supplies as they were there already, the duo headed over to the next place.

There, Sophia got a couple of jars of the needed tomato puree and a variety of herbs and spices for the pizza and as a general addition to their kitchen. Unfortunately, they didn't have everything needed, so the two had to run around in the capital a little longer.

It took them around an hour to get all the ingredients needed for the pizza base.

“Alright, you mentioned toppings, right?” Ari looked at the tiger. “Anything more specific?”

“Well, the only thing that is a necessity is cheese. The get-go is mozzarella but honestly, take whatever cheese you like best or even use multiple at once.”

“Sounds delicious!”

“It is!” Sophia nodded a few times. “Cheese is amazing, after all!”

“Sure is.”

“For the other toppings, everything works in one way or another. Seafood works quite well. I’m a big fan of tuna with a healthy helping of red onions~.”

“Ohh!” The jaguar liked the sound of that. “Tuna’s quite hard to get your hands on this time of the year, though.”

“Aww…” She looked disappointed. “Mushroom pizza can be nice if you’re in the mood for it. Same for spinach combined with a ton of garlic, but that’s more of a niche.”

“Sounds like it. Might be interesting, though.”

“And then there’s meat~.” The blonde’s voice got even more cheerful. “Bacon, ham, sausage, salami. You can name, you can put it on~.”

“Wow, this pizza thing sure is versatile.”

“Yep!”

“If anything goes, what about a sweet variant?” Ari paused for a moment. “Or maybe some acidic fruits? Some of them can go well with certain meats or seafood in certain cases.”

"…" Sophia's face turned extremely complicated in an instant. Coincidentally, the two were just walking past a fruit stand with a wide variety of basically everything one could imagine. Including a couple of pineapples, which were prominently put on display. “Uhh… W-Well…" She felt the need to be incredibly careful here. Personal preference aside, one wrong word here could potentially start a war in the near future if pizza ever becomes popular in the capital.

“I’m not really sure about it, myself…” The jaguar decided to reconsider her idea. “It’s probably better to start with something easy, huh?”

"Y-Yes… Absolutely!" Happy that Ari had dropped the topic herself so that she didn't have to pick a side here, the tiger let out a relieved sigh. “Let’s just get some cheese and meat for the time being…”

“Sure!”

Having barely averted a global-scale crisis, Sophia put her hands on Ari’s back and pushed her away from the fruit stand as fast as possible. Afterward, they tried to finish up their shopping trip for the pizza ingredients.