The girls were still relaxing in the living room of Sophia's mansion and chatting about all kinds of things. As Anna barely knew Chloe, she wanted to learn more about her and her companion called Feyfey she had heard of a few times before. After finding out that said companion can get even angrier than Sophia and is currently teaching the humans in their capital a lesson, she quickly decided not to ask any further questions. It also had gotten a little awkward at some point, but the fox-girl quickly managed to fix the atmosphere again by telling them some more about her adventures. The princess and Ari were very interested in the jungle she had previously visited. After all, a jaguar and a tiger are naturally drawn to such an area.

"I SO want to visit that jungle!" Anna liked that story a lot.

“Yes, it sounds like a lot of fun!” So did Ari.

“I get it! I so get!” Sophia sympathized greatly with them.

“I tickled the big cats’ bits in them again, didn’t I?” Chloe awkwardly glanced at Maya while the other three seemed to be quite excited.

“Yup.” She just nodded. “Also, wording.”

“Ahaha…”

“Can we go there?” The princess raised her voice. “Can we go there right now?!”

“I would love to!” The other tiger was just as loud. “Chloe forgot to tell you about the impossible obstacle that is between us and paradise, though…”

“Eh?!” The princess didn’t like the sound of that.

"It's far from impossible, you stupid cat!" The fox-girl couldn't deal with Sophia's aversion to being cold. "It's just a big icy tundra!”

“E-Eh?!” Anna’s eyes opened wide as she cuddled closer to Ari because she had started shivering a little. “That’s way worse than anything I just imagined!”

"Not exactly my words, but I'd like to agree." Even the jaguar hated the idea.

“Maya…” Looking a little tired, Chloe glanced at the cat-girl again. “I know that you and Sophia agreed to help find a partner for me, but can I make a little request…?"

“No feline girl?”

“Someone who likes the cold would be amazing…”

“I’ll try my best.” Maya just smiled at her.

“Thank you very much…”

“Don’t worry, my dear princess.” Sophia gave her fellow tiger a thumbs up. "The moment it gets warmer again, I already long decided to head right for it!"

“I like the sound of that! Ari and I will have graduated by then, as well, and we're free to explore it as long as we want! Please make sure to have perfected your portal thingies by then! I don’t want to miss it!”

“I’ll do my best~.”

“Thank you!”

“Sure.” As Sophia had already planned to give Anna some of her magic on her birthday, she already had a plan B ready. Still, as she didn't want to reveal that yet, the blonde just rolled with it for the time being. “Chloe, let’s give it a try tomo- err, the day after tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow’s Ellie-day, huh?” Maya knew why she had changed the day mid-sentence.

“Yup!”

“Sure!” The fox-girl gave her a hearty nod. “Oh, if you’re gone all day tomorrow, could you maybe place two portals that are connected to each other in the basement? I want to try and analyze them. It might help!”

“That’s a great idea!” Sophia liked the plan. “I’ll do that!”

"Thanks! I didn't have any plan for tomorrow yet, so that will be fun!"

"Can I watch you a little?" Anna got interested in it. "I probably won't be much help, but I can act as a test subject."

"You're still hoping to end up on the other side of the continent, aren’t you?” Maya saw through her in an instant.

“Yes!” She had no intention to hide it.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I-I’ll help, too!” Ari also jumped on the opportunity.

“You two really are something else." The cat-girl rolled her eyes. "Don't you want to do anything more couple-like now that you are, well… a couple? I bet there are more interesting things other than playing with magic in a basement a day or two after you got together, right? Ah, no offense, Chloe.”

“None taken.” She smiled at her. “You definitely have a point there.”

“…” The new couple looked at each other while their cheeks turned red. "W-We might join you a little later…"

“Of course.” Chloe then redirected her smile at the two.

“Don’t be too loud at it, though.” Maya just had to do it.

"HEY!" They did get loud.

“What have I just said?!”

“SHUT UP!”

“Ehehe.” She liked their reaction a lot.

“You won’t ever forget that, will you…?” Anna just glanced at her with teary eyes.

“Highly unlikely.” Maya shook her head. "I'll probably get bored of it once you stop caring, though."

“G-Good to know…”

"How about a change of topic?" Sophia suddenly said something very unusual to her. Unusual because it seemed reasonable.

“Gladly!” Anna almost jumped at her in response. “What do you want to talk about? Literally anything is fine!”

“Anything?” She raised an eyebrow in interest.

“…” The princess paused for a moment. “M-Most things are fine…"

"Good save." The blonde smiled at her. "No, I wanted to ask about our shopping trip for new clothes. I know I complain a lot about the cold, but…”

"A lot a lot.” Chloe needed to make a comment.

“I rightfully complain a lot about.” She stuck out her tongue while glancing at the fox-girl. “That aside, it's still somewhat manageable right now, but I'd like to get new clothes before it gets cold for real.”

"That's a great idea!" Anna liked the plan. "Usually, it gets rather warm on the weeks around Ari's and mine birthday, but after that, it plummets fast. We should have everything ready before that happens.”

“Spending a ton of money on clothes is also a great way to distract yourself from other things~.” Chloe tried to help the couple in her own way.

“THAT!” The two were big fans of the idea.

"I think we could do that on either Wednesday or Thursday.” Ari continued. “From what I remember from the teachers, one of those days will be a half-day while the academy's fully closed on the other because the teachers are getting some lessons from Eluna.”

"Ah, right!" The princess seemed to remember the same thing. "We aren't needed for that one because it makes little sense that students would teach them. Us being better at magic than them or not aside.”

“I like the sound of that!” Sophia started smiling again. “I am pretty sure we need a full day because I want to get a lot of clothes.”

“Don't forget the many miniskirts!" Curiously enough, it wasn’t just Ari, who had the idea as a punishment for putting her in skimpy clothes, that answered her. The blonde could've sworn that all four girls replied precisely the same words at the exact same time.

“…” She needed a short pause. “S-Sure…”

“Great!” Again, all four girls liked her reply.

“I won’t be wearing them in public, though! A normal or long skirt, sure, you can choose one for me to wear all the time, but the short or mini ones are for indoor use and your eyes only!”

“Good enough!”

“I hate all of you…”

“We love you, too.”

“Urgh…” She didn’t actually look angry at all, though. “Also, I’ll get something nice for all of you, as well! Indoor use only, too.”

“F-Fine…” They were still answering her in unison.

“Do you also need clothes, Chloe?” Sophia then looked at her. “I would love for you to join us.”

"Do you ever not want to shop for new clothes?"

“Fair point.” Everyone seemed to agree.

“Well, I don’t need to get anything for fall and or winter as my current clothes are more than warm enough, but I definitely want to look at some more.”

"You are weird!" The cats looked at her with big eyes while shaking their heads. They just couldn't believe her clothes would even remotely be warm enough.

“Of course, I’m the problem here…”

“Yes!”

“Anyway,” The fox-girl decided to ignore their protests. “I might see some nice clothes I want, so I’d like to accompany all of you! Also,” She eventually glanced at the blonde. “I don’t want to miss seeing Sophia in an ultra mini skirt.”

“No one ever said anything about ultra!”

“I did just now, though?” Chloe just tilted her head.

“Yep, I heard her saying it, too.” Ari nodded in return. “I like that idea, so we’re going with that.”

“Now doesn’t count!”

“It does.” Everyone disagreed with her.

“That reminds me,” Anna suddenly faced the fox-girl. “Yes, it’s a great idea for you to come with us. I need to give you something as thanks for that!" She pointed at her own chest, or rather at the top that barely managed to cover her breasts, that she had gotten from Chloe. "Compared to what I will choose for you, Sophia's ultra-deluxe extreme super mini skirt will be modest!"

“Did the adjectives just increase again?!” The future owner of such a skirt got loud. “By many times, I want to add!”

“Just your imagination.” The princess shook her head.

“Really?!”

“Really.” Everyone agreed with the tall tiger.

“Weird…”

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Chloe ignored the short tiger and looked back at Anna while pointing at herself. “As you can see, I don’t have much of a problem with skimpy clothes. In fact, I prefer them because I overheat really fast. During the summer months, it’s not impossible to see me in my underwear only if I get comfy enough around you and forget about my clothes. I actually almost left my room in underwear this morning before I remembered where I was. I might even have to concentrate on remembering to put on anything at all once it gets really hot."

“The future looks bright, is what Maya and Ari want to say." Sophia looked quite cheery during her exclamation.

“Hey!” The cat-girl glared at her tiger. That was all she said, though. She made no effort to try and deny Sophia’s claim. Ari didn’t say anything at all.

"Hmm…" Anna wasn't sure how she should react to the jaguar's complete absence of said reaction. "Well, I guess I have to find something else for you, then."

“I look forward to it.” Chloe was having fun.

The girls kept chatting for a good while longer and made some concrete plans for their shopping trip, but as it was slowly getting late, they decided to head to their rooms at some point to get ready to sleep.