Chapter 137 – Ari

The couple met with Anna again, and Sophia told her what happened between her and Ari. Unfortunately, the princess had no idea what was going on because the jaguar-girl's usually pretty sweet. Anna promised to talk with her, but things turned out differently. While Maya was training magic with the princess, Sophia noticed that they were being watched by the black panther. Acting on instinct alone, the tiger immediately ran after Ari when she wanted to run away after being caught.

"Stop!" Sprinting after the fleeing jaguar, Sophia tried to get her attention.

"..." Reluctantly, Ari eventually stopped running and turned around because she noticed that there was just no way she could run from the blonde. "What do you need?" Her expression made clear that she really didn't want to, though.

"I-I, uhh..." Sophia caught up to her and needed a moment because she hadn't prepared anything yet. Looking at the girl in the same school uniform as the princess usually wears because she apparently hadn't had the time to change yet, the tiger needed a moment to collect herself. Once the blonde managed to peel her eyes away from the black and slightly semi-opaque tights the jaguar was wearing that covered her super long legs when compared to her height, which took her quite a while, she slowly tried to find a way to start a conversation.

It was also the first time Sophia actually good a good close-up view of her. Height-wise, Ari was only a few centimeters taller than the blonde. Her size was somewhere in between the improved tiger and Maya. Though, just as her height, in comparison, her chest was actually much closer to the blonde, too, but it also fitted her style perfectly. The maid outfit had hidden it a bit before, but with the school uniform she was currently wearing, Sophia now was certain that the two, visually speaking, in terms of their figure, were built very similarly. Compared to Maya and especially the very tall and stacked Anna, the two weren't the biggest. Still, in terms of their other curves, in relation to their height and size, they definitely could compete.

Her animal features, the slightly rounded feline ears, and the tail were also pretty similar to Sophia and the princess, only the ears were a little bit smaller and even rounder. The most eye-catching about Ari was the color of her fur and hair, though. The base color was pitch-black, but there was a hint of yellow and orange showing through it. This contrast made the dotted, rosette-like markings jaguars usually have visible on her tail and long hair, although it was pretty subtle. "I-I want to talk to you!" After admiring her hair for a moment, Sophia finally got the words out.

"I don't think there is anything between us that could lead to a worthwhile conversation."

"T-That's exactly it! I want to know m-more about you!"

"Unfortunately, I don't share this sentiment."

"Urgh..." It was costing the tiger a lot to keep the conversation going. "D-Did I do something to you...? I'm not good at reading between the lines, but it seems fairly obvious that you d-dislike me..."

"Of course!" Ari didn't try to hide it. "Why do you even need to ask?!"

"W-What did I do?"

"Are you serious?"

"Y-Yes?" Sophia really wasn't aware of having done anything to her, after all.

"Wow..." The jaguar rolled her light-yellow eyes. "First, you arrived here in the capital like the new queen..."

"Eh?"

"You wrapped the royal family around your fingers and even tried to marry my-, the princess, to officially become a part of it. Even though you already have a partner!"

"What...?" Sophia naturally got confused, but Ari didn't stop.

"Then, you apparently changed your mind after playing around with Anna for a while and canceled any marriage plans. Now, after you broke her heart, you still have the audacity to be around her all the time as if nothing ever happened!" She sounded angrier and angrier with every word.

"P-Please wait a moment!"

"Why?" Ari glared at her yet again. "There are still so many more reasons for me to hate you. I don't need any cheap excuses from you."

"I-I wasn't planning to, uhh... apologize."

"Wow, you're even worse than I thought!"

"No... it's just... everything you said is, well... wrong." Talking to strangers on its own wasn't easy for Sophia, but this conversation was on a whole different level.

"Sure, everyone would say this." Naturally, the jaguar didn't believe a word she was saying.

"D-Did Anna tell you this?"

"No, she just keeps boasting about you and the white cat-girl because you turned her brain to mush after you charmed her!" Her glare only intensified. "But it's clear what happened!"

"Urgh." Some of this actually had a bit of truth to it. "C-Can I try to explain my side...?"

"I highly doubt it would change anything."

"Please let me try! For Anna's sake!"

"F-Fine..." Hearing that, Ari finally caved in.

"Thank you..." Sophia took a deep breath before continuing. "You know, I had no idea that me being a tiger is anything special. I'm from a really far away place and grew up without any knowledge of the beastfolk because I was on my own for most of my life. I only found out about it a month before coming here. The same goes for my companions, they had forgotten about the aspects of a tiger because it had no relation to them. Arriving in the capital, the king immediately sent out his retainers to hunt me down after the word about me had reached him. I never planned any of this. I just wanted a peaceful life and some friends when coming here."

"W-What...? "The jaguar's eyes shot open.

"Upon being forced to meet his Majesty, he then tried very hard to make me join his family. Do you want to know how? By trying his very best to marry off his daughter to me. Multiple times."

"Huh?"

"I declined. Very strongly. Then, Anna joined the party, and she liked her father's idea very much. She apparently took a liking to me and the idea of marrying me. I declined her, too. That princess didn't listen at all, though, and kept chasing after me."

"W-Wait..." Ari started to lose the color of her face.

"I love Maya. You know, the white-haired cat-girl. If there's anyone I'm going to marry in the future, it's definitely not the princess. Anna's advances started to become too much at some point because they began to affect my relationship with Maya. So, on our way to the war last month, I finally and completely shut her down. I made clear that the two of us will never be a thing. I maybe should've done it even sooner, but it was really hard to make her listen. I never, at no point, p-played around with her."

"I-Is that why she was so devasted after coming back...? The princess refused to tell me what was going on. It was obvious that her heart was broken, but..."

"Yes... and I still feel terrible about having made her cry..." Sophia didn't want to remember the scene. "Still, I had to do it. She's a good option and whoever's going to marry her in the future is incredibly lucky, but... I like her, but I don't want any sort of romantic involvement with her. Again, I love Maya and Maya only."

"..." The jaguar had gone silent.

"As for why I'm still hanging out with her, both Maya and I think she's a great girl, and Anna herself wished to be friends with us even after everything that happened. You saw them playing around earlier, didn't you? Did that seem like they were fighting over me, or just two friends having fun?" While it definitely started out as the initial thing, it eventually transformed into the latter.

"Uhh..." Ari had a really awkward expression after hearing all of this.

"I don't know if you believe me, but it was all just a gigantic misunderstanding. Again, I treated Anna with the utmost respect and never once played around with her in that way. She was just too hyper for her own good and overdid everything she got involved into."

"N-No... romance aside... it does sound very Anna-like..."

"That's, uhh, good to hear?" Sophia felt a little sorry at how it seemed like she was used to the princess behaving like that. "Well, I hope that you think a little better of me now. It kinda stung a little being hated by someone you didn't even know... Okay then, with that being somewhat resolved for now, I guess I'll head back for now." The tiger knew how it's like when being pushed too much, so she wanted to give Ari some room to breathe after the story. That's why she turned around to go back to the terrace, but she didn't make it far.

"S-Stop!" The black-haired girl grabbed Sophia's hand to keep her from leaving.

"Y-Yes?" She also wanted to leave because she was running out of steam from talking to a stranger for so long, all on her own. Not to mention that it was an extremely difficult and serious topic.

"I am so sorry!" While still holding onto her hand, Ari hung her head while apologizing. "I treated you horribly just because of some stupid misunderstanding..." Any coldness in her voice was gone. It was much warmer, and she sounded genuinely apologetic.

"It's alright. I'm used to that." As the tiger basically was a walking misunderstanding, she couldn't hold a grudge against anyone having one around her.

"No... I'm really so very sorry! I-I said so many mean things to you..." She let go of the blonde's hand and looked her in the eyes. "I hope you're somehow able to forgive me in the future…"

"Y-Yes." Sophia, again, noticed that she's weak against honest or earnest girls. "Well, I approached you because I wanted you to forgive me, so... It took a weird turn somewhere, but I'm super happy that there's no actual bad blood between us."

"T-Thank you very much!" She seemed very relieved. "Please believe me that I'm usually not like this. I'm normally way more levelheaded. I just couldn't keep my calm when I saw the princess, well..."

"You really care about Anna, huh?"

"Y-Yes. Yes, I do."

"You're childhood friends, right? She mentioned that the other day."

"Huh? A-Ah, yes, we are. We've been together before I even can remember."

"Must be nice. I'm kinda envious of such a long and deep friendship."

"Yeah... Okay, again, I'm very sorry for acting so hostile towards you, Sophia!" Ari apologized for a last time to make sure everything was good between the two girls now.

Afterward, both of them went back to the terrace. There, they watched the still ongoing magic training of Maya and Anna together.

Teanam

With Ari and Sophia having cleared up their misunderstanding and having become friends, it's time for a new illustration~.

The art also comes with a note:

I'm not small, Anna is just too tall!

Sincerely,

Ari

The motif doesn't really fit the chapter, I just wanted to have an illustration of the two childhood friends being close, but it shows Ari in her school uniform, and that works well here.

I am obviously not trying to hint anything with their pose or how close they are. Especially not with their tails or anything. White lilies totally have no special meaning, either, after all. They just got added because they're pretty.

(Also, size-gap ftw)

There's also a version with a slightly different (brighter) lighting:

A big thanks to @San_plus_ on Twitter for making the girls look so amazing!

Once again, a gigantic THANK YOU to everyone supporting the story on Patreon for making those illustrations possible!