Chapter 153 – Trust

Sophia got over her mysterious sickness that was a side effect of accidentally sharing a part of her magic power with Ari, but she decided to take it easy for another day to make sure she fully recovered from it. While the blonde was lazing around in the bed, Maya was back in the royal castle to help teach Eluna advanced magic together with the princess and Aura.

Once the training was over, the cat-girl decided to stay some longer to spend time with Anna. The two got comfortable on the usual terrace in the garden behind the castle. Sitting across each other at a small table there, the two were having a lively chat.

"Yeah, Ari also decided to stay in bed today." After listening to Maya's update on the blonde, the princess gave her a nod.

"How's she feeling besides that? Sophia asked me to check up on her."

"Still a bit tired and sluggish, but her temperature's normal again. The headache and dizziness are gone, too."

"Yep, the same goes for my idiot."

"They sure are..." The two shared a sigh. "And Ari always keeps calling me one."

"She's not wrong, though." Maya just had to do it.

"T-That doesn't matter here!" She couldn't deny it, either.

"Hehe~."

"Still, Ari's so lucky... Once she's fully recovered, she'll be able to use any kind of magic that comes to her mind..." Anna sounded envious.

"Don't worry, I'll keep teaching you all sorts of different types of magic, too."

"Thank you very much..." While the princess was grateful, it didn't really cheer her up that much. "Chantless magic aside, the storage or whatever magic Ari and Sophia talked about... It's also the one she used on our way to Talaga, right? It looked super interesting, but I won't ever be able to learn it, will I?"

"Yes... Original magic might be impossible. Sorry,"

"She's sooo lucky."

"While I get what you mean... Say, can you do me a big favor, Anna?" Maya's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Hmm?"

"You might think about it because it seemed so easy with Ari, but please don't ask Sophia to share her power with you, too. Knowing her, she actually would do it if you really want it and ask her nicely."

"That hadn't come to my mind yet. Why not, though?"

"Sophia loves magic more than anyone and enjoys the grand and flashy types the most. If she'd share her power with you, too, she'd end up having lost 25% of her power. She still would have more than a lot of us combined, but still... I don't want her having to hold back because she gave away her power. I feel you, I really do, Anna, but..."

"Yes, I understand." The princess nodded. "A lot happened between all of us, and despite everything, Sophia's still... i-important to me. Having her suffer because of me would be the last thing I want. Yes..." She noticed Maya's expression. "I didn't care that much about that part before she, uhh, t-turned me down, but you know what I mean. Ari was a lucky accident, and we can keep it at that..."

"Thank you very much." The cat-girl was grateful for it.

"Well, I can always just talk Ari into doing stupid stuff for me~."

"That sounds like a lot of fun on its own."

"Yeah, but she's first going to spend a lot of time with Sophia to learn all kinds of cool things from her... So envious!"

"Of what?" Maya tilted her head. "The tiger you wanted to marry having a great time with your childhood friend, or Ari being close to someone else. Moreover, she got closer than you to the girl that broke your heart without even trying for a second. Not to mention that it was almost instantaneously."

"I don't like that sort of teasing." Anna reacted differently from expected.

"Yeah, I'm sorry..." The cat noticed that she was just plain mean. "Still, I'm curious. Who are you envious of?"

"Both...?" The princess answered with a slight frown. "I think it's a little unfair that Ari's getting along sooo much better with Sophia than I did, even though I tried so very hard..."

"Well, that was your biggest mistake. If you would've been more relaxed and easygoing about your way of approaching Sophia, I wouldn't have been as much on guard as I was. Our idiot, too, would've let you get closer that way."

"N-Now, you're giving me tips?!"

"You aren't a threat anymore, after all."

"Urgh... I-It still stings, you know...?" Anna didn't look happy. "No, but somehow... Sophia getting along with Ari this well... it hurts."

"That much?"

"Yeah..." The princess took a small break. "Ari and I were together since... well, even before I can remember. We grew up together and also never left the other's side... Even in school, I have her all to myself because she's self-conscious about her hair and is afraid to talk to people because of that even though she's actually super popular."

"Hmm..." Maya thought about her words for a moment. "Okay, I get the feeling of wanting someone all to yourself and monopolize them."

"Yeah... You're the queen of that."

"Ehehe." It was a compliment for her. "Still, Sophia isn't going to steal her away, you know?"

"How can you be so sure about that?" Anna didn't believe her. "How often did we catch them flirting or while doing other suspicious things already? Who knows what kind of stuff they did when we weren't there?!"

"It's called trust."

"You can't tell me you're not worried at all. Not you, of all people. Not after how hard you went against me even though I didn't get nearly as close." The princess still vividly remembers how aggressive Maya was when keeping her away from the blonde.

"Well... I can't say I'm happy about everything that's going on between the two of them, but they're just friends."

"How do you know that?!"

"Again, trust. Also... hmm, Anna, hold out your hand. I want to try out something."

"Why...?" The princess wasn't sure how to feel about that. "Do you want to hold hands now, or what?"

"Yep."

"Ehh?!" She hadn't expected that.

"Just do it."

"O-Okay..." Slightly reluctant, Anna presented her right hand to the cat-girl above the table between them.

"Good." Without hesitating, she gently reached for her hand and held it for a while. "Wow, you have nice hands, princess. Super soft and silky-smooth~." Just like when Sophia did it with Ari, Maya started to lightly knead Anna's hand to get a better feel of the supreme sensation. "What sort of creme are you using?" The couple had very similar tastes, after all.

"Uhh... it's a specially made product for the tiger family... I can show you the package later. You should be able to easily get it with Sophia's help."

"Great! Thank you very much!" Maya was happy about it.

"Sure..." A little awkward looking, she focused her gaze on their joined hands. "Sooo..."

"Ah, right..." The cat-girl had almost forgotten about it already. A moment later, she changed her position and actually went as far as to interlock her fingers with the princess'.

"S-Sophia won't get a-angry if she sees us, right? RIGHT?!" She started to panic because Anna knew what the blonde was capable of.

"Nah, it's fine."

"Good..."

"Probably."

"Hey!"

"Hehe." Maya couldn't waste a chance to tease her. "Anyway, what are you feeling right now?" She wiggled around her hand a bit while saying so.

"Feeling...?" Anna tilted her head. "Well, holding hands always feels nice."

"That's fair." She didn't disagree.

"You also have beautiful hands, Maya. While I'm not the biggest fan of so shortly trimmed nails, it's amazing how long your fingers are."

"Thanks~. Yeah, Sophia really likes them, too. Also, yes, slightly longer nails do look better, but they're very inconvenient."

"Hmm...? She really... inconvenient... Ah!" Anna looked confused for a moment, but then her face suddenly turned bright red, and she could not finish her sentence.

"Oh~?" Maya naturally noticed her reaction. "What might this perverted princess be thinking about right now?"

"I-I'm not a pervert!"

"Really~? Then, why are you blushing so hard just because I wanted to say that Sophia likes to grab my fingers when we're holding hands, or how it's a pain to clean the dirt under long nails?"

"T-That's not what you wanted to imply!" Anna didn't believe her for a second. "Not at all!"

"Is that so? What did try I imply, then?"

"Uuh..." Her face lit up even more. "S-Shut up!"

"Gosh, you're adorable." The cat-girl was having a great time.

"I-I hate you..."

"Yep, I love you, too~."

"Y-You do?!" The princess was emotionally all over the place.

"In the friendship kind of way. Don't get any weird ideas now."

"T-That's great!" She suddenly started to smile. "I mean... I noticed we were getting along fairly well recently, but I wasn't sure if we could become real friends after the extremely rocky start we had..."

"Nah, don't worry about that, Anna. I've actually gotten quite fond of you, and we can leave behind that part in the past."

"Really?! Ehehe~." The tiger's smile got even bigger. "So happy about that!"

"Wow, the gap in that side of your personality and your looks is way too big!" Maya actually had a hard time looking at her bright smile.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"You're a super big, in more ways than one, cat with a bit of a tomboyish feeling, but you're way too sweet on the inside..."

"Got a problem with that?!" Anna started to pout.

"Not even in the slightest. I'm not interested in you, but I am a fan of your outsides, and a sweet personality is never a bad thing."

"A-Ah, thank you..." The princess needed a moment to process being so honestly complemented by the cat-girl.

"Anyway, I think we've drifted away from the topic a bit." Maya enjoyed the blush on Anna's face for another moment before gesturing at their still joined hands with the interlocked fingers. "Tell me what exactly you feel when we, the two of us, are holding hands."

"Hmm..." The princess looked at their hands for a while and tried to find out what the cat wanted from her. As she wasn't the fastest, she needed a while to think about it, though.