Chapter 232 – Influencing each other

Sophia finally finished equipping Ari's room with the underfloor heating she invented, and the two chatted a little longer afterward. The jaguar was finally ready to try and get her relationship with the princess to the next level. She wanted to try and kiss her, and the blonde happily tried her best to help Ari with that by giving her tips on how to create a good mood and all that.

“We’re back~.” Once the two had finished their chat, they went back to Anna's room and reunited with their girls.

“That took way too long!” The princess immediately started complaining. “Suspicious! What did you two do?!”

“Well, we installed heated floors in two rooms, you know? That can easily take an hour…”

“Which in itself is quite a feat.” The jaguar sided with the blonde.

“Hrmn…" Anna still seemed grumbly. "So, nothing flirty happened? One never can be sure with the two of you after all!"

“I was a good girl!”

“G-Good…”

“Ari tried and said a few things, though~.”

“H-Huh?!” The princess didn’t like that at all.

“S-Sophia?!” The girl in question wasn’t any different.

“Am I wrong?” The blonde only smiled at Ari.

"Y-You…" There was little to defend herself with. “I-It definitely had no deeper meaning, though! I-I was just being playful!”

“I know~.” Sophia then focused her attention on the room itself and noticed that it was much tidier now. “Oh, you cleaned up, huh? Good job!”

“T-That doesn’t matter!” The princess wasn’t done yet. “Ari! Stop getting so influenced by her!”

"I'm not… Ah!" The black-haired girl remembered some of her conversations with the shorter tiger. “It’s not Sophia’s fault! It’s yours!”

“W-Why is it my fault?!” Anna didn’t like this accusation.

“You’re also always a little flirty with others and don’t care what you say and do.”

“T-That’s…”

“I picked up all of that from you. It’s just because Sophia is so similar when it comes to that, and how she’s so easy to talk to, my playful side that I learned from you comes out more often!”

“I-is that so…?”

“Yes!”

“Ehehe~…” The princess started smiling after hearing that. “Wait! Why don’t you ever get so flirty and playful with me?!” Her good mood didn’t last too long.

"Really…?" Sophia and Maya just stared at the dense girl with an exasperated expression.

"Let's leave it at that, idiot…"

“B-But!” Anna didn’t want to.

“Should I tell them what you told me earlier and how stupid your claim sounds?” The cat-girl had no intention to deal with the overly dense princess any longer.

"A-Anyway, S-Sophia… can, uhh… can you install the underfloor heating in my room now, too…?” She was scared enough of Maya to immediately let go of the topic.

“Wait, what’s this about?” Ari got interested in it now, though.

“Sure~.” Sophia also had no intention to continue and faced Anna. “I can do that.”

“T-Thank you very much!”

“Hehe.”

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A couple of minutes later, Anna’s room was completely empty after Sophia had stored everything into her storage. Naturally, the princess was really interested in what had just happened.

“Wow!” Her eyes were sparkling. “Your magic’s amazing! That purple stuff that swallowed all of my stuff was super pretty, too!”

“Happy to hear~.”

“Speaking of, my stuff’s still safe, right…?”

"It is," Ari reassured her. "I asked the same question, and Sophia actually showed me the inside of her storage because you can go inside."

“Eh?!” Anna’s ears perked up after hearing that. “You seriously can go inside?! If you showed Ari, I want to see it, too!”

“Sure~." Sophia wasn't the least bit surprised by her reaction and quickly opened another portal connecting to her storage. “Hop in.”

“S-Seriously?!” The princess stared at the purple distortions.

“Ari didn’t complain, you know?”

“If that’s how it is…” Feeling a lot more confident after hearing this, the tall tiger actually just went and jumped into the portal.

“Wow, what a fearless girl.” The blonde hadn’t expected that.

“You really didn’t complain…?” Maya raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the jaguar.

"I complained a whole lot!" She frantically shook her head. "I complained so much that Sophia simply shoved me inside it without me ever consenting!"

"Ah, that's more what I was imagining… Also, that's a pretty interesting wording, my dear.”

"You should've heard what she said to me… Specifically, she complained that she’s against entering holes she didn’t want to use.”

“Wow…” The cat-girl intensified her stare on Ari.

“T-That’s only after your idiot tiger said that she wants to enter one of her secret holes. The portal, that is." The jaguar looked back at Maya.

“Wow…” She repeated herself. “That really sounds stupid. Stupid enough for Sophia to actually say it. Alright, you’re good." She started smiling again.

“T-Thanks…”

“Alright, let’s all follow after the princess and also enter Sophia’s hole! I hope it fits all of us~.” The cat-girl never skipped on a chance to tease her when she saw one and walked towards the portal.

“Sure~.” Ari followed after her with a slight smirk. “It might be a bit tight, but it should work.

“Hehe.” Maya liked her follow-up, and the two entered the tight portal together.

“I am very sorry…” With a blush on her face, she followed after the two while looking down at the floor to hide her embarrassment. “I won’t ever make stupid wordplays again! Today, I mean… Okay, for the next hour, at least…" Debating with herself for a moment, she also finally went into the portal.

“Wow!” Anna immediately greeted the blonde with a voice of admiration on the other side. “Looking at my room without walls in an all-white space sure is something else! You are something else!”

“She sure is.” The jaguar and cat-girl had the same reaction.

“I sure am.” Sophia went along with it. “Looks like I used the right portal this time, too. Good job, me!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Maya looked at her while tilting her head.

“When I tried to show the place to Ari, we accidentally ended up in the portal room…”

“Oh, so she knows about that now?”

“Yeah.” The blonde nodded. “Well, it’s not that big of a deal, right? After all, I'm still the only one who can use the portals to such an extent."

“That’s true.”

“Also, I’m still interested in the idea of having them travel with us using the portals, so…”

“Fair point.”

“Portal room…?” Anna had a hard time following them.

“I have a lot of those portals connecting to different places, including our home.”

“That sounds amazing!” The eyes of the princess started to sparkle.

“If you think this is amazing, she told me that one of her portals leads to an actual underground dungeon- A-Ah!” Ari, too, sounded excited, but suddenly placed her hands on her mouth.

“D-Did you really just tell the princess that I have a portal to a dungeon…?” Sophia only stared at her with wide eyes.

“I-I’m sorry! I, uhh… I wasn’t thinking…”

“I want to see that! I want to see that right now!” Anna got loud. “I’ve never seen a dungeon, let alone entered one! That sounds super fun! Let’s go and explore it!”

“Good job, Ari…” Maya, too, stared at her with a slightly tired expression. “You deal with that…” She only pointed at the overly excited tiger.

“Uhh…” She had no idea what to do.

"Sure, we can do that, princess." Sophia smiled at her.

“S-Seriously?!”

“You won’t be getting any heated floors in your room today, then.”

"A-Ah…” She froze up. “L-Let’s do the exploring another time…” Her inner cat decided to prioritize the comfy warmth over an adventure for the time being.

“Good.” Everyone sounded relieved.

“I still want to see it, though!”

“I’ll get back to you once I’m a bit freer." As Sophia had a lot of things planned already, mainly visiting the elven village with the foxes, so she was a bit overbooked at the moment.

“Yay!”

“Anyway, let’s head back to your room for now.” The blonde had enough of her storage.

“Sure!”

“I wonder if we all fit through Sophia’s portal together instead of one after another.”

“Yeah, it’s a rather tight hole, after all.” Ari and Maya still had fun with the previous topic.

“S-Shut up!” The blonde got loud again in response.

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Once they were back in Anna's room, after listening to her demands of where she wanted it to be warmest, surprisingly enough, it was around the area where her bed was, the blonde got to work. Another half an hour late, the princess's room, too, looked like before again, only feeling much warmer now.

“Thank you sooo much!” The tall tiger seemed to be quite happy with the result. “It feels so warm and toasty now! I guess I won’t be needing the three extra heaters this year!”

“Yes!” Ari heartily agreed. It seems like the two cats went through a lot of suffering each year before.

“You’re the best, Sophia!” Anna was really excited about it.

“Yes!” The jaguar, again, had the same reaction.

“Ehehe~.” The blonde liked being praised. “I’m happy that you enjoy it.”

“I wonder if I’m ever able to leave my room again, now…” The princess sat down on her bed that was being warmed from beneath while saying so. “Yeah, there’s zero chance for me getting up in the morning ever again. Sorry, Ari, I won’t be going to the academy anymore~.”

“…” The black-haired girl had a complicated expression.

“You wouldn’t mind skipping on school either, wouldn’t you?” Maya had seen through her in an instant.

"W-Well…" She scratched her cheek and sat down next to Anna on the bed. "I-It is very cozy, after all…”

“Is that really the reason?” The cat-girl raised an eyebrow. “Well, the only reason?”

“Uhh…” Ari paused for a moment. "Staying away from school for a week… so that the catastrophes Sophia and I caused settle down a bit… might also be a reason here…”

“Ahaha…” The other half of the troublemaker duo also awkwardly scratched her cheek in response. "Sorry about that…"

“W-Well, it’s my own fault, so…” The jaguar couldn’t blame her. “The flooding, at least.”

“Yeah, I also overdid it…”

“Too bad Eluna needs us when we’re finally getting to the actual teaching, huh?” Maya looked at the princess.

“Yeah…” Anna weakly nodded.

“And if we have to go, those two are definitely coming with us, right?”

“Oh, absolutely!”

“I don’t like the sound of that!” Ari and Sophia replied at the same time.

“Too bad!” So did the other two.

“Anyway,” The princess decided to get back to the previous topic. “It’s only been a little since the heating started, but my room feels so cozy already! It's the best! Though, I already think that I might need new pajamas now… My normal ones are way too warm! Obviously, turning down the heat is no option, either, after all!"

“Obviously.” The other three cats wholeheartedly agreed.

“But, yeah, lighter pajamas are definitely recommended.” Sophia agreed with Anna.

"Funny hearing that from you," Maya smirked at her. “You’re sleeping naked ever since we upped the heat, after all.”

"R-Really…?" Ari and the princess glanced at the blonde with a complicated yet interested expression.

“I-I don’t like the way you two are looking at me!” She got loud. “Also, Maya, shut up! That’s not true!”

“Well, okay, mostly naked.”

“Hey!” Sophia got even louder.

“What?” She only tilted her head. “Your shorts cover only the very basic areas, and your camisoles and crop-tops are so short that they even fail at that. The way those slide up all the time while lying down… They basically turn into a scarf at some point during the night…”

“Well…” The tiger only turned her head away with a slight blush.

“The same goes for the white shorts you have. They somehow managed to end up beside the bed more often than not because they’re so loose…”

“It's not like you have any fewer wardrobe malfunctions with the negligees you got or your own crop-tops! Also, I’m still not fully convinced that you didn’t help with my shorts going missing while I was asleep!”

“…” Maya didn’t answer. “Anyway, I’m not complaining~.” Her expression changed. “With how panties are optional with you during sleeping and bras are banned, I have the time of my life when I wake up in the morning~.”

“Urgh…” Sophia was blushing even more. “W-Well, you’re the same, though… Bras being banned really was a great decision!”

“Sure was~.” The cat-girl was way less embarrassed about it.

“Uhh…” The other two girls didn’t know what to say. Their faces were bright red just listening to the couple.

“Wait…” Ari was the first to speak up again after a while. "A lot of things I decided not to address here aside… Is it really a good idea to sleep without a bra…? Of course, it’s sooo much comfier, but aren’t you concerned that your breasts will be affected by the lack of support…”

“Not at all~.” Sophia looked incredibly smug for some reason.

“My genius here perfected healing magic.” Maya explained her smug expression. “She managed to apply it directly to breast tissues and the ligaments inside the chest, ensuring it never gets loose or sags. My breasts feel perkier than ever~.”

“Wow…” The jaguar was impressed.

“I need to learn that!” Anna got loud in an instant. “I’m still fine in that regard, but I’m concerned about my future here!” She looked down at her rather massive chest. “I don’t want a future where I’m going to curse at gravity all day!”

“I see.” Sophia looked in the same direction as her fellow tiger. “Understandable.”

“H-Hey!” She covered her chest with her hands. “Also, it sounds heavenly to be able to sleep without a bra…”

“…” Hearing that, Ari’s expression turned even more complicated, but she decided to stay silent on the topic.

“Hmm…” Sophia tilted her head. “I’m not sure if you’re able to learn it without being able to use chantless magic, though…”

“S-Seriously?!” Her voice was filled with despair.

“I could teach Ari how to use it on others, though~.”

"T-That…!" After hearing her suggestion, the duo didn't even manage to get one word out without turning into an embarrassed mess.

“Hehe.” Sophia liked their reaction a lot.

Afterward, the mood got a little awkward. Also, as Sophia was still keen to go and visit the elven village with the fox beastfolk as quickly as possible, she decided to head back home with Maya once she noticed that the wolves had arrived back at the mansion. She had absolutely no problem with leaving the duo to deal with the mess she created on their own. It might lead to something interesting, too.

Teanam

A big thank you to

- Nick -

for supporting the story on Patreon to make more art for the story possible. Have fun with the extra illustrations of our girls.

I'm also sorry that I posted the most adorable Ellie illustration yet without any warning. I hope you're still alive and didn't have a diabetic shock.