Chapter 239 – Feeling guilty

While the couple was visiting Chloe’s place in the village because she lives in an elven treehouse there and Sophia really wanted to see one from the inside, things had taken a slightly weird turn. The tiger remembered how much her little sister liked foxes, which made her a little emotional. Feeling somewhat responsible for it, Chloe decided to cheer her up by giving the blonde a quick taste of her tail. Literally, though, as Sophia ended up eating some fur while it was shoved into her face.

“Hmm…” After the group had taken a short break and Sophia recovered from being reminded of her sister, the three were back together again, and Maya was staring at the two for some reason. Her gaze primarily concentrated on Sophia’s face and Chloe’s tail.

“Is something the matter…? A-Ah!” The fox-girl suddenly locked panicky again. “S-Shouldn’t I have done that with my tail…? The two of you are a couple, after all, right?”

“…” The cat-girl didn’t answer and turned her head away.

"Heh." Sophia's expression changed into a grin after seeing her reaction. "She's just jealous."

“I am not!” Maya immediately got loud.

“Is that so?” The fox-girl looked at the blonde, completely ignoring the protesting girl.

“Yep.” The tiger nodded. “She’s a little better at holding back than I am, but she likes fluffy things just as much as I do.” While saying so, Sophia used her own tail to bonk the cat-girl’s head yet again. “Silly girl.”

“S-Shut up! While the tip of your tail is quite fluffy, too, you use way too much force!”

“See?” She looked at Chloe again.

“Urgh…”

“Do you, uhhh… Do you want to touch it?” The fox-girl moved her tail closer to Maya.

“R-Really…? I feel a little awkward now…” Her expression was rather complicated. "For us felines, touching one's tail is rather intimate, after all. Yes, you are no feline, but…”

“As I said before, it is okay as long as you don't squeeze it. Foxes don't like having their tails touched either, but mine is covered in so much fur that you’re basically just touching that. I didn't even notice that Sophia ate some of it and only lightly felt it when she pushed it away from her face. Though, she did try to burry her hand in my fur for a second, and that tingled a tiny little bit.”

"A-Ah…” Now it was Sophia’s turn to look away. “Y-You noticed that, huh…?”

“I did.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s alright… If my fluffiness helped you calm down, I’m glad to be of help.”

“You are way too nice!” The tiger only took more damage from her kindness.

“Thank you?”

“W-Well, if you really are okay with it and touching the fur of a fox doesn't mean as much as touching the actual tail… With our short fur, it's basically the same for us cats, after all…"

"Yes." Chloe nodded. "As long as you don't reach in too far or surprise me, it doesn’t have too deep of a meaning. It’s probably closer to good friends getting along well? Okay, we’re just becoming friends as we only met a little while ago, but it’s never good to get too hung up on details.”

“Sweet and easygoing.” Maya was impressed. “It’s really not just your outside that’s fluffy beyond belief!”

“Ehehe~.” The fox-girl let out a small but happy giggle after hearing that. “So?” She waved around her tail in front of Maya some more.

“If you say so…” Slightly reluctant and awkward-looking, the cat-girl eventually reached for her tail. Still, her expression instantly changed the moment she touched Chloe's fur. "So soft! It's all springy and fluffy! It feels great!” Gently patting the fur of her tail a little longer, Maya soon let go of it again. "Thank you a lot for that!"

“You’re welcome.”

“Hmm…” Sophia's expression had turned a little complicated while watching the scene. Afterward, she used her own tail to bonk the cat-girl’s forehead yet again. It also seemed like she used slightly more force than the previous times.

“O-Ouch!” She got loud while rubbing her forehead. “That hurt! Don’t use so much force when you… Ah.” Maya stopped talking after taking a better look at Sophia’s face and noticing her miffed expression. “Even if the person herself doesn't mind, it’s still a bit weird to touch someone else’s tail, isn’t it?”

"Y-Yes…" The tiger replied with a slight nod. “Sorry that I got so excited about it… Well, I’ll still be happy if it ends up touching me, but I won’t actively go for it again…”

“Same.”

“D-Did I make it worse again?!” Seeing their interaction, Chloe started panicking again.

“Stop being so considerate!” The couple didn’t know how to deal with something that nice.

“I-I’m sorry…” She hung her head.

“It’s not your fault… Like, at all.” Sophia started to feel even more guilty after looking at the dejected fox-girl. “Maya, and even way more so I, we are just a bit weird. She gets jealous rather easily, and I’m missing experience all sorts of things. I never had many, or rather, any friends before meeting her, and the two of us directly went into a relationship. So, whenever I meet someone new, I tend to overdo it because I still don’t 100% know how far is normal between friends…”

“It also doesn't help that you’re naturally flirty even without having had friends before me…” The cat-girl started to pout.”

“That, too…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “My love for everything even remotely fluffy, just added to my excitement here, too, because you’re way too fluffy!”

“True.” Maya had to agree while the two looked at Chloe.

“Thank you…” She started smiling again. "Wait, you didn't have any friends before meeting Maya…? When did you two meet, then?"

“Start of spring?” Sophia tilted her head. “Seven or eight months ago? Something along those lines.”

“Really…? I could’ve sworn the two of you were dating for years already.”

“Ehehe~.” The couple took it as a compliment.

“Hmm…?” The fox-girl stopped for a moment. “Huh? If that’s the case, how is it possible that you didn't have any friends a year ago, Sophia?” She looked confused. “You’re so friendly and feel extremely sociable!”

“It feels sooo great to hear that!” The tiger looked incredibly happy. “I’ve managed to change a lot and better myself a ton over the past months! If you think so, it’s amazing~! I’ve used to be extremely shy and pretty depressive, actually…”

“…” Chloe stared at her for a few seconds. “That doesn't sound like you at all! Well, I’m glad you got over it with such great success!”

“Thanks!” Quite a while ago, Sophia was worried that she had stopped being herself, but she had long accepted her being the improved version of her old self. “Humans aside, which didn’t end well, Maya’s also one of the first people I met after, uhh… stuff happened and started traveling with Fenny.”

“I see…” Remembering the topic of her sister, Chloe decided to not ask any questions related to the stuff that had happened. “Fenfen also said that you're traveling a lot. Is there anything interesting you saw?”

“Let’s see…” The blonde tilted her head. "Well, as I am a cat, I'm currently getting ready to hibernate, so…"

“Cats don’t hibernate!” Chloe got a little loud.

“They would if they could, though!”

“No, they’re good to go if they get a warm place, food, and a comfy pillow!”

“That’s…” Sophia raised her hand in protest but couldn't say anything in her defense in the end. “That sounds great…”

“Wow… I met a few from the cat beastfolk, but I’ve never met such a cat before. Not to mention that you’re supposed to be a tiger.”

“Tigers are just a big domestic cat! They share like 95 or more percent of their DNA, too!”

“While that might be true… I always thought tigers have more pride…” The fox-girl wasn't sure how to feel about this overly lax feline.

“I take pride in being comfy!” The blonde had an answer for almost everything. Not necessarily the right one, but she had an answer.

“Fine…” She gave up. “Well, it’s hard to disagree. Comfy is great. Okay, before it started getting colder, did you travel to any interesting place?"

"I love to run around, so we actually visited many places…"

“You love to run around…?” Chloe tilted her head while looking at the tiger with a questioning expression. “That doesn’t match with anything else I heard from you until now.”

“Yes!”

"Really…? I mean, you look super fit, especially for someone sounding that lazy, but..."

"It's true," Maya confirmed her claim. “Sleeping and running around are two of the cornerstones of… well, of Sophia.” She simply gestured at the tiger. “If she can’t run around and power herself out, she gets all grumpy and loudly complains about it all day long…”

“I sure do!”

"So… You're the textbook example of a cat, but also are a part dog?”

“I kinda am, now that you mention it…” The blonde thought about it for a moment. “Wait, am I a fox…?” A slight existential crisis surfaced.

“…” Chloe only stared at her but eventually started smiling. “You aren’t nearly fluffy enough to call yourself a fox.”

“That is deeply offensive!” The striped fox started pouting again.

“Is it?” The actual, pink-haired fox didn't believe her.

“Yes!”

“Her idiocy aside,” Maya rolled her eyes. “You should see her in the morning before she fixes her hair… You might think otherwise, then.”

“I don't want that kind of fluffy!” Sophia kept getting louder.

“Calm down.”

“No!”

“Fluffy hair…?” Chloe looked at the blonde. “Okay, it has a good bit of volume, but actually fluffy…?” She gestured at her own, extremely puffy hair while saying so.

“Compared to normal me, at least! It’s a tiger curse…" Sophia hung her head. "Once it starts getting cold, our hair turns lighter in color. I'm originally a darker blonde, though I love the current color. Then, our hair also puffs up a lot."

"Tigers get a winter coat…?"

“More or less… My hair got fluffy and unruly and it is a pain to deal with… I only managed to tame it by applying heat to flatten it…"

“Wow, that’s clever!” The fox-girl seemed impressed. “Do you think it would work on me, too?”

“No.” Her answer was instantaneous.

“Ahh… I guess it’s too much volume to iron, huh?"

"No, I just don't want you to get any less fluffy." As usual, Sophia was highly selfish.

“Don’t worry, I don’t want to do anything with my tail, but my actual hair can be a bit of a pain every now and then… A little bit of taming there by using a straightening ironing would be appreciated. Maybe even just the tips to get a bit of the curl out of there.” She held up some of her hair to get her point across.

“Hrmmn…” The blonde looked seriously conflicted. "Well, okay, fine… I like you already, so I should try to help you out, too…”

“Yay!” Chloe looked genuinely happy. “Thank you!”

“Sure…” She couldn't say no to her. “We’ll have to try it the next time, though, because I don't have anything on me right now for that…”

“Okay!”

“Ahh… So that is why you called her the little sister type when Aura described her to us…” Maya looked at the fox-girl before focusing on the tiger. “Nice and adorable with a personality you can't say no to and just have to spoil her.”

“Yep.”

“I’m not a little sister type!” Chloe didn't seem to like the idea. “Also, I look older than both of you!”

“Hmm… You might be bigger than both of us…” The cat-girl focused on a specific spot on the sweater of the pink-haired girl before looking up again. “Even Sophia’s taller than you, though.”

“Heh.” The short tiger really liked the fact that she was taller than the fox.

“F-First, just where were you looking just now?!” Chloe covered her chest with her arms while her face turned red. She might be shorter, but her sweater seemed to be hiding a lot.

“Exactly on the area you're covering right now." Maya never has, and never will be embarrassed about her love for a sizeable chest.

“Uuh…” It didn’t seem like the fox-girl was able to deal overly well with that topic. “Y-You’re really mean!”

“Definitely a little sister.” The couple felt confirmed about their theory.

Afterward, Chloe started pouting even more and decided to stop talking to the other two for a while. As a result of that, they decided to take yet another break.

Teanam

A big thank you to

- Tinybobcat -

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