The group had ditched the beach after Sophia detected a mysterious and mighty monster in the distance. Judging it was too dangerous to stick around, they continued their way towards the beastfolk capital.

"Hrmn..." Sophia was grumbling over something while the group was walking alongside the sea.

"What's wrong?"

"I can still sense its presence. That thing always stays at the corner of my detection range."

"I-Is it following us?!" Maya didn't like the sound of it.

"I don't think so. Why would it? How could it? In the first place, there's still like 30, 40, or maybe even 50 kilometers of water in between us. That's not so easy to cross, you know?"

"Y-You're right..."

"Ah, and just as I said it, it's gone now."

"Great!" The cat-girl was visibly relieved. "Let's keep going and increase our distance!"

"You're way too worried, Maya~."

"I'm not so sure about that..."

----------------

The group kept going for about half a day until evening, and the monster never showed up on Sophia's radar again. Once the sun was about to set, they made their usual camp for the night and had just finished dinner.

"Haa, that was good~." Sophia was rubbing her belly in satisfaction while relaxing in front of the fire.

"Okay, bath time! I'm looking forward to that."

"A-Ah," She flinched at Maya's suggestion. "I-I forgot about that..."

"Let's go~." She grabbed Sophia's arm and dragged her away.

"Have fun." Fen sent them off, hoping to finally have some peace and quietness.

Once the couple went and built the bath, the two entered the tub, and things became a little awkward.

"Uuh..." Sophia let out a soft squirm. Feeling the gaze of Maya all over her body made her really self-conscious, and she turned her body away.

"Why are you hiding?"

"B-Because it's embarrassing to be seen!"

"Eh!? I thought we were over that?"

"I got used to it... sort of, but that was that... Now's an entirely different situation!"

"How so?"

"B-Because we are d-dating now... Being seen in the nude by your girlfriend... s-super embarrassing!" Sophia turned redder and redder.

"Really? You can look at me all you want, though."

"I-I don't think that would... help... in... any... way-!" Sophia wanted to deny it, but she still slowly turned around to face the cat-girl and lost the ability to talk. Mesmerized, she couldn't look away anymore.

"Uuh..." After a while, Maya turned away with a slight squirm. "O-Okay, I think I get what you mean..." She had become self-conscious as well. "B-Being watched by your lover is something else entirely, alright!"

"Y-Yeah..." With a slight hint of tension in the air, the mood got a little awkward.

"W-Well, let's do that in the meanwhile." Maya got next to the girl and leaned her back against the side of the tub while placing her head on Sophia's shoulder.

"T-That much is fine..." She tilted her body a little, coming more in contact with the cat-girl, and leaned her head against hers.

The two stayed like that for a little while, just enjoying each other's company, with the awkwardness slowly fading away.

"Sophia?" Maya spoke up after a bit.

"Hmm~?" She was slightly dozing off.

"I love you."

"A-Ah!" In an instant, the girl was wide awake again. "N-No sneak attacks! My poor heart won't survive something like that without prior warning!"

"Ehehe~."

"..." Sophia went silent. After preparing herself for a moment, she turned her head and gave the cat-girl a quick kiss on the cheek. "I-, I love you, too." She was trying her best to keep up with the other one.

"W-Who's the sneaky one here?!" Maya, too, took some damage.

"You."

"Ehh? So unreasonable!"

"Hehe."

"Hrmn..." Maya pouted for a while. Once she was done with that, she had the urge to get back at her. Facing her, she gave the smug girl a surprise kiss directly on the lips. "That's how it works~."

"Grrr..." Sophia's competitive side was lit, and she immediately returned the kiss.

"That's your game, huh?"

This back and forth went on for a while. The two exchanged kiss after kiss, trying to top the other girl, getting more and more heated up-

----------------

"E-Eh?" The next thing Sophia saw with her eyes was the fire in their camp. "Uhh, this feeling on my head..." Having a slight sense of déjà vu, she slowly looked up and eventually made eye contact with a certain cat-girl.

"Oh, look at that. The sleepyhead is back." She lightly greeted her. "Wow, you really are bad with hot water."

"Urgh," Sophia squirmed around in Maya's lap after regaining consciousness there, still trying to figure out what happened. "T-That's all your fault, idiot." The hot water was only part of the reason this time.

"Hehe." The cat-girl understood her implication and replied with a smug grin.

"S-So embarrassing."

"You say that, but you were pretty bold yourself, Sophia."

"T-That's the biggest problem! I want to do the things we, uhh, did. I really l-like them, but a part of me can't keep up with it right now, so I get excited and embarrassed at the same time. It's a very complicated feeling!"

"As long as you don't get excited from feeling embarrassed." That would be a bit much for Maya.

"No, thank you!"

"Then it's fine. You-, we'll be able to deal with it eventually. How does lots of practicing sound~?"

"P-Practise, huh?" Sophia wasn't sure whether she should look forward to it or be scared. Or scared that she's looking forward to it.

"Lots of it." It was important, so she said it twice.

"O-Okay." While her face was red, all things considered, Sophia wasn't against it.

"Ehehe."

They chatted a while longer before the group decided to call it a day. Somewhere along the way, the couple had changed positions, with Maya claiming the other girl's lap for the night. Once she got scolded a couple of times for tickling Sophia's legs, as usual, they finally closed their eyes.

----------------

On the next day, after breakfast, the three continued to follow alongside the coastline towards the beastfolk capital located in the fast west.

"Hmm..." Sophia seemed to be thinking about something.

"What's wrong? D-Don't tell me you're detecting that monster from before again?!"

"No, I was trying to search for it, but I can't sense it at all. Kinda disappointing, huh?"

"Not at all! If anything, I'm really very happy about that! I don't mind a strong enemy, but too much is too much!" Maya wasn't sharing her sentiment.

"Well, I don't want to meet it either, but it was interesting, wasn't it?"

"I have very mixed feelings about that..."

"But Fen, you were curious, right?"

"I'm wondering who it was, but as I said before, not enough to risk meeting it."

"Yeah!" Sophia agreed with him. "Not worth it."

"Still-" Fen was intrigued nonetheless. "Could it be another human from your world, Sophia? Someone, you know, maybe? I have no other explanation for such powers."

"I didn't know many people there... In the first place, there were something like seven or eight billion humans in my old world. The chances for that would be extremely slim. "

"S-Sev-, e-eight... b-billion?!" The wolf's entire body shivered. "S-Such a ghastly world exists?!"

"Yeah, it wasn't a fun place. It's sooo much better here!" Sophia glanced at Maya a couple of times while saying so.

"Hehe." She didn't fail to notice it.

"Anyway, no, I don't think so. I'm still not that good with it, but it didn't feel human...-oid to me. Actually, was it even a monster? It really felt similar to the reaction I get from you, Fen."

"That makes... no sense... at all." The wolf hesitated with his answer. "There should be... none..."

"Hmm?" His reaction confused her a little. "Well, I could be wrong. I'm not very good at properly identifying individuals. I'm only certain about its power, after all."

"Yes, that could be the reason..."

----------------

Once that topic was over, the group continued their journey and covered a lot of ground. A couple of days later, however, a slight obstacle blocked their path.

"Uhh..." Sophia glanced down a massive and seemingly endless canyon that created a gap of at least 50 meters in front of them.

"Err-" The cat-girl was looking at the other side at the same time. "The path continues over there, though? Shouldn't there be a bridge or something like that?"

"Hmm..." She looked around and quickly found the answer. "Well, there was." She pointed at two posts and the remains of a suspension bridge hanging down the cliffside.

"Ah, you're right." Maya spotted the destroyed bridge, as well. "What now?"

"Jump?"

"Seems like a plan to me." Fen and the other idiot took a couple of steps back to have a run-up.

"How about no?" The wielder of common sense tried to stop them. "There's no way that we, no, I can jump over that gap!"

"You really need to get in better shape, cat." Fen was slightly disappointed.

"Y-You two do know that I'm the normal one here, right?! Jumping over a 50m gap is not something you can overcome with training!"

"Nonsense!"

"Urgh, just why am I the only one with common sense?"

"If you're the only one... is it really common sense?" Sophia was confused and tilted her head while thinking about the terminology.

"Don't get philosophical on me again now! I'm generally speaking!"

"Is retorting fun? You seem so energetic."

"Oh, shut up, Sophia!"

"Ehehe." She chuckled at Maya's reaction. "On a more serious note... How about we simply build a new bridge?"

"One does not simply build a bridge-"

"Why not?" Sophia didn't see the problem.

"Why, she asks... Because... hmm?" She didn't have an answer. "Am I in the wrong here?"

"You keep going on about common sense, but that's just by the standards you grew up with." Fen tried to explain it for the cat-girl. "The members of this group are way out of this norm. All members of this group. For us, something like this should be common sense, you know?" While saying so, the wolf looked at the canyon. A moment later, multiple stones floated up from down below and slowly began to form a passage. Soon after, a picture-book-worthy stone bridge had closed the gap in front of them.

"Good job." Sophia praised him.

"That much is nothing."

"R-Right..." Maya wasn't sure how to react. "I actually am not normal either, huh?"

"Nope." The other tho nodded.

"Uuh, what have I gotten myself into..."

"Something great, I would like to say."

"That is true, Sophia." Maya heavily emphasized her name "The power scaling is just a bit much for me."

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it eventually."

"That's my main worry!" She didn't feel relieved at all.

While the cat-girl was busily retorting, the group crossed over the newly-built bridge and continued on the path at the other side of the canyon.