Maya was back in her home after training Eluna in the castle. She had also brought Anna along because Ari was still there with Sophia, as well. Relaxing in their living room, the princess fell in love with the heated floors the blonde had invented and desperately wanted them in the castle, too. Just as the other three girls, Anna’s also just a cat at heart, after all.

“Haa~.” The princess let out a satisfied sigh as she sat on the sofa while gliding her feet over the warm ground. “This level of being comfy is dangerous, Sophia. Your invention is scary.”

“I know~.”

“By the way,” Maya glanced at her tiger and the jaguar. “What did the two of you do all day. You wanted to train or something like that, right?”

“A-Ah…” Sophia turned her head away.

“W-Well…” Ari also looked a bit flustered.

“W-What happened?!” Anna didn’t like this reaction.

“N-No!” The black-haired girl flung her arms around. “Sophia explained the heated floors to me and showed the effects by urging me to take off my shoes to feel it better…” She paused for a moment. “Afterward, we, uhh… Nothing much happened after that anymore.” The jaguar managed to get the excuse out the two had agreed on earlier.

“I see.” Anna’s expression relaxed again. “As I said before, this invention is dangerous. To make even Ari go useless this fast~.”

“H-Hey!” She tried to protest. “Well, y-yeah… You know that I don’t do well with the cold, either…”

“Sure do~.” The princess was happy that she managed to get back on her for once.

“Anyway,” Sophia, wanting to get the attention away from them, changed the topic while staring at the fellow tiger. “What’s up with your hair, Anna? It's so fluffy! It looks like your ponytail is about to explode because it has to hold twice as much hair now.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Maya also looked at her. “I hadn’t paid any attention to it earlier, but it really is suuuper puffed up.”

“Ahh…” The fluffy girl in question awkwardly scratched her cheek. “That’s the bane of tiger hair during the winter… The apocalypse has started…”

“E-Eh…?” The blonde didn’t like the sound of that.

“It gains volume like nothing else… It feels super warm, but it’s a huge pain to deal with. The temperatures this week have just reached a point where it starts… The longer your hair is, the worse and earlier it’ll affect you. That’s probably why it hasn’t started for you yet, Sophia… You have another week or two. Well, it's getting a lot longer since we met, so maybe a little less? Father likes it because it makes his hair look fuller. Ellie’s hair, absolutely speaking, not compared to her size, is roughly the same as yours, so… Still, for mother and me, it’s hell already."

“R-Really…?”

“Wait… Why don’t you know…?” Anna seemed confused. “Didn’t you experience it during the last winters?”

“A-Ah.” Sophia needed a moment. “Y-You see, before meeting Maya and coming here, I was in the far away monster country with Fen all the time. There is no winter there.”

“Wow, you really are one outrageous girl…” Anna had no better words. “Well, look forward to months of fluffy and unruly hair~. Seeing how your hair’s already a little wild without winter season, it’s going to be a ton of fun for you.”

“Ehhh…?” She clearly wasn’t looking forward to any of that. “Seriously…?”

“Yep.” The princess nodded. “The only upside is that our hair also gets a little lighter. That, visually speaking, takes a bit of volume out of it again.”

“Is that so…?” Sophia grabbed a few strands of her hair. “I did notice that my ends seemed to be fading out a bit the other day, but… It’s because of that…?”

“That’s how it begins.” Anna reached towards her back and grabbed the end of her ponytail to show it to the other tiger. “See, still not as blonde as your normal hair, but it’s a bit less orange already.” Her hair had developed a gradient color of a deep orange slowly fading into something lighter towards the end. “It’ll be like that for my entire hair soon.”

“That’s kinda cool.” Sophia looked at it in admiration for a moment. “Also like a super pain, though.”

“You have no idea!” She got loud while complaining about it.

“Even fluffier Sophia? I look forward to that!” Maya had her own opinion on the topic.

“Urgh… I guess it’s you who’s going to take care of my hair, then.” It sounded way too bothersome for the owner of said hair.

“Gladly~.” The cat-girl had no problem with that.

“Yep, you need a second person for that…” Ari suddenly let out a sigh. “Anna isn’t even able to brush her hair alone because it gets so puffy. It’s a two-person job.”

“Thanks for always helping me~.” Anna smiled at her jaguar.

“No problem.”

“Seriously…?” Sophia still wasn’t liking anything about this new development. “W-Well, a lighter blonde could be cute, I guess…”

“Definitely!” Maya enjoyed the situation much more.

“Is it only a tiger thing…?” She looked at her cat and Ari while asking.

“My hair only gets marginally thicker.” Maya shrugged her shoulders.

“Same for me.” The jaguar agreed. “Well, my tail also puffs up a bit more, but that’s not too hard to deal with.”

“I see… Stupid tigers…”

“Yeah…” The tiger princess agreed while both hung their heads.

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

Once Sophia had recovered from the shock about her hair and what was going to happen to it in the near future, the girls relaxed for a while longer before the blonde eventually started another conversation.

“By the way,” She looked at Maya and Anna. “How is it going with Eluna? She was one of the most powerful instructors before, right? I’m pretty sure she should get it by now, no?”

“It’s going quite well.” The cat-girl answered her. “One more session, and she’s good. She has to polish her new skills on her own, then.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“Father also suggested that she, together with the two of you, should visit our school somewhere along the end of next week.” Anna added some details.

“So early…? Wait, end of the next week?! Maya’s birthday’s there… Not a very good timing.”

“I already turned down that idea.”

“Yeah, before coming here, we told father about that and decided to do it the week after.”

“I see… That’s good.” Sophia looked relieved. Not only would it be no fun to spend a part of her birthday in school, but Sophia also wanted to do some last-minute training.

“Oh?” Anna started grinning after seeing Sophia’s reaction before looking at Maya. The two had a conversation around the topic of the blonde wanting to do something for her birthday before, after all.

“Speaking of which,” Ari then glanced at the couple. “How are the two of you going to join our academy? I mean, are you going to be real teachers? Or is it something closer to an exchange student program with special students? In any case, you’re going to stick out a lot because you’ll be looking like anyone else age-wise, but you aren’t going to wear the academy uniform. Wait, or do you?”

“Oh, that’s a brilliant idea!” Anna’s eyes started to sparkle.

“I don’t like where this is going…” Sophia suddenly got a bad feeling about the situation.

“I think our uniform’s pretty cute. You two should totally wear it!”

“I-I think I’ll pass on that…” The blonde wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“Aww, come on~.” The other tiger really wanted them to wear it.

“Yeah, let’s do it, Sophia.” Maya sided with the princess. “It’s going to be fun!”

“You just want to see me in a skirt!” Sophia saw through her cat in an instant.

“Exactly.” She didn’t even try to hide it. “What’s worse? Sticking out like a sore thumb or wearing a skirt?”

“Uhh…” It was a hard decision.

“What’s the problem?” Anna tilted her head. “Your usual shorts aren’t any longer, either. Actually…” She stared at her for a moment. “You’re, by far, showing the most leg when compared to any of us.”

“Urgh…” Sophia took some damage from that retort. “T-The shorts are super easy to move around, after all… Also, exactly because I run and jump around, shorts cover a lot more. Especially the important areas… Panties, for example.”

“Ahh…” Everyone nodded in understanding.

“That’s why skirts are a bit much for me… Longer ones are okay because accidents are unlikely with those, but the ones the three of you are wearing right now… no.” While Maya wasn’t wearing their uniform, her skirt had still roughly the same length.

“What about the best out of both worlds?” Ari wanted to help and pointed at her own legs. “With tights, you can run around freely in a skirt without having to fear showing your panties.”

“Really…?” Sophia seemed dubious and bent forward to change her line of sight. She then tried to get a glimpse below her skirt.

“Hey!” Maya and especially Anna got loud.

“Err… I’m sorry, Ari…” She looked away with a slight blush.

“Hey!” Everyone got loud now.

“O-Okay, let me rephrase that… With fully opaque tights, you have nothing to fear… I’ll switch to them either next week or the one after because they’re much warmer. You can check again, then.”

“How about no?!” The princess and cat duo were still being busy retorting.

“I was just kidding.” Ari tried to defuse the situation.

“Stop that!” Anna didn’t like such a joke.

“Wow, you’re good.” Maya did enjoy it a little.

“Urgh… Fine…” Sophia caved in. “I’ll buy the most opaque 100+ denier tights with a thick lining or maybe some leggings, and at least try it out…” She had many conditions for it, though.

“I can live with that!” The cat-girl sounded strangely excited about it.

“I know a nice shop for tights. I can show it to you next week or whenever you’re free.” Ari had some experience in wearing them, after all.

“Sounds great! Let’s go shopping together!”

“We’re coming, as well!” Maya and Anna were in perfect sync. The blonde jaguar duo got them along a little too well just now again.

“Sure~.” They had no problem with that.

“Where do we get the uniform, though?” Sophia dropped the topic for the time being. “All things considered, we aren’t real students, after all.”

“Maya can wear my old one.” The princess answered her. “We’re switching to our winter uniforms right when the two of you are supposed to visit, and I need a new one. My old one got a little tight.”

“I see…” The three other girls reacted the same as they glanced at the exact same spot of Anna’s body.

“Hey!” She, once again, got lout while she covered her chest with her arms. “I-I grew a lot in height, you know?! Any other parts don’t matter.”

“They do.” More than one reply came.

“They don’t!” Her chest somehow had become an all-time favorite topic in their group. “A-Anyway, Maya could wear my uniform from last year. It should fit pretty well.”

“I see.” The cat-girl nodded. “Thank you for the offer. I’ll try it on the next time I come over to make sure it fits.”

“Great!”

“Sophia and I are fairly similar.” Ari continued. “I’m pretty sure she’d be able to wear one of my spares without any trouble.”

“Yeah, that should work.” Even if Sophia ends up being smaller, she can very easily adjust herself to fill out the jaguar’s uniform, after all.

“Great!” Anna had recovered from the teasing. “I look forward to seeing the two of you in our uniform.

“Me, too.” Maya was staring at her tiger while agreeing to it.

“I have very mixed feelings about it!” The blonde still wasn’t convinced. “For various reasons!”

Once this topic was taken care of, the girls went back to relaxing and continued to enjoy the warm living room. Eventually, though, the princess and jaguar had to head back home. Anna wanted to stay in her new room in the couple’s mansion, but Ari didn’t let that happen. Her looking like she wanted to do the same didn’t matter, either. After a lot of back and forth, the duo eventually, and very reluctantly, managed to go home after saying they’ll be back soon. Neither of them wanted to leave the comfy warmth of the heated floors behind, after all.