Maya’s birthday was over, and on the following day, once the couple had recovered from an eventful day and a long, not to mention exhausting night, the two went over to the royal castle again to meet Anna and Ari. There, Sophia and the cat-girl also tried on the winter uniform of the academy the duo attends to make sure it fits for when the couple’s going to visit the school.

Sophia wasn’t a fan of the short skirt at first. Still, after understanding that her new black tights hide any important spots with ease, together with how comfortable skirts actually are, she was warming up to her new wardrobe sooner than anticipated.

Ari and Anna were also quite surprised about the blonde’s figure, especially her chest, after seeing Sophia not in her usually rather baggy shirts for the first time. Maya saw through that in an instant, though, and noticed that her tiger had adjusted parts of her body a little with magic to perfectly fill out the uniform she had received from the jaguar. Much to her delight, Sophia also was open to the idea of keeping her figure like that. Maya naturally liked every version of Sophia, and she proved that many times already, but she had not a single complaint about this decision, either.

Once the couple got used to their new clothes, and bodies, the two kept chatting with the princess and Ari. After all, both really enjoyed that, and they also had nothing else planned, either.

“What’s your school or academy like…?” Once Sophia finished running around in Anna’s room to get used to her new skirt, she sat down on a free spot next to her cat on the sofas and looked at the duo.

“Hmm…” The two tilted their heads in response.

“It’s fun.” The princess was the first to answer.

“Thank you very much for this beneficial insight. It answered all of my questions.” The blonde’s voice carried a slight hint of sarcasm with it.

“It’s a very Anna-like reply, though.” Ari also rolled her eyes. “I’m not even sure if I agree with that…”

“Come on, don’t be like that~.” The princess nudged her side. “Ever since people noticed that you’re finally less self-conscious about your hair, they try to approach you more, too, after all…” She suddenly paused. “Wait, thanks to that… is the academy fun…?” Anna’s voice changed, and she sounded a bit jealous. “No… It is fun to chat with everyone, at least…”

“Haa…” Maya sighed for some reason while she was looking at the tall tiger being grumbly about Ari getting more attention lately.

“Even so… It’s true that I get slightly less uncomfortable when people look at me, but I still haven’t done much of this chatting thing…” The jaguar thought about the academy some more. “There’s various stuff you get taught there… Though, everything related to magic is actually completely wrong…” She glanced at the couple during the last part.

“Ahaha…” Sophia only let out a dry laugh. “Doesn’t sound like school’s any fun…” Curiously enough, the blonde didn’t sound surprised in the slightest about this revelation.

“I-It’s not that bad of a place!” Even though Anna had started to doubt it herself, she still tried to defend it. “I-It’s nice to chat with friends and stuff… We learned a few useful things, as well…” She didn’t sound overly convincing.

“It’s alright, princess.” Maya stopped her. “We already agreed to go with the two of you.”

“Yeah,” Sophia nodded. “Look at me in this stupidly short skirt! I’ve committed to it now.”

“Gladly.” The cat-girl changed her attention to the blonde’s legs.

“Idiot…”

“Well, it suits you.” Anna also stole a glance.

“T-Thanks… I also think it looks great, it’s super comfy, and I hate it…”

“That sounds slightly contradictory…” Ari tilted her head while sounding a bit confused.

“I hate that I love it!” The blonde got loud.

“Ahh…” Everyone had the same expression as they smiled at the squirming tiger, who had started playing with the hem of her skirt again.

“I know it’s unfamiliar for you, but…” The jaguar glanced at the blonde’s skirt. “I don’t see anything important, but you’re still showing off more leg than you probably want to if you move the hem of it around so much.”

“Yep.” Anna, sitting next to Ari on the sofa opposite of Sophia and Maya, gave her a hearty nod.

“H-Hey!” Hearing that, the blonde instinctively crossed her legs while pushing down her skirt.

“Stop being so adorable…” Maya had her difficulties keeping her cool while she looked at her overly girlish girlfriend.

“Yes.” The duo agreed with the cat-girl as they marveled over the extremely unfamiliar side of the blonde. “It’s sooo not like you. It’s cute, though.”

“I hate all of you…” With a huff, she turned her head away.

“We love you, too.”

“…” Sophia paused for a moment. “T-Thanks…” She liked what she heard but had to double down regardless. “Still hate you, though.”

“Ehehe.” The trio looked at her with a warm expression while stifling a chuckle.

“Trying on this skirt was a mistake… No matter how comfy it is…” As usual, Sophia liked to complain about something she already had taken a liking to. “Maybe I should rethink it again…” She didn’t look like she actually wanted to, though.

“No!” Maya didn’t want that to happen, either. “Girly Sophia is amazing!”

“Yes!” The duo strongly agreed.

“Decide on a standpoint already!” The blonde raised her voice.

“No!” All three shook their heads. “Well, you look cute, so we’re okay with it.”

“That’s seriously creepy…” Sophia didn’t like how their voices overlapped so perfectly. “T-Thank you, though…” While she usually prefers baggy and comfortable clothes that are easy to move in, it didn’t mean that she doesn’t like being called cute.

“Be prepared for when we’re going shopping together!” Ari locked eyes with her. “Your wardrobe is going to make a drastic change.”

"A-Ah…” She wasn’t sure how to feel about this. “Go easy on me, please…”

“No.” Everyone disagreed.

“Fine…” Sophia gave up. “Well, I kinda want to change things up, too…”

“Yay!” The trio sounded happy.

“And I trust you that if I really don’t want something, you’re not going to force me… That might backfire a bit.” Her voice changed a little during the end.

“Y-Yes.”

“Good. Feel free to try something, though. I want to get some inspiration, too.” The blonde turned cheerful again.

“…” The duo and Maya glanced at each other, vowing in their mind not to totally overdo it with Sophia in their minds.

The girls chatted about their shopping trip for a little longer before eventually changing the topic.

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“By the way,” The blonde looked at the fluffy twintails of her fellow tiger again. “How is our queen faring with her hair? The last time I saw her, she already had even more volume than you have now…”

“If you value your life, don’t ever approach mother with that topic…” Anna’s voice turned deadly serious.

“W-Wow…” She hadn’t expected such a reply. “It’s that bad? Didn’t she visit the beauty store to test out my invention, too…?”

“Don’t ever ask her about that, either!”

“W-What happened?”

“I mentioned that the current version of your invention doesn’t have enough power for my long hair, right?”

“Yes?”

“Well, the girls weren’t even able to press the iron down when they put a strand of mother’s hair inside…”

“Okay, now you’re just messing with me.” Sophia didn’t believe her.

“Well then, go and ask her.” Anna smirked at her. “Good luck.”

“M-Maya…” The blonde looked at her cat.

“Not a chance.” She already knew what the question was going to be.

“It was worth a try…”

“If you think so.” Maya only rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure they’ll manage to eventually tame Kira’s hair…” Sophia decided not to go and ask her herself. “What about Ellie?”

“She loves her fluffy hair.” Anna let out a small sigh. “She’s still too young to understand how much of a pain it is.”

“Yeah, just about what I expected.” The blonde wasn’t surprised to hear that the little princess was more than fine with the change.

“How nice it has to be not having to care about anything except having fun…” The tall tiger played with one of her fluffy twintails while saying so.

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The girls kept the topic going for a little longer, but Sophia eventually focused on the school uniform she and everyone else was wearing right now again.

“By the way,” She looked at Maya. “What are we actually going to do in their academy? I mean, sure, the whole magic thingy, but… Is there an actual plan for that?”

“True.” Ari faced her princess. “Sophia and I were a little left out on the whole project, so I have no idea what exactly is going on, either.”

“Not that I complain.” The blonde wasn’t upset in the slightest that the two weren’t overly included in training Eluna.

“Yep.” The jaguar nodded. “Our free times during those trainings were very well spent.”

“Absolutely.”

“Yeah, with flirting.” Anna lightly glared at them in response.

“…” Sophia didn’t answer.

“So, what’s the plan.” Ari completely ignored her tiger’s expression which was slowly changing to a pout instead.

“Hmm…” The cat-girl tilted her head. “Do we even have a plan…?”

“Eh?” Sophia and the jaguar seemed surprised.

“Let’s see…” The princess finished pouting and tilted her head. “We trained Eluna, and she’s able to use a number of elements or groups now… That’s why we planned to visit the academy together to present the new way of using magic. Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Sure, I understood that much already.” Sophia nodded. “How, though?”

“Uhh…” Maya and Anna first looked at each other before eventually facing the blonde. “No idea.”

“Why is everyone around me so easygoing?”

“Hey!” The serious jaguar raised her voice.

“I know you well enough by now that I know that you have more than one side, my dear.” Sophia only stared at her.

"A-Ah…” The mostly, or occasionally serious Ari turned her head away.

“Don’t worry, I love that side of yours. Please keep going like that.” The blonde really enjoyed her black-haired friend being so diverse when it came to her personality.

“T-Thanks…” She wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about this.

“Hehe.” Sophia liked her reaction. “No, wait… Do we seriously have no plan? I mean, I rarely plan anything, so I’m not to blame here, but no one made any preparations…? I’m not sure if I should be proud or disappointed.” She paused for a moment. “Nope, definitely proud. I’m in good company~.”

“I’m glad that you’re having fun, but…” Ari had recovered from the earlier jab already. “Shouldn’t we actually… I don’t know, plan something?”

“Any ideas?” Planning things wasn’t the blonde’s forte, so she immediately gave up without even trying.

“None.” Anna swiftly joined her. “Well, to our defense, tigers aren’t known for being planners. We’re doers.”

“Exactly!” Sophia liked this explanation she had never heard before.

“My dear princes,” The jaguar glanced at her. “Your father’s the king and ruler of this nation. His job is literally to plan and make decisions for the entire country day in and out.”

“Father’s also more of a doer. He has his commanders, ministers, and the entire rest of his political staff to help him, after all.”

“Is that so?” Ari was still staring at her.

“Probably.” She had no chance of winning against her jaguar when it came to stuff like this.

“Alright, what’s the plan, Ari?” Sophia smiled at her.

“Why me?!”

“You’re the serious, levelheaded one here, after all.”

“I knew that would eventually bite me the moment I raised my voice earlier…” She hung her head. “Okay, girls, homework for everyone! We’ll all give it some thought and meet again tomorrow to talk about our ideas!”

“You have no plan either, do you?” Maya saw through her in an instant.

“I choose not to answer that.”

“Hehe.”

The couple stayed for a little longer but eventually decided to head home to get working on their assignment. The two also decided to keep wearing the uniform on the way back to get used to it. Maya had no problems with that, but Sophia kept being fidgety the entire way back. The short skirt made her feel a bit insecure because it was new to her, but she also very much enjoyed how easy it was to move in it. All in all, she actually really liked it.