After the couple finished their chat with Anna and Ari, they decided to head home. On the way, they also ran into Queen Kira, and the two found out that she actually knew about what goes on between the princess and the jaguar already. Luckily, she fully supports it because she loves Ari. Kira then also told them that the king’s currently suffering from another enormous headache thanks to a nearby plain having turned into a lake that no one could explain.

“We’re home~.” Finally back in the mansion, the couple immediately went to their living room and greeted the wolves there.

“We’re, too… I guess?” Fen wasn’t sure how to return their greeting.

“Welcome~.” Aura didn’t care about semantics.

“Fenny, I want to go to the elven village!” Sophia decided to waste no time.

“Ehh…? We just came back from there…” He didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the idea and only placed his head on the fluffy sheepskin rug again.

“Do I look like I care about that?!” The blonde had other plans, though.

“Really…?” Fen wasn’t a fan of her enthusiasm. “Aura and her new best friend there tired me out enough already. I need a break…”

“Oh?” Sophia changed her attention to the other wolf. “New friend?”

“Yep.” She sounded happy. “Chloe’s her name. She’s a fox-girl about your age. A lovely girl.”

“Sounds fun!”

“She’s also the girl with the 17 on the fluffiness scale I mentioned after the first time we visited the place.”

“Hmm…?” The tiger tilted her head. “Wasn’t it a 12 or 13 the last time we talked about that? That was some pretty important information for me, so I made sure to remember.” Fluffiness is no joke for her, after all.

“She was back then, but I guess her tail got even more fluffy because it’s getting colder.”

“I love the cold!”

“No, you don’t.” Everyone retorted to the blonde’s claim.

“Yeah…” She nodded. “That was too overenthusiastic for even me…” She had noticed it herself. “So, this, uhh… Chloe? How fluffy of a tail are we talking about?”

“Everything about her is fluffy. Ears, hair, personality, all fluffy.”

“She sounds great!” Sophia liked what she was hearing. “So, again, tail?” It was very important to the tiger.

“It’s bigger than her body.”

“Wow!”

“Is she… that Chloe girl, is she dangerous?” Maya wasn’t sure how she should feel about Sophia’s excitement and looked at Aura.

“Nah.” The wolf lightly shook her head. “Chloe’s just, I don’t know… adorable?” She pondered about the wording for a moment. “It’s hard for me to categorize because humanoid girls are sooo outside of my interest, but she’s really just cute. Hmm… Oh, imagine the little princess… Ellie, was it? Imagine her being grown up. It’s not a perfect fit, but that’s the closest I can think of right now.”

“Oh, so a bigger little sister type…?” The blonde tilted her head.

“She’s actually a bit smaller than you.” Aura corrected her. “Okay, she’s shorter than you.” She also corrected herself.

“What’s a little sister type…?” The cat-girl wondered about Sophia’s wording.

“That REALLY depends on who you ask…” The blonde had a rather complicated expression for a moment. “For me, it’s someone you just can’t help wanting to spoil and love her in an innocent way.”

“Soo… actually like Ellie, just… older?”

“More or less, yeah.” Sophia nodded after Maya’s interpretation.

“Mhmmrngh…” The cat-girl seemingly went through multiple emotions all at once. “Alright, I have to see her for myself first, but it could work out…” She somehow managed to keep her jealousy in check. To some degree, at least.

“My, how generous~.” The blonde rolled her eyes.

“Hehe. Well, I’m trying my best here…” Maya paused for a moment. “I want you to have friends, but I also want to make sure it stays at that!”

“I know~.” Sophia smiled at her before focusing on Fen. “So, if this fox is so sweet and cute, why or how did she exhaust you?”

“Because she kept asking about my relationship with Aura, and my idiot started having a lively discussion with her about it-… Ah.” His eyes suddenly shot open after he noticed his mistake.

“Ohhh?” Sophia’s eyes, on the other hand, started to sparkle instead.

“Oh no…” He already was deeply regretting everything. “A-Alright, you wanted to head over to the elven village, right…? Okay, let’s head out immediately!” He got up from the sheepskin rug and started walking towards the door.

“Stop right there, Fenny!” The blonde had a change of plans. “Sit down again please, my dear. I have the feeling that there’s something you really want to tell me~.”

“I do not.”

“Aura?” The tiger changed her target.

“Sure~.” She smiled at her. “I’ll happily tell you everything. In great detail, too~.”

“I like the sound of that!”

“Stop!” Fen didn’t. He walked back again and sat down next to his wolf. “I’ll talk…”

“Perfect~!” Sophia got precisely what she wanted.

“I hate you…”

“We all know you don’t.” Aura wasn’t on his side, either.

“I hate you, too…”

“I love you, though.”

“…” He paused for a moment. “Yes… I love you, too…”

“Aww!” The blonde was having a great time right now.

“Soo…” Maya naturally got curious, as well. “Are the two of you…?”

“Yep!” Aura gave her a cheerful reply.

“Yes…” Fen was a little more reserved. “The two of us… we are together.”

“Congrats.” The cat-girl looked at the female wolf. “Good job.”

“Thanks. It wasn’t easy.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. I know how frustrating dense idiots can be, after all.”

“Hey!” The dense idiots got loud.

“You two have no right to complain here!” The other two got even louder.

“Y-Yes…” The two were powerless against their partners.

“T-That aside, about freaking time!” Sophia recovered fast and looked at Fen with sparkling eyes again. “You’ve left her waiting for way too long!”

“D-Do you have any idea how much Maya complained to me about you while we were traveling…?” He stared back at her.

“…” The tiger needed a moment. “T-That’s nothing compared to how long the two of you know each other already!”

“It started differently with us, though!” Fen wasn’t backing down. “It was sooo obvious that Maya was going after you since the very moment you met!”

“T-That’s not true!” The cat-girl didn’t like how she ended up in the crossfire.

“You were. You just weren’t aware of it yet!”

“Urgh…” Maya hung her head.

“How could you see that so clearly, yet it took you so long with me?” Aura still wasn’t on his side here.

“Urgh…” The male wolf followed after the cat.

“Our idiocy aside…” Sophia decided to leave the topic of being dense behind them. “Details! I want details here! How did it happen? When did it happen? Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“For why I didn’t tell you yet…” Fen glared at the overly excited tiger. “That is the very reason for that.”

“Too bad for you, but that made it even worse!” Her expression changed to a grin. “I will pester you even more with it now, demanding all the details!”

“As if you ever would’ve settled for less if I had told you immediately…”

“You win that round, Fenny.” She had no intention to fight his claim because the wolf was right. “So, details!”

“Haa… fine.” He gave up. “Well… the turning point was the accident the two of us had.”

“The magic one that went out of control…?”

“Yes.” Fen nodded. “I got into dicey situations before, but nothing was quite as close as this. After this, I noticed that life is too short to waste time…” He paused for a moment while looking at Sophia’s dubious expression. “Yes… I am aware of the irony of saying those words as an ageless being who knows someone who can stop time at will to abuse those powers to have fun with her girlfriend.”

“A-Ah.” The blonde scratched her cheek. “G-Go on, please…”

“There isn’t that much more to go on with.” Fen looked at Sophia and quickly noticed that this wouldn’t work. “Ever since, I felt like I shouldn’t take things for granted anymore. Or Aura, for that matter. I’ve lost her once before, and I didn’t like that at all. Seeing how easily one can end up in such a situation, I decided to stop being dense.”

“Debatable.” Aura still hadn’t decided to be on his side.

“H-Hey.”

“Also,” Maya also couldn’t stay silent. “One usually doesn’t end up in life-or-death situations easily.”

“…” He simply looked away from her. So did Sophia.

“Idiots.” The cat-girl could only shake her head in response.

“Our idiots.” Aura corrected her. “Though, maybe we shouldn’t boast with that in such a situation."

“A fair point.”

“Should we look for some nicer girls, Fenny?”

“That sounds like a worthwhile thought.”

“Shut up, you two.”

“Yes…” They knew it was mostly their own fault for Maya and Aura to act like this.

“Okay, more details, my dear!” The blonde focused his attention on the male wolf once again.

“Just why are you so giddy about this…?”

“Because romance was an impossible topic for me in my old world! Here, though, I’m surrounded by it, and I want to enjoy every second of it!”

“I hate it when I can’t talk back to you…” Fen decided to continue. “I don’t know… I felt like this ever since we reunited, but it changed even more after the accident. Being with her is extremely enjoyable, and I wanted to be as close as possible with her…”

“Aww!” Sophia was a fan of the softie wolf.

“Stop looking like that, please...”

“No!” She enjoyed it a lot. “Alright, I still want to go to the elven village today, so let’s take a break from the topic for the time being!”

“Good.”

“I’ll come back to it, though!”

“Not good.”

“There’s one last thing I need to know right now, though.”

“Even worse.”

“When will we get some small wolf cubs to play with?” Sophia’s eyes started sparkling again.

“…” Fen stopped talking entirely, walked out of the living room, and exited the mansion.

“Sophia…” Maya glared at her. “It’s too early to ask that.”

“Why?” She glared back. “Aura asked me the same question before! That’s why, my dear Aura, I’d like to get an answer here.”

“I am deeply sorry that I teased you with that.” She hung her head. “That was insensitive of me.” Further evading the question, she then followed after her wolf.

“Aww…” The blonde started pouting. “Seems like we have to wait a while for that.”

“There are so many things I want to say right now…”

“Okay, let’s head out!” Not wanting to deal with that, the tiger ran after the wolves.

“Haa…” Giving up with a sigh, the cat-girl did the same, and the group, with a bit of distance between the couples, made their way towards the elven village.