Sophia and Maya went shopping with Ellie because the princess wanted to get a present for Kira as her birthday was coming up soon. As the little tiger was still young and didn’t have much experience with anything, the blonde suggested that they could make a handcrafted bowl for her. Ellie loved the idea, and they got everything they needed for it. While that was happening, Maya noticed that her parents were in the capital, and once everyone met, an already chaotic situation got even worse when Ellie decided to be adorable while she was clinging to the couple.

“…” Sophia and Ellie were back in the castle, and the blonde looked more than just a little awkward when she was looking at Kira in front of her.

“Did something happen?” The queen just tilted her head. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon again. Also, where’s Maya?”

“Uhhhhhh…” She had no idea where to even start. “E-Ellie… I’m not sure if we can do it tomorrow, but Maya and I will definitely visit you again before it’s too late. We’ll help you, okay?” She pointed at the bag she was holding.

“Yay!” The princess liked what she was hearing. "Okay, Ellie will go to her room and look some more at it!" The little tiger left the other two behind in a good mood.

“So?” The queen focused all of her attention on Sophia.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…” It got worse.

“Did you have a fight with your cat?”

“If only… That would’ve been much easier…” She hung her head.

“What did you do?”

“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” She got loud in an instant.

“Okay…?”

“Maya’s p-parents are in the capital…”

“Oh?” Kira seemed interested. “I would love to meet them!”

“They already met Ellie… That was enough chaos for a year…”

“Hmm? Did Ellie do anything…?”

“Not on purpose, but she made the situation much more chaotic…”

“How?”

“She was really excited, and the way she worded some of the things she said… It made it seem a little like Maya's her, uhh… mother…”

“Oh.” Kira was starting to understand. “Where are they now, though?”

“They went to a café to catch up and chat… I, well… I volunteered to return Ellie…”

"You ran away, huh?"

"Yes!" Sophia had no intention of hiding it. “They’re her parents! That’s way too high-level for me!”

"Why?" The queen just looked at her. "You're a lovely girl that every parent would love as a partner for their children. You're an amazing daughter-in-law!"

"D-Don't go casually skipping three steps there!"

“Hehe.”

“Also, weren’t you the one who said that you’re happy I turned down your daughter because you like Ari more than me?!”

“Ah.” She paused for a moment. “I, uhh… I did say that, yes. But, shut up! We both know that Ari is the better match for Anna. That has nothing to do with you.”

“Fine…” The blonde still seemed reluctant, though. “Even so, they’re her parents… Meeting them for the first time is something really important, right…?”

“That doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

“Are you trying to help me or make it worse?!”

“Yes.” She smiled at her.

“It’s spreading?!” Sophia wasn’t expecting to hear that sort of reply from the queen.

“It’s what you say when you can’t decide on an answer when both options are viable, right?” Kira tilted her head. “I’ve heard Anna using it when she was to choose something but wanted both at the same time.”

“Well, yes… but also no… Primarily yes, though…”

“That makes no sense.”

“Exactly.”

“…” Kira made a slight break. “So, what are you going to do now?” She dropped the topic.

“Urgh… Anna's staying at my place, so… Her room is currently free, right?"

“You want to hide?!”

“Yes!”

“I’m going to bring you to this café myself. And then, once I kicked your butt all the way over there, I’ll introduce myself to them, and I'm going to make it ten times worse for you." Kira was not a fan of Sophia's plan. Not even in the slightest.

"A-Are you serious?!”

“More than serious.” She simply nodded. “Maybe I’ll bring Menzor along, too.”

"A-Ah…”

“I’ll also tell them about the lake you created that kept the upper echelon of the kingdom busy for weeks.”

“He told you about that, huh…?”

“He sure did. After you left, he stormed out of his office and called out an emergency meeting with everyone. It was quite the event.” She started smiling again. “Good job on distracting him from the loud idiots, by the way. Everyone will be quite busy from now on.”

"G-Glad to hear…"

“You really should’ve asked about the area beforehand, though.”

“Ahaha… Well, the lake wasn’t planned… Fen’s and my magic, uhhh… went completely out of control there... Afterward, we just thought a beautiful lake would be much better than a gigantic crater.”

“That’s fair.” She gave her a nod.

“How about you make it a tourist attraction…? Some inns, restaurants, places to shop, and all that? I bet there’s also still some place left of a remote outpost, too.”

“My, that’s a lovely idea.” Kira liked the plan. “I’m totally going to steal that suggestion when Menzor’s going to ask everyone about the plans for the area.”

“Sure…”

“And now stop stalling for time and get going!”

“Urgh…”

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're nice people, and they’ll love you once they get to know you.”

“Actually…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “I already met them. Yesterday, actually… When I was grocery shopping…”

"Oh, when I ran into you while Ari was hiding in the store?"

“Y-Yes…” The blonde had no idea what to say here. “Ari and I actually spent an hour or two with them because they had gotten lost… That just makes things even more awkward now! For a while, they even thought the two of us were a thing before correcting them..."

“Why are you always so complicated?!”

"That's what I would like to know, too!"

“Maybe they can answer that. You better go fast and find out.”

“Are you happy with that…?”

“Not at all!” Kira shook her head. “You’re still going now, though.”

“Yes…” She hung her head and turned around.

"Also, don't forget to prepare the report for our meeting in a few days. I want to hear everything." The queen was a big fan of the topic, after all.

“…” Sophia decided to just start walking and ignored her.

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

Around 15 minutes had passed since then, and Sophia was back at the café near the store they went to with Ellie before. While she hadn't run back there, she still didn't take any unnecessary detours to stall for even more time.

“Finally!” Maya appeared out of nowhere and jumped at her the moment the tiger entered the café. “You took way too long!”

“W-Well… a lot is going on, okay…?”

“That is nothing compared to what I had to go through with them the past 40 minutes!” She got loud. “They just started believing me that Ellie isn’t my daughter after her ambiguous wording earlier!”

“Ahh…”

“And now, you come with me!” Saying so, she got behind Sophia, placed her hands on her shoulder, and guided her to the table her parents were sitting on.

“H-Hello…” Being completely overwhelmed and having no idea what to say, the tiger just awkwardly waved before she sat down on an empty chair.

“…” Eve and Theo didn’t look any less awkward.

“J-Just to hear it from you, as well…” Eve eventually faced her. “That adorable little tiger from earlier, is she really not Maya’s or yours?”

“I mean, I, uhh… would be happy to because Ellie’s the best, but n-no, she is not…” Saying so, Sophia’s eyes darted around in the café before she spotted a waitress with dog ears and dark-red hair and gestured her over to them. “S-Say, have you seen the two of us walking around outside with a little girl before they entered the café earlier…?”

“Oh, do you mean princess Ellie?” She started smiling. “Everyone has seen the two of you walking around with our beloved princess already. Everyone always gets delighted when they get the chance to see that heartwarming scene."

“T-Thank you…” It made the blonde even more awkward. “Could I get a coffee while we’re at it…?”

“Of course!”

"A-And there you have it…” She faced Maya’s parents again.

“Why hadn’t I thought about that?!” Her daughter was the one who got loud instead. “It would’ve saved me sooo much work!”

“I see…” Eve stared at the couple for a few moments.

“Stop looking disappointed!” Maya raised her voice even more. From the looks of it, she’s going to scream a lot today.

“…” Sophia took a lot of second-hand damage from that and decided to change the topic to get the attention away from it. “S-So… Maya was the bratty daughter that doesn’t know how to behave you told me about yesterday…?”

"A-Ah!” The two immediately turned their faces away.

“What?!” The bratty girl had no intention of piping down anytime soon.

“W-Was that really necessary…?” Theo glanced at the tiger.

“I am very sorry about that.” Sophia apologized. “I’m not overly good with that other topic, so… I'd like to leave that behind us for now…"

“Well, both of you are still young enough, so that should be fine. I assume that you’re the same age as our girl?”

"Thank you… I'm a little younger, but we’re basically the same age, yes.”

“There’s no need to keep mentioning that part…” Maya lightly glared at her.

“There sure is~.” The blonde thought otherwise.

“Grr.”

“The way you two are acting…” Eve wasn’t sure how to react while she was watching the couple. “Maya, how have you gotten this close to a tiger?! Why didn’t you tell us when you left?!”

“Uhh…” She just awkwardly scratched her cheek.

“This will take a while…” Sophia had the same expression.

Afterward, everyone got ready for a long day because there was lots of explaining to be done here.