Sophia and Steph arrived at the castle and directly ran into Kira and Ellie. Seeing the sisters, the queen immediately started scolding the blonde for two-timing as she had no idea who this dog-girl was. Ellie had an even bigger reaction to the new one and ran away after having taken a better look at her for some reason. Once Sophia managed to explain what was actually going on and Kira stopped being surprised, the sisters went to Ellie’s room to find out why she had reacted the way she did.

“Ellie…?” Slowly opening the door to her room, Sophia, together with her little sister, entered the room of the princess.

“So… phia! Plushie!” Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw the duo.

“Plushie…?" The dog-girl noticed the little tiger staring at her during that part.

“Yes!” With a big smile, Ellie walked up to her and presented her a stuffed toy that looked strangely familiar. “Here!” It was the same plushie she already had during the picnic. A violet and white dog with a super fluffy tail and one kinked ear. “Ellie ran back to her room because Ellie thought my plushie had turned into a girl! Ellie was wrong, though…" She actually looked quite disappointed.

“Oh!” She glanced at the plushie with great interest. “It really looks a lot like me, huh? Similar color scheme, and the ears and tail are exactly the same! How weird! It’s a really cute stuffed animal, though!”

“Is that some weird type of self-praise…?” Sophia stared at Steph and the plush copy with a confused expression.

"A-Ah…” She wasn’t sure how to react to that and smiled at the little princess instead. "Anyway, it's great to see that you don't seem scared of me after all. I got a little worried when you ran away after seeing me."

“Hmm…?” The little tiger looked confused for a moment. “Ah! Ellie’s sorry! That wasn’t… Ellie just wanted to see if the plushie was still there or had become you!” She held up the plush dog even higher while saying so. “Ellie doesn’t know you yet, but she doesn’t dislike you at all!”

“That’s good to hear~." Her mood got even better while her tail wag intensified, as well. “By the way, my name is Stephanie.”

“Steph… anie…?” Her name was just as complicated as Sophia’s for the princess.

“Everyone calls me Steph, though. Feel free to do the same!”

“Steph!” Ellie naturally liked the way easier pronounce name much more!”

“I-Isn’t she a bit too adorable…?” Slightly flustered, the violet girl then glanced at her older sister.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Sophia naturally agreed with her. “Now you understand why I love her so much, huh?”

“Absolutely!”

“So... phia...?” The little princess eventually stared at the older tiger. “Is she also a friend...?”

“Who? Plushie?”

“H-Hey!” Steph didn’t like that.

“This is so going to be your new nickname.”

“Urgh...”

“Yes!” Ellie smiled at her. “Plushie!”

“Aaand it’s decided.”

“...” There was no way the dog-girl could complain about it after this. “Well, I guess it’s fine. It’s pretty cute, after all.” She gave up. “Anyway, Sophia and I are more than friends. The two of us are sisters!”

“Sisters…?” The little princess tilted her head. “Really?”

“Yup!” The blonde nodded a few times.

“Amazing!” She smiled at both of them. “Ellie didn’t know So… phia had a sister!”

“Yeah… We lost each other a long time ago and just found each other again a few days ago.”

“Yay!” She didn’t fully understand it, but the princess was clearly happy for them.

“Yay, indeed!” The sisters naturally felt the same.

“Hmm…” Sophia stared at Ellie for a moment before she also started smiling. “Plushie and I are a little busy at the moment, but how about we play lots together in a few days?”

“Yes! Let’s!” She liked the sound of that.

“Sounds like a plan!” Steph also was on board.

“Great!”

“Alrighty! We’ll come back soon, Ellie! Plushie, let’s go to the others!”

“Bye-bye, So… phia! Plushie!”

Waving a few times to each other, the sisters then left to make their way toward Anna's room, where the blonde had detected the other girls.

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

“Soo… Plushie’s officially my nickname now…?” On the way toward the others, Steph addressed her sister.

“Ellie likes it, so it is your new nickname. Her word’s the law around here, after all.”

“Don’t you think that’s spoiling her a bit much?”

“Yes.” The blonde gave her a big nod. “No one, myself included, has any intentions to change that, though.”

“Understandable.” Plushie could understand her reasoning. “It seems like it would be impossible to say no to her.”

“It is~.” Sophia was well aware of it, after all. “Okay, let’s head over to the girls!”

“Sure! Ah, do I need to know anything about the ones I haven’t met yet?”

“Mhmm… Anna’s the first princess of this nation, but she’s super nice and affable! Just like me, she’s a tiger. She also looks a bit like a tomboy and is always in when it comes to having fun. She's super tall, around 20cm taller than us, and she's big. An awesome figure, too. Her legs are most amazing, as well!”

"I see. Your leg fetish is still there, huh?”

“Stronger than ever!” As usual, the blonde had no intention of hiding it.

“Well, I have to agree. Legs are great. Not quite as great as boobs or a nice butt, but great nonetheless.”

“Anna’s exceptional in all those areas~. She’s taken, though. So, only looky, no touchy.”

“I see!”

“The other girl’s Ari. Their relationship is a little advanced…? She’s Anna’s maid, brain, childhood friend, and girlfriend.”

“Wow! I’ve never seen a maid before!”

"Well, she's more maid in name only, I think… She is exclusively responsible for Anna because she's the only one who can deal with her in the castle."

“What a combination!” Steph seemed to like it. “Also, so much girls loving girls action around here! That’s sooo amazing!”

“It absolutely is!” Sophia reacted with a big nod. “Besides that, Ari’s also really interesting, as well. She's not a tiger but a jaguar with black hair and fur, combined with a yellow and golden pattern. It’s beyond amazing! I prefer Maya, because she’s more my type, but she’s, objectively speaking, pretty much the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met! She’s somewhat medium-sized, kinda similar to me, but her proportions and style are perfect, and her legs… wow.”

“Ahaha…”

“Her personality is also pretty fun. On default, she’s really levelheaded, kinda strict at times, and our voice of reason. Once she warms up to you, she turns quite playful and likes to tease others, though. Which is quite useful because Anna’s a bit of an M. Overall, they’re an amazing and very fitting couple.”

“Oho, they’re setting the bar quite high, huh?”

“In multiple ways, yes…” The blonde made a short pause. “The two were also as dense as a black hole, though… They haven't been dating for that long yet, and Maya and I went through a lot to help them realize and accept their feelings… It was quite a bit of pain.”

“Sounds quite similar to what Maya told me about you.” Steph’s lips formed into a smile.

"A-Ah!” Her expression turned awkward. “W-Wait?! She told you about that?! When?”

“After you fell asleep last night. She told me all kinds of interesting things about you~.”

“Urgh, this girl…” Sophia hung her head. “She wasn’t much better most of the time, you know?”

“Really? She hadn’t mentioned anything about that, though.”

“Is that so? I wonder why.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Hehe.”

“Anyway, be that as it may, Anna and Ari were on a different level of denseness. Those two were so oblivious about their feelings being mutual that everyone in this castle knew about it before them. Even Ellie was aware of their feelings for each other before we could hammer it into their thick heads…"

“Wow, that’s advanced denseness for sure.” Steph actually sounded impressed in a way.

“Indeed.” The blonde reacted with a slight nod. “Don’t you dare to copy them!”

“Hmm?”

“Just don’t.”

“Okay…?” The dog-girl looked a little confused.

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

Once this topic was taken care of, the sisters finally made their way to Anna’s room, where the other girls currently were.

“Woah, she’s adorable!” Arriving there, Ari and the princess immediately announced how they felt about the new girl.

“Ehehe~.” Steph liked her reaction. “Thank you! You two also are amazing! I'm not the biggest fan of experiencing a size gap myself, though it’s adorable to look at, but tall girls are great! Same with the stripes! Not mine, but adorable to look at!” She then focused her attention on Ari. “I absolutely adore your hair! I’ve never seen anything remotely as amazing as that! I prefer pastel colors, but the black hair with the yellowish-golden pattern is just… wow! Your style is amazing!”

“T-Thank you…” The couple got a little bashful over the compliments. Ari felt especially awkward as there was another new girl that loved the hair she used to hate.

“Calm down, plushie…” Sophia rolled her eyes while looking at her sister.

"A-Ah.” Steph noticed that she had gotten a little too excited again.

“Plushie…?” Hearing that word, Maya and Chloe tilted their heads in response.

“Steph’s new nickname!” The blonde smiled at the two. “Ellie came up with it earlier after she noticed that Steph looks really similar to the stuffed dog plushie she has.”

“I love it! It’s super cute!” The fox-girl seemed to be a big fan of it. “Plushie!”

“…” She still had some mixed feelings about it. Seeing Chloe cheerfully address her like that put a smile on her, though.

“Now that I think about it, you really do resemble that plushie a lot!” The pink-haired girl nodded a few times. “I actually have your model at home, too!”

"Any resemblance between me and the plushie is purely coincidental!”

“That reminds me…” Maya joined the conversation. “We have both models in our bedroom. The violet dog and the pink fox plushie that looks suspiciously close to Chloe.”

“Ah.” The fox-girl had forgotten about the part where she also exists as a plush animal.

“It’s kinda weird how those plushies resemble the general design of the two… It’s almost like they were hinting at some future events…”

“Now that’s an interesting conspiracy theory.” The cat-girl rolled her eyes while glancing at the blonde tiger. "As if someone would use plushies to hint at people."

“Ahaha.”

Afterward, once the silly topic of those plushies ever having had a deeper meaning was over, Steph finally introduced herself to the royal couple for real because everyone continued to chat. Naturally, the dog-girl was the center of attention as Anna and Ari wanted to get all the details about what was going on and how the sisters managed to reunite with each other. Steph and Sophia happily told them about everything they were okay to disclose while also making sure none of the otherworldler or human stuff would come up. As they were pretty interested and confused about one being a dog and the other sister being a tiger, them technically being half-sisters also got a mention.