After Chloe and Steph had returned from Mira's domain, they went to visit another restaurant because after having explored and then chatted with the white fox all day, they had gotten hungry again. While sitting in the restaurant, they started talking about the events and how it seemed like their feelings for each other had taken quite the leap in a very short amount of time. One thing led to another, and even though Chloe initially thought it was a little fast, they decided not to care about the little things and ended up becoming a couple, as that was what both wanted.

“...”

“...” The couple had left the restaurant again and was back on the capital's streets. Their hands had already naturally found and started holding each other, but there was more than a hint of nervousness around them.

"W-Why are you so silent all of a sudden!" Chloe was the first who couldn't take it anymore. "T-That's the first time you haven’t said anything for longer than a minute since we met!”

"A-Ah!” Hearing that, the dog-girl twitched a few times. “I-I also have my limits, you know?!”

“You have limits...?” Sounding honestly surprised, she tilted her head in return.

“S-Shut up!” Steph raised her voice a little while her face turned even redder. “YES, I even I run out of steam! Today was quite eventful, was it not?!”

“Even though you were that confident in the restaurant not even half an hour ago...?”

“E-Especially because of that!” She got even louder. “I-I wanted to sound cool and gave it my all!”

“You definitely did sound cool! Really cool! It was spot on!”

“Thank you very much!” The mood was getting livelier again. "I saw my chance, and I had to use it! No matter how much I run out of steam afterward! Worth it, I want to add!” She gave Chloe’s hand a squeeze at the end.

“Ehehe~.” She liked that gesture at the end a lot. "You are right. It was very eventful today. The good kind, though!” The fox-girl squeezed her hand back. “I can’t say I saw any of it coming...”

“Expect the unexpected!” Steph showed her a big smile. “The best motto to live by! One of the best, at least.”

“I should’ve expected to get transported to another dimension, meet a goddess, find out my mom’s besties with her, and get a g-girlfriend...? On the same day?!”

“Yes!” She reacted with a confident nod.

“HOW?!”

“I think it’s quite self-explanatory!”

“I-Is this how Maya feels with all of us around... I have to apologize to her!" She made a slight pause while thinking about the everyday struggles of the cat-girl. "S-Speaking about that... if it really is so self-explanatory for you... You’re okay with explaining everything that happened today to the group, right?”

“E-Everything...?” Steph’s smug smile was gone.

“Everything.”

"A-Ah... Are we going to, uhh... tell them about... well, us...?”

“Do you think we are, err... able to hide it?”

“I’ve never been good at that!”

“Neither am I...” Chloe hung her head.

“Couldn’t we just continue like before...?” The dog-girl tilted her head. “I-I mean… we couldn’t get much closer with others around, anyway…”

“…” Hearing that, the fox-girl’s blush also intensified. “We really hit it off fast, huh…?”

“YES!” She felt the same. “If you know it, you know it~.”

“Know what…?”

“Yes!”

“Ehh…?”

“Don’t you think so, too?!”

“Sure!” Chloe gave up and paused for a moment. “I need to ask Sophia if she has a manual for you…”

“Good luck with that~.” Her smile turned into a smirk.

“An impossible task, is it not?”

“Yup!”

“Well, you are sisters, after all…” She let out a small sigh. “Maya also wants to get a manual for Sophia for obvious reasons.”

“Oh, I’d like the get one of that, too.” Steph started laughing. “There’s no one that knows her better than I do, but that doesn’t say much, especially after the last year happened."

“Poor Maya…”

“I’d say it’s more fun that way, anyway!”

“I mean… Yeah, you’ve got a point.” Chloe agreed with her. “It’s much more interesting to find out all the things on your own! I won’t deny that it would be helpful, though.”

“Exactly! Also, fair point toward the end there.” She felt the same way. “So, anyway, it should be fine if we simply act the same way we did the last few days in public, no?”

“Do you think they’ll let us be like that for much longer….? Maya’s quite sharp with those things, and teasing others is one of her great joys. I’ll give her a week before she’s onto us if we keep doing what we’ve been doing…”

“Urgh…” Steph didn’t like the sound of that. “Sophia also knows me quite well and how I act… I wouldn't be surprised if she had already noticed some things about my behavior. At best, I'll give her a week before she starts questioning me, either…"

“So…?” Chloe looked at her. “What are we going to do…?”

“The others aside, I’d also feel really bad about hiding it from Sophia…” She didn’t want to lie to her sister.

“That means you’re going to tell the others? The whole thing is so self-explanatory for you that it should be easy, right?"

“I was a little too motivated there, huh?”

“A little.” The fox-girl let out a small chuckle

“Y-You’re not going to help me, though… Like, at all?”

“Do you want my help?”

“PLEASE!” Steph really didn’t want to do it on her own.

“It can’t be helped, huh?” Chloe started smiling. “Though, I doubt I’ll be of much use… I still don't really get what even happened myself."

“We’re a couple now!”

“I-I got that part, but… I’m really happy about that, but… How, actually…?”

“Because we’re made for each other!”

“T-That’s the answer to why… I asked for how.”

“Ehehe~.” Steph liked how she hadn't disagreed with her claim. “How doesn’t matter! The only thing that matters is that it happened!”

“Do you think Maya and Sophia will be happy with that much of an explanation?”

"A-Ah…”

“We’ll have to come up with something more, or they'll never stop asking questions."

“Urgh…” The dog-girl paused for a moment. “Oh, how about this?!”

“You have a plan?”

“Yes!” She seemed quite confident about her idea. “We’ll do everything like usual when we get together in the living room, and when it’s time for bed, we’ll quickly say, ‘ah, by the way, the two of us started dating.’ Afterward, we’ll immediately go to our rooms and lock the doors.”

“…” Chloe tilted her head while thinking about the idea. “I like it! Let’s do it like that!”

“S-Seriously?!” Steph was the surprised one. “I, uhh… didn’t think that would work.”

"Why not? That sounds like the easiest way out! I'm a big fan of that!”

“Perfect! It’s settled, then.”

“That won’t work on Feyfey, though.”

“Feyfey…?” Her face turned pale. "A-As, in your mother…?”

“That very Feyfey!”

“T-The overpowered and very serious fox even the goddess of magic warned me about…?”

"You forgot overly cautious, very doting, and overprotective!"

“N-Not helping!” Steph turned even paler. “Will I survive her return if she finds out about us…?”

“…” She looked honestly concerned.

“H-Hey!”

“It should be fine.”

“R-Really!”

“Yes.”

“T-Thank goodness!”

“Probably…” Chloe still looked concerned.

“S-Stop that!”

“D-Don’t worry, I'll stop her before she does anything too hasty!"

“I-I don’t like the sound of that! Also, neither do I like this way too-concerned expression on your face!"

“I-I’ll do my best!”

“Still not any better!” Steph got even louder. “Is it possible to stop time with magic?! I want to go on a training arc to develop my magic to hold a candle to her!”

“There’s just no way that’s possible!”

“Aww, too bad!”

“I do like the sound of that, though!”

“I know, right?!” Her eyes started sparkling. “It would be soo much fun, wouldn’t it?!”

“Absolutely!” Chloe reacted with a big nod. “It would be amazing!”

“Hrmn… Still, I feel like a proper overseer should have a power like this, no? It sounds like something they would be able to do, right? Not that I know what an overseer actually is…”

“Kinda, I guess? It would be super overpowered, though?”

“Like I said, fitting for them!" It only added weight to Steph's theory. “Let’s ask Mira the next time we see her!”

“You’ll likely meet Feyfey before that, though.”

"A-Ah.”

“Maybe you could ask Sophia? She’s, uhh… friends with Canir, and if he can’t do it, no one can.”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Also, knowing her, she would be just as interested in it as we are! I am absolutely certain she’d want to find out about it, as well! There's still no way it's possible, but Canir's our best bet!"

“Let’s go!”

“We first have to tell them about all the other things that happened today, though.”

“Let’s not go!” The dog-girl changed her mind. “Well, it’s not like that’s possible, huh?”

“Not really, no.”

“Alright, let’s go…” She changed her mind once more. This time, Steph sounded a lot less motivated, though.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite jumpy?”

“First time I’ve heard that accusation!”

“Really…?” Chloe tilted her head while she stared at her. “I’ve heard that multiple times when people described me, so I do have some experience with that.”

“Nope, that’s a first!”

“I’ll ask Sophia once we’re home, you know?”

“I might’ve been called that once or twice before…” She reconsidered her stance on it.

“I somehow still have my doubts.” The fox-girl only intensified her stare.

“I never clarified the time frame on these accusations, did I?”

“Ah, I see… Once or twice a day!”

“Anyway, let’s go!” Steph gave Chloe's hand, which she had been holding all the time, a quick squeeze before dragging her toward the mansion.

“Maybe it was per hour, after all…? There’s a challenger to my throne!” The fox-girl wasn’t any different in the end. “Well, another one after Sophia, I have to add!”