NOVEL NEXT Chapter 022 – Changing the approach
The day of high-speed exploring left some marks on Anna and Ari, while Chloe cheated her way out of the sore muscles by abusing her healing magic, and the group decided to stay in Sophia's domain for the day to let them recover. Aura and Steph didn't want to be idle, though, so the blonde took them to faraway areas in her domain to let them create their own biomes there.
“Haa, and they call me the hyper one.” Looking visibly tired after having had to deal with the other’s extreme enthusiasm about the biomes, Sophia returned to the cottage with a sigh.
“You are the hyper one.” Maya immediately had to retort her claim.
“You don’t even know… why?” The blonde wanted to accuse her of not knowing what she was talking about, but she stopped once she noticed where Maya’s voice was coming from. “Why are you in a tree…?” She looked right at the cat-girl, who had apparently decided to climb one of the few remaining normal trees around the cottage and was currently relaxing on a branch roughly ten meters above the ground.
“Why not?” She simply tilted her head. “I used to climb trees all the time in the past~. It’s great!”
“You’re such a cat!” Sophia just had to do it.
“Yes?” The cat-girl didn’t see the issue.
“Fair point.” The was nothing she could say.
“It’s very relaxing, too.” Maya smiled at her before patting the place on the branch beside her. "Want to come up?”
“Absolutely!” Nodding once, the tiger ran towards the tree trunk, jumped against it, and used the momentum to shoot herself up. Using a small protrusion on the trunk halfway up for another jump, she landed on the branch the cat-girl was on with one foot while maintaining a perfect balance in no time at all.
“And you called me a cat.” Maya rolled her eyes. “It took me an extra jump to get up here, you uber cat.”
“I’m a tiger, after all~.” Giving her a cheeky smile, Sophia then plopped down next to her. "I mean, I technically could've jumped all the way up here without doing anything at all, but I at least want to pretend to be a somewhat normal girl."
"You do?!"
"I never said I'm good at it!"
“What a dork.”
“I know!”
“So, why did I offend you by calling you the most hyper one and not the others?”
“Steph and Chloe want to create a continent of eternal coldness in my domain!”
“…” She went silent after hearing that.
“I’m suddenly a lot more reasonable, am I not?!”
“It would set a dangerous precedent if I were to agree here now.”
“Shut up!” Sophia didn’t like that.
“Hehe~.” The cat-girl reacted with a small grin before she pushed against the blonde’s side and leaned her head against Sophia’s to cuddle a bit. “Is it okay to leave them alone then, though?”
“They’re about 3,000 kilometers away from here.”
“That’s… quite something.”
"Also, if they overdo it, I'll just send you and Ari to burn it down."
“I doubt Ari and I have enough powers to burn down a whole continent.”
“That’s not the part where you’re supposed to make a retort here!” The tiger raised her voice.
“Weren’t you the one who told me to let loose more?” Maya lightly rubbed her head against Sophia’s while saying so. She seemed to be in a cuddly mood.
“You’re so cheeky!” The blonde was a little upset that she had no comeback for that.
“You make it sound like that’s a new discovery.
“Ahaha~.” Sophia started laughing. “Well, your babysitter job did dampen that part of you a bit.”
“Whose fault do you think that was?” Maya’s voice got slightly sterner, and she used her tail to hit the tiger’s back.
“Fennyfenny.” Sophia did the same with her tail, just much lighter. “100%.”
“He certainly didn’t help, but… Sure, yeah, it was Fen.” She decided to play along.
“I should’ve started exploring my domain much sooner if it meant for you to truly let loose!”
“It hasn’t any effect on the outside world, after all!” Maya then pointed at the rainforest right in front of them. Luckily, thanks to them being cats and having excellent night vision, it wasn’t much of a bother that there was next to no light illuminating the overgrown flora. “This isn’t something you can do with others around, no matter how fun it would be. It could affect innocents, after all.”
“I guess you have a point.” The blonde could see the issue. “You don’t have to be that hung up on keeping me in check, though. I learned a thing or two when Fenny and I almost destroyed this world! Also, thanks to my detection magic, I know when people or other living beings are around. Some edible animals might be turned into barbecue for dinner, but I’d never harm anyone who shouldn’t be.”
“…”
“There’s also Fey with us now. She’ll definitely kick my rear the moment I overdo it. She’s very trigger-happy with Steph in that regard, after all. I’m certain she can handle both idiot sisters~.”
“Are you sure about that?” Maya sounded more than a little dubious.
“Absolutely!” Sophia was convinced of it. “I mean, even if, you could still join in on her beating me up, just wait until she steps in before playing my babysitter. Before that point, let’s go wild together!”
“I do like getting wild together with you a lot~.”
“I’m well aware of that!” The blonde rolled her eyes. “Not what I meant, though.”
“True.” The cat-girl nodded. “I wouldn’t want Fey to stop you there, either.”
“Are you horny again?!” The tiger twisted her body a little to look right at Maya.
“I’m always horny~.” Her expression turned cheeky. “You should know that.”
“Fair point.” Sophia had nothing to add there.
“Especially after you didn’t let me do anything with you last night!” Maya’s expression turned into a pout. “Just because your stupid punishment because Ari and I were a little too sassy towards you…”
"A little?” The blonde tilted her head while maintaining eye contact with her. “Also, it didn’t sound like you needed me last night in the first place. You started a little early, you know? Some of the toys, especially the high-power ones, are quite noisy, after all. You were far from silent, too.”
"A-Ah.” Maya turned her head away. “You should’ve said something!”
“Nah, I was having a good time listening to you, myself.” This time, it was Sophia who had the cheeky expression. “You were so busy that you didn’t notice what was happening behind your back~.”
“YOU SHOULD’VE JOINED THEN!” The cat-girl got loud.
“Well, I was punishing you, so that wasn’t possible.”
“I hate you!”
“I love you, too~.” The blonde’s expression got even cheekier.
“Maybe I should punish you this night!” Maya tried to turn it around.
“You can definitely try~.” The tiger was still able to get even smugger. “Admittedly, I’m much hornier than I’m willing to admit, but compared to you, will you be able to go on for another night without doing anything together?”
“I really hate you.” The cat-girl got upset, but she also couldn't refute it.
“How about we just have a lot of fun tonight and ignore everything else in that regard.”
“I like that idea!” Maya didn’t feel like arguing about that.
“Great~.” Sophia seemed to be looking forward to it, too. “Speaking of fun, back to the original topic, how about we try a less babysitter-y approach for me when we travel? You can absolutely punish and beat me up if I step too out of line, but how about you leave the general, uhh… education to Fey? Judging by how she seems to even have fun dealing with Steph, it’s her calling to preserve minimal levels of common sense, not yours.”
“I can punish and beat you up?” The cat-girl’s ears perked up.
“Why is that the thing you react to?!” The tiger didn’t like her excited expression.
“Are any types of punishments okay?” Her eyes started sparkling, as well.
“What do you mean?!” She had a bad feeling all of a sudden.
“Ari told me some of the things she and Anna do during their private time, and I’m very intrigued to try out some of those!”
“Don’t use the preferences of the M-Princess as a reference for my punishment!” Sophia got loud.
“I guess I’ll continue to play the role of your babysitter, then.” Maya shrugged.
“I hate you.”
“Isn’t it so romantic that our feelings are mutual?” The cat-girl was happy she finally got the upper hand with the teasing at the end after Sophia had been going so strong before.
“…” The blonde just looked at her for a while. “I mean, I’m not not interested, but… No whips and stuff like that, okay? I’m not into that.”
"…" Maya paused momentarily before her expression eventually turned slightly disappointed. “Fine…”
“Oi!” She got loud again. “Even if some of my actions deserve a whipping, I don’t want it, okay?”
“Alright.” The cat-girl reacted with a firm nod. “I may be pushy, but if it’s a no-go, it’s regrettably a no-go. Well, actual beating up sounds bad, anyway, not interested, especially as a punishment. Some light spanking, on the other hand... or getting spa- No, it's alright! You're right!”
“Thank you very much!” Sophia smiled at her. “Luckily, that means that I don’t have to watch out too hard in the future. If you hadn't budged on that, I would've needed to make sure to never step over the line.”
“Ah… Wait, does that mean the other punishments are possible?”
“If I overdo it, yes.”
“Great!” Maya was happy with the outcome. “WAIT!” Until her expression changed, though. “Did you just trick me into accepting your terms by promising me a kinky punishment for you if you go overboard? Effectively making this an absolute and total win-win for you?!"
“I would never~.” With the most smug expression yet, Sophia briefly smiled at her before she leaned closer and kissed Maya on the lips. “With that, it’s sealed!” After parting, she managed to look even cheekier.
“…” The cat-girl was at a complete loss for words.
Afterward, the couple continued to relax on the branch high up in a tree next to the cottage, with one girl looking like the definition of smugness while the other was contemplating life for a while.
Animated, too!
