Chapter 75

Thanks to the new pajamas the couple bought and the warmth of Sophia's thighs, Maya had a lovely sleep in the tiger-girl's lap and was very energetic the following morning.

"Haa~, I don't think I ever slept so well! The fluffiness of your pajama pants, together with the warmth of you, such bliss~!"

"Thanks..." Sophia wasn't quite as enthusiastic, and not only because it was still morning. "Tonight, we're switching places. I'll accept no discussions." She was mainly envious.

"Aww, well, giving a lap-pillow is nice on its own." She reluctantly agreed. There were worse fates in her eyes.

"Either way, I lose, huh?"

"No, either way, I just win. But I think that's a win-win for both of us."

"You have a point there."

"Ehehe. So, what's the plan for today?"

"Hmm... Do you mind if I pay some attention to Fen today?"

"Huh? Me?" The wolf turned his head after hearing his name.

"Sure? I don't mind. Any specific reason, though?"

"Well, the two of us are kinda, uhh, all over each other lately... I feel like I'm leaving him out a lot recently."

"Ahh..." The cat-girl knew what she was talking about.

"You really don't have to be concerned about me. It's perfectly fine by me if you two want to spend time together." The wolf was very understanding.

"Really? Well, I wanted to show you my time-stop magic, but if you don't wa-"

"I'm sorry! Please spend the day with me!" Understanding but greedy, nonetheless.

"Ahaha, alright."

"So, what do I have to do?!" Fen was already really excited.

"Hmm... nothing much. I first have to find out how to stop time on purpose in the first place. Both times before happened unconsciously, after all."

"Okay, I'll patiently wait!" There was nothing patient about his reply.

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Giving it her best, Sophia concentrated for the next hour to stop time on her own demand. Once she had a good enough image of the magic while also remembering what happened and her feelings during the times it happened on its own, the tiger-girl gave it a try.

"Hmm?" Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around and confirmed that everything stopped moving, including her two companions. "Still scary..." While she learned about the good side of this magic after Maya's confession, she still found it creepy.

"Alright... now to unfreeze Fen-" She looked at the wolf, the reason for why she was doing this. "Although-" Sophia then glanced at her cat-girl.

"Ehehe~." She circled around her with a goofy smile. "Just how lucky am I?" Bringing her face closer to Maya's cheek, she gave her a quick kiss before turning to the wolf again. Not having to fear getting attacked by Maya, she got a little bold.

"O-Okay..." Sophia had gotten embarrassed over her own action. "I kinda want to play a prank on him! Oh, right! When we went clothes shopping, I also got some hair bands and clips... You can always use those, after all. Not to mention that I lose a couple... hundreds of them every year. Even though I rarely use them in the first place. Stupid things... Let's gather a flower or two and style the fur on his head really nice~."

Feeling playful, she played with the fur on top of the wolf's head with some clips and hairbands. She made some short pigtails and decorated them with a bunch of colorful flowers.

"Adorable!" Sophia was happy with the outcome. "Time to be serious now, though." She walked up to the wolf again and touched his side. Once she poured some of her magic power into him, Fen soon started moving.

"Welcome~."

"O-Oh?" He needed a moment to adjust because, for him, the tiger-girl had basically teleported thanks to the difference in time. "Ohhh!" Fen finally noticed his frozen surroundings.

"And? How is it?"

"It's... surreal... Ah!" His gaze fell on the still motionless cat-girl. "Very surreal."

"Feel free to look around."

"Will do!" Excited, the wolf dashed away to take in all the little details.

"Alright, let's bring Maya over as well. It's getting kinda awkward..." Touching her back, Sophia made the cat-girl being able to move again, as well.

"A-Ah... so freaky!" Noticing Sophia being in an entirely different spot, too, confused her for a moment, but she then stopped moving and tilted her head. "Hmm...? What did you do?" She suddenly touched her cheek.

"E-Eh...? Wha-, What do you mean?" The tiger awkwardly looked to the side.

"I don't know. There's a lingering, kind of warm and fuzzy feeling on my cheek that wasn't there before."

"Well, t-there might be the possibility that I maybe, possibly... potentially, uhh, could've kissed you..."

"Unfair!" She immediately started to pout. "Again! Do it again!"

"H-Huh?" Not the reaction Sophia had expected. "R-Really...?"

"Hurry up!" Maya walked up to her and presented her cheek right in front of the girl’s face.

"Uuh, it's rather... embarrassing it you're so pushy..." As it turned out, Sophia wasn't even safe from her advances when she stops time.

"It's better than kissing a defenseless girl, is it not?"

"Urgh." She had no excuse. Afterward, after preparing herself, Sophia leaned in and gave the cat-girl another kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you very much~." She was happy. "Here, have on, too!" Returning the favor, Maya kissed her as well.

"T-Thanks..." Her face had turned red. "A-Ah! This was supposed to be for Fen, and yet we still..."

"Ehehe~." She was glad that the two always end up in their own little world.

"I don't mind." The wolf showed up again.

"You're a good guy, Fe- Wow!" Maya looked at the wolf and noticed Sophia's prank.

"What's wrong?"

"Ehh-" She noticed that the tiger-girl was grinning mischievously and connected the dots. "N-Nothing, you're cute, big guy."

"Thank you?" He seemed even more confused and tilted his head, causing his pigtails to sway around a bit.

"V-Very cute..." Sophia had her difficulties staying serious. "A-Anyway, found anything of interest, Fenny?"

"Everything's really fascinating! Thank you very much for showing me!"

"Think you can recreate it for yourself?"

"No chance." The wolf wasn't confident. "I have not the slightest idea how this magic of yours works..."

"You're not alone with that..." Sophia, too, couldn't really understand what she was doing.

"I'll be cross-referencing with some theories we, err, I had in the past... Maybe I'll find a hint. Now that I know that stopping time is not only theoretically possible, but it actually works, I'm really motivated again!"

"Good for you. Huh, we?" She noticed his little slip-up.

"Now that I think of it, what happens if we fight a monster while time's stopped?" Fen completely ignored her question. "Does it die the moment I kill it, or only once time's back?"

"Hmm? Well, that's a very interesting question." Sophia hadn't thought about that before.

"Let's find out!" He was definitely trying to change the subject. "Hmm? My detection magic isn't working?"

"Really? Oh, you're right... neither does mine. No, wait, I can still detect you and Maya." The tiger-girl tried the same, but she wasn't getting any detections. "That's weird... Why?"

"Yes, I meant beside our group."

"Maybe it's because we're the only living beings?" Maya had a theory for the situation.

"No, I detected some food before Sophia stopped time."

"Yeah, well, technically animals..." The wolf's and tiger's magic still worked before.

"No, I mean right now. With everything, everyone but us frozen in place due to time being stopped... aren't we the only actual living beings?"

"Ah." The two looked at each other and then at the cat-girl. "You're quite smart, aren't you?"

"That doesn't mean much in this group..." Maya didn't take it as a compliment.

"On a more serious note," Fen had just played along. "You might be right. We detect the magic powers of living beings. As time is stopped, their life is stopped as well."

"Sounds plausible." Sophia nodded.

"But I still roughly remember the position of a herd of kows."

"Those guys sure are everywhere, huh?"

"Let's do a little experimenting." Fen was still excited about the situation.

"Sure, why not? I'm getting hungry, anyway." The tiger-girl knew how this experiment would end.

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The group walked around for around 30 minutes until Fen finally found the kows he detected earlier because he had mostly forgotten about their position.

"Finally!" The wolf had almost given up.

"A-Ah, I could've just unstopped time, look for them, and stop it again..." Sophia looked a little awkward.

"Seriously, how did I fell for such a scatterbrain...?"

"What an idiot." Her companions were rather harsh.

"H-Hey... Wait! While I'm admittedly late, you guys didn't have the idea at all!"

"..." The two didn't reply.

"Hey!" She felt bullied.

"Anyway," Fen faced the nearest kow. "Let's give this a try!" Saying so, he formed multiple spears made out of ice with his magic and shot them at the animal.

"W-Well..." The tiger-girl was looking at the result with a complicated expression. Three thick icy spears had impaled the kow, but it wasn't bleeding and still standing. Not even the look on its face had changed. "I don't know..."

"I feel a little bad..." Maya, too, wasn't a fan.

"Yeah." Even the wolf was questioning his doings. "Something about this is... wrong."

"I-, I mean the result would've been the same anyway, but this... Normally, it at least theoretically has a chance." Sophia found the reason why they didn't like it.

"Yes, it's cowardly."

"Resume time for now?" She felt like it was enough.

"Yes." The other two agreed.

"I need some time to think about possible ideas to recreate the magic first, anyway. I've seen enough for the time being."

Sophia concentrated on activating her magic, and the flow of time slowly turned to normal. Once everything went back to how it's supposed to be, the impaled kow immediately started bleeding and fell over before even realizing that it had died.

"Yeah, we're not doing that again..." Maya pointed at the dead animal as she spoke for the group.

"Agreed."

Afterward, they collected the kow and had a nice barbecue. While the three were eating, they continued to chat about what happened.

"I still can't believe it... I actually witnessed time being stopped with my own eyes." Fen was really happy. "Again, thank you very much for showing me, Sophia!"

"I'm glad my stupid and scary accidents bring you joy." No matter how cool it is, the scars from the first time she was stuck were still there.

"You're doing a lot of those, huh?" The cat-girl was glancing at her. "Stupid mistakes with a good outcome, that is." She was specifically looking at her tiger ears and tail.

"It's my specialty." She was well aware of it.

"Ehehe~. Well, I like that about you. Okay, most of the time..." She corrected herself a little.

Because there was still a lot of the day left, they hadn't spent much time, the group kept going after their barbecue. They covered some ground until the evening and got yet a little closer to the beastfolk capital, though it was still a long way to there.

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Please also give the chapter a view and a like on SH and/or RR when it becomes available there. A comment would be nice, too. Just obviously don't mention future events. These chapters might not 100% the same because I often make some last-minute changes, so rereading definitely won't hurt.