There was a time, long ago, when Kaina Shikinami wasn't Infinity Princess – But just a girl named Kaina with a puppy named Hachiko and a friend named Mitsuko. A time when everything felt bright and shiny because Kaina could paint and draw to her heart's content.

Hachiko had such a wonderfully fluffy coat of fur – Golden fur Kaina can almost feel beneath her fingers just remembering it. Such a good, loyal puppy – She'd perk up every time Kaina walked into her room, with a sparkle in her eyes whenever Kaina said her name… She'd nuzzle against Kaina's hand, tail wagging in pure, unfiltered joy…

"Paw," Kaina demands, and Hannah eagerly passes over her hand, which Kaina studies with quiet focus, scrutinizing her smooth fingers and her well-kept nails. Kaina massages Hannah's palm now, luxuriating in how soft the dog girl's skin is, how warm her hand is…!

"Hold still," Kaina orders, her tone soft but firm – the same way she used to talk to Hachiko when brushing her fur or checking her paws. Out comes the nail file, clippers, and a few shades of nail polish Alice packed for Kaina before this campaign.

"Ooh…!" Hannah coos, watching in rapt attention as Kaina begins to file her nails with meticulous care, smoothing the edges one by one. "Master, you're so gentle…! Your hands are so soft…!"

"Quiet," Kaina murmurs, though her voice lacks sharpness. It's nothing personal, after all – It's just that pets shouldn't talk when they're getting taken care of. Now, what shade of nail polish is Kaina going to use here? Lavender, perhaps? Like the quiet sunsets Kaina used to admire with Hachiko…?

Lavender it is. It'd go quite nicely with Hannah's blonde hair and milky-pale skin, too. Sophie leans in as she unscrews the bottle; her ears perked with interest.

"Lavender?" Sophie teases. "I expected something bolder from you, master~!"

"It suits her," Kaina replies simply. She begins applying the polish with steady, deliberate strokes, her movements careful and precise. This is just like painting on a regular canvas – Combined with grooming a puppy's claws. Alice was right – Girls do make the best pets. Kaina certainly wouldn't have been able to accessorize Hachiko like she could accessorize Hannah. And Hannah's hand certainly feels much nicer to hold...

First, the base coat, then the polish, then the top coat…

"Done," Kaina says, examining her work with keen eyes. "Let it dry. Sophie, paw."

"Ooh~!" Hannah holds out her hand, marveling at her nails with wide, sparkling eyes. "Master, this is amazing! I love it so much!"

Sophie smirks, watching Hannah flex her fingers like she's just been handed the most valuable treasure in the world. "You're like a pup who just got her favorite treat," she teases, her tail wagging behind her.

"Jealous?" Hannah fires back, flashing her lavender-painted nails like a trophy.

Kaina clears her throat, a small frown tugging down at her lips. She always hated it when Hachiko fought with other puppies. "Quiet. No fighting."

"Yes, master~!" Both dog-girls immediately chorus.

"Sophie, paw," Kaina orders, and Sophie immediately straightens up, holding out her hand with a playful grin.

"Yes, Master! Make me pretty, too!"

Kaina takes Sophie's hand with the same deliberate care, her fingers steady as she inspects the silver-haired dog girl's nails, and her lips crease into another frown.

"You've chipped this one," she remarks, holding up Sophie's thumb and rubbing at a tiny, tiny chip in Sophie's thumbnail.

"Battle damage," Sophie replies with faux bravado, puffing out her chest. "I chased off some nasty weirdo who was lurking around our quarters. That strange pervert won't bother us again."

"… Who was it?" Kaina asks, and Sophie wilts.

"Uh, um… I didn't really get a look at her face," Sophie admits sheepishly, her ears drooping. "But she was in uniform, if that helps? But this is a military base, so, everyone's in uniform… But she had a camera on her! She was definitely suspicious!"

"Aren't there reporters on the base?" Hannah chimes in. "Because the MGA's doing some big press release?"

"Yeah, she was probably some weirdo yellow journalist looking for a scoop!" Sophie says, her tail swishing in irritation, even as Kaina continues to file her nails and carefully apply the base coat. "I mean, seriously, a camera? That's not stealthy at all!"

"Hmm…" Kaina ponders as she files Sophie's nails and begins the base coat. She pauses, setting down the file, and ruffles Sophie's dog ears. "… Good girl."

"Haaah~!" Sophie pants happily, her tail thumping against the back of her seat. "Yes, master, praise me more~!"

"Sure. But take care of yourself better," Kaina resumes painting Sophie's nails, delicately brushing the tips of her soft, slender fingers. Such smooth, warm hands. Wonderful to hold. Alice gives the best presents. It's strange, thinking of other girls like presents or pets. Would this really be the sort of thing Mitsuko would approve of?

Well. Mitsuko did like girls with animal ears. Mitsuko also liked Hachiko. And looking back, now that Kaina has some perspective, Mitsuko used to show titillating manga to Kaina, with lots of naked women and lots of exposed cleavage. And besides, Hannah and Sophie are Kaina's pets voluntarily. There are no issues with consent or coercion here. So… Mitsuko would probably be okay with this then, right?

"Okay~!" Sophie cheers.

"Master, I want headpats too…" Hannah whines, nuzzling up against Kaina's side, and Kaina blinks.

"Fine." Both dog-girls practically bounce in place as Kaina places a steady hand on each of their heads. Good girls deserve pats, after all.

"Good girls," she says quietly. "… Now strip. On the bed."

It's time for the other fun aspect of having other cute girls as pets.

Both dog-girls eagerly begin peeling their uniforms off. Sophie shakes her firm rear as she drops her pants and panties, tail wagging as she turns to expose her bare ass-cheeks. Hannah grins widely as she shrugs off her shirt and unclips her bra, exposing the pale, round globes of her breasts to the open air.

Breasts Kaina immediately pounces on, the second both dog-girls flop onto the mattress. Kaina squishes her face against Hannah, motorboating her boobs, and for one, brief second sheer mind-numbing bliss overtakes her.

"Hnn~!" Kaina grunts as she plants her face into Hannah's welcoming cleavage. So soft, so warm...! Like two fleshy, doughy pillows, enveloping Kaina's face…! Girls really are lovely. Mitsuko said so, and Alice said so, but Kaina never noticed other girls that way until Alice introduced her pets to her. Girls are soft and squishy; their faces are cute… It's to the point where Kaina's starting to feel vaguely guilty every time she looks at some of her colleagues in their skimpy, revealing Raiments. Alice is certainly to blame for this. Or maybe Mitsuko? Looking back, Mitsuko said many things that align with what Alice says now...

"Hannah, switch with me," Sophie whines and Kaina lets out a happy sigh as her other puppy presses down against her back, sandwiching the Magical Girl between the two lewd, naked sex pets.

Bliss. Happiness is a warm puppy, and that happiness is tripled when the puppies are cute girls. Kaina breathes in, nosing against Hannah's warm cleavage, inhaling her puppy scent…

… And lets out a disappointed sigh because there's just something missing. No, there's… Someone is missing.

It's wrong. It's all wrong. No spicy-sweet rose smell, no milk smell. No sweet milk from those bountiful breasts, no matter how much Kaina might suck and lick the puppy's nipples. She's slightly too warm, her chest is slightly too giving. She's not nearly as curvy as... This is comforting, it's blissful, but it's not… She's not…

"You're thinking about mistress again, aren't you," Sophie asks.

"… Yes," Kaina replies quietly, feeling a small frown tug her lips into a pout. "Yes I am."

If happiness is snuggling against a warm puppy, this must be what frustration feels like. Melancholy. This hollow ache, this dull throb in Kaina's chest that refuses to go away. Like there's a gaping hole where Alice should be, a hole that just can't be filled no matter how much Kaina tries. This uncomfortably familiar feeling…

(-20 points to Kaina's yandere score)

… Isn't this what Kaina felt, when Mitsuko went to heaven? What Kaina kept feeling in all the years since Mitsuko died?

Ah.

So this is what 'loss' feels like.

This constant, familiar yearning… It's what Kaina used to live with every day after Mitsuko passed on. Day in and day out, Kaina would mindlessly go on campaigns, willingly drowning herself in her duties and patrol and a myriad of unending demands to eat up her time. Willingly working and working, and working as Infinity Princess because there didn't seem to be any point to Kaina Shikinami.

And then suddenly, Kaina Shikinami mattered to someone else again, and the yearning stopped. And then Kaina had to become Infinity Princess again and here Kaina is again. Having these uncomfortable, bad thoughts. Mitsuko would probably compare this to… The feeling someone who's starved for their entire life has when they finally eat a full meal, then realize they're going to go back to starving.

It's truly dawned on Kaina now that she's returned to her routine, to going on campaign and working with the MGA how – How unhappy she used to be. How unhappy she is now, being away from Alice.

It's an uncomfortable realization.

(-20 points to Kaina's Yandere Score)

One Kaina's starting to hate.

"Haah…" Kaina lets out a sigh, flopping forward into Hannah's breasts, grumpily nuzzling against the soft orbs. Even if the world's uncomfortably hard and cold, at least here and now, Kaina's enveloped in soft warmth. There's some consolation there. It's not much, but-

Hannah drops a soft piece of lacy fabric down her cleavage and Kaina perks up as that familiar scent fills her nostrils. That wonderful Alice-smell, the rosey scent of her perfume mixed with the lewd, wet stench, remnants of the juices dripping from her crotch, that sweaty, funky smell...

(+40 points to Kaina's Yandere Score)

Kaina reaches into Hannah's cleavage, picks out the used, wadded-up panties Alice gifted to her before she went on campaign, and presses the lingerie against her face. Then, she inhales deeply. That smell…

… Is fading away now. It's been four weeks, after all. A month. A month where Kaina hasn't even been able to call Alice because of the communications blackout, and then fighting Ul'tharion, and now another communications blackout. The MGA's always worried about memetic hazards, especially after the Lotophage incident.

This means that during every campaign, there's a ban on internet usage for every single Magical Girl involved. That ban's in effect now and'll stay in effect for at least another day. Maybe up to a week, depending on the severity of the hazard.

"… Hngh…" Kaina mutters, carelessly rubbing her face against Alice's used panties, desperately trying to get as much of Alice's scent into her nostrils as she can. A soft hand touches Kaina's back with a reassuring pat now.

"You really miss mistress, don't you?" Sophie whispers into one of Kaina's ears.

"… Nnh," Kaina lets out an affirming grunt, then rolls over so she can nestle herself against the other naked puppy's cleavage, relishing in the feeling of her bare tummy, her thick thighs…!

"Well, we're not mistress, but we're always here for you, master!" Hannah whispers into Kaina's other ear, then gives her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. "Here to service all of your needs…!"

Kaina blinks once, twice, then blushes. Oh. Right. That's… Innuendo. Do the puppies want sex now? Well...

"… Okay," Kaina lets out a wistful sigh, carefully folds Alice's used lacy panties, and sets them aside. And then, with her hands freed up -

"Hyah~!" Hannah and Sophie mewl as their mistress plunges her fingers into each dog girl's pussy, forcibly spreading their thighs so she can dig away at the sodden tunnels newtled within.

"N – No, wait, I'm – I'm cumming~!" Sophie yelps as Kaina tweaks her clit with the pad of her left thumb, her index and middle fingers arching up right against that sensitive, rough spot on the front wall of her pussy

"Master, you're going too – Too fast – Oh goddess, oh – Oh~!" Hannah lets out a wanton moan as Kaina ruthlessly fingers her into an orgasm. Her thighs quake, her back arches, and Kaina wrinkles her nose as she feels her hands becoming slick from each dog-girl's arousal.

Hmm. Messy.

"… Clean," Kaina orders, withdrawing her fingers and presenting them to her pets, and Sophie and Hannah oblige. The delirious dog girls flop forward and take Kaina's wet fingers into their mouths, licking and sucking their own fluids from their mistress' fingers, lapping away at her hands with their doggy tongues.

Good girls. Good, good girls. If Kaina can't see Alice, can't talk to Alice until the communications blackout lifts, then at least…

… At least Kaina can prepare for the next time she meets Alice. Sophie and Hannah might not be Alice, but they're still girls Kaina can practice on, girls Kaina can molest into compliance to find all their sweet, sensitive spots. Pets Kaina can use to get experience so she can pleasure Alice even more when she returns…

Sweet, cute, obedient girls who'll do whatever Kaina wants, like the good puppies they are.

Alice gives out the best gifts, doesn't she?

"Good girls," Kaina mutters, thinking about all the techniques she wants to try on her pets. "… Sophie, bend over. Hannah, get me the vibrators. And that manual. I want to try out a new position."

"Yes, master~!" The dog girls giggle incoherently. Sophie bends over, spreading her pale ass-cheeks so she can present her sodden, dripping sex to her mistress. Hannah crawls off the bed and over to the nightstand, rummaging for the manual full of sex positions Alice suggested to Kaina.

Kaina's studied all her life – First cramming for a chance at medical school, then pivoting into the endless battles and theory-crafting demanded of a Magical Girl, methodically accumulating knowledge on arcane threats so she can dissect their every weakness in the heat of battle. Debauchery? Lewdness?

That's just one more thing Kaina's going to have to learn. The difference here, though, is that debauchery's fun. Molesting cute girls is… fun.

(Even if Molesting Alice would be even better right now.)

Mitsuko always said that Kaina was a fast learner.