"Wake up, sweetie." A soft voice woke Alek up from her sleep.
"Mmmm." Alek buried her face in the pillow from the sunlight hitting her face. A woman watching that laughed and continued to shake Alek's shoulder gently.
"Come on. Get up."
"...Noooo. It's too early."
"It's not. It is nine in the morning. If you don't come, the ice cream is going to melt." The moment Panacea said that, her daughter snapped her neck in a flash and got off the bed like she was underwater and jumping out to get oxygen.
Alek jogged to the bathroom, washed her face and rushed out of the room before her mother.
"Morning." Voices greeted her once she got in the dining room. Apart from the young couples of Nagatsuki, everyone was there. The young people and Astraea were eating ice cream with pancakes and waffles next to them.
"Morning." She replied and sat next to the seat where her sister tapped. Her sister silently handed her mint ice cream with choco chips. Bia knew Alek's favourite and reserved it for her. She liked her ice cream a fifth melted.
"Thank you!" Alek's eyes shined as she faced the food in front of her. Her sister knew her well.
"Your welcome." Bia continued to eat her mocha and caramel ice cream from her bowl.
Alek grinned when she tasted sweet. It tasted heavenly. At the right timing, her brother gave her plain cookies that made everything better.
"I'm surprised you can eat this in the morning." Robin sighed, watching his children eating sweet things from the morning and sipping his coffee.
His wife gave him a look.
"You know I don't like sweets." His wife was stealing her sister's ice cream, which was matcha and mango.
"Ey!" Astraea complained a little but didn't stop her sister from eating them. Her husband was also eating from her sometimes and, her ice cream lessened quickly. She served another cup another one for each.
Panacea smirked and continued eating from Astraea's cup.
"How was the stay here, everyone?" Minaki was drinking matcha that matched his traditional Japanese outfit. His wife next to him was very much the same.
"It was amazing! I finally know that I have my other half as you do. I am really thankful for your help and sorry for causing trouble." Alek answered first and made a couple of Nagatsuki smile.
"No need to worry about the damage you caused. When Junto first shifted, he destroyed the whole house. Thankfully, it didn't happen in this house and happened at the beach side house." Minaki smiled at the memory and ate his wife's brownie.
"I have a question." Alek remembered what happened yesterday night.
"Go ahead." Minaki answered.
"I'm pretty sure that the room, I and my sister slept in was in the middle of the house, and the window in the room wouldn't be able top lead able to lead me outside."
"Ohh." Minaki breathed out a laugh. "That is one of the magic cast on this house. Every window in this house would lead out for an emergency. If you do not come from the inside, then you can not find those windows. It's magical one-way."
"Ohh. I have another one." Alek raised her hand up and asked.
"Sure. I will answer it as long as I have an answer."
"The house looks and is small from the outside but, it is huge on the inside. I'm sure that I didn't shrink when I came in here."
"That is another, my child. A rogue witch came to us seeking help some time back. In return for our protection, she gifted this place with her magic. Those two that you mentioned are a small part of it." Yukari answered it for her next. She was drinking matcha tea with several beautiful wagashi.
"Ahh. That explains a lot." Alek continued to eat her ice cream. This time, there were brownies on top of them.
"For me, this place has gifted me with so much knowledge that I think is very useful and important. I am glad to came to know this place." Pollux spoke next. He had finished eating his burgundy cherry ice cream and was sipping his warm water.
"This place is full of surprises and, I have not done exploring this place. I hope to come again and finish my adventure here. Plus, I made a friend here that I would miss." Castor answered after his brother. He was eating his coffee candy ice cream with waffles.
"Mostly I stayed in the house but, I have got to know people and, it was a good experience for me. I have learned how to make many incredible food that I would love try out back home." Iris answered. Her ice cream was strawberry and vanilla ice cream.
"I had some studies to do so I also stayed in this house but, I know how this place is amazing. There are many breathtaking, beautiful and surreal sights exist in this place. Ougai also loved it. He urged me to go explore, but sadly I had things to do." Kai spoke. His lemon crisp ice cream was almost gone from his bowl.
"Who is Ougai?" Alek asked. She had heard the name way before when she believed in the supernatural world and weren't one.
"My crocodile." Her brother answered it. Seemed like she was the only one who didn't know Ougai.
Alek put a thumbs up when she heard the answer. "What's your snake's name, Bia?"
"Yuzuruha." Bia answered lazily. Her stomach was full and, she didn't think any more would fit.
"And yous?" Alek asked everyone at the table.
"Uta." Jin answered.
"Chikage." Rin answered next.
"Yuu." Iris spoke next.
"Sarasa." Astraea answered after her daughter.
"Kikka." Her mother answered next.
"Genya." Lake answered.
"Kuon." her father answered.
"Wakane." Yukari answered with a smile.
"Hibiki." Minaki answered after his wife. "Have you memorised everyone's beast's names?" He laughed as he asked.
"No. But at least I know their names now." Alek answered honestly. She remembered Jin's king cobra's name and, after that, everything was gone. It went in from her right ear and left from the other. Plus, they all explained their kanjis, which made her brain burst even more. "No offence but, your names sound old style, including my dragon's name, Kiryuu. Is it because they are ancient forms too?" Some of the names they mentioned were not common in this era.
"Exactly. The first-ever shapeshifter had the ability of all twelve clans. He gave each one of his forms names. We know that he suddenly divided his powers into twelve and gifted them to twelve people before he disappears after. But the powers carried on till now. That is the start of the twelve leading clans that exist now." Minaki replied.
"What happened to him?" If a head of a clan, who could shift into anything in from their type was like invincible, the first person should like on God level, right?
"We don't know. It happened way back when even written language was not there. The story we know now may not be what really happened in the past since it has been a long time and many people have passed on by mouth. But it doesn't matter. The present is more important than past." The former head replied. Everyone had finished eating and, the rest of the ice cream was back in the fridge by servants.
"I see. I hope I would be able to know what really happened to him before I die." Alek answered and drank her green tea with honey like it was the most bitter thing she had ever tasted.
"Good thing you have a long life." Minaki replied with laughter. "Because you are part of the leading clan, your life may be a bit longer than an average shapeshifter as of we are."
"By how long?"
"Maximum of two hundred years." Minaki answered, shrugging his shoulders like it was nothing.
"You call that little. That's interesting." He just mocked the entire existence of humans.
On the q, people in the room began laughing. What she said was true. A hundred years were already long enough for humans and, he basically called two hundred years short. That is surely interesting.
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"Are you done?" Panacea asked from outside the door of where her daughters stayed. "We are leaving in ten."
"Okay, mum!" Alek answered and hastily and forcefully put her sunflower lion in the already-full bag.
Bia was chilling on the bed and was waiting on Alek. Her bed was neatly done. Sheets and pillows were ready to be washed and, her bag sat on it. Her sister wasn't good with tidying things up and, it always took her a long time to finish up.
She sighed as she got off the bed to help her sister. Her bed was still messy as herself. Alek had only been packing for the last thirty minutes. She didn't understand how her sister could take that long just to pack a few things in her bag. Her bag was definitely bigger than when she brought her things. How?
Bia moved her sister and the bag to her bed and removed Alek's bed's bed sheets.
"Thanks." Alek answered and succeeded in putting the lion in the bag just to pop out the next second.
"Ebu, go and tidy yourself up!" Bia used her grandfather's mother tongue and pointed at the bathroom.
"Roger that." Alek rushed to the bathroom but came back soon. She looked apologetic.
"What?"
Her sister hesitated.
"Say it."
"My clothes..." She answered with her head down.
"Don't tell me it's in the bag!" Bia finally managed to zip the bag that looked like a sandbag, ready to explode.
Alek nodded.
"Oh my God." Bia sighed in frustration and opened the bag with no choice. The clothes popped out but, that wasn't the main issue here. She grabbed a random pair of clothes for her sister and pointed at the bathroom door again.
"Thank you!" Alek smiled and kissed her sister's cheek before rushing to the bathroom. She dropped her top and the way but came back to pick it up.
Bia blushed a little and continued to tidy up her sister's mess.