When the three of them returned from the meditation place, it was already five in the afternoon.
"Welcome back. How's your meditation today?" Katherine asked as she opened the door for the three of them.
"It went okay... Mom, what's up with construction material outside?" Sophia curiously asked.
"Oh, it's just stuff that needs to be moved later. Anyway, I finally made new rooms for you guys."
"New rooms?" Alex asked in confusion, with the other two just as confused.
"Yep, bedroom all to yourself. You guys don't have to squish together on the same bed now."
"Oh..."
Mary seemed a little disappointed, but Alex let out a sigh of relief inside his head.
He had wanted his room for a long time, wanting to create space between himself and the other two ever since his body started developing.
"How many rooms are there?" Sophia asked.
"Two extra rooms for Sophia and Mary. Alex will be sleeping alone in the original room now——"
"B-But I want to sleep with brother and sister!"
Mary interrupted as she had gotten used to being next to the two of them on the bed.
"Too bad. You have to learn to be on your own. You can't always be dependent on your sibling."
As the three followed Katherine into the hallway, they were a little shocked at how completely both of the rooms were.
The walls were already painted, and inside, there was a single drawer, a double bed, a desk, and a chair.
Even the original room underwent an overhaul, with all three rooms now in the same proportion.
"Mom, how did this happen in like less than a day? Did we skip a day in the meditation room?" Alex curiously asked.
"No, you silly. There's a construction company that uses magic to build stuff. It's obviously going to be fast.
Anyway, I'm going to cook dinner now... And don't take a shower together anymore."
Katherine left the room before she explained why she said the last part, leaving Mary a little confused.
But Alex and Sophia both knew what she was trying to imply, especially after she gave them their private rooms.
"Alex, Sophia, why can't we take a shower together anymore?" Mary irritably asked.
"Because we are grown up now... Mary, we can still take a shower together, okay?
Alex, can you take a shower next? We'll take only a shower inside."
With a nod, both of them headed over to the bathroom, and Alex sat down in his very own bedroom.
"This is what I wanted, right?" Alex murmured to himself as he looked down at his hand.
He could feel a little bit of regret inside his heart, but he knew it was the right choice or the only choice he had.
"Come on, don't be silly. It's only a matter of time before this happens. You said you wanted to be a man...
Now you want to be with them? Stop being a sick pervert. They are your sisters, and they are not even developed yet."
After a short confide in himself, Alex's mind seemed much more clear as he felt a new insight in his head.
---
After the Monday holiday passed, the three kids were now back to school again.
Katherine also finally gave Sophia an extra copy of the house key, letting her open the door as she started leaving the house.
When one of them curiously asked where she was going, the only response she gave was that she was going to her classmates.
Yet, every time they tried to follow her in secret, it ended in a bust as she simply teleported out into a dead-end alleyway.
Still, they didn't think too much about it, as they had a bigger fish to fry on their table.
The three of them had been dedicating most of their time to improving mana skill, with Sophia and her friends already beaten arena level three.
Only Alex and Camille were stuck, unable to progress any further as they both lacked the damage to burst the golem down.
However, just as another month was about to end, the two of them finally beat it a day apart.
Over the next two months, Alex and Camille will spend more time together, meditating and playing catch-up against Sophia and her friends.
The two became much closer friends as they frequently visited the arena to fight the level three together.
They both learned about each other's struggle to gain mana, with Camille's mana struggle being her non-human elements.
Her half-bunny and half-human gave her an agile and strong body that is clearly more fitting for a knight role.
When Alex finally decides to ask why she is trying to be a mage, she simply hits him with the same question.
Alex told her his dream of being a wizard, only to find Camille had the same dream, albeit the dream for her entire tribe.
The pressure for her to perform was much greater than Alex initially expected, as she was the only one who could direct mana outward.
This was also when he finally learned her half-bunny race has always used mana as a buff, both figuratively and literally.
She cast one buff spell on Alex, which made him feel his body full of energy. He punched almost twice as hard as before.
It made Alex even more curious as she told him that her tribe had its way of gaining magic through literal fighting.
When asked why she didn't continue, she didn't answer right away.
But one day, Camille decided to tell him that her tribe's highest mana was a level six mage equivalent, indicating there was a cap.
Now, it became clear that she was trying to bypass this barrier by learning spell magic and their way of learning mana through meditation.
As time passed, the two finally caught up with Sophia and her group as they beat the level four arena.
They were now on the last level of the arena for level one mages, with a boss fight that could cast magic of its own.
All five of them couldn't even make a scratch to the boss, with Camille and Alex performing even worse by not even reaching it.
Still, Alex was satisfied with his progress as he was once again on the same level as the rest of the group.
With the year soon coming to an end, the seven of them were sitting at the back of the class.
---
"Sophia, what are you guys doing for the winter break?" Evelyn curiously asked.
"Going back to our grandparent's house. Where are you guys going?"
"Luna and I are going back home up in the north in Regina with our parents."
"How about Chloe and Camille?" Sophia curiously asked as their attention turned towards the two.
"I'm going back home as well."
"Same."
Sophia didn't push the topic any further, seeing that both of them didn't want to mention the city's name.
"Well, it's nice seeing you all. Hope to see each other again after the break."
"You too!"
Sophia and Mary hugged each of them before Alex waved goodbye as the three of them left the school building.
As they began heading back home, the sun was still setting on the horizon behind them.
"Can't believe half of the school year flew by like that..." Mary murmured after the winter break was the 2nd half of the semester.
"Well, we did miss the first three months of school. It's going to feel shorter for us."
Sophia pointed this out as they walked down the streets with their backpacks full of stuff inside.
"Still. Who would have thought that we would be living in the capital and going to school?
We were still living in a small village just a few months ago. And now we're mages being able to cast all kinds of spells."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. We're only mage level one." Alex chimed in, ruining Mary's happy mood a little.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's only a matter of time we're going to reach mage level two."
Alex fell into silence for a second, but he spoke up again as if he didn't really mind it.
A few minutes later...
When they returned home, Sophia knocked on the door before pulling out her key to open it.
As they expected, Katherine wasn't home. But what caught them off guard was the person sitting at the table.
"Miss Amelia?" Sophia nervously asked as they weren't sure who the person behind the robe was.
"it's auntie Amelia. How were your classes today?"
Amelia finally lowered her robe and excitedly walked over to the three of them before hugging them.
"Great. Miss Amy had taught us a lot of stuff." Alex replied, with the other two in the opposite mood.
"She gave us so much homework!" Mary complained as her shoulders hurt while she was carrying it.
"Yeah, our backpack is full of it." Sophia pointed out as they dropped their backpack onto the rack.
"I'm sure she has her ideas... Anyway, just to make sure, today is your last day, right?"