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 asked curiously.
"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, the bedroom's 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, seemingly unbothered by this.
"Two extra rooms for Sophia and Mary. Alex will be sleeping alone in the original room now—"
"B-But I want to sleep with my 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 complete 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. Take separate showers."
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 all separate bedrooms.
"Alex, Sophia, why can't we take a shower together anymore?" Mary asked irritably.
"Because we are grown up now... Mary, we can still take a shower together, okay? Alex, can you take a shower next?"
With a nod, both of them headed over to the bathroom, and Alex sat down in his very own bedroom for the first time.
"This is what I wanted, right?" Alex murmured to himself as he stared towards the white ceiling above him.
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 moment of confiding in himself, Alex's mind seemed much clearer as he felt a new insight in his head.
---
After the Monday holiday passed, the three kids were now back at 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 be with 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.
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 spell 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 from each other.
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 even 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 having it as the dream for her entire tribe.
The pressure for her to perform was much greater than Alex ever expected, as she was the only one who could direct mana outward.
In other words, she was the only hope for her village.
This was also when he finally learned that 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 was able to punch 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 together.
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 on 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 now 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 chatting.
---
"Sophia, what are you guys doing for the winter break?" Evelyn curiously asked first as she sat with a bored face.
"Going back to our grandparents' 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 neither of them wanted 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 together, the sun was still setting on the horizon behind them.
"Can't believe half of the school year flew by like that..." Mary murmured as the winter break indicated the end of 1st semester.
"Well, we did miss the first three months of school. It's obviously going to feel shorter for us compared to other students."
Sophia quickly pointed as they walked down the streets with their backpacks full of textbooks and homework inside.
"Still. Who would have thought that we would be living in the capital and going to school in less than a year?
We were still living in a small village just a few months ago. And now we're mages, 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. We're going to get it no matter what."
Alex fell into silence for a second, but he spoke up again as if he didn't really mind her comment at all.
A few minutes later.
When the three of them arrived home, Sophia knocked on the door before pulling out her key to open it.
Just as they expected, Katherine wasn't home. But what caught them off guard was the person sitting at the dinner 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 taught us a lot of stuff." Alex replied, with the other two in the opposite mood.
"She gave us so much homework!" Mary immediately started complaining as she dumped her backpack onto the floor.
"Yeah, our backpack is full of it," Sophia added as she dropped her backpack onto the rack next to the door.
"I'm sure she has her ideas... Anyway, just to make sure, today is your last day of school for the semester, right?"