After walking for almost twenty minutes, the seven of them finally arrived at Katherine's house.
"Hm... Did we ask Mom for a key?" Mary asked after turning the doorknob, only to find that the front door was locked.
Both Alex and Sophia shook their head as they soon realized they didn't actually have a way to get inside.
"Let me just knock on the door."
After waiting for a bit, the door finally opened, revealing Katherine, who was still wearing her shoes as if she had just come back home.
"Welcome back! You guys are?"
"Hello, Miss Katherine. We're Sophia's friends. We were wondering if we could have a tour of what a teacher's houses look like."
Katherine looked a little hesitant, but after Sophia whispered something into her ear, she changed her mind.
"Come on in. Let me get you guys some tea."
As Katherine headed inside the kitchen, the four girls followed the three inside into the living room.
"So many books..." Chloe murmured as both sides of the wall were bookshelves full of books.
"Sophia, your house looked so much better than our dorm," Evelyn commented as she sat down on the sofa.
"I wouldn't be leaving if I were you. The atmosphere feels so much better than just a few trees in a park."
Luna commented after looking out the window, which had a beautiful waterfall with a small mountain in the distance.
"Mary, can you bring us to your bedroom?" Camille asked curiously as she became intrigued by the rest of the house.
"Sure! Follow me!"
As the two of them began heading further inside, Sophia and the other three girls quickly followed.
"Where did everyone go?" Katherine asked as she emerged with a tray holding four teacups and a teapot.
"They are checking out the bedroom... Mom, are you a professor or a teacher at this school?" Alex suddenly asked.
"Me? A teacher? Why make you think that?"
As Katherine put the tray onto the coffee table before the sofa, Alex thought back to what one of them had said earlier.
"Luna said that the only residential area in the school with actual houses rather than small dorms is for professors or teachers."
"She isn't wrong. Well, I'm not a professor or a teacher... This house is actually owned by my professor, who hasn't come back for years now."
Seeing Katherine's emotion look a little angry rather than saddened by it, Alex got even more intrigued by it.
"What happens to the professor?" Alex curiously asked.
"She is just busy traveling around the world right now. So she left the house for me to take care of."
"I see... Oh snap, be right back!"
Alex suddenly realized something as he ran straight from the living room to his bedroom. But it was far too late, as Sophia and Mary had already opened all the drawers.
"Hey, Alex, your guy's bedroom is pretty nice." Camille complimented.
"Thanks..."
Alex nervously stood still as nobody seemed to notice something off about his section of the drawer containing several bras and panties.
After standing there for a few seconds, he quickly realized he was panicking over nothing. None of them had ever viewed him as a guy at all.
"You three still sleep together? That's a little surprising."
Evelyn pointed out after noticing there was only one king-size bed with three pillows, with no other bedroom other than the closed master bedroom.
"Yeah, we had been sleeping together since there are only two bedrooms in the house, and Mom sleeps in the other one."
Sophia explained, seemingly not noticing or just not caring that all four of them were looking a little weirded out by it.
"We have been sleeping together since we were out of the cribs!" Mary added, not noticing the change on their face either.
"Let's go see the rest of the house."
Sophia guided all four of them to the bathroom next, which was much smaller than the one in their dorm.
Still, the bathtub size shocked all four of them, as it clearly could fit at least several people at once.
---
After touring the back of the house, the four of them were left stunned as Sophia and Mary both waved goodbye.
They couldn't believe how big the backyard was. It was practically bigger than the house itself, almost like a small mini-park.
"Sophia, how did you make so many friends already?" Katherine curiously asked as she closed the door.
"We just met today in class... Evelyn was my seatmate who talked to me first before introducing the other three to me."
"I see... Mary, what do you think of them?" Katherine asked as she gently patted Mary on the head.
"They are very nice! Luna was my seatmate, and she helped me take notes when I couldn't understand the topic!" Mary excitedly replied.
"That's good... Sophia, you're going to need to take care of your younger sister and brother in school, okay?"
Katherine still looked a little concerned for Mary, who still looked way too young compared to the four friends from earlier.
"I know, I know. Who else would I take care of in class than my little sister?" Sophia grumpily replied, getting a little jealous at the attention she was getting.
"Hey Alex, have you made any friends?" Katherine curiously asked, changing the topic away from the two.
"Nope, I'm stuck sitting next to a grown adult," Alex replied without looking back as he took out his textbook from his backpack.
"Really? Sophia, what happens in the classroom? Why is Alex sitting next to an adult?" Katherine asked, turning her attention over.
"Miss Amelia, I mean Auntie Amelia, was our teacher. She assigned Alex to sit right in the front while Mary and I sat in the back."
"She's your teacher?"
Katherine's face was in complete shock, but she quickly recovered as Mary replied with an answer.
"Miss Amy is sick, so Auntie Amelia was our substitute for the week."
"How dare she really put my son next to an adult. I'm going to talk to her——"
"Mom, it's fine. Justin is pretty nice. I don't mind sitting next to him... He doesn't really interact with me anyway."
Alex replied, sitting down on the sofa as the other two sat down right next to him, leaving Katherine the only one sitting on the dining chairs.
"Why is there a fully grown adult in the class in the first place? That doesn't seem right for a beginner class." Katherine curiously asked.
"He's stuck at mage level one," Alex explained as he took out his textbook from his backpack, getting ready to read it.
"Then wouldn't he be kicked out? How is he still in school? Adult and still mage level 1?" Katherine questioned.
All three of the kids shrug their shoulders, as they don't know the rules regarding expulsion.
"Whatever, I'll talk to her later... I'm going to cook dinner right now. You three go take a shower first."
With Katherine leaving the living room and heading over to the kitchen, both Sophia and Mary got up from the sofa at the same time.
But just as they were about to go inside the bathroom, they suddenly turned back around and headed straight towards the sofa.
"Let me go. I'm going to take a shower later. I want to finish this chapter first!"
Alex demanded as he tried to resist the two of them from grabbing his arm, but he was just too weak compared to Sophia's raw strength.
"Too bad. Mom's going to lecture me if it's only me and Mary taking a bath. I need you to be with us..."
"Come on, don't be shy. We don't mind seeing your naked body."
Mary quickly snatched the textbook from Alex's hand and put it on the sofa as they finally managed to drag him into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later...
When all three came out of the shower, Sophia and Alex's faces blushed red as they tried to forget what had happened earlier.
Meanwhile, Mary didn't seem to be bothered at all, as she quickly sat down at the dining table before grabbing a plate full of food for herself.
"What's wrong? Why are your faces so red?" Katherine asked curiously as she handed each of them a pair of forks.
"Mom, what's the stuff that comes out of Alex's thingy?"
"What thingy? Alex, what is Sophia talking about?"
Alex doesn't look back, eating his food in silence. His face looked increasingly embarrassed every second as he looked down.
"Mary, what happened in the bathroom?" Katherine asked after seeing neither Alex nor Sophia wanted to elaborate.
"Bathroom? We took a bath together and then... Oh, and brother shot out some white stuff when we accidentally slipped and fell on top of him."
Katherine froze as she dropped her fork onto the table, unable to believe what Mary had just casually said out loud.
Eventually, she came back to her senses. Her face was filled with anger for a second before it all instantly disappeared.
"Mom, I——"
"It's okay, Alex. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Your body is still developing. It's completely normal."
Seeing Katherine looking so understanding, Alex suddenly felt a little guilty as he thought back to earlier.
"Mom... Can you explain what that stuff is now?" Sophia asked again, wanting an answer as she still felt a little disgusted by it.
"Yeah, what is that stuff?"
Mary asked curiously, her brain finally realizing the stuff that came out of Alex wasn't normal, as her body couldn't release that kind of stuff.
The room fell into an awkward silence as Katherine sat for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh.
"I'll tell you guys after we finish eating... And Alex, you're going to sleep with me tonight instead."
Alex nodded in agreement, not attempting to argue back, as he could feel this could be the final straw that separated him from the family.
A short dinner later...
As Katherine began washing the plates in the kitchen, all three of the kids sat on the sofa, waiting for her to come over.
None of them spoke up, as the atmosphere had been extremely awkward ever since they finished eating.
Even Mary couldn't help but stay silent, as she didn't have anything to say to break the ice between the two of them.
After waiting for five minutes, Katherine finally came back with a towel, wiping her wet hands as she put it onto the dining table.
"Mary, can you go back to your room——Never mind, actually just stay here with Sophia."
Katherine grabbed a chair from the dining area and sat right before the three of them, her eyes looking back at them sitting on the sofa.
"You guys know Alex is... hermaphrodite, right?"