After walking for almost ten minutes, the seven of them finally arrived at Katherine's house.
"Hm... Did we ask Mom for a key?" Mary asked as 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 standing behind it.
"Welcome back! You guys are?"
"Hello, Miss Katherine. We're Sophia's friends. We were wondering if we could have a tour of what the teacher houses look like."
Katherine looked a little hesitant, but Sophia whispered something into her ear that made her change 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 all two sides of the wall were bookshelf 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 with a park."
Luna pointed out, as she looked out the window, a beautiful waterfall with a 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 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 tea cups and a teapot.
"They are checking out the bedroom... Mom, are you a teacher?" Alex suddenly asked.
"Me? A teacher? Why do you think that?"
As Katherine put the tray onto the coffee table before the sofa, Alex thought back to what they said earlier.
"Luna said that the only residential area in the school with houses rather than apartments is for teachers."
"She isn't wrong... Well, I'm not a teacher. This house is actually owned by my teacher, who hasn't come back for years now."
Seeing Katherine's emotion look a little grumpy rather than saddened, Alex got even more intrigued by it.
"What happens to the teacher?"
"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.
"Let me go! I'm going to take a shower later!" Alex demanded as he tried to resist, but he was just too weak compared to Sophia.
"Too bad. I want to take a bath today. Mom's going to kill me if it's only me and Mary taking a bath.
I need you to be with me. Come on, don't be shy. We don't mind seeing your naked body."
Mary quickly snatched the book from Alex's hand before putting it onto the sofa, then entered the bathroom before closing the door.
---
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 bothered at all, as she quickly sat down at the dining table before jumping straight into eating.
"What's wrong? Why are you guys' faces so red?" Katherine asked curiously as she handed plates full of food over to them.
"Mom, what's the stuff that comes out of Alex's thingy?" Sophia suddenly asked.
"What thingy? Alex, what is she talking about?" Katherine asked as she turned her head over to him.
Alex doesn't look back, eating his food in silence.
His face looked increasingly embarrassed every second, as he felt disappointed and ashamed of himself for earlier.
"Mary, what happened in the bathroom?" Katherine asked, seeing that the two did not want to cooperate.
"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.
"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.
"Mom... So, can you explain what that stuff is?" 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 it wasn't normal.
Katherine sat in silence for a second before letting out a 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 was going to be the final straw that separated him from the family.
Twenty minutes 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 leaving the bathroom.
Even Mary couldn't help but stay silent, as she didn't have anything to say to break it.
After waiting for five minutes, Katherine finally came back with a towel, wiping her wet hands.
"Mary, can you go back——Never mind, actually just stay here with your sister..."
Katherine grabbed a chair from the dining area and sat right before the three of them.
"You guys know Alex is... hermaphrodite, right?"