Kyle had a simple life.

Wake up in the morning and eat breakfast with the family. Talk to Fred a little, talk to Elena a little, talk to Dave a little. Listen to Dave complain about Claire asking when I will come over. Leave home.

Walk to school. Talk to Beth, ignore Mrs. Skorva. Talk to Beth, listen to key points from Mr. Woodworth. Eat lunch and talk to Beth. Enter trance for 2 hours and school ends.

Leave school with Beth and confront Berry. Run away from Berry. Go to Beth's home. Teach Beth either words or magic. If Beth's parents get home early, stay for diner, if not, leave.

Go home. If already eaten diner, lay on couch, if not, eat diner. Talk with family. Go to sleep.

This continued until Kyle's 3rd and last year at the Thornberry Public School. This year, Claire would be starting school, and Kyle would be in charge of walking her to and from the school building, just like Berry was for Beth.

This went completely against the conditioning he did to keep her away from him, and soon the day came where Kathy and Claire would be going to the first day of school together, led by Kyle.

"Let's go Kyle, I don't want to be late." Claire said as she held her mother's hand while walking out the door to her house.

"Alright, the school isn't hard to find. It's just near the 4th district but still inside the opening of the crescent in the 3rd." Kyle took the lead as if he was an expert. There was a two month break at the end of the year before classes started again on the second Monday of September, so Kyle would be seeing Beth for the first time in two months.

It only took a few minutes to get to the school and Kyle stopped them.

"You should probably go inside without me. Get that new student feel. Just look for the class with your letter and number." Kyle could read so it was not a problem for him to have found his class, and they stayed the same every year. When he asked Beth about how she found the classroom despite not being able to read, she told him her mother gave her the paper and she just matched the symbols.

Kyle also did not want to walk in with them because whomever they had for the teacher probably wouldn't have a good impression, and if Mrs. Skorva saw them with him, Claire was done for. Kyle did not pay attention in class, that was a fact. Most of the history was about how evil the beast-kin are and how they want nothing more than to topple the empire.

Kyle had never seen a beast-kin before, but from what he knew about Elves and Dwarves compared to what was said about them in history lessons, history was wrong.

Kyle entered the school shortly after Kathy and Claire, and after promising to walk Claire home too. His class was, of course, in the same place as always. He still had the back window seat, and Beth still sat next to him. Everything was more or less the same.

"Hi Kyle." One thing that changed was Beth being more cheerful. She was fine with classes now, and would certainly be going to mage school at the end of this year.

"Hey Beth, do anything over the last two months?"

"I kept the secret just like I said I would." Kyle had told Beth countless times to not let anyone know she knew magic. Kyle was not sure what the punishment would be, but it was probably not good.

Beth was proud of her achievement though, and magic was now something Beth was very good at. Beth's sister was training to be a swordsman at the Knight's Academy in Vegaville, a city about 8 hours ride from Thornberry. Beth's sister was someone she looked up to immensely, and even is she could not compete with her swordplay, Beth would have stronger magic.

"What about you Kyle?" Beth too wanted to know what the other person had done over the break.

"I mostly just read at the library." What Kyle was not saying though, was that he extensively used his tangerers in the 3rd district. He was not able to use them frequently because he went to Beth's home every day during school, but the 2 month break was a catch-up period.

First period started, but it was worthless. Both Kyle had always been able to read and write, and Beth was getting good at it.

Second period came later, and it was worthless too. Kyle actually did go to the library sometimes, but the history was taught at a pace for children in school. The library books were written for scholars who wanted to know more about individual events. It took many books to get a feel on what happened in any given year.

From what Kyle could tell, the beast-kin attacked the empire a few times with the help of the dwarves, the Legion of Holy Swords was remade about 1,000 years after being disbanded and invaded the Elven kingdom, and then everything stopped about 500 years ago, except for one more war with the beast-kin.

It was really sad, that after working together to defeat the demon kingdom the three other races were now enemies.

Lunch for Kyle was the same as always. He was starting to enjoy a certain standard of food, the Valheart Standard. Vegetables for lunch and meat chops for diner. It was bliss.

Third period was, as always, best period. Kyle would be leaving the school after this year, so he was going to break his rule that he set for himself.

Kyle extended two tangerers while he kept his hands on the desk. He was now able to do it without aiming with his hands, and it was the perfect sneak attack. Kyle tried to see if the tangerers could be used as weapons, but they would not move as fast as his real hands and could not be made thin enough to cut things.

"We take the, um, this number, ah, times the, oh, this number-" Kyle was using his best technique, and he thanked the training manuals from so long ago. Ms. Helen had know idea the one fondling her was Kyle, and it was the perfect crime. He was untouchable, but everyone else was.

At the end of the way, Kyle and Beth walked together to the outside of the school.

"Hey, Ms. Helen was acting strange in class today." Beth had seen the strange behavior, and she pointed it out to Kyle as they walked.

"Really? I didn't notice." Kyle played dumb, his best approach to anything in this new life.

Outside the school was Kathy and Claire waiting for Kyle. Claire was very excited, and mixed in well next to Kathy with the other mothers and their children.

"Who is that?" Beth asked when she saw Kyle walking up to Kathy and Claire.

"The big one is Kathy and the small one is Claire. They live near me and are friends with my mom." Kyle said as he got closer. Beth was just a few steps behind him, and felt a strange emotion when seeing him walk up to other people.

"Who is that Kyle?" Claire asked when she saw Beth.

"Is that the friend who's house you go to?" Kathy asked when she saw Beth. She had heard from Elena about Kyle going to a girl's house every day and teaching her words.

"You told them about me?" Beth blushed a little bit and stopped a few steps behind Kyle.

"This is Beth, and yeah, I go to her house and teach her how to read and write." Kyle waved his hand as if presenting Beth, and then realized how far behind him she was.

"But you're coming home with me right?" Claire said, a little anxious.

"Yeah, sorry Beth, but I have to walk Claire home now." Kyle apologized to Beth and walked closer to Claire.

"I'll come too!" Beth yelled out and then ran past Claire and Kathy. Beth ran to where Berry was and then exchanged a few words with him, and ran back to Kyle. "Okay lets go."

"Beth, if you come with us, how will you get home?" Kyle presented the obvious question.

"You will just have to walk me home after Claire." Beth said this as if it would be a privilege for Kyle to walk her home. In the eyes of the archetypal character seeker, it certainly was a privilege.

"Hehehe" Kathy chuckled and the 4 of them walked back to the Drought home. Claire and Beth gave each other some nasty glances while they walked down the 3rd district street, and Claire was the first to say anything.

"Kyle is coming to my house every day to help me with my subjects." Claire was proud of that for some reason. She stuck out her chest and walked proud.

"Kyle has been coming to my house every day for years." What Beth said was most true though. Besides the 2 month break and a few other days, he was there every day.

"I've known Kyle for 5 years." Claire was pulling the 'Oldest Childhood Friend' card.

'Is this... a rivalry?' Kyle was not sure what to think of the stage of events. This was currently the perfect event for the 'Schoolmate' archetype, but Kyle had not setup one of those. Beth could be considered the Schoolmate, but she was only 7 and he was looking for the payoff later down the line.

"Kyle taught me how to read words." Beth used the 'Was Taught a Skill' card.

"Kyle taught me how to make big towers with blocks." Claire was referring to one of her toys, but it was an inferior version of the 'Was Taught a Skill' card that Beth used.

"Well, Kyle also taught me how to use magic." Beth completely blew Claire out of the park. Not just Claire though, Kathy and Kyle too.

'NO! What are you saying Beth!' Beth had just let it slip that Kyle taught her magic, just because she wanted to win in a rivalry with Claire.

"..." Kathy stopped walking, and because she was holding Claire's hand, so did she. Kyle stopped too, and the only one to move forward was Beth.

"What?" Beth asked when she saw everyone stop. She looked at Claire first, and then Kathy and then Kyle. Kyle was giving her the evil eye, trying to signal that she did something wrong.

"Kyle, do you really know magic?" Kathy turned to Kyle and asked him, and Claire looked at him too. Soon, everyone was looking at Kyle.

'Oh shit, what do I do?' Kyle was in metaphorical tears. He could deny it, say what he taught her wasn't really magic, or come clean.

"Surprise!" Kyle went with option number 3.

The four of them slowly restarted their walk and when they got to the end of the street with both Kyle's and Kathy's houses on it, they turned to Kyle's home. They were all silent on the walk.

Beth knew she did something wrong, so she put her head down and walked next to Kyle. Kyle did not want her to feel too bad though, so he tried to hold her hand as they walked to his house. Beth brightened up a little, but she knew what she did. They were now both in trouble.

The Mercer house was close to the street and did not have a yard like Beth's home, so when they got to the house, they were already at the door. Beth was a little surprised at the poverty Kyle lived in, but it was not 1st district level poverty.

"Elena?" Kathy said as she knocked on the door. A few second later and Elena opened the door. Dave could be seen sitting on the couch.

"I thought you were going to your house?" Elena said in a questioning tone. She was not prepared to receive guest right now.

"We have something very serious that we need to talk about, is anyone else home?" Kathy asked, trying to look in the door.

"No, it's just me and Dave." Elena was a little confused by stepped back for everyone to come in. She looked at Beth for a second and then asked Kathy a question.

"So what is this all about?"

"Did you teach Kyle magic?" Kathy was very serious, and not like her normal self at all.

"Oh, that is serious." Elena knew what happened to kids that learned magic before turning 8 years old. It was a huge fine for the parents, and if they got one, Elena and Fred would be pushed into the 1st district. "I never taught him..." Elena did not know how Kyle could have learned magic though.

"What spells do you know Kyle?" Kathy asked him as she too a seat at one of the chairs at the table.

"Just Flame and Fireball." Kyle lied, but unless Beth opened her big fat mouth again, Kathy would be non the wiser.

"Is that so..." Kathy looked lost in thought. "Did Kyle teach you those spells Beth?" Kathy only just learned her name today, and already she was investigating. If Beth could have kept her trap shut though, non of this would be happening.

"Um, yeah, just Flame and Fireball." Beth said back as she still stood next to Kyle, holding his hand. She was uncomfortable in the current position, and thought it would have been better if she just went home by herself.

"Then, um... Can you teach Claire too?"