“I forgot we only have some rice and vegetables left in the fridge, you probably can’t do much with just that. We can order some sushi instead if you want to. Let’s make Sara pay for it hehe.”

“Oh no, this is already plenty. I’m used to cooking with few ingredients, just leave it to me!”

She pulls the sleeves of her shirt up and smiles smugly while looking in the fridge, she’s really pumped for some reason, I guess she’s in her element now.

After half an hour of cooking and me cutting myself while trying to peel some vegetable, she calls Sara down from her room and we all eat together.

*PA-DING*

“W-What’s that?”

After we heard that ping sounding noise, the electronic-counter above the door of our living room suddenly goes up by one.

“Oh my, I think that counter might represents our grade for the dorm-sharing experiment.”

Oh crap, I think Juniper’s right. The counter didn’t make any noise until now, probably because it waited until Juniper joined us… lucky… If it was just me and Sara, we would already have a score in the negatives… looks like Sara realized it too:

*PHEWW* “Thank god they didn’t score us when you weren’t here yet Juniper, I think they would have deducted a lot of points for peeking on your roommates mana-cultivation!”

So that was mana-cultivation huh? That’s a nice way to train... Wait no, now’s not the time.

“Well I also don’t think they would’ve given us a lot of points for shooting an icicle at your roommate!”

*BA-BWUHH*

Suddenly the counter goes down by one, returning to zero.

“C-Come on guys let’s just be friends from now on, okay? At least in order to receive a passing grade.”

“Fine.”

“Alright, but only for you Juniper, not for this pervert.”

…

An awkward silence fell between us. I can’t handle this:

“This is some really good food Juniper, and all that from just some leftovers!”

“Thank-“

Sadly, Sara had to interrupt us:

“Hmphh! I also could have made something like this, you just never asked me.”

Sara’s weirdly competitive like this sometimes.

“S-Sure… how about you cook something for us next time then?”

“O-Of course, no problem at all! I’ll cook something even more delicious than this!... A-Although this is indeed really good Juniper…”

Aww, she can be cute at times too…

“Thanks guys. Please take care of me in the future.”

“No, please take care of us, you’re our senpai after all, and you’re even in the Bronze [III] class.”

“Thanks Reo, but like I said before I’m not that strong or anything… I only have a rather big mana-pool…”

‘And a great pair of boobs too’ I wanted to add, but that probably wouldn’t cheer her up…

Luckily there’s Sara:

“What are you talking about Juniper? That’s amazing! I wish my mana-pool was big… I need to constantly use mana-cultivation in order to catch up to my parents expectations...”

Oh crap quickly change the conversation-topic Reo, now they both look dejected.

“It’s already amazing you have a mana-cultivation cartridge Sara, you think I could borrow it for a bit? Heaven knows I need to increase my mana-count ha-ha…”

She’s looking at me with a suspicious expression, but I wasn’t really lying or anything. I really do need a mana-cultivation cartridge, I want to try coding my own version that’s faster and more efficient. I decided this would be the next unique magic I’ll create. Your mana-pool does increase your power exponentially after all.

“You want to ‘borrow’ my orange level cultivation cartridge? You know those things are expensive right? And even if I would let you use it for a while, the effects would be minimal if you don’t use the magic for at least a couple of months… Are you planning on selling my cartridge after I lend it to you or something?!”

“N-No no, of course not. I wouldn’t dare sell your cartridge. I just really want to increase my mana-pool, even if it’s just a little. You know my mana-pool is only 100 right? I bet you guys wouldn’t even understand my suffering, you’re both in bronze class after all…”

Sara still looks a bit skeptical.

“No, I do know what it’s like to have a small mana-pool, I started with a mana-pool of only 500 after all, but even after using the mana-cultivation cartridge for half a year, I only increased it to 853… it won’t have much effect on you if you only use it for a couple of weeks.”

Suddenly Juniper joins in on the conversation:

“Poor thing, only a mana-pool of 100… I wish I could give you some of my mana…”

Truly an elder-sister type…

“Purely out of curiosity, but what’s your mana-count Juniper?”

“Only 2100 or so.”

Damn… So her breasts really weren’t the only thing great about her… Looks like Sara’s chin also almost fell to the ground:

“2000… 2100?! How come they didn’t put you in the silver class already?!”

“W-Well, I have my own circumstances, and I don’t have any powerful cartridges either…”

Doesn’t look like she’s ready to open up to us yet, let’s not make her too uncomfortable:

“Anyways, back on topic. Could I please borrow your mana-cultivation cartridge Sara?”

“Hmmm…. Fine.”

“Thanks Sara! I really misjudged yo-“

“BUT nothing’s free in this world, you also have to do something for ME first.”

*SIGH* I feared this would happen.

“Fine, what do you want.”

“Nothing much, you only have to go on a date with me and meet my parents.”

*PA-DING*