72 USNA

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for flying with TripleXL Airlines. We have successfully landed at the Boston - Wartorn Airport! We will be deboarding from the left, so please make your way to the exits slowly and carefully. Please remember not to rush, as we will not be leaving before ensuring that everybody has safely stepped onto the airport! Have a good time here in the USNA!"

Hearing this announcement, Alaukik, who had his eyes closed and his head leaned back onto the seat, slowly opened them and turned to his left, looking at Divya who was sitting on the other seat gawking outside the window. 

'This reminds me of Earth - and about when I didn't have to worry about my identity or my life every second of the day.'

'You still don't have to,' said the voice in his head. 

Sighing, Alaukik simply shook his head, knowing that speaking any further will just end up with him getting more irritated than he already is. Instead, he patted Divya's shoulder and got up from his seat. 

"It's time to leave," he said, waving his hand towards the exits when he noticed that Divya had turned his head towards him.

Nodding, Divya slowly got up and started walking behind him. While her interactions with him were no longer him speaking and her being in her 'dead mode', it still wasn't something to brag home about. However, 

'Progress is progress,' thought Alaukik, glad that she at least replied to his words now. And he didn't just feel that because he needed her for her powers, no, it was more like he felt a sense of camaraderie with her … Well, camaraderie might be too strong of a word - I guess you could call it pity. Alaukik had seen the life she lived, and knew the struggles she faced. While they might not amount to much when compared to his, there was also the fact that his was a reincarnated soul while she was actually just a 13* year old girl. And so, over the time they had spent together, he had come to pity her, and sincerely hoped for her to grow past her trauma and live normally. 

Anyways, since they booked the highest class tickets available, they didn't have to wait in a line or have to deal with a crowd as they exited the airport - in fact, there were even people waiting for their arrival. You see, when applying for the high school in USNA, Asha applied for them as Alaukik's aunt and Divya's guardian. Considering the fact that she was part of the RC, the news that her nephew and guard were going to be studying in the USNA spread through the upper international circle quite quickly. Most considered it as Asha trying to send them away from the pressure the Federation was facing, and the thought that Alaukik might be the magician they were searching for never even crossed their minds. And so, even though USNA was one of the countries pressuring the Federation, as a show of respect to one of the brilliant minds of this time, they still sent an escort to pick up the duo and drop them off at their new house. 

And so, both Alaukik and Divya found their escort waiting for them outside the exit of the aeroplane. Seeing the two of them, the escort quickly made his way to them. Giving the both of them a little bow, he said,

"I'll handle the luggage Mr. Chandrasekhar, Ms. Biswas. Please just follow me to the car. I'm in charge of taking you to your residence in Springfield. It should take about five or six hours from here, so please let me know if you need anything along the way. If you want we can take a tour of Boston before we leave, or we could explore some places along the way to Springfield. Or - "

Cutting him off before he could continue, Alaukik simply replied to him

"I think we'll go straight to our residence uh …" said Alaukik, staring at the escort. 

Snapping to attention, the escort said,

"David sir! My name is David Smith! But are you sure you don't want to explore before we leave sir? It's quite a beautiful city and - "

"It's fine David, we'll find some time to explore later. We're tired from our journey, and would simply like to rest," said Alaukik, cutting him off again. 

"Very well sir! Then I shall take you to your residence immediately! But sir, do you only have one suitcase with you? Is there any other luggage that I should look out for?"

"No, this is it."

"Only this one suitcase sir? But isn't this too little for spending one year here sir? Or are you going to buy the stuff her-"

"David, look at me," said Alaukik, his voice cold. 

Turning to Alaukik, the first thing David noticed was the sunglasses Alaukik was wearing, even though it was a cloudy day today. The next thing he noticed was the Ms.Biswas beside Alaukik. She was clutching Alaukik's shirt, and was shivering slightly. Though he found it odd that she was shivering when the weather was normal, he focused back on Alaukik and asked,

"Yes sir?"

"Shut up and just bring the car here. Then simply drive us to the house," said Alaukik, no longer willing to entertain this escort after having spent the entire plane ride listening to OG ramble on in his mind. 

When Alaukik spoke this time, David could feel the entire world staring at him, as if an apex predator had marked him as prey, and was simply waiting for his defence to crumble. Stuttering, David replied,

"Y - y - yes sir," before quickly turning around and speeding away towards the car, wanting to get away from Mr. Chandrasekhar as fast as he could. 

On the other hand, noticing that the escort had left, Divya pulled on Alaukik's shirt and asked him,

"What was he saying?"

His mouth making an O shape, Alaukik mentally smacked himself 

'I forgot she doesn't know english!! Even Asha forgot that!! What am I supposed to do now? Can someone learn a language within a week? Our school starts next week!!' 

However, even though he was panicking inside, on the outside, he remained calm and said,

"He was just asking if we have any more luggage or not. He's gone to bring the car, so he asked us to wait here for a moment."

Holding his chin, he looked at her and said,

"You'll need to learn English too. Can your power help you in learning new languages?" asked Alaukik, trying to figure out the best solution to this problem. 

"I - I've never tried to do that…" whispered Divya, her body hunched over the thought that she was causing more trouble to Alaukik. 

"It's fine, we have enough time for you to learn it," said Alaukik consolingly. 

"For now, let's go to our new house," he said, noticing David bringing the car towards them. The car wasn't any luxury brand or anything - it was a simple sedan, albeit with reinforced windows and body. Well, no matter what the international relations were like between countries, the USNA couldn't afford the cost if Asha's relatives died on their soil, and so while not in luxury, their life here would definitely be safe. 

About five hours later:

"Mr.Chandrashekar, Ms.Biswas, we've arrived at your house. Would you like me to bring your luggage inside?" asked a meek David, who had already brought out their luggage from the boot and was standing beside the open passenger doors. 

Stepping out of the car, Alaukik replied

"That's fine David. Just leave the suitcase here and you can leave."

"Thank - thank you sir!" exclaimed David, bowing his head as he quickly made his way into the driver's seat and drove off. 

Watching David drive off in a hurry, Alaukik smirked and then gestured for Divya to keep up with him as he made his way towards the house.

From the outside, the house was a normal suburban villa one could find in the USNA, with nothing too special about it. It had a lawn in the front and a garden behind the house. The door had a digital lock, requiring a six digit key code to open.

Upon entering the house, the first thing you would see would be the massive living room to the right, nearly occupying the entire ground floor. It had floor to ceiling windows towards the east, ensuring there would always be natural light flowing into the house. A fully furnished kitchen was there to the left of the living room, and some distance in front of the door were a set of stairs leading to the first floor. 

Climbing the stairs, one would be greeted with a hallway that extended on both sides, along with 4 rooms on the floor. Walking into one of the rooms, you could see a king sized bed with a night stand on either side, a cabinet with an attached mirror in one of the corners and a desk with a night lamp in the other corner. There were also huge windows in each room, while not as massive as the ones in the living room, they weren't small either. 

Well, this was where the normal ended and the abnormal started. Every window in the house was reinforced to resist for a while attacks of all kinds. The building was built with extremely strong material, capable of surviving a Richter 9 earthquake. All in all, it was meant to be a stronghold capable of resisting various kinds of attacks long enough for the authorities to respond. Especially built by the USNA for the duo. 

Smirking, Alaukik thought,

'Well, they definitely built it for us, considering the various cameras and microphones hidden inside every nook and cranny.'

'I'll have to clean this entire place first,' sighed Alaukik, who had been hoping to be able to rest in a bed after such a long journey. 

Dropping off the suitcase in the hallway on the 2nd floor, Alaukik turned to Divya and said,

"Well, feel free to choose any room. You can do whatever you want for now, I'll call aunty and let her know we're here. Then I'll try and find you a good English teacher, someone capable enough to help you learn the language quicker."

'After I give this place a deep clean,' he added to himself. 

Meanwhile, Divya, unaware of the cameras present throughout the house, simply nodded and let out an inaudible "Thank you," quickly choosing a random room and bringing in her suitcase. 

Nodding at her progress once again, Alaukik went back down on the ground floor and began to destroy all those cameras and microphones he had found. 

----

The day passed quite quickly for the duo, one finally able to sleep in a bed and the other working his ass off. 

'What kind of sickos created this house?!' questioned Alaukik, leaning back into the sofa. 

'Forget this, let's go have some fun! This is the USNA - the land of freedom! Let's run free. If not the innocent, let's find some bad guys and kill them~'

'Just how did they manage to hide so many cameras and microphones in such unreachable places?? Is being Asha's nephew really that much of an important position for these people??'

Well, he wasn't off the mark. Asha, in all her life, had never had any familial relations, not even a lover. She had devoted herself to her research and her fight against oppression of magicians, leaving her personal life empty. This had made it hard for those who wanted to … connect with Asha, since the only way to reach her was through the official channels. But now, she had a nephew and was the guardian of some random girl! What was even better was that both of them were simply highschool freshmen! That meant that they could be easily influence- interacted with. 

Of course, the authorities of the USNA weren't dumb. The planting of devices throughout the house was something they did offhandedly. They knew that Asha would've taught them a bit about this kind of stuff, and so were prepared to lose a lot of their devices. Their main focus was however the devices buried deep inside holes and corners that couldn't be seen or even felt using normal means. 

Well, Alaukik wasn't really normal - and albeit with constantly rising irritation, had managed to root out all of the devices planted inside the house. While he could've done it quietly and ensured that the other side didn't realise it until quite a while had passed, Alaukik didn't care for what the authorities would think and had physically rooted out all of those devices, resulting in holes of various shapes and sizes across the house. For devices he couldn't reach physically, he simply destroyed them using his powers, not bothering to bring their pieces outside. 

Relaxing on the sofa, Alaukik thought

'Well, at least I got all of them. The dudes who set this up are probably fuming right now, but I doubt they can do anything about it. But I'll have to bring someone to fix the house… Hopefully Divya won't ask what happened, she'll start feeling bad about not being able to help again. Honestly, I don't understand her eagerness to be stronger … Well, that's a lie. I can perfectly understand her desire for strength, considering I was chasing the same thing not a long while back. It's just that … she needs to take some time to settle down. What happened to her in the past will take some time to heal, and if she pushes forward while ignoring that part … then she'll end up like me…'

Letting out a sigh, he added,

'Why can't life be simpler?' turning his head upwards, sensing the girl sleeping peacefully in her bed, unaware of the difficulties of life. 

'Well, I guess I should call aunty, and then try to find an English teacher here… I wonder if they hold online classes here?'

A/N:

What did I say? Two chapters right? Here you go~

And this one is quite big, about 2.3k words, so enjoy even more!

Once again, thank you Tenzing so muchhhhhh~

Also, thank you Ramon, Vo1d, Epic and John for the powerstones! They're nice, but I would appreciate comments a lot more~ You don't even have to type them in english, I can use google translate for other languages :)

But, it's not like I don't like the PS - you're supporting me in your own way, and I'm grateful for that!

As always, thank you for reading and have a great day ahead!!