Chapter 55: Home

Another half an hour had passed and Van was still stuck in the backyard, surrounded by all sorts of creatures that came from god knows where. Just where was Ms. Elton keeping all of these, Van could not help but wonder.

Van's ear could no longer hear the peaceful wind and the rustle of leaves, instead, his ears were drowned by the incessant murmurings of the creatures. Some of the least intelligent creatures only released whispers, as if someone chanting random words.

But the more intelligent ones, like the cercopes, can do full sentences, albeit broken.

Van knew one thing for sure, though. His head was starting to hurt. He already told Ms. Elton that his ears were already ringing from all the noise the creatures were making, but Ms. Elton just told him to get used to it as she shamelessly covered her ears with plugs.

Ms. Elton, however, was right. Now that he had spent minutes and minutes in enduring their noise, Van could somewhat ignore them now. It wasn't that he could control it, it was entering from one ear and exiting to the next without registering in his mind.

"Interesting, interesting!", Ms. Elton said, her voice loud due to the earplugs she was wearing, "It doesn't seem to drain your SP?"

"...No", Van shook his head.

"Hmm…", Ms. Elton placed her hand on her chin as she squinted her eyes, "Just… what are you?"

Hearing Ms. Elton's question, Van could only shrug his shoulders in response. A few more minutes have passed, and finally, Ms. Elton stopped Van's training, if it really can be called that. Ms. Elton then ordered Van and Victoria to bring the cages back inside.

They were led to the Unique Class-1's basement. Van and Victoria could not help but look at each other, this place even had something like this? They thought in unison.

And it wasn't just a normal basement, it was a spacious one, much bigger than the lot of the house itself. It also felt as if they were outside as the ceiling lit up, similar to that of a morning sky.

The contents of the basement, however, were not as cheery as its ceiling. There were papers strewn all around that place, there were also cages and some equipment that Van didn't really want to know what they were for.

"...Is it really alright for us to see this?", Van murmured as he placed one of the cages on the floor.

"I know some of your secrets, now you know some of ours", Ms. Elton shrugged her shoulders, "Don't tell anyone though, we will kill you"

As soon as Ms. Elton said that, a colossal pressure suddenly crawled all throughout Van's body, making him unable to breathe. However, it only lasted for a second before disappearing.

"Just kidding", Ms. Elton giggled, "...I think"

"..."

And so, the 2nd class of the Unique Class-1 ended with only Van and Victoria attending. No, if one would think about it, Victoria didn't even learn anything. She just… sort of became Ms. Elton's assistant for today.

Both of them were now outside of the class, Van nodded and bid his farewell towards Victoria. But as he was about to leave, Victoria suddenly spoke.

"See you on Monday", she said in a low voice.

"...Hm?", Van could not help but blink his eyes a couple of times. He really wasn't expecting Victoria to reply to him.

"You sit next to me in class?", Victoria added.

"...Yes?"

"Then see you Monday", Victoria nodded her head as she started walking away.

"...See you Monday", Van muttered before going superspeed. He ran to the gates, and as he expected, Harvey and Beatrice were still there waiting for him again. There was, however, a person he didn't expect.

"...Gemma?", Van said as he stopped right behind the three.

"Kya!", Gemma could not help but yell as she slightly jumped in fright.

"You'll get used to it", Beatrice said as she fixed her glasses.

Seeing people giggling at her, Gemma could not help but lower her head and clear her throat. She then looked at Van and handed her a piece of paper.

"...What's this?", Van could not help but tilt his head as he looked at the paper.

"Be honored, Mr. Van", Gemma slightly chuckled arrogantly, "We have decided to invite a freshman to join the student council…

...and after much deliberation, we chose you!"

"No thanks"

***

"Miss Andrea, are you going home already?"

"Yes, there's no more to sell"

"Tch, I knew we should have hired you the moment you stepped foot in the market!"

Andrea was currently walking in the market with a large smile plastered on her face. All of the people here seemed to know her already as she could not take five steps with no one greeting her.

"You seem to be holding lots of things today?"

"Ah, yes", Andrea nodded as she stopped walking to talk to one of the vendors, "Since it's Friday, I'd like to cook a nice meal for my brother's friends"

"I haven't seen your brother even once, he is a student from NYSA, right?"

"He's the shy type", Andrea chuckled, "I will bring him here if he has free time"

"Make sure of that, 'kay!? Here, tell him I will give him more if he visits"

"Ah!", Andrea placed the bags she was holding in one hand as she reached for the fruit from the vendor, "I'll make sure to tell him, Lana. Thank you!"

Time flew by faster than Andrea could imagine. It had already been almost two weeks since she arrived in the city.

The market was only a 10-minute walk from their house, and she considered this walk to be the most peaceful time of her life right now. It gave her time to reminisce about the day, it was repetitive, sure, but at least she felt… human.

Back in the relic graveyard, she did everything just to be able to put food on her table. She stole, she sold her body, she searched for trash.

Now, even though she had only spent 2 weeks, it already felt like her body was back to her. And for once, she belonged to herself.

Andrea continued to walk peacefully in the streets, and without even knowing it, she was already in front of their house.

Since it was Friday, she wanted to cook something good again for Van and his friends. And so, she started cooking. It took about an hour or so to prepare, but it was just right on time.

As Andrea placed the last plate on the table, the door opened.

"Welcome home, Van"

And there…

...Van and his friends greeted her with a smile.

"I'm home"