Alex was not sure if the queasy feeling that he is having right now is due to his fear of getting discovered by Alina, or just plain nervousness from going out with a girl.

“What a wimp.” Asteria scoffed as she saw Alex’s nervous look. “You will just go outside and roam! How could you look that scared?”

“Shut it pixie.” Alex muttered as he fixed his shirt. “I bet you have zero experience on things like this too.”

“Wha-what do you think you are saying!” Asteria stuttered as she retracted her glare. “With this queen’s beauty, many men have fallen heads over heels on her!”

“Yeah right.” Alex’s noncommittal reply clearly showed that he did not believe Asteria’s claim.

“Hmph, the only reason that you agreed to join that Alina is for the bonus mission, right?” Asteria taunted as she waved her hands. “I bet that without the reward, you will do your best to avoid her.”

“……..” Alex knew that Asteria was right.

If it was before, Alex would not attempt to contact Alina at all. But now that he was practically forced by his temporary teacher to join her, combined with the rewards of the bonus mission, and Alex was left with no choice but to comply.

After all, it will look suspicious if Alex continued on refusing.

“That s**ty teacher of yours really did make your training easier today.” Asteria mumbled in dissatisfaction. “Its just obvious that he cares more for his niece than you.”

Alex frowned after hearing this, as he remembered what happened to the 2nd day of his training.

Instead of amping up the difficulty of the power training, Clint actually made his control of the EM Waves weaker, which allowed Alex to pull more of them.

This saved Alex from more body pain, but still, he was not happy to be treated like this.

As for the ability training, it actually just went on just like yesterday, although Alex realized that he had lesser mistakes now.

From the looks of it, his experience with the Ability Training yesterday made his attempt today to become easier.

This just further reduced Alex’s exhaustion that day.

Because of these factors, Alex was only able to reach Tier 35 today.

It was a pretty dismal improvement compared to yesterday, but Clint just waved it off, as he said that the training on the 3rd day will be much more difficult so that Alex could catch up with all the possible Tiers that he lost.

This of course made Alex more deflated as he ignored Asteria’s cackling laughter.

************************

With the 2nd day of the training finished, Alex has to suit himself up for his appointment with Alina.

But before he met up with her, Alex decided to have a private talk with Clint.

“Master, can you care to tell me why you are really interested on making Alina go out with me?” Alex said as he gave Clint a glare.

“I do not believe that you can just casually make us go together without any reason…”

“It’s out of desperation, ok?” Clint replied exasperatedly as he looked at Alex.

“……” Alex was unable to muster any word, not because of the way Clint answered him, but with the way his eyes looked.

Clint’s eyes looked extremely raw, as if he was remembering something incredibly painful to him.

Clint took Alex’s silence as the consent to continue talking as he said,

“My niece Alina has been through a lot already. I cannot tell that much about her, but what I can only tell you is that she is currently risking her life for her sister.” Clint said as he let out a weary sigh.

“Poor girl had no choice but to do it, or else her only real family will be gone from her.”

“Wait, I thought you were her uncle.” Alex pointed out tactlessly.

“I am her uncle because I volunteered to do so.” Clint replied with an edge with his voice. “Alina’s sister requested for me to take care of Alina as her uncle 5 years ago, and that’s what I did.”

Alex felt his head swirling as he realized that he is now hearing an extremely sensitive issue. “If Alina was with you 5 years ago, then why is she like that now?”

“As I told you earlier, it’s all because for her sister.” Clint replied quickly.

“So, Alina left you 5 years ago and placed her life in dangerous situations just for her sister?” Alex muttered with a sudden tilt on his head. “I thought Alina’s sister was the 2nd strongest Esper?”

“Was.” Clint said this word with emphasis. “Right now, Alina’s sister is incapacitated, and is being kept in a facility to keep her alive.”

“I still do not get how that can force Alina to leave you.” Alex replied hesitantly.

“Just like what I told you for the 3rd time, I’m unable to tell you the reason.” Clint coldly said, and this time he talked in a way that forced back any of Alex’s retort.

“Oh and Alex, if you are wondering why my family is not helping out Alina that much in her situation with her sister, you can say that we are being forced to not help.” It was clear at this point that Clint’s anger was not only focused at Alex.

“Oh, now this really gets more complicated.” Alex mumbled to himself as he fixed his hair.

***************

Right now. Alex was fully convinced that his bonus mission to contact Alina and help her is a legitimate one.

Alina’s story was full of intriguing twists, so much so that Alex was now genuinely interested on knowing more.

“With that kind of intriguing backstory, I am sure that helping Alina out might help me in my main mission.” Alex thought to himself as he saw Clint starting to calm down.

“Alex, we just want to at least let Alina experience how to be real teenager for once.” Clint said as he gave Alex a pleading look.

“She spent most of her childhood making herself strong, and the rest of her life until now risking her life for her sister. That obviously deprived Alina of things that she should experience.”

“And you think I am the right person for the ‘dating’ part?” Alex asked incredulously as he cocked his eyebrows.

“Well, any men will do, as Alina will just beat them up if they tried perving up on her.” Clint replied nonchalantly. “You just turn out to be the convenient choice, so do not think that you are that special…”

“Didn’t it even cross your minds that Alina might like a girl?” Alex said as he imagined the forbidden lily paradise. “Maybe she has a secret girlfriend now…”

“Alex, we have tried setting up Alina with a woman before already.” Clint replied with embarrassment clear in his tone. “It did not work out that well, so we rejected that notion.”

“Ok then.” Alex was about to say more when he suddenly heard the same robotic voice that made the lockdown announcement.

“After a thorough searching, the authorities confirmed no traces of a Class-S Intruder in the Dragon Esper City. Thus, the lockdown shall be terminated.

“After a thorough…”

“After a thorough…”

Clint’s face split into a smile as he heard the announcement. It was pretty obvious why he looked so happy.

“Alex, I thought your date with Alina will be awkward with that Class-S Intruder. But with that Intruder confirmed to be not here, Alina will be surely less wound up! Take this night as your chance to impress her!”

“Hell no, I will not be doing that.” Alex thought to himself as he decided to make his ‘date’ with Alina as fast as possible.

Alex decided to bring Alina to places that are considered to be not good places for dates.

Alex thought that these places might be enough to make Alina’s interest to Alex turn to zero.

The less interested Alina will be to Alex, the better it will be.

“Oh, and speaking of Alina…” Alex then heard the sound of the doorbell from outside the house, indicating that someone is arriving. “Seems like she’s here already.”

His confidence, which he already built up earlier, had seemingly disappeared again as he saw Natasha guiding Alina inside the house.

Instead of her usual attire, Alina was wearing a more casual set of clothes now.

She wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt, complemented by a pair of black pants, and of course, a pair of black rubber shoes.

Alina was currently wearing a ponytail, making her look somewhat more innocent today.

However, she was still wearing her mask, which reduced her approachability factor.

“…..” Alex could not help but slightly gulp as he saw Alina’s tight pants hugging her shapely legs. Alex had always like legs, and seeing a perfect pair of legs right now just made him excited.

“So you also have a fetish huh.” Asteria off-handedly commented as she noticed Alex’s gaze at Alina’s legs. “Just continue staring, and Alina will be creeped out by you.”

“…” This forced Alex to tear his gaze away as he focused on the mask on Alina’s face.

The mask was just a plain white mask. It had no holes or design, making it look extremely plain. But Alex was sure that this mask is hiding one or two special functions.

“Alina! You really changed your clothes!” Natasha exclaimed as if she could not believe what she saw. “When I told you yesterday to wear casual clothes for tonight, I thought you will just ignore that. But it seems like you are excited for this date too!”

“I am not excited at all.” Alina quickly replied, much to Alex’s relief. “I just feel guilty for making you and uncle worry, so I decided to follow this request of yours.”

Even if he was relieved that Alina only agreed on this date because she felt obligated, he still could not help but wince from the brutal way that she said it.

“Don’t cry buddy, I am here to support you, whatever happens to you.” Asteria said these words as she patted Alex’s back. “Being acquaintance-zoned is not a really good feeling.”

“…………” It’s quite obvious from her tone that Asteria was just messing with Alex again

“Well, the night is just short, so off you two go!” Clint and Natasha practically pushed Alex and Alina out of the house, forcing them together on the street.

Alina and Alex both looked at each other, with both of them struggling to say the right word.

It was Alina who broke the silence as she said,

“Just bring me to the places you want me to bring. I want to get done with this.”

“Yes ma’m.” Alex replied a little stiffly as he brought Alina to their first destination.

His first destination was a streetfood stall that he researched earlier.

This stall basically serves the type streetfood that even the poor can afford.

Alex had the inkling that with her upbringing, Alina will surely hate streetfoods. After all, they were dirty and they were produced in the street.

“I don’t care if her opinion on me goes to the negative state after this.” Alex thought to himself as he gave a smile as the vendor. “Making Alina disgusted against me is better than me being butchered by her!”

Just like what Alex had expected, Alina had frozen up as Alex brought her in front of the streetfood stall. Now, Alex had to only wait for a few seconds before he could hear Alina’s outburst.

But what came out of Alina’s mouth was not a shout or an angry beration. Instead it was a whisper, which sounded sad and nostalgic at the same time.

“My sister and I… used to eat these when we were young.” Alina said as her body slightly trembled.

“They’re really delicious. I used to like them mixed with hot sauce. My sister on the other hand, likes them with vinegar…”

Even if Alina had her mask on, Alex was 100% sure that Alina is smiling right now!

Both Alex and Asteria stared at the happy Alina with shock. Asteria could only blink her eyes in confusion while Alex thought to himself,

“Did I just impress a girl with a mediocre foodtrip? Gah! This is not how it was supposed to be!”