Jasmine had been standing by in the lobby for more than three hours, keeping her compatibility sync active the entire time, but the radar still hadn’t given her a single promising result.
She glanced at the Guide Resonance displayed on the hovering screen in front of her.
225/10,000.
Why hasn’t Oleander eaten his food yet? Did he throw it away because of what happened last night?
Jasmine pursed her lips.
The food didn’t do anything wrong. How could he take it out on the food? Poor thing.
She eventually chose a sofa in the lobby. Based on her research, this week was the busiest period for Guides and Sentinels. With the hunting season starting in early fall, most of them would soon return to the dorms after their summer vacations, which meant the lobby was bound to become one of the busiest places in the building.
It was the perfect place to find a target efficiently.
But Oleander had been right.
Finding a compatibility rate above ninety percent was ridiculously difficult.
Every Sentinel that appeared on her radar had a painfully low number, with the highest sitting at around forty-five percent. She’d also noticed that there weren’t many E-Rank Sentinels wandering around. Even when she found one, their compatibility wasn’t any better.
Ding.
Beep. Beep.
Compatibility: 20%
"Hm. Such a shame." A black-short-haired D-Rank Sentinel standing before her glanced at his screen. He then looked up at Jasmine. "Does your guiding kiss also work because of your high compatibility with Oleander?"
Jasmine frowned. This was her sixty-sixth failed attempt, and she was starting to get frustrated. She turned toward the Sentinel who just did the sync test with her, only to find him sitting beside her now.
The man smiled suspiciously.
"How do you know about that?" she asked sharply.
The Sentinel shifted closer.
"Well, it’s all over HesperiNet." He scooted even closer. "So, you don’t want to try it with me? Who knows? Maybe the rumor is true and your kiss really does have some kind of superpower."
Jasmine narrowed her eyes.
The man’s butt kept inching closer and closer, as if the sofa had suddenly become too small for him to sit still.
Is he physically incapable of staying in one spot?
She remained still while he slowly leaned toward her. Then Jasmine’s nose caught a sharp, unpleasant smell coming from his breath, even before he got close enough to kiss her.
What the hell is that smell? Did he eat a dead rat or something?
Yikes.
Jasmine immediately placed a hand against his chest and pushed him away.
"It’s a public area. Losing my memories didn’t make me forget how to be embarrassed about doing intimate guiding in public," she said flatly, remembering Oleander’s earlier warning that she should have some shame.
"And..." Jasmine paused. "Of course it’s my superpower. But no, I won’t do it with you. You’re not in a fatal emergency that requires my help. I only use it when a Sentinel loses his mind. It won’t work if the Sentinel is sober."
She had, naturally, invented that last rule herself.
The man’s expression soured. He immediately scooted away, wearing a bitter smirk that made him look more embarrassed than offended.
"Well, of course you’d say that. You always say that anyway. How stupid of me to believe the rumor."
Jasmine frowned.
"Did I? What do you mean?"
"You didn’t check HesperiNet this morning?" He tapped his BeepAir and turned off the antispy screen before showing Jasmine the translucent display. "There’s a new rumor that’s already trending because of your superpower kiss last night."
Jasmine read the news headline:
SUPERPOWER KISS OR SERIAL FLIRT? MYSTERY BEHIND E-RANK GUIDE’S SHOCKING MOTEL CLUB ENCOUNTER
She skimmed through the post quickly and pieced together what had happened. According to the original poster, he and a friend had kissed Jasmine at the Motel Club because she liked kissing men who treated her well and helped her. She had apparently approached D-Rank Guards and offered intimate kisses in exchange for their help.
The rest of the accusations made Jasmine want to puke. The post made her sound like she would kiss just about anyone.
Kissing is good. And tasty. Very good, actually. But hell... I couldn’t even kiss this rotten-breath guy.
Jasmine looked at the man.
"And what do you mean by ’you always say that’? What did I say?"
"You said you had enough shame not to give intimate acts to just anyone. I was there at the Motel Club. I saw you with them, but I don’t know what you were talking about. You slapped the guy who made the post, said that, and then ran out of the club."
He scrolled past the post and showed her the comment section.
"Look. Some people don’t believe you’re like what the post said because you’re known for always trying to get Oleander’s attention."
Jasmine read through the comments again. The ones defending her were far fewer than the ones attacking her.
She smirked, amused. "Interesting."
She looked up at the man.
"Are you sure I was slapping the guy who posted this?"
The short-haired Sentinel nodded. "A lot of D-Rank Guards are jerks, but I’m smart enough not to pick a fight or lie to someone important. Especially when even the higher-ups are keeping an eye on you."
Jasmine’s smirk widened.
Finally, she’d found one thing she liked about the old Jasmine.
At least this girl has teeth.
"You seem to know a lot about Jasmine," Jasmine said.
"It’s hard not to. Most people know you because Rosalie and Oleander were a remarkably strong couple. It’s not hard to find articles about them, and somehow, your life ended up exposed too."
"Yeah... that’s right." Jasmine recalled some of the articles she’d read the night before. "Somehow, she was always wherever Rosalie and Oleander were, only to end up looking like the pitiful third wheel."
The man narrowed his eyes, still confused by the way Jasmine talked about herself as though she were discussing someone else.
"Aren’t you angry?" he asked.