Hearing his apology left me with complicated feelings.
He’d missed the point, but the fact that Vasily had apologized and even reflected on his own mistake was shocking. That Vasily, apologizing? He’d even come thinking about what exactly he’d done wrong.
Vasily added that he’d asked others for advice and told me to praise him.
“Is that person… still alive…?”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“…Nothing.”
Even though I muttered it under my breath, he heard. S-class hearing was terrifying. I shut my mouth, deciding I’d better be careful when cursing him from now on. I wasn’t his Exclusive Guide anymore; if I provoked him, I might lose my life.
“Will you accept my apology?”
“Well… it’s not exactly the right answer, but I’ll let it slide this time.”
I doubted the person he’d asked for advice was still in one piece, but since Vasily was going this far, I couldn’t just ignore his apology. I gave a reluctant nod, and he smiled with his eyes.
Can a person really change? Seeing him smile faintly left me a little confused.
In any case, it was time to go. I had a lot to say, but I’d only slipped out for a bit this morning, so I needed to hurry back. Checking the time, I stood up.
“Already heading back?”
“Yes. So please open the door.”
“We met after a while, and you won’t even guide me?”
“I’m a public employee attached to the Association. If I don’t return to duty, I’ll get fired.”
“Hmm…”
When I cut him off sharply, Vasily tilted his head as if thinking and then said,
“I’ll file a designated guiding request. That makes it fine, right?”
“…”
“So I won’t push it like last time. I’ll take just an hour.”
I kept my mouth shut. That left me no excuse to escape. And it wasn’t as if Vasily would obediently open the door.
I glanced at the clock and weighed my options. An hour was just barely manageable without the pill… it should be fine.
“Fine.”
In the end, I accepted.
Vasily tapped at his smartphone and showed me the screen.
[Temporary Guiding request has been submitted. : Guide Kwon Gidam]
There went my last chance to run.
After he showed me the confirmation, Vasily waited the way he usually did when receiving guiding, opening his arms obediently.
That faint smile of his was still uncomfortable. I didn’t see any intent to harm me on his face, but after he’d so casually tried to kill an Esper, my wariness wouldn’t ease.
I set an alarm to go off in an hour and sat quietly beside him.
“Then I’ll begin guiding.”
I carefully drew him into my arms. Without letting my nerves show, I wrapped my arms around him and felt the familiar chill seep into my body.
Right. I just had to last until the alarm went off. Once the guiding ended, he’d have no excuse to keep me and would open the door.
What worried me was the suppression chip overloading after guiding. Thinking about having to take that unpleasant red pill the moment I got back to the office made my stomach turn.
“…”
Like a well-behaved cat, Vasily accepted the guiding. Unlike before I’d regressed, when he’d thrown a fit every time, he left his body to me with exemplary compliance. I almost wanted to put his photo in the Guide Association hallway as this month’s Model Esper.
If only the other Espers who came for Temporary Guiding were all like this.
He smelled good, didn’t squirm to press closer, didn’t try to make needless conversation… While he was being guided, Vasily felt like a docile lamb. I couldn’t tell whether the creature in my arms was a giant cat or a predator.
But…
“…Esper Vasily.”
No sooner had I thought that than he began pressing down on me with strength, weighing on my body. Feeling my shoulders grow heavier, I softly called his name.
What was he trying to do? If Vasily suddenly lost control and pounced, I couldn’t resist. This was a private room—if something happened, help would arrive too late. Regret crashed over me for stepping into his private room so carelessly.
I held back and, tense, finally spoke.
“What are you doing? If you don’t follow the precautions, I’ll have to stop the Temporary Guid—”
“Mm…”
Just then, I heard even breathing by my ear. I shut my mouth without meaning to.
Hoo—hoo. From right beside me, Vasily’s quiet breaths leaked out steadily. It was true. That Vasily was leaning on me and letting all the tension leave his body.
Don’t tell me he fell asleep?
“Esper Vasily?”
No answer.
“Are you actually sleeping?”
“…”
He was really asleep?
Listening to the even breathing by my ear, I was flabbergasted. I kept my guard up, thinking he was acting, but he truly had relaxed against me and fallen comfortably asleep.
A confused tangle of feelings flooded through me. I was so thrown I couldn’t react at all and just froze in place.
— Beep-beep.
Then my smartphone vibrated and the alarm began to ring. Without thinking, I snatched it up and turned it off.
‘…Did he wake?’
I checked the now-silent phone and, sneaking a glance, checked Vasily. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to have woken; he was still dozing against me, breathing softly.
But my suspicion only grew. That man—who was hypersensitive to a terrifying degree—hadn’t woken even when an alarm went off? This time I truly thought he was faking it, yet he was asleep. Sound asleep, at that.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him let down his guard so completely in front of me. The most vigilant bastard suddenly doing this?
I was so thrown I couldn’t decide what to do when I heard a faint drip-drip from somewhere. Turning toward the sound, I saw the ice that had sealed the doorknob melting, water dripping down.
This was my chance.
I quickly eased Vasily down onto the sofa and slipped out of the private room. I kept glancing back, anxious he’d suddenly wake and chase me, but the corridor toward his room stayed quiet—he must have been sleeping deeply.
Come to think of it, how long had it been since I’d seen him asleep? I’d sometimes caught a glimpse after spending three days and nights guiding him post-Gate, when he stirred briefly.
My head was a mess. I returned straight to the Guide Association, but even by afternoon, Vasily didn’t come looking for me.
I couldn’t erase the image of his sleeping face from my mind. Was he still asleep, or had he woken and simply chosen not to come? All afternoon, even as I guided other Espers, my confusion wouldn’t settle.
***
Thankfully, the bouquets stopped arriving the next day. Relieved to have one headache gone, I started my day as usual.
Vasily didn’t show today either, there were no nightmare clients, and there were only a few assigned Espers. Lucky me. Since it was Friday, I made plans to go home, watch a movie, and enjoy a beer, and I just waited for quitting time. Thinking about resting all weekend put me in a good mood.
— Screech.
I was moving with the crowd heading for the subway after work when a familiar car suddenly stopped right beside me.
A sleek foreign car shining black like obsidian. That was definitely…
‘The one Vasily drives.’
Damn it… No wonder my luck had seemed so good all day…!
The window started to lower. Before I even saw Vasily’s face, I broke into a run. I sprinted toward the subway entrance ahead of me.
Tap-tap-tap!
It was Friday rush hour. Public employees spilling out of the Esper Association and the Guide Association were flocking to the subway to go home. If I could just get inside the station, Vasily—who hated crowds—would give up chasing me.
Which also meant, until I got into the subway, he wouldn’t give up on me.
Clack, thunk.
I heard a car door open behind me and someone get out. But I was already nearly at the station entrance. With this many people around and this distance between us, there was no way he could catch me. No matter how much he was Vasily, he couldn’t possibly stop me getting off work on a Friday—
“…!”
A wall of ice sprang up in front of me. I tried to stop, but with the speed I’d picked up, my legs couldn’t halt on a dime.
“Urgh!”
I managed to get my arms up just in time to keep from smashing my face. My forearms throbbed in its place. Disgustingly solid. I’d slammed into it at full tilt, but the ice didn’t even crack.
I tried to go around, but as I changed direction, another ice wall rose. The same thing on the other side. In an instant, ice walls surrounded me like the bars of a prison.
Everyone on their way home stopped and stared at me trapped in the ice prison. Dozens, hundreds of eyes turned my way. For someone living as an ordinary civilian, it was far too much attention to handle. I thought I could see my teammates in the distance…
…Damn it.