Chapter 13

* * *

"Nain, please think about it one more time. Lunch! Did you eat lunch?"

"I did."

"Come out and have just one cup of coffee with me. Wasn't that delicious yesterday?"

"It was too sweet."

"Then I'll buy you something different today."

Nain hesitated a little. Every time the man came to find him, he brought small bribes, and regardless of whether he liked the taste or not, they were all new to him. Nain's desire for unfamiliar and new things was not small.

"There's a transparent elevator in the central hall of Building C corridor, and when you ride it, you can see everything outside from inside. I was thinking we could go that way today..."

At the man's additional words, Nain's pupils wavered slightly. Seeing that the words he added for Nain, who always held his breath when riding elevators, seemed to really work, the man pulled up a chair to sit and rubbed his palms together.

Though Nain might think he hid it well, most people at the center, including the man, knew well what parts interested Nain.

Though he wasn't even a cat, he would stare intently at the bouncing ball on the black screensaver of monitors, losing track of time, or he would be conscious of the oxygen generator creating bubbles in fish tanks placed in the lobby or cafeteria and secretly pop the bubbles on the water surface with his hand, and when he had spare time, he would enter the revolving door at the first-floor entrance, spin around about twenty times, and come back into the building... It was impossible not to notice.

Nain unconsciously started to jump up as if bewitched, then belatedly came to his senses.

"Ah, no. Don't do this during work hours."

"I'll wait until you finish work."

"I said I won't do Guide work or whatever. I'm really not interested."

"I haven't even mentioned Guide work yet."

"You're about to."

"Well, that's true, but..."

Nain let out a deep sigh.

"Please, I'm begging you, stop following me around. I have to work now, so please go. There are many patients here too, so you shouldn't be doing this..."

Nain had become a bit annoyed after a series of actions he had thought were just health checkups.

This was because people who had already been looking at him annoyingly as if he might interfere with Esper training had since been visiting his desk several times a day under the pretext of persuasion, being very bothersome.

"Ah, damn it. If only the results had come out just one hour faster!"

The HR team leader muttered in an irritated voice while tearing at his hair. This was because the department assignment to forcibly fit Nain in had been decided about an hour earlier than Nain's trait test results, making it awkward for the HR team to intervene.

"How great would it have been if we had assigned him to the Guide department from the beginning?"

The man muttered openly with Nain right in front of him.

'Why would you assign someone who isn't even a Guide to the guiding department?'

Nain wanted to tell him that, but it seemed like he wouldn't even pretend to listen. The HR team people had filtering functions installed in their ears for words they didn't want to hear.

Honestly, Nain just wanted to be left alone now.

"Nain, not just one, but you're multi. Don't you know how valuable that ability is?"

"I know."

"No, you don't know."

"I said I know."

"You don't know at all!"

"...Why, why are you shouting like that?"

The saying that the person with the louder voice wins in a fight was true. Nain was a bit intimidated.

"Don't you feel sorry for wasting that ability?!"

Not sorry at all. Nain shook his head with an indifferent expression again this time.

That had been two days ago.

'Congratulations, Nain. Look at this, you're multi. You've become an awakener!'

The person who came to find Nain shouted while congratulating him. Nain almost clapped along with him without realizing it.

'Multi can awaken as either a Guide or an Esper. So you're twice as amazing as other people.'

'Me, me?'

Nain chewed over his words with a bewildered face, feeling his heart sink. Nain, who had been inwardly excited and listening to his words, almost got sucked into the story content before belatedly recalling his friends' advice.

'Nain, whenever someone tells you something that sounds appealing, you should be suspicious first. Got it?'

Ah, right. That was it? So Nain sat crookedly and tried to be suspicious of his words. His friends had warned him countless times that if he got caught by a scammer, he'd be stripped down to his underwear.

When he listened to his words while harboring suspicion first, it strangely sounded even more plausible. It was very persuasive.

'This person... maybe he's not a scammer?'

Thinking that at the time, Nain had followed behind the man and ended up setting foot in the matching examination room.

Multi was a type of person who possessed abilities as both an Esper and a Guide simultaneously.

Rare people corresponding to 1% of the total awakener population. However, even if born with the qualifications, sometimes one side wouldn't awaken at all until death. So even if trait test results showed multi, there were people who lived as Guides, or lived as Espers, or didn't awaken as either.

'The ability readings are a bit strange? This is the first time I've seen potential ability output as an error. Looking at the rampage reading being close to zero, it seems you haven't awakened as an Esper yet.'

Espers handled abilities without a single catalyst magical tool and protected people from dangers occurring everywhere. However, as there's no such thing as a free lunch in the world, there was of course a price for using one's own body as a vessel to handle abilities.

Rampage.

The more Espers used their abilities, the more overload occurred in their bodies. When the body's burden increased, the danger of 'rampage' also increased, and rampaging Espers would lose control of their abilities and go wild, eventually literally exploding and dying.

For the safety of not only the Espers themselves but also to protect citizens, there was a need to suppress Esper rampage. The role of Guides was to suppress such Esper rampage and relieve the body's burden.

'Fortunately, it seems you'll awaken as a Guide soon. You see the potential ability? If we draw out maximum efficiency, you'll easily exceed B-grade.'

The man held up the chart results in front of Nain and explained. The ability to help Espers through an act called guiding. It meant Nain possessed such an ability.

Oh, I see. Nain nodded earnestly and ended up being stuck in the matching examination room with strangers all day long.

However, the results after actually conducting the examination overturned everyone's expectations. They brought a couple of C-grade Espers who had been loitering near the examination room and conducted a hasty matching test with Nain first. The matching rate at that time was 0%, the same level as ordinary people with no guiding ability at all.

The next day, they conducted matching tests again with five Espers who had no pair Guides.

0%.

0%.

0%!

The matching rates were all only 0%.

'This can't be right? Is the machine broken?'

The researchers were even more confused than Nain. Because when they redid the trait test, Nain invariably came out as multi, and among those, someone with particularly outstanding Guide traits. Moreover, both purity and expected total amount were quite high. Judging only by the numbers output on the test sheet, it was more than enough ability to be B-grade or higher.

It was interesting at first, but as the tests continued, Nain came to his senses and gradually frowned more.

'This isn't quite right, is it?'

He almost got fooled. I'm an idiot for expecting anything. What kind of awakener am I supposed to be... I don't even have magical power, so what are they trying to do?

It was almost a disaster. These people were definitely scammers.

'It must be because it's before proper ability manifestation.'

'Yes.'

'The matching test was probably too hasty.'

'Yes.'

'Mr. Nain doesn't know how to handle guiding yet.'

'Yes yes.'

'But the overall potential ability itself is very excellent. Probably. Now, Nain. First, if you could sign here...'

People desperately tried to entice the clueless Nain, but seeing the madness-filled look in their eyes, Nain immediately ran away.

He lost motivation. He didn't want to waste precious time on something he wasn't particularly interested in.

"It seems like an ability that's there or not there anyway."

What Nain really wanted to do wasn't this guiding thing or whatever, but research on Espers. He had no time to waste unnecessarily trying to develop an ability that might as well not exist.

* * *

When Nain, who had been tormented all morning again today, was in the center's communal cafeteria, a shadow fell in front of him.

"Here again. This is really your designated seat."

Nain, who had been blankly staring at the bubbling fish tank and the fish fins swimming gracefully inside while eating, looked up. It was a familiar face.

"Your Highness, is this seat empty? Can I sit?"

Ched swaggered over and sat in the seat across from him before he could even give permission. When his broad shoulders blocked his view and he couldn't see the fish tank, Nain's eyes narrowed.

What had initially been a sarcastic form of address had long since solidified into a nickname. Your Highness. People working at the center would gossip, linking his nickname with his appearance.

He had a delicate and pretty face. His eye shape with light inner double eyelids was overall round, but the ends were slightly upturned. Following the smooth nose bridge from his straight forehead, his slender jawline stood out. With soft downy hair and not a single trace of facial hair, his face looked particularly young.

His irises were deep and blue like a piece of ocean embedded there, and his neatly arranged platinum hair sparkled like threads spun from sugar. When the man on the boundary between boy and man smiled brightly with crinkled eyes, the atmosphere became strange and naturally drew gazes.

It wasn't just his appearance. Even the elegance that naturally emanated from his actions was like a prince from a fairy tale.