Chapter 26

4. F-grade Guide

Everything he had eaten that morning was about to come back up. This was because Ash, who had visited the reception desk without fail today as well, had now come all the way inside the counter and settled down. At first, it had been somewhat welcome to have eye candy walk up to him on its own, but now he couldn't understand why he came here every single day and stubbornly sat around when he had no business here.

Because of Ash, Nain had no time to himself for leisure. He paid excessive attention to every single thing Nain did, and because of this, Nain was starting to find the man increasingly bothersome. All his grateful feelings were on the verge of completely evaporating.

"Eek!"

Patients entering the medical ward would see the man, get startled in shock, and suddenly run away. People who fled without even receiving treatment had already exceeded five fingers just today.

'...They shouldn't be running...'

At this rate, what could heal quickly would take a week... Nain knew they needed to sit down and receive treatment immediately, but he couldn't chase after them. The reason was obvious.

"Nain, where are you going?"

"..."

It was because of the man who acted like he would follow him out immediately and talked to him even when he just adjusted his sitting position slightly.

'Why is he acting like this toward me?'

Ash followed Nain around excessively. It was exactly the kind of behavior a newly hatched baby bird would do. Nain should have been the one feeling grateful, but why was he...

Nain found it somewhat absurd, wondering if instead of him being saved by Ash, he had rescued Ash.

Today too, it was around a little past nine in the morning. Ash appeared out of nowhere in the medical ward and walked over leisurely. Leaning his casted arm on the counter, he spoke to Nain, who was sitting and busily organizing his desk.

"Good morning."

"...!"

He came again? Nain was so surprised he almost spat water on Ash's face. Seeing Nain cough with his head down after choking, Ash patted his back.

"You, you came again? Did you get hurt somewhere this early in the morning?"

"Mm... My arm?"

He said while showing the arm that had been broken inside the gate. However, no fog or writhing phenomena were observed from the arm that was already firmly fixed. That meant the injured part was healing very smoothly and didn't seem to need treatment.

Nevertheless, Ash sat down next to Nain again. People now avoided Nain's gaze along with Ash's. They were once again semi-forcibly trapped in their own world.

"..."

"..."

It was awkward. Unable to bear the discomfort any longer, Nain looked up at Ash.

"Why do you keep coming here?"

He courageously asked directly.

"You don't have any business with me..."

"..."

Ash, who had been sitting beside him reading a book, looked up at Nain. Not knowing Nain's uncomfortable feelings, he pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled subtly.

"I want attention."

"..."

That was definitely an answer he hadn't expected. The gazes looking at Ash were blatant enough for Nain to feel them too. If that was his purpose, he had already achieved his goal. Nain asked carefully.

"There are many other places, so why specifically here? You could just go somewhere with lots of people instead."

"Well, because Nain is only holed up here?"

"..."

Those words sounded really strange. As if the target he wanted attention from was solely Nain. Even though that couldn't be the case. Even though there was no reason for that.

"Nain, then let me ask this time. Why do you think I'm acting like this?"

This time Ash pointed at Nain slightly with his chin tip and asked back. Nain, who hadn't expected the question to be returned with a question, was a bit flustered and blurted out whatever came to mind.

"Because you don't have friends?"

"Friends?"

Ash openly looked like he found it hilarious.

"Right, I don't have friends."

But he chuckled saying Nain was the first person to ask him to his face if he had no friends. Nain was left speechless. Since he had clearly answered yes, he had missed the timing to apologize, laugh, or say it was a joke.

"Fine, let's say I have no friends and am an attention seeker... Nain."

"Yes?"

Suddenly mischief appeared in Ash's eyes.

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

"Me?"

"You've been glancing at me continuously since earlier. I've been counting how many times—do I need to tell you that number for you to admit it?"

"..."

"You're sending such hot and passionate gazes to someone desperate for attention, so where would I go? Your side is the most fun."

Nain couldn't say anything. He had thought he was stealing glances without being noticed, but he hadn't known that Ash was aware of his gaze. Seeing Nain frozen with a stupid expression, the smile on the man's lips deepened.

"If you're not going to work anyway, you don't have to steal glances—you can look openly."

"..."

"Look. You like my face."

What? Nain, who had flinched for a moment, immediately frowned. Regardless of whether it was true or not, the words sounded too shameless.

"No. I'm going to work."

"Go work, I didn't stop you."

"Could you please be quiet now? You're noisy."

Actually, Ash had been quietly reading a book all this time, and he was the one who had spoken to him first, but Nain said that anyway. This was originally Nain's workplace, and it wasn't him but this man who had settled down on his own. There was absolutely no reason he couldn't be confident.

'He's staring because he's not supposed to be here in the first place, and he thinks I like his face? Why would I?'

Nain deliberately didn't even give Ash a glance, partly out of wounded pride. Even though it was tantamount to openly giving him the hint to get lost, Ash didn't care and stuck right beside him.

Even people of higher rank than Nain couldn't treat him carelessly. So how could he forcibly kick Ash out? Nain belatedly realized it would be faster for him to just give up.

After sticking beside him like a leech for several hours, fiddling with this and that, Ash got up from his seat with a comfortable expression, saying he was going to sleep, and left. Even though the sun was still high in the sky.

* * *

The same thing repeated for several days like that.

The awakeners who had gathered together to avoid Ash's eyes pondered Nain's situation together.

"You're alive. You didn't get hit somewhere hidden by clothes, did you?"

"I didn't get hit."

"Being threatened?"

"I'm not being threatened."

"You're not being paid hush money?"

"It's not like that."

When Nain showed displeasure by frowning, the Espers all shook their heads in unison.

The fact that such a good-looking man wasn't popular at all was subtly proving that his personality was messed up. Nain was definitely being deceived. The awakeners were grief-stricken by the fact that Nain still didn't know Ash's true nature.

"Why are grown adults acting so childishly over something like this? Don't ostracize one person and try to get along."

"..."

"That's why he keeps coming to see only me."

Nain scolded the Espers, asking how bored Ash must be to come see him when they'd only known each other for a short time. But Nain was mistaken about something. They weren't ostracizing Ash—Ash was ignoring them. The Espers clutched their chests as if they were going crazy with frustration and exchanged glances.

"You don't know his true nature. Really!"

All the Espers gathered here had clashed with Ash at least once. Actually, they were the ones who had started trouble first.

Ash was the type who fairly returned revenge to everyone except animals or young children. Not because they were weak. Because they were beings without malice.

Ash was a human disaster who was strong against both the strong and the weak. If someone showed him malice, he would exact revenge worse than what he received. Like cleanly breaking the ankle of someone who tried to trip him while passing by and then leaving him in a high place so he couldn't come down all day, or completely blowing up the belongings cabinet of someone who tried to embarrass him by stealing his things. There were quite a few who ended up hospitalized with cracked skulls because of him.

"But it's strange..."

They were puzzled. The Ash they knew and the current Ash were showing different behaviors. Ash was someone who moved thoroughly based on his own interests.

For such a person to visit Nain every day, do nothing, and just nibble on chocolate in front of him before getting up—they thought this wasn't behavior Ash would do by their standards.

Even those who had accidentally overheard conversations between the two would scratch their arms and lament that they had seen something they shouldn't have seen, hearing Ash's gentle tone of voice for the first time in their lives.

"Does he like Nain?"

"I guess so."

"...Why though?"

Even Nain, who was receiving the attention, couldn't understand that.

When Nain had gone around asking various people, it turned out to be true that 'he was the only Esper who entered corridor-type gates.' In the end, everything Ash had said that day was all true without exception. He hadn't told anyone about his proposal yet, but...

'But would there be any benefit for that man if I became a Guide?'

Nain thought seriously with a grave expression. That's when it happened.