Chapter 49

Daniel rummaged through the documents scattered on his desk and casually moved aside a paper with the information he wanted. It had the coordinates of the medicine warehouse and shift times written on it. Now that he knew the location, shift times wouldn't be any obstacle. Ash's ability was quite specialized for such purposes.

"Don't get caught."

"Do I look like I'll get caught?"

He snorted. His blood-covered face was horror itself. The nosebleed still hadn't stopped, but he didn't know what was so good that he was grinning. Daniel waved his hand dismissively with a displeased face.

"Do you get any sleep? You look tired."

"Maybe because I had a dream yesterday."

"What dream?"

"An old dream."

"..."

Ash's nightmares came as a set with his chronic insomnia. The image of a young boy who would spring up as if having a seizure within ten minutes of closing his eyes seemed to overlap on his face. Daniel looked at Ash with worried eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

"This rude bastard. Even when someone tries to worry about you, you get all prickly."

"Your gaze looked so unlucky."

"That was a worried gaze!"

Daniel shouted in bewilderment. He was someone who made worrying about him feel unrewarding.

"That's exactly what's unlucky. You're not even my real parent, so how long are you going to keep acting like my parent?"

"...What?"

"I'll take care of it myself, so don't worry. I won't overdo it anymore either. Thanks to Nain, I can breathe a little."

"..."

At those words, Daniel lost all fighting spirit. The thought of arguing back disappeared completely. Taking a step back and looking, Ash had a much more lively face than any he had ever seen. Daniel let out a deflated breath.

When he thought about it, Ash was at the center of everything. When he himself said he was happy, what right did he have to stop him? Ash was no longer a young child who needed his help.

"But how do I set it so Nain's face appears on the screen when he calls?"

"...You add a photo when saving the contact."

"How do you add it?"

"Buy a phone first, then bring it if you can't figure it out."

He took back what he'd just thought.

"And go to the bathroom and wash your face before you leave. Your face is all smeared with blood, it's unsightly. The dimension wanderer will faint if he sees you."

Daniel pushed up his glasses that had slipped down to his nose bridge and answered nonchalantly. Ash nodded.

"See you later."

He turned around and left the examination room. No more conversation passed between the two. This was enough.

Thud. The moment Ash left and the door closed, Daniel's legs gave out and he almost collapsed in an unseemly manner. It was the first time he'd seen such an aspect of Ash. It was amazing to see such change in Ash, who would endure even deadly pain and had dead fish eyes.

Daniel had always worried about Ash's health and told him to take matching tests for his future even if it hurt now, but he thought it would feel strange if Ash actually got a Guide. Ash was someone with a very independent personality. Even if he evaporated like air without any lingering attachment someday, rather than finding it strange, he would have thought 'So it ended up that way after all.' He had no hobbies, was always lethargic, and didn't have anyone he was particularly close to.

That's probably why he was more concerned. Because his eyes were dead in a way that wasn't childlike.

'I can breathe a little.'

Though the relationship had started out of pity, Daniel thought he was really glad he hadn't left Ash alone back then. He had almost blocked his first steps instead of cheering them on. He was just grateful to the dimension wanderer he didn't even know well. Ridiculously, he felt like he might cry at such words.

* * *

Someone approached Nain, who was sitting awkwardly on the first floor waiting for Ash, and spoke to him.

"Hello."

"...?"

It was a man with ordinary features. The man, who adjusted his large wire-rimmed glasses so they wouldn't slip down, reached out his hand with confidence when he made eye contact with Nain.

"I'm Daniel from the 11th Branch Ability Research Institute. Guide-nim, we've talked on the phone a few times, haven't we?"

The voice seemed familiar somehow. After hearing the name, he remembered exchanging a few words over the phone. Nain acknowledged him saying "Ah, that attending physician-nim." Daniel held out his business card. On the card was written 'Dr. Daniel Lee' along with his affiliation.

"If Guide-nim gets a cell phone, could I get that contact information?"

"Contact information?"

When Nain tilted his head, Daniel immediately raised his hand without giving Nain time to misunderstand. A wedding ring was on his left ring finger.

"It's nothing else, but we need a means of contact to make emergency calls to Guides. Right now Ash doesn't have an emergency contact, but when there are changes in training or when your Esper falls into critical condition, calling the pair Guide is the top priority. If it's alright with you, I'd appreciate your cooperation."

"Ah, you make emergency calls too...?"

He didn't have contact information or anything like that. He didn't even know he needed to get one. Since Ash hadn't told Nain anything, it was natural in a way that he didn't know. When Nain trailed off looking troubled, Daniel spoke as if he'd expected this.

"It would be good to get a new one."

"Yes..."

"It'll probably happen soon anyway..."

He looked down and chuckled as if thinking something amusing.

"Ash will be here soon. He went to wash his face. Keep our meeting secret from that kid."

He brought his finger to his lips and muttered secretively. Though he didn't know why it needed to be secret, Nain nodded for now.

"Then should I contact you when I get a means of communication?"

"Yes. You can tell me or ask any center staff to register it. Ah, and keep the device on at all times if possible."

Unlike Ash, Daniel seemed to like the Guide who listened obediently without beating around the bush or being difficult, as the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.

"It feels strange becoming a Guide overnight, doesn't it?"

"...I can't say it doesn't."

At Nain's honest answer, Daniel smiled and nodded.

"You'll adapt. Everyone's like that at first. It's just that your first matching partner being Ash is a bit... no, very..."

"..."

"Still, Guide-nim should be able to do well."

Nain smiled quietly. It wasn't even funny. Did he think everything would be fine just because he said everything he wanted to say first and then wrapped it up nicely? His words had not even a sparrow's worth of credibility.

"There's a lot of talk because of the matching rate, isn't there?"

"It's not a high number."

"Guide-nim, but do you know this? Forget 8%—Ash's matching rate with other Guides has never exceeded 1%. We haven't done many tests, but constitutionally, that kid's body doesn't accept guiding well."

"..."

"With about 8%, Ash probably thought 'Ah, I should grab this one.' Among ourselves, we even bet on whether he fell in love with you at first sight."

Nain couldn't bring himself to say that those words were somewhat correct.

"You've probably heard enough worrying words to be sick of them, so I'll tell you something different."

"..."

"Please take good care of Ash."

He bowed his head in request. Though it might sound shameless, Daniel said that now that Nain had become Ash's Guide, he had become an important person at the center no matter what anyone said. He searched for something on his portable pad, displayed a graph on the full screen, showed it to Nain and spoke.

It was Ash's ability wavelength graph. Even Nain could immediately notice something was wrong from the jagged graph shape. It was too different in shape from those of the Espers he had often seen while organizing documents at the medical ward.

"As you can see, Ash is in a state where he could rampage at any time. Once a Guide with good wavelength compatibility stays by Ash's side and continuously provides guiding to stabilize him, the matching rate will naturally rise. In other cases, it took only a month to raise it from here to here. The development speed varies considerably depending on effort."

"..."

"Trust between awakener pairs is most important, but..."

Daniel stared intently at the cause that had made Ash consistently commute to the medical ward for the past month and spoke in a confident tone.

"That seems to depend on your heart."

* * *

From the moment they stepped onto the street, he could feel people's gazes converging on them. It seemed to be because of Ash. He stood out everywhere.

On the internet, people whose names and faces were unknown showed aggression toward Ash. But on the actual streets, there was no one who desperately picked fights and rushed at him. Rather, they would take out their phones to take pictures, and no openly unpleasant words could be heard.

"Who's next to him?"

"I don't know. First time seeing him."

But curiosity about Ash extended to Nain, who was accompanying him. Nain looked around with a tense face. It didn't seem like this happened during their last outing, but suddenly receiving this much attention made his head go blank.

Nain reached out and grabbed Ash's sleeve tightly, pulling hard. Seeing Nain's tense expression, Ash obediently let himself be dragged along without resistance.