← The Guide Who Hides Their Power is an Otter
“To add to that, I was an S-rank esper who was soon to die.”
He stood at the entrance and calmly continued speaking.
“Officially, it is only recorded that I lost consciousness, but I heard you were there, so I came to see.”
“Ah!”
That’s right. This person had received guiding in a state where he had no consciousness. On top of that, a C-rank person had been with him, so he would not think he had received guiding.
“I heard you’re C-rank. Is that correct?”
“Ah. That’s right. C-rank.”
“I’ll ask you point-blank. Did you guide me?”
It was understandable. Before rampaging, he surely would have thought he would die himself, and there would have been no guide in this country who matched him either.
But the Center Director had told him to keep it secret, and if this man found out, would it be a big problem?
“If I did, what happens?”
“You’re C-rank, how could you guide me….”
“If I didn’t, what happens?”
“Are you trying to play word games with me now?”
He was really asking because he was curious.
“There’s no way I guided you.”
For now, he had a promise with the Center Director, so he decided to keep it secret. Heisha crossed his arms and sighed as if confronting Park Gang-u at the entrance.
“So it means there’s no way.”
“Your body is….?”
Suddenly a much softened voice flowed out.
“Is your body all right?”
Had he thought that someone had died because of his rampage? He thought it was a truly miserable thing to die amid worry and concern like that. Heisha felt sorry for him, so he hurriedly shrugged his shoulders.
“As you can see, I’m fine.”
To show that he really was fine, he shook his body here and there, and something that had been sticking out of his pocket fell to the floor with a tuk.
It was the yellow clam.
“This is my clam.”
Even though no one had asked, Heisha spoke first and calmly picked up the clam.
“It’s a clam toy, but it looks real, right?”
He seemed to have lost whatever he had wanted to say, and frowned with a face of disbelief.
“It seems your body is fine, too, and I’ve said everything I had to say, so I’ll go now.”
Heisha lowered gloomy, sad eyes. How long had it even been since he came, and he was already going, and if he sent him away like this, there would be no one else who would come looking for him.
He was the one who had told him to go back, but sending him away like this felt a bit off. That did not mean he had a mind to hold onto him, but… he was lonely. Loneliness could not be helped, could it? To a certain extent, he let out a long answer that reflected those feelings.
“Yeees….”
Whether the answer he let out as gloomily as possible had worked or not, Park Gang-u, who was about to leave, let out a long sigh and then turned his body back again.
“Your body, is it really all right?”
“Ah, um. Yes….”
That was a line this side should be asking, but anyway, to express that he was in a bored position, he spoke as powerlessly as possible, and it seemed to have worked to a degree.
“I’ll come tomorrow, too.”
“Really? Really? Really?”
After Korean, English always followed, and all alone at the entrance he bounced around and grabbed Park Gang-u’s hand.
“Come tomorrow too! Definitely!”
“…….?”
Park Gang-u’s face contorted into a very strange and bizarre expression, but toward the person who said he would come tomorrow too, Heisha folded his eyes and smiled brightly.
***
“This called me first!”
Heisha openly disobeyed the confinement order.
“Ah, good!”
It was raining, and he could not bear this. On top of that, it was a great flood. In weather like this, there could not possibly be any people.
It was because it had been concluded that the components mixed into the rain or snow that fell after the apocalypse were extremely bad for ordinary people.
Turned over, that was the same as saying it had no effect at all on ability users. So when weather information came up that rain or snow was coming, a warning message was transmitted to ordinary people, and everyone had to stay at home.
If they ignored it and went outside, they might die, so most did not come out. That meant that those walking around now would not be disturbed by anyone.
“Paradise….”
It was a fierce downpour, enough to fill the dried-up reservoir with water. Heisha, with eyes blurred with happiness, roughly looked around his surroundings. There was no one.
Even the passageways ordinary people used were pooled with rainwater and flooded everywhere. Heisha, wearing a broad smile, took off his upper clothes.
There was no one watching inside or outside the dormitory either, so it should be all right to come out for a little while. It was a complacent thought, but anyway, he could float around to a degree incomparable to a bathtub.
“So happy!”
Heisha, who took out the yellow clam he had kept in his pocket, spread both arms, did a somersault, and entered the reservoir.
Splash!
If he floated still, he would not be disturbed, and even if someone passed by, they would think there was an animal there and pass over it.
Looking blankly up at the sky and blinking, or falling asleep, had been the joy of his life. In a year, there had never been a time like this, so he had endured as much as he could endure.
“Hmm… hmm….”
A hum came out on its own. He put the clam on his belly and swam leisurely on his back, then floated still on the surface of the water and looked at the sky.
The sky was red, as if an orange light like candlelight tinged it. Before the apocalypse, he had heard it was always blue and white clouds floated around.
“I want to see something like that too.”
He recalled an interview with some doctor who said that someday, when all the gates closed and a new world came, they would be able to regain that sky.
He would not be able to do such a thing himself, but at least if there was such a strong esper, if he somehow helped him… wouldn’t he be able to see a dazzling blue sky, too?
“I want to see the sky, too… I miss everyone.”
There was nothing as peaceful as being on the water, but as expected, floating around alone was too lonely. This was a good country too, but in a year of living alone, he had lived as an outcast, and his longing had only grown bigger.
C-rank, what was a division by rank to a person, anyway?
When he felt that way, he gripped the clam in his hand tightly.
“I’m hungry.”
But he might not be able to come out again if he went back in, so he decided to savor his present state. For a long time he floated around like that, and thinking he would get out if a rapid current formed, he clung to the edge and was slowly going down below.
“What is this rain pouring down like this?”
“They put out a forecast until tomorrow. If it goes well, there’ll be a flood.”
At a voice familiar to his ear, Heisha opened one eye.
“Our newcomer, is he gone now?”
“For a while, he will be. They’re short on guides, so they brought even the morons, would there be more?”
“Moron? Ah, that kid who was said to have come from Alaska? You went on a deployment with him this time, didn’t you? They said he was together with Esper Park Gang-u. Why won’t you tell me, only me?”
“Why would I tell you that?”
Seeing the two people far off throwing fishing rods, they were guides wearing raincoats, members who worked at the Center.
Heisha stopped swimming on his back, and holding the clam, put his body into the water.
“Stingy. We’ve known each other for so long, and you won’t tell me something like that? Is it classified?”
“It’s not classified.”
“Then what do you want?”
“If you go in and buy me a meal, I’ll tell you.”
“Petty bastard.”
Petty bastard? Heisha pricked up both ears. With only his nose and eyes above the surface, he leisurely pedaled his feet in the water.
“This time, while subjugating the gate, the esper rampaged and everyone was retreating, and they say he alone disobeyed orders and just stayed there and got swept up.”
“Then how did he live?”
“I don’t know. The rampage suddenly stopped.”
“For a C-rank, he lived remarkably well.”
A fishing rod flew over his head again.
“That Heisha or Hei-bastard, because of that bastard, when we go on a deployment we have to look after that bastard first, and there’s no spirit in it. I don’t know why they deploy a C-rank to a site in the first place.”
“It’s fascinating that that rank came to our country, too. With only the highest-rank gates opening all over, they’re short on guides and begging and scraping, and the other kids are all at least A-rank, they say? It’s hard to even see a B-rank, and a C-rank is a first.”
Heisha glared at them with narrowed eyes, watching them badmouth him.
“I heard this time that Esper Park Gang-u might be above S-rank. They said the kids who had lined up to form a pair with him heard that and flocked even more.”
“Since he’s the only esper in the whole world who uses telekinesis, I guess they flock desperately.”
“You have no thought of pairing?”
“Where would a B-rank do? And his personality was ruined, so no matter how good his ability is, if his personality is shitty, who would pair with him? Probably half the kids who came not knowing that personality go back.”
Oh. Is that what they’re saying? Heisha raised his eyebrows.
“Have you seen that esper?”
“I’ve seen him on deployments, and I’ve seen him face to face.”
“How shitty was he?”
“When you go out to a site, there’s a site captain, isn’t there? Disobeying a superior’s orders is laid down as a basic, and if you hold out a hand saying you’ll give him radiation guiding, he bumps your shoulder and passes by. He says receiving guiding feels dirty.”
“Dirty?”
The guide let out an incredulous laugh.
“He’s a crazy bastard. He’s a time bomb, and he refuses guiding?”
“So even if the matching rate is good, would you pair with him? It wouldn’t work anyway, but even if it did, this side would decline.”
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