“…….”
“Ten years really is a long time.”
Chalice gazed steadily into Rodeo’s eyes.
When Rodeo stared back without backing down, Chalice let out a sigh, exhaustion plain on his face.
He dragged his palm down over his face, turned his back, and without a word opened the door to his own apartment and went inside.
The door lock’s closing melody was cheerful.
“Hah.”
Left standing there alone, Rodeo let out a disbelieving breath, then turned around, slammed his own door shut, and walked back inside.
He shoved his hands through his own hair as if taking out his frustration on it — messing it up completely — and then, when the door lock chimed the same melody as Chalice’s, he snapped his head toward the door, glared at it for no good reason, and let out a low growl.
Worst reunion imaginable.
No — that man was someone who would be the worst no matter when you encountered him.
That piece of trash is my neighbor?
Rodeo tried to calm himself down, but his frustration wouldn’t subside and he clenched his fist.
Even now, the words that man had spoken in that emotionless voice rang vividly against his ears.
You have to handle them carefully. An Esper like that. Make them believe the control is in their own hands.
Espers aren’t so different from animals — they like that sort of thing.
You can’t treat them like people.
They have to be elated enough to believe they’re extraordinarily special — that unlike others, they can receive Guiding whenever they want… That’s the only way they’ll go out on missions without a word of complaint.
Especially an unstable Esper like that one — if you don’t blind them with those kinds of feelings, they’ll die soon enough anyway.
Chalice had been the only Guide who had privately helped Rodeo during those years when, even well into formal training, he still couldn’t control his ability or his seizures.
It had been the fifth year of Chalice occasionally giving him simple Guiding whenever it was needed.
The young Rodeo, who for the first time since being taken to the facility had come to lean on someone — suffered the worst seizure he would remember forever on the day he was so utterly betrayed.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, sirens wailed — and through all of it, Chalice showed not a hint of panic.
He glanced briefly at Rodeo, who had crumpled to the floor unable to bear his own power, glaring up at him — and with a non-contact Guiding, without even lifting a finger, stopped the Rampage.
That was it.
He cast one last look at Rodeo, who had collapsed on the floor and was staring up at him with resentful eyes — a gaze that said what a waste — then handed him off to the facility staff who came running belatedly, and left without another word.
After that, Rodeo came to see Guides as nothing more than consumables.
The same way Guides and the facility saw Espers.
A wretched lot impossible to acknowledge as human. Nothing more.
The memory of Guiding — what had once felt like an oasis — gradually faded as well.
In any case, aside from Chalice, there hadn’t been a single Guide with a compatible match rate, so Guiding sessions had always been unsatisfying — which he was, in a way, grateful for.
Rodeo never wanted to be intoxicated by the euphoria of Guiding again, only to be deceived and used by these people.
Rodeo strode into the living room, set the vase down on the table, and picked up the phone he had tossed onto the sofa.
[Hello.]
“What is this show?”
[Wow, did it kick off already? I should’ve dropped you off myself. Missed quite the scene.]
“Is this your doing? Are you joking? You know I can’t stand that person. Did ten years make you forget everything? Do you even remember me? Right, if it weren’t for you being Ink—”
[Hey now, I know. That’s exactly why I put you two together.]
“What?”
[You keep forgetting, it seems — do you really think Chalice is the same Chalice from ten years ago?]
At Carousel’s words, Rodeo’s voice — which had been shouting loud enough for the neighbor to hear — stopped.
[What am I supposed to do if you can’t appreciate that I did this for your entertainment.]
“For my entertainment? Forget all that — I’m not living here, so find me another place.”
[It’ll be the same wherever you move, so what’s the point.]
“Same how? Explain yourself properly!”
Against the renewed sound of Rodeo’s shouting, Carousel’s delighted laughter rang out in contrast.
[The material said it — Guides absolutely despise the Decorker.]
“So.”
[Do you remember why? You need to review, come on.]
“Stop playing around.”
[Your friend is helping you out. The answer is… simultaneous or consecutive remote Guiding.]
“So. What are you actually trying to say. Forget it, just quickly find me another—”
[How would a smart, lucky Guide avoid this?]
Getting no sign of an answer from Rodeo, Carousel continued on, answering his own question.
[They apply for a dedicated Esper. If they have a match.]
“…What?”
[The Decorker finds the match on its own. If you’re lucky enough to have a match, and that match happens to be an Esper without a dedicated Guide? The Guide applies immediately. Then the facility places them together like this — as neighbors or colleagues. They spend time close to each other, and if the Esper agrees too, it’s finalized. Once finalized, the Decorker only activates when that specific Esper requests it.]
Rodeo’s expression twisted into one of pure shock.
“Wait. So Chalice — applied for this himself?”
[He wouldn’t have known it was you. Applications can only be made based purely on wavelength match rate and Guiding ability.]
“Why would Chalice—”
[…Still haven’t figured it out, have you. Our dear fellow agent.]
Carousel’s excited voice quieted, and a deep sigh struck Rodeo’s ears.
[Would Espers have left Chalice alone?]
“No, but even so — this is practically begging. Why would Chalice—”
[The elite among elites. Guiding ability that requires no physical contact, and combat capability that surpasses most Espers. The average Guide lifespan being what it is — and yet he’s still walking around perfectly fine. You know, don’t you? There were plenty who called him Chalice-nim.]
“…….”
[That Chalice’s Guiding could be accessed without permission through the Decorker. Just by designating a specific Guide on the Decorker. Half of them were obsessives who desperately wanted Chalice, the other half were bastards who wanted to make his life hell. You think those lunatics didn’t run absolutely rampant?]
Only then did the contents of the video — which had only half-lodged itself in Rodeo’s mind as knowledge — come to him in full.
Scenes of a Guide with Chalice’s face having his energy drained by the Decorker all day long, remote Guiding not stopping even as he was being carried to the hospital, unable to remove the Decorker through any of it.
All of it passed before his eyes wearing the face of reality.
[It’s probably gotten a bit better now since the Decorker has limits on how severely it can drain — but there are still plenty of people doing dangerous things, so just believing it was only remote Guiding exploitation might be too naive.]
“Dangerous things…?”
[Apparently something like an aphrodisiac for Guides has been going around. Can you say with certainty that no one tried to use that on a Guide like Chalice? With that many followers.]
As Rodeo was too stunned to say a word, Carousel continued on his own.
[Without a Guide’s will, Guiding doesn’t happen through simple contact — but when mucous membranes meet and a direct connection is made, Guiding flows automatically. Before the Decorker came out, it was the only way to receive a sufficient amount of high-quality Guiding even from the most unskilled Guide.]
“…….”
[The video they showed was educational material for all ages, so it didn’t mention that — but the most widely accepted theory is that the initial power imbalance the facility gave to Guides was because of this. That’s why back then there were Espers falling over themselves trying to be chosen by a Guide… But when the situation changed and the facility’s protection disappeared — what do you think happened? Even ten years ago. The ones saying things about what kind of Guiding you’d get if you slept with a Guide like Chalice — they weren’t nonexistent.]
“…No, even so, that doesn’t make sense. Whatever you try, the man has that level of combat ability — you can’t get to him by force.”
[Well — do you know how old he is?]
Chalice had been nineteen when Rodeo was thirteen.
Rodeo had been twenty-seven at the time of the Time Warp.
In the current timeline, that meant thirty-seven.
Chalice was currently forty-three.
“That’s insane. That body is forty-three?”
[…Body? Did you see his body already?]
Rodeo hung up without answering.
Looking down at him from behind, the white expanse of neck revealed where his black hair ended drew the eye, utterly unguarded.
The place that neither the firmly fastened buttons of his uniform nor the stiff collar could conceal.
In an instant, from within the darkness, Rodeo’s hand seized the back of Chalice’s neck.
The sensation of that firm, long neck pressing into his palm was satisfying.
When he tightened his grip, Chalice’s breathing turned ragged.
Rodeo threw the back of the neck he had seized down onto the bed.
“Ugh…”
Rodeo sat astride Chalice’s body as he tumbled face-down, and pressed his hand against the back of his neck again.
With half his face buried in the blanket, Chalice squirmed — and tears spilled from his eyes.
“How does it feel?”
When one of Rodeo’s hands slithered down like a snake and invaded beneath his waistband, Chalice recoiled with a sharp jolt of resistance, and Rodeo pressed down on the back of his neck and whispered into his ear.
“You’ve never let an Esper lay so much as a fingertip on this body.”
“Ngh…”
“Because Espers are… beneath the standard of human, to you.”
Rodeo’s tongue dragged up along Chalice’s neck.
As the thick tongue pressed wet against the pale throat, Chalice let out helpless, uncharacteristic moans.
“So tell me.”
“Ah, ngh… hng…”
“What it feels like — getting aroused by something that isn’t even human.”
