Chapter 33: Ch 33: A Leg and a Shoulder

"What are you doing here? Go back to the hole you crawled out of."

Daniel’s mood immediately plummeted as soon as he noticed Alan, and his desire to follow Noah dwindled by the second.

Noah suddenly felt like he was seeing the light, and he decided to capitalize on this situation.

"Sure, that works out. Since you and Daniel are partners, you can work on your own. I will take Ethan and work on our partnership exercises. Good luck out there!"

Noah pushed Alan off him with much difficulty. The taller esper had noticed that Noah’s foot had healed and decided to take advantage of that fact. But thankfully, the shock of Noah’s words and actions caught him off guard long enough for Noah to pull away.

He quickly grabbed Ethan’s wrist and dragged him away while the other two tried to figure out what had happened.

Ethan decided to go along with him for a while before he finally pulled away and stopped walking.

"Hey, are you serious about that partnership training? I’ll have you know that I have no intention of doing anything tiring. In fact, since you’re done using me, I would like to head back to my room and rest now."

The esper sounded bored as he started walking back to his room without even looking back once. That was fine with Noah, but he still could not help feeling ticked off.

"I don’t mind if you want to head back now, Ethan. But are you sure you want to do that? You don’t look fit enough to be an S-class esper if even a B-class guide like me can drag you around. Sigh I’m suddenly worried about your future—"

Noah sidestepped the incoming attack quickly and deliberately to make it seem like it was Ethan who had missed.

The fact that Ethan had decided to take a swing at him meant that his words had hit Ethan’s sore spot.

The esper in question was still twitching in annoyance, and he looked ready to throw hands at the slightest provocation.

’Oops, looks like I pushed him a little too far. Should I pacify him? He might be weaker than Alan, but he’s still an S-class esper.’

Ethan’s pride had been hurt, and that made him show an emotion other than laziness for the first time.

"Hey, are you calling me weak? Me...of all people? I’ve had enough of you! I decided to ignore it when you made fun of me before because I thought you were a kid. But this is too much! Don’t think being cute will make me go easy on you all the time."

Ethan complained, and Noah was surprised that he had been called cute. He had not expected something like that from Ethan.

He did not have time to think about what was happening because Ethan decided to show him what he meant.

Noah forced himself not to dodge when Ethan grabbed his shoulder and pressed down on it. The pressure was immense, but Noah’s training made him resistant to broken bones.

Still, he would not be able to prevent his shoulder from breaking if Ethan truly decided to crush it.

Noah knew he needed to take a step back here and be the bigger man. But knowing and doing were two different things.

"Are you really going to break my shoulder because of what I said?"

Noah asked, trying to knock some sense into Ethan. But it was no use. The esper was too consumed by his anger, and the pressure increased.

"I don’t know. Do you think I’m going to break your shoulder? It would be all too easy as well..."

Ethan’s grip tightened, and Noah decided he was going to call for help. But the second he opened his mouth to ask for help, someone collided with Ethan’s shoulder, causing him to use even more strength to hold onto Noah.

And that ended up breaking the guide’s shoulder.

"Hey, stop blocking the way!"

The esper who collided with Ethan cursed before running off, but the damage had been done.

"I...what...?"

Ethan asked as he looked down at Noah’s injured form, and all the anger drained from his face instantly.

His reaction told Noah that he had never intended to break his shoulder in the first place, which was nice to know.

But what was not nice was the fact that Noah ended up with a broken shoulder anyway.

"What should I do? I didn’t mean to... Oh God! I-I... should I move you?"

The esper looked worried, and for good reason. His panic told Noah that he was a decent person, but he was taking too long to help.

Panic was clearly clouding his judgment.

"W-What should I do? This doesn’t feel right... Am I—"

Noah sighed and grabbed Ethan’s hair with his free hand to make him look at him.

"You need to calm down. I know that you’re panicking, but you need to take it easy. First, make sure you take me to the medical office. The medical esper is still there, so my arm should be fine for now."

Noah told Ethan, and the esper nodded before carefully picking him up. It was nice to see him being this careful and fast.

He reached the medical office, where the doctor saw him and let out a sigh.

"Why are you back here already? I thought you managed to get your leg healed... What’s wrong with your arm now? Or is it your shoulder this time?"

The doctor asked, and before Noah could answer, Ethan decided to speak up.

"I-I made a mistake, and now Noah is hurt! Doctor, can you help us? I-I don’t know what to do—"

"First, calm down and come inside. We can talk about this. Unfortunately, the medical esper just left, so you won’t be able to get him to help you. I will wrap your shoulder and arm in a cast so you don’t keep moving them. Other than that, you already know what you need to do, right?"

Unfortunately, Noah did know what to do in the case of broken bones. And he had a feeling this would not be the last time, either.