Chapter 5: Ch 5: Why is this my fault?

"Excuse me, but what are you trying to do?"

Alan asked, tightening his grip on Noah’s book. His body was shaking as he spoke, but it was all a façade to hide his amusement and interest in the situation.

Even if he was pretending to be afraid, Alan could not successfully hide his aura as an SSS-Class Esper, and Noah noticed. After all, the other Guide gave no indication of backing down and simply tugged Noah again.

"What does it look like I am doing? I will share my book with my roommate. You can have the one you are holding all to yourself."

Daniel’s cold voice stated those words matter-of-factly, causing a lot of people to gasp.

Guides hardly ever stood up against Espers, and Daniel had not only broken that stereotype but had also done it in front of the Esper who had broken the measuring machine. The public’s interest in this outcome was astronomical.

It was Alan’s cue to back down if he wanted to keep up his façade as a timid young master. However, his grip remained tight around Noah’s arm.

"But the teacher said that Espers and Guides need to share a book. Aren’t you both Guides? Are you going to go against our teacher’s words?"

Alan questioned, masking his stubbornness as obedience. He was really good at coming up with loopholes, and Noah noticed Daniel’s temper rising.

At this rate, a fight would break out at any second, and his arms could become collateral damage.

Thankfully, that fight never happened. Instead, the teacher walked over to them and coughed to announce her presence.

"Excuse me, but may I know what the cause of this disturbance is?"

The teacher looked at Alan and Daniel for answers, ignoring Noah, who was stuck between the two. He had never been more thankful for his lack of presence than at this moment.

"I-It’s nothing. I was just asking this Guide why he was taking my partner away-"

"I don’t see why an Esper and a Guide need to share a book. Two Guides can share a book while an Esper like you gets one alone. Won’t that be fine?"

Daniel cut Alan off, and the Esper fell quiet before turning toward their teacher, who had suggested that Espers and Guides pair off.

The teacher had good intentions, wanting the Guides to have a good impression of the Espers. But this sudden question caught her off guard, and she coughed to hide her embarrassment.

"Ah...that...it’s fine if Guides want to pair up together and pass their books to Espers. I am sure we are all civil enough not to damage each other’s property."

A lot of Guides let out sighs of relief, while the Espers looked annoyed at the sudden outcome. There were a lot of people who wanted to take this opportunity to get closer to the Guides they had chosen, but those Guides chose to sit with other Guides instead.

Most of the Espers in the class shot their teacher a glare for getting their hopes up, but the teacher felt helpless as well.

Had it been any other Guide who suggested this, she would have lectured them and shifted the blame onto them.

But she knew about Daniel and his SSS-Class guiding abilities. She did not want to make an enemy out of him.

Especially in front of the only other SSS-Class Esper because sooner or later, they were destined to end up together. Even if they did not want to be together, the Esper would have no choice but to seek out this Guide.

Otherwise, they were all doomed once corruption consumed him.

And since she could not blame either of them, she needed another outlet to divert the Espers’ anger toward. And there was a perfect specimen standing between the SSS-Class pair.

Cough

"Student Noah, if you feel uncomfortable sharing your things with an Esper next time, make sure to speak up. It is not a good habit to disrupt my class. Do you understand?"

Suddenly, everyone noticed Noah’s presence as well. All the glares that had been aimed at the teacher were now directed at him, and it felt unfair.

’Hey, how is any of this my fault? I was just a bystander. I demand justice!’

Of course, Noah swallowed those words and continued to wear a dumb smile on his face.

Daniel was looking at him with a strange expression, almost as if he were waiting for Noah to stand up for himself. And Noah did want to stand up for himself, but there was a problem.

In the end, Daniel looked away with a disappointed expression on his face.

Unfortunately, Noah could not say anything even if he wanted to. He did not want to undo the progress he had made today.

Alan was finally starting to look in Daniel’s direction with curiosity, and Noah wanted to cultivate that interest until it grew into something more.

Besides, he also did not want to end up on the teacher’s bad side. Noah had plans to ask for her help in the future to make sure Alan and Daniel ended up in the same groups.

A smile was all it took to bury the issue, and everyone quickly returned to the lesson.

The annoyed looks Noah was getting gradually started to dwindle, and by the time the lesson ended, he doubted most of the Espers even remembered what had happened.

Unfortunately for him, most of the Espers still remembered what had happened during the first lesson and, due to their teacher’s influence, blamed Noah for losing their opportunity to get close to potential Guides.

Moreover, Noah’s low Guide rank also irked their natural pride, making him the ideal target to vent their frustration on. And the real harassment started the next morning when Noah stepped out of his room and headed toward class.

He noticed that someone was using their ability on him, and his first instinct was to dispel it.

But doing so had a chance of alerting them to his true classification.

So even though Noah did not want to fall into this obvious trap, he decided to let that foreign power wash over him. As a result, he found himself walking toward the third-floor window and climbing onto the frame.

’Hey, wait...! Do you really want me to jump from here? I’ll break something if I do that. Darn it-!’

Unfortunately, Noah had already made his decision, and he could not back out now.

For the sake of his mission and future freedom, he had to sacrifice his current health. At least having a broken bone would get him out of class.

"Noah, what are you doing-"

Daniel’s voice called out to him, but it was too late.

Noah’s body had already fallen out of the window.