Chapter 55: Ch 55: Using Noah

Noah suddenly regretted every decision that led him to his current situation. He was stuck between Daniel and Alan, and they were both tugging at him.

Unfortunately, both did not realize how strong they were, and their constant pushing was starting to hurt his shoulders.

’Darn it! They will end up dislocating both of my shoulders at this rate. I need to calm them both down.’

Noah looked between the two people who were tugging at him, and he quickly chose his target—Daniel. Alan was a hard-headed esper, and he looked annoyed right now. Who knew how he would react if Noah told him what he wanted?

So Daniel was the safer option, and Noah quickly changed his expression to a hurt one and spoke softly.

"My shoulder is starting to hurt. Do you both think you can let me go?"

Noah addressed them both, but since he was looking at Daniel, he noticed the slight shift of guilt on the other guide’s face as he instantly let go.

It made the force exerted by Alan enough to pull Noah against him, and Alan wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Noah’s shoulders to cage him in.

"Hmm, it seems like my dear guide has made his decision. I will be taking him now. You are not welcome to follow us."

Alan told Daniel, who was fuming at the fact that he had lost to Alan. It made him grit his teeth, and he followed after the SSS-grade esper.

"Hey, come back here! Give Noah back to me...hey!"

Daniel complained as he quickly rushed after Alan. The only one who was left outside was Ethan, but he felt almost thankful for that fact.

He had not liked the way Alan had looked at him at the end. It was almost as if Alan was ready to smite him where he stood, and that made Ethan shake.

Ethan suddenly felt thankful for the fact that Noah had pulled back when he did because Alan would have seriously misunderstood his intentions otherwise.

But there was one thing that still made Ethan question Alan’s intentions, and that was the fact that a potential S+ grade esper was interested in Noah, a B-grade guide.

Shouldn’t the one Alan was interested in be Daniel, the S+ grade guide? Most people who saw this interaction would chalk it up to Alan trying to make Daniel jealous by using Noah. And while that was plausible...somehow, Ethan could not bring himself to admit it as the truth.

"It was the look in Alan’s eyes. He looked...possessive of Noah, and not in a healthy way. I hope it’s a temporary infatuation. Otherwise, things might start to become too much for the poor guide. He might end up dead in the worst-case scenario."

Alan was a powerful esper who could control himself, but if there were ever to be a day when he overused his powers and decided to drain Noah dry, there would be nothing Noah would be able to do.

And that future looked like an inevitability, not a maybe.

"Should I help Noah escape before that?"

Ethan asked, feeling shocked at the fact that something like that had come out of his mouth. He really felt like he needed more sleep at this moment.

...

"Alan, should we not wait for Daniel? He might get lost in the esper dorm and run into trouble. What if another esper found him and decided to force a bond on him? You need to protect him as well."

Noah pointed out, and Alan’s bad mood started to worsen.

Alan knew that Noah had a point, and his own rationality pointed it out as well. Daniel was his most likely match, and as much as Alan did not want to, he knew that Daniel might become his lifeline one day.

But knowing this and making his instincts believe in these words were different matters, and currently, he just wanted to be alone with Noah.

Still...Noah looked distracted and sad at the fact that Alan had left Daniel behind, which made him want to fulfil his wish. So he sighed, and after pushing Noah into his room, he decided to lock the door and go look for Daniel. ℴ

He found the other guide a little lost but alone. And the frown that overtook Daniel’s face satisfied him a bit.

"What are you looking so happy for? Just know that I would have never come to your dorm if not for Noah insisting that we need to be here tonight. This will also be the last time we seek you out."

Daniel immediately pointed out with an annoyed look on his face, but Alan felt satisfied seeing him struggle like this.

"Well, why don’t you leave if you don’t want to be here? I can keep Noah company alone..."

"Don’t you even dare to think about it. Noah is not a toy for you to play with and then discard when you are bored! He is my precious friend—"

"And he might become something more for me. So let’s not point fingers at each other."

Alan pushed Daniel away, but he noticed how a few espers noticed how close he was to Daniel. Their angle also made it seem like they were pressing their lips together, and rumors would start floating around by tomorrow.

Not that he cared about any of them. It would hopefully keep others away if they thought he was taken.

He had stopped paying attention to Daniel, which agitated the guide enough to make him hit Alan.

"You are a bastard! Do you even hear what you are saying? You want Noah to guide you? You will drain him dry—"

"I won’t drain him dry. At least, not while he still keeps me entertained. But if you are so worried, then why don’t you stick around and see it? I bet you will have a fun time with a front-row seat, seeing us be all over each other—"

"You bastard—"

"What? Are you jealous? It’s not like you and Noah could ever get together. He’s a guide, and he will eventually have to serve an esper. Won’t it be better if he gets used to it beforehand? I will treat him well for as long as he is useful—"

slap

It was a loud slap followed by a punch in the gut. But Alan did not even look phased, even after being hit so hard.

Instead, he just smiled at Daniel in the same way he always did.