The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 213: Have You Advanced?

Lane let out a sigh, relaxing in his seat, as the soothing and refreshing guiding wavelengths flowed into his body, provided by Ethan, his designated Guide. He had just returned from yet another dungeon raid, and he was a bit tired, but immensely satisfied.

No new abilities this time, but that was fine. He had already collected quite a few, and now, taking advantage of the fact that his team continued to ignore him, he sneaked away, going in the opposite direction from the rest of them. There, he fought monsters on his own, testing all the abilities he had gathered so far...

And what a liberating feeling it was! To jump around, moving at a mind-blowing speed, the wind blowing his pink hair back, slashing the monsters with his daggers, and the most important of it all, unleashing his power! While it was nowhere as impressive as his grandmother’s wind, or even his father’s fire - all his abilities came from low to mid-rankers, after all - it was still simply amazing! Of course, he still had to hold himself back, so as not to leave any evidence (a large-scale destruction in a part of the dungeon that wasn’t supposed to be fully cleared yet would be too suspicious), but he enjoyed himself nonetheless.

"...You’ve been needing more and more guiding these days, huh?" Ethan said all of a sudden, causing Lane to freeze.

Indeed he has been. He’s been using abilities a lot recently, not only his innate ones, but even more so the ones he stole, since they didn’t require any unpleasant activation conditions.

But he couldn’t explain that to Ethan, so he just shrugged his shoulders with a heavy sigh. "Well, that’s not my fault. The Guild Leader has been throwing me into dungeons whenever he can."

"That’s not just that." Ethan wouldn’t be fooled so easily. "Your wavelengths... are too steady. Not at all like that of an F-ranker in need of so much guiding. I am also responsible for three more Espers, and they’re nothing like that."

"YOU were nothing like that," he added after a moment, giving Lane a piercing look. "Have you advanced?"

Lane’s whole body went cold at the question, but he still managed to laugh it off. "What?" he let out a short, mirthless chuckle. "Are you mocking me right now? Oh, I would love for it to be the case! So I wouldn’t have to be stuck with this stupid physical enhancement!"

Eden still didn’t let his eyes off Lane, watching the boy suspiciously. Of course, what he had was just a hunch, it wasn’t even known yet whether it was possible to advance one’s power, but...

"Let’s not talk about the annoying stuff, alright?" Lane said, pulling Ethan onto his lap. "Wouldn’t it be better to just make out instead?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, he captured the boy’s lips in a kiss.

And Ethan returned the kiss. Not interrupting his guiding, he dug his fingers in Lane’s soft hair, tugging on it, and pushed the boy down onto his back, lying on top of him, as Lane’s hands wandered around on his back. They made out on the tiny, hard, harsh sofa in one of the so-called ’guiding rooms’, just like many times before...

When all of a sudden, Lane flinched, pulling back. "What the..."

"Hmm?" Ethan furrowed his brows, annoyed by the unwanted interruption. "What is it?"

Lane remained silent for a moment, still shocked by what he had just experienced. What he was still experiencing.

It was the same feeling he had whenever the activation condition of his Plunder/Possession ability was met! But... he had never experienced it with Ethan before? And to begin it, how did their blood get mixed? By making out? But Lane couldn’t taste any blood...

So, how? Was Ava’s theory wrong?

Either way, as much as he wanted to just leave and go find his friend, he didn’t want to raise any more suspicions in Ethan. So, he just shook his head. "It’s nothing. It’s just one of my old injuries acting up a bit..."

"Oh. Then... Are you still fine to carry on?"

"Ugh..." Lane paused. Well, of course he was fine, but wasn’t this a good excuse to get out of the situation? So, he pouted his lips, "I’m not sure. I think it’d be better for me to go get it checked first."

"...Fine." Unwillingly, Ethan climbed off Lane, adjusting his top. "When are you going to come again?"

"After the next raid, so in around a week or so, most likely?"

"Alright. Text me?"

"Yh, sure."

Of course, Lane wasn’t going to. They weren’t close enough to keep in touch. Personally, Lane didn’t like the boy all that much, and it didn’t seem like Ethan had any feelings for him either. Whatever was between them happened just because they were both there, out of lack of any better options. It would end once they both turned eighteen and Lane got assigned a new Guide, perhaps even earlier.

In a way, they were quite similar. Trapped in a position where they couldn’t decide about their fate, one restricted by his family, while the other by the government. Doing what they were forced to, while trying to pretend they were seeing each other by choice.

Well, going above just the guiding in their interactions was obviously their choice, but would they have done it if they had enough time and freedom to go meet other people? Probably not!

Lane left the Association’s building - an old, weathered office building that was scheduled to be demolished before, but got transformed into the Awakened Association’s offices temporarily, until the government put together enough money to organize something more presentable - and got into the car. He was about to call Ava, and had told the driver to head to her place, when suddenly, his phone pinged.

A message from Ava.

If that could even be called a message, when all it contained was just her location.