By Zephyria 
While guiding in silence, it was Vasily who broke the quiet first.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“I don’t think this is enough.”
“Then what—”
I pushed myself up to look at him, and Vasily was staring back at me with a faint smile on his lips.
Ah. The moment I looked into his eyes, I knew exactly what he wanted.
Mucosal guiding.
As expected, that’s what he wants. My lips went dry. I had thought it was about time he would demand it.
Right… he had run wild in the Gate and returned, so his wavelength must be unstable, and the wound on his abdomen had bled quite a bit. As he said, contact guiding alone would be insufficient. He was in a state where it was reasonable to request mucosal guiding.
I wasn’t particularly pleased, but the contract did state that we would proceed up to mucosal guiding…
Having thought that far, I opened my mouth.
“…Close your eyes.”
Vasily smiled faintly and obediently closed his eyes.
Long eyelashes and softly closed lips. His expression, which was always cold, seemed unusually gentle today. I swallowed hard as I looked down at his face, waiting patiently for me.
Steeling my heart, I slowly lowered my head.
Click.
“Esper Vasily, I’m com—”
In the midst of the somehow heart-fluttering atmosphere, just before our lips touched, the door opened and someone entered. The Attending Physician, who spotted us clinging closely together on the bed the moment he walked in, froze in his tracks.
“….”
“He seemed to need guiding, so we were in the middle of it.”
I broke the silence, quietly pushing Vasily away as I spoke.
I spoke calmly without any change in expression, but when I looked beside me, Vasily was smiling and waving at the Attending Physician. His other hand was even still resting on my waist.
To anyone else, my act of composure would have been perfect, but because Vasily looked far too unfazed, it felt like a lie. To make matters worse, Vasily’s and my clothes, which had been tossed aside haphazardly, were strewn across the bed as if they had been ripped off in haste, making the atmosphere even stranger.
Following the Attending Physician’s wavering gaze as it slid to the side, I turned my head and spotted a large warning sign posted on one side of the wall.
[For the sake of other patients, please refrain from excessive guiding!]
“….”
The phrase was written in colorful letters. Above a cute character depicting two people hugging each other, a red prohibition mark had been meticulously drawn.
I… tried my best to ignore that poster on the wall.
“That… Esper Vasily was severely injured, so…”
“…Yes.”
As I muttered another excuse, the Attending Physician nodded reluctantly. The atmosphere became even more awkward.
Hesitating, I climbed off Vasily’s body and moved far away from the bed, burying my face in my palms. Leaving me behind, the Attending Physician entered the room and began to examine Vasily’s body.
I glared at Vasily, who was nonchalantly showing his wound. Vasily must have known the Attending Physician was coming; why didn’t he push me away or stop the door from opening? He’s definitely getting revenge because I punched him in the stomach.
After looking at the wound for a moment, the Attending Physician asked.
“Esper Vasily, how did this happen? There was a lot of buzz about you visiting a Gate; did you enter a high-rank one?”
“I was done in by a C-Class. His punch was quite fierce.”
“…?”
The Attending Physician tilted his head in confusion. Only I, realizing what Vasily was talking about, couldn’t lift my head, my ears flushing red.
“If you were injured in the Gate, why did you come today instead of yesterday?”
“Well… I was injured just now—”
I quickly covered Vasily’s mouth. Feeling his cold lips fluttering against my palm, I hurriedly bowed my head to the Attending Physician.
“Doctor, the bleeding is severe, so please prioritize the treatment first.”
“Yes. We should.”
The Attending Physician nodded and took out a needle and thread.
Then, after putting on gloves, the Attending Physician began to stitch Vasily’s wound without any anesthesia. Come to think of it, I heard that anesthesia doesn’t work properly on S-class Espers. I believe I heard that it takes something capable of knocking out an elephant instantly just to make them feel a tingling sensation.
Perhaps that’s why they often undergo surgery for most injuries without anesthesia, but every time I saw such a scene, I frowned. Though Vasily himself didn’t seem to be in much pain.
He quickly sutured the upper body and wrapped a bandage around the waist. As the red blood that had been flickering before my eyes disappeared, my anxious heart began to stabilize as a physiological response.
I quietly glanced at the gloves the Attending Physician had taken off. Vasily’s blood on the gloves was frozen.
“The treatment is finished. Fortunately, your condition isn’t bad, so I don’t think hospitalization is necessary. You may be discharged after resting comfortably.”
The Attending Physician stood up while packing the medical tools he had brought. Before leaving the room, he turned back one last time and said.
“That… as I mentioned before, you must not proceed with excessive guiding until the suppression chip is removed. Well then, I shall be going.”
“….”
Listening to the low chuckle coming from beside me, I barely managed to keep my expression in check.
* * *
Vasily didn’t go through the discharge process until nightfall.
Since he had been hospitalized for a full half-day, the association wouldn’t be able to claim he was faking it. 10 PM. As I took out my smartphone to record the time, Vasily, who was standing behind me, asked.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam, aren’t you going to support me?”
“Walk back home on your own.”
When I firmly rejected the request, Vasily looked at me like a dog caught in the rain. At the pitiful gaze he sent me while clutching his waist, my footsteps stopped involuntarily.
“…Only for today.”
Inevitably, I pulled his arm. Thinking that this was the last time I would give in to his stubbornness, I supported him, but Vasily began to lean on me even more blatantly than before.
Unable to endure it for long, I said a word to him.
“You’re heavy, so lean on me moderately.”
“I have no strength in my body.”
“How can a person be this heavy? Is your weight in the triple digits?”
“……”
Vasily smiled broadly and said nothing. I turned my head in horror.
“Are you serious? You’re that heavy, yet you had the nerve to ask for support? This pig… ugh…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. It was because Vasily let all the strength out of his body and leaned on me completely.
I staggered, gritting my teeth. I barely managed to keep my two feet on the ground, but I couldn’t move a single step. An elderly grandfather passing by clicked his tongue at the sight of us bickering in the middle of the hallway and walked past.
“Sigh…”
Completely drained, I barely reached the parking lot.
Since Vasily was technically a patient, I took the wheel. I drove back home along the deserted roads of the late night.
I didn’t expect the outing to be this long.
To avoid giving the association any unnecessary excuses, I didn’t get discharged early and dragged out the time; by the time we arrived at the apartment parking lot, it was already time to be in bed.
I supported Vasily on the way up to the house as well. The moment I opened the front door and entered, I was about to throw his massive bulk aside and tell him to walk on his own, but Vasily suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Guide Kwon Gi-dam, give me guiding.”
“I already gave you guiding in the hospital room.”
“It was too short. And it stopped in the middle.”
Come to think of it, we did stop because the Attending Physician came in.
“Then I’ll do it after I wash up.”
“I like that.”
Having obtained the answer he wanted, Vasily obediently let me go.
As soon as I entered the house, I went straight into the bathroom to wash. Because I had been wearing a stifling suit all day, the pouring stream of water was welcome. I felt as though the fishy smell of blood that had seeped into my skin while guiding Vasily was being washed away cleanly.
Only after finishing my shower and changing into pajamas did I finally feel refreshed. As I was about to leave the room, I glanced at the bed that would surely embrace me softly if I lay down now.
I wanted to just collapse and sleep like this… but I have to do the guiding. Since I’m tired, I thought I should finish it quickly, whether it’s mucosal guiding or whatever, and left the room.
Before heading to Vasily’s room, I took a pill from my bag. Although the guiding in the hospital room was short, because I had been in contact with Vasily for a long time while supporting him, I felt the suppression chip starting to grow hot.
Feeling the heat gradually subside, I opened Vasily’s room door, and the lights were off.
Did he fall asleep? While looking around the room with a look of relief, I locked eyes with a pair of glinting eyes in the darkness.
“….”
“You’re here?”
“Weren’t you sleeping?”
“Because we agreed on guiding.”
Pretending not to be surprised, I approached Vasily, who was lying on the bed. I checked his lower body, which was visible beneath the bandages, and fortunately, he was wearing underwear.