The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

Lunch continued, and they finished their meals without minding the prone figure of Reign lying on the ground. No one helped to send him to the infirmary, not wanting to get on Vesper’s bad side by helping the person he beat.

But there was another strange situation that happened during lunch. Kane, who was still surprised by how Aisha stopped Vesper, did not remove his gaze from her.

”Hey, are you falling for her or what?”

Sabel elbowed him on the ribs, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Kane rubbed his ribs and shook his head. ”It’s not that... What do you think happened to Vesper?”

Sabel appeared confused. ”Wasn’t that her guiding him?”

Kane frowned. ”That wasn’t just guiding. No, it wasn’t even guiding.”

Guiding needed direct skin-to-skin contact to ensure its effectiveness. But Aisha didn’t do that when she was ’guiding’ Vesper. She only patted him on his arm, which was covered by his sleeves. That limits the guiding resonance a guide and a sentinel could have.

It wasn’t even possible for a low-ranked guide to do that.

”I’m a guide. I didn’t feel any presence of her guiding ability when she touched him,” Kane explained, keeping his eyes on Aisha, who was looking at her food with a lost expression.

”You can ask her if you want to know,” Sabel told him.

Kane looked at Aisha for a long moment before he finally released a sigh. Shaking his head, he told her, ”No. I’d rather not say anything. It’s something she might not want to talk about.”

Sabel didn’t press him either. She couldn’t understand nor want to understand what a guide was thinking. For as long as they’re someone she can count on in the future, whatever they did or whoever they are did not matter.

”Well, if you want to talk to her. It’s better you do it later.” Sabel also thought it’d be rude of them to pry into Aisha’s actions. ”For now, we’ll just spend more time with her.”

Kane nodded, agreeing with what she said.

Since they’ve become classmates now, there was more time to get to know Aisha.

From the corner of her eyes, Aisha could feel the stares coming from them. She had a hunch why, but she pretended to have nothing to do with it.

Fortunately, the two didn’t press her for answers either. She didn’t want to talk to anyone about what she had done.

”Aren’t you going to finish that?”

Vesper, who was sitting beside her, suddenly spoke.

Out of everyone in their group, only he stayed completely detached from what had happened. He was already back to normal, but it seemed that beating someone up till their nose broke used up his energy.

Looking at her stale, unfinished food, Aisha pushed it toward him.

Vesper happily took it and started to eat again.

When Aisha looked up, she met the gazes of Kane and Sabel, sharing the same expressionless faces.

They returned to class in silence after that.

Vesper filled his stomach till he was supporting his back like a pregnant woman. Flopping down looking thoroughly pleased, he kept grinning.

Seeing that idiotic smile on his face, Sabel couldn’t stop herself smacking the back of his head, muttering something about him being so stupid.

The following classes were completely different from the one they tackled this morning. One professor discussed how a sentinel and a guide pair can deepen their connection through repeated exposure. Their matching compatibility will also measure how they can be their perfect partner.

The second class before the day ended talked about basic field survival for contamination zones. Compared to how she’d actually lived in the past, there wasn’t much difference. Every zone was riddled with hidden and known dangers, each more unpredictable than the last.

Aisha listened to every word.

It was strange, she thought. How easily she found herself drawn into the lessons. In her old world, learning had been a luxury reserved for the time before everything collapsed. Reading books stolen from banged up bookstores or houses have been the only way to get their hands on one. Learning in a class wasn’t even part of anyone’s dream. Their survival was more important to them.

She’d once dreamed of finishing school, getting a decent job, living an unremarkable but peaceful life. Perhaps, get married and have a family. But that dream had died along with billions of others the day the first contaminated meteor breached her world.

Here, in this new world, Aisha wanted to live differently than what she had before.

By the time the classes finally ended, the sun outside the dome-shaped classroom turned into a warm amber.

”Aisha, we’re heading out to the city.” Vesper knocked on her desk, standing in the aisle. ”There’s this new dessert shop that opened near the West Plaza. They’ve been advertising how they’ve got some kind of miasma-free snacks. Wanna come?”

Aisha wanted to tell him he might be scammed by the advertisement. A miasma-free snack? The empire would’ve captured the chef who concocted it and monopolized it before it spreads.

She looked at the two other people behind Vesper, who smiled awkwardly as though they were helpless against their friend’s enthusiasm.

”My cousins said it’s really good. But I don’t like sweet stuff,” Sabel said behind Vesper.

Kane tucked his notes into his spatial ring and told Aisha, ”You should come. It’ll be a good way for us to spend time together.”

Actually, it was his idea to hang out together. Putting aside what happened at the cafeteria, he and his other two friends genuinely wanted to befriend her. Besides, it would make them uncomfortable if Aisha was left alone.

Aisha considered the offer for a moment.

The thought of eating something sweet appealed to her. But...

”I still need to stop by the Resources Department to pick up the sample,” she said.

Vesper suddenly clapped his hands. ”You can take mine!” Sabel moved to smack him, but he quickly explained. ”Hey! Hey, don’t hit me! I just thought my sample was too difficult to understand. What if she got a sample that’ll be easier for me?

”We get the same sample.” Sabel shot down his idea mercilessly.

In the end, they agreed to wait for her outside while she retrieved a sample from the Resources Department.

Watching her go, Kane didn’t immediately catch up with the others.

He was still bothered by what happened earlier at the cafeteria. He thought that there might be another reason why Aisha was reassigned to their classroom.

A D-rank guide calming down an A-rank sentinel with barely a touch? Their skin didn’t even make contact.

And the most baffling thing about this is that Vesper was not one who could easily calm down with just a simple guiding. If that was so simple, Kane wouldn’t have so much trouble dealing with him, and Vesper wouldn’t be in their class. Normally, when he gets pissed off, Kane needed another guide or two to restrain and calm him.

”Haa...”

Kane ruffled his hair messily. It’s best to let go of this thought. It was messing him even more than he should’ve let it.

***

By the time the Academy learned about the incident in the cafeteria, Reign was carried off to the infirmary. He was quickly guided through and received ample treatment that allowed his nose to regain its original form.

Because it happened between two A-rank sentinels, who are already causing so much trouble in the Academy, the professors didn’t want to pursue it. But they ended up giving them a warning. One more and they will be considered for disciplinary action and possible expulsion.

And because they were two high-ranked sentinels, many of the students had become interested in their story.

But it wasn’t their names that were spreading through the school.

It was Aisha.

”Do you know that the D-rank who was reassigned to a lower class gained a new lapdog today?”

”Wow, she’s really something. In just one day, she controlled her new classmates?”

”I heard she’s the one who told Vesper to beat the other A-rank sentinel.”

”Apparently, her lapdog ended up beating him until his nose broke!”

”No way!”