Chapter 230: Ch 230: Assignment Mistake - Part 1

Writing

Noah felt restless. He was not able to sleep well, and as a result, his body started to twist and turn.

Moreover, he was beginning to have dreams again, which made his guiding go out of control. It was so potent that Alan could feel it even beyond his door.

The guiding kept him up at night, making him want to break down Noah’s door and grab him to calm him down. But his sheer willpower kept him away.

Not that it kept him away forever, because his feet still took him to stand in front of Noah’s door.

But he was not alone. Someone else was already sitting against Noah’s door. That person had his back against the door and was panting heavily.

"What are you doing here?"

Alan asked, looking at Daniel’s hunched form. His instincts did not like the fact that Daniel was waiting in front of Noah’s room like a guard dog.

As another guide, Daniel was not someone he needed to be suspicious of. But the way his powers were behaving made him feel like an esper. And that was what Alan’s senses picked up on—another esper trying to get to his guide.

Daniel, for his part, seemed unaware of what he was doing. His glazed eyes looked up at Alan before he glanced around.

"What am I doing here? I... Something smelled good, and before I knew it, I was sitting out here. I... don’t recall what happened."

Daniel finally started to panic after trying to recall why he was there and failing to do so.

It was quite common for newly awakened espers to behave like this, so it was not something alarming...

Well, that was true for newly awakened espers, at least. But Daniel was a guide, and his guiding energy was still very clear. And yet, there was another energy lurking inside him.

Alan had been subconsciously avoiding that energy all this time because he did not want to become territorial over Noah and cause him stress. But right now, his instincts were out of his control.

He let out a growl, and before he knew it, he had grabbed Daniel by the shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Daniel asked in a low but tense voice, and Alan tried his hardest to hold back. But in the end, he was unable to.

"Darn it! What did you do? Why can I sense esper energy coming from you? It is sending my system into overdrive, making me want to throw you out. Did you take even more drugs after the last dose?"

Alan forced these words out as he pushed his desire to throw Daniel out of his mind.

Daniel realised that something was not right and started keeping his distance.

"I did not take any more drugs. But this weird sensation is growing. Can you sense my presence as an esper?"

Daniel asked in a slightly horrified yet fascinated voice.

Alan was about to snap at him when the door Daniel was leaning against suddenly opened, and Noah looked out at them.

But the person looking back at them was not conscious.

At least, Noah’s eyes did not look conscious when he reached for Daniel’s shoulder. He gave Daniel a second to brace himself before slamming the full force of his guiding into the pair.

It was heavy and clear, making the tension in Alan’s shoulders ease away. He felt calm and loose-limbed as the guiding started to flow through his body.

But since it felt so good, it took him a long time to realise what was happening. By the time he did notice, some time had already passed.

Alan forcefully broke away from the guiding and looked at Noah’s dazed expression. Something was clearly wrong because a guide’s body was not supposed to do this unconsciously.

Moreover, Daniel, who had just received his first real dose of guiding after whatever was happening to him, had grabbed Noah tightly around the middle and pulled him closer.

At this rate, he would end up smothering Noah and sucking him dry. Alan needed to do something.

So he grabbed Daniel by the back of his collar and pulled him away. It made Daniel hiss, and the ground began to spike beneath Alan’s feet.

But he used his own mental powers to subdue Daniel’s powers.

Daniel was strong for a newly awakened esper, but he lacked any control. Moreover, he was wasting too much power trying to fight Alan. As a result, he was sucking Noah dry.

’Shit! I need to end this now, or Daniel might end up putting Noah’s life in danger.’

Alan sighed, and with a wave of his hand, his power knocked Daniel out. The other esper-guide gave him a betrayed look before tumbling to the ground. Only then did Alan let out a relieved sigh.

Finally, he had managed to get Daniel to calm down.

But Noah was still a problem. His eyes were glazed over, and he seemed to be in a guiding haze.

He looked around until his eyes caught Alan’s. Then he took a step forward to guide him as well. But Alan raised his hand to tell him he was fine.

Not that it got the message across. Noah kept taking steps forward until he reached Alan and placed a hand on his shoulder. And then the guiding started once more.

Alan had never imagined that he would find himself in such a ridiculous situation, especially when all he had wanted was to get a good night’s sleep without having to deal with Daniel’s strange behaviour or Noah’s uncontrolled guiding.

But here he was, standing in the middle of the corridor with one unconscious esper at his feet and a guide who seemed determined to drain himself dry just to make sure everyone around him received enough guiding.

More importantly, Noah was beginning to look pale, and Alan could no longer ignore the warning signs.

Although the guiding felt wonderful, he knew better than to let himself get carried away when Noah was clearly in no condition to continue guiding them.