Chapter Text
“Eijun-kun?”
Kominato Haruichi recalled his spirit animal to his side and smiled at his obviously distracted friend.
Sawamura Eijun flinched on reflex. He immediately plastered on his trademark grin and scratched the back of his head.
“As expected of Seidou’s Summer—uh—Harucchi! Your guiding skills are as incredible as ever! I am completely recovered!”
The curve of Kominato’s smile grew noticeably deeper at the word Summer. Fortunately, Sawamura corrected himself in time and narrowly avoided disaster.
Even with Sawamura looking as energetic as ever, Kominato still couldn’t shake a faint sense of unease.
“If there’s anything we can help with, you have to tell us, okay? And if the Guide assigned to you refuses to cooperate, come find me anytime. Don’t even think about trying to tough it out alone, Eijun-kun.”
Sawamura’s eyes grew hot.
He immediately launched into a booming speech praising Kominato’s thoughtfulness and kindness, and didn’t stop until Kominato’s face had gone bright red and he finally stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Only after Sawamura confirmed that his footsteps had faded into the distance did he let out a long breath and slump backward against the guiding room’s decidedly uncomfortable metal chair.
He raised his left hand overhead, fingers long and knobby.
Clenched his fist.
Released it.
Clenched it again.
Harucchi can’t do it either?
Ever since that mission, he had never met another Guide capable of fully clearing him out.
Sawamura had undergone the most thorough battery of tests possible, but every result came back green. He had even reported the problem to his superiors during a gap between missions. Central Command, considerate of his situation, rotated one A-rank Guide after another through his guiding sessions.
Nothing worked.
The first time Sawamura received guiding from an A-rank Guide, he had taken the other man’s standard line—“If you still need more guiding, just say so”—completely seriously.
So after the basic procedure was finished, Sawamura enthusiastically asked for a second round.
Then a third.
It wasn’t until the A-rank Guide recalled his spirit animal on his own, face pale with fury and wearing the exact same smile Kominato Ryousuke used when he was about to murder someone, that Sawamura finally understood the danger.
He still wasn’t fully recovered, but he no longer dared ask for a fourth round. Instead, he put on his most ingratiating smile and respectfully helped the Guide out of the room.
That was about when Sawamura Eijun’s reputation started going downhill.
“Guiding him used to be easy. Now he’s such a pain. It takes forever and drains you dry, but his Sentinel rating hasn’t even gone up to S-rank?”
“Exactly! The energy it takes me to guide Sawamura could handle three A-rank Sentinels. We’re all the same rank, but he’s by far the most exhausting one to deal with.”
“I mostly don’t understand what the higher-ups are thinking. Every Guide already has a fixed schedule, and they keep squeezing him in anyway. Now I have to work overtime because of him too. Seriously...”
At first, comments like those only circulated within the small circle of A-rank Guides.
Gradually, though, the whispers grew louder.
Some people even started talking about him deliberately within earshot, pretending they weren’t.
Sawamura never argued back.
Not until the main Seidou group came to the First Corps for their year-end reports. His old friends had taken a detour to surprise him, only to stumble straight into the invisible bullying taking place within the Corps.
After subduing the room through sheer yakuza-like menace, everyone herded Sawamura into an empty conference room as though they owned the place.
Kominato Ryousuke casually picked up two metal chairs and carried them into the middle of the room before settling elegantly into one.
Sawamura, shoulders drooping, turned damp puppy eyes on Toujou and Kanemaru.
Kanemaru heartlessly shut his eyes and turned his head away.
Toujou took one step back and gave him an apologetic smile.
“Ei. Jun. Kun?”
A small but remarkably strong hand came to rest lightly on Sawamura’s right shoulder.
Sawamura let out a bizarre little “Eek!” and dropped into the other chair at sprinting speed.
The interrogation that followed went remarkably smoothly.
Sawamura insisted that every physical examination had come back normal, that he hadn’t taken any of the Guides’ hostility to heart, and that something so trivial wasn’t worth everyone at Seidou worrying over.
The great Sawamura-sama was in perfect condition!
Only after they confirmed the results with Watanabe, who worked in the medical division, did everyone accept that Sawamura was indeed physically fine.
Their unanimous conclusion was therefore:
The Guides in the First Corps just suck.
“If Miyuki were in the First Corps, none of this would’ve happened, right?” Isashiki said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “Actually, we’ve got time right now anyway. Miyuki, why don’t you guide the kid and let him experience what the Third Corps’ strongest Guide can do?”
“Huh?”
Miyuki Kazuya was dragged out from the corner of the crowd by Isashiki.
He frowned slightly, without so much as glancing in Sawamura’s direction.
Kuramochi stretched out one foot and lightly kicked him.
“You guided Bakamura so many times back at Seidou I got sick of watching it. Why are you acting all reluctant now?”
Miyuki had just opened his mouth, ready to drawl out his usual response, when Sawamura shot to his feet.
“No need to trouble Miyuki-senpai!”
Everyone’s eyes immediately swung toward him.
The man who had sounded so loud and confident a second earlier instantly started stumbling over his words.
“U-ummm... Miyuki Kazuya’s busy competing for Chief Guide right now, isn’t he? I’m really fine! There’s no need to bother him...”
Behind his lenses, Miyuki’s lazy eyes widened slightly.
“Hyahaha! Are you really Bakamura?” Kuramochi hooked him from behind in a familiar wrestling hold. “Did the First Corps secretly modify you or something?”
“Eijun. Miyuki-senpai’s guiding is even better than it was at Seidou.”
Furuya nodded solemnly. After a brief pause, he added generously,
“You can borrow him this time.”
“...Hey, hey. What’s with all this borrowing? Am I an object?”
Miyuki’s lips curved into an insincere smile.
“Sawamura’s right. I’m very busy, you know. When we get back, just have Yui guide you.”
But behind his black-framed glasses, his gaze drifted unconsciously toward Sawamura.
“Though if it’s Sawamura...”
He didn’t get to finish.
Sawamura suddenly erupted into frantic yelling.
“AH! I JUST REMEMBERED I HAVE SOMETHING EXTREMELY URGENT TO DO SO I’LL BE GOING NOW SEE YOU NEXT TIME EVERYONE!”
Before anyone could react, the center of the conversation had already disappeared in a whirlwind.
Kominato Ryousuke slowly turned his head toward Miyuki.
“What happened between you two recently?”
“...Nothing. Seriously, nothing. I’m busy every day. I haven’t even talked to Sawamura in ages.”
That much was true.
“I can confirm that. Miyuki-senpai is so busy he doesn’t even have time to train with me anymore.”
“...Furuya-kun, be quiet.”
And just like that, the target of the interrogation switched from Sawamura to Miyuki.
But Miyuki honestly couldn’t remember much of anything.
If Sawamura hadn’t rejected him so loudly, then after the usual back-and-forth, Miyuki probably would have guided him anyway.
After all—
Sawamura had once said things like,
“Miyuki Kazuya’s guiding feels the best!”
And in fact, Sawamura Eijun still firmly believed that Miyuki Kazuya’s guiding felt the best.
This was the first time he had seen Miyuki since that mission.
Somehow, Miyuki seemed farther away from him now.
Back at Seidou, he had been a senior Sawamura could bother whenever he pleased.
Now there were dark shadows beneath his eyes that even his glasses couldn’t hide. He must have been pushing himself harder and harder on the path toward becoming Chief Guide.
Sawamura Eijun had first met Miyuki Kazuya on Seidou’s training grounds.
Back then, Sawamura had been a Sentinel scouted from the countryside, seeing the advanced equipment of a big-city military academy for the first time, along with the relentless drive of people constantly sharpening themselves—
and the Guide hailed as Seidou’s Savior.
Miyuki Kazuya.
The instant they linked during a simulated battle, Sawamura’s five senses and every movement of his body were tuned to perfection by an experienced Guide.
His dominant hand swung the particle blade freely.
His eyes captured his opponent’s trajectory with perfect clarity, slowing every movement down.
Then he kicked off the ground.
His body surged forward, spine straightening and extending as it carried his arm upward, flicking his opponent’s weapon away with the effortless precision of a conductor directing an orchestra.
One seamless motion.
Eleven seconds of fate.
Sawamura Eijun fell in love with the feeling of his body being completely unleashed.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Miyuki Kazuya was the link that bound Sawamura Eijun to Seidou.
Once formal training began, nearly every illusion Sawamura had held about Miyuki beyond his identity as a Guide shattered into pieces.
But that also erased most of Sawamura’s awkwardness around both seniors and Guides.
He started pestering Miyuki for guiding almost every day.
If the Sawamura Eijun from before Seidou was compared with the Sawamura Eijun who came after, it was like watching a rough stone being polished into a diamond.
Countless people at Seidou had helped shape him.
But Miyuki Kazuya had undoubtedly left the deepest mark.
Sweat.
Tears.
Graduations.
New arrivals.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Haruichi, Kanemaru, and the others from Sawamura’s year chose to take the honor of Seidou’s victory in the academy team combat championship and spend time honing themselves further in Corps preparatory camps.
Only Sawamura and Furuya challenged the Corps’ direct appointments immediately.
Why had Furuya done it?
Sawamura didn’t know.
He only knew why he had.
Because Miyuki Kazuya was already serving in the Third Corps.
Just like he had once followed Miyuki’s back to Seidou—
he would keep following it.
Flowers.
Streamers.
Applause.
Congratulations echoed endlessly around him. Camera shutters clicked and flashed in rapid succession.
Sawamura Eijun wore a stiff smile.
“That Sentinel from Nagano was already unbelievably lucky to get scouted by Seidou on a special scholarship, and now he’s drawn a First Corps slot too!”
“They only pick two out of more than a hundred, right? That’s incredible. He’s skipping half the road everyone else has to take.”
“Congratulations, Cadet Sawamura! Please come this way and tell us how you feel about joining the First Corps, as well as your goals for the future.”
The gentle-looking host placed a hand on Sawamura’s shoulder and firmly steered him toward the flower-covered stage.
The other lucky candidate was already up there, laughing and crying at the same time, struggling to keep his composure as he thanked his parents, his teachers, his school...
Sawamura remembered nothing between stepping onto the stage and coming back down.
Maybe he had simply gone through the motions and said all the polished things he was supposed to say.
Or maybe he had shouted toward the countless cameras flying overhead:
“A NEW SAWAMURA LEGEND BEGINS TODAY!”
He only remembered one thing.
In a corner of the venue, Miyuki Kazuya stood in a crisp military uniform, surrounded by his comrades, arms wrapped around Furuya Satoru—the newest member of the Third Corps.
Sawamura didn’t know what they had been talking about.
Furuya’s aura had flared up around him again, blazing as fiercely as ever.
Miyuki laughed freely.
For a moment, it looked just like Seidou again.
Except Sawamura Eijun wasn’t part of the scene.
When that tumultuous day finally came to an end, Sawamura opened the message list on his terminal.
At the top of his pinned conversations sat a message that looked almost copied and pasted.
Sawamura, congratulations.
He didn’t have the energy to open it.
And for one brief moment, resentment rose inside him.
Toward Furuya.
Toward Miyuki.
Why couldn’t Furuya have drawn the First Corps, while I got the Third?
Why did Miyuki get assigned to the Third Corps instead of the First?
The thought frightened him so badly that he jolted.
He immediately slapped both cheeks hard.
In the silence, his face grew red and hot beneath his palms.
After one long sigh, he realized it all over again.
The distance between him and Miyuki Kazuya had grown even greater.