---- Nox ----

Nox hated the look of concern on Airi’s face. She’d been flitting around the hospital room since Nox woke up. Her presence was a surprise. If he’d had his way he wouldn’t have mentioned the incident. Airi reminded him of his sister. It was hard to see her as someone Nox could lean on despite her proving herself time and time again.

She explained that someone working at the center texted her after getting the notice that Nox was injured in the line of duty. Lily had playfully complained about Airi dragging her out of her rest week to help Nox out again. 

Nox would have felt guilty. But he knew that Lily had reached her limit on organ donation for the year. Which meant she would have had to ask for a special exemption. The paperwork was a headache by itself and the time crunch that came with it meant few Espers considered it. Lily wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t want to. 

This was the second time Lily had donated to Nox. The first time she shrugged off Nox’s gratitude and said, “Well you took such good care of my guide before we got together. Think of it as payment for all those coffees and pain patches!” 

Nox didn’t miss the way she pulled Airi closer to her as she said the words ‘my guide.’ He was happy for Airi, but their relationship made something ugly and painful tug at his chest. 

That same feeling tugged at him as he watched Airi playfully smack Lily’s back only to wrap her arms around Lily’s neck and give her a peck on the cheek. 

Nox looked down at his blanket and anxiously twisted it. Thankfully, Airi was too preoccupied with her Esper to notice Nox’s uncharacteristic show of genuine emotion. By the time she looked back, Nox’s face wore a neutral mask. 

“Why do you regret that day with Kane?” Lily asked as Airi pulled away from her. 

Nox shifted his gaze to the trees swaying in the wind outside the window. He let out a small sigh, “He had the highest score in the center's records.” 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Airi smacked Lily again and shushed her. 

“Yeah, it was amazing! I was slated to guide him afterwards.” 

“Oh shit! Yeah he must have been crazy contaminated to do something like that.” 

“He turned down my guiding.” 

Lily looked aghast. Airi, who had already heard this story more than once, gave Nox a gentle, pitying look. 

“It was the first time anyone turned me down. I’ve never had trouble guiding S-classes. I mean I know I’m slower than someone with the same grade would be but still…” 

Airi sat down at the foot of Nox’s bed and put a gentle hand on Nox’s leg. 

“Well I for one think you’re the best Guide I’ve ever met. Anyways, you did great with him today! Everyone from Titan was saying they’d never seen his stats so good.”  

Nox sat up in his bed staring at Airi in disbelief, “No one told me that. Why wasn’t I taken to his room as soon as I woke up? There’s no way I fully stabilized him, he might not even be stable enough to wake up. I need to get over there now.”

Both of the women stepped up on either side of Nox’s bed and with gentle but firm hands pushed him back down into the bed. 

Lily frowned and said, “Well first, you just got an organ transplant-” 

“They adjust fast when they’re from Espers and-”

“AND” Airi chimed in, cutting off Nox's argument, “You are neither his designated guide, part of his guild, or hospital staff.”

Nox tried to protest again but Airi held out a hand, “They got several guides from his guild and the hospital to take care of him. All you need to do right now is rest.” 

That uncomfortable restricted feeling wrapped itself around Nox’s chest and he tried his best to ignore it. He turned his head away from Airi and frowned, twisting at his bed sheets. 

“What’s the point if I can get the job done.” 

Lily grabbed Nox’s face and forced him to look into her eyes, “The point is staying alive. I can’t think of a single Esper who would be ok with a guide dying because of them. Our instinct is to protect you. The guilt would literally kill us.” 

“Oh that’s why you take such good care of me,” Airi said jokingly, trying to pull them out of the sudden serious air Lily had brought to the conversation, “It’s just instinct?” 

Lily’s hand dropped away from Nox’s face and she looked at Airi filled with panic, “No I didn’t mean that! I mean it’s like- I mean we just feel like we have to.. by the gate’s I’m not making this better am I.” 

Airi’s faux annoyance faded and she grinned at Lily. 

“I know what you meant, I’m just messing with you.” 

But as Lily sighed in relief, Nox was able to sense a hint of truth in Airi’s joke. It was hard to believe someone who relied on you to live truly loved you and not the service you provided. 

There were constant stories shared about guides being abandoned by Espers who had once promised them the world. Those stories may have contributed to Nox’s distaste for exclusive contracts. It didn’t take many sobbing guides returning to the center after being abandoned by an Esper who’d promised them the world to make a man jaded.