The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 122: Routine Guiding

Chapter 122: Routine Guiding

Once he got back home, Lane didn’t waste time. He grabbed a few things, and rushed back to his apartment - the real one - to switch back to his real body. It felt good to be back. While Xavier’s body was not bad, Lane’s own was the best, obviously!

As expected, there were a ton of reports waiting for him. From the Forbidden Zones, then about the dungeons’ activity, a few from abroad, then from the spies he had in some of the top Guilds... There was too much for Lane to read through it all.

Not like he had to - he had his team, Blanc in particular, to sort through and deal with it all. However, as the ’Boss’, he still needed to be familiar with what was going on...

Not to mention, there was the Allen Guild. His team kept tabs on them, of course, like on every other strong Guild, but they were unaware of Lane’s connection with the Allens, or his plans regarding their Guild. So, that was something he had to handle on his own.

There was so much of it all, both on his private mail and phone, as well as on the ones he had for his secret activities, that he would almost have missed it. He scrolled right past it at first, and only a moment later something hit him, and he scrolled back to check.

There was an email from the Association. Three of them, in fact.

[Dear Lane Allen,

It’s been two months since your routine guiding was due. It’s really important you have your guiding sessions on time. Please log in to your account as soon as possible and book your appointment.] The last one read.

Lane stared at the screen blankly for a moment.

Oops.

With everything that’s been going on in the past few months, it completely slipped his mind. It was already time for his routine guiding.

As per the rules, every awakened Esper had to receive guiding, regardless of whether they were active or not. It was a way for the government to control the Espers. With every guiding session being recorded - or, well, at least that’s how it was supposed to be - the Association could tell when an Esper was using their abilities without the authorization. Which was why all the inactive Espers had to visit the Association’s Guiding Center up to four times a year, depending on their rank, and get their guiding. ’Routine Guiding’, it was called, but in truth it was just a checkup to check if there was even a minimal instability of said Esper’s wavelengths...

And when it came to Lane, at the moment there was - possessing someone, and using any abilities in their body, had an effect on Lane’s own, and any guiding he received as ’Xavier’ couldn’t remedy that.

"Shit," Lane swore under his nose, quickly typing on his phone, [You available?]

He needed to get some guiding from Ava, and then schedule his appointment, on Saturday at the latest. Who knows when next he’d have time to make the trip?

But Ava wasn’t answering, even when he called. Was she in a dungeon?

What a GREAT timing.

Of course, he didn’t have anyone but himself to blame for his forgetfulness, but it was really bad! That he’d be fined was whatever, but he’d get the authorities’ attention on himself! And if his father were to hear about that...

A shudder passed through Lane’s spine, and he started scrolling his contacts. There were a good few Guides that he was aware of, providing illegal guiding under the table here in the Capital, but he always treated them as a last resort. He couldn’t trust them, not entirely. They kept quiet about whom they guided, of course, since what they were doing was against the law...

But they had significantly less to lose. The Guide Union would protect them and make sure they wouldn’t suffer any serious consequences, unlike the Espers who used their services. So, if it benefited them, there was always a chance they might rat their clients out...

No, Lane couldn’t risk it. The situation wasn’t that urgent. Unless he was on the verge of rampaging, he didn’t want to resort to using that.

So, he called Vulcan instead. "Hi, I need some Guides in the Capital by tomorrow," he said as soon as the man picked up.

"Guides... for what?"

"For guiding, of course!"

"But who..."

"Just for me. I need to go to the Association, so I need to be all clear. And my usual Guide is not available," Lane briefly explained.

"...Yes, Sir." Vulcan didn’t oppose Lane’s somewhat, well, unreasonable request, and just asked, "How many?"

Lane thought for a moment. "Three or four B-rankers should suffice."

While his condition was still good, he did use his abilities a lot, so to get to a fully stable state, a good amount of guiding was needed. And with the rank difference and uncertain matching rates, it was better to bring a few Guides. Just in case. So that Vulcan didn’t have to make the trip twice in one day...

Of course, Lane could just go to the Forbidden Zone himself. Then, he’d have access to all the Guides living there, just within his reach. It would definitely be more convenient...

Except that he was lazy. He had been, ahem, working so much recently, that he really wanted to just lounge on the couch for a little while, instead of driving back and forth for hours.

And ordering people around was one of the perks of being the Boss, right?

***

It all worked out.

Vulcan brought the Guides - six of them - to their spot outside of the Capital, and Lane sucked them all dry of Mana, until there was no doubt his wavelengths were as stable as they could be. As such, even the most experienced Guide wouldn’t be able to pick up on anything out of ordinary. Going to the Association Headquarters on Saturday, Lane was the picture of a perfect, law-abiding citizen, who never used his abilities, as an inactive, unlicensed Esper should have.

Everything was fine. It was just a regular visit to the Association, like any other before, except that it was a bit overdue this time.

That is, until when walking down the hallway toward the Guiding Center, Lane’s eyes fell on a familiar figure approaching from the other side.

Coincidentally, the man also happened to lift his eyes from the tablet in his hand.

And so, the green eyes met the grey for the first time.