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Lying side by side in bed, Kang Juha’s presence felt exceptionally large. Sharing a bed with someone was a very foreign experience for me, so even though I tried not to be conscious of it, I couldn’t help but be aware.

Still, thanks to Kang Juha, it seemed I wouldn’t have to endure that pre-sleep emptiness tonight. Usually, I hated that feeling so much that I would simply cut off my consciousness entirely.

…That aside, isn’t he staring a bit too much? I feel like my cheek is going to get a hole poked through it at this rate. Kang Juha doesn’t have an ability like shooting lasers from his eyes, right?

I desperately stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore him, but it felt like he would spend the whole night just watching me, so I had no choice but to speak.

“As you already know, this is my house.”

“…”

“So you don’t have to worry about me vanishing overnight.”

As soon as I turned my head, I immediately locked eyes with Kang Juha, just as expected. His pupils looked particularly black. Still, it was a relief that they were more full of life than the murky eyes I had seen before.

“You aren’t planning on standing guard all night, are you?”

Surely he didn’t intend to just watch me until morning?

“I’m feeling a little pressured right now.”

“I like lying here with you so much that it feels like I’m dreaming.”

Kang Juha didn’t budge at my words and simply gave an irrelevant answer. But since he said he liked being like this, I couldn’t exactly say something mean and rain on his parade… I just had to subtly induce him to sleep.

“If you want, I can make you have a dream like that.”

Manipulating dreams was a piece of cake. Unlike manipulating memories, I didn’t have to worry about blanks or probability.

“You have that kind of ability too?”

“Yes. Should I do it for you?”

“Does it matter what kind of dream it is?”

“Yes. Just say the word.”

Kang Juha’s brow twitched as if he were slightly conflicted. Then, after staring blankly at my face for a long time…

What is this? Why is he acting embarrassed?

When I looked at him in absurdity, he slunk his gaze away, but it was so obvious what he was thinking that it was even more ridiculous.

“No erotic dreams. I won’t do those.”

At my firm words, I thought he would deny it if he had any sense of shame, but Kang Juha’s expression turned sullen.

“…Yes.”

“Ha.”

You were seriously going to ask for an erotic dream? No, what on earth? Wow. I wonder who is calling whom promiscuous.

“No, were you really planning on asking for an erotic dream?”

I couldn’t be more flabbergasted. Since Guiding is performed through physical contact, I knew that both Espers and Guides were excessively open in that regard, but…

And I heard Kang Juha has never even been properly Guided by a Guide. On the contrary, is that why his sexual desire hasn’t been relieved? Should I report this too? No, surely not…

While I was lost in thought, Kang Juha, who had been hesitating as if he had something to say, finally spoke after a long while.

“You shouldn’t read my mind.”

“…Of course I won’t. I’m not curious.”

I mean, what does he think of me? I already know he’s thinking naughty thoughts, so why on earth would I look inside his head?

I didn’t want to know anything about Kang Juha’s erotic thoughts at all. But.

“Why aren’t you curious?”

“Pardon?”

What kind of nonsense is this now?

“I’m a bit hurt because you said you aren’t curious, Teacher.”

“…”

“Can’t you be curious about me?”

I shouldn’t read his mind, but I have to be curious? I don’t even know what tune I’m supposed to be dancing to anymore.

Honestly, isn’t this almost at the level of sleep-talking? I couldn’t tell if Kang Juha’s brain was slightly broken and making him talk like this, or if this was his original personality.

Well, for now, I should just play along.

“Wow… Yes, I’m truly curious. So, can I look inside right now?”

After speaking with dead, out-of-focus eyes, I poked Kang Juha’s forehead with my index finger. Reading someone’s thoughts didn’t require any special action, but since everyone had seen it somewhere, they usually freaked out when physical contact was made like this. And I was quite good at utilizing that.

As I closed my eyes and frowned as if being serious, I heard the sound of groaning and aching right in front of me. He was clearly restless, worried I might actually read his mind.

“Did you really see it?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“I’m lying.”

Kang Juha, who had been tense, seemed to lose his strength and let out a hollow, chuckling laugh.

“…I was singing the national anthem in my head just now.”

Kang Juha’s voice contained a bit of resentment beyond just unfairness. Hearing that, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

Pffft! As I burst into laughter and opened my closed eyes, I saw Kang Juha with his eyebrows drooping down. I spoke as I pulled my hand away from his forehead.

“Singing the national anthem isn’t a very good method. The harder you try not to think erotic thoughts, Mr. Kang Juha, the more you’ll end up thinking them. It’s impossible to input negative commands into the human brain.”

If I had really looked into Kang Juha’s mind just now, I would have been able to clearly read his thoughts between the lyrics of the national anthem he was singing internally. Paradoxically, to not think of something, you have to make an effort not to think of it, which leads you to think about it even more.

“Because you keep saying the word ‘erotic’, Teacher, it sounds erotic. Is that because of that too?”

“That’s just because you have a demon in your brain.”

“Then what should I do if I want to not think of something?”

“Unfortunately, there is no such method. You could try turning your consciousness elsewhere for a moment, but the moment will inevitably come when you think about what you don’t want to think about.”

“…”

“But in those cases, I can cut the thoughts off for you instead. If you want, I can even carve that thought out entirely.”

“Do you do that, Teacher?”

“…”

“If there’s something you don’t want to think about, do you just carve it out?”

I thought about Kang Juha’s question for a moment before answering.

“Yes.”

The carved-out thoughts vanish, leaving only a trace that something was once there. It’s like a sinkhole in the middle of the road; you know there’s a hole there, but you can’t know what was originally in that spot.

However, the fact that I erased something is so clear that I keep looking into that hole. It was like how, as a child, you would restlessly lick the spot after a tooth fell out.

The difference was that permanent teeth grow in the place where baby teeth fell out, but a memory once carved out remains in that state forever.

Of course, that’s just a figure of speech; those memories aren’t permanently lost.

My ability is closer to cutting the link that allows one to associate that memory. If normally I could easily pull out memories even with small stimuli, after carving them out, there needs to be a precise and persistent stimulus. Since it makes one forget the link that would generate that stimulus anyway, depending on the case, it could become a permanent loss.

“Then the memories you already carved out, Teacher… it must be because you don’t want to remember them again, right?”

“Probably so.”

“Then it would be better never to remember them, right?”

I didn’t know why he was asking such questions, but.

“Yes, for now.”

“…”

“I’m not particularly curious about what memories I carved out.”

In fact, rather than not being curious, the fear was greater. If it was a memory I had resolved to carve out, surely nothing good would come from remembering it.

I tended to thoroughly trust my past self’s choices.

After that, Kang Juha didn’t ask anything else. And the gaze that had been staring intently at me eventually withdrew.

Thus, we spent the short night.

༘⋆

The next morning. I woke up to the sound of the alarm. I opened my eyes, frowning at the unfamiliar sunlight.

There should definitely be blackout curtains, so where on earth is the sun coming from? I haven’t opened the curtains even once since I installed the blackout ones…

As I was thinking that, I saw a large silhouette standing in front of the window.

“Good morning.”

Ah, Kang Juha was here.

His hair, hit by the sunlight, was shining glossily.

“What were you, ahem, doing?”

I smoothed out my voice, which had sunk terribly because I had just woken up. It didn’t get much better, though.

Kang Juha looked at me with a fairly amused expression.

“I was watching the morning.”

“…The morning?”

Is watching the morning physically possible? Does he mean he was watching the time period of morning, or the people moving busily in the morning?

“Yes. I just feel at peace when I see the sun rising again. Thinking, ‘So tomorrow did come’.”

“I see. I’ve never been glad to see the sun…”

I just thought, that damn morning sun has risen again. Being unnecessarily diligent for a sun and all…

I replied half-heartedly and gave a long yawn. The bright sunlight, so strong I couldn’t even open my eyes properly, struck my face.

“Are you done enjoying the morning?”

“Yes.”

“Then could you please restore the curtains? Right now, I feel like I’m being exorcised.”

The reason I slept with double blackout curtains was because I didn’t want to wake up feeling like I was being exorcised in the morning. It always made me feel like I’d become an evil spirit.

“Are you an evil spirit, Teacher?”

“Yes. I’m scheduled to become one soon. Because I’m going to die from overwork in the near future.”

If I become an evil spirit, I won’t have to go to work. That was one thing I coveted.

“…”

“It’s a joke.”

Kang Juha’s expression turned serious as if he had taken my words literally, so I added that it was a joke. His expression didn’t brighten up, though.

“Have you washed up?”

I changed the subject out of awkwardness.