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Hearing him, he sounded like a student begging to be made class president. I mean, is becoming a lover something that happens just by pestering like this?

I couldn’t seriously accept this as a confession, yet I couldn’t just pretend I hadn’t heard it and move on either. This was because he spoke while standing blankly right across from my office desk.

A mean boss might pretend not to hear words spoken right to his face and let them slide, but I wasn’t a person with such trashy character.

“Wait, just a moment. That kind of thing isn’t something for the two of us to decide like this right now.”

I couldn’t give an answer immediately, so I tried to brush it off.

“Then if not the two of us, who do we decide it with? Don’t tell me you’re seeing someone else separately right now?”

Hmm? Come to think of it, he’s right.

Since I’ve never dated, I hadn’t even thought about it, but naturally, dating is something where a relationship begins by the agreement of the parties involved. It’s a relationship formed by mutual consent, not a unilateral one.

“What? No. There’s no one.”

As I stood there dazed, chewing over my own stupid words, a suspicious glow of joy suddenly spread across Kang Juha’s face.

“Ah, Teacher, you want to marry me.”

“Ex-excuse me?”

“I suppose that would require the agreement of both families. But I’m fine with it. Since I don’t have parents.”

I almost became speechless just like the day I heard a stray insult from Kang Juha before, but having had the experience once, I was able to regain my composure quite quickly this time.

“…That part is the same for me as well.”

“Then it’s settled. Let’s get married. I’m fine with everything.”

Ah, I’m dizzy. I feel a sudden headache rushing in. I picked up the air conditioner remote again and lowered the temperature sharply.

Could it be that Kang Juha views this situation as something like playing house?

Yes, it was a fairly reasonable suspicion. A sane twenty-eight-year-old adult wouldn’t decide such a major life event as marriage so easily in this manner.

“By any chance, Mr. Kang Juha, how old are you right now?”

It would be fine if he answered seven years old, or rather, thirty-forty-five years old. And if he told me my memory was bad like he did back then, I felt like I could be at ease.

If he only answered like that, I would be willing to link arms with Kang Juha and play bride and groom once. I could even sing that childish “da-da-da-dan” wedding march for him.

“I’m twenty-eight.”

“…Ah.”

“And Teacher is thirty-two.”

“Right. Yes, that’s so.”

“A four-year difference, where they say you don’t even need to check marital compatibility.”

“Where did you learn a phrase like that?”

Good grief. It was so absurd. Because it was such a blatant “slick move,” a hollow laugh burst out of me.

It’s the kind of thing Espers usually say when hitting on a guide, but to hear it from a fellow Esper at this age.

Ordinary people would call this flirting, but there was a separate slang term used inside the center. It was “Esper-ing.” In other words, Kang Juha was now shamelessly “Esper-ing” me.

I thought he wouldn’t be, but Kang Juha is a true Esper after all. I had worried whether he could get along well with that social skill of his even if a matching guide appeared, but it seemed there was no need for such concern.

Speaking of which, the test results for guides who underwent predictive matching with Kang Juha’s energy wavelength are scheduled to arrive around tomorrow. Since they said they ran it focusing on high-grade guides who recently joined, perhaps a guide truly suited for Kang Juha might appear this time.

It was certain that a guide, whoever they may be, would be more helpful to the rest of Kang Juha’s life than I would. Once Kang Juha’s mind and memories become whole, I will be neither his person in charge, nor his teacher, nor anything else.

My feelings didn’t matter. No matter how much dating is a private matter, I couldn’t think of it detached from reality.

No, perhaps even having these worries was a funny thing. Why bother, when it’s a story with no possibility of realization anyway.

“I don’t much like empty formalities, so I have no interest in marriage. I’ll think about the marriage registration.”

So I just blathered whatever came to mind. Since it was a conversation that both Kang Juha and I would eventually forget, there was nothing to hold back.

“Then about when do you think that thinking will be finished?”

Oh, he’s being quite persistent.

“About three months…?”

Yes, exactly three months. That should be enough time for this project to end.

In fact, even now, there was talk of viewing Kang Juha as having mostly recovered and returning him immediately to the field. I could instinctively tell that day was not far off.

As for what Kang Juha experienced in Sonora… it seemed they were trying to bury it without anyone knowing, rather than forcing him to remember by stimulating his trauma.

“I’ve waited nearly ten years, so three months is easy.”

“Ten years…? What have you been waiting for for ten years?”

“For my lover.”

“Ah.”

I shouldn’t have asked. Right, ten years… Kang Juha, who had been searching for a lover for ten years.

I’ve learned many unexpected sides of Kang Juha today. Seeing how serious he is about romance, I thought it’s typical of his age group, yet I also thought he had more romantic aspects than expected.

On the other hand, from my position as an already worn-out and exhausted member of society who finds it taxing enough to look after my own body… I thought, his energy sure is great. I suppose that’s what they call youth.

My youth? My youth was given to the dogs long ago. Youth is something enjoyed by people with leisure. For people living day-to-day struggling to get by, it was a luxury.

As usual, Kang Juha was training, and I was analyzing that training. Beside me sat the Alpha Team recruits I’d grown quite familiar with, Ko Sunghyun and Kim Minjae.

They seemed to admire Kang Juha quite a bit when we talked briefly before. Kim Minjae, as if his sole purpose for remaining in the training room was to watch Kang Juha, showed no intention of leaving the front of the monitor.

In contrast, Ko Sunghyun sat next to me with a disinterested look, as if he had only followed along purely because of Kim Minjae. From time to time, however, he did ask about things regarding the center. What I could answer was limited, but I informed him as faithfully as possible about what I knew.

Well, Ko Sunghyun wasn’t trying to dig for any grand classified information either. They were questions typical of a student who had just graduated from the academy.

Things like, “Do you know the name of the cat that lives near the Guiding Bureau?” or “I tried the tteokbokki at the cafeteria and it was really tasteless. Are there any other tasteless menu items? I should make sure never to order them.”

And the question he asked me today was.

“I heard a funny rumor when I went to the Guiding Bureau.”

“A funny rumor?”

“Yes. It was a rumor related to Team Leader Seong Yihyeon.”

“…A rumor about me?”

“They say you’re so popular among the guides, and there’s a group of people who want to become Team Leader Seong Yihyeon’s ex-wife… mmmph!”

I hurriedly muffled his mouth. I simply couldn’t allow my two ears to hear that story a second time.

No, insane. Where on earth did he hear that, exactly?

“The one who said that, by any chance, was it Guide Yu Seonjae?”

Ko Sunghyun, whose mouth was muffled by my hand, slowly nodded. Upon seeing that reaction, I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a long sigh. Then, I added through gritted teeth.

“That guy’s specialty is originally talking nonsense. It’ll be troublesome if you believe it seriously.”

Mumble mumble, Ko Sunghyun, acting like someone with something to say, pulled my hand down.

“But they said it’s not nonsense, it’s real. They even have a regular meeting this weekend. They even made me play spy to find out Team Leader’s ideal type.”

“…”

“So that’s why I’m asking, what is your ideal type?”

Ah, I feel like I’m truly going to lose my mind.

“…Do you think I’m going to answer you?”

“I’m just doing as I was told.”

There was so much mischief in the face that said so that it lacked credibility.

“It’s inevitable for everyone to have a screw or 두 loose when living isolated inside the center. We have to be understanding.”

“I know. Look at him right now. One screw is completely gone. He’ll be drooling soon.”

As I moved my gaze toward where the tip of Ko Sunghyun’s chin was pointing, Kim Minjae was watching Kang Juha’s battle with his mouth hanging open. Kang Juha, as always, looked more than vigorous—he looked like he was flying.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that a screw was also currently falling out of Kang Juha recently. That he was trying so hard to become the lover of me, a fellow Esper—isn’t that perhaps Kang Juha’s secret that I must take to my grave even if I end up forgetting it?

Buzz, buzz.

Just then, my phone and watch began to vibrate simultaneously. It was a call from within the center. Because of the nature of my work, it was rare for a call to come in this way, so I felt unnecessarily nervous.

Checking the screen, the words “Director’s Office, National Security Agency” were written.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

“Have a good one, sir.”

The waiting room was quite soundproof, but just in case, I stepped out of the training center entirely before taking the call.