Now you have this information! Whatever shall you do with it?

What a silly question, Haru-san

I'm going to extract those noises from you more often

I'm looking forward to it ;)

logistics though......

Do-in hasn't, in fact, broken their partnership off, but even if he had Jaeha would not bring it up right now. It would not do for Haru to think he had been the one to cause this breakup; being with Haru might have sped it up but not by more than a couple of weeks, it was a foregone conclusion.

Does Yamanaka-san sync assignments up with you?

We sometimes even run dungeons together, for certain values of "together", but usually it's our boss who does the syncing on our behalf, for her sake.

...forgive me if this is inappropriate to say but I don't love the vibe I'm picking up on of you being used mostly for her benefit

It's not inappropriate to say but I mostly think of it as being for the benefit of whoever she saves in the dungeons! She's got a great power and she's sucking up a crippling backlash that she can't even clear quickly to use it instead of quitting espering to go back to being a performer. I wouldn't impugn her right to do that but as long as she feels moved to do dungeons and I can help, that's all to the good. It could stand to be more serendipitous but that's not her or the guild's fault.

Jaeha supposes he is selfish, huh. There's something that feels just... wrong about all of this. If nothing else it does feel like it's a little bit the guild's fault.

She used to be a performer?

, he asks rather than trying to get into it.

Yep. Awakened in the middle of being some idol's backup singer, on stage, that's why her backlash is not secret.

Oh

That sounds terrible

Especially to the kind of person who wants to perform, damn.

Right?? I think very highly of her for being active as an esper at all. I mean maybe I wouldn't be able to stand her if we ever had a conversation but based on what I know I think she's cool.

Do you guys not interact when she's not backlashed?

No. This is me guessing and not something she has said, she hasn't said anything, but I think a) it is more practical for her to not know me, so that if she does accidentally think about who's touching her feet she will run out of things to think about that faster, and b) probably just like when I'm not backlashed I have to cram in all the alone time I don't otherwise let myself have, she probably has socialization she wants to do with, like, her family and friends who she already knows. I could make a fuss about it and insist on hanging out with her sometime, but it seems like the upside potential is not amazing and the downside potential pretty bad.

I suppose that makes sense

Quick, time to acquire a new topic to talk about.

Ahh.

My guild would probably be happy to poach you if you want to ?piss off your father? But pitch me on Juno ofc if they're cool.

I've been with Juno since I manifested and don't really know what other guilds are like, honestly

They're all the same, I think

Well, I've heard people say that Quasar is special, but it's where Lee Tae-gun is, so of course they'd say it

I talked Park Yoo-min's ear off on the phone one time, he's nice and he's Quasar. Cricket even liked him!

Right, you mentioned

He must really be something special for Cricket to like him, I think I'm jealous

Technically Cricket hasn't expressed any problems with you besides the smoking one and you could quit!

Do you think you're self-medicating? Nicotine's available in a lot of forms and in itself is not the dangerous part.

I suppose you could call it self-medicating

I don't smoke regularly

Only to calm my nerves

Wait shit is he coming off as nervous or anxious. He is not nervous or anxious! But if he tries to clarify that he will definitely come off that way so he'll just leave it as it is.

Aah.

Try gum or something then. Or live with Cricket thinking you smell, it doesn't bother me particularly.

Perhaps Cricket will be the push I need to quit

It would be flattering to be one of a very small number of people your cat likes

I certainly find it so

So should I ask my guild to make you an offer?

My current partner's with Juno

But I have to say I am sorely tempted

This gives him such a good opening for when Do-in breaks it off, actually, that's great.

You can tell Juno to make me an offer too, we can make 'em fight