The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 197: Coming Clear

"Whew! That was delicious!" Lane leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stomach with delight. The breakfast made by Damien tasted even better than it looked, and after all the time spent in the Allen family’s mansion, where he hardly had any appetite, it was exactly what he needed to recover (or, well, at least a part of it). Now that he was refreshed and his stomach was full...

"Should we go for another round?" he flashed Damien a charming smile.

But, unfortunately (at least according to Lane, who still wanted nothing more but to drag things out and dodge ’the talk’), Damien wouldn’t be so easily swayed.

"Don’t you have anything to say to me?" he furrowed his brows.

"Um..." Lane scratched his chin. "Thank you for the meal?"

"Not that."

"Thank you for lending me clothes?"

"Not that."

"Thank you for letting me shower?"

"..."

"...Thank you for the steamy night?"

"Lane."

"Ugh." Lane slumped down in his chair. He remained silent for a moment, trying to organize his messy thoughts a bit and decide where to start, until eventually, he said, "First of all, I didn’t want to make you wait so long... I wanted to come see you immediately after the dungeon break, I really did! It was just that, I was caught by the Allens as I was leaving the scene, and they took me to the family mansion, and locked me in there without my consent... So, you see, there was nothing I could do... Well, I mean..."

"You were going to come see me?" Damien asked, interrupting Lane’s mumbling. "As Lane Allen... Or someone else?"

"Uh, well, that is..." Lane bit on his lip, playing with the hem of his shirt as his thoughts were running frantically, trying to come up with a good response. Should he just lie? It’s not like Damien could read his mind, so he would never really know...

In the end though, he decided to be honest. He was supposed to come clean now, after all.

"At first, I was planning to just leave my real body somewhere safe, and just repossess Oscar," he admitted. "It was only after a few hours, when I knew that he must have woken up, and you probably knew the truth already... That I decided it was time to tell you the truth, and meet you as my real self."

It was a bit more complicated than that, but there was no point explaining his whole thought process to Damien. It would probably do more damage than good.

Damien remained silent for a long while, before he finally nodded his head. "Okay."

Just this. Perfectly calm and collected.

...Honestly, Lane would prefer if Damien got angry at him. Screamed, accused, argued. It would have been easier to take than this quiet acceptance.

They sat in silence for what felt like forever, neither daring to look at the other. Until Damien spoke again.

"So, about your parents... The Allens. How much do they know?" he asked, his voice slow and hesitant, unsure how to tackle the obviously very touchy subject.

But Lane wasn’t as reserved as Damien thought. The only reason why he avoided talking about it was because he had to keep his identity a secret, from Damien and everyone. Now that Damien already knew, it was no longer an issue, and he was more than glad to rant about them!

"They don’t know anything!" he let out a mirthless chuckle. "You know my file at the Association? Yeah, they think that’s who I am! A useless F-ranker with no ability!"

"...You’re not useless."

"Well, yeah, but they don’t know that!"

"That’s not what I mean," Damien shook his head. "Even if you were an F-ranker, that wouldn’t make you useless."

"A-ah?" Lane fumbled on his words, getting more flustered all of a sudden. Well, even more flustered than he already had been. "W, well, that depends on the point of view, I guess! For the Allens though, that means I’m completely useless. I was useless as a kid, since I always got in trouble and didn’t study well, so I wasn’t suitable to show at the parties as the future heir, and I was useless even after my awakening, since with my low rank, I couldn’t contribute to the Guild and would only bring them more shame! So, yeah!"

Damien... had absolutely no idea how to react to that. He had already caught bits of pieces before, and had his own suspicions as to how Lane’s situation was... But he was still unprepared. What was he supposed to say? ’I’m sure you’re wrong.’ ’Your parents love you.’ ’Maybe you just misunderstood them.’

Of course not. While he didn’t know the Allens’ side of the story, just from the way how fervently denied Lane’s existence and his relation to them, it was obvious they did not care for the man. There wasn’t much there to misunderstand.

So what? ’I’m here for you. Everything is going to be okay’? Would such simple words even mean much in Lane’s circumstances?

Still, it didn’t feel right to remain quiet either, so Damien reached out his hand across the table. "Lane..."

Before he could say anything though, Lane forced out a laugh. "Well, it’s just, whatever! I’m fine, I don’t really care. I’m glad that I have nothing to do with them anymore as well! The only thing I want now, is for them to let me go, so that we can go our separate ways!"

At Lane’s words, Damien closed his mouth again, withdrawing his hand. While he had doubts Lane was as ’fine’ as he was claiming to be, pushing too far might not be the best idea.

And besides, regardless of what Lane’s situation was, Damien still had plenty of questions left that he needed answered. So, he waited until Lane calmed down a bit, and asked, "Why are you even doing it in the first place? Possessing people, spending so much time as someone else."

"Well..." Lane paused, averting his eyes. "It’s a long story," he just said dismissively. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

But even as the minutes passed by, Damien was still staring at him, waiting.

And under his serious gaze, Lane was slowly breaking. Until eventually, he couldn’t take it any longer. He got up from the chair, and threw himself on the bed with a sigh, paying no mind to how messy it was.

"Do you remember when the Gates first appeared?" he started, speaking slowly, as he carefully picked his words. "And some people tried entering them, and started awakening. Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard about it... But my parents were among the first. They sensed the potential. It was a risky investment, but they had enough money to spare. They recognized early on that such miracle abilities could benefit them in the future, Thus, they funded a few scout teams, sending them into the dungeons, armed with guns to defend themselves. And once they saw the effects, they went in themselves. Not venturing any deep, just stepping inside with a ton of guards, trying to spark the awakening. And it worked. My father awakened first, as a powerful fire user, and my mother followed soon after, awakening as a healer..."