Chapter 125 - 121. Trace of Absence
Zein had never thought how much Bassena took up his daily time until now.
With guiding, playing, strolling around, or even just conversing. Now that the esper wasn’t here, he found himself having a lot of free time. There was one less esper to guide, one less texting and conversing partner, and one less invitation to go on a drive or visit a candy shop.
It was almost boring.
Or at least it was at first. Until the management pulled up the real plan to publish the textbook Zein gave to the other guide in strike division. So now his free time was filled with editing the content with a team from management and Alice.
He also used his time to peruse the proposal from the old man’s daughter, Aida, and sent it back for some revision. The rest he used to train his physique and locked himself in the advanced simulation chamber.
And watching TV.
Or rather, he just let the TV run in the background and only looked at it when Bassena’s commercials were airing. He was quite disgusted at the charming and cool persona at first, but get used to it after a while.
At the end of the third week after he got back from the Capital--the third week after Bassena entered the tower--he was scheduled to go with the [Hagalaz] squad, the one spearheaded by Ashur Iddina. It would be the second last trial run for the division--the last being the [Anzus] belonged to Bassena.
This time, Zein brought the other A-class guide beside Nadine--a quiet man a year younger than him called Dean--and Brisk, the chubby B-class that lived in the dorm too. It would be the two’s first experience, but since they had been receiving training that much longer, Zein didn’t really worry about them.
"Am I late?" when Zein opened the conference room, he could see the room already filled with all the squad members, the surveyor, and the two guides. He glanced at the clock to make sure, but it was still five minutes before the scheduled time.
Ashur, who was standing at the head of the table, and was nearest the door that Zein used, paused for a bit. The esper blinked repeatedly for a few seconds while Zein was staying at the entrance waiting for a reply, before coughing.