[ Ratha Guild – Guide Wing, Office 310, Floor 3 ]
Sera stirred honey into her tea, watching thin amber swirls dissolve slowly into the steaming liquid.
Her office was quiet this early in the morning. Soft sunlight spilled through the wide window, illuminating the tidy rows of documents stacked across her desk.
Formation week – the week before the raid, when every raid member practiced field exercises together – had finally arrived, and every guide in the guild was preparing for the same thing.
Extra mana stabilizers. Emergency supplements. Spare uniforms. Cleaning supplies. And, inevitably, fresh sheets and condoms.
Formation week meant one thing for guides – a surge. Espers who had been perfectly content with their weekly slots suddenly wanted more, driven by equal parts practical mana management and the particular recklessness of people who had started thinking seriously about their own mortality. Sera preferred to have everything organized ahead of time. The cleaner her schedule, the easier the week would be to manage.
And more importantly, the easier it would be to feed.
A small, pleased smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
If she were less dignified, she might have thrown her arms into the air and shouted in delight. Finally! A proper week of guiding sessions. A proper week of meals. Sera could have jumped for literal joy.
In a strange twist of luck, Arlen had been an opportunity in disguise. She lifted the teacup and took a quiet sip, leaning back against the sofa. The S-rank session had kept her just barely functional – a sliver of real food at the end of a very long fast, just enough to make it to this. She was not going to waste it by being unprepared.
Her thoughts drifted back to the encounter.
Initially, she had planned to play dumb and simply let him peek at her vessel. It would have been easier that way – let the curious S-ranker satisfy himself and leave thinking he had discovered something clever. But his slyness had irritated her. The way Arlen's mana tendrils had slipped through her core, rummaging and prodding like a child rummaging through a candy store, had been deeply rude. Did these pre-Filter humans have no manners? Her Instructor would have had something to say about that.
Moreover, her hunger had already made her patience thin. Here she was, barely getting a morsel from him, and he was interrupting her meal to poke through her metaphorical underwear drawer. So she decided to teach him a lesson.
It had been a gamble. When she pushed her own tendril into his vessel she had no guarantee she would find anything useful. She was simply hoping for a weakness – some flaw hidden in the structure of his mind.
And then she found it.
Arlen Cunning's arrogance came from pride, and that pride was rooted in his mastery of mana.
So she took a piece of it. Not much.
Just enough to sting.
She wrested his control – the quiet familiarity that came from years of practice. A fragment of muscle memory, enough to leave his power slightly off balance. Sera had only meant to give it a tug. Just enough to make him realize how easily she could uncover all his little secrets and tiny perversions.
But then she looked at the memory. And for some reason, it looked appealing. Like she could eat it.
At that moment, her Instructor's lecture about not eating inappropriate things surfaced with chilling clarity. But as if she couldn't heed him at all, she tugged harder and stole the fragment, slithering her tendril back with its prize before finally digesting and swallowing it into her own core with fervor.
She had not expected it to be that satisfying. It was delicious. Why had her Instructor tried to forbid this? It wasn't as if she had crippled Arlen. She had only taken a sliver – barely enough to inconvenience him for a week or so. The memory would settle eventually, his instincts rebuilding themselves through practice. Nothing permanent had been lost.
And yet.
Don't eat things that aren't good for you, Seraphil.
Her Instructor had never been careless with his warnings. If he said something was dangerous, there had usually been a reason. Sera frowned faintly, rolling the thought over in her mind.
Perhaps her Instructor had simply been overly cautious. Or perhaps he simply enjoyed bullying her with rules. After all, she hadn't devoured the entire thing. Hardly enough to cause real harm.
The Instructor had always been merciless about rules, pouncing on the slightest excuse to scold her. Sera flushed. Perverted. Old. Man.
Still, a faint uneasiness lingered beneath her justifications, like a splinter beneath the skin. Sera stretched lazily, pushing the thought aside. No use thinking about it – it's time for formation anyways, she thought, glancing at the clock.
She tidied the tea set and quickly changed into her workout clothes, finishing off her ponytail before reaching for her duffel bag. She slipped on her combat sneakers, opened the sliding door, and walked straight into something solid.
Or rather – someone.
Her forehead bumped lightly into a warm chest, the soft thud stopping her mid-step.
Sera blinked, tilting her head up.
Simon stared down at her, equally frozen, his bright green eyes wide with surprise. The light spilling from her office caught in his hair, turning the blond strands warm and bright. His training jacket was slung over one shoulder as if he had rushed out the door. His hair was slightly messy.
"Oh–!" they both exclaimed at the same time.
Sera took a quick step back, one hand instinctively flying to her forehead.
"I–sorry," she said automatically.
Simon straightened abruptly. A flush crept up to the tips of his ears. "I should be the one apologizing," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't expect you to open the door so suddenly."
Sera looked at him for a moment.
"Anyways, good morning," he said.
"S–good morning," Sera replied, tilting her head slightly. What is he doing here?
He shifted his weight awkwardly.
"I…was wondering if you wanted to walk to the field together for formation training."
"Yeah. That sounds good. But how did you know I was here? Aren't the guiding offices out of the way?"
Simon rubbed the back of his neck again, ears faintly pink. "I just…took a guess. It wasn't really out of the way – I just happened to be in the area."
He knew guides tended to arrive early during formation week – the scheduling alone required it, multiple sessions to organize before the week even started. So Simon had taken a guess that Sera might already be here.
In truth, he hadn't come just to walk her to formation training.
The week before a gate had its own particular logic. Pollution levels needed to stay low before extended combat exposure, which meant more guiding sessions, which meant guides and espers spending more time in proximity than usual. The guild relaxed its restrictions accordingly. It was standard protocol. Practical. There were perfectly rational reasons to request extra sessions from guides this week that had nothing to do with anything else.
Simon had several of those reasons prepared.
He was aware that his sync rate with Sera was not particularly high – that other guides could cleanse him more efficiently – the practical case for requesting extra sessions from her specifically was not especially strong. He had not examined this discrepancy too closely.
The days leading up to a raid had a way of clarifying things people had been comfortable leaving vague. The danger made the usual careful distances feel arbitrary – not dramatic, not sudden, just quietly insufficient. Espers who had never thought twice about their guides suddenly remembered how good a session felt. Guides who maintained careful professional masks let them slip, just slightly, under the particular pressure of knowing that some percentage of the people around them would not come back.
Simon's ears were already pink.
He had spent two days deciding how to ask. An instant message felt wrong – too casual, and he was already nervous enough texting her about scheduling. Her dorm would have been too forward. Her office, early, before the day got away from them – that felt like the right balance of deliberate and accidental.
He was relieved that his guess had been right.
They stepped out into the hallway together. The guild corridors were quiet – a few distant footsteps echoed from somewhere deeper in the building. For a moment they walked in comfortable silence.
Simon glanced at Sera from the corner of his eye.
She walked with easy confidence, her duffel bag slung over one shoulder, her ponytail swaying lightly. She looked relaxed this morning. Like she had heard good news.
His ears warmed slightly. After a few seconds he cleared his throat.
"Actually…" Simon began, his voice a little more hesitant. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to guide me a little extra this week."
He continued quickly before she could respond. "During formation training. Since the guild relaxes restrictions this week." He rubbed the back of his neck again, looking faintly embarrassed. "I thought it might help keep my mind stable. During the field exercises."
Simon stared determinedly at the hallway floor as he spoke, as if the tiles were suddenly extremely interesting. Sera watched him quietly.
Ah. She understood immediately.
It wasn't the words themselves – those were perfectly reasonable. Extra guiding during formation week was common enough. But Simon wasn't very good at hiding his emotions – the flush on his ears, the way he avoided eye contact, the careful overly-logical explanation. She had seen it many times before.
How cute, she thought. In the way that a meal could be cute.
Succubi were extremely sensitive to desire, and Simon's feelings were about as subtle as a candle in a dark room. Warm, nervous, earnest. How appetizing.
She tilted her head slightly as she studied him. Simon probably didn't even realize how obvious he was. From Simon's perspective, however, the moment was growing steadily more uncomfortable. Sera's expression hadn't changed at all – the same calm, unreadable gaze guides wore during sessions. The longer the silence stretched, the more he began to worry he had said something inappropriate. What would he do if she never wanted to guide him again?
Inside Sera's mind, however, the situation looked very different.
Formation week had arrived. Buffet week. And Simon had just politely offered himself for seconds.
How considerate of Simon to present himself so willingly.
Sera opened her mouth to answer–
"Ah–hey! Simon," a voice called out from down the hallway. "So you had the same idea too?"
Simon startled slightly and turned toward the sound.
"Yoru!"
Leaning casually against the wall a short distance away, Yoru watched him with an easy grin. Arms folded across his fitted t-shirt, long black hair in a loose ponytail down his back, grey eyes sharp with open amusement.
Simon knew him well enough.
Yoru's room was only a few doors down from his in the Esper dorms, and the two of them crossed paths often – late nights returning from training, early mornings heading to the cafeteria, or the occasional quiet hour in the combat halls when most of the guild was still asleep.
They weren't close, exactly, but Simon respected him. Yoru was his senior and far more experienced in dungeon combat. Simon had learned more than a few things just from watching him train – the way Yoru moved through fights like a shadow between lantern lights, silent, efficient, and fast. One moment he was nowhere, the next his blade had already kissed an opening, poison doing the rest.
Even now, Simon couldn't quite tell how long Yoru had been standing there. Which meant there was a good chance he had heard everything.
Simon's expression grew flustered.
"Uh–"
"Relax," Yoru said lazily, pushing himself off the wall. "I'm here for the same thing."
He rolled one shoulder as he approached, eyes flicking briefly between the two of them before settling on Sera.
"Formation week," he added. "Of course everyone's lining up for Guide Yun."
Simon's face turned red.
"I wasn't lining up."
Yoru smirked.
"Sure you weren't."
Then he looked back at Sera.
"So," he said casually, "you got any openings this week?"
"Plenty," Sera chirped brightly.
Inside, she was already tallying the situation with quiet satisfaction. Meal number two.
Yoru was one of her regulars – one Sera was very familiar with. Blunt, forward, and completely shameless about his habits. Unlike Simon, Yoru never bothered disguising his intentions behind polite excuses or careful reasoning. He had been the very first Esper she guided when she began her probationary rounds at Ratha. Back then, his candid nature had actually helped her adjust to the guild's culture far more quickly than she expected.
In fact, he had been the one who helped her establish her rules.
"You need boundaries, Sera," he had told her once, leaning against the balcony railing outside the banquet hall, cigarette in hand. "Otherwise, I'm going to push as much as possible. And trust me – other Espers will too."
At the time, Sera had taken that advice very seriously. Her succubus nature was naturally alluring, and while that made acquiring meals easier, she had little patience for unruly food. It was far better to establish limits early before a pushy meal started testing her patience.
Sera tilted her head slightly now as she considered him. "Though," she added lightly, "since you're B-rank, the cleanse rate won't be particularly effective."
Yoru shrugged immediately, completely unconcerned. "Yeah, of course." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "You know I'm not here for the purification," he said, winking at her.
Sera gave him a knowing look. "You're never here for the purification."
Yoru grinned. "See? This is why we get along."
Beside them, Simon's ears turned a deeper shade of red.
Everyone in the guild understood what guiding sessions involved. Espers joked about it in the locker rooms and rumors circulated through the dorms about which guides were particularly skilled. But it was rarely spoken about directly – usually hidden behind a layer of polite distance.
Yoru did not believe in that distance.
The casual way he said it – right there in the hallway to Simon's crush, as if they were discussing the weather – made Simon wish the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
Yoru continued, entirely at ease. "If we're about to walk into a gate where one of us will definitely die…" he shrugged, "I might as well get hot and heavy with some pretty guides before potentially kicking the bucket."
Simon looked like he might combust. Sera, meanwhile, didn't look bothered in the slightest.
"Alright," she said easily. "I'll set you for your usual slot and then you can send me your preferred times for the extra ones."
Then she turned back toward Simon. "And Simon," she added cheerfully, "I'll set you with your usual slot too. Multiple sessions are fine this week. Request as much as you want."
Simon blinked. For a moment, he looked completely stunned, then his ears turned red all over again.