Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

This is troublesome.

Waking up, Iberis realized the situation he had worried about last night had occurred and bit his lip. His gaze, tinged with embarrassment, slowly turned towards the inside of the blanket. Confirming the bulge in his pajama pants, he let out a groan.

“Now that we’re a pair, even if temporary, let’s resume the mana shower.”

“Starting today?”

“Yes. Your physical damage rate has also gone down to a moderate level.”

Yesterday, Iberis, concerned about Lucas’s downcast mood, went to his office after finishing training.

“It’s a precarious level, so we’ll need to be careful… But since it’s come to this, we should raise it to 83% as quickly as possible so the committee can’t say a word.”

Having composed his emotions by then, Lucas enthusiastically laid out his plans. He seemed to have no intention of giving up on becoming an official pair with Iberis. If anything, the committee’s actions seemed to have strengthened his resolve.

Seeing Lucas like this, Iberis was enveloped in a strange sense of relief. He had worried that Lucas might give up everything, fed up with the checks from above. But contrary to Iberis’s concerns, Lucas chose to confront the leadership.

Iberis, who had unknowingly sighed in relief, soon felt perplexed. He was startled by his own joy at Lucas’s desire to become an official pair with him.

“Shall we head back early today?”

Unaware of Iberis’s confusion, Lucas suggested an early return. And as soon as they got back to the quarters, he pounced like a starved beast.

“Ah, no more. I can’t… hah!”

“Don’t exaggerate, you can take more.”

“N-no, I can’t. Ah, hnn, my body feels strange… I feel like I’m going to melt.”

“It’s a natural reaction. Huu, it’s okay.”

“Haa, stop, stop… Stop it. Haa, Luke.”

Embarrassed by the vivid memories flooding his mind, Iberis let out a silent scream. Always moaning and whimpering, intoxicated by Lucas’s incessant mana – as he always thought, he was utterly powerless when receiving a mana shower. He just couldn’t get used to that feeling.

After awakening as an esper, Iberis had always been in a position of strength. Except for his time as an inexperienced boy soldier and when he lost his special team, he had never felt at a loss in any situation. He was confident he could win against anyone.

But it was different when being guided by Lucas. In front of Lucas’s guidance, Iberis was thoroughly vulnerable. Lucas was the first to whom he had clung first, the first he had begged to stop.

Moreover, last night was really…

As the sensations from last night resurfaced, his toes curled involuntarily. Perhaps because it had been a while, yesterday’s mana shower was the most pleasurable so far.

Apart from the overwhelming ecstasy that was hard to endure, the sensation of his body warming up was incredibly blissful, as if proving that this was what Iberis had been craving for the past two weeks.

“Hnn, Luke, haa, more, give me more.”

“You said you didn’t want it earlier… Now you’re asking for more? Does it feel good?”

“Y-yes, it’s hard, but… huu… it feels good.”

So later on, he completely lost himself and clung to Lucas. He wanted to keep feeling his mana.

“Major.”

When Lucas called him in that husky voice, a tingling sensation ran down his spine, making his waist feel numb. When he felt breathless from Lucas holding him tighter and more roughly than usual, a strange sense of fullness welled up in his chest.

Is this what sex feels like?

Iberis gnawed on his lower lip while glancing at the soundly sleeping Lucas. They weren’t undressing, nor were they kissing or caressing. Yet just from the mana shower, it felt as if he was physically intertwining with Lucas. Though he had never had intercourse with anyone, he imagined it might be similar to this.

Did other espers feel similar sensations? At this sudden thought, a dark shadow fell over his silver-gray eyes.

“Over the past few years, I’ve met many people like you, Major. And all of them showed noticeable improvement after receiving my guidance.”

“I experienced mana depletion a couple of times shortly after awakening as a guide, but once I got used to using my ability, it never happened again. All the espers I’ve met so far were satisfied with level 1 guidance.”

Lucas had stated that he only performed level 1 guidance until meeting Iberis. He even made excuses about being a premarital purist, so there was no way he was lying. He also said Iberis was the first one he performed a mana shower on, which falls under level 1.5 guidance.

But even with just level 1 guidance, Iberis had tasted a new world. The feeling of being immersed in warm water, wrapped in a cozy blanket, or his frozen body slowly thawing under gentle spring sunlight…

He wondered if other espers had felt this indescribable bliss too, and the thought made him feel inexplicably queasy.

Is this what obsession towards a guide feels like?

Iberis frowned as he realized he was jealous of the espers Lucas had guided. He found it ridiculous that he was envying people whose faces and names he didn’t even know.

The aftereffects of using their abilities are an inseparable pain for espers. Only a guide’s guidance can alleviate the suffering that can’t be resolved with medicine.

But finding a guide with both good compatibility and matching rate was like finding a needle in a desert. That’s why espers often became abnormally obsessed with guides who matched them well. It was also the reason for frequent romantic incidents among ability users.

Iberis had caught several espers who caused incidents due to excessive obsession with their guides during his time in the special team. Back then, their behavior seemed strange to him, but now he finally understood. He felt a sense of crisis, wondering if he might become like those espers.

“Huu…”

Iberis, feeling troubled, let out a small sigh. He was caught in contradictory emotions, wanting Lucas to leave him alone while also hoping for his continued interference. He couldn’t pinpoint when he had started feeling this way.

Could this be why his body had changed too?

Iberis glanced down at his lower body, which showed no signs of calming down, and sighed again. He never dreamed he’d be worrying about something like this in his life.

For good reason – for Iberis, whose body was cold 24/7, morning arousal was a distant concept. It was only possible when heat gathered in the lower body, but he always woke up shivering from cold. Given this situation, he had never been troubled by morning erections.

However, things changed after sleeping with Lucas every night. Perhaps due to natural guiding during sleep, Iberis no longer felt the chill when waking up like before. As his body warmed up, changes occurred.

Iberis first noticed the change in his body the day after receiving a mana shower from Lucas. He was very flustered by this first-time experience.

But there was no immediate solution. Having rarely experienced his body heating up, he had no experience with self-pleasure. He knew intellectually what to do, but his body wouldn’t move.

Moreover, with Lucas sleeping right in front of him, he couldn’t even consider it. He might wake Lucas if he tried to get up to go to the bathroom. In the end, Iberis had no choice but to silently wait for it to subside on its own.

Fortunately, the situation resolved itself naturally after a few minutes. He thought that was the end of it, but it happened several more times afterward. As a result, Iberis had to face an awkward morning every few days.

“Why do you keep sighing from early in the morning?”

“…! You’re, you’re awake?”

Iberis, who had been groaning while hoping for his lower body to calm down quickly, suddenly looked up at the voice coming from above his head. Golden eyes, showing no trace of sleep, were looking at him. When had he woken up?

“Good morning.”

“Mm, good morning…”

Iberis greeted back while slowly inching his waist backward. He had tried to suppress his excitement before Lucas woke up, but he had failed.

“Why are you pulling away?”

“I’m not doing anything- Ah!”

Lucas slightly furrowed his brow, seemingly displeased with Iberis trying to distance himself. Then he wrapped his arm around Iberis’s waist and pulled him closer. This caused their lower bodies to press together.

“Hm? Is this why you were acting that way?”

Lucas narrowed his eyes at the strange heat he felt through their connected lower bodies.

“No, this is, well…”

Suddenly embraced by Lucas, Iberis stuttered, not knowing what to do. He tried to create distance again, but it was impossible due to the arm firmly holding his waist.

“It’s alright, all men are like this.”

“What do you mean- Ungh!”

Lucas spoke nonchalantly as if it were no big deal and pressed his body tightly against Iberis. Silver-gray eyes widened at the feeling of the heavy flesh pressing against his lower body. Realizing that Lucas was in a similar state, Iberis’s waist tensed up.

“I’m saying there’s no need to be embarrassed about a natural phenomenon. It’s a sign that your body is getting better.”

“W-wait, haa, don’t press like that…!”

Iberis cried out almost like a scream when Lucas’s thigh, wedged between his legs, pressed firmly against his slightly swollen lower region. It was maddening to be so openly stimulated when he should be trying to calm down.