Chapter 15: Do Not Treat the Counselor as a Shared Resource

That day was my long-awaited day off from the guild. My HP and MP, completely whittled away by the sleep management, the sleepover, and the offensive and defensive battle over that thick contract these past few days, had already entered the red zone. I absolutely will not think about work today. Once I finish buying daily necessities and groceries, I’m going to sleep like a log in my room. Firmly resolved on this, I made my way to the town’s market (marché).

The bustling air of the market was completely unrelated to the blood-soaked stench of the guild, and it was very peaceful. …It was peaceful, anyway.

“Good morning, Nagi.”

“Good morning, Nagi!”

A voice as cool as ice from the right, and a bouncing, energetic voice from the left struck my eardrums in perfect stereo. When I turned around, Fran, clad in her dark blue robe, and Lise, wearing easy-to-move-in casual clothes, were standing there as if sandwiching me. For some reason, the two of them were violently scattering sparks with their gazes.

“…Why are you here? I’m off duty today.”

“It’s a coincidence.”

Fran replied immediately with a composed face.

“Measuring your behavioral patterns and fatigue levels on your days off will serve as beneficial data for my future rest management.”

“It’s not a coincidence for me!”

Lise puffed out her chest.

“I’m the guild’s exclusive solo, right! Guarding Nagi on his day off is a fine job too!”

“Both of you, isn’t that what you’d call a stalker…”

My retort was drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the market and the intense heat between the two of them.

Once the shopping began, the situation turned into hell.

In front of the butcher’s shop.

“Nagi, that meat is too high in fat. Considering the burden on your digestive organs, you should choose this lean meat here.”

“Eeeh! When you’re tired, you need meat! Nagi, buy this huge meat on the bone and let’s eat it together!”

In front of the greengrocer’s shop.

“The nutrients in these vegetables are precisely what is indispensable for your recovery.”

“This fruit over here looks super sweet! I’ll feed it to you, say ahh!”

My right arm was pulled by Fran, and my left arm was tugged by Lise. Neither of them meant any harm. They were each acting out of goodwill, thinking “for Nagi’s health” and “to make Nagi happy.” However, the pressure of that goodwill was too strong, and above all, because the two of them were constantly keeping each other in check right behind me, I didn’t have a single second of rest.

(…I’m suffocating.)

Suddenly. Exposed to the crowd, the sunlight, and the incessant voices from both sides, my field of vision swayed dizzily.

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

An auditory hallucination echoed in the back of my mind.

The emergency calls from the consultation agency that wouldn’t stop ringing even on my days off in my previous life. The ringtone from clients who had crossed the boundary of professional distance and grown dependent on me.

The heavy pressure of being clung to day and night with cries of, “Doctor, help me,” and “You’re the only one I have.” The sensation of “compassion fatigue” — that wearing away of my own heart in the chasm between the sense of responsibility to support their minds, and the helplessness of knowing I could never fully carry the burden of another person’s life.

The trauma of those days where, unable to rest and with nowhere to run, my heart made an unpleasant sound and went cold.

“Nagi…?”

“Hey, your complexion is…!”

I nearly dropped the paper bags I was holding. The strength left my knees and my posture collapsed with a jerk.

“Nagi! Pull yourself together!”

“His breathing is shallow! His pulse too… it’s a sign of overwork!”

Instantly, hands from both my left and right strongly supported me, preventing me from falling. However, the two of them sensed my abnormality and immediately launched into a fierce argument right over my head.

“This is because you brought out that weird contract and won’t let Nagi rest!”

“You’re the one who lacks the self-awareness that you’re wearing down his mind by following him around all day!”

“I’m Nagi’s guard! You’re just full of nothing but logic!”

“That is a fact. Your emotional noise is becoming a burden on him!”

Stop it. Please, don’t argue over my head.

I forcibly roused my fading consciousness and took a deep breath. Then, I gently shook off their arms and stood up under my own power.

“…Stop!!”

When I raised my voice, Lise and Fran’s shoulders jumped with a start, and they fell completely silent.

“Both of you, listen closely.”

While steadying my ragged breathing, I looked straight at the two of them in turn.

“This is not the consultation desk. And it’s not the venue for a group session, either!”

“…”

“I am not your ‘exclusive’ property, nor am I a ‘shared resource’ you can use whenever you please. …I am just a single human being! My days off belong to me!”

A corner of the market fell dead silent. Faced with genuine anger from me — someone who normally never raised their voice — the two of them were completely cowed.

Lise dropped her shoulders like a dog drooping its ears and looked up at me timidly.

“I’m sorry… I was becoming a burden on you, Nagi… I don’t want you to collapse…”

Fran, too, let the hand gripping her staff tremble slightly and lowered her eyes.

“…I can’t deny it. My obsession with managing you was, as a result, on the verge of destroying the system known as you. It was a highly irrational and foolish mistake. …I am sorry.”

It seemed both of them absolutely wanted to avoid breaking me, at the very least. That fundamental kindness was my only salvation right now.

“…As long as you understand, that’s fine. I’m going home to sleep today, so the two of you, please disperse.”

As I sighed and picked up the dropped paper bags, the two of them nodded apologetically.

“Yes. We should disperse for today.”

Fran looked back at Lise with a serious face.

“Stray dog. If we throw our demands at him disjointedly and fight over his time, he will definitely break.”

“…Yeah. If Nagi disappears, I won’t be able to live.”

“Then, it’s a temporary truce.”

Fran spoke with a solemn face, as if she were signing a border treaty.

“After absolutely securing his recovery time, we need to establish a non-aggression clause that allocates our ‘interview rights’ and ‘contact time’… no, we need to form the ‘Nagi Operations Accord’.”

“…Just this once, I’ll make an exception and agree. Because if Nagi collapses, I’ll be the one in the most trouble.”

The two of them nodded deeply to each other.

…Eh? Wait a minute.

“Um, you two?”

“Tomorrow, I’ll bring the first edition of the accord to the guild. Compile your opinions as well, stray dog.”

“Bring it on, you logic machine!”

“No, I told you not to carve me up like a pie…”

Unheeding of my attempts to stop them, the two of them dispersed while generating a solidarity from completely out of left field: “How to peacefully monopolize him within the bounds of not breaking him.”

Pressing hard against the area around my stomach, I headed home alone. It felt like things had shifted in the most troublesome direction possible as a result.

(I don’t want to go to the guild tomorrow…)

My day off was about to end, leaving behind nothing but a profound sense of fatigue.