Reborn as an SSS-Rank Guide in the Sentinel Academy [BL]

Mika lounged across his bed in his private quarters at the Elite Academy, freshly bathed and comfortable, the late afternoon light slanting warm through his gauzy curtains, when Dan burst through his door without knocking, breathless and wide-eyed.

"Mika, you’re not going to believe this," Dan said, practically vibrating with excitement, chest heaving like he’d sprinted the entire way from the courier station. "the capital’s under attack. a full assault, zombies everywhere, multiple districts already overrun. they’re calling for every single Guide in the Empire to report immediately."

Mika sat up slowly, something sharp and pleased curling through his chest despite the horror of what Dan had just described. "every Guide," he repeated, testing the phrase like it tasted good in his mouth.

"every single one," Dan confirmed, already moving toward Mika’s wardrobe, pulling out travel clothes with frantic, hurried motions. "the mobilization order just came through the courier network. we’re supposed to leave within the hour, they’re organizing transport from the eastern gate—"

"not me," Mika said simply, closing his eyes and settling back against his pillows.

Dan paused mid-motion, confusion crossing his face, a shirt still dangling forgotten from his hand. "what?"

"I’m going to sleep," Mika said, voice perfectly calm, stretching his arms above his head with lazy, deliberate unconcern.

"Mika, the capital is under attack," Dan said slowly, like he suspected he might have misheard something. "people are dying. right now. while we’re standing here having this conversation."

"and I’m not wasting my guiding energy patching up Sentinels who’ve never once bothered to properly thank me for my service," Mika said, opening one eye to fix Dan with a flat, unbothered stare. "I was dismissed from the Guide corps, remember? publicly. humiliatingly. in front of the entire war room. that order doesn’t apply to someone who isn’t technically part of it anymore."

"that’s— I don’t think that’s actually how it works," Dan said, still holding the shirt, clearly struggling to reconcile the scale of the crisis with Mika’s utter lack of reaction to it. "this isn’t a formal duty roster, Mika. this is every available Guide in the entire Empire. they need everyone they can get. the announcement didn’t say ’everyone currently employed.’ it said everyone."

"they needed everyone weeks ago too," Mika said, something cold slipping through his careful calm now, sitting up properly for the first time since Dan had burst in. "I trained for years, Dan. years, while half the students in that academy barely bothered learning the basics. I earned my place. and the second some F-Class nobody showed up with his convenient overnight rank, every scrap of respect I’d built vanished overnight, and nobody so much as blinked. nobody defended me. nobody said a word."

"I know," Dan said carefully, "and that was unfair, I agreed with you at the time, I still think it was unfair. but Mika, this isn’t about fairness right now. this is a capital full of people who have absolutely nothing to do with any of that."

"they’re not my problem," Mika said, waving a hand dismissively, the gesture careless and final. "I don’t owe this Empire anything anymore. it made that abundantly clear when it threw me aside without a second thought."

"children, Mika," Dan pressed, voice rising now, frustration cracking through his usual deference. "shopkeepers. old women who’ve never held a weapon in their life. people who never once looked at you sideways, who have no idea any of this politics even exists. are they your enemy too now?"

Mika’s jaw tightened slightly at that, something flickering behind his composed expression before he smoothed it back over. "they’re not my enemy," he said. "they’re simply not my responsibility. I’m not the only Guide in this Empire. let the ones who still hold their precious titles handle it. let the Emperor’s precious favorite handle it, wherever he’s hiding these days."

"you should stay," he added, softer now, almost coaxing, patting the empty space on his bed beside him. "we both should. what’s the point of running toward danger for people who’d let both of us die without a second thought if the situation were reversed? think about it properly, Dan. when has this Empire ever shown either of us real gratitude for anything we’ve given it?"

Dan hesitated, something uncomfortable warring visibly behind his eyes, torn between years of easy, comfortable friendship with Mika and the raw, undeniable urgency of what was actually happening beyond the academy’s walls. For one long, suspended moment, Mika actually thought he might succeed, might actually pull his friend down into the same comfortable, guiltless indifference he’d settled into himself, the shirt still hanging loose and forgotten in Dan’s hand as he visibly weighed the argument.

"maybe you’re right," Dan said slowly, uncertain, "maybe none of this is actually our responsibility anymore, maybe—"

Then he shook his head, sharp and sudden, something resolute cutting through the hesitation.

"no," he said, firmer now, dropping the shirt onto the floor entirely and turning toward the door instead. "no, I can’t. I’m sorry, Mika. I have to go."

"Dan—"

"I have to go," Dan said again, firmer this time, already backing toward the door, something resolute settling into his expression despite the obvious fear still trembling beneath it. "I don’t— I don’t think I can live with myself if I just stayed here while people are dying because I was scared, or bitter, or whatever this actually is. maybe you’re right that the Empire’s never shown us proper gratitude. maybe you’re right that none of this is fair. but there’s a difference between being angry about something and letting people burn because of it. I’m sorry. I really am. but I have to go."

He left without waiting for a response, footsteps hurrying fast and urgent down the corridor, growing fainter with every passing second, and Mika lay alone in his quarters, staring at the empty doorway for a long moment, something small and unfamiliar flickering behind his composed satisfaction.

He told himself it was nothing. He pulled his blankets higher despite the warm afternoon air, arranging himself back into the same comfortable, indifferent posture he’d held before Dan’s interruption, and closed his eyes deliberately, forcing his breathing slow and even.

The distant sound of alarm bells carried faint but insistent from beyond the Elite Academy’s walls, joined now by the low, muffled rumble of hurried footsteps and raised voices as the academy’s remaining Guides and Sentinels scrambled toward transport, the whole building shifting into urgent, coordinated motion around Mika’s stubbornly still quarters.

’let them go, then,’ Mika thought, though the thought carried less conviction now than it had a few minutes earlier. ’let them all scramble. let them see how it feels to actually need someone.’

He tried to summon back the sharp, satisfied pleasure he’d felt when Dan first delivered the news, the vindictive, petty triumph of imagining an Empire finally forced to reckon with everything it had taken for granted. But the feeling sat harder to hold onto now, thinner somehow, competing against the memory of Dan’s face — disappointed, resolute, walking away from him for the first time in years of easy, comfortable friendship.

He shoved the thought down hard, refusing to examine it further, and forced himself to focus instead on the soft, familiar comfort of his own bed, his own room, his own carefully cultivated indifference.

It took considerably longer than he expected to actually fall asleep, the alarm bells and distant, urgent shouting refusing to fully fade from his awareness no matter how deliberately he tried to ignore them, some small, unwelcome part of himself counting every fresh wave of noise from beyond his walls and wondering, despite everything, exactly how many of those distant voices belonged to people who deserved whatever fate found them tonight, and how many simply didn’t.

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