CHAPTER 402: HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING?

Fifteen or so minutes later, they were both sitting by the kitchen table, with two steaming cups in front of them, a hot chocolate with marshmallows for Lane, and a black tea for Damien. Their master bedroom had been fully cleaned, all the used condoms thrown away, unused picked up and saved for later, all the rose petals vacuumed, and the floor washed. The duvet covers were soaking in the bathtub with the stain remover, while the mattress was out in the hallway, with the torn side facing the wall. There were no other apartments on their floor, so they didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing it (or, to be precise, DAMIEN didn’t have to worry, because Lane didn’t care either way).

Besides, even if someone were to see it - like the people picking it up to trash it, for example - it’s not like anyone would assume that the damage had been done during sex... It was either someone slashing it with a rather dull knife for a reason, or very rowdy cats with behavioral issues. Most humans wouldn’t be able to cause this level of damage by simply scratching the mattress while having sex. Only high-ranking Espers, like, for example, Lane, could.

Of course, even though cleaned, the master bedroom was still temporarily out of use. The bed lacked a mattress, after all. They couldn’t get one delivered so late on a Saturday evening, without booking it in advance, especially not a custom, top-quality mattress that Lane wanted (to which Damien naturally quietly complied). Thankfully, they had other bedrooms to choose from, so it wasn’t an issue...

It seemed that the joke that Lane had said in the past, that the other bedrooms were just spares to use in case there was... an issue with their main bed, had finally been realized.

They had more important things to discuss than the bed issues, though. Lane had been distracted by the cleaning earlier, but now that they were done...

"So," he started, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "Have you heard anything about the upcoming summit yet?"

Lane was just a Field Agent, not to mention one who had only been a member of the Association for a few months, so it was understandable that he wouldn’t be informed in advance. Even none of his spies had heard anything yet. But Damien was different. He hadn’t said anything about the summit to Lane, though, so it could either be that he didn’t know, or that he couldn’t tell him because it was confidential information... And if it was the latter, then perhaps Lane shouldn’t bring it up either. Then again, since Lane already knew, it was fine to discuss it, right?

Damien, however, shook his head in response. "No, I didn’t receive any briefing yet... But it’s possible that I will be made the head of the delegation again..." He paused, his frown deepening as he thought of something, but he didn’t say anything more. "Why do you ask?"

Lane observed him intently, trying to see through him. Damien mentioned the delegation without being asked about it. But Lane already knew there was going to be no delegation - they were going to be the hosts, after all. If Damien even thought about it, that would suggest that he was still unaware... And if he truly was hiding something from Lane because of confidentiality, he would just say that he couldn’t talk about it, shutting the topic down.

Still, Lane asked again, just to be sure, "Do you really not know where it’s going to be held?"

"No... Why? Did you hear anything from Mi... from Nyla?"

Lane went silent for a moment. Well, it kind of made sense. Damien was still just a Team Leader, relatively low in the ranks. The Association valued him a lot, since he was currently the only other S-rank member they had aside from Director Torres (and Lane, but Lane didn’t count, since he was registered as an A-ranker), and he was a diligent and hardworking Esper with a lot of potential... But that didn’t give him clearance to access the top confidential information.

Just because the Association wasn’t willing to inform Damien, though, that didn’t mean that Lane was going to be the same (at least not in this aspect... Since he still had a lot of secrets from Damien, and was going to keep it that way at least until he trapped the man in a marriage). He let out a sigh, and announced,

"The Capital."

"...What?"

"The upcoming International Awakened Summit is going to be held in the Capital in January."

Damien’s already serious expression grew even more serious. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Lane shrugged his shoulders. "Nyla said that the Allen Guild is going to be in charge of the security, so... I don’t think that the Association would start making such arrangements if it wasn’t confirmed, no?"

That was true. The Association didn’t like asking the Guilds for help. As a government organization, funded from taxes, it was rather embarrassing that they couldn’t even handle all of their duties themselves. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily the fault of the higher-ups, at least not entirely, since it was all caused by the lack of enough skilled personnel, which was caused by low salaries...

But Lane actually agreed with them on that part. That it was embarrassing, that is. He disliked the Association very much, after all, and sincerely believed that it was too messed up to be even worth reforming. It should be simply overthrown.

He wasn’t going to discuss his views with Damien, though, since his boyfriend was committed to the cause. He just hoped that he would understand everything once Lane revolutionized the world...

If he was still going to do that, that is. Because with his recent attitude towards the secret organization... Anything was possible.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed that Damien’s face was gradually growing more and more serious and worried. It was only when Damien suddenly asked, "How about you go on holiday and leave the Capital for the duration of the summit?" that Lane finally saw it.

And it almost made him freeze.

Yes, it was rather... inconvenient, but to escape the Capital just to avoid it? And from how Damien had asked the question, it seemed that Lane would have to go alone... Because of course he would. The Association wouldn’t let their upcoming ’star’ skip the international event!

Wait... Was it because of what had happened on the previous summit? When ’Xavier’ had died... Of course, Damien knew that the ’Xavier’ he had known had been Lane all along, and that Lane was still safe and sound... But still. The event must have been rather... upsetting to him, to put it nicely.

Lane couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. He had really caused this man a lot of distress, hadn’t he?

"Hahah, what are you so worried about?" he forced out a laugh, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "It’s good that it’s in our country. It’s on a different continent than country K, so that organization responsible for this year’s incident is unlikely to have any influence here!"

And they didn’t. Lane would know if they did. Of course, there was another secret organization here...

But that wasn’t mentioning, now was it?