Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Noah creating confusion for his future wife.
Classes had ended and students were beginning to leave the classrooms as the usual noise of high school filled the hallways.
Noah remained seated at his desk, lost in thought.
’Yume got her powers just a few days after starting high school.’
He remembered that part of the anime perfectly, it wasn’t an important scene for most viewers.
In fact, it didn’t even play out in full, and there were only a few later comments that allowed you to piece together what had happened, but Noah had watched the series too many times, so he knew those details.
’If she doesn’t receive her powers at the right moment, a lot of things could change.’
That was exactly what worried him, because he had already altered several events.
Two important encounters between Yume and Luna had gone wrong.
And both disasters had something in common, which was him.
’This can’t keep happening.’
He rubbed his forehead.
’I need at least this one to go right.’
Then his phone vibrated.
Noah looked down and saw the screen had lit up on its own.
"Huh?"
He hadn’t received any message, but an unknown app had just appeared.
The icon was shaped like a golden clover.
Noah opened the app, the screen went completely white, and a second later an image appeared, a glowing object.
It looked like a small key decorated with a heart at the top.
Noah narrowed his eyes.
Then the key appeared physically on top of his desk.
"What the hell?!"
Noah nearly jumped out of his chair.
He looked around and, luckily, the classroom was almost empty.
He looked back at the key and confirmed it was real, he could touch it, and he could feel its weight.
Then a new message appeared on the screen.
"Give it to Yume."
Noah stared at those words.
"Sure."
Another message appeared immediately.
"She must receive it today."
Noah sighed.
"It’s the goddess again."
He read the instruction several times.
Then he pocketed the key.
’Perfect.’
At first glance it seemed like a simple mission, all he had to do was hand something over and that was it.
Just deliver something.
’Just give it to her and disappear.’
Five minutes later he discovered he didn’t have Yume’s phone number.
"Damn it!"
He stood up immediately, and his first idea was to ask Ren, whom he found near the lockers.
"Ren."
"Yeah?"
"I need a favor."
Ren looked at him with suspicion.
"I don’t like the sound of that."
"Do you have Yume Hoshino’s number?"
An uncomfortable silence followed, and Ren blinked before taking a step back.
"Why?"
"It’s nothing weird, I swear!"
"That makes it sound weirder."
"You don’t need an explanation!"
"I need a lot of explanations."
Noah let out a sigh.
"I’m not going to ask her out or anything like that..."
Ren stared at him.
"I didn’t mention a date."
"..."
"..."
"Damn it."
Ren crossed his arms.
"Noah."
"What?"
"Is Yume blackmailing you?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Completely."
"Then why do you want her number?"
Noah improvised.
"I have to give her something."
"What thing?"
"I can’t say."
Ren took another step back.
"That sounds even worse now."
"It’s nothing weird!"
"Noah."
"What?"
"Every time you talk, you make it worse."
Noah felt like banging his head against a wall.
Finally, after several minutes of arguing, Ren ended up giving him the contact.
"Don’t do anything weird, I’m asking you for your own safety."
"I won’t do anything weird."
"That’s what my cousin said once, and now he’s got a houseful of kids."
Noah ignored the comment, saved the number, and called immediately.
It took several seconds for someone to answer.
"Hello?"
Noah recognized Yume’s voice and, for some reason, got nervous.
"Hi."
There was silence, then a strange noise, like something had fallen.
"Yume?"
"Y-Yes!"
The answer came too fast.
"It’s Noah."
Silence again, and another noise like something had fallen once more.
"Yume?"
"I’M STILL ALIVE!"
"..."
Noah didn’t know how to respond to that.
He finally decided to move on.
"I need to talk to you."
There was no response from the other end.
"Yume?"
"Yes."
"Can you come by after school?"
Silence again.
"It’s something important."
Five seconds passed, which became ten, and then fifteen.
"Yume."
"Yes."
"Will you come?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Yes."
"Then I’ll see you."
"Yes."
Noah hung up and frowned.
’What a weird conversation.’
He had no idea that Yume was currently lying flat on the floor of her classroom, face completely red, staring at her phone, motionless.
Meanwhile, Noah walked out of school.
The mission was simple.
He would wait, hand over the key, and the matter would be settled.
For the first time in days he was convinced that everything was going to go fine.
Far away from there, Yume was still motionless, her phone resting between her hands.
’He called me.’
She stared at the screen.
’He called me!’
She looked at it again.
’He called ME!’
Her heart was beating so fast it was hard to think.
Then she started replaying the conversation.
"I need to talk to you."
Yume covered her face.
"Ah..."
’He needs to talk to me.’
She rolled across the floor.
’To ME!’
She shot up and began pacing in circles.
’Why does he want to talk to me?’
The answer came almost instantly.
’Because he likes me.’
Yume nodded.
It made sense to her, it was completely logical.
’Obviously.’
It had been obvious from the start; she just simply hadn’t noticed.
’That’s why he ran into me.’
She nodded again.
’That’s why he helped me.’
Again.
’That’s why he called me.’
Again.
’That’s why he wants to see me after school.’
Yume went still.
Her eyes went wide.
"After school?"
Her face turned even redder.
"After SCHOOL?!"
She repeated it and then covered her mouth.
"Is it a DATE?!"
Her imagination exploded.
’No.’
She tried to calm herself down.
’Don’t jump to conclusions.’
She took a deep breath, and five seconds later she jumped to conclusions again.
’It’s a date.’
She started pacing again.
’No, wait.’
’Maybe it’s a confession.’
She stopped.
’What if it’s a confession?’
She sat down at a desk.
’What do I say?’
She stood back up.
’Obviously yes!’
She sat back down.
’No! I need to play it cool.’
She stood back up.
’Should I buy contraceptives?’
There was a beat of silence, and then another question surfaced.
’Are we already dating?’
She blinked.
’Is that how dates work?’
She thought for a few seconds.
’Will I have to meet his moms?’
Yume froze.
’What do I do if they want to meet me?!’
She panicked and started pacing across the entire classroom again, non-stop, barely breathing, unable to think straight.
Meanwhile, the rational part of her consciousness tried to intervene.
’Maybe he just wants to give you something.’
Yume ignored it.
’Maybe it’s a school thing.’
Yume ignored it again.
’Maybe you’re overreacting.’
Yume ignored that possibility with every fiber of her being, because she was already picturing the wedding.
When the time to leave finally came, Yume examined herself in a polished window, took a breath, and tried to look calm, but it didn’t work.
She looked like someone on the verge of combustion, which didn’t bother her one bit, because she was absolutely convinced of one thing.
Noah Reed had just asked her on a date, and nothing in the world could persuade her otherwise.
Comments