Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Basic Jealousy Training.
Noah woke up because of his phone.
He opened one eye, then the other, and sighed.
"Another time."
He didn’t even need to look at the screen to know who it was. He grabbed the device, saw the golden clover icon glowing as usual, opened the app, and the screen turned white.
Then the image of the goddess sitting on her throne appeared.
"Good morning."
"No."
"No what?"
"I’m not doing anything."
The goddess tilted her head.
"You don’t even know what I’m going to ask."
"Doesn’t matter."
"How rude."
Noah shifted in bed.
"Every time you show up, my life gets worse."
The goddess smiled.
"That’s because you’re so dramatic."
"That’s not true."
"I can prove it."
"No, you can’t."
"Who was the one who jumped off a bridge over a bad ending?"
Noah decided to ignore her.
"Fine. What do you want?"
The goddess clasped her hands together.
"I need you to train the girls."
Silence.
"I refuse."
"Why?"
"Because I’m not a trainer and definitely not for magical girls."
"But you know more than they do."
"No, I don’t."
"I’d say you do."
"I don’t."
"You do."
Noah covered his face.
"I only watched the anime."
"The anime that explained the magical girls’ abilities."
"That doesn’t make me a teacher."
The goddess smiled.
"Please."
"I already told you no."
"Please."
"No."
"Please."
"You really are persistent."
The goddess pouted.
"Please, do it for this poor damsel."
"No."
The goddess stayed silent for a few seconds and then spoke in a soft voice.
"Come on, Noah."
Noah felt chills.
"Stop talking like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you’re trying to manipulate me!"
"I would never do that."
"You’re doing it right now!"
The goddess smiled.
"It worked."
"..."
Ten minutes later, Noah was sending messages.
’Damn goddess!’
He contacted Yume first and then Luna. He gave them the same address, a park quite far from the crowded areas.
He didn’t explain much, only that it was important, and both accepted immediately. That didn’t surprise him, but what did surprise him was what happened when they arrived.
Yume showed up first and Luna arrived just a few minutes later.
Both froze, staring at each other, then looked at Noah, then back at each other.
There was only a very awkward silence.
Yume spoke first.
"Is she coming too?"
Luna spoke at exactly the same time.
"Is she coming too?"
Noah blinked.
"Yeah..."
Both looked at him.
"Why?"
They asked again at the same time.
’Ah.’
Noah had just realized the problem.
"Sorry, I never told you I recruited another magical girl. My bad."
Yume’s eyes widened.
"She’s a magical girl too!?"
Luna frowned.
"She’s a magical girl too?"
Noah nodded.
"Yeah."
Silence again, but this one was worse.
’This is going to be complicated.’
Five minutes later the training began.
Noah crossed his arms.
"All right."
Yume and Luna watched him.
"First, try summoning energy."
Luna raised a hand and a small dark sphere appeared.
Stable, controlled, no issues.
Noah nodded.
"Perfect."
Then he looked at Yume.
"Your turn."
"Got it!"
Yume raised a hand and a sphere appeared. It seemed to work for two seconds, but then it exploded.
A bench went flying, a tree lost half its crown, and Noah ended up covered in leaves.
The silence said it all.
Yume went pale.
"I’m sorry!"
Noah observed the destruction, then Yume, then the destruction again.
’How did the city even survive?’
Luna raised a hand.
"I think she’s using too much energy."
Yume lowered her head.
"I’m sorry."
"It’s fine."
Noah lied, because it wasn’t fine, it was very much not fine.
They tried again, but this time the goal was to launch energy at an abandoned wall.
Luna went first.
The energy shot out and hit exactly where she aimed.
Noah nodded.
"Good."
Luna looked satisfied.
Yume smiled.
"My turn now!"
"Wait!"
Too late.
Yume fired and the energy went straight through the wall.
Then through another wall, and then a third.
Noah stared at the holes.
’How did the planet even survive!?’
Luna also looked surprised.
Yume started sweating.
"I think I overdid it."
"A little."
Noah replied, and they tried something simpler, like motion control.
Luna managed to lift a rock, then another, and finally five at the same time.
Noah nodded.
"Excellent."
Luna tried to hide a small smile.
Yume watched that, and then her other self appeared.
"What are you doing standing there while she steals your man!?"
"Huh?"
"Look, that bitch in heat definitely wants to do terrible things to your boyfriend!"
"You think...?"
"Of course, and as his fiancée it’s your duty to protect his virginity, since you’re the only one with the right to take it!"
"But..."
"Do you want that homewrecker to ruin your marriage?"
"No."
"Then go save the father of your future children from the claws of that nymphomaniac!"
’I won’t let her take advantage of Noah.’
She couldn’t stay behind.
"I can do it too!"
She tried to lift a rock, but the rock shot out, hit a tree, bounced, hit a bench, bounced again, and finally destroyed a trash can.
Silence.
Noah began to suspect something.
’Maybe the real villain of the anime was Yume.’
Meanwhile, Luna watched Noah.
Every time she did something well, he praised her, and she liked it more than she wanted to admit. So she decided to try something new.
She created several small spheres and made them spin around her body with precision and control.
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Amazing!"
Luna felt a strange satisfaction.
Yume watched her.
’No, definitely not.’
She also wanted to impress Noah, so she summoned a huge sphere, much bigger than Luna’s.
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Yume, wait!"
Too late. The sphere exploded.
Three trees vanished, a bench was split in half, and Noah ended up sitting on the ground covered in dirt.
Luna ran toward him.
"Are you okay?"
Yume also ran.
"Are you hurt!?"
Both arrived at the same time and tried to help him, but they accidentally bumped into each other.
"Sorry."
Luna said, though in her mind it was different.
’You don’t deserve any forgiveness...’
"Sorry."
Yume said, but inside her a spark of jealousy was starting to ignite.
’Don’t think I’m going to let you steal my Noah...’
In the end, neither of them sounded truly sorry.
Noah accepted both hands to stand up, but both kept holding him at the same time in silence.
"I’m fine now."
Noah said, but neither let go.
"Noah."
Yume said.
"Yeah?"
"Did you see how big my sphere was?"
Luna frowned.
"It exploded too."
Yume looked at her.
"But it was big!"
"It destroyed half the training area."
"That just shows power!"
"The only thing it shows is your lack of control."
"I didn’t ask for your opinion!"
Noah watched both of them.
’Are they competing?’
The answer was yes, but he didn’t understand it.
The practice continued and it only got worse.
Yume destroyed a tree, two benches, another wall, a fountain, and part of a statue.
Luna, on the other hand, kept learning new skills and even perfected how to temporarily hide her presence.
Noah was impressed and worried, very worried, especially about Yume.
Then something strange happened: a window appeared in front of Noah that only he could see.
[Reward Obtained]
[Bond Strengthened]
[Skill Unlocked: Cute Face]
"..."
Noah blinked.
The window was still there.
"..."
He read it again.
"..."
The window disappeared.
"What!?"
Yume tilted her head.
"What’s wrong?"
"I’m not sure."
Luna also watched him.
"Problems?"
"No, it’s fine."
Noah was still confused.
’Cute Face?’
He had no idea what that skill was.
He tried to activate it somehow, but nothing happened, so he tried again and nothing.
"What a useless skill."
He muttered.
Both girls looked at him.
"What skill?"
Luna asked.
"Never mind."
Noah answered because he really had no explanation.
The training continued for another hour, and by the time it ended, the park looked like a disaster zone.
Destroyed trees, broken benches, cracked walls, and churned-up dirt.
Yume lowered her head.
"I’m sorry."
Noah looked at everything and then remembered something.
In the anime, that stage had happened off-screen, so they never showed exactly how they learned, or their first days, or the training sessions, and now he understood perfectly why.
Knowing that the world depended on a girl who was closer to causing the apocalypse than saving the world was going to be terrifying.
"Noah?"
Yume asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are you mad?"
"Of course not."
It was true. Moreover, he had never been mad, he was just incredulous.
Luna observed the disaster, Yume, and Noah.
"We survived."
"No."
Noah answered.
"What?"
"We didn’t survive."
Both looked at him confused and Noah pointed all around.
"The world survived by pure luck."
After a silence, Yume started laughing and Luna ended up smiling.
For the first time during the entire training, the three of them shared a calm moment, even though Noah kept looking at the remains of the park and seriously wondering how Yume could handle so much power without destroying the world.
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