Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Yume Invites Noah to Her House... You Know What’s Going to Happen.
Several days had passed since the incident, and Noah lay on his bed staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head.
The room was completely silent.
’Too many things happened in such a short time.’
Ever since he agreed to go out with Yume, he had barely had time to think calmly.
He recalled the first thing he did after Yume regained consciousness.
He had immediately gone to look for Luna, since, luckily, he remembered something from the anime.
Every magical girl possessed a special ability capable of repairing the material damage caused by battles and erasing the memories of civilians related to those incidents.
Thanks to that, the destroyed buildings returned to normal, the streets recovered their appearance, and people completely forgot about the disaster.
In the end, only three people retained those memories: him, Yume, and Luna.
Noah sighed.
’At least that part of the anime is still the same.’
At that moment his phone vibrated.
He picked it up and saw it was a message from Yume.
[Would you like to come to my house to watch a movie?]
Noah stared at the screen and his first impulse was to write a refusal, since he was still having trouble getting used to having a girlfriend.
Besides...
’I was never good at these things.’
His finger hovered over the keyboard, but then he remembered a conversation that had taken place a day after the disaster.
The goddess had appeared in front of him.
"Noah."
"What’s going on?"
She observed him calmly.
"There’s something important you need to know."
Noah remained silent.
"Magical girls maintain control of their powers because their emotional state remains stable."
He nodded.
"I figured."
"But when that balance disappears..."
The goddess’s expression turned serious.
"What you saw with Yume happens."
Noah immediately recalled the darkness and the destruction.
"I don’t want that to happen again."
"It’s unlikely to happen again."
The goddess replied.
"But there’s something you can do."
"What?"
"Don’t reject the displays of affection they want to give you."
Noah frowned.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"A lot."
She replied.
"Their emotional stability also depends on the important people in their lives."
Noah stayed silent and the goddess continued.
"It doesn’t mean you have to accept everything without thinking, but if you really want to protect them..."
She paused briefly.
"Don’t put up a wall between you again."
The conversation ended there.
Noah looked at his phone again, sighed, and then typed a reply.
[Okay. What time?]
The response came almost immediately.
[Whenever you want!]
Noah smiled without realizing it.
[I’ll be there in an hour.]
[I’ll be waiting for you!]
He put away his phone.
’Well, no turning back now.’
Before leaving, he passed by the kitchen and Emma looked up.
"Are you going out?"
"Yeah."
"With who?"
"With Ren."
Noah lied.
Sarah smiled.
"Have fun."
"I will."
Ava was also there. She watched him for several seconds and said nothing, but it was clear she didn’t believe him.
Noah decided to ignore it and quickly left the house.
After walking for a few minutes, he reached Yume’s house.
He took a deep breath, rang the doorbell, but as soon as he raised his hand, the door opened and Yume appeared immediately.
She was wearing casual clothes, but it was obvious she had spent a lot of time choosing them.
Her hair was perfectly styled and she smiled nervously.
"Hi!"
"Hi."
Yume gave a small bow.
"I thought there were still a few seconds left."
"I didn’t want to make you wait."
Yume’s face turned slightly red.
"Thank you."
She stepped aside.
"You can come in."
Noah entered and noticed the house was completely quiet.
"Is no one else here?"
He asked, to which Yume shook her head.
"Mom had to work and my sister went out with her friends."
"I see..."
Noah nodded.
"So we’re alone."
"Yes."
Yume blushed again.
"I didn’t mean for it to sound like that."
Noah let out a small laugh.
"I figured."
That made Yume relax a little.
They both reached the living room and the TV was already set up, so Yume grabbed the remote.
"Shall we start?"
"Sure."
The lights went off and the movie began.
The first few minutes seemed normal.
A woman was engaged to another, so there were romantic scenes, conversations, and quiet moments.
Noah simply watched, until another character appeared, a guy, or at least that’s what he thought.
The protagonist began to get closer to him, little by little, more and more, until they started a secret relationship.
Noah’s eyes opened slightly.
’Wait.’
He kept watching.
The protagonist constantly hid the relationship, lied, snuck out to see him, and they even began an affair while she was still engaged.
Noah waited for the inevitable moment and it finally happened.
The fiancée discovered the infidelity.
’Now comes the argument.’
Noah thought.
’They’ll surely break up.’
The fiancée stared hard at the protagonist. There were a few seconds of silence and then she shouted.
"How could you do something so selfish?!"
Noah nodded.
’It was obvious.’
But the next line left him completely frozen.
"Why didn’t you ever introduce him to me?!"
"..."
Noah blinked.
"Were you planning to keep him all to yourself?!"
The protagonist lowered her head.
"I’m sorry..."
"Of course you’re sorry!"
The fiancée continued.
"You knew I wanted to meet a guy too!"
Noah kept staring at the screen, completely confused.
’What...?’
The argument continued, but it wasn’t about the infidelity. It was because the protagonist had hidden the guy’s existence.
In the end, the two women made peace, apologized, and decided to share the relationship with him.
The movie ended and the credits began to roll.
Noah remained motionless.
’...’
Yume smiled.
"I really liked it."
It took Noah a few seconds to respond.
"Me too..."
He was lying, since he was still trying to process what he had just seen.
Yume spoke again.
"The girl who played the guy acted really well."
Noah turned immediately.
"The girl?"
"Yeah."
"It wasn’t a guy?"
Yume blinked.
"Of course not."
Noah immediately thought of Ren.
He looked again at a frozen image during the credits and saw it had several feminine features.
’She’s right, it’s a woman.’
Noah felt like he understood this world less and less every day.
Yume smiled.
"She’s a very famous actress."
"I see."
There were a few seconds of silence and then Yume lowered her gaze slightly.
"Now I understand the protagonist."
Noah looked at her again.
"How?"
Yume nervously played with her fingers.
"That she tried to hide the relationship."
Noah remembered the movie.
"Out of fear?"
Yume nodded.
"Yeah."
Then she slowly raised her eyes.
"If I were in a similar situation..."
She smiled nervously.
"I think I’d try to hide it too."
Noah tilted his head slightly.
"Why?"
Yume answered without looking away.
"Because I’d be afraid someone would take away the person I love."
The living room fell completely silent and Noah understood that, even though he already accepted that this world had different rules, Yume’s feelings were still exactly as sincere as in any other place.
Suddenly and without warning, Yume leaned toward Noah’s face. She looked him in the eyes for a second, then took his face with both hands and kissed him passionately.
She pressed her lips against his with force, opened her mouth and slipped her tongue in while breathing heavily. Noah returned the kiss and their bodies pressed together.
After the kiss, Yume pulled back only a few centimeters and murmured.
"I want to do it with you, Noah."
’Huh...?’
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