Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Ava Suspects.
Noah walked back home with his breathing still ragged.
The jump from the second-floor window had hurt more than he expected. His ankle throbbed and the sleeve of his shirt was torn at the edge, but he hadn’t stopped to check the damage. He had just run until he was far enough from Yume’s house.
’Almost got caught.’
He thought about Yume’s sister entering the room seconds after he had climbed out the window and what would have happened if she had seen him.
’I don’t even want to imagine it.’
He stopped in front of his house door, straightened his clothes as best he could, and took a deep breath before going in.
’I just have to act normal.’
He opened the door and found Ava standing in the middle of the living room, arms crossed.
"You’re late."
Noah froze for a second.
"It’s not that late."
Ava looked him up and down.
"How did it go with Ren?"
"Fine... everything normal."
He tried to head toward the stairs, but Ava moved to block his path.
"What did you do?"
"We walked for a while and talked about high school stuff."
"Where?"
Noah took a second too long to answer.
"Around the... downtown area..."
Ava narrowed her eyes.
"Ren texted me half an hour ago and said he was at home studying."
Noah felt his pulse speed up.
’That can’t be.’
"He must have mixed up the times. We hung out for a bit and then he went to study."
"What time did you guys leave?"
"I wasn’t checking the clock..."
Ava took one step closer.
"You have your shirt collar folded the wrong way."
Noah glanced down at his own clothes.
’Damn it.’
"It must have been the wind."
"There’s no wind today."
Noah didn’t answer right away.
"You also have something in your hair."
He quickly ran his hand over his head, found a small leaf tangled in his hair, and let it fall to the floor without saying a word.
"Was that the wind too? Because I also walked near... a park..."
Ava looked down at Noah’s shoes.
"You have dirt on your shoes."
Noah looked down, and she was right.
"There’s dirt in some parts of the park."
"Earlier you said you walked downtown, and now you’re saying you went by a park."
Noah couldn’t find an immediate response.
’I didn’t think that through.’
"We walked through both places."
"With Ren?"
"Yeah..."
"The same Ren who was at home studying?"
Noah pressed his lips together.
’Ava isn’t going to let this go.’
"Maybe I got the name wrong... I wasn’t with Ren the entire time."
"Then who were you with?"
Noah avoided looking at her directly.
"With nobody important. I just walked part of the way alone."
Ava moved even closer.
"You’re nervous."
"I’m not nervous..."
"You’re scratching your arm."
Noah dropped his hand immediately.
’Since when do I do that!?’
"It just itches, that’s all!"
"Right when I ask you where you were, your arm starts itching."
Noah took a deep breath.
"Ava, seriously, it was nothing important. I just went out for a walk."
"I don’t believe you."
"You don’t have to believe me. I’m just telling you what happened."
"If it was nothing important, tell me exactly where you were and who you were with."
Noah opened his mouth but couldn’t come up with a quick excuse.
’If I make something else up, I’m just going to contradict myself again.’
Before Noah could respond, the front door opened. Sarah walked in, still carrying her office bag over her shoulder.
"What’s going on here?"
Ava crossed her arms tighter.
"Nothing. I’m just asking Noah where he was and why his story doesn’t make any sense."
Sarah looked at Ava, then at Noah.
"Are you two fighting over nonsense again?"
"We’re not fighting," Noah said.
"Yes we are," Ava said at the same time.
Sarah shook her head.
"Ava, leave him alone. He just went out with his friend, that’s it. Why don’t you go help your mom with dinner instead?"
"But..."
"No buts."
Sarah gave Noah one last look, a brief glance he couldn’t quite read, then went upstairs to her room.
Ava gave Noah one final look, her expression making it clear the conversation wasn’t over, then walked toward the kitchen.
Noah took the opportunity.
"I’m going to take a shower."
No one answered, so he went up the stairs as quickly as he could without looking like he was fleeing. He entered his room and closed the door behind him.
’She almost figured it out.’
He leaned against the door for a few seconds until he felt his pulse return to normal.
After a few minutes, he went into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
While he waited for the water to warm up, he looked at himself in the mirror and noticed a red mark near his collarbone.
’Great, just what I needed.’
He stepped under the water.
The hot water helped relax his muscles, but it couldn’t stop his thoughts.
’It’s getting harder and harder.’
He thought about Ava’s questions.
’Sooner or later someone’s going to notice.’
It wasn’t just Ava. His moms kept telling him to be careful with unknown girls.
’I’m lying to them all the time.’
He remembered Emma serving him breakfast that same morning, smiling, asking if he had slept well. Then he remembered Sarah, who had just covered for him without knowing it, defending him in front of Ava with no idea what was really going on.
’They trust me.’
He pressed his forehead against the shower tiles.
’And I only give them back lies.’
He didn’t regret being with Yume, that was the one thing he was completely sure about, but the hard part was everything else.
He couldn’t tell them the other part of the truth either, because he wasn’t just lying about having a girlfriend. He was also lying about the magical girls, about the goddess, about the battles, about everything that happened every time he left this house.
’I can’t explain any of this to them.’
Even if he wanted to tell them the full truth, he wouldn’t even know where to start, because it wasn’t easy to say that he had reincarnated and knew the future of this world.
’I can’t keep going like this forever.’
He knew that at some point he would have to decide what to do about the situation, but right now he had no clear answer.
He turned off the shower, dried himself, and changed clothes.
When he went downstairs, dinner was already served.
Ava looked at him as soon as he sat down, suspicion still in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else for the rest of the night.
Noah ate in silence, thinking that somehow he would have to find a way to keep all of this together before the situation finally blew up.
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