Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Will Luna Become a Boyfriend Stealer?
Luna noticed a change in Yume on the third day after the battle.
They were in the hallway before entering class when Yume received a message on her phone, so she read it and smiled.
It wasn’t a big or exaggerated smile, just something small and quick that disappeared as soon as she put her phone away, but Luna saw it.
She stayed quiet and kept walking.
’Why did she smile like that?’
It wasn’t that Yume was a serious person, she never had been, but that smile was different from the ones Luna had seen before. It was calmer, more inward.
They kept walking until they reached the classroom and each took their seat.
Luna opened her notebook and looked toward the front of the room.
Over the following days she kept noticing the same thing: Yume answered messages more frequently during breaks. Sometimes she would step out into the hallway to talk on the phone and return a few minutes later with that same calm expression on her face.
She didn’t say it out loud, didn’t mention it, but it was obvious to anyone who observed her closely, and that was exactly what Luna was doing.
While they waited in the cafeteria line, Yume got so distracted by her phone that she didn’t move forward when the line advanced and the person behind her had to tap her shoulder to let her know.
Yume apologized, put her phone away, and moved forward.
"Who have you been talking to so much lately?"
Luna asked. Yume blinked and looked at her.
"No one in particular."
"You’ve been staring at your phone during every break for three days."
"I’m just keeping up with my notifications, that’s all."
Luna didn’t respond.
’She’s not telling me the truth.’
She didn’t press the issue, but what Luna knew, and what she hadn’t said out loud since then, was something she had overheard by accident at the hospital.
That day she had arrived late to the room where Yume was.
’Hopefully Yume has woken up so Noah can calm down and get some rest.’
Suddenly she stopped right before entering because she heard voices on the other side of the door and recognized one of them.
’Is that Noah...?’
"I want to be your boyfriend..."
’...’
She had heard Noah telling Yume that he loved her, and Yume crying with happiness as she answered.
After that, she had turned around and left down the same hallway she had come from.
She hadn’t gone back to the room that night.
Since that moment she hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t asked Yume, hadn’t brought up the subject, hadn’t given any sign that she knew what the two of them had decided in that room.
’I have no reason to say anything.’
It was a matter between them, so it wasn’t her place.
The days continued and so did the pattern.
Yume arrived at training sessions with more energy than usual, so when she made a mistake she corrected it faster than before, and when something went well she smiled without realizing it.
Luna watched her during those sessions and thought the change was obvious.
One afternoon, after classes ended, Yume received another message and started walking faster toward the exit.
"Do you have somewhere to be?"
Luna asked.
"Yes, I’m meeting someone. See you tomorrow."
And she left, leaving Luna alone in the classroom.
’It’s fine.’
She picked up her bag and started walking toward the exit on the opposite side.
The walk back to her apartment took twenty minutes, and during that time she didn’t think about anything in particular, she just walked.
When she arrived, she prepared something to eat, set it on the table, and sat down.
The room was silent.
’It’s always silent.’
That wasn’t new; Luna had been living alone for some time now, and the silence hadn’t bothered her before.
Thanks to that she could study more easily, train without interruptions, and organize her time exactly the way she wanted.
She pushed the food around with her fork without eating.
’What’s wrong with me?’
She had no clear answer for that, so she left the question unanswered and started eating.
That week the three of them trained together twice.
Luna arrived at the first session before the others, so she waited with her arms crossed while warming up in silence.
Noah arrived a few minutes later and Yume arrived last, running in from the park entrance with her bag bouncing on her shoulder.
"Sorry, sorry."
She stopped in front of Noah and caught her breath.
"I’m not that late, right?"
"Three minutes."
Noah said.
"That doesn’t count."
"Yes it does."
Yume huffed and then smiled.
"Okay, next time I’ll arrive earlier."
She fixed her hair, took her hair tie out of her bag, and tied it back.
"Did you guys already start without me?"
"No, we were waiting for you..."
Noah answered.
"Good, because that way I don’t miss anything."
Noah said something in a low voice that Luna couldn’t hear, and Yume let out a short laugh.
Luna looked at the tree in front of her.
’Can we just start already?’
The training began with control exercises. Noah asked both of them to generate spheres of energy and keep them stable for a set amount of time.
Luna formed hers without difficulty on the first try, so the sphere stayed still and compact exactly where she placed it.
Yume took three attempts to stabilize hers, and in the process she sent two branches flying from a nearby tree.
"Almost there."
Yume said.
"Almost isn’t the same as doing it."
Luna remarked.
"I don’t remember asking you."
Noah intervened before they could continue.
"Yume, try reducing the amount of energy you use at the beginning. You don’t need that much for this exercise."
Yume nodded, tried again, and this time the sphere formed without exploding, though it trembled a little at the edges.
"Better..."
Noah said.
Yume turned toward him with a smile bigger than necessary for the comment she had just received.
"Really?"
"Yes, keep it up."
Yume continued, and every time Noah made a correction she listened with complete attention. When he stepped closer to observe her technique up close, she didn’t pull back.
At one point Noah’s notebook, where he wrote down their training progress, fell, and Yume picked it up before it hit the ground and handed it back to him with both hands.
Noah took it without paying much attention to the gesture, but Yume stayed standing in front of him for an extra second before returning to her position.
Luna looked away.
’Focus!’
She reformed her sphere and moved it to the right, to the left, and back to the center in a single clean, uninterrupted sequence.
In the second half of training they moved on to displacement exercises. Noah asked them to cover a certain area of the park in the shortest time possible without losing control of their energy.
Luna completed the course with no problems, but Yume finished three seconds later and left a new crack in the ground near the starting point.
Noah went to inspect the crack.
Yume followed him.
"It wasn’t that big."
"I’d say it was."
"But I didn’t hurt anyone."
"Not yet."
Yume stood next to him while they looked at the damage, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
Luna observed the distance between them.
’It’s not my business. Just focus on yourself.’
She fixed her gaze on the far end of the park and waited for the next instruction.
When training ended, Noah approached her to return the notes he had asked for at the start of the session.
"Your control improved with the displacement and the movement sequence was more efficient than last week."
Luna took the notes without looking at him directly.
"Good."
Noah waited a second, as if he were going to add something else.
"Any problems with the exercises?"
"None."
There was a brief pause.
"Okay, see you at the next training session."
Luna nodded once and started packing her things.
She heard Yume say goodbye to Noah with many more words than necessary for the end of a training session, so Noah responded normally and then left.
Luna finished packing her things and walked toward the park exit on the opposite side.
The walk back to her apartment took twenty minutes, where she didn’t think about anything in particular, she just walked.
That night Luna sat at her desk with her notebook open in front of her and had been staring at the same page for several minutes without writing anything.
She thought about what had happened during that afternoon’s training.
’It’s good that Yume is happy.’
That was a fact and Luna had no argument against it.
’Besides, it was a decision Noah made.’
That was also true.
She closed the notebook.
’Then I don’t know what’s wrong with me.’
She leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling of the apartment, which was completely silent, just like every night.
She decided not to keep thinking about it, so she turned off the desk lamp, got into bed, and closed her eyes.
’Maybe if I rest I’ll be able to think more clearly...’
It took her quite a while to fall asleep.
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