Chapter 35: Chapter 35: What Luna Hides.
Luna Tsukino had always been an easy person to describe for those who didn’t know her well.
She was serious, cold, responsible, and strictly rule-abiding.
She was the kind of person who arrived before the agreed time, turned in assignments without delay, and corrected anyone who did something inappropriate regardless of who they were.
She didn’t raise her voice or make exaggerated gestures because she didn’t need to, she only said what was necessary.
Most students avoided arguing with her because they knew that if Luna said something, she was probably right, and that meant she wasn’t popular, but she wasn’t hated either.
Luna simply existed in an awkward position for others, earning their respect while few actually approached her.
They listened to her, but almost no one invited her anywhere, and they considered her reliable but not necessarily close.
For Luna, that was normal.
She had lived that way for a long time.
As a child, she learned early that doing things right avoided problems. She didn’t remember much about her mothers, and the memories she had were few, incomplete, and too distant to hold clearly, since it had really been her grandmother who raised her.
Her grandmother was the one who took her to school, checked her homework, taught her basic cooking, and told her that a person could be alone without losing dignity as long as they knew how to take care of themselves.
Luna remembered her voice more clearly than her face.
"Luna, you don’t have to please everyone, but you must be able to look at yourself without shame."
That phrase stayed with her, and that was why she made the effort.
She studied, worked, kept schedules, cleaned her apartment, prepared her meals, paid her bills, and organized each week with care.
After her grandmother died, the apartment fell silent.
At first, Luna believed she could handle it without issues, and in fact she did for months, fulfilling everything.
She woke up early, went to classes, studied, worked, came back, cooked, and slept.
When she returned home, the only thing waiting for her was deep silence, but Luna accepted that as part of her life.
She didn’t complain, didn’t cry in front of anyone, didn’t ask for company, she simply kept moving forward.
Until she met Noah Reed.
At first, Luna thought he was just a new student who was too careless, which genuinely worried her, so she decided to confront him. But when Noah looked at her for the first time, she felt it was hard to maintain her composure.
The most she had interacted with a boy up to that point was when she lent a pencil to a classmate in elementary school.
Since then, every interaction with Noah had stayed in her memory with uncomfortable precision.
She could remember the place, the approximate time, the position of his hands, and the exact words.
She didn’t write any of it down anywhere because she didn’t need to, she had memorized them.
One morning, Luna arrived early to the high school and walked down the main hallway with her bag over her shoulder. Several students were talking near the windows but grew a little quieter when they saw her pass.
One of them had a drink in her hand even though there was a clear sign indicating that drinking was not allowed in that area.
Luna stopped.
"Drinks are not allowed in this hallway."
The student tensed.
"Ah, yeah, sorry."
"There’s a trash can before the entrance."
"I’m going."
Luna nodded once and kept walking while the students whispered among themselves.
"Luna really is intimidating."
On the outside there was no change, her face remained calm, her steps firm, and her voice showed no emotion, but inside, her mind was occupied with something completely different.
’Noah usually walks through this hallway after the first class.’
She checked the time without stopping.
’Seventeen minutes left.’
She continued walking toward her classroom.
’I have no reason to wait for him.’
She entered the room.
’If I see him, I’ll greet him normally.’
She sat in her seat.
’If he greets me first, I’ll respond.’
She took out her notes.
’If he smiles, I shouldn’t stare too long.’
She opened her notebook.
’I shouldn’t be thinking about this.’
Class began.
Luna took notes with the same discipline as always, with neat handwriting, well-spaced lines, and without skipping information or looking at her phone.
A student next to her tried to copy part of her notes, but Luna, without looking at her, asked.
"What are you doing?"
The student froze.
"I-I just wanted to see something."
"Pay attention to the class."
"Okay..."
Luna kept writing, but inside a phrase appeared without permission.
’If Noah asked me for notes, I’d lend them to him.’
She paused her pencil for half a second.
’No, I’d also tell him to listen to the class.’
Three seconds passed.
’But I could explain it to him later.’
Luna closed her eyes for a moment.
’Focus.’
After class, she walked toward the cafeteria, not looking for Noah, or at least that was what she told herself.
She wasn’t changing her route to pass by the area where he usually sat.
’I’m detouring because it’s exactly the spot with fewer people crowded together.’
She wasn’t scanning her surroundings with more attention than necessary.
’I’m just making sure I don’t bump into anyone.’
She wasn’t waiting to hear his voice.
’I just want to stay alert in case he talks to me and not give the impression that I’m ignoring him.’
She was simply walking when she saw him.
Noah was next to a vending machine, checking his coins with a confused expression.
Luna stopped several meters away.
’He’s there.’
Noah pressed a button and the machine made noise but delivered nothing, so Noah frowned.
"No way."
Luna walked toward him.
"Problems?"
Noah turned to her.
"Luna... Yeah, I think the machine ate my money."
’How cute he sounds when he says my name.’
Luna looked at the machine.
"Did you press the right button?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"I think so."
Luna checked the panel.
"You pressed hot soup."
Noah looked down.
"..."
Luna pointed at the screen.
"And there’s no stock."
Noah stayed still.
"So I lost money trying to buy soup by mistake."
"Yes."
"That sounds worse when you say it."
"Were you expecting me to say something different?"
Noah looked at her and then started laughing.
Luna kept her face serious.
’He laughed.’
Noah rested a hand on the machine.
"It’s fine, I deserved that."
"I won’t argue."
"You could comfort me."
"It was an avoidable loss."
"Thanks, Luna, very warm of you."
"You’re welcome."
Noah laughed again.
Luna felt her fingers close gently around the strap of her bag.
’I made him laugh again.’
On the outside, she only tilted her head slightly.
"There’s another machine at the end of the hallway."
Noah looked at her.
"Coming?"
Luna felt her body want to answer too quickly.
"Yes."
Her voice came out normal, but inside it wasn’t.
’He invited me... even if it wasn’t an important invitation, but he said it in a natural situation... he spoke first... well, not exactly, since I spoke first, but he asked me to go with him... concentrate, just walk normally.’
They walked together to the other machine.
The walk lasted less than a minute, but Luna remembered it for three days.
That same day, during lunch, Luna sat across from Noah and Yume wasn’t with them because she had a meeting with a teacher to review a late assignment.
Noah opened a bottle of water.
"We’re not training today because I want Yume to rest a little more before I start pushing her again."
Luna nodded.
"That’s reasonable."
"I also want you to rest."
Luna looked at him.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you’ve been compensating a lot in training."
Luna set her chopsticks down on the tray.
"I’m fine."
"I didn’t say you weren’t, but resting is also part of training."
Luna observed him.
’He’s worried about me.’
Her face didn’t change.
"Understood."
Noah smiled.
"You don’t have to obey everything like it’s an order."
"If it’s a useful recommendation, I’ll apply it."
"That sounds like obeying an order."
"Not necessarily."
Noah looked at her for a few seconds and then smiled a little more.
"Alright."
Luna lowered her gaze to her food.
’He smiled at me.’
Noah continued talking about training schedules and adjustments to the exercises, to which Luna responded when appropriate, asked practical questions, and pointed out two coordination issues with Yume.
On the outside the conversation was normal, but inside Luna had saved that moment.
That night, already in her apartment, Luna prepared tea and sat at the small table by the window.
The room was silent.
She reviewed her notes but didn’t make much progress because her mind returned to lunch.
’I also want you to rest.’
She repeated the exact phrase.
Noah had said it without thinking too much about it, probably as a common suggestion, but Luna remembered it with clarity.
’He worries about me.’
She held the cup with both hands.
’I shouldn’t exaggerate.’
She took a sip of tea.
’But he does worry.’
She looked at the empty chair on the other side of the table.
For years that chair had never meant anything special, but now she imagined Noah sitting there.
Luna set the cup down.
’This isn’t appropriate.’
She got up and washed the dishes.
The next day, Luna acted as usual.
When a student tried to turn in a safety committee form late, Luna rejected it without hesitation.
"The deadline was yesterday."
"But it was only one day."
"Correct, one day late."
"Can’t you make an exception?"
"No."
The student sighed and left.
Luna put the form away, but another thought appeared.
’If Noah turned it in late, I’d also say no.’
Pause.
’But I’d warn him before the deadline.’
She stayed still.
’That would be preferential treatment.’
She closed the folder.
’Then I wouldn’t do it.’
Another pause.
’But... maybe I would.’
Later, during a small control training session, Noah checked a barrier Luna had created.
It was a compact, clean, and quite efficient barrier, so Luna didn’t need correction, but Noah walked around it to observe from different angles.
"It’s really good."
Luna kept the barrier steady without changing her expression.
"Thank you."
"No, seriously, this structure is more stable than last week’s and you’re also reducing energy consumption."
Luna felt her concentration weaken a little.
’He’s looking at me a lot.’
Noah took a step closer.
"Did you change the way you distribute the energy?"
"Yes."
"It worked really well."
Luna looked at him and saw that Noah was close, not too close, but enough.
’His neck.’
Luna shifted her gaze back to the barrier.
’Don’t look!’
Noah kept talking.
"You can use this version to protect civilians since it’s fast and doesn’t consume as much."
"Understood."
’Don’t look at his lips!’
"Luna?"
Luna blinked.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yes."
"You seemed distracted."
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Noah watched her for one more second, then nodded.
"Alright."
Luna reinforced the barrier just to occupy her mind.
’I can’t do this in the middle of training.’
But when she returned to her apartment that night, she remembered everything again, the distance, the voice, and the comment.
"It worked really well."
She remembered it several times before falling asleep.
The situation got worse when she started dreaming.
The first dream was simple.
Luna was returning to her apartment after work. She was tired and stressed, and her hair was messy. When she opened the door, Noah was at the entrance.
"Welcome home, dear."
Luna stayed still.
In the dream, Noah wasn’t wearing his high school uniform but casual home clothes, and he looked at her with a calmness that was hard for her to hold.
"I made dinner."
Luna entered and then heard the small footsteps of two girls running toward her.
One had dark hair and the other had a serious expression that looked too much like her own.
"Mom’s back!"
Luna woke up with a start and sat upright in bed, breathing hard.
The room was dark.
Luna covered her face with both hands.
’What the hell was that!?’
She couldn’t blame anyone because her own mind had created that scene, and the worst part was that it hadn’t disgusted her.
She stayed awake for a long time.
The next day, she acted as usual.
She arrived early, corrected two students for blocking an exit, turned in her assignment, answered questions in class, ate alone during the first break, and no one noticed anything strange about Luna.
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