Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Luna wants to be VERY close to Noah.
Noah started to notice small changes in Luna.
The first time he noticed was after class.
Noah left the classroom with his bag over his shoulder, checking a message from Yume on his phone that said she would be a few minutes late because a teacher had held her back to correct an assignment.
Noah replied.
"It’s fine, I’ll wait for you at the entrance."
He put his phone away and kept walking.
As he turned into the main hallway, he found Luna standing by a window. She didn’t seem to be waiting for anyone, but when he approached, she looked up.
"Noah."
"What are you doing here, Luna?"
"I was waiting."
"For who?"
"For you."
Noah stopped.
"For me?"
"Yes."
Luna answered calmly, and Noah looked around.
"Did something happen?"
"No."
"Then..."
"I wanted to walk with you to the exit."
Noah took a second to respond.
’Walk with me?’
It didn’t sound strange. Luna and he had already spent time together, they had gone to the park, to the movies, and they trained almost every day. Maybe she was just becoming closer.
That was a good thing.
"Sure, let’s go."
Luna nodded and fell into step beside him.
They walked together down the hallway. The silence lasted a few seconds, so Noah thought he should say something.
"How was your class?"
"Normal."
"Normal good or normal boring?"
"Normal boring."
Noah let out a short laugh.
"You didn’t take long to answer."
"It was a class that can only be described as boring."
"What was it about?"
"Public safety regulations."
"I see. Now I understand better why it was boring."
Luna looked at him.
"Though I wouldn’t say it wasn’t useful."
"But it was boring."
"Something can be useful and boring."
"I can’t argue with that."
Luna seemed satisfied with the answer.
They waited at the entrance for a while until Yume arrived. When she saw Noah, she smiled, but then noticed Luna beside him and her smile faded a little.
"Noah."
"You finally made it, Yume."
Yume approached and took Noah’s arm without wasting any time.
"Sorry for taking so long."
"It’s fine."
She then looked at Luna.
"Hi, Luna."
"Hi."
There was an awkward pause, and Yume squeezed Noah’s arm a little tighter.
"You two came together?"
Luna answered before Noah could.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I wanted to walk with him."
Yume blinked, and Noah tried to intervene.
"We just walked from the hallway to here."
Yume looked at Noah.
"Of course..."
Her tone said it wasn’t that clear.
Luna looked at her calmly.
"It was a short distance."
"That doesn’t explain why you want to be next to my boyfriend."
"Relax. If you’re a good girlfriend, it would take more than a few minutes to steal Noah from you."
"Are you implying you can steal my Noah from me?"
Noah felt the atmosphere growing tense again.
"Well, since we’re all three here, shall we go?"
Yume pressed herself a little closer to his arm.
"Yes, let’s go."
Luna looked at Yume’s arm intertwined with Noah’s and said nothing, but she walked on Noah’s other side, leaving him in the middle.
’I just want to get to the station.’
That night, while reviewing his training notes, his phone rang with a message from Luna.
[Did you get home okay?]
Noah looked at it in surprise.
It wasn’t unusual to get messages from Yume, she texted him often, sometimes too often, but Luna almost always only wrote when necessary.
Noah replied.
[Yes, I got home fine. And you?]
Luna responded two minutes later.
[Me too.]
Noah set his phone on the table, and it vibrated again.
"Remember to bring water tomorrow, since last time one bottle wasn’t enough."
Noah smiled.
"Yeah, I remember. I’ll bring two."
Luna’s reply came quickly.
"Good."
Noah waited in case she added anything else, but nothing came.
’That’s very Luna.’
The next day, Luna was waiting for him again after classes. This time she wasn’t by the window, she was at the building entrance.
"Noah."
"Hi, Luna."
"I brought this."
She handed him a small bag, and Noah took it.
"What is it?"
"Food."
Noah opened the bag and found a carefully sealed container.
"Food?"
"Yes."
"For me?"
"Who else?"
Noah looked at her.
"Why?"
"You’ve been eating cafeteria bread and vending machine drinks for several days, which isn’t enough for your body."
Noah felt a little embarrassed.
"It wasn’t that bad."
"It is that bad."
"Really?"
"Yes."
He opened the container. Inside was rice with vegetables along with chicken cut into small portions, everything neatly arranged.
Noah felt the gesture was bigger than Luna seemed willing to admit.
"Thanks for worrying about me, really."
Luna looked away.
"It wasn’t a big deal."
"But you still did it."
"Yes."
Noah smiled.
"Thank you, Luna."
Luna stayed still.
’He thanked me.’
On the outside, she replied.
"Eat before training, okay?"
"I will."
Yume appeared right at that moment.
"Noah, I’m done..."
She stopped when she saw the container in his hands.
"What’s that?"
Noah answered naturally.
"Luna brought me food."
Yume froze.
"Luna brought you food...?"
"Yes."
Yume looked at Luna, and she looked back.
"Correct."
"Why?"
"Because he doesn’t eat well."
Yume hugged Noah’s arm.
"I can bring him food!"
Luna answered without changing her expression.
"Oh really? Then why haven’t you brought him any before?"
Yume opened her mouth but couldn’t find a response.
Noah tried to calm the situation.
"It’s fine, it’s just food."
Yume looked at him.
"Noah, when a girl prepares food for a guy, it’s not just food."
Noah blinked.
"It’s not?"
Luna replied.
"It depends on the context."
Yume pointed at the container.
"This context is suspicious."
"It’s just rice."
"Rice can be suspicious too!"
Noah stared at the container.
’What’s suspicious about rice?’
Luna spoke serenely.
"If you want, tomorrow you can bring food."
Yume tensed up.
"I will."
"Good."
"Don’t think I’ll lose."
"I didn’t say it was a competition."
Yume looked at her.
"But you thought it."
"..."
"..."
"No..."
Noah wasn’t sure he believed her.
That afternoon, before training, Noah ate the food Luna had prepared for him. It was good, really good.
Meanwhile, Yume sat beside him and watched every bite as if she were evaluating a threat.
"Is it good?"
She asked, and Noah answered carefully.
"Yes... it’s good..."
Yume looked at Luna.
"Do you cook often?"
Luna nodded.
"I live alone."
Noah looked up.
It was something he already knew in general, but it still reminded him that Luna carried more than she showed.
"So you cook every day?"
"Yes."
Yume crossed her arms.
"I can learn too!"
Luna looked at her.
"It would be useful."
"That sounded like an attack."
"It was a suggestion."
"It didn’t sound like a suggestion."
"It was a direct suggestion."
Noah set down his utensils.
"Please don’t turn a meal into a battlefield."
Yume lowered her gaze.
"Sorry."
Luna did the same.
"It wasn’t my intention."
Noah smiled a little.
"It’s okay."
At that moment, a notification appeared on his phone. It was from the Golden Clover app.
Noah felt a shiver.
’What now?’
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