Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Luna Shows Her Skills to Noah.
When he opened the screen, a notification appeared in front of him.
[Bond strengthened.]
[Skill unlocked: Sanctuary Barrier.]
Noah stared at the text.
’Sanctuary Barrier?’
Yume leaned toward him.
"What do you see?"
Noah quickly locked his phone.
"Nothing, just a weird notification."
Luna watched him.
"A weird notification?"
Noah answered quickly so they wouldn’t get suspicious.
"Yeah, you know, those phone plan promotions."
Yume frowned.
"Ah... I see..."
Neither of them looked convinced by the explanation, but Noah was focused on something else.
’Why did it unlock now?’
Noah looked at the empty container.
’Is it because of the food?’
The idea was absurd, or at least he wanted to think so.
Later, during training, Noah tested the skill.
When he activated it, a small barrier formed around him. It wasn’t as strong as Luna’s, but it had a different feature: it adapted to the nearby space and could also cover a person next to him.
Luna observed it carefully.
"I didn’t know you could make a short-range protection."
Yume touched the barrier with a finger.
"It’s soft."
Noah looked at her.
"Just in case, don’t touch it too much."
"I was just checking."
Luna also stepped closer.
"It looks useful for protecting yourself when you’re near someone."
Noah nodded.
"Yeah, I guess it could work if I don’t have time to dodge."
Yume looked at him, and together with Luna they spoke at the same time.
"Then you should stay close to me."
The two looked at each other and Noah sighed.
"The point is not needing to use it."
Yume smiled.
"But if you do have to use it, I can be close."
Luna replied.
"Me too."
Noah felt like he was once again stuck in the middle of something that was going to explode at any moment.
The days continued, and Luna started messaging him more frequently.
[Did you sleep well?]
[Did you bring water?]
[Did you make it to class?]
[Don’t forget to check the math homework.]
[Yume is trying to load too much energy, so stop her before she breaks something.]
Noah almost always replied with short messages.
[Yes.]
[Thanks for the heads-up.]
[I will.]
[I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop Yume if she decides to break something.]
Luna sometimes replied with dry comments.
[Then run.]
[Use Yume as a moral shield and tell her that if she destroys something, you’ll worry.]
Noah would laugh when reading those messages, but one time Yume saw him smiling while looking at his phone.
"Who texted you?"
"Luna."
Yume froze.
"What did she say?"
Noah showed her the message and Yume read it out loud.
"If Yume tries to train alone, confiscate her key."
Yume looked up.
"Why is she talking about confiscating my key!?"
Noah put his phone away.
"Because yesterday you wanted to train without supervision."
"It was just a small exercise."
"Well, the wall didn’t agree."
Yume puffed out her cheeks.
"Luna is taking too many liberties."
"She’s just worried."
"About me or about you?"
Noah didn’t catch the question.
"About the building, probably."
Yume stared at him for a few seconds.
"Noah, sometimes you’re really... difficult."
"Why?"
"Never mind."
Noah stayed confused.
On the other hand, Luna knew exactly what she was doing.
Waiting for him after class, bringing him food, sending messages, looking for moments alone, every small action was a step.
Maybe she couldn’t kiss Noah, or tell him she liked him, or ask him to leave Yume, but she could stay close.
She could be useful and become part of his routine, which was more than she had before.
One afternoon, Luna waited for Noah in the library.
He had gone to return some books and found her sitting at a secluded table.
"Luna?"
She looked up.
"Hi."
"Were you waiting for me?"
"Yes."
Noah smiled.
"You’ve been doing that a lot lately."
"Does it bother you?"
"No, it just surprises me."
Luna put a book in her bag.
"I wanted to talk to you without interruptions."
"About training?"
"Partly."
Noah sat down in front of her.
"Then tell me."
Luna took out a sheet with notes, suggestions to improve coordination with Yume. Noah reviewed them and was surprised by the level of detail.
"This is really good."
"Thank you."
"Seriously, if we follow this structure, we could reduce her mistakes and make better use of your control."
Luna looked at him.
"Do you think it’s useful?"
"Very."
Noah smiled.
"Thanks for thinking of this."
Luna looked down.
’He thanked me again.’
Noah kept reading.
"Luna, you’re really good at taking care of others and I think, if anyone can keep Yume focused in combat, it’s you."
Luna felt her chest tighten.
"Taking care of others is part of my function."
"Yeah, but not everyone does it this well."
Luna didn’t answer right away, and Noah noticed the silence.
"Did I say something weird?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
The clover app vibrated again and Noah took out his phone.
[Bond strengthened.]
[Skill unlocked: Close Guard.]
Noah looked at the screen.
’Another one?’
Luna observed his expression.
"What happened?"
"Ah... nothing important."
"Really?"
"Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to worry."
Luna leaned slightly forward with a fixed gaze on Noah.
"I hope that’s true."
Noah got a little nervous.
"Hey, relax! I’m not hiding anything!"
Luna didn’t press him further, but Noah still felt a bit of fear in that situation.
When Luna got distracted for a moment, Noah read the description of his new skill.
’It seems to increase my resistance when I try to protect someone near me.’
Noah frowned.
’Lately, the skills are very defensive.’
That same day, Yume found them leaving the library together and stopped in front of them.
"What were you doing!?"
Noah raised the sheet.
"We were talking about training."
Yume looked at Luna.
"Alone?"
Luna answered.
"Yes."
Yume smiled tensely.
"I guess your conversation was very productive."
"It was."
"I’m glad for you two."
"It doesn’t look like it."
Noah stepped between them.
"Yume, Luna prepared a structure to improve teamwork and it’s going to help you a lot."
Yume looked at the sheet.
"Really?"
Noah nodded.
"Yeah, it’s really good."
Yume was torn between feeling grateful and staying jealous.
"Then... thanks, Luna."
Luna looked at her.
"You’re welcome."
The peace lasted three seconds before Yume took Noah’s hand.
"Come on, I want you to explain this structure to me, Noah."
Luna looked at their hands.
"I wrote it."
"But I want Noah to explain it to me."
"That doesn’t make much sense."
"It does to me."
Noah raised the sheet.
"We can explain it together, the three of us."
Yume and Luna looked at him.
"No!"
They said at the same time.
Noah slowly lowered the sheet.
’I don’t understand these girls.’
That night, Noah lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
The new skill kept spinning in his head, and he had also received another notification after training.
[Bond strengthened.]
[Skill unlocked: Interpose.]
According to the description, it let him automatically move a short distance to place himself between an attack and a nearby person, as long as he had the intention of protecting them.
It was useful and had something in common: it was aimed at protection.
Noah spun the phone between his hands.
’Is it because of Luna?’
The idea came up because all the skills had appeared after moments when Luna and he got closer, like a meal, a private conversation, or a training plan made by her.
But he didn’t understand why they were so oriented toward defense, closeness, and protection.
’Maybe it’s because Luna has a more defensive style.’
That made sense, since Luna used barriers, controlled the field, and protected allies, so perhaps the bond was simply adapting skills related to her.
’It’s just close friendship and combat compatibility.’
Noah placed the phone on the nightstand.
Tomorrow there would be training again.
Yume would be there with Luna.
They would probably argue, and he would have to calm them down while Luna acted like she only wanted to improve the team, convincing him.
He closed his eyes.
’I’m glad Luna and I are better friends.’
That was his conclusion.
In another part of the city, Luna looked at her phone with the chat with Noah open.
She had written a message.
[Rest well.]
She deleted it and wrote another.
[Don’t forget to sleep.]
She deleted that too, only to finally send.
[Good night.]
Noah replied a minute later.
[Good night, Luna.]
Luna held the phone with both hands.
She read the message several times.
On the outside, her face didn’t change, but inside she saved another sentence and, as she turned off the light in her room, she thought something she no longer tried to deny.
’I want the first thing he sees tomorrow to be me.’
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