Chapter 7: Chapter 7: He bet on whether he’d end up with a house full of kids or not.
Noah walked the school hallways with his mind stuck on the same problem.
He had ruined the event.
The scene was supposed to have happened between Yume and Luna, but it happened between him and Yume instead.
’How did that even happen?’
He had gone to the right place, waited for the right moment, had even decided to keep his distance, and still ended up bumping into the protagonist.
Noah dropped onto an empty desk during a break between classes.
He rested his head on his arms.
’This is bad.’
If he kept interfering like that, he could throw off the entire story, and if he changed too much, maybe the romance between Yume and Luna would never happen at all.
Just thinking about that possibility gave him a headache.
’I need a plan.’
He tried to think, but nothing came to him.
He tried again. Still nothing.
The exhaustion began to pile up, since everything that had happened was too much for a single day.
Without realizing it, his eyes started to close, and shortly after, he fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer at school. He found himself in an enormous place.
The floor was white, the columns were immense, and the ceiling seemed to dissolve into the distance.
Noah looked around.
’Where am I?’
Then he heard a voice.
"You finally woke up."
Noah looked up and saw her.
A woman was seated on a great throne.
Her hair was completely white, pulled up into an elegant bun from which two long strands fell loose.
Her violet eyes shone softly.
Resting on her head was a delicate golden crown decorated with a purple gem that, along with her earrings, necklace, and bracelets, all shared the same floral design.
Her clothing combined shades of white and purple, paired with an enormous mantle of white feathers that enveloped her figure.
Noah blinked.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled.
"I am the goddess of fortune."
She raised one finger.
"I’m also the goddess of love."
She raised another.
"And of fertility."
Noah took a few seconds to process that.
"A goddess?"
"Yes."
"An actual goddess?"
"Yes."
"Not a hallucination?"
"No."
"Or some weird dream?"
The woman considered it.
"Technically, it is a dream."
"..."
Noah decided to ignore that part.
"Why am I here?"
The goddess crossed one leg over the other.
"Because I’m the one who brought you to this world."
Noah froze.
"You brought me here?"
"That’s right."
"Why?"
The goddess smiled.
"Because you know the future of this world."
Noah frowned.
"In that case, a lot of people knew the future of this world."
"Hm?"
"The anime was popular, so I wasn’t the only one who watched it."
The goddess nodded.
"That’s true."
"Then why me?"
The goddess’s smile widened.
"Because you were the only one who died over the ending."
Silence settled in.
"I’m not sure whether to feel flattered or insulted."
"Probably both."
Noah sighed, and the goddess continued.
"I figured you must have really cared about those girls."
"Well..."
Noah scratched the back of his head.
"I did want them to be happy."
"That’s why I chose you."
Noah nodded slowly. That made a certain kind of sense, strange, but sense nonetheless.
The goddess spoke again.
"I also decided to give you a reward."
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"What reward?"
"You can keep the girls."
"..."
"..."
Noah stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you’ll be able to start families with them."
Noah went completely still, but then he remembered something very important.
The scene with Yume, the collision, the absurd chain of accidents.
In that moment, his eyes went wide.
"That was you!?"
The goddess smiled.
"Yes."
"It was you!"
"I already said yes."
"You caused all of that!"
"Correct."
Noah pointed at her accusingly.
"And what about the yuri?"
The goddess tilted her head.
"What about it?"
"What about the relationship between Yume and Luna?"
"Ah, that... I plan to break it up."
Noah felt something inside him snap.
"What?"
"The others too."
"The others?"
"All those relationships."
Noah was horrified.
"Why would you do that!?"
The goddess rested her chin in her hand.
"Because they’re causing me problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"Magical girls."
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They all end up falling for each other."
Noah nodded.
"Because they’re beautiful couples."
"Because they’re a headache."
Noah stared at her, indignant, but the goddess continued.
"The male population has been declining for years."
"I’d heard about it on the news."
"And relationships between women don’t help."
"You can’t blame them for falling in love."
"I don’t blame them."
"It sure sounds like you do."
The goddess ignored the comment.
"The situation has grown increasingly complicated, families are having fewer children, and the number of men keeps dropping."
Noah crossed his arms.
"That still doesn’t justify what you’re trying to do."
The goddess let out a sigh.
"Those girls’ feelings will turn toward you."
Noah shook his head immediately.
"No."
"Yes."
"No, they won’t."
"Yes, they will."
"I said no."
The goddess began to enjoy herself.
"Noah."
"What?"
"It’s already happening."
"That’s not true!"
"Of course it is."
"They’re just curious, that’s all!"
The goddess smiled.
"If you could see their thoughts, you wouldn’t say that."
Noah went quiet. He didn’t want to know what she was seeing, and honestly, it was probably better that way.
The goddess pointed at him.
"Besides, I didn’t force anyone."
"Hm?"
"Those feelings are real."
"I don’t believe you!"
"They’re completely genuine."
Noah shook his head.
"No."
"Yes."
"I already said no."
"And I say yes."
The argument went on for several seconds.
Finally, Noah took a deep breath and made a decision.
"I’ll prove you wrong."
The goddess raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
Noah answered without hesitation.
"I’ll prove that they really do love each other."
The goddess went quiet.
"That their love will keep existing even with me around."
The smile slowly faded from the goddess’s face, and for the first time she looked genuinely interested.
"That sounds like a bet."
Noah nodded.
"It is."
The goddess was quiet for a moment, then smiled again.
"Fine."
She stood up.
"I accept."
Noah felt like he’d gained some ground.
"So if I win..."
The goddess finished the sentence.
"I’ll stop interfering."
Noah smiled.
"Perfect."
"But if you lose..."
Noah stopped smiling.
"What happens if I lose?"
The goddess sat back down.
"You’ll admit I was right."
Noah frowned.
"That doesn’t sound so bad."
"And you’ll have children with every magical girl until you’ve had at least one boy per girl."
"..."
Noah said nothing. That was bad. Very bad. But if he backed down now, it would look like he didn’t trust his own words.
Finally, he extended his hand.
"Deal."
The goddess shook it.
"Deal."
Then she began to laugh, a calm laugh, but one clearly full of amusement.
"This is going to be interesting."
Noah pointed at her.
"Get ready to lose."
"We’ll see."
The goddess kept laughing as the world began to dissolve around them.
Everything turned white, then black, and finally Noah opened his eyes.
He was back at school, sitting on the desk, alone.
He looked around, nobody seemed to have noticed he’d fallen asleep.
He sat in silence for a few seconds, then stood up.
’I’m going to win.’
It didn’t matter how many tricks the goddess pulled, how many problems came his way, or how hard she tried to rewrite the story.
He would prove her wrong, and every couple would end up together.
Noah clenched his fists. His determination had never been stronger.
’Yuri will prevail!’
And with that decision made, he walked back out into the hallway, ready to take on a goddess if that’s what it came to.
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