The S-Rank Magical Girls from My Favorite Yuri Want Me!?

"I can’t wait for all of this to be over."

A girl’s voice echoed in his head.

"I can’t wait."

Noah stood still while in front of him a young woman smiled, the same girl he had spent a lot of time with.

He remembered conversations, outings, laughter, simple and happy moments, but the voice returned.

"Once the challenge is over, I can stop pretending I like him."

Noah felt a knot in his stomach as the girl kept talking.

"At least it’ll make for a really funny story."

The words hit him one after another.

"I never thought someone so ridiculous could exist."

The laughter continued.

Noah wanted to pull away and stop listening, but the memory wouldn’t disappear.

Then he opened his eyes, sat up abruptly, and realized he was breathing hard.

The room was still dark, and silence reigned over the place.

Noah ran a hand across his face.

"Damn memory."

A year had passed, yet it still showed up from time to time.

It was something he preferred to forget, but it never disappeared completely.

He got out of bed and noticed the room smelled different, as if someone had cleaned it.

He frowned, looked around, and everything seemed normal.

"Doesn’t matter."

It was probably one of his moms who had come in, so he didn’t overthink it.

He went to the bathroom, got ready for school, had breakfast, and shortly after left the house.

The high school was as crowded as always.

Students walked everywhere, chatting, laughing, and running between buildings.

Noah made his way across campus when he felt something—an uncomfortable sensation like someone was watching him.

He turned his head and saw nothing, so he looked the other way, but there was nothing there either.

He kept walking, but the feeling didn’t go away, so he searched again and this time found the source.

Luna was some distance away, watching him in silence without looking away.

Noah felt a chill.

’That’s creepy!’

Luna’s expression was completely serious.

She didn’t look happy or calm, and she definitely didn’t look like she had forgotten what happened with Reina.

’It’s true.’

They still hadn’t made up.

Technically, they had never even talked about it, since after that incident Noah had avoided running into Luna.

Noah thought for several seconds.

He could approach her and try to explain and fix the situation, but then he remembered something.

’Luna should hate me.’

Or at least be annoyed, which was good because it meant she would have a better chance of noticing Yume.

That was the goal, so he ended up shaking his head.

’It’s better to leave things like this.’

He felt a little guilty, but kept walking.

Meanwhile, Luna continued watching him from afar, and her expression didn’t improve.

Noah was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t notice something.

Someone had gotten too close to him.

"Hey."

Noah almost jumped and spun around to find Yume standing right behind him, so close he didn’t understand how he hadn’t seen her approach.

"When did you appear?!"

Yume blinked.

"A few seconds ago."

"Why so quiet?!"

"Hey."

"You already said hi!"

"I wanted to do it again."

Noah sighed.

Yume seemed nervous, much more than usual. She was playing with her fingers, glancing sideways, and avoiding eye contact for too long.

Something weird was going on.

"Is something wrong?"

Noah asked, and Yume startled.

"You noticed?!"

"Yeah."

"Well..."

The girl lowered her gaze.

"I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Yume gathered her courage.

"Can you meet me on the rooftop during lunch?"

Noah was surprised.

"The rooftop?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Yume hesitated, but then clenched her fists.

"Because I want to tell you something important."

Noah didn’t know what to answer, but he didn’t see any reason to refuse.

"Alright."

Yume gave a small but sincere smile.

"Thank you."

Then she ran off, leaving Noah confused.

"What was that?"

He had no idea, but he would find out soon.

Lunch arrived.

Yume was waiting on the rooftop because she had gotten there several minutes early, too many minutes early, and her heart was beating so fast she thought she might faint.

’Calm down.’

She took a deep breath.

’You can do this.’

She had practiced a lot and had even written full speeches, which she had memorized, corrected, and then forgotten everything because of her nerves.

She heard the door open.

Yume turned immediately and saw Noah had just arrived.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Silence fell, and Yume felt her mind go blank.

’Say something!’

No response.

’Anything!’

Nothing.

’Anything at all!’

He didn’t even react.

Noah waited a few seconds.

"What was so important?"

Yume swallowed hard. This was it. There was no turning back. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and gathered every bit of courage she had.

"Noah."

"Yeah."

"I-I like you!"

The world seemed to stop.

Noah stood completely still, and his brain took several seconds to process those words.

"Huh?"

Yume turned red but continued.

"I like you a lot. Please go out with me!"

Noah felt the ground disappear beneath his feet.

’No, no, no... that’s wrong.’

Yume wasn’t supposed to say that to him. She was supposed to fall in love with Luna.

That was the story and the reason he was there, but nothing was happening the way it should.

The memories from that morning returned.

The girl from his past, the lies, the fake relationship, the way it all ended, and the words he still remembered.

"I can’t wait for all of this to be over."

Noah clenched his teeth.

Yume kept watching him, waiting for a response or something, anything, but Noah could only think of one thing.

’This is a mistake.’

One that proved how far the story had deviated, and if he accepted, everything would get even worse.

"Noah..."

Yume’s voice sounded weak.

Finally, he spoke.

"I’m sorry."

Yume froze, and Noah forced his body to continue.

"But I can’t return your feelings."

The color drained from Yume’s face.

"No..."

She murmured.

Noah looked away because seeing her like that hurt more than he expected.

"Yume."

She answered with difficulty.

"Think about it."

She lowered her head.

"No."

Noah’s voice trembled.

"I already have."

Noah felt a weight in his chest, but he continued because he believed he had to.

"I can’t accept."

Silence returned, and this time it was much worse.

Yume remained motionless, head down, not moving or speaking.

Noah felt the urge to say something else to try to comfort her and fix the situation, but he knew he couldn’t because there was nothing to fix.

He had rejected her, and that was it.

Finally, Yume spoke.

"I understand."

It was clear she wasn’t okay.

Her voice sounded completely broken, but she still tried to smile with a smile that barely existed.

"I’m sorry."

Noah said, and Yume shook her head.

"You didn’t do anything wrong."

That made Noah feel even worse because she really believed it.

The girl took a deep breath as if she were fighting to stay on her feet.

"Thank you for listening to me."

"You don’t have to thank me for that."

But Yume no longer seemed to be listening.

Her eyes were empty, as if she were processing something too big.

Noah remembered everything that had happened between them and understood something: for Yume, this hadn’t been something small.

It was important, and he had just destroyed it.

The rooftop door opened again.

Yume walked toward it with slow, heavy steps.

Noah wanted to stop her, but in the end he didn’t.

The girl disappeared behind the door and left.

Noah was left alone.

The wind swept across the rooftop.

He stayed there in silence for several seconds.

Finally, he closed his eyes.

’It was the right thing.’

It had to be the right thing.

Yume had to be with Luna, not with him.

All of this was a mistake, a deviation, something that should never have happened.

That’s why he rejected her, because it was necessary, because it was what he had to do. And yet...

As he stared at the door Yume had just walked through, something inside him kept wondering if he had really made the right decision.