Chapter 5: Are My Classmates Up to Something?
Noah and Ren walked through the hallways, following the signs pointing to the first-year classrooms.
The number of students was enormous.
Most of them were girls, and some kept glancing at Noah as he passed.
Others tried to be subtle about it, but it wasn’t working very well.
Noah decided to ignore it.
He’d already come to understand that this was normal in this world, or at least as normal as anything could be here.
"Don’t worry about it."
Ren said as they walked.
"After a few weeks they’ll stop staring so much... probably."
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"That’s not very reassuring."
"Trust me, it’s way worse when you first arrive."
"I’d rather not think about it."
Ren let out a laugh.
They stopped in front of a door.
Above it, clearly visible:
[First Year — Class 1-B.]
"This is it."
Ren said, and Noah nodded. They both walked in.
The classroom was spacious, with windows taking up most of one wall. The desks already had names assigned to them, and several students were searching for their seats.
Noah looked around the room.
It was a scene he’d seen hundreds of times in anime, except now he was inside it.
’This is still so weird.’
Ren started looking for his seat.
"Let’s see..."
A few seconds passed.
Then he raised a hand.
"Found it."
Noah walked between the desks and eventually spotted his name.
[Noah Reed.]
He looked around, Ren was in the same classroom, but seated pretty far away.
"They split us up."
Noah remarked.
Ren shrugged.
"Guess they want to keep us from talking too much."
"Can’t say that’s a bad call."
"Probably not."
They both laughed.
Then Noah looked at the desk next to his and went completely still.
’No way.’
He recognized her immediately.
Long silvery-gray hair pulled into a low side ponytail, with a few loose strands framing her face alongside two small red hair clips.
Her eyes were a soft pinkish-red.
Her expression was nearly blank.
And yet...
There was a faint blush on her cheeks.
Noah recognized her instantly.
’Is that... Iris Valentine?’
Another one of the magical girls whose romance arc he’d followed for over a hundred Chapters.
’It IS Iris!’
Noah sat down slowly, trying not to look too excited.
On the inside, he was celebrating, fate was gathering half the main cast right in front of him.
’What are the odds!’
Iris kept her gaze forward.
She looked focused, and just as calm as he remembered.
Noah watched her for a few seconds, recalling countless scenes from the anime.
Especially the ones involving Aria Celestia.
The two of them had taken forever to admit how they felt about each other.
There had been arguments, misunderstandings, awkward moments, and some of the most beloved scenes in the whole series.
Noah clearly remembered how fans had spent years debating whether Iris and Aria were a better couple than Luna and Yume.
Those arguments had gone on for ages.
’Personally, I still prefer Luna and Yume.’
He glanced at Iris again.
’But you two were pretty adorable too.’
Iris seemed to notice his gaze and slowly turned her head until their eyes met.
Noah reacted immediately.
"Hi."
He tried to sound friendly.
They were going to be sharing a desk, after all, the least he could do was introduce himself.
"I’m Noah."
She looked at him silently for a few seconds, then finally responded.
"Iris."
Her tone was completely flat.
Noah waited for something more, but nothing came.
"..."
"..."
The conversation died on the spot.
’Wow.’
He remembered that for most of the anime, it had been exactly like this.
Aria was practically the only person who could hold a long conversation with her.
Noah decided to give it one more shot.
"Looks like we’ll be sitting next to each other all year."
"Yes."
"Hope we get along well."
"Understood."
Noah went quiet, and Iris turned back to face the front.
The conversation was over, with no chance of recovery.
’Yep. Definitely Iris.’
Noah let out a small sigh.
He wasn’t annoyed, he just understood that pushing further would be pointless.
Everyone had their own way of being, and besides, he knew the story, so he knew Iris wasn’t a bad person. She was just extremely reserved.
So he decided to leave her alone.
’Better not bother her.’
Iris seemed to relax slightly once Noah stopped talking to her.
The faint blush on her cheeks was still there, but Noah didn’t think much of it.
She was probably just nervous about the first day.
A lot of students were feeling the same way.
Little by little the classroom filled up, and the noise level rose.
Some girls were quietly watching Noah, others were watching Iris, and others were just chatting among themselves.
Finally, the teacher walked in, and the room fell nearly silent.
The teacher launched into the usual introductions.
She went over the rules, schedules, school activities, clubs, exams, and a whole lot of other things that Noah barely absorbed.
He was trying to pay attention, he really was, but there was a problem. A big one.
His mind was somewhere else entirely. Specifically, at recess.
Only recess. Nothing but recess.
’I need to get there.’
He knew exactly what event was supposed to happen.
He remembered it clearly, it was one of the most important scenes at the very start of the anime.
Yume arriving late and Luna helping her out.
That was the moment the two of them started talking and officially met each other.
The starting point of the entire story.
Noah wanted to see it.
He needed to see it.
He had waited way too long to miss that moment, which was exactly why he could barely focus on the teacher’s explanations.
He checked the clock. There was still a long time left, way too long.
’Why does time move so slow?!’
He tried to distract himself.
He glanced around and saw that Ren looked bored.
Several students were taking notes.
And Iris remained completely still.
It was impressive enough that she almost looked like a statue.
She barely even seemed to blink.
’Now I get why Aria was basically the only one who could get through to her.’
The teacher kept talking, and Noah looked at the clock again.
Only a few minutes had passed.
’Unbelievable.’
He had never felt a class drag on this long, and technically, the actual coursework hadn’t even started yet.
He turned his attention back to his situation.
His mission was simple.
Very simple.
Watch how Yume and Luna met, how they became friends, how they fell in love, and make sure that this time, they ended up together.
No tragedies, no sacrifices, no terrible endings.
All he had to do was observe and not mess with anything important.
That was it.
’It’s a perfect plan.’
As long as he didn’t do anything stupid, everything should work out fine.
It was impossible for anything to go wrong. Absolutely impossible.
Noah smiled faintly.
Then he looked at the clock again and kept waiting impatiently for recess to arrive, because soon, he would finally get to witness the beginning of the story he had always wanted to see.