Chapter 125: Iris will do it.

Iris’s message arrived in the afternoon.

[Can you come over?]

Noah was sitting in his room checking some high school stuff when he saw the notification.

For a few seconds he thought it had something to do with the debate attack, but then another message appeared.

[I want to play with someone.]

Noah smiled a little, since that sounded much more normal, so he replied.

[Now?]

[Yeah.]

[Is your mom there?]

The answer took a few seconds to arrive.

[No.]

Noah looked at the screen and then remembered the last time he had gone.

Iris’s mother had come back earlier than expected and he had ended up hidden in a tiny storage space while listening to a pretty uncomfortable conversation between the two of them.

[You sure the same thing as last time isn’t going to happen?]

[Yeah, she left and she’ll be gone a while.]

[Last time she was also supposed to be gone a while.]

[This time I asked.]

Noah let out a small laugh.

[Alright, if you insist that much, I’m coming.]

Iris answered almost immediately.

[Good, I’ll be waiting.]

Noah put his phone away.

’At least today should be a quiet day.’

When Noah arrived at Iris’s house, she opened the door again with suspiciously fast speed.

Noah looked at her and she looked right back.

"Were you waiting by the door again?"

"No."

"Sure, I believe you."

Iris stepped aside.

"Come in."

Noah walked in, noticing the house was just as tidy as the previous time and, after taking off his shoes, glanced briefly toward the living room.

"Hope your mom isn’t here."

"She’s not."

"That’s what you said last time."

Iris frowned.

"I told you I asked."

"How long will she be?"

"Several hours."

"That reassures me a little."

They went straight up to the room and this time Noah noticed Iris hadn’t even tried that hard to hide the mess.

There were clothes on a chair, two empty cans next to the desk, a box of controllers was open, and there was a pack of cookies on top of the bed.

Noah pointed around.

"I see you dropped the act."

Iris closed the door.

"It’s not an act."

"It’s pretty different now."

"It’s normal."

"That means last time you cleaned because I was coming."

Iris sat in front of the computer.

"No."

Noah smiled.

"I think you did."

"Just sit down."

"That wasn’t a convincing denial."

Iris grabbed a controller and Noah did the same.

"What are we playing?"

"Same as last time."

"Nice, I was just wanting a rematch."

"You’re gonna lose."

"That’s what you said before and I ended up winning."

"Once."

"But it still counts as a win, right?"

Iris started the game and the first match began.

Noah expected everything to go like last time, but it didn’t.

Iris won, but she didn’t say anything, there was no comment, no little jab, and she didn’t even look at him.

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Look at that, you won."

"Yeah."

"Normally you’d say I’m bad."

Iris kept her eyes on the screen.

"You’re bad."

Noah smiled.

"That’s better."

They started another match and Noah won this time, but Iris didn’t react much either.

She just started another one, then another, and another after that.

Noah began paying less attention to the game and more to her, because Iris was acting weird.

She didn’t seem annoyed and she didn’t seem sad either, she just talked a lot less than usual, even for her.

At one point, Noah set the controller on his lap.

"Iris."

"What?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"That was way too fast of an answer."

"Nothing’s wrong."

Noah watched her and Iris avoided looking at him.

"You’re not playing like usual."

"You’re imagining things."

"No, I’m serious."

"I’m beating you."

"That has nothing to do with it."

Iris stayed quiet, so Noah set the controller aside.

"If you didn’t want me to come, you could’ve just said so."

Iris finally looked at him.

"I wanted you to come."

"Then something’s up."

"No."

"Iris."

She looked back at the screen while Noah waited for her to say something, because he knew pushing too hard would only make her shut down more.

Several seconds passed until Iris paused the game and then set her controller down.

Noah didn’t say anything and she breathed slowly.

"I’ve been thinking."

"That usually means trouble."

Iris looked at him, so Noah corrected himself.

"It was a joke."

"Bad timing."

"Got it."

Iris rested her hands on her legs and Noah waited for whatever she was going to say.

"About the debate."

She said, and Noah nodded.

"The battle?"

"Yeah."

"You worried about something with your powers?"

"No, it’s not that."

A light silence appeared, since Iris seemed to be searching for the words and Noah decided to give her time.

"When you showed up..."

Iris began while Noah looked at her, confused.

"On the stage?"

"Before."

Iris answered while shaking her head slightly and continued.

"I mean in general."

Noah didn’t get it, but she kept going.

"When we met, you were weird."

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks for the compliment?"

"You talked to me even though I barely answered."

"That’s true."

"Then you started asking about games."

"Because I knew you liked them."

Iris looked at him and Noah realized he had said too much.

"I mean... it was obvious."

Iris didn’t push it.

"At the manga café too."

Noah immediately remembered the kiss and Iris looked away a little.

"After that we started playing more."

"Yeah."

"And we trained."

Noah nodded and Iris went quiet.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

She tightened her fingers slightly.

"In the debate..."

Noah waited for Iris’s words.

"You came back for Aria."

"Yeah, that’s true."

Iris frowned a little.

"I didn’t like that."

Noah smiled faintly.

"I already figured that."

"But you also came back for everyone."

Noah stopped smiling and Iris continued.

"You put yourself in front of attacks."

"Ren did too."

"Ren doesn’t have powers."

"That’s exactly why it was worse."

Iris ignored the comment.

"You always do that."

"Do what?"

"You get in the middle."

Noah stayed silent.

"When we train, when someone’s in danger, when they attacked me."

Iris slowly raised her gaze.

"You don’t think about yourself first."

Noah wanted to answer, but she continued before he could.

"That’s stupid."

Noah blinked.

"Well."

"You could die, you know?"

"I try to avoid that."

"Doesn’t look like it."

Noah let out a small laugh, but Iris didn’t, so then he understood she was completely serious.

"I don’t want anything to happen to you."

Iris said, a little worried, while Noah stayed quiet and she looked down at her hands again.

"At first I liked you, then I liked playing with you, then I wanted you close during training, and then I started overthinking whenever you were with other people."

Noah felt the conversation shifting and Iris kept going.

"I don’t know when it changed."

Noah already suspected what she was going to say, but he didn’t interrupt her and Iris took several more seconds before finally looking at him.

"I like you."

Noah went still and Iris held his gaze.

"I don’t know what to do after telling you that."

That was all.

There was no longer explanation, no prepared speech; Iris simply stayed there, waiting.