Chapter 164: Noah escapes one problem and runs into another.

After realizing Ayane’s presence, Noah decided to make a few moves to check.

He turned down a hallway and Ayane did the same.

Noah went down some stairs and Ayane went down.

Noah crossed a courtyard and Ayane crossed the courtyard.

Noah stopped in front of a vending machine, so Ayane stopped several meters back and pretended to read a poster.

Noah looked at her while she kept staring at the poster, so Noah walked toward her and Ayane immediately changed direction.

"Ayane."

She stopped.

"Yes?"

"Are you following me?"

"No."

"You’ve been behind me for five minutes."

"We have similar routes."

"I just walked a full circle around the building."

Ayane stayed silent and Noah pointed behind them.

"We passed this exact spot three minutes ago."

"I wanted to walk."

"In circles?"

"It’s exercise."

Noah stared at her and Ayane kept a serious expression, so Noah sighed.

"Fine."

He turned around and started walking again.

’I’m going to lose her.’

Not because he thought Ayane was going to attack him, but he didn’t want to talk about magical girls in front of someone from the Great Mother’s organization.

Besides, if Hikari was already going to think he was joking, having a villain listening in wouldn’t help.

Noah took another hallway, then went up some stairs, cut through a building, went out another door, came back in through the side entrance, passed the cafeteria, went up another floor, down two, entered the library and left through another door.

Five minutes later, he hid behind a column and Ayane appeared walking quickly.

She looked both ways, but Noah stayed still, so she frowned, pulled out her phone and Noah waited.

Ayane looked around again and then left in the opposite direction.

Noah breathed.

"Finally."

He waited a little longer and stepped out of his hiding spot.

Now he could look for Hikari, so he went back to the library, but nothing.

He discreetly asked a student and she told him she had seen Hikari leave a few minutes earlier, so Noah went back outside.

He asked another person and they pointed him toward the academic building, so Noah walked over there, went up to the second floor, but nothing.

He wandered around until he finally saw her.

A girl with long, wavy, voluminous light-brown hair was sitting at a table by a window, next to several open books, a perfectly organized notebook, two pens, a highlighter, a water bottle and a small stack of papers arranged in order.

Noah recognized her immediately, since it was Hikari Amatsuki, exactly as he remembered her, with her straight posture and her eyes focused on the book.

She wasn’t checking her phone, looking around, or talking to anyone, just studying.

’Of course.’

Noah approached.

"You’re Hikari Amatsuki."

She looked up with her amber eyes, studied him for a few seconds and seemed surprised.

"You’re Noah Reed?"

Now he was the surprised one.

"You know who I am?"

Hikari closed the book.

"Yes."

"How?"

"You’re pretty well-known."

Noah didn’t ask why, since he didn’t want to know, while Hikari set the pen next to the notebook.

"Do you need something?"

Noah looked around and there weren’t too many people nearby, so that helped.

"Yes."

"I’m listening."

’That easy.’

Noah had expected to have to chase her or convince her to stay and explain for ten minutes why he needed to talk.

But Hikari was listening, so it could work on the first try.

"I need to propose something to you."

Hikari watched him carefully.

"Related to the high school?"

"Not exactly."

"Work?"

"Neither."

"Student council?"

"No."

Hikari waited and Noah decided to get straight to the point.

"I want you to become a magical girl."

The silence was awkward.

Hikari looked at him while Noah looked at her and she blinked once.

"Become a magical girl?"

"Yes."

"No, thank you."

Noah stayed still and Hikari opened the book again.

Noah blinked.

"Wait."

Hikari looked up.

"Yes?"

"That’s it?"

"Yes."

"Can you think about it?"

"I don’t need to think about it."

"Why?"

"I have exams soon."

Noah stayed silent, looked at the books, then at Hikari and then at the books again.

"Exams?"

"Yes."

"I’m talking to you about becoming a magical girl."

"I understood."

"Saving people."

"That too."

"Fighting monsters."

"Yes."

"Possibly saving the world."

Hikari nodded.

"Sounds important."

Noah opened his hands.

"Then!"

"I can’t."

"Because of the exams?"

"Exactly."

Noah looked at her without knowing what to say and Hikari spoke with absolute seriousness.

"I have three evaluations over the next two weeks."

Noah stayed quiet.

"I also have to turn in two papers."

She continued.

"And I have a group presentation."

Noah still wasn’t speaking and Hikari pointed at her notes.

"If I accepted any additional activity right now, I’d have to reorganize my schedule."

"We’re talking about saving the world."

"And I’m talking about my GPA."

Noah opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again.

"Hikari."

"Yes?"

"If the world gets destroyed, your GPA won’t matter."

"That’s a hypothetical situation."

"Not that much!"

Hikari watched him and Noah lowered his voice.

"I mean... it could happen."

"Do you have proof?"

"Yes."

"Show me."

Noah stayed still because that was the problem, since he couldn’t pull Yume or Luna out of a backpack.

He also couldn’t ask them to transform in the middle of the high school and the Clover app wasn’t enough.

Noah pulled out his phone.

"There’s an app."

Hikari looked at the device.

"I see."

Noah showed the Golden Clover.

"This app gives me missions."

"I see."

"And it says I have to recruit you."

Hikari looked at the screen, then at Noah.

"Is that a game?"

"No."

"It looks like a game."

"It’s not a game."

"It says ’New mission’."

"Yes."

"It has a golden symbol."

"Yes."

"And it gives you objectives."

"Yes."

Hikari tilted her head slightly.

"Sounds like a game."

Noah put the phone away.

"It’s not a game."

"Then someone designed a pretty inappropriate interface."

Noah stayed silent.

’I can’t argue with that.’

Hikari looked back at her notes.

"Noah."

"Yes?"

"I assume this is a joke."

"It’s not."

"It doesn’t seem like a mean-spirited joke."

"Because it’s not a joke."

"But I have to study."

Noah rested both hands on the table.

"Hikari."

She looked up.

"This is important."

"My exams are too."

"They can’t be on the same level."

"To me they are."

Noah looked at her for several seconds.

Hikari didn’t seem to be provoking him, she wasn’t joking and she wasn’t trying to get rid of him.

She was really comparing saving the world to keeping good grades and the grades were winning.

Noah took a deep breath.

"Okay."

Hikari nodded.

"Thanks for understanding."

"I didn’t say I was giving up."

She stopped and Noah smiled.

"I just said okay."

Hikari watched him a little more carefully.

"Noah."

"Yes?"

"I have to study."

"I know."

"So I won’t accept."

"We’ll see about that."

Hikari frowned slightly and Noah took a step back.

"See you later."

"I’d prefer you didn’t interrupt my study hours."

"Then I’ll look for another time."

"My schedule is pretty full."

"I’ll find one."

Hikari stared at him while Noah started walking away and then he heard her voice.

"Noah."

He turned.

"Yes?"

Hikari pointed at his phone.

"If you really want to convince me..."

Noah paid attention.

"...bring proof."

Noah smiled.

"That I can do."

Hikari went back to studying.

The conversation was over, so Noah walked down the hallway and pulled out his phone to open the Golden Clover app again.

The mission was still there.

[Recruit Hikari Amatsuki.]

Noah sighed.

’Smart, responsible, excellent student, polite, very disciplined.’

He put the phone away.

"And completely obsessed with her grades."

Now he understood the real problem.

It wasn’t hard to talk to Hikari, the problem was getting her to consider that being a magical girl was more important than studying for an exam.

Noah kept walking.

’I need proof.’

That was simple, since he had enough magical girls to prove he was telling the truth and he just had to find a way to do it without drawing attention.

Noah smiled.

"This should be easy."

He stopped and remembered all the times he had thought something similar, so his smile disappeared.

"I shouldn’t have said that."