Chapter 200: Luna’s verification has ulterior motives.

The next day, Noah arrived at the training grounds well before the agreed time, and it was no coincidence.

After everything that had happened over the past few days, he had decided they could no longer keep meeting as if nothing had changed.

There were too many problems happening at the same time.

Luna was already there as always, and Noah found her checking a list on her phone while walking around the grounds.

"Have you been here long?"

Luna looked up.

"Twenty-two minutes."

Noah sighed.

"I told you to come early, not to stake the place out since dawn."

"I didn’t come since dawn."

"It was an exaggeration."

"I know."

Noah approached.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing suspicious."

Luna pointed to several spots around the grounds.

"I checked the entrances."

"Good."

"The surrounding area too."

"Perfect."

"And I confirmed no one was watching from elevated positions."

Noah looked at her.

"That last one was very specific."

"Nozomi has armed companions."

"Fair point."

Luna put away her phone.

"Now we still have to verify the others."

Noah smiled uncomfortably.

"About that..."

Luna watched him.

"Having second thoughts?"

"A little."

"This is necessary."

"I know."

The idea had been both of theirs, mainly because Noah didn’t want a repeat of what happened with the fake Stella.

The night before, Luna and he had organized several ways to confirm identities before starting training.

Some were reasonable, but others Noah still had doubts about.

A few minutes later, Yume appeared running with a bag in one hand.

"Sorry!"

Noah raised a hand.

"You made it on time."

Yume stopped.

"Then I take back the apology."

Luna looked at her.

"Verification."

Yume blinked.

"Already?"

"Yes."

Noah pulled out a small sheet and Yume looked at him.

"What’s that?"

"A list."

"That’s scary."

Luna spoke.

"First question."

Yume grew serious.

"Go ahead."

Noah read.

"What did you destroy during one of your first training sessions?"

Yume frowned.

"Anyone could answer that."

Luna nodded.

"It was a warm-up question."

Yume pointed at Noah.

"A bench."

Noah lowered the sheet.

"And a tree."

Yume looked at him.

"You didn’t need to add that."

"Also a fountain."

"Luna."

"And part of a statue."

"I get it already!"

Noah tried not to laugh.

"Good."

Yume crossed her arms.

"Did I pass?"

Luna shook her head.

"Not yet."

Yume looked at her.

"How many questions are there?"

"Depends."

"I don’t like that."

Luna checked her phone.

"Personal question."

Yume looked at Noah, who already knew where this was going.

"That’s not necessary."

Luna ignored the protest.

"What did you do the first time Noah went to your house?"

Yume went completely still, and Noah brought a hand to his face.

"Luna."

Yume started turning red.

"What kind of verification is that?"

"An effective one."

"I’m not answering that!"

Luna observed her.

"That’s suspicious."

"It is not!"

Noah intervened.

"We can use another one."

Luna sighed.

"Fine."

Yume pointed at Luna.

"That wasn’t for security."

Luna answered with absolute calm.

"Of course it was."

"You wanted to know what I did with Noah."

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

"Luna!"

Noah stepped between them.

"That’s enough."

Yume kept looking at Luna.

"We’ll talk later."

Luna nodded.

"Whenever you want."

That didn’t help.

The next to arrive was Iris, who walked looking at her phone and didn’t even look up as she approached.

"Hi."

Noah answered.

"Hi."

Luna spoke.

"Verification."

Iris put away her phone.

"Okay."

Noah raised the sheet.

"What game did we try to play when my phone was still too bad?"

Iris answered immediately with the name of the game, and Noah nodded.

"Correct."

Luna intervened.

"Personal question."

Iris looked at Luna.

"I won’t answer."

"I haven’t even asked yet."

"But you already know my answer."

Luna stayed quiet for a few seconds, and Iris added.

"If you ask what we did when we were alone, I’m not answering."

Yume turned immediately.

"What did you do when you were alone?"

Iris took out her phone again.

"Now definitely not."

Noah closed his eyes.

’This is going to be a disaster.’

Aria arrived next, which triggered another round of questions, and Aria answered everything easily until Luna decided to use her personal questions again.

"Aria."

"Yes?"

"When Noah was alone with you..."

Noah raised both hands.

"No, Luna, what she already answered is enough."

Aria smiled.

"Let her finish."

"No, it’s just..."

Luna continued.

"What happened?"

Aria looked at Noah, and her smile grew.

"Do you want the short version or the detailed one?"

Noah’s eyes widened.

"Neither!"

Yume approached.

"The detailed one."

Iris looked up from her phone.

"I also vote for the detailed one."

Noah pointed at all of them.

"The point of this was to detect the Great Mother."

Luna nodded.

"That’s what I’m trying."

"I don’t buy it."

The rest of the verification continued between legitimate questions and others that Noah suspected Luna had prepared for completely different reasons.

Even so, the system worked, since each of them had a keyword, plus Noah had asked them to memorize certain private answers.

Nothing too compromising, at least in theory.

Hikari arrived a little later carrying a fairly thick folder under her arm, and Noah looked at her.

"What are you carrying there?"

"Documents."

"I can see that."

"Then you didn’t need to ask."

Noah sighed.

Luna verified her quickly, and Hikari answered without problems, but then looked around.

"Stella hasn’t arrived?"

Noah shook his head.

"Not yet."

Hikari lowered her gaze slightly, and Noah noticed.

"She’s coming."

"I know."

"She’s just busy."

"I know that too."

Noah looked at the folder.

"Does that have something to do with her?"

Hikari adjusted her glasses.

"Maybe."

Noah raised an eyebrow, but before he could press, they heard footsteps, Stella’s, as she appeared walking quickly.

"Sorry for being late."

Noah checked the time.

"You were only five minutes late."

"For me that’s late."

Stella breathed a little more slowly.

"I had a work-related meeting."

Hikari observed her, and Stella looked back at her; for a few seconds silence fell.

Noah decided not to intervene, and Hikari took a step forward.

"Stella."

"Hello again."

Hikari took a deep breath.

"I want to apologize."

Stella looked at her, and Hikari continued.

"For last time."

She didn’t try to make excuses, didn’t talk about nerves, didn’t mention Noah’s plan; she simply continued.

"I was too focused on your characters..."

Stella remained silent.

"...and I ended up treating you as if you were one of them."

Hikari lowered her head slightly.

"Plus I called you a man."

Yume made a face while Noah stayed quiet, and Hikari continued.

"It was disrespectful, so I’m sorry."

Stella observed her for a few seconds and finally smiled.

"It’s fine."

Hikari raised her gaze, and Stella added.

"It did bother me."

Hikari nodded.

"I figured."

"But it’s over now."

Stella extended a hand.

"You don’t have to keep worrying about that."

Hikari looked at the hand and then shook it.

"Thank you."

Noah felt relief.

’Much better.’

He hadn’t done anything, and that was precisely the good part—they had reconciled naturally.