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

The second exercise also went well. Luna shifted to the side, drew the target’s attention, and Yume launched an attack from the opposite angle. The coordination was a bit clumsy at first, but it worked.

Noah noted the result.

”Good work. This time Yume attacked from the correct position and Luna managed to force the target’s movement without exposing herself too much.”

Yume smiled, satisfied.

”That was actual teamwork.”

Luna nodded.

”It wasn’t useless.”

”You could say it was good.”

”It was acceptable.”

”That still doesn’t sound nice.”

”It’s more than enough.”

Noah chuckled softly.

”Luna has her own way of giving compliments.”

Luna looked at him.

”Was that a compliment to me?”

Noah blinked.

”Yeah, I guess so.”

”I see.”

Luna lowered her gaze.

’I’m going to remember this conversation.’

Yume glanced at her sideways.

’Why does she look so pleased?’

Noah moved on to the next exercise.

”Now we’ll do defense and counterattack. Luna will block the first hit and Yume will respond immediately after, but you can’t take more than two seconds.”

Yume smacked her fist into her palm.

”Got it.”

Luna stepped forward.

”Ready.”

Noah activated the small magical device the goddess had left him a few days earlier. It generated low-intensity energy projectiles for training reflexes.

The first shot flew toward them.

Luna raised her barrier and blocked it so Yume could fire right after.

The counterattack struck the secondary target.

Noah checked the time.

”One point eight seconds. Nice.”

Yume smiled and Luna lowered the barrier.

Noah looked at Luna.

”Your reaction was excellent.”

Luna felt her breath catch for a moment.

”Thank you.”

Noah continued.

”Yume, your response was good, but you still took a little too long after Luna blocked, so you need to trust more that she’s going to stop the attack.”

Yume stayed quiet.

”Understood.”

Noah hadn’t said it with any bad intent, it was a normal correction, but Yume still felt the comment weigh on her.

’Did he praise Luna more?’

An imaginary conscience stamped a red mark over Luna’s name.

’Danger confirmed.’

Another conscience spoke in a grave tone.

’First she stares at his lips, and now she gets more praise. That’s definitely a concerning pattern.’

Yume took a deep breath.

’No, Noah is just correcting the training. Nothing’s happening.’

Luna, on the other hand, wasn’t thinking about the correction to Yume. She was thinking about Noah’s voice.

’Excellent...’

The word repeated in her head.

’He said excellent...’

Noah stepped closer to check the angle of her barrier.

”Luna, when you block, try not to close the angle so much. If you cover too wide, Yume will have less room to respond.”

”Understood.”

Noah stood beside her and pointed in the direction of the attack.

”It would be better like this.”

Luna felt his closeness.

It wasn’t physical contact, but Noah was close enough for her to notice his presence with painful clarity.

Her eyes drifted again to his lips, his neck, and the line of his jaw.

Luna clenched her fists.

’No. Not here. Not in front of Yume.’

Yume saw everything and her smile tightened.

’He did it again.’

Inside her mind, the consciences started arguing.

’Preemptive strike!’

’We can’t attack Luna. She’s our teammate.’

’A teammate who’s staring at someone else’s boyfriend’s neck.’

’Technically she hasn’t done anything.’

’But she’s thinking about it.’

Yume swallowed.

’Maybe I’m exaggerating.’

Noah took a step back.

”Let’s try again.”

During the following attempts, the training continued to improve. Luna blocked with precision and Yume attacked with more control than before.

When one slipped up, the other covered for her. If Yume charged too much energy, Luna reinforced the barrier. If Luna left an angle open, Yume covered it with a quick shot.

Noah was genuinely satisfied.

”This is the best you two have done so far.”

Yume and Luna looked at him at the same time.

Noah raised his notebook.

”I’m not exaggerating. If you fight like this on a real mission, your chances of protecting civilians go up a lot.”

Yume smiled.

”Then we really are a good team.”

Luna nodded.

”We can be.”

Yume looked at her, and for a moment it seemed like the tension was easing.

Noah thought he had finally made some progress.

’It’s working.’

Then he made a mistake.

”Especially you, Luna. Your field reading is really good—you’re compensating for almost all the positioning errors.”

Luna and Yume froze.

Noah didn’t notice the problem and kept going.

”That’s important. If you keep that calm in a real fight, you can control the pace of the battle.”

Luna looked him in the eyes.

”Do you think I can do it?”

”Yes, no doubt.”

Luna felt warmth rise to her face, but she didn’t let it show too much.

’No doubt.’

She looked at Noah’s lips again. This time it lasted less than a second, but Yume saw it.

Yume’s consciences fell silent, then one spoke.

’War.’

Yume clenched her teeth.

’No.’

Another conscience pointed at a whiteboard.

’Target Luna Tsukino has shown direct interest in the father of our future children.’

’Not confirmed.’

’Three looks at the lips, two at the neck, and a positive reaction to praise is more than enough evidence.’

’I don’t want to fight Luna in front of Noah.’

’Then don’t fight. She’ll get over it.’

Yume opened her eyes.

’Get over it...’

Noah turned to her.

”Yume, now try to do the same but with less charge time.”

Yume smiled.

”Sure.”

She formed a sphere of energy that was bigger than necessary. Noah raised a hand.

”Yume, I said less charge time, not more power.”

”I know.”

The sphere grew a little bigger and Luna looked at it.

”That doesn’t look controlled.”

Yume kept smiling.

”It is.”

”No, it isn’t.”

”Yes it is! Besides, Noah just said I need to trust you more, so trust me too.”

Luna observed her.

”Trust doesn’t mean ignoring an obvious mistake.”

Yume felt something tighten in her chest.

”It’s not a mistake!”

Noah intervened.

”Yume, reduce the energy.”

Yume obeyed, but her expression barely changed.

”Fine.”

The next attempt went well, though the attack hit with more force than necessary.

Noah took a note.

”Impact correct, power excessive.”

Yume looked at Luna.

”But I hit it.”

Luna answered calmly.

”The goal wasn’t just to hit it.”

”I know that.”

”It doesn’t look like it.”

Yume smiled wider than usual.

”Luna, are you trying to impress him by correcting me?”

Luna stayed silent for a second.

Noah looked up.

”What?”

Luna answered without changing her tone.

”I don’t need to.”

Yume’s eyes widened.

”Oh, really?”

”No.”

”Why not?”

”Because he already praised me.”

Noah felt the atmosphere shift instantly.

’Oh no.’

Yume kept smiling, but her energy started to rise.

”Good for you.”

Luna created a firmer barrier.

”Yes.”

Noah raised both hands.

”Wait, the exercise isn’t about this!”

Yume looked at the target.

”I want to do it again.”

Noah tried to stop her.

”Not with that much energy!”

”Relax, honey. I can control it.”

Luna stepped forward.

”If you’re going to miss, I’ll block the excess.”

Yume looked at her.

”I’m not going to miss.”

”Then there won’t be a problem.”

Noah closed his eyes for a moment.

’There goes the progress.’

Yume launched the attack.

The sphere flew out with too much force. Luna raised her barrier and managed to deflect part of the impact, but the remaining energy struck the ground behind the target and opened a crack.

Noah put a hand to his forehead.

”Yume.”

Yume pointed at the rock.

”The target was destroyed.”

”So was the ground.”

”Minor secondary damage.”

Luna looked at the crack.

”That’s not minor.”

Yume turned toward her.

”Your barrier deflected the attack badly.”

”My barrier stopped you from breaking half the training area.”

”I wasn’t going to break half the area!”

”True. Maybe just a third.”

Noah wasn’t sure if Luna was joking, but Yume decided to take it as provocation.

”Then let’s do another exercise. Double attack.”

Luna narrowed her eyes.

”You want to compete?”

”No, I just want to train.”

”That was a yes.”

Noah raised his voice.

”We are not turning this into a competition!”

Both looked at him and Noah pointed at the cones.

”The goal for today was coordination. If you start competing, we lose everything we’ve gained.”

Yume lowered her gaze a little.

”Sorry.”

Luna also looked away.

”Understood.”

Noah sighed.

”All right. We’ll repeat the first exercise and finish for today.”

Yume nodded along with Luna.

For a moment, Noah thought he had regained control, but he was wrong.

The first exercise was supposed to be simple: Luna would open the barrier and Yume would fire with precision. But Yume tried to charge faster than normal to prove she had improved, and Luna opened the window earlier than expected to show she could read her even if the rhythm changed.

The attack went off course. Luna closed the opening too late. The energy grazed the barrier, bounced toward a dead tree, and split it in half.

Noah stared at the fallen tree while Yume and Luna remained silent.

A bird flew out from the branches.

Noah lowered his notebook.

”We’re done for today.”

Yume raised her hand.

”We can fix it.”

”No.”

Luna spoke.

”The mistake was correctable.”

”It was also correctable before the tree fell.”

Yume muttered.

”It was just a small tree.”

Noah looked at her and Yume lowered her gaze.

”Sorry.”

Luna observed the tree.

”I miscalculated too.”

Noah took a deep breath.

”I’m not saying you’re incapable of working together. Quite the opposite. Today you showed you can do it. The problem is that the moment one of you feels the other is getting more attention, you stop acting like a team.”

Yume and Luna stayed quiet.

Noah continued.

”If this happens in a real fight, someone could get hurt.”

Both lowered their heads.

”Sorry.”

Said Yume.

”I’ll fix it.”

Said Luna.

Noah closed the notebook.

”I hope so, because when you work together, you’re much stronger.”

Yume glanced sideways at Luna, and Luna glanced back at her.

For a few seconds, neither said anything.

Yume thought about Luna’s looks toward Noah, while Luna thought about Noah’s words.

Noah, for his part, thought that team training could still work with more practice. He didn’t understand that the problem was no longer just technical.

When they finished, Yume walked beside Noah toward the park exit while Luna followed a few steps behind.

Yume tried to smile normally.

”I improved today, right?”

Noah looked at her.

”Yeah, a lot.”

”More than Luna?”

Noah stopped.

”Yume.”

She realized what she had asked and looked away.

”Sorry, forget that.”

Noah softened his voice.

”You don’t need to compete for my praise.”

Yume tightened the strap of her bag.

”I know.”

Behind them, Luna heard the phrase and lowered her gaze.

’Don’t compete for his praise.’

It was a reasonable instruction, but a difficult one.

Noah said goodbye to both of them at the park entrance.

”Rest up. There won’t be training tomorrow because I want you to think about what happened today.”

Yume nodded.

”Okay.”

Luna did the same.

”Understood.”

Noah left first.

Yume stayed watching his back until he disappeared into the crowd.

Luna did the same, and Yume noticed. Inside her head, the consciences gathered again.

’Confirmed.’

’Surveillance continues.’

’Don’t attack yet.’

’Yet?’

’Don’t attack ever.’

Yume closed her eyes.

’No. Luna is someone who wouldn’t do that to me... right?’

She opened her eyes and looked at Luna, but she was still staring in the direction Noah had gone.

Yume felt her attempt to convince herself losing strength.

”Luna.”

Luna turned toward her.

”Yes?”

Yume took a few seconds before speaking.

”Nothing. See you tomorrow.”

”See you tomorrow.”

They took different paths.

That day it had become clear that neither of them could completely ignore Noah’s presence, and that was a problem no technical exercise could easily fix.