Chapter 91: Noah and Iris alone in a small room…
Noah mentioned the next point on the list Iris had made.
"Main games..."
Iris began suggesting suitable titles to attract viewers without needing an overly powerful computer.
They also talked about schedules, since Noah would have classes during the day and work several afternoons, so they concluded he could stream some nights and use the weekends for longer sessions.
After that they reviewed security, like not showing windows, not mentioning nearby stations, not using real names of establishments, disabling location information, not sharing full schedules, and avoiding showing documents, uniforms, or any identifiable details.
Noah looked at the list.
"This looks like a security protocol."
"And it is."
"I thought streaming was just turning on a camera and playing."
"That’s what the people who end up leaking their address do."
"Good point."
Almost an hour passed and Noah barely noticed, the same as Iris.
When she talked about video games, her personality changed completely.
She no longer answered with short phrases, she explained strategies, discussed decisions, got excited talking about tournaments and even interrupted Noah when she thought he was wrong.
"That doesn’t work."
"Yes it does, trust me."
"No, I know what I’m talking about."
"I saw it in a video."
"The video was wrong."
"It had thousands of views."
"But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still wrong."
"Can you prove it?"
Iris turned toward one of the computers.
"Yes."
She opened a game.
"Come here."
Noah pulled his chair closer while Iris started a training match.
"Use this."
She handed him the controller, and Noah started playing, only to make a mistake a few seconds later.
"No."
Iris took his hands.
"This is how you do it."
She got very close to correct the position of his fingers, so Noah glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but Iris was completely focused on the screen.
"Press here."
"I am doing it."
"Too late."
"You can’t tell me it’s late after it already happened."
"Then do it earlier."
Noah tried again and this time managed to execute the combination.
"Good."
Iris leaned in further to reach one of the buttons, which caused her arm to brush against Noah’s, making both of them freeze for a moment before Iris quickly pulled her hand away.
"Continue."
Noah obeyed, but shortly after he made another mistake and Iris let out a small sigh.
"Move."
"What?"
"Let me show you."
Noah tried to stand up, but the booth was small, so Iris passed by him and their legs brushed.
Both stopped again and then Noah moved back a little and Iris sat down.
"Now watch."
She started playing and her movements were much better, so Noah leaned in to observe.
"That was fast."
"Because you’re using the side movement wrong."
"I thought I was doing it right."
"No."
"You always answer the same way."
"Because you keep getting it wrong."
Noah moved a little closer and Iris explained another technique.
When she turned her face to check if Noah was looking at the screen, she discovered he was much closer than she expected.
They were face to face and neither spoke.
Iris slowly lowered her hands, while Noah also stopped paying attention to the game.
The match continued on the screen, but neither of them was looking at it and Iris breathed slowly.
"Noah."
"Yes?"
She seemed to want to say something, but she didn’t; instead she moved closer, so Noah understood what was about to happen.
Months earlier he probably would have pulled back and would have thought about the canon, about the bet, about looking for an excuse, about avoiding any situation that could complicate his relationships even more, but he no longer thought the same way.
He had accepted that the story had changed, just as he had accepted the conditions of the bet with the goddess and, after everything that had happened with Yume and Luna, he understood that continuing to pretend that nothing was going to happen with the other magical girls was useless.
’I knew that sooner or later something like this was going to happen.’
Noah didn’t pull back, so Iris closed the distance and kissed him.
It was brief and uncertain.
She pulled away almost immediately, while her face was completely red.
Noah remained still and Iris looked away.
"I-I’m sorry."
"Why?"
"I don’t know."
"Then you don’t have to apologize."
Iris adjusted her cap even though she didn’t need it inside the booth.
"It was my first kiss."
Noah looked at her.
"Really?"
"Yes."
’I don’t know why I’m surprised...’
Iris lowered her head.
"It was probably bad."
"It wasn’t bad."
She raised her gaze.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You’re not just saying that so I don’t feel bad?"
"No, of course not."
Iris remained silent, but Noah saw a small smile appear, one that was almost imperceptible.
"Then it was fine."
"Yes."
Iris looked back at the screen and the character she had been using had lost several minutes ago.
"We lost."
Noah said, to which Iris replied.
"It was your fault."
"I didn’t even have the controller."
"You distracted me."
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Me?"
Iris looked at him.
"Yes, you."
"You’re the one who..."
Noah stopped, since he decided not to finish the sentence.
Iris closed the game, then put her things away and, before standing up, remained seated for a few seconds.
"Noah."
"What?"
"Someday..."
She hesitated.
"Do you want to come to my house?"
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"To play?"
Iris nodded too quickly.
"Yes."
Noah smiled.
"Sure."
Iris seemed to relax.
"Good."
"But let me know ahead of time."
"I will, I promise."
"And don’t wait for me hidden near my house again."
"I don’t promise that."
Noah looked at her and Iris stood up.
"Let’s go."
They left the manga café together and, while they walked back, Noah checked on his phone the list they had prepared.
It had a budget, an initial setup, ideas for the channel, security measures, possible schedules and several pages of notes that Iris had prepared for him.
That outing had solved almost all the initial problems of his streaming project, but it had also created a new one.
Noah discreetly looked at Iris, who was walking beside him with her cap pulled low and her hands in her pockets.
She seemed just as reserved as always and only the slight red color that still remained on her cheeks revealed that something had happened.
Noah put away the phone.
That afternoon had begun with him thinking only about buying a computer, but now Iris had kissed him, wanted to invite him to her house and seemed to be looking for new reasons to spend time alone with him.
Noah could no longer even pretend to be surprised.
His life had gotten complicated again and this time he had been completely aware that he was letting it happen.