Chapter 106: Noah and Three Big Problems.
Noah watched the argument escalate without being able to do anything about it and, to make matters worse, Aria appeared and was walking toward them, but she focused on Noah, ignoring the other two.
"I’ve been looking for you, Noah."
Iris immediately stood up.
"No."
Aria stopped and looked at Iris.
"Excuse me?"
"No."
"No what?"
"You’re not taking him."
Aria raised an eyebrow.
"And you are...?"
Iris stared at her, and Noah did the same, since he hadn’t expected that.
’Seriously?’
Aria studied Iris’s face for a few seconds and then seemed to vaguely recognize her.
"If I’m not mistaken, you’re Miss Vatatin?"
"Iris Valentine."
"Right."
Iris frowned.
"We’ve known each other for years."
"I’d say we’ve only crossed paths a few times."
Aria’s response was completely indifferent, which seemed to annoy Iris even more, but Ren intervened.
"Aria."
Aria looked at her.
"What is it, Ren?"
"Leave him alone."
Aria sighed.
"I don’t need your permission."
"He doesn’t need you chasing after him either."
"I’m talking to my possible fiancé."
"He’s not your fiancé!"
"Not yet, but he will be in the future."
Iris turned toward Noah.
"See?"
Noah looked at her in confusion.
"See what?"
"She’s always like this."
Aria frowned when she heard that.
"Do you have some kind of problem with me, Miss... Valantin?"
"Plenty, and my last name is Valentine!"
"Curious, I don’t remember giving you enough reasons for that... well, actually, I don’t remember anything about you."
"That’s part of the problem."
"That makes no sense."
"Not to you."
Ren pointed at Aria.
"Stop changing the subject."
"I didn’t."
"You came here for Noah, right?"
"Correct."
"Then leave."
"No, I won’t."
Iris spoke.
"Yes, get out of here."
Aria looked at her.
"This doesn’t concern you, Miss Valenciaga."
"Yes, it does, and for the last time, my name is Valentine!"
"No, it doesn’t concern you."
"Yes, it does!"
Aria immediately noticed something in the way Iris was responding to her and decided to clear up her doubt.
"Now that I think about it, what kind of relationship do you have with Noah, Miss Vitina?"
Iris fell silent for a second, causing Ren to immediately look at her, and Noah noticed the problem.
’Iris, please don’t say anything weird.’
"W-We’re close."
Iris said with some embarrassment, which made Ren react.
"Close?"
Iris looked at her.
"Yes."
"But earlier you said you were friends."
"Friends can be close, can’t they?"
Aria looked at Noah.
"Then there’s no formal relationship."
"No."
Noah answered quickly, causing Aria to smile.
"Perfect."
Iris frowned.
"That doesn’t mean you have a chance with him."
"I don’t need your opinion on my chances, Miss Vatetin."
"I’m giving you my opinion anyway, and it’s Valentine!"
Ren raised a hand.
"Both of you should leave him alone."
Aria looked at her.
"You especially have no right to say that."
Ren’s expression hardened.
"What does that mean?"
"You know perfectly well what it means."
"My situation with you has nothing to do with Noah."
"That is precisely why you shouldn’t interfere."
Iris looked between them.
"What situation?"
Noah stepped forward.
"No!"
All three looked at him.
"We’re not starting another argument."
Aria spoke first.
"I’m not arguing."
Iris replied.
"Because you’re used to no one contradicting you."
Aria slowly turned toward her.
"What did you say, Miss Whatever-Your-Name-Is?"
"You heard me."
Ren sighed.
"Now it’s started."
Noah looked at the three of them.
Aria argued with Iris as though she barely knew her, and Iris responded with a rejection that didn’t seem to hide any kind of affection, while Ren was more concerned with keeping Aria away from Noah than with any bond she might have with her.
There was no romantic tension, no hidden interest, not even any sign of the relationship Noah remembered from the anime, absolutely none.
’This is worse than I thought.’
Aria and Iris continued arguing.
"Just because my family has resources doesn’t mean I don’t work."
"Of course, thank you for your contributions."
Iris said while clapping in front of Aria’s face, who understood what Iris was doing.
"That was sarcasm, wasn’t it?"
"At least you’re not that stupid."
"Are you always this rude, Miss Nobody?"
"With you, yes."
"You don’t even know me that well, Miss Forgettable."
"I know you well enough to hate you."
"Doesn’t seem like it."
Ren intervened.
"Both of you, shut up!"
They both looked at her.
"And you’re not helping either."
Aria said, causing Ren to frown.
"I was here before you."
"That doesn’t give you authority."
"At least I’m not trying to force Noah to get engaged to me."
"I’m not forcing him."
"You chase him all over the school."
"It’s a method of persuasion."
"That’s the same as harassing him."
"No, it isn’t."
Noah closed his eyes, since he didn’t even know which of the three he should stop first and, when he opened them again, he looked at them one by one.
Ren, Aria, Iris, and finally understood the entire situation.
Ren wanted to escape the engagement her family had arranged with Aria.
Aria wanted him to take her place as her fiancé and seemed determined to make it happen. On top of that, the more he spoke with her, the more obvious it became that her idea of a relationship included managing a considerable part of his life.
Iris hated Aria.
She wasn’t simply annoyed by her, nor was it a friendly rivalry, nor was it the first stage of a romantic relationship, but rather she utterly despised her, while Aria barely seemed to consider her anyone important.
Noah remembered the anime once again.
Aria and Iris, who were one of the most popular secondary couples.
Two characters who should have grown closer over time and two girls whose relationship he had known about long before arriving in that world.
Now they were standing in front of him arguing without affection, without interest, without even any real prior relationship.
Noah brought a hand to his forehead.
’Perfect, this can’t get any worse.’
He had three problems.
Ren wanted to escape Aria, Aria wanted to replace Ren with him, and Iris hated Aria.
Noah listened as the three of them continued arguing and, for the first time since that whole mess had begun, he understood something quite simple.
Fixing the relationship between Aria and Iris was going to be much harder than he had expected.