Chapter 95: Ch 95: They feel closer

’Greatttt! Why did the system show up right now?’

The system usually only showed up when it was an emergency, and as far as Noah could see, this was not an emergency. Still, this did mean that he needed to be careful here.

He patted the pouting esper in front of him, and that made Alan calm down a little bit.

"I am sorry for making it feel like I am ignoring you all. I was just busy these past couple of days, but I am fine now. I can hang out with you. The school festival is coming up, right? We can participate together."

Noah promised, and he noticed the way Alan’s eyes brightened up at his words.

"Is that a promise? You are not simply saying this to make me feel better, right? Please tell me that you are not going to break your promise halfway. I won’t allow that."

Alan’s grip was too tight around Noah’s middle, and it was starting to hurt. But he could not say anything in the face of his distress. All Noah could do was nod and show his support.

"I promise I will spend the festival with you and Daniel. We can have Ethan with us as well-"

"Noooo! I want it to be just us alone. Please?"

Sigh

"Alright."

Daniel, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, suddenly looked a little more pleased when he heard Noah agree.

"Then it is settled. We will spend the festival together."

He declared before Alan could say anything else, and Noah nodded.

"Of course. I am sure it will be fun."

Noah said this with a small smile, but the system message was still lingering in the back of his mind.

If Alan and Daniel’s condition was dropping, then there had to be a reason for it. The obvious answer was that they were becoming too dependent on him instead of each other.

That was the exact opposite of what Noah wanted.

’I need to make sure they start getting along again before the festival. Otherwise, the system might give me another mission update.’

Noah did not want to deal with another emergency when he was already struggling to keep everything under control.

"Speaking of the festival, have you both decided what you want to do?"

Noah asked, hoping that changing the subject would make things easier. From what he recalled, the pair had opened a business that made use of Daniel’s guiding to earn money.

This was also the time when Alan started to get jealous and possessive over Daniel. But somehow, he had a feeling things would not go that way now.

Daniel immediately started thinking about it while Alan continued to hold onto Noah.

"I want to go to the food stalls. I heard that it’s fun to do."

Alan answered without hesitation.

"Can’t you think of something better? You have the money for it."

Daniel muttered with a small sigh.

"What? Food is important. It is what people will be buying the most at a festival. So we might as well rake in the profit."

Alan looked down at Noah as if he expected him to agree, and Noah nodded because it was easier than arguing.

"Then we can go to the food stalls first."

"See? Noah agrees with me."

Alan said proudly, and Daniel rolled his eyes.

"We still need to decide what else we are going to do. There will be performances, games, and a few competitions. We should probably check the schedule before the festival."

Noah listened to them talk while feeling a strange sense of relief.

At least they were talking to each other.

Even if they were arguing, it was still better than them avoiding each other.

’This is good. They are slowly becoming closer. I just need to keep pushing them in the right direction.’

Noah smiled to himself before noticing that both of them had suddenly stopped talking.

"What?"

He asked when he noticed them staring at him.

"You are smiling. What are you thinking about?"

Daniel pointed out.

"Ah, I am just happy that you two are getting along. Usually, all you both do is fight, but now you are actually conversing with each other and even giving suggestions." ℯℯ𝘭.

The moment he said this, both of them became quiet.

Noah looked between them, confused by their sudden silence.

"What?"

Neither Alan nor Daniel answered immediately. Finally, Daniel looked away with a slightly red face while Alan scratched his cheek.

"We are not getting along."

Daniel muttered.

"Yeah. We just happen to agree on some things. That does not mean we get along at all."

Alan quickly added.

Noah stared at them before sighing.

’They really are hopeless.’

Still, how could they not see how in sync they both were right now? It was...just nice to see.

Noah could feel their current teacher glaring daggers at him and the pair around him. The teacher likely wanted to chew Noah out for not sitting with his partner and instead disturbing other people, but it was not Noah’s choice to sit here.

Moreover, his partner was absent from the class today...which was unlike Ethan.

’I wonder where Ethan is right now. He did not tell me that he was not coming. But then again, it has been some time since I was alone with him. Maybe he just did not want to say what was troubling him in front of other people.’

Well, whatever the reason for Ethan’s absence was, it was starting to worry Noah a bit.

Ethan had been around for a few days, but he was not actually paying attention to anything. Heck, he had even ignored Noah when he greeted him, and Noah knew that it was not like Ethan.

So there had to be something wrong there.

’Should I go and visit him after the class? I can use Alan to get near Ethan’s room and then check up on him...’

It was likely best to leave Ethan alone, but Noah still wanted to check up on him. After all, Noah wanted to put an end to his uneasiness.