Chapter 140: Noah Belongs to Everyone.
After being silenced by Aria, Noah lowered his hand while she continued writing, but the argument restarted immediately.
"Fridays are mine."
Yume said.
"No."
Iris answered almost right away.
"I have matches on Fridays."
"Then play another day!"
"It’s not that simple."
Luna stepped in.
"Mondays don’t work because Noah has work."
Yume pointed at her.
"With you!"
"That doesn’t count as a date."
"That would be way too convenient for you!"
"It’s not like that."
Ren sighed.
"We could alternate weeks, what do you think?"
Aria nodded.
"That’s reasonable coming from you."
Yume looked at her.
"Why are you agreeing so fast?"
"Because I have weekends free."
"I knew it benefited you somehow!"
Noah looked at all of them, unable to believe what was happening.
Yume was arguing with Aria, Luna was checking schedules, Iris was trying to reserve entire nights, Ren was trying to keep anyone from starting another fight, and somehow all of them were talking about him like they were organizing a limited resource.
Noah raised both hands.
"Wait."
But no one responded to that reaction, so Noah tried to assert himself.
"I think my opinion should..."
Yume looked at him immediately.
"Noah."
"Yes?"
"We’re sorting this out ourselves, so don’t worry."
"But it’s about me."
Luna answered.
"Exactly, who knows you better than we do?"
"That’s precisely why I should have more right to speak."
Iris shook her head.
"You’re going to make it more complicated than it already is."
Noah opened his mouth and Ren seemed to feel sorry for him.
"Maybe we should listen to him."
Aria looked at Noah.
"Are you going to say you don’t want any organization?"
Noah hesitated.
"Well..."
The five expressions changed abruptly and Noah immediately felt the danger directed at him in the air.
"Maybe a basic organization wouldn’t be so bad."
Yume smiled in relief.
"Perfect."
Noah closed his eyes.
’What a coward I am, but if I said anything more, I felt like I’d leave here in pieces.’
Aria took the napkin.
"Then it’s decided."
"I didn’t say that..."
"We’ll have a shared relationship with Noah."
Luna nodded.
"With schedules."
Iris added.
"Individual time."
Ren continued.
"No secrets."
Yume raised a finger.
"And I’m still the first girlfriend."
Everyone looked at her and Yume crossed her arms.
"That’s not negotiable."
Aria smiled with a bit of tenderness.
"You can keep the title."
Yume frowned.
"Why do you say it like it doesn’t matter?"
"Because it doesn’t change the calendar."
Yume started arguing again, while Noah slumped slightly in his chair and the manager appeared from the kitchen.
"Are you done?"
Noah looked at her.
"I think so."
Right after, Aria answered.
"Almost."
The manager looked at the clock.
"Twenty-seven minutes have passed."
Aria took her phone.
"I’ll compensate you thirty."
"Then go ahead with whatever you want, Miss Celestia."
The manager disappeared again and Noah opened his eyes at that passivity.
"Whose side are you on!?"
He received no answer at all while the discussion continued for a few more minutes and they finally reached a provisional agreement.
Noah would have separate days with each of them, but the schedules would change depending on classes, work, missions, and responsibilities.
None of them could deliberately sabotage another’s time.
All of them had to give notice if they wanted to change a day, and if an emergency came up, the calendar would be suspended.
Yume insisted on keeping the recognition of first girlfriend, while Aria kept the title of fiancée along with Ren, and Iris got one weekly night of video games while Luna got it so that work days wouldn’t automatically count as romantic time.
Everyone seemed to have gotten something, except Noah, who looked at the napkin where there were names, arrows, days, hours, notes, and even symbols he didn’t fully understand.
"Is this final?"
He asked, so Aria carefully put away the napkin.
"It’s only a draft for now."
Noah opened his eyes in surprise.
"Is there going to be a more serious version?"
"Of course there is."
Yume nodded and added something else.
"We can do it in a spreadsheet."
Iris looked up.
"Shared."
Luna added.
"With notifications."
Ren sighed.
"This is getting way too formal all of a sudden."
Aria smiled with satisfaction.
"I like it this way."
Noah looked at the ceiling, unable to believe what he was witnessing.
’I only wanted to buy a computer.’
That day had started with good news, which was that he had passed his probation period and the job was his.
He could finally start saving for real and now he was ending up sitting in a temporarily closed café, surrounded by five girls who had just formally decided how to share his romantic time.
Yume came closer to announce.
"Next Saturday is mine."
Iris answered immediately.
"No, it’s mine."
Luna raised her phone.
"According to the draft, it’s still not decided."
Ren looked at Aria.
"Was this your idea from the start?"
"Yes, completely."
"I’m starting to regret sharing Noah with you."
"How cruel, and I was the one who got you the engagement with him... Poor me..."
Noah watched as they started another argument, so he sighed.
At least one thing had become clear and that was that there were no longer any hidden relationships between them, and that all of them had accepted that none of them planned to stay away from Noah.
The problem was that now they had also decided to organize it.
Noah tried to speak one last time.
"Can I ask for something?"
Everyone looked at him, so Noah pointed at the calendar.
"Can I at least have one day for myself?"
There was a deathly silence.
The five of them looked at each other and Yume was the first to answer.
"We can talk about it."
Luna nodded.
"Depends on the week."
Iris added.
"If it doesn’t conflict with my night."
Ren seemed to be holding back a laugh and Aria smiled.
"We’ll include it in the next meeting."
Noah dropped his head onto the table.
"Perfect."
That was how his attempt to avoid complications ended.
Noah had started by trying to bring the girls from his favorite anime together with each other, but afterward he ended up becoming Yume’s boyfriend, then Luna’s and then Iris’s.
While Aria and Ren became his fiancées and now the five of them had just reached a formal agreement to share him.
Noah slowly raised his head while the five continued arguing about who would get the first Saturday.
’I definitely lost control of this story.’