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

Finally, the day Yume had been looking forward to arrived.

Yume was inside the supermarket pretending to check products and had already been there for twenty-five minutes.

Her cart was almost empty because she didn’t actually need to buy anything, so she picked up a bottle of sauce, looked at it, and put it back.

Then she picked up another bottle, looked at it, and put that one back too.

’Act normal.’

Suddenly, she saw Emma walk in and went rigid while another meeting started inside her head.

Responsible Yume stood up.

"Target confirmed."

Romantic Yume was trembling with excitement.

"Future mother-in-law at thirty meters!"

Perverted Yume raised a little flag.

"Advance!"

Yume breathed.

’Calm down.’

She waited a few seconds, since she couldn’t approach right away or it would look suspicious, so she counted to ten in her head, then to twenty, and after that followed Emma down two aisles.

’This is starting to look like stalking again.’

She stopped.

’No, enough.’

She decided to run into her head-on, circled around the next aisle, calculated the direction, walked, and Emma appeared.

Yume pretended to be surprised and slightly widened her eyes.

"Oh."

Emma recognized her too.

"Weren’t you Noah’s classmate...?"

Yume smiled.

"Hello, Mrs. Reed, what a surprise running into you here."

Perfect, natural, and very well executed.

Emma looked first at Yume, then down, and then pointed with a finger.

"But you’re holding a bag with my name on it."

Yume stopped breathing, looked at her hand, and the gift bag had a small card stuck to it.

[For Mrs. Emma Reed.]

Yume froze completely while inside her head the meeting room exploded into chaos.

Responsible Yume shot to her feet.

"ABORT!"

Romantic Yume clutched her head.

"WE FORGOT TO TAKE OFF THE TAG!"

Perverted Yume pointed to an exit.

"Run!"

Yume swallowed, looked at Emma, then the bag, and back at Emma.

"This..."

Emma waited, so Yume tried to smile.

"...is a coincidence."

Emma looked at the card.

"With my full name?"

Yume slowly lowered the bag.

"No."

"That’s what I thought."

Emma didn’t seem upset; in fact, she looked more confused than anything else, but Yume felt she had to explain something.

"Actually, I..."

She blanked out and all the rehearsed speeches vanished.

Emma smiled.

"Did you want to give me something?"

Yume reacted immediately.

"Yes!"

She held out the bag with both hands.

"It’s for you."

Emma took it.

"You didn’t have to."

"I wanted to."

"For any special reason?"

Yume opened her mouth.

’Because I’m your son’s girlfriend and I want you to approve of me.’

She couldn’t say it.

"B-Because of gratitude."

Emma tilted her head slightly.

"Gratitude?"

"Yes."

"For what?"

Yume started getting nervous.

"For... Noah."

Emma smiled.

"Ah."

Yume felt hope.

’She got it.’

Emma continued.

"He’s helped you a lot with high school, right?"

Yume went still while inside her head Responsible Yume slowly dropped the folder, Romantic Yume collapsed onto the table, and Perverted Yume sighed.

"We failed."

Yume tried to recover.

"Yes, that too."

Emma put the gift in her cart.

"Thanks, I’m sure he’ll be happy to know you’re so thoughtful."

’She didn’t get it.’

Yume needed another try, so she looked at Emma’s cart.

"Can I help you with the shopping?"

"There’s no need."

"I don’t mind!"

"Yume..."

"Really."

Emma hesitated, but finally smiled.

"All right."

Yume took control of the cart.

’Phase two.’

They started walking through the supermarket together.

Emma went looking for products while Yume pushed the cart and analyzed every possible moment to mention Noah.

Emma picked up a package of rice and Yume saw her chance.

"I see Noah likes rice."

Emma looked at her.

"Yes."

There was silence after that, which made Yume swallow.

They kept walking and Emma picked up a box of cereal, so Yume tried again.

"Noah usually has that for breakfast almost every day."

Emma smiled.

"You know him pretty well."

Yume turned red.

"W-We spend a lot of time together."

"That’s fine, I’m glad he has good friends."

Yume felt a small emotional punch.

’Friend.’

Inside her head, Romantic Yume slammed the table.

"WE’RE NOT JUST FRIENDS!"

Responsible Yume pointed at the situation.

"Then say it."

Real Yume kept walking.

’It’s not that easy.’

Emma picked up some vegetables and Yume moved closer.

"I cook for Noah too."

Emma seemed interested.

"Really?"

Yume nodded quickly.

"Yes."

"How nice of you."

"I like doing it."

"Then he must be grateful to have such a thoughtful classmate."

Again, classmate.

Those words made Yume grip the cart handle a little tighter.

’How can she not notice?’

She tried to be more direct.

"We also go out a lot."

Emma nodded.

"Young people should go out more."

"The two of us."

"Of course."

"Alone."

Emma looked at Yume, who felt like it had finally worked, so Emma smiled.

"It’s good that Noah has friends he can feel safe with."

Yume almost dropped her forehead onto the cart while inside her head all the Yumes stayed silent and, finally, Perverted Yume spoke.

"I think we’ll have to kiss Noah in front of her."

Responsible Yume covered her face.

"For the first time, I don’t have a better alternative."

’No!’

They continued shopping.

Yume helped Emma choose a few things, carry heavy items, and compare prices.

Little by little she stopped trying to turn every sentence into a chance to reveal their relationship and the conversation became more normal.

Emma asked her about high school, so Yume talked about her classes and they also talked about Noah’s job.

Emma seemed proud that he had gotten employment.

"Lately he’s been working really hard."

Yume smiled.

"Yeah, that’s true."

"I always worry that he tries to do too many things."

"I tell him that too."

Emma looked at her.

"Then help me remind him."

Yume smiled more sincerely.

"I will."

When they finished, Yume helped put all the groceries into bags and Emma insisted there was no need to walk her any farther.

Yume didn’t want to push too hard, even though she had already pushed quite a bit.

Emma held the gift bag.

"Thanks for this."

Yume nodded.

"I hope you like it."

"I’m sure I will."

Emma started to walk away and Yume watched her leave.

’Failed.’

Operation Mother-in-Law had failed.

Emma still thought she was simply a close friend of Noah’s, so Yume sighed, but then Emma stopped and turned toward her.

"Yume."

"Yes!?"

"You can come by the house someday."

Yume opened her eyes.

"What?"

"You’ve been before, but Noah almost never invites his friends over lately, so drop by whenever you want."

Yume went still.

"Really?"

"Of course."

Emma smiled.

"Let Noah know and I’ll prepare something."

Yume took a second to react and then nodded with way too much energy.

"Yes, of course I’ll go!"

Emma laughed lightly.

"Then, see you."

"See you, Mrs. Reed!"

Yume stayed still until Emma disappeared from sight and then started walking very slowly, because inside her head the meeting room was completely silent.

Romantic Yume raised a hand.

"Does that mean...?"

Responsible Yume checked several imaginary sheets.

"Direct invitation to the family home."

Perverted Yume smiled.

"Authorized access to Noah’s house."

The three looked at each other and a second later they all started celebrating.

"VICTORY!"

"OPERATION COMPLETE!"

"WE’RE GOING INTO THE HOUSE!"

"OFFICIAL INTRODUCTION!"

"FIRST GIRLFRIEND!"

Real Yume started smiling as she walked.

’It worked.’

Not exactly the way she wanted, since Emma hadn’t understood any of her hints and hadn’t figured out that she was Noah’s girlfriend.

She was probably still thinking she was just a very close classmate, but that didn’t matter because she had received an invitation.

Now she could show up at the house without it looking strange, while inside her head Romantic Yume raised an imaginary glass.

"To our future family life!"

Responsible Yume nodded.

"First phase complete."

Perverted Yume raised another glass.

"And to Noah’s room!"

"That’s not part of the operation."

"It can be part of it."

"Denied."

Yume was so focused on her internal celebration that she stopped looking ahead and walked straight into a pole.

"Ah!"

She stepped back holding her forehead while several people looked at her, so Yume froze.

It hurt a lot and, inside her head, the three Yumes had also fallen over.

Responsible Yume got up slowly.

"We should have watched where we were going."

Perverted Yume was still on the floor.

"Worth it."

Romantic Yume gave a thumbs-up.

"Victory."

Yume took a deep breath, looked at the pole, then at the people who were still watching her, and adjusted her clothes.

"I’m fine."

No one had asked, but Yume kept walking toward her house with a slightly red forehead.

She pulled out her phone, opened the chat with Noah, and started typing.

[Your mom invited me to your house.]

She stopped, smiled, deleted the message, and wrote another.

[Operation Mother-in-Law complete.]

She deleted it again and finally wrote.

[Noah, I have good news.]

She sent the message, put the phone away, and kept walking, while inside her head the Yumes were still celebrating.

Yume still hadn’t been officially introduced as the girlfriend, Emma hadn’t understood any of the hints, she had forgotten to hide a gift with her future mother-in-law’s name on it, and she had walked into a pole.

Even so, for Yume only one thing mattered, and that was that now she had a direct invitation to go back to Noah’s house.

Next time she wouldn’t try to run into Emma by chance; she would walk in through the front door and then she would tell the truth.

Or at least that was what she hoped.