The next morning, robins sang loudly on the branches.
In a hotel in Westminster, Noah rubbed his head and slowly sat up.
When he looked at Hermione lying beside him, a smile appeared on his face.
Everything that had happened yesterday felt natural.
So natural that even Noah had trouble believing it.
But now, he didn't feel there was anything unbelievable about it at all.
Noah liked Hermione.
When it started, he hadn't known.
He didn't know why he liked this girl, or when he started wanting to be with her.
He was too lazy to think about those questions.
All he knew was that he felt very happy right now.
And that he really liked her.
He gently stroked Hermione's long hair.
It was smooth.
Comfortable.
However, his movements apparently weren't light enough.
Or perhaps Hermione hadn't been sleeping deeply to begin with.
Maybe it was because of her previous work habits-she had developed a precise biological clock.
Her eyes opened, still hazy.
She looked at Noah.
Then glanced down at her current situation.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"It seems our respected Sanctum Guardian, future Sorcerer Supreme, Master Magician Finnier... has also lied."
There wasn't the slightest hint of embarrassment in her tone.
She slowly sat up and leaned her head against Noah's shoulder.
"You said you were going to invite me to watch the sunrise. Looks like there's no chance now."
"Watching the sunrise is very simple, dear."
Noah wrapped an arm around her waist.
"We just need to go somewhere the sun hasn't risen yet. Are you rested?"
"If we're talking about rest..." Hermione closed her eyes, smiling. "I can only say it was a little terrible."
"Someone was way too energetic last night, so..."
Noah looked at her, speechless.
He genuinely hadn't expected Hermione's acceptance to be this high.
He had worried she might act shy.
Like a young girl.
That might have been interesting.
But it didn't really fit the Hermione he knew.
She had always been strong.
Confident.
That probably wouldn't change just because of this.
"Is it strange that I'm saying this?"
Hermione seemed to sense his gaze.
She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"We're adults, Noah. I like you."
"I don't even know when it started, or how you walked into my heart."
"But I know that I do like you."
"So you don't feel the need to pretend to be shy in front of me?"
Noah pinched her nose.
"I have to say, you really understand me."
"I like you too. Your personality. Everything about you."
"And I don't like you acting like those girls who are always too... bashful."
"Oh?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you stayed single for so long? You like older women?"
"Nonsense. I like women with mature personalities."
There were no so-called morning exercises.
Although it was the first time for both of them, they preferred spending time on emotional connection rather than rushing anything else.
It wasn't that they didn't enjoy that sort of thing.
On the contrary, they both liked it very much.
But as a wizard, exaggeration didn't come naturally.
Holding Hermione, Noah talked with her for a while.
Then they bathed together, tidied up, and left the hotel.
Their vacation had officially begun.
There were countless things they could do.
Visiting friends.
Traveling the world.
None of it was difficult for them.
If they wanted, they could even leave Earth and visit an alien planet.
Noah had long since gained the ability to travel between stars.
And now that he was at the tenth rank, the places he could go were practically limitless.
"By the way," Hermione asked as they walked out of the hotel, curiosity flickering in her eyes, "what did you mean yesterday about going back to the past?"
"Can you really take me there?"
"Not me. Someone else."
Noah tilted his head slightly.
"And the past we'd return to, if everything goes well, wouldn't belong to this universe."
"It would be a parallel universe."
Hermione nodded.
She understood what a parallel universe was.
But going back like that?
She tilted her head, not particularly interested.
Thinking back on her past, there hadn't really been many regrets.
The only one might have been feeling she was sorted into the wrong house at first.
Other than that, her life had been fairly smooth.
As for Noah...
She felt the Noah from that time probably wouldn't have been interested in her anyway.
"Forget it," Hermione said, shaking her head.
"That sounds boring."
"My life's been pretty good. I didn't have many regrets at Hogwarts."
"Would we just go back to watch things as bystanders?"
Noah froze for a moment.
Then he laughed quietly.
It seemed Hermione had misunderstood what he meant by a parallel universe.
But thinking about it, what she said made sense.
If they really went back and it turned out to be this universe, he'd probably be invited for tea by his teacher sooner or later.
And if it was a pure Harry Potter universe...
That universe didn't have him.
And its overall level was a bit low.
Bringing Hermione there would be boring.
Shaking his head, Noah didn't explain further.
Instead, he checked the time.
Then he took Hermione to New York.
Hermione noticed the sudden change in location.
She was curious.
But she didn't ask.
Walking with Noah made her feel relaxed.
So she didn't care where they went.
Even when she realized they were at the Avengers Base, she wasn't dissatisfied at all.
"What are you two doing here?"
When Noah brought Hermione into Tony's office, Tony looked at them in confusion.
"...Are you on a date?"
"My place doesn't seem like a good dating spot."
"Do you want me to recommend some interesting places?"
"We have our own way of having fun."
Seeing Tony raising his eyebrows at them, Noah shrugged.
"I want to ask how your research is going."
"That technology for going back to the past."
"It's fine. Basically no problem."
Tony smiled, then sighed.
"There are just some complications."
"When I was bored, I created a set of formulas to calculate universe accuracy."
"And the result..."
"Our universe is... very complicated."
"Complicated?"
Noah's expression turned strange.
Complicated was an understatement.
He could already guess what Tony had discovered.
Tony had probably realized that this universe contained multiple unrelated universes layered together.
Noah didn't know how Tony had differentiated them.
But it was the only explanation that fit.
The Marvel universe alone had countless branches.
Add in other independent stories, and the complexity became absurd.
The people around Noah were already proof enough.
Harry Potter from Hogwarts.
Constantine from DC.
Though so far, Noah had only met one Constantine-maybe an anomaly.
Then there were mutants.
Vampires.
And a mess of other things.
If Tony really tried to investigate all of it, one lifetime wouldn't be enough.
"Yeah. It's too complicated."
Tony sighed, then laughed again.
"But I categorized a lot of it."
"I grouped many parallel universes and simplified the problem."
"I haven't done any actual operations yet, but I won't randomly enter unknown universes anymore."
"Not bad."
Noah nodded.
"Then why not try something concrete?"
"I've thought about it."
Tony spread his hands.
"I even wanted to go to other parallel universes."
"Ones that have nothing to do with ours."
"But I can't use myself as a test subject."
"And I'm not in a rush."
"That was my suggestion to begin with."
Noah rolled his eyes.
Of course he remembered.
He glanced at Hermione.
Should he take her and try it?
After thinking it over, he dropped the idea.
Tony's progress was slow, but acceptable.
As Tony said, their universe hadn't been invaded yet.
There was no need to rush.
After learning enough, Noah planned to leave.
Originally, he wanted to see whether Tony had completed the technology.
It seemed he had.
But Tony hadn't tested it.
And Hermione wasn't interested.
Noah didn't feel like obsessing over it.
Since they weren't going to the past, he might as well find something else to do.
Nearby, he sensed an invisible teleportation light point.
He didn't know where it led.
But he felt the universe behind it wouldn't be troublesome.
He took Hermione's hand and asked suddenly,
"Are you interested in going to another universe with me?"
"I think I've found a very interesting place."
"If you think it's interesting," Hermione said with a smile, "then let's go together."
"Don't forget."
"I'm on vacation now."
"All my time is yours."