Kokoro Connect

The Cultural Research Club (CRC for short) in Yamabos.h.i.+ High School, the school Yaegas.h.i.+ Taichi was studying in, was established because of a defect in the school rules stating that every student had to join a club. There were only five members in this club. Their motto was "to break all constraints and rules, so as to investigate everything in a different light". In other words, "doing whatever they wanted" was a fair a.n.a.logy.

The activities in the CRC were basically simple and fell short of the antic.i.p.ations of normal clubs. The club publishes the «Bunken News» monthly, a product extended from each member"s interests. But to be honest, it was just too casual.

Nevertheless, the CRC was suddenly thrown into a "more-than-unusual" phenomenon.

The club members encountered «Heartseed».

The "personality exchange" phenomenon landed among the five club members randomly.

Just by hearing the context the incident was hard to believe. One might laugh and say, "How can anything like this happen on Earth."

But this did happen and it engulfed Taichi as well as the other CRC members.

Even if one did not want to believe, once it happened, one could only resort to believing; even if one wanted to escape, once there was no way to escape, one could only exercise patience.

They had once agonized over this, felt pain from this, and got hurt by this.

But they worked as a team and overcame this crisis.

And because of their extreme situation they understood a lot of things.

Luckily, what was left on Taichi and the others was this "lot of things" and not dismal scars that couldn"t be obliterated.

Three weeks had pa.s.sed since then. The autumn atmosphere was gradually becoming denser.

The scary incident had burnt into their chests; however, the "story" had gradually faded and became "the past" to them .

After school was finished, the bell rang, hurrying students to leave.

"d.a.m.n it~ There"s still a little bit left, c.r.a.p!"

Inaba Himeko cruelly hit the computer and moved her hands away from the laptop. She loudly smacked her lips while irascibly scratching her bright and beautiful, black, medium to long hair.

Inaba"s grouchy mood also turned the Cultural Research Club clubroom in room 401 of the Recreational Building into heaven and h.e.l.l.

"Inaban...I believed in you!"

The most beautiful maiden in the school, Nagase Iori, was resting on the table. She was incessantly shaking her head on the table, swaying her hair that was bundled at the back of her head together.

"Hurray! Even Inaba cannot get it done!"

The tall and thin teenager who jumped was Aoki Yos.h.i.+fumi.

"So, Iori, you have to buy me juice on our way home today~"

His slightly long and curly hair jumped along with his waving hands and dancing feet.

Nagase and Aoki had bet on "whether Inaba Himeko could finish the «Bunken News» in time", and their bet just ended.

"I had already said before that Inaba"s work progress was obviously delayed because of you guys. I don"t know how you can make this bet and not feel ashamed of yourselves."

Pet.i.te and firm, along with long chestnut hair, Kiriyama Yui unwillingly murmured.

"Yeah, she"s right."

Yaegas.h.i.+ Taichi uttered his a.s.sent.

If this continues, the heavenly punishment might descend soon.

"Hahaha~ I"m going to win~ After all, Inaba isn"t a perfect superwoman—she also has her limits!"

"Mmm...Is this all Inaba Himeko is capable of?"

Aoki and Nagase proceeded to their hearts" content.

"But you don"t need to be feel dejected for this, Inaba." Aoki said.

"But still, I hope you can have the slightest sense of your responsibility. *Cough*" Nagase said.

The two kept on babbling.

"Shut up!"

Inaba poked the eyes of the two on the upper part of their eyelids. This was certainly what they deserved.

" "Ouch Ouch Ouch!" "

Nagase and Aoki struggled and fidgeted.

Looking at their struggle, Taichi and Kiriyama glanced at each other and smiled wryly.

"Inaba could accurately poke on four eyes with just two fingers on each hand...Her talent is more than what meets the eye."

"I think she is already marvelous even if she didn"t have that talent."

Though Taichi did not really say it, he could felt the terror lying within.

"It"s because of your late articles that I"m in trouble! Thanks to you, I must now bring it home and finish it! So I say, Aoki, the juice is mine."

Inaba grabbed Aoki by the shoulders and stared at him with her thinning eyes.

"Eh...This isn"t right. Those are two different agreements."

An ominous cracking sound emerged.

"I-I understand~~~~"

"So I was saying, I should give my juice to Inaban because she did so much for us. Ahaha!"

"I-Iori, why are you suddenly on my side? All the typing work I did is now in vain...don"t you understand my loss?"

"What loss? Who the h.e.l.l told you to propose a rectification of the article? Isn"t it your fault?"

Kiriyama knitted her straight and upright brows, saying.

"Does Taichi agree with them?"

"Yeah...That article wasn"t appropriate, and its content seemed weak. Indeed, my article "Wrestling Technique Theory~ Ropework Camerawork~", which has stronger content, is better—"

"Tsk! c.r.a.p, I chose the wrong person to speak to..."

"...In reality, looking at others complaining to themselves privately would unexpectedly hurt myself."

It was rare that Kiriyama would smack her tongue. Maybe I stepped on one of her landmines, but where did I do wrong?

"Eh! But I think a better idea would be "This is an interview aimed at the boys in Yamabos.h.i.+ High school! Who"s the cutest girl in the Cultural Research Club? What is the cutest? This is a large-scale interview!"

Aoki seemed to be infatuated with his own idea.

"I. Don"t. Want. That! I don"t want to gain attention by such strange means. And if you are asking who"s the cutest, Iori must be crowned champion. I won"t lament even if I lost to Iori, but I don"t want to join a compet.i.tion in which I"m destined to lose miserably!"

"Maybe you will win, Yui. Lately, pedophiles seem to be on the rise. Taichi is one of those suspects."

Nagase said this lightly with a smile that contained no malice.

"Nagase, what you said implies that if Kiriyama doesn"t gain support from pedophiles, she will be destined to lose to you; and the same time, you hurt me with your evil tongue—I"m not a pedophile!"

It was Nagase"s honesty rather than her evil tongue. Lately that trend seemed to be getting acute. By the way, this sharp-tongued response seemed a bit too long.

"What are you guys saying? Iori"s cuteness is a fact, but Yui also has many hidden fans!"

Aoki grinned confidently.

"Why hidden? Hey, could it be that you really are a pedophile..."

Just when Kiriyama was becoming scared, Inaba potently slammed the table.

"Get ready to go home now! Why should I, who working the most seriously, wait for you guys now after I finish packing up!"

She was right.

Everyone left the Recreational Building and walked to the front gates together.

The sun seemed to have sunk. The sports clubs had also ended their practice.

"I-Inaban, is this all right?"

Nagase followed their agreement and ran to the vending machine to buy canned coffee for Inaba.

"Yeah. Though I said you guys did stupid things, letting you pay for it still makes me apologetic."

Inaba moved to take her wallet from her schoolbag.

"No, no. After all, we always trouble you to help us organize the things we made. This can of coffee isn"t anything when compared to that."

Nagase said with an deliberately exaggerated tone. After that, Inaba took the coffee calmly.

"Even at the end, you show no sign of being sorry for the troubles you caused."

Kiriyama superciliously looked at Aoki.

"Umm...I will compensate for that later..."

Aoki sorrowfully drooped his head, but then he raised it immediately.

"Ah~ Though that was what I said, I think if my article was adopted, things wouldn"t end up so troublesome like now!"

"That article you wrote should have indeed been rejected!"

Just as Aoki and Kiriyama started their argument, a sound came from their backs.

"Ohoh, h.e.l.lo there. Have the club activities today ended? You guys are really serious~ I"m proud to be your advisor, though I"ve done nothing at all."

The person speaking was the one who students referred to as "Go" and loved (but also despised) by some students, the cla.s.s teacher of Cla.s.s 1C and the adviser of the Cultural Research Club, Gotou Ryuusen. His frivolous and carefree att.i.tude is the best among the teachers (of course this is not a word of praise).

"Ah, Right. Inaba, Nagase, and Yaegas.h.i.+."

These three were students of Cla.s.s 1C; hence, their cla.s.s teacher was him.

"Actually I have an emergency, so the content of tomorrow"s second lesson and a day after that day"s third lesson will change, but I forgot to tell the students. What should I do now..."

"What should you do?! Please be more serious when dealing with cla.s.sroom matters at least!"

Inaba (a student) was seriously teaching Gotou (a teacher). It was a scene so familiar, it became terrifying.

"This time I know the responsibility is on myself. After all, I troubled everyone...And the teacher subst.i.tuting me should become furious by then..."

"In any case you"re just worrying about the latter matter."

Inaba slightly stared at Gotou with her narrowing eyes.

"N-Not exactly! I"m only wary of it!"

"Is there any difference?"

Inaba was almost about to exert violence on Gotou. To stop this from happening, Taichi decided to reconcile them.

"In short, we"ll notify you via message as soon as possible."

"Yeah, so don"t worry, Go."

Nagase also helped the reconciliation.

"Yaegas.h.i.+...and Nagase...you two are such pa.s.sionate and helpful students...Thanks for your help!"

He was a (male and 25-year-old) teacher who, when you give him an inch, will easily take a yard.

The next day after school, Taichi and Inaba went to the clubroom together from their cla.s.s. Nagase would come later, as it was her turn to clean the cla.s.sroom today.

"Oi, Taichi and Inaba!"

Taichi turned his head to see who was calling him and hence saw Aoki and Kiriyama.

"It"s you guys...eh? What do you guys have to do?"

Taichi asked, as he saw Aoki and Kiriyama heading toward the opposite direction of the Recreational Building.

"Yeah. I"m on duty today, so I have some work to deal with," Kiriyama answered.

"I"m on duty too! Taichi, do you know? Yui and I are on duty together each time as if we"re bundled together with the red string of destiny."

"That"s only because there are few girls whose name starts with "A"[1] that we"re a.s.signed on duty together!"

"Yui, that"s already destiny!"

"Maybe...Ah! I almost agreed with you! Gosh, how could I be so careless..."

"Hey. So this means that you guys will be coming to the clubroom a bit later, am I correct?" Inaba interrupted.

"Ah, Yeah. Sorry, Inaba."

"Fine."

Inaba patiently waited for Kiriyama and Aoki to leave. After that, she muttered, "It"s too bad that I even helped them finish the article for «Bunken News» all by myself at home yesterday."

Being aware of Inaba"s bad mood, Taichi told himself to be careful of his words...

"Hey, Taichi. Don"t you think that, even though it"s not entirely their fault, it"s infuriating to have to wait for them?

This was in Room 401 in the Recreational Building. Sitting in front of Taichi, Inaba said that while she turned on her notebook.

"Nah...if they didn"t have any responsibility, there"s no use in getting angry at them..."

Taichi tried to convince Inaba in an attempt to reduce the damage done to the three people who would be coming in later.

"Yes. But I"m still p.i.s.sed, you know."

"Yeah...you may be a bit irascible."

"So I will want to vent my anger, won"t I?"

"No. That is insensible."

"It is sensible; I can vent my anger to make me less irascible."

"Don"t wear a satisfied smile like that while saying such terrible things; that"s just pus.h.i.+ng your anger onto others."

"Doesn"t the world work like that?"

"Yeah? Oh, h.e.l.l no."

"Yeah, what I said is completely rubbish."

Inaba stretched her back, posing a detached att.i.tude. In this state, what she said would be right to the ear if not given with a second thought.

Inaba laughed with a hum, and continued,

"But on the other hand letting you experience some headache could relieve my stress at just the right time."

She raised the corner of her mouth balefully.

"What the...you relieved stress and, at the same time, maneuver your anger so it won"t be too much of a burden for me...What you just did is too hard—I could never learn to do this..."

"...Why are you actually admiring me for this? Are you that dumb?"

Inaba looked at Taichi disdainfully. Taichi was uneasy, as he really did praise her whole-heartedly for this.

"So, you need to study, right? I"m sorry for bothering you."

Inaba focused back on her notebook, and Taichi continued his Mathematics homework that day. Most students copy answers from their friends and would pay no attention to doing their homework. Taichi, however, always finished his homework seriously. For him, studying was a matter of building up knowledge on an everyday basis.

Both of them continued their work silently. After a while, Inaba Himeko started to take off her clothes.

She unhesitatingly took both of her hands out from her uniform coat.

Taichi consciously kept on doing his homework, while glancing at her at times and immediately turning his eyes back to his work afterwards.

"Plack".

It was the sound of clothes dropping on the floor.

Taichi lifted his eyes to Inaba again.

Inaba paid no attention to her coat that dropped on the floor and pulled her black sweater off over her head.

"Hey, Inaba. Your coat has dropped on the floor."

"Mmm...Ahah."

Taichi didn"t know if Inaba was listening to him. All she did was reply to him with a blank face. Her face was flushed like it was burning. Furthermore, due to the effects of static electricity produced when taking off her sweater, her long black hair that she usually kept tidy had became messy and stuck up like thorns.

Then, Inaba loosened her necktie with a phew and laid her hands on the b.u.t.tons of her s.h.i.+rt—all in a chain of smooth actions.

"Bew".

Her tender fingers unfastened the first b.u.t.ton.

Bew.

The second one was unbuckled.

The strange sounds of unfastening b.u.t.tons reverberated loudly in the room.

"Bew".

The third one.

Her chest was gradually exposed. Even the parts of her skin that were normally unseen were now exposed.

The whiteness of her skin and her s.h.i.+rt were a bit different.

And in that whiteness, a dark colour unveiled itself with a shocking presence.

It was a dark bra.

Though without laces, it formed a polygon. Especially, some parts of the material between the two heights was almost transparent enough to see the skin that it covered, thus giving it an irresistibly attractive force.

At this moment, Taichi rebooted his thinking that had temporarily been stopped.

What happened?

What is going on?

Taichi spoke with his long-zipped mouth,

"Why are you suddenly taking off your clothes?! Won"t you feel cold? This is the club room, not your house! I"m here too!"

Taichi fidgeted for his late response and spoke non-stop.

Yet, Inaba was unresponsive to what he said.

She had unfastened all her s.h.i.+rt"s b.u.t.tons.

"Hey! Wait! Calm down first, Inaba! D-Does your back itch? P-Please put your clothes back on!"

Despite his efforts, what happened was the complete opposite to what Taichi wanted. Inaba gripped on the collar of her s.h.i.+rt and took it off with a single pull, exposing her back.

Her white, tender, and smooth shoulders portrayed a beautiful curve.

Inaba let her half-taken-off s.h.i.+rt hang loosely on her shoulders and waist and moved her notebook aside crudely.

After that, she stood up from her chair, pressed her knees onto the table, and leaned her body forwards adamantly.

Creak.

The table creaked as Inaba crawled on the table with all her body.

Inaba, whose upper body was half-naked, pressed on towards Taichi.

Speechless, Taichi only froze on his seat.

Taichi thought it was bad to just look at her upper body that was only covered by a black bra, so he reflexively focused his eyes on her face.

Inaba"s usual icy face was pumped with hot air and had turned vermilion, looking as if it was conveying sorrow.

"...Take your clothes off too," she said as her eyes met with Taichi"s.

Taichi held his breath for an instant.

"Why should I take them off? What do you want to do? We"re in school! Even if we"re going to do it, we"d have to find a better place...gosh, what am I saying! N-No, I didn"t think of anything strange! W-Whatever, please first put your clothes back on, come on! "

He didn"t know what he was saying.

"We can"t do it if you don"t take your clothes off, right?"

Her low penetrating female voice exuded a strong seductive atmosphere.

"What do you mean by that...Wait! Forget that! A-After all, what you mean is that, right? You"re planning to say "You idiot~ you"ve been tricked" when I started to misunderstand so as to play with me and alleviate your stress, right? Haha, you don"t need to go so far for this..."

Chuck—His hand was caught and he could say nothing more. The parts of his hand that was caught by Inaba"s small and tender fingers were aberrantly hot.

"Look..."

Inaba pulled Taichi"s hand forward. She didn"t use much strength, but Taichi couldn"t resist it: he approached Inaba"s chest like a magnet.

"W-We can"t get away from this with only a joke!"

Before he touched the ample part that the breast was covering, Taichi determinedly took back his hand.

However, Inaba"s hand still twined with his hand.

"Eh? Ah..."

Losing her balance, Inaba vibrantly fell on Taichi. Taichi who was sitting on the chair definitely was incapable of supporting her weight and fell backwards along Inaba"s motion.

"Wuaghh!"

The folding chair and the table was kicked and banged. The two of them fell on the floor, entangled in a mess.

"Nuaghh!"

Taichi was tightly squeezed in the middle between Inaba"s weight and the floor.The air in his lungs was compressed.

"Ouch Ouch Ouch Ouch! Wu...Hey, Are you fine...Wuahhh!"

Taichi wanted to protect Inaba in this sudden sweep of events. Though he acted as the cus.h.i.+on, he looked more like he was embracing Inaba"s back.

"I-I don"t have any intention to touch you!"

Taichi closed his eyes and pushed Inaba who was stuck to him off in a scurry.

For no apparent reason, however, his hand felt the softest yet inexplicable sensation of his lifetime.

He opened his eyes.

His hands were holding onto Inaba"s breast.

This impulse froze his brain, making him speechless and numb.

At this moment, the door to the clubroom opened.

Taichi slightly averted his eyes to the door.

Kiriyama and Aoki stood frozen at the door.

What they had seen most likely would have been "Inaba Himeko, half-naked, riding on Yaegas.h.i.+ Taichi who was lying on the floor and touching Inaba"s breast." This scene was appalling just by mere imagination.

"Terrible~~~~~~~~~~ What are you guys doing here~~~~~~~," Kiriyama screamed sharply as if trying to say she had used all her might for this scream.

It was conceivable why she did this—Taichi thought as his brain calmed down after being over its limits during the crisis.

"Separate! Separate! Separate now!"

Kiriyama cried, almost hysterically.

"Hey, hey, Kiriyama, calm down. Don"t get angry yet! I know how you feel."

Aoki switched his focus to placating Kiriyama to bring her agitation under control.

"What do you know—Wuaghh!"

Taichi"s words were ceased by Inaba who suddenly stood up and stepped on Taichi"s abdomen.

Inaba had completely no sign of apology and picked up her uniform that had fallen off.

If you really understood her panic you should have kept silent from the very start! And please beware of the situation before doing anything—Taichi originally wanted to give vent to his discontent, but this feeling then faded instantly.

Inaba picked up her clothes, held it in front of her chest, and fastened the b.u.t.tons on her s.h.i.+rt.

Her hands were trembling erratically and her face was so wan she might faint if someone were to call for her loudly.

However you look at it, Inaba"s condition, including what she did just now, was erratic.

"So, what happened between you guys?"

Kiriyama asked, paying no heed to Inaba"s erratic look.

Kiriyama"s eyes, the eyes of the former gifted karate girl, was tilted slightly upwards usually, had tilted even upper like a demon. A strong anger boiled inside her tender muscles of her delicate body. Her chestnut hair looked as if it was going to strike at any moment.

"C-Can you wait for moment? We have something to get straight here—"

Taichi strived for a bit more time, but his attempts were ceased by the sounds of smas.h.i.+ng of wood pieces. The broken sounds of an unknown matter reverberated in the clubroom and then stopped.

"Come on, fess up!"

Kiriyama Yui used her fist to slice apart the long table out of the two tables that had not yet fallen.

This was obviously too much.

However you put it, she had gone too far.

"Yui! What"s wrong with you, Yui!"

Aoki, at her side, called her nervously.

His voice calmed Kiriyama"s eyes that had been widened terribly. Her bright red face had also gradually turned back to its usual whiteness.

"What...the...Ouch! My hands...blood. Eh? The table...did I do this? This isn"t a dream....but why? Why will...how the...No, I wasn"t that angry...but why? It"s scary...really scary."

Her eyes were filled with tears at that moment. Her body also trembled stiffly.

At this moment, the last club member—Iori Nagase—had arrived.

"Yo...What happened to the table? What"s this all about? Why is the table broken? And the clubroom is all messy...Wait! Yui, you"re bleeding! Let me have a look!"

She hurried to Kiriyama"s side and swiftly checked her wound.

"Mmm...It"s only a small cut. Wash it with water and go to the Health Room to sterilize it, okay?"

"I-Iori....Wu-Wuahh!"

"Oi, oi, what"s the matter? Does it hurt? It"s all right...it"s fine..."

Kiriyama cried like a child. Nagase held her delicate body tightly while comforting her by saying, "It"s fine. It"s fine" and combing her chestnut hair.

"All right. Taichi, Aoki, Inaban, stop looking at us blankly. Tidy up these things and report to the teacher!"

Thanks to the swift actions of Nagase who then arrived, things, at least from the surface, had come to an end.

As a result, the club members were immediately dismissed that day after tidying up those things.

During that night after Taichi got home, he thought of what had happened blankly in his room.

Inaba tried to lure him.

Kiriyama had been too angry.

He just thought that the two of them were not calm enough.

Although he tried to ask them, they only proposed that "they didn"t want to do it, but they did", puzzling enough.

So what happened?

Mere thinking cannot lead me to any answer.

By the way, it was fortunate Nagase was calm enough to handle the situation back then. In the turbulent clubroom, if Nagase had come later, who knows what would ensue. She was quite reliable at times when she had to act.

[Is it fine to continue on like this?]

Taichi suddenly heard a voice.

Was it from outside the room? No.

Did I hear something wrong? No.

Was it a sound I made myself? No.

Was it only a sound that was replayed in my mind? No.

Did the sound not vibrate my eardrum and directly reverberate in my head? Yes.

What was that?

He wanted to take that as a misperception, but the sound was so distinct it was impossible to take it as that.

Taichi s.h.i.+vered.

It"s common sense that it was impossible to receive sound information from anywhere apart from the ears.

His body started to heat up. Coldness faded from him and reality also faded as if it was eroded by some hot air.

He felt as if he was not himself anymore.

He gradually left himself, but his conscious was still retained.

For no apparent reason, Iori Nagase"s figure filled in his brain—Her face was a bit round, but the figure of it was very pretty. Her transparent and white skin, big and watery eyes, straight nose, beautiful black hair that was bundled at the back of her head, and a slender, ideal body form...

Some kind of unknown force pushed Taichi.

This emotion surpa.s.sed everything else Taichi was thinking.

Taichi didn"t remember he had the courage to do that.

But his body began to take action.

He grabbed his phone and ran out of his room. He operated his phone while going down the stairs from the second floor to the first.

He had a conscious to stop and to cease himself, but it was surpa.s.sed by the increasing turmoil in his body. Both thoughts violently clashed at each other, and the winner was decided instantly.

Taichi walked down the stairs and ran through the corridor. He wore his shoes at the gate, and opened the door—at this moment, the heat inside him suddenly cooled down.

He felt he had returned to his body, the strange feeling of looking at himself from the inside vanished as well as the impulse that brought him here.

He now stood blankly at the gate.

His body was originally so hot that it was melting. Now everything seemed like normal as though nothing had happened. However, it certainly was gross that there weren"t any traces of the vibrant change that occurred in him.

Taichi looked at his phone. "Iori Nagase" was printed on the screen.

After Taichi had returned to his normal self, he could not figure out what had really happened, so he decided to first return to his room.

He sat on the floor cross-legged as if collapsing.

What the heck was that?

It felt like he was pulled by some kind of thing that had surpa.s.sed his conscious.

He looked at his phone again. "Iori Nagase" was still printed on the screen.

What kind of antic.i.p.ation does my body hold towards Nagase?

At this moment, his phone rang Techno"[2] music of the opening of a wrestling.

"Wuahh!"

Surprised, Taichi dropped his phone on the floor.

He fleetingly picked it back up and looked who was calling.

His heart pounced.

The caller was the one he was thinking of just now.

Taichi suppressed the aberrantly fierce beat of his heart in his chest and received the call.

"Hey..."

"Ou, Taichi! Tell me! Are we still!" Nagase suddenly screamed.

"...Are we still..." her voice suddenly weakened, as if about to vanish.

"Wh-what"s the matter, Nagase? What happened?"

"W-What...Ah...Nothing...About that...Good evening."

"A-Ahah. Good evening."

Both of them fell silent for a moment.

"Ayah, eh...it sure was tiring today, right?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

They fell silent again.

After a while, a low howling sound came from the other end.

"Ah—I"m sorry! I"m really sorry! I don"t know why but when I got my consciousness back I had already phoned you. I suddenly felt I had to chat with you no matter what and my body acted on its own will..."

—Her body acted on its own will.

This was exactly what happened to Taichi.

"A-Actually I also...what really happened? I didn"t have that will...but suddenly it, the will to meet with you or chat with you on the phone, occurred to me."

"Yeah, Sorry! This is certainly unfathomable...Eh? You had the same experience?"

That was right. Taichi also had the feeling that he wanted to hear Nagase"s voice no matter what.

That feeling neglected his will and came to him explosively.

So, where did "that kind of feeling" come from?

Did that feeling charge into him from outside because it neglected his will?

No, "that feeling" seemed to be a part of himself.

"So what the heck is this? It is a bit strange."

"This is...what is this?"

Nagase had the same question as Taichi.

For an instant the aberrant actions of Inaba and Kiriyama reoccurred to Taichi.

A weird shadow reflected itself upon a corner in his mind.

"Yeah...I don"t quite understand too, so let"s get back to what we"re talking about...Umm, but where should we get back to? Or should I say we haven"t gotten anywhere from the start!"

"So...Nagase, you want to have a talk with me, right? You said at the start something like "tell me"...so, what actually was that?"

"Mmm...I-If that"s what it is, then you also have something to tell me. What is it?"

"I...I was..."

Taichi tried to think back to the time when his body heated up and moved against his will, when he felt he wasn"t himself anymore, and some foreign feeling pushed him; and at the same time focused on that foreign feeling.

He had lost count of how many times silence had fallen. After that, the both of them commenced at the same time.

"Our confession then..."

"Our confession then..."

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Not only were their words the same, but also their reactions.

"Eh...Tai-Taichi, you also wanted to say the same thing."

"Y-Yeah...I had felt from that time that I needed a distinct confirmation...but after that everything went so crazy I hadn"t had the chance to do it."

In the personality exchange, their hearts had once connected to each other. Taichi would definitely not take what happened then as a lie.

Yet, what happened then was too unrealistic. They looked as if characters in a film.

So, was the confession that they both proposed "they liked each other" irrational as it occurred in this extreme situation? Was it some kind of misattribution effect[3]? He was like one of the protagonists of films who one often want to say to them, "now isn"t the time for this type of thinking", Taichi thought.

Besides, the memories back then was so great, he felt if his usual life wasn"t taken with care he would contaminate his memories.

"Starting from then on!"

Nagase spoke so vibrantly she couldn"t keep the decibels of the sound down, she quickly lowered her voice afterward.

"...Have your feelings...not yet changed?"

It was Nagase who took courage first.

Taichi fell into self-disgust slightly, but then he quickly changed his way of looking at it: if he had the time to be dismayed, he should have time to step forward and speak what he should distinctly.

"Not even a bit. My feelings for you haven"t changed since then."

Both of them said they liked each other.

Nevertheless, they were not in a relations.h.i.+p.

"Is that so...about that...me...me too."

Their conversation paused.

But unlike before, the silence this time did not bother him, but comforted him instead. No. It was more than comfort, it was—

"...Err...To tell you the truth......I"m extremely embarra.s.sed right now."

"...Me too...quite a bit."

Perhaps it was their reluctance in such moments that kept their relations.h.i.+p from progressing.

"Le-Let"s stop for today! It just feels...Yeah, that"s what we"ll do!"

"Y-Yeah, that"s a good idea!"

Even though he knew that he was acting like a coward, Taichi couldn"t do anything about it.

"Sorry for such a strange phone call! Bye~ Bye!"

"Eh? Hey. Naga—"

Not waiting for Taichi to reply, Nagase had already hung up the phone.

Taichi could only close his phone helplessly.

The things that happened today and the problem he had with Nagase were still left in his mind.

"Yeah~", Taichi roared while scratching his head.

At this moment he suddenly noticed someone looking at him.

He turned his head to the door and saw a small head sticking out.

It was a head that was covered with wavy medium-to-long hair and a face that had naive, pure, and large round eyes.

It was his sister, a fifth-grader, who carried a notebook in front of her chest which was t.i.tled "maths" in large writing. The door that she half-opened screeched like it was staring closely at Taichi.

"Wh-When did you start watching?"

"Eh, when your phone rang and you jumped up and dropped your phone. Ah, I also saw slightly when you stared at your phone numbly."

"You almost saw everything, d.a.m.nit!"

Having his sister that was five years younger than him, see him doing strange things, he, as the elder brother...his dignity would...

"Nya, bro, was the person you just talked to on the phone...your girlfriend?"

"No. No. She"s not my girlfriend!"

For no apparent reason, Taichi"s tone sounded like he was acting in a Jidaigeki[4].

"You"re embarra.s.sed~ My brother is so cute~"

"Stop scoffing at elders! Wait. Stop. That doesn"t count."

"This won"t work. I am too jittery." Taichi breathed deeply to calm himself down. His sister couldn"t stop laughing at this scene.

"He! But I"m relieved. There was a time when you were very strange and I thought you had better gone to the hospital to see the doctor..."

The time should have beeen when the personality exchange occurred among the five members of the Cultural Research Club.

"—So it was purely lovesickness."

It looked like he was very seriously mistaken.

"Hey! You should stop be like recent teenage girls who take love into account of everything they think of! And where did you learn the word "lovesickness" from?"

"Ahaha. What are "recent teenage girls"? You speak like an old man!"

"O-Old man! If it"s a middle-aged man I"ll still be fine."

Taichi was a bit shocked.

"But, if this is the case, then if anything strange happens to you from now on, I"ll tell mum and dad that "this is just lovesickness; it"s enough to care for him behind.""

"I-I don"t need your meddling in my business!"

My parents actually had those kinds of family meetings with my sister. That sure was annoying.

"But honestly I"m now a.s.sured I can have a boyfriend now. So, that"s all. I have a lot of things I don"t understand in my homework. Teach me please, bro."

"H-Hold on for a moment! It"s too early for you to have a boyfriend! Listen well. You"ll have to discuss with me in detail about this."

"Yes. I"ll listen to you after you help me look at this question."

"I-It"s decided! If there"s any progress on that, please inform me immediately!"

Taichi was so messed up by his precocious sister"s recent behaviour. He then tutored her in her homework, had dinner, watched the television, bathed—finis.h.i.+ng his daily schedule as usual.

At some unknown time the club members had already lost their sense of impending crisis to the aberrant things that happened among them today.

The situation felt off, but it wasn"t a personality exchange.

So Taichi thought in his heart that there wasn"t a need to care about this not-so-important problem.

No. He wanted to merely believe more in it than to think of it logically.

However, this was an acute mistake he had made.

—On the next morning, Kiriyama Yui and Aoki Yos.h.i.+fumi were taken to the police office to receive counselling.