Kokoro Connect

Chapter 2 - By the Time We Realized It, It Had Already Begun. (II)

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Chapter 2 - By the Time We Realized It, It Had Already Begun. (II)

On the next morning, Yaegas.h.i.+ Taichi walked to school with immensely heavy steps.

To think that he would meet Nagase Iori was very embarra.s.sing. However, more embarra.s.sing was to meet Inaba Himeko: "what would Inaba"s face tell me when she comes to school?" To make it short, he told himself to abstain from looking at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s..."what a waste of my brainpower for these trivial things", he thought.

"Things are getting bad. Yui and Aoki have been brought to the police office for counselling."

As Taichi went into the cla.s.sroom, Inaba blurted to him with a wan face.

Police office. Counselling.

Was it because he didn"t want to have any meddling with business that would relate with these terms? Taichi couldn"t understand immediately what Inaba had said.

"Uh? No, Wait. What was that? Or should I first ask, Yui and Aoki...are you referring to Kiriyama Yui and Aoki Yos.h.i.+fumi?"

"Who else would I be referring to? You idiot. Come here first."

Inaba pulled Taichi to her seat.

Iori, at a loss, was sitting there, mumbling words like a fly, "What could we do..."

"Why...What"s going on? What was that counselling?"

"How would I know?! The only thing we know now is that this has become the talk of the day in the staff room."

"For real...have you contacted them?"

"No...I couldn"t reach them."

Nagase said, holding onto her phone.

"Oh...Dammit. Does anyone know what happened..."

"Are you calling for me?"

Surprised, Taichi turned his head to the unexpected reply.

The registered trademark she had was the bundled hair at her back that revealed her forehead and the glimmering gla.s.ses.

Originally she was the model student that everyone could imagine. But for no apparent reason she stepped upwards to become someone even more powerful and impacting with her superb leaders.h.i.+p skills. Allegedly she was the person to answer many love problems of students in the same grade. She was the cla.s.s president of cla.s.s 1C, Maiko Fujis.h.i.+ma. On a side note, according to Fujis.h.i.+ma, she was trying to say "thanks to you guys (Taichi and the Cultural Research Club members) for awakening my powers. You have opened a great door with huge and abysmal potential. Be gratified.", though, they didn"t quite understand what she meant.

"Um...Okay. No one called for you, Fujis.h.i.+ma-san."

Iori said with a bit of fear. Fujis.h.i.+ma seemed to have done something to her that caused her to be inapt at dealing with her. By the way, what Fujis.h.i.+ma said was something like "I have my own ideals to pursue. Rest a.s.sured—you"re not the first on my priority list.", though, it was uncertain what Iori was numbered on her list.

"Nyahh. Don"t you want to know what happened to Kiriyama-san and Aoki-san?"

"What do you know, Fujis.h.i.+ma? Spurt it out!"

"It isn"t quite right to use such a demanding tone when requesting things, Inaba-san."

"Mmm...then please tell me...Fujis.h.i.+ma-san."

Maiko was unfaltered even when confronting someone as adamant as Inaba. She even exuded an atmosphere even more scheming than hers, which was horrendous.

"Yes. If you"re willing to lend Iori-san to me for two hours, I"ll consider."

"Wuagh?"

Iori squeaked a sound she hadn"t made before and jumped up.

"Th-the deal is a bit...aghahaha..."

"Isn"t it great? I think Iori-san will be glad to do so."

Fujis.h.i.+ma wriggled her hand ominously as if it was a tentacle.

"Hey, Fujis.h.i.+ma! Isn"t it too despicable of you to do that?!"

Taichi shouted. And at this moment,

[Don"t touch her!]

The sound reverberated in his head again.

Taichi"s body heated up at a rapid rate.

s.h.i.+t. Gradually his body seemed to have left him, though, his consciousness was still here.

This feeling was exactly the same as yesterday. Along with his boiling mood, what could happen now?

What did he want to do?

"Stop!"

Though he cried in his heart, he couldn"t stop himself.

Taichi took a step forward toward Fujis.h.i.+ma and lifted his hand.

Was this a dream? What was I doing?

Taichi knew what he was doing, but another force inside him had taken control of his body.

"No!"

Just as Taichi was about to swing his right hand towards Fujis.h.i.+ma, Inaba grabbed his arm tightly.

"What do you want to do?"

Inaba looked at Taichi, her cold eyes penetrating him while she held his wrist potently with a single hand. His arm felt as if it was going to go wild.

His conscious had returned, but he still shook off Inaba"s hand crudely. Nevertheless, Inaba, with her face tensed and full of nervousness, still tried to get a grip on his hand,

Fretful, Taichi wriggled his wrist out of Inaba"s hands will all his strength.

Then, Taichi suddenly stopped his actions.

The warmth inside him had cooled off, and the power that was controlling him had left.

Taichi felt a bit dismayed and uneasy.

Inaba stared at him quietly.

"...What are you doing, Yaegas.h.i.+-san? Practicing for a dance?"

Fujis.h.i.+ma asked plainly.

"No...that"s..."

Cold sweat incessantly slid down his face, causing a mess in his brain, making him unable to think.

"So, how"s the deal? Nagase-san."

"You"re still talking about that..."

Taichi couldn"t stick to an adamant att.i.tude, feeling a bit pressured and timid in the middle of his words.

"No. That"s fine. Taichi...If only we can find out what happened to Yui and Aoki...Mmm...Right. I understand! Be it two hours or three, I"ll do anything for you! So, please tell us what happened to Yui and Aoki, Fujis.h.i.+ma!"

"I lied. Whether or not you do it, I"ll certainly tell you."

Iori lapsed on the table immediately.

"You...lied? I shouldn"t have decided so quick..."

"Don"t pick these times to pull out such weird lies, Fujis.h.i.+ma!"

Taichi also retorted. He adamantly pushed the scary and impulsive emotions that came over him to a side in his brain, trying to forget it as soon as possible.

"Nyaaa. This is my style of expressing humour. Hadn"t you guys received my intention?"

"Please at least look less serious when you"re going to lie."

Iori stuck her face on the table.

"You all were having such dismayed faces, I just wanted to relieve the tense atmosphere...I couldn"t believe you were so rejective..."

Fujis.h.i.+ma looked down with sorrow. It looked like Fujis.h.i.+ma was also brought up by living parents.

"So, what do you know, Fujis.h.i.+ma? Please tell us."

Inaba directly entered the topic.

"Ahah...Yes. Then let me explain this in chronological order. Though I"m unsure of the reason, some female students from our school were annoyed by a few delinquent students from Aki High at the central station. It was a clear morning, there were a lot of pa.s.sers-by, and their quarrel lasted for quite a long time. Just when the people around them felt the urge to call the officers to come and deal with their problem, their saviour rushed in in a flurry and taught those delinquents a harsh lesson."

"Could that hero be..."

Iori mumbled.

"Yes. It was Kiriyama Yui, a member of your club."

Kiriyama taught those delinquents a lesson?

"Umm...the so-called delinquents should be boys, right?"

Taichi asked.

"Though I am impressed that you had the sense of equity that delinquents didn"t have to be boys, but according to what I have just said before, isn"t it rare that delinquents are females? Yes. The delinquents that Kiriyama taught a lesson to were boys."

Kiriyama taught some boys a lesson?

Why would Kiriyama, who has acute androphobia that would tremble when touching boys, teach boys a lesson?

Though this phobia had been alleviated a bit recently, she shouldn"t be capable of doing that yet.

"Then?"

With a tensed face, Inaba hurried Fujis.h.i.+ma to continue.

"If that was only what she did, then it was something encouraging...but Kiriyama-san seemed to have overdone it. As a result, a few students from Aki High joined to see what clamour had been aroused...but it seemed that six of them were beaten to the floor by Kiriyama-san."

An angry and savage Kiriyama appeared in Taichi"s imagination.

"Though we couldn"t say she had done wrong, but that was over the line. So Kiriyama-san was brought to the police office for inquiry of the line of events...Ah...so you thought she was arrested because you heard of the word "counselling", right? Actions that police take towards juveniles are usually referred as "counselling". This is common sense! After that, another person appeared that interrupted the clamour that originally should be settled."

"Was it Aoki?"

Inaba swiftly asked.

"Right. though Aoki wasn"t certain of what happened, he seemed very agitated by the fact that the police took away Kiriyama. He kept on shouting, "Where do you want to bring her to! Let her go! Give her back!" Is he the kind that couldn"t calm down and think of the facts when he gets turned on? Anyways, for this cause did the police brought Aoki together to the police office."

Although Aoki was a dumb character, he definitely wouldn"t employ violence to deal with things. On top of that, he was that kind of person who would act with a peace of mind when conditions get rough.

"Nevertheless, don"t be too worried. I think everything"s going to work out. After all, Kiriyama-san and Aoki-san had no malicious intent. At the worst they would only be severely warned. And the school wouldn"t punish them as their actions were based on the urge to safeguard the students in the school. Or may I say that Kiriyama-san was rated with a pretty high value due to this episode, so if they were to punish her, a lot of students would surely seriously be dissentious. And the most important thing is..."

Fujis.h.i.+ma stopped and looked at Inaba, leaving her words hanging with an inexplicable flavour.

"I wouldn"t let such things happen. Whatever tactics I should employ, I would surely drag her out."

Inaba lifted her lips to a corner, showing a plain and rea.s.sured smile.

"I knew it. Even if things really get into that state, I would give my all to help. Hahaha!"

Even if we look at the whole picture, the school, these two girls were categorized into the more capable people. It was in fact a bit eerie to see them look at each other, smiling.

"Right. There"s something I"m quite curious. Fujis.h.i.+ma, where do you get all this information from? Do you know any spectators? These information seem to be correct most of the time," Inaba asked.

"No. My father is a policeman with somewhat high rank. That"s about it. Ahaha, if there"s anything that might happen, I could help to say something."

Fujis.h.i.+ma said such shocking words plainly. It was certainly shocking to know of her father"s stance, but to know that Fujis.h.i.+ma could exploit her father"s power was even more petrifying.

"Hehe...What good news. You can be of good worth."

Inaba had an evil smile of a dishonest businessman.

"I"m fine if the requests fall into rational and right cases. Of course I would need an equivalent payment for the deal. But if it was Inaba I think I can offer a discount."

"Then we"ll sure be thankful."

Hahaha...The two laughed at each other again, exuding an abominable atmosphere that anyone could not interfere, an atmosphere even mixed with some sinister and ominous feeling.

At this moment, the bell for the lessons rang.

At the recess time after the first lesson, Taichi walked to Inaba"s seat.

"Inaba, thanks a bunch right there."

Crossing her arms, Inaba slightly opened her eyes,

"Thanks for what?"

"...Didn"t you stop me this morning?"

Taichi couldn"t say it clear what it was. If he was to say it, he would have to admit what he originally wanted to do.

How can he admit having such impulsive and rash thoughts?

"Didn"t you hear a sound in your mind...some kind of [sound]?"

Having been told by Inaba, Taichi couldn"t help but gulp.

She was right. Taichi did hear the [sound]. The [sound] was what opened the door that let an eerie impulse take over his body momentarily and cause him to move against his own will.

The power of that impulse had obviously superseded the level where you would evade from a flying ball heading towards you.

"Yeah...Right. But how did you know my mind heard that [sound]? Did you hear that sound too, Inaba?"

"No, I didn"t. Didn"t I ask you whether you heard the sound? Although I didn"t hear the sound at that moment, I did in some other time in similar situations."

"Inaba...you have also experienced this? After hearing that [sound], one would take actions against one"s will..."

Before Taichi finished, Inaba had already nodded her a.s.sent.

They could already confirm something had happened.

Had they been gradually rejected from the "normal" world?

A sense of premonition ran across their minds.

Inaba heaved a sigh.

"We don"t know the details yet. Maybe it"s just an overreaction...Still, be ready for anything that might happen."

Inaba"s tone was very heavy.

"I understand."

"So let"s meet at the club and talk over it. I hope that Yui and Aoki could also come to school before school ends. If they didn"t, then let"s see by then...Hmmph. How rare that I would hope that everything was just my own worrying."

"Yeah..."

"What we are left to do now is to pray, I think."

For they hadn"t quite grasped the situation they"re in, her words don"t quite fit the creed of her, the creed that every challenge must be overcome by one"s power.

 

 

The episode occurred all of a sudden.

No. There had been something wrong that happened before that.

If I take this something, an omen, into account, then this episode should feel less sudden.

However, there was no omen before this omen, and thus this omen was everything I could depend on.

No matter how I put it, this way was too despicable.

In this way, there was no way they could be able to prevent it.

Had they escaped from this kind of world yet?

No. It wasn"t a problem about escaping or not as they didn"t have the right to decide.

Was being played around all they could do?

Was being fooled all they could do?

Was this their fate?

Was this the story they"re in?

Taichi knew that this was all he, an insignificant person, could think.

"Ahah... I am «Heartseed». It doesn"t really matter if I say it or not... Do you agree?" Gotou Ryuusen, the cla.s.s teacher of cla.s.s 1C and the advisor of the Cultural Research Club, said in the Cultural Research clubroom, located in the fourth floor of the recreational building.

"So everyone...it"s been ages since we met... maybe not... What do you think?"

He, with still the dull face of a dead man he used to be, spoke in front of Taichi and the other club members, without paying heed to what they would think.

They met again three weeks after Nagase Iori was almost forced to die.

Some time had pa.s.sed after that incident, yet it was too fresh to put it as something that happened in the past.

Was it too early or too late?

The only thing Taichi was sure of was that he didn"t want to meet him.

"I really don"t want to meet the indestructible you, «Heartseed»."

Inaba spoke in a provoking and still manner to that person, or maybe not a person at all. From her tone one could know that she really didn"t want to see him again.

In the end, Kiriyama and Aoki didn"t go to school.

There were no official announcements or punishments, but their families were still notified of the incident. (The information came from Fujis.h.i.+ma.)

Taichi, Iori, and Inaba reckoned that they could do nothing about the fact that they didn"t come, so they still decided to gather in the club after school. The thing was that...

«Heartseed» appeared at this time.

Same as before, he appeared in Gotou"s body.

Only one step forward they take might get them to the destination they want.

Taichi and Iori stood up to face against «Heartseed». Only Inaba was still sitting, without making a gesture.

"Why are you appearing in front of us again? Didn"t you say we should forget about you and the matters derived?"

"Ahah...Maybe I did say that...Actually what I was hoping for was that you shouldn"t take much concern of that. But I remembered faintly the moment we last saw that I said "so, see you later"...right? Inaba-san with transcending memory powers..."

"Don"t be silly. You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Inaba punched hardly on the table that was moved here yesterday.

«Heartseed».

He was the presence that evoked the random personality exchange and self-proclaimed that he was constantly observing them in the phenomenon, doing whatever he wanted.

Who he was still remained unknown.

And there were no way he was going to tell them.

"Why are you coming again? I don"t want to see you even for a bit."

Iori tried to stay calm, though she couldn"t suppress her tense and nervous tone in her speech. The person who most likely have sophisticated and mixed feelings toward «Heartseed» was Iori. After all, she might have already been dead if they had made a little mistake.

"Ahah...Speaking of which, I haven"t directly apologised to Iori-san...About that incident...I feel sorry from the depths of my heart...really...sorry."

"Even if you apologise to me now...it won"t...Wuah! So, if you really feel sorry about that, then please leave us alone!"

She was right, Taichi thought.

"No...I"ve repeated myself a few times...You guys are really interesting...Also, you can be angry at the fact that I"ve chosen you for this experiment...but please don"t get angry at me...for I really want to get along well with you guys..."

What he said was a bit—no, very dangerous.

"Wait! What happened to what you said about "let"s be good friends forever"?"

Inaba cried, panicking.

"Ahah...That is...because I"m going to do something interesting again this time...so even though I don"t know what will happen later...I think it feels pretty good to say that, regardless of what happens later, doesn"t it?"

"Hey. What do you mean by something interesting?"

Taichi"s voice trembled.

"How strange...Didn"t you notice, Yaegas.h.i.+-san? Don"t you feel that sometimes sounds will pop in your mind, and your body will take actions against your will?"

A streak of coldness invaded his body.

He was in the all-so-familiar clubroom, yet he felt he was pulled into another world.

"What are you spewing! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Do you mean...you"re planning to directly control our bodies?"

Inaba roared in rage.

"Manipulate? What are you talking about...Inaba-san. How can I do such things...and that would be pointless...Fu...then let me explain this while I"m here to do the forecast...Ahah...how kindhearted I am."

"What do you mean by forecast and the explanation..."

Iori said, trembling.

"Nyaa...If I don"t explain it, won"t it be a headache for you? Ahah...Though it may be interesting to see you get frustrated...I don"t want to adopt that method now...what I mean by forecast is that...I"ll do an official explanation when everyone"s here...all of the five club members...that"s it."

"Why...would you find us again..."

Iori mumbled in a husky voice. Though being hard in her words, she had probably given in.

"Ayahh, how many times do I have to say "this is because you are very interesting"...Ahah...I"m starting to get tired of this way of putting it...Do I really have to explain things beforehand...but it feels that I would waste this chance of coming here if I don"t do it...Ahah...a more important thing is that thinking of these things just troubles me...What do you think I should do? I can let you guys be the judge."

"Let us hear what you"re going to say...We"ll decide after that."

Having calmed herself down slightly, Inaba pushed her hair upwards and said.

"Ahah...Thanks. Then let me explain it; however, this time it isn"t anything special... or maybe I may think that everyone would feel happy for this... Ahah... perhaps this is exaggerating it... Eh. Where was I? Ahah... So, to put it short, this is to let the "desires" in your hearts, the true expectations, to be unleashed... that"s about it."

"Unleas.h.i.+ng our... desires?"

As he mumbled the words out, all the aberrant behaviour he and the other club members had yesterday and today floated in his mind.

Inaba who pushed him down.

Kiriyama who was extraordinarily furious.

Iori who phoned him with a weird att.i.tude.

And he was bound by a sudden impulse.

"Yes... Unleas.h.i.+ng your desires... or in short,"desire unleash"... hmm? Maybe I didn"t really shorten it. Whatever... Eh, it is inevitable that humans have a lot of "desires"... you have them, don"t you? But not all of those desires come out or taken as actions, for our consciousness or other mental blockages will cease them... however, don"t you think this is a bit lamentable?"

«Heartseed» continued, without paying heed to their reactions, even though he did use an interrogatory sentence to end his line.

"You want to do it but you can"t... Is it appropriate for a human being to live a life with so many restrictions? Ahah... this sounds fairly like philosophy."

"What an idiot. How can man live doing whatever they want."

Inaba interrupted and despised him.

"Yeah... That"s right in normal terms... so maybe if we turn the tables around something interesting might happen."

«Heartseed»"s tone was devoid of weight, as if his words could be blown away by a light wind.

"I just want to slightly... unleash your "desires", and let you acquire freedom... that"s it."

To acquire freedom by unleas.h.i.+ng desires.

"Isn"t that beyond dangerous? If one were to have one"s desires unleashed and act according to what one wants, then one couldn"t be counted as a human being. That"s...beastly."

How preposterous, said Inaba at the end.

"Ahah... Inaba-san, you sure get the gist of things... You"re right, who knows what will happen if all the desires of humans are unleashed... So, if we unleash different desires... and desires are multifaceted, for example: food desires, s.e.x desires, sleep desires, worldly desires, power desires, fame desires... What desires are out there? I couldn"t come up with any good examples. In brief, I would devise it such that only some desires are randomly unleashed."

«Heartseed» had on his face a bored expression all along his speech.

"Ah. But the "desires" unleashed are usually the strongest desire at the time... After all, desires undergo changes frequently and their stages differ greatly."

How dumb, Taichi thought. He couldn"t make up a voice as he was completely stunned.

"That"s it...You ought to know what you should do, don"t you? I"ll a.s.sume you do."

«Heartseed», having Gotou"s appearance, fell silent.

"... I actually want to explain it a bit more... but as this is after all a forecast, this should be enough. And there"s two absent today... Ahah... Then I"ll stop right here. Let me make an official explanation when all of you are here, and of course see if I"m available at that time. Please tell those two absent what I"ve said just now. What a pain."

"What were you blurting just now? What do you want to do? Be exact and clear!"

Inaba was enraged by the way «Heartseed» had been holding them in suspense.

"Ahah...Is that it? Then I"ll return now...Let"s meet again after school tomorrow."

"This isn"t even an answer!"

Inaba began to feel irascible; others beside her began to mumble nonsense.

"Tomorrow... after school?"

"Yeah... I said today"s the forecast, you see? Actually I wanted to explain everything today... but it seems that there has been two absent... so let"s postpone it till tomorrow... This was what I planned... but to be certain that my plans will be interrupted just makes me feel bad... so I"ve come at last... one thing I was certain was that things would be better if I come here beforehand."

"Wasn"t that due to that "desire unleash" you caused?"

Inaba said with surprising vigour.

"Not exactly...However, if I just leave you guys alone without any notice...maybe this will "end"...so I"ve come...though, ending it wouldn"t be much of a ha.s.sle, I would feel bad if it ended too quickly...Hmm, if I put it like this way, I should have notified you a lot earlier...but observing you, who felt completely puzzled of the episode, was fairly interesting..."

"Observing" and "interesting"—the way this guy plans something had the same rules; still, it was troubling to understand what he meant by "observing" and "interesting".

"...Farewell then."

«Heartseed» mumbled, left for the door, but then stopped abruptly.

"Nyaa? Having given it a deep thought, I think...maybe I can"t make sure what I"ve said could be told to those two...but about this, I think you"re going to do it for me...you should have remembered what I have said I think. Inaba-san, I"m giving my hopes on you...."

Inaba deadly eyed at «Heartseed» and remained silent. They both stared at each other, shaping a warped s.p.a.ce that neither Taichi nor Iori could enter.

Inaba then clenched her first, commencing,

"If I say...I reject?"

"Then that"ll surely be a headache...for you guys, that is."

"Wouldn"t you get a headache too?"

Inaba tried to make a deal with «Heartseed», but where did she find power left to do that?

Nevertheless, compared to Inaba"s sullen face, «Heartseed» still kept his poker face.

"Ahah...Why should you be so mischievous...To tell the truth, I don"t have any more strength to go find the two and explain to them...Ahah...as such, then let me first stop this for a while..."

"What are you saying actually?"

"So...I"ll stop this from now on till tomorrow, so your desires won"t be unleashed...What a great offer I"m giving you..."

"Uh...What the h.e.l.l are you saying..."

Iori"s voice felt as if she was at the verge of tears.

"Not anything special...so before I explain tomorrow, I"ll first pause this phenomenon. This is some time for you to have a rest...break point...Ahah...I don"t know how to put it...this is, after all, not something very important..."

"You"re even capable...of doing that?"

Inaba wore a tight, forced smile.

"Perhaps...Maybe it"s a bit too much for this side if I do this...but it"s much better than putting it to an "end" immediately...and more importantly...thinking it from another perspective...having a situation like this might be interesting. So, let"s meet again here tomorrow...though things might alter then...see you."

Having finished all his blabber, «Heartseed» left the clubroom.

No one attempted to stop him.

To be more precise, they couldn"t.

Silence invaded the clubroom after he had left.

"...It"s back again?"

As Inaba started to mumble, sounds once again fell upon the room.

Taichi and Iori still couldn"t make a sound.

Taichi couldn"t even think up of what to do or how to react.

He had always had in his heart that aberrant phenomena such as personality exchanges would never occur among them ever again.

Nevertheless, there was some possibility. Or even, for they had once gone through such things, the possibility of meeting them would even be higher.

The existence named «Heartseed», who surpa.s.sed normality, seemed to have preyed on them.

"Why...Why..."

Iori"s voice seemed to be sounded in her subconscious.

The same question was darting through Taichi"s mind.

He pondered over how he could evade from such things, yet he was shocked that this was totally impossible.

"Ah. Does anyone know of a way to prevent such a b.a.s.t.a.r.d situation from occurring?"

Taichi and Iori were unable to answer Inaba"s question.

When they were engaged in the "personality exchange", though everyone endeavoured to think up of different solutions, they failed to make conclusions of a feasible solution. Under circ.u.mstances where no new hints were given, there was simply no way to save them.

"So, should we just give up and give in?"

Iori mumbled.

"What else could we do? Can we do something to solve it? I"ve been thinking of this and I would still think of this, but speculating from the current status quo..."

Both Iori and Inaba had a sullen face.

Taichi was also depressed, yet he knew he had to say something.

"We"ve made it through last time, so I believe this time we"ll make it through too. Things will mend together at last, you see?"

Taichi felt that what he said lacks something to back up, seemingly very unpersuasive.

He tried to say something else in a flurry.

"Maybe not...then let"s think up of a way! Though I think we can"t be too optimistic about this, being so dejected couldn"t help a thing...Ah, didn"t we say we should take this optimistically?..."

Just when Taichi couldn"t make up his mind on what to say, Iori and Inaba laughed at and for the same instant.

"D-Don"t laugh at me together."

"Though what you"re trying to do is a good thing, but you always do it so stubbornly—is it because you are a big idiot?"

"If you can say it much more decisively, you"ll look much cooler."

"...Saying it like this won"t help anything."

"Whatever. Forget it. That guy seems to have something to say tomorrow after all; besides, he said he"ll stop this for the time being...maybe you"re right, all we could do know is just to let things mend together."

Crossing her arms, Inaba heaved a sigh.

"That guy will come again tomorrow...Let"s wait until then. Knowing that he"ll come, I really want to set him up."

Iori said jokingly.

"Should we put a blackboard eraser on top of the door?"

Three of them laughed at Inaba"s suggestion.

Such little jokes rejuvenated them.

"Well, let"s wait until tomorrow then. I"ll tell Yui and Aoki what happened. It seems that nothing special will happen today, so let"s go back home and get some rest for tomorrow...though I don"t want to put it like this, for I sound like I really want tomorrow to come."

That being said, the club members were dismissed and returned their homes.

On that night, Taichi had trouble sleeping.

 

 

It was on the next day.

As expected of many, Kiriyama and Aoki didn"t receive any punishment.

During the recess period after the first lesson, Taichi, Iori, and Inaba met Aoki while walking along the corridor.

Tired and stressed he was, he still seemed to be more energetic than most of them.

"Sorry for having you to worry about me."

Aoki lowered his head in apology.

"There"s no need to apologise: we didn"t worry about you at the first place."

"That"s too bad of you, Inaba!"

In some sense, Aoki should be counted as a soldier coming back from the battlefield, yet Inaba had no sign of greeting him the way he deserved.

"However, I can feel the love of Inaba when she intentionally greets me the same way as before!"

"Wuahh...even I"m going to puke at this extremity of optimism."

Iori was taken so aback she leaned backwards all the way.

So positive was Aoki"s thinking that it surely was idiotic to worry about him. Besides, maybe there is something to learn from him of his optimism.

"Nevermind. Are you fine?"

There were a lot of implications in Taichi"s question.

"Yeah. I"m fine. Thanks! There isn"t anything to be proud of that happened."

Aoki smiled with glee.

The situation they"re in was obviously harsh: there was no saying what «Heartseed» was up to. Still, Aoki accepted them joyfully and acted staunchly. Inaba told him yesterday through the phone what had happened, yet he still chose this optimistic att.i.tude to confront it.

Taichi, in his heart, praised him for this indomitable will: this was something he couldn"t do himself.

Aoki, however, said sullenly,

"The thing that worries me the most is Yui."

A dark wave of sadness and melancholy propagated through everyone"s face.

Kiriyama hadn"t gone to school today.

 

 

Just as he promised, «Heartseed» went to the clubroom after school.

He again appeared as Gotou, the cla.s.s teacher of cla.s.s 1C and the adviser of the club.

Except for Kiriyama, all the club members were now face to face with him.

They knew he was coming, though, they couldn"t adopt any measures other than getting ready for it.

"Ahah...So Kiriyama-san still didn"t show up today...however...I don"t plan to wait any longer...I can"t help it...so please help her after I explain this to you...how deplorable is it that I can"t officially explain to all five of you...Eh, do you remember what I had said yesterday? I"m feeling that I"ve already said most of it...haven"t I? Inaba-san with such a transcending memory ability."

Inaba furrowed her eyebrows in disgust of him.

Nevertheless, she immediately got tensed and went face-to-face with «Heartseed» firmly.

"So what you"ve said was that you"re going to unleash our strongest and greatest "desires", right? Tsk...It isn"t any tricks that have to do with our bodies or souls, nor is it manipulating our bodies, but directly changing the nature of our souls to control us. How considerate of you."

"Ahah...So I"ve already explained...How great. But...controlling your souls? What a surprising way of saying that...Although what I"m going to do is a bit like messing with forbidden drugs, that won"t twist your souls, so your desires won"t be abnormally strengthened...if I really had to say it, your desires just flow out as you wish...Looking at it from another angle, this might even help you to find your authentic self...After all, desires in your subconscious could also be unleashed..."

"Just going with the flow...my authentic self..." Inaba repeated to herself in a low voice.

"How should I put it...It is like giving absolute power to the desires that are wanted to be unleashed, power that completely supercede that of your own determination...Let me repeat this: this isn"t messing around with the root of your heart or desires; they"re all what you want."

"Let me tell you: this isn"t a joke. If we"re angry at somebody so badly we want to kill them, will we really do it if the that desire gets unleashed?"

Killing somebody.

Taichi felt from Inaba"s words an abominable feeling he had never experienced.

Ultimately, would that really happen?

Even with such demanding tone, «Heartseed» still stood still, saying what he had to,

"Hehe. So Inaba-san really wants to kill people that don’t meet her eyes? How scary..."

"What are you saying..."

"Things will be as you really wish they would become...So, Inaba-san, you"re really a person who can easily want to kill someone..."

"That"s...just a metaphor. How would I...really think like that."

"Yeah...People who acc.u.mulate in their hearts the desire to kill others are rare..."

Inaba raised her fist, grinding her teeth in hate.

Even Inaba was brought away by «Heartseed»"s desired direction.

Although they knew he was coming, they still had no way of stopping him.

"Ahah...I hate to be misunderstood, so let me first explain...I didn"t mean that once your "desires" are unleashed you will go an a rampage, neglecting everyone else around you...things will not happen if there isn"t a true desire in your hearts..."

"Hey, are you referring to Yui?"

Aoki"s voice was filled with anger.

"Ha? Who knows? What do you think?"

"Are you fooling us?"

Aoki shouted and stood up, but was stopped by Inaba. Then, Inaba continued, "though...whatever we might think, we can suppress ourselves from doing them by our rationality. Isn"t this the correct behaviour of humans?"

«Heartseed» became silent and still for a while. One could not tell whether he was thinking by his still expressionless face.

"Who decides...those things?"

There shouldn"t be anyone who decides that.

"...Humans are beings who want to kill someone long in their hearts, but always suppressed from carrying it out by their rationality...or should I say, even if one really want to kill someone, this kind of desire is only a wild thought, only a rare few would really want to kill someone...Which one is the right one? If it"s the former, looks like it will really be a troublesome situation for you..."

This wasn"t a situation that can just be described as troublesome.

Hadn"t this deviated so much that it had become extremely dangerous?

Letting Taichi and the club members alone, maybe even such phenomenon would destroy the world outside the club.

"Nevertheless, we"ll know when we try it..."

"Don"t be a fool! We"re not your guinea pigs!"

"Ahah...You"re getting noisy, Inaba-san. If there isn"t any way to save this...then just accept it willingly and do your best to get through it. I"ll also do my best to observe. If this goes nicely, it"ll stop one day..."

"Don"t be a fool..."

Inaba repeated, but her voice was feeble this time, probably for she understood her efforts were futile.

"Ahah...Also, when your desires come rus.h.i.+ng in...maybe you would hear in your mind "a voice"...this could be said as the side effect of desire unleas.h.i.+ng, the cries of your hearts, or of the sort. Please don"t take too much mind of it. Ahah...I"m starting to get tired of speaking..."

«Heartseed» murmured.

"So after all this, I"ve said all the things I need to...I suppose...Forget it...Do you have any questions? It"s rare that I"m available to answer your questions."

"...You won"t activate the personality exchange phenomenon, will you?"

After a pause, Inaba asked.

Yes, maybe that would happen too.

"Yeah...No, for that has already ended."

"Hmph, yeah? You"re still using Gotou"s body, so that means you"re still able to do that, don"t you?"

As Inaba fought over with that supernatural existence, no one dared to interfere.

"Ahah...so this is what you"re wondering. I"m using this body just for convenience. There are other ways, but this is the best."

«Heartseed» whacked his body, Gotou"s body.

"How convenient do you make things for yourself...It seems like at this stage whatever we do we"ll be unable to win against you."

"Yeah...I think it"s the same for you to win against natural disasters..."

Natural disasters—perhaps this condition is similar to them.

"Moreover, though you say they are randomized, you can, in fact, manipulate them, right?"

"I can"t...I don"t think you would believe in me...so let"s just take it that I can. But basically this is randomized. Please be a.s.sured...Ahah...looks like there isn"t much to be a.s.sured about this."

"Ah...you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you"re so illogical! What a pain! What a pain! You can"t even answer questions as basic as what person you are, yet you still say you accept any questions—what a pain!"

Inaba bit her nails, twisting her face as if reaching the zenith of hate and pain.

"I"ve repeated myself about this for many times...I hope you won"t waste your time pondering over irrelevant things...All you need to do is to accept your fate and adopt measures to confront it...I"ll be glad if you can do that, and I"m sure you"ll be glad too...as we can end this much earlier."

"Final question."

"Go ahead, as I"m benevolent today..."

"Is shutting oneself in one"s home violating the rules?"

Taichi didn"t understand the point of this question, but from Inaba"s tone he could tell that this question had an important significance.

There was an eerie smile on «Heartseed»"s face, so eerie it gave one the creeps.

"Hmm...You"re quite sharp...Though I shouldn"t answer this question, let me do it to express my grat.i.tude..."

They seem to be having a conversion so sophisticated Taichi couldn"t catch up with them.

"That would be quite interesting. If there"s a need, I"ll make it even more interesting...This answer is quite enough, I guess..."

"...Hmmph, what a nasty personality you have."

Crossing her hands, Inaba casted a despising sentence.

"Whatever you say, for I"m that kind of existence...Is that enough? I"ve got to get going. Ahah...I even worked for two days in a row...maybe I"ve also grown, don"t you reckon? Ahah...that"s useless to ask you anyway. So, it"s decided: I"ll activate the "desire unleash" once again after I leave this place..."

Activating it once again.

Now was the only time to stop him.

"Hey, wait!"

At the last moment, Taichi shot a voice he had long heard.

"...What"s the matter, Yaegas.h.i.+-san? I don"t think there"s a problem."

That semi-opened turbid eyes shot right through Taichi, eyes that hadn"t any colours.

As if standing in a desolate place, a strong, inconceivable sense of weight pressured on Taichi.

His mind couldn"t work nimbly as it should, and he couldn"t find the words he needed to say.

"Ahah...If this is the case, I"ll go back then."

All the club members could do to this selfish tyrant, who only does things for his own convenience, was to see him off.

Nevertheless, Inaba left a word before «Heartseed» left the door of the clubroom.

"Many raise their hands in defeat when natural disasters fell upon them; however, if you were to presume that everyone in this world would do that, you"re d.a.m.n wrong!"

Smiling, Inaba raised her middle finger towards him.

"...I know...So, do your best."

The clubroom door closed with a bang.

 

 

The club members sat around the long table, leaning on their fold chairs all the way.

After «Heartseed» had left the clubroom, a kind of dreariness after a vehement, sweeping storm invaded the atmosphere.

They had to think up of a way, though, they didn"t know where to begin.

And the most appalling thing was that this wasn"t the end but the start.

From now on, the club members had to endure this phenomenon, which no one knew when it would end.

Taichi asked himself whether he was capable of handling it.

Could he live in this disaster in the precondition that he won"t hurt anyone, including himself?

He knew from the bottom of his heart it wasn"t an easy task.

The room was silent and time flew mercilessly. Everyone had his or her own opinion on the matter.

"Tsk...That"s all we could do even when we knew he would come?"

After a while, Inaba threw a word of regret.

"No...Wasn"t that enough? Someone like me was led all along the way..."

Taichi remembered «Heartseed», who appeared as Gotou, as he murmured.

Taichi"s heartbeat still remained quick; his body couldn"t withstand the atmosphere evoked by that strange, non-earthling creature.

"...Though we agreed to let Inaba to take charge of the main attacker, it seems that as if things will just flow the same as now even if we didn"t plan beforehand."

Iori smiled feebly.

"Yeah. I"ve also picked a weird timing to shoot. Sorry...When thing"s get related to Yui, I just can"t..."

Aoki also said with a lack of force.

"...then there"s no way...now we are left with no choice but to willingly accept it."

Inaba"s voice was dyed with some desperation.

"...Is that all we can do? Is there any way...we can solve this? It might be too late to say it now."

Iori mumbled.

No one was able to raise something constructive.

No matter whether it was yesterday or today, Taichi kept thinking of ways to evade from this phenomenon.

He had also thought whether he could solve the problem if he didn"t come to school and hide in some place far away.

However, he couldn"t put his thoughts into action.

After all, in the worst case, «Heartseed» might even take control over their bodies: if that happens, then where could they hide?

"...Taking the last phenomenon as an example, the duration is about a month...What we can do now is just to have some patience."

Inaba continued quietly, "I don"t think that we can escape from his watch."

"So...we can only follow what he says?"

Aoki murmured lowly.

The atmosphere in the clubroom felt heavy.

"Then I"m all-out to meet this challenge."

Taichi said, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.

They had a grace period yesterday, and Taichi had been ready for today, though, there was nothing he had on his hands except for his determination, and almost collapsed.

Confronting it was the only way if there was no escape. Standing up and confronting it to minimize the damage dealt—this was what man could do when facing disasters.

Bam!

As if rejuvenating herself, Iori slapped her cheeks.

"Everybody, let"s do our best!"

Ready, Iori threw a smile of will and determination; the others nodded their a.s.sent.

Everyone knew what he or she had to do.

"...So, let"s see the facts."

Inaba was the one in control.

"About the phenomenon...that b.a.s.t.a.r.d just explained everything, so we don"t have to dig further in it. I"ll notify Yui of this later. The first thing I want to confirm is, what would actually happen in this phenomenon?"

"To take it simply, it was the clamour that Yui and Aoki had."

Iori said, glancing at Aoki occasionally.

"Hmm...I remember when I saw the police taking away Yui, I was thinking of "please wait for a moment"...for I knew Yui isn"t good at handling boys—she was so scared when those men surrounded her...then I heard [a voice] in my head...then...I suddenly got all angry...I knew something was wrong though..."

That being said, Inaba continued, "...Yui was probably thinking that she needed to save the wretched girls even if she had to teach those guys a lesson through violence. And Aoki was thinking that he needed to save Yui from being taken away by the police even if he had to use violence towards the police. In general, they should be able to refrain themselves from acting like that..."

"But because of their "desires" being unleashed, they couldn"t stop themselves from doing so?"

Iori carried on with a question.

"Most likely...what you said...Sorry."

"No. I don"t think you need to sorry for that."

"So, the reason why Yui got all so turned on was maybe she thought she needed to clarify the matters even if she had to take forcible manners such as tearing the table apart...or maybe she just got so furious."

Taichi said, looking at others to confirm whether his comprehension of things was correct. Inaba turned to him and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Maybe Yui was just trying to take forcible manners by breaking the table. Although my inference may be incorrect, we can take it like this if we took what that guy said in account."

"What do you mean?"

Taichi asked.

"It"s like Yui didn"t really want to teach us a lesson to force us to give her an answer; or maybe she didn"t feel she had to take such serious actions to achieve her goal; or maybe she would even use violence on us if we don"t give her an answer after that..."

"Oh, I understand now."

Taichi replied.

According to «Heartseed», "desire unleas.h.i.+ng" would semi-force their desires to be taken in action.

That was all it was.

"Ahah...Speaking of which, the reason why Inaba would push me down..."

"Kiiahhh!"

"Wuaghhhh!"

Inaba pinched Taichi"s throat brutally.

"Cough, cough! That was painful...You..."

"Forget about that! Are you nuts? Don"t be a fool! That"s enough of you! Stop pouring salt on others" wounds! Forget it, now! Or should I punch you until you forget it!"

She wavered so hard her hair fluttered in unison. This was because of "desire unleas.h.i.+ng"...or maybe not.

"Right. I"ve almost forgot about something due to this chaos. Taichi! Please tell me more about it...Ah, it wouldn"t be too good to say it here since Iori is also here..."

Though Aoki stopped in the middle, he knew it was too late.

"Eh, what actually was that...Inaba pus.h.i.+ng you down?"

Iori c.o.c.ked her head in surprise.

"Look. Now things got complicated! You idiot! Nuthead! Fool!"

"S-Sorry..."

Taichi lowered his head in guilt.

"If saying sorry could get over things, then there"s no need for the police!"

"Ya, so what happened after all?"

"Mmm...D-don"t tell others! Yesterday when I was alone with Taichi...I slightly knocked him over...that"s it. However, only a little bit! When our bodies touched each other, Yui had already come in!"

At the end of her sentence, Inaba bit her tongue and made a silly sound, but Taichi didn"t laugh and nodded his head vigorously, trying to help her out.

"Oh, Oh...that happened! So, why would Inaba become like that? And what did she originally plan to do? This question seems to be a bit irrational...sorry. There"s no need to answer me!"

"Wait! For my reputation, I must first declare that I"m not that kind of women who are ready for s.e.x any moment. I was just surfing the net and...saw some p.o.r.nography."

Taichi, Iori, and Aoki couldn"t respond. They tried to stay calm and put their eyes afar.

"W-What I originally planned to do...I don"t know either! But I think I wouldn"t do things that are too over the line...I don"t have any experience in this after all."

Inaba"s face reddened like an apple. Even the ones who looked at her had faces gradually turning red. Taichi told himself deep in heart greatly that he would never raise this topic ever again.

Iori and Aoki put up a stern face, and clasped their hands to prostrate.

They prayed keenly that Inaba"s ill mannerism would be forever wiped away in their memories.

"Cough!"

Inaba cleared her throat, and the members sat upright and still.

"Let"s get back to where we have been...In other words, when our desires get unleashed, the desire being taken into action depends on how strong you want that to happen. Some consciousness that hasn"t been formed, that is, desires in our subconscious, may also be unleashed. This is really tricky."

"If they are things our consciousness can tell us, then we could at least predict what will happen when the desires are unleashed; however, if they come from our subconscious, then who knows what will happen...right?"

Iori rephrased what Inaba said and asked.

"Yes. Also, what am I about to say may only be my imagination, but I hope you can make note of it. What I have said meant that even stupid acts we would reject in our minds may be desires in our subconscious, which can be activated."

Inaba began to talk eloquently what she thought. How fast could she think?

"Mmm. I don"t really understand what are desires in our subconscious, but I know this surely is dangerous. Just take a look at what I did at the station..."

"The desires deep down in my heart...my authentic desires...my authentic self..."

Iori mumbled as if chewing something.

"Nagase, I don"t believe that your authentic self is the coalition of your most direct desires. Furthermore, to be honest, this is much trickier than personality exchanging."

Taichi continued after Inaba, "wasn"t the personality exchange very tricky a thing already?"

"Taichi, come to think of it. Did we ever affect the outside world during that period?"

Staring at Taichi, Inaba continued, "I think you should understand. Look at it with a deeper thought, what were you planning to do to Fujis.h.i.+ma yesterday morning?"

Inaba"s words. .h.i.t right at Taichi"s wound.

When he heard [the voice], his body heated up and moved against his will.

Nasty sweat would still come out simply by just thinking of the terrible scene.

What he wanted was to take it as his misunderstanding, refusing to admit what he had experienced. He must have chosen to completely forget it if he were able to.

However, problems don"t just get solved if he take no notice of it.

He really did almost do something bad and violent to Fujis.h.i.+ma Maiko.

What was he thinking of doing originally? Did he want to push her away? Did he want to grab her by the collar? Taichi didn"t know.

Nevertheless, the unpalatable truth was that he might have really hurt her.

This fact was heavier than anything in his mind.

A while later, the club members were discussing the measures they could take at present, with Inaba as the head to guide their discussion. As this was the second time they met such a phenomenon, the club members got used to what they"re in much faster. But when they found out they had surprisingly got used to these atypical situations, a stream of chilliness went up their spines.

"...We have two measures on our hands now," Inaba commenced after a while of silence.

"Two?" Taichi asked. What had Inaba come up with?

"The first is to suppress with all your might the fluctuations of your emotions. The second is to do everything you want and have less reservation, hence having a livelier and freer life. Though I think we must employ both of them to make things work."

"What do you mean? Inaba," this time it was Aoki asking.

"This is just my interpretation of that b.a.s.t.a.r.ds words—be them true or not!"

After a warning, Inaba continued, "the first measure is to use your own determination to suppress your feelings. To use an extreme example to explain it, it"s like having "nothing" (left) in your heart like a monk; then, nothing would happen when your desires get unleashed."

The situation we were dealing with was putting our thoughts into action, so we could say that we could cease them if we don"t think of any.

However...

"But...isn"t this too difficult? That guy once said that even the desires in our subconscious would get unleashed...I don"t think I"m able to control my desires to that state."

Iori mumbled, furrowing her eyebrow.

"You"re right. So there"s another measure: satisfying all your desires instead of suppressing them. As such, we won"t have anything we want to do when our desires get unleashed, given that these desires are already satisfied in the first place."

"...I understand. Though the two measures are completely ant.i.thetic to each other, both of them tries to minimize the desires in our hearts."

As Taichi said, Inaba nodded.

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d once said that "desires undergo changes frequently and their stages differ greatly", so we can infer that the desires he referred are not dreams we want to achieve in our lives but spontaneous impulses. In fact, we can only also infer that from the experiences we"ve had. That being the case, we can to some extent control our desires by paying more attention to what we"re doing."

In utter darkness, Inaba flashed a ray of light, weak, yet rea.s.suring.

"...Nevertheless, there are still some problems in our measures. In the first one, we have to suppress our desires, but over-suppressing might in turn exploding them out. In the second one, we have no way of satisfying all desires. Desires are unlimited. Humans go after new desires when old ones are satisfied. There would be no effect if that happens."

"Mmm...then what should we do?" Aoki asked in pain.

"To tell the truth, the answer is—I don"t know too."

Even Inaba couldn"t help it.

"However...if you don"t mind trying my measures, you"ll have to use them both at the same time. In other words, it is trying to do things you want, and beware of having too vigorous emotions. That balance is extremely difficult, I say."

"Eh, So that"s it: to do things you want to, not paying too much attention to it, but paying attention to places you need to?" Taichi tried to say it in his own way.

"What you"re coming up with is a bit rough...but you get the idea. Oh, and I now I finally know that Taichi likes to do things at his own will."

"No. I don"t..."

...Really?

Inaba laughed in despise at Taichi, who was c.o.c.king his head in confusion.

"Perhaps "doing things like you normally do so" is the key to preventing troubling things from happening. After all, you don"t get explosions if you don"t acc.u.mulate too much gasoline. If you were to be too aware of it, maybe you would think of weird stuff. This isn"t really the problem though...Ah. No! We would go nowhere if we talk like this!"

"Don"t worry. That"s enough for our reference. Inaba, you"re truly awesome! What an impeccable ability of a.n.a.lyzing things," Iori exclaimed.

Taichi totally agreed with her. In these atypical situations, Inaba was still able to remember clearly what «Heartseed» said and make optimum use of it. It was no exaggeration to say that Inaba lived by her name in collecting and a.n.a.lysing information.

"Praising me isn"t helpful."

"I think the most important thing is to help each other out. When someone gets into a dangerous situation, others beside him can give him the support he needs."

"Exactly."

Tachi nodded in head in agreement with Aoki"s suggestion.

"Yeah we can do that in cla.s.s. I"m with Yui, and you guys are in the same cla.s.s—isn"t that great? Ah, I don"t have any special meaning!"

"Good. This is a way too."

Inaba lowered her head like contemplating.

"Hmm? Inaba, don"t you think this is a great idea? It is, in my opinion."

"No...this is a good idea. Helping others out sounds good...at least I think so...right. Let"s call it a day, as the time is pretty late. Let"s take care of things later when they come to us."

That being said, everyone slowly packed their things to return home.

However they talked over the measures, they couldn"t vanquish the discomfort in their hearts. As he was scared he would be alone after parting with everyone, Taichi deliberately packed his things slower.

"Yui should come back to school tomorrow. Let"s see how things will roll then," Aoki said.

"Yeah. I don"t know what to say, but everything is going to be fine if we cooperate and do our best. Yes. I"m honest."

Iori, who was hurt the most and wavered the most serious, yet got through it like nothi
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