Chapter 6: Sheep and Shepherd

Chapter 6: Sheep and Shepherd

“...See you after school,” my older brother Yaegashi Taichi muttered, like an afterthought, as he walked out of the house.

“He seems a little depressed lately... and he keeps leaving the house so early,” my mom commented quietly. Personally, I was inclined to agree.

When Taichi came home yesterday, it seemed like something was really getting him down. I tried pressing him about it, but all he said was “I need to help them somehow.”

Naturally, I chastised him: “How about you worry about yourself for a change? Pull yourself together.”

I just wanted him to be the responsible big brother I knew he could be. But instead, he waved me off, claiming he was “busy” and that I ought to “go study.”

So of course, I went and tattled on him to my mom. Hmph! Served him right.

Sure, there have been other times in the past when he’s acted weird, and he always recovers from it eventually, but still! What the heck is going on?!

I know my brother’s a total softie who loves to help people. He’ll take on problems without anyone asking him to. And I love him for it, really. I just wish he’d slow down and pay more attention to his own needs. Unfortunately, he’s the type of dummy who’d rather sacrifice himself to get the job done—which is where I come in. If his condition gets any worse...

“I need to help him somehow. Good grief, my big brother is such a handful!”

“RINAAAA! Get your butt down here and eat your breakfast!”

“Eep! Yes, Mom!”

+++

The next morning, their first task of the day was to summon the first-years to the clubroom and pass on everything «Heartseed» and «The Second» had told them.

The CRC had already experienced both the body-swap and the Liberation.

The body-swap involved switching into another person’s body at random. The swaps lasted anywhere from two minutes to two hours, and it wasn’t always a perfect 1:1 trade; three- or four-person shuffles weren’t unheard of.

The Liberation would randomly unleash one of the victim’s desires—typically the one they felt most strongly at the time—causing it to bypass their normal rational decision-making process altogether. But because the Liberation’s duration was comparatively short, the victim usually didn’t have enough time to fully act on said desire. Lastly, as a side effect of the phenomenon, the victim usually heard a [voice] in their head discussing the desire.

Now that these same phenomena were affecting other students at Yamaboshi High School, they could only assume the rules were the same. In fact, they’d witnessed (and then misinterpreted) the telltale signs. But when «The Second» showed up, followed by «Heartseed», they learned that their hypothesis was completely off-base. They weren’t the stars of the story this time around.

This time, the ringleaders were «The Third» and «The Fourth». If no action was taken, the phenomena would end in one to two weeks, the events pertaining to said phenomena would be erased from history, and the victims would be set free. However, if a major problem occurred, it could trigger an “emergency shutdown” that would erase everything, potentially entire friendships. This was something they needed to avoid at all costs.

Worse still, that wasn’t «The Third»’s only objective—it was planning to erase all of the CRC’s phenomena-related history, too. Taichi and the others were in danger of losing their memories, permanently.

Given all that they’d learned after school yesterday, it was no wonder they’d all staggered home like zombies. Frankly, it was a miracle that they’d managed to reach out to the track team at all.

“So there’s currently a body-swap...”

“And... and a... ‘Liberation’...?”

“Affecting a group of five girls on the track team...”

“And... and four boys in... our first-year class...?”

Chihiro and Enjouji stared back in shock. This reaction was perfectly understandable, of course.

“It’s okay if you don’t believe us,” said Kiriyama.

“N-No! That’s not it, Yui-senpai! I believe you! It’s just...”

“They’re going to... erase history...?”

“So... everyone will end up like Yui-senpai and Taichi-senpai did that one time...?”

Both of them looked terrified.

“Just checking, but have either of you experienced any memory flickers?” asked Nagase, her expression serious.

“N-No, I haven’t noticed any...”

“I don’t think so, no.”

Since the Record Wipe would allegedly affect all events related to the phenomena, the first-years would surely lose their memories of «Heartseed» and the Phantom Projection... but at least they were safe for the time being.

“So... what will happen to us after our memories—er, ‘records’?—are erased? Will I... go back to being useless...?”

“Words can’t describe just how much I changed after what happened... That’s a pretty freaky thought, actually.”

“Obviously we’re not just going to sit back and let them take these memories from us,” Nagase declared, hoping to reassure the trembling first-years.

“For real, though, it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna fight like I’m the only one who can!” Aoki proclaimed, although it felt a little forced... Then again, he probably wasn’t the only one.

“I understand if you’re feeling anxious. These are scary times we’re living in,” Taichi chimed in, acting as the voice of reason in contrast with their optimism.

“Y-Yeah... I think... um... I...” Enjouji faltered, eyes watery, but pushed the words out regardless: “I promised myself I wouldn’t put my head in the sand anymore, but... I think it never really felt real to me until now, since... you know... we weren’t there for it.”

She sounded almost disappointed in herself.

“I wouldn’t say you ‘had your head in the sand’ at all,” Chihiro reassured her. “We just didn’t take it as seriously as we should have—and that includes me. It took this crisis for everything to finally sink in... Man, I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not. It happens to everyone,” Inaba muttered.

There was now an oppressive weight hanging over the clubroom, and Taichi knew he needed to shake it away.

“This is going to be tougher than anything we’ve ever faced... which is exactly why we need to work together, all seven of us.”

“And how many people do we need to protect, exactly...?” Enjouji asked faintly.

“Well, there’s seven of us... five girls on the track team, and four first-years... Altogether, that’s sixteen... although that number could increase...”

“Which means it’s important that we keep an eye out for any other afflicted students,” Inaba commanded.

As hard as it was, someone needed to say it—they needed the first-years’ help.

“All you two need to do is keep tabs on your fellow first-years and report back if you notice anything weird.”

As it stood, Enjouji and Chihiro were invaluable assets to the team.

“I feel like our first priority should be to brainstorm countermeasures for the Record Wipe, though,” Chihiro pointed out, and he wasn’t exactly wrong.

But the battle had started, and they were short on time.

“Was it a mistake to tell them everything? Surely they realize they’ll be affected,” Inaba muttered once the first-years had left the clubroom.

“No, we needed to tell them. We couldn’t have kept it hidden,” Taichi replied, and he was pretty confident the others felt similarly.

“We’ve got a lot we still need to take care of...” Kiriyama balled her hands into fists.

“So, how are we feeling? In general, I mean,” Inaba asked the room at large.

“Well... this is all pretty crazy,” Nagase answered, still wrestling with disbelief.

“Yeahhh... It was almost easier back when it was just ‘oh noes, the phenomenom!’ Y’know?” said Aoki.

“I agree. In a way, it’s kind of anticlimactic... which is partly why I feel so restless. I hate the thought of not being able to do anything,” Taichi admitted.

“Yeah... It’s not our phenomenon, so it’s not our place,” Inaba replied. She paused for a moment, then continued, “So... what are we doing about this Record Wipe?”

“Oh, um... I wrote a bunch of stuff down in my notebook. All kinds of stuff. Hoping some part of it will help me remember,” Kiriyama volunteered.

“Yeah, me too,” said Nagase. “Oh, and I made copies of all my photos. No idea if it’ll help, though.”

“Yeah, but... I’m not sure what else we can really do,” Aoki replied.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept of our history getting erased. It just doesn’t feel real,” Taichi muttered. It was the honest truth of how he felt.

“The problem is, we won’t know what works until it happens. Not that I want it to happen, mind you. It’s just... Ugh, I wish we could test our theories in advance,” Inaba grumbled, clutching at her hair. Knowing her, she was probably analyzing every possible countermeasure she could think of.

“If anything, I feel bad for the current victims, since they don’t even know their memories are in danger at all,” said Nagase.

She had a point, of course. «The Third» almost certainly hadn’t given its current subjects that much information.

“I don’t know what, if anything, we can do for them... but if we’re the only ones who know, then we’re the only ones who can take action,” Taichi declared. More than ever, it was starting to feel like their sworn mission.

They had to do it—for the sake of those who did not yet know true fear, as they did.

Not for themselves. For their friends.

Right?

■□■□■

Evidently the track girls had showed up early that morning, too, because the CRC bumped into them on the way to class.

“Hey, ladies! Have you thought about what I said yesterday?” Kiriyama called, her tone gentle.

The girls turned, spotted the CRC, and flinched away. Likewise, the CRC stopped short. Both groups were now frozen in place.

“Guys, look,” Nagase began, choosing her words carefully. “If you could at least acknowledge that we’re on your side...”

“Just stop!” one of the girls shrieked. “Don’t talk to us! Leave us alone!”

“C-C’mon, don’t be like that. We’re not gonna hurt ya,” Aoki stammered, visibly flustered.

“But... but he—!”

Thinking back, Kurihara had mentioned a “he,” too. Back then, they should have realized what she meant—that they’d met a «Heartseed», be it the «The Second», «Third», «Fourth», or whoever else.

“Don’t! You know we can’t talk about it!”

“Well, they keep pestering us about it!”

The girls began to bicker among each other.

“Is something going on? Did some weirdo try to talk to you or something?” Inaba asked.

Instantly, the air between the two groups froze over like the North Pole. It wasn’t clear whether Inaba had intended for this to happen, but either way, it confirmed their suspicions in one fell swoop.

Supposedly it was safe to talk about the phenomena... to an extent, anyway. They didn’t know where the line would be drawn, but if they wanted to offer even the most basic tips, they’d at least have to try.

“...Would you be willing to talk to us about it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! We can’t!”

Unsurprisingly, they shot Taichi down at the speed of light... but the CRC wasn’t ready to give up. Next, it was Nagase’s turn.

“We actually know a lot more than you think we do.”

“No, you don’t. You’re outsiders.”

In a blink, they had thrown up a wall between themselves and the CRC, forbidding entry.

“Yukina... Misaki-chan...!” Kiriyama whimpered, invoking the names of her two close friends who, thus far, had yet to say a word.

“Yui...”

“Yui-chan...”

They both grimaced in response—

“Aah!”

“Gah!”

“Wha...?”

Just then, three of the girls (Oosawa included) reacted aloud.

“What happened?!” Kurihara shouted.

“Oh... We switched...”

“Again?!”

“Hold on—who’s who? I’m—”

Unfortunately, the march of time was merciless; that was when the bell rang.

“Oh... Gotta get to class...”

And so the track team wandered away in a daze, with the CRC left standing there, unable to stop them.

The next hour was spent pretending to listen to their teacher, and after that, it was break time. Kurihara had arrived a bit late for first period; once the bell rang at the end of class, she jumped to her feet and made a beeline for the restroom.

“Oh, Yukina... I just want to help you,” Kiriyama whimpered in a watery voice as she watched her best friend walk out of the classroom.

“The restroom’s probably the safest place for them,” Taichi commented. He wasn’t about to try to stop them, of course.

Instead, the three of them—Taichi, Kiriyama, and Nagase—decided to check on the other four members of the track group. During each break period between classes, they walked down the hall and peeked in on the other second-year classrooms.

In the first room they visited, one of the track girls was lying facedown on her desk. In the next room, another girl was in the exact same position, while a third was conspicuously absent. At least, it felt conspicuous to them—or was that only because they were paying extra attention?

In a way, they were doing exactly what the «Heartseeds» hated most—catching on, asking questions, putting two and two together—and Taichi was worried their actions could trigger an emergency shutdown.

As he watched the track girls, however, another thought occurred to him: “Man... It’s crazy to think we survived this same nightmare for a full month.”

“Eventually you do get used to it, y’know,” Nagase replied.

“Or are we just, like, really weird?” Kiriyama asked.

“Maybe that’s why you-know-who kept saying we were so interesting... Is that why we went through so many...?” Taichi mused.

Lastly, they finished their rounds by paying a visit to Oosawa Misaki’s class. Unlike the rest of her group, she was talking to her friends like nothing was wrong. Hell, she was even smiling.

The three members of the CRC stood in a circle outside the room, pretending to “chat” as they spied on her.

“Damn, Misaki-chan’s totally owning it. I mean, she is affected, right?” Nagase whispered.

“Misaki-chan’s the type who can do anything she puts her mind to. She’s, like, really level-headed,” Kiriyama explained proudly.

“Yeah, she seems like she has the most composure out of all of them. Maybe she’s the ‘pillar of support’ for her group. You know, the way Inaba is for us,” Taichi remarked.

When the CRC experienced their first phenomenon, it was Inaba who remained calm and analyzed the data available to them. In a way, that was what kept them all sane. Perhaps it was Oosawa, then, who was keeping this group together at school.

“Hang in there, track team,” Kiriyama whispered, clasping her hands at chest level as if in prayer.

“At this point, I guess all we can really do is pray, or... Wait a minute.” Nagase stopped short.

Taichi followed her gaze back to Oosawa. Where only moments ago she was smiling, now her expression was blank.

Uh-oh.

Sure enough, a split-second later, Oosawa bolted for the door. Stumbling out into the hallway, she spotted the CRC and staggered backwards with a shriek. Then she turned 180 degrees and ran off in the opposite direction.

“Wait! Misaki-chan—or whoever you are! Hey!” Kiriyama started after her, but soon slowed to a stop.

Meanwhile, everyone in the classroom was staring after [Oosawa] with dubious looks on their faces.

The body-swap must have triggered... but there was nothing any of them could do about it.

“I hope they’re okay,” Nagase murmured, clutching her arm.

Indeed, all they could do was hope. The supernatural circumstances weren’t harming them directly; it was well and truly none of their business. That much was painfully obvious.

Sitting on the sidelines wouldn’t resolve the problem, and yet they couldn’t keep pressing the track team to let them help. They needed to do something, but until they knew exactly what was going on, they couldn’t. They wanted to help save the day, but in the end, they were just supporting characters.

And if their desire to help never resulted in taking action, then it was functionally the same as not wanting to help at all.

■□■□■

At lunch, the entire CRC (first-years included) met up in the clubroom.

“Since the phenomena don’t affect us, we aren’t obligated to carry on with our normal lives... We could skip class if we needed to,” Inaba mused lethargically.

“Okay, but only in an emergency,” Taichi replied.

Inaba blinked in surprise. “I was kind of expecting you of all people to push back against this idea.”

Then they took turns reporting their morning activities. Personally, Taichi was most concerned about the first-years facing the Liberation.

“From what I’ve heard, there’s definitely four guys in the Liberation group,” Chihiro explained.

Fortunately(?), those four first-years were classmates with Chihiro and Enjouji. At the very least, it would make the outreach process a little easier.

“Th-They all made comments like ‘I heard a [voice]...’ and ‘My body moved on autopilot’ and ‘Deep down, part of me really did want to’ and stuff like that,” Enjouji added.

Though this information was all secondhand, at this point it was safe to say that the first-years’ phenomenon was indeed the Liberation.

“They’re all really freaked out, a-and they’ve already tried to tell people about it, but we did what you said and warned them to keep quiet. Oh, and they said it all started two days ago.”

Apparently the «Heartseeds» had yet to approach them about it.

“Seems like it’s only happened a couple times thus far.”

“So they’re in the early stages... Well, we can’t afford to wait around until they start avoiding us, so let’s give them as much advice as we can, ASAP. I’ll write up everything you need to tell them and give it to you later.”

“Sure thing.”

“Y-You got it, Inaba-senpai!”

“Feels like we’re ahead of the game for once,” Nagase commented.

“Hopefully we can help them this time,” Kiriyama agreed, stroking her chin pensively.

“We’re better off letting Chihiro and Shino handle it,” Inaba interjected. “They’re not gonna open up to a bunch of older students they’ve never met. That said, we should probably try to meet them at some point.”

“Alrighty then, we’re counting on you two! Right, Inabacchan?” Aoki exclaimed, and the first-years smiled bashfully.

As the conversation sailed along... Taichi started to feel a little uncomfortable about where it was headed. Was it really safe to entrust this mission to Chihiro and Enjouji? After all, the Liberation was arguably the most dangerous phenomenon of all—not just for its victims, but for people in their proximity, too.

Still, they couldn’t expect the first-years to read their minds. Someone had to reach out to them. Was their “outsider” status slowly making him paranoid?

Either way, their time was limited—and with so many high-priority items on the list, it felt like their relative importance was getting lost in the shuffle. Lunch was already nearly over... and they had yet to speak at length about their countermeasures for the Record Wipe.

■□■□■

Surprisingly enough, things took a more favorable turn after school.

“So, uh...”

Shortly after the final bell, Kiriyama received an email from Kurihara, requesting for their two groups to meet. Naturally, the CRC had dropped everything to accommodate this request... and now the five members of the track team were standing in the CRC clubroom.

Since they knew the room was going to be cramped (not to mention, the presence of unfamiliar younger students would possibly make their guests uncomfortable), they had asked Chihiro and Enjouji to step out for a while.

“Umm...” Kurihara Yukina faltered. Apparently her group had appointed her as their representative. Then the girls began to whisper among themselves.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

“It’s so risky...”

“But...”

“Want me to say it?” Oosawa Misaki asked Kurihara.

“N-No, that’s okay,” she replied, shaking her head. Then she took a deep breath... exhaled slowly... and blurted out, “O-Okay, um, we’ve decided to trust you! So please just hear us out!”

Then she bowed her head as low as it would go.

The five members of the track team sat down opposite the five members of the CRC. Unfortunately they were short on chairs, so Taichi and Aoki opted to stand in the back instead.

Just as they’d suspected, Kurihara and the others had come into contact with an entity they presumed to be «The Third».

—The five of you... will switch bodies at random intervals...

—There are only two rules... Carry on with your daily lives... and do not let others find out...

—As long as you keep living your life as normal... it will all end eventually... or rather, that is to say, fairly soon...

—Do not break the rules... or else... Good luck...

As the girls relayed what it had told them, Taichi’s brain automatically “translated” it into its eerie manner of speech.

“The guy made it sound like something bad would happen if anyone found out, so... we all decided to keep our distance from you,” said Kurihara.

“He even named your club specifically! He said you went through something similar in the past, so you know all about it,” said another girl.

“It went out of its way to point us out? How flattering,” Inaba snarked. It certainly explained why they kept the CRC in particular at arm’s length.

“But we just can’t do this alone anymore. We need help... even if we’re not all in agreement on that subject,” said Oosawa. As she spoke, she glanced over at the girl wearing her hair in a ponytail, currently staring at the floor with a grimace on her face. That said, Oosawa spoke more clearly and firmly than the rest of her group; evidently she had still managed to keep herself together.

Eyeing the ponytail girl, Inaba turned back to the others. “I can understand why you wouldn’t want to break their rules. However... we’ve already confirmed for ourselves that some minor assistance is well within bounds.”

“You ‘confirmed’ it?! How?!” the ponytail girl demanded, leaping to her feet.

“...We have an informant. A different entity, not the one you spoke with.”

And so Inaba spoke (somewhat vaguely) of what «Heartseed» had told them, with Taichi and the others occasionally chiming in.

“That description completely matches the one we met...”

“Either they witnessed the moment we met him, or... they met him themselves...”

As a result, the track girls were soon convinced that the CRC had, in fact, experienced their phenomenon in the past.

“So you have prior experience, then... and you all made it out okay, right? That’s kind of a relief. Now it feels like maybe we’ll be okay, too,” Oosawa sighed. Hope had returned to her eyes.

“For real, though, this crap is super bad for my mental health. Especially since we don’t know when it’ll end,” Kurihara added. “I know we’ve been kind of bitchy to you guys, and it might be too late to ask this, but... if you have any advice, I’m all ears.”

They’d attempted to handle it on their own, but now they were at their limits. Apparently they’d been debating whether to take the CRC up on their offer for quite a while.

“Just because you’re tired, you think we can break the rules and... and tell them everything?!”

“C-Calm down, Akemi!” Kurihara stammered back. “Okay, let me ask this: Did you guys ever let it slip to someone?”

“Actually... this is our first time discussing it with someone outside our club,” Inaba admitted.

“Don’t you think maybe the only reason you made it out unscathed is because you didn’t blab?” Akemi, the ponytail girl, hissed back.

“Akemi, why are you so obsessed with the stupid rules?! Why should we listen to that creep, anyway?!”

“What if he punishes us with this crap for the rest of our lives?!”

“We can’t just let him get away with this!”

“Guys! Relax!” Nagase called, stepping in just as the argument began to flare up. Somehow she managed to have perfect timing in a situation where no one else could get a word in edgewise.

“All this infighting? It’s exactly what they want. Never forget, you all share a common enemy: the asshole who cursed you with the body-swap. You’ll be stronger as a team.”

She had such a strong point that the argument promptly petered out.

From there, the conversation progressed smoothly. Taichi and the others explained to the track team about the importance of working together and making an effort to ignore the phenomenon. As far as the body-swap specifically, their best advice was to keep in contact with each other as much as possible, to avoid the public eye, to remain calm, and—in situations where they were forced to interact with other people—to try to “act” like that person.

Some of the girls still seemed to be in denial, but they all listened dutifully and agreed to follow the CRC’s advice.

“Lastly... It’s important to tell yourself that this is ‘no big deal.’ It helps a lot,” Inaba recommended.

The more they talked, the more questions the track team had: What exactly is going on? How is this happening to us? Unfortunately, the CRC’s only answer was “We don’t have the specifics.”

“Okay... Now that I know there’s an end in sight, I think I can stick it out.”

“All we have to do is... act like normal, right? That’s all we have to do...”

“We’ve got this... It’s going to be okay...”

As the girls murmured to themselves, Oosawa turned back to the CRC. “Hey, um... Thanks for helping us, guys... and sorry for dragging you into it.”

Despite everything that was going on, she still had room on her plate to be concerned for them. While Taichi personally appreciated the gesture, he was mildly concerned she was going to overload herself and have a breakdown.

“You didn’t drag us into it, Misaki-chan. We—”

“Yui.”

Kiriyama was probably about to tell her that it was the CRC’s fault the «Heartseeds» were toying with them, but Inaba stopped her. They weren’t technically lying—only by omission—but it was still painful to endure.

“I can do this... I can do this...” Kurihara muttered under her breath, as if trying to convince herself.

+++

It was a weekday, but my mom came home early for some reason. Luckily, I didn’t have any plans with my friends that day, so the two of us decided to go grocery shopping together. Then, when we came home, I’d help her make dinner. That’s what Taichi gets for calling me lazy! I’ll show him!

Since we were going into town anyway, we decided to take the train to one of the fancy grocery stores. It was nice to have a little family outing for a change; my mom was the “young at heart” type, so spending time with her was always fun.

“Rina, aren’t you cold?”

“Nah, I’m okay.”

After we got off the train, we headed down the street, side by side. There was no wind, and we weren’t going that far... Honestly, I probably would have been fine if I hadn’t worn a scarf, either.

Just then, I heard an “Oh!” up ahead. Curious, I looked up... and spotted a woman wearing a white knee-length down jacket with a white scarf. Heck, even her skin was really pale. But she wasn’t completely white from head to toe; she had some jeans on, too. Still, she looked so angelic and beautiful... If I had to guess, she was probably in her thirties, but if she told me she was younger, I’d probably believe her.

I scrutinized her face. Why did she remind me of someone...?

“...Oh! Are you Nagase-san’s mother?! You are, aren’t you?!” my mom exclaimed, as if she’d only just remembered. Mom, that’s rude!

Still, at the word “mother,” it all clicked. Apparently this lady was the mother of one of Taichi’s clubmates.

“Yes, that’s me. I appreciate your son always treating my Iori with kindness,” the woman replied politely, with a bow.

“Likewise! You’re... Reika-san, was it? Your daughter is a saint for putting up with my idiot son.”

Then my mom bowed back, kind of as an afterthought. Ugh, kill me now.

“Oh, and this is my daughter, Rina. She’s in sixth grade right now, but she’ll be starting middle school soon!”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Yaegashi Rina.” Then I turned to my mom. “So how do you know Iori-san’s mom?”

“We met back during Taichi’s culture festival, remember? Oh, wait... That’s right, you weren’t there for that.”

I missed it? Dang!

“It was so nice meeting you. You know, Iori talks about her club all the time...”

From there they launched into the stereotypical parent conversation: taking turns talking about their kids. Reika-san’s speech was soft and slow, which in comparison made my mom look like she was rambling at full speed. That said, they seemed to go together nicely, and the conversation they had was entertaining.

Since I had nothing to add, I just stood there quietly... Upon further inspection, I realized Reika-san’s down coat was a cheap knockoff from an emporium. From the way she wore it, you’d think it was a designer brand... I need to take style notes!

“Actually... before I let you go, I have a question,” said Reika-san. Evidently the conversation was nearing its end. “Lately Iori seems... conflicted about something. She gets this way every now and then, but it always seems to work out in the end, so I probably shouldn’t be worried. Still...”

This struck a chord with me. “That sounds like my brother,” I replied.

“Yaegashi-kun’s the same way?”

She fixed her gaze on me, and I flinched. “Y-Yeah. Every now and then he’ll get all weird and spacey, like he’s worried about something.”

“During those times, does he leave the house to go to ‘club activities’ a lot?”

“Yes! Exactly!” Is it some kind of code?

“Wait, what? I’m not sure I’m following...”

“Mom, you really need to start paying more attention to Taichi!”

“I mean, sure, he gets a little weird sometimes, but what teenager doesn’t?”

“You shrug these things off way too easily! Anyway, Reika-san, has Iori-san talked to you about it at all?”

“Supposedly they get dragged into some sort of mess fairly frequently, and now it’s happened again.”

“I heard my brother saying ‘I need to help them somehow.’ Maybe we should compare notes?!”

“Rina! Loop me in! I’m the adult here!”

+++

The weekend rolled around... but nevertheless, the CRC met up in the clubroom. After all, just because school wasn’t in session, it didn’t mean the phenomena took a day off.

“For the body-swap, it’s easiest if the whole group holes up in the same room together. But for the Liberation... I guess they could hide during breaks...?” Inaba mused.

“The thing is, it still hasn’t hit them yet, since it’s only happened a handful of times,” Chihiro explained.

“Yeah... We could try to tell them it’s a phenomenon, but they probably won’t believe us,” Taichi muttered.

“They’re probably still hanging out with their friends like nothing is wrong,” Inaba sighed. “Meh... I guess they’re fine for now.”

“I’ve been checking in with them over email, you know, stuff like ‘What are you up to?’ So far two people wrote back ‘Eating.’ What about you?” Chihiro asked Enjouji.

“Oh, yes... I’ve gotten some replies, too. Normal stuff like ‘Are you doing anything later?’ So yeah, I don’t see any reason for concern...”

“You sure about that? Because I’d be concerned if I were you.”

“Huh? H-How come?!”

Is it just me, or does Chihiro look a little displeased?

“Alright then, let’s set them on the backburner for now and go back to the track team,” said Inaba.

The CRC planned to use this weekend to have a long talk with the track girls. Five days had passed since the start of their body-swap, and at this point, they had probably built up a ton of stress. Thus, the plan was to try to make things a tiny bit easier for them.

“I’ve got it all planned out,” Kiriyama declared proudly.

Meanwhile, Nagase stared at Taichi and Aoki in turn. “I’m trying to figure out if we should take the boys with us.”

“You never know when ya might need us!” Aoki replied playfully.

“Don’t forget, we still need to figure something out for the Record Wipe,” Taichi murmured quietly.

So far they’d been hiding photos and notes in all sorts of places, but none of them had come up with a bulletproof plan.

The track girls had gathered into two groups based on the proximity of their houses. Likewise, the CRC split into two groups to go and see them: Taichi and Nagase in one group, Kiriyama, Aoki, and Inaba in the other. Their tentative plan was to visit each track group in rotation; after all, it was possible some of them might feel more comfortable talking to certain CRC members.

And so Taichi and Nagase took the train to meet up with Kurihara and Akemi. As they headed out of the station on foot, they chatted idly.

“I know we’re supposed to be meeting up with Yukina-chan and Akemi-chan, but it’s possible that by the time we get there, we’ll be talking to someone else entirely. Kinda silly, isn’t it?”

“Yeah... It’s crazy.”

That possibility, in turn, had the potential to throw a wrench into their entire plan.

“Worst case scenario, there’s always tomorrow... But y’know, when I was leaving the house this morning, my mom kept grilling me. ‘Where are you going? What will you be doing?’ It was so annoying.”

“Come to think of it, my little sister was being really nosy, too.”

Worse still, when he answered “I’m going to school for club activities,” she stared at him goggle-eyed. It was kind of freaky.

“Family, am I right?” Nagase laughed.

“Not like we can ask them to stop asking questions,” Taichi snarked.

“The struggle is real... So anyways, going back to what you were talking about earlier,” Nagase continued, “it’s kind of a nightmare, having our memories in danger, huh?”

“I think ‘nightmare’ is an understatement.”

“Yeah, like... I think this sets a new all-time record for the biggest possible threat to our lives. We really ought to be thinking about this a lot more than we have been...”

Not only would they lose their memories of past events, but the very events themselves would be erased from the annals of history. Eighteen months’ worth of friendship was on death row; there was no telling what sort of effect its absence would have on them. And if they changed as a result, what sort of ripple effect would they cause in turn?

Soon, Nagase spotted two figures standing around up ahead. “Oh, good, they’re already here.”

And so the two of them jogged over to the track girls. Their conversation would have to wait... Right now, they needed to focus on the problem at hand.

“Glad you could make it!” Kurihara greeted them brightly.

As for the other girl, Akemi, she seemed fearful and reluctant. Still, it meant a lot that she was willing to meet with them at all.

Together, the group of four headed into a karaoke parlor. After all, no parent would let a random teenage boy into their daughter’s room without supervision, so in terms of relative privacy, there was no better place than a karaoke box.

They ordered enough drinks for everyone, then settled into the cramped room. No one reached for the microphones. Instead, they started things off with some small talk.

“This is my first time visiting this part of town!” Nagase remarked.

“I used to come here every now and then for baseball games back in middle school,” Taichi replied.

From there, Kurihara and Akemi discussed their experiences living here. No one attempted to dive into the main topic.

Then, when the drinks arrived, the conversation petered out. It was time to begin. But since he didn’t know which way was the “right” way to lead in, Taichi defaulted to a lazy question: “So... how’s it going?”

“You guys were right—if you tell yourself it’s no big deal, it really does start to feel like that! Whenever a swap happens, all we have to do is sit there and stay quiet. Not that we weren’t already doing that, obviously, but... it’s just really reassuring to have someone telling us we’re doing the right thing, you know?” Kurihara explained cheerfully, though her voice was hoarse for some reason.

“Yeah, for sure. It’s so annoying to switch bodies when you’re in the middle of studying, am I right? One minute you’re looking at math, and the next it’s English!” Nagase laughed.

Times like these, Taichi was always amazed at Nagase’s ability to keep the mood light. Without her, this would have gone a lot worse.

“God, what if we switched during the test? It’d be one thing if we were both good at each other’s subject, but if we ended up with our worst subject... Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it...”

“Yeahhhh, we had to worry about that, too.”

“Hey, Akemi—”

“If you actually take it seriously,” Akemi interrupted, ignoring Kurihara, “this situation we’re in is downright bone-chilling. What if we get stuck in each other’s bodies forever?”

“Oh, that won’t happen. We reverted back just fine,” said Taichi.

“So what? That doesn’t mean it won’t happen to us!”

“Akemi-chan—” Nagase began, but Akemi ignored her.

“This shouldn’t even be happening! Think of all the problems it causes! No hanging out with friends or boyfriends, since they might notice a switch...”

“And when we’re home, we have to hide out in our bedrooms, but since we could switch at any time, we can’t do anything remotely private!” Kurihara chimed in.

“And there’s no way to gloss over a switch mid-conversation, so the other person always looks at you funny!”

“And since there’s that tiny gap where you lose control of your body, you can’t even hold a kitchen knife!”

The dam had burst, and complaints rushed out one after another.

“The other day, I switched with Yukina right when she was eating some super-spicy kimchi stew, and I started choking! I can’t stand spicy food!”

“You think you had it bad? My whole family was staring at me like I grew a second head! And for the record, that was not ‘super-spicy’—you’re just a baby!”

“Ooooh, now I wanna test this theory. Wanna order the spicy pizza off the menu and have a taste test?!”

“Iori, no! I’m not even that big of a spicy food fan, okay?!”

This griping party was turning out to be a lot more fun than Taichi was expecting. Maybe this was actually proving to be good stress relief.

“Man... Feels like it’s been forever since I laughed this hard. I just... haven’t had much to laugh about lately, you know?” Kurihara muttered quietly.

“We’re just happy to help in any way we can,” Taichi replied.

“The good news is, for right now, we have nothing to worry about,” Kurihara continued. “Even if we switch, we’ll be fine. And unlike at our houses, we don’t have to worry about anyone seeing anything too personal!”

“It is a little easier to deal with when we’re in a safe place,” Akemi conceded, and her expression softened slightly. “I didn’t realize you had anything to hide from us, Yukina.”

“I don’t! I mean, not really. But I’d be embarrassed if you saw, like... my old chat logs with my ex or something, you know?”

“Okay, that’s fair. I definitely—”

Suddenly, for a split-second, the two girls froze in place.

“...Whoa! There’s another me?! Wait, no, I must’ve switched with Akemi. Okay, guys, just FYI, this is Kurihara Yukina speaking!” said [Akemi] (Kurihara).

“Ohhh, I get it. So that means Akemi-chan got swapped into... [Yukina-chan’s body]... right...?”

Nagase’s voice faltered; [Kurihara’s body] had started to tremble so violently, her teeth were chattering.

“Wh-What’s wrong? Wait... sorry, who are you?” Taichi asked.

But [Kurihara] wasn’t listening.

“Hold on a minute... I was just... putting it away... I knew I was going to have visitors, so... I wanted to be safe and... It was only going to take a minute... Just a minute... It was supposed to be fine... I told myself nothing would happen... No one was... supposed to see that...!”

They would later learn that the person in [Kurihara’s body] was actually Oosawa Misaki.

+++

“Please, please, please, please,” I whispered as I held my phone to my ear. It rang... and rang... and rang... until at last, voicemail picked up.

Normally I would never leave a voicemail ’cause they’re like, super cringey, but this was an emergency.

“Misaki-chan! What happened?! If something happened to you, you can tell me! I’ll always be on your side, I promise!” I shouted from the bottom of my heart, then hit the End Call button.

On Saturday, Misaki accidentally revealed something private to someone else, and it really freaked her out. I was on my way to her house at the time, so I wasn’t sure what to do, but then Iori and Taichi got in touch to tell me that [Yukina] (Misaki) wanted us to stay away. At that point, all I could do was wait.

Then, an hour or so later, everyone switched back, and the three of us (Inaba, Aoki, and I) met with Misaki. She seemed kind of flustered at first, but as time passed, she calmed back down. Likewise, I started off pretty worried, but eventually I decided she was going to be fine.

Earlier this afternoon, however, she stopped replying to our calls and emails. At first I figured she was probably just busy, but it’s been hours since then, and I still can’t get through. No one can.

“What do I do, what do I do...?”

What happened to her? Should I run straight over to her house? What do I do?

Normally I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but considering everything that’s going on, I couldn’t help but think that maybe something bad happened. Like, really bad.

Then I heard my little sister Anzu calling for me downstairs: “Yui! Dinnertime!”

No matter how crazy our lives get, the rest of the world keeps on turning.

“What’s gotten into you today?”

I snapped back to reality to find Anzu staring at me.

“Where’s your appetite? Normally you’d be asking for seconds right about now!”

My rice was starting to go cold, and I’d barely touched my ginger pork.

“Are you sick? If so, then you need to get to bed. These days you’ve been staying out late doing who knows what,” my mother chimed in, concerned.

“No, Mom, I’m not sick. I’m fine.”

Great, now I made things awkward. It didn’t help that my dad wasn’t home to eat with us—he was still at work. Like me, he came home later than normal these days.

“You don’t look fine, sis. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Whenever there was an active phenomenon, it was always super stressful for me. And since I’m not a good actress, it would always be really obvious to everyone around me. As a result, my family’s gotten super worried about me multiple times over the past year and a half.

But this time, the “active phenomenon” was affecting other people. Are they handling it okay?

“Listen... If something’s going on, I want you to be honest with me,” my mom insisted.

I didn’t want them to panic over me any more than they already had, so I decided to talk about it... just a little. Maybe they could point me in the right direction.

“Well... Basically, a lot of crazy stuff has happened to us over the past year-ish, but now it’s happening to our friends,” I explained, choosing my words carefully. “So obviously I want to help them with it, but... right now, I kinda have a lot on my own plate already.”

Understatement of the year. After all, I might forget all about my besties in the—like—or—or—or—

Wait, what? No! The CRC! Aoki and Iori and Inaba and Taichi! Plus Chihiro and Shino! See? I remember them! I’d never... I could never... forget them... right...?

Why do my memories keep flickering out? Are they really going to disappear?

Deep down, part of me was really hoping this was just another phenomenon. Another empty threat from «Heartseed», and then in the end everything would go back to normal. But... what if we can’t run from it this time? What if those memories never come back?

No! I don’t want that! Please!

“Nngh...”

I was starting to feel sick. So sick, in fact, I fell out of my chair.

“Yui?!” my mother and sister shouted in unison.

I clapped a hand over my mouth as my eyes blurred with tears. Nothing to worry about, though. Just felt sick for a moment.

“M-Maybe we should get you to the hospital,” my mother stammered.

“I... I’m fine, Mom... I’m fine...”

“What’s wrong, sis?! Constipation? Headache? Morning sickness? What medicine do you need?!”

“...Anzu, do you, like, even know what ‘morning sickness’ means?”

Over and over, I insisted to them that I was fine, until at last they calmed down and let me return to my seat at the dinner table. It was my fault for freaking them out, obviously, but still... their concern was exhausting.

“Yui, I’m only going to say this once,” my mom began, staring me hard in the face. “You’re my daughter, and I love you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know...”

Normally she wasn’t this direct, so it was kind of awkward.

“Frankly, I don’t care what happens to other people, as long as it means you’re safe.”

“What?”

I knew she was probably just being honest with me—no, yeah, definitely—but it felt like the kind of thing she maaaaybe wasn’t supposed to admit out loud to her kid. And yet she said it anyway.

“Uhhh...” Still holding a bite of food in her chopsticks, Anzu stared between me and Mom.

“So I don’t want you to do anything reckless, Yui. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

“I know, okay? You don’t have to tell me.” Because it’ll only make things harder for me later.

“Yes, I do. Otherwise you won’t understand.”

Of course I understand. Like, I totally get where you’re coming from on this. But you’re my mom, and I can’t have you crucifying me with laser precision. You’re way too good at it.

“But... but I...”

What I wanted her to understand was that this wasn’t just about me. This was about protecting other people. And the more terrified I became of losing the things I cared about, the more I wanted to make sure it didn’t happen to my friends. Those two desires were directly connected.

“No buts,” she replied.

She was normally such a pushover; why was she being so hard on me today? Why now, of all times, when I had important things to do?

“Yui, it’s very virtuous of you to want to help other people,” she continued, and I could hear the tough love on her tongue. “But you have to put yourself first.”

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t agree to that.