Chapter 9: Parting Words

Chapter 9: Parting Words

Holed up in his room, Taichi scrawled the past eighteen months’ worth of events into a notebook. He pressed down hard on the paper, hoping that even if the writing itself was erased from the paper, maybe the imprints would remain on the sheets beneath.

He didn’t want to forget; he couldn’t afford to let them make him forget. Even if the Record Wipe succeeded, he could use this to get it all back.

Next, he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a photo album. Most of his photos were on his digital camera and cell phone, but he’d taken the opportunity to have some printed. Something about having physical copies made him feel more secure. After all, physical objects couldn’t be erased... right?

The first photo was one taken back in the early days of the Cultural Research Club in their first year of high school. It depicted the five original members, all of them smiling stiffly.

The next was from the trip they went on that summer. Everyone was much more comfortable with each other by then, and the girls looked stunning in their summer clothes.

Why did humans like to leave records? Was it so they could reminisce about the past? Was it so they wouldn’t forget?

In their case, forgetting was the least of their problems. No, the events of their past were going to be rewritten entirely.

Supposing «Heartseed» was telling the truth, any event that wouldn’t have happened without the phenomena was in danger of being erased. Part of him had to wonder if it was really that easy to erase these things... but upon further contemplation, the only real proof of the past was in human memories or other physical records, like photos and videos. So if those things were all erased, then it would in essence erase the past itself. Without any physical records or anyone who remembered it happening, it was really no different from never happening in the first place.

Looking at it that way, the Record Wipe was starting to seem... kind of mundane. The only difference was that the Record Wipe would ensure, without a shadow of a doubt, that they would be unable to remember.

The next photo was one taken during the Culture Festival, featuring Kiriyama and Aoki in their happi coats. Beside it was a photo commemorating the Culture Festival Special Edition of the Culture Bulletin; Inaba’s paparazzi photo stood out prominently on the front page.

If the Record Wipe would erase any interpersonal connections that wouldn’t have happened without the phenomena... chances were, that would include the most distant of acquaintances, too. They would forget those people, and so too would those people forget them as well. The CRC would be erased from people’s lives... and in turn, they would be no different from the dead.

Taichi had come face to face with his ultimate destiny... and he hated it.

Why was everything so fragile? Was he truly too small and insignificant to leave any kind of impact on the world? Even then, he refused to stop trying. Maybe he didn’t have the perfect solution, but he was still going to do everything he could regardless.

Before everything, he needed to protect himself. Himself and the rest of the club. Not that he wanted to turn a blind eye to everyone else; he just didn’t have a choice, given the danger.

He caught sight of a photo taken during the autumn field trip in their first year, right when his romance with Inaba first began. Then club presentations took place that winter; there were photos of Nagase’s high-speed cosplay show, too. Right around then, his romance with her officially met its end... because his relationship with Inaba Himeko officially began.

How could he possibly give up all of that without a fight? The thought filled him with unparalleled despair.

Other people were in danger, too. They were probably suffering just as much as he was. But there were too many of them in total—too many to grasp. And there was nothing he could do to help them. That was what distanced him from other people’s struggles.

Whenever he saw people hurting, he could always vividly imagine their pain. But it was only a figment of his imagination, and as such, it carried no weight. There was nothing he could do about it, and so he didn’t dig any deeper than surface level. Subconsciously, he didn’t feel the need to.

Taichi was so inundated with his own problems, he didn’t have the mental capacity to juggle anyone else’s. Now more than ever, he understood that the desire to help others was only enabled by security in one’s own position.

He flipped through the album.

In the spring, they were joined by two new members; then, in the fall, they had the biggest school trip of their high school careers. There were countless other memories, too—and even if they only lost a handful of them, the rest would still be rendered meaningless as a result.

He turned the page and found a photo of himself with some people he didn’t recognize. Whoever they were, they seemed to be good friends with both him and each other. It seemed like a happy moment. But who on earth—

Hold on a minute. How the hell could I forget?

Nagase Iori, Inaba Himeko, Kiriyama Yui, Aoki Yoshifumi. They meant so much to him; how could he possibly forget them? It was impossible. Only supernatural forces could cause such a thing.

Frightened, Taichi hastily grabbed his pen and paper and wrote down all of their names, along with a brief explanation of his relationship to each of them. His hand was shaking to the point that it was messing up his handwriting, but he didn’t care. Then he tore the paper out, folded it up, and tucked it inside one of his textbooks.

Just then, his cell phone buzzed... but he didn’t have time to deal with anyone at the moment. He decided he’d only answer if it was a club member, since it might be important. Then he checked the screen: Yaegashi Rina. She wasn’t in the CRC, so he didn’t answer.

His phone continued to vibrate loudly atop his desk. Ringing... and ringing... and ringing. But Taichi didn’t answer it. He was focused on his own world right now; external connections were only a distraction. If he reached over and turned his phone off, he could isolate himself completely... and yet the outside world still called for him.

But he didn’t care. He had enough on his plate as it was. They could reach out to him all they wanted; there was nothing he could do for them... Not even his own little sister...

Taichi answered the phone. Then, a split-second later, he thought: Wait, what the? Didn’t I decide I wasn’t answering?

“T-Taichi? Are you at home?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. What’s up?”

Why had he unconsciously picked up the phone?

“W-Well... I’m at school right now—your school, I mean. I’m at Yamaboshi High School.”

“Wh-... Why...?”

“I’ll explain everything later! Anyway, I need you to... come get me. I, um... I saw something. Something really scary. You... You were...”

He could hear her voice shaking on the other end of the line.

“Are you okay?! Where are you specifically?!”

“The nurse’s office... Oh, but Nagase-san’s mom is here with me, so I’m okay.”

There were at least two things about that statement that confused him. “What are you doing in the nurse’s office?” As he spoke, he grabbed his wallet and his train pass.

“I got kinda lightheaded... Oh, and another thing! Isn’t your school kinda weird? And creepy? There’s something wrong about this place—I just know it! I’m scared, Taichi!”

He was still wearing his uniform, so the only thing he needed to put on was a coat. He had the bare minimum he needed. Time to go.

“I’m coming to get you. Wait there, okay?”

He didn’t have time for other people... but Rina was his sister. This irrational logic was more than enough to push him forward.

As her older brother, he needed to go to her rescue.

■□■□■

On the way to Yamaboshi, he realized the significance of Rina pointing out the school’s abnormal state, so he emailed the rest of the CRC to let them know what was going on. In a postscript, he mentioned that Nagase’s mom was there (allegedly) and a few minutes later, he got a call from Nagase herself.

“My mom?! Ugh, I’m coming too!”

Meanwhile, Inaba wrote back:

I’m curious to see what’s so “weird” about it to these outsiders...

She didn’t say it outright, but it sounded like she might tag along herself.

Taichi moved against the current of people, students and office workers alike. All of them were simply trying to get home on a winter night.

When he arrived at Yamaboshi, the school was pitch-dark. It wasn’t unreasonable for some students to still be on campus at this hour, and yet he couldn’t see a light on in any of the windows. Had the teachers already left?

At first he contemplated checking the classrooms to see if the missing students were back, but then he remembered he was supposed to be focusing on his own problems, so he headed straight to the nurse’s office.

When he entered the school building, he found only the emergency lights were on. He passed through the darkened halls, flicking on the lights as he went. At last, the nurse’s office was in sight.

“T-Taichi?!”

The door opened, and Rina dashed out into the hall. She must have heard him coming, because her timing was perfect. That said, it was really surreal to find his kid sister here of all places.

“What in the world are you doing here, anyway? And... are you feeling better?”

She was crying.

“Taichi... Taichi!” Sobbing, she shot down the hall and into his arms. “R-Reika-san... She was just here... She said she’d stay with me until you came to get me... but then a minute ago she just... She just left!”

“Well, I’m sure she must’ve had her reasons, but still... that wasn’t very nice of her.”

“N-No, it wasn’t her fault... She was acting kinda weird,” Rina choked. “And all the teachers left at the exact same time as her... and I was all alone, and...!”

Was it a coincidence? Or were they all manipulated by some greater power?

“So what happened? What was it that scared you? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Rina was fairly mature for her age, so it was rare to see her quite this upset. It didn’t matter how she got here—for now, he simply held her pint-sized body in his arms and squeezed tight. What had she seen here in this emptied husk of Yamaboshi High School?

Suddenly, there was a loud bang. He turned and looked in the direction of the sound; he thought he could sense someone else coming down the hallway, but couldn’t see anyone.

“Oh, Taichi... You’ve been through so much!” Rina wailed in a muffled voice, her face buried in his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice!”

“What are you talking about?”

“All this time... you’ve been fighting that thing, haven’t you? And I was totally clueless the whole time... I’m so sorry!”

“Fighting what thing?”

“It was really hard for you, wasn’t it? It must’ve been. You went through all that crazy stuff over and over and over... and all you could do was wait it out...”

Wait... She doesn’t know about «Heartseed», does she...? No. No way. That’s just not possible. Who could have told her?

“Rina... Do you know what’s been going on with me...?”

“No, I don’t! I’m totally clueless!” Rina wailed. Apparently she didn’t actually know anything... and yet her emotions were out of control.

“Look, Rina... I don’t know what happened to you, but—”

She whipped her head up to look at him, her face damp with tears. “You’re still going through it, aren’t you?!”

He still didn’t understand why she was acting this way, but at the very least, he understood that she was worried about him... and he loved her all the more for it.

“I’m okay, Rina. Your big brother’s right here,” he reassured her softly, as if invoking a lullaby to soothe her.

Admittedly, he wasn’t okay. And admittedly, he’d already vowed not to pretend otherwise. Nevertheless, he said it anyway; after all, it wasn’t really a lie. It was an older brother’s job to be strong for his little sister.

As she continued to sob uncontrollably, he stroked her hair and waited for her to get it all out of her system. Then, gradually, she regained her composure.

“What the heck...? Why am I...?” she murmured, eyes wide, like she’d snapped to her senses. Then her cheeks flushed. “Gah! Get off me!”

From the tone of her voice, she made it sound like his embrace was unwanted.

“Rina, are you sure you’re alright? You kinda lost it for a minute there.”

“Wh-What are you talking about?! I... I’m as confused as you are! First I took the train to Yamaboshi with Reika-san, then we spoke to Gotou-sensei, then we decided to have a look around the classrooms, then we ran into Gotou-sensei again...”

“Huh? Gossan?”

Was it actually Gotou Ryuuzen they spoke to, or... something else?

“At first I thought the school was weird... but then I got all weird... and there was so much new stuff going through my head... Stuff I didn’t know before... Crazy stuff that happened to you... and it was really hard for you, and... Wait, what am I talking about?”

He didn’t know. He could only make an educated guess. What was she even doing at Yamaboshi, anyway? All he knew was that it sounded like she had a run-in with «Heartseed» or one of its other associates.

“I felt like I should talk to you... but I’m just so confused... All of a sudden I got this urge to check out your school... Then I ran into Reika-san, and when we got here, I could tell something was wrong... Then I almost passed out, so I came to the nurse’s office and called you... But then Reika-san and the other grown-ups got all weird...”

Clutching her head, she grimaced.

“I’m fine, Rina. You don’t have to worry about me. If anything—”

“Yes, I do! Just let me, okay?!” she raged. “You don’t have to focus on me all the time! I’m sick of you never talking to me about your problems! And you never talk to me about school stuff!”

Then her anger petered out; evidently she was still struggling to process some things.

“I mean... I get that I probably can’t do anything to help you most of the time, but... it’s just... I... uhhh...” She tilted her head, her eyes darting furtively in all directions. “Okay, whatever! I’m just gonna say it!” Then she took a deep breath and continued softly, “I’ll never forget you, no matter what happens.”

Strangely enough, they were the exact words Taichi wanted to hear most.

“I’ll always be here for you when you need me.”

Here at Yamaboshi, or...?

She looked directly into his eyes. “Because we’re family, and nothing can change that.”

Then there was a pause as her cheeks flushed red.

“Gosh, talk about stating the obvious... Gah, no! It’s even more embarrassing to think it’s obvious! Just... don’t tell anyone I said this, okay?!”

Groaning, she hung her head.

“For some reason I got this feeling that... that you were scared you were gonna forget a bunch of stuff... Rrrrgh, I’m so confused!”

—I’ll never forget you, no matter what happens. I’ll always be here for you when you need me. Because we’re family, and nothing can change that.

How was she able to offer him exactly what he needed to hear with laser precision? It was statistically impossible. Was someone making her say it? Perhaps. But even then, she still meant every word of it. After ten-plus years of being her older brother, he knew her well enough to be able to tell that much.

The Record Wipe would erase anything related to the phenomena. As a result, Taichi stood to lose a lot, and to him, it felt like the world was ending.

But it wasn’t ending.

Even if memories were deleted and events were undone, some things would still remain. He wouldn’t lose everything—because some things could never be erased. Things like family ties.

Even if they became estranged, formally disowned each other, fell out of contact for decades, cut all ties and forgot each other, they would still carry the same blood in their veins forevermore.

For as long as humanity persisted, as long as the circle of life continued, no matter what was stolen from them, no matter how hard their lives wore them down—as long as they had each other, they would always have someplace to call home. Always.

“Taichi? Are you crying?”

At this, Taichi snapped back to his senses. “What? Yeah, right!”

But truth be told, this was the first time in several days that he actually felt reassured. He’d been on edge constantly, trying to stay on guard at all times, as if the entire world was out to get him. But in the end, there was always a place he could rest... right there beside him the whole time. The answer was just so obvious, he failed to think of it.

Without that little nest there to keep him safe and warm, he never would have lasted against the phenomena as long as he had. He would have broken down a long, long time ago.

But as luck would have it, he had a home. A place to belong. People worth protecting, who would protect him in kind. And that was all he needed.

“Oh, Taichi, you’re always biting off more than you can chew,” Rina sighed, patting him on the stomach. “You’d work yourself to the bone if it meant you could help someone.”

“I’d like to think I’m doing better about that these days...”

“It’s not always a bad thing,” she replied. She was starting to sound less like a little sister and more like an older sister. “But you need to keep me and Mom in the loop. Don’t shut us out of your life, okay? We’re your family.”

Now she was starting to push her luck.

“Don’t treat us like strangers,” she insisted firmly, sincerely, without giving him any room to argue.

All this time, he’d resented them for “weighing him down” and “getting in his way”... but her sincerity was starting to make him want to rethink his attitude. As she folded her arms haughtily over her chest, he reached out and ruffled her hair.

“Hey! Don’t mess up my hair! God! ...Actually, come to think of it...”

“What’s up?”

“Your club kouhai, Uwa-san and Enjouji-san... They asked me to give you this.” As she spoke, she reached into her pocket. “Let’s see... Wait, where did I put it...? Oh, maybe it’s in my backpack. I’ll give it to you later, then!”

“Whatever it is, please don’t lose it, okay? It might be important.”

“I know, I know!”

It surprised him to learn that she’d encountered Chihiro and Enjouji. Evidently they’d stayed behind at Yamaboshi for some reason... On second thought, knowing them, they were probably searching for a solution to the Record Wipe.

So many people were out there, doing their best, lending their strength to the cause—and all of them were connected. If at any point a tiny seed of hope sprouted among them, it would be passed along the chain until it reached him. All was not lost.

Though he made the decision of his own will, he found himself questioned by others. Rejected by the very people he was trying to help. Interrogated about his secrets. Harassed in his own home. Obstructed every step of the way with no encouragement like Rina’s.

He thought he was powerless. No matter how deeply he cared, life just wasn’t that simple. The world was full of limitations, restricting how many things he could juggle at once.

He thought it was impossible. He thought there was no fighting it—that no one was on his side... which meant that at times, they were his enemies. But at other times, they were his allies, too.

Fate brought other people into his life. Sometimes things didn’t always go to plan. But it was those restricting elements outside his control that enriched his life in ways he never imagined. Anything within his grasp was a connection in its own right—so were those bonds really chaining him down? Or were chains in fact the strongest bonds of all?

With all these bonds holding him up... lending him their power... maybe he could keep fighting after all. At last, it felt like there was a light in the darkness, illuminating the path forward.

Only a total pessimist would give up now.

“Alright, Rina. Time to go home.”

“Yeah... Let’s go home, Taichi.”

+++

If you’d told me an hour ago that I’d be watching this unfold, I would have laughed in your face.

When Taichi emailed us to tell us his sister was at Yamaboshi, he mentioned that my mother of all people was with her. At first I was annoyed that she was snooping around, but then I realized I was the one who pushed her that far.

Either way, I couldn’t sit idly by. For one thing, I didn’t want her talking to my teachers about me, but most of all, I couldn’t let her wander around the school in its current condition. I was terrified to think she might get caught up in the nightmare.

I told myself I didn’t have the mental capacity to worry about anyone else, but my mom was an exception. At the same time, though, I cursed my apparent inability to fully focus on the CRC.

I told myself I had hit a dead end. That it was all over.

And yet...

“Wait, what the? Guys, they’re coming this way!” I whispered over my shoulder to Inaba Himeko, Kiriyama Yui, and Aoki Yoshifumi. They all snapped to their senses like they weren’t paying attention—apparently they were all lost in thought.

The four of us were hiding around the corner, spying on Yaegashi Taichi and his little sister Rina.

“They’re coming this way?! Then... m-maybe we should go say hi?” Yui suggested.

“We can’t just waltz out and reveal that we were spying on them, dumbass! It’d be weird!” Inaba hissed. “And it’d be even weirder to get in the middle of whatever’s going on with them!”

“On one hand, I kinda wanna ask what you mean by ‘weird,’ but on the other hand, I think I already know. I don’t want any part of that,” Aoki joked.

Not that we set out to spy on the Yaegashi siblings, mind you. When Taichi sent me that email about his sister and my mom, I leapt into action. Then I met up with Inaban, who wanted to hear what they thought of the school in its present state. And when we let Yui and Aoki know what we were up to, they joined us.

Then, when Inaba asked Taichi where he was, he wrote back that he was “headed to the nurse’s office,” so we followed suit—and that was when the four of us nearly walked in on this touching brother-sister moment.

After taking everyone’s opinions into consideration, I commanded quietly:

“Then let’s get out of here!”

Instantly, the four of us broke into a run, scrambling out through the main entrance. We could have simply run around the side of the building and waited for the Yaegashis to leave, but instead we headed for the front gates.

“What now? Knowing Taichi, he’ll probably want to take Rina-chan home, right?” Yui asked calmly.

“Nothing we can... really do about that...” Inaba wheezed, entirely out of breath. “We’ve all got... our own business to... take care of, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. The brother-sister moment had given me a lot to think about, to say the least. “I want to go home and make sure my mom is okay.” Especially since I’d apparently just missed her.

“Yeah... I should go home too,” Aoki mused.

“Me too,” said Yui.

“Me too, I guess,” said Inaba.

We each had a score to settle.

“Alright then... Let’s go home,” I declared.

“Right.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay!”

+++

When we arrived back at home, it was past 7 PM.

On the way here with Rina, I’d made an important decision. But first, there was a conversation I needed to have.

We were in the living room—the place where I’d spent a great deal of my childhood.

“I know you’ve both been really worried for me lately, and I’m sorry. Things have gotten kinda dicey,” I explained across the dinner table to my mother and sister.

“And now you’ve dragged Rina into it?”

“N-No, Mom! I chose to go there myself!”

“Oho. So you chose to stay out past your curfew?”

“Urk...!”

Mom was upset with us for failing to let her know that we’d be coming home late. Granted, it was unacceptable behavior for a teenager, but especially for a sixth-grader.

“Anyway... Is that it, or is there more to it?” she asked me.

Normally she kept things casual and lighthearted, but today she was deadly serious. She’d even stopped cooking so she could focus on what I had to say. Fun fact: we were having curry and rice tonight.

“Well... Right now, there are people who are still in danger. Me included.”

She nodded silently, encouraging me to continue.

“And I want to do something to fix it.”

I’d put my whole heart and soul into this decision.

“It’ll put me in a lot of danger, but it’s a risk I’ll have to take.”

“I have no idea what you’re even talking about! You’re being so vague!” Mom shot back, slamming the table. I couldn’t deny it, of course.

For a long moment, she sat there in silence, arms folded.

“...But there’s a reason you can’t go into detail, right?”

She stared at me intently. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d held such prolonged eye contact... Not since I became a teenager, at the very least.

“Yeah.”

“Is this going to cause a lot of trouble for other people?”

“No... but I’m sure you guys will worry about me.”

“Will it cost money?”

“No, no, nothing like that.”

“Is it questionably illegal?”

“It’s kinda beyond legal or illegal, if that makes sense... Yeah, it’s not that.”

The interrogation continued on and on. But instead of dodging or rebuffing her questions, I answered them sincerely. And as I spoke, I realized something.

I had thought of my family as chains weighing me down—or even as potential enemies. But was that really their fault? If I wanted them to be on my side, didn’t I owe them the bare minimum effort?

“You keep talking about ‘danger’ and ‘risk.’ What kind of risk are we talking about?”

“Long story short, we might lose memories that have sentimental value to us.”

“Hmm... So you’re trying to defend something, is that it? What, like a school monument or something? You gonna have to duke it out with students from another school?”

“This isn’t a battle manga, Mom...”

“I’m just joking.”

Not really the time for jokes, but okay.

“You’ll come home safe, correct?”

“I’ll try.”

“And you’re not going to chicken out partway through, right?”

“I’m committed.”

“Alright then, go for it,” she shrugged with a smirk, like it was no big deal. “Do your best. As long as you’re committed to your cause, that’s all I care about.”

Not to be a nerd, but... Damn, my mom’s badass. I hope I’ll be this cool with my own kids someday.

“As for your father... I guess I’ll give him the basic rundown,” she mused as she rose to her feet and went back to the kitchen.

“That’s it?”

“What, do you have more time to kill? Wanna help me with dinner?”

She was invincible. She always had been, and knowing her, she probably always would be.

Once again, I felt an invisible hand enveloping me... protecting me. This was my most important human connection—and my greatest source of strength.

“Sorry, I can’t. I gotta get going.” And with that, I rose from my chair.

“Go get ’em, tiger!” she replied like some kind of baseball coach.

I was probably running short on time, so I hurried out of the living room into the hallway—

“T-Taichi!” Rina called, breaking her silence at last. “Are you leaving? I don’t know why, but it feels like... like you’re going somewhere far away... You’ll be fine, right? You’ll come home safe?”

Her tone was anxious, and I felt guilty for endlessly scaring her like this.

“It’s okay. I’ll be home before you know it.”

This was a promise I’d need to work hard to keep. She was my precious baby sister, after all. Besides... Rina liked to charge penalty fees.

“I... I’m gonna hold you to that!”

“See you later.”

And so I left the house one more time.

“Good luck! Come home soon!” she insisted sweetly. Now I’d really have to hurry home.

“Taichi!” my mother called from the kitchen.

I turned back, expecting some words of encouragement... but what she said next was a thousand times more motivating than any cliché.

“Want me to save you some curry?”

“Yes please!”

■□■□■

Late that night, Taichi arrived back at Yamaboshi High School. It was his home away from home... and it was the place where his story first began.

One would think surely the place would be locked up at this hour, and yet he practically waltzed right in. The place was deserted, and all the lights were off... but the school felt creepy for more than purely mundane reasons.

Likewise, the main building wasn’t locked, either. Did the janitor forget, or...?

Lest he get reckless, he reminded himself of the possibility that someone—or something—was here with him. Watching him.

To be on the safe side, he did a full sweep of the first- and second-year classrooms. Some tiny part of him hoped the situation would be magically resolved, but alas, that hope was summarily stamped out. The rooms were still littered with bookbags and other forgotten belongings, as if the human beings who owned those items had been spirited away without warning. Surely someone had to be freaking out about their absence by now, right?

That said, he knew now that not all of them were taken to the Isolation Zone; he’d discovered this when he bumped into a friend on his way to school.

Since he was technically trespassing and didn’t want to get caught, he didn’t turn any of the lights on. Instead, he could only rely on whatever stray light shone in through the windows as he wandered aimlessly through the building.

He had no set destination in mind, but he did have an objective. After all, he knew that as long as he loitered around here, he would eventually encounter—

“My, my, my... I certainly didn’t anticipate this plot development...”

He wasn’t surprised by this, of course. If anything, he had seen it coming a mile away.

The sluggish, lifeless body of Gotou Ryuuzen stood at the end of the hall, possessed by an entity known only as «Heartseed». Beneath the moonlight, its borrowed face looked deathly pale.

Taichi slowly came to a stop in front of it. Now they stood face to face, and no one was here to interrupt their showdown.

“Why are you here, Yaegashi-san...?”

“I decided I can’t choose my own safety over theirs. I just can’t.”

“Seems you’ve had a rather abrupt change of heart... What brought this on...?”

“My sister opened my eyes to what truly matters.”

“Ah, yes, your sister... I didn’t break her, did I...?”

“What did you do to her, you bastard? Were you trying to manipulate her?”

“No, no... I just tried to feed her a tiny bit of information, that’s all... Though it appears it was too much for her, since «The Second» had possessed her body in the past... I can assure you, I wasn’t trying to ‘manipulate her’... or anything of the sort...”

Since it was a little late in the game for «Heartseed» to start lying, Taichi decided to take it at its word.

“Okay, be honest with me. Are we really going to lose our memories of the phenomena?” he asked, just to be safe.

“How many times must you ask me this...? The answer is yes...”

“It just seems like you’re creating more work for yourselves by erasing them, that’s all. Isn’t it a hassle to make everyone’s memories consistent after the fact? I mean, you’re basically rewriting the world.”

“You appear to interpret this as some... herculean undertaking, but I’m afraid you are mistaken... Think about it... On a global scale, your memories are purely inconsequential... Their absence won’t impact much, if anything...”

“About that, actually...”

To him, the loss of his memories was a critical blow, but to the rest of the world, sure, it was basically nothing. To the rest of the world, a single person was insignificant, and a fraction of that single person’s memories even more so. But these things were connected from all sorts of angles. Chained to each other. Holding it all together.

“Those ‘inconsequential’ events form the foundation this world is built on.”

Looking at it that way, a single person’s memories were in fact vital. The world simply wouldn’t exist without the countless moving parts that came together to create it.

“So in turn, protecting those little details actually means protecting the entire world.”

The fight to defend one tiny piece was still a fight to defend the whole thing.

“And when you’re asked to protect the entire world, who could possibly say no?”

Something about his devil-may-care tone reminded him of Inaba, and he chuckled to himself. He wasn’t trying to imitate her, of course; he was his own person. But after all the time they’d spent together, they had influenced each other in immeasurable ways.

“That’s an interesting way to look at it... If that is what motivates you to protect your memories, then so be it... However... What do you plan to do about everyone else...?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

If it wasn’t, he’d simply make it obvious.

“I’m going to protect them, too.”

“But their memories have nothing to do with you... Oh, I get it... Is this your martyr side at play...? Your tendency toward self-sacrifice...?”

There were times when «Heartseed»’s superhuman powers of perception made it seem like it could read minds, and yet it didn’t seem to understand the first thing about the way his mind worked. Either «Heartseed» was clueless, or Taichi had somehow surpassed the scope of its understanding.

“No. This isn’t just about me. This is about more than that.”

He wasn’t the only person on Earth who cared about retaining his memories. Everyone felt that way; it was human nature. And if he didn’t want it to happen to him, could he really live with the knowledge that he’d let it happen to other people? He sincerely doubted it.

In a way, this was just ordinary common sense, but now he had fully grasped its significance.

“I’m done putting myself on a pedestal.”

No more drawing lines in the sand and pretending the other side was fiction. It was time to look at the rest of the world as a part of his own.

“So in other words... their fight is now your fight...”

“Exactly. The world is more than just the things I personally see and hear on a daily basis. Heck, there are things I’ll never know about for as long as I live... but they still matter.”

The world didn’t cease to exist outside his own scope. There was so much more out there—and in the end, it all tied back to him.

Truth be told, he probably wouldn’t have arrived at this conclusion if he hadn’t paused to re-establish his bonds with the people closest to him. He was connected to them, and they were in turn connected to other people, who were connected to other people, and on and on and on. In that sense, he was connected to the entire world.

Looking at it that way, it finally felt real to him. After all, there were only so many degrees of separation between him and the rest of the planet.

“And if it’s my world, then I need to do something about it, don’t you think?”

“Seems to me you’ve simply... deluded yourself into feeling that way...”

He couldn’t argue with that. There was no outright need for him to step in and bear the weight of other people’s problems...

“But I was born into this world, so it can’t hurt to care about it, right?”

After all, life had so much more to offer when you looked at it that way.

“Well... yes, I suppose... So what’s your point...?”

«Heartseed» wanted to cut to the chase. And since Taichi wanted to save the world...

“Put me into the Isolation Zone.”

This was where his heroic journey would start.

“...What do you plan to do in there?”

“You said we’d be able to help them from inside, right? So I’ll take up the mantle to protect them. See where that gets me.”

“I cannot guarantee you will be successful... You very well might fail...”

“I guess we’ll find out once I get there, won’t we?”

From the outside, there was no way to tell what was going on, nor what would resolve the situation. But from the inside, surely there was something he could do to help. Was it reckless? Absolutely. Was he overextending himself to stroke his own ego? Inarguably so. But maybe there were some things that would only ever be within reach if you got up on your tiptoes and made a fool of yourself.

If he wanted to accomplish something beyond his own power, then he would have to push himself past his current limits. Otherwise, he’d never be able to expand them. Can’t know unless you try.

“Whatever’s happening in the world right now, I’m going to fight it... for them, and for myself.”

But he couldn’t achieve it on his own. After all, no amount of hopes or prayers would get him into the Isolation Zone. That was why he had decided to convert an enemy into a friend.

“So how about it? What do you say we take «The Third»’s gang down a peg?”

His greatest foe would become his strongest ally.

“It’d be a lot more entertaining than letting them get one over on you, don’t you think?” he pressed.

«Heartseed» froze perfectly still; its expression seemed to carry the slightest hint of disbelief. Hell, even Taichi couldn’t believe what he was saying.

A moment of silence passed, and then «Heartseed» responded at last:

“Perhaps it’s time I bit the bullet... and took a gamble...”

He couldn’t read the emotions behind that statement, if there were any. But oddly enough, he felt a strange sense of camaraderie between the two of them.

There was strength to be found in numbers—as long as he didn’t charge in blindly. He’d learned that lesson before. Bravery and recklessness were two very different things; he needed to be responsible and communicate to the rest of his team.

So he pulled out his cell phone and started to type up an email to the rest of the CRC...

+++

Sitting in my inbox was an email from my boyfriend. It was a lengthy one, filled with his thoughts, plans, and decisions. Fascinating stuff, really—he was always a riot. Easily the most impressive man I knew. Of course, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him otherwise.

This time around, the crisis was affecting not just us, but other people—and on a large scale, at that. This level of danger was unprecedented, and thus we were required to think more carefully than ever before.

So that’s exactly what we did: we racked our brains over and over and over. And in the end, we concluded that we either needed to focus entirely on the Record Wipe threatening us, or we needed to protect everyone’s memories, not just our own. But in weighing risk versus return, it was impossible to say which was the “correct” course of action.

Pathetic, isn’t it? All that brainstorming, and we still couldn’t fully commit to one or the other. But hey, maybe there isn’t always a “better” option.

So I decided that what I want is to see this through to the end with Taichi at my side.

In his email, he didn’t ask us to join him or fight with him. He simply made his own intentions clear. And I was going to follow my heart, too.

I pulled on my winter coat and left my room.

This place was my home, and as such, I wanted to be forthright with my parents and tell them I was leaving. On the stairs, however, I bumped into my older brother, home from college.

“What the? Hold on a minute, Himeko. Where are you going this late at night? Hanging out with your boyfriend?”

Now that I thought about it, even this brainless nitwit seemed to sincerely care about my well-being.

“How would you feel if I disappeared? If I stopped being myself?”

“I dunno... Probably start crying uncontrollably?”

“Gross.”

“Well, what did you want me to say, then?!”

I walked past him down the stairs. To be fair, though, as annoying as he could be, I’d probably cry if he disappeared, too. He was family, after all.

I turned back in his direction. “Oh yeah, that reminds me.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not getting married for a while yet, but when the time comes, I’ll be sure to invite you. Don’t worry.”

“......What? Wh—Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you and your man already at that stage?! Don’t tell me you’ve got a bun in the oven—Himeko! Wait! We need to talk about this!”

+++

Unfortunately my folks weren’t home yet, so I had to settle for my big sis instead.

“I have to go. I’m gonna fight to protect everybody.”

She stared back at me from under the kotatsu table. “What are you talking about? Are you some kind of chuuni now?”

“What? No! I’m serious!”

“Wait, I remember! Is this that one thing you mentioned? About ‘holding everyone’s fates in your hands’? God, you’re such a chuuni.”

“Ugh, forget it!”

“Okay, sorry! I take it back! Anyway, as you were saying? Where did this come from all of a sudden?”

“If I tell you, are you just gonna make fun of me?”

“I said I was sorry! C’mon! I’m all ears.”

She crawled out from under the kotatsu and sat up straight, but this only made it harder for me to explain. It was just so dang cringey to say out loud.

“Basically, uh... I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, but... it felt like it wasn’t right of me to just ‘wing it’ like I normally do, y’know? So for a while there I wasn’t really sure what to do.”

This was the most honest I’d been with my family in... a really long time, actually.

“But now I’ve made up my mind. I gave it a lot of thought, and then I got an email from one of my pals, and now I’m convinced. No matter the danger, I gotta fight.”

Part of me felt like maybe I shouldn’t have said the word “danger,” since it would just freak her out more. Plus, she might tell me no—

“Alright then, break a leg. I’m rooting for you,” she replied, her tone casual, yet still direct. “...Huh? What’s that look for?”

“I mean... I wasn’t expecting you to just shrug it off...”

“Why not? You put a lot of thought into it and you made your own decision. That’s what matters most,” she explained, and I could tell she was about to launch into another one of her lengthy diatribes. “Out of everyone in this family, you’ve always been the most flexible, Yoshifumi. Even when you don’t get your way, you hardly ever complain. On the one hand, it’s one of your best traits, but on the other hand, it kinda worries me at times. Like maybe you’re too considerate, y’know?”

Whoa. I had absolutely no idea she saw me that way.

“But now you’re making stupid, selfish demands for once, and I’m glad to see it. Growing up poor, we were always having to go without... but now that you’re almost an adult, I want you to pursue your dreams, whether it’s college or a career. And I hope you’ll share those choices with me... and Mom and Dad too, of course. Wait, am I getting off-track? This whole conversation is kinda dorky, isn’t it?”

Her face was flushed, and this time it wasn’t from the alcohol.

“Awww, sis... I’m actually kinda touched...”

“Alrighty then! You’ve made up your mind—now get out there and make me proud! Oh, and don’t come home empty-handed like you did when you made the trip to M Prefecture! I want some local brew!”

“Dude, they’re not gonna sell beer to a teenager!”

+++

Misaki had lost her memories; the rest of the track team had lost a friend. I couldn’t afford to let that happen to anyone else. Plus, I wanted to try to get Misaki back to normal somehow... and maybe the Isolation Zone held the key.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Even if there was a 99 percent chance I would lose, I still wanted to rise to the challenge. But it would mean putting myself at risk... and honestly, I was kinda scared. That, and I wasn’t confident my mom would let me.

But I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Not after I watched Taichi open up to his sister. Instead of avoiding the conflict, I needed to just be honest with my family for once.

“Mom... Anzu... I have somewhere I need to be. I want to make a stand.”

In the living room, I told them exactly what I wanted to do.

“I can’t go into too much detail, and there’s some danger involved... but I still want to try.”

“What on earth are you—Okay, I’ll set that aside. Why do you feel the need to do this, Yui?” my mom asked, looking conflicted and tearful.

“I don’t need to—I want to. Because if I don’t, other people will suffer.”

“Isn’t that their business?”

“I... I’m the only one who... Well, okay, maybe someone else could do it in my place, but...”

“Well then, there’s no need for you to handle it.”

“Why not?!”

“Because I forbid it.”

My mother was an obstinate woman. I was tempted to ask why she would forbid it, but if the response was “because I’ve been worried sick about you,” I wouldn’t really have a counter-argument. At the end of the day, this was my fault.

“Come on... Please...!”

I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Should I blow her off and leave anyway? I couldn’t do that. Knowing me, I couldn’t fight at full power with that on my conscience.

“I... I don’t know what this is all about, but... I think it’d be really cool to see you in action!” Anzu piped up nervously. Clearly the tension in the room was making her restless.

“You want to see it...?”

“Duh! You’re really badass when you fight!”

She could be a bit of a ditz, so I wasn’t sure how much thought she was really putting into this... but I knew her feelings were sincere, and her heart was in the right place.

“Besides, Mom... didn’t you say you were happy to see Yui putting so much effort into karate and her studies and all that?” Anzu pressed, now that she had some wind in her sails.

“Anzu? Where are you going with this?”

“Think about it! Yui’s a karate prodigy! I’m sure there are some fights only she can win!”

I was being completely unreasonable, and yet my little sister was defending me anyway. Sometimes it really feels like YOU’RE the big sister around here, you know that?

“Mom... I want to put myself out there,” I told her honestly... and all at once, it felt like I’d been transported back in time.

There was a long, long silence... and then my mother let out a sigh.

“This is the same thing you said to me all those years ago when I wanted you to stop doing karate, isn’t it?”

Oh, right. I could vaguely remember that moment, but it felt like an eternity ago.

“At this point, I guess there’s really no stopping you.”

“You mean...?!”

“Just promise me you won’t get hurt, okay? Promise me.”

“I promise. Thank you, Mom!”

Thank you for always tolerating my nonsense. And thank you, too, Anzu. And... thanks, Past Me. Without you, I don’t think I would’ve gotten through to her.

“But if you’re going to put the effort in, I expect you to stick it out until the very end.”

I seemed to remember her telling me this same thing back then, too. Did she remember that? Yeah, probably. Knowing her, she hadn’t forgotten a single moment of our lives together.

“I’m so happy for you, Yui! I have no clue what’s going on, but I’ll always be your number one fan!”

These somewhat-ditzy words of encouragement reminded me why it was that I was able to dedicate myself to karate all those years—because my friends and family were always rooting for me. No matter the tournament, no matter how nervous I was, they were always there to give me the push I needed... and that was my greatest source of strength.

If I listened carefully, I could hear those voices from the past, resounding within my heart. And as long as I could hear it, I could move forward. I could keep fighting.

Empowered by the spirit of true courage, I rose to my feet.

+++

When I got home, I could smell the salty-sweet scent of soy sauce. My mother wasn’t an especially good cook, but apparently she was giving it her best shot tonight.

“M-Mom? Just checking, but... did you go to Yamaboshi today?”

“Oh, how did you know? I bumped into Yaegashi-kun’s little sister and we went there together. Oh, yes, and then I spoke to Gotou-sensei. He’s a good teacher, isn’t he? He gave me a lot of sound advice.”

Her tone was unusually chipper.

“Did anything weird happen?”

“Not really. After we left the staff room, we decided to have a look at the classrooms, and then we ran into Uwa-kun and Enjouji-san. Then Rina-chan wasn’t feeling too well, so we... Wait, what?” The color drained from her face. “As I recall, she seemed rather anemic, so I took her to the nurse’s office... Why on earth did I leave her there...? I feel like... like I heard a sudden [voice] telling me I needed to go home...”

“Don’t worry, Mom. Rina-chan’s home safe now.”

“Is she? That’s good. I’m glad to hear it.” She looked sincerely relieved.

From what I could tell, it sounded like she’d been briefly hypnotized into going home. Fortunately it didn’t seem to have any other effects on her.

She turned back in the direction of the kitchen.

“So anyway, uh,” I called after her, but couldn’t find the words to finish my sentence.

Sure, I cared about the rest of the people on this planet, but I couldn’t pretend I loved them as much as I loved my mother. It’d be one thing if I could say for sure that I would come home again, but... on the off-chance I wouldn’t... could I really leave her?

Just then, she stopped what she was doing and turned back to me.

“Iori, if something’s going on, I want you to tell me. Be honest with me about your plans. You have nothing to be afraid of—I’m always on your side.”

Her timing was eerily perfect. Was she trying to be more understanding than she had in the past? Or did something happen to her at Yamaboshi that brought this on? Either way, it was a miracle that she somehow knew exactly what I needed to hear at this precise moment. A gift from mother to daughter.

“I believe in you, Iori.”

A mother’s trust.

“Besides, I already made a promise to you. I promised I’d work hard to give you the kind of life you want.”

I remembered that promise. It took place during my last year of middle school, in the spring, when my fifth father passed away. Many a tear was shed.

Looking back, that was the moment that Nagase Iori’s story of self-discovery truly began. Was it her fault I lost sight of who I was? No way. If anything, it was the opposite: She helped me find myself again.

“Mom, I... I appreciate you making dinner and all, but... I’ve got somewhere I need to be,” I explained, my lips trembling.

“No problem. I’ll put the leftovers in the fridge for you.”

From the way she talked, it felt like she already knew exactly what was going on. Did «Heartseed» do something...? No, that wasn’t it. She was just... my mother. And moms always know best.

“Follow your heart, Iori.”

She was the one who raised me. She was the one who got me this far. Without her, there would be no heart to follow.

“I’ll be home soon,” I replied, my heart filled with a thousand emotions.

She looked back at me, and her loving smile was more beautiful than any other.

“I’ll be here when you get back.”

Those were the magic words that put the wind under our wings and helped us leave the nest. It was an unspoken promise to return, and the story would remain unfinished until we did.

We had fought through years of uncertainty and doubt to find ourselves, and now it was time to embark on a journey of our own making. Then, when at last we found our way back again, we would write the final page with the words:

“I’m home.”