Epilogue

—A week passed.

The entity that called itself «Heartseed» was shrouded in mystery and lies, and the CRC never did learn the full truth about it—but at least it was right about one thing: there were no further complications. As such, Nagase made a full recovery and was back to school in no time.

«Heartseed» was so thorough, in fact, it even made sure to put an envelope in the Nagase family mailbox containing what appeared to be enough money to cover all of her hospital fees. (A few days later, Gotou mentioned during homeroom that he’d noticed an unfamiliar entry in his checkbook... but the CRC decided not to worry about it too much.)

When Taichi admitted to the others that he didn’t think «Heartseed» seemed like an actively malicious being, Inaba scoffed and replied, “Your optimism disgusts me!”

As of today, they were finally free from the hectic drama brought about by Nagase’s hospital stay, and for the first time in a solid week, the CRC was back in business... Not that they had any business, but still.

School ended for the day, and Taichi handled his assigned classroom cleanup duty, then packed up his things and headed for Rec Hall Room 401. Everyone else was probably there by now.

There hadn’t been a single body-swap since that fateful day.

Looking back over the course of the phenomenon, there weren’t many memorable moments at all. It was kind of strange, actually, considering how downright bizarre it had been. And yet, the more time passed, the more all the crazy shenanigans started to feel like something out of a waking dream—even though it all definitely happened in real life.

In the end, something far more serious had happened: their world had changed.

The body-swap was a typhoon of destruction, and yet somehow it managed to help them solve their problems, too. That said, once these problems were brought to light, in most cases, they turned out to be far smaller and more insignificant than they realized... the perfect match for small and insignificant people to confront head-on.

Naturally, there was no guarantee they’d succeed, nor that they’d come out unscathed... but as they say, you never know until you try.

That said, fighting it—confronting it, accepting it, reflecting on it, moving past it—wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Alone, without any help, it would be a challenge... but if they could pull it off, those same insignificant human beings could easily change their whole world.

Granted, maybe their solutions were only surface-level. Maybe they’d always carry the root of those problems deep down.

For example, obviously Taichi’s “martyrdom” hadn’t been completely cured. It was a part of who he was, and it would likely never change. But at least now he’d come to terms with it.

The body-swap had put the members of the CRC through a lot, and they had irrevocably changed as a result. Fortunately, they had all changed for the better—in Taichi’s eyes, at least. They rose to the challenge and succeeded, all because they had the help of their fellow club members to do it.

These days Inaba seemed a little warmer.

Kiriyama seemed a bit more chatty with guys.

Aoki seemed a little smarter.

And as for Nagase, well... these days she and Taichi were both too shy to look each other in the eye...

Ahem. Never mind that.

Anyway, Taichi was really looking forward to seeing them all again. Despite everything they’d been through, he believed that as long as they could still goof off like old times, then that was all that mattered.

...Or maybe that belief itself, ultimately, was all that mattered.

Would Inaba lose her temper over something trivial and smack somebody? Would someone tease Kiriyama just to get a rise out of her, and make her blush and shout and flail her arms? Would Aoki handle his role of designated butt monkey with aplomb? Would Nagase torment everyone with a string of dumb jokes, both planned and unplanned, seemingly at random?

Truth be told, it was high time they quit slacking and got to work on their club activity for once—that is, making a “school bulletin” full of biased articles on their hobbies—and yet, at the same time, he knew it probably wouldn’t end up happening today. They would be far too wound up. At least... he hoped as much, anyway.

Now all that was left was to open the door.

He could see it clearly.

The only worry on his mind was the comment Inaba made the other day—“I heard from Iori that you stole my first kiss, eh? Looks like I’ll require some recompense... Now, how shall I make you pay...?”—followed by unearthly, spine-chilling laughter.

She probably wouldn’t kill him, at least...

Emphasis on probably.

The End