Epilogue: Inaba Himeko Strikes Back

“Be back later!”

That morning, as I headed for the front door, I glanced behind me to find my college-age brother standing halfway down the stairs, squinting at me suspiciously.

“What’s gotten into you, Himeko? Normally you always leave without telling anyone.”

“Lay off, asswipe!” I stormed out and slammed the door behind me.

The morning air was getting chilly lately, but fortunately the weather was pleasant today—not a cloud in the sky—and it would likely warm up later that afternoon.

A week after the field trip, «Heartseed» turned up at Rec Hall Room 401. As usual, it had given no advance warning of its arrival, and it turned up in the body of our class advisor, Gotou Ryuuzen.

Thankfully, the encounter was exceedingly brief. According to «Heartseed», the Liberation was starting to “lose its novelty,” and since it had been “reasonably entertained,” the phenomenon would now end.

Thank fuck.

What do you mean, we “got too used to it and stopped fighting back”? I was so annoyed, I couldn’t even formulate a response. It was all so pointless.

Will there be a next time? Unfortunately, I can’t imagine there won’t be. But when that time comes, we’ll have an unbeatable plan—and we’ll hand «Heartseed» his ass on a platter.

Admittedly, it still seems kind of impossible to beat him at this point... but no matter what crazy supernatural shit he throws at us next, I know we’ll survive. I’ll make sure of that.

Great, now I sound like Taichi. Hah.

...What? Now everyone on the street is giving me weird looks. Okay, sure, I laughed out of nowhere, but come on! I wasn’t even laughing that hard!

As I walked down the street on my way to school, I asked myself: why did I fall for Taichi, anyway? Was it because I talked to him more than any other guy? Because he’s the type to sacrifice himself to help someone in need? Because he helped me?

No... None of those really fit. Guess I’ll have to give it some more thought.

I’m not proud of it, but... I’m pretty fucked up as far as humans go. I’m opportunistic to a fault; anytime I discover a loophole, my first instinct is to exploit it. And I tend to assume everyone else is the same way—all of them waiting to pounce the first chance they get.

So, coward that I am, I put up these walls around myself.

That’s why I gather intel to give myself an advantage. That’s why I act tough to discourage anyone from messing with me. That’s why I hide away in my shell. Because then I have nothing to worry about... the same reason Yui isolated herself recently.

I think I’ve just always felt this way. And because of that, I haven’t suffered much trauma—though considering how much of a coward I am, you’d think I would’ve at some point. But as it turns out, you don’t stand to gain much from hiding. In most cases, you’ll be forced to give up the things you really want. Even if it’s within your reach, you’ll be too scared to even try.

In the end, you’ll lose everything. You won’t realize it, because you protected yourself from feeling it, but it’ll all be gone—all of the things you care about most.

It’s hard to go through life wearing your heart on your sleeve. Without those walls to deflect it, the pain can cut deep, and everyone can see it. There’s no pretending it hurt less than it did. But without those walls in the way, the warmth you feel grows that much stronger.

In other words, it’s one of those “high risk, high return” things.

All this time, I’d never once let my walls down. I thought the real me was an unlovable monster. But then I met this babyfaced sucker by the name of Yaegashi Taichi—honest, direct, and open, all to a frightening degree. He carried such overwhelming strength, I couldn’t even hold a candle to him.

Did I look up to him? Not exactly. I just wanted to figure out his secret. More than anything, though, I was envious of his self-confidence.

You might think such a thing would be hard for a mere girl such as Inaba Himeko to grasp—and you’d be wrong. In fact, I was convinced he had to be delusional.

In the past, all that ever mattered was myself. But after I joined the Cultural Research Club, I realized that wasn’t enough. I had so much more to learn—and if I stayed ignorant, I knew I’d get left behind. And so I decided to take a small step outside my comfort zone and make the four of them a part of my world.

And once I did, I started to love my life.

For the first time, I knew true happiness. And from there, it made me curious to see what it would be like to step outside my own walls for once—break through my outer shell and experience it all with no buffer in the way. After all, wouldn’t I be even happier that way?

So that was how I first took interest in a guy like Taichi, who put up no walls of his own and would readily break others’ walls down to get at the real them.

At least, I’m pretty sure that’s how it happened, anyway. This is my best attempt at some sort of reasoning, and I’m not one hundred percent sure if it’s the truth or not. Maybe there never was any logical explanation for my feelings. Maybe it “just happened”—like a biological instinct or whatever.

I love to act like I’m all-knowing, but I’m really not. In a sense, I might actually be the dumbest person in the club, considering all that time I spent locked away in my own little world.

And I tend to act a bit masculine, partly because I grew up around a lot of boys, but mostly because I’m afraid of being seen as a delicate flower. I’m terrified that people will see weakness in me and choose me for their next target.

But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be a little feminine. Maybe it’ll broaden my horizons... Oh well. I guess it’s a little too late at this point.

All this time, I never let anyone outside my immediate family call me by my given name, Himeko. For one, I was uncomfortable with anyone getting overly familiar with me. But a lot of it had to do with the etymology of the name itself: “princess child.”

I always hated the idea of princesses—feeble girls who sit on their asses and let everyone else do the hard work of protecting them.

But maybe this could be my first step. Maybe I could let them call me by my name.

“Himeko,” I whispered to myself in a tiny voice.

...Nope. Too weird. Maybe I needed a little more time.

Ahead of me I could see the sprawling campus of Yamaboshi High School. The street was crowded with students.

Now then... The Liberation forced me to maintain a ridiculously high level of self-restraint, but seeing as it’s gone, I think it’s time to go all-out.

I’m gonna put the pedal to the metal and blaze ahead full-throttle until I get every last thing I want, goddamn it.

I’m gonna be greedy and make demands—and I’m gonna love myself for it. After all, they say you can’t truly love someone until you love yourself... and if I can’t manage that, then who am I to expect it of someone else?

I mean, this is my first love. How can I possibly back down?

It’s time for Inaba Himeko to turn the tables.

The odds are stacked against me, but I like it that way. Besides, I know those two will continually drag their feet no matter how much I nag them... so consider me the hare to their tortoise. I’m the dark horse in this race, and I have no intention of losing.

I’m not just going to throw myself at him. It’s not my style. No, I’m going to plan the perfect strategy to make him melt at the thought of me... That’s just how I roll.

But... in the event that I lose fair and square... I’ll concede defeat with my head held high. Losing this battle doesn’t have to be a tragedy. After all, I’ll still have my friendship with Taichi—and Iori, and Yui, and Aoki.

Our connection is unshakeable, and the bonds we share will always be there, even if I don’t fret over them... so now it’s time for me to open the door and take the first step onto a new path.

I’ve learned so many things—things you can only discover if you genuinely try with all your might. And the thing I learned most recently is this: Humans do not live to doubt, hate, shun, avoid, or reject others.

We live for love.

The End