Chapter 2: Once Upon A Time

The next day, Taichi left home quite a bit earlier than usual. After all, he couldn’t afford to be late.

Even if the phenomenon didn’t apply to him (allegedly), it still applied to everyone else in the club, and someone needed to be around to watch the kids. Otherwise—to borrow «The Second»’s turn of phrase—“things would get complicated.”

But... could they really take «The Second» at its word? It didn’t appear to be lying, of course, but they had no way to verify it one way or the other.

Still, at the very least, no one had experienced any Age Regression from 5:00 PM yesterday right up until that morning. He’d contacted each of them to make sure.

“Maybe I came a little too early...”

It was only eleven, and he’d already arrived at the train station nearest Inaba’s house. Yes, Inaba, the same girl who had confessed her love to him. Admittedly the thought of going to her house made him a little nervous.

His feelings lay with Nagase. He’d told her as much. But... maybe a sizeable part of it was directly inspired by the knowledge that Nagase had feelings for him in kind... and now that he knew Inaba had feelings for him as well...

Sometimes he was tempted to reject her point-blank and commit to Nagase one-hundred percent. Still, he couldn’t bear to hurt someone who obviously cared about him so deeply. As it stood, neither of them had outright demanded that he choose between them... and so he used that as an excuse to take his sweet time deciding.

He knew it couldn’t stay like this forever... and yet...

As he passed through the turnstiles, he spotted a familiar long-haired figure.

“Hey, Kiriyama!”

“Oh! Good morning, Taichi!” She waved back, clad in an oversized duffel coat, a large tote bag hanging from her arm.

“You’re a little early, don’t you think?”

Kiriyama chuckled softly. “So are you, loser.”

She seemed... tired.

“You haven’t Regressed at all since yesterday, right?”

“Nope, doesn’t look like it... I was worried it might strike me again, but I guess it’s gonna stick to the same timeframe every time... I still don’t understand how it even works, y’know? ‘Cuz I haven’t seen it for myself yet.”

“Ah, yeah, that makes sense... Anything else weird happen to you?”

He figured he may as well ask, just in case she was getting house calls from «The Second», too.

“Nope... Can’t think of anything...” She yawned.

“A little sleep-deprived this morning, are we?”

“I just didn’t get to bed till late... Part of it was anxiety, and part of it was... well...” She fell silent, idly twirling a strand of chestnut hair around her finger. “I was doing a lot of thinking, you know. Reminiscing.”

Kiriyama was always an emotionally sensitive girl. Judging from her experiences with the previous phenomena, they tended to affect her a little more strongly than the others, so Taichi couldn’t help but worry about her a little more.

“Reminiscing, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s weird—even after I got home, my stupid brain was still full of old memories and stuff... so I was, like, reflecting on it, you know? I mean... a lot’s changed.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Mmm... I dunno... just... a lot!” Kiriyama flailed her arms in frustration. “You try it, then! How do you describe the difference between the old you and the current you?”

“The difference? I don’t know... I mean, I was just a kid back then. A lot of things are ‘different’ now.”

“Ha! You said ‘a lot’! I win!”

“Fine, you won... I don’t remember agreeing to play this game, though...”

“Hee hee! Yeah, me either.”

The two of them chuckled.

“Sooo, yeah... There’s just... a lot to process, you know?” she muttered quietly. Her words felt... affectionately sentimental. “Anyway! What should we do, Taichi? Inaba probably won’t appreciate us showing up this early, right?”

“Yeah, probably not... Let’s just find a place to kill some time.”

Neither of them managed to think of a decent spot off the top of their heads, so they decided to mill about the neighborhood.

The sky was calm and bright, without a cloud to be seen. On days like these, they scarcely even felt the cold.

Shortly after they’d decided it was time to head over to Inaba’s place, Kiriyama suddenly stopped short.

“I remember this street...”

A large, empty lot had been fenced off, likely for rezoning purposes. Around it stood a handful of neglected buildings.

“Yeah?”

“Back when I was still part of the dojo, we’d always come down this way during our daily run.”

“Dojo? Oh, your karate club, right? I forget—when did you stop going?”

“Eighth grade. You know, right after that man tried to rape me and all.”

Oh crap. He’d stumbled headfirst into a touchy subject.

“Right... Sorry.”

Kiriyama shook her head. “No, it’s cool. It’s in the past, you know? I’ve come a long way since then.”

Indeed, as the days passed, Taichi got the sense that her phobia of men had since dwindled to a mild discomfort.

“Still, a ton of stuff has changed since then... That empty lot wasn’t there back then... Oh, and that store wasn’t closed down before...”

“I’m impressed you still remember. Is this place special to you?”

“No, not really... Why do I remember all this stuff? Must be a side effect from the thing that happened yesterday... You know, since I apparently Regressed to [age 11] and all... Oh god, I just remembered something else—”

“Kiriyama!”

Out of nowhere, a feminine voice called after them. Startled, the two of them spun around to find a teenage girl standing there.

Decked out in a bomber jacket, jeans, and a mid-high ponytail, it was clear her style was crafted for comfort and mobility. She looked to be around their age or perhaps a bit older; her angular features afforded her an unapproachable air, particularly in combination with the sharp glare on her face, pointed in their—no, Kiriyama’s—direction.

“Uhh... Do I know you...?” Kiriyama asked timidly.

“Excuse me? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten who I am,” the girl hissed as she walked up to them.

“Huh? Wait... Are you... Mihashi Chinatsu...?”

“Duh! Why’d you take so long to recognize me?”

“Well, you’ve really grown up since I saw you last. Your whole vibe is different now...”

“...Whatever. So who’s this dude? Your boyfriend?”

At this, Kiriyama descended into a full-blown panic—so quintessential, Taichi would’ve liked to put it in the dictionary under “flustered.”

Once she regained her composure, she introduced the two of them.

“So, this is Yaegashi Taichi-kun. He’s in the same club as me, and we were just on our way to a friend’s house. He’s not my boyfriend, okay? Absolutely one hundred percent definitely not my boyfriend or anything like that.”

“I think she gets the picture...”

Did she really hate the thought of being mistaken for his girlfriend, or was she just embarrassed? For his pride’s sake, Taichi decided to let himself believe it was the latter.

“And this is Mihashi Chinatsu-san. She’s my... uh... friend... who used to go to the same karate competitions as me...”

“I’m not your friend,” Mihashi shot back.

“Oh...” Kiriyama whimpered.

This Mihashi person didn’t seem to like Kiriyama much at all; nevertheless, Kiriyama did her best to sound excited to see her. “A-Anyway, long time no see, huh? I haven’t seen you at all since you moved away back in eighth grade—”

“I’m not here for your small talk, Kiriyama,” Mihashi interrupted coldly. “Now listen here... You haven’t quit karate or something, right?” she asked in a low, pained voice. For a moment, Kiriyama froze, and Mihashi glared at her fiercely... almost imploringly. “Right?”

Finally, Kiriyama found her voice. “Yeah... I quit.”

Mihashi’s eyes widened in shock. “No way... You’re kidding, right? I mean, I heard rumors that Little Miss Child Prodigy Kiriyama had left the scene, but...”

Once upon a time, Kiriyama’s superior reflexes and overwhelming skill had helped her make a name for herself as a formidable veteran of women’s full-contact karate.

“...I’m sorry, but... it’s the truth. I quit a long time ago.”

“But... what about our promise?!” Mihashi shouted. Her tone had shot up several octaves.

“Our... promise...?” Kiriyama repeated quizzically.

For a moment, Mihashi looked utterly destroyed. Then her vibe darkened into one of gloom and misery. “Why...?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Was it... an injury?”

“No, I wasn’t injured or anything like that.”

“...Then why?”

“I... I just didn’t have a choice, that’s all.”

“What? What do you mean, you didn’t have a choice?” Mihashi pressed.

Kiriyama was clearly not equipped to handle this. “Well... uh...”

Up until then, Taichi had chosen to stay out of the conversation out of respect for their personal circumstances, but he couldn’t let it slide any longer. Besides, they were running short on time.

“Sorry, but could you guys hash it out some other time, maybe? Kiriyama, we gotta get going.”

“You stay out of this!” Mihashi snapped, boring through him with her fierce glare.

“Look, I know whatever’s between you is none of my business, but we’ve got stuff to do today.” He moved to grab Kiriyama’s hand.

“No!” Kiriyama shrieked, jerking her hand away from his.

Crap. He should’ve known better than to try to initiate physical contact with her. In his panic, he’d just trampled right over her boundaries. “Er... Sorry about that.”

“Oh, uh... No, it’s fine. I’m sorry, too.”

“What is with you two?” Mihashi asked, casting a dubious look in their direction.

“L-Look, I’m sorry to cut this short, alright? We’re kind of in a hurry.” This time he grabbed the corner of the tote bag on her arm and gave it a tug, willing Kiriyama to come with him.

“Hold it! I’m not done with you!”

“Listen, um... We really have to go... I’m sorry!” Kiriyama blurted out, eyes averted, as she left Mihashi standing there.

“I refuse to accept this!” Mihashi shouted after them with all the venom she could muster.

□■□■□

“So what’s the story between you and her?” Taichi asked as they hurried down the street in the direction of Inaba’s house.

“We were both learning the same style of karate... She went to a different dojo, but we’d always meet up at competitions and stuff...” Kiriyama mumbled, her eyes on the ground.

“So she’s an old friend, basically?”

“Yeah... Well, maybe ‘rival’ is a better term...”

“Whoa... I never knew you had your own rival. That sounds awesome.”

“It was pretty awesome... once upon a time, anyway.” Her tone was a complex mix of emotions. “But then Mihashi-san moved really far away, and our karate style doesn’t hold nationals at the middle school level, so I never saw her anymore... and then eventually I had to quit karate, so...”

“Right. So what’s she doing back here?”

“No idea. Maybe she moved back or something...”

It sounded like Mihashi was a treasured old friend, and yet Kiriyama didn’t seem too happy about their reunion. Not that Taichi really blamed her, considering Mihashi was acting hostile the entire time. If anything, he worried that their encounter had had a negative effect on Kiriyama’s emotional well-being. After all, they were in the midst of (what they referred to as) the Age Regression phenomenon. Who knew what sort of problems it might exacerbate.

A moment later, a cheerful voice sang out, “Good mor-noon!” Nagase Iori jogged over wearing jeans, a lavender down jacket, and a beanie with ear flaps. “Hmm... I notice you two came from the opposite direction as the train station... Did the two of you go off somewhere else? Wait... Taichi... Don’t tell me you’re trying to add both Inaban and Yui to your harem!”

It was a subject Taichi immediately wished she hadn’t brought up.

“Huh? What was that about Inaba?” Kiriyama asked, a giant question mark practically written on her face.

“Nothing! It’s nothing, okay?! Same goes for you, Nagase! We were just killing time!”

Neither of the other two knew that Inaba had confessed her feelings to him, creating a love triangle between him, her, and Nagase. (He’d asked them to keep it private, but neither of them seemed to care if anyone found out. What a headache.)

“I dunno... If you’re talented enough to make Inaban fall for you, I’m starting to think you might be omnipotent...”

“What? You made Inaba fall for you?”

“I told you, Kiriyama, it’s nothing! Nagase, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?!”

“I can’t help it! You’re hilarious when you’re flustered,” Nagase snickered, evidently pleased with herself.

Together, the three of them set off down the road, and Taichi stole a glance at Nagase beside him. She and Inaba appeared to have come to an agreement over the situation, but... deep down, how did she actually feel about it?

Over the course of the past month following the end of the Liberation phenomenon, Nagase had seemed perfectly normal. In fact, at times it felt like she’d gone back to the way she was before the two of them had ever confessed their feelings for each other. There was a point at which the two of them had struggled to figure out how to interact with each other post-confession, but now Nagase was treating him like a good friend... as if nothing had ever happened. This was part of the reason he was having trouble making his decision official.

“Hmm? What’s up, Taichi? Something on my face?”

“N-No! Not at all!”

What was she really thinking behind that bright, innocent smile?

“Oh, I know! Were you reveling in my sheer beauty? Hmmm?”

“Wh-Whoa! Back up a bit!”

Seriously, what is she thinking?

Once the five of them were all present and accounted for, Inaba let out a huge sigh. “I’ll be honest. I said I’d be fine going home by myself, but frankly, I wasn’t fine. I was scared out of my mind, worrying my hypothesis might be wrong.”

“Dang, Inabacchan, that’s badass! You call all the shots and never let your anxiety stop you!” said Aoki Yoshifumi as he lay sprawled out in full-on Relaxation Mode.

Personally, Taichi felt Aoki’s unflappable composure in the face of the unknown was pretty badass, too.

Inaba’s room was still just as plain and functional as he remembered it, with one exception: he got the sense the room was a bit more colorful than it used to be. That, and he never would have pegged Inaba as the type to sleep with a big heart-print pillow.

“It’s almost noon... Man, it still hasn’t hit me that round three’s started...” Nagase murmured as she sat occupying the bed.

“Just wait until you see it. It’s terrifying... Personally, I wish I didn’t have to see it again, but I doubt I’ll be so lucky,” Inaba replied. “I wish there was something we could do to prevent it, but alas... It seems all we can do is wait.”

“Are ya sure it’ll happen a second time? I still can’t believe it...” said Aoki.

“It’s nice to know when it’ll strike for a change... Ugh... I’m kinda hungry...” grumbled Nagase.

Kiriyama perked up. “Wait... Inaba... Are you sure it’s safe to do this at your house?”

“Yeah. As far as I know, no one else will come home until after five, so we don’t have to worry about anyone walking in on our kid selves and freaking out,” Inaba answered. “That said... this assumes the phenomenon will actually end at five like it’s supposed to...” She checked the time on her cell phone. “Almost noon... Oh, what the? A phone call?! Who the hell is it?!” She hastily picked up. “What do you want, buttface?! Make it quick!”

Taichi could tell from her overtly hostile attitude that the caller was her older brother.

“Yeah? Okay... Wait, what?! You’re out of your mind. You want me to leave so you can bring some girl over?! Fuck no! I’m busy with someth—”

Even as she spoke, Inaba’s cell phone hit the floor with a dull thud.

“Nnggh...!” With one hand clutching at her chest, she used the other to clumsily hit the End Call button.

“Huh? Inaban?! You okay?!” Nagase jumped to her feet in alarm.

Beside her, Aoki started to groan. “Nngh... Yeah, uh... Not a fan of this...”

“A-Aoki?!” Kiriyama shrieked.

The next instant, Inaba and Aoki shrank. No, “shrank” wasn’t the best way to describe it. Rather, it was as if a higher power had randomly swapped Inaba with a preschooler and Aoki with a fifth or sixth grade elementary school student.

Naturally, this elicited a strong reaction from Nagase and Kiriyama, neither of whom had been present (so to speak) to see it the first time—

“NOOOOO WAAAAAAAY!”

“Wh-Wh-What just HAPPENED?!”

“HOLY CRAP!”

“AAAAAAHHHH!”

Eventually the initial shock subsided and the girls settled down.

When asked for their ages, Aoki proudly declared “I’m ten years old!” and Inaba lisped “Fouw,” in a small voice.

Next on the agenda was to get the kids some better-fitting clothes. Inaba had instructed them all to bring the smallest clothes they could find, and what a foresight that was proving to be. As usual, she was one step ahead of the rest.

(As a side note, when Taichi asked Rina to lend him some of her clothes, she responded “Creep! Pervert! What would you even use them for?! I liked you better when you were normal! Now I hate you!” and he very nearly lost the will to live.)

Meanwhile, Nagase furrowed her brows as she crouched down in front of Inaba [age 4]. “Hmmm... We got away with just rolling up the sleeves and pant legs for Aoki’s tracksuit, but I’m not so sure about this one...”

Next to Taichi, Aoki [age 10] threw both hands up in the air in celebration. “Woohoo! Check me out!”

Naturally, no one happened to have any clothes for a four-year-old handy, and so Inaba [age 4] ended up practically drowning in an oversized, rolled-up shirt that Kiriyama had picked out. As Nagase fixed her clothing for her, she quietly stared back, her eyes as wide as saucers.

“Y’know... I gotta say...” Kiriyama muttered through gritted teeth, and Taichi worried the utter insanity of their circumstances was pushing her toward a mental breakdown—

“Isn’t wittle bitty Inaba, like, TOTALLY ADORBS?!”

—Never mind.

“I know, right?! Look at her big ol’ eyes and chubby little cheeks! Sho kyute!”

The two girls excitedly began to poke and prod every inch of the preschooler’s body.

“Awww! She’s sooo cuuuute! You can totally tell she’ll grow up to be an ice queen, but at the same time she still has that special cuteness only kids can pull off... It’s the perfect contrast!”

“It’s killing me to think that this is the same Inaban, you know?! Oh my goddd!”

As Kiriyama and Nagase continued to work themselves into a frenzy, the otherwise quiet and well-behaved Inaba [age 4] began to look around the room, silently pleading for someone to rescue her.

Meanwhile, the two boys watched this unfold from a safe distance.

“Man, girls are scary,” Aoki [age 10] mused aloud.

Damn it, guys, quit traumatizing the children!

“Whew... That was great...”

“Yeah... Got my daily dose of cute...”

Some time later, after a considerable amount of cuddling, nuzzling, and other unwanted affection, Nagase and Kiriyama finally set Inaba [age 4] free. The moment they did, Inaba [age 4] was so frightened, she immediately ran and hid behind Taichi.

“Aww, c’mon, Himeko-chan! We’re not that scary, are we?” Nagase asked in a soft, coaxing voice, but Inaba [age 4] clung to Taichi’s pant leg and refused to let go.

The girls had agreed it felt weird to call a small child by their surname, so they’d decided to refer to the kids by their given names instead.

“Maybe you guys shouldn’t treat her like a toy.”

“Nngh... You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I... I’m sorry, too... Sorry, Himeko-chan,” Kiriyama chimed in.

As for Aoki [age 10], he was behaving himself and quietly reading manga from Inaba’s bookshelf.

“Man, you guys weren’t kidding. They literally turned into kids... That’s crazy...” Nagase murmured, staring up at the ceiling. “Wait...” She suddenly turned back to the others. “I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

“Like what?”

“Like, uhh... Wasn’t Inaban on the phone just beforehand?”

“Oh yeah!” Kiriyama exclaimed. “Come to think of it, it sounded like her brother was asking her to leave so he could bring a girl over...”

Nagase snapped her fingers. “Yeah, that!”

“Well, if her brother’s coming home, that means he might find us here with the kids...” Taichi muttered, glancing down at Inaba [age 4], who blinked back at him curiously.

This was no minor issue.

“By Jove, if only Inaban hadn’t Regressed, I daresay we might have managed! Alas, quite the sticky wicket, innit!” declared Nagase in her best British accent.

“What about your house, Iori?” Kiriyama asked, panicked.

“Hmmm... My mom’s not home right now, but she’ll definitely be back before five.”

“What about you, Taichi?”

“I can’t guarantee my family will stay gone until after five... but maybe we could hide in my room...”

“Okay, but if they do see us, are they gonna be cool with you bringing home two girls, a ten-year-old boy, and a preschooler?” Kiriyama asked firmly.

“Mmm... My mom probably wouldn’t care, but my sister absolutely would.”

“Wow... Your mom wouldn’t even care?” Kiriyama gazed at him with sympathy in her eyes.

“Maybe the clubroom...? No, we’ll totally draw attention to ourselves if we try to take the kids on campus... Hmmm... We need someplace hidden from the public eye... Okay, what about... a karaoke room?” Nagase suggested.

“Ooh, that sounds good! Let’s do that!”

“But if we go in with two kids, then come out with zero kids, won’t they look at us weird...? Crap,” Taichi muttered.

That was another thing they’d have to take into consideration: Inaba [age 4] and Aoki [age 10] would (probably) turn back to their teenage selves at five o’clock.

“Okay then, what if we took them to a love hotel?” Nagase suggested.

At that, Aoki [age 10] looked up from the manga. “What? A love hotel?”

“Oh, sure, now you pay attention, you pervy little monkey!” Kiriyama snapped.

“There’s no way they’d let a bunch of minors book a room,” Taichi mused. A moment later, a certain empty street flickered through his mind. “Oh, I know! Say, Kiriyama—what about that area we passed through earlier today?”

“Ohhh, I get it! Makes sense, but... will we be able to get inside, you think? Once we’re in, that would work pretty well as long as we can stay warm somehow.”

“Uh, hello? You two gonna clue me in or what?”

“You’ll see when we get there. For now, let’s head over there. Ao—er, Yoshifumi-kun, put the manga away. We’re leaving.”

“Aww, c’mon! Can’t it wait until I’m finished?”

“No it can’t!” Kiriyama smacked the floor in frustration. Evidently their rapport stayed the same regardless of age.

“Whoa. This place is kinda cool!” Nagase exclaimed as she looked around the room.

The five of them had made it inside one of the derelict buildings located on the dilapidated little street Taichi and Kiriyama had passed through earlier that day. This four-story building was only recently abandoned, and the interior was still fairly clean. Constructed with ferrocement, it was relatively insulated from the cold, too. If it wasn’t for the “Slated For Demolition” sign attached to the fence out front, they likely never would’ve guessed it was abandoned at all.

“This kinda feels like a secret hideout. If I was a little kid, I’d probably be so stoked right now,” Aoki [age 10] commented.

At this, Taichi and Nagase exchanged a glance and bit back their laughter.

“Wh-What’re you guys laughing at?!”

“Trust me, you’re nowhere near grown up yet,” Nagase replied with a grin.

“Tch... Neither are you!”

“Very funny, tough guy! I’m super grown up, I’ll have you know!”

“Oh yeah? Have you kissed anybody before?”

“K-Kissed anybody? Kissed anybody?! KISSED ANYBODY?!” Nagase blushed and glanced at Taichi out of the corner of her eye, and he felt his face grow hot. “O-Of course I’ve kissed before! I mean, it wasn’t with my own lips—but it totally still counts, right? Okay, maybe not a hundred percent... maybe closer to seventy percent or so! But that still counts, right?!”

Apparently Nagase and Aoki [age 10] got along like a house on fire. It helped that she was willing to treat a child like an equal. (Either that, or she was mentally on the same level as a grade schooler... but Taichi sincerely hoped not.)

As with the previous Regression affecting Nagase and Kiriyama, neither Aoki [age 10] nor Inaba [age 4] seemed the least bit confused as to what they were doing there. Taichi couldn’t imagine how they’d chosen to interpret this situation, being kids and all, but sure enough, they seemed to simply accept their surroundings without question.

“Is it really safe for us to be outside, though? If one of us had Regressed on our way here, it would’ve been, like, totally catastrophic!” Kiriyama said as she stepped into the room.

“Yeah... I guess we’re operating under the assumption that there won’t be any more transforming until five.”

“True... And to be fair, we’ve been right about that so far.”

Indeed, chances were good this assumption was a safe one. Thus far, they had yet to witness anyone transforming outside of precisely noon and precisely five o’clock. For a series of largely “random” phenomena, it felt a little too... predictable.

“Well, at least now we’ve found our way into this little hideout, so I’d say it’s working out nicely so far. It’s still dirty, but not, like, that dirty, you know?” Kiriyama mused, tracing a finger in the dust on the floor.

“Yeah. We’re lucky there was an open first-floor window or else we probably would’ve ended up in an older, crappier place. Wouldn’t want to have to smash our way in, after all.”

Granted, they were already technically committing a crime just by trespassing onto the property... but surely karma would let it slide in times of emergency, right?

At that point, Inaba [age 4] burst into a coughing fit as she clung to Taichi’s leg. “You okay?” Taichi asked, peering down at her, and she nodded back at him.

“Maybe we should tidy up one of these rooms. We can’t have poor Himeko-chan breathing in all this dust!”

And so, at Kiriyama’s suggestion, they cleaned up a room on the second floor that, if the eight old and weathered desks lined up side-by-side were any indication, used to be some sort of office.

“I bought some drinks and snacks and stuff!” Nagase announced as she returned from her little shopping excursion. (They were starting to feel confident in their theory that no one else would Regress for the day.)

“What’s with that big box?” Taichi asked.

Nagase gleefully dug it out of the bag. “It’s a lantern-style table lamp! Now we won’t have to worry about it getting dark in here!”

“You didn’t have to go out of your way to buy that, you know.”

She snickered. “Yeah, I know, but it was on clearance at the hardware store! Once we don’t need it anymore, I’ll just use it to decorate my room or something.”

Why was she so taken with that weird-looking lamp? As usual, Nagase was a total enigma.

After a moment, she spun on her heel, holding a drink in each hand. “Okay, Himeko-chan. Which one of these do you want?”

“Dis one. Owange.”

“Sure thing! Here you go!”

Nagase handed the bottle to Inaba [age 4], who accepted it gingerly. Now that the two teens had stopped treating her like a toy, the little girl was starting to warm up to them—

“I can’t take it... Inaban’s little lisp is shooo kyuuute...!”

—So much for that. Inaba [age 4] promptly ran back between Taichi’s legs.

“Stop that! You’re scaring her again!” Taichi reprimanded.

“Nnngh... It’s weirdly frustrating, seeing her so attached to you...” Pouting, Nagase took a sip of her own drink.

“Here you go. Thanks for helping us, Yoshifumi-kun.” Kiriyama handed Aoki [age 10] his drink and ruffled his hair.

“Thank you,” Aoki [age 10] replied, his tone slightly bashful.

“...You cool with doing that?” Taichi asked Kiriyama quietly. By “that,” he meant “physically touching a boy,” and Kiriyama seemed to intuit this.

“Sure. He’s just a kid, you know?” Kiriyama smiled contentedly.

“Heh heh heh! Can’t wait to tell Nana I made friends with her big sister!” Aoki [age 10] exclaimed, an innocent smile on his face.

“Huh? Who’s Nana?” Kiriyama asked, her brows furrowed dubiously.

“Huh? Aren’t you her big sister? I thought for sure you were,” he replied, looking surprised.

Something wasn’t right.

“Back up a minute, Ao—er, Yoshifumi-kun. Do you remember my full name?”

Come to think of it, they had yet to test the kids on this subject today.

“You’re Yaegashi Taichi-san, right?”

“Okay, what about this lady here?” Taichi pointed to Nagase, who was sitting at a desk and devouring her snacks.

“Nagase Iori-san?”

“Okay, and this lady is...?”

“Like I said, she’s Nishino Nana’s big sister, right? Oh, maybe her cousin or somethin’? I’m just sayin’, they look totally alike!”

Evidently Aoki [age 10] had interpreted Kiriyama Yui as a relative of someone by the name of Nishino Nana.

“Uhh... I’m Kiriyama Yui...” Kiriyama replied, smiling awkwardly.

“Kiriyama? So you’re not related to the Nishino family, like, at all?”

“No... I’ve never met anyone with the last name Nishino.”

“Oh... Weird... You guys really do look alike. Oh well! So you’re Kiriyama Yui-san. Got it!”

“What’s going on?” Nagase asked as she jogged over.

“Not sure, but Little Aoki here just mistook Kiriyama for someone else,” Taichi explained.

“What? How is that possible?”

“We’ll just have to ask him about it when he turns back. No point in harassing an innocent kid,” Kiriyama cut in, and with that, the conversation was over.

Outside, dusk had fallen. There was no electricity in the building, but thankfully Nagase’s little lamp was battery-powered, ensuring a modicum of light in one corner of their hideout.

“I-N-A-B-A.”

At Taichi’s command, Inaba [age 4] scribbled on the paper. “I... N... A... B... A.”

“H-I-M-E-K-O.”

“H... I... M... E... K... O.”

“Wow! Good job, Himeko-chan! You wrote your name all by yourself!” Taichi patted her on the head, and she beamed back at him.

Naturally, the abandoned building offered nothing of particular interest to a young child, and Inaba [age 4] seemed bored, so Taichi had decided to teach her the alphabet. Thankfully, she showed a strong desire to learn and picked things up quickly—a glimpse of the analytical powerhouse she would eventually grow up to be.

Suddenly, the door flew open with a bang.

“Ha! I beat you here! I win!” Nagase shouted as she ran back into the room, followed by Aoki [age 10]. The two of them had been off exploring the rest of the building.

“Dang it! I can’t believe you’d pull those dirty tricks on a little kid!”

“Oh, please! Don’t be such a sore loser!”

“Grrr... This is why nobody’s ever kissed you!”

“Wha—excuse you! Weren’t you listening?! I have too kissed before! Seventy percent kissed! But it totally counts! ...Okay, that’s it! As of right now, I’ve decided that it counts, and that’s final! That was officially my first kiss!”

“Then what does it taste like, huh?”

“Uhhh... Tuna...?”

Is she forgetting that I’m literally right here?!

“Whas wong?” Inaba [age 4] asked innocently. His mood must have been showing on his face.

“Oh, nothing. I guess that stuff is important to you girls, huh?”

“Kissing?”

“D-Don’t say it! You’re still too young to—!”

He realized then that he was speaking to someone who would eventually grow up to kiss him in the future. (Maybe “future” was the wrong word, seeing as it had already happened in the past... Whatever.) Obviously there was no sexual tension to be had with a four-year-old, but still, it was a weird feeling.

“Duz a kiss make you a gwown-up?”

“No, it’s the other way around. First you grow up, and then you kiss.”

“When’s dat?”

“Your first year of high school, autumn at the very latest—I mean, no! It doesn’t matter! No more ‘kiss’ talk! You’re too young!”

“Smooch?”

“Stop! Using a different word doesn’t make it okay!”

“Tongue kiss?”

“That’s even worse! Where did you even learn that?!”

“Umm... I sawed it in a German movie.”

“What? Wow, that’s... kinda cool, actually. Especially for a preschooler. Very cultured of you.”

“Sorry to interrupt your weird little conversation, but it’s almost five,” Kiriyama cut in.

“Oh, you’re right... Well, seeing as nobody else has transformed since noon, I guess they’ll probably revert back right at five... probably...” Taichi muttered. At this point, it was almost guaranteed.

“Yeah, probably,” Nagase agreed. “That reminds me, Taichi! What does it look like when they go back to normal? Is it just as sudden as the transformation at noon?”

“Yep, pretty much. They just snap back to their regular selves in a split-second.”

“Huh... Can you see it happen if you pay close attention?”

Just then, Kiriyama leapt to her feet with a look on her face that said they’d overlooked something critical.

“What about their clothes?” she asked in a tiny voice.

But Taichi couldn’t quite hear her. “Sorry, what?”

“When they turn back to normal, what happens to their clothes?!”

“Well, the clothes stay the same, so—Oh god.”

Things had worked out the first time around since Nagase and Kiriyama had simply continued to wear their uniforms, but this time they’d put the kids in more fitting outfits—which meant they’d be far too small for their normal-sized bodies. There was no telling what might happen once they turned back... Either it’d be a really tight fit, or the clothes themselves might tear. (It was hard to say for sure when they didn’t know how exactly their bodies transformed.)

“Oh crap! If Inaban transforms back and ends up naked or something, she’s gonna kick our asses!”

“Oh my god, oh my god... Okay, we gotta like, get her changed into something else! Iori, help me! As for Aoki... well, the tracksuit’s stretchy, right?”

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Aoki [age 10] asked, puzzled.

But the two girls paid him no mind as they hurried over to Inaba [age 4]. Unfortunately, the looks on their faces brought back terrible memories of the sheer torture they’d put her through at noon (though the culprits meant no harm by it), and as a result, she ran behind Taichi for safety.

“Taichi! Move! Hurry!”

“I... I’m trying! You gotta let go of me, Himeko-chan!”

“Nnnnn...!” Inaba [age 4] whined as she clung stubbornly to his pant leg.

“What do we do...?”

“Don’t just stand there, Taichi! Just... Argh, we’re out of ti—!”

In a heartbeat, Kiriyama fell into a stunned silence... and Taichi felt the presence behind him grow much larger.

“Nngah! Can’t breathe... Damn clothes too tight...!”

Ahead of him, he could see Aoki had returned to normal and was now adjusting his tracksuit.

Then, finally, Nagase and Kiriyama broke out of their collective trance.

“Aaagggghhhh! Wait, Inabaaaaan! Don’t moooove!”

“Taichi, don’t you dare look! You better not move a muscle, you hear me?!”

Taichi froze stock-still, like a statue. “L-Loud and clear!”

Thankfully, the worst case scenario was safely averted. That said, at one point one of them punched him in the back of the head, which was a rather unsafe and uncool thing to do to someone’s occipital bone. Personally, he would have liked them to exercise some self-restraint instead.

Once everyone had calmed down, they held a meeting to explain everything that had happened after Inaba and Aoki Regressed.

“Interesting. Good work securing a hideout for us,” said Inaba after a moment. “This is now the second time that the phenomenon has followed the ‘rules’ lined out for us: it started at noon, and once the affected individuals Regressed, there were no other transformations until five, when the Regressed turned back. I think it’s safe to say we can count on this being a hard rule going forward.”

Inaba had a point. It had to be more than pure coincidence that both Regressions lasted exactly five hours, precisely from noon to five o’clock, with no other transformations in between.

“...I gotta say, it kinda turns my stomach to have a solid five-hour gap in my memory. Anything could’ve happened in that time and I wouldn’t know about it...”

“I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust the rest of us,” Taichi replied.

“Yeah. You’re right,” she nodded.

“So the message on the chalkboard... was a hint from «Heartseed»?” Nagase whispered.

“In which case, I have to wonder why a certain someone was left off the list.” Inaba shifted her gaze to Taichi, and his chest grew tight.

“Maybe the Regression doesn’t affect him, or somethin’?” Aoki offered, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Hmph... Yeah, that’s the best guess I can come up with for the time being. I imagine we’ll find out sooner or later... So, anything else I should know about?”

“Yeah, actually,” Taichi replied, quietly grateful that she’d changed the subject. “At one point, Little Aoki mistook Kiriyama for a different person.”

“What? That’s weird.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s this all about?! Could ya fill a brother in, por favor?!” Aoki yelped.

“There’s something I’d like to ask you,” Kiriyama cut in, her voice quiet, her gaze averted. “Does the name Nishino Nana ring a bell?”

Aoki froze like a statue, his arms still posed in the air mid-flail. “How do you know that name? Where’d ya hear it?”

“From you, actually. [Ten-year-old] Aoki asked me if I was Nishino Nana’s big sister.”

Aoki sucked in a breath and stared back, speechless.

“So who is she?”

At her question, he stammered for a moment, then resigned himself to his fate and began to talk, a self-deprecating smile on his face.

“She was a girl my age who lived in my neighborhood. I made friends with her around... third or fourth grade, I wanna say... We didn’t go to the same school, though. Her parents had her going to some fancy-pants private school... and then when we were in seventh grade, we started dating.”

It was a perfectly ordinary anecdote, and yet for some reason Taichi found he really didn’t want to hear the rest of it. Somehow it felt... dangerous.

“And...?” Kiriyama prodded, breaking the silence.

“Around the end of the year, her parents decided to move away... so we agreed to go our own ways. Since then, we’ve sent each other New Year’s cards every January, but other than that we haven’t talked... and that’s about it.”

Then she asked:

“I don’t suppose this Nishino Nana person looked like me... did she?”

Did Aoki—the guy who claimed to be in love with Kiriyama—have an ex-girlfriend who resembled her?

And so he answered:

“...She did.”

Yes, Aoki was romantically pursuing a girl who was the spitting image of an old flame.

Kiriyama put a hand to her chest in hesitation. “You say you haven’t seen her in a long time... Do you think she’d still look like me to this day?”

“...Maybe,” Aoki answered.

All of a sudden the room felt very, very cold... like a wintry wind was blowing in from somewhere in the darkness.

“That’s kind of—” Kiriyama began, but Inaba cut her off.

“Alright, let me break this down. So, Yui resembles this ‘Nishino’ girl Aoki knew when he was younger. Then, courtesy of a supernatural phenomenon, Aoki turns back into a kid. His kid brain somehow recognizes and accepts everyone around him, but because Yui in particular happens to resemble this Nishino person, his newly [ten-year-old] brain pulls from his childhood memories and mistakenly registers her as Nishino’s older sister. That’s pretty much all there is to it, yeah? Sounds like some wires got crossed. Happens to everybody,” she mused, all without pausing to give anyone room to interject.

“Yeah, seems pretty harmless to me,” Nagase agreed. “With all these bizarre transformations, stuff’s bound to get mixed up somewhere.”

With that, the conversation was ended.

And so they headed home, with the agreement to meet up at the same place the next day. According to their tentative theory about the rules of the phenomenon, they were supposed to be safe until noon tomorrow. Of course, Taichi in particular was rather confident in this theory, given that he possessed something the others did not: direct confirmation.

One by one, they each went their own separate ways... until only Taichi and Aoki remained. Together they sat side by side on the train, swaying with its motions. Normally Aoki was the type to blather on about some nonsense or another, but today he was rather quiet, staring straight ahead through the window across the way.

Taichi wasn’t sure whether he ought to bring it up, but ultimately decided he would only regret it later if he chose to stay quiet. After all, he’d learned that sometimes the only option was simply to take the plunge.

Maybe Aoki didn’t want to talk about it, but he was going to open up the floor regardless.

“You know... you weren’t really acting like yourself back there.”

There was a pause, and then Aoki seemed to snap back to reality. “Huh? I wasn’t?”

“Well, I mean... it’s just not like you to clam up like that.”

“...Oh, the whole ‘Yui looks like my ex’ thing? C’mon, cut me some slack. Of course I was gonna get all awkward about it. She made it sound like I...” He trailed off.

“Yeah, but I expected you to follow it up with ‘Bottom line, I’m in love with you, not her!’ or something, that’s all.”

For a while, Aoki didn’t respond. Then, eventually, he sighed and muttered in a low voice, “Ever since I turned back, my head’s been a total mess, dude. My feelings, my memories, everything.” He paused. “I dunno... Any other day and I probably woulda said something like that, but I’m just so mixed up right now...”

“Too mixed up to know if you love Kiriyama?”

“Well, I mean... Right now, I remember how hard I fell for Nana. I can’t pretend those feelings were never there.”

Evidently it was something he had long since forgotten... until the Regression dug it back out of him.

“From the moment I laid eyes on Yui, I always thought she looked a lot like Nana. Y’know, obviously. But it was just a passing thought.”

The train slowed to a stop as it rolled into the next station. The doors opened. A few people stepped off, a few people stepped on. Then the doors shut, and the train started moving again.

“I’m in love with Yui... but at one point, I was in love with Nana. Crazy about her. For a long time. Right now I’d say I love Yui more, but it just makes me think... when did I ever stop loving Nana?” Aoki put a hand to his forehead. “I don’t remember when it stopped... We didn’t break up until after she moved away... When did I move on? Is my love for Nana just... gone? Or is it still knockin’ around in there?” He looked at Taichi—a lost lamb seeking his shepherd. “Hey, Taichi? What does it really mean to love someone, anyways?”

Something told him he had no right to answer that question.

Another unnatural phenomenon had taken over the CRC, which meant something was bound to change—and for better or for worse, that change would be permanent.

There would be no going back.

Ever.

+ + +

Kiriyama Yui crept into her parents’ bedroom.

She hadn’t been in here in quite some time. Against the far wall sat a glass display case, home to all her former glory—trophies, plaques, medals, award certificates—all of them won over the course of her karate days.

She slid the cabinet door open, took out a small gold medal, and gently ran her finger over it. It was the medal she’d won in her first-ever karate competition—an otherwise small, forgettable event.

Her parents wanted her to be strong, both physically and emotionally, and so she had started taking karate lessons at their request. In the beginning they didn’t push her too hard, but as she began to show incredible talent, they too began to take it much more seriously.

As for Yui herself, she had a blast doing karate. It wasn’t her sole focus, but looking back, at age eleven it was undeniably a huge part of her life.

But then one day it all came crashing down. One close shave with sexual assault instilled in her a deep fear of men, and she was forced to give up her dreams.

But she didn’t feel bitter towards her attacker. She had simply resigned herself to the fact that it was all beyond her control. In a world full of so much misery—car accidents, crippling illnesses—misfortune was bound to strike her eventually. If anything, she told herself she should be grateful it wasn’t something worse. There was no use crying over spilled milk.

Besides, there was still so much good in the world... and with a little help from her awesome friends, she was now slowly but surely moving past it. So what more could she ask for? Wasn’t that just the way life went, really? Sometimes things were good, sometimes things were bad. Peaks and valleys, like a roller coaster.

Some things were simply outside one’s control, no matter what. «Heartseed»’s phenomena had taught her that the hard way. She couldn’t make miracles happen; she could only keep doing her best—

“Sis?”

The sudden voice nearly made Yui jump out of her skin. Hastily, she returned the medal to the cabinet, then spun around. There she found Anzu, her younger sister by two years, standing by the bedroom door.

“Wh-What’s up?”

“What’s up with you? You haven’t wanted to look at that old karate stuff ever since you quit.”

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing. I was just... randomly feeling nostalgic, that’s all.”

Anzu didn’t question this. “Okay then. Oh yeah, I meant to tell you! I ran into Mihashi-san earlier today. Remember her? She was kinda like your ‘rival’ in all those competitions, right?”

Mihashi Chinatsu. Yui hadn’t expected to hear that name for a second time today.

“You might not have liked her very much, but I used to talk to her all the time. So anyway, she said she’s back in town for winter break.”

Why did she have to come back during one of these stupid phenomena? Was this just another low point in Yui’s life? Yes, of course! It had to be. This was just... something temporary that she needed to endure.

“Interesting...” Now she’d inadvertently missed her chance to mention their previous encounter.

“Not to gossip or anything, but I guess Mihashi-san’s parents are getting divorced, and it’s kinda complicated. So anyways...”

Anzu’s voice drifted in one ear and out the other. She knew her sister meant nothing by it; she was just discussing the day’s events, after all. But Yui couldn’t help but wonder—why should she care about the latest happenings in the life of someone she only vaguely knew through a martial art she had long since quit? What good would come of reviving those old memories?

It was all in the past, and she couldn’t go back. She was different now. None of it mattered anymore. This information was useless to her.

...But in that case, there was no point in her trying to dig up the history of the guy who claimed to be in love with her.

Stricken with the Regression phenomenon, Aoki Yoshifumi had mistaken Yui for someone from his past—someone who, according to him, physically resembled her. And Aoki had previously been in love with that person. Dated that person.

In the past, Aoki had claimed he’d fallen for Yui the moment he laid eyes on her. Purely a gut reaction with no rationale behind it. Love at first sight.

But if it was love at first sight... and she happened to look like some old flame... didn’t that suggest he only fell for her because of their resemblance?

And if they only broke up because she was forced to move away... didn’t that suggest Yui herself was merely a replacement goldfish?

She didn’t know if it was true. Maybe she was just getting paranoid. Either way, it turned her stomach.

At the same time, however, she didn’t have the courage to find out for sure. God, I’m so laughably pathetic. She’d always rejected his feelings, but now she was afraid those feelings weren’t real? And she was mad at him about it?

“Uh, sis? You listening?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, I’m listening.”

“So I was thinking... maybe you should try getting back into karate? Only if you want to, obviously. You still haven’t told me why you quit in the first place... I just miss my kickass karate sister, you know?”

Why are we still talking about karate? That was then. This is now. There’s no going back.

She felt a dull ache in her chest. Where did that come from? She wasn’t sure.

All I know is, I can’t look back.

She wanted to forget it. All of it. Everything about Aoki, too.

She hated it. It hurt so bad.

She just wanted the pain to stop.

“What’s wrong, sis? Why are you crying? Was it something I said? I’m sorry... Please don’t cry...”

Trust me, I wish I knew.