Epilogue: Nagase Iori’s Final Chapter

The next thing I knew, «Heartseed» was standing there, wearing the body of Gotou Ryuuzen. As with Aoki and Yui, it had purposely cornered me when I was alone.

Just when I was wondering what it wanted with me, it said to me, “I think I’ll go ahead and end it here, Nagase-san... For some reason, I felt it would be best to tell you specifically...”

Any fear I felt was far outweighed by disgust. If anything, I wanted to punch it in the face. Why would it choose to make this announcement to me specifically? Was it trying to suggest that I was the star of this little charade once again?

“Now that I think about it, the Sentiment Transmission always seemed to trigger whenever I was at my absolute lowest. You sent all my most cruel thoughts on purpose, didn’t you?”

It kept happening so often, I had started to believe I must really be a monster (though to be fair, I was definitely headed in that direction).

“I think that’s... something you’ll have to decide for yourself, Nagase-san...”

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Screw you.

“Oh well... At least now we’ve reached a good stopping point... Am I wrong?”

How should I know?

“Perhaps it’s time... to transition to the next phase...”

“There’s more?” I did not like the sound of that.

“You know... I never imagined things would turn out this way between us... I always knew you were fascinating, but this is truly something else... Or perhaps I simply have unusual tastes... That would explain why another felt the need to interfere...”

Apparently even «Heartseed» had cultural norms to be worrying about. It was weirdly relatable, for an otherworldly being. Maybe there was more to «them» than any of us realized...

Then, at last, my fear belatedly kicked in. Even after all these months, «Heartseed» still wasn’t the sort of entity I wanted to be alone in a room with.

“Well then... I guess I’ll be going now...” And with that, it turned and began to walk away.

Now that I thought about it, surely «Heartseed» didn’t need to manually pilot Gossan’s body away. Couldn’t it simply switch his soul back into his body right there on the spot? So why didn’t it choose to do that? Was it worried about Gossan finally noticing something fishy about the gaps in his memory? No... Something told me there was more to it than that. Was it just me, or... had «Heartseed» changed?

“When will you finally leave us alone?” I muttered, not expecting an answer.

And yet, by some whim, it turned around. Maybe it really had changed.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t know...”

Right. Figures. That’s what I get for getting my hopes up.

Evidently «Heartseed»’s proclivity for ambiguity hadn’t gone anywhere... or so I thought.

As it turned out, I was wrong about that.

“Oh, but—”

□■□■□

On Monday morning, Setouchi Kaoru walked into the classroom with chin-length black hair—a drastic change from her long bleached locks. At first, the other students barely even recognized her. No one had seen this coming, and so it sparked a minor uproar.

While her rebel friends were standing a short distance away, unsure what to say to her, I walked right up to her desk.

“I notice you kept your piercings.”

“Yeah... I like them too much to get rid of them, I guess.”

“Y’know, I’m actually really digging this classy new look, Kaoru-chan. You’re so cute now!”

“Uh, Iori? Are you trying to say I wasn’t cute before?!”

Me and Setouchi—er, Kaoru-chan—were now officially friends.

While we were squabbling, another one of my friends, Nakayama Mariko, walked over to us with a smile on her face. “What’s going on with you two?! I totally demand an explanation, Iori!”

Despite how horribly I had treated her in recent weeks, it seemed she still cared about me. I’d been worried that I’d need to apologize and explain everything... but maybe it would all work out regardless. Man, I’m lucky to have such great friends.

“Just as I predicted... I knew my children would pull through in the end...” muttered Fujishima Maiko, president of Class 1-C, sounding weirdly maternal. Although... Is it just me, or has she gone back to ogling me the way she used to...?

After the incident on Saturday, next to no progress had been made on the replacement map. So, as soon as school let out, we all threw ourselves into our prep work. Seeing as I’d been completely slacking off prior to now, I decided to work as hard as possible to make up for it. Even Kaoru-chan offered to help us, which we gratefully accepted.

And so, with all our powers combined, we somehow managed to finish in time for our presentation!

Our replacement was by no means anywhere as good as the original, of course. Still, we made up for it with thorough research, well-rehearsed speeches, and... a certain performance Inaban insisted I do to make up for my truancy. These factors helped to tip the scales in our favor, and our presentation was a total hit!

What exactly was my “performance,” you ask? Well... Let’s just say it was a little something called “Nagase Iori’s High-Speed Cosplay Show,” where I’d repeatedly dash backstage and change into a different themed costume to match the store or restaurant being presented. A maid uniform, a Chinese cheongsam dress, a pro wrestling costume (which some guy in the crowd loudly referred to as a “glorified bikini”)... Uggghhhh, I don’t even want to think about it!

I mean, obviously I was super into it during the presentation itself, but mostly because I didn’t have a choice!

Consequently, this legendary(?) presentation received considerably high marks from the judges. Apparently all the teachers were talking about it back in the staff room, and naturally, Gossan was there to overhear it. Afterwards, he tracked us down to tell us:

“I heard you guys kicked butt out there. Especially you, Nagase. And the jazz band put on their best performance yet! I couldn’t miss that, of course. Not after all that effort they put in during rehearsals. Believe it or not... I’m actually really impressed by both my clubs this year! To think I’ve got you kids fighting over who gets to have me as your advisor... I tell ya, I’m blown away by just how darn popular I am! In fact, I was so touched, I started brainstorming whether there’s any way I could still advise both clubs.”

It was quite the heartwarming speech... until...

“And you know what I realized? Just because I’m limited to one club on paper doesn’t mean I can’t visit other clubs in my free time! So I’ve decided I’ll officially advise the CRC and just check in on the jazz band whenever I’m not busy. Bam! Loophole in the system, am I right? Now I can choose both instead of one or the other! So, whaddya think? Pretty genius of me, wouldn’t you sa—aaaaagggggghhhhh! Inaba-san, that hurts!”

“Then why didn’t you just do that right from the start, you goddamn birdbrain?!”

The next thing we knew, she’d put him in a standing armlock.

I’ve always wondered where she learns all her sick moves... Maybe I’ll ask her sometime.

As for those violent thugs, well... Considering we were technically equally guilty of assault, we didn’t bother reporting them to the police. Instead, Inaban teamed up with Fujishima-san, and using her father’s government influence combined with the photographic evidence, the two of them “made sure they won’t be bothering us anymore.” I guess that’s that problem solved!

...Real talk, I saw the sinister looks on their faces when they were off whispering to each other, and... Yeah, I’m not sure I want to know the details.

Sometime after that, Taichi and Inaban officially started dating. Yui and Aoki were startled, but supportive; as for me, I was happy for them.

At one point Inaban got super insecure about it. She asked me, “Are you sure you’re okay with me dating him?”

So I told her, “My thing with Taichi is in the past now. You have nothing to worry about.” And I sincerely meant it.

To be honest, I was kinda expecting that she’d be the one to wear the pants in the relationship, but nope! On the contrary, she’s gotten all sweet and meek, and she doesn’t even try to hide it! She’s gone from Inaban to Ina-Bashful!

Seriously, I hope this honeymoon phase ends before the new semester starts, because it’s already kinda getting on my nerves.

Man, my life has been such a rollercoaster, it’s kind of ridiculous. Even I think it’s been a little too obnoxiously melodramatic at times. I used to joke about writing it all down and publishing my own autobiography someday, but now I’m actually starting to seriously consider it.

That said, though, the fact of the matter is, my past experiences have taught me a lot of valuable lessons. If it wasn’t for everything that happened during the Sentiment Transmission, I wouldn’t have realized what life is all about—and then I probably would’ve wasted countless years being completely miserable.

“How could you fail to realize something so completely obvious?” you might ask. All I can say is this: It’s one thing to talk in circles about “what really matters,” but it’s another thing entirely to actually understand it.

I can sit here and tell you how important it is to follow your heart and live your dreams, but it can be hard to picture what that looks like in execution. Obviously we can’t all just run around doing literally whatever we want. Sometimes we have to think rationally and consider our surroundings—like me and Taichi back when Inaban got kidnapped. And we have to take care not to let our actions negatively affect innocent bystanders—something Kaoru-chan and I both failed at.

These inhibitions are actually really important... but if you suppress yourself too much, then you stop living. So how do you decide when to choose reason over emotion? When to put others first? Well, to be honest, I don’t think any of us will ever find the “correct” answer to that. We’re only human. All we can do is try our best to be good people.

And when we screw up, we just gotta fight through our failures, make total fools of ourselves, then pick ourselves back up again and give it another shot.

For the first time in my life, I think I finally understand what it means to be true to myself. And frankly, I envy those who can innately comprehend it without even trying. For chronic overthinkers like me, it can take a while to get to that point... but hey, at least we get there eventually, right? Better late than never, as they say.

So, where to from here? What’s my next goal? If I had to say... Romance, probably.

Taichi showed me how magical love can be, and for that, I can never fully express the gratitude I feel. Thank you so much.

Now here I stand, the craziest year of my life safely behind me. Well, okay—maybe it’s a little early to call it that. I’ve got many, many years still to come, and who knows what might happen! Maybe someday I’ll look back on freshman year and think, “Hah, that was nothing!”

Now that I’m entering my second year of high school, I’m bound to meet dozens of new people—new classmates as well as all the new freshmen enrolling this year. Will any of these cute little underclassmen join the Cultural Research Club?

...If so, we might have to warn them about a certain all-powerful asshole who likes to make our lives a living hell. Still, I kinda hope we get at least one fresh face in the CRC, just to liven things up. No matter what happens, as long as we have fun, it’ll all be worth it in the end.

I made a lot of mistakes this time around, and I still have a lot to learn. Fortunately, I’m blessed with friends who will always lend a helping hand—and I hope someday I can return the favor. That’s how I want to live my life: not as a solitary struggle, but a joint venture. I want to put faith in my tomorrow. After all, my life isn’t just a journey—it’s who I am. And “finding yourself” means believing in yourself.

Maybe I’ll stray from the path every now and then, but that’s okay, because I know my friends will be there to put me right back on track. So I’ll push forward, full speed ahead, and live each day to the fullest!

One last thing, though... I keep thinking about «Heartseed»’s last words to me:

—Don’t worry... I can see precisely how this will all end.

At this point, I’m just wondering... Do you think it actually meant it?

The End