Chapter 5: Soliloquy of a Jobber

Monday, just after first period...

Yaegashi Taichi (might have) (maybe) mentioned the recent incident with Nagase Iori to one Inaba Himeko. He kept his tone casual, of course, lest it inadvertently turn into a bigger deal than he intended... but Inaba took the matter quite seriously.

She propped her elbow up on the desk and rested her chin on her hand. “Hmmm... So that’s how the cookie crumbles, eh?” she muttered ominously.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I meant exactly what I said! Good grief... I just hope things don’t spiral out of control.”

“Okay, well, now what does that mean?”

“For fuck’s sake! Do you have a brain?! Then use it! Or better yet, why don’t you go ask her yourself?!”

Inaba gave him an angry shove, and he stumbled forward a few steps. Before he could stop himself, he made eye contact with Nagase, who was halfway out of her seat.

Nagase grinned and sauntered over. “What’s going on, folks? You guys horsing around over here?”

“No, no, it’s nothing. Say, Nagase, about last Saturday, when we were on the way home...”

“Yeah? What about it?” She shot him her most dazzling smile, as though she genuinely had no idea what he might be referring to—a smile so dazzling, in fact, he started to question if maybe it was all in his head. Maybe she hadn’t actually meant anything by it.

“Oh, uh... Actually, never mind.” He decided he was probably just overthinking it.

Behind him, Inaba clucked her tongue in frustration.

□■□■□

This ordinary, uneventful weekday took a sharp turn when, at the end of fifth period, an ominous atmosphere manifested in the classroom. At first glance, the room seemed to carry on as usual, but occasionally, amid the playful banter, the students of 1-C would pause to cast furtive glances in one singular direction.

The source of this palpable anxiety was none other than Inaba Himeko, who was currently exuding a malicious aura that (figuratively) screamed “I’m in a shitty mood! Stay the fuck away from me unless you want an ass-kicking!”

There was no telling what might set her off, so it was crucial that they maintain a careful and respectful—

“C’mon, Inaban, turn that frown upside-down,” said Nagase, plunking down in the seat just in front of Inaba’s and rattling the chair impatiently. Her audacity had the entire class on edge; Taichi could hear whispers (and a few startled not-so-whispers) from every corner of the room.

“Holy shit!”

“Did she just say that?!”

“Damn, girl, you’re fearless...”

“Somebody get the bomb squad in there already!”

By “bomb squad,” they meant him—which is why he was standing by on the scene.

What happened, you ask? Simple: At the beginning of fifth period Japanese literature class, Inaba Himeko and Yoshifumi Aoki had switched bodies. Then, partway through the lesson, [Inaba] (Aoki) had fallen asleep. The teacher noticed this and promptly smacked [Inaba] over the head with a textbook. When [she] awoke, Inaba found herself back in her own body (though it wasn’t clear whether she’d switched back at precisely that moment, or at some point during the nap).

“What kind of teacher would hit me, of all people?! What a disgrace...!”

How’s the weather up there on your high horse? Taichi snarked silently.

“Now, now, Inaban. You gotta let these things go! It’s all in the past! Save your anger for the real culprit behind this!”

“Nagase! Are you trying to get Aoki killed?!”

“...You make a good point. Heh heh heh... He’ll pay a heavy price for this...” Inaba licked her lips and grinned so evilly, she put the average cartoon villain to shame.

All at once, the rest of the class began to shriek in fear.

“Eeeek!”

“Someone defuse her, ASAP!”

“Relax! We’re not in any danger... I think!”

“Hurry up and do your job, bomb squad!”

Apparently the rest of the students had stopped taking this seriously.

“That’s funny... I think I heard some blatantly offensive remarks just now...” said Inaba, whipping her head around.

“Nope! Pretty sure you were just hearing things, Inaba!” Taichi jumped in, dutifully maintaining his reputation as “the bomb squad.”

Just then, the bell rang, heralding the start of sixth period homeroom, and their class advisor, Gotou Ryuuzen, hurried into the room—a marked change in demeanor compared to his usual laid-back sluggishness. “Back to your seats, everyone!”

Taichi and Nagase waved goodbye to their disgruntled clubmate and returned to their desks.

Gotou pointedly cleared his throat for some reason. “Okay, uh... Listen up, kids.”

He seemed weirdly tense. Then, as though he’d practiced an entire speech in advance, he suddenly blurted out: “As I’m sure some of you already know, our school regularly participates in a local volunteer trash cleanup event. But hardly anyone actually wants to take part in it, so we typically end up sending the athletic clubs out on rotation. However, due to extenuating circumstances, playoffs coming up, scheduling mishaps, et cetera, we’re unfortunately a little short on volunteers this time around. So, excluding the third years, who are all busy studying for college entrance exams, we’re tasked with the job of recruiting a minimum of three volunteers from a total of three first- or second-year classes.”

A palpable sense of unease filled the room—but the students of 1-C held out hope. They waited with bated breath for Gotou to continue.

“In order to determine which three classes would be asked to offer up volunteers, we held a staff-wide rock-paper-scissors tournament, which I managed to...”

He paused and looked around the room at each of them, letting the tension build until the anticipation nearly killed them.

“...lose.”

“You dumbass!”

“How could you lose?!”

“Don’t get our hopes up like that, you pile of crap!”

Sure enough, their worst fears were realized, and they promptly hailed him with a barrage of vicious insults.

“I wasn’t trying to lose, okay?! The point is, I need three students from our class to sign up for this! You guys decide who volunteers, please! Oh, and if you try any funny business, like a boycott or something, all of you will be required to participate in the next one, you got me? Fujishima, you handle things from here! Volunteers will be meeting up after school by the gates!” With that, Gotou skedaddled out of the classroom like a bat out of hell.

“S-Sensei?!” Fujishima Maiko, president of Class 1-C, looked up in alarm.

“Look at that! He ran off!”

“Do your job, you coward!”

“You call yourself a teacher?!”

But their indignant cries were in vain, for Gotou was already gone.

“Haah... Well, alright then... Does anyone want to volunteer? ...No, of course not... Okay, is anyone willing to volunteer? Raise your hand.”

With the responsibility dumped unceremoniously on her shoulders, Fujishima stood at the teacher’s lectern, resigned to the task at hand.

Unsurprisingly, not a soul raised their hand for this. There was nothing to be gained from doing it, so naturally, no one in their right mind wanted to waste their time.

“You do it.”

“I can’t! I’m busy with club stuff!”

“Dude, everybody at this school has ‘club stuff’ to deal with, okay? You aren’t special.”

“If the sports teams are stuck with it 99% of the time, I say we make the fine arts clubs deal with it just this once!”

“Why does it matter what kinda club we’re in?!”

All at once, everyone immediately tried to pass the buck off. At first, Fujishima tried to take everyone’s feedback into consideration before making the final decision, but everyone was so petty about it, she quickly threw in the towel.

“Haah... Alright then, you people can decide for yourselves. And if you can’t, we’ll settle it with a rock-paper-scissors tournament.”

The peanut gallery didn’t take well to this.

“Oh, great! Now you’re gonna pass off your work, too?”

“Don’t put yourself on a pedestal!”

“Okay, fine! I’ll go ahead and assign myself to the first slot. Now we just need two volunteers. Happy?”

“Atta girl, Fujishima!”

The class instantly applauded her. Talk about mood whiplash.

Regardless, Fujishima was a competent class president... which made the recent discovery of her more sultry (and, to Nagase, terrifying) side all the more fascinating.

Then it hit him.

If this were a more glamorous sort of volunteer activity, they might have had more luck—but as things stood, no one was going to sign themselves up for what basically amounted to extra trash duty. The buck would continue to get passed... and from there, it was likely a matter of time before the responsibility was foisted onto those who weren’t brave enough to make their case.

But if that somehow didn’t happen, and they were instead forced to decide by rock-paper-scissors, it was entirely possible the duty would fall to someone who genuinely couldn’t afford to take up the task. Sure, perhaps they’d make an exception for that person, but in doing so they were liable to start another argument.

At this rate, no matter the outcome, someone was bound to suffer as a result.

Then he realized what he’d known all along: there was precisely one solution.

It was so simple. If someone was forced to do it, then why not take up the task himself? That would solve everything. Granted, there would still be one final slot left, but at least this way he could spare someone the misery.

He exhaled, squeezed his eyes shut, and slowly raised his right hand.

“I’ll do it.”

His voice came out all funny.

Oh no.

He opened his eyes.

The lectern had moved—no, he had moved.

And that meant...

“Oh, um... [Inaba-san]... I take that to mean you’ll volunteer...?” Fujishima asked, blinking like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

At this point, Taichi was used to the body-swap and everything it entailed. After a moment of surprise, his brain promptly kicked into gear.

Man, of all the crazy timing...

He turned and looked at [Yaegashi Taichi].

“Uh... Count me in, too,” [Taichi] (probably Inaba) piped up, [his] right hand in the air, [his] left hand currently flipping the bird in [Inaba’s] direction under the desk.

When Gotou returned—to mass booing, no less—sixth period homeroom came to a close, and school officially let out for the day.

“Yaegashi I can at least kind of understand, but Inaba? No way!”

“Inaba-san’s been acting super weird today, don’t you think?”

“These days all of them are acting weird!”

Ignoring the murmurs of their classmates, [Inaba] (Taichi) stalked over to [Taichi] (Inaba) to discuss the task at hand.

“Uggghhh! Today is the worst day of my life, I swear to God!” [Taichi] (Inaba) grumbled under her breath, careful not to be overheard.

“Look, uh... Again, I’m really sorry about this, okay? If you have to be mad, save it for whoever decided to swap us right as I went to raise my hand.”

“Yeah, after what happened with Aoki, I have to believe the person behind this is intentionally fucking with us... but that doesn’t get you completely off the hook for this, got it?” [Taichi] (Inaba) snapped.

As for Taichi himself, he was mildly surprised to discover just how fearsome [he] could look if he put his mind to it.

“I’ll make it up to you, okay? Promise.”

“Hmph! Trust me, I’m gonna get even, alright.”

Apparently she cared more about getting revenge than righting a wrong. Not very chill of her.

“C’mon now, [Taichi], quit mean-muggin’ your friend here! You’re gonna draw suspicion if you keep acting out of character. Now let’s see that smile!” Nagase pinched each of [Taichi’s] cheeks and pulled [his] lips into a forced smile. “Wait, what? That’s kinda creepy... Oh, I get it. Smiling isn’t in Taichi’s character, either...”

“Then knock it off. You’re wasting everyone’s time.”

Admittedly, it was kind of hard to watch someone mess with [his own face]...

“Enough shenanigans. Fujishima’s glaring at us,” [Taichi] (Inaba) pointed out through stretched lips.

[Inaba] (Taichi) whirled around, and sure enough, Fujishima was staring at them, her arms folded across her chest. Ordinarily she was a sweet girl, but with that look on her face... she was terrifying.

At Fujishima’s behest, Taichi and Inaba left the classroom.

“Have fun picking up all that trash! Buh-bye!” Nagase called to them, before promptly dashing off to the Rec Hall.

With their bookbags stored safely back in the classroom, they headed for the school gates—Fujishima in front, and the other two trailing behind.

A moment later, [Taichi] (Inaba) lightly elbowed [Inaba] (Taichi).

“So tell me. Is Fujishima always this bitchy toward you?”

“Yeah... Ever since that day me and Nagase first switched bodies.”

“Guess I can’t blame her, since [you] technically felt her up and all... Plus, I get the sense she plays for the other team, so maybe she has a crush on Iori. I mean, she walked in on a cute, innocent girl fondling her chest in private... So yeah, maybe she sees you as competition. Oh man, that’s kind of hilarious, actually...”

“No, it really isn’t!”

Ahead of them, Fujishima turned on her heel sharply.

“Can I borrow you for a moment, [Yaegashi-kun]?”

“Sure, wh—” [Inaba] (Taichi) responded reflexively.

“Need me for something?” [Taichi] (Inaba) cut in loudly, elbowing [Inaba] (Taichi) sharply in the ribs. [He] strode over to Fujishima, then turned and mouthed “Moron!” in [Inaba’s] direction.

That was dangerously close... It was proving hard not to respond on instinct whenever someone called his name... And Inaba was a lifesaver for stepping in like that. As far as he was concerned, she had more than earned the right to nag the rest of them.

“Something’s been on my mind lately, so I’m just going to cut right to the point. What’s going on between you and Nagase-san?”

“Wha...?!” [Inaba] (Taichi) yelped in surprise.

The question was ridiculously blunt, especially with a third party present. Fujishima Maiko was not to be underestimated.

“You two were all over each other today... and you stole her from me the other day as well...”

“Not sure what you expect me to say,” [Taichi] (Inaba) hesitated. [He] glanced back over [his] shoulder—then [his] eyes lit up with a sudden idea. “Definitely something heterosexual, though!”

Oh my god.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?”

Welp, so much for that.

Fujishima had seen right through her.

“Wh... What makes you think I’m lying?” [Taichi] (Inaba) stammered, clearly caught off-guard.

“Please. Who do you think I am? With my expertise, I can tell at a glance whether a girl’s been tainted by a man’s touch,” Fujishima replied, calmly adjusting her glasses. Her omniscience was palpable—though whether this was ultimately a good or bad thing, Taichi couldn’t say for sure.

“Wow... Guess you leave me no choice. I’ll have to be completely honest with you,” [Taichi] (Inaba) growled hotly.

Meanwhile, the real Taichi was desperate to quash this situation before it got out of hand—but there were no brakes on this train. Besides, even if he were to cut in and deny it, as far as Fujishima was concerned, surely [Taichi’s] word would trump anything [Inaba] had to say about it...

“Okay, well, we’re... within arm’s reach of something heterosexual, at least!”

“Within arm’s reach, you say...? Pretty close, then, I take it... This might be more critical than I realized...”

“Sorry, but I’m gonna need you to back off and leave Iori alone, got it?!”

“Right back at you, I’m afraid. I refuse to hand Iori off to some manhandler like y—”

Sensing that the conversation was about to take a dangerous turn, [Inaba] (Taichi) hastily wedged [herself] in between the two of them. “Okay, stop right there! Seriously, that’s enough!”

[Taichi] (Inaba) clucked [his] tongue, and Fujishima scoffed. Meanwhile, [Inaba] (Taichi) sighed heavily.

Once the “volunteers” (victims) had gathered by the gates, the teacher in charge gave a brief rundown of the event, which basically amounted to just “Go pick up a reasonable amount of litter from somewhere in the vicinity of the campus, and if we catch you trying to filch random junk from people’s garbage cans to pad out your haul, rest assured you won’t like the consequences.” Each student was allotted a trash bag and a pair of work gloves (as well as trash tongs, for some), then sent off on their way.

As Fujishima had gone off to be with a friend from another class, Taichi and Inaba ended up wandering off campus without her. Underneath a cloudless blue sky, they milled around the ridiculously large public park just a few blocks from the school.

“Haah. Great. Me and you, stuck on a garbage date,” [Taichi] (Inaba) muttered, idly clacking her trash tongs.

To be fair, it was the perfect weather for a stroll around town. Excluding the litter cleanup element—not that they really could as much as they wanted to—it did kind of feel like a date, more or less.

“Oh well, not much choice n—”

In one moment, Taichi’s vision went dark, and the next instant, his perspective had changed.

Finally, they were back to normal.

“...Oh, sure, NOW we switch back! Man, this is the pits. Alright, Taichi, give me my bag back,” Inaba grumbled bitterly, snatching the bag from his hands.

“Aw, c’mon. Lighten up.”

“YOU lighten up! Thanks to you people, my perfect reputation is in shambles. Six months of work, destroyed in just a few short hours! Lying, cheating, stealing bastards!”

“Oh, wow! That last part just now totally reminded me of pro wrestler Eddie Guerrero’s famous catchphrase!”

“Keep your obscure references to yourself, dipshit.”

Well, maybe this “dipshit” just felt like saying it! Is that so wrong?!

“Okay, think of it this way: by falling asleep in class, you’ve proven you’re not infallible! Now people can relate to you! I’ll bet your reputation has totally skyrocketed, actually.”

“Who gives a shit about that? The way I see it, I’ve just given my enemies more ammo to use against me. God, I’m pissed.”

“Enemies? Who do you mean?”

“Anyone who isn’t me, pretty much.” Inaba smirked. “Ooh, now here’s a real catch!” Using her trash tongs, she hauled up a limp, rain-soaked magazine and stuffed it into her garbage bag.

“Your definition of ‘enemies’ is a little alarming... Wait, why are we talking about this?! Explain to me what happened with you and Fujishima back there! How could you tell her that?! I’m not trying to pick fights with anyone in our class, damn it!” Taichi snapped.

But Inaba simply scoffed.

“Excuse me? You should be thanking me! I made your intentions known, and now all you have to do is whisk Iori away from Fujishima’s evil clutches.”

“And why would I do that?”

“What? Don’t play dumb with me. This is the perfect opportunity for you, isn’t it?”

Inaba paused and shot Taichi a meaningful look—a mix of understanding, pity, kindness, anger, frustration, and, if he wasn’t misreading her, a fair bit of envy, too.

“You goddamn martyr.”

“...Martyr? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Whatever she thought she was implying, he genuinely couldn’t see it... and yet there was a tightness in his chest he couldn’t quite explain.

“Exactly what it sounds like. It’s the perfect way to describe you, wouldn’t you say?” Inaba declared, shooting him a sidelong glance.

“Perfect how?”

“Okay, let me ask you this: Why the hell did you volunteer yourself for this bullshit in the first place?”

“...Well, nobody wanted to do it, but someone was gonna have to, so I figured I’d handle it myself so no one would have to suffer—”

“Except you, though, right? I know you weren’t excited to do this shit. So now you’re suffering... but it doesn’t count when it’s you, is that it?”

“Well...” Taichi struggled to answer. Surely he had some kind of response to this... but he couldn’t seem to find it. It was buried somewhere, lost in the haze of his mind.

“And there you have it. You’re a goddamn martyr. Why is it that you don’t see yourself the same way you see everyone else? Why are you somehow the exception? I’m not saying you think you’re better than us. Quite the opposite, actually. You think you’re worse, which is why you’re totally cool with sacrificing yourself for the sake of someone else. I can’t begin to understand how someone could undervalue themselves like that. Frankly, it’s disgusting.”

This was far more caustic than her usual vitriol, and it stung.

Then, out of nowhere, she changed the subject.

“So why do you like pro wrestling so much?”

For a moment, he was caught off-guard—but when it came to discussing his favorite hobby, his mouth started to move of its own accord.

“...Well, let’s see. Fans of the genre call it ‘kayfabe,’ but I guess ‘suspension of disbelief’ is the more common term. See, pro wrestling is completely scripted, so you’re not actually fighting your opponent. Instead, you compete by putting on a show for the audience. It’s not a matter of having the strongest or coolest moves—the crucial part is how your opponent ‘sells’ those moves. Your opponent’s acting skills can affect the success of a given technique, or heck, even the whole show! You literally can’t have a pro wrestling match without it. What I like best are the jobbers—the wrestlers who basically exist to get their butts kicked. I’d say my favorite—”

“Shut the fuck up, you goddamn fanboy,” Inaba sneered disdainfully.

“Wha... You’re the one who asked!”

“I never asked for your entire thesis, you fucking fanboy!”

“C-Can you please quit calling me that?”

“Anyway! The point I’m trying to make is, maybe the jobber thing is actually a reflection of your obsession with self-sacrifice.”

“No, you’re not getting it, Inaba. The point of a jobber is—”

“I don’t mean in general. I’m talking about you personally here.”

“You’re still wrong, though...” And yet, somehow he couldn’t say it with 100% confidence. Was Inaba just that intimidating, or did part of him agree with her, somewhere deep down?

“I’m wrong, am I?” She sighed. Maybe she felt better now after getting it all off her chest. She lowered her gaze to the ground, hauled up an empty snack box between her tongs, and stuffed it into her garbage bag.

By this point Inaba had built up a sizeable collection of trash, but Taichi had yet to pick up a single item.

“So, back to the topic at hand. You have feelings for Iori, right?”

“Bwuh?!” Taichi choked.

“Man, you’ve really started to wear your emotions on your sleeve lately. You used to be the silent type, too!” Inaba chuckled to herself. Evidently she was pleased to see she’d gotten a rise out of him.

“I mean, what did you expect?! How is that even tangentially related to ‘the topic at hand’?! We can’t go ‘back’ to a topic we never visited in the first place!”

“What are you talking about? I told you earlier, you need to swoop in and take Iori for yourself before Fujishima beats you to the punch.”

“And I ‘need’ to do this why, exactly? I don’t see the point in competing for her! ...I mean, why should I ‘take her for myself’ in the first place?”

“Don’t you get it? Out of everyone in the CRC, Iori’s the most fragile. I’ve never seen someone as unstable as her in all my life.”

A memory flashed through his mind—the time he and Nagase spent together while she was switched into [Aoki’s body]. She’d expressed so many different emotions during that short timeframe—but was it just her colorful personality, or was she actually as “unstable” as Inaba claimed?

“And you’re a sucker for the fragile type, right? You tell yourself you gotta be her big, protective shield. Otherwise she might break, y’know? So she’s the perfect match for a goddamn martyr like you.”

“...Stop acting like you’ve got me all figured out, okay? I’ve never once thought that way.”

While Inaba was admittedly rather sharp, he wasn’t about to let her act like she knew him better than he knew himself.

“Suuure you haven’t,” Inaba muttered to herself, swinging her trash tongs in the air. “God, you’re so frustrating. Apparently you’re not even conscious of it... Oh, and while I’m at it, you should know... Iori has feelings for you, too.”

“I really doubt that,” Taichi shot back dryly.

“Tch... What kind of weaksauce reaction was that? You were supposed to go ‘BWUH-HUH?!?!’ or something!”

Apparently Inaba had her own ideas about how this conversation was meant to play out.

“I can react how I want, okay? Besides, I know you’re just talking out of your ass again.”

“Rude much? Trust me, I wouldn’t say this shit unless I had proof. Iori... She needs someone to be her rock. Someone who’ll be there for her and tell her she’s valid no matter what. And I know you’re dying to be that guy, Taichi, you little worm. You’re both damaged goods, but you each have what the other’s missing. Sounds like a match made in heaven, if you ask me.”

Harsh.

“Okay, now you’re crossing the line—”

“Besides, you two really come alive when you’re together,” she added, looking away.

“We do...?”

After that entire snarky tirade, her sudden sincerity was a little disorienting.

“Either way, it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s between you and her, so you can handle it however you feel is best. Not my problem... Sorry for being a nag,” she mumbled sheepishly before speeding off. It was unusual of her to apologize, but at least she had a degree of self-awareness.

She was normally so forthright with her opinions—often to the point of scathing sarcasm—but as far as Taichi could recall, she’d never gotten quite this personal with anyone before. Was this another effect of the body-swap phenomenon?

“Still...” Inaba muttered. She normally carried herself so confidently, and yet her expression seemed uncharacteristically anxious—mismatched like an art-class cut-and-paste collage. “I really do think Iori’s the most at risk out of all of us.”

“What do you mean, ‘at risk’?”

“Don’t get me wrong. This body-swap nonsense has the potential to destroy any one of us,” Inaba explained quietly. “But the most likely victim is Iori. She’s the one who stands to lose the most.”

“I don’t know... Sure, this body-swapping business definitely has its downsides at times, but destroy us? Bit of an exaggeration there, don’t you think? I mean, okay, we have no way of predicting how things will turn out, but is it really something we should be stressing out about? We’ve only ever run into, like, minor complications at worst. The longest swap lasted a little under two hours at most, and the majority of them are way shorter than that! And that’s kinda all there is to it, really, when you think about it! We’re doing fine!” Taichi said easily.

But Inaba didn’t take kindly to this. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“How fucking braindead are you?!” she spat viciously—then stopped short and stared at the ground for a moment, trembling with rage. “Do you seriously believe that shit...?! How can you be so lax at a time like this?! I swear, you’re the biggest fucking dolt in the club. Maybe all the pain from being a martyr has made you numb or something. This situation we’re in? It’s extremely fucking precarious. This is a crisis, Taichi. It’s hopeless. We can’t predict when someone might get hurt, and things could fall apart at any time. Don’t you GET that?! Nothing about this is ‘fine’!”

Inaba looked up, her eyes wide and full of venom. She was always a bit of a grump in general, but she was never one to act rashly. No matter how angry she got, she made sure to keep a handle on it.

But right now, she was so livid, her emotions were completely out of control.

Not that Taichi could blame her. Here she was, trying to warn someone about the present dangers they faced, only for that very someone to turn around and shrug it off like it was nothing. Who wouldn’t lose their temper after that?

He’d always thought of the body-swap as at least somewhat risky—there were plenty of instances in which that proved painfully true—and yet at some point he must’ve convinced himself there was a way for them to insulate themselves from the damage.

“...Inaba, I’m really sorry,” Taichi blurted out.

She smiled awkwardly. “Nah, it’s fine... I probably said a lot of things I shouldn’t have. Today’s simply put me in a bad mood, that’s all... I’m sorry too.” She pursed her lips together and looked up at him—a look of trepidation that he had never seen from her before, a somber look magnified by her long lashes. “Will you forgive me?” she asked in a tiny, feeble voice.

For once, she really did look the part of a delicate flower.

As Taichi struggled to process what he was seeing, he somehow forced his mouth to move. “...What’s there to forgive? As far as I remember, all you did was state the truth... Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

At this, she smiled in relief—a rare unguarded moment that made his heart flutter.

“A-Anyway, let’s get going! Gotta get this crap over with!” Taichi blurted out, too embarrassed to look her in the eye. But after just a few steps—

“Man, you really are as dumb as a sack of hammers, aren’t you?” Inaba muttered behind him. “Your trash bag got blown away in the wind a while back and you never even noticed.”

“......What?”

Taichi looked down at his gloved hands. The garbage bag he should have been holding was now noticeably absent.

“...Did you happen to notice when it happened?”

She grinned from ear to ear. “It happened when I asked about your feelings for Iori. The exact moment you went ‘BWUH,’ as I recall.”

“That was forever ago! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Because I thought it’d be funny, that’s why.”

Just like that, Inaba was back to her usual twisted, sadistic self.