Chapter 4: A Fork in the Road

Chapter 4: A Fork in the Road

Over the next three days following their success with Ishikawa and Nakayama, Taichi and Kiriyama continued to make Dreams come true. Sometimes they helped two friends patch things up after a fallout, sometimes they played Cupid for mutual crushes, and at one point they even taught someone about stain removal (not completely out of the blue, of course; they had to lead up to it).

When it came to interpersonal issues, they never made direct suggestions—just helped to create opportunities for the affected people to take action. Furthermore, if they determined that a particular crush was purely one-sided, then they did not intervene.

The more they adapted to the Dream Vision, the more Visions they saw per day. Over the course of those three days, Taichi and Kiriyama successfully handled three interpersonal conflicts and four miscellaneous desires.

They couldn’t risk anyone catching on—least of all the rest of the CRC—so they took pains to fly under the radar. So far, so good. Sure, they were using superpowers to learn about these problems, but their solutions were all too mundane. Surely no one would figure it out.

All in all, Taichi was proud of all the happiness they’d inspired in just a few short days.

Friday evening, after club activities, Taichi and Inaba were on a cafe date for the first time in ten days.

“You haven’t been messing around, have you?” she asked suddenly.

“...What do you mean?”

Had she already caught on? How? They’d barely done anything noteworthy!

“I know what you’re like, and I can’t help but worry you might do some goddamn martyr shit.”

Evidently, she wasn’t suspecting him of anything in specific.

“Don’t worry,” he lied vaguely. Obviously it wasn’t nice to deceive her, but it was better than fighting with her and causing her unnecessary emotional distress.

In her view, acting on a Vision would create events that were never meant to happen... but as long as the content was something he could have otherwise discovered for himself, Taichi didn’t really see the need to worry.

“Not only that, but you spent all last week going on and on about maybe using the Dream Vision, and now it feels like you’ve stopped talking about it completely. Then again, maybe that’s because I told everyone to stop talking about it...” Her eyes narrowed sharply.

“W-Well... I said my piece, and that’s all I can really do,” Taichi replied.

It felt like he was reliving the Age Regression, wherein «The Second» had forced him to lie to everyone else. Naturally, he failed miserably. But this time was different; instead of sitting on the fence, he was taking action. He was making the choices he felt were right.

“Either way, if something happens, I’ll be sure to tell you. What about you, Inaba? Are you doing okay?”

“I’m... Yeah, I’m fine... Th-Thanks.”

Truth be told, he really loved catching her off-guard and making her blush.

□■□■□

Over the weekend, Taichi saw countless Visions—far more than he was used to. So many, in fact, that he started keeping a journal of the details (minus any identifying information, of course). From there, he and Kiriyama spent Monday and Tuesday making those Dreams come true. Making people happy.

“Man, we’ve really been busy. And it’s all worked out perfectly,” Taichi mused to Kiriyama, feeling proud of their efforts. They genuinely hadn’t taken any risks thus far; if something smelled even slightly dicey, they simply chose not to get involved.

“Like, I admit sometimes I’m kinda surprised to learn some of this stuff, but other than that, there really haven’t been any problems! It almost doesn’t feel like one of «Heartseed»’s phenomena at all, you know?” Kiriyama replied.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down.”

“I know that. Looking at how it’s gone in the past, this is right about when something bad usually happens.”

Once their morning meeting was over, the two of them headed back to Classroom 2-B—separately, of course. When he arrived, Taichi greeted a good friend of his—

[There’s a tall guy with spiky, wolfish hair. It’s Watase Shingo. He’s wearing a jersey and playing soccer. The camera zooms in on his cleats. Smash cut to the inside of a sporting goods store. Watase takes the soccer cleats to the register and hands them to the cashier.]

“Uh, hello? Earth to Taichi?”

Distracted by the Vision, he’d accidentally created a lull in the conversation. Though they no longer made him feel dizzy or nauseated, he still couldn’t help but stop whatever he was doing to watch. After all, these Visions obstructed his view of the real world for their entire duration.

“...Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Apparently Watase wanted some new soccer cleats. Come to think of it, he’d mentioned that there was a big game coming up... Nothing Taichi could help with, other than wishing Watase’s wallet good luck. Just then, someone grabbed him by the shoulder from behind.

“Huh?”

He turned to find Kiriyama standing there... on the verge of tears.

“Taichi... Help me... I just saw something really important!”

Instantly, he knew this was serious.

“I just had a Vision about Aoki’s dad’s scandal!”

After second period ended, Taichi and Kiriyama spent their break time on the third floor, where all the third-year classrooms were located. It was nerve-wracking, infiltrating the older students’ ranks.

Meanwhile, Taichi couldn’t help but think back over the conversation he’d had with Kiriyama on their way here:

“I had a Vision about a girl... and then Aoki’s dad was there! It was all really vague, but I definitely heard the word ‘groping,’ and something about ‘being fired.’ And the cops were there! And part of it took place on a train!”

“Right... Yeah, if it involved a girl on a train, then it definitely sounds related.”

He’d never considered the possibility that the girl from the scandal was in fact a fellow Yamaboshi student, but if the scandal happened within the district, then it was entirely feasible.

“It’s weird, though...”

“How so?”

“This was the first Vision where I could actually hear some of it clearly... and she was screaming ‘No! You’re wrong! This is all my fault!’ ”

“Yeah, a lot of the time their voices are too fuzzy to parse. So I guess this girl feels responsible for what happened... Wait, what? That’s weird. If he groped her, then why...?” Dream Visions were only supposed to show that which the affected person yearned for. They were by no means a depiction of past events. Which meant... “She believes she’s in the wrong, and wants to deny that any molestation happened...?”

“What? Why? ”

“And if Aoki’s dad was specifically involved... There’s no way this is some rando’s Dream, right?”

“Right. Either this girl was the victim, or she was a witness.”

Taichi was inclined to agree. “So why is she obsessing over this past event? Does she wish it never happened or something?”

“So then why say it was ‘all her fault’?”

From there, they decided to initiate contact with this girl, hence their trip to the third floor.

Initially, they didn’t know her name, but Kiriyama knew what she looked like, so they asked around until they found someone who recognized her description (to a downright unhealthy degree, in fact—yikes). Ultimately, they were going to find her sooner or later, seeing as Dream Visions were limited only to those affiliated with Yamaboshi, but this saved them some precious time.

Walking down the corridor, they peered into each classroom, one by one. Naturally, given that this was a free period, a lot of students had wandered elsewhere... but soon enough Kiriyama found her quarry.

“That’s her.”

She pointed over at a tall girl with shoulder-length hair. Her dark eyeshadow gave off a fierce impression, but upon further scrutiny, it was clear even from a distance that she was miserable. Her eyes had lost all sparkle.

“Look at her! That’s totally her.”

“Should we talk to her?”

“I’d like to, but... I mean, we don’t even know her.”

And so it was that they decided to return to the classroom and brainstorm a plan later.

“You two sure are spending a lot of time together these days,” Nagase commented as they walked through the door. Her tone was perfectly casual—not too heavy, not too light—floating in the gray area between joking and serious. Then again, perhaps she had chosen an ambiguous tone on purpose.

“Huh?”

“Uhh, well...”

Neither of them had a good response to this.

“Plus, you’re both always disappearing during break time...”

“L-Look, we’re just... you know... talking!”

“Talking? About what?”

“W-Well...!” Losing steam, Kiriyama looked to Taichi for assistance.

“Oh, uh... just the usual stuff! Like Aoki, or... dating advice?” He fumbled, searching for a believable excuse.

“Ah, now I get it. Yeah, that stuff’s not exactly in my wheelhouse, I guess,” Nagase nodded.

But although they’d dodged that particular bullet, she still looked unconvinced.

All through class, Taichi continued to ruminate on the third-year girl possibly involved with Aoki’s father’s scandal. They could try to ask her for her side of the story, but... what if she was the victim? He wouldn’t want to force her to relive any potentially traumatic memories. But then again, based on the way Kiriyama described the Vision, it sounded like there was more to the story...

Meanwhile, the teacher started erasing the blackboard. Realizing he hadn’t finished copying everything down, Taichi started taking notes like mad—

[There’s a girl. It’s the third-year girl Kiriyama pointed out. She’s crying. She bows profusely. Standing before her is an older man. It’s Aoki’s father. “I was mad at you. That’s why I lied,” the girl says. “But then the cops showed up, and everything snowballed out of control... I won’t ask you to forgive me. I just wanted to explain myself.” The girl prostrates herself on the floor.]

Taichi squeezed his eyes shut.

But by the time he opened them again, the blackboard was already blank.

□■□■□

With a second Vision now corroborating the first, there was only one conclusion to be drawn:

“I’m starting to think Aoki’s dad was falsely accused,” Kiriyama told Taichi.

He nodded. “Probably, but we can’t be sure. A lot of this is still just guesswork.”

At lunch, the two of them left the classroom separately, then met up in a remote corner of the school building to talk. Fortunately, Nagase was (hopefully) too busy goofing off with Nakayama to notice. Now all they needed to do was make sure to return at separate times as well... but for now, back to the problem at hand.

The information they’d gained through these two Visions was heavier than anything else they’d witnessed thus far. Acting upon it would irrevocably change the lives of everyone involved.

“According to Aoki, his dad’s still under suspicion, which means only three people know the truth: you, me, and her.”

“It’s insane that we just happened to see these Visions. It almost feels like fate—”

“I imagine you saw them... because the incident was on your mind...”

A chill ran up his spine. He whirled around. “«Heartseed»!”

Sure enough, there stood the lifeless form of Gotou Ryuuzen, piloted by «Heartseed». Taichi never would’ve imagined it would approach them so early into the proceedings—and in broad daylight, no less.

“I never feel you approaching... How do you do that?” Kiriyama asked, her arms raised in a fighting stance, both hands clenched into fists.

“What are you talking about, Kiriyama-san...? I just walked here...”

“Well, what do you want?” asked Taichi.

“Oh... well... Oh, right... I sort of came here to tell you... that you only saw those Visions... one, because Kiriyama-san wanted to... and two, because Yaegashi-san spent a lot of time thinking about it.”

It can read our minds?

“That said... you won’t always see what you want to see, of course...”

“Okay then, what’s the real reason you’re here? I know you didn’t come here just to tell us that.”

“Uhh... Yes, I did...”

“...What?” Kiriyama was so baffled, she forgot to be hostile.

“Anyway... it’s not a guarantee, but... it does help to want to see the Vision... and based on what you’re trying to accomplish... I imagine that information is useful to you, yes...?”

It gazed at them. Was it having fun, watching them?

“Are you manipulating us? Were you expecting us to do this, right from the start?”

“Well... I was certainly hoping you might... take it in that direction... though it doesn’t really matter either way...”

This response was so vague and noncommittal, Taichi wasn’t really sure how to respond.

“But since you’ve committed to this... I figured I would help you... This is your bonus stage, after all...”

“If you wanted to help us, you could just turn it off completely.”

“But if I turn it off now, you’ll lose your chance to help Aoki-san... and you’re so very close... Is that really what you want, Kiriyama-san...?”

Kiriyama inhaled sharply, then bit her lip and stared at the floor. What did «Heartseed» mean by that? Was it trying to suggest that their hypothesis about the scandal was indeed correct? Or was it just trying to get under their skin?

“Anyway... I’ll only be watching from here on, so... have fun... Oh, and... try not to let anyone else find out about your power... I’d hate for this to get complicated...”

With that, «Heartseed» turned and shuffled into the broom closet. And when Gotou Ryuuzen stepped back out, he was himself once again.

□■□■□

Gym class was the sole class that 2-B and 2-D shared, meaning the original five CRC members were briefly reunited. Personally, Taichi always found it kind of funny how they kept diligently going to class, even when they were afflicted with a supernatural curse.

Today the boys played basketball while the girls played volleyball. And when the boys were asked to pair up for dribble and pass practice, Taichi chose Aoki, since he looked like he could use a friend.

“Pass... Ack! Whoa!” Aoki’s dribble hit his own foot instead, causing him to inadvertently kick the ball. “Whoops... Sorry about that.”

“You okay, buddy? You seem kinda sleep deprived.”

“Mmm, well... I was up pretty late last night... er, well, this morning , really... having a family meeting. My sister yelled at me to go to bed, but obviously I wasn’t gonna do that, so yeah.”

This crisis didn’t affect just Aoki. It affected his entire family—or maybe even worse.

“It sure costs a lot of money to raise a kid into adulthood, apparently,” he laughed.

Somehow money problems always felt the most viscerally painful to hear about.

“In the end, the talk went off the rails, and my folks started talking about divorce... not that I think they’ll actually go through with it, mind you. They always say stuff they don’t mean... But this isn’t about that! Man, you always get me to spill my guts, don’t you?”

Aoki passed the ball at him roughly. Taichi caught it, hoping against hope that maybe this was helping Aoki let off some steam. It just wasn’t healthy to keep it all bottled inside.

That said, it was unusual for Aoki to let himself be so openly vulnerable. Normally he would always fervently adhere to his role as comic relief, almost like it was his sworn duty. But evidently this real-world problem wasn’t something he could shrug off as easily as an otherworldly phenomenon.

Just then, Taichi sensed someone looking in their direction. He glanced over to find Kiriyama shooting Aoki a fretful look.

But Aoki didn’t notice.

After school, before heading to the clubroom, Taichi and Kiriyama met up by themselves.

“Do you think... if we could prove Aoki’s dad was innocent... then he wouldn’t have to lose his job?” Kiriyama asked in a pained voice.

“I imagine it’s entirely possible... assuming our hypothesis is actually correct, of course.”

“So if we tell the police it was really that girl’s fault... No, if we tell her to confess the truth... would that solve it, you think?”

“But if we prove it’s a false accusation... wouldn’t we also be proving that she committed a crime...?”

After all, it would mean that she intentionally lied to the police. Still, based on how badly she seemed to want to apologize, she clearly felt remorse for her actions.

“Yeah... I guess what she did is a crime, huh?”

And they would essentially be turning her in. This was way beyond the scope of all the innocent, harmless Visions they’d assisted with so far. Was it safe to take action in regards to something so important? Was it the right call?

Anyone who committed a crime deserved to be punished. Surely most people could agree with that. But could they really pull the trigger themselves? Was that a decision they were capable of making? Taichi couldn’t help but hesitate. They weren’t gods , after all.

Of course, if he’d discovered this information through normal means, he would’ve acted on it without hesitation. But they weren’t using normal means—they were using superpowers. They were acting outside of nature’s laws.

“Does this mean someone’s going to end up in jail either way? What do we do?”

Unfortunately, Taichi didn’t have a response for her.

Unable to come to a consensus, the two of them trudged to the clubroom. When they arrived, they found four other club members waiting for them; only Aoki was absent.

“How come Aoki’s not here?” Kiriyama asked Inaba, since she and Aoki were in the same class.

“Some kind of family thing,” Inaba replied.

Instantly, Kiriyama’s face fell.

Club activities proceeded as usual, with each member occupying themselves as they saw fit... but with the phenomenon hanging over their heads, the room was oppressively quiet.

These days, hardly anyone ever talked about the Dream Vision. Inaba would ask the room if anyone had noticed anything strange, the answer was no, and that was that. If anyone tried to continue the conversation from there, she would tell them to “shut up” or “stop talking about it.”

Hence, Taichi and Kiriyama had planned to get in contact with Nagase after club activities had ended.

“Well, I’ve got an errand to run before I head home,” Taichi announced as he got to his feet.

“What kind of errand?” Inaba asked.

“It’s... something I need to take care of on my own...”

“That doesn’t answer my... Never mind. Forget it.” For some reason, Inaba decided against pressing further. Instead, she changed the subject. “You know, it feels like we haven’t had much time to ourselves lately. I guess you’re probably busy with... career planning and all that...”

“Yeah...”

It was hard to hold a conversation with Inaba when he was going against her orders—no, her wishes?—behind her back. Not that he was obligated to obey her. He was his own person, and he was allowed to form his own opinions.

Just then, Enjouji gasped audibly. “A solitary errand... Career planning... That’s it! This is foreshadowing for later, when we find out Taichi-senpai went to sit in at a voice acting academy!”

“No, it isn’t. None of this is foreshadowing. Keep your headcanons out of my reality,” Chihiro retorted.

Fortunately, the first-years’ bickering helped to shatter the awkward tension between Taichi and Inaba.

At the park near the school, Taichi waited for Kiriyama to turn up with Nagase. The plan was for Kiriyama to tell her she “needed to talk about something,” then bring her here.

As soon as they showed up, Nagase took one look at Taichi and said, “Aha . I knew it.”

“Sorry to drag you out here,” Taichi apologized. “We couldn’t really do this on school grounds, and we couldn’t do it in the clubroom since Inaba’s there, so...” He handed a can of soda to each of the girls.

For a moment they debated sitting on a bench, but the closest one was dirty, so they decided to stay standing.

“Nagase, what’s your take on the ‘acting on our Visions’ debate?” Taichi asked, cutting straight to the point. “You were the moderator last time we talked about it, so we didn’t get to hear your thoughts.”

Taichi and Kiriyama had posited that it was safe to use their power, so long as they were careful. But Inaba and Aoki were firmly against it, no matter the circumstance. In other words, they were split evenly down the middle. Not that they’d put it up to a vote or anything, but still, they wanted to know where Nagase really stood.

“Hmmm,” Nagase murmured thoughtfully. She turned and walked a few steps away.

It had been a sweltering day, and the setting sun had done painfully little to remedy the heat. Taichi squinted as Nagase walked against the sun, toying with her soda can.

“Is it right to make use of any power you’ve been given? Or is it wrong to utilize an unfair advantage?” she asked herself quietly. Then she turned back to face them. “Personally, that’s just not a decision I can make. Not yet.” She shrugged her shoulders, smiling softly, her long hair swaying with the movement. “Sorry, guys! I know you were probably hoping I’d say I was on your side.”

“No, no, that’s okay! I mean... sure, we’d love it if you sided with us, but...”

“At the very least, until I’m able to decide, I have to default to not using it. I mean, we all know how risky these things can be,” Nagase explained. Somehow it felt like she was the only person with a completely objective stance. “Then again, you could argue that I’m being indecisive, or I’m trying to get out of having to commit one way or the other, and you wouldn’t be wrong.”

“Nah... I don’t think it’s that,” Taichi muttered.

She’d confronted the issue and made her own decision about how to handle it. He could tell.

“Anyway,” Nagase continued firmly, “if you’re going to use this power, you’d better be thoroughly prepared for the consequences. That’s all I’m saying.”

After Nagase had gone her separate way home, the two of them headed to the train station. Kiriyama seemed to be lost in thought, so Taichi decided to do some contemplating of his own, this time taking Nagase’s opinion into consideration.

At the end of the day, there was a line they refused to cross. They’d had this conversation before; they needed to maintain firm boundaries, or else they’d play right into «Heartseed»’s hands. No sense in needlessly spreading the phenomenon into other people’s lives without good reason.

But that wasn’t a good enough reason to simply not solve these otherwise solvable real-world problems. Not when people were suffering right in front of them, and they had the power to fix it.

“I’m not going to stop,” Kiriyama declared suddenly, her voice brimming with determination. “This is about justice. And I’m not going to compromise on my beliefs.”

Justice —a word far too heavy for a mere high schooler to be throwing around.

“We have to protect them. We have to help them. Otherwise, if we ignore it... we’re no different from monsters.”

Lately, Taichi had come to appreciate just how kind, straightforward, and virtuous she was. He hoped she would never lose that sparkle.

“Yeah... I agree,” he responded, almost unconsciously. And the moment he said it aloud, he knew that it was the right response. They were both right, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

He wasn’t just going along with Kiriyama. This was a decision he made of his own will. Not only that, it felt as though every other decision over the course of his lifetime had intentionally led up to this moment. He was choosing the right path.

“It’s up to us to do the right thing. I don’t know what «Heartseed»’s plotting, but as long as we’re careful, we won’t cause any huge issues.”

They had overcome its phenomena countless times now; surely they would recognize any danger it threw at them. They couldn’t let fear hold them back. Otherwise they’d never be able to make a stand.

“We’ll solve whatever problems we can. And if it gets too risky, we back out. No hesitation.”

Kiriyama nodded. “We can’t really tell the others about this, can we? I mean, it’s our choice—we can’t go dragging them into it. So I guess it’ll be our little secret.” Frowning, she gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Kinda weird, huh? Like, we’re spending all this time together and we’re not even dating. And on top of that, we’re going against Inaba and Aoki , of all people. Behind their backs.”

Inaba’s voice revived in his mind: Do nothing . But Taichi pushed it away. If he was going to stand on equal footing with her, then he needed to be his own person. He needed to do this for his own sake.

“Just because she’s my girlfriend doesn’t mean I have to agree with her on everything... and besides, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” He wasn’t being selfish—he was protecting her.

“Right... Alright then, let’s do it!” Kiriyama thrust her fist into the air. “All this time, I’ve just sat around and let Aoki help me... but now it’s time for me to return the favor.”

But Taichi could feel a tiny trace of fragility in that statement—almost as though her convictions were built upon the unreliable foundation of personal emotions. Then he thought better of it. Of course they were emotionally motivated.

Thus, he ultimately chose not to point it out.

□■□■□

And so their plans went into motion the very next day. After all, they had no way of knowing how far the criminal investigation and/or company layoff had progressed. Still, even if it turned out they were paranoid over nothing, it couldn’t hurt to take action sooner rather than later.

At this point, they decided their best option was to simply approach the girl directly, no roundabout tactics. Their mission began at lunchtime—specifically, right as it was ending.

“Are you sure about this, Taichi? What if we’re wrong about her? Then we’ll be the false accusers!” Kiriyama whispered, shaking like a leaf.

“If we’re wrong, we apologize. That’s all there is to it,” Taichi replied firmly.

He understood why she was nervous, of course—she had to handle part one of their plan entirely on her own.

“Sorry to bother you, senpai... I’m Kiriyama Yui, from Class 2-B... Could you come with me? I want to talk to you about something... Sorry to bother you, senpai...” Kiriyama muttered under her breath, rehearsing her lines.

“You can do this,” Taichi told her.

From there, he headed out to their meetup location in advance. Restless, he waited for them to arrive. Every passing second felt like a lifetime. Three minutes went by. Then five. Then seven. Then—at last, Kiriyama turned up with their quarry in tow. Evidently their decision to have just one person approach her had proved fruitful. Stage one complete .

From here on, Taichi would be joining the fray.

“What’s all this about? Why’d you bring me all the way out here?” the girl demanded. Then Taichi stepped out from behind the storage shed. “Whoa! Wh... What the hell is this?!” Frightened, she took a step backwards like she was preparing to bolt.

“W-Wait!” Kiriyama grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

There was no time to explain. They had to cut to the chase, now.

“I’m gonna be straight with you, senpai. We want to have an honest conversation about... the molestation incident on the train,” Taichi declared, vague enough to maintain plausible deniability, but specific enough to make it seem as though he knew what he was talking about.

Instantly, the girl froze in place. “Wh... a...” She could barely speak. Then, after a moment, she took in a deep breath as though she’d only just remembered to breathe. “Wh... What are you even talking about?”

By this point, even a child could tell that she had something to hide.

“We heard the story... from... someone who witnessed the whole thing.”

“That’s a lie,” she shot back, but her expression was clearly tense.

“It’s the truth,” Kiriyama chimed in beside her.

“LIAR! ” the girl screamed, rounding on Kiriyama and seizing her by the collar before she could react. “That’s! Not! POSSIBLE! You’re LYING! No one from Yamaboshi was on that train! And there weren’t any other passengers un...til after we...” All at once, the color drained from her face as she realized what she had just admitted to. “God... Why now, of all times...?”

Muttering to herself, she began to visibly tremble—and then she took off running at full speed.

“Hey!” Kiriyama yelled.

Seeing the girl’s outright panic filled Taichi with a sense of dread. Maybe they still didn’t fully comprehend precisely what it was they were doing here. On some level they thought they were divorced from reality, but they weren’t. This wasn’t a movie or a TV show. This was real life. They were harassing someone .

Then Kiriyama took off after her, and Taichi hastily followed suit.

“Wh-What do we do?!”

“I don’t know! We’ve just gotta stop her!”

Fortunately, even with a generous head start, an ordinary girl didn’t stand a chance of outrunning a talented athlete like Kiriyama. She reached out and grabbed her by the arm once again. “Wait! Please don’t go! Just relax!”

The girl flailed violently. “No! Let go! You’re wrong—it wasn’t my fault!”

“That’s not what we’re saying! It’s just... Someone’s in a lot of trouble right now! Someone who goes to this school with us! The man on the train—that was his father! Please!” Kiriyama pleaded, palpable desperation in her voice.

The other girl stood stock still, her shoulders heaving with her ragged breaths.

If her Dream was to apologize, then surely she regretted the entire incident. Perhaps that was a better way to approach it.

“Senpai... You feel bad about the way it turned out, don’t you? There’s still time. Just apologize, and you can undo the damage. Then you won’t have to feel guilty anymore. You’ll be helping someone. Please... Help us help our friend,” Taichi entreated her.

And as he spoke, tears steadily filled her eyes... until at last they spilled down her cheek.

“This can’t be happening... I’m... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... Will you at least... hear me out...?” she choked, and for a moment, she looked like she’d regressed to a little girl.

“Of course. Please, tell us what happened,” Kiriyama urged her.

The other girl fell to her knees and hunched over into a little ball. “I... I never meant for it to happen. Any of it!”

From there, she poured her heart out to them, revealing everything she had been forced to keep locked away inside.

It all started when she was having a phone call while riding on the train. Aoki’s father scolded her for her poor train etiquette and told her to hang up, but she ignored him and kept talking. Then he warned her again, more firmly this time, and in the process, he lightly grabbed her arm to get her attention. That was the last straw, and she shouted “Help! He’s touching my body!”

“Then the train attendant came... and they radioed for a ‘railroad cop’ or whatever... and then it turned into this huge thing... and at that point, I couldn’t take it back... and then the cop started making assumptions out of nowhere, like, ‘This is where he touched you, right?’ ”

With very few passengers sitting nearby, there was no one present who could claim to have witnessed their entire exchange.

“Then, when I got home... I saw articles online about a ‘false molestation accusation’... and they were saying the guy was going to get fired from his job... and I felt so bad for what I did... but it’d turned into this huge scandal, and I didn’t know what to do—I wanted to tell them all it was my fault, but I couldn’t! ”

As her emotions flared up, her explanation veered off course at times, but was otherwise fairly coherent. It didn’t make what she’d done any less awful, but still, she was by no means the villain of this story.

Because the police were involved, they would have to go down to the station and explain everything. She understood this full well. But would she be charged with a crime for her actions? No one knew for sure.

“So... what do you want to do about this?” Taichi asked, once she’d calmed down.

“After talking to you guys, I’ve made up my mind. I want to go to the police and confess. And I’ll apologize to the man I accused... just like I’ve been meaning to.”

He knew she was telling the truth. After all, the Dream Vision had showed him just how badly she yearned to repent.

In the end, his and Kiriyama’s actions amounted to little more than a tiny push in the right direction. Of course, they couldn’t make her do the hard part on her own... so instead they asked Fujishima Maiko to get in touch with her father, who held a position of authority at the local police station. They were confident she could pull some strings for them.

Once they explained the situation, Fujishima contacted her father immediately. And when school let out for the day, a police officer was waiting outside the school gates to take the girl down to the station.

“I’ve asked him to make sure they’re as lenient as possible. After all, he did physically grab her, so I don’t think she’ll be charged with anything... assuming a compromise can be reached, of course,” Fujishima explained to Taichi and Kiriyama after the police car drove away.

“Gotcha. Thanks, we really owe you.”

“Oh, that’s alright. I must say, you two sure stumbled into quite the scandal! But you acted admirably. Thanks to you, there’s one less false accusation in the world. Plus, you’ve rescued a young woman from a lifetime of guilt.”

“W-We just got lucky, that’s all,” Kiriyama replied modestly, if a bit too quickly.

“Oh really? Is that right, Yaegashi-kun? Just pure luck?”

“Y-Yeah, of course.”

“Right...”

But the look in her eyes suggested she didn’t quite agree.

□■□■□

Although they tried to keep a low profile about it, like it or not, rumors had a way of spreading. And by the following Monday, a sizeable chunk of the student body knew all about the third-year girl and the false sexual assault accusation that Taichi and Kiriyama helped uncover.

“You’re a hero, Yui!” Kurihara Yukina exclaimed, ruffling Kiriyama’s hair.

“Stop, Yukina! I’m really not... Really.”

“There’s no need to feel bad for her, Yui-chan,” Setouchi Kaoru chimed in. “If you do something wrong, you have to face the consequences. That’s all it is.”

This made Taichi feel a bit better. He really didn’t want to make a big spectacle of the incident, but there was no stopping the rumor mill. Fortunately, no one had mentioned any of the smaller details, like the fact that the accusation victim was Aoki’s father. Otherwise Inaba and the others would find out.

...Oh, who am I kidding? This is INABA we’re talking about. Do we really think she’s NOT going to find out?

“Taichi. Yui.”

His heart skipped a beat at the impossibly perfect timing. Sure enough, Inaba had turned up in Classroom 2-B.

But she was... quiet. Unusually quiet. And that made it hard to gauge her current mood.

“I need to have a little talk with you guys... Meet me at lunch.”

Her smile was frightening.

“You used the power of the Dream Vision to solve the crisis with Aoki’s father, didn’t you?”

No intro, no lead-up—straight to the point.

Inaba was pissed . But instead of exploding all over them, she kept her rage boiling just beneath the surface. It was honestly terrifying.

“...Yeah, we did.” No point in trying to hide it at this stage , Taichi thought.

“I want details.”

The five CRC second-years were seated around the table in Rec Hall Room 401. Taichi could feel Kiriyama looking at him anxiously, so he took it upon himself to handle the majority of the explanation.

“—and then the police took her down to the station, and that was the end of it,” he finished.

Inaba scoffed. “For you , maybe.”

“...What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, rankled and slightly uncomfortable.

“I’m saying you people have no idea how this will play out. For you, it’s over now—but for the people actually involved, this will stay with them for the rest of their lives . Tell them, Aoki.”

All eyes turned to Aoki, whose expression was more grim and severe than they’d ever seen him.

“Well, my dad was cleared of all suspicion, and he won’t be facing any punishment. I don’t know what’ll happen to the girl, but he’s not planning to press charges, at the very least. And as for his job... he most likely won’t be fired after all.”

At this, Kiriyama’s stony expression softened slightly. Taichi was relieved to hear it, too. So why did Aoki look so upset?

Meanwhile, Nagase observed them quietly.

“Now it’s looking like someone else will get laid off in his place. The company’s restructuring, so they were gonna get rid of someone one way or another.”

Kiriyama’s face froze. Likewise, Taichi felt his smile grow stiff.

“Now do you people understand?” Inaba asked slowly, grinding their noses into the pavement, letting it really sink in. “Your actions have ruined someone’s life—their whole family’s lives.”

“But that’s—!” Taichi shouted, and a moment later he was startled by the severity of his reaction. He never would’ve imagined himself the yelling type. “If we hadn’t done what we did, Aoki’s dad would’ve been fired for a crime he never committed, and then Aoki—”

“THAT’S NOT THE FUCKING POINT! ” Inaba roared, slamming the table.

His body froze up as though he were rooted to the spot.

“You think it’s okay to SCREW PEOPLE OVER as long as it means you get to HELP YOUR FRIENDS?! Fuck that! How DARE you ignore my warning and sneak around behind my back!”

“W-Wait, Inaba,” Kiriyama choked, her voice watery. “I admit, like, we shouldn’t have gone behind your back, and for that I’m sorry. But please understand... we only did it because... because there was an unjust accusation on the line! We weren’t trying to screw anyone over!”

“Unjust? Justice has NOTHING to do with this! Who are you to say what’s right or wrong, huh?!”

Just like that, Kiriyama’s counterpoint was summarily crushed. Taichi couldn’t bear to sit by and watch another moment longer.

“It... It was a CRIME! I think the law is a pretty good judge of what’s right or wrong, thank you!”

“Laws only apply to people who operate within the scope of the real world!”

“Then—”

“But right now we’re outside the bounds of reality , remember?! I know you remember that!”

How were they meant to conduct themselves, as humans cursed with powers beyond mortal understanding?

The sound of Kiriyama’s sniffling filled the air.

“I’m doing the right thing ,” she declared tearfully. “I’m helping people . And this time, I helped Aoki’s dad... and I helped Aoki.” As she named him, she glanced in his direction, and even an outside observer could tell she was begging him to see things her way.

Here sat the girl he loved, beseeching him. He grimaced—

“...I never asked for your help, okay?!”

—and cut her down.

She looked back in shock, her complexion ashen.

“If you’re gonna do that, then you might as well go stick your neck into everyone else’s problems while you’re at it. You can’t only help me. It’s not fair!”

“Wh... Who CARES if it’s not fair?!” The blood rushed back into Kiriyama’s face. “We turned a bad thing into a good thing, so where’s the problem?! You’re always helping me, remember?! And now I finally got a chance to return the favor! Now we can... we can settle that unanswered question and everything! And you want to tell me what I did was wrong?! ”

“So you’re saying you only helped me because I was nice to you a few times?! You’re not obligated to pay me back! If you’re only doing it out of pity, or because you feel like you have to, then just... just don’t! ” Trembling, Aoki bit his lip.

Why? Why was Aoki being so stubborn? No... Maybe this was a line Aoki simply couldn’t cross, the same way Taichi and Kiriyama couldn’t sacrifice their ideals to please Inaba.

“Why...?! You should be happy... Why aren’t you happy...?! ” Kiriyama hung her head and rubbed her damp eyes.

“Some things are just wrong,” said Inaba, her voice calmer now. “And you have to accept that, no matter how illogical or unfair or cruel it seems.”

“What, so we should just let people commit crimes? Let people suffer?” asked Taichi. Was this his martyr-itis flaring up again? No. This was the morally right response. “I agree that it’s wrong to use the power purely for our own benefit or just because we want to. But it makes no sense to blindly agree never to use it when there are people out there that need help—”

“What are you, some kind of hero?” Inaba scoffed disdainfully. “The story always has to start with you, doesn’t it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re like the braindead protagonist in an action-adventure story. Do you see what I’m getting at? Everyone could live their lives in peace if they left well enough alone, but no , someone’s gotta go kick the goddamn hornet’s nest in the name of fighting corruption . And you’re that idiot.”

He was just helping people. Were his actions really inviting that sort of unnecessary conflict?

“Normally your hero complex wouldn’t really be an issue, but right now, in these circumstances, it’s a fatal flaw... because it means you don’t have the capacity to do nothing.”

Her scathing critique made the blood rush to his head. Raw emotion coursed through his body.

“Yeah, you’re right—I can’t just do nothing. But so what? I was born that way, and I can’t change it! According to you, anyway! Remember?”

Inaba had once called him a “goddamn martyr” and said there was no fixing it—in which case, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

“I’m not going to stop. I’m going to do what I think is right... and that means using the Dream Vision to help people.”

It was his only option. And as he rose to the challenge... Kiriyama joined in.

“I’m not stopping, either. I’m going to prove to you all that I was right.”

Aoki opened his mouth to speak... then thought better of it and ran a hand through his hair. Nagase remained perfectly still and silent, watching the proceedings.

Taichi and Kiriyama sat side by side, facing Inaba and Aoki, also side by side. The four of them all glared at each other.

Why? Why are we mad? Why are we fighting? They hadn’t invaded anyone’s personal privacy. No one was being forced to act on their emotions. Their pasts weren’t shackling them down. Their inner thoughts weren’t on display. There was no impostor running amok. This phenomenon wasn’t directly causing problems for any one of them... but because of that, they all had the emotional composure necessary to split apart.

There was a fork in the road, and now it was up to them to follow their hearts.

Inaba narrowed her eyes... then turned back and glared at Kiriyama and Taichi.

“I’m only going to say this one more time. No matter your intentions, if you use supernatural powers to influence the natural world, then you’re no better than «Heartseed». You’re doing things that can never be undone, and that’s wrong. Period.”

She had always been there for Taichi.

“So no, I won’t take action, no matter what Vision I see. And if you’re going to try to act on them, then I’ll do everything in my power to stop you.”

But now she was criticizing them.

“Because to me, that’s the right thing to do. That is what justice looks like.”

For the first time, Inaba was an enemy blocking their path.

+++

“Rrrrrgh! Why’d it have to be like this?!” Inaba Himeko growled to herself as she headed home alone. She stopped to kick a utility pole in a pathetic display of frustration.

I’m at war with Yui and Taichi. At war. With Taichi. With Taichi. With Taichi. With Taichi!

“Not like I don’t get it... He’s a good person... They both are... Of course I understand why they’d want to help people...”

But they were misguided, and only Inaba could see it—so she needed to stop them. If she compromised on her beliefs, it would mean a one-way ticket down a slippery slope. Then they would never be able to fully “go back” to the normal world.

And I’ll never be able to go back to—

This was the last line of defense, and she was willing to sacrifice anything to protect it.

This was war.