Epilogue: Going Forward

Epilogue: Going Forward

A few days after the end of this year’s school trip, Taichi went with the rest of the ringleaders behind Operation Custom Tour to formally apologize to the teachers, as well as the rest of the students in their grade, for encouraging rule-breaking behavior. Plenty of people reassured him that he wasn’t to blame, but nevertheless, he felt it was important for him to close the book on it, so to speak.

Apologizing may have netted him surface-level forgiveness, but he knew there was bound to be some lingering resentment. It would take time to regain the trust he’d lost, but he’d simply have to put in the effort. This was their post-war settlement, and they needed to handle it themselves.

As a result, the love craze slowly petered out, and Taichi officially retired from his post as Love Guru. Well, maybe “retired” was a bit of an exaggeration. Long story short, the majority of the student body stopped buying into the superstition about him. And whenever the occasional straggler came to him “for luck,” he simply told them, “Have faith in yourself, or else the door shall forever remain closed!” (Or something to that effect.) Believe it or not, this advice proved fruitful... for at least two people that he knew of, anyway.

And that was that.

Together, Taichi and Kiriyama pledged to follow up with everyone whose lives were influenced by their advice. They weren’t confident they could actually help anyone—in fact, they were probably better off staying out of it for the most part—but they wanted to take responsibility for the situations they themselves had created.

After that, Taichi finally settled on a career course.

“For now, I think I’ll be taking the science course,” he announced in the clubroom to the rest of the CRC.

“Oooh, science! Wait... Did you choose that one just so you could stay with your beloved Inaban? I notice she’s gotten all lovey-dovey again!” Nagase remarked, grinning mischievously.

“N-No! I really thought about this, I swear!”

“Hmph. Even if he chose humanities, our relationship would survive the distance.”

“You’re not even remotely ‘bashful’ about being ‘Ina-bashful,’ huh, Inaban?”

“Yeah, well, it was fate that brought me and Yui both into the humanities course! We even told each other on the count a’ three, so there’s no way either one of us was biased! Pretty cool, huh?”

“...Maybe I should switch to science...”

“Yui, why do you hurt me so?! Why can’t you just be nice to your poor BF?!”

Despite their new relationship, Aoki and Kiriyama were the same as ever—

“Hee hee... I’m just kidding,” Kiriyama grinned brightly.

“Yeah, I know you were,” Aoki laughed.

...Correction: Okay, maybe they’d changed a little.

“S-So... what’s your ultra-mega-awesome dream, Taichi-senpai?!” Enjouji asked, eyes sparkling. As usual, she knew how to set the bar ridiculously high.

“Uh, well... I’ve been thinking really hard about what I want to do with my life, and in the end, it always comes back to helping people. So I’ve decided to pursue something along those lines,” Taichi explained. “These days you hear a lot of talk about global environmental issues on the news and stuff. A lot of people are saying the Earth’s headed in a dangerous direction, so... well, I still have to figure out what I’d need to major in to get into the field, but...”

This was the dream he had found for himself.

“You’re kidding...” Inaba looked at him in shock.

“No way...” the others murmured.

Uh, guys? You’re making it hard for me to say this!

But he decided to say it anyway. He had chosen this path of his own volition, and now he needed to make his opinion heard, or else the story would never get started... and Taichi very much wanted a story of his own.

“I want to save the planet.”

After a pause... the rest of the CRC burst out laughing. Some of them doubled over. Others clutched their sides.

“Guys! I won’t ask you not to laugh, but could you bring it down a notch, at least?!”

“Taichi, relax... Hee hee... We’re not laughing at you, I swear...” Nagase giggled.

“It’s just... incredible, that’s all,” said Chihiro.

Inaba was the last to finish laughing. “Whew... Haven’t laughed that hard in a while,” she grinned. “I gotta say, most people wouldn’t call that their personal dream.” Her smile deepened. “It’s pretty damn badass.”

“Geez... I don’t know about that...” It was a compliment of the highest order, and he floundered.

Truth be told, he knew it was kind of silly... but that was fine by him. It was his dream, inspired by his desires. He’d have to grow up sooner or later, but in his heart, he hoped to always carry that childish passion. As long as he kept himself firmly grounded in reality, he could afford one big, silly dream.

Obviously, he didn’t think for a moment that he could save the entire planet single-handedly. There were a lot of environmental issues at hand—global warming, environmental degradation, world hunger, the energy crisis—but if he could somehow contribute to solving even one of them, then that was enough for him.

He had failed. But then he came crawling back and pledged to fight. And if it wasn’t going to kill him, then he could fall down and pick himself back up as many times as necessary. As it turned out, losing had taught him a lot of things.

He knew now the importance of valuing himself just the way he was—but did that mean he could simply shrug his shoulders and turn a blind eye to his faults?

No. You can love yourself AND hold yourself to a high standard. Those two things are NOT mutually exclusive. There’s always potential for change, so keep your head up and keep moving forward. Find your conviction and choose a path of your own free will. Sooner or later, you’ll be the person you’ve always wanted to be. You’ll live your dreams. And that’s what life is all about.

“Oh yeah. That reminds me, Chihiro,” Taichi began.

“Yes?”

“I’ve got a message for that guy who wanted to talk to me: If he wants advice from some legendary Love Guru with powers of clairvoyance, then I’ll have to turn him down... but if he’d settle for regular old Yaegashi Taichi, then I’m all ears.”

“Alright. I’ll tell him,” Chihiro nodded. And while he didn’t let it show on his face, Taichi could hear the joy in his voice.

—Oh yeah, one last thing. Before the supernatural stuff gets buried beneath the mundane, I have to wonder:

Is it really over?

Is «Heartseed» really, really, really, really, REALLY never coming back?

+++

“Say, «Heartseed». What is this? Is this the end? Are you ending it? Really?”

“Oh... Well... Yes, I suppose I am...”

“Interesting... It seems you’ve... found something?”

“......Who knows.”

“Hmph. It’s so pointless... I don’t get it. But... this isn’t really the end, right? You still have one last thing to do, don’t you?”

“......”

“Don’t you have to erase their memories?”

The End