It was the following Monday and the first lesson had ended and recess had arrived. Yaegashi Taichi tried to calmly discuss Nagase Iori's strange behaviour with Inaba Himeko.
He thought that if he seemed too serious, it would be troublesome for Iori. So he tried to speak about it lightheartedly. But Inaba listened determinedly.
"Oh... Has it become like that?"
Inaba held her chin against her hand and said profoundly.
"What do you mean by becoming like 'that'?"
"That is that... Seriously, I had hoped it wouldn't get lost in the middle."
"And just what do you mean by 'getting lost in the middle'?"
"～～Getting lost in the middle is getting lost in the middle! Use your brain! Or ask her yourself!"
Inaba crazily pushed Taichi forward. Taichi stepped on the air a few times, then he fixed his vision on Iori who was just standing up.
With a smile filled with satisfaction, Iori jumped up and down and then directly hopped beside Taichi.
"Hm? What's the matter? Anything fun?"
"Nope, nothing... By the way, Iori, about the thing that you talked about last Saturday when we were heading back home..."
"What? Anything wrong?"
Iori had an impeccable smile stretched across her face, pretending she didn't know a thing of what Taichi was talking about.
Seeing that smile caused a bit of dizziness, and Taichi started to feel that what he questioned in his mind was maybe some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe it was just a production from a sudden impulse she had, he thought.
"Ah... No, nothing."
There wasn't anything worth worrying about, Taichi concluded, and he closed the topic... Inaba, who was behind him, deliberately clicked her tongue, seemingly out of disgust, as if wanting Taichi to hear her dissatisfaction.
□■□■□
Today was another typical boring day in the midst of September. After the fifth lesson had ended and recess had begun, a dangerous atmosphere had ramped up in class 1C.
As usual, everyone was pleasantly chatting or playing. Despite playing amongst themselves, they sometimes would glance at a specific point in the classroom.
At that point, or what they called the death zone, sat Inaba. Being reckoned unanimously as the cause of the deadly atmosphere, Inaba was spreading an aura that said, "I'm very angry. Don't come close to me. If you do, I can't be sure of what I'll do to you." (Of course she didn't say it out loud.)
If you were to have the slightest contact with the death zone, explosions might be induced. Therefore, we had to treat the situation with utmost care.
"Say, Inaba. Don't just put that dirty look on your face."
Nagase rocked her chair in front of Inaba.
Her guts and bold actions astounded her classmates.
"It's getting serious!" "That's too impetuous!" "Iori... You are such a marvelous person." "Gosh! What was the bomb squad doing!"
Divergent words spread in all corners of the classroom. Nagase's unexpected actions caused the soft whispers to amplify.
On that note, the 'bomb squad' should be alluding to Taichi, who was standing near ground zero... In fact, Taichi was pushed forward by the person who spoke of him.
What happened was simple. At the start of the fifth lesson (classics), Inaba Himeko and Aoki Yoshifumi exchanged personalities. During the lesson, Aoki [Inaba] fell into a deep sleep in the classroom of 1C. When the teacher found out, he whacked the textbook on Inaba's head, thus making a 'bam' sound. When he woke up, Inaba's personality had returned to [Inaba's body]. This is what happened. (Though it's uncertain whether the recovery occurred when she was asleep or at the moment she was hit.)
"Me... being whacked on the head by a mere teacher? That's so humiliating!"
Who does Inaba think she was? I really wanted to question her once and for all.
"Calm down, Inaban. You have to understand that some things can only be accepted. What you can do is to hold this anger and thrash it onto the culprit."
"Nagase, you know that's a death sentence for Aoki, right?"
"You're right. Fufufu... the price he needs to pay is very high."
Inaba grinned with an audacious smile, then stuck out her tongue and licked her upper lips.
Her ferocious criminal look caused moans in the classroom.
"Eeeeh!" "Calm her down, quick!" "It's okay, she won't hurt us!" "Is the bomb squad doing anything at all?"
It looked like everyone became interested in what would happen.
"I think I just heard some malicious crap..."
Becoming aware of the murmuring, Inaba swung her head to look around the classroom.
"It's just your imagination, Inaba!"
To safeguard the prestige of the bomb squad, Taichi stopped Inaba.
Right at that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of the recess and the start of the sixth lesson (class meeting). At the same time, the supervisor, Gotou Ryuzen, rushed into the classroom. He looked a bit different. Usually, he would have come a bit late due to his laziness.
"Oi! Go back to your seats already!"
Gotou clearly urged the students to return to their seats. After Taichi and Nagase said goodbye to Inaba, who still had a dirty look, they returned to their own seats.
Seemingly without reason, Gotou cleared his throat with a few coughs. His presence felt really weird.
"Eh... Okay, listen well."
Gotou's tone was strangely formal. As if he had already prepared a speech, he announced,
"I think some of you know this, but our school regularly holds voluntary cleaning activities in small areas. Because almost nobody participates actively, in most cases, the sports clubs take turns doing it. But because of coming competitions and itinerary planning failures, we are short of participants. In our staff meeting, we decided to choose three students from three of the first and second year classes to participate in this mandatory cleaning activity. Third years are excluded because they have exams."
Though a strong, uneasy sense of foreboding was bubbling, the students of class 1C still held onto the slightest hope and waited for Gotou to continue.
"Then, to decide which three classes would be chosen, we held a game of rock-paper-scissors. Because in the game, I, your teacher, beautifully..."
Gotou slowly looked around the whole classroom, wasting a lot of time to keep the listeners in suspense.
"...lost..."
"You peabrain!" "How can you lose!" "Why did you keep us in suspense? We can't stand it!"
The corny ending angered the students. From all corners, they vigorously verbally tackled Gotou.
"I didn't lose intentionally! So, our class has to send out three people! You can choose the participants yourselves! Yeah, and don't go on a strike! If you do, the whole class will have to participate in the next cleaning activity as a punishment... So, Fujishima, help me finish this! Gather in front of the gate after school!"
Gotou flew out of the classroom right after he finished speaking.
"Tea, Teacher?"
The president of class 1C, Fujishima Maiko, felt nervous and puzzled after being called on so suddenly.
"Hey, he got away!" "He abdicated his duties!" "Is he even a teacher?!"
The students complained one after another. However, the complaints could only reverberate in the vacuum of the classroom, as Gotou had already left.
"Ahh... That's that. So for those who want to participate... there should be no one, right? To those who are willing to participate, raise your hands."
Fujishima, despite showing a face full of dissatisfaction and reluctance, still stood in front of the teacher's table to shoulder the responsibility she had been stuffed with.
Of course, no one raised their hands. Only those who had psychological problems would actively participate in a non-profitable and bothersome activity like this.
"You should go." "Sorry, I'm very busy in my club." "By the way, everyone in our school has their own clubs, right?" "Sport clubs usually help in these occasions. Maybe the cultural clubs can help this time?" "That has no relationship with our problem now, right?" Although everyone found different excuses, in the end, they only wanted to shirk their responsibilities.
Fujishima originally planned to seriously consider what everyone thought, but because of the huge dispute, she gave up her idea.
"Phew... Then let's discuss how to decide our participants. If we still can't grab enough people, we will decide this with game of rock-paper-scissors."
"Hey, are you going to give up your duties as class president?" The students threw away their problems and started to criticise Fujishima.
"Yes, yes, I understand! I'll be one of the three. We'll need two more. Is this okay?"
It certainly is Fujishima. Everyone began to applaud this time—the attitude of the students surely changed quickly.
By the way, Fujishima is an impressive person... it's important to keep in mind that Fujishima has a side to her personality other than making Iori afraid.
Then Taichi started to contemplate.
If only the volunteer work were a bit more interesting... But however I put it, no one would be willing to participate in these cleaning activities. Then, it makes sense that shirking responsibilities are inevitable.
If we were to decide by means of discussion, people who are weaker will most likely be forced to participate.
In this case, we would have to decide by a game of rock-paper-scissors. Now if we chose someone who has important things to do during that time, it would only cause more trouble for that person. Or maybe someone will suggest that those who have really important things on their schedule can be exempt from these duties. But most likely, another fight would occur when such an subjective rule is discussed.
If we continue on like this, someone will have a headache, no matter what kind of measure is introduced.
Either way, there should be a way to prevent it from happening, isn't that right? Taichi thought of a way... Though it was a way that he already knew from the start—
The way was simple and innocent.
Through this way, everything would be solved.
Of course, we were still left with one more person. But at least we can save one.
Taichi huffed. He closed his eyes and rose his right hand.
"I volunteer."
—But his voice was not quite right. He instantly noticed this.
He opened his eyes.
His distance from the teacher table... No, his own sitting position had changed.
This implies that—
"Ah, umm...So [Inaba-san] is willing to participate, right?"
Fujishima asked with an unbelievable expression on her face.
Taichi and the others were already quite used to the personality exchange, so even during the most shocking of recent exchanges, he could still confront it calmly. But back on topic, the timing of the exchange this time was too accurate, right?
Taichi turned his head to confirm for himself, that is, where [Yaegashi Taichi] sat.
"I... I also volunteer."
With taut cheeks, [Taichi], most likely being Inaba, pointed downwards from her chest with the middle finger of her left hand and raised her right hand straight up.
After coming back to the classroom and getting scolded by the angry students, Gotou announced the dismissal of the class meeting.
"I can understand why Yaegashi Taichi joined, but is Inaba a person that would do such things?" "Inaba-san is really weird today right?" "To put it correctly, those guys seem a bit weird recently."
In the buzzing classroom, Taichi [Inaba] was beside Inaba [Taichi] to discuss what just happened.
"Ah... Enough already! Today really sucks."
Inaba [Taichi] was infuriated, but she thought of the situation in the classroom and complained in a lowly voice.
"Um... About that, as I have said before, I'm really sorry. This time, just blame the 'personality exchange' that miraculously occurred right when I raised my hands."
"Right, including the exchange with Aoki, the timing of today's personality exchange was quite malicious. Still, I am angry at you."
Inaba [Taichi] stared at Taichi with vicious eyes.
Taichi thought it was quite fresh. He didn't expect his body could exude such daring.
"I will find a chance to repay you. Please, let me go this time."
"Hmph. How should I get my revenge?"
Instead of agreeing with compensation, Inaba seemed to look more forward on how to return the loss... She was that wicked.
"Okay, okay. [Taichi], please don't angrily stare at her. If you do, you will become suspicious! Here, smile."
Iori, who seemed to have another motive apart from what she had said, pleasantly pinched Inaba's [Taichi's] cheeks, as if trying to make a smile out of her expression.
"What? This looks kind of strange and ill. Right! This is because Taichi is a person who doesn't usually smile."
"Then stop it please. Nobody benefits from this."
Looking at someone else playing with [his] face, Taichi was a bit embarrassed and felt acidulous.
"Jokes aside, Fujishima seems to be looking at us right now."
Inaba [Taichi] warned her while Iori was still rubbing her cheeks by Iori. Taichi [Inaba] turned to look back. Fujishima was standing there with her hands crossed and her eyes fixed on them.
Though Fujishima was usually gentle and friendly, her expression now was extremely scary.
Fujishima pushed Taichi and Inaba out of the classroom to do work. Nagase went to the clubroom after leaving some words, 'You guys go and pick up that trash diligently, bye～".
The three left their belongings in the classroom and gathered at the front door. Fujishima went in front and the other two followed behind her.
On the way, Inaba [Taichi] lightly poked Taichi's [Inaba's] abdomen with her arm, and inquired lowly,
"Is Fujishima that unfriendly to you all the time?"
"Yeah. Since the first time my personality exchanged with Iori. The resulting turmoil from that event caused this condition."
"I understand. To get frantically touched by a strange male classmate isn't something easy to get over. Besides, Fujishima seems to have that peculiar taste [1] and has a crush on Nagase. It is understandable for her to have a crush on Nagase after seeing her, 'naive' and pretty, rubbing her breasts alone. Nevertheless, for her to take you as her rival for Nagase may be quite interesting after all."
"This isn't interesting at all."
Fujishima suddenly turned her head to Taichi and Inaba.
"Inaba, can I borrow Taichi for a minute?"
"Oh, what's the—" Right when Taichi [Inaba] wanted to reply,
"What's the matter?" Inaba [Taichi] loudly interrupted him.
Inaba [Taichi] potently hit Taichi [Inaba] with her elbow, and walked towards Fujishima with big steps. On her way, she incessantly looked back to Taichi and mouthed "You idiot".
That was so close... It was just impossible to not respond when my name was called for.
On the other hand, Inaba was much more brilliant. She even helped others to remedy their mistakes while not making any herself. Such a helping hand was Inaba indeed.
"I've been curious about this, so I'll just say it—What's the relationship between Iori and Taichi?"
"Eh...?" Taichi [Inaba], who listened at their backs, was stunned and speechless.
To ask questions directly without beating around the bush, and to neglect the people around who might hear her—she was Fujishima, a venerable person.
"Oi. You guys seem to be quite attached today. And also, on that day, you even took Iori away with you..."
"Even if you ask me what relationship we are in..."
Though Inaba [Taichi] spoke hesitantly and turned around to look at Taichi, she seemed to have thought of something and showed a face of sudden hope.
Despite the hopeful face, what Taichi could see was only desperation.
"It certainly is a relationship between a boy and a girl!"
...She was brave.
"You are lying."
...And her lie was instantly seen through.
"What the... How did you know I was lying?"
"Don't underestimate me. Once you reach the same level as me, you would know whether a girl had been touched by a boy with just your eyes."
Fujishima's unfathomable potential sent a chill down my spine as she reset her spectacles on her nose, though I am quite hesitant whether to praise her for this.
"Is that so? Then allow me be blunt."
Inaba's [Taichi] emotional murmur was inexplicable.
Taichi wanted to interrupt and cease her words, but it was too late. Besides, even if he tried to deny Inaba, it would not persuade Fujishima if the speaker weren’t Taichi himself.
"The relationship between Nagase and I... is close to the relationship between a boy and a girl!"
"Close... I'm surprised. This may be a crisis!"
"This is the case, so please don't go near Nagase!"
"That was what I have to say to somebody who frantically touches a girl's body..."
"Alright, stop! Please!"
Taichi [Inaba] squeezed between the two of them to end their topic in order to prevent anything dangerous from happening.
Inaba [Taichi] clicked discontentedly with her tongue while Fujishima snorted.
Taichi could only sigh to their responses.
A teacher was (reluctantly) explaining to the students gathered at the front of the door what there was to do. Essentially, the goal was to collect a set amount of trash near the school. If anyone was found collecting trash from the trash bins to meet their quota, they would be severely punished. After explaining, she ordered the students to distribute amongst themselves a pair of work gloves and a trash bag (and some even had a long picker for collecting rubbish). The students were off to work after that.
Because Fujishima went into action with her friends from other classes, Taichi and Inaba were left to themselves as they proceeded outside school.
Under a clear bright sky, the two were wandering around in an oddly spacious park near the school.
"Arghh... Am I on a date with you collecting trash?"
Inaba [Taichi] clanged the trash she held in mid-air with her hands and lazily muttered.
Indeed, the bright weather was very suitable for walking. If the fact that they had to collect trash was excluded (though this is inevitable), they seemed to be on a date.
"This can't be helped. I—"
Instantly, the scene became pitch black and his position had changed—or had switched back. Taichi's personality returned to [Taichi's body] while Inaba's personality returned to [Inaba's body]—everything was back to normal.
"...Returning back to my body with this strange timing? Life sucks... Oh, so, Taichi, give me the trash picker."
Inaba complained angrily and snatched the trash picker from Taichi's hands.
"Please don't mind."
"How can I not mind it? Thanks to you, my image, which I used half a year to establish, was pulverized in just a few hours."
"The way you end your sentence sounds just like the Spanish tone used to present the wrestlers when Japan broadcasts American Professional Wrestling."
"Could you not use a metaphor that no one would understand? You fool."
Even though I knew how stupid the metaphors were, sometimes I can't stop myself from saying them.
"But letting others know the other sides of you, such as when you sleep, and showing that you are actually a good person... Won't that make you more popular instead?"
"I don't count on that. Tt's only leverage for my enemies to take advantage of—this infuriates me."
"Who are your enemies?"
"Basically, everyone except myself."
Inaba grinned boldly, said "Oh, I found a large target", used the trash picker to clip the target and threw it into her trash bag. The target seemed to be a crushed monthly magazine drenched in the rain.
"Your definition of 'enemies' is quite unpleasant, but first putting that aside... What the hell happened when you talked with Fujishima! Can you please speak in euphemism? I don't want to make enemies with anyone in class."
Taichi emphasized his words, but Inaba just snorted in reply.
"Hey, it's fine if you don't thank me, but I don't remember doing anything that deserves your blame! Didn't I set up an explicit opposition with Fujishima? If you work hard, I bet you could save Iori from Fujishima's evil hands."
"I don't get what you mean."
"What you are saying? Isn't this situation suitable for you? Right—"
Inaba temporarily stopped herself and met her eyes with Taichi. Her eyes were filled with sympathy, compassion, gratefulness, anger and anxiety. If Taichi hadn't guess wrong, there was also a bit of enviousness.
She then continued to speak,
"—You are a fool who loves to sacrifice himself."
"...What do you mean by a fool who loves to sacrifice himself?"
Taichi did not quite understood what Inaba meant. Although he didn't understand, he started to have some trouble breathing.
"It is what it literally means. Aren't my wordings very exact?"
Inaba tilted her head at Taichi, and spoke confidently.
"I don't find it exact in any way—"
"Then let me ask you, why would you voluntarily join this nasty activity?"
"...Because no one wanted to do it, but someone had to. If I took the job, then others would not be forced to join—"
"Why didn't you put yourself inside the group of people you call 'others'? Surely you didn't actually want to do it either? Such being the case, aren't you the one being forced to join?"
"Well...."
Taichi was speechless. He wanted to say something but he couldn't find the words he wanted. Those words must have hidden deep in a foggy space.
"You certainly are a fool who likes to sacrifice himself. Why can't you consider yourself as you consider others? Why do you have to treat yourself so differently? Oh, I do not mean that you are looking at yourself as more sublime, but as the opposite—you disdain yourself so you think that it's no big deal to sacrifice yourself. I can't understand why anyone would not treasure themselves. I am even disgusted by this."
Inaba used words that had more bite, relentlessly slashing them onto Taichi.
"Why do you like professional wrestling?"
Inaba suddenly switched their topic.
Though it was sudden, it was something he loved; therefore, he answered directly and fluently.
"If I were to explain why to someone who isn't familiar with wrestling, the reason should be 'the beauty to receive'. Since pro wrestling is a performance run from a script, it's not a fight with two opponents competing for their lives. On the contrary, this is a performance to attract the audience and 'compete with the audience'. Wrestling is not only about having a strong side with magnificent skills, but also about needing a side to 'receive' those strong attacks. Whether the skills or the competition would be attractive to the audience, or whether the competition would have a remarkable finish, hinges mainly on the side who 'receives' those attacks. The form of professional wrestling could be complete only when a side receives attacks. I especially like those whose job is to act as losers, hence their name, 'jobbers'. If I were to speak of the advantages according to their losing faces—"
"Shut up, you disgraceful pro wrestling otaku."
Inaba rudely lashed out at Taichi without any attempt of veiling her scorn towards him.
"I-It's you who told me..."
"No one told you to explain it in such detail, you disgraceful pro wrestling otaku."
She repeated her voice of dissatisfaction in disdain.
"Y-You don't have to repeat 'disgraceful pro wrestling otaku' twice..."
"So what I mean is that what you call 'the beauty to receive', if implemented on you, should be called 'the beauty of self-sacrificing'."
"Inaba, you are not quite right, 'the beauty to receive' is—"
"Don't get me wrong. I am not referring to regular professional wrestling, but just your case."
"My case isn't either..."
Was it because I was being overwhelmed by Inaba's forcible attitude that caused my indistinct reply...? Or was it because she understood the crux of the matter?
"Hmph, this is hard to say."
Inaba sighed, looked down on the floor, picked up an empty lunchbox and threw it into her trash bag. I was uncertain whether it was because she had already finished saying what she had wanted to.
Compared to Inaba, who has been successfully picking up trash from the beginning, Taichi's trash bag was still completely empty.
"Then, back to the topic... You like Iori, right?"
"Arghh!"
Taichi couldn't stop himself from puffing.
"Your responses have became quite exaggerated. Back then, you were a person with no emotions."
'Gwahaha'—Inaba held her belly while laughing. It was obvious she had known Taichi would respond in such way when she asked.
"I'm only forced to do so! Besides, what topic did you go back to? You didn't go back to any topic at all."
"What I mean is to encourage you to get Iori as quick as possible before she gets snatched by Fujishima."
"How did it end up like this? I don't understand the significance of competing with Fujishima. And before that, 'I must get Nagase' was already a strange topic."
"Don't you understand? Among the five members of the Cultural Research Club, the weakest person is Iori! I've never seen someone as unstable as her."
The scene of when I chatted with Nagase [Aoki] flashed in my mind. Expressing that many emotions in such a short period of time... Was she full with emotions, or was she unstable?
"Also, you like those who are weak, right? After all, you must be the one who becomes the wall who stands upon the wind, the man who endures the wounds he's received to protect his companion. If you don't, she might go crazy! To someone who's devoted to self-sacrifice, she is the best choice ever."
"...You should not decide things yourself, Inaba. I haven't even thought about those things."
I acknowledge that Inaba is smarter than me, but it is I who knows the most about myself, so it was unreasonable of her to criticise me with her imagination.
"This is hard to say—" Inaba spoke lowly, and twisted her trash picker around.
"It was Taichi who didn't understand, so things got worse. Also, let me first tell you, Iori also likes Taichi."
"No, that can't be possible."
Taichi calmly responded with a sharp-tongue response.
"Tsk, your response is so boring. You should have been better the second time."
Inaba would set up these strange rules.
"I don't care! It was only Inaba making things up."
"You're quite rude, you know? I, of course, have real evidence to support such a claim. That girl Iori needs some support! She needs to confirm her own existence whenever anything happens. Isn't this just perfect for you, the disgusting fool who wishes to sacrifice everything for the sake of others? Taichi, it's because of your broken and distorted worldview that make you and Iori fit. It's the same rationale that the cogs in gears match up and work together, right?"
She's gone too far.
"You've gone too far—"
"Besides, you have the most vitality when you are with Iori."
This was the only line where Inaba turned her eyes away and rudely spat.
"Is that so?"
She was speaking with such snark and bite that when she started to speak normally, it was genuinely surprising.
"Anything is fine for me. This is a problem between you and Iori; do whatever you guys like. It has nothing to do with me.
"It was only a little bit of meddling in your business—" It occurred to Inaba too that this type of line didn't match her, so she quickened her walking pace after commenting embarrassedly.
Though she was the type who would recklessly and bluntly tell others her thoughts in jest, this was the first time that Inaba's words were burnt deeply into his memory. This had something to do with the personality exchange somehow.
"But I still think that—" Inaba murmured worriedly. And that together with her grand posture made her seem like a mismatched mosaic.
"Iori is in the most danger."
"Danger... What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, in this 'personality exchange', Iori seems to be the most likely person to have their psyche destroyed. And the person who will experience the most negative impacts is her."
She spoke frankly.
"Negative impacts from the personality exchange? Certainly there would be problems, but isn't getting destroyed too serious? We don't know exactly when big problems will arise, but so far it's only been a nuissance. Should we take it that seriously? After all, the personality exchange only stays for two hours, and in most cases, much less. If we take it as it is, it's really not something that serious, or at least we haven't seen anything serious until now."
Taichi replied easily without much thought.
"You are such an idiot!"
Inaba angrily scolded him with a tone filled with derision.
She drooped her head and stopped moving. She quivered agitatedly while she continued.
"Are you serious? How can you act as if it was nothing to you? It's unmistakable: the dullest and most slow-witted person of us is you, Taichi. Maybe it's because you are a self-sacrificing idiot that you're unresponsive to pain. But our condition now is the most serious—a crisis that is filled with absolute desperation! Anyone could get hurt or destroyed at any time, anywhere or by anything. Do you not realize this? In this personality exchange, there is nothing that is not serious or unimportant!"
Inaba lifted her head and harshly stared at Taichi with her long and fine eyes, as if wanting to kill him.
Inaba gets angry easily, but she never gets so angry that she would drown in her emotions with anger transcending her sanity.
But right now, Inaba was exactly that.
This was an indication of her extreme anger. It was reasonable, however; she had remarked that the situation was a case of complete desperation, and even gave out a warning. Nevertheless, Taichi still spoke mindlessly like an idiot.
My past self once reckoned the personality exchange as a condition that was very dangerous. I did have the chance to think like Inaba, but maybe it was because I wanted to persuade myself to think optimistically that I would say such naïve and dumb words.
"...Sorry, Inaba." Taichi spontaneously spoke the words of apology.
Inaba smiled wryly with an embarrassed expression on her face.
"Ahhh... No, I should be the one to apologise. It seems that I've gone too far today. My mood wasn't good after all the things that have happened to me... sorry."
Inaba locked her lips and looked at Taichi insecurely. Her eyebrows emphasized her melancholy.
She murmured with an unsteady voice, as if she was afraid of something.
"Are you willing to... forgive me?"
Inaba appeared timid and weak, much different from her usual self.
Taichi's heartbeat accelerated due to Inaba's unimaginable figure, but still, he managed to squeeze his words out,
"...There wasn't anything to be sorry about or to be forgiven for. Besides, I think what Inaba said was quite right... Hey, it doesn't matter, you don't have to get so worried."
Hearing Taichi's comforting words, Inaba eased off, loosened up her cheeks and had a natural and comfortable expression that was enough to puzzle Taichi deep in his heart.
"Right, we must get going! If we just stay here, we'll never finish our duties."
Taichi was a bit embarrassed. He advanced forward without looking at Inaba.
"—You surely are a dull and slow-witted person."
Inaba's murmur was carried to Taichi's ear by the wind.
"Because... you didn't even notice that your trash bag had already flown away."
"...Eh?"
Taichi looked at his hands.
The trash bag that should have been in his work-gloved hand was gone.
"...Inaba, do you know when it flew away?"
Inaba smiled coyly as if feeling jovial deep down in her heart.
"It was at the moment when I said 'You like Iori, right?' and Taichi went 'Arghh!'"
"Wasn't that a long time ago? Why didn't you tell me then?"
"Because... it's more interesting this way."
Inaba, who always maliciously teases others for fun like a sadist, stood there plainly.
It was the following Monday and the first lesson had ended and recess had arrived. Yaegashi Taichi tried to calmly discuss Nagase Iori's strange behaviour with Inaba Himeko.
He thought that if he seemed too serious, it would be troublesome for Iori. So he tried to speak about it lightheartedly. But Inaba listened determinedly.
"Oh... Has it become like that?"
Inaba held her chin against her hand and said profoundly.
"What do you mean by becoming like 'that'?"
"That is that... Seriously, I had hoped it wouldn't get lost in the middle."
"And just what do you mean by 'getting lost in the middle'?"
"～～Getting lost in the middle is getting lost in the middle! Use your brain! Or ask her yourself!"
Inaba crazily pushed Taichi forward. Taichi stepped on the air a few times, then he fixed his vision on Iori who was just standing up.
With a smile filled with satisfaction, Iori jumped up and down and then directly hopped beside Taichi.
"Hm? What's the matter? Anything fun?"
"Nope, nothing... By the way, Iori, about the thing that you talked about last Saturday when we were heading back home..."
"What? Anything wrong?"
Iori had an impeccable smile stretched across her face, pretending she didn't know a thing of what Taichi was talking about.
Seeing that smile caused a bit of dizziness, and Taichi started to feel that what he questioned in his mind was maybe some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe it was just a production from a sudden impulse she had, he thought.
"Ah... No, nothing."
There wasn't anything worth worrying about, Taichi concluded, and he closed the topic... Inaba, who was behind him, deliberately clicked her tongue, seemingly out of disgust, as if wanting Taichi to hear her dissatisfaction.
□■□■□
Today was another typical boring day in the midst of September. After the fifth lesson had ended and recess had begun, a dangerous atmosphere had ramped up in class 1C.
As usual, everyone was pleasantly chatting or playing. Despite playing amongst themselves, they sometimes would glance at a specific point in the classroom.
At that point, or what they called the death zone, sat Inaba. Being reckoned unanimously as the cause of the deadly atmosphere, Inaba was spreading an aura that said, "I'm very angry. Don't come close to me. If you do, I can't be sure of what I'll do to you." (Of course she didn't say it out loud.)
If you were to have the slightest contact with the death zone, explosions might be induced. Therefore, we had to treat the situation with utmost care.
"Say, Inaba. Don't just put that dirty look on your face."
Nagase rocked her chair in front of Inaba.
Her guts and bold actions astounded her classmates.
"It's getting serious!" "That's too impetuous!" "Iori... You are such a marvelous person." "Gosh! What was the bomb squad doing!"
Divergent words spread in all corners of the classroom. Nagase's unexpected actions caused the soft whispers to amplify.
On that note, the 'bomb squad' should be alluding to Taichi, who was standing near ground zero... In fact, Taichi was pushed forward by the person who spoke of him.
What happened was simple. At the start of the fifth lesson (classics), Inaba Himeko and Aoki Yoshifumi exchanged personalities. During the lesson, Aoki [Inaba] fell into a deep sleep in the classroom of 1C. When the teacher found out, he whacked the textbook on Inaba's head, thus making a 'bam' sound. When he woke up, Inaba's personality had returned to [Inaba's body]. This is what happened. (Though it's uncertain whether the recovery occurred when she was asleep or at the moment she was hit.)
"Me... being whacked on the head by a mere teacher? That's so humiliating!"
Who does Inaba think she was? I really wanted to question her once and for all.
"Calm down, Inaban. You have to understand that some things can only be accepted. What you can do is to hold this anger and thrash it onto the culprit."
"Nagase, you know that's a death sentence for Aoki, right?"
"You're right. Fufufu... the price he needs to pay is very high."
Inaba grinned with an audacious smile, then stuck out her tongue and licked her upper lips.
Her ferocious criminal look caused moans in the classroom.
"Eeeeh!" "Calm her down, quick!" "It's okay, she won't hurt us!" "Is the bomb squad doing anything at all?"
It looked like everyone became interested in what would happen.
"I think I just heard some malicious crap..."
Becoming aware of the murmuring, Inaba swung her head to look around the classroom.
"It's just your imagination, Inaba!"
To safeguard the prestige of the bomb squad, Taichi stopped Inaba.
Right at that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of the recess and the start of the sixth lesson (class meeting). At the same time, the supervisor, Gotou Ryuzen, rushed into the classroom. He looked a bit different. Usually, he would have come a bit late due to his laziness.
"Oi! Go back to your seats already!"
Gotou clearly urged the students to return to their seats. After Taichi and Nagase said goodbye to Inaba, who still had a dirty look, they returned to their own seats.
Seemingly without reason, Gotou cleared his throat with a few coughs. His presence felt really weird.
"Eh... Okay, listen well."
Gotou's tone was strangely formal. As if he had already prepared a speech, he announced,
"I think some of you know this, but our school regularly holds voluntary cleaning activities in small areas. Because almost nobody participates actively, in most cases, the sports clubs take turns doing it. But because of coming competitions and itinerary planning failures, we are short of participants. In our staff meeting, we decided to choose three students from three of the first and second year classes to participate in this mandatory cleaning activity. Third years are excluded because they have exams."
Though a strong, uneasy sense of foreboding was bubbling, the students of class 1C still held onto the slightest hope and waited for Gotou to continue.
"Then, to decide which three classes would be chosen, we held a game of rock-paper-scissors. Because in the game, I, your teacher, beautifully..."
Gotou slowly looked around the whole classroom, wasting a lot of time to keep the listeners in suspense.
"...lost..."
"You peabrain!" "How can you lose!" "Why did you keep us in suspense? We can't stand it!"
The corny ending angered the students. From all corners, they vigorously verbally tackled Gotou.
"I didn't lose intentionally! So, our class has to send out three people! You can choose the participants yourselves! Yeah, and don't go on a strike! If you do, the whole class will have to participate in the next cleaning activity as a punishment... So, Fujishima, help me finish this! Gather in front of the gate after school!"
Gotou flew out of the classroom right after he finished speaking.
"Tea, Teacher?"
The president of class 1C, Fujishima Maiko, felt nervous and puzzled after being called on so suddenly.
"Hey, he got away!" "He abdicated his duties!" "Is he even a teacher?!"
The students complained one after another. However, the complaints could only reverberate in the vacuum of the classroom, as Gotou had already left.
"Ahh... That's that. So for those who want to participate... there should be no one, right? To those who are willing to participate, raise your hands."
Fujishima, despite showing a face full of dissatisfaction and reluctance, still stood in front of the teacher's table to shoulder the responsibility she had been stuffed with.
Of course, no one raised their hands. Only those who had psychological problems would actively participate in a non-profitable and bothersome activity like this.
"You should go." "Sorry, I'm very busy in my club." "By the way, everyone in our school has their own clubs, right?" "Sport clubs usually help in these occasions. Maybe the cultural clubs can help this time?" "That has no relationship with our problem now, right?" Although everyone found different excuses, in the end, they only wanted to shirk their responsibilities.
Fujishima originally planned to seriously consider what everyone thought, but because of the huge dispute, she gave up her idea.
"Phew... Then let's discuss how to decide our participants. If we still can't grab enough people, we will decide this with game of rock-paper-scissors."
"Hey, are you going to give up your duties as class president?" The students threw away their problems and started to criticise Fujishima.
"Yes, yes, I understand! I'll be one of the three. We'll need two more. Is this okay?"
It certainly is Fujishima. Everyone began to applaud this time—the attitude of the students surely changed quickly.
By the way, Fujishima is an impressive person... it's important to keep in mind that Fujishima has a side to her personality other than making Iori afraid.
Then Taichi started to contemplate.
If only the volunteer work were a bit more interesting... But however I put it, no one would be willing to participate in these cleaning activities. Then, it makes sense that shirking responsibilities are inevitable.
If we were to decide by means of discussion, people who are weaker will most likely be forced to participate.
In this case, we would have to decide by a game of rock-paper-scissors. Now if we chose someone who has important things to do during that time, it would only cause more trouble for that person. Or maybe someone will suggest that those who have really important things on their schedule can be exempt from these duties. But most likely, another fight would occur when such an subjective rule is discussed.
If we continue on like this, someone will have a headache, no matter what kind of measure is introduced.
Either way, there should be a way to prevent it from happening, isn't that right? Taichi thought of a way... Though it was a way that he already knew from the start—
The way was simple and innocent.
Through this way, everything would be solved.
Of course, we were still left with one more person. But at least we can save one.
Taichi huffed. He closed his eyes and rose his right hand.
"I volunteer."
—But his voice was not quite right. He instantly noticed this.
He opened his eyes.
His distance from the teacher table... No, his own sitting position had changed.
This implies that—
"Ah, umm...So [Inaba-san] is willing to participate, right?"
Fujishima asked with an unbelievable expression on her face.
Taichi and the others were already quite used to the personality exchange, so even during the most shocking of recent exchanges, he could still confront it calmly. But back on topic, the timing of the exchange this time was too accurate, right?
Taichi turned his head to confirm for himself, that is, where [Yaegashi Taichi] sat.
"I... I also volunteer."
With taut cheeks, [Taichi], most likely being Inaba, pointed downwards from her chest with the middle finger of her left hand and raised her right hand straight up.
After coming back to the classroom and getting scolded by the angry students, Gotou announced the dismissal of the class meeting.
"I can understand why Yaegashi Taichi joined, but is Inaba a person that would do such things?" "Inaba-san is really weird today right?" "To put it correctly, those guys seem a bit weird recently."
In the buzzing classroom, Taichi [Inaba] was beside Inaba [Taichi] to discuss what just happened.
"Ah... Enough already! Today really sucks."
Inaba [Taichi] was infuriated, but she thought of the situation in the classroom and complained in a lowly voice.
"Um... About that, as I have said before, I'm really sorry. This time, just blame the 'personality exchange' that miraculously occurred right when I raised my hands."
"Right, including the exchange with Aoki, the timing of today's personality exchange was quite malicious. Still, I am angry at you."
Inaba [Taichi] stared at Taichi with vicious eyes.
Taichi thought it was quite fresh. He didn't expect his body could exude such daring.
"I will find a chance to repay you. Please, let me go this time."
"Hmph. How should I get my revenge?"
Instead of agreeing with compensation, Inaba seemed to look more forward on how to return the loss... She was that wicked.
"Okay, okay. [Taichi], please don't angrily stare at her. If you do, you will become suspicious! Here, smile."
Iori, who seemed to have another motive apart from what she had said, pleasantly pinched Inaba's [Taichi's] cheeks, as if trying to make a smile out of her expression.
"What? This looks kind of strange and ill. Right! This is because Taichi is a person who doesn't usually smile."
"Then stop it please. Nobody benefits from this."
Looking at someone else playing with [his] face, Taichi was a bit embarrassed and felt acidulous.
"Jokes aside, Fujishima seems to be looking at us right now."
Inaba [Taichi] warned her while Iori was still rubbing her cheeks by Iori. Taichi [Inaba] turned to look back. Fujishima was standing there with her hands crossed and her eyes fixed on them.
Though Fujishima was usually gentle and friendly, her expression now was extremely scary.
Fujishima pushed Taichi and Inaba out of the classroom to do work. Nagase went to the clubroom after leaving some words, 'You guys go and pick up that trash diligently, bye～".
The three left their belongings in the classroom and gathered at the front door. Fujishima went in front and the other two followed behind her.
On the way, Inaba [Taichi] lightly poked Taichi's [Inaba's] abdomen with her arm, and inquired lowly,
"Is Fujishima that unfriendly to you all the time?"
"Yeah. Since the first time my personality exchanged with Iori. The resulting turmoil from that event caused this condition."
"I understand. To get frantically touched by a strange male classmate isn't something easy to get over. Besides, Fujishima seems to have that peculiar taste [1] and has a crush on Nagase. It is understandable for her to have a crush on Nagase after seeing her, 'naive' and pretty, rubbing her breasts alone. Nevertheless, for her to take you as her rival for Nagase may be quite interesting after all."
"This isn't interesting at all."
Fujishima suddenly turned her head to Taichi and Inaba.
"Inaba, can I borrow Taichi for a minute?"
"Oh, what's the—" Right when Taichi [Inaba] wanted to reply,
"What's the matter?" Inaba [Taichi] loudly interrupted him.
Inaba [Taichi] potently hit Taichi [Inaba] with her elbow, and walked towards Fujishima with big steps. On her way, she incessantly looked back to Taichi and mouthed "You idiot".
That was so close... It was just impossible to not respond when my name was called for.
On the other hand, Inaba was much more brilliant. She even helped others to remedy their mistakes while not making any herself. Such a helping hand was Inaba indeed.
"I've been curious about this, so I'll just say it—What's the relationship between Iori and Taichi?"
"Eh...?" Taichi [Inaba], who listened at their backs, was stunned and speechless.
To ask questions directly without beating around the bush, and to neglect the people around who might hear her—she was Fujishima, a venerable person.
"Oi. You guys seem to be quite attached today. And also, on that day, you even took Iori away with you..."
"Even if you ask me what relationship we are in..."
Though Inaba [Taichi] spoke hesitantly and turned around to look at Taichi, she seemed to have thought of something and showed a face of sudden hope.
Despite the hopeful face, what Taichi could see was only desperation.
"It certainly is a relationship between a boy and a girl!"
...She was brave.
"You are lying."
...And her lie was instantly seen through.
"What the... How did you know I was lying?"
"Don't underestimate me. Once you reach the same level as me, you would know whether a girl had been touched by a boy with just your eyes."
Fujishima's unfathomable potential sent a chill down my spine as she reset her spectacles on her nose, though I am quite hesitant whether to praise her for this.
"Is that so? Then allow me be blunt."
Inaba's [Taichi] emotional murmur was inexplicable.
Taichi wanted to interrupt and cease her words, but it was too late. Besides, even if he tried to deny Inaba, it would not persuade Fujishima if the speaker weren’t Taichi himself.
"The relationship between Nagase and I... is close to the relationship between a boy and a girl!"
"Close... I'm surprised. This may be a crisis!"
"This is the case, so please don't go near Nagase!"
"That was what I have to say to somebody who frantically touches a girl's body..."
"Alright, stop! Please!"
Taichi [Inaba] squeezed between the two of them to end their topic in order to prevent anything dangerous from happening.
Inaba [Taichi] clicked discontentedly with her tongue while Fujishima snorted.
Taichi could only sigh to their responses.
A teacher was (reluctantly) explaining to the students gathered at the front of the door what there was to do. Essentially, the goal was to collect a set amount of trash near the school. If anyone was found collecting trash from the trash bins to meet their quota, they would be severely punished. After explaining, she ordered the students to distribute amongst themselves a pair of work gloves and a trash bag (and some even had a long picker for collecting rubbish). The students were off to work after that.
Because Fujishima went into action with her friends from other classes, Taichi and Inaba were left to themselves as they proceeded outside school.
Under a clear bright sky, the two were wandering around in an oddly spacious park near the school.
"Arghh... Am I on a date with you collecting trash?"
Inaba [Taichi] clanged the trash she held in mid-air with her hands and lazily muttered.
Indeed, the bright weather was very suitable for walking. If the fact that they had to collect trash was excluded (though this is inevitable), they seemed to be on a date.
"This can't be helped. I—"
Instantly, the scene became pitch black and his position had changed—or had switched back. Taichi's personality returned to [Taichi's body] while Inaba's personality returned to [Inaba's body]—everything was back to normal.
"...Returning back to my body with this strange timing? Life sucks... Oh, so, Taichi, give me the trash picker."
Inaba complained angrily and snatched the trash picker from Taichi's hands.
"Please don't mind."
"How can I not mind it? Thanks to you, my image, which I used half a year to establish, was pulverized in just a few hours."
"The way you end your sentence sounds just like the Spanish tone used to present the wrestlers when Japan broadcasts American Professional Wrestling."
"Could you not use a metaphor that no one would understand? You fool."
Even though I knew how stupid the metaphors were, sometimes I can't stop myself from saying them.
"But letting others know the other sides of you, such as when you sleep, and showing that you are actually a good person... Won't that make you more popular instead?"
"I don't count on that. Tt's only leverage for my enemies to take advantage of—this infuriates me."
"Who are your enemies?"
"Basically, everyone except myself."
Inaba grinned boldly, said "Oh, I found a large target", used the trash picker to clip the target and threw it into her trash bag. The target seemed to be a crushed monthly magazine drenched in the rain.
"Your definition of 'enemies' is quite unpleasant, but first putting that aside... What the hell happened when you talked with Fujishima! Can you please speak in euphemism? I don't want to make enemies with anyone in class."
Taichi emphasized his words, but Inaba just snorted in reply.
"Hey, it's fine if you don't thank me, but I don't remember doing anything that deserves your blame! Didn't I set up an explicit opposition with Fujishima? If you work hard, I bet you could save Iori from Fujishima's evil hands."
"I don't get what you mean."
"What you are saying? Isn't this situation suitable for you? Right—"
Inaba temporarily stopped herself and met her eyes with Taichi. Her eyes were filled with sympathy, compassion, gratefulness, anger and anxiety. If Taichi hadn't guess wrong, there was also a bit of enviousness.
She then continued to speak,
"—You are a fool who loves to sacrifice himself."
"...What do you mean by a fool who loves to sacrifice himself?"
Taichi did not quite understood what Inaba meant. Although he didn't understand, he started to have some trouble breathing.
"It is what it literally means. Aren't my wordings very exact?"
Inaba tilted her head at Taichi, and spoke confidently.
"I don't find it exact in any way—"
"Then let me ask you, why would you voluntarily join this nasty activity?"
"...Because no one wanted to do it, but someone had to. If I took the job, then others would not be forced to join—"
"Why didn't you put yourself inside the group of people you call 'others'? Surely you didn't actually want to do it either? Such being the case, aren't you the one being forced to join?"
"Well...."
Taichi was speechless. He wanted to say something but he couldn't find the words he wanted. Those words must have hidden deep in a foggy space.
"You certainly are a fool who likes to sacrifice himself. Why can't you consider yourself as you consider others? Why do you have to treat yourself so differently? Oh, I do not mean that you are looking at yourself as more sublime, but as the opposite—you disdain yourself so you think that it's no big deal to sacrifice yourself. I can't understand why anyone would not treasure themselves. I am even disgusted by this."
Inaba used words that had more bite, relentlessly slashing them onto Taichi.
"Why do you like professional wrestling?"
Inaba suddenly switched their topic.
Though it was sudden, it was something he loved; therefore, he answered directly and fluently.
"If I were to explain why to someone who isn't familiar with wrestling, the reason should be 'the beauty to receive'. Since pro wrestling is a performance run from a script, it's not a fight with two opponents competing for their lives. On the contrary, this is a performance to attract the audience and 'compete with the audience'. Wrestling is not only about having a strong side with magnificent skills, but also about needing a side to 'receive' those strong attacks. Whether the skills or the competition would be attractive to the audience, or whether the competition would have a remarkable finish, hinges mainly on the side who 'receives' those attacks. The form of professional wrestling could be complete only when a side receives attacks. I especially like those whose job is to act as losers, hence their name, 'jobbers'. If I were to speak of the advantages according to their losing faces—"
"Shut up, you disgraceful pro wrestling otaku."
Inaba rudely lashed out at Taichi without any attempt of veiling her scorn towards him.
"I-It's you who told me..."
"No one told you to explain it in such detail, you disgraceful pro wrestling otaku."
She repeated her voice of dissatisfaction in disdain.
"Y-You don't have to repeat 'disgraceful pro wrestling otaku' twice..."
"So what I mean is that what you call 'the beauty to receive', if implemented on you, should be called 'the beauty of self-sacrificing'."
"Inaba, you are not quite right, 'the beauty to receive' is—"
"Don't get me wrong. I am not referring to regular professional wrestling, but just your case."
"My case isn't either..."
Was it because I was being overwhelmed by Inaba's forcible attitude that caused my indistinct reply...? Or was it because she understood the crux of the matter?
"Hmph, this is hard to say."
Inaba sighed, looked down on the floor, picked up an empty lunchbox and threw it into her trash bag. I was uncertain whether it was because she had already finished saying what she had wanted to.
Compared to Inaba, who has been successfully picking up trash from the beginning, Taichi's trash bag was still completely empty.
"Then, back to the topic... You like Iori, right?"
"Arghh!"
Taichi couldn't stop himself from puffing.
"Your responses have became quite exaggerated. Back then, you were a person with no emotions."
'Gwahaha'—Inaba held her belly while laughing. It was obvious she had known Taichi would respond in such way when she asked.
"I'm only forced to do so! Besides, what topic did you go back to? You didn't go back to any topic at all."
"What I mean is to encourage you to get Iori as quick as possible before she gets snatched by Fujishima."
"How did it end up like this? I don't understand the significance of competing with Fujishima. And before that, 'I must get Nagase' was already a strange topic."
"Don't you understand? Among the five members of the Cultural Research Club, the weakest person is Iori! I've never seen someone as unstable as her."
The scene of when I chatted with Nagase [Aoki] flashed in my mind. Expressing that many emotions in such a short period of time... Was she full with emotions, or was she unstable?
"Also, you like those who are weak, right? After all, you must be the one who becomes the wall who stands upon the wind, the man who endures the wounds he's received to protect his companion. If you don't, she might go crazy! To someone who's devoted to self-sacrifice, she is the best choice ever."
"...You should not decide things yourself, Inaba. I haven't even thought about those things."
I acknowledge that Inaba is smarter than me, but it is I who knows the most about myself, so it was unreasonable of her to criticise me with her imagination.
"This is hard to say—" Inaba spoke lowly, and twisted her trash picker around.
"It was Taichi who didn't understand, so things got worse. Also, let me first tell you, Iori also likes Taichi."
"No, that can't be possible."
Taichi calmly responded with a sharp-tongue response.
"Tsk, your response is so boring. You should have been better the second time."
Inaba would set up these strange rules.
"I don't care! It was only Inaba making things up."
"You're quite rude, you know? I, of course, have real evidence to support such a claim. That girl Iori needs some support! She needs to confirm her own existence whenever anything happens. Isn't this just perfect for you, the disgusting fool who wishes to sacrifice everything for the sake of others? Taichi, it's because of your broken and distorted worldview that make you and Iori fit. It's the same rationale that the cogs in gears match up and work together, right?"
She's gone too far.
"You've gone too far—"
"Besides, you have the most vitality when you are with Iori."
This was the only line where Inaba turned her eyes away and rudely spat.
"Is that so?"
She was speaking with such snark and bite that when she started to speak normally, it was genuinely surprising.
"Anything is fine for me. This is a problem between you and Iori; do whatever you guys like. It has nothing to do with me.
"It was only a little bit of meddling in your business—" It occurred to Inaba too that this type of line didn't match her, so she quickened her walking pace after commenting embarrassedly.
Though she was the type who would recklessly and bluntly tell others her thoughts in jest, this was the first time that Inaba's words were burnt deeply into his memory. This had something to do with the personality exchange somehow.
"But I still think that—" Inaba murmured worriedly. And that together with her grand posture made her seem like a mismatched mosaic.
"Iori is in the most danger."
"Danger... What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, in this 'personality exchange', Iori seems to be the most likely person to have their psyche destroyed. And the person who will experience the most negative impacts is her."
She spoke frankly.
"Negative impacts from the personality exchange? Certainly there would be problems, but isn't getting destroyed too serious? We don't know exactly when big problems will arise, but so far it's only been a nuissance. Should we take it that seriously? After all, the personality exchange only stays for two hours, and in most cases, much less. If we take it as it is, it's really not something that serious, or at least we haven't seen anything serious until now."
Taichi replied easily without much thought.
"You are such an idiot!"
Inaba angrily scolded him with a tone filled with derision.
She drooped her head and stopped moving. She quivered agitatedly while she continued.
"Are you serious? How can you act as if it was nothing to you? It's unmistakable: the dullest and most slow-witted person of us is you, Taichi. Maybe it's because you are a self-sacrificing idiot that you're unresponsive to pain. But our condition now is the most serious—a crisis that is filled with absolute desperation! Anyone could get hurt or destroyed at any time, anywhere or by anything. Do you not realize this? In this personality exchange, there is nothing that is not serious or unimportant!"
Inaba lifted her head and harshly stared at Taichi with her long and fine eyes, as if wanting to kill him.
Inaba gets angry easily, but she never gets so angry that she would drown in her emotions with anger transcending her sanity.
But right now, Inaba was exactly that.
This was an indication of her extreme anger. It was reasonable, however; she had remarked that the situation was a case of complete desperation, and even gave out a warning. Nevertheless, Taichi still spoke mindlessly like an idiot.
My past self once reckoned the personality exchange as a condition that was very dangerous. I did have the chance to think like Inaba, but maybe it was because I wanted to persuade myself to think optimistically that I would say such naïve and dumb words.
"...Sorry, Inaba." Taichi spontaneously spoke the words of apology.
Inaba smiled wryly with an embarrassed expression on her face.
"Ahhh... No, I should be the one to apologise. It seems that I've gone too far today. My mood wasn't good after all the things that have happened to me... sorry."
Inaba locked her lips and looked at Taichi insecurely. Her eyebrows emphasized her melancholy.
She murmured with an unsteady voice, as if she was afraid of something.
"Are you willing to... forgive me?"
Inaba appeared timid and weak, much different from her usual self.
Taichi's heartbeat accelerated due to Inaba's unimaginable figure, but still, he managed to squeeze his words out,
"...There wasn't anything to be sorry about or to be forgiven for. Besides, I think what Inaba said was quite right... Hey, it doesn't matter, you don't have to get so worried."
Hearing Taichi's comforting words, Inaba eased off, loosened up her cheeks and had a natural and comfortable expression that was enough to puzzle Taichi deep in his heart.
"Right, we must get going! If we just stay here, we'll never finish our duties."
Taichi was a bit embarrassed. He advanced forward without looking at Inaba.
"—You surely are a dull and slow-witted person."
Inaba's murmur was carried to Taichi's ear by the wind.
"Because... you didn't even notice that your trash bag had already flown away."
"...Eh?"
Taichi looked at his hands.
The trash bag that should have been in his work-gloved hand was gone.
"...Inaba, do you know when it flew away?"
Inaba smiled coyly as if feeling jovial deep down in her heart.
"It was at the moment when I said 'You like Iori, right?' and Taichi went 'Arghh!'"
"Wasn't that a long time ago? Why didn't you tell me then?"
"Because... it's more interesting this way."
Inaba, who always maliciously teases others for fun like a sadist, stood there plainly.
