Chapter 37: Nostalgia

"Senpai, who are you?"

Hearing those words, I decided it was time to tell her everything. If I didn’t, Kana-chan’s mind might start breaking down. So, I explained everything to her.

That the day after we started dating, I turned into a woman. That on that same day, three others turned into women too. That those three were the people I always met at the family restaurant—and the four of us had been searching for a way to turn back ever since.

I explained it all, step by step.

At first, Kana-chan looked doubtful, but by the end, her expression softened into understanding.

"I see… That explains the strange contradictions I kept feeling. You know, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started thinking about the future—about marrying you, having children, that kind of thing. But every time I imagined it, I’d suddenly think, wait, something’s off. I just… didn’t know why it felt wrong."

So it really is a reality rewrite, huh.

"I think that’s exactly what’s happening. I’m sorry for getting you caught up in this."

"It’s fine… but can you actually turn back?"

"We’re still testing that. I really want to—because I want to marry you, Kana-chan."

I said that while pulling her into my arms.

"I’d prefer that too. But even if the worst happens and you can’t turn back, it’s okay. We’ll still be together."

Kana-chan said that and hugged me back.

"Yeah… you’re right."

"Actually, Senpai, I have one more present for you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Well… come here and I’ll show you."

Before I knew it, Kana-chan—now with a mischievous smile—pulled me into the bedroom.

"So yeah, that’s what happened."

I poked my head out from the back seat of Shachou’s Benz and explained the whole thing to everyone.

A week had passed since then. After wrapping up work for the year, I came to Kisarazu on the 30th with Nyako and Shachou. There, we met up with Chihirochi—whom we hadn’t seen in ages—and headed toward the elementary school we all graduated from.

"So the contradictions finally piled up too much, huh…"

Shachou nodded gravely.

"Looks that way. Once talk of marriage and children comes up, the weirdness becomes impossible to ignore."

We’re both women, after all. Not only can we not have kids, same-sex marriage isn’t even legal in this country.

"Still, it’s nice that Kana-chan accepted it, nya. Sounds like you two had fun."

"Guess our prediction was right—had to be a sexy night."

Yeah, no surprise there.

"I’m glad she accepted me, really. But, uh…"

"Did she… take the lead?"

"Not exactly. She was gentle. But she, uh, used this beaded thing to… you know."

Wait—what!?

"My condolences, nya."

"So you’ve gone that far, huh…"

"Stay strong."

"Yeah, well, that’s not really the point."

That’s not what I wanted to talk about.

"Isn’t it?"

"No. The real problem is that the next day, Kana-chan had no memory of anything we talked about."

She had completely forgotten.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You’re kidding."

All three of them froze in disbelief.

"Must’ve been the reality rewrite. She said maybe she’d just dreamed it all."

But her eyes weren’t lying. Kana-chan’s never been good at lying anyway.

"That’s… rough."

"Yeah…"

"Way more serious than I thought, nya."

Tell me about it. I was honestly pretty shocked.

"So yeah, I think things are getting bad for Kana-chan. I really need to find a way to turn back for real."

"I agree, nya."

"Yeah, that’s serious."

"Then let’s do our best."

All three nodded with unusually serious faces.

While we talked, the car finally arrived at our old elementary school. Shachou parked in a nearby lot, and we all got out to walk toward the gate.

Before long, the familiar school gate came into view—the one we’d seen countless times back then.

"Man, this brings back memories."

"Totally, nya."

"How many years has it been?"

"For me, just a few, but for you guys it’s been, what, over ten years?"

That long, huh…

"Wait here. I’ll go talk to the teachers."

Saying that, Shachou went inside the grounds while we waited by the gate. After a short while, she returned.

"They said we can go in freely. Just remember, by the afternoon most of the remaining teachers will go home, so we’re limited to the morning."

Still working on the 30th, huh. Teachers really have it tough.

"Alright, let’s head in."

"Yeah. But we’re supposed to find something in common, right? So let’s take a walk and try to remember things as we go."

…Do I even remember anymore?

We looked up at the gate first.

"Thinking back, I just came here in the usual morning group. I rarely came late."

"Same here, nya."

"Me too."

"Yeah, elementary students don’t really show up late much, right?"

"Yeah, that’s true. Anyway—let’s go in."

As we passed through the school gate, we stepped onto the familiar grounds.

We couldn’t go inside the building itself, so we just peered in from outside, reminiscing about our school days.

But it had been so long that we couldn’t find many shared memories anymore.

Once we’d finished looking at the building, we headed toward the schoolyard.

"Was the schoolyard always this small?"

"The building too—it looks about half the size, nya."

"Yeah, you’re right..."

"I guess we just grew up, huh."

Back in the day, we used to play soccer and tag during lunch breaks. It had felt so big then, but now it seemed unbelievably tiny.

"Did any of you do club activities or anything? I wasn’t in any."

"Tama didn’t join anything either, nya."

"I was in basketball."

"I was on the soccer team."

Once again, no overlap.

It had been like this the whole time—our interests and past experiences were all over the place.

"Maybe we should try changing our approach."

"What do you mean, nya?"

"It’s hard to find common ground. Even if we did, what would it really matter?"

After all, finding common ground wouldn’t necessarily lead us back to normal.

"True. But what else can we do? Honestly, the reason I was starting to give up is because figuring out how to turn back feels like chasing smoke."

"Same here. It’s too supernatural to make sense of. I was starting to think maybe we just have to accept it. Something like this… it’s gotta be the work of a god or a demon, right?"

A god or a demon...

"Just to double-check—among us, the only ones who ever wished to be girls were Nyako and Chihirochi, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much, nya. But it wasn’t some deep wish or anything. More like, ‘I guess it wouldn’t be so bad,’ nya."

"Same here. I just thought my sister had it easier sometimes, that’s all."

"Hmm..."

"Shachou, are you sure you never thought about it?"

"Not really. Never even crossed my mind. What about you? You’ve got a little sister, right? Never felt jealous like Chihirochi?"

Jealous... of that?

"I don’t think so. My life was pretty normal, and I was fine with that. I mean, after getting a job, things got dull, sure—but that’s about it."

"I see... Still, if we’re talking gods… come to think of it, wasn’t there a shrine nearby?"

"Oh yeah, there was. Up on the hill behind the school."

"The one where you’d always find old dirty magazines?"

"The torn-up ones, nya?"

"Yep, that’s the one. Back in our day, it was where we’d go for test-of-courage dares."

Everyone seemed to know about it.

"Guess it’s famous no matter the generation. Back in my time, there was this huge incident—a piece of paper was found with classmates’ names written on it, along with the word ‘Die.’"

Oh, I’ve heard about that one.

"Yeah, they mentioned it at an all-school assembly. We even went looking for it after class."

Of course, we never found it.
It must’ve been confiscated before we got there.

"Looking back, that was seriously messed up."

"Kids can be cruel, nya~."

No kidding.

"Still, brings back memories."

"Wanna go check it out, nya? It’s walking distance anyway."

"Yeah. It’s not like we’re finding any answers just standing around here."

"Then let’s go."

And with that, we left the school behind and decided to head for the shrine.