Chasing After Rainbows

Yuko had called me to her office as if there was something important to talk about that gardener and wanted to bring me away as if I would encounter something bad if I didn't. Yuko: "There you are! I've some shocking news for you: That gardener you spoke to earlier was the high school principal of me and Kotomi. He looked like this and had visible health problems when I graduated." Yuko pointed to an old man in a photograph, which doesn't look like the young female gardener I saw earlier. Me: "Are you sure that's the same person?" I'm trying very hard to not be distracted by Yuko's appearance: there's a noticeable change of the colour scheme since I last saw her here, and she seems to be wearing black stockings that covers her legs completely. I've also noticed that the staff working here has their uniforms changed, though different from Yuko, who is the supervisor but she claims that she isn't and there aren'

I've never actually seen much of the areas around Mizuho Academy, but looking at the areas I've only gone to once, it's somewhat smaller than Mihara academy, but with higher density. The office district alone looks like the downtown district of the capital. Everywhere you look, it seems well designed and maintained: you don't come across anything unpleasant at all as everyone is mindful of others. Well, maybe I would eventually end up at the other places in some point in time. Navigating around the whole Mizuho campus requires you to either take the inter-campus train, or climb a lot of stairs and elevators, and not much open spaces besides courtyards. I think I might go to some of these places I've never been to at some point in the future. Despite the high class appearance or being close to one of the many train station, office and shop rental rates is below 100 yen per square meter per month, which is ridiculously cheap even for a similar space far away f

Yuko used her computer to access some complex software, that's only accessible to Hatsuya staff, that could analyze any motion of every single object in the whole galaxy from who knows when to now, so this could be used to check what happened to Takagi's friend. Finding someone whose details are mostly unknown and has not been seen for a long time is not easy. Me: "So, have you found out about anything?" There was a delay in response as Yuko continued using the computer for a while before talking to me. Yuko: "There's too much noise for me to tell what I'm even looking at and... hold on. Something's not right... he seemed to have physically disappeared even earlier than when he was last heard of. How could that be possible? He answered all phone calls and email to him after it happened. Even his rent was paid monthly too, right until the months leading to police came knocking on his door for not renewing his visa and having no records of

Researching about a person that Takagi wants me to find that has been missing for two years was not easy: the longer a missing person has not been found, the harder it is to find them. Just searching for a child who has gone missing for only less than a week is hard enough, but a young adult could be anywhere in the world, including places that I've never even heard of. There's a vast amount knowledge and information stored inside me, but only ones that I've actually learnt, or what someone wants me to know (which gives me the strange feeling of knowing about something quite well about something I had never never learn), are only accessible to me. It's quite ironic that I have to ask someone to access something that is a part of me. Why can't I do it myself? Well, having a glance of what that information was, it contains every action of anywhere of any given time, which you could turn into what a particular someone was up to even though nothing was actually record

I was given a case to solve via a schoolmate that claimed to be Takagi's cousin that has several unknowns and I don't have personal experience with the things involved made it more challenging to solve. I had my doubts if this Yui Ito (伊藤湯井) is a cousin of Kamisugi High's computing club senior, who is now working for me at Powell Institute. I never knew what Takagi's given name was, but I wondered if the name Yui gave me (Megumi) is even the Takagi I had in mind. I had to ask her personally. It's pointless asking "the other me" as they don't know who she is other than as someone only I had met. I was caught off-guard by her to call me by my actual name instead of Kanade Haneda, something that only people who had met me before April this year or knew through someone before that time and indicated my current identity. I can't think of anyone outside the Hatsuya research institute who knows this, and Takagi certainly doesn't fall in that group. Un

This happened after funeral of Nanami's parents and brother, but before Kotomi arrived back from her college graduation trip. A time long enough to know people inside Mizuho and knowing how to get around. Since my first day here as a Mizuho student, it's strange that I have not heard of any complaints with the strangeness about the academy's uniforms that it's making them do. Nobody complained about not being able take it off, even for sports activities. Current students and a few people who have not been able to meet the condition to be able to remote the uniform, have practically been wearing it for months and its condition is the same as when brand new. There is a specific reason for this as, in Mizuho, everyone becomes a young woman both mentally and physically. (Coincidentally, the majority of the campus population are actual young females outside Mizuho.) This measure is to make sure that a person's true identity is not known, and have everyone not to have g

Kotomi's unexpected immediate departure after attending the funeral of Nanami's family on the same day as her arrival left Itsuki and I speechless, but at the same time relief our fears of the possibility of bringing her to our parent's house as there's the mess and questionable things left lying around in there. Our parents already knows about Itsuki's change of appearance when wearing his work attire (mother is always at home when Itsuki comes back), but they were not told to not say anything about it to Kotomi. Her graduation day is just a few months away, so I'm guessing that she is busy preparing for her final exams or project. I don't know when exactly her graduation day is, but I know the school year there starts in September instead of April here. Our parents already see Itsuki and Kotomi like a married couple since they first met the latter. They say having a girl who is pretty, with grades far better than him, and her loving him like she can'

I explained to Kotomi of how I was the same person as she met 5-6 years ago, but in a different body. She seems to be believing every word I said even though I have been expecting otherwise. She seemed more friendly towards me than Itsuki. Then, as though I'm hearing Itsuki's voice from inside my head, he tells me that he has done changing and hidden the Mizuho uniform somewhere in the car. Come to think of it, I haven't changed mine too: I was intending to change into what Kotomi is used to seeing me in, but time constraints didn't allow for that, and I can't wear anything over the uniform, except a lab coat. Since transferring into my current body, I've always found myself always wearing a skirt of a length halfway between my hips and knees, with the longest I could wear barely reaching my knees, and unable to wear longer ones or anything else, including jeans and traditional outfits, for reasons unknown to me. The timing of the new Mizuho uniforms seems as

Besides the crazy things that Yuko told me on my first day about the academy, Mizuho is actually a normal school and does not have strange lessons like what I feared might happen. With this strange rule of Mizuho students not being able to physically change out of the uniforms until graduation, I would wonder how things are done or what to do should I find myself drenched or be splattered with paint or mud. I have to do some paperwork to let myself in the restricted areas of the Powell institute since the staff are going to see me as I am now a lot. The staff processing my forms thinks that the one approving it and the person being allowed in are two different people while it's actually letting myself in while in disguise. They might expect me in my disguised form to be "employed" in the near future. I mean, why would I want to be employed by the very same company I founded? Simple: to experience what my new staff go through, and to see if my staff would do things that

The downtown district of the academy resembles very much like the downtown areas I know of. The upper floors of these buildings has offices, or dormitories. To get here from the main entrance, you would have to take the subway as it's quite a long walk in and the only roads in the campus are only between the vehicle entrance and the sector where most of the offices in the campus are. It's almost like walking and the subway are the only way to get around. Running and cycling is actually allowed, but nobody except students were seen doing so because they physically can't. The subway has entrances at various places around the campus. As there are only young ladies here wearing the assigned mandatory Mizuho uniform, there are no clothes or shoe shops at all. I see products that are only sold in the campus, like milk with higher-than-usual nutrition and is quite popular, but the quantity stocked seems relative to the number of people in the campus the day before. Handbags with

I wasn't late for class, but the uncertainty of its location and little time left did make me feel anxious. I did notice that there are things in the school that an average school doesn't have, but I wasn't paying attention to them. The gardener and the granddaughter I spoke to earlier creeps me out even more than Itsuki's change while in here in terms of how dramatic the change was: a baby who looks and behaves like a teenager, and an old man with age-related problems appearing to be a healthy young woman. Although the academy itself being well known for academic results, it seems that absolutely nobody is even aware of this thing happening. Hidden in what seems to be a female-only population, there are male students and staff in the academy. The Mizuho uniform temporarily transforms them into females in every aspect until it's removed outside the campus (which itself is a complicated process) when nobody is watching. Adapting is not a problem, but it does if the

It's now the transitional period between winter and spring as I could see the snow slowly melting away and the cherry blossom petals growing. The weather's getting warmer, but still cold enough to wear warm clothing. Over there is the karaoke box Kotomi once told me she went to with her middle school friends, and how she saw her dad when she came out from the uniform store across the street. Strange. Seeing juniors I didn't know from the schools I had attended makes me feel superior over them, but sad that I'm no longer a student. If I could be a teacher there, it wouldn't be the same either. People I know from Mihara and the schools before that would not even know me. I have just graduated from high school, but would be entering another. Getting to know people in school and the high portability of not meeting them again after graduating makes me feel sad too. Not counting graduation day, the days after the last lessons before the college entrance tests until afte

As though it was because of Takuya's happiness he didn't show to me, the cherry blossom trees started blooming the following day. Though my view of how the company runs is no different than that of a newbie, I don't want staff to know that. Neither do I want to be deceived by the possible cover-up by the supervisors either. If I were to announce my arrival to check on things, everyone would hide stuff from me (as someone important) and be unnaturally formal. How much things they could hide from me depends on how far in advance the notice was given, and how frequent I do it, which might give them the ability to predict if there was a pattern. Seriously, the more important a person is, the more others would hide things from them, unless they don't know that. The chief executive officer is the one who oversees the company on a daily basis, while I can just hide somewhere to the point that I'm forgotten, but, if I want to, override his command without warning as I have

My position as the Kamisugi High's Computer Club President has been handed over to the person whom everyone has elected months earlier, just before every third year became very serious for their college entrance tests. Initially, I wanted Takagi to take over my position, but he revealed to me that he was in the same year as me. That left me an uncertainty on how the newly elected club president would lead. As I cleared out my things, I came across that strange doll again. It's the doll that, according to rumors, people who had came across this doll had their lives completely changed, like my Mihara classmate and her childhood friend some years ago... Wait. Could I also be one of its many victims too? The day it happened is about the same... No, it can't be, right? But, I've seen that thing several times, and my life now is completely different from before I first saw it... I think I should leave this thing behind and... what is he doing here? Me: "Takuya-kun,

The new year has started, and I'm approaching my graduation from Kamisugi High. Knowing that my endless life would go on like a never-ending loop, I stopped caring about what year it is now, other than this feeling that Kotomi would be back from her college studies in America and hopefully side with me to deal with my annoying other self. I haven't seen her for at least three years. With the duration of not seeing a person exceeds the time between meeting that person for the first time and the last you see them, there's an increased chance that the other person might not recall you. The school that I will be headed to after Kamisugi High is Mizuho Girls' Academy. They have officially dropped "High School" from the name due to the confusion with the other departments it has there and office areas within its grounds. They have also introduced an optional 4th year where they could graduate with a master's degree, making Mizuho look like a shortcut for Middl

This happened on my first day back in class after I was mentally tortured by my own other self. It could have been worse if the higher-ups had chosen me instead of him. Itsuki had that unhappy look when I was there and that "testing" continued on even after I left. I wonder what's going on? Female classmate:  "Hisakawa-san? What happened to you? You were away for quite a few days. You looked just fine just barely half an hour before you collapsed from the fever."

Walking along the street, I thought about the course of action that I should take. It might not seem hard at a glance, but the chain reaction as a cause of it should be taken into account too, which is a complicated thing to predict. Before I knew it, a group of foreigners who were looking at the city map stopped me to ask for directions as I was the only person around they could ask. I wonder where they are from? They look foreign, but they don't seem to be from western countries either. It seems that they are trying to visit a house of someone they know who was sent here for work reasons. However, only the address in Latin characters were given and nothing else except the phone number, which is of a mobile phone. The address system in Japan can be quite confusing, even to the locals, without a map. To make matters worse, all of the signs that mark the posting areas and maps of the city like the one they are looking at, contain only Japanese text. Even the order the address is w