Kokoro Connect Light Novel Volume 07

Kokoro Connect (ココロコネクト) is a Japanese light novel series written by Sadanatsu Anda, with illustrations by Shiromizakana. Volume 7 was released on February 29, 2012.

Summary
The Cultural Society look forward to their upcoming School Field Trip to Hokkaido, but before they can have fun, the second years must focus on their career planning surveys. While the rest of the members seem to know what they want in their future, Taichi remains lost and unsure. Heartseed initiates his latest phenomenon which he claims will be "the finale." The phenomenon allows the second year members to see the secret desires of other students at Yamaboshi High. While most of the club agree to ignore the phenomenon, Taichi and Yui cannot bring themselves to do so, putting them at odds with Inaba and Aoki. The phenomenon leaves the StuCS divided, and the friends learn what it really means to be a hero.

Plot Summary
"This is the final one" said Heartseed

Chapter 1
Summer Vacation is over and it's the start of a new term. Yaegashi Taichi receives a form to select his courses for next year. He has to choose whether to go into sciences or into humanities. He climbs up the stairs to room 401, the Student Cultural Society club room and opens the door. He hears the rest of the members talking about the future. Enjouji Shino was asked first but cannot come up with an answer. Kiriyama Yui tells Shino that it's still to early for her to make a decision and pats Shino's head. Seeing this, Aoki becomes jealous and wants Yui to do the same for him. Yui instead tells him that she'll give a few kicks and punches instead. Hearing this Taichi makes a Pro-Wrestling related comment but Inaba interrupts saying it wasn't needed. Nagase says to Taichi, "Inaba is stopping Taichi from making stupid comments, Inaban is back!" Inaba responds by saying "I am always Taichi's best partner, undoubtly...". Before Inaba finishes talking, Nagase interrupts saying "Dereban's stupidity is in the area". The StuCS starts talking about their own futures. Chihiro wants to get into a university and get a good paying, stable job. Inaba is going to into Sciences, trying to get into a university and discover the truth behind Heartseed. Iori is going into Humanities but is secretive about the job she wants, though she gives a hint that it is related to children. Yui wants to be a police officer in the future so she will take Humanities classes. Taichi, however, doesn't know what to say and his Course selection form remains blank. The rest of the members start giving suggestions to Taichi. Shino suggests that Taichi should become an announcer or a narrator so that she can hear Taichi's sweet voice every morning to wake her up. Inaba tells Shino that she is the only one allowed to receive any morning calls from Taichi. Shino then suggests that Inaba records the call and give it to her. Back to topic, Aoki was the next one to be asked. Aoki wants to be the boss of a new company. Because going to university is useless, he decided to work. Yui makes a comment saying Aoki can't get into university because he is not smart enough. Aoki says that it has nothing to do with that. Aoki's father has recently been fired from his job but said that "he didn't do it". The rest are confused by this last statement. Aoki's sister is working to pay off the loan, but right now he is fine for tuition because of a scholarship but there is still a financial problem. The rest of the members are worried about Aoki and Yui wants him to tell her what's really going on but Aoki declines to elaborate. After club activities, Taichi and Inaba go to a cafe and Inaba continuously pokes Taichi on the cheeks. Their talk soon becomes serious, talking about Aoki's problem and Taichi's blank Course selection form.

Chapter 2
The next day, Heartseed comes to the club room announcing that this time is the last one. This time, the second years in StuCS are able to see other people's hopes and desires which can be summed up as a "dream". The second years can see the dreams of everyone in the school except for their fellow StuCS members. The first years are not given this power but the second years are still unable to see their dreams. Heartseed calls this the bonus stage. After finishing explaining, the strategy against this phenomenon is to do nothing and ignore what you see. Inaba gives the name "Dream Perception" because you peek into other's dreams without permission. Inaba repeats "don't do anything about Dream Perception" to make it very clear. While Taichi is on his way home, he meets Fujishima Mariko jogging near his house. At that moment, Taichi sees Fujishima's dreams caused by "Dream Perception". He sees that Fujishima is walking towards a room with toilet written on it. Taichi interprets this dream as Fujishima wanting to use a washroom and offers her to come to his home to borrow his washroom and Fujishima accepts. After Fujishima is done, she asks Taichi how he knew about what she wanted and Taichi tries to make excuses to divert her from the truth. Taichi's sister, Rina comes home and meets Fujishima for the first time. Taichi then sees another dream. This time he sees Fujishima getting closer to his sister grabbing onto Rina's clothes. Taichi is horrified and immediately tells Fujishima to get out. The next day, Heartseed possessing Gotou and No.2 possessing a female student, see each other and have a conversation. No.2 asks Heartseed if the mission finished and if he regret it. Why? Isn't it odd? But Heartseed answers with "Who knows?" and the two release the bodies they're possessing.

Chapter 3
The next morning, in the StuCS, Inaba is angry that the rest of the members did not ignore the dreams they saw, but decides to forgive them since it is the first time. Aoki then starts talking about the dream he saw but before Aoki can finish, Inaba tells him to "Shut up!". Inaba repeats what she said before and tells the rest not to do anything. Suddenly Inaba sees a dream and trips. The others thought that it was because she's tiring herself out just like the personality exchange but Inaba said that it's just the Dream Perception. She keeps quiet about it as promised. Yui asks Aoki about his family problems again and asked him why his cheek is red. Aoki replied by saying his sister slapped him in the face in the morning because he mentioned the financial troubles and post-secondary education problems. Aoki said to his sister,"I'm fine, but you should think about your own happiness too." His sister said to Aoki, "How can I sacrifice my brother for my own happiness, you retard. You should help yourself instead of me!" and then she hit Aoki. Taichi and Yui thinks that Aoki's sister is aggressive and cool. Aoki makes a joke and laughs and changed the mood of the conversation while taking up the stress to himself. In class, Taichi and Yui see dreams of Ishikawa and Mariko being happy together and Taichi infer that they both want to start going out. Yui said that Taichi is starting to be like Inaba making very logical conclusions and analyzing the situations. Taichi said that going out with Inaba is like that. Yui and Taichi talk about what to do and started talking about how timing is important. Taichi talked about his past with Nagase and Inaba that if timing was different he might have gone out with Nagase instead. Then they remembered that Inaba has forbid them from doing anything about the Dream they saw and she would never allow them to take action.

After school in the club room, Shino and Chihiro joined the group and were told about the new phenomenon and Heartseed appearing again but this time they are not involved.Inaba suspects that Yui is doing something behind her back and an argument starts. Nagase then uses her position as President to stop the argument. Taichi was then allowed to explain his case that this time is different than the previous phenomenons and that we are making conclusions too soon. Next Yui's turn to make an argument. Yui says, " I think that it's not weird to protect people from things happening and connect people if there's a good thing seen. I think we must use this 'power'." Chihiro abusing the power of Illusion Projection previously repeats "using power?". Yui makes a point that she hasn't decided to use the power but when there's a time that the power must be used, she will use it. The meeting is ended after Nagase asks whether anyone has anything else to say. On their way home, Taichi, Aoki, and Yui are all heading the same way and arrived at the train station. Yui noticed that Aoki didn't say anything in the club room and asked him whether he would use this power? Aoki replies confidently he wouldn't use this power and completely agrees with Inaba.Yui asks whether Aoki is on Inaba's side and replies who are we to decide what are good things to do and which people are in trouble. Yui then brings up even if using the power can help his father's situation would he use this power? Aoki says he wouldn't do anything. Yui keeps asking why and saying it is weird to not help those who we can help. Eventually she asks what happened. Aoki just replied with two words"sexual harassment". Yui doesn't believe it and Aoki continues to explain. The situation was like this: A high school girl. Wrongfully accused Aoki's father and Aoki's family trusts him that he would never do such a thing. Aoki's father was arrested. There was no other witnesses on that train as well. Yui apologizes but Aoki says that she doesn't need to. Both Yui and Taichi know that Aoki's father wouldn't do such a thing because when they met during personality exchange, they thought Aoki's father was kind and not a bad person. Aoki says one final word, " It's not fair to help those we choose, we have to not help everyone or help everyone." When Taichi got home, he is



confused on what to do. He can't abandon people who he can help. Suddenly he sees a dream where a girl was running in the halls and sees a cell phone with a blue bear strap and after finding saying "thank god!". Taichi will be more careful tomorrow and notice if anything is dropped. Taichi can't decide who to side with, Yui or Inaba. On Monday, Taichi tells Yui that he will help those that he can help and use the power of Dream Perception to do so. When Yui asks about Inaba's permission. Taichi replies by saying her permission isn't needed. Taichi talks to Ishikawa and  confirms whether he wants to go out with Nakayama. After confirming it he gives him a push to confess to Mariko. In the end, Mariko tells Taichi and Yui that she and Ishikawa are now successfully dating.

Yui and Taichi meet after class and said that she is happy to see Mariko that happy. Taichi is happy too. Now without question, using this power to help people is not wrong. Yui says that those with power should help those who needs help as long as it's not a weird dream. Taichi then say, " The power to know other's dreams and desires, we should grant those wishes." At that moment Taichi noticed something. By knowing the dreams, wishes, and desires of people, they have a big influence on the others and can fulfill the desires of others. Doesn't this perfectly fit the act of god?

Chapter 4
Taichi and Yui began to write down the dreams they see and help the people in the dream during school. Kiriyama and Taichi decided to help bring happiness to anyone they can help. Just thinking about this, Taichi is pleased with this decision.

On the Friday after club activities, Inaba and Taichi went to their usual cafe. Inaba got straight to the point and asked Taichi," Are you planning something?" Inaba continued, "Taichi you have changed from a "Selfless Freak" to a "Meddling Bastard". Taichi replies by saying, "Everything's under control".

After the weekend, Kiriyama and Taichi met again in class. Taichi suddenly sees a dream. [Watase in his uniform is playing soccer. He goes into a store and is handed a pair of spike shoes.] Kiriyama asks Taichi what he saw but he doesn't tell Kiriyama.

During break, Kiriyama goes to Taichi and tells him that she saw something about Aoki's father's problem. The pair went to the third year floor and searched for the girl Kiriyama saw in her dream. Kiriyama begins explaining to Taichi what she saw and thought that she said something odd. In the dream, the girl was saying "it's not like that! You got it all wrong! It's my fault!" Kiriyama thought that it was the opposite reaction for someone who was sexually harassed. They waited outside the classroom and Kiriyama pointed at the girl she saw in the dream. In the end they didn't confront that girl. When they returned to their own classroom, Nagase came to them and said, "Recently Yui and Taichi have been together all the time. You two also disappeared during break" Kiriyama looking at Taichi as if asking him what should we do? Taichi made an excuse by saying, "Kiriyama asked me for advice about Aoki, about love."Nagase bought it this time but continues to be suspicious of the two.

During class, Taichi sees another dream. This time the dream showed a girl crying. It was the girl they saw at break. Her head was facing the ground saying sorry in front of a man. The man was Aoki's father. The girl started talking. "You're angry that I lied. I can't ask you for forgiveness but please understand the situation. The police came and things started coming out of my mouth. And then ...... " The girl kept looking at the ground.

The dream Taichi saw, Kiriyama also saw. The two came to the same conclusion. Aoki's father was wrongfully accused for sexual harassment. During lunch break, Taichi and Kiriyama went into an empty classroom. From what Aoki said, it can't be certain that it was a wrongful accusation. The only people who knows the truth were Aoki's father and that girl. Kiriyama said, " It was such a coincidence that we saw that dream, maybe it's fate?" Then suddenly someone said, " You two appear to be aware of it." It was Heartseed. In the middle of the day using Gotou's body, it was hard to believe that Heartseed appeared again. Kiriyama clenched her fists and asked, " How do you keep coming so close to us with out us noticing?" Heartseed replied, " I was just walking normally."Taichi asked, " Do you have something to say?" Heartseed said, "Kiriyama wanted me to come, and Taichi was thinking deeply about being able to see dreams and told me to come." Taichi said, " So we can just call you to come out and you will." Heartseed replied, " Yes, but not always. Keeping this in mind is important. If you two are doing what I'm thinking of, this piece of knowledge is important." Taichi asked, "So we're on the palm of your hand and observing us?" " It's good if you do that for me . If you guys do that I will give you a hand since it's the bonus stage." answered Heartseed. Kiriyama then said, " Why don't you just end this phenomenon already?" Heartseed then asked, " Is it ok to do that? You wouldn't be helping Aoki. It looks like you two can help Aoki right now. One more thing, please don't mention this "power" to anyone. It's annoying to clean up the mess after." With that last word, Heartseed left and Gotou returned to himself.

The next day during Physical Education class, the Taichi's class and Inaba's class were together. The boys were playing basketball and the girls were playing volleyball. Aoki and Taichi were practicing dribbling and passing. Taichi told Aoki to pass but Aoki accidentally kicked the ball. Taichi went over asked him if he was alright. Aoki said that he had a family meeting last night. His sister treated him like a child and told him to stay out of it. She got really angry. In the end, divorce and selling the house was brought up  and his sister said it was bad for him to listen to this conversation. Aoki forcefully passed the ball to Taichi. From that pass, Taichi felt that Aoki was really stressed and it was rare to see Aoki being cornered like that. Taichi then saw a worried Kiriyama looking at Aoki.

After school, Kiriyama and Taichi decided to meet again to discuss Aoki's problem. Taichi then brought up that will the situation be solved even if that girl confesses to the police. But Kiriyama said," Aoki's father is still being wrongfully accused. A wrongful accusation is actually a crime. She lied to the police and now wants the chance to apologize." Taichi thought about it and realized that a person who committed a crime should be punished. What she did caused a lot of trouble to others as well. But they can't just go to the police saying what they saw in the dream. They would never believe in such a power. Kiriyama whispered, "Should we let the police catch her? What should we do?" Taichi didn't give a reply.

After school, Kiriyama and Taichi went to the club room but Aoki was not there. Kiriyama asked Inaba where's Aoki but Inaba only could say that he had family issues to take care of. After the club activities, Kiriyama and Taichi called Iori to come with them to have a talk. Taichi used an excuse that he had to go home and think about the course selection form alone, to leave the club room without Inaba following. Enjouji thought that Taichi going home alone thinking about his course selection and career was a flag for him to go to a voice perfecting school. Taichi was not amused by her joke and left the club room.

At a park near the school, Taichi and Kiriyama wanted to consult with Nagase about what to do. The three of them found a bench and sat down. Taichi handed a can of juice to Nagase and started the conversation. "There's some we couldn't talk at school and Inaba was also there. Sorry for making you come out all the way here. What do you think about our actions using Dream Perception. Last time during the meeting we didn't here your position on the subject. Because we have power, shouldn't we do something with it? Shouldn't we do things that wasn't possible before?" Nagase with a calm tone answered, " I can't judge your decision. I haven't decided on it yet." Nagase bent her neck and her soft hair fell. Nagase continued, " Sorry Taichi, Yui. I wanted you to say 'If we have power we  should do something!' Which is one way to say it" Taichi said," I wasn't planning on doing that. But, 'Which is one way to say it', I see," "At least, my stance of not decided yet doesn't mean you should use the power. If you are not fully prepared to use it, you will only see tragedy. Do you guys understand?" said Nagase. Taichi whispered, " That won't..... happen." Nagase continued with a strong tone, " If you are going to use power, you better be prepared to use it."

Taichi and Kiriyama parted ways with Nagase, who is heading in a different direction. They walked to the station but Kiriyama was quietly thinking about something for the entire way. Taichi was also deeply thinking about things. Nagase's opinion does have its own logic. The effects of the supernatural phenomenon can recklessly affect others. If  someone in front of them is suffering from happiness, Taichi and Yui have the power to correct this unhappiness."I will do it." Without any warning said a determined Yui. "I think we must pursue justice." Justice. A word that carries a heavy weight for a typical high school student. "We must protect the ones that we can protect. Undoubtedly we must correct this. If we ignore this, we are the same as bad people." said Yui. Taichi completely but unconsciously agreed to Yui's words." We will do things that are right but we must be careful of what Heartseed is planning too." said Yui. " If the problem can be solved, let's solve it. If it becomes too much for us to handle we'll pull out. " said Taichi. Yui continued, " We don't have to tell the others right? We can't let others get dragged into something we selfishly decided. That's why we'll keep it a secret between us two." Kiriyama made a bitter smile. " Isn't it weird that we're not dating but are completely cooperating with each other. Aoki and Inaba are against us. On top of that we're hiding it from them." Taichi thought that this is something that he should be doing, this fight isn't wrong. He said, " Dating doesn't necessary mean that we will have the same opinions. And hiding it from them is just a way not to burden them." Yui replied, " That's right. Let's do out best. I have always received helped from Aoki, this time it's my turn to help him."

The next day after the decision was made, Kiriyama while shaking said, "Is it ok Taichi. What if we misunderstood the situation and got the wrong person?" Taichi replied, " If we are wrong, I'll sincerely apologize with all my might." The first part of the fight was up to Kiriyama. "Senpai, I am a second year, Kiriyama Yui. I want to talk to you so can you come with me?  Senpai?" Taichi went around the corner of the school building first and prayed for success. Time passed and after 7 minutes of waiting  Taichi saw the girl led by Kiriyama. Without bringing suspicion, Kiriyama has led her to the location. The first stage was cleared. The girl then said, " What's this? Leading me to a place without anyone?" Taichi then came out from where he was hiding. "Eek! Wait a minute! What?" The girl frightened started stepping back as if trying to get away. Kiriyama grabbed her arm and said " Please Wait! " Taichi then asked, " Let's get straight to the point Senpai, about that sexual harassment incident on that train...... honestly tell us what happen." The girl was confused and was completely frozen. "ah.....eh,,,,,ah" With a deep breath the girl said, " What are you talking about?" It seemed like it was a misunderstanding. "Coincidentally, there was a witness and we heard from that person." " That's a lie" She answered instantly but her face and in front of their eyes, she stiffened. Kiriyama standing beside her said, " It's true." "Lies" The girl was enraged, and still was gripped by Kiriyama. Her collar was grabbed and she pushed away from Kiriyama. "That's not possible. Lies,At that time there wasn't anyone from school. There was an argument with the other passengers but....." Her enraged face became really pale. She noticed what she said from her own mouth. "ahh. Why? Why so suddenly? Why now?"The girl was shaking but then escaped from Taichi and Yui. Taichi and Yui ran after her. Yui said, " What should we do?" Taichi answered, " First, we should stop her." Kiriyama's athletic ability compared to the other girl was a lot greater which allowed her to catch up to the girl. Kiriyama grabbed the girl's arm. "Please wait! Calm down!" " Let me go! Let me go! You guys have nothing to do with this! I didn't do anything wrong!" The girl violently resisted. Yui then said, " You're wrong, I don't think you did anything bad. It's just that there's a person in trouble in this school. To be exact, his father. That's why" The girl was surprised to hear this and stopped moving. From the ""dream perception"", she wanted to apologize which meant that she was feeling regret and guilt. With this in mind, Taichi approached her and said, " You regret what you did. You can fix this. You can apologize and help that kid. Above all, you can end this without needing to feel regret. Whether it's for yourself or for that kid, I beg you to apologize and fix this." The girl started crying  and said,"I'm sorry.  I'm sorry. Could you listen to my story?" As she talked she cried as if she looked like a child. Kiriyama continued, " We'll listen. Please start" The girl started talking about the events, " That..... That wasn't what I intended to do. Completely not what I intended." The girl started explaining what happened that day. The girl was on the train and was on her phone. (You're not suppose to talk loudly on the phone on the subway in Japan) It appeared she threatened Aoki's father, but even so Aoki's father ignored her and had a　conversation with her. Aoki's father was determined to tell her that he grabbed her arm lightly. Then she screamed " Pervert! Pervert!". " After that the Subway authority came and made it into a big scene. The police asked me questions but I couldn't say it was a mistake and selfishly answered the questions. There wasn't any witnesses and there were very few passengers.  When I got home, I saw on the internet news about wrongful accusation of sexual harassment, Aoki's father's company was laying people off. I knew I caused some trouble but didn't know what to do. I'm one who's wrong not him. I wanted to say that but ....." The girl politely explained the entire situation. Taichi and Yui pitied her but it doesn't change the bad things she did. She blamed others for something bad she did. But things concerning the police, if there's a chance to come forward you must do it. The person involved even acknowledges the true events that happened. Is this still a crime, I still don't know. Taichi asked,"What are you going to do now?" The girl answered, " After talking about it with you, I made a decision. I will go talk to the police and apologize to that man. I've been always wanting to do that. " So this is the truth, something this girl wished from the bottom of her heart, the truth Taichi and Yui seen in Dream Perception. Taichi and Yui didn't help the girl to confront the police after she said, " This is something I'll do myself." They asked for help from Fujishima Maiko, who's father is a high ranking police officer, After telling the details to Fujishima, when school was over, police officers came and escorted the girl away. Fujishima reported back to Taichi and Yui, " After a great consideration, considering her situation there probably won't be any chance of being a serious crime." Yui said, " Thanks for the help." Fujishima then asked "It's ok. By the way, how did you get involve? You put lots of effort in to it. One of the world's wrongfully accused sexual harassment case has been solved and saved a girl who was tormented by the crime." Yui then replied modestly, " Just by chance. Just by chance." Fujishima then turned to Taichi and asked, "Yaegashi-kun, did you just stumble on to this by chance as well?" Taichi replied, " Yeah, that's how it is." "hmmm? Is that so?" Taichi noticed Fujishima looking at him as if there was a hidden meaning being that look. Even though they didn't plan on it, the rumors of a third year girl falsely accusing a man of sexually harassing her spread through the school. Taichi and Yui being involved in the resolution of the problem was also pretty clear to the some of the students. Yukina and Setouchi complimented them on their decision do what should be done and their hard work. Taichi and Yui were relieved that Aoki's father has been cleared of any crime. Suddenly Taichi's girl friend, Inaba Himeko came to their class room and asked them to meet with her during lunch break.

"You guys used Dream Perception to resolve Aoki's father's incident right?" Inaba got straight to the point. Scary and so direct. "umm, it seems that way." Taichi admitted that he could no longer hide the facts. "Tell me the details." The five second years gather around the long table. While sensing Kiriyama's anxiousness,  Taichi explained what happened. "--and the went to the police"  Taichi finished explaining. At that moment, Inaba scornfully laughed. "You guys' speech ends here right?" "What do you mean?" Taichi felt a little anger and unpleasantness coming from Inaba while he asked. "After that what happened? You guys don't know what happened right. Your part in this may end her but reality isn't like that. Tell them Aoki." Inaba passed the baton to Aoki. Aoki made a serious face, probably confused about the question himself, and let out a sigh. "Well..... My dad was ok and it was cleared up with the police. But that girl, I don't know what happened to her. ....And the company still decided to lay off an employee." From those words, Kiriyama's serious expression lightened up. Taichi was also relieved. But why was Aoki's face look like he was cornered? He doesn't look happy, more like driven into a wall. Nagase just carefully watched over the scene."..... In the place of my dad, The company laid off a different employee I heard. Originally, the company was under restructuring and was looking for necessary members." Kiriyama's face tightened up, Taichi too. The muscles in their face changed. " Do you understand now?"

( Taichi and Yui tracked this girl down and confronted her knowing the truth behind the situation. The girl feels guilty and decides to confess to the police and is taken away by the police the next day with the help of Fujishima. Inaba and Aoki are angry that the two used Dream Perception to help Aoki's father and in the end after an argument decided to become enemies. Aoki and Inaba for not using Dream Perception and Yui and Aoki for using the dream perception with Nagase being neutral as the referee.)

Trivia

 * "Yume" translates to "Dream".

Reference
Baka-Tsuki Kokoro Connect