The Reversi Game of Heroes and Villains

<Lala>

I heard that Forlun, whose soul is actually Largo’s, is being forced to choose between living as a man or as a woman. Tonight, Forlun fell asleep in the girls’ dormitory, but come morning, he’ll wake up as Largo in the boys’ dorm.

In other words, the one waking up in our room tomorrow will be Forte-chan in Forte-chan’s body. Ugh, this is getting complicated...

Also, Tenuto is apparently coming back from the military camp to the boys’ dorm tomorrow morning, so there’s a chance he might run into both of them without knowing they’ve returned. Well, if that happens, I’m sure they’ll explain things to him directly.

As for Forlun with Largo’s soul—I’m convinced that the life of a girl suits them much better. I guarantee it.

It’s said that once a man who has transformed into a woman becomes pregnant, they can’t return to their original body. If she chooses to live as a girl, she’ll probably decide to try having a child.

In East Asia of the other world, teenage pregnancies aren’t exactly encouraged, and raising a child is often seen as a personal responsibility. But in this world, which once teetered on the brink of collapse because of that very mindset, the idea that raising children is a societal responsibility has become more widespread.

The community centered around Edgeguard Corp, or perhaps the administrative bodies centered around Edgehope Corp, each take on the responsibility of raising the next generation.

They’re not just an evil organization. The fact that they continue to garner support despite their wrongdoings being known in adult society suggests there's more to the story.

To simply treat such an organization as a comic book villain and condemn them might be momentarily cathartic, but it’s not a sincere way of facing history.

If we consume history as a black-and-white morality tale, we’ll fail to draw the proper lessons from its tragedies.

When we frame history as a binary of good and evil, we end up repeating the same genocidal structures—only with different perpetrators and victims swapped out, justified again under the banner of justice or righteousness. And those who were once treated as villains may be resurrected across time as zombie-like dark heroes, used by cults as spiritual symbols.

The world is made of shades of gray. Even the most infamous dictators. Seeing gray as gray is exhausting, but if we paint the textbooks in black and white, people will begin a cruel Othello game under the name of justice and evil.

Anyway, that’s why I came to the bookstore, planning to give Forlun a parenting book as a gift.

In the new releases section, flashy titles lined the shelves:

“10 Habits You Must Abandon to Become an Elite Mage”
“What You Have to Do in Your 20s to Get Promoted at the Ministry of Magic”

Numbers danced across the covers. Not just in publishing—among businesspeople in general, the idea that numbers can grab your audience’s attention in a presentation seems to have become a widely accepted technique.

Even without using magic, numbers seem to possess some kind of sorcery.

But we must keep in mind: even if it’s not illegal or criminal, the kind of marketing that stirs up people’s anxieties to push consumption is fundamentally the same as phobia-driven manipulation.

We shouldn’t let our lives be controlled by numbers crafted solely for someone else’s commercial gain.

That said, as I grow up and perhaps even run for office someday, I guess I, too, will become one of those adults who manipulates provocative numbers to win votes.

I take the book I came for to the register. On the cover is a soft illustration of a baby.

Is Forlun going to become a mom? What a strange feeling...