"How'd it go with your old man?" Tessie asks.
Taki stays silent, staring off into the Hida mountains as he contemplates what Yotsuha had said. Mitsuha had gone to Tokyo yesterday. . .for a date? With who? Did she go to see him? If she did, then. . .she would have been three years too early. He wouldn't have known who she was.
It suddenly strikes him, like a bolt from the blue. She had found him. All those years ago, before he knew her, they meet on a subway car. And on that day, Mitsuha gave him her braided cord. Taki continues to gaze pensively as Tessie and Yotsuha wonder what's wrong with Mitsuha.
Like a distant wind chime, he stares directly at where he (somehow) knows the sacred relic of Miyamizu Shrine lies. And despite everything logical dictating otherwise, Taki knows that Mitsuha is there. Every fiber of his being—his body, his heart, and his mind—scream at him to go to her.
On sudden impulse, Taki grabs Tessie's bike and quickly gets on. "Let me borrow your bike, Tessie," he asks.
"Hey!" Tessie exclaims, but lets Taki take his bike anyways. "Where are you going?"
"I. . .I have to see someone," Taki says evasively.
"What about the plan?"
"Tessie, we'll get everything ready like we planned," Taki says decisively. "I couldn't convince him, but maybe if he sees the comet splitting like I told him it would, he'll change his mind."
"Well, it's something," Saya says nervously. "W-will I really have to give that fake emergency broadcast?"
"We're counting on you, Saya," Taki says. "And both of you. . .if I can't convince my dad. . ."
Tessie shakes his head. "No. You can do it. We're not going to talk like—"
"Please," Taki says. "If I'm not back in time, make sure Yotsuha and my grandmother make it to the high school."
Tessie recognizes the look in Taki's eyes—that same determined look Mitsuha would sport on those days where she seemingly became possessed. He doesn't want to entertain the possibility of failure, but he can't ignore such a heartfelt and important request from one of his best friends. "You got it, Mitsuha. Don't worry."
Taki smiles at him and takes a deep breath of relief. "Thank you." Taking comfort in Tessie's promise, he starts pedaling with all of his might.
Bruised and dirty, Taki stumbles as he clears the last patch of rocky ground leading to the rim of the crater. He pants, looking side to side, as he continues to run around the edge.
"Mitsuha!" he calls out, his voice echoing. "You're here, right?! Inside my body!"
Taki's calls go unanswered. His frantic pace slows to a halting walk until he finally comes to a stop. For some reason, his gut tells him that she should have been standing here, in the same place but in a different time. But she's not there.
The dying golden light of the sun dips below the distant horizon, casting deep shadows over Taki and the crater. Taki listlessly gazes out at the vibrant sunset, the sky a palette of warm yellow fading into deep blue.
"The magic hour," he whispers to himself.
No matter how much we wants to, Taki can't wait here any longer. Despite his instincts telling him otherwise, Mitsuha isn't here. He's not sure if he can convince her father, but he has to try. He still has time. Determined to save Mitsuha and the people of Itomori, Taki takes off running down the mountain slope, taking long strides as he navigates the rocky terrain.
Deep in the cavern housing the sacred relic of Miyamizu Shrine, Mitsuha continues to slumber, unaware.
Taki runs as fast he can, the wind whipping in his ears as he pushes Mitsuha's body to the full extent of its physical limits. He still has time. Maybe, just maybe, Mitsuha's father will have changed his mind when saw that the comet split, just like Taki said it would. But if he doesn't. . .well, Taki can only hope that as many people as possible get to the high school, even if his and Tessie's attempts at spurring an evacuation failed miserably. Maybe, just maybe, Tessie and the others made it out in time. Taki can only pray that they did.
Taki spares a moment to look up at the comet, even if he can't exactly tell how much time he has left. "Come on," he growls to himself, urging his aching legs to move faster and his burning lungs to hold out for just a little more.
But his fatigue has finally caught up to him as one of his feet carelessly crashes into an uneven crack in the road. The collision knocks Taki off balance, and all of his forward momentum sends him tumbling forward as he lands on the painfully hard road.
Taki barely feels anything, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he pushes himself off the ground. He takes a step forward and his right leg limply buckles under the weight of his body.
Taki rests on one knee, chest rapidly rising and falling as he struggles to catch his breath while also trying to manage the sudden weakness in his leg. He's come too far, against all odds, to let a mere twisted ankle stop him now.
He weakly staggers to his feet, only for his strength to fail him again as he collapses into a heap. He desperately pounds the ground with a fist, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.
"Dammit!" he howls, his broken cry unheard by the world. Defeated, he rolls over onto his back and stares up at the night sky.
Even as the land around him is painted an unearthly red by the billowing clouds of stardust and celestial fire bearing down upon him, Taki can't help but admire the harsh but impartial beauty of nature one last time.
"Nothing more or less," Taki whispers to himself, "than a breathtaking view.
Sorry, Mitsuha. . ."
The unpleasant sensation of cold water dripping onto her face wakes Mitsuha. She screws her eyes tightly shut, trying to get comfortable where she lays, but the gritty feeling of dirt and rocks makes her begrudgingly get up. The moment she starts moving, she notices the peculiar yet familiar feeling of her body—or rather, Taki's body. Her hands instinctually fly upward, patting her body down as she tries to process what's going on. She's Taki again. . .but where is she?
Her eyes strain to make anything out in the pitch darkness of her location, which immediately confuses her. Her vision quickly comes into focus and adjusts to the low lighting, and she can somewhat make out her surroundings. In front of her is the sacred relic of Miyamizu Shrine. What was Taki doing here?
She slowly makes her way out of the cave, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun as she steps outside. She cranes her neck upwards as she stares at the lip of the crater, her mind strangely fixated on what might lay on the other side. She methodically picks her way up the rocky slope, cautiously planning out her path to the top. It's a relatively short trek, but for some reason the hike feels like it lasts for an eternity to Mitsuha.
Once she crests the crater lip, the breath is sucked out of her lungs and her eyes go wide as she stares down at Itomori below.
Or rather, what remains of Itomori.
The idyllic country town, her home, is gone. Instead, a second crater lake sits in the town's former location, its shores littered with signs of a devastating impact. As she stares in disbelief, a memory suddenly rises to the surface of Mitsuha's consciousness.
She's standing in a tranquil meadow, her yukata and the grass both flowing in the night breeze. She tilts her head upwards to look at comet Tiamat as it passes by Earth.
And above her, a towering inferno from the heavens comes crashing down upon her as the fragments of Tiamat rain destruction all around.
Mitsuha falls to her knees, her body and mind numb.
"So, does that mean. . ."
Before she can finish her thought, Mitsuha's vision lurches, and she's overcome with a wave of dizzying nausea. She hunches forward, dragging in deep breaths as her mind suddenly struggles to reconcile memories that no longer exist. Unable to suppress the sickening sensation any longer, Mitsuha falls forward onto her hands and knees and starts dry heaving, the burning sensation and pain causing her eyes to tear up as her body struggles to expel the contents of her empty stomach. Instead, only bile comes up, the burning sensation reflexively causing her eyes to brim with tears. It's almost as if Taki's body is physically rejecting her paradoxical existence, as if she's an affront to nature itself.
"B-but. . .I died," she splutters between coughs and sniffles. "H-how am I. . . ?"
Searing pain shoots through her skull as her mind feels as if it's ripping itself apart, trying to comprehend the impossibility of her situation. She has memories of dying in her own body, yet here she is, alive, in Taki's body? That shouldn't be possible—unless. . .
Face down in the dirt, Mitsuha can only tearfully murmur her epiphany to herself.
"Taki. . .died in my place. . . ?"
Notes: A project I've been wanting to do for a while after seeing a prompt a long time ago. Only problem is, I haven't really done much outside of writing and brainstorming and rewriting a short introductory chapter. Pretty much have no idea where I'm going to go with this, so it's likely this story will update extremely slowly, if at all. And yes, I will likely be putting other stories on hold as well (not like they've been updated for a long time anyways), mostly due to lack of motivation/inspiration.