Chapter 1: To Find You in this Place.
She's lying on her side.
Her whole body aches.
She knows she must get up, but she can't bring herself to do it.
She looks at her right hand.
She opens it up and gazes at her palm.
"I love you."
Taki!. . .Taki?. . .Taki?
It's me!
. . .Don't you remember?
A ribbon flying through the air.
He grasps it.
My name. . . is—
She wakes with a start, tears streaming down her face. This has been her life, for some time now. She'll wake up crying, and not even know why. Just a profound sadness and longing, that lingers for quite some time.
Without fail, every time she wakes up crying she'll inexplicably stare at her right hand. As if she's expecting to see something there. A fuzzy memory of a promise. . .with who?
She doesn't have time to mope around, though. The world keeps turning.
She finishes preparing for the day, and leaves her apartment.
He wakes with a start, tears streaming down his face. This has been his life, for some time now. He'll wake up crying, and not even know why. Just a profound sadness and longing, that lingers for quite some time.
Without fail, every time he wakes up crying he'll inexplicably stare at his right hand. As if he's expecting to see something there. A fuzzy memory of a promise. . .with who?
He doesn't have time to mope around, though. The world keeps turning.
He finishes preparing for the day, and leaves his apartment.
As she watches the Tokyo skyline speed by, her chest begins to ache.
Why? Why has she felt so empty for the past eight years?
She stares listlessly as she tries to remember when her life appeared to have lost all meaning.
As her train pulls further away from the station, her view of the city is blocked by another train.
And in the train across from her is. . .!
As he watches the Tokyo skyline speed by, his chest begins to ache.
Why? Why has he felt so empty for the past five years?
He stares listlessly as he tries to remember when his life appeared to have lost all meaning.
As his train pulls further away from the station, his view of the city is blocked by another train.
And in the train across from him, he sees her staring at him. Like she's known him for so long.
As his eyes meet her. . .!
It's him!
She knows it. She doesn't know how, but she just knows. A sudden, and strange, realization strikes her:
He was the one who was in me. . .and I was the one who was in him!
As he raises his eyes to meet hers, and
she remembers.
It's her!
He knows it. He doesn't know how, but he just knows. A sudden, and strange realization strikes him:
She was the one who was in me. . .and I was the one who was in her!
He gazes into her eyes, and
he remembers.
Waking up in an unfamiliar room, in a boy's body. Her first view of a glittering Tokyo. Tsukasa and Shinta. A café at last! Suddenly getting called out for a job as a waiter. Miss Okudera. Visiting cafes and eating all of those delicious, beautiful treats. Picking up extra shifts at the restaurant to make up for the money she spent. Growing closer and spending more and more time with Miss Okudera. Exploring, and getting lost, in Tokyo. The recurring embarrassment of going to the bathroom in his body. Planning a date with Miss Okudera.
The day of the date with Miss Okudera. Crying as she thinks about him and Miss Okudera together. Going to Tokyo in her own body. Would she be getting in the way? Would she bother him? Or. . .would he be glad to see her? Searching the city for him, but she can't find him. Deciding to go home. Waiting in the train station when she sees him. Finally meeting him. . .but he didn't recognize her. Leaving her treasured braided cord with him and telling him her name. Despondently returning to Itomori. Asking grandma to cut her hair—without the braided cord to tie her hair up, it seems to make sense to have short hair. The autumn festival.
Standing in a field.
Nothing more, nothing less. . .
Thank a breathtaking view.
Waking up in an unfamiliar room, in a girl's body. The scenic country road to school. Tessie and Saya. Standing up to the bullies during art class. "Stealing" Tessie's bike and riding to school with Saya. Playing basketball against the girls, his handles and jumper were too much for them. Cutting logs with Tessie to make their own little café. His obsession with her chest, inevitably getting caught by Yotsuha every morning. Receiving confessions from both boys and girls.
The journey to the sacred relic of Miyamizu Shrine. Carrying grandma up the mountain path. Learning about "musubi." Union. Passing the threshold of the netherworld. Leaving the kuchikamizake, half of her, behind.
"Oh. . .you're dreaming right now, aren't you?"
Waking up in his own body, suddenly learning he has a date with Miss Okudera.
The disastrous date.
"You know. . .it's like you're a completely different person."
His obsession with the landscape of a town he does not know. Travelling into the countryside with Miss Okudera and Tsukasa to find. . .somewhere? Or someone?
Failing to find the town, only to learn the name in a ramen shop on the side of the road.
Discovering that Itomori had been destroyed by the comet three years ago.
500 dead.
And among them is her name.
. . .What was her name?
Spending the night at an inn. The braided cord on his wrist stirs something in the back of his mind. He frantically pulls out an old map.
Hiking to the top of a mountain. Finding the old Miyamizu relic. Once again passing the threshold into the netherworld. Yotsuha's kuchikamizake on the right, and hers on the left. Drinking her kuchikamizake.
A union of him and her.
Nothing happens.
As he gets up, he slips. While he's falling, his phone illuminates an ancient cave painting.
A comet!
He hits his head on the ground and everything goes dark.
Waking up on the mountain.
What was he even doing?
Together, they remember.
He wakes up in her body on that fateful day.
Her grandmother finally addresses that there is someone else in her body. He does nothing to deny it. He tries to reason with her, to warn her that the comet will fall and destroy the town.
She doesn't listen.
He has to take matters into his own hands then!
He hurries to school to meet up with Tessie and Saya. For a brief moment, he's able to forget about the impending catastrophe as they are stunned by her haircut. But then it's back to the task at hand, he even manages to catch the whole classroom's attention when he claims they're all going to die.
They devise a plan to evacuate the town: they'll blow up the substation with explosives acquired from Tessie's father's construction company and use the school broadcast systems to hijack the town PA system to issue their own evacuation order. And just in case it works, he's going to speak to her father to see if they can't get this done legitimately.
Her father instantly dismisses the idea, claiming it must be the product of some mental sickness. As he tries to call a car to go to the city hospital, he recklessly charges up to her father's desk and grabs him by his tie. The tension in the room suddenly deflates when her father looks into his eyes and realizes that the person standing before him isn't his daughter.
Failure.
If it was her, could she have convinced him? Was it all his fault?
Tessie and Saya meet up with him, and ask him whether or not they could count on an official evacuation order.
As he stares at the mountains, something in the back of his mind stirs.
Could she be. . .there?
He grabs Tessie's bike and starts pedaling.
She wakes up in his body.
She's in a cave on a mountain. Is that the sacred relic? What was he doing here? She exits the cave and climbs the steep scree to the top of the mountain.
Itomori. . .is gone.
She's suddenly taken back to that fateful night.
Meeting with Tessie and Saya at their makeshift café.
Going with them to the autumn festival.
Standing in a field, watching that breathtaking view.
The comet splitting.
The comet falling.
Then,
nothing.
Does this mean. . .she died?
She falls to her knees.
As he continues to peddle up the mountain trail, he remembers.
That she came to see him, before he even knew her.
Studying on the train when a stranger girl came up to him. He keeps reviewing his flashcards, unsure of what's going on.
"Taki!"
She knows his name?
". . .Taki? . . .Taki? . . .It's me? Don't you remember?" she asks. A deep blush rapidly cover her face.
"Sorry, who are you?"
He can see the heartbreak on her face. She's suddenly listless.
"But it's him!"
The train suddenly jolts, and she bumps into him.
What a strange girl. . . .
As the train pulls into Yotsuya, she prepares to disembark. He's suddenly struck with the thought that he can't just let her leave.
"Wait! What's your name?!"
As she tries to turn back to address him, she gets swept away by the current of disembarking passengers. She reaches to the braided cord tying her hair up and quickly pulls it free. She desperately tries to reach him with it. It suddenly feels like it's just him and her, even as she's being taken away by a sea of faceless strangers.
"My name. . .is Mitsuha!"
He catches the other end of the cord.
He's jolted out of his reverie as the bike hits a root, and he finds himself and the bike suddenly falling off the side of the road. He manages to grab a nearby tree, but Tessie's bike lays ruined below him. He has no time, though, and pulls himself back up and starts running.
She doesn't know how long she stayed slumped there, coming to terms with her own death. The clear blue sky has become a vivid sunset. She suddenly hears a distorted echo of her own voice, calling her name.
"Mitsuha? Mitsuha!"
Is he here? She calls back.
"Taki? Taki!"
"Mitsuha! You're here, aren't you? Inside my body?"
"Taki!"
She starts running around the edge of the mountain.
He starts running around the edge of the mountain.
In two separate times, they pass each other.
They both stop as something in their minds tells them to.
In his body, she reaches out for him.
In her body, he reaches out for her.
His hand grasps empty air, and falls limply.
Her hand grasps empty air, and falls limply.
As he stands there, he is suddenly engulfed in shadow as the sun drops below the distant mountains.
"Oh," he sighs.
"It's magic hour."
"It's magic hour."
They both freeze.
Could it be. . .? But how. . .?
The slowly turn to face each other.
Across time and space, against all odds, they have found each other.
He looks down and smiles.
"Mitsuha."
He's never felt happiness like this before.
Unshed tears brim in her eyes, then the dam bursts. She openly sobs as she buries herself in his chest.
"Taki! Taki!"
She's never felt happiness like this before.
Speaking with each other feels so natural. Like had known each other all their lives, and not for a brief month switching places. Then again, what better way to know someone than to live their life? What better way to fall in love?
But even as they giddily bathe in each other's presence, the comet still lurks in the skies above. There's still much to be done.
Before she can leave, he grabs her hand, pulls out a marker, and starts writing on her right hand.
"Let's write each other's names! So that we don't forget," he explains.
"Mmm!" she happily confirms.
She takes up the marker and grabs his right hand.
She starts to write her name—
The marker clatters to the ground.
She's nowhere to be found.
He calls out for her. But he knows she's gone now.
He feverishly recites her name. He won't forget.
As tears stream down his face, he calls out.
"What's your name?!"
As she sprints down the mountain, she repeats his name over and over in her mind.
She won't forget. She mustn't forget.
She makes it to the substation before Tessie, but he shows up almost immediately after she does. They plant the explosives and head towards the festival. Once the explosion destroys the substation, Saya immediately superimposes the school broadcast signal over the town PA system and begins issuing the evacuation order they drafted. She and Tessie burst into the festival, claiming there was a wildfire and urging people to evacuate. But it doesn't work. As they stand in the middle of the uncaring mass, she turns away from Tessie. When he grabs her attention, her eyes are filled with tears.
"I can't remember his name!"
Tessie can't understand. Won't understand. But what he does understand is that they still have work to do. He angrily tells her to get going. As her form retreats into the crowd, Tessie continues to try to get the evacuation started.
As she continues her sprint to the town hall, she hears over the PA system as Saya is apprehended and the broadcast is ended. She needs to make it.
Even as Tessie continues to try to get people to evacuate, he is suddenly confronted by his father. Tessie realizes that he's been caught, and resigns himself to the end.
Town hall begins to issue their own broadcast, instructing citizens that there are no reports of further threats and that they need to stay where they are.
Even as she runs, her mind is far away from the emergency at hand. She can only think about the person she had forgotten. She wasn't supposed to forget. She didn't want to forget. Someone dear to her. Distracted by these thoughts, she trips on a cracked part of the road and tumbles for several yards before finally coming to a stop on her side.
She has to get up. Everyone will die if she doesn't.
But the despair of forgetting seems to freeze her body. She can't get up.
Laying there in the road, she gazes at her closed hand as she slowly opens it.
I love you.
Tears start leaking from the corner of her eyes.
She manages to push herself to her feet, and stomps.
"Writing that. . .doesn't help."
Something inside her ignites. She's suddenly filled with newfound determination. She can't let it end here.
He sacrificed his memory and very existence for her. Even though she forgot him, he managed to etch a single memory into her mind that she would never forget, could never forget.
I love you.
She runs.
"Dad!"
Her father angrily stands up, ready to throw her out. But then he looks into her eyes.
It is her.
He remembers riding a train after another failed job interview when he catches a glimpse of an achingly familiar cord.
He jumps off his train as soon as he can, but no matter where he looks he can't find that cord again.
They remember passing a stranger on a bridge on a snowy winter night.
Something compels him to look back, but all he sees is a stranger's back growing more and more distant. He turns, and moves on.
Something compels her to look back, but all she sees is a stranger's back growing more and more distant. She turns, and moves on.
As they gaze into each other's eyes as the memories come rushing back, their trains suddenly separate.
They abandon all reason as they disembark immediately. Throwing away their mundane lives means nothing if they can just find each other once more.
They run across the city, haphazardly splashing through puddles and cutting through crowds as they search.
He pauses at the bottom of a staircase.
She pauses at the top of a staircase.
They have found each other.
He begins to ascend.
She begins to descend.
They pass each other.
They can feel their hearts ache, cry out.
Why didn't she stop? Doesn't she remember?
Why didn't he stop? Doesn't he remember?
He reaches the top of the staircase.
No. Not like this. He finally found her, even if he doesn't know why. He steels himself, and turns.
"Excuse me!"
She pauses on the staircase.
"Haven't we—Have I. . .met you somewhere?"
She turns.
She's crying.
"I thought so too!"
He realizes that he's also crying.
Together, they ask:
"Can I ask you. . .your name?"