4th October 2016Taki opened his eyes.
It was much harder to do than it might seem. He was lain on the ground, curled into the fetal position, for how long he doesn't know.
He tries to move, but his body won't let him. He feels glued to the ground, barely able to keep his eyelids open. He looked out in front of him, and saw the ruins.
The ruins of Itomori were strewn out across the countryside down below. It was then that Taki realised how high up he was compared to the rest of the area. Unable to come up with a reason for being up so high, he tried to find a reason that he would be here of all places, The town that vanished.
No matter how hard he tried, Taki only came up with one conclusion. The words, 'What is your name?' popped into his head. He didn't know why or how, but they were the only things that came to his mind.
He suddenly felt a splitting headache, beckoning him to close his eyelids. As he closed them, he could hear rapid footsteps and the sound of a man calling out to him. But he could not retain consciousness long enough to see the man, as he slipped back into darkness...
3 Years Earlier
Tessie could hardly believe what had happened. What was supposed to be the towns autumn festival was single handedly turned into a successful evacuation event, which saved the lives of hundreds of lives in Itomori. The part of his story that filled him with pride was that said evacuation was organised by him and his 2 best friends, Sayaka and Mitsuha. Of course, not EVERY aspect of their plan was totally legal, but seeing as there was no longer a police department to investigate, there was no chance of being arrested. However, he was in state of disbelief. As he rubbed his thin, black hair he couldn't think of a reason as to why Mitsuha knew about the meteor. He had been listening to a radio someone had brought to the schoolyard, and not even scientists, people qualified on the subject, were able to predict the comet splitting. So how was Mitsuha, a random teenage girl living in the countryside, know about it?
He wasn't getting anywhere with just thinking so he had decided to go and just ask her himself. He stood up from the chair he had taken into the school courtyard and went to look for Mitsuha.
Sayaka was sitting under the shade of some trees that she and friends would hang out under after school for a bit. She was happy to be alive, and, even though it had just destroyed her home, she looked up at the comet, still streaking across the sky and couldn't help but be in awe of its beauty. However, she was in even more awe of what she had done that night. She had helped to organise a large scale evacuation. And yet some little, tiny part of her hated it. She was a good girl who followed the rules, she didn't break them. Of course, most of her was ecstatic from helping to save the town, but she couldn't deny that that tiny part of her did exist.
'Mitsuha! Mitsuha!'
Sayaka was startled by the sudden intrusion of Tessie's shouts. 'Tessie?! Whats wrong?!' She shouted to her friend.
Tessie jogged over to where he had hears Sayaka's voice. He found his friend sat under the trees where they always used to hang out, where he then proceeded to ask 'You seen Mitsuha anywhere?'
'No, why?'
'Well. I was wondering how she knew about the comet splitting and all that crap. I heard that not even scientists knew it was gonna happen...'
Sayaka was about to answer Tessie's question, when she stopped herself, for she didn't know how Mitsuha knew about the comet. Now that she thought about it, it didn't really make any sense at all, she was caught up in being not dead that she hadn't given it much thought.'Alright,' she said, shocked that she was complying with Tessie's idea, 'Lets go find her.'
Tessie eyes widened, and then he felt like smiling for a moment, as he had achieved something that he believed was impossible for a man to acomplish.
He just won Sayaka over to his side.
While Sayaka and Tessie felt a mixture of happiness and relief, Mitsuha felt only emptiness. As she looked at the writing on her hand, the guilt of forgetting his name sank in ever deeper. The one she loved, the one who loved her, the one who single handedly helped to save the town. His name was on the tip of her tongue, and yet she couldn't utter it. She felt distraught, she loved him and yet lacked the means to find him met him in Tokyo once, but she met him 3 years before he knew her. He was from the future( kinda, maybe? she didn't really know) and to have any hope of meeting him, she would have to wait those years out. And even if she did, she didn't know his name, his face, where he lived in Tokyo. She felt it in her heart that she would never find him again. But she vowed to remember what she felt was most important, what he meant to her, which was more than anything in the world.
'Mitsuha!'
Her head shot towards the direction she heard Sayaka's voice come from. She closed her hand, not wanting to show them his message to her.
Sayaka and Tessie came into the room, which was the threes school classroom. Mitsuha didn't know why she came to sit here, but it was the only place she felt she could be right now. Her friends entrance made the room feel only more familiar, as she remembered the memories the classroom brought her.
'We've been looking everywhere for you...whats wrong?' Sayaka stopped interrogating Mitsuha when she saw the tears welling up behind her eyes.
Mitsuha couldn't bring herself to tell them. It would seem foolish. They didn't have the body switching, they wouldn't understand. 'Its nothing' she replied weakly.
Sayaka damn well knew it wasn't nothing. She had known Mitsuha since they were 5, she knew something was bothering her. Tessie, while he knew something was wrong, didn't think it was that serious until Sayaka glared at him with the 'look-I-know-your-a-boy-but-can't-you-see-there-is-something-very-wrong-here?' look. It stunned him for a minute, but he recovered rather quickly. 'You sure?' he asked, 'Cause your looking pretty down right now. If there is anything bothering you, you can tell us.'
Her friends concern tided her over. Even if they don't believe me, she thought,at least I can get it off my chest.So she told them. Every part. How the days that she was acting strange, she wasn't really her, how she knew about the towns destruction and her relationship which their mysterious saviour. She then showed them the writing on her hand. As she slowly opened out her palm though, she felt the liquid build up behind her eyes, until her palm was outstretched and her eyes streaming with tears.
'You idiot,' she cried out, 'how am I supposed to remember your name with this?'
Sayaka gave her friend a hug, 'We will find him, no matter what. Don't worry about that.' she whispered, just loud enough so that Tessie could hear.
'Yeah, and when we do, we'll make him tell us his name!' Tessie almost shouted, with a sly, wicked grin on his face.
Mitsuha couldn't help but laugh a little at her friends consoling her, which caused them to smile a little.
But Mitsuha still had a feeling that she would never find this boy again, and would live out her life with the emptiness in her heart ever present until her grave. Still, she found some solace in her friends attempts to make her feel happy, and vowed that she would live for them and her family.
Maybe it would distract her from the emptiness she felt.
October 4th 2016
Mitsuha, her family and her friends all had to move as a result of the comets strike. So, they all decided to move to Tokyo. For most of them, it was a great move, the big city had so many opportunities for work and for school.
However, Mitsuha's mood slowly worsened after they moved to Tokyo. Her family didn't know why, they didn't know she had this lost, feeling holed up inside her. She knew that he was here, somewhere, but she wouldn't find him. It had been 3 years since she met him at kataware-doki, and she had lost all hope of finding him again. Still, she would keep searching, still clinging to the belief that he was searching for her too.
The bright morning sun is what woke Mitsuha up that morning. As her eyes flickered open she found her eyes wet with tears. She couldn't recall the dream that must have made her cry, but the lost feeling she'd had, intensified, so she knew it was probably about the boy.
As she dried her eyes, she heard her sisters voice shout down the hall, "Mitsuha, I'm leaving now!"
"Okay, have a nice day!" was the response Mitsuha gave, with as much morning gusto and spirit as possible.
Mitsuha had to look after Yotsuha, as her father and grandmother had decided to go to the body of Itomori shrines god on the anniversary of the comet falling. Because Yotsuha would still have to go to school however, Mitsuha had been asked to look after Yotsuha for the next few days. Not that she minded, and she lived there anyway, but when someone tells you about the responsibility you already have, and thrust it upon as if its a new thing, your job feels a lot less glamorous.
She relaxed a bit when she heard Yotsuha slam the door, and she slumped back down into her bed, almost letting herself drift back into sleep, when she remembered that she was going out with her friends later on. So she had to pull herself onto her feet and get ready for the day, even though she didn't have college until Monday. She stood up and walked herself over tho the mirror. For three years having passed, Mitsuha hadn't changed that much. She was pretty much the same height she was back when she lived in Itomori, she had black eyes and her short black hair. She decided not to grow it out longer, as a memento to that boy, so that when if she found him,he would recognise her.
Then again, if she forgot his name and what he looked like, would he remember her? And in the mega city of Tokyo, the chance of ever meeting him again would be slim.
'But, if we were to meet,' she found herself thinking out loud, 'we'd know.'
Before she went to get ready, she found herself walking to her flats balcony, and looking out over the vast city of Tokyo, and asked aloud a question that she hoped would reach him.
'What is your name?'
WOOHOO! CHAPTER 1 OF MY FIRST FIC. IS. DONE!
So I think I need to explain, in case my description is not very clear. This is based on a headcannon I had after watching the movie for the third or so time. Its based on the idea that Mitsuha didn't forget about the dreams of Taki's life, more so that she forgot about Taki. I thought about it for a bit, and I came up with a pretty good reason(Or at least I think it is). I think that the reason Taki forgot all about Mitsuha that he didn't bring anything physically important with him when he crossed the thresh hold into the 'underworld', which the grandmother says, if you remember from the film, you have to leave what was most important to you. Since Taki didn't have some physical offering like the kuchikamisake, he had to leave behind his most important memories: his memories of Mitsuha. We knew that he forget that he was dreaming about Mitsuha, but its never explicitly stated that the dreams fade altogether (If it is, please let me know, but im still gonna roll with this idea for the rest of the fic).
...SO. I feel like I am gonna have to address upload times for this fic. First of all, I WANT to get a chapter out every one or two weeks and have this done by the time exam season comes up for me. BUUUUUUUUUUUT! I might not stick to this depending on how my schoolwork starts to pile up. Also, basically the last week of March is like a no-go zone for me getting any productive work done. So yeah. If I were you, I would expect about 2 to three chapters a month. So yeah. Don't call the fic dead if I don't upload for 3 weeks.
Anyway, yeah. How you doing. Did you enjoy fic? Yeah? No? Not sure? Well if you have any opinion on the fic itself, why not drop a review? It is quick, painless, and guaranteed to make your love life improve and increase your weekly wage!... okay maybe not, but still, I would love to get feedback. I don't think its my best writing, so I might go back and edit it depending on the feedback.
So yeah, thanks for reading and I hope you tick around for chapter 2 in a week or 2!