What a weird experience

Taki's mind revolved around the events that had unfolded one after another since the morning. Specifically around the slight jerk of Mitsuha's face as she ended the kun, the tomatoish hue it had taken on right after and the way she had gotten slammed right in the face by the swing door that she had forgotten to keep propped open.

Company card, huh?

It seemed highly unlikely that someone that young had access to one, especially considering that she appeared to be a anchorwoman rather than a corporate executive who would actually need to host business dinners.

She really wants to meet me

Not that he could fault her. Since she had left, he had obsessively stalked her social media, sparse as it was. It seemed she had only received her big break fairly recently, prior to it she had been working in Kyoto. There was only so much data that could be gathered from a bare bones Facebook account, though. She didn't have any friends added and only posted links to her interviews. Her bio data was almost completely empty.

Well, at least she's good at internet security.

Still, he could not let the lie about the company card stand for long. On the other hand, he couldn't even purchase the leftovers at the restaurant Mitsuha had picked with his own money, recent developments had provided another compelling reason for his job hunt to go perfectly.

"Tachibana Taki"

"Yes, that's me!"

Taki got off the sofa and walked into the room, mentally noting.

Eighteen.

"Your grades in college are quiet sub-par, why do you think you can work here?"

Not pulling any punches today, huh?

"I have a reason to be above par now."

"What do you mean?"

Taki focused on the new interrogator, the senior partner.

"Sir, I know this might sound unusual but I really can't explain it any better. For the past five years I've suffered from a complete lack of inspiration. In college, I could not think of a single original plan, so I simply imitated others, though not with the same degree of success as several of my classmates. I felt like a fraud every time I sat down to make another sketch, if I could not think of anything new, what right had I to call to myself an architect? I was merely a clerk who knew mathematics sufficiently to get his architecture degree. However, now, even sitting outside this room I came up with a plan I could never have come up with at college. If you would give me the chance, I wish to refine this plan further at home and present it to you in a week's time. I ask only that you reserve judgement till then."

A slow smile played across the partner's lips.

"Very well. Come to my personal chambers one week from now, at exactly this time. If I like the plan, I'll hire you on the spot. I don't know if you planned out your entire outburst beforehand but if you did, I still applaud you for taking the risk you took. Not many people would call themselves frauds in front of their prospective employers. You deserve a shot for having the courage to do so."

"Th...thank you."

Taki could barely believe that it worked. Halfway through his long winded rant, he had wondered if he was pulling off really elaborate career seppuku. If even one of the interviewers had asked him where he found inspiration or how he knew he wouldn't lose it again he would have been hard pressed to give them a satisfactory answer. Thankfully, the senior partner had weighed in and it was clear that his word was always the last word.

A cool breeze had started up as Taki emerged from the office. Not a success but not a failure like the previous seventeen attempts either, Taki could barely wait to get home so he could save forever on paper that which his mind might easily forget. Now, to find the people who had so rudely interrupted his time with Mitsuha.

A hand suddenly fell on his shoulder from behind.

"Tsukasa, can't you say hello like a normal person?"

"No, I want you to blush like you did that time at school again."

"Piss off, I only blush for your sister."

"I don't have a sister, Taki."

"Disowning her for going out with me seems kind of harsh."

"My my, is it high school again?"

Tsukasa smiled at Okudera

"What high school? I'll be looking for a repeat of that day's blush from Taki kun till I'm in the grave."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that, it just increases your chances of finding an early one."

"Let's continue this somewhere warmer", Okudera broke in.

"If that is what Senpai commands."

"We exist merely to carry out Senpai's whims."

Taki sat across from Okudera and Tsukasa at the bar. There was a baseball game on and a steady stream of conversation flowed around them, creating an atmosphere that was soothing and anonymous.

"So, Taki, how did your interview go?", Okudera asked in a neutral voice.

"I might have to hold off on going back to serving tables just yet."

She leaned forward.

"Well, you know, if you need some extra cash I do have this skirt that I'd love to get some hand stitched flowers on."

This joke again.

Taki had brought up his friend's allegations of irregular behaviour to the psychiatrist, along with his own inability to remember such behaviour later. The confused look he had been given was one he knew too well, he had received it when he was recounting his obsession over Itomori as well. In the end, it had been left unresolved and the psychiatrist had simply told him to ensure he took his medicines to ensure such episodes didn't happen again.

"By the way, Taki, who were you with when I called?"

Taki did his best impression of a poker face and turned towards Tsukasa.

"No one, I was alone."

"Really? Then you had better explain your rudeness."

"I'm only polite with humans."

"Rude. Here's your sake." Tsukasa extended the bottle in Taki's direction.

As his blood alcohol content rose over the next two hours, Taki found his thoughts muddling up. Like threads, they seemed to begin out of nothing and collapsed in on themselves. Yet, he found himself coming back frequently to Mitsuha. He had tried over hours to recall someplace where he might have met her and came up with nothing. Why did he have such a visceral reaction to her? Even in a mind dulled by heavy drinking, there was a burst of activity every time he remembered her face.

A mirror.

It was merely a flash, yet Taki was sure it was. That face, he had seen it in a mirror. How could he, though? He shook his head, Okudera and Tsukasa had gone home half an hour ago so he was all alone. A drowsiness that had first reared it's head right around when they left was possessing Taki now, he could barely keep his eyelids open. Taki felt his senses gradually shut down, the gradual numbing that accompanies sleep radiating up from his extremities inwards, towards his core.

Mitsuha was running along a mountain road on a dark night. Far from Tokyo and it's technological bubble, where night still differed from day, she ran as her vision blurred. When they cleared again, she was running along a wet Tokyo street, hopping over puddles as bystanders stared at her.

She burst awake with a start, one hand shooting up in accordance to where it would be in her dream. Dawn was breaking as she yawned and stretched, feeling an odd looseness in her limbs. She found herself lying on her side. As she gradually became more aware of her senses, she realized she was lying there in her work clothes.

Guess I was too tired to change.

Yotsuha walked into the dining room, freshly awake and still in pajamas, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You're up early today."

Mitsuha had been staring out the window, the morning breeze playing gently through her hair as she sipped a cup of coffee.

"You know I used to wake up by myself when I was in college?"

"And how many times did you skip the first class?"

Mitsuha stamped her feet in mock anger.

"No respect for your elders, kids these days!"

"Wisdom lies in the mind, not the body."

"Is that your excuse for not having any?"

"Someone who forgets where her own home is shouldn't lecture others on wisdom."

Mitsuha looked up from her cup with a look of surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday night, did you forget? Well, it makes sense. You were trying to open the neighbour's door, he directed you this way."

"Eh? I did that?" Mitsuha blushed. As she tried to remember, Mitsuha became aware of the fact that her memory of the previous day ended with her walking into the bar. She had planned to just order her regular and leave, had she gotten drunk and forgotten somehow?

"Hey, Yotsuha, did I appear drunk?"

Yotsuha smirked, "So that was it, my guess was right. No, you didn't appear drunk, sis. Just confused."

"So, were you drinking with some guy?"

Mitsuha blinked. "No, no. What guy?"

"Why are you smiling?"

Mitsuha cursed her mind for the image of Taki it had flashed her the moment Yotsuha brought up guys.

"No reason. Why are you still sitting here? You'll get late for school."

"You want to get rid of me so bad you forgot it's Saturday?"

That's right, she had forgotten it was Saturday. She had been so busy the last few days she had forgotten her date with Taki. Was it a date? She had wondered if she had forced the dinner on him against his will several times since that date. Cougar, the Americans called the stereotypical older woman. Well, she wasn't that much older, she had reasoned. Still, what if Taki was merely attending to be polite?

Mitsuha had been looking through Taki's social media in her free time during the past week. Compared to her, his life was entirely documented online. She found herself staring jealously at Taki and his friends as they were pictured in various poses across Tokyo. The circumstances of her arrival aside, Tokyo had been everything she had dreamed of, to be born there seemed to be a divine blessing.

"Well, I do need to answer nature's call as much as I would like to stay and annoy you. See ya, Sis!" Yotsuha announced as she marched off to the washroom.

Mitsuha resumed staring out the window. How different was it from Itomori, it was all she had ever desired. The sun didn't rise over mountains here, it rose over skyscrapers. The trains came every two minutes instead of hours. No one knew her and she knew no one. So how did she know him?

Oh well, thinking about it didn't seem to help much. Mitsuha had planned out a day of preparation prior to what she felt was the most critical night of her life, Sayaka would have to be woken up and dragged along.

Starting up her phone, Mitsuha was surprised to find her previous layout changed and the notes app brought into the main page. She wondered if it was a bug as she moved the app back to it's rightful place on the last page, after all she never used it nowadays.