There was a soft click as Tessie unlocked the door to the now abandoned club room. They had arrived in the early hours of the morning, well before classes would begin for the day. The room had once served as the club room for the now defunct radio club that Tessie had once run. It had been just a small club dedicated to working on and using HAM radios. By some stroke of luck he had managed to find two other students to keep the club up and running his freshman year. However, the other two students had both been in their third year, and without any new applicants Tessie was forced to close the club down early into his second year.
It had been many months since Tessie had last stepped foot in the now neglected room. A layer of dust covered just about the entire room like a thin covering of ashen-colored snow. A shelf covered the entire length of the wall to his left, and in front of him a couch and coffee table were pushed up against the wall which had the only window in the room. The left side of the room covered with boxes and clutter that accumulated from right next to the open door, to just behind the couch; while the long shelf fared no better, being just as cluttered. Boxes of spare parts, tool, and manuals along with a few old HAM radios were scattered across the shelf and floor.
"Here it is." Tessie announced as he stepped in the unkempt room, feeling a wave of nostalgia. "Sorry the place is such a mess, I don't really come here anymore."
"It's fine." Taki reassured him as he entered the room, following right behind Tessie, who made his way past the couch and knelt down at the shelf.
"Any one of these should be fine." He pointed down towards the bottom shelf, where three dusty aged radio units now lay. "Just take whichever one you'd like, and feel free to help yourself to any tools or parts."
"Thanks Tessie-san." Taki replied gratefully.
"It's no problem. Nothing here really gets used anymore, so it's better if this stuff goes to someone who can get some use it."
"I'm sorry about your club."
"Nah, it's alright." Tessie responded, sounding rather relaxed. "No point in dwelling in the past might as well look to the future."
"Right, I totally agree with you." Taki encouraged his friend as he made his way over to him. Taki squatted down and grabbed one of the three dusty and aged HAM radio units.
"So are you going to make it to the festival tonight?" Tessie inquired as Taki hoisted the small unit up.
"Yeah, I should be able to." Taki replied cheerfully. "I'm looking forward to it." He kept up that appearance of excitement despite such a bold faced lie. He was not looking forward to the upcoming festival, in fact he could feel a pit in his stomach whenever it came to mind. He knew what would happen that night, and aside from a certain denizen deity he was the only one who knew what was to come.
Taki carried that hefty, unused radio unit out of the club and headed back home before returning to school later that morning. Tessie closed and locked the door behind them before heading back to town alongside his friend. Taki was rather quite on the way back, and seemed to have a rather solemn air about him. While the rest of the town was preparing for an annual celebration and expected merrymaking, Taki instead was preparing himself for a long and cold night.
That feeling of utter dread weighed Taki down throughout the rest of his school day, and even seemed to weigh down time itself. His classes had begun to feel as if they were taking forever as Taki constantly kept averting his gaze towards the clock. Though he had managed to prepare some earlier that morning he still had some work to do before the festival later that night. He repeatedly caught himself tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the long hand of the clock slowly inch its way onward. Aside from his foot tapping, Taki kept his antsy demeanor hidden behind the guise of a diligent student.
In fact he was not even trying to keep up anymore, he didn't quite see the point in it. Taki failed to retain anything Miss Yukino has said from the start of class up until lunch. All that he could recall from those mere hours past was the quasi-eternity he spent waiting for his class to pass. Lunch was quite enjoyable for him as he ate alongside his friends and made plans for the festival that night. They were undeniably excited about that night as they enthusiastically discussed the festival and the rare comet. Taki began to feel sorry for them.
Before long they had to return to their classes, and once more Taki waited. He did begin to pay a little attention during their course on ancient literature. In this instance he actually read along in his book as Mitsuha stood behind him and read aloud to the class. "You came here O Gilgamesh, by toil and travail, what do I give you for your homeward journey?" The sound of her voice held the attention of everyone in the room as she read a line from the character Utanapishti.
"'Let me disclose, O Gilgamesh, a matter most secret,
to you I will tell a mystery of gods.
There is a plant that looks like a box-thorn
it has prickles like a dogrose, and will prick one who plucks it.
But if you can possess this plant, you'll be again as you were in youth.'
Just as soon as Gilgamesh heard what he said, he opened a channel.
Heavy stones he tied to his feet, and they pulled him down… to the ocean below.
He took the plant, and pulled it up, and lifted it.
The heavy stones he cut loose from his feet, and the sea cast him ashore.
Said Gilgamesh to him, to Urshanabi the boatman.
'This plant, Urshanabi, is the 'Plant of Heartbeat',
with it a man can regain his vigor.
to Uruk-the-sheepfold I will take it,
to an ancient I will feed some and put it to the test.
It's not shall be 'Old Man Grow Young'
I will eat it myself, and be again as I was in my youth!'
At twenty leagues they broke bread, at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.
Gilgamesh found a pool whose water was cool,
down he went into it, to bathe in the water.
Of the plant's fragrance a snake caught scent,
came up in silence, and bore the plant off.
As it turned away it sloughed its skin.
Then Gilgamesh sat down and wept,
down his cheek tears were coursing.
He spoke to Urshanbi, the boatman.
'For whom, Urshanabi, toiled my arms so hard,
for whom ran dry the blood of my heart?
Not for myself did I find a bounty,
for the "Lion of Earth" I have done a favor!
Now far and wide the tide is rising.
Having opened the channel I abandoned the tools;
what thing would I find that served as my landmark?
Had I only turned back, and left the boat on the shore!'
At twenty leagues they broke bread,
at thirty leagues they stopped for the night.
When they arrived in Uruk,
Said Gilgamesh to him, Urshanabi the boatman;
'O Urshanabi, climb Uruk's wall and walk back and forth!
Survey its foundations, examine the brickwork!
Were the bricks not fired in an oven?
Did the Seven Sages not lay its foundation?
A square mile is city, a square mile date grove, a square mile is clay pit,
half a square mile the temple of Ishtar;
three square miles and a half is Uruk's expanse.'"
"Thank you Miyamizu-san, that was very good." Miss Yukino praised her and signaled her to sit back down. "So that ends our first reading, The Epic of Gilgamesh."
An uneasy feeling rose within Taki, and he tensed up after hearing the ending to that story. He was able to empathize after Gilgamesh's friend Enkidu died, and Taki had hoped that the titular character would achieve his goal. He could hardly continue paying attention as his teacher began to explain the aspect of ancient epics.
The remainder of his school day was rather uneventful. Taki tried to remain as attentive as possible throughout his classes, yet his mind remained focused on the events that were certain to take place that evening. As soon as the final bell had rang and dismissed them from their classes, Taki quickly began to gather his things in order to rush out of the classroom.
As soon as Taki had returned home he slung his backpack onto the floor beside him. He quickly got to work preparing for the night. The plan was to hijack the town hall's startup frequency through using the aid of his laptop. A program was set so that it would begin around 7:45pm, right as the comet would split. During his trip to the library in Hida, Taki had learned the times when the comet would split and when the meteor would subsequently impact Itomori. Thus, a prerecorded message, made using a computer generated voice, would alert the people of Itomori to a false evacuation order. They would all hopefully take it seriously and depart towards Itomori High School, which would be untouched by the destructive force of the impending meteor.
Taki simply had to do a little fine tuning, making sure the hijacking and pre-recorded messages were set to go off, and giving his new radio a small test run within his own home to make sure it was working properly. The aged radio unit started up without any issues, and worked quite smoothly. Taki assume that Tessie must have taken good care of his things, considering it hadn't been used in almost a year.
Soon everything was together, and Taki was prepared two hours prior to when the comet would split. Then it would be a battle against fate. Just after he had finished preparing, Taki heard his phone vibrate against the table. He picked it up and read a message from Mitsuha, which read…
"Hey, I'm getting ready to head to festival. Are you coming?"
He swiftly typed his reply. "Sure, I can make it." A few seconds later he received another message.
"Great! We're meeting at our spot with Sayaka and Tessie. You know the one, the one you helped build." A second message shortly followed.
"See you soon! ^w^"
Taki quickly changed into more casual attire, wearing gray slacks along with his black hooded jacket. It was the same attire he wore during his trip to the Miyamizu Shrine within the crater. With his plan ready to be set into action, Taki departed from his modest abode and went to rendezvous with his friends for what should be one final night in Itomori.
Taki was the last one to arrive at their designated meeting spot. Mitsuha and Sayaka were both dressed in yukatas, while Tessie, similar to Taki, was dressed more casually with a red jacket and gray slacks. He was also the first one to acknowledge Taki's presence.
"Here he is." Tessie waved over to him. "Hey Tachibana!" The heads of the two other turned as Taki approached.
"Hey!" Taki waved back as he greeted his friends.
"Glad to see you could make it Taki-kun." Mitsuha greeted him with an affectionate grin.
"Thanks." Once he was close enough, Taki took a good look at the dress Mitsuha had put on for that evening. "By the way, you look really nice in that yukata."
"Oh, thank you Taki-kun." She replied as her cheeks became suddenly became tinted a rosy pink. "So then, shall we head to the festival?"
"Sure." Taki agreed, offering his hand out while she in return interlocked her fingers with his.
The couple stayed a couple paces behind their two friends as they headed for the festival. By the time they had arrived at the heart of the festival where all the booths were located, the sun had already set and the stars dotted the inky sky. The first half of that evening was rather enjoyable for all of them. They spent their first few hours by playing various games, ordering food from a couple stands, and general sightseeing around the town's lively festival. Yet this period of bliss was fleeting, as soon the much anticipated moment would arrive.
Sayaka had begun leading the group as they went to find a spot to watch the comet. Three out of the four were grinning with excitement, while Take remained rather pensive. He became silent after they had left the festival, and he remained that way for the entirety of their walk. Eventually they came upon a gap in between the guard rails alongside the road with a dirt path leading slightly downward. "Here, this clearing up ahead looks like a good spot." Mitsuha suggested as she pointed down the dirt path. "Come on." She then took the initiative and treaded down the path which squeezed through the trees, leading to a wide grassy clearing on the other side. The others followed forthwith.
The grass swayed slightly from the chilly night breeze. They looked up towards the inky black sky. Hundreds of stars shined brightly to contrast to coal sky. Brilliant beacons of light from great distances illuminated the sky above, and on most nights would be the main attraction. This night was special however, as a rare comet passed by overhead. Its tail was a vibrant blue streak that highlighted the comet's path. As the comet passed by, its tail left behind a vivid spectrum of various shades of blue and purple. This once in a lifetime celestial event instantly attracted the gaze of the four high school students.
"Wow." Mitsuha whispered in amazement as she gazed upon the rare and wondrous celestial body flying overhead. Sayaka and Tessie both stood there, mouth agape and curved into a wide grin. None of them noticed the serious air surrounding Taki. As he watched the brilliant comet streak through the night sky, Taki felt as if a heavy weight had suddenly settled in his gut. He glanced down at his watch and saw the time change to 19:45. "Ah, look!" Mitsuha exclaimed, causing Taki's gaze quickly shifted upwards towards the splitting celestial body.
The comet glistened a couple of times before it split into two different parts. The first of the newly formed twins continued in its original direction as if nothing had happened; while the newly formed chunk of space rock split off towards a different direction and adopted a red glow to it. Brilliant bits of red lights, akin to sparks, began to fly from the head of the newly formed comet. The three natives of Itomori all gazed upon this exceedingly rare sight with wonder and awe, while Taki felt as if there was a ten pound weight settling in his stomach.
"Wow, I can't believe that just happened!" Sayaka exclaimed excitedly. "That was like two once in a lifetime events at once."
It was at that time the blaring sound of a siren rung throughout the rural lakeside town, shattering the still silence of the night. The four of them simultaneously turned their heads towards town.
"Attention, this is an emergency evacuation order." A computer generated female voice announced throughout the town. "All citizens are to evacuate to Itomori High School." The broadcast began to loop and repeat those simple instructions.
"Huh, what's going on?" Sayaka wondered aloud.
"Maybe they're afraid the comet is going to come down and hit us." Tessie joked with a grin, while none of them noticed Taki's sudden uneasiness.
"I guess we need to do what they say though." Taki surmised as he quickly regained his composure. "We'll probably get in trouble if we ignore it."
"Great, this is just how I wanted to end tonight." Mitsuha grumbled.
The four of them made their way towards the town's high school for the second time that day. Many other residents were either headed the same direction, or waiting on their families before departing. The better part of the crowd griped in a manner similar to Mitsuha, complaining about how this sudden evacuation drill was ruining their festive evening. Soon the townspeople began to form a crowd as they all headed towards Itomori High School.
As they were treading up the long and familiar path leading to the school, the blaring sound of the sirens suddenly came to an abrupt stop. The entire crowd came to a stop and looked about in confusion. Many quickly deduced that whatever had happened, the town hall had made a mistake and they were free to leave. A few began to trickle out of the crowd and return home, with the mass of the population soon following suit.
Taki, Mitsuha, and their two friends, stood alongside the road as the eager ones began to return home or to their previous festivities. "It seems like they made some kind of mistake." Tessie observed. "Man, I bet everyone is going to be pissed."
"It was kind of a waste of time." Sayaka agreed.
With seemingly no provocation, Taki suddenly took off down the path back towards town. His friends were all left behind in a state of confusion as they watched him bolt off into the night.
"Where's he heading off to in such a hurry?" Tessie wondered aloud. Instead of receiving any kind of response, he simply watched as Mitsuha soon followed after Taki, running as fast as she could in order to try and keep up. Tessie and Sayaka both just stood there even more lost than before.
"What a strange couple they are." Tessie remarked.
When he arrived on the street he lived on, Taki glanced around the corner of the home he was hiding behind, finding what seemed to be most of the town's police force gathered outside his house. The small home was now isolated behind a line of yellow tape, was surrounded by both officers of the law and town officials. Taki watched from his hiding spot as an officer carried away his aged HAM radio. Taki cursed under his breath.
A whole week of planning had now just gone out the window, as it became apparent that the town officials caught onto him quicker than he anticipated. His home was compromised and he was sure that he was now a wanted fugitive. In a few minutes, none of that would matter though. Yet, stubborn as he was, Taki refused to give up. He began to think of anything he could that might turn this situation around. The inspiration came when he saw an officer approach a certain official, the man that Taki recognized as Mitsuha's father.
Taki just then remembered than Mitsha's father was the mayor of Itomori. Though he had originally planned on not getting her involved, mostly since he did not wish for her to think he had lost his mind and become self-made prophet of doom; he now saw that she was likely his only shot at saving everyone. Having never even been noticed, Taki quickly retreated and went back the way he came.
Soon enough, he came across Mitsuha, who had been chasing after him as best she could while wearing more traditional sandals and a yukata. She was panting heavily by the time they met at the usual intersection where they would meet every morning. "Taki…" She managed to get out between breaths. "What's going on? Why did you just suddenly take off like that?" She asked.
"I'm sorry I made you worry like that Mitsuha." Taki apologized. "But there's something I need your help with."
Mitsuha stared back at him in confusion. "What is it?" She asked.
Taki began to mentally work on a way to word his next statement without coming across like a total loon. His pause only caused Mitsuha to worry more as he delayed to tell her the issue at hand. Mitsuha gently took his hands into her own and smiled at him.
"Taki, whatever it is, you can tell me." She reassured him. "I promise I'll do whatever I can to help you."
A smile came to Taki's face as he felt Mitsuha's words had warmed him, and any worry had quickly melted away like ice cream in the summer sun. "Thank you Mitsuha." He responded in relief. "I don't think we have a lot of time now, but…" Taki's voice trailed off and faded as he glanced down at at his pocket. His phone was pulled half out, resting on his palm, and the digital clock read 20:20.
There was a loud boom in the not so far distance, as if a bomb had just gone off. Taki and Mitsuha both looked towards the sound as the sudden loud noise caused them to jump. Mitsuha began to panic, Taki began to feel defeated.
"What was that?" She asked in a distressed voice. Suddenly another loud boom, this one closer; a cloud of earth and debris shot into the air. Mitsuha began to look around again, though this time she saw it. She stared up towards the star speckled night sky as one of those star now came crashing down towards her. "Taki-kun, is that… going to hit us?"
"I'm sorry Mitsuha." His voice was low, his spirit shattered. "I couldn't stop it."
The last thing he did that night was to wrap his arms around Mitsuha and hold her tight. The last thing he felt was her arms pulling him in before the meteor came and annihilated the entire town. Five hundred lives erased in the blink of an eye, and a small countryside town in Japan was crippled and left to mourn.
Taki awoke upright with a jolt. He was in his room in Itomori again, back on his old futon with his old sheets overtop his lower body. Taki glanced down at his hands in a daze, still in shock from what he had just experienced. He had just died that night alongside Mitsuha, right next to her.
"Did you learn your lesson?" A voice made him jump and turn to look towards the window. Standing there, next to the window, was Musubi.
"How did you get in here?" Taki asked in shock.
"I'm a god, remember? Itomori is my domain."
"What if someone sees you?"
"Again, I'm a god, I can make myself visible to only you." Musubi informed him. "So are you by any chance done already? Learned that some things are just inevitable?" The god reinstated his previous inquiry.
"Not a chance." Taki replied as he threw the sheets off of him, then going over to his phone to confirm that the week had reset. It was now Monday before school, and the comet would return again on Friday. "I get to reset as many times as I want, right? So I just have to keep trying until I get it right."
Musubi let out a sigh. "You mortals are so thick headed. Fine, have it your way." With that, the deity rapidly became transparent until he vanished altogether, leaving Taki alone to get ready for his second first day at school. Instead of continuing to feel defeated, Taki was now inspired to keep trying, to find some way to save Mitsuha and the town. He carried that determination with him as he headed out the door, ready to meet her once more, determined that this time he would succeed in his battle against fate.
A/N: Greetings readers!
My apologies that this chapter took so long to come out, however I was admittedly a bit too lax during summer, and now this semester has me busier than ever. Needless to say, chapter updates from here on out will be sporadic and have long periods of time in between. I do full intend to finish this story, however I am becoming increasingly busier, and as a result I won't be able to update regularly. With that said, I do hope that you will stick around and continue to enjoy this work.
