"Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history"
What is this English?! What is her voice?!
Mitsuha's English sounded almost flawless, and on top of that, she had a smooth voice. It was soft, but low, and it complimented this low tempo, but upbeat song really well.
When the guitar solo came on, she turned to Taki and pointed at the screen. "See, Taki? I wanna be able to play this one day." He just smiled with a look that said "yeah that'd be pretty cool".
After Mitsuha got done murdering "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", it was Taki's turn, but not before he could compliment her, or question her.
"Wh-…wait…wha-…Mitsuha! You're amazing!"
"Thanks! I love Pat Benatar, she's awesome. Isn't rock music awesome?"
"Yeah, it is. That song was super catchy and easy to listen to. Where in the world did you learn to sing like that?"
"I'm not sure. It's just natural for me, I guess. Alright now. It is your turn, Taki-kun."
"Umm…gee, I…I dunno."
"Come ON, Taki-kun. So you'd rather just sit there and just watch me sing?"
"I mean, I don't really have a problem with that. You have a really nice voice, after all."
"Hmmph. You don't make things easy, do you? Well, if it makes you feel better, I'll sing a duet with you."
"So you can drown out my voice? I like that idea!"
He let Mitsuha pick again, since she was clearly more knowledgeable about songs to sing. He didn't even bother helping her look for something, and didn't dare question what she finally picked.
"Wait. How am I supposed to sing, if I don't know what the song is?"
But it was too late. The opening title card of the song came on. And it turned out Mitsuha knew him better than he thought.
Like Mitsuha, he had a sort of affinity for western music, obviously not as much as her. But he would sing songs to himself enough where he could overcome the language barrier and get through the song without any hitches in speech. So when Mitsuha chose "Bohemian Rhapsody", he felt a little relieved since it was a song that he knew well. Well, better than most other western hits.
The first few lines were a little awkward for Taki. The lack of confidence in his voice overcame everything, but slowly melted away as more of the song passed. So then by the time the Galileo part came on, Taki was singing his heart out without a care in the world, and Mitsuha couldn't help but smile. She hated the nervous and reserved part of Taki, the one that prevented him from doing stuff like this. The confident, outgoing Taki was the one she fell in love with. And it was on full display over one of Queen's most famous ballads.
The rest of the time was spent singing Japanese songs that they were lyrically more comfortable with. And what felt like just about a half hour or so turned out to be 3 hours, so seeing 23:30 on the clock surprised them quite a bit.
"Alrighty! That was fun, right?"
"It was. Thank you for pulling me out of the shell. I…I wouldn't've been able to experience that. That was pretty fun."
"Told you! And honestly, you're not a bad singer. Just be more confident next time, 'cause we're doing this again pretty soon. Okay, what do we do now?"
Most of the shops in the mall were closed. The only ones that were open were bars, restaurants, and other recreational establishments. But Mitsuha happened to glance the other way, when she saw Yotsuha and a few of her friends walk towards them, away from the movie theater.
"OH! YOTSUHA!"
When Yotsuha realized it was Mitsuha, a smile grew on her face and she became really happy to see her sister, when in the past she would've normally cringed from embarrassment. Part of that was due to the fact that she doesn't see her as often anymore. But she couldn't let her friends see her emotional attachment to anything, let alone family.
"Hey, onee-chan." There was very little enthusiasm in her voice, and the happy look on her face dissolved into one of disinterest. Mostly because she wanted to keep her cool and nonchalant persona intact to her friends. She was a teenager after all.
"'Hey, onee-chan' that's it, Yotsuha? I thought you'd be a little happier to see me. Since we don't live together anymore…"
While the sisters had their little standoff, Yotsuha's friends pounced on Taki, with their menstrual instinct all but forcing them to ignore the possibility of him being spoken for already.
"Sup? What's your name?"
Okay, like, how old are these girls? "Umm. I'm Taki. Nice to meet you." The girls just laughed at his gentle nature and mature demeanor.
"Ooohhh, what a gentlemannnnnnnnn." One of them took Taki's hand and started swinging it back and forth. "Well, I'm Kaori."
"And I'm Shizuka!"
"I'm Rin!"
Have they, like, never seen a male before?
The girls circled him and laughed, while putting their hands on him in places that, despite being publically acceptable, were still reserved for Mitsuha. But what was he gonna do, shove them all away?
"Guys, leave him alone!" Yotsuha interjected and barked at her friends to stop harassing Taki.
She'd already beaten Mitsuha to it, who was a little hesitant to say anything to Yotsuha's friends, not wanting to risk coming off as a jealous woman. But seeing these girls touch Taki boiled her blood, and her face turned red instantly. But somehow when she saw Yotsuha take charge of the situation, she relaxed at her sister's display of maturity. Plus, these were high school girls, what would Taki even do to them?
The girls turned in response to Yotsuha, and when they realized that this incredibly gorgeous woman was Taki's significant other, their faces turned red and they jumped a few feet back away from Taki. They then began to clamor and yell apologies over each other, at which Mitsuha just laughed.
"I kinda had the same reaction when I first met him, too."
Taki glanced over at Yotsuha, and had some different feelings hit him. First, it was a little refreshing to see her again, since during the time he spent in Mitsuha's body, he got to know her pretty well, and came to consider her his own sister in his own sense. And he couldn't help but notice that Yotsuha herself had grown to be fairly attractive. Runs in the family, I guess.
"Yotsuha. I'm so sorry that you've had to deal with everything that's been going on between me and Obaa-san. But! Here he is! This is Taki! This is who I've been spending all this time with!" Mitsuha was both excited that two of her most beloved people got to meet, and also desperate that Yotsuha would get a good enough impression of him so that she could validate all of Mitsuha's pleas to her grandmother.
Taki held out his hand for more traditional greeting, in contrast to the one he had with her friends. "I'm Taki. Nice to meet you." Part of him, though, felt odd that he was introducing himself to someone he already knew. But so much time had passed. And she'd changed so much. It's almost like he hadn't known her at all.
"Nice to meet you. Taki-kun."
Mitsuha turned bright red, caught off-guard that her sister thought they were on given name basis already. "Hey! D-Don't call him that!"
"Why?"
"Because…it's…it's my nickname for him!"
Ooh, a little possessive, aren't you, Onee-chan? "Taki-kun? That's what you chose for his nickname? Oh alright. I just thought, y'know, since this guy's gonna be my brother-in-law, we'd be on a first name basis…" Yotsuha hid a small smirk, knowing that she had just turned their gears.
The two lovebirds stuttered over each other, and felt their faces flush with crimson. Behind her, Yotsuha heard one of her friends playfully scold her for what she did. "You're so evil, Yotsuha-chan!"
"Anyway, what were you guys up to?"
"Oh! We just got done with karaoke! It was a lot of fun! Did you guys just see a movie?"
"Oh, nooo, we just decided to walk into the movie theater, do nothing for an hour and a half, and leave."
"I don't remember you being this sarcastic…"
"And I don't remember you-"
"How about you don't finish that sentence, Imouto-chan…" Mitsuha's voice had a very hostile inflection, one that definitely scared Yotsuha. She decided to heed her sister's advice in fear of what Mitsuha would do. She was the gatekeeper to a lot of embarrassing memories, after all.
"So. Where are you and Taki living, nowadays?"
WHAT IS WITH THIS GIRL? Taki hesitantly shared his neighborhood of residence, which he would immediately regret.
"Oh, that's so close to here! Let's all go to Taki's place!"
"Yotsuha!"
Yotsuha friends began clamoring in desire to go to Taki's apartment. These were girls that normally spent their weekends away from home. The excuse of it being too late at night would never work on them. How is Yotsuha able to stay out like this? Wouldn't her grandmother say something?
Taki at first denied the idea, but when he thought it about it, he warmed up to it a little. What's the worst that could happen? As far as he knew, there wasn't any alcohol in the apartment, and he did have a lot of stuff they could do together as a group. When it was all set and done, Taki found it to be a great opportunity to develop a foundation of trust with Yotsuha, who at this point was one of his only lifelines for gaining Hitoha's approval.
The whole time, Mitsuha was scolding and rambling to Yotsuha about the do's and don'ts of relationships, what not to say and do, and the questions that cross the line. Taki lightly pulled her aside, and somehow his grip on her soothed her, and her estrogen-fueled tirade turned into a state of tranquility. She turned to Taki and responded to his tug on her arm with a soft "yes, sweetheart?"
"If you think about it, if they have a good time, your sister will tell your grandmother all about it. And she'll become more trusting of me. And more accepting of our relationship."
"Taki…I'm gonna be totally honest. That is not what's gonna happen."
"Mitsuha, you don't ever get to see your sister anymore. Believe or not, it's been 2 weeks since you moved out. Don't you wanna spend some time with her?"
"I…I do."
Taki couldn't care less about having a bunch of teenage girls in his apartment. But as time passed, he noticed that Mitsuha began to miss her grandmother and sister. And no matter how many times she would say that he made her happy and stuff, he knew he could never replace them.
"Sigh…alright. C'mon girls, let's go."
During the journey back to Taki's apartment complex, he noticed that all the girls had a certain tag on their handbags. Like he did with Mitsuha, he knew he'd see them before, but had a little bit of trouble remembering what they meant.
"Those tags look awfully familiar. Where did you get those?"
"Oh, these? Oh, we all play basketball for our school. This is the participation tag you get when you make the prefecture tournament."
And then all of Taki's memories playing the boys' tournament came flooding back. He remembered doing something very irresponsible the night before an elimination game. Something stupid enough that rendered him unable to play, and the team lost as a result. He couldn't remember exactly what he did, but the grief he experienced and the sheer embarrassment he felt, he definitely remembered.
"Aw man. Y'know, believe it or not, I played in the boy's tournament back in the day. It was a lot of fun."
"It sure was! We made it the semifinals, how far did you guys go?"
"Heh. We didn't make it out of the group stage."
The rest of the train ride was spent conversing about the landscape of Tokyo high school basketball. Taki inquired about if the powerhouses in his day were still good, and the girls learned about how different the guys' and girls' games were. Eventually, they found themselves at Taki's front door, prompting Taki to heed them a warning about the floor spacing.
"Okay, so I never intended to have more than a couple people other than myself in here. So mind the tight spacing."
Yotsuha and her friends explored Taki's flat like newly adopted pets in their new home, scouring every corner, pondering upon every object that they didn't see every day, and of course assuming the worst when they discovered Mitsuha's belongings almost everywhere.
"Alright guys, you begged us to drag you out here, now find something to do."
The girls looked at each other in debate, waiting for someone to be the guinea pig and share an idea. Eventually one of them decided to take advantage of the nightfall
"Ghost stories! Scary stories! It's dark out, and we're in a pretty tight space. Let's turn out the lights and tell scary stories!"
Taki and Mitsuha looked at each other with that look that said "well, I don't know any scary stories". But, hey, why not?
So they just rolled with it. And since they didn't have much to contribute with, they figured they'd get whatever lame stories they had out of the way first to not kill the mood later. Taki told this really strange story about a farm boy pulling a toe out of the ground and getting found by a monster, while Mitsuha shared an almost equally weird story about a boy and how his friend was turned into a creature by a disease. None of them were particularly entertained, and one of Yotsuha's friends actually almost fell asleep.
"You okay? Do we need to take you home?"
Past a yawn, she was able to get out "eh, I'm okay. Those stories were just so boring," to which Taki and Mitsuha just looked at her with a look of non-amusement.
As the night continued, the stories became longer, more complex, and of course scarier.
"The noises came closer and closer…and when she turned back to her computer screen…A GHOST ZOMBIE APPEARED IN SCREEN!"
"AHHHGHGHHGH!"
And another one.
"Through the therapist's eyes, he could see himself getting attacked by a monster…and when his mind returned to the real world…the therapist was THE MONSTER HIMSELF!"
"AHHHHHHGHGHGHHGHGH!"
The one that Yotsuha told was one that Mitsuha had heard before by word of mouth, one that frightened her greatly when she heard it the first time. When she was much younger, though.
"He followed the voice through his living room…then his kitchen…then the patio outside…"
"NO! STOP!"
"DON'T FOLLOW THE VOICE!"
Taki himself was getting a little nervous, and he subconsciously found himself trying to sense his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. One of Yotsuha's friends was balled up in fear, going through a little bit of a panic attack.
"That's enough, Yotsuha." Mitsuha tried to end the story in fear of what could happen to her friend, but Yotsuha was in a storyteller's trance.
"The voice SCREAMED behind him. He turned around, but nothing was there…he followed it back into the house…and then the walls started closing in…getting tighter and tighter…"
Yotsuha's friend was whimpering and shaking from fear.
"Umm, Yotsuha, I don't think your friend is doing too good."
"Yotsuha, you need to stop. Your friend is…"
"He somehow made it to the bathroom…and heard the voice from the toilet…so he decided to open it…and with every inch the lid raised from the seat…the eerie moaning grew louder…and louder…and FINALLY WHEN HE COULD SEE INSIDE THE BOWL…"
Yotsuha's friend opened her eyes wide and gasped.
"YOTSUHA!"
"There was nothing…"
Her friend sighed in relief, and appeared to calm down a little bit.
"AND THEN HE TURNED AROUND AND A BLOODIED BANSHEE WAS RIGHT BEHIND HIM!"
And Shizuka's voice let out a screech that was sure to wake up anyone within 20 meters. From the shock and fright and also the exhaustion from screaming that loud, Yotsuha's friend passed out on Taki's floor.
"Yotsuha! Look what you've done!"
"Aww, it's okay. She'll wake up in about 5 minutes."
"How do you know?! You've done this to her before?"
"Well, no. But what could possibly be wrong with her?"
"Oh my goodness, Yotsuha!"
Taki began to inspect her to see if she was okay, checking her pulse and other vital signs. The presence of the pulse was a good sign, but it was clear that she wasn't waking up anytime soon.
"See? She's good. I think she just fell asleep."
"Yotsuha, what are we going to do? She's not waking up and it's 1 in the morning!"
To make matters worse, her phone lit up and began vibrating, showing that it was her mom that was calling.
"YOTSUHA! YOU GET TO ANSWER FOR THIS!"
"What? Why? How's it my fault she can't handle ghost stories?"
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"Umm, hello?"
Hello? Shizuka?
"Taki?! What are you doing?"
"Shh…"
WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!
"Umm, your daughter is okay…it's just…"
WHEREVER THE HELL YOU ARE, I WILL FIND YOU AND GET MY DAUGHTER. AND THEN I'M GOING TO CALL THE POLICE!
"No, no, no, no! She's…are you familiar with Miyamizu Yotsuha?"
I AM.
"Okay, well I'm Yotsuha's…umm…well I'm her sister's boyfriend. And your daughter came with Yotsuha to my apartment-"
SO YOU HAVE TEENAGE GIRLS AT YOUR APARTMENT RIGHT NOW? YOU ARE A PEDOPHILE, I AM GOING TO CALL THE POLICE!
Yotsuha, realizing the fault of her doing, took the phone from Taki and decided to try to mediate the situation herself.
"Hello? Mrs. Katsuragi?"
Yotsuha? Where are you guys? Are you guys okay?
"We're totally fine! I promise you we are all safe! Taki is not a molester!"
Taki? Is that who I was talking to?
"It was. Like he said, he's my sister's boyfriend. See, we ran into them at the mall and, well…we wanted to go to his apartment to hang out. I, I didn't even realize how late it was."
So what's going on with Shizuka, why did Taki have to answer?
"Okay, well umm…hehe…she's a little incapacitated right now…"
WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!
"Well, we were telling scary stories and…I guess she got a little scared."
So what's she doing right now?
"She's passed out. She's okay, though."
A short silence gave Yotsuha a mini heart attack, and she anticipated an 11-gauge outburst from a mom who already doesn't think very highly of her.
Yotsuha, may I speak to Taki, please?
Yotsuha didn't hesitate to hand the phone back to Taki. He himself was reluctant to take it.
"H-Hello?"
What is your family name?
"It's uhh- Tachibana."
Tachibana-san, I am forced to trust you with the life of my daughter. Gah, I can't believe Yotsuha told ghost stories with her in the room! But I have no choice but to depend on you to take care of my daughter. If anything happens to my daughter between now and when we pick her up, we will be seeing each other in court.
"Understood. Your daughter will be alright. I apologize for the incident, and I will do everything I can to make sure your daughter is okay." All the girls, especially Yotsuha, were impressed with Taki's cool-headedness. Mitsuha couldn't help but smile and the calm and collected nature she fell in love with. Seeing Taki handle everything so maturely made her relieved in a way.
Text your address to this number. We will arrive to pick her up as fast as possible.
The call disconnected, and all Taki could do was to accept what was happening, and he sent his address to Shizuka's mother.
Yotsuha and her friends had looks of tremendous guilt. "Taki, I-"
"It's fine."
"I…I…sigh…c'mon guys, let's go."
"Uh-uh. There's no way I'm letting you guys leave this late. It's too dangerous for you guys to be heading home by yourselves."
"But, what are we-"
"I have some extra bedding. You guys are gonna have to stay here until sunrise. I can't risk you guys going out there at this time."
"Wait…are you sure?"
"I'm already knee deep in this whole thing. Better take care of you guys than to risk something terrible happening."
"Taki…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"No one did. But things happen."
Yotsuha just looked away defeated, knowing that there wasn't anything left to say.
The next moments were spent with the girls contacting their parents and letting them know what was happening. Taki, Mitsuha, and Yotsuha laid out blankets and comforters to sleep on. And as soon as they were done, Mitsuha violently grabbed her sister and pulled her into the bathroom. Taki decided to look away and try to tune it out, but nonetheless heard the door slam along with the opening words of Mitsuha unloading on Yotsuha. Seeing Mitsuha melt down like this wasn't anything he'd seen before. And as he tucked in a comatose Shizuka, he began to grow anxious at how tarnished his reputation was to not only Hitoha (as far as he knew), but also parents he would otherwise have nothing to do with.
The girls returned from the kitchen, and offered Taki several apologies. What made Taki feel better was the sincerity; ordinarily, girls at their age would throw out sorry's with no meaning, but the voice inflection and body language gave him all the more reason to keep them safe. "No one could've seen this coming. Don't worry about it. I just want you guys to stay here and not go out alone."
The bathroom door opened, and the first to come out was an emotionally wrecked Yotsuha, who looked like had just finished crying an ocean, and then a still fuming Mitsuha. She sat down on the bed next to Taki, exhausted and just as emotionally drained as her sister. Taki put his arm around her and pulled her closer, allowing her to rest her tired body as she laid her head against his shoulder.
"What did you say to her?"
"Just…mainly that I was disappointed in her. She put you and me into a very vulnerable situation. And her friends in danger by keeping them out this late."
"I know you don't want to hear this right now…but does your grandmother know what's happening?"
Mitsuha paused, trying admirably to contain the mini panic attack she had. Tears welled in her eyes, and eventually she broke down grabbed Taki, crying in his shoulder.
"I have no idea what to do! Everything just gets worse and worse! Every time I think things would get better between us and my grandmother, something always digs us deeper! I tried telling myself I don't need both! But you were right! I can't live knowing my grandmother doesn't want us together!"
"So answer me, then. How much does she know, if anything?"
"We tried calling the house, but no one answered, understandably. But the good thing is that on weekends, Yotsuha's usually out by the time our grandmother falls asleep. So I guess if she gets back before she wakes up, there would be nothing to tell her."
"I'm not completely approving of the idea of keeping this from your grandmother. But I think it's probably the best course of action."
"I just want this nightmare to end."
"Well, I mean, really, it's not that bad. We just have to keep these girls here until morning. Then we go back to living our lives."
Mitsuha's stress left her despondent, and offered no response to Taki. Whether she was in agreement or just too tired to say anything was beyond him.
"Okay. I'm gonna check on the girls. Then we can get to bed."
He walked out into his living room to see that the girls had already gotten settled and ready for bed. If none of them knew any better, it would've seemed like they were having a slumber party. But the tension in the room would've made even a joke about it very awkward and inappropriate.
"I'm not trying to sound like a dick when I say this, but when are you guys leaving tomorrow?"
"I guess when it's bright enough outside." None of the girls had a whole lot of courage, surely not enough to answer Taki, but Kaori's answer was met with no disagreement.
"Whenever you guys feel like it's okay. Anything else you guys need?"
"No, we're fine. We really appreciate all that you're doing. Sorry that you have to deal with us."
"Again. It's okay. In fact, let's not make this a bigger deal than it really is." Taki tried to relieve some of their tension, but nothing was going to change the fact that the girls knew they messed up by staying too late.
He returned to his bedroom and found Mitsuha, waiting for him to come back. She too had an apologetic look on her face.
"What's that face for?"
"I…I feel like somehow I could've prevented this."
"Look, it's not that bad, okay? They just stayed a little late, and we're just making sure they don't go out by themselves. And you know what I just realized? It was my idea to bring them here. I ultimately gave the green light to let them come over. So, makes sense for me to own up to it, right? There's nothing you need to feel bad about."
Mitsuha had nothing else to say, and decided to give in to her tiredness. She reached her lips to Taki's cheek and pecked it with a quick kiss before snuggling under the sheets against his body.
Before Taki himself fell asleep, he took a second to evaluate how he handled the whole thing. Was he really doing the right thing by keeping the girls here? Would it maybe have been smarter to let the girls go home by themselves?
Not a chance. Not in this part of town. Their parents wouldn't let them go out this late either.
Speaking of which, he felt like he was a little too nonchalant about the whole deal. And he wondered if their parents, especially Shizuka's, would necessarily agree with his attitude towards what was going on.
No. I think I handled it alright. They'll be mad, sure, but it'll be okay at the end of the day.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N: OKAY SO ANIME EXPO IS THE BIGGEST DISTRACTION EVER! I planned on working on this during the trip, but wouldn't you know it, I came back every day super late and super tired, so the energy to write this was obviously lacking. And it didn't help that I flew in to LA on the very same day my baseball gig ended. BUT HOLY MOLY WAS AX AWESOME! I went last year, and it was a lot of fun, but this time around was probably the best four days of my life. SO MUCH YOUR NAME/KIMI NO NA WA STUFF IN ARTIST ALLEY! I had to constrain myself from buying every piece of art featuring Taki and Mitsuha. Anyone who's been knows exactly what I'm talking about. Anyone who hasn't who has a chance to should definitely go. It's honestly an experience that words would never be able to do justice. As for this story, the distractions are over; baseball as far as I know is done, and AX unfortunately is a thing of the past, so the time I put into this story should increase exponentially. For anyone still reading, thank you so much for the support. I'm sure any following for this fic, if any, has dropped off because of the time between this and the last chapter. So if you're still here, I appreciate it more than you can realize. As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see ya whenever. Cheers.