Hello. It's the author here. Allow me to say, thank you so incredibly much for the support on this story. It's been really awesome to see so many people enjoying my work and it's helped build my confidence as a writer as a whole. So thank you all so incredibly much for that.

That's pretty much it. Enjoy this chapter! And sorry it took so long.

Taki threw himself backward onto his bed. His exasperation with himself soaring to never-before-seen heights. God, him and his stupid impulsivity and big fat mouth. He just had to find a way to go and muck up, didn't he?

Subconsciously Taki reached up to rub his eye, then briefly wincing at the burst of pain from touching the bruise around it.

"I should've just stayed quiet," Taki thought regretfully, but as he let his arm fall beside him and he stared blankly at the ceiling he nonetheless said, "I hope at least Mitsuha appreciated it."

-Earlier That Afternoon-

Taki breathed in a good huff of the Itomori air. He didn't exactly like living here, and he may still miss Tokyo. But man if the town wasn't anything less than a beautiful view.

The spot from which Taki gaze at Itomori was a nice vantage point. From up on the hill in the high school field, you could see all the way down to the docks where the lake met the town. You could see the sunlight reflecting across the lake, illuminating yet another blissful day. You could even see some of the people off in their own blissful little town, hurrying left and right, walking and talking laughing and such. All this from under the shade of a tree. Oh, and it was the perfect place for Taki to eavesdrop on Mitsuha and her friends, that too.

"So, that's that then?" the boy who Taki had come to understand was named Tessie asked Mitsuha,

"Yeah, I guess. At least...I assume we're on good terms now." Mitsuha replied,

"Well I wouldn't say 'good' terms, you are still a bit hot-headed." Taki put in suddenly with a joke.

All three of the people gathered in the area next to him jumped in surprise at his presence. Taki laughed at this, leaning against the tree and lightly clutching his chest.

"TAKI WHAT THE HELL," Mitsuha screeched at him, "QUIT EAVESDROPPING!"

Despite the squeal-like pitch of her voice and clear anger over Takis mischief, there were still the undertones of amusement in the girl's voice. Taki took this as a good sign and leaned around the tree to look at her with a smile.

"Was doing nothing of the sort." he lied,

Mitsuha rolled her eyes at him, and with one last smile at the trio, Taki stuck his hands in his pockets and whistled as he walked away.
Mitsuha was sort of right actually. Since the other day, they had been on at the very least, better terms than before. She didn't throw one dirty look at him for all of yesterday. Though maybe that was because he was nice once, it might not keep up with Takis continuing nonsense. However, he'd be lying if he said he didn't find it amusing.

"Look. The mayor's daughter got her eyes on a boy!" Came a sing-songy voice from behind Taki,

Turning his head he saw Mitsuha still in her chair avoiding eye contact with two girls and a boy who seemed to be smiling about something. Though from the fierce glare Tessie was giving them he wagered to guess they were trouble.

When he saw one of the girls start to turn to him Taki quickly averted his gaze and walked around aloofly pretending to not have heard as he moved closer within earshot to listen in on the altercation.

"Go away, you guys," Tessie growled at the opposing trio, Taki could hear the boy scoff at him,

"Or what. You'll get your dad to take care of me? Gonna hide behind him, Tessie?" There was a chorus of giggles from the two girls,

"Leave us alone please." Came the whisper of Mitsuha. She was so quiet Taki could barely even hear her,

"Or what?" Sneered one of the girls. Taki felt his fist clench unintentionally. He waited to hear Mitsuha's fiery response,

But it never came. The only sound continued to be the other students yapping and laughing in the field. While the other corner under the shade of the tree remained deadly quiet.

"That's what we thought." Laughed the boy

Then with one final giggle between the girls, the antagonistic trio finally left.

When Taki was sure they were lit of sight, he leaned around the corner to check on Mitsuha. She looked sad. Unsurprisingly of course, but more than that she looked just defeated. Taki had had enough of his own 'bad days' to know exactly what that looked like. Everything about her had the aura, head hung slightly, face blank, and just the tiniest, most indiscernible, wet spot just below the tear glands of one's eyes. Desperately Taki felt the urge to walk over and help her, but he didn't. Instead, he just leaned back across the tree and slumped.

'Maybe this defeated feeling is infectious.' He thought to himself. Mitsuha just sat there, doing nothing, and so Taki sat there, hoping the guilt would go away soon.

-Later That Day-

The guilt did not leave Taki. In fact, it may have just gotten worse. He couldn't shake the expression on Mitsuhas face from his mind. Believe me, he tried, but all throughout the day her upset, almost tired face haunted his thoughts.

It would continue to do so even now as Taki walked down the halls to his last class of the day. Art.

He had fairly memorized his surroundings after the first day and was making his way to the class slowly as possible. This was one of the classes he had with Mitsuha, meaning he would have to face her for real...oh god, was she still upset about those jerks? Taki was not going to be able to handle that. He'd die of the guilt!

"I totally should've done something." The boy reminisced with a sigh.

"What?" Asked a voice next to Taki,

Taki suddenly jumped several feet into the air with a yelp of surprise. When he had come back down to earth he found himself staring into the confused eyes of Mitsuha Miyamizu.

"M-Mitsuha! Don't scare me like that!" he stuttered, the girl huffed at him and crossed her arms.

"Well don't talk to yourself like a weirdo." Suddenly a smile broke across her face and she dissolved into giggles.

Taki himself couldn't quite keep his composure together and allowed himself to chuckle along with her. Suddenly losing himself in a moment of bliss.
Suddenly Mitsuha stopped laughing and gasped.

"We should be getting to class! Don't wanna be late!" Taki nodded to her and they continued to the art room at a significantly quicker pace.

Finally arriving they found that most of their classmates were already seated and ready. Although luckily they had divided themselves into their little cliques and were too preoccupied in their gossip and conversation to notice Taki and Mitsuha. Unfortunately for Mitsuha however it seemed her friends had already found their seats, on the other side of the classroom. Sayaka smiled and waved apologetically. Tessie seemed to sigh in exasperation with Mitsuha, who only glowered at the floor in response. The only other seats available were the two in the back corner of the classroom by the windows. After a brief glance between the two of them, Taki and Mitsuha took their seats.

"Look's like we can't escape each other huh?" Taki joked, Mitsuha simply gave him an unamused look in response. Though not quite a glare, it was enough to get Taki to buzz off with his jokes for the time being. So they sat quietly as class began.

It wouldn't even be halfway through that Taki would do something stupid. He had been essentially stealing looks at Mitsuha since class began. He probably looked really weird. But at this point, he'd stopped caring. He was more preoccupied pondering what Mitsuha was thinking.
'Is she still hung up from this morning? Or is she maybe thinking about something else? She might be thinking about how she couldn't sit next to her friends. Is she angry with me about that? I kinda made us late.' Taki thought to himself as he tried and failed to draw a portrait of himself. With all that came out looking more like a deformed potato with something growing out of the top. He sighed and set down his pencil, fully giving up on the class.

'And not even a half-hour in. I'm disappointed in myself.' he thought. However, his attention took a sharp curve when his keen ears picked up on a hushed conversation.

"Doesn't matter who wins the election. Just on who's pullin' the purse strings."

"Careful. There are SOME kids whose livelihoods depend on that." this was followed by a chorus of quiet giggling.

It didn't take a whole lot of brain for Taki and anyone else who picked up on the conversation (he turned to look at Mitsuha), that they were talking about the Miyamizus. Mitsuha was wearing a neutral expression on her face. But Taki could see from her posture and the way that she folded in slightly when the girls were talking about her, that she was embarrassed and likely upset. Yet she just stared down at her hands expressionlessly. As if she was trying to block out her own negativity. Taki didn't even take a moment to mull it over in his head before he whispered to her,

"They're talking about you right?" immediately Mitsuha perked up slightly and nodded to him.

A loud crash suddenly sounded, reverberating around the entire classroom, and startling everyone. The students turned to look at Taki, who crossed his extended leg over the other as he stared dead one at the girls who had been whispering about Mitsuha, their canvas toppled to the ground. Taki smirked.

'That should teach them' He thought to himself proudly before returning to his work. But he failed to notice the boy giving him a dirty look from behind the two girls.

When class ended he still failed to notice the guy tailing him. But Mitsuha did. So she placed herself firmly next to Taki as they walked out of the school.

"Uh...Mitsuha?" he asked,

"Be quiet." The girl instructed Taki as she escorted him off the premises and down the road.

Taki stayed quiet. Allowing himself to be dragged off to who knows where by Mitsuha. Meanwhile Mitsuha quietly prayed that they'd make it out of there before-

"Hey."

'SHOOT' was Mitsuhas's immediate mental response. She'd know that voice from anywhere. As she and Taki turned around they were face-to-face with the boy from that morning.

"What do you want Kousuke?" Mitsuha asked him, Taki silently noted the name of the other student.

Slowly the boy began to advance. A sudden jolt of fear ran through both Mitsuha and Taki. It was all too clear what was about to happen.

"Your boyfriend took it too far with Sakura." Mitsuha prepared to back away when suddenly,

"She shouldn't have been whispering about Mitsuha behind her back." Taki stepped forward.

There was a tense silence in the air. You could feel it ready to snap. Mitsuha needed to do something before this escalated. So she put herself between the two boys.

"Cut it out!" She yelled,

"Get out of my way!" Kousuke grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her to the ground.

Then Taki threw the first punch.

-Present Time-

"Oof. I probably shouldn't have overreacted like that." Taki reflected on his decision, reaching up again to rub his eye only to feel it blossom in pain again. He should stop doing that.

Taki let his arm fall to his side and continued to lie on his bed. Then there was a sudden knocking at the door. Taki ignored it. The knocking came a second time. Taki let out a sigh and hauled himself downstairs. The knocking came a third time, now having thoroughly annoyed Taki he opened the door only to find a surprised and nervous-looking Mitsuha standing behind it. Immediately his temper died down.

"Mitsuha," The girl looked away and shoved a bag into his hands, "Wha-"

"Makeup supplies. For your black eye if doesn't go away by tomorrow," Taki stared at her, Mitsuha squirmed and rubbed her arm bashfully, "Be sure to apply some ice to it. I wouldn't want you getting expelled because of us."

"I'd be more worried for Kousuke. He definitely looks worse right now." laughed Taki, Mitsuha rolled her eyes,

"Too bad for him I'm out of makeup supplies." Then with one last smile, she turned and jogged down the road away from Taki's house.

He watched her go before closing the door and going to the fridge for some ice. A pleasant smile on his face the whole way. Eye still hurt though.