Hello, all. This is a story I've been meaning to write for a while but only came up with inspiration for what to write on Friday night. I cranked this out in a day. This is a future one-shot (?) that takes place eighteen years after Taki and Mitsuha reunited on the stairwell, which I've been to.

Hope you all enjoy.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Taki Tachibana groaned as the alarm on his phone went off on the bedside table. It was too early for this. He adjusted himself on the pillow without opening his eyes. Sleep was way more important. He had to work late again last night, so he needed all the sleep he could get. At forty years old, he was not getting any younger.

Taki had been working twelve-hour days for the past week after his architecture firm was tasked with helping design a replacement for the Tokyo Dome. It proved to be a long process that was taking every last ounce of creative energy he had, but he loved it. It thrilled him to be in charge of creating something that would replace an iconic stadium such as the Tokyo Dome. Hopefully the stadium they designed became an icon in Tokyo that would withstand the test of time. He deserved a rest.

But that cursed phone would not let him rest in peace.

Moan.

"Taki, turn it off."

"I'm trying." The man groaned to his wife beside him. He reached out for the bedside table, but found himself grabbing at air. He tried again, but his hand once again only found air. Finally, he touched the wooden top of the nightstand and turned off the alarm.

Peace at last!

Taki cracked his left eye open slowly, his vision blurry as it tried to clear up. He blinked several times and rubbed his blue eyes until the familiar surroundings of the master bedroom finally became clear.

His body rolled over to the right, allowing him to sit up on the side of the bed. He wore a plain white t-shirt and shorts. Taki grabbed his phone to check the time.

Seven a.m.

He looked back at his sleeping wife and smiled, giving her a kiss on the head before rising off the bed to leave the bedroom. He went into the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth before stepping back out into the hallway to wake his children up for school.

It was a short trip down the hall to their oldest child's room. He knocked on the door and opened it a second later.

"Wabisuke, time to get up," he said, walking towards the bed where the teenage boy still lay sleeping on his front. He wore a black tank top and plain white boxer shorts.

Taki lightly rubbed his back. "Come on. Let's go."

Wabisuke Tachibana groaned into his pillow and slowly turned his head to look at his father. Taki found himself looking in identical blue eyes that were clearly still blurry from sleep.

"Hey, teenager," he cracked with a smile. "Rise and shine. Good morning."

His son moaned and rolled over on his back, running his hand through his shaggy, chestnut brown hair.

Taki chuckled to himself and left the room, passing by the familiar Jingu High School uniform that was hung near the door. As fate would have it, Wabisuke ended up going to the very same high school he went to back in the day. He was a first year at Jingu, and Taki and Mitsuha could not be prouder of their son.

His next destination: His oldest daughter's room, which happened to be right next to her brother's.

"Itsuha, time to wake up, honey."

The twelve-year-old girl snorted and snapped awake. She blinked her eyes open and started to stretch out. She looked so much like her mother that Taki found it scary sometimes, right down to whenever she'd get upset. It was definitely those Miyamizu genes.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," said Taki. "Get yourself ready for school."

"Okay, Dad," Itsuha replied, wiping her eyes free of any sleep.

Taki closed the door as she started to sit up on the bed. Down the hall, he heard Mitsuha taking care of their youngest daughter, five-year-old Sayaka, named after Mitsuha's dear friend, so he went to the kitchen to put breakfast on.

The coffee maker made all sorts of noise as it brewed coffee for Taki and his wife while he worked on the rice, miso soup, and tamago. The forty-year-old father of three then pulled out some of the remaining cut-up fruit––a mix of honeydew melon, kiwi, and watermelon––to use for breakfast. The kids were major fruitatarians so it would be gone in no time.

"Morning," Mitsuha greeted with a tired smile as she entered the kitchen carrying Sayaka.

Taki smiled back. "Good morning."

From her mother's arms, Sayaka smiled brightly at her father.

"Good morning, Daddy," she said in the cutest voice Taki had ever heard.

Warmth spread through his chest and his smile grew an extra inch or two as he took his daughter into his arms and hugged her.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he returned, kissing her cheek. Sayaka giggled.

"I'll take over breakfast," said Mitsuha as she got in front of the stove.

The coffee was ready as Taki sat Sayaka down at the table in her chair. He went over to pour himself a cup and added a little sweetener to it––he wasn't a big fan of cream.

"Oh, can you pour me one too, please?" his wife asked without turning around.

"You bet."

Taki poured another cup of coffee for her too before returning to the table and settling in. He picked up the newspaper to read the morning news. The usual things: Politicians arguing over some new law, the economy was still in the red for the hundredth quarter in a row, construction going on in some part of Tokyo, and sports news. Nothing too interesting. Flipping over to more countrywide news, one particular article caught his attention.

"Hm. That's interesting," he muttered to himself.

"What?" Mitsuha asked as she poured the miso soup into bowls and brought the rice cooker to the table.

"Says here that a developer is going to try and redevelop the side of Itomori that got vanquished by the comet and turn it into a lakeside resort. They say that the land is safe enough to rebuild on and that they're not worried about comet strikes happening again."

He and his wife laughed as she sat down at the table. She had a look that Taki had trouble describing as she scooped out some rice for Sayaka. It was like she was a little torn on the idea of what had been essentially a graveyard for twenty-six years being given a new life.

"Well, hopefully they can make something good out of it," said Mitsuha. "It's been a long time since Tiamat hit, so it's time for a new beginning."

"You think so?" Taki asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"Yes."

Wabisuke stumbled into the kitchen wearing his school uniform. He still looked tired, but that changed as he smelled breakfast.

"Morning," he greeted his parents and younger sister.

Mitsuha smiled at her son. "Good morning, sweetheart. Breakfast is ready."

"Thanks."

Wabisuke went to pour himself some coffee. Taki didn't like that he was already drinking coffee at his age, but didn't say anything as he joined them at the table. The teenager scooped up a bowl of rice and poured some miso soup before taking some tamago and a big helping of fruit.

"Where's your sister?" Taki asked.

Wabisuke shrugged.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose and shouted, "Itsuha! Come on, sweetheart. Breakfast is getting cold."

A second later, the Tachibana girl appeared at the entrance to the kitchen. She wore her middle school uniform, which was a white sailor shirt with a red neckerchief tied around the collar and a burgundy skirt. Her black hair was done up in the same way her mother used to do her hair when she was in high school.

"I'm here, I'm here," she said. "Took me forever to get my hair right."

"Then just wear it long," Wabisuke cracked.

Itsuha glared at her brother. "Easy for you to say," she bit. "You boys don't care what you look like."

"That's because hair is hair no matter what it looks like."

"Okay, you two. That's enough," Mitsuha barked gently. "It's too early for this. Let's just sit down and have a nice family breakfast."

Wabisuke and Itsuha gave each other one last glare, but didn't say anything to each other as the oldest Tachibana female sat down at the table with her family and grabbed her breakfast.

With an "Itadakimasu!", the Tachibana family began eating their breakfast. Conversation was kept to a minimum as they tried to eat as quickly as possible. Taki had an important meeting with some contractors that day, and Wabisuke and Itsuha had to go to school. Mitsuha had to display a new kimono design to her boss that day too.

Chime!

Wabisuke stopped eating and picked up his phone to look at the message. His mother frowned with disapproval.

"Wabisuke, not at the table, please," Mitsuha said. "You know the rule."

"Sorry, Mom," the son said apologetically. "That was Taiga. I forgot we said we'd walk to school together this morning. I've gotta go." He clapped his hands together and bowed to his mother. "Thanks for breakfast, Mom."

Mitsuha smiled and bowed her head. "You're welcome, sweetheart."

"Have a good day," Taki said as their son left. Taiga was Tsukasa and Ms. Okudera's son and the same age as Wabisuke. The two families were very close, so it was natural that the two of them would be best friends and go to the same school.

Itsuha put her chopsticks down and got up. "I better go too. Thanks for breakfast, Mom."

"You're welcome."

And just like that, their daughter was gone too. Taki finished his breakfast and went into the bedroom to get himself dressed for the day as Mitsuha took care of the cleaning. He dressed himself in his "lucky" suit, which was a grey jacket, grey pants, and a sky blue tie before combing his hair to get rid of any bed head that remained.

"Mitsuha, I'm heading out," he called from the foyer as he picked up his briefcase.

"Hold on," his wife replied before coming in. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Taki paused curiously. He checked himself over one last time to see if he had indeed forgotten anything. His belt was around his waist, his tie was straight, his phone and wallet were in his pockets, and he had his briefcase. What could he be forgetting?

"Aren't you going to kiss me goodbye?" Mitsuha smirked mischievously.

Tai snorted. Of course he'd forget that. "Sure." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you too," Mitsuha's smirk fell into a sad look. "Have you decided on what to do about the promotion yet?"

Taki sighed sadly. He was recently offered a promotion within his architecture firm to be a partner at their branch office in Sapporo. After almost twenty years with the company, they were finally recognizing his talents, and it felt great to finally be recognized. They needed a decision either today or tomorrow, so the clock was ticking. He wanted to do it, but there was a part of him that wasn't sure whether it was the right thing to do.

The benefits were obvious: He'd make a lot more money, and thus his family would be well taken care of. He'd be able to easily put Wabisuke and Itsuha through college and still have enough money to take care of Sayaka when her time came. For his family's future, taking the promotion seemed to be the right decision.

On the other hand, it meant leaving the only life he had ever known in Tokyo. Not just him, but Mitsuha and the kids too. Wabisuke and Itsuha would have to change schools and leave all their friends. It'd be a lot tougher on his son because he was in the middle of his first year of high school, and changing high schools mid-term was never an easy thing. It also meant he'd have to step down from the New Tokyo Dome project and Mitsuha would have to quit her job too. He didn't want to do that to his family. Even so, the money he could potentially make was seducing him like a siren call.

"As of now, my gut is telling me to take the job, Mitsuha," he said.

His wife sighed and brushed away some of her hair. "I was afraid you would say that," she said glumly.

"Think about it: We'd be able to put Wabisuke and Itsuha through college without them having to take on debt, something not a lot of kids can say these days, and we'd still have enough for Sayaka to do the same. For our children's futures, it'd be the right move."

"But Sapporo is so far away. We'd be giving up the life we have now for something completely new. We won't be close to our friends and family anymore; we'd be completely on our own."

"I know, but we could always come back for visits and such."

"That's the thing: Visits. The kids are so used to seeing their friends and cousins. We don't know how they'll react to being uprooted like this." Mitsuha frowned and folded her arms over her chest. "When do you need to give them your decision?"

"Either today or tomorrow at the latest," he replied.

Mitsuha stood stone-faced for what felt like forever. Taki could see she was trying to process all this. He completely understood. This was a heavy thing for him to carry around too. As a father, he wanted to provide his children with the best life they could have, but it wouldn't be any good if he did something they didn't want.

His wife nodded to herself before saying, "Okay. Whatever you decide, I'm with you all the way. Don't feel like I'm pushing you one way or another."

"Thanks, hun," Taki kissed her cheek. "I'll do what I know is best for all of us."

"Good luck with your meeting."

"Same to you."

And with that, he put on his shoes and left the apartment. A smile rose up his face as he walked down the hall toward the elevator. How could he be so blessed to have a wonderful wife and family? After all that searching, he finally found what he had been looking for.

Life was good.

They are such a great couple. I love writing their relationship.

Hope you all enjoyed it. Here's the catch: I'm leaving this open for interpretation. If you guys want to see what Taki ultimately ends up deciding, I'll write a conclusion to this, making it a two-shot. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this little peep into Taki and Mitsuha's possible future after the movie.

Be sure to review and let me know your thoughts on the story and whether I should indeed show what Taki decides to do. Take care, everyone, and have a great week.