The Itomori Incident (2013) (Chapter 5)

Mitsuha, back in her own body, runs down the mountain path while muttering Taki's name to herself, not wanting to forget him ever again. But as she runs, she starts to say his name less and less, until she wonders who exactly she was thinking about a moment ago. She runs past Josuke and Okuyasu, still too focused on what she seemingly forgot, who both look at her surprised as she zooms past them.

Josuke says, "Whoa, you okay?" Then Okuyasu adds, "She's sure in a hurry, Josuke!" Mitsuha says, while running and barely even registering them, "Sorry, but I can't stop to chat!" But her focus on her memory, along with attempting to respond to the two strangers, she fails to notice a large tree root, and trips down the path, spraining her ankle in the process.

When she opens her eyes, she sees that the person who's name she couldn't remember failed to actually write his name, and instead chose to simply write down 'I love you'. She started to cry, realizing that she'd never be able to find him with this, and her emotional state caused her to ignore her ankle pain. Josuke notices her fall and he yells "Hey! Let me give you a hand, okay?" He runs down to Mitsuha, with Okuyasu following close behind.

She starts to get up, and almost falls again while muttering "I need to get back to my dad's!" Right before she falls, Josuke catches her, and says "I think you sprained your ankle. Hold on a second!" Mitsuha starts to say, in-between tears, "I can't wait, I need to hurry!" as Josuke reaches for the injured ankle. He fixes it with Crazy Diamond, and Mitsuha becomes astounded while saying "I can stand! My ankle's fine now!"

Josuke changes the subject, and says "Hey, you said you were in a rush to get somewhere, right? Are you okay? I'm Josuke, and that's Okuyasu." Okuyasu grins and waves at Mitsuha, while saying "Yo!", and she says "Umm, my name's Mitsuha. Sorry for not introducing myself." Then she sighs in relief and says "But I'm alright…" but then she shouts "No wait, I'm not okay at all! I need to hurry before the comet hits the town!" Both Josuke and Okuyasu stare blankly for a moment, before they both shout "WHAT?"

Mitsuha explains the situation, without being able to recall many details relating to Taki or his involvement. The most she can convey is a general feeling of dread that the comet will devastate the town. She walks away while assuming that the two strangers would rebuke her like most others have so far, except for Tessie and Sayaka, who were her only true friends in this town, but then Josuke looks up and says "That comet was weirding me out. Then the town's gotta be evacuated, right?"

Mitsuha blinks a few times, before saying "You actually believe me?" Josuke just casually says, while rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah I guess. I'm a bit used to weird things happening. What do you think, Okuyasu" Okuyasu just nods and says "I'll leave the decisions to you, Josuke. I'm not very smart, Mitsuha."

Then Josuke says "We can head with you to wherever you need to go, at least. This sounds pretty serious, and we didn't really have anything better to do tonight, at least until that festival." Mitsuha bows and says "Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the help. We need to head to the town hall! My dad's there." Then Josuke says "Wait, why's your dad at the town hall?" Mitsuha blushes uncomfortably, and says "Well, he's kinda the mayor." Okuyasu says "Whoa, that's pretty cool!" She replies, saying "It's not as great as it sounds, but I need to convince him!"

So the three of them head further down the forest path, but eventually walk past a few of Mitsuha's rude classmates. One of them mutters, still loud enough for all to hear, "There goes the Itomori 'queen' again! Think she's gonna suck up to her dad, again?" Then another student replies, saying "She's gotta milk it while she can! You never know when her daddy will lose the election..." They all start to laugh, and Josuke reassures Mitsuha, saying "Don't even worry about them. You should focus on what you'll say to your dad." Mitsuha smiles and thanks Josuke, but then a male student says "And look at her new friends. Bunch of weirdos! Why is that one guy wearing such an outdated and lame hair style?"

The group laughs again, and Josuke stops dead in his tracks, and Mitsuha questions him, but Okuyasu answers, saying "Josuke doesn't really like people insulting his hair. This may take a minute." Mitsuha didn't really get what was happening, but Josuke slowly walked over to the group of mean students.

The male student mocks Josuke, asking "Are you living in the 80s, kid? Don't you know what year it is?" He then pokes Josuke's pompadour for extra effect. But Josuke slowly, but intensely asks, "Hey man; what the hell did you say about my hair?" The atmosphere immediately changed, and the male student backed up a bit and said "Whoa, what's the big deal? It was a joke, dude!"

Mitsuha watched with deep fascination, as Josuke readied himself, and then he activated Crazy Diamond. Mitsuha could swear that she saw something weird near Josuke, almost like a ghost or spirit, but it moved too fast for her to understand. In a moment, the male student was sent flying through the air, as his face started to contort and reform.

His other two friends noticed that his front teeth were misaligned now, and they both shrieked, as Josuke shouted "That's what happens when you talk shit about my awesome hair!" The male student muttered a series of apologies, but Josuke coolly walked away. Before he went too far, he added "And stop mocking people for who their family are. You don't know their situation."

Mitsuha was speechless as she watched this unfold, and once Josuke rejoined them, she said "Umm, thanks Josuke!" Josuke replies, saying "Yeah, don't mention it. I get a bit heated if somebody makes fun of my hair. Sorry it got a bit ugly." But Mitsuha just says "No, it's alright! I just wasn't expecting it." Then Okuyasu laughs and says "Yeah! Josuke's got a bit of an anger issue with his hair." Josuke glares at Okuyasu and says "Don't push it, dude."

The rest of their trek over to where Mitsuha's dad was went uneventfully, and they eventually make it down to the town hall.

Time until the comet hits: 4 hours.

←To Be Continued