Chapter 4

The weekend had come and gone, and Mitsuha was adjusting back to student life. The April morning was bright with a slight chill in the air as she left for school – from the flat to the station, take the subway to Shibuya, then a short walk to Jingu. Despite being the beginning of spring, the temperature was warmer than what she'd been used to in Itomori, with the open breeze often dropping in temperature as it flowed over the lake. Here in the city every day was a few degrees warmer than it would be in the country, and today Mitsuha was glad for it.

The first week of school had been fairly straightforward, but still very tiring. She wasn't quite used to the daily routine yet, and found that it drained more of her energy than she remembered, but she'd get used to it eventually. In fact, Mitsuha was learning to enjoy her new life, particularly appreciating the little things she subconsciously missed from Itomori. For example, as convenient as the subway was, she felt much happier when walking to and from the station than being stuck on a speeding tin can far underground.

The sheer size of her school made her feel like she was living in a different world, imparting a feeling of insignificance and powerlessness, but also of being one very small part of an extremely large and complex whole. In Itomori, everyone had had their own well-defined roles; such a system had some strong advantages, but it was somewhat exciting to Mitsuha to be able to walk around in her own school and have almost nobody recognise her. To know nothing about the city she lived in, for it to be a world of mysteries to her, made Mitsuha feel strangely confident and self-empowered. Being one tiny piece in a well-oiled machine of ten million parts…it made her heart race for a reason she still didn't understand.

The morning proceeded as normal; classes were classes, no matter the school you attended, and nature dictated some be duller than others. Mitsuha's interests were a fairly broad mixture – she was a reasonable artist and had a good memory for the sciences, even if she didn't really understand how any of it actually worked. Mathematics, however, seemed to elude her no matter what. In fact, it seemed that the one consistent point in her academic life was language. Not foreign languages (she was hopeless at English) but Japanese language and literature came surprisingly naturally to her, something she hadn't even noticed until a teacher had mentioned them as prospective degree choices. It was in part that comment that had spurred her to join the literature club.

And join it she would – after a bit of thought and an uneventful weekend, she'd decided that it would be more productive than doing nothing but studying day in and day out. Okay, productive might not be the right word, but at least it would be slightly more interesting. She'd had her shrine duties back in Itomori, which had kept both her and Yotsuha quite busy all year round, but that was all gone now. As much as she wanted to say good riddance, it had been a way to pass the time, and it'd often been fun, but the negatives had far outweighed the positives. Replacing such a time-consuming and embarrassing lifestyle with some light reading sounded like a reasonable idea.

Once lunch came, some students left for the cafeteria or to eat elsewhere, but most stayed inside the classroom; it wasn't that warm outside, and the majority of students brought their own lunch anyway. Continuing their pattern from most of last week, Mitsuha pushed her desk closer to Hiraoka's and began to unpack her food. As she did so, a chance glance towards the door had her catch Taki's eye before his face disappeared from the window.

So he was looking at me. The thought brought a faint blush to Mitsuha's cheeks – after all, she had been looking at the back of his head for much of the morning's lessons. Positioned a few seats behind and to the side, he was directly in her line of sight whenever she looked at the board or the teacher, which was most of the time. It's not like I can help it, he's just in the way. But she couldn't help but acknowledge that just meeting his eyes got her heart racing. It wasn't attraction – the thought hadn't even entered her mind – it was the simple feeling of sharing something important and personal with someone else. Despite not having talked at all since that morning on the subway, there were no awkward feelings, only patience.

Recovering from her little moment, Mitsuha began to eat as she considered her second new friend, the girl who was currently sitting next to her and watching her ever so curiously. I should really learn to stop wearing my heart on my sleeve like that. Hiraoka was sharp and picked up these kinds of things easily. Unlike Tsukasa who would probably keep quiet about it, Hiraoka was almost sure to voice any opinion she had, on literally anything, no matter the time and place. It wasn't the most desirable of personality traits, however. The way the two of them had fallen into a routine so quickly only confirmed it for Mitsuha – the poor girl had been friendless until she'd come along.

The class wasn't hostile to Hiraoka Akira, quite the contrary – she was respected and there was no bullying or anything of that sort going on as far as Mitsuha could tell. However, there was no friendliness either, no amiability that indicated anything beyond a purely professional relationship with her. This wasn't a trait of Hiraoka's, as she'd been the first person to actually talk to and help Mitsuha. No, it was that the entire class simply treated her as a mild acquaintance, no more, no less. They didn't shun her, that was too extreme a word; it was a subconscious thing, a politeness and formality you would expect from someone talking with their seniors for the first time at a new workplace.

Mitsuha had no idea how it had happened, and she wasn't going to nose around to find out. For whatever reason, Hiraoka had just never ended up with any close friends. Well, I suppose it's up to me to change that then, isn't it?

"What are you smiling at?" The girl in question was still peering suspiciously at her face and had realised Mitsuha was smiling before she had herself.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about…you, actually."

"Me? What's there to think about me?" It seemed this really wasn't something Hiraoka was expecting – she'd probably noticed her looking at Taki earlier and was going to ask her about it. Well, she wasn't going to give her friend any more opportunities to criticise him.

"Just how much of a help you were on the first day. I was really nervous coming here, I'd expected things to be a lot…rougher. But it seems I was wrong. I never expected to make friends so quickly. You, Tsukasa, Taki…" Mitsuha let slip the name she was trying to avoid, and interrupted Hiraoka as she began to speak. "And I don't care what you have to say about Taki or his friends."

Hiraoka put down her chopsticks and huffed. "I don't have anything against his friends. Well, not Fujii anyway. Just him." She went back to her food, eating faster than before, and Mitsuha realised something strange.

"Hang on. I know why he's scared of you, and I get that it's just a misunderstanding on his part. But why don't you like him? I mean, you don't have to like him, it's just that you seem to have particularly strong feelings against him whereas you seem pretty indifferent to anyone else. Not that indifference is any better, but that's beside the point."

Hiraoka looked away and mumbled something, and Mitsuha moved closer with a 'hmm?'

"I said I don't want to talk about it. It was years ago anyway, and I'm sure he's forgotten about it, but I definitely haven't."

Mitsuha moved back and sighed into her lunchbox. "You two really know how to hold a grudge, you know that?" And with that statement, the two of them fell into a semi-uncomfortable silence as they continued eating. A few minutes passed before Hiraoka spoke again.

"Have you decided? About the club?" She spoke without looking up and didn't seem that interested.

"Actually, yeah. I've decided to join. I figured it was simple and low-commitment, and more interesting than doing nothing at home. It's strange, I never had time for any hobbies or clubs before, but now that I have all that time back I don't know what to do with it. Not that there were many clubs to choose from at my old school." Mitsuha sighed wistfully. "Life was easier when I didn't get any choice in it."

Great, now I sound like a complaining old woman. Not even Grandma talks like this. The thought brought a frown to Mitsuha's face, but the girl sitting next to her seemed more intrigued than anything else.

"That reminds me," she started slowly, "you mentioned something about…ceremonies or something. Last week, at the club activities fair." Mitsuha looked over Hiraoka's face and couldn't tell whether she was pretending to be disinterested or genuinely had no investment in her own questions. Considering how she was speaking between mouthfuls of rice it was probably the latter. "It's just, you said you didn't join any clubs at your old school, so it couldn't have been anything to do with that…"

This was getting dangerously close to a subject Mitsuha would prefer to avoid, so she attempted to respond as nonchalantly as possible. "Oh, that. Yeah, it wasn't a club. Just something my family used to do. It wasn't a big deal, really." Unsure about whether Hiraoka believed her or not (or cared enough to decide either way), Mitsuha was relieved when her friend dropped the subject with a simple 'okay.' Technically, she hadn't lied…but she hadn't told the entire truth either. At this point, Mitsuha wasn't really sure why she cared so much about keeping it a secret – being a former miko wasn't all that interesting really, as long as nobody found out about Itomori – but she opted to keep such thoughts to herself.

The lunch passed quickly, helped along its way by some idle chatter between the girls, and soon it was time for afternoon classes. A few grey clouds had journeyed across to inner Tokyo while Mitsuha sat in her classroom, and it wasn't long before there began a slight patter at the windows. As bright as it had been that morning, rain was to be expected at this time of year, so it wasn't a surprise to see the streaks of water race across the windows, leaving trails of tiny droplets in their wake. Mitsuha was glad that she would be staying after school to attend the literature club, as hopefully the weather would clear up before she had to leave.

Once the final class ended, Mitsuha said goodbye to Hiraoka and left in search of the second-year classrooms. The club usually met in class 2-2…or was it 2-1? Wandering around parts of the school she hadn't yet got around to fully exploring, Mitsuha slowly made a round trip of the entire grounds, making her journey longer than it needed to be by trying to peek into other classrooms without looking too suspicious.

Finally, after almost ten minutes of searching (and of refusing to ask help from the dwindling population of students walking the corridors), she found the right place. It seemed that the second-year classes were split into two sections, however it had taken her a long time to realise that the building she needed was one of the only ones isolated from the rest. A bit more searching yielded the location of the necessary covered walkway, without which students would have to be constantly switching between their indoor and outdoor shoes when coming to and fro.

Entering the building, Mitsuha quickly located the rooms she was looking for. Peeking through the window of class 2-2 showed no signs of life, so she moved over to 2-1 only to find it, too, devoid of anyone. However, from the angle she was looking in at, Mitsuha could just about make out a few words written in large characters on the board. She opened the door to get a better look: 'Literature club cancelled, sorry. Next meeting on Thursday.'

"Seriously? They cancelled the first meeting? Now I have to walk in the rain…" Mitsuha turned away and was about to leave when she heard a voice call out from along the corridor.

"Hey! Is the club cancelled?" She could hear footsteps approaching, and turned to face the speaker, a very short, slim girl she hadn't seen before.

"Yes, it says so on the board. I don't know why, though."

The girl sighed dramatically and scratched her head in irritation. "Ah, really? You'd think she would turn up on the first day at least!" Finally noticing she didn't recognise the student in front of her, she hastened to explain.

"You're new, right? Basically, every club needs a supervisor, they don't really need to do much if they don't want to. They do need to be present at the first meeting of each year though, for, like, reasons." The girl spoke very quickly, her long hair shaking with each erratic head movement. Her hands moved dynamically with her words, almost telling a story of their own.

"Anyway, a new teacher took over the literature club last year and she comes every meeting, which is good, except when it rains. Which makes no sense, because she's already in school when the day ends, which means she deliberately leaves while it's raining, every time it rains. Isn't that like, really weird? Anyway, my name's Kana, pleased to meet you!"

Kana smiled brightly, her teeth visible and her hand outstretched; as soon as Mitsuha took it, the girl shook vigorously and seemed to fill with joy.

"I'm Mitsuha. I just transferred into third year."

"Oh, I thought you were a fresher! People always think I'm a first-year because I'm so short, so I guess I just project that onto everyone new I meet no matter how tall they are." She laughed, and the sound was harmonious in a raw, unconstrained way that perfectly reflected her clearly outgoing and confident nature. "I guess we should go home then. Do you have an umbrella?"

"No, I didn't think it would rain today."

"Well it's your lucky day, because I did think it would rain!" Kana released Mitsuha's hand and pulled a collapsible umbrella out of her bag. "Come on, let's get our shoes!" And with that, Kana literally skipped away down the corridor, forcing a smile onto Mitsuha's willing face.

〈◇〉

"So which way are you going?" The two girls huddled together under Kana's small umbrella and walked quickly towards the main gates of the school. Being around a foot taller, Mitsuha had opted to carry the umbrella or she would end up having to hunch over underneath it.

"I take the subway. Are you headed in that direction?" Mitsuha would have to walk from Yoyogi station to their flat so she would get caught in the rain no matter what, but she preferred it be later rather than sooner.

"I am now!" Kana replied cheerily as she turned towards Mitsuha's destination.

"Wait, you don't have to come with me! I mean, if you live the other way then I can walk! I'll have to walk a bit later anyway, it doesn't matter if I get wet now." Mitsuha had stopped as soon as Kana had turned, but the shorter girl grabbed the hand Mitsuha was using to hold the umbrella and urged her forward.

"I don't mind, I only live like five minutes away anyway. A quick detour isn't a big deal."

"…alright, if you insist."

"I do insist, I do!" Without further argument, the girls resumed walking to Shibuya station. Kana's hand was still over Mitsuha's, both of them holding the umbrella together, despite Kana having to extend her arm above her head to do so. Despite the rain chilling the air, the girls' hands kept each other warm, and Mitsuha soon began to appreciate the contact.

"So which way do you take the subway? Wait, let me guess…north!" Mitsuha nodded in response to her correct guess. "And you get off at…Shinjuku?" This time the reply was a shake of the head. "Yoyogi, then?" Another nod. "Ahhhh, so close!"

Mitsuha laughed, and Kana pouted at her. "It's rude to laugh at others, you know."

But Mitsuha could tell that Kana's expression was just an act. "I'm not laughing at you, you're just really funny. I think you're probably the most excitable person I've ever met."

The pout dropped as quickly as it had come, and she smiled once again. "Most people call me immature or childish, but I like excitable better. Yeah, I think I'll use that from now on. Excitable. Sounds…exciting!" She giggled to herself, and Mitsuha had to remined herself that she was in fact dealing with someone the same age as herself.

"Childish, huh? With your height and all, I'd probably think you were my sister's age."

"How rude! Ooooh, you have a sister? What's her name? What's she like?" Her tone flipping like a switch from angry to curious, she began to bombard Mitsuha with questions. "How old is she? Am I taller than her?"

Mitsuha made a 'calm down' gesture with her one free hand, accidentally moving her arm outside the protection of the umbrella and getting it slightly wet. "One at a time! Her name's Yotsuha, she's-"

Kana gasped and pushed her face towards Mitsuha's. By now neither of the girls were looking where they were going, and as they neared the station Mitsuha began to steal glances forward to direct them between the ever-growing number of pedestrians. First Hiraoka, then Taki, now Kana, will I ever meet someone normal? Her thoughts were shattered however as Kana said something that surprised her.

"I bet your other sisters are called Hitoha and Futaha, right? Right?"

Had she not had the other girl's hand over her own, Mitsuha would have dropped the umbrella right then and there. Her mouth fell open, and the shock was evident on her face; Kana giggled and moved even closer. "So, am I right?"

Mitsuha closed her gaping mouth and turned to face forward before both of them wandered into the road. "Um, nearly. I don't have any sisters, but my grandma's name is Hitoha and Mum's was Futaba, not Futaha. But how did you…" Mitsuha stopped and clapped her hand to her forehead. "The kanji, right?"

"Yep!" The two girls stood beside the pedestrian crossing, waiting for the green man to appear. "Mitsuha is written as 'three leaves', right? And Yotsuha is 'four leaves'. So I thought you might have older sisters called 'one leaf' and 'two leaves'." Kana grinned proudly, almost as if she'd solved some clever riddle. And she had the right to be proud – Mitsuha was certainly impressed. To make the connection between their names without seeing how they were written, and then guess the other two…there was some real knowledge behind that.

"I'm impressed. And surprised – nobody's ever figured that out so quickly before. I remember Mum telling me why I was named that way, and Yotsuha too…"

Mitsuha's voice drifted into silence as the traffic stopped and they crossed the road, remembering those final days before her mother had passed.

"You said…your mum's name was Futaba. Does that mean…" Kana's eyes were wide, her voice soft and her face angled towards Mitsuha's own.

"Yeah, she died when I was little." Mitsuha smiled in an effort to remedy the other girl's sudden change of mood. "Don't worry about it," she said gently. The memories she had of her mother had never been painful, only warm and calming.

A few moments later they reached the station, enclosed by people leaving and entering on all sides. Mitsuha turned to Kana and inclined her head slightly, which didn't make much difference as she had to look down to see Kana's face anyway. "Thank you for going out of your way to keep me dry all this way."

"Don't worry about it." Her smile returned in full. "I guess I'll see you on Thursday then, for the next club meeting. Assuming it isn't raining of course!" The two girls shared a laugh, happy in the thought that they had made a new friend today.

"Bye!"

"See you later."

The two girls stood looking at one another for a few seconds.

"Um…is something wrong?" Kana asked, her expression slightly confused.

"You're still holding my hand…" Kana looked at the umbrella handle, finally realising that she'd been clasping Mitsuha's hand the whole time.

"Whoops! Ahaha!" The girls shared another laugh, Kana letting go and Mitsuha giving her back the umbrella. "Wow, my arm's so tired! I was holding it up for so long, but I didn't even notice." She let her arm fall, accidentally dropping the umbrella onto the crown of Mitsuha's head, and they both laughed together for the third time. Mitsuha ducked away and into one of the station's many entrances, waving behind her as she did, and soon lost Kana's short figure in the crowd as she moved inside.

〈◇〉

Mitsuha arrived home completely dry, save the soles of her shoes and a few drops on her jacket. By the time she had emerged from Yoyogi station, the rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared, their contents spilled on the ground in small puddles.

"I should really buy an umbrella. Relying on the kindness of a random girl to keep me dry…" she muttered to herself as she opened the door and removed her wet shoes. "I'm home!" But she couldn't help but feel happy at how things had turned out – to make a new friend so easily, someone so bubbly and happy and full of energy, lifted her spirits skyward. Like the sun parting the clouds, any negative feelings were outshone by the girl who had kept her company this afternoon.

"Oh, Mitsuha. I thought you would be returning late today?" Grandma had rounded the corner into the hallway, a book almost as old as she was held in her hand. "You mentioned joining a school club a few days ago? A splendid idea, but you shouldn't back out at the last minute!"

"I didn't back out! It was cancelled because the teacher who runs it wasn't here today. Apparently she doesn't come to club meetings when it rains, but she needs to be present at the first meeting, so…"

"She doesn't attend on rainy days? An interesting disposition, indeed. Who is this teacher?"

"I don't know, I forgot to ask. All I know is she took over the club last year. My literature teacher is a man, so it's not him. Although it doesn't have to be a teacher related to the subject, I suppose. Either way, the first meeting will be on Thursday."

"Provided it doesn't rain, of course!" The old woman chuckled and went back into the living room, sitting on the chair and resuming her reading. Entering after her, Mitsuha saw her sister sitting on a cushion and doing her homework on the table.

"Onee-san, you really shouldn't bunk off club activities like that." But her cheeky grin gave away the tease to be what it was, and Mitsuha smiled back at her.

"You heard what I said. What about you, are you joining any clubs?" Back in Itomori Yotsuha had expressed interest in Kendo at an early age, but unfortunately there wasn't anyone in Itomori trained and willing to give lessons, despite there being a good number of students willing to participate. Fortunately kendo club was a given at any large school in Tokyo, or anywhere in Japan really (as long as it wasn't a tiny little village like Itomori…) so she would have the opportunity to practise it here if she so wished. But Yotsuha's response surprised her.

"Yep, I'm joining the astronomy club!" Yotsuha replied with vigour.

"…come again? You don't even own a telescope. I thought you were going to join kendo, or something cultural."

"Ever since I saw the comet I got really interested in stars and meteors and planets and space and stuff!" Yotsuha had dropped her pencil and was staring intently at Mitsuha, her eyes shining. Even Grandma was peeking a look over the top of her book. "I just thought, 'wow, it's so beautiful! I want to see more!' so I decided to join the astronomy club."

"Yotsuha, I hope you haven't forgotten that the thing you call 'beautiful' was a massive burning lump of rock flying through space at a million miles an hour."

"Exactly, beautiful!" Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder could be pretty stubborn if she wanted to.

"It flattened our town. It nearly landed on you! It very nearly landed on me! It…" Mitsuha didn't really know why she was arguing – comet Tiamat had certainly been beautiful, of that there was no doubt. Even as she had watched it hurtle down towards her in that field, felt the impact as her body burned…no, that wasn't right, she had been evacuating everyone on the road when it had hit, she'd never attended the festival, remember? So why could she remember something else, something completely different?

"…no, you're right. It was beautiful, wasn't it?" Looking up, Mitsuha caught her grandmother's eye, and for just a moment it seemed as though she too had seen what Mitsuha had experienced. But then the moment passed, Hitoha went back to her book and Yotsuha started chattering on about comet tails and planetary rings. It seemed she had really done some research, although a few things ('It travels faster than light! That's even faster than the bullet train!') seemed ever so slightly inaccurate.

Eventually Mitsuha began to zone out and had to excuse herself, leaving Yotsuha to finish her homework in a thoroughly unfocused and far too excited state to be productive. She picked up her bag off the floor and went to her room, closing the door and changing into something more comfortable. Not that her school uniform was uncomfortable, just that she preferred to wear something else when at home.

While changing, Mitsuha untied her hair and let it fall freely down onto her shoulders. She'd allowed it to regrow to its previous length after the rather spontaneous haircut she'd got the day before the Itomori incident…that reminded her, that was the day she'd gone to Tokyo. Her current theory was that she'd found some info on the comet and figured out it was likely to crash. Perhaps it would be worth giving the library a visit and seeing whether there really were any old records of the Miyamizu shrine – if there was any useful information to be found, it would be here in Tokyo. Perhaps it would even be beneficial to ask Yotsuha about it; she seemed to have done quite a bit of reading around the subject, even if some of her information was a little off.

Bringing her wandering thoughts back to reality, Mitsuha focused her eyes and realised she was looking at herself in the mirror, half-dressed and holding her hair ribbon in her hands. She could barely remember even making the thing – it had been her first solo braid, made when she was about eight years old. She had absolutely resented the process – it was long, tedious and, above all, hard to remember. But the feeling when it had been completed, and Mum had shown her how to do up her hair with it…that moment she would never forget. As much as she resented her family's culture and traditions, this ribbon was something she would forever be proud of.

Mitsuha wrapped the hand-crafted cord around her left wrist. She felt it would be important someday. No, that was wrong, and Mitsuha smiled at her reflection as she realised – it had already done so much for her. It was how he had recognised her, after all.

I have no idea what I'm doing anymore, someone send help! I'm basically winging the entire middle section of the story, and I've given up on actually planning it out. The ending I've had down since day one, but all of this is straight from my head to the page. Word count seems to be dipping too, but I tend to break whenever it seems best to, so chapter length really depends on how long I feel the last section should be, which is only decided as I'm writing it.

Internship ends tomorrow and uni starts back up again the day before the next update. That means less free time, but the schedule won't be changing unless I really lag behind. Also next chapter should have more Taki in it! I'm not giving him much screen time, mostly because Mitsuha's life is far more interesting.

Can any of you guess who the literature club teacher is? Also please review if you have any comments, whether positive or (constructively) negative. I really didn't expect to get this many views so quickly, what I'm really lacking right now more than anything is feedback. Thanks!

Talndir