"Taki. . .Taki? It's me! . . .Don't you remember?"
The familiar rich blue of the Velvet Room floods Taki's vision. Ending up here in a dream is nothing new, though what is different is that neither Igor nor Margaret are here to speak with him. Instead a familiar-yet-unfamiliar girl about his age, far too human-looking to be a resident of the Velvet Room, looks at him earnestly.
He feels like he should know her. But he doesn't. "Sorry. . .have we met?"
Guilt floods his mind as she blushes and looks away in embarrassment. After a moment's hesitation, she quickly walks away, suddenly fading from existence.
He's not sure what, but something compels him to reach after her. "Wait! What's your name?"
She turns in one fluid motion, pulling an object from her bag. Her hand barely reaches his outstretched fingertips, and he feels something metallic and slightly cool pass from her hand to his.
"My name. . .is Mitsuha!"
He wakes up suddenly, almost lunging out of bed. It must be because of that dream he was having. But whatever that dream was, though, he's already forgotten. Slowly, the adrenaline rush and sense of unease from waking up so violently subsides, and Taki begins to take in his surroudings.
He's not in his own room. In Dojima's house, he also has a futon, not a bed. Could he still be dreaming?
When his gaze finally comes to rest on a girl's high school uniform, he hesitantly looks down at himself.
If the two lumps on his chest are anything to go by, he most certainly isn't in his own body, either. Unsure if he's still asleep, he takes a breast in each hand and experimentally squeezes, telling himself in his mind that it's purely to determine whether he's awake or not.
"Huh. . .so realistic feeling. . ." he mutters to himself.
So engrossed in his exploration, he fails to hear the door to the room open.
"Uh, Mitsuha. . . ? What're you doing?" a brown-haired girl in a pink sweater asks him.
He takes one hand off of his chest and points to himself. "Huh? Mitsuha? Me?"
The girl looks at him dubiously. "Are you okay?"
"I guess?" Taki asks back.
"Right. . .I guess I'll wait for you down in the lobby?"
The door clicks shut, leaving him to process what's going on.
With practiced ease Mitsuha dons her uniform and braids her hair in her usual fashion, tying everything together with a braided cord passed down from her mother. Satisfied with her appearance, she nods once to herself in the mirror before grabbing her belongings and heading out the door.
In the lobby, she finds Yukari, who's punctual as always. "Morning, Yukari."
"Morning! I see you're back to normal today. You were so crazy yesterday!" Yukari teases.
"What do you mean, crazy?"
Before Yukari can answer, the clock in the lobby chimes. "We're gonna be late, we better get going!" Yukari hurriedly pulls Mitsuha out the door.
"Y-you never answered my question!"
After class, gathered around Mitsuha's desk, she finally gets some answers.
"You. . .don't remember?" Yukari asks in bewilderment. "You forgot where your own desk and locker were yesterday, let alone your own name! You had the worst case of bedhead, you didn't even bother braiding your hair with your ribbon!"
Mitsuha shakes her head rather violently upon imagining what happened, as if she could simply banish yesterday's events like a bad dream. "No way."
"Yeah, it's like you had amnesia or something."
"Now that you mention it, I do feel like I've been having weird dreams lately. . ." Mitsuha muses. "Like a dream about someone else's life. . .? It's all so fuzzy."
"I told you yesterday, Yuka! That Shadow definitely did something weird to Mitsuha!" Junpei insists. "We were talking about SEES and all that stuff, and she had completely forgotten what the Dark Hour was! Maybe the Shadow cast some sort of spell on her!"
"I doubt it," Yukari sighs. "She still remembered about Personas. And we had Mitsuru do a quick scan, she found nothing wrong with Mitsuha. But. . .you really were acting funny yesterday, Mitsuha. Are you feeling okay?"
Junpei vigorously nods in agreement in the background.
Mitsuha pulls her feet onto her chair and draws her knees close to her chest. "That's the weirdest thing. . .I feel fine. Great, in fact."
"Maybe the operation a couple days ago was a bit too stressful?" Yukari hypothesizes.
"We did almost die!" Junpei adds cheerfully.
". . .On that topic, we should go to Tartarus tonight. We could use the training," Mitsuha decides. "I'd rather not have a close call like that again."
"I'll be joining you guys from now on," Akihiko says excitedly, rolling his newly-healed arm in its socket. He may be their senior, but the way his restless, excitable energy reminds Mitsuha of a child.
"Wait, is your arm better now? Are you sure you're ready?" Mitsuha asks out of concern.
Akihiko looks at her strangely. "We talked about this yesterday with Mitsuru, didn't we?"
Another person, another mystery. Anyways, it does seem that everything is in order. "I must've forgotten," Mitsuha lies.
"Are you okay? Yesterday, Yukari and Junpei did mention that you weren't feeling well yourself."
"I'm better now," Mitsuha says. "Shall we get started?"
"I've been waiting for this!"
While training and exploring Tartarus was productive, Mitsuha found it difficult for her to focus. Whenever she tried to concentrate, her mind would always wander back to today's strange events—how it seemed that she had lived a whole day, but has no recollection whatsoever.
As SEES walks back to the dorm, Mitsuha lags behind the rest of the group, vacantly staring of into the distance as she follows. Lost in thought, Mitsuha doesn't notice that Yukari and Junpei had slowed down to wait for her.
"I'm sure this isn't what you imagined life would be like in the city," Yukari jokes. "But otherwise, how are you finding everything?"
"It's everything I imagined," Mitsuha gushes. "I always dreamed of getting out of my hometown in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to go to Tokyo, but Tatsumi Port Island is pretty nice. I'm jealous of you two. Once the school year is over, I have to go back."
"Hey, you could always move here for good," Junpei says, as if it's the simplest thing in the world.
Mitsuha entertains the thought, but remembering her little sister and grandmother waiting for her back in Itomori immediately extinguishes any hope. ". . .I can't. I have family that need me. Maybe in another life," she sighs. Feeling her frustrations bubble over, Mitsuha picks up her pace. "In my next life, I hope I'm born as a handsome boy in a big city."
"We can't all be me."
"Shut up, Junpei."