Taki

Later that day, I walked with Mitsuha down to Shinjuku Station to say our farewells. Along the way there, we conversed mainly by my absentmindedly made jokes that wafted meaninglessly in the air, and Mitsuha's polite laughs that made my heart pound faster than ever before. I could imagine how the people behind us would see us as, walking side by side, mostly without exchanging a word, sharing an unimaginably hilarious height difference…yet if they were to walk past us and look closely at our faces, they would notice the clear as anything smiles etched upon our faces and our flushed-up cheeks that gave that bleak Tokyo winter a unique and refreshing vibrancy.

I couldn't fathom how I managed to fall in love with a woman who I only knew existed a week ago, and why our fates were crossed together. I hadn't asked her enough questions yet, however her presence is enough to satisfy my curiosity and to solve my day's problems. Smiling to myself, I ruffled her hair playfully, causing her to cry out a shriek of annoyance before bursting into a fit of laughter. Her eyes shone brightly under the warm haze of the setting sun, and inclining forwards she tackled me with a sharp jab in the hips, forcing my high school self to kick back in and soon enough we weren't walking to Shinjuku station anymore; we were travelling back in a time machine comprised of longing memories back to our childhood where a day's troubles will simply melt away as quickly as it had come to become simply a fragment of the past.

I am Taki Tachibana, 22 years old. I am in love with a woman called Mitsuha. I am happy.

Mitsuha

As I waved my last farewells to Taki and entered the enclosed premise of the train, I reflected on how his hand touched my head and the way he tousled my hair. Smiling, I touched a strand of hair that fell away from the neat ponytail I was accustomed to having. Hesitantly, I peeked out the window one last time to see him still standing there, his broad grinning face that not only reflected his personality but also the friendliness and sincerity he had towards me staring back at me. As I began to raise my hand, the train started to move away from the station; and the last I could see of him was his shadow reflected on the walls of the station and the eager waving of his hands.

Suddenly I felt an abrupt vibration in my pant pocket, and hurriedly I retrieved my phone and stared at the caller ID, contemplating whether I should pick it up or not. Sighing when I remembered the promise I had made to him, I swiped right and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

The almost too familiar voice came penetrating to my ears and I clenched my fists with impatience and annoyance when I heard the first words come out of his mouth.

"I love you."

Groaning in my head, I finalised my decision to change my phone number once and for all.

"Please…I wish that we can stay as friends. I'm really sorry Nobuo, but-"

"How many times do I have to propose to you for you to agree?"

"I've told you, I'm sincerely sorry. I've already got someone else in mind-"

"Don't tell me it's Ryo. You've liked him since 6th grade, can't you just let him go already?"

Just hearing Ryo's name made my heart pound, and thinking back I couldn't remember a time that I hadn't been intensely in love with him since he moved to my primary school in 6th grade and I was elected to sit next to him for one glorious term.

"Yes, it is Ryo. So what?"

"So what? Oh you must be kidding me. You are so naïve sometimes, Mitsuha. He obviously has no interest in you, can't you see that he's already friend zoned you?"

"Well, I have already friend zoned you, yet you still can't control yourself to like me, can you?"

"Oh, so are you trying to argue with me now? Come on, Mitsuha, love me please!"

"No Nobuo. And I don't want you calling me anymore. I'm planning on changing my phone number today. You've got good looks, and I suppose a personality that others can appreciate, so I don't see any benefits you're getting by trying to win my irreversible heart."

And before that bye could escape from his mouth, I hanged up with a flourish and sank down in my seat, feeling tears prickling my eyes. I had loved Ryo for so long that it's painful to think of the numerous attempts I have made in the past to try and win his heart, yet the way that he looks at me and the way he talks so casually towards me clearly shows that I've made basically no change at all in getting him more romantically interested in me.

Without realising it I began to think back to graduation night…

"Ryo! Ryo, the photographer told us to stand together for the graduation photos, come on!"

"I'm coming Mitsuha, just give me a sec!"

I peered towards who he was talking to, and saw to my disappointment that he was talking to our class captain again. The way he laughed at her jokes made me sweat profusely, and I could evidently see her efforts at trying to sway him over with the way she flourished her hair about in a way that made my heart ache with pain almost unbearable. In desperation, I called out again:

"Ryo! Hurry up! The photographer is coming!"

"Oh, you're right Mitsuha. Well," and he turned back to our class captain and smiled apologetically, "my friend here is being in a bit of rush to get her photos taken; I'll talk to you later!"

The words 'my friend' and 'I'll talk to you later' kept on repeating itself in my head, and slowly I began to fall away from reality. I felt my vision betraying myself at the worst possible time and slowly all that I could see was a grey mass of shapes floating around me, echoing voices that were so painfully loud that my head swivelled to each syllable of speech and my knees gave away once the music started pumping its first verse out of the speakers.

In other words, my brain stopped functioning.

That was the first time that I noticed something was entirely different about me. The doctors had no answer towards the symptoms I had experienced that night other than de-hydration and feeling faint, and although I knew that what I had faced that night was on a completely other level, I had numbly agreed. I would've stuck to that theory if it was not for Ryo.

A week later, Ryo came to visit me in the hospital ward. He came with his condolences and best wishes, along with a bouquet of enlightening flowers and a box of intricately decorated chocolates. I was heartfelt at his thought of visiting me, however I was more surprised at what he told me.

"Mitsuha…I know what you are."

"What?"

He had looked uncomfortable to a point where his cheeks started lighting up a colour I had never seen before apart from around our former class captain, yet he still showed his determination to continue what he so desperately wanted to tell me.

"You're…a Ghost."

"A ghost? What do you mean I'm a ghost?"

"I don't mean like ghosts you see on Supernatural, I mean ghosts as in you were from a completely different time era and happened to be transported to the present…a present you're not supposed to be in."

"Woah, I didn't get any of that. Are you saying that," and I had to stifle a laugh, "I don't belong in this time period? I managed to magically transport myself here via a time machine that obviously is also part of some American TV series-"

"No! I mean that someone helped you to come here. Someone who does belong in the present world managed to cross into your world and took you back out with them."

"How?"

"Oh, there's plenty of ways! There are always loopholes in our dimension that have numerous properties in them. Loopholes can transport people into another dimension, back in time, forwards in time, to another universe…but someone obviously managed to find a loophole to go back in time to take you to the present day!"

"Wait…how do you know that I'm a ghost? What evidence have you got?"

And here Ryo became silent, and he stared dismally towards the floor. I thought with triumph that he had finally given up on his ridiculous theory and was ready to talk with me about other things such as 'will you go out with me?' but instead he muttered out with his voice shaking:

"I saw you fading away that night."

"What?"

"You nearly disappeared altogether. Parts of your body became this thin wisp of smoke that slowly started from your eyes then your ears then your head and then your knees…it was horrifying. No one else noticed, but I could see."

"How?"

"My mother is also a Ghost. I was born to a Ghost and a human being. I have the ability to stop ghosts from disappearing back into the period of time they came from."

"Sorry, but I don't get any of that. In fact, I feel like I'm dreaming right now. Ok, I might be a Ghost. Ok, I might've been brought here by some stranger. Ok, you can save Ghosts. But, why would that guy or girl or whatever take me out of my time period in the first place if all this theory of yours is true?"

"Well, that's also very complicated. Sometimes it might be because of interest, or it could be romantically, or as a science experiment, or attachment to a historical person. But in your case…I think it's more out of interest."

"Ryo…I really don't think so. The doctors have already said it's de-hydration or-"

"I knew you wouldn't believe me."

Getting up, Ryo walked towards the door and gripped the handle for a while, as if contemplating what is an appropriate farewell to say to me after our intensely awkward conversation. Looking back, he spoke the words that stuck in my heart even until now and was the reason that made me smile for days on end;

"I don't want to lose you Mitsuha. Stay safe."

After replaying the memories stored inside my brain, I really regretted having not spoken to him for longer and getting to the root of things. That wasn't the only incidence…I've faced the same type of symptoms 4 times now, and strangely enough Ryo was always there.

I wonder if his theories were all true, and if so, is he the cause of it or the healer of it?

**Hi guys! Thank you for all the support I got on my first chapter. I must admit, it is pretty dodgy, but hopefully the plot and my writing will become better with more time and with more practice. Btw, you guys should definitely watch the kdrama Goblin it is the best I wish I can binge watch it but my eyes are horrible and I'm already basically half-blind (;-;) and should read Abhorsen by Garth Nix (it's a fantasy novel).**