Taki set his pencil down and stretched. His desk was littered with crumpled pieces of paper with rough sketches of mountain ranges, random buildings and landscapes, but he was still unsatisfied. His latest sketch looked promising, but the more he drew, the worse it looked. He felt like he was trying to recreate the Mona Lisa, it just couldn't be done. If only he could find the original...

Sighing, Taki rose from his desk and headed to the pantry. It had been a slow day, and he desperately needed some caffeine to make it past the last few hours. As he poured himself a serving of coffee at the pantry, Taki found himself surrounded by curious co-workers who had him surrounded. He had let his guard down, and now was in for it.

"I knew it was the suit."
"I know right? It was terrible! So loose and unflattering, I can't believe no one told him!"
"Hey…"
"Believe me, we tried, but he didn't pick up on any of our hints."

I'm going to burn this suit one day…

"Ahh, Okudera-senp-"
"Senpai? We're the same age, aren't we, Miyamizu-san?"
"Eh, sorry, I just thought… there's no way someone with your grace and charm could be the same age as me…"
"Don't sell yourself short, Miyamizu-san. You managed to capture Taki's heart, after all. You must have a fair amount of feminine charm to be able to do so! It's one of Taki's specialities, too!"

Taki nearly choked on his spaghetti. Mitsuha proceeded to give him a great smack on his back while graciously accepting the compliment.

Those words… irritate me.

Mitsuha was enjoying a boxed lunch at the pantry when her colleagues ambushed her, including all her superiors.

"Just dinner? Come on! You gotta tell us more!"
"Yeah, there's no way you'd just leave early for a fling. This is serious, isn't it?"

Wow, they're perceptive. Or am I that predictable?

"Like I said, it's nothing big, just dinner and a chat with Taki-"
"This Tachibana Taki?"

A phone with a picture of him slid into Mitsuha's vision. Ah, the wonders of social media, she thought while bracing herself for the interrogation.

"Architect? Damn, I bet you that were after the engineering type, too…"
"Yeah, he's an architect working for- Bet?"
"Yup. Hey! Who won the Miyamizu-spouse-career wager? I think the pot was at 7,000 yen."
"H-Hey!"

Mitsuha's protests fell on deaf ears as everyone started collecting their bets.

"Anyway, Okudera-senpai, I'm here not just to introduce Mitsuha to you."
"Oh, are you here for my blessings then?"
"Not exactly… well that'd be nice, but I'm here because Mitsuha used to be from Itomori."
"Itomori? The destroyed town? What a coincidence!"
"Yeah, actually I was there when the meteor struck."
"Really? Oh wow, we only saw the aftermath, didn't we, Taki-kun?"

So Taki went to Itomori with Okudera-san? So she's part of this mess too?

"Yeah, actually Okudera-senpai, can you remember why we went to Itomori?"
"Eh? Well, I came along because I thought it'd be fun! Besides, we couldn't leave you alone, though you did ditch us in the end."

Because it was fun? What are you, some sort of anime character?

"But do you remember why we were headed towards Itomori in the first place?"
"We weren't."
"Wait, what?"
"We started off just wandering the entire Gifu prefecture, specifically along the Hida mountains. You had no idea where you were headed to, or even what you were looking for. All you had was that drawing to guide you."

A… drawing? Of what?

"Come on guys, you've already seen her profile, knock it off already!"
"No way, she's 25? You got a thing for older chicks?"
"No way man, I gotta know what agency or app did you use."
"I didn't use any! And quit trying to guess my password! It's already on a 6 minute lock!"

With some difficulty, Taki managed to reclaim his phone and some space. Sitting in the corner of the pantry surrounded by very interested colleagues, he had resigned himself to answering questions for the past 20 minutes already when the door to their department opened.

"Where is everyone?" Tessie's voice echoed in the currently empty office.
"Over here", the missing employees replied in unison from the pantry. All 25 of them.
"Is Taki over there?"
"Yeah."
"Can you release him for a bit? Got some business to discuss with him."
"Awww…."

As the crowd slowly dispersed, Taki breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Finally, some fresh air, he thought as he returned to his desk to see Tessie hunched over his draft. He wasn't surprised - after all, it was him that gave him a heads up earlier today about their newest project.

"Ahh, that's my draft. It's still work in progress, tho-"

Taki's voice failed him as the man turned around to face him. It wasn't Tessie that was looking at his draft of Itomori, he realised as his blood slowly started turning to ice.

What is that son of a bitch doing here?!

"A picture?"
"Yeah, you just dragged us all over the place trying to match the location to your drawing!"
"First of all, I didn't drag you along! Second, a drawing?"
"Yup. We only found out it was a picture perfect match of Itomori because of that nice ramen shop we stopped by.."
"Hang on, didn't you guys realise Itomori was already destroyed?"
"Well, me and Tsukasa knew once we realised we were looking for Itomori, but Taki was convinced it was still there, for some reason."

Taki felt his back slam against the chair.

I remember now, I drew Itomori! Where did I put it?

"Hey, Taki-kun. Remember our date?"

Why are you bringing that up now…?

"I remember us visiting an art gallery that day. You wouldn't stop looking at the photographs of the various landscapes of Hida, remember? I may be wrong here, but wasn't your drawing based on those?"

Mitsuha's phone rang as she returned to her work after just about everyone finished interrogating her. They probably know enough about Taki to be able to provide an eyewitness sketch, Mitsuha mused as she slid open the home screen. Two messages, sent within seconds dominated her view.

I'm going to Itomori tomorrow - Taki
Grandma's coming with me to Itomori tomorrow - Dad

This can't be a coincidence.

"Obaa-chan! Why are you going to Itomori with dad?" Mitsuha practically screamed into the phone as she made her way towards the nearby park under the guise of buying a snack. She really didn't want to be the focus of another interrogation right now.

"Oh? That was quick. I was just speaking to him."
"Obaa-chan! This is serious! Are you planning something?!"
"Relax, Mitsuha. Didn't your father tell you? He intends to rebuild Itomori."

He what?!

"Itomori. Is. Gone! There's nothing left there! Why rebuild it? And why bring you along?!"
"The Miyamizus were integral to Itomori, of course it would make sense to bring me along."

"So, if we put together the pieces…"
"We still get nothing."

The words escaped Taki before he could help it. Meeting Okudera just confused them even further.

"Taki, there's something I don't get."
"There's a lot of stuff I don't understand either, senpai."

Okudera smiled.

"That's it."
"Huh?"
"When we were searching the countryside, you didn't know what you were looking for too. All you knew was the landscape."
"Well, yeah, I guess."
"Except that it was a girl you were looking for."

!
...was he looking for me?

"How did you know that?"
"Because it perfectly explains why you acted that way during our date. I had serious self esteem problems because of you, you know?"

Smiling as she looked at the both of them, Okudera leaned forward, and beckoned Mitsuha closer.

"And… call it a hunch, but I'm certain Taki was looking for you, Miyamizu-san."
"That's a little…"
"You may not be the person Taki was looking for then, but I'm sure you are the one he needs right now. I've never seen him happier."

Taki could only look on in confusion as both women shared a warm smile. No doubt another one of their inside jokes. They got along remarkably well, he noticed.

"I think so too…" Mitsuha declared as she smiled at Taki, whose confusion only grew from there.