The night's air was very cool outside the restaurant in the Nishiki area of Nagoya. By 9:30 p.m., the humidity from the day's rains made the night's chill feel even more intense.
Taki Tachibana waited for his traveling companions outside the restaurant door. He closed his jacket tighter around his neck, and turned to look at his two companions. Through the glass door of the dinner place, he saw how Ozamu Gondō was still with Tsuyoshi Watanabe paying the bill and talking with the clerk at the front desk.
Taki took advantage of the moment of solitude. He took out his phone and sent a message to Mitsuha.
«The food in Nagoya is delicious. Gondō-san brought us to a place that was recommended to him. I'd like to be with you to taste it,» and attached the picture of the dish he had just eaten.
Within seconds he received back a sticker of a crying hedgehog, and several messages in quick succession:
«Remember to invite me to a delicious place.»
«It could be that one.»
«Now you have a job.»
And finally, Mitsuha added a sticker of a hedgehog hugging a piece of cake.
Taki could only smile and feel relieved. He finally felt that Mitsuha was being herself again.
He looked up and saw that his colleagues were leaving the restaurant. He checked the time on his cell phone. It was now already nine thirty.
«We will go back to the hotel now. I'll call you when I arrive to my room,» Taki wrote back, adding a heart. He sent the message and put the phone away.
Ozamu and Tsuyoshi also felt the impact of the temperature change as they left the building.
Tsuyoshi, a man in his fifties, with short hair and glasses, had shown himself to be very talkative on the train. During the trip Ozamu introduced them and explained to Taki that Tsuyoshi was one of the lieutenants of the former Teshigawara construction company, and was now in charge of site work crews. «If there is anyone capable of knowing at a glance the effort and number of people needed for a job, it is Watanabe-san,» Ozamu had explained.
"Hey, it's really cold out here!" Tsuyoshi complained. "Sorry to keep you waiting on an iceberg, Tachibana-san."
Taki waved his hand trying to dismiss Tsuyoshi's concern.
"No problem. With this jacket I don't really feel cold," replied Taki, with a smile.
"Well, I see you're more relaxed now. You were very quiet and nervous on the train, boy," said Tsuyoshi, patting him on the shoulder as he passed by Taki. "We'd better get on our way to the hotel before it gets any later."
The three men walked silently among the buildings in the Nishiki area of Nagoya, looking around. The streets were already quite lonely, leaving clear views of the luxurious and modern commercial buildings in the area.
"Ugh, I'd kill to smoke now," Tsuyoshi suddenly said, looking in all directions around. "Would you mind if we stopped for a second in a smoking area on the way? I don't want to get a fine..."
"That's going to end up killing you, Tsuyoshi..." Ozamu looked at Taki, who shrugged his shoulders. Then looked back to Tsuyoshi, shooking his head as he left a somewhat tired sigh escape. "Okay, we can wait for you."
"I promise I'm quitting. Now I'm only smoking half a pack a day."
"Did you smoke more than that before, Watanabe-san?" Taki asked curiously.
"Uhm... well, I used to smoke three packs a day. Construction work can be stressful, you know?"
"Three?" Taki exclaimed in disbelief. "Well... that sounds like a lot, I guess."
Tsuyoshi chuckled.
"I'm definitely not going to introduce you to my wife, or you'll team up with her. Ah, boy, is it okay if you just call me Tsuyoshi, and I call you Taki? We're going to work together, and so many honorifics make me nervous."
"Oh, sure, sure... Tsuyoshi-san."
"Only Tsuyoshi..."
"Ok... Tsuyoshi," said Taki somewhat embarrassed, feeling that he was speaking to someone his father's age as an equal.
The two men laughed as they saw the expression of complication on Taki's face. And Ozamu patted his shoulder in a friendly way.
"I think it would be good if you could treat me like that too, calling me Ozamu. And I can also address you as Taki, if I may. But tomorrow with the person from the town hall we must use our surnames in a formal way, to make a good impression. Don't forget that."
The next block they found a smoking area. Tsuyoshi greedily took out a cigarette and began to smoke it, almost relieved.
Taki felt his phone vibrate, pulled it out and saw that Mitsuha had responded to his message that he would call her with «I'll look forward to your call» and lots of hearts. Without realizing it he began to smile like a little boy.
"I definitely see that your problems from the afternoon were fixed, Taki. Is everything all right now?" said Tsuyoshi, taking another puff on his cigarette and looking at Taki with a mischievous smile.
"Oh... this... yes, things are much better..."
"I guess the suddenness of this trip isn't helping your personal issues," Ozamu interjected, looking at Taki with a hint of guilt. "I'm sorry if that brought you some complications, and I thank you for coming in spite of that."
"Oh, right. It's nothing that serious, I guess," said Taki. "I guess I had plans to... to see my girlfriend this weekend, and she resented the news that I was coming to Nagoya. But I think she's in better spirits now."
"Ha, ha, there's nothing better for a man's good spirits than to have his wife in good spirits too," said Tsuyoshi, taking a last drag on his cigarette and stubbing it out in the ashtray. "I'm glad she's understanding. This job is hard enough without also having problems at home. How long have you been with her?"
"Oh, well, no... we started dating about a week ago," said Taki, somewhat complicated. He still wasn't used to talking about that topic in a public way.
"Ah, so you're just starting," said Tsuyoshi, smiling. "I think we interrupted you at the best moment. Take advantage of the magic of the beginnings. But this is a short trip, don't worry. Do you have a picture of your girl? If you don't mind, of course."
"Yes, it's okay, I have some..."
Taki pulled out his phone and went through the image gallery, and after a couple of selections, he chose an image of them in a selfie. He held out his phone towards the two men, who attentively moved their heads closer to look.
They both looked at the phone with a concerned parent's smile, until they both began to change their faces to a strangeness that then turned to a frown.
"Hey... I've seen that girl before," said Ozamu, first looking at Taki, then at Tsuyoshi.
"Yes, I think so too. She reminds me a lot of someone... from the past," said Tsuyoshi, trying to remember. "What's her name?"
"This... well, she is Miyamizu Mitsuha."
The two men looked up and stared at Taki dumbfounded.
"Did you say... Miyamizu?" asked Tsuyoshi gaped.
"Eh... yes."
"So, she is the daughter of Miyamizu Futaba, from Itomori, right?" Tsuyoshi asked with an anxious look.
Taki nodded, somewhat troubled by the sudden curiosity.
"Then... she is Natori-san's friend! She is Teshigawara-san fiancée's friend, isn't she?" Ozamu replied, astonished.
"Y-yes, it is her, indeed..." said Taki.
"Well... What a small world!" Tsuyoshi said animatedly, patting Taki's shoulder. "And how did you meet her? Did Teshigawara-san introduce her to you?"
"Uh, no, I met her first, uh... I met her here... I mean, there, in Tokyo. And then she introduced me to Tesshi- to Teshigawara-san. Actually, I met him just last weekend."
"Could you... could you show me his picture a little more, please?" Tsuyoshi asked, his eyes a little wet.
"Of course..." Taki removed the cell phone, and switched to another image he had taken of Mitsuha, in portrait format. And handed the cell phone to Tsuyoshi.
Tsuyoshi picked up the phone, looked at Mitsuha's face, and covered his mouth, stricken.
"This girl... she... looks so much like her mother..."
"Did you know her, Tsuyoshi?" Ozamu asked, somewhat surprised by the sudden reaction of his colleague.
Tsuyoshi looked up and smiled with a strange rictus.
"I knew her indeed. We went to primary school, high school and Institute together, in Itomori. We were friends. We were even boyfriend and girlfriend for a while... of course, that was at high school," he explained to Taki who was looking at him astonished. "Don't worry, it was just child's play, there was no chance that I would be your father-in-law today."
Tsuyoshi focused on the image again. A smile full of longing appeared on his face.
"To see her is to see Futaba. The resemblance is remarkable. It's... like seeing a ghost from the past."
Tsuyoshi handed the phone back to Taki.
"You... know about Itomori, about the comet, don't you?" Tsuyoshi asked Taki.
"Yes, I know about it very well."
"My parents' house... my house... was near Miyamizu Shrine, the place where the comet fell. That damned rock took everything we had. Everything. My memories, photo albums, everything. That's why Futaba's face is something I never thought I'd see again, more because she... she is no longer with us."
"Mitsuha told me about her mother... well... I'm sorry. I see you two were close."
"I... loved her very much. But the biggest prize went to that mayor, of course. And then, her death was unexpected."
"What was she like, Futaba-san, as a person?" Taki suddenly asked, thinking of sharing that with Mitsuha.
"She was a very beautiful woman. And she had something, I don't know, special. Everybody loved her. Whenever there was a conflict, or a problem, no matter what it was, if she mediated, things were resolved."
"I didn't know her personally," said Ozamu, "but we went with my family many times to the shrine for festivals. And I remember seeing her dance. It was a magnificent spectacle. You're right, Tsuyoshi, she was a beautiful woman."
"Like her daughter," said Tsuyoshi, taking a step towards Taki and placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you've only been with her for a week, she may seem like a random girl to you, but if she looks like her mother not only physically, believe me she must be a great woman. You'd better appreciate her and take care of her."
"Hey... thanks, it's really what I want to do the most," said Taki, a bit embarrassed. "Besides, it seems funny, but you're the second person to tell me that in less than a week."
"Have you already met her family?" Tsuyoshi asked.
"I met her younger sister. But I have not yet visited her grandmother, formally. I would like to do it soon. But it wasn't her family who told me, it was her boss, at her job. I had the opportunity to meet her, and she told me almost the same thing."
Tsuyoshi laughed and patted Taki on the shoulder a few times, his face full of happiness, and then looked at Ozamu.
"When you said this guy was someone known to Teshigawara-san, I didn't think he would be someone so close to us. It was an excellent decision, Ozamu, I mean, bringing him into the company. It's a good omen! It seems that besides being a family business, we will be a big family, like we used to be in Itomori," said Tsuyoshi smiling.
"I hope so!" said Ozamu, also smiling. "But tomorrow we have to meet early with our contact from the city county to visit the parks we have to intervene. Let's go to the hotel soon or we won't wake up."
The three men went off chatting happily through the streets of Nagoya. As they did so, Taki suddenly sensed that this was not going to be a simple job, but something that would mean more in his life than he could foresee.
§
That night Mitsuha felt really exhausted. After saying goodbye to Sayaka she immediately took the train back to her apartment. She had to concentrate hard on staying awake so as not to miss the drop-off at her station.
Already on her way to her apartment, the fresh air helped her to be more alert. She thought about her conversation with her friend Sayaka, and the resolution to visit her family over the weekend began to cement itself into her will. «I can make it. I'll talk to my grandmother. She'll understand...»
When she arrived at her apartment, she realized that she had not yet had dinner, but she did not have the energy to cook. She decided to make instant ramen and then take a bath to relax.
Not before long she had poured the boiling water into the pot of ramen and sat down at the table to wait for it to be ready. Then her phone rang. It was Taki's message.
«Nagoya's food is delicious...»
Mitsuha was glad to see that Taki was okay. She was about to respond when the image of an appetizing dish appeared in the chat. She looked at her pot of ramen, and it was unsatisfying in comparison. Mitsuha gave a sigh of resignation, and thought about how much she would like to be eating something like that for dinner with Taki at that very moment. With that in mind, she knew what to say back to her boyfriend.
«Remember to treat me to a delicious place...»
Within seconds he received a reply from Taki.
«... I'll call you when I arrive to my room.»
Mitsuha looked at the clock. She calculated that it should take Taki a long while to get to his hotel and call her, so she ate her ramen quickly and went immediately to take a bath. She wanted to wait for the call from her bed.
«I'll look forward to your call,» she wrote as her last message. She added a sticker with hearts, and left the phone on the sink cabinet.
Encouraged by the idea of taking a hot bath, Mitsuha left the tub filling. She undressed and sat down on a small plastic seat next to the tub, and began to wash her body. The hot spray water began to relax her, so she hardly noticed when the tub was ready.
Mitsuha sank into the tub slowly, until she was almost lying down with her neck resting on the edge of the tub. She closed her eyes and let her body float in the warm water and relax.
"Ah, this is life," she exclaimed with an exhalation of pleasure.
The water was so pleasant, she soon began to feel drowsy. She remembered that Taki would call her soon, but the warm water was so pleasant that she decided to give herself a few more minutes of indulgence... until she lost track of time.
Her mind began to wander. The events of the day drifted in and out of her mind. Becoming more and more relaxed, she suddenly remembered Taki. Thinking of him, Mitsuha realized how much she missed him. She thought that just a week ago, at that same time, they were together in a Shinjuku's park, recovering their memories. From then on everything had been so strange that the last seven days felt like a month.
Her mind began to recall the events of that fortunate Friday day, and her memories led her to recall the events, to the point where they had been just inches apart, sleeping in the same bed...
Mitsuha felt that the very idea of being this close to Taki made her dizzy.
«What would it be like to really be with him...?» wondered Mitsuha.
Her mind began to imagine Taki hugging her, and she feeling Taki's body, but this time from her own female body.
Without realizing it, her hands first grabbed her own elbows, then her shoulders. She imagined Taki doing it. Startled, for the first time she felt the barriers of modesty that would have made her reject such a thought vanish at the sole idea of him touching her.
As she fantasized about that possibility, her hands moved down the side of her body, gently reaching her belly, massaging, and then her thighs. Her heart began to pound harder. One of her hands moved back up and touched her bare breast, squeezing it gently. Her heart began to flutter even more. «Would that be how he did it...?» she thought.
The thought made her shudder, and her arms clenched tighter against her own body, causing her to let out a small but uncontrollable whimper. Hearing her own voice in such a strange tone suddenly broke the spell.
Mitsuha opened her eyes and looked at herself in a posture that suddenly seemed so absurd that she felt her face now turn red with pure embarrassment..., while she felt her heart beating wildly.
"Wh-what... what am I doing...?" she asked herself feeling like a fool.
Despite being alone, shame overwhelmed Mitsuha. She realized that her body had succumbed to a desire that she herself was unaware of, and she had let herself go, losing control of her will as it had never happened before... and that only for thinking about him, about Taki...
Her mind imagined him looking at her in that state, and she couldn't take it anymore. She slammed herself underwater, holding her breath, closing her eyes tightly while covering her face with her hands.
«What a shame! What a shame! What a shame!...» she began to repeat to herself.
And while she was underwater, a distant sound interrupted her litany of guilt... she paused for a second and recognized it was her cell phone receiving a call.
«Not just now!» lamented Mitsuha sitting up and sticking her head out of the water, taking a sharp intake of breath to catch her breath as she tried to wipe the water off her face with her hands. She barely made it and looked desperately at the phone that was barely two meters away from her, but out of her reach...
"Taki, don't hang up now!" she shouted, for she assumed it was him calling, and challenged him as if he had been there, in person.
She stood up giddily, grabbed the towel she had left on the side of the bathtub, and stood up, getting out of the tub carefully so as not to slip while drying herself in a hurry.
When she finally reached for the phone, the phone had gone silent and gone back to black.
"No!" complained Mitsuha, immediately searching the call log. She confirmed that it was Taki, so she returned the call immediately. And on the second ring, the call connected.
"Hello! Mitsuha?"
"Taki, Taki-kun, f-finally!" she exclaimed, relieved to hear him.
The phone went silent for a couple of seconds, and Taki's voice suddenly sounded quizzical and worried.
"Are you alright? Your voice sounds strange."
"Uh? W-what... what do you m-mean?"
"Are you really okay? It sounds like you're short of breath..."
Mitsuha covered her mouth in surprise, as if trying to hide her own breathing. Only then did she realize that she was panting softly.
"It's... it's nothing, it's... it's just that I was taking a bath, and... I had to run to answer the call..." she excused herself, feeling her face getting hot again. She took a breath, trying to get her breath back, as inconspicuously as she could.
"Oh... so... sorry, I didn't know you were busy, if you want, I'll call you later and-..."
"No, no! It's all right, don't hang up!" she exclaimed in alarm.
"Well, but... wait, are you still in the bathroom?"
Mitsuha realized that she had revealed more than necessary to Taki. She covered herself with the towel as if the boy had walked in and was looking at her in person.
"Well... of course I am... Hey! Don't start imagining things!"
"Why? What... are you nak-?"
"Taki-kun!" she reprimanded him in a forceful manner.
"Hey, I wasn't thinking about anything until you gave me ideas, ha, ha..." said Taki, laughing.
"If that's so, c-control your imagination!"
"Don't you want me to imagine you?" said Taki, trying to joke, and calm the girl down.
Mitsuha was going to respond with a resounding no, almost reflexively, but she kept quiet. She couldn't. She realized that she herself had been doing exactly that just seconds before, and suddenly felt hypocritical criticizing him because he would think of doing something similar.
"Hello, Mitsuha? Can you hear me?" Taki asked, surprised by the unexpected silence.
"Y-yes, I'm here... it's just that... you... Have you done that before?"
"Huh? Done what?"
"Well... have you imagined me before?"
Now Taki was puzzled by the question, and took him a couple of seconds to answer.
"Uhm... well, yes, I have..."
"Huh? Did you imagine me... how?"
"This week, every time I wake up, I would like... well, I'd like to have you close to me, and then, well, I imagined you... close to me, that you were with me... close as we were last Saturday."
"I... also... thought of you like this," said Mitsuha, feeling flushed as never before.
"Now I'm in the hotel room, lying on the bed. And if I close my eyes, I could imagine that you are here, with me..."
A sudden silence fell on the call. Mitsuha began to feel anxious to know what Taki was thinking. Finally, she spoke.
"And... in your imagination... what am I doing?"
"I imagine you lying next to me, sleeping. And me, watching you closely. Feeling you breathe..."
"Isn't that kind of... boring?"
"Hmm? Yes, maybe it is. But then, you close your eyes now."
"What for?"
"Come on, just do it," Taki insisted.
Mitsuha hesitated, but after a couple of seconds she did.
"It's okay, I closed them."
"Now imagine that I am close to you."
"Now?"
"Of course, now..."
Mitsuha frowned, but decided to give it a try. She imagined Taki there, in the bathroom, just standing...
Looking at her.
And suddenly, she became aware that she was talking on the phone partially covered by a towel, half-naked, and felt a rush of adrenaline circulate through her body. On the one hand, the thought of a boy looking at her body disturbed her, but... it was Taki! Even if it was in her imagination, feeling him looking at her like that suddenly made her feel that dizziness again...
"No!" exclaimed Mitsuha, opening her eyes wide, "I don't like this game anymore."
"Uh? What's wrong?"
"It's just that... we'd better not pursue this."
"Why? What did you imagine?"
"I... you... you were looking at me."
"Really? And what else?"
"Well, that's it!"
"Ha, ha. And didn't you find that boring?" said Taki, laughing.
"Yes... very boring!" said Mitsuha, with a sly tone.
"Okay, I promise that when I come back, I'll do more than just look at you and..."
"Taki-kun!" said Mitsuha in a surprised voice.
Suddenly Taki realized how bold his comment sounded, and felt embarrassed.
"Oh, no... I mean, something more interesting... I mean, I'll take you to eat something delicious, that's our promise, right?" said Taki in a somewhat giddy way, remembering Mitsuha's message.
"Mhhh, was that really what you were thinking?" said Mitsuha hugging the towel in front of her, as if protecting herself.
"Of course! What else could it be?" said Taki, trying to get out of the subject.
Mitsuha swallowed hard, and did not know how to respond. The very idea of having to verbalize that what else that she herself had in her mind a few minutes ago made her annoyed, more than anything with herself, and in the end she responded angrily.
"Be thankful you're in Nagoya now, or else...!" but Mitsuha stopped, and remained silent.
"What is it?... Hello, Mitsuha, can you hear me?" Taki answered, surprised by the sudden silence.
"Yes... forgive me. I think sometimes you make me lose my mind. I... I just want you to come back soon. Even if you drive me crazy..."
"Relax, it won't be long. Think we'll see each other next week. I miss you too, you know? And, besides, the trip is going well. There are three of us. I'm traveling with another colleague, besides Gondō-san. He is one of the old workers of Teshigawara Construction Company. He must be a few years older than my father. His name is Watanabe Tsuyoshi. Did you know him?"
"Tsuyoshi? I don't remember him. At least not by name."
"Well... just now, when we were coming back from the restaurant, we were talking and I told them that... well, that I have a girlfriend."
"Did you tell them or did they ask you?"
"They were a bit worried because they saw me nervous this afternoon, on the train. Then they saw me texting you tonight, well, more relaxed. And I told them that, that I was talking to you, to my girlfriend."
"Aren't you ashamed to say so?" asked Mitsuha, astonished.
"It's a bit weird, I feel like I still can't quite assimilate what's going on, but... I'm happy that this is true! That we're together after so many years, why should I be ashamed, after all? It's what I want the most."
Mitsuha felt a pang of remorse.
"It's just that... well, besides Noriko, until last night no one knew about us at my work. And today... something happened in the office."
"Did you have problems again?" asked Taki in alarm.
"No! I mean, not with my bosses or with security. But as soon as I arrived today, some of my workmates called me, and... they showed me a building security video, from yesterday afternoon!"
"From security? Uhm... you mean from outside your building, yesterday when you went out and...?"
"Yes!"
"Oh... do they really have a video of that? And where did they get it from?"
"They have contacts with one of the guards... well, the point is... I hadn't told anyone about you. I told them today. With that... our relation is, it's basically public."
"And... does that... embarrass you?"
"No! But... all this is new to me too, don't you understand? I've never... I've never been with anyone..."
"Never... not even in college?"
"No. I went out many times in groups with friends, or girlfriends, to a karaoke, or to eat or drink something... but, I never, never went out with a boy before..." said Mitsuha, feeling like a fool.
"Well... I was kind of popular at my school, you know?"
"Really?" said Mitsuha, feeling suddenly worried.
"Yes, I mean... I had a group of friends with whom we used to do our class works, and I always had female classmates who would come to me for working on that, for building architecture models, presentations and things like that..."
"And... you went out with them?" said Mitsuha, feeling unwittingly jealous.
"Eh... no, I never went out with any of them. Although there was one who asked me, but... I turned her down."
"Why?"
"Honestly, the girl was beautiful, but... it wasn't you."
"Taki, you're really not just saying that to make me feel good?"
"No... it's the truth. I didn't understand it at the time. My friends at school even scolded me when I told them that I had turned her down. But I didn't know why I did it. It was just... I just felt that it wasn't right, that she wasn't the one I wanted to be with... that she wasn't the one... the one I was really looking for."
"Taki..."
"Yes, Mitsuha. Although I didn't know it, I was looking for you. Now I know it. Now I feel it and I am absolutely sure. It's you I wanted to be with. The one I always wanted to be with."
"Taki... forgive me," said Mitsuha, suddenly feeling her voice crack.
"Eh? Why do you say that?"
"It's just that sometimes I'm so silly. I have doubts. I'm afraid, and this week... it's been... so wonderful, but so strange, that... I feel, at times I feel kind of disoriented."
"Do you... do you regret being with me?"
"No! It's not that... it's just that... there are many things going on in my life, and now you've appeared. I'm happy, but... there are things that I have to fix, that I have to face. And today I was very weak..."
"Mitsuha... today, today I thought you were upset with me for having to travel, for taking me away from you, but... I also felt like there's something else going on, but I don't know what it is... is there something else going on?"
Mitsuha knew she could no longer hide it. She remembered what she had discussed with Saya. She took a deep breath, before speaking.
"It's... it's my family. Last night... last night my grandmother left a message on my answering machine. She tells me that Yotsuha has been sick, missing high school, and she's been very strange, she doesn't want to talk to her..."
"Is she sick?"
"No, but my grandmother says she's been like that since she came from Tokyo, after she saw us."
"And have you been able to talk to her?"
"No. I sent her messages, but... Yotsuha doesn't want to talk to me either. And she won't answer my calls."
"Why didn't you tell me before? Are you going to visit them?"
"That... I couldn't tell you before. This morning you... you were so happy... I felt... guilty of ruining your day, of ruining your job opportunity. I don't want to ruin your trip with worries that don't belong to you, that are not your responsibility! And I was weak. I feel like... I'm not like I used to be. Before I would have done this alone, I would have faced it alone. My grandmother asked me... I would say she demanded me that I have to go see them this weekend. Before I would have just gone. Now, I hesitated, and you... you're not here... but, now I have to be strong."
"I don't... I don't understand, Mitsuha... what do you want to tell me?"
"I've been hesitating all day about what to do. But this afternoon I met with Saya. We talked. And there are things going on. She told me that she and Tesshi were... I don't know how to say it... they're worried. Questioning whether they should even get married. Whether they should get married in this reality that... we revealed to them."
"Wait, what? They're not getting married because of us?"
"No, no, they are getting married. But Tesshi is sensitive to mystical, supernatural kind of things, and I think what we told him did affect him a lot. And he told Saya that he didn't understand if, now, the world we're living in is... is it real. Are we all really alive after all?"
"Of course, you are! You are alive, all of you are alive."
"And can you assure me that this reality can't... change back?"
A long silence passed before Taki could respond. In his head, a succession of thoughts ran through his mind, but without coming up with any answers.
"No, I don't know how I could," Taki finally said, feeling defeated.
"Me neither. The only thing I could tell Saya-chin is that, all this time, what I felt for you is real. Since before we met again, and now even more so. So, even if everything changed tomorrow... I will live every day knowing that what I feel is the only thing I am sure of, and I will live every day from that conviction."
"I... I don't know what to tell you... only that... now I can't conceive of a world without you."
"Neither do I. But... even though you are in my world now, I have to be myself again, and I have to face this problem with my family. I will go to see my grandmother and Yotsuha tomorrow Saturday afternoon. I think Yotsuha is suffering from the same thoughts as Tesshi and Saya, but... alone, with no one to talk to. She is suffering..."
"Wait... but... if it's all our fault, I'd like to join you!"
"No. This is something I have to do. And there are a lot of things I have to talk to my grandmother about. Now concentrate on your work, Taki, don't you have some meetings and things like that tomorrow?"
"Yes, well, that's why we came. Tomorrow morning we'll meet early morning with a contact from the city council, and we'll go to the parks, but... but... but... do you really have to do this weekend by yourself?"
"Relax, Taki, you just need to concentrate on your own thing now. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to you..."
"No, Mitsuha! Thank you for telling me... I want to be part of your life, do you understand? I don't want you to leave me aside, and I want to support you, even if you're the one doing all things."
Mitsuha felt her chest tighten. She didn't want to affect Taki's life for the worse.
"I know, Taki. Thank you. And just listening to me is a great help to me. I promise I'll tell you what happens. But you must promise me that you will do your job well, okay? I don't want you to have problems, to have problems in your new job because of me, okay?"
"Mitsuha, you are more important to me than..."
"Promise me you'll do your job well, Taki!" Mitsuha interrupted him, vehemently, feeling her chest hurt.
A silence fell on the call.
"Will you promise me, please?" insisted the girl, feeling like she was going to sob.
"It's... it's okay, Mitsuha. I promise. But you promise me that, if there are problems with your grandmother, or with Yotsuha, you will tell me, that you won't hide anything from me, will you?"
"I will... I will do it. I promise. And now... you must go to rest, you have work to do tomorrow, Taki."
"Yes... you're right. But... for me you are more important than any job. Please don't forget that."
"I won't do it. I love you, Taki. Rest... good night."
"I love you too, and I miss you already, Mitsuha... good night."
Mitsuha put the phone away, and almost painfully, pressed the red button to cut the call. She put the phone back on the cabinet, and looked at the bathtub. She hesitated whether to go back to it, or to go to sleep. Finally, she decided to take advantage of the bath water. Slowly she got back into it, but the water was already colder. She turned on the hot water tap again, to warm it up.
She lay back in the bathtub, just as she had in the beginning, with her eyes closed, trying to clear her mind of all thoughts. And suddenly she felt the corner of her mouth strangely salty. She opened her eyes and realized that the world looked watery distorted. She was crying.
"Ah, Taki... I really need you near me," complained Mitsuha, sitting in the bathtub and hugging her knees.
§
Yotsuha managed to get through her high school day by hiding. She hid in the library for most of the day, and thus managed to avoid her classmates and especially the math teacher.
At the end of the day, she managed to slip away from everyone and walk home. When she arrived, she walked in quietly and mechanically, almost without thinking, and without even looking for her grandmother to greet her. She was tired of thinking. After a week of questioning, she just wanted to let herself drift like a leaf on a river. She went into her room, threw her bag and sat down on the floor, with her legs tucked between her arms and her head hidden between her knees.
She lost track of time when she suddenly felt the door to her room open softly. She raised her head, and only then she did realize that it was already dark.
Hitoha's trembling hand fumbled for the electrical switch in the room, and she turned on the lights.
"Oh, Yotsuha, don't give me such a scare!" Hitoha exclaimed, surprised to see her granddaughter there. "What are you doing sitting there? Why didn't you tell me you had arrived?"
"Hello grandmother," Yotsuha replied listlessly, still blinking in annoyance at the sudden change of light.
"How long ago did you arrive?"
"I don't know," said Yotsuha shrugging his shoulders and putting her face back between her knees.
Hitoha gave a tired sigh, and entered the room. Slowly she knelt a meter away from her granddaughter, groaning a little until she reached a somewhat comfortable position.
"Yotsuha, can you tell me what's wrong with you?"
Yotsuha shrugged, saying nothing.
"Yotsuha, I need you to talk to me," the old woman insisted. "This afternoon... a teacher called. She said she was very worried about you. She said she asked you to talk to her after class, but you didn't show up."
"Why would I go to her? I have nothing to say to her. She can't answer what she doesn't know."
"Yotsuha, she told me that you left her class abruptly, and then you didn't attend any of the following classes and no one could find you in the school all day! Where were you?"
"If it matters so much to you, I was in the institute. But I didn't want to see anyone. I don't want to see anyone!"
"Yotsuha... please... tell me what's wrong!"
"I can't, Grandma!"
"But why? Did someone do something to you? Did your sister do something to you?"
Yotsuha felt a chuckle begin to bubble up from her throat, which then turned into sobs that began to pour out uncontrollably.
"She... she... she... showed me... that... maybe... none of this... nothing really... matters," she answered between sobs. "Maybe... it doesn't even... matter that I'm... that I'm alive!"
Hitoha was dumbfounded by the surprise. She felt her hands shaking uncontrollably, unable to believe what she had just heard.
Almost as a reflex the old woman sat up and approached her granddaughter, who looked at her motionless with her eyes full of tears, while she continued sobbing uncontrollably, helplessly.
Hitoha knelt down beside her granddaughter and hugged her against her body.
"Yotsuha Don't ever say that again!" she said, pressing the girl's head against her chest and stroking her hair, "No matter what your sister said to you, listen to me! The Miyamizu family has survived for over a millennium, and we're still here! Musubi has never abandoned us, and your life is now more valuable than ever. Because we are the last ones, you can't... you can't..."
Hitoha could not continue. The words stuck in her throat. She only managed to continue stroking her granddaughter's head. Then she raised in her mind a desperate prayer to Musubi, asking for the wisdom necessary to make Yotsuha see the immeasurable value her life had for the Miyamizu family.
As she did so, a distressing thought came to the old woman's mind. «Mitsuha... Mitsuha what have you done? What did you do to Yotsuha?» she thought, trembling with helplessness.
The old woman felt anger rising quickly in her gut. Hitoha thought that her eldest granddaughter had not only abandoned the tradition of the family, she had turned away from them and had chosen to live the life of an ordinary Tokyo city woman. Mitsuha had also betrayed all her teachings with one final straw that had broken the camel's back: she had subverted Hitoha's last hope for the Miyamizu family, a desperate hope she had placed in Yotsuha.
The old woman's chest ached at that revelation. Her head began to pound, as if it would explode at any moment.
Then a sudden sensation came out of nowhere, one that made her hair stand on end: she was completely certain that something, or someone, was behind her, at her back.
But the old woman knew that was impossible. The house was completely locked, and she herself had checked the doors and windows just before coming to Yotsuha's room.
Hitoha felt the pressing need to turn and look. With difficulty she was about to do so when a faint scent of flowers reached her nose, stopping her.
The floral scent was painfully familiar to her. It was a scent she had not felt for so many years. A scent she had only experienced in her old home, in Itomori.
Her eyes widened in surprise. Overflowing memories flooded into her memory, because... that was the scent of her daughter's favorite perfume, Futaba Miyamizu!
Hitoha wanted to open her mouth, but felt paralyzed. Although she felt her granddaughter's body trembling and sobbing in her arms, her body refused to move.
Unexpectedly her granddaughter began to soothe, as if the teenager were a baby responding to her mother's cooing. Yotsuha went from sobs to a soft hiccup, and then to deep, calming breathing, sinking her head on her grandmother's chest, leaning on her as if she were a small child, as the girl had not done with her grandmother in years.
Along with Yotsuha's sudden calmness, the old woman felt the anger and fear that had flooded her melt away.
And then a voice came to Hitoha's mind almost sonorously, but without her feeling that it came from her own ears.
It was the voice of his daughter Futaba.
"Don't despair. Listen to Mitsuha. She has many answers."
And just as suddenly as it had appeared, the floral scent disappeared. And along with it, the paralysis, anger and pain vanished like a dream, leaving Hitoha with a strange and pleasant warm feeling in her body.
The old woman gained the strong conviction that, after many years of trying, her prayer had finally been answered by Musubi, in the voice of her own daughter.
The emotion made her tremble with happiness and gratitude. She gently embraced her granddaughter, who now lay peacefully asleep in her arms.
«Praise be to you, O Shitori-no-Kami. Thank you for sending your servant, thank you for sending Futaba, before this foolish old woman, slow to understand your ways. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...,» Hitoha said in her mind as she continued to tenderly embrace Yotsuha.
The woman felt her heart reverberate with hope. She became convinced that whatever was happening, with her, her granddaughters and her whole world, it could not be anything but the will of Musubi, of Shitori-no-Kami, the god her family had worshipped and served for generations.
Hitoha felt that now everything was clear. Everything was connected. It always had been.