Dusk was giving way to night in the city of Nagoya. From Taki's room on the seventh floor of the hotel, the evening light was fading fast, making the sky, which was beginning to cloud over, look even darker. But neither Taki nor Tsuyoshi Watanabe were paying much attention to the view outside.
The two men were engaged in discussing ideas. Taki was pouring the result onto a graphics tablet as if it were a spoken portrait of an architecture structure. He was drawing with furious speed, while Tsuyoshi was looking at and critiquing the result of Taki's art. Then Tsuyoshi would contrast it with the images they had captured that morning and had loaded onto a laptop sitting in the small table.
"So, what if the access to the lagoon area is through an archway made of vegetation?" Taki asked while his pencil drew a series of semicircles on what appeared to be a pedestrian path.
Tsuyoshi, silently watching the progress of the sketch, waited for him to finish. He picked up the Tablet, looked at it for half a minute without saying a word, and then handed it back to Taki.
"It might work, but if it's just wood, the vegetation will destroy it in months," Tsuyoshi objected. "Wood, moisture and plants don't work together. It would have to have some kind of metal or concrete structure, and the visible parts could be made with wood applications, or something that looks like wood, but synthetic."
Taki stared at his sketch, thoughtfully, for a few seconds.
"Uhm, if we were to use concrete or metal that is going to be coated, in the end it's twice as much work and it doesn't look like the original material. So..." Taki mumbled, returning to an introspective mode.
Taki erased the arch he had drawn, replacing it with a system of pillars, and a metal structure joining them at the top.
"...well, how about this? Vegetation could climb up the metal structures between the pillars, providing shade, like a tunnel, and enhancing the impression when people come out of it, when visitors gain a view of the lagoon."
"Yes, that could work..." replied Tsuyoshi, picking up the Tablet and looking at it for a while. "Ah, but look..."
Tsuyoshi scrolled back a few images on the laptop and left some Japanese stone lamps in the foreground.
"Do you remember that about 30 meters from there are these lamps? How about if the style of those arches imitates this, and thus gives it continuity, as if it were part of the same thing? We can use concrete molds, and make it look like stonework, so that it matches those old structures."
"Uhm, you are right," Taki replied, picking up the Tablet and starting to redraw the style of the pillars...
The sound of a doorbell rang through the room. They both raised their heads, looking around in surprise, and it took them a second to realize what it was.
"It must be Ozamu," Tsuyoshi explained. "I'll get him in."
Tsuyoshi got up and went to open the door. He came back chatting animatedly with Ozamu, who brought a tray with three large cardboard cups that in seconds filled the room with the aroma of coffee, and also some western-looking pastries. Ozamu carefully set them down on the side of the table where they were working.
"Hey, Taki, how's the progress?"
"We're developing an idea for the entrance to the lagoon area."
"Let me see it," said Ozamu, reaching out and taking the Tablet. "Uhm, it looks interesting, and very aesthetic. I like it, what material do you think it could be made out of?" he asked Tsuyoshi as he handed the Tablet back to Taki, took the coffee cups, and passed one to Taki and the other to Tsuyoshi.
"Thank you," the men replied.
"And help yourselves with the pastries. I was told they were typical of a country in Europe, but I forget which one, and they look good. So... How would we build that, Tsuyoshi?"
"I think that if we use a metal structure, and pouring concrete in a mold we could..."
Ozamu and Tsuyoshi engaged in a lively discussion regarding how to build the pillars and structure that Taki was envisioning.
Taki followed the conversation for a while, but began to lose the thread when they started discussing builder's technicalities. Meanwhile he sipped his cup of coffee and took a few bites of a cake that was very curious. He couldn't describe the exact taste, but it seemed to be made of flakes of dough and it had honey or a very sweet liquid soaking into it, leaving a taste similar to an orange. He finished it and took a big sip of coffee, feeling much more energized. He looked at his hand and felt it totally sticky from the sweet syrup of the cake. He left the coffee on the table and stood quietly to wash his hands in the room's bathroom a few steps away.
When he returned, Ozamu and Tsuyoshi were still talking. The latter had taken a notebook and was drawing things while explaining something about foundations. Taki watched them for a second realizing that he was already completely lost in that conversation. He looked over the table and saw that his phone had a light flashing indicating that he had received a message.
Without hesitation, he absentmindedly pounced on the device, opened the messaging app and saw that he had a voicemail from Mitsuha from about 5 minutes ago, at around 18:30. He operated the device and put it to his ear to hear it.
«Taki, I'm fine, I'm at Grandma's home,» he heard Mitsuha say, but in a somewhat muffled voice, as if trying not to be heard. «Yotsuha went to meet me at the station, and I talked to her. She is very affected by what we revealed to her, just as I suspected. She is very afraid that everything... that..., that our world is not real. And... I hadn't thought about it, but I understand her fear. I think I was able to reassure her a little bit. And I arrived a few minutes ago at my grandmother's place, but she's very strange. I mean, she's calm and nice to me! That hasn't happened since... well, for a long time. We're going to dinner now, I'll let you know how the conversation with her turns out. I hope I can tell her the truth, and I hope she accepts it, and accepts us. I love you, I'll tell you later how it turned out.»
Taki lowered the device from his ear, thoughtfully. He felt glad that Mitsuha was okay and that their trip had apparently gone smoothly, but the situation between her and her family kept him uneasy. He wrote several messages in succession in response to her.
«Love you too.»
«Tell my little sister to be calm, and give her a hug for me.»
«If your grandmother is in good spirits, use it to your advantage, don't be afraid, cheer up.»
Taki finished sending the messages and then raised his head, realizing that the room was suddenly silent. Ozamu and Tsuyoshi were watching him, as if waiting for something.
"Hey... is something wrong?" asked Taki, somewhat embarrassed by the situation.
"You didn't hear what we asked you, did you?" asked Ozamu, with a puzzled look on his face.
"Uhm, no, I'm sorry, I was... I was concentrating on something else. Excuse me."
"Everything okay with... with your family?" Ozamu asked, raising an eyebrow at Taki as if to say «you know what I mean.»
"Yes, everything is fine, at least so far..." answered Taki, in a choked voice.
"I'm relieved to hear that," said Ozamu, leaning back in his chair and looking back at Tsuyoshi. "Young people today sometimes get lost in the clouds easily. But we have to ground things down. So, what was your question Tsuyoshi, again?"
"Well, I was wondering, Taki, if in this part..."
Taki rejoined the group of men and they resumed the discussion.
As they continued to talk and discuss the designs and themes of the work to be done in the parks, something in the back of Taki's consciousness began to materialize. He could not help but feel that, even though he was finally following the call of his personal and professional vocation, his heart ached from not being able to be with the woman he loved and who occupied his thoughts at that moment. And that pang began to throb in the depths of his being almost with every beat of his heart.
§
"…I love you. I'll tell you later how it all went."
Mitsuha finished recording the message, standing in front of the mirror in the small bathroom of her grandmother's house. Without realizing it she had been talking all the time in a very low voice, and with her hand covering her mouth, as if she was being watched. She pressed the 'Send' button, put the phone to her chest and closed her eyes. «Give me of your strength and resolve, Taki, I'm going to need it now,» she said to herself. She put the phone away in a pocket of her jacket and finished washing her hands, fixed her hair, and after looking at herself in the mirror and giving herself approval, she went back to the living room.
The aroma of food pervaded the whole house. Mitsuha suddenly felt a pang of hunger that she hadn't realized was already there. With a few more steps she reached the dining room.
Her grandmother was already sitting with her back to her, at a low, barely rectangular table. Yotsuha had sat across from her grandmother, and looked up when her sister appeared.
Hitoha noticed her eldest granddaughter's presence, and partially turned to speak to her.
"Come, Mitsuha, sit next to me. Since I knew you were coming, I prepared some special things for you."
Mitsuha was about to reply with a simple 'thank you' when she looked at the table and was speechless. She noticed that there were many dishes, some vegetable dishes, fried rice and even some meat dishes prepared in the Gifu style, which was one of her favorites.
"G-Grandma, this is a feast, you needn't have worried..."
"It's been months since you've been here, Mitsuha, and I felt it was the right time."
As Mitsuha sat down at the table, she glanced slyly at Yotsuha, and gestured as if asking «what is this about?». Her sister noticed and subtly arched her eyebrows as if replying «I have no idea.»
"Grandma, I..."
"Shh, let's have dinner first," Hitoha interrupted her. "I know you have things to tell me, but this is the first time I feel that the Miyamizu family has a future again. Let's have dinner, let's enjoy a meal as a family, as we haven't done for years."
Mitsuha didn't want to protest, so she gave in to that logic and decided to dine in peace.
"Itadakimasu," said Mitsuha politely, placing her hands palm to palm in front of her for a second. She then helped herself to some rice, vegetables and meat. When she tasted them, she could only close her eyes and let out a snort of pleasure. It wasn't overly delicious, nor overly spiced, but it was her grandmother's food, the food she had grown up eating day in and day out, for years. This was the true benchmark for what she knew as "food".
"Grandma, this is... this is delicious," Mitsuha finally was able to say.
"I'm glad you like it," said the old woman, smiling contentedly.
"It's very good, but it tastes just like it always does," said Yotsuha, somewhat surprised by her sister's sudden culinary excitement.
"It's just that... when you can't eat this every day anymore, you'll understand me, little sister," replied Mitsuha.
The three women continued to dine in silence. Mitsuha closed her eyes, savoring every bite with relish. Listening to her family eating around her, in peace, and savoring that meal was like being transported to the past, to a simpler past, and one that now felt very distant.
Suddenly, Mitsuha's phone rang several times, indicating the arrival of messages. As a reflex she took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. She could see that they were messages from Taki. Her face lit up for a second, until a disapproving snort from Hitoha dampened her enthusiasm.
"Those modern things just interrupt a good dinner, leave that for later, girl," said Hitoha, in a serious tone.
"It's all right, Grandma," said Mitsuha reluctantly, feeling scolded like a child. Her blood temperature rose half a degree higher when she saw that Yotsuha barely contained her laughter at seeing her older sister scolded.
Dinner continued in relative silence, except for the exchanges asking for some of the dishes on the table. As they were finishing Mitsuha remembered the sweets she had brought with her.
"Grandma, I brought something you'll like, and we can share for dessert."
"I had some fruit, but it's nice to try something different this time."
Mitsuha stood up and went to the living room, where she had left her bag. As she walked, she operated the phone and checked Taki's messages. Her heart gave a little skip. And she felt that Taki was right, she had to take advantage of her grandmother's unexpected good cheer.
When she returned to the dining room her grandmother was starting to gather the dirty dishes and take them to the kitchen.
"Look, Grandma, I brought this, I hope you enjoy it," said Mitsuha, holding the box of delicate namagashi sweets in front of her grandmother with both hands, while bowing.
"Oh, how wonderful! I'll prepare some tea to have it with that."
Hitoha took the box and stood up with some difficulty, so Mitsuha had to help her to lean on her.
As Hitoha walked with small steps towards the kitchen, carrying the sweets and some food junk, Mitsuha was transfixed watching her grandmother in a different way. She had always seen her as a strong, imposing woman. But now, as she watched her trudging along, she realized that her grandmother was really old, and her strength was beginning to slip away.
The three women lifted the things from the table, and while Yotsuha began to wash the dishes, grandmother prepared tea for the three of them, while Mitsuha had to rummage through the kitchen drawers until she found a suitable tray to place the dozen sweets, which she then carried to the table, sat down again and stood waiting.
She was followed shortly after by Hitoha bringing a tray with three cups and a steaming earthenware teapot, as Yotsuha sat back down in front of her grandmother.
"They look very good," said Yotsuha enthusiastically as she looked at the sweets, "I want the melon-shaped one!"
Hitoha poured the cups of tea and distributed them. And then the three of them began to taste the sweets, enjoying the delicate bean, anko and fruit fillings.
Hitoha took one of the last sweets, decorated like pink plum blossom petals. She tasted it and could not disguise how much she enjoyed its sweet flavor.
"This combination was one of Futaba's favorites," said Hitoha, her face darkening slightly. "When she was young and traveled to Tokyo, she used to bring namagashi similar to this..."
Hitoha took a sip of tea, gently set the cup down on the table, settled back against the back of the tatami chair. She looked very seriously at her eldest granddaughter.
"Mitsuha, you are like her now. You're the age when... when she made those trips. And you bring the same sweets. But your mother was always faithful to the family and to the shrine, until her death. Instead, you have drifted away from the traditions of the Miyamizu family, living a life like your father, preoccupied with things that have nothing to do with our tradition. And to make matters worse, your sister... your sister visited you and arrived very hurt. I haven't seen her like that in years. She still hasn't been able to tell me what happened last weekend, but now you're here, and I know you're going to tell me what's going on between you, right?"
Mitsuha swallowed hard. She felt her mouth suddenly become dry. She sipped some tea, before speaking.
"Grandma... yes, I have many things to tell you, but I don't know how to do it, nor where to start..."
"I understand, but it seems that you did talk to your sister, and I see that she is much better now... Can you then tell me what's going on with you, Yotsuha?"
The girl, who had been crestfallen at the beginning of the conversation, raised her head in surprise at the allusion, and met the sight of her grandmother looking at her intently. She looked at Mitsuha, who was crestfallen, very complicated, trying to put her thoughts together.
"Well... I... Do you want me to do it, Mitsuha?" asked the girl hesitantly.
"If... if you want to start..." answered Mitsuha looking at her as if asking for help.
"All right, then..."
Yotsuha closed her eyes and took a big breath of air, while standing upright. Then she exhaled loudly, giving herself strength. Then she opened her eyes and blurted out a response almost as if she was spewing out words.
"Grandma, last weekend Mitsuha revealed to me that we all died on the day of the comet. All of us. And we were like that until Mitsuha's boyfriend arrived, who was able to travel back in time to make us evacuate Itomori that day and save us, and now we seem to be alive again in something that I don't know if it's a dream or reality!"
Yotsuha felt short of breath, so she took a big breath, and watched as both her grandmother and Mitsuha gawked at her.
"B-but Yotsuha!" complained the older sister, looking at her sister with a frightened face at the brutal way she had revealed everything.
Hitoha moved forward in her seat with narrowed eyes and looking alternately at Yotsuha and Mitsuha with a face somewhere between strangeness and confusion.
"Tell me, it's... that... true?"
Mitsuha turned to her grandmother with a nervous and forced smile.
"Well, yes..."
Hitoha's mouth opened an inch wider.
"Eto... well, what do you want me to explain first, Grandma? About the comet or about my boyfriend?" said Mitsuha trying to joke unsuccessfully, as she felt her body start to sweat with nervousness.
"Since when did you have a boyfriend?" said Hitoha raising her voice, almost indignant towards Mitsuha, "Who is that man, did he do something to Yotsuha?"
Yotsuha was the one who was now dumbfounded, stunned at what she thought was the stupidest question her grandmother could have asked.
"But didn't you hear what I said, Grandma?"
"Of course I heard you! And you've been strange, crying and traumatized all this week! What did they do to you?"
"Nothing Grandma, nothing! You're not understanding anything!" Yotsuha shouted, standing up violently.
"Yotsuha!" tried Hitoha to stop her with an order, but the situation overcame her and she didn't know what else to say.
Mitsuha had gone from hot perspiration to a chill that froze her. She didn't know how to react, and everything had gone down the drain in a matter of seconds. She looked at her sister, now standing, not knowing what to say.
"You tell her everything, Mitsuha" said the girl, looking red-faced at her older sister. "I don't want to hear it again! And you'd better call me when Grandma has come to her senses and knows everything!"
And then the girl left the dining room with great, loud strides, until she was out of sight. The sliding door of Yotsuha's room was heard in the distance to open violently, and then close even more violently as the leaf struck against the frame.
Then the dining room fell into a sepulchral silence, with Hitoha looking indignantly at her eldest granddaughter, and Mitsuha with her eyes on the floor, biting her lips, not knowing what to say.
After a time that seemed interminable to Mitsuha, she heard her grandmother question her in a low tone of voice, calmer, but at the same time full of concern, and even a hint of rancor.
"Mitsuha, you said you were going to tell me what's going on. Now is when. Who is that man? Why is your sister like this?"
Mitsuha felt her throat tighten. She picked up the cup from the table, and realized she was shivering. She took another sip of tea, trying to loosen the tension that almost prevented her from speaking. She held the cup in her hand, squeezing it, and fixed her gaze on it, not daring to look at her grandmother.
"He... my boyfriend... his name is Tachibana Taki. He's an architect from Tokyo. And he's a nice guy, he hasn't done anything to Yotsuha, in fact, he cares her very much."
"He cares her...? You mean they already knew each other? Since when?"
"He knew her for years, but Yotsuha, let's say she didn't..."
Hitoha raised an eyebrow, quizzical, and realized that her granddaughter was speaking cryptically. And she attacked with a barrage of questions.
"And how long have you been dating that man? Did Yotsuha know? Why did it affect her so much? Does he hit you, or did he do something bad to you that she saw?"
"No, Grandma, he's a good person! He's the best person I've ever met!" Mitsuha protested at her grandmother's serious accusation, glaring at her.
Hitoha leaned back in her seat, confused...
"I'm not understanding anything. Tell me why you are suddenly with a man. Your sister and I have been thinking for years that you were getting old and spinsterish. We even wanted to find someone for you, but you always insisted not to, because... I don't know why. And now, all of a sudden, you're with... you're with a man, and your sister is terrified!"
"I'm dating Taki just now. We just started last weekend, Grandma. That's why I haven't told you anything, this is, let's say, recent. And that's why I came to see you..."
Hitoha opened her eyes in surprise. Her youngest granddaughter's strange behavior since last week, her eldest granddaughter's surprising courtship since last week, and Futaba's surprising admonition that Mitsuha would «bring her answers» all meshed together in her head as if a stone had hit her brain. This Taki had to be the center of the answer, but an answer too important to the point of moving the spirit world.
"W-Who is that man then? Where did you meet him from?" Hitoha asked, feeling how her voice suddenly sounded unsure and fearful.
Mitsuha sighed. «Why aren't you here with me, Taki!» she lamented within herself. When she was by his side, she felt a strength in herself that she had never known, and now, alone, she felt hesitant and fearful.
"That... that's a great point, Grandma."
Hitoha smiled in satisfaction as she felt she had found the heart of the matter.
"And then...?" Hitoha insisted to Mitsuha, who had become quiet again, drinking tea.
"Then, I'll tell you everything. But first, I need you to tell me something, something you never told me."
Hitoha frowned, puzzled at the turn of the conversation.
"What didn't I tell you?"
"You know that after the comet, I lost my memory. Many things that happened before that day and during that day had disappeared from my memory."
"True, and even the doctors couldn't help you, and they did a lot of tests and therapies, even though I told them it was normal."
"Why was it normal for me to have forgotten that, grandmother?" said Mitsuha looking up and looking directly into Hitoha's eyes.
Hitoha looked away from her granddaughter and picked up her cup of tea again, regretting her choice of words. She thought for a few seconds before replying.
"Ah, well... you are a Miyamizu, Mitsuha. And there are things that we Miyamizu can live, and our lives can be connected in ways that no doctor could ever understand. But... it's something that when it happens, it's like a gift from Musubi, but one that we can't withhold..."
"You're talking about when we Miyamizu dream of living other people's lives, aren't you?"
Hitoha was taken aback by Mitsuha's unexpected statement. She raised a finger as if almost accusing her.
"You... how do you know about that?"
"I know because... those memories that were lost, I recovered them."
"You recovered the memory of what things?"
"I recovered all the memory, Grandma. All of it. Or almost everything, because there are things that... I can't and I don't have how to remember, and that's why I need to ask you a question, and I want you to answer with the whole truth."
Hitoha felt the pressure inside her rise. These were the answers that Futaba told her Mitsuha would bring?
"B-but that's not possible... how could you remember...?"
"Yes grandmother, it is possible. And I'll tell you how it happened, but that's not important now. I want you to tell me, step by step, what happened that morning, the morning of October 4, 2013, the day the comet fell. I can't remember it. But you saw me come down that morning to have breakfast, didn't you?"
Hitoha nodded, suddenly feeling nervous.
"And you talked to me, didn't you?"
Hitoha was slow to answer. She swallowed saliva, then nodded weakly.
"And you're sure you talked to me, right?" insisted Mitsuha.
"Mitsuha, I... that day... you, at that time..."
"I was dreaming."
"That's right."
"And that day I came down, but it wasn't me who was there, was it?"
Hitoha felt her heart start to race. Futaba's message said that Mitsuha would bring answers, but she was seeing that her granddaughter knew more things than she ever imagined.
"No. It wasn't you," Hitoha replied after a long pause.
A tear began to fall down Mitsuha's cheek.
"Grandma... why, why didn't you ever tell me?"
"What did you want me to tell you, Mitsuha? That you were torn up looking for someone you would never know who he was? I... all of us who have gone through that experience, sometimes we could remember that we had gone through that, but not the details, and you... you were crying for someone... How could I tell you that, that you were never going to find him?"
"You should have told me, grandma! It was my right! It was my life, and my memories! I should have known before!"
"Knew before what? That you were dreaming and you'd forget everything? Did you really want me to break your heart even more?"
"No grandmother, but if I had known, maybe I wouldn't have had to wait so many years to find out. To find him."
Hitoha began to feel her heart pounding. She felt her temples begin to sweat, and her breathing began to quicken.
"To find...? You say you know who that person was?" said Hitoha kneeling down and leaning on the table, bringing her face close to Mitsuha's. "Do you know who the dreamer was?"
"Yes, grandmother, I know now. I found him on Friday last week. And his name is Taki. He's my boyfriend now."
Hitoha walked on her knees to lean with both hands on Mitsuha's shoulders.
"That... that's not possible, how could you...? How could you make it? You know him... of course, you know him, and...
Hitoha broke away from his granddaughter and turned toward the front door.
"Did he come with you? Is he here? I have to talk to him. I have to talk to him!"
"No Grandma, he's not here, he couldn't come with me... he's now working far away, in Nagoya, but he'll be back in Tokyo soon."
Hitoha felt her face burning, and a pain began to prickle in her chest. She put her hand to her chest as she felt her teeth clench and a growl-like sound came uncontrollably from her throat.
"Grandma? Grandma, what's wrong?" asked a frightened Mitsuha.
"L-Let me talk to that man! I have to meet him, I-I... I... I..."
But Hitoha could not continue. The pain became so intense that she felt she couldn't breathe.
"Grandma? Noooo, Grandma!"shouted Mitsuha as she jumped out of her seat trying to hold Hitoha who was fading away.
Hitoha felt as if her body hit the ground in slow motion. She felt everything around her darken, as if forming a dark tunnel around her vision. She saw the ceiling of her dining room as if it were a place far away. Then Mitsuha appeared in her tunnel of vision shouting and calling out to her. But she heard her granddaughter's voice far, far away, as if she was shouting to her underwater. Then she saw how Mitsuha was looking in some direction, and desperately calling out to someone. She realized it was Yotsuha, who appeared for a second in her slow-motion vision, with tears in her eyes, looking at her and calling her name. And then, everything went to black.
§
"Good!" said Taki congratulating himself.
He stretched his legs and arms out on the chair, sluggishly, and saved the document he was editing on the laptop.
He looked at the time, and saw that it was already close to 19:40. They had arranged to meet in the hotel lobby with Tsuyoshi a quarter to eight to go to dinner nearby.
He closed the laptop and stood up, looking around for a second, thinking about what jacket to wear to go outside. He was taking it out of the closet when his phone lying on the table started ringing with a call. She turned back and saw that it was Mitsuha. He happily picked up the device and answered the call as he plopped down sitting loosely on the bed that was one step over.
"Hello, Mitsuha?" Taki asked with a smile.
"Taki, Taki, it's grandma, she's sick!" he heard Mitsuha almost shout on the other end of the line.
"What?" shouted back Taki, jumping out of bed and standing up "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know! We were finishing dinner, and we started talking, and... I told her... I told her about you, that you were the one inside me, and she got nervous, she said she wanted to see you and... and... she fainted! She won't wake up, Taki! She won't wake up! What do I do now?"
"What?" Taki started to walk unnoticed in all directions, while talking "Is she breathing? Does she have a pulse?"
"Yes, she's breathing, breathing, but she's not reacting What do we do now?"
"How long ago was that?"
"About two minutes ago; Taki... what do I do now?"
"Call an ambulance! Do you have any number or emergency service?"
"Wait!"
Taki listened as Mitsuha pushed the phone away and shouted the question to Yotsuha. She heard a distant «I think so» and then a rush of footsteps in the distance.
"Yes, there's one from emergen... Yotsuha, call them right now! Yes, yes, now, do it!" Taki heard Mitsuha speaking clearly to her sister with the earpiece too close to her mouth.
"Mitsuha? Hello, Mitsuha?" asked Taki in desperation after a few seconds of desperate silence.
"Right! Yotsuha called and they say they're coming..."
"Mitsuha, I'll come there now, send me your grandmother's address."
"How? But you're in Nagoya!"
"To hell with that, I need to go now, just send me the address as soon as you can, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, sure, I'll... wait, Taki, she's waking up! I'll hang up now, I love you... I'll... call you later!"
And after a click and a couple of tones, the call was over.
Taki was stunned. Motionless, in the middle of the room. He only managed to put his hands to his head. He felt like screaming, but he could not. He lowered his hands and only then realized that he was shivering.
"What... what am I doing?" he asked himself, feeling like a fool standing there doing nothing.
He turned around looking in all directions, thinking, thinking. He saw his empty sports bag lying in a corner. He ran to it, then to the closet, and threw inside a couple of clothes he thought maybe they would be needed. He went back into the room and looked at everything on the table. His work.
"Why did it have to be now?" he lamented bitterly. A second later he began to sort the papers, and notes inside his notebook, threw it into the bag, and then placed the laptop and tablet a little more carefully.
He closed the bag and started walking to the exit..., and suddenly remembered that he would need the cables for the devices in order to get anything done on the way. After some maneuvering and a bump of his head against the table he retrieved all the cables, rolled them up and placed them in the bag.
With something of a cooler mind, he mentally checked everything he had already placed in the bag, then examined himself, feeling his pockets. They were empty - his personal documents! Cursing his bad memory, he ran to the nightstand next to his bed, and pulled out the fanny pack where he always carried his things, adjusting it on his back, and then grabbed the jacket he had left lying on the bed from the beginning. He grabbed the bag and ran out of the room.
Already in the elevator, he remembered that he should have gone to his colleagues. He looked up Ozamu's number and started calling him. Just as he answered the elevator doors were opening in the lobby. Ozamu looked up and put the phone down. He smiled at him for a couple of seconds, then became suddenly serious when he saw Taki approaching at full speed with his bag over his shoulder.
"Taki! Don't tell me... please don't tell me you're leaving," Ozamu said red-faced and angry.
Tsuyoshi looked quizzically at Ozamu for the sudden change of mood and then at Taki. Then it dawned on him that he was dressed to leave the hotel.
"Taki, what's wrong?" he asked in a slightly more mediating tone.
Taki stopped in front of them and only then realized that his breathing was very labored.
"I... I have to leave urgently, I'm very sorry, I have to leave right away."
"What is it, Taki?" said Tsuyoshi again, grabbing Ozamu by the shoulder, who looked like he was going to explode, but he restrained himself by his friend's hand.
"It's Mitsuha's grandmother, she fell ill, it seems something serious, I need to go see them now, immediately."
"I told you that you couldn't leave us now, Taki!" said Ozamu, unable to hold back any longer. "If you walk out that door, and abandon us, believe me you'll be finished, do you understand?"
"I won't abandon you! I swear! I'm going to come back and finish everything we need... I'm taking the laptop and the tablet with me, I'm going to keep working..."
"Are you really coming back?" Ozamu asked defiantly. "Because if you don't..."
"Please trust me!" said Taki bowing deeply "I want as much as you do to succeed in this project, and to do my best! But... but I can't leave them alone! I can't abandon Grandma Hitoha right now... I... I will come back, I promise."
Taki sat up, looked at them for a second, at a gaping Tsuyoshi and an obfuscated Ozamu, and started moving.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. You have my word I'll be back on time," said Taki, slinging his bag over his shoulder and resuming his run to the exit door.
"You better come back, Taki!" he heard Ozamu shout at him as he passed through the entrance door. But he didn't turn around or slow down.
Once on the street, he began to walk at full speed east to take the subway that would take him to the bullet train station. After checking the route on the map, he left a voice message for Mitsuha.
"Hello Mitsuha, please tell me how your grandmother is doing. Is she reacting? Can she talk? Is the ambulance coming?"
He pressed send, and immediately sent a second message.
"I'm walking to the subway station. Please send me the address of your grandmother's house so I know where I should get off to buy the ticket."
Several minutes passed as he walked the four blocks to get to the Hisayaodori subway station. When he was almost to the entrance stairs, a message from Mitsuha stopped him in his tracks. It was the address of Hitoha's home in Shizuoka.
Taki copied the address and began entering it into the travel app to find out the route. The App told him it would take 1 hour 42 minutes. He prayed that Grandma Hitoha would endure all that time and nothing more serious would happen to her. He continued down the stairs and when he almost reached the ticket vending machines, he received another message. It was an audio from Mitsuha.
«She woke up, but she is very weak. She can breathe, but she is agitated. She keeps asking for you. I don't know what to tell her. There's a medical team on the way to see her.»
Taki paused for a second to write a message to Mitsuha.
"I'll send you an audio. Listen to it first and see if it's convenient for her to hear it."
Taki breathed in to calm herself for a second, then hit the record button.
"Hello... Grandma Hitoha. My name is Tachibana Taki. Mitsuha told me you want to see me. I'm on my way there now, but please be calm, I need you to breathe and calm down. Your granddaughters are very scared, do it for me and for them, please. And I will see you very soon. Trust me."
He sent the audio, though hesitating if it was the right thing to do. But he preferred not to think about it anymore, and went to the ticket machine to buy the tickets.
Already on the subway, almost about to arrive at Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen station, a message from Mitsuha gave him the answer.
"Thank you, she says thank you."