A monotonous humming sound could be heard inside the bullet train carriage. It was like a strange white noise that Taki tried to take advantage of to concentrate, as if it were a permanent technological mantra. But in the architect's head, on the one hand, the text of the proposal he was modifying on a laptop was competing with the concern for Grandma Hitoha's state of health.
Since that last message he had received from Mitsuha, where Hitoha had told him "Thank you", he had heard nothing more from them. And it had been more than an hour and a half since then.
"Relax, everything must be fine, if anything had happened, Mitsuha would have called me," he said to himself, chiding himself for his nervousness.
Before trying to work again, he checked his phone again. It was already 21:20. Mitsuha was now offline. The messaging app showed no new messages from her. Uncertainty won a point in the mental competition.
"I should..." thought Taki, considering for the fifth time to call her directly. But he restrained himself. "The last thing they need is me pushing them," he reasoned again, and returned the phone to his jacket's pocket.
Taki looked over his seat, and paid attention to the red digital display at the head of the carriage. It now read "Next stop: Shizuoka Station. 8 minutes."
After breathing several seconds trying to clear his mind, he managed to continue working on the proposal document for a few more minutes, until he felt that the train was beginning to slow down. He put away all the things he had on him, and spent the last few minutes of the trip looking out the window at the night darkness mixed with the lights of the city of Shizuoka.
A bridge over the Abe River caused the darkness to overcome the battle of the nightscape for a couple of seconds. It was an easy landmark to locate, so Taki checked the map on his phone. He confirmed that they were about to arrive at the station.
Taki hurriedly left the shinkansen as soon as the doors opened at the station. Looking at his phone and the signage, he found the combination path to the JR Tokaido line, and dashed through the corridors, trying to get to the platform as quickly as possible. When he arrived almost panting, there were only a few people waiting for the combination train, which was not yet in sight.
The wait for the next local train took forever. And he felt even more frustrated when he boarded it. So much waiting for just two minutes of travel, when he had already arrived at the local Higashi-Shizuoka station.
As he descended, the night air enveloped him. Somehow, Taki felt he was almost there, but he still didn't know how long it would take him to get there. He jogged down the station, which caught the attention of the few people moving around at that hour. Taki noticed that, so he slowed his pace to the fastest pace he could manage without looking possessed.
When he stepped out onto the street, he found the air heavy with humidity, the ground wet from the recent rain, and the darkness of the night. The station exit led to a small circular plaza where there was a parking lot that revealed a few lonely cars, totally dark. A few people were walking to and from the station, and there were no moving vehicles in sight.
The loneliness of the station worried him, and he began to look in all directions, looking for a way to complete the last leg of his journey. His heart leapt with joy when he saw that a few dozen meters to his left was a lone cab, stopped and with a lighted sign indicating "free". Taki saw in the distance its driver leaning against the driver's door, staring thoughtfully at the ground. He was a short man in his forties wearing a white shirt and black jacket. Somehow his appearance seemed disheveled. The man was smoking a cigarette in a carefree manner, not paying much attention to his surroundings.
Hearing Taki's hurried footsteps approaching, the cab driver sat up and stared expectantly at the newcomer.
"Good evening. Is the cab available?" Taki asked hurriedly, feeling his voice coming out unevenly due to his agitated breathing.
The cab driver took another puff on his cigarette, let the smoke out somewhat calmly, and replied in a calm tone and with a strong Tōkai-Tōsan accent.
"Yes, of course. Do you need transportation? Where are you going?"
Taki took out his phone, looked up Mitsuha's message with the address and showed it to the man.
"Miyamaechō... mmmh, that's near here," said the driver reluctantly when he realized it would be a short service with little fare.
The cab driver took another drag on his cigarette.
Taki began to become exasperated with the man's slowness.
"I must go there urgently; can you take me there right away?"
The cab driver looked at the cigarette, which was half full, and sighed despondently at having to lose it for such a short trip.
"All right, get in."
Taki almost jumped into the vehicle in the back seats as the cab driver settled in and entered the address Taki repeated to him into the navigation app on a phone mounted next to the steering wheel.
"You're not from here, are you?" asked the cab driver as the car began to move around the square and began to move to the side of a small park.
"No, this is my first time in Shizuoka. I'm here to see an elderly person who is ill. That's why I need you to hurry."
"Will you need to take the person to a hospital?" asked the cab driver, showing a sudden interest in the possibility of a longer and more lucrative trip than the current one.
"I don't know, let's get there first, shall we?"
The cab driver picked up the pace a little. They advanced along a wide avenue with almost no traffic. The dark streets looked empty and wet from the rain, which made the lights reflect in all directions.
Just a few blocks later they turned right onto a smaller street, and encountered a railroad crossing. The railings were up, so they crossed over the railroad line and to make an immediate left turn, continuing the journey down a narrow street that ran parallel to the dark railroad track they had just crossed. To the right of the vehicle a dark park flanked the road with leafy trees.
"Is that a Shinto shrine on the right?" Taki asked curiously. "When we turned there was a Tori arch in front of the railroad crossing."
"Yes, there is a Shinto Gokoku shrine there. You should visit it if you have time."
The vehicle reached a point where the road curved to the right, away from the train line. The cab driver kept going with the shrine complex on the right, until he entered a small dark street, with trees on the right and houses on the left.
Taki was looking at the map application on his phone, seeing that there were already a couple of blocks to go, so he was looking ahead between the seats. Then he saw that at the intersection where they were probably headed, a hundred meters away from where they were already, flashing red lights illuminated part of the street and the trees in the park. They were the unmistakable sign of an ambulance that was not visible.
Taki's heart shrank.
The cab arrived at the corner of the intersection. Just around the corner, the cab driver stopped the vehicle. There was an ambulance in the middle of the block with its beacons on, blocking the narrow street.
"Listen, I can't go any further, but..." the cab driver checked his phone looking at the navigation map "...you are surely going to one of the houses there, where that the ambulance is parked.".
Taki was frozen staring at the ambulance.
The cab driver turned to look at him and realized that the boy was paralyzed with shock.
"Sir, it seems that your relative's condition could be serious. Do you need me to wait for you to go to a hospital or something?"
Taki snapped out of his stupor, and stood blinking, looking at the cab driver, somewhat confused.
"No, I don't think so. If transportation is needed, well, there's that..." and Taki pointed to the ambulance.
"Then you'd better get off right here, sir. It's 900-yen," said the cab driver, now resigned to the loss of a long trip.
Taki, still a bit shaken, reached for a 1000-yen bill, paid the fare and got out of the cab after giving a terse "thank you very much" to the driver, without waiting for the change.
He walked toward the ambulance, fearful of what he would find. He walked by the side and got to the back, which had the doors open. There was no one inside. He felt some relief. He looked at the houses around, trying to identify which was the correct one; the plaques indicated family surnames, but none claimed to be the Miyamizu residence. Then he turned to a narrow house, hidden behind an outer concrete wall. The walls of the house were clad in corrugated brass, painted a reddish hue, worn by the years. That house had a rather more modest and neglected appearance than the others across the street that he had checked. He approached the entrance, and found a plaque. It said "Miyamizu." That was the place.
Taki was hesitant about what to do. He did not see a bell or buzzer to knock on the door. He was about to open the outer gate to enter when the door of the house, visible about five meters down a narrow hallway, opened wide and let light from inside. Out of the door stepped two men dressed in light blue suits and white helmets. Behind them was Mitsuha, conversing with them.
"...and then, will you request the medical hour?" asked Mitsuha.
"Yes, tomorrow morning we will come to collect the serum and evaluate the patient, and we will bring you the appointment information," replied one of the paramedics, who was already opening the gate and stopped in surprise when he saw Taki standing there.
Mitsuha peeked out from behind the paramedics to see what was holding them back.
"Taki!" she shouted in surprise, almost pushing her way past the paramedics who barely had time to move in the narrow corridor to let her pass "You came, you're here!"
Taki was about to respond, but Mitsuha jumped into his arms before he could say anything, giving him a desperate hug.
"I... I thought you wouldn't do it," said the girl sinking her face into Taki's neck and started crying.
"I'm here, Mitsuha, relax, relax," said Taki, responding to the girl's hug and stroking her hair.
"I was so scared... I didn't know what to do... thank you for coming, thank you."
"I couldn't leave you alone in this, Mitsuha. You know that... but how is your grandmother?"
Mitsuha broke away from Taki, and wiped tears from her face.
"She is better. The paramedics examined her and ran some tests. They said it wasn't a heart attack and it wasn't a stroke, so she's not in immediate danger. They said it could be syncope, or something like that, and they said her heart could be compromised, especially because of her age. We'll have to get her to a specialist as soon as possible. So, they left her on an IV with painkillers, and she should recover overnight with that."
Taki felt a great weight lift off his shoulders. «At least she's not dying or worse,» he thought.
"And, your grandmother, she... is she awake now?"
"Yes, she is conscious, but at first she was a little disoriented. When the paramedics arrived, she calmed down a bit, but she kept asking for you, so they gave her painkillers. They were starting to take effect, so she must be a little drowsy."
The paramedics had finished putting away their equipment. One of them went to the cabin, and the other approached the couple.
"Excuse me for interrupting you. Miss Miyamizu, we will be leaving now. Do not hesitate to call if there are any unexpected changes in your grandmother. Sir, have a good evening," the paramedic said, turning to Taki, and bidding them both farewell with a small bow of his head.
"Thank you for coming and for helping my grandmother," said Mitsuha, bowing much more pronounced and longer.
Mitsuha sat up, and as soon as the man moved away, she hugged Taki, resting her head on his chest, while they both watched as the ambulance left the place, until finally they were alone, in silence, embracing.
Taki continued to hug Mitsuha for a long time. He closed his eyes, as he rested his head on hers. Feeling Mitsuha's body so close to his was intoxicating. But at one point he began to feel a little cold, and realized that she was also quite unwarm.
"Hey, Mitsuha," said Taki softly, separating a little from the girl, and looking her straight in the eyes. "I think we'd better go inside. It's cold. And we should see how your grandmother is doing, right?"
"Oh... right. Please come in, I'm being very rude," said Mitsuha feeling ashamed of the selfish way she was behaving, keeping Taki out of the house, in the open, while she let herself be hugged by him.
Mitsuha led Taki into the property. They closed the gate and walked to the front door.
Taki noticed how cramped everything was, compared to how spacious Mitsuha's old house in Itomori was. Upon entering, the house had a medium-sized living room, which formed a single room next to the tatami dining area. The kitchen was adjacent to the dining room, with no dividing walls, except for a half-height cabinet, which revealed the entire kitchen. The space was just a fraction of the Miyamizu's old house.
"Come in Taki, come in, leave your bag there," said Mitsuha, leading Taki into the living room, and bringing him closer to a sofa that was attached to a wall.
Taki put down his things and turned to the girl.
"Mitsuha, you... are you okay... with me seeing your grandmother? I mean, this all started when you were telling her about us, right?" Taki asked quietly, worried about stirring up new trouble.
Mitsuha nodded, and lowered her head, and looked down at the floor, sorrowful. She felt like crying again.
Taki realized that the girl was breaking down, so he took her by the hand, and with the other he caressed Mitsuha's face, lifting her up to him.
"Listen to me, Mitsuha, you have nothing to blame yourself for. You didn't know she would take it so badly. And now we can try to talk to her more calmly, can't we? But... when you talked to her, what exactly did you tell her?"
"I... I didn't know how to talk to her. Then my grandmother asked Yotsuha what was wrong with her, because my little sister in the end never told her anything about what happened last weekend. At least I have to grant her that she complied when I asked her not to say anything to Grandma Hitoha. Well, I was nervous, so I told Yotsuha for her to start. But Yotsuha blurted out everything! That we had been dead because of the comet, and that you, my boyfriend, had saved us all, in a new world?"
Taki jerked back, surprised at the abrupt revelation.
"What? She just said it to her like that? And that's what made her feel bad?"
"It wasn't that. I don't think my grandmother believed her or paid any attention to any of that stuff about new worlds, or that we were dead. Maybe she thought it was some kind of joke. But she focused on... on me having you as a boyfriend. I told her that, well, that we had seen each other, that we had met last weekend, and that Yotsuha had met you. And because Yotsuha was so bad all the rest of the week, my grandmother was worried and thought that maybe you had done something to her."
"But I would never do anything bad to her!" said Taki, raising his voice without realizing it.
A small knock was heard as a door slid open, causing them both to startle and look in the direction of a dark hallway.
"Mitsuha? Is that you? What's wrong?" Yotsuha's voice was heard, worried, out of sight of the couple.
Mitsuha looked at Taki and took her hand and squeezed it.
"Yes... it's me, everything's fine," she replied. "Is grandma okay?"
"Yes, she's dozing," replied the teenager in a muffled scream, trying not to startle her grandmother.
"Could you come here for a second, please?" asked Mitsuha, squeezing Taki's hand a little tighter.
A murmur was heard from Yotsuha, apparently in protest, which neither Taki nor Mitsuha managed to understand. A haggard Yotsuha appeared in the room walking down the hallway.
Taki was shocked to see the girl disheveled and pale, looking somewhat ill. Her cheekbones looked somewhat sunken, and her eyes were puffy and red. She had clearly been crying.
Yotsuha stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Taki standing next to her sister.
"You!" she said, gaping.
"Yotsuha, shhh, calm down, it's all right," said Mitsuha letting go of Taki's hand, and showing both palms towards her sister, as a sign of reassurance. "You remember I phoned Taki, right? He was very worried, and he came to see us, and he is also coming to see grandmother Hitoha."
Yotsuha moved her mouth, as if she was going to say something. But the voice did not come out.
"Sis, it's really all right," Mitsuha insisted. "Come, come closer."
Taki stepped forward and bowed in greeting.
"Yotsuha, thank you very much for welcoming me to your home. I came as soon as I heard that your grandmother was ill."
Taki sat up, and saw that the teenager was pouting. Not knowing what else to say, he looked at Mitsuha, asking for help with his eyes.
But the woman had already taken the initiative and approached her younger sister and hugged her.
"We are no longer alone, little sister. Don't worry," said Mitsuha, while Yotsuha struggled not to cry again. "Look, come with me to the dining room, and let's be good hostesses."
Mitsuha took her sister by the arm and led her towards the dining room. As she walked, she gestured for Taki to accompany them.
"Come Taki, let's sit down for a moment. You must be tired from the trip."
"Well, yes, a little. Worrying about Grandma Hitoha was killing me."
Yotsuha looked at Taki in surprise at the familiarity with which the young man spoke of his grandmother, but after a couple of blinks she remembered that Taki knew her very closely, but in totally different circumstances.
As Taki and Yotsuha settled across the table from each other, Mitsuha brought a pitcher of water and three glasses from the kitchen, poured them and sat down between them.
"Well, as I was telling you," Mitsuha continued, looking at Taki, "with my grandmother, the conversation got heated..."
"What... what did you say to her?" Yotsuha interrupted, "Why did grandmother get so upset?"
"It's just that, since you blurted everything out, I felt complicated. Grandma thought that my new boyfriend," she said, taking Taki's hand and looking at him, "who I supposedly met last week, and who you also met last week... had done something bad to you, and that's why you were so bad this week."
"But that wasn't what..." said Yotsuha, but she remained silent, lowering her eyes.
"I know, Yotsuha, I explained to grandmother Hitoha that Taki didn't do anything to you. But I wanted to explain to her who Taki was, and I thought of asking her first something that has been bothering me all this week, and that made her upset..."
Mitsuha lowered her head, and fell silent, beginning to feel guilty about the situation, realizing that she had been the trigger after all.
Taki and Yotsuha stared at her, and at Mitsuha's sudden silence, her younger sister could stand it no longer.
"So... what happened? What did you tell her that made her like that, Mitsuha?"
Mitsuha looked at her sister, and took her hand.
"I think... I think this is all my fault. I... I was very surprised when Taki told us that he... that he had talked to grandmother on the day of the comet, and that grandma knew that I... that I wasn't me. And that bothered me... and it bothers me that she never told me. I realized that, if she had told me what was going on, maybe I would have looked for Taki much earlier, maybe years earlier, and I would have found him!"
Taki was dumbfounded at the thought. He had never thought of that possibility. The very idea almost made his chest ache with the helplessness of so much wasted time that they could have taken advantage of being together. But there was something that didn't add up for him.
"Mitsuha," said Taki with a lot of sorrow in his voice, "if your grandmother had told you that you were exchanging with someone, but without knowing anything about me, or my name, or where to look for me, I don't think that would have helped us. You don't have to martyr yourself for that."
"You don't know! When I discovered 'Il Giardinno delle Parole', I sat down to eat there, and I felt... no, I knew! I knew that place. Everything was familiar! But I didn't know why. The same thing happened to me every time I passed by Yotsuya or Shinanomachi Station. If I had known that I had forgotten someone, but I had lived his life in dreams, if my grandmother had told me from the beginning, then I would have realized why I felt I knew those places, and I would have looked for you there, and I swear I would have found you many years earlier!" said Mitsuha with tears in her eyes because of the feeling of helplessness she felt.
Taki put his hand on Mitsuha's shoulder, trying to calm her down.
"We can't do anything about it now, Mitsuha. The important thing is that we are together now, and we can't let the lost past ruin the present. Come on, don't cry."
Taki stroked her face, wiping away a lone tear that fell down her cheek.
"Now I am happy to have found you," said Mitsuha taking Taki's hand in hers. "But I realize that this hurts me a lot. And that's why... that's why I... I confronted my grandmother. I made her see that I already knew that I had exchanged bodies with someone in September 2013. And that surprised her. And I told her that I knew what had happened that morning, the comet day. Because I knew who the person was that day in me, and that was you, Taki. My boyfriend. And she... she was shocked. She couldn't believe that I had found you, she told me that was impossible. And she got out of control, she started shivering, and she jumped on me saying that she had to talk to you, that she had to meet you, and then... she fainted," Mitsuha concluded, lowering her head.
Taki sat up and hugged the girl across the table, and placed the girl's head on his chest.
"You didn't know she would take it like that. And the important thing is that she's better now. And I'm here so I can fulfill her wish."
And suddenly, Taki's guts let out such a roar that Mitsuha's eyes widened in shock, and even Yotsuha was startled.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I..." Taki tried to apologize, letting go of Mitsuha and returning to his post.
"Taki! You... did you have dinner?" asked Mitsuha in alarm.
"...uhm, not really. When you called me, I was about to go down to dinner with my colleagues and... I couldn't make it, I left them at the hotel, and I came here right away."
"But... how come you didn't buy or eat something on the way?"
Taki shook his head somewhat embarrassed, feeling scolded like a child.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I was in a hurry, and... I didn't think..."
Mitsuha realized how ungrateful she was being to scold him when he had crossed half of Japan unannounced just to come to see and help them.
"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Mitsuha, putting both hands in front of her face in prayer position. "I can't be such a bad hostess... you have to eat something... but... now we only have cold leftovers."
"I... I could prepare something for him," said Yotsuha, looking to the side, somewhat embarrassed.
"Would you really do it, sis?" Taki exclaimed enthusiastically, trying to clench his stomach to prevent other roars from coming unleashed from his belly.
Yotsuha looked angrily at Taki.
"You... don't call me 'sis', please."
"Oh... I'm sorry, Yotsuha-chan," excused the boy, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. "It's just that, when I see you, I can't help but see you like this, like my... forgive me."
Yotsuha raised an eyebrow at the unexpectedly youthful honorific treatment, then shook her head from side to side, letting out a resounding sigh of protest.
"Yotsuha, thank you for helping!" said Mitsuha, bowing in gratitude to her sister, trying to calm her down. "Although..."
Mitsuha looked for a second at Taki, then looked down, trying to conceal a mischievous smile.
"In any case," she continued, "remember that if... well, if Taki and I were to get married, you'd still be his sister."
"But you're not married now!" said Yotsuha angrily, leaning on the table and standing up abruptly, "I... I'm going to prepare something for him, so you two better go see grandma."
Yotsuha turned around, and went to the kitchen with an annoyed pace. When she reached the kitchen, Yotsuha opened the refrigerator, and began to inspect the contents, but suddenly her mind went blank.
«Why...why does it bother me so much to interact with that boy?» thought Yotsuha. She felt confused at her own angry reaction when Taki had called her 'sister'. She clutched her temples, pressing her fingers to them, trying to rid herself of the weird emotions that were gripping her, and had to make an extreme effort to focus on the refrigerator to decide what to cook.
Taki and Mitsuha had been taken aback by the teenager's reaction, and had stared at her in silence. But as nothing else happened, Taki focused on Mitsuha.
"Well... then shall we go to see grandmother Hitoha?" Taki asked quietly, trying not to attract Yotsuha's attention.
"Yes, let's go, but I'm going in with you. If you notice that grandma starts to get upset, please let's stop. I don't want... I don't want her to get the same thing again just now, or worse, or... that she, that she..."
The thought of her grandmother getting worse or dying crossed the woman's mind, and she couldn't help but pout.
"Shhhh, relax," said Taki, putting a hand on Mitsuha's shoulder. "We know what to do, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens to her.
"Thank you!" said Mitsuha taking Taki's arm for a few seconds and placing her cheek on the boy's hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, and the warmth of Taki's hand comforted her like a balm.
"Well... then... shall we go?" Taki asked again after several seconds where the girl had become ecstatic, almost as if she had fallen asleep.
"Oh, yes, sorry," said Mitsuha, blushing a little, feeling a little silly for letting herself be abandoned to the sensations transmitted by the contact with the boy's skin.
They both stood silently, and Taki followed the girl down the hallway leading to the dormitories.
"I'm going to see if she's in a position to talk to us first. I'll let you know if everything is all right," said Mitsuha to the boy, just outside the door.
"Okay, I'll wait here. I'll wait here."
Mitsuha nodded, opened the door slightly by gently shifting it just enough to let her body through, and disappeared into the room, closing the door immediately.
§
Mitsuha felt an extra sensation when she saw Grandma lying on the futon, barely illuminated by the dim light of a lamp behind her. Her first thought was that she was asleep. She watched her for a few seconds, but the old woman's immobility began to make her twitch. A pang of worry pushed Mitsuha to quickly approach her grandmother. She knelt down beside her futon and took one of her hands resting at her side.
"Grandma... grandma, are you all right?" she asked fearfully, gently moving the old woman's hand to cheer her up.
Hitoha opened her eyes slightly, somewhat disoriented, and then began to blink heavily, fixing her eyes on her granddaughter.
"Mitsuha?... oh, it's you," said the old woman, closing her eyes again.
The girl couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Her grandmother seemed to be numb from the medication and painkillers, but at least she was conscious.
"Yes, it's me, Grandma. How do you feel?"
"I... I feel a little tired. My body feels heavy, dull," said Hitoha, opening her eyes for a few seconds, then closing them again.
Mitsuha looked at the IV bag the paramedics had left, mounted on a pedestal the paramedics had left on the other side of the futon. It was still dripping slowly, with less than half of it left. Mitsuha followed the clear hose down to the old woman's other arm, and it seemed to her that everything was in order. She felt calmer.
"Well, grandma... if you're tired, maybe... it's better to leave this for another time, but... but my boyfriend came to see you and he's here. Tachibana Taki, who I told you about before. You... do you want to receive him?"
Hitoha did not react for a couple of seconds, but then it was as if Mitsuha's words had penetrated like a flood into her consciousness. She let go of her granddaughter's hand and tried to sit up on the futon.
"Is he here? I... I have to talk to him..."
"But Grandma, wait a little, let me help you!" Mitsuha protested, trying on the one hand to restrain her grandmother, and on the other hand to help her settle on the cushions so that she would be comfortable, in a more upright, semi-sitting position.
Mitsuha finished settling her in, while the old woman preened her hair like a teenager, which surprised her granddaughter. The girl stood up and turned on the main light in the room, then approached the door.
"Are you ready, Grandma?"
"Yes, send him in."
Mitsuha moved the door until it was wide open, and said a few words towards the hallway. Then Taki approached and entered the room until he took two steps inside.
"Grandmother Hitoha, I'm sorry I'm late, but I was far away and it was complicated to come here. But I am here, I came to see you, as I promised. My name is Tachibana Taki," said the boy giving a deep bow.
Taki sat up and was moved by the sight of the elderly Hitoha, who barely managed to sit up on her futon. With an IV at her side, she looked sickly and emaciated. Taki felt like a blow to see her prostrate like that. The Hitoha he saw now was much older, wrinkled and emaciated than the one he had in his memories.
The old woman watched Taki silently for a couple of seconds, then beckoned him with a hand to come closer.
"Thank you for coming, my boy. I really need to talk things over with you. Come, sit down next to me."
Taki looked at Mitsuha, and she nodded her head. He walked to the place the old woman had indicated.
Mitsuha moved to Taki's side, settling in to join him, but was interrupted by her grandmother.
"Mitsuha, would it be possible for you to let me talk to him alone?"
The girl opened her eyes, not knowing whether to be annoyed or surprised.
"But Grandma, I told you that we would talk and I would tell you everything, and Taki is here for that reason. I wanted the three of us to talk..."
"Yes, I know, but there are things I want to know, and I need to tell him without you being present."
"But what could he...?"
"Please, Mitsuha..." begged the old woman, feeling her strength begin to waver.
"All right, Mitsuha, let me talk to her alone," said Taki, bringing his hand close to the girl's and taking it gently. "I promise, if anything happens or we need you, I'll call you right away."
Mitsuha couldn't help but pout like a little girl which made Taki feel like laughing, but he restrained himself.
"Well, I'll be going then! Grandma, I'll be in the kitchen with Yotsuha. Please call me soon."
Mitsuha got up, walked out of the room and stood for a few seconds looking at Taki and her grandmother from outside the room. Taki looked back at her and nodded his head, like saying «everything will be fine». Mitsuha sighed, closed the door and left.
Taki looked at the old woman again, somewhat self-consciously, not knowing how to continue.
"Give me your hand, boy," the old woman asked unexpectedly.
Taki reached out her hand, and Hitoha took it, closing her eyes. The old woman took a deep breath of air, and was silent for several seconds. Then she opened her eyes and looked directly at him.
"Who are you?" she asked without taking her eyes off him.
"Uh, well, my name is Tachibana Taki. I... well, I live in Tokyo, and I met Mitsuha the week before. But I think she already told you that we had met long before, in 2013. A month before the comet."
"But who are you, really?" insisted again Hitoha. "We have always been able to live the lives of others. Dream of being others. But we could never... never remember. And we could never see that person again. And you are here. Musubi chose you for some reason, and besides... do you really remember what you lived with her?"
Taki smiled, and squeezed the old woman's hand affectionately.
"Yes, I remember everything now. But for many years I forgot. Even though Mitsuha was very important to me, even though I came to Itomori three years after the comet, looking for her, I had forgotten her. Not because I wanted to. Something forced us to forget everything. Mitsuha felt the same way. And since 2016 I lived with the anguish of feeling incomplete. Of searching for something, or someone, without knowing what, who, or why. And that lasted until last week, when I found your granddaughter by chance on the train. In fact, we were on different trains. We barely saw each other for a few seconds, and we both knew the other was someone important. We both got off at the next station, and we ran like mad looking for each other, and met each other halfway. But we didn't know why. In fact, we talked, but... we couldn't remember."
"So... how did you know...? How could you remember now...?"
Taki let go of the old woman's hand, and rolled up his jacket, exposing his wrist.
"It was because of Mitsuha's rope," said Taki, raising his arm and holding his wrist in front of his chest, in full view of Hitoha.
Hitoha opened her eyes, then closed them, and began to laugh.
"How is it that... my mother's rope... has to do with all this?"
Taki lowered his arm and stared at his wrist, fingering the rope. «Then it really is a very old rope,» Taki thought, feeling even more connected to a distant past he could not unravel.
"It all started one random day in early September 2013, for Mitsuha. We didn't know it, but when she woke up in my body, and I woke up in hers, we both thought it was a crazy, very realistic dream, and we both got carried away in that dream where we had to go to school as someone else and deal with a bunch of unfamiliar people looking at us weird...; that was repeated every other day, several times a week, all through September. I was leaving notes in Mitsuha's notebooks, on her phone, and she was leaving notes on mine. And then we realized that everything was real, that what we were living was not a dream. We were really exchanging our days. But she didn't realize that I wasn't living in 2013, I was living in 2016. Our exchanges were happening on the same days, but 3 years apart."
Hitoha opened her eyes in astonishment.
"Is that why you knew that comet would fall that day?"
Taki nodded.
"I came from your future," Taki continued. "From a future where... where all of you had died. I didn't know I was living Mitsuha's life in the past either. That September we stayed like that for weeks, until early October when the exchanges stopped happening. I became desperate, and with the vague memories I had fading like a dream, I traveled to Gifu, looking for her. I reached Hida-Furukawa, asking everyone I could find, until I managed to reach Itomori. And then I discovered that the Mitsuha I had known, the one I had been looking for... had been dead for 3 years."
"But, then... how come...? We are alive! We walked away from there because..."
Taki looked at the old woman, and gave her a knowing smile.
"You walked away that day because that morning I was able to swap bodies again for the last time with Mitsuha. Because in my desperate search for her, when I was in Itomori in 2016, in my desperation I remembered that there was still half of Mitsuha in the Goshintai. Mitsuha's half was kushikami-sake, just as you told us that day, grandma, do you remember? I carried it up the mountain, because that day I woke up as her. And so, I knew that that was there. And in 2016 I went up the mountain, desperate to find the last of Mitsuha left in the universe, and I drank her kushikami-sake, begging Musubi for a chance to save her, going back to the past. And... he granted it to me. I woke up again for the last time being Mitsuha, living that day again being her. That morning, I was the one who came down and talked to you. I was the one who warned you that the comet would fall, remember?"
Hitoha closed her eyes, and placed her hands on her chest. A tear began to fall down her cheek, but she did not want to stop it.
"I knew that month that Mitsuha... was not herself," the old woman said in a slightly trembling voice. "That was something all the women in the Miyamizu family... went through at one time or another. That's why I ignored all... all your eccentricities and mistakes, boy. And I never said anything to you... nor did I say anything to her, because that was her experience, one that she should treasure... for she is unique. I lived it too... and in fact that day I told you so. But I forgot. And you forgot too... so how did you remember?"
"The day we met again in Tokyo with Mitsuha, a week ago, she told me that she was from Itomori, and she showed me her rope, which was the only memory of her mother. And I recognized it, because it was also my rope.
"Your... rope?" Hitoha repeated, not understanding.
"I had this rope for three years. Mitsuha gave it to me the day before the comet fell. Grandma, do you remember when she came home sad the night before the comet fell, and asked you to cut her hair?"
Hitoha opened her eyes heavily, and nodded her head. Then she looked at the boy, looking at him sadly.
"Yes, I remember, but she never told me why she came like that. And after comet, her memory... was gone, and I never insisted or asked her about that. I felt it would hurt her more if I let her know that she had lost something that... that I thought she would never get back. We had already lost everything. I didn't want to deepen her pain..."
Taki took the rope and began to untie it from his wrist, until he left it in the palm of his hand. He began to talk looking at the rope, as if the memories were coming from it.
"The day before the comet, when she came back sad, it was because she secretly traveled to Tokyo, to look for me. I mean, she thought she would find me, the boy she was swapping bodies with, and indeed she did find me, but I was living my own 2013 at the time, when didn't know her yet. She spoke to me, and asked me if I remembered her. I still didn't know her, and like an immature brat, I simply ignored her. We were both riding the train, and when I ignored her, she was saddened and was getting off in dismay, but I asked her name. She told me, untied this string from her hair, and threw it to me. And I kept this rope for 3 years, until my 2016. I carried this rope with me every day, every chance I got. It was my lucky rope. When I traveled to Itomori in 2016 looking for Mitsuha, I went to the goshintai carrying this rope with me. When I begged Musubi to become her again in 2013, my only wish was to save her. And apparently Musubi listened to me. And I reentered her body, to live again the day of the comet. And she, she... she came back from the dead, and woke up in my body in the goshintai, in 2016."
"Then, it's true that... in your time, we had died?" asked Hitoha in astonishment.
Taki nodded his head.
"In my original life in 2016, all of you died. More than 500 people from Itomori died or disappeared. And your names were in a big black book. I found the name of you three in that book, in Hida-Furukawa's library. I couldn't understand it, and my heart ached like nothing has ever hurt me, knowing that the girl I was desperately looking for was dead, and I could do nothing...
"So why are we alive now?"
"I don't know for sure. Neither Mitsuha nor I understand it well. I only know that when Mitsuha awoke in my body the goshintai, she came back to life, but she was in 2016. And meanwhile I woke up as her on the morning of the comet day in 2013. But in a second new day. On that new morning, I talked to you, and failed to convince you to do something about that. Later I went to Mitsuha's father, to ask him to order the evacuation of the village, and I also failed. I was frustrated, because I thought I would fail to save them. Even Yotsuha thought her sister was crazy; only Mitsuha's friends Sayaka and Tesshigawara, only they believed me and they were helping me in the crazy plan to get everyone to evacuate. But since Mitsuha's father didn't believe me, I felt I needed to see her, I needed her help, only she would know how to convince her father. And suddenly I felt that she was there, in the goshintai, waiting for me. It was already afternoon, so I ran there and managed to get there before the magic minute, before the kataware-doki. And we could see each other, physically. She appeared in front of me, but I returned to my body, and she returned to hers. Then I explained the plan, and gave her back this rope. After a short while she suddenly disappeared, and she returned to that new 2013, alive, taking her string back, and she managed to save you all. And I stayed in 2016, and forgot all about it. In that new 2013, Mitsuha succeeded in getting all of you to evacuate. And that's why you are all alive, even if you don't remember that you died before. But neither Mitsuha nor I remembered any of that.
Taki stretched out the rope with both hands, and examined it, looking at it lovingly.
"Last week when your granddaughter showed me this rope, I recognized that it was the rope I had had for 3 years, nothing more. But to her, she had only missed it for one night, and the next day she got it back, so she felt she had never lost it. We couldn't understand it, so we approached each other, with this rope in our hands, and suddenly it was as if the rope had turned on. It was as if in my mind countless images were hitting me, coming back, appearing in my memory. And I began to remember everything. Everything, every day, every exchange, every fact... And Mitsuha also remembered everything, and then we knew who we were..."
Taki put up the rope, in front of Hitoha's face.
"It was all because of this rope, Grandma. The rope, the kushikami-sake, the goshintai... everything seems to be connected. Musubi, right? Connected was what Musubi meant, wasn't it, Grandma?"
"Musubi is a merciful god," said Hitoha, thoughtfully, as if remembering ancient times. She was slow to continue. "That rope is not just any rope. Not because of its design... many times we made ropes with that same pattern... but the rope you have in your hands... that one has threads that come from one or more much older ropes, some passed from hand to hand... for dozens of generations. That rope has been in the Miyamizu family forever. It's the only thing... the only thing that has survived from time immemorial where... where now we know nothing about it.
"Is this rope magical?" Taki asked, looking at the rope with a mixture of reverential admiration and sudden fear.
"Do you... believe in magic, Taki?" asked Hitoha.
"After what Mitsuha and I experienced, I don't know whether to call it magic, but I know that there are things that are beyond what I can comprehend."
"Then, you understand well that what we live... is beyond the human world," Hitoha concluded.
The old woman stretched out her hand towards the rope, making a gesture of asking for it. Taki handed the rope to Hitoha, and she took it and placed it on her chest, covering it with both hands. The old woman closed her eyes and began to recite something in a barely audible form, something that Taki assumed was some kind of prayer, because she saw the grandmother move her lips, but without understanding a word of what she was saying. When she finished, she opened her eyes and looked at the boy.
"This rope was given to my mother by her mother... my mother's mother made it from the remains of an even older rope... from a rope that had survived from ancient times. I gave it to my daughter... she gave it to her eldest daughter, the heiress of the Miyamizu clan. And she... she gave it to you. I don't know if I can agree with that."
Taki swallowed hard. He knew that rope was important to Mitsuha and her family, but this thing he had just learned was beyond his expectations.
"It's important to me too," Taki said, putting as much sincerity into his words as he could. "And I took good care of her for as long as I had her, Grandma Hitoha. I swear, I took care of it because I knew it was special. I don't know why, but I knew. It was my lucky string."
"Why do you call me... grandmother, boy? I... I'm not your grandmother."
"I know. You are Mitsuha's grandmother. But, remember, I was her. I lived being her, I lived under your roof, and in those days, you were my grandmother. And you knew I wasn't your granddaughter, didn't you? And yet you cared for me, you respected me, and you allowed me to learn things even though you saw that I made mistakes that Mitsuha would never make. I remember how Yotsuha would roll her eyes every time I made a mistake, but you... you didn't say anything to me. And for that, I appreciate you very much. Even though you're not my grandmother by blood, you're like a grandmother to me."
"I never thought that... I would talk to the dreamer who was in Mitsuha again..." said Hitoha, thoughtfully. "And now, now I understand that the Miyamizu family owes you a living. No, not only us... many more people. It's a pity that this is... something that no one else should know, this is something much bigger than us... Thank you, Tachibana Taki... thank you."
"I am happy to have saved you, and to have saved your granddaughter. Because now that I finally found her, I am happy."
"And what are you both going to do now? Do you understand that she... she is my eldest granddaughter? She is the heiress of the Miyamizu clan! She should follow the tradition... of over a thousand years, serving the Miyamizu shrine... A thousand years, boy... a thousand years!"
"But Grandma, all was lost that day of the comet. There is no longer a shrine."
Hitoha narrowed her eyes, watching Taki intently, as if weighing his character.
"After Itomori was lost... I had hoped that Mitsuha would overcome... that she would resume her role... that she would continue all that I... all our ancestors... lived... and died for. We have sacrificed our lives... for generations. But she instead left our side... she wanted to live in the modern world... to live a city life in Tokyo, following in the footsteps of that man... of her treacherous father. And that has broken my heart all these years..."
"But, Grandma Hitoha, she really loves you, she didn't want to betray you or anything..."
"It's not me... not me she's betraying. She is turning her back... on Musubi's service, on our god. He is Shitori-no-kami Takehazuchi-no-Mikoto!... And now you know... you know better than anyone else in this universe, boy... that this is not mere superstition... this... this is real."
Taki bit his lip. Hitoha's words felt like a torpedo in the waterline to the life Mitsuha always desired and had chosen to live. Mitsuha had fought to emancipate herself from the bondage of being a miko maiden, wanted to stop being a priestess of a Shinto shrine lost in the mountains for the rest of her life. And she had succeeded. Now she was living the life she wanted, in Tokyo, as she had always dreamed of. And he was now realizing that perhaps the true destiny of the woman he truly loved was to be that priestess, that role she always hated.
"But she... she wanted other things, grandmother. Mitsuha never wanted to be the priestess. Couldn't Yotsuha be the one to take that role?"
Hitoha looked sadly at Taki. She felt old and old-fashioned in the face of the naive simplicity of young people's logic, that cheerful nonchalance in life was something she no longer had the luxury of.
"So, you will decide... the fate of someone else's life? You want to decide... the fate of my youngest granddaughter... Will you tell Yotsuha... that she should take the role of the heiress... that actually belongs to her older sister because you decided so?"
"No, I... I can't do that."
"Neither I can, my boy. In my life I've pushed a lot of people... I've done a lot of things... to get people to accept their role. I did... with Mitsuha's father, but he finally turned his back on us... he became a politician. Then I pushed Mitsuha, but she... turned her back on us too. I had my last hope in Yotsuha... but I don't know if she can... if Yotsuha can bear all that weight alone. And I must... I must confess something to you, boy..."
Taki settled back, somewhat worried about what was to follow.
"...I, after we lost Itomori... I pushed Mitsuha more than ever, because she had to revive our shrine, our traditions... When she left us... it hurt me very much. I was hurt by her betrayal. I began to... I began to hate her carefree lifestyle... irresponsible with us. And now that we no longer had a sanctuary... I felt that all was lost. That over a thousand years... of all our effort... was going to die with me. All... all because of Mitsuha's carelessness and indolence. And I... I felt rage. And that rage exploded in me this week. When Yotsuha... when she came back from Tokyo, after being with you... at first, I thought she was dreaming, but then... I saw that she was herself, but that girl was in shock. I... I had never seen her like that. And I blamed Mitsuha. I blamed her... and I felt hatred come over me..."
Taki watched as the old woman began to shiver, and began to worry about her condition, that she would have a fainting episode again or something.
"Grandma, wait, you don't need to get upset... I believe you, but please calm down."
"I must tell you this! I must atone for this grudge in me, boy!"
"All right, but first you must stop for a moment. I promise I'll listen to you, Grandma, but stop for a minute, and breathe."
The old woman stopped. She realized that her heart was suddenly racing. She began to breathe, and gradually calmed down. When she felt calmer, she looked at Taki, and continued.
"Thank you for helping me. I'm... I'm not the same as before...
"I know, Grandma Hitoha. I want you to get well. I promised Mitsuha I wouldn't make you sick, so you have to avoid getting upset."
The old woman looked at the boy gratefully, and took his hand.
"You're a good boy, Tachibana-san."
"Thank you, but... please can you call me by my name. Just Taki."
Hitoha nodded, and continued.
"I never wanted to hate my granddaughters. But that's how I felt about Mitsuha last night. And, suddenly... something happened. Futaba, her mother, my daughter... she came to me last night, at the moment when I felt hatred consuming me... she came to me, and spoke to me..."
"Wait, Mitsuha's mother? But... but she's not...?"
"Yes, she passed away many years ago... it is Futaba who should be alive and not me... but Musubi had other plans... he had different plans for my daughter. Now I understand... she was much better than me... better in so many things... and she left so early... but she came last night, in my moment of greatest weakness. I heard her voice! I didn't see her... but I know it was her, and Futaba asked me only one thing. That I listen... that I listen to what Mitsuha had to say... because she would bring me many answers... and I think the main answer is you, Taki Tachibana."
Taki frowned, puzzled and confused.
"Me? Why would your daughter tell you such a thing?"
"I don't know... boy. I don't know... All this you have told me... and what my granddaughter has told me... only confirms one thing to me. Musubi didn't abandon us. He never abandoned us! He brought us back... back from the dead! Woe is me... I am a dull and clumsy old woman... how could I doubt him!"
Hitoha reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Taki's jacket, pulling it with what little strength she had left.
"Now, Taki Tachibana... now more than ever I have an urgent request for you."
"Of course, if it is in my possession," said Taki, somewhat embarrassed by the sudden responsibility Hitoha was giving him.
"You are the one who brought us back to life, aren't you? It was Musubi who brought you to us... Musubi brought you to my granddaughter, to be her dreamer... Musubi made you unite with her... in a way that no one ever could. And you saved us... because of you... because of you the Miyamizu family is still alive. If Musubi gave you that blessing... and did all that... to make this happen, it means that our mission, the sacred mission of the Miyamizu family... our calling is not over. Our responsibility to him is stronger... stronger than ever. Do you understand? You are the answer to my prayers, Taki Tachibana! And now... you must make my granddaughter understand... you must make Mitsuha accept her role as heir... the true heir to the Miyamizu tradition!"
"Wait, I understand that tradition is so important to your family, but... I couldn't force Mitsuha into something that would cause her pain or unhappiness."
"Don't you get it yet, boy?"
"No, I don't think I understand where you're going..."
"This is bigger than you, me... or her! Our lives are united... they are linked, that's Musubi! And we must be humble... be grateful... and accept our role."
"But she doesn't want that!"
"She doesn't want it now! But you must make her see... that this is the truth... it is the truth that you are revealing to us."
"Which... truth? I don't know what truth you are talking about."
"Musubi needs more than ever... deserves more than ever... our fidelity. And he chose you, boy... of all people... he chose you... for this role."
"But I already played my part, I, I helped saving you, I don't think I should do anything else."
"If the only thing that mattered... was for us to live, but to leave everything behind, to forget our traditions... and to let Miyamizu Shrine disappear forever... do you think Musubi would have shown you his power, uniting you... making you come back to change everything... only for us to go on living without serving him again? Do you think... can you believe... that Shitori-no-kami is a puppet of your whims?"
Hitoha's breathing was being agitated again, and she fell silent.
Taki looked at her silently not knowing what to reply.
"Tell me, boy," Hitoha insisted. "When you begged Musubi... for a chance to save my granddaughter, what were you willing to sacrifice... to leave behind in the goshintai?"
Taki looked down and closed his eyes. He thought of that moment, when in utmost desperation, he held Mitsuha's bottle of kushikami sake, the only thing left of her in the whole universe, and remembered how he wanted to be able to save her, to give everything to bring her back. He remembered how inside his desire melted into a request to Musubi.
"I was willing to give my life for her," Taki replied in a determined voice.
"And now... you're not anymore?" asked Hitoha, looking intensely at Taki.
"Of course I am! I... I..." Taki paused for a second, but he felt he could no longer turn back. "Grandma Hitoha, I love your granddaughter. I love her like nothing else in this world, and for that I would defend her, I would give my life and more if it was in my power to do so, just to save her, to keep her from being unhappy. And that's why... I don't know, I don't know if I can force her to... to assume a life she doesn't want, Grandma. I don't know if I could betray Mitsuha's trust to force her to live something she doesn't want."
"What if Musubi put you on her path... precisely so that you would save her... so that she would live, and so that you would convince her... to be the next Miyamizu priestess? Would you prefer then that her life... this new life that Musubi granted us... all of us... be the same as if we were dead?"
"That's not true, no, it can't be," Taki protested.
"Then... answer me boy! Why did Musubi give you... that chance? You are no one important to Musubi... you are not a Miyamizu... you didn't even know he existed... and yet... Musubi chose you. When you asked him to save her... Musubi granted it to you. For what, boy? Answer me!"
"I... I don't know," said Taki, bitterly.
"I think that... you do, Tachibana Taki," said Hitoha, finally letting go of Taki's hand.
Taki was silent, confused and distressed by feelings he could not understand. He could not even look the old woman in the face.
Hitoha leaned back, bearing her weight on the cushions, and closed her eyes.
"Do you really love my granddaughter?" asked Hitoha, with her eyes closed.
"Yes, Grandma," said Taki, his voice a little thick.
"If you really love her... you must marry her... and form a family with her. But not just any family... it must be a Miyamizu family. You must give up... your family name... adopt our family name... Are you willing to do that... Taki-san?"
"I told you, Grandma Hitoha, I would give my life for her. I... I wouldn't stop for such formalities."
"And if you won't stop... you will have to be the husband of the heiress... of the leader of the Miyamizu clan... and you should accept the role you took... when you decided to bring her back to life... you will have to be the new high priest... of the future Miyamizu shrine."
Taki froze. So those were the conditions that Hitoha Miyamizu was imposing on him, to make a life with her granddaughter? Suddenly, Taki understood how hard it had been for Toshiki Miyamizu, Mitsuha's father, to face that same situation and those same conditions, all to marry Futaba Miyamizu, Mitsuha's mother.
Hitoha opened her eyes, and looked at Taki, who was crestfallen. And she took his hand again with more strength than Taki expected given the old woman's delicate condition.
"I'm really happy... boy, I think Mitsuha... will be able to raise a family with you... and devote herself to the life she is destined for. You are a man... a man who could far surpass the failure that was his father. Please...think about all of this, think...about what this old woman is asking of you. I know it's a lot... but the stakes are so much higher. This is what Musubi put on your shoulders... so be the man you are meant to be... Taki Tachibana... and help Mitsuha fulfill her destiny."
"I'll... think about it, Grandma, I promise," said Taki, surrendering to the old woman's logic.
"I know you will, boy... I will pray for Musubi to guide your steps... I will pray for him to guide both of you."
The old woman let go of him for the last time, and placed her hands at her sides, and closed her eyes, while letting out a sigh of mixed weariness and relief.
"I feel... my strength does not allow me to continue... now I need to rest."
"Grandma? Are you all right?" Taki asked worriedly.
"Yes... easy, I'm not dying, not yet. It's just that... this may be... the most important conversation of my life. But this tired body... of this old woman... is no longer in any condition to go on... I need to rest..."
"Grandma, then I'll leave you. I have listened to you. I promise I'll think about what you told me."
"Please tell Mitsuha to come... to help me to lie down. And thank you... thank you for what you did for us, before and... for coming to see me tonight, my boy... thank you."
Hitoha became silent, and gradually began to breathe slower, and deeper.
Taki realized the old woman was falling asleep, and that the conversation had exhausted her. He carefully stood up, and walked away quietly. He bowed from the doorway in the old woman's direction.
"Thank you for receiving me," said the boy, and gently moved the door closed.
§
Yotsuha had decided to prepare for Taki a dish of oyakodon, because it was simple and quick to prepare as it did not require too many ingredients. She had already finished chopping the onions and chicken when Mitsuha arrived back from Grandma's room.
"What are you doing here, is everything all right?" she asked her older sister when she arrived unexpectedly in the kitchen, with a face of few friends.
"Yes, don't worry. Everything is fine, but... grandma decided to kick me out of her room to talk alone with Taki... didn't I also travel from far away to see her?" complained Mitsuha, frustrated.
Yotsuha looked at her sister's face and couldn't help but burst out laughing. When Mitsuha got frustrated, she always made a sneaky little girl face. And that was a face Yotsuha hadn't seen for a long time.
"Hey, that's not funny!" Mitsuha complained even more vehemently, crossing her arms.
"I'm sorry, it's just that when I see you like this, you remind me of when we were little girls."
"You're still a little girl, Yotsuha!" said Mitsuha trying to let off steam by teasing her sister.
"Hey, watch what you say! Remember that this little girl is preparing dinner for your boyfriend," replied Yotsuha, without thinking.
Mitsuha was about to respond when she realized how strange those words sounded coming out of her sister's mouth.
"My boyfriend..." she said, unconsciously looking in the direction of the room where she had left Taki a few minutes before.
Yotsuha realized that she had spoken without thinking. And that she had just spoken of Taki as her sister's boyfriend so naturally that it even made her annoyed with herself; she still couldn't conceive how such a relationship could even work, and so just thinking about it made her mood break down.
Mitsuha noticed that her sister had gone quiet and now had a face that was the antithesis of the laughing face she had seconds before, and felt guilty for angering Yotsuha in such an immature way.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," said Mitsuha, approaching her sister, trying to get her attention. "It's just... I just wanted to be there too, and I was taking it out on you. And thanks for making dinner for Taki... what are you cooking?"
"Oyakodon," said Yotsuha almost as a growl.
"Oh, good idea, let me help you..."
Yotsuha moved to one side, and made room for Mitsuha. Both continued to work in silence for a long time, almost without the need for conversation.
Yotsuha finished her part of the work, and saw that Mitsuha was preparing more rice. All that was left was to give the final cooking to the ingredients. She decided to leave that in her sister's hands, so she set about washing the dishes.
"Uhm, where do you keep the dashi?" asked Mitsuha, after having opened some drawers and doors of the kitchen cabinets without finding it.
"I think it's over there in the cupboard, near where we keep the rice," Yotsuha replied, pointing to an old piece of furniture at the back of the kitchen.
The teenager stood watching as her sister went through the cabinet, revealing a number of ingredients that her grandmother kept there. Upon seeing those ingredients, Yotsuha realized that she had chosen the dish without asking if the boy liked it.
"Mitsuha, does Taki like oyakodon?"
Mitsuha had found the dashi and was closing the cupboard. She stood thoughtfully, looking first at the dashi in her hand, then looked at the ingredients she had left on the table, and finally looked at her sister with a blank face.
"The truth... I don't know."
"Huh?" Yotsuha asked, her voice full of disbelief. "How come you don't know?"
"Well... I don't know! I've never asked him if he likes oyakodon... how can I guess?"
"But... you know the things he likes, don't you? What is his favorite dish?"
Mitsuha returned to the place and continued to prepare things, thinking, but not responding.
"You don't know?" asked Yotsuha, puzzled.
"No," Mitsuha replied in an annoyed tone.
"Wait... but he's your boyfriend! Shouldn't you..."
"Yes, he's my boyfriend, but there are many things I don't know, and he doesn't know about me either. We're just getting to know each other, you understand!" replied Mitsuha in a somewhat vehement tone.
Just getting acquainted? Something in Yotsuha's head snapped. She had seen them last weekend so coupled up, there was something so strong that seemed to pull them towards each other, to the point that at first it scared her and even made her giddy, seeing her sister thrown into the arms of who she thought was a perfect stranger. But now her sister had just confessed to her that she didn't know Taki's tastes?
"Wait..., wait a minute, Mitsuha... you really don't know such simple things about him?"
"Look, I know it sounds weird, but this is all weird, new to me too..."
"But you guys are supposed to have known each other before, right? And you've been together all this week, what don't you talk about?"
"Of course we talked!"
"Or have you been... only..."
Yotsuha, turned to her sister and stared at her with narrowed eyes, up and down, as if trying to discover some clue that would give her a clue to the suspicion that crossed her mind.
Mitsuha sensed the silence and also turned around, and saw her sister scanning her as if she had X-rays in her eyes.
"Hey! What are you insinuating?"
"Have you guys... have you spent the whole week... just doing... uhm... intimate things?"
"Intimate?" Mitsuha repeated naively, not understanding what her sister meant.
Yotsuha snorted in impatience at her older sister's lack of understanding. She glanced toward the dormitories, sharpening her hearing to confirm that they were alone. Then she leaned toward her sister, and spoke to her in a disguised tone.
"If you hardly know anything about him, it's because you haven't talked much... but you've been seeing each other all week... so have you been just sleeping together or what?"
Mitsuha heard herself inside her head repeating the question like an automaton. «Just sleeping together...?». And suddenly she felt her whole face turn as red as a tomato.
"No! How could you even think of that?" she protested.
Yotsuha narrowed her eyes and looked at her with a face of «Are you telling me the truth?»
Mitsuha opened her eyes feeling unfairly accused.
"Yotsuha, absolutely not! I've not... yet..."
"You've done nothing yet?"
"Nothing! And don't ever ask me anything like that again!" said Mitsuha turning towards the kitchen counter, and feeling her face hot and agitated.
Yotsuha sighed again. She couldn't understand her sister, no matter how hard she tried. She went back to the counterattack.
"So, if you're not... at it, and... you've been seeing each other all week, what are you talking about then? And how can you love him if you don't even know what he likes to eat?"
"I don't need to know what he likes to eat to love him, Yotsuha!"
"Then why are you together? You hardly know each other!"
Mitsuha put down what was in her hand, and leaned against the furniture with all her weight. She closed her eyes and realized that Yotsuha's question was important. Her grandmother would probably ask her the same thing, and... she should know herself. But, as she started to think, nothing clear came to her mind.
"I... I can't say for sure..." she answered at last.
Yotsuha was perplexed looking at her sister. She understood her less and less.
"But then why are you together?"
Mitsuha turned and looked at her sister.
"I have no justification. I don't know why. I just know that when we're close, I feel something, I don't know, a connection that nothing... that no one has ever provoked in me before. I feel things for him that I've never felt for anyone before. I feel like I want to be with him, and when I see him, everything seems to glow, everything... everything feels right! I don't know how to explain it, I don't know why that happens to me, but that's what I feel! I'm happy being with him, and so is he! Can't we be together then?"
Yotsuha was stunned. She definitely didn't understand her. But even Mitsuha herself didn't. Apparently, her sister was all a sea of strange feelings that were so foreign to her, she couldn't even imagine them. She turned to the dishes that were still unwashed, and continued her task.
"I don't understand you, Mitsuha," she simply replied, feeling somewhat defeated.
"Maybe someday you'll meet someone and you'll understand me."
«Meet someone?» Yotsuha wondered. She stopped soaping the dish in her hand and started to think about who she might meet?
Suddenly the memory of senpai Watanabe came to her mind. He was a third-year boy who was in the soccer club the same year she had entered first grade at Shizuoka High School. She had joined the girls' soccer club, and she used to watch the boys' team training on the same days as them. And she had caught herself more than once watching Watanabe more than the other boys. And every time she looked at him, something in her moved, without her ever knowing what it was, or why. And once Watanabe had noticed her glances and for a few weeks she felt that he was also looking at her slyly, but intensely. And when she would find Watanabe looking at her, she felt her heart race. But it all ended when one of her teammates, who was a sophomore, proposed to Watanabe, and he had agreed to go out with her. Then she never looked at him again. Yotsuha then remembered how good that budding connection with a boy had felt while it lasted, and she also remembered how painful it had been when it all ended. And since then, she had refused to ever look at other boys with interest again, whether they were from her class or high school, to spare herself the pain of loss.
"If I ever feel that way about a boy... will it be okay?" Yotsuha asked, almost thinking out loud.
Mitsuha turned around and felt the weight of her sister's question. She put down the things she was handling on the table, approached her sister from behind and hugged her.
"If you ever feel this way about someone, believe me you will know. You'll know because it will be different than anything you've ever felt before. And if that guy feels the same way about you, then maybe you guys are meant to be together and be happy, right?"
Yotsuha put the things inside the dishwasher, shook the excess water from her hands, and grabbed Mitsuha's arms hugging them tighter against her.
"And if that happens, will it be real?" Yotsuha asked, "Will I be able to live knowing that it won't be a dream that will disappear?"
"I think it is. That all this is real. Because even if you doubt it... when you saw Grandma lying on the floor, passed out, weren't you afraid? Or did you think it didn't matter, because it wasn't real?"
"I... I was very afraid."
"Me too," confessed Mitsuha. "And I don't care if this reality is not the true reality. It's the reality I'm living now, and I'm going to enjoy it and experience it to the fullest, because even if it's not the only one that exists, it's the only one that's real for me right now. If I'm wrong and there are other realities, I won't have lost anything. But if I don't live well every day because of the fear that this is a dream, and if this is really our reality, wouldn't it be unfortunate to lose out on living my life because of an unfounded fear?"
Yotsuha turned to look Mitsuha in the face. Her sister let go of her and took a step back. A tear was streaming down the teenager's face.
"Thank you, sister!" said Yotsuha.
Mitsuha put her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"We are the same, Yotsuha. We both came back to life somehow, for whatever reason, so we're in this together. Don't forget that. Let's not be afraid, and let's support each other in whatever happens in the future. Will you do it?"
"Yes... I'll do."
Mitsuha let go of her sister and turned back toward the counter where she was cooking.
"This is not progressing too fast, and I think Taki is going to faint if he doesn't eat soon," she said, changing the subject and trying to lighten the mood.
Yotsuha turned, and stood with her eyes closed for a minute. If this was her current reality, then she decided she would live it. She would live it as long as she could. So, her grandmother being sick, her sister dating a boy who had brought them back from the dead, and her finishing her senior year of high school were her reality. And she decided to accept it. But something about this reality she felt was still out of place. Almost a couple of heartbeats later she knew the answer: Taki. She could manage to understand that her sister and that boy felt things between them, but she felt that something about him irritated her. Something was bothering her and she couldn't figure out what it was. But it was something that was there. Yotsuha opened her eyes, and realized that her cheeks were wet. She dried her face with a paper towel, and continued working in silence, while Mitsuha continued in the same manner cooking the onions and chicken behind her back.
§
When Taki arrived in the living room, after being dismissed by Grandma Hitoha, he saw Mitsuha with her back to him, doing something in the kitchen. In front of him was Yotsuha finishing drying some dishes. He stood looking at them not knowing what to say.
Yotsuha looked up, and saw Taki. The boy's face worried her.
"Hey, Mitsuha...?" said Yotsuha, trying to get her sister's attention, without alarming her.
"What's wrong?" asked the girl, turning to look at her sister.
Mitsuha saw Taki out of the corner of her eye, and almost gasped in surprise to see him standing there.
"B-But... Taki! Is everything all right?" she asked startled, glancing unconsciously for a second toward her grandmother's room.
"Yes, it's all right. I'm sorry, I... I finished talking to your grandmother, and she dismissed me. She told me she was exhausted. She was falling asleep. And she asked me to tell you to go help her settle down to sleep."
Mitsuha wiped her hands on a cloth, then walked over to the boy and hugged him.
"Did everything go well?" she asked almost in a whisper close to his face.
"I... I suppose so."
Mitsuha broke away from him and looked at him quizzically.
"What did you talk about?"
Taki could not look Mitsuha in the face.
"Well, I told Granma everything that happened to us... you know, our history together."
"And did she accept it well?"
"Yes, I think she is more than willing to believe us, much more than I would have expected."
"But that's good!" Come here, sit down at the table. We had just finished your dish. Do you like oyakodon?"
Mitsuha took Taki by the hand and almost yanked him toward the table.
"Hey, yes, it's a very tasty dish," replied Taki, somewhat surprised by the unexpected question.
"Great! Did you see, Yotsuha? He likes oyakodon!" said Mitsuha winking at her sister. "Uhm, could you serve the dish to Taki? I'll go see grandma."
Mitsuha left Taki by the table, and walked away towards the rooms, but suddenly a hunch made her turn to look at him.
Taki had been standing at the side of the table without sitting down. He was staring at the floor in a strange, somewhat taciturn mood.
"Taki, wait... did something else happen?" asked the girl worriedly.
Taki looked at her, and tried to smile, though he felt he managed it in a somewhat feigned way.
"Well, it's... complicated to explain. But it's all right now. I think you all three will have a lot to talk about, and I have no doubt that she... will be interested in hearing everything you have to say, Mitsuha."
Mitsuha felt that Taki's answer was somewhat ambiguous, and did not match the mood he was showing, but she did not know what else to say. She looked towards the kitchen, and thought maybe it was tiredness.
"Taki, please sit down and eat before it gets cold, I'll be back in a few minutes," said Mitsuha before disappearing down the hall.
Taki looked at the table and sat down where he could look both into the kitchen and down the hallway where Mitsuha had disappeared.
Within seconds Yotsuha arrived with a tray, and set down in front of Taki a cup of warm green tea, a miso soup with lots of vegetables, and a large bowl with freshly prepared oyakodon. She then looked in all directions unsure of what else to do, and in the end decided to sit at the table in front of Taki, to join him, while hugging the tray in front of her, as if it were a shield.
Taki looked at the food and felt almost faint with hunger, but hesitated whether to wait for Mitsuha to eat.
"You'd better eat that soon," Yotsuha told him, noticing Taki's difficulty.
"Yes, you're right. Itadakimasu!" said Taki, taking the bowl of soup and tasting it. It just tasted delicious.
Taki concentrated on the food, and tasted several mouthfuls with delight. But then he noticed that he was being watched very intently by Yotsuha. Taki looked back at her, and the girl became self-conscious and looked in another direction.
"I'm sorry," said Taki, looking back down at his plate and concentrating on eating.
"And... so... did you manage to convince grandmother Hitoha about your relationship with my sister?" said
Yotsuha without looking at Taki.
Taki felt herself almost choke at the question. «Why is she always so direct?» he complained in his mind.
"Well... I'd say I have a chance," said Taki, trying not to betray the overwhelm the question brought him. «If you'd knew what your grandmother really wants from us...» he thought to himself.
"I see," said Yotsuha, thoughtfully. "Then it was a difficult conversation, isn't it?"
Taki looked at Yotsuha in surprise, feeling that the girl was almost reading his mind.
"D-does it show that much?" he asked almost fearfully, thinking that soon Mitsuha would be back and he could notice things.
Yotsuha looked at Taki with some sadness for the boy.
"Well, that's how it is sometimes to talk to my grandmother. Welcome to the family, I guess," she said, and stood quietly, returning to the kitchen to finish putting away the things she had been drying.
Taki watched her for a few seconds, then continued to eat in silence, thoughtfully.
«I don't know if I can tell Mitsuha. I don't know how,» Taki thought as he savored the food, which was still fantastic, but somehow no longer tasted as good to him as before.