Chilly night air

a city sleeps

like a wind-driven cloud

I run,

to you.

~~~

"--Okay, you can put me down now." Mitsuha tugged lightly at Taki's hair. "I promise my ankles fine!"

The night skyline glittered in the distance, so close yet far away, monoliths of concrete soaring out of the ground, reaching for the stars.

Taki obliged, much to his dismay, and set Mitsuha down at the bottom of the stairs that led to her apartment door.

Mitsuha made it up the stairs, although a dull pain still emerged in her ankle.

"Get some ice on that when you get inside, okay?" Taki said. "-It might start to swell."

Mitsuha rolled her eyes playfully. "-Okay,Dr. Tachibana..."

Taki burst out laughing. "Don't-- Don't call me that!"

Mitsuha chuckled. "I'm gonna call you that whenever you care about me too much."

"-You know what? If it means you stay unharmed, then fine, I accept your dumb nickname."

Mitsuha smiled before her eyes lost a bit of their sparkle. "-I guess... This is goodbye for tonight..."

Taki sighed. "Yeah... It's late, I should be getting home."

Taki looked at Mitsuha and gave her a quick peck that startled her. But Mitsuha returned with her own, and eventually, Taki and Mitsuha were totally intertwined with each other, pulling the other impossibly close while they let their lips speak the words they were too shy to say.

Much to their chagrin, air is not infinite, so the two pulled away gasping for air, their cheeks tinted a deep red and their eyes wild, the Tokyo skyline reflecting off their surface.

"B-Bye, Taki." Mitsuha tried to get her words through her flustering.

"Talk to you later..." Taki tried to do the same as he began to walk away.

Mitsuha watched him leave until he disappeared behind the staircase, her hands clasped in front of her.

She opened the apartment door and slid off her shoes at the entrance, breathing a sigh of relief, and admiration all the same, leaning her back against the door.

-Did that just...

"--How was it?!" Sayaka squealed into her phone.

Mitsuha was lounging on her bed, her hair spread across her pillow in waves of black silk, her ankle resting on a small ice pack. She held Taki's cord he had made for her in her left hand, her phone held up to her ear.

"It was... I-I'm still in shock, I don't even know what to say! It was amazing!"

"Well, what happened?!"

"Hetook me to the Skytree, Saya.The Skytree! I got to see Tokyo from its highest point, it was insane! -After that, we went out for sushi, we opened up to each other about our childhood, too. He was really nice about it. Told me that Tokyo goes on without you, like it or not, so just embrace it and go on with your life, just like Tokyo does."

"Woah, I didn't know he had a sweet side..."

"Oh, -You think that's it? Guess what he did on the walk home! He made me a cord. Like, homemade, traditional braided cord. I couldn't help but just hug him, I didn't have any words."

"He did?! Did you kiss him?"

"Guh--!" Mitsuha turned over and stuffed her face into her pillow.

"...I'm taking your silence as a yes!"

"Ugh-- fine, yes we kissed, a couple times actually. -We couldn't really help ourselves..."

"Awwww... So Mitsuha had her first kiss!!"

Mitsuha flustered. "I guess I did..."

"Tessie!! -Mitsuha had her first kiss!!"

"-No way!! Congrats, Mitsuha! I'll be teasing you about this until the day you die!" Tessie's voice filtered through the speaker, further from Sayaka's phone.

Mitsuha rolled her eyes, her cheeks already beet red thinking back to her and Taki's first kiss.

After she had given Tessie and Sayaka the run-down on what had happened, she felt exhaustion tugging at her eyelids, and promptly yawned graciously.

She plugged in her phone and changed into her nightgown, falling with a soft huff into her bed and pulling her blankets under her chin.

As she was close to drifting off, she made sure Taki's braided cord was between her fingers.

She fell asleep with a dreamy grin permanently plastered to her face.

Ta-ki.

Ta-ki.

Taki yawned as he padded into his room, sleep pulling at his eyelids. Apparently a long afternoon of sickeningly sweet smiles had drained him.

The look Mitsuha had given him before diving in for a kiss was practically burned into the back of his mind as he changed out of his date outfit and into a comfortable pair of athletic shorts and a white t-shirt.

Crawling under the covers, he was about ready to drift off, until his phone began to vibrate harshly.

[Ms. Okudera: Taki!!! You said you'd text me when the date's over!]

Taki sighed.

[Taki: I just got home!]

[Ms. Okudera: How'd it go?!?!? Did you kiss her?! Where'd you take her?!]

[Taki: I took her to the skytree. It was great, she was totally awe-struck by the view. Then we went out for sushi, and then she tripped and fell, so I had to carry her to her apartment, haha.]

[Ms. Okudera: You didn't answer my question!]

[Taki: ...Yes, we kissed, a couple times.]

Taki stuffed his face in his pillow and groaned, fighting the blood rushing to his cheeks.

[Ms. Okudera: Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Proud of you, and happy for you!!]

-She really is like my older sister... Taki mused as he typed his response.

[Taki: Thank you, Ms Okudera]

Once he was finished texting Okudera, he plugged in his phone and took Mitsuha's braided cord from his windowsill, wrapping it between his fingers as he drifted off to sleep, a stupid, dreamy grin plastered onto his face.

Mit-su-ha.

Mit-su-ha.

-I'm standing on the edge of the mountain that wraps around my family's sacred Musubi shrine in a huge, perfect circle, the fleeting sunset casting its somber glow over the underworld.

-I realize I'm in Taki's body as I glance down at my shoes, the lack of hair brushing my neck now very apparent.

I look to my left, and I'm met with the sight of… Me? ...With short hair?

-I'm on the peak of the strange mountain I now recognized from my dreams. The tree and the rock in the middle were encircled by the top of the mountain in a great, crater-like circle, kissed by the retreating sunshine.

I realize I'm not in my own body as I feel hair tickle my neck, and I look to my right instantly.

My eyes meet... Myself?

"--Magic hour." I say, my unnaturally deep voice trembling.

Just as I lock eyes with Taki, my vision starts to cloud. For a moment, I feel dizzy, and light-headed.

And then suddenly, it hits me.

Memories start to flood in as rapidly as my tears, and I can see them in front of me as if I were reliving them.

"--Magic hour."

I, or- Mitsuha, locks eyes with me and says something I can't make out fully, because the second I lock eyes with her, I feel my head start to swim, and my vision fades.

The memories come crashing in like a comet.

"-I hate this town! -I hate this life! Pleeaase make me a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life!"

-Waking up in Taki's room, using the bathroom, trying to act normal at school.

"You... got lost..."

"...Y-Yeah."

"-How'd you get lost on the way to school?"

"Well... A girl..."

"--A girl?"

"--I mean...!"

Going to a cafe, working Taki's part-time job, getting friendly with Ms. Okudera.

"-You've got a feminine side."

Tessie and Saya getting concerned about my behavior and telling me the things I did while Taki was in my body, expensive sweets, setting up a date with Ms. Okudera.

-Waking up in Mitsuha's room, groping her chest, trying to figure out her school, and friends.

My co-workers confronting me for Mitsuha walking home with Ms. Okudera, standing up to Mitsuha's school bullies, beating the boys at Mitsuha's school in basketball.

"-To return to this world, you must leave behind what is mostimportant to you."

Offering Mitsuha's kuchikamizake at the foot of the musubi altar.

"Oh? Mitsuha... You're dreaming right now,aren't you?"

Tears.

Trying to call Mitsuha after my date she set up with Ms. Okudera.

Going to Tokyo to find Taki.

'One thing is certain... If we see each other, we'll definitelyknow right away!'

Finding him on a train, heartbreak. Giving him my braided cord.

"My name is--!"

Going to the autumn festival.

"Mitsuha... W-What happened to--"

"Your hair..."

-Dying.

Traveling to Itomori to find Mitsuha.

"Hey... That's a sketch of Itomori, isn't it?"

Discovering the ruined town, finding Mitsuha's name in the list of victims of Comet Tiamat.

Remembering Hitoha's words about Musubi and braided cords.

I have to go somewhere. Go back to Tokyo without me. I'll be back soon. Thanks. -Taki

Traveling to Goshintai.

Crossing the river, drinking Mitsuha's kuchikamizake, learning of Mitsuha's past.

Waking up in Mitsuha's body, devising an evacuation plan with Tessie and Sayaka, failing to convince Mitsuha's father.

Stealing Tessie's bike, finding out Mitsuha went to Tokyo, running around the mountain, hearing her but not seeing her.

Waking up in the underworld in Taki's body, seeing what was left of Itomori.

"-So... Does that mean... I... Died?"

Hearing Taki call for me.

Running around the mountain.

A fleeting sunset.

Total happiness.

Finally seeing Taki in front of me, finding out he drank my saké, getting "I love you," scribbled into my palm.

Total happiness.

"Taki...? Taki...? -You're really here..."

Mitsuha crying when we finally see each other,writing "I love you" on her palm, Mitsuha suddenly vanishing.

Promising to find her again no matter what, suddenly forgetting her name, falling asleep on the mountain. A stinging sense of loss.

-I suddenly remember it all.

Trying to evacuate the town.

"Wait a minute... I...I Can't remember what his name is anymore!"

Tessie yelling at me, running, tripping seeing what Taki wrote on my hand. Newfound hope.

"...Don't tell me you're back..."

Convincing my father, the comet splitting, the explosion.

--I suddenly remember it all.

Mitsuha sat up in bed at light speed, tears brimming her eyes as she ripped the blankets off of her and darted to her closet, not even bothering to turn on a light. She threw a maroon coat on over her sleeping blouse, put on two random socks she could find, swiped Taki's braided cord off the bed, and sprinted through her bedroom door to the front hallway.

Sliding into a pair of shoes, she swung open the heavy metal door and bolted out of her apartment at full speed.

As Mitsuha gunned it down the streets of Tokyo, she didn't pay a thought to where she was going. She simply chased the feeling she had been chasing for years, the feeling that had been chasing her for years. The feeling that drove her and shattered her all the same.

But now, she knew what that feeling was attached to. Who that feeling was attached to.

Taki.

I don't want to forget again,I don't want to forget again,I don't want to forget again! She repeated to herself, knowing full-well that most of the time, she eventually forgot what she dreamed about.

"I'm comin', Taki!" She cried into the night air. "I remember! I remember it all!"

--I don't want to forget again,I don't want to forget again,I don't want to forget again!

Taki repeated this to himself as he ran through Shinjuku as fast as his legs could take him, his emotions scrambled into a mess that only connected at one point.

Mitsuha.

He turned corner after corner, alleyway after alleyway, street after street, looking for her, knowing that she was searching too. She must've had the same dream I had!

"Taki!? -Where are you?!" He heard somewhere in the distance. He instantly recognized the voice, and his heart leapt out of his chest.

"M-Mitsuha! I can hear you!" He shouted back, gunning it down an alleyway that seemed to lead to where her voice was coming from.

He turned another corner, and suddenly, the wind was totally knocked out of him.

Mitsuha had been sprinting around the same corner, and the two collided with each other at full speed, toppling to the ground instantly.

Both tried to speak as they sat on the ground, their wild, tear-brimmed eyes fixed on the other, but couldn't, as the only thing coming out of their lungs were puny attempts to regain their breath.

Taki took a deep breath and steadied himself, feeling his lungs finally come back to him.

"Mitsu--!"

"--Takiiii!!!!" Mitsuha cried, barreling into him and throwing her arms around his torso.

Taki simply held back tears and pulled Mitsuha impossibly closer, burying his head in her shoulder. "--I remember, It's okay,I remember." He muffled into her jacket.

Mitsuha continued to sob into Taki's jacket audibly, unable to stop the river of joyous tears."I found you.." She choked out."I really found you..."

Mitsuha suddenly pulled away and grabbed Taki by the shoulders."I found you!!" She repeated, as if she needed to prove it to herself once more.

Taki was about to respond, but as he gazed into the wild, hazel eyes of Mitsuha Miyamizu, he felt his throat close up and his eyes well up more, and suddenly, he was sobbing too.

They stayed like that for a long time, Mitsuha and Taki both sobbing into the other's shoulder and gripping the other as if they would disappear if they let go.

After things had calmed down, Mitsuha sat next to Taki and rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't believe it... Taki, I-- Guh-- ! What am I even supposed to say? It just feels like I've been looking for you forever... It's hard to believe you're really here."

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Mitsuha."

"Wha--What could you be sorry for?"

"I-" Taki took a breath. "-It's my fault we didn't remember each other after magic hour. When I went there and drank your Saké, I didn't offer anything. So by doing that, I basically offered our memories of each other to the gods, and so when we left, we forgot everything."

Mitsuha sighed. "-Maybe you slipped up there, but I can't thank you enough for what you wrote on my hand."

Taki jumped, putting a hand over the back of his neck. "Hah-- Oh, that. yeah."

"--No, really. It gave me the drive to keep going and convince my father about the comet, I would've given up anddied, again, If it weren't for that. I wouldn't've remembered what 'Taki' meant if you wrote that."

Taki sighed. "So... When did you forget? You know... All of," He gestured in between him and Mitsuha. "This."

Mitsuha pondered for a moment. "Well, I was running back into town with Tessie, and once we got the shrine, we were yelling at everyone to get to the high school when something just... faded. It was so sudden I started crying, and when Tessie asked me what was wrong, I told him'I can't remember his name!' and he got all confused and started yelling at me to go try to convince my father to evacuate the town."

Taki laughed. "-You told him that? There's no way he would've understood."

"Gah,I know, but I was so overwhelmed I just had to say it out loud. -How did you forget anyway?" Mitsuha said.

"It was pretty much right when Magic hour was over. I started repeating your name over and over again,'Mitsuha, Mitsuha, your name is Mitsuha!' and then I suddenly forgot. When I tried to write your name on my hand, I totally blanked and started ranting at the sky. Maybe to the gods, I don't know. But eventually I just screamed, 'What's your name?!' at them. All I could remember once I woke up was that I had lost something... Precious."

Taki heard a small whimper from his shoulder.

"Oh, Mitsuha, no don't cry..."