Chapter Text
On Friday, April 8, 2022 early morning, near the Suga Shrine in Tokyo, a man and a woman, still in their twenties, looked anxiously at each other standing only a few meters away on a public stairway.
The boy, dressed in a somewhat tight gray suit, was looking down at her from the top of the stairs. The girl, dressed in a simple yet elegant outfit, was looking back at him from the middle of it.
They were both restless, not knowing what to say to each other. The boy decided to take the initiative:
"Do we know each other?"
The girl felt that too. A tear began to fall down her cheek.
"I think so."
Suddenly a question came out of their mouths at the same time.
"What is your name?"
The unexpectedness of such synchrony made them laugh for a couple of seconds. After some hesitation, the boy walked to the other side of the central red handrail that divided the staircase in two, and he started walking towards the girl.
He felt that she was that person he had been searching for a long time, although he did not really know who she was.
The girl was waiting for him anxiously and she had that same feeling that he was the person she was looking for, but she couldn't recognize him either.
When the boy reached her, he looked down at her, somewhat embarrassed.
"My name is Taki." he introduced himself, with a shy smile.
"I am Mitsuha," answered the girl.
A tear also fell down Taki's cheek. The feeling of knowing the woman in front of him was intense, but he couldn't remember how or where he knew her from. «Mitsuha, Mitsuha, Mitsuha! Where did I meet you?» he wondered, but a dark haze seemed to hide any kind of memory.
"When I saw you on the train, I felt that I needed to find you, but I don't understand why," Mitsuha questioned herself, a little embarrassed when thinking about the race she had given.
Both had seen each other minutes ago, while traveling on different trains. Each of them was standing in front of the windows of the doors of the car in which they were riding, when by chance the train lines ran parallel for a while, moving both trains in the same direction and leaving them one in front of each other for a few moments. Just by seeing each other those few seconds made them feel the other was that person, someone they had been searching for a long time. Without being able to say anything more than just looking at each other, both had gotten off at the next stop of their trains, at different stations, and ran towards each other, praying that the other was doing the same. And in some mysterious way, their mutual intuition had been correct.
"I felt the same way too, and I was worried you weren't, well… here."
"Where did we meet? In Hida? In Tokyo?"
"I have always lived in Tokyo. Do you come from Hida?"
"I come from Gifu prefecture, from… Hida-Furukawa, although I've been living in Tokyo for years."
A shadow passed over Mitsuha's face. She came from a small, remote rural town known as Itomori, which had existed lost in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture. Built around a charming lake, it had no more than 1,500 inhabitants. She was still a teenager when the town of Itomori was destroyed by the impact of a fragment of comet Tiamat, on the evening of October 4, 2013. In a way that seemed like a miracle, almost all the inhabitants had survived, but most of the population was moved to shelters in other towns and cities in the Gifu area, and the town ended up being abandoned.
The Miyamizu family, with her grandmother Hitoha, her sister Yotsuha, and her, were taken to Hida-Furukawa. There the girls were assigned a school and an institute where they would finish the rest of their school year.
The Itomori survivors had to learn to interact with many new people, who always asked for details of what had happened to them on that fateful day, the day Itomori was devastated by the comet, creating a crater that transformed into a new lake, the "New Itomori", attached to the original, giving it a rare "8" shape.
For Mitsuha, talking about Itomori recalled painful memories. She felt that in addition to losing everything from Itomori, she had lost something else, more than just her life and her childhood home.
Over time, she began to omit her origin from her conversations, especially when she met people. She thus avoided having to give those same explanations once again. Arriving in Tokyo she began to say that she came from Hida-Furukawa, omitting her real origin.
However, it was clear to Mitsuha that since she felt that she knew Taki, she would have had to meet him in Hida-Furukawa, or else later in Tokyo, when they moved the following year, in 2014.
Taki also felt a strange pang. He felt that he was finally before that person he had been searching for so long, but he couldn't remember how he knew her or from where. Was this just a mix-up? But she was here, and he was sure she was also feeling the same!
"Are you sure we haven't met in Tokyo before?"
"Perhaps, perhaps…"
Since she had arrived in Tokyo, Mitsuha had met many people. She had studied at a university in Tokyo, worked part-time at a Shinjuku department store, and commuted around Tokyo on her way to her job every day. She had no doubt seen many people, but she felt that he couldn't be anybody she had come across before in all those years; if she had seen him and she had felt the same as she felt seeing him just now, she could not have forgotten him, she thought.
Or maybe she had seen him at one of the company's corporate dinners? Was he a relative of…?
Suddenly Mitsuha opened her eyes and remembered that she had to get to her work. In her agitation she had completely forgotten where she was going, and remembering it hit her like a cold shower.
"Taki, I'm sorry, but... I have to go, I have to get to work, and... I don't want to, but... I need to know... Please give me a minute!"
She walked up a few steps and pulled her cell phone out. She looked up her work number in a hurry to report herself.
"Noriko-san... yes, this is Mitsuha... yes, I'm fine, but…, I'm late... I'm so sorry, please assign someone to replace me at the meeting... yes, I'm sorry, I'm on my way now, I'll explain everything later… yes, bye."
Mitsuha stared down at her cell phone for a second, and then she turned to him with a face that showed the internal conflict of having to leave to fulfill her responsibilities or being able to stay and spend more time with him.
The boy felt guilty seeing her so complicated, but he felt that he couldn't let her go, just like that.
"I would like to talk with you, get to know you and learn more about you. But I see you're in trouble because of your job."
"I also want to, but… I'm sorry, I must go back to the station."
«I can walk with you there», Taki thought, but he realized that something more important was missing. How could he find her again with only her first name?
"Do you mind if we exchange our numbers? I would like to talk more with you, calmly. I feel that it is very important."
Taki quickly took out a pen and a notebook from his bag. For some reason he no longer trusted his phone to write down important things. He wrote his name and phone number, tore off the page and passed it to her. She looked at the note and felt a strange sense of nostalgia. For some reason, both the writing style and his phone number seemed familiar.
The boy handed over her the notebook and pen. But when she was going to write down her data, he had a strong déjà vu: the sudden feeling that, if she wrote something down, she would disappear as if by black magic. An irrational fear arose inside him and made him react on impulse, giving a desperate cry.
"No, Mitsuha!"
He grabbed the girl by her arms, as if trying to hold her back to prevent her from disappearing. Mitsuha was startled, dropped the notebook, and stepped back. Taki froze, looking at her in confusion.
"Sorry, I don't know what happened to me, I didn't mean to…" Taki apologized, releasing her immediately.
He looked at his hands. «Why did I do that?», he thought. But the damage was already done. She didn't understand what was wrong with him, and she just kept backing away.
"Taki, I… I have to go. Bye…"
The girl turned and began to walk quickly up the stairs. A vortex of feelings invaded her. She felt that her heart was screaming at her that she should stay, but her brain was telling her that she had to go. Also… why did that boy react like that? Who was he?
The young man was petrified. He reached out his hand to her and opened his mouth, but the air refused to leave his lungs. What had he done? Why did he feel this fear, this sudden panic?
As he watched her disappearing at the top of the stairs, he suddenly felt as if everything faded to black. He felt that he had found someone too important, and now she was disappearing. Was this a dream? A nightmare?
In the end he came to his senses and realized that he was making perhaps the biggest mistake of his life. He ran up the stairs, but by the time he reached the top, she was gone.
He stared at the empty street for a while, not knowing what to do. Then he retraced his steps, and found his notebook and pen still lying on the floor. He picked them up and found that there was a torn leaf. This was not a dream, he thought. But the anguish overcame him, and he fell sitting on the steps, sobbing. He felt that it was not the first time that he had lost someone. That he lost her.
After a while he stood up, and crestfallen retraced his steps, to the train station from which he had come.
Taki arrived later than usual at the library where he was going. He picked up the newspaper looking for job ads, like he always did on Fridays. But his mind felt cloudy. He could hardly think. Only two words hammered into his consciousness: "Mitsuha", and "Why?". He placed his head in his arms and an overwhelming exhaustion made him to fall asleep sitting at the table, over the newspaper.
§
Noriko Morita hung up the phone in her office and became worried. Mitsuha's call took her by surprise. The girl was always very punctual, so this sudden warning, and the nervous tone of her voice was far from her usual behavior.
She turned her chair around and looked out at the corporate buildings landscape of the Shinjuku area. From the fourth floor where she was, there was a gap between the buildings that allowed her to see a part of the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. She used to do that to relax and clear her thoughts.
She had great affection for Mitsuha. She had met her several years ago, in 2014, when she was involved in a social aid NGO. At that time, her NGO focused on helping to relocate and support the families that had lost everything in the Itomori village tragedy, and she was assigned to support the Miyamizu family.
Noriko was in charge of helping them find an apartment in Tokyo, paid for with government funds; she had to locate a school for her younger sister, who was still in elementary school, and she supported Mitsuha to find a university and scholarships to continue her university studies in Tokyo. She thus became close to her family.
Also, Mitsuha was the same age as her eldest daughter, so she felt special concern for her. She was in the same crucial stages of career choice as her own daughter. She was glad when Mitsuha chose a business career, and over the years, when she learned that she had graduated, she recruited and recommended her for a position in the finance department of the company where she was a board director.
But it wasn't just Mitsuha's life story that made her feel attached to that girl. Ever since she met her, she felt that Mitsuha had a very special aura, something that she didn't know how to define. Although she found her somewhat shy and withdrawn at times, the girl had a personality that made people open up to her, as if she was a natural confidant. That was key in her business. Noriko was happy having her working on her team.
There was also a family reason why Noriko cared about Mitsuha so much. Noriko's eldest daughter had been harassed and she ended up being sexually abused by the head teacher of the Ph.D. program she was attending. The situation was so traumatic that she left Japan to finish her studies abroad, where she eventually lived forever. Noriko missed her daughter very much and had very few opportunities to see her. And since Mitsuha reminded her of her eldest daughter, Noriko's maternal instincts had found a destiny in Mitsuha. She really cared about the wellbeing of her protégé.
Noriko couldn't stop being concern about Mitsuha's call. She took a deep breath and tried to shake off the anxiety in her that that call left her with. «It must be some minor problem. She'll be here soon and fine», she told to reassure herself. And she tried to focus on other issues, without much success.
§
Mitsuha ran back to the station, but the confusion of her feelings did not leave her. She had finally found him, but who was he!? She felt guilty. When it seemed that she had found that important person, the burden of responsibility and duty buried the opportunity to find it out.
Already on the train, on her way to work, she opened her hand slowly, as she did every morning when she woke up. Since that day when Itomori disappeared, she used to wake up in the morning crying, without knowing why or for whom, looking at her hand and hoping to see something important in it. But now she had a piece of paper in her hand. A phone number. And a name:
"Taki Tachibana".
Taki. She felt that name was important, but who was he? Why was it so important to her? And why was she important to him?
She arrived at her work even later than she had anticipated. She walked into the office crestfallen, trying not to attract attention. She didn't feel in the mood for facing anyone, so she headed for the small coffee shop on her floor. She wanted to drink something hot and calm down, before going to her desk.
Noriko watched her pass in front of her office. She leaned out of the door and called her discreetly:
"Mitsuha, wait, can you come to my office for a minute, please?"
Mitsuha turned around startled upon hearing her. She looked down even more, hugged the strap of her bag tightly, and walked back to her with a guilty face.
Noriko saw her arrive so sick and upset that it aroused her previous fears to the fullest; it was her duty to take care that her employees were in a healthy work environment, and their private lives were not her concern, but she could not ignore that something could affect them like this. Specially for Mitsuha.
She waited for her to enter her office and closed the door behind her. Mitsuha, as soon as she entered, began to apologize profusely for being so late.
"Don't worry, Mitsuha, you're always very punctual. Are you okay? What's wrong with your face? Were you crying?"
Mitsuha looked to the side. She saw her reflection in one of the tinted windows in Noriko's office. Despite not being a true mirror, she could tell that her eyes looked puffy and red, and she was pale.
"I think I'm fine, you don't have to worry, Noriko-san," she answered with a soft but unconvincing voice, while making a small bow.
Noriko looked at her knowing that her words did not match the state in which she had arrived. She led her to the couch at the side of the office. Mitsuha did not have the strength to oppose. She sat down and was silent not knowing what else to say.
Noriko poured a glass of water from a pitcher, and she handed it to Mitsuha, who took a sip, continuing to stare down at the glass.
"Mitsuha, I don't know what's wrong with you today, but we've known each other for a long time and I've never seen you like this. You can trust me. When you called me, you sounded a little upset, and it's clear that now you are not well either. Did something happen to you on the way?"
Mitsuha looked up and saw the look of concern in Noriko's eyes and face. She knew that she really wanted to help her. She tried to be honest.
"I… today, I met a person on the train on the way here. He was a young man…; I don't know why, but I felt like I already knew him. I had to get off the train to find him and talk to him, but… but…" Mitsuha stopped to take another sip of water.
"Did you know him? Did he do something bad to you?"
"I've never seen him before, but I feel like I know him, I don't know why. And he didn't do anything wrong to me. But I had to come to the office, I… got scared and rudely left him there. I don't know if he wants to see me again…"
A lump formed in her throat, and she couldn't continue speaking.
"Mitsuha, this is not healthy. You just met someone and you're already crying. Are you sure you want that kind of guy to approach you again?"
«That kind of guy». Mitsuha was pained by the hard, impersonal expression Noriko used to describe Taki. She remembered the feeling she had when she saw him from the train, and when they met. She knew that, to her, he couldn't be just any guy.
When her friends and colleagues introduced her to friends or family for a date, she failed to feel attracted to them. She could think of all of them as just "guys". Nothing about them caught her attention. They were not the person she was looking for. She had never felt something like this for anyone like what she had just felt for that boy she had just abandoned this morning in the middle of a staircase… Would she be able to see him ever again?
Mitsuha remembered that she still had his phone number. She felt her chest burn just remembering him, and a burning desire to talk to him swept over her. She almost started to stand up without even thinking, but Noriko's worried face stopped her. No, she couldn't let her emotions play another trick on her, least of all being in the office. She sat back gently. She needed to control herself.
Noriko watched as Mitsuha began to take several deep breaths, as her face began to relax. In the end, she gave her a somewhat shy and forced smile, like saying «look, I'm fine now».
"Forgive me, Noriko-san. I do not know what happened to me. But I'm better now. And that boy didn't do anything wrong to me, it's just this… I don't know how to explain it. I'm going to recompose myself. I'll be at my workstation in a few minutes."
"Are you sure? Maybe you should take the day off, you know? I can ask someone to accompany you to your ap…"
"No, it's not necessary, I think what I need the most right now is to be able to return to my routine."
"Ok, It's fine to me. But just tell me if you need anything."
Noriko walked to the door and opened it for Mitsuha, who gave her a slight bow and walked to her desk.
From the door Noriko followed her with her eyes; she wasn't entirely convinced that Mitsuha was recovered. «She is trying to be strong, but today she is more fragile than she appears to be». She went back to her desk. She decided to observe her that day. She didn't like seeing her like this, suffering. Not for some random guy who didn't deserve a girl like her.
Mitsuha kept trying to calm herself down. She left her bag on her desk and went to the bathroom. She washed her face with cold water, and then straightened her hair. She was going to tie it with her ribbon, a braided kumihimo cord that was the only belonging she still had from Itomori. As she touched the string, the very texture of it brought back the memory of Taki's face and name. Not again! she thought. She had to control herself and breathe slowly. After several breaths, she managed to produce a shy smile at the mirror.
That morning became eternal for Mitsuha. She tried to concentrate on her tasks, handling emails, making customer's calls, and attending project meetings, and trying to think about anything else. But as soon as she paused, the boy's name come back to her thoughts repeatedly, surrounding her with haunting doubts: Why did I feel this today? Where do I know him from?
At lunchtime she went up to the corporate office cafeteria. She sat alone at a faraway table. She then realized that she was not even hungry. Sitting looking at her food, she took out the paper with the boy's data and put it next to her plate. That letter. That number. Why were they so familiar to her?
Noriko, who had already finished her lunch, came to her from behind. She stopped for a second and saw that Mitsuha was lost in her thoughts, staring at that paper without even eating.
"Mitsuha… Mitsuha!"
"Uh? Oh, Noriko-san, I'm sorry, I was..."
"Is that from the man you met today? Can I see it?" she pointed to the paper note, reaching it with a hand.
"Oh, sure."
Noriko took the paper and looked at it with narrowed eyes, as if she was trying to see the face of this unknown man just by looking at that paper.
"Taki…; you have his number, but does he have your contact information?"
Mitsuha widened her eyes in surprise. In fact, she didn't get to give him anything more than her name. She remembered Taki's sudden fearful face when she brought the pencil close to the notebook, and his strange reaction, somewhat violent, but as if he was trying to protect her from some danger, as if the pencil was suddenly going to explode. That sudden reaction scared her, and her nerves prevented her from doing anything but walking away, though her chest ached as she did so. And she left without leaving him anything but her first name. Could Taki search for her and find her with just that?
"No, I just gave him my name only. Now it's up to me..."
"Wait, then you're safe from him. I think you should get rid of this and get as far away from guys like that as you can."
Noriko took the paper in both of her hands and prepared to tear it up.
Mitsuha fell in panic. She jumped to grab Noriko's hands to stop her.
"No! Please don't do it!"
Noriko stopped, blinking slowly.
"I'm sorry, Mitsuha. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Here, this is yours."
She put the paper in Mitsuha's hands, who took it and placed it against her chest, as if she was protecting a treasure.
Noriko looked around, slightly uneasy. Everyone in the cafeteria was shocked and silent looking towards them because of Mitsuha's sudden shout. But as everything calmed down, they returned to their conversations and chores.
"You deserve to find someone who respects you and doesn't make you suffer," Noriko said in a reserved tone. "Therefore, I insist that there is something wrong with… with that man. Are you really planning to contact him?"
"There's something about him that I can't explain, but I know he's someone important... to me. Although it's the first time I've seen it. And I must find out why. I must call him."
"I swear I don't know what to think about that." She looked at Mitsuha's plate of food, which was untouched. "I'd like to invite you to get some hot drinks, but I see you haven't even tried your food. Eat something or you'll get sick. See you later."
Scolded like a child, Mitsuha blushed, and she only managed to say "Okay, I'll do it, bye". She forced herself to eat a few bites of her lunch without much encouragement.
The afternoon became even harder for Mitsuha. She had to call him. She had to see him again. But she was afraid that he would reject her now. She remembered from the past the feeling of pain when she looked for someone and got ignored, and she ended up with a broken heart. However, she couldn't remember who he had been, or where, or when that happen to her.
While her mind was spinning, she kept working, or trying to work, as if nothing was wrong. She noticed that she was getting more attention than ever. The director visited her twice in the afternoon. A couple of colleagues also approached her to see how she was doing. "Fine, everything is fine", she just told them. She suspected that Noriko had sent them.
At around four o'clock everything in the office was much slower than usual. Noriko returned to visit her, and suggested that she better go home early, so that she could rest and recover. With a sigh, Mitsuha accepted and thanked her.
She began to prepare her things to leave. And she found again Taki's paper in her pocket. Taki. She couldn't get him out of her mind, and now she had a chance to get out earlier. If she wanted to recover, she had to figure this out. She couldn't go all weekend without knowing what was going on. She had to solve it today.
She said goodbye to her office mates as fast as she could. She stopped by the bathroom to tidy up and left. Arriving at the street, she walked a few steps and sat down on a bench that was a few meters away from the entrance of the building. She took her cell phone. And she was left undecided, wondering whether she should make that call right now.
§
Taki slept for over an hour in the library. He woke up somewhat confused, and suddenly he remembered where he was and what he was doing: looking for job advertisements in the newspaper that was under his arms.
For a moment he blinked wondering why he hadn't marked and scratched off the notices like he used to, until he noticed something he had written on the edge of the paper.
«Mitsuha.»
Suddenly the image of that girl's face returned to his memory. «Oh no! Mitsuha, what did I do!» he cried and buried his forehead in the newspaper.
He felt as if some vein in his brain could burst at any minute. He took his belongings and left the library, trying to get some fresh air to clear up his ideas and calm down.
He knew that her name was Mitsuha, and that she came from Hida-Furukawa city, in Gifu prefecture. He knew that she worked in Tokyo, and he knew which train line she used. He could look for her again…; Look for her?
He suddenly remembered that trip he made around five years ago to the Gifu area, in 2016. He was looking for someone, was she a girl? On that occasion, he visited Itomori, that fateful town that had been destroyed by a comet hit in 2013. More than eight years had passed since that tragedy, so there were numerous documentaries on TV and in the press recalling the incident. He knew those images well.
For some reason he didn't understand, ever since the time he made that trip, he kept searching for images, news, and information about Itomori. He didn't know what it was that he wanted to find. It had become an obsession for him. But the journey and the search were fruitless. He did not find the person he was looking for. Today he cannot even remember who he was looking for. However, since then, he had always kept looking for someone around him, everywhere. For that person. Someone in particular. Would it be Mitsuha?
But she did tell him that she came from Hida-Furukawa. He remembered passing through that small city during that trip. He didn't know anyone in Hida-Furukawa. Well, he didn't know anyone from Itomori either. Who was that person he searched for so hard? And who was himself for Mitsuha? Why did she also run to reach him this morning?
He ate a quick lunch that he found on the way, and kept walking and thinking, ruminating on his memories for a clue, which didn't seem to exist. Because the more he felt that he was about to remember something important, a strange haze got in the way of his memory.
He perfectly remembered his life as a middle and high school student, only that the memories related to Itomori, with that trip, that search, and that person, seemed somehow erased, unattainable in his memory.
An alarm on his phone snapped him out of that state. It was around 4 o'clock. He had arranged to meet up with his old friends from the institute where he finished high school. They were waiting for him in a nearby coffee shop.
He took a deep breath and headed for the coffee shop, trying to make himself look like everything was normal.
§
Takagi and Tsukasa were already seated at a table, and they raised their hands when they saw Taki approaching. It had been only a week since they had seen each other because their Friday meeting at this coffee shop had become a tradition.
"Glad to see you guys" Taki exclaimed, slumping a little harder than he thought into the chair.
"Wow, rough day? You have a face like a train ran over you."
"Hey, leave him alone," Tsukasa rebuked him, hitting him on the shoulder. "You know that so far things have not been easy for Taki."
Taki knew they were trying to cheer him up, but "things haven't been easy" was even an optimistic conclusion for the day he was having. A lump formed in his throat. He tried to clear his throat, without much success, and picked up the menu to try to order and think of something else.
"Uhm, I think something else is wrong with you today. You look in a somewhat sad mood even by your own standards. Are you okay?" Takagi kept insisting.
Taki took a long breath. His attempt to hide his mood had been a fiasco. Given things, maybe it was best to blow off some steam.
"I'm fine, it's just… today I met a girl…"
"Ehhh?"
"Uhh?"
His friends leaned over the table to try to see his face, but the boy pushed him deeper into the menu.
"Come on, man, that's very good. Why that face then? Don't tell me you broke up with her before you introduced her to us?"
But Takagi's joke made his insides burn. Was it all over with that girl before he even… met her? He raised his face and responded with some violence.
"It's not that, no! It's just… today… I met a girl on the train, someone who… who… I don't know how to explain it to you!"
"Wow, did you meet someone on the train? I didn't know that style in you, don Juan. And how did you meet her? Did she talk to you or did you talk to her?"
"No, I mean, I saw her on a train, but we talked outside, on the street."
His friends looked at each other thinking «what the hell is he talking about?». Tsukasa, who was not used to delving into other people's private problems, felt that he had to understand his friend situation better if he wanted to help him.
"Wait, you saw a girl on the train, and you followed her? What is her name?"
"Her name is Mitsuha. And no, I didn't follow her. Do you think I'm a stalker?"
"Hey, you can also talk to people at the station, right?" Takagi joked, trying to calm things down.
"No, it wasn't in the station, it was outside, on the street."
"… and then…?"
"It's just… I saw her on a train that ran parallel to mine. We both saw each other. I got off at the next station and ran to her. She did the same and we met halfway between the two stations, near Suga's shrine."
Now his friends were really confused. They were just interrupted by the waiter, who came to take the order. They asked for coffee and something to eat. Once waiter left, the three fell silent. His friends tried to imagine and understand what Taki was telling them. After a few seconds they gave up.
"Ok, you saw a girl on… on another train, and you both got off and met halfway. How did you tell her to do that? Did you learn sign language?"
"No, we only saw each other for a few seconds."
"But that doesn't make sense!" Takagi burst out laughing. "Come on, you're kidding us. Okay, I believe you met a girl today, to… to…?"
"Mitsuha."
"That right, you met a girl called Mitsuha, but I think you have to invent a less far-fetched story, ha ha."
"Hey, it's not a story. I'm not making it up!"
"Well, calm down, it's fine. I think you're a telepathic Don Juan then. Anyway, how that girl looks like?"
"She is very pretty. She has long black hair, she's thin and she has something that I can't describe to you. I don't know how to explain it, but she's… special."
"Wow, she's also your type of girl, well done!" Takagi winked at him and gave him a friendly elbow bump.
His friends finally relaxed, just as the coffees arrived. At good time.
"Well then, congratulations, Taki. You're going to introduce her to us, right?"
"It's just… I can't."
"Yeah, come on, you said it wasn't an invention."
"I really cannot do it! I don't know... how to contact her."
"Did you meet the girl of your dreams and didn't ask for her phone number or something?"
"It's just... I couldn't. I gave her mine, but when she was going to give me hers, I panicked… I felt something was wrong, and… I grabbed her arm, something… abrupt. She got scared and went away."
"Whaaat?" his friends responded in unison. "But are you crazy or what?"
"I don't know, but I felt something bad was going to happen, and… she freaked out and left before I can apologize to her."
Taki buried himself in his seat. His hand was holding the coffee cup as if his body were hanging from it. His friends exchanged glances without knowing what to say.
"Hey, I think something's wrong in your head. I know you're not a stalker, but do you realize that girl could have even reported you to the police?"
"Of course, I know! I've been regretting that reaction I had all day long... now I don't know if I can find her again. Or if she wants to see me again."
Tsukasa leaned over to Taki and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Man, I understand why you're so upset. But she is just a girl. I don't doubt your taste and she must be very pretty. But that Mitsuha is just another girl. Tokyo has plenty of beautiful girls to choose from, right?"
"Yeah! And many of them travel by train, surely you can use your telepathic powers again with another, boss!" joked Takagi.
"You don't understand! She's not just like any other girl. And of course, I travel by train all the time, Takagi! I've seen hundreds of beautiful girls, but none of them are like her. None... none of them looked at me... like Mitsuha did..."
"Well, don't blame that poor girl for having bad taste and… ok-ok, just kidding," Takagi held up his hands in peace when Taki gave him an almost homicidal sight.
"Relax. Maybe she'll call you later and… oh, the order is coming."
They received the cakes they had ordered and for a while the three ate in silence. Although Taki, more than eating, just stared, and played with the cake on his plate. It was clear that this was not the boy that his friends knew. He really was worrying them.
Suddenly Taki's cell phone rang. He gave a small jump of surprise at hearing it, which in turn startled his friends. He pulled the phone out of his pocket quickly and froze at the phone number: he didn't know it. For several seconds he couldn't decide to answer. Would it be her? What could he tell her?
"Come on, answer it, man!" Tsukasa encouraged him.
That made him react. He answered the call.
"Hi… Hi? Who is…? Yes, it's me!..." his eyes widened.
His friends were stuck trying to guess where that call was going
"...of course, I want that too... Of course!... Right now? Where are you?... yes, I know that place. I'm close to that place, I can get there in about… 15 minutes… I'll be there. Bye."
Taki ended the call and slowly lowered the phone, looking at his friends who hardly wanted to breathe.
"Was it her?"
"Yes! I must see her. I have to go right now!"
He jumped from the seat, pulled out a bill that was rather larger than necessary, hesitated half a second, and then hastily set it down, looking at his friends with some guilt, but without stopping him a bit.
"Guys, I'm sorry, I must go now. Please pray that this time I don't screw up."
"We can pray, but don't ask for miracles," Takagi teased, patting him on the back. "What are you waiting for? Go before that girl changes her mind."
The boy looked at them with a smile as if his soul had returned to his body, he turned around, and walked away, almost about to run.
His friends turned in their chairs watching him until he was out of sight. Then they looked at each other for a second, and at the next second Takagi was looking with morbid attention at the cake that Taki had left almost untouched on the table.
"I guess he's not going to eat that... do you want half of it?" he asked with a comic laugh, as if waiting for Tsukasa to say no.
"Uh, no, help yourself if you want. But I'm worried about Taki. I haven't seen him like this in a long time. It's been several years since..." A memory of seeing his friend with his head down, almost crying came to his memory, but it faded as in a dream. "…I do not know. But I hope he can meet that girl."
"So, do you think all that he told us is true?"
"You tell me. You're the one eating his cake. Do you think he would have left it to you just to play a joke on us?"
Takagi, spoon in mouth, looked at the dessert, then at the high-denomination bill left on the table.
"No, clearly it must be something very serious. But it sounds too weird to be true."