216 This is the Final Exchange

As the start of the new school year approached, Kyousuke's anxiety about Mitsuha only grew stronger.

He had his men comb through maps day after day, trying to locate a small mountain town near a lake.

It was just a tiny place on the map of Japan but even with today's internet, he couldn't find anything concrete.

Then, three days before school resumed, he finally stumbled upon a clue: a missed call at 5 PM on April 1st.

When he called the number back, it was already disconnected.

But the call had originated from Hida City in Gifu Prefecture.

No matter how hard Kyousuke wracked his brain, he couldn't remember who the caller was.

That in itself was strange.

He always left memos for everything.

Even if NHK collectors came knocking, he'd label their numbers as "NHK 1," "NHK 2." If it were a spam call, he'd have blocked and deleted it.

But this one? No note. No deletion. And no memory of even hearing it ring.

A blank memory that was the biggest clue.

So far, only things related to Mitsuha ever caused these strange lapses in his recollection.

Gifu Prefecture, Hida City.

He opened the map and searched.

There it was.

But the latest version showed Lake Itomori looking different from how he remembered it.

The round lake from his memories had become gourd-shaped.

By habit, Kyousuke would've normally done detailed online research and even consulted with knowledgeable subordinates.

But for some reason, he didn't do any of that this time.

Instead, he went straight to Sakura.

"Mitsuha?"

"Yes. You know where her house is, don't you?"

Sakura's school had already started. They stood at the gates of her school.

"Why are you suddenly asking?" The girl who had been feigning ignorance finally let the shared secret slip.

Kyousuke had long known that Sakura and the others were connected to Mitsuha.

He'd simply played dumb.

But now that he was heading out to find her, it was time to get real answers.

He wasn't sure Sakura even knew where Mitsuha lived—after all, he and Mitsuha had never been able to leave behind concrete information about their real worlds for each other.

Still, he had to try.

"There's a reason I have to go."

"A reason you have to go...?" Sakura lowered her head, absently grinding a fallen leaf beneath her shoe.

"But... it might not be what you think," she said hesitantly.

If Kyousuke were to find out that the Mitsuha who swapped bodies with him multiple times was nothing more than a ghost lingering between cracks in time...

And that the real-world Mitsuha was just an ordinary high school girl from Nara with no connection to him...

That the town he visited countless times in dreams had, in truth, been wiped off the map two years ago...

Would that shatter his memories? His world?

Kyousuke let out a sigh of relief.

Sakura did know.

Damn that biased system—just because she's a "main character," she gets special treatment.

Meanwhile, he couldn't even tell Yukino the address!

"No worries! I'm not that weak" He grinned and patted her head.

"It's Itomori Town, Hida City." Sakura exhaled slowly.

"Okay. I'll bring you back a souvenir," Kyousuke said, patting her head once more before closing the visor on his helmet.

"Maybe... I should go with you?" Sakura offered.

"Haha. You'd better study instead exams are just around the corner."

He didn't know exactly what she was worried about.

But bringing a girl on a long journey to find another girl? Even Kyousuke had some limits.

"Take care out there," Sakura said, stepping forward to zip up the part of his jacket that had come undone.

"Relax, relax. See you later."

"Mm. Bye-bye~"

After waving goodbye, Kyousuke revved up his bike and hit the highway to meet up with his men.

Searching for someone in an unfamiliar place was not something he could do alone.

Besides, the GPS said it was just over 300 kilometers.

Taking the bullet train and switching to buses might mean arriving late at night. But on a bike? He'd be there in under three hours.

———————————————————————

Hida Station

Their motorcycles parked along the roadside drew curious glances from passersby.

In a place like Hida, even during Japan's hippie craze, no one had ever seen a biker gang quite like this.

Kyousuke stood by a vending machine, sipping a can of cola as he scanned the old buildings and distant mountains.

He'd never been here before yet everything felt so familiar.

Of course, he had been here when he and Mitsuha swapped bodies.

Nearby, his subordinates were chatting and sipping drinks.

There were about eight or nine of them, including Hatake Gorou.

Kisaki Tetta had gone into the station to ask for directions, their phone maps didn't work out here anymore.

"Kyousuke, that place... it's already—" Kisaki Tetta returned with a paper map in hand.

"Do we have a route?" Kyousuke cut him off.

Whatever had happened, he needed to see it with his own eyes.

"Yeah," Kisaki replied, swallowing the rest of his words.

"Then let's move."

He put on his helmet, and the group headed into the mountain roads.

The branches of roadside trees arched overhead, forming a canopy that blocked the sun.

It was past 3 PM, supposedly the hottest part of the day yet the mountain air was chilling, even for their light outfits.

The noise of their engines startled birds into flight, their uneasy cries breaking Kisaki Tetta's train of thought.

Why had his boss come all this way?

Why search for a town that had been obliterated by a comet more than two years ago?

He'd raised that question from the very beginning, back when they were first scanning maps.

But Kyousuke had brushed it off with the same impatience he'd shown earlier—something extremely rare for someone normally so laid-back.

Even back in junior high, when they were too broke to buy lunch, Kyousuke never panicked.

"There's always a way. I won't die from hunger," he'd said.

That's just who he was like when he refused Kisaki's suggestion to take over Tokyo, or when he casually turned down a publisher's offer to immediately release the novel they claimed could win the Edogawa Rampo or Naoki Prize.

"Entrance exams are the most important part of life. I need to stay focused," he'd said.

People might not know, but Kisaki did.

With his ability, Kyousuke could get into any high school in the country.

He was just afraid that once the book was out, things like signings and interviews would get in the way of... tutoring girls. Er, "studying."

Even when they were struggling to survive, Kyousuke stayed chill. And once their finances were secure, he became even lazier.

So what could possibly make a guy like him this desperate?

'Could it be that the fragments from the comet held some world-ending artifact?' Kisaki wondered, letting his otaku brain run wild.

———————————————————————

Itomori Town

Kyousuke casually picked up a handful of weeds and wiped the dust off a rusty old road sign. The name beneath the grime was barely legible, but it was there.

He looked up, gazing down the fork in the road that led away from the paved highway.

The barricade bearing the words "Fukko Ward" had toppled into a roadside ditch.

It was originally put there to prevent people from accidentally entering the dangerous ruins beyond.

But even without it, no vehicles could pass through a massive cedar tree, split in half, lay sprawled across the road, almost as if rejecting any outsiders from entering.

Knowing their destination was Itomori, Kyousuke's men didn't wait for his orders.

They shouted a few words of encouragement to each other and immediately set about moving the tree aside.

From the entrance, parts of the ruined town were already visible: asphalt roads split with deep cracks, utility poles that had collapsed onto buildings, broken railroad tracks, and the gourd-shaped Itomori Lake, but it now looked nothing like Kyousuke remembered.

"Let's go," Kyousuke said, taking a deep breath before mounting his motorcycle.

After they left, a gentle breeze stirred the tall grass by the roadside, revealing a battered yellow warning sign half-buried within.

Faint black letters spelled out: "Comet Disaster..."

At the grounds of Itomori Middle School, Kyousuke's group climbed over the barriers set up by the recovery authorities, standing on the edge where the land itself had cracked apart.

The school's glass windows were shattered, the walls riddled with fractures.

Empty buildings seemed to decay at a disturbingly fast pace without people to maintain them.

From the elevated vantage point, they could see the entire town or rather, what was left of it.

It looked like a mochi pounded mercilessly with a hammer.

No, it wasn't "like" that, the town itself had been torn apart, utterly without mercy.

Unlike mochi, Itomori lacked any resilience. An unimaginable force had smashed it to pieces.

Lake water had poured through the fissures, flooding the lowlands.

Shattered concrete walls, twisted train carriages resembling giant earthworms, cars reduced to unrecognizable lumps everything was submerged.

Steel beams and utility poles jutted out from the wreckage like grotesque underwater plants.

An overwhelming power, far beyond human comprehension, had caused all this.

Faced with the scale of the devastation, everyone fell silent, stunned.

Everyone except Kyousuke, who after a brief complicated glance at the scene turned and began searching for something.

Now he understood why Sakura had hinted that things weren't as he had imagined.

Had that idiot known the truth all along and hidden it to spare Kyousuke's feelings?

"Two years ago," Kisaki Tetta finally spoke up, seizing the moment to explain, "the Tiamat Comet passed near Earth."

"At its closest point, the comet's core unexpectedly shattered, and massive ice-covered rocks inside fell directly onto Itomori."

He continued, "A fragment of the comet destroyed the town, one of the rarest natural disasters in human history."

"But miraculously, no one died. Only a few injuries were reported, mostly minor accidents during rescue efforts."

"It turned out that, on the very night of the impact, Itomori had been conducting a full-scale evacuation drill. Most of the residents were already outside the disaster zone."

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Ryoma Mihashi shouted. "That was the same day the boss beat the crap out of Toman!"

"I remember too," Goro Hata chimed in. "But what I heard was that the townspeople were saved thanks to a prophecy from the shrine maiden."

"Isn't that just an urban legend?" another member asked skeptically.

"No, no," Goro insisted, "my grandmother's house was in Itomori."

"I heard the real story! You think it's just coincidence that right before the comet hit, the town mayor ordered a mandatory evacuation?"

As he spoke, Goro whipped out his phone and held it up.

"Here! This is Mitsuha, the shrine maiden of Miyamizu Shrine which has been in Itomori for a thousand years. The townsfolk call her the Divine Priestess!"

"Mitsuha...?" Kisaki Tetta's heart skipped a beat at the familiar name, and he hurried over to peer at Goro's phone.

"This photo was taken at the temporary housing shelters. After the disaster, Miyamizu-san organized weekly events to help the displaced residents recover emotionally."

There were many photos posted on a website dedicated to documenting businesses that had aided Itomori's recovery, as well as messages of gratitude from the townspeople.

Unsurprisingly, most were heartfelt thanks directed at Mitsuha.

Restoring buildings was one thing, but rebuilding the spirit of a broken community was another challenge entirely.

For people who had lost homes built with decades of hard work, no amount of money or supplies could easily mend the trauma.

"My grandma lost her house and her farmland," Goro said, his voice faltering slightly before rising with emotion, "and she seriously thought about ending her life."

"But thanks to Miyamizu-san's constant encouragement, she found the will to live again."

The others listened, captivated, but Kisaki Tetta's expression grew darker and darker.

Photo after photo showed Mitsuha: performing purification rituals in shrine robes, leading communal meals, lifting people's spirits…

Could this Mitsuha really not be the boss's split personality…?

"I just remembered!" one member suddenly shouted, waving his phone. "Isn't Miyamizu-san also called the Sword Heroine of Nara?"

"Hmph. Pathetic. There's no way anyone could match the boss," another scoffed.

But Kisaki Tetta couldn't help but recall the mocking tone from Nara students talking about the so-called Sword Heroine.

Now it made sense why they said her swordsmanship looked exactly like the boss's.

No wonder the boss had rushed to this place.

Now, Tetta could only pray desperately that Mitsuha wasn't about to become one of his sisters-in-law.

He didn't know exactly what had happened between his boss and Mitsuha, but one thing was certain: he was in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, Goro was still excitedly sharing what he knew:

"After the disaster, the townspeople wanted to rebuild Miyamizu Shrine for her but she refused!"

"She even diverted the government's reconstruction funds to help residents rebuild their homes instead!"

"She's incredible. Even after losing a shrine that had stood for centuries, even while everyone was drowning in despair, she stood tall, comforting everyone with strength and kindness."

Still searching, Kyousuke hadn't found the big beech tree he remembered resting under.

Hearing Goro's passionate words, he couldn't help but smile.

That glutton Mitsuha had grown so strong?

He clicked the link Goro had shared.

As he stared at a photo of Mitsuha in shrine maiden robes, memories started flooding back not just as random flashes, but whole vivid pieces of the past.

Memories from when he had inhabited Mitsuha's body in Itomori.

The clock tower where he and Yukino had taken a photo together...

The newly-formed gourd-shaped lake, where Mitsuha's father's rented house once stood...

The area now submerged under the lake that once home to Miyamizu Shrine, and Mitsuha's family.

He even recalled the day he met Mitsuha at the start of junior high school.

He chuckled softly to himself.

Not only had they swapped bodies, but he also meet her, the Mitsuha from three years ago.

The Miyamizu family's god sure loved causing trouble.

Opening his digital notes, he wasn't surprised to see the characters fading away, just like when Mitsuha had first regained her memories.

The words flickered like a candle in the wind, then vanished without a trace.

Raising his hand, Kyousuke finally understood the origin of the knotted string he'd always worn as a protective charm.

The memories from their last body-switch came flooding back of the sacred object nestled in the mountain crater, the shrine, the comet mural, and that mouth-chewed sake!

His grandmother's ancient, solemn voice echoed in his mind:

"If you want to return from the hidden world to the other side of the shore, you must leave behind what matters most to you."

Back then, he had left behind Mitsuha's mouth-chewed sake.

Now, if he wanted to reach Mitsuha's world, all he had to do was drink it.

Though everything familiar had turned to ruins, Kyousuke's anxiety gradually faded.

Because he had done it, he'd gone back in time saved Itomori, and given Mitsuha a brand new life.

But one thing still puzzled him, where was Yukino Yukari?

Since Mitsuha had survived, Yukino should have made her way to Tokyo by now.

Surely, his past self would've told her to find him in Tokyo, so she should've shown up two years ago!

Mitsuha couldn't leave an address or explain things to Kisaki and the others but she could have said something to Sakura and the others.

Kyousuke knew this was the work of his annoying system.

it had always been blatantly biased.

Yukino was a "heroine" too, so her memory shouldn't have been affected.

Did something happen to her?

No, that couldn't be.

The news had clearly stated no one had died.

His past self wouldn't have forgotten Yukino either.

Staring at photos of Mitsuha on the website and thinking about Yukino, wherever she might be Kyousuke felt a powerful urge to rush to Nara to see Mitsuha, or even to Shikoku to search for Yukino.

But he couldn't.

Right now, his mission was to return to the past, to save Itomori, and close the time loop.

There was no point overthinking.

He turned his eyes toward Dragon God Mountain, where the body of the deity enshrined at the Miyamizu Shrine rested.

He'd get answers once they met.

"Kisaki, I'm borrowing your bike. I've got someplace I need to go alone."

"If you guys are free, head into Hida City for a bit. Come back and meet me here tomorrow."

Rocket 33 might've looked cool, but with its low suspension, it was terrible for mountain roads.

The farm tricycle he used last time was better, so a bike swap was in order.

"Got it. Be careful out there," Kisaki Tetta nodded, not daring to ask questions.

"Boss, take care!" Goro and the others chimed in.

"Yeah, don't worry."

Kisaki obediently climbed onto Goro's bike.

He knew his big bro would never trade bikes, only borrow.

That's what he said, after all.

Kyousuke felt a wave of relief as he rode off if his memories hadn't come back, he would've been wandering around with just a map.

Now, he smoothly navigated the mountain path.

As the sun dipped lower, the dense trees cast longer shadows.

Kyousuke switched on the headlight.

The familiar tree root still blocked the road and it looked even thicker than before.

He didn't bring a machete this time, but he had come as his real self.

Getting off the bike, he effortlessly lifted it and stepped over the root before continuing.

Kisaki's Yamaha YBR150Z was clearly built for mountain roads.

It handled beautifully, even on a trail blanketed with fallen leaves.

As he emerged from the forest, the rocky, moss-covered slope came into view.

Kyousuke felt clarity settle in his heart.

Those randomly embedded stones in the soil were likely the very fragments from the first comet impact.

Though moss-covered, he revved the bike straight up the slope, parking securely at the edge of what looked like a collapsed volcanic crater.

Afraid the wind might knock it down the slope, he simply laid the bike flat.

Unlike an active crater filled with lava, a collapsed volcanic crater forms a hollow basin after eruption.

Just as he remembered, Kyousuke turned to gaze at Itomori below.

That oddly gourd-shaped lake always looked out of place.

Unlike the ruined town, the grassland inside the crater was still lush.

The towering tree wrapped around the massive rock still brimmed with life. The comet's third visit hadn't touched Dragon God Mountain.

Alright, time to drink. No one would stop him here, right?

He walked down the crater's slope.

A familiar stream trickled in front of the great tree. Kyousuke didn't even bother to jump—his long legs crossed it with ease.

———————————————————————

"Beyond here lies the hidden world."

———————————————————————

Mitsuha grandmother's mystical, floating voice echoed again.

But Kyousuke ignored it this time, he wanted to go there.

Beneath the rock was a pitch-black cave.

He shouted into it, hoping to scare off any animals, then turned on his phone's flashlight and stooped low to enter.

It hadn't felt cramped when he was in Mitsuha's body, but now in his own, he realized just how tiny this shrine was.

The narrow tunnel echoed with the creak of each step. At last, the space opened up just enough for him to stand upright.

Just like the grass above and the sacred tree, the stone altar was unchanged.

Beneath the shimenawa rope adorned with lightning-shaped charms sat two bottles of mouth-chewed sake placed there long ago by Kyousuke and Yotsuba.

The bottle's smooth surface, once gleaming like glass in the sun, was now overgrown with moss.

Mine—no, Mitsuha's is the one on the left.

He couldn't mess this up.

Now that he thought about it, what Yotsuba described feeling woozy, like dreaming after drinking might not have been drunkenness at all.

It was likely a genuine exchange, a dream-like journey caused by the sake.

Kyousuke reached out and grasped the bottle.

It resisted slightly, stuck to the altar by moss, but with a firm tug, he freed it. The pop echoed loudly in the small shrine.

Setting his phone down, he carefully wiped the moss from the bottle with a tissue, restoring its smooth, warm luster.

And then he noticed the string knot around his hand again.

Mitsuha grandmother's voice resurfaced: "The knot represents time itself…"

If that's true… then does the bottle bound by this knot also contain time?

He untied the string, like undoing a seal, opened the lid, pulled out the cork, and slowly poured a small amount into the cap.

Setting the bottle down, he picked up his phone again and shone its light into the cap of sake.

Contrary to what he had imagined, Kyousuke expected the mouth-chewed rice wine to be a cloudy white.

But now, as he looked into the bottle, he was surprised to see the liquid was crystal clear—pure and deep like the night sky.

If not for a few tiny particles floating within, he might've mistaken it for the junmai daiginjo he once drank atop Mount Tengu in Otaru.

"That stuff is sour and astringent, it's barely even drinkable!" Yotsuba's voice suddenly rang in his ear.

That was probably because the kuchikamizake hadn't fully fermented yet.

But the sake before him now… it had been touched by Mitsuha by the magic of time and had transformed into something extraordinary.

That had to be it.

Half of Mitsuha's soul…

What was once vague and unclear now struck him with sudden clarity.

This sake, brewed by Mitsuha herself and offered to the gods, contained half of her soul.

That's why her grandmother said she left behind something precious.

That's why this sake held the power to transcend bodies and cross the boundaries of time and space.

But then, what would happen to the rest of Mitsuha's soul if he drank it all? This wasn't some kind of devil fruit from a manga.

Yotsuba's voice still echoed in his ears, but—

'Let me enter Mitsuha's body once more!'

With that desperate wish in his heart, Kyousuke downed the liquid in the bottle cap in a single gulp—so fast he barely tasted it.

Then he raised the ceramic bottle to his lips and began to drink in earnest.

The flavor was delicate an elegant, subtle blend of alcohol and the pure aroma of rice.

He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but it felt as though he were kissing Mitsuha with every sip.

Okay, okay—now's not the time to get carried away.

But… why hadn't the switch happened yet?

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Kyousuke tilted his head in confusion.

Then he raised the bottle and drank the last drop.

And in that moment, his eyes caught the cave painting once again the vivid red and blue comet glowing in the lantern light like it was ablaze.

Oh no… it's coming again.

As dread welled up in his heart, his vision began to spin. He lost all control and fell backward.

This time, Yotsuba wouldn't be there to catch him.

'Good thing my skull was thick,' he thought—until he realized the impact never came.

Instead, the comet above him began to fall, drawing closer and closer.

The larger fragment of the comet continued its celestial journey, destined to return to Earth a thousand years from now.

But the smaller shard descended toward Kyousuke.

With unstoppable force, it tore through the atmosphere, igniting the air and the comet itself.

The stone turned to radiant, glass-like crystal that sparkled like a gemstone.

The heat intensified.

The gemstone-like surface began to crack.

Kyousuke could even feel the burn on his face.

At the exact moment the back of his head struck the ground, the comet collided with his body.

It felt like plunging into the deep sea his body sank lower and lower, yet somehow, it also felt as though he were rising, buoyed by water.

Unlike Yukino's descriptions, this time, he saw it all with his own eyes: the comet shattering and falling, drawing people to the mineral-rich site and giving birth to a town.

Then, another fall—another shattering—this time, destroying the town.

The people's faith shifted from the Star God, who had once blessed them with riches, to the Weaving God, the one who could bind that Star God.

And now, for the third time, the comet would attempt to destroy the town and take the townspeople's lives.

Their god, the one worshipped for a thousand years at Miyamizu Shrine was about to fulfill its ancient duty: to protect them, to save them.

So that's why the Miyamizu family members could all dream and switch bodies. It was all because of this.

As he watched the compressed history of Itomori unfold before him, Kyousuke finally understood.

Suddenly, the red cord in his hand unraveled and drifted upward, stretching further, deeper it transformed into a comet, an umbilical cord.

Then came a sudden pain like the cord being severed.

It was so real, as if he'd just been cut from his mother's body. It felt like the moment of birth.

"Your name will be Mitsuha." A gentle woman's voice said softly, her face dripping with sweat.

This must be Mitsuha's mother.

A happy childhood. A peaceful home. The birth of her sister…

Then, like a wilting lily, her mother passed away.

Mitsuha's little sister, too young to understand, kept asking their father when Mom would come back.

The fights between her father and grandmother.

Her father's decision to leave.

The broken family… the three of them left to survive on their own.

The red cord stretched from Mitsuha back to Kyousuke, carrying her memories into his mind.

Her nervous excitement at facing Tokyo.

Her panic and frustration at not understanding the schoolwork.

Her self-consciousness around stylish Tokyo girls. And buried deep within… her innocent, growing feelings for a boy.

'Kyousuke, I've come to find you.'

With all her savings, the girl boarded a train to Tokyo.

In a city both familiar and unfamiliar, she walked endlessly—passing countless strangers, lingering in front of an apartment door labeled "701," forcing herself to ask question after question at the school gates despite her embarrassment…

The shouting boxers on the sidewalks left her flustered.

The asphalt smelled sickening in the heat.

The wide crosswalks made her feel lost.

The flickering traffic lights only added to her anxiety. Two years ago, it all felt like a dream.

But in the end, she found him.

She found the boy she loved, even if he didn't recognize her at all.

Kyousuke couldn't move, couldn't speak he could only watch.

He felt like a soul trapped in a womb, unable to do anything but witness the helpless girl wandering through the city.

'Just hug her already! What are you being shy for now?!'

Watching Mitsuha sob in despair at the family restaurant, he felt his heart crack into pieces.

This girl who'd carried her love across miles and years had just lost every memory they'd shared.

The depth of her heartbreak was unimaginable.

'Hug her! Hug her tightly, you idiot!' Kyousuke wanted nothing more than to travel back two years and slap his past self.

Finally, his body responded. Mitsuha threw herself into his arms.

At the festival, Mitsuha looked breathtaking—so beautiful it almost hurt.

Her elegant blue yukata made it feel like time itself had stopped, like she'd stepped out of the Edo period.

Her bright red sash stood out even in a crowd, unmistakable.

She stood at the mountain's peak, her neatly braided hair untouched by the cold wind.

Frozen in place, she stared blankly at the apocalyptic sky, as if in shock at the falling stars.

Even though he knew everything would work out, Kyousuke still wanted to scream—'Run, Mitsuha! Go to the school! Get somewhere safe!'

But he was still voiceless, trapped like a fetus in a womb, able only to watch.

"Kyousuke…"

Suddenly, he heard Mitsuha's voice.

Her delicate face was covered in tears.

She held her hands tightly before her chest and shouted at the falling meteor part declaration, part vow for eternity:

"I love you!"

"Even if I'm reborn, I want to meet you again!

Mitsuha… Mitsuha… Mitsuha!

Kyousuke screamed her name in his heart, over and over.

But his voice could not pierce the fabric of space and time to reach the girl he loved.

The last thing he saw was the image of a comet, growing larger and larger in Mitsuha's brown eyes.

'Ding—'

A sound like a temple bell rang out, echoing endlessly in the distance.

Kyousuke gasped as if he'd just taken a breath after nearly drowning, his eyes flying open as he bolted upright.

Still dazed, he immediately reached up and checked his head in a panic.

'I'm back—really back.'

'I've returned to Mitsuha's body again! Mitsuha is still alive!'

He shouted those words over and over in his mind.

Once he was sure his head was intact, his hands gradually lowered not to inspect Mitsuha's figure this time, but more out of instinct.

In moments of fear and confusion, people tend to grab onto something soft for comfort.

"Big sis, breakfast!" The sliding door opened and Yotsuba peeked in.

She paused, catching her sister in the act of apparently checking her development, and tilted her head curiously.

"Still growing fine?"

"Ah, looking great!" Kyousuke, now calm thanks to his own unusual coping method, gave a wide, innocent smile and a big thumbs-up.

"I see. Well, hurry up and get dressed. Dad and Grandma are waiting," Yotsuba said with a thoughtful nod before closing the door behind her.

"Dad…?" Kyousuke murmured under his breath.

If he wanted to make today go smoothly, he'd need that old man's cooperation.

While Mitsuha might now hold enough authority to persuade the townspeople to evacuate, mobilizing the local government, fire department, and police would still require the town mayor—Mitsuha's father, Miyamizu Toshiki.

He changed into a black tracksuit.

As he glanced over the school uniforms and the miko outfit tucked deep in the closet, a sense of relief washed over him.

If not for me… these clothes would've turned to ash.

At the breakfast table, under Miyamizu Toshiki's ever-judging glare, Kyousuke quickly finished eating.

Thankfully, Mitsuha had a small appetite, or he would've lost even more precious time.

There's a lot to do today, can't face it on an empty stomach.

Setting down his chopsticks and placing both hands on his knees, Kyousuke looked at the family and solemnly declared:

"Tonight, at 8:42 PM, the Tiamat Comet will break apart."

"The fragments will fall on Itomori Town—specifically Miyamori Ward, Kadoiri Ward, and Oyosawa Ward. All of them will be obliterated in an instant."

"Wait, Miyamori Ward? That's where we live!" Yotsuba cried out, a grain of rice still clinging to the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah. The first impact point is the Miyamizu Shrine," Kyousuke said gravely.

It was only 7 a.m.

Even if he packed the koi fish from the backyard pond into a bucket and headed to Tokyo, he'd make it in time.

That's why he could afford to sit here, calmly waiting for the family to process the truth.

"You little punk, what nonsense are you spouting now?" Toshiki, already dressed in a neat suit, glared at him.

Grandma Miyamizu Hitoha had finished her meal and was slowly sipping her miso soup.

Even after hearing such an outrageous statement from her granddaughter, she didn't so much as blink.

"Father, this is the Miyamizu family's destiny. Grandma, Aunt Futaba, and Mitsuha—we were all able to swap bodies with others for this very moment."

"I'm from the future. I saw the comet fall with my own eyes."

Mitsuha, Yotsuba, the Miyamizu Shrine and everything in Itomori was reduced to ashes under that comet."

Kyousuke tried to sound as sincere as possible.

He wasn't worried that Toshiki wouldn't believe him.

After all, both of them had experienced the mysterious power of the Miyamizu family firsthand.

Not to mention, they were both technically "outsiders" who had married into the family.

Toshiki's retort had just been a knee-jerk reaction.

He could never bring himself to like this boy who hijacked his daughter's body but setting that aside, he did trust Kyousuke's steady demeanor and the way he helped the family resolve their emotional wounds.

He's the same age as Mitsuha… no, wait—he said he's from the future.

So is he older or younger than her? Hm… probably younger.

'But if that's the case, can he really take care of my daughter…?'

The old man's thoughts began to spiral in all directions.

"Father, I need to organize an emergency evacuation drill. We need to mobilize every possible resource to move the townspeople to safety." Kyousuke continued, seeing that Toshiki was starting to take him seriously.

"You're sure the comet will hit Itomori?"

"Yes. I saw it with my own eyes. Through Mitsuha's eyes. As clearly as day.

If you want, I can even describe what Itomori looked like after the disaster."

"Then let's get moving." Toshiki stood, placing his bowl down firmly.

"Wait—what about me?! Sis, what should I do?" Yotsuba leapt to her feet, excited by the sudden seriousness of everyone around her.

"Remember the Great Fire of Goro-san's house?" Kyousuke crouched down and smiled at her.

"Yeah, poor Mr. Goro…"

"Well, to make sure people don't start calling it 'The Great Fire of Miyamizu Shrine' next time, I need you to stay home and help Grandma pack up anything important, alright? I'll come back and help later too."

He ruffled her hair and spoke in a tone she could understand best.

"Got it! Leave it to me! I won't let my sister become someone that pitiful!"