【ʀᴇᴇɴᴀᴄᴛᴍᴇɴᴛ】
I accidentally published this scene when I was still writing it. XD
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Memories. That's what (Y/n) was seeing. She didn't know where she was or how she got there but she was seeing the memories of someone she knew.
In the midst of the indistinct floating sensation, the comet shone in the night sky. Without any warning, it then split, and half of it came plummeting down.
The meteorite stroked a village in the mountains. Many people die. A lake then formed. The village was destroyed.
Time passed by, another village grew up around the lake. The lake provided fish, and the heavenly iron provided wealth. The village prospered. Ages passed, and the comet arrives again. Once again, the star falls. People die once again.
People tried to remember it. They tried to pass on the knowledge to future generations. Using methods that would last longer than letters. The comet as a dragon. The comet as braided cords. The fracturing comet as the gestures of a dance.
Once again, ages passed.
(Y/n) could hear two babies crying.
"Your name is Amane."
A mother's gentle voice. Whispered so soothing towards one of her newborn twins.Then, with a brutal sensation, the umbilical cord was cut.
"You're both your dad's treasures."
"You're a big brother, Amane. Take care of Tsukasa for me..."
They were one happy family. But the happiness didn't last long when the mother fell ill.
"When is Mommy coming back from the hospital, Amane?"
The the younger twin's question was innocent, but the older twin knows that their mother was never coming back. Everyone dies. Death is inevitable, but it isn't easy to accept.
"They couldn't save her!"
The father grieved deeply. He had never loved anyone as much as he loved his wife, and he never will again. It was both a blessing and a curse that, as they grow older, his sons began to more and more like their mother.
"Taking over the shrine won't do any-"
"What are you saying?! Why do you think we formally adopted you when you married?!"
The father and grandmother were quarrelling more every day. Unaware that Amane was listening whenever they do.
"I loved Amari, not the Yugi Shrine."
"Get out!"
Both the father and the grandmother were too old to change their priorities. The father can't take it, and so he decided to leave.
"Amane, Tsukasa. From now on, you'll be living your grandma."
In a house that echoed with the click of ball-weights. The twins began their life together with their grandparent.
The days were peaceful. Even so, the feeling that his father has abandoned him and his brother had became an indelible stain inside Amane.
'So these are.... Amane's memories?' (Y/n) thought as she was being swept along helplessly by a storm-swollen torrent. She was experiencing Amane's time.
Then come the days she was already familiar with, the days where her and Amanda switched.
Seen through from Amane's eyes, Tokyo shone like an exotic foreign country. It was as if the two were seeing completely different worlds.
"Lucky..."
(Y/n) heared Amane muttered.
"I bet they're together right about now."
It was during the day of her date with Minamoto Teru.
"I'm going to Tokyo." He told his younger twin brother.
'Tokyo?' (Y/n) thought, confused. 'He went to Tokyo?'
That same night, Amane opened the sliding door to his room. He was crying, as if he just had a breakup. He leaned against his now closed door and slowly slid down on the floor, hugging his knees up to his chest as he continued crying.
In that short while, (Y/n) seems to felt that this isn't the Amane, she knew anymore.
"They say it'll look brightest tonight."
Nene and Kou invite him out along with his brother. "Let s go watch the comet."
"Amane, don't!" (Y/) screamed. "No! You can't go there! Run! Get out of town before the comet falls!"
But her voice did not reach her. Amane doesn't seem to notice her.
On the night of the festival, Amane and his friends look up at the comet, now closer than the moon.
The comet then suddenly splitted, and the shards shone, becoming countless shooting stars. One massive fragment of rock became a meteor and began to fall.
Even then, while gazing at it, his only thought is, that it was beautiful.
"Amane, run!" (Y/n) screamed at the top of her lungs. "Amane, run, please run! Amane, Amane!"
And the star falls.
"AMANE!"
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(Y/n)'s (e/c) colored eyes flew open. In that instant, She knew for sure.
She bolted upright, looking down at her body. Muscular arms. Skinny body. "It's Amane..."
The words slipped out. The voice was his, too. Everything about Amane was warm and he's right here. "...He's still alive...!"
(Y/n) wrapped her arms around his body, hugging herself. Tears began to spill over. Teardrops fell relentlessly from Amane's sunset yellow eyes. The heat of the tears brought it's own joy, and (Y/n) cried harder. She bend her knees, pressing her cheeks against the smooth kneecaps. She them curl up as small as she can, wanting to hug his entire body.
"Amane, what're you doing?"
(Y/n) raised her head at the sound of the voice. Standing there in the open doorway was Amane's younger twin brother, Tsukasa. Looking rather disturbed at the sight in front of him.
"Oh... Tsukasa..." (Y/n) muttered, sobs strangling her words. Tsukasa was still alive, too. He was staring, dazed, at his twin, who's all tear-stained and snotty.
"Tsukasaaaaa!"
(Y/n) rushed at him, driven by an urge to glomp him up.
Tsukasa stood there blank and motionless before slamming the sliding door in his brother's face.
"Hey, grandma?! I'm leaving without Amane!" Tsukasa yelled. (Y/n) could hear his footsteps walking down the stairs.
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The green haired news reporter was talking in her emotionless voice. (Y/n) just finished changing into Amane's school uniform and come downstairs. It's been a while since she wore a boy's school uniform. She stood tall and tough, glaring at the TV.
"Comet Tiamat has now been visible to the naked eye for about a week. It will be closest to Earth at approximately seven forty this evening, which is when it's expected to be brightest as well. The astronomy spectacular that only comes once every twelve centuries has reached its climax, and various festivities will be held all around the..."
"Tonight! There's still time!" (Y/n) muttered. She was trembling with nerves and excitement. She already formulated a plan. She will save everyone in Itomori.
"Good morning, Amane. Tsukasa went on ahead today." (Y/n) quickly turn around to see the twins' grandmother standing behind her.
"Grandma! You're looking good!" Without thinking, (Y/n) run towards to her. She was holding a teapot on a tray, planning to enjoy some tea in the living room.
"Huh?... You're..." Tsubasa pulled down her reading glasses and took a good look at her grandson's face. Her pale yellow eyes narrowed softly. "You aren't Amane, are you?"
"Wha...?" (Y/n) felt a little exposed. The elderly woman was right, she was not Amane. Seeing that the woman already know, she thought that explaining the situation might make things easier.
"Grandma... You knew?"
There was no particular change in the old lady's expression. As she spoke, she lowers herself into a legless chair.
"No. But watching you lately reminded me. When I was younger, I had some strange dreams myself."
(Y/n)'s eyes widened. This is exactly what she expected from a Japanese folktale family. She then decided to join the old woman at the table. Tsubasa was kind enough to fill a cup of tea for her, too. Now sipping her tea, the oldest Yugi continued on her story.
"They were very odd dreams. More than dreams, really. They were another life. I became a boy I didn't know in a town I'd never seen before."
(Y/n) swallow hard. It was exactly like what happened with her and Amane.
"But one day, they ended, just like that. All I remember now is that I had strange dreams. My memories of who I became in them disappeared completely."
"Disappeared..."
(Y/n) knew that she right. For a little while, she had forgotten Amane's name. She even tried to convince herself that it was all a delusion. The old lady's wrinkled face took on a tinge of loneliness.
"So treasure who you are now and the things you're seeing. No matter how special it is, a dream's a dream. It will disappear for sure someday, once you wake. We all had a time like that, you know? Everyone in the family does."
"That's... What if...?!"
Abruptly, realization hit (Y/n). It might be a role passed down through the Yugi family. The ability to communicate with someone living a few years in the future to escape the disaster that strikes every twelve hundred years. Something that the Yugi bloodline acquired. A possible warning system inherited across generations.
"Maybe the Yugis' dreams were all for today!"
(Y/n) look the old lady straight in the eye and spoke firmly. "Grandma, listen."
Tsubasa raised her head. From her expression, (Y/n) can't tell how she would take what she was about to say.
"Tonight, a meteorite will strike the town of Itomori and everyone will die."
The old lady's eyebrows knitted in unmistakable doubt.
"Nobody will believe in something like that."
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(Y/n) ran down the hill to the high school, silently brooding to herself. Tsubasa believed the swapping dreams but not the meteorite strike. She didn't understand the old woman that well.
She was really late for school. There was almost nobody around. It was just another peaceful morning in town. It look like she would just take matters into her own hands.
"There's no way I'm letting anybody die!" (Y/n) shouted it out loud. Emphatically, as if hammering the resolution into her own mind. She run even faster. There was not even half a day left until the meteor comes own.
"Amane! I thought you're not coming to school!"
"Yeah! You called me last night, saying that you're sick!"
The second (Y/n) entered the classroom, Nene and Kou stare at their friend's face, dumbfounded.
"Oh yeah? I felt better now, actually." (Y/n) told them. "Never mind that!"
Kou's mouth was hanging open so wide that (Y/n) could practically hear the sound effect for shock. Nene was examining her searchingly. (Y/n) look back and forth between them.
"If nothing changes, everyone's gonna die tonight!"
The hum in the classroom stops dead. All Amane's classmates' eyes are on her.
"H-hold it, Amane-kun. What're you saying?!" Nene hastily stood up. Kou then grabbed his bestfriend's arm and pulled her. As the two dragged her out of the classroom, (Y/n)'s head finally cooled down a bit.
She knew that it was only natural that they wouldn't believe her. It was like Tsubasa had said, it was unreasonable to expect people to believe something that came out of nowhere. (Y/n) was just so excited about swapping for the first time in a while that convinced herself that things would just work out somehow.
Saving everyone's lives might be tougher than she expected, so she thought. Kou was concerned, (Y/n) felt that it was a wasted worry.
"Amane, is that for real?"
"Yes, it's for real! Tonight, Comet Tiamat is going to split and turn into a meteorite, and it's hugely likely it's gonna hit this town. I can't reveal my sources, but I got the information through a reliable channel."
"That's...a full-on emergency!" The ball of sunshine was on high alert. (Y/n) seems to have noticed how he fully believed on what she have said.
"C'mon, Kou-kun. Why are you looking so serious for? Amane-kun must be just joking."
However, Nene on the other hand was doubting. She knew that Amane would always tend to joke around. She's not believing on anything he have to say.
"What's this source of yours, anyway? The CIA? NASA? What are you going on about? 'Reliable channels'? You pretending you're a spy now? Honestly, Amane-kun, what's the matter with you?!"
She couldn't be more sensible. Getting a desperate, (Y/n) dumped all the money out
of Amane's wallet.
"Nene, please! I'll pay, so take this and go buy whatever you want! Then at least listen to what I've got to say!"
(Y/n) was literary begging. Her expression was dead serious. Startled, Nene took a long, hard look at her friend.
Amane would never call her by her first name unless he was that serious.
"But you're always tight with your money... You're really going that far?" Nene asked her, ruby red eyes flooding with worry.
'Huh? He is? But he burned through my money like crazy!' (Y/n) thought, mentally cursing Amane due to the amount he spend, using her money that she desperately worked for.
Nene sighed. as if she finally resigned herself. "...I guess I'll have to, then. None of this makes any sense, but fine, I'll at least listen. Kou-kun, can I borrow the key to your bike." She then sets off for the main entrance, grumbling, "This ain't enough
for more than a couple cheap sweets."
Despite the the looks that the amount was not enough, Nene believes that her friend was serious now.
"I'm going to the convenience store. Kou-kun, you keep a close eye on Amane-kun. He's not quite right."
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And so (Y/n) and Kou decided to sneak into a room in the club building nobody uses anymore and put together an evacuation plan for the town.
The goal was to get all 188 families about five hundred people-out of the danger zone before the meteorite falls. The first thing the two thought together was to broadcast an evacuation order.
After the two ran through the inevitable ridiculous ideas, they both concluded that not everybody in town will be at home with their TVs or radios on. Most of the people of Itomori will be out, all because of the autumn festival tonight. The two fell in silent, thinking once more.
"...The disaster alert system!" Kou shouted all of suddenly.
"Disaster alert system?"
"Huh? Don't go telling me you don't know. There are speakers all over town, remember?"
"Oh... That thing that starts talking out of the blue every morning and evening? Who was born, who's having a funeral, that sort of thing?"
"Yeah. You can hear that all over town for sure, whether you're inside or out. If we send the order over that...!"
"Huh? But...how? That comes from the town hall, doesn't it? Would they let us broadcast stuff if we asked?"
"........No...?"
"Then what do we do? Hijack Town Hall?"
Kou then began to type something into his
phone. This made (Y/n) sweatdropped. The blonde look so happy.
"We can do this!" He held out his phone towards her. Looking at his phone, (Y/n) was surprised to see some superimposed frequencies, it reads, and below was an explanation.
"Wha...? Is this for real?"
Kou puffed his chest eagerly and nods proudly.
"Uh, Kou... Why do you even know stuff like this?"
"Well, I always fantasize before I fall asleep, you know? About destroying the town, overthrowing the school, stuff like that. Doesn't everybody?"
"Huh...?" (Y/n) let out a cold sweat. But at the same time, his plan was brilliant. "This is awesome, Kou! It just might work!"
(Y/n) threw an arm around Kou's shoulders and brought her her fist into his view. Seeming to know what his friend wanted to do, Kou brought his own fist into a fist bump.
"You know, Amane? I kinda like this side of you." Kou admitted, feeling embarrased.
"Eh? You think so?" (Y/n) asked him. 'I'm not Amane to begin with, though.'
"Yeah. Usually you're really quiet. Only spoke when spoken to. Your brother was always the one who makes the conversation, but these past few weeks, it's like you became a completely different person. It's quite nice to see you interacting with us more."
(Y/n) never knew this. She always in vision Amane to be the type who talks too much. Seems like she was wrong, she didn't know him that well.
"Well, thanks. I guess. I'm just glad that you believed me right away, Kou." (Y/n) smiled.
Kou was a really good guy. (Y/n) was glad that she met a guy like him that she was positive that she could rely on him.
From the moment she first met him as Amane, she already thought of him as a friend. (Y/n) suspected that being reliable might have been running in their family's genes. Teru was the same, she could always approach the older minamoto in her time in need and he would try to help right away.
"Thank you, Kou, really. But will you help me think up the rest of the evacuation plan?"
The ball of sunshine nodded, seriously and eager.
Once everything is over, (Y/n) planned to come see this guy, too. She will definitely befriend him when she return to her own body.
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"A-a-a...a bomb?!" Nene yelled, She was currently eating a mini shortcake from a clear plastic wrapper.
"Technically, they're called water-gel explosives. They're kinda like dynamite." Kou told her, his tone was sounding proud. He was crunching away on potato chips, while (Y/n) was munching on chocolate drops.
Nene bought a ton of convenience-store food and spread it all over the desk, by the amount of food she bought made it feel like the three were having a party.
(Y/n) and Kou were currently standing behind a map, outlining their carefully engineered evacuation plan to Nene. (Y/n) almost want to play some scheming background music to set the mood. Something percussive and a bit unhinged-something that sounds like a strategy meeting.
Taking a gulp of coffee milk from a pint-size pack, Kou continued. "There's lots of explosives in my dad's company's warehouse, for construction stuff. If I don't have to worry about getting caught afterward, I can snatch as much as we need."
"Then, next..." (Y/n) added, opening a melon bread wrapper. She felt really hungry, and for some reason, everything she eat when she was in Amane's body tasted really good.
"Y-y-y.....you're gonna hijack the signal?!" Nene's voice cracked.
Munching on curry bread, Kou decided to explain. "Rural wireless disaster alert systems like ours are easy to take over, as long as you know the transmission frequency and the superimposed wake-up frequency. The speakers are made so they'll activate as long as a specific frequency is layered over the audio."
With the melon bread in one hand, (Y/n) pick up where he left off. "That means we can send the evacuation order all over town from the school broadcasting room."
She then pointed at the map of Itomori. There was a circle with a diameter of a little less than a mile, centered on the Yugi Shrine. She trace the edge with her finger.
"This is the area that's supposed to take damage from the meteorite. As you can see, Itomori High is outside it." She then tapped on the location of the high school. "In other words, we just need to evacuate people here, to the schoolyard."
"B-but that's..." Nene began stammering nervously, putting the strawberry in which she saved for last in her mouth. "That's a full-blown crime!"
"We'll never get the people around here to move without committing a crime," (Y/n) told her coolly, sweeping away the chocolate drops she scattered over the map. She was right though. As long as it gets the people inside the circle to leave, she didn't care whether it was a crime or not.
"You know, Amane, it's like you're a different person." Nene told her.
(Y/n) grinned and took a big bite of melon bread. It was just like what Kou said earlier. When she was in Amane's body, she unconsciously started talking a bit like a boy, but she have completely abandoned trying to act like Amane. As long as the two and everyone in Itomori are still safe when
everything was over, nothing else matters to her. As long as Amane and his family was alive, things will work out.
"...So. Nene, you know how to broadcast right?" (Y/n) asked the white and green haired girl, cheerfully.
"Why?!"
"You do right?"
"Plus, you are friends with Nanamine-senpai. Get her to tell you the wireless frequency. "Kou added.
"Huh? I can't just..."
Ignoring Nene's protest, Kou happily points to himself. "I'm the explosives guy!"
"And I'm going to go talk to the mayor." (Y/n) said. pointing to herself..
"Huh?!" Nene was speechless. Kou picked up the explanation.
"We can probably set up the evacuation on our own with the plan we just talked about. But if the town hall and firefighters don't come out at the end, there's no way we'll get everybody in all one hundred eighty-eight families to move, you know?"
"That's why we need to persuade the mayor," (Y/n) told her. "I'm his son. If I can explain it to him rationally, I'm sure he'll understand."
Kou folded his arms and nods, patting himself on the back. "It's a perfect strategy!" (Y/n) felt the same. It was true that their methods were a bit rough, but she don't think that there's any other way to do it.
"Haaaaaah..." Nene watched the twl with her mouth agape, though (Y/n) couldn't tell whether she's amazed or appalled. "Well, I'm impressed you guys thought it through that far, but... This is all just in case something happens, isn't it?"
"Huh?" (Y/n) was at a loss for words. She didn't expected that question this late. "Uh... not exactly..."
(Y/n) knew that if Nene doesn't get on board, their plan won't work. She didn't know what to tell her.
"That ain't necessarily so!" Abruptly, Kou jumps in, thrusting out the screen on his phone. "Do you know how Itomori Lake got made?"
(Y/n) and Nene squint at the screen. It was a site that looks like the town's home page, with a header that says The Origins of Itomori Lake. Then the words, A meteoric lake from twelve hundred years ago, and Incredibly rare for Japan.
"It's a meteoric lake! This place already had at least one meteorite strike!" As Kou said this with a triumphant look on his face, something clicks in (Y/n)'s mind that she started speaking before she could even know what it is. "That's right-he's right... That's why!"
Now she remembered why there was a picture of the comet in the place where she offered the sake in. Comet Tiamat has a twelve hundred year cycle. Itomori Lake is a twelve hundred year old meteoric lake. The meteorite striked every twelve hundred years, when the comet passes. A presaged disaster. That means it should be avoidable. The picture was both a message and a warning.
(Y/n) felt as if she just picked up an unexpected ally. She could not hold still any longer. The preparations for the disaster were laid a thousand years ago!
"Good one, Kou!"
(Y/n) then again brought out her fist, and Kou fist bumped it. "Yeah!"
"Let's do this!"
The two turn to Nene, both speaking in unison, spit flying with enthusiasm.
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"...What are you talking about?"
The voice was rough and heavy that (Y/n) got increasingly flustered. She decided to talk louder, so as not to get steamrolled. "I told you! You have to evacuate the townspeople, just in case, or-"
"Be quiet a minute."
His voice wasn't raised, but it somehow shut her up.
Amane's dad, Mayor Toshiki closed his eyes wearily and leaned back in the upholstered chair in his office. The thick leather creaked audibly. Then he exhaled, slowly, and gazes out the window. The shadows of the leaves sway in the bright afternoon sunlight.
"...The comet is going to split in two and fall on this town? More than five hundred people could die?"
He tapped the desk with his fingertips, leaving a long pause. Then finally, he returns his gaze to his son. The backs of (Y/n)'s knees were sweating. For the first time, she finally realize that's where Amane gets sweaty when he's nervous.
"I know it's hard to believe, but I do have grounds for-"
"How dare you come to me with nonsense like that!"
Out of nowhere, he exploded. The creases between his eyes grow deeper. "Do delusions run in the Yugi bloodline?" he grumbled quietly, as if talking to himself. He fixed her with a piercing look and speaks in a low tone. "Listen, Amane. If you're being serious with me, then you are ill."
"...Wha-?"
The words didn't came. (Y/n) realized that the confidence she had in the clubroom just thirty minutes ago was gone without a trace. The uneasy feeling that she was actually misguided was building rapidly. She was not deluded. She was not sick.
"I'll send a car around for you." The mayor picked up the phone, suddenly sounding concerned. He started dialing, initiating a call even as he was speaking to her. "Have a doctor at the city hospital look at you. After that, I'll hear what you have to say."
The words sent an unpleasant jolt through (Y/n). Amanda's father was seriously treating her, currently as his own son, like a head case. The second it registered, (Y/n)'s whole body was suddenly as cold as ice, while the core of her brain flared so hot it might as well be on fire.
It was rage.
"-Don't you talk down to me, you bastard!"
The words came out as a scream. The mayor's wide eyes are right in front of her. Without thinking, (Y/n) grabbed him by his necktie and hauled him up. The phone receiver then to the floor beside the desk.
"...Ah-"
(Y/n) relaxed her grip. Slowly, the man's face receded. Mayor Toshiki's lips were slacked and trembling slightly, in either shock or bewilderment. The two were staring each other in the eye. Neither of one of them were able to look away. A cold sweat became visible on Amanda's cheek.
"Amane..."
The mayor sounded as if he's struggling to squeeze the air out.
"No... Who are you?"
He was trembling. With a nasty sensation, the words lingered in (Y/n) ears for a very long time.
Faintly, she could hear the reverberations of hammering in the distance. It was sometime between midday and evening. The town was too quiet, and even sounded from very far off reach her ears on the breeze.
After leaving the mayor's office, (Y/n) trudge along the hill road overlooking the lake, picturing a nail being driven into hard lumber in time with the noise.
An iron nail, wedged into dark, cramped splinters, destined to rust. The townspeople were getting ready for the autumn festival up at the shrine. Absently, (Y/n) gazed at the wooden lanterns that line the road.
Hearing children's voices above her, she then look up. "'Kay, see you later!"
Farther up the slope, children with backpacks were waving to one another.
"Mm-hmm, I'll see you at the festival."
"Meet us below the shrine."
With that, a boy and girl part ways with their friend and come running toward her. They were in the middle years of elementary school.
"Don't go!" The boy was just about to run past her, and without thinking, (Y/n) grabbed his shoulders. "Get out of town! Tell your friends, too!"
Between her arms, the expression of the kid she doesn't even know slides into terror.
"Wh-what's wrong with you?!"
He shoves her hands away. (Y/n) came back to her senses.
"Amane!"
Turning toward the voice, Tsukasa came running down the hill toward her, his bag slung on his shoulder, wearing a worried expression. It seems that school had already ended. She just skipped a whole day. The two kids then began running away.
"Amane?! What are you do to those kids?!" Tsukasa grabbed his brother by his arms and looking up into his face.
(Y/n) looked at him. Tsukasa was anxiously waiting for her to say something. "If Amane had tried..." (Y/n) muttered the thoughts as they came. "Could he have talked him into it? Is it just me who can't do it?"
Tsukasa was bewildered, but (Y/n) chose to ignore him and kept going. "Tsukasa, before evening comes, take Grandma and get out of town."
"Huh?"
"If you stay here, you'll die!"
"What?! Amane, c'mon- what are you talking about?!"
"This is important," (Y/n) told her, but Tsukasa desperately raised his voice, trying to push his older twin brother's words back at him.
"Amane, snap out of it!"
His yellow eyes were starting to tear up. He was getting scared. "You took off for Tokyo all of a sudden yesterday, too. You've been weird all the time lately, Amane!"
"Huh?"
(Y/n) felt a strange sense of wrongness.
"Tsukasa, did you just say Tokyo?"
"Hey, Amane-kun!"
It was Nene's voice. Looking up, she was waving wildly from the back of the bike, Kou was pedaling. It then brakes, skidding a bit on the asphalt.
"Did you talk to your dad?! How'd it go?!"
Kou was leaning forward. (Y/n) didn't know how to respond. She was confused. She didn't know what to think anymore. The mayor won't listen to a word she had said. Not only that, the guy asked his own son who he was. She made him do that. Is it because she was in Amane's body? Is that why it didn't work? Where is Amane now?
Tsukasa did say that Amane went to Tokyo yesterday.
"Hey, Amane?" Kou was puzzled.
"What's wrong with your twin?" Nene asked Tsukasa.
'Where is Amane?' (Y/n) thought. She then lift up her eyes. Beyond the houses, the rolling outlines of mountains build on each other, and beyond them, was a misty blue ridgeline. The mountain she had climbed. The body of the god at the peak. The place where she drank the the sake. A light, cold wind blew up from the lake.
"Is he...there?" (Y/n) muttered.
"Huh? What? What's the matter? Is something up there?"
Tsukasa, Nene and Kou all followed her gaze.
"Kou, let me borrow your bike!" (Y/n) spoke, grabbing the handlebars, wrenching it away from him. She straddled the seat, then kick off.
"Hey, wha-? Amane!"
Standing up to pedal, (Y/n) started climbing the hill road.
"Amane, what about the operation?!"
As she got farther away, Kou suddenly yelled after her. He sounds like he might be about to cry.
"Get ready, just like we planned! Please!"
Her shout echoed through the hushed town. Severed from his body, Amane's voice rebounded between the mountains and the lake, filling the air for a moment. As if chasing that voice, (Y/n) stomp on the pedals with all her might.
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There was a feeling of someone tapping his cheek. It was a very faint pressure, just the tip of a middle finger. Whoever it is, was being gentle, trying not to hurt him. The fingertip was very cold. Chilly, as
if a moment earlier it had been touching ice. Who in the world would decided to wake Amane up?
Amane opened his eyes. Everything around him was really dark. He thought it was still night time.
Another tap on his cheek. It was just droplets of water hitting his face. When he finally sat up, he notice something.
"..(Y/n)!" Without meaning to, He said her name out loud. He then started climbing the narrow stone steps, the evening sun lanced straight into his yes.
Amane thought that he must have been in the dark for quite a while. (Y/n)'s eyes sting and teared up. When he climbed all the way to the top, his guess was confirmed. He was on the mountain of the body of the god.
'What is (Y/n) doing here?' Amane thought without really understanding what was going on. He emerged from beneath the giant tree and began walking across the basin. He noticed that (Y/n) was wearing a heavy camping parka and hiking shoes with thick rubber soles.
The ground was soft and wet. He guessed that it might have just stopped raining. The low grass was thick with water droplets. When he looked up, though, the sky was perfectly clear. Thin, shredded clouds stream in the wind, glowing and golden.
His memories seems oddly vague.
Still unable to remember anything, before long, Amanda had already come to the edge of the basin, the foot of the slope. He looked up the hill. The whole area was a depression. The top of this slope is the top of the mountain. He start climbing. As he do, Amane tried to search through his memories, trying to remember what was he doing before he came here. Then his fingers touch the edge.
Festival music. A light summer Yukata. His own face. Heartbroken expression that was reflected in a mirror.
Now he remembered.
Yesterday was the autumn festival. Nene and Kou asked him to go, so he put on his traditional clothes and went out. It was the day the comet was supposed to be brightest, so he and his friends, along with his brother were going to watch. It all seems very distant, but it was all the events yesterday.
"Hey, do you think he got his heart broken? His face says it all..." He heard Nene whispered to the other two.
"Eh?! Senpai, I don't think Amane ever have a girlfriend. Would he already told us about it if he does?"
"Amane went to Tokyo, yesterday! He told me! Maybe he does! Don't ya think they smooched yet?"
The four climbed all the way up the narrow one lane road and turned at the traffic mirror. There it was, an enormous comet in the night sky, straight above them. It's long, streaming tail shone emerald green, and its head was brighter than the moon. Amane was in awe, he then strained his eyes. He could see particles glittering around it like fine dust. The four forgot to talk to each other and just stood there with their mouths open. Staring, fascinated, for a long time.
Then, at some point, Amane realized that the comet had splitted. There were two big, bright tips, and one seemed to be steadily coming closer. Before long, several delicate shooting stars began shining around it. It was like the heavens were falling.
That night, the stars actually did fall. It was a sight straight out of a dream, an impossibly beautiful night sky.
Amane and the three had finally reach the top of the slope. The wind buffeting around them was cold. Below them was a blanket of clouds unfolded. Through it, Amane could see Itomori Lake, which was beginning to be tinted with faint blue shadows.
For some reason, for the past little while, Amane been shaking so hard. Out of nowhere, he felt so scared that he can't even handle it.
He was terrified, anxious, sad, and lonely, and it felt like he might lose his mind. He was gushing cold sweat.
He was scared. He wanted to scream in the instant but sticky breath was the only thing that came out of his throat. His eyelids opened wider and wider, driven by a will that wasn't even his. The surfaces of his eyes were desert dry. It was gazing at the lake. Now he know why.
Itomori was gone. A bigger round lake had formed, overlapping Itomori Lake.
'That night, I...' It was as if his joints have broken without a sound. Amane dropped to his knees on the spot. Still staring at the scene below him. His voice was just barely a whisper now, as if he just lost the ability to speak. "That night..."
(Y/n)'s memories flooded right into his mind. The comet disaster that destroyed an entire town. The fact that she really lived in Tokyo three years in the future. The fact that, by then, he was not even alive anymore. The night the star fell. Back then, Amane had lost his own life.
"...I died...?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where do human memories live? Are they in the synaptic circuitry of the brain? Is there an invisible, amorphous, mistlike, spiritual collective somewhere, and that's where the memories reside?
The asphalt cut out a while back, and (Y/n) have been pedaling over unpaved mountain roads. The low sun flickered through the gaps among the trees. Amane's body was sweating nonstop, and the bangs were plastered to his forehead. As (Y/n) continued to pedal, she wiped the hair out of his face along with the sweat.
She knows that Amane's soul must be in her body right now. After all, his heart was still here, in his body. (Y/n) have been thinking for a while now.
Despite being inside another body, Amane, or some fragment of his heart, was still here. It might have remembered the shape of his uniform. When she put it on, she just naturally know the length of the zipper and the stiffness of the collar. When Amane's eyes see his friends, (Y/n) somehow felt relieved and happy. Without even asking, She can tell who Amane likes and who he's not comfortable around. When she sees his grandmother, memories she shouldn't even have rose hazily in her mind, like a projector with broken focus. Body and memories and emotions were bound together inseparably.
'(Y/n).'
She had been hearing Amane's voice inside his body for a while now.
'(Y/n)... (Y/n)....'
His voice was earnest, pleading, as if he was about to cry. His voice trembling with loneliness, heart ache was hidden in his tone.
The blurry image sharpened.
"(Y/n)..." Amane was calling.
"Don't you remember me? "
And then all of sudden, (Y/n) began to recall his memories of that day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That day, instead of going to school, Amane got on a train. He went to a big terminal station, where the Shinkansen to Tokyo stopped. The local train he took to get there was empty, despite the fact that it was rush hour, when students were heading to school.
"I'm going to Tokyo." It had been Amane's abrupt announcement to his younger twin brother when they left the house that morning.
"Huh? Now? Why?!" Tsukasa asked, startled.
"Um... For a date?"
"Wha-?! Amane, you're dating someone in Tokyo?! For real?!"
"Uh, well... It's not my date." Unsure how to explain himself, Amane broke into a run. "I'll be back tonight. Don't worry!"
Now gazing at the scenery flying past the window of the bullet train, Amane began to wonder.
'Why am I crashing Minamoto-senpai and (Y/n)'s date? It's not like the three of us can just hang out together. Besides, I've never been to Tokyo before. Will I even be able to find (Y/n)? Even if I do, will it bother her that I'm showing up out of the blue? Will she be surprised? Maybe she'll be upset...'
With an uncomplicated ease almost inviting disappointment, the Shinkansen slided into Tokyo. The incredible crowds left Amane breathless, he even tried calling (Y/n)'s phone.
"...Because the unit is out of range or turned off, the number you are trying to reach is... " He decided to hang up. Just like the other calls, it didn't go through.
'I'll never find her.' Amane thought, feeling a bit discouraged.
After staring at the station information board, He then headed into the city, relying on his vague memories.
'But if I do see her...'
He rode the Yamanote Line, the city bus, walks, takes another train, then walks some more.
'What will I do? It probably will bother her right Maybe it will be awkward. Or maybe-'
Amane then sees the words. 'Comet Tiamat at Closest Point Tomorrow...' on a big outdoor TV screen.
'Or, if I do find her, just maybe, will she-?'
Tired from walking, Amane gazed at the sparkling lights of the buildings from a pedestrian bridge and think, almost praying.
'If I find (Y/n), maybe she'll be just a little bit happy...'
He started walking again, still thinking.
'I'll never find her searching randomly like this. I won't, but I know one thing for sure. If we meet, we'll know right away. "You're the one who was in me. I'm the one who was in you."'
Amane was certain of it.
The evening sun sinks through the gap between the station platform roofs.
Amane's feet were sore from all the walking he had done. He sat himself on a bench with hs legs kicked out in front of him. He stared absently at the setting sun, which is much paler and less reliable than in Itomori.
A musical chime plays, and a voice announces: "The local train to...Chiba...is arriving on... Track Four. " A yellow train glides onto the platform. The cars kick up a warm wind that ruffles his hair. Amane gazed at the train windows without really seeing them.
Abruptly, his breath catched. He suddenly jumped to his feet as if he had been stung. She was there, in the window that had just passed in front of him.
Amane broke into a sprint. The cars have stopped, and he catches up to the window almost immediately. The evening train was crowded, though, and he can't find her again from outside. With a sound like a giant exhalation, the door flew open. The train car was so tightly packed that the people are practically spilling out, making Amane shivered. Even so murmuring "Excuse me" and sweating behind the knees, he pushes his way into the crowd. With another giant sighed, the doors close. The train begins moving. Repeating "Excuse me" over and over, little by little, Amane worked his way forward. Then, in front of one girl, he stopped. The sounds around him vanished in an instant.
It was (Y/n). The elementary school her from three years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Y/n) can't go any higher on the bike. Not sooner than she had the thought, the front wheel caught on a root, and she slipped.
On reflex, she grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree. The bike slipped out from under her and tumbled down the slope, hitting the ground about ten feet below with a huge racket. The wheels were bent all out of shape.
"Sorry, Kou." (Y/n) muttered softly and took off running up the narrow mountain track.
She couldn't believe herself. She had to remember it now?
As (Y/n) continued to run, Amane's memories started to welling up inside her. Memories of that day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a while now, Amane have been silently rolling her name around on his tongue. The 10 years old (Y/n) hasn't noticed him at all, even though he was right in front of her. Amane kept on fretting over what tone he should use to address her and what expression he should wear, so earnestly he seems liable to burst into tears. Then, forcing a bright smile, he manage to get the courage to talk to her.
"(Y/n)."
The elementary school (Y/n) got startled hearing her own name out of the blue, she then glanced up. She was a lot shorter than him despite Amane knowing that the one he swapped with was about the same height as him. The younger girl's big (e/c) colored eyed have to look up in order to meet his.
"Huh...?"
"Um, do you..."
Smiling desperately, Amane pointed to himself. The 10 years old (Y/n) was bewildered.
"...Huh?"
"Don't you remember me?" The stranger in front of her asked timidly.
"Who are you?"
Amane let out a small, breathy yelp, then quickly turned red. He then lowered his eyes, speaking in a voice that was barely audible. "Oh... I'm sorry..."
The train swayed. The passengers all adjusted to keep their balance, except for Amane who staggered into the elementary schooler. "I'm sorry..." He mumbled again.
'He's weird....' The elementary school (Y/n) thought.
Amane's muddled mind races desperately. For both of them, time passed awkwardly.
"The next station is ...Yotsuya. " The announcement offered Amane a bit of relief. At the same time, he felt unbearably sad. Still, he knows that he can't stay here any longer. The doors flew opened and he moves with the rest of the crowd to exit the train.
Watching his receding back, the elementary schooler suddenly thought that maybe the weird boy was somebody he should know. The inexplicable, intense impulse drove her to call out.
"Excuse! What's your name?"
Amane turned back, but the waves of disembarking passengers pushed him farther away. Hurriedly, he undoes the braided cord tied to his wrist like a bracelet. He then held it out towards her and shouted. "Amane!"
Without thinking, 10 years old (Y/n) reached for it. It was a vivid orange. She shove her way into the crowd and grabbed the color tight.
"My name is Amane!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That day, three years ago. Amane came to see her. Finally, she now know.
A boy, she didn't recognize spoke to her on the train once. To her, that was all had been, and she had completely forgot about it. But Amane had came to Tokyo, carrying the weight of all those feelings, had been hurt badly, gone back to his own town, heartbroken.
There was a lump in her throat. But she knows that there's nothing she can do about it now, so (Y/n) just kept running. Amane's face and body were both smeared with sweat and dirt. The next thing she know, the trees have ended, and she was in a rocky, mossy area, with clouds like a golden carpet below her.
She have finally reached the peak.
She sucked in a huge chestful of cold air. Then, as if she was expelling all her emotions from the pit of her stomach, (Y/n) yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Amane!"
Amane heared a voice. He lifted his head and stood up, looking around.
He was up on the rocky area surrounding the body of the god's basin. The evening sun was almost gone, and all the shadows were stretched and elongated. The world was divided sharply into light and darkness, but there was no one around.
"...(Y/n)?" He muttered..
He then drew in a deep breath of cold air. Then he shout, using (Y/n)'s throat.
"(Y/n)!"
She heared it. He was here. Amane is here.
(Y/n) again set off running, climbing the slope up to the mountain's peak. She did a complete 360 scan of the area, but no one was there. She know that Amane has to be here.
"Amaaaane! You're here, aren't you? In my body!"
Amane gasped. It was really (Y/n), using his voice. He was sure of it. He then shout a question into the empty sky.
"(Y/n)! (Y/n), where are you?! I can hear you, but I can't-!"
(Y/n) started sprinting around the rim of the basin. She can hear a voice. Just a voice. Her own voice.
"Amane, where are you?!"
Amane began sprint around the edge of the basin with everything he got. He have to inorder to catch up to (Y/n).
"Oh!" Crying out in spite of himself, he stop.
At that moment, (Y/n) herself had hastily looking back. She was positive that she just passed him.
There was a warm presence in front of her. Her heart was leaping in her chest.
Amane can't see her, but he know that (Y/n) was here with him. So very close to him.
His heart was racing.
Amane is here. (Y/n) reached out her hand.
(Y/n) was close. Amane did the same and reached out his hand.
But both fingers were touch nothing. Next thing they both knew, they were back in their own respective bodies.
"Amane?" (Y/n) waited for a response. But nobody answered. It seems that she couldn't meet him. One more time, (Y/n) look around. She was standing stock-still, up on the mountain, all alone. She lowered her head and let out a long, thin breath.
The wind blowed gently, softly lifting her ponytailed hair. Sensing a sudden drop in the temperature, (Y/n) glanced at the evening sun. While she was distracted, it had slipped below the clouds. Released from direct sunlight, light and shadow melt together, and the world's outlines grew soft and vague. The sky was still bright, but the Earth is enveloped in pale shadows. The air is filled with pink, indirect light.
There were names for this time of day. Twilight or tasogare. The time when the outlines blur, when you might encounter something not of this
world.
"Half-light."
Both voices overlap.
(Y/n)'s (e/c) colored orbs widened. Slowly, she shift her gaze away from the clouds to the space right in front of her
There he was. Amane stood there watching her, eyes wide and round, mouth hanging open.
That lame expression of his had strikes (Y/n) as funny and lovable. The emotion was stronger than her surprise. slowly, Amane was the first to broke out of his daze and started to smile.
"(Y/n)."
When he called to her, (Y/n)'s eyes rapidly fill with tears. He was there, in flesh.
"...Amane? Amane? Amane? Amane?"
As she repeated herself like an idiot, her hands find it's way towards his arms. Her fingers tightened, squeezing. As if she couldn't believe that he was really there standing in front of her.
"Amane, you're really here for real!"
(Y/n)'s voice sounded hoarse and tight. Big tears rolled down her cheeks.
They finally met. Really met. The two was facing each other, Amane as himself and (Y/n) as herself, in their own bodies. (Y/n) felt deeply relieved. A sense of profound peace formed up inside her. A calm joy filled her.
She just keeps sobbing. "I came to see you," she told him. Her tears were as clear and round as little marbles. She then smiled and kept going. Tears kept falling. "Seriously, it was a rough trip. You're way out here."
Amane looked at her, blinking. "Huh? But... How? Back then, I..."
"I drank the sake you made." (Y/n) told him, remembering how much she have gone through for this moment.
"Huh...?" Amane's face turned red. He was speechless. (Y/n) thought that he was really moved by how much effort she did just for them to meet.
"Y...you drank that?!" Amane's shocked face turned into a mischievous one. The sudden turn of facial expression left (Y/n) confused. Why was he staring at her like that?
"Wow, (Y/n). You're such a pervert, you know that right?" Amane teased. Despite that, his face became more redder than it had already is.
"Huh-? Wha...?!" (Y/n)'s face flushed bright red. She didn't understand why he would call her that.
"Oh, and-! You touched my crotch too, didn't you? Have your mother ever told you to not touch a male's private part?"
"What?!" (Y/n) was completely rattled. "H-how do you know about...?"
"Tsukasa saw you!" Amane planted his hands on his hips, talking as though he was scolding a child.
"Oh yeah? I bet you touched my boobs too!" (Y/n) retorted. At that moment, she saw Amane started to sweat. "Ha! I knew it! You're the perverted one!"
"What?! Okay, maybe it was just once. But it was only one time!" Amane defended.
"No, it's the same no matter how many times you do it! Idiot!"
"Oh, that's..." Amane's expression changed abruptly. He pointed at her hair in surprise. (Y/n) reached out towards her ponytail.
"Oh, yeah. This." It was the braided cord. The one Amane gave her three years ago. She undo the cord from her hair, talking to Amane as she work. Soon, her hair fell on to her shoulders.
"Listen, don't come visit me before we meet. How was I supposed to know it was you?" She handed the cord back to him. "Here." Remembering what he felt on that train, a softness filled her chest. "I've had it for three years. This time, you hang on to it."
Amane looks up from the cord in his hands and smiled happily. He then tied the cord on his wrist like a ribbon.
"You look beautiful with your hair down, by the way." Amane commented.
This made (Y/n) blushed bright red. She quickly began scolding him. "Knock it off! You kept flirting on the messages before, now you're flirting in person too? Geez, I thought you were a quiet guy. You're friends told me about it."
"Well I can't help it. There's a cute girl infront of me right now, so I can't help it." Amane told her, cheekily Rubbing the back of his head with his cheeks tinted pink.
But all good things have come to an end. Bit by bit, the temperature was falling. Little by little, the light was fading.
"Amane." (Y/n) suddenly remembered the reason why she was there to begin with. Her face turned serious as she faced him again. "You've still got things you need to do. Listen."
She began to outline the plan for him that she had hatched with Kou and Nene. As he listened, Amane nodded seriously, and (Y/n) realized that he remembered that the star fell, that the town vanished. That he died once. For him, tonight will be his reenactment.
"It's here..."
Amane looked up at the sky. As he whispered, his voice trembled slightly. (Y/n) followed his gaze. In the western sky, which was turning a deep, dark blue, the shape of long-tailed Comet Tiamat was faintly visible.
"It's all right. You'll make it." (Y/n) said definitively, as much to convince herself anything.
"Yes, I'll try... Oh, half-light's already-"
Before she knew it, Amane was turning in the color of pale shadows, too.
"-It's already over," (Y/n) finished. The last traces of the evening sun were fading from the sky. Night will be here soon. As if to shove down the anxiety suddenly amassing inside her, (Y/n) forced a smile and spoke cheerfully.
"Hey, Amane. So that we won't forget each other after we wake up..." She took a felt-tip pen from her jacket pocket. She then held Amane's right hand, then wrote something on his palm "Let's write down our names. Here."
She gave the pen to Amane.
He broke into a smile as he took her right hand and sets the tip of the pen against it.
But then, there was a tiny, hard noise by her feet. Looking down, the pen was on the ground.
"Huh?" (Y/n) raised my head. Nobody was in front of her. Amane had disappeared.
"What...?"
She turned to look at her surroundings.
"Amane? Hey, Amane?"
(Y/n) called louder. But there was no response. Unnerved, she pace the area. The shadows were sinking into blue-black darkness. Below her were leaden, featureless clouds, and in the gloom below them, she could just make out gourd the shaped Itomori Lake.
Amane was gone. Night was already here. She was kback in my own body, three years in the future.
(Y/n) look at her right hand. Her hair was flowing freely. Her braided cord that she used to tie her hair was gone. On her palm was just one thin, short, half-drawn line. She touch it gently.
"...I was going to tell you..." (Y/n) muttered quietly to the line. "No matter where in the world you are, I'll find you again. I swear."
Up in the sky, the comet was nowhere to be seen, and a few stars were beginning to twinkle.
"Your name is Amane."
(Y/n) closed her eyes, making sure of her memories, turning them into something she could count on.
"It's okay. I remember!"
Confidence deepening, she then opened her eyes again. There was a white half-moon in the distant horizon.
"Amane, Amane... Amane, Amane, Amane. Your name is Amane!"
She was now yelling his name at the half-moon.
"Your name is...!"
Abruptly, the outline of the word she was meant to utter began to blur.
(Y/n) quickly snatched up the pen and tried to write the first letter of his name on her. She tried to. But after a single line, her hand stopped. The tip of the pen started to tremble. (Y/n) wanted to make it stop shaking and gripped on it tight. She tried to write his name again but the pen won't budge a traction of an inch. Her lips moved slightly.
"...Who are you?"
The pen fell from her hand. It was vanishing. His name and his memories.
"Why did I come here?"
(Y/n) wanted to tether them somehow, to scrape the fragments of memory together, so she decided to say them aloud.
"Him... I came to see him! I came to save him! I wanted him to live!"
It was disappearing. Something important and previous was disappearing from her mind.
"Who are you? Who are you, who are you, who are you...?"
It was slipping away. Even the emotions she know that she felt were leaving her.
"Somebody important, somebody I can't forget, somebody I didn't want to forget!"
Everything was vanishing, sorrow and love alike. (Y/n) doesn't even know why she was crying now. Her emotions were disintegrating, crumbling away like ashes.
"Who are you, who are you, who...?"
After the ashes had completely flew away, just one thing remained. It was loneliness. In that moment, (Y/n) finally understand. From now on, that feeling will be all that stays with her. She will hold nothing but loneliness, a burden that someone forced her to take.
She learned to accept it. Even if the world was cruel. Even if all she ever have was loneliness. She still live with everything she have got. Even if that emotion is what all she have, she would have keep struggling. Even if the person that separated from her will never meet again, she'll fight. The powerful, fleeting resolution. Very soon, she would forget even the fact that she just forgotten something.
And so, making that single emotion her foothold, (Y/n) demand on the night sky one last time.
"What's your name?"
The cry became an echo, rebounding off the dark mountains. Asking the question of the void over and over, it diminished, bit by bit.
Finally, silence descended.