Warning: very, very mild use of inappropriate language. Just wanted to put this out here in case any of you weren't expecting it from this fan fiction. Also, some visual advertisement of my favorite male celebrity/athlete named Yuzuru Hanyu (who I mentioned briefly in the chapter hehehehe) because I want to congratulate him on his sweeping win at NHK Trophy!! Wishing him good luck at Marseilles. Enjoy...? !!
I was running late.
My heart pounded in sync to the sound of my feet on the asphalt of a crowded street in Tokyo. My heels ached and grated against the soles of the nude-peach sandals I purchased only two days prior. They were not meant to endure intensive running. Already, the crisp, beautiful edges of the sandals seemed ten years older than they had in the store.
I was running late.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" A man grumbled after I collided with his left shoulder. I threw back a "Sorry!" sheepishly as I continued briskly making my way down the street. Where was this cafe?
More importantly, why was I so bad at following directions? Taki sent me a clear cut message laying out the necessary travels I needed to make from my apartment to the doorsteps of a new cafe that Taki suggested as our place of meeting. Our coffee date, if you will. I shoved aside the twinge of excitement as my eyes scanned the surrounding area.
Ah! Found it!
The cafe was snugly fit between other food stores. It was delightfully designed, with honey colored windows and wall-hugging vines that framed the picturesque hub for daily goers of all ages. Small, but visually efficient. I had to say that I was quite honestly impressed with Taki's recommendation.
As I stepped across the threshold to the relaxingly dimmed lights inside, I self consciously straightened my summer dress and retied my ribbon so it looked as clean as possible. I drew in a deep breath and blew it out quietly, eyes searching across the room of tables and drinks.
Ah. There he was.
I found him tucked in a peaceful little corner, a booth comfortable and accommodating for the two of us. He had his back to me, busy looking over presumably the menu. Occasionally, he would check his watch.
Swiftly, before he noticed me, I quietly snuck up behind him and held my breath. "Boo." I popped into his peripheral vision with a bright smile on my face. He blinked in surprise.
Before I registered it, his arms wrapped around me in a warm embrace as I heard a sigh of relief. "I thought you weren't coming." He admitted, lips too close to my right ear for comfort. I felt my cheeks prickle with heat and my heart thunder inside me.
I weakly apologized in his embrace, painfully aware of the stares we were garnering at our open expression of friendliness. Or whatever this was.
I mentally bashed myself at that last note.
Suddenly, Taki pulled away from me and offered a formal bow. When he came up, I was humbled to see a slightly embarrassed face and pink ears. "Excuse my poor behavior, Miss Mitsuha." He gestured with an open hand towards the booth. "Please, sit down."
I bowed in his direction as well. "Thank you for your invitation today. I also must apologize for arriving late." Taki dismissively accepted my apology and sat down promptly after me. We now sat across from each other, forcing an awkwardness to ensue that had never happened before.
Taki softly smiled. "You look great today." I looked down, feeling shy. "Err, please feel free to look at the menu as you wish. The bill's on me today."
No way. I shook my head. "No no no no, I couldn't have you do that. I — "
"I insist. Please, just let me do this today Mitsuha." His fierce gaze halted any response I had formed.
I melted, thanking him with a sincerity I hoped could adequately reflect my emotions. An amicable silence blanketed the space between us once again, but I could tell Taki was concentrating on the menu. So I looked at mine. Besides, small talk between the two of us will inevitably lead to a much more somber conversation that further opened the emotional chasm between us. Yotsuha had only been half joking before she hung up: "Make sure you don't blotch your makeup by crying your eyes silly like tonight."
Wanting to avoid thinking further about it, I hastily read the menu and decided on a classic café au lait with a cream puff. It was late morning, and I was in the mood for a small treat. I deliberately made sure it wasn't terribly expensive for the sake of the bill.
Feeling a little fidgety, I discreetly glanced up from the menu to catch a glimpse of Taki's face. The other day I hadn't noticed, but he had...quite nice eyelashes. His skin was also smooth and soft, with few blemishes. With a bit of surprise, I also noted how his shoulders were well defined in his button down dress shirt. Navy. Nice. Approved.
It was mere curiosity. Nonetheless, I felt as though I was doing something oddly inappropriate.
Suddenly, Taki's eyes drifted upwards to meet mine, startling me. "Hmm?" He asked. I gestured dumbly at the menu, helplessly caught off guard and pretending to be composed. "Oh, you're done ordering? Me too." He closed his own menu abruptly, and I had the fleeting suspicion that he had only been staring at his menu to wait for me to make a decision. He had been staring at the light alcoholic beverages the cafe offered for ten minutes.
A willowy young waitress took our orders with a smile, and for another few minutes silence swallowed the atmosphere around us. A short while later, she came back with our orders and we both said "Thank You" at the same time before looking at each other. And then shared a hearty laugh.
While biting into my heavenly cream puff (and Taki on his chocolate muffin), we engaged in small talk, finally warming up to each other. He was like a stranger to me, I was a stranger to him; we had lots of stories to share with each other.
"She really said that?" Taki's face disappeared behind a napkin, the only evidence of his laughter in his trembling shoulders. "Your sister is pretty amazing."
I was torn between embarrassment and laughing. "Really!" I protested. "She gave my boss the stink eye after he yelled at me, and then told him to go fuck himself. Before I left, another employee remarked that I set a new record for fastest time fired from the job. It was okay though, I didn't like the restaurant much to begin with." I scoffed. I snuck a glance at Taki and felt a thrill that he was having a good time. With me.
Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad.
Taki cleared his throat suddenly.
"I wanted to give this to you." A crinkling sound reached my ears. I found myself staring at the black art portfolio Taki clutched in his hands, at the multiple pieces of paper sticking out and ready to slip free. I could not say I understood what he was saying until he laid out several different sketches - all intensely beautiful and obviously fruits of hard labor - and found myself looking at a very nostalgic view.
Itomori. But why?
"For a brief while back...then, I was obsessed with capturing the scenery I saw out of my body, in a town I didn't know yet was called Itomori. I didn't want to forget what I had seen or experienced, so I worked on these for hours on." He paused, pointing to a sketch of the woods. "I went on an unforgettable hike with your sister and grandmother one time. This one here," he gestured, almost with a sad fondness, "Was drawn as soon as I decided to go visit you. I wanted to find you immediately, even without knowing the town name."
It was such a beautiful, realistic interpretation of the way it used to look - and for a long time I avoided news and photographs of old Itomori - that I sat in a fascinated stupor.
"Taki, this is amazing." I breathed. The tips of his ears brightened and he nodded his head humbly.
"I want to give them to you. These belong to you more than they do to me." His fingers slid the papers across to me. "To me, this is like sealing up a bad part of the past. Meeting you was one of the best things that happened in my life, but I know for sure I never found a sense of closure after I forgot you."
His eyes hesitantly met mine, and I felt electrified. "Me too," I whispered. "I always felt like I was missing something." It was true. For a long time before I learned to ignore it, I was hypersensitive to my surroundings, always getting the sense that something was off.
"I want us to be friends, Mitsuha. I'm asking to put the past behind us and start fresh like two completely normal people." I could tell that Taki had invested some thought into this. But something else was stuck on my mind, something I had to ask.
"About us switching bodies...what was it like being in my body?" I blurted. True, the sentence came out sounding vaguely creepy, but Taki got my point and was mature enough to overlook the abruptness.
He looked upwards, thoughtfully sipping his coffee. "It felt really weird at first." He admitted with a laugh. "I suddenly wasn't a guy anymore, I couldn't hear the city buzz anymore, and I had to deal with long hair. It wasn't a horrible experience though." He thoughtfully looked at me. "What about you? Being me I mean."
Truth to be told, the details of my life as a Tokyo boy had long since blurred. But I attempted to communicate the feelings I remembered having as best as I could. "It was really strange. I had my accent to deal with, a city life to adjust to, and honestly becoming a male all of a sudden was the worst." I will never forget the acute horror I felt the first day I woke up with something foreign at the apex of my thighs.
"Hey!"
I laughed, and Taki joined me before silence fell again. It seemed to be a common pattern between us.
"So what do you say Mitsuha? Can we...start over...again?" Taki hesitantly repeated. "I'm not asking you to forget what happened." He quickly amended. "I just want to know you better purely as a person without any guilt from the past. It may be a lot to ask for but as long as you are willing then so am I." His gaze softened. "After all you managed to steal my heart even though you're just a country bumpkin and I was a stupid Tokyo boy."
This guy. How was he so good with words? Who was I to deny him? I didn't hold any grudges against him, and it would be foolish to do so anyways after eight years. The two of us were (in theory) sensible adults and I could not be the one to ruin us. Our relationship was meant to be special, a result of a peculiar destiny that came to fruition eight years ago and changed our lives forever. It didn't mean it had to shape our lives forever though.
I realized how foolish I had been. My fears were selfish, like all fears, but overwhelmingly so. Seeing Taki in front of me, feeling his presence really changed the way I looked at where we were headed. It was clear as day that he intended no harm, and like me, had hesitated and mulled over our relationship. I did not have anything to fear so long as I do things right the first time and approach with confidence.
Yotsuha was right. If things soured between Taki and I then it would not occur for lack of effort. We were just too different. But I refused to think about that now. I wanted to give this new relationship a chance so very, very badly.
"I agree, Taki. I want us to be good friends." I lightly responded. "I asked you for your number after all." The bashful response I got affirmed my righteousness in my choice.
Taki's shoulder muscles pulled down, relaxing. "Good. Now would you care for anything else on the menu?" It was a happy, childish smile, the very same one I remember reflecting back in the mirror whenever I was in Tokyo. My curiosity of the body I had quite literally stolen had allowed me to conclude long ago that Taki had a rather nice set of teeth, and those teeth created a rather nice smile. And that rather nice smile took me by surprise now and did something funny to my chest.
We sat a while longer and talked about every subject of interest to the two of us, ranging from talk about Yuzuru Hanyu (a famous figure skater who we both discovered were fans of) to the impact of global warming in the next several decades.
The more we talked, the more I was delighted to realize that we were not so different after all. The chemistry was still there. The same attraction that held us together eight years ago despite our characteristic flaws and an ugly situation held us still today. Deep down nothing really had changed. I found myself increasingly comfortable in Taki's presence and our conversations ran rampant without the presence of judgement. With the sound of each of his honey sweet laughter, my heart seemed to grow weaker yet beat faster, stronger.
Perhaps things could go right. No. Things would go right. The forces called fate made a mistake this time, this I was certain of. The heart did not forget like the mind. To me, Taki is someone irreplaceable.
Maybe that was why I felt myself falling for him all over again as I sat at the booth of a pretty little cafe one casual morning.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: so sorry for making you guys wait so long! I'm a bit of a perfectionist so took a dreadfully long time to reach a satisfying approach to this chapter. It still isn't perfect though [insert nervous laugh]. Making myself continue writing and not abandon an idea like I have always done is difficult! Once again, I must applaud dedicated authors who frequently update!
You all must be wondering how much longer this story is, no? I have planned out around 3 more chapters. The next/next 2 chapters will be the conclusion to this story (hence short story), followed by possibly 2 bonus chapters of scenes from the opposite POV.
Thank you for your support! Please, I love reading your comments. Until next time then, my friends (^-^)/