Kimi no Na wa. Rediscovering the Future

9. Unsung heroes

Mitsuha placed four large cups of coffee on the small table between the couches in her living room, along with a plate of cookies she found in the kitchen pantry. Her friends settled around. Tesshi and Saya sat down on the sofa and Taki on the chair near the wall. She sat down into the other chair that was closer to the kitchen. For a while, the four enjoyed their coffee in silence. Mitsuha was hesitant as to how to start the conversation that, after all, she and Taki had provoked.

Sayaka put her cup down on the table, and couldn't wait to find out what Mitsuha had to say to them.

"Okay Mitsuha. You told us you had to tell us something important. Trust us, if something bad happens to you, or you need us to support you, you know that you can count on Tesshi and me. But, tell us everything that happens, please."

"Saya, Tesshi..." Mitsuha took her cup of coffee with both hands, looking a bit lost. Then she focused on them and grinned. "First of all, I want you to know that I am happy to be with you today, and also that you met Taki, but..."

"Something's wrong? With you? Or with you two?" Tesshi interrupted, already a little nervous by the atmosphere of mystery that had been in all this so far.

"No, nothing bad happens to me, on the contrary. But I have to... Taki and I have to apologize to you two."

"Apologize?"

"Yes. It's just that we haven't been entirely sincere and honest in what we've told you so far... about us."

"I knew it!" Sayaka shouted, happy that her intuition had been correct. "But... what happens then? I feel that you cannot know each other just a day ago. With the little I've seen, that... it's not possible, am I wrong?"

"No, Saya, you're not wrong," Taki answered, taking the floor. "I agree with Mitsuha, I also feel guilty for having... hidden important things from you. And I apologize to you for that. That is what she and I want to correct, because of the appreciation we have for you."

"Do you appreciate us?" Tesshi asked, surprised. "I appreciate your sentiment, but we barely know each other."

"It's true that Mitsuha and I only met yesterday. But actually, we've known each other for a long time, for... almost nine years for you."

"Nine years for... us?" Sayaka repeated, trying to make sense of what the boy had just said. Tesshi at his side began to do the math.

"Wait, wait... nine years ago? That's...it's impossible. Nine years ago... we were in Itomori! Mitsuha, did you know Taki there and never told us?"

"Well, that's what we want to tell you," Mitsuha continued. "It's the first time for you to see Taki with your own eyes, but in reality, you had already met him before, in fact, you interacted with him, even all of you were... friends in Itomori, so to speak, only you didn't know it."

"What are you talking about?" Sayaka had a puzzled face that rivaled that of Tesshi next to her. "I never saw him in Itomori, and... nine years ago, how old were you, Taki?"

"Oh, well, nine years ago... I was fourteen. But for you I was seventeen."

"Uh? Seventeen... for us?"

Mitsuha felt like they were going around in circles because each clarification only confused her friends more. She took a deep breath, and decided to blurt out the truth at once.

"Look, almost nine years ago when we were still in Itomori, a month before the comet fell, something happened to Taki and me. We don't know the real reason, but... during September 2013, he and I began to exchange our bodies. Several days a week he woke up in my body and he lived my day in Itomori, inside my body, and I woke up in his body, and lived his day in Tokyo inside his body."