In that unfamiliar Tokyo apartment, Miyamizu Mitsuha (in Okudera Miki's body) didn't even know how she eventually fell asleep.
She'd meant to wait for Rei Ao's reply, but the shock, confusion, and a hard-to-name, complicated emotion were finally crushed by sheer exhaustion. Curled up on the soft, unfamiliar bed, her consciousness sank into a chaotic deep sea.
It felt like a long time, and also like a blink.
Through the haze, she seemed to hear a voice—so familiar, and carrying exactly the comfort she most needed—softly calling her name.
"Mitsuha… wake up…"
The voice was quiet, yet it cut through the fog like a beam of light.
Mitsuha pried open sleepy eyes; the blur slowly came into focus. The first thing she saw was Rei Ao's flawless, handsome face. At some point he had arrived at the apartment and now stood by the bed, leaning slightly, looking down at her, the corners of his mouth lifting with that same reassuring yet unreadable smile.
"Rei Ao!"
Joy leapt in her chest and she almost sat up at once—only to freeze in the next second.
Because standing beside Rei Ao was… another person. Someone she knew better than anyone—herself.
Black hair. A youthful yet delicate face. Big amber eyes filled with the same shock, confusion, and helplessness as her own. She was even wearing last night's familiar pajamas.
That was her body.
A soul swap—so the soul inside that body right now was…
Miyamizu Mitsuha (in Okudera Miki's body) and "Miyamizu Mitsuha" (with Okudera Miki's soul) locked eyes in midair—a jolt like electricity shot through them. Both froze as if under a binding spell, staring wide-eyed, disbelieving.
It was an eerie, surreal experience: more real than any mirror by a thousandfold, and more absurd than any dream. The self looking at the "self"; a soul in an unfamiliar vessel studying the skin that once belonged to it. The alienation, dislocation, and roaring sense of wrongness surged up from deep within, threatening to break the dam of reason.
"I…"
Okudera Miki (in Mitsuha's body) spoke on instinct—but what came out was Mitsuha's clear voice.
That startled even her. She clapped a hand over her mouth, panic flaring in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Mitsuha (in Okudera's body) couldn't help lifting a hand to touch her—Okudera Miki's—cheek. The skin was smooth and delicate, yet utterly unfamiliar. Seeing yourself in a mirror and seeing a living person wearing your face are completely different feelings.
They just stared, dumbstruck. The air grew thick with an extreme, awkward silence.
Rei Ao was the one to break it at last. Amused, he chuckled.
"Heh. Looks like you're both awake."
"In that case, why don't we change the setting and sit down for a proper talk?"
Snap—
He snapped his fingers. Space around them rippled like water. In the next instant, the three of them had left the bedroom of Okudera Miki's apartment and appeared in a minimalist, comfortable living room—like a high-end hotel suite.
They each sat on a soft sofa. Mitsuha and Miki both instinctively straightened their backs, hands placed primly on their knees, sitting stiffly and overly formal.
Mitsuha's stiffness came from how alien this mature, voluptuous body felt; every breath made the rise and fall of her chest exaggeratedly obvious, leaving her at a loss. Miki's unease came from a tidal wave of guilt and embarrassment.
My god. She was using someone else's body. And not long ago she had done that kind of thing with someone else's boyfriend. And now the rightful owner sat right across from her.
It was the most outrageous love-triangle battlefield she'd ever experienced. She didn't dare lift her head to meet the gaze of the person opposite—her own face; her cheeks burned and she wished she could curl into a ball.
"Um… Rei Ao…"
In the end, Mitsuha couldn't stand the suffocating silence any longer and spoke first, voice small.
"W-what on earth is going on? Why did I swap souls with Okudera Miki-san?"
At that, Miki immediately looked up too, the same confusion and urgency in her eyes. After last night's intense… encounter, she'd been so exhausted she fell asleep at once—she hadn't had the chance or the mind to ask.
Lounging lazily against the sofa back, Rei Ao let his gaze travel between them, finally settling on Miki. A meaningful curve touched his lips.
"As for the cause of all this…"
He drawled, "I'm afraid we'll have to ask you, Okudera."
"Me?"
Miki stared, dumbfounded, reflexively protesting in Mitsuha's voice, "I—I didn't do anything! How could I possibly have that kind of power?!"
She was just an ordinary office worker—nothing special.
"Think carefully," Rei Ao prompted. "What did you do—or think—yesterday evening at the window when the comet was about to disappear?"
"The comet… evening…"
Miki frowned, searching her memory. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide, disbelief washing over her face.
"Could it be… that?!"
"A wish?!" she blurted.
"A wish? What wish?" Mitsuha looked at her, puzzled.
Miki's face flushed scarlet; her gaze skittered away and she stammered, "I—I just, on a whim, made a w-wish to the comet as it was fading…"
"A wish?"
"What kind of wish could do this?" Mitsuha was even more curious now.
Smiling, Rei Ao supplied the answer Miki seemed too embarrassed to say aloud.
"If I sensed correctly, Okudera-san's wish was… to meet an ideal, reliable man you could walk into marriage with. Am I right?"