She took him to show the house—and in the exact same place, the house stood perfectly normal, looking brand new. Her parents were alive and well, and she introduced Kakeru to them. They welcomed him warmly, and he spent the whole evening with them before heading home.
When he returned, he shouted, "Grandpa! Grandpa, where are you?"
Suddenly, a lady he had never seen before appeared and said, "Why are you shouting, Kotasku?"
Kakeru froze. He had never seen this woman, and she was calling him by his grandfather's name. Shock overwhelmed him, and he fainted on the spot.
When he woke up, he was in his own room, on his own bed. He jumped up and yelled again, "Grandpa! Grandpa!"
This time, his real grandfather rushed in. "Why are you shouting, Kakeru?"
Relief washed over him. His grandfather remembered who he was. Kakeru didn't tell him anything about what had happened. He convinced himself it must have been a dream.
The next school day came. He waited for Mai—but she never appeared. Feeling uneasy, he checked the class register. There was no name like Mai Ayasaki listed anywhere.
A strange sensation filled him. Something was happening. Something he couldn't explain. And now he was certain—
the mythical tree had something to do with all of it.
As soon as school ended, Kakeru rushed home and shouted, "Grandpa! Grandpa!" His grandfather came running, thinking something terrible had happened. Kakeru sat down with him and asked about the old tree. Grandpa thought for a moment, then told him an interesting story.
He said he had met Kakeru's grandmother under that very tree, though he couldn't remember the details clearly. "The tree deity must have brought us together," he said with a nostalgic smile.
Kakeru was still confused, unable to understand what was happening to him. He wondered if everything was just a dream—but then he remembered something: the lightning strike.
He realized the lightning must be connected to all of this.
So he went to the light pole near the tree and waited for lightning to strike again. But nothing happened. As he stood there waiting, an old woman he had never seen before walked by and said, "How come you're still waiting for the lightning to strike?"