Bad dream?
Mitsuha snapped back to herself. Her breathing slowly eased. She blinked around the roomthe familiar bedroom, the quiet night outside, her little sister's drowsy, confused face
No apocalyptic blast. No tower of fire. No ragged, heart-rending screams.
She touched her face, her arms, her body, almost without thinkingeverything intact. Then she whipped her head toward the window.
Itomori slept peacefully in the moonlight. Far off, Lake Itomori mirrored the stars like a sheet of glass. All was well.
"It was a dream?"
She murmured, her voice still trembling with aftershock. Her heart hammered on. The sensation of being targeted by a meteor, annihilation bearing down on her, was branded into her mind so vividly it chilled her to the bone.
"Of course it was a nightmare!" Yotsuha yawned and burrowed back under the covers, mumbling, "Sis, aren't you overworked lately? Go back to sleepwe have to get up early."
Yotsuha drifted off again.
Mitsuha couldn't. She sat hugging her knees beneath the blanket, staring at the familiar view outside.
That dream it was too real.
Every detail was terrifyingly clear: the comet splitting; the crushing pressure as the meteor swelled; the blast's roar and heat; that soul-rending despair
Was it really only a dream?
She exhaled long and slow, trying to shake the panic and unease.
"If it was a dream good."
"If it was a dream good."
She told herself that, lay down againand didn't sleep a wink. The too-real nightmare settled over her heart like a quiet, ill-omened shadow.
Morning.
With faint circles under her eyes, Mitsuha got up as usual, washed, and helped her grandmother prepare for shrine duties. She kept herself busy, trying to banish the awful dream from the night before.
Under the sun, Itomori was peaceful and serenelast night's vision of ruin felt ridiculous. Her mood finally began to settle.
Until evening.
After a long day, Mitsuha bathed and was toweling her damp hair dry. Passing through the living room in a loose yukata, she heard the TV news.
The anchorwoman's clear, steady voice drifted out:
"According to the latest observations from the observatory, there will be a sizable meteorcometshower over the city tomorrow night. The best viewing time is expected between 10 p.m. and around 2 a.m. If the weather holds, residents may be treated to a gorgeous fireworks-like display across the night sky"
A comet shower?!
Mitsuha's hands froze mid-towel. It was as if lightning struck her; she went rigid on the spot.
The newscaster said something more, but not a single word reached her. Only one image spun and swelled in her mind:
In a pitch-black sky, the comet suddenly splitting in two. One piece trailing a blazing tail, swelling and swelling in her pupilsuntil it plunged straight toward Itomori
"BOOM!!!"
The annihilating thunderclap exploded in her ears all over again. A cold chill shot up her spine like a snake from tailbone to crown, and in an instant all the blood in her body seemed to freeze.
Tomorrow a comet shower.
That dreamwasn't a dream?!
It was a prophecy?!
~~~
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Chapter 896: Prophecy, Mitsuha's Fear
Miyamizu Mitsuha's fingers trembled.
The cold at her fingertips crept inward, as if it could freeze her heart.
The group chat interface flickered before her eyes.
She didn't know how to face a dream that mightpossiblybe a prophecy.
Maybe the people in the chat, who came from different worlds, would know something.
But the glow of the screen couldn't disperse the deepening shadow in her chest.
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "Excuse me have you ever heard of prophetic dreams?"
The message dropped like a stone into a still lake, sending ripples everywhere.
Frieren: "A prophetic dream? Hmm in my world, magic sometimes brings vague hints. Dreams are one form."
Frieren: "But most of the time they're symbolic metaphors that need careful interpretationnot prophecies to take literally."
She spoke calmly and analytically.
Stella: "Prophetic dreams? That sounds awesome! Is it like seeing future battle moves in advance?"
Stella: "I've never had one, though."
Shiba Miyuki: "Precognition?"
Shiba Miyuki: "In theory, any observation that involves temporal factors is extremely difficult, and the uncertainty principle in such domains"
Shiba Miyuki: "ApologiesI'm rambling."
Shiba Miyuki: "Mitsuha-san, did something specific happen?"
Hiiragi Shinoa: "Dreams, huh. Sometimes I do dream about bad things."
Hiiragi Shinoa: "But if you fixate on them, you'll just get trapped in the dream. Mitsuha, what kind of dream was it?"
Misaka Mikoto: "A prophetic dream? Why bring that up out of nowheredid you see something bad? @Miyamizu Mitsuha"
Called out by Misaka Mikoto, Mitsuha drew a deep breath, as if she'd found an outlet at last.
Curled up on the tatami, hugging her knees, she typedclumsy, urgent.
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "Yes II had a very, very scary dream."
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "I dreamed of a comet tearing across the sky and falling on my townItomori."
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "Everything was destroyed. Fire, a deafening roar and then nothing."
She paused, groping for words, trying to convey that bone-deep terror.
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "And by a strange coincidence, I just saw on the TV news that there really will be a comet tomorrow nightthe viewing conditions will be great"
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "II don't know if it was just a coincidental nightmare or or"
She didn't finish. But the sharp edge of her worry had already reached everyone in the chat.
Erica: "If the 'coincidence' is that strong, maybe we shouldn't treat it as a coincidence."
Erica: "In my experience, a lot of things that look accidental have the shadow of 'fate' or 'omens' behind them."
Fubuki: "Ever heard of hazard warnings?"
Fubuki: "If a dream's content closely matches something that's about to happen, then even if science can't fully explain it, it's wise to treat it as a potential risk alert and take action."
Frieren: "Mm I've lived a long time and seen plenty of strange things, but a dream this directand this frighteningis troublesome."
Marcille: "In my world, a clear dream about a specific place being destroyed is often an early manifestation of the world's pulse or some large-scale magical calamity. Definitely something to watch out for!"
Julis: "Do you need help? Crossing worlds is hard, but if it's about evacuations or getting warnings out, maybe we can think of something."
Busujima Saeko: "Sometimes dreams are projections of our deepest fears. Sometimes they're the soul's instinctive sense of crisis."
Busujima Saeko: "Mitsuha-san, how do you feel right now?"
Busujima Saeko: "Besides fear, were there any details that felt unusually real?"
Busujima Saeko: "And for something this bigan entire region's survivalyou might want to ask Rei Ao."
The chat went quiet.
That name carried special weight. He rarely appeared, but when he did, he went straight to the heart of the problemand sometimes offered solutions that defied belief, though they came at a price.
Miyamizu Mitsuha's heartbeat quickened. She remembered the group owner, Rei Ao: few words, every message concise, with an authority that was hard to describe.
Just then, a minimalist ID lit up.
Rei Ao: "@Miyamizu Mitsuha, I've seen everything."
Only a few words, yet they seemed to exert a strange gravity, pulling Mitsuha's scattered thoughts together.
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "Rei Ao-san?"
Rei Ao: "Your dream is exactly what you saida prophetic dream. The disaster will strike Itomori. You and everyone else will die."
Rei Ao: "Miyamizu Mitsuha, this wasn't a random dream born of daytime thoughts. In a real sense, it was precognition."
Rei Ao: "I don't know the exact cause, but the content basically matches what's about to occur."
Cold lines of text appeared one after another, slamming into her eyesand into her heart.
Rei Ao: "Itomori will be struck around 8:42 p.m. tomorrow by fragments from a comet that breaks apart."
Rei Ao: "Itomoriand the surrounding areawill be erased from the map. There will be no survivors."
Silence.
Her mind went blank.
Miyamizu Mitsuha stared at those lines. She knew every word, but together they refused to make senseor rather, she refused to let them make sense.
Destroyed?
Erased?
No survivors?
Tomorrow night at 8:42?
You've got to be kidding me?!
How could that be
Her home, the shrine, her school, her friends, the snack-shop owner who always cracked jokes, and that little airhead Yotsuha
All of it gone?
Chapter 897: Plan A and Plan B action
Itomori will be destroyed by a meteor strike.
Hearing Rei Ao state that inevitable future, Miyamizu Mitsuha felt her blood freeze in an instant. Her limbs went so cold they went numb.
A ringing filled her ears.
Her vision wavered and blurred.
She could even hear her own heart pounding like a drumyet it sounded so far away it didn't feel like hers.
Her throat felt clamped shut; no sound would come out.
The group chat had already exploded at Rei Ao's pronouncement.
Misaka Mikoto: "What? Are you serious?! A meteor strike? The whole town? @Rei Ao, you're not joking, right?!"
Shiba Miyuki: "Rei Ao-kun isn't the type to joke about something like this. We all know how powerful he is."
Erica: "A godlike-style verdict Mitsuha-san, please place your faith in our kinghis words speak the world's truth."
Stella: "Where is everyone? Why is it so quiet?"
Kasuga Hijiri: "I think Mitsuha's probably in shock from the news and hasn't recovered yet."
Busujima Saeko: "Mitsuha! Mitsuha, are you there?!"
Julis: "@Miyamizu Mitsuha, get a grip! This isn't the time to space out!"
Yomogawa Ayame: "The worst-case scenario has occurred. Mitsuha-san, please face it calmly."
Marcille: "A heartbreaking premonition but if we've learned it in advance, perhaps there's a chance to overturn it?"
Frieren: "Knowing the future and changing the futurethat's only natural, isn't it?"
Bibi Dong: "We do need to rule out whether Mitsuha's world even permits altering the futureand whether there are gods there who like meddling in the mortal realm."
Message after message flew by, full of concern.
But they felt as if they were separated from Mitsuha by a thick pane of glass, unable to truly reach her mind.
She just sat there, blank.
It was as if her soul had floated out of her body and now watched coldly from above, looking down at the girl named Miyamizu Mitsuha curled up tight in terror.
Destruction everything will be destroyed.
"Big sis? What's wrong? You're so pale."
Her little sister Yotsuha's voice came from outside the door, care-free in that way only children are.
"Dinner's ready! We've got your favoritepan-fried fish!"
Yotsuha Grandma Dad everyone in Itomori
"!"
Mitsuha sucked in a breath, like a drowning person breaking the surface at last.
Cough, cough, cough!
She burst into a fit of coughing, tears welling from the sudden choking.
Her senses finally came back.
And then an indescribable panic crashed over her like a tsunami.
What do I do?
What should I do?
Save Itomori?
But how?
She was just an ordinary girlwhat could she possibly do?
Report it to the town office?
Say, "I had a prophetic dream and a comet is going to fall"?
Who would believe that?
They'd just think the Miyamizu shrine maiden had gone crazy!
Run away?
Take Grandma and Yotsuha and leave right now?
But what about everyone else in town? Are they supposed to wait for death?
A crushing helplessness and despair seized her.
She was just a regular girlat most, a shrine maiden in a country town.
How could she possibly fight a meteor falling from the sky?
It would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariotutterly futile.
Chaotic thoughts battered around her skull, threatening to tear her reason apart.
Just then, a new message from Rei Ao appeared.
The calm words carried a strange, steadying power.
Rei Ao: "@Miyamizu Mitsuha, panic won't solve anything. Take a deep breath and listen."
His words felt like commands with a kind of magic.
Mitsuha obeyed almost without thinking.
She drew a long breath and slowly exhaled; her shaking fingers steadied a little.
Rei Ao: "First, let's confirm something: this future is not absolutely unchangeable."
"In your world there aren't many bizarre rules, and there are no highly sentient godsonly all sorts of odd legends. And in the original course of your world, the fact that you would have died has already been changed. I don't know if it's because of the group chat, but you did not proceed down that path"
"The very point of a prophetic dream is that it offers the possibility of changing the future."
Those words cut through the darkness in Mitsuha's heart like the first light at dawn.
Miyamizu Mitsuha: "Rreally? This can be changed?"
Her voice wavered on the edge of tears, the question tumbling out of her.
Rei Ao: "Yes. The key is you, Miyamizu Mitsuha. You are the 'variable' now."
Rei Ao: "What you must do isn't despair alone, but take action. You have roughly twenty-four hours."
Rei Ao: "Plan A: Evacuate as many people as possible."
Rei Ao: "The target area is the Itomori basin. As long as people leave the basin and move to the surrounding high ground, their chances of survival rise dramatically."
Rei Ao: "Even just moving to the hills at the edge of town will greatly increase their odds."
Misaka Mikoto: "Yes! Evacuations! As long as people are safe, buildings can be rebuilt."
Julis: "Evacuation is a good plan. Time is tight, but not impossible!"
Fubuki: "You can draft an emergency evacuation plan and use broadcasts, door-to-door noticeswhatever it takes."
Rei Ao: "Yes. It's the most direct and most likely to succeed."
Rei Ao: "Try to persuade your family, contact people with influence in town, or create some disruptions and incidents to draw people toward the high ground."
Rei Ao: "Exactly how you do it depends on the situationyou'll have to judge."
Rei Ao: "But you must also prepare for the worst."
Rei Ao: "People may not believe you. You might run out of time. All kinds of accidents could happen."
His voice was calm to the point of crueltyyet utterly realistic.
Rei Ao: "So I'm giving you Plan B."
Rei Ao: "Ifand this is an ifyou do everything you can and still can't stop the tragedy, or can't save the people you most want to save"
