When the afterglow of sunset streamed once more through the floor-to-ceiling windows, tinting the room in warm hues, Mitsuha found herselfshe didn't know whencurled in Rei Ao's arms on the soft sofa. His fingers were gently threading through her hair, movements so tender they were intoxicating.
The air was thick with a sweetness that felt a little dangerous.
"Are you afraid?" he asked softly, breath brushing her ear.
Mitsuha's body trembled.
Her heart thunderedyet she shook her head. Perhaps there was still fear, but more than that was a kind of acceptance, even a secret thread of anticipation.
He was the one who had saved everythingand the trade had been her choice.
Rei Ao chuckled, said no more, and lowered his head to kiss her: a gentle, irresistible kiss with the faint sweetness of fruit wine.
Mitsuha's mind went buzzingly blank.
All she could do was respondawkwardly, passivelyletting him lead her, step by step, into unknown territory.
Everything that followed seemed filmed through a soft-focus lensblurred and yet clear.
Here, time itself lost its meaning.
She didn't know how long had passed. When everything finally calmed, Mitsuha's whole body was weak and bonelessshe didn't have the strength to lift a finger. She lay curled in Rei Ao's arms, cheek against his warm chest, listening to that steady, powerful heartbeat. She didn't want to think at allonly to savor this moment of peace after the storm.
Just then, the room wavered slightly; that strange door appeared again.
Rei Ao glanced down at Mitsuha's still-dazed eyes and smiled. "Time's about up. We should get back to business."
He draped a soft, thin shirt over her, then lifted her in his arms and carried her toward the door.
Mitsuha gave a small gasp, instinctively looped her arms around his neckthen that feeling of passing through space swept over her again.
Her vision flickered.
Cool air and the scent of grass rushed into her nose.
They were back on the little hill overlooking Itomori.
Night had fallen. The deep blue sky was pricked with stars.
And at that very moment, a gorgeous streak of light was ripping across the heavens, trailing a long, glittering tail
A comet!
Mitsuha snapped out of the lingering haze at once. Her body was still weak, but her mind went taut. She wrested herself upright from Rei Ao's arms, clutched the shirt tighter, and pointed skyward, nerves stretched to the breaking point.
"It's here, Rei Ao-san! It's here!"
Her voice trembled with tension, and fear seized her heart again. She had lived through Itomori's destruction onceshe would never forget it as long as she lived. Panic rose in her by instinct.
Rei Ao, however, didn't seem the least bit flustered. He even took a moment to smooth the hair the night breeze had mussed, his tone lightly teasing: "Oh? You look much more nervous now than you were just now in bed."
At that blunt remark, Mitsuha's panic was instantly replaced by mortification, a blush racing from her scalp to her toes. The long, shame-tinged scenes of their "time together" surged into her mind unbidden, turning her legs to water.
She really had shared the most intimate act with a man she'd met less than a day agoand she had been the one to propose the trade. The confusion left her thoughts in a muddle; she wanted to sink into the ground.
But the comet, shining brighter and beginning to split, wrenched her attention back.
It was splitting!
That was the split comet that had destroyed Itomori!
Fear crushed embarrassment again. She grabbed fistfuls of Rei Ao's clothes, her knuckles whitening with the force, her voice edged with tears and terror.
"That's it! That one! Rei Ao-sanplease!"
She would never forget that hellish scene. She could not allow it to happen again.
Sensing her fear, Rei Ao glanced at the small hand fiercely gripping his hem; the teasing curve on his lips eased a little. He lifted his gaze to the comet breaking apart and shining ominously in the sky. In his deep eyes, there seemed to flit a faint, detached lightas if he were looking at dust.
In the night sky, the fractured comet loomed like a ferocious beast.
The largest fragment, trailing a burning tail flame, was plunging with unstoppable, annihilating forceaimed precisely at Itomori.
That ever-brightening light felt like Death's grin, dragging Mitsuha back to that hopeless night
the night Yotsuha died.
Thunderous detonations, pillars of fire
"No!"
A stifled cry tore from Mitsuha. Her body shook uncontrollably as she clung to the only thing she couldRei Ao's lapel, a lone driftwood plank in a raging sea. The great wave of terror washed away the warmth she'd just experienced, leaving her face as white as paper.
~~~
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Chapter 906: Beautiful... Wishes...
Feeling the fierce tremor of the delicate body in his arms and the fear welling up from her very soul, Rei Ao lowered his head and saw the tears and helplessness brimming in Mitsuha's eyes.
He patted her smooth back, a quiet, reassuring gesture. His voice stayed calmso calm it steadied the heart, carrying the absolute confidence of someone in control.
"Don't be afraid," he said. "Now that I'm here, I won't let that happen a second time."
His words seemed to carry a touch of magic, easing the chill in Mitsuha's chest. Rei Ao raised his gaze to the meteor fragment about to bring disaster. His expression was indifferent.
To Itomori, that rock was destruction incarnate; to Rei Ao, it was no more than a speck of dust in the way. He lifted his free hand toward the night sky, toward that onrushing light of death.
His fingers spread slightlythen, as if casually, he closed them into a gentle fist.
In the instant his hand closed, an invisible, immaterial, and immeasurably vast power leapt across space, reaching thousands of meters up in a heartbeat and seizing precisely upon the plunging fragment.
In Miyamizu Mitsuha's stunned, speechless gaze, the meteor never struck the earth. It was as if an unseen divine hand had pinched it andgentlycrumbled it. Yes, crumbled.
The massive shard came apart in silence, disintegrating into countless tiny motes that glimmered faintly.
Friction in the upper atmosphere lit those particles at once, turning them into billions of points of light. They blossomed like the most magnificent golden fireworks, spilling across much of the night skybrilliant, gorgeous, impossibly dreamlike.
In a heartbeat, the crisis that would have destroyed Itomori became a rain of romantic stars. The myriad lights drifted down, trailing crystalline lines across the deep-blue vault, bathing the town in a gentle, otherworldly glow.
Those in town who might have noticed the comet could only gasp and cheer. The sheer beauty contrasted so starkly with the hellish scene they had expected that Mitsuha was left utterly dazed.
Her lips parted as she tilted her head back, amber eyes reflecting the light like a sky full of fireflies. She forgot her fear. She forgot to breathe. She was lost in a miracle beyond imagining.
"Do you like it, Mitsuha?" Rei Ao's low, warm voice brushed her ear, threaded with the faintest smile. "Take this sea of stars as fireworksmy first gift to you."
It was a miracle that saved her hometown, and a romance that bloomed for her alone.
A surge of indescribable feeling crashed through Mitsuha, sweeping away every defense: the relief of surviving disaster, awe at such power, the flutter stirred by gentle protectioncountless emotions knotting together until all that remained was an irrepressible pull toward this mysterious man.
She turned sharply, eyes brimming, and looked into Rei Ao's sea-deep, star-bright gaze. This time, it wasn't duty or repayment. It was pure, heartfelt, irresistible attraction.
Rising on her toes, she closed her eyestrembling, but resoluteand offered herself to the kiss.
Rei Ao seemed momentarily taken aback; then the smile in his eyes deepened. He shifted from receiving to leading, deepening the kiss, answering her fervor.
Beneath the rain of starlight, their embrace became a tableau of breathtaking romance.
Meanwhile, far from Itomori, in the great city of Tokyo, Okudera Miki had just finished a long day's work and a hot shower.
Wearing a silk off-shoulder nightdress that traced a graceful, alluring figure, she let her long hairblack as satinfall loosely over her smooth shoulders, the ends still damp.
She stepped to the window, pushed it open, and let the cool night breeze skim her skin and carry away a little of her fatigue.
Outside, neon flickered and traffic floweda world apart from Itomori's quiet, starry sky.
Leaning at the sill, she drifted into thought. Moonlight and distant streetlamps sketched the fine lines of her profile: a calm, gentle look in her light-blue eyes, a poised nose, lips softly pressed together.
Everything about her carried the particular charm of a mature womanlike a tender silhouette lifted from a spring fashion spread.
Yet beneath the beauty lay a thin, almost hidden thread of loneliness. Her job was steady, her life comfortable, and still something felt missing.
Friends and coworkers were falling in love, marrying, even having children. She couldn't say she wasn't envious.
A junior at workTakiseemed to like her; she could tell. He was a good kid, earnest and sincere. But too young.
To her he felt more like a little brother. What she wanted was something steady and reliable, a love that could carry two people all the way to marriagesomeone who made her feel safe, someone she could lean on.
She sighed. These things needed timingfate. But when would fate arrive?
Her eyes wandered to the sky just as the tail of a comet was fading. A comet? Could it grant wishes?
She laughed at herself, a little embarrassed by the thought, but still couldn't help pressing her hands together and making a wish to that vanishing streak of light.
"Dear comet, if you really have a spirit please bless me with a good match. Someone truly right for mesomeone I can entrust myself to without worry."
She finished the wish and chuckled, shaking her head. Just a moment of girlishness; as if that could really come true.
She turned from the window to get some restnever noticing that, at the very moment she wished, the comet's glow gave the faintest, fleeting flicker, as if it really had received a signal.
Chapter 907: Sudden Swapped? Okudera Miki's Wish Granted?
In the dead of night, all was silent.
Okudera Miki had long since drifted into deep sleep.
She didn't know how much time had passed when a strange sensation stirred her.
"Hm?"
Her brows knit. That odd feeling forced her to pry open her sleepy eyes. Blurred vision slowly came into focuson a face, impossibly handsome and far too close.
Iridescent, fathomless eyes. A straight nose. Thin, sculpted lips Every line of his cheek was flawless, without a single blemish.
So handsome.
That was her first thought.
Her brain was still half-asleep, but in the next second she snapped fully awake.
What is happening?!
"Who are you?!"
He actually let go the moment he heard her.
Those bottomless dark eyes rested on herno anger, no impatience at her sudden resistance. Only a cool, searching clarity, as if he already understood everything.
"Miss, please calm down first."
"I think this is an accident caused by your own will."
His voice was low and steady, carrying a strangely soothing force.
An accident?
Miki was shocked and furious in equal measure.
What kind of "accident" is this supposed to be?!
For a heartbeat she even thought of killing him and then ending herself.
Before she could erupt again, the man gave a casual swipe with his free hand. A delicate, mercury-sheen mirror appeared out of thin air and stood there in the air, perfectly steady. Its smooth surface reflected her current appearance with utter clarity.
In the mirror
A face, slightly twisted by fear and anger a young woman's face.
She looked to be in her early twenties: fine features, smooth skin. Big amber eyes brimming with tears. Long black hair spilling in disarray
"What?"
Miki was stunned.
That wasn't her.
That wasn't Okudera Miki at all.
Her pupils contracted to pinpoints. Every scream and struggle jammed in her throat. Eyes wide, she raised a hand in front of her faceit was obviously younger and more slender than hers.
She touched her cheeks, trembling.
The feel was completely unfamiliar.
This wasn't her body.
In the mirror, the young woman mirrored her movements, the same shock and disbelief written across her face.
The blow was so great Miki's mind went blank. Was she still dreamingsome bizarre nightmare? Had wishing for love before bed left her with a ridiculous fever dream?
While her thoughts spiraled, the manRei Aospoke again. His gaze flicked over her stricken face, then to the mirror.
"It seems," he said, calm to a frightening degree, even faintly amused, "that my dear girlfriend Mitsuha's soul has, for some reason, swapped with yours."
"Right now, youan unfamiliar ladyare in this body."
He paused, leaned in slightly toward the completely petrified Miki. Warm breath brushed her ear as he asked the question that made her soul jump out of her skin:
"So, given that you're using my girlfriend's body, and I was in the middle of communicating with herdo you think I should continue?"
He tossed the choice lightly to Miki, whose brain had crashed entirely.
He was not, by nature, a one-woman man. He had no intention of letting either Mitsuha or Miki go.
Continue?
Stop?
The world reeled. Her entire worldview shattered. A soul swap? Something out of manga and movies was happening to hernow, of all times.
She looked at the man before her: handsome, commanding, and apparently unfazed by the supernatural. Under that deep gaze that seemed to pierce straight through her, Miki heard herselfusing this unfamiliar young woman's voicesay, "Your call"
"In that case," Rei Ao's eyes held the faintest smile, "I won't refuse."
And he really did as he said.
Have I made a terrible choice? That was Miki's last coherent thought before reason slipped away.
Far off in a Tokyo apartment, the real Miyamizu Mitsuha's soul slept on inside Okudera Miki's body, unaware of everything. Because of a wish and a bargain, fate's course had veered once again in a strange new direction.
~~~
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Chapter 908: Exchange of Identities!
