"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, "II 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?"
Chapter 911: Will you be my girlfriend, Mitsuha...
Okudera Miki: "!!!"
Hearing Rei Ao say out loud the wish she'd made, Miki snapped her head up to look at him, eyes filled with shock and embarrassment.
H-how does he know it that clearly?! He even knows the part about "heading toward marriage"?! Did the comet really broadcast her innermost thoughts?!
Seeing the all-knowing look in Rei Ao's eyes, Miki could no longer deny it. Mortified, she gave the faintest nod and, in a voice as soft as a mosquito's, whispered, "Yes."
"???"
Miyamizu Mitsuha was dumbfounded. She wished on a comet for a husband and then swapped souls with her?
That's way too bizarre and magical!
Wait!
Mitsuha suddenly grasped the key point. Miki's wish was for an "ideal man," and Rei Ao-kun
She looked at Rei Ao. He was strikingly handsome, powerful and mysterious. As for his personality well, a bit of a bad boy, but undeniably, fatally attractive. From any angle he perfectly fit the definition of an ideal typehe even exceeded it by miles!
So did Miki's wish accidentally lock onto Rei Ao? And at that moment, Rei Ao was with her
A guess that made her scalp tingle and her face burn shot through her mind.
Gulp!
She swallowed hard. Her cheeks burned. Her gaze wavered. Her voice trembled as she finally mustered the courage to ask, "Th-then because of Okudera-san's wish, d-does that mean you two d-did?"
The last words stuck in her throat, too mortified to say them.
Rei Ao, however, seemed to have zero hang-ups. He nodded matter-of-factly and confirmed, "Mm. We did."
Boom!!!
Even though she'd braced herself, hearing it confirmed with her own ears felt like a thunderbolt from the blue. Mitsuha was fried inside and outsoul practically leaving her body.
Th-they really did!
After she blacked out, her body was being controlled by another soul
A flood of tangled emotions swallowed her in an instant: shame, embarrassment, the strange sense of a private, personal domain being trespassed and even the faintest thread of loss she herself hadn't noticed?
Meanwhile, Miki practically sprang off the sofa in a panic.
"I'm sorry!"
Hands flailing, face blazing red, she bowed over and over to Mitsuha in apology. Using Mitsuha's body only made her look more pitiful.
"S-sorry!"
"Miyamizu-san, I'm really, really sorry!"
"IIt was my first time too, my mind went totally blank, s-so I just couldn't control myself!"
"I truly didn't mean itplease forgive me!"
At that moment, guilt was practically spilling out of her.
What even was this situation!
She wished for a boyfriend and ended up using someone else's ready-made boyfriend with the girlfriend's body, no less. That was cuckolding squared!
But to Miki's surprise, faced with her barrage of apologies, Mitsuhaafter the initial shock and petrificationdidn't look angry. Instead, her expression was a complicated mix of shyness and extreme embarrassment.
Waving her hands, she stammered, "N-no, you don't have to apologize, Okudera-san. Actually actually I'm not Rei Ao-kun's girlfriend"
"Eh???"
Now it was Miki's turn to freezebrain blue-screening on the spot. Not his girlfriend? They weren't dating?!
Then what was that level of intimacy between them supposed to be?!
She snapped her head toward Rei Ao, who looked like a bystander watching a play, her eyes full of question marks and confusion.
What on earth is going on?!
The air in the living room congealed. Miki stared wide-eyed, her mind completely scrambled by this messy web of relationships.
Not a couple? Then that earth-shaking intimacy that made even her, a bystander, tremblewhat was that? A one-night stand? Some kind of deal she couldn't wrap her head around?
"B-but"
Miki couldn't help speaking, and because she was using Mitsuha's voice, it sounded extra soft and syrupy, thick with confusion.
"If you're not a couple, then why would you"
She really couldn't say the last two words; two blushes bloomed on her cheeks.
The question hit Mitsuha's shame point dead-on. She was instantly mortified, eyes skittering away from Miki's. She had no idea how to explain that transaction.
Was she supposed to say that, to save her sister and the town, she traded away the usage rights to her body? That sounded even weirder!
All she could do, shy and helpless, was look to Rei Ao on reflex, her eyes carrying a pleaand a reliance she herself hadn't noticed.
Rei Ao caught her look. He chuckled under his breath and tightened his arm, pulling closer the body that belonged to Miki but held Mitsuha's soul. Lowering his head, he met Mitsuha's pale-blue eyesglossy with nerves and shynesshead-on.
In a tone that brooked no doubt, he said earnestly, "We might not have been entirely, beforebut from now on, we can be."
He paused, voice softening, and asked clearly:
"Mitsuha, will you officially be my girlfriend?"
"Eh?!"
Mitsuha was completely stunned. Her heart clenched hard, then kicked into a wild gallop. The sudden, formal confession blanked her mind.
Through this pair of unfamiliar eyes, she saw the seriousness in Rei Ao's deep gaze, the gentleness behind his strength, and all the ways he'd protected and saved her
A joy and flutter she couldn't describe swept away all hesitation and shyness.
Almost without thinking, she answered softly in Miki's gentle, lovely voice:
"Mm i-if Rei Ao-kun doesn't mind II'd like that"
As the words left her lips, a huge wave of happiness wrapped around her like warmth, and she almost swooned in Rei Ao's arms.
~~~
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Chapter 912: Why choose? I want both of you...
On one side, Rei Ao officially won Mitsuha Miyamizu over and the two confirmed they were a couple.
But on the other side
"W-Wait!!!"
Okudera Miki suddenly shot up from the sofa.
Face blazing red, she pointed at the two of them, her voice pitching up with agitation:
"Y-you two, could you pay attention, please!"
"Right nowright now she's using my body!!!"
She was about to lose her mind!
From her point of view, that powerful, mysterious man, Rei Ao, was holding "her" (Okudera Miki's body) close, while "she" was shyly agreeing to be his girlfriend!
This scene was both absurd and mortifying the ultimate stress test on her nerves!
"!!!"
Mitsuha snapped out of the sugar-sweet haze of the successful confession the instant Miki shouted.
She realized the situation too.
She was currently using Ms. Okudera Miki's bodycuddling up to Rei Ao-kun and whispering sweet nothings!
"Yah!"
She yelped, as if scalded, and flailed to wriggle free of Rei Ao's arms.
So rude! She owed Okudera Miki-san a huge apology!
But Rei Ao's arm was like an iron hoop, firmly cinched around her waist, not letting her move an inch.
"Don't rush."
He chuckled lightly, apparently finding the flustered looks on the two women particularly amusing.
He raised his other hand and snapped his fingers crisply.
Snap!
The instant the sound fell, Mitsuha and Miki both felt a faint dizziness and a tugging sensation from the depths of their souls!
It was as if something had been forcibly pulled out of its current container, then, in a heartbeat, pressed into another container that fit far better!
They both closed their eyes at the same time.
After a brief darkness and weightlessness came the grounded feeling of their souls settling.
They opened their eyes together!
Mitsuha instinctively looked down at her handsno more pretty nail polish. They were back to the hands she knew: faintly callused from archery practice.
She clenched her fists. There it wasthe utterly familiar, fully controlled sense of strength!
"I'm back! This is my body!"
She gasped in delight, so excited she was nearly in tears. Okudera-san's body was lovely, but her own felt the most natural!
On the other side, Okudera Miki felt a completely different set of bodily cues: the weight of her chest, her long legs, and the very present, very warm big hand at her waist, heat coming through the thin nightdress!
She was sitting on Rei Ao's lapusing her own body!
"!!!"
Miki's face went scarlet in a flash. She jolted like she'd been shocked.
"II'll get up now!"
Way too close!
But the arm around her waist didn't looseninstead it drew tighter, gentle yet irresistible, easily pressing her back into place and even nestling her closer to Rei Ao's chest.
"What's the hurry?"
His amused voice came from above, warm breath stirring her hair.
"Between us, everything that shouldand shouldn'thave happened has already happened, hasn't it?"
Miki's body went stiff. She had no words.
Yes everything they'd just experienced, she had genuinely felt in Mitsuha's body. Even though her soul had been inside Mitsuha, every sensation was clearly branded deep into her soul and wouldn't fade.
She could lie to others, but not to herself.
Rei Ao lowered his gaze to the mature face in his arms, only more radiant for her embarrassment. Smiling with narrowed eyes, he went on, "Strictly speaking, I'm the ideal man you wished upon the comet for, aren't I?"
"Do I meet your criteriareliable, strong, and someone who can make you happy?"
He dragged those last words out suggestively, turning the tips of Miki's ears crimson.
"So."
He wrapped it up in a coaxing tone.
"Why not stay with me from now on? I'll treat you well."
Was was that a confession? Or something more directa kept-woman declaration?
Miki's heart pounded wildly. To say she wasn't moved would be a lie. Here was a man whose looks, strength, and presence not only matched but exceeded every fantasy she'd ever had, issuing such a straightforward invitation and they'd already shared the most intimate bond.
But
She remembered Rei Ao's confession to Mitsuha just now. Instinctively, she turned to look at Mitsuhawho had just switched back to her own body and looked equally at a loss
"But Mitsuha"
Miki's eyes were complicated. She had just watched Rei Ao confess to Mitsuhaand Mitsuha had accepted.
So what did that make her now? Cutting in? This was getting way too messy!
Hearing Miki's words, Mitsuha looked at her sitting on Rei Ao's lap, and a faint sourness and sense of loss welled up in her chest.
Okudera-san was so beautiful, so mature and magneticand she was a Tokyo woman.
Compared to that, a country girl like her really did seem less suited to the powerful Rei Ao-kun
She lowered her head, fingers twisting her hem, her voice carrying the faintest catch as she forced herself to say, "I-it's it's fine."
"Okudera-san, please don't worry about me. You and Rei Ao-kun are a great match. I I'll go now"
With that, she actually turned to leave this place that made her chest ache.
But she'd only taken a single step when a hand pulled her back.
At some point Rei Ao had released his hold on Miki's waistthough he still kept her seated on his thigh and stretched out an arm to catch Mitsuha's wrist.
"Go?"
He arched a brow.
With a gentle tug, he easily drew the slender Mitsuha off balance, tumbling her into the sofa on his other sidestraight into his other arm!
And so, there he was, lounging lazily against the back of the sofa: on his left leg sat a crimson-faced, stiff-as-a-board Okudera Miki; in his right arm, he held a flustered, red-cheeked Mitsuha Miyamizu.
The left-and-right embrace made for quite the scene.
Rei Ao glanced down at the mature, alluring city beauty on his left, then at the pure, adorable shrine maiden from the countryside on his right.
Satisfied, he smiled, and dropped a thunderclap of a line:
"Why leave? I like you both."
"So there's no need to argue over who comes first, and no need to feel guilty."
"From now on, you can both be my wings."
Mitsuha: "???"
Miki: "!!!"
Wings?!
Chapter 913: Kirishima Touka Life and Death Trouble!
In the bedroom of Okudera Miki's apartment.
Rei Ao had already left. Only Miyamizu Mitsuha and Okudera Miki remained.
They sat side by side on the edge of the bed, heads slightly lowered.
Both still had a lingering blush on their cheeks; the mood was awkward and delicate.
So they were now sisters?
The kind who share the same man!
It had all happened too fast, too surreal, leaving both of them a little dazed.
After a long while,
Miki was the one to break the silence.
She turned to the clearly more flustered young woman beside her and, with a complicated tone, said:
"Um Mitsuha, little sister? Is it okay if I call you that?"
"Uh, o-of course!"
Mitsuha answered nervously.
"Don't be nervous. One way or another, we're in the same boat now."
Mitsuha met Miki's eyes for a second, then quickly looked down again.
Her voice was barely above a whisper: "Mm I-I guess so. That's what Rei Ao-kun said"
Another spell of silence.
"Actually"
Miki drew a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound natural.
"Before he left, Rei Ao gave me this."
A chat-group interface appeared in front of hervisible to Mitsuha as well.
Rei Ao had granted her a sub-group.
"He also told me a few things about himself."
There was disbeliefand a dawning realizationin Miki's voice.
About who Rei Ao really was, and the existence of the chat group.
"It's still mind-blowing, but it kind of explains everything."
She had wished for the ideal man
and ended up with someone who could command a comet, freeze time, swap souls, maybe even cross dimensions a godlike being?
"Unusual" didn't begin to cover it. It was like hitting a jackpot on a cosmic scale.
And the last thing Rei Ao did before leaving was beyond her comprehension.
Offhandedly, he told them:
Because of her wish and the comet's strange effects, this world's timeline had gone askew.
Mitsuha's original point in time wasn't now (Miki's present) but three years earlier.
In other words, Miki's wish accidentally pierced time and linked to Mitsuha three years in the past.
