Thursday Morning, Itomori, Miyamizu Shrine
"Sis! Wake up!"
A loud voice jolted Miyamizu Mitsuha from her sleep.
She let out a sleepy mumble, snuggling deeper into the warmth of her futon.
The sunlight streaming in through the window only made her more comfortable, encouraging her to stay in bed.
"Breakfast is ready!"
Seeing her sister still refusing to get up, Miyamizu Yotsuba shouted again and slammed the door shut with extra force.
Mitsuha, still curled up in her blanket, wiggled a little before reluctantly opening her eyes.
Blinking in confusion at her familiar room, she lowered her gaze to her pajamas, her hand instinctively reaching down beneath the covers.
Halfway through the motion, she suddenly snapped awake.
'What am I doing?! And why do my shoulders hurt?'
Glancing at her phone, she realized she had overslept again.
Not that it was unusual for her.
She tossed aside her blanket and walked over to the wardrobe.
'Wait, did I leave my uniform here last night?'
Oh well. Not important.
Quickly getting dressed, she rushed to the dining area, where her grandmother and sister were already eating breakfast.
"Sorry, sorry! I'll make breakfast tomorrow to make up for it," Mitsuha said, scooping herself a big bowl of rice.
"Geez, Sis, you overslept again! And you promised to braid my hair today! Liar!" Yotsuba pouted.
Mitsuha paused mid-bite.
"Huh?" When had she ever promised that?
"Don't tell me you forgot!" Yotsuba set her chopsticks down, glaring at her sister with puffed-up cheeks.
"Of course not! I'll do it right after I eat."
Though completely confused, Mitsuha instinctively agreed.
Normally, she avoided braiding Yotsuba's hair because she was always rushing in the morning, and besides, Yotsuba's hair was still short.
She looked cuter with little twin buns anyway.
"Hmph. That's more like it." Satisfied, Yotsuba picked up her chopsticks again and happily continued eating.
Mitsuha sped through her meal, already pressed for time and now adding hairstyling to her list of morning tasks.
"The ceremony is tonight," their grandmother, Miyamizu Hitoha, suddenly reminded her.
"Are you ready?"
"I still have some kumihimo cords left to finish, but I'll have them done before the ceremony," Mitsuha responded while carefully braiding Yotsuba's hair.
She spoke with confidence, but inside, she was full of questions.
'Wasn't the ceremony supposed to be tomorrow?'
Had she really miscounted the days?
But her grandmother never made mistakes about such things, so Mitsuha didn't question it further.
"Good. Now hurry off to school," Hitoha said, smiling as she watched her granddaughters interact.
"It looks so pretty!" Yotsuba admired her reflection in a handheld mirror.
"Alright, time to go!" Mitsuha quickly styled her own hair, parting her thick, dark locks into two fishtail braids and securing them at the back with the ceremonial cord.
After parting ways with her sister, Mitsuha walked along the mountain road to school, still mulling over the strange things from that morning.
"Mitsuha!"
A familiar voice called from behind. Turning around, she smiled.
"Good morning, Sayaka, Teshi."
Her two childhood friends pulled up beside her on a bicycle—Teshigawara Katsuhiko, with his thick eyebrows, and Natori Sayaka.
Small towns had their perks: the slow pace of life meant that despite Mitsuha oversleeping and helping Yotsuba with her hair, Sayaka and Teshigawara had still ended up behind her on their bikes.
"You guys are slow today," Mitsuha teased.
"Not my fault! I had to wait forever outside her house," Teshigawara grumbled.
"Hey! I didn't do it on purpose!" Sayaka protested.
"Alright, alright," Mitsuha chuckled, watching them bicker as usual.
The three of them had grown up together, and Sayaka and Teshigawara had been at it for as long as she could remember.
As they neared the school, more students joined the road.
Wait a minute… isn't that Shunya? Ugh, that annoying guy.
Mitsuha noticed a classmate of theirs—Shunya—flinch when he saw her.
He immediately clutched his backside, grimacing in pain.
'Why is he holding his butt?'
Mitsuha raised an eyebrow, puzzled by his reaction.
"Sayaka, what's up with Shunya?" she asked, noticing that both her friends were barely holding back their laughter.
"Pfft—!" Sayaka finally burst out laughing.
"Yesterday, after you knocked him over, he landed right on a rock!"
"Huh?? I knocked him over?!" Mitsuha blinked in disbelief.
She glanced down at her arms—slim, delicate, and smooth.
There was no way she had the strength to send a guy flying.
"Serves him right for always making snide remarks!" Teshigawara grinned.
"Wait, hold on. When exactly did I knock him over?" Mitsuha asked, completely baffled.
"Yesterday morning, at that empty lot."
"Your dad was giving a campaign speech, and he even called out to you."
"I thought he was going to scold you, but you just bowed and smiled, and he didn't say anything! You were so cool!" Sayaka gushed, eyes sparkling as she mimicked Mitsuha's supposed actions.
'M-My dad just let it slide? No way.'
If she had really caused a scene, her father would have definitely lectured her for hours.
'What the hell is going on?!' Mitsuha screamed internally.
"Oh, right! You told us yesterday to remind you to check your notes today!" Teshigawara suddenly remembered.
"Notes?"
"Yeah, you wrote a ton of stuff in your phone's memo app."
'M-Me? Writing notes?'
Feeling an odd sense of dread, Mitsuha hurriedly pulled out her phone and opened the memo.
———————————————————————
"Hello, I'm Hojou Kyousuke. Today, I used your body…"
———————————————————————
The moment she read the first line, Mitsuha's face flushed bright red.
"Mitsuha? What's wrong?" Sayaka asked, noticing her sudden reaction.
"N-Nothing!" Mitsuha stammered, forcing herself to keep walking as she read on.———————————————————————
"We switch bodies in our sleep. When I'm in your body, you're in mine."
———————————————————————
'Who taught this guy how to write? Does he have to phrase it like that?!'
Her embarrassment deepened, but she continued reading.
———————————————————————
"When we wake up, we return to our own bodies, but we forget what happened during the switch."
———————————————————————
'This… this would explain everything!'
Yotsuba's comments, Sayaka's story, Yamaaka Shunya's reaction—it all made perfect sense.
———————————————————————
"Today morning… afternoon… evening…"
———————————————————————
Kyousuke had left a brief account of everything he had done in her body yesterday.
At the bottom was one final note:
———————————————————————
"If there's an emergency, call me at: ( )"
———————————————————————
'This guy! He tells me to call him but doesn't leave his number?! What an idiot!'
Despite her frustration, Mitsuha now knew one thing for sure: she had to find a way to talk to this Hojou Kyousuke and get some real answers.
———————————————————————
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