The woman shouts back toward the kitchen. The three of us watch her, mouths agape.

The ramen shop owner comes out of the kitchen and considers the sketch, smiling a little. “Oh, yeah. That was Itomori, for sure. Takes me back…”

“My man’s from Itomori, you see.”

Itomori?

Suddenly, I remember. I start up out of my chair.

“Itomori… Yeah, Itomori! Of course, why couldn’t I remember that? It’s Itomori! It’s near here, isn’t it?!”

The couple looks mystified, exchanging perplexed glances. The man opens his mouth.

“Kid… You know about Itomori, don’t you? That’s where—”

Tsukasa interrupts loudly. “Itomori?! Taki, don’t tell me—”

“What, wait—? You mean, the one where the comet…?!”

Even Okudera-senpai speaks up, eyes wide.

“Huh……?”

I don’t understand what’s going on and look around at the others. They’re all watching me dubiously. The shadow of something that’s been trying to surface in my mind this whole time rustles stealthily, growing more and more ominous.

The cry of a kite trails through the atmosphere, lonely enough to freeze the blood.

A row of DO NOT ENTER barricades extends as far as the eye can see, throwing long shadows over the cracked asphalt.

A sign with vines tangled around it reads, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DISASTER COUNTERMEASURES BASIC ACT, THIS AREA IS OFF-LIMITS. KEEP OUT.—RECONSTRUCTION AGENCY.

And below me lies Itomori, devastated by some unimaginable force and mostly swallowed up by the lake.

“…Is this really the place?”

Okudera-senpai walks up behind me, her voice trembling. Without waiting for me to respond, Tsukasa answers, sounding desperately cheerful.

“It can’t be! Like I’ve been saying, Taki’s confused.”

“…This is it.”

I tear my eyes away from the ruins below me, scanning my surroundings.

“It isn’t just the town. I remember this schoolyard, the mountains around us, the high school… I remember all of it perfectly!”

I have to shout the words to convince myself. Behind us is the school building, black and sooty, with some of its windows broken. We’re standing on the grounds of Itomori High School, looking out across the lake.

“So you’re saying this is the town you were looking for? The one where your friend online lives?” Tsukasa shouts, that parched smile still clinging to his voice.

“That’s not even possible! That disaster was three years ago. Hundreds of people died! You remember it, right, Taki?!”

At that, I finally turn toward Tsukasa.

“…Died?”

I meant to look at his face, but my gaze goes right through him, then through the high school behind him, only to dissipate into the distance. I know I must be looking at something, but there’s nothing there.

“Three years ago… she died?”

Abruptly, I remember.

The comet I saw over Tokyo three years earlier. Countless shooting stars falling through the western sky. I thought it was beautiful, like something out of a dream. I got all excited about it.

That’s when she died?

Don’t.

I can’t acknowledge that.

I search for words. For proof.

“That can’t be true… I mean, look, I’ve got the journal entries she wrote.”