“Miiitsuhaaa!”

After Yotsuha and I part ways in front of the elementary school, a voice calls out from behind me. It’s Tesshi, pedaling his bike and looking cranky, with Saya seated primly on the bike rack and smiling.

“Hurry up and get off,” Tesshi grumbles.

“I’m fine right here. Don’t be stingy!”

“C’mon, you’re heavy.”

“And you’re rude!”

This early in the morning, and they’re already teasing each other like a married couple in a comedy skit.

“You two get along so well.”

“We do not!” they chorus.

They deny it so earnestly it’s funny, and I giggle. My mental soundtrack switches over to a jaunty guitar solo. The three of us have been friends for a good ten years—petite Saya, with her braids and straight-across bangs, and tall, skinny Tesshi with his burr cut and general lack of style. They always look like they’re fighting, but given how their conversation is always perfectly synced, I secretly think they might make an excellent couple.

“Oh, Mitsuha, you did your hair properly today.”

Saya, who’s gotten off the bike, touches the area around my hair cord, grinning. My hair’s fixed the same as always: two braids looped up and tied together in the back with the cord. My mom taught me how, a long time ago.

“Huh? What about my hair?”

Her comment sparks a recollection of the comments that sort of got lost in the shuffle at breakfast. I did it “properly” today—does that mean it was weird yesterday? As I’m trying to remember what happened, Tesshi leans in, looking concerned. “Hey, you did get your grandma to exorcise you, didn’t you?”

“Exorcise?”

“Yeah, I swear you got yourself possessed by a fox!”

“…Excuse me?” I frown at the unexpected remark.

Saya speaks up for me, sounding disgusted. “Would you quit blamin’ everythin’ on the occult already?! Mitsuha’s probably just stressed, that’s all. Right?”

Stressed?

“Huh? Wait, hold it—what’s all this about?”

Why is literally everybody worried about me? Yesterday was… I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure it was just a regular day.

…Hmm?

Wait, was it really? Yesterday, I…

“—And most importantly!”

A deep voice from a megaphone erases my questions.

On the other side of the road, with its rows of vinyl greenhouses, a little crowd of a dozen or so people is gathered in the ridiculously big municipal parking lot. Standing at its center, holding a microphone, is my dad, taller and bolder-looking than the rest. The banner he wears diagonally across his suit jacket proudly proclaims, Incumbent—Toshiki Miyamizu. He’s stumping for the mayoral election.

“Most importantly, economic revitalization, in order to sustain the village restoration project! Only when we have made that a reality will we be able to establish a safe, worry-free community. As the incumbent, I intend to refine the community planning I’ve been involved with and see it through to completion! I will lead this region with new enthusiasm, creating a local society in which everyone—from our children to our senior citizens—can relax and enjoy fulfilling, active lives. I have renewed my resolve to make this vision my goal…”