“What’s your name?”

The cry becomes an echo, rebounding off the dark mountains. Asking its question of the void over and over, it diminishes, bit by bit.

Finally, silence descends.

I run.

I’m sprinting down a dark deer track, repeating his name again and again.

Taki, Taki, Taki.

It’s all right. I remember. I’ll never forget.

At last, through the gaps in the trees, I begin catching glimpses of the lights of Itomori. The wind carries faint, scattered snatches of festival music to me.

Taki, Taki, Taki.

When I look up at the sky, Comet Tiamat is there, shining brighter than the moon, its long tail trailing behind it. The terror nearly makes me recoil, but I scream his name and stomp it down.

Your name is Taki!

I hear the sound of a moped, and when I raise my head, a headlight comes up over the slope and shines right in my eyes.

“Tesshi!” I shout, running up to it.

“Mitsuha! Where the heck you been?!”

He sounds like he’s scolding me, but I really can’t explain. Tesshi’s in his school uniform with the sleeves rolled up, and he’s wearing a helmet with a big light attached to it, like he’s going spelunking. I give him Taki’s message.

“He said he broke your bike, and he’s sorry.”

“Huh? Who did?”

“I did!”

Tesshi’s eyebrows furrow, but he shuts off the moped’s engine and turns on his helmet light without a word. He breaks into a run. “You better gimme the whole story later!” he says in a loud, rough voice.

ITOMORI SUBSTATION—COMPANY-OWNED LAND: KEEP OUT, says the plate on the chain-link fence. Beyond it, transformers and steel towers form a complicated silhouette. It’s an unmanned facility, and the only lights I can see are the red lamps on machinery here and there.

“That thing’s comin’ down? For real?!” Tesshi asks, looking up at the sky.

We’re in front of the substation’s chain-link fence, gazing at the glittering comet.

“It will! I saw it happen!”

As I speak, I look him straight in the eye. We’ve got two hours until it falls. There’s no time to explain.

For a moment, Tesshi looks dubious. Then, with a sharp “Hah!” he grins. His smile looks like something he’s mustered out of sheer desperation. “You saw it, huh?! Then I guess we’ve gotta do this!”

Tesshi practically rips opens his sports bag. It’s stuffed with tubes that look like race batons wrapped in brown paper: water-gel explosives. I gulp. Tesshi takes out a big bolt cutter, sets its blades against the chain wrapped around the substation gate, and says, “Mitsuha. If we do this, there’s no goin’ back.”

“Please. I’ll take all the responsibility.”

“Moron! That ain’t what I’m askin’!” Tesshi sounds angry, and for some reason, he’s blushing a bit. “Well, we’re both criminals now!”

He cuts the chain, and the loud rattle shatters the darkness.

“When the power in town goes out, the school should switch over to the emergency generator right away! You’ll be able to use the broadcastin’ equipment then!”