【sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ】

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Amane kept on running. Sprinting down on a dark deer track as if his life depends on it. Repeating her name, over and over again.

'(Y/n)... (Y/n)... (Y/n)... It's all right. I remember. I'll never forget.'

Finally, through the gaps in the trees, Amane began catching the glimpses of the lights of Itomori. The wind carried  faint, scattered snatches of festival music. Amane could practically hear it.

'(Y/n)... (Y/n)... (Y/n)...'

Looking up at the sky, the Comet Tiamat was there. Shining brighter than the moon, the long tail trailing behind it. The terror nearly made Amane recoil, but he then scream her name and stomped it down. His resolve to see her again one day was strong. He have to live in order for that to happen.

'Your name is (Y/n)!'

Amane hear the sound of a scooter. He raised his head to see a headlight came up over the slope and shone right in his eyes.

"Kou!" Amae shouted, running up to it.

"Amane! Where the heck have you been?!"

Kou sounded like he was scolding him. But Amane really can't explain. Kou was still in his school uniform with the sleeves rolled up, and he wad wearing a helmet with a big light attached to it. Amane then gave him, (Y/n)'s message.

"She said she broke your bike, and she's sorry."

"Huh? Who did?"

"I did!"

Kou's eyebrows furrow, but he shutted off the scooter's engine and turns on his helmet light without a word. He broke into a run. "You better gimme the whole story later!" He said in a loud, rough voice.

'Itomori Substation-Company-Owned Land: Keep Out.' Was what the plate on the chain-link fence. Beyond it were transformers and steel towers formed a complicated silhouette. It was an unmanned facility. The only lights Amane could see were the red lamps on machinery here and there.

"That thing is coming down? For real?!" Kou asked, looking up at the sky.

The two boys were now in front of the substation's chain-link fence, gazing at the glittering comet.

"It will! I saw it happen!"

As he spoke, Amane stared at the blonde straight in the eye. They only got two hours until it falls. There was no time to explain.

For a moment, Kou looked dubious. Then he suddenly grinned. His smile looked like something he had mustered out of sheer desperation. "You saw it, huh?! Then I guess we've gotta do this!"

Kou practically ripped opens his sports bag. It was stuffed with tubes that look like race batons wrapped in brown paper. Water-gel explosives. Amane gulped as Kou took out a big bolt cutter and set the blades against the chain wrapped around the substation gate.

"Amane. If we do this, there's no going back." Kou warned.

"Please. I'll take all the responsibility."

"Moron! That's not what I'm asking about!" You told him sounds angry. "Well, we're both criminals now!"

He cut the chain and the loud rattle shattered 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 broadcasting equipment then!"

Kou shouted in the direction of the on his phone. He was currently driving the scooter, with Amanda riding behind him, holding the phone up to his mouth. Almost there was no cars passing by them. The two were starting to see the lights of scattered houses along the dark prefectural road. They were now heading for an area between the slopes of the
mountains, where the lights are concentrated. The  Yugi Shrine, the site of the autumn festival.

"Amane! she wants to talk to you."

"Hello? Yashiro?!" Amane put the phone to his own ear.

"Waaaaaah! Amane-kun!" Nene sounded like she was already in tears. "Do I really have to do this?!"

Her anxious voice sent a pang through Amane's heart. After all, the three of them were doing something really illegal. But deep down, Amane was glad that he has friends who would do something like this for him.

"Yashiro, I'm sorry, but I'm begging you! Please!" At this point, that's all what Amane could say. "I'll never ask you for anything else as long as I live, but if we don't do this, a lot of people are gonna die! Once you start the announcement, repeat it for as long as you can!"

There was no response. All he could hear from the receiver were little muffled sniffling noises.

"Yashiro? Yashiro!"

Amane started getting nervous. "Nene!"

Abruptly, he heared a tiny voice. "Okay! Agh, I don't even care anymore! You tell Kou-kun that he better buy me something, too!"

"What'd she say?" Kou asked.

Putting the smartphone in his pant pocket, Amane yelled back loud enough to be heard over the scooter's engine. "That you better buy her something, too!"

"Alright, let's do this!"

Kou shouted determinedly, as if trying to suppress something. At that moment, behind them was a bang like a big firework bursting.

Kou stopped the scooter and look back. So did Amane. More explosions came after another, all the hallway up the mountain where they were just a few minutes ago. Thick black smoke was starting to risie. In slow motion, an enormous transmission tower began tilting.

"Kou...!"

Amane's voice quavered. He was really a criminal now.

Kou's breath was shaky, too. But it more sounded like a laugh.

There was then an even bigger explosion, and the lights of the town instantly go dark.

"Hey..." Kou intoned, sounding kind of dazed.

"The power's out," Amane said, stating the obvious. It look like their plan worked.

Suddenly, sirens well up, beginning to wail. The earsplitting noise reverberated from speakers all over town. It was an ominous sound, like a giant's scream, and it ricocheted off the mountains, pervading the area.

It was Nene. She had hijacked the wireless disaster prevention system

Kou and Amane both exchanged wordless nods, then straddled the scooter again. As the two race toward the shrine, the speakers that were broadcasting Nene's voice echoed around them. Slowly, calmly, as if her earlier tearful cries were fake, she delivered the message that (Y/n) had came up with.

"This is Town Hall. An explosion has occurred at Itomori Substation. There is a danger of further explosions and forest fires."

Kou's scooter goes off the prefectural road and climbed up a narrow mountain track. It was the gentler slope up to the shrine. In that way, they could take the scooter all the way to the back of the main building and avoid the stone stairs on the shrine approach.

"People in the following districts are requested to evacuate to Itomori Middle School immediately. Kadoiri District, Sakagami District, Miyamori District, Oyazawa District..."

"This is it. Come on, Amane!"

"Right!"

The two leap off the scooter and ran down the set of wooden steps up the slope of the mountain behind the shrine. From between the trees, Amane could see the roofs of the long rows of stalls set up on the shrine grounds and the people milling around among them. As the two ran, take off our helmets and threw them away.

"I repeat: This is Itomori Town Hall. An explosion has occurred at the substation. There is a danger of further explosions and forest fires..."

When the two hit the bottom of the stairs, they were behind the main shrine building. The silhouettes of the people gathered for the festival were just ahead. Amane could hear their uneasy murmurs. Him and Kou dashed into their midst, yelling. "Ruuun! A forest fire just started! This place is not safe!"

Kou's voice was unbelievably loud, like he was using a megaphone. Amane started shouting too, determined not to be outdone. "Please run! There's a forest fire! Run!" The two emerged in the very center of the grounds.

"Yeah, they said there really is a forest fire!"

"Come on! let's get outta here."

"We're walkin' all the way to the high school?"

The broadcast set the evacuation in motion, and their shouts were pushing it along. Men and women in traditional wear, children, and old people holding their grandkids' hands all begin filing toward the shrine gate at the exit. Amanda was relieved. If things go on like this, he know that they will make it for sure. It's all thanks to her.

Her...

"Amane!"

Kou called his name sharply, Amane looked up at him.

"This is not good!"

Following his gaze around them, Amane saw a lot of people sitting down and taking it easy by the stalls or standing, idly talking. They were even smoking cigarettes or drinking, chatting away and enjoying the evening.

"There's no way we're moving all these folks unless an actual forest fire comes through! We have to get them to send out the fire brigade and direct the evacuation. You get to the town hall, and this time make sure the mayor..."

Kou's flustered voice was right above his head, but for Amane, it sounded terribly far away.

Who is this her?

"Hey. Amane? What's up?"

"...Kou, listen, what will I do?"

His mind wasn't working, and before he know it, Amane was now pleading to Kou.

"Her name... I can't remember her name!"

Kou's face twisted with worry. Suddenly, he yelled at him. "Who the hell cares, you idiot?! Look around! You started all this!"

Kou was glaring at him, furious. Belatedly, Amane notice that Nene's call was now erratic, as if she was about to burst into tears.

"Amane, go!" Kou gave him a heartrending yell, practically begging this time. "Go talk your dad around!"

Amane's spine straightened as though Kou had slapped him across the face.

"...Right!" He nodded as firmly as he can, then bolted into a sprint.

Behind him, Amane could hear Kou continued to shout. "I said run, everyone! Get to the middle school!"

Nene's voice was still echoing all over the town. "There is a danger of forest fires. Please evacuate to Itomori High School."

Amane pushed his way through the lumbering crowd, under the shrine gate and down the stone stairs on the shrine approach.

Kou was right. He started this. Still running, Amane glanced at the comet overhead. With the lights on the ground extinguished, the comet was even brighter. The long tail streamed over the clouds.

"It's all right. You'll make it."

A unknown yet so familiar voice once told him that with conviction. Amane repeated the words silently to himself.

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It was early autumn, and (Y/n) was still in elementary school. She had finally gotten used to living with just her mom. After finishing a dinner that they both worked hard to make, the two were now drinking tea together.

That same day, the news about the comet's closest approach had pretty much taken over the TV. (Y/n) wasn't all that interested in stars or the cosmos, but she didfind it kind of amazing how the universe was actually overflowing with phenomena that exist on a completely different scale from humans, like a solar orbit that lasts twelve hundred years or an orbital radius over 10.4 billion miles. As impressions went, it was dumb. Still, it struck (Y/n) as so awesome that it made her shivered an d at the same time, so frightening that it set her heart trembling as well.

"Look!" Suddenly, the announcer who had been delivering commentary yelled in excitement. "The comet appears to have split in two. Around it are...what seem to be countless shooting stars."

When the camera zoomed in, the comet really had forked above the background of Tokyo skyscrapers. Thin lines like a meteor shower appeared and disappeared at its tip. There was a delicate, almost artificial beauty about it. (Y/n)'s eyes went wide in awe.

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Abruptly, the wireless broadcast was interrupted by the clicked of an opening door. Amane heared a short shriek from Nene, and then several familiar male voices emerged from the speakers.

"Kid, what are you doing?!"

"Hurry, shut it off!"

There was a clattered like a chair falling over, and then the wireless broadcast cut off with a brief burst of shrill feedback.

"Yashiro...!" Amane stopped, calling his friend's name involuntarily.

The teachers had caught her. Large beads of sweat pop out of Amane's forehead, falling to the asphalt with audible drips. He was on the road that circled around the lake. The one that goes to the town hall and the high school. Amane started hearing bewildered voices from several evacuees.

"What? What's going on?"

"Huh? Was there some sort of trouble?"

"What about the evacuation?"

Amane's eyes widened in horror. A moment later, a voice boomed from the wireless speakers again.

"This is Itomori Town Hall."

This time, It wasn't Nene. It was the middle aged guy in charge of Town Hall broadcasts, someone Amane heared every once in a while.

"We are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding the accident. We request that all residents refrain from panicking. Please stay where you are and wait for further instructions."

Amane ran forward again.

The adults have figured out where the broadcast was coming from, and the town hall contacted the school. Nene was going to get scolded by the teachers. Kou was going be in big trouble too.

"I repeat: Do not panic. Stay where you are and wait for further instructions."

'They can't stay where they are! I have to make them stop this broadcast!' Amane thought. Leave the prefectural road and plunged from the gap in the asphalt onto a slope that was overgrown with bushes. It was a shortcut to the town hall. The thorns on the bushes scraped and sting his bare arms. A spiderweb clinged to his face, and little winged bugs almost went into his mouth.

Finally, He hit the bottom of the slope and ran out onto asphalt again. Amane could not see anyone around him. There was only the voice from the wireless broadcast, issuing orders to stay put. His legs have gone watery, and Amane staggered. Even then, He still keep on running. He was now going downhill, and he's not even losing speed. Below him was the incline down to the lake.

"...Huh?!"

A feeling that something was wrong made Amane look in that direction. The lake shoje faintly. He then strained his eyes.

The water look like it was glowing, but it was not. The calm surface was reflecting the sky. Like a mirror, the lake revealed two shining tails. Amane's eyes widened as he then tilted his head to the sky. Right where the comet was.

"...It split!"

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(Y/n) was channel surfing. Every station jabbered excitedly about the unexpected astronomy show.

"The comet has definitely split in two."

"This wasn't predicted beforehand, correct?"

"Still, what an extraordinarily fantastic sight..."

"Is it safe to conclude that the nucleus of the comet has divided?"

"The tidal forces don't seem to have surpassed the Roche limit, so it's possible that an abnormality of some kind occurred within the comet itself-"

"As of yet, the National Astronomical Observatory has issued no statement.."

"A similar case occurred in 1994, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy fell into Jupiter. On that occasion, it split into at least twenty one fragments.."

"Do you suppose it's dangerous?"

"Comets are masses of ice, so we believe it will melt before it reaches Earth's surface. Even if it does become a meteorite, in terms of probability, the likelihood that it will fall on an inhabited area is extremely low..."

"It's difficult to predict the trajectories of the fragments in real time-"

"The fact that we're witnessing such a magnificent astronomical phenomenon, combined with the fact that it happens to be nighttime in Japan, may be the sort of good fortune that comes only once in a thousand years for those of us who are alive in this era-"

"I'm gonna go look!" (Y/n) told her mom. Without even thinking about it, she jumped up from her chair and rushed down the building's stairs. From the roof top of her apartment building, she watched the night sky.

It held innumerable sparkling lights, as if another Tokyo had been layered over the sky. It was like a scene from a dream, a view that was simply, utterly beautiful.

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The comet had splitted in two, it had brought Amane's down solitude into stark relief as he race through the blacked-out town like a lost child.

'Who, who? Who is she?'

Without taking his eyes off the comet, running as if he was perpetually falling, Amane have been desperately trying to think.

'Someone important. Someone I can't forget. Someone I didn't want to forget.'

It was not much farther to Town Hall. Not much longer until the comet becomes a meteorite.

'Who? Who? Who are you?'

Amane summoned the very last of his strength and pick up speed his speed.

'What's your name?'

"Aah!" He yelped out automatically. His toe caught in a pit in the asphalt, and in the moment he realize that he was falling. The ground was already imminent. There was a shock, a blow to the face. His body tumbles limply. Stabbing pain spreads through him. His field of vision spins, and my consciousness goes black.

But somehow. Her voice reached him.

"So we don't forget each other after we wake up."

That was what she said before.

"Let's write down our names."

When she wrote on his hand.

On the ground, Amane opened his eyes. His pain blurred vision found it's way to his clenched right hand. He open the fingers, or atleast he tried to. They were stiff and almost wooden. Even so, little by little, he uncurled them.

There were letters there. Amane strained his eyes. Wanting to see what was written on his palm.

I love you

For a moment, Amane stopped breathing. He tried to stand. His muscles felt weak, and it took a long time. Even so, He manage to get himself back on his feet, standing on the asphalt. Then He looked at his palm one more time. All that was written there, in nostalgic handwriting that he have seen somewhere before.

I love you

Tears began to spill over. Amane's vision blurred again. Something like a warm wave spread through his whole body, like a spring that had welled up with the tears. Still crying, Amane laughed, talking to her.

"This doesn't tell me your name."

Then one more time, Amane surged forward with all his might. A newly found strength. If he wants to see her again. To find her again. He have to live.

Amane was not afraid of anything anymore. He was not scared of anyone. He was not lonely anymore.

He finally understand.

He was in love. They were in love.

That means that he will meet her again. He was sure of it. And so He have to live. He will survive this. No matter what happens, even if the stars fall, He will definitely live.

"Dad!" Amane shouted as he panted. He finally reached his father's office. Tsukasa and his grandmother were also there too.

"Amane..." Tsukasa stared at his brother in shock, but also in worry when he saw the scrapes and bruises littered on his skin. His school uniform was covered in dirt too.

"Amane!" Toshiki frowned, seeing his delusional son once again, he stood up from his desk. "Not you again..."

But his eyes widened when Amane approached him. Eyes flared up with the fire of determination.

He was not the Amane he saw earlier.

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Right up until it happened, no one managed to predict that the comet's nucleus would shatter near Earth, or that there was a huge rocky mass buried in its ice covered core.

The town happened to be holding its autumn festival that day. The strike occurred at 8:42 pm. The point of impact was near the Yugi Shrine, where the festival was being held.

The meteorite instantly destroyed a wide area, centered on the shrine. The crater formed by the impact was nearly half a mile across. Water from the lake beside it rushed in, swallowing the remains of the town. Itomori became the site of the worst meteorite disaster in human history.

(Y/n) remembered these things as she look down over gourd-shaped New Itomori Lake. It reflected the sun in the midst of a faint morning haze, endlessly serene. It was hard to imagine that three years ago it was the site of such a tragedy. She can't quite believe that the comet she saw in the sky over Tokyo did that.

She was currently standing on a rock littered mountain peak, all alone. She was here when she just woke up. For no real reason, (Y/n) looked at her right hand. There was a single, half-drawn line on her palm.

"What is this...?" (Y/n) muttered quietly. "What was I doing way out here?"