Chapter 4: Preparation

Chapter 4: Preparation

Colette woke up shortly after Mitsuha, and chaos ensued. She let out a wail and launched herself at Mitsuha, too fast for the older girl to dodge her incoming bear hug. Mitsuha yelped, then began rapping her shoulder in a desperate attempt to signal her surrender. Colette’s parents, upon hearing the ruckus, bolted into the room.

“Stop, stooop! Ow, it hurts! You’re breaking meee!” Mitsuha shouted, and Colette finally loosened her grip.

“M-Mitsuha! Y-Your words!” Colette replied in shock. Her parents looked equally dumbfounded. Thankfully, Mitsuha had already come up with an explanation.

“First of all, thanks for everything you’ve done for me, Colette. Actually, I learned your language back in my country. I couldn’t speak it because I lost my memory. Just now, though, it all came flooding back to me.”

“Really? I’m so happy, Mitsuha!” Crying loudly, she clung to Mitsuha again. Her parents nodded, their eyes brimming with tears. They’re such good people, Mitsuha thought, all smiles. When Colette finally calmed down, Mitsuha decided it was time to gather information.

Because she was from another world, Mitsuha had to tread carefully when talking about herself. For this reason, she’d invented her own backstory: she hailed from a distant country, and for reasons that were conveniently glossed over, she’d crossed over the sea and come to this continent. She purposefully chose to say “this continent” over “this country“; for all she knew, their current region could’ve been landlocked. Mitsuha and her party had been separated during an attack by wild beasts, but otherwise she didn’t remember much—only that she’d found herself in Colette’s home the moment she woke up.

Mitsuha also didn’t know this world’s class system, so she avoided using the word “noble”, but still led them to believe she was a high-ranking member of society. Her choice to do so was a bit of a risk; commoner-nobility relations weren’t always good, to put it lightly, so it might’ve been upsetting for Colette and her family. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to care.

It makes sense, honestly, Mitsuha reflected. The clothes they found me in weren’t farmer-like at all, so they probably figured it was something like that. If not, then maybe their beef with nobility is just local, and they don’t care about foreign blue bloods at all. Or they just don’t really get it, if y’know what I mean.

After her story concluded, it was Mitsuha’s turn to ask about her situation. I’m gonna get all the info I need and then some! She found out she’d been out cold for a whopping five days. Nearly a week... She couldn’t blame Colette for worrying. Mitsuha had no idea if it was due to exhaustion and shock or if it had something to do with whatever the “thing” had done to her, but she didn’t really care either way. Also, they hadn’t forgotten to retrieve her possessions—knives, slingshot, and everything else. How thoughtful.

Anyway, the beasts they’d encountered were, in fact, wolves. The villagers had rounded up the corpses and reduced them to fangs, fur, and meat, not letting a single part go to waste. They’d split and eaten the meat, since it would’ve gone bad otherwise, but the fangs and fur were still unused. It turned out that they’d been reserved for Mitsuha, along with some money for the meat. Aww, that’s so sweet it’s gonna give me cavities! she thought. But considering they all believed she was penniless and wanted to do her a kindness, it would’ve been rude of her not to accept. I’ll have someone buy the fangs and fur off me, though.

The villagers were extremely thankful that she’d gotten rid of the wolves before they could hurt someone. It made sense, especially considering the animals could’ve easily picked off one of the village wives or children. Colette, for one, wouldn’t have stood a chance if she had been cornered alone. But Mitsuha wasn’t entirely sure she’d killed off all the wolves. I mean, they are pack animals, aren’t they? And it was a mother wolf with her young, so there’s gotta be a father, too, right?

She wasn’t convinced it was safe yet, but if the locals thought so, she wasn’t going to argue. The wolves here might’ve been different than the ones she knew. Perhaps it was normal for local mother wolves to take their young on training trips, or maybe she’d had a messy divorce and was bringing the kids back to her parents’ den. Whatever, it doesn’t matter at this point, she concluded.

Once she was caught up, Mitsuha fired off all sorts of questions about the country they were in: the value of its currency, the nearest town, the capital, how developed it was—not directly, of course—and so on. Peasants didn’t know much, obviously, but she was satisfied with getting about half the knowledge the farmers knew by heart. By the time she was finished, she had another question she really wanted to ask but couldn’t: Why the heck does Colette know more than her parents?!

On the third day after waking up, Mitsuha went against her little keeper’s objections and took a walk by herself. According to the villagers, when they’d brought her in from the woods, she was in such terrible shape that Colette had been completely frantic. But her seemingly grave wounds had healed since then, and now Mitsuha could barely feel so much as a bruise.

Still, persuading Colette to let her go alone had proved to be quite a challenge; she’d rattled off more reasons than you could imagine. This solitary trip was absolutely, positively necessary for her. Finally, Colette had relented and gone off to forage, though she’d glanced back at least a dozen times. After she disappeared, Mitsuha checked to see if she was really alone, then jumped back to her home on Earth.

Whoa, I’ve missed so many calls, she thought as she glanced through her phone. Well, I didn’t—I mean, couldn’t—respond. Everyone’s probably worried sick... Better reply to ’em all.

After that, Mitsuha checked the mailbox. Her bills were all paid automatically, so there was no problem there. She also made her way to the local police station to let them know she was safe and sound. They’d helped her out a lot when she was dealing with her uncle and the delinquents when they’d gone after her money. She wanted to quell any worries they may have had about her recent absence.

Next, she enjoyed her first bath in ages, changed into fresh clothing, and handled a few other assorted tasks. She couldn’t wash the clothes she’d been wearing and risk appearing suspiciously clean, so she left them in their current condition. She’d don them again when she returned to the other world. There was also no point in going shopping since she couldn’t bring anything into Colette’s house. All she’d had when Colette found her was a cheap shoulder bag containing a folding umbrella, tissues, and a disposable shopping bag. Patience, Mitsuha... You’ll get to take lots of stuff along once you leave the village.

She finished up her earthly business and returned to the village long before evening, but Colette still interrogated her about where she’d been and what she was up to. What the heck, she came back way too fast! I guess she rushed it ’cause she was worried about me.

Mitsuha was so occupied with her world-jumping and schemes to get rich that she’d completely forgotten about the men who’d approached her on the cliff. The moment they’d pushed Mitsuha off the edge, she’d screamed so loudly that the nearby couples had witnessed it in full. They’d wanted to avoid involvement when the delinquents were merely hitting on her, but they couldn’t ignore a murder.

After Mitsuha fell, the girl from the young couple let out a shriek, her boyfriend snapped photos of the perpetrators, the old man called the police, and his wife took pictures of their car. It was some impressive teamwork. The thugs had panicked, shouting that it wasn’t their fault and other such nonsense, then jumped into their car and peeled off. But with all the witnesses and photos, it didn’t take long for them to get caught and arrested. Everyone thought this was an open-and-shut case.

It quickly hit a wall, however, because they couldn’t find the victim’s body. The police had even checked every local file for a missing person, but found no one who fit the description. This was partially because the victim was described as a child in either elementary or middle school, so Mitsuha was completely out of the investigators’ range. They had multiple witnesses and the criminals’ confessions, but the victim was a Jane Doe and her body was nowhere to be found. The police were at a loss.

On the other hand, the three men were getting what they deserved. Mitsuha would’ve surely died if it hadn’t been for her strange and coincidental collision with the ancient being. The fact that she’d survived changed nothing; they’d still committed an act of murder, so it was fair to punish them appropriately. If they were let off the hook, they’d surely go on to do similar things and harass other people, turning more innocents into victims.

After her family had passed away, Mitsuha ended the newspaper subscription they had. Cable TV and the internet were more than enough for her. The papers also piled up fast, and she couldn’t be bothered to clean them up—not to mention that the mailman always crammed them into the mailbox like he was stuffing away his broken dreams, so people could tell whether or not Mitsuha was home at a glance. If some seedy types discovered she wasn’t around as often, her property would’ve been in danger.

Mitsuha wasn’t on Earth when the cliff incident was still new, and even during this last visit, she’d been too busy replying to all her missed messages to watch TV or browse the web. She hadn’t had a chance to see the story, and by the time she returned again, all the news outlets had completely dropped it. Mitsuha never heard about the investigation or even recalled the men from the lookout.

Back in the other world, it was almost time for Mitsuha to move forward. Seven days had passed since her brief trip back home, and her wounds had healed so well she had to hide the fact that they didn’t leave a single scar. Some villagers had gladly purchased the wolf fangs and fur. Apparently, juvenile wolf hides were quality goods; they didn’t carry nearly as much damage as an adult’s, so the three Mitsuha sold had earned her a pretty penny. The buyers had also said something about refining the materials and selling them to the nearby town. So you do have contact with a town, she thought.

Endowed with her newly-acquired funds, Mitsuha could now tell everyone she wished to go on a journey. She planned to head to the town where the local lord resided, then make her way to the capital from there. From what she’d learned, the local lord’s town wasn’t all that impressive. Though not as rural as this village, it still fit the image pretty well. Nevertheless, it was the most developed town in the area, the starting point for capital-bound carriages, and most importantly, the place where the local lord lived.

After her encounter with the wolves, Mitsuha had befriended villagers other than Colette, which helped her learn much more. All of them had made sure to thank her, and the elders—thinking she couldn’t move because of her wounds—sat around to converse with her. The villagers didn’t know much individually, but once she put it all together, she had an impressive amount of information. In the end, she became more knowledgeable about the nearby town and the local lord’s family than anyone else present.

I’ll start by schmoozing the lord, Mitsuha decided.

According to the villagers, he was a surprisingly good person for a noble. He cherished his subjects, never hesitated to postpone taxes during bad harvests... Basically, the people had hit the jackpot with him. Not only that, but he was a count, meaning he also had a lot of influence in the capital. After all, if you ignored dukes, who had royal blood, the only ones above counts were marquis.

The town’s about eighteen miles away, Mitsuha thought. At least, that’s my guess based on what the villagers told me. But if they walk at some crazy pace like twelve miles an hour, then that eighteen could easily be a hundred! Ugh, all right, enough of that. For now, I’ve gotta focus on wining and dining the count so I can get a carriage to the capital. I really need his support.

What? Wondering how I’ll pay for the carriage and get by in the capital? Sure, the money I got here won’t be enough, but again, that’s where the count comes in.

Additionally, she had yet to take care of her biggest obstacle.

“NO, NO, NO, NOOO!” Colette yowled. “DON’T GOOO!” Mitsuha couldn’t bring herself to blame the girl. The two had saved each other’s lives, and there weren’t many girls around her age in the village. If Colette wasn’t out foraging, she was all over Mitsuha, especially after the latter had sustained some severe injuries.

“Sorry, but I gotta go,” Mitsuha told her. “I wanted to do this from the start. Besides, my people and I had agreed to meet up in the capital if something went wrong.”

“B-But, but...!” Colette simply would not give in. Not even her parents could calm her down.

“All right, then let’s make a promise. After I get settled in the capital, I’ll come back here and tell you all about it. And if you ever go there, I’ll make sure to see you no matter what.” Colette whimpered, but was slowly calming down.

“You’re a smart girl. You know you can’t stop me, right? So, please... Smile for me? I’ll be thinking about you all the time until I see you again, and I don’t want to remember you like this.”

“Hic...” Colette let out one more sob, then forced her wobbly lips into a smile. Her father, Tobias, marveled at the sight. “This girl’s practically a master seducer!” he whispered. Okay, now that’s just rude!

The next morning, the villagers saw Mitsuha off as she finally departed for the town. She had a bag filled with necessities: specifically, a gallon of water and four meals, two of which were light. The villagers had decided that, since the journey took a whole day for adults, it would take two days for Mitsuha. They’d stuffed her bag accordingly, without leaving so much as an inch for anything else.

Mitsuha hadn’t brought very much along with her in the first place, yet the villagers had attempted to load her up with blankets and other supplies. Had she brought them, she wouldn’t have been able to stand, let alone walk. Some people even offered to come with her, but she firmly refused. That’d be seriously bad for me.

Anyway, she more or less had to force her way out of the village. She’d been told it was rare for someone to go to town; it was a two-day journey there and back, three if you spent a night there. It was just too far for anyone to go there without having some serious business to attend to. Staying at one of the town’s inns was also a small luxury. The village was mostly self-sustaining, so the people here didn’t earn enough money to pay for a room, food, and wares.

The bottom line was that no one went to town without a very good reason. Anything they couldn’t acquire from within the village could often be bought from the traveling merchants who dropped by every now and again. They even took requests and would do their best to bring the items along on their next visit.

Mitsuha was well aware of the fact that she could choose not to go to town, and they’d be none the wiser. If some villagers decided to trek out that way in a few weeks or months, she doubted they would walk around asking about her. Even if they did, they wouldn’t learn anything because she’d never have arrived in the first place. It’s not like I’m not planning to go to town, she thought. I’m just gonna be completely off schedule.

Mitsuha now had a full understanding of her cross-world movement—“world-jumping”, as she liked to call it. The “thing” had installed this comprehension directly into her brain. According to the intangible manual, the first area she’d jumped to had been determined at random, but now she could go wherever she wished.

There was one caveat: she could only travel to a place she could picture, which in this case meant somewhere she’d visited before. She could jump between places in one world by using the other world as a stepping stone. For that, she first had to get there using normal methods, but once that was done, she could jump there whenever she desired. So for now, Mitsuha would go straight to town, then return to Earth to make some preparations. After all, getting close to the lord and securing a way to the capital wouldn’t be easy.

Once she’d walked a good distance from the village, Mitsuha jumped home, hopped onto her trusted scooter, Scooty, then jumped back once more. The path between the village and the town was barely used, so witnesses weren’t a problem. Even if someone did come across her, she could just jump back to Earth. The terrain wasn’t very smooth, so she couldn’t travel at full speed, but she arrived at the outskirts of the town after just an hour of driving. She hadn’t met anyone on the way, so everything was going according to plan.

That’s enough for today, Scooty. I’ll walk the rest of the way when I get back. Now it’s time to get busy! Mitsuha returned home and changed into some casual clothes. She walked to the station and took a train to the nearest city with an American military base. Some Americans were along for the ride as well, most likely servicemen assigned to the base. Looks like I don’t have to wait till I get there for this part, she thought.

“Excuse me.” She directed her words to the most intelligent-looking man there. She simply asked if the train would stop at the first city that came to mind, thanked him when he responded, and walked to the neighboring car. She then exited at the next stop and traveled back to her starting point. With that, Mitsuha gained the ability to speak, write, and understand English.

Why had she chosen this man in particular, you ask? Well, her ability essentially “scanned” the brain of the person she was speaking with in order to copy their language. Normally, she’d be able to acquire the most there was to know about a language by interacting with many different speakers, but since she had a limited pool to choose from, she made an effort to pick the most knowledgeable person she saw.

Once she returned home, Mitsuha got on the internet and began running some searches. The keywords, the results, the sites—all of them were in English, and she consumed page after page as part of her preparations.

◇ ◇ ◇

Thousands of miles away, there stood the headquarters of a minor mercenary organization. The group had a relatively upstanding reputation. By mercenary standards, that is.

“Captain. You got a visitor,” one of the mercs reported, opening the door to an ordinary-looking office.

“Pretty sure I had no appointments today,” replied the man in charge.

“It’s an unannounced visit. That okay?” The captain took a moment to mull it over. They weren’t on any major missions, and the money from small jobs could pile up and help cover the squad’s operating costs.

“I’ll be there in a sec... Take ’em to the reception room.”

“Roger that. Heheh, you’ll be surprised.”

“Whazzat? Is it a hot chick or somethin’?”

“Hmm... You could say that.”

Yeah, right. There’s no way in hell a woman like that’d come here, of all the damn places, he thought in disbelief as he made his way to the reception room. When he opened the door and saw who waited inside, however, his jaw nearly dropped.

My boy wasn’t lyin’ after all. Well, shit, I sure am surprised. He eyed the visitor. She was far from a “hot chick”, but “pretty girl” seemed close enough.

“Nice to meet you,” the girl began. “My name is Mitsuha, and I have a request for you...” His guest was an elementary schooler with silky black hair, mystical dark eyes, and a well-proportioned, doll-like face. The captain listened to the entirety of her monologue before speaking up.

“So, you’re tellin’ me you wanna learn to use small arms, get some target practice, train in knife and short sword fightin’, and for us to get all that gear for ya, huh...?” Child or not, she was a client. He was in charge here, so obviously he knew how to talk business even if he was weirded out by the whole situation. The girl nodded in response.

“Handguns are the most immediate matter. In particular, I’d like a small one I could carry with me at all times for self-defense, a powerful, high-capacity pistol I could use as my main weapon, a light revolver I’d switch to if the others jammed, a set of holsters for all three, and training in how to use them. Everything else is secondary. The knife and sword training might not be too useful... so feel free to gloss over them. Assume it’s just for intimidation.”

“Says here ya also wanna learn to use machine guns, assault rifles, snipers, and grenades, plus rocket ‘n’ grenade launchers... Li’l lady, what the hell kinda megacorp ya goin’ after?!” He couldn’t help but raise his voice. Crap, I lost my cool.

“I’m planning no such thing...! This is merely for self-defense. My country is currently in a state of unrest, you see... Oh, and of course I will be paying in advance.”

Where the hell’re ya from?! Do yer hoodlums have tanks or somethin’?!

“Ah, I currently have a lot of Japanese yen lying around,” she remarked. “Would it trouble you if that’s what I paid with?”

“Well, sure, yen’s a whole lot better’n yuan or won, at least,” the mercenary replied. “There’ll be a fee when we turn it into dollars, though... Yer gonna cover that, right?”

“Oh, but of course. I don’t mind at all. Ah, but I may switch to using gold coins. Would you accept those as well?”

Gold coins? Seriously, who the hell are ya? If he could’ve raised an eyebrow any further, he would have.

“Got nothin’ against it, but what kind we talkin’? Krugers? Maples?”

“No. They would be nameless coins from a nameless country. Just think of the value of the actual gold in them. I’ll bring you a sample sooner than later, so you can have it appraised. But...”

“But?”

“Keep in mind you may eventually have to convert these coins by the hundred—no, by the thousand.”

After they came to an agreement, the girl left. She was hella shady... no... hella weird, but I had to take that job. Somebody’s gotta cover these squad costs, damn it! The captain was fairly sure he’d made the right choice, but for some reason, the hand holding his cigarette still trembled. He’d ordered one of his subordinates to follow her. Now I just gotta wait till he comes back.

“I’m back, Cap’n,” the man in question said as he came in.

Uhh, okay, that felt a little too fast.

“How’d it go?”

“Sorry, but... I lost her.”

What? She shook off this guy?

“I saw her turn the corner on her way outta the base, but when I went after her, she was gone. I looked around the place, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”

“What kinda bullshit is that?! There ain’t no more turns for miles!”

His subordinate had no reply. He had nothing else to say, either. Man, I guess I really do need to get the guns, he thought as he stared at the objects on his desk. There was a thick roll of yen and a piece of paper with the girl’s—Mitsuha’s—measurements on it. They needed her sizes to know what kind of holsters to get her.

An A cup, huh...
 

◇ ◇ ◇

Man, that was sooo stressful! Mitsuha thought.

Her conversation with the captain had been the first time she’d spoken with someone in English outside of her classes. On top of that, his being a foreigner and a mercenary didn’t help settle her nerves at all.

Keeping up the act of some high-class lady was really hard! I was totally drenched in sweat! After her business was done, she vanished from the mercenary base. They might have sent someone to tail her, but it didn’t matter. She simply walked out of the front gate, turned right, and jumped.

She’d chosen that particular group after hours of online research. It had surprised her to see how varied mercenary groups were. Some were enormous, some small, some were upstanding, some scum of the earth, and so on... Then again, perhaps it was strange to call any mercs “upstanding”. Still, she’d gone for the one that looked more reasonable than most.

If she’d felt she was making a mistake, all she had to do was make herself scarce. Staying off their radar seems easy enough. And if they tried to capture or violate me, I’d just crush them. If their armory was suddenly emptied, or their funds and documents went missing along with their safes, the mercs would have their hands too full to concern themselves with some runaway girl. As a world-jumper, I’d make a great thief, assassin, or terrorist... But that isn’t my style! Teehee! She only hoped this new relationship wouldn’t turn sour.

As for how she got to another country so easily... She’d essentially had an epiphany.
She had initially been under the impression that, because she needed a concrete mental image of any place she wanted to go, she had to have been there at least once. But it had occurred to her to try a little experiment. She’d absorbed TV shows, movies, and newscasts that showed a specific place, then checked a satellite photo of the location. This had given her a mental image as good as—no, even better than—the one she’d have if she saw it in person.

The result? A complete success. Mitsuha could now jump to many different spots outside of Japan. However, she could only use this tactic on Earth. There weren’t any photos or satellites in the other world, after all, meaning that she had to actually travel to her destinations at least once. How horrible.

I’m basically burning through Mom and Dad’s money... But this here is like any initial investment. A necessary expense.

Her thoughts were directed toward a necklace on the table. It was a real luxury product. The necklace was adorned with pearls a third of an inch thick and had cost her over a million yen. This was actually her greatest weapon, so she couldn’t have settled for something cheap.

Right beside it was a Gerber folding knife. Not the one Tsuyoshi had left behind, but a new one she had just purchased. There was also a Swiss Army Knife and a Randall hunting knife. On a nearby clothes hanger, there was an expensive-looking—and actually quite expensive—dress, partnered with a pair of heels. Besides that, there were some spare sets of clothes, as well as a couple accessories. Mitsuha carefully put everything in a large backpack, got dressed, and equipped whatever she could.

All right! Moving out!

Soon she was standing in front of a large door. Taking deep breaths, she prepared herself. It was finally time for the next step in her plan. She grabbed the knocker and rapped it on the door, creating loud thunks. Though no one could hear her, she shouted from within her thoughts.

Hellooo!