Reply to Comment on: Microscopic signatures of an imaginary charge density wave in a kagome metal

Abstract

We address a recent Comment [I. Nikolov {\it et al.}, arXiv:2608.13579 (2026)] proposing crystalline mosaicity as an alternative explanation for the asymmetric nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra reported in our study [S. Suetsugu {\it et al.}, Nat. Phys. {\bf 22}, 1251--1256 (2026)]. We show that this scenario requires substantial temperature- and site-dependent distributions of crystallographic orientations and additional site-dependent distributions of the electric field gradient (EFG) asymmetry parameter, none of which follow from ordinary crystalline mosaicity. We therefore conclude that crystalline mosaicity cannot account for the observed site-selective spectral asymmetry and does not provide an alternative explanation for the central spectroscopic observation underlying our interpretation.