It was the last day of Japan's mega-long holiday: Golden Week.
"You're free, right?"
The time was one o'clock in the afternoon.
"Hey, you're not doing anything, right?"
The Takasu residence was dim, as if the fair weather outside were a
lie. South of the wide-open window, the neighboring condominium's fence
looked nearly close enough to touch. The bright natural light of the early
summer sun couldn't even hope to get past it.
Nonetheless, the inside of the room was methodically well kept. The
entire place had been thoroughly cleaned, and though it was small, a bit of
clever planning miraculously kept the place habitable. That marvelous
comfort and livability were the fruits of Ryuuji's housekeeping skills. The
only son of the household had his back to the living room while he cleaned
the kitchen after lunch.
"Are you listening?"
No one answered his question, much less thanked him for his work.
Ryuuji stopped doing the dishes for a moment and shot an overlysharp glare back at the muslin-colored lump sprawled on the floor. That
lump lay in a messy heap beside the low dining table, her chin propped up
on a folded cushion. She stuck her finger through the bars of the birdcage
next to her, staring, spaced out.
A yellow parakeet—Inko-chan—grunted as it gnawed on the tip of
the intruding finger. She seemed to be savoring the experience. Inko-chan's
ugliness was her most charming attribute. Her mulberry-colored beak
opened earnestly wide, and her little tongue, licking at the intruding finger,
was the same color as a cow's…if the cow's had gone rotten, maybe. Her
eyes also happened to be wide open, the whites so prominent that she
looked just about ready to keel over. Her eyelids spasmed with a dangerous,
bird-like delight that humans could never fathom. If this went on, Ryuuji
was going to have trouble looking at it, and he owned the bird.
"…Taiga. Make Inko-chan stop doing that. She's acting strange."
"…Huh? Oh, you're right."
Finally turning around, the muslin-colored lump—Aisaka Taiga—
returned to her senses and pulled her finger from the birdcage. Or she tried
to, anyway.
"Huh? I'm stuck."
…You klutz. Ryuuji could only sigh as he saw her tilt her head.
"What do you think you're doing just standing around and sighing? I
think I might really be stuck!"
She got up and sat her petite body straight down on the tatami mat.
Growling in displeasure, Taiga held the birdcage with one hand and made
an earnest attempt to pull her finger out from between the bars. Not about to
let go, Inko-chan redoubled her efforts and latched onto Taiga's fingertip
even harder.
"Ah…she's strong…!"
Taiga's swaying, waist-length hair was softly tangled, the color of
chestnut touched by smoke. Her delicate body was enveloped in a fluffy
dress piled with lace. Paired with her figure, Ryuuji thought the unbleached
overskirt left her with an elegantly volumized and cute— "Hey, Ryuuji.
What are you just standing there staring for? Your bird is misbehaving, so
hurry up and do something about it, you…you…Y.S.D.!"
"Why Ess Dee?"
"'You Stupid Dog.' I was trying to soften it for you. Aren't you
grateful?"
Well, that came out of nowhere. He lost all will to retort.
If it weren't for the sharp tongue, Taiga would have been like a living
French doll. Her eyes were like sparkling jewels, her pale lips like
rosebuds; her sweet, refined features were as dangerous as a trap drenched
in condensed milk. But she had one problem.
"UGH! I'm so over this. Hmph."
Creak. The birdcage started to warp.
Unfortunately, Aisaka was born under the star of the ferocious and
brutally violent tiger. Her nickname was the "Palmtop Tiger." Even if she
was practically small enough to hold in one hand, her ferocity could only be
compared to that very particular feline.
That said, the power of the look Ryuuji was giving her couldn't be
beat, either.
From his still-growing height, his overly-sharp gaze peeked from
between the gaps in his long bangs. Those incredible, hardened eyes glinted
dangerously. Even though he wasn't physically stronger than most people,
the aura emanating from his body was dangerous, like the darkness
overflowing from the soul of a youth about to snap.
But…
"Hey, hey, hey, don't break it! No! Gently!"
…In Ryuuji's case, the only dangerous thing about him was his
appearance. In order to protect his pet's home from the tiger, he kneeled
next to Taiga, wiping his wet hands. He tried pulling on the birdcage to take
it away, but…
"Owowowowowow!"
"Oh, sorry!"
He leaped back at Taiga's shriek and left her finger stuck in the cage.
Maybe it was surprise at that cry, or a result of being provoked, but—
WHOP!—Inko-chan sharply stabbed at the small gap between Taiga's flesh
and fingernail.
"Oooooow!"
Taiga shrieked even harder…and her finger popped right out of the
cage's gap. Maybe all that pain was good for something.
Taiga held her finger in speechless agony atop the tatami for several
seconds.
"…That hurt… why you…!" She raised her head and turned her eyes
—glistening from faint tears, a gleam like an assassin's sharp knives—to
Inko-chan.
The bird surely understood that it had made a terrible, terrible
mistake. "…Squaa-wa-wak?" Inko-chan's whole body trembled as she
looked up at Taiga. Several feathers came fluttering down, a consequence of
sheer stress.
Ryuuji quickly held the birdcage to his chest. "Ahh! Inko-chan's
balding! Keep it together, girl; get a hold of yourself! If you get any uglier,
I don't know if we could stand to keep you around. Let's put you
somewhere safe—who knows what she might do to you…?"
Then Taiga stood up, too. "Are you for real, Ryuuji? It's not like I'd
seriously do something to a parakeet."
"Then what's with the clenched fists?!"
"They're to punish you!"
Cornering Ryuuji against the wall, she curled her small hands into
solid fists.
"What did I do?!"
"Look at my finger! It hurts!"
"How's that my fault?!"
Taiga circled around and around the room, chasing after Ryuuji, who
still held the birdcage.
"Gyahh!"
Bam. Taiga face-planted onto the tatami.
Something white had slid out from the sliding door, which had been
left partially ajar.
"…Why are you poking out here?" Ryuuji still wore a scowl, one that
made him look like he might start swinging a knife around at a moment's
notice. He set down the birdcage to investigate.
It was his mother's bare leg. Ryuuji wasn't angry, really—just
puzzled.
With her foot poking out between the sliding doors that partitioned
her room, the matriarch Yasuko was in a deep sleep. She kept busy working
as an entertainer at the town's one and only hostess bar, Bishamon Heaven.
True to form, she'd come home drunk that morning at six.
"Oh. Did we wake her up?"
Still laying right where she'd fallen, the Palmtop Tiger—that human
trifecta of stubbornness, wickedness, and self-centeredness—lowered her
voice. She told the family breadwinner: "You did good, kid. You deserve a
break. Go on back to sleep."
"No, no, she's still asleep."
Of course, Ryuuji also lowered his voice, and was pushing the
protruding bare leg back into the bedroom. Then…
"Nn…nnngh…"
There was a childlike, nasally sound. And…
"…Waaaaaahh!"
"Yeah? What? What's wrong?"
The body attached to the bare leg suddenly broke into a wail.
Wearing her son's old middle school PE shorts and a thin T-shirt that showed
the black lace of her bra, she flailed her arms and legs. She rubbed at her
white cheeks with the back of her hands and flopped on top of the futon.
Alarmingly, she was thirty-three years old this year, and her pride was her
giant, F-cup breasts.
"I-It smells like omurice! Ryu-chan and Taiga-chan were eating while
Ya-chan was sleeping! Waaaahhh!"
"Come on, it's not like that. I left a serving for you. It's all wrapped
up in the kitchen. I'll stick it in the fridge on my way out, so just zap it in
the micro whenever you get up."
"…Did you write Y-A-S-U-C-O on it in ketchup?"
"Nope. It would have gotten messed up when I wrapped it, right?
And it's Y-A-S-U-K-O."
"Uggghh… Your mother is still very sleepy, so no English lessons,
please…"
Once again, Yasuko flopped onto her pillow. The less-than-perfect
single mother immediately started breathing shallowly in her sleep. Even
though she couldn't do chores, she did earn enough money for them to
subsist off of. She was a kind and gentle mother, but her head had a few
screws loose…and her son Ryuuji spent his days watching out for where
she dropped them. Incidentally, according to Yasuko, when she was in her
third year of middle school…
"I was in the lower seventeenth percentile for math. My homeroom
teacher didn't know what to say, so he just stared at me until the sun went
down."
But for the time being, anyway, the Takasu household hadn't gone
bankrupt. They held up okay. The breadwinner was Yasuko, the one in
charge of the household was Ryuuji, the pet was Inko-chan, and lately,
they'd had one extra fixture around the house…
"Oww…I scraped my chin. Ugh, this place is just way too small.
Hey, Ryuuji, do you want to have sashimi for dinner tonight? It's
completely unrelated, but after falling down just now, I was thinking I could
go for some raw fish."
Ryuuji stared at her raw, red chin. "…Is it really completely
unrelated…?"
"What? Am I not allowed to eat sashimi?" Rubbing her chin, she
stared at Ryuuji with both big eyes—she was one violent-tempered tiger.
"The Super Yontoku mart in front of the station has a limited time
sale on tuna sashimi starting at five o'clock. I think."
"I want to go with you when you buy it, so come get me at four fortyfive. I'm going home."
"Huh, you're going home?"
"You're complaining?"
Although Taiga wasn't living with them, on their days off, they were
together during the day. They were together at night. They were together
while shopping. They had an unwritten rule that she wouldn't stay
overnight, but it wasn't uncommon for them to doze off after dinner and
keep each other company late into the night. They were pretty much living
together, but they weren't involved, not as a couple, anyway. But as Taiga
stood up, Ryuuji dawdled, lingering behind her.
"Why're you going home? You never have anything to do. You're
free, right? Can't you stay over longer?"
He was pretty much asking her to spend more time with him, even if
it was for a short while. Taiga flipped her hair dismissively and turned a
cold gaze on him. "You're the one who doesn't have anything to do. I have
some very important laundry to get done. The weather's perfect for it."
"Your laundry? All you have to do is press a button. Your machine's
a washer-dryer combo, too, so it's not like you have to line-dry it. So don't
just tell me you're going home for that."
Tsk. Taiga clicked her tongue in frustration. She aimed a deadly stare
at the scary-faced guy who had walked around in front of her. "Ugh! Your
whining is killing me! Just what are you trying to say? If you want to say
something, just spit it out!"
Ryuuji fidgeted and mumbled, "…W-would you wanna maybe go
with me to that one sit-down restaurant…?"
"Again?!"
Instantly, Taiga's face contorted with irritation. But Ryuuji didn't
back down.
"It's not like it's a huge favor or anything. I can't go alone! And
today you practically begged me for omurice, so I made it, and… come to
think of it. Do you realize how much trouble you give me all the time over
Kitamura? Why don't you help me out every once in a while, huh? You
could at least do that much!"
"Gawd, you're so loud! Shut up, or I'll tear it off!"
"Tear what off?!"
As their fruitless shouting contest ground on, a noise echoed from the
other side of the sliding door. "Ugh, ugggh, uuugggghhh…!" Yasuko
groaned, in the throes of a hangover.
They were silent for a moment.
"…I guess I'll go. If you insist. Ugh."
In the end, Taiga was the one who caved.
"It's on you, got it? And you're buying me a magazine. Going
through the hassle of talking to you is like…" She made a spitting noise off
to one side. "…That."
Taiga had an especially eloquent way of expressing her mood.
But Ryuuji took it without a word of complaint, a masculine "yeah"
his only response. If it got her to go with him to the diner, he figured
expenses like that were no big deal.
After all, this was that restaurant.
***
"There you go! One order served up!"
Thump. A yogurt parfait was planted right before Taiga's eyes, so
large she couldn't see past it.
"This is just between you and me, but this one's a Taiga special with
HEAPS of extra vanilla ice cream. Hide it from all the other customers
while you eat, 'kay?"
"Are you sure, Minorin? Won't you get in trouble with your boss?"
"Naaahh, it's fine! You pretty much came in every day this break.
We've gotta give you at least this much service! Takasu-kun, do you want
anything, too? I recommend the matcha parfait or, if sweet's not your thing,
then maybe the french fries. I'll give you tons—I'll pile 'em up real good!"
"Oh, no, I…" It's okay, it's okay. Ryuuji waved his hand in front of
his face, unable to even look up from his self-serve coffee. Actually, he
couldn't even open his eyes to start with.
It was just too bright.
She was too bright—Kushieda Minori in her waitress uniform.
Her hair was in a seductive ponytail, the slender nape of her neck in
full and glorious view. The pale orange dress and white mini-apron were
just too cute a uniform. Her chest, which normally didn't attract much
attention, gently lifted the thin fabric. Her cheeks were aglow with her
smile, possessing the allure of a still-ripening peach.
Looking down to hide his face, which was quickly growing hot,
Ryuuji desperately evaded the gaze of his unrequited love of nearly one
year. He wanted to look, but he wouldn't look—no—he couldn't look.
Such was the ambivalence of a boy in love.
"Weeell, can you two really say that you're not dating when you've
been coming to eat here together nearly every day all break? You're a
regular pair of lovebirds!"
At that, they both had just one thing to say to Minori, which was…
"No way."
"No way."
Even their breath was in sync as Ryuuji and Taiga shook their heads.
"Is that sooo?"
"You bet."
Taiga narrowed her eyes, as though exasperated. Then she turned an
extremely cheerful gaze up at her friend, not a drop of ill will to be found
within it. "Minorin, you've been here day in and day out working all break
long, but you're not going out with the manager or that old guy in the
kitchen, are you? It's the same for us. How can you assume we're dating
just because we're here together?"
"You're the kind of kid that would jump to that conclusion."
"Well, the whole you-guys-are-dating thing is that level of bogus."
Takasu and Aisaka's official statement was currently that they were
not dating. Minori was the one who persisted in mixing her groundless
suspicions about their relationship into her jokes whenever the chance
arose.
For Ryuuji, who was secretly in love with Minori, that was the
cruelest joke of all.
"Okay, okay, say no more, grandpa."
"Who are you calling grandpa?"
"I'm not with the manager, and not with the shabu-shabu store
manager I work for every other evening, or the karaoke manager, or the
manager for the convenience store I work at early mornings. In the same
way, Taiga, you and Takasu-kun aren't together. That good enough? Well
then, I gotta get back to work."
"…Just how many part-time jobs have you got?" Ryuuji let those
words slip out without thinking. But hey, it sounded natural, at least. Go
me.
"Hey, even with all of that, I'm restraining myself, y'know! We still
have club meetings even during break, right? And as president, I can't
afford a single day off!"
Ryuuji was left at a loss for words at her reply.
Taiga replied for him. "He's saying you're working way too much.
Are you making all this money because there's something you really want?"
"I have extra time, so I gotta put it to use. We're all the stars of our
own stories, right? Mine's the X-tra Work Files!"
"…Say what?"
"Or maybe The Employee Strikes Back! Well, I'll be back, okay?"
Leaving only those cryptic words behind, Minori dashed off to the
kitchen. Who knew she was such a workaholic? Their eyes followed her
exit.
"That's some work ethic… she isn't just cute, she's serious.
Completely unlike a certain somebody I know."
"…Meaning?"
"You wake up in the afternoon, come by with your hair and clothes
still messed up, get lunch, and then just lay around watching TV, eventually
eat dinner, laze around all night, and then just go home. You're lazy."
Taiga turned up her chin with the utmost hauteur, aiming her parfait
spoon across the table. "We're on break, so taking it easy is A-okay. And
it's not like you're that different. You're completely missing the important
part. I'm the one always making the effort to come over here with you,
aren't I? And on top of that—okay, first of all—"
"Gah…! You flicked ice cream in my eye!"
"The reason why I have nothing to do is you, Ryuuji. Do you get
that? Huh?" Taiga spoke arrogantly. Rather than anger, the color of scorn
flooded her large, shimmering eyes. "You've got it real good. You can count
on me to help you see the person you like, but I don't have a 'me' for
myself. I don't have a kind-hearted person like me to cheer for my love
life."
"…Man, do you think you could beat around the bush a little more?
It's not my fault that you couldn't meet Kitamura during break. I helped you
like I was supposed to."
"…"
"Don't just ignore me when we're having a conversation!"
"Shut up."
After speaking her mind, Taiga lapsed into sullen silence. She
dropped her eyes to the women's magazine she had bought at a bookstore
on the way there. Ryuuji didn't like it, but it wasn't like there was a lot he
could do. He could only drown his indignation in black coffee.
The Kitamura situation absolutely wasn't his fault.
He recalled what had happened, early in the afternoon, on the first
day of their break.
Ryuuji, bowing to Taiga's endless pestering, had made a phone call to
his close friend Kitamura—Taiga's unrequited love. Knowing that the
softball club Kitamura and Minori were members of had about three days
off during the break, Taiga wanted Ryuuji to find out what Kitamura's plans
were for that time. Although Taiga didn't have the courage to invite
Kitamura out herself, she wanted to have Ryuuji make plans to meet
Kitamura, and then, under the pretense of a coincidence, run into them. She
had concocted that pitiful plan.
But the blunt reply that came over the phone (while Taiga stood
beside Ryuuji in a cold sweat) was: "Nope! Sorry! I wanted to hang out for
a day, too, but between student council and stuff I have to do at home, my
schedule is completely booked!" No matter how you looked at it, it was just
bad timing. There wasn't any room to blame Ryuuji.
"Even if you did see him, you'd just go all tongue-tied anyway."
"…"
Taiga looked up. She didn't make a sound, or change her expression,
as she whispered using only the movement of her lips…
Go. To. Hell.
"…Go to hell? What, are you going to push me in?"
"You heard that? You have good ears." Taiga snorted with the coldest
scorn, gazing at Ryuuji with an expression more devil than tiger.
In times like these, Ryuuji couldn't help but think, despite himself:
Why am I practically living with her—with someone like this, who belittles
me and looks down on me…?
"Ah!"
His thoughts were interrupted by Taiga's exclamation.
"Ugghh! What are you doing, you klutz?!"
Still holding his head in one hand, Ryuuji quickly grabbed a tissue
and got up to kneel like a proper manservant beside Taiga's sofa chair. A
drop of blueberry sauce had dripped out of her mouth and onto the lap of
her dress. He needed to wipe it off before it stained the lace.
"Ugh, now I've done it… do you think it'll stain?"
"No, we got it just in time. If we go home and deal with it right, it'll
probably be fine."
He wet the tissue lightly in a cup of water and nervously gave the
dress light pats while Taiga let loose pitiful whines. After all, the dress was
easily at least twenty times the price of any outfit Ryuuji wore…and even if
it wasn't Ryuuji's, he had to take care of it, or he would be blaspheming the
money gods. Even if the two of them had been bickering a minute ago, that
was irrelevant, now. Before he knew it, Ryuuji had lapsed back into their
normal tempo—and that was all right. In the end, this was how it worked.
He and Taiga were always like this. While Ryuuji absentmindedly
deployed his emergency stain removal techniques, his eyes grew distant.
Come to think of it, their common ground had originally been that
they had crushes on each other's best friends. When that came to light
through chance and circumstance, they eventually formed a strange, united
front…which pretty much mostly favored Taiga, but anyway, the point was
that they'd formed a relationship because they were both at the end of their
ropes.
Since Taiga lived by herself, she came to depend on Ryuuji's natural
love of chores and cleanliness and all things housekeeping-related. Ryuuji,
instead of refusing that request, deftly synched their complex household
environments, yielding the current arrangement.
Taiga, you klutz.
Ryuuji had found out about the other surprising side of the feared
Palmtop Tiger—the part of her that was unfortunately vulnerable, the part
that only Ryuuji knew about in the whole world. Because of that, Ryuuji
couldn't let Taiga out of his sight. She was the kind of person who would
trip over herself three times in a day if she were left alone. When she was
behind him, he couldn't help but look over his shoulder and, when she used
fire, he couldn't help but want to intervene. If he didn't prepare her meals
for her, she had nothing to eat, and then she would crash. He felt like he had
to chaperone her on a daily basis just in case she did anything reckless.
But, on top of that—he had accidentally witnessed the scene where
her sensitive, once-in-a-lifetime confession of love had been exchanged.
And unexpectedly, he'd also discovered that she was a crybaby.
Things had escalated until Ryuuji and Taiga reached a miraculous
equilibrium. They settled into a strange relationship where they were having
meals together, going to school together, and even shopping together, but
weren't dating. Such was the nature of their strange relationship.
At any rate, if Ryuuji had to admit it, there was another reason he
stuck by her. Ryuuji was a Ryu—a dragon—and Taiga was a tiger, and a
tiger and a dragon always came as a set.
"Ah!"
The second blueberry-colored droplet broke Ryuuji's thoughts.
"…That was close. Out of all places, why would you spill it where
I'm already wiping up? It fell on my finger though, so it's fine."
"Quit yapping. It wasn't on purpose, and it's not like I even asked
you to wipe it up, anyway."
"That's some gratitude! Well in that case, do you know how to
remove the stain? I think I know the answer! I'll have you know I'm not
doing this for you; I'm doing it for this dress."
"Ohhhh, is that so? If you like it so much, then it's all yours! Why
don't you try it on?"
Well…now the fight was getting worse, escalating.
But he couldn't let expensive clothes get stained right before his eyes,
not without doing something. Ryuuji's gaze hardened into the stare of a
criminal who'd done ten years' hard time on three convictions (he might
have been a little peeved). Heedless of other people's stares, he once again
became absorbed in dabbing at the dress. Then…
"Oh!"
At that involuntary noise from Taiga, Ryuuji raised his face
reflexively. "What did you do this time?!"
"Nothing. …This is cute, I'm buying it. I'm definitely buying it."
Mumbling to herself, Taiga folded down the corner of one of the
magazine's pages.
"What are you going to waste money on now? How many times do
you need to buy the same dress before you're satisfied? They're all the
same frilly and fluffy style, too. So hit me—which one is it? How much
does it cost?"
"Jeez, you're so obnoxious! Do you think you're my mom or
something?!"
"You're going to make me put it away anyway, so I've got the right
to check it first."
Ryuuji got up and promptly sat down next to the clamoring Taiga, so
close that he was practically rubbing elbows with her. He glanced at the
page she was looking at. The memory of furiously organizing the vast array
of expensive outfits that had overflowed from Taiga's closet was still vivid
in his mind. He had a right to stop her from squandering money on
frivolous shopping, once and for all.
But then he saw something.
"…Th-this one? I…wonder about that…"
He unconsciously cocked his head to the side. I'm definitely buying
it, Taiga had muttered at the model on the page, who was beautifully posed
in slimming jeans that showed off her long legs. It wasn't frilly or fluffy,
but…
"This isn't Chushingura, you know. You can't go around letting your
hakama drag on the ground in the Shogun's castle halls."
Taiga was barely one hundred and forty centimeters tall, after all. The
length of her legs was easy to guess, but Taiga cut right into his thoughts.
"…What I want is this. This bag."
With her nail, Taiga gouged at the small purse the model was holding.
"O-oh…that's what you meant."
"Sorry for having short legs." Her monotone voice was strangely
calm, yet rang with terrible, ominous tones. Ryuuji was taken aback and
instinctively prepared to escape. Taiga's savage eyes narrowed, and the
corners of her mouth turned up in a silent laugh.
"Wait, see, calm down…this is where Kushieda works…and it's the
palace, my liege."
"What was that?! Are you messing with me?! I can't stand that kind
of attitude! If you know you've put your foot in your mouth, then why don't
you start by apologizing?!"
Fierce wrinkles appeared on Taiga's nose—his rookie attempt at
humor was a swing and a miss. This is bad, I really made her mad. He
certainly wanted to hurry up and get that apology over with, but…
"Guhhh…!"
"Anyway, yes, I have short legs! But that hasn't ever caused anyone
else trouble even once!"
Taiga had grabbed Ryuuji by the nape of the neck and was furiously
shaking him back and forth. It wasn't really so much that he couldn't
apologize as much as that he couldn't breathe. He hit the table with his
hand pitifully as he struggled. What he was trying so desperately to say
was: "Tap out, tap out!"
Then Taiga's hand unexpectedly slackened. Released, Ryuuji
collapsed into the sofa, coughing.
"Y-you know…someday you're gonna accidentally kill me! Like for
real!"
"Wh-wh-wha…?" Taiga's mouth popped half open as she blinked in
childlike surprise.
Thinking she'd finally understood just how violent she'd been,
Ryuuji gave a sage nod. "Right, it's a shock, yeah? Now that you've learned
your lesson, don't pretend to strangle anyone ever again."
"What?! What are you going on about? That's not it at all. Here!
Look at this!" Taiga glared at Ryuuji in irritation, pointing to the magazine
page she'd just been examining. "Look, look!"
"…You already said you wanted the bag."
"Nooo, not the bag! This! This person!"
Above her cherry-blossom-pink fingernail lay the beauty with the
long, smoothly crossed legs—or more specifically, the beauty's smiling
face. Complementing the cool black background, she wore a camisole that
cost several tens of thousands of yen along with an even more expensive
pair of jeans. Her loosely curled hair trailed in the wind. Of course, she was
a very pretty model, but then she was a model, so of course she would be
pretty. It all looked pretty typical to him.
The moment he tried to ask what about it, she grasped his head
—"Owowowow!"—and twisted it nearly one hundred and eighty degrees in
the opposite direction.
"…Oh!"
Without thinking, he made a sound of wonder nearly identical to
Taiga's own.
A few seats away from where Ryuuji and Taiga were sitting, a
waitress led in a new customer.
Taiga and Ryuuji weren't the only ones looking at her. The customers
inside the busy restaurant turned around and whispered to each other. Pretty
much all of them had turned their gazes to the newcomer.
The first thing that drew their eyes was her slim body, reminiscent of
a slender fawn. She didn't look that tall, but that was because her dainty
head possessed the golden proportions of the perfect woman. Her hair was
lustrous and silky, beautifully maintained all the way to the ends. But
instead of falling straight, it had a wild feel to it, softly arrayed about her
shoulders.
On her childlike, elfin face, she wore the huge sunglasses of a
Hollywood celebrity, and she walked with the utmost poise. Thin-heeled
sandals encircled her ankles, as well turned as any sculptor might have
chiseled out of stone.
Even though she paired her slimming jeans with an incredibly plain
knit top, the outfit made her exceptionally long limbs—unheard of for
someone Japanese—shine brighter than any dress would have. The brandname bag on her shoulder and her polished ivory skin spoke of a woman
who was no amateur.
Long story short, she was stunning. No one could keep from turning
to look at her—the woman was the center of their gravity.
When she casually pulled off her sunglasses, the entire restaurant was
wrapped in strange excitement.
Ryuuji was no exception. "Whoooaaa," he exclaimed, unintentionally
concentrating his sharp, manic eyes on her.
Her own dewy eyes were subtly childlike. The features of her face
seemed to radiate a light all their own.
Like a miracle, two giant eyes were set in her petite face. Her smooth
cheeks were flushed a bewitching, cherry blossom pink. Her soft, relaxed
face was elegant, delicate, and sweet; her refined figure was eye-catching
on a whole other level.
Everything about her was charming and pure. She was kind and
gentle and graceful. Undoubtedly, she was like an angel. She was an angel
who had descended upon a restaurant like this and deigned to generously
shine her resplendent aura down on the mere mortals who happened to
dwell within. He felt he could almost see a ring of light above her head.
And those good looks…
"…It's her…"
"…Yeah…"
It was undoubtedly the beauty Taiga had picked out on the page.
"It's the model…"
Seeing a model for the first time in his life, Ryuuji sighed deeply.
When he saw her in the magazine, her looks didn't seem anything so
special, so how could the real thing be this dazzling? Could someone so
exquisitely refined as this actually exist?
"Her name's 'Kawashima Ami.' She was on the cover a month before
last, too." Taiga, cheeks unusually flushed, spoke with slight elation.
"I see… wow. I just might be her newest fan… Kawashima Ami-san,
huh…? What's she doing in a boring suburb like this…?"
"Her mom's the actress Kawashima Anna. I saw it in another
magazine a while back."
"Wow… I just saw her on TV last night." Ryuuji launched into a TV
announcer impression. "Somewhere on the charming Izu Peninsula! A
murder case—a capybara onsen temptation—the debutante coroner,
Yuudzuku Reiko! Don't miss season four!" He stopped to think over it. "…
So she's Yuudzuku Rieko's daughter… now that you mention it, I can see
the resemblance. Only one thing to do—take a cellphone picture."
"Hey, knock it off. You'll make her mad."
"R-right, maybe so. …Yeah, I'll chill out. I got a little too excited."
"You peasant."
"Oh, come on. Like you weren't excited, too?"
Close together on the same sofa seat, they both took several deep
breaths.
"Not that excited, but…we did get to see something really great."
"It's our one and only memorable thing from over break."
He nodded in agreement, and they both grabbed their cups at the
same time. Then it happened—at the very moment they both took a sip.
Ryuuji with his coffee, and Taiga with her mineral tea.
"Yuuusakuuu! Auntie, uncle, our seats are over here~!"
"Right!"
"Ptooie!"
"Ptooie!"
It was a furious, simultaneous spit take.
The two of them suffered terribly as they coughed in unison. And it
was only natural. The beautiful model who had appeared before their eyes
was affectionately calling over a familiar jerk.
"Wh-wh-wh…why?"
"K-K-Kita—Kitamura-kun?! No, no, why?! How is this
happening?!"
Completely shaken, Ryuuji began furiously wiping the table with a
napkin. Taiga was busy flailing around like a beached octopus and got her
arm tangled with Ryuuji's. Of course it would be then that they were
noticed.
"Huh? If it isn't Takasu and Aisaka. What a coincidence! What are
you doing all tangled up? You two are as close as always!"
Kitamura Yuusaku had sauntered into the restaurant as if everything
were totally normal. He waved his hand as he walked over. Such was
Ryuuji's turmoil that his knife-like eyes honed themselves to sharper and
sharper points. Taiga was being washed away by a full-on wave of emotion,
so intense that she couldn't even speak. But Kitamura didn't mind.
"Apparently Kushieda works here part-time, too. Did you see her?"
Relentlessly cheerful, he continued to walk towards them.
"No, we saw Kushieda, but—never mind that!" With an expression
grim enough to rival the monks of Mount Hiei, Ryuuji intensely pressed his
carefree friend. "You—that—just what's going on here?! Why is—"
"Huh? Oh, right. This is good timing, I'll introduce you. These are
my parents. Ryuuji, you met my mom at our parent-teacher conferences,
right?"
"How are you, Takasu-kun, is your mom doing well?" Kitamura's
parents bowed their heads, but he had to excuse himself.
"No, not them! That's not it at all!" He couldn't stop shaking his
head. "The other thing. That… that… over there! That!"
Ryuuji's emotional lexicon was kind of on the small side. He was left
twisting to the left and right, literally flailing for a way to convey his
distress to his best friend.
"What's wrong, Yuusaku?"
"Right, I was just about to introduce you."
It was a catastrophe.
The source of the disturbance was approaching Ryuuji and Taiga on
her own two feet, right before their eyes. Glittering particles of light seemed
to surround her body as her sweet fragrance softly drifted towards them.
"This is Kawashima Ami. It may not seem like it, but we're the same
age, and she used to live around here. In fact, she used to be my neighbor
before she moved. I guess you could call her a childhood friend."
"What do you mean, 'it may not seem like it?'" Even when smiling,
she puffed up her cheeks as though she were pouting. Like she was just a
regular girl, making fun of Kitamura with a glare.
There she was, in front of Ryuuji's eyes. She was real. In the flesh. In
all three dimensions.
Just what kind of miracle was this…?
But Kitamura wore a completely indifferent expression. "It's just a
figure of speech. Anyway, this is my good buddy Takasu Ryuuji, and this is
Aisaka Taiga."
He'd introduced the oddball boy-girl duo sitting side by side on the
sofa to the angel.
The angel, Kawashima Ami, smiled cutely. "Nice to meet you! I'm
Ami!"
She suddenly extended both her defenseless hands.
Ryuuji stared at those two beautiful hands… or rather, he was
paralyzed by fascination, like a robot that couldn't even comprehend the
gesture.
"C'mon, let's shake hands. If you're a friend of Yuusaku's, you're a
friend of mine."
His hands just might melt, first. Syrupy sweat beaded on either palm.
"…Uh, uh, uhhh…"
Kawashima Ami gently scooped Ryuuji's hand up from where it was
resting on the table and wrapped it in both her own. They were cool and
cold, and the touch of her rings to his skin was even colder.
"Oh, is that—it couldn't be."
Ryuuji was spaced out when Ami dropped his hand. Instead, she
pointed her pretty finger at Taiga's magazine, which was still spread out on
the table.
"Kyaaaa!"
What a lovely screech.
Ami grabbed the magazine, flustered. She pulled her shoulders in,
holding the magazine tightly to her chest. She seemed…embarrassed? She
lowered her elfin face, still clutching the magazine to cover it. She looked
up with just her eyes, batting her lashes such that her pupils glittered. "No
way…! What a coincidence…! What are the odds of that? Maybe… oh no,
you definitely know, don't you? That I… if you saw me in here, then, that is
to say…you know…that I'm doing this kind of work…!"
It seemed that there was real embarrassment wavering in that sparkle
—it pierced through for several seconds. What are you saying? Ryuuji
thought, half-stunned.
With those looks, no one needed to see a magazine to think Ami was
a model or a star, anyway. It only took a glance. But what he couldn't
understand was how Ami thought she wouldn't be found out. Maybe Ami
didn't realize just how extraordinary she looked?
He condensed those thoughts and somehow squeezed out a reply.
"No… just looking at you, you look like…a model…"
They were incredibly blunt words, for Ryuuji. That was his limit.
But…
"Huuuh? That's not truuue!" Ami's voice rose high, her eyes open
wide. She tilted her head in doubt, her skepticism undoubtedly springing
from the bottom of her heart. "That's not true at all! I don't even have
makeup on, and this outfit's just a bunch of stuff I randomly threw together.
What on Earth about my look says 'model'?"
Which meant she really had no idea—this angel. Maybe this was
innocence, or purity.
"See, my hair's all messed up, and I haven't done anything to it since
I woke up and like, really, I didn't even comb it! I was like, this is fiiine,
and then I went out, right? I wonder why you… it's so weird… I don't
understand…"
As he watched the worry on her face, Ryuuji somehow understood.
People who are born naturally beautiful are oblivious to how rare their
beauty is. That's definitely what's going on here. But because of that, they
might be able to stay pure. And then that purity makes her even more
beautiful. Then, while he was absentmindedly thinking all that…
"Ah!"
Ami's fingertip suddenly thrust at the tip of Ryuuji's nose.
"You just thought I was 'oblivious,' right?"
"Huh?"
Shaken up, Ryuuji froze. Right in front of him, Ami puffed up one
cheek and glared at him with mischief in her eyes. He really had thought
she was oblivious, but the connotation was a little different… or no, maybe
it was right—at least, in this case.
"Well, I know, okay? You did think that, right?"
Somewhere in the depths of Ami's eyes he could feel the presence of
a hidden smile, and he automatically gave in to her by nodding.
"I knew it!"
Aaaahh. Ami sighed sweetly in lamentation, and peevishly pouted
her lips. "Well, people always say that to me. Ami is reeeaaally oblivious,
they say. I wonder why? I'm not oblivious at all, but everyone says I am. …
Yuusaku probably thinks so, too. Because he looks really bored."
"That's not true." Kitamura waved away the subject before giving a
faintly bitter smile, and shrugged. Then, as though he had been waiting for
an opportune moment, he started lightly pressing on Ami's back. "Come on.
Let's head back to our seats. Our parents can't order without us."
"Oh, right! Oops, we made them all wait, didn't we?"
Sorry! They raised their hands to Ryuuji and Taiga.
"You'll be here a while, right? Our parents said they'd go home right
after eating, so we'll come talk to you once dinner's over."
"Oh, sure."
"See you later!"
Waving her hand and turning on her heel, Ami carried herself so
beautifully—what a turbulent affair. And it seemed the turbulence was far
from over.
While watching Ami and his close friend depart, Ryuuji slunk back
into the sofa chair, as though exhausted. He carefully watched the two until
they reached their seats.
"Ahhh…"
Enraptured, he sighed. Several times.
She was that beautiful. And not only that, her mom was a famous
actress. But even then, she wasn't arrogant at all. She was eternally pure. It
didn't even cross her mind that she was beautiful. She was a little bit of an
airhead, but wasn't that part of her charm? To think there was a girl like that
in this world… she was like some kind of superhero, the perfect woman.
She was completely different from a certain similarly beautiful, but
strangely quarrelsome and woefully twisted Palmtop Tiger. Even trying to
compare them was a fool's endeavor.
"…Hey, even though Kawashima Ami's famous, she seems really
sweet. She's pretty, but she's got a nice personality, too. Maybe you could
learn a thing or two. To think Kitamura would have a childhood friend like
that… Right, Tai…"
"…"
"Tai…ga…?"
He gulped audibly, fidgeting in his seat. Casually, oh so casually, he
tried to move back to the opposite side of the table.
He'd been careless. He hadn't noticed the soundlessly grumbling
tiger beside him. Now that he thought about it, her whole presence had been
strangely muted—but in actuality, the ornery predator had merely concealed
herself in the brush, the better to stalk her prey.
Like a beast with one paw out of the thicket, Taiga's body seemed to
emanate an aura of turbulent bloodlust. Her small, beautiful features had
become an eerie Noh theater mask. It seemed even now that her contorted
lips might part, revealing the fangs of a beast ready to rend flesh from bone.
The piercing, ferocious light in her large eyes was half-hidden by thin
eyelids as she watched Ami's departing back. She settled her small frame
back against the cushions but arrogantly jutted out her chin.
Taiga was in a terrible mood.
Even if he ignored the more obvious differences between her and the
passing angel, Ryuuji couldn't resist making a comment. "You… how do I
say this… are you sure the attitude's a good idea? You don't need to look so
ticked off just because Kitamura's got a beautiful childhood friend. Weren't
you just all charged up and happy a moment ago?"
"You've got the wrong idea." Her voice rang ominously, low and
quiet, like the rumble of a tiger licking her chops. "It's not something as
stupid as that. It's not…"
But Taiga paused, and pushed her hair up. She snorted, and the
tension in the tiger seemed to loosen.
"…Whatever. It's fine." Her bright, sharp eyes seemed to melt into a
cruel smile as she turned them on Ryuuji. "Isn't it stupid to humor her? Did
you see it, just now? Even you should have been able to notice, and you're
dumber than a box of rocks."
"…Did I notice what, now?"
"I'm good at sniffing these things out. I guess I can at least give you a
hint—how many people have you met before who could honestly say that
everyone calls them oblivious?"
"…Did she say something like that?"
"It doesn't matter anymore." Taiga huffed, spitefully twisting her
rosebud lips as she looked away from Ami.
She's in a bad mood, but chances are good that she won't ask to go
home if there's any opportunity she could talk to Kitamura, Ryuuji thought.
Taiga continued to read the magazine with an unreadable, stone-faced
expression. Ryuuji flipped through pages of the bento recipe book that came
bundled with it, unable to put himself at ease. Half an hour must have
passed.
"Yo. Our parents went home." Dressed in his regrettably shabby
Uniqlo outfit, Kitamura accompanied the beautiful model to their seat. She
seemed to radiate inner light. When Ami crossed the restaurant, her charm
drew all the customers' gazes without exception.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting!" One step behind Kitamura, Ami
wore a beatific smile as she waved at Ryuuji. Without realizing it, he was
lured into waving back.
"Aren't you cheerful… like a dog wagging its tail…"
At Taiga's cold words, he felt a strange embarrassment, and lowered
his hand.
As expected, he couldn't get out the words to say, "Kawashima-san
should sit by me. Kitamura should sit by Taiga." So it was only natural that
the boys sat on one side and the girls on the other.
Settled in next to Ryuuji, Kitamura opened the menu and questioned
the girl across from him. "Ami, you're still okay on time, right? Do you
want to order something?"
"No, thanks. We just ate! I'm stuffed. …What about you two?"
At the sudden change of topic, Ryuuji's shoulders jumped with a
start. Taiga, unable even to look at Kitamura in his everyday clothes, was
looking down at her own knees, frozen.
"Uhhhh, what… wh-what should we do? Taiga?"
Taiga swung her head side to side, still looking down.
End of conversation. Well, what should we do next? What should we
talk about next?
With eyes full of hope, Ryuuji waited for Kitamura, the one person he
knew best out of all of them, to continue to speak. This is probably the last
opportunity in my life to share a table with a model. Please push the
conversation somewhere fun—make this a moment to remember, he prayed.
But then…
"Ahhh, I'm pretty tired after so much time with relatives. Excuse me,
I'm going to take a quick bathroom break." Kitamura was, as usual, the
only relaxed one among them. He stood from his seat, oblivious of the
atmosphere he would leave behind.
"Uh, wai…"
Flustered, Ryuuji stretched his arm after Kitamura, but he couldn't
just say it. You're not actually going, are you?
He looked at Taiga. She had turned to stone, still looking down.
He looked at Ami. She smiled happily, a question mark practically
visible in the air above her. She tilted her head in puzzlement at Ryuuji—
who was, after all, acting pretty suspicious.
It was impossible. No matter how hard he tried, he just wasn't
capable of keeping things together. Ryuuji pretended to casually scratch his
head. "Oh, I kind of think I have to go, too. Uh, where was the restroom
again…?"
Though he was late, he followed after Kitamura, accompanying him
in formation. Onward to urination!
Of course, he did wonder. Was it really okay leaving Taiga with that
girl when she was in so bad a mood…? Shamefully, his nerves won out. He
was bad at talking to begin with, and Ami was a girl, and a mega-gorgeous
model, at that. In times like these, he couldn't depend on Taiga. Ryuuji
didn't have a shred of confidence that he could rally things without
Kitamura.
Ryuuji couldn't even look back at his abandoned seat. He followed
after Kitamura, who was heading towards the men's room in an awful
hurry. This was about as pitiful as it got, but he couldn't help it. He'd take
the opportunity to pee to his heart's content.
But Kitamura took him by surprise by turning around just before they
reached the restroom door.
"Good. You came."
"Wait, what?"
"Just as planned. I was sure if I got out of my seat, you'd follow
along in short order," he murmured, pushing up his silver-rimmed glasses.
Ryuuji, his sharp eyes glinting, wondered just what was going on.
Kitamura beckoned him over to hide in the shadow of the cigarette vending
machine. "There's something I want to ask you. I want you to answer
honestly." His apricot-shaped eyes bored straight into Ryuuji. Then,
unblinking, he came straight out with it. "Takasu, what did you think of
Ami?"
Then he waited.
"…So you don't have to pee?"
"Nope."
He looked dead serious. It seemed Kitamura really had come here
just to talk to Ryuuji. Even though he didn't understand the reason for the
question, it seemed like he had to answer. It wasn't like he had any good
reason not to.
"…I didn't think anything in particular…and you shouldn't just
suddenly bring over a cute girl like her without giving me any warning! I
got so nervous I didn't know what to do."
"Well, she is cute. I'll admit that."
"No, she's not just cute, though. She's a really good girl. How do I
put this… she's, like, pure… like so pure she needs someone to protect
her…"
"…Yeaaah." In a moment of uncharacteristic behavior, Kitamura
scowled, pushed his glasses up to his forehead, and rubbed his eyes, as
though dreadfully tired. Abruptly, he pushed against Ryuuji's back.
"Whoa, wait a second. Wait a—where are we going? What about the
restroom? Aren't you going back to your seat?"
"Well… for now, crouch down."
The safety of the bathrooms got further and further away. They
headed back towards the seating area. Then, stooping and hiding behind
decorative plants, they concealed themselves behind the barrier that divided
the smoking and non-smoking sections. Though he still had no clue why
they were doing this, Ryuuji couldn't do anything but hide. They had gone
the long way around so that they were right behind the seats where they left
Taiga and Ami. They could see the two perfectly clearly, but from where
the girls sat, this was a blind spot.
"…This kinda feels like stalking. What are we doing?"
"Trust me. Pipe down and watch."
***
Over where Kitamura pointed, Ami was slowly crossing her legs. She
threw an arm across the back of the booth.
"Gahh, it's so hot in here. Hey, hey, I'm thirsty, you wanna run along
and get Ami-chan an iced tea?"
Brushing her fine hair, plainly irritated even at a glance, Ami kept her
chin propped on her hand—and brazenly shoved her glass over toward
Taiga.
"…"
Taiga took a quick glance at it, then without changing her expression,
returned her eyes to her knees. The one who lightly clicked her tongue
wasn't Taiga, but Ami.
"Are you for real? You're useless. Or maybe just sad… Don't you
think it's bad manners, ignoring me like that? Not that it matters. I'll have
Yuusaku get it for me when he comes back, anyway. Or maybe I'll ask that
weird guy with the creepo eyes pretty please. I bet he's up to doing just
about anything, if it's Ami-chan who asks him." She spoke in a sicklysweet voice, strawberry-colored lips slightly contorted. But her veneer of
pure beauty didn't so much as crack. And then, recklessly, not even
bothering to glance at Taiga, Ami asked, "Hey, hey. Is he, like, your
boyfriend?"
"…"
Taiga remained silent as a doll.
"Mind if I steal him from you? Not that I actually want to keep him
or anything."
"…"
"And what's up with those eyes? Is he like a delinquent or
something? How'd you end up hanging out with a loser like that? Y'know, I
kind of respect your total lack of shame."
"…"
With her mouth still closed, Taiga turned her clear eyes on Ami.
"Well, y'knooow. In a place like this, with nothing to do, I guess
beggars can't be choosers. Ah, this town. It's. The. Worst."
After letting out that little singsong conclusion, Ami didn't even
seem to be waiting for Taiga's reply. She brusquely pulled her brand-name
bag towards herself, took out a huge hand mirror, and started gazing upon
her own beauty. Then she combed her fingers through her hair several
times, rearranging it, before carefully applying a transparent gloss. She
posed to the front. She posed to the side. She faced the mirror again. "I'm
so cute," she muttered happily, suddenly grinning in satisfaction. "Ahhh, I
feel like doing something fun all of a sudden… what do you usually do with
that guy? Go out joyriding?"
"…He's not my boyfriend." Anyone who knew Taiga would be
shaking at the sound of her flat, emotionless murmur.
"Ohhh? Is that sooo? Not like I care, but…I guess that these days,
even delinquents have standards. Kind of hard to believe, but if you're
asking me? Dating somebody so different, so below me, just wouldn't work
out."
Still looking into the mirror, Ami snorted in apparent scorn. Then,
suddenly, she took her eyes off the mirror and turned a condescending eye
on Taiga.
"Hey, how tall are you, anyway? I just noticed, but you're kinda
freakishly small."
"…"
She leered at Taiga, slowly peering from head to toe—and then, as
though astonished, raised her eyebrows. "Honestly, I'm amazed you can
find a store that sells anything your size. But, like, really—when you buy
jeans, how far up do you have to hem them? Must be a pain. I've never had
to do mine."
***
"…And that is her true nature."
"That girl is evil!"
"You said it. That's Ami's real personality. She's been like that since
before she started kindergarten. She's spoiled. Stubborn. Tyrannical. The
quintessential example of a spoiled princess."
Ryuuji trembled as he looked at his friend's face. He was on the verge
of crushing the leaf of the decorative plant he was holding. "Wh-what kind
of terrible personality is that…? Where does she get off calling herself
'Ami-chan?!' God, she scares me! Was she possessed by the devil? Because
that's the only explanation I can think of!"
"…You said it."
Up until now, he hadn't ever seen a girl talk like that in his life. …
Well, someone in his class might have, but Ryuuji barely approached girls
as a rule, so he probably never noticed. The one and only girl Ryuuji spent
his days with was Taiga (who of course was her own flavor of terrible), but
he had a feeling Taiga's personality and Ami's charted widely different
trajectories. It might've had something to do with the accidental way he
found out about how brave Taiga really was, or how she was pretty much an
underdog, but he felt like he'd pick Taiga's personality over Ami's every
time.
"It'd be great if Ami's outer persona were the real thing, but for some
reason or another… there are underlying problems with her personality.
When she doesn't care about the person she's with, her real self comes out.
And the people she doesn't care about are usually girls."
"…D-does that mean that models really do need to be that nasty to
make it professionally…?"
"I don't think it was quite like that. It's more like she created a mask
when she started modeling. Personally, I'd rather she just dropped the
facade and acted like her real self all the time."
"Well, her real self being what it is… I have to wonder if that's a
good idea."
Kitamura slowly, slowly tilted his head at his friend's words, but
Ryuuji suddenly leaned forward. What's wrong, Palmtop Tiger? "Is Taiga
really okay letting her walk all over her like that?" At least hurry up and tell
her I'm not some delinquent thug… He bit his lip, both his eyes glinting
brutally. Ryuuji stared at the two beautiful girls.
Taiga, still silent, wore a calm expression.
"Don't tell me she's holding back because she's your childhood
friend!"
"Holding back" were words that normally wouldn't have a place in
Aisaka Taiga's vocabulary, but she had a definite weakness for Kitamura.
That must be it. He couldn't think of another reason for Taiga's silence.
And that was the moment when it happened.
How did it come to this?
A scene exploded into Ryuuji's vision. There was only one word for
it.
SLAP!
"…Wha?!"
Ami clutched her cheek, eyes open wide. She couldn't get out a
word.
"A mosquito. There was a mosquito on your cheek."
Beside Ami prowled the tiger, fangs momentarily bared in a thin
smile. For just a moment, her red tongue flashed across her lips.
"You're lucky, really. Imagine trying to sell that precious face of
yours after it got devoured by mosquitos." Taiga paused. "Oh. My bad. It
was just a fly."
"Erk…!"
She opened one wee hand to display the corpse of the fruit fly she'd
just ruthlessly executed.
When she saw it, Ami's face turned scarlet before their eyes. "Whwh-what have you done?!"
Naturally, she was in a rage. But then Taiga scoffed at Ami with a
snort of her nose. "Hey, I did it out of the goodness of my heart. You ought
to have a better sense of gratitude."
"Gratitude?!"
Ami's screech approached the ultrasonic. The surrounding customers
began to notice the commotion.
"GRATITUDE, MY ASS! What's wrong with you?! I can't believe
this! Where do you get the nerve?! This is the worst—the worst! The!
Absolute! Worst! This is why I didn't want to slum it in a joint like this!"
"…You sure are loud."
A single wrinkle carved a line across Taiga's forehead. Her glittering
eyes narrowed eerily. Her blood-tinged aura grew. Tsk. Even the click of her
tongue was a bullet loaded with malice. And then— "Shut up, you spoiled
brat." Taiga threw out her words with sharp, high-handed contempt.
Ami's voice finally petered out. She'd met her match.
"…Awha…uhh…uh…wha?"
Ami's thin shoulders started shuddering. Her breathing grew ragged.
Her cute face suddenly contorted.
"Ah, this isn't good," Kitamura muttered, already on his feet. Ryuuji
dashed along with him, back towards a very awkward table.
It got worse when they arrived.
"Yu…"
It was like a shoujo manga. Flowers in full bloom blossomed behind
Ami as she turned around—or that's what it seemed like. And Ami carried
herself to match. So pretty, so dramatic…
"Yuusakuuuuuuuu! Waaahhh!"
She jumped straight at Kitamura's chest, tears in freefall.
Her delicate shoulders shuddered as she sobbed, the sound of her
voice never quite forming words, until finally she whispered… "I wanna go
home now." She lisped out her complaint like a child. She looked up at
Kitamura from up close, eyes wet with huge teardrops.
"Siiiigh… Why can't you just get along? Really…sorry that she's
making such a commotion, Aisaka. Takasu, you too. I'm going to take her
home."
Kitamura lowered his head and his eyebrows alike. Every inch of his
body expressed profound apology. Then, still holding onto Ami, he
skillfully retrieved her bag from the seat, turned towards the gawking
restaurant crowd, and pulled Ami along to the exit.
The one who was left behind was…
"Ta…Taiga…?"
"…"
"…Hey, keep it together!"
The phrase won the battle but lost the war was written all over
Taiga's face.
Taiga pouted faintly, but her eyes slowly grew calm. She looked like
a statue of the Buddha. Empty… silent. This development called for
consolation, but Ryuuji illustrated another classic phrase—at a loss for
words.
"Well, um…right. Yup. Uh. Cheer up."
"…"
"Let me put it simply. Kitamura and I saw everything. Kitamura
doesn't think one bit that you teased Kawashima Ami at all."
"…So what you're really telling me is—after seeing everything,
Kitamura chose to protect that girl and agreed to take her back home."
"…He didn't protect her."
"…He gently held her, softly consoled her…"
"…I don't think he was holding her, but…whoa!"
The waitress shrieked at the same time they heard the sound of
breaking glass. The plate she was clearing had shattered to pieces on the
floor. And that wasn't the end of it. Probably feeling that something was
off, a kid who'd been puttering around nearby suddenly burst out crying.
Waaaahhh!
Ker-splash! The milk steamer at the drink bar suddenly broke and
belched out smoke.
"Kyaa!" "Eyaagh!" The customers standing in line scattered away
from the roiling milk steam.
"Manager! The toilet is clogged…gahhh!" The sound of an employee
who didn't want to know what had happened rung out and immediately
trailed off.
"…I HATE that girl!" Murderous anger exuded from Taiga's whole
body, spewing thundering blue sparks. And she went right on emitting
them, the force terrible to behold.
It was all out of Ryuuji's control now.
Taiga's lips were pressed tight together, mostly devoid of color; her
clenched fists were shaking, and then…
"Hey! Don't cry!"
"…Tsk."
If Kitamura had been there, it would have been a totally different
story. But now, transparent tears had begun to well up in Taiga's eyes.
"People are looking. Pull yourself together!"
"Uhhhnngh…" Groaning in frustration, Taiga rubbed her eyes with
the sleeve of her clothes. It was a disaster.
Right when Ryuuji felt like holding his head in his hands, a piece of
good news came to his ears.
"Huh? What happened?"
"Minorin…!"
Back from wherever she'd been before, the waitress Minorin was on
the scene. Her eyes went wide as saucers. "Taiga, you're looking pretty
unhappy. Did something happen?"
"…No, nothing… I'm going to wash my hands. Because I touched
something dirty."
"Wooow, you smooshed a fly."
Taiga showed the palm of her hand as she stood up, and Minori gave
way to Taiga's path. After that, Minori watched Taiga's back for a while,
then slowly turned back to face Ryuuji.
"That other girl, what happened to her? Did something happen while
I was on break?"
"…No…or, well, actually, there was some trouble."
It wasn't just because of his nervousness that he hesitated. He simply
didn't know how to explain what had happened. But why, out of all the
times this could have happened, did it happen when Minori went on break?
Minori, whose easygoing nature approached the divine, hummed in
consideration. "I don't know what happened, but she's pretty mad. …It's
rare for Taiga to be so docile."
"You call that docile?!"
Now why was it?
Why did Ryuuji feel more terror in that one moment than he had in
the entire day combined?
***
All the same, they finished shopping and returned to the Takasu
residence. By the time Ryuuji was starting to make the rice, Taiga's good
mood had returned.
"We probably won't ever see each other again anyway. And it didn't
seem like Kitamura was dating her. More than anything else, I can't stand
humoring someone like that."
"Two cups is good, right? Should I make two and a half cups of
rice?"
"Two and a half's fine." Her face was still puffy, but as she fiddled
with the jar of sugar in the corner of the kitchen, Taiga said, "I'm gonna be
the adult here. I'll hold back my hate."
"Is that something the person who went and slapped her can say? …
Hey, I told you not to play with the sugar."
"…"
"Don't lick the spoon, either!"