"I'm not angry. Everything's fine," Taiga insisted, already boiling
with rage before she had even finished speaking.
Such was the hostility between Ryuuji and Taiga.
Even though she was being vicious and incredibly fussy, Taiga made
no moves to cut her time at the Takasu house short. She came for meals,
hung around until late, all while being crabby. If Ryuuji tried to explain his
actions or ask if she was still angry about the incident, all she said was,
"I'm not."
Even mentioning the "incident" had become taboo, and her temper
flared every time it was brought up. "Why do I have to be upset over
that?!" she'd yell. "It's like you want me to be angry!"
I've had enough of this, Ryuuji thought. What did I do wrong in the
first place?
And then it happened, on a day when Ryuuji was so stressed he
thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown.
"Seriously, Taiga, you promised you'd go, didn't you?"
"…"
They had just had finished closing exercises when the Palmtop Jizo
statue was born in class 2-C.
"This is the only day I have a break from club."
"…"
Still enshrined in her own seat, the Palmtop Jizo-sama, aka Aisaka
Taiga, was as unmoving as a mountain. Her mouth was a sullen, upside
down "V."
Kushieda Minori shook her earnestly by the shoulders. "Taiga,
c'mon!"
Of course, Ryuuji noticed Minori raising her voice. At any other
time, this would be a chance for conversation. What happened? It could
have been his lucky break, a heaven-sent respite. But after these past few
horrible days with Taiga, he couldn't get himself to approach the newlyformed Jizo statue's vicinity.
His interest was piqued by Minori, though, and he gazed enviously at
her from afar, his eyes glinting. He wasn't lurking, his teenage heart was
just torn between self-consciousness and puppy love.
Then, unexpected reinforcements arrived on the scene.
"Minori-chan, what's wrong?"
Ami, who had finished getting ready to go home, approached Minori
and the Jizo-sama and smiled angelically.
Just then, Taiga's Jizo-statue-like facade melted. She bared her teeth
as she groaned, "Ugh."
"Stop! That!"
Minori pinched Taiga's nose. Taiga squirmed in pain but surrendered
more quickly than expected.
I see, so that's how you tame her. Gotta jot that down. Ryuuji began
looking for something to write on.
"Aw, sorry about that, Kawashima-san. I'm completely at a loss with
Taiga today. She promised to go swimsuit shopping yesterday at the station,
but now she says she won't go."
"Swimsuits? Oh, right, the pool finally opens tomorrow! That's so
exciting!"
"Kawashima-san, what are you doing about your swimsuit? Did you
already get one?"
"Yeah, I have one I use at the gym. I think it'll work. It's the plain
racing type, so it should be fine. It's, like, light gray and there are orange
lines on the side and—"
"Oh, that won't work. The school rules say swimsuits have to be
plain black or navy and any lines can only be white."
"What! Really?!"
Until then, Taiga had been sitting in her seat and calmly listening to
the conversation between Minori and Ami.
"…"
Ryuuji watched.
Taiga quietly grabbed her bag; then she curled, making herself
smaller than she already was, and somersaulted from her seat. She quickly
slipped by Minori's feet, and, like a beast, dashed away on all fours.
"Ah, she escaped! Takasu-kun, get her!"
"Huh?! R-right!"
Ryuuji grabbed Taiga by the collar reflexively as, by some
miraculous coincidence, she tried to run past him.
"Whoa! Good job, Takasu-kun!"
"Let me go, you perverted dog!" Taiga shouted. "How dare you defy
your owner, you traitor! You d-d-double-double crossing…"
Aiming to completely ignore Taiga's wail, which doubled the
doubles, Ryuuji turned her over to Minori, who had hurried over.
"Thanks for your help!"
"Just doing my duty." Giddy, Ryuuji gave her a playful salute.
Minori turned her attention to Taiga. "Bad TAIGA! Why are you
running away?!"
"I-It's not like I promised or anything! You said you wanted to go, so
I just said that's fine! I…don't wanna go!"
"Why not?!"
"Because I don't wanna buy a swimsuit!"
"What are you going to do?! Didn't your swimsuit from last year get
moldy?!"
Taiga nodded sheepishly.
Ryuuji looked to the heavens. "You've gotta wash and dry swimsuits
immediately," he groaned.
"So you have to buy one!" Minori exclaimed. "What are you going to
do without a swimsuit?!"
"I'm going to skip all the swimming classes."
"Ouch!"
This time it was Minori's turn to look heavenward. Since he still
happened to be standing there, for some reason, she thumped Ryuuji on the
back and said, "You're up, sport," with a groan.
He'd gotten dragged into this at some point. As a man, he couldn't
ignore Minori's attempt to pass the conversation to him. "If you skip, you
won't get a grade for PE," he said.
"This doesn't have anything to do with you!" Taiga glared at him,
suddenly overflowing with unexpected (and murderous) enthusiasm.
Ryuuji couldn't retreat in front of Minori; that would be pathetic.
Finally, even though it was a little underhanded, he called out, "KKitamura! Tell Taiga!"
Kitamura was getting ready to go to the student council room. He
paused, his eyes puzzled as he adjusted his glasses. "Hm? What am I telling
her?"
"Apparently Taiga's completely planning on skipping all the
swimming classes!"
"I can't let that happen!"
"Tsk…" Taiga's face contorted momentarily, mortified, as if she were
saying, Oh no. But she did have it coming, after all.
Kitamura walked right up to her. "Aisaka, are you not feeling well?"
"N-n-no…"
"Then you have to go to class. Swimming class is mostly fun and
games, but school is still school." Kitamura countered Taiga's awkward
inability to lie with a fastball of sound logic—the winner, naturally, was
Kitamura. "I'm glad you understand! Then I'll see you tomorrow!" As
Kitamura waved and left the classroom, Taiga watched him with a hint of
resentment.
"Which means it's time to go, Taiga!" Minori said. "Oh, Kawashimasan, why don't you come, too?"
"Huh? But…" Ami's clear eyes glanced at the Palmtop Tiger, who
was simmering and seemed to be saying, I'm already angry, if you come
with us I won't forgive you with her whole body. She looked like she might
pull a Dragon Ball and take Flight once more.
"Really, Taiga, what a face you're making!" Minori scolded.
"Kawashima-san just moved here and doesn't know which stores sell
swimsuits!"
"It's okay, Minori-chan. I'll be fine." With a graceful smile, Ami
shook her head, and then hopped back a step. "Because Takasu-kun will
accompany me. Right, Takasu-kun? That's okay? Isn't it?"
"What?!"
She entwined her cool, pale arm around his, gently pressing against
Ryuuji's elbow. "Can't you?"
"U-uh… Me?!"
She looked up at him with a nod. Although he knew she was hiding
her true nature and it was against his better judgement, Ami's pale good
looks were still captivatingly gorgeous; almost pure. Against the triple-hit
combo of her teary eyes, wobbling lip, and forlorn Chihuahua expression,
he couldn't resist. He nodded, knowing he'd been manipulated.
"Really?!" Ami exclaimed. "Yay! I'm so happy, I can really count on
you, Takasu-kun~ Oh. You don't mind, right? Aisaka-san." The look she
shot Taiga burned with the blue fire of obvious provocation.
"H-huh? What's with the tension?" Bewildered, Minori looked
between Taiga and Ami.
Ryuuji couldn't move.
"Why not? So what," Taiga said. She ran her hand through her hair as
if annoyed and laughed. Only her rosy lips curved sweetly, even though she
seemed like she wanted to spew poison. "Ryuuji says it's fine. That doesn't
have anything to do with me. Whatever Ryuuji does with whoever doesn't
have aaaaaaaaannn…"
…nnnnnything to do with me, was probably what she would have
said.
"OW!"
BAM! There was a dreadful noise as Taiga leaned forward to
emphasize her words before hitting her forehead against a desk. The
Palmtop Tiger—supposedly the strongest among them—fell to her knees
and clutched the lump on her head.
"T-Taiga!" Minori exclaimed.
"Ah, that looked like it hurt," Ryuuji said.
As Ryuuji and Minori checked on Taiga, Ami tilted her head.
"Aisaka-san, you couldn't be, like, a klutz?" she asked, her words having
lost some of their sting.
She might just have uncovered one of the best-hidden secrets in the
world.
***
"Why?! Why does it end up like this?! You could have gone with
Ryuuji to Europe or the North Pole or Demon City Shinjuku or anywhere
else!"
"It wasn't on purpose. They say this is the only place that sells
swimsuits. Hmmm… Oh, Aisaka-san, this would look great on you. Look,
it's for ages six to nine~ It's so cute~ Look, there are frills~"
"Doesn't this look like it'd suit you, Kawashima-san? It's definitely
just right for a Chihuahua in heat. Look here, the width's five centimeters."
"Those are boys' speedos!"
"Are they? Then this won't work? Really? The model Kawashima
Ami-san on holiday with her pubes fully on display!"
"What're you shouting for?!"
They were in a corner where everyone in the store could hear their
fierce exchange.
"I'm so embarrassed."
Ryuuji blushed. It was bad enough he was a high school boy
wandering through the girl's swimsuit section, but on top of that, he was in
the company of these two.
"Seriously," Minori said. "Taiga and Ami are completely… I'm sorry
I got you involved in this, Takasu-kun. It's a little weird."
"No, it's fine," he replied. "I don't mind."
If Minori, glaringly radiant, weren't standing with him in front of the
shabby shrubs that decorated the interior of the station building, he would
have been at a loss. But because they were together, it wasn't as bad.
It was past four in the afternoon on a weekday evening. Although this
was the busiest shopping spot in town, the four-story building was mostly
empty. The swimsuit store was particularly desolate, and Hawaiian music
echoed sadly in the background.
In that deserted corner of the floor, Minori talked to Ryuuji as she
inspected the swimsuits on the rack one at a time. "Takasu-kun, do you
have a swimsuit? The men's stuff is behind the pillar over there."
"Yeah. I have mine from last year."
"Right. You would. You're different from Taiga. You wouldn't let
yours get moldy."
"Taiga's a special kind of careless."
You're right, Minori smiled in agreement as she took a swimsuit in
hand. "Oh, I didn't let mine get moldy, by the way," she said. "I just wanted
to buy a new one. So, how's this one?"
Ryuuji wished he were the type of character who would promptly
say, "Seems good, it suits you," or something like that. Everything would
have gone more smoothly if he had been. Unfortunately, Ryuuji's throat was
strangely dry and wouldn't form words.
I'm so worthless, he thought. He hated himself for not being able to
embrace this opportunity. He was picking out swimsuits with Minori! It was
something he'd only ever imagined doing, and the reality of it was so much
better.
Of course, Minori didn't notice Ryuuji's mental anguish.
"Hmmm. How about something that's a little high-cut?" She made a
V with her hands and measured the angle of her crotch and then put the
swimsuit back on the rack. As she slowly headed to a different display, she
said, "By the way, I've thought this forever, but, Takasu-kun, you always
keep your uniform and tracksuit super neat. You even iron them properly."
"What?"
Huh… It couldn't be. Was that a compliment?! Although his brain
blanked out from the shock, he managed to say, "Y-you think so?" while
looking at her profile. "Um, well, my mom works, so I have to do that kind
of stuff by myself, but it's not like I don't like doing it…"
"Whoa, that's amazing! So you actually do the housework
yourself?!"
His cheeks burned and he turned his face away reflexively. He
feigned indifference and pretended to look at the swimsuits, but he
accidentally grabbed a mannequin's chest.
Minori continued to assail him with her words. "Yeah, earlier Taiga
said, 'Ryuuji's super good at household work and stuff.' She was bragging
about you, like, 'Ryuuji can do a whole bunch of things I can't.' I was so
surprised since it was the first time I'd heard Taiga praise anyone, let alone
a boy."
"…"
"Oh dear, Takasu-kun, even if it's a mannequin, you can't grab it like
that. It'll pop right off."
"T-Taiga said that? About me? What?" He was so shocked he thought
his eyeballs might pop out.
It was absurd. There was no way. Taiga only ever called him a
perverted dog, didn't she? There was no way she'd praise him.
Right—I get it. Ryuuji's eyes flashed with realization: Minori was
lying. At least, she was blowing whatever Taiga had said out of proportion.
She was always trying to get him to go out with Taiga, after all.
"I don't believe that," Ryuuji said.
"You don't believe me? Well, I guess that's your choice, Takasu."
Minori laughed slightly and shrugged. "It's such a waste." Even after she
said that, he still couldn't believe it—not even if the words were coming
from his adored Minori.
It's not like anyone would believe that, right? Not when it came to
Taiga. Especially not after what he'd endured over the last few tense days.
"How's this swimsuit?"
Ryuuji and Minori turned toward the voice behind them.
"Whoa!"
"Wow!"
Tee-hee. Ami tilted her head and smiled 'bashfully.' Her beauty made
the desolate station seem to fade away. The milky perfection of her skin,
without a stray hair or dull patch, was almost unreal.
"What do you think?" Ami asked. "It's not weird, right? If I wear a
plain swimsuit like this, I won't stand out, will I? Actually, I'm a little
embarrassed being in the same pool as the boys."
When she blinked slowly, she seemed to envelop her surroundings in
radiant light, as though she were inlaid with fragments of stars.
"What is it with those long legs?! All ya do is stand out!"
Minori had snapped.
Ryuuji had to agree. This is criminal, no matter how you look at it.
Ami's eyes widened, her hair swaying as she tilted her head. She
opened her eyes even wider as if in sincere wonder.
"Oh, but I chose a really plain swimsuit. That's so strange. I wonder
what about it stands out? I have no idea. I wonder what it could be?"
It had been a few weeks since she had been accused of hiding her fat.
Maybe it was because she had stopped stress eating, but Ami's stomach was
absolutely flat and her body was perfectly toned. The swimsuit itself was
dark colored and mature against her long, ivory legs and limber arms.
Even though she was slender and tall, her petite face was all eyes,
alluring and charming as a fairy.
So this is a pro model…
Ryuuji and Minori were speechless.
Ami was checking herself in the mirror while saying, "That's weird. I
have no idea." She was too perfect. Her legs were too long. She was too
slim. Her skin was too fair. She was too beautiful.
Then, like someone waking from a dream, Minori snapped out of it
and took a step toward Ami. "K-Kawashima-san! What brand is that
swimsuit?! I don't think I'll look as good, but I want to look thin! I'll get
something from that brand, too!"
"There were a ton of suits behind the changing rooms. Oh, do you
want to get matching ones, Minori-chan?"
"Anything but that! I don't want people comparing us!" Minori
rushed away with the goal of finding the swimsuit section that had the same
brand as Ami's.
And then, it happened.
"Hm hmmm."
The look in Ami's eyes changed in the mirror's reflection.
Even though Ryuuji knew it was coming, he was struck by the radical
change. He needed to stay composed.
Ami pivoted and put one hand on her hip, the other hand to her
mouth, and leaned forward to emphasize her chest. "This is amazing, right?
It's way too incredible, right? I'm way! Way! Way! Too cute! Isn't it scary?
Is it okay that I'm this adorable? I'm so much more gorgeous this year than
last year and even cuter today than I was yesterday! How far can I go? Can
I get any more beautiful?! And, like, with this swimsuit? With this plain,
ordinary swimsuit that barely cost a thousand yen?! No way! If I wore a
bikini, I wonder what would happen?!"
She seemed pleased.
"Ahhh, it's scary even for me," she continued. "Come to think of it,
maybe I should become a gravure pinup model? Isn't hiding this figure
basically a crime? I want to see it ♥. Don't you agree, Takasu-kun?"
"Aren't you embarrassed wandering around in that getup?" Ryuuji
asked. "You know we're inside a store, right?"
"Huuuh?~ Oh, Takasu-kun, leave the jokes to those eyes of yours.
I'm so frickin' pretty, what's there to be embarrassed about? People who
see me are so lucky. I should charge three thousand yen per person. Oh, and
I mean three thousand yen per second, of course."
As Ami slowly gathered her hair up, she shed her angelic mask
completely. The horribly cool, clear eyes of her true self flickered nastily.
She smirked, completely aware of her beauty. She pouted her lips, teasing
and mean.
"The permanent hair removal holds up!" she said.
He didn't know if she was tossing him a bone, or if it was for some
other reason, but she lifted her arms in a sexy pose to show him her
perfectly smooth armpits.
"Um, you know…"
"Ahhh, I'm super cute today, too~ ♥" She winked at her own
reflection. Ami seemed to be in a good mood, smitten with her perfect,
swimsuit-clad body.
But there was something more important to Ryuuji.
"Ummm… I-I…wonder how this looks?! I fit into it at least."
It was Minori, who poked out only her head from the changing room
curtain and was calling out to Ami.
"Ohhh, which one? Let me see!"
Ami's sandals slapped as she ran over to Minori.
Ohhh, which one? Ryuuji wanted to ask, wishing he could follow, but
that, of course, wasn't something he could do…was it?
Pretending to look at towels and goggles, he sidled toward them and
desperately pricked his ears.
"Minori-chan, come out. If you don't look at yourself in the big
mirror, you won't be able to tell if it fits."
"What?! N-n-n-no way, I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I can't!"
"You'll be in front of the whole class tomorrow anyway."
"That's completely different! Ah!!!"
"What, no way, you're super cute! It looks really good on you, and
you're not fat at all, Minori-chan! You even have nice muscles around your
shoulders, it looks really good!"
"Y-you think so? Really?"
"Yeah! He's already here, so why don't you have Takasu-kun look?
Getting a boy's opinion is important, after all. Right, Takasu-kuuun?!"
"Hey!" Minori cried. "No, no, no! Takasu-kun, don't come! You
can't look!"
Ryuuji froze for almost ten full seconds. He wouldn't look if she told
him not to. He wouldn't let his interest show on his face. Though his eyes
glinted with a dangerous sheen, Ryuuji tried pretending he hadn't heard. He
was trying so hard to be respectable that he'd bitten through his lower lip.
Once he was sure Minori had safely returned to the changing room,
he turned around.
"Huhhh," Ami said.
"Wh-what?" Ryuuji asked.
Still in her swimsuit, Ami stared at Ryuuji, intent, scrutinizing, and
spiteful, as if she were examining an X-ray. "So, Takasu-kun, you can't
look at Minori's swimsuit? Hmmm."
"Huh?! She said not to look so I—"
"Why are you so flustered? Never mind. I'm going to put on my
clothes." Taking off her high-heeled sandals, Ami sauntered barefoot
through the store as though she hadn't heard him.
Somehow or other, he had been left behind, a weirdo standing all
alone in the swimsuit section.
The looks the other customers and the employees were giving him
made him anxious. Wasn't it dangerous to have a male high school student
loitering in the women's swimsuit department? As he wandered uneasily
around, hoping someone would save him, he realized the person he was
most familiar with had yet to materialize.
"Where's Taiga?"
There were four changing rooms, one in each corner of the square
floor. One of those was open, and Minori and Ami were using the other
two.
As he approached the last changing room, he saw strappy shoes in a
size he recognized. Maybe Taiga was just changing in there, he thought.
The changing room curtain opened just ten centimeters. And, of
course, Taiga's head suddenly poked out of it. She started looking around
like she was searching for something. Her mouth was a straight line, and
her forehead furrowed as if she was troubled and looking for help.
He thought he ought to say something, but before he could, Taiga saw
him.
"Ryuuji…" she called out to him, her face unhappily contorted. She
stuck a finger out past the curtain, beckoning him.
Ryuuji didn't think anything good could come of this based on the
cold war they'd been waging the last few days, but if she called him, he
couldn't not go.
"What?" he asked.
He didn't know what she would do to him later if he didn't. Probably
call him a miserable dog. Maybe she'd be right.
"Just come over here," she said. "Come closer! Closer! Over here!"
As if worried someone would notice her, she gestured more urgently,
her expression sour.
Ryuuji took a step, then another, toward the changing room. But as
she ordered him to approach, what he was worried about was…
"There's…no way you're naked in there, right…? WHOA!"
He was attacked.
A pair of hands burst through the curtains and yanked him into the
changing room in the blink of an eye. Like a Venus flytrap that had caught
its prey, she closed the curtain tightly, and the changing room immediately
dimmed.
Ryuuji was so surprised, he didn't make a sound, but lost his balance,
hit the mirror, and fell hard on his butt.
"Ow… Tsk… What are you doing?!"
"Quiet! They'll think we're perverts!"
Ryuuji realized belatedly that he was trapped with Taiga in a space
just a half-tatami-mat wide.
Taiga was at least properly clothed in her uniform (she wasn't naked
after all). She plunked down on the floor beside him. "I don't know what to
do anymore!" she whispered.
"Wait, wait, wait?!"
Still holding on to Ryuuji's arm, her eyes began turning red as if she
were about to cry.
This was bad.
"What? What's wrong?!" Ryuuji tried to make his voice as quiet as
possible. Desperately trying to somehow soothe Taiga, he looked at her
face. "Don't cry! Kushieda and Kawashima will wonder what's going on!"
"B-but, but I just can't decide!"
He saw the identical black and navy swimsuits scattered on the floor
around them, turned inside out as though she'd already tried them all on.
"Why're you crying about not being able to decide on a swimsuit?!
Ahhh! These are still on sale, so you have to take care of them."
"I have a lot on my mind!" Taiga shook her head back and forth like
she was throwing a tantrum.
Ryuuji knew if he went about this the wrong way, she'd flail and rage
at him, so he automatically went into worry mode instead. "O-okay. Keep
calm. First off, don't cry. Do you not like the pattern? Do you not like the
color? Do you want me to bring you a different one?
Taiga shook her head more fervently. "No! I-It's the sizing that's the
problem! I hate it!"
I see.
Ryuuji thought he understood: Adult swimsuits likely wouldn't work
with her childish physique. "Uhhh… What about kids' sizes?"
"I'd rather die! You sound like Kawashima Ami! Ah!" she wailed in
a muffled voice. She was on the verge of tears.
"Wait, shouldn't you be talking to Kushieda or Kawashima instead of
me about this kind of thing?"
"If I could, I would! But they wouldn't understand. Those two have
figures that work for them. It's so embarrassing that I can't talk about it!
And it's none of that two-faced girl's business!"
"Look, even if you tell me that, I don't know what I can do," Ryuuji
said. "Huh, what about this one?" As he began methodically putting the
merchandise back on the hangers, he noticed one swimsuit that was smaller
than the rest. "It's an extra small. Did you try it? Did this one not fit
either?"
"I tried it. I did, but…that's… Well, it was sort of okay. But…like…
o-one part of my body was…" Her voice went quieter and quieter until he
couldn't hear her at all.
"Then wouldn't this one be fine?" Ryuuji asked. "I think I can fix it
to fit you. Oh, this is also extra small, but it's still pretty big for you."
Out of the ten swimsuits, he found three particularly small ones.
According to Taiga, those were all "sort of okay."
"Then choose one of these. What about this one? The price is
reasonable, and the material is pretty thick and looks sturdy. Maybe you can
also put it in the dryer?" Ryuuji checked the machine wash instructions. "I
think it'll work." He handed it to Taiga, and she took it more obediently
than he expected.
She looked at it intently, then between it and Ryuuji's face several
times.
"Okay," she said. "You're right. This is…the best one…right…?"
She sighed.
The air in the changing room was suddenly so melancholic it felt like
a funeral parlor.
Taiga refused Minori and Ami's invitation to go to Pseudobucks (the
Sudoh coffee stand and bar), and Ryuuji was hesitant to get drinks with
girls by himself, so the two of them headed home together. For the first time
in a long while, Taiga wasn't angry or annoyed. She just muttered, "You
should have gone."
She isn't angry or annoyed. Good, I don't know why, but it seems like
Taiga's mood is finally beginning to improve.
Ryuuji noticed his mistake around six thirty that evening.
"Okay, food's done," he said.
"…"
"I think the miso soup's good, and we have pudding for later."
"…"
The lump of fluff and frills sprawled beside the table wasn't making
preparing dinner any easier. Without a word, Taiga poked at the greens
clipped to the birdcage with her fingers. Her eyes were unfocused, and she
sighed occasionally.
She didn't even seem to care that her long hair was tangled. Taiga
looked legitimately depressed.
While washing the cucumbers he had pulled from the Takasu-familyrecipe rice-bran, Ryuuji watched to make sure Inko-chan wasn't being
stressed out again.
"Woold jyoo?" With her beak, the parakeet gently pushed the greens
Taiga was fidgeting with outside of the cage. Inko-chan might have been
trying to say, "Would you?"
Taiga shook her head. "I don't need any," she said quietly.
Taiga and the parakeet were having a conversation. Though Taiga
was being polite to the bird, she looked like a drowned corpse sinking into a
deep sea. Her body was limp, and her eyes were distant and dull. Her wrath
had been replaced by sadness. It seemed like she had even abandoned her
ego.
Ryuuji didn't know why she had suddenly become so despondent.
Well, no, he suspected it was because of the swimsuit given the time frame,
but he didn't understand why she was so distressed. She had bought the
swimsuit, after all.
"T-Taiga. I tried making fried chicken in vinegar sauce today. It's the
first time I've made it, but I think it went really well."
"…"
"You put mayonnaise on it. On top, here."
"…"
He couldn't lure her out of it with food. This may have been better
than the cold war from the day before, but nothing could beat the banality
of the current situation.
The sound of agitated footsteps broke the silence. "Ahhh, I'm late,
I'm late~" cried Yasuko. "I forgot I had an interview with a girl~ I've only
got ten minutes until I have to leave~"
"Huh?! What are you doing?" Ryuuji asked. "Here, hurry up and
eat… Whoa! Today's getup is something!"
"You think so?~" Yasuko laughed. "Mya ha. ☆" She lifted both her
hands up to the ceiling. It seemed she was trying to make the "Y" in
"Yasuko."
Then again, because of her lifted leg, she might have been trying to
be the Glico running man. Even her son didn't know which it was.
She really didn't look like she was in her thirties dressed like that.
She was wearing a white tube top and a miniskirt that barely covered her
butt. Yasuko's enormous bust stretched out her top and swayed.
They're like mounds of mochi. How do women function with those
things? Ryuuji wondered, cocking his head to the side.
And then—
"Ahhh! Taiga-chan's pervy-wurvy touchy-wouchy~"
Who knew what she was thinking. As she was still rolling around on
the floor, Taiga twisted around toward Yasuko, who was sitting next to her,
and began groping Yasuko's mochi-mounds.
"Taiga! Don't sexually harass my mom!"
"Awww, it's fine, Ryuu-chan!" Yasuko said. "At least Taiga isn't
acting scary today. It's been a long time~ Tee-hee!"
Wobble wobble wobble wobble—though Taiga continued to prod at
Yasuko's breasts, her eyes were as murky as a dead fish's.
"Th-that's kind of horrifying," Ryuuji said. "So stop. Seriously. Here,
look! It's your dinner! Stop touching those!"
Ryuuji briskly put the bowls and plates on the table.
"Food! Food!" Yasuko obediently picked up her chopsticks.
Still tight-lipped, Taiga righted herself into a sitting position.
"I'm digging in!" Yasuko said. "Yay, it looks good~ I love you,
Ryuu-chan!~" Her chest bounced as she smiled, her face innocent and
immaculately made up.
"Ahhh~"
"Ah! Hey!"
Taiga had prodded at Yasuko's breasts with the ends of her chopsticks
again.
Once Yasuko hurried to her night shift, cradling her one and only
precious Chanel bag, an awkward silence descended on the Takasu
household.
Although Taiga ate her meal and sprawled out on the tatami mats like
always, she was staring vacantly at the corner of the ceiling. Well, her eyes
were open, anyway.
Seriously, what happened to her? Is she okay? As Ryuuji finished the
dishes and dried his hands, he stole a glance at her. Although he was
worried, at least she wasn't aggressive like she'd been before, and she
hadn't been physically hurt, so he was thinking of leaving her alone.
"Uhhh, Taiga?" he asked. "Are you prepared for swimming
tomorrow? Do you have your towel and stuff? Did you put them in your
bag? I'll fix the sizing of the swimsuit you bought today if you bring it
over."
But he really couldn't say anything after seeing her pale face robbed
of its usual fiery temper. It was like looking behind a bush and discovering
the cat that always stole your side dishes had gotten sick. His chest filled
with something that was maybe sympathy and maybe the urge to meddle.
"Hey," he said.
Taiga pretended not to hear him. She rolled over, turning her slender
back to Ryuuji.
"The swimsuit doesn't fit you, right?" he continued. "If that's fine
with you, then I don't care."
"Shuddup," she said in an incredibly small, cold voice, her back still
to him. She said it like she was spitting it out. Though wounded, she was
still a tiger and knew exactly how to pinpoint the most vulnerable part of
his heart.
It hurt.
He had been worried about Taiga's sudden loss of spirit. And now,
despite trying to be considerate and humble, despite offering to fix her
swimsuit for her, despite the fact he'd done all sorts of things, she'd said,
Shuddup? What kind of reply was that?
It wasn't as if the irritation that had been building in him all day had
disappeared. Why did she have to blame him when all she had seen was
Ami's teasing? She had just been pretending to cling to him, but Taiga
couldn't see that. Day after day, Taiga claimed she wasn't angry and didn't
care what he did but still inflicted her sour attitude on him.
Now, she went a step further and said, "You know what? You're a
real loudmouth."
Fine. Like a viper, Ryuuji narrowed his eyes. He was at the end of his
rope.
"Ohhh, is that right?! In that case, I really don't care! I'm not gonna
take care of you anymore! Go swimming in something that doesn't fit you!"
"It doesn't matter because I'm skipping the swimming classes."
"Right, fine, whatever. Skip if you want! See if I care when you're
held back a grade! You're so stubborn! What gives you the right to abuse
me just because you saw Kawashima on top of me?! No matter who you
ask, it's obvious that's what's bugging you!"
Irritated, Taiga got up, the movement as unexpected and terrifying as
a wind-up doll suddenly coming to life.
Ryuuji swallowed the rest of his words.
"Why are you bringing that up now?" Taiga asked. Her eyes were
bloodshot, likely because of her pent-up anger.
She bit down on her contorted lip so hard, her teeth threatened to
shred it. She was as frightening as a corpse doll. This was bad. Ryuuji felt
like he'd stepped on a land mine.
"Well, uh…" He stood and took a step back.
Taiga followed, her bare feet hitting the tatami mat. Her large eyes
shone, wet and overflowing with murderous intent. Ryuuji could almost
smell her bloodthirst.
"Hey, Ryuuji…" Her low, constricted voice licked over the back of
Ryuuji's neck. "I've already told you so, so, so, so many times. I don't care
about that. I'm not mad. If I looked mad, it was because you're delusional.
You thought you knew what I wanted. Don't you get it? Do you really not
get that? Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!"
Like a tank, Taiga continued moving forward slowly but surely. She
jabbed her elbow again and again into Ryuuji's chest. Nonchalantly, she
stepped firmly on Ryuuji's foot with her bare toes.
"Ahhh!" Now Ryuuji was trapped.
"Hey! Why don't you say something?!"
"Well, I—"
"Shuddup! Quiet! You got that?! Take my next words to heart! What
happened back then doesn't matter! This is completely different! You got
that?!"
"Well, I don't know what you're upset about this time."
"I'm going home."
Taiga fell silent. She quickly flipped her hair and began walking to
the door, but Ryuuji intercepted her. He stepped between her and the door,
arms waving, desperate to keep Taiga from escaping.
"Wait a sec!" he said. "It's not going to end that easily. You've just
been saying whatever you want and whatever's convenient for you!"
"I'm done! Shut up! I don't care!"
He had already stepped on the land mine. How much more rage could
be left to explode?
"You think you can eat a meal at somebody's house looking
depressed like that and then just say you're headed home?!" he asked. "Tell
me what happened!"
"Why don't you go gossip with the landlady downstairs, you
rubbernecking dog!"
"Yeah, I will, but only after you tell me why you're so depressed!"
"It doesn't have to do with you!"
"Why do you hate the pool?!"
"Fine! I can't swim! I don't like it!"
"If that were the real reason, you wouldn't say it so easily!"
Taiga clicked her tongue and pivoted, her body low to the ground as
she masterfully tried scurrying under Ryuuji's arm—or so he thought.
Taiga was definitely not a girl who did the expected in times like
these.
"Ah?! Ow! Why is there a bean here?!" She stepped on a soybean on
the tatami and fell on her butt.
"Opportunity strikes!" The moment Taiga plopped down, Ryuuji
firmly stepped on her outspread skirt.
"What are you doing, you stupid dog! Let go, get off! You'll spread
your canine athlete's foot all over the frills!"
"You can tell me to shut up or say whatever you want!"
Taiga struggled to stand, but Ryuuji had pinned her near her waist so
she couldn't get up at all. When she made a frantic attempt to get her feet
under her, the elastic on the waist stretched and fell, exposing an alarming
amount of her pale side, her hip, and even a glance of her underwear.
"What?! I'm done with this!" she screamed. "Ryuuji's violating me
with a bean!"
"Don't be ridiculous! This bean was left over from the homemade
soy milk Yasuko drinks in the morning!"
"Ya-chan drinks this?!"
"Since when did you start calling her that?! Ahhh, you idiot!"
Taiga, working on some unknown thought process, suddenly picked
up that bean, threw it, and caught it in her mouth. She had eaten it—she had
eaten the trampled bean. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! She chewed three times
and swallowed.
"Gross! Another!" she declared.
"Of course it's gross! Uuugh, that's so disgusting! What are you
doing?! You'll make yourself sick!"
"But I want to get the isoflavones!"
"Huh?"
He still had her skirt pinned as she wailed. Ryuuji looked down at
Taiga's face and, at that time, was struck by a stroke of inspiration.
He recalled the time when Yasuko had declared, "I'm drinking soy
milk every day from now on. Because there's the isobonbons or something
that makes your breasts bigger. I saw it on TV~ I can't have them deflate on
me, so I'm thinking ahead~ I'm brilliant!"
Then he recalled Taiga crying in the changing room because she
couldn't choose a swimsuit.
"But…how do I put this…? One part of my body is…"
Isoflavones. Soybeans. Eating it off the ground. Refusing to go to
swimming class. Her despondency about her swimsuit…
"T-Taiga…it can't be that…you…"
"N-no! Don't say it! Don't say anything else."
With frightened, imploring eyes, Taiga firmly wrapped her cardigan
over her chest and vigorously looked up at Ryuuji. She scurried to the wall
and desperately shook her head, asking him to do anything but put it into
words.
But he had to say it.
If he didn't say it and confirm it was the truth, his everyday life with
Taiga wouldn't be able to continue.
"Are you flat-chested?!"
"EEK—"
No one else knew the truth about the connection between the shrieks
of a small tiger that resonated through the apartment building that night and
the rent increase that haunted Ryuuji for years to come.
***
Cheeks hollow and expression as clear as if she'd just expelled a
demon, Taiga said, "Wait here for a while. If you open this door, I'll kill
you."
They were in the living room of the luxury condo Taiga lived in.
They had walked there together from the Takasu's house, which took ten
seconds on foot.
In the room that, as usual, was sensibly put together but too big for
one person, Ryuuji perched himself on the edge of the sofa and waited for
Taiga to return. Taiga had locked herself in her bedroom and was
rummaging for something.
The glittering, modern chandelier faintly lit the cream-colored room.
It was quiet. The soundproofing was probably miles above the Takasu's
place, but silence still felt like the calm before the storm.
"Is that really something you need to worry about," Ryuuji muttered
to himself. "Do you really need to worry about how big your chest is?"
He pulled a dishtowel out of his pocket and wiped down the low
glass table while he waited.
Though it hadn't been that long since they had met in the spring,
Ryuuji and Taiga's living situation had been intense. Was it possible Taiga
hated being small so much that she made herself sick over it?
Just the other day, she had been withdrawn as she grumbled about her
strange name and her small height. When Ryuuji found her, she was close
to blowing a fuse because she liked Kitamura but couldn't do anything
about it. Taiga was a strangely high-strung person to begin with, so her
temper was certainly part of the problem. And now Taiga was saying she
was depressed over the size of her chest, too.
She had such a pretty face, and she was loved by a friend as amazing
as Minori, and she lived in a luxurious condo—he couldn't understand how
she could be so unhappy. No, actually, this condo was probably one of the
reasons why she was depressed. Ryuuji inhaled reflexively.
It was practically a symbol of her parent's abandonment.
Maybe her dysfunctional family was why her personality was so
unsettled? He didn't want to blame everything on family issues, which
seemed to be the current fad, but he couldn't rule it out.
Taiga was the outrageous Palmtop Tiger—prone to anger, dejection,
and suddenly bursting into tears. Moments after abusing him, she would ask
for his help. In the end, Ryuuji couldn't just not take care of Taiga when she
was like that. He couldn't abandon her. No one at school could possibly
understand her mental state; they just assumed she was like a carnivore
loose in the fields.
I have to take this seriously, Ryuuji thought as he dusted the table
legs until they sparkled. He decided to stick by the unsettled, depressed
tiger.
I'm a dragon, you're a tiger, and the two are always paired together.
He was also keeping the pledge he had already made. If he had to support
her anyway, he would take her mental health seriously.
Right. He would say something like, The problem isn't the size of
your chest, it's that you think that's the problem.
"Ryuuji."
"Yeah?!"
"What do you think?"
"Uhhh…uh…"
Nope. No, no, no. That is definitely the problem.
He was so taken by surprise, he fell off the sofa and received the full
force of the sight before him upside down.
Taiga had slipped through the bedroom door. To validate her anxiety,
she was wearing the navy swimsuit she had bought that day. Its price tag
was still on it.
Her hip-length hair softly clung to her too-thin body.
Her arms and legs were pearly gray in the dim light.
Because she was so petite, he had assumed her physique was the
same as a child's, but her waist was surprisingly small, and her delicate
body wasn't just thin.
"What do you think of it?"
Her expression was sullen, but her beautiful face looked like it had
been carved from delicate glass. In that swimsuit, she was so beautifully
molded that she could have been turned into a figure and put on display.
"You really are kind of flat," Ryuuji said.
The thick fabric easily bound Taiga's chest. He could tell it wasn't
that she didn't have anything there—the slight curve from the top of her
snow-white chest cast a shadow. That was most likely from her breasts,
which had been flattened down. The reason for Taiga's "flatness" probably
wasn't because her chest was small but because her breast tissue was too
soft.
And, because she didn't have the curve that should have been
between her underarm and mid-back, her swimsuit looked pitifully close to
falling down with even the slightest movement. It was as if that part of her
anatomy wouldn't work no matter the swimsuit's size.
"Did you try putting cups in?"
"They're in… ha ha ha, but…they cave in…ha ha." Expressionless,
Taiga tried laughing to distance herself. Taking a deep breath, she threw
herself onto a leather-backed chair made by a famous Scandinavian
designer.
Then, Ryuuji realized something strange. "H-huh?"
He wanted to be diligent about figuring out the reason why Taiga
looked flat chested, but he couldn't get himself to look at her anymore.
When he saw her exposed snow-white skin, her feminine, slender
body, and her hips, which were like a glass vessel that would break even
when held carefully in both hands, he was filled with dread.
He almost felt like just looking at her was violence—but he would
never hurt her, he wasn't allowed to. He felt like he had to hold himself
back.
"I'm flat, right?" Taiga said. "I don't have anything there. That's why
I don't want to go to swimming class."
Even Taiga's quiet voice went in one ear and out the other.
If Ryuuji were honest, Ami was more beautiful when she was in the
swimsuit at the station building. She had a good, perfectly-honed figure.
But, in Ami's presence, he had been flustered and his thoughts had run
wild. He hadn't felt this sense of dread. Maybe it was because Ami was a
popular model on break and her job was to be looked at? She was beautiful
and too perfect, so maybe it was because she didn't seem real? But, but, but
but—
"Ryuuji, are you listening?"
Taiga, who was staring at him, was super real and existed right here.
She was real to the point that it hurt, to the point of rawness. If he stretched
his hand out, he could easily grab her. And she would be thirty-six degrees
Celsius.
"A-anyway, put something on. You'll catch a cold."
Taiga nodded at Ryuuji's words and returned to her bedroom to get a
bathrobe. He looked briefly at the closed door.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…"
Then he put his hands to his face and rubbed.
What was this? What could it be? Why did he have to feel so strange?
And then, on top of everything, he felt so guilty his whole body quaked. He
hadn't done anything, he hadn't done anything wrong at all; so what could
his crime have been?
"Last year, I wasn't this worried about it," Taiga said, now in a
bathrobe. "Or actually, I hadn't noticed it. I didn't notice that I didn't have a
chest. We didn't have swimming in junior high, either."
Having finally recovered from his strange mood, Ryuuji nodded as he
listened to her. It was Taiga's condo, but Ryuuji was the one who made tea
and put out snacks.
"I went to swimming class like normal. But I found out some boy
from another class sneaked a picture of me in my swimsuit and was passing
it around."
"Come to think of it, there was someone doing stuff like that," Ryuuji
said.
"Of course, I raided the photography club room he was using as his
hideout and made it rain blood."
"And the photography club did suddenly disband."
"So, this is the picture I confiscated from them. If you look at this, I
think even you'll be able to comprehend a miniscule amount of my sorrow."
He innocently took the picture she handed to him right-side down. He
flipped it. "Whoa! That's terrible!"
"Ughhh…"
The Taiga in the picture had shorter hair, which she had pulled behind
her head into a bun. She stood by the poolside with a sullen, bored
expression.
Either the one who had been handing it out, or the owner of the
picture, had drawn an arrow in sharpie pointing to her chest, and had
written, "Puny boobs."
"Puny boobs… Puny! That's when I finally knew it! I realized people
pitied my flat chest!"
"Well, wait a sec! That's just the opinion of whoever wrote this."
"No! Because when I look in the mirror, even I think they're pathetic.
Waaah, I hate it!" Taiga wailed and put her face on the table. "I have to
expose my pathetic body in front of Kitamura. What time is it? It's already
past nine. We have swimming class in just twelve hours. I don't want that…
I don't…"
Ryuuji's eyes were as sharp as knives. He held his tongue. He wasn't
planning to attack a scantily dressed Taiga—he was thinking.
"I got it. I'll do something about it."
"Huh?" Taiga raised her face and looked at him.
Ryuuji nodded heavily. "I said I'd resize it. I have a secret plan. Take
off that swimsuit and lend it to me for tonight. It'll probably be an allnighter, but, some way or another, I'll make it so you can go in front of
Kitamura with your chest held high."
"R-Ryuuji…"
Then, for the first time in nearly a week, the light came back to
Taiga's wide eyes. She stared straight at him without any doubt and blinked
as innocently as a child. "Really? Why would you go so far to help me?"
"Because I told you: I'm a dragon, you're a tiger. That's all."
Of course, he couldn't tell her it was out of guilt for the strange
feeling he had earlier.
***
"You can go home and sleep."
"No, I'll wait here until it's done."
They'd gone back to the Takasu's house and had their first normal
conversation in a while in the small two-bedroom apartment. Well, it wasn't
exactly a normal conversation…
"I'll stay up with you and wait until you finish it," Taiga said. "I'm
playing this game."
"Taiga…you…"
He couldn't call the conversation normal when Taiga was looking at
him so kindly. Even before the incident with Ami, he hadn't heard her
speak in such a calm voice.
And she was saying things like: "I was… I was being kind of
stubborn and really weird this whole time… I'm… I'm sorry…"
Even if it was a bother, even if abandoning it would be easier, if you
held it dear and watched it for a while, an egg would eventually hatch into a
cute chick. Ryuuji felt like a mother hen, his emotions warmed and deeply
moved. He was a sucker for domestic dramas, and this hit him right in the
tear ducts. He felt lucky that that emotion neatly washed away the last few
dregs of his sin.
In the end, Ryuuji's dedicated needlework continued past three in the
morning.
"Huh? Wait? Huuuh! What's that?! Isn't that amazing?!"
"Ryuuji, you focus on that."
When he turned to look at it, he saw the words "36 chain" dancing on
the TV screen for the first time in his life.