Chapter 3

"Hey, Takasu, Ami has a moped, so she said to go shopping right

now. Do you want to ride together while the girls are cleaning…?"

"Hm?"

For a moment, Kitamura looked petrified behind his glasses at the

look on Ryuuji's raised face.

Ryuuji had a Takasu-stick in his right hand. In his left, he had a bottle

he brought from home. He had a dry washcloth at his waist, and a bucket

and a wet washcloth beside him. He was on all fours, had his own rubber

gloves on, and was in the middle of scrubbing the foreign-made kitchen

sink to Takasu standards of lickability.

He got up and took off the rubber gloves to answer Kitamura's

question. "What? What did you just say?"

"Uh, no…it's fine. You're being really…thorough about cleaning up,

aren't you?"

"Yeah, it's worthwhile." Ryuuji exhaled as he sat on the floor, legs

folded under him. He took another look around him with pulsing bloodshot

eyes that seemed dangerous at first glance. His tongue rolled out to lick his

lips—they were just dry.

This villa was even more spectacular than he had expected. It was a

two-story building. On the first floor, there was a fireplace in the living

room that seemed easily bigger than twenty tatami mats. Next to it was a

dining room with a view of the beach and, separated from it by a counter,

the kitchen with its own table that seemed like it could be as big as six

tatami mats. The second floor supposedly had five-bedrooms and there

were supposed to be toilets and showers on both floors.

"Kawashima had said it was a five bedroom or something…it's

amazing, I think my place is smaller than that living room alone."

"When Ami was living next to me, her house used to be even bigger

than this. Her condo in the heart of the city is supposed to be much, much

bigger than this, too. I don't understand why. Anyway, they're like

celebrities or something."

"I guess they are…"

The two boys put their hands to their faces and hummed like middleaged women as they gazed against their better judgment at the undeniably

tall ceiling. A fan whirled above their heads like one in a house in an

overseas soap opera. This really was a different world. Neither Ryuuji or

Kitamura could even understand why that fan was there. They sighed

absently.

"Yuusaku, here, this is the key. What are you going to do? Are you

going shopping with Takasu-kun?" Ami peeked her head out from the door.

What do you mean by shopping? Ryuuji was the only one who hadn't

been able to follow the conversation.

"No, it looks like Takasu's cleaning enthusiastically, so I'll go by

myself."

"What? There's no way you can do that. There isn't a basket, and it's

not a scooter, so you can't put anything by your feet. It doesn't even have a

luggage rack you can tie things down to, so you need someone to hold stuff

for you."

"Then will you come?"

"If I'm not here, nobody will know anything about the villa."

I see… As soon as Ryuuji grasped the flow of the conversation, he

raised his hand. "Go with Taiga," he said. "She can't clean, so she wouldn't

be useful here. Heeey, Taigaaa!"

"What? What are you shouting for?"

"Whoa!"

Taiga was a lot closer than he had expected and surprised him.

He didn't know whether she was cleaning the floor, simply sitting, or

had gathered wind of Kitamura's presence and stealthily approached, but

for some reason, she was on all fours on the floor, her head poking out from

between Ami's long legs.

"What are you doing?! Don't stick your head through weird places!"

In defiance of Ami's shrieks, like a regular customer flipping up the

doorway curtain of a restaurant to ask, You still open? Taiga put her hand on

the inside of Ami's knee and casually looked up only at Ryuuji.

"No, Kitamura is looking for someone to go shopping with him, so I

thought it might be good if you went."

In sync with Ryuuji's words, Kitamura waved the jangling keys Ami

had given him in front of his face. "Yeah, want to come?" he asked. "It'll

feel nice to go up that mountain road we just came down on a moped."

"Uh!"

Taiga suddenly stiffened like she'd gone into rigor mortis, her mouth

shrinking into a small triangle. Her round cheeks were like peaches, and her

eyes tipped up into sharp slits. That was Taiga's expression of astonishment,

nervousness, and delight. Right, right, Ryuuji nodded to himself. Sitting

with Kitamura on a moped, touring the beachside… she probably couldn't

have fathomed this situation even in her dreams. What a nice assist. No

matter what happened, he would end up helping Taiga out like this. But

well, if that was the natural way things progressed, it wasn't like he could

do anything about it.

"I-I can't."

"What?!"

Ryuuji, drunk on his own goodwill, turned with an expression like an

ogre unintentionally washing over his face. He wasn't mad—he was

surprised. Why was she throwing out his support? Why was she throwing

out the chance he had just given her?

Unaware of Ryuuji's thoughts, Taiga pressed her face against Ami's

calves. She shyly hid her face as though she were the big sister in a povertystricken household peeking from behind the shadow of a tree at her younger

brother, who was aiming to become a star of the Giants baseball team, and

their slightly paranoid father.

"I'm scared of mopeds," Taiga said. "So I can't."

"Wait, you…"

She unconsciously kneaded Ami's butt and then backed off when

Ami twisted in discomfort. Taiga shyly pressed against the wall. "I think

Minorin would go, so I'll call her. Miiinoooriiinnn," she said as she stepped

away into the hall.

Did that mean Taiga wasn't just letting go of her opportunity but also

getting rid of Ryuuji's chance to talk to Minori? What does she think she's

doing? Ryuuji quickly got up and went after Taiga. He grabbed her elbow

and pulled her back.

"Wait a sec! Why are you doing this?!" he asked in a low voice that

Kitamura and Ami wouldn't hear from the kitchen.

"Aren't you noisy?!"

"Fuh-gah!"

She gave him a sharp elbow to the stomach. He fell to his knees

wordlessly. With the frozen gaze of a saber-toothed tiger whose corpse had

been found in the bottom of eternal ice, Taiga looked down on Ryuuji.

"I have my reasons," she said. "Unlike you, I'm acting systematically

and logically."

"Y-you were just being shy. I saw all of it…oof!" PSHT! He got a

slap on the mouth.

"A mosquito. There was a mosquito."

It seemed getting more out of her was out of the question now.

Shopping? I'll go, I'll go! The carefree Minori threw aside her

Quickie Wiper and straddled the moped with Kitamura as they aimed

towards the supermarket near the station. "Let's become the wind," she

muttered as they left.

Taiga lowered her voice as she sneakily watched them from the front

door that lead to the wood deck.

"Okay? From now until Minorin comes back, we're going to look for

a place we can use for the plan, like an attic or a place where we can get

into Minorin's room through the window. We're going to check all the

places in this villa where we can hide or surprise Minorin. You're a dog, so

you'll probably be good at this."

Ryuuji nodded, pretending he hadn't heard the insult she

nonchalantly tacked on. "I see, okay. But if Kawashima catches us, that

means trouble. Actually, where did Kawashima go?"

He looked around but didn't see any sign of her.

Taiga huffed and shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. If she catches us,

we'll figure out how to trick her when the time comes."

Hurry up and get going. She slapped Ryuuji on the back insistently.

Although what she said was clearly off the cuff and not at all logical, they

didn't have any other ideas at hand. Still being pressed on, he returned to

the villa.

"You go look around the second floor," Taiga said. "In order starting

next to the stairs, it's Kitamura-kun's room, your room, my room, Minorin's

room, and then Dimhuahua's room. Dimhuahua was saying that earlier as

she was carrying the sheets or whatever in."

"Got it. And you're doing the first floor, right? There were

cockroaches, so be careful."

"What…?"

Leaving behind Taiga, whose unsettled expression was starting to set,

Ryuuji went up the stairs to the second floor. It's fine, Taiga would win in a

fight against a cockroach.

He admired the wide pine boards of the floor, the spacious hallway,

and the row of south-facing doors once again as he walked. He felt like the

whole thing was more tasteful by far than a small, garish hotel or motel.

Whether it was Taiga's house or Ami's, he knew there were people in

the world who were richer than you could imagine. The thought of his own

snug rental came to mind, and Ryuuji softened his footsteps as he headed to

Minori's room. He snuck in and checked whether it was possible to knock

on her windows from the outside. If he had time, he wanted to even go up

to the attic.

Taiga and Ryuuji intended to scare Minori out of her wits. Of course,

he felt sorry for her, but if he didn't scare her thoroughly that day and the

next, he'd barely get any results when he showed up as her knight. It was all

in the name of avoiding his future as a kowtowing dog with puppies, so

there was no way around it. It was incredibly selfish, but unrequited love

wasn't anything but selfishness in the first place, anyway. It was just a way

to trick yourself into selfish delusions and convenient misconceptions.

Though his guilt didn't conveniently disappear when his thoughts turned

serious.

Going all the way into the room was a little bit like being a stalker.

But, she hasn't unpacked, and I wasn't going to touch her personal things,

and it's just for a little bit. He justified it to himself again and again as he

continued down the hallway.

"Huh? What was this room?"

Opposite the southern rooms were two unfamiliar doors in line with

the stairs. He gently opened one of them. Oh, Ryuuji shrugged his

shoulders. He hadn't checked it yet, but this was the restroom. I'll clean this

later, too. He pointed at the toilet. Be prepared.

In that case, this is the shower. He opened the door and peeked

inside.

"Hm? Seriously?"

The lights were on and shining brightly in the changing area where

the laundry machines were. It wasn't like Ryuuji was footing the electricity

bill, but it was in his nature not to allow meaningless waste. Though he

thought of turning it off, he didn't know where the switch was. It was

probably in the back where the half-open glass door was. He stepped in and

looked around. There was a sink and a closed shower curtain around the

bathtub. He found the switch along the wall next to the glass door.

For a moment, he thought, That's strange. For some reason or other,

it felt humid—but of course that couldn't be the case, and he erased the

incongruity from his mind. Then, as he turned off the light switch…

"Ah?!"

"Oh, sorry! …Huh?"

It was a girl's shriek. Reflexively, Ryuuji turned the lights back on

and tilted his head. Who was that…?

"Seriously, is that you, Takasu-kun? Could you not walk in on a girl's

shower?"

…It came from the other side of the shower curtain.

…The sound of a turning faucet, the dripping of a shower.

…The rising temperature.

…The owner of the voice was Ami.

Uh.

"Ahhh, I-I-I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't notice…ahh!"

"Ho ho…♥"

A pale arm stretched from the other side of the still-closed shower

curtain. Ryuuji frantically averted his eyes and tried to run away, but, for

some reason, the wet hand firmly grasped his arm, pulling him with

amazing strength. Ryuuji's feet slipped futilely against the tiles like

spinning wheels.

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you…?!"

"Heeey." Ami's voice, high and sweet like a kitten's, filled the small

shower room. "Takasu-kun, you're so bold. I had no idea… did you come to

take what you want?"

"No! It wasn't on purpose! I didn't know!"

"You're saying that again…you don't need an excuse, you know? No

one's watching in here. We're completely alone…"

"Are you stupid?!"

From behind the still closed curtain, he heard an indistinct, quiet

laugh. Ami was a demon. Still firmly holding Ryuuji, with a voice that

seemed to cast a spell of immobility, her whisper continued to thrum,

melting and sickly sweet. "You're not happy? I'd keep it a secret from

Yuusaku and that jealous tiger…from Minori-chan. It'll be a secret…"

"Waaah!"

The curtain fluttered. Through the thin fabric, he saw a shadow

slowly stand. Wait a second, please wait. Ryuuji, who felt like he was going

to die and not sure what was happening, covered his eyes desperately with

his other hand.

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you thinking?!"

"It's fine…Takasu-kun, if this is what you want…"

"I don't! I don't!"

"Are you sure? Hey, are you sure? …Do you really not want this?"

"What am I supposed to want?!"

"This!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

"…Ah?"

Ami flung the shower curtain fully aside and looked down at Ryuuji

as he desperately averted his face and eyes. He shrieked as he fell on his

butt.

"…Puh-ha!" The demon's cheeks inflated as she snorted vigorously.

"Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa!" She laughed,

as inhumane as a machine gun firing at the idiot sitting with his legs trapped

under him, unable to stand.

"Wh-wha…wha?"

Standing in the sudsy bathtub was Ami, writhing with wicked

laughter. She was almost crying as she jumped for joy, amused as she

pointed at Ryuuji's pitiful form.

"Nooo waaaay! Taaakaaasuuuu-kuuun?! What you were expecting?!

That face…ah ha ha ha ha! It's super funny! A masterpiece! Aha ha ha ha

ha!"

She was in a T-shirt and jeans, holding a sponge, and pounding her

hand gleefully against the wall.

"You…wh-what were you doing?"

"Cleaning. The. Tub. ♥ I was thinking I could switch with you,

Takasu-kun, since you love cleaning."

"Oh, Ryuuji! How was the second floor? I found a ladder that goes

up to the attic… what?"

The amount of shock, suffering, and embarrassment Ryuuji had gone

through was unbearable. He caught Taiga on the landing while fleeing down

the stairs, and tried to communicate using body language to tell her what

had happened. His slanted, psychotic, sanpaku eyes were bloodshot, and he

was on the verge of tears. If he'd been talking to anybody but Taiga, he

might have been arrested on the spot, prosecuted, and found guilty.

"What? Mmm hmm… Dimhuahua did what? Completely? She

pretended like she was taking a shower? Herself…to you? She teased you?

She showed herself to you naked. To pretend to seduce you."

How he had conveyed that to her so well was a mystery, but Ryuuji

pinched his earlobe and deeply nodded to say, "Exactly like that."

"Well, what happened? Did you go look at Minorin's room?"

He shook his head "no" vigorously.

"You're useless!" she jeered at him.

Ryuuji was already dejected, and as he pitifully backed against the

wall, his hand unconsciously crept towards his back pocket for his phone. If

he called right now, Yasuko would answer. Maybe she'd let him talk to

Inko-chan…

"Don't ask for someone to comfort you!" Taiga snapped. "You really

are useless. Why are you putting yourself at the mercy of someone like

Dimhuahua?! Seriously, fine, I got it. I'll go look and have a word with her,

too!"

He had no idea if talking to her would do anything, but Ryuuji, at that

moment, wanted to leave it all to Taiga. Yeah, go tell her, go have a word or

a thousand with that demon. Go complain or curse her. Pitiful? Call it

whatever you want. It was obvious Ryuuji's manly pride and naivete had

been mercilessly smashed.

Taiga narrowed her eyes and ran up the stairs.

"Hey! Dimhuahua!" she shouted. She sounded incredibly in charge to

Ryuuji as he waited on the first floor.

Rattle. He heard the sliding door open and then a shriek. He sensed

an argument—and then silence.

The strained silence continued for a short while, until even Ryuuji

started to wonder what had happened.

"I-I can't believe it. Seriously, what is it, what was that…" Ami

grumbled as she came down the stairs. She was wearing sweats now, unlike

before. Irritated, she brushed Ryuuji aside on the landing as though to send

him flying. Her wet hair smelled sweet.

…Her wet hair?

Then Taiga came down after her.

"Wh-What happened?!" Ryuuji asked.

Taiga was dripping wet, and, on top of that, she had a distinct, red

handprint on her cheek. Her eyes were frozen wide, like a cat that had been

grazed by a car. "…Dimhuahua really was taking a bath," she said.

"You don't have to say any more than that!" Ami snapped at her,

turning. Ryuuji was afraid to ask what had happened. All he knew was that

Taiga was cross-eyed.

"T-Taiga? Keep it together, what did you see?" he asked.

"Ryuuji, um… Dimhuahua was like BAM! And…" She opened her

right hand around her right breast. "BAM! And…" She opened her left

hand at her left breast and then, finally, opened up both her hands together

on the bottom half of her body. "…BAAAM! Like that."

Ami leaped back toward them, practically suspended in the air. "I

told you to stop!" She karate-chopped Taiga's head.

The Palmtop Tiger would normally never allow something like that

without retaliation, but Taiga was still slightly stunned. She stumbled to the

phone table, where she picked up a memo pad and pencil.

"Ryuuji," she said. "Um…Dimhuahua is like this here…and this

part's really abnormal…and right here, it's like BAM!"

"Don't draw me naked!"

The illustration was so bad it became very realistic. Ami snatched it

and tore it to pieces.

It took thirty minutes for Taiga to come back to her senses.

***

Almost an hour later, they heard the sound of the moped braking out

front.

"We're back! Heeey, Takasu-kuuun!"

Ryuuji raised his head from the silverware he was polishing like a

faithful dog. Minori had really called him.

He sprinted down the long hallway in his slippers to the front door,

where her voice had come from.

"Sorry, sorry, could you help me carry this?" she asked.

"Whoa, don't you think you bought too much?!"

"You think so? But it's five people's meals for tonight, three meals

tomorrow, and hopefully for the morning the day after. And oolong tea and

seasonings and stuff."

"We can't leave anything behind."

"We'll just have to eat it all. Oh, oh."

Minori dragged four bags stuffed with groceries across the wood

deck. Clack. The more breakable things on the bottom clanked and Ryuuji

rushed over to take the bags from her.

"Don't drag them," he said. "Seriously, what's Kitamura doing?"

"He said he'd put away the moped. Sorry, I'll carry that. What are

Taiga and Ahmin doing?"

"Kawashima's in hysterics on the phone with her parents since the TV

isn't working right. Taiga is…in the restroom, I guess. Let's move all of

these to the kitchen in one go."

Right. Minori nodded, and Ryuuji felt as happy and embarrassed as a

newlywed. Hee hee… In order to hide his softening expression, he rose and

brought the heavier bags to the kitchen. He couldn't just let himself by

overcome by momentary happiness and do nothing. It was fine—he hadn't

forgotten their goal.

Of course, they had everything prepared—Taiga hadn't peeked into

Ami's bath for nothing. Ryuuji confirmed the faint creak from the ceiling

and casually calculated the distance. It'll be right around here.

"Oh, could you leave the groceries there for a minute?" he asked.

"I'll separate the stuff we're putting in the fridge."

"There ya go." Minori said.

He casually stopped Minori right before she entered the kitchen.

Minori crouched in the hallway and started rummaging through the bags.

"Uhh…can sauces be in room temperature? Curry roux is…room

temp. What about you, onion?"

Ryuuji knelt beside her, pretending to look into the bags. As Minori

looked down, he watched her unexpectedly smooth cheeks and glossy hair.

Her scalp was slightly sunburned where her hair parted, and her upper lip

thinned out as she pouted. She really is cute—no, wait. This isn't the time

for this.

His throat was dry from nerves, but he cleared it casually.

"K-Kushieda. Does this need to be refrigerated? Hey, do you think it

says so somewhere?"

"Hm? Let me see, could I have that? Um…"

He handed the can of tomato puree (there's no way this thing would

go in the fridge) to Minori and had her read the fine print. Minori's eyes

flickered, going back and forth as she huffed and narrowed them.

"Eek?!" she suddenly shrieked.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Ryuuji casually asked her as he pretended to

be surprised while he raised his head.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I…"

Minori had turned into Inagawa Junji, the radio host who told ghost

stories. Her eyes went wide, her face was scared stiff, and she frantically

turned to look between Ryuuji and herself.

"I-I-I-I-I, j-just…just now, there was some-something behind me… IIt, whoa… what was that?"

She looked around as though she was searching for something and

roughly pushed back her bangs as if she wanted to say she didn't believe it.

She looked at Ryuuji again as though for confirmation.

"You must have been imagining it," he said. "There wasn't anything

behind you."

"…"

"Did something happen?" he asked.

"No… nothing… it was…nothing, I guess. Maybe I was…mistaken?

Right… that muuust be iiit, it muuust be," Minori sang as though talking to

herself. Her face remained petrified. Slapping her cheeks, she lowered her

eyes to the can once more.

It was behind her.

The setup was happening one more time. Of course, Ryuuji could see

it.

One board of the ceiling was slightly shifted, and from a gap in that

dark space, a fresh piece of seaweed from the beach was making its way

down to the back of Minori's neck from a string. The seaweed was tied into

a pom pom and heading towards the collar of defenseless Minori's parka.

Finally, the slippery, soft tip of it shrugged against her skin. Naturally, that

primitive contraption was powered by Taiga in the attic. According to

Taiga, the seaweed was apparently, "Dimhuahua the First, a floating fauxspirit." He hadn't even felt like telling her to cut it out.

"Uh…"

Jolt. Minori's expression froze. Slowly, slowly she turned to look

behind her. Of course, Dimhuahua the First was quickly being hauled back

up and had disappeared without a trace.

"What is it, Kushieda?"

Sorry… he thought even as he looked at her dubiously. Minori gaped

as she pointed in the wrong direction and her gaze wandered.

"J-Just now, something definitely really did touch me. It was like

slimy or slippery…like…seaweed? That's what it seemed like…"

That's because it is seaweed…

"…Like the hair of a corpse that seems like seaweed… it was like the

soul of a living thing that was killed by being wrapped in seaweed… A sea

otter, maybe? If it was wrapped in seaweed, maybe it was a sea otter? A sea

otter corpse? A sea otter with scallop corpses filling its skin pouches?!"

There it is. Ryuuji sighed. As expected, Minori had the endless ability

to inflate the truth and make anything spooky. Eventually, her front teeth

started chattering.

"I-It's wet…" she said. "It's wet where it touched me! This smell

is…" Sniff. She touched the back of her neck where the seaweed liquid was

and sniffed her hand. "Gyaah! It really does smell like

seaweeeeeeeeeeeed!"

You're completely right, though.

"H-hey!"

"It's the corpse of a sea otter! It's the curse of the seaweeeeeeeed!"

As though she had touched something unclean, she stretched her

hand away from herself. Minori sprinted down the hallway. To think she

was this scared by something that small… Ryuuji said a hearty prayer of

thanks as he watched her back.

Eventually, Minori's footsteps grew distant.

"I kind of feel guilty…" he said.

Of course, the pale face that emerged from the widened gap in the

ceiling was Taiga's. As she scrubbed the dust off herself, she looked down

at Ryuuji.

"If you do stuff like this, you'll end up in hell," she said, sounding

vaguely similar to a horoscope.

"But you're the one who committed the crime!"

"You're the ringleader. Well, I'll go clean up Dimhuahua the First. I

wonder if I could jump down from here?"

"That's rude. And don't do that, it's dangerous."

"It's fine, it's fine," Taiga said as she pushed the board even further

aside and pulled her head back in. Then the bottoms of her feet slid down

from the ceiling. "It would be a hassle to use the ladder to come back

down."

"Hey, wait…are you serious? Don't fall."

"Stop. I'm not that clumsy."

She would fall. And this was how it was going to happen.

Ryuuji was confident. He waited with his arms stretched directly

below Taiga to support her just in case something happened as she lowered

herself. Taiga's bare feet kicked as though measuring the distance to the

floor. Eventually, her lower half slowly crawled out of the gap in the ceiling

tiles.

"Ugh…"

What was that sound? He didn't have time to ask.

Slip! Taiga dropped ten centimeters all at once. Before she could fall,

Ryuuji grabbed her bare feet and saved her from dropping to the floor.

"Uh-Uh-Uh…this might…be bad," Taiga said. "My hands are

slipping!"

Her armpit caught precariously on the ceiling tile, leaving Taiga to

support her body with her arms alone. She struggled, her feet kicking

futilely, urgency filling her voice.

"I-I can't go up or down anymore…" she said.

"Look, didn't I tell you?! I'll hold on to you, so just let go!"

"N-no!"

"Why not?!"

"Because then you'll see my underwear, you perverted dog! What

kind of scary guy tries to panty peep at a time like this?!"

"You're the one who's scary! I'm not even thinking of the 'u' in

underwear!"

Even though he was holding onto her, Taiga tried to kick Ryuuji, her

bare feet slapping him on the cheek. Just when he was thinking he should

just leave her like this, he heard voices.

"Y-yeah! There really was a seaweed ghost!"

"A seaweed ghost~? What's that?"

"It might have been Ishidata Tetsuo's ghost."

"Oh~? Who is that? One of your relatives, Minori-chan?"

"If it wasn't that, then it's a sea otter spirit."

"Sea otter spirit~? That's kind of cute, isn't it~?"

Fwoosh. Ryuuji's face went blue. His sanpaku eyes sloped until they

were terrifically narrow. He wasn't planning on strangling the two girls who

were approaching with seaweed—he was so flustered he thought he might

vomit his heart out.

"Wah, this is bad this is bad this is bad this is bad…"

Naturally, Minori and Ami were the ones approaching. Possibly

hearing them, Taiga's feet struggled furiously. She hesitated, and then at the

last minute, tried to get back into the attic. As Ryuuji panicked and

supported her bare feet with his fully outstretched hands to try to return

Taiga to the attic, she showered his face with footprints.

"Hurry up, hurr…gah!"

Schwump! Taiga was so hurried that she dropped her flashlight. It hit

him square in the nose. As he collapsed in agony, Taiga pulled herself up

and replaced the ceiling tile with a thump.

"Uhh, where is the ghost of that Tetsuo-san or whatever?" Ami

asked. "It's just Takasu-kun sitting there. Actually, Takasu-kun, what are

you doing?"

"Huh, that's weird…" Minori said. "Takasu-kun, what's wrong?"

"Uh, I-I'm just a little…"

It's nothing. However, the moment the two of them turned around,

simultaneous, superhuman shrieks erupted from Minori and Ami.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

What just happened? He put his hand on his aching nose as though

nothing were wrong.

"…Whoa!"

Slip! He was of course surprised to find something wet and slippery

there. When he looked at it, his hand was red and slick. His nose was

gushing blood. Maybe this was payback… He couldn't make up an excuse

for what had happened and ran wordlessly into the kitchen to wash his face

and hands.

"Takasu-kun, what happened?!" Minori asked. "Did the seaweed

ghost attack you?!"

Ryuuji couldn't even give an honest response to Minori's question as

she karate-chopped his neck in concern. He desperately washed the

dripping blood away and pinched his nose, looking up.

Ami also seemed astonished as she looked at Ryuuji's face.

"Anyway, here's a tissue!" she said. "What in the world happened?! Ah,

could it be that thing that happened earlier was too stimulating for you?"

Ho ho ♥, she whispered, unable to read the room.

He did his best to pretend not to hear. "No. I picked my nose too

hard."

"Are you an elementary schooler?!"

His joke seemed to have both hurt Ami's pride and embarrassed her.

In order to keep Minori from seeing, he hunched his back and stuck a tissue

gently up his nose. Ahh, the self-loathing…this is the worst…the worst…

"Hey, what's going on, why are you all together?" Kitamura's

refreshing voice chimed in.

"Oh, well Takasu-kun got a nosebleed from the seaweed. Whaaaat's

going oooooonn?!" Minori shrieked unexpectedly, her voice cracking.

Ami and Ryuuji turned to look at Kitamura. They were speechless.

"Aha-ha."

"This isn't something to laugh about!"

"I tried putting the moped away in the shed, but it was a little tight, so

I tried moving the equipment in there around…and got a little caught up."

Kitamura was laughing. His whole body was covered in dirty oil.

Even his glasses looked like sunglasses. His cheeks and elbows were

scraped, the cuts faintly tinged with blood. It completely overshadowed

Ryuuji's nosebleed.

"No way! Yuusaku, are you okay?!"

Ami and Ryuuji held up tissues and pushed them towards Kitamura,

who seemed like he was in critical condition.

Taiga finally appeared. "What's with this racket? What in the world

happened?" When she saw Kitamura, who looked like an oil-slicked bird,

and Ryuuji with his doubled-up nose plugs, her forehead wrinkled in

surprise.

"Ha-choo!" She sneezed heartily.

They did a double take.

"Whoa…whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…Taiga, you got it plenty, too!

What happened?!"

"Huh? Uhh, well there was a little… ha-choo! I was cleaning and…

achoo! Then, a ton of dust irritated my nose… hack-choo! …Waah…choo!

…Haa…"

Slurp. She sniffled pitifully and rubbed at her reddened eyes. Her

hair, clothes, hands, feet, and her small body were completely covered with

an unspeakable amount of dust bunnies. After losing her flashlight,

crawling out of the attic had obviously been a mess. Every slight movement

of her body must have dislodged dust. Every time she tried to sneeze,

FWOOSH! The dust must have scattered like the flowers on the splash page

of a shoujo manga.

"…Everyone's weird! You're aaaallll weird!" Ami said, flatly.

Kitamura handed the tissues to Taiga, whose nose was dripping more

and more.

In that situation, they couldn't really say, It's okay. So are you.

***

Because they had been busy with their own activities as soon as they

reached the villa—making a fuss in the ocean, going on a cleaning spree,

shopping, manufacturing Dimhuahua the First, being attacked by

Dimhuahua the First—they didn't eat lunch until after four in the afternoon.

"What a pretty sunset…" Ryuuji said.

He stood alone in the sparkling kitchen he had scrubbed clean

himself and turned his eyes to the window as though to escape from reality.

His nosebleed had completely stopped and he had changed out of his smelly

T-shirt. The sea breeze wafting in from the still open window was cool and

pleasant. Ahh…this really is a nice place.

The sunlight coming through the window was, at long last, slanting

calmly, and the horizon radiated a magnificent orange. He could hear only

the sound of the waves and wind and the occasional seagull's cry.

Even though it wasn't a city, the populated town Ryuuji lived in was

a far cry from this. He wanted to invite the girl he liked on a walk, to turn

his ear to the sounds of the waves, to slowly stroll along the beach as he

spoke about plans for the future, but…

EIEEEEEEE.

The shrill voice dragged Ryuuji back to reality.

"Let go! You spoiled brat!"

"No! I don't want it spicy! I don't want this roux!"

"You're so noisy. If you were going to be so stubborn, you should

have gone shopping! This is fine! I like spicy! Here, you take it, Takasukun!"

"…"

Ami handed him the curry roux box, bringing him into the fight. And

then…

"Whoa!"

His face scrunched in pain. Taiga had jumped, latching onto Ryuuji's

arm and hanging from it. In an impressive feat of acrobatics, she pinched

her bare legs around his legs and back.

"Nooooo!"

"Ow…ow!"

Like a monkey shaking a tree, she rocked him back and forth until he

trembled, afraid his arm would come off.

"What is it?!" Ryuuji said. "What are you doing?! Why are you

climbing on me?!"

"Ryuuji, you can make good curry without roux, right?! You did it

before, didn't you?! You sauté wheat and mix in spices, and you can make

it like that, can't you?! You should do that tonight, don't use this roux!"

You're so stubborn. Ami tried to pull Taiga off without waiting for

Ryuuji's answer.

"It's easiest to make it using the roux," Ami said. "And it's good that

way!"

"It's waaaay better when Ryuuji makes it!"

After having them scream into his ears, having his arm pulled around,

his body flailing this way and that, Ryuuji finally sank to his knees. He

pulled Taiga off with one hand and pushed Ami away with the other.

"I got it!" he said. "I got it, okay! Taiga, my prized spice collection

isn't here, so I can't create that flavor like I normally do."

"What?!"

Uh huh. Ami snorted as if to say, See, there.

"But, well…you don't like spicy things, right?" Ryuuji continued.

"I'll separate a small portion into a different pot for you and add a ton of

milk and ketchup to make it sweet."

"Uwh…" Taiga pouted, but at least she wasn't yelling.

Ami took her place and puffed her cheeks, "You're spoiling her!"

Forehead furrowed, eyes narrowed, she put her hand on her hips like a

child. "Takasu-kun, you're giving Aisaka-san special treatment again! If

you do that, girls won't like you, you know?"

She had been putting on her usual nice girl act until that point. Even

letting him see her mad had a craft to it. Ami took him by surprise when her

lips contorted into a smirk, wickedness bubbling up in the back of her eyes.

She lowered her voice until even Taiga couldn't hear.

"Maybe even Minori-chan won't like you," Ami whispered.

"Wha…?!"

What's she saying? His whole body became stiff as a board.

Ami was so close, her breath touched his ear. She continued her

pursuit, her final blow like a verse in a song. "Oh, that really did get you

flustered. Hmm…"

Her gaze flicked mockingly over him, looking Ryuuji's body up and

down. Hmm. The edge of her lip curled, and she smiled faintly.

"Takasu-kun, if you keep up that attitude, maybe I'll tell Minori-chan

that you got a glimpse of me in the shower…"

"B-but you weren't taking a shower!"

"Oh ho. There's no way to prove that now, is there?"

She let go of him and ran her hands through her hair. A devilish smile

rested on her pale and beautiful features. She looked like a beauty, but she

also looked twisted, maybe because her black heart was showing. Ryuuji

was speechless. Why had it suddenly come to this? Did she know about his

feelings for Minori?

Taiga inserted herself into the odd tension between them.

"…What did you say about Minorin?"

She compared Ryuuji and Ami's faces suspiciously.

Ami said, "Nothing," with her usual angelic smile, but Ryuuji just

gulped. Schwoop.

On top of everything else, one more person jammed herself between

Taiga and Ami.

"Did you call? Did someone call me?"

It was Minori—when had she gotten here? Her round eyes glittered

innocently as she smiled at her friends. It seemed she hadn't noticed Ami's

earlier remark.

Ryuuji surreptitiously licked his dry lips. "Oh, Minorin, do you feel

better?"

"Yeah. I lay down in bed for a little while and felt better, so I thought

I could help in the kitchen," she said. "Hee hee hee, I want to see the

rumored Takasu Fist of God, too. It's said you can chop up an onion in ten

seconds, Takasu-kun."

Ahh. Ryuuji felt like bowing before Minori's smile. Because he and

Taiga had surprised Minori with Dimhuahua the First, she had been resting

up until now. Even though the principal offender, the person who enacted

the crime, and the model for Dimhuahua the First were all gathered in one

place, she smiled charmingly at them all.

"Ten seconds is impossible, but…" Ryuuji averted his eyes quickly,

nearly blinded by Minori's brilliance, but he wanted to live up to her

expectations. He skillfully grabbed three onions in one hand. "If I had

fifteen seconds…"

"Whoa! You're talking the talk! Then I've got to see your skill. What

should I help with? Would you be fine being the head honcho for tonight's

meal, Takasu-kun?"

He wasn't close to tears from the onion he hadn't yet cut, but from

that phrase—what should I help with? The words he longed for anyone to

say to him had been uttered by the one person in the world he most wanted

to say them. He turned without a second thought.

"Hm? What's with your eyes?" Taiga asked.

He'd accidentally looked her way. Of course, she probably had zero

intentions of helping, but she had plunked herself down on a chair. She

toyed with a yogurt that had been left on the table as though she wanted to

eat it, and Ami was trying to take it from her. In a way, Ryuuji wished just

as badly that Taiga would say it, too, but it was different than Minori…

which was fine. He would say it was fine.

"Th-then, Kushieda, you could…peel the potatoes maybe," he said.

"Okay. I wonder if there's a peeler? How many?" Minori stuck her

hand into the bag and pulled two small potatoes out with her slender

fingers.

Then it happened.

Plat plat. The sudden sound of uncovered feet approached the

kitchen. "Ahh, I feel refreshed! Oh, so you're starting to get dinner ready

right away. I can't help at all with cooking, but I can at least help get the

dishes out. Just say the word!" Plat! Kitamura, who smelled of soap now

that he'd showered away the oil, hit Ryuuji's shoulder. But…

"H-Hey! You're…"

"Yeah, it's hot, hot… woops! Yeah, sorry, didn't know there were

girls."

"Uh?!"

Turning at Kitamura's voice, Taiga dropped the yogurt. As her chair

fell directly behind her, she hit the back of her head against the wall and

rolled to the ground. The color in her face changed strangely from red, to

blue, to white, as though she had been poisoned. She looked for a place to

run away, moved along the wall and, in the end, hid herself behind Ami,

though she'd been fighting her until then.

Ami, who hadn't noticed the state of affairs until now, twisted around

at this nuisance. "Wait, what are you doing all of a…huh?!"

She blinked for a while, as though doubting her eyes. She stared

carefully at her childhood friend, then, when the time was ripe, said,

"Yuusaku, are you crazy?!"

Ryuuji wanted to wholeheartedly agree. Kitamura, without being shy

about it, scratched at his wet face as he laughed, hee hee hee.

"I left my change of clothes in my room," Kitamura said. "I was

about to go put them on."

"Why did you come here before you did?!"

"Well, I saw Takasu."

"Are you an idiot?!"

Ha ha ha, I didn't think you'd be here, too… The class chairperson,

vice president of the student council, and softball club manager—this guy—

laughed. What could he be hiding…? Actually, there wasn't much to hide.

He was standing there, intimidating and reckless, displaying himself as he

had been born, with just one towel covering his obscene bottom half. Even

Ryuuji was jealous of Kitamura's thin, trim, sports-forged body, but this

wasn't the time to say that. Kitamura was wearing even less than he had

when he was in his swimsuit at the pool. From behind, his keister was

probably fully exposed.

"T-Taiga, hold it together!"

"Fwah…"

Taiga, who had seen the idiot from behind him, was broken. The light

left her eyes. She was in a compact fetal position and staring at the wall.

She might have seen it—she might have seen the derriere on public display.

Her fate was very closely tied with encountering other people naked, Ryuuji

thought.

"You don't feel like an exhibitionist at all, do you?" Ami asked.

"You're the worst." With the familiarity of old friends, she gazed coldly at

Kitamura's naked body.

"Ho ho ho… Kushieda isn't opposed to humoring the

exhibitionist…" Minori muttered, nodding shallowly and raising her

lowered face. "Narcissus, you bratty demigod! Give me your nudes!"

Hop! Like a grasshopper, Minori jumped to her side and onto the

floor. Fwoosh! She slid onto her shoulder and rolled at the nudist

Kitamura's feet like she was breakdancing.

"What are you doing? Stop that! I said stop!"

"What do you mean, coming here in that getup, huh?! You can't say

you don't want this. You can't tell me to stop. You're faking innocence!

When in Rome, do as the Romans do; when in a nudist village, do as the

nudists do. This is a spectacular photograph!"

Minori pulled her cell phone from her pocket and enthusiastically

pointed the camera at him. He didn't know whether she really was taking

pictures, but whether he opened his legs or turned around to show them his

butt, he wouldn't forget how her quick words shamed him.

"N-now I'm embarrassed all of a sudden!"

His sense of shame awoken too late, Kitamura tried to retreat from

the kitchen by bashfully backing away. And then…

Fwish.

"Uh!"

The towel concealing his obscenity fell to the ground. Ryuuji jumped

to save the eyes of his favorite girl from being soiled. Amazingly, with his

desperate dive, he hid Kitamura's crotch with a plate.

"…I saw some kind of negative afterimage just then… It was kind

of…black and…?" With a grim look, Minori pinched the corners of her

eyes. She sat on the floor with her legs folded snuggly beneath her and

tilted her head.

"I-It was probably a seaweed ghost." Hiding the nudist with his

whole body, Ryuuji prayed. Forget, forget. Then he turned back to Minori.

"Kushieda, you're done with everything here," he said. "So you can

go rest in your room for a while. Yeah, we'll call you when the curry's

done."

"Okay…? Maybe I'll do that. The seaweed ghost's impression is kind

of shifting in my mind… it's like it infected my eyes or something…"

Minori haltingly left the kitchen, her footsteps uncertain.

As soon as she left, Ryuuji's eyes slanted up fiercely, like a brutal

god. "You know, you're really the worst! The worst!" He hit Kitamura's

bare butt with the plate (he could have Taiga use the plate later). "Did you

just come on this trip to do stuff like that?! If you run for student council

president, I definitely won't vote for you!"

"I regret it!" Kitamura said.

Ryuuji kicked the guy he used to call a friend out of the kitchen and

chased him to the second-floor rooms. What kind of guy is he? Ryuuji

wanted to show this side of Kitamura to Maya or Nanako and the rest of

Kitamura's ardent fans. He really wanted them to know. The boy "with

some quirks, but he's really everyone's favorite Maruo-kun" was this kind

of idiot. He thought about his absent friends' smiling faces. Right, isn't that

right, Noto, Haruta. The vision of them whirled around him as they

whispered. Yeah, that's right Takasu… It's weird that he's the only one who's

popular… I can't agree with that… That guy's an idiot, too… no, he's the

one who's an idiot… Yeah, right, that's exactly how it is.

"Seriously, damn that guy…"

As Ryuuji righted the trashcan and resumed peeling the onion, he

couldn't stop cursing. He had finally gotten a chance to stand beside Minori

in the kitchen. He didn't think Kitamura would have been the one to

interfere.

"Ahh, I feel sorry for Minori-chan," Ami muttered, nonchalantly. She

didn't sound at all sorry.

To vent his anger, he half turned. "Kawashima, you help. I lost a hand

because of your childhood friend's blunder." He jerked his chin and

indicated the potatoes Minori had left in progress.

"Huh?" It took her 0.1 seconds to respond. Ami's face scrunched, and

he wanted to tell her, well you don't have to make that face at me.

She twisted to look into Ryuuji's eyes from below him, smiling

thinly, as if to spit out, you're kidding, right?

"Why would I need to do that?" she asked.

Until now, there'd been no phrase that encapsulated how plainly

stubborn, tyrannical, intolerant, and conceited she was. Why would I need to

make dinner? Why would a pretty girl like Ami-chan need to do anything

with potatoes? Why would Ami-chan, the rich model celebrity, help

someone like you?

Ryuuji was correct in understanding what Ami wanted to say and

nodded once. "Then go take barley tea or something up to Kushieda," he

said.

"What~? But I was going to watch you cook…oof!"

When he quickly cut a piece of onion in half, Ami immediately

looked away from his hands. The onion juice assaulted her right in the eyes

and nose.

"…I-I got it! All I need to do is take barley tea to her, right! It's like

you're trying to drive me out. I don't like this…" Her eyes were going

immediately, horribly red as she let out a trickle of curses and left the

kitchen with a glass in hand.

The only ones left in the kitchen were Ryuuji and Taiga.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

"…"

Taiga was still clinging to the wall and her shoulders heaving as she

breathed in and out. Kitamura's derriere must have been a big shock to her,

and she still hadn't gotten over the trauma of Ami's BAMs! He

automatically reached out, grabbing her arm to help her up.

"You're not in a position to worry about others right now." Taiga

swatted his hand and unsteadily stood up along the wall. "I'm fine. If

anything, I'll take one horrible trauma and use it to suppress other ones. Yachan's giant breasts, Ya-chan's giant breasts, Ya-chan's giant breasts…

whoa…"

"Don't use my mother as your trauma."

Taiga gave her head a shake. She finally seemed to have regained her

breath. She stared into Ryuuji's eyes as he looked worriedly at her. "You

slow dog," she said.

Haaah. She sighed dramatically and continued, her words quick.

"You really astonished me today. Why would you waste a chance to cook

with Minorin? It was an opportunity to appeal to her with pretty much your

only positive quality."

"I couldn't do anything about it, no matter what you say. It wasn't my

fault. It was Kitamura's."

"And you're blaming someone else again! This is why dogs are on all

fours! You don't have a sense of urgency at all, do you?" Taiga pulled her

hair away as a deep seeded sense of gloom clouded her face. She stared

piteously at Ryuuji.

"Wh-what do you mean by sense of urgency?"

"Until now, nothing's been going well at all on this trip. We've only

scared her a little bit, and you got nowhere with your personal charm. You

haven't done any of the work to get closer to Minorin. It's shocking."

"Don't say that. At the very least, we did scare her and that was a

success. Remember, that thing—Dimhuahua the First?"

"But we don't have squat for the next part of the plan. You didn't

think that was all we were going to do, did you?"

"Well, no, but—"

Taiga clicked her tongue coldly and shrugged. She interrupted him as

though to say listening to Ryuuji's vague response wasn't worth her time.

"Don't just grumble," she said. "I'll help you, I'll do anything to crush our

future as dogs, but I can't manipulate Minorin's heart. You have to work for

that. Quite frankly, I haven't seen you do a lick of work so far."

"…"

I don't have anything to say to that. Ryuuji looked at the onion he had

cut in half and forgotten. He fell into silence. It really is true.

"Ahh, what a depressing face. You just need to work as hard as you

can from here on out. Put all your effort into recovering. I'll back you up as

much as I can. For now, this is all I can do…"

As Taiga grumbled to herself, she slowly opened the refrigerator.

Then she brought Dimhuahua the First, the seaweed ghost, out from its

hiding place into the light of day.

She pulled it out of its plastic bag and shook it to bring some of its

volume back.

"We don't have anything better than this, but it's probably better than

nothing at all."

She tore out the long string that she had used to hang it from the attic.

Next she put the seaweed on the end of a broom standing in a corner of the

kitchen and said, "It's done. The thrusting faux-spirit, Dimhuahua the

Second."

"That was easy. Hey."

Taiga looked to the side of the kitchen, where a sliding glass door led

onto the wood deck. It was probably used to take out the trash. Like a cat,

she surveyed the area cautiously.

"If you leave from here, you can get to the deck outside the living

room. If Minorin's sitting on the sofa by the window, I'll try to open the

window quietly and somehow surprise her with this thing. You pretend like

I'm still here."

"Pretend? Hey wait, what am I supposed to…?"

"You can come up with that part, at least." Taiga took off her slippers,

footsteps soft as she tried to go quietly outside.

"Ack!"

Rattle rattle rattle! She dropped a bowl. They both froze, clinging to

the wall as they held their breath, but it seemed no one had noticed. Taiga

carefully picked up the bowl, and once again slipped through the sliding

door and onto the wood deck.

So I need to pretend like Taiga is still here… should I do that like

this?

"Right! That's good form, Taiga! You're more skilled than I

expected!"

Chop chop chop chop chop chop. Ryuuji skillfully used the knife to

chop the onion into splendidly thin pieces. He spoke in a loud voice as he

worked, doing his best to make sure everyone could hear.

"Could you grab that bowl for me? Right! Thank you! Could you do

the carrots next? Yeah, that's good! Taiga, you really can do it!"

Starring in a one-person play of his own design felt very odd, but he

had to do it right now. Face spasming, Ryuuji spoke even more loudly.

"Good, Taiga! Next…"

Then, it happened.

Gyaaaaaaaaaaaah…!

A terrific shriek came from the living room. Good.

Ryuuji raised his eyes.

"I did it, I did it! It was such a success, it's like it's too good to be

true!" Taiga sneaked back in through the kitchen door. She very carefully

closed the window and shared a small, soundless high five with him.

"Minorin was all by herself when she was sitting on the sofa," Taiga

said. "So I hit her shoulder with this from the other side of the curtain!"

"Great!" Ryuuji gave her a thumbs-up and nodded with her.

Grabbing various knives and carrots, they pretended to be

bewildered.

"What was that scream just now?!" Ryuuji asked.

"Minorin, are you okay?!" Taiga added.

They stomped into the living room. Minori had collapsed with her

arms akimbo on the rug.

"Minori-chan, what happened?! Keep it together!"

"Kushieda, hold it together!"

Ami and a now-clothed Kitamura were fussing over Minori.

Minori looked harried and petrified. For some reason, she pointed at

Kitamura. "I-I-I-It was here… Kitamura-kun's vengeful spirit… Kitamurakun's doppelganger…!"

"Mine?! Why?!"

For some reason, the conversation had become about Kitamura's

vengeful spirit. Then Minori went limp and shivered, visible goosebumps

covering her body. Her face was beyond pale. She flushed, pink as a

blossom, as though incredibly excited.

"M-Minorin…" Taiga, the one who had committed the crime,

fearfully approached her. Taiga was probably feeling the twinge of guilt like

Ryuuji. She plopped down by Minori's side.

"T-Taiga…is that you…?"

"Yeah." She wiped the sweat from Minori's forehead sorrowfully.

"Taiga…be careful…there's some kind of nefarious intent haunting

this mansion…uggh."

"I-Is there?" Taiga's eyes darted suspiciously. Right, right, right. That

would be the case. Talking about nefarious intent with those responsible

was incredibly awkward. Ryuuji couldn't even bring himself to look Minori

in the eye. His heart raced, stinging painfully.

"M-Minorin, is there anything we can do…?" he asked.

"Is…the curry done?"

"Even Ryuuji can't make it in five minutes, Minorin…"

"Right…then…make it suuuuuper suuuuuuuuuuper spicy. Make it

something that'll wipe away all this fear. I'm counting on you…"

Her shaking hands brushed Taiga's cheek softly. Minori suddenly lost

her strength and closed her eyes.

Taiga nodded. "We're doing it," she muttered firmly. For Minori's

sake, it seemed Taiga was determined enough to forgo having a small pot

for herself.

Ryuuji's resolution was also firm. If he could calm his guilty

conscience with hot curry, he would make it as spicy as he needed to.

Ryuuji turned into a kitchen demon.

"Wah! This is amazing!"

Peeking in, Ami was amazed by the way Ryuuji handled the frying

pan, making the ingredients dance nimbly in the air. He flambéed the food

with one of Ami's father's fruit dessert liquors and then put everything in a

pot to make an easy, Takasu-style chutney.

"Is there anything I can do?" the chief of the nudist village, Kitamura,

asked.

"Wash it like you're praying to it! Pray to the rice!" He issued orders

as Kitamura washed the rice. "Taiga. You understand, right?!"

He turned to Taiga, eyes as sharp as a sword. He wasn't trying to

dispose of Taiga for not paying a loan—he was just very determined.

"Yeah." Taiga nodded. "You don't have the prized Takasu spice

collection right now, so you can only use this…" She held the red spice

packet that came with the roux, which read "Hot Spice Booster (This is

incredibly spicy. Only add a small amount at a time. There is a chance it

may endanger your health.)." If Minori

wished it, he had to do it. With that in mind, he cut open all the spice

packets that had been included. For Taiga, who had yet to try anything more

than mildly spiced, this was an adventure. No—it was reckless.

He melted the spices into the pot and let it boil for about fifteen

minutes.

"We had this," Ami said. "It's from last year, but maybe we can use

it?" Without hesitating, she threw in curry powder and togarashi chili

powder she found in a kitchen drawer.

Another fifteen minutes passed.

Then, making absolutely sure not to overboil it, he finished a simple

curry that secretly followed a school lunch theme. It was rolling with

potatoes, contained the archetypal onions, had carrots, and was filled with

slightly charred pork.

"For example, the spiciness can be salty and sharp, wasabi can

smolder, togarashi can burn your tongue and your throat. I think it'll be

spicy in a whole lot of other ways. When I tried tonight's curry, I felt a

spiciness that was so hot it went straight to my head. I made a simple meal

for the villa while also fulfilling Kushieda's request."

They each piled their plates with rice and curry and sat side by side at

the dining table. They steadily watched Ryuuji's lips as he began his

explanation. His lips were swelling—they were bulging.

If he'd gotten duck-lips just from tasting it, how much potential was

hidden in the curry? The spicy smell wafted quickly to them at the quiet

dining table as the waves echoed around them.

"And so, be careful as you eat," he said. "I'm digging in!"

"Thanks for the food!" They said in unison, taking their spoons in

hand and stuffing their mouths. For a second, the table was hushed.

"Hm? It's not really that spicy?" said Minori.

"Yeah, yeah, it's good, but it tastes normal," said Ami.

"I got the part of the pork with fat…" said Taiga.

"Yeah, this is good! As expected of Takasu!" said the nudist.

It took them a good three seconds to go from, What it's not that spicy,

to voiceless screams.

"Ack…"

Their spoons froze as they went for a second bite.

"It…it's spicy, spicy, spicy! It's suddenly spicy!"

"I-It's spiiiiiiicy! Water, water waaaateer!"

"It's hot, it hurts, it's spicy, gnyaah! I spilled my water!"

"Uh… cough cough cough cough, this, my throat…cough!"

As he looked at their contorted faces, Ryuuji focused quietly on

Minori's.

Minori said, "It's spicy, spicy! Okay, it burns! I ate it! Okay, it's

getting spicy again!" She ate the curry bite after bite with gusto like a man.

Then, she noticed Ryuuji's gaze.

"T-Takasu-kun! You're amazing!" she continued. "It's super spicy

and good! It's ultra-spicy, the whole package! I'm in heaven! It's even

better than I expected! The scary things and gloomy things were just blown

away!"

She gave him a thumbs-up.

The inside of Ryuuji's mouth was burning like hell, but the bottom of

his stomach was bubbling with so much happiness, he couldn't help but be

embarrassed.

"Well…you said you wanted it to be spicy so…" he said.

"What? And then you really made it this spicy because of that?! No

way, I'm moved! I've gotta get seconds!"

Minori's face was red from the spiciness as she grinned. She showed

Ryuuji her perfectly empty dish. Waah! His heart was painfully full with

happiness. If something like this makes you that happy, then I'll make it

everyday for your whole life. Of course, he couldn't say that. Ryuuji

wordlessly snatched Minori's plate and heaped it with seconds.