Chapter 1

It's your fault.

A monotone voice that was horribly and unmistakably displeased

echoed throughout the quiet hall of the emergency outpatient clinic. It was

evening.

"It's your fault… It's all your fault," Aisaka Taiga muttered again

hoarsely. She was perched on the right edge of the sofa.

Takasu Ryuuji sat as far away as possible from her on the left side of

the sofa, staring at his own toes with his brutally sharp, angled eyes. Saying

anything would be futile. He didn't have the strength to fight with her.

Besides, this wasn't the time for that.

He cringed as an ambulance passed outside the window, but the

siren's loud wail immediately cut off. Only the glare of the revolving red

light threw Ryuuji and Taiga's stark shadows on the linoleum floor. It

seemed the prestigious emergency room of the college hospital was

booming even on a weeknight.

"What time is it now?" Taiga asked, turning to him. Her face was

white even in the darkness.

I forgot my watch, Ryuuji thought. He stubbornly didn't meet her

gaze and flipped open his phone.

"Just before ten," he answered curtly. That meant it had been nearly

an hour since they rushed here in a taxi, and he was exhausted. When he let

out a small sigh, Taiga sighed too, running her fingers roughly through her

hip-length hair.

"It's okay," he said, trying to take her fatigue into consideration. "You

can go home ahead of me."

"I must have hit rock bottom if a dog like you is ordering me around.

Just leave me alone. You should be careful about commenting on what I

do…"

She practically growled, her voice low, as if she were prowling

through a jungle, the air thick with blood. Then, after a moment of silence,

Taiga cracked the knuckles on her right hand. Crack, crack, crack. Her

gaze, the same one she'd been angrily turning on Ryuuji for nearly an hour

was practically overflowing with contempt.

But when it came to glares, Ryuuji was undefeatable. His beady black

pupils glinted like a sword; blueish, shining, and dangerous as he looked at

Taiga. In actuality, that was just how his face looked. It was genetic.

"Huh? Then do what you want?" he finally asked, his voice small. No

longer able to stand sharing a seat on the sofa with such a ferocious beast,

Ryuuji quickly stood up.

"Hmph." Taiga's snort was arrogant as she shuffled over to the center

of the sofa. Then, queen-like and cold, she stuck out her small chest and

turned up her chin.

Even at a time like this, she was still the ruler of the carnivores—a

ferocious and wild tiger.

Taiga had a small, beautiful face with attractive features and soft,

smoky-chestnut hair that spilled down her back. She wore a flowerpatterned dress with lace and frills that overwhelmed her tiny frame. She

looked too small to be a second-year high school student. Taiga looked

startlingly delicate, like a sweet French doll, dainty and pure as a rosebud.

Unfortunately, that rose was secretly poisonous. Or rather, it jettisoned

poison in all directions around it.

This brutal, ferocious, and cruel girl was also known as the "Palmtop

Tiger."

Through various, miraculous events, Ryuuji was somehow basically

living with her.

"Haaa…" Ryuuji stooped and rubbed his eyes with his hands. The

situation really had taken a terrible turn.

Although Ryuuji's life had been strange, at least it had been calm.

Now, everything was tense and turbulent. After rushing to the hospital in

the middle of the night, he was at a loss. He could only stand still and stare

intently at the examination room door as they waited in the dim hallway for

the doctor to appear. Time marched on, but they still had no idea what was

happening or what treatments were being administered within the

examination room, nor how grave the situation actually was. As the silence

between them stretched, disturbed by the sound of their breathing, the

worry in the pit of Ryuuji's stomach grew.

"I wonder what'll happen…" Taiga mumbled. She sounded tired and

unhappy but wouldn't go home. She was probably as uneasy as Ryuuji.

Despite what she'd said earlier, she likely felt it was her fault, too.

What's going to happen? Really? Ryuuji thought. If something

happens—no way. He didn't even want to think about it. He closed his eyes

and shook his head, trying not to think about the worst-case scenario.

Then it happened.

The examination room door opened. "Takasu-san, please come in."

Ryuuji's head snapped up at the voice. "D-doctor! What's happened,

what's wrong?!"

"For the time being, just come inside."

Ryuuji burst into the examination room, flinching momentarily at the

brightness. The moment the harsh ring of light faded, Ryuuji saw the

member of his family weakly stretched out on the table.

"It… It can't be…"

That silent body showed no signs of warmth or life.

Taiga, who followed in after him, caught her breath and took a quiet

step back toward the wall.

The doctor gently touched Ryuuji's shaking shoulder and pointed to

the fallen body. "Pretty ugly mug it's got there." The doctor's finger poked

the pitch-black beak, and the ash-blue parakeet tongue lolled out. "It's

alive."

A silent moment passed.

"H-huh?!"

"No way?! She's got to be dead! Look at that!"

Taiga's words earned a shake of the head from the doctor, the

veterinarian. "It's alive. It doesn't have a single thing physically wrong with

it."

Still in disbelief, Ryuuji stepped hesitantly toward the Takasu

household's cherished pet, Inko-chan. She lay face up on the exam table.

Her twig-like legs were so messily entwined, he couldn't tell what was

going on with them. Her mouth was slack in a way that made him want to

censor it, and her wide-open eyes were completely white. Her wings were

half-open and ruffled, and there was a string of some unidentifiable liquid

coming from the end of her beak. Furthermore, her feathers, which had

been falling off in droves, but at least covered her whole body when they

brought her in, were missing in spots, making her look bald and patchy.

"I-Inko-chan? It's me. Do you remember me?"

"…"

"Inko-chan! If you're alive, answer me! Say something!"

"…"

But Inko-chan remained creepily splayed out like a corpse and didn't

answer. Ryuuji could only detect a heavy sense of rigor mortis from her.

"Doctor! She's not answering!"

"I don't think a parakeet normally would."

"Inko-chan does though!"

Ryuuji turned to the veterinarian with his dangerous eyes, and the

veterinarian silently averted her gaze, taking three wide steps away from

him. What kind of person is she, Ryuuji wondered. Actually, come to think

of it, she had just called his

pet ugly.

Though Ryuuji was normally gentle, he couldn't help feeling

annoyed.

"Move over a little." Taiga brushed past Ryuuji's shoulder and

stepped straight up to the examination table.

"There's nothing physically wrong with her. She's faking it, right?"

Taiga asked. She looked down at Inko-chan's odd, unconscious form and

quietly checked her over. Inko-chan's profile was obscured by Taiga's hair.

"T-Taiga? Wait a sec. What are you trying to do?"

"She's pretending. She's faking it. We were so worried and spent two

thousand yen on a taxi, and she's faking it. That's weird. Right, Ryuuji? It's

hilarious."

But Taiga sure wasn't laughing.

"Hmph. If you're going to insist you're sick," she said, "at least put

your heart into it. Huh? You ugly bird."

That's when Ryuuji saw it.

Inko-chan, who had been firmly motionless, had a sudden eye twitch.

Taiga must have also seen it, but it seemed she intended on following

through.

"Say, do birds have spines?" she asked, her voice reverberating

sinisterly.

"No," the veterinarian said. "Even though there isn't anything wrong

with her physically, that doesn't mean she's faking it. Basically, it's a

psychological issue."

"Should I go from the top? Or the bottom?" Taiga pressed,

purposefully ignoring the veterinarian.

Ryuuji hurried to stop her. Then, before his eyes, Inko-chan began to

tremble faintly. Liquid bubbled up from her beak.

The bird had broken out into a cold sweat.

"Inko-chan!" Ryuuji cried. "If you're going to wake up, you've gotta

do it now!"

"Ryuuji, keep to yourself! This ugly child takes advantage of us

because you spoil her! I'll slap that ugly attitude out of her!"

The voice of Inko-chan's owner bellowed in desperate futility as

Taiga's small hand cut through the air—then, in the next second, it

happened.

"I CAN FLYYYYYYYYY!"

"Oh, she flew."

Or rather, she jumped. Maybe. Inko-chan, who had been

unconscious, let loose a strange cry. Shping! Her back recoiled like a spring

as she jumped high in the air. Whoa! Before her owner's wide eyes, she

overshot and hit the ceiling.

"Ahhh! I-Inko-chaan!"

She awkwardly crashed onto the floor.

"This is terrible!"

Flustered, the veterinarian rushed over and gently flattened Inkochan, picking her up to check for injuries.

"Ugh!" After seeing the parakeet's face, the veterinarian recoiled

again. Possibly noticing Ryuuji's critical eyes, she quickly recomposed her

professional face and examined Inko-chan's body for abnormalities.

"She's fine," she said. "She's not hurt in any specific way, but…

but…this parakeet is utterly repulsive. Where did you get her? I can't

believe anyone would sell something like this. This is a parakeet, right?"

Then, to add insult to injury, she said, "Can I take a picture? My

daughter loves this sort of weird stuff. She's only six, but she has an entire

collection of grotesque pictures."

"Isn't that something you should be more concerned about?"

"You think so?" the unconcerned veterinarian asked as Ryuuji

snatched his beloved pet from her hands. He gently held Inko-chan to his

chest.

Inko-chan really was ugly but doubting she was a parakeet went too

far. Reducing her to a "grotesque" photograph was terrible. He'd never

come to this veterinarian again if he could help it.

They were at the university hospital's prestigious emergency

room's…neighbor.

This was the place that, after feverishly flipping through the yellow

pages and calling each place in turn, they had finally settled on. It was a

large hospital for animals and one of the few that offered nighttime

emergency care.

"Well, anyway, we're lucky it wasn't a horrible disease. Right, Inkochan?" Ryuuji's glinting eyes looked like he was a moment away from

devouring his prey as he gingerly stroked Inko-chan's head. He wasn't

planning on eating Inko-chan alive, starting with her noggin—he was

cherishing her.

"Nko-chan, Nko-chan, Nko-chan, Nko…nnn…uuuh…nko."

"Yeah, yeah, that's right." He put his mouth up to her ear…or rather,

to the side of her head where he thought her ear might be. "That was close.

Just when we found out you weren't sick, Taiga almost took you out. She

was close to bringing you down. Seriously, I wish she wouldn't vent her

anger like that."

"What?"

"You heard that?" He thought he'd whispered so only the bird could

hear.

"I heard it, all right. Who are you saying is venting her anger?"

Taiga, who had above average hearing, gave in to her frustration and

punched the examination table with a BAM!

"W-w-w-wait, what're you doing?" Ryuuji asked.

She was also an above average klutz. The force of the punch, one a

normal person would have anticipated, had flipped over the tray of medical

instruments. Everything fell to the floor.

"Those were sterilized! If you keep going like that, this parakeet's

never going to get better. She's really stressed out!"

As Taiga picked up the fallen instruments, the tired-looking, on duty

veterinarian compared Taiga and Ryuuji's faces.

"You always fight like this, don't you?" the vet asked. "Pets are

surprisingly sensitive. There have been cases where the pet's physical

health fails because it senses its owner is stressed."

I see, Ryuuji thought, averting his gaze.

"But we're not fighting," he said.

Taiga suddenly spread her arms, snorted, then laughed scornfully at

the veterinarian's words. "I was just 'correcting' this perverted, foul-eyed

dog. He's a liar and delusional. I guess I could have ignored him, but I'm

too cultured to endure something like that."

Ryuuji couldn't stay silent.

"Huh? I wasn't lying," he said. "Seriously, don't take it out on people

weaker than you just because you didn't like what happened."

Maybe saying that was "rash." Maybe it was "foolhardy." In any

case, he really should have kept his mouth shut.

"Huuuuuuh," Taiga said. "So in the end, you can't stand being

corrected? Is that it? You should be grateful. Hmmmmmm. In that case,

how about I spell it out for you? What exactly am I supposed to be 'taking

out' according to you? Huh? I wonder what it could be? I can't think of

annnythiiing at all, can you?"

The Palmtop Tiger's eyes glinted as though she wanted to use the tips

of her claws to toy with her prey before she killed it.

Ryuuji held his breath. He would be in hot water whether he backed

off or attacked.

He chose to attack.

"If you've got something to say, just say it!" he shouted. "Pouting

and being annoyed all the time is just rotten behavior!"

There was a moment of silence.

In that hush, Taiga slowly put her right hand to her right ear and

deliberately turned to Ryuuji's mouth. Then she stuck out her chin in

exaggeration and put her left hand on her hip. With that pose, she made an

incredibly simple interjection, "HAAA?"

Can't hear you, can't understand you, not that interested anyway…

There probably weren't many people in the world who could express that so

spectacularly with such a nuanced, half-faced jeer.

"Y-y-you…" Desperate and directionless, Ryuuji's conviction left

him.

Taiga raised her chin in contempt, and despite the thirty-centimeter

height difference between them, she looked down at Ryuuji. "You know,

Ryuuji," she said haughtily, "I'll give it to you straight: I don't have the

time to waste on the delusions of a lying, lazy dog like you. Remember this

the next time you open your mouth. First, is it something I need to know?

Second, will it make me happy? Third, will I care? You got that?"

"Wh-what's there to get, you idiot?! What delusions?! You are

annoyed and in a bad mood and venting your anger! That's all true!"

"Is that so?" Hmph. Taiga lowered her voice. Her eyes glinted

strangely as the corners twitched up to a point where they looked as though

they might split. Her pupils narrowed to points, as if logic and reasoning

had abandoned her.

This is bad. Terror clenched Ryuuji's stomach. If he had been

superstitious or faint-hearted, Taiga's look alone would have struck him

dead twice.

Then, even more frighteningly, with a voice trilling like a quiet

Hamon drum, she said, "You think I'm in a bad mood? I'll show you a bad

mood."

Like the hand of death knocking at his door, Taiga's pale hand seized

Ryuuji's tongue, holding it with the tips of her fingers.

"Ngh!"

"There's a reason I'm in this mood. Just one reason. It's because you

always have these trashy delusions. It's because you keep accusing me of

things that I'm so annoyed."

"Owowowowowowow! Y-you'll pull it out!"

"Let it come out!"

Ryuuji held Inko-chan to his chest as his tongue was yanked. The

parakeet was being jostled up and down, left and right, and her feathers

were falling out in tufts.

"Please go home," the concerned veterinarian wailed in a small voice.

The same conversation had already been repeated over and over

again five hours ago.

You're in a bad mood.

I'm not.

Then why are you annoyed?

I'm annoyed because you say stupid things like that.

It was all because Ami had been teasing Ryuuji.

Ryuuji wasn't gullible enough to believe it was anything other than

teasing. The bad joke had taken him by surprise as it unfolded that evening

in the quiet two-bedroom apartment, but he hadn't consented to any of it.

Takasu Ryuuji and Kawashima Ami—if you skipped the details—had

looked like they were all over each other by the window. She had pushed

him down onto the tatami mats and was half on top of him.

His mother, Yasuko, who witnessed it first, didn't think it was funny

at all. She had dropped the shopping bags in both of her hands and said

something to her son. Ryuuji had barely heard her.

"No way…"

What he did hear came from behind Yasuko.

Taiga's clear voice came from the front entrance, where she was

being carried on his close friend Kitamura's back. She had been covered in

mud and looked preoccupied.

Taiga and Ami are natural enemies, and she's definitely going to

misunderstand the position I'm in with Ami. This is bad, Ryuuji had

thought. The tiger is about to unleash her wrath.

Taiga wouldn't just stop at insults. After snapping, there was no

doubt she would demolish the apartment. She might even actually kill him

this time; there was a reason Taiga was called the Palmtop Tiger, after all.

He didn't doubt she had the potential to easily commit such atrocities.

"I-It's…not what it looks like," he said, pushing Ami aside to sit with

his legs folded beneath him. His voice caught in his throat, apologetic and

pitiful. He had acted like a man caught in an affair. He shouldn't have said

anything at all.

Taiga, her eyes wide, had looked back and forth between Ryuuji and

Ami. Of course, Ami hadn't offered an explanation for Ryuuji's sake.

"Huh? Is there something wrong? Did I have bad timing?" she had

whispered as if they weren't actually in a bind. "Tee-hee ♥."

"Ummm, ummm." Yasuko, seemingly trying to desperately grasp the

situation, was wringing her hands. "Ummmmmm." The already loose

screws in her head may have all fallen out as she tried too hard to calculate

what she was seeing.

Then, Kitamura made his move.

His face blank, he backed up…and retreated with Taiga on his back.

He was still muddy from falling in the gutter, and his glasses were askew.

He retreated outside, disappearing from Ryuuji's vision, or so Ryuuji

thought.

"HMPH!"

Taiga took her hands off Kitamura's shoulders and grabbed the top of

the doorframe. Then, like the claw in a claw crane, she wrapped her legs

around his hips and pulled, firmly holding him back.

"A-Aisaka! Wait…"

"Kitamura-kun, why are you running? Weren't you going to use

Ryuuji's shower? You don't have any reason to run, right?"

Tsk. This being Taiga, she had to have been using the utmost care as

she wrenched Kitamura around. Using the terrific strength of her

outstretched hands, she suspended her body in the entryway. Then, pumping

her knees forcefully, she landed a spectacular touchdown.

"Ah—uhm, Taiga-chan, according to my calculations, ummm, Ryuuchan is, uhhh…a-a-ah…"

Her braless boobs swinging, Yasuko writhed in agony.

Taiga stalked past Yasuko and toward Ami and Ryuuji, sitting side by

side. Eek. Ryuuji gulped. Her hair, smeared with mud from the gutter, was

plastered to her face. The single eye peeking from beneath that hair was

cool as inlaid marble, cool as a killing machine, as she looked back and

forth between them.

Taiga stopped directly in front of them. The side of her face tensed.

"Takasu Ryuuji is mine! Don't touch him!" she shouted.

Everyone gulped nervously.

"That's what you thought I would say, right?" Taiga continued, her

glassy eyes relaxing.

Ryuuji was speechless.

Ami, as expected, played dumb. "Huh? You're not going to say that?

How weird… Just kidding!"

She had said that in this situation. Ami's courage was real, at least.

"Hmph. Of course I wouldn't," Taiga said. "Too bad, Kawashima

Ami. Sorry, but I have no interest in who this pervert hooks up with or

how." She laughed sarcastically at Ami. It seemed she didn't even intend to

turn a contemptuous look on Ryuuji.

Instead, Taiga simply turned right around. "Go ahead, take your time.

I'm going home. Kitamura-kun, I didn't tell you earlier, but my condo is

actually really close by. You brought me here, but I'm going to use my own

shower."

And she walked straight out of the Takasu house without giving

Kitamura a chance to respond.

After that, Ami had fluttered her lashes as she fabricated a pack of

lies. "My contact lens shifted, so I was having Takasu-kun look at it."

Yasuko and Kitamura seemed to accept it for the time being, and after

taking a shower, Kitamura had escorted Ami back home. Somehow, it

seemed to have ended peacefully.

The peace unraveled when Taiga came to eat dinner "as usual."

The trigger was Yasuko.

"Isn't it a relief, Taiga-chan? I thought what happened today would

have bugged you, and you wouldn't come for food," Yasuko jabbered as

she prepared for her night shift.

Then it happened.

Taiga grinned and firmly turned her face to the TV. "Of course I

came," she said. "Why wouldn't I? That's weird. How funny. Nice joke. I

wonder what on earth would be bugging me?"

Even Taiga wouldn't take out her anger on Yasuko, the head of the

Takasu household.

"Oh, right. No way, I compleeetely forgot," Yasuko said. "Come to

think of it, Ryuuji, you did something incredibly naughty today, didn't you?

Hah! I don't care about that. More importantly, what's for dinner tonight?

Oh, is it takikomi rice? Huuuh, but it would have been better as red bean

rice.

Ha ha ha."

With one hand on her hip and the other over her mouth, Taiga turned

her back and laughed. But her eyes weren't laughing; they weren't laughing

at all. They were wide, seething, and very annoyed.

I definitely need to explain myself, Ryuuji thought as he prepared

food in the kitchen. Of course, he hadn't actually done anything wrong, and,

even if he had, why should Taiga tease him or get so prickly?

"Um…Taiga?"

The girl named Taiga was also the Palmtop Tiger, and she wasn't the

type to quickly get over her anger when something displeased her. Being

friendly with Kawashima Ami was enough for her to give him a guilty

verdict.

In that case, let's keep an eye on the tiger.

"Aaaaaah, do whatever you want! Hey, ugly bird! Ha ha ha!"

Squatting down, Taiga held Inko-chan's birdcage in both hands, anger

crackling blue sparks from her back.

Whatever. Taiga had already snapped.

Regardless of whether he believed he had done anything wrong,

Ryuuji knew he needed to apologize to preserve peace in the house.

"Taiga, hey," he said, stepping toward her and poking her back.

"What?"

Her laughter ended abruptly. The only sound that remained in the

Takasu house was Yasuko's hair dryer.

"How do I put this, um, about that thing that happened in the

evening…"

"What thing? I don't know what you're talking about."

Taiga's back was still turned to him coldly, and he faltered.

"Kawashima was teasing me. Well, I think you know that, but I, at least…

How do I say this… It seems like it made you upset. Sorry."

"Eek…"

The cry came from Inko-chan. Ryuuji couldn't see Taiga's face, but

the parakeet was looking up at it. Inko-chan stepped back, falling off her

perch.

"Why are you apologizing? You're so weird, Ryuuji. Oh, right, today

I want to watch the ugly bird while I eat. Bring it here."

With her back still facing him, Taiga requested her bowl by stretching

out her arm. Inko-chan was still the only one who could see her expression.

"Wh-what are you going to do about the side dishes? It's baked fish.

Alfonsino fish…"

"Put it on the rice with the broth on top," she said. "Use a donburi

bowl instead of a rice bowl."

After he did that, Taiga ate her dinner without another word, her back

to the table. Yasuko and Ryuuji, unable to make conversation, also ate in

silence.

"T-time for me to go to work," Yasuko said. It wasn't quite time for

her night shift to begin, but by that point, she wanted to escape.

Which just left Ryuuji and Taiga. Taiga seemed intent to linger at the

Takasu house "as usual." The TV offered the only sound in the home. Taiga

was staring firmly at Inko-chan and didn't move.

Holding his breath, Ryuuji stood up quietly with the birdcage under

his arm.

"…"

Taiga looked up wordlessly at Ryuuji, her eyes reduced to gleaming

slits.

"Uh… I need to put the cloth on Inko-chan," Ryuuji said. "She has to

sleep soon."

"Why? Don't you usually do it later than this?"

"W-well… Inko-chan looks tired."

"I want to keep looking at her. Leave her here."

Taiga grabbed the birdcage from below. It tipped, spilling Inko-chan's

water.

"Why?" Ryuuji asked. "You never want to look at Inko-chan."

"What? Is that bad? Is that weird? Does it bother you?"

The two of them fell silent, still gripping the birdcage.

"Fine!" Ryuuji finally exclaimed. "I get it. I get it, okay. Just give me

Inko-chan for now."

Taiga's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'you get it?' What?

What is it? What are you trying to say?"

Inko-chan's birdcage had been suspended between them the whole

time. The air in the room felt cold.

"Ah, no, I just… I get that you're angry, is what I meant."

"That I'm angry? Me? Does it look like I'm angry? Why? Maybe you

want to say something like this: 'You're jealous because you caught

Kawashima Ami and I being naughty.' Are you saying you have to

apologize because I'm jealous? That you're that important? That I'm so

pitiful I have no choice but to be overcome by jealousy?"

Taiga slowly stood and took a step forward. Holding the birdcage to

his chest, Ryuuji backed away instinctively but immediately hit the wall

(the downside of a thirty-eight square meter living space).

"C-calm down," he said. "That's not what I meant. I just want to live

peacefully, like normal."

"You didn't mean that? Haven't you been saying this whoooooole

time that I'm always upset and angry? According to you, this is normal for

me. Weeell, fine. I'll get angry. That's easy. I fell into a gutter, scraped my

knees, and it reeked so bad I wanted to cry—it was the worst. I didn't want

Kitamura-kun to ever see me like that, but he found me, and he carried me

on his back even though I stank. And the whole time you were fooling

around with that detestable girl. With her."

As she stepped closer, Taiga wrinkled her nose like a predator. She

had a firm glare on Ryuuji. Her eyes now burned with the bright fire of

anger, and her pale lips were twisted into what only looked like a sweet

smile.

"But what I hate even more than that," she said, "is you thinking you

know what I want. That you decided I was ashamed. Hey, are you even

listening?!"

Like a lover begging for a kiss, Taiga stood on the tips of her toes,

her chin raised. In a voice that was colder and more merciless than any

other time she had taunted him so far, she added, "Why would I be angry

because you're getting friendly with someone? You can wag your tail like a

dog at whoever you want. I don't care."

You were mad from the start, though, Ryuuji thought. If he said that

or anything else, he'd probably be murdered at this point, even though there

were several things he wanted to say. He wisely kept his mouth shut.

"If you value your life, don't say anything that'll make this worse,"

Taiga said, huffing and giving Ryuuji a contemptuous glance before

stepping back, her body no longer pressed against him.

She turned on her heel. "I hadn't minded anything that happened

today, but what you said just now irritated me. So I'm going home."

Her sock-clad feet pounded on the tatami as she headed to the front

door. Then, it happened.

"One…one…nine…" someone muttered.

"One one nine?" As in the famous Shibuya mall? Oh, no, that's

called the "one zero nine." Come to think of it, whose voice was that just

now? Inko-chan?

Ryuuji looked incredulously into Inko-chan's cage.

"AAAHHHHHH!" he screamed, because then he understood. One

one nine—as in the Japanese emergency number for an ambulance.

Taiga turned, surprised at Ryuuji's scream. "Eek?!" She rushed over,

flustered, and pressed her face against the birdcage. "No way. Is it because

we were shaking the cage?!"

Inside the birdcage, the pitiful victim who had been caught in the

middle of their dispute had shed feathers all around her. She was stiff as a

board and had fallen off—possibly fainted off—her wooden perch. Her

head was stuck in a gap at the bottom of the cage.

"No way! No way! What should we do?!" Taiga was on the verge of

tears.

"We need an ambulance! No wait! A vet!" Ryuuji's voice cracked,

high pitched as a requiem.

Takasu Inko-chan would have been six this year.

"What's their problem? That one was empty…"

Staring at the taillights of the taxi as it drove past, Ryuuji muttered,

"Damn it." This was the second one.

It had been ten minutes since they left the animal hospital to wait

along the national highway. Taxis were already rare here, especially in the

middle of the night.

"Are they trying to say they don't have time to pick up high

schoolers?"

"Maybe it's because you look dangerous." Holding the small box that

contained Inko-chan, who miraculously returned from the land of the dead,

Taiga plopped herself on a guardrail and, bored, continued to watch the

traffic.

"Whatever," Ryuuji said. "Let's walk to the intersection. I think

there'll be taxis coming in from around the station."

Hmph. Taiga sighed as though the idea was tedious and jumped off

the guardrail. "Uwah!" She let out a small shriek. A frill of her dress had

snagged where the guardrails joined. Frowning, she began yanking at her

dress. "Seriously?"

Wrinkles were forming on her brow. Ryuuji quickly stopped her.

"You'll rip it! Be gentler!" Kneeling, he lightly tried pulling the frill of her

hundred-thousand-yen dress free without damaging it.

"Shut up." Taiga tugged at the dress harder. Shriiip! With a highpitched sound, the thin cotton tore.

After shoving the box containing the bird at Ryuuji, Taiga turned her

face away sullenly. Her mood was obvious as she turned on her heel.

"Are you kidding…?" Ryuuji jogged to keep up with Taiga, who was

striding down the night street.

"Well, we have some things to reflect on," she said. "We had a

pointless fight, and we did something bad to Inko-chan. Hey, Ryuuji—I

might have been partly to blame, too, even though you had those stupid

delusions about why I was angry."

"Huh?"

Taiga's back was to him, so he couldn't quite catch what she was

muttering. Ryuuji finally stole a glance at Taiga's expression when he got to

her side.

"I do have some unsocial tendencies." she said, nodding. "So we'll

say it's something to laugh about. Because I'm not angry, really. From the

bottom of my heart, I doooooon't caaaaaare at allllll. About you."

"…"

He was too tired to be irritated, or even complain, as he stared at her.

Taiga pushed her hair out of her face as though it were an annoyance,

and grinned. "Well then, I'm going first. I don't want to walk with you, you

perverted dog."

What a terrible thing to say.

With a plastered-on smile, Taiga turned her back to him and, without

a sound, made her way through the misty night. Her posture clearly stated

that if anyone disturbed her walking, she would kill them with just a look.

Eventually, Taiga safely caught a cab. Ryuuji wasn't too keen on

riding with her just then, but he didn't have much choice.

"Don't loiter!" Taiga shouted.

Ryuuji walked to her as though heading to his own execution, and

then got in next to her. Taiga didn't say a word until they finally stopped in

front of the Takasu house and Taiga's condo.

She paid him her part of the fare in a practiced manner and went into

the condo without a backward glance.

Ryuuji had been planning on paying the whole taxi fare.

Five hours had passed. The situation had only gotten worse.

***

Ahhh, I don't like this.

Where exactly had he gone wrong? He didn't like it; he didn't like it

at all. When morning came, he had no doubt Taiga would continue to blame

him. When they went to school, he was positive Taiga and Ami would butt

heads. Prickling and irritated, their anger would explode.

"No way, no way, no way," he groaned and moaned the whole night,

which might have been the reason he couldn't get to sleep.

"Hm…mm? Hm?!"

I didn't hear my alarm go off, Ryuuji thought as he slowly opened his

eyes. Then, he looked at the clock.

"Nnnnnnnngh!"

He flung off his towel-blanket and jumped up. The cold reality of

seeing the numbers 8:05 cleared his head. Ryuuji's mind raced.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

He had overslept by an hour. At this rate, his perfect attendance was

in danger. First, the bathroom, he thought as he tried to wriggle out of his Tshirt. He was walking in circles. What should I do, what should I do?

"Oh no! Taiga!"

She never woke until he roused her. If he went to her condo to wake

her up and make her get changed, they definitely wouldn't make it in time.

He had to do it. At long last, it was time to use the secret weapon. He

had stockpiled something for an emergency like this a while ago. Ryuuji

pulled a deck brush from its container. As long as he had this, he could

wake Taiga.

"Here I go!"

Firing himself up, he opened the window to his bedroom. He kept

himself from looking down as he put one foot on the window frame and the

other on the boundary wall between him and the neighbor's condo. If he

stuck his arms out as far as they could go, the deck brush could reach…

Needless to say, it was Aisaka Taiga's window.

"Taigaaa! Wake uuup! We slept iiin!"

BAM BAM BAM! He hit the glass with the back of the brush but

didn't see any sign of Taiga getting up. It couldn't be—she wouldn't have

woken up, left him as he slept in, and gone to school, would she? It was

possible? Ryuuji hesitated. She was that nasty the day before, and even if he

tried waking her up like normal, he didn't know how she would behave. It

might be better to just leave her. No, if he didn't wake her up, the situation

would probably become even worse.

Oh well, if she isn't there, then she isn't there, and that's fine. This is

the last time I'm trying. He once again brought down the deck brush. Then

it happened.

"What… ow!"

"Ahh!"

Suddenly, the condo's window opened, and the brush's handle came

down hard on the forehead of a certain sleepy-looking person. Taiga fell

straight back and disappeared from Ryuuji's view.

"T-Taigaaa! Keep it together!"

A moment later…

"Ow… ouch…" Clinging to the window frame and pretty much on

the verge of crying, Taiga pulled herself up. Somehow, Ryuuji actually felt

sorry for her, but they didn't have the time for this.

"S-sorry!" he said. "Wait! We slept in! It's past eight!"

"Huh? Ah…? Why…? Ow… oww…"

Taiga, still half asleep, rubbed her eyes like a child and wiped her

nose. She scrubbed the hand that was covered in tears and snot on the belly

of her summer pajamas—her pure white, cotton pajamas.

She didn't seem to grasp the situation at all. She buried her face in

her long, messy hair. "…What's for breakfast? Why are you waking me up

this way today?"

It seemed she had even forgotten to be angry.

"We don't have breakfast or lunch! We're in a hurry, so wash your

face and brush your teeth, then put on your uniform! If we don't leave in

five, we're late!"

"Nngh…?"

He was lucky she wasn't angry, but he didn't know whether she had

understood him or not. She rubbed her eyes once again.

"Ngh." She nodded.

Good, Ryuuji took that as her understanding and then safely landed

back in his own room. "Right, hurry up! Close your window! Right! Close

it! Lock it, too! Good!"

Taiga's face withdrew, and Ryuuji checked that the window was

closed. Then he got about to changing. He realized belatedly that he had

been talking to Taiga outside the window in nothing but his underwear.

"I'm really glad she was still half-asleep. Actually, I'm glad no one

saw me. Maybe I was half-asleep, too?"

Frantically, Ryuuji put both his legs into his summer uniform pants

and quickly buttoned his short-sleeved shirt. He haphazardly brushed his

teeth, but neglected his foam face wash, and instead made do with simply

splashing himself with water.

He rummaged through the drawers to find socks.

"Ah, Inko-chan and Yasuko need food and water, but I don't have

time."

He could only leave a note. He rushed to scribble out something to

ask his mother to take care of their parakeet and also herself. Then he did

take the cloth off the birdcage.

"Whoa…"

Inko-chan, groggy since returning home from the veterinarian the

night before, was still sleeping. Her usual hideous sleeping face, with its

spasming white eyes, was enough to shock even her owner. She was still on

her wooden perch, her barely-there plumage sparsely fluffed up.

"Sorry about yesterday. Please rest in peace…"

He put his hands together without thinking.

"Inko-chan…is dead? Waaaaahhh!"

Next to the birdcage, stinking of alcohol and having been snoring in

her sleep until a moment ago, Yasuko immediately half-opened her eyes.

She raised a pitiful cry and, just like that, rolled into a corner of the room.

"Sniffle…"

She started snoring once more directly under a dresser.

"H-how could you say something like that? She's not dead." Ryuuji

didn't think Yasuko could hear him, but he gave her a proper response and

gently put a towel-blanket over her. After doing that, he hurriedly put on his

socks, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the house.

It was slightly cloudy, but the morning sun was pretty bright.

Narrowing his eyes with a mean look, Ryuuji burst through the next-door

luxury condo's entrance.

He punched 201 into the auto-locking door's console, worrying there

wouldn't be an answer.

"You're so noooooiiisyy!" Taiga wailed quietly as she opened the

glass door and ran out.

"So you were awake!"

"You were the one who woke me! My forehead hurts!"

Jerk! She was practically twisting her neck off trying to turn away

from him. Anger and contempt dripped from the momentary glance she

gave him.

Uwah. It seemed memories didn't fade, even when someone was half

asleep. Even this early in the morning, his spine quaked, but Ryuuji went

outside with Taiga.

They dashed under the trees they normally passed and into the grassy

scent of the rainy season.

"Taiga, if we don't get to a convenience store, we won't have lunch!"

"…"

"T-Taiga? Did you hear me?"

"…"

"Eek! Don't kick my butt!"

"Don't walk next to me! You're just a perverted dog! I heard you.

The convenience store, right!"

"…"

He understood. Whether he was being shouted at or ignored, it

seemed that was the only way he would be communicating with Taiga that

day.

Taiga's attitude toward Ryuuji was terrible on a daily basis, but

somehow this felt much worse than usual. Maybe it was because he had

woken her up that way. Maybe it was because they had overslept. Ryuuji

tried to convince himself of that, but it was clear Taiga's persistent anger

was because of what happened the day before.

Hmph! Taiga ardently turned her face away from him once again. Her

mouth was firmly contorted as she avoided meeting Ryuuji's eyes.

Aaah… I'm going to be sucked into the same irritation vortex as last

night. Even as he had that somber feeling, he heard Taiga mutter, "black

nipples," as they ran.

"Huh?!"

"I'm angry about your black nipples. They're burned into my

eyeballs!" Her back teeth gnashed as she spat out the words.

The reason she was in a bad mood that day was because of Ryuuji's

nipples? Did that mean what had happened the day before didn't matter? If

anything, it proved she didn't care about him.

"Th-they're not that dark…"

"They are! The size of your areolas was big enough to fill my

retinas!"

What, no way… And so a new form of body image anxiety was born

in the sixteenth summer of Takasu Ryuuji's life.

They approached the intersection where Minori normally waited for

them, but that day, of course, the goddess who had captured Ryuuji's

crumbling heart seemed to have left ahead of time so she wouldn't be late.

"Oh, you finally got here!~ Thanks for everything you did

yesterday!"

They ran into the classroom just barely on time.

"Oh dear, did you get bedhead? Did you oversleep?"

The one blocking Ryuuji's path was a beautiful angel who'd forgotten

her wings—or rather, the girl who was anything but. It was the nasty

Chihuahua, Kawashima Ami. Her large eyes glittered like jewels. She

reached toward Ryuuji with a frighteningly white and thin arm that

smoothly extended from her summer uniform and then snapped at his hair,

which was still sticking up, with the tips of her fingers, as though teasing

him.

"Really, Takasu-kun, you're such a sleepyhead!"

She posed as though taking a gravure pinup photo (pursed lips, wide

eyes, and stooping over a little to emphasize her cleavage). She smiled

perfectly and said, "Cute ♥."

"…"

"Oh dear? What's wrong?"

What's wrong? Ryuuji couldn't help but feel unsettled. He didn't

even return a "good morning." It seemed Ami was resolute about keeping

up her act in front of Ryuuji. Even after he had seen the dark depths of her

true nature, it seemed this girl was still trying to pass herself off as "cute"

Ami-chan. This wasn't a joke; he didn't know how she expected him to

react.

"Oh, don't misunderstand, okay? Takasu-kun, you're not the cute

one, of course. I am! Okay? Takasu-kun, you're always the most wanted

one!"

"The most wanted…?"

Ami made a peace sign in front of one eye as she posed.

"Dead or alive ♥."

Slump. He felt as though his stamina was being quickly depleted. A

long sigh escaped him. Yeah, I've got the face for a most wanted poster, all

right.

"You tricked me," he said.

"Hmmm? I wonder what you mean~"

As Ami laughed, he could see the ridicule in her eyes. Where was her

firm-as-steel cute girl act? If he looked really closely, he could definitely

see the cavernous black eyes of a nasty Chihuahua.

"How are you doing that this early in the morning?" he asked. "Your

face will start cramping."

"I'm a pro. I wouldn't mess up that easily." The ill-natured face she

rarely showed others returned as she stuck her tongue out just for one

moment. She put the mask back on immediately and became a teary-eyed,

bubbly, beautiful smiling girl.

"Hgh!"

"You're in the way, dumb Chihuahua."

Ami's unbecoming wail was caused by the corner of the Palmtop

Tiger's bag. As the Tiger came into the classroom after Ryuuji, the bag

might have just accidentally collided harshly with Ami's lower abdomen as

a greeting.

"Oh, oh dear… Aisaka-san, good morning. You seem to be in a really

bad mood today."

"Good morning, Kawashima-san. Good job advertising that you're in

heat."

Taiga eyeballed Ami and Ryuuji. She gave them a cold look and a

sarcastic laugh as she turned to leave.

"Oh, I see~" Ami purposefully laughed loudly and hit her hands

together. "You're worried about what happened yesterday, right? That was

just a misunderstanding! Don't get jealous over something like that. Okay?

Envy doesn't suit you, Aisaka-san! Aaah, this is a problem I have. See, I'm

oblivious, so I get misunderstood a lot…"

Taiga's feet stopped just then. Slowly, she turned. "You really are an

airhead, aren't you?"

The smile that twisted her lips showed her murderous intent. Her

words were like a message from the grim reaper; a dark cloud whirled

above them.

"About yesterday, it was mere—"

"Heave hup!"

BAM! Taiga ascended into the air. She had finally achieved Super

Saiyan flight.

Ryuuji was speechless, his mouth open as a girl with a smile like the

light of the sun stuck her head out from under Taiga's armpit before his very

eyes.

"Gooooood morning! Taiga and Takasu-kun, you were almost late!"

"M-Minorin…let me down."

The one who had stuck her hands under Taiga's armpits from behind

and lifted her small form above her head was Kushieda Minori herself.

"Taiga, you're as light as always," she said. "How do you do it? You

eat about as much as I do."

"Don't use me for weight training."

"My upper arms get thin," Minori said as she lifted Taiga up and

down. Her smile was perfectly wholesome, the radiant light of a star itself.

To Ryuuji, she was the perfect girl.

Her limber body was even more scantily clad now that she was

wearing summer clothes. Ryuuji reflexively turned his eyes away, unable to

do anything else. After ingesting Taiga's poison the night before, the impact

of Minori's cuteness was a little too much. Trying to keep his pulse from

fluttering, he averted his eyes. He wasn't angry, he was just flustered.

Ryuuji's appearance didn't seem to bother Minori one bit.

"Come to think of it, Kawashima-san, you're also really thin," Minori

said. "Have you been running lately?" She was quick on the prowl, looking

for other people's arms to measure their thickness.

Some people might call a situation like this "unrequited love."

Phew. Ryuuji blew out a painful breath. When would Minori finally

notice his feelings? She had yet to, though he'd adored her for a while now.

"You two kind of seem lethargic," Minori said. "Did you not have

breakfast because you overslept? In that case, you're in luck! I brought

these as a snack. Eat this." Minori quickly picked something out of the

ziplock bag in her pocket. Ryuuji couldn't tell if she was being thickheaded

or sensitive as she said, "Black Nipples!"

She took a raisin in each hand and put them on her bust.

"Eat a boot's worth! Huh? Takasu-kun, why are you so down?"

The one who hit Minori's shoulder in admonishment was Taiga.

"Ryuuji is like a traveler who lost his way between his image of himself and

the actual truth."

"Oh! That's pretty daunting. You can do it, Takasu-kun! Go for it!"

Minori brought her right Black Nipple gently up to Ryuuji, whose

shoulders were slumped. She turned around to put the left Black Nipple

firmly into Ami's hand.

"Kawashima-san, I'm really sorry about yesterday!" Minori said. "I

regret what I did! I'm the one who came up with the whole plan, but I just

had to go to work. I'm sorry. Were you okay? I heard about it from

Kitamura-kun, but he said that the stalker extermination was a success?"

"You don't have to apologize!" Ami said. "We were okay in the end!

I'm glad, Minori-chan. And thanks. I'll have a Black Nipple, too!"

Next, Minori turned back to Taiga and Ryuuji once again. "Taiga and

Takasu-kun, I'm sorry."

"It's fine Minorin, you couldn't help it."

"My apologies." She bent her slender back and bowed her head

several times. Her brows furrowed in heartfelt apology. The purity of her

gaze when she looked up at him absolved Ryuuji of his anguish about his

nipples all at once. He was too nervous for words, but he looked at Minori

and desperately waved his shaking hands. Don't worry about it, was what

he was trying to say.

"Ryuuji doesn't mind at all, right, Ryuuji?" Taiga said.

He nodded. No matter how much we fight, Taiga still helps me. She

really is a good person, he thought. For a moment, he felt almost cozy.

"So, Minorin," Taiga continued. "It was a good thing for Ryuuji you

left when you did. Kitamura-kun and I fell into the gutter and had to abort

the mission, but Kawashima-san and Ryuuji got left behind, so he brought

her home—"

"Ahhhhhh!"

What was she saying?! Reflexively, Ryuuji tackled Taiga and firmly

covered her mouth; but she was prepared and pried off his fingers.

"The two of them were together at the Takasu house. At night.

Snuggled up to each other—"

"Why youuuuuu!"

"Black nip—"

Heave hup! He had to silence her! Ryuuji stuck his hands under

Taiga's hot armpits like Minori had done and pulled her up with all his

might.

"Hey! Let go, you perverted dog!"

I'm not letting go no matter how loud you yell! He flipped her

around, trying to get her to go somewhere else.

"Ohhh, Aisaka, good morning!"

"Ah!"

Taiga's nose was practically touching Kitamura Yuusaku, who had

cheerfully put up his hand. The strength drained from her body, and Taiga

simply went limp. She even forgot to shower Ryuuji in insults.

"G-goo-goo-goo—" Her voice was faint and skipping like a broken

record. The heat under her arms jumped by two degrees.

"What's that? It seems you two are playing around like usual."

Kitamura hit Ryuuji and Taiga's shoulders. Ryuuji set her down.

Then Kitamura's eyes went to Taiga. "Here. I completely forgot this

and took it home."

"Oh…right…"

"It was splintering a little, so I went ahead and filed it down. Is that

okay?"

"Th-thank you…"

Her face went red, and Taiga smiled shakily. Then Kitamura, the

class representative whom she was hopelessly in love with, handed her the

forgotten object. It was exactly like a scene out of a shoujo manga.

"Don't wave it around too much. It's dangerous."

"Y-yeah."

The thing Kitamura, the dashing hero, handed to the blushing heroine

was one frequently used wooden sword. Ryuuji had conflicted feelings

about the sword, which had once been used in an attempt to murder him.

"What were you just talking about?"

"Hm?"

Ryuuji turned without thinking, and there was Minori, tilting her

head, her clear, brown eyes looking intently up at him.

"What was that Taiga was just saying, Takasu-kun?" she asked.

"Uh, it's not anything, really…"

Of course, he felt like a bomb had begun ticking in his heart. He

looked over at Ami for a bit of help, but she had disappeared.

"Ohhh, where did you buy that? It's cute!"

"On the second floor of the station building. It was super cheap!"

"No way! I want one, too!"

"Me, too!"

Far away from him, she was squealing with Maya and Nanako. She

was so unreliable. Maybe he was lucky she wasn't there? She wasn't as bad

as Taiga, but Ami was a bit of a time bomb herself. A bomb with a mouth

on it.

Minori stole a glance at Ryuuji. "Well, because it's you saying it, I'll

believe it. Like I said before, if you make Taiga unhappy, then I, Minori,

will turn into a beast. Just kidding."

"Oof!"

Slash. Her words were like a knife. Could she have said anything

worse?

It was a coincidence that Kitamura said at the same time, "Right,

Aisaka? Yesterday, Ami's contact lens got stuck and Takasu was just

helping her look at it. That was all. So don't worry about it too much, okay?

Don't get mad at Takasu. Stick together!"

"Ah…"

Kitamura's consideration cut Taiga like a knife, as well.

Ryuuji wanted to hold his head. Since they'd met this past spring,

nothing had changed about their crushes—except one thing.

Walking together, Ryuuji and Taiga elbowed each other. They

exchanged prickling sarcasm, their eyes glinted. Taiga and Ryuuji's

relationship was clearly changing for the worse.

"Because of you, Kitamura-kun thinks we're together!"

"That's what I was going to say. This is what you get for trying to

pull people's legs!"

***

Twenty-nine and unmarried, this might have been Koigakubo Yuri's

lucky day.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said.

She smiled broadly, though her eyes were mercilessly swollen and

the double lids she was so proud of were as puffy as tarako roe. None of the

students in class 2-C were rude enough to point it out, though one of the

other, younger instructors (twenty-seven, with a boyfriend who she claimed

she was keeping even though she'd hesitated when he'd proposed the year

before) had. What did she mean by, "Koigakubi-sensei, what happened to

your eyes? Shouldn't you do something about them?" What does she know?

Yuri wondered.

"It looks like the weather isn't settling, but I have some good news~"

she said.

The night before, she'd gone alone to eat at a family restaurant, (yes,

alone). She'd planned on drinking a single can of beer she'd bought at the

convenience store but suddenly found she wanted company.

She hadn't seen her childhood friends at all recently. It hadn't been

terribly late, so, feeling nostalgic, she decided to call her old friend, Risa,

who she had been close to.

Risa immediately picked up and said, "No way, Yuri?! It's been

forever! What, no way, let's do something together. This weekend? Oh, I

can't do that, I actually have to exchange engagement gifts. Right, right,

with that government employee guy. No, it's already past the honeymoon

stage, and his parents are so picky now. Oh, Sayaka had a baby! Let's go

see them next time we're together! We haven't seen each other since Miho's

wedding. How have you been lately? You were dating a younger guy a little

while ago, weren't you? Didn't he ask you to go on a trip during Golden

Week? What happened with that? Huh? Hello? Hello, hello?"

Don't ask what happened. Yuri thought. Nothing happened. That's

why I didn't mention it. It's not that hard to figure out. Guess!

Yuri drank three cans of beer; it wasn't enough. She opened a bottle

of wine and around two in the morning made some beef kimchi, devouring

a heaping pile of salt and calories. By the time she realized what she was

doing, she was crying bitterly as she fell asleep.

At 8:30 in the morning the following day, though, she'd managed to

pull herself together again.

"The pool will be open starting this week!" she said. "It's a chance to

exercise and stay in shape! It's something to look forward to!"

A chorus of "Yay!" and "Bleh!" came from the high school students.

The boys were excited and laughing with childish glee. The girls moaned

about, "My stomach!" "My fat legs!" "But my arms!" "I can't do a bathing

suit!"

Those idiots. Yuri, the matron, sighed. You're still so young. You don't

know how good you have it!

"Whaaat! This school has coed swimming?!" Ami exclaimed. "No

way, that's so embarrassing!"

Kawashima Ami! You're super thin and cute! You're a model! What

could you possibly be embarrassed about?!

"Teacher! Let's end homeroom here!"

"All right," she said.

She left it to the overly competent class representative, Kitamura,

watching her students absently from her desk as they stood up. At

Kitamura's "Stand! Bow!" everyone lowered their heads.

That was when she suddenly realized it. Aren't I kind of lucky today?

The most problematic of her students—the Palmtop Tiger, the feared

Aisaka Taiga—hadn't so much as irritably clicked her tongue. In fact, the

Tiger was obediently quiet. She wasn't exactly being courteous, but she

seemed absentminded, and was currently looking intently outside the

window.

Taiga's cheeks, which Yuri envied for their rosy smoothness, didn't

look like she was feeling unwell, though she didn't seem to be aware of the

classroom around her.

Yuri had made it through the morning without the Palmtop Tiger

snapping at her. Wasn't that lucky?

Maybe I'll look cute today, too. Maybe I'll have some good fortune.

Maybe my marriage prospects will improve… Yuri pumped her fist slightly,

fired up for the future.

She didn't notice the ominous cloud of emotion that was beginning to

fill her classroom. Maybe she wasn't as good at her job as she thought.