Chapter 2

"So, then I asked the associate professor, 'Where are you right

now?' He said he was at the café in front of the station. And then he said,

'There's something I really need to finish right now, so can we push back

the time?' But when he replied, I was already at that café… I thought it was

weird, so I tried to casually ask him if he had gotten a good window seat,

and then he said, 'Yeah, I did.' He said, 'I'm sitting at a great seat by the

window, ha ha.' …But I was already sitting at the only window seat…"

"Oh ho. So he's already lying for no reason. That's no good."

"I was thinking he was probably meeting other women or something.

At the same time, it wasn't like we were actually dating yet, so I couldn't

just ask him about it out of the blue. I thought he might make great

boyfriend material, plus we're around the same age. I was thinking he

might have been sorting things out

before we could go official. Anyway, he told me he'd be late by an

hour, so I knew I couldn't stick around the café."

"You didn't want to let him know you were on to his lie."

"Right. We weren't at that stage where I could rock the boat. So,

anyway, I left the station and stepped into the rain. If I had an hour, I

thought I could go to a bookshop or look at clothes to pass the time. Um, it

was that Saturday when it was freezing…"

"Ahh, it was cold that day. The rain was so cold it was practically

close to turning into snow."

"Right. I only had a small umbrella, so my clothes and shoes got

soaking wet, and while I was walking, I was thinking, 'Well, what do I do

now?' and then…I saw him!"

"Oh ho! Where was he and what was he doing?!"

"He was gambling on slot machines!"

Uhh…

There was a slight commotion in class 2-C as they murmured in low

voices. The students had been chowing down heartily during lunch but

automatically stopped at the incredibly strange conversation currently being

broadcast over the loudspeakers.

"This is it, right? He should have been reading at the café, but you

caught him on the slots. He was playing slots even though you were

supposed to meet, to the point that he made his own date wait for him."

"So then I was thinking, 'This is way too much.' There are limits to

what you can ignore. I didn't want to hear his excuses, either, or hear him

lie, so I decided to wait for him to leave the building."

"You didn't think of marching in there?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't do that. I'm an adult. I just stood in the

rain, but he never left. An hour passed, but he still didn't leave. I was just

glued to the ground. There wasn't even an overhang. I was in the middle of

the street at eight o'clock at night. Thirty minutes passed and he still didn't

come out. He was already an hour late. I was like, he's not even going to

bother to tell me? Actually, were slot machines more important than me to

begin with? But the more I waited, the more I felt something dark building

up in me, and I couldn't bear going home frustrated and sad like that… It

was so cold, and I was more pitiful and miserable the colder it was, so I

thought he'd at least feel bad if he saw me…"

"Hmmm… So, you didn't get in contact?"

"I did…with my girlfriend. I was telling her, you won't believe what

the associate professor did to me, and I'm crying, what do I do~? Then I

realized something that changed everything…"

"It must have been a development that put you at the edge of your

seat, right?"

"Apparently Japanese universities don't even have associate

professors anymore… They call them senior lecturers now. Suddenly, I was

like, 'Who is this guy?' right?"

"Right. It's like everything you knew about him was suddenly

overturned."

"So then he ghosted me. But I finally got why everything was so

weird. It's because Mercury is in retrograde!"

"Oh…Mercury is…"

"Right! Mercury is! When Mercury is in retrograde, your computer

breaks or things you thought would happen end up coming late! So once

things are back in order—oh, it's supposed to be at the beginning of next

year—I think he'll get in contact with me again! Don't you think he will?

You think so, too, right?"

"Well…yeah, that is something, honestly I think…maybe you should

pass on this guy?"

"If there ever is a next guy! But that's not the point! It's not! En-neeway, I just wanted to give him a piece of my mind! Hraagh!"

"Oh. Oh, ahh…if you strain yourself like that, you'll make yourself

hyperventilate…"

"Right?! And then he came out of the gambling parlor, right?! And

then he saw me, right?! And then he isn't even surprised or awkward about

it, and the first thing that comes out of that guy's mouth is, 'So you were

following me?! So that's the kind of person you are! You're the worst!

That's why you're still single at your age!' That was what he saaaaiiid!

That's what I wanted to say to him! Like what are you doing pretending

you've got a better job than you actually do at your age?! What is it wit'

chuu?! …Ha ha…I'm talking like Shimura…ahhh…ughhh ahhhhh…"

"So, we've gotten to the end of your story. Let's hope Mercury goes

back into alignment. Let's end this here today. Thank you very much. Here,

take a tissue… You have afternoon classes, so wipe away those tears. Your

makeup is…uhhh, I'm here on the radio with Sin Gle-san (age 30)."

"It's Y-chan."

"Oh, sorry. So Y-chan (age 30), if you have anything else you'd like

advice about, please come to the 'Patron Saint of Broken Hearts Restaurant'

any time and let us hear your story. The student council is cheering on your

love. So at Y-chan's (age 30) request, please listen to this…"

A weird, nostalgic winter song came flowing through the speakers.

Finally, someone reasonably muttered, "Kitamura, what are you

doing making our homeroom teacher cry…?"

Since Kitamura had his awakening as the patron saint of broken

hearts, he started occupying the broadcast room with the student council.

The speakers streamed a student council-controlled broadcast throughout

the school called "Cheering on Your Love." Kitamura would somehow find

students who would anonymously ask for romantic advice or start talking

about his own love story. That day's topic was about not being married and

a familiar guest had successfully gotten a call back—class 2-C's homeroom

teacher (K)gakubo (Y)ri (age 30, (S)ngle). The show's painful rating was

going up by the day. The class started sympathizing with her.

"We'll pretend that we didn't realize it was Yuri-chan."

"…Yeah."

Even the usually juvenile girls were acting like adults. On the other

side of things, though…

"Hey, hey Ryuuji… I wonder where they're keeping the master tape

for this broadcast. If we can figure that out, we can sneak in in the middle

of the night, get it, and edit just the parts where Kitamura is talking…then

right before I sleep everyday…na-haa…"

…there was one girl hugging herself and getting hot and bothered.

Her large eyes glinted with ambition and her rough breathing made her

nostrils flare. Across from her, with his bento spread out, Ryuuji said, "Here

it comes."

He wasn't gloating about having obtained new abilities—"Here it

comes, the cursed poison smoke from my eyes!"—he was just exasperated

by the girl in front of him.

"Weren't you supposed to be a good girl until Christmas? Now

you're suddenly plotting larceny… I can see the greed clouding your eyes."

"Well, you just make it sound bad."

Taiga crossed her arms and languidly closed her eyes with their long

lashes.

"First of all, I think you're in the wrong, Ryuuji, for not telling me

such a wonderful lunch broadcast started. You should have been recording

it for me."

"If I told you about it, you would have wanted to listen to it. And if I

recorded it in class, I would have looked like an idiot. I thought that telling

you about it while you were suspended would be mean, so I was trying to

be considerate."

"Oh, no, no. You don't get it at all. You have no idea what it means to

be considerate. Plus, you're being all smug, as if you'd done a good thing.

There's nothing more conceited than that. Your personality is like an old

man who thinks a good day is putting a pile of salt on top of a slug and

watching it melt while the sun sets. Even your face is abnormal. You've got

the immoral face of someone who really is just a dog at heart. But I won't

scold you right now, Ryuuji. I won't punch you or kick you. I won't beat

you up or strangle you or kill you, even. I won't even insult you by saying

you're useless. Isn't that amazing? Aren't I doing a great job acting like a

good girl? Ehee."

"I've had enough, so stop already!"

Ryuuji dropped his chopsticks in despair. My personality is like

putting salt on a slug!

Taiga completely ignored him and blew her bangs up with a small

sigh.

"But it really is a bummer. Well…it's not like I can really go in to

steal it in the middle of the night. I just want to somehow get my hands on

Kitamura's beautiful voice, since I missed it while I was suspended. I want

to be able to fast-forward it to the places I want to listen to and customize it

to my liking. I just want to listen to my very own version of Kitamura-kun's

voice, all for me…"

Pat. As Taiga was saying that, someone tapped her shoulder.

"Tiger, if this helps, I'll let you have it."

Taiga almost shot into the air as she realized someone had overheard

her uber-embarrassing conversation. It had also surprised Ryuuji, since the

students who had come to talk to Taiga were some girls she really wasn't

that close to. The girls handed Taiga a CD.

"I'm part of the broadcast committee. Maruo asked me to record the

lunch broadcasts every day. I only have the recordings for up to yesterday,

but if you want them, I'll give them to you."

Ryuuji and Taiga automatically exchanged looks and stopped

thinking for several seconds.

"Uh wh-wh…huh? Wh-why…?"

Taiga eventually squeezed out a question. The answer was concise.

"Well, we just happened to hear you say you wanted to listen to it. I

just brought the backup CDs today, too. So…"

"Yeah, right, right. We also recorded today's broadcast, and we're

planning on recording all the future ones. If you want them, we can make

copies for you. The broadcast is kind of fun to listen to, after all. It's pretty

funny."

They pushed the CD into Taiga's hesitating, shaking hands. Taiga's

cheeks flushed red, and she kicked her chair back in a fluster as she stood.

"Uh-um-um…"

For a moment she looked back at Ryuuji as though imploring him.

Say it, Ryuuji urged her with his hand.

"Th-thank you…"

She twisted and fidgeted. Taiga was shy as shy could be when she

finally whispered the words in a low voice. The girls smiled and waved

their hands at her.

"It's nothing, really. Think of it as a gift for celebrating the end of

your suspension."

"Right, yeah. If you weren't here, Tiger, school just wouldn't be fun.

Isn't it great that you got to come back?"

They returned to their seats where they had their bento spread out.

Taiga was in rigor mortis for a while after that, but suddenly, as though she

had come to a decision about something, she nodded. She pulled out a box

of snacks from her desk, went after the girls, and thrust it out at them.

"…Nn!"

She said.

"Oh! Thank you! These are really good."

"I love these, too! I'll take one, too."

Then as she went back to where Ryuuji was sitting with her nostrils

flared. She cradled the CD and squinted her eyes as her face went red. Even

her neck turned a warm-looking pink.

"D-d-did you see that just now?! I can't believe I got so lucky?! Is

this really okay?! I'm too happy!"

She squealed as she stomped on Ryuuji's feet under the desk.

Incidentally, this wasn't an attack, but like when an overjoyed cat headbutts its owner. Ryuuji could only grin and bear it.

"That really was lucky," he said. "The girls treat you way nicer than

I'd have expected. I wonder if it's with the blessing of the patron saint?

Anyway, now you don't need to steal it."

"Yeah!"

Taiga took a big bite of lettuce fried rice that was loaded with mini

tomatoes. Ryuuji also took a huge bite of the same meal across from her. Of

course, the lunches were perfectly made that day, as they were every day. It

had acidity from the tomatoes and crunch from the lettuce. With one egg

per person, the finishing touch was scallops from a can. They also had

Szechuan pickles and peppers and stir-fried chicken breast as sides. They

had cucumber and seaweed salad topped with special sesame dressing, and

afterward, they had mandarin jelly for dessert. The bento were a little lavish

that day. Ryuuji put his heart into them, since it was the first day after

Taiga's suspension.

Even though they were having a special lunch, Minori wasn't in the

classroom because of a club meeting. That was the only disappointing part

about it.

"I got it! I got it! I got it! Ehee hee!"

Dancing a little, Taiga dug into her fried rice. She genuinely seemed

happy, and her eyes squinted. He watched her face to divert him from his

ennui.

"I fiiiinally got my bread! The school store was packed!"

"Is Kitamura on the radio today, too~? What is that? Today's song is

ancient."

"Don't say that. Our homeroom teacher picked it."

"Geh, that's kind of sad."

Noto and Haruta, the bread brigade, pulled chairs up to Ryuuji's desk.

There were three guys at just two desks and the person at the small edge

would have to be scrunched up, but well, that was just how it was. Lunch

was still fun. The song finally ended and Kitamura's somewhat fakesounding voice came back on over the speakers.

"So, today's high is eight degrees Celsius, and today's low is three

degrees. We seem to be in the dead of winter now. The wind is cold, and the

air is dry… That seems pretty terrible, and influenza is burning its way

through…"

Shut up, Noto joked as he nibbled his bread. Ryuuji and Haruta

laughed. Taiga had her ears pricked. She stretched out her neck like a turtle

in order to greedily pick up Kitamura's voice.

"Speaking of things to hate, end-of-term exams are closing in on us.

Are you all ready? Actually, I, the patron saint of broken hearts, too, am

getting ready to seriously get down to business with these tests…aha!

Things aren't going exactly as planned, though."

"What did he just say?!" Haruta suddenly burst out. "Isn't this

broadcast nagging us?! Why is he talking about studying for tests?! Isn't the

title 'Cheering on Love'?!"

"Hey, hey, calm down," said Noto. "What's gotten into you so

suddenly? We can't hear Master Kitamura's much-appreciated broadcast.

Right, Tiger? You okay? Can you hear it okay?"

He turned to Taiga, who nodded as her forehead furrowed. Taiga and

Noto are acting really buddy-buddy, thought Ryuuji, almost like they're real

friends. Noto, are you taking advantage of Taiga being in Christmas

mode…? No, he couldn't let thoughts like that go through his head. His

maddened eyes flashed at the heartwarming scene.

Haruta obstinately shook his head, "No, no." He had been smiling

right up to that moment, but now he tore off a piece of his fried noodle

bread and shook his long hair gloomily.

"I don't want to hear about studying! You don't either, right, Noto?!

Right, Taka-chan?! Tiger, you too, right?! Hey, I hate studying! This might

be a surprise to you, but I actually don't want to think about studying for

even one second!"

"Hey!" said Ryuuji. "You got aonori seaweed from your mouth on

my desk… Wh-where are my antibacterial wipes…"

"This isn't the time to be cleaning up aonori, Taka-chan! Stop it!

Actually, what's with you, Tiger?!"

Haruta unexpectedly aimed his anger at Taiga. Normally, he would

have immediately received capital punishment—death in two seconds,

ascension in five seconds, and reincarnation after ten. He would have been

a crying newborn in a new world by now. However, it was right before

Christmas.

"What about me…?"

Taiga simply looked up slightly gloomily at the long-haired idiot.

Ryuuji really believed that the person Haruta needed to be most grateful for

in the world was definitely Santa. Then, getting carried away, the idiot

thrust a finger at Taiga and bared his aonori-covered teeth at her.

"When I bought bread earlier, the head of our year stopped me and

told me, 'Hey, you idiot over there!' And then he suddenly told me off for

being the closest to failing our year and said I needed to study for the

exams! So then I was like, 'But Tiger's been suspended! She has to be in a

worse place than me~!' and he was like, 'You're the one who's worse, ya

dunce! Ya dumb king!' Then he got even madder! Boo! Aha ha ha ha ha!

Don't you think it's kind of funny?! Who's ever heard of a dumb king?!"

Ryuuji asked Noto with his eyes, "For real?" Noto quietly nodded in

response. Taiga continued to be silent as she looked at King Haruta. Ryuuji

wondered what she was thinking.

Eventually, she slowly put her fingers together and prayed to the

heavens. "May this idiot also have a happy Christmas…"

"Kyaahaaaaa?!" It wasn't the sound of the angel's trumpets that

interrupted her prayer, but the high squeal of Hayashiya Pah-ko. No, not

really—it was just Haruta's ultrasonic voice.

"What is it with you, Tiger?! Sometimes you really can be nice!

Ahh…no way, I don't really know why, but I feel like I'm getting a—"

Shwick! At that moment, Noto's unexpectedly sharp karate chop hit

Haruta in the neck. Haruta simply fell out of his chair, and his head

slumped. There, Noto nodded. He gently took the fried noodle bread out of

Haruta's hands and placed it on the desk.

The two boys gave each other a thumbs up. Taiga, still with bits of

rice at the corner of her mouth and alone in her ignorance of what had

happened, looked at Haruta, who sagged over like he had lost power. Then,

she turned to Noto.

"What was that just now? What was he trying to say?"

"You don't need to worry about it! It's nothing for a girl to think

about! More importantly, don't you think we should really start studying for

the end-of-semester exams? Let's get together at a family restaurant and do

it. Plus, we need to force Haruta to study or something or he won't be able

to go up a grade with us. Also, Takasu, I want you to let me copy that thing

you have. Would that be okay? I mean the patriarch's notes."

"Oh, right, of course. They really are great. Let's pass them along and

use them together. Oh, they're not just mine though. You should probably

ask Kushieda, too."

The patriarch's notes.

During the cultural festival at the end of fall, Ryuuji and Minori had

received them as the prize for the lucky man race. Noto was referring to the

comprehensive notes on every subject covered in school that the past

student council president had left behind. As the representative of their

victory, Ryuuji had kept the notes, but formally he co-owned them with

Minori. He hadn't participated in the race to get the notes in the first place,

but when he had gotten them and looked them over, he was shocked.

Obviously, they contained all the school lessons, but they had even broken

down all the hard topics in manageable and easy-to-understand ways. They

had been organized better than real reference books sold on the market.

After seeing that, Ryuuji understood. Kitamura's former love, the genius

patriarch, had been blessed with brains, but she hadn't shirked the hard

work needed to continue polishing her heaven-sent talent. She was the real

deal.

At Ryuuji's pleasing reply, Noto said, "Thank you! Aren't we lucky,

Haruta?! Right!" He shook his friend's shoulder. Haruta still hadn't come

back to consciousness, so his long arms flailed futilely by his thighs. Then

Noto turned around and continued, "Actually, Tiger, you're lucky your

suspension ended before the exams. They're next week, so you've got to

study with us, too. See, um, well, look… Let's invite Kitamura or

something, and we can all do it together. Right? Let's start right away

tonight?"

"Uh!"

At his words, Taiga looked up at Ryuuji with radiant eyes. It was as

though she were trying to say, Did you hear that just now?! He had indeed

heard it. Noto said he would invite Kitamura to their study group. Taiga

somehow held back the joy that was about to overflow onto her face, but

her eyes glittered, and her cheeks puffed up and turned peachy. "I-I-I-I-I

wouldn't mind," she answered in a low voice as though trying to stifle her

smile. Noto grinned and nodded.

"Oh, right, we could invite Minorin, too, right?! Because the notes

are also hers! Right, Ryuuji?!"

Taiga seemed so excited she was close to humming to herself.

"Right!" She looked into Ryuuji's face. If there weren't others watching,

Ryuuji would have replied by saluting Taiga the angel for steadily cheering

him on.

…For some reason, though, Ryuuji felt like something weird was up

as he stared intently at Noto from the side.

"Hm? What is it, Takasu?"

"…Nothing."

"Huh? When I look really closely at your face, you kind of look like

the Joker card from a deck we have at home…"

"Yeah, people sometimes tell me that."

Noto looked kind of like an otter—but that didn't matter right now.

He was convinced Noto was up to something that day. Regardless of

whether Taiga was being a good girl because Christmas was coming, and no

matter how refreshing it was to see her since her suspension had lifted,

Noto just seemed like he was being too frank with Taiga. He had suddenly

invited her to a study group… No, it wasn't just that. There were other

things that were definitely even weirder. Right, Noto had been acting weird

recently, and—

"Oh, Minorin! Over here! You're late! We already finished eating!"

He shot around.

In a fleeting second, Ryuuji's consciousness flew away. His scattered

consciousness was pulled towards the figure of a girl as it pieced itself

together into a vaguely human shape. All of the thoughts he had been

putting together were lost, and he was restructured into a simple boy,

idiotically in love.

"Sorry, sorry. The meeting ran long."

The smile she turned to Taiga. The skip in her step. In the familiar

classroom, Minori alone stood out brilliantly, and her outline seemed to

glow. Her form, her voice, her scent stole Ryuuji's heart with a terrific

power. He looked down at his bento box as though to dredge up the remains

of his food and averted his eyes, trying to pretend he didn't even realize

Minori was there. As though he were gulping down the words he wanted to

say to her, he accidentally chugged down all of his oolong tea.

"Minorin," said Taiga, "did you finish eating your bento, too?"

"I scarfed down some bread!"

"Then let's eat dessert together!"

"Fine by me!"

Taiga shook the box of sweets at Minori. She smiled and started to

motion as though she were heading over to them.

"So Minorin, we were just talking about how tonight we were going

to… Minorin, why are you backing away?"

"Aw shucks, I can't get the huge things between my legs to settle

right, aw shucks."

With a strangely skilled moonwalk, she retreated further and further

away.

"Ah, that's a gross joke! That's low, Kushieda!" Noto booed at her.

Ryuuji's face contorted like a poisoned ogre's, and his eyes flashed

hair-raisingly. His fist shook with the hidden power of a man. From his dry

lips came a low voice fit for addressing a sworn enemy, laden with killing

intent: "Guess we've got Saigo Takamori in the house."

YES! Just in his heart, Ryuuji shouted for joy. He had successfully

made a casual comeback at Minori. However Minori smiled weakly as she

continued her moonwalked retreat.

"Aw shucks, I-I-I—"

She got further and further away from them with smooth movements

that didn't make it seem like she had anything between her thighs. Minori

didn't stop, even when people got mad at her for running into them,

"Heeey," and even when her butt bumped into someone's desk. Taiga, Noto,

and Ryuuji were about to make fun of her with a collective cry of, Where

are you going? when Kitamura's voice came running through the speakers

and a Christmas song started playing in the background.

"So, anyway. After the tough exams, the day everyone has been

waiting for will arrive—Christmas."

Ryuuji saw Taiga's expression blossom into a smile when she

noticed. Her beloved Kitamura had started talking about her beloved

Christmas. Of course she would be in a good mood.

"I have an announcement from the student council. Once the end-ofterm exams are over, we'll have our closing ceremony on Christmas Eve,

the twenty-fourth. After that, we'll go to the gym and have a Christmas

party for all those interested!"

It was in that moment that everything happened.

The cacophony of the noisy lunch break came to a sudden halt.

Taiga's mouth was wide open. Even Haruta had regained consciousness and

opened his eyes.

This is… This is—! Ryuuji held his breath. He automatically

exchanged looks with Taiga.

"This is, of course, for the couples out there," said Kitamura, "and

you, with the romantic troubles… It's also for you, the one who hasn't been

able to ask out the person who caught your eye. Why don't you ask out that

special someone you've been thinking about this romantic Christmas Eve?

We're creating a prep committee and are waiting for your help. Please keep

a look out for our fundraising campaign, too. The student council supports

your love."

Kyaaah~! …Two pre-teen girls appeared on the scene.

This is it. This is what we wanted! A project like this! Ryuuji and

Taiga lost control and couldn't express themselves in words. Kyah kyah,

they squealed as they high-fived each other. They squealed even more; they

were practically hugging each other.

With this, Ryuuji could ask Minori out naturally. Wanna go with

everyone else?—that was all he had to do. They would go to the party

together, and then depending on how the mood went and how things

progressed… No, he would just enjoy being with Minori during Christmas

Eve. That was enough for him. Taiga wouldn't have to mumble about

whether things were fair or not, and just needed to go to the party to see

Kitamura. It would be hard for them to be alone together, but they would at

least spend the evening together, anyway.

Then, it wasn't just Ryuuji and Taiga who had turned into a bunch of

screaming schoolgirls.

"We don't have plans on Christmas Eve anyway~!"

"It sounds like it might actually end up being fun?!"

"I hope they'll let us go in something other than our uniforms~!"

"I want to wear a cute dress or something!" They were shouting on

and on. Several people around the class were already planning on attending.

The students of class 2-C already liked events, and this one was headed up

by the patron saint of broken hearts, the leader of class 2-C, so they couldn't

help but be excited.

What a mood… Ryuuji let his relentless reptile eyes scan the place. It

wasn't that he had been cursed by a snake that had been killed by his

ancestors—he was just so exhilarated he couldn't stop his eyes. They could

all look forward to the romantic Christmas Eve party…and then maybe,

quite possibly, he might actually be able to confess to Minori for real. Then

maybe—if that really did happen, what answer would Minori give him? He

licked his lips, which had dried out and split from his excitement. He stifled

his enthusiasm as he sneakily tried to turn toward Minori.

"That's right, why don't you join the prep committee, Tiger?"

"Yeah, you just said you love Christmas, after all."

"That's perfect! You've got to do it now!"

Unexpected voices started joining in from around Taiga. Noto also

smiled at Taiga and was saying, "Yeah, go join the committee!"

Amid those voices, Taiga's face turned red, and she struggled to stand

up.

"I-I-I-I-If everyone's so insistent, I-I-I-I-I'd be okay with it. Fwa ha

ha ha ha ha!"

She laughed in a high-pitched voice to hide her embarrassment.

"Hmph!" Then she became arrogant.

"You're joining too, you salt-slug dog!"

She pointed at Ryuuji, but her face still looked as though it would

melt right onto the floor. She would be able to help prepare a Christmas

party with Kitamura, and on top of that, it seemed natural because she was

just responding to the nomination from her classmates. In that moment,

every one of Taiga's desires had been fulfilled in exactly the way she

wanted them to be.

Taiga suddenly pointed at Minori as well.

"Minorin, you have to do it, too! Do it with us! Join us!"

Kyyaaaaaaaah! She'd even kicked Ryuuji into the vortex of delight.

What an amazing thing Taiga had done. She really was a producer that went

by the name of the angel of love. She was a heaven-sent child of Christmas

with a doughnut halo over her head. Ryuuji's ogre-mask face rose, and he

turned to Minori. Let's do it! Join us! We'll do it together!

"Sorry. I have to pass this time around."

"What?! Why?!"

Ryuuji's internal monologue was fully in sync with Taiga's voice.

Minori, who had been joking around just earlier as she had been retreating

from them, now shook her head obstinately. Her lips were pursed.

"I'm not in the mood for a Christmas party or anything like that. I'm

really not. It's like it's not the time for me to be happy…with what

happened at that match I was talking about earlier. I really, really feel a

weight on my shoulders from what happened. If I were just running around

yelling and having fun in this situation, I feel like I'd seriously be setting a

bad example for the rest of the club. There's another game right after New

Year's, so I need to practice, too. So, I'm sorry. But you have fun, especially

you Taiga, you have lots."

But—basically, she wasn't going to join the prep committee or go to

the party? Ryuuji was speechless. He had been so excited in his selfishness

that he couldn't tolerate the sudden plummet. It was as though all the color

in the world disappeared.

"Whoa!"

"Ehee hee. ♥ In that case, maybe I'll join in Minori's place~?!"

Bam! Half-running into him, the one heartily hitting Ryuuji in the

back where he sat down was Ami.

"What a face you're making," she added in a small whisper. Taiga's

face crumpled momentarily.

"Geh, Dimhuahua?! No, don't, don't do it. We don't need a hairy

beast joining us! Beat it! You should go back into the woods where you

belong, you hairball!"

"Oh, my~? Tiger-chan, should you really be saying that? Aren't you

being a good little girl until Christmas comes around~? Your buddy Santa is

watching, you know~?"

"Ugh…"

Ami put her pointer finger up to her lip-glossy shiny lips and looked

at them with upturned eyes. With that one finger, she made Taiga shut up.

Then she let a sickeningly sweet smile open up over her face like a flower,

and her large, radiant eyes looked down slowly at her classmates' faces. In

a moment, her unfair beauty took hold of the mood in the class and

forcefully pulled in the eyes of everyone in the room.

"Aren't you super excited for the party?! I'm definitely going!

Yuusaku's plan to have a Christmas party everyone at school can go to is

way too amazing! I seriously love plans like this~! We've got to use our

power as a class to make it a night to get excited for! Right, everyone?!"

Yay! Someone shouted, and they naturally followed with applause.

"I'm definitely, definitely going!"

"I'll join the committee, too!"

"I can't believe I can spend Christmas Eve with Ami-chan!"

"This is the high point of my life!"

And on and on they went. There were guys getting choked up with

tears. The girls pointed at them and laughed, and though they clamored,

their eyes glittered with joy.

She really is good at this stuff, Ryuuji thought as he looked up at Ami

in surprise. Ami had the whole class filled with passion again with another

smile, and she even went so far as to hug Taiga and give her a peck on the

cheek.

"Let's do it together~! ♥"

"Gweh!" Taiga pushed her away, but because of the "good girl"

constraints that she had imposed on herself, she couldn't actually say no.

"Oh~? What's with that look? You don't want to work with me?"

Noticing Ryuuji's eyes, Ami raised one eyebrow slightly while still

smiling. Her large eyes lit up. She took a glance around the others who

started getting excited and then pulled away from them. In a low, spiteful

voice she whispered:

"I see. You'd rather be with a certain someone more than me."

Ryuuji, of course, was irritated. In a similarly whispered voice, he

chanted ardently and insistently into her ear, "You idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot,

idiot!"

He was self-conscious of his poor vocabulary, but this was all Ryuuji

could muster in his counterattack against Ami. Ami held her ears and tried

to run, "Uwaah!" That was an unexpected reaction. It seemed that he had

tickled her ears. I won, Ryuuji thought as he laughed at her.

"Heh," he said, "see what you get."

"That was low!"

Ami glared at him with harsh, provoking eyes, but he knew she

would. Yaah yaah. He danced a little and made fun of her all the more.

"Hmph, just because Tiger's acting weird and docile, you're getting

full of yourself! I'll tell you this, Takasu-kun, but you'd be better off being

nice to me."

"Why's that?"

"Oh~? You don't know? To be blunt, plans like this play into the

palm of my hand. I can pull everyone up or bring them all down. I wonder

what you'd think if it were up to me whether a certain melancholy someone

is encouraged to come…"

Ryuuji's forehead wrinkled. A smile formed on Ami's lips. What did

that smile mean? And what was Ami's aim?

The only thing he knew was that what Ami was saying was true.

When it came to events, parties, and plans that involved getting everyone

excited…all of those things were Ami's domain. But, of course, he couldn't

have thought that Kawashima Ami, the darkest-hearted person in the whole

country, would lend him her strength and help him with realizing his

unrequited love. She whispered to him in a soft, sweet voice.

"Takasu-kun, you want the party to be a success, right? I'd like it to

be a success. I'm not Tiger, but I really do love Christmas. I don't have a

boyfriend to spend it with, unfortunately. Plus, even if I went home, my

parents would be busy. I think I'd like to get everyone excited and have a

fun party at school…I really mean it."

Ami grinned and then laughed. She pushed up her hair, and her eyes,

which had an unfathomable depth, lit up and glistened.

"So. Because. Of. That. Let's work together, okay? Don't you feel

like putting your heart into it?"

Ryuuji raised his face. Then, with a force that almost made Ami

recoil, he nodded, "Yeah!" The answer was naturally Yes. Yes, yes, yes. He

did want to put his heart into it.

He couldn't stall out in a place like this. He didn't have time to get

lost in Ami's depths, either. For now, he could only act. The battle for

Christmas with Minori had already started.

"Right! Let's do our best! Let's do it, Kawashima!"

"Aha. ♥ You're finally into it. ♥"

Ryuuji and Ami's breathing was in sync as they high-fived in the

middle of the excited shouts of joy.

"Hey, don't get all buddy-buddy with Ami-chan!"

"We're done for. We've got to deal with Takasu quick."

He felt resentful looks coming from all around him, but right now he

just needed to ignore all the eyes. There was just one thing he knew.

Somehow, somehow, he wanted Minori to be excited, too. In the blazing,

fiery battle for the person he loved, for the one special day in the whole

year, he wished for a fire to be lit in Minori's heart.

But Minori's eyes were quiet and cold in that moment. She just

looked up, expressionless, at the center of their classmates' shouts of joy

where Ami was. She just stood there. When Ami saw her, Ami smiled even

more charmingly. She whispered strangely slowly to Minori.

"Huh~? What's wrong, Minori-chan? Have you decided that you

want to join in? If that's the case, I'd be happy to welcome you anytime."

"I already said it's not possible."

That was all Minori said. She abruptly averted her eyes. Ryuuji saw

Minori's profile in that moment. He thought it was odd, but he didn't

question her. He simply continued to watch her.

As Minori averted her eyes, Ami silently watched Minori's face for a

while, too. It was as though she were waiting for Minori to say something.

On that day, dozens of girls and boys from all different classes

volunteered for the prep committee, which was more than enough. They

weren't just made up of students who liked festivals, either. There were

even people in other classes who had been told about Kawashima Ami

saying that she would participate. That might have accounted for the

explosive increase in volunteers.

***

"What~?" said Yasuko. "Ryuu-chan, you're studying for the end of

semester exams~? And Taiga-chan is, too~?"

"That's right. At the family restaurant we normally go to. There's a

salmon patty in the fry pan, so warm it up a little and eat that. Be careful not

to burn the red beans. There's daikon-and-tofu miso soup in the pot. And

then in the fridge, there's some mustard greens, so make sure you actually

put them on a plate before you eat them."

"Ahh, that sounds like a yummy menu~! But if you already made it,

you could eat before leaving."

"We've already promised to eat with everyone else."

"Then I'm all alone…"

From behind him, his mother made a lonely noise. He thrust his arm

into the down jacket as though he were shaking off his guilt. He had told

Yasuko a lie. In actuality, everyone else was going to meet after already

having eaten dinner. He didn't need to go to the family restaurant to eat.

Ryuuji, though, had a reason for wanting to get an early start no matter what

he had to do. Even if it cost him extra on their food budget. Even if he had

to lie to his mother, who made that money.

He stuck his studying supplies into a canvas tote bag and made sure

not to forget to stuff the patriarch's sheaves of notes into it. Then he

checked the inside of his wallet. He put his phone and his keys into the back

pocket of his jeans. He put on his scarf, which had made it through the day

without being stolen by Taiga, and wondered whether he needed a beanie.

"Chi. I'm so lonely, be-yotch."

He dropped everything. He turned around.

In their freezing, two-bedroom apartment (they had a heater, but

didn't turn it on because they had a heated kotatsu table), the silence fell

thick upon them. What was that just now?

The mother smiled at her son. "Ehee ☆." She lay down under the

kotatsu with the blanket covering her all the way to her shoulders. She was

practically melting into the floor.

"Ryuu-chan, you don't know? It's what the cool kids say these days~!

A new girl taught it to me, she told me it's how all the kids are talking these

days~! It's cray cute! It's so fleek, yo~! Ehee hee! ☆ And then, I'm keeping

up with the kids, so I'm super-duper amazing—so fleek!"

"Please, no! Stop! You're completely off!"

Ryuuji felt like holding his ears closed as he hysterically yelled. The

wound this inflicted on his heart ran deep. First, Yasuko was completely

wrong in all sorts of ways. How stupid was she? Next, for her to merrily

report to her son that "this is what the kids are saying these days" just

revealed how old she was. He had thought of her as young and even

immature, but she really was old, through and through. The heaviness of

this truth that had been laid on him! "As I held her and felt how light she

was / I was shocked / At my mother's age." He remembered the famous

tanka poem from one of his textbooks. It turned in his brain.

Without noticing the wound she'd given her son, Yasuko pouted as

she lay on a floor cushion under the kotatsu table.

"What~? I can't be off fleek. This is all so turnt. I can't be wrong,

yo."

Without makeup on and in Uniqlo lounge clothes, she breathed out

through her nose, "Hmph." Unfortunately, all her actions did was show that

her brains were like corrupted files. In times like this, even Ryuuji thanked

God that he had mostly inherited his father's genes. He was really glad he

hadn't inherited Yasuko's slippery-smooth brain. Ryuuji had never met him

and didn't know whether he was even alive or not, and had no way of

imagining what his head was like, but it was at least a small thing to know

that his brain must have had a few deeper folds and denser nerve bundles

than Yasuko's. Even imagining the type of chaos their household would

have been in if both of them had "smooth, on fleek, cray brains ☆" was

scary enough.

"Inko-chan, I'm leaving Yasuko to you. The only one I can trust with

anything now is you, Inko-chan," he told his parrot, who was standing in

the birdcage with her wings closed. When he did that, Inko-chan's haggard

eyes twitched beneath their lids. Froth dribbled and drooled from the edge

of her rotten-meat-colored beak. Schlurp… Inko-chan snuffled the foam

back into her mouth with her long tongue. Several long strands of that

cloudy stuff traversed the top and bottom of her beak.

"Impossible."

She just said that one word. Then she showed him the whites of her

eyes and stomped her feet, which were like shaking, torn twigs. She turned

her back to her owner and, with perfect timing, she defecated.

"Whoa! What rebellion!"

"Inko-chan is lonely, so she Zs all day, right, Inko-chan? ☆ Gyah!

☆"

Inko-chan had torn off a piece of the tip of Yasuko's finger, which

Yasuko had stuck in a crack of the cage. "Peh!" Next Inko-chan spat it out.

This was a terrible act of rebellion. Without thinking, Ryuuji's stern voice

rose like the hollow needle of Étretat.

"What's gotten into you, Inko-chan?! Where's my normal, obedient,

cute Inko-chan?!"

"Hah. ☆ I got it~! Ryuu-chaaan, it's because of that~!"

Yasuko pointed to a cooking book Ryuuji had checked out from the

library that was sitting face up. It said "Exceptional Christmas Hospitality"

on the cover, and accompanying the title was a giant, whole roasted bird.

Right next to it in big letters were the words, "Roast a magnificent, whole

bird!" In a fluster, Ryuuji jumped at the book and thrust it under the sitting

cushion to hide it.

"I'm sorry, Inko-chan. I was insensitive. I won't roast a bird in this

home. Never."

He sat properly in front of the birdcage and lowered his head. In the

same custom as her son, Yasuko also lowered her head, "Sowry. ☆" Inkochan's clouded eyes turned to the mother and son who owned her.

"…Really?"

"Really."

"Never ever?!"

"Never ever."

Inko-chan's shaking beak and bulging eyes gleamed as they reflected

the sharp eyes of her owners, which were emitting the prospect of imminent

danger. Her bald head was covered in goosebumps and open pores. Just

when it seemed like the rift between pet and owners was about to be

fixed…

"Ugh… This is not okay! Whatever this is, is like, super not okay!"

At some point, Taiga had come into the living room, and at the scene

of the mother and son prostrating themselves to the birdcage, voiced her

disapproval. They had agreed to meet in front of the condo, but since Ryuuji

hadn't come down, she probably decided to go up to him. She seemed like

she had a lot more that she wanted to say, but since she was in the middle of

being a "good girl," this was as far as she could go.

"Ohh, Taiga-chan! So you're going out to study~? Make sure your

studying is on fleek. ☆"

"Ya-Ya-chan?! You…y-y-you—"

Yasuko pouted and started to slowly wiggle her arms around. Are you

part of the Sankai Juku dance troupe or something? Ryuuji thought. No, no,

she definitely had to be doing the wave.

"I'm on fi-yah~?" she was happily muttering, but she was dancing

like water.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Holding her forehead with her hand, Taiga closed her eyes as though

enduring a bout of vertigo.

The sun set, and the air of the midwinter night cooled to freezing.

The one and only saving grace was that there was no wind. The people

walking the streets had their coat collars up and passed by each other

quickly with scowls on their faces.

"It's cold!"

"Yeah!"

Ryuuji and Taiga couldn't even have a decent conversation. They

walked for about ten minutes on the asphalt streets and under the light of

the streetlamps as though they were racing.

"Uwah~! It was so cold~!"

"Hah~! It's so warm~! Actually, it's hot. The heater is too strong in

here."

Practically flying in, they pushed open the glass door, which shone

brilliantly with light.

They were at their regular family restaurant by the national highway.

Ryuuji felt like he was about to choke on the heat when he took a step into

the building. He groaned as he pulled off his beanie. Taiga also pulled off

her colorful mohair cap. Her pale, long hair fluttered up and dropped down

onto the back of her coat. Together, they could finally breathe in the warm

air.

They told the waitress who came out to lead them in that they were

meeting with friends and secured four window seats. They looked around

the floor, and Ryuuji, trying not to be a nuisance asked, "Um, excuse me, is

Kushieda-san, the part-timer, working a shift today? Umm…we're her

friends from school."

"Kushieda is off today," The waitress easily replied. "Once you've

decided on your orders, please press the button to call me."

Ryuuji was paralyzed. Off today? He thought. She couldn't be. Taiga

also wrinkled her forehead, "Huh?"

"No way, that's weird. I thought she would definitely be here… She's

usually here Monday nights. Is she just taking today off?"

"I knew it, I should have double-checked… Ahh, damn it, I messed

up."

Taiga had invited Minori to study with everyone that day, but she had

turned Taiga down saying, "After I have club, I have work." She also said

she would borrow the notes when she needed them and told Ryuuji to do

what he wanted with them until then. Since those were the circumstances,

Ryuuji went out of his way to make a paltry attempt to come to the

restaurant early in order to talk to her, since she should have been working.

Instead, his attempt was entirely in vain.

"Something seems wrong. Let's ask where she's working right now."

Taiga twisted around and immediately pulled out her cell phone, but

Ryuuji reached across the table and stopped her.

"It's fine. We don't need to do that. We'd be bothering her if we call

when she's working, and she can't answer if you message her, anyway. We

can't do anything about it today, and it's my fault for not checking in with

her. This might be a divine message that we should stop slacking off and get

serious about studying. Look, let's eat already and just give up and start

studying. Here's the menu."

"Ngh…"

Taiga took off her coat and opened the menu he handed to her, but

she was thinking about something absentmindedly. When he flicked the

corner of the menu at her fingers, her eyes finally started going over the

text.

"I've decided. I'll have the winter vegetable beef curry. What about

you?"

"I'll have the kabocha squash doria."

They called the waitress with the button and put in their orders. Then

the two of them went to get their drinks. Afterwards, they went ahead and

opened up their textbooks, thinking they might as well start while they

waited on their food.

"Hey Ryuuji, I was thinking."

Taiga said that strangely, like her mouth was full of rocks. What? He

looked up as he sipped his coffee.

"Don't you think that Minori is avoiding you?"

Clunk. His cup missed the saucer and clattered noisily. He also got

some of the hot contents on his hands and pulled his elbow back hard into

the wall in surprise. He was paralyzed with so much pain he couldn't speak.

Ryuuji turned his face down in spite of himself.

"Ahh… I definitely shouldn't have said anything…"

"No! I want to hear what you have to say! Wh-why?!"

Taiga turned her eyes up and to the side as though exasperated. She

spoke in a low voice as she fidgeted with and twirled her long hair.

"Today, I saw you and Minori together for the first time in a while.

Before I was suspended, we would all talk regularly, but today you didn't

even have a conversation."

"We did talk, though. We chatted, we really did—more than once."

"All of that was as good as not talking. Actually, you never even got

to the point where you could have a regular conversation. Minorin wouldn't

even come over to you at all when I called her over. She was just playing

around the whole time and wouldn't actually talk to you. She wouldn't even

come when we invited her to study. She was supposed to be working, but

she's not here. …I wonder if she lied about work."

"Lied? You're reading too far into things."

Minori would never lie. She wasn't the type of person to lie. Ryuuji,

at least, believed that, but Taiga didn't seem to hold the same conviction.

"But you can't know. Minori isn't just 'an airheaded cute girl.' The

Minorin you see is a fantasy version of her, but even you know that she's

not just a pure, bright, funny girl like she looks like. Sometimes that's the

good part about Minorin…"

"That's…"

That was true. After Taiga had said it, Ryuuji couldn't help but nod.

He wouldn't go as far as to agree that he fantasized about Minori, but for

example, during their summer trip and at other points, Minori had pulled

one over their heads for sure.

"Yeah, I guess she is."

"And on top of that, she said she wouldn't join the prep committee

for the Christmas Eve party. She said she wasn't planning on going. If she

were acting normal, that'd be unbelievable for Minorin."

"Well…Kushieda said that it was because she was down from that

match she had, right? I don't believe that was a lie. That's right—Kushieda

must be acting weird because she's feeling down from the game."

That was it—she wasn't actually avoiding him. In order to keep Taiga

from saying anything more, which she seemed like she was about to, Ryuuji

raised his voice a bit.

"The issue is how we're going to get her excited and get her to go.

This is the time for angel Taiga-sama to come out and show her stuff, isn't

it? You said you'd go naked, didn't you?"

"Huh? Naked? I didn't say anything like that. What are you playing

at with that?"

Even though she didn't abuse him with her words, the look she

showered him with was more than cold enough, and Ryuuji paused in spite

of himself. At that point, she sighed loudly and purposefully. Taiga

probably wanted to click her tongue at him, but she endured and sipped her

cocoa.

"Well, of course, I know that. Angel Taiga is love's envoy.

Christmas's heaven-sent child. The very image of a good girl. Santa is

watching. He's checking his list. So, I'll do what it takes to get Minorin to

the party on Christmas Eve. I'm planning on supporting you for real, like

Cupid, so that your confession to her goes well."

In order to show him just how "for real" she was, she closed one eye

and mimed an arrow and bow, took aim, and pretended to hit Ryuuji's heart.

He felt like there wasn't really much point to aiming at his heart, but really

the problem wasn't with that.

"C-c-c-con-confess? I don't even know if I can do that…"

"You have to do it. It's Christmas Eve. It's the night before sacred

Christmas, after all."

She easily slipped in an assertion, but on her second sigh, good girl

Taiga's face clouded.

"But something's definitely off. That's what I think. I don't know

how to support you anymore. You and Minorin are different from before.

Before, you were more—"

Sorry for keeping you waiting. At the sound of the server's voice,

Taiga cut off. The server set their meals in front of them and slipped the bill

into its holder. They were silent for a while. The server left, and Ryuuji

handed a spoon to Taiga.

"So? What were you saying about us?"

"Ahh, it's fine. I don't even know what I think about it. There's no

way you would know either. Our food will get cold, so anyway, let's eat.

I'm digging in. …Hot hot hot! Ahh!"

Taiga immediately burned herself on the first bite and got white sauce

dribbles on several pages of her still-open textbook.

"Ahhh! Seriously, I thought you'd do that! You're a klutz, after all.

Wipe it, here, make sure you get all of it!"

"I did, this is fine. Ahh, I got an oil stain on it… Ah well. This will

make it easier to tell what parts are on the test. I just need to look for the

stains."

What are you saying? he thought exasperatedly as he took the

textbook from her and tried to wipe away a little more at the food Taiga had

spilled and given up on.

"There they are! Takasu and Tiger, sorry for making you wait!

Everyone's here."

"Sorry for the wait~! Oh, that looks good, you're eating something! It

looks really yummy, maybe I should get something, too."

They raised their faces at Noto and Haruta's voices. "Yo." Ryuuji was

slightly surprised to find two others behind them. It seemed Taiga was also

slightly shaken and had frozen up with her spoon still in her mouth.

"Yo! Today sure is cold! I think I might switch to a down coat soon."

"That's right, Maruo, I told you before that down is the warmest. You

can get them pretty cheap, too. Oh, look, Takasu-kun is wearing down, too."

Next to Kitamura, who was wearing a gray duffle coat like a typical

test-taker, Maya stuck close by him in a short down coat. Even though it

was the middle of the winter, she had the guts to bare her knees in a

miniskirt. She was also wearing tall boots and had a fluffy bag. They could

all tell a group of guys still in their school uniforms who were sitting nearby

were watching her. Her long and straight silky hair was slightly dark and

freshly dyed. Her light makeup, which consisted of just mascara and lip

gloss, suited her.

The looks she got were different from when Ami appeared. "It's a

celebrity…uwah!" It was different from the look whenever Taiga came on

the scene, too. "That's a beautiful girl…whoa!" She was rawer and closer

to home. If something were to happen, she might even get hit on. The stir

around them even forced its way to Ryuuji's ears. It wasn't as though he

didn't feel a slight sense of superiority over the guys watching them just

because he had been waiting for her.

"Kihara. What are you doing here? This is rare."

"I want to copy the patriarch's notes, too. And I can't get into the

mood to study on my own. Is it okay if I join you?"

"Well, of course… Where are Kawashima and Kashii today?"

"Oh, it looks like they can't come. Right, is it okay if I give Amichan and Nanako copies, too?"

"I don't really mind, but…" He would understand Ami coming, but

he couldn't have imagined Maya coming solo without the troupe.

"Okay, let's hurry and sit," Maya said as she grabbed Kitamura's coat

sleeve. There were wrinkles on Taiga's forehead, and the spoon was still in

her mouth. It seemed like she might not have known what to do since she

wasn't dealing with Ami, or she might have had her hands tied because of

her good girl limitations. Taiga remained speechless as she looked up at

Kitamura and Maya, who was clinging to him.

"All right, let's all sit down! Of course, this is too cramped for six

people."

Noto was strangely brisk. "We'll take this, too." He put his own bag

in a two-seater partitioned by the walkway to claim it. Then…

"Okay, okay, Tiger, could you stand for a bit?! Haruta, get in the back

there! Kihara, sit next to Takasu, after you, after you. Now, I'll take the seat

next to Haruta. Tiger, over here, over here, bring your doria. This seat.

Here, Kitamura, take that seat please. You can take my stuff off, thanks.

Okay, now we're good."

Before they realized it, Kitamura and Taiga were conveniently facing

each other at the two-seater table. The other four were slightly separated

from them.

"H-huh? W-wait a second?! I want to sit over there, too! No, that,

uhhh, oh I know, I'll sit with Tiger so the girls are together! Right, right

Tiger? Let's do that!"

Maya was strangely flustered as she staggered to stand up, but Taiga

wasn't even given the time to answer. Haruta heartily picked at his nose.

"Shaddup." He stuck his finger right up to Maya.

"Uwah, gross!"

"Don't throw a fit. Do you really hate sitting next to Taka-chan that

much? I feel so bad for Taka-chan. That's cold, Kihara. It's brutal, isn't it,

Taka-chan?"

This time he turned his dirty finger at Ryuuji. Maya had a somewhat

desperate expression on her face as she shook her head.

"What?! No, no, that's not what this is! That's not it, but—"

"Then let's order! We just need to add four fountain drinks, right?!"

With strange and very efficient methods, Noto shut Maya down. He

quickly pressed the button and called the waitress to finish placing the

order. Maya had lost her chance to speak, but she glared at Noto's face as

though wanting to say something. Noto ignored her. "Oh, I've got

fingerprints on these," he said, taking off his glasses and diligently rubbing

his lenses with a napkin.

What's with this mood—Ryuuji swallowed.

"Okay, now is drink time before we start! We'd be in the way if we

all went at once, so I'll go up and get everyone's drinks. Do you have

requests? If you don't, I'm getting you all cokes!"

The one who had stood up, not caring about anything else and going

at his own pace was Kitamura. With the air of "cokes-for-everyone" kind of

guys, Noto, Haruta, and Ryuuji sent him off with automatic applause and

shouts of, "Yeah!"

"Ah, uh, ah, I want something w-w-warm…no, actually! I'll go, too!"

Taiga stood from her seat and went after Kitamura with her face still

flushed red. Noto and Haruta high-fived. "Yo!" Ryuuji was wide-eyed.

Maya seemed sullen. Kitamura and Taiga handed each other cups in front of

the fountain drink machine, filled them with ice, called over the waitress

when they couldn't find more cups, dropped the ice (Taiga), and picked it

up (Kitamura), dropped the tongs (Taiga), picked them up (Kitamura), and

to the unknowing eye, seemed like great partners.

Noto and Haruta appeared smug as they grinned and stared at the

two.

"So…" said Ryuuji. "What's your deal?"

"Huh? What? What could you possibly be talking about?"

"Don't act dumb!"

Ryuuji's evil eyes locked with Noto's small otter eyes through his

glasses. No matter how thick he was, this was obvious.

"Why are you being weird and trying to put Kitamura and Taiga

together like that?"

Right. Noto had been acting weird ever since that morning. He had

been spurring Taiga and Kitamura on all day in an obvious way that was

hard to call casual. It wasn't as though the likes of an otter could stand up to

Ryuuji's sharp eyes, which blazed and flared with black flames that

belonged to the darkness. Noto easily surrendered and stuck out his tongue.

If anyone was wondering, he didn't look cute in the slightest when he did.

"You figured it out. Well, that's fine. We wanted you to help out, too,

anyway. I think that Kitamura and Tiger would make a great couple."

"Oh, I think so, too!"

Right! Grossly putting their hands together, Noto and Haruta nodded

together. Ryuuji stopped moving.

"Look, Kitamura got rejected by the patriarch, so he's hurting right

now. He's trying his best as president, but he's definitely hurting. We want

him to hurry up and get better. Don't you think the wonder drug to cure him

is new love? And this is just between us…"

Noto turned stealthily to the fountain drinks. Taiga and Kitamura

didn't seem like they were coming back anytime soon. Once he confirmed

that, he lowered his voice.

"Tiger seems like she likes Kitamura. This is for real—like really for

real. I know you probably never realized, being you, Takasu."

It wasn't on purpose, Ryuuji realized, when he looked back at Noto,

that idiot with his half-open mouth and idiotic face. Noto assumed Ryuuji

had agreed and nodded to himself.

"Ahh, you must really be surprised. I didn't expect it either. Who

knew that Tiger thinks like a girl, too. And you're the one who's been

closest to Tiger and looking after her, so it's natural to be in shock."

"…"

He was still speechless. He couldn't get out a word at all. Not a single

word.

The words that caught in his throat weren't How did you find out, or I

already knew that, or anything like that. They were words he didn't expect

like:

What do you guys know?

Don't stick your nose into this when you don't know anything.

Leave it alone.

Or something like that.

That feeling rose up quietly in him like pale anger. It robbed Ryuuji's

expression from his face. It was like he wanted to monopolize the situation,

like he felt a sense of superiority over them. The emotions invaded him in

ways that he couldn't quite pinpoint.

Then he thought, It's not like that. No, no.

He finally realized how strange his thoughts were. It was like that,

and he couldn't refute it. Taiga liked Kitamura. That was definitely true.

The biggest problem that Ryuuji and Taiga had faced for a while now was

precisely that—it was Kitamura. Weren't they completely right?

But, why was it that right now, when an objective truth had been

brought to the light and said aloud, he was trying to deny and even reject it?

He didn't understand. He didn't understand anything anymore.

"Here, sorry for the wait! Four cokes!"

Ryuuji snapped his face up from the tray that came down in front of

him. Kitamura, who was garbed in Uniqlo-casual clothes from top to

bottom like he normally was, handed out the drinks on the tray to the four

of them.

"First, how about we all try our hand at math? If anyone doesn't

understand anything, everyone can look over the president's notes and think

it over."

"Sure, but there's no way that the greatest teacher ever wouldn't have

understood something? It's not like I don't get anything, though…"

At Haruta's voice, Kitamura smiled and shook his head.

"There's a lot of things, actually. Then we'll do that later."

He turned around and headed back to his table with Taiga. Even

seeing Taiga from the margins, she looked nervous. She dropped her spoon

as she was trying to clean up her things and dropped her pencil case trying

to pick it up. Then, while trying to pick her pencil case up, she dropped her

textbook, and in the end, she also dropped her notebook. As she did that,

her face became a shade pinker each time. Are you okay? Kitamura seemed

to ask as he helped her gather her things. She returned a stiff smile that said,

I'm okay. Kitamura, who was looking back at her, kindly smiled back.

There was no time for Ryuuji to help as their four hands skillfully picked up

the fallen items.

"See," said Noto. "They do look pretty great together. Well, I'm

going to the restroom really quick before we start studying."

"Oh, I'll go, too."

Noto and Haruta stood from their seats, but Ryuuji still couldn't

move. It was a very strange feeling. Noto had looked at him as though he

had been clueless and now, suddenly, Taiga and Kitamura who were sitting

slightly away from them almost started to seem like strangers. I see, he

thought. I see, if I think of them as strangers, Taiga and Kitamura really do

look much, much better together than I thought. For real.

"T-Takasu-kun! Hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey!"

"Uh, right…"

From beside him, Maya dug her elbow into him. He blinked. Low

enough that only Ryuuji could hear, she scowled as she impatiently

whispered, "Takasu-kun, what do you think about that?! You don't agree

with them, do you?! You don't think they'd work out well, right? You don't

think that they should date, right?!"

"Uh…well…that's…actually, I think it's really…sudden…"

"I knew it!" Maya nodded as though she were aiming to attack while

he mumbled.

"Right, you don't think so, either! It's been going around the whole

class, but that can't be right!"

"Wait a sec, what's been going around the whole class…"

"There'd be nothing good about it for you if Maruo and Tiger got

together, right?! Everyone says you hang around Tiger because you're just

super nice and like taking care of people. They say there's nothing more to

it, but, really, you must like Tiger, right?!"

"Huh?! Uh, uh wai…huh?!"

"I'm rooting for you, Takasu-kun! I really am! So you can't give up!"

She fist-pumped enthusiastically and snuck a glance at the table

where Taiga and Kitamura sat. No matter what he denied, or how he did it,

he probably wouldn't be able to get through to her. He knew that Kitamura

had been popular among the girls for a while, so he wasn't surprised at the

passionate look Maya turned to him. It was the other part that surprised

him. Wait a second, he wanted to say.

What in the world had happened while he hadn't been looking? Who

had figured it out, how much did they know, and what were they trying to

do? What was he supposed to do? For a while his mind was just a mess. He

was a mad cray mess and fleek-wood mac. A-B-C-yotch. The words were

just gibberish. He didn't get what it all meant.

Taiga and Kitamura had the doria plate taken away and were

amicably opening the math book, but they weren't looking at it. They were

saying something to each other. He could hear fragments about Christmas

Eve and the party, the prep committee, the student council…things like that.

Noto and Haruta returned and started opening their textbooks at that table,

too.

"We should just copy the patriarch's notes at a convenience store on

the way home."

"Actually, what if we change the order of things and copy them

now?"

"The restaurant won't like that, obviously."

He pretended to join in on the conversation by nodding and shaking

his head, but Ryuuji's stomach wouldn't settle. He couldn't calm down. His

eyes wandered, prowled about, and since he didn't know where to look, he

was forced to make them go from right to left. When he looked straight

ahead, he thought, Oh no, the curry's completely cold. With everything

going on, he had forgotten to eat it. Right, he needed to hurry and clean it

off his plate first.

He grasped the spoon loaded with rice and curry and stuffed it in his

mouth.

"A stool test! Ryuuji, a stool test! They say the whole prep committee

has to do a stool test!"

Bleh! He almost spat out all the curry. Right before he did, he

desperately puckered his lips and swallowed the brown stuff down his

throat.

"Y-you…did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

"Huh? What?"

Behind Taiga, who was tilting her head in curiosity, Kitamura nodded

gravely.

"We really do have to do stool tests. We have to work with food, so

everyone has to do one."

"Heey~! Why, you! You've got to have some delicacy! We've got

someone over here eating poo, so don't talk about curry! Oh, I mean the

opposite! We've got someone over here eating curry, so don't talk about

poo! Look, Taka-chan is eating po…I mean curry!"

Kind, sweet Haruta hit him when he was already down. To Ryuuji's

sensitive eyes, the curry now looked like something entirely else. He super

cray didn't want to eat it.