Chapter 2

The next shock came to them one refreshing morning soon after the

holidays ended.

The time was just past eight o'clock in the morning.

The place was their homeroom. Class had started early, since their

teacher came in much earlier than usual.

"Whoa…"

The mouth of hell had broken open.

That was probably how you'd describe this situation. Ryuuji covered

his mouth to keep from shouting. What his eyes were telling couldn't be

real. He just couldn't believe it—no—he didn't want to believe it. But,

somehow, this was no dream.

He turned around and quickly mouthed to Kitamura—you didn't tell

me—but Kitamura's expression was laidback. He raised his hand and threw

out a carefree "Yo."

Anyway, it was a done deal. You couldn't put something like this

back in the box.

Ryuuji felt halfway frozen. The deadly look in his eyes had gone into

Trans-Am mode, tripling in intensity. All he could do was brace himself for

whatever bubbled up from hell's wide-open maw.

Hell itself sauntered up to the teacher's podium on skinny legs,

beautiful hair swaying.

The demon faced the front of the room, faintly embarrassed. Lit by

gentle morning sun, her smile seemed to melt amid the beams of dazzling

light. Finally, she slowly raised her eyes.

"I'm a new transfer student starting at this school today. My name is

Kawashima Ami. Nice to meet you!"

Her face was clear, pure, and pleasant. A full-blown mask.

Impossible.

"…No way… how could it come to this…?"

No one noticed his groan. The classroom had left Ryuuji in the lurch.

He turned ghost-white, ignored by everyone.

"W-wait, that girl—wasn't she in a magazine?!"

"For real?! Which one was it?! Man, she's so cute!"

No way. No way! It can't be true, this is amazing, just amazing…!

The ladies of the class were having a collective fangirl moment. The boys,

on the other hand, were acting suspiciously timid. Strangely quiet.

Enraptured, they looked up at the pure angel on the teacher's podium with

feverish eyes. Sitting diagonally ahead of Ryuuji was Noto Hisamitsu, who

slowly turned his black-framed, bespectacled face towards him. In a happy,

heartfelt whisper, he hissed out:

"Jackpot!"

Fist pump.

"…Uhhh…yeaaaah…" Ryuuji managed an uncertain nod, but instead

of making a fist, he choked down a bitter swallow.

Ami was beautiful at the podium. Her eggshell skin was smoother

still than the day before, her radiant aura all the brighter. Her gem-like eyes

were large. Her lips bore an unceasing smile as she looked down on the

class, head cocked to one side. She seemed so childish, surely because of

her small chin, but her figure was of golden proportions. Ami was out of

this world: a devastatingly beautiful girl.

Ryuuji's headache was pretty devastating, too.

He gently turned to look at a seat nearly in the center of the

classroom. Sitting there was the person who was perhaps most devastated

of all. And her name was Taiga.

He saw her.

"…Whoa…!"

And then he immediately looked away. That was a face he never

should have seen.

Taiga's eyebrows were raised so high they'd practically gone vertical.

Her eyes oozed a seething flow of molten lava. Her rose-colored lips

trembled, contorting into a sinister curl. Taiga was a lit fuse, just this side of

exploding with rage—she'd lost patience with reality itself. Her cheeks

were swollen, her teeth grit; she looked like she was gnawing on a bomb.

Just then, her mere gaze could probably have struck a weaker man dead.

That was when Ami, busy looking down on the class, became aware

of Taiga's very real bloodlust. For a moment, her eyebrows raised slightly

in surprise. But just as one might expect, she handled it like a pro.

"Everyone! Please call me Ami!"

Ami hid it perfectly. No one could have guessed she'd seen Taiga;

she scrunched her eyes as she gave her cutest smile. But even that was

enough to utterly terrify Ryuuji. Are all girls like this? A cold, heavy chill

ran through his body. His hands automatically closed the buttons of his

open jacket.

"Okay, everyone! Please get along with your new classmate! Now

let's have a round of applause!"

The familiar, oddly cheerful shout of their unmarried homeroom

teacher, Koigakubo Yuri—29 years old—rang out during the scattered

clapping. She grasped Ami's shoulders, entirely too familiar. "They're all

good kids. You'll fit right in!" She squeezed her shoulders again, then held

up a clenched, encouraging fist.

…It seemed like something had totally altered her personality over

the break. Before, she was always swathed head to toe in pretty, pink,

popular fashion pieces, but now she wore a casual tracksuit and parka…

"Here's to a brand-new start for our second-years in class C!" She

gave them all a big thumbs-up.

"…Tsk." Taiga clicked her tongue, exuding an oppressive and sullen

aura as she glared up at her teacher.

Today, the spinster was undeterred. "Let's not click our tongues,

now! Let's smile and enjoy our day to the fullest!"

"…Tsk."

"After all, we've added a new person like Kawashima-san to our

rolls, so today—"

"…Tsk."

Nrrrnnggh!—it seemed that was the only sound the poor spinster

could get out, suddenly clutching at the top of her head. Then she twirled on

the spot, dejectedly flopped her arms onto her desk, and let her head conk

against its surface.

"Y-Yuri-sensei…?"

"Uh, is she okay…?"

As expected, the classroom was enveloped in a hushed silence. Ami

stood staring at the spinster's side, stock-still.

Eventually, the bachelorette raised her face a good ten seconds later.

While slightly trembling, still half looking down, she strangled out a

regretful personal announcement.

"Y-your teacher, during this last break, had her last shot…or what

seemed like her last shot, anyway…and missed…! So—so I have to do my

best! I have to do my job as best I can, but, but…it's fine. It's fine if no one

understands. B-because I think you will all understand in about ten years'

time…! Kitamura-kun, I'll let you take it from here."

"You got it."

Immediately accepting the appointment, Kitamura stood straight up.

He looked around the class as he spoke. "Okay everyone, please listen for a

minute. You all might want to know that Ami is actually my childhood

friend! I never imagined she would transfer into the same class as me, but,

well—please try and get along with her. And that about covers it for

morning homeroom! Stand! Bow!"

I'm so done with this. The unmarried woman's groan of sorrow was

absorbed by the cacophony that practically exploded through the classroom.

***

"K-Kawashima-san, would you like me to carry that for you?"

"No, I've got it!"

"Please let me help!"

"No, no, I'll do it! I can't just sit around and leave it to all of you!"

As Ami tried to carry desks and chairs into the classroom, a sudden

crowd of boys surrounded her. The shy ones watched jealously from afar. It

seemed everyone wanted to approach her, but being inside the crowd or

outside of it was simply a difference in bravery.

"It's okay, really! I'm fine! I can handle something like this no

problem. I'm actually pretty strong!" Without relying on anyone else, Ami

heaved the desk up with her thin arms to demonstrate.

"Ah, that's dangerous!"

"Kawashima-san, let us take care of it!"

"It's okay, I'm fine!" Unaided, she walked between the guys who

wanted to lend her a hand. "…See! Right? This is super light!"

She put the desk and chair down at the indicated spot and cheerfully

beamed her angel's smile. Just like that, the boys lost their pretext to talk to

her.

"If you ever need anything, you can count on us!" the boys said

firmly before they reluctantly stepped away—only to be immediately

replaced by a wave of girls.

"Wow, Kawashima-san, you moved that all by yourself? You should

have asked the boys to help."

"Yeah, that's right, and they seem like they're just desperate to talk to

you, Kawashima-san. They definitely would have been happy just to have

the chance."

Ami deployed a smile even brighter than the one she'd given the

boys, waving her hand in front of her face, as if the whole thing were just

silly. "I'm okay, really! This thing's light as can be. And to be honest…

though this is just between us… I'm the type that gets pretty nervous

talking to boys."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. More importantly, thanks for coming over to say hello! This is

actually the first time any girl in my new class has come to talk to me—it

makes me super happy! You can all call me by my first name. Ami!" After

those candid words, she sat right down into her chair. But then…

"Yow!"

…She slammed her shin against the foot of the desk. Ami scrunched

her face up in comically overwrought pain.

"Aww, jeez! This is so uncool! Here I was thinking that since I had a

fresh start, I could pull off looking funny and clever." Casually, she added,

"I guess I only got the funny part down!"

The other girls burst out into boisterous laughter. "Kawashima-san…

or wait, Ami-chan…are you pretty much, like, a klutz?"

"I guess you're a little oblivious, Ami-chan! Aww, why are you

messing up a face that cute with an expression that funny?"

"Heyyy, don't say it's funny! I was supposed to be clever, okay?"

Ahaha! Ahahaha! And on they laughed.

Ryuuji, off in his window seat, rested his chin in his hands. He

watched in silence as the excited group surrounding Ami enjoyed

themselves. It was a rare moment; his eyes were so empty that they lacked

their trademark glint. I guess she even puts on an act for this kind of thing.

At this rate, it kinda feels like I might wind up distrusting girls in general.

No sooner did he think that than he met Ami's eyes. Ami's mouth

half-opened, and she blinked in surprise. It seemed she had finally realized

that not just Taiga, but also Ryuuji was in her class. She pointed at Ryuuji

with her thin finger.

"Whaaa, it can't be! Takasu-kun, that's you, right?"

"…"

It was automatic.

Automatically, he pretended not to hear, and averted his face. It was

the kind of thing you'd do if you saw something unpleasant out on the

street. Although he had done it on the spur of the moment, and it probably

seemed extremely mean…he didn't have the courage to look back at Ami.

Ryuuji just continued to seemingly ignore her on purpose. All he could do

was endure the boisterous voices of the girls.

"Ami-chan, you know Takasu Ryuuji?! How?!"

"Uhh, yesterday, Yuusaku introduced me when we happened to run

into him at a restaurant, but…it looks like he doesn't like me for some

reason? It wasn't my imagination, was it? Just now, when he turned

around…"

Although she seemed to be trying to keep it at a quiet whisper, Ami's

voice was instead pitched perfectly to reach Ryuuji's ears. She very well

might have intended for him to hear her. This was Ami, so she would

probably do something like that… maybe.

"Aww! Takasu is kind of an antisocial guy. I don't think he hates you.

He's probably just being shy!"

"That's right! Until we were in the same class as him, we all thought

he had to be a terrible delinquent just because of his scary face. We

wouldn't even go near him!"

…Sorry for being antisocial. Ryuuji stared motionlessly out the

window, but his heart was secretly wounded.

"Isn't Takasu-kun a troublemaker, though?"

"It doesn't seem like it, even if the first-years and kids in the other

classes are still scared of him. So, Ami-chan, you don't have to worry about

him; you'll be fine!"

"That's right, that's right!"

"Oh…you think so, hmm…?"

Hmm… Then he felt a gaze on the back of his neck. It felt like it was

somehow appraising him. He rubbed his neck, which was suddenly afflicted

with an intolerable itch. For an instant, he couldn't even pretend to not be

listening. He twisted his ticklish back and, against his better judgement,

turned to look at Ami.

And then…Ami showed him a very faint smile. Ryuuji felt so shaken

that his eyes gleamed like the edge of a knife.

He was sure he only locked eyes with Ami for a moment, but her

eyes seemed so teary they were about to overflow.

She immediately turned back to the ring of girls and gave them a

smile…but what had been that gaze filled with unspeakable distress? It was

practically burned into his retinas; he couldn't erase it from his memory.

She looked at Ryuuji without anger or resentment, but instead an anxious

expression that was so fleeting, it almost seemed translucent. Even within

that cheerful ring of people, her eyes cast a quiet light, like a reflection off a

tranquil body of water. It was almost as though they were wet with secret

tears. Ryuuji felt as though her soundless voice were delivered directly to

his ears, "I wonder why you're being so cold to me…?"

"…N-no, that wasn't what I meant…it wasn't!"

Ryuuji shook his head back and forth. He tried to erase that vivid

image from his memory. That wasn't it, that wasn't what it was—of course

it wasn't.

What was beautiful was terrifying. Even though he had seen her true

nature right before his very eyes just the other day, he was still at risk of

mistaking Ami for an innocent beauty.

Ryuuji came back to himself, stood up, and headed to Kitamura's

seat. If this continued, he might start thinking that what had happened the

day before had just been a dream. What he needed now was a reality check

from another witness.

"Hey, Kitamura… that one's really something, all right." While

calling out to Kitamura, Ryuuji lightly jerked his chin towards the group of

girls. Kitamura also took a glance at the commotion surrounding Ami and

the others, and sighed as he gave a strained smile.

"Yeah. She really knows the tricks to manipulating people's hearts."

"…So why didn't you tell us she was transferring in yesterday?"

"Huh? I didn't tell you?"

"Don't play dumb. Seeing her here was a major shock, for real."

Ryuuji sat on Kitamura's desk, keeping his voice low as he told off his

friend. The gaze he aimed at Kitamura held a vast and terrible power, but,

of course, Kitamura knew that wasn't on purpose.

He scratched his head lightly and laughed. "No, sorry. How should I

put this… I wanted people to get a chance to see Ami's real personality.

That was why I didn't want to tell Ami that you and Taiga were in the same

school as her yesterday. If I had told her, I knew Ami would stay totally in

character and try to fool the both of you."

"…You say that like she wasn't totally in character."

"She showed her true self to Taiga, didn't she? And because of that,

you saw it, too."

"So, what, are you trying to blow her cover? If people saw her true

self, they'd just hate her, wouldn't they?"

"I'm not going to just go ahead and tell them. I don't have the right to

do that. But I still think it would be good if they found out. It would be

better for Ami than living a lie. And if people end up hating her, I think

she'd accept it."

"…I don't understand what you mean when you say she'd accept it."

"You don't? Hmm, let me try putting it more simply…"

He took off his glasses. As he cleaned them with a cloth, he looked

straight up into Ryuuji's face with his surprisingly large eyes. "I don't hate

Ami's true self. I'm actually rather fond of it—and I don't want her to have

to lie anymore. I think she should just be who she is. These days, when she

tries to pass off her act on me, I get a little disappointed, too… When she

started modeling, she suddenly began using that goody-two-shoes act on

everybody, even me. Anyway, I think it would be great if there were more

people who liked the real Ami. That's all."

Kitamura's righteous eyes burned with idealistic fire as he looked at

Ryuuji. For some reason, Ryuuji couldn't manage to answer out loud. But

there was just one thing he wanted to say.

Definitely not gonna happen. That was all there was to it.

***

The drink vending machines could only be used at lunch break, but

that was fine, as long as you weren't caught by a fussy teacher. The secondyear classroom was especially close to the second floor of the detached

building where the vending machines were located, so there was never any

shortage of people breaking the rules to use them.

When Ryuuji took some change and left the classroom after thirdperiod math class, his goal was that forbidden hydration. He also had roomtemperature tea he brought from home, but for some reason, the day had

been stressful. If he didn't treat himself to at least this much of a break, he

wouldn't be able to handle it.

He quickly walked through the deserted hallway and stopped at the

landing of the detached building in front of the three side-by-side vending

machines. Do I want canned black coffee or something carbonated? Then,

as he stingily counted his change and came to a decision, it happened.

"Me first!"

A quick white hand darted out from under Ryuuji's armpit, blocked

his palm, and put money into the coin slot. At the sudden interruption, he

turned in surprise.

"…Oh…"

And then he was even more surprised.

"Heh heh, to think there were vending machines in a place like this!"

The innocent smile of an angel blossomed near him.

The one so sweetly smiling up at him was the root of all his stress—

Ami. She tilted her head and made her eyes sparkle. "Takasu-kun, I wonder

what you were going to buy. I'll try guessing. Hmmm…it's this one, right?"

Of all the various items in the display, she pointed with her cherryblossom-pink fingertip at the energy drink with the most gaudy illustration.

"Huh?! …Well…um…I was thinking maybe a coffee." He was so

discombobulated that his voice went up half an awkward octave.

Ami just nodded once. "Right." She prodded the coffee button. Then,

after the can noisily rolled out, she turned to Ryuuji and held it out to him.

"Here. This is on me. I saw you leave the classroom and ran out to follow

you."

"Huh? Wh-why?" He didn't have a clue what was going on. He froze

in place, and Ami simply placed the can in his hand.

Not answering, she once again put coins in the slot. "I wonder what I

should get… maybe this?" Hesitating a bit, she pushed the button for

unsweetened tea.

He came back to himself at the sound of the can dropping, but it was

too late. "Oh, wait a second! Use this, buy it with this!" Frantically, he tried

to give her his coins, but Ami had long since started getting back her

change.

Then she raised her head. "I already bought it." She stuck out her

pale tongue and made a mischievous expression, raising her eyebrows.

"No, that's not okay. I can't let you do that! Take this money for the

coffee."

"No, no, it is too okay! Take it as an apology for yesterday."

"An apology…?"

"Hey, how about we drink here?" No sooner did she speak the words

than she quickly opened the can's pull top. Without waiting for Ryuuji's

reply, she brought the prohibited drink to her lips. Now that she had done

that, he couldn't just leave the girl, not on the first day after she'd

transferred.

"…Buying a drink outside of lunch break is against school rules."

"Is that right? But look who's talking. You were the one who came

out here to buy one."

"…That's true. Thanks… cheers."

Ryuuji couldn't do anything but also start drinking his coffee. While

the two of them drank, the corridor returned to silence. The only sound was

the gloomy hum of the vending machine's motor.

Ryuuji looked at Ami out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't speak

first without revealing his awkwardness. He just didn't know what to talk

about. And in times like this, another student or a stern instructor never

appeared to save him.

"Hmm… it's cold. Refreshing—good stuff!"

Ami ended up starting the conversation, wiping her mouth with the

tips of her fingers. She leaned against the vending machines, close beside

Ryuuji.

"You know, I was really surprised to find out that you were in my

class. And Aisaka-san is here, too… For some reason, Yuusaku didn't so

much as say a word about that yesterday." Right? She smiled at him.

But all Ryuuji could do was nod ambiguously back at her, expression

frozen. Though of course his eyes ran wild. Regardless of Ami's true nature,

being alone together with an incredibly pretty girl he barely knew had by

itself stolen away his ability to move.

But, Ami seemed to take that a certain way. "…Hey, Takasu-kun."

She shifted from beside Ryuuji to look straight into his face. Her softly lit

eyes rose up. She faintly fluttered her eyelashes and whispered, "…I

wonder… did Aisaka-san maybe tell you anything the other day…? I can't

control what she might have to say about me, of course…but I want you to

forget about yesterday. That…goes for Aisaka-san, too."

"Y-yesterday? What do you mean?"

Ryuuji took a desperate step back, too nervous to face her straight on.

He pushed his back into the vending machine, as though trying to forcefully

sink into it.

Ami ruined all that effort with a simple half-step forward. She wasn't

afraid of him and his terrifying eyes at all. And what she meant by

"yesterday" was probably the trilogy of the restaurant, the slap, and the

great bawling that followed.

"Takasu-kun… did you hear from Aisaka-san what happened?"

Ami's searching eyes grew moist, like a certain Japanese

commercial's doe-eyed Chihuahua. Suddenly, she looked close to tears.

Ryuuji's mind went blank as he did his best to think of a reply. Eyes

averted, he looked as far away as possible from Ami's sad, beautiful visage.

"N-no…I haven't heard anything," he muttered, as seriously as he could

manage. He couldn't let himself be fooled! Even though she makes you

want to reach out to her, the fragile angel in front of you is a fraud. Trying

to remember that, he also reminded himself that his reply wasn't a lie. He

had seen everything with his own eyes, so he hadn't actually heard anything

from Taiga.

"…Really? I thought she might have told you something, but…I

guess I was wrong. In that case, I'll tell you myself… everything that

happened yesterday was my fault. Aisaka-san isn't at fault at all."

Still resembling that teary Chihuahua, Ami gently closed her eyes.

"I think that…probably, because I'm a little oblivious, I made

Aisaka-san annoyed… When I was talking with Aisaka-san, she suddenly

got super emotional, and I didn't really understand it, but she started saying

stuff like that I was disrespectful and getting carried away…and I went into

a panic. I was like, Huh? Huh? What happened? Like that was all I was

thinking…and then…"

The nerve of this girl! I can't believe she'd go this far twisting the

story around to make herself look good, and be able to tell it all with an

expression like this! He remembered the chill that had come over him the

day before, but for the most part Ryuuji just felt astonished. So astonished

that he accidentally sighed.

"So! Aisaka-san isn't at fault!" Ami interrupted him, shaking her

head back and forth. She dialed up the waterworks to eleven. "If I…I… If I

had just…been a more put-together person… That's why I want you to

forget it. That…actually…really…happens a lot… other girls suddenly say

weird things like that to me…a lot. So! I don't mind it at all, not in the

slightest! It's fine! I'll do better!"

Because I'm the victim! That's what Ami was telling him—appealing

to him with her whole being. And just then, the school bell started ringing.

Ryuuji had been so stupefied by Ami's performance that he felt quite

literally saved by the bell.

"Th-there's the bell. We have to go back to class… go on, drink up. I

totally get everything you were trying to say."

Yeah, I understood, all right. Basically, the reason Ami had come to

this place was to absolve herself of blame, and to tell him to keep his mouth

shut.

As though swallowing his feelings of doubt, Ryuuji chugged his

coffee in one gulp.

Ami smiled in what looked like complete satisfaction—and then her

eyes momentarily narrowed. "Right, if we don't hurry, we'll be late for

class!"

Like him, she gulped down her can of iced tea in one go. Throwing

the cans in the trash, they started running down the hallway side by side.

"…Hey, Takasu-kun. Just now, that was a promise, okay? Don't tell

anyone else, okay? And also—I'm really sorry for crying yesterday."

Ami really put those Chihuahua eyes to work. Ryuuji decided to go

along with it, if that's what it took to trick her. He nodded several times. "I

got it… I got it, okay? L-look, let's hurry."

In order to shake off the fatigue that had suddenly started building up

in him, Ryuuji continued to run in front of Ami.

Because of that, he didn't see it. He didn't see Ami behind him, when

she snorted: "This guy's too easy."

But even if he noticed, he probably wouldn't have been too surprised.

***

"Why did you and Kawashima Ami come hustling back to class

together?"

It happened just as the instructor turned her back to write on the

board.

The person next to Ryuuji had tossed him a note written on a scrap of

paper in pink ballpoint pen. There was no name on it, but he had seen that

nervous handwriting before.

When he looked at the seat close to the center of the room, bingo.

Lips pursed thin, deep in a sulky mood, Taiga looked right back at Ryuuji.

Eyes detached and cold, Taiga mouthed the word reply with high-handed

hauteur.

Am I her servant now or something? He didn't even know how to

write down what had just happened, and he didn't want to get caught up in

their feud in the first place. Ryuuji made sure Taiga could see exactly what

he was doing when he stuffed the scrap into his pocket. He pulled his

textbook towards himself. I'm not gonna reply to you, was the point he was

trying to make.

But out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Taiga readying a

submarine pitch.

"…Eep!"

By then it was too late.

It was too late, but he was saved.

By coincidence, Ryuuji had been holding his leather pen case as he

scratched his head. A still-quivering mechanical pencil was embedded in

that pen case like a dart. If not for that, the pencil would have been

quivering right in the middle of his temple. The four other students who had

the misfortune of sitting between Taiga and Ryuuji were all bending

backwards with scared-stiff expressions, looking at the path of the bullet

that had grazed the tips of their noses.

"H…how could you do something like…?"

She was trying to kill him. That girl was trying to kill him! But

Taiga's expression was indifferent.

She muttered, "Tsk… so close." She cracked her knuckles, watching

Ryuuji with cold and apathetic eyes.

Glaring at Taiga with the eyes of a rabid dog, he swore firmly to

himself that he would never give her a reply. Whether he was dealing with a

split personality or simple violence, to Ryuuji it was all the same. They

were both about the same amount of trouble.

He could see Taiga mouthing complaints toward him at a glance, but

he didn't feel like humoring her in the least. First of all, if he simply told

Taiga what Ami had just said, he could see it fanning the flames of their

underhanded competition.

He decided to completely ignore her. Casually, he built a defensive

wall at the edge of his desk using his textbook and notebooks. That ought to

block any attacks from the troublesome thug.

But something happened several minutes later. When the teacher

once again wasn't looking, a folded note once again dropped onto his desk,

this time from the person in front of him. Thinking it was Taiga again, he

was just about to throw it away, when…

"…Oh…"

To Takasu-kun

From Minori

When he found those words, the sound of something that wasn't quite

a sigh escaped from his throat. When he looked, over on the opposite side

of the room, in a seat adjacent to the hallway, Minori was turned his way.

She gave a small wave, as if to say, "Heyyy!"

Still speechless, Ryuuji frantically turned the note in his hands, and

then opened it carefully with trembling fingers. Don't tear it… don't mess it

up… For the first time in his life, he had received a letter from the girl he

liked. It was just this small scrap of paper, but it was still the treasure of a

lifetime. He thought he would remember this moment of this day forever,

even when he was an old man.

But…

"Bad Takasu-kun! Minori is angry with you!"

What's with this opener…? Ryuuji swallowed bitter spit with a gulp.

"I heard from Taiga, but it seems like you're doing something

suspicious with Transfer-chan?! I told you before on the rooftop, but if you

dump Taiga…there will be CONSEQUENCES! "

…And that was the first half.

It was a letter from the first person he ever had a crush on, and there

was a skull in it. But! He overcame the absurdity of it and continued on to

the second half.

"I'll at least admit that Transfer-chan is really cute for sure. But

something that's perfect isn't always fun, 'kay? And if you want proof, my

ever-insatiable Minorin radar (the cutie-sensing antenna) isn't picking up

anything this time around."

In the end…Kawashima Ami is interesting, but…this means…

basically…that Taiga tattled. She wasn't just violent, but also a coward. He

glared at Taiga from the side of his eye, but Taiga coldly looked the other

way, completely ignoring him. Her back hit him with an oppressive aura

that all but shouted "You're the one who's in the wrong here."

With nowhere else to aim his frustration, Ryuuji clamped down on

his dry lips, cautiously cutting out a neat square from the edge of the paper.

For now, he needed to just put aside all his objections to Taiga's behavior

and respond to Minori.

To Kushieda

From Takasu

"I'm not actually doing anything suspicious with the transfer, and

besides, there's nothing between me and Taiga."

After writing those methodically-placed words, he pondered a few

more.

"And sorry for completely changing the subject, but what do you

think about someone who calls themselves oblivious?"

And that about topped it off. For some reason, asking for Minori's

input seemed like a good idea. And wasn't there a saying that writing only

one sentence made it seem like you were angry? The right way to keep a

text message exchange going was to always put in a question. Even though

this wasn't texting.

He throbbed with feelings, as though he were about to burst, but he

hid them behind a scary face as he handed the guy in front of him the reply

note. Each time the teacher was writing or looking at the textbook, the note

made its way towards Minori step by step—finally, several minutes later, it

was safely in her hands.

He was pointlessly nervous as he carefully watched her open the

note. He didn't know what in the world she was thinking, but Minori slowly

turned to Ryuuji and stood up. The teacher had her back to them and was

absorbed in writing a long phrase on the board, but Ryuuji, Taiga,

Kitamura, Ami, and all the other students looked straight at Minori in

surprise.

Minori closed her eyes, and with a serene expression worthy of the

crucified Christ, she slowly, slowly brought up both of her arms. Her dead

man's expression slowly, slowly approached a smile. Then, she made a

large circle above her head with her arms…or so he thought for a moment.

Bwah!

Her face grimly contorted, and she opened her mouth as if to shriek.

Suddenly, furiously, she crossed her arms. It wasn't the circle of approval. It

was the X of failure.

"Uhhh, so, therefore…"

When the teacher turned around to face them, Minori was casually

sitting in her seat like nothing had ever happened. A giant question mark

seemed to float above the heads of all the students in their collective

confusion.

That X mark was an answer to the second part of the note, right…?

Ryuuji (being Ryuuji) contemplated the ramifications. It was fine, as long

as she hadn't given him that X for the first half.

That's when it came to him. Actually, she was the kind of person

you'd call oblivious.

***

Ami-chan is so beautiful, but she doesn't even realize it! And she's so

easy to talk to! She's a really good girl, right?

It didn't take long for that to become the standard opinion of the

class.

Quite a few people tried to help Ami on her first day as a transfer

student. Ami replied happily to each and every one of them. "You'll teach

me? Thank you!" "Oh, so that's it! What a relief, you really helped me out

by telling me!" "Aww, I'm happy that I'm getting to talk to everyone, too!"

She wore a sturdy, smiling mask. She spread her love

indiscriminately, pouring out a too-pure angelic dazzle.

The ones who knew Ami's true nature were Kitamura, Ryuuji, and

also Taiga—all three of them—but it seemed Kitamura was trying not to

interfere except when necessary. Likewise, Ryuuji didn't feel it was

necessary to advertise Ami's split personality on purpose. He didn't want to

be involved any more than he already was.

And then there was Taiga.

"…Gimme something to drink."

Taiga, who made a bad-tempered, sullen face as she unlawfully

occupied the seat across from Ryuuji.

Lunch break was half over, and she had come to return her empty

bento box. She was probably thinking of sponging a drink off of him.

"You know what, I keep telling you to wash your bento box before

returning it, don't I?"

"And I keep telling you that the school sponge is gross and moldy

and I don't want to, don't I?"

"And I keep telling you that I have new sponges stocked up in my

locker, don't I?"

"And I keep telling you that it's a pain, don't I? …I don't want to

wash dishes at school. I don't! What, are you ticked off about something?"

He turned his intense gaze on Taiga. "Oh, come on. Nothing comes to

mind? Nothing at all? …Tell me, why'd you go and give Kushieda a bunch

of weird ideas?"

He still ended up handing the tea bottle he brought from home to

Taiga. Taiga took off the lid (which doubled as a cup) and poured the tea.

"It's because you were doing something weird. And besides, I didn't

say anything. I wrote it. …Hey, which part of the rim did you put your

mouth on?"

"…around that mark."

"Even if the chances are low, I don't want to drink from the same

place as you."

With narrowed eyes, she stared at Ryuuji dubiously.

"…God help me!"

With much sarcasm, she dramatically closed her eyes and drank from

the cup.

If you're that worried about it, you could just wipe it. You're just

complaining to get on my nerves. And come to think of it, you're

comfortable enough eating appetizers off the same plate as me. We probably

already exchanged spit a long time ago!—but if he said that to her now, she

would probably kill him in three seconds flat.

"So…what were you talking about? You went off somewhere with

Kawashima Ami, didn't you?"

"You're going on about that again? Jeez, you're relentless."

"Only because you won't answer!" In a rare moment, Taiga's face

lost all composure. She raised her voice—"Oh nooo!"—and the cup, still in

her hand, splashed tea all over the desk. "Ryuuji! Tissue!"

"Gah, what've you done now…?"

Exasperated, Ryuuji wiped the desk and let out a long sigh. He

started by squeakily taking care of the soaked parts, then wiped down the

whole thing from corner to corner. Tea was good at cleaning up grime, at

least.

This wasn't the first time he'd encountered Taiga's klutziness. He

was pretty well acquainted with it already. But he didn't want to be

involved in her fight with Ami. He also didn't want Taiga to be this angry,

and he'd also already endured enough of Ami's scheming over the break.

"…Taiga, what was it you said when I was preparing dinner

yesterday?"

"Huh? Was it maybe… 'Slice the tuna reaaaally thin…'"

"Not that. About Kawashima. You said you wouldn't take the low

road; you would be an adult and forgive her."

"Oh. I didn't say that! …Or, well. I guess that's not true. I did say

that."

"I think you had exactly the right idea. Now, there's no need to

humor her—but forget about yesterday, and don't go near her again. Just go

about everything like usual. If you don't cross her path again, then you

honestly won't have any reason to get mad at her, right? And she didn't do

anything to you…today, at least."

"…Yeah…that's true… That is true…" Taiga grumbled and became

silent. Eventually, the prickle in Taiga's eyes faintly softened. Things would

probably be all right like this. Even though she was infamously called the

Palmtop Tiger, Taiga still didn't want to hate anyone by choice. If she could

be calm in her heart, she wouldn't cause any trouble.

"Well, let's go and clean the bento box," Ryuuji said.

"…Huh? I said I didn't want to."

"Don't be stupid. Do you realize what temperature it is? Can you use

a bento box a second time if it's full of rotten food? Wouldn't you hate that?

I know I hate that. That's why I'll wash mine now. I guess you'll just have

to put up with whatever happens to yours."

"Why? You could just wash mine while you're at it."

"It's not an issue of labor, it's an issue of the soul. If someone makes

lunch for you, you wash it and return it. During the spring and summer

when it's hot, you clean out your bento box. Otherwise, before you know it,

it'll be full of mold. Bacterial rot stems from negligence! The only bacterial

cultures I love in this world are in lactic acid, natto, and our mouths and

guts."

Bleh, Taiga grimaced.

He tried forcing the bento box into her hand. Here, stand and do it,

just stand and do it! Then he tried making her stand. Finally, when he'd

managed to get Taiga's butt to move just five centimeters off her chair…

"Takasu-kun! That was fun just now, right?"

Why is this happening?! he wanted to yell.

"Oh, hey."

"It'd be nice to have a long talk like that again sometime."

Emerging from the ring of girls, Ami purposefully stepped right over.

Her target: Ryuuji. She lightly waved her hand and freely gave him a

beautiful, tacked-on smile. Her simple uniform suited her smooth, long

limbs so well it was nearly criminal. Never mind whether you wanted to

call her cute or beautiful; to Ryuuji, she existed in a category that far

surpassed those choices. She had transcended to what he had to call a split

personality.

…Or at least, that's what he thought.

"…Hey, um…it's about that secret from earlier."

"Y-yeah?!"

Suddenly, Ami was unexpectedly close. Ryuuji had no idea what she

could be thinking, as she bent her slim body in even closer and brought her

lips beside his ear. At the heat of her breath tickling his skin, Ryuuji's pores

started running full blast. Then, with a sickly sweet voice, she whispered…

"…Um, that one thing that happened. Really, could you just forget

it…please?"

She whispered softly into his ear, even though Taiga, the person in

question, was right before her eyes.

Taiga was speechless. She motionlessly stared at Ami and Ryuuji

with a look that was well below freezing.

Once Ami had done that, she released her lips from Ryuuji's ear and

giggled softly—she showed him her sad eyes and a brave smile. Then,

quietly, she turned to Taiga. Her gaze was hurt, full of pity, but also

affectionate. Her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her cheeks, and even

Ryuuji couldn't help but be entranced by them as he stared.

"…I should get ready for class."

Taiga's voice brought him back to himself. Oh no, I let her charm me

again…! No, I was careless. I let her trick me again!

After dragging Ryuuji back to reality, Taiga forcefully pushed her

bento box into his chest. Thump. She stood from her seat.

We've avoided a fight for now. Ryuuji sighed in relief, but only for

one moment. A terrible development: Ami followed after Taiga.

"Hey," she called out.

It was no figure of speech—Taiga's hair literally rose.

"It was really a surprise…that we were in the same class, I mean. So,

y'know, this is just my impression after this morning, but…Aisaka-san…do

you not have any friends other than Takasu-kun?"

"Shut up, you spoiled brat. Do you want me to make you cry again?"

…This was bad. They had only crossed paths for a moment!

Everyone else—other than Ryuuji—didn't notice the momentary

glares they exchanged in the instant of their confrontation.

They immediately turned their faces away from each other and

started walking off in completely opposite directions. It would be fine if

that was the end of it, but…Ryuuji pretended not to feel the foreboding

shiver that ran down his spine.

This was the moment. The two of them had acknowledged each other

as enemies.

The fuse was lit.