Toradora! - Volume 7 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was four in the afternoon on December twenty-third.

Market Kanou (LLC)’s small truck came in through the school gate, leaving ruts on the school grounds. It parked alongside the entrance to the gym. In that moment, the guys waiting for it came running over and each thanked the driver from the local neighborhood supermarket. The store had been a large sponsor of the cultural festival and was owned by the previous student council president’s parents (in other words, the driver was Kanou Sumire’s father). They each bowed their heads to him as they climbed into the truck bed. Then, they exclaimed in low, amazed voices at how large the items in the truck were and at the beautiful flashes of color they could see through the packing material, “Whoa…” 

“This is amazing… If we put this up, it’ll definitely be amazing!”

Ryuuji and the others untied the packing twine. Their eyes only grew wider. Working from the mental image they got from the scattered parts, it would probably be gigantic and magnificently gorgeous once it was put together.

“All right! We’ll split it up and carry it in!”

In response to Kitamura’s strident command, which exposed his sports background, Ryuuji and the dozen others from the prep committee thrust their fists in the air. Right! Even though school and classes had already ended, they were all excited. Of course they would be, because the thing that had been packaged and delivered to them on the truck was the symbol of the party—the Christmas tree. It was an extravagant one at that, so the voltage among the prep committee members was naturally on the rise.

But even though it was a tree, it wasn’t a real Japanese fir, but a man-made imitation. The parts that filled the truck bed had a curious pearlescent sheen as they glittered. It even came with several gold and silver sphere ornaments that seemed like they might be as big as a person’s head. Someone exclaimed out loud, “Those are some giant gold balls!” He held one and got a low kick from Kitamura to the back of the knees. Some other guy stole the ball from that guy’s hands but ended up thoughtlessly holding two golden spheres, “Oh no…” Ryuuji, who had been watching, accidentally blurted, “Bwah ha!” and felt somewhat resentful, as though he had lost. The cardboard box he held in his hands was probably filled to the brim with nothing but lights, cables, and other things.

He heard the first years laughing and talking amongst each other as they passed behind him.

“Doesn’t it kind of feel like it’s really authentic?”

“Actually, will we even be able to put this thing up by ourselves?”

“Worrying isn’t helping anyone. Anyway, let’s do it! We’ll put our hearts into it!”

At those words, Ryuuji hurried, and his legs went faster. Right, let’s put our hearts into it! he thought in reply.

They had gone for a human wave attack strategy and each held as many parts as they could as they brought them to the gym one after another. That day, the committee members were working on a tight schedule. They would put up the tree, which seemed like it would be time consuming, and then would store it in the backstage space once it was complete. When the ending ceremonies were over the next day, they would immediately pull it out and set up the venue.

The tree was sure to look super realistic. The person who had brought it in for them had been the old man from Market Kanou, but the leading star in its acquisition was…

“Wow! ♥ It’s finally here! Make sure you’ve got all the parts that go with it~! If we’re missing even one, it won’t be complete! Fight on!”

…Kawashima Ami herself, who was in the middle of the gym with the other girls preparing the decorations. The team of girls were also incredibly excited at the appearance of the tree, and seeing the guys holding the parts, they cheered in high voices and came over to help. Ami spotted Ryuuji and stood.

“How does it look?! What do you think of this tree?! Do you see how amazing I really am now?!”

She smiled proudly. Of course, Ryuuji bowed his head and spoke his deep admiration to Ami-chan-sama.

“I really do get it now. It’s an amazing tree! You really are amazing! I’ll acknowledge that!”

“Right, right?! When it’s set up, it’s super, super, super pretty!”

The tree was sourced from a certain new establishment in the middle of the city that was the talk of the town. Some magazine companies sponsored an early Christmas party for a pack of fashion industry bigwigs there. A certain actor and actress were invited, and it had apparently been a big enough party that even a talk show reporter crashed it.

Ami had been working at the fashion show that was the party’s main event and, right after it ended, she’d said to the organizers, “I really would like this tree. ♥ It’d be great if you could give it to me for free, too. ♥” It seemed because the magnificent tree that had been the center of the gathering was set to be demolished after the party anyway, they were fine with giving it to her in the spirit of mottainai. So, the next problem was how to transport it.

Ami went with them when they pulled the tree apart so she could collect all the dispersed parts, and, out of goodwill, one of the magazine staff members who had also been working as a model brought the parts to a nearby affiliated office warehouse by car. Since the staff member was already doing her a favor, Ami couldn’t ask the person to drive the tree all the way to the school—that was just a little too far. The tree was also slightly too big and hefty to have it delivered by post. Kitamura immediately figured out Ami was about to pay for the expenses out of pocket, and he wouldn’t let her, saying, “That’s too expensive for a high school student to pay for a high school event.” However, if they billed it to the expense account, their already meager budget would be obliterated immediately.

So the one who stepped up at that point was none other than the owner of Market Kanou. He roared into the roads of the inner city with his small truck on a weekday for the event at the school his daughter, the former student council president, had literally reigned over. He went all the way to Ami’s warehouse and back to move the whole tree for free.

The sounds of passionate voices thanking him once again crossed through the gym as Kanou came in lugging the parts with the other guys.

“Mister! Thank you so much!”

“Couldn’t expect less from the patriarch’s father. He’s a man among men! I love you!”

“I’m going to make sure my family shops at Market Kanou from now on! I’ll make sure to tell my mom!”

“I think your fish is the best around. You’re thorough about showing the processing facilities the vegetables come from, and you make sure the producers’ faces are visible, and you even have a full assortment of Fauchon spices. Oh, right, the introduction to Kyoto veggies event from the other day was really fun! I ended up buying the manganji togarashi peppers, and I couldn’t believe how good they were! I hope you get more stuff in! Oh, and I’ll definitely go to the annual end of the year tuna butcher show! Can’t wait for that tuna!”

There was one weirdo among them who knew a little too much about Market Kanou, but Kanou seemed delighted. He was a little brusque as he smiled, and with that, he turned his back to the boisterous children. At that point…

“Uh. Ahh…thanks…”

“Don’t mention it…”

…he bumped into Taiga, who was bringing other things in from the classroom. Taiga awkwardly jerked her chin and gave him a small bow with just her head. That must have been awkward, too, since Taiga had been in a bloodbath fight with the Kanous’ pride and joy—their eldest daughter. It hadn’t even been a month since Taiga had gone with the homeroom teacher to apologize to the family.

However, old man Kanou was a man among men. 

“Looks like you’re doing well,” he muttered in a low voice, nodding a few times as he looked Taiga over. The wrinkles on his harshly sunburned cheeks deepened as his eyes squinted. Then on that note, he left the gym for real this time.

“Uwah, that scared me. Why’s that bygone president’s old man here…”

As Taiga stood in place and blinked, Ryuuji told her the news he had only learned about just the other day.

“There’s a first-year girl in the student council, right? Apparently, she’s the patriarch’s little sister.”

“What?! Well, actually I have heard that before. I completely forgot about it.”

No waaay, ahaaa, what an amazing tree! They turned their eyes to a girl who was squealing happily with her fellow first years. She seemed sort of soft. 

“…They don’t look alike at all.” 

“…No resemblance.” 

The two of them nodded to each other. Someone behind them poked their backs.

“Heeey, don’t slack off! I just got an amazing tree, so go and put it together!”

To finish it off, Ami pushed them hard enough to make their legs buckle. If only they’d had time to complain about her roughhousing…but they noticed that the others had already started to unpack, so Ryuuji and Taiga hurriedly joined in on the work.

Ami distributed copies of the completed tree’s diagram to them, and several students looked over them together. 

“This is…oh, it’s the parts for the roots.” 

“What is this?” 

“It might be the top?” 

They turned over and messed with the dismantled parts. It almost felt like one giant puzzle.

Ryuuji also grabbed one of the parts.

“Whoa, they’re light. Is it made from Styrofoam?”

“The insides are. They’re painted. Once it’s put together, it looks really pretty. It’s lit up like this, and it’s like super pearly and shimmery…oh! Right, right, we need a spotlight! Yuusaku!”

Abandoned by Ami, Ryuuji lost track of what he was supposed to be putting together. He searched around for someone who could show him a copy of the diagram.

“Oh, Takasu-kuuun! That probably goes with this!”

“Which? Right! It does!”

Someone from another class called out to him, and he hurried over holding the part. When they pressed the concave and convex pieces together hard, they really did pop right into each other. It’s perfect, he smiled at them. Thank you! they smiled back at him. I’m sure I saw another one that was the same shape, so I’ll go get it. He started running off again. He searched through the scattered parts one at a time, and as he did that, he ended up having a strange thought, I couldn’t use the Samurai Resurrection plan again if something happens.

During the student council presidential election, he’d utilized his own wicked face, which had given him a frightening reputation, in order to get an unwilling Kitamura to run in the race. He entered the race with Taiga, the Palmtop Tiger, and they had devised a Samurai Resurrection-style plan to flawlessly take on the role of villains and lure Kitamura into their trap. Their goal had just been to rile everyone up.

But before he noticed, he became friends with students from various classes who joined the committee while working on the party. The same had even happened to Taiga. 

“Aisaka-san, you seem like you’d be lightweight, so could you get on my shoulders and put this on there?”

“Huh, like with my slippers that have been all over the bathroom floor?! Well, to each their own…”

“No, please take them off…”

A good way away from him, Taiga was talking and smiling with girls whose names Ryuuji didn’t know. Tiger-san’s tights! Her feet! That’s hot! Here comes her foot! There were some maniacs who were getting carried away with saying nonsensical things, but putting them aside…

Ahh, what a relief.

To be honest, Ryuuji believed that. His lips quivered with a faint smile. Since the other day, after he listened to Taiga talk about her feelings about Christmas, he felt like something was stuck in his throat. There was a lot to it, like Taiga’s solitude, and his own powerlessness—he had thought about so many things without coming to any conclusion. He hadn’t been able to find an answer, and he felt like he couldn’t even breathe easily. He even left the house for the convenience store, looked up at the night sky to search for stars, and walked in thought for an entire hour.

But now, he could finally breathe with relief as he looked at Taiga. It was true that Taiga was standing in the depths of a solitude he could not even imagine. He still felt like he would be eternally powerless in the face of it.

But regardless of that, this year Taiga would spend time with new friends she had just met, having fun and making a commotion like this. And then, on the next day, Taiga would definitely be with everyone, including Kitamura, happily enjoying the night. Of course, he would be there, too. He hadn’t given up on getting Minori to come, either.

Taiga wasn’t alone—Ryuuji felt so happy and grateful about that that he stopped and stood even in this busy time to look at Taiga while she worked with everyone else to put up the tree. He even recalled the warmth in Kanou’s eyes. Plus, the bachelorette (age 30) was there, too. Not all the adults had abandoned Taiga. Though they might not have protected her like parents, she had adults on her side who were really thinking about her. What a relief, he whispered in his mind.

Even if no one had been watching her for these past seventeen years, on Christmas Eve, everyone would be there, and on Christmas he, Yasuko, and Inko-chan would be there. They would make a mountain of a feast, and the Takasus would welcome Taiga.

No matter how cruel the world was, this year, Taiga was smiling. Taiga was also part of this sparkling, radiant, happy scene. She no longer needed to wait under a tree by herself for someone who didn’t exist. That happy Christmas night she had seen in a dream would happen tomorrow with everyone making a ruckus, being incredibly busy, and grinning enormously.

And then, on the next day, when Christmas came, they would eat a feast at the Takasus’ and dash into the end of the next turbulent year. Ryuuji would undertake a great task—end of the year cleaning—as the fireworks burned. On New Year’s Eve, they would watch some bad variety show late into the night together and start a tranquil new year. The whole year would be summed up in a night. The first day of the year would start with the gong on New Year’s Eve, and he planned on being there for it. Yes, in just one week, it would be a new year. In this hectic time, he wouldn’t let Taiga spend another moment in solitude.

At first, Ryuuji wanted to work hard so that he and Minori could spend Christmas Eve together. Even now, that was still the first priority in his eyes. Ryuuji wanted to see Minori’s smile, so he kept on moving. But then, nearly as important, he wanted to make sure everyone would be brightly smiling come Christmas Eve to happily welcome Taiga.

He wanted to be smiling. He wanted Ami and the student council members, the prep committee guys, Noto, Haruta, and everyone—everyone—everyone who was here and everyone who wasn’t, to be smiling.

Unless everyone was happy, unless everyone was rewarded, it wouldn’t be complete. Ryuuji thought of it as like a circular relay. Someone would wish for another person’s happiness, and someone would receive happiness from another, and smile. Then someone seeing that would smile. Once started, the relay would persist as long as they could continue to pass along the baton of happiness. If even one person stopped, the ring would be broken. So Ryuuji also needed to keep passing along the baton as best he could.

“Taiga! I think this probably goes over there, too!”

“Hey, hey…Ryuuji! What are you doing?! That’s dangerous!”

While Taiga was being held up by another girl in order to put together parts that were high up, Ryuuji tossed a matching part at them that he had found. She tried to catch it, but lost her balance, and rising voices of rebuke came from the girls. 

“I can’t believe you, Takasu-kun!” 

“Seriously, why couldn’t you just hand it to her like a normal person?!” 

Ehee hee. He had the face of a demi-god demon that had crawled out of hell—of course, he had only been making a slight attempt at humor. His recklessness was nothing to be scared about. From the opposite side, an “Eek!” came from a boy who didn’t know what was going on, but Ryuuji was so happy he didn’t realize that he recklessly knocked the wind out of the boy.

Eventually, though a little too late, the student council came in carrying stepladders, and the efficiency of their work went way up. The parts they haphazardly started putting together according to what they could figure out finally started to slowly come together.

“Uwah, it’s huge!”

“It’s seriously giant!”

Eventually, they started to reach a point no one could get to without a stepladder. The tree was probably at least three meters tall. The patron saint of broken hearts and student council president Kitamura took on the fearful job of stooping on a stepladder that was set up to its max height. From below, his childhood friend, who knew what the tree looked like when complete, was giving him instructions. 

“That’s not right.” 

“Huh…” 

“That’s also wrong.” 

“Oh.” 

Slowly, the complex protrusions came together.

The lustrous, pearly white tree not only had height, but also width that protruded out in a circle around its skirt. When put together, puzzle-like parts of the tree formed cube-shaped deformations as big as fists that seemed like places where things were supposed to be attached. Everyone surrounded the tree, stuck the ornaments into it, and went around and around to wrap the tree with the handmade ornaments, the light bulb runners, the ribbons, and the line of bells. Though they were handmade, the silver and blue decorations had been made to fit the theme and were sure to go well with the pearl white tree. Once the large round ornaments that had come with the tree (silver balls and gold balls!) were hung, the tree would look even better. None of the girls made any stupid or crude jokes. (But they’re gold balls!)

Then Taiga yelled up from below at Kitamura, who had put together the last part.

“Kitamura-kuuun! I brought this from home! It’s from my tree at home! Put this on the top!”

“Oh, hey now! Don’t throw it! Don’t! I’ll come down to get it!”

Kitamura slipped his way down the ladder and peeked into the cardboard box Taiga was holding in her hands. 

“Are you sure?! You’re okay with us using something as pretty as this? How do I put this… It looks expensive.”

At his wide eyes and raised voice, Taiga happily nodded.

“It’s fine. I brought it from my parents’ house, but it was a little too big, and I can’t put it on the tree in my condo right now.”

What Kitamura pulled out with reverent hands was a star ornament even larger than Taiga’s head. It was intricately three-dimensional and transparent, allowing the hard light to go through its form. Waah! The girls raised their voices at how pretty it was. Waah! Ryuuji also casually joined in with them. While lined up next to the girls, his evil eyes glinted.

“It’s made from crystal. It’s my favorite ornament, and it’s a waste not to use it, so it’s okay. Could you put it up?”

“Okay! We’ll keep it safe as we hang it up! We’ll put your favorite ornament on the top of the tree!”

Kitamura went up the stepladder and firmly placed the star on the treetop. Checking that it was stable, he gently let go of it with both hands and poked it with his fingertip. Then, as though he accepted its stability, he nodded, shouted “Okay!” and pushed up his glasses. Ryuuji saw a smile unfurl on Taiga’s face. Their eyes met by chance, and Taiga’s face shyly crumpled. She was even wiggling with joy. That was okay, too—she could be as shy and wiggly as she wanted.

Then they continued on.

“Extension cable, check!”

“Wall socket, check!”

“Okay, turn off the building lights!”

Following Kitamura’s voice, starting from the ones closest to the entrance, the lights went off one at a time. The gym that was already dark because of the blackout curtains, and so cold their fingers were going numb, slowly descended into total darkness.

Everyone stood without a word and looked up at the tree. Their fatigue and their prayers that everything would go well stole the voices from all of them.

“Power on.”

They heard the sound of several power switches. Click click. Eventually, there was light in the darkness—

It was like a vibrating current had run through Ryuuji’s neck.

Taiga’s raised eyes were radiant with delight.

A small voice came from Ami’s lips. 

“…We really did it.”

Satisfied smiles bloomed all at once on the many faces bathed in the light. For a while they were in silence, and then someone started clapping. As though echoing in response, the applause grew. 

“We…did it!” 

“It’s! A! Success!” 

“Amazing! Amazing! Isn’t it super pretty?!” 

Here and there excited voices rose up. Delight and excitement, applause and cheers, and smiles filled the room. Ryuuji whistled and brought his hands enthusiastically together. Kitamura, who had come to be beside him, also put up his right hand for a high five. We did it! Then they simultaneously fist pumped. He smiled so much, his dry lips cracked. Even Kitamura smiled so hard his glasses started to slip down.

The tree that glittered in the darkness was truly beautiful.

It was lit from below by a pure white light and sparkled a gorgeous pearly color. The many bulbs blinked yellow and the hanging ornaments reflected flashes of light. Taiga’s ornament winked brilliantly like a real star at the top. It was as if it were lighting up the whole world with the joy of Christmas as it filled with the light and radiance of everything around it. But then…

CRASH! They heard the sound of tremendous destruction. The curtains fluttered and light from the outside invaded suddenly.

One of the girls shouted. They could hear what sounded like several people falling over in surprise. With a terrific force, like a white shadow leaping through the darkness, something barreled directly into the top of the tree. It made a horrible sound. There was a shriek. All the lights disappeared, and the gym blacked out. 

The gigantic tree hadn’t been fixed in place. They had just been about to move it, after all. Helped along by its own great, unsettled weight, the tree tilted and then with a terrific force, sounded as though it had fallen right on its side. They could hear the ornaments scatter and the parts that had been stuck together being blown away.

Ryuuji didn’t understand what had happened. He didn’t even want to see how it had ended up. One of the fragments flew by his face, and he reflexively closed his eyes.

Not a single one of them said anything.

“Th-the lights! Please, turn on the lights! Quick, quick, hurry!”

Only Kitamura’s voice, which was hurried from his fluster, echoed discordantly throughout the space. The lights turned on in the opposite order they had turned off. Then the terrible spectacle became crystal clear. The expressions disappeared from all of their faces.

The tree they just put up had collapsed.

All the ornaments had scattered onto the floor, and the cable for the lights, which pulled free of the socket, was splayed out like a dead snake. Fragments of Styrofoam lay scattered around. Several parts that were necessary for holding the tree together were completely broken.

And then Taiga’s star, which had been on the very top…

“Oh…no…it can’t be! No way…”

Taiga ran over, kneeling down so she could reach out to it, but Ami caught her elbow. “You idiot, it’s dangerous!” 

After falling three meters and hitting the gym’s hard floor, the star ornament made of crystal had shattered. The sharp fragments glittered cruelly, and if Taiga had touched them, they would have easily cut through her skin.

Just what had happened?

As though in answer, they could see the darkening sky beyond the blackout curtains that they had put on the windows. The outside light was coming through the glass because the window had been broken. There were glass shards scattered a slight distance from the tree. Glad no one was under that, Ryuuji thought, but he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

At that point, the gym door was thrown open with a loud noise. Immediately after it, the commotion of several people’s footsteps followed. 

“We’re so sorry! Did anyone get hurt?!” 

It was the clear and reaching voice of a girl.

They turned around. Ryuuji saw her. The owner of the voice was Minori in her dirty uniform. Behind Minori, there were two girls wearing the same uniform.

“…”

At the very front, Minori’s mouth closed as though she had frozen over. On the floor, all by itself, was a softball. That might have—no—that definitely had broken the window, tipped over the tree, destroyed it, and shattered Taiga’s star. 

Eventually Minori’s lips trembled, mouthing I’m sorry. As she said it again and again, her lips moved over and over, but her rasping voice didn’t reach anyone’s ears in a way they could hear. Time couldn’t be reversed. They couldn’t pretend that the stupid foul launched by the girls’ softball club hadn’t happened.

***

“Minorin, it’s okay now. It was just an accident, after all. You couldn’t help it.”

“No… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m really truly sorry…”

All of the girls’ softball club members had gathered in the gym in order to restore the tree Minori had destroyed. 

“Misconduct by a leader is all of our misconduct! We’re incredibly sorry!” 

The athletic girls formed a line and bowed passionately, then moved under one command and secured a position in a corner, where they were now sitting cramped together in a huddle with their feet folded under themselves. They worked in silence, some taking on the challenge of putting together the broken parts of the tree with adhesive as though it were a three-dimensional puzzle. Others were pulling apart the tangled ornaments, and still others were mending the ball ornaments. Then, in the center of the gym, the prep committee and student council were putting the tree together again. Relying on the softball club to do that work when they hadn’t seen the completed tree would have just taken more time, so when Minori and the other girls lowered their heads and asked to fix everything, Kitamura specifically refused that.

Away from the girls of the softball club, away from where they were putting together the tree anew, Minori was sitting under the stage. She looked up at Taiga and Ryuuji when they walked over and called out to her, and then around at the faces of the softball club members.

“Please let me do what I can… Please. Don’t worry about me, Taiga. It’s my fault… Ahh, ugh…I’m the worst…ugh…”

What am I doing, really? She bit her lip until it turned white.

In her hands, as she said those shameful words to herself, she gripped the broken fragments of Taiga’s star and quick-dry glue. Minori was trying to restore the star, which had already been so intricate to begin with. Taiga crouched beside Minori and looked desperately into her face, which was hard and stiff. 

“Minorin…you’re not to blame. At all. This was just an unfortunate accident.”

“No, this is my responsibility. I think it must have happened because my head was in the clouds. I can’t believe I hit that kind of ball… It wasn’t an accident, I made a poor hit. I made a mistake. I couldn’t focus and missed. I’m really sorry about this star… I can’t believe that out of all things, I broke something so precious to you… I can’t get it back to how it was before, but…I’m sorry. I’m sorry…for everyone…I’m so sorry.”

Minori wiped her face roughly with her uniform sleeve and hung her head. Her back slowly rose and fell with her deep breaths, but she was also faintly trembling.

Taiga looked worriedly up at Ryuuji’s face where he stood beside her, but he didn’t know what to do either when things came to this.

The time to go home drew near and the situation, to be honest, was terrible. Everyone knew that it was just an unfortunate accident and didn’t blame Minori, but that didn’t change anything. The teachers had given them strict orders to go home when the school shut down. If they weren’t finished with preparations, then the party was in jeopardy. He knew how hurt Minori must have been. She must have been flustered, and though no one blamed her, she must have really been hurting that the situation was so bad she had to involve the softball club in picking up the pieces. 

It actually might have been better for Minori if someone had gotten angry, yelled at her, cried, and hit her. It must have been hard for her to be the one who had to place the blame on herself. Until she forgave herself, the circle of negativity, disgust, and blame would never end. The guilt would never disappear.

Sitting on the freezing gym floor in her uniform with her legs folded under her, Minori’s eyes turned red at the rims. She still had her face turned down as she sniffed, and it wasn’t just because of the cold that her fingertips shook.

Taiga reached out a hand to Minori, but she hesitated for a moment in the air. As though she wasn’t sure of herself, Taiga opened and closed her hand several times and suddenly got up. She looked up at Ryuuji’s face and said, “Then, Ryuuji, could you help her? Please?”

Then she pushed at Ryuuji’s back.

“NO!”

When faced with Minori’s high voice, Ryuuji stood stick straight. Taiga also froze. Minori’s voice had echoed like a shriek.

“You can’t! Please stop! Stop doing that!”

Then she continued.

With no one else coming near her, she once again turned her head down to absorb herself in the endless puzzle of fixing the star.

There was no way she would smile. There would be no happy Christmas or excitement. The heavy silence simply accumulated like snowflakes in the frozen air.

It was unclear whether they would finish preparing in time. All they knew was one thing—Minori had just one more reason not to go to the party. Ryuuji looked down at Minori and closed his slightly tired eyes. It was easy to endure the pain of his help being rejected, but just looking at Minori, who was on edge to the point she had snapped at them, was difficult.

With her mouth pinched closed, Taiga looked between Minori and Ryuuji. She nibbled a little on her knuckles and then looked at Ryuuji’s face once more. Their eyes met, and Taiga jerked out her chin a little. It was almost as though she were trying to say, “I leave this to you.” With that, her hair fluttering, Taiga turned around and left them to head to the ring where they were reconstructing the tree.

Ryuuji watched her small back as she retreated. Then, unable to do anything, he stood next to Minori and stayed there like that.

“Takasu-kun, you should go, too. Okay. I’m going to work on this by myself right now.”

Minori sniffled and knit her eyebrows together as she forced a smile on her face. However, Ryuuji did not leave.

He was useless, but he had decided he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“It’s okay, so just let me see. I’m good at these kinds of things.”

“Takasu-kun…”

“You don’t know what it looked like at the start. If you don’t like it, just ignore me.”

Ryuuji practically forced his way in as he sat down beside Minori. He preemptively glanced at the fragments and found two large pieces. “Right, this is it.” He immediately started putting them together with the glue. He did it properly and carefully.

“Takasu-kun, stop. Let me take responsibility for this. If you…if you help me like this then—”

“We don’t have the time. You do what you can as best you can. I’ll do what I can. I’m not helping you, I’m doing this for myself.”

For a moment, Minori’s face scrunched up like she was about to start crying, but she held out and bit her lip. As though she wasn’t able to say anything more, she dropped her gaze to the fragments in front of her eyes.

The two of them fell into silence as they absorbed themselves in putting together the fragments of crystal. There wasn’t any way they would be having a conversation. Even though he was next to the girl who took his breath away, it was cold and his heart didn’t even thump. Regardless of that, Ryuuji stayed by Minori’s side. Even if she didn’t want him there, he remained sitting next to her.

They never had any real conversations while Taiga was suspended, either. Don’t you think Minori is avoiding you? Taiga had said at the family restaurant while they were studying for the test. Ryuuji and Minori had only seen each other in passing for quite a while. And then right now, in these unfortunate circumstances, they were clearly separated, as if there were a fissure between them. Even though he was right next to her, his eyes and his voice didn’t reach her.

In those recent days, he really had only felt the distance between them.

But regardless of that—no, because of that, Ryuuji wanted to be beside Minori. Because she was distant, because he didn’t understand, because she wouldn’t understand. Because of that, he could only glue the pieces together. If she were avoiding him, he would go after her. If there were times they missed each other in passing, he could try to get back to her. If the situation were terrible, he would do all in his power to recover it—like this, forcing it, even if it didn’t feel natural. He would sit and be there and reach out to her distant heart. 

Ryuuji thought that itself was love. Even if he were the only one reaching out, that was a given, because it was unrequited love. Even if Minori only showed him her hard profile, even if her lips were blue, even if she still seemed like she might burst out crying blaming herself, Ryuuji would still want to reach out with his powerless hands. All he wished for was that he would eventually reach her. He felt that when he stopped reaching out, that would be the end of this love.

Ryuuji picked up a fragment and then found another in the same shape. After carefully matching and gluing the pieces, he pressed them together for a while and then nodded to himself.

Because he really might have been in her way, because he really didn’t want her to hate him, Ryuuji tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible. It would be best if Minori, who was next to him right then, forgot he was even there.

But right when he thought that, Minori said Ryuuji’s name in a low voice.

“Takasu-kun…”

“Yeah?”

She kept her head down and still didn’t look at Ryuuji.

“Takasu-kun, Takasu-kun…”

“I’m listening.”

“Takasu-kun…”

“I’m here.”

Minori repeated it. She kept calling for Ryuuji.

When she did, Ryuuji replied. He didn’t miss any one of her calls and answered each one. If Minori were to call him, he would always respond to her voice. If Minori were to reach her hand out to him, he would always grab it.

He gently glued on another fragment. Slowly, Taiga’s broken star came back to its original shape. It wasn’t the same as before it had broken, but it still shone.

Ryuuji held up the partially put together star and let the lights from the gym go through it. He focused his eyes on the brilliant light. He looked at the star, which had been created to shine at the center of a happy Christmas, and smiled. The light was the symbol of happiness itself. He stretched out his arm so that Minori could see it too and gently said, “See. Look, isn’t it pretty? You can fix it even after it’s been broken. So cheer up.”

“It’ll never be back to what it originally was…”

“But it’s shining like it’s supposed to.”

“I—”

Minori’s voice wavered like she was sinking in water. He waited for her next words, pretending like he hadn’t noticed.

“I don’t know…if it’ll ever be the same…”

“It will.”

Ryuuji answered firmly and looked up at the shining star. This was light that emitted happiness. Minori must have seen it, too. If she couldn’t believe in it, then he wanted to show it to her more decisively, more firmly. He wanted to put it out there right in front of her eyes.

No matter how badly it broke, no matter how many times it needed to be put back together, even if it broke for a cheap reason like a misunderstanding or over an assumption, even if it seemed like it had died, it would heal and put itself back together over and over, being reborn again with Minori’s smile and her words. That was his love for Minori.

Even if it broke, it could be put back together.

That was why there was no reason for her to cry.

“It’s fine. It’ll be fixed, as many times as it needs to be.”

The light held up in front of his eyes was the switch. The switch flicked on, and in the back of his cowering heart, the lights from several stars started to shine.

The Orion that winked inside of Ryuuji gave him infinite power.

He had the power to pass the baton along to Minori. He had already started running and reached out with one hand in preparation to give it to her. Time seemed to go faster for Ryuuji. His heart beat faster, and his eyes lit up. He cast off his imminent limitations as he headed towards the bounds of his overflowing love for her.

He didn’t want to just wait with his hand stretched out. He wanted to give her the baton, have her take it from him, and yell at her, Run! He wanted to show Minori. From the bottom of his heart, Ryuuji wanted to show Minori the limitless stars and the unbreakable things in the wide world of his heart. That’s why I want you to keep going and run this relay.

He’d spent more than a year and a half loving Kushieda Minori. Ryuuji finally reached the point where he wanted to shout it out loud.

It took over an hour to get the tree looking like it had before. Minori and Ryuuji put Taiga’s star back together, but the glued fragments still showed off its cracks. It looked almost like a mosaic ornament. Taiga smiled, though. 

“This is good,” she said. “It looks cuter than before.” 

She didn’t just hug Minori but embraced her and rubbed her back several times. Minori buried her face in Taiga’s hair for a moment. Then she broke away. “I’m really sorry!” she said in a loud voice towards the prep committee and student council. She lowered her head. Next, she turned to the softball club sitting in a line and said once more, “I’m sorry you have to have me as your captain!”

The girls’ softball club all bowed and ran out of the gym in a display of athleticism.

Ryuuji had, without hesitation, run after Minori.

He followed her out into the chilling breeze and tapped her back. When Minori turned around as though she were surprised, he tried to say it to her as brightly as possible.

“You should come tomorrow! To the party! It’ll definitely be fun! I want to spend it with you!”

“…Uh.”

Minori sounded like she was choking up.

Ryuuji didn’t withdraw. “Well, if you don’t have any plans… I want you to come, though!”

“…”

He waited for her to say his name one more time. He waited for a raspy voice, a faint whisper to fall from her lips.

But.

“I can’t… I can’t go.”

Minori didn’t say his name. She stood still as she shook her head decisively. Under the dim flicker of florescent lights, he could only see that her face had turned pale.

“I caused so much trouble, I can’t. I can’t go.”

“But I’ll wait for you!”

“Don’t wait for me… I’m not going.”

“I’ll wait!”

He was pushing to the point of almost being stalker-like. Without caring what all the other softball club members thought, he yelled as he faced Minori’s back. Whether it was pitiful, or an embarrassment, or his face was as red as the king of the realm of the dead, his love wouldn’t stop once it had started running. The switch that flipped on once could never be turned off again.

***

It was December twenty-fourth, four in the afternoon.

The closing ceremony ended before noon. They filled their bellies with the bento lunches they brought from home and went all out with the party prep until they reached the current point in time. The members of the student council and prep committee all gathered at the gym. They stood and watched the instructor in charge of fire inspections, who held a manual in one hand and was checking off various details. If we don’t pass at this point—it couldn’t only have been Ryuuji whose heart was thumping a little.

“Okay, this is all good to go… Everything’s in order. There are no problems here.”

At the voice they had been waiting for, voices of relief rang out here and there. 

“Yay!” 

“We’re done!” 

Their smiles sprang to life.

“Now everyone, take great caution to make sure there are no problems. In the one in a million chance that a student breaks the drinking or smoking rules, that’s a direct expulsion. You got that? And you, patron saint! You had better be careful about managing and supervising as the person in charge of everything.”

“Understood!” Kitamura replied to the bachelorette (age 30) Koigakubo Yuri (in the process of finding real estate) with a salute. She wore a shiny, high-quality gray pantsuit and simple white gold accessories. Her hair was prim and proper in a bun. She seemed a little more masculine than usual. Possibly because they had just finished getting permission and were in a lighter mood, the first-year girls talked to the bachelorette (age 30) casually and without restraint.

“Actually, Yuri-chan-sensei, you look super fashionable today!”

“Could it be that you’re going on a date?!”

Kyaah! A Christmas Eve date with your boyfriend! With the excited girls in the corners of their eyes, the upperclassmen remained composed. Anyone who had known her for a while would know in their bones that the thirty-year-old’s love life game couldn’t possibly be strong enough to get a date for Christmas Eve. It was still fresh in their memories that Mercury’s passage into retrograde stole her most promising partner from her. Her reply was exactly as the upperclassmen thought it would be.

“I don’t have a date. I’m going to a real estate purchasing lecture for single women. It cost one thousand five hundred yen… I’m going to buy a condo, so…”

That’s just like her—Ryuuji in particular, nodded. He tried to burn the courage of the bachelorette (age 30) who had armed herself with dark brown makeup, into his memory, but then ultimately averted his eyes. It just made too strong of an impact on him.

“What?! R-real estate?”

“On Christmas Eve? Why?”

It seemed to be a truth that was too difficult for the fifteen and sixteen-year-olds to take in. They couldn’t believe that someone single and in their prime would gather with others to think about real estate during Christmas Eve and pay a fee for it to boot. It seemed that it was beyond reason for them.

“The women who have dates for Christmas Eve just haven’t prepared themselves yet. They’re not ready for reality to shake up their lives! In other words, even though we are single, this course is tests our qualifications for jumping our first hurdle…owning real estate. Do you get it?”

“Huh…”

“Ummm…”

“I feel like interest rates have hit bottom, so I’m going now. Oh, there will be other teachers in the staff room the whole time, so make sure you go and check in with them before you start and before you end.”

Somehow or other, they returned to their earlier mood and everyone happily answered back, “Yes!” The bachelorette (age 30) might have felt some of the youth return to her heart from her students’ excited voices. Her narrowed eyes relaxed. As she got up to leave, she whispered to Ryuuji with a slight smile when she passed by him.

“It’s great that the tree turned out well. Your grades went up, and I’m pretty pleased. I’m sure you’ll all be rewarded for the work you put into this.”

Ryuuji also grinned and returned a smile to the single homeroom teacher. 

“Thank you so much! I’m sure you’ll find some great property!”

“Oh…yeah…thanks…”

I’ll show you—I’ll be rewarded!

Ryuuji held a secret but strong determination as he looked up at the tree that even the bachelorette (age 30) praised. It was a little wobbly, but the tree standing in the center of the gym was giant, magnificent, and beautiful. It was really incredibly gorgeous. They had filed down the seams in the parts that were facing the front so no one could figure out just by looking that it collapsed once. And then at the top was Taiga’s star. It was complete.

It wasn’t just the tree that was complete. There were white and blue spotlights crossing through the air and lighting up the floor. If they turned off the other lights and only used those to light up the place, it would definitely be dramatic. The stool tests everyone had taken had also been worthwhile. The fruit punch, sandwich, fruit, cracker and small dessert tables were even lined up showily along the wall, though of course, carrying around and serving the refreshments was the prep committee’s work. The food offered was from a catering company with a name for themselves. With Ami’s connections, they had compromised to get all the rental utensils for free as long as the people who sampled the food shared their opinion of it.

In the middle of the gathered people, Kitamura’s voice rang out, “Okay!”

“We had a lot of trouble getting here, but we’re done with all the preparations now! Thanks for your hard work, everyone! I’m really thankful for how many people came to help out with the patron saint of broken hearts’ plan! We still have some more to do, but I hope that all of you are also excited for today and enjoy yourselves fully! And Ami, thank you for making arrangements for the tree and food.”

In the applause that burst out all at once, Ami’s eyes went wide, and she acted flustered. 

“No way,” she said, “it wasn’t a big deal~!”

“There it is. Dimhuahua is so…Ryuuji?”

“…”

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“Huh? Wh-what?”

At Taiga’s voice, Ryuuji blinked his eyes. For her to ask if he was okay, he must really have not looked okay. Those last few hours, he’d been putting up with nonstop physical labor.

“It’s like your eyes are wandering around… I can’t tell where you’re looking. You’re scary. What’s wrong? Well, I get that you’re worried about Minorin from what happened yesterday, but you have to keep yourself motivated—”

“No. It’s the opposite. I’m super passionate right now. Look, the party is perfect. Everything’s prepared. We just need Kushieda to come! But that’s where the hurdle is, in the end. I was persistent about inviting her, but all she said was ‘Sorry.’”

Taiga hmm-ed and folded her arms.

“If that accident just hadn’t happened yesterday, it would have been easy to talk to her… No, but if you’re that determined…it’s okay. Don’t worry, you keep being determined and passionate. Just leave everything else to me, angel Taiga-sama.”

“What exactly are you planning on doing?”

Though he was motivated, it was going nowhere—Ryuuji was slightly aware of that. Taiga looked up at him and gave him a peace sign.

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine. I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”

Her whispered words disappeared for a moment in the cacophony that started up around them. Kitamura had broken them up to use their time for themselves before the party started. The ones who wanted to change would go back home, the ones who had brought their own clothes from home would change in class, and the ones who wanted to take a break would slink to the classrooms or go to some café. All of them had started walking and talking.

They wanted to begin at five in the afternoon. The plan was to start letting the attendees into the place, have Kitamura’s welcome at five-thirty, and then the party would officially start! They could come late, leave early, and have fun as they liked, and the closing ceremony would be at seven-thirty. They would make sure to have everyone go home before eight, and the prep committee and student council officials would gather again at eight in the morning the next day. They would be responsible for cleaning the place up.

And so they had an hour until it started. Well, what should I do? Ryuuji thought. He stopped and stood, and then Kitamura poked him gently in the elbow.

“Takasu, Aisaka, what are you doing now? I still need to set up the welcome desk that the student council oversees. Maybe you could help?! If you did, I would be suuuper grateful!”

“You would? I wouldn’t mind.”

At that point, Ami’s face appeared. She rested her chin on Kitamura’s shoulder.

“You should say no. He has plenty of people. Kitamura’s pretty rude when it comes to using people for errands. He’s really good at that stuff.”

“Keep it down. What are you doing then, Ami? You want to help, too?”

“You must be joking? I’m going home. And. Getting. Changed. ♥ Well, I’ll see you when we start!”

In the hopes of following Ami’s retreating back, Taiga pulled Ryuuji’s sleeve.

“Sorry, Kitamura-kun, we’re also going home. Let’s go, Ryuuji.”

“Huh? What are we going to do at home? I’m probably going to stay in my uniform and—”

“Just go home! Walk! Hurry! Well, see you later!”

Taiga pulled Ryuuji forcefully, so he gave up and went home. What was supposed to be at home? Even when he asked, Taiga ignored his questions and wouldn’t answer. He wondered if she was okay with Santa seeing her ignore him. 

Then, once they finally made it to the entrance of Taiga’s condo, Taiga said, “Once you get in, open your bedroom window immediately.”

“Why…”

“Just do it. Do exactly what I say.”

Taiga put one hand on her hip, pointed at Ryuuji’s nose with the other, and gave him a self-justified order that he didn’t understand the meaning of. As he was thinking, What’s going on?

“I’m home!”

“Oh. ♥ Welcome home, be-yotch~! How does your report card look~?”

He threw his grade report Yasuko’s way, where she was rolled up carefreely under the kotatsu table. 

“Kyaah! ☆” 

Ryuuji didn’t know if the shriek she gave was good or bad. Just as he had been told, he got onto his bed and faithfully opened the south-facing window. Beyond the window was Taiga’s condo window, which opened up right to her bedroom.

“Here!”

“Whoa?!”

Rattle. The window across from him opened and Taiga threw a box as wide as her arms at Ryuuji. He quickly threw out his hands and caught it. It wasn’t as heavy as it looked, but it still surprised him quite a bit.

“Wh-what is this?! Seriously, that’s dangerous! You’re just doing stuff the lazy way…”

“Open that right away. When you see it, you’ll get it. Well, I’ll head over in thirty minutes.”

At that, the window to Taiga’s room closed. She even closed her curtains and left Ryuuji alone by himself. 

“What? What happened, yo? What’s that?”

“Taiga kind of threw it at me… She said to open it…”

“It looks like one impressive box. I wonder if it’s snacks or something?”

Facing Yasuko, Ryuuji sat down on the floor to open up the mystery box Taiga had thrown at him. The mother and son’s hands grasped the box top and lifted it open at the same time.

“Oh…owaah… ☆”

“Oh…Ohh… ☆”

Their chins dropped to the same degree. Their eyes snapped wide open as they both became speechless at the same time. Yasuko and Ryuuji, Takasu genes out in full force, looked exactly alike.

Ryuuji heard the sound of the door opening and the unusual sound of high heels from the entryway. He heard footsteps continuing quickly and marching straight into the living room.

“Huh? Ryuuji? Ya-chan? Where are you?”

“Over here! At the sink!” they replied, and Taiga came back to the hallway from the living room and peeked into the door that had been left open. Then they pointed at each other.

“Ah!”

“Whoa!”

They exclaimed briefly. Yasuko, who was crouched at Ryuuji’s feet as he looked into the mirror, was wrapping up the dryer cord. Once she noticed, she also looked up at Taiga.

“Wow. ☆” She gave a shout of joy and grinned. “Looking great, looking great. You look super cute, Taiga-chan!” 

She gently fixed Taiga’s fur collar. Ryuuji was robbed of the words he should have said, and his eyes glinted suspiciously and dangerously.

In thirty minutes, Taiga had transformed from a petite high school girl to a lady heading to a party. She had properly pinned her bangs to the side and put her wavy hair up tightly. The paleness of her forehead stood out, and her pitch-dark mascara increased the depth of her glittering eyes to beautifully set off her crimson lips. Delicate Taiga, who was normally comparable to a French doll, seemed to have evolved to become even more beautiful. Her light makeup made her look even more feminine and put together. The shape of her face, which already seemed as if it were sculpted, looked even deeper and stood out all the more. 

She had slightly transparent stockings, and her dress was little and black—it was made from jet-black silk and created a simple, beautiful silhouette that went down to her knees. Ryuuji didn’t even need to be troubled about her lacking chest because some layered draping covered it up. She wore long black gloves that were slightly shiny and had short wings on the end to make them look younger. On top of that, she was wearing a short fox fur coat. She had a clutch with black fringe beads that rustled, and her slender neck was adorned with a conspicuous pearl choker. 

Taiga was exactly perfect. No matter how anyone looked at her, she was beautiful, lovely, chic, and fashionable. She was so pretty it was a waste to use this outfit at a school party. A faint and slow smile spread on the beautiful girl’s lips.

“What a relief, it’s the perfect size.”

On the other hand, Ryuuji was also dressed up in a way that was wasted on a school party. 

The box Taiga had thrown at him had contained a black suit set. On Yasuko’s advice, he had put on a necktie they had tied slightly loosely, and stylishly only closed the middle button of the jacket. Unusually for him, his bangs were smartly slicked up with hair wax. Ryuuji looked exactly like a prince—like a noble prince from the underworld. It would have been fitting to call him a young virtuoso yakuza leader or the young master of a household. Those kinds of titles would have fit him perfectly. 

It was just how Ryuuji’s face looked, though. The narrow-shouldered suit really was well made. It was a refined shade of black that couldn’t be mistaken for mourning clothes.

“A-a-are you sure about this?! I-I-Is it really okay if I borrow it?! I-I-I-I can’t stop stuttering…”

It looked so expensive. He was licking and lapping at his dry lips as he stuttered. Taiga, acting like it was nothing, shrugged her shoulders, which were wrapped in real fur. 

“I’m not letting you borrow it,” she declared in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’m giving it to you.”

“You’re giving it to me?! But the lining has R. Aisaka sewn into it!”

“When I left home, I told the movers to bring everything in the closet, so they also brought this. But it’s okay. He got that as a gift from someone, but it was too big on him and fixing it was too much of a bother, so he just left it behind. If it bothers you, you can just take out the embroidery. Hide the evidence.”

“Getting hand-me-downs from that guy isn’t something I can joke about, I—”

“It’s Gucci.”

“Gu…”

“If you won’t wear it, then I’ll have to get rid of it.”

“M-m-m-mottainai—that’s too wasteful! Here, get the thread scissors! We’re hiding the evidence!”

Okay, okay, even Yasuko got caught up into the mix and nodded along. Snip! They cut the embroidery thread. He pulled it with his fingers and it slipped right out, and with that, Ryuuji had formally gotten himself a yakuza virtuoso suit. Taiga had gone out of her way to give it to him after all, and if anything, not destroying it was really mottainai… He told himself that. As he got carried away by the mood, he took another happy look into the mirror. An enchanting, beautiful couple stared back. …He didn’t go so far as to think that, but, well, they looked something like that. He didn’t know what others would think, though.

Looking at him through the mirror, Taiga’s cherry-colored lips grinned.

“Now we’re really done preparing, but do you know what the most important thing is? You’ll wear that tonight since you have something you need to do. I won’t get in your way at all today, okay? Anyway, trust me and don’t worry. And, this is the only day I’ll say this to you, but today, Takasu Ryuuji, you kind of look cooler than usual… You’ve got some charm. So make sure you’re dignified and stand up straight. Raise your head high.”

You look pretty good yourself tonight, too.

…But he wasn’t able to say that. His lips trembled, and he suddenly couldn’t see Taiga’s face properly. Even after she said that, he wanted to lower his head. Don’t go getting shy, you idiot, he grumbled low at the back of his throat. Knowing that Ryuuji felt embarrassed, Taiga started giggling. 

“Hee hee.”

He knew what he needed to do.

He would enjoy this Christmas Eve and make sure that everyone would be rewarded and would see the next day with a smile. He would make sure the happiness relay was completed without anyone missing out. He hadn’t given up on Minori. He would send her a message. He would call her. If Taiga said she had a plan, he would believe in the angel. He might even be able to use the blessing from the patron saint of broken hearts.

He gripped his hands into fists in front of the shabby sink. 

“Okay!” 

He pumped himself up once again. Taiga might have been thinking of Kitamura’s face or of her dream with Santa, but the light in her eyes grew stronger.

“Oh, I know. ☆ Ehee hee, I’ll use some adult magic on you two~!” Seeing the two of them like that, Yasuko broke out into a smile and hummed as she skipped out of the small bathroom. She went into her own room and came back with a small purple bottle and an old leather case grasped in her hands.

“Pardon me~!”

“Waah!”

She sprayed liquid from the small bottle onto her fingertips and waved her hands in the air several times before slowly pushing them right into the bust of Taiga’s dress. Ryuuji was so startled he couldn’t make a sound as, in front of his eyes, his mother’s hands went through the area between Taiga’s chest, which was like a void continent. She did it twice. After a while, he sensed something soft and mysteriously warm. It was a gentle smell coming to his nose.

“Hee hee, that was perfume just now. ☆ It’s a little stronger than a toilette, but when you put a little on your stomach or your chest or anywhere that’s warm, you can’t go wrong. ☆”

“Th-thank you… Wow, it’s, like, a really good smell…wearing real perfume is like really being an adult!”

Far from being adult-like, Taiga twitched her nose like a beast and looked up at Yasuko with a smile. Yasuko also seemed happy.

“It should mix with your own smell, and when the party starts, you’ll get a really sliiight fragrance coming from you! So, Ryuu-chan, I’ll let you borrow this~! Open sesame~!”

She opened the case and showed it to Ryuuji. Inside was a domestic maker’s dignified men’s watch. It wasn’t gaudy, but it was solid, and there was no rust or dirt to be seen on it. The second hand kept perfect time. Though it looked old, it had been properly taken care of. Huh. Ryuuji was led to think of a certain possibility.

“Could this be… Is this my dad’s?”

“Not even close, yo. ☆”

Yasuko easily broke apart her son’s romantic notion and gave him an easygoing grin.

“A really long time ago, when I ran away from home, I ran away with everything that had value that I could carry. Like kimono and obi ornaments with jewels in them, and rings. I went around grabbing everything that glittered. I also grabbed this when I did that, but the pawnshop said that it wouldn’t really get me a lot of money, so I didn’t really want to sell it. I had it left over until now.”

“Wh-what about everything else…”

“It aaaalll disappeared and transformed into money before your third birthday. ☆”

At the mother’s overly difficult life, the children were immediately speechless. 

“It really would have been nice if we had your dad’s Rolex, though. I’m sure it would have looked great on you. It had diamonds on it and was all dazzling, too…” Yasuko told them as she put the watch on Ryuuji’s wrist. The size was perfect, and the stainless steel was surprisingly cool. It was enough to make his heart jump.

“In other words, this is my grandfather’s… Actually…wait, isn’t it stolen?!”

“That’s exactly right~! Wow! It looks perfect on you, Ryuu-chan! It looks great~! Ahh, I’m glad I didn’t sell it off for dirt cheap! I was really split about it on that day.”

He didn’t know what day that day was, but Ryuuji was silent for a bit. When he calmed down and returned to his senses, he looked down. The things he was currently wearing were Taiga’s detestable father’s suit that she’d walked off with, and his grandfather’s watch that Yasuko stole as she ran away from home. 

He kind of felt like his whole body was decked out with things of dubious origin—if “someone” really was watching, this might earn him divine retribution. Feeling like that, his spine automatically quivered. He even remembered something terrible. 

“Dads don’t get rewarded.” 

It was the ominous one-liner Ami had gifted him with. In the suit and in the watch were the foolishness, regret, and deep grudges of the fathers who had left behind their daughters and not been able to take care of them. What if the items were cursed?

No way.

No, stop. It wasn’t right to think about things like grudges and curses when Christmas Eve had finally come.

It was December twenty-fourth and just a little before five.

For Taiga’s sake, since she was in heels, Yasuko called a taxi driven by one of her regulars to the front of the Takasu house.

They got into the taxi, which was luxurious considering they were high schoolers, and told the driver their destination. 

“Oh, is this a date?!” joked the old man, whom Ryuuji recognized, and then the two of them answered back at once. 

“No!” 

In the butt pocket of Ryuuji’s suit, which sunk into the cushions, Ryuuji had securely stored a present that he had prepared to give to Minori.

Then, night came for the streets.

The Christmas lights shone like a glittering flood.

His heart beat faster.

His hopes and worries closed in on him in turn.

Ryuuji nervously fumbled with his necktie. Grabbing his sleeve to stop him, Taiga told him in a low voice, “I told you that it’d be okay.” Her voice hinted at a smile.

The yakuza virtuoso in his Gucci suit and the lady who was still petite in her nine-centimeter heels rode in the taxi that was now like a magic carriage. It bore the two of them, different from their usual selves, down the glittering streets of Christmas Eve at forty kilometers per hour in the brilliant world that was also out of the ordinary.