Toradora! - Volume 8 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Goooood morning!”

When his voice cracked grossly, Minori immediately turned around.

In the cold of midwinter, a group of fluffed-up sparrows moved from inside the azalea bush next to them to Ryuuji and Minori’s feet. He didn’t know what they were so passionately pecking at, but they all started hammering away rapidly at the asphalt.

“Yo! Yo! Ma!”

Startled by Minori’s buoyant voice, they all scattered into the air.

The weather was clear, and the sun came at them blindingly on that below-freezing morning. The beams of light made Minori’s round cheeks light up as she struck a salute.

Ryuuji squinted his eyes and looked back at her, though he felt like lowering his head. He wanted to turn his eyes down, but he desperately raised them up. He tried very hard to move his faltering mouth. If he ran away now, it’d end up being like yesterday.

“So a-about yesterday…uh, sorry. Uh, um…it ended up seeming like I was ignoring you.”

Minori waited for him to finish his awkward apology.

“Whatchu talkin’ about, Takasu-kun? Seriously, just stop that!”

She gave him a good look at her white teeth as she smiled. As her face wrinkled from the grin, she looked like a radiant sunflower that had bloomed in the middle of winter. She rewrapped her tartan-checked scarf, pushed up her slightly shorter bangs, and shifted up the heavy-looking sports bag on her shoulder.

“I just thought you had a stomachache or something!”

She seemed to leap forward as she approached him by a step. She probably didn’t actually think that, but understood the awkwardness that caused Ryuuji to run. “So, doesn’t matta’ to me at all!”

Even so, Minori smiled, and Ryuuji smiled for her, too. For the first time in what seemed like forever, they faced each other. They were exactly a meter apart.

“It did ache a little…actually.”

“Wow, what a shocking confession.”

His smile wasn’t manufactured. There were no lies or tricks or deceptions.

He smiled so he could ride through it, so that after being rejected, he could head forward. Ride this out and smile, let the storm finish, and wait for the next scene. He had seen it on TV once. Supposedly when kids and adults were involved in the same accident, the kids would sometimes make it through with unexpectedly fewer injuries than the adults. They could do that because their bodies were still flexible. They would be sent flying and hit the hard ground, but survive with minimal damage to their bodies. Their flexibility alone would act as a cushion to protect their lives.

Using the same logic, he would smile and smile as much as he needed and flexibly take it in, he thought. He would be as pliable as he could. If he took everything seriously, he really would be pulverized.

Smile, Takasu Ryuuji. Smile, Kushieda Minori, he commanded, but that didn’t seem to actually translate onto his face. Minori seemed taken aback. 

“Whoa!” 

It was fine as long as the kids were smiling.

He recalled Taiga’s face from long ago. I ain’t dead yet… the vision of Tiger said as she put a doughnut ring over her head and smiled.

As for the real Taiga…

“Minoriiiin! Good morning!”

She completely ignored Ryuuji’s existence, waving her hand from the other side of the crosswalk, where the light was red. “Yooo yooo!” Minori waved both of her hands back. 

Taiga awkwardly waved around both her arms and her legs. “Yooo yooo yooo!” The young salaryman also waiting for the light behind Taiga seemed appalled as he watched her wiggling dance in silence.

What an embarrassment, Ryuuji thought. 

“Yooo yooo yooo! Yooooo!” For some reason, Minori became even more enthusiastic. “Yo yo yo! Good morning yo! Good mor-yo-ning! Good-yo mor-yo-ning yo! Ahh!”

She swung around the bag on her shoulder and vigorously mimed a DJ move. Minori held a headphone only she could feel with one hand and a record only she could see with the other. She scratched it and made it squeal. Facing the floor only she could perceive, she raised her voice to a falsetto to rile up the crowd. “Haaah! Aaah!”

“Minorin, what do you think you’re doing?! That’s weird!”

Taiga laughed from the opposite side of the road. The unsettled salaryman at her back stared at Minori this time. Then, the man noticed that next to the crazy Minori was Ryuuji, with a face that looked like a depiction of the demon Asura that a cursed sculptor had carved with a bloodstained chisel. Slowly, the man’s eyes turned away. 

It wasn’t that Ryuuji was thinking, “If you look at my girl Kushieda like that then, why, I’ll—I’ll—I’ll kill ya!” He was just genuinely taken aback by DJ Minori.

“Give it a rest, Kushieda… You’re embarrassing other people. I’m going to go ahead of you.”

“Whyyy? I’ll go with you.”

“No. It’s hard to keep up with you and Taiga.”

He had dispelled the awkwardness of the other day. That was enough for now. Ryuuji started to hurriedly walk ahead.

“Ohh! Minorin, Ryuuji’s running! Grab him!” Taiga wailed from the other side of the light. 

It wasn’t just Ryuuji who didn’t understand what Taiga was getting at. “Huh?! I need to grab him?!” Minori questioned back. 

“Yeah!” Taiga replied. 

Ryuuji’s eyes met with Minori’s when she turned around, and he reflexively whipped the other way. Minori was also acting on reflex as she reached out a hand to him before he could escape. His cold hand and hers hit each other. Minori’s fingers latched on to Ryuuji’s.

“Ack!”

She held his fingers for barely a fleeting second.

Naturally, Ryuuji leapt up. He was so surprised, he couldn’t even yell. He felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning that worked itself from his fingertips all the way down to his tailbone. However, Minori was the one who let go first.

Ahh! She might have even said. Or it might have been, Gyaa!

Minori’s fingers went limp. She pulled her hand to her chest as though she had been burned and enveloped it in her other hand. Her face was red. It was as though Ryuuji had done something wrong to her or she was scared. Her mouth was set in a line. She leered at him.

“Ahh, damn it, don’t underestimate me!” she barked. She reached out her hand again for a second try.

“Deeeetaaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnn!” she yelled self-importantly, but all she grabbed was the cuff of his school jacket…and only the very edge of it to boot. He would have been able to shake her off just by lifting his arm, but Ryuuji simply let himself be detained. Actually, to be more accurate, he was just so shocked that he couldn’t move.

At that point, the light turned green. Taiga looked right and left and right again one more time before she started running. She looked at Ryuuji as Minori held him by the sleeve, and then she looked at Minori. After that, she smiled.

“You got caught, so you get to hold the bags!”

“Whoa?!”

She threw her bag at Ryuuji. The bag traced a parabola, and Ryuuji caught it without thinking about it. Taiga pointed at Ryuuji and danced slightly. “Hah!” Having lightened her load, she spread her arms out to the sides like an airplane.

“He fell for it! He fell for it! I’m heading out first!”

Her skirt billowed as she ran away.

“You’re going first… Wait, Taiga, you’ve got to be kidding me! What?! What am I supposed to do with this?! You’re seriously making me carry it?!”

The bag Taiga had left in his hand wasn’t really that heavy, but he was bitter. First she teased him for being a dog and a bug, and now she made him her bag carrier—even if she did it so he could walk to school with Minori, couldn’t she have accomplished that some other way?

He watched her disappear into the distance in mute amazement.

“This is your fault, Kushieda. Why did you have to catch me?” Ryuuji looked at Minori. Minori, in her own way, was dumbfounded where she stood.

“That Taiga…Taiga…Taiga…” she repeated like a prayer. Suddenly, she shook herself like a wet dog, and her eyes went wide. She swung her arm around coolly, like a hero that was about to change into their costume. Then she brought her fist up to her chest. “No…this isn’t a big deal. Now! Give me a cord!”

“A cord?” said Ryuuji.

“I mean one of these!”

She took one of the two handles of the bag that Ryuuji was holding. The bag hung between them, almost as though they were small kids holding a shopping bag.

“All right. Seriously, Taiga’s just hopeless. I’ll finish her off when we get to school.”

She grinned up at him from a close distance. Her cheek had the texture of a peach, and the smell of her hair… Ryuuji froze now, of all times.

“Right!”

“Uh…yeah!”

They swiftly decided to finish off Taiga right then and there.

As they walked, Minori said, “Oh, time out.” She pulled out gloves from her pocket and put them on her hands. Still not saying anything, she rubbed her hands together. “Okay!” She once again took up half the bag.

Now that he was suddenly alone with her, he couldn’t escape anymore. It really wouldn’t have been appropriate for him to run now. He wouldn’t do that. As Ryuuji walked, he attempted to strike up a natural conversation. Like an idiot, he tried to calculate the right time to talk. “Ah, I, uh…”

“Hm? You trying to get me in my pressure point?”

“No. I…I just think your hair looks pretty neat.”

He’d finally said it.

“Oh, si. I wanted to make it shorter, but the beautician said that I’ve got a large crown, and I shouldn’t go short. She said my hair is stiff, so it’d probably stick out and make my head look super big. She kind of scared me out of it.”

She kept facing forward. As she breathed out white, Minori’s voice lowered as though she were a little disappointed. “I wanted to get a pixie cut, though. I wanted it to actually be kind of like…like a man’s! I wanted it to have a force behind it. Like a boy cut! Like a bowl cut! …No that’s not right… Like an undercut! That’s wrong, too…”

“Well, maybe it would have looked good short?”

Minori raised her face and looked at Ryuuji. She smiled and said, “Yeah, you’re right.” She used one knit-gloved hand to lightly push up her hair several times. “When I was in elementary school, I pretty much had a buzz cut. I went with my little brother to this place called The Barber. They really only cut hair for men, but he’d just shear everything off with the clippers. My nickname used to be Mister Lady.”

“Really…well that’s… Mister Lady… Wait, you’ve got a brother? He’s a high school baseball player, right?”

“Yeah. He’s one year younger. Their school is pretty good, and they go to the Koshien Stadium championships pretty often. Of course, he’s not one of the main players, but next year he might pitch at the Koshien mound. I can’t believe that jerk’s a pitcher.”

“Wow, I had no idea. That’s pretty amazing. You must be proud of him.”

“Well, I’m super jealous of him. Ahhh, when we were in little league, I was way ahead of him. Now I’m just like a lamb chop that can’t even get a shear.”

“I think you’ll be fine without that. Actually, you mean a lamb, not a lamb chop, right?”

“Oh, Takasu-kun, you said such a shockingly lame thing that I’ve got static in my hair.”

“It’s because you’re playing with your hair with gloves,” he said back as he side-eyed Minori. Her hair was standing on end. He saw her neck peek from under her scarf and thought, It really would have been fine short. 

That was when he noticed it. At some point, he’d become able to smile without making a conscious effort. He could walk next to Minori while holding the bag with her. He had gathered up the pieces of his shattered heart and squeezed them together, like making a rice ball. He wouldn’t run. He would hold his ground.

He was sure he could keep going like this. It was almost as though nothing had happened. It was like he could start afresh. 

Right. The upcoming school trip was another chance. That was when he would slowly come to face her.

If he did that during the trip, just as Taiga had told him, there was a chance he could get a different answer from Minori.

Ryuuji believed it. The time was right to have courage and face forward. 

“Okay, let’s finish off Taiga! Where’d she go?!”

“She’s not here. How about the bathroom? The lockers?”

“We’ll find her even if we have to turn over every blade of grass! This is punishment! It’s Hamburger Hill!”

No sooner had they gotten to the classroom than Minori had started to huff and puff as she began looking around for Taiga. Though he was a little exasperated, Ryuuji was with her after having agreed to it earlier. 

At that point, he locked eyes with Ami, who it seemed had ­arrived at school earlier. Ami was chit-chatting with Maya, Nanako, and the other girls who surrounded her. Seeing Minori arrive with Ryuuji, she turned toward them with slightly narrowed eyes. However, before he could understand her expression, Minori also noticed Ami.

“Oh! Ahmin-senpai! It’s the first time I’ve seen you this year! Have you seen that girl Taiga?”

“Oh my, good morning, Minori-chan. I haven’t seen Tiger but…well, how do I put this, it’s like, ugh.”

Right, Takasu-kun, she kept going.

He wondered what would happen if he walked right over there and just gave her a double slap. What’re you trying to say?! He wouldn’t do it, but he wanted to. What in the world was she suddenly trying to start? 

“Ugh?”

He didn’t know what she was trying to say, but he knew the words aimed directly at Minori were meant to be prickly, and they had left Minori standing stock-still. He wasn’t sure he knew what was going on, so he ended up just standing stock-still, too.

“Well, I wonder what it could mean. What could it be?”

Like a ripple, something stirred delicately between Ami and Minori. At that time, Taiga, who had no idea what was going on, came into the classroom through the hallway. 

“Oh! Found Taiga!” 

That ripple was drowned in their normal, everyday life.

***

They had their long homeroom that afternoon.

Leaving the class to Kitamura, the bachelorette (age 30) was reading some thick magazine… If you looked really, really closely, it was a free housing information magazine you could get at the station. She was completely in her own world. The groups in the class were also in leisure mode and filling up on their lunches. There were even a few of them already dozing off.

“Now, we’re going to start the long homeroom. Stop messing around and open your eyes, everyone.” Kitamura started talking from the teacher’s platform, but he also seemed relaxed somehow, and there wasn’t any power behind his words.

“Today’s the day we’re going to decide on groups for the school trip you’ve all been waiting for.”

We haven’t been waiting for it, someone heckled. Kitamura, who probably wasn’t waiting for the trip either anyway, didn’t say anything back.

“We’re making eight-person groups with four girls and four boys each.”

He started writing on the blackboard in squiggling script. The 4, 4, 8 he wrote was slanted and distorted.

In the lax classroom, Ryuuji was the only one with a grim expression, his spine ramrod-straight. He felt like a swordsman, but he looked like a delinquent. He was trying to be enthusiastic, but he was worried about the atmosphere of the class.

To Ryuuji, the school trip was an incredibly important affair. There wouldn’t be any other opportunities to revive his relationship with Minori after this. But the class seemed lifeless, like they hated the idea. A few of them even whispered here and there that they would rather have the class trip canceled. Naturally, no one seemed to want to go to a snowy mountain in the middle of the winter. 

“Okay, let’s start making the groups. During this time, we’ll make a list of names to present.”

At Kitamura’s lackadaisical order, some of the students started to stand up and walk around as they exchanged dull conversation. 

“Ah well, this is so lame.” 

“Ugh, let’s pair up.”

“Hey, Takasu. We’re teaming up, right? Also that idiot and—”

Noto trotted (uncutely) over to Ryuuji’s seat. Then he pointed at Haruta, who was sleeping out of disappointment that the Okinawa trip had been canceled. His eyes had rolled up into his head to the point that they could see the whites.

“Plus the master!” Noto pointed. 

“Add me in, too,” Kitamura was saying as he waved his hand gracefully like a politician in an election from the teacher’s platform.

“Now we’ve got four—boy team complete!”

As Ryuuji looked at the happy-looking otter’s face, he felt a little like he had been saved. They wouldn’t have the added flair of the sky, sea, and sightseeing anymore for the school trip, but if he were with his friends, he would be having more than enough fun. If he wanted to make the trip fruitful, then he would need to take the lead. He would need to show them he was having fun and make his friends excited, too. 

He cocked his chin up. He’d put them out of their misery…no, he meant he’d end their misery. Ryuuji’s eyes glinted as he opened them wide—he wasn’t mimicking the face of a raptor going after an otter, though.

“Right! All we’ve got left is the girl team.”

He wasn’t mimicking a pervert ogling the girl team, either. He wanted to be in the same group as Minori. That was all he desired. However, in a move completely unrelated to Ryuuji’s motives, Noto prodded at Ryuuji’s elbow and laughed uncutely. “Nah ha ha ha!”

“Let’s pair up with Tiger’s group! We’ll put Kitamura and Tiger in the same group, right?!”

“You’re still trying to do that…”

“We’re going on such a plain ski trip. Don’t you want to add a little spice with some love?”

Ryuuji sighed. His enthusiasm disappeared into the air with the carbon dioxide he exhaled. Even though he wanted everyone to be excited, he was already getting tired of Noto playing matchmaker half in jest to get Kitamura and Taiga together. 

Of course, he wanted Taiga and Kitamura in the same group. If that happened, Taiga would also be happy. But…how should he put this? He felt like it was so unnecessary having people who weren’t even involved trying to make a big deal about deliberately manufacturing ways to get them together. If Taiga needed any help, then she only needed it from Ryuuji. Someone like Noto would never understand Taiga’s complex, weird personality and behavior patterns, anyway. 

Ryuuji tried to say, “You rubbernecker!” or “Get your neck out of other people’s business!” but got distracted. A little ways away, two girls clung to each other. Their faces were smooshed together. 

“It’s such a boring trip, but if you’re there with me, I’m sure it’ll be fun!” 

“Yeah, I feel exactly the same, Minoriiiin!” 

Minori and Taiga were passionately talking to each other. They were completely joined at the hip. In other words, if he were in the same group as Taiga, then he would automatically be in the same group as Minori. He didn’t know how he hadn’t realized such a simple thing. If he just entrusted himself to Noto’s scheme, then everything would come right together.

Regardless…

“You rubbernecker! Get your neck out of other people’s business!”

“What?! But don’t you think it’d be fun? It’d be super funny for sure if Tiger and Kitamura ended up dating. Kitamura’s probably on the verge of forgetting the patriarch at any second, and Tiger’s in love with Kitamura, so it’d be like she’s finally getting her chance!”

“I’m saying you shouldn’t butt in!”

“Takasu, you’re so… Well, it doesn’t matter. Actually, Tiger and Kushieda haven’t got any other girls with them, right? What are we going to do for the other two? I wonder if Ami-chan would join us? That’d be amazing.”

You mean that girl who started off the morning spouting gibberish and then ignored me the rest of the day since she hates me because I’m an idiot? You mean that Ami-chan? Ryuuji casually looked around the classroom and found Ami, who was forming one part of the usual it-girl trifecta. For some reason, Maya was getting worked up, saying, “Yeah, why not, let’s invite them!” 

Ami faltered, “What? Seriously?” Nanako was looking at the two in amusement. Around the three of them, groups of boys were holding themselves in check and just speechlessly watching. All the boys were putting off an I-want-them-to-be-in-our-group aura.

Nope, not gonna happen. Ryuuji shook his head at Noto.

“No way,” he said. “Kawashima and Taiga actually hate each other’s guts, and even if they didn’t, she’s always in a group of three with Kihara and Kashii anyway. We’d be off by one.”

“Oh, you’re right. But it would have been a great plan with Kitamura and Tiger and me and Ami-chan.”

“Pull your head out of your butt and stop spouting the impossible.”

“What? In my imagination, I can spread my wings and be free in the skies as I fly! Hey, Kushieda ’n’ Tiger! Would you join us?!”

Getting carried away, he waved his hand as he headed over to them. Minori and Taiga glared at him in jest.

“What do you wanna do, Taiga? Looks like some men are heading over to see if they can join our ranks.”

“How about we slash him shoulder to hip, Minorin?”

Translated loosely, that was probably a yes.

Taiga casually looked over at Ryuuji, took a glance at Minori, and once again returned her gaze to him. It was as though she were saying, Look at you, getting into the same group as Minorin. Ryuuji returned the look—well, he didn’t exactly, but he did try to indicate, You got in the same group with Kitamura, too. He was about to try pointing casually at Kitamura on the teacher’s platform.

“Hey, Maruo! Will you join our group?!”

Oh no. His eyes peeled open.

He had been careless, and Maya had found her opening to happily slip over to Kitamura on the teacher’s platform. Kitamura, being Kitamura, didn’t know they were joining Taiga’s group. 

“Yeah, sure,” he readily nodded. At this rate, they’d end up double-booked.

“Huh?! Wait, wait, master, what do you think you’re doing!”

Noto headed over to the teacher’s platform in a fluster, cutting between Kitamura and Maya with ragged karate chops.

“Nuh-uh, nope, not gonna happen! Get away from each other! Break it up! Sorry Kihara, but Master Kitamura is in our group, and we already promised to join Tiger’s group!”

“What?! Seriously?!”

Actually, who said we needed you?! Clear to the point it was scary, those words seemed to be written on Maya’s face as she looked at Noto. As far as Maya was concerned, Ryuuji, Haruta, and every non-Kitamura person in the group was probably unnecessary.

Noto pushily put his arm around Kitamura’s shoulders. “Let’s go, let’s make the group listings and write out our names.” He quickly tried to lead Kitamura away. Maya reached out an ­agitated hand.

“You’ve got Maruo-kun, Noto-kun, Takasu-kun and Haruta-kun in your group, right?”

Nanako, who had been watching the situation together with Ami from a distance, approached them. When her calm voice intercepted them, it seemed to have power behind it, and Noto stopped walking without thinking.

“Then in that case, I think you have to ask the other members what their opinions are. Hey, Haruta-kun, wake up. Wake…up!”

As though she were breathing life back into him, Nanako spoke sweetly to Haruta in his unconscious state. He was like a corpse as he slept. He was the seventeen-year-old Sir Sleeps-a-lot. He wouldn’t wake up if an elephant stepped on him. And yet, Haruta’s white eyes slowly regained their consciousness.

“Hey, Haruta-kun… Who do you like better, us or those girls?”

“Huah…?”

Haruta’s eyes first went to Nanako and Ami, then to Maya. Next, he looked at Taiga and Minori, whom Nanako was pointing to.

“Uhhhn…you…”

He started to walk unsteadily as though drawn to Nanako.

“Well, thanks. You can go back to sleep now…forever…permanently…”

Nanako rotated her finger in circles in front of Haruta’s eyes. Haruta stared intently at her finger and his eyes moved over and over in a circle. Then he simply collapsed right onto the floor. 

Ami said in a small voice, “You’re amazing, Nanako.” 

Maya applauded. “That was super spiritual.”

“Haruta’s brain is on the level of a dragonfly’s…”

Is our friend a dragonfly? Is he? Noto whispered in sadness. Ryuuji dodged the question as he tried to wake up the pitiful Haruta.

Maya glared at Noto, as though saying, Now what’ll you do? Noto narrowed his eyes at Maya while Kitamura stayed sandwiched between them. Taiga and Minori seemed unable to follow the developments and were looking at each other in worry. Kitamura seemed even more worried. He realized that the situation had come about because of his carefree response and rubbed at the bridge of his nose where his glasses rested.

Ryuuji understood that Maya wanted to be paired with her beloved Maruo, aka Kitamura, but did Ami want that? He glanced sneakily at Ami to see what she was doing. If she partnered with Kitamura, she would need to be in the same group as Ryuuji—the one she claimed to hate because he was stupid. Maybe she really did intend to skip out? Maybe she wouldn’t go on the once-in-a-lifetime school trip?

Ami, who might not have noticed Ryuuji’s gaze or who might just be ignoring it, was only looking at Maya.

“Huh?! Wait a second, isn’t this just perfect?!”

At that point, the ever-popular Kitamura realized an important fact and raised his voice.

“Kihara and you guys make up a group of three, right? And Kushieda and Taiga make two. We have sixteen boys and seventeen girls in our class, so one group needs to have four boys and five girls. Isn’t that a relief? We figured it all out!”

Whaaat?! The one who raised her voice to the ceiling was Maya. She’d attained her goal of being in the same group as Kitamura, but her wide, apricot-shaped eyes were confused as they looked at Taiga. In Maya’s imagination, now that the patriarch was out of the picture, the last boss to defeat in her battle for Kitamura was Aisaka Taiga.

On the other side of things, Taiga wasn’t even looking at Kitamura, even though they were in the same group.

“Huuh?! I have to be with you?!” Ami exclaimed. “I don’t want to though! Oh, right, we could just have only Minori join our group! Then you could be a lone Tiger and just wander around by yourself!”

“How about you go around looking for your own tribe, Dimhuahua? Oh, look, look, I think there’s someone right there you’d get along with.”

“Why are you lumping me together with the spinster (age 30)?!”

Taiga and Ami, busy sparring verbally, didn’t notice Maya’s complicated gaze. Eventually Maya quietly approached Ryuuji, who she must have decided was an ally.

“This’ll be a struggle for both of us, right? But we have to keep at it! Actually, that Noto! That Noto guy…! He’s sooo infuriating!”

As though trying to get his sympathy, she opened her eyes wide at him.

“Um, you must be misunderstanding something. It’s not really like Taiga is my cru—”

He tried to tell it to her straight, but Maya already stopped listening. “Maruo! Let’s write the list out together!” She followed after Kitamura, running at him like a bullet.

Ryuuji breathed out a sigh as he watched her and then somehow mustered his composure.

“You’re having a fight again?! Let’s be nice, Ahmin!”

“Oh, of course I’m fine with you, Minori-chan. ♥ Taiga’s the one who’s a nuisance!”

“Your partner, Dimhuahua, is writing in red pen in a real estate magazine. Why don’t you go help her out?”

“Like I said, why is my partner the spinster (age 30)?!”

They were making a ruckus like usual. Taiga, Ami, and then Minori’s voices were soaring into his ears. Everything’s like normal. As he realized he didn’t see any changes in Ami and Minori’s relationship, Ryuuji breathed a sigh of relief.

***

Hee hee hee.

“…?”

He had a dream where all the girls were laughing.

In the lingering laughter, Ryuuji slowly opened his heavy eyes from where he was curled up under the covers. He looked at his clock to check the time and was struck with horror for a moment.

It was nine in the morning, but it was Sunday, so he could sleep in. He had plans, but they weren’t meeting up until way later.

He closed his eyes again and tried to bury himself back into the covers.

“He definitely hasn’t noticed yet, right?”

“Yeah, he’s going back to sleep.”

His eyes opened with such force they might have torn apart. It wasn’t that his memories of being a demon lord in another life had awakened within him—he’d just heard some people talking nearby.

The curtains were left open a good fifteen centimeters, and through that gap, instead of the morning light, he had a perfect view of the window of Taiga’s condo. He saw two faces there.

“Whoa?!”

“Oh, he’s awake!”

“Oh no! He saw us!”

He got up, opened the curtains to check what was going on in the reality outside his dreams, and almost collapsed. He somehow righted himself and promptly closed the curtains.

Just now what what what what what…whoa! It only took a moment for him to be clearly awakened to the fact that what had just happened wasn’t a dream, but reality.

“Ryuuji! You can’t escape from reality! Get up!”

“Hey, Taiga. He looks sleepy. That’s kind of harsh.”

Taiga and Minori had been peeping at him while he slept. On this day, of all days, he was a mess—he was wearing the most linty, pilled set of pajamas he owned. Plus, with the worst timing…

“Oh dear…I just heard Taiga-chan’s voice…”

Normally dead asleep, his mother Yasuko came out of the bathroom. Staggering like a zombie, she headed unsteadily into her son’s room. He tried to keep her at bay, but she got on the bed and flung open the curtains he had only just closed, so everything was exposed.

“Ohh. ★ It really is Taiga-chan. ★ Oh, nice to meet your friend. ★”

She waved her hand in a carefree manner at the peeping couple. 

“Ya-chan, good morning! Minorin, that’s Ryuuji’s mom.”

“Good morning to you! Oh dear! I’m Kushieda! Oh dear! Sorry for doing something so unreasonable, Ms. Takasu! Oh dear! To Bomba! Oh dear! To Bomba! Oh—”

“Minorin, you’ll burst a vessel in your head.”

It was true that on that morning, Yasuko had a bomba hair style that could only be described as something a country bumpkin would have. She hadn’t washed out her half-updo, which she had hardened like a rock with hairspray, before bed. It always ended up like that when she didn’t. At least she had washed off her makeup. Yasuko smiled, her soft cheeks bouncing like mochi. She sniffled.

“Naugh, Ryuu-chaaan, I’m cowld.”

“It’s ’cause you opened the windows up all the way! Put something on…wait, eek…noooo!”

Even her son was taken aback at the way she looked. She was in a barely-there bra and pilled wool underwear. Oh no, this won’t do. It’ll look exactly like we’re a family of perverts. Ryuuji panicked and closed the curtains. Fsssshht!

“Oh, right! Let’s all eat breakfast together. ★ Ryuu-chan will make it.”

Fshhht! Yasuko pushed aside her son and opened the curtains, still in only her bra. 

“We can’t, Ya-chan. Actually, we already made breakfast, and we’re eating it after this.”

“Oh, you did? But I’m so lonely…”

Taiga, leaning her elbows on the windowsill next to Minori, giggled.

“We got together early, and we’re spending our morning together, right, Minorin?”

“Yay! That’s how it is, so we’ll see you later, Takasu-kun.”

Right—the school trip group had promised to meet at Taiga’s house at lunch. They needed to make a guidebook for school and couldn’t meet at the family restaurant because they needed to use a computer. In a rare moment for her, Taiga had offered up her house. It seemed Minori had also come to the condo by herself early in the morning.

Ryuuji casually hid Yasuko with his shoulders and also hid his own pilled pajamas with the curtain as he looked at Taiga.

“You’re going to have Kushieda help clean your place, aren’t you? You probably haven’t even done any spring cleaning. It’s definitely dirty…hmph!”

It probably sounded like he held a grudge, and that was correct. Ryuuji had told her several times that he’d come over to help with spring cleaning, but for some reason or other, Taiga kept making excuses to reject him. It was enough to make his face go Devilman.

“Whomp whomp. You’re wrong. My whole condo is sparkling clean from floor to ceiling. It might even be cleaner than your place. Right, Minorin, isn’t it clean?”

Yeah, yeah! Minori nodded.

“That’s a lie! There’s no way! You don’t have anyone to clean…”

“I do. The Duskin Merry Maids did it. Ahh, it was such an ordeal. Yesterday, four old maids came in and took three hours scrubbing here and there and who-knows-where…”

“Wha…at?!”

Did she mean those thorough Merry Maids who cost at least thirty thousand yen? Did she mean to say that those pros had cleaned the bottom of the laundry machine, the curtain rails, the air conditioner filter, and everything Ryuuji had been eyeing for so long?

“The skills of a real pro are definitely on another level. Well, Ryuuji, you can just take your time coming in later. Minorin and I are going to relish our breakfast, and then we’re going to the Uniqlo at the station building at ten and buying Heattech tank tops and tights to bring on the school trip… In other words, it’s girl time, and you’d better not come.”

“Oh, Taiga, it just dinged. Looks like the bread is toasted.”

“Really?! We need to eat it while it’s still hot! Bye, Ryuuji!”

The two of them pitter-pattered away from the window and disappeared. At some point, Yasuko had flopped over on her son’s bed and was back asleep in a position that was painful to look at.

Ryuuji’s fingers trembled where they were on the window frame.

She’s hired the Duskin…Merry Maids? He looked at the Takasu stick that he used to clean the window frame. The Merry Maids probably had such amazing cleaning supplies. They probably used electricity to their heart’s content and scrubbed at Taiga’s condo with mechanical appliances. Those maids had stepped into Ryuuji’s domain using money-wasting techniques on all the things he had been letting develop for spring cleaning.

Those Merry Maids… Those damn Merry Maids! Ryuuji chewed bitterly on his lip and rubbed at the window frame with his pilled pajama sleeve. Yasuko had left fingerprints on it!

At the movement of her son jiggling around, Yasuko fell right off the mattress.

Whoa. The word seemed to float above the group sitting around the low glass table.

“I’m going to bring the computer and printer from my bedroom, so wait here. Minorin, could you help me carry the cables and power supply?”

“Okay.”

Taiga took along Minori and left the living room. No sooner had she done that than everyone burst out talking.

“Wait, wait, wait a second! Isn’t this room amazing?! It’s basically the same size as my place!”

“This must be a condo, right? The furniture is super cute, too… She said she lived alone, but maybe she’s like super rich? I’d become her roommate anytime if she wanted.”

“Me too! Me too! Me too!”

Maya was there in a turtleneck, miniskirt, and leggings. Whether it was a coincidence or not, Nanako subtly matched her with a turtleneck, dress, and leggings. Ryuuji passed around floor cushions to each of them and, at the sight of the excited girls, nostalgically remembered his own reaction to the condo.

Kyaah, what an amazing condo, how luxurious… When he stepped into it on that first morning, Ryuuji had been enchanted as he looked around the room. And then—“Ugh!” He had stopped in his tracks, close to throwing up at the rotting smell coming from the kitchen. This is terrible. I need to do something. And so, he had started cleaning—in other words, that was definitely when his and Taiga’s destinies had first intersected. If that smell did him in and he ran home, where would they be now?

“It’s like something that’d be in a magazine… Actually, Takasu-kun, could you stop wiping everything we touch?”

“Oh, sorry. It’s a bad habit…”

He had unconsciously been wiping up the glass the girls touched with the towel he had in hand. No matter whether they were the Merry Maids or not, they couldn’t do this full-detail support cleaning.

“Whoa! That’s a huge TV!”

“The lights are huge, too!”

They gasped at the TV and gawked at the chandelier. Noto and Kitamura, who were taken aback by every little thing, looked like they were having fun, too. Then Kitamura turned to Ryuuji.

“I’d heard about it before, but you were serious about Aisaka’s house being right next to yours.”

“Huh, next to yours?! Takasu-kun, do you live in this condo, too?! Amazing!”

At Maya’s overexaggerated voice, he shook his head. No, no, no, no, no, that’ll never happen!

“My house is the rental next door. The windows face each other exactly. Well, that’s the thing that connected me and Taiga together and made us close… I guess not close, but it made us get to know each other…like normal in the classroom.”

“Guess you two are inseparable, whether you like it or not.”

Noto’s words were probably right, in the end, so Ryuuji nodded. 

Ami sat next to Maya in her skinny jeans, her long legs folded and sprawled out in boredom. The pale skin above the cleavage of her knitted top was adorned by a delicate gold chain necklace.

Making a guidebook was a boring and simple task. Ami, who normally would never participate in something like that, had been threatened by Taiga into coming. 

“If you’re thinking of skipping the menial work,” she said, “then we might have a DVD appreciation day at my house. Are you okay with that?” 

It was likely the DVDs Taiga meant were the ones he only heard about in rumor, which starred Kawashima Ami and were produced at the command of Aisaka Taiga. It was titled “One Hundred Impressions in Quick Succession.” 

“Hey, isn’t this amazing?! Anyone could look cute if they wore this princess-y thing!”

Haruta, whom Ryuuji could no longer see at that point, had appeared in a ridiculous getup. At some point, he had gotten into Taiga’s walk-in closet and was now wearing a brand-name overdress that probably cost one hundred thousand yen. Under that, of course, he had messily layered on a ton of fluffy lace underskirts that cost several tens of thousands of more yen.

What a huge idiot…

At the very moment everyone thought that, a small shadow flew through the air like a flying squirrel. That shadow quickly pulled the clothes off the idiot and slapped his cheeks.

“Ah! Ah!”

Then, as a finishing touch, the shadow hit him so hard with the corner of the computer that his head might have caved in.

“Everyone! We have to burn all these clothes to a crisp! They’re biohazards!”

“Hey, hey, hey!” said Ryuuji. “That’s a waste—mottainai! What do you think you’re saying? Haruta just wore them for a second! Actually, more importantly, you idiot! Computers aren’t blunt weapons! Are you sure you didn’t break it?!”

“Calm down, it’s the type of computer where you can drop it from two meters and it’ll be fine.”

“Taka-chan…were…weren’t you supposed to be worrying about me?” Tears came spewing from Haruta’s eyes.

The members of the group addressed Haruta in gentle voices: 

“You’re the one who was wrong.” 

“You reap what you sow.” 

“I’d rather you stay unconscious.” 

Holding the printer, Minori inferred what happened to Haruta and offered him a silent prayer.

“Now, Haruta’s quieted down, so let’s start making the school trip guidebook! All together now! Bow!”

When it came to taking charge, Kitamura had no competition. They all bowed and clapped.

“It needs to be on B5-sized paper and six pages long, not including the cover sheet. Four pages need to be research done prior to the trip…and that’s the part we’re going to work on now. I drew from other guidebooks by researching the history of the land. For the rest of the book, we can write our own impressions. Apparently, we’re going to put them all together for the whole school’s class yearbook, and then we’re giving copies to the parents. I was thinking we could at least use it as a reference, so I borrowed last year’s book.”

“Nothing less expected from the master! Good job! If we just copy this, we probably wouldn’t even get caught, right?”

“Huh? Noto, of course we couldn’t do that. What’s the use of copying the history of Okinawa? Are you like actually a super big idiot?” Maya was cold to Noto.

They opened the booklet and peeked into it. 

“Ahhh…” Their listless voices rang out at practically the same time.

The third years’ memories of Okinawa were just too dazzling for them. The research pages were nothing, but the impressions pages were so blinding it made their eyes squint. The skies and seas were so blue they didn’t seem real, and the beach was a glittering pure white. They had gone the year before in the middle of winter in January as well, but everyone was wearing merry Uminchu calligraphy T-shirts, baseball caps, and had towels around their necks under the brilliant, glittering sun, with faces that said “It’s hot!” “It’s too bright!” They were slurping up Okinawa soba and nibbling on sata andagi doughnuts. There was even a picture of them on an isolated island like they had seen on TV, being pulled by buffalo. 

“Ngh?!” Noto’s voice suddenly went shrill. He slammed the book closed. They raised their faces in surprise to look at Noto. “N-nothing…” 

He was being very suspicious.

“No, this isn’t suspicious! But, we can’t reference this anyway, so let’s stop looking at it! Let’s think about what we’re actually going to do! Anyway, let’s ask Google-sensei about something! Uhh, where’s the computer’s AC adapter…”

“Whaaat’s going on, Noto-kun? What did you see just now? That was suuuper suspicious… It was right around this page, wasn’t it?”

“Ah, wait a sec, Ami-chan!”

Ami stole the booklet from Noto where he sat across from her, with the low table between them. She grinned as she turned back to the earlier page. As long as it wasn’t making the boring lame guidebook, anything probably would have been amusing to her.

“Oh! Oh my my my my! Oh my…so it’s this.”

“What is it?” said Kitamura. “Does it have anything to do with me?”

“Hey wait, just stop it,” Noto whispered to Ami.

But Ami wasn’t listening. She pouted happily and looked steadily at her childhood friend as she said in a low voice, almost as though speaking to herself, “Yuusaku’s the only one I can’t show this to.”

“What… But actually, what is it? This is going to bother me. Let me see.”

“Well, if you say so, Yuusaku, then I guess I’ve got to show you. I wonder what you’ll think… Don’t blame me if you end up crying…”

“Seems like you want me to… What’s wrong with that picture of the buffalo—whoa!”

As soon as he looked at it, Kitamura froze. Everyone, wondering what it could possibly be, looked at it. Then they understood.

It was a picture of a certain group on a tour, being pulled by the buffalo as they crossed the remote island. Under the dazzling blue sky on the beach, a long-haired girl was left by herself on the luggage rack while everyone else walked happily into the shallows with the buffalo.

The girl left behind on the luggage rack had her hand on her hip and was laughing out loud. She seemed to arrogantly look on at the progress of things. It felt like they might hear her voice even now. Daah ha ha ha ha ha haaa! It was an incredibly manly voice and a hearty laugh.

In other words, the king on the luggage rack was everyone’s former beloved patriarch, Kano Sumire.

“Whoa, that must be a shock. It must be, right? The person who so grandly rejected you in the end is suddenly right here in this picture. Poor Yuusaku, you okay?”

“Wh-why wouldn’t I be?”

“So you’re okay, that’s good! Come to think of it, have you gotten any response from Kano-senpai? Maybe she’s got a boyfriend in America right around now?”

“The president got to school…to MIT and was admitted… That’s what I heard from her younger sister…”

“Huuh. So she’s a university girl who skipped a grade! Aha! That’s so cool! But what’s Ehm Ah-ee Tee? Is it about as elite as Tokyo University in Japan? Is it like Ivy League? Yuusaku, why don’t you just take the college entrance exams there, too? I’ve got no idea how American schools work!”

“…I wonder where the AC adapter is…”

Kitamura had been defeated by his childhood friend’s merciless and completely obvious sadistic attack. He turned his back to everyone and started fiddling around with the computer cables that Taiga had brought in.

“I-Is this the AC adapter? I’m sure it must be this! And the socket, the socket… Where do you have a socket…” Noto, who started the whole mess, awkwardly stood up and began wandering around the condo. 

“…” 

Maya and Nanako were looking at each other with delicate expressions. For reasons no other person could fathom, Minori was sticking out her front teeth and looking at Kitamura from the corner of her eye. As for Taiga…

“Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! You! Huge! Idiot!” she said in a low voice. She was hitting Ami with both her arms.

“What? I think it’s his fault for being so depressed just because of that little thing. I was just making him stronger. Look, it’s like Kaatsu training.”

It seemed that Ami didn’t care one bit that her childhood friend was feeling down. “Kaatsu!” she said as she gripped her hand into a fist. 

Haruta finally came back to consciousness. “Where am I? Is this my room?” 

He was the same as usual, no changes whatsoever.

As for Ryuuji, he passionately whispered to his friend in his mind, I really understand how you feel. Though Kitamura didn’t know, they had both had their hearts broken. Little things could make their wounds reopen and sting. Ryuuji wasn’t unfamiliar with that feeling.

“I’m going to put on the tea! Let’s eat something and keep going! We can just relax and get things done! Okay!” he said with a loud cry and got up.

“I’m going to share these with everyone. They’re madeleines from home. Actually, that seems like a lot for one person to handle? I, the wandering waitress Kushieda, shall help with something.”

“Right, that’ll be great. Could you look for cups for the tea? We need three more.”

At the luxurious kitchen island that was installed at the back of the living room, Ryuuji’s heart beat a little faster at the reinforcements that had arrived. He somehow calmed the beating in his chest.

Minori put the box of madeleines, which seemed to have been a gift, down in the kitchen. “Okay, okay,” she answered and opened the cupboard to start rummaging through it.

“Hmmm, looks like there aren’t any teacups. Would mugs work?”

“That’d be fine.”

“Here ya go. Oh, this one’s cute. It could hold a lot of tea. I’m going to call dibs on this one.”

With expected skill, she grabbed three mugs in one hand and lined them up in front of Ryuuji. She poked at one with her fingertip. The large orange mug with a whale drawn on it was one which he was sure Taiga had gotten by collecting and trading in stickers from convenience store breads. Minori looked up at Ryuuji’s face and grinned.

“What should we do with the madeleines? It’s kind of too much to go as far as to put them on a plate. How about we just leave ’em in the box and slap them on the table?”

“I…I guess that’s fine.”

“I know, right?!”

She didn’t notice Ryuuji suddenly staggering right next to her. He stood there almost defenselessly as they nearly rubbed elbows. She opened the package and the box.

“M-m-m-m-mado-ma-ma-ma-madole-l-l-l-l-l-lein.”

Minori shook her butt and started rapping. She grabbed the individually wrapped madeleines one after another and put more and more of them out in a row on the marble counter.

“Wait…you…weren’t you going to just slap them down in the box?”

“Hm?! Ohhh, you’re right!”

Was she just on autopilot? Ryuuji watched Minori panic and put the madeleines back in the box. He wanted to laugh.

Compared to him, trying to hide his trembling fingers while he dropped tea bags into the cups, Minori’s autopilot might have been an attempt to act natural. She was in an unfussy outfit that consisted of a zip-up parka and jeans. “Oh no, I wasn’t thinking,” she muttered. Her lips were flushed like a soft, light peach. Her round forehead, her cheeks, and her chin were, too.

“Hey, Golgo…”

“My name isn’t Golgo…”

“Then I’ll be Golgo… Don’t stand behind me…”

“I’m not…”

Everything about her was pretty as always, and she had stolen his eyes. Minori stared at him, so Ryuuji put up both his hands, embarrassed, and turned his eyes away.

“Then fine… Actually, I broke the box when I opened it. We really do need a tray, I just saw one in here.”

Minori smiled a little as she finished joking around. She seemed to be talking to herself as she opened the cupboard along the wall and brought out the silver tray she was looking for. “Hm, this is pretty heavy. Is this like a really good one? Is it expensive? I wonder if it’s okay to use. Hey, Taiga.”

Taiga immediately turned around to face her. Her tartan checked dress fluttered as she made her way to the kitchen.

“What’s wrong? You need me for something?”

“This silver tray, can we use it? I want to bring out the madeleines on it.”

“What? Of course you can use that thing. I thought there was something wrong.”

“Well, look, sometimes these things can be shockingly expensive. That’s what I was thinking. Hey, hey, actually—”

Minori lined the madeleines up on the tray as she suddenly grinned and looked at Ryuuji’s face and Taiga’s in turn.

“The cupboard and tableware are looking super organized. Takasu’s been organizing things, and he’s been doing such a great job. It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and I’m just so impressed.”

“It’s tidy because I asked the Merry Maids to clean…”

Is it really? It is really. With the island kitchen between them, Minori and Taiga were posed in the same way, like sisters, and smiled as they looked at each other. They really do get along, Ryuuji thought as he poured hot water from the boiling T-Fal kettle into the cups. Before he realized it, he was completely out of the loop.

“But I think it’s a big deal how Takasu-kun was managing things around here. It’s been over a year since the last time I came by to clean things, right? You don’t have as many unnecessary things, and it’s gotten easier to keep up. That’s all I’m saying. You have to make sure you show your appreciation to Takasu-kun.”

“He just did it because he likes to. Like to the point he’d rather thank me, right Ryuuji?”

Taiga glanced at him, and he noticed her look.

This is a dangerous direction we’re moving in, Taiga seemed to want to say. The course of the conversation was definitely progressing in the direction of “Taiga definitively needs Takasu-kun or she just can’t make it.” Please do something. Taiga’s gaze was nervous and perplexed, but, to be honest, Ryuuji didn’t know what to do.

“Well, it’s definitely thanks to Takasu-kun. I know it! That’s because I’m God!”

The only thing he could do was pretend to focus on making the tea and smile painfully. Now that Minori had said, Because I’m God! there was no way he could argue back.

“Aisaka, could I have a moment? We can’t get online anymore. The wireless LAN is acting weird.”

“Oh, really? But it was connected just now.”

Help had been sent from heaven. Though it wasn’t that serious of an issue, Kitamura had called Taiga over. With an obviously relieved expression, Taiga left the kitchen with Kitamura, who was wearing Uniqlo from head to toe as he did most days.

Minori, however, kept up the conversation with Ryuuji.

“I really do think that. Last year this place was filled with garbage, and no matter how many times I cleaned it, it wouldn’t last a week. It was such a terrible mess!”

She kept talking without missing a beat. Ryuuji suddenly had a sense of incongruity.

“You hadn’t come by this place for over a year even though you’re so close?”

Come to think of it, hasn’t Minori said something about this before?

“Well, that’s—look…about before, with Taiga’s dad, with what happened, I got in a fight with Taiga. We at least made up, but for some reason or another, since then… I didn’t want to step in too close and make another mistake, since I didn’t know what would happen. That’s what I was thinking.”

“Right… I remember now.”

Ryuuji listened to Minori’s words and automatically thought of himself. Stepping in too close. Wasn’t that exactly what he was doing? Taiga was in the process of challenging herself to make it on her own, and she’d stopped coming over to his house or asking him to do chores for her.

“In other words, you did a good job…is what I want to say, Takasu-kun.”

Minori hit him in the arm, like a guy would do to another guy. Normally, he would be happy at that touch, but right now, more importantly, how had he done a good job? He tried to ask her, but Minori was already starting to prepare the milk and sugar with her usual adeptness. As though trying to resolutely say, Our conversation is over! she turned her back to him.

Ryuuji closed his mouth. He wiped away the moisture in the kitchen with a dry towel. Everyone in the living room had abandoned the computer that wouldn’t connect and started to chitchat. Kitamura and Taiga were the only ones attempting to turn the router set next to the wall on and off. They were seated on the carpet and working hard to somehow restart it.

Why you, Ryuuji suddenly thought. Just when had Taiga become able to sit that close to Kitamura? It was such a petty thought.

“Hey, Takasu-kun?”

“Don’t stand behind me…”

“Don’t steal my joke…”

Minori pushed her hair behind her ear and grinned. She was looking up at Ryuuji. He didn’t know how long she had been watching him.

“So, um, about the school trip. I’m kind of looking forward to it… Actually, I’m really looking forward to it.”

Hiding what was in his heart, Ryuuji scowled successfully. “Geh! Are you serious? We’re just going skiing.”

“I’m good at skiing. I’m like Shimizu Akira. And besides that, this is like the last of it. It’s the last thing we’re doing together as class 2-C. Ahh…this class was super fun, so I feel kind of lonely. Don’t you feel like that, too?”

Checking how the tea was turning out, Minori half-closed her eyes and looked at the bottoms of the nine lined-up cups.

“I was thinking it’d be nice if everyone could always stay like this.”

Always? Everyone? Like this? In other words—he grasped onto something but then got distracted.

From a ways away, Kitamura and Taiga’s whispered conversation came to his ears by chance.

Really?

Yeah. So, I’d rather…

…then I’ll…

Huh? Then…but why? Did something actually happen?

He didn’t know what they were talking about, but it didn’t seem like it was about the internet. Kitamura looked hurt. Taiga didn’t falter or seem flustered as she looked into Kitamura’s face. She was smiling at him naturally in concern. She was peering into his eyes in worry.

The two of them looked natural as they drew near each other. They looked close—almost as though they had been close friends for years. But really, at what point did she—

“Right. Of course.”

The part of the conversation he had caught disappeared as though it had been an unraveled knot.

“It’d be nice if it just stayed like this forever,” Ryuuji answered, mostly unconsciously, and started to line up the saucers for the tea on the tray. He absorbed himself in the work.

Maybe the knot really had unraveled and disappeared, or tightened and tightened until it became so small it was invisible. No one knew which it was.

They collected information about the ski resort they were visiting and researched about the weather and the specialty products the region was known for. In the end, the nine of them didn’t finish the pre-investigation on that Sunday but kept going until the next weekend. The honors student Kitamura had just been too full of vigor in the end.

Then, the days passed.