Toradora! Vol. 7

by Yuyuko Takemiya

  “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.

  Chapter 5

  “It’s already crowded even though we came early! Just how many people are coming?! Oh, Takasu, spotted you!”

  “Oi, Taka-chaaan! Over here!”

  It was a quarter after five.

  The tree shone in the center of everything, and the blackout curtains were pulled shut. The gym, decorated in lights and illumination displays, was filled with the confusion of the boisterous students. It may have been because the Christmas party was a departure from their everyday lives, but the room was filled with the feeling of festivity, and everyone was already getting caught up in the mood. There were some people wearing the glittery pointed hats that had been distributed at the welcome table, others wearing pince-nez glasses, and then even others wearing smart suits.

  “Ah, be careful! Don’t spill anything! If it gets tacky, the dirt will stick to it, too!”

  One of them had donned a handkerchief and an apron in their evolution into an old lady manning a restaurant. You’re scaaary… The student shrugged at their scolding. That guy had definitely been in the wrong, though. Even though the place was so congested, he was holding a cup brimming with fruit punch in an unsteady hand, and the carbonated juice still seemed to be on the verge of spilling onto the floor.

  Pushing aside the packed together people as if swimming freestyle between waves, Noto and Haruta drew closer to the suit and handkerchief-wearing old lady. When the old lady—Ryuuji—noticed them, he also exclaimed, “Yo!” and donned his trump-card of a cursed ogre mask. No, wait, he was just smiling.

  “What are you doing, Taka-chan? We finally get out of our uniforms and you dress up in an apron?! Actually, I had no idea you owned such a slick suit! I wish I had one of those! All I’ve got is this thing I bought at the train station just now.”

  Haruta fiddled and pinched at the hem of his T-shirt fabric suit.

  “That’s not bad, Haruta. At least it’s new. Look at mine. I’ve been wearing this for two years straight.”

  Noto was wearing a worn-out hoodie with the name of some small-time band written in large letters. You all could have told me you were dressing up, his large, sad, otter-eyes said as they teared up. Incidentally, he was as cute as cat dung.

  Just then, cold voices jumped on the two pitiful guys from behind them.

  “Heeey! There’s a line for the fruit punch!”

  “No cutting!”

  Though it was hard to tell because of the crowd, Haruta and Noto had carelessly cut to the front of the line.

  Oh, crap, Ryuuji thought. His eyes glinting, he sharply waved around a ladle. Like magic, the line he traced with the ladle severed through reality to spectacularly separate Noto and Haruta from the rest of the procession—in short, he made them move slightly to the side. There were few better at wielding a ladle than Ryuuji.

  “Sooowrry,” Haruta said as he held back his long hair and bowed to the people that made up the line. Noto’s glasses were clouding from the stuffy heat.

  “Oh, what have we got here?!”

  After discovering a group of girls wearing cheongsam dresses, he carefully wiped the lenses of his glasses with his fingers.

  The young noble of the underworld, who rode into the party by way of a magic horse drawn carriage, was currently
emitting a strange aura from his post along the wall as the master of the fruit punch station.

  Speaking of which, Ryuuji hadn’t taken on this simple job by choice. When he and Taiga arrived in their car together, the other students who were already gathered at the party showered them in heated stares. It wasn’t just their imaginations either. A few of them were just part of the Taiga-mania and joined in with a “That’s our Tiger-san. Those high heels are dangerous weapons…” However, no matter how fashionable, beautiful, or cute either of them looked, the envious stares seemed to shine a spotlight on every embarrassing thing about them.

  As those in their surroundings took notice of them, the two walked slowly together, matching step, to where the tree sparkled in the middle. Then, unintentionally, Ryuuji’s gaze was drawn to the wall. That was his mistake. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. Syrup was dripping off the ladle, cracker crumbs were dribbled over the tablecloth where they had been opened, and the people in charge of the food were chitchatting away.

  “Ah, I knew it’d get cold in here.”

  “But we’ve got pretty good attendance.”

  Right then, one side of Ryuuji’s face started to twitch. His right hand fruitlessly grabbed at the pocket of his uniform until he remembered that he was in a suit that day. That’s right—he didn’t have the Takasu stick today. He had brought tissues and a handkerchief but no wet wipes. He also didn’t have his set of cleaning sprays. He didn’t have his just-in-case stain remover or his microfiber cloth. He didn’t have the favorite all-purpose sponge that he knitted from acrylic yarn, either. He didn’t even have his citric acid cleaning spray. Getting his hands on his antibacterial gel, deodorizing spray, or even regular soap was out of the question. He was naked. This was as good as being buck naked.

  Feeling like a soldier stripped of his equipment, Ryuuji started to run in desperation. “Let me throooough! I’ll do it! Let me do this! I’ll do it so no one makes a mess!” Just like that, in his buck-naked state, Ryuuji had exposed the abnormal tendencies that he normally kept hidden. Taiga had disappeared out of exasperation, and before he knew it…