Toradora! Vol. 8

by Yuyuko Takemiya

  “Right…”

  Ami sniffled and got up slowly. Then, with her usual cute and perfect smile, she looked down at Ryuuji.

  “Well then, shall we end this friendship?”

  “Huh?”

  Ami took her gloves off, put them under her arm, and made rings with her thumbs and pointer fingers. “Break it off, break our ties,” she said in a sing-song voice, and then pulled the rings apart.

  “Why are you breaking it off with me…”

  “Because you’re an idiot and I hate you…so, it’s punishment.”

  That made two people who hated each other for being idiots, now. Without saying who exactly was being punished, or for what, Ami turned around.

  What is this?

  Words just weren’t enough.

  Ryuuji watched her go, frozen and at a loss for words.

  “DIMHUAHUA, GET OUTTA THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”

  “I’M NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE! I’M NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSE! I’M NOT DOING IT ON PURPOSEEEEEEEE!””

  Taiga and Minori shot into view, roaring over on a sled. Though they had their feet desperately outstretched, they were going too fast to stop. Dumbfounded, Ryuuji could only watch as, first, Taiga tumbled off the sled, scattering the snow. Next, losing her balance, Minori was also thrown off.

  The unmanned sled knocked over Ami and continued sliding back to the entrance to the slopes.

  “I told you to get out of the way…” Taiga scowled as she dug Ami out of the snow.

  “Y…youuu! Just how many times do you need to fall off that sled before you’re done?! Are you an idiot?! Why’d you keep riding that sled?! Just walk around on the snow, you numbskull!”

  “That’s why I’m a-pol-o-giz-ing. I know! I’ll get you a soft-serve ice cream at the lodge. My treat.”

  “I don’t neeeeeed that! It’s freezing, you idiot!”

  Ami’s angry kicks connected with Taiga’s butt, but the oversized gear protected her, and it didn’t seem to have much of an effect.

  “Soooorry, Ahmin! S-sorry we couldn’t stop… Forgive us! I’m sorry!” Minori rushed over to apologize, too.

  “Why would I forgive you?!” Ami glared at Minori as her voice cracked. “It was on purpose, wasn’t it?! That had to be on purpose! I felt murder coming off of you!”

  “What?! No, no, of course not. We just couldn’t stop, is all!”

  “That was so on purpose! I’m just going to say it—you’re still angry about what happened yesterday, right?! You came to interfere, didn’t you?! That’s definitely what this is! I know it!”

  Ami’s cheeks and eyes turned bright red as she shouted. There was a blood vessel popping on her temple that looked so cartoonish it might burst. Her nose was red, too, and then to top it all off, she threw snow at Minori.

  She scored a lucky hit right in Minori’s face. Minori staggered for a moment.

  “Whaaaaat?! Are you talking about how you were trying to start a fight with me, Ahmin?! I let that go, but you’re the one who’s bringing it back up again!”

  Ahhh… Taiga and Ryuuji’s eyes met. You stop them—No, you stop them, they communicated silently.

  However, the two of them weren’t supposed to know anything about what happened in the girls’ room last night. Intervening would be difficult.

  “What do you mean you let it go?! You’ve been ignoring me ever since this morning!”

  “That’s because there was nothing to talk about! Or is it that I’ve got to entertain you or else I’m ignoring you?!”

  “The way you look down on me has really been bugging me! You brawn-for-brains woman!”

  “Who’s looking down on you?! Maybe you’re just getting carried away because I’m trying to be the better person?!”

  Bam! Minori’s hands came down on Ami’s shoulders.

  “Why you…”

  Ami seemed like she was going to return the favor, but Minori quickly grabbed hold of Ami’s hand and gave her a solid smack. They glared at each other. When it came to reflexes, Ami was no match for Minori.

  “Don’t you dare hit my face!”

  “It’s not like you’re an actress!”

  Their voices echoed across the snow-covered mountain as they stomped their feet. Ami’s voice was like a high-pitched shriek.

  “I-I’ve always hated you, just so you know! You’ve always annoyed the hell out of me!”

  “Oh, I see! And who cares about that? I don’t care whether you hate me or not—it doesn’t hurt or bug me at all!” Minori wasn’t backing down. Their argument got even more heated.

  “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate everything about you!!!”

  “Same here! I don’t care about you at all! I’ll never listen to you again!”

  “Oh, I’d love that!”

  “Actually, why haven’t you just gone back to your old school?! Hurry up and go back where you belong!”

  “That has nothing to do with youuuu?! You pauper! Go work at part-time jobs your whole life!”

  “What’d you say?! Why don’t you put some makeup on that fake face and go back to modeling your whole life?!”

  “Whaaat?!”

  They had crossed the line into saying things that should have remained unspoken. Their quarrel was accelerating. They jabbed intermittently at each other’s shoulders, getting to the point they were doing it harder than they would have if they were joking.

  “You want to do this?!”

  “I won’t apologize even if you start crying!”

  “I have to go back up Minorin! Let’s go, Ryuuji! Why you, Dimhuahua!”

  “Hey! You got it wrong, dummy! Stop that!”

  “This is such a terrifying scene! It’s like a nightmare!”

  “Your fight with the patriarch was way scarier! Your nose was bleeding all over!”

  People around them had noticed the shouting and were beginning to gather around in curiosity. Just then, Taiga and Ryuuji pulled them apart.

  “Ah!”

  Only Taiga saw it.

  The orange hairpin holding up Minori’s bangs flew off as Ami’s hand hit it. It fell a little ways away on top of the fresh snow. Ami and Minori’s quarrel was still violent, and no one else had noticed the hairpin.

  Trying to not lose sight of it, Taiga ran towards the pin. It was precious. She absolutely could not let it get lost. Her legs sank into the soft snow, and she reached out her hand.

  “…Uh.”

  Suddenly, there was nothing under her sunken foot. She didn’t even have time to scream as the snow in front of her eyes gave way, and she fell.

  Maya, Nanako, and Kitamura came running up.

  “Get a hold of yourselves! What are you two doing?!”

  “But—but—but—she! It’s not my fault!”

  “All I did was respond to her trying to start a fight!”

  When they finally pulled the two apart, even the bachelorette (age 30) had come over. Ami was held back by Kitamura, seething as she breathed hard. Minori was glaring at Ami while grinding her teeth. A group had gathered, murmuring in surprise at the unusual confrontation between Minori and Ami. The two were surrounded.

  Even Ryuuji was surprised. How had it gotten this bad?

  “Anyway, you go with Kushieda and have her calm down—Taiga?”

  Huh? He looked around. He realized he couldn’t find Taiga, even though he thought she had been beside him.

  “Taiga’s not here…”

  Minori turned around as she heard him mutter. She stopped glaring at Ami. Her eyes went wide as she looked up at Ryuuji.

  “She was here just a second ago. She was with you, trying to stop the fight…”

  “Taiga…”

  Minori looked around, taking in her surroundings. Then her gaze stopped. At around the same time, Ryuuji saw it, too.

  It was the footprints of a single person in the snow. Minori shook herself free from Ryuuji’s grasp on her shoulders. She walked to follow those footprints, and Ryuuji continued after her.

&n
bsp; “These…huh, it—it couldn’t be. Taiga…”

  “N-no way…”

  They realized that the snow piled up a bit and then dropped off into a cliff. They also noticed formations of jutting snow that had fallen down. When they looked down, they held their breaths as a strong gust of wind assaulted them.

  On the steep slope where the Japanese cedars grew, they found the traces of someone who had fallen. They didn’t know how far the tracks went.

  ***

  Apparently the Palmtop Tiger’s missing.

  Was the kid who disappeared from Class C the Palmtop Tiger?!

  Gathered in the large hall of the lodge, the second years were causing a commotion. Beyond the fogged-up windows, the weather outside was stormy, as predicted by the forecast. The snow was striking down. It was a blizzard.

  “Takasu-kun, I just heard back from Ms. Koigakubo about what’s going on. Apparently, the slope Aisaka fell down is a conifer forest, and the road under it is closed during the winter. The people in charge of the ski resort are searching from the road, but if they can’t find her, they’re going to leave it to the police… Takasu!”

  “Ugh…”

  Kitamura clapped in front of Ryuuji’s face, making him finally raise his head in surprise at the sound.

  “Get a hold of yourself! They’ll definitely find her, so it’ll be okay!”

  “Uh…right.”

  That was all he could muster. He was sitting on a hard chair carved from a log. Ryuuji felt like he was in a bad dream. He dropped his eyes to the faint, red burn on his right hand. That klutz, he groaned in the back of his throat.

  At long last, that klutz—Taiga—had gone and made a fatal blunder.

  He had even seen her fall down a flight of stairs right before his eyes. She fell down, crashed into things, spilled stuff, got knocked down—those kinds of things were everyday occurrences for her. Just the other day, she was almost run over by a car. His burned right hand was proof of Taiga’s blunders.

  And yet despite that, Taiga had never really injured herself until now. Her miraculous luck had held up so far, but at long last, it had come to this.

  He blamed himself for not immediately noticing she’d disappeared from his side, and those feelings were swirling inside his head. She’d just disappeared—just like the night of the Christmas Eve party. He prayed that it was the same this time.

  Back then, Taiga had been safe at home. Once he noticed she was missing, he ran back to her.

  But this time…

  Even looking out the window was too terrifying. He imagined what would happen if they didn’t find her in this weather and then immediately drowned it out. That couldn’t happen. That would absolutely not happen. Taiga was a klutz, but on the other hand, she had good reflexes, and her body was strangely sturdy. She would come up with something. It would absolutely work out. It would.

  Bringing his hands together as if in prayer, Ryuuji squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t notice the worried looks coming from Noto and Haruta across from him.

  In a corner of his mind, he still couldn’t help but think the unavoidable. If only he could rewind time—if only he could go back to that moment—he absolutely would not have taken his eyes off Taiga. He would have grabbed Taiga’s hand and never let go.

  Even if people suspected they had a father-daughter-like relationship, even if it got in the way of Taiga living alone, even if it got in the way of their love lives—he would never let go of Taiga’s hand again. If anyone said anything about their relationship, he’d just ignore them.

  “What a crazy blizzard…”

  Ryuuji turned around.

  In the seat right behind Ryuuji’s, Minori was glaring out the window. She pursed her lips tightly and pulled her beanie down low. She put on her gloves and zipped her gear all the way to the top. Ryuuji had a bad feeling.

  “Kushieda…what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Look at that blizzard. We’ve got to find her fast. I’m going out to look.”

  As soon as she stood up, he grabbed her in a panic.

  “Are you an idiot?! You’ll get into an accident, too!”

  “I can’t just stay here doing nothing! It’s fine, I’ll definitely come right back! Just let me go where we went before and back! I’ll come back after that!”

  She didn’t wait for an answer but shook her arm free of Ryuuji’s grip. Minori actually started walking out.

  “Don’t,” Kitamura yelled, but Minori didn’t listen. She freed herself from Kitamura’s attempts to grab her as well, and kept going steadily down the wooden stairs to the first floor. No matter how many times Ryuuji grabbed her shoulder, she swatted him away, and eventually, he resolved himself.

  “Damn it…then I’m going, too!”

  “I’ll go, too! Noto! Haruta! Tell the teacher that we left!” Kitamura yelled.

  “Whaa?! You can’t!” Noto and the others stood up in surprise, but Ryuuji couldn’t stop Minori, and they couldn’t let her go alone, either.

  What are we going to do?! Noto and Haruta ran to where the teachers were. Behind them, Ami sat alone, her pale face lowered. She was silent, and her expression didn’t change.

  As the regular ski guests retreated from the storm, Ryuuji and Kitamura desperately followed Minori. Snow piled up along the edges of their goggles in the blink of an eye and pulled at their feet. At last, Ryuuji grabbed hold of Minori’s arm, and Kitamura grabbed her from the other side.

  “Don’t rush, Kushieda! If we’re really going to try finding Aisaka, we need to calm down and look around!”

  “…”

  Minori finally turned around and grimaced. Her shoulders shook as she took a harsh breath and gave him a single nod.

  The blowing snowstorm seemed to be pushing them back as the three continued forward with their arms locked together. The place where Minori and Ami fought wasn’t far from the lodge. It was just at the foot of the slopes.

  “Around here, there were traces that she slipped!”

  Minori seemed excited as she quickly got as close to the cliff as she could. She pointed at some piled snow that seemed to have concealed the marks.

  “Watch out! Don’t get too close!”

  “But she’s somewhere below this isn’t she?! Taigaaaaaaa! Answer meeeeee!”

  Ryuuji braced his boots desperately to keep from falling and grabbed Minori’s sleeve as she stretched to look down. Right before his eyes, the snow at the tips of Minori’s boots began to crumble. He felt cold sweat on his back.

  As he supported Minori, he looked down at the trees growing on the snowy slope. He couldn’t see the bottom. If it wasn’t for the blizzard, they might have been able to see traces of where she fell down.

  “What’s that…?”

  Something shone in the snow.

  It was way ahead of where they had been looking. It was in the shadow of the slope, right below where they looked. The small, orange thing twinkled like a single shining star in a night sky the color of snow.

  It really was tiny, like it might be covered by the falling and gathering snow any moment now. But Ryuuji could clearly see it.

  “Taiga!”

  She’d fallen while trying to pick it up. If that was the case, if they went down using that as a landmark, they were sure to find her.

  “Huh?! You saw something?! Was Taiga there?! Did you find her?!”

  “Probably! Hurry, call someone… No, we might lose sight of it… Dammit! Kushieda, go call a teacher, or any adult, over here! Kitamura, stay here. If I don’t come back up, pull me up or call for help!”

  “No, I’ll—” Minori tried to say something and then held it back. “Okay!”

  With one quick nod, she ran off into the blizzard. Using Kitamura as a landmark, Ryuuji slid down the slope on his butt.

  It was too steep to walk down. He slipped a bit and grabbed a tree, then slipped again and clung to another. When his leg would get buried, he would pull it out. What he was headed for was the incredibly tiny lig
ht of the hairpin.

  Don’t disappear, no matter what, don’t disappear, Ryuuji practically screamed as he desperately went down the slope. I’m almost there, he wheezed as he grasped at the snow. He wiped at the ice on his goggles.

  He might have gone down twenty meters. It was a place not visible from the road below. He reached below the branches of the overgrown evergreens, grabbed the hairpin, and looked around.

  “T-Taiga!”

  He found her almost immediately nearby.

  Halfway buried in the soft snow, Taiga had fallen in a space between the roots of a large tree, her body curled up into a ball. Being careful not to tumble down himself, he approached that hollow by crawling. Burying his boots deep in the snow to secure his footing, Ryuuji stretched out his arm and pulled at her small body.

  “Taiga! Taiga! Taiga!”

  As he brought her up from the snow, Taiga’s head limply fell back. He supported her neck as he pulled her up. Her neck was warm, and she had a pulse. She had probably hit her head on a tree as she fell down. He saw something red on her forehead and held his breath.

  For the first time in his life, he felt a trembling sensation start from the bottom of his stomach and make its way up his spine.

  “Ow…”

  He heard a small voice. Taiga’s eyelashes trembled, and she grimaced. She was alive. She was safe.

  Ryuuji took in a deep breath, exhaled, and stared up the slope. He didn’t have time to think or even to feel relieved. He held Taiga’s 40 kilograms to him as he began to crawl up the snowy slope on all fours. Whenever he took a step, the snow collapsed and turned into a small avalanche that went down the cliff. He couldn’t brace himself.

  They might have no choice but to wait there for help. He groaned, feeling absolutely powerless, but then in that moment Taiga’s arm moved. She was clinging to Ryuuji’s torso.

  “I fell… It hurts…” she groaned deliriously. If Taiga could hold on to him, that changed the situation.

  He buried himself up to the knees in snow again. Grasping the branches and roots of the trees protruding from the snow, Ryuuji continued to crawl back up the slope. He wanted to talk to Taiga, but this wasn’t the time. He ground his teeth. He had to focus everything on moving forward without dropping her.