Toradora! Vol. 2

by Yuyuko Takemiya

  “She asked me to do something for her, so I’ll pass for today. Sorry.”

  “Aww, man…that’s no fun. C’est la vie, I guess. We’ll compete three versus two. Since you’re facing the Palmtop Tiger though, I guess we’ve got the better odds.”

  Noto gave up and was turning on his heel, but then he hesitated. “…Speaking of which, Takasu.” Suddenly he was turned right back around again, looking strangely thoughtful as he muttered. “The Palmtop Tiger’s nice, and… well, she’s super pretty, and when I see you two together I’m honestly a little jealous. But I don’t think you’ll be happy with her. Do you really see yourself sticking with a brute like her, who piles up three desks and chairs just to throw them from one corner of the class to the other?”

  The comment about the desks and chairs probably referred to the “Ryuuji and I aren’t dating” incident from the month before.

  “…Why do I have to be happy with Taiga? That’s not what I was going for in the first place.”

  “Well, that’s fine. If you say so! But let me at least give you advice. Wouldn’t it be better to date a girl who’s not just cute, but normal? I’m not saying you gotta date someone like Kawashima-chan who’s a super-ultra-high-quality gal, but at least try a girl who’s not a tiger.”

  “If I could do that, life would be easy, is that it?”

  “Well, anyway, I’m just saying to keep your eyes open. If you keep going on like this, you won’t be able to date anyone else because you’ll be taking care of the Palmtop Tiger your whole life. Well, see you tomorrow!”

  After getting out everything he wanted to say, Noto lightly walked out of the classroom. Ryuuji still wasn’t planning on straying from his pursuit of Kushieda Minori when it came to finding another cute and normal girl.

  Come to think of it, how rude! Of course he didn’t plan on taking care of Taiga his whole life. At the right time, with the right girl—Minori, if he had any say in the matter—he planned on settling down in marital bliss.

  “Hey, Ryuuji! When I said we’d go right away, just how many hours later did you think ‘right away’ was?! Just how slow do clocks run in your world?! You’re not turning into a hippie on me, are you? Hmph…hippie! Feh!”

  “…Okay, okay, okay…”

  Ryuuji shrugged his shoulders while Taiga shouted and stomped, then obediently trotted over. He immediately found himself getting hauled off down the hallway.

  “Look here! It’s just the worst! What should we do?!”

  “Th-this is…”

  The scene Taiga pointed to made his blood curdle. What circle of hell is this…?

  The student lockers were all lined up in the hallway, but then Taiga’s locker at the very left edge was left open and completely drenched in strawberry milk. Inside, her tracksuit, textbooks, dictionaries, and various other things were all soaking in light-pink milky liquid.

  And of course, Ami…was not the culprit.

  “How could you let this happen?! It’s unbelievable!”

  “It wasn’t on purpose! I couldn’t help it!”

  She’d done it all by herself. Taiga was a klutz who’d go down in history.

  While Taiga was trying to get ready to go home, she’d headed to her locker, drinking a carton of strawberry milk through a straw. Then she’d opened the door—planning to leave behind the textbooks she didn’t need—and slipped. She’d sprayed the strawberry milk into her own locker.

  “This work…is going to be more backbreaking than I thought…!” Ryuuji muttered to himself in a low voice, but his eyes started to take on a dangerous, glinting light. The thrill that went down his spine burned with hot ambition.

  First he would take everything out…then take home the tracksuit and wash it…if he didn’t wipe them down and make sure the textbooks and everything dried completely, they’d get smelly…then he could work from corner to corner…thoroughly…thoroughly!

  “Do you think this stuff can be cleaned?”

  “…Uh…I think so…I mean, I’ll try, at least…”

  Ryuuji put on the rubber gloves that he always kept prepared. His youthful cheeks flushed with lively blood. Even though he griped, even though he groaned, he lived for this. He liked cleaning. He liked going from corner to corner. He liked being thorough and getting the job done. Seeing something that at first glance had been destroyed and dirtied beyond repair, then resurrecting it with his own hands? It made him feel, more than anything, that he had found his calling. The proof of that was the island kitchen in Taiga’s condo. When he came across it, it was covered in mold; even the drain was clogged. That smelly, swampy sink was now so clean you could lick it. Every now and then, he’d mop and clean up the surroundings of that simple, modern kitchen. Ryuuji prided himself on the results. It was the most well-kept stainless steel in the world.

  And now, it’s your turn… With a dangerous, enchanted gaze, Ryuuji looked up at Taiga’s locker, eyes full of fire. But this time, he wasn’t just filled with the desire to clean.

  “Taiga…it’s a promise, right? You’ll give me that thing we talked about.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Fine.”

  Ryuuji, I did something completely horrible. When she asked him to clean for her, she really had promised it to him. Ryuuji had been eyeing it from the start: the large, still-sealed Hermes box…that contained two fluffy, brand-name bath towels. I’ll give them to you in exchange for the cleaning, she’d said.

  “Ohhh, the coveted Hermes towel…! I don’t care if people think less of me. If I can put those orange Hermes towels away in my closet, I’ll endure any criticism! I saw them in an interior magazine once and wanted them so badly…”

  “R-right, well, knock yourself out…”

  “You’d better realize that I’m eyeing your Egyptian linens, too! You have a whole bunch that aren’t even open yet, right? I saw them when you had me organize your closet the other day. If there’s another incident like this, that’s my price.”

  “Is that right…? I’ll be waiting in the classroom.”

  Taiga couldn’t handle sticking around Ryuuji when his housewife sensibilities were going at full blast. She gave him a cold glance, flipped her long hair, and went into the classroom.

  With that out of the way, this was now Ryuuji’s turf. Eyes glinting like a beast’s, he tried to start his work, but—no! He needed his apron. He headed towards his own locker.

  Humming all the while, he pulled his ever-ready apron from his immaculate locker and cheerfully put it on—then suddenly he had a thought.

  Did I really turn down meeting first-year girls to clean?

  Does that mean…could that mean…?

  “…But…I would’ve normally…turned that down…anyway…”

  Once he came to that important conclusion, he nodded deeply. He loved cleaning, after all.

  Ryuuji loved cleaning so much that he wasn’t even surprised.

  This definitely wasn’t him throwing away a chance at a girlfriend in order to take care of Taiga—definitely not. He was just cleaning up something that Taiga had made a mess of. Taiga had made an unbelievable blunder, and he was just picking up the pieces—that was it. He just wanted to be by her every day so that he could instantly cover for her. So Noto was wrong.

  …If you keep going like this, you won’t be able to date anyone else because you’ll be taking care of the Palmtop Tiger your whole life, was that it?

  The implications of what Noto had said were completely wrong. That wasn’t it; that wasn’t what this meant. He wanted to stay by Taiga’s side in the future to get every opportunity to clean. That was all he was thinking. If he kept following after Taiga, she’d keep on making mistakes as naturally as breathing, and she would always get something dirty.

  As he came to that conclusion, like a dangerous addict, Ryuuji panted heavily and started taking out Taiga’s stuff. As with any kind of addiction, he might have been unaware that he was caught up in it.

  ***

  It had been nearly an hour sin
ce he started cleaning—no, it was a little longer, now. The people who would have looked at him strangely as he had his head stuck in someone else’s locker and started a massive cleanup were long gone. The hallway had become quiet, and Taiga was likely the only one left inside the classroom.

  “It’s almost done…” His muttering reverberated in the small space.

  He had reached the best part of the job. Ryuuji was deep into the locker, wriggling the Q-tip in his hand back and forth in the corner like he would with a lacquer box. Chances were that spot had nothing to do with the strawberry milk, but what was dirty was dirty, period.

  Then he heard the soft sound of footsteps down the hallway. It seemed to be a girl. If he were caught inside the school building without anyone around, they’d probably have a shock. Ryuuji, coming back to himself, completely hid himself inside the half-closed locker and held his breath. But when he saw the person walking past the locker from just a few centimeters away, he almost made a sound.

  That unmistakable beauty could only be Kawashima Ami. But Ami, still unaware of Ryuuji’s presence, went into the classroom where only Taiga remained.

  He had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling.

  The phantom of the locker quietly crawled back out, and though he hesitated about whether to go into the classroom, he decided to at least peek in through the classroom’s window.

  “No way… why are you still here? You’re such an eyesore.”

  Ryuuji’s forecast was right on the dot. The end of Ami’s sentence dripped with disdain. Ami aimed a gaze of pure contempt at Taiga, who was busy wiping her textbook. Ami’s lips distorted into a sneer. For the first time in a while, Kawashima Ami-san (the real one) made her appearance.

  Taiga, still in her seat, narrowed both her eyes in annoyance. She cut off Ami’s words, her voice monotonous, emotionless. “Don’t come near me, you spoiled brat.”

  But Ami showed alarm for only a brief moment at that quick, upward glance from Taiga. “Hmph!” She turned her face away.

  That was when Miss Split Personality really went off.

  “Ooooh, so scaaaary! As expected from you, Aisaka-san. I mean, even the teachers think you’re annoying, right? I was just at the staff room asking questions about class, but all the teachers think that I’m just the cutest, and they’re all so happy I came to this school. They keep asking me, are you getting bullied by Aisaka? They drop your name soooo much! Everyone, and I mean everyone! It’s so funny! But, you know, it’s annoying, too. No matter how cute I am, they don’t need to speak a word about that—I already know.”

  “…Huh?” Taiga snorted and laughed at Ami’s words. A smirk formed on her rosebud lips. “Sounds good. That means I get to enjoy seeing how long you can keep up your gross split-personality act. I’m looking forward to seeing how hard you work. Oh, I hope you realize that changing classes and graduation won’t be the end of it. I’ll always be close by. Watching.”

  “…Huh?”

  “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, to seeing when you slip up and show your bad side. I’ll tell you something—it’d be easy to expose your true personality. But that wouldn’t be fun, so I won’t. I’ll just keep watching, and keep enjoying the show. But…you should probably be careful of what comes out of your mouth. You still have a lot of your life ahead of you… that is, if you want it to be a long one.” She spoke in a low, singsong tone.

  For a moment, the classroom was dyed black, like it lay under a curse. But Ryuuji knew. Taiga still wasn’t actually angry yet. This was just her teasing someone she didn’t like with the tips of her claws… he knew it from the calmness of her eyes and how her whole body was relaxed. If a tiger got angry, it wouldn’t be content to go only this far. The barrage of its attacks wouldn’t stop until it completely tore apart its prey with its claws and teeth.

  But Ami didn’t know the rules. She didn’t know when to quit. “You…stalker!” It seemed that Taiga had really gotten to her. As Ami shouted those sharp words, her face contorted, revealing the depths of her disgust.

  Their exchange heated up the whole classroom until it overflowed with tension.

  Any second now, I should probably walk right in, like nothing’s happening. Ryuuji gulped down a breath.

  “…Haha! You sure know how to get on my nerves, shrimp.” Ami flipped her hair, composure regained. She smiled, back on the offensive. “Maybe that’s why you don’t have any friends? You’re just a lonely, wretched, tiny little girl, just absolutely pitiful. And to think, when I found out we would be classmates, I even tried talking to you as good-girl Ami-chan. What a shame. Really, it’s too bad you couldn’t become friends with a popular girl like her… Heh, and it looks like Takasu Ryuuji is totally smitten with me, isn’t he? That guy’s eyes are always boring right into me. It’s a bit much; maybe you could have a word with him?”

  Now that she’d said that, Ryuuji couldn’t go into the classroom anymore. And hey, what did she mean about his eyes…? That was just how his eyes were. It was just genetics!

  “Ignorance sure is bliss. …Hey, could you just hurry up and go home? When I see your creepy mug, it makes me wanna hurl.”

  “Oh, I’m going home, but not because you’re telling me to. Unlike a certain spoiled shrimp I know, I’ve got places to go, people to see. It’s hard being popular! …Really…I kind of pity you. Because out of everyone I know, Yuusaku has the biggest heart, and he hates you.”

  “…What did you say?” Taiga’s voice lowered dramatically. An aura close to the color of blood radiated from her eyes as she slowly turned them Ami’s way. Ami had stepped in it now, all right—onto a landmine.

  “Thinking back to the first time we met, I was like, huh, Yuusaku didn’t say anything about this girl being a classmate… And when I asked him, ‘who was that girl?’ he said, ‘no one in particular.’ He didn’t even want to talk about you. And if I’m being honest, Yuusaku’s enemy is my enemy. I told him eeeeverything that happened in the restaurant, so he probably just hates you now. If you’re hated even by Yuusaku the philanthropist, then you’re really done for.”

  That was what she spat out.

  Then…

  “Well then, see you tomorrow!”

  Holding her bag, she smiled happily. When she turned around, those beautiful features didn’t show any trace of her poison. Humhumm ♪, she merrily hummed as she walked away.

  “A-wh-wh-wha…?”

  Ryuuji suddenly made a dash for it. He just barely threw himself into the locker in time.

  It might have been better if he hadn’t hidden himself, but he was committed now. He waited until he couldn’t hear Ami’s footsteps anymore, then timidly stepped into the hallway.

  “Ta…Taiga.”

  He checked on Taiga from the window.

  Taiga, who’d been left behind, still had her back facing Ryuuji. Her head slowly tilted. It seemed she was considering the meaning of the words Ami had thrown at her.

  And he hates you.

  Didn’t even want to talk about you.

  Yuusaku’s enemy is my enemy.

  So he probably just hates you now.

  You’re really done for.

  “Wuh… wuh… waaaah!”

  She looked up to the heavens.

  She wailed in a shaky voice.

  “…That…that…bi—!”

  “Hey, Taiga! Pull yourself together!” When he desperately called out to her, Taiga turned and jumped. When she noticed Ryuuji on the other side of the window, she leaped up in a single bound, grabbed his jacket sleeve, and pulled him close.

  “Ryuuji!”

  “Yeah?!”

  Her eyes were unable to focus on anything. They seemed to be spiraling.

  “Ryuuji, Ryuuji, Ryuuji, Ryuuji! Did you hear that?! Were you listening just now?! Were you?! What do you think about it, about that, that, that…do you think it’s true?! Is it true?! Does he hate me?!”

  “W-wait, calm down! Of course not, take a second to actually think about it!”
>
  “But then, that brat, sh-sh-sh-she said that K-K-K-K-Kitamura hates…me! Wh…whaaaaugh!”

  Ryuuji felt like collapsing. Now, Taiga had really snapped. Taiga kicked over three nearby chairs in succession, bared her white fangs, and then turned to the ceiling and let out a deep-throated howl. “Thaaaaat spoiled braaaat! I…I’ll kill her right now!!”

  “Calm down! Don’t get ahead of yourself, okay? Take a deep breath.”

  “SHADDUP!”

  “Whoa!”

  Taiga’s powerful shout sent Ryuuji staggering back—it was the tiger who wore the pants around here. Taiga started running at full speed. No doubt she was going after Ami, who couldn’t have gotten far. This was bad. If they kept this up, someone would end up dead.

  Taiga was headed for the door. Ryuuji dashed out of the hall to stop her, close behind.

  “You can’t! Don’t go! Calm…”

  “ACK!”

  THUD! There was an awful noise.

  Ryuuji opened a sliding door. Taiga opened a sliding door. Opposite sliding doors.

  A full-speed tiger crashed headfirst into the door Ryuuji had moved aside.

  It was just way too over the top. Ryuuji took stock of the situation, breathing slowly, stupefied. Like a drunk cat, Taiga just fluttered… two steps, three steps, one step back. “…Owww…”

  Ryuuji pretty much shrieked. “Taiga!” He narrowly managed to support her before she face-planted. “S-s-s-sorry! Are you okay?!”

  “I’m fine… I’m fine… I’m fine… I’m fi….”

  It seemed like it was actually serious. Taiga didn’t seem to even have the strength to insult him.

  ***

  “Ryu-chaaan, Taiga-chan’s room is dark, and the curtains are still shut.”

  Wrapping her hair in a curling iron, Yasuko came into the kitchen barefoot.

  Finishing up frying the last breaded pork tonkatsu, Ryuuji scowled. “Really? She’d better hurry up. These are best right after they’re done.”

  “Oooh, it looks yummy! I just love me some tonkatsu.”