Toradora! Vol. 1 Read online

  Ryuuji being Ryuuji, he was used to being the target of gossip when onlookers misinterpreted his stares. Or to put it another way, he had learned the art of not letting stuff get to him partially as an instinctive act of self-defense to keep himself from getting hurt.

  Aisaka being Aisaka, she was used to everyone keeping their distance out of fear of her wild temperament and near-professional punches. She wasn’t the type of girl to lend an ear to others’ gossip to begin with and generally didn’t take an interest in people other than herself (excluding Minorin and Kitamura).

  In that way, because the two were accustomed to unwanted attention, they had for the most part failed to notice the current state of affairs—the restless class. The whispered words being exchanged. The scattered glances. And, of course, the voices of agreement.

  “…I saw it too, I saw them coming out of the same condo…”

  “Just before, they really were at the supermarket together.”

  “They’re whispering to each other again…”

  “Oh, they disappeared together.”

  “The Palmtop Tiger was calling him Ryuuji.”

  “Takasu being Takasu, he was calling her an idiot and stupid like it was fine.”

  “He said that and he came out alive…”

  “The insides of their bento were the same again!”

  Maybe Takasu Ryuuji and Aisaka Taiga were…

  “Oh. Right.”

  At the tiny Palmtop Tiger’s mutter, the shoulders of those around her jolted.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Are you going to mess with her?” they asked each other. But Aisaka, now the center of the attention, didn’t betray any awareness of them.

  “Hey Ryuuji. I almost forgot,” she said, trotting over to Ryuuji’s seat by the window, completely unaware of the people around her who had their ears pricked up.

  “What?” he said.

  “Yesterday…”

  Aisaka’s voice became softer and the rubberneckers shifted, trying to hear.

  “…I forgot to tell you, but…”

  Ryuuji raised his face, listening to Aisaka’s soft voice. Aisaka continued to mutter to him in a voice only Ryuuji could hear. Every ear in the class was pointed in their direction.

  “…Can’t go home tonight…”

  The person directly behind Ryuuji’s seat startled, going completely tense upon overhearing those words. What, what did you just say? He had a barrage of questions that he couldn’t voice, so he wrote down what he had heard. She said she can’t go home tonight, the note said.

  Leaving his dumbfounded classmates in the lurch, Ryuuji continued on with the conversation.

  “…Staying over?”

  “…Yeah…”

  “Then…already prepared…”

  “…Yeah…”

  The surreptitious commotion propagated throughout the class.

  “No way, no way, no way! Are they serious?”

  “Wait, just now—they couldn’t have… Could they…by staying over…? By prepared, they can’t mean…!”

  “In other words, that means the Palmtop Tiger is sleeping at Ryuuji’s house?” the long-haired Haruta-kun gulped, speaking in a small voice.

  Turning to Haruta-kun, Noto-kun, in his black framed glasses, lowered his voice. “By prepared…they mean, in other words…like, they’re gonna do it?! U-uh…th-that’s pretty kinky, dude…!”

  One of the girls murmured a sound of surprise. “It’s officially the first time for anyone in the class,” she said.

  However, Kihara Mayu stubbornly insisted, “I don’t think it’s the first!” as her face turned red.

  One of the boys looked pained. “I always thought the Palmtop Tiger was kind of cute… I was praying she wouldn’t become anyone else’s…”

  After he said that, a new piece of testimony arose from elsewhere in the room. “I even confessed my love to her last year, but…when I did, she didn’t hesitate to tell me she thought all men should just die…”

  Everyone was turned towards Ryuuji and Aisaka, who were still standing there quietly. The scene between the two of them had a certain charm to it, as though they were tying together their futures. Aisaka faced the window, without showing her face to anyone, while Ryuuji was scowling, an expression that hinted at some secret resolve to fight someone—maybe even Aisaka’s old man.

  “K-Kushieda, it seems like your friend might be in trouble tonight!”

  Kushieda Minori was silent.

  “Kushieda?”

  Even after one of the girls hit her in the back, even when she was elbowed, even after other things were done to her, she kept silent as she watched those two.

  Incidentally—it wasn’t actually that interesting—what had really happened was this:

  “Yesterday, your mom left without eating, right? Well, she gave me a message at the time. She said, ‘I forgot to tell you, but I can’t go home tonight.’ I guess it’s a regular’s birthday, so they’re having a party until morning.”

  “That’s Yasuko for you. Does that mean she’s staying over at the shop?”

  “Yeah, that’s what she said.”

  “Then, she’s really already prepared to listen to that old man at the bar, Inage, grumble all night. The regular is old man Inage, right? He just got divorced last year.”

  “I think that’s what she said. Yeah, she asked how Inage-san was… Ahh, what a boring errand. I wish she wouldn’t use me to leave messages about household stuff.”

  “If you’ve got a problem with it, then don’t come over to eat anymore.”

  “…”

  “I told you not to ignore me!”

  ***

  It was a normal break time, no different from any other for the second-year class C. Takasu Ryuuji was reading manga at his sun-lit desk, and Aisaka Taiga was bored, emanating her don’t-bother-me aura while sucking milk out of a carton.

  But there was one girl who had the courage to hit Aisaka from behind.

  “Hey, Taiga… Could you perhaps spare a minute?”

  It was Kushieda Minori. At long last, she had finally made her move. Every eye in class focused on the Palmtop Tiger and the back of the girl who was with her.

  “Why are you suddenly being so formal? Wait, Minorin?”

  With an unusually serious look on her face, Minori grabbed Aisaka by the nape of her neck and, just like that, yanked her friend up, forcing her to stand and not once letting go of her petite build.

  “I-I can walk without you doing that,” Aisaka said. “You’ll make me fall over!”

  “Just get over here.”

  The only person in the world who could do something like this to the Palmtop Tiger was Minori. If it had been anyone else, they probably would have been chewed up and killed in three seconds flat. Minori pulled Aisaka (still facing away from her) through the onlookers as they all held their breaths. She was pulling the Palmtop Tiger behind her like somebody wheeling luggage.

  “…You’re coming, too,” Minori said.

  “Huh…? M-me?”

  The one she had designated bluntly with a pointed finger was none other than Takasu Ryuuji. Despite her terseness, and though it was impossible to tell at a casual glance, he might have indulged in a secret smile. After all, even if Minori was making a scene, even if it had just been with a “you,” she had still talked to him.

  The situation had grown tense on the rooftop—it wasn’t obvious, but it definitely had.

  The weather was calm and clear. A peaceful breeze blew across the blue skies overhead. But…

  “M-Minorin…?”

  “Kushieda…?”

  Kushieda Minori had turned her back to Ryuuji and Aisaka after dragging them up here. Now she emanated an unusually foreboding aura. For some reason, she wore her jacket on her shoulders, letting the sleeves blow in the wind. “You sweet birds of youth,” she muttered to herself in a low voice.

  Ryuuji pitched his voice as low as he could manage. “Hey…what exactly is going on
here?” he whispered towards Aisaka’s ear, thirty centimeters below him.

  “Beats me… It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Minorin make a face like that. I wonder if she’s mad about something…”

  Aisaka’s face was also a bit cloudy, just then. She tilted her head uneasily. However, she soon made up her mind and took a step forward.

  “H-hey…um, Minorin.”

  It happened the moment she reached out her hand. Abruptly, sound seemed to stop. It felt as though the world had ceased to function. At the moment she turned, Minori’s eyes both glimmered, and right in front of Aisaka, she suddenly leaped up.

  “Uh?!” Aisaka exclaimed. She instantaneously protected her face with crossed arms. “What the—?”

  With a loud thud, Minori leaped past Aisaka, who stood on guard.

  “Takasu-kuuuuuun!”

  “Whoa!”

  She was right in front of Ryuuji’s eyes, just a few centimeters away. She had forcefully slid across the ground, jumped up, then prostrated herself magnificently before him. Her skirt and jacket fluttered in the dust that rose from the concrete.

  “I entrust Taiga to youuuuuu!”

  It was a scream that could break through the heavens.

  “…Wha? Uh? Whaaa?!” Ryuuji stood paralyzed. Minori lowered her head, until the top of it touched the ground before him. Aisaka froze, too. Her jaw stayed dropped as Minori spoke.

  “Takasu-kun, this girl…Taiga is an incredibly important close friend of mine! Sometimes she’s moody, but she’s really a kind girl! Please, please make her happy!”

  With loud sobs, Minori embraced Aisaka from afar—she hugged her with her gaze. They remained like that for one second…ten seconds…thirty seconds…

  The first one to come back to himself was Ryuuji.

  “Kushieda, w-wait, wait—about that, what does that—?”

  “Please, stop!”

  Minori’s face suddenly grew serious. She raised her head and fixed an uncomfortable stare on Ryuuji.

  “Please, you can end the charade! Please, Takasu-kun! There’s no need to keep acting. I compleeeetely understand what’s going on here. I’m on your side!”

  Minori’s eyes were serene; she spoke in a resolute voice. As she stared straight into Ryuuji’s eyes, she cornered him with an almost violent purity.

  “Did you think I hadn’t noticed? You’re both coming to school together every day, aren’t you? I always feel like such a third wheel, and I was waiting for the day you’d open up to me about your relationship…but! No matter how much time passed, you didn’t say anything to me! So that’s why we’re here!”

  “No, no, no, no, no way! That, that was—Kushieda, that’s wro—”

  “I wanted to tell you both—you don’t need to sneak around anymore, Takasu-kun, Taiga! I know that you two are dating! I’ve been wanting to say that for sooooo long!”

  While still prostrating herself on the ground, Minori pointed bluntly at Ryuuji. Then, veins burst out on her temple. With a smile like the sun, she gave him a knowing nod.

  “No matter what, no matter what, you’re the person Taiga was meant to be with, Takasu-kun! I won’t forgive anyone who interferes with destiny! So please, don’t worry about anything and keep on dating! Okay?!”

  Don’t just say ‘okay’! Like he just took a hit to the knee, Ryuuji lost his strength and collapsed on the spot. In that moment, his soul left his body.

  He was so shocked he couldn’t even open his mouth. His voice wouldn’t work. Even though he wanted to deny it. Even though he needed to—

  “Y-you’re completely wrong! Minorin, you’ve totally got the wrong idea! We’re not in a relationship like that! Just listen to me. Let me explain. Stand up!”

  Aisaka was the one making a frantic appeal to Minori as she sidestepped in front of Ryuuji, who was suddenly moved to tears. That’s right, Aisaka. I’ve become useless, but you can still fix this misunderstanding in my place. He cheered her on silently, still collapsed on the concrete floor.

  But…

  “Hee hee hee, no need to be so coy. Congratulations to the new couple!” With flamboyant grace, Minori stood up and beat her skirt. As she did that, she looked at Ryuuji quietly over Aisaka’s shoulder.

  “…Takasu-kun. If you make Taiga cry…I won’t ever forgive you.”

  For a moment, she looked serious.

  Now wait a second! That’s not how it is. That’s really not how it is. Gasping, Ryuuji frantically tried to squeeze out some words. He reached his hand out and tried to give the retreating Minori an explanation. But his throat. His hands. It was as if he’d been paralyzed from the shock, and his body wouldn’t listen to him.

  Then, while Ryuuji remained powerless, he saw Aisaka—his last hope for explaining what had happened—killed with the stroke of a sword right before his very eyes. In Ryuuji’s vision, the life departed from her small body, as though it were being torn out from behind. Just like that, she stopped moving. The spray of blood dyed Aisaka’s whole body red.

  “So, that’s how it was…” a new voice said. “I thought you two had been together a lot lately. Takasu, I needed you for something and came up here, but…we don’t need to worry about that anymore. Congratulations! But that was kind of cold, man! Why didn’t you tell me about something so big?”

  Kitamura had been there the entire time.

  He was standing at the door. He’d seen the whole thing. He’d heard Minori’s speech. He had all the wrong ideas.

  Then he approached the tiny corpse and dealt the final blow.

  “Aisaka. Please take care of Takasu. Please love him for all the many years to come. Now that I think about it, for some reason you two seem like you belong together.”

  The quiet corpses—one large and one small—remained there, unable to get up.

  ***

  “Um, sir. Your order…?”

  “…”

  “…”

  “…M-ma’am. Would you like to order something…?”

  “…One soda…”

  “…The same for me…”

  “…Two fountain drinks coming up. The cups are over there.”

  After that last exchange, the waitress left, but there was no one there to rise and get drinks—just two lifeless bodies.

  It was around ten at night, in a family restaurant along the highway, at window seats in the non-smoking section. It was there that the pair of corpses lingered…

  Even though it was still April, the larger one wore a loose t-shirt stretched out at the neck. It even had a hairband on—the type that people wore to keep the hair out of their eyes when they washed their face. The smaller one had messy long hair and wore a red checked shirt, its skirt a matching checkered green.

  The two of them were worn out. Complete messes. Neither said a word. They hardly even blinked. They were idle, just letting time flow by.

  “Why…did it…come to this…?”

  The first to speak was the larger corpse, Ryuuji. He put his elbows on the table and held his head. As though speaking to himself, he lowered his voice and muttered, “Wh-where…did we go wrong…? How could Kushieda Minori get such a wrong impression…?”

  An aspect of Minori that Ryuuji never knew about had—to his great joy, no matter the circumstance—come to light that day: she was stubborn and wouldn’t listen to others. Put another way, she was completely headstrong. Although, given that she was best friends with Aisaka, perhaps it should have been expected that she’d have some idiosyncrasies.

  “On top of everything…Kushieda misinterpreting stuff like that…”

  To think that his unrequited love interest of nearly one year would jump and prostrate herself before him like that. But, Aisaka, too, who was sitting across from him, had been wounded in the same way.

  “…”

  Looking like her soul had been completely ripped from her body, Aisaka’s empty gaze roamed. She sat on the edge of the sofa chair and stared upwards. Even now, she seemed as though her butt might slip down
and send her falling to the floor. Was this the Palmtop Tiger? Was this the tiger who could knock out a guy with a look, who released her raw power in classroom 2-C? It pained Ryuuji overwhelmingly.

  “A-Aisaka…come on. Get ahold of yourself.”

  He reached out over the table and shook her small shoulder.

  “…”

  But Aisaka’s soul wouldn’t return.

  “Aisaka…”

  It took up the last of his strength. Ryuuji laid his head down, limp on the table. Really…what have we come to?

  He should have been used to getting hurt.

  He should have been used to being misunderstood. People had mistakenly imagined him to be something he wasn’t ever since kindergarten.

  “…Oh, right.”

  Ryuuji came to a realization. It wasn’t being misunderstood that had given him such a terrible shock. Minori had cheered him on so seriously with a broad smile on her face. He knew now that he didn’t have a hope in hell with her and that was what really got to him.

  You’re an idiot, he told himself. That was already so obvious. It should have been crystal clear that she wouldn’t take any particular interest in him—and on top of that, he hadn’t done anything to make her like him. What had he been doing getting his hopes up, anyway? Really, he probably didn’t even have the right to be depressed.

  He stayed in that position for several more minutes, then finally raised his face when he noticed a faint presence.

  “Oh…”

  Tunk, tunk. He heard two hard sounds.

  “…Here. I didn’t know what you wanted, so…this is acerola juice with vitamin C.”

  Aisaka had quietly risen from her seat and brought back bright red drinks for the two of them. She placed the glasses on the table in a line, then slid back down onto the padded seat.

  “…Aisaka…”

  At some point, life had filled her once again. In front of Ryuuji, Aisaka took in one deep breath, then stretched her back straight and raised her face.

  “Sorry. Because we’ve been together so much—something that I insisted on—it’s come to this. It’s all my fault. Even though I called you a mutt, I failed you as an owner…”