Toradora! Vol. 1 Page 4

  She had the same symptoms as Yasuko when she had collapsed, once. This time, he didn’t hesitate to offer his hand.

  “Tsk!” Aisaka vigorously brushed his hand away with her ice-cold fingers. She was still wobbling heavily, but—steadying herself with a nearby desk—she stood up.

  “A-Aisaka! Are you okay?” he said.

  Of course, she didn’t answer. She started walking, knocking into desks along the way, as her velvety hair fluttered. He watched her diminutive back as she ran off. Because she had been sitting, the seat of her pleated skirt was folded up, and though it revealed a risqué amount of her delicate legs, she made her escape too fast for him to tell her.

  “Wait up! Shouldn’t you at least go to the nurse’s office to rest?”

  Even though he might have been meddling, Ryuuji couldn’t just leave her, so he started to follow.

  “Get away from me, you moron!” She shrieked, her desperate voice hitting him like a physical blow. He put on the brakes. If she could yell like that, she was probably fine…

  “M-man, what a mess…”

  The sound of Aisaka’s running feet faded down the hallway until he stood alone in the classroom, still reeling in the aftermath of being called a moron.

  Abandoned, Ryuuji just stood there, muttering weakly to himself.

  The back of his head was still pounding, and Aisaka’s nails had left ten lacerations in the side of the bag—the one they had failed to reach any sort of civil compromise on. The once neat rows of desks were unbearably jostled.

  It was a mess.

  The desks and Aisaka were both messed up. What a troublesome girl.

  As he fussed with the desks until they were back in order, Ryuuji desperately tried to make sense of what had just happened. The after-school classroom that should have been deserted, Aisaka Taiga somersaulting out, the bag that had nearly been stolen from him, the sneeze, the bump to the back of his head, the anemic girl… It was impossible, there was no understanding it. He didn’t have a clue what to make of it.

  “I’m no good with messed-up situations like these,” Ryuuji solemnly mumbled to himself and sighed.

  Little did he know, but the meaning of the incident was to become all too clear three hours later.

  ***

  To: Kitamura Yuusaku-sama.

  From: Aisaka Taiga.

  “Th-this…is…”

  It was seven at night. Yasuko had left early to accompany a customer to her job, so Ryuuji was eating a simple dinner alone. Finally, he had come to understand the meaning of the mysterious and now vaguely-remembered incident that happened earlier that day after school.

  When he had gone back to his four-and-a-half tatami room to finish his homework, he opened his bag to take out his textbook and notebook—and that was when he had found it.

  A light pink envelope. Pieces of silver foil were incorporated into the pulpy paper, shaped like cherry blossom petals. They seemed to flutter as they scattered through the paper, creating a texture like that of washi paper.

  To Kitamura Yuusaku-sama, it was addressed.

  He flipped it over. From Aisaka Taiga, it said. To put this very politely, if this letter causes you trouble, please just throw it away.

  It was written in the faint blue ink of a nearly depleted pen.

  No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t just a regular letter. It wasn’t the class newsletter, and it didn’t seem like a money envelope for repayment, either.

  “This is…a love letter…!”

  He was shocked. He had stumbled into something terrible.

  Letting curiosity get the best of him was unthinkable, but his eyes narrowed mercilessly as he looked at the envelope. Of course, he wasn’t angry—just extremely flustered.

  Long story short, it seemed the Palmtop Tiger had gotten the wrong bag. She had mistaken his bag for Kitamura’s and snuck this thing inside. That was why she had become so desperate and tried to steal it back.

  “You put this in accidentally, didn’t you?” he said aloud, trying to practice what he might say to her, acting as though nothing was up. “I didn’t look inside, so I can’t imagine what’s in it. Ahhh well—here, you can have it back…” He shook his head. “Nope. That won’t work.”

  He instantly snapped back to reality. That definitely wouldn’t work. This was terrible. There was no way anyone would be fooled with a line like that. But he couldn’t think of anything better. The next day, he’d have to hand the thing over to Aisaka quickly and casually with that line.

  This is definitely a love letter, but I myself don’t think it’s a love letter. So, don’t go thinking that I know a secret about you, or anything inconvenient like that, he’d say. Pretty far-fetched, but he’d try something along those lines. There was no other way. That was the one and only way to do it that wouldn’t cause Aisaka embarrassment, and that wouldn’t hurt his own pride or cause him any distress.

  Ryuuji forced himself to believe it and started to put that dangerous thing back into his bag. That was when it happened.

  “Eeeep…”

  His heart constricted and jumped.

  The envelope, held so carefully in the palm of his hand to keep from getting it dirty or damaged, started to unseal itself right before his eyes. Stop it, don’t open! he shouted a silent prayer. But it seemed that part of the already weak adhesive had bent itself out of shape and was peeling off.

  He forgot everything but how to breathe. Soon, the envelope opened completely, there in Ryuuji’s hand.

  Just like that, a letter-snooping miscreant was born.

  “N-no… No, you’ve got it all wrong, I didn’t see anything! That’s right, I’ll reseal it! If I do that, she won’t find out!”

  “That’s right!” Inko-chan gave him a shout of encouragement from the living room, as Ryuuji ransacked his drawers looking for glue. He finally found some and was all set to restore the envelope. He wouldn’t leave any evidence behind, but…

  “…H-huh?”

  In spite of himself, his busy hands stopped.

  The envelope had nothing in it. With some hesitation, he opened the envelope again, peeked inside, and held it to the light for confirmation. There really was nothing in it. It was empty.

  What a relief.

  Feeling spent, Ryuuji involuntarily slumped across his desk. Don’t just scare someone like that—what a klutz.

  Aisaka Taiga. You’re the one who’s a moron.

  Hiding in a completely obvious place, somersaulting out into the open, getting the wrong bag, sneezing and falling down while trying to steal it, and—on top of all that—forgetting to put the letter into the envelope. Even for a klutz, that was just too much.

  Even after pulling himself together, Ryuuji didn’t have the heart to continue the idiotic operation of regluing an empty envelope.

  The next day, when he returned it to Aisaka, could he really pretend to be indifferent? It might be fine, as long as he didn’t burst out in laughter over the ridiculous details of this story, but in the unlikely event that he did do something like that, this might be the time he really did get eaten by the Palmtop Tiger.

  Nevertheless, he decided to finish regluing the envelope.

  The strange night wore on—until two in the morning.

  Ryuuji suddenly woke up. He opened his eyes wide in a daze.

  He felt as though he’d been having a dream, but…the clock indicated it was the dead of night. He scratched vigorously at his belly. He always slept like a baby until morning—why had he woken up at such an odd time? Ryuuji hadn’t the faintest idea.

  It may have been because he slept with just a t-shirt and his underwear, but he felt a bit chilly. It was the middle of April, but apparently, he had fallen asleep with the window open. Nothing lay beyond the window but the wall of that upper-class condominium—so lately, his vigilance had waned. There wasn’t anything around worth stealing, but he reached out his arm and closed the window anyway, making sure to properly lock it.

  He got up from
his bed, an old mail-order purchase. Still feeling unsettled, he stifled a lethargic yawn. Maybe a bad dream was to blame, but his heart was pounding. The atmosphere felt inexplicably strange, almost as if he were being watched.

  “I have a bad feeling…” he muttered. Wobbly, he stepped onto the tatami mats and checked his phone to make sure nothing had happened to Yasuko. But there was nothing there to speak of, not even a text from the bar. He took a breath. I guess it was nothing.

  Since he was already up, he headed barefoot to the restroom, and then on toward the cold wooden floor of the kitchen.

  But in that instant…

  “Huhh?!”

  He felt a tingle run down his neck. Reflexively, he turned around—and completely slipped on a discarded newspaper, falling down butt-first. BAM! Butt, meet floor. The impact ran from his waist to his head, all the air momentarily knocked out of him.

  “…!”

  He couldn’t even get out a scream.

  With tremendous force, something careened down through the air, right where Ryuuji’s head had just been. After a powerful swing and miss, it struck the floor with a foreboding clamor, just beside Ryuuji’s body.

  “Tsk…tsk…tsk.”

  An ominous human silhouette hovered in the pitch-black, two-bedroom apartment. It took aim at Ryuuji, once again swinging that rod-shaped object at him in a wide arc. He was under attack.

  He didn’t understand why, though. He wanted it to be a dream. Someone help!

  Still unable to make a sound, Ryuuji desperately rolled away for dear life. He needed light, or the police, or the landlady. His mind went blank. He couldn’t think. Scared stiff, he could do nothing but run away, nothing but crawl to the front entrance. But…

  “HIYAHHHHH!”

  Now he was done for. His assailant pointed the murder weapon at the top of his head and then struck. Without even knowing what was happening, in the spur of the moment, he reached out with both hands and…

  “Ah…? I-I did it…!”

  Somehow, he stopped the blow precisely with his bare hands. Well, he probably hadn’t been precise about it, but through sheer luck, he had the murder weapon firmly grasped between his palms.

  “Ugh!”

  The perpetrator pushed that weapon forcefully downwards. Ryuuji used all his strength to try and force it back. As they waged their silent test of strength, the figure wavered in the darkness. A small stature, an outline engulfed in long hair—of course, he thought, somewhere in the back of his mind. He had probably suspected who it was from the very beginning.

  Gritting his teeth, toughing through it, Ryuuji came to a strange understanding. Of course—of course—who else would do something this messed up?

  But at the very moment he figured out who the perpetrator was—Aah! I can’t do it anymore!—both of his shaking hands lost all sensation. The stiff muscles in the back of his neck also strained to their limits.

  “…Hah… Ahhh…”

  HACHOO!

  His opponent lost balance for an instant.

  At the moment of that strange-sounding sneeze, the weight on him suddenly, softly disappeared. His opponent succumbed to Ryuuji’s strength, and he pushed back, staggering wildly.

  “Ah! Wah!” his opponent quietly exclaimed, then tottered, tripped, and landed on the bed with a resounding thump. Ryuuji stood up and slammed into the wall, rushing to turn on the light switch.

  “AISAKAAAAA!”

  “…”

  “You could at least use a tissue!”

  He threw a tissue box at the Palmtop Tiger, Aisaka Taiga, who was nonchalantly wiping her nose on the bedspread.

  ***

  Her long, fluffy hair spilled down her back, and she wore a dress covered in layers of lace and other fluffy materials. Considering her tiny body, styles that added volume to her frame really suited her…

  “H-hand over the wooden sword.” Ryuuji found himself deeply regretting that he hadn’t managed to steal away Aisaka Taiga’s weapon.

  Since he’d turned on the light and given her the tissues, nothing about the perilous situation had been settled at all. Both Aisaka’s eyes glinted with light. She circled the small room’s edge, just like a tiger cornering its prey in a cage. Naturally, Ryuuji kept his distance. Still in his underwear, he too ran in circles around the room, trying to keep away from her.

  But no matter how long they kept doing that, they wouldn’t get anywhere. That thought in mind, he said, “Hey, Aisaka… I know what you want. You want me to give back that lo—that letter, right? The one you accidentally put in my bag.”

  “…Tsk.”

  He’d summoned the courage to speak. But at that very moment, Aisaka swallowed her breath and went still. From his perspective, her whole body seemed to grow. She was a bomb about to go off. Her fuse had been lit.

  “I-I’ll give it back! So calm down! I didn’t look inside!”

  “…It’s not enough to just give it back,” she answered, voice so low that it seemed to creep along the ground. “That’s nowhere near good enough… You shouldn’t even know that the letter exists.” She whisked the gigantic wooden sword up, so that it danced elegantly above her head.

  “DIE!”

  “GAH!”

  She aimed straight for the top of Ryuuji’s head and brought the sword down.

  Just how fast is this girl?!

  Aisaka leaped at Ryuuji’s chest, crossing several meters in an instant. If her sword hadn’t hit the wall (the security deposit!), he really would have been done for.

  “Tsk!”

  “You idiot!” On the verge of tears, he leaped back and let loose a heartfelt shout. “Are you out of your mind?! What kind of nutcase would try to kill her own classmate? You’re messed up!”

  “Shut up! Now that you know about the letter, I can’t bear to live with the shame! The only thing left for me to do—is die!” The sword’s point lunged for his Adam’s apple.

  “Yikes! Y-you say you’ll die, so why are you trying to kill me?!”

  Ryuuji avoided it with downright miraculous reflexes, but Aisaka’s power was immense. She used that power to cut straight into the sliding door (the repair bill!), then followed through with another lunge. In those wide-open eyes, there was no hesitation, just desperation and resolve.

  “I’d rather kill you than kill myself! Sorry, but please die! And if you can’t manage that—erase all your memories!”

  “How the heck am I supposed to do that?!”

  “Trust me, it’s not impossible! If I…” She glanced at the wooden sword she brandished. “If I knock you over the head with this, even if you survive, it should at least give you amnesia.”

  “No knocking, thanks!”

  Just how stubborn was she?! If only he could get her to realize she was talking nonsense. But words wouldn’t get through to her. Common sense, common courtesy, morality—stuff like that didn’t matter to Aisaka.

  Ugh, that’s why I didn’t want to get involved with her in the first place!

  Contrary to Ryuuji’s thoughts, which were turning grim, Aisaka’s destructive conduct was going splendidly. If Ryuuji kept on running, she’d just corner him. She knocked the boxes off the top of the wardrobe, ripped a hole in the sliding door, and kicked over a small table. While it fell, she exclaimed: “Forget about the love letter!”

  The Palmtop Tiger was self-destructing. He could have said he didn’t know it was a love letter (that had been an option), but now she’d confirmed it herself, making things a real mess. No, that wasn’t right—things had been a mess since the very first moment he got involved with Aisaka. And on top of that…

  “You looked at it, right?!” she said. “You read it, didn’t you?! And then you thought I was an idiot, an id… an id… Uhh, uguh, uwuhhh…!”

  “Ah?! Wait—a-are you crying?”

  “No way!”

  Between those horrible, groaning noises, she released a half-suppressed sigh. She aimed her wide eyes at Ryuuji, their whites turned faintly red. Tears
welled up at their corners. Even though it was only a tiny bit, Aisaka really was crying. He was the person that ought to cry! If he thought he could afford to collapse right then and there, he would have, but at that moment, it would mean his life.

  Ugh, what a weird turn of events. He was the one being attacked, so why did he feel like he was the one who had done something wrong?

  Then, out of complete desperation, he feinted a run to the side and made a risky grab for Aisaka’s wrist. She was shocked for one brief moment. He felt a little scared that her delicate wrist might break in his grasp.

  “Let go!”

  Whatever she said, he needed to play his trump card now. He inhaled, preparing to shout with all his might. Sorry, neighbors. Landlady, please forgive me.

  “No way am I letting go!” he barked. “Now listen here! Aisaka, you made a terrible mistake! That envelope was—”

  “Let! Go! Of! Me!”

  Aisaka’s struggling wrist slipped from Ryuuji’s hand. She tried aiming at him from close range. Her bloodthirsty eyes glistened.

  “It was empty!”

  Ryuuji got his words out just in time. The wooden sword’s swing stopped at the very last moment, directly above his head, lightly brushing several strands of his hair.

  Several all-too-unpleasant seconds of silence went by. Finally, she squeezed out a word. “Emp…ty…?” she said in that immature voice of hers. He nodded his head fervently up and down.

  “Th-that’s right. It was empty. So, I haven’t seen whatever was meant to be inside and also, that’s right—that’s right! You were lucky you didn’t give that to Kitamura! You avoided making a fool out of yourself in front of everybody.”

  Bleary eyes still wide open, Aisaka froze in place. Ryuuji took the opportunity to crawl away. He grabbed his bag and rummaged through it with shaking hands. In a mad rush, he pulled out the envelope.

  “See! See, see!”

  He pushed the envelope into her small hands as her eyes became bloodshot. The wooden sword dropped to the floor with a thud, Aisaka’s body trembling violently. But she stood firm, righted herself, and raised the newly returned envelope up to the light.