“Huh?! No, I don’t really care about her! It’s just I was thinking about something! I was thinking Kihara was making a big deal about something again and maybe she’d try giving chocolates to the master or something! I was just like, what if that happened?! I don’t really care though! I don’t care, but like, doesn’t it bother you Taiga?! That she might be doing something like that?!”
“What about that is supposed to bother me? Actually, why have you got to make a big deal out of it if Kihara Maya gives Kitamura-kun chocolates? Oh, I see. So you like Kihara.”
Whoa. Ryuuji looked at Taiga from the side of his eye. He saw eye-opening cruelty, like someone taking a giant paintbrush and daubing over the delicate subtleties of the ever-changing heart without consideration. Poor Noto’s face turned a fierce and terrible red.
It was certainly true that Noto’s “support” of Taiga was probably an annoyance to her. He’d gone along with the mood and teased her, which was probably why she was attacking him now. Nothing less could be expected of the Palmtop Tiger. She was especially sensitive to the smell of blood coming from the wounded.
“While you were fighting, you realized that you liked her…so that’s what this is. Hmmmmm. You know what—it looks like that friendly hairy idiot did just fine for himself. So why don’t you get your glasses dirty and put some elbow grease into it, too? I think you two would look pretty great together. How should I know, though?”
“Whaaat?! Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you saying?! If you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, then maybe you should keep your mouth shut! You’re strange, Tiger! There’s something wrong with you!”
“Oh, now you’re all flustered. Looks like I hit the bullseye. Your face is all red.”
“Actually, seriously stop! Don’t say weird things!”
“It’s not in the least bit weird. It’s a very natural thing to happen. A guy’s stamen and a girl’s pistil—”
“You idiot! There’s something wrong with your head! Whoa!”
“Now then, Kihara Maya is going to be in the same class as you tomorrow and the day after. I hope you’re painfully aware of the weird sense of distance between the two of you every day. I hope you worry about it! And suffer!”
You were just as miserable from your own love issues; I can’t believe you’d do this to someone else, Ryuuji thought.
“So, why’s your face red, too?”
“Huh?! R-Red?! Am I red…?!”
Wasn’t he the person Taiga liked? Wasn’t he the one who was worried and suffering? When Ryuuji thought about it again, he felt shaken for some reason.
“Th-th-th-that’s enough! Damn it! Mister! They’re not actually working!”
At Noto’s roar, the owner inside the shop raised his head, looking concerned. We’re working hard! Ryuuji shook his head and, in that opening, Noto ran away.
The shop owner probably hadn’t taken Noto seriously, but he came out to the front, and his face clouded when he saw how many chocolates were still left on the wagon.
“It’s almost six. Having this many left by now is bad. I know that you can’t help having school friends come by, since you’re selling outside, but if that’s going to happen, at least call over friends who will buy more.”
Ryuuji and Taiga awkwardly exchanged looks. Of course, if this was all they could sell, the profits would be eaten up simply by their own wages.
“Well…even though I’m just hanging out here, I feel some responsibility over this. In that case, it’s time to call in the lethal weapon.”
As though Taiga had thought of something, she opened her cell phone and started calling someone from her address book.
“Geh. You weren’t alone?”
Ami glared at Ryuuji, who was still trying to stand haughtily like a fake pâtissier.
“I’m going home.”
She turned around.
She was out of her uniform, in casual clothes consisting of a down jacket, jeans, and a cap with fake glasses. Ami’s disguise was to no avail, as some passing boys turned to her, saying, “That girl’s cute.”
“I wonder if she’s a model? She’s tall, too.”
Her thin frame and the smooth, beautiful hair that spilled from her cap made it obvious she wasn’t just any normal person.
“Well, you did come all the way here. Here, Dimhuahua, take this.”
Taiga brought up her hand from below the wagon and extended her arm out to Ami, whom she had called. After looking around carefully, she handed Ami five chocolates in a stack.
“Huh? No way. I don’t want you doing anything weird to me. I’m so beautiful, I stand out more than I want as it is.”
“Okay, okay, yeah, you’re so beautiful, Dimhuahua. You stand out so much. That’s why I called you here. Now, take this and then say in a really loud voice, ‘I love this place’s chocolates!’”
“What? Are you telling me to be a plant?!”
“Well, more or less.”
“No way! Why would I do something lame like that?! Actually, what’s this guy doing here… This isn’t funny!”
“Yo…” Though it was a bit awkward, Ryuuji tried raising his hand to her slightly. “How’ve you been?”
So, she hasn’t left school yet.
Ami’s response was just her clicking her tongue and then, “Disappear.”
Ryuuji resigned himself to her cold act. The way he was acting might have been similar to the believers of the ramen shop who lusted after the boiling hot droplets. He might have been fulfilling his masochistic wishes for the stamp of submission, like a bottomless pot of insatiable greed. Ryuuji was the type of masochistic dog who felt an illogical need to respond to the beautiful girl’s coldness and to end up passionately burning with emotion in contrast…not.
He wasn’t just going to conveniently disappear from Ami’s sight. He wouldn’t let Ami manipulate him and get rid of him because he had made a mistake. Unexpectedly, even Ryuuji had complex, unmanageable emotions about that. He felt stubborn and competitive about her acting as though she was the only one who understood things.
He didn’t know what would happen next, and he didn’t want her to think of him as a failure who had given up. Basically, he might just want to be praised by Kawashima Ami.
Taiga cocked her head curiously as she compared Ryuuji and Ami’s faces. A strange, disquieting air lingered between them.
“I had no idea you didn’t get along to that extent, Dimhuahua and Ryuuji. Are you being so unfair to Ryuuji now because I told you not to be so friendly with him before the school trip?”
“No! Way! We just don’t get along. We’ve broken ties, as you can see.”
Hmph. Ami looked away and turned her back to the wagon as though she were going home, but Taiga grabbed the elbow of Ami’s jacket.
“Well, Dimhuahua, don’t talk about breaking ties. Just be nice already and buy some chocolates, and you can give them to Ryuuji to make up. Valentine’s Day came just in time. It’s perfect for you.”
“What did you say?! Actually, what?! You’re making me buy chocolates?! Aren’t you just having me be a plant?!”
“Then it’ll be my treat. Oh, but only one! And, right, you buy one for yourself, too. Then, you give that to Minorin and make up with her. I’ve been keeping an eye on you… You want to make up with Minorin, but you can’t because of your weirdly flip-flopping Chihuahua heart… If it’s too awkward for you, I can call Minorin over? Ha ha, I can’t believe I’d be the one to create an opportunity for you to be honest when you’re so damn impudent, Dimhuahua. No one can predict how a person will turn out.”
“Hmph!”
Speechless, Ami silently took off her gloves and slapped Taiga with them. If they had been medieval nobles, that would have been a call for a duel. It wasn’t as though Ryuuji didn’t understand why Ami would want to do that after her inner, complex feelings had been found out. But he was scared, so he didn’t butt in.
“Ow! Ow! Dimhuahua! Stop, I’ll release the impressions DVD to the public!”
“Who cares?! Do whatever you want!”
“Then I’ll break you down mentally! Take this!”
Taiga opened up her flip phone.
“Huh? This is…bwah!”
Taiga showed Ami the screen. Ami fell down, dropped her cap, took a glance at Ryuuji, and once again blurted out, “Bwah ha!” It was probably the picture Taiga had just taken earlier.
“Right… Let me see that for a second. What did it end up looking like?”
“You shouldn’t look. I think you wouldn’t be able to recover.”
“Let me see! In that case, delete it!”
“Like I could delete this when it’s so funny.”
Forgetting he was at work, Ryuuji ended up scuffling for the phone with Taiga. They stretched their arms out at each other as though they were playing one-on-one basketball.
“Oh! It’s Kawashima Ami-chan!” said a lone girl, who looked to be a junior high schooler, as she walked by the shop. She was probably on the way home from a nearby school after her club activities. Quite a few girls around the same age started appearing one after another.
“Apparently she really does live around here!”
“What, who?!”
“The model! She’s so pretty! Can I get your picture?!”
In a split second, a group of girls pulled out their cell phones and started making a scene. Shake my hand! they said. Which school do you go to?!
“Kawashima, you really are famous…”
Ami politely declined the pictures. “What? You did a great job recognizing me. ♥ Thanks so much for supporting me everyone. ♥” She went into her moist-eyed Chihuahua mode, shook their hands, and gave them autographs. The adults who passed by were watching the uproar quizzically, having no idea who Ami was and.
“Actually, are you buying chocolates from this place?!”
“Ami-chan is buying them! She even has five boxes!”
The chocolates that Taiga had pressed on Ami were completely obvious and still openly visible in her hands. Instantly, the girls closed in on the wagon and started pulling out their wallets.
“I’ll buy them, too! I want to be like Ami-chan!”
“Me, too, me, too! Geh, they’re expensive! But I’ll buy some anyway!”
The housewives among the passersby, who were part of a generation that wouldn’t know who Ami was, also started to glance at the wagon as they heard the girls making a commotion asking for boxes small and large.