As the last of the four people’s worth of retorts finished, Minori decided to suddenly blind Taiga by poking her in the eyes. “Oh…I went harder than I meant to… Sorry… What should I do…”
Taiga covered her eyes and went facedown on the table. “Well, but that doesn’t matter anymore,” she said in a muffled voice. “I’m going to fight, too. I want to be with Ryuuji, so if my world self-destructs because of that, no matter where I am, I’ll survive. I absolutely won’t lose. I won’t give up on Ryuuji. And I won’t give up on Minorin or Kitamura-kun…or Dimhuahua, either. Because I love you. No matter what mass destruction comes, no matter where I am, I won’t stop loving anyone.”
Ryuuji thought about what to say. What words would be strong and certain enough to convey his resolve to Taiga and everyone else? He thought and then spoke like he had thoroughly reflected on what he would say.
“Then you’re…declaring your love at the epicenter of the world…”
Takasu…
Takasu-kun…
Takasu-kun…
You…
Was it cold because of the snowy weather, because he had fallen into a river, or because of the temperature of the air filling the room? The cold silence lasted a good five seconds.
“Waaaaaaaaaahhhh… That’s so grosssssssssssssss…”
“Was it actually bad enough to make you cry??”
Ami had started to cry fat tears. Ryuuji thought she was probably being provocative, as usual, but she looked back at him with hard, reddened eyes.
“I can’t stand thiiiiiiiiisssssss… Ahh, I want my moooooooooooooom…”
“Was it really that bad…?”
Ami stood up. “You can have this, so hurry up and just goooooooooooooo!”
“Oh…!”
She took one of the keys from a Louis Vuitton key case on the steel rack and threw it over to Ryuuji. He barely caught it. He remembered that old and yellowing key from somewhere. “Is this…the villa’s?”
“It is.” Blowing her nose, Ami breathed in. She gently wiped away the tears on her face. “There isn’t any electricity. They turned off the gas. If you open the stopcock on the meter box, you’ll be able to use the water, but it’ll track how much you used.”
He looked at Taiga’s face. Taiga also looked at Ryuuji as though reluctant. He hesitated, but…
“We can’t borrow this… Of course, this is—”
“Then what are you going to do? Like this is the time to act all high and mighty.” When he tried to return the key, Ami put her hands behind her back to say she wouldn’t take it. “You decided that you’re running, right? Then you’ve got to be bold about it! No one’s saying you’ll live there forever or anything! Even if you take a part-time job, you need a place to live, don’t you?! You don’t have to go, but you can at least take it as insurance!”
How much trouble would Ami be in if her parents found out? Thinking over all the possibilities, Ryuuji was still unable to put that key in his pocket. He was immobile, like a robot whose battery had died down. If the police got involved and people found out that Ami offered them a place to hide, then wouldn’t she end up in as much trouble as the ones who had run away?
She was probably actually prepared for that, too. Ami was a person whose heart was always passionately swayed by the power of ever-tremendous affection.
But was this really okay?
“Oh…” Kitamura said, looking at his phone. “‘At least send us a message. We are very worried.’ …It’s from my mom. Time’s almost up for me tonight. They might even come here. Should we leave now, you two?”
“If you’re headed to Ahmin’s villa, you might be too late to take the train. When we went during the summer, I looked up the schedule, but I think the route ended pretty early in the evening. If you leave now…”
“Ryuuji and I don’t have any money.”
“I’ll lend you some,” Ami said. “Oh, but you actually might not be able to make the train. Wait a sec, I’m pretty sure you can check the schedule on your phone.”
“No…it’s fine, you don’t have to check,” Ryuuji told Ami, who’d pulled out her phone, and he looked at Taiga. “Taiga, let’s go back home one last time. I’ll get some money. Tomorrow, you come to school. Tell your mom you want to at least show your face one last time to your class. You think you can come?”
“I’m not sure… She said that she would send in my school withdrawal through the mail…but if I say that I want to hand it over to my homeroom teacher in person, then maybe… What are you going to tell Ya-chan?”
Ryuuji hesitated for a moment. If he went home, would Yasuko be there? He’d heard that only Taiga’s mother was at Kitamura’s house, so maybe she’d gone home alone after she had her argument with him. Maybe she had gone to work.
“She’s probably at work, so I don’t think she’ll be home though…”
If she was at home, then what would he do? What would he say? Was it better for him to say nothing and just disappear the next day from school?
“You have to make sure you apologize for what you said to Ya-chan earlier and take it back. And then, talk to her about what we’re doing and make sure she understands. I’m sure that Ya-chan will actually get it. She’ll help us.”
She wouldn’t, Ryuuji thought. She wouldn’t understand, and she wouldn’t help them, but he couldn’t just say that to Taiga.
When they all went out the front, the snow had stopped. Here and there, the asphalt showed through one to two centimeters of white. It might have been because the temperature had increased slightly, but it melted under their shoes as they passed.
They all immediately noticed the black Porsche that appeared at the crosswalk a short walk from Ami’s house. The car, with its low height and unique shape, glided to a stop on the shoulder of the road. Taiga’s mother emerged, leaving the engine running.
She walked up to Taiga.
“Juicy Couture.”
She grabbed the nape of the parka Taiga had borrowed from Ami and turned it over to look at the tag. Her gaze looked heartless, her eyes light grey even in the darkness.
“Kawashima-san? Which of you is her? Would that be you?” Her eyes glided over Ryuuji, Kitamura, and Minori, coming to a stop at Ami. “This is quite expensive. We’ll buy it from you.”
“What? Uh, you don’t need to! Please don’t worry about it~!” Ami waved her hands in her usual good-girl act, but there was no hesitation in Taiga’s mother as she pulled her wallet from her small clutch. She moved with dexterity that made one think of the assertive smoothness of a sports car.
“This should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
“Um, I really… Actually, my parents bought me that, so—”
“Then please relay this to your parents.”
She forced Ami to take fifty thousand yen. Ryuuji didn’t know whether that was a reasonable amount, but it was like this cancelled out Ami trying to lend out the clothes. With that, it would be like no trace of Taiga was left behind.
It was almost like a mother fox trying to erase all evidence of her child from around their abandoned nest hole, dusting over footprints, trampling and kicking the dirt in order to not even leave a scent.
“We’re going.”
Taiga turned around, looking anxious. She looked at Kitamura, the boy who had, day after day, supported her. Whom she continued to see as someone to look up to, who had made her heart flutter.
She looked at Ami. They had been rivals, opposed each other, gotten in arguments, hit and kicked each other, and without realizing it, they had grown close.
She looked at Minori. She looked at the face of the girl she adored.
Then, she looked at the face of her only love in the whole world.
“H-have a good life.”
Ryuuji, unknown to himself, was trembling slightly as he listened to the words Taiga sent him off with. Though he knew that it was an act, that this was just a temporary parting, it was terrifying. If this was really the last time they would say goodbye to each other, what would he do?
He waved his hand and answered, “Yeah,” holding back the urge to start running.
Should he follow after her? If he let her go, if this was going to be their last goodbye, would it be better if he grabbed her hand and just ran for it?
But the car door made a loud clunk as it closed. He couldn’t see inside because of the tinted windows. Taiga and her mom drove away.
Even Minori had started moving as if to go after her but sensed in the leap of Ryuuji’s breathing next to her that they should hold back.
“It’ll be fine, right…” Kitamura let a few words spill out.
“It’ll be fine. I’m sure. Because Tiger is pretending like she’s going with her, but she’s really here with us.”
Minori nodded at what Ami said.