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Ryuuji sighs, a soft smile forming on his face as he looks at the picture of him and Taiga in her student handbook. Thinking back to the cultural festival, and all the effort he went to, to be by her side. His smile faltered. It had only been a day, but he missed her so much, the ache of it threatened to swallow him whole. The sound of his phone buzzing startled him out of his trance, and he glanced down at his phone. A text message from Taiga, speak of the devil.
Taiga: Hey, you never said you love me
“What?” He yelped. That couldn’t be right. “No, I didn’t forget, I’m pretty sure after I fell into the river…” he trailed off as the realization hit him. “Oh, crap she’s right! We were interrupted” he said mentally kicking himself. “Man, how could I tell Kawashima but not her”.
His phone buzzed with another message from Taiga.
Taiga: Klutz
Fair enough, he thinks to himself. He presses the call button as a brilliant idea hits him. She picks up after one ring “Hey Ryu-” “I love you,” he says cutting her off. He hears her beautiful laugh, “you idiot,” she says. A long moment passes before she blurts out “I love you too. It is so not fair that you got to say it first though.” Ryuuji’s heart swelled, she loved him, and said it out loud, if only she were here right now so he could hug her and see her smile. She’s not here though, the though brought him back down to Earth and the reality they were facing.
“You didn’t say goodbye,” he says with hurt in his voice. The silence before her answer is deafening. “I- I-”, she stutters before sighing, “I’m sorry Ryuuji I…” she trails off. “I get why you left” he says, “but I was worried. You- you said you weren’t running away anymore but leaving without saying goodbye… that…” he didn’t know if he could get this last part out, but he had to. Deep breath. “Felt like running away. It- it hurt,” he said finally.
A sniffle over the phone. Great. Now he’s gone and done it, making her cry. The thought brought tears to his eyes. “If I faced you Ryuuji, I didn’t think I’d be able to leave,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I’m sorry, but I don’t regret it. I want to make things work with my mom, my step siblings. I need to be strong, s- strong enough, so I can stand by you!” “I… I wouldn’t have tried to stop you,” he said with his face in his hands. “Would you?” Taiga asked softly. With a sigh Ryuuji answered, “I don’t know.”
A few tense seconds pass before Ryuuji gets up the courage to say what might end their short relationship. That doesn’t feel like the right word, what they had was so much more, and yet. “So, what does this mean… for us? Do-” here comes the hard part “do you need to take time on your own? Does this mean we’re over-”?
“No!” she practically screeches, cutting him off, “I’m only an hour away by train. I- I can come visit, and you could visit me, on like weekends and stuff. Unless you don’t want to-”. “I can visit!” Ryuuji says before her rambling can continue, as he lets himself get his hopes up again. “So does that mean,” Taiga ventures, “we’d be-”
“Taiga will you be my girlfriend?” Ryuuji asks before he can stop himself. “Yes!” she answers, “will you be my boyfriend?” “I mean it’s kind of implied with me asking you to be my” Ryuuji starts. “Just say yes you dog!” Taiga snaps. “Well, if I’m your boyfriend,” he says smugly, “you should probably have a nicer nickname for me.”
She laughs, “keep dreaming dog.” Yeah, he had that one coming. “It was worth a try,” he said relishing in their banter that he had grown so used to.
Taiga loudly clears her throat and says, “you didn’t say yes,” with a sudden bashfulness in her voice. “Yes,” Ryuuji replies, rolling his eyes. “Yes, what?” Taiga says forcefully. “You’re really gonna make me say it?” he answers with a sigh. “Yes, now stop embarrassing me!” she exclaims. He can almost feel her blushing through the phone. “I’m embarrassing you?” he says exasperated but smiling. “Say it,” she says with an air of finality.
Ryuji breathes in and smiles as he says the words he didn’t ever expect to say, “Taiga, I would love to be your boyfriend.” “Now that’s my dog,” Taiga smirks. “Boyfriend,” he corrects her. “Whatever.”