Chapter Text
“Yes.”
That one word seemed to ring out in the small living room of the Takasu residence.
The evening sun had filled the two-bedroom apartment with a warm, orange glow. Outside, the crows were cawing, and the sounds of the city were audible. However, for the two people currently in the apartment, the weight of that one word and the ensuing silence seemed to overpower everything else.
Kawashima Ami had faced a particularly rough day. After picking up litter around the city for the student council and getting drenched in rain and mud, she had successfully confronted her stalker—albeit being in tears by the end of it. Takasu Ryuuji had been with her for all these events, and Ami had to admit that he was one of the main reasons she’d managed to drop her façade and face her stalker with courage.
Despite not wanting Ryuuji to see more of her pathetic side, she had allowed him to comfort her and lead her to his apartment to freshen up. But the drinks they’d been having just moments ago now lay idly on the table while the two teenagers themselves were in…compromising positions. Ami was almost on top of Ryuuji, her back arched like a cat’s, while the boy was just barely holding himself up with his hands. Their faces were just a few centimetres apart, their eyes locked together almost anxiously. Somewhere at the back of Ami’s mind, she vaguely wondered how she’d gotten herself in this situation to begin with.
They had been having a conversation about Aisaka Taiga’s boundless self-confidence when Ami had posed a meek question.
“Takasu-kun, what would you do if I showed you the real me?”
“…” Without any response, he had simply focused his gaze on her, a dazed expression on his face.
“Would you fall in love with me?”
Silence. Ryuuji didn’t move a muscle, other than a slight quiver in his lips. But then came his answer, slow and quiet—but with a certain earnestness.
“Yes.”
“Eh?” That was the only response Ami could give after a few seconds of shock. As surprising as it sounded, Ami hadn’t been teasing him. She had been genuine and asked him a genuine question, perhaps for the first time since she’d met him. But she hadn’t expected anything serious. She thought he would blush and look around nervously, before making an excuse to run away. Then at the last moment, she’d lie by saying “Just kidding!” like usual, and proceed to tease him mercilessly.
“H-Huh?” Ryuuji widened his eyes as if he’d just broken out of a trance. “K-K-Kawashima, w-what did I…I-I um didn’t m-mean…”
A red blush erupted on his face as he stuttered and rambled incoherently. Ami could feel her own face slowly heating up. Is he lying to me? she wondered. No way. She hadn’t known Takasu Ryuuji for very long, but she still had a general idea of his personality. He was honest, almost to a fault. His thoughts were reflected in his every word and action. She couldn’t even imagine him lying without making it laughably obvious to everyone around him. He might be a bit dense at times, but he could also be awfully blunt. It was the same bluntness that had told her to drop her façade and given her the resolve to fight, just hours ago. It was impossible to think that the same boy could lie to her so convincingly.
But that would mean…Her blush deepened as the implications of her thoughts caused her brain to overheat. This shouldn’t have happened. She could never have imagined this situation. It was a complete surprise.
Yes, it was truly an unexpected surprise. An unexpected one, but…maybe…not an unwelcome one…?
Before her mind could answer that question, a sudden sound interrupted her thoughts. Ami and Ryuuji both froze as the knob turned and the front door suddenly opened.
Ami and Ryuuji finally broke the eye contact they’d been sharing for the past minute, and turned towards the girl who was staring down at them in surprise.
“Taiiga, are they there?” Kushieda Minori’s voice could be heard from the outside. But Ami barely even heard it as she watched Taiga’s face morph from surprise to rage, then finally to an icy contempt.
“Taaaigaa?” Minori called out again. Her voice was once again lost to the oppressive air emanating throughout the apartment from the Palmtop Tiger. Ami could swear she saw red sparks of anger travel down Taiga’s neck.
“T-This is not what you think!” Ryuuji called out weakly, in a voice truly resembling that of cornered prey. But his pleas were ignored by the Tiger. But then suddenly, the predator herself turned around and marched back towards the door.
“Minorin, looks like they’re not here!” Taiga stood at the edge of the doorway and called out to her best friend below her. “You should go home, I’m sure that dumb mutt will turn up soon!”
Aisaka Taiga gave one final look into the apartment, her face a mixture of disgust and utter disdain.
If these were normal circumstances, Ami would definitely be making fun of Taiga's excessive reactions and facial expressions right about now. But this time, her mind couldn't manage even a single stinging remark.
Ryuuji and Ami stayed frozen in the same position as before, out of both shock and fear. Only Taiga and Minori’s diminishing footsteps were any indication that time was still moving.
“She’s so going to kill me during dinner,” Ryuuji muttered under his breath.
That sentence seemed to finally get Ami’s head moving. “T-Takasu-kun, thank you for having me over today,” She quickly disentangled herself from Ryuuji and gathered her things. “See you later.”
“Y-Yeah…” came Ryuuji’s shaky reply as Ami turned her back to him and walked out the front door.
For as long as Ryuuji could remember, meals with Taiga had never been peaceful. By nature, she was boisterous and rude, along with having a quick temper and frightening ferocity. But no matter how she usually behaved, he would much rather take that over the ice-cold rage she was giving him now.
Yasuko had already left for work, so it was just the two of them in the house. Standing in the kitchen, Ryuuji gathered his courage one more time and turned to face the living room. “Taiga, cheer up already. I told you it was an accident.”
He’d already tried being annoyed at her, so this time he tried acting as casual and lighthearted as he could, as a last resort of sorts. But his attempt was bluntly struck down.
“I am cheered up. I already told you, I don’t care what you do or who you do it with. I’m not mad. So stop having these dumb delusions about me, they piss me off.”
Ryuuji sighed and finally gave up. This conversation had repeated itself countless times over the past few hours. He would ask if she was in a bad mood, and she would deny it and say that he was imagining things, and that made her annoyed instead.
But of course, he knew why she was mad. He had already told her that she was misunderstanding the situation he and Kawashima Ami had been in. But Taiga being Taiga had been unwilling to listen. It only made matters worse that Kawashima and her were basically sworn enemies.
Taiga lay down on the living room’s tatami mat and started muttering. "...Accident, yeah right. That dumb Chihuahua looked completely lovestruck."
"You say something, Taiga? I didn't catch it."
"Stop imagining things and get dinner ready, you lazy, pervy mutt!" Taiga attempted to throw a cushion at him but somehow managed to lose her balance and fall on the floor, the cushion bouncing off her face.
Maybe having some curry will improve her mood. Taiga seemed to like curry. With that thought, he began chopping some vegetables.
As his experienced hands instinctively began to peel and cut an onion, Ryuuji couldn't help but think back on the events that had taken place during the day. Picking up trash, the stalker incident, inviting Kawashima to his house, the response he'd given to her question...
Ryuuji could feel his cheeks burning up again. Why did I say yes? he wondered for the umpteenth time. Even back then, he knew that Kawashima had to be just teasing him. He wasn’t oblivious enough to ever believe that she’d been serious.
So why? He hadn’t been trying to make a move on her, nor had he been feeling brave enough to tease her back. Rather, it had felt like he was in a daze and had responded without thinking.
It must have been the atmosphere, he thought, attempting to rationalize the situation. Kawashima and I have only ever hung out when other people are around. Well, not always, but even then we were always either in school or doing school-related things. But this time, we were all alone in a small space and the room had that evening sunset glow, yeah so….
CHOP, CHOP, CHOP! went his knife as Ryuuji nodded to himself. Is this what they mean by ‘being drunk on the atmosphere’? Then it’s no surprise. Any teenage guy’s mind would go cloudy being in that situation with a girl, not to mention a goddamn model as pretty as Kawashima.
As he continued nodding to himself to reaffirm these thoughts, his attention shifted back to the cutting board in front of him. The chopping of the knife stopped abruptly as Ryuuji realized what he’d done.
In his absent-mindedness, he had somehow peeled and cut not one, but five whole onions.
He groaned at his stupidity. Great, what will I do now? Guess I’ll have to use them for tomorrow’s bentos. There must be some recipe that needs so many onions...