In the world of the humans, there are both understatements and overstatements. To say that Taiga Aisaka actually looked like a miniature tiger was sort of an overstatement. Sort of. To say that Taiga Aisaka sometimes got a bit annoyed would be a huge understatement. These are, quite obviously, just examples. The morning that school started again, Ryuuji went over these examples in his head to compare them to whatever terrible understatement Minori had made when they'd left the festival the night before.

"This has been quite an eventful weekend! Thanks for all the fun!"

"Quite eventful? Quite eventful? More like most insane frickin' weekend in the history of insane weekends," Ryuuji mumbled grumpily as he navigated their little kitchen to finish up breakfast and lunch-packs.

"We had fun though, didn't we?" Taiga yawned from the kitchen entrance, looking more sleepy than ever. Ryuuji's reaction was extremely sudden. He reeled around and covered his eyes with his hands.

"Cover yourself up, idiot! Stupid! Be more careful!"

"What? Ryuuji, I'm wearing pajamas," Taiga mumbled.

"Oh right, that was Saturday." He said with a sigh of relief. Taiga eyed him suspiciously.

"I think the weekend might have messed with your head, stupid," she huffed, walking towards Ryuuji like a robot. She was definitely sleepy.

"Come on, go to the bathroom and change your pads, we're going to be late."

"Right, of course," Taiga deadpanned, turning in a different direction like a mindless computer.

The rest of the morning was pretty much the same, and Taiga and Ryuuji left for school, now finally a bit more like themselves. Taiga had taken notice of Ryuuji's behavior that morning. He'd barely looked at her all day. He was probably just tired from the weekend, and she could understand that. Ryuuji used to be so calm, but that particular weekend had been a little more intense for the poor boy. Taiga walked a bit apart from Ryuuji, but eventually, she'd had enough of him being all grumpy. She tip-toed over to his side and weakly grabbed his hand. He didn't really react at first, but all of a sudden he made a surprised sound as if he had been snapped out of a daze, and he turned to Taiga.

"Wha-" He stopped completely as he saw her, looking more shocked than Taiga had seen him for a long time.

"What's up, huh? You so out of it that you're even surprised to notice that I'm here?" Taiga growled, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"You look…" he mumbled eyeing her up and down. There was something different about her. It seemed like her hair was tidier, yet with more volume in it than usual. Her lips looked soft and chaste-like, and it was as if her eyes were more visible than they had been before.

"What? Okay, so I put some more effort into my face today. Is it that bad?" She uttered, still sounding a bit annoyed. Ryuuji turned his head away from her and kept walking, hurriedly this time.

Taiga could hear something being muttered under Ryuuji's breath, but the only thing she could pick up on was something along the lines of "-way too cute holy shi-" and after that she blushed the entire way to school.

Once they arrived in their classroom, it seemed like everyone else had had a way more relaxing weekend than the two of them. They all looked rested and ready for another week of education. Either that, or they were just more used to partying through the weekend. Taiga and Ryuuji really had no idea.

"Woah, you guys look like you traveled back in time and partook in World War II. As in, it looks like you're just about ready to murder a bunch of people. You guys okay?" Noto asked Taiga and Ryuuji upon meeting them in the back of the classroom.

"Rough weekend," Ryuuji replied, slumping his shoulders a little.

"Yeah, you'd better get used to that if you're going to keep attending Yukuri-senpai's parties." Noto laughed, giving Ryuuji a firm pat on the shoulder. The couple scrunched their eyebrows.

"You know about that?" Taiga asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been to a couple of'em. I was there for a little while this Saturday to make sure, uhm… someone… got home safe." Noto said nervously, but Taiga and Ryuuji knew exactly who he was talking about. Maya. "Like, I just, didn't have the chance to attend the party myself since I had work. I arrived there pretty late, just as this one senior student stumbled out with blood coming from his nose, sobbing like a little bitch," He laughed, almost too happily.

"Oh, my god," Ryuuji groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"You made the boy cry, Ryuuji," Taiga said with a monotone voice as if it didn't really bother her.

"Technically, the crying part was Yukuri's fault!" Ryuuji retorted.

"Yeah, guess that's actually true," Taiga mumbled thoughtfully.

Noto looked pretty dumbfounded when he asked, "Wait, that was you?"

"Uhm… the first punch was me." Ryuuji admitted, looking more than just a tiny bit ashamed.

"Man, nice!" Noto exclaimed, raising his hand into the air. Ryuuji was even more ashamed when he gave Noto the high-five he had requested. "We definitely need to party together sometime," Noto chuckled.

"Sounds good!" Taiga beamed with a smile, which practically took Ryuuji off his feet.

"I'll tell you guys if something shows up, yeah?" Noto grinned before walking over to his seat, seeing as how class was about to begin.

"What was that all about?!" Ryuuji hissed, earning a nonchalant shrug from Taiga.

"Partying is fun." She stated.

"Well, yeah, but the consequences, and I mean-"

"Plus, you're so affectionate when you're drunk, it's amazing."

Ryuuji couldn't even reply to that seeing as how he was choking on his own spit, giving Taiga the look that she read as "WHAT. THE. HELL."

"I don't know. I'm on my period, Ryuuji. I need affection. And love." She said, and then suddenly she turned beat red. "And I apparently can't keep a lid on what I'm saying!" She yelped. "Ryuuji, I need help," She mouthed.

"Good luck in your war against periods, Taiga. I'm by your side." Ryuuji cried through gritted teeth, clenching a fist bravely in front of his chest.

Already during homeroom, class was interrupted by one of Ryuuji and Taiga's newfound friends.

"Excuse me," Julian said as he stuck his head inside the door. "Can I have a word with some of your students?"

"Uh," the teacher, Yuri, uttered as she looked at the boy. "I'm sorry, but… we're in the middle of class," She said, trying her best to keep her cool.

"Oh, but, sensei!" Julian exclaimed, tears suddenly rushing from his eyes. Not only that, he'd switched over to English. For some reason, he knew that Yuri wasn't too bad at understanding it. "Their friend… She's been in a terrible accident! They need to hear the news! Oh, dear lord, why would you try to take Harumi?! Whyyyyy?!" He sobbed as he fell to his knees, hitting the floor dramatically with his palms. Some of the students had understood most of what he said too, so they sounded a bit worried.

"O-Oh, okay. Uhm, anyone… friends with Harumi-san, please leave the room together with… with this kind… young boy," She said with a worried expression on her face.

No one had the slightest clue as to who Harumi was, but the people who were to play in the upcoming movie just sort of knew that it was about that, so they got up and followed Julian out.

"We'll be doing some rehearsals after school, so come over to our club room on the third floor if you have time," Julian said with a huge smile on his face.

"Couldn't you just… have told us that during lunch?" Noto asked, earning a scoff from Ami.

"Yeah, what was that whole scene for?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"Always find a proper situation to practice acting, kids. That's important," Julian said. "Oh, and when you get back in, tell your teacher that it turns out Harumi-chan was safe after all."

"Right," Ryuuji mumbled. They were all a bit confused and exasperated, but they just went with it. The class went on as normal, as did the next one. And the next one. And then lunch rolled around. Pretty much everyone from their class that were partaking in the movie were sharing tables that lunch break, talking about their expectations for the day's rehearsal and other random things. There were separate conversations all around, and the people who talked to each other didn't notice what anyone else was saying before something a bit unexpected came up.

"Ryuuji, we gotta clean our room soon," Taiga said in a relaxed tone, neither her nor Ryuuji noticing how the entire table went quiet and everyone looked at them.

"If you didn't realize, you're the one who made it untidy in the first place," Ryuuji replied with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know. I just think your whole fear of messy stuff is leeching onto me. So I'm just saying."

"Alright, we can tidy it together. And I'll teach you how to do the laundry so that all your underwear doesn't end up on the bathroom floor or in our room. It's really annoying, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be better," Taiga faked a yawn. "Also, maybe we should try and get a new futon soon? Ours is kinda small for two people, isn't it?"

"It'd be cheaper to just take the extra futon and put it next to the one we usually use, right?" Ryuuji suggested, which Taiga didn't seem to agree on.

"No, it doesn't feel right. It's nicer if it's one, big futon. That way, it kinda feels like I live with you, you know?"

"You do live with me," Ryuuji retorted.

"Right, but still. It'd be nice." Taiga smiled.

"Yeah, sure, we'll get around to buying one soon enough." Ryuuji said back with a soft smile.

"They did it again, didn't they?" Maya deadpanned, earning a slow nod from the others. Ryuuji and Taiga turned to look at them with confused looks on their faces. They probably didn't even realize what they were doing.

"Did what?" Ryuuji asked curiously.

"You're acting like a married couple," Ami scoffed, which made practically everyone giggle.

"No, we're not," Taiga and Ryuuji groaned in unison before getting back to their conversation, pretending like they'd never been interrupted. The way they were acting was totally weird in the eyes of all the others. They sort of looked like they couldn't decide if they had a soul or not. Either way, the day pushed on until rehearsals arrived and everyone met up at the movie club's own club room.

"Right, are we ready to get this show on the road?!" Tamura exclaimed, being overly dramatic about a session of very simple rehearsals.

"Yeah?" Yukuri asked with a sort of cheeky grin. "You guys ready, huh? Ryuuji? Noto?" She asked, grinning even wider, letting her eyes shift from person to person. "Ami?" She asked, but suddenly she looked nervous, as if regretting the fact that she included the girl. She hurriedly put her hands behind her back, looking down at her feet. "Like… I hope you are… and stuff," she mumbled. Ami couldn't help but giggle at how the girl was acting.

That was kind of cute, Ami thought, a few seconds realizing that the thought had gone through her head. And now she was blushing too.

"Uh, right," Julian said, a few suspicious scowls being thrown in the direction of Ami and Yukuri. "Let's get started." He said, and so they did.

"Hold it right there, scumbag!" Kariya (Minori) shouted, holding a prop gun towards Kiraii (Tamura).

"A pistol?" Kiraii chuckled, clenching his fists. "You think such a petty thing can scare me? I don't think you know what you're up against." He said with a dark tone to his voice. The distraction was perfect, just like it always was, as Miraii (Torya) snuck up behind Kariya with a piece of cloth that they pretended was soaked in chloroform. She pressed it against the police officer's mouth until he passed out.

"Do you have the compressor?" Miraii asked as she walked towards her brother, hips swaying as she walked.

"What good would I be if I didn't?" Kiraii smiled, pulling the pretended orb that they hadn't actually found a prop for yet out of his pocket, giving it a little flip. "We should get back." He said.

"I agree," Miraii nodded. "I'll get the bike." She informed, running out, concluding that scene.

"That was great, we definitely have that scene locked down," Julian said with a smile. "Let's get on with the next one."

"You were assigned to me," Karthamar (Ryuuji) said, a dark look underlying his posture. "Why?"

"Because all you see is the darkness," Tenshi (Taiga) replied, her voice completely monotonous. "When a human is as lost as you are, I am dispatched to observe. Maybe eventually I can prove to you that this world has light that might be worth searching for."

"There is no light," Karthamar breathed, turning around to look at the synthetic being. "The ones who made you must have deleted that knowledge from your artificial mind."

"You are wrong," Tenshi said. "They made me with the ability to make up my own mind. It made for a more… realistic version of me. It might come as a surprise, but I have a mind of my own."

"Then you must surely be blind," Karthamar said simply, uttering a scoff. "Maybe I should simply turn the tables on the situation. Maybe I should introduce to you the darkness that shrouds or world."

"I know the darkness," Tenshi informed. "I have seen it myself. But I do not believe that darkness holds the highest power in this world. This is what I want to pro-" Tenshi stopped talking, an inquisitive look on her face. Then, it was as if her face was strained. She fell to the floor. "Man down." Taiga groaned, clutching at her stomach.

"Crap." Ryuuji uttered, rushing over to her side. "You okay?" He asked, a hand on Taiga's shoulder.

"Out of ammo," Taiga wheezed. "Supplies needed."

"Kushieda, painkillers!" Ryuuji exclaimed suddenly, holding his hand out in her direction. Minori nodded harshly and dug her hand into her pocket, pulling out a tab of painkillers that she tossed to Ryuuji. He practically fed the fallen girl with the tablets that might one day end the pain, while she kept groaning.

"I hate being a woman," Taiga practically wailed.

"Taiga… are you okay? What's going on?" Ami asked, looking both worried and confused.

"I'm on my period and it really sucks." Taiga wheezed, wiggling around on the floor.

"Your period? Wow. Congrats. Guess it had to happen someday," Ami smiled, an underlying mocking tone to her voice.

"Shut up… stupid Chihuahua."

Taiga eventually managed to recover, and they continued with rehearsals. All in all, it was a very successful day of rehearsing, before everyone left to their own devices.

…

"This is a good place," Yukuri said energetically as she pointed towards a cute little coffee shop with a tall table that had a view out of the shop's window. "You'll love it here."

"I'd better," Ami said, sounding as confident as she always did, somehow able to hide the nervous feelings in her chest. "I wouldn't be happy if our date was at a crappy coffee place."

"I promise you you'll like it," Yukuri added, grinning widely. "Let's go inside." She said. They opened the door and entered the coffee shop. The atmosphere there was nice and calm, perfect for the two girls who were a bit tired after rehearsals. "You can take a seat by the window, I'll go get the coffee. What do you want?"

"Hmm…" Ami hummed thoughtfully, her finger on her chin as she tried to decide. Yukuri couldn't help but stare in wonder. "Café mocha would be nice, I think." She said with a smile.

"Alright, coming right up!" Yukuri beamed, hurrying off to buy coffee. Ami went to sit down by the window while she waited. Yukuri returned pretty soon after with their coffee. Throughout their date, they talked and laughed and enjoyed their time together with a cup of coffee. Ami had no idea what was going on in her head. She didn't know when she stopped being bothered by the thought of being on a date with a girl. She wasn't even sure if that was it at all. Maybe it wasn't okay to be on a date with a girl. Maybe, for some reason unknown to her, she was okay with being on a date with that girl. Time seemed to pass so fast with her, and in what felt like moments, their coffee cups were empty and they were no longer sure what to talk about. It seemed they both knew the date was coming to an end.

"So…" Ami said, a little smile playing at the edges of her mouth.

"So… did I keep my promise? Was the coffee good?" Yukuri asked, looking a bit nervous about the whole thing. She really didn't want to disappoint.

"Oh, the coffee?" Ami asked, being pulled out of a daze she didn't know she was in. "Yeah, it was great. You definitely kept your promise."

"Good!" Yukuri exclaimed, almost too excitedly. "Thanks for today… I had a good time too."

"So did I," Ami smiled. "This has been a great first date."

"First date." Yukuri repeated, eyes cast downwards to hide her surprise, a bright pink tainting her cheeks. Ami probably didn't even realize what those words implied. Or maybe she did. Yukuri had enjoyed her date, but she hadn't really expected Ami to entertain the thought of trying it again someday. To Yukuri, just having Ami on a date for one day was like a gift. She had never thought anything special would come from it other than her own happiness.

"Yeah." Ami said, seeming confident and sure of what she was saying. "Great first date." She smiled. "Wait… what the hell is that?" She asked with furrowed brows, looking out the window. Yukuri snapped up with a questioning sound coming from her mouth before turning her cheek to Ami to look out the window. As soon as she did so, Ami pressed her lips against Yukuri's cheek, letting it linger there for a few seconds before pulling back. Maybe if it was Yukuri, a girl wouldn't be too bad. Especially if it was Yukuri. The blonde girl didn't seem to react at first. She kept her eyes fixed on the streets outside the window, completely frozen in place. After a few moments, she turned to Ami, slowly. Her mouth was open and her lips were quivering, looking like someone had just punched her in the face. Ami was smiling softly, but when she saw Yukuri's face, her smile faltered. Maybe this kind of thing wasn't what Yukuri wanted. Ami didn't even know when it became what she wanted herself. "O-Oh…" Ami stuttered, swallowing a heavy lump in her throat. "I'm so sorry."

"Amin…" Yukuri uttered, staring right at the girl. Her chest felt like a blooming garden, flowers springing like crazy with butterflies flying all over the place. She took a few seconds to compose herself, looking at Ami's hand that was in her lap. Yukuri suddenly grabbed it softly and moved forwards, doing what she was so uncertain of, not knowing if it was right or wrong. She kissed Kawashima Ami.