A/N: And now, for something different. She may be unconscious, but Taiga deserves to have her place in the spotlight too. Enjoy.
As the girl wakes, everything around her is white. It's cold. She's so, so cold. Everything hurts. All she can feel is the frigid touch of the harsh winds on her skin and the sensation of warm blood dripping down her face.
She can't open her mouth to scream for help. Every time she tries, her vocal cords just won't function. Each attempt results in her lungs being filled with icy wind, chilling her to the bone.
She can't move her arms or legs. It's as if they're frozen solid, chained to the ground by shackles of frost. She doesn't even have the strength to roll over. All she can do is lay helplessly in the snow, fully at the mercy of the unforgiving elements.
The only thing she can move are her eyes. They dart around desperately, hoping for any sign that someone would be coming to save her. But no matter how much she hopes, no matter how much she prays, all that fills her vision is the white wasteland before her and the splotches of her blood that had painted the nearby snow a deep crimson.
She can feel everything slowing down. Her thoughts, her breaths, her pulse. Even the pain was beginning to dull as her nerves were becoming numb. The girl's heart is gripped by intense fear as her consciousness begins to fade once again.
The girl loses control of her eyelids as well as her waking thoughts, and the field of white before her is replaced by darkness.
When she next wakes, she is somehow moving despite the fact that her limbs are still unresponsive. Her desperate prayers have been answered, and her savior has arrived to rescue her from certain death. The blue dragon, her faithful guardian, carried her frozen body in its talons.
From high in the air, the girl can barely open her eyelids and catch a glimpse of the scenery beneath her. It was incredible. She is flying over a crystal-clear lake, surrounded by a beautiful wintry forest.
Suddenly, the dragon is struck by a strong blast of arctic wind. Its talons slightly loosen, just enough that the girl slips from their grasp. The next thing she knows, she is falling. The dragon's desperate roar and the flapping of its giant wings indicate that it is trying to catch her, but it's too late.
The girl's body painfully crashes through the thin layer of ice that coats the top of the lake, and she plunges into the glacial waters below. She panics as she realizes that her body would still not respond to her. No matter how many frantic signals her brain sent to her limbs, they would not move.
She sinks to the very bottom of the frozen lake and can no longer hold her breath. Her mouth involuntarily opens in a desperate attempt to take in life-saving oxygen, but instead it is filled with bitter cold as icy water rushes into her respiratory system.
This was the end. Her faithful dragon is unable to reach her this deep into the arctic waters. Her arms and legs are impossible to move. Each breath she tries to take results in another surge of fluid into her lungs, only serving to hasten her inevitable death as she drowns.
The only thing running through her mind in her final moments was the name of her loyal companion. The dragon that had braved the storm in a valiant effort to save her, but whose efforts had ultimately been in vain.
"Ryuuji…R-Ryuuji…!"
"RYUUJI!"
Taiga Aisaka jolted from in her sleep in a cold sweat, waking from the awful nightmare that had been tormenting her. She clutched her chest with her right hand, gasping for breath as the adrenaline pumping through her veins slowly faded away.
The rational part of her brain knew that it was just a dream, but it all had felt so real. She could still feel the rush of the ice-cold water filling her lungs, even if her deep breaths now rewarded her with oxygen. She could still sense the numbness that had gripped her nerves and prevented her from moving her body, even though it was now clear that she had full control over her limbs.
After taking a minute or so to calm herself down, Taiga's eyes wandered the room and she immediately realized that something was very, very wrong.
Wait…this IS my room…right?
As she scanned the area around her, it became apparent that she was at least half correct. The dimensions of the room and the color of the walls resembled those of her bedroom in her apartment. She had been asleep in her large, comfortable bed, which was exactly where it was supposed to be.
But that's where the similarities ended. For starters, the floor of the room was completely clean. Normally she didn't pick up after herself very well, so her clothes often ended up remaining all over the floor. But there was none of it to be seen – without furniture aside from her bed, the floor was spotless.
Secondly, there was normally a single window in her room. It was rather conveniently placed to allow the sunshine into her room in the mornings (not that she ever let it wake her up). That window was now gone, replaced with solid wall.
What was perhaps most bizarre, however, was the fact that there were no light sources in the room. No lights on the ceiling and no window to let any sun in. Somehow, the room was well-lit anyways, as it would be during a normal afternoon.
The room appeared to be completely sealed, with one exception: the door that led to the main area of her apartment. It was slightly ajar, almost as if it was inviting her to walk through it.
Where…am I?
Taiga wiped the sweat from her brow and pushed her blanket off herself, beginning to move to a sitting position on her bed. She was fully prepared to get up and investigate the strange room further, to figure out what exactly was going on. As her legs swung over the side of the bed, she felt an unexpected sensation brushing against her leg.
Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't the nightgown that she slept in every night. Removing her attention from her surroundings, she looked down at her own body to find she was wearing something that had never been in her wardrobe. A single thin white piece of clothing.
H-huh? Is this a hospital gown?
Her confusion and uneasiness only continued to grow. Here she was, in a room that looked just like hers but very clearly wasn't. She was wearing something that she'd never owned or even considered owning in her life. The lighting almost seemed to defy the laws of the universe. This was making zero sense to her.
If this was a prank, it was in very poor taste. It took a lot to get Taiga shaken, and the only time in recent memory that she remembered being genuinely scared was when Ryuuji almost drowned trying to pull her out of the school's swimming pool.
But right now, she was terrified. She was already unnerved by that horrible nightmare, only to find herself alone in a strange room wearing strange clothes. She didn't even have her trusty wooden katana at her disposal. The tiny brunette had nothing to protect herself with save for her fists.
Slowly and carefully, Taiga stood up from the bed. Taking a deep breath, she began to walk around the bedroom and search it for any clues as to where she was.
Despite her best efforts, her search yielded no results. There was nothing on the walls. There was nothing else on the bed. Nothing under the bed, either. All that existed in that room with her was her mattress, a pillow, and a blanket.
The brief search of the room only made it clearer that her one remaining option was the door on the opposite end of the room. There were no other sounds that she could hear, nothing to indicate what was on the other side of it. If she opened the door, she would be going in completely blind.
Refusing to go completely unarmed, Taiga snatched the pillow from her bed and held it tightly in her hands. Sure, it was a just a fluffy pillow, but having something for self-defense was a lot better than having nothing at all.
Gathering up her courage, she slowly pushed the door open with her shoulder. She tightly gripped the pillow in her hands, posturing to take a swing at anything on the other side on reaction.
The room on the other side of the door was similar to the previous one in that it seemed to be a reproduction of the main area of her apartment. Once again, the dimensions were all the same, and the walls were mostly barren. However, this room had even more oddities than the last.
The window that normally granted her access to the balcony of the Takasu residence was still present. The blinds were closed, and there was no light coming through. This room appeared to be as bizarrely lit as the last one, and with no lights on the ceiling she still had no idea where it was coming from.
The front door to her apartment was not present, having been replaced with a blank wall. As far as Taiga could tell, the only way in or out of the building she was in was through that window.
All of the furniture that was normally in her apartment was gone. None of her chairs, cabinets, shelves, or kitchen appliances were present. At least she had her bed in the last room, but in this one all she could see were walls, a floor, and a ceiling…with one major exception.
In the center of the room was a small table and two chairs. On top of the table were two steaming mugs, seemingly filled with a warm liquid that she couldn't see from her current position. Judging by the smell, though, she assumed that the mugs contained hot chocolate.
The most disconcerting thing about the arrangement, though, was that only one of the chairs was empty. The other was occupied by another person. Gripping her pillow as tightly as she could, Taiga could feel the thumps of her heart beating out of her chest as her fight-or-flight instincts activated. She wasn't alone.
Seated in the other chair appeared to be a short girl, looking to be just shy of five feet tall, wearing a white nightgown that Taiga recognized as her usual sleepwear. The girl picked up the mug, tilting her head back and taking a sip. As she leaned back, her waist-long brown hair spilled over her shoulders.
Placing the mug back on the table, the girl wiped her lips with her arm, then seemed to notice Taiga out of the corner of her eyes and turned towards her. One pair of amber eyes met another, and Taiga's discomfort peaked higher than ever.
Whoever or whatever had put her into this position must not have thought it was enough to merely make a duplicate of her apartment. She now found herself staring directly into the eyes of a nearly exact duplicate of herself.
The corners of the Taiga doppelganger's mouth curved slightly upwards into a small smirk. "So, you're awake, Sleeping Beauty. You sure took your time, huh?" The replica even had the same voice as her.
The two girls stared each other down for several seconds, before the silence was broken by the fluffy pillow falling out of Taiga's hands and landing at her feet.
"W-W-W-WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
Taiga stared at her duplicate incredulously, and the replica responded in kind with an expression of amusement. Her surprised scream from earlier echoed through the room for several seconds before fading away. Once it did, the second Taiga spoke once again.
"So, you gonna have a seat, or what? I've got a mug of hot cocoa with your name on it over here."
Taiga couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all this weirdness, now a clone of herself was inviting her to have a drink and chat? None of this made any sense whatsoever.
"What!? No! I'm not sitting down and drinking ANYTHING until you answer me. Who are you, and where am I!?"
The girl sitting at the table chuckled. "I thought that first part should be obvious, but I guess I'll introduce myself anyway. Name's Taiga Aisaka. Nice to meet ya."
Alright, this was just insulting. How dumb did this girl think she was? "That's not possible, because I'M Taiga Aisaka. Now cut the crap. Who the HELL are you?"
Taiga's doppelganger gave a small grin and shook her head, which irritated the real Taiga to no end. Even if this girl looked exactly like her, Taiga barely suppressed the powerful urge to throttle her duplicate.
"I agree. You most certainly are Taiga. But so am I."
Now she was really getting mad. "No, you are NOT," Taiga growled. "There's only one Taiga, and she's me." She stepped forward with her right hand clenched into a fist. "Now are you going to quit mocking me and tell me the truth, or do I have to beat it out of you?"
The Taiga duplicate shrugged. "Chill. I'm not lying to you. You're right, there is only one Taiga. You are her, but I am also her. We are two halves, and together we make up the whole that is Taiga Aisaka."
Taiga paused. Wait…what? She's me, and I'M me? I don't understand…
The brunette's replica took this opportunity to continue her explanation. "You're Taiga's conscious mind. The representation of all her active thoughts, actions, and desires. For all intents and purposes, you are the 'real' Taiga."
The doppelganger than gestured towards herself. "Me, on the other hand? You could say I'm your 'ego' or whatever they called it in the psychology class that we didn't pay attention in. But I think the best way to describe me would be to say that I'm your subconscious. Your true thoughts and desires deep down inside, that aren't always known or even recognized by your conscious brain."
This was ridiculous. There was no way this was real. Either she was still dreaming, or this was a very elaborate and mean-spirited practical joke. She looked down at her thigh and pinched it with her left hand, flinching at the pain. Well, shit. I'm not dreaming, but that means…where am I?
Taiga looked back up at her copy distrustfully. "I'm not saying that I believe you. Not even close. But, if you're telling the truth, where are we?"
The replica seemed to already be prepared to answer that question, and she stood up from her chair. "Well, I could tell you. Buuuuuut, it would probably be easier to just show you. Come over here for a sec."
Taiga's carbon copy began to walk towards the real Taiga, who was having none of it. "Nope. Not going anywhere. Quit screwing with me and just tell me already, or I swear to God I'll—"
Completely ignoring Taiga's unfinished threat, her replica walked right past her and stopped at the single window in the room. She opened the blinds to reveal a very, very unusual sight behind it, then turned back to the real Taiga. "Don't be a dumbass and get over here. This will be the quickest way to answer your questions."
Taiga stomped towards the doppelganger, ready to give the girl a piece of her mind (and possibly a piece of her knuckles, too). Before she reached her target, however, her eyes ended up wandering over to the now open window. What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. Out of all the strange things she had seen and experienced in the last hour or so, this was by far the most bizarre.
From the window, she could see into a room that looked like a doctor's office. Three people were in the room: a young blue-haired man, a blonde woman wearing a white nurse's cap, and a small brunette girl who appeared to be asleep on a bed. She wasn't sure who the woman was, but the young man looked very familiar to her.
As for the girl on the bed, there was no doubt about it. Taiga was once again looking at herself, but the version of her in the window looked horrible. Her skin was a pale blue, she wasn't moving, and there was a large bloody incision on her forehead that was currently being stitched up by the nurse.
Not pulling her eyes away from the horrific scene in the window, Taiga lifted her arm and touched her forehead with her hand. Her skin was smooth, and she couldn't feel the existence of a gash by physical contact alone. But when she touched that spot, she still felt a dull pain in her head, as if there really was an open wound there.
She stared through the window for some time, her mind going a mile a minute as she tried to wrap her head around what she was seeing. First there was the copy of her claiming to be her, and now she had a birds-eye view of an acutely wounded version of herself being treated in a clinic. She couldn't tell what was and wasn't real anymore.
The voice of her clone next her resonated in her ears, breaking her fixation on the window before her. "You wanted to know where we are, right? We're deep inside your head. That's the only explanation that makes any sense to me. Under normal circumstances, the conscious and subconscious aren't ever supposed to meet. The fact that I can even talk to you at all is a little ominous."
Taiga turned away from the window and looked at her replica. She tried her hardest to maintain her brave face and give off the impression of being unaffected by what she had seen but was unable to prevent the fear from subtly creeping into her features. "O-ominous…? What's that supposed to mean?"
"That window reflects what's happening in the real world. Your body temperature is super low, so it's shutting down all non-essential functions to conserve as much energy as possible for survival. You're unresponsive and not doing so hot, no pun intended. What that means is your consciousness got diverted into the part of your brain where your subconscious normally resides."
Taiga stared at the other girl, eyes wide and open-mouthed. Her explanation seemed very farfetched, but it did make some sense, as much as she hated to admit that this ridiculous scenario was even a hypothetical possibility.
This isn't happening. I'm not dying, I can't be! I feel fine! There's no way that any of this is real. It just isn't possible. This must be just another bad dream, right? Right?
Her clone gave her a wry grin. "So, in a sense, this is actually my apartment. It's only polite to offer my guest a seat and a drink. Aren't I such a good host?"
It took several minutes for Taiga to truly grasp the situation she was in. Not only was she apparently on death's door, but she was now locked inside her own head with a carbon copy of herself. To be fair, it wasn't the easiest pill to swallow.
She now found herself seated at the table in the center of the "apartment", staring into the warm mug of hot chocolate in front of her. How ironic, considering she was apparently freezing to death in the real world. Her subconscious seemed to have a bit of a twisted sense of humor.
"You gonna try some already, or just look?" the girl seated across from her queried. "It's pretty good, I promise."
Taiga tentatively picked up the mug and took a small sip. Her replica had been telling the truth after all. The rich flavor of chocolate splashed over her tongue as she swallowed, the hot drink delivering a pleasant warmth throughout her body.
"Not bad. But there's no kitchen to make this in, how'd you get it?"
"Don't worry about it." Her counterpart similarly took a deep drink of her own beverage, placing the half-empty mug down on her side of the table and sighing contentedly. She then turned her full attention to Taiga.
"Well, we've got a ton of time to chat now, so we might as well make the most of it. How much do you remember of what happened before you woke up in here?"
Taiga racked her brain for any recent memories, hoping that some would shed a bit more light on her current situation. Aside from the recent nightmare she had, everything was kinda fuzzy. But bits and pieces were still there floating around in her memory. She just needed to concentrate and put a bit of effort into remembering.
"Hmmmm. Let me think for a sec, Tai—"
Wait. Hold on a second. We both can't call each other Taiga. The name thing should be figured out first, otherwise I'm just gonna get confused.
"Actually, what should I call you? We've established that I'm the 'real' Taiga or whatever, so I should keep that name, right?
Her subconscious looked at her blankly. Taiga had to make an effort not to laugh between the funny face her clone was making and the chocolate residue that remained around her mouth.
"Shit, that's a good point. I didn't think of that. Wait, hold on, why do YOU get to keep the name?"
"You're the one who said I'm the real Taiga 'for all intents and purposes.' Why don't you tell me?"
The replica seemed prepared to protest but settled on an irritated pout instead. "Damnit. I did, didn't I? Alright, alright, fine. You win this time. Let's see now, what would be a good name…oh, I know! How about Tora?"
Taiga couldn't stop an amused smirk from manifesting on her face "Really? The Japanese word for 'tiger'? That's the best you can come up with?"
The clone, now apparently dubbed Tora, wiped her mouth and narrowed her eyes at Taiga. She seemed to actually be a little offended. "What, you got any better ideas? It's hard to come up with a name on the spot. I've always had a perfectly good one, but SOMEONE is using it right now."
Taiga shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess. Tora it is, then."
Tora leaned back in her seat, taking another drink from her mug. "Cool. So, where was I? Oh, yeah, right. How much can you remember of what happened to you?"
The topic shift on how she should address Tora ended up giving Taiga a little bit of time to think back to what had happened. That horrible dream was still vivid, but some of the other fragmented memories were starting to become a bit less hazy.
It still wasn't very clear to her where she had been before she woke up. It wasn't her school, and she remembered going on a trip to somewhere cold, but the details beyond that still escaped her.
The memory of trying to break up a fight between two of her friends was intact. She was pretty sure that the two girls involved were her best friend and that stupid chihuahua, but she couldn't be totally certain.
She remembered chasing after something important. Something very valuable that had been dropped by one of her friends. And in the process, she took a tumble down an incline that she hadn't seen, skidding along the snow until she was forcefully stopped by the impact of a heavy rock against her forehead.
Thinking about hitting the rock brought some of that dull pain back into her head, as if her body still remembered the event well. She grimaced at the sudden headache that now didn't seem to want to leave.
"Well…there was snow. A lot of snow. Minorin and the dumb Chihuahua were fighting. I was going to get something important but slipped down a hill and hit my head on a rock. Everything else is still hazy, but…it feels like it's slowly coming back to me."
As the seconds went by, her fragmented memories were becoming more whole again. What's more, she was starting to get a vague image in her mind of what had happened after she hit her head. It wasn't all there, but the bits and pieces were starting to come together.
Tora sighed. "Well, it's a start. I mean, I already know everything that happened, but it'd be pointless to talk about it until we're both on the same page. Try again."
"H-huh? Wait, if you already know, then why the hell are you making ME remember? Can't you just tell me?"
The doppelganger shook her head. "Nah. You gotta remember for yourself. If you don't recognize that they're your own true memories coming back to you without my influence, you might not trust them. And I need you to trust them, to understand that they're real. It's important."
Taiga still didn't follow. What could be so important in her memories that she needed to realize it herself? Was there some kind of ugly truth in what had transpired before she ended up in the clinic bed that she needed to come to terms with on her own? The idea was making her a little anxious, to be honest.
"Um…okay? I don't really get it, but gimme a second here to think."
She closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
The girl wakes, and almost everything around her is white. It's cold. She's so, so cold. Everything hurts. She can feel the frigid touch of the harsh winds on her skin and the pain of the exposed gash on her forehead, but the blood had stopped dripping down her face. Now, she can also feel warmth.
She is being carried through a terrible blizzard. The howling winds are whipping against her ears, only serving to further chill her bones and worsen the throbbing pain in her head. Her savior appears to be a boy…no, a young man…? Yes, a young man was taking her out of the storm and bringing her to safety.
"I was…being carried, right? It feels like it's coming back me, but even the complete picture is foggy."
Tora rested her elbows on the table, carefully positioning herself so as not to disturb the half-empty mug on her side. She leaned towards Taiga with interest. "Yeah, that's right. You were. Go on."
Even though she can't see his face, the girl feels that she recognizes this young man. There was no other explanation for the unusual safety and comfort she feels in his presence. Could it be that the young man was the student council president, the previous object of her affections? No, that wasn't right. He must be…
"At first, I thought it was…Kitamura? I don't think it was him. I know who it was, it's just not coming back in one piece. Gaaaah, this is so frustrating! I just don't remember!"
"Yes, you do, Taiga," Tora urged. "You definitely remember him. I know it's hard, but you just have to keep trying."
"Ugh…okay…"
Once again, Taiga closed her eyes and attempted to concentrate on stringing together the pieces of her fractured memories. As she continued to think, the dull ache in her head was steadily getting stronger and more difficult to ignore.
It was…him! Her trusted friend. Her loyal protector. Her faithful dragon, who was always by her side when she needed him. Somehow, she finds the strength to open her mouth and ask the young man his identity. He was surprised, yet happy to see that she had awoken.
He confirms her initial suspicions – as she thought, he was indeed her faithful dragon. The girl was still very cold, having been exposed to the brutal windchill and icy temperatures for so long, but the warm feeling of joy that bubbled up in her chest was undeniable.
"Wait, no way! It was Ryuuji!?" Taiga opened her eyes and looked back at Tora with a dumbfounded expression.
Her replica nodded, confirming that her recollection was accurate. "Yep. He was the one who was carrying you out of the snow. He put his very life on the line, all so that he could save yours."
Taiga averted her eyes from Tora and scowled. "Dumb mutt. What on earth was he thinking?"
No matter how much she tried to make herself look angry or disappointed, the light tinge of red on her cheeks and the happiness welling up inside her were pretty good indicators of how she honestly felt about that revelation.
Unfortunately, she was making an attempt to fool her own subconscious. Tora knew her more intimately than she knew herself. She could put on the most convincing act in the world and it still wouldn't make a difference. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You and I both know how happy it made you to hear that."
Taiga's head snapped up towards her replica, giving Tora an indignant look. "W-wait, what? No, that's-"
Before she could continue, Tora quickly cut her off. "No excuses. Just shut up and start trying to remember again. We'll get back to that topic later."
"Y-you…! Ugh, fine. Whatever," Taiga grumbled. She closed her eyes once more, and her mind was occupied once more with the scene of the treacherous blizzard.
Her desperate prayers were answered, and she was being rescued from her terrible fate. But…the girl was still very afraid. She could feel everything in her body slowing down. Her lungs, her heart, her brain, her thoughts. Even the pain had started to dull. The girl began to think that it might be too late for her.
Her loyal friend tries to assuage her fears. He would never allow such a terrible fate to befall the girl, not while he still has the power to change her destiny. Despite his assurances, she is still deathly afraid. She buries her face into the crook of her savior's neck, both for warmth and for security. All she can do is place her trust in him.
"He promised. He promised that he'd save me, that he would find me some help. He promised me that I'd be okay."
"That's right, he did," Tora agreed. "Ryuuji wouldn't ever just allow you to get hurt. He cares way too much about you to let anything happen to you."
Taiga was able to fight back the flushing of her cheeks this time, but the spark of happiness that coursed through her body couldn't be suppressed. She was so, so lucky to have someone as kind and caring as Ryuuji in her life.
He was going to make Minorin so very happy.
Stopping that train of thought before it left the station, Taiga resumed her recollection of that night's events. The headache was continuing to get worse, but she powered through it and continued to think. These memories seemed eerily similar to the nightmare she had just woken up from, a fact that did not escape her notice.
Everything continues to slow. The girl could feel the life beginning to fade from her body, and even time felt like it was slowly stopping. Her heart was seized by fear. She isn't ready to die. She still has so much more to say, so much more to do.
But…if this was truly the end for her, if she was going to die, then there was one thing left that she still had the power to do. She would not allow herself to take any secrets with her to her grave. The young man before her was far too important, and there was something that she absolutely must tell him before the unthinkable happened.
Taiga gulped. She really didn't like where this was going. "I had something important to say. Something that I absolutely needed to tell Ryuuji, in case I…died…"
Leaning forward even more, Tora stared at her eagerly. "You did. Something very, very important. No matter what, it was something you needed to tell him before it was too late. Do you know what it was?"
Fighting back her rapidly rising anxiety, Taiga began to recall the night's events one more time. It appeared that she only had this one last fragmented memory to repair, but it was requiring a lot of mental effort to reconstruct. Her headache was escalating to the point of almost being unbearable, but she had to press on. She had to know.
The girl speaks. She isn't going to die without revealing the true feelings in her heart. Her faithful dragon deserves better than that.
"Ryuuji…listen…important."
The young man continues to walk on, but she can sense his full attention being given to her. "I'm listening, Taiga."
The girl mentally steels herself. She cannot afford to back down now. After a brief pause, she opens her mouth and says only two words. Two of the most important words she would ever say.
"l̵̺̜̩̝̎̀̓̈́͘o̶̡̺̮̰̲̳͚̎͂́̓v̸̛̼͔͈̪̰̪̄͘ͅe̴̼͒̽͛ ̸͕̮̣̩͇̒̔͛͛̌̚y̶̜̲͔̩̌̊̓̋ͅó̶̧̧͓̜̲̬̭̝u̵͈̗̫̘͍̤̯͐̐̑̇.̴̛͉̥̼̫͛̍͆̾.̶̧̗̞̠̿̈́͐͜.̶̢̳̹̺̙̮̈̔̋̿"
Just before the last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, her eyes shot open. An intense jolt of stabbing pain shot through the nerves in Taiga's head, completely breaking her focus.
Tora couldn't help but wince upon hearing the poor girl's scream of agony. Taiga had almost doubled over in her chair, her hands clutching her temples as tightly as they could. The pain was so excruciating that it felt like someone had jammed a large kitchen knife through the side of her skull.
Thankfully, it didn't last now that she wasn't actively trying to recall that memory. It faded just as quickly as it came, but she was trembling in her seat and almost hyperventilating.
W-what…the hell…was that!?
She couldn't shake the feeling that it was something about that specific memory that had caused it. Trying once again to bring it to the forefront of her mind, she yelped as the pain returned, albeit at a fraction of its original potency. As soon as she dispelled those thoughts, the pain left with them.
"Why…why…? Why can't I remember!? Why does it hurt so much to try!?"
Tora bit her lip as she regarded the girl in front of her with a puzzled look. Taiga had been so, so close to the truth. So close to confronting the single most important thing that she had said on that night.
The brunette's replica thought about it a little bit more. There must be a reason that Taiga's conscious mind reacted so strongly to that specific memory. It almost seemed like she was refusing to allow herself to remember that she had told Ryuuji she loved him.
Perhaps that was it: a defense mechanism. She was trying to protect herself from the mental anguish she would experience upon consciously acknowledging her inadvertent confession of love and the implications it would have for her relationships with Ryuuji and Minori.
Even if Taiga didn't realize how long she had felt this way, Tora knew that she had fallen for Ryuuji a long time ago. She found herself enjoying his company shortly after they first met, but her feelings towards him blossomed into love after the incident at the swimming pool many months ago.
Taiga had gotten this far, albeit with some prompting. She just needed a little push in the right direction. If she didn't come to terms with the tumultuous feelings in her heart, nothing would ever change, and the worst-case scenario would eventually play out.
The brunette would forbid herself from honestly admitting her feelings for him. If she ever breathed a word of it to anyone, in her mind it would be a betrayal of not only just Ryuuji, but Minori as well. The entire reason they had even gotten to know each other was because Ryuuji wanted to get together with Minori, and Taiga was all but certain that Minori fancied the young man as well. She would never forgive herself if she let her selfishness ruin the love that her two closest friends deserved.
She would be forced to continually push the boy she loved and her best friend together while never being able to express her own affections. She would have to support him from the sidelines, sabotaging her own happiness in the process.
It would be torture. Pure, unadulterated torture. And the worst part of it all was that Tora could only sit and watch helplessly through Taiga's eyes as the love of her life was taken away from her forever.
There had to be a better way to go about this. She had to figure out a different way to coax out Taiga's real feelings, without forcing her to suffer through recalling that painful memory. A different angle that would help Taiga consciously connect the dots and realize what she really felt, what she really wanted.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Tora's head. There had been several events that had occurred in the past involving the two of them, events that wouldn't make sense for a boy and a girl that were supposedly just platonic friends. She wasn't sure this was going to work, but she couldn't think of anything else
Those events would be strong points press Taiga on and force her to come face-to-face with her emotions. Tora knew very well that Taiga wouldn't be able to explain them away. Maybe some of them with difficulty, but not all of them. There was no way Taiga was successfully talking her way out of what happened on Christmas Eve. Tora decided to save that one for last as her trump card.
Tora cleared her throat in an attempt to catch her conscious mind's attention. She internally grimaced as the girl returned her gaze, noting that there were still tears in the corners of Taiga's eyes from the pain. If this went as planned, it was very likely that even more tears would be spilled. But she wasn't about to let that stop her.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Good job remembering that much. Leave that memory alone for now, let's talk about something else instead."
Rubbing the tears out of her eyes, Taiga hesitantly nods. "A-alright. This isn't going to hurt like that again, is it?"
"No, it won't hurt," the replica lied. It was definitely going to hurt, but this time emotionally instead of physically. Tora began putting the next step of her master plan into action. "We need to talk about Ryuuji. I told you we'd loop back to this, didn't I?"
A flash of surprise manifested on Taiga's face. "Huh? What about him?"
The girl's subconscious took a deep breath before continuing. There was no way Taiga wouldn't put up resistance to this line of questioning. This was going to suck.
"Well, how do you feel about him?"
Taiga regarded her double with a puzzled expression, her cheeks ever so slightly flushed. "W-what's that supposed to mean? He's a loyal mutt, and I keep him around because he's useful. That's all there is to it."
Tora knew better than anyone that Taiga's last statement was a bald-faced lie. "So, when you declared to everyone that 'Ryuuji is mine' at the pool a while back, what did that mean?"
The brunette's eyes slightly widened, and Tora caught a hint of nervousness in them. She hesitated before she was able to answer. "Uh…I meant that he's MY loyal mutt. A dog should be obedient to its owner, right? I can't just have him belong to anyone else."
"Hmm, okay. I think I get it. He's just a dumb dog. A dog who it 'didn't seem so bad' to be married to after you dreamed about it. I understand now."
Taiga's breath hitched in her throat. This topic was headed in an uncomfortable direction that she wanted to avoid at all costs. She had to come up with a believable excuse and change the subject fast. "I mean…well, that's…err…h-he's useful around the house and a good cook, so w-why wouldn't I want to keep him around?"
Before Taiga had the opportunity to segue into a different topic, the tiny girl's replica just softly sighed. "Do you hide a picture of yourself with everyone who's just "useful" to you in your student handbook?"
Now the anxiety was really setting in. This was not good. This was not good at all. "H-huh? I, uh, well…I just, um, like the picture! Yeah, that's it! It's a good picture!"
Tora shook her head. Was that really the best excuse that she could come up with? It was clearly not a very "picturesque" photo. Certainly not one that Taiga would go out of her way to buy AND hide in her handbook.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Taiga was panicking and getting desperate to escape this conversation. She was trying her hardest to make up lies on the spot, but there was no way she could argue against this. Tora had saved the most damning piece of evidence for last.
Tora grabbed her mug and took a deep drink of the hot chocolate, placing it back down and wiping her lips before continuing. "Okay, then, Taiga. If you say so. I only have one more question to ask you."
Taiga visibly relaxed a bit. She was relieved to almost be done with this very awkward conversation. But the relaxation only held for a few seconds, and it was completely reversed upon hearing the several words her subconscious spoke.
"Christmas Eve. Care to explain?"
The panic came back with a vengeance, and Taiga could feel her heart begin to race from stress. Given enough time, she could figure out how lie her way out of just about anything else, but not this.
"I…that's…I mean…"
"You had just given Minorin and Ryuuji the best Christmas gift either of them could have ever asked for. Getting upset to the point of tears is just silly, isn't it? After all, he's just a 'stupid dog'. You don't have any excuse for that childish display."
Unfortunately for Taiga, her subconscious knew exactly which buttons to press to get a response. Taiga's mouth moved faster than her brain, and she didn't think before incriminating herself.
"C-Childish!? How the hell is that 'childish'!? Why wouldn't I be upset about having to let go of the one person I care about the mo—"
Her brain had caught up with her vocal cords just barely too late. The brunette stopped herself suddenly, turning bright red and clapping her hand over her mouth. She couldn't believe that she had just taken what was quite possibly the most obvious bait imaginable.
Tora couldn't hide her triumphant grin as she slightly leaned towards Taiga, with her left hand cupped to her ear. "Oh? What was that? I don't think I heard you. Could you repeat it, please?"
"T-that's not…what I meant to say was…I-I mean…a-actually, my head is starting to hurt again, s-so could we stop for now and talk about this la—"
Taiga's subconscious stood up and stared her down intently. "You know what? No. No, we're not talking about this later. We're talking about this now. I'm not going to let you weasel your way out of it."
The small girl was nonverbally pleading with Tora to stop. This was just cruel. She had woken up from a horrible nightmare earlier, only to end up right in the middle of another one.
"It's very obvious why you were so upset, isn't it? You know exactly why you broke down bawling on the sidewalk that night, don't you?"
The Palmtop Tiger shut her eyes tightly and placed both hands over her ears. She didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to acknowledge it. If she did, the heartache would be excruciating. She silently prayed that Tora would just drop it and leave her alone, but her prayers went unanswered.
"Quit trying to fool yourself and admit it already, you idiot. You're in love. You've fallen in love with Ryuuji Takasu."
A/N: I remember reading an old fic a long time ago that did something similar to this. I love this type of unorthodox approach, exploring an unconscious character's psyche by pitting them against their own ego. Very fun to play around with when writing.
Thank you to all who have read and reviewed so far, I appreciate the support. Next chapter might take a bit of time for me to write up. I have a pretty solid plan for the final chapter (which I might split into two if need be), but getting from here to there is gonna be tricky.