Time passed that way until the end of break, when the students had to return to their schools and festivities had finally wound down.

It was a cold Monday morning. Ryuji woke, still not out of the winter-break mindset and lazily went to the kitchen to start breakfast. He mindlessly looked at the clock.

Hmmm... Normally, 20 minutes from now, school would be starting.

...20 minutes from now, school would be starting.

Ryuji frantically rushed back to bed to wake Taiga.

"Quick, get dressed! There's no time for breakfast or lunch, we have to get to school!"

Taiga groggily woke and sat up, "Quit messing around, Ryuji... We don't have school until tomorrow..."

"Taiga, it is tomorrow."

Taiga burst into expletives. "My uniform is in my apartment! You have to get me over there, open the windows!"

Ryuji did as he was asked, and practically threw Taiga through her apartment window as he started to get dressed himself. When they met outside of the complex, Taiga's bad mood had started to calm, though she was still clearly angry.

"No breakfast, no lunch... you owe me a big dinner later."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get going. If we're fast, we can probably stop and grab a packed lunch from a convenience store or something."

"Fine... but I'm serious about dinner."

So they began to run for the school with little time to spare. Their winter coats made it difficult to make a good pace in the freezing weather, so they weren't able to get anything to eat, but thankfully they made it to school on time.

When homeroom began, their 30-year-old bachelorette teacher Yuri Koigakubo stood in front of the class.

"Quiet everyone! With finals over, it's time for the class trip."

The class suddenly perked up.

"Unfortunately, due to an accident at the hotel, our five-day trip to Okinawa has been canceled."

Outrage!

"Instead..." Yuri continued when the clamor died down, "We'll be taking a 3-day trip to a ski resort in the mountains."

More Outrage!

"If Ami-chan were here, she'd make things right!" one student called out. "Yeah, Ami wouldn't allow this!" cried another.

"Shut up!" Yuri suddenly burst out, "Kawashima has been doing shoots in Hawaii all break, so maybe she's tired of being at the beach and would appreciate a ski-trip!"

The class quieted again due to the teacher's sudden outburst.

Homeroom was over and the rest of the school day began. Taiga and Ryuji didn't feel they were acting any differently than usual, but they felt Kushieda was giving them strange looks all the time.

When the lunch break came, Ryuji and Taiga sat lazily for a while before Taiga stood.

"Follow me."

"Hm? What for?" Ryuji replied.

"Just c'mon..."

Ryuji followed her down the hall to the alcove where the vending machines were, then waited expectantly for Taiga to say whatever was bothering her.

"You've seen the way Minorin has been looking at us all day?"

"Yeah... I mean, I guess so...?"

"We need to talk to her and tell her what happened." Taiga began to blush slightly.

"No need!" Minorin exclaimed as she appeared triumphantly in the hallway.

Taiga and Ryuji were both awestruck.

"I understand everything. I know exactly what's going on!"

"N-now hold on, are you totally sure? Last time something like this happened you had totally the wrong idea..." Ryuji tried to explain.

"Oh? Is that so?" Kushieda replied coyly.

Ryuji and Taiga went silent again.

Kushieda wasted no time providing her explanation.

"After Taiga came to my place to ask me to meet you at the Christmas party, I was ready to hear whatever you had to say, but I wasn't totally sure Taiga was going to be okay with... losing you!"

"So after I left, I was going to stop by her apartment to talk to her about it more..."

"Alas, I never got the chance! But it doesn't matter, because I got my explanation. I saw everything! The tears, the screaming, the pain! Then, the return! The love!"

Taiga and Ryuji both went red in the face and looked at their feet.

"It's about time! You're officially an item now, then?"

"Y-yeah, I guess you could say that..." Ryuji replied, still kind of embarrassed by how much Kushieda had witnessed.

Suddenly, Taiga stomped violently on his foot.

"Idiot! Yes, you'd say that!" she snapped, then realized what she was saying and turned red again.

"Well, good luck to you then! And remember Takasu, if you hurt Aisaka at all..." she made a grave face and mimed slitting her throat with her thumb.

"U-understood, thanks..."

"Oooo-kay~!!!" she said as she walked back to class.

"Figures she would've found out on her own..." Taiga said flatly.

"Yeah, I guess she's always been strangely in tune with that stuff."

"I just... it's strange. I was so certain that she had feelings for you, but she seemed like she didn't even care."

"Yeah, well, I guess you were wrong and all that work we put in was just a waste of time. It's not exactly the first time you've misread someone's feelings." Ryuji replied sarcastically.

"Hey, what the hell's that supposed to mean?! And what are you saying it was a waste of time for? Without all that effort we probably wouldn't have..." Taiga trailed off, embarassed.

"Yeah, sure, I guess you're right about that. Anyway, lunch break is almost over, so unless you had something else to say out here we'd better get back to class." Ryuji answered, seeming disinterested.

Taiga nodded glumly and they returned to the classroom.