Soon, having relieved much of the stress of Taiga's living situation by cramming all her leftover junk into Ryuji's apartment, the weeks passed quickly and the class trip was just around the corner. Ryuji prepared meals for his mother just as he had when they had taken the trip to Ami's beach-house the previous summer, and though she was as usual a little confused as to where he and Taiga were off to, she gave them well-wishes and told them to have fun (while imploring them to be safe).
Taiga and Ryuji boarded the bus together, both a little nervous (and a little relieved) about sleeping alone in a bed for the first time in over a month, and the hours passed like molasses as the class tried to entertain themselves with road games. Taiga and Ryuji clutched the other's hand firmly for almost the entire trip, though it made them both sore by the time they got off.
The class was split into groups of 4 students by gender, so naturally Ryuji bunked with Kitamura, Haruta, and Noto, already dreading the teasing he was sure to be dealt because of his relationship with Taiga (which, incredibly, had somehow become even more exciting to their classmates over the past month).
Because of an uneven number of female students, Taiga was grouped with Minorin, Ami, Nanako and Kihara. She felt relatively at ease in spite of her tenuos rivalry with Ami because she had come around to the realization that she had misread Kushieda's deeper feelings about Ryuji--she was just happy for them.
After stowing their bags in their respective rooms the class geared up to start taking on the slopes. There was a considerable gap in the experience level of the students as far as skiing, with more athletic and skilled skiers and several who had never even tried--including both Taiga and Ryuji.
Before heading up the ski lift the couple met up again, sneaking a small kiss when it seemed like their homeroom teacher Yuri wasn't paying attention. Taiga had somehow ended up getting a sled instead of any real skiing equipment.
"So, how's your room?" Ryuji asked, unsure how exactly to start a conversation when things were actually at a rather peaceful point.
"It's alright, I guess. Not quite enough room for five but it'll be fine. It's dusty though, like they haven't used it in a while. I was thinking you should come clean it up for me later tonight."
Takasu's eye twitched slightly. He had, in fact, brought some emergency supplies for just such a problem, then he quickly realized that wasn't the implication being made.
"Don't be a jerk," he said, placing his hand on her forehead, "and anyway, I'm surprised they didn't have any bigger rooms for your group to use." Ryuji was actually looking forward to sleeping in a room that wasn't utterly inundated with boxes as his was at home.
"Eh, I'm small, so I'll be fine" Taiga replied nonchalantly, brushing her boyfriends hand from her face. "And I'd better see you at dinner. Don't think you're getting a break from me this whole trip," she chided haughtily.
Ryuji smiled, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Just then, they noticed a ruckus from ahead of them in the group. Noto and Kihara were, again, arguing, and, again, it was about Kitamura.
"No way he's going with you! He's coming with Haruta, Takasu and I!" the boy shouted, flushing slightly in the cold.
"Why shouldn't he be allowed to come with us?? We are supposed to all be friends you know, and you'll be with him all night!" she shouted back.
"Because, Kitamura is gonna wanna hit some real, manly slopes with us, not whatever kiddie hills you'll all be on all day."
"Actually, Maya is a really good skier. We used to go with our parents when we were kids all the time," Nanako interjected in her soft voice.
"Yeah, and if you think someone with a figure like mine is gonna waste her time with crappy hills you're sorely mistaken," Kawashima also added.
Flustered and beaten, Noto stomped back towards Taiga and Ryuji, Haruta following lazily behind him.
"C'mon, Takasu, don't you think Kitamura should come with us? They're all over him constantly and we hardly ever get any 'guy time'," Noto huffed.
"Well, actually I think we should let Kitamura decide who he wants to hang out with," Ryuji nervously replied, embarrassed that he was now involved in this argument.
Noto got a frustrated expression, which quickly turned into a sly smile as he prodded an inquisitive gloved finger towards the couple.
"Ahhh~ I see what's going on. You want to split up from us anyway so you can spend time with your girlfriend~," he teased.
Ryuji and Taiga each flushed, though they also noticed Noto eyeing Taiga's pink sled. None mentioned it.
Suddenly, Kitamura appeared, an arm around each of the pair's shoulders, and said, "Why don't we all go together, as one big group?"