Meanwhile, Ryuji returned to his own room to find Kitamura, Noto, and Haruta all very much awake. Haruta was standing bow-legged with his shirt over his head, while Kitamura was fully bare chested. He could see playing cards scattered across the floor.
"Welcome back, lover-boy," Noto greeted him before he could ask for an explanation as to what exactly they had been doing before he'd returned.
"Ha-ha, yeah, I hope you didn't get too busy right out in the dining room" Haruta added, in the same dumb, teasing tone.
"Why don't you guys lay off? I confessed in front of everyone and nobody ever made any jokes at me." Kitamura replied, sounding almost boastful as well as defensive. "And Haruta... did you just say 'Ha-ha'?"
"I-" Ryuji started.
"Well, yeah. That's because you got rejected in front of everyone, too, dude," Haruta replied, interrupting him. Noto nodded in agreement.
"And now I'm all the stronger for it!" replied Kitamura, the prideful tone in his voice taking over completely as he matched it with a bodybuilder pose.
"Can I get a word in here?" Ryuji interjected indignantly.
"Oh yeah. Hey, Ryuji. What's going on?" Haruta asked him nonchalantly.
"I..." Ryuji sat down, exasperated, "I have no idea, honestly," he admitted.
"We were just playing a game of cards, but we got distracted. Then you came in and we got distracted from that, too," Noto added.
"How's your ~girlfriend~ Takasu?" Kitamura asked him in a sing-song voice.
"Jeez, not you too, Kitamura... she's fine, I guess. She was worried about Kushieda, said she seemed off somehow..." Ryuji explained.
"Oh yeah, I thought I noticed she was kinda quiet earlier," Noto recalled.
"Me too," Haruta agreed lazily.
"Agreed. She still isn't her usual self." Kitamura added.
"Huh. I can't believe I was the only one who didn't notice," Ryuji said, surprised.
"Well duh, of course you didn't notice. You're too dumb to pick up on girls feelings," Noto answered dismissively.
"Yeah, and Taiga did have to scream and cry in the street for you to notice her," Kitamura confirmed.
"Wait, no way that's true, is that really what happened?" asked Haruta excitedly.
"That's what she told me at least. And it isn't hard to figure out what Kushieda is upset about. Here you had her, all set for this emotional moment, and then you stand her up and next time she sees you you're dating her best friend? It's like something from a cheesy TV drama," Kitamura added, blissfully unaware of the abuse he was now opening his friend to.
"I mean, we all had you two pegged from day one, but you were so adamant that that wasn't what was going on," Noto stated, further embarrassing Ryuji.
"Yeah, Taiga even punched me in the stomach so hard I almost threw up!" Haruta shouted.
"You didn't almost throw up, idiot. You did throw up. You told me you swallowed it all, which was way more than I asked." Noto corrected.
"That's not exactly how it happened at all! And... and that's disgusting!" Ryuji tried to defend himself.
"Well, what did happen then?" Noto asked, genuinely interested now to hear Ryuji's perspective on that night.
So Ryuji recounted to them how he had tried and tried to get Kushieda to come to the Christmas party so he could properly confess, and how Taiga had been with him the whole time trying to set it up for him. How, worried about Taiga's state he had borrowed the bear costume to give her a gift for Christmas and make her feel better, and finally how, in spite of her direct orders he had felt a pull to turn back to her a second time and found her crying on the street for him.
When the story was over, Haruta feigned holding back tears. "That's beautiful, man." he said.
"I take it back. You aren't completely emotionally dead, you just only have a read on Taiga!" Noto joked.
"That is a pretty dramatic story. Still, I'm not surprised if Kushieda is upset about it. Even if she was going to reject you anyway, getting stood up after all that pushing is a big deal for a girl," Kitamura concluded.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Tomorrow I'll go and apologize to her for all of that. I was just so worried about Taiga that I didn't really consider it that way." Ryuji admitted.
"I gotta say, I didn't think you and Taiga could get any closer than you were, but it's like you're glued at the hip now. It won't be long before you two move in together," Noto sighed.
"Don't worry Takasu. If you get lonely and cold you can always come cuddle me for warmth," Haruta said, grabbing him in an exaggerated embrace.
"Me too, buddy!" Kitamura shouted, leaping into the both of them and creating a dogpile on the floor with Ryuji at the bottom.