Chapter 7x: A Seance (Takasu Ryuuji)

*sizzle*

I was comfortable. The sound of a running stove and the smell of fresh ingredients was relaxing after such a long day. I was nervous about getting to see Kushieda this morning, and I never would have thought that I would get to spend time with her. But somehow things managed to end up the way they did. With everything being as unexpected as it I was just glad to be back home cooking dinner like usual.

*crack*, *hiss*

I feel like I didn't do enough with the chance I was given though. Here I was with the girl I've had a crush on for a little over a year now, and all I did was help her stock shelves. I didn't even talk to her that much now that I think about it. She did most of the talking. Meanwhile I had my back turned to her as I dug through merchandise... damn I suck.

*pop* *hiss* *pop*

I know I was shy, but how could I help it? Kushieda is just so... bright. She's so happy and energetic, just how the heck do I bring up a conversation with her? What would she think of me? It was hard enough asking if I could help her with work, and there was a reason for me to ask too. But after that I didn't know what to say. It just felt like I let her talk and I would answer back. I wasn't that sure what else to do. I just, well, I don't know.

*sizz-* *crackle*

I've been stirring this stir fry for a while now, I got to take it off before it burns. Thinking about what happened today isn't gonna do me any good if dinner gets ruined and Taiga gets-

I heard the sound of rattling on the door that startled me immediately. Nervous I jolted my head towards my right out of instinct. I became defensive for a moment, but then my common sense started to ease my mind. Yasuko already came back and there's only one other person that would come here at this late an hour.

"...Man, she sure is late isn't she?" I murmured to myself. I guess I had better greet her when she comes in. No doubt she's hungry. I saw the door start to creak open a bit.

"Hey Tai-"

*SWOOSH* The door flung open and the doorstopper went and smashed right into the wall. Her foot was the first thing I saw in the doorway. Presumably she kicked the door down.

"Wha, hey! What the hell was that for?!"

"Shut it you damn dog!" She yelled at me like she usually does. It would be strange for her not to at this point. "What the heck did you do to Minorin?! Well?!"

"Huh? What are you talki-" She charged right in and rammed me in the stomach with her head. I fell back a bit, wheezing for air.

"Answer the question mutt!"

"-I didn't do anything! Go back and close the door! You can't just leave it open like that!" I pointed my arm to the glaring problem right behind her.

She glared at me quietly for a bit. After a quick pout she snobbishly turned her head away and started to walk toward back the door. She calmly began to close it.

"I gave you a spare key for a reason you know. You already broke the chain lock that we had, so why can't you just open the door like a normal person instead of breaking it down? I can't just keep fixing the door lock over and over again."

"Sure you can. And besides, I didn't want to go digging into my bag to find it. It was your fault for leaving the door locked when you knew I was coming." She was patronizing. I gave a long-winded sigh.

"Whatever. Just hurry up and sit down. Dinner's almost ready."

"Yeah yeah, It'd better be good." She walked past me quickly with her eyes shut. "By the way what's that smell? It smells like burning." What?

I looked back to the stove and saw the vegetables burnt to the bottom of the pan. "C-Crap!" I rushed the whole thing over to the sink to try and salvage the food I could.

"Nice job you dumb dog." I heard Taiga's voice behind me being just as condescending as before.

"Be quiet! Can't you see I'm trying to fix us dinner here!?" I stammered my words, embarrassed that I screwed up. I spent the next few minutes furiously scraping food into an empty plate, filtering out what we could eat tonight. It wasn't looking good.

And sure enough it wasn't. Taiga and I were at the dining table eating what we had left. I was stuck with burnt bell peppers and some pork, while Taiga took everything else that looked edible. It was aggravating seeing her eat with her nose held up high, eyes closed like she was too good to eat dinner. I looked back down and ate my scorched meal quietly. I couldn't just let this food go to waste, even if I could barely eat it. I haven't ate since we got back from the liquor store.

"Hey, Ryuuji." I heard her talk in a calm but arrogant manner. Starting to get ticked off I kept my eyes shut staring at my food.

"Look, you can have more rice if you want but besides that there's no food left. Unless you want to eat scrapings off the pan like I'm doing you're just going to have to-"

"I'm not asking for food moron. Will you actually listen?" I turned my eyes up at her to find her pretty normal, at least for her. She held her head up with her hand resting her elbow on the table, looking calmly at me. She looked serious.

"Yeah? What's up?" I asked worryingly.

"Be honest. What did you and Minori do together while I was gone?"

I was stupefied. My patience began to wear thin. I closed my eyes back down at my food not wanting to pay much attention to her. "I told you, I didn't do anything. I just helped Kushieda stock some shelves until her shift was over. That was it."

"And what about when you two were alone together in the shed?" My eyes shot open and I felt my cheeks go red.

"N-nothing! Nothing happened, I swear!"

Taiga stared at me unconvinced, not bothering to even move another inch of her body. I could feel the weight of her eyes driving me crazy.

"I'm being serious! Will you stop looking at me like that?! What do you want me to say?!"

"You're lying. Minorin was acting kind of strange tonight, like she was bothered by something. And you're the only person that could have caused it you mongrel. So spill it, what did you do to her?" What is this an interrogation!?

I regained my composure and started remembering everything that happened up to that moment. Hopefully that would help get her off my back. "Look, she and I were getting some liquor from the storage shed to help finish the inventory. That's why we went in there together, it was just to finish the job."

"...and?"

"What do you mean 'and'? The both of us were looking around for the shochu and wine and... we got to talking and- !" oh... crap. "I... kind of raised my voice a bit."

Taiga raised an eyebrow and looked at me in disbelief. It wasn't so much a shocked disbelief as it was cynical. "...You raised your voice at her? So you basically yelled at the girl you have this really big crush on? Seriously?"

"I didn't yell at her! And I didn't do it on purpose either! It just kind of happened, I don't know."

Taiga gave a sigh, an even more long-winded one than the one that I gave. Whatever kind of low opinion that she had of me was getting worse by the second. "You really are an idiot, you know that? What did you even yell at her about? What could you possibly have told her?" I thought for a moment on why I did what I did. I didn't like the answer that I thought of and looked back down at my cold burnt meal, not wanting to look at her.

"I just, I didn't like the way she said sorry..." I felt my cheeks starting to redden in shame and embarrassment. I knew how stupid I must of sounded. And the worse part about it was that it was the truth. I wasn't looking at Taiga, but I could imagine what she would've looked like if I did.

I heard her get up and start walking off somewhere. Shocked I turned my head back up to her to find her walking towards the front door. I quickly made my way to the hallway. "H-Hey! Where are you going?!"

"I can't listen anymore to how stupid you are. I'm going back home. I'll be back tomorrow morning for breakfast. I hope you learn your lesson by then." She's not even turning around to talk to me; she's rushing out the door as fast as possible.

"What the hell! Tai-"

*SLAM* She shut the door as hard as she could as her way of saying goodbye. I stood a little bit in the hallway just taking in what just happened. I shouldn't really have been surprised since this was Taiga after all. But even still, I didn't feel right. I looked down at the wooden floor beneath me and took a deep breath.

"*breathe out*, …I'm so stupid."

I spent another half an hour cleaning up to get ready to go to bed. There wasn't much to do; all I had to do really was wash the dishes and pans and call it a night. But I was going through everything much more slowly than I would usually do. My mind was on other things. Like if I hadn't been such an idiot maybe this day would have gone better. Taiga's right, who the heck raises their voice at a girl they like? I must have looked like a complete scumbag in front of her. Damn it, what the hell am I going to do now? Just what the heck am I supposed to do about this anyway? This doesn't make any sense... or maybe I really am just that stupid. I don't know. After focusing my eyes again I realized I was scrubbing the same spot on the last plate for a few minutes or so. I stopped, thinking about what I was doing right now.

"... I took way too long to do this. Waste of water." I finished the last of it, closed the faucet and the lights, and went towards my futon to go to sleep. No doubt Taiga will barge in like normal tomorrow morning. I got to think about what I'm going to make for breakfast... probably just leftovers. I'll dress it up so she doesn't notice; as long as it tastes okay I'm sure she won't mind. *yawn*."

I settle in getting ready to rest. I stare up at my ceiling, mind still preoccupied with thoughts that felt like they would never end. Half of me was thinking of the chores that had to be done like usual. The other was obsessed over how much I didn't do right today, no matter how much I tried not to think about it.

"Isn't it natural for a guy in high school to start dating? Well if that's the case then why is it so damn hard to talk to her?" I speak inaudibly to myself. "...I've had this big crush on her for over a year now and I haven't spoken a word to her in all that time. And when I finally get the nerve too it just boils down to this. I guess I'm the one who's not natural in this whole romance thing. I couldn't fit in with this even if I tried." I spoke slower and slower. My body was shutting down and telling me I needed rest. "Tomorrows just another day I guess..."

A few moments later I started seeing back to when Kushieda and I were talking alone at the liquor store. This must've been a dream; from how real everything seemed it was like I was literally back in time. I was repeating everything I had done the day before with no control over what I was doing. I stared at a wall, I answered back to her, I followed everything to the smallest detail. And yet it was all so aggravating. I knew it wasn't right to do this. I should have looked at her like a normal human being instead of hiding from her, I should have been more confident, been more comfortable I guess. But every time I look at her I just stop.

It was now during the dream she ran up to give me a high five and fell down towards the ground. It's seeing things like that make me just not think. She's so dang cheery and bright that my brain turns to mush. Yeah I get I'm supposed to be the guy, the one who takes the lead. I know I need to be the one to get the courage to ask her out normally. I just... I don't know.

There was no answer to what I was thinking. I didn't even think there was a question, but I knew something was wrong. Everything I replayed in my mind made me feel uneasy and not knowing what to do about it made me more so. Not understanding what else to do I just waited for this dream to end. There's nothing good that's going to come with me just remembering what happened.

Kushieda and I were in the storeroom where we first realized we needed to go to the back shed. If I didn't know any better I think I'm gonna have to relive what happened there with me yelling at her. It was annoying to have to wait through this; if the whole purpose of me dreaming was to understand what I did wrong then why didn't I just dream of the shed to begin with? I didn't want to feel like I was helpless through the entire thing, I already went through it once. I'll just never raise my voice again at her, problem solved...? Hold on.

I was in the moment where we were just about to head out. Kushieda just sort of stopped for a moment, she has her head pointed down and- yeah, I remember now. She was looking for the storage key for the shed out back. But why does she seem so different?

I listened to her as she spoke in only the slightest change of voice. "Hey, Takasu-kun."

"? Yeah? What's up?" I had no part in what I was saying. I let the dream speak for itself.

"It's about Taiga. I just... I just wanted to say thanks." It's like everything about her changed. It's not just how she's acting, how she's not being energetic and stuff, it's like she's a completely different person. The way she speaks. The way she looks so meek standing there. What she's talking about. All of it seems so surreal.

"What for?"

"For being a good friend to Taiga. I know she isn't the most friendly person out there, but she's a great person when you get to know her." She started to speak a bit quieter. And I can see her start to move a bit. Wait no, she's trembling. It's very small but I can see her trembling. "...I care about her a lot. It's really hard for her to make friends with the way she is and all. And because of that I worry about her sometimes."

Both my body and my mind stood quiet. I didn't know what ran through my head at the time I was actually with her, but if it is anything like what I'm thinking now it was probably shock. I just can't understand what's happening.

"I try my best to be there for her as much as I can, but things haven't been the way I've wanted them to be lately. We don't spend enough time together now, and we do our own things by ourselves way more often." She's talking noticeably slower. Her whole mood started shifting. "...I was worried that I was leaving her alone. ...I was worried that she was going to have no one to be there for her. I don't want that. She deserves so much better than that."

I tried to wrap my head around this whole situation but with no luck. But there's one thing kept drawing my attention about her. But I couldn't explain what it was though. The way she was talking felt so moving. It was just so real. So genuine.

"I try my best to be there for her as much as I can, but things haven't been the way I've wanted them to be lately. We don't spend enough time together now, and we do our own things by ourselves way more often. ...I was worried that I was leaving her alone. ...I was worried that she was going to have no one to be there for her. I don't want that. She deserves so much better than that."

I stayed silent, lost in my own train of thoughts.

"... But then you came in. I don't know how you guys started talking to each other or how you two met, but I'm really glad you have. I had my doubts at first, but you're a good person. I'm glad that Taiga has a friend like you around. It makes me worry a lot less about her."

I felt stuck. I was captivated.

"I don't know why you wanted to be her friend in the first place, but I appreciate that you came into her life. I don't think she can say it, and I know her actions don't show it, but she's glad that you're her friend. And I'm glad too. I'm glad that you're there for her now... when I can't be." It's like she's not even caring about what she's saying anymore. There's no hesitation or anything in how somber her voice is. But it's all coming from somewhere very real. "...I'm happy that she's not alone, and I'm happy that I don't have to worry about her that much now... I'm really happy that she met someone like you."

I'm in awe. I'm at a loss for words.

"...So yeah... Takasu-kun... I just...-"

*BRRRT* *BRRRT* *BRRRT*

"...the hell...?" I mumbled something underneath my breath as I started to stumble awake. Who the heck is calling me?

*BRRRT* *BRRRT* *BRRRT*

Having my face dug towards my pillow I reached my hand towards the general direction of my cellphone. Fumbling a bit I managed to grip it in one hand and bring it to me. Still groggy I flipped it open without looking still wanting to sleep. Who could be calling so early in the morning?

"Hello-" Oh right. Her.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

It was 9am. Apparently I had somehow managed to sleep through the alarm and didn't wake up in time to have breakfast done, let alone expect Taiga. The key that she didn't want to take out of her bag last night ended up being lost somewhere, and she made it very apparent how long she waited outside because she didn't want to wake up Yasuko. And when she found out that I hadn't made breakfast yet it looked like she was ready to burn the house down. A few minutes later we had both decided to get some breakfast at Jonny's like we had decided to do yesterday. And she made it really clear to me how Kushieda wasn't going to be there. Honestly I was too tired to try and argue. I just wanted to finally eat a decent meal after not having one in so long.

We were on the way over walking the same road we did yesterday. Taiga was ahead of me with her head held up high and I was behind her hungrily trudging along. She hasn't let this morning go and we haven't spoken a word to each other since we left. I was practically starving and not wanting to think about it too much I tried focusing my mind on other things. We just past Inage's Liquor a while ago... that dream. That whole scene at the storeroom felt unreal. Everything about her was the polar opposite of what she usually shows other people. But it just felt right for her to go and be like that. She cared about what she was saying, that I could tell right away. It kind of felt like I wasn't supposed to see her like that. She was fragile, so honest-

"Will you stop daydreaming about Minori already? I already told you she has softball practice. She's not going to be there." Taiga cut me off, still having her head up high whilst not looking at all at me.

"Wha? How did you even know I was thinking about her?" I asked stunned.

"We just passed by the liquor store and I figured a pervy dog like you would still be dreaming of the time you spent with her yesterday. You proved me right mongrel." Her constant jabs at me seemed to not get to me as much now. Maybe it's the hunger getting to me though.

"Yeah yeah, I was. You got me." I reluctantly replied back. It was nice that she actually started talking to me again though after giving me the silent treatment for so long. At least she knows I'm here.

"So did you learn anything from yesterday? I gave you an entire night to think about your mistakes. You should have realized it by now." ...She just wanted to talk about this. Damn it.

"I don't know what you want me to say, okay? I just got kind of carried away and raised my voice when I shouldn't have. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Uh huh. Sure. Sure you just yelled at the girl your head over heels with for the dumbest possible reason ever. You sound pretty convincing there." That's the first time she's ever been sarcastic with me. That's new.

"I know, what I said was dumb. I'll apologize again when I see her at school. Happy?" I gave very little enthusiasm in my voice. I was expecting her to put me down again.

"You better do a damn good job."

"I will, I will." I dismissively replied. Tomorrow's Monday and the start of a new week, I guess this gives me a reason to go and talk to her. If I can focus on not being a moron when I see her then hopefully things will go better. You know speaking of which... "Hey Taiga?"

"Yeah, what?" Harsh, like usual.

I aim my head towards the sky and start delving into thought. "It's about Kushieda. I don't know how to put this... but does she act different sometimes? You know, from how she normally acts around people? It's just that she and I got to talking yesterday and I noticed something different about her. But I can't really put my finger on why I'm so-" I heard Taiga stop in front of me. I looked down beneath me out of curiosity to find her mad dogging me within arms distance. I was scared for a brief second.

"I knew it you damn dirty dog. I knew something happened between the two of you yesterday. Will you tell me now that you've dug yourself a hole? Or do I have to beat a confession out of you?" She became really serious all of a sudden. She had every intention of driving an answer out of me.

I was hesitant in giving a reply. What I was going to say was the same thing I told her yesterday but I knew it wasn't going to be good enough for her. I needed something to get me out of this.

*growwwl*

*growwwwwwl*

The both of us lost any kind of presence in our faces and we became red in the face. The both of our stomachs just gave a growl in unison telling each other how not willing we were to get into this. I think shame was the biggest thing to come over the both of us right now.

Taiga quickly went back to how she was before and turned her back towards me. "You'll tell me after we go and eat. Now hurry up. You walk too damn slow." She picked her pace up and hurriedly made her way up the street.

Taken up by the moment I followed right after her. The only thing now was that my thoughts were equally as distracting as my hunger. Something was off about Kushieda. I know she works so many jobs that she's practically superhuman. And the way she acts normally is anything but normal. All of it made her into that goofball that everyone loves. Including me. But what happened yesterday doesn't make sense. How could she have a personality like that? And if she does then why does she-

"I said hurry up you idiot!" Taiga was a good 4 meters ahead of me, yelling at my direction.

...I don't know. Things will work out eventually I guess. I picked up my pace and rushed by her side. I had to get my mind on breakfast. My health does come first after all.

Author's Thoughts:

Hello everyone. I'll make this really fast; It's become really hard to do this but I have a plan in the future for how this story is going to go. I feel it's better to actually put it into motion then tell it to everyone, so I'll leave it like that. But hopefully it means that I can write more.

Writing this chapter was generally simple. Taiga and Takasu have natural chemistry that makes creating dialogue between the two much easier than say Minori and Takasu for example. In the last chapter even though there was a vast amount of interaction between the two I couldn't really rush a connection between the two because frankly there wasn't any. At this stage both Minori and Takasu are learning key things about each other. Hopefully in the future their chemistry can match what I have in mind for the both of them.

The next chapter will be a standard one, and if everything goes well it should be done by the next few weeks. Please take that with a grain of salt however. For those of you who continue to read and keep up with this story, I thank you. And as always, thank you for your time.