(For once i would like you all to read this part)

Hello, Totenwelt here! Finally after 3 days of taking an absense from writing because of some personal issues but here i am again! Better than ever, or so i say. i've been having a rather bad time in the real life, so i hope that it's not going to ruin my writing. Also this chapter is going to be rather short (shorter than all the other chapters i believe) as this was supposed to be bundled with the last chapter but i decided it would be better to split it up, which i rather regret now. I will start writing next chapter right after posting this chapter as i found new motivation to make this, sorry again for taking so long with this chapter, but my demons got the better of me for those past few days. Also i apologize for the lack of quality on this one as i really struggled to finish this mostly because of the dialogue that i had to write from the anime which is both not fun and tidious and overall i did not enjoy making this chapter though i doubt i can make it any better at this stage (i'll come back to it once i'l lstart doing a remaster draft of the whole story once i'm done with it) . Also, no writer's note on this chapter as i felt they were too much personal and too much like a shout for help rather than having to do anything with the chapter i hope you all don't mind. Anyhow have a good day y'all, peace for now!

Shoutouts:

You know how this goes already, thank you all who read this stuff, you're all bloody awesome, i really do mean it. You reading this helps me get through the day. Especially now when i'm going through some rather bad times. (note this was written right after the last chapter, i am doing better now)

Special Shoutouts:

Dreamer15147 thanks for once again liking the last chapter, it really helps a lot to hear someone enjoys my work, and i hope you'll like this chapter as well

RokenDarkly No you are my friend! Thanks for enjoying my work, i will keep writing don't worry about that. But i am still not sure about an afterstory, maybe after i finish up the story and a reworked draft for all the chapters i'll do a afterstory, though no promises as i don't know what sort of story it would have.

Ps: sorry for not having more fanfictions, i recently started with this (i wrote my own light novel before, and tried to write a few fanfictions but i always scrapped them) but i'll definately have more as the time will go on

(Story begins here)

It was a beautiful and a bright day outside. The windows of the school shined brightly because of the sun beams ricocheting against them.

Everyone was happy and cheery, as they were chatting and hanging out as they all prepared to enter their classes on time.

Well, everyone besides Ryuuji Takasu.

The boy was really gloomy and sad that day, checking his phone almost desperately for messages from his lover. Though no messages ever reached him back which drove him into sadness.

He was worried sick about what happened to her, so much so that the very visible dark lines around his rather dangerous looking eyes and the constant yawning indicated that he couldn't sleep because of it.

Not to mention a mess of a hair Takasu had on his head, normally he would have it groomed nicely though this time it was unkept mess even though he had rather short hair.

On top of all that Ryuuji's stomach gurgled very loudly, signaling that he had not ate yet on top of all that. Ryuuji was virtually and physically unrecognizable to his normal self, all this because he missed Taiga so much.

It was taking an extremely unhealthy toll on him, and others could easily see that.

Ryuuji looked at his phone again, he received five unread messages, all from one person Ami Kawashima.

Takasu felt bad for not responding to those messages, but he knew deep down that if he didn't wanted help from others because he knew that it would only lead to them getting hurt because of it, maybe that's why he's always been such a loner. But besides, he would be fine once Taiga returned, or would he?

He didn't knew himself anymore.

Ryuuji very slowly picked up his school boots and put them on.

"Don't worry she's fine!" Out of seemingly nowhere outcame Minorin Kushieda with her happy go lucky attitude as she leaned in closer to Ryuuji to cheer him on.

In reality she was as devastated if not more than Ryuuji, though she had to be strong for both him and Taiga because her job wasn't done yet, not with Kawashima playing her mind games and trying to ruin what she had gave her feelings up for, so Minorin kept on smiling.

Seeing Kushieda smiling so brightly reminded him of the times when Taiga smiled as brightly as Minorin always does, sure they're rare moments but they're the moments. It gave him flashbacks of all the good times they had together, and all the times where he felt like everything was bad but her smile made all his worries disappear.

So inadvertently Minorin really cheered Ryuuji on, so much so he was even smiling a bit from the pleasant flashbacks.

He nodded and started walking together with Minorin up the stairs.

Though a weird distance was still between them, even though they were standing next to each other it was as if they were worlds apart, but maybe that was for the best afterall.

"Taiga always said how her and her real mom got along okay so i wouldn't be worried... " Kushieda said as Ryuuji and her walked up the stairs to enter class, her demeanor was still like her usual facade, happy and cheery even in the face of great misfortune.

Ryuuji got another flashback to her mom having a tantrum after Taiga told she's not gonna go with her after the mountain incident, which made him chuckle a bit, but then again he had another flashback of how she was dragged out by her own mother the day before which made him sad again that she was gone.

Seeing as Ryuuji put on a sad face once again Minorin decided she would continue the conversation and try to make him smile again

"... Infact, I bet their spending some quality mom-daughter time together" Minorin pointed out as she tried to make Ryuuji feel less bad, and it worked. Takasu felt better at the realization that's it's not all in vain.

"Yeah, sure you're probably right" Ryuuji smiled at Minorin as someone made it's way up the stairs, It was none other than the council president and their friend Kitamaru Yusaku.

"Hey Kushieda!" Kitamura greeted Minorin as he turned over to Ryuuji who he had not seen before as he greeted her

"Oh hey Takasu" Kitamura greeted Ryuuji with a bright smile as he usually was.

"Hey" Ryuuji greeted him back still with a smile on his face

"Oh that's right! You still need our budget.." Minorin said as she bowed her head down and smiled

"I'm sorry i'll turn it in later" Kushieda apologized as she continued to smile and bow her head down

"Well, I'm looking forward to it new team captain, well gotta run see ya!" Kitamura said as he waved off and went as fast he came. Hearing that made Ryuuji raise his eyebrow a bit, new team captain? Minorin was the women's softball team captain already so what new captain was she of?

Not to mention it was a bit strange of Kitamura to just show up and leave so suddenly when class was right around the corner, then again he was the council president.

"Woozers, seems that president is keeping really busy" Kushieda noted in her happy go lucky facade. Ryuuji was a bit confused as to why was Kitamura running away opposite to the direction of the class when first period was about to happen in a few minutes, though he left it be not thinking much of it. Then he remembered Kitamura saying the new captain which raised his eyebrow a bit

"Why do you say new captain? I thought you already were the captain of the girls team" Ryuuji asked Minorin, who didn't told him yet about the merging of the clubs, which makes sense as they didn't talked for quite the long time.

"Well you know how Kitamaru is busy with the student council? We decided to combine both the boys and girls team, and then they went and made me a leader of both"

"Wow" Ryuuji was impressed that she had the time and mental strength to lead two clubs and have a part time job whilst still attending school on top of that.

"Wow is me for being as busy as Kitamura, i have so much to do i barely have time to breathe"

"Aren't you overloading yourself?" Ryuuji asked concerned for his friend, even though he knew it was in her nature to overload herself, it came across him that she was overloading herself exceptionally a lot in the last couple of day.

"Not at all, overloading yourself is what being young is all about, loading yourself up for a challenges"

"You'll end up spreading yourself too thin" Takasu noted concerned again, it was apparent that she would have quite the hard time keeping up with all the stuff she had to do in the future, and he didn't wanted to see her struggling like that.

"Not true" Minorin cut off Ryuuji before he could continue coldly, she was thankful that Ryuuji cared for her well being, but she was overloading herself mostly to have something that would take her mind off of him so if he dwelled any further her hardwork would be thrown out of the window.

"I'm working super hard to make sure that doesn't happen" Kushieda continued, she was determined to make herself happy in other ways than dating Takasu, she had to for both Taiga and him, they wouldn't like to see her suffer like that after all.

"Huh?" Ryuuji was confused as to what she meant by that, as those two things were opposing each other.

"Yeah, cuz like it's one thing i can see"

"What do you mean see?" Ryuuji was still confused as to what she meant by that, did it had a deeper meaning like when she talked about ghosts and ufo's? He had no idea anymore.

Minorin turned away from Ryuuji to see none other than the person she was looking for, Ami Kawashima.

Kushieda greeted her energetically as she waved towards her, and even though she was smiling as bright as a sun towards her in reality if it weren't for Ryuuji being present she would go off and straight up confront her, but until he was around she couldn't do a thing, so she kept waving as that was the only thing she could do.

Ami walked past the two as she didn't even said a word, it hurt Kawashima beyond words to see Ryuuji suffer so much as much as it made her sad that she was reminded again that he didn't replied to any of her texts, let alone let her help him.

Ryuuji would normally say something against her ignoring them like that, but seeing as he ignored her messages he decided to stay silent and do nothing for once which was rather uncharacteristic of him.

Minorin dropped her happy go lucky facade for a little bit as she looked at Ami who was walking off most likely to her favourite spot between the vending machines with disgust and hatred towards the blue haired model.

"Sorry Takasu, gonna get going. Achoo!" Minorin waved off Ryuuji as she naruto-ran down the hall following Ami.

"Wait, where is everyone going? What about the class?" Takasu asked himself out loud as he walked off to his class and started to prepare for the class.

Ami was sitting in between the two vending machines as she always did.

Though this time she was way more gloomy and sad that Ryuuji did not replied to her messages and overall didn't wanted her help, but she wasn't running away from the situation because she was sad, no rather she retreated to think of a new plan because plan B did not worked because of Ryuuji's nature.

Kawashima realized that she really would have to do something extremely drastic in order to make him hers, that thing that she hoped she wouldn't have to do, hell she felt sick for even thinking of going through that plan, for both the action and for the consequences that would lead afterwards. Noone would be the same that was for sure.

Ami heard steps coming towards her, she lit up like a Christmas tree thinking Ryuuji was coming to talk to her as the school bell rang, but then Kawashima's expression quickly turned into a sour one as she saw Minorin closing in to her. Ami looked away in disgust as she didn't wanted to talk to Minorin of all people seeing as Ryuuji had a crush on her and because she was Taiga's best friend.

"Ha! Trying to ditch the first period huh?" Minorin asked her as she bowed a bit to be a little closer to her, Kushieda tried her best not to snap at her and break her happy go lucky facade.

Kawashima simply sighed

"Why did it have to be you?" Ami asked herself out loud, if it only were Ryuuji who chased after her.

"Well, i have to talk to you about something, plus he already went to class" Minorin said in a serious tone as she dropped her happy go lucky persona. Hearing the second part completely shocked Kawashima, did Kushieda figured out what she was trying to do?

"W-what do you mean?" Ami tried to keep her mature facade up, but Minorin really caught her extremely off guard with that.

"Kawashima, please just leave them alone would you?" Minorin asked her in a serious tone, she wasted no time getting to the point. Kawashima understood exactly what she meant by that, it annoyed her more than made her worried that her plan would be foiled. She close her eyes and stood up

"I'm sorry Kushieda, but i can't do that. I just can't give up my feelings for him. You know i wish i had the same strength as you to leave my feelings be" Ami explained as she walked past Minorin and was about to walk to her class, but then something squeezed her arm. Ami turned around to see who it was, to a surprise of none it was Kushieda who had her head lowered as droplets fell on the ground underneath her.

"Still it's not right, no i won't let you do this, stop this or i'm gonna..." Minorin trailed off as she tried to think of what she'll do.

"Do what? Tell Taiga? Who is right now unreachable. Or Ryuuji? I doubt he'll listen to you after you abandoned him yesterday" Kawashima's words stabbed through Kushieda's heart, because she was right she was powerless to stop her.

Kushieda let go of Kawashima's sleeve and dropped on her knees crying. Minorin couldn't stop her, she had this all this planned out. If only she had the strength to straighten things out with him yesterday instead of running away maybe he would listen to her, but now Ami had him around her finger, or so she thought.

"Look, i don't want to hurt you Kushieda, so just keep out of this okay?" Kawashima pleaded with Kushieda as she stopped for a second and slightly turned her head towards her, and then started walking away leaving Minorin to her grief alone.

Half a day later.

Ryuuji sat on his chair. He held the hairpin that started all that mess, it reminded him of what happened again, even few days later it was still just unreal to him, in a way it was both a curse and a blessing that it happened. He looked to the box where he had all the things he prepared if he and Minorin started dating, thought that never happened. Takasu sat down to the box "I guess she really hates me now, i better seal this away then, it's only right" Takadu thought to himself as he held the hairpin in his hand, he wanted to give it to Taiga as a present, but later he felt it would be too tacky if he gave her something that wasn't meant for her in the first place, not to mention that the hairpin had a rather bleak history thanks to the accident on the mountain.

So Ryuuji decided he would seal the box and the hairpin and vowed to never open it again.

He took the now sealed box and put it in a closed closet.

Ryuuji walked back to his chair and sat down on it, he slouched down on the table as he felt lonely again due to Taiga still not messaging him anything back and overall for her not being there with him. As Ryuuji was lying on his table being miserable he noticed a box, he quickly recognized that it was the box he made if he started dating Taiga.

Seeing it made him sigh, he sadly got up and opened the box, there was only one thing, a necklace.

That necklace was a standard necklace one would buy to a loved one, but this one was a bit different. Rather than having a heart symbol or something along those lines of that, it had a Tiger and a Dragon on a weight scale, it was a weird ornament but Ryuuji liked it a lot because it reminded him of what he told Taiga around the time when they first met, That Dragon is going to always be a on par with the Tiger, beautifully enough even a year later it was still true. And Takasu was sure that Taiga would like it as well, or rather he hoped she would.

Ryuuji sighed sadly and closed that box, he really wanted to give it to her but she wasn't around so it had to sadly stay in the box until she came around.

Few hours later.

Ryuuji sat on his chair home once again as he checked his phone for any messages from Taiga for about the millionth time that day, he couldn't stop looking at it because he wanted to see a reply of some sorts so badly, but none ever reached him.

Defeated, he placed the phone on his table as he lied on it sad once again.

Takasu stayed that way for maybe few hours, he did not knew as he just didn't cared nor did he had the strength to get up anymore.

Ryuuji just wanted Taiga to be around him, he couldn't handle it being without her for even just a few days.

Though as he thought of her again during his defeated state he noted that it's taking her a long time to come back, she was out for almost 2 days at that point, was her mom dragging her out that long? Or perhaps something else was amiss, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Ryuuji continued to lie on the table, still without the strength or a reason to get up.

Until his phone rang, Ryuuji bolted up as he heard that and quickly checked his phone ecstatically, but then his excitement died down by an extreme lot.

Takasu expected a text from Taiga but it was only Kawashima.

"Hey Takasu, do you mind if we go to school together?" The text from Kawashima read, Ryuuji wondered why she wanted to go to the school specifically, but he left it be again, though more and more Ryuuji started to notice that she was acting very weirdly towards him in the last couple of days, but he couldn't figure out why was she doing that.

"Hey, yeah sure we can. When do you want to meet?" Ryuuji texted back as his mind wondered off to try and figure out why was she acting that way, even forgetting about Taiga for a little while.

"Whoa, i actually got a reply. Also i'll wait outside your house around 7:20, is that okay?" Kawashima texted with her classic sarcastic remark.

"Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow Kawashima" Ryuuji replied to her once again as he looked at a small clock he had on his desk. It was a few minutes after 8pm, Takasu sighed as he put his phone away and looked out of his window, it was pitch black, so much so that he couldn't even see the window of Taiga's apartment.

Ryuuji's phone rang again, it was another text from Kawashima

"See you tomorrow Ryuuji, Good night" the text read. Once again it gave Ryuuji some weird vibes, but he decided he would ignore it and not text her back.

He left his phone on the table and started preparing his futon.

Few minutes later he prepared it all and turned off all the lights around the house.

Ryuuji walked over to his futon and climbed inside it, he tried to fall asleep soundly but he couldn't do it, he tried to fall asleep because he couldn't sleep much the day before, but again to no avail.

Takasu missed having Taiga so much around him that he couldn't even sleep without her, that's how bad it's gotten.

He missed how she slept on his chest, hell even just hearing her breathe made his heart so much at ease he missed it so much, but she still wasn't with him, which made him extremely sad.

Despite that he eventually fell asleep as he was completely exhausted from not sleeping at all the day before.

Kawashima sat in her chair checking her phone, Ryuuji didn't replied to her text, which made her a bit sad but that sadness was quickly wiped away as she reminded herself that he's going to be hers. Ami smiled from ear to ear as she went over her plan again, it was perfect in every way, but then her smile disappeared as she realized again what she was going to do and the outcome of her plan.

But despite that Ami decided she would go through it, she couldn't bear being without Ryuuji anymore.

Plus, as Ami said herself before, all's fair in love and war.

She let her phone on the table and went to sleep.

It was going to be a wild day tomorrow.

End of Chapter 5 - All's Fair In Love and War