Hi, Totenwelt here.
Once again I'm done with another chapter of Afterstory (I'm still alive don't worry) Hope I didn't get too rusty on this chapter, but we shall see.
PS: to all the Spanish speaking fans of this fanfiction be ready for a full on Spanish translation of What A Beautiful Dream! courtesy of Rubytuny coming very soon. More on that later.
Shoutouts:
Soulless Anti-Hero:
Cheers mate!
Bismillah-Kenyan-Rhapsody30A:
Guten Tag, mein deutschsprachiger Freund!
GoatreviewsStuff:
Well, Here's the next chapter. Hope it'll be as good as the other chapters, and that it'll be to your liking. And thanks! I'm always glad to hear that my fanfiction is written realistically.
Story begins here:
Takasu silently sat at his school table observing the beautiful scenery of the clear blue skies that risen early in the morning that lied outside of the classroom windows. Despite his eyes being set on the skies lying dormant in front of him his mind was at a different place entirely. Indeed, he couldn't help but have his mind set only his light brown haired, dark ambered eyed girlfriend, however it wasn't about some love related reason as one would think with Valentine's Day being just around the corner, but rather it was worry, worry that had not gone away for a good day now. Even though nothing of note happened that day which would cause him to worry, he still couldn't shake off that feeling of there being something off about Taiga since some time ago. Dating someone for a year makes you recognize if someone is acting differently, and so he knew something was wrong right from the get go.
Unfortunately for him he couldn't find out the reason himself, so with a bit of a hesitation he decided to enlist the help of her best friend, who promised to try and find out the reason for why she was acting a bit off.
"Hey Takasu, do you got time?" Someone brought his mind from up the skies down to earth, that someone would be none other than the council president and his good friend Yusaku Kitamura. Ryuuji finally averted his gaze from the window and focused it on his friend. "Sure, what is it Kitamura?" Takasu asked, curious as to what he wanted to ask him, he expected it to be something school related by the tone he asked him. "Nothing really, just wanted to ask how are things with you and Taiga, did you reached any conclusions?" Kitamura asked back, hoping to hear that whatever was plaguing Takasu's and Aisaka's minds was gone since he was a friend to the both of them, and he wanted the best for them, but by Takasu acting so distant he figured that it was not.
"I wish I knew, I asked Kushieda to try and find out but I didn't have a chance to talk to her in private since Taiga was always around her since morning" Takasu explained as he turned his gaze to Kushieda and Taiga talking at their desks, the suspense was killing him. He wanted so badly to go ask her right there and then, but he knew that wouldn't be wise with Taiga around. Ryuuji looked back to Kitamura, who seemed to have been pondering over something.
"Hmm, maybe I can try and lure her out whilst you go ask Kushieda, what do you say?" Kitamura proposed the idea, hoping to finally help out Ryuuji and Taiga in some way, which sounded great to Ryuuji. That way he could go ask Kushieda right there and then without needing to wait until the class was over for Taiga to disappear.
"Honestly, that's a great idea. Do you think you'd be able to do it right now?" Takasu asked, sooner he could do it the better. Yusaku nodded in response. "You got it, but don't talk for too long. I think you'll have 5 minutes at most." Kitamura said, knowing that his time to talk to Kushieda would be limited Ryuuji begun thinking about what to ask her. In the meantime Kitamura begun walking towards Kushieda's desk where Taiga was hanging out at. Kitamura was thinking of what to ask Aisaka to distract her from talking with Kushieda for a bit, however he couldn't really think of anything on the fly, so he just decided to stall for a bit. "Aisaka, Could you please come with me for a second?" Yusaku asked in a cold monotone mode, stopping the conversation between the two girls who both now shifted their focus solely to him. Aisaka nodded in response. "Sure, what is it?" She asked, wondering what he wanted to discuss with her. "Can we talk in private? I want to talk to you about something personal" He replied with another question. Confused and a bit intrigued about what was all the secrecy needed for she decided to go along. "Okay, Lead the way" Taiga nodded as she followed Kitamura who begun walking away from the class and towards the school council room.
Seeing his chance Takasu quickly got up his feet and begun to quickly make his way towards Kushieda who was writing something in her notebook. "Kushieda! So how did yesterday go?" Takasu hurriedly asked, he couldn't bear to wait any longer for the answer since it's been constantly on his mind for a few days now but it was apparent what. Kushieda looked up to find out who was talking to her only to look away in silence, seeing this only made Takasu worry even more. Just as he was going to ask again he was cut-off by Kushieda. "I'm sorry Takasu, I failed.." Minorin whispered silently enough so that only Takasu could hear it. It was so infuriating to her that she just couldn't figure it out, but nonetheless she wouldn't give up until she found it, for both Taiga's sake and her pride.
Takasu hoped oh so much that it wouldn't be that answer, but at the same time he kind of expected it to happen. "So I guess that's it then, we did all we could right?" He asked, sad expression plastered on his face. Truly he was lost and clueless as to what to do, he knew that there was something wrong with her, he was certain of it! But alas, he thought he hit a dead end where he would just have to learn to live with the knowledge that there was something wrong and that he couldn't have helped it.
"You're just give up like that?!" Kushieda yelled angrily. She got offended over seeing Takasu give up like that without a fight, especially when it was for his girlfriend's sake. "No, but I mean what can we do? I tried my best, and I believe you did too." Ryuuji replied, he thought it over so many times, yet he couldn't think of any solution no matter what.
"We keep on trying until we find out why, that's what we can do!" Kushieda shot back with a fiery expression on her face. That hard-working stance and fiery attitude brought him back to the times when he still had a crush on her, if it wouldn't be for that crush he'd never have fallen for Taiga and vice-versa.
"You're right, I'm sorry for-" Ryuuji was silenced by the point finger of Kushieda's who wanted to hear none of it. "If you want to apologize then help me fix it, deal?" She asked him with the same vigour and a smile he knew so well, which was hard to not get inspired by. "You got it Kushieda, but where do we start?" Ryuuji asked back, somehow his sad thoughts disappeared in an instance as he got fired up to face the world and then some, Kushieda's positivity was really contagious by the looks of it. Kushieda pondered as she tried to come up with a good plan to start with.
"Well, Valentine's Day is coming up so you should buy her some extra ordinary gift to show her that you care about her" Minorin answered without second doubts, it was obvious something like that was in order when a relationship is getting bumpy, even a person like Kitamura who had little to none experience when it comes to relationship would tell you that. Question was though, what role would Minorin play in this? She figured Taiga's problem was something about her and Takasu what was the root cause, so she couldn't help in that department, however maybe she could help Takasu get there? "Yeah I should do that, what do you think I should buy though?" Takasu asked as he gave it a thought, he couldn't really think of anything to buy Taiga besides chocolates or some other cliche Valentine's gift, so he hoped Kushieda would have thought of something since she brought it up. "I got no idea, but how about I help you choose? We both know her the best, I'm sure we can figure something out!" Kushieda suggested whilst she was fired up, again she was in her element or was it just a facade? She wondered that too, before it might have been nothing but a facade but throughout the years it became a part of her. Plus who's to tell her what's the true Minorin and who's fake Minorin? "That sounds like a good idea actually" Takasu nodded "Do you have time to go buy it today? The sooner we can buy it for her the better" He asked. "Sure I do, and even if I didn't I'd make time any day of the week since it's for Taiga!" She accepted his offer as she gave him the thumbs up ecstatically. Takasu couldn't lie to himself, it was quite exciting for him to hear he'll be spending time with Kushieda, his past self when he had a crush on her would kill to be in his position, but he felt no feelings towards her any more, he had his Taiga afterall, but he was just happy to reconnect with a friend, or, so he thought. Ryuuji's ears perked up as he heard a pair of footsteps getting closer to the classroom, judging by one of the footsteps being very faint he soon enough realized it was Taiga and Kitamura returning. He quickly turned to Kushieda one last time "Okay, meet me after school then" Ryuuji whispered as he quickly bolted it back to his seat before Taiga could spot them talking.
Taiga opened the door and looked around the classroom, there, sat many of her classmates, but she was fixated on two in particular, her best friend Minorin who looked awfully happy compared to how she was before she left and none other than her great boyfriend Ryuuji. She finally wanted to spend some quality time with him and maybe even forget about her feelings if only for a while. Taiga would have her hands full, as she wanted to go on a date, finally cook something for him, and snuggle for a long time, A early Valentine's if you will. "Ehm, Aisaka could you stop blocking the door? Students want to pass" Kitamura fake coughed, breaking her sweet fantasies in the process. She looked at him with a grumpy look on her eyes, not only did he wasted like 5 minutes of her life berating her about coming late when she wasn't late that day, but now he woke her up from her beautiful day dream that she just had. However she didn't say anything and just walked back to her seat again whilst Kitamura walked back to his.
"Sorry for leaving Minorin, Kitamura unnecessarily scolded me for something that happened yesterday" She said to Minorin, filtering her anger through her words, but to her surprise she noticed that Minorin wasn't exactly listening as she remained still, watching the same spot she did before Taiga even entered the classroom, it seemed like she was oblivious to the fact that Taiga was there to begin with. She wondered what was Minorin thinking about, maybe since the Valentine's was coming up Minorin finally found a boy she liked! Or maybe she just got some good news! Either way it was a sign that that something good happened to her, and since they were practically twins when it came to how close they were when one felt happy or sad the other felt exactly the same, so in turn Taiga was happy as well.
"Hey, Earth to Minorin!" She asked a bit louder, which looked to have worked as Minorin zoned back in immediately and looked around confused.
"Huh? Oh, hey Taiga! So how did it went?" Minorin finally snapped back and understood what was going on. "Well since you weren't listening the first time I'm going to repeat it for you" Taiga replied to her request with a fake sass tone in her voice. "Please do" Minorin bowed down and begged her as she felt the embarrassment washing over her for not paying attention.
"Well as I was saying, Kitamura scolded me for something that happened yesterday" Taiga explained, Minorin once again scratched her chin looking like she was thinking about the reason why Kitamura scolded her but in reality she was wondering if Kitamura was in on helping them or if it was just a very big coincidence.
"Maybe Kitamura was scolded by the teachers themself? Maybe that's why!" Minorin made a plausible reason from the top of her head, as she couldn't think of anything else to say at that time plus it sounded good in her head.
However, this answer made Taiga physically look down herself in self-realization that her actions might have led to Kitamura having problem because of what she and Ryuuji did.
"You're right, I should have been more considered" She replied in a sad tone. Minorin damned herself in her head as she scrambled to save the situation. "Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about it, if it was very serious the teachers would come straight to you! Plus, you know how he is. Ever since last year he began treating everything super serious, all eyes are on him so of course he has to act harshly!" Minorin tried to salvage that conversation, and somewhat achieved that as Taiga nodded in response and smiled a bit, showing that her spirits were up again. Even so, that weird feeling remained in Minorin that told her that something's wrong, she began to feel it too, that feeling Takasu mentioned earlier, something akin to a sixth sense but when it comes to knowing there's something wrong with a person without any clue being present.
"So, anyway what were you day dreaming about back then before I came in here?" Taiga asked, curious as to what her best friend was infatuated by. Minorin looked away embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head. "Well I suppose it was just a beautiful dream" She avoided the answer as she smiled dumbly at her best friend. But indeed, what a beautiful dream it was.
"Oh C'Mon, Tell me! I always told you all my dreams and secrets!" Taiga angrily begged her to finally tell her, the curiosity was killing her.
"Nope! Not telling ya!" Minorin shot back immediately, she wasn't telling her! Not now, not ever!
Taiga bugged her about it the whole time they were in class, but she didn't let her on.
Finally, the last bell rung, everyone from the class was glad that the school was over for the day, three in particular. All the students bowed down to show respect as the teacher ended the class and walked out of the classroom. As soon as she did the students relax and started talking between each other about what they were going to do after school. Taiga was amongst the people who was already thinking what she was going to do after school, her day-dreams once again got better of her. Oh, what her and Ryuuji awaited them home! Taiga already made list in her head of things to do in as soon as the two of them were alone. First she'd make the two of them some good food, which she learned to do from both watching and helping Ryuuji when he was cooking but also learning from Yusaku when Ryuuji was busy, because even though she usually didn't cook much when Ryuuji was around she still was a stellar cook, after all it was her who taught Ryuuji to cook so well. Then they would go watch a romantic film which Taiga borrowed from a Video Rental Shop some time ago, but they never had a chance to watch it because either one of them was always too tired to watch it, so they'd just cuddle until they both fell asleep. And lastly to cap it off well a passionate make out session until they fell asleep! Sure it wasn't anything too fancy, but Taiga loved those kinds of intimate moments than going into restaurants or what not, so much so in fact that she was turning red just from the anticipation of it all unfolding. In her day dreams Taiga didn't realize that quite a lot of students already exited the classroom or were about to shortly, so she quickly packed her bags like everyone else.
Finally, she couldn't wait to tell Ryuuji about all her plans she had for the two of them! She looked up to Ryuuji's seat only to see Minorin standing next to him.
It was a weird sight, she only rarely seen them alone together like that before when Ryuuji had a crush on Minorin or after they begun dating. Taiga felt conflicted, her heart didn't like the sight one bit but her mind told her that nothing was wrong, that they were only talking. Over the years Taiga learned to suppress those discomforting feelings whenever possible by either lashing out and acting violent but lately she began to bottle up those feelings for the best of everyone, since she didn't want to hurt anyone and especially her boyfriend. Taiga smiled faintly and walked up to the two, who were in a middle of a discussion that both of them were very interested in. Despite being right next to them the two didn't seen her, so they continued the chat. After a few seconds of not paying attention to her, Taiga quickly grew tired of it.
"Hey, Ryuuji. Minorin!" Taiga tried to finally catch their attention, which seemed to have worked as they stopped talking and switched their attention over to her. "Hey Taiga, what's up?" Minorin asked cheerily, who seemed extraordinarily happy that time. "Oh, nothing I was just wondering what you two were talking about" Taiga replied, she was both curious and worried about what they were talking about, she just had to know. "We're talking about what gift he's going to give you on Valentines" Minorin proudly exclaimed with completely assuring enthusiasm. Taiga stood there baffled, did she really just said that? It completely caught her off guard, not only did they start talking to each again, but they also were planning what gift he would buy her. "Ryuuji, is that true?" She turned her head over to him, hoping he'd have the answers she was looking for. He nodded. "Yeah, Kushieda suggested it to me just now, and I thought it was a good idea." Ryuuji softly lied, technically that was the truth, what she didn't know was just how much Kushieda was involved with Ryuuji. "I see, well what do you plan to buy then?" Taiga asked nonchalantly, not really paying full attention to what she was talking about because her mind was still busy trying to comprehend the situation. "Sorry Taiga, but that's a secret! You've got to wait until Valentine's!" Minorin cheerfully turned her down, of course she wasn't about to tell her. It was crucial that she wouldn't know, maybe if Ryuuji outdid himself with the gift Taiga would be fine again, and the awkwardness between the two would sizzle out. She told herself, maybe it was just a lie she told herself in order to keep pushing further, maybe it was the reality. It didn't matter, only thing that mattered was doing something about it, that had to be the right thing to do, right?
Taiga looked a bit disappointed, but not in a sulky way, rather in a sarcastic way. At least that was what Minorin and Ryuuji thought, on the inside however things a were a bit different. Sure, she still only played being disappointed but a part of her secretly was actually disappointed, though she didn't even realize it herself. What she did realize was that dark feeling she left before grown stronger by every passing second, she couldn't or rather didn't want to put her finger on it, so she decided again to ignore it, hoping it'd go away. "What a shame" Taiga jokingly replied, but she couldn't say that she wasn't curious as to what the two came up with. "I know, but just you wait. I bet you're gonna like it a lot, Yours truly is going to help pick it" Minorin boldly exclaimed with exaggerated pose to boot, which was but another one of her daily shenanigans. Even though she should have seen it coming Taiga still smiled, there was something so simply smile-inducing about seeing Minorin acting so eccentric, she envied her. Minorin could easily show her true feelings to everyone in her eyes, whilst she herself was never able to do that, even dating and living with Ryuuji made her only switch the way of hiding those feelings away, meaning the issue remained no matter what. "I can't wait to see it then" Taiga replied to her best friend as she turned her gaze over to her boyfriend. "Hey Ryuuji, are you ready to go? I've got something planned out for us today!" Taiga exclaimed with genuine happiness, thinking back about the daydreams she had about how they'd spend the time together, all of it was just a walk home away from happening, she couldn't wait!
Both Kushieda and Ryuuji looked at each other a bit horrified and shocked. Neither of them spoke a single word, yet they understood each other and the situation extremely well. They screwed up.
Taiga stopped daydreaming for a second when she noticed both of them looking at each other quite intensely with expressions were extremely stiff, not to mention Ryuuji hasn't responded yet.
"Ryuuji?" She called out her boyfriend again. He slowly tilted his head towards her, still thinking of what to tell her. "Well, I-I uh was thinking we'd go and buy the present for you today" Ryuuji bumbled over his words at first, but it got the message across to his Girlfriend.
Taiga just stood there for a second, not doing anything, just thinking, even though her mind was completely blank. She didn't know what to think any more, was she betrayed? was she not? What was she feeling? She couldn't tell anything any more, everything in her mind was conflicted and it didn't help that those dark feelings within her grew closer and closer every time she let them in. She was stuck in a cycle of her doubting herself and everyone around her, but then she'd realize that's not true, but then she'd doubt herself again continuing the loop. Taiga had no choice but to flush out all of these voices again and run away from them, but as the saying goes:
You can run away from your problems, but eventually they will catch up to you, stronger than ever.
Both Ryuuji and Kushieda flashed a quick look at each other when they saw Taiga just standing there, both of them were confused and concencered for her. "That's okay, it wasn't anything important honestly." Taiga replied stoically, breaking both of their thought process' as to why she froze up. Both of them were even more confused than before, if she was fine why did she froze up? They wanted to say that she faked it but it sounded too genuine.
Before Ryuuji could think of what to reply Minorin was already out shooting on all cylinders. "You sure it's fine? We can just leave it up for some other day if you two want to do something, the store we wanted to buy it from is opened all, week" Minorin hurriedly explained, trying to bait Taiga into changing her mind and doing whatever she planned to do with Ryuuji for she knew it was important to her. Taiga nonchalantly shook her head. "I said It's fine, no worries" Taiga shot back, there was not a single hint of her being upset or anything. Despite all of that neither Kushieda nor Ryuuji wanted to believe that was the case. At long last Ryuuji finally managed to speak up. "Taiga, what do you say we just leave that present be for another day and just go home?" Ryuuji suggested, calmly yet firmly. Any and all hesitation from his voice was gone. He had to be strong, for her.
However, his girlfriend once again shook her head. "I told you two already, It's fine. Plus I can't wait to see the present that you two came up with, so please just do what you wanted to. I'll wait home on you, okay?" Taiga once again shot down all the doubts the two were having about her, the truth of course was quite the opposite of what she was saying. Before either of them could figure out the truth Taiga planted a quick kiss on the cheek of unsuspecting Ryuuji in plain sight for all their classmates to see, and skedaddled away from the classroom. Ryuuji and Kushieda were left completely dazed and confused as to what just transpired.
End of Chapter 5 - Et tu Brute?