Toradora: Upon Her Return

(1) Return of The Palmtop Tiger

Ryuuji's POV
I walked through the Ohashi High School gates, hopefully for the last time. I took a deep breathe in and quickly made my way to the 3-C classroom where I was quickly greeted by a host of familiar faces.

"Yoooo! Hey what's up Takasu?" Noto greeted as I walked through the door.

"Nothing much. Just ready to get the heck outta this place." I replied with a smile plastered across my face, probably looking like scary as hell. I saw that he was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly returned to a smiling face. I understood how I looked so I didn't make much of a fuss about it.

"Okay. Cool man. So what's your plans for the vacation? Gonna go looking for the lady?" Haruta popped in, and I watched as Noto and a few others in the class turned to look at him.

"Man...ease up on that..."

"What? I didn't...ohhh. I'm sorry there Takasu. I didn't mean to..." Frok the moment he'd mentioned Taiga my head sunk a bit, my gaze falling to the floor. But I quickly picked myself up. She wouldn't want me sulking around feeling sorry for myself. She'd want me to keep moving forward and wait for her to come back.

I felt a hand rest on my back to see Kitamura, Minori and Ami looking at me a bit worried, well not so much Ami but that was just her being her is all.

"You okay there Takasu?" Kitamura asked, smiling gently.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just can't believe we're leaving already. It feels like we only just got here the other day.

"I know what you mean. But hey..." He was cut off by an announcement over the school PA system, telling us to proceed to the gym for or graduation ceremony.

"Right on cue. Ready to go?" I smiled and nodded. With that we all left class for the last time, smiles on or faces and laughter filling the air.

I just wish you could have left this room with me....Taiga...

~After ceremony~
We all gathered in the courtyard in front the school, cut off in our little groups chatting with one another about plans and what not. I could here groups of underclassmen talking about the sports and culture festivals, saying how amazing it was.

"Yeah. But I heard last year was even better that ours!" One exclaimed.

"Yeah. I heard Class 2-C won everything, and it was all because of this girl called the Palmtop something or the other." Another added in.

"The Palmtop something?"

"Oh you're talking about the Palmtop Tiger? You mean that person actually existed?"

Of course she existed you dolts! Why if you don't believe me I'll come and give you...

"Of course she did! I even heard that she's Takasu's girlfriend! I'm kinda jealous of her actually." With that a small grin of pride snuck its way onto my face. With that the rest of their conversation faded into the background as I began to reminisce about the doll like girl I'd fallen for.

I looked up at the sky, staring into its neverending blue, only for something to catch my eye on the way up. A dash of auburn hair flitted by the window of mt old classroom. The smile on my face dropped as a feeling of hope mixed with confusion filled me. Without a second to second guess myself, I bolted toward the class, flying past the shoe locker entrance, bounding up the stairs while skipping 3 steps at a time. I flew round the corner and dashed towards the direction of my old class. I flung open the door, only to find no one there.

Wow. Maybe my mind's finally playing tricks on me

The curtains flapped wildly in the breeze and I smiled knowingly, a bit of realization hit. I walked to the cleaning closet int the corner of the room and reached my hand out. For a second I hesitated, not sure why I was doing this, but I quickly pulled myself together and pulled open the closet door. Lo and behold, clad in a black sailor uniform was none other than the Palmtop Tiger, starring at me with a slight scowl on her face.