Toradora!:Spin-Off 2 Fall Fattened Tiger Chapter 2
Fall-Fattened Tiger
Chapter 2
☆Minori’s Diet Memo☆
Item 1! <Healthy eating!>
Eating well balanced meals. Of course, we cannot eat too much, but if stress builds up due to insufficient food, it is meaningless. After eating well, go running flat out for an hour.
Item 2! <Healthy Exercise!>
After leaving club activities, run flat out for two hours. Returning from school also, avoid accidents by running flat out. Get a part time job, then run flat out all the way home from your job.
Item 3! <Always Keep Moving!>
Don’t sit still at home. Don’t rest. Always have a plastic water bottle in your hand. If you go to the bathroom, then afterwards go for a walk, thirty minutes at a flat out run. If you watch the television, then afterwards go for a walk, fifteen minutes long at a flat out run. If you chat on the telephone, then afterwards go for a walk, after the call is over run flat out.
Item 4! <Pamper yourself every now and then!>
If the effort wears on you, then once in a while it’s all right to have a snack. If you have a snack, then go out for a walk, three hours of flat out running.
"...Huff...huff...huff..."
"...Huff...huff...huff..."
"...Huff...huff...huh..urp! Ack! ...Yech...”
"Taiga, wh... cough! ...Huff...huff...cough cough cough!"
"Yech... ye... yech..."
"... up ...!"
Off to a bad start.
It seems both of them wound up puking.
Eight o’clock in the evening, a bench in a small children’s park. The two of them were in really bad shape. Ordinary exercise can be nothing more than a routine, but doing all-out sprints after eating is not a good thing. It didn’t even bother Minori... Ryuuji clung to the bench, prostrate. Feeling nauseous, he frantically swallowed his bile. Poor Taiga, down on all fours, her nice ponytail all messed up, couldn’t even resist when a toy poodle, out for a walk, came over and sniffed her.
"Ta, iga… to the bench..."
"...Huff...huff..."
Her jersey sleeve shaking, Taiga grabbed the bench at once and pulled herself up. Taiga said nothing, she was so exhausted she was unable to sit properly on the bench. Then for some reason she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and hit speed dial.
"Yo, Taiga! What’s up?"
"...Huff... huff... Mi, Mino... rin..."
"What’s all the excitement? Ah, wait a sec. ...hmm. ...yes, it’s OK. What’s up, what’s going on?"
"... Minorin... that... that, from school, that diet memo you gave me, well it’s a bit..."
"Ah, yes, yes. Are you putting it into practice?"
"...Impossible... coming from you, Minorin… walking and running flat out, is wrong, I think… people, usually, running like that, I think... as far as I’ve heard..."
"Are you kidding? Is that so? Taking the time to call while you’re walking, at a flat out run? Wow! Beast! A flat out sprint on a fall evening sure feels good!"
"...Huff...huff... ...Excuse me, I’m feeling a little bad... panting..."
"Eh, have you got a cold? Take care to sleep warmly!"
The phone call over, Taiga put the phone away in her pocket. She simply said, "I think this is the first time Minorin and I disagree."
On the verge of fainting, dizziness making it hard to think, Ryuuji tried to add it all up. Dinner had, in itself, been quite a production. The main course was fish instead of meat. The side dishes were vegetables, full of natural carbohydrates. They expected to moderate their calories without having to suffer much. They were thinking to have their meals this way for a while. Nevertheless, it was a "moderate" degree. Taiga had a bit of trouble getting into her new fall outfit, a flesh-color leotard. This, even though it was new clothing. So of course, refusing to exercise was not an option.
However, for anybody but Minori, recklessly running and running flat out is impossible. They had learned by their own experience that Minori was rather strange. For a normal human being it should be good enough to walk instead of running flat-out. Nobody but Minori could have proposed that "whenever you say walk, it means running flat out". Once a day should be sufficient, provide that one deliberately and without fail takes the opportunity to walk.
"Chestnut! Let’s go! Stop bothering the young lady's butt!"
At that moment, the toy poodle was very much absorbed in sniffing Taiga’s rear, its feet splayed out stubbornly, looking up at Taiga with moist eyes and barking eagerly with a charming voice. Taiga looked it over.
"...What’s with this little dog? Friendly little guy, he seems to be looking at me with love..."
"Kiyuun...", responding to that nose, "Ura!", she took off both her sneakers and went over in her stocking feet. "Ararara!", said the dog’s owner, an astonished lady, as she pulled on the leash. The dog was very excited. "Haga!", without warning everything went crazy. Next thing you know, "A-hahaha-ha-haii-yahha-!", laughter sounded as the dog pushed its face to Taiga’s feet, licked her socks, bug-eyed, belly showing while tears began to flow. In this world, there are truly all sorts of pets.
"... You, some kind of secretion must be coming from your feet..."
"It isn’t a secretion. It’s a pheromone. Shall we put some on your face?"
"No thanks, really. Just try doing that, and I’ll die."
Quite embarassed, the dog’s owner mumbled, "Sorry about that", escaping as quick as she could with the crazy dog. Watching that figure, Ryuuji thought, Dog, is it? ...Now I see. Things like that can be reasons to go walking.
"...Dog, it’s just as well. Going out for a walk every day is not fun. But, if walking becomes a natural daily routine, it really ought to be as good as dieting."
"Hey you! That’s woman’s figure, did you notice?"
Having spoken to Taiga, Ryuuji now bit his lip. Having only really noticed the curly-haired toy poodle, if he could get another look at the pet owner he would have to apologize. People like Taiga cannot be compared to people with normal metabolisms.
"What are those awful eyes of yours looking at? Oh, something else has gone wrong. We can’t run anymore. That is, that guy is not likely to give up wandering around town. We absolutely have to go to the convenience store and do some shopping. Then we can have oden. And ice cream. ...If you try to do like those three fools, every day eating only bamboo shoots, shiitake, lotus roots, all you can do is get frustrated... Arrgh, it’s too unpleasant..."
"Absolutely, that."
Even in the best of times, Taiga is sullen by default. Ryuuji was exposed to the worst of her violence day after day, and what Taiga would be like, with yet more stress accumulating, getting yet more nervous, is terrifying to imagine. For the moment, easing the tension level by joking, the violent girl and the generous guy taking the abuse, the plan came into existence at the last moment. Turning it all into a joke is better than getting sent to the hospital. Hardly a matter for the police.
"... As far as extreme diets are concerned, I am opposed to them. Yet for us, there is still a way left."
"Eh, what, what? Ah, I have it! Liposuction!"
"Great. That should fly. Go ask an American celebrity."
Ryuuji got out his cellphone, looking for a particular address. Whether that sort of woman would be close to her phone on a Friday evening was a nice question... the call sounded twice, three times,
"... Eh, hello? So suddenly, it’s a big surprise. What’s up?"
Got through. It was their representative Japanese celebrity – Kawashima Ami.
"Oh, suddenly’s no good. That’s... a bit awkward, favors for both of you."
"---What’s with you? My clothing hobby is not strange!"
"Bakachii is wonderfully fashion-conscious by habit. Unusual, her hobby."
They met Saturday, their day off, at ten in the morning. At the same station as the three went to before, in front of the ticket gate. The weather was nice.
The three looked at each other without being too obvious: the area around the station was a little more prosperous than where Ryuuji and Taiga lived.
Ryuuji was wearing a T-shirt and denim pants, a parka styled like a traditional haori, and VANS sneakers. In his hand he had an eco-bag bought on a Kyoto field trip, a largish canvas tote bag from a famous store. Scary though his expression may be, his style was very much that of an ordinary high school boy. On the other hand, Ami was no less than you’d expect from a performer. On her small fist-like face there were Chanel-brand sunglasses. Her long hair was brought together in a bun, and over her long legs she wore cargo pants tied at the waist. On top, a thin, but probably absurdly high-priced tank top, with a knit cardigan over that, she was an aura model on display in a habitually simple style. Her sneakers were PUMA, but the tote she put to her shoulder was branded with the Chanel logo.
The problem was Taiga. Looking upon the scene, Ami had a scowl on her face.
"Rather unique, you might say... really making a statement, with both barrels! Aren’t you separating yourself just a bit!?"
"Even looking trashy can be good. In any case, meeting up with Ryuuji and Bakachi was just an excuse. It would be rather strange if going to the gym has become unfashionable", Taiga answered, unruffled.
From the start, she really loved ruffles and lace. Overskirt with the front buttons undone, unfashionably wearing petticoats and underskirts inside, that was Taiga’s standard fashion. Fluffed up and disheveled stuff, cardigans and sweaters too. Anyway, it’s like she had made a vow to dress in layers, using knits with flowers and suchlike attached randomly here and there, really girly, really flowery, frilly, lacy and with live cotton. The whole thing’s total price in a certain famous frilly brand turned out ridiculously high, and the first one should have been her favorite.
Taiga’s chosen fashion for today, first of all, was a T-shirt. Looking like just a white T-shirt, in fact it was young lady’s phys-ed class clothing, 'graduated' from the school. And then those tired old pajama pants. Gray and white striped, UNIQLO, they cost 980 yen. Barely wearing shoes, she had put on some rather cutesy girl-brand dress-up sneakers, and over the T-shirt she wore a windbreaker a few sizes too big. In fact, it looked like she was wearing one of Ryuuji’s jackets.
"Heh", laughed Taiga, looking defiant.
"Well, Bakachii, it looks like we can’t help but have you along with us. To be honest, my clothes aren’t just frilly stuff. It’s truly awful, having to dress this body for a little more volume. It’s all about volume. Seriously, I do too much along that line. Size is not a reason for not going somewhere, but rather a reason why you cannot wear something. ... You can laugh, at least for today. Anyway, I owe you a trip to the gym. Going to the gym for first time in your life can be a problem, all the more because you don’t have an experienced person by your side, and the going is rough. In fact, getting a good laugh might put you at ease. Go ahead and laugh, Bakachii. Laugh."
Through her light brown sunglasses, Ami looked carefully over Taiga’s (more accurately, Ryuuji’s) windbreaker. She double-checked the worn old T-shirt inside. She stepped back, said "Uwaaa...", and shook her head.
"... Sorry, but I can’t laugh. You’re just too pathetic..."
Taiga quietly looked up at Ryuuji.
"... Sometimes apologizing is easier than laughing at someone, eh, Ryuuji..."
"It can’t be helped. Well, it is right now. If you could slim down everything would be as before."
While Ryuuji and Taiga nodded at each other, agreeing in a easygoing manner, Ami, with a serious look on her face, finally took off her sunglasses.
"How can you two be so carefree about it all...! Honestly, you two talking about 'taking me with you to the gym', though I find it annoying to the core, something, Ami-chan, has now awoken. Rather volunteer minded, this feeling. Taiga dear, you are seriously dangerous. Your clothes don’t really matter. Let’s hurry up. If we don’t get on our way to the gym soon, things could get pretty bad. Let’s run, since it’s not far!"
No sooner did she say that, then Ami as if inspired by Minori suddenly began to cross the street at a trot. Ryuuji and Taiga, rather confused, gave chase.
---Well, it seems we receive according to how we dress ourselves.
"...This place’s atmosphere is surprisingly normal."
Ryuuji paid the 1500-yen visitor fee and changed into a rental outfit, a T-shirt and jersey shorts, then waited for the two girls to change, looking around at the machines lined up in a row. There was hardly anybody there, here and there a machine being used, really just neighborhood housewives, and by herself a rather plain office-worker.
In fact, Ami had been asked a few times for a personal tour of this gym by that fellow. It so happened that her parent’s home was near to Azabu, Shirokane and Omotesandou. Having been brought to such a super-famous gym, they were slightly nervous with anticipation. Because she often stayed with relatives nearby, Ami was a current member and could bring them as guests. As far as Ryuuji was concerned, the place was more than good enough.
Whether or not it really suited him I cannot say, but for now he sat down on a bench near the locker room. According to the map of the inside of the building, on this floor was space for machines, and, separated by glass, there seemed to be a few studios. The studio menu had a wide variety of items, eventually they planned to try out some of them. And in the basement there was a pool and sauna. If it weren’t for Taiga’s glare, he by all means would have gone to try it out.
Painfully he paid 1500 yen more than he had planned to, though in truth Ryuuji had more than enough. Of course they wanted to get over the gloom from their fall fatness, but still, right now, it was 1500 yen. Now that they had grudgingly paid, they got to experience the gym. Glare, his sanpaku eyes gloomily glowed.
"Takasu-kun, please wait---"
"Please wait."
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