It was Christmas morning, and Ryuji and Taiga sat on the cool tatami mats of the Takasu residence facing eachother across the low table in the center of the room. The two of them hadn't spoken much that morning after the incident the night before had resulted in a rather spontaneous sleepover, but in no way was their previously stated affection not still felt. Still, to both of them, it all didn't quite feel real, and the scene when Ya-chan, Ryuji's mother, arrived late to find her son and her surrogate daughter/next door neighbor wrapped in one another's arms was, to say the very, very least, awkward as hell.

It was Taiga who first broke the radio silence.

"So... Minorin. What about Minorin?"

Ryuji, rather surprised by the sudden and needless to say difficult question, had trouble replying.

"W-Well, I kind of assumed that since you two were close friends you would handle it..."

"You dumb mongrel, how do you expect me to fix it? For one thing, she's gonna ask why you didn't meet her at the school, and for another, how are we going to tell her...!"

Taiga trailed off after mentioning the unmentionable. She and Ryuji were... Something or other now. She didn't know what to call it, but she knew it felt alien, and yet completely right, to think about.

What Taiga didn't know was that there wouldn't have to be any explanation of she and Ryuji's interesting relationship, as the girl she was so worried about had already witnessed everything and had already decided on a specific point of view.

The night before, Christmas Eve, Minori Kushieda had been on her way to check on Taiga, who had spontaneously appeared to force her to meet Takasu Ryuji at the school. While she hadn't planned on going to the Christmas party, Kushieda felt guilty about being so distant and decided to go, even for just Taiga's sake.

Minori knew Taiga however, and knew that without Takasu, she would be lonely. Thus, she decided to stop by Aisaka's home and check in on her to make sure she wasn't about to become depressed again.

It just so happened that this was exactly what happened, but just as Kushieda was rounding the corner onto Taiga's--and by extension Ryuji's--street, she hear the shrill shriek of a girl crying for a seemingly lost love. Kushieda could only stand and stare as her best friend screamed for the very boy she was going to meet.

Minori was not an idiot. She knew Ryuji's feelings for her, and she very much reciprocated them, but she was hesitant to return his affections, for exactly this reason. In Kushieda's opinion, Taiga and Ryuji were meant to be by one another's side, and because she loved them both, she wanted to do what would make them both happiest. This was when Kushieda decided to reject Takasu's love.

As it turned out, no such decision was needed. Just as Minori was about to continue on to the school--she knew Taiga hadn't noticed her presense--she had her predicament alleviated when Ryuji Takasu came to rescue his soon to be lover.

Minori was pretty happy with the way things were coming out, and she decided that she wasn't going to have to go to the Christmas party after all.