<apr> Well, alright, they skipped a lot of content in the anime obviously.
<apr> Content I enjoyed, too. Oh well.
<apr> Hmm.
<apr> Well, basically, on the bridge, Taiga is checking her wallet and counts what money she has, since they're planning to take the train, and Ryuuji has no money at all (because he threw his pay check at Yacchan).
<apr> Obviously a gust of wind comes and the money goes down into the river.
<Friend> They lost the money Ryuuji earned during the mothers scene
<apr> Anyway, money's lost, and then she explains how she can't just withdraw more money because her account is empty. And then she explains how her dad's lost a long on-going lawsuit and has run off somewhere or whatever, and how there's no more money/job there and this is why her mother suddenly pops up to snatch her away.
<apr> (so it's not quite so much "take" as "save", as the apartment is no longer hers)
<Friend> mmhmm
<apr> Um, I don't remember everything that happens, but Ryuuji decides to kiss her.
<Friend> yea, that kiss didn't happen
<apr> And there's some really nice text on how it feels to kiss a girl for the first time when you're in love. Made me flashback 10 years.
<apr> And he realizes there's no way he can stop himself from wanting to do it again and longer and deeper and more and whatever, ya dig? So he backs off. And off. And off, and eventually hits the bridge rail.
<apr> And, well, this is where it gets funny in the middle of weird stuff.
<apr> Basically, Ryuuji told his mother "it'd been better if I was never born!"
<apr> Right? At least in the book.
<apr> And what Taiga sees is "Love of my life says he doesn't want to live; he kisses me; he walks off to the bridge handrail."
<Friend> Yea, he said something like that
<Friend> In the anime Taiga thought suicide as well
<apr> She walks up to him and beats him over the head and calls him an idiot, and he eventually realizes she thought he was about to jump to his death. Then there's a little hitting accident and he falls off.
<Friend> yea, that happened
<apr> Well, Taiga's screaming and he's drowning and then they notice how the water is only up to his waist.
<apr> And something I don't remember. He asks her to marry him, she gets pissed off because she thinks he's trying to be a selfless oaf who just wants to save her, and he says he loves her.
<apr> And she jumps into his arms.
<apr> And then Ami finds them walking around in a freezing river.
<apr> She's been jogging around looking for them, because Kitamura called her (and Minori) about finding them, after Taiga's mother arrived at his home asking where they might be.
<apr> Ami helps the freezing couple out of the river and gives them her jacket. Then Kitamura and Minori arrive (since Ami's called them to say they're at the bridge) and Minori gives Ami her own jacket, then Kitamura gives Minori his jacket, and they go off to Ami's apartment where there's showering.
<apr> They're sitting in a kotatsu when Taiga dozes off and the others discuss what they can do.
<apr> Ryuuji does a shitty joke about screaming about love at the center of the earth or whatever, and Ami bursts into tears and hands him the key to her beach house.
<apr> Anyway, they decide not to run away right then and there because the trains stopped going there anyway, and instead they're supposed to meet at school the next morning, with Taiga convincing her mother to let her say goodbye.
<apr> As they all leave the house, Taiga's mother's Porsche is standing across the street and she takes Taiga away. Ryuuji starts having second thoughts, wondering if he'll ever see her again.
<apr> Then he goes home, finds the note and in an empty apartment, and flips the fuck out.
<Friend> so wait, what did the note actually say?
<apr> Beats on the furniture, breaks the wall, cries and screams about Taiga, etc, etc.
<Friend> yea, none of that happened in the anime
<apr> It's a map to the grandparental home with an address and the closest train station.
<apr> Oh, and the watch.
<apr> Right, so he starts cleaning the apartment.
<apr> All the while imagining he's a big dragon flying into the clouds and arriving at a savannah, where he sets an enormous table and it has seats for everyone (listing friends, parents, etc).
<apr> There's a bunch of stuff in his head about how he wants to live in a world where everyone's happy and you don't have to abandon anyone to be with anyone else.
<apr> It's pretty spaced out.
<apr> Eventually he falls asleep, heads to school, meets Minori at the old crossroads meeting place, no Taiga yet.
<apr> They arrive at school, meet Haruta and Noto and the pretty trio, no Taiga yet.
<apr> (Noto is really pissed about the whole girlfriend thing)
<apr> (Ryuuji decides not to tell him he's engaged)
<apr> So anyway, classroom time, and there's no teacher.
<apr> Two self-study classes and no teacher.
<Friend> They didn't do this classroom stuff in the anime
<Friend> Haruta just wonders where Taiga and Ryuuji are
<apr> Oh. Anyway, eventually Dokushin and Taiga come in and they've been crying. Dokushin starts telling the class how Taiga has to move and won't be with them anymore and she cries and then Haruta suddenly passes out with a scream.
<apr> Dokushin runs up to him and WHAM people start running out of the classroom (Taiga/Ryuuji first).
<apr> So no one quite knows where they are, since people are running every which way, and they get out of the school.
<apr> Dokushin goes back to the teachers' lounge to explain to Taiga's waiting mother that they've eloped.
<apr> The pregnant mother replies "Oh god, I think the baby is coming, from the shock!"
<apr> And Dokushin freaks out a bit, and asks "Really?!" and mother Taiga goes "No."
<apr> (this happens twice in the conversation, and is quite funny when not told by me)
<apr> Anyway, Dokushin convinces Mother to let them be, because there was a note left on Ryuuji's desk that said they'd contact them in two days.
<apr> And puts her job on the line.
<apr> (which is nice, because it fleshes out Dokushin as a trusting and nice teacher)
<apr> Meanwhile, Ryuuji tells Taiga that Yacchan is gone, and they decide to make everything right by heading to her parents' place instead, to find a way to get her back.
<apr> And they take the train there and Ryuuji can't bring himself to ring the doorbell.
<apr> Is that in the anime?
<Friend> nope
<Friend> well
<Friend> not the doorbell part
<apr> I don't know how far it goes in the episode.
<apr> So, er.
<Friend> the very last scene is Ryuuji introducing himself and Taiga to his grandparents
<apr> Ah...
<apr> Anyway, in the book, they're standing outside the door, and eventually Taiga tries to ring the doorbell herself, and they armwrestle a bit about it until Taiga screams I NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM and *ding dong*.
<apr> And no one's home.
<apr> Since it's 3pm.
<apr> Then Taiga goes catatonic because she needs to pee so badly, and Ryuuji starts carrying her toward the train station, hoping to find a toilet somewhere.
<apr> But ta-da, they run into a woman in her 50's whose face is all peachy and they realize it must be Yacchan's mother, and they eventually convince her that they're related and get let in, and granny (Sonoko) calls gramps (Seiji) who screams at her not to let them in since it must be a fraud, but Ryuuji shows the watch.
<apr> And Seiji comes home and he introduces Taiga as his fiancee and that's it, I guess.
<apr> In-between all these actual events, there are loads of pages of Ryuuji working through his emotions.
<apr> And it's quite dull. ._.