Prologue: Paradox

In this world, there are a surprising number of actions and plans that seem may paradoxical or contradictory, yet they actually make plenty of sense once the details are examined. And in practice, these plans usually turn out to be rather successful. For instance, a corporate slave that endlessly works away, all for the purpose of retiring earlier so he can stop working. Or a riajuu who acts all cold and aloof and uninterested in love, all for the purpose of pursuing love. [1]

In the first example, at first glance it looks completely insane to work for the sole purpose of not working. Yet it all becomes clear by examining the details. As long as one lives, the act of not working requires money to sustain. What is the most natural way to get money? Well, by working of course. Thus the corporate slave's plan actually makes sense. At least for the lucky few that don't die from overwork before they retire... okay maybe this was a bad example.

In the second example, once again it sounds totally ridiculous that acting uninterested in love actually allows one to pursue love more effectively. But this is a crafty riajuu trick: by acting uninterested, they give off the impression that they have higher standards. This implies that they have an excellent social status which matches those high standards, and in turn causes more attraction from the opposite gender. Seriously riajuus are such manipulative bastards, and should all go explode. Girls should hurry up and open their eyes already! They should be going after the unpopular guys who always honestly proclaim their pursuit of love at every opportunity.

Well, perhaps my examples were bad. But in any case, the plan I had in mind was definitely not wrong! Although it seems utterly contradictory, my best chance of regaining some alone time was to ask a certain girl if I could stay over at her house.

Currently, the two of us were alone on the roof of the school building. Getting to this stage in itself had taken a huge amount of planning and effort.

Although the target in question used to be a loner who regularly frequented this rooftop location, she had been forcefully recruited into a clique in her second year and thus had been forced to drop this routine. The only reason she was here now, was that the one person who dragged her into the clique was currently out of the picture.

Well... to be more accurate... I had personally removed her from the picture.

By sacrificing myself in various meanings, I had successfully cleared stage one: Ebina Hina was currently confined to the nurse's office because of the symptoms of severe anemia. Since my mind had already begun its automatic memory repression process for traumatic memories, I myself had also developed the symptoms of severe amnesia... I had absolutely no idea what I did for stage one.

...

That was probably for the best. I made a mental note to avoid recalling it at all costs. And another mental note to break my prior agreement with Zaimokuza to go to this year's Comiket with him. [2] It just wouldn't be safe this year. And if I didn't want another hole in my memory, I needed to stop this flashback and start asking the question right now.

Gathering my resolve, I looked straight in the eyes of the girl that was facing me. A second chance was pretty unlikely to come by, so I really needed to succeed on the first try. Otherwise I can kiss any chance of getting some time alone goodbye. When I thought of that, all of the resulting pressure caused me to tense up. I was starting to feel sick.

Out of instinct, I glanced about, trying to think of the exact words to say. What was the best way to broach the subject? Then I remembered that eye contact was an important part of the plan so I refocused on her eyes. Opposite from me, the girl's face appeared a little red, so perhaps she was also feeling a bit under the weather.

But now was definitely not the time for such concerns. If I failed here, I would most likely never regain my peace and quiet. I began my question.

"Hey. Er... erm..."

As soon as the first word left my mouth, I realized with horror that stage two of my plan had a a gigantic gaping flaw. This was not good. Not good at all. This flaw would definitely reduce the perceived sincerity of my request by a significant amount. Heck, considering what it was, this flaw would probably bring the sincerity levels straight down to zero.

...

What was this girl's name?!

...

What was it? What was it?!

I started fidgeting while trying to remember, but nothing that came to mind seemed right. Suzuki? Honda? [3] No... I get the feeling that those were names that I had rejected during one of the previous times I had tried to recall her name. Guh! And had I told myself that I would properly remember it after that time too!

Meanwhile the girl that was facing me had begun to fidget as well. I guess she was getting impatient. Well, that much was understandable since I had pretty much just called out to her, started a sentence and then left it hanging midway. Feeling apologetic, I bowed my head a little and broke eye contact.

It was probably better to change strategies. The original plan A was to make a sincere request that appealed to our familiarity. We had helped each other out a few times in the past after all.

However, what familiarity was there if we couldn't even remember the other person's name? Now that this alleged familiarity was in serious doubt, it was time to switch to plan B.

In short, Plan B was to resort to shameless amounts of begging, appealing how desperate I was at the moment. While it probably wouldn't be as effective, that was a strategy that wouldn't require knowing her name. I just had to take a chance that somewhere beneath her cold delinquent exterior lay a small amount of sympathy that could grant my request.

So I cast aside my pride, gave her a full bow, and asked. "...Can I stay over at your place tonight?"

[1] A "riajuu" is basically someone who lives a very successful life, especially in the romance department. Think Hayama.

[2] "Comiket" is a large convention in Japan where people buy and sell fan fictions, usually in manga form. In particular, many of these fan fictions may include large amounts of BL. And Ebina regularly attends such conventions...

[3] "Honda" and "Suzuki" are motorcycle brands.

Author's Note: I was asked to do a story about this particular character a long time ago, but I kept forgetting her every time I got in 8man's character to write from his point of view. In 8man's words: "Teehee *star*".