'As I thought, this was bad idea', I thought as I lay cold on the frozen ground, shivering at about 4:30 in the morning. I barely got any proper sleep at previous night, as I keep waking up half an hour after each time I went back to sleep. Even with the bonfire, it was still hard to enter deep slumber throughout the night, and as a result I felt like I'd rather be dead. I hadn't had a sensation like that since the last time Komachi woke up in the middle of the night, crying and demanding that I feed her milk. She was able to go back to sleep after that, but I was left awake for almost the whole night due to being abruptly wakened.

Needless to say, I didn't think I could take it anymore. Yes, I admit it, my persistence was low. Despite me always making theories about pacts, and how I can make it through being a lone wolf, it can only be applied in terms of social interactions, not in terms of life and death situations.

Well, at least some of the strength lost from yesterday was recovered. Only some, though.

Still feeling fatigued, I stood up slowly and wiped the snow flakes still stuck on my body. I needed the find the place to stay for the day because I had the feeling I would not be able to go through another night on the ice-cold earth. I was too cocky.

"Hikigaya Hachiman-kun, is it?", a voice was heard in front of me. I looked up and saw a women who, looks to be already well into her thirties, but she was wearing the school's uniform. She did not appear to have any noticeable wrinkles despite her age, probably due to her skin being well cared for. She wore a red lipstick, that glitters like those high class ones shown in commercials. Her hair was black and slightly-grayish; it was held together by a bun behind her head. The one thing that caught my attention the most, though, was her blue eyes; looking at them, I felt no difference from looking at a pile of snow beside her, it was as if their temperature matched perfectly.

They reminded me of someone.

"Yes", I said

"Did you enjoy your first night?", she asked.

'Huh? She knew I was sleeping here?'

"Who are you?", I asked.

"You've met me before, Hikigaya-kun, but not as the person I am right now"

Naturally, being told something as bizarre as that, one is bound to become speechless. Yes, I was speechless. I was only sent back the day before, so the chance of me meeting any person other than Hiratsuka is almost zero.

"Of course, coming to talk to you directly, I do have a purpose"

"Purpose?"

"Yes, but the details can wait. What is important right now is the fact that you're in a real pinch, isn't it? In the eyes of Junichirou Koizumi [1] and his party, you do not exist. On top of that, you have just enough money to sustain yourself for couple of months. No matter how I look at it, Hikigaya-kun, you're as good as dead"

'This lady knows that I do not have the documents? Could it be.. that she knows that I'm not from this time period..?'

"But I'm not here to talk down on you. Here", she said as she took out a thick file that seemed to be full of documents, and held it in front of her, trying to hand it it me. If that were to be ten years after, I wouldn't accept it; it may be a bomb or something that might get me arrested. But at that moment, however, nothing could've been worse than being sent through time with nothing but the bare-minimums, as if trying to say the phrase "I've got nothing to lose". I accepted it.

"Hikigaya-kun, the file contains all your living needs: your birth certificate that I had the date of birth modified to match your age; legal documents required for work purposes; information for the bank account that had the amount of money capable of buying a car deposited; and, of course, the passbook of the said account. As for education, you need not worry; I went to the administration as your guardian, and enrolled you into the school as a second year – you're in 2F. Third semester should've only been started for a couple of weeks, so you don't have that much work to catch up"

'Who is this person? an Interchronological spy?' [2]

Yes, it seems like whoever sent me didn't think my mind was blown enough, so they sent another mind blowing bomb, containing this middle aged lady, to do so.

"Why?.. why did you do all this"

"You have the tendency to change those around you, Hikigaya-kun, that's why I need you alive and well. Money isn't the problem – I have enough of it to buy two entire Japans – three if I include those in my purses"

'She just has to have that many purses, doesn't she? Wait, doesn't that mean she's a Riajuu? Having so much money, you need not work ever after'

"Just remember: the most important part of this whole thing is to keep you alive. So committing suicide will destroy the efforts I've put into you so far, you understand?"

"Y- yes", I said, but reluctantly. I knew I had no choice, but it was just too surreal. It was as if I was in some Sci-Fi movie scene. I did not know what to feel, or whether or not I was actually fortunate or unfortunate.

"What do you want me to do?", I gathered all the courage I had and asked her, but she merely smiled, then replied several seconds after.

"Stay alive, and enjoy your adolescence as you're supposed to" was the only thing she said. She turned around, and started walking away.

"Ah, right, I forgot to mention. I rented a place for you – it's two stations away from here. I already chose the two years package, but I'll still take care of the extra utility fees, if there's any. Whether or not you wanted to stay, however, is up to you", she then continued walking. 'I still didn't get it. Why would a lady, who is stinking rich, invest in some introverts like my self, and also for me to "enjoy" myself? Was it just because she's stinking rich? More importantly, who is she?'

"Miss, who are you?", I shouted a little to compensate for the distance.

"Well, I already told you that you've met me before.. but I guess that's not really a good way to put it. Hmm, so let me rephrase it: You'll meet me after, Hikigaya-kun", she said.

"Wait!", but it was too late. As soon as I blinked, the lady was gone, leaving behind only the footprints on the snow where she last set her foot on.

"Hikigaya-kun?", some one said from behind my back. which brought me back to "reality", if that's what you want to call it.

"Oh, it's Hiratsuka"

"What are you doing here, class is about to start, you know?"

'Ah, right, I'm now officially admitted into the school now, don't I? I still don't know who the lady is – although, I do know that I will meet her "later", even if that doesn't make a whole lot of sense – but I do know that she did spent a lot of money, so not going to class would be a waste, wouldn't it?'

"Yeah. you're right, let's go"

[1] – Prime Minister of Japan, appointed in 2001 and kept his position until 2005, where Shinzou Abe was elected for his first term.

[2] – A coined word which contains the prefix inter (between, during, among), and the word chronological (with, or relating to time), meaning "in between, or throughout time". So in this case, "A spy who travels through time"

A\N: I know that the last two chapters has been short, but their purpose was to only wraps up 8man's survival. From next chapter onward, there will be no shortage of relationship building between the pair.

Also, if I understand the situation correctly, there are people in the rev section who are "alienating" the other revs who brought up the part about realism. I do not know if I'm in the position to say this, but it'll be great if we don't have anymore of it. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate all feedback I got, but I just see that those kinds of comments might shift the focus of the story somewhere else.