I do not own Karin, nor anything Yuna Kagesaki makes.

Karin: Paradox

This wasn't meant to be too long as it's mostly an "intermission" between Yuriya's story (sort of a "meanwhile" kind of thing).

This is where the story completely diverges from the manga. Thus, the title "divergence".

Also, I've almost finished up with the brainstorming and outlining of the entire story, and I am seriously going "HOLY SHIT. EVERYTHING. FITS. PERFECTLY."

Seriously, it's scary how well my alternate ending fills in most of the plot holes.

Anyway, enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE: Divergence

"Mmmph... I must have slept wrong... ugh..." Kenta Usui rubbed his stiff neck, yawning a little.

"Usui-kun!" A girl's voice reverberated to his left. Slowly, he turned his head in the direction of the voice.

"...Maaka? How did you get in here?"

"...uh... um...," Karin twiddled her fingers, "earlier this morning my blood increased... so I bit you... uh... um, um..." Karin's face had turned impossibly red. She felt like she'd faint from embarrassment if she said anything more.

Now he remembered. They were about to share their morning meal together as they agreed on, but Karin's blood went off again.

"Ah, I see." he replied.

But something else happened, right? He was definitely forgetting something. The little wheels in Kenta's head rotated as he put a hand to his chin.

"Usui-kun?" Karin looked on with curiosity. Kenta looked straight back at her again.

"That's right... how could I forget that we..."

As he put a hand to his lips, he flushed a deep scarlet. Now they were both staring at each other, neither saying a thing. AWKWARD.

"A-anyway, aren't you supposed to work today, Maaka?"

"..........eh?" Karin's face kept the same dumbfounded expression. After about two more seconds, she finally flipped the "on" switch inside her head.

"OH NO! I COMPLETELY FORGOT! I remember taking a nap, and when I woke up, I just had other "things" on my mind... and... and..."

How embarrassing! She was thinking of the events that took place earlier and managed to forget something as important as work!

"You really can't think of more than one thing at any given time can you, Maaka..."

Rather than sounding disappointed, he seemed a little amused. He was usually like that when Karin had one of her "moments".

"Well, no use worrying about it now. You just have to be more careful about it in the future."

Karin brightened up a little. "Yeah, you're right..."

"At least I woke up just in time for my part-time job at Damian today," he shrugged.

Surprised, Karin said, "That's right! You have to work today! I made your lunch right after I got up..." She walked to the sink and grabbed a plastic container filled with rice, various vegetables and a little meat, "...here."

"Wow, thanks! I thought I'd have to go without lunch today." After receiving his lunch, he checked his bag that contained his working uniform for the moving company.

"Well, I should be going now."

"Right. And I have to go to the grocery." The two of them stepped out of the tiny apartment and Kenta locked the door.

"Um, I'll see you tonight, okay?" For some reason, he sounded more nervous than usual.

"Okay... um, Usui-kun?" He turned around to face her.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He smiled. "...I love you too."

They shared their first goodbye kiss that day.