Seven Days

Harima eyed the book curiously. "Seven Days To Fall In Love For Dummies, hm?" He looked around to see if anyone was looking at him then snatched the book up, running to the back of the store with it. It had caught his attention from its display through the store's window. He read the title again then flipped the book open, skipping the acknowledgments and dedications, to the prologue. "You begin the hunt for your future girlfriend. Let's call her "subject". First, check your budget. Multiply it by the standard hotness to money ratio, to get the range of hotness in which your subject should fall. Then based on your hotness range, you start hunting for your subject. In confusion, toss a coin. Remember your subject’s friend always appears hotter, so don't get fooled. Choose wisely."

Harima attempted to do the math in his head then realized he didn't have the faintest idea as to what the standard hotness was and had never heard of a "money ratio". Word math. He hated it. The book itself sounded promising, but he would need help translating it into Harima Speak. He would have to get Itoko, his teaching cousin, to help him out.

He raced up to the cashier to pay for the book. Ahead of him in line, an old lady with more than twenty books she'd fished out of the clearance bin was trying to pay for her items. First she wanted to pay with cash, slowly counting out each penny she pulled from her coin purse before realizing she was seven cents short. Harima sighed and looked around, hoping that maybe they had another cash register around somewhere. He really didn't want to get caught shopping a book store of all places. His classmates would question him relentlessly. Or worse, Tenma would--

The bell over the door rang and the chatter of a group of girls was heard. Harima froze instantly, turning his head robotically to see whom it was. Of course, as only his luck would allow, Tenma and her friends walked through the door, chirping excitedly about a book they'd seen through the store window about falling in love in seven days. Harima looked down at his book then quickly back up, tears of despair streaming from his face as he gritted his teeth hard to keep from being heard. 'Shit! If any of them see me buying this book, they'll automatically think I'm trying to get a girlfriend! Then Tenma will think I'm chasing after some other girl and not her! What do I do?! What do I do?!'

"Hey, Kenji!"

He nearly shitted a brick at the sound of her voice. He turned around and tried his hardest to act completely calm, as if the book he was buying wasn't to help him possible steal her heart and make her fall madly in love with him. "Hey, Tenma!" He returned the wave.

Finally, the old lady grabbed her massive stack of books and staggered out the door to her car. Harima wanted to smack her silly. If she hadn't had so many books, he would have been able to at least run into the girls on his way out with the book in a freaking bag! Now he'd have to come up with a good lie as to why he was buying it.

"What book is that?" Tenma leaned forward to catch the title of the book. "Seven Days To Fall In Love For Dummies?" She looked at him with a confused yet interested look.

"Y-yeah." Was the most he could choke out at the time. 'Look at her...so innocent...so gosh darn beautiful...Oh Tenma! If only I could tell you that I loved you! Then I wouldn't have to buy a damned book to tell me how!'

"That'll be $23.47, sir." The associate looked at him with a wide smile, as if over-charging customers for the thin book wasn't a crime. Best-seller or not, the book only seemed to have twelve pages in it. Harima fished for his wallet and Tenma snatched the book off of the counter to look at it.

"Hm..."

"It's a really good book!" The associate chirped.

"Really?" Tenma looked at her.

The girl nodded. "It's a great read. I've personally bought it and read it. It's very romantic."

Tenma pondered her chances. Maybe, just maybe, she could use the book to get Karasuma to fall in love with her. She was willing to try anything. "I'll go get one too!"

Harima had trouble keeping a straight face and the scream from leaving his throat. 'Typical.' "Here's your change sir." He took the money and the receipt and shoved them into his pocket. He thanked her then took the book from Tenma and gave it to the associate to bag.

Tenma snatched the book off of the shelf and read the prologue. "Standard hotness? Money ratio?"

"Hm. Sounds...weird." Mikoto leaned over her shoulder and looked at the words on the page.

"Sounds stupid. Only an idiot would by this book." Eri frowned at the thought of using a book of all things to get a boyfriend.

Harima froze at the door as if he'd just been shot then ran out the door. The girls watched him go then looked back down at the book. "I think it's worth at least reading." Akira turned the page. "Hm."

"Well, consider me an idiot!" Tenma snapped the book shut and tucked it under her arm. "I'm gonna use it to make Karasuma fall in love with me!"

"Tenma," Akira touched her arm, "Do you even have the money to afford that book?"

Tenma's face fell in utter defeat. "No...I just spent a lot of money last week on a Three For The Kill cosplay outfit to watch the season premiere..."

"I'll buy it for you." Akira fished out forty dollars and handed it to Tenma. Tenma's eyes lit up with chibi joy.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tenma attempted to hug Akira, but Akira held out her arm and kept Tenma at arm's length with her hand firmly on Tenma's forehead.

"No thanks is necessary."