The Longing of Shiina Ryo

The Longing of Shiina Ryo is a light novel written by Ryuno, available here and on Baka-Tsuki. It is about a teenager nicknamed Shin-tsu who has spent most of his life fleeing from a series of unusual events that he has deemed "Mystery". The story picks up when Shin-tsu moves to yet another new town, which coincidentally is where Ryo, someone he met online and the only person who he has befriended during his life (or at least the only one who is still alive/without harm because of him), happens to live. Unfortunately, Shin-tsu can only hide for so long before Mystery finds him again...

Tropes used in The Longing of Shiina Ryo include:

• Accidental Pervert: When Shin-tsu wound up on top of Kouma when she tried to beat him up (possibly murder him).
• Action Survivor: Basically, Shin-tsu's life story.
• Agent Mulder/Agent Scully: Ryo and Kouma, when they hear Shin-tsu's account of his past.
• All Just a Dream: The Metamonogatari extra story.
• All Love Is Unrequited
• All Psychology Is Freudian: Kouma seems well versed in this model of psychology
• Anthropomorphic Personification
• Arc Words: "At which point does an umbrella become a parasol?"
• Badass Normal/Badass Bookworm: When Kouma and Shin-tsu (who tried to punch out Shogushin with their Chinese kung fu movie fighting skills) found themselves in a pinch, Ryo used her frail body to climb the metallic structure of the warehouse like a monkey and drop a heavy spotlight on the monster’s head. Right, two experienced martial artists were saved by a wiki editor’s knowledge of physics. At least Gravity worked fine at that time.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do not ignore Shiina Ryo.
• Beyond the Impossible/Big Damn Hero: Shin-tsu even manages to defy reality to do it. Check the page for details.
• Bilingual Bonus
• Blatant Lies: Most people believe Shin-tsu's stories are an example, but then again, they might be entirely correct.
• Blessed with Suck: Shin-tsu's tendency to literally be lost in thought lets him skip a good portion of trying to figure out how to find Mystery.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Shin-tsu actually talks to the reader about various things, such as whether he's running or only walking briskly.
• Cassandra Truth: "I stopped believing in Santa Claus when he cheated me at cards." Just as an example.
• Catch Phrase: Shin-tsu’s "UORYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
• Character Development/Alternate Character Interpretation
• Chekhov's Gun: Ms. Reikoku's countdown
• Cherry Blossoms: Light novel set in Japan. What else is new?
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Kouma
• The Climax: The fight after Shin-Tsu realizes how to find Mystery.
• Closed Circle: to Shin-tsu, this is what life and the world are.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Shin-Tsu
• Comedic Sociopathy: Kouma
• Covert Pervert/Male Gaze: Shin-tsu gives the reader a rather... unique perspective of the girls.
• Crazy Prepared: Kouma’s hand purse carries more than enough bandages and medicine to treat a wounded person, amongst many, many other things.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Ms. Reikoku went to the warehouse after being told to do so by an old man dressed in red.
• Cultural Cross-Reference: Shin-tsu's curry
• Deadpan Snarker: Kouma
• Deconstructor Fleet/Genre Busting
• Development Hell: the author stated that he has the overall series planned, but there’s no date for the release of any of the subsequent novels, or for the proper publication of the first novel, for that matter.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Ms. Reikoku exorcises Ayaka by counting down like in class.
• Didn't See That Coming: When the slice-of-life turns into supernatural mystery, and once again when the mystery/crime exposition turns into a battle.
• Ditzy Genius: Shiina Ryo.
• Does Not Like Men: Kouma
• Doing It for the Art
• Double Standard: Kouma treats Shin-tsu as a rival, and Ryo as a friend.
• Eldritch Abomination: Ayaka’s Sugoshin.
• Emotionless Girl: Kouma, to an extent.
• Enemy Mine: Kouma enlists Shin-Tsu's help to help keep Ryo happy.
• Epiphanic Prison: Shin-tsu's life revolved around running from Mystery until he decides to hold his ground.
• Expospeak: The dialogs are made of this, and mixed with Buffy-Speak.
• Fan Service: played with, subverted and lampshaded.
• First-Name Basis: Shin-tsu doesn't use honorifics when referring to Ryo, and both Kouma and Ms. Reikoku take note of this.
• Freudian Trio
• Genius Bonus/Info Dump: Too many examples to pick just one.
• Genre Savvy: Shin-tsu begins to joke that he's in a novel, and both Kouma and Ryo try to utilize story structures to make sense of his life.
• Girl with Psycho Weapon/Knife Nut: Ayaka
• Hands-Off Parenting: Shin-tsu is legally emancipated just prior to the start of the story.
• Healing Factor: Shin-tsu
• Heroic Willpower
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Shin-tsu
• I Know Karate: When Shin-tsu has to defend himself from Kouma
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Kouma to Shin-tsu, in relation to Ryo. She wasn't kidding.
• Inner Monologue: Shin-tsu literally loses track of his surroundings when he does this.
• Invoked Trope: too many examples to count
• Lampshade Hanging: They're very pretty, too, and go marvelously well with the drapes.
• Language of Magic: Some Japanese terms are used to refer to supernatural entities in the story
• Lemony Narrator
• Les Yay: Kouma is all over Ryo.
• Light Novel
• Mary Sue: Ryo says she’s not one, but YMMV.
• Meaningful Name
• Meta Guy: Essentially everyone.
• Ms. Fanservice: Reikoku-sensei.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal
• Mundane Fantastic
• New Transfer Student: Shin-tsu
• Not So Stoic: Kouma, in the presence of Ryo.
• Not What It Looks Like: When Shin-tsu has Kouma leave his apartment when Ms. Reikoku showed up one night.
• Occult Detective: Ms. Reikoku seems interested in becoming this. Or getting her students to become this, it's hard to tell.
• Odd Friendship: Kouma Yon (borderline cynic) and Shiina Ryo (insufferable idealist)
• Oh Crap: When Shin-tsu picked up the card he found on his desk.
• One of Us: The author. More importantly, Ryo.
• Post Modern: As it gets; the characters seem to think the universe is run by tropes, for Christ’s sake.
• Power Trio: Directly referenced by Kouma
• Rapid-Fire Typing: Ryo with her cellphone.
• Reality Warper: "I can bend space and time!"
• Role Playing Game Terms
• Rule of Drama: Played with and subverted.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Shin-tsu is prone to starting these with himself.
• Slow Motion Fall: Shin-tsu sees Ryo fall in slow-motion the second time, but because he's warping reality.
• Small Reference Pools/Reference Overdosed
• Stepford Smiler: Ryo is a Type A.
• Supporting Protagonist: Shin-tsu is the narrator, but I suspect Ryo may become the most important character.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Shin-tsu makes a lot of these; "I-it's not like I enjoy cross-dressing or anything!"
• Taking the Bullet: Shin-tsu dives to catch Ryo when she falls in the warehouse, getting dinged up in the process.
• Tin Man: Kouma
• Together Umbrella: Ryo shares her parasol with Shin-tsu on the first day they meet face-to-face.
• Trope Overdosed: The author personally admits to this.
• Troperiffic: Shin-tsu may have been a troper in another life.
• True Companions: Ms. Reikoku, in relation to the students under her.
• Unfazed Everyman: Shin-tsu is an Unfazed Everyman that stood around weird things for way too long.
• Unreliable Narrator: Averted, while Shin-tsu seems to be a bit luny at first, when the poo starts to fly, he appears to have been more than truthful after all.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension
• Unwanted Harem: Shin-tsu notices at couple points possibilities that could lead to a harem situation, and takes actions to avoid provoking such.
• When It All Began: Shin-tsu's been running from Mystery for a long time.
• A Worldwide Punomenon