"Uoooohhh! Kami-nii-sama! Listen to this!" Elsie exclaims. The hagoromo, trailing around her neck and ending in a rectangular screen, forms the devils' equivalent of an electronic tablet, except powered by soul energy, of course. While Keima is playing on his PFP in the living room, Elsie is reading her s-mails in the seat next to him. She scrolls down the luminous Hellian. "There are rumors that one of the Runaway Spirit Squad pairs have captured twelve kaketama! But only two are counted in their official records. It says here that they drove out spirits from girls who belonged to other districts, so they couldn't capture the spirits for themselves."
"DAMMIT!" is her buddy's abrupt response, which was not entirely unexpected since he did this quite often. Nevertheless, Elsie jumped, startled, each time. "What's with this new kind of gameplay-" Keima demands of the PFP in his hands,"-making the player compete with an AI?! Not only does a male AI tarnish the spirit of galgames, it just serves as a nuisance!"
As the Capturing God furiously taps his buttons and grumbles, his partner tries again more earnestly. "Onii-sama, please listen! Someone is about to beat your record!"
"Like I care about other runaway spirit teams. In fact, I'm glad there's at least one other competent member out there, though the dent it makes to a total of 60,000 isn't much. Look at this!" he snaps, "He isn't even going about his confession right! Don't confuse Emi-chan just because you've got cheap childhood friend parameters!"
"Mou, Onii-sama," Elsie sighs, slumping into the couch. She was very proud of Keima. He was the best buddy any devil could ask for. She cared for him so much that she couldn't help feeling uncomfortable when his reputation might be threatened. "Shouldn't you be a bit more worried? You take so much pride in your games, but when it comes to accomplishments in the real world, you don't care one bit!"
Keima pushes up his glasses. His voice comes out low and foreboding. "Accomplishments in the real world? Let me tell you something good, Elsie."
In a metaphorical world, Keima's lectures boasted great imagery. This time, we see Keima standing valiantly within an impressive structure made of CD game covers.
A MAN'S PRIDE IS HIS CASTLE!
-Katsuragi Keima
"You see people slaving away at things considered worthwhile in the real world.
'I'm going to study hard in school!'
'I'm going to go to a good college!'
'I'm going to become a wonderful adult!'
But in the end, is it something that they really want to do, or is it something society brainwashes them into doing? Most humans are petty this way! They lie to themselves in order to meet the expectations of others!"
With his face an inch from hers, he demands of the quailing devil, "WHO ARE YOU, ELSIE?! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?! IF YOU DIED RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT, WOULD YOU LOOK BACK AT YOUR LIFE AND FEEL SATISFIED?!"
He stands and gestures expansively, "These are the questions one must ask oneself! Will I be true to myself? Or will the road to 'success' be paved with regrets?"
Keima ends the lecture by sitting in the corner of the couch, as though isolated. "As long as I have my games and live in my ideal, I'll be perfectly happy."
"But Onii-samaaaa," Elsie whines, not really understanding much of what he had just said, "don't you want to know how that team was able to capture that many girls?"
The Capturing God shrugs his divine shoulders. "Maybe they're using 'love' too. That's the fastest way, right?"
"But the buddy is a girl!"
The Capturing God stops. He has a moment of divine thought. Then, returning to his game, he answers, "Well, then. Perhaps equality of sexual preference isn't as far away as we think."
X
Maijima Academy.
The class of 2-B has just begun lunch.
"Who wants to watch the soccer match tomorrow with meeee?" Chihiro asks brightly. "The Maijima Boars versus the Fujioka Tornadoes should be a match to remember, especially with Hayato-senpai leading our team!" she ends with a dreamy sigh.
Miyako smiles wanly. "So that explains the sudden interest in our sports."
Ayumi laughs. "Chihiro, I thought you gave up confessing to guys!"
Chihiro pouts. "How rude! I wasn't confessing all the time! Besides, is it wrong to want to watch a hot guy look cool?"
"I wish you felt as enthusiastic about the track team!" Ayumi teases.
Chihiro answers, in mock seriousness, "I'm sorry, Ayumi, but I'm not interested in girls."
Everyone laughs.
X
Tomorrow.
It is a beautiful early evening. Twilight. The kind with lots of blues and pinks and sun-kissed yellows.
It is the perfect twilight for a soccer match. Floodlights snap on. Chatter fills the bleachers.
Chihiro explains the rules of soccer to Elsie, who is getting confused by which goals a goalie is supposed to protect.
Hayato-senpai's fanclub unfurls their heart-riddled banners as the Maijima Girl's Soccer team whip out placards on which encouraging phrases are written in simple English ("Fight-o!" "Go Maijima!" and "Win!").
Chihiro, Elsie, Ayumi, and Miyako find seats in the center. They all have hotdog omelets and drinks.
The announcer welcomes the audience. The teams line up on the field. A whistle, a kickoff, and the game begins.
In about 40 minutes, the Fujioka Tornadoes takes the lead by four points.
At half-time, Elsie gets up. "I'm going to the toilet! Does anyone want snacks from the canteen?"
"Ah, I want more soda!" Chihiro calls, handing her some money.
"Me too! Some bocky would be nice." Ayumi adds to the money pile. "Thanks Ellie!"
Elsie squeezes through the crowd, squeaking a constant string of little apologies until she reaches the bathroom.
She had already washed her hands and left when-
DORO DORO DORO DORO DORO!
"Eh?" Elsie blinks in surprise. A girl in a Fujioka Tornadoes jersey, hearing the alarm, looks over her shoulder at Elsie.
Time seems to slow. She seems separate from the rest of the world, despite the crowd. Elsie memorizes her face in an instant. And then she is gone.
Elsie turns off the Spirit Sensor, pushes through the crowd, finds the jersey and follows it all the way to the opposite bleachers.
Back at Maijima's side, the three girls check the time on the big screen. "I wonder where Ellie's gone. The game's about to start."
X
"If she's from Fujioka, then she's not part of our jurisdiction," Keima says flatly. He and Elsie are under the bleachers, the Fujioka Girl's Soccer Team above them. The male AI had put him in a bad mood. It wasn't that he disliked the idea of an AI that competed with his capturing, he just wished the developers had given more thought to their function. Their simplicity didn't make for compelling, complex gameplay, it just made dealing with them tediously time-consuming, and he still had seventeen unopened games to go through that week. "Check your records," he orders as he makes a virtual girl blush with the press of the II button.
Elsie pulls up her hagoromo computer screen. "Let's see... Yukinoshita Youko, Yukinoshita Youko... Ah! You're right! She's already been tagged by... Kami-nii-sama," she waves her arms in alarm, "it's Maggie's team! The one I was telling you about!
"Then that's fixed." Keima sighs. "Geez, you brought me all the way out here for nothing. Take me home, now!" he commands.
The sound of cheering fills the stadium. "Aaand the Maijima Boars wins by two - by only two - points! What a close game!" shouts the announcer.
"Ehhh, it's over?" Elsie says despairingly.
"How pointless," Keima sighs, walking away.
"Aww, that was so close!" comes a voice from the team above them.
"Good game though." They are coming down the bleachers.
"Yeah, our boy's team did really well, although that number 8 on Maijima's side was a killer!"
"Good-looking too." They are right in front of Keima.
"Tomorrow, it'll be our turn!"
"With Youko as our ace, we'll definitely beat them! Right, Youko?"
Keima had looked up just in time to see the girl called Youko wear an expression of disappointment and seriousness. It lasts the briefest of moments. Then she smiles.
"No," she says brightly, "we'll beat them together! We all worked hard for this. Let's get a good rest tonight and be prepared for tomorrow!"
The group has one of those cheesy "we can do it!" scenes, then they run ahead of him.
As Elsie and Keima are walking toward the stadium exit, Elsie makes a gloomy observation. "It's hard to tell if someone has a runaway spirit without the spirit sensor... She seemed very positive to me."
"It's the ones who are so positive that are worse off," God states. "Listen up, Elsie.
Positivism is a hardened mask to hide inner weakness.
- Katsuragi Keima
The problem with that is nobody notices you've been suffering until it's too late. The team's also relying on her, so all the more she can't afford to show stress."
Elsie is once again struck by awe. "Onii-sama is amazing! You were able to analyze her so quickly!" She adds disappointedly, "If only Youko-san was our target instead, we could start driving the spirit out right now. Eeek!"
Keima has faced her with a dangerous expression. "Oi, oi, don't just pick up more responsibility for me to do just 'cause it's right in front of us. If we take up more slack in the system, the higher-ups will dump more work on us both. This is a valuable lesson in collaboration. If they see you doing all the work, they'll think, 'Oh, what a reliable guy! Can you do this too, please? You'll probably do a better job on it anyway!'"
"But Onii-sama, I thought you wanted to complete the contract quickly!" she reasons, catching up to him.
"At the rate we're going, capturing 60,000 spirits in one lifetime is impossible. I have no intention of spending the rest of my life as a Runaway Spirit search dog... there must be a more efficient way."
There is a crowd in front of them. "Youko-san is gonna kick your butts tomorrow!"
The crowd is made of two parties of girls facing each other, both in jerseys. It appears that the Fujioka Girl's Soccer Team and the Maijima Girl's Soccer Team are having a trash talk session.
The girl called Youko, standing at the center of her team, looks uncomfortable.
"Shouldn't you do something, Kami-sama?" Elsie whispers. "Youko-san doesn't look so good. The gap in her heart might get bigger!"
Nobody notices a soccer ball spinning dangerously on a finger.
"Trash talking before a game is traditional," God says, carefully avoiding eye contact with either group and trying to make himself small. "There's no way I'm getting involved."
"Ah, Ellie!" Chihiro, with the rest of the 2-B girls, arrive at the scene. "You disappeared all of a sudd- gack!" She reels in shock. "Otamega! What are you doing here?!"
"Oh yeah? Seems like today's game just foreshadows another beating tomorrow!"
The spinning ball drops to the floor.
"Hmph, don't underestimate the girl's team!"
"Not getting involved... not getting involved... ah my games..."
The spinning ball flies.
It was never meant to hit anyone outside the power show. It was purely a scare tactic, all in good fun. It wasn't even kicked that hard.
The trouble was, instead of being caught, the Maijima girls dodge out of its way, and the ball hits Keima squarely in the back.
The PFP sails out of his hands, hits the ground several feet away, its velocity making it bounce twice, skid, and eventually grind to a painful halt.
The shattered screen blinks off with a pathetic "bzzt."
Keima stares.
And just as he makes a wobbly step in its direction, the PFP is stampeded by a passing crowd.
"YOU STUPID SOCCER-PLAYING GIRLS! WHAT'S WITH THIS VIOLENCE?!" he yells, cradling the broken PFP in his arms. "SOMETHING'S REALLY WRONG WITH THE REAL! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!"
The girl from the Fujioka team who had kicked the ball is also frozen in shock. Youko, seeing that she is frightened, steps up.
"Gomen nasai!" she says, bowing desperately. "We didn't mean to hit you! We'll pay for it, right girls?"
She reaches out, Keima turns away protectively. "NO! I absolutely refuse! No one is to touch my PFP!"
"Then please take my phone number," she says, handing him a piece of paper, "We'll send you the money-"
"NO! I'm tired of the real getting in the way of everything! That money is probably cursed with bad luck!" His next words resounded in everyone's hearts as though spoken indeed by God. "You should all just...
...DISAPPEAR!"
The world stops turning for a moment. All is still.
Then Chihiro and Ayumi beat up Keima with the furious cry, "Why don't you just disappear, you rude bastard!"
With Keima's gurgles punctuating the background, Miyako gives the Fujioka girls an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry. Please don't take his behavior personally. That's just the way Katsuragi is."
Youko tries a smile. "W-well, then, please give him my contact info."
As the Fujioka Soccer Team leaves, Elsie notices miasma surrounding Youko. It hadn't been there before.
"Youko-san, are you all right?" asks one of her teammates.
"Mm, I'm fine. My head just started hurting a little."
"I understand. That creepy man can make anyone feel bad."
As soon as Chihiro and Ayumi have left Keima a steaming pulp, Elsie starts to beat Keima up too. "Kami-nii-sama no baka! You made the gap in her heart bigger!"
Read and review please! It gives me strength!