Secret of the Goddess

Chapter One

I was simply perched on a branch in the tree to escape gym class; I had no idea that just sitting there would change my life forever. I am Sayuri Nakamura, and I am a huge fan of dating simulators, and am known as the "Goddess of Conquest" in the gaming world. I have beaten 3,642 dating games, and my goal is to reach 10,000 before the end of high school. This is the story of how my normal, unsocial life took a turn for the supernatural.

It was a lovely day. The wind gently passing through the leaves of the tree I was sitting on created a serene rustling noise as the leaves brushed against one another. Instead of taking advantage of the perfect weather, I sat there, being my normal, secluded self and played dating sims. The class thought that I was "weird" and "geeky", but at least I was not the only one. There was this one boy in my class; his name was Keima Katsuragi. He was a lot like me, and spent his day playing dating sims instead of what he was supposed to be doing. All of our class mates thought that we were a "future couple", but we both agreed that our boyfriends and girlfriends would always remain virtual. I noticed that the ruckus caused by the PE class had vanished, and that it was time to go home. I started climbing down the tree, then I saw one, no two, people moving in the corner of my eye.

I would have ignored them, but it was quite suspicious that they were not sprinting home along with the rest of the class. I climbed back up and quietly watched them converse. It was a girl and a boy, and judging by the short hair, thin headband, and thick ankle wrap, it was Ayumi Takahara. She was one of the more popular girls, the kind that does not talk to the "lower class" people. I recognized the boy, but could not quite identify who he was. He was not very popular, judging by his messy hair, nerdy glasses, and the PFP hanging out of his back pocket. No, it couldn't be… but who else other than Katsuragi and I would be carrying a PFP in their pocket? I looked closer at the mysterious boy, and I confirmed that he was Katsuragi by catching him nudge his glasses up his nose using his pointer and middle fingers; classic Katsuragi.

As my head went insane frantically flipping through reasons why Katsuragi would be there after school talking to a popular girl, their heads inched together. I was sure they wouldn't kiss; I mean, a popular girl with Katsuragi would just never work. I studied them, and I watched their every move. Katsuragi slightly leaned forward, Ayumi's hand twitched, Katsuragi slowly closed his eyes, Ayumi leaned back and put her hands into fists, their lips moved in unison, and then they…

Katsuragi x Ayumi. That had to be one of the most impossible and unlikely couples. To see them kiss, and to see the happiness sparkling in their eyes, was a huge shocker. It was almost as perfect as a dating sim ending; the ugly dweeb playing the game ends up with the most handsome and/or beautiful character in the school. I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I had not noticed that the new student, Elsie, was there with some funky glass jar. She was levitating, and I thought that the world had just gone mad. I went home thinking that I was having hallucinations from gaming too much.

The next day at school, I ran into Ayumi in the hall. Quite literally. I had made her drop her books on the floor, and I felt bad so I helped gather them up. I had an urge to mention something about the kiss the day before. "Congrats on the kiss!" I grinned.

She stammered, "What?"

I remembered that she had not seen me in the tree and that she most likely purposely kissed Katsuragi in private. I quickly made up by giggling and saying, "Oh! Wrong person! I thought you were… someone else." I was relieved when she looked at me with a smile. I handed her the text books that she had dropped, and I moved on to class.

As I strolled home, I thought of other unlikely couples within the grade. For example: Mio dating one of the poor boys who can only go to the school because of a scholarship, or Chihiro staying with a boy for more than a week. I giggled to myself; the thoughts were just painfully hilarious for me to bare. I continued on my journey home, and I saw Mio in a yard. She was talking to someone, but why was she standing in front of such a small apartment? She was probably just bragging about some new luxuries that she had recently acquired to the poor boy. I thought that it wouldn't hurt to eavesdrop a little, so I slipped to the crumbling gate and held my ear up to it.

"You cannot tell anyone that I live here." I was sure that I had misheard something or that I misinterpreted the sentence. There was no way that the richest girl in the grade, no, the school, lived in such a decrepit place. I continued listening. The boy murmured something.

"I promise I will not tell a soul." I recognized the voice. Someone from my class. But no, it couldn't be!