Of Mouse and Man

Phase 1Outside & Inside

..

Original Title: The World Only God Knows / 神のみぞ知るセカイ & Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)

Original Concept by: Tamiki Wakiki & Kawahara Reki

written by: wrathie

Author's Notes: A Crossover where Keima was not approached by the Weiss Capturing Squad and the Events of the Goddess Arc is non-existent.


Author's Notes: So I broke my new years resolution of not taking up new projects. But anyway, enjoy this madness!

Thank you, bowpurity and itscomplicatedokay for the beta!


..

'You've got mail!'

The reminder that Keima had programmed into his PFP for this specific sender rang and the Capturing God, Katsuragi Keima paused before clicking on the blinking notification that would open the particular mail.

If it was someone else that had mailed him, one of the thousands and perhaps millions of followers that followed him, the Capturing God wouldn't mind.

But dealing with this individual was difficult even in the best of days, even for a person whom was a God of a better world than this shitty reality.

'Now, what does she want this time?'

Despite himself, the Capturing God, found himself smiling slightly to himself as he read the message, no, the demands from the gaming wikia administrator known as Meizun from him.


..

It wasn't often that the Capturing God found himself overwhelmed when dealing with one of his followers within the gaming sphere that he fondly called the ideal, especially within the realm of galge that he was undoubtedly the best at.

He was the forerunner for all things related to galge, when it came to the newest releases, the patches, the routes, the strategies, Katsuragi Keima, or the Otoshigami was the one to look at for those who knew of his existence

Those who called themselves a follower of all things related to VN related gaming, especially in the galge genre had to know who he was, or they did not even scratch the surface of how the depth and diversity of the world that the galge universe had to offer.

It was something that was further emphasized when one considered that even in the current age that they were in, with the advancement of technology like the Nervegear, which promises to unlock the new frontier of gaming – the galge industry was still one of the growing industries in the world.

One might argue that it did pull Japan out of its slump, but it really wasn't that much of a stretch there, was it?

So when one takes into consideration the amount of games that the galge industry churns out every month, not even considering the amount of doujin materials that was being released almost weekly – it was a miracle that anyone could keep ahead of the curve.

But that was what the Capturing God had achieved since the creation of his webpage, one out of the few websites that focused exclusively on how to finish galges, the many different routes and endings that one could achieve.

Besides the contents, the same website withstood the annals of time and has not been moved even once to another host – a rarity in an age where new gadgets, fads and trends could be shared with the use of social media.

It was also not a stretch to say that theCapturing God single-handedly helped raise the standards of the galge industry – there was actually a documentary that was produced and released describing how the enigmatic figure known only as the Capturing God helped the industry recover from it's darkest days.

In light of all the accomplishments of the Capturing God, who exactly was he in person?

..

Katsuragi Keima, age seventeen and studying in Maijima High school, was also known as the 'Otamegane' or the geek with glasses. It wasn't a very bad nickname all things considered, there were worst things to be called compared to that.

In fact one could argue that it fitted Keima's description to a tee – he was indeed a teenager that wore glasses and was overly fond of his games.

The problem was that he wasn't just overly fond of his games, he wasn't borderline obsessive, it consumed his life. Considering that he was supposed to be a high school student preparing for his entry to college, there was reason to others to either mock him or be very concerned about him.

His outrageous dedication to his games, 'dedication' was putting it lightly - became cause for his peers to choose the former option for it

Even the geeks in school, those that were obsessed with making robots had nothing on Katsuragi Keima, he could be called the pariah too – for despite all the verbal abuse that they tried to heap on him, Keima shrugged them off like water off a duck's back.

He simply didn't care about the real, the ideal was preferable to him and he ignored the world at large similar to how they tried to alienate him. But there was also no doubt that Katsuragi Keima was also a genius. He was constantly the top student in his grade despite him absolutely ignoring and not participating in the class that he attended. That was the sole reason that none of the teachers could really discipline him as his grades were so good. Most, if not all the teachers have given up lecturing him, telling him off or even trying to force him to stop gaming in class.

The only compromise that they could manage to accomplish was to focus on the rest of the class and ignoring him instead, it wasn't too difficult seeing that Keima kept to himself and would not interact with others beyond what he had to.

..

It was the same at home too, the Katsuragi household was managed by the wife of the head of the household, Katsuragi Mari – She was a person whom had went down the road less travelled herself and was loathe to tell Keima more off than she had to.

Even if she was deeply concerned about Keima's welfare, she was certain that the genius child that she called her son would be able to find his way no matter what.

Even if the likelihood that he would get married to a 2D bride was a huge looming threat.


..

The message from Meizun came out of the blue, directly challenging his title as the Capturing God to compete with a new start-up gaming wikia group that went by the name: 'Izashi'.

Keima had heard of the wikia, it had been gaining traction of late as it wasn't too shabby with their updates, paid attention to accuracy instead of using rumours and encouraged user participation in it's boards about galge of course.

It was a very good site, with new and old players alike but in the end it still could not match up to his own standards, and the fact that many of Izashi's users was also his dedicated followers meant that even if they weren't exactly competitors, they were also considered rivals.

But the strongly worded challenge from Meizun told Keima that whoever the administrator of the group was – it was a matter of personal pride that she provided the fastest, best and most accurate information for the galges as well.

Keima's stock value of Meizun, whoever he/she was, rose as he/she had his/her priorities in the right place at least.

But his own pride was on the line as well – he was the Capturing God, the best in the industry that led the lost sheep to their right path, the protagonist of a million female heroines over countless universes and the one who enabled countless others to do a fraction of what he had done as well.

He was not going to take this challenge lightly, he would use his full power to crush this challenger like how he had done so to others that had issued similar challenges.

..

Meizun might have followers to do some of her work for her, but Keima was the Capturing God and with his experience and skills developed, refined and sharpened to be the best it could ever be meant that he won every challenge that Meizun set for him.

But unlike the others, Meizun actually made him work for it. Her information network was as good as he had suspected, it had to be for Meizun was just a little slower than him in their updates.

The respect for the website administrator grew when he/she admitted that she was putting her full effort in this. Not only was she giving it her all to coordinate his/her small crew that was going through the games themselves, but also actively putting out bounties to encourage other gamers to share input on the different routes and the different dialogues that was possible in each new game that was being released.

No one ever told Meizun that the Capturing God was more than capable of going through more than five games at one go and still had time to spare. But even with him going at his full capability, the Capturing God was hard-pressed as Meizun just upped the ante and used more of her resources to try and match his skills as the Capturing God.

In the end Meizun did it, but he/she still conceded defeat in the end despite matching the Capturing Gods pace of updates. It just took too much to match what the Capturing God could manage by himself. Of course Meizun could not believe that the Capturing God was one person till she had insisted that she called him over the phone.

Yes, she, the website administrator of one of the best galge wikias was a girl. That was enough to stop Keima for a moment until the constant stream of questions from her started getting personally.

That was how the Capturing God met with the Izashi Wikia Administrator Meizun.


..

The relationship between the Capturing God and Meizun of the Izashi Wikia was an odd one. Officially there was no rivalry between the two groups and they were certainly not collaborating with each other.

Unofficially though, those deep enough in the community knew that the two administrators were working together in a way. Although the Capturing God was still the most reliable and fastest source of how to clear galges, Izashi Wikia was the place to visit to know more in depth about the characters, the plot line as well as the different spin-offs that theCapturing God did not provide.

Likewise, although the Capturing God did not provide info on most of the doujin games, his site would still be able to list down what were the releases for every single galge in the industry. Izashi Wikia on the other hand would be the go to place to find out how to clear the game and achieve the Happy End.

There was definitely something of a collaboration or at least an understanding between the two groups and the situation was a source of intense discussion that took place on the boards of Izashi Wikia.

However since there wasn't an official announcement from the two websites, and since it helped the community tremendously, no one openly questioned or called the two websites out on it.

Especially since not all of them knew or were aware that the two website administrators were exchanging correspondences with each other in private.

..

'You have to get the Nervegear, it's the next stage in gaming!'

..

What helped or perhaps complicated the situation was how at times the conversation would be better held over IM rather than through emails, but Keima didn't mind. It meant that he could hold off on his replies with the troublesome woman. Yes, Katsuragi Keima considered the girl known only as Meizun as a friend, a 3D girl as a friend. Someone call the headline news, this was unprecedented for the Capturing God.

The working relationship that they had worked out together was something that Keima didn't quite mind himself, it helped him focus on what was really important and allowed the fans to discuss to their heart contents without clogging up the messages in his own website as well.

They were just being more specialized, and even if his website wasn't the most developed or designed – the Capturing God's website would continue to withstand the annals of time like it had been before.

'I'll decide after the initial release – I'm sure you remember how the PSP and the YBox was a flop? They were considered the next generation consoles as well. They were bogged down by their own products. Who knows what games the nervegear could support.'

Keima's reply was perhaps a little wordy than was necessary, certainly not to the point like he usually does. Despite being so, he did not mind spending the extra time for Meizun at all.

Despite the strong-arm tactics that bordered along the lines of blackmail in some of her stories that she shared with him – the girl was an absolute genius like he was.

She possessed a photographic memory that helped with her role of being an administrator of the wikia and that was one of the reasons that allowed her to compete with Keima as well – her ability allowed her to accurately track what has already been tried and what has not.

But Meizun was no Capturing God, and her true skills laid in her ability to be able to converse, to socialize and to gain information from others. In short – an information trader. She was able to source, spread and utilize information to the greatest benefit by herself. That helped her wikia network grow and be recognized as the best there was in just a few months.

As compared to the Capturing God, who was an information gold mine, one who was obsessed with gaining or hoarding as much information as possible while sharing it out. Keima didn't process the information, he just obtained it and shared it.

The differences between the two wasn't that great, but in a nutshell, Meizun ensured that with the limited information she had – she put it to the best use. While for Keima, he had all the information – but it's only as useful as the person who could use it.

The correspondences between the two of them would continue on along the same way, their different styles complementing each other in a lasting work relationship.

..

Most of the correspondences between the two of them was about the ideal, but there were times when they would talk about other things that were not related to the ideal. It would mostly came from Meizun's lead, that was to be expected as she was in the thick of a huge social circle with it's own complications.

It was also not of much of a surprise for Meizun to have textbook 'capturing' answers from the Capturing God replies whenever she was in the mood to complain and bitch about the problems of others that she got dragged into.

It was also during those times that the girl known as Meizun wondered what kind of person was the Capturing God if he thought that those questions could really appease a real girl.

Those doubts were of course not really relevant as she wasn't sure how to really place the Capturing God, the only individual she couldn't place even if she was able to do so for most of her crew that she had recruited over the interwebs. He was just... too detached from the world, almost as if he didn't know how to interact with people at all.

Oddly enough he was able to with her, so Meizun didn't mind him using those capturing lines to try and comfort her. At least he was trying and not dismissing her off hand.

Maybe because he knew that he'll take it that way did he use those lines in the first place? If that was true, then perhaps she was closer to him than others were. Just thinking about that made her happy, she was close to the Capturing God himself, how cool was that?

However, all that would change when the Beta testing for SAO started.


..

'I'm telling you, Otoshi-kun, SAO is terrific! It's too bad you didn't get a beta-key or you'll be here with me!'

The term 'Otoshi-kun' was a nickname for the Capturing God by Meizun and it was amazingly tolerated by the Capturing God because it would probably take more effort to make the other girl stop than he was willing to commit.

Besides the change in the way they called each other, they had finally started speaking to each other via IM instead of exchanging emails.

It had happened due to one thing, and one thing only – Sword Art Online or SAO for short.

It was touted to be the next generation of gaming, and unlike many other consoles and games that had claimed that title in the past, SAO definitely put it's money where it's mouth was as if Meizun was very impressed, closed to obsession with the game really.

She had not stopped gushing about the game and although it was getting a little tiring to keep up with her endless tirade of comments and praises for the game engine, the details that went into the game as well as how realistic and amazing it was – the Capturing God wasn't a fan.

'I did get a beta-key, I just did not use it.'

There were only a thousand Beta-keys for the most anticipated, or maybe the game of the year and people were going through hoops to get a hold of one after seeing the pre-beta release details.

To hear that the Capturing God had a beta-key wasn't that surprising since a certain number of betas were not available through the usual methods like through competitions or through lottery draws. Those allocated number of beta-keys were instead sent to notable members of the gaming community, that was the reason for Meizun's entry into SAO.

So the Capturing God had been invited but had not even tried SAO at all? Meizun would have thought that he would have at least been curious enough to at least try the game before make a review or judgement on it.

'And you didn't use it? People would kill for one of those! Why, Otoshi-kun? Why?'

'As I'm the Capturing God of the ideal. SAO is primarily a MMORPG, there's no reason for me to deviate from the path to another.'

Over on her own PFP, Meizun blinked at the Capturing God's answer before nodding her head contemplatively.

'Well – that's true. But it doesn't hurt to actually experience it first? I'm sure that there would be galge planned for the Nervegear eventually.'

'It's not eventually, there are a few that had been announced. But they would fall short of my expectations, they promised way too much. There's just no way that the Nervegear could provide such support for all the features that they claimed they incorporated.'

The Capturing God's reply was quick and furious and Meizun deduced that he was probably using his past experience and the track record of the various companies that had big flops on the release date of a new console.

Meizun would be right there on the bandwagon if not for the experiences she had in SAO, the nervegear technology was so amazingly real that she could really mistake the game as another reality. Ah, that's right, that's the best possible bait for the Capturing God wasn't it?

'True, but the Nervegear technology allows you to live life in SAO like you are living in it. It's like the ideal, really!'

'Don't talk about the ideal like that, Meizun! You are disgracing it's name! There is nothing that could compare to the ideal! Is there a surrogate sister in SAO? What about transfer students? Childhood friends? A senior who dotes on you? Tsunderes? Yanderes? 2D will always triumph over 3D!'

..

'Uwaa... That's harsh.'

Meizun commented to herself but she couldn't deny what Keima said was true, to a certain extent as if she picked SAO, she was supporting the 2D universe and if she didn't, she wasn't defending SAO at all.

Wait, that was wrong, she was supposed to on the same side as the Capturing God, wasn't she?

'They don't have that, but they have evolving NPCs that live their own lives. The team is trying to replicate a real living world within SAO itself. It's a little difficult considering there are still NPC dialogues that are necessary. But it's a work in progress.'

There was a definite pause before the next reply, but since this was the Capturing God that she was speaking to, he might just be replying another one of his followers. It had only been a few months but she had gotten used to the person's eccentricity. She was also almost sure that the Capturing God was a boy. Almost sure, there were times where he seemed almost feminine.

Well she shouldn't pry, but the online identity known as Meizun was an information trader – and the identity of the Capturing God would be worth thousands!

But he was her friend, and she stuck with her friends! No way was she going to reveal his identity even if she knew it.

'They are trying to recreate the ideal?'

The Capturing God almost seemed hopeful at that, but it wasn't what Meizun was implying.

'I didn't say that! Don't, quote, me on that! I'm just saying that they are trying to make the world of SAO as real as it could possibly be while still allowing them to remain as NPCs.'

'They are making the side-characters part of the game as well? Blasphemy! They should focus on the protagonist! If they are introduced, they are supporting casts! But if they are putting so much effort on the side-characters, they are focusing on the wrong parts of the game!'

The person behind Meizun flinched and frowned, rubbing a hand over her forehead to cool herself down before she replied.

'Otoshi-kun, SAO is an MMORPG. You're there for the player interaction, not with the NPCs... or the side-characters. I mean, it's a great development! A great evolution from Skyrim, that we know... we all know how popular that game was.'

And how much the Capturing God had probably hated it from his replies, but she was not going to comment on that at all.

'SAO has a great engine, it is the future of gaming and galge as well! You can really kiss the heroines and feel it!'

Meizun choked by herself after she clicked the send button and before she was able to retract her statement or to defend herself, the next comment from the Capturing God made her cough loudly anyway.

'If all the galge released on the NerveGear are real-time based, and which requires genuine physical activity on my part. … It might be time for me to retire.'

Even if she wasn't sure whether that was an offhand joke, one thing was sure, the Capturing God would not like SAO at all.


November 6, 2022

..

Katsuragi Keima, the Capturing God sighed to himself while staring at the package that had been unpacked in front of him. It was Meizun that finally won him over to at least buy a copy of the game and the Nervegear that had been required. What made it easier was that Meizun herself had even offered to sponsor him a Nervegear if he still haven't gotten one.

But Keima was sure that Meizun drew the line at queuing up for a copy of the game, and as such he was thankful that he was able to place a order directly through the company as he was one of the selected few Beta Players.

The Capturing God had for the longest time been buying games due to his reputation and the role of being the Capturing God. That did not mean that he did not like to buy games, he had lots of joy purchasing the extra merchandise, spin-offs like Drama-CDs, magazines of his favorite games and companies. This would be the first time that he truly was buying a game due to a recommendation. That and the threat of blackmail as well.

Keima had in the past relied on Meizun, who had arguably a bigger circle to source for some of the rarer merchandises that he wished to obtain. So he had grudgingly asked for her help in obtaining some of those merchandise, it was simply using the right tools for the right job.

In return Keima would be sure to send her a few copies of the limited editions that she would like to write a review on that he had procured on his own. Keima had his own contacts in the game companies, many of those who had even went to the extent to provide him with a monthly stipend due to his contribution to their company.

..

Shockingly, despite knowing each other's address and having conversed over the phone in numerous occasions - the two of them still had not met up with one another in the real. It was partly due to Meizun knowing that Keima would never agreed to a meet-up and partly her own reservation on how she feared that the Capturing God wasn't really the Capturing God that she had grown to know and respect even more. What if he was more than one person like she had initially thought?

Keima for his part did not request a meet-up as here was no reason to, dealing with people was a pain and even if Meizun wasn't one of those individuals who gave him trouble, he still shunned away from interacting in the real.

Who knows what would happen after that – he hadn't been hurt once, but as the Capturing God, the words from a pro to another could hurt very deeply indeed.


Author's Notes: Do R&R and tell me what you think of the first chapter!