DISCLAIMER: I don't own TWGOK!

Pilot Chapter: "X"

It's 5.20 AM on a chilly Friday morning. The Katsuragi household was as silent as usual at this hour since everyone was still sleeping on their beds; the mother, the son, and the foster daughter. The son, however, wasn't actually sleeping on his bed. He's sleeping on his gaming seat after an all-nighter of completing 10 of his dating sim games. It's his duty to finish any kind of games, mostly dating sim games, for people call him the god of conquest. He is Keima Katsuragi, our hero in this story who defy the world of the living.

Although he refers himself as the god, there's one girl who can completely makes him do whatever she wants. Her name is Kanon Nakagawa, a famous teenage singer idol from the same school Keima attended to who considered herself as his girlfriend. How could someone, who live in his own world and despise the reality, managed to do that?

They first met each other months ago during an exam week. Their first encounter didn't do well, but Keima was the only one who's there to help her, literally. They kind of share their favorite spot at school, the empty rooftop, with each other. Keima goes there everyday to play his games while Kanon to practice her singing. It is a destiny for them to meet each other at the roof one day.

After Kanon just won the award of the best new singer, she ran onto the clueless Keima whom she accidentally make to listen to her practicing on the rooftop. From that day on, she became more and more attached to him. Kanon fell for him after he successfully tracked and solved her problem. At first, he could not careless about her but his little noble heart forced him to help her. He used his wisdom he gained from clearing infinite number of dating sim games. It was hard for him to convert the theory to real practice in the real world, but he finally grasped the resolve of her problem and conquered Kanon's feelings in the process.

Keima was reluctant to her feelings, but she was too thick-headed for Keima to beat. He's even already used to receiving emails from the famous idol.

They never meet at school due-to her status as an idol. She's really busy with work that she has to abandon her school life. She only comes to school during exams. But Keima always manages to dodge her. She understands why he does that, but in exchange she has a request for Keima and that is…

You got mail! His PFP rang.

"Nggh….."

You got mail! As Keima didn't even touch the console, it repeated the ringtone.

"Shushhhhh!"

You got mail!

"Agh! How dare you disturb my sleep!" Finally, Keima unconsciously reached one of his PFP gaming consoles, the one of which produce the annoying sounds for notification, and was ready to throw it away from him. Luckily, he quickly recovered from his deep sleep.

"WHOA, that was close! I'm sorry my darling!" Said him as he kissed every side of the console.

He rubbed his eyes and noticed that there's a new email coming to his inbox. It is from Kanon Nakagawa.

From: My cute Kanon
Subj: Date!
Keima-kun! I want to meet you this evening! You can't say no to me! I will meet you at your café!

XO

"She's going here? Can't let her do that. Mother will be bugging me if she finds out. I'm sorry, but one bug is already enough for me… Hmmm, wait… My cute Ka— Argh! She did it again! This is already the 10th time!"

Keima quickly changed the contact name of the famous idol back to normal. He then pressed the reply button.

To: Kanon
Subj: Re: Date!
Can't. Friday. New games.

"Sent!"

*YOU GOT MAIL!*

From: Kanon
Subj: Re: Re: Date!
No worries! I'll buy them for you on my way home!

XO

"Home? My home is not your home! And what's this [XO] thing? Why's she doing it in every of her mails? It should be the exited emoticon [xD] instead, right?"

Keima stood from his seat and straightened his back, "Well, she said she's buying the games even though I'm not convinced she can buy the right thing. Haa, can't helped it then…" he sighed.

To: Kanon
Subj: Re: Re: Re: Date!
Alright. But don't go to my place.

"Sent!"

*YOU GOT MAIL!*

As if he already read the message, he put the console back to his pocket.

"OK. That settles it. Now let's go back to slee—"

"Nii-samaaa, wake uuuup! Time for breakfast!"

His foster younger sister, Elsea, knocked the door.

"I'M NOT EATING!"

Thus, he went back to sleep again peacefully. There's still 1 hour gap before the security close school gate. There's no reason for him to hurry at all.

...

Time goes by really fast and the school has already ended. It was just another normal day for Keima. School has never been a problem for him. He still gets perfect scores in every exam although all his activity is just playing games. He's a genuine smart boy; too genius that most people hates him.

However, even the most genius student in the world cannot predict what's going to be happened to him.

"Keima-kun!"

An unknown person in front of the school gate waved at him. The person is wearing a black-knitted hat, glasses, a maroon scarf, and a long black jacket that covers his body down his knees. He's bringing two plastic bags consist of countless CD games in their cases.

Keima knew whom the person was from the moment he called his name and he was utterly shocked.

"Kanon? What are you doing here? I thought we're going to meet at the usual place!"

Keima noticed her smiling. It was a soft smile until it gradually changed into a scary one.

"So you didn't read my email? How nice of you, Keima-kun~"

He reached his console and hit the inbox icon.

"Ah, so you can't go to the restaurant because your manager is eating there… This had just came 2 minutes ago! Of course I haven't read it! I was too busy with my game!"

A demonic aura streaming out from the girl as soon as Keima stopped talking. She shot a glare at him and muttered, "Wait, so you're playing your game but you did not notice the notification to my email?"

"Errr… Yeah," was all his answer to her question.

Through his glasses, he found that she frowned while puffing her cheeks, marking that she was upset by his ignorance. Kanon jumped at Keima and hugged his arms tightly. He startled a bit, but calmed down after a minute of telling himself that it's okay; everything is alright, she already done this kind of action bunch of time and he's still alive, or such.

"Huff. I'll forgive you for now… But you must go with me for a date! You must have intended to go straight home so you can play your games, right?"

"Tch. Is she reading my mind?" he nagged.

"What are you mumbling?"

"Nothing!"

She suddenly clapped her hands. Her smile was back as she said, "Alright, then! For your punishment, you must bring me to your house!"

"MY HOUSE?"

"Why? Can't I meet your family?"

"We—well, that's not it…"

"Ah, don't tell me! Y-You have another girlfriend on my back, don't you?!" she said while covering her mouth.

"No! It's just that my family is weird and noisy!" he explained.

"Is that true? Let me remind you that I won't forgive any perversions!"

He could only sigh dejectedly.

And so, Kanon grabbed Keima's arm and walk together with him to Katsuragi's household. The streets were full of people, mostly students. Had she not wear any of her disguise, Keima would be in a mess at the moment. There's no way the idol's fan club would let him alive for she's their goddess who rescued them from the depth of darkness through her songs.

They finally arrived at the café. Keima had a bad feeling the moment he opened the door and his guts was right. He can only jaw-dropped when his mother greeted him. He never wished for Kanon to meet her.

"Welcome~ Oh it's just you, Keima. Who is with you? A friend?"

In a speed of light after Kanon saw a woman with a bombshell body, she tightened her grip on the boy's hand. Much to his pain. She then asked, "Keima-kun! Who's this beautiful woman?~"

"She's MY MOTHER!"

"Oh, my God! Really? I never thought that you have such lovely mother!" she wondered, using her hands to cover her pink lips.

"My, my. It's the first time Keima brought a friend here! Let alone a polite friend! Ufufufu~" the orange-haired lady giggled behind the bar while wiping a glass.

Kanon let go of his hand and approached Keima's mother, "Good afternoon, Katsuragi-san," she bowed.

"Ah, just call me Mari. What's your na-" she couldn't finish her question when she finally noticed who's with her at the moment. "Oh my God. Are you really Kanon-chan?"

She took off her hat, showing her glowing pink hair. "Yes! And I'm Keima-kun's girlfriend!"

"OI, KANON!"

Seeing an idol in her house alone had made the mother of Katsuragi household dumbfounded. But telling her that her sociopath son has an idol for his girlfriend caused her to dropped to the floor on her shins. She never even think about him having a friend at school yet he suddenly brought a beautiful girl who claimed as someone dear to him. It's only natural for the ex-deliquent to feel proud and have her tears filling up her eyes behind her thin specs.

"My son… dating an idol…"

"Err, you know what Mom? Forget everything she had just said and see ya!" Keima said. He turned his back on his mother and dragged Kanon to the café's door when suddenly another person appeared by the door. Was her sister in her school uniform, who stood by them with shopping bags in her hands.

"Tch, here comes another pro-"

"-Waaaah! Kanon-chaaaan! Kanon-chan is in my house! Yaaaay!" she ultra-delighted to see the famous idol.

"And who is this, Keima-kun? It's your girlfriend this time, yes?"

"She's my annoying foster little sister who is a year younger than us! You've met her before!" he yelled.

"Eh? Really? I'm sorry, uuh… Elsie was it?"

With sparkling eyes, Elsie expressed, "Photograph! I want a photo and then show it to Haqu-"

Keima quickly took his foster sister's hand and put the bag of games he had just gotten from Kanon then ran away with the pink-haired girl. Elsea fell to the floor due-to the weight she suddenly received from the bags of countless piled CD games plus her own groceries. Keima swore he could hear Elsea's wail from behind.

...

After they ran quite far from the Katsuragis, they stopped at a park and decided to catch breath on a bench around.

"Haa- Your family sure are unique, Keima-kun!"

"… Unique? More like, bizarre!" he respond while respiring with all his might.

"But I like them! It's not bad to have such lively family~" Kanon said with a soft smile on her face.

"Oh, dear only you don't know. Wanna trade family with me, then?" he answered abruptly.

"Y—you mean…" Kanon turned her head at the boy sitting right beside her. She used her hands to cover her blush before she said, "You mean… Your family is mine, and my family is yours?"

He was a little confused of Kanon's action, "That's what an exchange means."

"But... Keima-kun… I feel like I'm not ready for that…"

In a blink of an eye, Keima ran hundreds of thoughts in his head to figure out Kanon's action and answers. They were vague yet vital for him. He calculated and looked up at his memory of infinite knowledge from his games to compare.

He found that there's only one answer for this matter.

"You silly! IT'S NOT A MARRIAGE! I wasn't talking about marriage! I was purely asking you to trade like merchants!"

Keima took a deep breath after that. Running 5 meter from his house really took its toll. He maybe very clever, but he's definitely not the athlete type.

"So, no marriage?" Kanon asked with a sad face.

"No."

"I see…"

Keima grumbled before averted his eyes away from her, "Well, not for now, at least."

The moment she heard Keima's phrase, Kanon was in bliss. She's in the pinnacle of happiness. Her eyes are gleaming and her already reddened cheeks are getting even redder.

"Keima-kun…"

"Well, sadly, I don't know what the future holds for me in this dirty real world. Marriage is possible. The odds are whether my mother will force me to or I have a childhood friend." Keima answered, trying to put on his expressionless mask, but he failed to hide his blush. "However. I'd prefer a childhood friend to marry. Logically, an ideal marriage can only happen between two childhood friends of different gender. I'm pretty sure I don't have any childhood friend in the past because I didn't dwell with the real world so much. Therefore, it's impossible for me to get married."

Kanon put on her straightforward face, "Well, who knows I was your childhood friend..."

"Nope," he answered impatiently.

Kanon just gave her boyfriend a cute giggle after watching him fidgeting on his seat. But her expression slowly getting weaker and weaker. She then hugged his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. Keima could only scream in his mind.

"I don't want to think about marriage anyway," she confessed. "I enjoy my life as an idol. Although it makes me really busy and makes me abandoned my life as a normal high-schooler, I still enjoy being and idol. It is an honor for me to make everyone happy with my voice and songs…"

Keima stared back at Kanon's eyes. They looked sad, but still emitting a strong light of will.

"I've decided that I won't stop become an idol or a singer, even until I'm getting old! Until my throat can't produce any voice, I won't stop! See? It's the same thing for me. Marriage is impossible."

"So what? That's fine, right? Just do as you like."

"Yes… But I don't want to be separated from Keima-kun..."

Keima managed to get away from her clinging arms. Kanon was expecting him to jump away from her, but he did the otherwise. He placed his hands on Kanon's shoulders and smiled, "We can stay just like this. Like we always been, like we always have."

"Ke—Keima-kun…"

The idol jumped at him and hugged him tightly. There are people watching them with teasing eyes, but she couldn't careless. Her feeling is too much to be buried. Thanks to her flawless disguise, no body noticed that she's the famous Kanon.

Of course this sudden action made Keima struggled.

"L-Let go of me!"

"You have just told me something sweet! How can I let go of you?"

"OK, I'll take back everything I've just said. We can't always stay like this! So get off from me!"

"No, I won't! I know you always act weird even if I only touch you. Consider this as your training! And no worries, my disguise is perfect. No one would notice me."

"I could easily recognize you back there at the school gate. So stop doing this, please. They'll find out too; like me!"

Instead of granting his request, Kanon tightened her grip instead, "You are my boyfriend! You are the only one who can tell!"

While she's still at her game of hugging Keima, the neighborhood is watching them from afar. The pink-haired idol finally let go of Keima after a woman come over to say, "Uhm, would you mind not to being too intimate here? There are many children at this park… I think it's not proper to show them such interaction."

Kanon rose from the bench and was about to ask for the lady's forgiveness before Keima managed to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry. It's just that my boyfriend and I—"

"I am truly sorry. She was just trying to scare me to cure my hiccup," said Keima. He bowed a little when he did so.

"What hiccu— Wah!"

Keima dragged her away from the park. It's the best option for them after everyone watched what Kanon had done to Keima. He covered her mouth and ran away from the woman to avoid her realized that she was talking to the infamous idol. Things might end ugly if they stayed. This time, retreat is the only choice.

Away from the park, at the center of Maijima city, they stopped at an intersection for respiration. The conquering god was soaked in sweat. He was out of energy and was unable to stand properly. Had Kanon not supported him standing, the wind had already blown him away.

"Let's watch a movie, Keima-kun! We never watch one together, right? Hee hee…"

"Movies, huh? Well at least it's indoor…"

It only took less than 30 minutes until they are standing at the ticket booth. They've decided to watch a romance movie called Pink is The Fiercest Color. A story about pink-haired S-class combatant woman who was lost in space after chosen to fly a ship for the first time. She was unable to use any communication device and eventually would crash into a planet; A blue planet where huge trees and plants grow beautifully. She thought she was back to earth because she also find humans and even futuristic cities. But it turns out that she didn't land on earth, because earth no longer has such gigantic prehistoric animals which rule the entire planet. The astronaut must fight for survival against the animals together with an antisocial local man who's excellent in technologies. However, such unbelievable plot doesn't come to Keima's interest; he couldn't care less about the movie. He planned to just play his PFP during the show despite the light of his console will bother the others who watch in the same studio.

Kanon can predict that Keima has such plan. Therefore, she tightened her clutch on his arm with her left hand while her right was pulling out something from her jacket's pocket.

"Hee hee… Keima-kun, don't even think about playing your game during the show, understand?"

"Oh, spare me! I need games to replenish my energy!"

"Well, this thing can also charge your energy to the MAX~"

"Y—yes… Understood. So, would you please put that stun gun away? My PFP hates it..."

"OK! But promise me not to play!"

He clicked his teeth to express his pique. "Tch, fine."

The idol winked at him when she teased, "Instead of playing games, what about chatting with me? It's been awhile since the last time we met, right? How's the school?"

"Nah, I'll just skip those boring conversation."

"That's awful, Keima-kun… We haven't even talk yet!" she puffed her cheeks. "Ah, I know! How about this?" Kanon reached her purse and pulled out a piece of small yet long white paper. "This is the receipt from the game shop. Are these games into your liking?" He couldn't lie to himself that it interested him. He hadn't checked the games inside plastic bag he had thrown to Elsea after all.

He enthusiastically grabbed the receipt from Kanon's hand, "Hmm… Let's see."

Keima scanned the entire paper. In a brief second, he already gave the paper back to Kanon.

"How was it? I'm good, right?"

"Ahem! For someone your level, you did surprisingly well! Not necessarily impressive, but certainly better than my sister."

"Uwaah! Thank God~ I'm glad Keima-kun likes them! Hee hee!"

Kanon lowered her head, expecting Keima to pat her head as a reward for her service. She always do this whenever Keima praised him, which only happened once in his lifetime. Keima turned away his head from her while giving her what she wants.

"Actually, some of those games will feature my songs as the background music! Make sure to listen to them too, okay?" Kanon explained. She put her finger on her cheek and emitted cute aura after she spoke.

"Yeah, yeah," he answered nonchalantly.

He felt awkward while he's in a very cute scene that every normal guy in the world would die to see. But he is the god of conquest who loves the 2D world more than anything and loathes the real world he lives in, not just a mere normal human. Watching a real girl acting all cute can't move his heart, even though it's the only real girl Keima looks to; a cute idol at that. He preferred to go home and play those new games. Good for him, it turns out that he will not bother about watching anyways.

After waiting for a minute, they finally reached the head of the queue.

"Two tickets for student."

"May I have your student card please?"

In a blink of an eye after the clerk received their student cards, she yelled, "Oh my God! Kanon-chan! You are Kanon-chan?"

Lots of people were fussing behind the couple after they heard the clerk's wail. Some of them are already rustling their purse to grab a pen or camera.

"What? Kanon-chan?"

"You hear that? She said it's Kanon-chan!"

"Ah, I want to take a photo with her!"

"I want an autograph!"

Keima quickly grabbed the cards from the clerk's hand and again, dragged Kanon by her hand to the outside of the building to flee from the rampaged fans.

They are now sitting on the bench at the very same park they just left before they went to the cinema. It was almost dusk, so the park was empty. There are only he and she and the orange sun on the park.

"That was close…" said Kanon while catching her breath. "It seems it's all about running today, huh? Keima-kun."

Kanon stared at the pale-faced Keima. He looked in a pretty bad shape, he's wheezing and sweating everywhere. This has made Kanon worried about him, "Are you okay, Keima-kun?"

"… I'm… alright… Cough! Idol these days sure are strong…"

"Of course! I have to train everyday to improve my fitness. Otherwise, I won't able to run a 2 hours concert in one day!" she claimed while clenching her fist.

Keima really wanted to rest his tired back by leaning it, but there's nothing to lean-to. He sputtered whereupon he diverted his eyes away from Kanon's eyes, "So that's how it is…"

"That's how it is," she repeated his words then fixed her sight to the same floating space object, which had enlightened them all day today.

Both of them don't speak after that. They are just gazing upon the sun that is about to set. They can't believe that the entire runaway happened in just 2 hours of a Friday. Kanon, especially, was somehow having this bad feeling she buried in her heart. There's a wedge in her heart that prevents her to form a smile. Keima, as brilliant as he is, find out about this and asked her, "What's the matter?"

"No— it's just…"

Without looking at him, Kanon continued, "Keima-kun… Should we not see each other again?"

"Huh? Why?"

"You saw all those fans, right? Maybe… an idol can't have a boyfriend after all…"

Keima sighed. He can predict she'd say something like that to him eventually. There's this one game where there are 3 different girls of which one of them is an idol. The game cannot be cleared if he failed to conquer all the girls, so he must support his relationship with a girl while conquering the others at the same time. The idol was apparently the hardest due-to her fans and the media with its dirty paparazzi. With this knowledge on his hand, he already prepared the proper answer.

"OK"

Kanon smiled, a bitter one, "I see. So that's your answer-"

"-I have to deny your wrong statement. Idols can have a boyfriend."

"Eh?"

"However, he must be invisible to do so. To the media, I mean."

"It's impossible, right?" Kanon reacted.

"Nothing is impossible for me. I can even conquer 2 other girls while keep up my idol girlfriend. It was not easy, but it's not thoroughly impossible."

Kanon is very happy, but was also perplexed by Keima's words. She felt blithe in the heart because her boyfriend just said that it's possible to keep up their relationship. But since she can catch every word he has just spoken, she was a bit irritated when she heard the words 'other girls'.

The boy ignored her and continued talking instead, "In order to maintain their relationship both parties must obey these rules; First, the boy must not feel envious if the idol girlfriend gets giddy giddy with her male fans. I can do that. It's not a problem at all. Second, the idol girlfriend must be able to brush off any questions, which led to thoughts about having a relationship. Third! NO pair of eyes allowed to see them together in public at all cost while the media hunt for them. This can be easily handled by wearing a disguise. Fourth, the last and the most important thing..."

"What is that?"

Keima gazed upon the setting sun.

"Their feelings must be pure and mutual that no hardship can break them apart."

Keima glanced at Kanon who's amazed by his words. She never thought that he was that serious about their relationship. She never even dreamt about it since he's always dense whenever he's with her.

"I can definitely do them just fine. What about you, Kanon?"

"… I… I…" she gaped.

"I'll do that! As long as I'm with you, Keima-kun, I can fight against the world!"

She stared deep into Keima's eyes, showing that she really meant to make true of her words. Keima smiled gently. "Then it settled. You and I, against the world."

Kanon replied his smile, "Yes. You and I against the world."

They could hear each other's heartbeat, which are pounding like drums on a battlefield; loud and full of passion. The state between them stayed like that until Kanon broke the ice. Not with a normal unimportant chat, but with a humming of one of her songs called ALL 4 U. Nothing is more calming than watching the sun set at an empty park with an idol who hums a song, which is the only sound Keima could hear. Like some of men need his cigarette, the gamer pull out his console and started playing games. It felt weird for him to let his PFP in his pocket.

Kanon noticed Keima's deed. Therefore, she later gradually transformed her soft humming into a beautiful chant.

"… The sun, the smiles, the drive under the blazing sun~"

"What a beautiful emerald carpet~"

"The prologue of love, I'll return the last move~"

Keima once had a personal concert given by the very same girl, but he didn't even flinch. This time however, the mood and the atmosphere has successfully dulled his cocky brilliant mind.

"I want to tell you these feeling ~"

...

All of a sudden, Kanon stopped singing. She successfully stole Keima's attention from his PFP screen.

"Hey, Keima-kun..."

Kanon leaned her head forward to Keima's and pushed his hands to the bench. They can feel their partner's breath as the gap between their nose are slowly getting more and more closer. As usual, the boy was shaking. But this time, he didn't move nor reject the action either. Seems like he's getting more used to her.

As if the God himself didn't grant them to continue any further, Kanon's phone suddenly rang. She had to stop although it's only inches away from his lips.

"Ah, I must go now. Too bad, huh? Keima-kun!"

She jumped off the bench, "See you later."

It was all happened very fast, but Keima still as collected as ever. To feel upset by such mischance is the last thing he'd do. There's a more important he'd prefer to do, like playing his games in his PFP.

When he decided to reach his PFP, it suddenly rang.

*YOU GOT MAIL!*

"Kanon My Angel… HUH? When did she!?"

From: Kanon My Angel
Subj: Sorry!
I'm sorry, Keima-kun. I must meet Okada-san right away! No hard feelings, okay?

"Hmph. As if…" He grinned.

He's still sitting on the bench, thinking about unexpected things he had just said to her. He never imagined he'd said that. It's never in his plan to continue the troublesome relationship with a possessive idol, but his heart has blinded him. He knows that problems after problems will come at them in the future to test their feelings, like the media, her fans, their classmates, their families, or even themselves. He understands that it is a suicide to date an idol, but he's still doing it anyway. He never received such warm feeling from the real world.

He can't helped but to feel a glimpse of happiness in his cold heart.

"By the way, where was her usual emoticon I wonder? She was really in a hurry that she forgot, huh… Urk!?"

Suddenly, someone clung his arms on Keima's neck from behind. It was a surprise for him, but he was calm again instantly as he found out who the person was. Looks like the person overheard Keima's self-speaking just now.

"...You dummy. [XO] is not an emoticon..."

"It's not?" He turned his body towards the speaker, the pink-haired idol who has just left him. "Then what does it mean? Are you referring to my PFP buttons or somethi-"

Kanon stopped Keima from talking by sealing his mouth with hers. The kiss was a shocker for Keima, but he apparently doesn't feel any hardship towards it. She then finally let go of the flustered Keima and said, with a bright smile on her face, "[X] means a kiss and [O] for hugs. Note that, Keima-kun!"

Through his lenses, Keima gazed at the girl who has just kissed him. His mind started to try reminiscing the past…
How could they ended up like this?
An idol who lives in reality…
An otaku who denies reality…
How could a boy and a girl who live on their very contrast world end up being together?

Keima shrugged off. It's already in the past and he only need to cherish on what's in front of him. Never once he had a thought about getting a girlfriend, a real one; but things in your future are sometimes unpredictable. The only way to predict the future is science; but up until this moment, no scientists could predict someone's future life… Let alone an otaku's change of heart.

As the orange evening sky turns darker, they stared at each other's eyes and together, they smiled.

...