Hello, everyone! I'm back with the newest chapter of Ayumi and Keima's romance!

First, thank you for your feedback on the last chapter – it's very much appreciated. :) Here are the replies to reviews:

To Gonzalorp94: glad you liked it. About getting Keima to open up... well... me and Ayumi are wondering about that too. xD

To Undying Soul98: you know you don't have to review immediately, right? You can just go to sleep, wake up, read the chapter again and then review. Just sayin'. Still, thanks for reviewing even when you're tired. :)

To Refraction of Light: who knows what Haqua is thinking. For now she is an enigma for everyone. But I think Keima will set a flag on Haqua even when neither of them wants it. After all, both of them still need to use the toilet, you know? ;)

To Ryuumaru Kara: Keima? Seeing through Haqua? In romantic context (I originally tried to type "conquest" xD)? That would be a first! As for the other issue, I've already cleared it with PM, but I'll repeat it, to make sure other readers understand – Haqua remembers about Eri. It was all explained in the prequel fanfiction.

To Shawn Raven: I'm totally with you on this one, something is wrong with Keima! *calms down* Anyway... I'm also afraid the girls are planning something... it's scary, you know? At least Yui is direct as ever. And about that chapter being hilarious... you be the judge. :)

To DPSS: we'll see. :)

To Skullcandyklive: well... I'm not sure what so say to that... I'm honored you think it was that good.

Okay, that's (almost) it for the replies.

Now a little bit of not-so-good news: while I was able to make considerable progress with the next chapter it's still far from being finished. I just hope I'll get it done in a week. So the next update is planned to happen somewhere from Saturday to Monday.

That's it. Enjoy!

(* * *)

Ayumi was a little nervous. Keima picked her up on his way to school yesterday. Will he do the same today too? Should she stay in the house and wait for him? No, yesterday he was already there by the time she left for school and she didn't want to keep him waiting. That was why she left the house a little earlier this time. From the point of view of a typical passer-by she probably looked really stupid – leaning against the low wall surrounding her own house and waiting for God knows what.

And she even took some time to groom herself. It was probably a futile effort, but at least it managed to calm her down some. Still, she jumped a little when she heard her name being called.

She turned around and saw Keima walk up to her, his trusty console in his hands.

"Good morning" he greeted her with his usual enthusiasm. Or lack thereof.

"G-good morning" why did she stutter? "Where's Eri?"

"She went ahead of me."

"So, it's just the two of us?" Ayumi asked before she mentally slapped herself. That was too suggestive. She wasn't Yui!

"Seems so. Unless Eri is watching us from somewhere" Keima remarked. He then walked past Ayumi, before looking at her over his shoulder. "Are you going?"

"Y-yes!" she fell into step with him. Then something occurred to her. "Umm... is someone else watching us right now? Like your devil guardians?"

"Perhaps" Keima replied.

"Ugh... are you fine with this?" Ayumi questioned.

"As long as they don't disturb my gaming time? Yes."

"You have surprisingly little regard for your own privacy..."

Keima acknowledged with a short nod. And then Ayumi decided to exploit the fact that they were alone.

"So, what are you going to do about the date you promised me?" she asked.

"Right. I did promise you that" he gave her a side glance. "I'm starting to think you asked Yui to attack me just for that."

"No, I didn't!" Ayumi countered. "But that's a nice idea... I'm just joking" she quickly added when Keima narrowed her eyes at her. "C'mon, don't be so stubborn about this. Would it really be that bad?"

"No offense, but most of my memories of you are accompanied by kicking."

"Did I kick you recently?" she asked. "I'm past that stage, except when you do something really bad. So the date is painless."

"It's pointless" Keima replied. "But I've said I'll give it a chance. And I will keep my word."

"You better" Ayumi crossed her arms over her chest. "So how about today?"

"No can do."

"And why is that?" Ayumi questioned suspiciously.

"Today I'm busy. And I don't mean my games. I have a prior engagement."

"What do you mean?"

"The usual interference of the real. Why do you ask?"

"N-no reason" Ayumi replied.

Keima scrutinized her for a moment. "Are you jealous?"

"W-what?" Ayumi asked back. "Me? Jealous? Why would I be jealous?" she was trying, and failing, to keep her face from reddening. "I think I will run ahead. See you in class."

And with this she sprinted off, leaving Keima in thought. In order to not dive in Ayumi's route too deeply he needed to figure her out. Figure her archetype. But here was the problem. Athletic types were fine. Energetic girls were fine too. Girls next door and tsunderes were not a problem as well. But Ayumi was not a game heroine. She was a real girl. And he couldn't figure which of those 4 archetypes she was.

Maybe she was all of them? Tsk. Real and it's complex confusing imperfections...

(* * *)

"Just to make things clear" Keima said as soon as they started walking. "No going into lingerie shops."

"What made you think I would even try anything like that?" Haqua responded angrily, but she also looked away, making Keima certain she did want to do a thing like that.

"Are you trying to make sure I buy something good or do you want to make fun of me?" he asked. "Or maybe you're planning to make me buy something bad?"

"One does not exclude the other. The third guess is wrong though" she turned to him. "I really want to help you."

"So the one guarding me right now is Nora or Rimyuel?"

"Neither" the devil replied. "I'm guarding you."

"Openly like that?" he questioned.

"I used illusion magic to look like someone else."

"Like who?"

"Yukie" Haqua admitted and Keima nodded. That seemed convenient. No-one will think he was walking with some young girl or boy. No-one here knew Yukie and Yukie didn't live nearby. "Besides... it's not strictly guarding. More like checking whether you're fine or not. We're not guarding you all the time from five feet behind and peeking into your room" Haqua explained. "At least I don't do it like that."

"And the others do?"

"Well... Nora thinks you're bound to get into trouble and get the crap beaten out of you by some girl again, so she sticks closer to not miss the 'entertaining parts' as she calls them."

"And Rimyuel? Does she think of me as her personal pet project?" Haqua nodded. "Couldn't she just visit me and ask what she needs to know?"

"Hoo?" the devil raised her eyebrow. "Do you miss Rimyuel?"

"Don't be stupid" he eyed her strangely. "It would just be easier."

"I wonder about that" Haqua chuckled. "Anyway... here's our first stop."

"Sports shop?" Keima questioned.

"Yeah. I think running shoes could be nice."

"I gave her a pair of shoes already" he told her. "Don't your remember?"

"Yeah, but they should be worn out by now."

"No, they're not. She kept them. She's actually emotionally attached to them... what?" he asked when Haqua looked at him curiously.

"As usual you're conquering girls even when you don't want to" she looked at him. "Or do you?"

"No, I don't want to conquer Ayumi" Keima defended himself, but Haqua looked like she didn't buy it. "Ugh... can we go to the next point now?"

"No. We're still going in" Haqua told him. "There are some other things you can buy here besides shoes."

"I know what you can't buy here" Keima snorted. "And that's games."

"Are you going to enter the shop voluntarily" Haqua started. "Or do I need to prove to you that I am strong even without my scythe?"

"After you" Keima replied with a smile.

"Good boy."

(* * *)

Keima's hand for the third time automatically reached for his PFP. And he sighed when for the third time he realized he didn't bring his console with him. It wasn't even about his lost gaming time.

He was simply bored.

It was Saturday, one day after the shopping spree with Haqua and the third day of his... relationship with Ayumi. And most important of all – it was the day of the date.

And this time there (hopefully) were no Vintage agents around and he didn't need to rush anything. This was it.

His first real date with a real girl.

Without counting Kusunoki of course... because this was different.

Truth be told, Keima wasn't sure what awaited him, so he did what he had always done – he prepared himself. To this end he distanced himself from Ayumi. They didn't really talk face-to-face yesterday. They just exchanged emails, establishing the time and place of the meeting.

Of course it was necessary – it helped to reduce his stress, gather his energy and muster his resolve to survive through this. And of course if his plan was to conquer Ayumi then there would be no way to fail. Yes, she wasn't a game heroine, but her love points were already high. The problem was he didn't want to conquer Ayumi and he was beginning to realize he was pretty bad and not making girls fall for him. Well, it wasn't as if the whole female species (devils and goddesses included) was after him, but in hindsight he still had found himself bombarded by absurd number of flags from all directions. Hard to avoid flags.

And what's worse, he couldn't just be mean to Ayumi. The whole point of this was not to lead her to a bad ending. That was his mission. He had also promised he would give the two of them a chance. And aside from all that, he just couldn't make Ayumi suffer again. So no – creating a bad date on purpose was out of the question. He just needed to be somewhere between nice and neutral.

All that assuming any of this will go according to the plan, because, frankly, he had no idea what actual real dates with real girls looked like. Let alone dates with athletic goddesses hosts.

"Hey!"

Speak of the devil, Keima thought as he saw the goddess host in question walk up to him, reminding him of the one obvious factor beyond his control.

Mercury.

"Sorry for being late" Ayumi said nervously as soon as she was in front of him. "Did you wait long?" she added, while looking to the side, giving Keima an opportunity to examine her attire.

Ayumi was wearing a knee-length white summer dress with a pink bow in front of her and suspended by pink shoulder-straps. And she was carrying a small violet purse. As far as he could see she wasn't wearing any make up.

But she was wearing a considerable blush.

Not that Ayumi's choice of clothing mattered – what she was wearing had no effect on this event directly. Indirectly, however, it affected her mood, as proved by her blushing. And blushing lead to cuteness. And cuteness lead to flags.

Not good.

"Don't worry about it" Keima answered her previous question. This line won't get him on her route more than he already was. Right? "Let us go."

"So... where are we going?" Ayumi asked walking next to him.

"To see a movie."

"Aah... okay" she replied after which they continued to walk in silence.

(* * *)

"A romantic comedy?" Ayumi questioned with disbelief when she got her eyes on the appropriate pamphlet.

"Yeah" Keima responded as he got closer to the box office. "We're on a date and I thought you liked comedy shows."

"I do" Ayumi admitted, looking at him seriously. "How about you?"

"What about me?" he asked, they were now in front of the box office.

"You're supposed to enjoy this too!" she told him. "This is a real date and not the one you had with Eri last year!"

"I normally don't watch movies and it's likely this movie will show terrible approach to romantic routes, so I'm obviously not going to enjoy it" Keima replied and handed money to the cashier in the box office, who looked at him back, clearly irritated.

"What's the point if only I enjoy it?" Ayumi asked, while tossing a apologetic smile to the cashier. "Scratch that, can I even enjoy it?"

"Men rarely enjoy such things" Keima told her. "It's not that far from the 'man waits bored out of his mind while girl buys clothes' scenario. That's the way it is."

"In games?" she asked.

"In games" he responded matching her calmness.

(* * *)

"What are you doing?" he hissed, skillfully masking his panic. They were seated in their seats and the movie was just about to start when Ayumi grabbed his hand.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she questioned.

"I told you the rules: no bodily contact without warning!"

"I gave you a warning."

"By saying 'warning'?"

"Yes."

His eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to do?"

"Making sure you won't escape in the middle and won't ask Haqua to substitute you with a hagoromo doll" she said and Keima widened his eyes a little when he noticed how easily she was mentioning various devil-related things. A resourceful general, huh?

"That's going too far" he opposed.

"You'll never be able to appreciate touching if you don't try it. Treat it as training. If you become too focused on it" the lights went out and the commercials started. "Then just concentrate on the movie."

(* * *)

The show started and it was everything that Keima predicted it would be. A shallow shabby chick flick portraying the illogical idiosyncrasies of the real. Ayumi however, seemed to actually enjoy it to the point when she forgot about Keima halfway through it.

Almost forgot, because at some point she was practically leaning into him. On the other hand, she wasn't doing it on purpose as far as he could tell, so maybe she did it involuntarily? But that would mean she really enjoyed it.

And she wasn't supposed to! He wasn't here to encourage her! It was quite obvious she wouldn't find anyone anytime soon. Well, at least worthless guys won't just carelessly approach her now. However, that didn't solve the main issue – how to stop Ayumi's route from developing further?

Of course, he had thought about it before, but hadn't been able to find a satisfying solution. Dumping her wasn't a viable strategy. First, he would need a valid reason for that and "bodily contact" certainly wasn't it. Second, breaking up would only hurt Ayumi and he didn't want that. And third, if he were to break up with her then Chihiro would definitely kick his ass... to put it mildly.

So his current strategy was to stall and hope that Ayumi's inexperience and high expectation will kick in and make her bored. That was also the reason behind this movie idea. Watching movies could indeed increase the heroine's love points, but it was still a relatively meaningless activity – there was practically no interaction involved. No talking. No looking into each other's eyes. No touching.

In theory, at least, cause in the real even buying popcorn could very much turn into a flag. The same was for this damn leaning Ayumi was using against him now, although it seemed she was really unaware of it, because at one point she stirred and moved away from him, an aura of embarrassment radiating from her.

(* * *)

"What's this?" Keima asked, eyeing the thing in front of him.

"It's a chocolate parfait" Ayumi responded, already digging into hers.

"I know what this is, I mean, why this? You know I don't like sweet things" he should have known better than going to toilet and letting Ayumi order anything when she had led him into this café.

"Not all sweets are sweet. This" she pointed to his parfait with her spoon. "Is made mostly from bitter chocolate, wafer and whipped cream. Not sweetened. Just try it. If you don't like it then I won't make you eat sweet things ever again."

Keima very much doubted she would keep that promise, but said nothing and instead grabbed his spoon and started eating.

"How is it?" Ayumi asked nonchalantly.

"I'm not a gourmet and I mostly don't care how food tastes as long as it's not sweet" he paused for a moment. "But this is... not that bad."

If he was planning for a neutral answer then he knew he failed when he saw Ayumi look at him with eyes shaped like two crescents and a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Told you so" she said, before attacking her cake she had ordered along with the parfaits.

"I can't burn all those calories like you, you know that?" he asked and put a slice of his own pastry into his mouth. This was more sweet than the parfait, but still manageable.

"We'll start worrying about that once you start to get fat" Ayumi put a fork in her mouth and sighed in obvious bliss before continuing. "Besides, if you want to lose weight, then I'd be happy to jog with you in the mornings. Or evenings."

"No, thank you" he replied, taking another slice of the cake. It wasn't bad, but it was still better to eat it quickly. "Can we change the topic?"

"Fine" Ayumi smiled. "What girls are your type?"

He almost choked on his cake.

"W-what?"

"You heard me" Ayumi's smile grew wider. "What girls are your type?"

"I don't like real girls" he replied. "You know that!"

"Oh, really?" the smile was still there. "We real girls might be imperfect, but according to my, well... your memories being imperfect isn't bad. You said that to this short devil girl with a robot, right? And you said to Chihiro that imperfections are part of real girl's charm, didn't you?"

Keima thought about that for a moment. He indeed said both those things at one point. Was Ayumi always this perceptive?

"Besides" the runner resumed before he could answer. "I'm not asking only about real girls. Your type of game girl is fine as well."

Keima remained silent for a moment, scrutinizing her before speaking.

"Why do you want to know that?"

"I'm trying to learn more about you. That's what dates are for, right? To get to know each other" Ayumi explained. "So? Do you like short girls? Shy girls? Energetic girls?" her smile once gain widened. "Or maybe you're really into girls that come onto you aggressively? That's why you're afraid of touching?"

Keima responded with a perfect poker face. Was she making fun or him? Was she trying to find his weak point to formulate a strategy? Or was she just curious? Fortunately, Ayumi's questions were one he could answer honestly without trouble.

"When I complete a game I will conquer any heroine needing help."

"I know that" Ayumi shook her head a little. "I was asking-"

"However, not every girl can be a heroine" Keima interrupted her and started his lecture mode. "A heroine has to have a world view, a surprising favorite food, has to stand up for the main character, not let him set the pace too easily and be able to create unique events repeatedly" he paused for a moment. "If a girl meets criteria like this then she is a heroine and flags can be set for her, but she still may have imperfections. The heroines I'm attracted too are the perfect combination of charming and beautiful and have captivated personalities. Their height, hair color or whether they're shy or energetic is irrelevant."

"You mean that you'll like any 2-D girl as long as she's nice and beautiful?" Ayumi rephrased. "So you do care about looks. You just apply beauty to 2-D girls only."

"I never said I didn't care for the girls' beauty. I just said other parameters also are important for their overall charm. Besides" Keima crossed his hands over his chest, trying to look insulted. "You make it sound as if I'm a pervert that plays eroges."

"Well... you did admit you look at porn mags... in games" she was obviously referring to his "playing doctor" event with Urara.

"That doesn't mean I look at them all the time" Keima countered while looking away, but his cheeks colored red. "Anyway, I'm done eating and you are too it seems" he put a bill on the table and then stood up. "Where are we going next?"

"You tell me" Ayumi stood up as well.

Her answer surprised Keima. "What do you mean?"

"I told you – it makes no sense if only I enjoy this date, so you get to choose our next stop" she walked up to him. "A game shop is fine as well... but I'm not going to carry your game bags, got it?"

Keima looked back at her surprised. What was she trying to do? Well... two people could play that game...

"Fine. Let's go."

(* * *)

"Funny... I thought you were going to just to grab half of them the moment you get here."

Keima paused browsing the games and turned around when he heard Ayumi speak.

"I used to do that" Keima admitted. "But now I have to do something about the growing galge market or I'll end buried beneath new waves of games. It's grown too much. Damn that camera of Chronos!"

"You think you can decrease the number of produced games by just you buying less of them?" Ayumi shook her hear. "You've dug yourself into your own hole."

"Right back at you. Aren't you grossed out by my creepiness?" he gestured to well... all of him.

"Nah... I've seen you act like that before, so it's nothing new really" she approached one of the shelves and grabbed seemingly random box. "If I were a boy and wanted to buy a galge" she turned the box in her hand to get a better look before extending it to him. "Then I would probably buy this."

"A good choice" Keima admitted. "But I've already played this game."

To this Ayumi snorted. Or snickered. He couldn't really tell at this point. "Like that's going to stop you from buying another copy in case of earthquakes."

Keima remained unmoving for a few moments. His budget wasn't that flexible lately, but he could afford buying it.

"You're getting the hang of it a lot quicker than Eri did" he noticed.

"Don't even think about making me into your student" Ayumi warned him with a shake of her finger. "But I have another idea. How about we play together?"

"My games are all single-player."

"I'm not talking about regular galge" Ayumi replied. "As long as there's a girl everything is a galge to you, right?" Keima nodded hesitantly. "Then how about a match on a tennis court?"

Keima narrowed his eyes "I'm not an athlete like you" he reminded her.

"That's not going to stop the God of Conquest, right?" she teased him. "And after that we can go play some co-op shoot 'em up or something like that. So what do you say?"

Keima was certain this wouldn't be a thrilling gaming experience, but there was no reason to refuse.

"Fine."

(* * *)

"Ah... that was actually nice" Ayumi commented when they were walking back towards her home.

"What do you mean" Keima asked. "You lost both times."

It was true. Ayumi was a strong athlete, but she had issues with controlling her power. Sure, in tennis she was able to win several points and even a few games, but Keima won the match in the end. He knew better when to fight and when to yield and controlled the ball better. He also exploited Ayumi's inexperience and minimized the need to move around the court, negating the runner's greatest asset – her speed.

And of course he had won at the arcade too. Well, it was a two-player cooperative light gun shooter, but there were still points and in the end Ayumi' score didn't even reach one fifth of his.

Ayumi however only shook her head almost as if she was pitying him.

"You don't get it" she told him.

"Don't get what?" he questioned.

"You only play games to win."

"That's what games are for."

"Are you sure?"

"What else would they be for?" he asked, looking at her.

"How about this?" she said, raising a single finger as if she'd just got an idea. "How many people can play galges like you can? Scratch that! How many people are able to complete more than two games in a month?"

"Not many" Keima admitted, curious where this was headed.

"See? Many people are unable to complete their games. Yet galges are sold in the millions, so people still play them, even when unable to complete them. Do you know why?"

"Educate me" he challenged.

"Because it's fun" Ayumi told him. "You're determined to finish the game, while many people are just happy playing them. Sometimes, running is more important that reaching the finish line. Trust me, I know."

"So you're saying you had fun playing with me even though you lost?" Keima asked.

"Well, normally I don't enjoy games, but with you it's another matter. Besides" she smiled at him. "I don't believe I lost. I wanted to have fun and I had fun. Mission accomplished."

"That's an... interesting point of view" Keima admitted. Ayumi smiled.

"Okay, here we split ways" she told him. "You wouldn't want my parents to see you, right?"

Keima only nodded.

"Anyway, I had fun today. Thank you" Ayumi said, while scratching her cheek.

Keima could either say he didn't like it or say he had fun as well. First answer wasn't exactly true and the second was totally false. So he decided to just nod his head again, hoping it would be enough.

Apparently, it was enough, since Ayumi just grinned at him. That was it. He has survived the date.

"Oh... one last thing" Ayumi started while, looking to the side. "Do I get a goodbye kiss?"

Or maybe not...

Well, at least she asked this time instead of forcing him.

Keima sighed. "Alright."

Ayumi remained still for a moment and then it was her turn to sigh. It seemed Keima wasn't going to take the initiative, so she leaned in and put a chaste kiss on his lips. This was the shortest kiss she ever shared with him.

Not that there were so many of them, but still...

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then" she told him, giving up trying to decipher his expression. "Bye."

"Bye" he replied.

Ayumi started walking away, fighting the urge to start running. Well, it seemed Keima didn't hate this date and she enjoyed it, so all-in-all it was a step in the right direction. She should focus on the next event now – her birthday.

She was so in thought that she didn't notice that her footsteps were the only one she could hear, as Keima didn't move from his previous post. He just continued to stand there, his sharp eyes observing her every move. Observing. Analyzing.

Thinking.

Finally, when Ayumi disappeared from his vision Keima sighed for a second time and then started to walk home. He still wasn't able to figure the answer he was looking for. No matter. He'll get another chance.

For now it was gaming time.

(* * *)

Ta-dah! So here is the date. Frankly, I'm not that good with writing stuff like that and I had trouble with figuring out what the date would look like. So I hope this is good enough.

As for Ayumi's dress... I based it on the fanart by khai90 from DeviantArt. I recommend checking his/hers gallery – there are a couple of nice TWGOK pictures there.

And a full reply to DPSS' review: as you can see that was not what I've planned, so I didn't have to try. Frankly, it barely crossed my mind. By the way, is cliché all that bad? Keima's conquest lines are pretty cliché and cheesy most of the time, but it only makes them fun to read about. Maybe my view on cliché is just different.

Also, this chapter is brought to you by Pitch black (2000)... kinda.

No omake this time, but don't worry – you'll be able to see all of them and I'll probably run out of ideas at one point.

As usual I kindly ask you for your supports, including favorites, follows and reviews. I'll be needing them to get back on track.

See you next time!