The World Only the Girls Know: Azalea Side

Chapter 51: Changes in One's Heart

Author's Note: Characters from the Light Novels and Manga will be included as well

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Original Title: The World Only God Knows / 神のみぞ知るセカイ

Original Concept by Tamiki Wakaki

Written by: wrathie


Author's Notes: Thank you for sticking with me so far, I'll do my best to continue to provide good and acceptable work for all of you! Thank you, Kaiser Dude for the Beta-edit!

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While Ayumi was having that one to one session with Keima, the other girls were hanging around the outside of the classroom, wondering and barely containing their curiosity at finding out what was going on between the two of them if not for one person who seemed to be determined in not letting anyone have a peek.

That person was surprisingly Kosaka Chihiro as she raised her arms over the door that would give them the perfect view of what was going on in the classroom.

Why was she doing this when she was the one who wanted to peep the most out of all of them?

Perhaps it has to do with how she felt after seeing Ayumi being as demoralized more than ever before at being exposed to... the harsh realities of life.

Chihiro didn't think that there would be a day where she would rue at being 'too' famous or popular but this was the first time that Chihiro honestly felt happy at being 'normal' as compared to Ayumi or Haqua.

In truth she had been a little jealous and disturbed at times when the boys paid so much attention to the two of them rather than the other girls...

Well, honesty makes her admit that she was a little conscious of her own looks and she wondered what it would take for her to get some attention of her own.

She was a girl after all and even though she had special feelings for a certain boy around her, she would like to have others notice her as well.. at least that's what she imagined but it was amazing how quickly her opinion changed upon seeing what happened to Ayumi.

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That was her mistake, she was too busy thinking of herself and being flattered by Taka as well as his demonstrations that she had failed to notice what happened to Ayumi. To make up for that she would do anything to get Ayumi back to her usual cheerful and optimistic self as it had hurt her deeply to see Ayumi being so... unlike herself.

Even if it meant giving Ayumi an opportunity to be with Keima alone. Yes, she knew the implications of letting that happen, one will have to be a fool to not notice the longing look that Ayumi shoots Keima when she thought no one was looking at her as well as the way she eagerly clung to Keima when they were walking home from practice or how she was always defending Keima from the other girls.

Chihiro knew, no, everyone knew that Ayumi felt something for Keima... and she had perhaps felt that way for quite some time, before Chihiro had realized that she too, viewed Keima as different.

But by then it was already too late and Chihiro could only watch from the sidelines as Ayumi was in the 'lead' so to speak and although there wasn't any spoken agreement or given statement that Katsuragi Keima was not available or taken by Ayumi, it was all but obvious to the rest of the girls that Takahara Ayumi was very interested in him.

That begs the question, how much is enough? Ayumi was Chihiro's best friend along with Teraday Miyako and thankfully the latter has no interest in the boy whatsoever and although rational sense told her that it was silly to lose such a great friend, as well as the friendship that they built up together over a boy, someone who could possibly be just a mere passing infatuation, sometimes rational sense just wasn't built to fight with matters of the heart.

For now however, the combined cost of Ayumi's friendship as well as the importance of the band was enough to keep Chihiro at bay and she stubbornly refused to let any of the other girls take even a slight peep at what was going on.

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'Chihiro, you can't tell me that you don't want to see what's happening?'

Miyako implored to her as she hung on to Chihiro's hands, waving it in the air in a childish manner and even pouting to try and get even a chuckle from the serious girl to let them just take a small peep into the classroom.

Miyako's curiosity was getting the better of her and she was dying to know what was going on and she was literally salivating at the possible scandalous material that she might be able to see by just opening the door a small crack.

'They could be kissing for all we know!'

It wasn't exactly the right way to gain the girl's attention but that was Miyako's last card that she could play and of course it worked, making her the center of the attraction as she continued.

Looking at her were of course Chihiro, Elsi and a painfully obvious Haqua who was looking out the window and trying to be disinterested.

'Keima could decide the easiest way to get rid of Ayumi-chan's new-found fear of boys was to kiss her, right? That's the simplest solution if you ask me!'

That was such a stupid suggestion and Miyako swore that was it if only Haqua had not taken her seriously and she materialized a scythe out of nowhere as she advanced towards the door, grumbling about how he was taking advantage of the girl's emotional state.

Funny how it doesn't seem so odd after seeing her carry it with her a few times and it seemed that no one else found it odd, although Miyako sometimes does wonder how and why does she keep a 'disposable' scythe around at all times.

The word ' Self Defence' comes to mind but even that was quite a flimsy explanation... still, that was not the point here, oh no, the point was how the three of them have to pull Haqua back to prevent her from kicking the door open, Chihiro having been quickly intimidated to give up her protective position with a simple glare from Haqua.

'I was kidding! Kidding! He wouldn't do that! It's not like he has kissed Ayumi before!'

It was amazing how she managed to hit into certain, unseen landmines that day as Chihiro turned bright red and even Elsi seemed a little embarrassed at how Miyako could brazenly say that out loud.

Oh right, maybe he did kiss Ayumi before... the two of them were very close a period of time before... then does that mean that besides Ayumi, Keima had kissed Chihiro or Elsi too?

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Suddenly it didn't feel that wrong to have Keima be taught a lesson after all and Miyako released her hold on Haqua, allowing the girl to advance forward with a vengeance. Miyako has always thought that Keima was a gentleman, someone who would be chivalrous, understanding as well as loyal to his chosen other half but from the reaction that she was getting from the other girls, Keima really had toyed with the feelings of those girls for too long and it was time to put an end to this, especially if he was going to hurt Ayumi by taking advantage of her emotional state, like what Haqua was muttering about.

It would be fine if Keima was going out with Ayumi, which he wasn't...

Feeling a headache coming again, Miyako realized that she had not realized or have taken to heart the full extent of the situation and how complex it was.

She knew for a fact that Katsuragi Keima was an anomaly, someone who was called the Otamegane and was generally actively disliked and considered to be a hopeless case in school. Even so, he had somehow managed to be their manager and although Miyako herself had no complaints about that, she knew that he was only given that chance due to the uncharacteristic acceptance of Keima by Ayumi as well as Chihiro.

Something therefore must have happened between Keima and the two of them and by digging through her memory, Terada Miyako knew that there was a period of time where Keima was seen hanging around Ayumi as well as Chihiro, spending time together or being seen together in school.

It wasn't just a secret rendezvous either, they were seen in public and in general for Ayumi, the two of them together was the gossip of the week.

Even so, those rumours died down after the week was up and everything seemed to be back to normal with Ayumi shunning Keima and him avoiding her as well.

It just did not make sense for someone to give up after putting in so much effort to try and win Ayumi's heart in such an eye-catching way. What made it even more confusing was that now, after trying hard to remember what happened, the entire situation was fishy from the start till the end and Miyako wished not for the first time that there was a high school newspaper in the school, if there were, perhaps she would be able to get some more information from their archives in the gossip column.

No, there was definitely something... odd and she has taken things for granted too long...

'… there is something odd... but do I wish to be involved?'

She asked herself softly, something which Haqua noticed as she paused in front of the door for a moment as she stared at Miyako for a while.

This girl was labelled by the Capturing God as a threat and an anomaly and it seemed like with all of his predictions, it was coming true after all.

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The wool that had been placed so securely in front of everyone's eyes was being unravelled by the most inconspicuous person of all, the normal human being, Terada Miyako.


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Even as Terada Miyako made her own assumptions through her own reflection of the situation, Elsi's thoughts were in an altogether different path as she looked from the sidelines, unsure whether she should even be involved in the first place.

No, she had not lost all her confidence but she has merely lost all sense of direction.

She was unsure of what she should be doing, her priorities had always been set in stone and that was to assist in her partner, the awe-inspiring Capturing God in whatever what he would need to help capture the Weiss that she found.

It was a simpler time then, where she could pretend and squash the emotions that she felt for him as they were related by blood.

Yes, they were brothers and sisters and wouldn't it be simple if they had kept it that way? There was a thin line that could not be crossed over no matter what they do and perhaps it was Docrow Skull's idea in the first place to place Elsi as Keima's sister to prevent this... 'incident' from happening in the first place.

If they were real and true siblings, logically it would be impossible for them develop feelings for each other as it was shunned by public... no, it was considered taboo by everyone to fall for one's brother... but it was too late.

Elsi had seen first-hand what was over the other side and there was no going back from where she came from.

She, Katsuragi Elsi and not Elucia de Lute Ima had fallen in love with Katsuragi Keima and the reason for her stating so was clear only to her.

She did not want to fall in love with him as a devil, but as a real human being... by shedding the title and name that she was given by her family, she would be free from the failures that had plagued her life up till now.

She would no longer be the younger sister of her much accomplished and powerful sister and would be herself, starting anew with a brand new plate... even if she might be committing the ultimate taboo by falling in love with her brother.

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Yes, even so, there was no reason for her to fall back now... not when she could see that her friends harboured the same feelings for him and has been for quite some time.

Elsi felt like her heart could burst every single time he looked at her even for a second longer and she felt like she was in heaven when she was praised by him for her hard work and she would continue to work hard... even if her patriotism have changed from the initial goal of assisting Keima and capturing Weiss to have him look at her and her only.

Why does she feel that her earlier mission seemed so... boring and unimportant as compared to seeing him smile at her? It was like comparing the sun to the moon; they were totally different and yet... were equally important to her.

In a way, Elsi's life revolved around those two important things in her life that gave her reason. Her initial goal and mission of capturing Weiss and the second being Katsuragi Keima.

Why her fanatic devotion to those two causes? Well for starters Elsi's main profession had been a cleaner for the majority of her life, something which must have pained her with each passing year as her elder sister was a Spirit Hunter.

It was only when New Hell needed manpower to help capture the wayward Weiss that Elsi was finally given a chance to be a Spirit Hunter after a long and lonely 200++ years of being a cleaner.

As Elsi had explained and told Keima before, being a spirit hunter was everything to her as she could finally be on the same level as her sister and could finally do something meaningful with her life, something her mission of capturing Weiss had given her.

What's more with Keima's help she was able to capture a record number of Weiss in such a short time, allowing her to be recognized and awarded an award from director Docrow Skull himself.

It was no wonder that Elsi view those two life changing events as something that was the most precious to her... and for quite a while those two events balanced each other out.

Elsi would have to keep her relationship with Keima as siblings as it would affect her main mission of capturing weiss and she should continue assisting Keima to help her main mission in the first place!

It was a perfect balance and she was happy that way... till the balance started to shift... till her feelings for Keima started to grow out of control and what was even more mysterious about the situation was that Elsi had not realized it was happening till it was too late and she could no longer reverse the effects.

A rational and frightened part of her asked her the one question that had been on Haqua's mind all this time: "Why? Why did you fall in love with Keima... just like that?'

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Before Haqua could kick down the door however, Ayumi opened the door instead and she looked at Haqua awkwardly, the latter hiding her scythe behind her as she asked them what were they doing.

'W-were you eavesdropping?'

Ayumi covered her mouth as her face burned red again as the girls just shook their heads and answered no and they didn't, really!

'Oh... I see... well we're done now and I'm fine now, he told me something important... thanks to Keima-kun... so shall we go and celebrate Haqua-chan joining the 2B Pencils!'

Being back to her usually cheerful self, which was a very good chance that made the girls feel like a big weight was carried off their shoulders, Ayumi giggled as she said a few lines that made every one of them very,very excited.

'Haqua-chan said that she wanted to get some new clothes for the performance right? Keima-kun said that he would pay for us in advance as I can't get my allowance till next week~'

Keima added on wearily as he revealed that the 2B Pencils will get a small performance commission from the club where they would be performing in two nights time and that he would deduct their expenses from that commission to tide things over later on.

'For now, we should go and celebrate... but we do have a budget so choose wisely... especially you, Miyako.'

Pointing to the one girl that was looking at Haqua as though sizing her up in different clothes, the normal human girl stuck her tongue out as Haqua hugged herself protectively, now sensing the threat that the girl was, in more ways than one.

'Let's go then!'

Pumping her hand in the air, Ayumi led the rest of the girls back into the classroom to collect their bags and to freshen up as Keima simply stood outside, pulling his PFP out and starting to game once again.

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'You... didn't do anything to Ayumi-chan... did you?'

It was Elsi who popped that question to Keima and instinctively the Capturing God knew that he needed to think this through carefully for the wrong step would mean disaster for his plan, the one ending that he wished to achieve and one that he had 'seen' to be the best and difficult ending for this scenario.

It was not that he did not wish to find out the truth... he has already seen the truth and know what might had happened.

Now it was up to him to solve this incident once and for all.

'… I can't tell you that, Elsi... it's confidential.'

He said so nonchalantly and he watched as Elsi's expression darkened and she visibly shook for a moment, her timid and hopeful demeanor almost breaking for a moment till Keima just shook his head and ran one hand through her hair to comfort the girl.

'I gave Ayumi some advice, Elsi... are you jealous of Ayumi?'

'I... I...'

'I don't wish to play favorites now, just like what I told Ayumi then... so... Elsi, you should go join the girls now.'

Keima told her gently and reassuringly while looking straight in her eyes and making sure that Elsi was fully convinced of his words. He truly did not wish to play favorites... but he himself felt a little heartbroken at seeing Elsi depressed like that.

It was true that he was changing... but he was not going to give up on his own morals and beliefs without a fight.

No, he wasn't.


Author's Notes: I hope my dry spell is only temporary...