Hi, I'm back. It's been a very long hiatus, though I think the hiatus I had before 2017 was even longer. I hope that people still read Kami Nomi fanfiction LOL. Jokes aside, I still have to at least attempt to finish this. I haven't reached out to xellos in a hot minute; if he's still active and willing, he'll probably be able to beta the next chapter. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. Took a while to crank out, but I think you all will enjoy it.

Summary since I think we all need one:
Ayumi has been suspended, so she can't compete in the upcoming track-meet. To lift her sentence, Keima volunteered to win over the heart of another problem student - Tsukiyo. However, he has more than that to worry about - a certain pink haired idol keeps stealing him away...

Connection 28: Passion Unbridled

Tuesday (Days left until the Track Meet: 3)

"I should have brought the car, huh?" Hinoki said, arms behind her head as she and her sister walked side by side on the sidewalk, groceries in the younger Kasuga's hands. "We'd be home by now."

"I thought you enjoyed these leisurely evening strolls, sis?" Kusunoki said which caused Hinoki's lips to curl into a grin. She gave her sister a hearty pat on the back with enough strength to make even the supernaturally strong Kusunoki flinch.

"I've been saying this a lot," Hinoki said, leaning in, "but I absolutely adore this new open attitude of yours. Makes for way more playful banter, don't you think?"

Kusunoki gave her a shrug. Then, as they passed by a pedestrian crossing, her head snapped to the side. Something had caught her eye. Hinoki followed her sister's gaze only to have it fall squarely on the shoulders of that boy of hers again - Keima Katsuragi. The boy was walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street, and with him was the girl Hinoki recognized as the singer from last Sunday whom Keima had admitted to having curiosity in.

Seemingly without a second thought, Kusunoki crossed the street, and Hinoki could notice the sudden pace increase. The older sister's grin turned feral. Things were going to get interesting.

Kanon had just given back Keima's glasses when she saw someone take hold of his shoulder from behind. The two of them turned around and saw, from Kanon's point of view, a tall, beautiful girl. She had on the Mai-High uniform, so she had to be their schoolmate. Factoring in her height, was she perhaps a senior?

"You sure work fast, huh, Keima?" the girl asked, and Kanon didn't fail to notice how the two of them were on a first name basis. She pursed her lips. Hmm, for some reason, she felt personally slighted, though she had no idea why.

"Huh?" Keima said, his brow crinkled out of confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you," Kanon said, leaning forward a bit so he could catch her in his peripheral vision. She bent at a respectable angle. "My name is Eri Nishihara. I'm a friend of Senpai's, so please take care of me!"

Kusunoki, her tirade about making a move on a girl he had just met having been put to an end, nodded her head a bit and said, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Eri. My name is Kusunoki Kasuga, and I just wanted to say that I'm found your performance last Sunday to be outstanding."

"Aw, shucks, I'm glad you liked it," Kanon said, rubbing the back of her neck due to the praise that was showered upon her. "I haven't sung in front of a crowd that large before, so I'm just happy it went well."

As the two exchanged pleasantries, Keima had to hold back from raising an eyebrow. Her lying skills were as impeccable as ever, as expected of a celebrity in disguise. Keima pursed his lips ever so slightly as a low grumble grew in the pit of his stomach. He had to be on his toes - he didn't want to fall into another one of Okada's traps, even though the odds that she'd spring another one so soon were slim.

Eventually, the conversation made its way back to "Eri's" relationship with Keima. Kusunoki asked, "So, I heard that Keima took an interest in you the first time you two met. Is that true?"

Kanon looked unfazed, a bright, cheery smile ever present on her face. "I don't know about interest, but I suppose we're friends now."

"Friends, eh?" a feminine voice said from behind. Keima turned around, and he became face to face with the other Kasuga, a wicked grin on her mug.

Great. Just great.

"Sis, did you really walk all the way around just to sneak up on them from behind?" Kusunoki had a disapproving frown on her face. "I was wondering where you were."

Hinoki shrugged. "Thought it'd be fun to surprise the poor boy, and it turns out that I was correct."

Keima sneaked a peek at Kanon. She eyed the new Kasuga wearily for a split second before once again donning her jovial mask. "So, what relationship do you two share with Senpai?"

"Clubmate/girlfriend," Kusunoki and Hinoki said simultaneously. Immediately, heads snapped in Hinoki's direction, her smug grin showing no signs of wear or tear.

She held out a placating hand as she said, "Okay, okay, I'm joking. No need to get your panties in a twist, ladies. I'm not Keima's girlfriend."

The two girls nodded.

"Yet."

Their heads shot up in tandem once more.

This time, Hinoki couldn't hold back her laughter. As if she were possessed, she hunched over, nearly bawling her eyes out. She was so glad she had not put on mascara; otherwise, her face would have black streaks trailing down it. Between breaths, she managed to say, "Y-you two are adorable! Jealousy is practically written on your faces!"

While Kusunoki simply replied with an eye roll - Keima surmised that she was used to her sister's shenanigans - Kanon pursed her lips. She had a hand on her chin with her head tilted to the ground, as if trying to pool the blood in her head towards her frontal lobe. Keima wondered why she was in such deep thought at such a baseless accusation. The first observation could be that she didn't want a girlfriend to monopolize his time - time that could be spent servicing her. Obnoxious, but not out of line with her previous behavior.

The second, more ominous observation is that she might be in love with him. Keima grimaced. Shiori was already a handful - it would be incredibly difficult to handle a second girl that loved him. He decided to hope against hope that it wasn't the case.

After half a minute or so, Hinoki managed to regain her composure. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she suddenly shot up, her eyes narrowing. She pointed to an alleyway down the street that was around fifty meters from their position. "Kusunoki, we have company."

Looking to where she pointed, Keima couldn't see anything out of place, though in an instant, he saw Kusunoki grip her sleeves and tug hard. With a harsh rip, the sleeves came clean off. She tossed them aside and ran, and the sleeves had yet to reach the floor by the time Keima saw her enter the alleyway.

'Hm, what triggered the Kasuga siblings?'

Surprisingly, there were no signs of a struggle. Keima couldn't hear trashcans being overturned, voices being raised, nor fists making blows. Could the supposed company be benign?

This was confirmed a few seconds later when a nonplussed Kusunoki left the alleyway followed by a girl. The blonde looked sheepish, straightening out her Mai-High uniform and combing a hand through her pigtails. She meekly raised a hand and waved it a bit as she said, "Um, hi, Keima."

"Once again, apologies for almost roughing you up, Mio. We thought you were one of Sis' stalkers," Kusunoki said, a firm frown on her face as she brought a glass of water to her lips. After unexpectedly running into Mio, the five of them went to the nearest establishment to catch up. Fortunately for Keima, the cafe they ended up in wasn't Concordia - the place where he would usually run into Shiori - so he had little worries about a sixth player coming in from left field.

"It's fine, no harm was done," Mio waved off, a bit of her silver tongue showing as she defused the situation, "Besides, I was acting like a bit of a stalker. I just wanted to trail Keima in case he needed help with his new date."

If Shiori or Ayumi were on the business end of that statement, they'd probably be glowing red from embarrassment. However, Kanon managed to keep her cool, saying, "Oh, I'm afraid I'm not dating Senpai, though I'd be remiss not to say he's an eligible candidate."

"You had me fooled," Mio said, her eyes glinting as her curiosity grew. "You two looked fairly comfortable around each other. Matching watches, sharing glasses..."

"Oh, I play games too." Keima had to resist shaking his head at the blasphemy on display. "That's probably why we clicked even though we first met just a few days ago."

Keima looked at Kusunoki. She appeared to be calm after having delivered her apology, though he could see her lips pressed in a firm line. Could she be getting too attached to him? He'd have to recalculate propinquity points later on. However, he had to regain control of the situation. While Kusunoki would most likely remain calm for the remainder of this talk, this was also the girl who pinned him to the wall and kissed him fiercely out of the blue, so he didn't want to risk any shenanigans.

As Keima got up, he brushed up against his cup of coffee, causing it to jostle a tad. While it didn't completely fall over, some of its contents spilled onto Kanon's Mai-High uniform, dying the. "Eeeehh!"

"Ah, sorry. If we go to a laundromat in time, it probably won't stain," Keima said, pulling Kanon's chair back. "See you three."

As quickly as the situation started, Kanon and Keima made their leave.

"We're not getting my uniform cleaned, huh."

"No."

Keima tried his best not to melt under the steady gaze Kanon had subjected him to. It wasn't particularly intense, like the time Ayumi jeered at him after finding out he had kissed Shiori, but it was long, and it was uncomfortable. He felt like he was being examined under a microscope, a mystery that Kanon so desperately wanted to solve that she was trying to peel away at him layer by layer. Unsettling, to say the least. He'd pull out a PFP, but they were either at home or in Tsukiyo's possession. Besides, it was unsafe to bring his PFPs near Kanon since Mari had given her permission to destroy them at her discretion. If Reality was the shittiest game, then moms were truly Reality's hardest boss.

Fortunately for the both of them, the quiet walk to the game store didn't last that long. It was a quaint Mom and Pop store that regularly sold niche galge ahead of release date. Whether or not this deliberate breach of contract was due to the owner's negligence or the demands of fans like him, galge producers chose to look a blind eye at their actions, which made this store a common venture for Keima whenever an underappreciated game's street date was fast approaching. This store was good for another reason; seldom frequented this establishment, so the odds of someone recognizing Kanon were slim to none.

Keima popped open the door and let Kanon in. He still didn't understand why she wanted to go to a game store. Perhaps this was a ploy to see him geek out in his natural element. Even if she had the most nefarious reasons...

...Keima couldn't resist. His mental list of games in his backlog was quick and easy to reference. It was always on his mind after all. His feet took him over to the new releases section, the movements ingrained in him like muscle memory. As he brushed his hands against the game cases, he felt a wave of ease blanket him, like coming home after a long day of school. He supposed that this was his home away from home, among all the games. Yes, even the shitty game remakes that replaced the elegant chiptunes with boorish MIDI sound files. He should make a website that picks those kinds of games apart. Perhaps after all the chaos of junior year is over.

In his gaming-induced stupor, he had almost forgotten the reason why he was in the game store in the first place. He turned around and found Kanon looking up at him, her smile reaching the ends of her flushed cheeks. "You look so happy right now, Keima. You usually only smile when you're playing video games, but if even just window shopping brings you this much joy, I need to bring you here more often."

Keima chose not to respond, a bright flush on his cheeks replacing his grin as he turned back to the rack of games. He picked up a game, trying to recall the critic consensus. If he remembered correctly, the music was atrocious, but the game had an interesting mechanic wherein the initially monochromatic girls would be filled in with the entire visible color spectrum by the end of the game, but at the cost of draining what little color was present from the girls that weren't chosen. Pretty gimmicky, but still worth looking at.

Kanon seemed to be looking at it with interest as well. "So those girls on the cover... they're your type?"

"I like 2D women."

"Eh, but that doesn't mean you don't have a preference when it comes to 3D women, right?" Kanon mused aloud, posturing as if it was a rhetorical question, though Keima knew she was actually posing a question to him. "Like those three girls we saw earlier, and that short-haired girl you were sitting on a bench with when you first saw me in my disguise. Do you like any of them?"

Keima felt the room grow colder and colder. Fortunately, he didn't have to lie when he said, "No."

"I see, interesting." Kanon took a look at her watch. Keima did the same. Six o' clock in the evening. "Keima, can you step outside for a bit? I'd like to talk to the store personnel."

Keima raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to ask the cashier about him. He was one of the store's regulars, at least before he tutored Ayumi, so she would be able to gather data about how often he'd visit the store or what kind of games he'd purchase. Still, he doubted the cashier would give away anything too personal, and Kanon did seem to have a schedule to keep note of, so there should be no harm in letting them talk for a few minutes. After this little internal debate, Keima walked out and said, "Alright, I'll wait for you."

A handful of minutes later, and Kanon came out with a plastic bag in tow. Keima's eyes widened. Giggling to herself, the pink-haired idol pressed the back into Keima's chest. "Here you go, 'Senpai'. Just a little something to cheer you up."

"... Thank you." Keima didn't know what else to say. He was speechless. He looked into the bag and found the game he had been looking at earlier, only there was no cling wrap that acted as a seal for the game. Keima supposed the clerk opened it to guarantee that the game disk was inside. Looking back at Kanon, he gave her a small smile that she returned with her own one hundred megawatt grin.

"Now that you're all cheered up, I hope you're ready for what's next," Kanon said, and even though he felt a little dread seep into his stomach, he failed to muster a grimace. He supposed the sudden act of kindness was super effective, even though a more cynical mind would have seen this as a pseudo-bribe on top of whatever salary Okada was planning to give him. A few months ago, he would have been on that cynical side, though he supposed even he changed too.

"Alright, let's go."

Kanon brought him to a condominium complex. It wasn't particularly notable in any way, but Keima couldn't help but feel shivers down his spine. His gaming senses were screaming, "Parent-meeting flag! Abort! Parent-meeting flag! Abort!"

What other alternative could there be? If this were a meeting with Okada, Kanon would have probably brought Keima to the office, not her home. He was also fairly certain her problems didn't include scary boogeymen hiding underneath her bed.

It didn't seem like he had a choice in the matter.

"Oh ho ho, it seems you've noticed something, Keima." The moment Kanon noticed his hesitation, she grasped him by the crook of his elbow, and dragged him inside.

Much like the exterior, the lobby was quaint. A few residents were seated at a few of the coffee tables that littered the area, many of them appeared to be on the older side of the age spectrum. Keima didn't get much of a chance to look around, however, as Kanon had made a beeline for the elevators that would take them to wherever her home was.

Kanon's home. He watched her press her resident's card against the NFC reader inside the elevator. The LED display above it lit up the number nineteen, and the carriage started its slow ascent. As it rose, so did the feeling of dread within. When he woke up that day, he didn't think he would be meeting the parent's of Japan's rising star. What did she tell them about him? Did she introduce him as a classmate? A friend? Something more? Keima needed to know, so he started, "Hey, Kanon-"

"My parents drop by my place every Tuesday, so it's great that you happen to be free today, Keima," Kanon interrupted as the doors slid open. As expected, the elevators led into a hallway littered with doors to various condo rooms. Before Keima could reiterate, Kanon pulled him out of the elevator towards room nineteen-o-eight. She once again taps her card to the door deadbolt, and the door gives way to her ministrations. Once inside, she instantly pulls off her wig and says, "Mama, Papa, thanks for holding down the fort while I was gone. I brought Keima with me!"

"Pardon the intrusion," Keima mumbled. He steeled himself. Unlike in a game, where love points could be won or lost depending on the outcome of the parent-meeting Event, Keima wasn't trying to steal away Kanon's heart, so all he had to do was avoid angering them to the point of assault. With that in mind, he removed his shoes and stepped out of the landing. It was a small sized 1LK by the looks of it. Considering that Kanon lives here alone, it was rather costly, though Keima supposed being a big-wig idol combined with financial support from her parents since she was still a minor made the condo unit a pill that was easier to swallow.

Speaking of parents, the apparent breadwinner of the family was lying on the couch situated in front of a TV. While his back was to Keima, judging by just his posture and his outfit, Keima could tell that the patriarch of the Nakagawa household was exhausted. He was sprawled out on the couch like the character for ookii while still in his business garb. He eagerly sloshed down a can of cola as two martial artists duked it out on the sixty inch screen.

Keima turned towards the kitchen, where Kanon was chatting with a lively looking woman in her mid forties. Once the woman noticed Keima was looking their way, she beckoned him over with a wave. "Oh, so you're the Keima we've heard about? Please, have a seat over there. We can talk more over dinner."

As Keima made his way over to the dining table, he saw Kanon's father get up from the couch. The two made eye contact. The elder grimaced. "Che, so this is the guy Okada was raving about? Doesn't look like much to me."

The God of Conquests had to resist the urge to eye roll. For such a unique person, Kanon sure had pretty stereotypical parents. Keima lied through his teeth, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Nakagawa."

Keima took his seat, and Kanon's dad sat opposite to him. Fortunately for both of them, it wasn't long till the two women emerged from the kitchen with dishes in hand. Unsurprisingly, it seems the Nakagawa matriarch had been informed of the meeting beforehand since she had prepared an extravagant feast. Soon, the dining table was filled with an assortment of Japanese staples, and the pleasant smell of miso soup wafted into Keima's nose. He was surprised that Reality spared him from having to deal with sweet dessert, but he wasn't willing to tempt the fates, so he didn't bring up the topic of dinner.

After the table was set, Kanon took her seat next to Keima, her mother sitting across her. Then, once everyone expressed thanks for the food, they all dug in, Keima reluctantly so since this marked the start of the interrogation period.

Kanon's mother started, "So, Keima, where did you and Kanon first meet? She seldom goes to school, and when she does, she usually gets lectured in the specialized classrooms."

"I spend my lunchtimes relaxing on the rooftop, and one day she had the same idea. We talked a bit, and we hit it off. I suppose she found ranting about her idol woes to a third party to be cathartic," Keima said, a plastic smile engraved on his face. It was either a fake smile or a grimace at having to resurface painful memories. He could still feel the phantom shocks from her twin stun-guns if he thought about it hard enough.

"What are your grades like," Mr. Nakagawa grumbled out, sticking a cut of salmon into his maw. "College prospects? Ten year plan?"

"Now now, Ryuunosuke dearest," Mrs. Nakagawa interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Remember, they aren't dating."

"But look at the way she looks at him with those doe eyes of hers!" Keima turned around, only to find Kanon whipping her head away, suddenly engrossed in the martial arts bout that was still running on the television. "I don't see her fawning over her boy band colleagues in the same way."

"Papa." The room's temperature suddenly dropped by twenty degrees. The lights in the room flickered. Keima's and Mr. Nakagawa's eyes turned to Kanon, who had a blank expression on her face. She riveted a mechanical smile onto her face as she said, "Please don't tease me like that in front of Keima."

"Yes dearest. Don't scare the boy away, now," Kanon's mother said, holding the same tone and expression as the daughter. Keima saw her father's Adam's apple bob up and down as he gulped, sweat visibly rolling down his brow. Keima almost felt sorry for him. Dealing with Kanon alone was hard enough; imagine having someone like Kanon as a wife. Keima shuddered.

"So," Keima said, deciding to spare the poor man from impending doom, "why does Kanon live separately from the two of you?"

Mrs. Nakagawa's chilly facade shattered, replaced with the warm, gentle expression from earlier as she said, "Since our pride and joy is an idol now, she needs to have a bit of security - more than is what is available where Ryuunosuke and I live. Also, her commute to work and to school is quicker from here, and since a lot of the payment is subsidized by the talent agency, it just made sense to let Kanon live on her own."

This idle chatter continued, and if Keima's appraisal was worth anything - and as the de facto Otoshigami, it was worth a lot, according to him - he seemed to be in the parents' good books by the end of dinner. While it seemed like Mrs. Nakagawa liked him from the start, bailing out the husband from the earlier discussion is what won him over. Once dinner was finished, Kanon walked the three of them to the elevator. The older couple wanted to head for the basement, where Mr. Nakagawa had parked his car, so Keima got off the elevator ahead of them once it reached the ground floor.

And that's where Keima's night would have ended. He would have gone home to a mother that was all too happy to have him out of the house. He would have taken a shower, shoved other S-tier galge into his bag to share with Tsukiyo, and gamed a bit before going to sleep.

Then his phone buzzed. He pulled it out. A message from Kanon.

"Check your game case."

For some reason, every fiber in Keima's body screamed to ignore the death flag posed by the idol and to walk home. Against his instinct, Keima unzipped his bag, pulling out the plastic bag that held his game. Retrieving the game case, he popped it open, and while the game disk was there, on the other half of the case was a key card sandwiched there, much like the one Kanon used to get into the building.

The instinct to flee grew greater.

Keima's phone buzzed again. "I know you've seen it. Come to me."

Keima gulped. Somehow, leaving the condo building before acceding to Kanon's wishes seemed like an even bigger death flag. Keima was going to have to choose the lesser of two evils.

He entered the elevator yet again, and with a shaky hand, he brought up the key card to the reader. The number nineteen lit up on the LED display as expected. Keima brought his wrist to his brow to wipe away the sweat that was forming on it. His mind raced as the elevator climbed up higher and higher.

Was there a way out of this?

If he were to leave, Kanon and Okada would probably do something that would drastically upend the status quo. He was already so close to getting Ayumi back on the team, so if his reputation were to dip, so would hers. He didn't want to risk putting her in a worse position.

If he were to stay... Kanon's propinquity points were already high. Maybe as high as Shiori's, even, and she had tried to seduce him last Sunday, albeit badly. What was Kanon willing to do?

The elevator doors opened for him. Keima stepped out, his footsteps echoing down the empty hallway. He approached Kanon's condo unit, his heart weighed down with tension. His breathing was ragged, and Kanon hadn't even done anything yet. He didn't like his odds.

He pressed the key card against the deadbolt. With a beep, the door swung open.

"Kanon?" Keima called out. "What do you want?"

No one answered.

The lights were off. The TV was off. Only light pouring in from the nearby window kept the condo illuminated enough to walk around without stumbling into anything.

One more thing stood out to him. Lavender. The scent of lavender permeated throughout the place, as if luring Keima deeper and deeper into oblivion.

Since the condo unit wasn't big, it didn't take him long to find two doors - one that presumably led to the restroom, and another that was pushed just slightly ajar. From the little crack, Keima could tell that someone had lit candles inside. Just what was Kanon doing?

As he gripped the handle, Keima took in a deep breath, and pushed it open just a bit. As he had expected, candles, presumably scented, cast the room in a warm, soft light. The gentle fragrance dulled Keima's steel a bit, and with that, Keima opened the door completely.

He was met with Kanon. She sat seiza on her futon, her back facing his. She still had on her skirt, but from the waist up, she wore nothing - her torso laid bare. Her uniform and bra lay strewn on the ground at her side. The features of her back were on display - the candlelight made her back look so pure, so soft, so elegant. Keima gulped. All Kanon would have to do was turn around, and there would be no going back for both of them. The only thing Keima could mutter was, "D-did Okada put you up to this again?"

"Do you think Ms. Okada would even allow me to do this?" Kanon said, bringing her hand to her shoulders. Keima couldn't help but look at the smooth curve her neck and shoulders made as she traced it with her fingertips. Keima's breaths became shallow as Kanon's voice grew sultrier, a timbre in her voice Keima had never heard before.

"I d-don't understand."

Kanon returned her arms to her side as she twisted her head a bit in order to face him. Her mouth was set in a sly grin, as if it couldn't decide whether to be gentle or alluring. It managed to be both as she bit her lower lip.

With a hint of a blush on her face, Kanon stood up and turned around, laying it all to bare.

"Keima, do you like me?"