Connection 33: A Branching Path
Saturday
Today was the big day, Shiori thought to herself as she double checked her appearance in the mirror. She was fully decked out in the outfit she and Fujiidera-senpai had bought for her the other day. She had on a long sleeved boat neck shirt worn over a denim jumper that reached the middle of her thighs. It wasn't particularly flashy, but the black boots she had on were comfortable, and the outfit as a whole was cute, clean, and simple, as Fujiidera-senpai had put it.
This was it. It was now or never.
Shiori yawned as she peered into the reflective surface, thankful that dark circles hadn't formed under her eyes due to her lack of sleep. She couldn't help but feel the need to double and triple check her plan which forced her to stay up until the clock struck two. It probably wasn't the healthiest choice, but it had calmed her nerves more than lying down in her bed, staring up at the ceiling in the hopes that sleep would find her.
Her anxiety spiked once more. Like clockwork, she recited the plan in her head again.
Since it was the inter-school athletics meet, the school schedule would be shortened even more so that the teens of Mai-High could go and support their student-athletes. That left her a time frame of eleven thirty in the morning onward as her schedule. Her eyes shot towards the four season passes to Dezini Sea that were lying on her desk, a thick book acting as a paper weight to keep them from flying off. Her parents had bought a few passes in an effort to get the reticent girl out of the house more, and they were ecstatic to learn that their daughter was finally going to use them. She'd be leaving two of the passes at home, but of course she had no intention of telling them that.
During their time at the theme park, she had to get him to open up. Just as she had let him into her world that day, she had to worm her way into his. She wasn't quite sure how she'd manage to do that, which is why she stayed up so late, but she'd have to play it by ear.
Shiori yawned again, peeling off the outfit so she could change into her Mai-High uniform. Was the Concordia cafe open at this time? Probably. Maybe she'd drop by for a cup of joe before going to school...
Ding, dong, dang dong
That signaled the end of the last period of the day. Normally, there would be one more, but thanks to the athletics meet, dismissal came early. Also, there were two girls missing from his class that were normally there, but as competing athletes themselves, the school had excused them from going to class for the day.
Students poured out of the classrooms and into the halls. Those who were friends with the athletes were eager to show their support, while the others were just happy to get out of class early.
As Keima tossed his Virtual PFP into his bag, a hand slammed onto his desk. His eyes widening, he looked up to see the smirking mug of Chihiro. "Oi, Katsuragi. Let's go to the field."
He had to wait for Shiori, but Keima didn't plan on telling the musician that. "I'll wait a bit. I'd rather not brush up against a bunch of mob characters while they fill the hallways."
"'Mob', huh?" Chihiro gave it a moment of thought, but shook her head in the end. "Never mind. I'll go ahead then. Gotta find a good seat before the others do. Later!"
It took a few minutes, but eventually, the crowd in the halls of Mai-High had thinned out drastically. Keima slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out, his PFP in hand.
He arrived in front of classroom 2-C. Peering inside, the Otoshigami found noting but desks and tables. Keima hummed to himself. Just where had she gone?
As if on cue, he heard a cough from behind. He pivoted and was met with the girl in question. Her Mai-High uniform was gone, replaced with a completely different outfit. While he had seen her in other clothes before, it still wasn't a sight he was used to as of yet. One thing that didn't change was that she had a big tome hugged to her chest. She looked up at him shyly, fiddling with the strap of a small satchel that sat on her shoulder. "Hi, Keima-kun. I hope I didn't keep you waiting. Um, how do I look? I got this just the other day."
Keime gave her a once-over. "It works. Anyway, let's go. The track meet is about to start."
Shiori opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to say more, but instead, she just took in a deep breath and nodded.
The two made their way to the field. Five sets of bleachers sat under a large tent right next to the starting line. The students already seated were cheering for the pole vaulters performing their craft at the center of the oval as others meticulously lined up the hurdles for the four hundred meter hurdling event.
It wasn't that packed. If it had been a more popular sport like soccer or basketball, Keima and Shiori would have struggle to find a seat. Fortunately, there were more than enough for the two of them.
...Though, with the expectant look Chihiro was shooting at him from the start of the bleachers, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to choose for himself. He took a glance at Shiori. She gave him a big yawn. Taking that as approval, Keima made his way over to Chihiro and sat down next to her. Shiori followed suit, taking her place at Keima's left.
"Took you long enough," Chihiro said, playfully slugging his shoulder. He wobbled, though his eyes were still glued to the handheld in his grasp. "Hey, make sure to put that away when it's Ayumi's turn."
"Yes, Mom," Keima said, rolling his eyes. That earned him another punch. His eyes widened as he felt something touch his other shoulder.
It was Shiori. Lights out. Her sleeping form loosely clutched the book to her person, her head resting on his shoulder. Keima pursed his lips. She was clearly exhausted, and it was only nine forty five in the morning. The preparations must have been intensive. Just what did she have in store for him?
"So," Chihiro's voice lingered as Keima's attention turned to her, "who is she? Is she from a different school?"
Right, these two have never met. "No, she's from 2-C. Met her in the library a few weeks ago."
"...her outfit's cute" the guitarist said, leaning forward to get a better view of the sleeping girl. "You two seem to be pretty close."
"We're just acquainted," Keima rebutted.
Shiori snored.
"Righttttt, I totally believe you," Chihiro said, her tongue laced with sarcasm. "By the way, thanks for hooking me up with that job. Say, you wouldn't happen to know who that Makoto Yoshii is, right?"
Keima schooled his features, though if Chihiro had been more observant, she would have been able to see him mess up an input. Faced with an angry heroine on his screen, he'd have to reload his save. "No, not really."
"Oh, I have a great idea!" Chihiro said, clapping her hands together. "Once I work up the courage to ask him out, we should totally go on a double date or something. You can bring..."
"Shiomiya."
"Shiomiya-chan along!"
Keima raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want me to join you on your date?"
Chihiro's face quickly turned beet red. "A-ah, I dunno. I just thought I'd feel less nervous if I had you there. It'd be my first real date, y'know."
"Hmph," Keima said, pushing up his glasses. "As expected of a girl with no experience."
"Shut up, you nerd." This time she punched his arm for real. She smiled at hearing him grunt. "Dates in games don't count."
"Attention," a voice boomed from the loud speakers, "thus concludes the pole vault event. Runners for the women's four hundred meter hurdling, please approach the starting line."
From a tent on the sidelines emerged eight girls. Judging by the uniforms each one sported, there were four schools participating with two representatives each. Of course, there was only one person that Keima recognized.
Ayumi Takahara took her place at the outermost layer of the track, doing a few pre-run stretches to loosen up her limb. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and she eventually saw the three of them on the bench. He saw her eyes light up as their gazes met, but a small scowl formed when she saw the girl on his shoulder. She pulled out the ribbon he had gotten her a few weeks ago and tied up her hair, the way she tightened the knot sending shivers up Keima's spine. The bespectacled boy put down his PFP and reached for his neck. They both knew the thing she wanted to use her ribbon on at that moment, and it sure wasn't her hair.
"Alright, can't wait to see Ayumi kick their asses!" Chihiro cheered, oblivious to the nonverbal altercation her two friends had just shared.
Keima just watched as Ayumi turned her furious glare away from him and towards the hurdles in front of her.
The officiator raised his revolver and fired a blank. The sound of the gun didn't even compare to the sound Ayumi's foot made as it struck the dirt beneath her.
Bang! Her legs were like pistons, propelling her forward with the speed of a freight train. Each hurdle might as well have been an inch high as she soared over each and every one of them. It was hard to even make out the state of the other competitors as the dust cloud Ayumi left in her wake completely obfuscated the spectators' view.
In what felt like just a handful of seconds, Ayumi had crossed the finish line, her chest heaving as the tape fell to the floor. She set her exhaustion aside and walked straight for the bleachers, ignoring her coach and teammates.
As he was sandwiched between a sleeping girl and a excited one, Keima couldn't even attempt to escape. Besides, even if he could, she'd be able to catch up to him without breaking a sweat. Instead, he just braced for the worst.
"Congrats, Ayumi! You did amazing~" her friend cheered, though her voice fell at the angry look on the runner's face. Chihiro's gaze bounced between her and Keima. "A-ayumi, is there something wrong?"
"There sure is," Keima heard her grumble as she leaned in close to his ear. "What is going on here, Keima?"
"A date," Keima whispered back. He could see her hands ball themselves up into fists.
"Hmph, fine, do whatever you want. You're all mine tomorrow, anyway," Ayumi spat coldly, walking away from him. She gave one glance at Chihiro, whose confusion was evident on her face. "Let's hit a karaoke joint later, Chihiro."
"A-ah, sure." Chihiro said, waving as the runner took her leave. The two watched as she was chewed out by her coach before being ushered towards the awards podium where two other girls were waiting with their silver and bronze medals in hand.
Keima looked away from the runner. Shiori still slept on his shoulder, looking completely detached from the world. He better wake her up before she started drooling on him. He reached around and shook her. "Oi, Shinomiya, wake up."
Her body jumped up like he had sent a jolt of electricity through her spine. She fumbled, barely managing to catch her book before it spilled to the floor. She turned her head towards him, eyes like a deer's in the headlights.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep!" Shiori said. She reached into her satchel and fished out a white handkerchief. Keima could make out the kanji for Shinomiya that was embroidered on it. She dabbed it against her mouth to get rid of the drool that had dried on it. "E-eh, how long was I out?"
"Long enough for Ayumi to win, now let's go." With that, Keima stood up, too deep in thought to notice the surprised look on the two girls' faces.
It didn't take a Capturing God to notice that Ayumi was incredibly jealous. Her eyes had held unbridled fury. He was surprised she hadn't raised her voice, but he guessed that she didn't want to wake up the obviously fatigued girl that had been resting on him. That thought comforted the nerd. Her love points were still manageable if she still had the ability to hold herself back like that. That aside, he needed to be careful. If he kept on being blatantly distant, her love points could decrease to the point that he'd never be able to see her heroine traits, or her jealousy could turn her anger into love points, creating yet another Kanon.
No thanks. One Kanon was more than enough.
It seemed like he was going to have to put in extra effort tomorrow.
"...Did something happen between you and Ayumi-san?" Shiori said as she caught up to the boy.
"It was nothing important," Keima said, waving a hand at her dismissively. Shiori's confused countenance morphed into a concerned one.
There it was again. That facade of his. The one he used to interact with the world at large. Always sheltering his true self, the one that she could only get a glimpse at whenever he was immersed in one of those games of his. This was his world, his shelter, and unlike Shiori, Keima had no desire to leave or to open up the gates.
If the bookworm was serious about pursuing this man, she had no choice but to pry those gates open herself.
Today was the day. Her biggest rival had some kind of deal with him tomorrow, and she had no idea how often he kept in touch with Kanon. If Shiori failed today, who knew when the next chance would come?
"Keima-kun, that won't work forever," she said, her hand sliding down from his shoulder to his hand. She laced her fingers with his and squeezed. "I'll make my way into your world whether you want me to or not."
Keima didn't even have to look into her eyes to see the passion, the drive that Shiori had. He felt it in her grip. Soft, warm, strong, secure - those sensations and more coursed up Keima's arm and into his system. Pure dogged determination.
The only other time he felt this kind of purity and devotion in the Real world was with the woman he had just pissed off.
Did he have to observe Shiori too? She had heroine traits. She had heroine lines. She even had a heroine-esque story arc.
Keima could see a few potential Endings, and the crux of all of those routes rested on if she could actually get him to open up. The God of Conquests knew how it would be to enter his secluded world, and he also knew he didn't want anyone entering it. Still, he supposed that the only ones with the ability to break in would have to be those worthy of the Heroine title. It was exciting, in a way.
He decided to accept her challenge.
After eating a quick meal at a family restaurant, the two made their way to the main attraction of the date: Dezini Sea. The moment Shiori told him to get tickets for Narusawa City, Keima had a feeling they'd end up in front of the prolific park's gates. He thought it was the perfect location, for his selfish reasons at the very least. Since it was in a completely different city, the odds he'd run into another girl he knew were slim, aside from Sumire and Asami he supposed. They were not the type to intrude on their date, though, so as far as Keima knew, he could observe Shiori without interruptions.
As for Shiori, it was probably a safe bet to choose this location, especially since she already had tickets beforehand. There were so many things to do at a theme park, so if one thing didn't work out, they could move on to the next attraction, long lines permitting.
Keima was shook from his thoughts by the one of the park staff stamping his wrist. "And there you go. Please enjoy your stay in Dezini Sea."
With a nod, the nerd left the ticket barrier area to rejoin his companion. She played with the strap of her bag, a map of the park sticking out of the closed book she held close to her.
"So, where do you want to go first?" Keima asked, the plan she had in store for him lingering in the back of his mind. If she had just decided to wing it, he wouldn't be surprised, but to go about worming her way into his domain, she had to have a plan.
"Since you like games so much," Shiori said, pulling out her map and storing her book in her satchel, "let's head for the section with the carnival games, and to spice things up, let's make a bet."
"A bet?" Keima's mind went back to the old bet he had with Chihiro a few weeks ago. That bet had ramifications that persisted to this day. He had taken Kusunoki out on a date, Ayumi had stopped it from escalating, and he had to serve Chihiro for a good week. All of those events had raised the propinquity points of the three girls significantly. The Capturing God couldn't help but wonder if Shiori's bet could pull off the same feat.
"If I do better than you in at least one of the games, you have to read a book I lend you," Shiori's hand moved to her bag subconsciously. "If you beat me at every single game, I'll buy you one of those video games you like so much."
Keima resisted the urge to scoff. A mere mortal planned to challenge the Otoshigami to games? Just the thought baffled the boy. He recalled how even Kusunoki, whose strength was resolute and movements were flawless, scored less than him at whack-a-mole. He hardly thought Shiori could do better. Still, he was the Otoshigami - he had to show the pitiful mortals of this world their place. He gave a silent apology to Shiori's family and loved ones for the beatdown that was about to occur. "It's a deal."
The two shook hands, sealing their fate.
Shiori grit her teeth. She knew he was amazing at video games, but did he have to be so good at other games too?
The librarian ran through the list in her head.
First, they went to the ring toss game that entailed throwing plastic rings onto the necks of glass bottles. Some bottles would give out better prizes than others, and of course, Keima managed to land his first ring onto one of those bottles. Keima walked out of that booth with a medium sized lion plush toy, and Shiori walked out empty handed.
Okay, so that wasn't the best approach, she had thought. Thanks to those video games of his, Keima had better hand eye coordination than her, so his victory wasn't that much of a surprise. That just meant she had to target a weakness of his - athletics.
Second, they went to the basketball free throw. You were given ten balls, and if you could score at least five points, you'd win a prize.
From the literature she's read, the way these are rigged is that these hoops are eleven feet tall, whereas those from professional sports are only ten. For those unaccustomed to sports, the extra foot just made the shot that much harder, while those who actually played basketball had the muscle memory for ten feet, not eleven, so their aim and power would be off.
The two of them were the former for sure, so Shiori just had to hope she'd make more baskets than him.
Keima lucked out and managed to sink one in, while Shiori got zero buckets. Neither of them walked out with a prize, but only Shiori walked out with a frown.
Third, they went to the high striker. The sign next to it taunted the pair. "Test your strength!" it said. From watching other people play it, you'd pick up a mallet and aimed to hit the end of a seesaw with all the strength you could muster. The other end of the seesaw would rise up, hitting a puck on a rail. If you used enough force, the puck would hit the bell, and the person would win a prize.
It was perfect, Shiori had thought. After handing her stuff to Keima, she walked up to the contraption, mallet in hand. She and Keima had less than average strength compared to their peers, so if she managed to barely win, she doubted Keima could.
Shiori took a deep breath, and thought bad, evil thoughts. She imagined one person placing a book in the wrong bookshelf. She thought of falling asleep only to discover she was sent to a world where all paperbacks were replaced with cold, soulless e-book readers. She pictured Kanon and Ayumi feeding Keima ice cream in skimpy clothing, saying "Ahn ❤" as he'd reach down to-
"HAAAAAAAAA!" With a bellowing war cry, Shiori used her hip to twist, driving the hammer into the seesaw with thunderous force. The staff member managing the booth looked shocked, rubbing at his eyes as the puck was sent throttling skyward, only to be stopped by the bell.
RING! Shiori used the back of her hand to wipe away the sweat that formed on her forehead as she heard clapping.
"Well well, your girlfriend's got a good arm on her, kid. If you two ever get into an argument, I hope you have 110 on speed dial! HAHAHAHA!" the staffer said, pulling out a metal pin that had the park mascot emblazoned on it and handing it to the winded girl.
Shiori's face flushed as she slid her prize into her bag. "A-ah, we're not-"
BOOM! The sound of metal scraping metal made Shiori turn around, and it was her turn to look slack-jawed. The puck had somehow lodged itself into the bell. Keima stood at the base of the machine, her stuff in one hand, the mallet in another. Shiori could have sworn he had a halo over his head, though that must have been a simple trick of the light.
So this was the power of the Otoshigami in his element. How terrifying!
"Let's go to the toy rifle station," Shiori said, walking to a cowboy western-themed booth. Keima checked his watch. They had been at it for around three hours, and Shiori hasn't won a single game. It was to be expected, of course - what was a mortal to a god? - but Keima didn't let his guard down, especially since he saw her lips twitch into a smile for a split second before she cooled her features. That meant she had a plan up her sleeve.
All the seats but one were taken, so Shiori went first. As she started blasting away at the wooden cowboys that walked across the rural landscape, Keima felt a buzz in his pocket. Instantly, he was on edge.
Luckily for him, once he read the sender's name, he relaxed.
Chihiro Kosaka: "my shift at the Aoyama's is almost over, and Yoshii-kun still hasn't dropped by ( ≧Д≦)"
Keima rolled his eyes. His fingers typed out, "Why are you telling me this? Ask Mio or something, she's friends with him."
"like, she's cool and all, but what if she has the hots for him too (⊙△⊙✿) wouldn't that make her my rival or smth?"
"Somehow, I doubt that."
He received a few more angry buzzes, but decided to ignore it in favor of taking Shiori's spot. She was fairly successful, managing to accrue enough points to win a cute leather pouch meant to hold coins, but there was still enough leeway to score a better prize than her without too much trouble. On top of that, he was able to observe her while she played, so he knew just how inaccurate the toy gun was.
'Just need to aim slightly to the left of each target,' Keima said, getting comfortable with the feel of cheap plastic in his hand. He pulls the trigger, and with a click, one of the wooden cowboys goes down.
And then he felt something press against his back and arms circle around his waist. He said, "O-oi, what are you doing?"
"I-I'm just doing what needs to be done!" he could hear from behind him.
She was hugging him from behind, and the warmth and the contact was getting to his head. A flood of memories came rushing at him: his time with Kusunoki in the alley, his dance with Hinoki at the party, and the kiss he shared with Kanon.
Keima aimed at the bandit hiding behind one of the damsels and fired. The BB barely grazed it, so it remained standing.
The nerd grit his teeth. Instead of growing more immune to physical proximity from Real girls, it was like he had grown more vulnerable to it instead. Keima took a deep breath and concentrated.
'You are the Capturing God. Do not let the sense-data of the Real force you off of your destined path. All you need to do is to ascend from this plane of existence,' Keima reminded himself. His nerves were steeled, and the sensation on his back stopped beckoning for his attention. He pulled the trigger, knocking over a hooligan holding a comically large sack of money with a well placed shot.
Perfect. As long as he didn't lose his concentration-
Keima felt a pair of lips press against his cheek. He felt lip gloss leave its mark on his countenance. Shiori said, "Consider that an extra prize from me."
All his concentration went out the window.
So this was the power of Reality's cheap set of parlor tricks. How terrifying!
Keima Katsuragi was annoyed to no end. He had fallen short of tying Shiori by a single point thanks to her obnoxious shenanigans, and to top it all off, the low-tier prize was a bag of goddamn confectionery. He grumbled to himself. If he had only managed to trigger his God of Conquests mode, he would have been able to shut out all worldly stimuli, and he would have wiped the deck with the bookworm!
He turned his gaze to the winner of the bet, who didn't look much better. She fidgeted with her bag strap once again, a frown on her face. "Sorry, did I go a little overboard earlier?"
"No, it's okay," Keima said, handing the offending sweets to the girl. She saw it as an olive branch and eagerly took it. In all honestly, he wasn't mad that she had to rely on underhanded tactics to win. It would be impossible for a Real woman to beat him at games otherwise. Plus, the scenario was a win-win for him: he'd either get a new game to add to his ever growing collection or the chance to see what other cards Shiori had up her sleeve.
He just hated the feeling of losing. If this is how the mortals of this world felt all the time, he could almost forgive them for being Real. Almost.
"Well, if you say so," Shiori said, swapping the sweets in her hand for the book she had been holding earlier. She handed it to him, and he took it.
It was a hefty tome, probably as thick as three or four game cases. "Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime", the cover read out in bold, white strokes of kana set to a backdrop of the vast expanse of space.
Shiori started to explain, "I wanted to bridge our interests, so I did some research, and video games are defined by the control given to the player. It's a choose-your-own-adventure book but for the young adult market, and I think it'll give you a similar sense of agency. A-and I know most of the games you play are centered around romance, so I factored that in too."
As Keima nodded and put it into his schoolbag, he let the thought marinade in his mind for a bit. There were zero galge that featured those sorts of books as the main topic, so it would be a novel experience to say the least. Also, this clued Keima into Shiori's method - she'd try to connect their worlds together. It sounded like a decent angle of attack on paper, but he wondered if it would work in practice.
He supposed he'd give the book an honest shot, even if it cut into his playing time.
"Ah, I'll go and use the restroom, if you don't mind," Shiori said as they passed by said stalls. The men's line was non-existent, while the women's was so long, it snaked out of the restroom proper, so Keima stood a few feet away, ready to pull out his PFP and while away the time when he felt another buzz in his pocket.
He fished out his smartphone and saw a bunch of notifications from LINE. They were mostly incoherent pleas from the aspiring guitarist, so he made sure to just ignore those. The most recent message, however, was from his new "disciple", so to speak.
Tsukiyo Kujou: "I've just completed 'Blind Melancholy', and you were right - the twist is absolutely heartwrenching. When it was revealed that the main character had prosopagnosia the entire time, I had to take a minute to rest lest I break out into tears. Do you happen to have the sequel?"
Just seeing the words "Blind Melancholy" and "sequel" in the same statement was enough to send the gamer in to a blind rage. His fingers furiously tapped his screen.
"Unfortunately, I do own Blind Melancholy 2, and it's garbage. Utter garbage. It ruined everything the first game had going for it. Every choice you made in the first game becomes meaningless. Due to budget cuts, the voice cast had to be changed, and the art and music have taken a significant hit. Not to mention..."
Shiori emerged from the restroom, thanking her lucky stars that the line wasn't too long. Her bladder had been ready to burst. She looked around to find her companion, and it didn't take her much effort to do so. He was the only one in the area who was stomping his feet angrily like a horde of cockroaches were scampering about underfoot. She could see steam pour out of his ears, beads of sweat forming on his brow as his fingers angrily tapped away at his smartphone screen. She would have been concerned had his anger not been so comical.
"Do you need help, Keima-kun?" Shiori asked. Like a spell had been broken, Keima's eyes widened. He held up a hand, she nodded, he finished whatever he was doing, and then he put away his smartphone.
"Ahem," Keima said, clearing his throat, "I was just stopping someone from playing a really shitty game."
Shiori let out a chuckle. "I should have known. It's rare to see you so impassioned otherwise."
The vexed look he had on brought a smile to the librarian. It was a genuine reaction from her love interest, and she couldn't get enough of it. She wanted more.
She unfurled her map and looked for things to do. Now that she had won the bet, they could finally leave the carnival area and more on to more interesting things. Shiori pursed her lips. She needed to find something that would let them talk so she could pry Keima open, so roller-coasters were out of the question. Besides, she didn't really fancy those death contraptions.
Then she saw it, and she smiled. "Okay, let's go to the Tunnel of Love next."
The two were ushered into a small boat by the park staff. It was a small boat with very little elbow room - Shiori and Keima were close enough that their knees were touching. As the bar lowered to keep the in the boat, the staffer said, "Please enjoy your fifteen minutes of alone time."
And with that, they were jettisoned into the dark depths of the park attraction. True to its name, the Tunnel of Love was little more than an excuse to spend some private time with your partner in a public place. It was pitch black. Shiori could barely make out Keima's face, and he was literally right next to her. That heightened all their other senses. She became acutely aware of the sound of rushing water beneath them, the motion of the boat as it rocked in the gentle waves as it embarked on its adventure, and the feel of Keima's body next to hers. All that combined with the fact that the distance between their boat and other patrons' boats was so large made it so that they really were alone.
Keima shared her thoughts, and he had no doubt that girls like Kanon or Kusunoki would want to start sucking face the moment they rounded the corner away from the other park-goers. While Shiori wasn't as bold as those two, when she reached out and wrapped her arms around his own, pressing it against her, the contact still dulled his cognitive abilities.
"Keima-kun," Shiori started, her voice low in order to keep any one else from listening to their conversation, "why do you like games so much?"
An expected question, but one he was eager to answer. "The 3D world is an unfair one where you have to live by its arbitrary set of rules and regulations. Bad things happen to good people, and a lot of the time, it's for no good reason. On the other hand, the 2D world is one that makes sense. A game developer takes their experience with the Real world and distills it, cutting out a lot of the fat of the 3D world in order to posit a world that is only flawed enough to remain interesting to the player. In essence, it's an idealized version of the Real world. Why should I devote my energy to a shitty, unfair world, when I could simply spend my time with an Ideal?"
He felt her lean her head on his shoulder, just like she did earlier that day. "Hmm, so what makes games different from other forms of media? People use movies and books as forms of escapism as well, and from what research I've done, games are the exact same thing minus the player agency."
"Hmm." He felt her gently stroke the arm in her grasp. It was one of the more innocent physical gestures that he was on the receiving end of, but it was paradoxically one of the most intimate ones as well. "Aside from my gaming affinity, games are simply the best medium. It gives auditory and visual feedback not present in books, and as you mentioned earlier, movies do not give the agency that games do. Attempts have been made to add agency to other forms of media as seen in online streaming services for movies and the choose-your-own-adventure novels for books, but none do it as effectively as games."
"Well, I think that you're selling books short," Shiori said. Keima could feel her heartbeat pick up. "No matter how good the music is or how vivid the video game graphics are, none of them compare to the sights and sounds you can imagine in your head. And like you said, if you want agency, we have choose-your-own-adventure route. Books can go toe-to-toe with games."
The two went back and forth the entire time.
"Some games can provide endless amounts of enjoyment because during new playthroughs, players can make different choices that can impact the story."
And it brought so much joy to Shiori. For the first time since the day she and Keima locked down the library, she felt like she was having a real conversation with the gaming recluse, and while she was grateful for the new bonds she was forming with other people like Fujiidera-senpai and her kouhai triplets, the relationship she shared with Keima was the one she cherished the most, and she could feel it growing stronger as her knowledge on his love for games grew more nuanced.
"Books are significantly cheaper, especially paperbacks."
Keima would be reluctant to admit that he was enjoying the conversation as well. He always felt good imparting knowledge of the gaming world like a missionary on a campaign, and while he doubted the veracity of Shiori's claims, but that just made him... excited to crack open the book and see with his own eyes if she was right or wrong.
The connection the two had when they entered the tunnel was completely different from the one they had after coming back to the real world.
They had just finished eating dinner, and the park was close to closing. In light of that, Shiori had decided to go to one last attraction: the Ferris Wheel - the couples' classic. Keima could see why she wanted to cap off the trip with this. Just like the Tunnel of Love, it was private, and unlike said tunnel, the sight outside the cabin window was gorgeous.
As the cabin took its predetermined path, the pair slowly ascended, the world below them becoming a sea of light not unlike the star-dotted night sky that existed above them.
"Thank you for coming today, Keima-kun," Shiori said from across the bespectacled boy. Her gaze lingered on the bag that sat at his feet. "Make sure to take care of the book."
"I will."
"Oh, and I'm expecting reports on your progress. Every day."
Keima rolled his eyes. That brought him back to the days where he had to give Ayumi reports on his progress with Shiori. "Who are you? Takahara?"
He saw the girl in front of him stiffen. "...It's rude to mention other girls during a date, Mr. Katsuragi."
"Apologies." Keima looked away from the girl as he heard the crackling of fireworks in the distance. Streams of fire burst forth from behind the iconic Dezini Sea castle, dyeing the night sky in light.
Keima's attention was suddenly taken away from the light show when he felt the gondola jostle. He let out a yelp. Out of reflex, his arms darted out, wrapping around Shiori's waist who had seemingly jumped to his side of the gondola.
Her arms encircled his neck, staring at him with wide doe eyes. The gondola was dimly lit, and he could only make out her features thanks to the luminescence of the fireworks. She looked positively ephemeral, like she'd disappear if he held her too hard. Her voice was soft, "The moment I make my way into your world, the only girl you'll think of is me."
Keima, desperate to de-escalate the situation, said, "Which book did you get that line fr-"
She closed the distance, and she drank his taste. She hummed approvingly as she held him tighter.
The fireworks that boomed in the background were nothing compared to the ones going off in her head at the feeling of his lips on hers.
For the first time in forever, Keima's six 4K 120 Hz gaming monitors were off, his beefy gaming rig silent as he sat in his gaming chair with a book in hand.
As promised, he gave the book a shot, and he was brought into its world.
As the title would suggest, "Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime" was about the first colony of humans sent to terraform Mars and make it a livable place for the rest of the human populace. The unnamed captain of the ship had been suddenly thrust into the position, so he had to become familiar with the other occupants of the ship.
Over the course of the novel, Keima had to make decisions that affected not only the functional integrity of the spaceship but also the captain's relationship with his crew.
After completing his first "route", where the captain and the doctor are the only ones to make it off the ship due to an outbreak of the disease Radical-6, Keima took a short break to gather his thoughts.
As he expected, books were simply an inferior version of games. While he supposed that the prose evoked stronger feelings than mere CGs could, it didn't make up for the clunky "UI". On his desk were a bunch of strips of paper that served as bookmarks - the save data equivalent. Since this book had a lot of choices in order to emulate the agency a game would give, as a completionist, that meant Keima had to make a new bookmark and label it properly for each branching path, and it was just cumbersome.
The route he had just finished had only taken him around an hour and a half to read through, which he found a bit lacking. It was simply a limit of the medium - if there were a lot of routes, the routes themselves couldn't be too long or else the book would be obnoxiously big and vise versa.
Even if books were clearly inferior to games... he found himself liking them. The most important thing about games - using your choices to save heroines - still carried over to this choose-your-own-adventure novel. He had just saved this doctor's life, even if it was by jumping to different page numbers instead of pressing dialogue options. If he could play even the shittiest games (like that abominable Blind Melancholy 2) in order to save the heroines that lay within, didn't that mean that as the God of Conquests, he was obliged to save these book heroines as well?
...He couldn't see any other option. Just looking at the book that lay still on his desk, he could picture the cries of help from the colonists. He recalled the time he spent a good chunk of his day to cheer up a 2D girl at a real life batting cage.
"If there's a girl and an ending," Keima reminded himself, "it's a galge."
Fortunately for him, he doubted there were that many choose-your-own-adventure books with heroine routes, so he didn't have to do any meticulous documenting like he had to do with the weekly galge releases. It should easy enough to catalog them all and track them one by one...
...or was it? This was foreign territory for him, and though he was sure he'd be able to get most of them, the thought of missing even a single book left him an empty feeling in his stomach.
Keima looked at his phone.
Perhaps he could ask for help from his friendly neighborhood librarian.
Then Keima shook his head. He couldn't. He had to keep her love points under a certain cap - he didn't want another Kanon on his hands. Also, Shiori had warned him that she was going to do her best to bridge the gap between her books and his games, and this was basically him admitting defeat without even giving himself time to think and make sure that was the right answer.
The boy took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he...
A: ...do his novel search alone? (Chapter tbd)
B: ...ask Shiori for her help? (Chapter 34)
Pending Deadlines
Start of Tenri Week: 2 days remaining
Shogi Team Evaluation: 6 days remaining
Kanon's Monthsary: 8 days remaining
Footnotes:
1. 110 is Japan's emergency hotline
2. Shiori's outfit looks a lot like Phi's in Zero Time Dilemma since I've been obsessing about that series of video games recently, so if my description doesn't suit your fancy, feel free to hit up Google Images.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! That's right, on July 24th, Connections turns 5 years old! (Just ignore the fact that it isn't finished yet huhu)
Editing is going to be on the scarce side because it's currently 10pm and I want to upload this before midnight so Conn 33 can still come out on its birthday, so apologies in advance.
And I'm kind of scared. This is a rather bold step to take. I anxiously wait for your feedback regarding the steps I'm taking regarding the dynamic between Shiori and Keima. Was it too rushed? Is Keima OOC? I would have asked xellos, but I also wanted to keep this a surprise. I'll just take the L if that's the case, and we can pretend none of this never happened lol.
Also, apologies for the awful cliffhanger! I wanted to be able to publish Conn 34 today as well, but I ran out of time (because I spent too much time procrastinating). Don't worry, it's already outlined, so it should be out Soon™.
Okay, now onto the big topic: Shiori Shiomiya. I tried not to make this whole chapter all about her, and I think I succeeded with the little bits of Chihiro, Ayumi, and Tsukiyo sprinkled in. Still, it's clear that this was her chapter, no doubt about it. (I swear she isn't my favorite girl LOL.) If you haven't put two and two together, let's just say that I lied when I said Kanon was going to get her ending first.
As I mentioned earlier, I think it was risky to posit the "can books with choices count as galge?" question since that's a question that gets to the heart of who Keima is. I hope I was able to properly justify why I think Keima would want to save book heroines as well as video game heroines.
As always, thank you so much for the reviews, they keep me going. If you have any complaints, I'll make sure to address them over the coming days.
I'll see you in Chapter 34. Whether that'll follow Route A or Route B... I'll keep it a secret for now. Stay safe, friends.