Hello everyone, I'm back!
It took me almost 2 and half months to update this and I'm sorry for that.
Not much more to say for now, maybe except that this chapter is very specific, so I apologize in advance, as there are at least 2 things here that some of you might dislike. We'll see.
(* * *)
Previously on The World Kanon Only Knows:
Keima and Kanon are invited to dinner with Kanon's parents. The dinner seems to be off to a bad start as Kanon's parents are not happy about him dating their daughter. Keima stays his ground though and admits he likes Kanon, after which it turns out the parents more or less approve of the relationship.
Keima and Kanon continue to meet for studying, game designs and dates, going steady. As the summer break comes to an end, Mari, who is by now reconciled with her son, talks to Keima, suggesting he should contribute to the home budget, preferably by using his gaming hobby.
Now, let us see what new surprises await in the new term!
Enjoy!
(* * *)
"Have a good day and study hard!" Mari waved her hand as Keima and Eri left Café Grandpa and started walking to school.
"Bye, mom!" Eri waved back, before turning to her brother. "It's nice to go to school again, right nii-sama?"
"Let's see if you'll be so happy about school when the mid term tests come," Keima said, fingers pressing buttons on his PFP.
"It's fine!" Eri said. "Last year it wasn't that hard and after that, we'll have the entire week of freedom!"
"We're third years now," he reminded her, "which means we'll have more tests and final exams preparation and almost no free time before the dance festival itself," he explained and watched as Eri froze before turning to him, panic on her face.
So she didn't think about this? She didn't realize that not only would this year much be much harder and the exams more important, but she was also supposed to help in the café: something she might like to do, but with all of this together she was bound to end up overworked.
Not that any of it surprised Keima, but it made plan A (aka "let Eri figure it out herself") infeasible, so he'd have to move to plan B.
They arrived at school (Eri a little less sure of herself than before) and walked through the corridors when Keima suddenly heard his name being called.
"Katsuragi-san!"
What now, Keima thought, a bit surprised at the suffix. Who calls him like that, especially at school? He reckoned only Diana did nowadays. When he turned around, however, he noticed a highschool girl he did not know.
"My name is Marika Uchida," the girl said and bowed slightly, "I'm from the Mai-High newspaper."
Keima was not surprised. That wasn't the first time he had met someone from the Mai-High newspaper this year, although the previous times there were different students. And of course, all the previous times were about one thing.
They wanted some juicy gossip about Kanon.
Good thing they came to him first instead of Eri. That way he had been able to prepare his sister for when the questions would fly her way and they had. It was before the summer break though and with everything that had happened recently, he had completely forgotten about this annoying issue.
"If you want to know anything about Kanon Nakagawa, then I suggest you ask her personally," he said not bothering to keep a polite tone and intending to turn around when the girl spoke again.
"It's not about Kanon-chan," she said, "it's about you, Katsuragi-san."
Keima held back a groan. That was the same thing!
"Look, I'm not telling you anything about my relationship with Kanon," he said.
"You misunderstand, you don't have to say anything about Kanon," the girl said, "the topic of the article is you."
Both Eri and Keima blinked before looking at each other.
"Me?" Keima repeated. "What about me?"
"Well, you've been known in this school for some time," the girl said with a little awkward look on her face, "you might not be as famous as Kanon-chan, but you've certainly appear at school more often and, quite frankly, no student has ever managed to make the teachers let him do so much so easily and with impunity," the girl hesitated, "therefore, there's been quiet a few rumors. I think it's fair to say the students would like to know a little more about Keima Katsuragi they heard so much about before."
"As you said, they've heard a lot about me before," Keima said, "there's plenty to learn about the otamega by word of mouth."
"Well, but is what they've heard really true?" the girl asked. "Also, I'm sure people will be interested to hear about your friends."
"Friends?" he repeated.
"Oh yes," the girl looked at her notes, "you seem to be quite friendly with Takahara-san and Kosaka-san from your class. Also with Shiomiya-san from class 3-C. People from 3-A claim you're the only male student who Kujō-san ever talks to. Not to mention Goidō-san."
"Why do you think they're my friends?" Keima asked.
"So they're not then?" the girl immediately livened, bringing a pen to her notepad.
"Why should I disclose my personal matters with you?" he asked.
"Forgive me, but you never seemed like someone who cares all that much about his own privacy, Katsuragi-san," the girl said.
"Well, I do," luckily the bell for the beginning of the class sounded, "excuse me, I've got to go."
With this, he took Eri's arm and walked away.
(* * *)
"Good morning!" Eri said as they entered the classroom. Keima wasn't sure if she was greeting half the classroom or if it was directed just at Chihiro, Ayumi and Miyako, but Eri just couldn't keep her voice down. Well, there were few people present anyway.
"Mornin' Eri!" Ayumi, who was the earliest bird among them, replied cheerfully. Keima was pretty sure that with the upcoming tests her good mood will quickly change, but for now, she was probably happy to be able to meet her friends on a regular basis again.
"Good morning," Miyako said with her usual calm smile.
"Morning," Chihiro said, barely turning away from her magazine.
Some things never change it seems.
"Mornin' Keima," Ayumi turned to him now, her expression was still cheerful, similar to the time when she had dumped her rooftop cleaning duty on him almost a year and half ago. However back then she was smiling because of her general positive disposition to everything (and because she was trying to sweet talk him into the cleaning duty), but now she was smiling at him as well. What was even more interesting, a year and half ago, the idea of answering her greeting would be alien to Keima, disturbing even. However, right now it felt like not answering her was what wouldn't sit well with him.
Some things apparently do change.
"Yeah, good morning," he answered, "to all of you."
"Good morning, Katsuragi," Miyako replied, as if it was a common occurrence. Chihiro also answered, not looking away from her magazine, except for when Keima sat down, her eyes shifted to him. Keima continued to play on his PFP. He had still some time left before class and every gaming second was precious.
Soon more people started to arrive and Keima tensed briefly, fearing that now when it was August and the summer break was over, the hate of Kanon's fans might have resurfaced and that the annoying bullying will start again. However, nothing like that happened. Keima was glad, as it seemed that everything was back to how it was before Kanon's official announcement of their relationship. Perhaps, he could go on with the last year of high school in peace?
Ayumi, feeling her body guard role might be needed again, kept watch, but she also saw no signs of hostility.
"Morning everyone," Mobuko Ikarino walked in, sending a general greeting, as she was on good or amicable terms with almost everyone in the class and a chorus of voices answered her.
However, only Ayumi noticed the way Mobuko stopped briefly, her expression hardening when her eyes fell on Keima.
(* * *)
"You want me to do what again?" Chihiro turned back from the cakes she had been appreciating through the glass.
It was a lunch break and Keima followed Chihiro to a shopping district a little distance from the school grounds, where Chihiro ran her errand to prepare stuff for the light music club meeting. Which could be summed up as "buying meat buns and other snacks".
"Convince Miyako to tutor Eri on a weekly basis," Keima repeated calmly. When Chihiro continued to look at him, he sighed. "Don't look at me like that. You know how abysmal Eri's grades can get and it's not like she can just ignore high school and go back to Hell now. She needs a proper education."
"She's already got one," Chihiro said, going back to cakes, "she attended school in Hell, right?"
"One that Earth's authorities know nothing about," Keima reminded her, "she needs to do well on her exams."
"I don't see how is that my problem," Chihiro noted.
"She's your friend."
"So is Ayumi," Chihiro said, "and Yui. And Miyako. And Kanon," Chihiro paused for a moment as if she realized something, "I have a lot of friends now, actually."
"That's great," Keima said, "but it's different."
"How so?"
Keima sighed and took Chihiro's arm, dragging her to the side, despite her attempts to get back to the cakes. People were starting to look at them anyway.
"Let me break this down for you," Keima started in a whisper, ignoring the angry look Chihiro was giving him, "Eri has no idea how difficult the exams will be. She's very happy-go-lucky normally, but if we don't do something, she'll be crushed by the exams. I'm actually pretty sure she had help with the Hellian exams as well. Also, mom is going to have her work at the café, so she won't have much time to study."
"Okay, I'll bite," Chihiro said, "why don't just tutor her yourself?"
"You think I didn't think about it?" Keima said. "Tutoring someone to pass one English test to get a club room and tutoring someone to actually understand general high school exam material are on a different levels. Also don't forget Eri got only 45% on that English test."
"That's because you gave her little help," Chihiro noted.
"Which means I might not be the best person to teach her after all. Besides I'll be too busy anyway."
"Hooo?" Chihiro raised her eyebrow, "what does the great Otoshiigami has to do anyway? Aside from playing games," she paused for a moment, "you didn't accept another weird contract, did you?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Keima snorted, "let's just say mom tasked me with something. It is related to gaming though. Also, I'll most likely have to teach other girls for the exams as well," Keima added when Chihiro opened her mouth.
"Why Miyako though?" Chihiro asked. "Can't you ask someone else? I'm sure some of the girls will be very glad to help you."
"I will ask Haqua and Nagase as well, but they can be overbearing too, so I want their help to be limited," Keima said, "Miyako is the only one who is intelligent, patient enough and is Eri's friend."
"Why don't you ask Miyako yourself then?" Chihiro said. "Why follow me for the lunch break and waste my time?"
"Oh, the bad otamega asking a classmate for help. That's certainly going to work well," Keima said sarcastically, "but... if the bass guitarist were to ask herself and the band leader would support her request with her authority... Miyako's a nice girl. She likes being in the band and she likes you and Eri. I'm sure she wouldn't refuse... and I did buy you meat buns today," he added, pointing to Chihiro's bag.
Chihiro groaned.
"You're a sly manipulating bastard, you know that?" she said. "I hope someone followed us and will tell Kanon you're spending a lunch break with another girl, buying her food."
"If Kanon were to really make a problem out of that then me and her wouldn't be dating," Keima said, "so, I take it as a yes."
"I'll try, but no promises."
"Thank you."
(* * *)
For more than a week things proceeded relatively calmly. Keima and Kanon met for their first study session, though Kanon was clearly displeased that she had to spend her time with Keima studying and Apollo was, obviously, in full agreement. Maybe that was the reason why the idol attended school two times and both of those times she seemed really happy. Apparently having Keima and school – two of the things she enjoyed – was putting her in a good mood.
Chihiro stayed true to her word and managed to convince Miyako to help Eri study. On a little less bright side, Yui had offered to help Eri as well and invited herself over to Keima's house, an obvious attempt to get close to him. Yui was also smart about it, targeting him on the days when Kanon was not nearby. Keima himself was torn between doing something about this and just letting Kanon and Yui resolve it themselves. He wasn't too keen on stepping between two competing women, armed with anti-Keima weapons ranging from physical contact to stun guns.
On a particular Wednesday Keima was walking to class with Eri as usual. His gaze was fixed on the console in his hands and he had earpieces on. Eri was quiet for once as she spent a lot of time yesterday on her homework and was now revising what she had learned for class.
Both of them were too absorbed in their own thing to pay attention to their surroundings. And even if they weren't they were unlikely to notice some stares directed their way mixed with hushed whispers.
(* * *)
They arrived at their classroom and Keima sat in his assigned seat for more gaming time. He barely got through several screens of dialogue, when a figure appeared over him and a meek voice spoke.
"Umm... Katsuragi-san."
With his earpieces on Keima thought he had misheard or that the person was only by his desk and actually talking to Eri, but it couldn't be right: pretty much everyone in his class called Eri by her given name.
Keima looked up and, sure enough, one of his female classmates was there, looking back at him. The only times when his classmates were talking to him was when they were bullying him or when they needed to pass him a handout or something (though they'd usually just put it on his desk or on his head). The girl in front of him wasn't looking like she was about to do either. Actually, she looked a bit scared. Keima didn't remember ever talking with this girl at all, though he had seen her face recently, but he couldn't remember where.
"Ano," she held a book in her hands stiffly, as if unsure whether to bring it to her face or show it to Keima, "I'm sorry for interrupting you... but I was wondering if you could help me with this," the girl kinda gestured to her book and Keima noticed it was the English textbook.
Keima looked at her blankly, making the girl flustered further.
"Kodama-sensei made me do extra credit and I have a repeated English test the day after tomorrow," she explained, obviously embarrassed. It was then when Keima realized where he remembered her from: her name was Haruka Fukuda and last week Kodama has shouted at her in front of the entire class. "So... um, I desperately need a tutor."
"You mean me?" Keima said, confused. He saw Ayumi, Chihiro and Eri look at his desk, confusion on their faces mixed with curiosity.
"Yes, because Katsuragi-san is very good at English," the girl named Haruka said, probably thinking he didn't understand why she was asking him.
Well, he actually didn't. Yes, he was good at English, but it still didn't make sense. He looked to the side as if looking for assistance, but quickly regretted it: the looks Ayumi and Chihiro were giving him seemed to say 'be a good classmate and help her'.
Thankfully, there was a third option.
"That's right," he admitted, "but just because I have good grades doesn't mean I can teach someone to have the same results."
"But you helped Ayumi-san," Haruka pointed at the runner.
For a heartbeat Keima stopped, surprised. Then he considered just turning back and ignoring this flag altogether, but he knew he should get to the bottom of this. So he asked.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Ayumi-san has told me herself," Haruka said, before turning to the runner, "right?"
"Well, yes," Ayumi said, not looking at Keima.
"You see, Katsuragi-san," Haruka turned back to him, "if you can help Ayumi-san ace the test then you can help me ace it too."
"Ace it?" Keima asked.
"Yeah," Haruka said, looking a bit lost, as if Keima was underdeveloped or making fun of her, "her English score was like 35% and she had gotten 100% after you tutored her... Actually, everyone you tutored got a hundred," she added.
"Wait, I didn't tell you that!" Ayumi got closer, looking embarrassed and making Eri walk out of the way to not be knocked over. "How do you know this?"
Haruka blinked, before answering. "I've read about it."
"Read?" Ayumi asked what Keima and Chihiro thought. "Read where?"
"In the Mai-High newspaper."
Ayumi looked at the girl for a few more seconds, before running out of the classroom in a blink of an eye. Keima could bet he knew where she was going.
Still, what the Hell? How did stuff like that appear in a school newspaper? It's not like-
He paused, noticing a motion – or rather lack of thereof – to the side. Chihiro had her head buried in her magazine, though Keima was dead certain she wasn't reading it. She also appeared really small, as if she wanted to sink into her seat to hide. She sunk even further into her chair when she sensed a dreadful aura coming from Keima.
"So," Haruka said, bringing Keima's attention back to her, "are you going to help me?"
Keima was saved from having to answer this when the door to the classroom suddenly opened and Nikaidō walked in.
"Everyone, get to your seats!" the teacher announced. The motionless students suddenly started to move around in panic, searching for their assigned seats and only now had Keima realized that everyone had been listening to this conversation.
Haruka hesitated, but fear of Nikaidō won, so she went to her seat as well.
A few seconds later Ayumi ran back into the classroom. Well, landed or crashed were more appropriate terms, as the runner ended up knocking a few students off their feet and earning a lecture from Nikaidō. This incident helped to resolve some of the tension and things returned to normal momentarily. Still, Keima noticed that he had correctly guessed where Ayumi had ran off to.
In one of her hands there was the latest issue of the Maijima Private High School school newspaper.
(* * *)
"All right, all right, I did it," Chihiro admitted.
It was the lunch break and Keima, Eri, Chihiro and Ayumi were in the main building of Mai-High. It was the building where teacher offices were located, which meant no sane student would wander here during this time. On the other hand, students heading for the Demeter bread stand often passed by the main building, so they had to move further into the halls to avoid being detected.
Here they could talk without anyone seeing them or eavesdropping on them.
"You agreed to an interview for an article in school newspaper about me?" Keima clarified.
"It's not exactly like that!" Chihiro defended. "It's just that this girl came to and asked if I was a friend of the otamega... well, she was kinda badmouthing you, so I told her that she was wrong. Then she asked if you tutored us."
"And you told her?" Keima asked. "Why didn't you just let her badmouth me?"
"Because it wasn't right," Chihiro said, "you're not like she said you are... you never were," she added, averting here eyes.
Ayumi seemed to agree, not looking at Keima either. Keima had enough of this vagueness.
"Give me that newspaper," he told Ayumi, extending his arm.
"I bought it, so I'm reading it first!" the runner said, as if afraid to let the others see it.
"You don't like to read anyway!" Keima reminded her, trying to get the newspaper, but Ayumi moved it out of his reach... and almost had it snatched from her hands by Chihiro.
"I like to read!" the band leader said but groaned when Ayumi pulled the newspaper back. "Oh, c'mon!"
"It's about me!" Keima said, lunging forward.
Ayumi avoided the direct attack... but then Chihiro started to tickle her with a maniac smile on her face.
"Noooo!" Ayumi cried out and fell down, letting go of the newspaper. Keima and Chihiro went for it, but before either could catch it, Eri grabbed it and started to browse through the pages, while the remaining three lied on the floor, defeated.
"The mystery of Keima Katsuragi," Eri read the title of the article before she continued onto the introduction.
"The Seven Mysteries is a common set of high schools rumors about strange, paranormal or legendary occurrences. Usually it turns out to be nothing more but a number of pranks made by senior students to scare the freshmen. Of course, Mai-High has its own set of mysteries. Some say there are ghosts in the theater building. There are rumors about a student being spirited away during club activities. Students that are crossdressing. Students strong and fast beyond comprehension. There are blue haired geniuses. And then there's Keima Katsuragi."
"No idea who that is? Sure you do, but you probably know him under his moniker 'otamegane', which made him pretty infamous. One could ask, what's so mysterious about a good-for-nothing gross nerd who only plays games and consciously prefers them over everything else? Not going to lie to you: months ago I'd say the same thing. Up until the point when Kanon-chan, yes, that Kanon Nakagawa, announced that she was dating Keima Katsuragi. Yes, that Keima Katsuragi. It was then that most of us realized that the two of them were in the same class. But it doesn't explain why would a national idol choose to date the weirdest weirdo of the school. Some thought it was an elaborate joke or some misunderstanding, but after several months no-one can deny it: Kanon-chan and Katsuragi are indeed dating, as they've been spotted together."
"Though the question is: why? Why would Kanon-chan want to date someone infamous like that? Of course, it's common for celebrities to date someone they don't like for money or fame. Thus, it'd make sense for Katsuragi to date Kanon-chan, but not the other way around. Maybe Kanon-chan was forced into this? It'd somewhat fit the rumors surrounding Keima Katsuragi. What rumors you ask? While making research for this article we made sure to collect those. According to the students of Mai-High, and mind that those students are often outside of his class, grade or even high school, apparently, Keima Katsuragi games all day long, has abysmal grades and had to repeat class. There are even some who believe he lusts after his sister..."
"I'm not!" Keima all but screamed.
"...aside from that we've been told he calls down UFOs from the rooftop, calls himself 'god' and spreads some kind of religion," Elsie read when suddenly Ayumi snatched the paper from her hands.
"Are the rumors true though?" Ayumi read as she found where Eri stopped. "Is Kanon-chan being forced into a relationship? Well, where to ask better than at the source? Quite predictably, Keima Katsuragi didn't provide any answers, so we turned to Kanon-chan instead."
"That's enou-" Keima said, but Chihiro put him into a grip and said with a smirk, "keep on reading, what did Kanon-chan say?"
"We found the national idol when she was attending school and managed to get an exclusive interview (to see the full interview go to page 3). As you may know, Kanon-chan is not very fond of interviews and she was even less eager to talk about her relationship. In spite of that, we did manage to get some information and, believe it or not, Kanon-chan does not think of Keima Katsuragi as gross, good-for-nothing otamega. Quite the opposite, Kanon-chan described Keima Katsuragi as 'a great, strong and hard-working person'. The way she looked when she said so, made it pretty clear she truly believed it. Thus, either Keima Katsuragi had cast some kind of spell on her using his rumored powers or Kanon-chan truly likes him," Ayumi read before giggling, "so, have you cast a spell on Kanon-chan?" she asked.
"Gimme that!" Keima lunged for the newspaper, but Ayumi avoided with a smile, passing the newspaper to Chihiro.
"It would seem that there is more to Keima Katsuragi than meets the eye," Chihiro read out loud with glee, while Ayumi literally held Keima back, "thus, we went to try and uncover the mystery that is Keima Katsuragi. Of course, the first stop was the 3-B classroom. Most of the students didn't have much new to say besides 'gaming freak' and 'Kanon's boyfriend'. However, we did learn something. As surprising as it gets, Keima Katsuragi is the top of his class and that's with him spending all his time playing games. Could the rumors be caused by mere jealousy?" at this Chihiro paused briefly, before her expression brightened even more. "A random student's opinion might not be very reliable, but it's harder to ignore when it comes from someone popular like Ayumi Takahara," at the mention of her name Ayumi perked up, "known to be a straightforward person, she had grudgingly, but plainly labelled Keima Katsuragi a genius. This is also proved by numerous test papers on which the good-for-nothing, as he was sometimes called, scored 100%, one after another. As if that wasn't achievement enough, he also helped several of his classmates (Kanon-chan included) study for one English test, which resulted in each of his tutees scoring 100%..."
"But I didn't score 100%!" Eri complained.
"...which is especially impressive in the case of Ayumi Takahara, who had scored 35% before."
At this point Ayumi blushed madly, completely ignoring Keima's fruitless attempts to get free. "H-how did they know this!?"
"L-let's move onto the people from the other classes," Chihiro read out after a short pause, now looking less composed than before.
"W-wait, you're skipping something, aren't you?" Ayumi said.
"Of course I'm not," Chihiro said, but Ayumi literally whizzed past her, grabbing the newspaper.
"Come back you," Chihiro went after Ayumi, but the latter just started to run around, keeping out of her best friend's reach as she found out the correct paragraph.
"Our next step was visiting Chihiro Kosaka, another classmate of Keima Katsuragi, and the head of the Light Music club. Kosaka-san was much more forthcoming."
"You were the one who told them about my score, didn't you?" Ayumi stopped reading and passed the newspaper to Eri and looked at Chihiro, who suddenly started going backwards.
"It was just a little bit..." Chihiro defended.
"We didn't even have to ask questions and Kosaka-san provided us with a lot of details that helped further our research," Eri started reading again.
"Ok, so I told them more than just a little bit, no reason to get angryyyyyy," Chihiro cried out as she ran, being chased by both Ayumi and Keima now.
"It is interesting to note that both girls were a little flustered when asked about Keima Katsuragi's dark side", Eri continued to read, not paying attention to Chihiro's plight, "which implies there is some truth to rumors or at the very least both of the girls believed them at some point and are now ashamed of that."
"Our research didn't end there, however. We also surveyed a large number of students from other classes. The vast majority of them didn't say anything new – just more rumors and confusion. Nonetheless, we learned a few hints, which led us to several students who had more to say."
"Wait," Keima said, remembering what the girl from the newspaper, Marika Uchida, had told him before, "they don't mean..."
"When we moved to the class next door, 3-A, we weren't expecting much, but results were interesting. I bet some of you have heard of Tsukiyo Kujō, a beautiful recluse, who doesn't really talk to people and looks down on them. However, her classmates claim she had changed some time ago and is a little more open with regards to people. What that has to do with Keima Katsuragi? According to our sources, he's about the only male student who Kujō-san readily interacts with. Even if they're not very close, it's still surprising. When confronted about it, Kujō-san just ignored us."
"That's when we got to meet another 3-A student, who you definitely heard about: Mio Aoyama. When she overheard our conversation with Kujō-san, she harshly recommended that 'commoners shouldn't stick their noses into other peoples' business'. When we questioned her about her connection with Keima Katsuragi, she took out a horse whip, so we had to backtrack."
"However, the biggest surprise in 3-A came from yet another of the school celebrities: Yui Goidō, who openly stated that Keima Katsuragi was a great man and that she loved him."
"Of course, she'd say that," Chihiro commented, while Keima face-palmed.
"If you think that only class 3-A is weird, then listen to this: Keima Katsuragi is apparently in good relations with two more girls from class 3-C. The first is Shiori Shiomiya, who seemed shy at first, but with enough prodding we yet again learned that Keima Katsuragi is 'passionate, hard-working and admirable person, even if he's really weird' and that 'we shouldn't judge the book by its cover'. The second one is the newest celebrity of Mai-High: Urara Shiratori, who is friendly to everyone, but has problems fitting in, yet several people claim she was seen multiple times with Keima Katsuragi and stated that 'Katsuragi-san is certainly weird, but one cannot deny his skills and achievements'."
"What achievements?" Keima said. "Couldn't she just say nothing?"
"If that's not enough for you, we also got info that Kusunoki Kasuga, the school graduate, former head of the women karate club and the so-called Mai-High Sapphire Princess, also respected, even admired Keima Katsuragi, though reasons for that are unknown. If there's one more person, who admires him even more then the entire school agrees that it's Keima Katsuragi's own twin sister, who, as people confirmed, calls him 'god' with striking honesty. We even found out that Keima Katsuragi has admirers in our middle school."
"Looking back at all this, it might be too much to say that Keima Katsuragi has a fan club. It's also true that most of the students at our school are girls. However, even taking that into consideration, it's still weird that all the mentioned students with connections to him are female... six of which are fairly popular or straight out famous and at least two of them are either dating him or in love with him, though we cannot be sure that this list isn't larger. It's a truly shocking conclusion."
"How much more is there!?" Keima yelled, trying again to get the newspaper again, but Eri side-stepped him.
"I'm almost at the end," Eri said and continued reading, "We bet, dear reader, that you're very confused now. We don't blame you. This all seems incredible and contradicts common sense. Who to trust? Is Keima Katsuragi a creepy useless nerd as the rumors say? Does he have a secret power he controls people with? Or maybe he's just a little antisocial, but a good person that deserves the few bits of respect he's earned? I suggest you be the judges of that," Eri read and then suddenly gasped.
"W-what now?" Keima asked. "You said it was the end!"
"Ooh, it was the end, it's just that there's an ad for Kanon-chan's new song 'Your Color Love Song' under the article," Eri said. That was the last straw and Keima snatched the newspaper from her.
"Mio was right: people shouldn't stick their noses in other people's business!" he said and grabbed the newspaper in his hand, preparing to tear it to shreds.
"Hey, that's mine!" Ayumi shouted, getting the newspaper back before he could destroy it. "If you want to rip it, then buy your own!"
Keima shot her a look, but they never learned if he wanted to say anything because they heard a different voice.
"What is this ruckus?"
All four of them flinched. They knew that voice. As on command, they mechanically turned around and sure enough, Nikaidō-sensei was behind them and walking down the stairs. Ayumi, Chihiro and Eri went behind Keima as if he were a certificated anti-Nikaidō protection system or something.
"You!" Nikaidō remarked, eyes narrowing. "What are the four of you doing here?"
The three girls pushed Keima in front. So he was the spokesman, huh?
"We're not doing anything," Keima said calmly as ever, "students are allowed to be here."
"Really?" Nikaidō said, eyeing them. "What could four students, three of which are known for not liking studying be doing here?"
"We came here to see one teacher," Keima said. He was certain he could lie his way out of this if he was alone. But he wasn't alone.
"Are you?" Nikaidō looked at the rest of them and Keima saw she didn't buy it. "Are you eager for another lecture on the same day, Takahara? And what are you hiding there?"
Ayumi gulped and showed her the newspaper. "It's just a school newspaper."
"I don't know what you're up to, but I'm confiscating this," she took the newspaper from Ayumi and turned to walk away, "if you have the time to fool around like that, then go study! Now, off you go!"
(* * *)
"That was uncalled for, I didn't get to read the interview about Kanon-chan," Chihiro whined two minutes later when they were going back inside the high school building, "Is Nikaidō on her period or something?"
"Maybe she just doesn't like when other girls are getting close to nii-sama," Eri wondered.
"I was not getting close to him!" Ayumi moved a little bit away from Keima.
The small gesture had actually Keima thinking. It didn't matter whether the article in the newspaper was speaking the truth or not. The masses would still believe it or would at least pay more attention to him to check if the rumors and article were true. He discreetly looked around and sure, various students were glancing at him. And what they were seeing?
They were seeing him walking around with three girls!
Normally, he wouldn't care about it, but the last thing he wanted to do was give Kanon a reason to worry.
Wait, does-
"What are you going to do about her?" Ayumi asked suddenly.
"Her?" Keima looked at the runner. How did she know he was thinking about Kanon? Or maybe she was talking about getting her newspaper back from Nikaidō?
"Haruka Fukuda," Ayumi clarified, making Keima pause in thought.
"Wait, you mean?"
"The girl from our class who asked you to help her study, who else?" Ayumi clarified. "You didn't give her an answer. Are you going to help her?"
"It's just an English test," Keima said, "it's not like she's possessed by a runaway spirit. And even if she is then I'm not a part of the runaway spirit squad anymore."
"So if she was possessed by a spirit you'd let her be all depressed?" Ayumi asked, her face stiffening.
"Why can't someone else do it then? Why me?" Keima asked. "Just because she's another girl doesn't mean she's a heroi-"
"I'm not talking about her being a girl!" Ayumi said a little louder. "She's a fellow human being! You should help her out of simple decency!"
"Ano," Eri tried to go in between but was ignored. Chihiro was so far just standing there, trying to see where this was going. Will she get to see another one of Ayumi's kick land on Keima's face?
"You all seem so eager to push all that stuff on my shoulders!" Keima said back, now louder as well. "I have my own problems to deal with! I have no reason to help her!"
"You do," Ayumi said, "right now you have a chance to improve your reputation!"
Keima stopped with his mouth open, either shocked or not comprehending.
"Wha-my re-what?" he mumbled.
"Let's be real," Ayumi started, "we all know you're not Mother Teresa, but you're not like people think you are. I don't think I have to tell you, but with the article people at school will start thinking."
"And why should I care about that?" he asked.
"Because you have a chance, possibly you're only chance, to show them you're a good person. To show them that they've misjudged you!" Ayumi told him.
"Am I understanding this right?" Keima asked. "You want me to give in to the real?"
"I'm not expecting miracles," Ayumi said, making Keima snort, "but you said yourself you wanted to walk with everyone else."
"With everyone of my friends, not everyone in the world... you are expecting miracles after all," he said after a short pause.
"What about Kanon-chan?" Chihiro chipped in casually, gazing at her fingers.
"What do you mean?" Keima asked.
"You know, you might be the otamega, but you have to think about Kanon-chan now," when Keima didn't respond, she continued, "like, it's pretty certain she's going to read that article or at least have people ask her about it or look how you treat her and other people," she looked at Keima, "how do you think she'd feel if you didn't want to help a single classmate after she realized you were decent enough to actually ask you for help?"
It went quiet after that. Keima kept glaring daggers at Chihiro, who pretended nothing was happening.
"Keima?" Ayumi prodded after a longer moment... when suddenly Keima started walking in Chihiro's direction. The band leader flinched and backed up a little.
"What are you?" she asked, but it was hard to say if she was more scared or flustered. However, neither mattered as Keima just walked, no stomped, past her.
"Where is he going now?" Ayumi questioned.
"Nii-sama!" Eri whined and followed after him.
"I'll never be able to understand how his nerdy mind works," Chihiro commented before she and Ayumi started to walk too.
(* * *)
It was still lunch break when Keima entered the 3-B classroom and walked straight to his desk, retrieving a notepad and starting to write on it furiously.
"Nii-sama!" Eri cried out as she walked into the classroom a few seconds later, followed by Ayumi and Chihiro, attracting the attention of everyone in the room (except Keima).
"Chihiro-san didn't mean to-what are you doing?" Eri asked, but Keima didn't answer. Instead, he continued writing for a few more seconds and then stood up. He moved with purpose and, in a blink of an eye, he was in front of Haruka Fukuda. The girl was talking to one of her female classmates, who sensibly backed off when Keima came close, leaving Haruka face-to-face with him. The girl opened her mouth to speak, but Keima beat her to it.
"I don't have time," he said.
"Err-what?" Haruka said hesitantly, obviously confused.
"Despite what people think or say, I'm a busy person and I don't have time to tutor people," Keima explained calmly and bluntly, his eyes focused on the girl in front of him, apparently not feeling or ignoring the dreadful aura Ayumi was oozing right now. He also seemed to ignore the fact the everyone was following the conversation.
Haruka's expression fell at his answer. "I-I see, I'm sor-"
"So, I want to do this quickly and efficiently," Keima continued, "the most important thing is: you can't expect a miracle, I can't make you succeed without you putting in the effort. You have to contribute as well," as he said this, he gave Haruka his hand-written note, before continuing, "here are the things I want you to prepare. We can study for an hour after school tomorrow," with that Keima turned around, walked to his seat and sat down.
Slowly Haruka gazed down on the notes, but no-one else moved or spoke. Even the noisy annual cicadas went quiet and no sound was made until the bell signaled the end of lunch break.
(* * *)
"Good morning, Katsuragi-san!" Haruka Fukuda, a smile on her face, briefly stopped talking to her friend in order to greet Keima who had just entered the classroom.
It was a few days since she had asked Keima for help. While saying that being tutored by Keima was a very pleasant experience might be a little exaggeration, it was certainly better than the stressful way Kodama taught and, as expected, it resulted in a full success – no matter what Kodama tried, Haruka passed the extra credit test with flying colors. Since that moment her entire disposition with regards to Keima changed. Gone was an unsure and doubtful expression, replaced with a smile and a hint of admiration.
What was even weirder, the rest of his classmates more or less followed suit. No-one called him otamega anymore. No-one laughed at him or bullied him because of his relationship with Kanon. The worst he had to deal with now was teasing and people being jealous of him. In the past two days, people approached him several times, asking for opinion. One guy even asked him if he could recommend some games to him.
Moreover, someone – undoubtedly Chihiro or Eri – must've informed Kanon about everything, because Keima got an email from her, where the idol stated that "she was glad and proud that Keima-kun was getting along with everyone and got the recognition he deserved," while also reminding him that "he was her boyfriend now, so he wasn't allowed to flirt with others girl."
Knowing the darker sides of Kanon's personality and the general way the minds of scorned women worked, while washing his hands in the school bathroom, Keima vowed to not give Kanon any doubt with regards to him.
However, one more surprise awaited him as soon as he exited the bathroom.
"Katsuragi-san," he heard someone speak behind him, even though he used one of the bathrooms in the secluded part of the school. And, of course, the voice was feminine, but he didn't recognize it. He turned around expecting to see another one of his classmates. And he was right, though it still ended up as surprise.
In front of him stood Mobuko Ikarino with a facial expression that definitely wasn't unbridled joy.
Keima quickly revised what he knew about the blonde girl. She wasn't a class representative or a member of the school council, but it was easy to mistake her for those: she always ended up doing a lot of stuff. She wasn't exactly a permanently cheerful person like Ayumi or Eri, but she was a fairly normal person, except that she seemed to have a grudge against Keima and if he were honest with himself, he wasn't exactly blaming her.
"Do you need something from me?" he asked cautiously.
"I'll be blunt," Mobuko started, "I don't really like you or the way you live... I also didn't forget the way you treated me..."
Color me surprised, Keima thought sarcastically.
"...but I guess you're not as bad as I thought," she continued, speaking quickly as if she wanted to say everything before she got a chance to reconsider, "I suppose even people like you can change and there's merit to them," she tried to look at him, "I'd like to apo," she paused mid-word, obviously having trouble getting it past her lips, "look I just wanted"
"to say you're sorry, I get it," Keima said, putting her out of her misery, "but you don't have to apologize. You're free to hate me if you want," he told her, not really understanding why he was saying this, "I'm sorry as well."
That was lame, he thought. Just saying "sorry" never worked and he was only risking another punch or verbal abuse. Thus he was surprised when Mobuko just looked to the side, clearly embarrassed.
"So, the Mai-High festival is coming close," she said after a few moments, seemingly trying to change the topic. Keima blinked. She couldn't be wanting to go with him to the festival, right?
Right?
"And I remember that impossibly good coffee you've made last year," Mobuko continued.
"Ooh that," Keima sighed in relief. He supposed he could do that thing again, "I think I can mak-"
"So, I was thinking," Mobuko continued as if she didn't hear him, "we third years have it bad, because we either have to give up the festival preparation or risk less study time... you can't have both. It's just too much work and planning to do," she paused and looked troubled, though it was obviously faked, "if only there was someone creative, good at planning and managing people, someone who'd be willing to help with festival preparations for the collective good of the entire class," she pretended she was looking over the corridor, until her eyes laid on him in an obvious request.
Keima froze, unmoving for a few seconds. His first reflex was to refuse. His gaming mind told him it would be just more unneeded flags. It'd eat into his gaming time. Then he realized a lot of people he knew would want to take part in the festival and would like to meet him. Shiori. Tsukiyo. Mio. Minami. Yui. Possibly others. Another part of his mind, sounding deceptively like Ayumi, Chihiro, Eri and Urara told him that he should agree.
He imagined his mother smiling and proud face when she learned he was going to participate.
And then he imagined Kanon working together with him or walking with him throughout the school grounds on the festival night, looking happy.
"I..." he started and Mobuko perked up, "I can't promise I'd have a lot of time or that I'll be useful at all... but I'll give it a shot... I guess," he said, feeling totally out of his element and his shock only increased when he saw Mobuko smile at him.
"That's great then," she said before turning around, "I have to go now, we'll talk about the details some other time. See you later, Katsuragi-kun!"
And with that she was gone, leaving Keima standing there baffled, looking as if another devil girl dropped onto him on a rooftop all over again.
For a minute he just stood there, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened those past several days, before he started walking, leaving the corridor as well.
A few meters behind where he stood moments before, from behind a corner a figure emerged, looking at Keima's retreating back.
She had noticed Keima being followed by Mobuko and tagged along just in case, but it seems her worries were ungrounded. Quite the opposite actually.
Well, Ayumi Takahara spoke to herself, it seems the Mai-High festival's going to be really interesting this year.
(* * *)
So, one thing that is clearly visible is pretty much complete lack of Kanon in this chapter and I'm sorry for that. I feel we need more Kanon or Keima/Kanon moments and I hope we'll see them next chapter... but on the other hand I also wanted to do this: have Keima undergo some changes alone. Of course, they are tied to Kanon (and perhaps more than you may think), but this is something we haven't really explored in AyumiNomi or MioNomi: reality where Keima stops being viewed as the otamegane. Yes, he stills plays games and he's still not very good at socializing and not looking down on some people, but he makes more effort to at least not be a complete asshole and stay on amicable terms with his peers and family.
Of course, one could ask is it easy for him and why he even did this? The answer to first question is: no, Keima has problems adapting to this new circumstances and isn't really sure how to react and how he even wants to be viewed. As for the second question... well, I suppose we'll have to see.
I'm sorry if you didn't like the way this chapter played out from lack of Kanon to things moving too fast and too jarring (but I really wanted to add those Mobuko parts).
On the other hand, the newspaper bit (lol, half-a-chapter-long bit) came out nicely, I think. I just loved to reference and make connections between various KamiNomi facts. The only problem is that it took me forever to write and after that I was only done with half of it.
Also, as you probably noticed we still didn't see what Keima decided to do with his mother's suggestion. I guess we'll see that in further chapters.
As a side note, with the addition of Haruka Fukuda I think I need to make a list of all of Keima's OC classmates' names I have come up with so far. Class 3-B has now 11 names characters in total, though there's one I haven't really used so far.
As usual I want to thank you very much for your support, for every favorite, follow and review. At the same time I want to encourage all readers to favorite, fav and review more and not just for me, but for other fics and fandoms as well. Favs, follows and reviews are like oxygen for fanfics and their authors. We can't write without them.
Here are the replies to the latest reviews:
Ghost Man: thank you, it's always a pleasure to read your reviews. Heh, trap card indeed xD. Yes, monopoly is a bad omen :P. Maybe those managerial potential is why Okada wants to recruit Kema so much xD. Well, in manga when Elsie asks how "it" (gaming money) all comes from, Keima said "M-funds" (which means Mari/mom pays for it), so I supposed not. And yes, Mari can be analytical at times too. Lol, truth be told I cannot see the ending 100% yet actually. xD
UzumeofGamindustri: thank you for the review. The chapter came out fast, because I just divided my chapter in two and posted it as separate chapters. I see we both agree at the demon fast thing. :)
Red Glasses (older review): I'm sorry, but I think you're talking about something else here. I'm not sure if it's 100% different, but I think that short story won't be what you think it will be and I won't be updating KamiNomiNai for this. It'll be a separate story and I don't want to disclose to many details for now. Anyway, thank you very much for reviewing.
Red Glasses (newer review): I'm not exactly sure I'm following you here. You have a point saying that Kanon is on an "another level" with her being an idol, but I wouldn't fully agree here. She also has her problems (like of time, yandere tendencies, her fame causing trouble for Keima). In that regard I'd say Ayumi also had her big pluses (she's a classmate who actually attends school at regular basis), while she also has her problems (tsundere, not on the best of terms with Keima). Mio was also a mixed bag. On the one hand she was not a classmate or an idol. On the other hand, her history with Keima wasn't so troublesome like Ayumi's. The bottom line is: yes, in KanonNomi Kanon had affected Keima very much, but this mostly counters her limited possibilities due to her idol job. It is also true that Kanon's stabbing during the Goddesses arc "tied" Kanon and Keima somewhat (at least in the context of this story). Saving Kanon's life made Kanon more grateful and gentle towards Keima (once again a contrast with Ayumi), so she has it easier with interacting with him and being honest with herself. I kinda agree that Kanon's route is different than Ayumi's and Mio's and this is even more visible in this chapter, when Kanon's fame kinda made Keima adapt to it and become more social (that's simplifying a bit, but yeah). Phew! That was a long of a response, but I'm very happy to see your review and glad you enjoyed the chapter. :)
Bug Bad Beowolf: thank you very much. Glad you picked up on the girl acting crazy. Makes such mentions even more worth putting in. Heh, I can already see it: Keima, God of Monopoly xD. I usually assumed Keima's intelligence had more to do with his dad, but who knows ;). As for what I'm planning before Shiori, I'm sorry but I don't want to disclose it yet. I just hope it won't disappoint.
jargax (both reviews): Glad you liked both chapters. You're actually right, it'd be a great chapter title. I'm also not sure if Keima wouldn't want to monetize the site earlier (it'd be logical), but for the sake of the story I assumed he didn't. I'm honored you want all the way to reread the entire story.
Sir Sleeps-a-lot: lol, I'd certain pay to see a stream of that dinner :). Heh, so Kanon has been reading stories for adults, huh? Not very idol-like :P. Lol, Keima's a boss alright... though he sometimes gets bossed around by Kanon or his mom xD. Yeah, I bet three-stage dates would be nice too. Kanon is just in denial about this fact xD. Hopefully, Keima'll get a lot of subscribers. Lol, I look forward to see where it goes too :P. And, Kanon, this is Internet. You cannot delete stuff from here. It'll stay here forever xD. As always loved your review :).
Bone Crushing Dawg fss: *consoles you* It's ok, at least we don't get kicked in the face as Keima does. Lol at the approval stamp and S&M xD. Who knows, maybe I'll write a lemon one day in as a separate story. Well, it was a rather minor confession. For now at least :P. Thank you for revewing :).
DarkDrawerJ (collective): Thank you very much for all the reviews, glad you like the story :).
That's it for now folks. I have a very small bit of one of the further chapters written and I'v also started preparing for that in-between story between Kanon's and Shiori's routes, but it's still a lot of work.
Let's hope that the next KanonNomi chapter'll be earlier. I truly hope so.
See you next time!