Wow, it sure took me a long time to publish this thing. Sorry, my followers! One week I was on a retreat, another I was sick. I just had no time to write, even if I had the dang thing outlined. Also, I noticed that whenever I outline a chapter, it suddenly gets longer. For example, I thought I was only going to barely hit 1k words. It's now double that.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel more than free to leave a review. You can be sure that I'll read it, since I love reviews. I especially love long reviews. Man, those things are good.

Disclaimer is still in effect

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Me, Dates, and Cameos

"Y'know, when I told you that I'd stick close to you for our date, this isn't what I meant," said Keima. They were strolling down the street towards the entrance to a Phantasmal Carnival, hand in hand. Of course, Keima didn't really have any choice in the matter - she had cuffed their wrists together and locked their thumbs with handcuffs, both steel and Chinese. "And why do these handcuffs feel used?"

"It is an artifact from past conquests," said Shouko, a straight and serious look on her beautiful mug. "It has seen a vast amount of exposure to the harshness of the battlefield of love, buffeted and damaged by the winds of time. I call it the 'Yuuji-bane'."

Keima sweatdropped. "How... creative. So, what are we going to do today, my date?" Externally, Keima was stoic, maintaining a steely and calm expression. Deep down inside, though, he was pissed. He preferred to be aggressive, crashing through a woman's mental defenses to get to - and win - her heart. He was especially aggressive during events (the mundane term being "dates"). He liked to set the pace. As a protagonist, he saw it as his right. He didn't like that right taken away from him. Of course, he didn't really have any choice in the matter. Shouko had him in her grasp.

"Movies," replied the Yandere, adamancy clear in her voice. Keima gulped. Like a dog owner leading her pet to the desired destination, Shouko tugged the unwilling Keima into the movie theater. Both the girl and her date grimaced. The lack of a fifteen hour movie showing swam through her mind, while Keima missed the One Leaf movie that he had last seen in the theater. Shaking the thoughts out of their minds, the couple went towards the counter, where the ever-smiling cashiers stood, hand showing off the movie selections.

"Welcome, Ma'am. How may I help you?" asked the girl on cue, her pearly white teeth blinding Keima's sensitive eyes. He observed how plastic her smile was, wondering how she got her teeth to become as blinding as the sun, and if he could use that technique to shine his PFPs.

"Hm... One student ticket and one reluctant date ticket for Nicholas Sparks's 'The Conjuring'," said Shouko, handing the woman the cash. Still smiling, the cashier traded the bills for tickets. Shouko snatched the tickets and pulled Keima into the theater.

The experience wasn't too bad. The plot was sub-par - the supposed horror movie was turned into a rom-com thanks to the hammy acting of the main characters - and the effects were a little cheesy. On the other hand, at every scary scene, Shouko would "scream" - say "Ah" in monotone - and latch herself onto Keima's arm, suffocating it in marshmallow-y goodness. He had to admit that it felt good, but he refused to succumb to the will of the Real!

"Ah," halfheartedly said Shouko, pulling Keima's elbow deeper than before. Keima could've sworn that with every tug of the arm, Shouko's smile (and cleavage) got deeper and deeper. He wasn't sure if he'd last the whole movie: he was approaching his limit. Keima's chest pounded, and he could feel Shouko's pound too. His mind raced, threatening to shut down. He was being led too harshly. It was similar to the Yui recapture fiasco, only it was about ten times worse. An aggressive Shouko just dominates every date she's in, no questions asked. There was no wondering why Yuuji was always overwhelmed. Even the God of Conquests seemed to be on his final leg.

That didn't mean that he'd go down without a fight, though.

"Shouko, are you okay?" asked Keima, cradling her cheeks. Said cheeks instantly glowed red, Shouko's skin heating up at an alarming rate. She shied away, unlatching herself from Keima's arm in favor of knocking his other one away. Shouko then quickly backed off, even forgetting her unmotivated scream when the gore flew on the silver screen. Keima smirked. She was all offense, but no defense. He had to thank Yuuji for that. She was so used to not being caressed, to having to be the aggressive one, that she wasn't used to the role reversal. "You're flushed! Are you sick? You need to go home already?"

"N-No..." That single act deterred her from making a move for the rest of the movie, which may sound good, but seeing that there had only been ten minutes left to the flick, it was at best a small victory. Outside of the darkened room, Shouko seemed to have regained her composure, her back straight and her expression stoic. Another fight for dominance had started. "Honey, get me some ice cream."

"...As you wish," replied Keima, who was slightly intimidated by the piercing glare and the charged stun gun in her free hand. Grumbling, he reached into his pocket to find his wallet. "Just tell the vendor what you want. My wallet seems to be pretty deep into this damn thing..."

"Take your time, my Keima," said Shouko. The vendor started to sweat. In front of him was a rich looking girl who had a handcuffed boy on her right and a dangerous looking taser that had sparks of electricity flying off of it. Tugging on his collar, he decided that he wanted to serve the pair as fast as possible. He wanted those weirdos as far away from his business as possible. "One extra-large vanilla ice cream cone, please."

"Coming right up." After getting the snack and paying the man off, the couple made their way towards the bench. Sitting down, a rush of déjà vu overcame him. A flash of a hakama, pink armor, and long, silky black hair came to his vision. Keima quickly shoved those thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't afford to lose the initiative, so he had to focus and-

"Eat with me, Keima," said Shouko, holding out the ice cream out towards him. A bead of white trailed down the side of it, mimicking the beads of sweat raining down his head. It was another repeat. This time, instead of a shy tsundere who could break concrete with her bare fists, he was eating ice cream with a shy yandere who could break concrete with her stun gun. He didn't like it either way, though he'd prefer to go with Kusonoki. At least he controlled the flow with her. Before the vanilla could drip onto her porcelain hand, her tongue darted out, capturing the drop as quickly as Keima captured PFP heroines. "Hurry, Sweetie. Before it melts. Eat it with me, or else..."

Keima could feel something... weird in his cuffed hand. Darting his eyes towards it, he saw a glint of a joy buzzer in Shouko's hand. Knowing the yandere, he knew that she managed to up the voltage on it, and that it would be very, very painful. "S-Sure, Shouko."

Keima loathed the Real. That thought circled around in his head as he leaned in and licked the white cone, just as Shouko was circling the edges with her tongue, nabbing the white drops that were trying to escape their inevitable doom. The moment was extremely perverse, tongues mere millimeters away from each other with only a thin wall of sugar and ice separating them. If Keima closed his eyes, he could imagine the two muscles touching, wrapping around each other, wrestling for dominance-

"I'm kinda full, so you can have it, Shouko," said Keima, backing away from the cold treat. Shouko pouted, but still continued to lick the ice cream.

"I don't see how a little ice cream would make you full," replied Shouko, now nibbling at the cone, "but I'll take your word for it." A deafening silence overcame the two. Shouko just sat there, finishing off her treat, while Keima tried to think of the best way to approach the situation.

"Shouko." The girl in question tilted her head, popping the tip of her cone into her mouth.

"What do you want, my love?" asked Shouko, her full attention on Keima Katsuragi. To complete his objective, he had to talk to Diana, and to do that, he had to confront Shouko about it. From the start, she'd tried her best to keep Diana away from him. He wanted- needed to know why. He had his suspicions, but it would be in his best interest to confirm it.

"Why don't you want me to talk to Diana?" asked Keima. He took an intimidating stance: back straight and eyes narrow. Even so, Shouko didn't seem to notice, her posture remaining the same.

"What do you mean by that?" said Shouko, who seemed genuinely curious. Keima had to admire the unwavering poker face. It was eerily similar to the one he wore when he was close to bursting with emotions... on that fated rooftop... with her. Keima shook the memory of her crushed look out of his head. It wouldn't do to think of her when Shouko was the girl he needed to focus on.

"Whenever I try to talk to Diana, you try your best to prevent it," said Keima. He took his classic lecturing pose, pointing a finger at his date. "After she told you everything about her and the world she was from, you refused to let us interact. You kidnapped me at the crêpe shop with her 'best interests' in mind, even if she would've benefited more from us talking. You layed on heavier seduction whenever I mentioned her name. All signs point to you being... jealous of her. Why, Shouko?"

"Because she might take you away." Keima was stunned. "I don't want that to happen. She told me all about your world, her... and you, Keima Katsuragi. She told me about your wish to save the rest of the girls, and she told me about her wish. She also told me about... her crush on her, a crush that is still going on strong. You can't fault her for telling me. As her Host, I could feel her emotions, and the amount of affection rolling off of her was intense. I... I really was defensive. I didn't want to lose you to those girls. I didn't want to lose you to her. I just want you by my side forever, and if the world as I know it has to end to achieve that, then so be it."

Keima really didn't like to be right all the time. His suspicions have been proven. The jealousy of a yandere usually didn't end well for the target of her affections. Keima had to tread carefully now that her emotions were out

in the open. If he made a single wrong thing, she might blow up, and he'd be extremely lucky if he got away with only a few dozen stun gun shocks. "Shouko... there's no need to worry about Diana."

"How can I be sure?" Keima sweatdropped. He felt like a protagonist in those galges who had to explain to his girlfriend that his best friend (who just happened to be a girl) wasn't going to break the relationship. They usually did break the relationship, but Keima didn't want to dwell on that fact.

"Diana wishes the best for her hosts, sacrificing her happiness for her charge. Can't you feel it? That overwhelming amount of love isn't just directed at me. It's directed at you too. Or were you too blinded by jealousy to notice?" asked the bespectacled boy. "Trust me, please. Anyway, I just need to talk to her for a few minutes. Can you allow just that... my lady?"

"S-Sure," said Shouko, looking away. The clarification plus the pet name must've broken through her mental walls, letting Keima in. After shaking off her blush, the familiar transformation occurred: her violet locks of hair flared into a vibrant maroon, her eyes following her hair's lead. A halo shimmered into existence, completing the transformation.

Keima Katsuragi was now in the presence of an ethereal Goddess.

"It's been a while, Keima," said Diana. For a moment, a flash of sharp red eyes and braided hair appeared in the boy's vision, but the illusion disappeared in the blink of an eye. "How has it been? Have you been treating Shouko well?" Keima didn't want to answer that. He'd receive a pat on the back for the act and a slap to the face for the intention.

"Enough with the small chat," said Keima. "We need to talk." Keima told her about the potential plans against the Archaic: to divide and conquer, to play defensive, or to power the Goddesses up. After the briefing, Diana grit her teeth, pondering her options.

"To be honest," started the deity, "I'm not so sure about how to approach this. While I like the idea of you giving Shouko what she deserves, time is of the essence. I think we should try to Convert them one by one, therefore removing Archaic entirely. Is that an agreeable course of action?" Keima nodded in response. "Keima, please take care of my Host. Despite her calm and stoic exterior, she does have strong emotions for you. I can feel it. Please, Keima, show her a little love."

"When have I not, Diana?" retorted Keima. Diana snorted.

"Would you like the truncated version, or would you like to wait for the list?" replied the Goddess, smirking. "My Host wants to Switch already, Keima. Our fates shall be in your hands."

"Oh stop being so sentimental," said Keima, just as violet flooded Shouko's hair and eyes, her halo shimmering out of existence. "Let's go home, Shouko."

"Sure-"

A red-headed lazy genius suddenly bounded the corner, hands in his pockets. As their eyes met, the three froze. The first one to recover was Yuuji, who eyed the cuffed hands wearily. Next was Shouko, who made no move to conceal the steely bonds. Finally, Keima, after cursing the Real for the nth time, shook himself out of his reverie.

"Akihisa and Shouko!?"

Till next time!