"But Ayumi-san, you aren't injured!"

Abruptly, the fruit barrage stopped as the moment froze between us. Ayumi looked with shock at me as I grabbed and held the last apple in my hands.

"Wh-what are you saying? Don't you see this bandage? Of course I'm injured you idiot!"

I had to plan this right. One wrong word, and she'd go berserk on me again, and I don't think "I" can take that. I cursed once more for the lack of the save function as I looked Takahara straight in the eye, with more confidence in my voice, and repeated "You aren't injured."

"How can you say that with such confidence?" Those words were so familiar coming from the lips of someone other than a certani troublesome she-devil. "Are you going to say now, 'that injury's not gonna stop you Ayumi-san', or 'nothing's gonna stop me Ayumi-san'..."

"Ayumi-san." I repeated slowly, seriously, to Takahara. "You aren't injured. I know it because-

"Your hair," I pointed to an imaginary spot on my head, "wasn't tied up." This was the gamble that I'd told Hakua about, and it was the percentage chance that I was accounting for when I told her about the possibility for failure. If she were really running down that route, then the rest of the capture would be a breeze.

But if she were really injured, then I really would show myself to be an insensitive ham and be rightfully smacked for my efforts.

I blinked, and in the brief second that my eyes were closed, I hoped that it was indeed the case. I opened my eyes, and there it was.

Bingo! Here comes the confrontation event!

"H-huh? That's your reason, O-otamega?" Ayumi stuttered, turning her gaze guiltily to the side. "What a strange-"

"It's not strange, Ayumi-san." Keima interrupted gently. "For I who only know a bit of this or that about you, I do know that you would work only seriously if your hair were tied up. And when you ran and jumped over the hurdle, and had the accident, your hair wasn't tied up." Again, Keima smiled a sheepish smile. "So I surmised that you weren't injured."

"Wh-why?" She put her face in both her hands.

"Why?" Keima said, his voice raised a little. "I should be asking you that, Ayumi-san. Why did you fake this accident? Are you having second thoughts about the competition? The Ayumi-san I know would never let her doubts eat her up like this."

A ringing silence followed Keima's heated question, and neither one was sure who would answer first. Ayumi kept her face hidden while Keima kept his eyes on her.

"It's alright like this." She began, and Keima noticed her cracked voice. "It should be fine like this, right? It's so much better like this." She let down her hands and exposed her despondent face. Her eyes were fixed dully on her injured feet.

"It's just like they said: I was only accepted into the team because the teacher liked my good lap times. And now everyone is relying on me because I'm about to participate in the tournament, but-

"No one really noticed, but since then, my lap times haven't improved! I practiced hard every single day, but there's still no improvement. I'm still the same as ever.

"I'm not special. I was never meant to be here. Someone like me was never meant to participate in a tournament. They'd all only laugh when they'd see what a failure I am."

She clutched the front of her gym clothes tightly. Unbidden tears formed on the corners of her eyes, and she let them flow as she concluded: "So it's enough, things will be fine as they are. Even if I fail and be last on the list, even if I won't be first place and become outed-"

It will be fine.

"That's ridiculous." Ayumi's tear-stained face whipped up to glare viciously at Keima Katsuragi. "Things like deserving to be on or not, whether you're good enough or not..."

Now it was Keima's turn. His eyes took on that same faraway look they'd had on the afternoon he'd confessed to her. "The Ayumi-san I know would never let foolish doubts like these affect her stride."

"You don't know me!"

"No matter what people may think, there are none in this entire world who can run so far, and so fast, and so lively like you, Ayumi-san."

"You're exaggerating!"

"And if it's just about being first or last place Ayumi-san," he took off the glasses from his face and smiled like the cheerful sun,

"You will always be first in my heart."

"Um-, w-wha- I-" Ayumi struggled to form the words. Words to hurt, to deride, to bully. None came.

After all, how could one hurt someone they liked?

"And that's why Ayumi-san," Keima said seriously now, his face close to hers and clutching her shoulders with his hands, causing her to blush with the fury of a thousand furnaces. "I'll always be there for you, whether you become first place here, first place in another tournament, or first place in the next tournament after that. So, please run – run as far as you can, Ayumi-san. Because I'll be struggling to follow behind you every single moment."

Ayumi gingerly clasped one of Keima's hands with her own. One second after, she was clutching it crushing Katsuragi's hand under her vice grip, muttering, "What are those types of words coming out of your mouth for? Disgusting! Disgusting!" Katsuragi seemed to bear it all without a whimper of pain escaping him.

Afterwards, she sighed, and lightly pressed her forehead against his. Keima reacted noticeably to this action as it became his turn to blush, though Ayumi didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, will you still be come cheer for me tomorrow?"

Two blushing faces, separated by a millimeter. The gentle moment passed as Keima replied, "Tomorrow, and every day after."

"I'm glad," Ayumi sighed, and Keima had close to a panic attack when he realized her breath was hot on his lips and it was almost close enough to-

There, he felt it, that tender feeling of his lips, of a kiss, it's a kiss, In the hot afternoon, insude the infirmary i've been kissed...

niisama was kissed yay

He felt a blast of energy rush past him, tussling his hair and bursting through the door with a bang. He kept his eyes tightly closed as he held the unconscious form of Ayumi in his arms. When he was sure that the whatever-it-was had left the infirmary, he carefully arranged Ayumi on the bed, drew the curtains shut and ran off to inform Hakua.

"She-devil!"

"I know!" She yelled, already heading out the window in pursuit. She was annoyed that the commoner hadn't bothered to inform her about the spirit's release, but was more deeply disturbed by the power level this runaway spirit was exhibiting.

It shouldn't have been this strong.

It flew over the rooftops, its incorporeal form undulating and leaving silver streaks behind it, making it easy to follow for this genius devil. Hakua looked from left to right, quickly assessing if there were any humans in sight, and then powered up a restraining spell.

But before she could finish the cantrip, the spirit had doubled back over the roof, forcing Hakua to turn to the side in the last second -

And knock her head right into the water tower.

When Keima arrived on the scene at the rooftop, it was to find the unconscious form of Hakua lying broken on the ground a few yards away. He looked around and cursed, that must be the runaway spirit zooming around on top of the school.

"You're not just an annoying level, you're a useless one too!" Keima muttered as he rushed over to the she-devil. He didn't know how devil anatomy worked, but she was surely breathing, though she was deeply unconscious, no matter how much she shook her.

A shadow loomed above him, and he looked around and stared right into the ugly face of Ayumi's runaway spirit.

"it's enough like this...it's fine..."

The thing lunged, and Keima dove to the side, dragging Hakua's limp body with him. It roared as it dove cleanly through the concrete and emerge a few more feet away.

It zipped around like an out-of-control firecracker, though Keima had literally no idea how to handle a runaway spirit. Wasn't it this devil's job? Why can't she do her part of the contract properly! I'll torment her in Hell if I end up losing me head because of her!

But still, Keima wondered, what was the spirit doing? If what he gleaned from the she-devil's lectures was correct, that thing should have been somewhat like a phantom of sorts, drifiting like a stereotypical ghost in the air. Not zigzagging in midair like that.

Keima dodged another attack, and once he landed and recovered, he tried once again to rouse the sleeping devil-princess. No luck.

And he was breathing hard now, too. He wasn't prepared for strenuous activity like this; Physical education was his hated subject! A God does not need to exercise!

What's with this nefarious development! Shouldn't the end credits have rolled once I ki-kissed Takahara back there? Why am I up here playing tag with a creature that's well beyond my league!

Oh, I forgot, you did kiss her right?

Uncharacteristically, Keima shivered. "It" sounded clearer now – strong and resounding loudly in his mind. Wha-what the-

It was the uncomfortable feeling he'd felt only once before. A feeling he loathed to revisit.

He reviled it.

It was the reason for his hatred.

Keima placed the she-devil on the ground in defeat, his eyes clenched shut. Wordlessly he put his glasses away and pulled out his beloved PFP, before he turned to look at the blurred image of the fast-moving spirit.

Well then, I haven't felt this much energy since like, forever! Are you ready for this nii-sama?

Please don't hurt anyone. Please, that is my only request.

Well, if you beg like that, then I have no choice but to accept. But you'll be owing me...

The voice cackled as if from a far distance, and Keima's eyes lost their lustre as his vision faded into black.

You'll owe me big...nii-sama...

OoOoOoOo

The buzzing sound of her spirit detector greeted Hakua as she awoke. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she sat up, roughly pushing the weight on her body aside. Expert eyes looked around for the location of the runaway spirit, and her scythe was poised to defend at her side.

"But how-?"

She relaxed her pose when she caught sight of the runaway spirit floating docilely in the air in front of her. She looked around, questioning the sight in front of her, and consulted the human realm time with her cloth.

Only ten minutes passed when I shot out from the classroom?

She looked down at her feet and jumped (and shrieked). Or maybe she shrieked and jumped, or perhaps both at the same time. For there at her feet was her buddy, unconscious but visibly drooling on the ground.

That was the weight she felt, she realized with a jolt.

"Ah, I've got no time for this!" She wrenched her eyes forcefully from the Katsuragi's fallen figure. With a single release spell she summoned the jar-like containment bin and activated it. The runaway spirit was quietly sucked in without a hitch.

Hakua tapped her skull ornament, but before she contacted Hell, she glanced at Katsuragi.

"Lucky commoner." She pouted. A split second later, she remembered with a full-blown horror that he'd won the bet too.