"Will you . . . remember me fifty years from now?" The girl clasped her hands in front of her beseechingly.
"Yes, I shall." He replied.
Flames leapt all around the two, bathing their feet in the blaze. They neither felt nor paid attention to them.
"Would you remember me five hundred years from now?" The girl allowed her hair to shroud her face as she hid it behind her hands. He watched her dress dissolve little by little into many fragments of light.
"Yes, I will." He replied. He stood exactly where he was in front of her, neither near nor far.
"Would you still remember me then, a thousand years from now?" The clothes in all their grand finery had dissolved, leaving her as bare as a newborn babe. Tears streamed down her grateful eyes as she locked eyes with her lover one final time.
"Forevermore I shall, my love." He closed his eyes, allowing a stream of tears to fall down his cheeks. "Forevermore."
"I'm glad." Her voice seemed distant now, The flames leapt ever higher, acknowledging a force invisible. The girl was slowly turning transparent. "I'm glad I could spend the moments of my life with you, K-, for being my friend first, my lover second, and my husband furthest. Now I can go fulfill my duties with peace in my heart."
He was silent, keeping his fist clenched to stop them from reaching up and grabbing her where she stood. She was almost gone now, and the room around him started to shimmer with light. He wanted to say a thousand things to her in that moment, a thousand entreaties, a thousand actions. But he knew he could not; he hated that he could not. So he imagined, focusing all his willpower to recall all those images during those halcyon times . . .
He heard a faint sound, like that of small bells clinking against each other, and he smiled, even though his heart hurt so much he wanted to gouge it out -
"And so was the Princess sealed for the final time . . . "
The boy turned, surprised to hear the familiar voice in this place. A scantily dressed girl with big, protruding horns growing out the top of her head stood there, regarding the spectacle with a derisive gaze.
"Hakua," the Capturing God began. "What are you doing here? You never appeared in the final ending she-devil, get out!"
"Final ending, what are you talking about?" He saw her raise her eyebrows in a lovely manner. Unconsciously he brought his hand to his chest where there glowed a fiery stub. "This is the final ending, my dear," she purred, "Don't you remember the conditions that had to be met to meet the final, final ending? Oh what am I saying: you're the Capturing God, of course you know!" She laughed, and out from the flames leapt doppelgangers of herself laughing with her. It was a veritable caricature of a nightmarish imago.
"Ah, I get it, it's a dream! A dream! An ending like that didn't exist! I would remember if there was!" He struggled against all the Hakuas that closed in with malicious fingers wriggling. "Pinch! Big pinch! This is just a dream Keima, wake up!"
If you say so, nii-sama . . .
Abruptly, the scene shifted, and all the Hakuas and the inferno faded away. Now before Keima stood a tall, crooked winding tower made of inlaid gold and ivory, A fog like static on a television shrouded the surroundings, and all Keima heard now was a faint, crackling sound in his ear.
"So I'm in a lucid dream now . . ." Keima muttered. He felt around his pocket for a PFP he thought would be there, before his ears were assaulted by a sharp scream of metal piercing through his brain.
He heard no more, but he could see through darkening vision. . .
That high above the white-stoned tower. . .
On the tallest balcony . . .
I shall bid you well, mortal.
I bid you well, nii-sama.
And thus, Keima awoke. He felt a burning sensation on top of his chest, like a red-hot cinder had been placed there, and he clawed at his chest desperately.
"W-what? . . . " Almost ripping the buttons off, he opened the front of his upper nightwear and looked at his chest. There shone that infuriating amulet from before, burning his chest without leaving a real mark.
He'd really told the she-devil off before when he'd reluctantly agreed to push forward with the contract. Unfortunately, she decided to try out some bizarre ritual with him then and there, somehow involving the unveiling of those pathetic cups. It was unfortunate, because his mother had stormed into his room then, and the impression she'd gotten was that of a newlywed couple on their nuptials.
"KATSURAGI KEIMA! You will not follow your stupid father's lead! That girl is NOT your wife, and if you ever want to take advantage of a poor islander girl, you'll wish you were born as a girl from the start, because your man-stuff will be off mister! Do you hear me!" His mother had screamed, her once lovely face transformed into a mask of rage.
Then he'd been left lying in the dust while his mother "saved" Hakua the islander girl, who didn't help his case much when she broke down and cried., in stuttering hesitance, about her condition. Did Hell have some sort of acting workshop somewhere in those depraved depths?
Regardless, he was then officially ostracized by the Katsuragi household - which of course, now included Hakua the Islander Girl - and he was forced to clean the mess downstairs overnight (everything glittered with a renewed sheen afterwards though, so he wasn't complaining). And then, just as he was about to settle down to power-game his way through this week's releases, the unrepetant she-devil had returned.
"It's a way of confirming the contract you fool," the devil had said as she held him down with her raiment that surprisingly had great strength for such light-looking fabric. "With this, I don't have to be around you every minute to contact you. I can tap into your soul," there he'd shouted, before she plugged his mouth with the raiment, "and we can communicate along a set distance. This will help us greatly during missions. Don't you see the merit of that?"
He hadn't, and it was mainly because it was such a painful process to bear: it had burned, and it continued to burn his chest many times then; and also because the she-devil had uttered a word and she'd stood stark-naked in front of him (though she had placed a firm blind around his eyes then).
"Remember commoner," she'd said afterwards, and he noticed how she appeared a little flushed in the face, "You have to find a way to explain the presence of that amulet. There's no way you can remove it, though if the circumstances demand it I can exert a little magic to cloak it from mortal eyes." He'd fumed, and ordered Hakua out of the room, using all the supreme presence of authority he had left.
Before he could settle down however, his mother had slammed open his door and given him a sound thrashing, a tearful, but slyly grinning she-devil bringing up the rear. Oh, his life!
The Capturing God sulked into his bedsheets for a few more minutes before he rose to prepare for the new week. As he undressed himself in the bathroom, he had the chance to see the amulet up close in the mirror. It was shaped like a teardrop, with protruding unsharpened spikes radiating outward. At the center was placed an emerald jewel-like object. Keima cupped it to his face, before attempting to remove it from his neck. The return of the burning pain stopped him, and he shrugged in annoyance as he stepped into the bath.
"G-g-good morning, Katsuragi-heir," Hakua greeted him as he descended the stairs, but as he was busy replying to all the messages he'd gotten in the PFP, he merely grunted in reply as he passed her to the dining table. Just as he settled down, he felt the combined killing intent from two sources, and he forced his lower face muscles to smile as he turned his head to greet Hakua back.
Furious met fearless eyes.
"Hakua, it's not good to call Keima the Katsuragi-heir all the time. You have to learn to call him by his proper name, isn't that right Keima?" his mother smiled at both of them as she prepared breakfast.
"Uh . . . okay!" Hakua agreed, her face showing the need to please. Oh you are a very sly devil. I wonder how Hell trains their demons nowadays?
"Now Keima, since I still don't know what we're going to do with Hakua, she will be staying in the house. Now don't go and spread weird rumors, for we wouldn't want your father's foolishness to shame the family," his mother made a ghoulish smile at the last part.
"Mn." The Capturing God acknowledged without speaking as he stepped out the door, uniformed and starting out the day with a dose of harmless galge on his PFP. Just outside the door, the devil in casual home clothes met him and nodded to the side.
"I know I haven't gotten the time to clarify some other things with you yet," Hakua shrugged, here gaze lowering to where the amulet was hidden beneath his clothes. "But as soon as this infiltration detail gets worked around, I can start patrolling my district for the runaway spirits, which means I can have time to explain the finer details of the-"
Wordlessly, Keima stepped back on the path without looking up from his screen, and Hakua called him back, "Hey, commoner! Were you listening?"
"She-devil!" He raised a hand. "Do not bog down my mornings with your headaches. I agreed somewhat to go along with this ridiculous setup only as far as aiding you in the capture itself. I have thus no intention of associating with you or your kind on times like these when nothing's going on. So keep what information you were going to give me to yourself until I need it," he started walking again, "Good day to you then, Hakua. Don't bother me using your stupid amulet without good reason. I don't want to have to be reminded every hour of the day of my burden."
"I just know you're gonna regret not knowing some things commoner!" She cried her parting words. "They could end up saving your life!"
Hakua watched Keima Katsuragi go to school with doubtful eyes. After giving something in her head some thought, she looked around and summoned her raiment, out from which formed a humanoid shape that looked just like her.
"Hakua dear," Keima's mother called from within Cafe Grandpa. "Come, it's time to teach you the basics of socializing!" She poked her head out and saw Hakua standing outside in a daze. Smiling resignedly as if guiding a child, she cheerfully led the foreigner girl back into Cafe Grandpa, flipping the store-sign from "Open" to "Closed" before closing the door.
If there was one thing that the Capturing God was well-known as, it was that he could walk to school without once looking up from his PFP screen, an almost god-like quality that gave unerring eyes and feet. He walked thus to his high school, his face passive but his mind undoubtedly rooted in a faraway place.
Had Keima minded, he would have noticed the looks of scorn sent his way as he walked through the hallways of the school. Disdainful gazes that brooked of a higher opinion, along with mirthful, malicious gazes followed the Capturing God as he clicked the "New Game" button on the screen.
Classes went by in a flash, and now that it was breaktime, Keima felt the first faint tendrils of the dratted Urge. He looked around at the bustling students and frowned as he put away his PFP.
On his way to the secluded men's comfort room on the other side of Majima High, he became aware of a new sensation: a gaze that seemed to follow him. This is new. Keima looked back and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. No curious face popped out in his field of vision, but the feeling of being watched was still there.
Deciding to shrug it off, Keima hurried, mindful of the time left for break and finished his brief "business" at the comfort room. Inside, he noticed the gaze didn't follow him here, though that strange feeling was still there. When he was done, he poked his head out cautiously. The prickly gaze returned, and now the Capturing God was getting sick of it.
A section of the wall the Capturing God passed by a few seconds past peeled away like old paint, revealing the figure of Hakua, dressed in her official Squad uniform. She cast a curious glance at the door that Keima had just left, before she disappeared into smoke after a snap of her fingers.
She spent the rest of the day flitting invisibly through the whole of her buddy's educational institution. She recorded the layout of the area onto her handy raiment, and also performed the customary spirit scan. There were always those who couldn't be immediately detected with Hell's long-ranged scanners, and Hakua was a conscentious devil.
When the sun perched high above the empyrean, Hakua settled down on the empty high school rooftop where she and the commoner had spent hours on that first target. She went to work cataloguing her gathered information. It was important to be prepared for all things, after all, and it would help her and the commoner greatly even if he was ungrateful - not that she cared for whatever the commoner thought or anything!
Halfway through her work, she felt a hand tug her back, and with a yelp she tumbled back into a nearby ornamental bush. As soon as she felt a warm body behind her, her magic fired up between her fingertips as she turned to face – the commoner.
Keima put a finger to his hand, urging Hakua to be silent. Before she opened her mouth to protest in an appropriate indignant manner, the rumbling sound of the roof door silenced her. Turning attuned eyes to the door, she spotted a mortal girl and boy walk hand in hand, shutting the door with haste behind them.
What the two did afterwards caused Hakua to make a huge intake of breath, and she felt warm blood swarm in her head as she opened and closed her mouth rapidly in shock. Then, as if finding herself after a daze, she quickly used her raiment to cloak the bush.
"Wh-what are those two doing in b-broad daylight!" she cried, wishing a mindscourer could wash out that recent memory in her mind. "H-how audacious-!"
"It's quite common you know," the Capturing God replied, apparently unfazed by Hakua's reaction nor the fact that a huge swirling red dome now enclosed him as he pressed his PFP's screen. "There's no need for a devil to be unsettled by this, right?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well – no, but, w-we were educated o-on proper human d-decorum . . . a-and-" she stuttered, twiddling her fingers in front of her before she summoned her scythe and smacked the commoner on the head. "You! W-what were you doing here anyway?" How could I not have noticed him?
"I should be asking you that, what are you doing at my school? Did Mom kick you out?" He adjusted his glasses as he glanced askance at the devil. "Well, whatever. As I recall it, you were the one who intruded on my lunchtime spot. I don't know what was in your mind, but apparently devils can be so focused that they fail to notice their surroundings . . . "
"A simple greeting could have sufficed! What is wrong with you? W-were you planning to a-assault me?" Keima lifted his head to stare incredulously. "Never in your life will I allow that, you lowborn pervert!"
"And now I'm a pervert." Keima rolled his eyes as he returned to his game. "As to greetings, I rightly deduced that opening up an interaction with you would just reduce the time I have left playing through this route, so I wisely chose the better way and kept silent. Though apparently, that backfired on itself," he shrugged and pointed a thumb behind him, where the two students were.
"Of course you're a pervert! And so is this school, for that matter!" Hakua shivered. "How can you so nonchalantly ignore what was happening there, it's like your school's a breeding pit straight from Hell!"
"The question I would like to ask is why would you, a devil, be disturbed by something like this? Don't your kind delight in that and many more absurdities? It's so out of character for a devil persona like you. (though I have encountered your sub-type – in games)"
"Hell's changed, you dolt! And you've still failed to answer my question: how can you ignore that- that thing happening back there? Did your idiotic mind melt from your hobby?" She was rapidly settling her mind, not allowing it to return to the kissing, and the groping and the . . .
The Capturing God snorted. "Aside from being a student here for more than five years, I've also been quite desensitized to that sort of thing. After all," he pressed a key on his PFP and showed to the she-devil a piece of full-scale game art showing a scene identical to that outside, causing the she-devil to recoil in a mixture of disgust and shock. "A thousand and more routes, and thrice that number of scenes for each, Hakua. When one is a Capturing God such as I, nothing in the Real much surprises anymore. And acts of copulation between disgusting bags of meat are among them." He stared for a bit more at Hakua's expression, before he shrugged and put his PFP on standby. "Come, I wish to help you familiarize yourself with this school."
"Y-y-you would do that?" Hakua gaped, before crossing her arms in suspicion. "I thought you didn't have time for something like that?"
"Truthfully, I don't. But a good foundation is good for a smoother follow-up. It's like in games, you see," and here his eyes flashed, showing Hakua the PFP screen once more. "Save games can be made for the most conspicuous points in the route so I don't have to press the New Game every time. That is why at the beginning, I have to go root around in the trunk part for easy access to the branches."
Hakua didn't understand that last part, but she did know that this was a rare opportunity to be able to talk to the commoner in a normal manner. So she nodded and placed a cantrip on the both of them, whisking them away from the rooftop and away from that scandalous scene.
They reappeared on a secluded ground below, where Keima stood and dusted himself. "As you can see, my magical repertoire is considerable. As I was the top of my batch of demons back at the Academy, I know a lot of magical cantrips and lore. This is why I'm the district chief despite my age." She gestured, and her raiment expanded to show the portable screen she'd shown Keima before.
"First off," Keima began, "I would like to know the specifics to this thing you've stuck to my neck. Why does it burn?" He pointed to his chest.
Hakua quirked an eyebrow. "It burns? I know it's supposed to burn at the bonding process, but-" she put a finger to the front of Keima's shirt where the amulet was, eyes thoughtful, before she started and drew back her arm in alarm. She then seemed to want to hit the commoner, but she stopped and cleared her throat. "A-a-anyway, as I've mentioned, the amulet acts as a channel between the demon and their minion, though in this case, their buddy," she hastily added at the commoner's look. "It marks the min- buddy as theirs, and the demon can directly communicate to the buddy's thoughts by exerting a bit of magic. That's the bare gist of it.
"For advanced uses, only a demon of higher rank can enable them, and as I am but a district chief, I cannot enable the amulet's higher functions." She waved her hand, and the screen showed a diagram of a line connecting a horned figure and a normal one. "The amulet's range was supposed to be unlimited, but since we're scrimping on energy, it's been reduced to a mile distance. Beyond that, well let's just say Hell automatically assumes the buddy has bolted, and it signals the collar to start working." She smirked at Keima's wide-mouthed expression.
"So that means . . . I can never go anywhere without you?" he exclaimed.
"That's right," Hakua guffawed in a diabolical manner, something she'd copied from her classmates before.
"Oh alright then. Considering that I'm only limiting my activites within the city, there's really nothing to worry about." Keima shrugged in a flat voice.
Hakua spluttered on her laugh, evidently shut down by the commoner's nonchalance, before she grinned and tried another avenue of attack. "The amulet also allows me to use this cantrip." She muttered something unintelligible to Keima, and without warning, the devil disappeared in a cloud of purple dust.
"Wha-" Keima looked around, before noting how his shirt seemed to glow. Taking out the amulet, he noted the emerald shining bright. The devil's voice echoed as if from a far distance in his head, and he looked around wildly before settling critical eyes on the amulet.
"The Soul Casket of Styx. 'By many vows is thine fate sealed, with veiled whispers are secrets sealed.' Neat, isn't it? Aside from a temporary recovery chamber for me in case I get injured, the amulet also has room for the devil to be able to take refuge in, hiding in a pocket dimension inside. From here, I can see everything and anything you do will be revealed." A dread laugh echoed from within the emerald as Keima shivered.
"A faint victory, devil. I'll grant you that." Keima grunted, before turning at the sound of the bell. "What will you be doing for rest of the afternoon, then?"
"I think I'll just stay here. See what you see. Learn how the so-called 'Capturing God' lives in the reality he loathes." The raiment dissipated before Keima's eyes. "Plus, I have to rescan the old target, Takahara Ayumi, for any signs of the crevice resurfacing."
"Wait," Keima asked as he turned his PFP back to active mode. "Crevices can be reopened? What happens then?"
"Well, there are . . . " Keima spent the next two hours hearing a second voice lecture him on Runaway Spirit methodology, even as he kept his focus on his game.
"I have confirmed the presence of no crevice in the heart of mortal Takahara Ayumi." Keima was not unnerved in the least to hear that from an empty space in the wall next to him where he knew Hakua had hidden herself with her cheap cantrips. Over the top of his PFP, he saw Ayumi talking cheerfully with her friends, seeming almost at odds with the depressed, self-hating girl he'd left in the infirmary. He couldn't put a finger on it . . . it was like she seemed different after the capture somehow.
Then again . . . He let out a short breath and started walking the other way. He heard Hakua fall in step behind him.
"By the way commoner, I might like to inquire about the nature of this school you're in." He heard an undertone of disbelief in her voice. "From the way I observed it, not one of your classmates seemed to be quite invested in class. And your teacher wasn't that enthusiastic, too. Is there an infection in the school body or something?"
Keima turned a corner, glancing at the milling faces inside the classrooms he passed. "So you've finally noticed the Ruin of Majima High. Aside from being afflicted with some sort of immorality disease, it's inhabitants also have some sort of bizarre lethargy, causing half-hearted attempts among both students and teachers in relation to the function of education. There are the occasional failures, disappointments, and a lot of dismissals. While the combined marks aren't that low to force the government to step forward and examine this school, they aren't exactly high either.
"It's like the school devolved from being a school for achievers (which it was, back when it was an all-girls's school) to a nation of pigs and sloths. I have a suspicion that I'm only top of my class because of that, but well my intellect just begs to differ. Another theory I have is that the CoEd system degraded the school that much, but I believe it's just a factor." Keima shrugged as he stopped at the way to the stairs, tapping his foot impatiently. "In my opinion, Majima High may have just been hit by the spirit of the season."
"Spirit of the season?" Hakua inquired, also staring with puzzlement at the commoner who couldn't seem to decide whether to go down or up.
"It's a term I call that sickness where the collective hopes and aspirations of a people are leached out because of the rampant disharmony in the Real, and finding no outlet of release, turn inward into blatant sloth." He brought a hand to his glasses and continued, "In fact, I conclude that I may have been infected by the same repulsion of the Real, though I can say I am healthily bearing it." He turned to the right where he started climbing up the stairs.
"Fancy theory, and you're not healthy at the least." Hakua replied, following him up.
"You're right. As a God, human conditions can hardly be applied to me." Keima nodded as if assuring himself of the truth. "I have certainly transcended the meagre whims of the Real to a more refined state, though what that is I cannot say."
"How's about, you're just a little annoying bug living among annoying bugs? Oblivious to the world around you and seeing only wooden log in front of you." Hakua remarked snidely, causing Keima to glare at her briefly as he opened the door to the rooftop.
"KYAAAH!" "Damnit Otamega, what the FUCK!"
Hakua hastily shut the door before the two could see any further, and they both stood in silence, he in annoyance and she in shock. Presently, Keima turned to walk back down the stairwell, muttering "It's just like a frigging H-game, this school. . . ."
"I—I-isn't the proper d-decorum here for you humans would be to report to th-the teachers? It's improper!" She hissed in Keima's ear.
"You want me to head into that pit and report something that's gonna join the others in a long line of cases like that? Didn't I say that kind of thing was common here? Heck, I might just be jumped by my crazy homeroom teacher . . . " She saw him shiver. "W-well, you just have to do what I do, keep your head down and stay as below the radar as possible."
"What a messed up school you're in . . . " Hakua wondered. "Don't the parents know anything? I wonder how your mother would react to this impropriety."
"I think everyone has a slight inkling." Keima said darkly. "And if Mom doesn't really know, it's best not to trouble her about this. It's not like I'm getting involved. Within this topsy-turvy school, it appears that I'm the last bastion of sanity and decency here." Keima came to an abrupt stop when he crossed eyes with Ayumi in the hall.
The two watched as she quickly averted her eyes from Keima and sped down the corridor in the other direction. Hakua did a rescan with her raiment as Keima stared after her uncertainly.
"Hey, do you think she's-?" the she-devil whispered, before Keima cut her off and quickly made for the exit. "I don't care and I wouldn't want to pry anymore than I need to. As a God, I must keep myself high above the affairs and concerns of mortals. Since she's been freed from the spirit, her business is her own from now on. Unless she becomes a target again, of course."
To an outsider, it seemed that Keima was the only one walking the lonely road out the gates and into the city. Only Hakua knew better, and then again in some ways she did not.
Later that night, Hakua stared thoughtfully at her emptied dinner plate as she watched Keima scurry back up the stairs mumbling some strange mantra about someone named Kanon. The decoy Hakua had been safely dispelled, carrying with it a morning's worth of footage that she would have to familiarize with later, and Keima's mother had cheerfully proclaimed that they would be moving on to cooking lessons later on, whatever that meant.
As she'd be making her report on the commoner's state of mind along with the rest of the reports monthly, she was perceptive of his every move, action and words. His flat unacknowledgement of the blatant disharmony in his school was an indication of something, as was his unhealthy obsession with games. Though what that indicated of the Capturing God, she couldn't tell at this point. Perhaps she'd consult her old teacher of Human Societies? It would have to be on a time when she thought there wouldn't be any missions, as her old teacher liked to wander Hell without telling anyone at times.
Hakua bid a stuttering thanks to Keima's mother before going upstairs herself. Her mind mulled over the new knowledge she'd gotten in the day. Since it seemed to be in her blood to analyze every aspect of something with great depth, it took far longer for her to decide whether to take up Keima's mother's suggestion of a bath as she sat inside the room she'd been given.
And as it was, she was still in a flurried state of mind when she stepped into the bathroom, having already stripped herself with an impatient cantrip, and then and there came directly face-to-face with the commoner, who stood in all his naked glory before her.
They both stared blankly at the other, one in a daze that spoke of a delayed reaction within the mind, and the other in mild annoyance. Finally, it was Keima who broke the tense atmosphere that seemed to hang in the air like a poised knife:
"She-devil," he began, without once appearing to take notice that a naked woman was standing in front of him. "I have yet to even start my turn in the bath. Please try again in thirty minutes."
"Ha- hawa- hawawawha-"
"I suppose since it's your first time," he frowned at her as his eyes glided down to her chest, and she saw them scrunch up in pity, "It's a rule, you see. I get a little over an hour in the bath in exchange for cleaning up the store for the same time. I suppose Mom didn't bother remembering that last bit when she told you to come up here."
"Sh- wh- Bububub-"
"No matter, now you know," he said dismissively as he turned away, "And I would appreciate it if you didn't make the same mistake again, she-devil."
"Ashj Maz Enkil rakas DAKU!" Her shout was drowned out by a powerful boom of force that echoed into the night, borne of a wave of magical fury that consumed everything in its path – in this case, everything human and inhuman in front of Hakua Helmium.
It also seemed to extend into the house right next to the Katsuragi's as the police report indicated several days later.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Have you no shame, she-devil? You willingly destroyed part of my house and now you approach me calmly like nothing ever happened?" Keima was rightly furious, though he still didn't know the reason why Hakua had gone all apocalypse on him last night. He supposed it was some sort of flaw in a Real woman's system. Amazingly enough, he survived the blast with not a scratch on him, yet this he attributed to his god-like stature.
He'd not seen Hakua the morning after and assumed she'd run off to tell her superiors about this fiasco. Thus, he was relieved, as he was assured of another free day. Until of course, lunch break, when he spotted the devil run at him as if all the hounds of Hell were at her back.
"Commoner. It's important, a new spirit's been detected." Keima's eyes widened in surprise. So soon? He'd assumed a cooldown of sorts in between spirit sightings, lasting for one, two months – a year maybe? A God could only wish. He saved his game as he lent an ear to the unrepentant devil.
"Your target this time is another Majima High student: Aoyama Mio."