...

What you are about to read is a reminiscence about two lovers.
An idol who lives in reality,
And an otaku who denies reality.
This story happened long time ago…
… But it is still dazzling brightly in my mind...

...

Overture 1: The Encounter

It was a clear humid Wednesday in late January, and the school bell rang as the clocks were striking twelve. Students of 2-B were cheerfully leaving the classroom to have lunch at the cafeteria with their friends. Some of them stay still in the class, grouping their table to dig their homemade lunch together or to taking notes from the blackboard where the teacher had written his lecturing on.

On the contrary, there is but one single person who stays in the classroom yet he not eating lunch or taking notes. Distinct in the eye, because he's all-alone on his seat at the center of the class away from the crowd, but no body seem to care nor to pay him tiniest bit of attention.

His name is Katsuragi Keima.

The boy moved one of his legs, crossing it to his other; hands still on his gaming console, a PFP; and with white colored earphone on, he completely lost himself to the virtual world.

However, just before he pressed the 'X' button to start his game, someone patted his shoulder only to buy his focus. "Hey, Otamegane!" It was a black-haired girl from his class with a ribbon on her head. "Sorry, but could you clean the classroom by yourself today?"

"Pardon?" he took of one of his earphone.

"I was saying, could you please clean the class by yourself? It's our shift today, but I can't make it."

"Ha?"

"You see, unlike you I'm busy! I have to prepare for the upcoming meet! I am not leisure enough to do cleanings!" she claimed.

Keima growled before he tilted his glasses and said, "Don't be ridiculous. I absolutely reject!"

"Awh, come on~ It's not like you have anything to do! Will you do it for me? I can't skip practice no matter what," she pleaded.

To ignore her, Keima put on his earphone back. "I don't care. It's tiring to clean the whole class by myself, so no."

The girl was taken aback by his sentence that her eyes were popeyed. "They are right. You're a dweeb," she said with disgusted eyes before leaving him alone with his game, again.

Thus, at the end of the school day, Keima cleaned the classroom together with a girl, a different girl from the one appointed to the cleaning duty that day. He doesn't care about that though. Even the short-haired girl bad-mouthed him when they met, he still focus on cleaning. All he cares about is to finish everything quickly and go home.

Without a word spoken by both persons, they left the class after they finished and took different route from each other to the locker at the ground floor.

At the locker, another girl wearing the same uniform as Keima greeted him. Her hair is lustruos black, straight, and long; long enough to touch her spine even she put it to a ponytail.

"Nii-sama~"

"Elsie? You waited? Thought I've told you it's alright to go home first," he replied.

"B—but Mom told me that the case of kidnapping happens quite a lot lately, so she forbid me to walk home myself," the girl explained with worry look on her face.

"That is unnecessary information. No one will even consider to kidnap a talkative idiot like you."

"Uuu... That's cruel, Nii-sama…"

Katsuragi Elsie is Keima's foster little sister who was adopted by Katsuragi family when she was 6. His father picked her when he worked at The Europe; she lived with him for two months before he brought Elsie home. Keima and his mother were quite shocked when he arrived together with a girl who was a year younger than his son. At first, the mother suspected him for Elsie being a 'forbidden' child or something, but his father dismissed that prejudice although he never told them the reason why he decided to adopt her. Keima was angry because he had to live with another citizen of the reality other than his mother.

But after years of living together with her, he has no choice but to accept her as his little sister; although she did not meet Keima's requirement to be the true little sister, he still couldn't reject her. He's already used to her around him, buzzing like mosquitos.

Keima walked down the street together with sister. Ironically, although Elsie tried her best to chat with him, Keima only replied her with nods while having his focus on his game instead. Elsie has already used to being treated like that by her brother so it doesn't really bother her.

Minutes after a long walk, they finally arrived at their house.

"We are home!"

"Welcome, Keima, Elsie!" an orange haired woman welcomed them.

"Mother~"

"Hee hee. How was your day, darling?" she hugged her and played with her foster daughter's hair.

"Well, it was…"

Keima went upstairs, straight to his room. He was uninterested in Elsie's conversation with their mother, Mari because instead of his family, he preferred to have private chat with a girl in his room who's living behind his console's screen.

It was a lofty chamber, quite spacious, as there are only a bed, a wardrobe, and a very notable desk at the center. It's like the room itself was purposedly built for this sole desk that handled 8 monitors with its CPU which each has a different type of controllers that are attached to the desk.

By using this desk, Keima could play up-to 8 games simultaneously. But he has to enter his 'God of Conquest mode' to do it and that really deplets his energy away, taking 1 year of his lifetime for each of use. It's a forbidden technique for human being, but the conquering god is the divine creäture who created such unbelievable method himself. Nevertheless, he doesn't need to activate the mode this day as new games only come by Friday. Instead, he just throws himself on his bed and continued his ongoing game.

With the sound of the game's intro echoing throughout the room, Keima begins his mission on saving another heroine who's been waiting for him eagerly.

"What take you so long? Geez!" said the girl. Her long hair is waving due-to the breeze. She burrowed her thin eyebrows, hinting a slight anger but also puffing her cheeks, which means she also happy to finally see the hero.

Keima smirked, "I'm sorry, I was…"

Suddenly, an email notification popped out in his console's screen. He growled, a bit annoyed because he has just started the journey. However, it was an email from another player who needs the god's divine revelation. Keima refers them as 'lost lambs'. It's another obligation he has for being a god, guiding the lambs to the correct route so they can grab the true ending to the story.

There goes Keima's afterschool activity. Without being bound to any unneseccary clubs, he's still more productive compared to those who has club. He can help countless of people who need him by replying their mails, generating his knowledge to them. It's safe to say that none of students with clubs could make such contribution to the world.

"Keima, dinner is ready!"

He was too deep to the game. The digital clock in his PFP's screen is showing 19:00; that means, dinner. He sighed heavily and rose from the bed. He dragged his feet; focus still on the screen while walking down the corridor to the stairs. From his position, he could hear her sister yelled, "Aaaaah! It's the music award night at channel XY!"

Soon as he arrived at the dining table, he saw her sister in her pajamas with a yellow ribbon on her long hair, rushing to the 41'' LCD television. "Phew! Almost late, me!" she giggled, pointing out her tongue.

"Now, now, Elsie. Eat your dinner before it gets cold!" the mother warned.

"Kyaa! It's Kanon-chan! Kanon-chan! Awh, there she goes… Ah! Kanon-chan agaiiin!"

"Elsie!"

"A—Alright, Mother…" she responded and ran to the chair next to her foster older brother. Under her impression of the idol, Elsie asked her brother. "Ne, ne. Keima Nii-sama! Isn't Kanon-chan really cute?"

Without averting his eyes from the PFP's screen, Keima answered, "Who's that?"

"Y—You don't know? Nii-sama doesn't know Kanon-chan? But she's an idol!" Elsie yelled. She then covered her mouth with her hands because she failed to believe that her own brother doesn't know her favorite public figure.

"Idol? Worthless," he said while picking the chopsticks to begin eating.

"Eeh?"

"Idols are relics in the past," he continued eating.

She was depressed, but her hard feelings are soon gone the moment she heard the TV.

"The NNS award for best newcomer of the year goes to…" Said the announcer before she unsealed the envelope in her hand slowly.

"Kanon-chan! Please let it Kanon-chan! Please!"

"Shut up, Elsie! I can't ea—"

"… Nakagawa Kanon!"

"IYAAAAAY!" Elsie threw her arms in the air in happiness.

"Can't you eat peacefully!?" Keima shouted but only get a hug from her in return.

"You did it! You did it, Kanon-chan!"

"Get off of me!"

"See, Keima Nii-sama? Idols are fantastic, right? Kanon-chan just won the best newcomer award!" she pointed her finger at Keima.

"That has got nothing to do with her being an idol," he rejected. His eyes stared at her, "Let me ask you, Elsie. What is an idol?"

"Err… Someone cute who sings at the stage?" she answered panickly. Her body was startled even more when Keima suddenly bang the dining table.

"An idol is the embodiment of an eternal ideal. Yet living idols in real life are limited by reality. As they grow older, they smoke, they drink alcohol, they get wrinkles and finally retire over scandals, and other things you don't want to hear about! Pathetic aren't they? While their loyal fans like you devote your very live to watch every minute of their shows or to listen to their songs, those idols can just quit in the future and maybe turn into something so outrageous you won't fond of anymore! They are frauds, my sister. Fake idols.

True idols are idols in games. They are boundless! They don't grow older, they don't smoke, and they won't quit! They live up every of her fans' dreams! That's what I called IDOL! For they are the IDEAL!" he remarked.

"Wha— But— but!"

"Enough!" This time, it's the oldest Katsuragi who spoke. She took her glasses off and glared at her children. "Eat your dinner quietly!" she threatened, which is very effective as the teenagers stop their quarrel and start eating in fear.

While they are dining, the winner of the newcomer award is singing one of her song after she finished a short speech to thank her fans.

From there, Keima went back to his throne room to end his day by playing another game. However, it's not the end of the day for the pink-haired idol.

1 hour after the award night is over, at a crowded lobby of a building far away from Katsuragi's household, a pink-haired girl wearing a black jacket and her iconic yellow ribbons is walking towards a black SUV car that had just arrived. When she was about to step up into the car, she turned around and bowed.

"Good job, guys! Thank you for your hard work!"

"""Thank you, Kanon-chan!"""

The official fans club replied while bowing deeper than the idol and still at their position until they left the building. Moments after that, the car is already going down the freeway.

"Congratulation. As your manager, I'm really proud," muttered a woman who's sitting at next to the driver.

"Thank you, Okada-san." Kanon smiled.

Without looking at her, Okada handed Kanon a tablet. "I've made your new schedule since you're back to school until the exam. Take a look."

"Hmm…" Kanon scanned the countless of table cell displayed on the tablet's screen. "Alright! Looking at this make me even more excited!"

"That's Kanon for you," the woman grinned.

It was pitch-black inside the car; the only light sources were Okada's devices, the LED lights on the radio's audio visualizer, and a glimpse of orange beam from the streets' lamps that splashed its color throughout Kanon's face for each time her heart beats. However, even with the help of the lamps, only her reflection notices her weak smile. "School, huh? It's been awhile…" she whispered in her thoughts.

And so, the day has finally ended for both the gamer and the idol, two souls with different background, destined to meet each other.

Next day at school, Elsie was aghast when she saw so many students lining up at the gate, some are scattered around the schoolyard to the lockers and most of them bring a camera or at least a phone. This is definitely not a usual scene the plain girl usually sees in the morning, hence there's only one thing she could think of.

"Keima Nii-sama… Could it be…!" she muttered. "Kanon-chan is back! Banzaaaai!"

"Like I care. This limited edition game is more important. I can't believe I can't finish this last night!" he answered, far off from the topic.

"Hee… This isn't like you, Nii-sama."

"Look! Everytime I almost reach the ending for one girl out of 3, the other heroines suddenly pop up out of nowhere and accusing me for cheating! And then, their heart points drop to zero! ZERO! Not only that, there's also a possibility where the system fails! Do you know what that means, Elsie?"

"No…"

"That means the author of the game wants me to conquer all the girls simultaneously, and the developers sucks!"

"Well, just give it up then, Nii-sama…"

"Give up? Do you know who am I?" Keima glared at Elsie and then moved his face closer to his sister's while keeping his expression to convince her. "I am the god of conquest!I shall not leave any heroines behind! If the author wants a harem ending, I shall not disappoint him!" He already changed into his indoor shoes when he bid his sister farewell. "I will finish this game today! Mark my words!"

Suddenly, a girl with long purple haired appeared in front of him, almost crashed into each other if it wasn't for Keima's miraculous evade. Nevertheless, the girl was still annoyed with him. "Hey! Look front when you're walking!" she yelled, but Keima ignored her.

"Haqua~ Good morning~"

"Morning Elsie," she replied after walking past Keima to approach his sister. She then looked back at Keima who's already 2 meters away from them, "That's your brother right?"

"Yup!"

"What a weird guy. He shouldn't walk while playing! No wonder his classmates call him otamegane," she sighed.

"Hmm… You mean otoshigami, right?"

"Where did that come from?"

"Well, Nii-sama always talking about 'I am otoshigami, otoshigami!' like that…"

Haqua could only take another sigh in reply. "Anyways, have you done your homework?"

"Fufu~ this time, I have made sure to finish it!"

Keima did not care about their conversation, not for one second. Even when the crowds around him were suddenly cheering, he still continued strolling down the hall down the corridor, heading to his class with focus on his PFP.

The cause of the crowd, the pink-haired girl, had just entered the locker hall.

"""Kanon-chaaan!"""

"""Look here, Kanon-chan!"""

"Ha—Haqua! It's Kanon-chaan!" Elsie yelled while pulling Haqua's school uniform in the arm.

Countless cameras were blitzing at her in the hall, but she was very calm about it. Even though the corridor turns into a wall of dazzling light, it doesn't affect her eyes much as the idol is already used to it. She could easily send the cameraman to heaven with her smile or posing at their camera.

The bell finally rang and the students went back to their classes.

It was a fairly normal school period for the idol. Nothing in particular happened, just a normal math class where the teacher concentrated on what he was writing.

Now, the idol is walking towards her favorite spot at Maijima High, the senior's rooftop: an empty but green garden where nobody can enter without password. Luckily, Kanon had already known the password since her freshmen year. The staffs had permitted her to use the rooftop with an excuse for practising.

She walked to the fence, humming one of her songs happily. Thanks to the plants and the trees, the atmosphere is nice and clear; the wet winter air also made it more freshing. The rooftop is definitely the best spot at school. "Ah~ It's been awhile~" Kanon inhaled and then staring at the whole city from the rooftop. "Best newcomer huh…" she muttered to herself while remembering what happened last night, when she had the trophy in her hands.

"I worked hard, right? Really really hard! These days, most of the girls are energetic and glamourous; some of them even formed a group and are very interesting; but I still won! This plain and old-fashioned me!" Kanon monologued. "I guess I'm really an idol now-"

"UGH! NOT AGAIN!"

"Huh?" Kanon turned around and found that she was not alone; there was a brown-haired glasses-wearing guy, like her; playing a game in his console on the bench right behind her. She was embarassed for a second, but she decided to talk to him. The idol approached the guy and said, "I'm sorry. Did you hear me talking to myself?" but the guy didn't seem to notice her. Hence, she approached him more. "Good afternoon. It's pretty extraordinary to find someone at this place…"

Keima averted his eyes from the screen, meeting a pair of magenta orbs. "Who are you?" Though Kanon was still in shock, Keima added another punchline, "I'm busy. Don't talk to me."

Unable to believe what had just happened, Kanon took a step back. "Ahaha~ I guess there are really people who still don't recognize me… Maybe you don't watch your telly last night?"

"Tch! The battery is drained! What a shitty game!" he shouted. "My charger, my charger…" He rustled his bag, ignoring the idol standing in front of him.

Kanon snapped. Her wrath has overwhelmed her. She put her hand into her pocket and grabbed something.

"Almost run out of energy! Gotta be quick!" said Keima after finding his charger. He was about to plug it to the electricity behind the bench when Kanon spoke again. "… You don't know me… and ignore me…"

"You still here? I told you not to talk to— UWAH? W—Why do you have a taser? GYAAAAAAH!" he screamed as Kanon stung him with her stun gun for seconds.

"… Why? Why did he not recognize me, even though I'm an idol?" Kanon stared at the burnt Keima who's crawling helplessly to his PFP.

"AAAH The saving data is gone!" he cried.

"… I'm not an idol… NO! It can't be! It's a lie!" After struggling with herself a bit, Kanon inhaled deeply, and let it go to calm herself. "You, what's your name?"

"Ka—Katsuragi."

"Katsuragi-kun…"

Just when she was about to sting Keima with her stun gun again, the school bell rang.

"You'll be hearing me soon. Hmph!" she said before leaving Keima alone.

"I think I have just bumped into someone very dangerous. May our paths never crossed again!"

However, he'll find out later that his wish was repelled as he found the very same girl, who had just erased the saving data in his precious PFP, in his class; sitting behind his seat. The two gazed at each other with widened eyes. "He is my classmate and he does not know me?" she said in her thought. She got even more furious when she found the same guy again at the empty lockers' hall, knowing that his locker is right beside hers.

"Ugh, you again…"

"What's the meaning of this, Katsuragi-kun? You don't know me even though I am your classmate and my locker is beside yours?" Kanon stuttered.

"N—no! Don't use that on me again! You'll break my PFP!" he said, pointing the console at the idol.

And then, another girl suddenly appeared at the scene. "Keima Nii-sama~ I'm sorry, are you waiti— Huwaah! It-it's Kanon-chan!"

"Kanon? Where did I hear this name?" Keima thought.

Kanon reacted at the girl who's just shouted her name, "You know me?"

"OF COURSE! I'm a huge fan of yours!"

"And… did you just said that that guy over there is your brother?"

"Yes!" she answered while rustling her bag, "Ugh, I don't bring any books… Ah, right. Nii-samaaa!" Elsie ran to his foster brother.

"Nii-sama! It's Kanon-chan! The famous idol!"

"So what? I have told you I don't give a damn about living idols!" his words hit Kanon's ears.

"Please lend me a paper or something!"

"No!"

"Then, this will do!" she took the console from Keima's hand and rushed back at Kanon.

"Oi, my PFP!"

"Would you please give me your autograph?" she bowed.

"Definitely!" Kanon enthusiastically grabbed a marker from her pocket and the PFP from Elsie's hands. "What's your name?"

"Katsuragi Elsie!"

"… For Elsie… with love… done!" she swore she could hear Keima's scream as she said 'done'.

"W-with love! Kyaaah! Thank you very much!"

"Ah, but I'm confiscating this." Kanon put the PFP in her bag, much to Elsie's disappointment. The pink-haired girl stepped towards Keima and said, "If you want your console back, come tomorrow to the rooftop by yourself, Katsuragi-kun!"

"What? Stop joking. I haven't finished the game inside that PFP! Give it back!"

"Good. Then, you must come at all cost if you don't want me to break it." Kanon already changed into her outdoor shoes. "See you tomorrow, Katsuragi-kun."

"Noooo! Give it baaaack!"

Kanon vanished behind a black car at the gate and left the school with flaming feelings in her heart.

"Katsuragi-kun… I will defeat you!"