I did it! I finally completed this chapter, and it's 11600 words, excluding this author's note... God, this is gonna take forever to read as well.
Here ya go... I updated it, and I updated it good!
Chihiro gave Keima and Ayumi fifteen more minutes, hoping they would have reached some kind of equilibrium after that last conversation. She knocked on the door nervously.
"C-come in…" Ayumi's voice cracked as she replied. Even if Chihiro hadn't known her for forever, it was pretty clear that she still wasn't alright. The normal girl stepped in, balancing three glasses of ice tea on a tray.
"I brought something to drink," Chihiro announced nervously, indicating to the tray. Looking at Ayumi, she's been right… the girl's eyes and nose were pink, so she must have been crying before.
"Where did Yuuta-kun go?" Keima asked worriedly. Chihiro already knew about the situation and Ayumi wouldn't hate being seen like this by her, but Yuuta…
"I told him to go and buy his own damn groceries," Chihiro shrugged, "I wouldn't have come here if he wasn't gone…"
"Yeah, that was appreciated," Keima gave her a small smile, "maybe he'll stop coming here now…"
"Which reminds me, how do you even know that guy?" Chihiro laughed, "I've never seen you talk to, or talk about, any guy before…"
A hilarious thought came into Chihiro's head.
"Don't tell me… he was your gay lover…" Keima glared at her, not appreciating the humour at his expense.
"Obviously not!" Keima replied, clearly insulted, "I'm more surprised you don't know who your own neighbours are… especially the type that come to your house begging for food…"
"That doesn't answer my question, you know…" Chihiro eyed him suspiciously, "just say it…"
Ayumi watched the two of them trade casual words across the table, a slight feeling of unease settling on her. Keima, who had been having trouble with making small talk with her, seemed to be perfectly content about chatting about whatever with her friend. It wasn't jealousy, per se, but it definitely highlighted the difference in how he viewed them.
"You guys are getting along well," Ayumi noted glumly. Keima felt a growing feeling of dread that history might repeat itself. He braced himself for changing the topic back to where it had been going before Chihiro had stepped in. Keima cleared his throat.
"So how about that wa‒"
"Well, yeah… we are kinda going out…" Chihiro nonchalantly replied. Keima face faulted.
"You're going out!?" Ayumi slammed her palms on the table, "when did this happen!?"
"Quite recently…" Chihiro started admiring her nails, as if she was bored, "I was tired of constantly fighting with myself and this guy, so I just went for it…"
Keima climbed back up, his eyes falling on Chihiro. Despite the even tone she was using, her face was darkening. So she really wasn't as indifferent to telling Ayumi as she was acting…
Chihiro felt the hairs on her neck bristle as Ayumi joined with the staring.
"What's your problem even!? You have a boyfriend as well!" Chihiro snapped at her roommate, but that was more to hide her own embarrassment.
It took a moment for Keima to absorb that response despite it being an easy sentence. For one, that meant that Ayumi had moved on just fine… for another, Chihiro used 'as well'… this was the first time since he'd confessed that she used 'boyfriend' to describe what he was to her.
It wasn't a term used that often in games, but dammit, he was so happy that she used it. He was so happy that he confessed to Chihiro.
Both girls turned to look at Keima, who looked a tad dazed.
"Katsuragi…" Ayumi shook a hand in his face, "earth to Katsuragi…"
"Eh, he's pulling another weird face," Chihiro sighed, "he must be thinking of another game…"
Keima suddenly snapped out of it.
"Wait, you have a boyfriend?" Keima turned to Ayumi. The girl blushed at the sudden intensity of his gaze.
"Y-yeah… you weren't expecting me to wait for you or something, were you?" This, of course, was said with zero eye contact, "coz that would be nuts, especially when you've been holding a candle for Chihiro for the last four years…"
When Ayumi did look up at him, his eyes flashed as a warning.
He hadn't told Chihiro that little fact, had he?
They both turned to Chihiro, who had a thoughtful look on her face. Keima doubted she'd missed hearing it.
How would she even react to learning something like that?
"H-how about we get to the actual thing you came to discuss, Katsuragi…" Chihiro diverted. Keima felt himself relax slightly.
"I guess we should, huh…" he muttered. Despite the reprieve, he didn't know what to make of Chihiro brushing it off. Did she not want to think of the implications it would have on their relationship? Would it have any effect on their relationship even?
For a moment, Chihiro wondered why he wasn't continuing.
"You know… the watch… random super powers… Mel…"
"Oh… right," Keima shook his head, "did you understand what I'd been saying before?" he addressed Ayumi, who looked a little insulted.
"Of course… as things are now, both me and Mel are in danger if we stay together… so you have to separate us for our own good…"
Chihiro felt her heart beat a bit faster. While Keima wasn't lying, he definitely downplayed the details of what would happen, and it was making her nervous that Ayumi might pry for more information… or maybe that she wouldn't take Keima's threat seriously.
It had been Chihiro's idea in the first place… the details that Keima had given her if Ayumi didn't give up Mel were freakin' bleak and were more likely to make the host depressed instead of urging her to declare independence from her Goddess, which was why Chihiro was certain it was the right choice to withhold the worst of it.
But, on the reverse side, she was worried that the warning would become ineffective.
"Exactly… so with yours and Mercury's permission, I would like to gather information and find out how to separate the two of you…"
Again, it was half-truths… Chihiro knew that removing the Goddesses required magic power which Keima didn't have, so all the information gathering was to facilitate the means Nikaido-sensei (oh God, she was involved with this story too!) needed to separate the Goddess from their human body.
"But… can't Mel protect me from any danger that might come to us?"
Yeah, that is what Chihiro had been worried about… Keima frowned, before choosing his words carefully.
"Mercury's power is dissipating inside your body… she can't protect you if she is getting weaker."
Ayumi's eyes widened. Chihiro was the one to voice it, for Keima's sake as well as to confirm her roommate's suspicions…
"That day you froze the juice just walking between the fridge and the table… it was probably that."
Ayumi opened her mouth, but fell silent.
"So it is true?" Keima wondered out loud, "you are starting to gain magical powers of your own?"
Each statement felt less and less like a question. Ayumi didn't even say a word about those incidents, yet Keima trusted Chihiro enough to take her word on it.
Chihiro, who barely had a clue about what chaos those powers were causing in her life…
Ayumi loved Kyousuke with all her heart, but she could never tell him about this. Even if she could, he wouldn't be able to understand it or do anything about it.
Ayumi loved Chihiro with all her heart as well, but other than a brief mention of it, she couldn't tell her either. Chihiro was sympathetic, but in the end her knowledge on the magic world was probably on par with whatever Ayumi had gained from Mel.
That inkling of frustration only grew stronger as she thought about Keima's sudden reappearance and his relationship with Chihiro… why did it irritate her?
Maybe it was the level that they seemed to trust each other… maybe it was that they seemed to communicate without having to speak, somehow knowing when to hold their tongue and when to speak…
Probably, the thing that irritated Ayumi the most was that Keima was holding back something from her, and Chihiro knew what it was… it just gave her the feeling of being ganged up on, and it made the whole situation feel lonelier than ever.
Ayumi pulled herself up from the floor, downing her glass in one gulp.
"I'm getting a refill…" she said, her tone unreadable. Then she stepped out of the room. Keima was flabbergasted at the sudden change in Ayumi's mood. Even Chihiro was scratching her head at what Keima could have said to set Ayumi off.
"Was it something I said?" Keima asked tentatively. Chihiro had no clue whether to answer in the affirmative or not. She'd seen Ayumi react badly to words before, but it was never like this… this felt like it went deeper than words.
"I mentioned her powers, and then you asked her if it was true…" Chihiro tried to work out what might have flipped a switch. Neither of the statements was controversial or revealing… was it the way they came together?
"Chihiro…" Keima interrupted, "when Ayumi mentioned me liking you for four years, why didn't you react?"
The girl's eyes narrowed. Now wasn't the time f‒
Oh God, that was it, wasn't it? The subtle shifts in alliances after Chihiro admitted they were dating…
Ayumi noticed that Chihiro was rather guarding Keima's back, instead of being her ally.
"At the moment, finding what Ayumi thinks… feels about this it the more important priority… I'll answer your question when I know for a fact that Ayumi's okay…" Keima smiled slightly at the determined look on her face.
"If you want to conquer Ayumi… fall in love with her for real!"
Chihiro had told him that a long time ago, after she seemingly threw a bomb in the pool that was the Ayumi conquest... against Keima's own understanding of the situation, that bomb helped to clean the mud out of that pool and Keima could finally reach the ending… the ending with way too many twists and turns.
This time, Chihiro didn't really have to offer her help. For her, it was a given that Keima would struggle with the deeper, emotional aspects, and she'd be around to pick up the slack.
This time, Keima was grateful for the help… he was honestly happier writing game scenarios for other people than going right to the scene himself.
Chihiro found Ayumi in her room, no glass in sight. If it hadn't been plainly obvious before, it was clear that Ayumi just wanted out from the conversation with Keima.
"Yo," Chihiro greeted. Ayumi, who'd been on her bed, hugged her legs defensively, "you annoyed at Katsuragi again?"
Of course, with that kind of reaction, it was pretty clear that she wasn't cool with Chihiro either. The normal girl wasn't going to yield though.
Chihiro sat down at the foot of the bed, kind of like the way her parents used to do when she used to get grumpy.
"No…" Ayumi replied glumly, "it's about how you two are so chummy-chummy…" Chihiro felt herself smile. Trust her best friend to never mince words with her. Also, that confirmed her suspicions.
"I'm sorry…" Chihiro sighed, "We weren't trying to gang up on you. He explained to me what was happening earlier, so that's wh‒"
"Katsuragi isn't telling me the whole truth, is he?" Ayumi was looking at Chihiro straight, trying to look for any of her usual signs of lying.
Of course, Chihiro knew better than to lie. Ayumi knew her way too well to fall for anything she said.
Ayumi normally wasn't very perceptive. Chihiro guessed it probably had to do with how long she'd been watching Keima, since she had liked him as well.
"He does have a reason for it," Chihiro replied, "There are some gory consequences behi‒"
"Tell me what they are then!" Ayumi demanded.
Chihiro hesitated. When Ayumi noticed the reluctance on her roommates face, she spoke again.
"I plan on making my own decision on whatever Katsuragi's plan is, and you holding back on the details basically confirms that you're on his side…"
"Geez, Ayumi!" Chihiro eyes hardened, "if you really want to know so bad…"
She told her everything that Keima had told her on their date of sorts, now holding nothing back. She told her about what was giving her powers, and how long it would continue… she told her about the gap which would form in her heart after the Goddess disappeared, and what havoc would ensue following that.
Chihiro was pretty certain she got the point across properly, considering the shocked look on Ayumi's face when she was done.
"Well… uh…" Ayumi averted her eyes, "I can see why you wouldn't want to tell me that…"
Chihiro felt a sharp stab of guilt as Ayumi started to tear up. Even if Ayumi had poked a nerve in implying she was being a bad friend for holding back, she really should have put it in a nicer way.
"I'm sorry, Ayumi…" Chihiro hung her head.
"It's fine… I was the one who asked for it," Ayumi took a deep breath so the feeling of crying would go away, "I guess it doesn't leave me much of a choice though, given that staying with Mel will end up killing us…"
Chihiro cringed at the word. Being the bearer of bad news sucked.
"That guy… why didn't Katsuragi just come and apologize like he was supposed to?" she muttered out loud. Why did Nikaido have to get involved with this?
Still, it didn't change the reality of the situation. At least by this point, Katsuragi could do something about it, else they'd just be moving forward, not knowing they were heading to their doom.
Why did it even have to be this way?
"Apologize?" Ayumi's head tilted.
"Huh?" it took a moment for the question to register in Chihiro's head, "oh yeah, Katsuragi told me yesterday that he wanted to apologize about the way he treated you before, and somehow make it up to you…"
Then Nikaido came and blew that story to the background, it seems.
"Really? Because he hasn't mentioned a word about that yet…" Ayumi felt a small smile coming onto her face, "I guess he's still an arse…"
Chihiro chuckled as well. At least if Ayumi was focusing on how Keima was annoying her, she wouldn't dwell in the situation so much.
"He is, isn't he?" Chihiro agreed, but considering what had happened in the last 24 hours, they were empty words, "I'm sure he'll get down to them soon, anyway…"
"Yeah…" Ayumi pulled a face. Chihiro recognised it, because it was always the face she'd make before deciding something big. She stood up.
"Katsuragi is more open to hearing what you want, so maybe you should think about it, and I'll leave you to it," Ayumi's eyes narrowed, but not out of suspiciousness. In fact, the start of a smirk was coming onto her face.
"Oh no, you're not leaving yet," she sat up, patting the blanket next to her, "I'm not letting you leave until you tell me about you and Katsuragi."
Chihiro sighed.
"It's nothing that interesting… he confessed, and I accepted…"
"So… like how you've been accepting confessions since the Mai High Festival in second year…"
"No, it's not like that…" Chihiro corrected firmly, her composure finally slipping.
She'd been doing a pretty good job at keeping a straight face, turned a light pink, which Ayumi didn't miss. It was particularly noteworthy, because she rarely blushed about anything…
Though maybe that's the effect Katsuragi has on her… even yesterday, she blushed at the thought of doing this and that with him.
Come to think of it, didn't Chihiro also end the conversation after Ayumi brushed off any awkwardness of Keima coming because neither of them had won his heart. So that was what she'd been hiding…
"What is it, then?" Ayumi asked, even though the answer was pretty clear on the normal girl's face.
"This isn't me just trying to fulfil an obligation or because I don't want to hurt him…" her face got brighter as she spoke, but the determination still remained throughout, "this is something I wanted, so that is why I was the one who asked him."
That was the first time Chihiro had put that into words, but they were honest… her emotions had dulled since when she first fell for him… she didn't laugh as hard or cry as much… her blushes didn't reach tomato level anymore, nor did her heart do the crazy gymnast flips it used to… and she definitely didn't get jealous about anything now… she didn't try as hard or aim for any particular goal.
Yet somehow, since she met him again, they were coming back… true, they were a lot smaller and further between… like waves crashing at her knees, instead of the frickin' tidal waves he'd put her through before… she didn't mind it, though.
Ayumi felt a surge of affection toward the bright pink girl on her bed. God, she was unbelievably pure.
"What are you, a maiden?" Ayumi teased. Chihiro shoved her off the bed.
"A-anyway, I'm dating him now and that's that," she stuck her tongue at the girl on the floor, "Katsuragi's going to want to hear about what you want, and I'm going to leave you to think about it…"
Chihiro swiftly got up and started leaving Ayumi's room.
"So do you thin‒"
"No, I'm not going to make out with him now!" Chihiro interrupted, predicting where it was going after that last jibe. A broad smile came to Ayumi's face.
"Actually, I was wondering if you thought that he'd be playing a game now…" Chihiro blanched, and the smile only got bigger, "though that is some very specific denial you have going on there…"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Chihiro chanted like a five year old kid as she left the room.
"Bet you 500 yen that he is!" Ayumi called in an amused voice, "and that you will!"
"SHUT UP!" Chihiro screamed one last time. This time, she was close enough to the living room that Keima overheard that. He placed his PF Hio on the floor next to him.
"Is everything alright?" he asked as soon as the somewhat frazzled girl sat opposite him. If her expression wasn't enough, she was sitting nowhere near him.
"Why am I even friends with that girl?" Chihiro grumbled, "I need a new roommate…"
Keima raised an eyebrow. Was that supposed to be sarcasm?
"What did she say?" She expertly dodged his question.
"Rather, were you playing with your PFP thing while you were waiting for us?"
"No…" Chihiro smiled. So she'd be getting some money soon. "Because I was playing my PF Hio…" he lifted the slightly longer console.
Well, so much for that… Keima could only wonder why that would irritate her… he'd put it away now.
"If you don't trust me to talk to you without playing, you can hold onto it…" he figured that must be the reason. Chihiro smiled.
"Keep it… if you want, you can even play with it now…"
Keima would have considered himself pretty lucky that he had a girlfriend who would let him do that, if it wasn't the fact that something like that would just sounded way too good to be true…
He placed the console down.
"Can I ask why?"
"We used to have quite a few conversations like this in class… and if that was anything to go by, you are attentive when you're playing…" she laughed, suddenly remembering something, "except that one time when you walked into the cling foil on the door that me and Ayumi had set up to get Nagase-sensei…"
Keima vaguely remembered that. So those two had been the culprits behind that… Though after what he'd seen today, that kind of behaviour didn't surprise him that much. Between attempting to scare each other, bullying some guy over groceries and having a screaming match across a hallway; it was obvious that they were still in touch with their inner child.
Honestly, it was nice to get that little insight into their lives and friendship.
"Katsuragi…" Chihiro waved in front of his face, "you're not mad about that cling foil prank, are you?"
"Why would I be mad?" he shrugged, "I bet it was a funny prank…"
Still, it felt a little off… like it went against his previous characterisation of both her and Ayumi. But it might be the fact that this was their home, so they could act more freely… or something else…
"Whatcha thinking about?" Chihiro asked, "is it about what you were asking before?"
Well, he hadn't been, but he sure was now… if she brought it up, it must have been that she had something to say herself.
"Your silence on the matter confused me, so I wanted to know what you honestly thought," Keima nodded. He really should have accepted it as a blessing that she didn't respond to it when Ayumi brought it up, but he had a few things to straighten out.
For one, he hadn't liked her all that time… he merely didn't fall for any other person in the real world… but he definitely didn't continue liking her that whole time… he didn't even think about her everyday anymore… that kind of devotion was only for Yokkyun. He maybe wondered about Chihiro every second or third day…
Though if that's for four years, that is still a little obsessive…
"Honestly…" Chihiro took a deep breath, "I wish you would have told me when you first started liking me... however, I also know how hard it is to speak about that, and I didn't make it particularly easier… there's no point getting pissed off about what happened in the past… again…"
That precisely summed it up for her. Every fight she'd had with Keima so far had something to do with what he had (or hadn't) done, and she was getting a little tired of always being on edge with him, because she was uncertain as to how she felt having him back in her life.
"Actually," she continued, her voice a little shaky, "I remember that after the campfire, I felt like crap… not only did getting rejected hurt, but I'd been the one who set myself up for that… that's why I promised myself that I would never reject anyone who confessed to me… so yeah… that was my decision, and you made yours…"
She looked up so she was looking at Keima's slightly surprised face.
"I made a lot of mistakes as well, so I'm not going to get mad or judge you for yours," she smiled sweetly, "I'm your girlfriend now, so I'll make it up to you… I hope you'll do the same."
"Okay," Keima averted his eyes, but the somewhat goofy smile on his face made it clear that he got the message, and it was a pretty nice message for him.
How the hell did this even happen? Yesterday, he really wouldn't have imagined he'd get here so soon… four years ago, he wouldn't have imagined that he'd get here… ever!
Though that word made his stomach bubble in panic… he'd gone past the happy end of a game, to the point where code never went up to. True, he was starting a different story now, but in terms of romantic plot, this was as far as he'd usually get… well, until they skipped to the wedding scene.
"Chihiro…" the girl hmmed to show she was listening, "what am I supposed to do now?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"The confession event is done… you accepted… so now where do we go from here?"
He was still on his games, wasn't he? Chihiro had to hold back a laugh at that.
"The confession event happened three hours ago… what have you been doing since then?"
"Information exchanging," he nodded firmly. She had to chuckle at that.
"That's one way of putting it… so did you acquire any good information today?"
Keima shrugged.
"Ayumi is still withholding the information I need… but I did get to see how the two of you live, and how you interact with random strangers who take your food. That was kind of interesting…"
"Exactly," Chihiro pulled a face, "though admittedly, we are better behaved normally… it's just coz we were at home, and he was stealing our food… that's one thing you don't want to do to a girl…"
Keima laughed. So he had been right about the weirder behaviour being linked to the comfort of their apartment.
"What about you… did you acquire any information that you could use?"
"Not really…" she muttered, her eyes falling on her still-full glass, "though I did learn that being nice to you isn't as difficult as I thought it would be…"
"Really?"
"Yeah… we used to alternate between ignoring and getting on each other's nerves, so I was a little nervous…" she laughed lightly, "oh, and also that you're ticklish…"
"How did you reach that conclusion?" Keima asked suspiciously, his arms held closer to his body than they normally would be.
"Just remembering some stuff from the past," she shrugged, "and you tensed up, which basically confirms it."
"That's an incorrect assumption," he replied coolly, "there are various reasons why I could have shifted."
"So you're not ticklish…" her eyes narrowed. Now she was serious.
"Not in the least bit…" he scoffed. It was hardly like she'd test that out.
Except she did, and it was as merciless as one would expect. With a speed Keima wasn't expecting, she moved around the table (or maybe she even dove underneath it) and basically attacked him. Luckily, he wasn't very ticklish, and after the first yelp of surprised, he had enough of a grip on his limbs to grab a hold of her forearms.
"What the hell!?" he pushed her arms as far away from his person as possible. While that wasn't a very successful attack, a huge smile came onto her face.
"You had that exact reaction last time," she laughed, "you know I wouldn't have done that if you'd just been honest and just admitted it…"
Her voice trailed off as she noticed their position. They were sitting right opposite each other, her hands pressed on the ground between then, and Keima's hands around her wrists. With only a little bit of motion, she'd be able to close the distance between their heads.
Keima seemed to be having the same thoughts, considering his hands slid down further so they were on hers properly. His eyes seemed to ask the same question her brain was struggling with.
'Can I?'
Chihiro blinked, the scenery suddenly changing to dark skies. Keima's head hovered above hers, and her heart thumped with the ferocity of a bodybuilder taking out a bad day on a sandbag. She was more surprised he couldn't hear it over the miniscule distance.
She didn't need to play through the rest of the scene, because her heart still remembered it perfectly… her confession… his hesitation… her embarrassment…
There was so much that she couldn't put in words… how she never imagined anything like this happening in her life… how she'd been perfectly content with jamming with her band and doing whatever, yet his presence messed it up in the best way possible… how insanely happy she was to have him by her side…
So she kissed him, trying to put forward those feelings in best she could.
Obviously, she also remembered how that turned out… she'd honestly wished for the fireworks would have gone off while they kissed, but instead, they timed well with him ripping her heart in half… like some kind of cruel piñata…
When she blinked again, she was back to the position before. It would be so easy to just go with it and give him what he wanted… what she still wasn't sure of…
"Please don't…" Chihiro spoke softly, her voice trembling. Whatever semblance of a good mood those two had going fell into awkwardness. Keima found himself watching her face… her eyes focused on their hands… her cheeks without any semblance of a blush, and her expression… seemed sad…
She was thinking about their last kiss, wasn't she?
Keima moved away slightly to give her some space. He should have predicted that he'd run into this road block… so he still had trouble predicting what she'd do, even when she was trying to be more accommodating to him…
"I'm sorry," Keima sighed after he had backed away to a safer distance, "I should have known that it was too early to pull an event like this…"
Chihiro laughed slightly at the usage of that word, but it was obvious on her face that she was still bothered.
"It's fine… I just have a few things to work through before I reach that point…"
She took a breath and moved to the other side of the table, now putting a good two metres of space between them.
For a good fifteen seconds (the ticking of the watch on the wall was painfully audible in the silence), Chihiro played with the sleeves of her hoodie, while Keima thought about what topic he could bring up to not make things worse.
"I-I wonder where Ayumi is…" Keima piped up nervously.
Almost as if that was a cue, Ayumi appeared at the door, an exuberant smile on her face.
"Did somebody call!?" she announced, hammier than Keima had ever seen from her, "because I am here, and I've made my decision…"
With the interruption, Chihiro seemed to relax.
"Did you decide that you're going to torture Katsuragi?" Chihiro asked, as if the idea excited her.
"Better," she grinned, "I'm going to have Katsuragi hang out and do stuff for me…"
"Is this going to get annoying again?" Keima asked, his voice exasperated. Ayumi plopped herself down on the table opposite Keima.
"You bet," she laughed, "you want to make it up to me, right?" Keima nodded, "and you still have to deal with the Goddesses, right?" he nodded again.
"Then what better way is there to resolve this than completing my requests and regaining Mel's trust?" Ayumi asked. Keima thought about it for a moment. That wasn't a bad solution, actually… just, it was lacking with regards to Dokuro's mission…
"Will you wear the watch if I agree?" he asked suspiciously.
"I will wear the watch and let you talk to Mel with regards to this…" she answered. Keima smiled… so she had given it a good amount of thought. Still, she seemed to know more than he'd revealed to her… Chihiro must have been supplementing her information.
So Ayumi still did have that whole tactician thing going on…
"How many requests would this require for you to agree to cooperate to me?"
"Five… and this treatment needs to be given to Yui and the rest of them…"
Keima's eyes narrowed. That was thirty requests in total… he barely had half a month to complete this mission.
"Rejected. The most I can promise is two requests with this time limit…"
Chihiro watched as the negotiations bounced from one side of the wooden table to the other.
"Four requests," Ayumi eyes narrowed, "with how you treated us, wouldn't you say you owe us that much?"
Keima felt a twinge at that. She did have a point…
"How about three requests for each host and one for each Goddess…" Keima said, a bit more subdued, "that way, I can do something for the Goddesses before they ascend."
"Katsuragi, didn't you say you only had two weeks for this?" Chihiro reminded. Keima smirked suddenly.
"I'm always up for a challenge…" he pushed up his glasses. Chihiro rolled her eyes.
"Then why don't you stick to the original amount…" she mumbled under her breath.
"I would still prefer to think of this realistically… 24 is more manageable in fourteen days, and three requests should be enough to convince the hosts that I am serious about what I'm doing…"
"So four requests… three for me and one for Mel…"
"That is what I'm willing to offer… this will be for every girl as well, of course…"
"Approved," Ayumi nodded, holding out her hand. Keima smiled slightly and gave it a shake.
An idea occurred to Chihiro as her fingers played around in the pocket of her hoodie. She pulled out the pack of post-its from the restaurant.
"Katsuragi, why don't you give each girl these… so they know you would have to fulfil everything which is written on these papers…" she pushed the pack toward him, "like a blank coupon book…"
Ayumi nodded. Keima, on the other hand, had his doubts.
"It's not like we study at the same school anymore… how will they give me their requests if they can't see me in person?"
"They could email you a picture…" Ayumi remarked.
"Or they could send the picture on LIME…" Chihiro added. Cell phones really are wonderful.
"Oooh, LIME would totally work…" Ayumi joined in on the thought excitedly, "I could even make a group for all of us to talk, and Katsuragi could add each girl as he sees them…"
"That's a great idea… you could share experiences and knowledge on the chat…" Chihiro paused… maybe it was better if she stayed out of it then…
Keima lifted up his hand, fast enough that the girls caught it in their peripherals and stopped talking.
"Can someone explain to me what LIME is?" Keima interrupted.
"You've never used LIME?" Keima shook his head to Ayumi's question.
"It's just a messaging service," Chihiro shrugged, not that surprised that Keima didn't know it, "lend me your phone for a second…"
Keima wordlessly passed his smartphone over. It had been a birthday gift from his mother after she discovered Keima was still using the same flip phone that he'd been using all through high school… he couldn't really help it, considering he only used it to make calls, and it fulfilled its purpose just fine.
"Nice…" Chihiro whistled, examining it from the sides, "do you do much with this?"
"Not really," Keima shrugged, "just calls and the occasional work email…"
What a waste… this was a pretty decent phone too…
"Well, now you will…" she unlocked the phone by just swiping it, "now, you'll be using LIME to chat with everyone…"
Over the next few minutes, the two girls got him the app and explained everything he'd need to know… Keima understood that he was gathering information for this new mission, but where the hell did stickers and forcing him to get a pattern lock come in here?
"I got it, I got it!" Keima replied impatiently after the explanation of the amazing, yet stupid technology which would add contacts by just shaking phones in the vicinity of each other, "can we get to the actual information now?"
"I want my post-it coupons first…" Ayumi said in a completely bored tone. Keima clicked his tongue, but grabbed the short stack off the table, scribbling Ayumi's name at the top and "guaranteed by Keima Katsuragi" at the bottom. He repeated the second phrase on three more of those post-its before passing the four pale yellow squares over.
"There… Three for you and one for Mercury… Are you happy now?"
"What about for me?" Chihiro joined in. She wasn't really serious about it, but if she actually could get a few of those… that would be nice…
"What are you even going on about?" Keima gave her an exasperated look, "I'm your boyfriend now, so you know I'll do whatever you want, regardless whether it's written or not…"
This, of course, was said in the most duh tone known to mankind… like it was so expected that he didn't even know why she'd bring it up at all…
Both girls blanched for a second, before Chihiro turned bright red, and Ayumi started laughing. Keima wondered at the sudden change…
"Well said, Katsuragi," Ayumi slapped him on the back, "even after all those years, you can still charm the pants off Chihi‒ OWW!"
Even if the normal girl was embarrassed, she could still give a mean kick under a table.
"Not another word from you!" Chihiro hissed. Ayumi held her arms up in surrender.
Keima just watched the scene in front of him, not really getting it…
He still didn't understand real girls, but he considered that to be a fact of life by this point.
"Err…" he waved towards the two girls to get their attention, "can we get to the issue at hand?"
"My request?" Ayumi questioned.
"We can get to that later… right now, I need to know more about the supernatural powers, and how the watch actually correlates to that…"
"Okay," Ayumi nodded, "I don't appreciate you brushing off the importance of my requests, but I haven't thought of one yet, so for now it's fine…"
Chihiro found herself in a bit of a bind as she listened. Part of her wanted to stay and find out all the details Ayumi would give… but most of her brain was just telling her to leave it to them, and if either of them needed help, then they could tell her whatever they felt fit.
This didn't have anything to do with her, after all… her presence might even influence the level of honesty in what they'd say, and that could be problematic too.
"Katsuragi," Chihiro spoke up, "I think I'm gonna head to my room now. Can I leave this to you?"
"What's up with that?" Ayumi laughed, "I thought the whole point was to stop being so secretive…"
"Exactly," Chihiro agreed, "and I believe that both of you will hold back if I stay here… that's why I'll leave it to you both to talk and come up with your own answer… you can tell me if you want, but in the end, it doesn't concern me, so I'm not going to force myself to stay here."
Keima nodded. He could recognise the parallels between this decision now, and the one she'd made ages ago, during the first night of the festival… she was definitely more eloquent about it this time, but the maturity behind it was the same, and Keima wanted to believe he understood the message better this time.
This definitely wasn't a love triangle, but personal relationships did add a dynamic to a conversation, so that was why Chihiro didn't want to influence this anymore than she already had.
"Yeah, it's fine," Keima nodded, "you'll probably find the itty gritty details to be boring anyway…"
Chihiro laughed.
"See, this guy gets me," she indicated toward him, before the laugh fell to a small smile, "thanks, Katsuragi…"
While the voice was subdued, the sentiment was real. Keima was doing one hell of a job reminding her of why she liked him in the first place for the whole of today.
"You're welcome," he replied with the same smile, "now I'm sure you have better stuff to do…"
"Indeed," Chihiro clapped her hands as she left, "I owe Ayumi 250 yen…"
Keima's eyes followed her until she disappeared from his sight. He then turned back to Ayumi, who was grinning pointedly at him.
"You're so in love with her, aren't you?"
"I thought this was old news already…" Keima sighed.
"Not. At. All." She smirked, "actually, I'm still curious about the moment you decided you loved Chihiro…"
"Huh?"
"You know… there's that one moment when the person you like says something, and your brain starts screaming 'my God, you are so perfect… don't ever leave, and don't ever change, and I'll love you forever', or something like that… after that, you're a gonner… so did you have something like that with Chihiro?"
"Can't say I have…" Keima shrugged, "I already told you what happened with Ishigami… is that the kind of moment you're referring to?"
She shook her head.
"That may have been the moment you put a name to that, but I can assure you that you liked her for a lot longer than that…" Keima let out a snort.
"If I didn't know, how can you be so certain if it?"
"Because of that look you gave her as you were watching her leave just now… like she was the only girl that mattered…" Ayumi paused, "after she confessed to you outside your room door, you had that same expression as you were watching her from your window…"
Keima felt his breath catch against his throat… not only had he never picked that up, but the girl he was in the middle of conquering was the one to notice that… that was pretty damn shameful!
"Of course, I didn't actually make that conclusion at the time, but on the night you came back, you said you were going to confess to her… I thought about it a lot, and that thought did come up."
Ayumi laughed.
"Well, I'm glad you're going out now…" Ayumi fell back on her hands, "if watching you two taught me anything today, it's that you still make a good couple…"
After a few moments pause, Ayumi's head snapped up.
"Of course, not as good as me and Kyousuke, but maybe you'll reach there in a few years…"
Ayumi waited for Keima to retaliate, but Keima's brain latched onto something else.
"Kyousuke… that's your boyfriend, right?"
"Right… he works in the same elementary school as me," she smiled, "but at the moment, I'm guessing that you'd rather talk about the task at hand than him…"
"Kinda," Keima glanced at the time on his phone, "I'm really happy for you, and I'm sure he's a great guy, but getting information is what I need at this time…"
Ayumi took a deep breath.
"Fair enough," Ayumi shrugged, "so what kind of questions do you have?"
Keima smiled at his own predictableness, before pulling out his PF Hio. While he'd been waiting for Ayumi and Chihiro to finish their conversation, he'd written some questions in a draft email.
"Firstly, how long have you had these powers?" Keima asked.
"About six months…" she replied easily, He quickly typed her answer under it. Keima had to give her credit, considering that he must have been the first person other than Chihiro to talk to him about it… it was a surprise she was handling it so well.
"Okay… did something happen in your life that may have triggered it off?"
"I can't say…" Ayumi drummed her short nails on the table, "there wasn't any big change in my life and‒"
"Kyousuke?"
"I knew him by that point, but we only started dating sometime after that…" Keima nodded, but he wasn't quite sure what to make about that. Considering the Goddesses gained power through their host falling in love, why would it go the opposite way now?
He didn't even know whether love had to do anything with it at all…
"Has Mercury told you anything about this?" he asked, this question not on his list.
"She did teach me to control it somewhat," she sighed, "most people have to just worry if their palms are sweaty when they hold onto their partner's hands… I have to make sure I don't mistakenly burn or freeze them or something…."
Keima suddenly felt a rush of respect toward the girl, remembering what had happened with Tenri yesterday… she'd been pretty freaked out at the time, and because he didn't know about anything, he couldn't be of any help, but at least he was affiliated with the magic world that he's understand…
"Wh-what about the other Goddesses… did Mercury try to get in contact with them?"
"She sent a Rune around when it first happened, but only Yui's Goddess seemed to get it, and she didn't understand it, because it hadn't started for Yui at that point."
"But it's started for Yui now…" Keima concluded by her wording. Ayumi nodded.
"Apollo and Mel both believe that it is related to falling in love, but unlike before, they aren't getting stronger…"
Keima's eyes narrowed… with games, any given action will have the same reaction, regardless of how many times it is done… some parameter must have changed to cause an opposite reaction with the Goddesses…
What would be different about their love this time?
Well, it wasn't him that either of them had fallen for…
It wasn't him… it wasn't some six-timing creep who just wanted to reach the ending with each girl… their new loves were probably good guys who returned their affections.
They returned the affection!
Keima's eyes snapped open, surprising Ayumi.
"How long have you loved Kyousuke?" he asked urgently. Ayumi suddenly blushed, her eyes narrowing.
"W-why do I have to tell you?" Keima didn't have time for her to get embarrassed about that.
"Is it more or less than the six months you mentioned before?" he spoke without trying to soften the punch of it.
"L-less, I guess…" she mumbled. Keima nodded… that wasn't a bad starting point… though he should stop scaring Ayumi now.
"Okay, I think I might know about what is causing Mercury's power to dissipate in you," he grabbed the pen he'd been using before and started drawing on a post-it. Ayumi, for the life of her, couldn't tell what the two blob thing was.
"Okay, let's say this is you and Mercury," he indicated to the bigger figure with some ghost looking thing inside, "and this is me…" he pointed to the other one with spikey hair. Ayumi nodded.
"It may take some imagination, but go on…"
Keima ignored the jibe at his drawing and continued.
"Four years ago, you regained your memories and started liking me," he started drawings arrows going from the Ayumi blob to the Keima blob, "however; I didn't like you in the same way, so I never sent anything back…"
"Coz you liked Chihiro…" Ayumi teased.
"We are not going back to this conversation," Keima replied firmly, before sticking the post-it to face Ayumi, "on the other hand…"
Ayumi slammed her hand down on his, sending the pen flying. To his surprise, they were pretty normal in temperature… Tenri's hands had been completely frigid.
"I get it, so no more pictures…" she pulled her hand back, "now, Kyousuke likes me back, so the situation is different than it was before."
"Exactly…" he drew the arrows, now the flow of them more reminiscent to a ventilation system, "though more ironically, I assumed the Goddesses would become even more powerful if it was the case of requited love… but it seems to go the opposite way… so right now, because you and Kyousuke truly like each other now, it's actually making Mercury weaker…"
"We're… the ones who are doing this to Mel?" Ayumi replied, her face becoming a bit pained.
"That's actually the plan," Keima tapped on the watch's face, which was still sitting on the table, "Dokuro was saying that the Goddess would need to split her power in half, before she can remove them safely…"
Ayumi's eyes narrowed.
"I thought you had to find the way to remove them…" she called him out on his previous half-lie. Keima just shrugged.
"I just need to find out how to influence the power distribution, which would lead to Dokuro somehow being able to remove them…" he spoke truthfully this time, "usually, I'd see a story through to the ending, but in this case, I'm more of a vehicle which would take you to the climax, after which, it leaves my hands."
"Wasn't it the same when you were awakening the Goddesses?" Ayumi noted. He hadn't even been around during the fighting.
Keima nodded. She was right on the money…
"Okay," Ayumi nodded, "so your method will save Mel and me, as well as stop any destruction a loose spirit may cause, if it possesses me after Mel disappears, right?"
Keima groaned. So Chihiro really did tell Ayumi everything… if you make a plan, stick to it, dammit!
"According to Dokuro, that is true," Keima confirmed. Ayumi took a deep breath.
"I'm going to need to talk to Mel about this, but in the meantime, you can consider me convinced," she rubbed her thumb against the worn leather of the watch, "what does this thing do, anyway?"
"It's supposed to be an indicator of sorts… once you put it on, it'll tell you the ratio of how much of Mercury's power has been absorbed into your body…"
Ayumi still looked hesitant at the explanation, but she fastened it to her wrist. Almost immediately after it made contact with her skin, the short hand began to move.
"What time is it showing?" Keima asked curiously. It took a few moments before it stopped moving.
"Four o' clock, I guess…" she approximated, considering there wasn't any numbers on the face. Keima nodded in approval.
"Then the power distribution would be 33:67… by the end, it needs to be 50:50, so you are well on your way…"
"What if I get too much of Mel's powers," Ayumi asked. Keima only shrugged at that.
"No clue," a flash of annoyance came to his face, "this premise is bloody complicated, and I don't know anything more than the bare minimum… I wish Dokuro could have just dealt with it…"
Ayumi felt a sharp twinge of anger and hurt at that last line.
"Well, sorry you have to be here again," she spoke in a dangerously even tone, a somewhat familiar feeling coursing through her bones toward her palms, "it must be annoying, having to deal with us again…"
Keima's eyes widened at the badly-veiled bitterness under that voice. That last line in particular jogged something he should have picked up before.
"Is this going to get annoying?
"I don't appreciate you brushing off the importance of my requests…"
"…like she was the only girl that mattered…"
God, Keima was such an idiot! He didn't mean to add that implication into his words at all…
"Hit me, will you!" Keima muttered. Could he be any more of an insensitive jerk?
"Oh, it's coming," Ayumi replied, a little hysterically as she watched her hand for the ensuing frost or flame or lightning bolt… that always came after that feeling. Keima seemed to be bracing himself for the punch.
Ayumi stared at her palm… why wasn't it coming?
Keima looked up as well… why wasn't it coming?
"Look… Ayumi…" Keima spoke tentatively, but the girl was looking around at her extremities, wondering why Mercury's powers weren't visible right now, "can I explain myself as well?"
"Do you know why it stopped?" Ayumi asked, now looking confused.
"What stopped?" Keima asked, now lost as well.
"When you said that… I could feel my powers coming, and then they suddenly stopped…"
"Really?" he mused for a moment, before remembering the much bigger misunderstanding that he had to clear up, "look, can I say something else first?"
"What is it!?"
"Why I'm irritated about this whole situation…" he sat up, "the fact of the matter is that I really haven't been told much… it just makes it more unfair for you, when all you wanted was an explanation, and I can't give you it…"
He took a deep breath.
"You said that Chihiro was the only girl who mattered to me… you're wrong about that, however," he pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down his nose, "maybe I can't convince you now, but you aren't some plot device that is delaying my happy end, nor are you a disturbance in my life… you are a very important person in my life, and I want to help…" he awkwardly looked toward the side, "it's more annoying for me that I can't help you as much as I'd like…"
For a good moment, neither of them said anything.
"Awwwww!" Ayumi cooed, "You're so cute when you're embarrassed."
"Who said I was embarrassed with saying that," Keima protested, but the light blush on his cheeks begged to differ, "I just want to make it clear that I care about my heroines, and regardless of what I say‒"
"You adore me…" she finished off with a small smile, "you adore us all… even if it isn't real love…"
"Yes… and I'd do anything for you," Keima nodded, "so please give me the opportunity to do that, and so I can earn your forgiveness…"
"Of course…" Ayumi said sweetly, "I do have a question, though…"
"What is it?"
"If there was a situation where both me and Chihiro were going to get shot, and you could only take the bullet for one of us, who would you take it for?"
Keima's face fell back to its usual indifferent thinking face.
"Who's going to be shot first?" Ayumi had a slight idea where this was going…
"Both of us at the same time," she closed up that loophole.
"Would Mercury be with you? She'd be able to create a force field around both of you, and there would be no need for a senseless sacrifice…"
"No, there's no Mel in this scenario," Ayumi replied. Keima opened his mouth but she interrupted, "there are no other Goddesses in this scenario either."
Keima's mouth closed as he thought of another question.
"Is there one or two gunmen he‒" Keima shut up as Ayumi shot him a scathing glare, "what, if there's only one, I can tackle him and save you both…"
"For God sakes, I'm asking if Chihiro or me mean more to you!?" Ayumi snapped. Keima had been trying to bypass the issue with questions, but her patience was worn thin by this point, so he gave his honest answer.
"I wouldn't be able to choose," he laughed shortly, "you'd kick me if I chose you, and Chihiro would scream at me forever if I chose her…"
Ayumi could totally imagine that…
"Honestly, neither of you are the damsel in distress type… if you were both caught in this situation, you would fight off each other's attacker, and I'd get to play a game while I wait for you guys to win…"
Ayumi wouldn't lie… Keima was still smooth as hell, even if his words weren't with the intention to woo her.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence…" Ayumi laughed, "So should we get back to my magical powers?"
"I didn't ask, but are your powers like Tenri? She seems to make snow come out of her hand…" she nodded.
"That does happen sometimes… but at other times, my hand just sets on fire, or starts sparking…"
Keima raised an eyebrow.
"So you're a superhero from a kids TV show?"
"Don't make fun of me…" Ayumi warned, "I can set your arse on fire if I feel like it…" Keima held up his hand in peace.
"Though you have enough knowledge to control when it goes off, right?" She pulled a face and waved her hand.
"So-so… it usually happens if I feel some heightened emotion, and I can feel the power just as it approaches, so I can at least put down anything I'm holding… repressing the emotion works to lessen the effects, but I'm not tha…"
Ayumi trailed off as Keima pressed a button on his PF Hio, waking the screen up again. He then went back to typing what she was saying in his email draft. He looked up as she stopped speaking.
"You can continue…"
"The buttons are loud… can't you type on your phone, or just wait till I'm done?"
Keima sighed, but put down his console.
"Thank you… and as I was saying, repressing emotions does help, but I'm not good at doing that."
"Okay," Keima nodded, "can you show me these powers, by any chance? I'm assuming that forcing yourself to feel some emotion does cause them to happen…"
"That assumption is correct, but as I said, something nearly happened when I got mad at you, but it stopped before it came to the surface…" she looked at the watch, "could this thing have done something?"
Keima took the arm she was wearing the watch, the first difference with it was pretty obvious.
"The watch face was white before," he tapped the pinkish face, "I think it may have absorbed the power which was going to your hand."
He looked at the watch curiously. It wasn't hot or anything… did Dokuro even mention the watch being able to do that?
"This watch can nullify my powers?" Ayumi wondered…
Keima smirked. Magical objects are so convenient.
"Can you try forcing some magic? I want to see if your conjecture is right…"
Ayumi randomly stood up and stretched.
"This isn't a race, you know…" Keima replied. Ayumi stuck her tongue out at him.
"I was getting stiff sitting on the floor," she stretched, her bones popping slightly, "gimme a second, alright."
Though there was an alternate reason for wanting to get up and be less in his view… to create feelings, she'd need some memory to bring up, and the last thing she wanted was that guy to pick up on it…
He was a very strange mix of "dense as a brick" and "perceptive as hell", a fact she wasn't very fond of.
After a few moments, the feeling of something skittering over her bones toward her hands started. That was when she started staring at the watch…
It turned from a pastel pink to strawberry-tinged yellow.
"It did it again," she held the watch to Keima, "this would be really helpful, actually… last test period, I had to pay Chihiro to do my marking, because I nearly set some dumbass' paper on fire…"
Keima snorted.
"How much money did she want?"
"Nearly a whole month's salary," Ayumi pouted, "apparently keeping my sanity up was not enough of a reason to want to help me…"
That fitted perfectly with what he'd been imagining…
He glanced at his PF Hio screen, his eyes focusing on the time in the top right corner for the first time. He'd already been here three hours, and by this time, it would be dark outside.
He had gotten some pretty good information today… maybe he should call it a day now?
He pulled himself up, slipping his console into his pocket.
In any case, Ayumi was starting to get distracted as well, as she was checking her emails and messages as she strolled around the room.
"Ayumi… I think I'm done interro‒"
"Oh shit!" Ayumi interrupted, her eyes widening at something she received, "that's tomorrow!?"
"What's tomorrow?" Keima asked. Ayumi was too busy running her fingers through her hair, making it into a spikey mess.
"Careers day for the fifth year students… I was supposed to find a guest speaker…"
"Aren't the kids supposed to inv‒?"
"CHIHIROOO!" Ayumi yelled. By this point, Keima accepted that he wouldn't get a sentence out anymore.
"WHAAT!?" Another voice answered from another room.
"DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO'S NOT STUDYING RIGHT NOOW!?"
Keima rolled his eyes… this apartment really just turned them into sisters, it seemed.
"KATSURAGII! HE'S ROLLING IN CAASH!" Chihiro called back. Ayumi suddenly turned to Keima, who leant away.
"Katsuragi, you're into the whole game design thing, right?"
Keima nodded hesitantly.
"Please come to my school tomorrow…" she begged. Keima frowned. He'd been planning to track down more people for the day.
"I-I need to find the other hosts…" he spoke weakly. Ayumi leant down and grabbed the pen and her four-page stack of post-its, quickly scribbling her request on it.
"Now you can't say no," Ayumi reminded, before sticking the sheet on his forehead, "please come to my school tomorrow!"
"Fine, fine!" he pulled the paper off his forehead, "I'll probably have more questions, so you better be prepared for it."
"Thank you!" she threw her arms around him in excitement, "you have to make a ten minute presentation, so can you throw something together?"
"Don't have much of a choice, do I?" Keima smiled wryly, patting her head affectionately (and so he wouldn't get any wayward hair in his mouth), "I'll be there, and I'll come up with something good…"
"That's Otamega for you… putting effort into everything he does…"
Keima scoffed.
"Please… this may be the first taste of galge those kids get… I will give them the best first impression they'll have in their life!"
Ayumi rolled her eyes and shoved him… he was just one evil laugh away from conquering her school with his games.
"Which reminds me… I'll need to send you the addres‒"
"No need," Keima did the interrupting this time, "I'll meet you at your school first thing tomorrow… though I should be off as well…"
He slid her request into the pocket of his jacket and started heading to the door, before noting that Ayumi had gone back to sitting at the table.
"What, not going to walk me to the door?" Keima asked.
"Nah, I'll leave that to Chihiro," she shot him a grin, "have fun… and preferably, win me the full 500 yen."
Keima's eyes furrowed. What was she going on about?
Ayumi had been right, as Chihiro was leaning on the wall by the door, playing with her phone. Keima walked over to her.
"Yo," he greeted. Chihiro looked up, a smile coming to her face as well.
"I trust it went well… you're not black and blue, which is good."
"Ayumi was willing to share everything she knew," he remarked, "it was a bit surprising, but everything went a lot better than I expected… not perfectly, but still well."
"That's great… and did she give you any requests?"
"Yep," he showed her the paper, "I'm apparently going to be the face of galge tomorrow…"
A broad smile came to his face, and Chihiro's eyebrow rose to the roof.
"It's a career day… don't forget to actually talk about your job and not why your games are the greatest thing since sliced bread…"
"Fine…" his enthusiasm kerbed at the reminder, "so did you come to say goodbye to me?"
Chihiro shrugged, suddenly looking a bit more nervous.
"It's more of a 'see you later'… and if you want, we can also chat on LIME… or email, if you'd prefer that… or if you have something else you have to do, we don't have to speak at all… up to you, of course…"
The smile that came from her clumsy attempt at asking if he'd be up to talking later was a lot smaller than the one he got from the thought of getting some eleven year old students hooked on galge, but the effect on his mood was just about the same.
"I'll try to come on for a little bit," he answered, "I'll see you later then, Chihiro…"
"O-one more thing…" she muttered, before shoving something into his hand. Even though their hallway had dimmer lighting, Keima could tell that there were more post-its.
"For me?" Keima confirmed.
"I-I know we're d-dating now, but I can't promise I'll be honest or cooperative all the time… but if you have anything in particular that you want me to do or want me to answer, you can write it on these… they're five of them…"
Keima ran his thumb over the edge, noticing an inconsistency.
"I think you gave me six sheets," he started pulling the top one off to return it, when Chihiro put her hand up.
"It's five papers," she assured, "the sixth one is the answer to your question from yesterday."
"What question?" he wondered, lifting the sheets one by one to get to the answer. That was when he felt Chihiro start steering him out.
"You can read that when you get home," Chihiro spoke irritably. Keima stopped leafing through the post-its immediately, before she kicked him out of the apartment.
"Actually, I have a question before I go…" Chihiro stopped pushing as soon he was on the other side of the door.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Ayumi said I had to do something to get her the full 500 yen for something… what is it?"
For a moment, Chihiro was stumped at what he may have been referring to, until she remembered the bet they'd made, just as she'd left Ayumi's room.
She knew she owed Ayumi 250 yen because Keima had been gaming when she'd come back… the other 250…
For a second, Keima noticed the rising colour on Chihiro's cheeks, but before he could comment, she shut the door with a quick bye.
"AYUMI, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" he heard Chihiro's voice on the other side of the door. Despite the itching curiosity, he decided it was better to just leave now… besides, it meant he could look at her answer now… if he could remember what the question was…
In the train ride back, Keima had missed the commuters' rush, so he got to sit down. He rubbed his thumb against the pale pink post-its Chihiro had given him, wondering whether he should try to remember the question, or just go for the answer straight.
As he stepped off at Maijima Station, he gave into his curiosity and read the answer… six simple kana that, for the life of him, he couldn't remember the context to… what a waste!
Keima let himself into the café at around 08:30, around the time where Eri and Mari would be doing the last of the day's cleaning. What surprised him was that Tenri was sitting at the counter, looking over a crossword puzzle, while Eri was mopping behind the counter.
"Welcome back, Nii-sama…" his sister greeted.
"You must have worked hard today, Keima-kun…" Tenri gave him a nod.
"Not that much… I just went out for lunch, then explained everything to Ayumi…" he sighed, "actually, it was pretty exhausting… could you make me some coffee, Eri?"
"Sure, Nii-sama…" Eri nodded, disappearing into the kitchen. Then he noted that he was alone with Tenri.
"Actually, please make that a glass of juice!" he called out.
"Suure!" Eri confirmed the change.
"How was your day, Tenri?" Keima asked, trying to keep it as general as he could.
"The same as usual," she shrugged, "how was yours, Keima-kun?"
The same couldn't really be said about his day… his mostly consisted of old high school people, acting completely differently than how he remembered them, yet still being as goofy as grade schoolers…
Which incidentally, was where he was going to be tomorrow…?
"Odd…" he shrugged, "felt like it took two weeks to live through it…"
Tenri laughed.
"Though it sounds like the good type of a long day…" Tenri took a sip from the cup next to her, "was it productive?"
"Oh yeah," Keima decided to ignore the first, annoyingly perceptive, part, "I told Ayumi all about what Dokuro had told me yesterday…"
"Do-chan came over yesterday?" Tenri turned to him. This was news to her.
"She came after that whole ice ball incident…" Keima spoke, "and I actually got an explanation on what happened there…"
"Really? Can you explain to me?"
Keima felt himself internally dying at the thought of that discussion again, till he remembered something.
"Wait, can I get something from upstairs?" he quickly excused himself. A minute later, he was back with another one of those watches.
"What is this, Keima-kun?" Tenri stared at the blank face of the watch.
"Do you have LIME?" Keima asked. He almost sighed in relief when she nodded her head, "Ayumi asked me to make a group for all the Goddess Hosts to join… she'll give you all the details…"
"Really," Tenri's eyes started shining, "Takahara-san is so nice…"
"Oh yeah," Keima nodded frantically, "her explanation is really good… all you need to know is that Diana has lent you some of her power, and that is why that it's happening…"
God, he could only imagine the hell he was going to get from Ayumi tomorrow…
At that point, Eri came back, a small glass of juice on a tray. Keima wondered what took her so long.
"There wasn't any juice in the fridge, so I needed to go to the inventory cupboard," she answered the question he didn't ask.
"Sorry to make you go through that effort," he downed the glass at once, "do you know how to add anyone on LIME?" the little sister nodded, "can you add Tenri on my phone, then make a group with me, Ayumi and Tenri?"
Eri was more than happy to oblige…
"Thank you," Tenri said appreciatively once it was all said and done. She folded her jacket over her arm and folded up the newspaper she'd been doing the crossword on, "I'll see you both later…"
"See you, Tenri…" Keima waved to her half-heartedly.
"Bye, Tenri-san," the younger sister said with a lot more energy. Tenri gave her a slight bow, before turning to Keima.
"I'm glad things turned out well with Kosaka-san…" she gave him a small smile. Keima fell off his stool in surprise, and that just made her smile bigger. Tenri bowed once toward him, before leaving the door.
"You saw Chihiro-san today?" Eri asked as she offered Keima a hand up, "is everything alright after what happened yesterday?"
"I'd say," he dusted his pants, despite nothing being on it. It was mostly an excuse to not look at Eri.
"Which reminds me… did she answer that question?"
"What was the question again?" Keima asked, more desperately than he needed to.
"You know… about how she felt, seeing you and Tenri-san at the theme park together…"
Keima suddenly pulled the slightly crumpled stack from his pocket, quickly turning to the last page…
There, in Chihiro's fairly normal handwriting were the six characters he'd seen as soon as he'd left the train...
"I was jealous…"
All of a sudden, Keima felt his head spin as the meaning hit him harder than anything did before...
He couldn't understand why... if wasn't like they weren't dating... it wasn't even that much of a surprise, considering what had happened yesterday... then why did it feel like it made all the difference in the world? Why did it make him feel like his own feelings grew deeper, even though they were mostly admittance of her own?
Keima stood up, the sounds around him being way too loud... confessions are bloody dangerous things... you have to be a psychopath to not feel anything when someone confesses to you...
"Chihiro," Ayumi stuck her head into her room, where she was reading a magazine at her desk, "random question..."
"No, I'm not giving you 250 yen... I won one part, and you won the other, which balances it out..." Chihiro replied, not turning back.
"Not that... do you happen to have any of Katsuragi's hair on you?"
Even Chihiro, who was used to the insanity of this house, had to turn at that...
"The hell?"
"Oh, I'm making a voodoo doll," Ayumi replied, as if it explained it all, "I'm going to curse that son of a b‒"
"Are you nuts, Ayumi!?" Chihiro jumped out of her seat, "you can't curse my boyfriend..."
"Ugh, forget it!" Ayumi went back into the hallway, "I'll go look in the room we were sitting in before..." Chihiro couldn't leave it at that, though.
"What did Katsuragi even do to you?" she asked, following her livid roommate around. Ayumi suddenly stopped.
"He left me. to explain. this entire thing. to Ayukawa. on LIME!" With each pause, she seemed to get more angry. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"Now I've traumatised the poor girl, when that was Katsuragi's bloody job!" Chihiro put a hand on Ayumi's shoulder.
"Maybe it's better like this... between me and Katsuragi, we thought about it, and we still didn't say it properly... on the other hand, you understand what's happening, and you've gone through it as well..."
"Like a Senpai?" Ayumi asked. Chihiro nodded her head... after that, Ayumi seemed to calm down, and Chihiro gave herself a pat on the back for letting Keima live another day...
Of course, that lasted till she returned to her room to her phone's notification light blinking...
"Really... I wouldn't have taken you to be the jealous type..."
Maybe it was time for Chihiro to make her own doll...
Ahh... just some random comedy to close off this chapter... I dunno, the ending part was just a headcanon I had after writing the part where Keima volunteered Ayumi to help Tenri, so I figured I may as well add it.
In any case, if you got as far as this, you deserve a cookie... this was a pretty heavy chapter, but all in all, I'm happy at how it turned out, in terms of both plots. You guys let me know, though...
Next chapter is still gonna be about Ayumi, obviously... Keima's gonna get to be an otaku around grade schoolers, and of course, there's the special man in her life who also works there, so I hope you're hyped! (and yes, xellos... I'll finally talk about that third address)
Review time:
al000p- If you liked that update, I hope this makes you doubly happy, as this is doubly long...
Shawn Raven- I did enjoy writing that part with Yuuta, but I wouldn't go quite far as to say that his presence is insignificant... I noticed you've been writing too (probably during the time I was afk), and you know that every character has some kind of relevance in any given story...
Actually, you got the message I was trying to convey... Keima was just unprepared to have to deal with something like that, so he kind of spazzed... but yeah, Chihiro kind of tells Keima what she thinks, and it's all good.
Though Chihiro and Keima in this story are going to give me cavities... If I knew how much I'd love writing about these guys, I should have gotten them together after chapter 1.
Ah, and here you go... plot... though as xellos pointed out, a different kind of plot was continuing... I totally intended it like that... it wasn't like xellos opened my eyes or anything... I totally have control over this fanfiction...
Nooooooo! This bloody story is writing itself, and I have no clue what I'm doing!
xellos540- I love your eye for detail... though I'm surprised I'm talking about a colouring book that appeared in a single sentence 2 chapter ago... though honestly, the pencils really could be anyone's...
Chaotic reviews are the best... as you can see, I'm not very big on structure...
Indeed, Ishigami was a high schooler... I stalked his wikia page too and reread the chapter he was in... I swear I must count for a third of the views that page has, just coz I always wanted to pair him with Chihiro... heck, I had a mini ficlet where she met him during the Tanabata festival (in Minami's arc)... I need help...
You're perfectly right... those issues were two different things, because they both have different feelings. Keima decided not to act on his and Chihiro made her own choice too, which involved a lot less on relying on her feelings. Honestly, I don't blame Keima for not confessing (also, coz I'm the one who made this plot up in the first place, so maybe my opinion doesn't count)
Also, Keima telling Ayumi about what's happening... check-arino
Though I'd say this chapter has been fairly low on dramatic conflict between those two... I'd say that majority of the character conflict this chapter comes down to the actual relationship between the characters, and not any given love triangle... though honestly, writing about Tenri is starting to make me tense...
Oh my God, not only did you say something that is so obvious, but it actually blew my bloody mind. Though I think there's going to be a new plot point starting soon... I feel like I'm failing at not actually noticing something as obvious as this.
Sorry, this took 13 days to write, apparently... ah well, I'm still trying.
Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading, and I will see ya'll for day 2 next time! Ja ne!