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This time, the conquest was completely unprecedented. In the rain, Keima suddenly said,
“I like you.”
And what he got in return was a slap.
PA! The slap rang through the skies.
“…Don’t harass me.”
They were standing in front of the railing.
Below them, the dark grey river that reflected the dark sky flowed through.
There was nothing else besides the sound of rain and flowing water.
“…”
‘The God of Conquest’ Keima pressed onto his face that got slapped and continued to look at that girl. His face didn’t show any anger or shock.
He merely continued to look at the girl.
And then,
“Please take this.”
And tried to close in on her again.
In other words,
“Roses really suit you.”
Keima knelt down on the muddy ground and handed that bouquet of roses. On a side note, he was wearing a white cocktail suit.
He didn’t care that his clothes got dirtied.
“Please have this.”
He merely said this with all his heart.
“…”
The girl continued to watch the bouquet of flowers silently.
Her eyes were completely emotionless.
Her eyes weren’t moved at all.
She didn’t look like she was moved by Keima at all. She had short light-blue hair, a good-looking face, and clear white skin. She was really an outstanding beauty. However, her expression lacked emotions, which humans should have, thus, one would feel that she’s a puppet that was moving and talking.
She reached her small and white hand,
“I don’t want to.”
And then, she grabbed that bouquet of flowers and rolled them up.
“…How many times must I explain it to you? I don’t need other people.”
She actually threw the flowers off the other side of the railing.
Into the river.
“!”
Her actions caused Elsie, who was observing from afar, to be completely speechless. However, Keima didn’t frown at all.
He was completely calm.
He looked at the bouquet of bright red roses that flowed away with the river.
“…Fu.”
He gave a fearless look and looked completely motivated.
“I’ll try to melt your heat, no matter how much time it takes.”
He waved his hand. Even though it wasn’t as many as the number of flowers just now, there was another rose on his fingertip.
He learned this magic trick just to perform for this girl.
That skill was so amazing that anyone would be astounded.
The girl blinked her eyes that didn’t show any emotion,
“Are you an idiot?”
Keima chuckled.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“I think you are, or you wouldn’t even belittle me. Three days ago, you were crying and trying to get my sympathy. Two days ago, you tried to look intimidating. Yesterday, you became a sportsman. What’s it today? A professional gentleman? A magician?”
“…”
Keima smiled mysteriously.
“…”
The girl looked at Keima silently, and sighed.
“Go away. Don’t let me see you again.”
She pushed Keima’s shoulders aside and wanted to get away. Keima didn’t resist as he let himself get pushed aside by her.
The girl lowered her head slightly and went past Keima.
The girl’s light aroma came. Her head was right at Keima’s shoulders, and looking closely, one would find her rather petite.
Keima waited until the girl walked away for a while, and broke his silence before scratching his head and asking,
“…It’s raining now. Why don’t you have your umbrella?”
“…”
The girl stopped, and then turned around.
“…You asked this before. I’ll only answer this once.”
“Un.”
“Because I,”
She looked completely expressionless,
“I am nothing. That’s nothing for me to treasure.”
Keima looked at the girl’s face, and then gave a wry smile.
“I see.”
“…I’m going then.”
Thus, the girl continued to move on in the rain.
She didn’t have an umbrella.
And she let herself be drenched by the rain.
“…”
Keima continued to watch that petite figure move away silently until she vanished on the other side of the bridge before sighing.
“Eh.”
“Kami nii-sama…”
At this moment, Elsie descended from the sky.
“Are you alright?”
She should be worried about Keima, who took a slap on the face from that girl. Then, she seemed to be a little angry.
“That girl’s too much! She’s violent and even threw away the flowers I prepared. Uu~!”
“…”
Keima put his hands into his pockets and continued to watch the girl leave.
“Kami nii-sama.”
Elsie asked cautiously.
“Have you checked it out?”
“Yes.”
Keima nodded his head as he gave a complicated look,
“Investigations complete.”
“…”
He turned to look at Elsie and looked serious before saying,
“Fuse Aoba…that girl.”
“Is a genius.”
These words started off the prologue to the birth of an amazing galge gamer.
The reason why both of them would interact with each other was because of something completely trivial. That girl’s name was Fuse Aoba, someone Keima and Elsie met on the way out (when they went to buy games).
The girl who didn’t look emotional went by. Keima glanced a bit, and at this moment, Elsie,
“Ah, kami nii-sama, there’s a response!”
DURUDURDURUDURU! She pressed onto the skull-shaped hair decoration and exclaimed.
“…I see.”
Back then, Keima sighed slightly.
At that moment, he merely thought that another conquest was about to begin, that’s all.
Soon after, Keima investigated her thoroughly.
That girl’s called Fuse Aoba.
She’s living on the street one stop down the train station near the Katsuragis, and like Keima, studies at Maijima High School as a second year.
Her family only consisted of her parents.
She didn’t often go out. It seemed that she didn’t go out often, but her parents weren’t normally at home.
Keima quickly investigated all of these in a manner even a detective firm would be proud of, and then started to investigate on his conquest target. Basically, what he used was through coincidence and interaction, and then found out her actions and habits to shrink the difference between them bit by bit.
Encounter, interaction, increasing chances to talk.
However, during this process,
“…”
Keima would often frown in a troubled manner and fold his arms. As it’s really rare to see Keima like this, Elsie,
“What happened, kami nii-sama?”
Asked in a doubtful manner.
“This person’s like this.”
Keima muttered to himself. And then, to Elsie’s surprise, Keima actually carried out what would be a reckless ‘love confession’ strategy. Keima would change his role every day like what he said to Aoba on that rainy day at the bridge.
And then,
“…Don’t bother me!”
Every single time, he would get slapped by Aoba. Elsie felt really shocked, but Keima,
“Seems like I’m right…”
He muttered,
“She’s really a ‘genius’.”
Whether it’s Keima or that girl, Elsie didn’t understand them at all.
“Erm, why is Aoba-san a genius…”
At this moment, Keima,
<Girl conquest entrance.>
Started a lecture…
<Lacking parts equal to parts that can be repaired, which meant infinite possibilities!>
Keima was dressed in a white robe, standing in front of the whiteboard and writing furiously. Elsie sat at the seat in front of the whiteboard and looked troubled as she,
“Ex, excuse me.”
Raised her hand, but Keima ignored her completely.
“Let’s begin the lesson.”
He clapped his hands, and looked just like a lecturer.
“To classify girls, there are many points of entries, like personalities. Take one personality for example, the so-called tsundere is those who are vicious in their words yet shy and blushing when alone…that’s common knowledge. Also, there’s the prim and proper class representative type, the big sister type, and we can classify them as much as we want. However, I’m going to focus on the ‘lacking part’.”
“…Lacking part, right?”
Elsie had given up on questioning and became an obedient student.
Keima pushed his glasses.
“That’s right. Now, allow me to raise an example. Do you still remember the conquest of the track and field club member Takahara Ayumi?”
“I, I do.”
Even if Elsie wanted to forget about it, she couldn’t. That was the first time she worked together with Keima.
“At that moment, Ayumi felt that she was officially chosen to be a representative because she was lucky, so she lost ‘confidence’ in herself when she couldn’t run well. You understand that, right?”
“U~uu.”
Elsie tried to recall.
That was the first time she met Keima, and now, the first thing that appeared is that shocked look of Keima and her worry whether he would be okay. However, it was just like what Keima said.
“Un, I understand.”
Keima nodded his hand.
“So I used ‘confidence’ to fill up that gap. There is something you need to take note here.”
Keima started to scribble furiously on the whiteboard again.
<A coach isn’t a boyfriend, but it’s not a bad idea to combine them together!>
After writing this, he started explaining again.
“I have only one aim, and that’s to make her fall into the ‘river of love’. Thus, I can’t just let her have confidence, but that I need to let ‘me’ make her feel ‘confident’. This may be easier to explain things. When ‘I’ replaced Takahara Ayumi’s ‘confidence’, and when both of them were the same, the conquest’s complete.”
“?”
Elsie used her fingers to support her chin and look at the ceiling in a puzzled manner.
It seemed that she still didn’t understand.
Keima sighed.
“Second case. Do you still remember the judo club’s Kasuga Kusunoki?”
“Of course I do!”
Elsie immediately nodded her head.
“That martial artist?”
“That’s right.”
Keima nodded and again faced Elsie.
What she lacked was a clear straightforward ‘me’. ‘The me who should be a martial artist’ and ‘the me who should be a woman’ broke her up, and like I implied, there were signs of cracks there. Thus, I provided clues for her to solve this problem. Finally, she chose to be a ‘martial artist’, left her ‘feminine side’ to deal with later, and established ‘herself’.”
“…”
“To put it simply, she decided to work harder, and after becoming stronger, she would then try to chase after her feminine side. And the one who created this idea in her was me.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Elsie continued to nod away.
“Just like that.”
Keima again scribbled quickly,
<Remember, a girl’s sensibility is the door to romance.>
And then slammed the whiteboard.
Elsie’s mind immediately showed a giant gate that was rumbling open as light shone from inside.
“Once ‘I’ fill in that lacking part of my target, the ‘romance’ could be established.”
“…In other words.”
Elsie pondered.
“You have to deal with the problem with the target?”
“That’s right.”
Keima gave a rare kind smile and nodded his head.
“Well put. That’s right, Elsie.”
As it was rare for Elsie to be praised, she first gave a troubled look, and then,
“Hehehe.”
She collapsed on the table and smiled as her face showed a slight red. At this moment, Keima showed a really troubled look.
“?”
Elsie felt somewhat weird, and Keima sighed as he said,
“But once I mention this Fuse Aoba, things would be complicated.”
“What’s that?”
Elsie asked as according to what Keima taught,
“What does Aoba-san lack?”
“That girl.”
Keima seemed to be really heavy hearted.
“She lacked too many things.”
“Eh?”
Elsie couldn’t help but exclaim out.
“in other words,”
Keima continued to stare at Elsie and said,
“In terms of conquest targets, she seemed to be the toughest kind, because she has no desire for anything.”
Elsie couldn’t say anything for a while…
“You said she lacked everything, and,”
While Elsie was still murmuring, Keima again sighed and said,
“Normally speaking, humans have their own likes and dislikes, and have things that they’re good in and bad in to develop their characters. In other words, as everyone’s interaction with the real world is different, there will be an entry point for conquest. This can be said to be the interest everyone has in real life.”
“…”
“For example, Takahara Ayumi is ‘interested’ in track, and she was already ‘good’ at it, but ‘lost’ her confidence in track, which caused a gap within her heart, got it?”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Next, Kasuga Kusunoki, both ‘the me as a martial artist’ and ‘the me as a woman’ were in conflict with each other, so there was a gap within her. You understand?”
“Understood.”
“Then,”
Keima smiled slightly, and then said,
“Think of an Ayumi who has no interest in track and field and will not be bothered even if she can’t run, or a Kasuga Kusunoki who didn’t feel that being a martial artist or a woman was important and didn’t need to maintain her pride and dignity.”
“Ah!”
Elsie couldn’t help but exclaim,
“Then…”
She then reached her hand out to cover her mouth.
“That’s the case.”
Keima said sternly.
“Normally speaking, the entry points of conquests involve the good and bad of the target, habits, interests, emotions, personality. If the person doesn’t have anything,”
He paused,
“It’s theoretically impossible to conquer…”
“Uu.”
Elsie was almost completely speechless.
“Tha…that means.”
“These kind of people are very rare. It’s because their abilities are way too unique that they lost interest in everything in the real world, even themselves. In an ordinary person’s heart, one would have expectations and dreams about their future,”
Keima continued,
“However, Aoba’s heart didn’t have thoughts of ‘it’ll be great if I can do this’. The reason why I deliberately tried all sorts of reckless methods to get close to her was merely to test her response and ability…basically, she doesn’t seem to have anything she is interested in, is proud of or wants to protect. This is likely because she was already too perfect right from the beginning and could see everything too clearly. It’s because she’s a genius that she has nothing to ask for.”
“…”
Elsie frantically waved her arms.
“The, then, what should we do?”
“…”
Keima pondered for a while.
“No, there’s still a way. If she doesn’t have an interest…I’ll create one for her.”
“Eh?”
Elsie looked completely mystified and didn’t understand what Keima meant by this. Keima repeated.
“I want her to have a ‘desire’, to have something that she can really treasure. Listen up, Elsie, at least she can reject me. If she really has no interest in this world at all, she probably wouldn’t even have responded to me. In that case, she might have some conflicting views, but the fact that she has a runaway spirit in her should be a form of saving grace to her. In other words, if things remained like this, she won’t be satisfied at all.”
He added on,
“There’s a possibility in this.”
A bright twinkle flashed through Keima’s eyes.
After that, Keima was really trying to get along with Fuse Aoba, catching her at school, at home, when they’re out, and trying to interact with her. Keima,
“There’re endless ways to interact with a girl,”
Declared,
“And it doesn’t matter whether the girl deliberately tries to avoid me.”
And declared proudly,
“A door’s meant to be opened. There’s no door that can’t be opened in this world.”
With this belief, Keima tried all sorts of means to bring her out, to trigger all sorts of encounters, and things just looked magical.
“That’s enough! I don’t want to see you!”
Or,
“How many times must I tell you that I have no interest in these things at all?”
Or,
“…Why you again?”
Even though she would often get angry or sigh or even grumble weakly, no matter whether she pretended not to be at home, called about or ran away, Keima would often go out with her. Thus, unknowingly, she started to go out with Keima often. If someone researching on psychology were to see this, they would be amazed and ask Keima how he did that.
This showed how diversified the tactics Keima used were.
But two weeks later,
“Haa.”
Keima sighed.
“…Haven’t you found any leads?”
He was so dejected by the outcome that even Elsie couldn’t help but ask.
Keima tried bringing Aoba to experience all sorts of entertainment, sports, fishing, hiking, food trail, library, shopping, movies, and even the casino. But to these,
“Boring.”
And,
“Too simple.”
Aoba merely made these conclusions.
Just as Keima observed right from the start, Aoba was really a genius.
First, sports. No matter what kind of sport it was, she was able to show off her outstanding ability. Also, even if it was a sport she got involved with for the first time, she could instantly grasp the knack of it.
Once the coach just demonstrated how to play billiards, Aoba immediately cleared the table. When they went fishing, she caught so many fish that it would fill an entire freezer as even the nearby fishermen came looking over.
Once Keima queried her, it seemed that she would understand the content of the lessons once she hears it, so there was no need to open the textbooks. She would often read books, but would remember everything once she flipped through them. When watching a movie, no matter how unexpected the outcome may be, she could immediately tell what the ending would be and start yawning. Even when tasting good food, she wouldn’t feel amazed as ‘it’s easy for me to make this’.
She was already uninterested in everything.
But she was already so gifted that nothing could stump her.
Thus, Aoba felt that there was nothing worth treasuring.
“She’s basically a bad kind of genius.”
Keima frowned as he rubbed his temples and sighed.
“…”
Elsie seemed to be worried about Keima and thought,
(Aoba-san, she,)
The way she saw Keima try to get close to Aoba, she started thinking,
(Don’t tell me…)
This idea suddenly appeared in her heart.
On a certain day,
“Alright, let’s play this today.”
The location was Aoba’s room, and Keima took all sorts of tabletop games as he said this.
On a side note, what was amazing was that as time passed, Keima was actually able to enter Aoba’s room. She was wearing a white mini-skirt and a blue shirt as she sat on the seat in an unguarded manner and showed off those white legs.
A high school boy and a high school girl were in the same room wearing home clothes.
In a certain sense, it felt like she was completely unguarded against Keima.
However, Keima and Aoba knew that this wasn’t the case. The reason why Aoba let Keima into her room was because of the extremely casual reasoning that ‘since you’re going to look for me all the time, you might as well look for me so that I don’t have to go out’.
On the other hand, Keima naturally wasn’t a slouch.
He already knew of Aoba’s thinking and didn’t have any naive thoughts in the first place. Normally speaking, if a girl in her youth was to let a guy enter her room, it’s not too much to view this as a chance. However, this warrior who had been through many battles wouldn’t have such naive thoughts.
He merely used the current situation to calmly analyze the future outcome.
“Here, how about this game?)
He took out the table-top battlegame <Risk>.
“Then this! This! And this!”
And Western chess, Shogi, Rank Promotion Game (Chinese) and other games.
Aoba narrowed her eyes and sighed.
“Are you an idiot?”
“Don’t tell me off like this. I didn’t want to do this.”
“…Why must you do this?”
Keima didn’t answer.
He really wanted to say something, but didn’t say it out either way.
“Who knows?”
“…it’s not like I’ll win in the end though.”
“…”
Keima remained silent for a while before smiling.
“There’s a small chance, but it’s not equal to zero.”
“…”
Aoba looked up at Keima emotionlessly. Keima would actually admit that there was a chance that he would lose in games. Even if it’s Aoba, who wasn’t really familiar with Keima, this was too weird. If Elsie was beside them, she would be widening her eyes in shock.
In other words,
“I admit that you’re good.”
“…”
Aoba cupped her knees toward and moved over, not bothering that her underwear was being revealed. Keima coughed dryly.
“…Here we go.”
At this moment, Aoba’s eyes were caught by something. The PFP that was stacked between the pile of games on the table was flashing.
The PFP was already in standby mode, and the main power was activated once it moved.
“…”
Aoba glanced at Keima, and then,
“I’ll prefer to play this more than these games.”
She reached out for the PFP. Was this out of impulse?
Or destiny?
“Eh?”
Keima panicked for a bit,
“…No, don’t touch it!”
And tried to snatch the PFP back.
This boy who remained poker-faced no matter how much he got refused looked rather uneasy.
This seemed to flip a certain switch that was within Aoba.
“Heh.”
She pressed onto the button directly.
“WAH, WA, WAIT!”
Keima frowned.”
“Don’t tell me you…no, but.”
Keima wanted to snatch the PFP back, and Aoba merely continued to stare at him emotionlessly.
“…”
And used that opportunity to cleanly pull off the cushion under Keima’s feet. At this moment,
“Ugh!”
Keima fell as his head slammed head on the floor.
He passed out.
By the time he recovered, the sun was setting as the orange sun shone in through the window. Keima opened his eyes, and Aoba, who was sitting on the cushion of beads, looked over.
“Too easy.”
And handed the PFP over to Keima.
“Eh?”
Keima couldn’t react at the moment.
“I’ve already.”
During that short moment, Keima understood everything.
“Ah.”
“Conquered it.”
This girl.
Don’t tell me.
“Is there something harder?”
Aoba’s face showed an expression Keima had never seen before. It was a proud look, and more importantly, one with a sense of achievement.
Normally, no matter what happened.
No matter what she did, there was never a sense of satisfaction shown on her face. She, who was unable to be interested in the real world, had a response to this kind of ‘perfect world’ in galges, and in a certain sense, it was to be expected.
Thus, Keima saw a ray of light, and also a sense that there was going to be a tragic ending…
The wheel of fate.
Was starting to move.
That day, Keima moved a large number of game software and a computer into Aob’a room before chuckling,
“You can play whatever game you want.”
This proposal was already an exception for Keima.
“I assure you that you can find everything here, and everything in everything exists in these games!”
He waved his arm hard.
As for Aoba,
“…Why must I listen to you?”
She muttered.
“Don’t play dumb.”
Keima’s sharp eyes narrowed.
“…”
Aoba herself remained silent.
It’s unknown if she was irritated or that she felt something.
Keima’s expression seemed to be like a coach who found a prodigy as he continued to motivate her.
“You’re a ‘genius’, so you should have found out, right? You finally found this form of entertainment that could make your blood heat up, right? This doesn’t follow the logic and routines of reality. It’s just a game. You understand, right?”
Keima said as he turned on the computer. Soon after, the screen lit up, and the title of a galge appeared on the screen.
“From today onwards.”
Keima slowly gave a thumbs up.
“Nothing can stop you.”
Aoba stared at Keima expressionlessly for a moment.
And Elsie, who moved the games over with Keima, looked worried and nervous as she saw this.
After a while.
“…How stupid.”
Aoba muttered.
“Such a simple thing…I just need ten days to conquer all the games here, you know?”
Keima smirked.
“Show it to me then.”
On hearing Keima say this.
“Humph, easy-peasy.”
Aoba slowly sat in front of the computer and started hitting the keyboard in an earth-shaking manner. Elsie sighed.
I see, so I can finally conclude something.
(This girl, Aoba)
Is just like kami nii-sama.
This was the conclusion Elsie made.
After this, Keima started to visit Aoba’s room regularly. This was so that he could send a part of his vast collection over to her.
Aoba played one game after another.
If there’s a need to describe this, it’s just like a coach regulating the training progress and letting the representative complete it.
It seemed that the games Keima brought over were merely randomly selected, but they were all chosen carefully. This method was similar to what a coach would do.
“Easy-peasy. I just need ten days.”
Even though she boasted this, a few games caused her to be stumped. This was likely the first time in her life that she was unable to get through a hurdle.
“!”
On seeing her looking absolutely stunned and rooted there,
“Fufu, so you did get caught in this trap.”
Keima, who was standing behind her, broke his silence and chuckled.
On a side note, for some reason, he was actually wearing track attire and wielding a bamboo sword. Other than that, Elsie, who came today to help Keima move the games, was dressed just like a club manager as she was dressed in sports attire and holding a sports drink in her head.
And looking completely worried.
Keima used the bamboo sword to knock against his shoulders and said,
“Since you don’t have knowledge in such aspects, it can’t be helped. If you can’t conquer most of the past games this gaming company released, you wouldn’t know the answer to this.”
“Uu.”
Fuse moaned.
<Game Over>
These words really irritated her.
“I, I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this…can’t I just change to another game? How stupid.”
And thus, Aoba immediately reached out to grab another game.
“…”
Keima smirked.
“Fine, then choose this game.”
Aoba continued to solve the games with amazing momentum, and she used unbelievable dynamic vision, comprehension and insight to conquer 2 games every day.
This looked really unbelievable.
As Aoba played the game with the computer, Keima would be playing his PFp behind her.
Every time Aoba got stuck.
“You chose the wrong option there. If the route’s still unconfirmed, don’t blindly make a conclusion.”
Keima warned and reminded Aoba,
As he continued to play his game,
Without lifting his head at all.
Aoba couldn’t believe it as she turned around.
“…I see that you can’t get away from the infinite world, right?
Thus, Keima directly pointed out her problem.
While continuing to play his handheld game.
“Fufufu, Madoka-chan, it’s about time. Soon, the future will be connected to the present!”
He let out a bone-chilling laughter.
“That’s your bad habit, always going with the action you expect. You should more or less consider how the girls in the gaming world think.”
As he continued to sternly give constructive criticism to Aoba.
“…”
Aoba remained silent, and Keima sighed.
“Listen up. If you feel that Sayo’s actions are based on her trust in Ryouko, fine. But, you don’t understand the relationships behind the screen. If you want to make a choice now, you have to consider the Ninomiya research facility and the Amakusas’ political relationship.”
“…”
“Didn’t I tell you before? You’re looking at things in a way too narrow manner. Don’t make decisions just by seeing things little by little. You have to look at things through the whole plate. The galge world is wide and deep. You must remember that.”
Then, he,
“Ohh! I see it, Madoka! I see time and space moving!”
There were tears in his eyes.
“…”
Aoba remained silent for a long time,
“…How do you know when you didn’t even see what I did?”
And asked expressionlessly.
Keima laughed.
“Because all the games I’ve ever played before are all stored inside my head.”
“All?”
Aoba sounded mystified.
“…You’re a monster.”
“It’s nothing much.”
Keima continued to play his game and answered nonchalantly.
“This isn’t hard. Once you have love in the games, you can do that too. Because you,”
At this moment, he conquered the game right in front of Aoba,
“Have such a talent.”
And then, he said,
“Uu, this scenario’s really touching…”
And then used his handkerchief to wipe his eyes.
“…”
Aoba continued to stare intently at Keima.
And she started to look troubled.
“!”
She hurriedly turned her gaze back to the game screen on the computer.
That’s because,
She felt that there were emotions running through her that she never felt before.
Not much time was spent before Aoba bought a computer and a PFP for herself, and started playing all the time at home.
“In this world, all the games will have their own hard disks. Hard disks are a gamers’ life. There’s no future for one who wants to borrow from others, you know?”
The reason was because of Keima’s proposal.
During this time.
During the time she met Keima and started playing the games, about 3 weeks later, Aoba would obediently listen to all the words Keima said.
Of course,
“You’re an idiot in life, right?”
Or,
“You’ll only tense up like this when you’re gaming, right?”
Aoba would often take digs at Keima like this, but it was a lot more refined now as she started smiling.
Keima too,
“You still have the habit of using possibility when making choices. Try and think of other developments.”
Or,
“It’s too early for you to speed run through this! Start from the basics, basics!”
Continued to lecture Aoba like a master teaching.
That’s right.
In other words.
They’re master and disciple.
No matter how Aoba tried to deny it.
It was to be expected that she would fall for galges.
That day, Aoba was on the way home. In the midst of this rain, she was holding a large bag as she tediously moved on the bridge. The bag was filled with several new games that just came out in the market.
Keima didn’t ask her to buy them.
She went to buy them on her own.
She thought that at least she should spend money on the new games. She would be able to secretly conquer the games and shock Keima. Besides, if she continued to play only the games Keima brought, she would always be following Keima’s footsteps.
That’s because he conquered all the games in his house.
In that case, Aoba at least wanted,
“Oh my? You’re still playing this? I conquered that game a long time ago, you know?”
Keima to praise her well.
All this for such a childish reason.
Her shoulders jerked as she chuckled. She then looked up and seemed to be surprised with her own actions.
That’s strange?
I just smiled.
“…Have I”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Changed?”
Being exceptionally smart, she started to understand something. After meeting Keima, her life greatly changed.
For example, she wouldn’t bother about such a drizzle in the past, but would feel worried now as she continued to look at the bag in her hands.
Even with the waterproof plastic bag on, she was worried about the games inside.
She was worried about whether the games would be wet.
She…who didn’t care about being drenched at first,
Now hated to be wet.
And didn’t wish to be wet.
At this moment.
“I say.”
An umbrella was handed over from the side, and Aoba was shocked.
“If you’re going to buy games when the weather’s bad, at least prepare for some anti-rain equipment.”
She saw Keima standing right in front of her.
“!’
Aoba stared at Keima speechlessly.
“Here.”
Keima sighed and prompted her.
“Let’s go.”
And hurriedly walked off. Aoba rolled her eyes and walked beside him, and on looking down, she found that he was holding onto a bag too.
(Ah.)
She thought.
It seemed that he came out to buy the games that were released today just like her. Also,
“…”
His shoulder.
As Aoba found that his shoulder on the other side was being drenched by the rain.
“!”
Something inside her seemed to click.
Aoba finally realized something.
She always thought that even when she’s drenched or even when there’s no tomorrow, nothing mattered. But it’s different now. Her life had meaning.
She realized this from deep inside her heart.
On seeing Aoba like this, Keima sighed.
The entire scenario ended in an inexplicable silence.
Both of them were discussing about games inside Aoba’s room.
During this past month, Aoba showed tremendous improvement.
Of course, she couldn’t match up to the ‘God of Conquests’ Keima, but her ability and knowledge wasn’t something any normal gamer could fathom. Of course, even though she was still lacking in experience, she used her outstanding sense and insight to make up for it.
Keima silently nodded his head as he listened to Aoba. Aoba unhurriedly talked about everything.
Compared to the situation right at the beginning, this change in situation was really shocking.
Both of them were discussing about the interesting parts in the games and the parts they didn’t like.
And also the bugs and secrets they found.
“…”
“…”
After a while, both of them went silent. They couldn’t possibly continue to discuss, and the outcome couldn’t be pushed back. Both of them were geniuses, and realized that the time to separate was near. Aoba had already started to fall for Keima for a long time.
Keima suddenly looked at Aoba, and Aoba’s expression became rather timid. After a while, he said,
“You did well.”
That’s a sincere word of encouragement from his heart.
“I taught you all the basics. Now you have to start learning from it.”
Keima showed a gentle smile.
“This is a graduation test. You’re to conquer this game I give you within an hour.”
“…”
Aoba was silent for a while.
“…No matter what,”
And then asked,
“Do I really have to do this?”
Keima silently nodded.
“‘You should know this already.’”
He indicated this with his expression.
Aoba remained silent for a long time, and then asked again,
“Let me ask a question.”
She gave a clear expression to Keima.
“This test…including how you approach me, was everything just a game to you?”
Keima shook his head.
“I merely gave you recognition, that’s all.”
His expression had an inexplicable gentleness in it.
“You’re my disciple, junior and fellow comrade, so,”
He said decisively,
“Don’t disappoint me.”
Aoba couldn’t move for a moment, and after a while, started to nod slightly.
Aoba typed at the computer at a shocking speed, and like how it was at the beginning, Keima was standing right behind her with his arms folded as he looked at the screen. The words scrolled down the screen at a really fast pace, and an ordinary person probably wouldn’t be able to catch up, let alone understand the content, which is basically impossible.
However, to these two geniuses,
“Oh, I haven’t played games from this company for a long time. The script and visual balance was rather good.”
“If it’s this system, I prefer ‘Shooting Star NANANA’…”
Aoba just looked extremely relaxed, and easily,
Continued to play the game casually.
Sometimes,
“30 minutes left!”
Or,
“See. You didn’t consider the other party’s situation, which is why you didn’t spot such an easy clue.”
Keima would give a few suggestions.
However, as the game developed.
“That’s right.”
Or,
“Just like that.”
He would only nod away silently.
He closed his eyes in a satisfied manner, and didn’t even say anything at the last stage of the game. It was just like he completed his mission as he merely decided to watch from aside.
Keima’s lips were smiling.
But Aoba was the complete opposite,
“…”
She looked even grimmer.
The more the game progressed, the more she looked like she couldn’t accept it, and the sadder she was…once there was less than a minute left.
She just had to make a decision to see the ending.
“…”
Her hands stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
Keima sighed and asked.
“…”
However, Aoba didn’t answer.
She clenched her fist tight and continued to stare at her knees where her fists were placed on.
Tears came flowing from her eyes.
Her shoulders started to tremble too.
If she conquered this, she wouldn’t be able to see Keima again.
But it’s not just Keima. She already knew clearly.
“You have two options, but the outcome’s the same.”
He sighed barely and coldly raised two fingers before saying.
Keima first bent the first finger.
“First, you can sit down there until you die of old age.”
And then bent the other finger.
“The other option is to look for that thing that you had always been looking for inside that dry heart of yours.”
“…”
His eyes flashed.
“Answer me, Fuse Aoba.”
“…”
“What kind of person are you?”
At this moment, the tears flowed down from Aoba’s teary eyes.
What her dry heart finally managed to get,
Was a person she could talk with, one who was her equal.
And what she had always been looking for,
“I,”
Aoba said hoarsely,
“Am right behind you.”
She raised her hand,
“Chasing after you, and running with you one day.”
Pak. She pressed the enter button.
She already knew.
One day, they will leave.
She already knew.
She couldn’t be with him forever.
She already knew.
In that case.
“At least let me raise my head up and leave you. I want to be someone who can run alongside you.”
Tears flowed as she smiled and stood up.
“Goodbye, Keima.”
At this moment, Keima slowly approached Aoba and kissed her on the lips lightly. Aoba cried as she accepted his kiss and closed her eyes.
Keima moved his body away and muttered,
“Goodbye, my disciple.”
One day,
We’ll meet again.
This happened soon after.
In the galge world,
‘Maihime’.
There was such a prodigy who was named as such.
Through shocking conquest speed and amazing conquest theories, she became famous on the internet.
When interviewed by a gaming magazine, she answered,
“Of course.”
She opened with this,
“On one hand, it’s because I like games. However,”
She showed an unbelievably enthusiastic expression and said,
“I feel that if I continue to play, I can meet a certain person, someone very important to me.”
Today, the ‘God of Conquests’ Keima was conquering the galges somewhere…
Just to save those girls.
“I like you.”
And what he got in return was a slap.
PA! The slap rang through the skies.
“…Don’t harass me.”
They were standing in front of the railing.
Below them, the dark grey river that reflected the dark sky flowed through.
There was nothing else besides the sound of rain and flowing water.
“…”
‘The God of Conquest’ Keima pressed onto his face that got slapped and continued to look at that girl. His face didn’t show any anger or shock.
He merely continued to look at the girl.
And then,
“Please take this.”
And tried to close in on her again.
In other words,
“Roses really suit you.”
Keima knelt down on the muddy ground and handed that bouquet of roses. On a side note, he was wearing a white cocktail suit.
He didn’t care that his clothes got dirtied.
“Please have this.”
He merely said this with all his heart.
“…”
The girl continued to watch the bouquet of flowers silently.
Her eyes were completely emotionless.
Her eyes weren’t moved at all.
She didn’t look like she was moved by Keima at all. She had short light-blue hair, a good-looking face, and clear white skin. She was really an outstanding beauty. However, her expression lacked emotions, which humans should have, thus, one would feel that she’s a puppet that was moving and talking.
She reached her small and white hand,
“I don’t want to.”
And then, she grabbed that bouquet of flowers and rolled them up.
“…How many times must I explain it to you? I don’t need other people.”
She actually threw the flowers off the other side of the railing.
Into the river.
“!”
Her actions caused Elsie, who was observing from afar, to be completely speechless. However, Keima didn’t frown at all.
He was completely calm.
He looked at the bouquet of bright red roses that flowed away with the river.
“…Fu.”
He gave a fearless look and looked completely motivated.
“I’ll try to melt your heat, no matter how much time it takes.”
He waved his hand. Even though it wasn’t as many as the number of flowers just now, there was another rose on his fingertip.
He learned this magic trick just to perform for this girl.
That skill was so amazing that anyone would be astounded.
The girl blinked her eyes that didn’t show any emotion,
“Are you an idiot?”
Keima chuckled.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“I think you are, or you wouldn’t even belittle me. Three days ago, you were crying and trying to get my sympathy. Two days ago, you tried to look intimidating. Yesterday, you became a sportsman. What’s it today? A professional gentleman? A magician?”
“…”
Keima smiled mysteriously.
“…”
The girl looked at Keima silently, and sighed.
“Go away. Don’t let me see you again.”
She pushed Keima’s shoulders aside and wanted to get away. Keima didn’t resist as he let himself get pushed aside by her.
The girl lowered her head slightly and went past Keima.
The girl’s light aroma came. Her head was right at Keima’s shoulders, and looking closely, one would find her rather petite.
Keima waited until the girl walked away for a while, and broke his silence before scratching his head and asking,
“…It’s raining now. Why don’t you have your umbrella?”
“…”
The girl stopped, and then turned around.
“…You asked this before. I’ll only answer this once.”
“Un.”
“Because I,”
She looked completely expressionless,
“I am nothing. That’s nothing for me to treasure.”
Keima looked at the girl’s face, and then gave a wry smile.
“I see.”
“…I’m going then.”
Thus, the girl continued to move on in the rain.
She didn’t have an umbrella.
And she let herself be drenched by the rain.
“…”
Keima continued to watch that petite figure move away silently until she vanished on the other side of the bridge before sighing.
“Eh.”
“Kami nii-sama…”
At this moment, Elsie descended from the sky.
“Are you alright?”
She should be worried about Keima, who took a slap on the face from that girl. Then, she seemed to be a little angry.
“That girl’s too much! She’s violent and even threw away the flowers I prepared. Uu~!”
“…”
Keima put his hands into his pockets and continued to watch the girl leave.
“Kami nii-sama.”
Elsie asked cautiously.
“Have you checked it out?”
“Yes.”
Keima nodded his head as he gave a complicated look,
“Investigations complete.”
“…”
He turned to look at Elsie and looked serious before saying,
“Fuse Aoba…that girl.”
“Is a genius.”
These words started off the prologue to the birth of an amazing galge gamer.
The reason why both of them would interact with each other was because of something completely trivial. That girl’s name was Fuse Aoba, someone Keima and Elsie met on the way out (when they went to buy games).
The girl who didn’t look emotional went by. Keima glanced a bit, and at this moment, Elsie,
“Ah, kami nii-sama, there’s a response!”
DURUDURDURUDURU! She pressed onto the skull-shaped hair decoration and exclaimed.
“…I see.”
Back then, Keima sighed slightly.
At that moment, he merely thought that another conquest was about to begin, that’s all.
Soon after, Keima investigated her thoroughly.
That girl’s called Fuse Aoba.
She’s living on the street one stop down the train station near the Katsuragis, and like Keima, studies at Maijima High School as a second year.
Her family only consisted of her parents.
She didn’t often go out. It seemed that she didn’t go out often, but her parents weren’t normally at home.
Keima quickly investigated all of these in a manner even a detective firm would be proud of, and then started to investigate on his conquest target. Basically, what he used was through coincidence and interaction, and then found out her actions and habits to shrink the difference between them bit by bit.
Encounter, interaction, increasing chances to talk.
However, during this process,
“…”
Keima would often frown in a troubled manner and fold his arms. As it’s really rare to see Keima like this, Elsie,
“What happened, kami nii-sama?”
Asked in a doubtful manner.
“This person’s like this.”
Keima muttered to himself. And then, to Elsie’s surprise, Keima actually carried out what would be a reckless ‘love confession’ strategy. Keima would change his role every day like what he said to Aoba on that rainy day at the bridge.
And then,
“…Don’t bother me!”
Every single time, he would get slapped by Aoba. Elsie felt really shocked, but Keima,
“Seems like I’m right…”
He muttered,
“She’s really a ‘genius’.”
Whether it’s Keima or that girl, Elsie didn’t understand them at all.
“Erm, why is Aoba-san a genius…”
At this moment, Keima,
<Girl conquest entrance.>
Started a lecture…
<Lacking parts equal to parts that can be repaired, which meant infinite possibilities!>
Keima was dressed in a white robe, standing in front of the whiteboard and writing furiously. Elsie sat at the seat in front of the whiteboard and looked troubled as she,
“Ex, excuse me.”
Raised her hand, but Keima ignored her completely.
“Let’s begin the lesson.”
He clapped his hands, and looked just like a lecturer.
“To classify girls, there are many points of entries, like personalities. Take one personality for example, the so-called tsundere is those who are vicious in their words yet shy and blushing when alone…that’s common knowledge. Also, there’s the prim and proper class representative type, the big sister type, and we can classify them as much as we want. However, I’m going to focus on the ‘lacking part’.”
“…Lacking part, right?”
Elsie had given up on questioning and became an obedient student.
Keima pushed his glasses.
“That’s right. Now, allow me to raise an example. Do you still remember the conquest of the track and field club member Takahara Ayumi?”
“I, I do.”
Even if Elsie wanted to forget about it, she couldn’t. That was the first time she worked together with Keima.
“At that moment, Ayumi felt that she was officially chosen to be a representative because she was lucky, so she lost ‘confidence’ in herself when she couldn’t run well. You understand that, right?”
“U~uu.”
Elsie tried to recall.
That was the first time she met Keima, and now, the first thing that appeared is that shocked look of Keima and her worry whether he would be okay. However, it was just like what Keima said.
“Un, I understand.”
Keima nodded his hand.
“So I used ‘confidence’ to fill up that gap. There is something you need to take note here.”
Keima started to scribble furiously on the whiteboard again.
<A coach isn’t a boyfriend, but it’s not a bad idea to combine them together!>
After writing this, he started explaining again.
“I have only one aim, and that’s to make her fall into the ‘river of love’. Thus, I can’t just let her have confidence, but that I need to let ‘me’ make her feel ‘confident’. This may be easier to explain things. When ‘I’ replaced Takahara Ayumi’s ‘confidence’, and when both of them were the same, the conquest’s complete.”
“?”
Elsie used her fingers to support her chin and look at the ceiling in a puzzled manner.
It seemed that she still didn’t understand.
Keima sighed.
“Second case. Do you still remember the judo club’s Kasuga Kusunoki?”
“Of course I do!”
Elsie immediately nodded her head.
“That martial artist?”
“That’s right.”
Keima nodded and again faced Elsie.
What she lacked was a clear straightforward ‘me’. ‘The me who should be a martial artist’ and ‘the me who should be a woman’ broke her up, and like I implied, there were signs of cracks there. Thus, I provided clues for her to solve this problem. Finally, she chose to be a ‘martial artist’, left her ‘feminine side’ to deal with later, and established ‘herself’.”
“…”
“To put it simply, she decided to work harder, and after becoming stronger, she would then try to chase after her feminine side. And the one who created this idea in her was me.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Elsie continued to nod away.
“Just like that.”
Keima again scribbled quickly,
<Remember, a girl’s sensibility is the door to romance.>
And then slammed the whiteboard.
Elsie’s mind immediately showed a giant gate that was rumbling open as light shone from inside.
“Once ‘I’ fill in that lacking part of my target, the ‘romance’ could be established.”
“…In other words.”
Elsie pondered.
“You have to deal with the problem with the target?”
“That’s right.”
Keima gave a rare kind smile and nodded his head.
“Well put. That’s right, Elsie.”
As it was rare for Elsie to be praised, she first gave a troubled look, and then,
“Hehehe.”
She collapsed on the table and smiled as her face showed a slight red. At this moment, Keima showed a really troubled look.
“?”
Elsie felt somewhat weird, and Keima sighed as he said,
“But once I mention this Fuse Aoba, things would be complicated.”
“What’s that?”
Elsie asked as according to what Keima taught,
“What does Aoba-san lack?”
“That girl.”
Keima seemed to be really heavy hearted.
“She lacked too many things.”
“Eh?”
Elsie couldn’t help but exclaim out.
“in other words,”
Keima continued to stare at Elsie and said,
“In terms of conquest targets, she seemed to be the toughest kind, because she has no desire for anything.”
Elsie couldn’t say anything for a while…
“You said she lacked everything, and,”
While Elsie was still murmuring, Keima again sighed and said,
“Normally speaking, humans have their own likes and dislikes, and have things that they’re good in and bad in to develop their characters. In other words, as everyone’s interaction with the real world is different, there will be an entry point for conquest. This can be said to be the interest everyone has in real life.”
“…”
“For example, Takahara Ayumi is ‘interested’ in track, and she was already ‘good’ at it, but ‘lost’ her confidence in track, which caused a gap within her heart, got it?”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Next, Kasuga Kusunoki, both ‘the me as a martial artist’ and ‘the me as a woman’ were in conflict with each other, so there was a gap within her. You understand?”
“Understood.”
“Then,”
Keima smiled slightly, and then said,
“Think of an Ayumi who has no interest in track and field and will not be bothered even if she can’t run, or a Kasuga Kusunoki who didn’t feel that being a martial artist or a woman was important and didn’t need to maintain her pride and dignity.”
“Ah!”
Elsie couldn’t help but exclaim,
“Then…”
She then reached her hand out to cover her mouth.
“That’s the case.”
Keima said sternly.
“Normally speaking, the entry points of conquests involve the good and bad of the target, habits, interests, emotions, personality. If the person doesn’t have anything,”
He paused,
“It’s theoretically impossible to conquer…”
“Uu.”
Elsie was almost completely speechless.
“Tha…that means.”
“These kind of people are very rare. It’s because their abilities are way too unique that they lost interest in everything in the real world, even themselves. In an ordinary person’s heart, one would have expectations and dreams about their future,”
Keima continued,
“However, Aoba’s heart didn’t have thoughts of ‘it’ll be great if I can do this’. The reason why I deliberately tried all sorts of reckless methods to get close to her was merely to test her response and ability…basically, she doesn’t seem to have anything she is interested in, is proud of or wants to protect. This is likely because she was already too perfect right from the beginning and could see everything too clearly. It’s because she’s a genius that she has nothing to ask for.”
“…”
Elsie frantically waved her arms.
“The, then, what should we do?”
“…”
Keima pondered for a while.
“No, there’s still a way. If she doesn’t have an interest…I’ll create one for her.”
“Eh?”
Elsie looked completely mystified and didn’t understand what Keima meant by this. Keima repeated.
“I want her to have a ‘desire’, to have something that she can really treasure. Listen up, Elsie, at least she can reject me. If she really has no interest in this world at all, she probably wouldn’t even have responded to me. In that case, she might have some conflicting views, but the fact that she has a runaway spirit in her should be a form of saving grace to her. In other words, if things remained like this, she won’t be satisfied at all.”
He added on,
“There’s a possibility in this.”
A bright twinkle flashed through Keima’s eyes.
After that, Keima was really trying to get along with Fuse Aoba, catching her at school, at home, when they’re out, and trying to interact with her. Keima,
“There’re endless ways to interact with a girl,”
Declared,
“And it doesn’t matter whether the girl deliberately tries to avoid me.”
And declared proudly,
“A door’s meant to be opened. There’s no door that can’t be opened in this world.”
With this belief, Keima tried all sorts of means to bring her out, to trigger all sorts of encounters, and things just looked magical.
“That’s enough! I don’t want to see you!”
Or,
“How many times must I tell you that I have no interest in these things at all?”
Or,
“…Why you again?”
Even though she would often get angry or sigh or even grumble weakly, no matter whether she pretended not to be at home, called about or ran away, Keima would often go out with her. Thus, unknowingly, she started to go out with Keima often. If someone researching on psychology were to see this, they would be amazed and ask Keima how he did that.
This showed how diversified the tactics Keima used were.
But two weeks later,
“Haa.”
Keima sighed.
“…Haven’t you found any leads?”
He was so dejected by the outcome that even Elsie couldn’t help but ask.
Keima tried bringing Aoba to experience all sorts of entertainment, sports, fishing, hiking, food trail, library, shopping, movies, and even the casino. But to these,
“Boring.”
And,
“Too simple.”
Aoba merely made these conclusions.
Just as Keima observed right from the start, Aoba was really a genius.
First, sports. No matter what kind of sport it was, she was able to show off her outstanding ability. Also, even if it was a sport she got involved with for the first time, she could instantly grasp the knack of it.
Once the coach just demonstrated how to play billiards, Aoba immediately cleared the table. When they went fishing, she caught so many fish that it would fill an entire freezer as even the nearby fishermen came looking over.
Once Keima queried her, it seemed that she would understand the content of the lessons once she hears it, so there was no need to open the textbooks. She would often read books, but would remember everything once she flipped through them. When watching a movie, no matter how unexpected the outcome may be, she could immediately tell what the ending would be and start yawning. Even when tasting good food, she wouldn’t feel amazed as ‘it’s easy for me to make this’.
She was already uninterested in everything.
But she was already so gifted that nothing could stump her.
Thus, Aoba felt that there was nothing worth treasuring.
“She’s basically a bad kind of genius.”
Keima frowned as he rubbed his temples and sighed.
“…”
Elsie seemed to be worried about Keima and thought,
(Aoba-san, she,)
The way she saw Keima try to get close to Aoba, she started thinking,
(Don’t tell me…)
This idea suddenly appeared in her heart.
On a certain day,
“Alright, let’s play this today.”
The location was Aoba’s room, and Keima took all sorts of tabletop games as he said this.
On a side note, what was amazing was that as time passed, Keima was actually able to enter Aoba’s room. She was wearing a white mini-skirt and a blue shirt as she sat on the seat in an unguarded manner and showed off those white legs.
A high school boy and a high school girl were in the same room wearing home clothes.
In a certain sense, it felt like she was completely unguarded against Keima.
However, Keima and Aoba knew that this wasn’t the case. The reason why Aoba let Keima into her room was because of the extremely casual reasoning that ‘since you’re going to look for me all the time, you might as well look for me so that I don’t have to go out’.
On the other hand, Keima naturally wasn’t a slouch.
He already knew of Aoba’s thinking and didn’t have any naive thoughts in the first place. Normally speaking, if a girl in her youth was to let a guy enter her room, it’s not too much to view this as a chance. However, this warrior who had been through many battles wouldn’t have such naive thoughts.
He merely used the current situation to calmly analyze the future outcome.
“Here, how about this game?)
He took out the table-top battlegame <Risk>.
“Then this! This! And this!”
And Western chess, Shogi, Rank Promotion Game (Chinese) and other games.
Aoba narrowed her eyes and sighed.
“Are you an idiot?”
“Don’t tell me off like this. I didn’t want to do this.”
“…Why must you do this?”
Keima didn’t answer.
He really wanted to say something, but didn’t say it out either way.
“Who knows?”
“…it’s not like I’ll win in the end though.”
“…”
Keima remained silent for a while before smiling.
“There’s a small chance, but it’s not equal to zero.”
“…”
Aoba looked up at Keima emotionlessly. Keima would actually admit that there was a chance that he would lose in games. Even if it’s Aoba, who wasn’t really familiar with Keima, this was too weird. If Elsie was beside them, she would be widening her eyes in shock.
In other words,
“I admit that you’re good.”
“…”
Aoba cupped her knees toward and moved over, not bothering that her underwear was being revealed. Keima coughed dryly.
“…Here we go.”
At this moment, Aoba’s eyes were caught by something. The PFP that was stacked between the pile of games on the table was flashing.
The PFP was already in standby mode, and the main power was activated once it moved.
“…”
Aoba glanced at Keima, and then,
“I’ll prefer to play this more than these games.”
She reached out for the PFP. Was this out of impulse?
Or destiny?
“Eh?”
Keima panicked for a bit,
“…No, don’t touch it!”
And tried to snatch the PFP back.
This boy who remained poker-faced no matter how much he got refused looked rather uneasy.
This seemed to flip a certain switch that was within Aoba.
“Heh.”
She pressed onto the button directly.
“WAH, WA, WAIT!”
Keima frowned.”
“Don’t tell me you…no, but.”
Keima wanted to snatch the PFP back, and Aoba merely continued to stare at him emotionlessly.
“…”
And used that opportunity to cleanly pull off the cushion under Keima’s feet. At this moment,
“Ugh!”
Keima fell as his head slammed head on the floor.
He passed out.
By the time he recovered, the sun was setting as the orange sun shone in through the window. Keima opened his eyes, and Aoba, who was sitting on the cushion of beads, looked over.
“Too easy.”
And handed the PFP over to Keima.
“Eh?”
Keima couldn’t react at the moment.
“I’ve already.”
During that short moment, Keima understood everything.
“Ah.”
“Conquered it.”
This girl.
Don’t tell me.
“Is there something harder?”
Aoba’s face showed an expression Keima had never seen before. It was a proud look, and more importantly, one with a sense of achievement.
Normally, no matter what happened.
No matter what she did, there was never a sense of satisfaction shown on her face. She, who was unable to be interested in the real world, had a response to this kind of ‘perfect world’ in galges, and in a certain sense, it was to be expected.
Thus, Keima saw a ray of light, and also a sense that there was going to be a tragic ending…
The wheel of fate.
Was starting to move.
That day, Keima moved a large number of game software and a computer into Aob’a room before chuckling,
“You can play whatever game you want.”
This proposal was already an exception for Keima.
“I assure you that you can find everything here, and everything in everything exists in these games!”
He waved his arm hard.
As for Aoba,
“…Why must I listen to you?”
She muttered.
“Don’t play dumb.”
Keima’s sharp eyes narrowed.
“…”
Aoba herself remained silent.
It’s unknown if she was irritated or that she felt something.
Keima’s expression seemed to be like a coach who found a prodigy as he continued to motivate her.
“You’re a ‘genius’, so you should have found out, right? You finally found this form of entertainment that could make your blood heat up, right? This doesn’t follow the logic and routines of reality. It’s just a game. You understand, right?”
Keima said as he turned on the computer. Soon after, the screen lit up, and the title of a galge appeared on the screen.
“From today onwards.”
Keima slowly gave a thumbs up.
“Nothing can stop you.”
Aoba stared at Keima expressionlessly for a moment.
And Elsie, who moved the games over with Keima, looked worried and nervous as she saw this.
After a while.
“…How stupid.”
Aoba muttered.
“Such a simple thing…I just need ten days to conquer all the games here, you know?”
Keima smirked.
“Show it to me then.”
On hearing Keima say this.
“Humph, easy-peasy.”
Aoba slowly sat in front of the computer and started hitting the keyboard in an earth-shaking manner. Elsie sighed.
I see, so I can finally conclude something.
(This girl, Aoba)
Is just like kami nii-sama.
This was the conclusion Elsie made.
After this, Keima started to visit Aoba’s room regularly. This was so that he could send a part of his vast collection over to her.
Aoba played one game after another.
If there’s a need to describe this, it’s just like a coach regulating the training progress and letting the representative complete it.
It seemed that the games Keima brought over were merely randomly selected, but they were all chosen carefully. This method was similar to what a coach would do.
“Easy-peasy. I just need ten days.”
Even though she boasted this, a few games caused her to be stumped. This was likely the first time in her life that she was unable to get through a hurdle.
“!”
On seeing her looking absolutely stunned and rooted there,
“Fufu, so you did get caught in this trap.”
Keima, who was standing behind her, broke his silence and chuckled.
On a side note, for some reason, he was actually wearing track attire and wielding a bamboo sword. Other than that, Elsie, who came today to help Keima move the games, was dressed just like a club manager as she was dressed in sports attire and holding a sports drink in her head.
And looking completely worried.
Keima used the bamboo sword to knock against his shoulders and said,
“Since you don’t have knowledge in such aspects, it can’t be helped. If you can’t conquer most of the past games this gaming company released, you wouldn’t know the answer to this.”
“Uu.”
Fuse moaned.
<Game Over>
These words really irritated her.
“I, I don’t accept this! I don’t accept this…can’t I just change to another game? How stupid.”
And thus, Aoba immediately reached out to grab another game.
“…”
Keima smirked.
“Fine, then choose this game.”
Aoba continued to solve the games with amazing momentum, and she used unbelievable dynamic vision, comprehension and insight to conquer 2 games every day.
This looked really unbelievable.
As Aoba played the game with the computer, Keima would be playing his PFp behind her.
Every time Aoba got stuck.
“You chose the wrong option there. If the route’s still unconfirmed, don’t blindly make a conclusion.”
Keima warned and reminded Aoba,
As he continued to play his game,
Without lifting his head at all.
Aoba couldn’t believe it as she turned around.
“…I see that you can’t get away from the infinite world, right?
Thus, Keima directly pointed out her problem.
While continuing to play his handheld game.
“Fufufu, Madoka-chan, it’s about time. Soon, the future will be connected to the present!”
He let out a bone-chilling laughter.
“That’s your bad habit, always going with the action you expect. You should more or less consider how the girls in the gaming world think.”
As he continued to sternly give constructive criticism to Aoba.
“…”
Aoba remained silent, and Keima sighed.
“Listen up. If you feel that Sayo’s actions are based on her trust in Ryouko, fine. But, you don’t understand the relationships behind the screen. If you want to make a choice now, you have to consider the Ninomiya research facility and the Amakusas’ political relationship.”
“…”
“Didn’t I tell you before? You’re looking at things in a way too narrow manner. Don’t make decisions just by seeing things little by little. You have to look at things through the whole plate. The galge world is wide and deep. You must remember that.”
Then, he,
“Ohh! I see it, Madoka! I see time and space moving!”
There were tears in his eyes.
“…”
Aoba remained silent for a long time,
“…How do you know when you didn’t even see what I did?”
And asked expressionlessly.
Keima laughed.
“Because all the games I’ve ever played before are all stored inside my head.”
“All?”
Aoba sounded mystified.
“…You’re a monster.”
“It’s nothing much.”
Keima continued to play his game and answered nonchalantly.
“This isn’t hard. Once you have love in the games, you can do that too. Because you,”
At this moment, he conquered the game right in front of Aoba,
“Have such a talent.”
And then, he said,
“Uu, this scenario’s really touching…”
And then used his handkerchief to wipe his eyes.
“…”
Aoba continued to stare intently at Keima.
And she started to look troubled.
“!”
She hurriedly turned her gaze back to the game screen on the computer.
That’s because,
She felt that there were emotions running through her that she never felt before.
Not much time was spent before Aoba bought a computer and a PFP for herself, and started playing all the time at home.
“In this world, all the games will have their own hard disks. Hard disks are a gamers’ life. There’s no future for one who wants to borrow from others, you know?”
The reason was because of Keima’s proposal.
During this time.
During the time she met Keima and started playing the games, about 3 weeks later, Aoba would obediently listen to all the words Keima said.
Of course,
“You’re an idiot in life, right?”
Or,
“You’ll only tense up like this when you’re gaming, right?”
Aoba would often take digs at Keima like this, but it was a lot more refined now as she started smiling.
Keima too,
“You still have the habit of using possibility when making choices. Try and think of other developments.”
Or,
“It’s too early for you to speed run through this! Start from the basics, basics!”
Continued to lecture Aoba like a master teaching.
That’s right.
In other words.
They’re master and disciple.
No matter how Aoba tried to deny it.
It was to be expected that she would fall for galges.
That day, Aoba was on the way home. In the midst of this rain, she was holding a large bag as she tediously moved on the bridge. The bag was filled with several new games that just came out in the market.
Keima didn’t ask her to buy them.
She went to buy them on her own.
She thought that at least she should spend money on the new games. She would be able to secretly conquer the games and shock Keima. Besides, if she continued to play only the games Keima brought, she would always be following Keima’s footsteps.
That’s because he conquered all the games in his house.
In that case, Aoba at least wanted,
“Oh my? You’re still playing this? I conquered that game a long time ago, you know?”
Keima to praise her well.
All this for such a childish reason.
Her shoulders jerked as she chuckled. She then looked up and seemed to be surprised with her own actions.
That’s strange?
I just smiled.
“…Have I”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Changed?”
Being exceptionally smart, she started to understand something. After meeting Keima, her life greatly changed.
For example, she wouldn’t bother about such a drizzle in the past, but would feel worried now as she continued to look at the bag in her hands.
Even with the waterproof plastic bag on, she was worried about the games inside.
She was worried about whether the games would be wet.
She…who didn’t care about being drenched at first,
Now hated to be wet.
And didn’t wish to be wet.
At this moment.
“I say.”
An umbrella was handed over from the side, and Aoba was shocked.
“If you’re going to buy games when the weather’s bad, at least prepare for some anti-rain equipment.”
She saw Keima standing right in front of her.
“!’
Aoba stared at Keima speechlessly.
“Here.”
Keima sighed and prompted her.
“Let’s go.”
And hurriedly walked off. Aoba rolled her eyes and walked beside him, and on looking down, she found that he was holding onto a bag too.
(Ah.)
She thought.
It seemed that he came out to buy the games that were released today just like her. Also,
“…”
His shoulder.
As Aoba found that his shoulder on the other side was being drenched by the rain.
“!”
Something inside her seemed to click.
Aoba finally realized something.
She always thought that even when she’s drenched or even when there’s no tomorrow, nothing mattered. But it’s different now. Her life had meaning.
She realized this from deep inside her heart.
On seeing Aoba like this, Keima sighed.
The entire scenario ended in an inexplicable silence.
Both of them were discussing about games inside Aoba’s room.
During this past month, Aoba showed tremendous improvement.
Of course, she couldn’t match up to the ‘God of Conquests’ Keima, but her ability and knowledge wasn’t something any normal gamer could fathom. Of course, even though she was still lacking in experience, she used her outstanding sense and insight to make up for it.
Keima silently nodded his head as he listened to Aoba. Aoba unhurriedly talked about everything.
Compared to the situation right at the beginning, this change in situation was really shocking.
Both of them were discussing about the interesting parts in the games and the parts they didn’t like.
And also the bugs and secrets they found.
“…”
“…”
After a while, both of them went silent. They couldn’t possibly continue to discuss, and the outcome couldn’t be pushed back. Both of them were geniuses, and realized that the time to separate was near. Aoba had already started to fall for Keima for a long time.
Keima suddenly looked at Aoba, and Aoba’s expression became rather timid. After a while, he said,
“You did well.”
That’s a sincere word of encouragement from his heart.
“I taught you all the basics. Now you have to start learning from it.”
Keima showed a gentle smile.
“This is a graduation test. You’re to conquer this game I give you within an hour.”
“…”
Aoba was silent for a while.
“…No matter what,”
And then asked,
“Do I really have to do this?”
Keima silently nodded.
“‘You should know this already.’”
He indicated this with his expression.
Aoba remained silent for a long time, and then asked again,
“Let me ask a question.”
She gave a clear expression to Keima.
“This test…including how you approach me, was everything just a game to you?”
Keima shook his head.
“I merely gave you recognition, that’s all.”
His expression had an inexplicable gentleness in it.
“You’re my disciple, junior and fellow comrade, so,”
He said decisively,
“Don’t disappoint me.”
Aoba couldn’t move for a moment, and after a while, started to nod slightly.
Aoba typed at the computer at a shocking speed, and like how it was at the beginning, Keima was standing right behind her with his arms folded as he looked at the screen. The words scrolled down the screen at a really fast pace, and an ordinary person probably wouldn’t be able to catch up, let alone understand the content, which is basically impossible.
However, to these two geniuses,
“Oh, I haven’t played games from this company for a long time. The script and visual balance was rather good.”
“If it’s this system, I prefer ‘Shooting Star NANANA’…”
Aoba just looked extremely relaxed, and easily,
Continued to play the game casually.
Sometimes,
“30 minutes left!”
Or,
“See. You didn’t consider the other party’s situation, which is why you didn’t spot such an easy clue.”
Keima would give a few suggestions.
However, as the game developed.
“That’s right.”
Or,
“Just like that.”
He would only nod away silently.
He closed his eyes in a satisfied manner, and didn’t even say anything at the last stage of the game. It was just like he completed his mission as he merely decided to watch from aside.
Keima’s lips were smiling.
But Aoba was the complete opposite,
“…”
She looked even grimmer.
The more the game progressed, the more she looked like she couldn’t accept it, and the sadder she was…once there was less than a minute left.
She just had to make a decision to see the ending.
“…”
Her hands stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
Keima sighed and asked.
“…”
However, Aoba didn’t answer.
She clenched her fist tight and continued to stare at her knees where her fists were placed on.
Tears came flowing from her eyes.
Her shoulders started to tremble too.
If she conquered this, she wouldn’t be able to see Keima again.
But it’s not just Keima. She already knew clearly.
“You have two options, but the outcome’s the same.”
He sighed barely and coldly raised two fingers before saying.
Keima first bent the first finger.
“First, you can sit down there until you die of old age.”
And then bent the other finger.
“The other option is to look for that thing that you had always been looking for inside that dry heart of yours.”
“…”
His eyes flashed.
“Answer me, Fuse Aoba.”
“…”
“What kind of person are you?”
At this moment, the tears flowed down from Aoba’s teary eyes.
What her dry heart finally managed to get,
Was a person she could talk with, one who was her equal.
And what she had always been looking for,
“I,”
Aoba said hoarsely,
“Am right behind you.”
She raised her hand,
“Chasing after you, and running with you one day.”
Pak. She pressed the enter button.
She already knew.
One day, they will leave.
She already knew.
She couldn’t be with him forever.
She already knew.
In that case.
“At least let me raise my head up and leave you. I want to be someone who can run alongside you.”
Tears flowed as she smiled and stood up.
“Goodbye, Keima.”
At this moment, Keima slowly approached Aoba and kissed her on the lips lightly. Aoba cried as she accepted his kiss and closed her eyes.
Keima moved his body away and muttered,
“Goodbye, my disciple.”
One day,
We’ll meet again.
This happened soon after.
In the galge world,
‘Maihime’.
There was such a prodigy who was named as such.
Through shocking conquest speed and amazing conquest theories, she became famous on the internet.
When interviewed by a gaming magazine, she answered,
“Of course.”
She opened with this,
“On one hand, it’s because I like games. However,”
She showed an unbelievably enthusiastic expression and said,
“I feel that if I continue to play, I can meet a certain person, someone very important to me.”
Today, the ‘God of Conquests’ Keima was conquering the galges somewhere…
Just to save those girls.
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