Connection 1: Enter Ayumi Takahara

Keima Katsuragi wasn't having a good day. He was slumped over on a bench, seemingly drained of energy. Passersby made sure to keep their distance from the man who seemed to exude a vengeful aura.

That man, staring at the sky, looked at his PFP-less hands and clenched them out of anger. He laughed, softly at first, till it turned into a loud maniacal cackle. He muttered, "Take my games, will they? Well, they'll have to try harder than that. I'm getting my beloved PFP back if it's the last thing I do!"

"...Ew, what a creep," some nearby girl whispered to her friend.

Hmph. Like he cared about their shitty opinion. The only girls that truly mattered to him were the heroines in his games, after all! Side characters like them should just stay quiet and let the Capturing God do his work.

Noticing Keima's muffled rant, the friend replied, "You got a problem, Otamegane?"

'W-Well, I'll just let them go,' Keima declared internally, quickly getting up and slinking away from the confrontation. 'They aren't worth talking to. Now, how am I going to get my games back?'

He checked his watch - twelve 'o clock. It was lunch break, after all, so it had to be around noon. He assumed that the teacher who took his beloved handheld - Yuri Nikaidou - was too smart to just keep the PFP in the safe at her cubicle. Kinda disappointing, since he knew the number code was 5-5-3-4. Instead, she would keep it on her person so that it would be harder for him to steal back. Hm… maybe it would be easier to just buy another one with M-funds.

Picking up his phone, Keima quickly dialed his mother. "Hi, Mom."

"Keima? Why did you call?" Keima could hear the suspicion in her voice. Better be blunt about his request. "You better not be in trouble again-"

"No. Nothing like that," the boy replied. He heard a sigh of relief. Hook, line, and sinker. "I was just wondering… can I have some extra allowance in advance? Maybe around 25,000 yen?"

The line grew quiet. A few moments later, Keima heard a deep sigh. "For what, Keima?"

"A new PFP-"

"Absolutely not." Then the call was hung up, if the loud slam from the other end of the conversation was any indication. The God of Conquests sighed. He knew that was going to be her response, but it was worth a shot. Now the only course of action to pursue was to steal- retrieve his PFP. It was going to be hard, but he had a plan. Keima Katsuragi always had a plan.

"Hey, Ms. Nikaidou! I got you some coffee!" Keima cooed, handing the teacher a home brewed cup of joe.

Leaning back into her chair, Yuri raised an eyebrow at the student. If he was trying to butter her up in order to get his PFP back, then he had another thing coming. Still, Keima wasn't that dumb. There was something else up his sleeve. It'd be a good idea to reject the coffee offer… but it smelled delightful. During the (frequent) parent-teacher conferences that she held with Keima's mother, she heard that the Katsuragi's ran a cafe, and she could definitely smell the quality. Hm… there was no harm in trying it, right?

Yuri cautiously took the cup from Keima, glaring at that fake smile on his face. "If I find out that you put something in this, I'll kill you."

"Point taken," Keima said, plastic expression still on his face. "See you later, Ms. Nikaidou."

Keima left, not even looking back to see the pure look of ecstasy that Yuri had as she gulped down the coffee that tasted nectarous, like liquid joy. She loved how sweet the coffee was while having just the slightest bit of bitterness that didn't deter her from drinking - in fact, she wanted more because of it. Hm… she'd have to pay that cafe a visit sometime.

The Capturing God smirked. The pieces were falling right into place.

Keima Katsuragi stood near the faculty room, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. While he failed in that respect - everyone noticed that manic smirk on his gross expression - he was avoided for the same reason. In the end, he didn't want anyone to bother him as his plan was about to unfold.

He checked his watch. Seven 'o clock. No other teachers should be at their cubicles aside from Yuri, who needed to file Keima's 17th confiscated PFP into the list of contraband to be returned at the end of the year.

Okay, so he needed to separate Yuri from her purse, which was the most likely place for his PFP to be in. Luckily, the diuretic that is naturally found in coffee should kick in right about-

Keima quickly turned around as Yuri Nikaidou burst out of the faculty room towards the location of the woman's restroom, which was conveniently located quite far from where Keima was. He smirked, pushing up his glasses. The conditions have been met. Time to finish the plan.

Keima strode into the faculty room, confident that no teachers would be there. He swung open the doors… and was met by a girl.

At least he wasn't wrong.

She was a short haired girl with a healthy figure who was around half a foot shorter than Keima. He knew that she was someone from his class, though he just couldn't get her name. It was on the tip of his tongue… "Takahara?"

"Otamega," Ayumi Takahara greeted in return, making sure to give that gross human being a wide berth. So her name was Takahara. "What are you doing here?"

Ew, Otamega. No one in class liked him. He was always playing his games, chuckling like the creep he was with that disgusting smile. With the way he always was in his own little reality-denying world, it was not surprising that everyone avoided to associate with him, and she could see it.

Ugh, a classmate. That put a wrench in Keima's plan. He had to think quickly. What could he do to get this Takahara girl out of the room so that he could swap out his PFP for the dud he always kept on him? Well, unlike in galge, he couldn't just bring up a chart of stats and character traits in order to decide what flags to raise. He was forced to stall, though he didn't have much time.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Keima rebutted, internally wincing at how little time he had left. Two minutes - two minutes were all he had to persuade Ayumi to leave the room, take the PFP, and leave. Well, if he jumped out the window instead of leaving through the doors, he'd buy a few more seconds for himself, but there was nothing else to extend the timer.

He moved towards the purse, which just happened to draw him near Ayumi, who backed off. Ah, the benefits of being undesired by Reality. He pulled out the dud, which was a PFP that was frozen on a CG, and pretended to play.

"Don't come near me, creep," Ayumi said, making sure that they were at least a meter apart. Oh, and he pulls out another gaming console. How wonderful. Wait, wasn't that confiscated just this morning? Just how many of those things did he keep on his person? She averted her eyes, instead deciding to stare at the door. Oh, Ms. Nikaidou, please come soon! "I'm just trying to ask about how I can pull up my grades."

"Hmph." She snuck a peek at the Otamegane. He had this horrifying grin of delight on his face from hearing that. Ugh, she shouldn't have bothered with him. She turned back to the door. "Why do you need to pull up your grades anyway?"

"None of your business," she coldly replied, ending the conversation. Perfect. Now that she was going to ignore him, he could freely reach for the PFP. In one quick motion, he slipped his hand into Yuri's purse, grabbed the PFP within, and retrieved it, making sure to swap it out with the broken one. Heh, mission complete. All he had to do now was slip out the window.

That's when the door swung open.

Shit. He only had a second left. Quicker than he thought possible, Keima was able to slip under the desk. It was a sad attempt at hiding, especially when Ayumi could easily point him out. Damn, it just wasn't his day.

Keima could see Yuri's legs as she walked over to her cubicle. Five seconds to think of a reason why he just happened to be underneath her desk without getting suspended for thievery or expelled for voyeurism. Then, Ayumi stood in front of his crouched form, essentially trapping him. He couldn't even attempt to scurry away. Or maybe... she was concealing him?

"Ms. Nikaidou, thanks for having me," Ayumi said, sounding truly grateful for having the opportunity to talk to the teacher.

"It's my job as a homeroom teacher, after all," Yuri replied. "So, what made you schedule a consultation?"

"It's about my grades. Coach said I won't be allowed to join competitions if my grades remain the same. I was wondering if you know a way of raising them."

"There's no easy way of doing that, Ayumi. You're just gonna have to put more time into your studies."

"But I don't think I'll be able to improve my grades that way. I might be able to make enough time if I drop track and field training, but if I do that, what's the point of getting good grades anyway? Running is my passion, Ms. Nikaidou! Please, help me with this hurdle!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but it's not like I can magically curve your grades. All I can suggest is that if you can't lengthen your study time, then you'll have to improve the quality of your study time. Have a friend tutor you, maybe. Again, I'm sorry, but this is all the help I can offer you."

"Ugh, this is gonna be hard. Thanks anyway, Ms. Nikaidou."

"No problem- wait, what's that under my desk? Is that-"

"By the way… I saw Keima leave the room while you were away. I think he was carrying one of those game consoles he always has. You don't think-"

Keima could hear Yuri slam her fist onto the cubicle wall. He shivered. The Real can be scary at times. "That kid's gonna get the beating of a lifetime. If I don't find that PFP in this purse, then may God help him…"

Keima heard the teacher rush out of the room, probably in order to prepare his punishment for the next day. He shuddered at the possibilities - that was one sadistic teacher, after all. He saw Ayumi's legs twist and back off, letting him go. Wait, just like that? Was he finally home free? Keima was internally jumping for joy.

He crawled out of his hiding spot and rose to his full height, facing the track runner. Well, her character was finally revealed. So she was the athletic type. Good at sports, weak at academics. If he didn't know better, Keima might have admitted that it sounded a lot like one of the heroines he had saved in a past game, but no. That's not how Reality works. Nothing interesting can come from what's Real… right?

He shook all doubt from his mind, instead saying, "Thanks for distracting her."

That smirk on her face chilled him to the bone. "Oh, I didn't do that for you. After all, it wouldn't due for my tutor to be suspended from classes, right?"

...Huh!?

Hope you enjoyed. I'm a little rusty - made a new account after months of being MIA from the site - so please bear with me till I get the groove of writing fiction again. Hm... I wonder who will recognize me. See ya.