The World Only God Knows / 神のみぞ知るセカイ

By Tamiki Wakaki

~ A Certain Romance ~
a fanfiction by Takagi

Route 1: "Games and Loneliness"

Note: Special thanks to Organization Number 15 for willing to beta-read the whole story and fix the mistakes!

The words in Italic are their inner thougts or an original name and i don't own TWGOK

It was one gloomy Sunday in a summer season. The cloudy sky covered the beautiful sunlight, making the breeze even chiller and wetter.

Keima – the 17 years old high school student, whose hobby is playing dating sims every day and living in the world of games as the Otoshigami, the god of conquest, but being called as the 'Otamegane' in the real world – woke up late that day. The white part of his eyes burned red due-to him oversleeping the day before. As the god of conquest, he has a mission every week: finish all dating sims that comes out every week. His missions were charity to his adherents, his community, his "loose lambs".

He came out from his gaming room then walked down the stair towards the kitchen. Although he was very tired, he looked very lively today.

"I've finished all the galges that come out last week! That was true quality time I spent yesterday!" He said with both of his eyes sparkling.

Keima rustled the refrigerator, which was located behind the bar table in his mother's café, to search for his breakfast. He found a paper attached to the freezer's door. It was a note from Elsie, the demon who came from hell so suddenly and ruined his normal life by making him her partner in capturing hell's runaway spirits. Elsie was living under the same roof as Keima and acted as his father's illegitimate daughter since her first job with him.

The note said that she was now going out with her band, "The 2B Pencils". Her band's name, 2B, was taken from her and Keima's class, 2-B, although the drummer was not from 2-B.

"Hmmm, Mom is still at South America and Elsie is having a rehearsal with her band, so I'll be all alone today, huh?" Keima thought as he drank a glass of milk.

"This is…"

Keima threw the paper, lied upon the sofa, and played his PFP.

"I think I'll just buy some games today…"

After a few minutes, when he was ready to go, he walked onto the porch to see a purplish-haired woman wearing red clothes, which stick tightly to her skinny body, and a mini-skirt, with thigh-height-socks, and wielding a big creepy scythe, standing by the door of the café.

Her name is Haqua du Lot Herminium, Elsie's best friend and classmate at Hell's Academy. She is also one of the district chief of the Runaway Spirits Squad, the bracelet she wore above her left elbow being the proof of her position.

Since her meeting with Elsie, she frequently came to Katsuragi's house.

For Keima, that was very troublesome.

"Ooh, K- Katsuragi! Is Elsie home?" Haqua asked nervously.

"No. She is out with her band." Keima answered simply as he walked through the demon, heading towards the gate.

"…"
"Hey, where are you going?"

Her question had made Keima stop as he answered blatantly, "To the game store."

"Oh. Okay... I'll leave then" Haqua said and was about to leave when...

"Elsie might have got home if you wait.
"Or... You can go with me to kill some time if you still want to meet Elsie," Keima offered.

"W- What? Why should I go with the likes of you?" Haqua replied arrogantly, hiding her reddened cheek by turning her head away.

"... Good bye then."

"W- Wait! U-uh... Well, it can't be helped. You are begging me aren't you? So I'll go with you!"

"Whatever." Keima simply stated and began walking off.

As they walking through Cafe Grandpa's gate, Tenri, Keima's neighborhood and 'childhood friend', was looking from in front of her house. She was about to show Keima her new magic trick.

"Keima-kun and… Haqua -san? I wonder where they are going…"

Diana, a goddess from heaven, who lived in Tenri's body, appeared in a reflection on Tenri's magic box.

"That perverted, unfaithful human! He's going on a date with that devil even after Tenri went through the trouble to do all of these things?" the goddess glared at them from afar, then do the same thing to her host, "Tenri! You absolutely must not let them go together!"

"But, I might interrupt Haqua-san…"

Diana sighed, "Tenri…"

"It is fine, Diana." She smiled as she watched Keima and Haqua walked away. She could see that people around them freaked out when they noticed Haqua's scythe.

At the game store, Keima was seeking for galges happily. He moved his hand from one category to another really in top speed, faster than the speed of sound. The atmosphere of game store has made him lost all of his coolness, making his face looked giddily stupid.

Haqua sighed heavily.

She felt irritated by the fact that she was having a little affair with the very man embarrassingly running back in forth in front of her.

"That Katsuragi, he always been like this when it comes to games. He really looked like a big scummy idiot right now."

"Haqua?"

"What?"

"I need your help; can you hold on to these? I can't hold them all by myself."

"Hmph, I never do this sort of thing, you should be glad!" Haqua said as she agreed to help him carry a bucket of games.

"Yes, it's fortunate to bring you here Haqua. I'll teach you how to play games in return!"

"And so I will become like you? No, thank you!"

"Haqua, there's nothing wrong with being a gamer! I even have captured more spirits than you!" Keima said as he put a case of game to the basket.

"S-Shut up and let's go home already!"

"Wait, I still want to buy some galges."

"What? More? You've already bought a dozen of them and they were all the same!"

"They are not all the same! How could you don't know that? I thought you were the best student of Hell Academy!"

"Look there; can you tell me the differences between those galges?" Keima pointed at two game cases.

The district chief was confused because both of them share a same title, brand, or even the characters' faces.
After thinking for a while, the tsundere finally surrendered.

"I…I can't tell…"

"…."
"Look at their body! The characters on this one are not even a girl! They are boys!"
"For God's sake, Haqua. You are worse than Elsie."
"What a pain... I thought you were a role model stu... NGHH!"

Haqua got angry and threw her scythe at Keima. The scythe hit him so hard that even the god of conquest would scream in pain.

"What was that for?!" Keima yelled at her.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Haqua answered furiously. She was angry the moment Keima asked her to compare the body of the characters. Looks like it was a very sensitive matter for the devil that it even numb her analytical skill. This perverted human! So all this time he always thinks my body like those of a boy's?

Seems like she still don't get that the character in the cover of that dating sim for girl was a bishounen, i.e. cute boys.

"Let's go home, Haqua" Keima said as he played his PFP, walking through the game store's automatic sliding door.

"Don't order me around!"

On their way home, the rain suddenly fell little by little. They quickly went to a shelter. Keima seemed to be bothered by this. The rain poured harder as the time went.

"Haqua, can you turn your Hagoromo (Celestial Robe) into an umbrella? This rain will break my PFP", Keima said as he covered his PFP with his clothes.

"I said don't order me around! Huh?" Haqua yelled as her Hagoromo slowly turns into a big umbrella. It was big enough to cover them together.

Haqua felt so nervous because Keima was really close to her.

She looked at the ground to hide her blush with her bangs.

She couldn't take it anymore when Keima suddenly coming even closer to her.

"O- Oi, Katsuragi! Don't come near me!"

"It's not like I want it either, the rain is falling harder now."

"….."

"Well, that can't be helped then…" Haqua blushed like a tomato.

Haqua for some reason didn't expand the size of the umbrella, even though she actually could. She seemed to secretly enjoy the close gap between her and Keima. Fortunately, thanks to the sound of the heavy rain, Keima could not hear Haqua's heartbeat at that moment.

...

It was getting silent between the two. Haqua was too nervous that she couldn't even talk. This atmosphere really bugged the demon.

But finally, she took all her courage, lowered her pride, and decided to start a conversation.

"Ka- Katsuragi?"

"Hmm … what is it?" He answered nonchalantly without taking his eyes off his PFP.

Haqua looked down to their feet to cover her blush with her bangs, "C- Can I ask you something? Well… It's not like I'm curious about it but I just want to know…"

"What are you talking about? Say it properly," he asked her back, still has his eyes on his PFP.

"I just want to know, umm... You've been playing games since you were born right? Have you ever felt lonely? You don't even make any friends at school…"

"Oh..." he responded.

"So have you ever felt lonely even once?"

The human stopped walking and the demon followed.

"Such a question..."

The rain was pouring even harder and the wind became much stronger that it felt like it was tearing every living tissue on their body. It seemed like it is going to be a storm.

Keima stopped playing then stared at Haqua, making her skipped a heartbeat that time.

He fixed his glasses, making it shone and proudly said, "Lonely? As if I could! You expect a god would feel lonely? How absurd. I could be anyone, anything (in games)! Loneliness, such a feeling is nothing to me! Games always do everything for me! My games will always by my side!"
"god doesn't need anyone!"

"..."

Haqua released her umbrella-Hagoromo and turned it back to its original form, allowing both of them to be punctured by the rainstorm. All of the games Keima had bought at the game store quickly were cascaded by the storm. Soon enough, the plastic bag was filled by the rain.

"Oi! What do you think you are doing?!" Keima lost his temper.
"Look! They are all wet now!"

"This is proof that you need someone, even one person Katsuragi Keima, the God of Conquest!" Haqua yelled at Keima.

"Grrr…! This is why I hate real girls!" Keima grumbled and kicked a tiny rock.

"What a victory! Hahaha!"

"Do you need me to use the umbrella again, god?" Haqua teased him.

"NO!" Keima answered angrily, "My house is already nearby!"

They finally reached Katsuragi's Household and went to Café Grampa and took a break for a moment at the entrance door, under the patio roof.

"U-uh it's so cold!" Haqua shivered.

"You can take a bath here. Just use Elsie's toiletries," Keima suggested.

"NO! You always peeked at me while I'm bathing, you pervert! I still can't forget those absurd moments!" Haqua blushed while she said "absurd moments".

Haqua was looking very pale now. Her breath became even more unstable with every breath; her eyes were notably red.

This had come to Keima's attention since they had reached his house.

When he was about to checked her, she fainted and landed her slender yet proportional body on his chest, making Keima shocked to death. Then, he held her body with his hand.

"Hey, H-Haqua…?" Keima blushed. He was still not used to sharing a body contact with a girl yet.

"..."

"See, I told you to take a bath right away," Keima sighed as he carried her inside the café like a groom carry his bride.

Keima looked at her pale face.

"You really are troublesome."

TO BE CONTINUED