Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai Vol 2 Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Accursed Game

In this world, there exist people with a superb sense of smell.

A famous producer who raised many outstanding singers was quoted saying: “A real person will definitely look dazzling.” This wasn’t just a hyperbole, but that to the eyes of a thoroughbred, musicians with potential just look as if they’re covered in light.

No matter whether they’re performing in live houses that are small or on the roadside, a producer with the ability can use his eyes to search out singers who have a chance to make it big. And the producers make their decisions based on how much the opponent sparkles.

In other words, this is called ‘The Art of Recognition’.

A sushi chef from an old shop in Ginza said,

“When walking in a fish market, the feet will naturally move towards the best fish of the day.”

This should be called the sixth sense. Only a chef like this who trained so hard in the art of sushi making could have such instincts. To an ordinary person, this could only be described as extraordinary.

The body would move on its own.

In other words, the body would ‘naturally react’ based on experience.

The chairman of a companies that manages comedians said,

“I can somewhat smell something from these young people that are continuing to grow.”

“This smell, well, it’s not whether it smells good or not, but whether it’s fragrant. Everyone’s smell is a little different. Anyway, it’s sour!”

Eh? Isn’t this just because someone didn’t take a shower?

One mustn’t be hasty and make such conclusions. At least this chairman did groom a few great comedians, and earned big bucks while managing the business. It’s probable that he could use ‘smell’ to sense other people’s talents.

In other words, he could ‘sniff out’ talent.

To raise a more radical example,

“Let me tell you. An angel is whispering to me that ‘it’s this one, this ticket will definitely rise~’, fufu.”

A genius stockbroker said this. An ordinary person would feel that ‘this is just ridiculous’ on hearing this explanation, but he did become a really wealthy man. From this pitch, one might think that he really heard an Angel whispering into his ear.

That’s probably it.

Anyway, whether this was a result gained from talent, hard work or innate experience, this ability is no different from superpowers to an ordinary person, and they used this instinct to develop into a target.

If this ability can be described through having a superb sense of smell.

Then it could be truly proclaimed,

That Katsuragi Keima had that ‘instinct’.

And that he had Heaven’s blessings.

It was completely a coincidence that he would get off from the stop—the previous train was stuck because of power outage, causing the tracks themselves to be inaccessible.

Keima, who came all the way out to buy bishoujo games, and Elsie, who accompanied him out, could only listen to the audio broadcast of the station attendant ‘Please take other modes of transport. We apologize for any inconvenience’. They got off three stops before their destination and walked out of the gantry gate. Keima used his PFP to check it out. It seemed that a bus stop near the station had a bus that would pass by his house.

Under the furnace-like blazing sun of summer, Keima was a little impatient as he arched his back and walked out.

His hands were holding onto a bag full of games.

Elsie reached her hands out to block the sun and looked a little troubled as the heat that was reflected off the tarmac road would make anyone standing around sweat crazily.

Sweat flowed past Elsie’s white face.

Speaking of which…

Elsie started to think. She had never gotten off at this stop. This place gave a rather empty feeling as it doesn’t seem as if anyone else is around.

The sunlight was really vicious and the scenery was clearly divided into light and shadow.

“…A lot of shops aren’t open.”

Elsie muttered, and thus, Keima, who was walking slightly in front, impatiently looked back.

“Elsie, what are you doing? Let’s go!”

“Ah, okay, Kami nii-sama!”

Elsie ran and chased up to Keima, and both of them walked together side by side. After moving about 200m,

“Eh? Kami nii-sama, shouldn’t we be going this way,”

Keima suddenly went into a branched road, and Elsie raised her doubts in surprise. They should be walking another 100 meters before reaching the bus stop.

However, Keima,

“…Eh, this.”

Answered in a rare ambiguous manner.

“I don’t know why.”

Even he himself tilted his head in a puzzled manner,

“But it feels like I have to walk here.”

As he said that, he continued to walk forward quickly.

Elsie hurriedly chased him.

“Wa, wait for me, kami nii-sama!”

Keima turned 2, 3 times from the road to the lane, and he was walking faster and faster.

He didn’t run.

Even so, it seemed like he was pulled by something as he quickly moved his feet. His speed itself was really fast.

As the lower half of his body was too fast, the upper body that was holding the bag tilted backwards as it couldn’t keep up.

“Hau? Oh?”

Even Keima himself widened his eyes and smirked. As his upper body couldn’t keep up while his feet were continuing to move forward, it looked really mysterious.

“Ka, kami nii-sama?”

Elsie started to panic and flailed her arms around as she chased Keima with all she had. Keima himself however continued to move down the lane.

And he walked deeper and deeper in.

He entered the deep part of a dark alley, and the darkness inside there was even a little unbelievable. Then,

“!”

Keima’s feet suddenly stopped, and it was like he finished leading them.

He regained his usual composed expression.

“Ho, haa.”

Elsie finally managed to catch up as she was pressing onto her knees and panting heavily. Then,

“Fuu.”

She took a deep breath and then stood up.

“Really~ what’s wrong with you, kami nii-sama?”

Elsie lifted her head and saw Keima pushing his glasses up and rubbing around his eyebrows.

“Elsie…”

Keima pushed his glasses back to its original position and raised a question.

His voice was obviously hoarse.

“That shop.”

He reached out his slender white fingers.

“…Oh.”

Elsie looked where Keima pointed to and responded.

“Don’t you feel that the shop there is glowing? Golden, no, pink?”

“Eh?”

On hearing Keima say this, Elsie frowned.

“Ah?”

She instinctively looked back at Keima, and then continued to look at the shop intently. Then,

“Well,”

She used her fingers on both hands to press both temples and pondered for a while.

“No.”

(What’s with kami nii-sama?)

She thought. The ’10,000 Old Bookstore’ written on the signboard of that shop in the alley wasn’t even glowing, but was shrouded in an ominous atmosphere. It seemed that the house itself was a little shaky. It had an outer wall with ivy climbing all over it and a tightly closed glass door, and looked really dark.

Even if this shop’s door was opened, Elsie didn’t want to enter at all.

“…”

However, it was unknown what was going on as Keima didn’t move since then as he continued to look at that shop ’10,000 Old Bookstore’.

He held his breath slightly.

There was a tinge of excitement in his expression.

“…”

Then, he started to move forward with light steps. This time, it didn’t feel as if he was dragged around by something, but something out of his own will.

“…Kami nii-sama?”

As Elsie tilted her head and called Keima, his head was already on the door. For some reason, Elsie had a bad feeling about this.

“Ah, wai…”

Before she could finish, it was too late.

“Fu, fufu.”

Keima let out some mysterious laughter.

And walked into the shop.

As for Elsie,

“Hau~”

She started hesitating since just now, but because of her personality, she couldn’t just leave Keima alone and summoned her courage to follow him.

(Kami nii-sama! This shop seems a little weird~)

Her heart was crying a little. It wasn’t that she had this feeling because she was a devil. Anyone with normal judgment would be thinking about this.

This shop wasn’t normal.

What was already very cramped space had 7 large bookshelves in it, and each bookshelf was messily stuffed with books. On entering, there came an abnormal sense of pressure, as there were only books, books, books and more books inside.

The scene inside the shop was so messy that anyone would be dazed by it.

The cookbooks were placed besides the old-fashioned magazines, and more than 30 years worth of yellow school textbooks. There were encyclopedias and detective novels with the covers on the side nearly dropping off. Each book just looked completely messy, and there's no intention of letting anyone take it for convenience.

These books just looked messy as they were scattered all over the place.

The books were stacked up so high that they reached the ceiling, and even if the pages inside were all messy, they weren't arranged with and were stuffed inside the bookshelves. Origami books, documents in files, diaries with leather covers, foreign language books with locks on them, Japanese origami books, horror books with magic gates on the covers, and even books with unknown languages.

There weren't just books.

There were forgotten old records left in the shop, Buddha statues, candle altars, spiked handcuffs, Western wine bottles of unknown origins, cameras that were about spoilt and dusty plaid doll.

Even these things could be put around messily.

Were these all to be sold?

Elsie looked a little scared as she shrank her neck back and looked around.

And then,

“Ehh?”

“Eh!”

She couldn't help but cry up. That's because an old man who looked like a boss and had wrinkles all over his face was looking at Elsie as their eyes met.

She thought that he was some decoration.

It was only when he started smiling that Elsie realized that he was a living person. His teeth were almost completely gone, and there were only 2-3 of them left. He had a cap on his head as he was sitting in a seiza position beside the cashier.

His eyeballs were yellow as he gave a mysterious smile.

This old man's head was shaking about, and he was like a tumbler that wasn't stable.

(Is, is he even human?)

Elsie trembled. She looked away, and could feel that he was looking at her, and was so scared that she didn't want to look back.

Speaking of which.

What caused this in the first place?

The moment she stepped into the shop, she had a mysterious chill.

Right now, it was right in the middle of the hot summer.

It was definitely sunny outside,

And the boss was wearing thick clothing for some reason.

Elsie immediately had goosebumps rising.

Why is this shop so cold?

(Ka, kami nii-sama.)

Elsie's eyes were teary as she looked at Keima as if she wanted help.

However, Keima was completely hypnotized and it seemed like he didn't want to be bothered by her. Ever since just now, he was flipping around in the cramped shop and energetically walking around.

He twitched his nose, and for a while, it seemed that he was looking at a certain bookshelf, only to suddenly kneel on the ground and then climb up to the area near the roof.

After a while, he came out from the bookshelf, and then disappeared after a while.

To Elsie, it seemed like Keima's ears became dog ears and his backside had a tail that grew out.

He looked completely excited as his eyes were dazzling.

“Yes! It's definitely there! There must be something here! I smell it!”

“Wha, what's with you, kami nii-sama?”

Elsie folded her arms and looked really worried.

“Fufu, this smell's not hidden at all! It's right nearby.”

His answer was too abnormal as he ran straight to a corner. Even in this mysterious shop that had tattered metal and books, that corner looked really unnatural. Elsie couldn't help but tug at Keima's collar to try and stop him.

“Ka, kami nii-sama!”

But Keima,

“Go away~! Let go of me, Elsie! Can't you hear it? That child's muttering. Listen! She's saying 'I'm here! Come save me! Come save me!”

“Wa~kami nii-sama's not normal. You're going to fall into another world!”

“Wait! I'll save you right away!”

“Tha, that's just a hallucination! Am, ambulance! Someone call for an ambulance!”

Keima shook aside Elsie who was holding him from behind and ducked into that ridiculous pile of stuff.

In a moment.

“Hey!”

Right in front of the stunned Elsie.

“Fu, fufufu.”

Plak,

Plak plak.

Keima landed on that pile of stuff and slowly got up.

His eyes were glowing under the weak light. Even though his movements were a little strange, Keima's face showed a triumphant smile.

“Found it!”

He raised the box high up.

'Favor of the Western Lantern'.

Such a label was on it, and the packaging was rather weird as there was only the side of a white-haired girl's face on it. This should be a bishoujo game itself, but to be honest, it didn't look really attractive. However, for some reason, Keima showed a look like a child finding treasure as he delightfully patted away the dust on it before walking to the cashier.

“How much?”

He looked serious as he handed the box to the boss who was still swaying his head.

“...”

The boss continued to smile, and Keima said adamantly,

“I understand the reason for this, and I'll definitely splurge as much money as I can on it. However, I won't just get the money out. In other words, I have two intents. One, don't bluff me. Two, I won't play along if you want to rip me off. Since this thing's put inside the shop, at least it means that it's to be sold, right?”

“...”

“Say a price.”

Keima brought his face closer in.

“Give me a price that I don't have to haggle.”

The boss remained silent for a while, and finally raised a trembling finger in front of Keima.

“...1?”

Keima tilted his head. The boss gave a thumbs up, and Keima frowned.

“1? 10,000 yen?”

“...”

The boss shook his head, and Keima looked indignant.

“Are you thinking of going more than 10,000...eh? That's not it?”

“...”

The boss didn't say anything, but one could feel his intent from the atmosphere. A little lower.

“1,000 yen?”

Keima said suspiciously, but the boss shook his head again. Keima was a little lost.

“...100...10 yen, don't tell me,”

He held his breath slightly.

“1 yen?”

Fufu.

The boss laughed and nodded his head hard. Keima was immediately delighted.

“I'M BUYING IT!”

And shouted.

“THAT'S WAY TOO CHEAP!”

He laughed as he grabbed and shook the boss' hand hard,

“YOU'RE REALLY A GREAT GUY!”

Elsie, who was watching all of this silently, placed her hand in front of her chest.

“Kami nii-sama, please start doubting a little, please?”

And couldn't help but ask.

And then, everything was too late. At this moment, Keima took a yen out to buy this game, this so-called fantasy bishoujo game called 'Favor of the Western Lantern'.

And then,

A prologue to a horror story began...

After a while,

The scene changed to Katsuragi Keima’s house. The location is the corridor in front of his room.

“Bishoujo games are really deep. Even I would sometimes be shocked and amazed by the complexity.”

On hearing Keima say this, Elsie spoke,

“We, well, kami nii-sama, I feel that something, Erm,”

“I have conquered or inspected more games than anyone else. Whether it’s the past or the future, there will be no one who will love bishoujo games more than me. That’s because I’m ‘God’!”

“That’s.”

“However.”

Keima pointed his finger at the sky, not listening to Elsie at all.

“Even I have two genres of games I can’t handle, thought this can’t be helped.”

After saying that, he took a handkerchief and pretended to wipe his eyes.

“Do you know what those genres, are?”

“Un, that.”

“…”

“I don’t know, but that.”

“That’s!”

Keima ignored Elsie and said directly,

“Time and space.”

“…Time?”

Elsie was curious and couldn’t help but ask. Keima nodded hard.

“That’s right. In other words, the ‘God’s window’ that only a living body has.

“?”

Elsie looked confused.

“God’s window?”

For some reason, it felt that the entire situation was hard to understand.

Keima laughed.

“No, this really isn’t hard. A simpler explanation would be that ‘before I was born…when I started playing games once I grew out of infancy, it’s impossible to play all games’, and also ‘the friendship games that were already rare or sold in limited special areas, and those unique given, rare or reclaimed products by the industry are hard to get.’ It’s just this simple meaning.”

“…”

“There were already so many games selling in Japan. It’s not possible for me to have all the games.”

“Eh?”

Elsie was a little surprised,

“Don’t you have all the games, kami nii-sama?”

Keima sighed and glanced at Elsie.

“How is it possible?”

“I thought that the collection kami nii-sama had in the room was all the games around.”

Elsie used her fist to press against her face as she remembered Keima’s room that was used as a storeroom of bishoujo games. The room was neatly stacked with an amazing amount of games. To Elsie, even if someone told her that all the games in the world were over there, she wouldn’t doubt it at all.

Also, there weren’t just games inside. There were even ‘Initial Limited Edition’ and ‘Director’s Cut’ versions of the games, and Elsie couldn’t even tell the differences between them as they were all packed within Keima’s collection.

“…I hope so.”

Keima said in a self-mocking manner.

“But no matter how hard I try, there will be missing ones that get by me.”

But no matter what.

He added on,

“My collection of bishoujo games aren’t of genre. I guess no matter whether it’s an organization or an individual, nobody would collect more than me.”

“I see.”

At this moment, Elsie suddenly thought of something,

“It’s true when you put it that way.”

It seemed that she wasn’t willing to give up. However, Keima spoke first,

“I’m not really trying to force things. It’s regrettable, but amongst the games that I have never collected, most of the game data values are more valuable than the work itself. For example, a little modification to the same game, or a game that wasn’t really much, or a game that couldn’t proceed on because of a really serious bug.”

“Eh, as for that.”

“But amongst the works I couldn’t collect, there were really a few outstanding works.”

“Well.”

“…This fact makes me really unable to sleep or eat well. Ah, thinking about how many outstanding works I have not touched in this work, the conquest of those cute girls who are waiting for me—”

Ahh.

Keima pressed against his chest and revealed a pained expression.

He looked just like an astronaut who dreamt of being able to land on Mars, which no one else had done before.

The endless romance and thirst of knowledge were clearly shown on his face.

He’s an adventurer, an explorer, a researcher, and one who seeks the truth.

In this peaceful era, not everyone could show such an expression. In a certain manner, the side of his face looked extreme~ly manly.

However, he was only interested in bishoujo games.

“I’ve always heard of this rumor about a few rare bishoujo games that were cursed within the world.”

Keima suddenly diverted the topic.

“The game itself, through the network, in a specialized publication.

“…”

Elsie had a bad feeling as she silently tugged at Keima’s sleeve. Keima’s expression seemed to be full of memories as it also looked like he was looking forward.

“That game itself had an outstanding script and an enigmatic female lead. The graphics and music were all rather dated, but the potential wouldn’t lose in those outstanding works. That’s an out-of-place artifact in the history of galge, and in other words, it’s an outstanding work that probably wouldn’t exist.)

“Ka, kami nii-sama.”

“I really regretted not being born earlier as that was a game that was completed before I was born. Fu.”

He chuckled.

“Laugh at me, Elsie. Everyone calls me ‘god’, but a human can’t overcome the biological limitations.

Elsie couldn’t laugh.

Her expression was really stiff.

Keima continued,

“How did it end up like this? I don’t really understand what happened, but this was already a game that was released by a small company and had limited numbers. Soon after the game was released, there was a huge controversy as the games were taken back, and most of the products were taken off the shelves.”

He frowned slightly,

“Based on people who know the situation, the sold products at that time didn’t have any problems. However,”

He paused,

“Rumors had it that the so-called initial version, the special editions that had only 10 sets had a problem. But that was just a rumor.”

His eyes were dazzling.

“It seemed that the original version would bring an otherworldly experience to you.”

“AH?”

“This is a game that’s full of mysteries, so I’m not sure if they’re real or not. However, it seemed that the original version had a design that far exceeded expectations. As for whether this design refers to the originality or the system, I’m not sure.”

“Ka, kami nii-sama.”

Elsie’s voice was trembling a little, and Keima smirked.

His eyes looked like they were infected with her fever.

“Favor of the Western Lantern.”

He quickly raised the software in his hands right in front of himself.

“This is the original version.”

On seeing this mysterious packaging, Elsie nearly screamed. Keima shook Elsie’s hand away and immediately entered his room.

He closed the door slightly and poked his head out.

“So to conquer this game, I need to shut myself in for a while. Please don’t disturb me!”

“Nii, nii-sama!”

Before Elsie could even stop him, the door was slammed shut. After that,

“Please, kami nii-sama! Open the door! I have a bad feeling about this!”

No matter how much Elsie knocked or shook the door, the door wouldn’t open. She lowered her head and looked really dejected.

That chilling depression continued to spread inside her heart, and showed no sign of recovering.

“…?”

At this moment, Elsie noticed something and knelt down. She picked up something that dropped onto the floor and continued to stare at it.

What’s this?

Then…

She had goosebumps.

It was a strand she never saw before.

And one that shouldn’t be here in the house, white hair that was of unnatural length.

At the same time, while Keima was locked inside his own room and when Elsie picked up the white hair, in a certain shrine that’s far away from the Majima City, a miko suddenly widened her eyes.

As she sat in a seiza position on the wooden-floored room, the knees of both her thighs were slightly separated, and her hands were placed on the knees. That straightened back and the seiza position showed serenity and discipline.

She was about 25 years old.

The candle altar nearby shone on her and the black shadow.

She had long black hair, a proper and beautiful face and dazzling eyes. It’s weird for a miko, but her lips had lipstick on. With the white skin as the background, the gloss of the lipstick made it really look outstanding.

Also, her ample breasts were supported tightly by the miko outfit. Her figure ratio was really outstanding. The shirt in front of her chest was slightly opened, and one could vaguely see the snowy-white chest. Her face was rather unique. Even though gentle, it gave a pure look.

“Granny!”

This miko suddenly shouted.

“…So you found out as well?”

On hearing her ask this, a hoarse voice came from a dark corner in the room.

“Un. Looks like someone got that again.”

The miko narrowed her eyes and looked over, and a shriveled old granny was sitting there. It seemed that she was already over 100 years. As her clothing was extremely dull looking and she was extremely small, she could hide her presence such that she wouldn’t be discovered. The old granny slowly opened her closed eyes and looked over at the miko.

“What do you think?”

The miko sternly frowned.

And then folded her arms.

“It doesn’t feel good…maybe the ‘mastermind’s over there.”

Her white and slender fingers reached out from her sleeves.

“Un.”

The old granny nodded her head,

“Even I can feel that this is some unpleasant smell.”

“…Yeah, it’s really unpleasant.”

The miko’s beautiful face showed a slight frown, and said in an unworried manner,

“Besides, that thing was always hiding in these bad places.”

“…That thing returned to this world. Which means someone appreciated that thing.”

“Granny?”

The miko stared sharply at the old granny, who in turn nodded again.

“Un, that person’s life is in danger.”

The miko suddenly got up, and at this moment, the old granny asked,

“I say.”

It seemed that she knew how the other person would answer.

The old granny’s sigh showed some reluctance of giving up.

“…Shino, where are you going?”

The miko’s reply was simple, looking as if she didn’t want the old granny to worry for her.

“Where else? I’m going to exterminate that thing!”

The old granny sighed.

“Even if I didn’t agree, you wouldn’t listen to me, would you…”

The miko gave a taunting look at the old granny as her expression was as sharp as a dagger,

“Do you feel that I’m not capable enough, granny?”

“No, I’m not worried about that.”

“I’m not that little kid when I was 6.”

“Un, you had been training hard during these 20 years.”

“Then are you worried about that mysterious thing that’s been living in my body recently?”

“No, I’m not worried about that. According to my divinations, you’ll soon meet someone who can handle that.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“No, well?”

Seeing her granny look like she wanted to talk,

“Don’t say it! I’ll listen to your muttering later. I’ll head out first!”

The miko raised her sleeves slightly and quickly walked out to the exit.

“Ah.”

The old granny shouted, but the miko didn’t turn back.

And then,

“!”

The moment the miko stepped out of the room.

“KYAAAHHHH!!!”

She let out an ear-piercing scream. The sight of the old granny vanished from behind her. It seemed that she forgot that there were steps outside.

Soon after, the sound of something landing on the ground could be heard.

The old granny inadvertently closed her eyes and curled her neck down.

And then,

“Sigh.”

She sighed and reluctantly opened her eyes and shook her head.

“That’s what I’m worried about…your impulsive personality really worries me.”

...As the anomaly happened mysteriously, almost everyone except Elsie didn’t realize it.

It’s lunch break. Elsie, who was cheery and beloved by everyone, was invited out by her other friends.

They were Takahara Ayumi, Kosaka Chihiro and Terada Miyako.

“Elly, let’s eat together!”

Leading this gang of friends, Chihiro called out Elsie. On a side note, the four girls, including Elsie formed a girls’ band, and Chihiro was the lead singer and the guitarist.

Chihiro’s appearance, personality and interests, all her parameters (according to Keima) were all normal. She just wasn’t outstanding. However, as she had the personality of being a big sister and had the drive to bring people around for good or bad, she often ended up being the leader.

She was the one who got Elsie to join in at the beginning.

If it were the normal Elsie, once she heard Chihiro say that,

“Okay, I would like to!”

She would happily raise her head. But today,

“Ah, okay…”

Though she took the bento and stood up, she looked somewhat depressed as she looked at Keima’s seat that was somewhat far away.

“…”

Terada Miyako noticed Elsie being like this and tilted her head suspiciously.

“What’s wrong?”

Elsie immediately gave a stiff smile,

“Ah, no, nothing!”

And then frantically waved her hands in front of her face.

Terada Miyako was like Chihiro, someone who looked ordinary. However, she, unlike Chihiro, wasn’t the type to lead others. She was someone who was steady and hardworking, and amongst friends, she’s one who would take care of others.

That’s why she noticed that Elsie was a little weird.

Miyako was the keyboardist.

At this moment,

“Alright, let’s link the tables together! Link them together!”

The ever-energetic Takahara Ayumi called them.

Her face was beaming,

As she pushed Elsie and Miyako on the shoulders from the back.

“Ah, o, okay.”

“Un.”

Elsie and Miyako nodded their heads after being prompted.

They’re all girls in the growing stage, and even though they would say ‘I’ve grown a little fat’ or ‘sigh, looks like I have to start dieting tomorrow’, they would finish their bread or bento.

Most notably, Ayumi, who’s from the track and field team, would eat a lot more than an ordinary person because of the calories she would use up.

“In the end, at that time, the sempais,”

Ayumi was chatting away, and when she paused, she stuffed large mouthfuls of bread into her mouth. Her cute appearance was only second to Elsie in this gang of friends. Her hairstyle had a pure sense that was befitting of a girl from an athletic club as her figure was rather slender too.

Because of this, she was rather popular in class too.

However, she herself didn’t seem to be a girl who would mind.

On a side note, she was a guitarist, like Chihiro, in the band. Whether it’s the band or between friends, she was always the one being hot-blooded.

“…”

At this moment, Ayumi suddenly remained silent, and Chihiro, who was eating potato chips, seemed to notice something too,

“…”

And glanced at Ayumi and Miyako.

“…”

Miyako pressed against her forehead in a bothered manner.

“…”

Ayumi herself shrugged, seemingly saying ‘I don’t know’.

“Well.”

Chihiro finally spoke up for everyone.

“What’s wrong, Elly?”

Since just now, Elsie had been putting her hand on her chin and her elbow on the table as she looked at Keima worriedly. It seems that she had not listened to Ayumi’s random chat.

“…”

Even when Chihiro called her, she didn’t respond.

It seemed she didn’t notice Chihiro calling her too. Chihiro, Ayumi and Miyako silently exchanged glances with each other and nodded their heads.

“““ELSIE!!!”””

The trio shouted her name. Elsie was really shocked as she straightened her back and frantically turned around to look at them.

“Ye, yes? Wha, what’s the matter? What happened?”

Chihiro sighed. Ayumi said in an incredulous manner,

“What’s wrong? You don’t seem to be paying attention? Katsuragi isn’t so handsome that you are engrossed in him, right?”

Miyako seemed a little worried.

Elsie was giving a somewhat shy expression as she reached her hand out to scratch her hand.

“Ahaha, so, sorry.”

“What’s with you?”

This time, it’s Chihiro’s turn to frown and ask,

“Is something troubling you?”

The other two were giving off a serious expression. Elsie’s happy about this friendship, but she was hesitating over whether she should be asking this question.

“Eh, that.”

She glanced aside and looked at Keima before keeping her voice down,

“…Nii-sama.”

“Katsuragi?”

“Otamegane?”

It wasn’t really obvious,

But Ayumi and Chihiro trembled slightly, though it wasn’t really obvious.

Both of them blushed slightly, but probably no one noticed it, even them.

Elsie nodded her head, and seemed like she was ready.

“Don’t you feel that nii-sama had been acting weird recently?”

Everyone went silent for a while.

And then,

“Ahahahaha.”

“Wha, what are you saying~ isn’t that too sudden?”

“Oi oi, Elly. Don’t tell any jokes while we’re eating, okay?”

The trio started laughing. Elsie didn’t know what they were laughing about as she widened her eyes. At this moment, they suddenly spoke in unison,

“““That guy’s always strange!”””

And they had quite the chemistry.

It was true.

Right now, Keima had a visor on as he continued to bury himself in gaming. He curled his lips, not caring about his surroundings as he continued to play his galges.

During lunch break.

Could anything else other than ‘weird’ describe his actions?

“Tha, that’s true~”

Elsie’s fingers on both hands were spinning about, showing an embarrassing look.

“But that’s not all~”

But the other three girls were chatting away and didn’t hear what Elsie said.

“That guy’s really strange~”

That was everyone’s unanimous opinion.

From the students to the teachers, everyone felt that Katsuragi Keima was a ‘weirdo’. But when it came to his mother, she was a rather normal person.

As a female, she single-handedly settled all the matters in the café ‘Grandpa’, and even took the load of the Katsuragi family over Keima’s father who hardly returns home.

As she was once a reckless person, anyone who made her angry would have a horrible outcome. However, she was normally a good mother who would take care of people, very tolerant and very reasonable. She raised her child, Keima, who had a really weird personality (actually, she was somewhat worried deep inside), and even took in Elsie, her husband’s illegitimate daughter (though she misunderstood). From her gracious attitude, one could tell that she wasn’t someone ordinary.

From the way she courteously greeted the customers at the café counter, it may be hard to imagine that she was a mother with lots of nerves.

“Hm~hm~☆”

She was humming away, alone in the kitchen after work ended.

That skill of making delicious meals balanced in nutrition was something Elsie, a fellow female, really admired.

Elsie was beside her, helping to prepare dinner by peeling snow peas. Suddenly, she asked curiously,

“Well, okaa-sama.”

“Hm?”

Keima’s mother—Katsuragi Mari was pouring hot water as she asked,

“What’s wrong, Ell-chan?”

She sounded like she was in a good mood.

Elsie was somewhat hesitant.

However.

“Eh.”

Elsie still wished for the mother Mari to know about this, and she hoped to hear her suggestion.

“This may sound weird.”

Elsie approached Mari and kept her voice down to prevent Keima, who was sitting at the table in the living room from hearing it.

“Recently,”

She swallowed her saliva.

“Hasn’t kami nii-sama been acting weird recently?”

For a moment, Mari turned around and looked at Elsie straight on, even forgetting to put down the stirring chopsticks in her hands.

Elsie looked at Mari expectantly.

She believed.

She believed that if it were Mari, she would have noticed something wrong with Keima.

“Fu.”

Mari suddenly jerked her shoulders,

“Ahahahahaha.”

And then started laughing loudly and heartily.

“Please~ isn’t that child already weird, Ell-chan?”

“Eh, that’s true, but~”

Even Keima’s own mother would call him that.

Elsie looked really troubled as she secretly looked behind. Keima was wearing the visor and playing his game. He was in the exact same position as when he was at school, and even the curled lips looked the same.

“Speaking of which, he would sit obediently at the table when it’s time to eat, so I guess there’s an improvement.”

“…”

Elsie didn’t know how to answer as she rolled her eyeballs side to side.

“Speaking of which.”

Mari’s expression went a little serious.

“Recently, the weird one isn’t my son. It should be the house.”

Mari put down the stirring chopsticks, wiped her hands off the apron and looked at Elsie.

“Don’t you feel that there’s some wind blowing in from some gap?”

“…”

“That’s strange. I can’t find any hole even after looking for the entire day.”

“…”

“The house feels really cold. I don’t know why.”

“Yeah, it’s summer now.”

“Yeah. That’s really weird. We don’t turn on the air-con normally anyway.”

“…”

Elsie looked completely teary, and Mari continued,

“The house looks dark too. Are the lights spoilt?”

She looked up at the ceiling.”

“…”

Elsie suddenly turned around curiously. At this moment, Keima took off the visor and got up. Most likely, he was going to the toilet. He slowly moved his feet and was about to leave the living room.

“The toilet is so humid, and the house was shaking for a while at midnight. It felt like someone was moving around. Should we find some people who specialize in this to check this out?”

Just when Mari used her fingers to stroke her chin as she muttered,

“!”

Elsie felt a chill down her spine.

As Keima, who opened the door and was about to leave the living room…

“Eh!”

She couldn’t help but shriek.

Keima was showing a mysterious smile on his lips.

Elsie started to feel even more uneasy.

Elsie had a late bath today.

She was busy with housework, waiting for Mari and Keima to finish first before going in. That’s because Elsie considered that she was only staying with them for the time being, and also because she was considerate.

Even though Elsie’s face looked rather childish, her body proportions were full of charm.

She carefully washed her snowy-white skin and pitch black hair before dipping into the bathtub.

“Fuu.”

And then couldn’t help but heave a sigh.

“I was really busy today.”

In school, she had to practice with Chihiro and the rest in the band. At home, she had to clear the café, clean the house up and wash the clothes.

Thus, she closed her eyes slightly, and nearly fell asleep in the bathtub.

Ploop.

Suddenly, the sound of water could be heard.

She frantically opened her eyes. It was the water dropping slowly from the faucet into the basin that was full of water.

Ploop.”

The water droplet scattered on the water surface and let out a sound.

Elsie hurriedly reached for the tap and tightened it shut.

Ploop, plop. The hot water sled from her soft white skin and landed on the tiles.

“Fuu.”

She went back to soak inside the bathtub and then used the fingertips to tap her face to shake away her sleepiness. She was thinking about Keima.

“I still, feel, that it’s a little weird.”

Ever since he bought the ‘Favor of the Western Lantern’, it was obvious that something wasn’t right with Keima. Even so, like what everyone said, Keima’s actions and mannerism were a far cry from ‘common sense’. However, Elsie could tell.

For some reason.

He was weirder than normal.

No, it should be said that he was a lot weirder than usual.

At this moment, Elsie had a brainwave.

“Ah.”

She inadvertently called out. So that’s how it was.

She finally thought of it.

The source of everything wrong.

Was…

“u.”

Elsie suddenly had goosebumps even though she was bathing in hot water.

She felt her body go cold.

“I see, so that’s why…”

The reason why she felt that Keima was strange.

Was actually because he was no different from usual.

Keima got a game he never thought that he would be able to buy, and it was a game that he’d always dreamt of. However, he didn’t become engrossed in the game just to conquer it, but went to school as usual (though he was playing), he would eat his meals normally at home (though he was playing), and was sleeping like usual (most likely, he locked himself inside the room and continued to play his game.)

Even so,

At what time was he playing that game?

That game called ‘Favor of the Western Lantern’.

Elsie understood well that once Keima got serious, he could break through that game at a speed that far exceeds human ability. However, even after buying the game and spending some time, it didn’t look like he managed to conquer the ‘Favor of the Western Lantern’. He did explain everything about the game to Elsie. If he conquered it, he would at least describe his feelings.

Speaking of which,

The entire situation was even weirder.

Looking at what Keima would do normally, he would lock himself in the room and play that ‘Favor of the Western Lantern’ all day.

Which brought the question back,

“When was kami nii-sama playing that game?”

Right now, Elsie knew that it was a game that had to be ‘installed’ in a ‘computer’.

However, Keima would go to school as per normal and would also talk to Mari as per usual after getting home, get along well ‘happily’ with his family members in the living room.

In that case, when will he have the time to play that ‘Favor of the Western Lantern’ he finally got…

“Don’t tell me…night time?”

Elsie felt a chill inside her head and looked up at the ceiling.

The second level.

It seemed that she could look through the ceiling into Keima’s room while he was locked inside, staring at the game screen as if in a trance.

His back was arched.

And the eyes under the glasses were shining.

His mouth must be giving off that mysterious smile…

Just then, Elsie was so scared that she felt chills down her spine.

“!”

She nearly screamed inadvertently as the lights went out. She immediately panicked. Her eyes that lost sight of light couldn’t adjust for a short time in the darkness, and she could see anything at all. Thus, she stood up instinctively.

“~u”

She gave a crying look as she slowly climbed out of the bathtub, watching herself to not slip and reaching her hand out as she carefully touched about in the darkness.

However, she was nervous inside.

What’s going on?

What happened?

Was it a power shortage?

Did someone turn the lights off?

What?

What’s going on?

A pile of questions spun inside her head as she frantically looked for a way out barefooted. Just as she was about to reach the door leading out of the bathroom,

“!”

Elsie unknowingly stopped her steps.

(That’s strange? What’s that?)

Her eyes finally got used to the darkness.

It was vague, but she could see the changing room through the slightly opened gap.

What?

What’s that?

(Something’s kneeling on the floor.)

Her stomach felt a chill, and all her blood felt like it froze in an instant.

(Is it a person? Is someone there?)

Elsie completely forgot that she was naked. She was rooted there, and her eyes couldn’t look away from that thing.

Her teeth were trembling.

(Is it okaa-sama? Or kami nii-sama?)

How could it be possible?

Her common sense was telling her that it was impossible. If it was Keima.

If it was Mari.

Why would they crouch down over here silently and not make a sound?

In pitch darkness.

Elsie,

“Who are you?”

Really wanted to ask the thing, but her instincts were stopping her from doing so. That thing,

Wasn’t human.

But something else.

Elsie nearly suffocated. That figure,

Started to turn slowly towards Elsie.

First, it was the face.

Then, the shoulders turned unnaturally as the upper body turned around.

That thing didn’t say anything.

What replaced it was,

“Eh, eh.”

Elsie let out a mysterious voice from deep inside her throat and nearly collapsed. Her eyes couldn’t look away from that thing, and she was completely helpless. Under the darkness, she could see the figure of the thing, but for some reason, she couldn’t see the face at all.

That face was completely blank.

Like a faceless ghost.

Then,

In that position,

Suddenly.

“~”

That thing,

Leaped up like an insect and stuck on the door.

“Chichichichichichichi!!”

And let out a strange sound.

The door was being forced open as the white hands swarmed and struggled in. The hands and feet were all messily reaching in.

“Chichichichichi!”

That,

Disgusting thing.

Wanted to enter the bathroom.

Chi.

Elsie fell back and collapsed onto the floor, and she instinctively let out a similar sound.

“KYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

The shout became a scream that rocked the entire Katsuragi family.

As for what happened next, Elsie couldn’t remember at all. All she knew was that Mari hurriedly carried her naked body.

It seemed that she fainted on the floor of the bathroom.

The lights were already turned on.

She could see Keima behind Mari. He looked away, trying his best not to look at Elsie. At this moment, what Elsie thought may not be suited for this situation.

(Kami nii-sama…cares about me.)

It seemed that Keima came over after hearing Elsie scream, which made her really happy as she couldn’t help but smile. At this moment, she found that she was naked and panicked.

She used the towel to wrap her body and stood up from the floor.

On hearing Mari’s concern,

“Are you alright? What happened, Ell-chan?”

Her mind recovered, and the fear rose up in her again.

And then, she shuddered.

Elsie frantically explained to the Katsuragis what happened.

The lights suddenly went out.

And there was something of unknown origin crouched inside the changing room.

She flailed her limbs as she desperately explained.

However,

“…”

“…”

Both son and mother, Keima and Mari merely exchanged looks with each other. Mari looked somewhat bothered, and Keima sighed.

“But, Ell-chan.”

And then Mari spoke,

“Keima and I were both awake, but the lights didn’t go out, you know? The lights were always on. That can’t be doubted.”

“In that case!”

Elsie desperately tried to convince them.

“That! That person!”

For some reason, Elsie’s instincts were telling her that it was female.

“That person must have turned off the lights!”

Keima sighed again. Mari herself smiled. And then,

“Ell-chan, you must have soaked yourself doozy inside the bath, causing that hallucination.”

Mari’s white hand was placed on Elsie’s forehead gently.

“Bu, but.”

Elsie wanted to continue on. At this moment, Keima spoke,

“I say, Elsie.”

He didn’t give Elsie time to continue talking. The eyes behind the glasses flashed, and he immediately said,

“I went downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink from the kitchen, and mom just happened to come out from the toilet. We were already here less than 10 seconds after you screamed. Mom was just right in front of the toilet, so there shouldn’t be any delay in time.

“Listen to me, Ell-chan.”

Mari seemed to be really bothered.

“It is like Keima said. It was really a coincidence that I came out from the toilet. You know that the toilet in this house is right beside the bathroom, so I immediately opened the bathroom door once I heard you scream.”

At this moment, Elsie finally understood what they were trying to say.

Mari added.

“Of course, I knew the moment I opened the door. There wasn’t anything strange inside the changing room, and the lights in the bathroom were all on.”

“Hau.”

Elsie’s eyes were a little wet.

Now that they mentioned it…

She may feel that everything was just a hallucination.

Thus, she accepted Mari’s explanation slightly, and felt a lot more relieved.

However,

She still felt that it happened before…

Elsie did not really understand things at all, and used her fist to thump against her chin as she sank into deep thought.

“Hau~”

“…”

Keima, who continued to look at her silently, sighed for the third time.

“Next time, remember not to take a bath for too long, Elsie. I’m going back to the room.”

Keima said as he left the changing room. It seemed that being with the half-naked Elsie made him really uneasy.

In a certain sense, this thinking should be logical.

Then, Mari said,

“Here, Ell-chan, hurry up and change and come to the kitchen. You look tired. Let me prepare some ginger ale to wake you up.”

She smiled and followed Keima. Thud, the door was slammed shut.

“Hau~”

Elsie, who was left alone inside the changing room, was moaning. She then pondered as she slowly wore her clothes. She was draped in the towel as she took her underwear and lifted a foot as she was about to put it on.

“?”

She quickly put her underwear on and slowly knelt down.

Then, she used her fingertips to pick something off the floor.

“!”

Her face immediately went pale.

That was,

A long white strand of hair.

Elsie’s first response.

Was,

“~U!”

She pinched that strand of hair and raised it high up, and she was frantically running around the changing room. A human…no, even if it was a devil, anything that met a stimulus that far exceeded what they could take would unavoidably end up panicking.

(What? What’s this?)

She had no clue at all.

Why,

In such a place…

Is there such a strand of hair?

Elsie’s thoughts were linked together. That mysterious figure, the game software Keima bought back, and the strand of white hair that dropped right in front of his room.

And she came to a conclusion.

It’s that…

This strand of hair…

Was,

The strange figure’s.

That woman.

That thing?

“Is, is this all related? To that game?”

Her entire body couldn’t help but tremble.

Her body couldn’t listen to her as it went even colder.

“…That game kami nii-sama bought back.”

At this moment.

Elsie finally recovered, and noticed that her fingers were still holding onto the hair strand of unknown origins.

“KYAH!”

She screamed, threw the hair aside…

“U, uu.”

And then hurriedly ran to the basin to wash her hands frantically with soap. After checking that she washed it carefully a few times, she finally heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, she used a piece of tissue to pick the hair strand and dumped it in the dustbin. It was a simple action, but it felt so disgusting that she almost wanted to cry out…

“Hau~”

She merely hoped.

Not,

To have something strange going on again.

Her entire daily life,

Was slowly being corroded by anomalies.

Like when she was lying on the bed, she would look to the window as she couldn’t sleep, and outside the window…

Though it was the second level.

“!”

There was a face tilted sideway, looking into the room silently.

It was an empty face,

One devoid of any organs.

And a brush of white hair.

“Eh!”

Just when Elsie was about to scream out.

That face suddenly disappeared completely without a trace.

Was she dreaming?

Was this an imagination?

Or did she merely see wrongly?

Anyway, Elsie couldn’t sleep well at all.

As she was surrounded by her classmates at school.

She looked at Keima.

The sight in front of her eyes shocked her.

“!”

She nearly screamed out in broad daylight.

There was a white hand,

So slender that it was unnatural for a human that grew out from the gap between the table, sticking tightly onto Keima’s waist.

It wrapped around a few times.

Many times.

Just when Elsie nearly lost her breath and remain stunned.

That illusion vanished without a trace.

Keima continued to give a shallow smile as he continued to play his game casually. And there were all sorts of commotions around them as Chihiro and the rest called out for her.

What was going on?

Was something wrong with Elsie’s head?

What exactly happened?

When bathing at home, she would find white hair flowing towards the gutter.

That was obviously not Elsie’s.

It wasn’t her hair.

“Hau.”

She was all confused.

On a certain day, she finally couldn’t take it…

It was drizzling in the morning. Elsie felt uneasy after she got out from bed.

No matter whether it was school,

Or whether she was going home,

She felt that there was something that didn’t belong to this world staring at her from behind, and thus she continued to look behind her again and again.

Seeing her like this, even the normally careless Chihiro,

“…Oi oi, what’s with you, Elly?”

Couldn’t help but cock her eyebrows and ask.

And Elsie,

“…”

Could only give a smile that looked as if she was about to cry as she silently shook her head.

She couldn’t explain it.

And she couldn’t ask others for help.

Once she got home, something happened that made Elsie even more worried.

Keima’s mother, Mari,

“Sorry! My mother’s house had some issues, so I need to close the shop and head back there first.”

Actually clapped her hands together and apologized.

Elsie was a little panicky.

She actually had a thought deep inside her heart.

That was,

“It’s a good thing that okaa-sama’s at home.”

Elsie felt that no matter what happens, as long as Mari was in the house, she would be able to be more at ease. However, her only hope, Mari,

“I’ll leave Keima to you then.”

Actually left these words behind and hurriedly left the house.

“Ah.”

As Elsie opened her mouth, the door was already slammed shut.

She could feel the breezy cold wind,

Blowing into her sleeves.

After that, Elsie inspected the entire house and locked all the doors and windows shut. Sometimes, she would look at the grey sky outside the window.

It was only evening, but it was already pitch black nearby. The depressing dark grey clouds were all covering the entire sky in layers.

The icy cold rainwater dropped from the sky.

The water droplets were stuck on the glass windows.

The street lights outside the windows looked even more unnerving. As she looked at the yellow sunset that was being covered, Elsie’s depression seemed like it worked up as her body shuddered and she left the window.

As she didn’t feel safe at all, Elsie decided to watch the TV in the living room.

She had a blanket draped all over her head as she placed the cushion at her knees.

“I, I wonder if there are any funny shows…”

She continued to switch channels.

But, just on this day…

“Why, why must the cooking show be a supernatural special?”

She was about to cry.

As she switched to the news channel, the report of a sandstorm shocked her; once she switched to the comedy channel, the host would start talking about scary things.

Someone must be messing around here!

If Keima saw this,

“Why is a devil scared of these things?”

He would most likely tell Elsie off like this. However, she’s still scared.

Elsie,

“Uu~ hau~”

Let out sobbing sounds as she cried and trembled. At this moment,

Clack,

“…”

The door to the living room opened.

Elsie,

“!”

Jumped up in shock. Standing at the door,

“…”

Was obviously Keima. He used a calm tone,

“Elsie.”

To call Elsie.

“Wha, what is it?”

Elsie’s voice inadvertently shrieked. She put down the blanket that she subconsciously placed over her head and the cushion she had in her lap and stood up. Keima glanced at the blanket and the cushion for a while, but didn’t ask anything much as he clearly stated his request.

“I’m hungry. I want something to eat.”

Elsie vaguely nodded her head.

“O, okay, I understand…”

Normally, the dishes Elsie made would create quite an argument. As for her cooking, whether it was the taste, the nutrition or the appearance, she would have definite confidence in it; but Keima would grumble if the food was made for him (mainly because the appearance would cause some symptoms on Keima).

On a side note, the menu today was,

“‘Ch

Chapter end