Before the Second Class, the School Swimming Pool (Continued)

Sakayanagi Arisu frowned, wondering for a moment if she had heard wrong.

Keima Katsuragi had effortlessly taken down an adult man?

"Are you sure you saw it right?"

"I'm absolutely sure! I didn't see exactly what happened, but no one else appeared over there—unless someone can fly! It took less than a minute for that man to get beaten. Even as the security guards carried him away, he was muttering things like 'monster.'"

Masumi Kamuro spoke in an urgent rush. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would have found it hard to imagine that something like this had happened to the helpless gamer she'd seen during the day.

"What happened after that?"

"They left with Class D's homeroom teacher right away. I don't know what happened after that."

Sakayanagi Arisu's expression grew serious.

She hadn't imagined that Keima Katsuragi was this capable.

He'd bumped into her during the day and ended up fainting himself.

It hadn't looked like an act at all...

Or had his disguise fooled even himself?

Interesting.

This was the first time she'd met anyone like him.

"Nicely done, Kamuro. We've learned more than we expected. This Keima Katsuragi has fighting ability far beyond what you'd expect at his age."

A smile appeared on Sakayanagi Arisu's face.

"I can say with confidence that Keima is closely connected to everything that's happened in Class D."

"So what do we do now?"

"I was planning to wait for him to approach us, but it seems that won't work. Kamuro, I'll have to trouble you with this. Go make contact with him yourself."

"Okay..."

Masumi Kamuro swallowed. In her hand was the game cartridge she'd stolen from Keima Katsuragi.

"Besides, we can have a little fun with this. There's another somewhat interesting person at this school. What do you think he'd do if he found out about this?"

"You mean... Ryuen Kakeru?"

Meanwhile, an exhausted Airi Sakura returned to her dorm room.

She took a hot shower and lay down on her bed. The fatigue from the day finally began to fade.

"I finally did it today..."

Airi Sakura hugged her pillow and spoke to herself.

Today had been an incredibly important day for her.

Keima had called her by her first name.

She'd called him by his first name, too...

And... she'd given him a present...

She'd originally wanted to repay him with a gift, but somehow she'd ended up owing him even more!

Still...

If Keima hadn't been there today...

Thinking of Keima Katsuragi coming to her rescue, Airi Sakura's heart suddenly raced. She buried her face completely in her pillow.

Keima-kun had looked so cool...

It was the first time she'd ever felt this way about someone.

And the feeling was growing stronger.

Airi Sakura took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Come to think of it, Keima... tomorrow, I'm going to have coffee with Hiyori again, right? Why did Hiyori suddenly want to go to a café with Keima...?"

Airi Sakura didn't quite understand. Her social life could only be called a tragedy, but curiosity got the better of her, and she opened a search engine.

The very first result nearly made her spring off the bed.

Top 10 Date Spots for Couples

[Number one: Cafés]

"!!!!"

A strange sound came from deep in Airi Sakura's throat.

Couple's date!

Could Hiyori be planning to go on a date with Keima-kun?

No, no, that couldn't be right!

Hiyori and Keima-kun probably hadn't known each other for very long.

They couldn't have gotten to that point already, could they?

They couldn't!

Absolutely not!

Though Airi Sakura kept telling herself this, the more she thought about it, the more it bothered her.

What exactly was the relationship between Shiina Hiyori and Keima Katsuragi?

Airi Sakura didn't dislike Shiina Hiyori. She thought Hiyori was a very nice person, and they were somewhat alike—

But why had she asked Keima Katsuragi out?

Shiina Hiyori was pretty, kind, and sometimes a little languid. She was also a bit more outgoing than Airi Sakura.

What did Shiina Hiyori mean to Keima Katsuragi?

Airi Sakura's confusion was growing exponentially!

"No, no, Keima-kun and I are just friends. Just friends... He and Hiyori are friends, too! Just friends! This isn't something I should be worrying about..."

As she muttered to herself, she took out her terminal and posted a few photos on her blog.

More than usual.

"Now Keima-kun will be more likely to see my posts..."

Even as she told herself not to worry about it, her thoughts immediately circled back to Keima Katsuragi.

Come to think of it...

She needed to get to know Keima-kun better, too!

She'd brought the wrong game today. It had been so awkward...

But Keima-kun had been so kind. He hadn't blamed her at all and had accepted it happily.

Before, Keima-kun had been the only one to notice how I felt...

He'd looked so cool today...

No, she couldn't keep thinking about this!

Determined to learn more about Keima Katsuragi, Airi Sakura opened his blog. She didn't even consider hiding her visit.

"Keima-kun posted another article... Huh?"

Airi Sakura's eyes were quickly drawn to a paragraph in the post.

[Someone's bound to wonder how I manage to clear routes so quickly.]

[If you want to win someone over, you have to learn everything about them.]

[Whatever it takes—their favorite foods, colors, books, and movies; what they do at every minute of every day. You have to know it all.]

[That's not all. As the first step in a strategy, you need to appear in front of them often. Whether you make a good impression or a bad one, getting them to remember you is more important than anything else.]

[Once you've planted a seed, you just have to keep watering it. Sooner or later, it'll sprout.]

Below the paragraph was a schedule of the game's various characters, detailed down to the minute.

This was the core of Keima Katsuragi's strategy.

But his words gave Airi Sakura an idea.

"No wonder Keima-kun is so kind..."

"I... I really don't know enough about Keima-kun..."

"All I know is that he likes playing games. I don't know what he likes to eat or drink, what movies he watches, what books he reads, or what music he listens to!"

Airi Sakura clenched her right hand into a fist, as if she'd made up her mind.

Maybe this strategy could help her, too.

"You're like a bugged game! You Bug Demon!"

In Keima Katsuragi's dorm room, he screamed at Elsie in utter frustration.

Everything that had happened today had left Keima Katsuragi completely speechless.

He'd nearly collapsed from exhaustion during PE that morning, and at noon Elsie had made him a meal that was literally devilish.

Then something like this had happened in the evening.

"Waaah, I was only trying to help you, God of Conquest!"

Elsie said miserably.

"You were running low on points, God of Conquest, so I thought I'd cook for you and lessen your burden!"

"Couldn't you make normal food...?"

Keima Katsuragi sighed. But seeing how miserable Elsie looked, and knowing she'd only meant to help, he didn't have the heart to say anything more.

"You won't need to trouble yourself with that anymore. I'll be saving a huge number of points from now on."

"Huh? Why, God of Conquest?"

"I reached an agreement with the Chairman."

"What's a Chairman?"

"..."

Keima Katsuragi felt utterly helpless, but he still explained everything that had happened earlier, from beginning to end.

"I see! So you'll save a ton of points, and you won't have to worry about the class exams anymore?"

Elsie's eyes widened, and she looked at Keima Katsuragi with admiration.

"As expected of the God of Conquest!"

"Right. This should save us a lot of trouble."

Keima Katsuragi thought of the troublesome people in his class and felt a headache coming on.

He disliked the real world because people like that existed in it.

"But, God of Conquest... God of Conquest... Waaah, are you going to abandon me?!"

Elsie suddenly looked at Keima Katsuragi with tearful eyes.

"Huh?"

"If you don't have to worry about the class rankings anymore, won't I end up failing? Waaah! If I get expelled, the whole world will be destroyed! Waaah!"

"I know, I know. Didn't I say I'd tutor you?"

"As expected of the God of Conquest! You're the best!"

Elsie seemed to have thought of something,