Chapter 85: Open Your Heart, Young Maiden!
After leaving the school corridor, Katsuragi Keima and Elsie did not return directly to the dormitory. Keima pulled Elsie along as they ducked into a campus convenience store that was still open.
"Kami-nii-sama? We're not going back?" Elsie asked curiously, still clutching her broom.
"Replenishing 'Conquest Supplies'." Keima was concise, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the shelves.
He picked up several bags of different flavored potato chips, chocolate bars, and some drinks. After a moment's thought, he added a carton of milk and a small, exquisitely packaged bag of butter cookies. "After intense emotional fluctuations, blood sugar levels may drop. Supplementing with appropriate amounts of sugar and carbohydrates helps stabilize emotions and lower defensive instincts."
He seemed to be explaining to Elsie, yet also seemed to be analyzing data to himself. Elsie nodded, only half-understanding, and conveniently grabbed a bag of her favorite gummy candies.
Back at the dormitory, Keima neatly arranged the purchased snacks and drinks on a corner of the small table. He also checked the tidiness of the room—ensuring no stray game cartridges or clothes were lying around.
Then, he sat at his desk and opened his portable gaming console. However, he didn't start playing immediately. Instead, he pulled up the "Event Logs" and "Behavioral Pattern Analysis" related to Kushida Kikyo that he had prepared in advance, beginning a rapid review and deduction.
While eating potato chips, Elsie watched Keima curiously: "Kami-nii-sama, buying these things and tidying the room... is there a special purpose? Could it be... someone else is coming tonight?"
Keima didn't even look up, his fingers tapping rapidly on the virtual keyboard: "The probability is high. Based on the analysis of Kushida Kikyo's current psychological state—clear hostility but internal conflict, having just experienced high-intensity emotional venting and secret exposure, and having issued an 'expulsion' threat to me—there is a great possibility that, after returning to her dorm and undergoing a brief cooling-off period, she will be driven by a mix of several motives to take action again."
"What? Kikyo-chan wants to get Kami-nii-sama expelled!" The movement of Elsie eating chips suddenly stiffened. She knew the favorability had dropped significantly, but she had no idea about the actual content of their conversation.
"Correct. I deduced her true face, so she intends to do this to me."
"I never thought Kikyo-chan was that kind of person... doesn't that mean Kami-nii-sama is in danger?"
"What are you saying? Who do you think I am?" Keima pushed up his glasses. "Getting me expelled won't be that simple."
"But since things have reached this point... Kikyo-chan—pooh, I should call her Kushida Kikyo now! She actually threatened Kami-nii-sama! Will she really come tonight?"
"She will." Keima held up his fingers as he spoke. "First, to verify the authenticity of her threat. She needs to confirm whether I truly fear her threat and conduct a primary test to see if I will leak her secret.
"Second, a potential—and perhaps not even consciously realized—need to verify my promise. She claims she wants me expelled, but deep down, a part of her is curious, or even faintly hoping to see if my promise to 'accept all your choices' and 'be your outlet' can truly withstand her initial 'attack'." Keima pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the blue light from the screen.
"Third, and most importantly: she needs an absolutely safe location, one where someone already knows her most unsightly side, to release the chaotic emotions that might continue to ferment tonight and cannot be shown in front of others... Today, Kushida has accumulated a lot of emotions that need releasing."
He looked around his single-occupancy dorm room. "To her twisted psychology, the room of a strange boy she just declared an enemy might, in a way, feel safer than anywhere else—because exposing any ugliness here can be blamed on the enemy's provocation rather than her own lack of control. Most importantly, because I already know her true face, there is no need to pretend in front of me anymore."
Elsie listened, dumbfounded: "So... so complicated... Kami-nii-sama, you think so much!"
"This is just a probability deduction based on existing data, like a random event in a game. Even if it's just a probability, one must make exhaustive plans." Keima said calmly. "However, preparing in advance is never wrong. Snacks and drinks can alleviate a tense atmosphere, and a tidy environment lowers the other party's guard and discomfort. If she doesn't come, we can just consume these supplies ourselves; playing games requires energy replenishment anyway."
Just as the words left his mouth—
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door, neither too heavy nor too light, with a hesitant interval. Elsie's eyes widened instantly. She covered her mouth and silently mouthed: "She... she really came!"
Keima made a gesture to her.
"Kami-nii-sama! I don't understand!"
"Invisibility. You can turn invisible, right?"
Elsie understood immediately. Clutching her broom, she activated the invisibility power of her raiment. Her figure rapidly faded, seemingly melting into the air.
Keima took a deep breath, adjusted his facial expression, then stood up, walked to the door, and opened it.
The person standing outside was indeed Kushida Kikyo. She had changed out of her school uniform and was wearing simple home clothes; her brownish hair was draped loosely.
"Good evening, Keima-kun!" Kushida's face wore a high-energy smile, as if nothing had happened earlier.
"Good evening, Kikyo." Keima spoke first, his tone as natural as greeting an ordinary friend. He stepped aside to clear the doorway. "Please, come in."
Kushida didn't respond immediately or move. She just let her gaze sweep over his face, then flicked toward the tidy room behind him, finally landing on the neatly arranged snacks and drinks on the small table. Her eyebrows twitched imperceptibly.
"...You guessed I would come?"
"I just thought that after a night of studying, someone might want to chat and eat something."
Keima avoided a direct answer, using a vague reason to brush past it.
"Would you like something to drink? I have barley tea and milk. There are several kinds of snacks too."
Kushida was silent for a few seconds. Then, as if having made a decision, she stepped inside and gently closed the door. She walked to the center of the room. She didn't sit down, but simply surveyed the male dormitory she was entering officially for the first time.
The room was tidier than she imagined, with a faint scent in the air mixed with the slight aroma of the snack packaging Keima had just opened. However, Kushida's gaze was quickly drawn to Keima's computer desk.
The school had originally assigned a laptop to every student... but at this moment, two massive gaming consoles sat on the desk, and the storage shelves nearby were packed with games.
'This place is basically a game room, isn't it?
This guy... really is a freak.'
Kushida could not have imagined that anyone could transform their dorm room into something like this in such a short time since the start of the term. After confirming there was no one else in the room, Kushida instantly dropped her facade.
"You really aren't afraid at all." She turned around to face Keima. She tried to force a mocking smile, but it seemed a bit strained. "I did say I was going to get you expelled. What is this now... entertaining the enemy?"
"I said, I accept all of your choices." Keima walked to the table, picked up the drink, unscrewed the cap, poured a cup, and handed it to her. "Besides, expulsion is a matter for later. At least for tonight, you look like you need some sweets and fluids. Venting emotions consumes a lot of energy."
Kushida didn't take the cup. She just stared at him with a complex gaze: "...You really are a freak."
"Many people say that." Keima was unbothered. He placed the cup on the table and sat on the edge of the bed. He picked up a bag of potato chips, opened it, and began eating with a crunch-crunch sound. His posture was relaxed, as if the person standing before him wasn't a dark-hearted girl who had just threatened him, but just an ordinary visitor.
This attitude of his acted like a silent invitation and an invisible pressure release. Kushida's tense shoulders seemed to relax by a fraction of a millimeter. She finally walked to the table. She didn't sit in the chair; instead, as if losing her energy, she slid down against the edge of the table to sit on the floor, hugging her knees.
This posture was identical to the one she had in the shadows of the corridor earlier, but the environment had changed, as had the person opposite her. She didn't touch the snacks or drinks; she just rested her chin on her knees, staring blankly at a point on the floor.
The room fell silent, save for the faint sound of Keima eating chips. After a long while, Kushida finally spoke. Her voice was very low, like she was talking to herself, or perhaps to him:
"...I'm still angry. Very angry. At Horikita, at the people who easily tell me I'm 'easy to get along with,' at this world where I have to keep pretending... and..." She paused and looked up at Keima. "At you. Why can't you be like a normal person? Be afraid, stay away, or just go report me? Why say those nonsensical things? Why act like... you actually understand?"
There was no aggression in her tone this time; it was more of a bewildered, weary interrogation. Keima stopped eating, set the bag aside, opened the box of butter cookies, and handed one to her.
"Because in my view, the anger, resentment, and aggression you show are all rational outputs of a system under specific pressure. Understanding the operating mechanism of these outputs is more meaningful than simply judging 'right or wrong.' You'd understand if you played more games." He used a metaphor she might not fully grasp but could sense the meaning of. "Furthermore, I don't think your reaction is abnormal. In that situation, your choices—whether cursing, threatening, or coming here now—are all your choices. After all, in real life, neither of us are considered 'normal' people."
Kushida didn't take the cookie. She just looked at him, her eyes wavering: "...So you know you're not normal too?"
"I suppose. I'm not interested in anything in the real world—except for you. In my eyes, you are a special existence—"
"There you go again with those nonsensical words!" Kushida said immediately, though her cheeks flushed slightly. "If you're not interested in reality, why not just get expelled?"
"I am only disappointed in reality; I am not disappointed in myself."
Keima pushed up his glasses. "In this school, there are things I must accomplish."
"You make it sound like a quest in a game."
"Indeed. Anyway, if I were expelled, the world would end."
"What a boring joke." Kushida looked at the small, patterned cookie near her hand, then at Keima's calm, waveless face. His eccentric theory oddly didn't make her feel offended; instead... there was a strange sense of ease. She reached out, hesitated for a moment, and finally picked up the cookie, taking a small bite. The sweet flavor melted on her tongue, indeed bringing a tiny, physiological sense of comfort.
"You said... to treat you as an alt account to vent." She swallowed the cookie, her voice still low. "How... exactly do I do that?"
Keima pushed up his glasses: "It's simple. Just like you're doing now. Come here, sit down, say what you want to say, curse the people you want to curse, complain about the things you want to complain about. No need to consider your phrasing, no need to maintain an image, no need to calculate the consequences. I will listen. You can treat this place as a... temporary, one-way emotional data dump. I won't interrupt you or judge you, unless you ask for my opinion."
Keima paused. "Of course, you can also choose to say nothing and just sit. You can even smash things."
"Eh?"
"Just don't touch the game consoles or anything like that."
Whenever it involved games, Keima became a different person. Kushida couldn't help but smile slightly. Then she ate the cookie in silence, saying nothing more. But her body posture was even more relaxed than before. Piece by piece, she finished the cookie, then reached out to pick up the drink Keima had poured and took a small sip. The warm liquid slid down her throat, bringing a simple warmth.
The room fell into silence again, but the atmosphere was completely different. It was no longer a tense standoff, nor a warm, friendly conversation, but a... strange kind of silence. Keima picked up the chips again and ate slowly. The only sound in the room was the crackle-
crackle of him chewing, while his gaze fell upon the handheld game in his hand—as if giving Kushida enough unobserved space.
Elsie, invisible in the corner, held her breath and watched this scene with wide eyes. Her admiration for the Kami-nii-sama rose to a new height. With just a few words, he had completely changed Kushida Kikyo's attitude toward him.
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