Chapter 15: A Request from Kushida Kikyo
"An iron rule?"
Elsie looked at Katsuragi Keima with a face of confusion.
Keima suddenly closed his eyes, an expression of utmost seriousness appearing on his face.
"If you just strain your ears and listen, you'll hear it—the inner voice of a literary girl."
Keima snapped his eyes open and extended a finger toward Elsie.
"Literary girls may be quiet, but the thoughts in their heads are twice as numerous as anyone else's. They are the exact opposite of those who chatter incessantly but have empty heads."
Elsie froze for a moment, not realizing that Keima was hinting at her.
"This internal duality is precisely the charm of the literary girl. Introversion! Intellect! From now on, it is the era of the literary girl!"
Keima suddenly spoke with such excitement that several nearby passersby were startled and involuntarily backed away a few steps.
He pulled out his cards and fumbled through them until he found the one for Shiina Hiyori.
[Name: Shiina Hiyori] [Current Affection Level: 10%]
Although they hadn't spent much time together, it counted as leaving a good first impression. This was currently the only person who had shown a significant positive increase during a first encounter.
Perhaps it was because she misunderstood Keima to be a fellow book lover. Or perhaps it was because she believed Keima and herself were some sort of kindred spirits.
Elsie, still looking perplexed, asked, "But, how are you supposed to hear the voice of the heart?"
"That's why you're just an amateur. You can hear the voice of the heart at any time."
Keima pushed up his glasses. As he tucked the cards away, he brought his handheld console in front of Elsie's face.
"Look, this is the inner monologue of a literary girl."
On the screen was exactly that: the inner monologue of a girl wearing glasses.
"But... that's in a game..."
"..."
Keima fell into silence, then turned around and accelerated his pace to leave.
"Then she is impossible to capture."
"Divine Brother! Don't run!"
Elsie hurriedly chased after him from behind.
Despite saying she was impossible to capture, at that moment, Keima had guessed the girl's inner thoughts simply from the conversation between Elsie and Shiina Hiyori. Shiina Hiyori loved reading, and she hoped Elsie could also feel the joy of books.
Thus, Keima could feel that the words Shiina Hiyori spoke at the end were from the heart. There weren't many people who acknowledged his gaming.
However... it seemed more troublesome things were coming now.
"Divine Brother, wait for me! Why did you suddenly start running?"
"I am escaping from a troublesome matter."
Keima said breathlessly, sweat already beading on his forehead.
"But..." Elsie pursed her lips and looked behind her. "You didn't really run very far."
The distance Keima had run was only about a dozen meters, yet he looked as if he had been completely burned out. After all, Keima played games day and night and lacked exercise; his body could be described as frail. Even if a small, mobility-impaired girl were to bump into him, Keima would likely be the one more seriously injured.
"And what 'troublesome matter' are you escaping from?" Elsie asked, full of bewilderment.
"You'll know in a second—"
"Eh! Katsuragi-kun! Elsie-chan! What a coincidence!"
At that moment, an enthusiastic voice came from behind them. Elsie turned her head to look.
Kushida Kikyo was walking quickly toward them, her face wearing a smile as bright as springtime.
"I was just about to greet you, but then you started accelerating while walking!" Kushida asked with a laugh.
Keima's "all-out sprint" looked like nothing more than a brisk walk in her eyes.
"Nii-sama is... is exercising his body!" Elsie's brain actually produced a positive contribution for once.
"I saw you in the library just now, but you seemed to be chatting with a student from another class, so I thought it wouldn't be right to step in and disturb you!"
Kushida's eyes seemed to shimmer with light, as clear and bright as gemstones. "That seemed to be Shiina-san from Class C, right?"
"Eh? Kushida-chan, you've already gotten to know students from other classes so quickly?"
"Because I want to make friends with everyone! I already made friends with a few people from Class C yesterday! They're all very nice! However, I only knew Shiina-san's name from them; I haven't had the chance to officially say hello to her yet!"
When the topic turned to making friends, Kushida seemed to become even happier. In Elsie's eyes, Kushida Kikyo appeared to be an outgoing and generous girl in every way—
However, Keima did not think so.
Through these past two days of interaction, Keima became increasingly certain that Kushida Kikyo was by no means simple. While he was in contact with Horikita Suzune earlier today, Keima had actually been inconspicuously observing Kushida Kikyo.
At that time, Kushida appeared to be chatting with the classmates beside her, but in reality, her gaze had been fixed on him and Horikita Suzune. No one noticed—except Keima.
And just now, while taking Elsie to the library, Kushida had been following behind them.
A coincidence? No, it was no coincidence. Kushida Kikyo was deliberately creating an opportunity for a "chance encounter."
What was her motive? Most likely, it was related to Horikita Suzune.
Kushida had established good relations with almost everyone in the class within two days—everyone except Horikita Suzune. Horikita's solitary personality was indeed difficult to deal with, but why was Kushida so fixated on her?
Theoretically, if she truly wanted to be friends with everyone as she claimed, there was absolutely no need to be this obsessed with her at this moment. Unless they had known each other previously, or there was a connection to certain past events.
However—Keima wasn't interested. No matter what happened between them, it had nothing to do with him. Even though both were mission targets, don't waste my gaming time right now!
"In these two days, I've managed to get along well with almost all our classmates! Oh, well, except for one person." Kushida sighed intentionally and shook her head.
"Who is it?" Elsie asked, following the script as intended.
"It's Horikita-san. She's a bit of a loner, but I think our class is a collective, so building a better relationship is very necessary. Speaking of which, I've noticed that only you, Katsuragi-kun, seem relatively close to Horikita-san. Could you please do me a favor?"
Kushida looked at Keima with incredible earnestness while tightly grasping his hand. She believed that Keima would definitely help her.
"Sorry, but I refuse."
"Thank you so much, Katsuragi-kun... Eh?!"