A few hours after I returned home, Nakagawa also came back.
"I'm back, Keima. How are you doing?"
"If you mean whether the strategy is progressing smoothly, then it's proving a bit difficult."
"Huh? It's unusual for Keima to say something like that."
"...Maybe."
My strategy follows the principles of dating sim games.
Therefore, determining the attribute of the target to attack is almost essential.
I haven't been able to grasp that at all this time.
...The word "difficult" might not even be enough to describe it.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Well... for now, there isn't anything."
"Okay. Call me anytime if there's anything I can do."
"Yeah. If you exclude Hagoromo's capabilities, you seem more capable than Elsie."
"Well... that might be true."
If you take away his feathered robe, I don't think he'll have any redeeming features other than his barrier magic, right?
Now that I think about it, I seem to remember him saying before that the Soul Hunters were elite... but how did someone like him get in?
"Both of you! Dinner's ready!"
I heard my mother calling from the living room.
Is it that time already?
"Oh, yes! I'm coming right away!"
...The next day, morning...
"Good morning, God!"
"Okay, first, explain."
"Oh, yeah."
When I woke up in the morning and went down to the living room to eat breakfast, Nakagawa was sitting there.is・hair・
"Um... First of all, Mari is just taking out the trash. I think she'll be back in a few minutes."
"I expected that. The problem is the other one."
"...Elsie said something about wanting to be an idol again..."
"Well, I did say yesterday that you seem more capable than Hagoromo, and I don't mind if you help out in Elsie's place, but are you okay with that?"
"I can't go to school very often, so I'm having fun!"
"I'm worried that idiot might do something stupid... but if you're okay, then I don't mind."
"That's great. Well then, let's have breakfast, big brother♪"
Is that really okay, idol...?
"Oh, that reminds me..."
"what happened?"
"Did you hear from Elsie that runaway souls are demons?"
"Huh? Yeah."
I heard from Elsie that she was able to use magic easily because she was extracting magical power from it."
"So how is it now? Isn't it tough?"
"it's okay.
Um... I think it would be quicker if you just looked at this."
Saying that, Nakagawa handed me an envelope.
...Now that I think about it, it looks exactly like the envelope that Dokuro sent me before.
"Don't worry, there's no strange curse or anything like that."
"So you remember those strange things, huh? Let's see?"
Another letter was found inside the envelope.
Speaking of which, this letter is written in Japanese, but is Japanese the standard language even in hell?
No, that's unlikely. Surely Dokuro is simply adjusting to us.
[Previous section omitted]
When you had a runaway soul inside you, you had plenty of magical power, so I didn't think any problems would arise, but that won't be the case anymore.
Therefore, the pendant is actually programmed to collect your biometric data and periodically optimize it.
Now that we have enough data on you, you should be able to cast spells much more efficiently than before.
If significant adjustments are needed that cannot be handled automatically, a signal will be sent to Elsie's robe. Please contact us in that case.
Sincerely,
"...I guess you could say it's convenient..."
Don't push yourself too hard, okay?
"Yeah, I know."
I talked to Nakagawa about what happened yesterday while walking to school.
"You said earlier that things were difficult, what's going on?"
"Do you remember the details about the heroine's attributes and the different routes you can take to win her over?"
"Um... probably."
"Hmm... then I'll skip the detailed explanation."
To put it simply, we can't determine the route because we haven't grasped the attributes of our target, Yoshino Asami. That's all."
"That was a concise summary... So, you still don't understand anything after that?"
"Yeah. Even when I just made small talk, the responses I got were all completely normal, and on top of that, the house they lived in was just a normal detached house."
"Um, does the house have anything to do with it?"
"Of course there is!"
"Oh, really?"
In dating sim games, it's a common trope—or at least fairly common—for a seemingly plain girl to have a quirky or complicated family background.
So I was actually looking forward to it.
"Attributes, attributes, huh..."
Oh, speaking of which, I was thinking about Yoshino's attitude when she was in the tea ceremony club.
If I had to put it into words, I'd say "acting" is the closest description, what do you think?
"Yeah... that's definitely the feeling."
Does it make sense if he's playing an average person in every scene we've seen?
"Could this be some kind of clue?"
"It's worth thinking about."
If their current behavior is all an act, then by stripping away that act, it might be possible to see their true feelings.
It's possible that an emotional void is a factor in why they act.
It would be helpful to understand the reasons in order to consider ways to eliminate it.
"Assuming it's all an act, why would he go to such lengths?"
"Hmm... maybe it's because you don't want to stand out?"
"Okay, let's go with that approach."
"Does not wanting to stand out mean... not wanting to interact with other people?"
"I think it's a good idea, but... would someone like that really join the tea ceremony club?"
If you don't like interacting with other people, you could join a different club, or even just be in the "going-home club" (a club where you don't participate in activities after school).
"That's certainly true. In that case, this theory is weak..."
"...No, not really."
"?"
"Changing the subject slightly, what was your reason for wanting to become an idol?"
"Huh?! Uh, um... don't laugh, okay?"
"It depends on the content."
"I wanted you to say 'yes' there."
"Don't worry. I can pretty much guess."
Most likely, it's because they want to change themselves, because they're shy and have no friends, right?
"What!? How did you know!?"
I just made up a plausible reason based on the void in Nakagawa's heart.
I'll keep that a secret from him.
"So, to get back to the topic..."
"You're going to put it back?!"
"...Wasn't he the same?"
"To change myself, the part of me that doesn't want to interact with others."
That's why I joined the tea ceremony club."
"Ah, I see."
"If this is correct, should I say 'I don't like interacting with other people' rather than 'I don't want to interact with other people'? Or maybe it's not 'dislike' but 'not good at'."
No, that's not entirely accurate either. If you're trying to change yourself, then it would mean, "I hate myself for disliking interacting with other people."
"I hate myself...that's enough to create a void in my heart, isn't it?"
"Yes. It will definitely be. If I'm right."
"...I wonder if that's right?"
"I think that's right. If this theory is correct, one mystery will be solved."
"A mystery?"
"You know, that dubious rumor that 'Yoshino Asami likes me'."
"...Ah, that's true. I can see why."
With Elsie, I have to explain everything from 1 to 10, but with Nakagawa, he usually understands after hearing just 1, which is really helpful.
"Now we have a starting point for figuring it out. Thanks, Nakagawa."
"I, I didn't do anything."
"That's not true. You're definitely much more capable than Elsie."
"Haha..."