| Love Makes the World Go 'Round | |
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| 世界はアイで動いてる Sekai wa ai de ugoiteru | |
| Chapter Info | |
| Release Date | April 9th, 2008 |
| Chapter | FLAG.1[1] |
| Volume | Volume 1 |
| Arc | First Capture Arc |
| Adapted into | |
| Chapter Guide | |
| Previous One-Shot |
Next A Devil of a Sister |
Love Makes the World Go 'Round (世界はアイで動いてる, Sekai wa ai de ugoiteru) is the 1st chapter of The World God Only Knows.
Synopsis[]
Elsie and Dokuro in color
In the Netherworld Constitutional Ministry of Far East Branch, a mysterious person is looking at the percentage of runaway spirits that have been captured in Europe. Elsie appeared and apologized for being late. Dokuro asked her why she was still carrying her broom after she had gotten a promotion. Elsie said that she cannot calm down without it. Dokuro commented that it has to be the end of Hell to have to dispatch a janitor demon to join the Runaway Spirit Squad. Elsie asked if there really was a human who can do anything with women's hearts. Dokuro answers that there was such a person, and his name is the "Capturing God". Dokuro told Elsie to search for this man first as there was no one who can be a better "buddy" than this man. Elsie accepted her mission and was ready to go to earth. Dokuro then asks her to get a Billy's Bootcamp DVD from Earth and Elsie asked if she was still trying to lose weight.
"Could you please wait until I reach a save point?"
At Maijima Private High School, a girl named Yū Hatori is approached by someone. She tried avoiding him, but that person kept approaching her until she finally falls in love with him. This, however, turns out to be just a game Keima Katsuragi was playing. He is extremely proud that she is his 10,000th captured heroine. Also, he was playing the game during class lessons. His teacher, Yuri Nikaidō, asked him if his game was more fun than her lesson. Keima paused for a moment to compare in his head the teacher's lesson with the games he has played. He told Nikaidō that there are 5012 games which are more fun than her lesson, 15 games that are just fun and 1 game more boring than the her lesson. Curious, Nikaido asks which games was more boring than her lesson. Keima did not reply but asked her to wait until after he reaches a save point.
Keima sending messages vigorously
Keima was walking in the corridor with a swollen face. He started to introduce himself. Someone shouts "Otamegane" through the hallway. Keima turned around and sees a girl calling and running after him at full speed. She failed to stop, and collides with him and apologizes to him. Her name is Ayumi Takahara. She is one of his classmates. Keima dislikes girls of the real world, while he find girls in games perfect and beautiful. Keima and Ayumi have been assigned to clean the rooftop together, but Ayumi asked Keima to clean the rooftop alone. She claimed that, unlike Keima, she is too busy with club activities. Keima angrily questioned Ayumi's thought process of colliding and teasing and asking for a favor at the same time. Meaning to reject the offer, he turns around, only to see a broom left with a note asking for him to clean the rooftop. While cleaning the rooftop, Keima was still angry at Ayumi. While sitting down on a bench, Keima looks at his PFP and sees that he has 813 unread messages. He introduced himself as the "Capturing God" and started to read the messages, which were mostly requests for help with games. As he read and replied the messages one by one, he finds an odd message that seemed to be a challenge. Believing that his pride will not let him run away, Keima accepted the challenge and replied.
Bounded
Suddenly, lightning strikes the rooftop. A gust of wind and smoke blew Keima off the bench. As the smoke clears, he saw a strange girl thanking him for accepting the contract and that they will hunt for runaway spirits. She took Keima by his arm and flies off into to the air. Ending up in a classroom, Keima was terrified by what has happened. The mysterious girl was looking outside the window, saying that she was detecting something. Keima still cannot believe what has has just experienced and decided to first save his game. After doing so, he asked the mysterious girl to introduce herself. Her name is Elsie de Lute Irma, everyone calls her Elsie and she is a devil from Hell. Thinking that this "3D girl" was too dangerous for him, Keima decided to leave her and go to buy a game. Before he can step out of the classroom, Elsie grabbed him by the sleeve and told him to watch out or his head might be taken. Keima felt his neck and found a collar around it.
Explanation
Elsie explained that Keima has accepted a contract with Hell. Keima recalled in horror the message with the "reply" button on his PFP. Elsie mentioned that contracts in Hell are very strict. If he does not fulfill it, or if he discards it without approval, the collar will activate and his head will be taken. Elsie hesitated, but refused to say what happen to the head after it was taken. Keima panics and insisted that Elsie takes off the collar. Elsie assured him that it will come off once the spirits are captured. Keima wondered what are the "spirits", while Elsie's hair accessory rings like at alarm. Elsie says that there is a spirit nearby and started cleaning the area around the window. She told Keima that there is a spirit in a girl on the track field. She pointed at Ayumi and said that she can see the spirit's aura. Keima asked Elsie for more information about the spirits. Elsie explained that the spirits are souls of evil beings that escaped from Hell. The spirits hide in a very unique place, the gap within a girl's heart.
Keima's last will
Though Keima found it hard to believe Elsie's story, he goes along with it and wonders if there was a way to capture within a someone's heart. Elsie said that Keima's role, as her "buddy", is to fill the gap in the heart and force the spirit out. She also said that the best way is to make the girl fall in love with him using the power of the "Capturing God". Keima was shocked and told Elsie that she was making a huge mistake. He has never held a real girl's hand and real girls would not want his hand anyway as they call him "otamegane". At the track field, Elsie was seen crying and telling him that the situation was terrible. Keima said that she was the terrible one. Elsie started pitying herself and complained that she was terrible at everything she does. Keima asked Elsie to terminate the contract, but Elsie explained that she cannot break the contract. The only consolation she can give him is that if a "buddy" dies, then the demon's head will come off as well, meaning Elsie will die with him. The two were depressed as they sit near the track watching Ayumi and the other students warming up at the track. Elsie was crying and complaining that she was helpless. Keima tells her to shut up while he writes down a list games that he wishes to play before he loses his head.
Hair tied up
Elsie wondered if Keima can use his "Capturing God" gaming skills to make a real girl fall in love with him. Keima told Elsie to never to compare the real world with games as that would be rude to the games. Keima said that this track and field club was not an accurate representation of a track and field club. Elsie does not understand what he meant by accuracy. Keima then complained that none of the club members have their hair tied up. Elsie does not see what could be wrong with that, but Keima yelled at her saying that girls in the track field club must have their hair tied up. He complained that he will not do anything for real girls who are such imperfections. Elsie noticed that Ayumi was tying up her hair and getting ready for a run. Keima stares in disbelief, but dismissed it as just a coincidence that was not enough to convince him. Making another excuse, he insisted that they should be wearing bloomers instead of short pants.
Perish
The girls' pants became bloomers, to their shock and embarrassment. While Keima was lost for words, Elsie told him that she can transform their outer appearance but only Keima can change them on the inside. Elsie further encourages Keima by saying that she has faith in him. The next day Ayumi yelled and pointed at Keima. He was seen with many banners, including one with "Do Your Best! Takahara Ayumi-chan!". Ayumi kicks him brutally and asked him about the embarrassing banners. Keima wondered to himself why he was been treated like this. He told Ayumi that the competition is coming soon so he was cheering for her. She grabbed him by the neck and chokes him, accusing him of seeking revenge for making him clean the the rooftop alone. Ayumi leaves but threatened to kill him if he does it again. Elsie came out from hiding cowardly behind a tree. She asked Keima if it is OK for Ayumi to be angry. Keima insisted that it was fine and he needs to increase the number of encounters. He said that in a game, the strength of a relationship is proportionate to the number of encounters. In other words, the more encounters he has, the more the relationship will bloom.
30 laps!!
For the next few days, Keima and Elsie continued to put up banners cheering for Ayumi, making Ayumi angry and annoyed. On the fifth day however, Ayumi decided to just ignore Keima. Elsie wondered if Ayumi hates Keima much more than before. Keima then boasted that in a game, hate can be changed into love easily and that events with fighting or being disliked can actually become a plus. Elsie then wonders if Ayumi does not really hate Keima right now. Keima thinks to himself that Ayumi might already hate him and all the stress was giving him stomach problems. Without a way to save the game or go back to in time, he wonders if he can do the job. Keima goes off to the toilet, while Elsie embarrassingly told him to take his time. Ayumi gets called by three girls while she was running. They asked why wee the second year students running before the third year students. Ayumi thought that the third years were not practicing that day and that there was not much time before the coming competition. The girls were not impressed with Ayumi's reply as they seemed to be jealous that Ayumi was picked to represent the school in the competition over them. Feeling that she was wasting time, Ayumi asked them to punish her quickly, saying that she was willing to accept any punishment that they give. Surprised and angry at Ayumi, they told her to run 30 laps around the track. Elsie was surprised to find bad "senpais" (seniors/older peers) in the human world as well as in Hell.
Keima's ultimate cheering plan
Then next day, Ayumi seemed disappointed that Keima did not put up cheering banners for her. Teased by her friends about it, she sees 3 huge balloons lifting up banners with the text "I ♥ Ayumi" floating above the school building. Elsie apologized to Keima that she could only make three balloons as she ran out of materials. However, Keima only wanted one balloon. The next day would be the day of the competition. Elsie believes that with all the cheering Ayumi was getting, she will definitely come first and the bad "senpais" will regret what they did to Ayumi. Keima was holding a basket of fruits, wondered if Elsie had bad experiences with her senpai. Elsie also believed that with Keima's cheering, Ayumi will fall in love with him after winning.
Ankle injury
Suddenly, a yell was heard from the track field and they saw that Ayumi has fallen down. At the school infirmary, it was discovered that Ayumi sprained her ankle. Her friends wondered if there was something wrong with the hurdles at the track field while the senpai's seemed happy that she has been hurt. Elsie was in despair, thinking that it is hopeless. Keima reviews what has happened and declared that he can see the ending.
Determination to confess
Elsie was surprised by Keima's declaration. Keima explained that they are about 90% done and that he has played a game with the exact same scenario. He said that he has been wondering if she was like Sonata of "Solfège" or Hakka of "Caramel Drop" but after she got hurt, the scenario matched Hakka. He believed that the final battle begins now and decided to confess to Ayumi. Ayumi appears near the track in the evening. Angrily, she asked Keima why did he call her to the track, given that she will not be involved with the sport for a while. Then she asked about the letter hidden in the fruit basket wondering if he was making fun of her. Keima told her that he thought that if she ate the fruits she will become better and win the competition tomorrow.
Ayumi threw a fruit at his face, telling him to look at her foot, asking if he really believes that she can compete. Keima said that she is able to compete, claiming that she was not injured as she cannot be hurt so easily by just tripping over a hurdle. Surprised, Ayumi asked Keima to consider the speed she was running at. Keima agrees, saying that if she were running at full speed, it would have been dangerous. However, she was not running at full speed. Ayumi was shocked and asked how does he know. Keima said that her hair was not tied up, and that she always tie her hair up when she gets serious about running. He asks if she planned to trip from the beginning. Ayumi explained that she believes that it was better this way, since now her senpai can enter the competition. Ayumi believes that she only became a regular on the team because she managed to have a good run in front of the teacher in charge. Since becoming a regular, her running time has not improved and she felt that she did not deserve to participate. Ayumi breaks down and begins to cry. She wondered why her running time does not improve despite her practicing so hard. She was worried that if she participates, she would come in last in the competition.
Keima with no glasses
Keima asked her rhetorically would it not be fine for her to just do her best. He takes off his glasses and told Ayumi that if she is worried about rankings, she has always been first in his heart. Ayumi blushes and the spirit seems to become visible. Elsie, peeking from behind a tree, anticipated that the spirit will leave Ayumi. However, Ayumi started throwing fruits at Keima, blaming him for everything that has happened. After almost emptying the basket of fruits, Ayumi sees a new pair of running shoes at the bottom of the basket. She grabbed Keima by the hand and asks if he will cheer for her at the competition tomorrow. Keima agrees and Ayumi thanks him while blushing.
The ending
She drew closer to Keima and kissed him on the lips, while the spirit is ejected from her heart. Elsie chased after the spirit and captures it spirit using a special containment bottle. The next day, Ayumi won first place in the competition. She later shows Keima that she was mentioned in a newspaper article, but she was confused as to why was she talking to Keima as she lost her memories about what has happened. Keima congratulated Ayumi, causing her to blush, confused about how she feels. Keima wonders why he congratulated her, as they are strangers now that Ayumi does not remember what happened. He also wondered what happened to Elsie, as he had not seen her since the night they captured the spirit. Suddenly his classmates asked him where hes has been hiding "her". Elsie appeared in front of the classroom saying that she is Keima's younger sister and she was transferring into the class today. Keima was extremely shocked and wonders what a messed up setup is this.
Trivia[]
- The words on the monitor Dokuro was using are in Arabic. (chapter 1, p.1)
- Dokuro Skull asks for a Billy's Bootcamp DVD as a souvenir. (chapter 1, p.3)
- Multi and Saber (Fate/stay night) are two of three 2D girls Keima mentions while ranting about girls in real-life. (chapter 1, p.12)
- When Keima states that he is the "God of the Game World" (chapter 1, p.14), the image he used is based on the 19th century painting of Jupiter and Thetis by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
- When Elsie talks about how if Keima fails to capture a girl, he would lose his head by the guillotine collar (chapter 1, p.20-23). It sounds similar to how in Battle Royale, the students are forced to wear bomb collars.
Refrences[]
- ↑ Source: Red Hawk Scanlations