Cheers

Cheers
かんぱい Kanpai
Chapter Info
Release Date	March 16th, 2012
Chapter	FLAG.181
Volume	Volume 19
Arc	Mai-High Festival Arc
Adapted into	Anime episode 38.0
Chapter Guide
Previous The Young Lady of the Fire-Crackling Summer	Next TRUE LOVE

Cheers (かんぱい, Kanpai) is the 181^st chapter of The World God Only Knows.

Synopsis

Nora's Interference

Keima and Ayumi sat in front of a convenient store to take a break from all the running they had been doing. Near him stood an evil figure that he should avoid: Lune. As Lune glanced at Keima and Ayumi, Haqua noticed who the devil was. Haqua told Chihiro to stand back, as she knew already that Lune was a Vintage Executive. With no other choice, Haqua commanded Keima to relocate due to an inbound fight. Keima agreed and started walking, saying to Ayumi that he'd recovered from his fatigue. Lune intended to follow the couple, when someone stood in her way suddenly. It was no other than Nora. Nora "didn't recognize" Lune, and told her off, as it was her (Nora's) district. Lune took out her box-cutter, but with no act of violence, flew away.

Knowing that Lune would return, Haqua advised Keima to go indoors instead of the shrine. But to him, going indoors would make it difficult to bring up Ayumi's points. Haqua intends to persist, but Keima's Gamer's Pride kept him stubborn. She complained about how in the current situation, there are too many Vintage members. Being in a residential area at the moment, there wasn't any good locations approach, especially Ayumi and Chihiro's home which were no good. As Haqua searched on a map of Maijima for a safe location, Chihiro spoke up, saying she knew of a safe place. She told Haqua that it was a place Ayumi knew, making it possible for the couple to hide. She finally told Haqua to tell Keima to "keep going straight". Taking Chihiro's advice, Haqua asked Keima to go straight, but he respond in mind that he would obviously go straight forward as he has no where else to go.

"Eeh? Below me right now?"

Soon, the couple heard say "Eh? Below me right now?". It was none other than Miyako Terada, who was looking out from her home's second story balcony. Keima exclaimed silently while Miyako herself was surprised to see Ayumi, and specifically him. Abruptly, Chihiro came out from behind the couple, saying that she couldn't stop thinking of the live performance, so she wished to stop by Miyako's place. Keima was very much astonished by Chihiro's entrance, while she herself acted like she too was surprised that he was there. Miyako responded to Chihiro's explanation, saying that she too was anxious of the performance. She invited Chihiro, Ayumi and even Keima into her home.

Inside, Ayumi went with Miyako to help with the drinks. As Chihiro and Keima were taking off their shoes, Keima asked for Chihiro's intentions. She replied that she only "helped" finding a place to hide, but this was a help that he did not find necessary. He was confident that with Ayumi's current love points, a single event would have been enough. That was why he was unhappy with this detour. Chihiro told him to stop it with the game talk, but he retorted that this was his way of doing things. Suddenly, she asked about how long he's been aiming for Ayumi. While this mystified Keima, she continued to talked about how she heard that he needed some kind of power from Ayumi. Then, Chihiro apologized for her "unlucky" confession. And in compensation, she said she would help Keima, as she doesn't want Ayumi to be in any danger. This left him without being able to say anything, even though this was not what he wished for.

Small Party

Minutes later, the three girls were throwing a small party to the hopeful successful of 2-B Pencil's performance, as Keima sat at the same table. As the small party continued, Ayumi took glances at Chihiro, which Keima noticed. He knew that if this continued, Ayumi would grow too concerned of Chihiro's situation. This made him wonder what Chihiro was plotting. After some karaoke, Miyako's father yelled out that it was already ten o'clock. Stopping the singing, Chihiro acted all happy and cheery, which made Ayumi wonder if she was "drunk". Suddenly, Chihiro "asked" why Ayumi was with Keima. In embarrassment, Ayumi replied that she wasn't really accompanying Keima. Chihiro hastily said that Ayumi does not need to worry as it got nothing to do with herself anymore. Putting that subject aside, Chihiro went onto advising Ayumi to practice the guitar properly.

Non-acknowledged Route

Observing this short conversation, Keima did not acknowledge Chihiro's plan as the development would be no good. He could tell that Chihiro was trying to relinquish, or rather strictly hand over, him to Ayumi. In the short-term, it's true this pattern is meant for a good ending in love triangles. But in all, this flow would leave the recipient (Ayumi) indebted feelings, which would take a long time to resolve. It would be a good ending, but Keima wants a speedy ending that will end tonight. While he was unexpectedly asked by Miyako to give some words of encouragement, he thought about how grateful he was for Chihiro's cooperation,even though he has no will to go on her choice of plan.

Keima went out to the balcony to ask Haqua outside about any new locations for a confession. She responded that there was a park with a pond that would do well enough. With little time left, Keima picked to have the ending there. But before he could enact this plan, Miyako asked if the band members would like to try on their costume. To Keima's dismay, he is pushed out of the room. When he batted at the door to get in, Miyako silenced him with some wrestling moves.

Dark Side of Chihiro

Inside, the two girls were amazed by how well-done the costumes were made. While the two girls were changing, Chihiro suddenly asked if Ayumi liked Keima. She blushed as she denied this statement. Chihiro went along with her "It's alright. Don't worry about me." facade, but she suddenly remembered back to when Keima rejected her. With a sudden change in attitude, Chihiro told Ayumi how Keima was a lying bastard. Ayumi become silent when Chihiro took out her phone, which had a recording of what Keima had said earlier about raising Ayumi's love points and conquering her. Chihiro demanded Ayumi to open her eyes from this game by Keima. Meanwhile, Keima was still pinned down by Miyako's wrestling moves.

Trivia

• The name of the convenience store Keima and Lune stand in front of is "LAWSAN", a reference to "Lawson" which is a convenience store franchise chain in Japan.
• Chihiro sang It's All Right, while Ayumi sang Wonder Chance, at Miyako's house.
• The first move Miyako used on Keima is a possible variation of the Cloverleaf. The second one at the end of the chapter is a Camel Clutch.