Flag 2.0: A new player and a new coach

...

...

Third person's POV

The goddess hosts were all walking down a street that was familiar to all of them, but they felt uneasy to say the least. Why? Because they had just received a message in a 'dead language' that's why. They didn't really think much about it, but they were certainly disturbed about it. To the point, that they had Minerva try and translate the code into a language that they could all understand, but it wasn't the easiest thing to do.

At any rate, it was a moonlit evening and they were all walking to a particular restaurant in the middle of town, which looked very crowded to say the least.

"This makes no sense, why would our messenger want to meet us in such a crowded place like this" Vulcanus said as the doll that Tsukiyo was carrying who was clearly confused with the situation.

She did have an argument. Earlier on they managed to decipher the whole situation that happened in the astronomy club room and from that investigation they found out that the blackout and the message was done with the use of a magic that they had thought to be extinct as well. For the most part, it had all been done discreetly, any demons or humans passing by wouldn't have been able to see it or know what was happening. The spell was a very powerful one at that, it wasn't something that could be easily tapped or hacked by anyone. Whoever sent that message, didn't want anybody else to see it.

So this choice of venue made more than a few heads tilt in confusion. Although, it did appease the goddesses' suspicion...a little bit.

"Whoever sent the message probably thought that we wouldn't come if it was a secluded location" Mars said as Yui reflection.

"It's possible that he/she thought of that" Diana agreed appearing as Tenri's reflection. "Still, the fact that he/she is the one who initiated the contact is suspicious in itself"

"Sh-should we still go on with this? W-we were free to decline, r-right?" Minerva said quietly, while her host was looking like she was in agreement, but that could only be because of the fact that so many people were inside the restaurant and that she was more than a little uncomfortable with social encounters.

"Yes, but if what he/she says is true, then we should at least hear him/her out" Mercurius finished with yawn with her host looking a little reluctant to go inside.

"Think of it this way, if we come and see this mystery host we might get some juicy info on your Katsuragi, Kanon." Apollo said in a hushed tone that everybody could hear, which made a few sweatdrops. Was Apollo really such a shallow thinker?

"That's such a shallow perception, the least you could do is to try and think deeper into the situation" Luna whined, while waving her arms in frustration.

"Well I don't really have to think a lot, Vul-nee-sama" the goddess in question just scratched her head awkwardly before laughing nervously.

"Try and think of the possible outcomes of our actions before you go ahead and decide on such matter" Mars argued further making the goofy goddess pull back a little and just giggle it away.

"We shouldn't rush into this, we need some sort of back up plan just in cas-" Diana was cut off by her host, who had a determined expression on her face.

"I-it's okay..." She said confidently, while looking at a dumbstruck Diana. "I can feel that nothing's going to happen"

"Tenri..."

"You defeated the Weiss, d-didn't you? And t-that V-vintage?"

"That's true, but we can't just rush into this, Tenri. There's no way of telling if that the danger truly is gone so we need to take precautions"

"Although, I do agree with you there, I don't think there's anything we should worry about" Ayumi replied confidently, albeit shyly.

"That's right, our stunt earlier this morning has got to have fueled you all up, right?" Yui said it as more of a statement rather than a question, which took the more serious goddesses back little bit.

"T-that's true but..." Diana started, but was immediately interrupted by Yui dragging all of them (don't ask how she just did) into the restaurant.

"Let's go then, can't have our host waiting now can't we?"

"Table for six please" Yui said happily to the attendant with the five other girls in tow. To an outsider's eye it would look like a boy was taking these girls out for dinner. Cross-dressing does have it's drawbacks, but the attendant just nodded before leading them to a table in the middle of the room, which was in front of a stage.

They looked around and this looked like one of the more fancier restaurants in Maijima; judging by the clothing everybody was wearing that is. Everybody seemed to be wearing some article of formal clothing and were probably eating the most expensive dinner the girls would ever see.

"I think were a little underdressed" Ayumi said uncomfortably from her seat and started fidgeting nervously. Nobody could really blame her for feeling that way because they were all wearing their school uniforms, but the feeling was a little bit more intense for two specific girls who were looking down with red faces and steam coming out of their heads.

Even Tsukiyo was feeling a little out of place in this scenario and she was usually holding her head up high, whenever she was around anything beautiful, but right now she felt uncomfortable to say the least.

Yui was the least bothered out of the six girls. It's probably due to the fact that she was used to such a fancy and formal dining atmosphere. She just kept on smiling, while her goddess was busy admiring the whole etablishment.

Kanon felt a little reluctant and was also fidgeting in her seat nervously, which was weird for pop idol. It wws probably because she wasn't wearing a disguise at all and the people seemed to look more important that she was.

"Say, Apollo, what exactly did that message say?" Kanon asked nervously, which brought everybody's attention to Kanon's goddess, who appeared in a small hand mirror in Kanon's...hand.

"Minerva, could only get a rough translation, but it said something like 'I know what you're trying to do and I'd like to help you, goddesses' " The goofy goddess said with an easy and unfazed smile. Which was pretty normal considering the fact that she was rarely fazed by anything.

"And do you really think that whoever sent that message, really knows about what were trying to do?" It was a legitimate question. How could they know if the messenger really did know about their plans for Keima. Chances are this was all just a setup and they were walking into it blindly, but such a possibility went over the goofy goddess' head.

"...I guess, I mean why would he/she send that message if he/she didn't know, right?" This remark just made everybody's sweat drop. Luna even face-palmed before shaking her head exasperatingly at how shallow her sister's thinking actually was.

Anybody could've just sent a message like that to them as a bluff; anybody could pretend to know what they were trying to do, but what convinced them was the fact that it was written in a dead language. Up until yesterday, they thought that language had ceased to exist when the beings who used it had been wiped out.

"anyway, that's not important. Are you girls gonna order something any time soon, cuz the food sure looks delish" Once again, Apollo's shallow thinking made everybody's sweat drop.

"How could you even think of food at a time like this?" Vulcan said a little too loudly, while Luna got in her face with a terrifying aura. "We're inside a place we're not familiar with, waiting for someone who sent us a message in a language we thought was long dead, along with a spell that should be extinct and all you could think about is food?!" A furious Vulcan is furious.

"At any rate, the food here looks pretty expensive, I don't think we'll be able to afford any-" Kanon was cut off by a waitress who had just placed several dishes on their table and another waitress had just set down one HUGE platter of food in the middle.

"Ummm...excuse me, we didn't order these..." Kanon said trying to get their attention, but her sweat just dropped because the waistresses had already gone back to the kitchen, which was starngely quick of them.

Then the realization hit them...

"Are we going to pay for all of this?!" They yelled in unison, before Vulcan floated in front of them with an ominous aura.

"Alright, which one of you ordered all of this?!" She was clearly upset that this had happened and that they would probably end up as dishwashers by the end of the night, which wasn't something that she was happy about. In her opinion, someone as beautiful as Tsukiyo shouldn't do such a mundane chore.

Vulcan looked at each of them one by one, before stopping at Apollo who has just switched with Kanon and has began randomly grabbing the first thing her hands could get and immediately shoved it into her mouth.

At this sight, everybody joined in on the frey, grabbing anything their hands could carry, before shoving it in their mouths. This went on for quite some time before they realized that it was really quiet; too quiet...in fact it almost seemed like...

They all froze when they turned in their seats expecting that they were the center of the spotlight because they had just revealee theirselves in public. Of course, new hell could modify the memories of these people, but...

It wasn't necessary.

What they were seeing right now was an empty restaurant. How long had they been here? Did they really stay here for so long that the restaurant had already closed and they were the only ones left? No, that was impossible, they were sure that they had just arrived not 20 minutes ago and they would've prbabky noticed if the people had began to leave because even in their eat-all-you-can state they still noticed a few things.

"It's a good thing, those people were just an illusion, otherwise, I'd get more than an earful about this night" The goddesses turned their attention to the new voice who was standing on the stage.

The new comer had white hair that flowed down in spiked to his shoulder, which was covered by a fedora that had a pair of brass goggles on the front. He had lavender-colored eyes, which were behind a pair of glasses. He was wearing a brass-colored shirt under a black vest. He was wearing black pants and shoes to top it all off.

That wasn't exactly the most disturbing part. The most disturbing part was the fact that there was somesort of film surrounding their entire area. They all looked down and they saw more enscriptions on the floor. The letters were surrounding their area and before the goddesses could take on a pose of combat the boy they saw earlier entered the same film with hands raised above his head, as if a sign of peace.

They eased up, but were still on guard. They didn't trust this boy, yet. Heck, they can't even be sure that this was the person who sent that message to them. So they couldn't let their guard down just yet.

The boy who looked a lot like a 17 year old boy with adult clothes just sat down on one side of the table; virtually oblivious to the suspicious glares and wide-eyed stares of disbelief.

Now that they thought about it, this does make a lot of sense, the fact that nobody seemed to take notice of six high school students barging in a formal restaurant like this was more than a little suspicious. They should've predicted that there was a spell involved, but they never could've imagined that there was still a being who could use those kinds of spells. They all assumed that they were wiped out during the almagemachina, but it seems that there were still survivors.

"E-excuse me..." The tiniest goddess raised her hand as if she was a student asking her teacher a question. " Are you a...guardian?"

...

Silence

...

"that's right" the boy said after a minute of eerie silence and smile at them, seemingly unaffected by the question, but Diana managed to see him flinch, which was a sure sign that topic was a painful one to talk about. Diana decided that she'll ask those question for later, as of now, they needed to confirm whether this boy was telling the truth or not.

"Okay, let's say that you're telling the truth, how would we know that you really are who you say you are" Diana said, while maintaining her etiqutte,while eating.

"..." They boy said nothing, but reached in vest pocket, before pulling out a...tarot card. It was just like any other tarot card, until it started to glow and the back ground of the card became transparent as yellow Runes started dancing on the card and getting into position as if they were forming a verse.

"secret hidden from heaven and hell. A secret society no one dare tell." The boy recited with a smile on his face. "Let the card show my identity. Let it show what no one else can see."

The 'letters' started disappearing again before they formed a word that only Minerva understood.

"Archangel"

"The guardians still exist" Minerva said in wide-eyed awe, while the other goddesses just tilted their heads in confusion.

"what?" No surprise that Apollo didn't understand what Minerva was talking about at all. Come to think of it, almost all of the goddesses didn't know what she was talking about.

"So, there are still guardians in existence? I thought they were all killed during the almagemachina." Vulcanus said supsiciously. She didn't trust this man at all. The only man she encountered was Katsuragi, so it goes to show that she assumes that every boy is like that dirty little man.

"Wait a second, I've never heard of such a thing" Mars was confused and wasn't exactly following where this conversation was heading. Even Diana stood quiet on one side of the table with a calculating stare at the boy. None of these reaction were new to the boy because he has grown accustomed to it. Almost as of he was expecting sich reactions to begin with.

"That's right" the boy said happily before pocketing the tarot card and raising his eyebrows, while leaning back on the chair.

"Wait...a what?" Apollo scratched her head in confusion, while Minerva started flailing her arms excitedly. She looked at lot like Elsie when she got excited.

"He's a guardian, he investigates supernatural occurances and covers it up before the humans find out" Half-baked knowledge is half-baked. What Minerva said wasn't exactly true, but...it wasn't exactly false either at least she got the name right. Furthermore, what Minerva said sounded like something out of supernatural detective drama crossed with an MIB movie.

Minerva was all but yelling out in her excitement, which earned her a few raised eyebrows from her sisters because this was strangely out of character for her. The boy in question just laughed nervously, while scratchimg the back of his head awkwardly.

"ummm...sure let's go with that" the boy just smiled with his eyes closed, while taking a sip of his chocolate milk shake. Staying quite and accepting their assumptions was the best route for him to take because it would keep them in the dark for a little while longer.

"So you were the one who sent that message to us" Diana stated not asked, which earned her a nod.

"how do you even know that language? I thought that it was supposed to be extinct?" Mars asked in confusion. In truth, the language of Runes was considered extinct for a long time now, even before Elsie's time, but legend has it that a select few were able to us the language as a means of casting and channeling AOE spells.

"Yes, it was supposed to be extinct for a long time now as to how I Iearned it... It's classified. the boy said in confirmation, but said the last part with a shrug.

"Then what about the channeling spell that you're casting right now? You're using a crafted device to increase the potency of the runes." Mercurius stated the last part, which made the boy chuckle in appreciation.

"For the sleepiest and youngest goddess, you seem to be the most observant" the boy said in approval, which earned him a lethargic smile.

"You're being surprisingly calm about talking to the Jupiter sisters" Vulcanus accused with an air of pride at the boy, who just brushed it off.

"Well..." The boy started before blushing in his embrassment. " I was planning on a more regal and royal approach, y'know by calling you all Lady Vulcanus, Lady Apollo, Lady Diana, Lady Minerva, Lady Mars, and Lady Mercurius because I was expecting you all to be very formal as well, but then I saw you...devour the meal that I had planned for you..." He trailed off, while gesturing to the food...or where the food was anyway...they haven't even noticed that they had eaten everything on the table apart from the plates and glasses that once held food.

"Oh well, at least you don't have to act like a knight or an uptight dude or something, so let's just cut to the chase, what's your name and how can you help Kanon get that gamer boy's love"

"Whoa whoa whoa" he raised his hands up in front of him, when Apollo questioned him excitedly. "I never said that I was going to help you win his love"

"but you said-"

"I said that I was going to help you and I will. I didn't say that I was going to help you win his heart and I won't" the boy stated matter-of-factly.

"Whhaaaaaaaat?" Apollo just looked a bit mortified by the statement. In all honesty, she looked like she didn't follow what he was trying to say at all.

"To put it simply, I'll help you in any way, besides giving you an advantage in making Keima fall in love" He said simply and the more serious goddesses closed their eyes in contemplation.

"So how do you intend on helping us if you're not going to-" Mars was cut off when the boy spoke.

"Basically, I'll do you a few favors from time to time. For example, I could erase the school's memory of what Ayumi had to do this morning" the boy explained. That would be a lot of help, because threre was a very particular person Ayumi was worried about finding out about today's latest events.

Yawn "Well I guess that would be some help, all things considered" Mercurius said lethargically; looking like was about to fall asleep any minute now.

"Of course, there will be some exceptions. For example, if one of your hosts were to do something that pushed Keima too far away and out of reach, then I would step in for said host to get back into the game" looked at the goddesses with a smile on his face and that smile turned into a chuckle, when he saw Apollo with swirly eyes and mouth wide open.

"Wait, why are you even helping us at all" Diana stood up with determined expression and exclaimed, but the boy was unfazed by this. "what could you possibly gain from this?"

"Because we're after the same goal; to get the guy to fall in love with the person of our choice" the boy said calmly, while taking on a serious expression. "I can't go into detail because my reasons are classified, but you all need to know that I am not an enemy, but I am not exactly an ally, since I'm supporting someone else to end up with Keima" the boy finished his explanation by sipping his drink and Diana slumped down in her seat.

"So, you're going to help us to an extent, but you'll be supporting someone else to fall in love with Katsuragi" Vulcanus said calmly and the boy just nodded in assesment "then is this person's identity classified as well?"

"Not exactly, as a matter of fact, you all know her or at least have met her during Keima's search for you all" the boy answered with a teasing smile gracing across his lips as the goddesses all thought back to the time that they were still being searched for by Keima and Diana's eyes widened before she rocketed out of her chair again, like she had just been pulled up by invisble strings.

"I KNEW IT, I KNEW HAQUA WAS IN LOVE WITH KEIMA!" She exclaimed, which made everyone relieved that nobody was actually eating in this restaurant. Diana was actually thinking about when she found Haqua Alone with Keima in the library. Her mind even started to think about...improper...thoughts of what they could've been doing during that time that they were alone. Heaven-knows-what they would've done if she didn't come in when she did...

.

Keima would've found Haqua in the library alone and depressed and he would snuggle her figure until she felt better, until she barged in...or...

Keima would find Haqua in the library and Haqua would confess his love to him. After that they would've started kissing each other all day long if she hadn't barged in when she did. Or..

Maybe Keima would've opened the door and lock it behind him, then when Haqua told him that if he didn't open the door right this instant she would leave. Then Keima would've pushed Haqua down on one of available tables and get on top of her with their faces looking lustful...and then...and then...AND THEN...

.

"Okay, before that imagination and jealousy of yours gets out of hand. I would like to point out that nothing happened between them...yet" the boy said the last part with a mischievous smirk that was identical to Apollo's trademark expression when teasing Kanon.

"What do you mean jealousy?! I am only worrying in Tenri's behalf" the blush on her face begs to differ.

"So says the goddess who fell for the guy herself" the boy said with the same smirk, which made Diana blush violently before she slammed her hands on the table and yelled in her embarassment.

"I DID NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM!"

"that reaction reaction begs to differ" same smirk on his face. By this time, all the goddesses, excluding Vulcanus and Minerva were looking at said goddess with teasing expressions on their faces. Vulcanus looked more passive than anything else and Minerva was still looking at the boy as if he was some celebrity. Mercurius looked lethargic than anything else.

"I had an inkling that demon girl had feelings for that dirty little man. all the time they spent together would have surely caused something to grow" Vulcanus said with her eyebrows twitching. It was all she could do to stop herself from launching the table in her fury. She knew that Keima was 6-timing dirty little man, but she had her suspicions about his relationship with the violet-haired girl. This confirmation just made the crimson-haired goddess even more furious about said gamer.

"I'm glad I didn't tell her about the times that Keima walked in oner while she was naked in the bathroom" The boy murmured in his relief...which didn't go unheard as he saw the crimson-haired goddesses' eyes flash wide open with the most furious expression he has seen by far. For the most handicapped of the sisters she sure gained sharp hearing in the worst of times.

"What was that?!" Her voice was definitely seething with anger as Luna floated infront of him with a pair of scissors. (Where did she even get those?) "You better not have the same thing in stored for Tsukiyo"

Oh...so she thinks that he was the reason Keima walked in on Haqua and that he was planning the same thing. In all honesty, He wasn't and he would never even consider such a lewd option to help Haqua win Keima's heart. Keima considered himself as the god of conquests; he was above the temptation of the flesh, which would explain why he wouldn't even flinch at the numerous times she saw Haqua naked in the bathroom. So, such a lewd option was out of the question...for now.

"I most certainly am not" the boy said with an offended tone. "I would never even consider using such lewd tactics to win somebody's heart" the boy turned away genuinely offended, before the doll floated back into the goddess' arms.

"to sum it up, I'll be helping you to an extent" the boy said, while standing up and fixing his hat. "but there will be a new player and a new coach joining in on the competition."

"Then would it be too much to ask for any piece of advice you may have?" Diana was the one who asked and by the look of her blushing face, she was clearly uncomfortable with the question. However, none of the goddesses had any experience in love at all and this boy may be the ray of hope that they needed...but then again, what if the advice he would give them would benefit him more than it would benefit their hosts...

"Keima analyzes the real world with his own world." The boy spoke in matter of fact tone. "The best option would be to actually make him 'care' about you, otherwise, he'll just treat you like an interference from the real. Also none of you are heroines because this time around your the players and Keima is your target. Remind your hosts of that every time Keima attempts to turn the tables. One last piece of advice, do NOT let him gain control. You could make him think that he's in control, but I doubt that he won't see through it. He's pretty smart, but I'm sure you're all aware of that."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Yawn

"...for someone who's practically our love rival...you seem more than willing to...say those...advantageous facts...you sure you should've done that?" Mercurius was the least bothered by the sudden flood of information thqt the boy had just given them. He just smirked before saying...

"Well, with all due respect, this...subject...isn't really something you're good at, so I thought that you'd need all the help you can get.

"Touché, then can we get our benefactor's name?" Mercurius asked lethargically.

"Call me Kenway; Amadeus Kenway" with that Amadeus walked out of the restaurant and into the night air. The runes immediately dispersed as soon as he left, but that was probably because he willed the spell to disperse and not an issue of distance, which left the goddesses in a very quiet restaurant that was only filled by an illusion spell to make them think that the restaurant was filled with people.

They switched with their hosts and all they could do was look at each other with uncertainty.

"So what do we do now?"

...

"Seeing them like this, tickles my urge to kill" a green-haired demon with a white coat and bandaged arms and legs was watching the whole scene unfold with neutral expression on her face. "but I guess I'll have to wait, they'll die soon enough, afterall this was part of the plan." She was about to fly away when she saw the human that the goddesses were talking to earlier walk out of the restaurant, which brought a small smile on the demon's face. He was just standing outside the reastaurant while tyoing on his phone. The sheer vulnerability was more than enough to put a huge, creepy, and disturbing smile on the demon's lips

"hmmm...I suppose one kill won't hurt anybody" she would never know just how ironic her statement was because as she prepared herself to lunge at the human standing outside the restaurant the white-haired boy look at her directly...

"Sorry" the demon was shocked to hear a male voice come from right behind her. She froze in place from the surprise that she felt. She looked at the boy again and...he wasn't there. "I can't let you leave after what you had just seen" the demon brought out her box cutter and turned to stab the boy only to discover that the boy had already grabbed her wrist from behind.

"Hehehe" the demon chuckled before the blade of the box cutter suddenly zigzaged like a hinged snake towards the boy...only to be dismantled in mid-air and drop to the ground in a pile of box cutter blades, when it hit a barrier of yellow runes that mysteriously appeared and disappeared in mid-air, where the blade should've pierced the boy. "You..." Lune never got to finish her sentence, when Amadeus suddenly held his hand in front of her with runes appearing in mid-air as well.

FLASH

Lune dropped on the ground unconscious on the rooftop.

Amadeus raised his sleeve to his mouth and said...

"This is Archangel Deus K. I have a live target, ready for immediate extraction. Target is considered extremely dangerous, but has been disarmed. take extreme precaution in transfer. use level 5 security. Current location, Maijima city 58-75. Deep shadow conditions. What is your ETA?" Amadeus said to the transmitter that was made invisible in his sleeve.

"10 minutes, do you require any reinforcements?"

"Not necessary"

"Possible threats?"

"Clear in a five mile radius"

"extraction unit is on the way"

"Also I need you to execute a massive memory sweep within a five mile radius of the Maijima high school. Target anybody who is uninvolved during the events that happened from 7:00 to 12:00"

"understood"

Amadeus just sat back on the rooftop and watched the goddess hosts leave the restaurant a few seconds prior to his takedown. It was a good thing that he was channeling a detection spell around the whole area during their little chat, otherwise this green-haired lunatic might have been able to report to her superiors about what happened here, which is bad.

"Don't worry" he said to the unconcsious demon girl by his side "everything's going to be fine. By tomorrow morning, you'll think of this like a bad dream"

...

...

Vague exposition is vague. Okay, so I felt the need to elaborate more on a huge part of the overall story, which is my OC. However, I can assure you that there are more things to come in that aspect.

Second, I didn't really intend to make Apollo look and sound like an idiot in this chapter, but...you know...

I know that the dialogue about the guardians is vague in this chapter and a little bit shoehorned, but it's only natural. Don't worry we'll get to that in the forseeable future and hopefully the revelations won't look so forced.

Another thing, I would like to thank the reviewers and readers who have showed me their support for this fanfic. If it weren't for them this fanfic would probably take a longer time to update.

Expect more haremXKeima moments in the following chapters

Until next time.