Personally, I'm not really fond of this chapter, but I wanted each goddess to have a small scene at least, so this is how i ended up doing it. Kinda short, but this is really just the exposition and setup stuff, (tedious i say, but necessary). As many of you may have figure out by now, I am terribly bad at finishing what I start. Despite my two other fics that appear to be currently stuck in limbo, I have gone and created yet another one. Forgive me for that. (And watch for an update to my other stories, I promise to have something up at some point soon)
Chapter 1: Letters
"K-kami-nii-samaaaaaa!" A young, raven haired girl barged into Katsuragi Keima's room, tripping over the piles of unfinished games and promptly faceplanting hard onto the floor. The two letters she had previously been holding fluttered to the ground, unheeded by the other occupant of the room.
Pushing his glasses up, and barely shifting his gaze from the rather impressive array of monitors, Keima scolded the girl,
"Elsea! how many times do I have to tell you not to just burst in here! Now be quiet, I'm close to advancing Fuuka-chan's path!"
He indicated wildly to the bottom-right screen.
Elsea picked herself up off of the floor, glancing at the screen; a teal-haired, pale girl was offering the player a homemade lunch. Apparently it wasn't as appetizing as it looked.
'How is it?' the girl on the screen questioned nervously.
"HA! the obvious answer is that it's delicious!" the brunette gamer scrolled over the appropriate response, and was rewarded with a new message:
The Fuuka Yamagishi social link has reached level 4!
Averting her eyes from the screen, Elsea grasped the fallen letters, remembering why she had come up in the first place.
"Kami-nii-sama, I got this really weird letter, and so did you!"
"Don't...care...about...the real.."
Keima's movements became even faster, as if trying to stave off the encroachment of the real into his gaming paradise. The entire time he spoke, not once did his eyes flicker from the screen. However, his nuisance of a partner just would not leave him alone. Pouting and tugging on his sleeve, it would seem that Elsea absolutely would not leave until he humor her. Finally, Keima had had enough.
"Fine! I'll read the letter if you get out when I'm done!"
Sighing in irritation at her happy nod, he grabbed his letter out of her hand, raising an eyebrow at the strange red seal and fancy script. Opening the letter, Keima immediately noted the strange material and the even stranger method of address. Whoever had sent this had his location down to the gaming chair in his room! Slightly suspicious, though he couldn't imagine himself of all people having stalkers. He was known as the game otaku, after all. Pushing that particular mystery out of his mind, Keima tore open the envelope, extracting a litter written in fancy cursive print:
Dear Mr. Katsuragi,
We at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have been requested to oversee a year of your education. Although this is a highly unusual request, and at a strange time, no less, Hogwarts is dedicated to ensuring students have an opportunity to learn the craft, should they so desire. So, on behalf of the entirety of the Hogwarts staff, I would like to invite you to join Hogwarts as a study abroad student for a single year, as per the request of your benefactor...
Next door, a similar scene was taking place, where a black haired girl sporting two braided loops read the letter aloud to her reflection which, surprisingly, spoke back.
...Coincidentally, it has come to our attention that there are a number of magical signatures in close proximity of you, most of which seem to have very little to no schooling in the arcane arts. We at Hogwarts regret seeing such potential squandered...
Tenri and her reflection, Diana, glanced dubiously at each other.
On the roof of Maejima high, the lone member of the astrology club scanned a strange letter that had been left on the seat of her chair:
...As such, we have taken the initiative to invite them to Hogwarts as well, in hopes of both easing the transition and fostering said persons latent magical power...
At that point, Tsukiyo noticed the hideous, brown owl perched upon her chair, 'eeped' then had Vulcan throw several objects as it beat a hasty retreat.
Narusawa TV:
….As you may have already realized, this situation is highly unusual, especially since you have probably had very little to no interaction with magic...
Kanon Nakagawa then shrieked, just then noticing the ugly owl that was glaring at her expectantly. Throwing one of her sparking tasers at it, Kanon rushed back into the studio.
Hiding from her mother who was currently ranting about how a girl should act more 'elegant' and 'womanly', Yui Goidi was surprised to have a letter, addressed to her no less, drop into her lap:
...The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, has taken it upon himself to personally meet you and the other potential students in hopes of making the transition as smooth as possible...
At Maejima library, a dark haired librarian wearing two small bows on the sides of her head pored over a parchment, while a diminutive purple haired child peered over her shoulder.
...This meeting shall take place precisely one month prior to the start of term. Please be at the Katsuragi residence on August 1st at 12 in the afternoon...
At the mention of 'Katsuragi residence,' Shiori Shiomiya let out a quiet squeal and turned a bright red while the goddess, Minerva, fell, toppling the books she had been using to peer over her hosts' shoulder. Neither noticed the battered owl crawling out from under the pile of books.
Maejima track:
…There, you shall then be taken to purchase the necessary school supplies and take remedial classes. Term begins on September 1. A response to this letter is not necessary, simply attend the aformentioned meeting.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
The final recipient, a violet-haired girl in a tracksuit, finished reading the letter.
'Well, no harm in looking into it, right?' Ayumi Takahara mused.
'Correct, after all, it is an opportunity to visit his house.' Her goddess, Mercury, teasingly affirmed.
"Elsea, dear, you have a friend for you at the door!"
A woman's voice called out from downstairs.
"Coming mother!"
The exuberant demon-girl rushed out the room and down the stairs. At the sound of a 'thud', Keima assumed his ditz of a sister had fallen down the last two stairs again. Moments later, the sound of voices came from downstairs; Keima really hoped that the visitor would occupy his sister for a good amount of time.
Scanning the letter again, the brunette ground his teeth in irritation. He had already had his gaming time cut into quite badly because of Elsea's spirit hunting. If he went off to some strange school in England, God only knew how much time he would have left to game. The very idea was traumatizing. As he had told Elsea so many times before, his only obligation was to capture those runaway spirits that appeared every now and again, and that was only to prevent him from losing his head. Quite literally in fact, as the purple choker around his throat would liberate his head from his body, should he shirk his duties.
"There is absolutely no way in hell I am going to do something this idiotic" Keima announced to himself.
"I'm afraid you have no choice Katsuragi."
A teen girl with long, purple hair, grimly noted as she walked into Keima's room, calmly dancing around the precarious piles of games. Like Elsea-currently tailing behind her- his girl
also wore a skull hairpin and a garment that appeared to float around her, though hers was purple as opposed to elsea's pink.
"What exactly do you mean by 'no choice', Haqua?" The brunette's eyes narrowed at this new intruder in his sanctuary. This was a place of peacedammit, so why where there so many interlopers intruding on his personal space? It wasn't fair.
"Exactly what I mean. This is a direct order from chief Docrow Skull. You, Elsie and I are required to undertake this mission."
The now identified Haqua responded smoothly, though her cheeks did tint slightly red when he spoke her name.
Still confused, and more than a littles put off, Keima questioned why.
"Well, as the chief put it.."
Haqua placed a hand to her chin, recalling the conversation she had had with the chief:
"So why do I have to take care of runaway spirits in England? Isn't that the jurisdiction of the western division?"
The chief, a short, hooded figure turned her skull face up to glance at her subordinate
"Well yes, however, the European branch of the runaway spirit squad is extremely hesitant to act. Technically, this particular area of Great Britain does not fall under the jurisdiction of any of the squads."
"Then what happens to the loose souls?"
"We don't know. That's the problem." the small skull face added gravely "though quite a number of spirits manage to escape, very few of them actually manifest. It is quite worrisome, as the squad does not know what happens to these spirits."
"So you want us to investigate this?" the purple haired demon concluded.
"Naturally." Docrow sighed, "unfortunately, none of the other divisions want anything to do with this; they are afraid of getting involved with things that may well be out of their control"
"So If no one wants to touch this, why the japanese branch?"
"My, my, it's just like you to be so inquisitive, Haqua" the small demon laughed "and to answer your question, it is because the Japanese branch's capture rate is among the highest in the world, so we were delegated to handle the task."
"That's it?"
"Well to be honest, this is also to boost the Japanese Division's reputation. The 'Vintage Fiasco' as its now being called has lowered the other division's view of us," said the chief, shaking her head sadly.
Still looking doubtful, Haqua was about to voice another protest before being swiftly cut off by the chief.
"Did I mention that Else and her buddy will be accompanying you?" The miniature chief piped up.
"Wha-?"
"Its only natural, after all, Elsea's capture rates are the highest in Japan." Skull continued conversationally.
"Very well, I have no problem with this arrangement." In her mind, Haqua crowed, 'Keima-kun is coming as well!'
"I didn't think you would" the chief chuckled "Now off with you! go do whatever it is you young people do!"
"And that's about the gist of it" Haqua surmised, observing Keima's annoyed and Elsea's ecstatic face.
"Did the chief really say that about me? did she? did she!?"
"Elsie shut up for a bit," turning to Haqua, "and what happens if we refuse?"
"The collar cuts your heads off." Haqua stated simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world..
"I thought as much" Keima sighed, fingering the purple choker around his neck.
Glancing at the calendar, "July 24th, huh? I suppose I should pack. Both of you get out, and Elsea, go explain to mother and show her the letters."
Obediently, the two demons left the room.
"Well," Keima muttered to himself "if I am going to be there for a year, I'm going to have to bring everything."
His multiple monitors and mountain of games loomed silently over him.
"…Well maybe I'll finish a couple more games first."
Omake:
"Headmaster, was it really necessary to have a single owl distribute all those letters?"
"Of course, my dear Minerva, all of the students were quite close by each other after all, and all the other owls are out on errands."
"Still, that owl is rather old and frail and the flight to Japan is not a short one, I assure you..."
"Ah look, he has returned"
The old headmaster cut off his headmistress as an old barn owl alighted upon the windowsill.
"See? It turned out fine, and our friend here seems no worse for the wear."
Dumbledore seemed not to notice the singed tail feathers or slightly crumpled wing.
The owl cocked its head at Dumbledore, glaring in the way only owls could,
'I f****** hate you, old man'
Everything's scrunched up -_- I wanted to tab the portions with the letters and the flashback, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work in the editor, tis rather frustrating. I hate grammar and formatting so proofreading is not something I enjoy doing. As it is, there may be more than a few screw ups hiding here. If you find any please mention it in a comment so that I can hopefully avoid it in my next chapters.