Elopement

Elopement
逃避行 Tōhikō
Chapter Info
Release Date	June 21st, 2011
Chapter	FLAG.147[1]
Volume	Volume 16
Arc	Old Conquest Arc
Adapted into	Anime episode 33.0
Chapter Guide
Previous Text Adventure	Next The Long Confinement

Elopement (逃避行 Tōhikō) is the 147^th chapter of The World God Only Knows.

Synopsis

While drinking tea and eating her sweets, Shiori is already busy, trying to finish writing her story. She is behind schedule, and she now realizes the true terror of being a writer. Fujiidera saw that Shiori would be able to make an amazing story, since Shiori is known for being Mai-High's legendary book lover, or bibliomaniac. Shiori was hurt by this, for she felt being called anything with "-maniac" is insulting. She felt that she could write better than an amateur writer because of the amount of books she read, but she still does not have anything written down, even though the story is due in two days. She continues to worry about the deadline, submitting to the use of the perverted-man Keima as the main idea, as this theme is quite intense and unique.

Shiori starts on the beginning, as all historical masterpieces are all interesting from the very beginning. She also thinks back on the words of someone that if the ending the ending is unclear, it is because of the beginning. At first, the intros that Shiori for the story are very simple, saying "There was a man. He said his name was Katsuragi." or "I am a cross-dressing man. The name's Katsuragi." Feeling she needs to make it more original and interesting, she accidentally creates a sci-fi opening, creating galactic warfare in the plot.

She continues to create mistakes, until she creates one centered around the main character. "Katsuragi was a mysterious man. By any standards he was an oddball...had no honor...and a mean look in his eyes...and to top it off, he was a cross-dresser!" To her surprise, this opening is to her liking, for only a few books followed this style. She wonders if she should add more, but just by adding a simple pet cat, she brings in the same galactic warfare plot in.

Shiori feels now that her grand knowledge of books may be bringing her down, as she always feels that someone else has already written the plot lines she is currently trying to write.

Looking back on this, she regrets the fact that she wanted to write a novel. Even though she wants to write about Keima, she knows so little about him. She wants to call him, but she does not have his number nor the confidence. Then she thinks about using the phone to search through the net, just like any other kid might do. But when she looks through the net, rumors about Keima and Kanon is already flooding the pages. Seeing this, Shiori feels technology is not for her.

Again, she thinks about the "man" who was approaching Keima before. But when she thinks logically, Shiori feels that everything that has happened, such as Keima cross-dressing, him going out with the top idol and this other man trying to get close to Keima, could have all been a delusion. Then again, she feels that the kiss with Keima could have also been a delusion. Curious about this, she wonders if she should ask him directly, but feels that she might feel too embarrassed if she was in the wrong. She thought Keima could be one of her muses, but he is more of a messenger from hell.

Shiori feels like sleeping, but the time is now 2 am. She has no time and should be working on her novel. She thinks that studying books of the same subject may help, but she gets carried away and reads unrelated books for an hour and half. Seeing this, she tries to put the books away, but again she finds a book of interest and eats up another hour and a half. Feeling like an idiot, she wonders what she should do now that it's 5 am. The library opens in four hours and she is sure Keima will be there then. She wonders why it is getting more difficult to write the more she tries.

Shiori thinks if she's useless at the moment, why not just stop writing. Instead of writing useless works and showing them to Keima, she feels she should write a more compelling story and show him next time. She wants to tell Keima "I can't see you today," then again, she has no means of communication with him. But she thinks back again, thinking that now is the time to work. She has never felt this restlessness, this nervousness, but this is how it is like to be a writer. This was what she was waiting for. She now calls upon the god of literature to help her....

The next day, she presents bank pages to Keima. She asks for one hour to complete the novel, but Keima lashes back on how short is her novel going to be if it only needs one hour. Keima notices that Shiori has indeed been working, for pages of the notebook have been ripped out. Keima calls out to Shiori, telling her that they'll use the remaining time of the day to finish the story, because it is indeed a national holiday. He'll stay with her in the library until she's done. This is Keima's last resort to this event....

Reference