Oh My Goddess!
- FIRST END –
Written by
YUMI TOHMA
with Illustrations by
KOSUKE FUJISHIMA and HIDENORI MATSUBARA
English Translation by
CAMELLIA NIEH
OUR CHARACTERS
Belldandy
A Goddess First Class Type Two Unlimited and employee of the Goddess Technical Help Line, which provides aid to people in need. The middle sister, she is also the Goddess of the Present.
Urd
The eldest of the three sisters, Urd is the Goddess of the Past, with a Second Class, Management Category Limited license. Half-goddess and half-demon, she is the daughter of Hild, ruler of the Demon Realm. She can't—or won't—become a Goddess First Class because of her habit of telling lies.
Skuld
The youngest of the three sisters, Skuld is the Goddess of the Future, with a Second Class Type One Limited license. She barely has any magical powers yet, but she's a wizard with machines, inventing all sorts of amazing contraptions.
Keiichi Morisato
A short, penniless, run-of-the-mill college student with a heart of gold. Keiichi loves cars and motorcycles and works at a motorcycle shop run by Chihiro Fujimi, the original president of the Motor Club.
Peorth
Like Belldandy, Peorth is a Goddess First Class, Type Two Unlimited. Works for the Earth Assistance Hot-line, a rival organization to the Goddess Technical Help Line where Belldandy works.
Tamiya and Otaki
Upperclassmen in the Motor Club. Currently graduate students. Tend to be overbearing and pushy, dragging everyone around them into their wild schemes—particularly Keiichi.
WHAT IS OH MY GODDESS!?
Keiichi Morisato, a student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology, is short, poor, and a total failure with the ladies. One day, he finds himself visited by a real, live goddess. The goddess Belldandy offers to grant him one wish, and Keiichi responds, "I want a goddess like you to be with me always." His wish comes true, and before long Belldandy is joined by her elder sister Urd and younger sister Skuld. Thus begin the trials and tribulations of an ordinary college student living with three goddesses.
CONTENTS
Prologue 3
Chapter One
Utakata—Ephemera 11
Tasogare—Twilight 39
Kizashi—Omens 61
Chapter Two
Harubi—Spring Day 89
Banryoku—Verdant Horizons 122
Kyouen—Banquet 158
Chapter Three
Tsukihana—Moonflower 195
Kazabana—Windflower 252
Chapter Four
Kamitoki—Thunderbolt 281
Mizukagami—Water Mirror 308
Hakumei—Dusk 335
Ending 355
Afterword 363
PROLOGUE
"Uh-oh..."
Keiichi let out a soft exclamation and stopped what he was doing.
In a corner of the temple grounds, he'd been running the cell motor of his sidecar-equipped BMW for more than three hours. Louder and softer, louder and softer...its rumble had been irregular but continuous. Now, the motor stopped, gave off a few muffled pops, and was quiet.
Keiichi straightened up slightly—he'd been crouching for hours, completely absorbed in his work.
"Oops."
He let out a long sigh.
The sun shone brightly in the big blue sky, interrupted now and again by cool breezes from the east. The fan-shaped golden leaves of the ginkgo trees danced in the wind.
"I shouldn't have pushed it..."
He stood up slowly and began to walk with a heavy stride. The dried leaves scattered on the ground crunched underfoot.
It was a mild, sunny afternoon at Tarikihongan Temple. After glancing around the grounds, Keiichi gave the sliding door to the main building a strong shove, sending it rattling open.
Sunlight streamed into the dark interior.
Once inside the front entryway, Keiichi sighed deeply, as if to belie the vigor with which he had pushed open the door.
"Now I've done it," he lamented aloud.
Reaching back, Keiichi quietly pulled the door shut and sank listlessly onto the stoop that led up into the building. Carelessly, he wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, which was rolled up to the elbow, and gazed down at his still-clenched right fist.
"Out of the way, Keiichi!"
Startled, Keiichi jumped to his feet and did an about-face.
"O-oh! Skuld!"
Where had she come from? Skuld stood with a shopping basket in hand and a sunny expression that contrasted with Keiichi's flustered one.
"Don't just sit there in the middle of the front entryway. If you're taking a break, at least come inside."
He certainly couldn't argue with that.
"Oh, uh, sorry...Are you going shopping?"
"Yep! The new issue of Dobon comes out today!"
Dobon was the manga magazine that Skuld read faithfully every month. She could always be counted on to be in a good mood the day it hit the shelves.
"Th-that's great!" That accounted for her cheeriness. As discreetly as possible, Keiichi used his left hand to cover the object he was gripping, hiding it behind his back.
"Well," he offered pleasantly, trying to match Skuld's bright smile, "take care, then!" He began to beat a swift retreat, but unfortunately, human beings are cursed with the tendency to be most obvious when they're trying hardest to hide something.
Not surprisingly, Skuld noticed.
"Just a minute, Keiichi...You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"!!"
Bull's-eye. Keiichi froze.
"First you act all panicked and flustered, then you turn all cool and casual...something's going on!"
Skuld extended her hand. Unfortunately, her first Reveal Hidden Object spell failed. Despite his despondency, Keiichi's reflexes remained intact.
"Rats!"
She attempted the spell a second time, then a third. But each time, her hand only waved impotently in the air.
"Argh!" Skuld glowered at the floor. Her rosy mood had evaporated completely, and ominous angry clouds were beginning to gather.
"...id, aren't you..."
"Huh?" Keiichi couldn't make out whatever it was Skuld was muttering. But it was plain from her trembling shoulders and clenched fists that her irritation was quickly evolving into rage.
"S-S-Skuld?" Keiichi stammered fearfully. Skuld's anger-voltage continued its steady climb.
"You're treating me...like a kid...aren't you?!"
"Wha...?"
This time, her words were clear but the message caught him off-guard.
"You're blowing me off because you think I'm just a kid, aren't you!"
"Huh? No...I never..."
The unforeseen accusation and unprovoked surge of fury baffled Keiichi. But with the needle of her anger-gauge hovering in its red zone, Skuld was in no state to listen to reason.
Slowly, she raised her head. "Fine! If that's how you're going to be...I'm telling!"
"What?"
"I'm telling Belldandy on you!"
"What's Belldandy got to do with this?" For some reason, the sudden mention of Skuld's big sister seemed not so much surprising to Keiichi as completely absurd.
But when Skuld was set on getting her way, reason and coherence went out the window. This time, her power play was to use Keiichi's beloved Belldandy as leverage to make Keiichi cave.
"Belldandyyyy...Belldandyyy...Keiichi's hi—" Skuld began to shout toward the back rooms, her voice triumphant. This was beginning to get out of hand.
"Okay, okay! It's really not that big a deal!"
Reluctantly, Keiichi slowly brought his right hand out from behind his back.
"That's better!" A pleased smile spread across Skuld's face, both from the satisfaction of having won and the excitement of uncovering what she was after.
"I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed," Keiichi found himself muttering when he saw the curiosity glittering in Skuld's eyes.
"...a screwdriver?"
Skuld frowned at the uninteresting tool in Keiichi's hand. It was clear from her reaction that this wasn't what she'd expected. Keiichi sighed. Just as he'd thought.
"I tried to tell you..."
"Then why wouldn't you just show it to me? You looked so suspicious—I thought it was something important!" Her interest completely evaporated, Skuld retrieved the shopping basket she'd flung to the ground.
Keiichi's expression clouded slightly at her sudden indifference.
"It is important. To me, anyway...As it happens, this screwdriver is kind of special...I've always done my best to take excellent care of it. But just now, I was using it, and I twisted it just a little bit too hard..."
"Oh?"
Skuld took the specialty Phillips screwdriver from Keiichi and examined it closely. A tiny corner was missing from the precision-formed plus-shape at its tip.
"It looks to me like it should still work."
The flaw was so small it was hardly noticeable without careful scrutiny. But a Phillips screwdriver's torque was a function of its head fitting perfectly into the grooves of the screw. Even the tiniest chip would change the tool's feel significantly, hampering its effectiveness at performing delicate tasks.
"If it really bothers you, I'll get you a new one while I'm out. A number 3, right? Until I get back, you can borrow one of mine," Skuld offered breezily.
Keiichi snatched the screwdriver back. "No, Skuld..."
"Why not? It's hard to use now, right?"
"That's not the point..."
As Keiichi gazed lovingly at his screwdriver, Skuld's face registered disappointment. Here she'd gone out of her way to be nice, and Keiichi was turning her down?
"Then what is the point?"
"It's just that..." Keiichi bit his lip. "Remember when I told you that scratches are part of a person's history? That goes for everything we use, including tools. Even when they get chipped, or worse, broken...when you've used something for a long time, through good times and bad, that makes that something one-of-a-kind. It makes it irreplaceable. That's how I feel, anyway."
Skuld listened attentively to what Keiichi had to say, but in the end she remained unconvinced.
"Yeah, but...it's a tool. Usability is everything, right?" She swung her shopping basket and hopped into her shoes. "Sheesh, what a waste of time! I'm off to buy Dobon now!" Where was her rage now? Skuld bounded off into the afternoon sun, her good cheer restored.
"I suppose that makes sense, too..." Keiichi smiled wryly from inside the building as he watched Skuld disappear into the distance.
"But I still prefer this old thing," he concluded, grinning. He squeezed the Phillips screwdriver.
CHAPTER ONE
UTAKATA — EPHEMERA
Dancing gently in the breeze, the large white magnolia flowers looked almost like handkerchiefs tied to the tree's limbs. Amid the blooms, sparrows flew busily hither and thither. Twittering happily, they flitted from branch to branch as if playing hide-and-seek.
Just then, a single sparrow fluttered to the ground, abandoning its companions frolicking among the blossoms. In bouncy little hops, it advanced toward the figure that stood near the front entrance to the main building.
Vreeeeeeee.
A lens focused on the approaching sparrow, capturing the small, round black eyes peeking out from its cap of white and brown feathers.
Banpei smiled in spite of himself. Well—to be accurate, the "anti-demon tactical strike robot" built by Skuld to protect the goddesses and Keiichi day and night didn't have the capacity to actually smile. But if he did, Banpei would have been smiling right now.
He was capable of love, of offering aid...and even of making mistakes. Endowed with an abundance of both compassion and pathos, Banpei was more tenderhearted than a human being.
The sparrow drew fearlessly closer to Banpei, as if it could somehow read the security robot's true nature. Then it leapt into the air, coming to rest on the black conical straw hat on Banpei's head.
Immediately, the rest of the flock, having observed their companion from above, swarmed down toward Banpei. Perching on the robot's hat and arms, the sparrows amused themselves, fluttering and alighting, fluttering and alighting.
Bathed in the gentle rays of the still-dawning sun, it was a peaceful morning like any other at Tarikihongan Temple.
In a hot skillet, a pat of butter sputtered and melted, readying the pan to receive the frothy, beaten eggs. Sizzling appetizingly, the eggs cooked quickly.
Belldandy sang a lilting melody as she stirred the eggs with her cooking chopsticks, her long, chestnut-colored ponytail swaying to the tune of her song. A rosy glow flushed her pale, creamy complexion.
When they were scrambled but still moist, Belldandy transferred the fluffy eggs to a plate. Then she added the bacon she'd fried in a separate pan. There—breakfast was ready.
Belldandy smiled, satisfied with her work.
"What should I be doing?"
In the living room, an agitated Keiichi was beginning to regret having sat down at the low table so early.
"Reading the paper? No, that doesn't seem right...Watching TV? No, that's not right either..."
Belldandy's singing was faintly audible through the sliding paper doors that separated the living room from the kitchen. This was part of her normal breakfast-making routine.
On the other hand...the sight that had met Keiichi's eyes that morning made it clear that this was not going to be an ordinary breakfast.
The low table was adorned with a lace tablecloth. Keiichi's normal chopsticks and chopsticks-rest were absent, supplanted by a carefully placed set of sparkling silverware.
"Why am I so nervous?"
Keiichi's pulse thumped loudly in his ears. He couldn't help feeling somewhat ashamed that he was so intimidated by this situation.
"This is pretty pathetic." He gave a wry little laugh and took deep breaths, doing his best to calm down.
The goddess' gentle voice greeted him cheerfully. "Keiichi, your breakfast is ready!"
The paper door slid open, and the living room was transformed by a delicious smell and Belldandy's dazzling smile. For a moment, Keiichi found himself leaning forward in eager anticipation.
"Pardon me." Belldandy excused herself demurely as she entered the room with her well-laden tray.
"Er, of course!"
This was definitely no ordinary breakfast. Flustered, Keiichi sat up as straight as possible.
In a long beige dress and white lacy apron, Belldandy almost looked like a maidservant. Keiichi was unable to look directly at her as she kneeled beside him and served him with deft, graceful movements.
First, a glass of fresh, antioxidant-rich tomato juice. A bowl of yogurt garnished with chopped strawberries and apples in the upper left corner, and a steaming cup of creamy corn soup in the upper right. A basket of fragrant, piping hot rolls on the left, and finally, the main dish—bacon and scrambled eggs—between the knife and fork.
"Wow!" Keiichi let out a sigh of wonder at the dazzling spread. But immediately, he realized his dilemma. "Um, I don't really know the proper etiquette for this kind of thing..."
From the waist up, the use of silverware suggested that Western table manners were in order. But from the waist down, sitting cross-legged at a low table added a definite Japanese element, making Keiichi wonder if perhaps such decorum was unnecessary. Despite this awkwardness, Keiichi racked his brains, trying to remember the correct rules for dining with a knife and fork.
"Keiichi, the most important thing is that you enjoy your meal. I'll be happiest if you just forget about proper etiquette and eat however you like."
Finally, Keiichi's tense expression softened. "Thanks, Belldandy—that's a big relief!"
He set his knife down and transferred the fork to his right hand.
"This looks delicious!"
With a look of pure joy, Keiichi started in on his scrambled eggs. Next, he applied a pat of margarine to a fresh-baked roll. The warm bread quickly melted the margarine, and Keiichi opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth into its softness. A delicious fragrance wafted up into his nostrils.
"I know you've said that rice fills you up better than bread...but the photo of a hotel-style breakfast in my magazine looked so lovely, I had to try it," Belldandy explained. "What do you think?"
She pulled a magazine out from under the low table, opening it to the bookmarked article about a vacation resort on some distant shore. Pictures of the cuisine at the hotel restaurant were presented next to the photos of luxurious suite rooms.
A stem of delicate Chinese Lantern Lilies arched gracefully in a small vase. The silver was buffed to a high shine, and the glasses were of sparkling Bohemian crystal. The places were set with Meissen porcelain dishes as if it were no big thing.
Though the tableware in front of him paled in comparison to that of the magazine, to Keiichi, nothing could top a meal that Belldandy had cooked specially for him.
"This is fantastic. No hotel has a better breakfast than this!" Grinning from ear to ear, he stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth.
Belldandy's lavender eyes danced at the sight of Keiichi's enjoyment. Nothing made her happier than watching him take pleasure in her cooking. His sincere words filled her with inexpressible warmth.
"That was a real feast."
Not the most delicate eater, Keiichi polished off his breakfast in no time flat and let out a sigh of contentment. The fact that not a single drop of food remained testified to his satisfaction.
"I'll put on some tea." Belldandy began to clear the table, her lacy apron fluttering. Just then, the telephone in the hallway began to ring.
"Who could that be at this hour?" Keiichi frowned. It was unusual for the phone to ring so early in the morning.
"I'll get it." Halfway to the kitchen, Belldandy changed direction and moved toward the hall.
As she stepped out of the living room, the chill in the air told her that spring's arrival was yet to come.
The sound of the telephone grew louder as she made her way down the corridor. But despite its insistent ringing, Belldandy was unhurried as she picked up the receiver.
"Morisato residence," she said.
"Belldandy! It's me, Skuld!"
The voice on the other end conveyed an urgency even greater than the ringing phone.
It had all begun two days ago.
Then, too, the phone had rung...at first, Skuld had ignored it, pretending not to hear. But she was the only one home, and eventually she reluctantly picked up the receiver.
"Yeah?" she said unenthusiastically. It violated her principles, but she was willing to use the I'm-just-a-kid act if it meant dodging a telemarketer.
"Oh, tres bien! I'm so glad someone's home"
"Peorth?"
Like Belldandy, Peorth was a Goddess First Class Type 2 Unlimited. Her extensive skills were put to use in managing the Yggdrasil system. For that reason, unless something major was happening, they didn't hear from her often.
"...Er, what's going on?" Skuld asked hesitantly.
"Yggdrasil's in a state of emergency!"
Exactly as Skuld had feared. Of course things had to go wrong when her big sisters weren't home! She felt a wave of gloom at the unfortunate timing.
But up in Heaven, that was the furthest concern from Peorth's mind. Her explanation issued forth like a stormy tirade.
Setting aside the technical and mathematical details, the basic gist of it was that for several days, there had been a sudden epidemic of bugs in Heaven.
Skuld sat down and hugged her knees, listening to Peorth go on and on. After about twenty minutes, Peorth finally paused and Skuld managed to cut in, "but this is nothing new, right? Bugs are always popping up in Yggdrasil—so if you just launch a debugging program..."
"Evidement. We did that quite some time ago." Peorth interrupted, as if to rebuke Skuld for stating the obvious. The rising pitch of her voice betrayed her irritation. She let out a sigh. "But this is something different. Otherwise, I wouldn't be calling, n'est pas?"
"Something different?" Skuld stopped playing with the telephone cord and gripped the receiver with both hands. "Then the debugging ...
Rinnel