Game Match!! (ゲーム勝負!! , Gēmu shōbu!!) is chapter 96 of the Beelzebub manga.
Summary[]
Walking to school on a cold morning, Kaoru greets Ryōko and asks her about the message she got from Nene informing them of a rival high school. Ryōko wishes to do something about it. Wishing them "Good Morning" and "Good Night" is Shimokawa, introducing himself to the girls and promising to lend them his support from the morning to the night. Walking off with Kaoru, Ryōko wishes him a "Good Bye". Shimokawa corrects her to their apathy, then stands in front of the two asks them when Kunieda will come back to school, having been gone for three nights now. Ryōko and Kaoru become very annoyed at him. Finally, Ryōko reveals to him where she really is.
At Saint Ishiyama Academy, Gō catches up with Izuma and confirms with him that he fought with Tōjō. Miki, Shinjō and Sakaki follow him, demanding to know why they weren't called to fight with him. Izuma is bewildered at their sudden grouping and claims that he didn't actually lose to Tōjō, rather it was a normal match. Walking off from the four, he claims to have been through something different and tries to send them off as homeroom class starts soon.
In the Special Activity Room, Sadohara introduces himself to the special Ishiyama High class as a substitute for Saotome, whom is absent. He is shocked to find the class nearly empty. Ryōko reports that Kanzaki, Himekawa, Natsume, Shiroyama, Furuichi, Oga, Kunieda, Nene, Chiaki and Yuka all became absent supposedly to accommodate their relatives whom had all been through an accident. She reports the rest of the absent students unknown, to which Sadohara starts to feel depressed that people hate him. Shimokawa coolly tries to comfort him by patting him on the shoulder. Feeling nervous, Ryōko recalls a phone call she had with Yuka last night where she told her that they went to Himekawa's residence to play games. Yuka explained that their rival mastermind seems to love games and that he'd tell them where he is if they win against him. Yuka also informs her of Chiaki's 30 lose streak against him and of Himekawa's negotiations with him. Yuka reported of coming back to Himekawa's residence the next day to Ryōko.
At Himekawa's residence, as Yuka and Kanzaki enter, a blonde-haired woman leaves the building. Yuka identifies her as a career woman. As they meet up with the rest of the Ishiyama High students to play, Chiaki reveals their next game: a war game where people gather online, make a team and fight. She claims to have stayed up all night and borrowed their game, to which Nene claims that her personality changes when it comes to gaming. Angrily, Kanzaki asks for the whereabouts of Furuichi and Lamia. From behind them, Alaindelon walks ahead and gets inside the elevator in front of them, leaving Kanzaki and Natsume traumatized as to where they have seen him before as Furuichi and Lamia reveal themselves. Waiting in the computer room, Himekawa greets the Ishiyama students and Lamia. He reveals nine computers inside with a large sub-monitor to let them check each other's moves. Everyone is amazed at Himekawa's setup, including Lamia, whom reminisces the Great Demon Lord's throne. Himekawa reports five hours left until 3:00pm, the time at which they will encounter En for their final online battle. As Himekawa starts to instruct everyone, Nene is already having trouble at the controls, to which Natsume is concerned. The game menu of The End of War 4 is revealed and Nene is overexcited, to which Himekawa tells her to calm down. Himekawa explains of The End of War 4 being a TPS, a third-person shooter, with the nine of them against the nine of En's. Himekawa claims that the nine players they're playing against will probably be summoned back-up players. Furuichi thinks over this concept. Himekawa explains the rules, in which the team annihilated will lose. He explains that teams are split into four types of characters: Medics, Scouts, Attackers and Engineers. He instructs the eight of them to choose any type with the promist of explaining them later. Already, Nene is nervous as she hadn't read the game manual, while Chiaki blushes, thinking of how cute she is. Himekawa instructs the eight how to move and adjust their cameras, to which Nene accidentally pulls out a hand grenade and kills Yuka. Himekawa frustratingly reveals that friendly fire is on in the game. Nene then shoots Chiaki with a rifle and saws Furuichi with a chainsaw to death by accident. Yuka claims that she is killing them all on purpose, while Himekawa calls Nene a killing machine. Shiroyama is feeling pessimistic over their gaming performance, while Natsume points his controller being upside down.
At almost 3:00pm, everyone is exhausted. Nene wants to go home while Chiaki blushes again as she thinks of her cuteness. Furuichi and Lamia stare at each other with Furuichi claiming she is better than he thought, to which Lamia agrees with her own talents. Connecting online is Team A comprising of HIME001 to HIME009 against Team B comprising of only ENOH. En messages his promise of coming to play against them and his promise to reveal his location if Team A wins. Kanzaki finds En naive while Yuka is nervous. En reveals his conditions if he wins. He claims he will become so happy, he won't stop crying, to which Lamia and Furuichi become alarmed as another player in their room scoffs his warning off.\
Elsewhere, on top of a mountain near Mapputatsu, Oga is annoyed at Kunieda's grandfather having lied to him by telling him to climb up a certain mountain in the morning to find something; he finds nothing. As he questions and confirms to Beelzebub if he'll really be able to use his Demon powers, Beelzebub spots a fly flying across Oga's head. He slaps his head only to miss the fly, causing Oga to yell for pain. Nearby, he hears a person laughing at Beelzebub's inability to kill a fly as the lord of flies. Oga is stunned to find who it is lurking among him and asks why he's here. Holding a cloth over his right shoulder, the man scolds Oga for his cold greeting, having had to take a holiday from school. Revealed as Saotome, he tells "shithead" Oga that the second part of his training is about to begin.
Characters in order of appearance[]
- Ryōko Asuka
- Kaoru Umemiya
- Shimokawa
- Hiromichi Gō
- Kaname Izuma
- Hisaya Miki
- Ichirō Shinjō
- Mitsuteru Sakaki
- Takumi Sadohara
- Ryūji Sanada
- Yuka Hanazawa (flashback)
- Chiaki Tanimura (flashback)
- Tatsuya Himekawa
- Yolda
- Hajime Kanzaki
- Takeshi Shiroyama
- Shintarō Natsume
- Nene Ōmori
- Alaindelon
- Takayuki Furuichi
- Lamia
- En
- Tatsumi Oga
- Beelzebub IV
- Zenjūrō Saotome