THE DEVIL AND THE HERO LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF
One stop away from Meidaimae Station on the Keio Inokashira Line express train was Eifukucho Station, where one could step off and walk about five minutes to reach the Urban Heights Eifukucho apartments. This was the home of Emilia Justina, Hero of the Land of the Holy Cross—in effect, the headquarters of Ente Isla’s savior.
Maou’s mouth hung open. “W-wow…”
“…”
The sigh of wonder at the building’s majesty made Emi all but grit her teeth.
“It’s only two minutes’ walk to a convenience store!
I…I’m not that surprised by an autolock. I see ’em all the time in my deliveries… What do people even use the sofa here in the lobby for?! …You’ve got three elevators?!”
“Would you shut up for a minute?!”
The honed shout from Emi made the person next to her quiet down with a shiver. Getting off at the fifth floor, she stood in front of the door deepest down the corridor, bracing herself as she put the key in the hole.
“Let me just say this,” she said before turning it. “If you try to do anything funny in here—I don’t care if it’s in front of Alas Ramus or not—you’re gonna be dead the very next second.”
“Haven’t heard you be all defensive like this in a while.”
“Of course you haven’t. Never in my life did I expect this to happen.”
Resigned to her fate, Emi opened the door with a great lament:
“What horrible twist of fate would ever force me to invite the Devil King to my own home?!”
The sight that greeted Maou as he balanced a large backpack on his shoulders made his eyes flash wide.
“Damn, it’s huge!”
The kitchen space itself, visible through the doorway, looked big enough to house the entirety of Room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka. It featured a large sink, a roomy refrigerator, and—
“…Your slippers.”
“Huh?”
“The slippers you bought on the way here. Put ’em on.”
“Oh…”
There, by the door, were two pairs of slippers—one large, one small. Both looked pretty broken in.
“Wow, it’s hard to get comfy in these…”
“No running around here in just socks, all right? If you do, I’m sending you down on hands and knees to wipe the floors.”
Meekly obeying the pressure of the take-no-prisoners command, Maou took out the slippers he purchased along the way and put them on. He seemed uncomfortable in them.
As he minced into the apartment proper, Emi closed the door behind her with a resigned sigh. The air around them now fully belonged to the room’s interior, bringing with it the “aroma” of the place.
“You know, it’s kind of surprising, actually,” Maou said.
“…What is?”
“Like, this is my very first time in your apartment.”
“…Yeah. Not that you ever needed to be here.”
“Well, thanks for letting me in. I know you’re the boss around here, so I’ll do what you say, okay?”
“…” Now Emi felt hesitant to lock the front door.
“Hey, aren’t you gonna lock it? Whether or not you’ve got an autolocking front door, that’s not very careful.”
Maou, of course, failed to get the picture.
“…You’re saying that to me?”
Emi twisted the lock hard, almost ripping it off as her face contorted.
“…Why does this have to happen…?”
Recalling the monumental events of three days ago, she couldn’t help but sit down there by the front door, collecting herself.
“Look, whether it’ll help Alas Ramus or not, I absolutely cannot allow it. You need to give us some other method,” Emi insisted.
“I’m not exactly a fan of it, either, but do you have to be that blunt about it?” Maou said.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”
Amane must have expected it all—Emi’s flat refusal, Maou’s sheepish rebuttal—because it almost made her fall off the sofa.
“Oh, you guys are the best! I heard you were getting along better these days so I figured you’d react a little more normally, but you should have seen the looks on your faces!”
“I’m not sure what kind of reaction you expected, but I can’t do it. It’s simply impossible.” Emi sharply shook her head. “Why? Why would I ever be forced to live together with this man?”
“Your partner, you mean?”
“…He acts as Alas Ramus’s dad. I’ll recognize that. But I refuse to let you describe him as that.”
“Wow! Man, it really is complicated between the two of you, isn’t it?”
“Amane, are you poking fun at us? Because this is serious business involving Alas Ramus. I apologize for coming here and bothering you in the middle of the night, but I need you to be more serious with us.”
“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha!!”
“Amane!!”
The more serious and composed Emi tried to be, the closer Amane came to bursting out in hysterical laughter.
“Ahhh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just so funny to me because it wasn’t the reaction I expected at all. But…y’know, sorry to disappoint, but I am serious.”
Amane repositioned herself in her seat, leaning forward a bit as she tried to soothe her captives.
“Maou, Yusa, and Alas Ramus. It needs to be the three of you living together.”
“…How is that ethically feasible? ’Cause I mean, frankly, you’re asking me to room with Emi, you know?” Maou wasn’t being as coldly rigid with his choice of words, but he had zero interest in the concept, either.
“Please, even if it’s just an idea, don’t even describe it as ‘rooming’ with me. I don’t want to hear that again if it kills me.” Emi aimed the full brunt of her anger at Maou, all but ready to take Acieth’s place in the food-driven death-ray department.
“Huh…?” Then Amane started wincing herself. “Why is a Devil King who staged a worldwide massacre talking to me about ethics?”
“Is that really worth discussing at the moment? That’s not the point.”
“Well, I mean, you still see people from really conservative families who swear they’ll never do it, but it’s…like, some people have hang-ups about living with someone they love before getting married, yeah? But you guys hate each other, so sharing a place wouldn’t change much, would it?”
“Amane, do you realize how little sense you’re making?” Maou asked.
“Because it’s not about ‘living’ with him,” Emi explained. “I don’t want the Devil King to spend even a single second inside my home.”
“Aww, but Yusa, you’re going in and out of Maou’s place all the time, aren’t you?”
“It’s completely normal for a Hero to storm an invasion of the Devil King’s lair! And it’s completely unthinkable for the Devil King to visit the Hero’s house!!”
“Hmm, maybe…”
Maou seemed convinced for a moment. But Amane just smirked at them, eyes turning positively evil.
“…Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee… Sounds like you just let the cat out of the bag, Yusa.”
“H-how?!”
“I didn’t specify where you’d be living, did I? So, Yusa, why are you assuming that I wanted y’all to live in your apartment, hmmmm?”
“…Oh.” Maou looked at Emi, things now dawning in his mind. But Emi’s face went even more neutral than before.
“I’m sure you’re making fun of me,” she flatly stated, “but Libicocco is living in Room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka right now. I don’t see how he fits into your happy-family scenario. And besides,” she added with a grimace, “I’m sure I have a far more suitable environment for Alas Ramus at my apartment. If I bring all her clothing, her toys, her bath stuff, and her eating utensils to Devil’s Castle, there won’t be any free space on the floor to step on. I loathe the mere concept of this, but if you’re picturing us living together, my address is the only option.”
“Tssh… You’re a lot colder than I thought, Yusa. Not gonna make this easy, huh? I figured you’d be beet-red and blowing your top right now.”
“Amane…” It was hard to tell how serious Amane, queen of slippery talk, was being. It made Maou rub his head.
“But—and again, sorry—but,” Amane went on, “this is really the only option that’s gonna work. You don’t want Alas Ramus spittin’ laser beams like Acieth, right? Or turning all weird-looking and wrecking the city like Erone did?”
“…!”
Not even Emi could counter that. They were trying to help Alas Ramus, but if something happened and they couldn’t deal with it, Emi knew she’d regret it.
“W-well, how about this, maybe? Bell’s in Ente Isla right now, so maybe I could live in Room 202 for the time being? The Devil King will be right next door, and if you think of that building as a big house, I think that means we’d just be one room apart, but…” She knew she’d regret it, but Emi tried desperately to counter. “And my father’s down on the first floor. Multigenerational families aren’t that uncommon these days, right?”
“Stickin’ to your guns, huh?”
Amane seemed a bit impressed at the struggle. She thought for a moment, crossing her arms.
“But ain’t Libicocco still gonna be in the way? It’s great if she has Mommy, Daddy, and Grandpa with her and all, but Daddy’s coworker sharing a bedroom, too? That situation doesn’t sound too feasible to me.”
“But Alciel and Lucifer are close to Alas Ramus, and they work for the Devil King, too! And Bell’s usually there all day as well! I think it boils down to the same thing!”
“Nah, if we’re aiming for a ‘happy family’ kinda scenario here, I don’t think we can have Ashiya or Urushihara or Kamazuki involved in the game, but…”
“Well, we’re not connected to Alas Ramus by blood, either, but we’re family to her! Libicocco ought to be just fine!”
“Hey, I’m not saying a family can’t be structured like that, okay? But ethics or laws aren’t the problem here—it’s what Alas Ramus will accept. And maybe Alas Ramus accepts Ashiya and everyone else as family, but is Libicocco at that level?”
“Probably not. Not on the same level as Ashiya and Urushihara and Suzuno.”
“Devil King! Can you defend us a little, please?! Don’t you have any ideas? You don’t wanna live with me, do you?!”
He didn’t. But how to put it? Maou couldn’t help but think that trying to disprove the structure of their family was running counter to the whole point of the debate. Besides, Maou never looked toward Emi with as hostile an eye as Emi did with him.
Whenever Alas Ramus got involved, Maou tended to go on the defensive.
“Well, I don’t like the idea much, but if it’s for Alas Ramus’s sake…”
“Nnngh…”
And if that was Maou’s stance, the way Emi was balancing her child against her own feelings made her feel like a failure as a parent. Working mothers were no longer uncommon in society; a woman was not necessarily expected to devote herself wholly to child-rearing at the expense of her career. Regardless, the first thought on any parent’s mind needed to be their child’s development—and removing that from your list of goals in life was never going to be looked upon favorably.
Right now, it was clearly Emi, not Maou, who was sticking to her guns and turning her eyes away from Alas Ramus’s troubles.
“…That being said, there’s something I want to make clear, too. First, like I’ve said many times before, Emi and I aren’t married. We’re not even lovers,” Maou reminded them.
“Don’t be crude…” Emi grimaced.
“So, you know, no matter how it looks to people around us, I think it’s pretty clear that it’d be nothing like what some people want to imagine. So I’m okay with that aspect of it.”
“Please, stop!” Emi was almost shouting.
“But I also have Acieth to think about,” Maou continued. “The distance between Emi’s place and Sasazuka is obviously farther than I can venture away from her. If I’m gonna live in her apartment, Acieth will have to join me. But right now, Acieth’s still a hairbreadth away from going berserk, and we don’t have the ability to feed her enough. I’m assuming you don’t have a gas-powered, industrial-size rice cooker in your place, right, Emi?”
“Of, of course not!”
Emi was still in denial, but Maou, at least, was taking a constructive approach, addressing the disadvantage of this plan. It gave Amane a little bit of a surprise as she watched.
“That, and there’s also Nord. We definitely need his permission for this, don’t we?”
“…A mass-murdering demon is asking for the woman’s father’s permission?” Amane scoffed.
“Well, yeah, he’s a victim of mine. We might have a decently neighborly kinda thing going on right now, but I’m sure he’s not even close to forgiving me. There’s no way he’d say yes to someone like me living with his daughter, is there? Even if the lines we’re drawing are crystal clear. I’m willing to do anything for Alas Ramus, but you see how much Emi’s against it and there are some real obstacles in the way of it, so I don’t see how living in her place is realistic at all. Personally, I think her borrowing Suzuno’s room for a while is our best choice, but—”
“…Devil King.”
“…”
Maou’s logical, reasonable argument made Amane’s face turn somber. She sighed, then turned away from them, calling out the doorway.
“It’s sounding pretty much like how we expected, but what do you think?”
“Huh?”
The door to the living room opened, revealing Nord on the other side.
“F-Father… You heard that…?”
“I will take care of Acieth for you. Please, don’t hesitate to do what you have to for Alas Ramus.”
He was carrying a tray stacked up with balls of rice—reinforcements for Acieth, no doubt. But then he left just as quickly as he came, turning around without another word.
“Father, wait!”
Emi ran after him, unsatisfied. She caught up in front of Acieth’s bedroom, but he motioned for her to be quiet, confusing her.
“…Acieth is sleeping, I think. Emilia, look at this.”
Looking inside the room, they saw Acieth sleeping peacefully, a calm smile on her face as she held hands with Alas Ramus.
“…!”
But Emi wasn’t looking at Acieth. Her attention was focused entirely on Alas Ramus, and what she saw stunned her into silence. The Alas Ramus Emi knew wasn’t there. She was now grown.
Before, she hadn’t even reached Acieth’s hips when standing up—but now, sleeping together, she was about as tall as her sister’s shoulders. Her arms and legs were longer now, befitting a child; she now looked like someone in their early elementary school years. Bizarrely, the yellow dress she had on previously had grown in size with her body.
Recovering from the shock, Emi finally noticed the soft, glowing light on Alas Ramus’s forehead.
“Her fragment… It’s glowing?”
“Acieth’s has been glowing frequently lately, too,” Nord said with a nervous smile, “whether she’s hungry or not. It puts me on edge every time…but I certainly never expected this.”
He offered a rice ball to Emi. Emi absentmindedly picked it up, removed the plastic wrap around it, and took a bite.
“…It’s good.”
“We paid four thousand yen for five kilograms of that rice.”
“Whoa.”
“Emilia, I’m sure you realize it, but… Well, with the body fusion and all, you might think we’re deeply connected to them…but in reality, it’s a fragile, fragile link.”
“…Yeah.”
Maou had claimed he and Acieth were inseparable a moment ago, but everyone involved knew this wasn’t necessarily the case.
“You love Alas Ramus, don’t you?” Nord continued. “But have you ever thought about just how much more time you’ll be spending with her?”
“…No.”
“Once that war is over, nobody knows what’s going to happen to them. I don’t know if we’re deliberately not bringing it up, or we’re relaxed about it because Ms. Shiba and her family seem to be…but once it’s over, there’s no guarantee at all this child will stay with you.”
“Father…”
“…When you were six years old, you know, you were about that size.”
There was no doubt that Alas Ramus’s sudden growth surprised Nord. But there was something more than that in his affectionate eyes as he looked down at his “granddaughter” quietly sleeping.
“And that’s what children do, Emilia. They grow. You may think they’re so small, but you turn around one day and it’s always, ‘Good heavens, since when did she get like that?’ You and the Devil King… Have you ever had one of those moments, looking at Alas Ramus?”
Children grow. It’s an obvious fact, but just then, it sent Emi into a state of intense disorder.
“They grow… They grow…”
They were almost at exactly one year since Alas Ramus came to live with them. And yet…
“Emilia?”
“Father…I…”
As she stood there, about to cry despite herself, the words of Emi’s father swept across her mind.
“Emilia, will you give some more open thought to living with the Devil King? Because, ever since long ago, back when Alas Ramus was separated from her Sephirah brothers and sisters…she hasn’t had a chance to be part of ‘one big family,’ has she?”
“…”
It was in that moment that Emi relented.
“…Let me just note, that’s really not something you should say to your unmarried daughter.”
“Well, in another way, the two of you would put my mind at ease.”
“Oh, don’t start sounding like Amane with me… If Chiho or Bell or Eme find out, I don’t even wanna know what they’ll say…”
“I’m not too sure Chiho would say anything, would she?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of! At least with Eme, she’d make it clear just how scared I should be of her. Ugghh…”
Finishing up the rice ball in her hand, Emi winced hard.
“And I understand if people want to picture the worst-case scenario for how all this turns out. But what if…what if we have a happy ending? It’s entirely possible, isn’t it?”
“…Emilia?”
“You’re right. It’s still been a grand total of one day where she’s lived together with both of her ‘parents’—and even that was on the assumption Gabriel would take her the next day. But…”
Emi recalled the face of “Daddy,” no doubt waiting and feeling helpless on the living-room sofa. She shook her head.
“But if everything turns out just fine, and Alas Ramus can keep hoping for happiness in the future… If it does…then I won’t see myself as responsible for anything besides her, okay?”
As close as she seemed to crying, her face now had a resolved smile upon it.
And so Emi, Alas Ramus, and Maou agreed to live together in Room 501 of Urban Heights Eifukucho. The fact that this was an open-ended arrangement with no deadline unnerved her—but given that a whole week had passed and Acieth still hadn’t settled down, it seemed natural that Alas Ramus would require at least that long herself.
“I wish Ignora and the heavens would just attack us instead of assassinating Archbishops or whatever. Then we could get this over with.”
The thoughts on Emi’s mind, as she cradled her head by the front door, were getting more and more agitated.
“Hey, Emi! Can I put my stuff wherever?”
“…One minute.”
But this was reality. Maou had come to her home, and there was no undoing that. There were no obstacles between them now; she’d just have to find a way to survive each day.
For now, she advised Amane (who seemed to be in regular contact with Ashiya and the others) to inform the Ente Isla side of what was going on. With things being how they were, Emi didn’t expect anyone to disagree with their choice, but deep down, she still had some faint hope that one of them would have an objection.
“Ahh…”
Resolving herself, she locked the security latch, put on her pair of slippers, and stepped into the apartment Maou had just infected with his presence.
“It’s funny, though.”
Maou had stepped into the living room inside, but was still waiting for her, keeping his backpack on his back.
“…What?”
She had noticed Maou was staring at all the walls, ceilings, and floors of the apartment. Anything she didn’t want a man (Maou or not) to see, she had put away over the past three days, so there shouldn’t have been anything too weird visible. Maou knew she lived in a big, condo-style apartment, so she figured he would have some comment about its size. She would be disappointed.
“You know, I have to say sorry to you.”
“Huh?”
The apology, with a humble smile included, was so unexpected that Emi didn’t know how to respond. What came next was even more unexpected.
“When you were asked to raise Alas Ramus out of nowhere by yourself…that must’ve been tough, huh?”
“Wh-what’s that about?”
“No, I mean…”
Maou pointed at a chest of drawers in a corner of the living room. She had bought it when Alas Ramus began living with her; it was wooden, with four levels, but certainly nothing expensive. The bottom drawer was filled with bath towels for the girl, the second and third had assorted clothing, and the two half-sized drawers on the top were filled with socks on one side, washcloths and the like on the other.
“That’s all stuff for Alas Ramus, right?”
“How did you know that?”
Among all the friends who’d visited her here, the only person who’d brought up that chest was Emeralda, who’d stayed for an extended period. It seemed doubtful that Emeralda ever told him about it…
“I mean, like, all the other furniture and stuff looks like it’s where it belongs, but this kind of sticks out a lot. And Alas Ramus decorated it, didn’t she? All those stickers on the side…”
“Oh…”
Fair enough. The chest was laden with cute, colorful stickers. And this wasn’t even all of them—the very first set had been repeatedly applied and reapplied, and by now they were probably working on layer number three. The crashing waves of stickers had even spread over to the shelving on top of the chest, used to hold things like wet wipes and moisturizing lotion.
Her silence prompted Maou to give her a few words of encouragement. “When she was living at my place, you know, she didn’t have enough stuff to fill a dresser this size. It just made me think, like, you’ve been doing a lot for her.”
“…………Yeah.” His words unnerved her. “Well, back then, you barely had enough things to clothe yourselves with, didn’t you? Of course I would’ve given her some new stuff. But if you’re gonna live here, you might as well learn about what’s in there, so…”
“All right. I’ll do that.”
Emi meant to sound stern with him, but Maou just meekly nodded back.
“…Anyway, just put your stuff down somewhere and have a seat,” she said. “I’ll make someplace for your laundry later.”
“All right. Thanks.”
Maou looked around a little, then sat down on the wooden floor, deliberately avoiding the rug placed over it.
“…What are you doing?”
“Oh, I just thought you’d get angry if I sat on the sofa or carpet without asking.”
“…”
Maou must have been trying to be considerate. Not even Emi was going to snap at him for something like sitting on her sofa—but she had done things like that to him in the past, she knew. It made for tough going now. In a way, Maou was being too careful, like a boy going into a girl’s bedroom. Ever since the talk with Amane that led to this arrangement, Emi felt like she was being constantly reminded of how petty she was acting. It made this incredibly stressful for her, even though Maou had only been here about five minutes so far.
“Ugghh…”
With a soft groan, she opened the sliding door between the living room and the apartment beyond. She quickly looked over the other side, making sure everything was okay for Maou to look at, then focused herself.
“…Good.”
The next moment, Alas Ramus—in her more familiar body size—was sleeping peacefully on the bed, bathed in a soft light. Relieved the process had worked as intended, Emi braced herself, feeling the eyes of the somewhat uncomposed Maou behind her.
“…Stand up a sec. I’ll show you around.”
“O-okay.”
He had just been asked to sit down, but Maou didn’t seem concerned. He came to his feet, walking up behind Emi.
“Let’s start with the kitchen, I suppose. Here’s the microwave; there’s the refrigerator. The burners are up there. This is a normal faucet; this one’s got a purifier attached to it. If you’re drinking from the tap, use the normal faucet so the filter doesn’t wear out so fast.”
“Right. Okay.”
She had spoken so fast that Maou readily nodded at her orders about the faucet without blinking. Again, she began to feel like she was being needlessly petty—and that feeling added to the stress.
“…But if you need hot water, you can fill the D-Far pot over there with filtered water if you like.”
“Um…all right.”
Maou sounded oddly hesitant to her. This was a much fancier, more complex kitchen than what Devil’s Castle featured; maybe he wasn’t up to speed on all the appliances on offer.
“Also, I cleared out the second shelf up in the refrigerator for your use, so if you bring in takeout or buy something you don’t want me to eat, put it in there.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
Maou’s eyes opened wide with surprise.
“…If you’re asking me whether I’m sure you can use the refrigerator, well, if you want to get sick eating room-temperature food, then fine by me, but don’t expect me to nurse you back to health. If you’re surprised that I’m giving you your own space, well, I’ve kept this shelf free for guests ever since Eme crashed in here. It’s gonna be annoying if you ask permission to use the refrigerator all the time, you know? Even I have a conscience.”
“Oh… Oh. Well, I’ll use it, then. Can I put the water bottle I just bought in there?”
“…Go right ahead.”
Like a new part-time hire who felt completely out of place, Maou took a few self-conscious steps into the kitchen, removing a half-liter plastic bottle from his bag and placing it on its side in the fridge’s second shelf.
“But we can share the milk, okay? There’s not enough space for two of them. But keep in mind, Alas Ramus is watching, so don’t drink it from the carton or anything like that. If you use a lot or it’s just about out, let me know—and I’ll do the same for you. All right?”
“A-all right.”
Maou solemnly nodded. There was now a pen and paper in his hands.
“As for ice, there’s a tank in the fridge you can fill water with, so if we’re running short, go ahead and make some more.”
“Huh? The tank’s in the fridge, not the freezer? So where’s the ice?”
The moment she heard the question, Emi could accurately predict her future five seconds from now.
“…The water flows down from here, and then the ice comes out here.”
She opened the drawer that contained the finished ice.
“Whooaaaaa…”
Maou stared at the ice, mouth agape—exactly as Emi imagined he would, five seconds previous.
“Ugh…”
With a sigh, she closed the refrigerator.
“…So here’s where I keep the dishes and things.”
“Right.”
“Except for emergencies, I’ll be doing all the cooking, so you won’t need to touch the cooking utensils. Just remember that Alas Ramus’s dinnerware is in here. I’ll want you to buy some glasses, rice bowls, chopsticks, and silverware for yourself later. For today, you can just use my disposable plates and chopsticks.”
“This reminds me of all the lectures you used to give me.”
“Do you want to die?”
It was kind of a trip back in time for Emi as well. At the same time, she resolved to quit bantering with Maou any further, lest her murderous rage be stoked any more than it already was.
“Let’s go to the washbasin and the bathtub. First, lemme make it clear…”
Just as Emi was giving Maou a particularly sharp look, a voice called out, “Mommy…? I’m hungry…”
“Oh?”
“Hmm?”
A small figure unsteadily walked up to them.
“Alas Ramus, you’re awake?” Emi asked.
“Mmm, I’m hungry…”
She wobbled up to Emi’s legs, grabbing one of them around the knee. Then she looked up. A smile came across her face.
“Daddy’s here!!”
“Y-yeah, I sure am!”
“Huh? I… Daddy? Wow! Daddy!”
She seemed confused at this unprecedented event—but once she was sure this was Emi’s apartment and he was really inside of it, she promptly grabbed his hand.
“Daddy! Daddy! Let’s play!!”
“Oh, um, sure, Alas Ramus. Calm down, okay? I’m busy learning about some things from Mommy right now…”
“No! I wanna play!”
“Whoa, whoa…”
Pulled by the unusually excited Alas Ramus, Maou was taken to a corner of the living room.
“Daddy! Look!”
There, next to the TV stand, was a yellow cloth–covered box. Alas Ramus whipped the lid open, then tilted it over, spreading the contents all over the floor.
“Ohh?”
“Alas Ramus! I keep telling you not to empty the box out like that!”
It was full of a diverse range of toys—some large, some small; some featuring characters Maou knew, others with weird designs he had never seen; some cheap-looking, others fancier. They comprised Alas Ramus’s personal treasure trove, and now they were all scattered across the carpet.
“Daddy! Wanna eat curry?”
“Huh? Curry?”
Among the toys was a pretend-cooking set.
“Well, um, sure, can I have some?”
“Okeh! Comin’ right up!”
Maou turned toward Emi for a moment. She didn’t move, simply watching them from the kitchen. Having no other recourse, he waited for Alas Ramus to somehow produce curry from the mountain of toys she had.
“Okeh, here you go!”
He was rewarded with a plastic saucepan containing a mountain of plastic fruit slices, stuck inside with Velcro, with a fork and the tail of a fish sticking out.
“Umm…”
“It’s melon-and-fish curry!”
“Ohhh. Okay…”
He gave Emi another distressed look. She listlessly stared back at him, as if testing him.
“Ah…um…”
“Enjoy!” Alas Ramus said proudly.
Maou gingerly took the melon-and-fish curry, then used the round plastic fork to pretend to eat it. “Ooh, it’s really tasty!”
“You can’t eat it yet!”
“Huh?!”
With a smile, the chef took the melon-and-fish curry from his hands and gave him a toy teacup in its place.
“Tea first!”
“Oh, thanks…”
“Is it gooooood?”
“Y-yeah?”
“Good how?”
“Hmm? How? Umm… Well, it’s nice and sweet, I think?”
“Nah-uh!”
“Huh?”
Alas Ramus never engaged in this kind of make-believe play back in Room 201. Now Maou felt like the one being toyed with.
“Ah, um, can I have that curry now?”
“Sorry! Curry’s sold out!”
“Oh, come on!”
The melon-and-fish curry must’ve been scarfed down by someone else in the meantime. Maou couldn’t help but laugh.
“Daddy, look!”
The next moment, she was clutching something else in her hands, the tea and curry now gone as she thrust it in front of Maou.
“Alas Ramus, is that…?”
“Happi’ess Set!”
Maou knew what it was. It was a toy meant for little girls, given away around half a year ago with the Happiness Sets they sold for kids at MgRonald. Some tie-in with the Relax-a-Bear company, presumably.
“This is your thing, isn’t it?” he asked Emi, knowing she was a fan of that franchise. The question finally brought her to life.
“It’s really well-made, actually,” Emi said. “And whatever I like, Alas Ramus generally likes, too, so…”
She approached them, sitting down next to Maou and making eye contact with Alas Ramus.
“Hey, Alas Ramus? Can you be a good girl and wait for just one second? Mommy has something important to talk about with Daddy.”
“Somethin’ important?”
“That’s right. Daddy’s going to be staying here for a little while, so I’m showing him how everything works around here.”
“H-hey…”
Emi was using vocabulary she figured Alas Ramus would be able to grasp…but if she was coming out and saying it now, the child’s reaction could very well dictate how the future would go. He knew Emi was aware of that—but if she was, she didn’t betray it on her face at all. All this looked like was Emi treating Alas Ramus the way she always did, right in front of Maou.
Then:
“Daddy!!”
Alas Ramus beamed. Her face lit up as she shot to her feet, abandoning the mess of toys behind her, and grabbed Maou by the hand.
“Daddy! Daddy! This’s the kitchin! The water comes out here!”
“…Uh-huh.”
“And up there is the dishes! Rewax-a-Beaw glass!”
“…Ooh, really?”
“Uh-huh! And the fridge has yogurt! I can eat yogurt!”
“Right, right.”
“And, and there’s animal cookies here, an’ I can’t eat them unless Mommy says so…”
After touring the kitchen once with Mommy, Maou was now getting the rundown from her daughter’s point of view. He smiled broadly. Emi didn’t respond, instead silently putting away the toys on the floor that’d hurt if someone stepped on them.
This went on for a little while, Alas Ramus alternating between giving Maou a tour of the place and playing with him. By the time it occurred to Maou to look at his phone screen, it was already past four in the afternoon, with Emi busy rinsing the rice for dinner.
“Ah, Emi, what about dinner…?”
“Just go ahead and play with Alas Ramus, okay?”
“No, but, I don’t have any dishes or chopsticks yet…”
“I was just messing with you. You can buy some if you want, but I’ve got enough spares and guest sets for you to use.”
She didn’t lift her face from her dinner prep as she spoke. And when she fell silent, Maou quickly had another job on his hands—the reading of five storybooks in a row, produced by Alas Ramus from parts unknown.
After a while, dinner was ready.
“…”
Maou was at the table with Emi and Alas Ramus. Like at his own place, there wasn’t a dedicated dining table, just a low table on the rug in the living room that served as the center of activity around the apartment.
“I don’t have another placemat for you, so let’s go buy whatever else you need tomorrow.”
In what was a small surprise to Maou, Emi and Alas Ramus both used placemats when eating. He knew what they were, of course, but he didn’t think they were part of everyday family life, so it astonished him to see that Emi expected him to use one, too.
“Oh, um, I don’t need a mat or anything…”
He began to deny it, since it wasn’t an absolutely necessary part of tableware, but Emi was unexpectedly adamant.
“It’s nothing expensive. Just think of it as for Alas Ramus’s sake, okay? I had Eme use one, too—but she’ll yell at me if I let you use hers, so…”
“…All right.”
Despite her earlier jokes about paper plates and cups, Emi was much more insistent about placemats, of all things. It made no sense to Maou. She never even mentioned them when she joined the gang at Villa Rosa Sasazuka for dinner—maybe it was just her personal preference when dining at home. She was the boss around here, so Maou resolved to take a when-in-Rome approach.
A small spread of food was now steaming on the table, all in appropriate, non-paper tableware. There was white rice, miso soup with fried tofu and spinach, a big bowl of salad, some shumai dumplings from the grocery store…and the yogurt that was Alas Ramus’s big thing as of late.
“Here, Alas Ramus.”
“Okeh, thank you!”
“You’re welcome… Devil King?”
“Huh? Oh… Right. Thanks for making dinner.”
“Good job, Daddy!”
“…Thanks.”
Maou, unsure what he should be doing, picked up his bowl of miso soup and took a sip.
“Ah…”
“What?”
“No, um, I bet you put a lot of sweat into this.”
“What do you mean?”
Maou vaguely brushed off the topic. He meant to say that perhaps Emi, nervous to have him here, had broken out in a cold sweat that added to the soup’s saltiness. Explaining the joke would just get him yelled at, though, so he didn’t.
Then something more noteworthy came to mind.
“You know, come to think of it, isn’t this the first time I’ve eaten your food?” he asked.
“…” Emi pondered this for a moment. “I thought for a second you were right,” she said, sounding perfectly comfortable. “But looking back, I’ve brought along some homemade dishes to your place sometimes. Nowhere near as often as Chiho, but…”
“Oh, did you…? Hmm… Didn’t you make a side dish out of okara tofu dregs once? You said there was this really good tofu place near you, I remember. Where was that place, anyway?”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. But also, during my MgRonald training, you tasted the fries and desserts and stuff I made, didn’t you?”
“That doesn’t really count.”
And so things began to proceed much as they did over at Villa Rosa Sasazuka in normal times—occasionally chatting, occasionally catering to Alas Ramus’s needs, but overall letting the time fly as they enjoyed their dinner.
The moment Chiho returned from Ente Isla, her mother, Riho, opened her bedroom door and peeked inside.
“Oh, Chiho, you’re back?”
“Hi, Mom.”
“I saw your room light on, so I figured.”
From this, it was pretty clear to tell that Riho had grown used to Chiho’s behavior, not to mention events on Ente Isla.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“No. I’ve been busy, so I was doing my prep school homework.”
“Ah. Are you going there now? Want me to whip up something real quick?”
“That’d be great, thanks.”
“Don’t overwork yourself, okay?”
“Well, I’m eating so well every day, I need to get some exercise, you know? Otherwise I’ll be in trouble.”
Dhin Dhem Wurs was giving her more meals and snacks at Noza Quartus than she could ever work off, so her weight had gone up a bit recently.
Over the last little while, she had developed a taste for Ente Islan cuisine, figuring out her favorites and so on, but her mother’s home cooking always put her mind at ease. Swiftly taking in some rice, miso soup, and a quick omelet roll with kombu kelp, she found that even this snack relaxed her enough to begin feeling drowsy.
“Thanks a lot!”
“You can leave everything there. You need to get ready, right?”
“Yeah. I have most of it done—it really is a good idea to build a timetable in advance, huh? I’ll see you later.”
“Right, right, have a good time.”
She had just gotten back from another world, and now she was hurriedly rushing away into the early evening. Watching her go, Riho recalled the time not long ago when she’d first learned her daughter’s secret.
To someone like Riho—who had left Japan only once on a school trip and didn’t know much about lands and cultures outside her home nation—standing atop that hill overlooking the Northern Island capital of Phiyenci was beyond chaotic for her. She barely remembered it, in fact, not really calming down until the young man called Gabriel took her over to the so-called “Devil’s Castle.”
“…Mr. Maou certainly managed to build a…large place for himself,” Riho remarked.
“Bah-ha-ha-ha-haaa!!” Gabriel laughed.
“Mom!”
That was Riho’s reflexive reaction after being told this was Maou’s true base of operations. It made Gabriel instantly crack up and Chiho give her a blushing, embarrassed look, much of the reason Riho remembered it so well.
Looking around the area, Riho saw crowds of people, none of them appearing Japanese. Seeing them made her realize just how higher up the totem pole Ashiya and Urushihara were…and also, despite not even noticing them at first despite their size, she discovered huge, nonhuman creatures mixed in with them all, some many times large than any normal person.
“Chiho?”
“…Yes, Mom?”
“…Do you remember when I took you to Hokkaido when you were young? The hills around Biei?”
“Huh?”
“I remember imagining these vast fields of flowers and things, like the pictures in the magazines. Then we went over, and it wound up being the worst rainstorm in years up there, right?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember.”
“So we changed our plans and stayed one more night, and of course all the gardens and things were waterlogged, but it was still pretty in its own weird kind of way, I remember. That’s what this view reminds me of.”
“I…don’t really get it.”
“No? Well, I know this is an amazing sight—that I’m having this wondrous experience. But part of me is also…you know, ‘this is it, huh?’”
“Mom?”
“This castle really is a surprise to me…but when I think how, well, of course you’d find it on a planet like this, then, you know… ‘Wow, neat,’ is about all I can think.”
Chiho didn’t seem to understand, but those were Riho’s honest feelings.
Suddenly, Chiho turned around, detecting a Gate about to open at the base of Devil’s Castle.
“Is that some kind of warp magic?”
“Yeah, pretty much…but I’m worried Yusa or Maou is coming over here to yell at me.”
A trace of anxiety was present on Chiho’s face.
It was true that neither Maou nor Emi seemed to comprehend what was going on the whole time during that MgRonald visit. If everything happening in Ente Isla was supposed to be a vital secret, Chiho couldn’t blame them for being at least a little angry.
Instead, what appeared from the Gate was a woman whose clothing looked very familiar to Riho in a way, although she didn’t recognize the face.
“Huh? Ms. Suzuki?!”
Chiho seemed to know the woman. She waved broadly toward her.
“Boy, I was shocked when I heard the story! You really took the plunge, didn’t ya?”
“Hee-hee-hee…”
This was Japanese being spoken, a language that nobody here besides Ashiya, Urushihara, and Gabriel had ever heard before. Riho logically concluded that this “Suzuki” couldn’t have just been a local with a Japanese-sounding name.
“Oh, are you Chiho’s mother?”
“Y-yes, I am, um…”
“My name is Rika Suzuki. I’m Chiho’s companion here…and yours, too, I suppose.”
“…Of course. And my name’s Riho Sasaki. Um, by ‘companion,’ do you mean…?”
“Well, in terms of getting caught up in Ente Isla stuff and having my life changed by it. Oh, and by the way, I can’t cast magic or anything. I’m a hundred percent made in Japan! Kobe, to be exact.”
“Oh…” Riho nodded at the pleasantly befitting turn of phrase. “So why are you here at Devil’s Castle, Ms. Suzuki?”
“Ah, well, Chiho and Suzuno have been up to some pretty crazy stuff, and we figured you might be confused about a lot of things. So Ashiya asked me to help take care of you.”
“Oh, well, um… Sorry to get you involved, I suppose…”
“It’s all right! It gave me a chance to yell at Ashiya about how we’re supposed to not be traveling and sending messages to each other and stuff.”
“Aw, Ms. Suzuki…”
“So, yeah, I heard most of the story. And Chiho?”
“…Yes?”
“If I ever lose my job, can you introduce me to a decent one? Here in Ente Isla, maybe?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be offering me encouragement or something?!”
“I heard from Ashiya,” Rika said, “about most of what you’re trying to do, Chiho. I’m in no position to act like I’m superior to you. It’s about time for me to start seriously contemplating my life, too, so I’d love a chance to latch on to you and hopefully reap some of the profits!”
“Ms. Suzuki!”
“…”
“Okay, maybe I’m half-joking. But I can’t really think of a future that doesn’t involve this place in some way, so I wanna support you, Chiho. I heard the managers at MgRonald found out about you, but I’m not gonna give up my position as your ‘first friend’ you let in on this, okay?”
“Ms. Suzuki…”
“…Ms. Sasaki, I’m sure a lot of this still seems unbelievable. If I just tell you everything out of nowhere, you’d probably be like ‘who’s this girl, coming in through a portal and giving me all this nonsense’ and stuff. But everyone here is real nice people, y’know? And Chiho stands head and shoulders above all of them. It’s not that she was hiding a secret from you so much as, you know, carrying it.”
“…Well,” Riho replied, “that’s kind of the problem.”
“Huh?”
“Mom?”
“…It really doesn’t matter if Chiho had a secret or not. But as her mother, the fact that my daughter’s in this vast other world, attracting the attention of all kinds of villains like it’s her personal talent…and the fact that I never detected or even noticed it at all… That’s the biggest problem.”
She smiled, having few other options.
“By the way, Chiho, I was wondering… There wasn’t a mountain over there earlier, was there?”
“Oh, that? Well, Kinanna’s kind of got dementia, so I think he’s sleeping after going on one of his tirades.”
“………Here, Ms. Sasaki, why don’t we just go home? I’m a normal human being, just like you, so…”
“…Y-yes. Um, but I think there’s somewhere else I need to be taken first, so can you wait a little bit?”
Riho still wasn’t sure why Rika Suzuki seemed in so much of a panic back then. But she figured asking wouldn’t help her understand, and she was sure it was better not to ask anyway.
Quickly changing clothes and picking up the bag she used for prep school, Chiho pedaled her bicycle (one she’d barely used since entering high school) and set off. After she did, Riho closed the front door behind her.
“Hmm… You know, Ms. Takenouchi across the street told me about how empty it seemed around the house when the last of her children left…but now I’m starting to feel that way. Maybe I should have my husband take some time off and we can all go on a trip or something. Ohh, but how am I gonna explain this to him…?”
“Why are you contacting me at a time like this? You know how delicate your position is.”
“…I fear I am descending into a state of self-loathing.”
“What?”
The scene was Ea Quartus, an administrative city on the eastern edge of the Central Continent. Efzahan held formidable influence over this region, and it was here that Suzuno and Ashiya opted to meet.
“Has Amane been in contact with you, Alciel?”
“Amane? No. She may be visiting Urushihara over at Devil’s Castle, but I have been traveling between here, Noza Quartus, and Devil’s Castle frequently as of late for summit preparations, and he mentioned nothing in particular to me… Did something happen?”
“Yes, well…something…”
“If you have that haggard of a look on your face, there must be an issue with Emilia or Alas Ramus, no? I thought Acieth was in a state of semi-remission.”
“Well, um, you see, they have all been up to a few things…”
“You are being vague. But how are negotiations going with Cervantes Reberiz and the other Archbishops? Well, I hope? Because controlling Cervantes should be job one for you right now.”
“I know. With that, there are no problems to speak of. Lord Cervantes is a shrewd man, aware of his own interests. Someone who must not be antagonized, but given his nature, once you take care of the vital points, he is easier to wrangle than the other two. So…yes, all is well, but…”
Suzuno chose her words carefully.
“Amane delivered the news to me first, I believe. I thought I should tell you and Chiho, and I heard you were in Ea Quartus, so…”
“I must meet with the Orange Scarves’ commander soon. Please keep it brief…”
“Did you hear about the Devil King’s plans to stay in Emilia’s home?”
“I shall postpone my meeting. Let me hear you out.”
Ashiya was barely paying attention to Suzuno before. Now, suddenly, he looked straight at her.
“Did something serious happen to Alas Ramus?”
He had a cool enough head to reach that conclusion instantly. But as cool as his head was, there was a grim light to his eyes.
“Well, it would seem so, yes. It was decided that the Devil King and Emilia living together would be the best solution, so, well, they are aiming to create a normal, loving family environment for her, and…”
“I see. And this is not a case of the Devil King finding unpaid debt or some other dirt about Emilia and exploiting it against her will?”
“I think you would know by now that Emilia is not the type to have such things in her background.”
“That is not what I am asking. I trust that this is His Demonic Highness’s decision, but if he’s decided to take residence in Emilia’s home, there must be monumental events driving his resolve. If you are flying over here so urgently to inform me, I feared at first that some calamity had befallen Japan. But given how my liege has bent over backward many times before for Alas Ramus’s sake, I hardly see any reason for surprise.”
Some slight sense of relief seemed to prevail in Ashiya’s mind. But he still eyed Suzuno with abject suspicion.
“Or should I take this to mean you believe my liege and Emilia are operating under some misunderstanding, or other nefarious circumstance?”
“…No, honestly, I do not see that as the case at all. At all. Now I am starting to wonder whether it was immature of me, being agitated enough to inform Chiho with such haste.”
“Well, judging by her behavior the other day, I hardly think something like the Devil King and Emilia living together would faze her.”
Ashiya himself was involved in Chiho’s big reveal, behind the scenes. He had kept track of her moves afterward, both with his own eyes and through other people. He had always seen her as a unique young woman, but over the past few days of summit preparations, she had handled the dignitaries of Noza Quartus and the Northern Island without getting overwhelmed. He understood that she was juggling this with school, club activities, and her exam-prep academy. It truly astonished him.
That was why he found it so befuddling that Suzuno—a woman at the head of the Church, someone with far more life experience than Chiho—was acting so impulsive, like a person who’d had too much to drink.
“Of course,” he said, assuming a more conciliatory tone, “the issue with the assailant in the space suit remains unsolved, but Emilia—Alas Ramus included—remains a vital part of our arsenal. If an issue has occurred with Alas Ramus, I can certainly understand why you’d like me to know.”
“Along those lines, I think we will not have to worry about a cataclysmic event along the lines of Erone’s and Acieth’s. Apparently, when Emilia tried to manifest Alas Ramus from her body, she reappeared a great distance from her, next to Acieth…”
She was still sounding vague, but she relayed the information Ashiya needed to know.
“Well, that is all fine and good while she remains in Japan…but it is a problem, yes. If she should reappear in the wrong place, she could be captured or wrested away from us, no?”
“Yes. And that is why, I think, they are taking measures to prevent matters from getting worse. Um, how to put it…?”
“Hmm?”
“…Never mind.”
“You are acting rather elusive. What is the matter?”
It was a simple question, and it still visibly fazed her.
Suzuno knew she was acting strangely. But she also felt that revealing…that to Ashiya didn’t quite seem right. She had been discussing her feelings for Maou in ways that ventured well into TMI territory by Japanese standards—but, so far, only to other women she was close to. If she revealed it to Ashiya as well, she could very well be eyed with an enigmatic sort of hostility in many ways. It’d open her to criticism for focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time.
“…Well, to be honest, I have an audience with the head of the Inlain Azure Scarves shortly, as part of my mission from Lord Cesar. However, all the clerics accompanying me work for Lord Cesar, and it’s proving quite annoying to deal with them…”
“That sounds like a needless distraction to me. Remember, no matter what happens, we are working strictly in a world of human beings.”
He was right. But regardless, Suzuno had just barely saved herself from broaching a dangerous topic.
Leaving the office chamber Ashiya occupied, Suzuno—who was telling the truth about Cesar’s mission—prepared to go back to negotiating between Cesar’s Crusade frontline forces and the Eight Scarves’ Central Continent force leaders.
“…Archbishop Crestia, if I may…”
“What is it?”
She still wasn’t used to being called “Archbishop,” but after several days of this, she was finally answering to it without hesitation. She had undergone the (somewhat abbreviated) purification ritual, so everyone nearby was treating her like an Archbishop, whether the official ceremony had taken place or not.
“A messenger from Saint Aile made contact with us earlier.”
“A messenger? For me? Is it from Director Emeralda?”
If anyone needed to contact her right now, it was Emeralda. Surprisingly, though, the message was from Rumack.
“General Rumack is in Ea Quartus on business as well, and apparently she’s carrying some problems from her home nation that she wants you to preside over.”
“What? I’m hardly going to hold confessionals out here.”
That sounded ominous to Suzuno—as enigmatic as it was nebulous. Maybe Rumack just wanted to reach out to her, but she was a member of the upcoming summit, too. Contacting Suzuno in public was something she ought to be avoiding.
“…Tell her that we could meet this evening, but only in an unofficial capacity.”
“Yes, Archbishop.”
Distractions like these were best handled quickly. Suzuno wanted any potential sparks thoroughly stamped out before they got any closer to the day of the summit. But when night came and Rumack visited her guarded hotel room in Ea Quartus, Suzuno was taken aback by how clearly hostile she looked.
“General Rumack?”
“Good evening, Archbishop Crestia.”
“…Are you angry that I didn’t tell you about my ordination, or about my background?”
Rumack and Suzuno were personally acquainted via their relationships with the Devil King’s Army, but calling them “friends” would be a stretch. Both of them were the type who couldn’t abandon any cause or mission they’d taken up. Considering her public activities, if Rumack was mad at Suzuno, it likely had to do with her Archbishop ordination, and how Rumack and Emeralda’s interference with the Crusade wound up having the opposite effect intended as a result.
Now, however, with Cervantes officially part of the summit, Suzuno didn’t see how it was that much of a problem. So she put on her “public figure” mask as she dealt with Rumack.
“Understand that I was not hiding my birthplace. This ordination came as a surprise to me as well, so—”
Rumack stopped her argument midway.
“What I’d…wish…to say about that does matter, but for the moment it can be set aside. The reason I’m angry, Crestia, is because of how carelessly you’re acting.”
“Hmm? Carelessly how?”
Suzuno raised an eyebrow. She had been going around the northeastern part of the Central Continent lately, and she couldn’t think of anything on her itinerary that affected Rumack at all. But the next moment, her heart almost leaped out of her.
“Is it true that Emilia and the Devil King have begun living together?”
“Whaaa?!”
She could almost see her heart literally escaping her lips, beating in the air ahead of her. It made her blink helplessly several times. Why would that ever come out of Rumack’s mouth? But the next moment, Suzuno feared all her other organs were going to be ejected out of her as well.
“And is it true the direct cause of this was your love confession to him?”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, General Rumack, what are you saying, it is absolutely untrue, absolutely untrue, there must have been some crossed wires, why, is that what you heard?!”
“We have reliable information that Archbishop Crestia has dedicated her heart and soul to the Devil King, but…?”
“Who could ever say such an insane, irresponsible thing?!!”
The sentry standing guard outside knocked on the door, hearing the commotion. “Wh-what is the matter?!” he asked, rushing in.
“Nothing! Back to your post!”
Suzuno blocked him with supersonic speed and force, and then:
“Ge-Ge-Gen-General Rumack, we must put our information together. What you’ve been told is preposterous in many ways. I think we should go through every piece of it.”
“Fine. I’d like to know the truth as well, if I could. Emeralda, you realize, is wholly impossible to deal with right now, as angry as she is. Between this and the whole affair with the Crusade supply route, she even threatened to send an assassin to your ordination to do away with you for good.”
“Ah…ugghhh… Why is this happening…?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Because I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I’ll have you know that the Emperor, the crown prince, our congress, our government administrators, even the royal guard—I gotta keep my eyes on all of them, and none of them actually know what’s going on. And instead of that, I have to go on this ri-dic-ulous errand for them instead.”
Rumack spat out the words, sincerely peeved about it all. Suzuno felt the need to be careful with hers.
“…General Rumack, were you sent all the way to Ea Quartus just to ask me the truth about that?”
“If I was, Saint Aile and I would leave the summit. I have an audience planned with the Azure Emperor as well, more or less.”
Treating a meeting with the man who ruled over a quarter of the world as a side project probably indicated just how much rage Emeralda had directed toward Rumack about this subject.
“Ugh… Well, to avoid any future misunderstandings, it would seem that the Devil King and Emilia have been forced by events to share a living space. It is related to the Sephirah going out of control, and it is a vital part of preparing for the war against heaven.”
“Emeralda understands all that. She’s still flying into a rage.”
“I cannot take responsibility for that,” Suzuno replied with a sigh.
“…Look,” Rumack continued, “I, too, have interacted personally with both Emilia and the Devil King. Yes, it surprised me how little strife there is between the two of them…but I would not call their relationship particularly friendly, either.”
“Right?! That is precisely right! And I heard how the Devil King and Emilia were both dead set against it, but were faced with no other choice!”
“Yes, but the way Emeralda puts it…as dry as their relationship may seem right now, all it takes is a single unexpected spark to set it aflame…”
“That’s none of my business!!”
Now they were actively squabbling with each other. Through Rumack, though, one thing was now clear: Emeralda would never accept Maou and Emi under one roof in a million years. By the time she showed up here, she might even start blaming Suzuno for the two of them seeing Alas Ramus as “their” daughter.
“So, what of the story about you, a Church Archbishop, inveigling with the King of Demons?”
“General Rumack! You’re enjoying every moment of this, aren’t you?!”
“If I didn’t, how would I ever will myself to be here?”
Rumack threw her whole body across the sofa.
“Look, I really don’t care who’s fancying someone, or falling for someone, or duking it out with someone. Frankly, I know I’m on a level below the other summit participants. I have an Emperor above me, which means I wield less power than the heads of state I’ll be with. I don’t have the heroic reputation of someone like Emeralda—essentially, I’m between a rock and a hard place. Now, if all of us here were secretly striving for peace, that would inspire me to try a little harder…but instead, everyone’s going on about couples, and trysts, and other romantic entanglements! Alciel, Lucifer, and Albert are the only ones making any kind of effort! You know? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, letting the men show you up like this?”
“General Rumack…”
“Maybe I should do away with the Devil King, push Alciel as his successor, then invade the damn world myself!”
“General Rumack! We don’t know who might be listening!”
“Oh, who cares…? Ugh…”
Rumack sank herself into the sofa, unable to contain her rage. Her bleary eyes glared at Suzuno.
“So… You’re a Great Demon General and an Archbishop. Maybe a Great Demon Archbishop? That’s a pretty powerful title. Are you really going to the demon side?”
“Ngh…”
“I always thought you kept a prudent distance from the Devil King. But is this, ah, like they say on Earth, ‘getting a side piece’?”
“That phrase is both incorrect and quite inappropriate! And please be sure you don’t use that in front of anyone the next time you’re in Japan! Where did you even learn that term, General Rumack? I swear…!”
Suzuno had wanted to keep this conversation strictly focused on Maou and Emi. But now she had no choice.
“Let me just say, General Rumack, the only thing I’ve devoted myself ‘heart and soul’ to is life in Japan, in general. People might find fault with an Archbishop saying that, but honestly, I find Japan much more agreeable than here.”
“Hmph. You mean your setup where you were only separated from the Devil King by a single wall?”
“…I will not deny that. I know this is nothing I should say to a general who fought for her world against the Devil King’s Army, but I never had any personal vendetta against that army. If anything, it was the evil present in the human world that made me shrink back. The Devil King may have been an enemy to mankind, but he wasn’t an enemy to me. And recently, um, I recruited the Devil King to help me organize these feelings in my mind. That was all.”
“…That’s really all?”
“…It is. I am not lying to you.”
“…Hmmmmmm…”
Rumack’s voice suddenly grew more affable. It made Suzuno feel a chill down her spine.
“I tell you, you need to be a real wordsmith to survive as an Archbishop, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“That’s not the subject I was asking about. All I asked was what’s really behind that incredibly embellished story that you’ve ‘dedicated yourself heart and soul’ to the Devil King?”
“I told you, there’s no truth to that…!”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, as they say. You said you have no personal grudge against the Devil King. What if you had more than that on the opposite side?”
“There are people everywhere trying to start fires where none exist!!”
The exasperated Suzuno and serene Rumack sized each other up a few moments. Rumack looked away first.
“This is silly. I suppose my vision isn’t good enough to strip your soul bare. It doesn’t look like I’ll glean any more from you today.”
“Will you stop that already?!”
“Because I was hoping for something like you stealing Chiho’s love while nobody was looking over in Japan.”
“…Just stop it!”
“But all right. I understand now.”
“General Rumack!”
Rumack suddenly came to her feet and headed for the door, the meeting apparently over in her mind.
“I doubt I’m going to hear anything else that’ll assuage Emeralda. If anything, it’s just going to make her madder. I probably won’t see you again before the day of the summit. In the meantime…”
She eyed Suzuno carefully as she opened the door.
“…Please don’t cause any more trouble. My hands are already full enough fending off all the factions who want to visit Japan. They’re all trying their damnedest to visit that ‘MgRonald’ site, recruiting Emilia or the Devil King to their side before the summit begins. It’s driving me crazy.”
“…”
“If they knew those two, they’d learn that not visiting them leaves the best impression of all.”
“…But neither of them are going to side with anyone. Not besides Chiho.”
“I wonder. You’ll side with them in the end, too, won’t you?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t tell you how jealous I am, y’know. Have fun stoking Emeralda’s rage.”
Whether that was sarcastic or not, it was what Rumack chose to part with as she shut the door behind her.
“…What was that all about?”
Rumack had come in and out like a passing storm, cruelly toying with Suzuno. She sat there blankly for a moment, incapable of anything else. One thing, however, she was positive about.
“…It had to be Amane.”
Chiho would have been a little more prudent with Emeralda before dropping the news…and Suzuno couldn’t think of anyone else in a position to do it.
“I know it was for Acieth’s sake, but relying on the Shiba family might be too costly to be worth it… But to think that Emeralda was that angered by it…?”
Now that she was calmer, Suzuno noticed a thing or two Rumack had said that needed addressing.
“As dry as their relationship may seem right now, all it takes is a single unexpected spark to set it aflame…” Rumack had said.
She knew her own heart had followed a similar path. It formed a doubt in her mind that ballooned by the moment, agitating her anew.
“I…I hardly had any dramatic inspiration that made me act, come to think of it… That trigger could come from anywhere, really, whenever it comes up… No, but not Emilia, of all people… But…no, I am hardly trying to claim exclusive rights here…”
With Rumack gone, Suzuno writhed on the sofa, no longer caring about how much it’d wrinkle her robe. Now it was clear as day: the hangdog look on Maou’s face, the one she saw at the end of everything, built up over time. Some spark in her made her want to support that man…and after that, she couldn’t hold her feelings back. In another few moments, she had made her confession.
As she considered her previous actions, she could tell there was no logical argument for any of them. But she knew it’d happened. So who could say that wouldn’t happen to Emi?
But…it was Emi. Suzuno had no personal grudge or negative emotions toward Maou, but Emilia was different. Things might have relaxed a bit after Nord was found alive and well, but for that enmity to disappear, there was just so much Maou had to atone for. There was no possible way things would work out the way Rumack or Emeralda feared. As someone who had watched both of them up close, Suzuno knew that better than anyone.
“So why…?”
Why, indeed? None of this had happened with Chiho. If Chiho were her rival, Suzuno would’ve kept as composed as a clear mountain lake. She was proud of that serenity, the result of her diligent clerical study.
“So why did this…?”
But the moment she replaced Chiho with Emi in her mind, where did all these dark emotions come from? They made her heart race, her throat dry up, her limbs hang limply off her body.
“Ugh…”
Her reason, her logic, her knowledge, her memories, her thoughts, her experiences, her environment, her pride as a cleric—all of it told her that she was acting strangely. She was making the wrong moves. But even with all of that together, there was a flame that burned it all up in an instant, setting her impulses and emotions on fire—the flame of jealousy.
“I am such a fool…”
But all the groaning and self-loathing in the world couldn’t quell the dark flames Suzuno was experiencing for the first time. She didn’t know that in her heart, the one she had analyzed and explained to Chiho, was no all-encompassing platonic love. That inscrutable shape inside her, the one driving her straight down a road lit by flame, was a love driven by deep, dark, all-consuming passion.
“Hmm… So, um, what’s important about that?” Urushihara asked.
“What’s important? You don’t think anything about it?” Laila countered in a huff.
“I think you’re an asshole for waking me up for no reason, dudette.”
“No reason…? Amane came to tell me about it. You don’t think that’s bad?”
“Oh, yeah, geez, that sucks, huh? Anyway, I’m going to sleep.”
“Lucifer, wait!”
Urushihara’s nest was located in the midsection of Devil’s Castle on the Central Continent. It was once a plain corridor, but he had remodeled it into his personal hideout. From his window he had a commanding view of the outside, but if you looked straight down from it, you could see some kind of giant reptile sleeping there.
“…Look, I get it. From your standpoint, you just got reunited with your daughter, and all of a sudden she’s shacked up with this dude. But to me, it’s like, what’s the big surprise at this point? If you don’t mind my saying so, they’ve had a date, they’ve had a sleepover… If people wanna assume whatever kinda sleazy stuff they want, they got all the ammo they need for it. And that’s with Alas Ramus!”
Laila, since journeying to Devil’s Castle with Urushihara to deliver Kinanna, had devoted herself to dealing with the lizard, and working with Lucifer and Gabriel (who were left to tend to the castle) as well as the knights and clerics from the Eastern and Western Islands. In his doddering old age, Kinanna could go for days without moving an inch, only to fly into a hellish rage—it was like a light switch—but he had done nothing but snore for the past two days or so. It was then that Laila received word from Amane about Emi and Maou living together, so she quickly went to inform Urushihara—and this was the treatment she’d gotten.
“Besides, this is all probably because some kinda issue with the Yesod is forcing ’em to team up to handle it, right? We can’t do anything about it, so let’s just wait till it blows over and then they can tell us all about it! You know Amane gets off on gossiping like that! Why’s an angel like you givin’ her what she wants, huh?”
“…You know all of that?”
“Chiho Sasaki’s up to a lot over here, yeah? Whenever she’s up to something, the Yesod fragments always get involved, so I figured somethin’ was probably up with Acieth and Alas Ramus. And lemme tell you, if you start jabbing at Emilia about that, you’re really gonna piss her off, dudette.”
“I—I know that, but… Listen, would it be bad if I went back to Japan one time? I, you know, I want to ask my husband why he agreed to it, you could say…”
Urushihara twisted his face even more as he glared at Laila, her motherly concern getting the better of her.
“…Listen. The only people who can directly do anything about Kinanna are me, you, Albert, and Gabriel. We got our hands full trying to control the guy without killin’ him. If even one of us drops out, you know what that’s gonna cause, don’t you?”
“But I can make up for it…”
“Okay, then find someone else to make up your shifts. I’m not lettin’ you take time off.”
“I never expected you to say something like that! And I’ll remind you, by law it’s the responsibility of the manager to find shift replacements, not the employee!”
“This is Ente Isla. I’m the law right now. And even in Japan, where the hell are you gonna find a boss who actually does that?”
Urushihara’s voice, despite the discernible fatigue, made it clear Laila was playing with fire. If she decided to skip town, there was no telling how he’d bite back.
“Besides, what’s the point of knowing all the details? Don’t tell me you’re gonna be casing their place, looking for any sign Maou and Emilia are up to stuff?”
“Huh? No! But as her mother, I have a duty to—”
“Where do you get off busting out the ‘mother’ card after abandoning her for a dozen years or whatever?”
“There… There was a reason for that… That’s a different issue…”
“If you’re gonna start suspecting her and Maou that way, she’ll kill you. Seriously, dude, if I can see that, why can’t you? …Great, and now I’m fully awake. Thanks a lot.”
Looking annoyed, Urushihara sat up from the sleeping bag—laid out on the bare stone floor—and yawned, still mostly zipped inside. “You gotta get a clue, Laila,” he said as he wiped his eyes, head tilted down. “In theory, at least, Devil’s Castle is ready to launch—whether we get the stone in Kinanna’s throat or not.”
“I—I know that, but—”
“And Chiho Sasaki’s getting all worked up about this summit, but do you really think some international meetup organized by a teenage girl is gonna usher in peace in one day? Just think about it! There’s no way it’s gonna work!”
“Well…yeah…”
“And we haven’t even figured out what to do with that heavenly astronaut. You know she’s not gonna stop with giving the Archbishops those dreams and sending the Church knights for us. If some other force goes crazy and attacks us right this minute, we might have to launch this thing just to evacuate to the demon realms. And you wanna go home ’cause you’re worried about what kinda guy your daughter’s living with? Quit being stupid. If you wanna atone for plunging the world into chaos, think about what needs to come first here.”
Urushihara’s perfectly valid argument stunned Laila into silence.
“Besides,” he added, “we got the Federated Order knights from the South to think about. Maybe they’re loyal to Rajid, but they’re not like the forces who joined our war from the start. Depending how the summit turns out, we may have to kill ’em all first. If you wanna think about something, think about that.”
“I… I’m sorry…”
Laila, faced with this impenetrable wall of logic, calmed down, shoulders drooped in shame over her behavior.
“B-but what’s gotten into you anyway? Because no offense, but ever since we brought Kinanna here, it’s like you’ve had a total personality change. At first, you’d skip work all the time because you didn’t like Alciel lecturing you about repairing Devil’s Castle.”
“Hey, people grow.”
“That’s a really annoying way to put it…”
Urushihara pretended not to hear that.
“You know, as I’ve worked here, I’ve come to have some regrets.”
“…Okay, like what?”
“Not to sound all responsible now, but… You know, I still don’t really care what happens to this world. But I don’t wanna go out of my way to make Alas Ramus cry, and if I wanna have fun right now, I figure, hey, listening to other people for a little while ain’t that bad a thing. And I think I’m doing some good work, dude.”
“…Well, everything’s been put in place a lot faster than planned, I heard…”
“Yeah, ’cause I remembered some stuff.”
“I’m wondering what kind of ‘stuff’ this is.”
“Look, dudette, I secured our transport, I got some vital data into my mind, and now I’m riskin’ my life dealing with that demented lizard down there. You know about those magic light beams of his. He ain’t foolin’ around.”
“Y-yes, I know, but—”
“And you’re all like ‘ooh, no, Maou and Emilia, wah, wah, wah.’ Come on, lady, who cares? We don’t really know who that space-suit dude is, and Maou and Emilia are really gonna be our main firepower here? We keep having this crap push us back, you know? It’s like what Farfarello said once—all humans really care about is themselves…”
His eyes seemed to cloud up as he orated from his sleeping bag.
“So I got some regrets, y’know? I do. Like, I had no idea it’d be so enraging when you’re working hard and everyone else is going on about the most useless bullshit. It just makes me wanna lay low and keep quiet. Like moss in the forest, you see?”
“Um… Yes…?”
“Ashiya, y’know, he’s a good guy. He tries. But look at you! Do you seriously think Maou and Emilia are gonna do anything, living together? They’re not! Chiho Sasaki’s probably gonna yap about it unless we tell her in advance, but otherwise, there’s zip between them! And I’m never gonna let you go back to Japan for that, okay?!”
“Okay, okay! I understand! You don’t have to shout at me!”
“Ugh! I’m gonna force myself to sleep a little longer, all right? And don’t wake me up for stupid crap next time! I don’t care about the summit, and if you start telling me about whatever tasty meal Bell and Chiho Sasaki are having, I really am gonna get pissed off at you!”
Fully zipped back up and looking a bit like a bagworm, Urushihara wriggled around, rolling on the floor as he groused. His final outburst sent him rolling toward the wall. He opted not to move once he hit it; Laila didn’t know if he was hurt or just pouting as he tried to sleep again, but either way, she had now put the idea of returning to Japan well behind her. Instead, all she could do was shrug at the curled-up back of the pouty fallen angel over by the wall.
“But…you know, once this is all over, I’m pretty sure it’ll all go back to normal.”
It was a busy day for everyone hard at work in Ente Isla, and now it was coming to a close.
Maou, for what was likely the first time since he landed on Earth, was using a private bath. While there had been one in the Choshi villa that they’d stayed in during their stint as Ohguro-ya staff, that was really more of an employee dorm.
“Y’know, if you think about it, it’s amazing, isn’t it? Like, having your own private bathtub in your home.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine just how revolutionary a concept it was for Maou to not have to visit the traditional local bathhouse to get washed up. This was a pretty fancy apartment building, yes, but there was nothing that special about Emi’s bathroom. Still, it offered almost too much size and functionality for a solo apartment dweller; even the shape of the faucet was miles ahead of what Maou knew in the public bath. He had listened as Emi explained how everything worked, accepting the towel she’d apparently bought for him in advance.
“That was nice of her,” he muttered as he prepared to take a bath, “although I’d guess she just doesn’t want me messing up the place… Better not use up too much hot water, either… Man, it’s nice being able to shower where you live… The water here feels softer, somehow. It’s neat.”
The showers at the public bath could surprise you with the force with which they ejected water against your skin, jets going in all sorts of haywire directions due to clogged showerheads. But Emi’s shower was more refined, the water from it feeling soft despite the decent amount of water pressure.
“Now, um, she said I could use the shampoo on this shelf?”
He had intended to buy some new toiletries, but once she’d found out that Maou was staying over, Alas Ramus had stayed latched onto him until Emi had finally gotten her to bed at nine in the evening. There was a pharmacy down the street, but it closed at nine, and apparently the local convenience store didn’t have much in men’s bath amenities. So Emi reluctantly let him use some of the shampoo and body wash on hand, but:
“…Which ones were they again?”
On the shelf were three transparent, unlabeled bottles of soap, all looking about the same. Presumably she bought some bottles she liked at the 100-yen shop and purchased soap refills for them, but apart from the different quantities in each one, Maou had no way of telling one from the other.
“Hmm… Oh, is there writing on here? ‘Green Echo Bottle’… Oh, it’s the brand of the bottle?”
It was a fruitless effort. But Emi was busy guiding Alas Ramus to sleep, and he wasn’t going to ask her in the buff anyway. Alas Ramus was being pretty obstinate tonight, despite being assured that Daddy would still be around tomorrow. If Maou spoke up right now, there’s no telling how Emi would lecture him.
“I think she said ‘shampoo, conditioner, and body soap from the right’… Hmm? Or was it from the left? …Well, whatever.”
Making a guess at it, Maou got under the shower and gave the right-hand bottle a shot. The color and aroma of the gel-like liquid was nothing he had seen before, and it certainly wasn’t giving him any clues. So he ran it through his hair.
“…Ah.”
It wasn’t foaming. So the bottle on the right was conditioner. He could already hear Emi jabbing at him.
“Damn it…”
The only hair-care products he knew were the cheap shampoo he bought and whatever came out of the spigot in the public bath. He had never used standalone conditioner before. The presence of three or so bottles was unexpected in itself.
“…Well, hmm.”
But by process of elimination, either of the two bottles had to give him foam.
“Normally, you’d put the two hair-care products next to each other, right…?”
So from the left, it was probably body soap, shampoo, then conditioner. His first guess was completely wrong.
“But I’m not brave enough to ask now, and it’s gotta be nicer than the stuff I use anyway. Let’s just go with this…and I’ll buy my own tomorrow.”
Thus, figuring it best to avoid attracting Emi’s ire, he washed his hair and body with whatever happened to bubble up for him. He felt fresher, if fairly guilty, as he left the bath and put on some underwear, shorts, and a T-shirt for bed purposes. Then he took a look around.
“Oooh…”
There was a bar of soap and a cup for toothbrushes at the washbasin, but no hair dryer was in sight. She probably put it in one cabinet or another, but he didn’t want to rifle through everything and get yelled at.
“…Hey, Emi?”
Instead, he decided it’d be quicker and safer to just ask. He kept it to a loud whisper, trying to avoid waking up Alas Ramus.
“…What is it?” came the response, sounding surprisingly close. She must’ve put the child to bed. The sound from the TV was still faintly audible.
“Do you have a hair dryer?”
“Oh, I didn’t mention that… You decent?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
She entered the bathroom, taking out a surprisingly large handheld hair dryer from the cabinet next to the mirror. “The outlet’s over there,” she said as she turned to leave.
“…”
Then she turned back, opening the door again and looking into the bathroom.
“What? Did I do something wrong?”
Given how snippy Emi had been lately (a real throwback to the past), Maou was on pins and needles around her.
“Yeah, I guess I really need to check up on these things, huh?”
“What?”
“…You normally use a bathhouse all the time, right?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Well, with a home bath, a lot of hair flies around, you know.”
“Hair?”
Emi pointed at the floor around the shower. Short clippings of hair were all over the wet tile.
“You don’t need to do a full cleaning, but try to wash all that off before you go.”
“A-all right. Sorry.”
“It’s all right. You didn’t know. And make sure to turn the ventilation fan on before you leave—the mold sets in fast otherwise. Also…”
“There’s more?”
“You see the roller over there? If you could use that to pick up whatever hair’s lying around after you’re done drying, that’d be great.”
After tacking on those extra rules, Emi left Maou alone, holding her expensive-looking hair dryer.
“…This is gonna be harder than I thought,” he mourned as he got to work, the fancy dryer actually far weaker and colder than the one at the public bath. After that, he used the roller to pick up whatever hair he noticed around him.
“Ahh…”
Now came the question of what to do with the wet towel and dirty laundry. Just as the thought occurred to him, Emi knocked on the door and came in.
“Sorry, but can you put your dirty laundry in here for today?” she asked, brandishing a large grocery-store plastic bag. “There’s a basket by the washer, but we’ll get your own tomorrow.”
“We’re gonna do separate loads?”
“Of course. I use different detergents for Alas Ramus and myself, but if you’ve got your own preference, make sure to buy that. If not, you can use mine.”
“Oh, no, I don’t care. Like, normally I just use soap powder. But…”
“What?”
“Are you sure I can use all this stuff of yours?”
The question, simply reflexive, was greeted with a glare.
“The important thing right now is the ‘family’ atmosphere we’re supposed to be making with Alas Ramus, isn’t it?”
“Oh… Yeah.”
“If I made you keep everything separate from me, that’d be weird, don’t you think? And if I was gonna take it to extremes, I’d ask you to use a separate washer anyway, so…”
“Yeah, I bet,” replied Maou as he obediently put his clothes in the bag.
“I get that you’re nervous, but let’s both just try to deal with it, okay? I’ll try not to be colder with you than I have to be. And I know it won’t be for that long, but Alas Ramus is here, so let’s try not to get in any arguments we don’t have to. Let me know if you have any other questions.”
With that, Emi let him alone once more.
“…Y’know, when push comes to shove, she’s a lot more mature than I am.”
Given how dead set against it she was at first, it almost seemed anticlimactic to Maou.
Then bedtime rolled around.
“It’s kind of weird, isn’t it?” he asked.
“What do you want from me? After thinking it over, this was the best solution I came up with. It’s what I had Eme do when she was here.”
At half-past ten, the bedding was all laid out. Maou had assumed he’d just wrap himself in a blanket and sleep on the floor or something while Emi and Alas Ramus used their bed, but when he got out of the bath, he found Alas Ramus sprawled out in the bed and a pair of futons rolled out next to each other on the floor nearby.
“You can use the one farthest from the bed. If Alas Ramus asks for something in the middle of the night, you wouldn’t know what to do, would you?”
“N-no… Yeah.”
It threw Maou for a loop. He never expected in a million years that Emi would provide a futon for him.
“You can hop in first. I’ll go take a bath.”
“Okay…”
Emi left Maou sitting on his futon as she went to the bathroom. After about half an hour in there, she turned out the living-room light and joined him in the bedroom. She had changed into a loose lemon-yellow T-shirt and shorts, which were apparently her night clothes.
“You still awake?”
“Yeah, um… Sorry, I need to charge my phone.”
“…Oh.” Emi nodded, then pointed toward the window. “It’s kind of far away, but that’s the only outlet.”
“Ah… Thanks.”
Maou crouched down windowside and plugged his phone in.
“Well, good night,” Emi said, going into the middle futon. Maou did the same with his, still feeling a bit agitated, trying to be silent and turning his back to the women. The futon and sheets felt freshly washed, the comforter lighter than anything he had experienced but still nice and warm. After he’d spent the day playing with Alas Ramus and gotten exposed to all these unfamiliar things, fatigue quickly overcame him—but there was one more thing he had to say. Summoning his resolve, he spoke up, back still turned.
“Hey, Emi?”
“…What?” she replied, not turning around.
“Um…I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
There was a slight element of surprise in the reaction to his sudden apology.
“…You know, when you stayed at my place…like, way before any of this happened…”
“You mean when we were fighting off Gabriel?”
“Yeah… That. We made you sleep right on the tatami floor, didn’t we?”
“Oh, yeah, you did. I forgot until you mentioned it. What about it?”
“Well, um, you’ve done so much for me today, now I feel kinda sorry about it, so…I just wanted to say that.”
“…”
Emi seemed confused for a moment. Then he felt her turn over. From the sound of her heavy sigh, she was on her back now.
“That’s what you have to say to me? Things are a lot different now from then, aren’t they.”
“Yeah, they are, but still…”
“And both times, we did that because we had to, right? There’s no problem to speak of, so it’s fine. Okay? We gotta get up early tomorrow.”
“Y-yeah, right. Sorry.”
“Mm. Oh, also…”
“Hmm?”
“I told you Amane would contact them…but I’ll talk things over with Chiho and Bell, too, okay?”
“…Sure.”
“Or would you prefer I didn’t?”
“Well, we can’t really avoid it…”
“I know it might be hard for you, so I’ll look for an opportunity to… Again, good night.”
“…Yeah.”
A little while later, Emi began to lightly snore, joining Alas Ramus next to her. Maou could occasionally hear an emergency vehicle’s siren out the window. Sensing all that, he reflected back on the past day…
“…sssp…”
…and in short time, he quietly joined them.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login