Hataraku Maou-sama! - Volume 21 - Chapter 1

THE FALLEN ANGEL CLAIMS HIS RELIC

The man whom Amaned had dragged in showed up in Room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka, just as Devil’s Castle was back home and preparing to hurtle toward heaven for one final battle.

Thanks to what had happened right after the summit, Maou was in bad shape. He’d been living with Emi for a while, but now that she was back in Ente Isla, he was relishing life by himself in Villa Rosa once more. When he saw the figures awaiting him at the door, Maou could only assume that his illness was now giving him hallucinations.

“Wow, that’s a rarity. You got a cold or something?” Amane asked.

Ignoring the jab, Maou tried his hardest to support his heavy body as he spoke. “Urushihara… Why are you…? Aren’t you supposed to be in Devil’s Castle in Ente Isla…?”

“Sorry to break this to ya with no warning, but I’m not Urushihara. I’m a Sephirah child, born of the person who has laid out a direction for the people of Ente Isla.”

“…Um? What?”

“But there’s a reason why I came out like this. And I do share a lot of bodily traits in common with Lucifer.”

“W-wait a sec. I’m having trouble keeping up with you. You’re not Urushihara? A Sephirah child? So are you the one who’s supposed to be born later, or…?”

“Oh, you know about all that? Perfect. Yeah, that’s me. I’m the Da’at of Ente Isla.”

Out of the jewels that compose the worlds, the Da’at—the eleventh Sephirah—was known to come after its other brothers and sisters. Maou had heard about that. But that wasn’t all he was concerned about.

“What do you mean by, ‘born of the person who has laid out a direction,’ blah blah blah?”

The words of this Da’at posing as Urushihara compelled Maou—too ill to stand up straight before—to keep his knees unbent.

“I’m talking about Chiho Sasaki, of course. Thanks to the way she handled the summit, Ente Isla’s people have unified into… Whoa, hey now.”

“You… Don’t you dare do anything else to Chi…!”

“Look, my dude, I didn’t show up because I wanted to bother her. But the thing is, all of you people… The king of demons; the emperors and kings and generals and high priests of mankind; the Hero, even… None of them could treat the inhabitants of Ente Isla as Ente Islans, so to speak. None of them except an average teen from another world.”

“…Ngh…”

“Besides, you’re the one who got her involved in the first place, aren’t you?”

His astute observation sapped Maou of his vigor. His knees were starting to buckle on him again.

“Maou, what’s wrong with you?” Amane asked. “Do demons even get colds? What’s your live-in butler doing, even?”

It was such a pitiful sight that even Amane—who hadn’t missed the opportunity to needle Maou about his roommate—extended a concerned hand to him.

“Oh, wow, you’ve got a bad fever. Here, get back in your futon. Do Yusa and Ashiya know you’re like this?”

“I’m sorry… Ashiya doesn’t know. Emi and Alas Ramus are in Ente Isla, launching Devil’s Castle, too, and…I didn’t wanna use her stuff without asking, so I came home.”

Maou lay back down as Amane offered a helping hand. He kept his eyes on the Da’at.

“Well, wouldn’t Yusa’s place be a lot more convenient for you? You’re so obstinate that way. Inflexible.” Amane opened up Maou’s fridge as she spoke. “At least you’re eating, judging by the fridge. Oh, but even without Ashiya, you still got Libicocco here, don’t you? But still…that body’s human, you know. You don’t have the flu or something, do you? Have you seen a doctor?”

“No, um, I’m pretty sure a doctor couldn’t help with this. It happened on the way back from Ente Isla last time, so it’s not the flu…”

His vague excuses weren’t about to work against Amane. Her eyes sharpened upon him, as if she could tell Maou was hiding something.

“Well, if it’s a disease from over there, that’s a problem, isn’t it? That’s something Yusa or Kamazuki ought to check up on for you. If you start bringing alien viruses to Earth, I’m not gonna take that sitting down, understand?”

“N-no, it’s not that. It’s not a disease.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I—I mean, I know the cause of it, and, uh, medicine doesn’t work on it, and I think I’ll be fine once I get some rest.”

“Again, how do you know that?”

“H-how? I mean…”

Amane usually took a fairly hands-off approach with the demons, but she was being oddly coercive today. That Urushihara-shaped Da’at must have had something to do with it. Maou glanced at him again. He had a vague sort of smile on his face—maybe out of pity, or maybe out of rebuke.

It brought Maou to a realization: This man, born from the Yesod fragment in Chiho’s possession, knew exactly why he was ill.

“Weird, isn’t it?” the Da’at said. “Maybe it’s the biology of you demons. Is it because you’re dealing with a human being, maybe? Or just because it’s her?”

“You…!”

“What are you talking about?” Amane wondered. “Well, anyway, what a pain. I had no idea you were in such a sad state of affairs, Maou. Now what’re we gonna do?”

If Amane found out the true cause of Maou’s illness, he’d doubtless never hear the end of it from her for the rest of his life. But she seemed to have several things weighing on her mind today, so she wasn’t paying close attention to the two men’s conversation.

“What’s…gotten into you, though, Amane?” Maou deflected. “Why did you bring this guy over?”

“Like I keep telling you, I don’t want any trouble with the Sephirah from over there. I want you to take him over to Ente Isla for me…but if this is the shape you’re in, I guess I’ll have to ask Chiho or Rika instead…”

“W-wait a minute, please. So you want me to send this fake Urushihara to Ente Isla? Well, right now, over there—”

“You’re launching Devil’s Castle, fending off a rising crusade, and don’t have a lot of safe spots for him, right? Well, I don’t care. I want you to ferry him off this planet.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? It’s not like Alas Ramus and the rest are—”

“The Da’at is different. And if he’s the twin of Urushihara, that, along with everything else we know, is way too much to mess around with. It’s gonna be nothing but trouble for all of us.”

Her tone was light, but her emotions were real.

“…All right. I’ll take him there. I have a few days off work anyway.”

“Huh? Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“I’d be a lot more anxious about leaving this mystery guy with anyone else. Also, I’m already going to the demon realms. I was just thinking that I probably need to recharge my demonic force over there to get back to health.”

“You’re probably right. We’re on the same page,” the Da’at agreed smugly.

“Shut up.” Maou resented the implication. “Do you have a name?”

“Not right now. You gonna give me one?”

“Are you messing with me?”

Maou had anticipated that he might not have a name, but he didn’t expect the Da’at to ask him for one.

“You don’t have to act all defensive. I could christen myself, for that matter, but my first choice would be to have Chiho Sasaki do it. After that, I’d prefer either you or Emilia Justina do it, I think.”

Maou opted not to ask how he’d come up with this order.

“…Copy-hara.”

“Are you serious, Maou?”

Amane quickly voiced her complaint at the rather tasteless suggestion.

“Copyhara, huh? Copyhara… Not bad. I like it.”

On the other hand, it didn’t seem to bother the person being named at all.

“Okay, you’re Copyhara now. We can worry about your first name later. Also…”

“What’s this? Hair wax?”

The pomade Maou casually tossed his way made Copyhara raise an eyebrow. Maou listlessly pointed at his own forehead.

“You look way too much like the real Urushihara. It’s too confusing, so part your hair on the opposite side for me.”

Summoning all his resolve to sit up from the futon, Maou wrote a quick note for Libicocco. Then he called for Acieth, who was over in the landlord’s house, and after that, he sent a text to Chiho detailing his future plans, including what he’d do with Copyhara. Finally, he set off for the demon realms with Amane and Copyhara.

Being unable to use an angel’s feather pen, the already sickened Maou required a Herculean effort to open his own Gate—he nearly lost his lunch a couple of times inside it, too. But back in the demon realms, looking up at Devil’s Castle looming high over the red sky and terrain, he could feel the demonic force in the air work its way into his body, like a relaxing hot spring bath. In just a few moments, he felt palpably better.

“You look distressed about something,” Copyhara noted.

“Can you read people’s minds, or…?”

“A little.”

Copyhara sure wasn’t being shy.

“It’s not like I’m trying to invade your privacy, though I need some training before I can manage to avoid hearing anything I don’t need to.”

“I can’t believe you were born looking and speaking like that…”

Maou almost wanted to believe he was Urushihara’s long-lost twin brother. Then:

“Devil King? Weren’t you under the weather or… Hey, who’s that?”

“Your Demonic Highness! If I’d known you were here, I would have come to greet you… Who is that behind you?”

“…Uh, who’re you, dude?”

Emi, Ashiya, and Urushihara, all stepping up to greet Maou’s arrival in the demon realms, were all suspicious, in their own respective ways, of Copyhara standing behind him.

The day after Amane and Maou dragged Copyhara to the demon realms, the group returned to that mysterious laboratory deep underground, preparing to kick off the final phase of their assault on heaven.

Countless bodies, the remains of an army of mechanical soldiers, could be seen lying in the cracks running along the ground. Beyond them lay a legion of enigmatic machinery, crafted by unknown hands during an unknown age. It was all reminiscent of Satanas Arc, the ancient city Satan had discovered, which once served as the demons’ stronghold in this realm. But this did not evoke good memories for Maou or Emi. Even as they returned here, moving through this graveyard of soldiers—as well as through the demonic power-sucking entrance that had stymied Maou and Camio before—kept Emi on high alert.

“Well…I really don’t think they’ll attack now, the way things are. No point in being too anxious.”

“Wasn’t it the same last time, though? And Alas Ramus has been kind of unstable lately. The time may come when Acieth’s power no longer works against them.”

Maou shrugged at Emi, who seemed ready to believe there were enemies in all directions. His guard wasn’t down, though. The first time they’d journeyed down here, the only true fighters in their party had been Emi, Camio, and himself—and being robbed of their demonic force meant relying on the strength of Emi, Acieth, and Kinanna. But in addition to the members from before, they had Urushihara, Gabriel, Amane Ohguro, and also a certain other person tagging along. It seemed safe to assume they had a firm foundation to work with.

“Damn. This place is gross.”

Urushihara winced as he ran a hand down his hair. Passing through that entrance had taken all his demonic force, as expected, so now his hair and eyes were back to their “angel” versions. But as a fallen angel, he was still capable of using power resembling any other member of his kin. (Maou and Camio, just like before, were also forced to retreat into their respective human and chicken forms.)

“If I may ask… How come I wound up like this, but Laila’s still got the same coloring?”

Fairly recently, Laila had experienced the opposite transformation from Urushihara—going from silvery-blue hair and brilliant red eyes to a purple hue for both. They believed this happened after Maou had healed her injuries in Japan, but considering the entrance here sucked demonic force away from physical bodies, no one had expected this to happen.

“I don’t know… Maybe, unlike you, my magical force isn’t an integral part of my life systems or something.”

Laila didn’t give it much more consideration than that.

“Well, maybe you’re fine with that, but…what about him, then?”

Urushihara, still unconvinced, turned toward another figure next to Amane. Ignoring the stare, the Da’at flashed a breezy smile exactly as Urushihara would.

“Well, you know, it wasn’t an acquired thing like it was with you. I’ve been like this from the start, dude. Isn’t that right, Amane?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m not a Sephirah child, so I wouldn’t know.”

Amane was oddly evasive as she sized up Copyhara’s statement.

It was rare for her emotions to come to the surface like this, especially when you considered she knew he was born of a Yesod fragment, which meant he couldn’t have been her enemy.

“So what’s the big deal, huh? These things happen sometimes.”

“Jus’ like Lushiferrr! So weird!”

The two other Yesod kids weren’t afraid of Copyhara at all. Thus, the denizens of Devil’s Castle decided to allow the interloper’s presence, despite not being entirely on board with him.

“How we are doesn’t matter right now, does it? You guys have a job to do,” Copyhara reminded them.

“Ugh… My work’s ninety percent done now that Devil’s Castle is back down safely, so why do I get all this guff, dude? Because this feels a lot grosser than you think it does,” spat Urushihara, apparently disgusted by the relaxed smile of the man with an identical face. “Don’t start any crap with me, dude, or I’ll make you regret it.”

“Well, I’m here right now because everyone trusts me, y’know? Despite having your mug.”

Whether he was a Da’at born from a Yesod fragment or not, why was Copyhara tagging along to a place that had caused Maou and Emi so much strife? It was mainly because he claimed that if they could put this facility into operation, it’d make it far easier to attack heaven than what Maou’s plans called for. What’s more, activating things down here required not only the four relics of the Devil Overload Satan, previously used to operate Devil’s Castle as a rocket ship, but Urushihara himself.

“Copyhara, are you sure you know how to run this whole thing?”

“Of course. But don’t you know, too, Lucifer? Like, this whole operation?”

“I really don’t like that ‘Copyhara’ name, dude! Just hearing you use it drives me crazy. Do I really sound like that?”

Urushihara was complaining about something else entirely. But he didn’t deny the question.

“Like I keep telling you, most of my memories about my life have been pretty vague for a while. What I think…or at least what I recall…”

He was now pointing to a set of five capsules of various sizes, set up at one end of the large mechanical facility. His finger was aimed at the central section, where Kinanna and the Nothung had been the last time.

“…is all of that belonged to me.”

Hearing this, Copyhara flashed an implicating smile, just like Urushihara always did. “That’s right. Everything here belonged to you. That stuff, and the real relic hidden here.”

He must have been referring to the Devil Overlord’s relics. Maou and his cohorts had initially searched for them so they could launch Devil’s Castle away from Ente Isla; they hadn’t been looking for anything else, apart from replacing things that were broken when they’d touched down for their attack on humanity. In fact, until Copyhara had suggested activating this facility, the best plan they’d come up with was to launch Devil’s Castle from the demon realms, then follow an orbital path toward the heavens. That idea was fraught with danger, but no one had any better suggestions—they had debated it many times, since before the castle launch, and that was what they’d concluded.

According to Copyhara, however, bringing all the relics they’d collected back to the lab would put their fears to rest. Maou’s gang had been dubious at first, but with Urushihara talking about the relics again as well, they decided to give it a shot—and now, every last relic was here.

“Hey! You done yet, Amane? This spear’s heavy! Can’t we haul it in?”

The Spear of Adramelechinus, significantly larger than any of the other relics, was being carried by Gabriel, who was currently griping from near the entrance.

<“Well, then… Time to begin the polishing…”>

Jewel in his throat shining, Kinanna carried the magical sword Nothung on his shoulder as he toddled in.

“Wait, Kinanna! We haven’t finished any of our peep preparations!”

“Cheep-cheep! Don’t climb on the machines!”

“Hey, big sis, do not pull the tail of chicken! With chicken, you grab by neck—”

“Gah! Cheep!”

“No, you two! How many times do I have to tell you? Camio is not a chicken!!”

Alas Ramus and Acieth were running around underfoot, chasing after the hapless chicken Camio, as Laila tried desperately to stop them.

“After everything that’s happened, why isn’t everyone a little more…tense?”

Emi, watching them carry on like usual, began to feel a vague sense of anxiety about all this.

“All right, outta my way, please; we got big cargo comin’ through. Keep the little kids back, mm-kay? Oh, don’t hit the top part! Can you handle the back?”

“You’re not a moving crew.”

Ignoring Maou’s jab, Gabriel worked the giant spear above, around, and through the chamber, finally ensconcing it inside the largest of the five capsules. All the other relics fit into their own capsules as well, like keys in keyholes; now only the central capsule was left.

“Boy, so big! Chiho, she score that spear, yes?”

“‘Score’ isn’t exactly the word I’d use, but yeah, I won’t forget that day for a while… Also, why are you eating that dried squid, Acieth?”

Emi raised an eyebrow. Acieth’s mouth was full of shredded dried squid, a popular Asian snack, as she spoke. Her gluttonous habits hadn’t abated, but she tended to require less food in Ente Isla than on Earth, so a plastic bag of squid she’d purchased at a store was tiding her over well enough.

“They say if you chew a whole lot, it taste real good.”

“Oh…”

“By the way, this not actually the squid. It is the gummy candy, with shape of squid. You eat, too?”

Emi looked at the bag for a while, wondering who thought this product would sell and how the people at the manufacturing plant even crafted it.

“I’ll pass.”

Unfazed, she turned it down. In the midst of this, all the preparations came together.

“Okay, everything’s set up like you instructed. Is something gonna happen now?”

<“Finally, time for some real polishing.”>

Responding to Gabriel’s call, Kinanna began deftly operating the panel connected to his capsule, just like before. There was a loud roar as all the machines in the chamber activated at once. When Kinanna heard it:

<“I have waited a long time… A very long time indeed.”>

Wagging his tail, he stepped into one of the empty capsules.

“…And?”

The sword, spear, and magic gear were all genuine relics. That must have meant that the jewel in Kinanna’s throat really was the Astral Gem after all. But even with all the Devil Overlord’s relics in one place, it seemed like nothing else was going to happen. Across the room, everyone’s gaze fell on Copyhara…but it was Urushihara who looked despondent.

“…Do I have to do this, dude?”

“Yep.”

“Listen, how much do you know anyway?”

“I am a Sephirah that has taken your form. I think I have most of your memories, and being a Sephirah, I can remember things a lot further back than you can.”

“Oh. Well, I think you probably know, but my memory isn’t all that great, and I’m not totally certain what I’m about to do is the right thing. But when Gabriel talked to me about the relics, for the first time in a while…”

“Oooh, yeah. That was a real hot day out, huh?”

“…Well, I didn’t want to pay the inheritance tax, you know what I mean? I think it’s already burned into my DNA…like, how if I receive these relics, it’s gonna be this massive pain in the ass.”

With that, the still despondent Urushihara slowly walked forward. Then, just as Kinanna did, he stepped up and into the only empty capsule remaining.

“Close it from the outside for me, Maou. And…you. You operate it, okay? You know how, right?” Urushihara asked.

“Can’t you call me Copyhara? He’s the one who named me.”

“I’d rather die, dude. Come up with a more Sephirah-like name.”

“Um… So close it? Like this?”

As instructed, Maou closed the lid on the capsule, blocking out Urushihara’s voice. At the same time, Copyhara placed his index finger on the control panel.

The next moment:

“Huhh?”

“Cheep?!”

A torrent of light and vibration, nothing like the roaring from before, filled the eyes and ears of everyone in the room. As it did, they could all feel the entire underground facility traveling farther downward.

“Is this whole place an elevator?!”

“We—we can go back, right?”

“Don’t worry, mm-kay? I have my feather pen if we get in trouble.”

“Great, but what about me and Camio and Kinanna?!”

“Mommy!!”

Amid the din, Alas Ramus’s voice shot out more sharply than the rest.

“Someone…is here.”

Not something, but someone. That put everyone on edge, but when they saw who that “someone” was, it made them all put on quizzical looks.

“What…is that…?”

When the room quieted down, they found that the wall facing Urushihara had opened wide. They all peered in, curious about what lay beyond. There, they found an even larger laboratory, complete with the capsules Urushihara and the rest had stepped into—except they were several dozen times larger. Even compared to the giant capsule holding the spear, these were still about five times as big.

“…It wasn’t this huge, but I think I’ve seen something like this before…”

Stiffening up, Emi sifted through her memories as she examined the new chamber. There, within the gigantic space even deeper in the underground facility, they could make out an enormous, enclosed jar. It was about half-filled with soil, extending out from which was a withered stump, its shape twisted. A soft light shone down on the container, and a thin layer of moss covered the soil’s surface.

“Right. It’s a terrarium.”

“Tera… What? What’s that?”

This was, in essence, a blown-up version of a terrarium—a glass container with a small natural environment inside, often kept for decoration.

“A terrarium. You know, those small containers with plants and stuff you put in the window. A lot of people make them for fun using stones and small branches and moss. If you do it right, you can create a self-sustaining ecosystem inside.”

“So it’s kind of a gardening thing?”

“It just looks like that, I mean. But…”

Upon further inspection, it seemed to be sealed away—locked in an underground facility, to be opened only by Urushihara and the Devil Overlord’s relics.

“If this only opens after you collect the Devil Overlord Satan’s relics and lost child here, it can’t just be some hobbyist bonsai. Maybe you can turn it into a great weapon, or… Huh?”

As they stood there, unable to fathom what the container could really be:

“Asseth, that’s us.”

“Yeah. It is. We were here.”

Alas Ramus and Acieth whispered to each other, apparently aware of what it was. It made Acieth drop her bag of gummy squid.

“Alas Ramus? What do you mean? When you say ‘we’… Are there still Yesod fragments in there?”

“No. That’s us.”

“Emi, why don’t you put the fragment in your holy sword up to it? Then we can see if there’s some in there or not.”

“Y-yeah… Um, Alas Ramus, if you have a minute?”

“Okeh.”

At Maou’s suggestion, Emi remembered to summon her holy sword. Alas Ramus disappeared as she did.

“Hey, are you sure this is all right? I don’t know anything about this place. And besides giving Alas Ramus to Satan, I didn’t leave any other fragments in the demon realms…”

“If there’s no guiding light from the fragments, it won’t react at all. We’ve made it this far. We need to test out everything we can.”

“That’s true…”

Quieting Laila’s concerns, Emi—as she had done many times before—held her holy sword aloft, infused it with holy force, and released the power of its Yesod fragment. If another shard was near, they would see a beam of purple light connecting the two. If not, the sword would instead react to the next nearest fragment, the one in Acieth.

“…Did it just shake a little?”

“It did. That didn’t feel like an earthquake…”

But everyone standing there could feel a vibration cross their bodies.

“Yes. Because of that.”

Acieth pointed at the stump inside the giant terrarium.

“Wait, was that there before?”

Maou squinted at it. At first glance, it definitely looked like a withered tree stump. Now, however, a whisker-thin twig had sprouted atop it, with a young bud fully spread out from its top.

“It call me and my big sis, Emi. Saying ‘Let’s go home.’”

“Go home…? Ah?!”

Suddenly, a much larger tremor rocked the entire space.

“Hey, Gabriel…”

“Ah, um, yeah. You’re probably right. But I can’t say I really predicted this, or, um…like, how big it got is kind of a surprise. On the other hand, it would also be unexpected if it still worked at this size…”

“Laila! Gabriel! What are you two so convinced about? What’s all this shaking? And what’s in that stupid jar thing?!”

Recovering from illness, drained of magic power, and exposed to a train of improbable events, Maou was tired of it all. He pressed the two archangels for answers. They turned toward him, showing more bewilderment—plus a tiny amount of excitement—than he typically ever saw from them.

“I think we probably won’t immediately get what’s going on, even after we leave here, but…”

“But we can tell you what this is, yes.”

Laila walked over to Acieth, standing next to her. She hadn’t picked up her bag of gummies, nor had she moved on to another snack. As Laila patted her on the back, all she did was gaze at that lone bud from the stump.

“This is not the end of something…but yes. Very long…”

“You’re right. I’m sorry we made your wait so drawn-out.”

“…So this is something related to the Sephirah?”

“More than just related. This is literally a root from it.”

“Heh-heh!”

Gabriel giggled a little after Laila said that—just a casual snicker, as if someone had just inadvertently made a pun.

“The one we knew was a lot smaller than this. Small enough that a grown person could lug it around. But…yeah. Considering how much time has passed, this is still pretty puny.”

Laila, holding Acieth by the shoulder, looked toward Emi’s holy sword.

“I’m sure the same question must have crossed your mind. Out of the ten Sephirah, why was it that only the Yesod shattered into pieces?”

That hadn’t been a passing thought, no. Ever since Erone, born from Gevurah, appeared, the regulars at Villa Rosa Sasazuka Room 201 had always kept that concern in the back of their minds. Emi even asked Laila about it once. Why fragments? Who broke it, and how?

“Well, here’s your answer. Long ago, Satanael cut this from the Tree of Life. Maybe the other Sephirah would have shattered if he’d cut off anything else. That’s how this works.”

The solemnity of Laila’s voice was not lost on Maou and Emi. It was the first time they’d ever felt that from her.

“This is one of the roots that supports the Tree of Life. There are eleven in all on Sephirot, each corresponding to its own Sephirah, and this is the ninth.”

Listening to her mother’s voice, Emi couldn’t help but tighten the grip on her holy sword.

“The Yesod Sephirah’s root…”

“Huh?”

Under the shade of the awning, Maou spotted a woman carrying a sunshade over her head. Noticing the sound of his engine, she lifted her head and waved at him.

“Sorry. Did you wait long?”

“Good morning. Oh, right, the manager starts in the afternoon today, right?”

“Yeah. I’m just helping out in the morning. Lemme open it up for you. It had to be hot out here!”

“Yeah, it’s so early, but I can’t believe how scorching it is just standing here!”

The woman looked like she was sick of it.

“Lemme have the key, president! I’ll go in and start the AC for you.”

“Sure, sure.”

Maou gave the woman who’d casually called him “president” the key case from his pocket. Well acquainted with this process, she opened the entrance with the key and rushed in, sending the old-fashioned bells that hung over the door dinging away.

Parking the scooter at the far end of the parking lot, Maou took a look around the building. He glared at a small collection of cigarette stubs that had appeared overnight, but otherwise everything seemed well. After a quick check to make sure there was no dirt on the sign, he opened the door and went in.

Today, as usual, it was time to prep the Eifukucho flagship location of Yesodd’s Family Café.

Enjoying the dim, cooled air inside, the woman from before greeted Maou as she came in from the back.

“We sold a lot of bottled coffee yesterday. Do we have enough? Oh, here’s the keys.”

“Yeah, I placed an order for more before I left home. They’ll bring them over.”

Accepting the key case from her, Maou pointed outside.

“Also, Shoji, sorry to work you this early, but outside…”

“Oh, the cigarette butts again? Ugh! Don’t they get businesses to put up NO SMOKING signs ’cause they don’t want that sorta thing?”

Kaori Shoji, a member of the part-time staff, was dressed in her standard uniform—white shirt, denim cutoffs, chic black salon apron. As she fumed a bit, her tied-up black hair swayed around. She took a trash bag from under the register and went outside.

“Oh, right, Maou! I mean, president!”

Then she came right back.

“So, I saw that the manager’s coming in this afternoon on the shift schedule. Are you off after that?”

“Yeah. I’m getting together with someone afterward.”

“Oh, a date?!”

“Huh?”

Hearing that word from out of nowhere, so unrestrained, made Maou widen his eyes. He thought for a moment, then nodded his assent.

“Well… It’s not that it isn’t, I guess?”

“Not so inactive after all, huh, prez?”

Then, for some reason, Kaori’s face lit up. Maou knew that whenever she looked up at him like this, something bad was about to happen.

“Hey, stop picking on your elders. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, the manager told me that you’ve been really busy lately, so I figured, maybe you just don’t have it in you, so…”

“Don’t have it in me? I sign your paychecks, you know.”

“But today you’ve got plans, huh? That’s really impressive. And if you’re leaving before lunchtime, are you dining out, then? Maybe eating at the airport?”

“Well, yeah, lunch, but… What? The airport?”

Maou winced at the second unexpected keyword.

Now Kaori looked puzzled. “Weren’t you going to Haneda Airport? Or are you meeting up at Hamamatsu-cho or somewhere?”

“Haneda? Hamamatsu-cho? What are you talking about? I don’t have any business there.”

It may have just been the glare from outside, but Kaori’s face suddenly took on an aura of terrifying darkness.

“Oh, you don’t? Ahh, I knew it. Tssh.”

“What? Hey, Shoji! Why’re you talkin’ like that to the president?”

“I swear, all you workaholics…”

Watching Kaori leave after that tirade, Maou thought to himself for a moment.

“The airport…? Hang on… I didn’t hear anything, but maybe…”

And as his mind came up with an assortment of ominous scenarios, Kaori began cleaning the tables. “I’m done outside,” she declared, “so I’ll start in here.”

Based on the way she was acting, Maou was now sure he’d messed something up.

“Look, I didn’t know, okay?”

The muttering was nothing but a lame excuse, so he went back to his own duties. No matter what was happening with him, or the world, he had to get this café up and running. He was president of The Maou Company, Ltd., operators of the Eifukucho location of Yesodd’s Family Café, and they were opening in ninety minutes.