Hataraku Maou-sama! - Volume 21 - Chapter 4

THE HERO FINDS AN ANSWER AND CHOOSES HER WAY

It was the afternoon after their visit to the Sasaki residence, about four PM—two hours into the shift.

“Maou, if you could?”

Thanks to it not being very busy, Maou was somehow able to overcome his illness enough to carry on—until Iwaki came along, Libicocco in tow. The MgRonald upstairs café space had only a few customers dotted around.

“I’ll let Libby handle upstairs.”

“All right. But…did my headset batteries run out? Did a delivery order come in or something?”

He had heard nothing on his headset, so he thought at first that he’d missed an order or the like.

“No, nothing like that. Can you just come with me for a moment?”

“S-sure. Thanks, Libicocco.”

“…Yep.”

The taciturn Libicocco, taking Maou’s place, gave him a worried look as he toddled down the stairs. Once he was pulled into the staff room:

“This is a managerial order, all right? Maou, I want you to take off early today.”

“Right… Wait, wait?”

“Kawata agreed to come in just for the dinner rush, so we’ll be fine here. So go home and get yourself better, okay?”

“Oh, um, manager, no…”

“That’s a managerial order.”

Iwaki was being unusually strict.

“Maou, I know this is a very important time for you. That’s why you were at Ms. Sasaki’s house, right?”

Ah, yes. Iwaki did see him on all fours at Chiho’s place.

“You said you’d be better in a little bit, so I kept an eye on you, but… Maybe you don’t realize it, but you’ve been going paler and paler. People are gonna think you caught a cold, and I can’t have you handling food like that.”

“…All right. I’m sorry.”

Being told that, Maou had nothing to counter with.

“Can you get home by yourself?”

“Yeah, I can do that… It’s real close on a bike.”

He staggered his way toward the changing room, but:

“Agh?!”

Iwaki, waiting outside, flew in after hearing some kind of loud crashing sound.

“Are you all right?”

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” a panicked-sounding Maou said from a rather low position on the ground.

After a little while, he successfully changed out of his uniform. His face looked even worse, though—being freed of the tension of work must’ve done that to him.

“Why don’t you take a little break before heading home?”

“No… Um, I really don’t think it’s a cold, but if it is, I don’t want to spread it… I’m sorry. Say thanks to Kawacchi for me.”

“…All right. Be careful.”

Iwaki said nothing else as Maou left, making sure every step was a sure one before he took it. Watching him stagger his way through the town in twilight, Iwaki returned to Libicocco.

“So can demons even catch colds?”

“No, I sure haven’t heard of that. But my liege has been living here for a while now… If it’s anything like before, he’ll get real bad quick, then he’ll recover just as quick. He doesn’t have a fever or anything; he just gets drained of energy, kind of.”

“No fever?”

“No. Well, I can’t say, really, but last time, he was all better once he returned to the demon realms, so I think he’ll recover pretty fast this time, too.”

“I hope so,” Iwaki said, slightly anxious. “If it’s just him not feeling well…maybe demons can catch colds. Try not to catch it, Libby.”

“Aw, quit making it sound like I’ll catch the stupid from him or something.”

“You’re getting pretty used to life in Japan, aren’t you?”

For someone who’d only recently learned about Maou and Libicocco, she already seemed to have a lot of insight into what made them tick.

“But I don’t think my liege or Alciel has ever gone to the doctor… Can this body get sick after all?”

It made Libicocco worry, just a bit—enough that he resolved to at least buy a mask at the convenience store on the way home.

But the King of all Demons hadn’t moved one bit from the MgRonald bicycle parking area. He was crouched by his Dullahan II, unable to get up, because he couldn’t work his knees at all. His left hand groped at thin air, failing to grasp the handlebar.

“Boy… I’m done for.”

The nausea was acting up again, but no matter what he did, he had to avoid throwing up behind the MgRonald. At this point, though, it was only a matter of time.

“This is so pathetic… Come on… Do it, King…of all Demons…”

Having a near-death experience just because you were trying to answer the feelings of a human girl was beyond pathetic.

“…You really are pathetic. You call yourself Devil King?”

But someone picked up on his self-utterances.

“Here, grab hold of me. Come on. Can you stand up? You can leave the bike here tonight.”

“Ah… Yeah…”

Someone took Maou’s hand and lent him a shoulder to lean on. His hazy vision turned upward, and he was laid down on something soft.

“Hey. Sorry, I know it’s real close, but if you could drive us toward Sasazuka Station…”

His nose told him he had been placed inside a car. Taking a relieved breath, he fell into a deep sleep, all but losing consciousness.

When he awoke, it was already dark.

Maou had been laid down on his back, the orange light from the miniature lamp blinding him.

“Oogh…”

His breath felt tepid as he came to. He was still unwell, but not as scarily limp as he was outside the MgRonald.

“What…time is it…?”

He tried to look at his wristwatch…then realized it wasn’t on him.

“Huh? Ah… Wait… When did I take it off? Where’s my phone…?”

His foggy mind ordered him to twist around, seeking the phone in its usual position by his bed.

“Mmh…”

Hearing a light groan, he realized that someone was lying next to him. He blinked, his eyes finally getting used to his surroundings.

“…Huhh?!”

Realizing it was Emi next to him, he gasped. The sudden intake of dry air made him choke. He coughed a few times.

“Mmm…”

Emi scowled a bit at the noise but quickly took a deep breath, turned over, and faced away from him.

“…Wha…?”

Maou had been placed on a futon, with Emi sleeping directly on the tatami-mat floor, using a seat cushion as a pillow.

Thinking hard with his addled brain, he moved his heavy head around. No matter how hard he squinted, it looked like nothing but Room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka—with Emi sleeping next to him. Then, finally, he spotted his phone plugged into the wall, as well as the clock hanging above it.

“Ah… Seven…”

Not that much time had passed since he’d left his shift early. If this was how he was, Iwaki was right to order him off duty—but he still had no idea how he got here. Vaguely, he could recall leaving the restaurant, becoming incapacitated outside, then someone helping him out. It was probably Emi, but he had no idea why Emi would be there, and even if she was, she had no reason to be sleeping in the same room with him.

“…”

They had shared an apartment not long ago, if only for a little bit, so he could tell whether Emi was in a deep sleep or not. He also knew that Emi had a knack for waking up and falling asleep almost instantly. She told him about this at some point—being raised on a farm meant lots of early mornings, and during their Devil King–slaying quest, there was a lot of camping out and accommodations in rough regions. If you couldn’t get yourself awake fast, it could cost you your life.

What’s more, life with Alas Ramus, dealing with her crying at night and so on, meant her sleep was shallower than most people’s. Whenever Alas Ramus was involved, Maou usually couldn’t protest too loudly, so he hesitated to bother her about the noises she made while asleep, but…

“…I gotta go to the bathroom.”

He had a sudden urge—probably why he woke up from this nap—but he knew Emi didn’t have much chance to sleep soundly like this, so he couldn’t help but stop himself. The toilets at Villa Rosa Sasazuka were ancient; when he flushed his, it was loud enough that he feared waking the neighbors. Still, if he held it in, his tank was gonna be beyond full later if he went back to sleep. Should he stay, or should he go?

Just as Maou began waging that lonely war against himself, he felt a vibration from somewhere.

“Hmm…?!”

He thought his phone was ringing at first, but the vibration pattern didn’t sound right.

“Mmm…”

It must have been Emi’s smartphone. With a light yawn, she sat up.

“Oh, you’re up? How are you feeling?”

She turned toward Maou, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“…Ah…um…”

The response was so thin and pathetic that his unnaturally tense reaction to Emi’s natural greeting was brutally obvious. Unable to respond, Maou watched as Emi stretched out, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she naturally brought a hand to his forehead.

“Ah, what…?”

Her fingers pushed his hair away, her palm resting on his head.

“No, there’s no fever. In fact, you seem kind of cool. Is your blood pressure going down?”

“Ah, ah, um…”

“Why’re you so nervous?”

Emi smiled a little under the mini-light. The sight of Maou acting so perturbed must’ve struck her as funny. A little while ago, he would’ve eagerly spewed vitriol at Emi, no matter how afraid he was that she might harm him—but by the look of things, she’d definitely helped him out after he collapsed outside the MgRonald, and his mind was still too befuddled to come up with anything snappy.

“I’ll turn on the light.”

Emi stood up and pulled the string twice. Light filled the room.

“I put Alas Ramus in my body. If that really is a cold, I don’t want her catching it, so don’t worry about that.”

“Ah, yeah… Urp…”

Even the fluorescent light beat down powerfully upon Maou. It made him feel nauseated all over again.

“The light’s too painful?”

“…No, um, if you could turn it down a notch…”

“Right, right.”

Emi pulled the string again. Out of the two circular bulbs in the socket, the larger one shut off.

“…Why…?” he bluntly asked.

“Chiho contacted me,” Emi quickly replied. “She said you were acting weird.”

“…I couldn’t have been…”

“You were just barely all right when you left her, weren’t you? But it still looked unnatural to Chiho. You had your mind all made up, but you still fled right at the last minute.”

“No, that…”

“So you gave Chiho an answer, then?”

“…Stop badgering me. You knew, didn’t you?”

It was Emi, after all, who had gone on about Maou’s suit at Sasazuka Station.

“I didn’t know anything. I just couldn’t imagine you’d do anything else.”

Outside of apologizing to the Sasakis, Emi could think of only one thing Maou would feel obliged to address while he was here tying up loose ends. It was the only scenario that made sense to her—and she was right. And since Emi’s take made perfect sense from Maou’s perspective, he very quickly changed clothes, so he and Chiho would feel as natural as possible around each other.

“You know, I’ve thought this a few times before, actually, but you like looking the part before you dive into something, don’t you?”

“…”

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Once you’re grown up, it’s hard to really put your mind to something unless you do. I’m like that in some ways, too.”

“Stop acting so grown-up. You’re only one year older than Chiho.”

“Yes, but I spent my time differently. I was in a different culture.” Emi, unruffled by Maou’s jab, put a hand to her hip and sighed. “So the way Chiho put it, you were all dressed up and ready to go. You gave her an answer, and the moment you did, you made a disgraceful exit.”

“Chi wouldn’t have phrased it so nastily…”

“Well, what do you want? That’s basically what happened. Also…”

Even the soft fluorescent light was a bit strong for Maou. The glare made Emi’s face hard to discern.

“…She seemed pretty shocked that I knew you’d reply to her feelings.”

“…Huh?”

He thought hard with his woozy mind. Why would that be a shock to Chiho? Emi must have known something that Maou didn’t.

“So thanks to that, right after you replied to her and ran off… Before she could be happy about it, she brought up Alas Ramus first.”

“…Sorry, I don’t understand yet. Why would Alas Ramus come up?”

“I’m impressed you still don’t know after everything I said,” Emi replied, honestly exasperated. She sat back down by Maou’s pillow, elbow on one knee as she peered into Maou’s face. “Now I’m getting a bit angry. At you, and at Chiho, too.”

“Huh…?”

“She said she thought that if you chose her, it’d be removing Alas Ramus from her father.”

“…What was that?”

“Chiho can really be a handful to deal with sometimes, can’t she? She reads too much into things, I guess, or thinks about them too much. It’s almost rude, in a way.”

This surprised Maou, hearing Emi criticize Chiho at this point.

“But I understand you a lot more than she does. And to me, it sounds like you all but gave her an answer, but now she’s lost all her confidence. Like, ‘What if this destroys the family you and he and Alas Ramus have?’ and so on.”

“That…”

“That was the gist of it anyway. And along those lines, the way you ran off on her, she was worried that you were still hiding something.”

Emi, smiling above him, was a scary sight to behold. He was unable to respond as she went on, the look persisting on her face.

“And if you’re like this after running away, your illness must have something to do with Chiho, doesn’t it? And I get it if you don’t want Chiho to worry over you, but me, I don’t want her to have the wrong idea about us forever. If you ask me who I’m gonna care about more, you or Chiho, it’s gonna be Chiho every time. You understand that?”

“Y-yeah…”

“I mean… You realize that, in just a few days, you and I are gonna be leading the army in the assault on heaven? Think about the timing a little. If you knew it would turn out like this, why didn’t you take action sooner, or maybe give your answer some other time so it didn’t come to this? ’Cause whether I want to or not, we’re gonna be partners up in heaven, trusting each other with our lives. Do you know how it makes me feel if my partner’s bedridden and he’s hiding why for some stupid reason? You realize that we’re fighting a battle where children’s lives are at stake, right?”

She smiled the whole time, unrelentingly. That was what was so scary.

“Come to think of it, weren’t you under the weather before we launched Devil’s Castle, too? I’m not gonna give you the right to remain silent here. Tell me what’s causing all of this.”

“…All right.”

Maou tried to take his eyes off Emi’s stretched-out smile. But he had no choice except to relent.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…”

Pushing back his fatigue, Maou did his best to explain his Chiho-adjacent illness, from when it first began post-summit to the present day. He received a kiss from Chiho. When he gave her feelings serious thought and attempted to reciprocate them, he felt ill like never before in his life. He even revealed his convalescence with Sariel, leaving nothing unsaid.

The response was just that flat, emotionless “hmmm.”

“Look, I’m baring everything I have for you here…”

“No, I mean, it sounds like nothing but you talking about how much you love her to me. Not even my father goes on at that much length.”

Emi’s serious exasperation seemed to make a laughingstock of all the resolve Maou had drummed up for so many things.

“And you treated me like a child earlier, didn’t you, saying I’m only one year older than Chiho?”

“…What about that?”

“Well, I don’t need you lording it over me if you’re laid up because you kissed a cute girl and replied to her love confession.”

“…Ngh…”

He had no response. The debate was completely one-sided.

“But all right. So in the end, all you have to do is stop hiding things from Chiho. Just talk to her. Face up to her. Right?”

“Stop hiding things? I can’t really do much about that right now.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you can or not. What’s important is that you make yourself face up to her… Why do I even need to tell you all these things?”

“Is that how it is?”

“Go ahead and doubt me if you want. It’s your and Chiho’s problem; do whatever you want. We’re gonna have to beat Ignora before things start to calm down anyway. Why don’t you just take your time, let it simmer, and get dumped in the end, regardless?”

“Hey…”

“Wow. Now I feel really dumb worrying for you. I wish Chiho could understand how spineless you really are.”

“Hey…urgh…!”

Maou got up to complain, unable to weather this tirade any longer. But his elbows and shoulders still didn’t work the way he wanted. He collapsed back onto his futon. Emi didn’t turn around.

“Did you eat anything, by the way? There’s not really anything in the fridge that’s good for a convalescent. It’s all just fried stuff.”

“………………Lately…Libicocco’s done all the cooking.”

Frustrated, Maou had his head buried in his pillow, no longer caring how he sounded to Emi as she nagged him.

“Oh, but you’ve got some frozen rice. I could make some porridge for you, but can you eat that?”

“I don’t need any.”

“Why are you sulking?”

Emi turned toward Maou, who was mumbling into his pillow after his valiant attempts to sit up had failed. Despite her harsh words, her face had an oddly gentle look to it.

“Well, once you get your appetite back, if you eat something greasy that’s been sitting in the fridge for a while, you’ll wreck your stomach. I’ll make sure this is okay to heat up later, so let me make it, all right?”

“Nnh…”

Maou replied with a groan as Emi took out some miso and chopped vegetables and prepared a simple rice porridge.

“Eat this once you feel better. And stay hydrated, too, please. I put a few sports drinks in the fridge. I’ll leave one bedside for you, all right?”

“…Mmh.”

Maou remained facedown on the futon, whether he couldn’t get up or just didn’t want to.

“You’re gonna asphyxiate.”

“…”

“If you lag behind in battle because you’re dragging all this Chiho stuff, I’m not gonna help you out.”

“…Like that’ll happen.”

“I don’t know…”

Despite the bravado, Emi kept her breezy smile on. Maou never stood a chance.

“But if you’re sulking that much, I’m sure you’re all right. I’m going home, so take care.”

Double-checking to make sure she’d turned the gas stove off, Emi picked up her shoulder bag from a corner of the room.

“Ugh, my hair’s a mess…”

She used a comb to smooth out her bed head as she walked toward the front door.

“…Hey.”

“What?”

“…Why were you sleeping?”

“Huh?”

Emi, in the midst of putting her shoes on, turned back around. Maou was on his back again, looking up at her.

“Why were you sleeping next to me?”

“It wasn’t me originally. It was Alas Ramus.”

“Huh?”

“She saw you were sick and wanted to make you feel better, so she latched right on to you. I told her to stop because she might catch it, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

“…Oh… Really…?”

“So I lay down so she was between you and me, and when she fell asleep, I put her back into my body. But you still weren’t waking up and I was a little tired myself, so I just took a nap, is all. I set an alarm because even if you didn’t wake up, I wanted to leave before eight. I have to feed Alas Ramus and take a bath and stuff.”

It was a perfectly sensible reply. It still took Maou aback. He sighed.

“…Oh. That’s fine, then. Sorry.”

“It wasn’t because I wanted to sleep beside you or anything.”

“Did anybody even say that?”

“You asked me because you were anxious that was it, didn’t you?”

She saw right through his mind.

“Well, sorry. I’ve really got no idea what women are thinking lately.”

“Do you act that way around Bell, too?”

That stabbed Maou once more where it hurt. But he didn’t have it in him to resist the tsunami any longer.

“I don’t know. Suzuno and I have talked a few times but never alone. And even with Chi, you saw how we interacted normally with each other until just before we talked today.”

That made Emi stop tying her shoes.

“So as long as you’re not alone with her, conscious about that sort of thing, you’re all right?”

“…Maybe. I can’t say for sure yet, but…”

Emi took her shoes off and sat back down next to Maou, placing a hand on his forehead, then his chest. Maou had no idea what to make of this mysterious behavior, worrying that his heart palpitations would be interpreted the wrong way.

“Mmm… I bet Bell could see it with one touch, but not me, I guess. This is going to sting a bit.”

“Huh? Gaghh?!”

Suddenly, a shock ran up and down Maou’s body. The hair on his head stood up, as if loaded with static electricity, and he could virtually feel the shock in his fingers. It was a familiar feeling to him.

“Wh-what are you doing?! You trying to kill me?! ’Cause I could really die right now!”

Emi had injected a sonar blast of holy energy into his body.

“I thought so,” she said flatly, ignoring his protests. “Devil King, does it feel like the demonic force inside you is being upset? That force makes us sick as it is, but it’s sloshing around in the weirdest way in there.”

“I think that’s what’s happening. That’s why, after I took Copyhara to the demon realms, I began feeling better pretty quickly. Like, if you were gonna scan me for that, then say something first.”

“Like you’d say yes to it. But in that case, no matter how bad off you are, if you can fill up your demonic force, you’re fine, huh?”

“That’s what I thought, too. But I’m not completely out of demonic force like last time. I had a decent amount stored up, but this is still happening. I guess if I don’t have enough to put me in demon form when I go back to that realm, then probably…”

“Hmm… I see.” Emi removed her hands and fished through her shoulder bag. “Then it’s simple, isn’t it? It’s not gonna solve your problem with Chiho at the root, but if you have enough power to become the Devil King, that’ll fix you up, right?”

“What’re you talking about? I can’t do that in Japan, and that’s the problem—”

Maou couldn’t finish the sentence. Too weak to even turn over in bed, he had no way of resisting it. A warm, soft sensation stopped him cold, a sweet liquid flowing into his mouth. Emi’s low mutter came into his ears from a position closer to him than she had ever been before. Even if he wanted to escape, his head was held down, his mouth kept shut; there was no way to stop the flow.

“Nhh… Ooh…”

It lasted just a few seconds, Emi’s face occupying his entire vision, but to Maou, it lasted long enough to have his life flash before his eyes.

“Pahh! Wha-ah…”

When his view opened up again, Emi was holding what looked like an opened energy shot in her right hand. Then he felt the liquid—forced into him mouth to mouth—burn like a searing flame inside him. But it wasn’t strictly the 5-Holy Energy β causing his throat, stomach, and intestines to writhe in agony. Emi’s own powerful holy energy, filled to the brim by her recent stay in Ente Isla, had gone along for the ride. The already agitated demonic power was blown away. He could feel it being crushed, eradicated from every cell in his body.

“Don’t worry. I put up a barrier.”

By the time Emi leaned back and wiped his lips with her handkerchief…

“…Come on, Emi…”

…Maou was in Devil King form, brimming with demonic force from head to toe, and already sitting up on his futon.

“Hey, we already proved it works, right?”

She was right. If a human body was flooded with more holy energy than it could process, it sustained an inversion and transformed into amplified demonic force. Everyone around Maou knew about that; he’d had Emi and Suzuno help him pull off that exact trick to turn demonic before.

“I—I don’t mean that…”

But that wasn’t really the issue. The issue was Emi’s position.

“Why are you still stammering, as big as you are? You feel fine now, right?”

“Huh? Ah, no, um, yeah. I’m great.”

He nodded, in a daze—and as he did, the demon’s stomach growled prodigiously.

“Okay, I’m going for real this time.”

Despite the mind-boggling events, Emi was serene as she tossed the empty bottle of 5-Holy Energy β into the Devil’s Castle recycling bag and put her shoes on.

“N-no, Emi, you…!”

“You’ve been suffering under a lot of wrong ideas, so I’m just gonna say it—I have no intention of playing the same games with you as with Chiho and Bell, so don’t get me wrong on that count.”

“Ah, uh, I, b… But just now…”

“But just now what? You thought I was gonna climb on the bandwagon, too? Even if I did, what’s the big deal? You wouldn’t even have to acknowledge it.”

“N-no…um…”

“Who besides me right now has enough holy force to crush your demonic power and flip it over to max? No offense to Bell, but she sure can’t, and neither can Eme. And with the battle coming right up, there’s no easier way to do this than that. So that’s why.”

The dumbfounded Devil King Satan balled himself up, exhausted. The next moment, he reverted back to Sadao Maou, looking as healthy as he ever was.

“Now, it doesn’t benefit any of us if someone finds out about this, so please find a solution, all right? So I never need to do it again?”

This man, back from his demon form, cowered before the resolute woman in front of him. He sat on the futon, looking pathetic with his clothes ripped up beyond repair.

“Otherwise,” Emi said as she gave him a sideways glance, “you’re gonna make Chiho real unhappy.”

With that parting line, she left Room 201 without waiting for Maou’s reaction.

“…”

Maou, left alone, tried to ease his chaotic mind. The more he did, however, the less able he was to find a clear response to what had just happened. So he decided instead to throw out his ripped clothing, change into sweats, eat the rice porridge, and go back to sleep. He didn’t say anything; he didn’t think anything. That was what Emi wanted—demanded, really—from him.

For now, at least, he thanked her. He didn’t think about it, didn’t want it in his memory—but he thanked her for helping him when he was sick and for making dinner for him. Nothing more.

“…It’s good.”

No harm in that reaction, at least. He said no more as he finished up the porridge, washed the pot, and lay back down…

“…Oh, right, I had to piss.”

The succession of shocking events had deadened his senses, but now they were back up and running. Once he was done in the bathroom, he turned out the light and lay back down on his futon.

“Maybe I better cut down on my shifts until it’s all over… I’m not gonna be able to keep up otherwise.”

He looked to his side. The cushion Emi used as a pillow was still there.

“What am I even gonna do about the child support? Ugh…”

Going down the stairs outside, Emi found Erone standing there.

“Did something happen? I saw the barrier.”

“Oh, just a little thing. The Devil King’s been sick, and he wound up turning into a demon up there. So I put that up on an emergency basis.”

“Oh. Is he okay?”

“Yeah. He’s almost never been under the weather, so I’m sure his body didn’t know what to do with itself.”

“Ah. Well, that’s good…but you should be careful, too, Emi. I’m glad you’re trying to help my brothers and sisters, but I wouldn’t like it very much if something happened to all of you.”

Emi tousled the hair of the oddly concerned Erone to help him feel better. Erone always was a lot more considerate than Maou.

“We’re fine. I’m not fighting for you. I’m only fighting for Alas Ramus.”

“Eesh. Really?”

Erone smiled at Emi’s own consideration.

“I know how warm your hands are, Emi. You must really love Alas Ramus. I’m not a Yesod, but I can tell.”

“Of course. I’m ready to do anything for Alas Ramus. And today…I think I’ve decided what I should do after it’s all over. Erone…”

Emi looked down at the innocent boy.

“When you grow up, don’t wind up like the Devil King, all right?”

“Why not? I think he’s a fine person.”

“He’s a good guy…but someone who makes girls worry and cry over him… That’s never a good thing.”

“…I don’t think Satan does that kind of thing…”

“You’ll understand when you’re older.”

Erone, despite his honest misgivings, still nodded and accepted that classic grown-up cop-out.

“Anyway, I have to get going. Try not to catch any colds, Erone.”

“Um… Okay. See you later.”

After that unexpected counterpunch, Emi hurriedly talked her way out of there and headed off. She focused a bit, making sure Alas Ramus was still sleeping inside. Then, for just a moment, she touched a finger against her lips, shoulders drooping.

“This really can’t go on… I’m acting so stupid.”

Her legs stopped.

“When it all comes to a head, I gotta be sure I can settle things…”

The hand that touched her lips clenched into a fist as she made a promise within her heart.

“Even…if I have to go against Chiho’s wishes when it happens…”

Only the dark Sasazuka night sky could listen in on her resolution.

Just as Mayumi Kisaki was enjoying her day off with her family at the freshly opened Yesodd’s Family Café, Emi Yusa was having a busy morning. She was in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, a city far to the west of Sasazuka, and she had just climbed from the back seat of a car parked at the Shin-Kobe Station roundabout, her long hair tied back. She was accompanied by Alas Ramus, sporting a small Relax-a-Bear purse around her shoulder.

“Stay there, okay, Alas Ramus? I gotta get our luggage from the trunk.”

“Mommy, let’s go in the station! It’s too hot out here!”

“Not yet. Just wait a little bit, all right? And did you say thank you to Rika yet?”

“Yeah, when we got out of the car!”

“No, say it for real, all right? No mumbling it out the door.”

“Aww, Emi, don’t be such a fuddy-duddy! She did say thank you to me. Didn’t ya, kid?”

“See? Rika says so, too!”

“Eesh…”

With a wry grin, Emi took a wheeled suitcase from the back of the car, checked for anything she might have missed, and closed the door.

“I was kinda worried when we hit that traffic jam on the highway, but it’s never anything serious around this time of day. But anyway! Have a nice trip back, okay, Emi?”

Rika Suzuki, stepping from the driver’s seat, lifted her driving sunglasses and gave Emi a wink.

“Sure thing. Thanks a lot for the ride, Rika.”

“Oh, don’t mention it! Anything for a friend, y’know? But don’t just make it two nights next time, okay? Stay as long as ya want! And I hope I see you later, too, okay, Alas Ramus? I’ll be waiting for ya!”

“Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

The very childlike response made Rika smile. “Ooh, I dunno if Mommy can do tomorrow. But I’m glad you want to come back so soon!”

“Aww, Mommy, when can we come back?”

“We’ll have to plan it out, okay? Boy, you’ve sure grown to be a good talker, haven’t you?”

“Hey, it shows how far she’s gotten, right? I know it’s been a year and a half and everything, but I can’t believe how big she is! She’s a real cutie! This must be what it’s like to have a niece, huh? I’m sure it is…”

Rika squinted, as if the light was too much for her eyes, and looked down at Alas Ramus’s feet.

“By the time I see you again, you’ll probably have outgrown those shoes, huh?”

Alas Ramus had some summer kids’ sneakers on. Rika’s family ran a factory that manufactured parts for shoes, and although they were still small-scale, they had introduced their own brand of footwear over the past few years. That was what Alas Ramus was sporting.

“You really couldn’t have been kinder to her. I appreciate your family, so tell them I said hi. These soles are so comfortable.”

Emi wore her own choice of shoe brand, but the inner soles were a special order, contoured for her own feet by the Suzuki family.

“Aw, I’m happy to hear that! Grandpa will be glad to hear it, too. But, you know, I’ll be back in Tokyo soon for work, and I’ll probably do another sales run over to The Maou Company, so let’s hang out if you’re free.”

“Of course! Contact me when you do!”

Two years ago, Rika had moved out of her apartment in Tokyo’s Takadanobaba neighborhood and returned to her family’s house in the Suma district of Kobe. There, she was learning the family trade from her grandfather and parents, mastering the basics of shoe design.

She wasn’t going to college or looking for a career, but Rika had still spent a long time in Tokyo, away from her family—and Emi didn’t know why until she came to visit her in Kobe just now. When a large earthquake hit the city of Kobe in 1995, the family’s property and machinery were all safe, but a large number of their regular clients went out of business in the aftermath. Between that and the recession that hit in the mid-nineties, by the time Rika graduated from high school, the family firm was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

The whole family was anxious about this, but Rika’s grandmother—her dad’s mom—had a pretty anachronistic solution for it. Basically Rika, as the eldest daughter, would get herself married to the son and heir of a relatively powerful midsize firm, in an attempt to save their company. Having your grandma pick a husband for you right in one of the most sensitive times of your life would be traumatic enough, but even worse, the candidate she had in mind was a good twenty-five years older than Rika. It was nothing short of abuse, really—and while her grandmother had a firm grip on the reins in her family, Rika’s grandpa and parents were staunchly against it. So after graduation, they had her evacuate to Tokyo for safety’s sake. It was her grandfather who chose the Takadanobaba apartment for her; it was a neighborhood synonymous with cheap college student housing, and he figured that if Grandma tried tracking her down, she’d have a hard time over there.

By the time Rika came to know Emi, old age and infirmity kept her grandmother from being involved with the business, but she still had major clout over the family behind the scenes, and she apparently still hadn’t given up on marrying her granddaughter into a richer industrial family. They never did come to terms with each other, in the end, before she passed away two years ago—and after the funeral service, Rika went straight back home to Kobe. Not long afterward, Rika began working with The Maou Company, providing accessories and industrial shoes for restaurant workers. It really was a small world.

Emi, who saw Rika as a friend and confidant without ever asking why she was staying in Tokyo, was warmly welcomed by the Suzuki family, now that the old matriarch was no longer in the picture. Rika’s younger sister, Rina, in particular, loved Alas Ramus as much as her own kin, endlessly spoiling her.

“You gave me so much stuff, too. I’ll have to repay you sometime.”

“It’s fine! If you really insist, you should show my sister around Tokyo when she visits. She said she wants to find a job there when she’s done with school.”

“Oh, right. She’s still a freshman in college, right? But she’s already thinking about her career?”

“Well, given our family, we know what it’s like to live in tough times. If I hadn’t come back, she might’ve really wound up inheriting the company, after all.”

Rika, for her part, felt guilty about running off to Tokyo and leaving her sister to face up to her grandmother. But as Rina put it: “If you weren’t around, I figured, ‘Oh well, I guess I’ll inherit it,’ but I have bigger dreams than that. If you weren’t gonna take it over, I wanted to get our firm out into the world more, so we could make lots more money! Like, if we keep it small-scale like Grandma did, it would’ve gone bankrupt sooner or later, you know?”

“I tell you, she’s got even more vitality than I do. She’s gonna hit it big, mark my words.”

“I’ll make sure not to tell Rina about Ente Isla, then.”

“Yeah, you better not. With her personality, she really would wanna use it for her business.”

Rika laughed hard at that for a bit then picked up Alas Ramus. “Ahh, but enough grown-up chitchat! It’s super-hot out here, so time to say bye-bye, okay? Come back soon, Alas Ramus! And listen to what your mommy tells you.”

“Okay! See you later, Rika-sis!”

She handed the child over to Emi.

“Have a good one.”

“Yep! Have a safe trip back.”

Emi waved, took up the handle of her suitcase, and held Alas Ramus with the other as she went into Shin-Kobe Station. As she did, she heard that familiar, chirpy voice booming behind her.

“Oh, right! Say hello to that henpecked ‘husband’ of yours, too, for me!”

“Shut up!!”

They might’ve been all smiles a moment ago, but that remark made Emi scowl back at her. Rika, in the sun, smiled broadly and waved, as if that was the face she wanted to see all day, before hopping in the car and driving off.

“Ugh… You’re the one who missed your chance to marry after doing that ‘will-she, won’t-she’ thing for ages.”

“Mommy, I’m hot! I want juice!”

“Oh, right, I should buy something for myself, too. We have some time until the bullet train… Let’s go up to that kiosk.”

“Ice cream! I want ice cream!”

“You just said juice, didn’t you? No ice cream. It’s gonna melt all over you.”

“Awww! I want ice cream! Juice and ice cream!”

“This order’s getting bigger by the minute… Oh?”

Emi felt the smartphone in her shoulder bag vibrate a little. Reading the screen, she recalled her previous conversation with Rika and frowned a bit.

“What is it, Mommy?”

She showed the screen to Alas Ramus. “I got a note from Chiho. I’ll answer it once I buy some juice, so wait a minute, okay?”

Successfully shooting down the ice cream demand, Emi purchased a bottle of pulp-in orange juice (a favorite of Alas Ramus’s as of late), leaned against the wall by the turnstile, and fired off a reply.

“What’s Chi up to?”

As she grew, Alas Ramus had naturally come to call Chiho “Chi.” Emi took a moment to figure out her reply but couldn’t find a simple explanation that her child would understand, so she winged it instead.

“Well, Chiho’s coming back to Tokyo today, too.”

“She was out?”

“That’s right. We saw her off in that building with all the planes, remember? Before it got hot out.”

“Mmm, I dunno.”

Whether she really didn’t know or was just being silly, Emi couldn’t tell. The child had a way of vividly recalling things Emi had completely forgotten about—but events that left a deep impression on grown-ups passed in one ear and out the other with her. Emi had trouble figuring out how her tiny memory worked.

“Yeah, well, thanks to that…”

Past the turnstile, Emi looked at the electronic train schedule and smiled to herself.

“…Daddy might start feeling a little ashamed of himself.”