“The hell’s this?”
“Well, that’s not a very nice way to put it, Maou. It’s your Valentine’s Day chocolate. It’s past the fourteenth now, but we’re still kind of in the general range, so…”
Maou glanced at the Japanese calendar atop the nearby plastic shelving. It was two days past Valentine’s, but considering Kusuda provided her chocolate gift way back on the seventh, this was certainly permissible.
“Why’s Ashiya’s so much bigger?” Urushihara asked, though it was unclear whether he was deliberately trying to make things awkward.
“Well, why do you think? The chocolate for Maou and Urushihara is just for politeness’s sake. My real gift is for Ashiya.”
“?!”
Ashiya suspected this would happen, but the spoken statement still shook him.
“Y-you, Suzuki…?”
“Oh, don’t worry about getting me something for next month, either. I know you’re gonna be busy, so…whenever is fine.”
“Um, I’m not sure if it’s…”
Ashiya had already refused Rika’s advances once. As far as he was concerned, he couldn’t have made that clearer to her. It was why he could barely bring himself to see Rika for the past month; they barely even interacted at all.
“You’re not? So what is it?”
“That…um…”
“Because you’re not being too specific.” Rika smiled, knowing how thrown Ashiya was. “You know, I just realized that, come to think of it, you never did dump me, so…”
“Huh? Uhm…”
“In the end, Alciel, you’re exactly like someone else I know. Never giving a clear answer.”
“…”
That someone now had his back turned to her, grimacing.
“I mean, if you really don’t like it, say so. But until then, I’m about as resolute on this as Chiho is, so… Oh, hey, where is Chiho? Down on the ground?”
“Huh? Um, yeah.”
“Oh. I better say hi to her, then.”
With that, she whipped out her feather pen, as casually as if she was about to write a note to herself, and drove it into the ground, hopping inside the Gate that resulted. Presumably, she used it to head for ground level in an instant. Maou shrugged at how quick and easy she made it seem, but turning back toward the table, he was faced with the full brunt of Urushihara’s exasperated gaze upon him.
“Dudes…”
“What?”
“Both of you guys, getting manipulated by women like that… Doesn’t that make you question your lives at all? As, like, demons?”
Having Urushihara accuse them of that seemed like a death knell. But for a change, Maou and Ashiya had no words to counter him with.
“Well, guess I’ll clean up the dishes.”
“Oh, me too…”
“Ughh…”
It was right when Maou and Ashiya stood up, attempting to flee Urushihara’s admonishment at all costs, that Farfarello came through the throne-room door, with Libicocco and Ciriatto behind him.
“My liege, Lord Lucifer, and the Great Demon General of the East, pardon us for interrupting you.”
“Mm? What’s up?”
All three were naturally in their full, demonic Malebranche forms, but in all their clawed mandibles, they seemed to be carrying some manner of boxes.
“Your Demonic Highness… My lords…”
The three chieftains gave one box each to Maou, Ashiya, and Urushihara. All three looked at them, only to find pink heart stickers on each one. Question marks popped over all their heads at once.
“My liege,” Libicocco dared to begin, “we understand there is a custom in Japan where one gifts those they respect with food as a symbol of their devotion.”
Urushihara was the first to furrow his eyebrows. “…Huh?”
“We of the Malebranche,” Ciriatto continued, “seek your forgiveness for so troubling not only you, but also your Great Demon Generals, and your regent, Camio.”
“…Mm?” Ashiya tilted his head to the side, unsure what Ciriatto meant.
“This is a symbol of our appreciation, and of our renewed loyalty. We only hope you will accept it.”
“…No way.” For the first time in a while, Maou wasn’t sure how to react. “Can I open this?”
The Malebranche nodded at him. He carefully pulled the box open—and inside, accompanied by the sweet aroma of cacao, was a heart-shaped piece of chocolate, a little crudely molded but no doubt crafted with honest love.
“Huh?”
“Th-this…?”
Urushihara and Ashiya, watching from the sides, stared blankly at the chocolate, unsure what was happening before their eyes.
“Uh, Farfarello?”
“Yes, my liege!”
Maou forced his face into an uneasy smile. “Was this…handmade?”
“It was, my liege. I understand that crafting your gift by hand is a sign of one’s sincerity.”
“…Phew… That, uh, wow. Thanks.”
Maou looked at the people surrounding him, unsure how to express the churning emotions in the pit of his stomach. Then, he looked at the box of “polite” chocolate Rika left for him a moment ago. For a moment, he thought about these gruesome Malebranche fighters, working their massive claws and gnarled hands to work melted chocolate into a heart shape, and what could have possibly been the cause behind this spectacle.
“Devil King! Are you here?”
Then, a familiar voice heralded the entrance of a fairly large group of people into the throne room.
“Ugh…”
“N-no…”
It was a small horde of demons, led by Suzuno. There were Bluehorns, there were Iron Scorpions, there were Malebranche, there were smaller goblins and Pájaro Danino—all told, fifty or so demons who had escaped the postwar hunting on the Central Continent. They were in a neat line, nervous looks on their faces, and every one of them carried tiny boxes that didn’t look at all correctly proportioned to their sizes.
“Y-you…?”
Realizing the three chieftains came here first, Suzuno glared at them, eyebrows down.
“I told you we would all give them together!”
“Hah!” Libicocco shrugged, not looking particularly guilty. “We are nimbler than you rabble, so we finished ahead of you. What is so wrong about delivering our wares first?”
“My apologies,” Farfarello said, looking much more remorseful. “He insisted.”
“B-Bell,” muttered Ashiya as he beheld this monstrous lineup, “what is this…?”
“What does it look like?” Suzuno matter-of-factly stated. “It is their Valentine’s gifts. We wanted to surprise you, but those three just had to come first…”
“Um, this goes well beyond the level of ‘surprise,’ I would say…”
So all those boxes contained handmade chocolate? Suzuno, surmising the doubt written all over Maou’s face, gave him a brisk nod.
“Yes. All of them. We worked hard.”
“You ‘worked hard’?! What the hell’re you making them do?!”
“What is the matter? Are you saying you will not accept the gifts prepared by your beloved staff, each piece molded with love, sincerity, and thankfulness?”
“I-I’m not saying that… I just, like, I really appreciate it, but…”
“Then good. All right, everyone, line up. The Devil King and his Generals are eager to accept your offerings.”
“Wha—”
“N-no, uh…”
“Wait a…”
Under Suzuno’s order, the demons swarmed Maou with their gifts. Suzuno smiled at his subsequent screaming.
“Ah,” she shamelessly added, “what a joy it is to see such honest love for my leader!”
“Wh-what’s going on? What is this?”
“I—I do not know! I do not know, but…”
“Holy crap, dude, if we let this spread around, we’re gonna have the whole army in here…”
The boxes of handmade chocolate began to pile up. Eac
h one seemed pretty full—and heavy, as Maou found out when he picked one up. By the time the demons filed out, the tatami-mat space looked a bit like a living room with all the stuff packed in boxes for the movers; some of them had even spilled out onto the throne room’s floor.
The three demons, unable to believe what just happened, simply stared at the pile for a while.
“Do not worry,” Suzuno said. “We used three kinds of chocolate—dark, milk, and tea-flavored. You will never be bored, I guarantee it!”
“I’m gonna get so bored of chocolate before I get… Hmm?”
Before he could finish sassing Suzuno, Urushihara spotted a small box atop the chocolate mountain, wrapped in light-green paper with a golden bow around it.
“And that, um… It contains matcha and wasanbon candies. And…well, perhaps it is not as infused with affection as the gifts from your faithful horde, but take it anyway.”
“…Uh?”
“I left you entirely out of the loop this time. Call this…an apology.”
Suzuno didn’t look quite as gung ho about this as she did when she sent all those demons in here.
“…Well, thanks. Hmm… Wasanbon is, like, high-grade Japanese sugar candy, right?” Maou carefully scoped out the package, then the Spear on the side of the room. “But yeah, thanks for handling the Spear. Pulling that off really helps me a lot. I’ll have to repay you sometime. Aren’t I supposed to gift you something next month in response to this?”
Ashiya blanched a bit at the term “repay,” but Suzuno blinked a couple of times in surprise, then gave Maou a happy smile.
“I only did what any Great Demon General would do, but if you insist, I will be glad to accept any medals of honor you provide me—”
“Ahhhhhhh! Suzuno!!”
The shout echoed across the throne room like lightning, startling the two of them.
“You said we would all do this together!”
“What could we do, Chiho? All those demons would have crushed you.”
“Daddy! Chocolate! Chocolate!!”
Chiho, Emi, and Alas Ramus were here, and they, too, had some boxes with them. Running up to the three demons, Chiho gave each of them a box, much like Rika from before, each one done up in cute wrapping. In terms of size, it was actually Urushihara who got the largest one, followed by Ashiya, then Maou.
“I got Urushihara a few different brands of snack chips, and Ashiya, I got you a set of rice seasonings.”
The salty selections came as an apparent relief to them both, not that it’d be any better for their health than chocolate. For Maou, however, she had a small box filled with the symbol of her sweet affection.
“And for you, Maou, I have some homemade chocolate, crafted with love!”
“Oh, um, thanks. You made your own chocolate, too, Chi?”
He asked the question even though the answer was obvious from the exquisite wrapping job.
“Yes, I actually made it with all the demons.”
“““Huh?”””
The bombshell of a confession took all three of them aback.
“Yeah, some of the demons asked what she was doing when she brought all the supplies over from Japan. So she told them, and you can see the results now.”
“For real…?”
Would a passing idea from a high school teenager create an entirely new custom in the demon realm? And considering this chocolate came from Earth, what kinds of things would they concoct with the supplies available in Ente Isla? And for that matter, why did demons, who didn’t have to eat food in the first place, respond so eagerly to the idea of giving out chocolate on Valentine’s Day?
“Are they starting to change, too?”
“What are you muttering about? Here.”
“……Huh?”
Maou honestly had no idea what was in the box Emi just presented to him. Emi apparently expected as much.
“It’s not from me, stupid. Alas Ramus made this.”
“!!” Maou immediately snatched the box away from Emi. “A-Alas Ramus made this?!”
“Yeh! I helped!!”
“That’s right,” Chiho explained. “She poured the chocolate into the heart mold all by herself!”
Maou broke into a wide smile. “W-wow… Wooow! You made Daddy so happy! So you can do hard stuff like that now? Thank you so much, Alas Ramus! I’ll get something for you later, okay?”
“Huh? Okeh.”
Alas Ramus wasn’t fully up on the Valentine’s tradition yet, but having her hair done up in an Emi-style side ponytail and getting patted on the head was all the reward she needed for now.
Just then, Acieth strolled inside, conspicuously helping herself to the contents of the box in her hands.
“Oh, is it all calm now? Maou, this is the box of me. You must pay me back the double on White Day!”
And Maou, still smiling and patting Alas Ramus’s head, yelled, “Get out!!”
“But are you sure this was the best of ideas, Chiho?”
“I think it’s about the best way we could’ve done it. That didn’t put any stress on him, did it?”
“Maybe stress on his teeth and blood sugar, but not on his spirit, no.”
Suzuno, Chiho, and Emi were at the base of Devil’s Castle, having lunch as they watched the demons scarf down the extra chocolate lying around. It turned out that each demon had a raging sweet tooth, apparently, making them wonder if the conventional wisdom of them not eating food was really accurate after all.
“For now,” Chiho said once more as she surveyed the view, “this is good.”
As Emeralda, Acieth, Erone, and the demons warred bitterly over the chocolate, Rika was enjoying some senbei crackers (a gift from Japan) with Rumack, and a distance away, Laila and Nord were doing their own chocolate exchange, just like the loving couple they were. Gabriel was watching all this from his perch atop a hammock—or he would have been, if he wasn’t currently napping.
Emi, seeing all this, turned her head down a bit.
“For now, huh?”
“Yusa?”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
For now, this was good. This was natural. A natural sort of scene, one that would’ve been impossible to imagine a short time ago.
“For now, it’s good.”
It was later in the evening, the mountain of chocolate from the all-star parade of demons now stacked up neatly on the kotatsu table like a brick wall. It wasn’t going anywhere soon—too much to eat, too much to take back to Sasazuka—so presumably, Ashiya or someone tried to organize them a bit in the meantime. Rika’s, Suzuno’s, and Chiho’s boxes, with their uniquely fancy packaging, were separated from the rest of the pile, but not even they were touched today.
“…”
Now, atop the wall of chocolate from the demons, a simple, plain-looking box was placed, decorated with one of Chiho’s heart stickers and the kind of cheap paper that came in sets of ten sheets in the bargain bin.
“It’s not like I want him to be happy or anything.”
Only the mountain of chocolate could hear the whispering.
“But I just want to be polite, is all. For now.”
The spoken excuse, directed toward nobody in particular, disappeared behind the edifice of the throne—and the presence of the hand that placed that final box on the stack soon vanished into the night.
EPILOGUE
“Uggghhhh, I’m exhausted!”
Flinging her large Boston bag to the floor, Chiho let out all her tension and threw herself onto her bed.
Traveling between worlds for five days in a row had left her feeling run-down. Her mother was unfortunately at home for all those days, with no plans for extended outings, so she needed to schedule things so as not to arouse her suspicion. It made navigating the zirga a major hassle. Through it all, though, she successfully gave Maou his chocolate and helped secure Adramelech’s spear for the Devil King’s Army. Even better, she received heaps of praise from the fellow fighters she looked up to—people wh
o treated her with nothing but kindness, but were in another world in terms of mental makeup.
“Hee-hee… Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”
Chiho, her face buried in a pillow, recalled how Maou had embraced her when she had collapsed after finishing the Bowman’s Offering.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee…”
For the first time, he had called her by her first name. She was “Sasaki” for the first little while at MgRonald, then always “Chi” after that. Then, out of nowhere, he had called her “Chiho”—“Chiho Sasaki,” to be exact, but same difference.
“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”
Excitement, embarrassment, and pride filled her as she rolled around in bed for a bit. Then, coming back to her senses, she got up.
“Right. Better unpack my stuff.”
Chiho opened up the Boston bag. She never overnighted in Ente Isla, but it was still a trip to an unfamiliar land for her, so she had brought along a coat, some changes of clothes, and a few other things she thought would be necessary.
“I never really used any of this except for my digital camera…”
She giggled at the towel and clothing inside, still neatly folded. Suzuno and Nord, well versed in Japanese life, had provided her with most of the things she needed, and Wurs and Albert handled everything else.
“Ah well. The camera sure came in handy. I took a ton of photos.”
Chiho had never traveled outside Japan before. In the Central Continent, she made sure not to go farther than around a quarter mile from Devil’s Castle, to avoid causing too much trouble for the people and demons there. For her, getting to see the culture, customs, climate, language, races, animals, and more all over Phiyenci was an incredibly fresh experience.
“What should I do with them, though? Can I get away with printing out a few pics from Phiyenci?”
By this point, she was intimately familiar with demons and angels, even in Japan. While the castle on Isla Centurum and the many different demons she saw were a surprise, it didn’t really feel like another world to her. Only when she ventured into Phiyenci did that feeling hit home—the realization that this was a wholly different realm, filled with millions of people living out their lives.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 16 Page 17
