The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 5

by Satoshi Wagahara

  Emi, meanwhile, was talking to herself, one finger to her temple. Hurriedly checking to make sure there were no people or security cameras around, she summoned Alas Ramus into the visitor space.

  “Teh-bee!”

  The child made a beeline for the TV and began banging a tiny fist against the screen.

  The LCD screen bent slightly at the force as Emi earnestly tried to stop this sudden bout of violence.

  “Wh-what’re you doing, Alas Ramus? You can’t do that! That’s the hospital’s—”

  “It was all whoosh!”

  “…Huh?”

  Alas Ramus’s soft hands continue to bop against the screen.

  “All flaaaash, then ziiiiing, then dooooooooom!”

  Her right hand was battering the TV. Her left was pointed at her own large eyes.

  “‘Flash, zing, dooooooom’?”

  The barrage of sound effects meant little to Emi. Urushihara, still straightening out his hair with a comb that nobody had realized until now he kept handy, motioned toward the TV.

  “Remember what Bell just did to Ashiya, dude? Alas Ramus must’ve picked up on it. She’s really sensitive to that kinda stuff. It’s that sonar, except, like, mega scaled up. Someone’s breaking into the broadcast and firing sonar bolts. Multiple times today! He can trace the TVs that sent back a sonar response, so that’s a lot easier than casting a net nationwide. One of them must’ve done in Chiho Sasaki.”

  “Sonar? That jolt right now was sonar?!”

  Maou, his hair still sticking several inches off his head, confronted Urushihara at his seat. Ashiya nodded, glaring at Suzuno as he did.

  “It…it was rather similar to Suzuno’s little trick earlier, yes…”

  “Are you saying that was Raguel just now, Urushihara?”

  “Yeah, there’s a pretty good chance of that. If it isn’t Gabriel, it’s gotta be the other guy.”

  “W-wait a minute. How could they fire off bolts of sonar through TV waves?!” Suzuno exclaimed. “And even if they could, tens of millions of people are watching TV in Japan right now! Surely Chiho would not be the only one affected! Besides, I have never heard of anyone rendered comatose by it…”

  The only local expert at the procedure seemed genuinely offended. But Maou, suddenly realizing something, looked upward as he finally got around to straightening his hair.

  “Chi’s house has already been the site of at least one sonar strike.”

  “What?!”

  “Oh…”

  Emi came to the same realization as Maou. It made her mouth hang open.

  “You mean Al’s—I mean, Albert’s sonar?”

  That episode had come before Chiho had learned the truth behind Maou and Emi:

  Albert, one of Emi’s traveling companions, had fired off several sonar messages to warn his friend in Japan that something terrible was coming her way.

  Chiho chose Maou to discuss the experience with…which was part of what brought the two closer to each other in the first place.

  “You got it. All those untargeted sonar blasts and Idea Links, no particular recipient in mind, pummeling against Chi’s body… Hey, Suzuno. A decent caster can change who or what his sonar or Idea Links react to, right?”

  “Y-yes. If you are merely seeking out the position of someone or something, the required calculations are quite simple. If you change resonation methods, as I did with Chiho and Alciel, you can use them for a variety of purposes.”

  That was why Chiho unintentionally picked up on Albert’s Idea Link. That ministorm of sonar pulses took place all because Albert happened to find a willing recipient in Chiho before anyone else. The Link was tuned to search for “someone with a strong link to Devil King Satan”—and now, Chiho was the only Japanese person who knew about Ente Isla.

  “That’s why the sonar that made it through the TV in Chiho Sasaki’s house must have sparked some kinda explosive reaction.”

  “Wait. Why’s it matter if the area had a strong reaction to a pulse before now? Are you saying it responded to whatever residue was left from Al and Eme’s holy force? ’Cause if that was the case, all the holy power me and Gabriel tossed around Sasazuka would’ve made the whole town explode whenever a sonar pulse hit it.”

  “Uh, that holy-power sonar blast just now nearly took our heads off.”

  “You said it.”

  Maou’s and Ashiya’s complaints were not commented upon.

  “Y’know, I wasn’t paying attention at the time ’cause Maou was too busy kicking the crap out of me…” Urushihara, meanwhile, was back to his usual air of supreme confidence. “But why were Emeralda Etuva and Albert Ende able to fire sonar bolts over to Japan, on Earth, anyway?”

  “…What do you mean?”

  “Well, Olba, I get. He’s the guy who sent Emilia through the Gate after Maou in the first place. But not those two. They shouldn’t be able to use Gate magic at all. How’d they manage to take a sonar bolt and transmit it right over to Japan?”

  “That was before I arrived here, so I am unaware of the details, but did they not follow your and Lord Olba’s paths through space? That was how I arrived here.”

  “Why’re you making me repeat myself, Bell? Emeralda Etuva and Albert Ende don’t know how to work Gates.”

  “But they both made it over here! Like what the Devil King said, they could use that feather pen made from an archangel’s wings to summon Gates without using demonic force. Both of them had feather pens from Laila…from my mother. They probably just came over here to send out those sonar and Idea Link transmissions. That’s how Chiho was able to pick up on Albert’s… Um?”

  “…Oh.”

  Emi and Maou exchanged glances, both picking up on something of their own.

  “Yeah, dudes, that’s it. You know what Raguel’s trying to look for now?”

  The blood drained from Emi’s head.

  How long ago was that phone call from Emeralda?

  How could I have been so stupid, this whole time between today and running into that woman in white in Tokyo Big-Egg Town?

  “The number one item on Raguel and Gabriel’s list right now isn’t the Yesod fragments; it isn’t the Better Half; it isn’t Maou. For now, that all takes a backseat.”

  I should have known that angel might be coming to Japan.

  “It’s Laila. I don’t know why, but they’re tracking Laila’s trail and they’re trying to lay some kind of judgment at her feet.”

  “All thanks to that idiot Albert sending an Idea Link with Laila’s feather pen, huh? Man, lucky thing Chiho’s mom wasn’t caught in the cross fire, then.”

  Maou groaned to himself, realizing the situation was far worse than it seemed, but Emi felt the brunt of it.

  “What…what happens with Raguel’s Call of the End Times?!” She found herself grabbing Urushihara by the collar.

  “Garghh!”

  “Emilia! That is too strong. And this is a hospital! Calm down!”

  “You want me to calm down now?!”

  Her voice was rising.

  “I’ve never met her… I didn’t even know she existed until recently… But…unless I can meet her and talk to her…unless she’s safe, she…she’s my mother, all right?!”

  “Um, is something the matter? Should I call for somebody?”

  A nurse had appeared, watching them dubiously, no doubt alarmed by the shouting. Emi returned to her senses and, for the time being, released Urushihara.

  “I… Sorry. It’s nothing.”

  “Oh, no? Well, remember, this is a hospital. I’d like to ask you to keep things quiet, please.”

  The nurse, not looking particularly convinced, quietly padded off nonetheless.

  Urushihara, near tears and realizing Emi was done screwing around with him, opted to cut out the back talk from here on in.

  “Kahh…nnngh… They’re probably gonna kick her out of heaven, I’d assume. Raguel and Sariel work as a team, after all. Or worked.”

  “Sariel’s in on this, too
?!”

  “Nah, dude. Not at this point. I probably shouldn’t dis him too much, but I’m startin’ to get the impression he doesn’t give two craps about heaven any longer.”

  Maou recalled the last time he saw Sariel—metaphorically melting into a pile of goo and oozing into the sewer grate after Kisaki, the supreme love of his life, banned him from MgRonald.

  “So I dunno how he’s planning to do that, really. Banishing someone from heaven doesn’t happen all that often, but I’ve never heard of them going to other worlds, interfering with all kindsa crap over there, all so they can lay judgment on a single archangel.”

  A beat, and then Maou nodded and stood up. “…So we’re gonna have to beat up Raguel and make him give us the whole story, huh? If Urushihara doesn’t even know, our only option’s gonna be to ask the guy himself.”

  Ashiya remained seated, much cooler to the idea. “Your Demonic Highness, why do we need to, as you say, ‘beat up’ Raguel?”

  “Look, I don’t care about how angels deal with humans. Like, not at all. But he just took out one of my prime candidates for a Demon General spot in the army I lead. Do I need any more reason than that?”

  Ashiya smiled and nodded at Maou’s stern countenance. “Not at all, my liege. I would be glad to lend a helping hand to a talented future comrade.”

  “Urushihara. Emi. Suzuno.”

  “Mm?”

  “What!”

  “Yes?”

  Maou sized up each one of them in succession.

  “I need to smoke this Raguel guy out and make him pay for putting Chi in the hospital. Help me with that.”

  It wasn’t the most politely phrased of requests, but strangely, no one offered any resistance to it.

  “Well…sure, dude. I’m free anyway. I guess I owe her for least a coupla things.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if you saved that talk about Demon Generals until after I kill you, but if it’s one of my best friends we’re talking about, so be it.”

  “I will gladly teach even an angel a lesson to protect my friends. For this, and only this, I officially agree to cooperate with you.”

  For the sake of a single girl, the Devil King, his Great Demon General, a fallen angel, the Hero, and a Church cleric stood strong in the hospital waiting room, uniting for a common goal.

  “…Hmm?”

  Maou noticed something tugging at the sleeve of his pants.

  “Daddy!”

  Alas Ramus, eyes deadly serious, was looking up at Maou.

  “Alas Ramus love Chi-sis, too!”

  She seemed proud of this affirmation.

  Maou whisked the child into the air, smile just as strong as her eyes.

  “Wanna do it?”

  “Yehh!”

  The five of them, plus one toddler, headed down the elevator and marched out of Seikai University Hospital as a group.

  They were seen out by the same nurse who had upbraided Emi for screaming in the waiting room.

  Waving something resembling a clipboard in her hand, the nurse headed for Chiho’s room.

  “Pardon me for barging in, Ms. Sasaki… Hmm?”

  Upon entering, she found the young patient’s mother gone. Her handbag was still there, perhaps indicating a quick trip to the bathroom or the gift shop.

  The nurse gave herself a nod and stood next to the sleeping Chiho’s bed.

  “Ms. Chiho Sasaki? I think your friends might just help you see the outside of this hospital soon!”

  She peered into Chiho’s face, a beaming smile painted upon her own.

  “You have all these disparate minds focused on a single goal… The mother of a new Da’at, perhaps?”

  Several minutes later. Riho, returning from the ladies’ room, spotted a piece of paper on the small desk next to the bed—a rundown of the examinations slated for the next day.

  The distraction made her completely fail to notice the faint glow that was now present around the ring on Chiho’s left hand.

  Leaving the air-conditioned hospital interior, the warriors from another planet were instantly assaulted by the stifling heat, which showed no sign of loosening even as sunset loomed.

  Several minutes after their solemn oath, all five of them were already starting to grimace under the strain.

  “So…if you were willing to give that speech just now, do you have an idea of where Raguel might be?”

  Emi set up a no-look pass to Maou. He ignored it.

  “Uh, you know anything, Urushihara?” Maou asked.

  Urushihara, realizing the ball was headed his way, rolled his eyes at Maou for his clear failure to take initiative.

  “Well…I got a thought, anyway. But how ’bout you go first? You’re soooooo good with machines, I wouldn’t want to look like an idiot if I got it wrong.”

  The defiant sooooo was still ringing in everyone’s ears by the time he concluded the sentence.

  “So, what’re you thinkin’, dude?”

  “Two places.”

  Urushihara’s eyebrows arched upward. “Huh. Guess we’re in agreement.”

  Suzuno gave him a poke on the back. “Would you mind sharing it with the rest of the world, please?”

  Maou responded with a single arched eyebrow of his own. “What was it that broke apart around us at the electronics store? What’s the thing that’s been flashing white and screwing up for people all day? What just scrambled my and Ashiya’s brains a moment ago?”

  “Frizzy-frizz!”

  Maou paid Alas Ramus no mind as she played with his hair, still on end even now.

  “It’s the TVs, right?”

  “You… Wait.”

  Emi’s eyes opened wide. Urushihara nodded at her.

  “It’s not like all the TVs involved were airing the same program every time. He’s not targeting a single network—he’s working across the entire range of TV signals in the Kanto region. Which means there’s only two places I can think of.”

  “If there’s one thing that fancy-pants prick always liked, it’s high places. He’s like a goat or something. Not that I was one to talk, but…”

  A summer evening’s breeze lapped at their hair.

  “Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Skytree.”

  “Hey, did you know, Ashiya?”

  “Yes?”

  Shiba Park, in the Minato ward of Tokyo.

  The Devil King of another world turned toward his faithful Great Demon General and snorted.

  “The top of Tokyo Tower is made out of tanks!”

  “……” Ashiya sighed and looked at what Maou clenched in his hand. “Is that written in there, my liege?”

  Maou was holding a copy of a small paperback entitled Everything You Wanted to Know About HDTV* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). He’d purchased it at a station-side kiosk on the way here.

  “The area of the tower that lies above the topmost observation deck is made from steel taken from American tanks that were scrapped after the Korean War,” Ashiya concluded. “It was still hard to obtain high-quality steel in the Japan of the nineteen fifties, the US was eager to develop a new generation of tanks, and—as I understand it—their needs dovetailed each other very closely.”

  “…! …!” Maou look at Ashiya, then his book. “…Y-you knew that?”

  “When I was working as a theater stagehand, I had to move props around for a play set in that era. They touched upon it in one scene or another.”

  Ashiya had a thoughtful look on his face. (The two of them had finally gotten around to fixing their hair earlier.)

  “Did you know, Your Demonic Highness, why the tower is painted in white and red? Or, should I say, the shade of yellowish red known as ‘international orange’?”

  “…No.”

  “According to aviation regulations, any structures or other objects over two hundred feet above the ground that may interfere with air safety need to be painted in alternating shades of white and international orange to indicate the obstruction. These markings are painted across the entirety of Tokyo T
ower, however.”

  Maou stared at Ashiya, mouth agape.

  “But…but the Skytree isn’t that color!”

  “The pattern is not required if you install high-powered aircraft warning lights or other devices.”

  A few furious flips through the paperback, and:

  “………Whoa, you’re right.”

  He’d found the relevant section.

  Ashiya grinned as his master’s crestfallen look. “That’s what led to the Tokyo Tower we know and love today…but personally, I think a nice shade of pure red would suit this tower the most.”

  He sized up the tower before him as he spoke. The tower, all one thousand ninety-three feet of it, was used as a central site for radio, television, and other electrical signals, gradually evolving into an architectural symbol for all of Tokyo over the years.

  The Skytree, while still under construction, already had it beaten in height. That still wasn’t enough to tarnish any of the structure’s grandeur, however. Thousands of tourists visited Tokyo Tower daily, and since HDTV transmission duties were now handled by the Skytree, the resulting free bandwidth in the Tower ensured it would be serving Tokyo and its citizens for years to come.

  “Y’know, I know I came here on my own volition and stuff…but I’m starting to have cold feet.”

  “How so?”

  “There’s too many people. Is there really an angel around here?”

  It did not affect Maou and his friends whatsoever, but to most Japanese citizens, it was currently the tail end of summer vacation.

  Tokyo Tower was a landmark icon of Japan. In this warm August evening, it was predictably mobbed.

  “Meaning that Emi has more of a chance to find our target at the Skytree, you mean?”

  While Maou and Ashiya were at Tokyo Tower, Emi had volunteered to head for the Skytree, with Urushihara (at his suggestion) remaining at Yoyogi so he and Suzuno could swiftly reach either building and provide backup should trouble arise.

  The fact Urushihara suggested this provided Maou some pause, but his logic was sound enough. From Yoyogi, they could either quickly board the JR Sobu Line to Kinshichou, near the Skytree, or hop on the Toei Oedo Line to Akabane-bashi, the preferred stop for Tokyo Tower sightseers.

  Suzuno, whose usefulness in a fight was undeniable at this point, protested the idea of being behind the front lines.