“I, um, I’ll tell him about my home myself. I think I should really be the one to tell him, so…”
“Yeah. Tell Emi, too. Don’t forget her.”
“…All right.”
Laila had practically broken into a cold sweat from the moment Nord’s name came up, but she still had enough composure to nod at the stony-looking Maou.
“…”
Meanwhile, Chiho simply looked on, a melancholy smile on her face.
“Whew… Sure has gotten cold.”
Chiho was walking alone across Sasazuka at night, on her way home. Maou offered to accompany her, but she turned him down. She’d normally bite at every chance to spend time with him she got, but today, she didn’t want to be alone with him. Laila sounded like she still had things to talk about, and besides, the city was bustling enough at this time of night that being by herself wasn’t dangerous. There was no reason for angels or demons to attack Japan at the moment, and Erone, the cause of all that trouble a bit ago, was safe and sound.
Right now, there was nothing to be concerned about, and no need to cause trouble for Maou. That was one reason. The other one—
“Maou sure is nice to her…”
The words, whispered softly enough to avoid entering anyone’s ears, floated in her white breath for a moment before disappearing from anyone’s sight.
If Laila had been okay with it, Chiho was perfectly willing to head for her house right this moment. But when the topic came up, the first thing that flashed in Chiho’s mind was Emi. Her motivations for concern were the same as Maou’s over Nord. Was it really all right, Laila ignoring her own daughter and letting a stranger like Chiho into her place? That was what she found herself not ready for.
No matter how thick and sturdy a wall Emi had built between herself and Laila, the archangel had to find a way to climb over it and fill in the gap, at least a little. If someone else learned of Laila’s location before Emi did, and she found out about it, her feelings were bound to be hurt. It’d make her act even more obstinate around her mother. And beyond worlds being in danger and all that, as Emi’s friend, Chiho absolutely wanted to keep that from happening.
But she couldn’t go right out and say that. That’s because Chiho was under the same incorrect assumption as Maou—the reliability, or lack thereof, of Laila. Maou worried that if he turned this offer down, he’d lose any chance of approaching her again. But right after Chiho hesitated over the question, Maou had said it himself: Not like this, okay? I’m not going to your place before Emi does. He showed care for Emi’s feelings. I doubt she’d bring it up with me, but I guarantee she’ll be upset at you all over again. Maybe he didn’t mean it, but the words seemed to strike a chord with Laila, suggesting that doing so would be the best thing for both her and Emi.
“Kind of nice, I guess…”
Since returning from Ente Isla, Maou had expended every effort possible for Emi’s sake—all in an effort to make her feelings, her work, and her relationships that little bit better. Maou would deny it all, of course, claiming “No way—even if it looks that way, I’m doing it all for me,” or whatnot. But to Chiho—and really, you didn’t need to ask Chiho to know this—the more she saw Maou acting so naturally human, the more it had to be just that—naturally human. It was said that compassion for the plight of others was its own reward, but to turn that around, doing good things for yourself could help out other people, too.
“I hope Yusa and Laila make up, though…”
It was a purely Chiho kind of hope—and as she figured it, the time wouldn’t be too far into the future. Emi had yet to make an approach from her end, sadly, but with Maou intervening, the chasm separating her from Laila was gradually starting to fill in. That was reflected in the way Laila was intruding on Devil’s Castle dinners or even in the passing words and behaviors Emi showed during her job at MgRonald.
Emi might deny it all, just like Maou did—deny that Maou was bending over backward to help her. But Chiho knew. In recent days, Emi had given Maou more smiles, far more in fact, than she ever did before.
“…Oh, man…”
She hated thinking along those lines. But the more she tried to deny the thoughts her own brain created for her, the more Urushihara’s passing remark put her mind in the blender.
By that, y’know, she also means I thought you lived up to your rep more, but you ain’t nothing like what I thought, so…
Nothing like what I thought. It sounded petty of her, and she didn’t want to think she was capable of being mean. But she wasn’t confident that it wouldn’t look like that, depending on how it was received. And, you know, maybe it wasn’t like what she thought, kind of. For ages now, Chiho had wanted Maou and Emi to get along—no bile, no killing, just find a landing point for their feelings and make a clean break from their bitter past in Ente Isla. That was what she had always wanted from the heart, and now that desire was taking form before her eyes.
And yet…
“Why, though…?”
Why were there all these butterflies in her stomach? She wanted this for all of them—even now, from the bottom of her heart. She was happy. But behind that happiness lurked deeper, darker feelings. And whenever Emi smiled at Maou, whenever Maou did something thoughtful for Emi, those feelings did their best to kick away that happiness and rule over her.
“Ugh.”
It’s not turning out like I had hoped for.
“I hate this.”
Nothing like it.
“Why am I…?”
Nothing.
“This total…!”
“Chiho!”
“Chi-Sis!”
“…?!”
Chiho’s face darted upward at the familiar voices greeting her from the front of Sasazuka station up ahead. She had instinctively blocked her face from them, attempting to quell her darkly brooding heart in the night, and was gritting her teeth as she walked. Recognizing them, she attempted a natural smile, only to feel all the muscles in her face tense up.
“Oh, Suzuno and Alas Ramus…”
The voice coming up to her definitely belonged to Suzuno Kamazuki from Room 202. But—
“Huh?”
She looked different from normal. Chiho couldn’t believe her eyes at first. The dark feelings from moments ago dissipated in a flash.
She couldn’t help but rub her eyes at the sight. But Suzuno kept walking up to her, Alas Ramus in tow, looking the same as when Chiho first caught sight of her.
“Hiiiii, Chi-Sis!”
“Returning from the apartment, perhaps? Laila was there, was she not?”
“Um, yeah, she was, but… Um, what?”
Suzuno and Alas Ramus were both sporting reddened cheeks in the cold.
“Rare to see you so bundled up like that, Chiho. Certainly well prepared for visiting the apartment building, I will admit.”
“You look like Relax-Beaw, Chi-Sis!”
Chiho couldn’t even smile politely at Alas Ramus’s unintended sarcasm. Her large, round eyes were still set firmly upon Suzuno.
“Ahhh—ah—ahhhhh, um, Suzuno?”
“I went out to catch the evening sale at the grocery store, but do you know, Chiho, of the store in the shopping arcade that constantly changes its merchandise in and out, like a bazaar of some manner?”
“Y-yes…”
“They had the most fetching hairpin on sale there. Look at this! It has a snow crystal that looks like a cross. I simply had to have it, and I was soon wandering up and down the shops. Before I knew it, heavens be, look at how late it had become!”
“Look, look! Suzu-Sis gave dis to me!”
Alas Ramus was wearing an unfamiliar (to Chiho) wool hat. She was now eagerly showing the top of her forehead to the teen, as if about to head-butt her.
“Ooh, um, neat. It looks good on you. Really good. But, um, I’m sorry, Alas Ramus, can you give me a second?”
“Ooh?”
There was something tensed up about Suzuno, clutching her recyclable sh
opping bag in one arm and Alas Ramus’s hand with the other. They were both excited. Perhaps the thin belt-type wristwatch on Suzuno’s left hand had something to do with it.
“Um, I’m sorry, Suzuno, this might be kind of a weird question…”
“Hmm?”
“Wh-why are you dressed like that?”
“Oh? Oh, ah, this?” Suzuno blushed a little, as if only now noticing what she had on. “I chose this outfit by myself. It’s not overly strange, is it?”
“N-no, no, you look great. I’m just really surprised, you know, Suzuno…”
Chiho’s eyes ran up and down Suzuno’s body, as rude as she knew that must have been.
“I mean, you wearing nothing but, ah, modern clothes…”
She still had an ornate hairpin as the final touch for her long hair, but underneath her gray poncho was a white shirt and a short-length navy-blue dress; thick, tight leggings; and short, fringed boots covering her legs.
“You saw how cold it grew now, yes? The daytime temperature had been high enough as of late that I procrastinated on changing out my wardrobe, and then it came all too suddenly, as it does. It even snowed the other day.”
“It…it sure did…”
“I was positively freezing, what with the kimonos I have on hand.”
“Yeah…”
“They say the kasuri splash-pattern kimonos are useful enough for wear in the winter, but the sleeves are still wide open, you see. Even with a heavy undershirt, one will still feel a chill in the shoulders, and it would do little to solve the sleeve issue. Plus, you know the kind of apartment I live in, yes? Not to criticize Ms. Shiba’s generosity, but even with a heater, the cold reaches one’s bones if one isn’t careful.”
“I can understand that.”
Chiho could picture it perfectly, hence her multiple layers.
“So I made up my mind to shop for more clothing, and this Western wear was cheaper and warmer.”
She had no idea what a kasuri was, but apparently the combination of cold weather and low prices made Suzuno bend her kimono-only rule a bit.
“So perhaps I may rely on clothing like this for day-to-day needs, yes. But if something happens and my services are needed, I do intend to retain my kimono as battle gear. This ponk…ponch…ah, what was it called…?”
“Poncho?”
“Yes. That. This gray poncho. It functions just fine when draped over a kimono as well. I have grown used to life here in Japan by now, so I thought that perhaps I should learn to liven up my wardrobe with an East-meets-West philosophy.”
“Yeah, you look really cute in that, Suzuno.”
This was Chiho’s first look at Suzuno in modern wear since her and Emi’s tandem birthday party. Seeing her here, in clothing that allowed her to completely blend in with the modern Japanese cityscape, to Chiho she looked like a bright young woman in her prime (not that she knew her actual age).
“Have you been wearing stuff like this for a while?”
Chiho had last encountered Suzuno only about three days ago, when she was still in her familiar kimono gear.
“I finally succumbed to the cold and went out to purchase Western gear the day before yesterday. I only have a couple of outfits yet, but I am still debating whether to purchase more or stick with the kimono. Thanks to that, I have wound up giving Alas Ramus quite the window-shopping tour around town. You must be tired by now, are you not?”
“I’m okeh!”
Much about Alas Ramus’s stamina and physical strength remained an enigma, but for now, keeping up with an adult going store hopping hadn’t made her bored or fatigued at all. Plus, Chiho was taken too far out of her comfort zone to notice, but the wool hat Suzuno bought for her featured the same kamawanu scythe-laden cloth pattern as some of Suzuno’s own kimonos. She found it pretty funny.
“It must’ve been quite a leap for you, Suzuno.”
Seeing Suzuno emphasize repeatedly that her passion for Japanese clothing hadn’t waned at all was almost as funny to her, too. Modern wear really did look nice on her, though. Chiho hoped her friend would take this opportunity to explore Western fashion a bit more.
“Indeed it was! And when that cursed Devil King saw me in the corridor, he looked at me like I was a monster.”
“Maou did?”
“Yes. On first glance, he said, ‘Did this winter give you a fever or something?’ Rather rude, would you agree?”
Kind of a harsh jab. People talk about the summer heat driving them nuts, but catching a cold and running a fever in the winter was far from unheard of.
“Of course,” Suzuno continued as Chiho thought about this, “he did agree that it looked good on me, so I let it slide.”
“He said that?”
“Indeed.” She grinned. “Rather reluctantly, but he did.”
The smile made a wave of darkness crash over her heart again, just as it did when she tried hiding her face to quell the sensation.
“Wow… Maou…”
“Mm?”
“N-no…”
But letting someone else learn about this wave of emotion didn’t strike her as a good idea. She shook her head, letting the night hide the hardened lines of her expression. Suzuno seemed to pay it no mind, her eyebrows suddenly furrowing at the sight of something behind Chiho.
“Still, as little need for concern as we may have right now, the Devil King having you go home at night alone strikes me as rather thoughtless.”
“Huh? Oh, it wasn’t that…”
Wait…?
“The city can pose any number of hazards that have nothing to do with any angel or demon, as you know. Though I suppose it is rather ridiculous in itself, the way said angels and demons have caused you so much danger…”
This is weird.
“If you are traveling directly home, Chiho, I could join you.”
“…N-no, no, it’s fine.”
“I am not in a hurry. Besides, we do this all the time, do we not?”
Something about me today…
“I’m…I’m fine.”
“…Chiho?”
“Chi-Sis?”
I’m just messed up.
“I…”
I hate this, but…
“What—what is the matter? What happened?!”
Suzuno half panicked at the sudden turn of affairs, looking up at Chiho from below.
“I-I’m telling you, I’m fine…!”
Tears were flowing. And as Chiho thought, they couldn’t have been flowing for reasons any more trivial, any more ridiculous, than hers. But they just wouldn’t stop.
“Well, I mean, the Devil King… Yes, the Devil King in particular would never do anything strange to you, Chiho, and you appear unhurt. Is it…him?! Lucifer?! Oh, what insensible act has he done this time…?”
“Chi-Sis, you hurt? You hurt? How much? You hurt? How much?”
The sight of Chiho standing there and crying out of nowhere made Suzuno flail about for an explanation and Alas Ramus rap at her knees with her tiny hands, as if trying to knock the pain out of her.
“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“Well, all right, for now calm yourself, Chiho, I…I know! There is a café in the train station; um, I am not sure what happened, but it is cold out here. All right? So let’s go inside and drink something warm…”
The level of panic was uncharacteristic for Suzuno as she motioned Chiho to head with her into Sasazuka station.
Just as Chiho and Suzuno were entering the Tacoma’s Best coffee shop under the tracks:
“Oh dear, it’s so late. I’m sure Ms. Sasaki is back home by now.”
A harried young man tore out from near the turnstiles, rubbing his frigid hands.
“I hadn’t expected the phone call to run for so long. Ahh, it’s so chilly!”
The tall form of Shirou Ashiya, carrying a recyclable bag filled with his assorted evening purchases, sped its way out from the station.
“Mornin’, Saemi!”
“Oh, goo
d morning, Akiko.”
It was customary in the Japanese language to say “good morning” when greeting someone at the beginning of a shift, even if it was actually six PM, like it was now.
Emi was on from noon to ten that day, and MgRonald veteran Akiko Ohki had caught her just as she wrapped up her predinner break. She was the same age as Kawata, but she had joined the Hatagaya crew a good half year later, and she was a year behind him in college. As she put it, she figured studying for college exams would be easy, found out otherwise, and took a year off to prepare.
The end of November was usually a busy period in the Japanese college year, so Akiko was running on a reduced schedule. Emi hadn’t seen her in about a week.
“Hey, Saemi,” Akiko called as she changed into her uniform.
“Yeah?” Emi asked as she put a book she was reading into her locker.
“You used to work somewhere else, didn’t you? Like, office-type stuff?”
“Yeah, I worked at a Dokodemo call center.”
“Whoa, really? How long?”
“About a year and a half, I think. I had some family stuff come up so I had to take off for a while, and they basically tore up my contract.”
Being held prisoner in an alien world and forced to wage a massive war against legions of unearthly demons was, if you didn’t mind skipping a lot of the details, “family stuff” in Emi’s mind. But it was the mention of a contract that made Akiko wrinkle her eyebrows.
“Oh, man, firing you for stuff that’s not your fault? That’s mean. But you lasted a year and a half, huh? ’Cause I flamed out after, like, two months.”
“You’ve worked at a call center before?”
“Yeah. Outcalls mostly.”
“Ooh. I was usually doing support.”
Call center jobs could be broadly classified into one of three categories. Emi worked at an in-call site, which fielded questions from customers. She didn’t know what kind of job Akiko had, but if it involved outcalls, it probably meant selling products or taking orders from people. Some companies were involved with both at the same time, too.
“You know how we’ll lose Kota soon, right? That kinda reminded me a lot of the stuff I did on that job.”
“Mm-hmm?”
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 13 Page 6
