She had reflectively smiled, but looking up at Ashiya’s face, she realized—her own was so tensed that Ashiya felt it best to try loosening her up a bit.
“Not about that, but… You know, about Emi…”
“Emilia?”
“Yeah. Half human, half angel, right?”
“It seems so, yes.”
“Which means that on Ente Isla humans and angels can get married…can’t they?”
“I suppose it is so. Certainly no need to wrangle with the local government office and go through all the name change bureaucracy, I imagine.”
“All right…so…”
Her heart was pounding scarily fast, harder than ever before this day. In one corner of it, she apologized to her friend for planting the idea in her head.
“So,” her trembling voice began, “can demons and humans…come together that way?”
“………Er?”
Even Ashiya found himself lost at this transition. He frowned a little as he thought over how to scrutinize this. A few moments of confusion later, he opened his mouth.
“…To be frank with you,” he carefully intoned, “I am not sure I follow. Unlike humans and angels, demons come in a great variety of species and individual forms, each with differing body types, physiques, even shapes and organ structures. Perhaps it would be possible with the more humanlike races, but I am not aware of any concrete example, so I am unsure what to say…”
He scratched his head, worried about where to go from here.
“Honestly, I am somewhat surprised to hear the question from you, Ms. Suzuki. Since I have actually had my own thoughts about humans and demons, as of late.”
“Huh?”
“Regarding Ms. Sasaki, I mean.”
“Chiho…?”
The sound of Chiho’s name from Ashiya’s pained-looking face filled Rika with a foreboding unrest.
“Ms. Sasaki continues to have deep feelings for my liege, even after knowing everything there is to know about our past. Not long ago, however, there were concerns voiced over whether my liege is allowing himself to be too spoiled by Ms. Sasaki’s goodwill. It led to some conflict within our apartment building.”
“Maou’s being spoiled by her?”
“She is a very wise young woman, so she never becomes emotional or blindly devoted to him as she deals with my liege. She deals with us fully aware of the anger and hatred all of Ente Isla’s humanity foster against us, so she often sides with Emilia and her friends on matters. But…if relations between my liege and Emilia were to falter again, I am sure Ms. Sasaki would side with His Demonic Highness, in the end.”
“Oh?” Rika interjected. “That wouldn’t necessarily be the case…”
“I am sure that is what my liege thinks to himself, too.”
“…Huh?”
“What I mean is, my liege has offered a great support to all of us. To Bell when she was just getting used to life in Japan, to you when you became caught up in our crisis, and to Emilia when she was targeted by intrigues in Ente Isla. But his care for Ms. Sasaki has been, shall we say, comparatively lacking. He claims to care about her as her boss and coworker, but one step away from MgRonald, and it is Ms. Sasaki’s generosity that has helped him countless times, not the other way around. I fear his recognition and understanding of that was rather too shallow.”
If Ashiya was willing to go that far, he must have been absolutely sure of it.
“To put it in a kind way, he trusted her broadly in all areas. In a bad way, he was spoiled. Either way, Ms. Sasaki is the only person His Demonic Highness will fully open his heart to. That was true, perhaps since even before Urushihara came here to confront us.”
“And…so that’s why, after the battle with Urushihara, Chiho was the only one…”
“Indeed. The only one whose memories my liege did not erase. And I did find it rather strange back then. It is easy to imagine now that she meant something special to my liege even at the time. A special relationship, one that continues to this day. And so, I have come to think as of late, I would appreciate it if you did not speak of this to others, however…”
He brought a hand to his chin.
“If my liege decided to make Ms. Sasaki his partner…or, in other words, his wife, what would happen then?”
“His—his—his wife?!”
The raw energy of that keyword struck Rika dumb.
“Such was my concern about this issue, you understand. But…well, I would hardly declare myself capable of reading His Demonic Highness’s mind. If it comes to that, we can consider the issue then, I trust… Er, what were we talking about?”
“…Ah, um, uhhm, whether demons and humans can get married?”
“Ah, yes, yes. So what about it?”
“Well…”
Well, indeed. After a conversation that stark and unfettered, it almost felt easy now. Easy to say, that is. The words came out like a river.
“Well, kind of like Chiho and Maou, I…I think I’ve started to really like you, too.”
“Ah………………huh?”
Ashiya nodded his understanding as always…then froze.
“Meaning…”
“I like you. A-as a woman.”
“But…Ms. Suzuki, I…”
“I know. I totally understand how Chiho feels. I’m not asking to be your girlfriend or your wife or whatever; it’s not like that. But I just thought I wanted to tell you. That I had to. I wanted you to look at me that way.”
All her senses were finely honed now, all sounds silenced except the ones she and Ashiya made.
“Is that bad?”
“……”
Ashiya looked at Rika, face as stern as hers. But when their eyes were about to drift apart, Ashiya took his freshly purchased phone out of his pocket.
“Give me one moment, please.”
“Okay.”
He opened up his phone book with halting swipes and taps, then brought the phone to his ear.
“………About time. If you are glued to your computer anyway, I want you to answer the phone immediately… Yes. Alciel… I did. Add this number to your list. I will be slightly late returning home. My liege is working late tonight, so if you need to, eat whatever you want… Hmm? Pfft. So be it. Do what you like. But if you leave any food out on the table, you will pay dearly for it. Farewell.”
Rika could tell who that terse conversation was with. Urushihara, no doubt, holding down the fort over at Villa Rosa Sasazuka.
“…My, I must be losing my composure. Urushihara threatened to have pizza delivered, and I actually said yes to him.”
“…Sorry about that.”
Rika didn’t have much to defend herself with. Ashiya sighed, thrust the phone back in his pocket, and looked at her.
“Would you…mind coming with me for a bit?”
Ashiya strode slightly ahead of Rika as they walked down the tunnel. Judging by their direction, they seemed to be heading for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, forcing them to wade through the crowds of workers going against them. Soon, they were back on the surface, amid the high-rises that marked Tokyo’s business center.
He stood there for a moment, scoping out his environment. “This way,” he finally said, inviting Rika away from the road. The wind around Nishi-Shinjuku, lined with corporate headquarters and five-star hotels, was powerful—and even colder, Rika felt, than when they left the phone shop.
“Where are we?”
They had stopped in the open patio area of a now-closed café sandwiched between two large buildings. Its opening hours were probably matched with the offices it shared this block with. Nobody was around.
Ashiya turned toward the incredulous Rika.
“Excuse me a moment, Ms. Suzuki.”
“Huh? Ah! Whoa!”
Then he grabbed her by the hand and brought her closer to him.
That alone would have been enough to make Rika’s heart explode, but he wasn’t done. Her feet were leaving the ground. Before s
he knew it, she was being carried in his arms.
“Wha—wha—wha—wha, Ashiya? I— Wha-what’re you…?!”
“Hang on tight, please. Keep your mouth closed so you don’t bite your tongue.”
“My, my tongue? Why’re you…?”
She had no way to execute the whispered instructions before it began.
“Whoaaaaaaa?!”
The next moment, Rika was experiencing the Shinjuku cityscape like never before—from the sky.
“Hyeeeeeeegh?!”
She hugged her arms around Ashiya’s neck—a fairly standard response for someone at as high an altitude as her.
“Wha—wha—whaaaaaa—?!”
“Right. That is the most stable way. I will be moving a little, so hold on.”
“Ah—ah—ah—ah—ah…”
She was flying the friendly Shinjuku skies, safe in Ashiya’s arms. In a film or something, this probably would’ve been a magical, fantastical, romantic situation, but getting thrown into this scene without warning as a human being incapable of flight, Rika couldn’t do much apart from tense up her facial muscles and hang on for dear life.
It was beautiful down there. And she couldn’t complain about her beloved holding her tight like a fairy-tale princess. But between the height, the cold, and the suddenness, it was maybe a little too much stimulation all at once.
Thus, unable to enjoy this scenario that every little girl in the world has dreamed of at least once, Rika found herself plunked down on the roof of one of the taller buildings in the neighborhood.
“Haah…haah… You totally freaked me out there…!”
“I apologize. I felt the need to be as far away from other people as I could manage.”
“Where…is this?”
“The roof of Tokyo City Hall.”
“Of what?!”
Rika shot to her feet in a cold sweat, looking around.
“Wh-why?!”
“I needed a large, open space with nobody else in it,” Ashiya replied with a smile as he began to walk a distance away from Rika across the large windblown heliport.
“Ashiya?”
“I am very happy to hear about your feelings for me.”
“Um?”
“It is a surprise for me, as well. I used to think of humanity as lowborn vermin worthy of nothing but contempt, but when I learned of your feelings, Ms. Suzuki, it did not discomfort me one bit.”
Shinjuku at night was bright enough to blot out the moon itself. Ashiya began to blend in with the shadows.
“Sadly, though, I have no way of reciprocating those feelings. That is because…”
The wind was laden with a dark, heavy chill, just as it was when Ashiya invited Rika into the alley before. It now seemed to Rika that Ashiya was fully lost in the shadows, as absurd as she knew that was. This was a wide-open, flat roof. It had to be bathed in moonlight right now. But before she could figure out why it was so, a dark shade enveloped Ashiya as a howling gale coursed across the roof.
“Ah, agh!”
Rika fell to the ground as she felt a sudden tightness in her chest. This was no sweet, refreshing feeling driving her heart any longer. It was a pain like nothing she felt before—like she was given poison to drink, robbing her of the air she needed.
“Wh…what…?”
“…Because there is no such thing in this world as a man named Shirou Ashiya.”
“—?!”
From the shadow Ashiya disappeared into, there arose a voice like none she had ever heard. It was low but still mighty and grating upon her ears.
“Are you in pain? This form, this power is what I truly wield, human. Everything you have seen before is a false body, a false name, to allow me to blend in with humanity.”
She forced her face upward, gasping for breath, only to find a figure there larger than the one before. The glinting from its eyes as it walked forward made Rika shake, despite her will. It was a reaction driven by fear, the primal emotion that no human could ever fully shake off.
“My name is Alciel. A Great Demon General, a demon that no human can ever even set foot near. If you wish not to die, keep your distance. Our demonic force can easily take the lives of a human, weak as you all are.”
Standing before Rika was a creature like none she knew, covered in a black shell. This armored carapace completely enveloped its body, its twin-pronged tail waving ominously in the air, the dully glowing eyes staring right at her.
“Ah…Ashi…ya…”
“The humans who dwelled on Ente Isla kneeled before me in terror at my form. And we will return one day to make them acquiesce to our will.”
“Ng…gh, haah!”
Nausea and tears welled up within Rika as she finally collapsed in a heap.
“Do you understand? Understand how foolish, how misguided, how much of a folly your feelings are?”
“Nn…nnggh…”
Her joints began to ache, as if she suffered from a high fever. It was growing difficult to even look straight at him.
So this is a demon? This demon she had heard about multiple times but never actually saw for herself? These people who killed and ruled over humanity on some faraway world?
Fending off the fearsome pressure and terror assaulting her body, Rika’s mind began to whir into motion.
“Wh…why…?”
“Enough of your inane queries. I suggest that a human woman like you never make the same foolish mistake against a higher-level demon like—”
“Why did you show that to me…?!”
“………What?”
“I can’t breathe… I—I heard about it, but I didn’t think it’d be so—so rough… Gehh… I couldn’t come near you if I tried. I can’t move my legs…”
But even so, Rika drummed up enough willpower to look up and speak before the horrifying demon could answer.
“Thank you…for showing me who you really are.”
“…!”
For one second, the confusion in Alciel’s mind made its way to his face.
“If I was misguided… If I was in the way… You could erase my memories, couldn’t you? I heard about that. So why…?”
“…”
“I’m scared. This really hurts. I don’t want to go anywhere near you. I don’t know what to do…but…”
Rika was unable to wipe the flowing tears away.
“But I still love you. No matter how much you try to scare me. No matter what awful things you say to make me go away. I know how kind you really are. That’s why I love you. It’s not me being misguided.”
“…”
“You took me here…to keep from hurting other people, didn’t you? You stepped away to keep me from—from danger.”
Her pleading was mostly screamed out at this point, but it was odd how that first instant of pain seemed to relax itself now.
“You showed this to me because you wanted to give a serious reply to my feelings, didn’t you?”
Alciel simply looked at the shouting human, face not moving a muscle. He could come no closer to the desperate woman. Only in his eyes could there be found an inexplicable sort of agitation.
“I knew that. I knew that…I could never be your lover or anything…but I can still say it now. I love you. I love you for using your precious store of power to give me a sincere no. That, I’m positive, was no mistake of mine.”
But she had reached her limit.
“Thank you…Alciel…”
And just as there was that final, fleeting image of her lover from another world—in his true form, to her—she fell into darkness.
“Yeah, so that happened. The next thing I knew, I was on a bench in Shinjuku Central Park. Ashiya was back in human form, and he kept on apologizing to me, so it actually got a lot more awkward. Like, I think it woulda been a lot better if he simply disappeared into the night, all mysterious-like, you know? But he said if something happened to me, Emi would’ve killed him and he woulda had no defense for it. So there he was, regular old Ashiya, no
ne of the dignified demon stuff from before, and seriously, it made me feel so embarrassed for what I said to him. Hey, um, aren’t you hungry, Chiho?”
“Ahh…”
Chiho’s empty stomach was no longer a concern to her. Rika’s story was enough to overwhelm her completely. Rika, meanwhile, was stacking up the sushi plates as if she hadn’t just experienced a cross-world dumping.
“I know it sounds really silly, but you know how big demons get when they transform, yeah? He actually went behind that shadow to strip down beforehand so he wouldn’t wreck his suit, he told me. I asked about his underwear—which I know is the stupidest thing to ask ever—and he said they were elastic enough that they were okay, which totally made me laugh. Like, that’s so Ashiya for you.”
“Ahh…”
“And then we said good-bye just now, at Shinjuku station. I could’ve gone home, but I didn’t want to be in my room alone right after dealing with this insane broken heart, so as much as I hated to do it, I figured I’d give you a call, Chiho.”
“Ahh…”
All Chiho could do was nod, holding a cup of tea that had long grown cold in both hands.
“And, you know, I heard that demonic energy was bad for you, but actually feeling it for myself, holy crap, it was rough! My joints hurt, I had this chill up my spine, I was nauseous… It totally wrecked me. It took this whole dinner for me to recover, really.”
“Recover” was the way she put it, but judging by the color of Rika’s face, the recovery process had only begun. In Chiho’s case, it took a good night’s sleep for all the aftereffects to go away. Whether that was because the Devil King was that strong or the combined forces of Maou, Ashiya, and Urushihara were too much at close range, she didn’t know—but she remembered full well how, if it weren’t for Emi’s protection, she could have very well suffocated under the strain. Receiving treatment from Suzuno afterward—and learning holy magic for herself—made Chiho inextricably involved. But even so, that first instant of being exposed to the Malebranche’s evil force still felt supremely uncomfortable to her nerves.
Rika, meanwhile, had no protection and faced the brunt of that force until she lost consciousness. And strangest of all, as far as Chiho was concerned, was Ashiya transforming before her eyes, despite claiming he had no need for demonic force in his regular life, after returning from Ente Isla. By her understanding, demons like Maou needed to retain at least a given amount of force within their bodies to perform the transformation. Maou used what little force he had remaining upon falling into Japan to establish a life for himself, but the effects of that cost him his original form, turning him into the regular human being Chiho knew well.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 13 Page 15
