The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3

by Satoshi Wagahara

  “Well, like, what do you want? I mean, this is kind of it, you know? Right?”

  Maou looked to Suzuno and Chiho for support. Suzuno turned toward Chiho, hoping for a voice of reason to come to her side.

  “It was kind of plain, yes, but there’s nothing wrong with what he did. It’s best if you can use a flame from one of the lanterns they put out for Obon, or from a temple dedicated to revering the dead, but that’s easier said than done here in the city. Oh, also…”

  Chiho hunched over the dish.

  “You put your hands together like this, and then you pray for your ancestors to return home without getting lost.”

  “And…is that all?”

  “That, and if you have a butsudan, those little shrines people have in their homes sometimes, you can make a little horse out of a cucumber and put it there.”

  “Oh, yeah, we make that every year at my place.”

  “Out…out of a cucumber? Wh-what in Heaven’s name is that?”

  Suzuno’s eyes darted to and fro in confusion. Maou gave Chiho a glance, then chuckled a little.

  “So when Obon is over, you have to build an okuribi, a fire to lead your ancestors’ souls back to the afterlife. But one thing you do for the mukaebi is take a cucumber, stick some toothpick legs on it so it looks like a horse, and stick it in your shrine. That encourages your ancestors to ride it, so they’ll come to the fire more quickly. Then when it’s over, you make a cow for them out of an eggplant, and that way they’ll ride that and go back a lot more slowly.”

  Maou explained this all as matter-of-factly as he could, Chiho nodding her agreement on every major point. Suzuno looked at one, then the other, then brought a hand to her temple and groaned.

  “…I have encountered a vast range of religions in my time, but a ceremony like this one is rare. Never has something so simple seemed so complex to me…or vice versa.”

  “Well, if you wanted to get real with it, you’d do stuff like line up a bunch of candles down the road, or build a really big fire like you were trying to do. But here in the middle of the city, this is about all you’re gonna get. Some Buddhist sects don’t even do any of this, and besides, there aren’t too many places around here we can go lighting fires. If you wanna see the whole shebang, you could always hit up one of the countryside festivals somewhere in August.”

  “Wow. You sure know your stuff, Maou.”

  Chiho’s eyes were wide with surprise.

  “Yeah, well, you should’ve seen some of the other crap I tried last year while I was trying to regain my demonic force. I was hoping maybe some demon would catch my mukaebi and come on down, for example.”

  Aha! This was the sacrilegious, ritual-defiling Maou Suzuno was more familiar with!

  “But it’s not like any of my ancestors are here on Earth anyway. Kind of a waste of a fire, you know?”

  “You speak as if your ancestors would be awaiting you in your realm.”

  Maou winced at Suzuno’s remark.

  “Pft. D’you think the stork delivers demon babies to the underworld or something? I’ve got parents and family lines just like everyone else.”

  “Parents…? You?”

  Chiho might have been aware of Maou’s past, but it was tough for her to picture the concept of a Devil King having a Queen Mother.

  “’Course, they’re both gone now. So…like, if you’re asking whether I wanna light a mukaebi and get ’em over here, honestly, I don’t really care.”

  But there was something about the way he blurted out the words that made pangs of sadness blaze across Chiho’s mind.

  “Oh… Kind of a sad thing to say, though, just like that.”

  “Well, what, you think we’re the kind of goody-goody demons who leave flowers on their family grave or something? Even if they had one, I’d have no idea where it is. I hardly even remember anything about my parents.”

  “R-really…? Um, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “Nah, nah. I’m the one going on about it. Anyway.”

  Maou leaned down toward Chiho and the dish, fanning the flickering flame.

  “Don’t forget to take care of the fire once it’s out. In the real ceremony, you’re supposed to put it out with water droplets collected from lotus leaves, but you should still have a bucket of tap water handy just in case. You can toss the ashes into a potted plant or in the burnable garbage.”

  “…Hardly one iota of emotion to it, I see. I feel I’ve gained an insight into the spiritual contradictions that drive modern Japan.”

  “Hey, when in Rome. Think of it as me keeping an open mind, huh? Hey, you mind filling a bucket with water for me?”

  Just as Maou gave the order:

  “Hey! Maou!”

  Urushihara stuck his face out the Devil’s Castle door.

  “We got trouble comin’ on your six!”

  “Trouble?”

  Maou looked upstairs quizzically, only to hear:

  “What kind of trouble, exactly?”

  At the voice directly behind him, the lord of Devil’s Castle convulsed in a full-body shudder.

  It rang out loud and clear as Maou slowly, reluctantly turned around.

  And there—

  “Oh, good day, Yusa!”

  “Ah, Emilia! Oh, is it that time already?”

  There he saw the owlish face of Emi Yusa, better known in certain otherworldly circles as Emilia Justina, the Hero and savior of Ente Isla.

  An unopened solar umbrella was in her right hand, her left holding up a paper bag with something heavy inside.

  She leveled the tip of her umbrella at Maou, brushing him away as he looked up at Urushihara from downstairs.

  “Lucifer! How did you know I was coming?! You didn’t stick another one of your GPS transmitters somewhere, did you?!”

  “N-no! Nothing like that! I just saw you in the camera I installed outside! Dude, chill out a bit, okay? We got ice cream!”

  “I am as ‘chill’ as the coolest, freeze-dried, most ice-covered cucumber in the universe! And I’ll be even ‘chiller’ once I’ve finally slain you all!”

  “N-no, really! I’m not lying! Look!”

  Urushihara darted back into the apartment, brought out a cup of ice cream and the hacked webcam he installed between the window bars, and waved both of them in the air.

  “……”

  Emi’s eyes were attracted to the Haggen-Boss mint ice cream cup before the camera, but snapped out of it and turned sharply toward Chiho and Suzuno.

  “Hey there, Chiho. Is that your ice cream?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah. We got this huge gift set, but my mom and dad aren’t into sweets at all.”

  “…Makes sense. Not like these vagrants would ever be ahead of the game enough to buy Haggen-Boss.”

  “Do you even realize how small that makes you look? Rating how successful a guy is by whether he buys dessert or not?”

  Maou, to the side, complained loudly at this brutal treatment. Emi paid him no heed, taking out a handkerchief and dabbing her face with it.

  “The mint-flavor Haggen-Boss is only sold as part of those gift boxes. You’re never gonna see them individually. Boy, I can just imagine the tears of joy you all must’ve shed the moment Chiho gave that to you. I’m sure the demon realms would be shocked and horrified to see that, hmm? Whether you’re Devil King or not, I wouldn’t really call that ‘ahead of the game.’”

  “…I’m sorry, Maou. I can’t really defend against that.”

  Chiho bowed her apology to him.

  “…So are you just here to gawk at our abject poverty, or what? Sitting in your stupid air-conditioned office all day, your stupid air-conditioned apartment all night… You’ve got the biggest carbon footprint for a Hero ever!”

  “Well, sorr-ee. The AC came preinstalled, so it’d be a waste not to use it, right? It’s a pretty new energy-saving model, too, and I got it set to eighty-two degrees, no matter how hot it gets outside. I don’t think you’ve got any right to comp
lain.”

  “Ugh! Dammit! You’re so obviously trying to lord it over me with your middle-class-ness!”

  Maou stamped his feet, frustrated. Emi refused to engage him, turning toward Suzuno instead.

  “Are you all set? Sorry I’m a little early.”

  “Ah, my apologies. Give me just one moment. I will make my preparations shortly.”

  Suzuno scurried off toward the stairway.

  “Oh, wait. Before that…”

  Stopped by Emi, Suzuno watched as she handed over her paper bag.

  From the lip, she could see a box of energy drinks, a familiar logo stamped on top. Maou and Chiho had no way of being aware, but the boxes naturally contained the 5-Holy Energy β sent previously by a friend of Emi’s from Ente Isla.

  “Ah, yes… Is this the supply we discussed?”

  “Yep. Two bottles per day, okay? These are valuable, so don’t lose ’em.”

  “…What kind of secret smuggling operation is this?”

  Maou dove into their hushed conversation over the paper bag. The two women both glared at him.

  “Be especially careful with him.”

  “There is no need to remind me.”

  “Hey!”

  Maou gritted his teeth at them.

  “I don’t remember doing anything that’d make you think I was gonna rummage through her stuff!”

  “I think that would be one of the least despicable things you’ve ever done.”

  Emi’s reaction was frigid. It had the intended effect on Maou.

  “Despicable? How could you call me that? I made it up to assistant manager in less than a year!”

  “I don’t think that’s what she’s talking about, Maou.”

  Chiho’s aside was just as cold.

  “Are you going out somewhere with Suzuno, Yusa?”

  “Mm-hmm. We’re gonna look at some appliances and phones.”

  “Appliances and phones?”

  “Indeed. It seems I am destined for an extended stay here, so I need to shore up the necessities of daily life, but it seems my pretrip research was a tad behind the times. I thought it best to have Emilia accompany me in case I should find myself at sea midway.”

  “Ohh, I get it.”

  On the one hand, Chiho was happy to discover her new friend wouldn’t be leaving soon. On the other, the thought of a woman—the nemesis of her crush, in fact—living right next door to Maou indefinitely somewhat tempered her joy.

  “Not that she’d have to stay if I could ever get around to slicing that destitute Devil King in two.”

  Emi, as if reading Chiho’s mind, laughed impishly as she sized up Maou.

  Maou erupted in a cold sweat, unable to discern how to respond. Chiho, looking on, was unsure whether Emi was joking or not.

  “…Of course, I guess I already said I wouldn’t be doing that anytime soon. And since I’m not the kind of Hero to break a promise, I’ll just have to station her here until I figure out a Plan B, you know?”

  “Uh…yes.”

  She wasn’t joking at all. Chiho’s response seemed drained of emotion.

  “Ha-ha-ha! Oh, I’m sorry. It’s all right. I’m not gonna do it right in front of you or anything, Chiho.”

  “…I’m a bit concerned about what you’ll do when I’m not there, but…”

  Chiho finally felt it safe to chuckle.

  “Well, I suppose that depends on how the Devil King acts, hmm?”

  “Gah! There…there isn’t a Devil King out there as meek and diligent and environmentally conscious as I am! And I don’t even care a little bit about whatever kind of illegal drug handoff you just did right in front of me! So rest easy and get the hell out of here!”

  Maou put his hands forward as he pouted like a child, shooing Emi away with both arms.

  “You don’t find that embarrassing at all? Trying to convince your mortal enemy that you’re a meek, diligent, environmentally conscious Devil King?”

  “My aim is to be a Devil King I don’t have to be embarrassed about, man!”

  “Huh. If anything, maybe the people of Ente Isla should be embarrassed about how much trouble they had finishing you off.”

  Emi shrugged an exaggerated, what-are-we-ever-going-to-do-with-you shrug. Then she questioningly looked down at the nearly extinguished dish of ogara at her feet.

  “…That, and what’re you doing, starting a fire in this heat? I noticed the smoke on the way here. I thought maybe you were burning something.”

  “Uh…”

  “About that…”

  “You weren’t aware, Emilia?”

  Now Maou, Chiho, and Suzuno all exchanged glances.

  “…You really don’t know? Man, way to give ammo to all the old folks living around here. I can just hear ’em now: ‘Kids these days! So ungrateful!’”

  “…I’m sorry, Yusa. I can’t defend against that.”

  “So be it. I will explain to her later.”

  “Uh? …Uhhhh?”

  Emi panicked slightly. She had no idea what triggered this indelicate response from Chiho and Suzuno—though she expected that sass from Maou—and began wondering what land mine she had inadvertently stepped on.

  “Regardless, Emilia, I thank you for this donation. I will be ready in just one moment.”

  Bag in hand, Suzuno bowed at Emi and turned to climb the stairwell.

  Still unsure where she went wrong, Emi looked at Suzuno, then the nearly dead ashes at her feet. Chiho smiled distractedly, attempting to put the awkward moment behind her. The final piece of ogara fizzled out, bringing the smoke to a halt.

  The stage was set for the next moment.

  “Oh?”

  “Huh?”

  “Wha?!”

  “Yaghh!”

  “Whoa whoa whoa whoa!”

  Maou, Chiho, Suzuno, Emi—even Urushihara, still spying on the scene through the front door—all reacted in shock when they saw the light.

  It wasn’t the kind of sharp, blinding light thrust downward in salvos by the sun. This was a dazzling explosion, something with real weight behind it, and it suddenly materialized right above the burned-out ogara.

  “Oh, crap!”

  Maou was the first to take nimble action.

  “Agh!”

  He held Chiho close, shielding her from the nearby clay dish, before dragging her toward the apartment’s sole tree a safe distance away.

  Maou groaned out a shout amid the torrent of light, now so bright that it was impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

  “Grab on to something! It’s a Gate!”

  “!!”

  “What?!”

  Emi and Suzuno reacted quickly, all but dropping everything in their hands as they held on to the stairway guardrail with both hands.

  The paper bag in Suzuno’s grasp fell down the stairs with a loud, heavy thud.

  The behavior of a Gate between two worlds depended greatly on the goals of the mage who created it, as well as the nature of the power used to summon it.

  But one thing all Gates had in common was that anything that touched it, assuming it was transportable, was immediately sucked inside with no chance of escape.

  And with an unexpected crisis like this, Chiho, unprotected by any sort of holy or demonic power, was the one exposed to the most danger.

  “Which way’s it going? In, or out?!” Maou shouted, his hands full attempting to keep Chiho away.

  “Something’s coming out!”

  He could no longer see her, but Suzuno provided the response.

  An “out” Gate. In other words, someone was going through a Gate from somewhere to reach Japan.

  Realizing the Gate didn’t have the power to suck in everything nearby after all, Maou released Chiho from his grasp, keeping her behind him as he turned toward the light.

  “…What is that?”

  A large spherical shadow could be seen within.

  “It…it’s not a human or a demon!”

  Emi must have caught sight of it,
too.

  Once the silhouette appeared, the light quickly began to dwindle away.

  The Gate’s magnificence was still extremely bright, even given that this was the middle of a summer afternoon, but with the initial torrent of energy ebbing away, color and detail gradually became clear across the sphere that appeared within the Gate.

  “Some kind of fruit…? No, that couldn’t…”

  “It’s pretty big…”

  Suzuno and Emi, closer to the Gate than Maou, carefully drew near the hovering shape.

  In a moment, the brilliance of the Gate collapsed, like a flow of water cut off by a closing tap.

  Color returned to the world, the summer sun reintroducing itself to the Villa Rosa Sasazuka front yard.

  The object they were entranced by, which had just appeared without any advance warning, landed on the ogara ashes with a plunk.

  “Man oh man…”

  “Whoa whoa whoa.”

  “Ah! Ah…ah…”

  It wasn’t that the object was unrecognizable. It was its presence on top of the burned ashes that made the three of them spring into action.

  Maou picked it up, Emi gingerly moved the dish to the corner to keep from breaking it, and Suzuno nimbly wiped the remaining ash off it with a handkerchief she had on her person.

  Luckily, the ogara had fully burned out, and the object didn’t appear to be singed at all.

  The trio breathed a quick sigh of relief, before:

  “My eyes! My eyes!”

  The groaning voice of Urushihara, who apparently had stared right into the intense light, rang out from upstairs. Maou, Emi, and Suzuno were startled back to attention.

  Exchanging glances with one another, the trio looked at the object picked up by Maou and polished off by Suzuno.

  “What are you yelling about, Urushihara?!”

  “Dude, my eyes! …Agh!”

  “Q-quit squirming around on the floor! I may wind up kicking you!”

  “You already did kick me!”

  “And that’s what you get for lying around by the front door! …Your Demonic Highness, what is that enormous fruit in your hands?”

  Until Ashiya’s casual query, the three acquaintances in the yard below had trouble coolly analyzing the situation.