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

by Satoshi Wagahara

  She flashed the utterly innocent Rika a look before gathering her thoughts and continuing.

  “…So, there’s this little kid at Maou’s place right now, right? Apparently… Well, he’s watching her for someone.”

  “She related to him?”

  “I don’t know all the details.”

  Emi kept her replies deliberately vague. She had to avoid trouble later on, at all costs.

  “Do you remember the girl in the kimono you met a little while ago? I saw the child when I came to see her.”

  “Oh, yeah… She had kind of a rare name, right? Kamazuki or something? Suzuno Kamazuki.”

  “Yeah, her. She lives right next to Maou, like I told you, so I kind of have to see her, whether I want to or not. So that’s how I found out. Anyway…”

  Emi placed an elbow on her desk and sighed.

  “For whatever reason, this girl thinks I’m her mother.”

  “Huh?”

  Rika craned her head forward. This plot twist was too good to pass up.

  “I’ve never seen her before in my life, and she’s all ‘Mommy, Mommy’…”

  “She’s not just, like, really really friendly with you, and that’s why she calls you that?”

  “No, I… I think she’s really gotten it into her mind that I’m her mom, you know?”

  Emi shook her head as she looked at Rika, whose previously jovial expression was now one of sincere concern.

  “Oof… Yeah, that’s a problem. If she was just really clingy, that’s one thing, but if she seriously wants to be your daughter…”

  Rika crossed her arms, eyebrows cast downward as she leaned back on her office chair, deep in thought.

  “Um, I’m sorry if I’m getting morbid or whatever, but this girl… Did her mother die right after she was born or something?”

  “Huh?”

  The solemn gravity to Rika’s voice caught Emi in abject surprise.

  “I mean, if she was usually with her mom all the time, she wouldn’t start calling other people ‘Mommy’ after being away just a couple, three days. ’Cause otherwise, either you’re, like, her mom’s identical twin, or she never had any memories of her mom in the first place.”

  “That…”

  That’s nuts, Emi thought, but she stopped herself from blurting it out loud.

  She hesitated because she herself had zero memory of her mother—and, in fact, didn’t know she was alive until just a little while ago.

  Now Rika reminded her of some fainter memories, back when she was a child, when she mistook women in her village for her mother multiple times.

  Of course, it wasn’t even clear yet whether Alas Ramus had a family to speak of. But something about her plea “Mommy, don’t go again!” struck a chord with Emi. It implied she had been separated from her mother, and for some nontrivial reason as well.

  “Was it something like that?”

  “Hmm… I dunno. I don’t really have the whole story.”

  “Ah… All right. Well, hell, it’s Maou’s problem anyway, isn’t it? Why do you have to care at all, Emi?”

  Now Rika took pains to lighten the mood. Emi was starting to brood too much again.

  “I just figure… You know, there’s only so much someone like you can do here, and maybe we’re both overthinking it, but if you don’t have any intention of seeing that stuff through to the end, why get involved at all?”

  Rika gave Emi a reassuring pat on the shoulder. As if on cue, the chime signaling the end of the shift rang out, bringing Emi’s head to attention.

  “Yeah, but I already told him I’d stop by today…”

  “Oh, Emi! You’re totally getting involved, aren’t you?”

  Rika suddenly grew quite a bit less reassuring.

  “Yeaaah… I guess I kinda got caught up in the mood over there, you know?”

  “Well, if you’re just trying to stick to your guns for no reason around Maou and his buds, that’s all the more reason to get out.”

  Rika always had a knack for striking Emi right where it hurt.

  “It, it’s not that… Okay, maybe a little…but it’s not just that.”

  Even with Suzuno running guard duty next door, the idea of a baby—even one as supernaturally gifted as Alas Ramus—alone inside Devil’s Castle filled Emi with concern.

  That, and…

  “It’s not like I’m feeling sorry for the girl or anything but…if it’s fun for her to spend time hanging out with me, I don’t really see any reason to deny her that…”

  Rika, looking down at Emi as she awkwardly tried to explain herself, smiled and shook her head as she removed her headset.

  “You always were Ms. Nice Guy like that, huh? For better or for worse.”

  Because I’m the Hero, Emi replied internally.

  “Of course, I guess there’s really no telling what’s good or bad for the kid until she grows up a little more, huh? In which case, why don’t you just approach her whatever way you like? Think about what’s good for you, not what’s good for Maou or whoever.”

  Suddenly, a murmur of doubt crossed Rika’s eyes.

  “Say, Emi, you’ve never pet-sitted for friends or anything, right?”

  “…Where’d that come from?”

  “Well, I mean, you’d be amazed what feeding a dog for a day or two does. A lot of the time, it’ll be pure love, you know? So I’m just saying, don’t dig in too deep here. Otherwise I bet it’s gonna hurt whenever she goes back to her family.”

  “…Yeah, I’ll remember that.”

  “Well, super! Better get going now, huh? Your beloved bundle of joy awaits!”

  “Rika!!”

  Emi took the time to remove her own headset before chasing her out of her cube.

  “Her family, though, huh…?”

  Placing the headset in its place on the desk, Emi stood up.

  “Hey, you know, Emi, if you wanna make your time with her special, how ’bout this?”

  Already back from the changing room, Rika beckoned to Emi, cosmetics bag in one hand. Walking over, Emi was presented with a handful of paper sheets.

  “I didn’t know this ’til now, but I guess DokoDemo’s sponsoring this joint, so there’s a pretty big employee discount.”

  Six small, rectangular pieces of paper were laid upon the table in the center of Devil’s Castle.

  “……”

  “……”

  “Wuzzat? Wuzzat?”

  Maou, Alas Ramus, and Emi sat around them in silence.

  “Well, coincidence or not, we’ve got them all together.”

  Chiho, looking on from the side, seemed to have trouble determining what kind of facial expression to make.

  On the table lay six tickets to Tokyo Big-Egg Town, the hybrid amusement park located next to the well-known Tokyo Big-Egg domed stadium in Bunkyo ward.

  The envelope Maou received from Kisaki contained a One-Day Passport that unlocked free access to all attractions, alongside two coupons for discount tickets, all provided as part of a newspaper subscription promotion. Meanwhile, the office packet Rika had given Emi contained three coupons for employee-discount one-day passes—even cheaper than Kisaki’s cut-rate ones.

  Either way, both Kisaki and Rika had provided their own respective methods for a couple and their child to create a few memories.

  It was clear to everyone involved that there was no way they could coop up Alas Ramus inside a one-room apartment for the rest of her life. Even if she could deal with it, Ashiya would doubtlessly crumble to pieces sooner or later.

  “These will serve us quite well, will they not? An amusement park, after all, is built for the enjoyment of young children, I believe. We could combine these coupons and have quite the ball together.”

  Suzuno was making perfect sense, but there was a bigger problem at hand.

  “Amusement park! With Mommy and Daddy!”

  To Alas Ramus, this had all the markings of a family vacation.

  Family, in this case, referring to M
aou and Emi.

  Kisaki’s act of charity might have been mere coincidence, but Rika had made a concerted effort to put together a set of three coupons. To everyone involved, it seemed like there were ulterior motives afoot.

  Maou and Emi, for their parts, remained motionless, their eyes settled upon the tickets.

  Both of them wanted to protest against this outing with every ounce of their spirits, but they also knew Alas Ramus, gifted at picking up on their emotions, would immediately start bawling. The paradox had left them unable to take any action whatsoever.

  “…Nugh.”

  Maou’s groan of resignation broke the stifling silence. Emi shuddered a bit in agreement.

  “Look, if this is the kind of thing you’re bringing in here, should I take that as you accepting your role in this?”

  “I-in what…?”

  “Hey, Alas Ramus? I’m thinking about taking you somewhere, but is it okay if Mommy doesn’t come along?”

  “No! Together!”

  Her response came from the soul, strongly enough to rattle both their hearts.

  Alas Ramus stood up off Maou’s knee to face Emi, almost knocking over a glass of barley tea on the table. Ashiya hurriedly moved it aside.

  “Okay, well, how about you go out together with Mommy and I don’t come with you?”

  “No!!”

  Her mouth opened even wider than before.

  “…And there you have it. If anyone else has any brilliant ideas, feel free to start convincing Alas Ramus anytime. Me and Emi’ll help you out as much as we can.”

  “Chiho Sasaki, are you willing to see that—aghh!”

  Urushihara’s snark from the inside of the closet was sharply silenced. Suzuno, standing right next to it, had given the door a loud smack.

  “But, Your Demonic Highness, if you are together with Emilia and Alas Ramus…”

  Chiho stepped up to drive off Ashiya’s complaint first.

  “…I’m sorry, Yusa, but would you mind going together? For her sake?”

  “Uh? Chiho?”

  Ashiya, Suzuno, and Emi all looked up in surprise at this unexpected advice.

  “I mean, just think of it as watching over Maou to make sure he doesn’t do anything weird. That’s okay by you, right?”

  “……”

  “Besides, Maou’s never even been to an amusement park before. I mean, he’s barely even walked as far as Shinjuku from here in Sasazuka, and that’s only two miles or so. Doesn’t that make you nervous, someone like that carrying a baby around the city?”

  Maou remained silent. He knew Chiho didn’t mean to paint him as a poverty-stricken drudge, no matter how successful she had just been at it.

  “That, and we still don’t even know why Alas Ramus is here in Japan, either. What if there’s some other bad guy like Sariel around here and he tries to go after Alas while Maou’s wandering around by himself? What if Maou gets killed, even?”

  “…You truly would make a fine attorney, Chiho.”

  Suzuno whispered it softly to herself.

  There was no evidence that Alas Ramus’s life was in danger, but considering the circumstances that brought her to Devil’s Castle, there was no way to claim that Chiho’s worst-case scenario was totally implausible.

  “But what about you, Chiho…?”

  “Oh, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m just saying, if we’re really worried about Alas Ramus here, we should try to be together with her as long as possible so we don’t have anything to regret once it’s all over.”

  Having clearly, curtly, said her fill, Chiho placed her hands on her hips and looked down upon the happy parents. Emi hung her head in resigned disgust.

  “Chiho!”

  The Sasazuka neighborhood was dark by the time Chiho set off for home, only to have a voice from behind stop her.

  “Huh? Oh, Suzuno.”

  Suzuno was running in from behind, her geta sandals clacking sharply over the murmur of urban life.

  “What’s up? Did I forget something?”

  “No, nothing of that sort…”

  Suzuno brushed back the hair stuck to her sweaty brow.

  “It may not be my place to say this…but I hope you will not mind.”

  “What is it?”

  “What…? Well, I… I am referring to Emilia and the Devil King, going out together…”

  “Ohh… Well, if you’re worried about Maou getting slashed into ribbons following some argument with Emi, I guess I can’t blame you.”

  “No, I… There is that, yes, but it is not what I mean.”

  After all the effort spent catching up to her, Suzuno was now annoyingly evasive about her intentions. Chiho, feeling an odd sense of sisterhood with her, smiled.

  “I do kinda worry, though. After all, I don’t think Yusa hates Maou as much as she says.”

  The observation would be enough to make Emi faint on the spot if she heard it. But Suzuno chose not to deny it.

  “But Maou told me that he’s trusting me and all, so…”

  “What?”

  “…Hee-hee! Oh, nothing.”

  Chiho put a finger in front of her mouth.

  “But if we’re going to worry about anybody here, I don’t think it’s me. Yusa’s leaving them alone tonight, too, right?”

  “Ah. Yes. She has yet to find the resolve to stay together with them, she said.”

  “In which case, I bet he’s gonna pitch a huge fit once Yusa goes home. Ashiya, I mean.”

  “Alciel?”

  Suzuno looked upward in confusion.

  “My liege! It is far too dangerous! Please, I beg you to reconsider!”

  Chiho’s prediction had already come true by the time Suzuno returned to the apartment building.

  “Calm down, man. You think that after all this, Emi’s gonna choose now to murder me in public?”

  “Even if Emilia herself poses no threat, think about Ms. Sasaki’s hypothesis. What if someone out there should seek to take Alas Ramus’s life, in the worst case…?”

  “Look, seriously, calm down! If that’s true, then it’s true whether we go out or not, okay? You think that barricading ourselves in here and locking all the doors and windows is gonna be enough to protect her from some assassin from Ente Isla or the heavens? I mean, eesh, if I’m gonna pee my pants over somebody who I don’t even know if he exists or not, I’m gonna die of heat stroke in here way before anybody kills me!”

  “Your Demonic Highness, the bite of a single termite has the power to make a mighty castle wall crumble!”

  “That’s not even the right metaphor, man! You’re talkin’ about trying to block a bullet with a shield made out of cardboard! What’re we gonna do if we keep Alas Ramus in here day and night and she winds up like Urushihara, huh?”

  “The girl boasts much higher qualities than that, my liege! When she finishes her meal, she brings her dish to me for cleaning and thanks me for the food!”

  “Oh, so you’re saying I’m below Alas Ramus now?!” the shut-in interjected.

  “Exactly!”

  “Urushihara!!”

  “Dude, you guys are being so unfair!!”

  All the windows were open, allowing Suzuno to hear the entire verbal sparring match. It was enough to bring the headaches back all over again.

  “What are you fools squabbling about? I can hear every word!”

  “Welcommmmme, Suzu-Sis!”

  Alas Ramus raised a chubby arm to greet Suzuno. She was near the door, ripping up some newspaper sheets for fun, totally disinterested in her semilegal guardian’s immature whining.

  “Oh. Um… Yes. Good to be back.”

  Suzuno’s cheeks reddened once more. The nickname was not one she was used to.

  “Suzu-Sis, it’s Sepila!”

  “Hmm? What is it?”

  Alas Ramus pulled at Suzuno’s kimono sleeve in order to show her a color page taken from an old newspaper. It was an advertisement for a family minivan.

  A photo of the ca
r was printed front and center, cartoony cityscape in the background, as the ad copy touted the massive amount of space inside. The back door was open, with a large flock of helium balloons pouring out the rear.

  “Sepila!”

  “Hmm…? Oh, um, I see.”

  Suzuno gave only the most halfhearted of replies, unable to tell what Alas Ramus was trying to say, before turning to Maou.

  “Where is Emilia? Has she gone already?”

  “Yeah, she left pretty quickly after Chi did. You didn’t see her on the way out?”

  “No… But it surprises me that her departure has not sent Alas Ramus into a crying jag.”

  “Well, she promised Emi that she wouldn’t act up, so. We’re aiming to put the plan into action on Sunday.”

  “Your Demonic Highness, you must give this more thought…”

  “Ketter, Netack, Market, and… no Binah. Daddyyy, no Binah!”

  “Uh, what?”

  Alas Ramus batted her hand against her beloved car ad as she called for Maou.

  Suzuno whispered into Ashiya’s ear as she watched from behind. “If you are that concerned about this, Alciel, then let us surveil them in secret.”

  The suggestion was enough to make Ashiya turn a ghastly shade of white.

  “We have more than enough discount coupons. You can, at the least, keep track of their movements.”

  “B-but…”

  Ashiya groaned his disapproval before suddenly taking on a far more brooding countenance.

  “Even if my liege took the free pass and Emilia paid her own way, Alas Ramus would receive little in the way of a discount for her child admission. And even at half price, when you factor the train costs into the equation… Depending on timing, they may have to eat at a restaurant as well, and that only makes things worse…”

  Suzuno needed no extrasensory psychic powers to guess what troubled Ashiya’s mind.

  “Look, Alciel.”

  Suzuno grabbed one of the coupons left on the table, turned it over, and showed it to Ashiya.

  “This amusement park charges no admission for entry. Prices are assigned for each of the attractions instead. Even if you did nothing apart from shadow them, the transit costs are all you need to be concerned about.”

  “Ah… I…I see.”

  “—So will you all just go already? I’ll be right here at home, soooo…”