The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 14

by Satoshi Wagahara

  Chiho recalled visiting the house where her father grew up, out in the mountains. Every time she stopped by for New Year’s or other events, there’d always be a feast waiting, topped off by an entire yellowtail right in the middle. A tradition dating back to when saltwater fish were a rare luxury, apparently.

  “But, you know, that’s the kind of nation we grew up in. So maybe it’d be easier to understand if you thought about it this way, Chiho: All of us, we came from a nation you’ve never heard of before. One that’s got no relation at all to Japan; one where the technology is seriously lagging behind.”

  Considering there was “no relation,” their Japanese language ability was astonishingly fluent. But now was no time to point that out.

  “And the name of that nation…or that world…”

  “Right. Ente Isla, the Land of the Holy Cross. We were pursuing the Devil King, this tyrant laying waste to Ente Isla, and that’s what brought us here. And that Devil King is the Sadao Maou you know.”

  Chiho immediately felt something heavy in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t because she had scarfed down two enormous seafood-salad gunkan rolls, egged on by Albert’s virtuoso eating performance. It was that Maou’s name sounded like some far-off echo in her mind.

  “Ms. Yusa… Oh, and your name, actually, Emi Yusa…”

  Just as she tried to ask, Chiho remembered that it wasn’t her real name at all. It stopped her in her tracks.

  “You can still call me that. I’m intending to stay here in Japan for a while to come, and it’ll be weird for me if you call me Emilia in public.” Emi shrugged. “Chiho, I…I think I understand what’s troubling you right now, to some extent. But from my standpoint, I can’t really decide whether I should help you solve it or not.”

  Her voice turned a measure harsher.

  “We’re here in Sasazuka right now for the demons, partly, but more than that, because we wanted to see you and find something out for sure, Chiho.”

  “Find something out?”

  “Yeah. You know who we really are, along with Sadao Maou. And the Devil King’s left only your memories intact, out of everybody in this entire world.”

  Chiho swallowed nervously. That was one concern she hadn’t been able to wipe away from her heart. Why was Maou handling her memories, and only her memories, with such special care?

  “So I want you to think about what that means while we explain to you how the Devil King and I wound up in Japan. Some of it might be hard for you to deal with. If you don’t want to hear it, that’s fine.”

  Emi flashed looks at Emeralda and Albert. They were still rubbing their bellies, but their eyes remained scarily serious.

  “What do you think? Will you listen to the story about our battle against Maou—the Devil King—and how he appeared in our world, and I rose up against him as the Hero, and that’s all still going on up to today? I don’t want to repeat myself, but it’s definitely not light subject matter. If you don’t want to hear it, then—”

  “Please. Let’s do it.”

  Chiho didn’t let her finish.

  “…Are you sure?”

  “I really want to know. I want to know whether the Sadao Maou I know is real…or not.”

  The moment she said it, Emeralda and Albert exchanged glances.

  “Like, where did he come from, what did he do… What kind of person he really is.”

  “Well, seein’ the Devil King Satan getting bossed around in some low-end restaurant, I sure hope that ain’t the real thing.”

  “Now’s not the time for jokes, Al.”

  The sight of Albert all too easily stating the facts Emi chose not to voice stiffened Chiho’s expression.

  “All right. So let’s start at the beginning. And, again, if you’re having second thoughts about it, we can stop at any time. That’s how hard some of this might be.”

  Chiho gave her a resolute nod.

  “Okay.”

  “Right. So…”

  Sensing the resolve Chiho put on the table, Emi began to speak clearly to her.

  “It was about seven years ago that the Devil King led a gigantic army of demons into Ente Isla. I was ten at the time.”

  “Huh? Wait, you’re only one year older than I am?!”

  She interrupted almost immediately, unable to hide her surprise at the answer simple math gave her. Emi tried to keep going, but after a couple of false starts, she brought a hand to her forehead.

  “…I’ll refrain from asking what you were so surprised about. I’ll talk about my age and how it relates to my work later, so if you could just listen for a bit…”

  “Oh, um, sorry.”

  Chiho recognized that her astonished response had signaled that Emi looked far older than her chronological age.

  “Anyway,” Emi said with a cough, “the entire world fought against the Devil King’s Army. They lost, and all the nations fell under the demons’ rule. And on the day the army led by Lucifer—the little guy who kidnapped you—reached my village, I was named the Hero destined to defeat the Devil King. Me, this farm girl who knew nothing about the world.”

  The greatest surprise for Chiho, after she heard it all, was how little it affected her heart in the end. Emi was giving a recital of sorts, deliberately (to Chiho’s ears) keeping her own emotions away from it. Apart from the day when the Devil King’s Army took her father’s life, Emi worked hard to describe her journey as just a chronological list of events. The battle between humans and demons on Ente Isla. The four Great Demon Generals (Ashiya included) who invaded human lands. The Devil King Satan leading them. The tragic aftereffects they saw throughout their travels. The human world rallying back to the attack. The final battle between the Hero’s team and Satan, accompanied by his general Alciel, in the Devil’s Castle. Emi’s unexpected, accidental (or so it seemed) journey to Japan. She and the Devil King reuniting in Sasazuka.

  “Thiiinking about it,” an apologetic-looking Emeralda chimed in from the side, “maybe this wasn’t the kind of talk we should’ve had after a meeeal.”

  She and Albert had spent the entire conversation trying to read what was written on Chiho’s face, no doubt worried that it was all too sensational for her to swallow without feeling sick to her stomach. Chiho was amazed, but only at how much less of a shock it was than she’d imagined.

  “You all right?” Albert gently asked. “You don’t feel bad or anything?”

  Chiho shook her head in a natural motion. “I’m fine, thank you.” A deep breath. “But can I ask a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “So the first time you all met the Devil King Satan was at that duel in the Devil’s Castle?”

  “““…?”””

  No answer. For a moment, Emi, Albert, and Emeralda all exchanged questioning looks. They weren’t expecting this one.

  “No,” Emi finally replied, “that was when we liberated Ente Isla’s Eastern Island, when he came to approve the retreat of Alciel’s forces. I think that was the first time.”

  “So the Devil’s Castle was the second time?”

  “…Yeah.”

  Chiho nodded, seemingly convinced of something, as the other three silently puzzled over her. They had no idea what she found so reassuring about that reply.

  “Well,” she continued, unaware of this, “thank you for going over all of that for me. To be honest, it all hardly seems real to me, but given what I saw back at the station, I know you guys can’t be lying.”

  It took courage to say that. But with this trio, there was no need to hold back now. Chiho took another breath to quiet her heartbeat.

  “Can I ask one more question, though?”

  She eyed all three of them in order.

  “Is it all right if…I still love Maou?”

  “Hwaaaahhh!”

  Emeralda’s eyes sparkled like a young child’s as she audibly gawked at the glass showcase. Inside were lines of colorful cakes, the kind that Chiho’s family thought of when the word “cake” came to mind
. This is what Patisserie Tiron sold, and they had a great rep for them across the neighborhood.

  “They’re sooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuute!!”

  They were the traditional chocolate, strawberry, and Mont Blanc cakes, along with a decent variety of daily specials you wouldn’t expect to see in a non-chain neighborhood bakery. Space was limited, so the selection couldn’t live up to the big guys’, but today the focus was on the fruit tart and chocolate cake family.

  “E-E-Emilia, how many can I buuuuuuy?!”

  “You ain’t a child, y’know,” Albert retorted.

  He may have been turned off by Emeralda’s regression into childhood begging, but Emeralda couldn’t have cared less.

  “Hey, did you hear that? That big buffooon over there doesn’t waaant any. Can I buy more if he iiisn’t?”

  “Buffoon…?”

  “Eme, calm down. You can’t buy all of them. Do you have any recommendations, Chiho?”

  Before Chiho could reply to Emi’s motherly bout of common sense, Emeralda’s smile promptly turned into a frown.

  “Awwwwwww! C’mon, let’s buy them allllll!”

  “I don’t have infinite money to work with!”

  “I tollld you, when I go back home, I’ll send all kinds of stuff over for youuu!”

  “Oh, sure. Money I can’t use in Japan, jewelry that’d look weird on a call-center lady… I really don’t need it, thanks.”

  Despite how it looked, Emeralda was much older than Emi. But an impartial observer would be pardoned for thinking that Emi was her older sister or something.

  “Well,” Chiho said as she started pointing things out, “in terms of what I like, you can’t go wrong with the Swiss rolls, but they have a lot of different types of cream puffs, too. Also, that raccoon-dog cake is pretty neat…”

  “Raccoon dog? Are these saaavory cakes?!”

  “No, they sculpt it with chocolate and marzipan to make it look kind of like a raccoon dog. There, on the far end—”

  “Aaaaaaahhh! So cuuuuuuuute! Emiliaaaaaaa!!”

  “…All right, that’ll be one. Now, one more. You sure you’re fine, Al?”

  “Yeah. Go ahead ’n’ let that kid down there have another.”

  Albert was still smarting from the “buffoon” remark earlier. Emeralda was unfazed as she stared intently at the showcase.

  “Mmmm, one mooore…hmmm…”

  It was evening by now, there at the 100 Trees Shopping Arcade, and Chiho had suggested buying a small cake or two as souvenirs. Not to badmouth that sushi place, but she couldn’t allow Emeralda to labor under the misconception that that was the standard for cake in Japan. Now Emeralda was adrift in a world of colorful icing, savoring the reverie.

  “Kind of surprising, though,” observed Emi from behind.

  “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t think you’d ask me that.” She smiled. “I mean, once I gave you the whole truth, I didn’t think you’d want to be involved with any of us, much less take Eme to a cake shop afterward.”

  “Well,” came the clearly spoken reply, “if you didn’t all give me that answer, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

  It made Emi give her a wide-eyed look.

  “Um…maybe, but what else could I have said?”

  “Exactly,” said Chiho, full of enthusiasm. “And that’s why I thought I needed to show this place off to you!”

  “Is it all right if…I still love Maou?”

  Emi silently pondered the question for a few moments, then gave her this reply:

  “None of us can take those feelings away from you.”

  “Y’know,” Albert interjected, “when Emilia said she wasn’t goin’ home and she wasn’t gonna kill the Devil King, I was pretty damn gutted. But y’know, lady, at this point, things’re calmed down enough that I can see it ain’t fair we got ya involved in all our stuff. Bein’ honest with ya for a minute, if you did forget everything for us, nobody’d miss the Devil King if we pulverized ’im. He’d be dead, we’d all live happily ever after, there ya go.”

  “You’re going too far agaaain.” Albert, all too eager to tell the truth, received this rebuke from Emeralda. “Of course,” she went on to Chiho, “we caaan’t support you, not really, and if the Devil King tries anything daaangerous, then the lives and safety of the people around him will take precedence over your feeelings, Chiho.”

  “Right,” agreed Emi as she neatly divided the sushi plates into stacks of ten for easier counting. “Me, Eme, Al… We’re not in the business of making our friends cry. It’s our fault we let the Devil King escape from us and into this world; you had nothing to do with that. So if, after you heard all of that, you still think you love him… Well, there’s no need to worry about us. It’s your feelings—you should decide them for yourself.”

  “Okay, so we’re going back to Ente Isla tomorrowww…”

  “Yeah, keep an eye on Emilia for us, won’tcha?”

  They were at the turnstile in front of Sasazuka station, Emeralda beaming because she was carrying a box full of the numerous cakes she had managed to wheedle out of Emilia. Albert looked down at her, a defeated smile on his face, as they said their good-byes to Chiho.

  “This is a really nice country, y’know? Good food, lots of money, all that kinda thing. And good people, too—like you, little lady. Emilia oughta relax here a while, I’d say. Take a load off.”

  Albert stole a glance at Emi, currently staring at the ticket board to figure out how much to spend on train fare for Emeralda and Albert.

  “You’re the first real friend she’s made apart from us. I’m very happy to see that.”

  “Oh?”

  The lack of Emeralda’s trademark drawl drew Chiho’s attention.

  “I hate to just leave the Devil King unchecked,” Albert continued, “but… I dunno. Him leaving yer memories alone really says a lot to me, somehow.”

  “Emilia’s face has gotten briiighter than I’ve ever seen it, and I’m suuure it’s because she ran into you and the Devil King here, in Japaaan. I know we said a lot of mean thiiings to you, but be a good friend to her, all riiight?”

  And now she was back to normal.

  Chiho had no way of reading what was behind her words. Emi was posing as a twenty-year-old in Japan so she’d qualify as an adult for job purposes, but in reality, she was seventeen, a mere year older than Chiho. A seventeen-year-old girl with the fate of an entire world on her shoulders, crossing barriers between entire planets, all because of this battle thrust upon her. It’d be impossible to make Chiho fully understand the sheer fecklessness of the people on Ente Isla, forcing her to handle this fate all by herself. Emeralda knew all that talk hadn’t fazed her much, so she refrained from saying anything further and dropped the serious look.

  “Besiiides,” she said, drawing close to her, “I really don’t thiiink you have much to worry abouuut.”

  “Emeralda?”

  “I think the Devil Kiiing wanted you to remember him, too, Chihooo. So don’t let it get to you muuuch. Just give it tiiime, little by little, and you’ll figure it ouuut.”

  “You, you, you think so?”

  “Ahh, don’t pay too much attention to Eme. Ya really don’t wanna rely on her promises in a— Nngh!”

  The silent toe kick put Albert in a world of pain, enough so to make even Chiho cower in fear as Emi returned with two tickets.

  “All right. I don’t have enough money left on my card to cover all of you, so I had to buy separate tickets. What were you talking about, though?”

  “N-nothing…ugghh…”

  “Oh, I just told her to take good care of you, Emiiiilia.”

  “Yeah? Well, we better get going. Sorry to take up so much of your time today, Chiho.”

  “Oh, not at all.” Chiho shook her head—then, for some reason, her eyes met Emeralda’s as she was headed for the turnstile with Emi. “…Oh! Right! Wait, Ms. Yusa!”

  “Mm? What’s up?”

  She didn’t under
stand what Emeralda’s advice just now meant. But somehow, she felt now was the time to conduct that one true ceremony of friendship—one that came far more naturally to her than it would to Emi on her world.

  “Your phone number…”

  She took out her flip phone.

  “Oh, that’s a Dokodemo PN-04iS, Flower Pink version, right?”

  A glance at the rear panel was enough for Emi, call-center employee for a national phone provider, to guess Chiho’s model. All that talk about her being the Hero of another world still didn’t seem very convincing to her. It made Chiho laugh a bit as she took a breath and looked Emi in the eye.

  “Do you wanna trade phone numbers, or e-mails, or something?”

  “…Huh?”

  “I…I still don’t know if I can figure any of this out yet. I think it’s gonna take some time for me to deal with all my concerns. And I know I might be a pain, but…I want to know more. I want to hear about all kinds of other stuff. I want to talk with you about Ente Isla, about Maou, and…about you. About Emilia Justina.”

  “Chiho…”

  The unexpected offer made Emi stop in her tracks.

  “I mean…if you don’t mind…”

  This was Emilia Justina—fearing for demons by night, thirsting for revenge by day, polishing her blade across multiple worlds, even hiding her true self in pursuit of her goals.

  “…would you like to be friends?”

  And this was Chiho Sasaki—raised in a sheltered world, about to take a step toward another one that nobody else on Earth was even faintly aware of.

  “I’d love to.”

  Two girls from very different worlds gripped each other’s hands firmly.

  THE DEVIL LOOKS BACK ON THE FRUGAL LIFE

  The 100 Trees Shopping Arcade was alive with activity that evening, full of consumers and those citizens returning home from school or work via Sasazuka Station.