Now that she was a long-term resident of Japan, however, she had no interest in doing that, and she doubted Maou even suspected she would. But as a human being and a Hero, she had to think that the Devil King losing his social standing following a gaffe like this was a good thing for her.
She had to, but she didn’t. That error he’d made was so small, so piddling, so pathetic, that even Emi couldn’t suppress a little pity for him.
“Ch-Chiho!”
Emi walked a little faster toward them. Chiho had to come first. She couldn’t afford to scar Chiho just because she happened to be walking with him. Everybody close to either of them knew that she had deep, serious feelings for him. Emi was the Hero, but before that, a living, breathing person. Chiho was her friend. And she couldn’t allow her pure, beautiful feelings to be marred because of the Devil King’s utter foolishness.
“Oh! Ms. Yusa! And Alas Ramus!”
“Hi, Daddy! Hi, Chi-Sis!”
Emi averted her eyes, unable to look at them directly the way Alas Ramus could.
“Ooh, there you are, Alas Ramus! …What’s your deal, Emi?”
But no matter how unnatural Emi knew it made her look, as long as Chiho was walking next to this guy, her pride deserved to be kept safe. She was ready to do what had to be done. And right now, that meant walking right behind Maou until they reached the apartment.
Of course, having the Hero breathing down his neck like this wasn’t exactly comfortable for Maou. He knew that Emi wasn’t about to jab a dagger into the back of his neck, but there was just something so awkward with the position she took.
And yet, Emi kept it going. She didn’t want to walk like this, either—but she was willing to sacrifice her body for it. Besides, what if Chiho hadn’t noticed, by some crazy chance? She even considered letting Alas Ramus ride on Maou’s back as she pushed his bicycle, but not only would that leave part of it unhidden, it’d be even harder to cover his back.
Then she noticed Chiho turned toward her, a sad smile on her face.
“Ms.…Yusa?”
“Chiho… You…”
Her expression convinced Emi: Chiho knew the truth. She knew it, and she was still walking next to him. And no wonder. A couple walking single-file down the sidewalk would be too goofy to ignore. The look Chiho flashed Emi also told her that Maou still had no idea.
Anger began to well up from the pit of her stomach. She knew Chiho was important to him, but unless he was capable of covering all the bases himself, there was no point to it. The sheer innocence to Chiho’s act made her heart ache. Falling in love with this thoughtless—disgusting, even—Devil King would never leave her happy in life, but just look at her…
“Almost there…”
“Y-yeah…”
“Uh, what’s up, guys?”
And then here was Maou, completely oblivious in the middle of the two women, but increasingly suspicious at how clearly unnatural their conversation was. Chiho and Emi, meanwhile, just wished he’d notice something else unnatural about himself—but the residential area surrounding Villa Rosa Sasazuka was mostly empty at the moment, making his chances of being spotted by strangers low.
“Oh? Is that Suzuno over there?”
Chiho pointed out Suzuno, standing there at the landing of the apartment’s stairwell. She must have noticed them as well, and the moment she saw how Chiho and Emi were positioned around Maou, she visibly gasped. It told Chiho and Emi everything they needed to know.
She was aware, too.
“Hi, Suzu-Sis!”
Only Alas Ramus, her pure smile strong enough to banish all evil from the world, bothered to wave at her.
“Why didn’t you just tell him in the morning…? It’s so gross…!”
“If, if you saw something like that without warning, do you think you could offer the right sort of advice with no advance notice, you?”
“N-no, I couldn’t… I mean, there’s really nothing we could do.”
“Wh-what?!”
She had never done it before, but today Suzuno had gone all the way down the stairs to greet the three of them (or, really, just Chiho and Emi). The women immediately went into a huddle, whispering among themselves. Maou, left by himself to stare at them, opted to walk upstairs.
“…Whatever. I’m going in.”
All three women couldn’t help but watch his rear as he climbed the stairwell. The moment he disappeared behind his front door, they began whispering again.
“What could Alciel possibly be thinking? You’d think he would notice something like that!”
“Y-yeah, it’s hard to believe he’d miss it…”
“The Devil King said that he had picked up temporary employment that required an overnight stay again.”
““…””
This tidbit of information made Chiho and Emi bring a hand to their respective foreheads.
“First those rip-off door-to-door salesmen, and now this? Can’t they survive a single day if Alciel isn’t there?!”
“I guess Ashiya’s the real unsung hero of the demon realms, huh…?”
“Well…how did he fare today, Chiho? Did it stand out very much?”
“Me and Ms. Kisaki noticed it just passing by him in the staff room…”
“Yeah, and the moment I saw his rear end out on the street, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It’s just so pathetic, I thought I was gonna cry.”
“Th-that obvious? But the man himself has yet to notice?”
“Well, Ms. Kisaki said that the fabric probably only stretches out after he puts them on and he can’t see it…”
“Oh, that kinda thing…”
“R-regardless. If he has not noticed, we should just point it out behind him at some point and try not to make it sting. It is the kindest thing to do.”
“T-true. Just…give it to him easy, like a warm cup of tea…”
“…Uh, who’s gonna do that? I sure don’t want to.”
“What I’m saying is,” Suzuno began, “if someone brings it up just a tad awkwardly, as if they’ve only just noticed it—”
“Aaaaaaaaagggggghgghghhhhhh!”
A pained, shrill scream echoed across the upstairs floor, making all three of them shiver. They all knew what happened. It had only dawned on them now—something they had forgotten. Someone else close to Maou, a man for whom the word “empathy” meant nothing.
“Hey, uh, sorry, dudes…”
The window to Room 201 opened, revealing the face of a sleepy-eyed Hanzou Urushihara.
“…but d’you mind waiting a little bit? Maou just flipped over the dresser, so it’s kinda messy in here.”
He pulled his head back inside.
“He said it.”
“He must have.”
“Urushihara…”
“Ooh?”
Their sighs melted into the night sky. Suzuno, Kisaki, Chiho, and Emi had all noticed instantly. Urushihara must’ve been asleep in the morning, but he had to be awake by now, and he spotted it just as quickly.
And then he just naturally blurted it out. Right there, where his legs met in the crotch of the jeans he wore to and from work today, were two blatantly visible holes.
“Not, not, not there, of all places…”
Maou, his pants spread out on the floor in front of him, shivered.
“Why would there be holes right there?!”
This was a pair of jeans, part of his off-the-clock wear. Once again, right where the legs connected to the crotch, the fabric had gone from blue to nearly white. Upon further inspection, the weaving was wearing out and all but gone. Only the cross-stitching was still around, but put your leg through it, and bare skin was clearly visible.
“And three of them?!”
All three pairs of jeans laid on the floor had similar holes.
“You had only three pairs of nonwork pants…?”
As much as Emi knew Maou believed in the credo of “poverty with honor,” this sheer lack of a wardrobe was shocking to see.
&
nbsp; “I got three other work pairs!!”
“Were they all right?”
“His work pants didn’t look like that today, no,” Chiho said.
Maou checked them, of course—and no, his work slacks were still in serviceable condition. Even the pair he had over in storage had nothing wrong with it—and that’s what he was wearing now, to deal with this emergency.
He gave another look at his ruined jeans, the pain written across his face, then spoke with a voice like the apocalypse.
“So, uh, Chi?”
“Y-yes?”
“Um, if you noticed it, Chi, does that mean…?”
Too pure-hearted to lie to Maou, Chiho finally confessed, as much as it made her blood curdle.
“Ms. Kisaki was worried about you, too…”
“Daaaaaaaagagggggggghhhhhhh!!”
Maou grabbed his head and fell into a ball on the floor.
“You don’t have to exaggerate, dude,” Urushihara casually muttered next to him.
“Shut up, you dumbass!” the wounded Maou snapped back. “I’m not like you! I actually go outside! Your clothes personify everything you are, out there! You want people to think that you don’t have any problem wearing jeans with holes in the crotch?!”
“I haven’t really paid attention to what people thought about me so far in life, yo.”
“M-Maou, it’s all right!” Chiho interjected. “We all know this is just an accident!”
“As an Ente Islan, though, seeing the Devil King, who attempted to conquer us so serviceably, walking around with holes in his pants is hilarious. I hope this is added to history books all over the world.”
“Gaaaahhhhh!! Damn it! Emi seeing me is something I’ll never make up for in my whole life!!”
“Another new page in our holy scripture…”
“Suzunoooooo!! Whether you’re joking or not, stop it! I’m seriously depressed right now, all right?!”
“Maou…I’m so sorry. If only me or Ms. Kisaki had been brave enough to say it…”
“It’s not your fault, Chiho. If anything, Alciel’s the one to blame for not noticing any of this, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Urushihara replied to Emi. “Like, that’s the biggest surprise to me. The first time I saw it, I was like, whoa, was there a moth infestation or something?”
While they had the women wait outside, Maou and Urushihara conducted a snap inspection of the entire rest of their wardrobe. Some of it was a bit worn, of course, but only Maou’s jeans had chosen to fall apart in such a whimsical fashion.
“But if this is all your stuff,” Chiho asked, “these pants can’t be that old, can they? Why are only the jeans like this?”
Maou nodded, his face gaunt. It hadn’t even been two years since he and Ashiya made it to Japan. No matter how long ago it was when they bought these clothes, none of it could’ve been more than two years old. Some of it was used, of course, but the jeans? As Maou recalled, he had bought two pairs at the UniClo in Sasazuka and the other on sale at a clothing store down at the shopping arcade.
“The reason doesn’t matter… Look, if you guys’re eating, go ahead without me. The UniClo’s still open right now. I gotta go get some new pants.”
He rose to his feet like a wandering ghoul, grabbing his wallet and walking toward the door.
“Shouldn’t you ask Ashiya first, Maou?” Urushihara asked from behind, no doubt just as casually as when he’d pointed out the holes. The three girls had thought the same thing, but they felt so bad for Maou that they just couldn’t bring it up.
Maou turned around, his eyes sunken. “This is an emergency,” he said in a low voice. “Ashiya’s not enough of a monster to whine about one or two pairs of jeans.”
“But wouldn’t Ashiya say, like, ‘even in rags, a man’s heart is as pure as gold’ or something?”
“You think a modern Japanese person can have a heart of gold if half his crotch is visible?!”
With that, he slammed the door behind him.
“Ah! Maou!”
Chiho, unable to stay silent, ran out after him, pursuing the stricken demon. The remaining three saw her go, then sat in silence for a moment. It was Suzuno who spoke first, as she folded up Maou’s ruined jeans.
“Still…I wonder why they frayed like this.”
“It wouldn’t happen to you in those kimono you wear. I think I better check on my clothes, too. I never looked right in that spot, but if I find anything like this, I’m gonna be more hurt than the Devil King.”
“Dude, I never knew Maou was delicate enough to get all hurt over something like this.”
“Hmph. Well, if the Devil King were to continue wearing crotchless jeans, it would hurt all of us far more greatly.”
“Where did Daddy ’n’ Chi-Sis go?”
Alas Ramus was curiously staring at the door.
“Mmm… They went out to buy some clothes.”
“What about dinnew?”
“Well…”
Emi and Suzuno exchanged glances. The child wouldn’t understand the truth, and if she did, Maou probably wouldn’t be able to show his face around her.
“We’re all going to eat together,” Emi said in a soothing voice, “so just wait a little bit longer, okay?”
With Chiho out the door, it’d be rude to eat the stuff in her bag without asking. It’d be terribly mean to Maou, besides.
“Okeh!”
“Whuhhh?”
Alas Ramus was agreeable to it. The other child in the room wasn’t.
“Dude, Maou said we could eat without him.”
“Ugh…”
“Lucifer…how could you…?”
Emi and Suzuno glared at him, looks of clear, unfettered scorn on their faces.
“So after the main support of this place has that happen to him, you don’t feel any sympathy at all?”
“Look at how kind Alas Ramus is at times like these. Have you no shame whatsoever?”
“Whoa! Why’re you all taking Maou’s side here?” the surprised Urushihara asked. “That’s kind of freaky, in a way. Why do you care if Maou has something really embarrassing happen to him?”
““Not this embarrassing!”” they both shouted back. To the denizens of a world laid siege to by a Devil King now half-driven to tears because of holes in his jeans, this was simply too much to bear.
“Maou, um, don’t let this get you down too much… This was our fault, too. We saw it, but we didn’t know how to put it to you, so…um…”
“…No, I’m sorry, too. I freaked out a little too much.”
On their way to the UniClo by Sasazuka Station, Chiho tried her best to cheer up Maou, even as he lurched forward with his shoulders halfway to the ground.
“Like, yeah, if I was a girl, I dunno how I’d put it to a man, either. I’d be racking my brains up and down tryin’ to figure out what to do. And there weren’t any men on shift today apart from me.”
Certainly, there were measures he could’ve taken if he’d known. Walking home in his work pants, for example. But hindsight was always 20/20 that way—and out of consideration for a man who had already gone all the way to work in holey jeans, they couldn’t quite tell him. That was their story, and Maou knew they weren’t lying.
“…Ah, well. Yeah, those holes suck for me, but it’s not like I was exposing my bare ass or people saw my undies or anything. A new pair of pants, and it’s all good. You mind helping me pick something?”
It seemed more than a little bit like hollow bravado to Chiho, but as long as Maou was trying to cheer up about it, there was no need for her to bring up the holes again.
They were at Sasazuka Station in a flash. All the stores at the in-station mall were still open, luckily, and the UniClo among them was fairly busy with nine-to-fivers and students on their way home.
“My budget’s…maybe five thousand yen,” Maou said with a groan as he entered the store. Considering he was replacing three pairs of jeans, this sounded horribly unrealistic to Chiho. “Hey,�
� he reasoned, “summer’s over and they’ll have the fall and winter stuff out, so maybe it’ll be cheaper.”
“Yeah, true.”
The UniClo at Sasazuka Station was on the small side, compared to the rest of the chain’s locations, so the merchandise changed in and out rapidly with the seasons. With summer coming to an end, Maou figured the remaining summer gear would either be piled up in clearance bins or subject to “buy one, get X” sales.
“Do jeans ever go for that cheap, though?”
“It doesn’t have to be jeans for now. As long as there’s cheap pants with no crazy design on them, anything’s fine.”
This convinced Chiho well enough as they stepped inside.
“Oh, look!”
It wasn’t a very large store, so it didn’t take long for Chiho to point out a set of shelves groaning with summer gear—T-shirts for 590 yen, short-sleeve button-downs for 790 yen each. A lot of stuff that was low-priced, but might just be worth it cost performance–wise if you were willing to store it in the closet for a year. Another section of the corner also had a selection of thin, lightweight pants, apparently good for their moisture-wicking, quick-drying properties.
Chiho picked up the nearest pair and looked at the price. “Wow, you’re right. This is pretty inexpensive.”
It was a pair of pleated chino pants, and they were marked down to 1,500 yen—almost too cheap, you could say.
“But…this is too thin, isn’t it? It’s meant for summer.”
“Beats bein’ naked, doesn’t it?”
“N-no, you’re right, but…I mean…”
Chiho couldn’t help but smile at Maou’s heavily forced logic. Come to think of it, Maou was the kind of person who’d gladly wear the thinnest hoodie she ever saw while winter wasn’t quite over yet, if he had nothing else to wear.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 14 Page 7
