“I stopped by your restaurant again this evening,” Himeko said as she sipped her Kahlúa and milk.
“You what?”
“And I’m impressed. There isn’t a location in my region as well put together as that one. Everyone’s lively and energetic. There’s no pointless chitchat, but they all communicate perfectly with each other. The meal they brought out was a top performer, and I didn’t see a speck of dust in the place.”
“Being complimented by you does nothing to please me, but they are my crew. Of course I’d expect them to do that much.”
“‘My crew,’ huh…?” Himeko sniffed at her—and just like that, the praise ended. “Mayumi, are you all right with that? Sitting there at that MgRonald location the rest of your life, with that smug little sense of pride?”
She paused just long enough to give her a sarcastic smile.
“You know, I always thought it was strange that you joined a company as big as MgRonald. A huge corporation like that, I really don’t think there’s a lot of skills or ideas you can leverage in a start-up shop like what you’re picturing. Why don’t you try to go independent now, instead of later?”
“What?”
“But you wanna do more than run a café right now, don’t you? If that’s all you want, you should just quit, find an empty restaurant space, and open up your own place. If you work a little at it, you’ll do just fine! So why don’t you do that? It’s not like you don’t have leads when it comes to investors and guarantors and stuff, is it? Acting like you’re king of the hill at the bottom rung of a corporation accomplishes nothing for you. Even with all the performance you’ve put in, if you aren’t getting promoted as fast as I am, what’s the point?”
“Himeko,” Kisaki hissed quietly, “are you making fun of me for working at MgRonald?”
“No. I’m making fun of you because you’re just sitting there, locked in your tiny restaurant, griping at everyone instead of using your talents to get promoted.” Himeko gave her glass an irritated rattle. “Is it really worth the passion you put into your work, staying in that one location the whole time, when you could be running one or two regions, or even cutting them apart and making your own region? Or did something happen to you that made you switch gears?”
“…”
Kisaki answered the shower of questions with silence. It indicated to the table that she had, at least, accepted what Himeko said.
“If you run after two different things, you aren’t gonna catch either of them, Mayumi. As long as you’re working for a big firm, I know you aren’t childish enough to fail to understand that sometimes, you gotta ignore the moment-to-moment stuff and look at the big picture.”
“That…”
“Come on. What are you thinking? Lemme hear it.”
Kisaki, almost rendered helpless for a moment, glared right back at Himeko.
“I’m free to do whatever I want to. I don’t need to tell you.”
Maou was afraid they’d come to blows all over again. But instead, Tanaka gave her an unexpected smile.
“All right. I’m not trying to ask for your life plan or anything. If you wanna stay in that restaurant and pretend you have a big happy family down there forever, that’s no problem, either, all right? I’ll just keep getting promoted so I can laugh at you from up on high, then.”
“You never did have any respect for the people you work with.”
“In that most people around me aren’t worthy of it, yes. That’s why you need to treat everyone like they’re on the same playing field. That’s one of the many truths Japanese business has cultivated over the years.”
Tanaka turned to Maou.
“And I don’t know if, for example, this bleary-eyed kid over here’s worth respecting or not, but if you wanna get the better of me someday, then let me make it perfectly clear: You’re never gonna do it, the way you are now.”
“‘Bleary-eyed’…?”
The sudden jab annoyed Maou, but the two corporations involved made it hard for him to rebuke her too strongly. They were in the same industry, but socially speaking, Himeko was far above him.
The sight just made Himeko laugh again. “You know, at a time like this, if you can do something besides jump out at me or slink back to your cubbyhole, that’s gonna be an asset for you later on.”
“…Yeah.”
“Just remember this: In any organization, you’re going to have lots of enemies—on the inside and the outside. You have competing companies, taking advantage of any crack in your armor to trip you up. You have malicious, talentless bosses, coworkers, and subordinates, all dragging you down. You’ll find people like them all over the place. If you wanna find a way to deal with people like that, then you’re never going to find it working under Mayumi and her lust to keep everybody happy.”
Maou flashed the quickest of glances at Kisaki. The sight of her nemesis almost made her explode before, but now she was listening intently.
“I’m sure Mayumi’s a comfortable person to work for if you want to remain a frontline foot soldier your whole life. But if you’re aiming higher than that, then I have to say I really feel sorry for you right now. You won’t gain any experience fighting your enemies that way.”
“Oh, but if you’re working under Kiki, you’re getting to work with much better people than elsewhere. That can boost some of your skills, can’t it?”
“You and I view it differently. The friends you make as you’re slogging through that enemy-infested battlefield, all hurt and wounded, are the ones you’ll boost your abilities with.”
Tanaka was right—and so was Mizushima. And Kisaki’s approach, one Maou believed was correct up to now, was still the right one. But as much as they seemed to go together, none of them seemed to ever line up.
“Well,” Maou replied, untroubled, “if there’s anything on the table right now that I can’t do, then I can just build my chair from the ground up and make it big enough that I can do it, right?”
“!”
“Ooh!”
“Hmph.”
Kisaki looked up at him as an impressed Mizushima put her hands together. Tanaka gave the statement a sniffle, but not quite as derisive as before.
“Yeah, it’s your dream, not Mayumi’s. You think you wanna start a business? That’s just the kind of reckless thinking I like—it sure beats people who spend all day worrying and whining about how everything’s so unfair, even though they can’t do anything themselves. But that’s a lot easier said than done, you realize.”
“I know. If I had money, or people, or an education, I couldn’t ask for much more, but for now all I’ve got is my mouth and my body.”
Himeko Tanaka blinked at him for a moment, then nodded, for reasons known only to her.
“…True. Mayumi?”
“…What?”
“I think I see why you value this guy.”
“Right?” interjected Mizushima. “He’s really going places, isn’t he?”
“Huh…?”
Maou gave the two of them blank stares.
“…Marko?”
“Y-yeah?”
“Are you all right on time? Your friend’s probably going to be worried if you don’t go home soon.”
“Oh? Ah! Whoa, it’s already one thirty?!”
Maou jumped out of his seat the moment he saw his watch. Come to think of it, he hadn’t contacted anyone to say he’d be late.
“Aw, going home already? This was just getting interesting.”
“Oh, Maou, we can’t eat all this by ourselves. You mind finishing some of this off for me?”
“Um, y-yeah, sure.”
As instructed, Maou began working on the food in front of him.
“Are you living with your girlfriend? That’s pretty bold at your age.”
“It’s just a roommate, Himeko. He lives with another man.”
“Oh? Is that your kind of thing?”
“Whoa! Is that true, Maou?!”
“I’m not gonna ask what you m
ean by ‘that kind of thing,’ but no.”
Maou knew that the inebriated Mizushima and Himeko would just rib him no matter what he said. He decided to focus on his late dinner.
Mizushima and Himeko said their good-byes to Maou and Kisaki outside.
“He ‘couldn’t ask for much more,’ huh?”
“Hime?”
“‘If I had money, or people, or an education, I couldn’t ask for much more.’ But that’s not impossible at all. If you understand that, that’ll make you strong. And once you’re strong, you can do all kinds of stuff—but if you screw up or it blows up on you, that causes a lot of damage around you.”
“True. But…” Mizushima smiled as she watched Maou and Kisaki fade in the distance. “Sometimes, one person can be dangerous, but two can be a powerhouse.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“Mmm…” She smiled at Himeko’s puzzled question. “I meant exactly what it sounded like. This is Kiki we’re talking about.”
“Sorry about that. I guess Yuki got you caught up in my business all over again.”
On the way back from the izakaya, Kisaki apologized to Maou once again as they walked down the Koshu-Kaido sidewalk.
“No, it’s all right. It was kind of like being invited to a managerial get-together.”
“A get-together, huh? You know, now that I think about it, that’s the first time all three of us were together since we graduated.”
Kisaki sighed, as if longing for the past.
“Ms. Kisaki?”
“…Marko, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea when I say this. Just think of it as some drunken ramblings.”
Neither of them had drunk that evening, but Maou nodded anyway.
“If you’re going to work for a company, then Himeko’s far more correct than I am. But for now, though, I can’t run away from my ideals. I can’t, because I ran into someone like you.”
“…Huh?”
“If you hadn’t shown up, maybe I would’ve taken real steps toward running my own place faster, like Himeko said. But when you started working at my location, something changed my thinking.”
“Um…?”
“You said you wanted a full-time position sometime, right? Do you still feel that way?”
“I…well…”
The situation around Maou had changed greatly in the past year. His prospects for returning to the demon realms were brighter, and he had had to deal with one disaster after the other. But the one constant that remained within him was a desire to learn more about the human world.
“I still do, yeah. I can’t get around that, if I want to reach my goals.”
“Mmm. I’ve never doubted your work ethic, or your philosophy. I don’t know many people so involved with my work and private life like this. That’s why I didn’t know what to do. I wanted you to…”
“Hmm?”
Maou was surprised at what almost sounded like a confession of her love to him. But her words went far beyond any such imaginings.
“I honestly don’t know whether I should make you my right-hand man and climb up to the peak of MgRonald management, or take you on as my partner in a new restaurant.”
“……Huh?”
“If I want to change the world, or create a new one, I need friends I can trust from the heart more than anything else.”
That was something Maou knew internally long before Kisaki told him. After all, when he’d set off to unify the demon realms, all he had was the knowledge that angel imparted on him.
“And among all the people on the crew, the only one with a future free enough to keep working with me long-term is you.”
After saying all that, she paused for a moment.
“…Well, like I said, just drunken ramblings. You don’t have any duty to put up with my dreams, and I don’t intend to tie down your future. We’re just a bunch of drunken would-be managers in passing, trying to get our hands on promising young people to work with. Forget about it for now.”
Maou blankly stared at Kisaki as she walked away—this woman in street clothes he mainly knew in the armor of her work outfit; this woman who lived for her work.
“But…”
She turned around, looking refreshed as always.
“I don’t make a habit of telling jokes that aren’t funny. You get me? Anyway, I’m going a different way from here. Take care of the restaurant for me for the next couple days.”
Then she waved and gallantly ventured forth, across the intersection and into the sleeping city. Maou watched her until she disappeared, then scratched his head as he looked up at the heavens.
“Oh, brother…”
“Daaamn youuu, Maaaaaaaaaaaaou!!”
At their regular Devil’s Castle dinner meet-up the next day, Maou was brutally attacked by an archangel.
“Damn you to hell, Devil King! You were prancing around town all last night, along with my…my…my goddess! What could you possibly have been doing?! Depending on the answer, I could cut you down right here!”
“Bffhh!!”
It was enough to make Chiho spit out the wheat tea she was sipping. Maou had no idea how they’d found out; someone must have seen him leaving the izakaya with Kisaki.
“M-M-Maou?! Alone with Ms. Kisaki in the middle of the night… What were you doing with her?!”
“N-nothing! We just drank for a little while at an izakaya…”
“Y-you drank?! You and Ms. Kisaki, alone at night, drinking?! Did you do any other grown-up stuff?!”
Whatever Chiho was imagining had already made her face turn red.
“You said an izakaya, my liege?”
“A-Ashiya? Is that really the word that should be grabbing your attention?”
“How much did you spend? Honestly, arriving home late at night, wasting our money again…”
Maou fled to the opposite wall, retreating from the gravelly voice of his most trusted servant.
“N-no, they paid, they paid! I didn’t spend anything. And I said we drank, but I just mean it was part of the meal; I wasn’t actually—”
“My goddess paid for you…and shared drinks face-to-face?! I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you today!!”
The interrogating Sariel grabbed Maou by the collar. Maou violently ripped his arm away.
“It wasn’t one-on-one! We were with your boss and the manager from the Fushima-en location…”
“That manager? The one with the reputation for beauty? M-Maou… You were with three hot women, they paid for you, and you drank into the night… Ohhh…”
Maou’s excuses did nothing. Chiho looked about ready to faint. Emi nimbly provided some side support.
“Ch-Chiho! Stay with us!”
“Manager Tanaka, my goddess, and a third woman?! Damn you, Devil King! What sort of evil machinations did you carry out to do something I’m so…so, so envious of?! Tell me! What do you have to do to make that happen?! Say it! Saaaaaaaay it!!”
Sariel grabbed him again, shedding tears as he threatened (or maybe pleaded with) Maou.
“I told you guys, nothing happened… All we did was talk about work…”
He wasn’t lying. But there was no denying that the topics ventured beyond the day-to-day routine quite a bit. Stating that would only add to the chaos, he knew, so he didn’t—but everyone in the room seemed to pick up on that nuance anyway, so this all-out assault on Maou showed no signs of ending anytime soon.
“Devil King! Drinking late into the night… Could you stop setting a bad example for Alas Ramus, please?!”
“I can believe you, right, Maou?! You were only talking about work?!”
“This is not a matter of having them pay for you! If your superior gives you something, it is your duty to pay that back! Do you understand that, Your Demonic Highness?!”
“Saaaaaaaay iiiiiiiiiiiit, Devil King! What happened between you twooooooo?!”
“Nothing happened! I sweeeaaaaarrrr!!”
Unable to take the shouted accusations thrown ar
ound the tiny apartment any longer, Suzuno snapped.
“Quiet down now, everyone! We are supposed to be eating!!”
“Suzu-Sis, you’re scaaarrry!!”
Now Alas Ramus started to cry. And in the middle of the pandemonium, only Urushihara was calm enough to keep eating.
“…Shut up, dudes.”
A FEW DAYS AGO: THE HERO IS (ABOUT TO BE) A PART-TIMER!
A little past three in the afternoon, Alas Ramus began lightly snoozing on the bed. Normally she’d be alone with her mommy, Emi Yusa, in Room 501 of the Urban Heights apartment building, but today there were two visitors. Dealing with strangers for so long must have tired her out.
“Aww,” marveled one of the guests a distance away, “I wish I could put her to sleep like thaaat.”
“It’ll probably be a little while longer before she’s fully used to you, Eme.”
“Awwww…”
Emeralda Etuva, Emi’s best friend, gritted her teeth in frustration.
“Maybe this ain’t welcome news to you, but you’re an expert mom, huh?”
Rika Suzuki, Emi’s other best friend, grinned at her.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been with her a while now,” she replied, brushing it off.
“Ooh.” Rika looked a bit happy to hear that. “Totally unflappable, huh? Y’know, I know you haven’t received the offer yet, but you’re gonna be working at Maggie’s, huh? Not to make fun of you, but are you ever gonna take Alas Ramus with you while you work with Daddy?”
“No way. I can’t bring a baby with me to work. She’ll have to be fused within me during then—that, or hopefully Suzuno won’t mind taking care of her.”
Emi shrugged.
“If you’re going through thaaat much trouble, I think it might be better to consider moooving.”
“I bet she’s got an attachment to this place. I can kinda get that, especially considering the quality you’re getting for the price. Like, I still have no idea how you managed to find it.”
Room 501 of Urban Heights Eifukucho was meant for a single occupant, but it had a decent-sized living room, a kitchen with the full run of electrical appliances, and a toilet separate from the bathroom. Considering that her nemesis—Sadao Maou, aka the Devil King Satan—was living with two other men in a single room maybe a hundred square feet in size, she’d really gotten a lucky break with this space. You could get away with calling it “luxury.” There was even a penthouse on the top floor.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 14 Page 13
