The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 2 (8 page)

“…Can’t you go up and down the stairs
quietly
at least once in your life?”

The dejected-looking face of the Devil King—well, Sadao Maou, really—was right in front of hers.

“Man, I sure picked the wrong girl to rescue. Not like you’re gonna reward me or anything.”

“D-Devil King!!”

Emi shouted it out, then quickly shook her head, still unable to grasp the situation.

The assorted possessions in her bag were now littered around her on the ground, the packet of tissues perfectly perched on top of Maou’s head. Emi herself, however, was in a more precarious position.

“L-l-let me down! What…what are you
doing
…?!”

Emi felt her blood boil from head to toe. Her body was was currently scooped up into Maou’s arms.

Maou must have grabbed her midfall, but the way he was cradling her body like a baby was adding insult to injury for the Hero, one she could barely stand.

The summer heat and the sense of shame at involving Maou in this sordid scene were about to make her burst into flames.

“Put…put me down right now! Wh-what’re you trying to do to me?!”

Emi began to flail her arms and legs, her face glowing red despite herself.

“Well,
you’re
the one falling off my stairs! Stop…stop squirming like that! We’re really gonna…
Erngh!
”

Before he could finish the thought, one of Emi’s toes landed a clean hit on Maou’s temple.

With a groan, Maou’s arms loosened their grip, sending Emi tumbling downward.

“Agh!”

It was a textbook landing—on her butt, right on the paving stones at the bottom of the stairs. She winced as she rubbed her tailbone.

“Oooogh…”

“Don’t ‘oooogh’ me! Eesh! No good deed ever goes unpunished with you, huh?!”

Maou glared down at the wincing Emi, eyes tearing up a bit as he held a hand to his temple.

“Good deed, my ass! You, you, you didn’t do anything weird to me while my eyes were closed, did you?!”

Emi held her arms close to her in a defensive posture as Maou continued to rant and rave above her, eyes still lolling around.

“Nothing happened while your eyes were closed! Nothing besides all of your crap bouncing off my head! Did you
aim
at me, or what?!”

“Well, that’s what you get for all the evil deeds you’ve perpetrated on a daily basis!”

“I’m a law-abiding citizen! A lot more than
you
are right now, I’m guessing!”

“What right do you have to say that?! Apologize to all the law-abiding citizens of this nation at once!”

“Look, don’t even get me started, okay? Or how about I toss
you
down the stairs one more time? Maybe
then
you’ll show me some gratitude!”

“I’d sooner go bungee jumping without a rope than thank you! What’re you even
doing
down here, anyway? I thought you slept past noon every day!”

Taking another look at Maou, Emi realized he was wearing cotton work gloves. An old broom was lying on the ground alongside the dust balls and the contents of her shoulder bag.

How
dare
the Devil King even
think
of doing something like sweeping around his apartment building!

“I’m allowed to be wherever I want, all right? What’s so bad about getting up early?! I’m trying to stick to a healthy schedule so I don’t get sick this summer!”

“You? Healthy? You’re practically the poster child for MgRonald!”

“What’re
you
two doing…?”

Urushihara, picking up on the pointless argument unfolding below, picked that exact moment to venture outside.

“I simply must apologize. This would not have happened if I hadn’t thrown open the door so quickly.”

The girl in the kimono bowed deeply toward Emi. She must have thought this was simply a wrong-place-at-the-right-time accident.

“No, no, not at all!”

Emi violently shook her head in response.

“I just kind of lost track of my footing when I wasn’t paying attention.”

Maou watched on, a sullen look on his face as he slurped up his cold udon in soup stock.

A wholly unexpected sight unfolded before Emi’s eyes in the Devil’s Castle.

First, there was Ashiya, lying down with a blanket over him, looking strangely gaunt.

Then there was the gigantic box in the kitchen. Next to it, a girl in a kimono, apron, and head scarf busily slaved away at the counter.

Beyond the udon she had heard about, Emi noticed a surprisingly healthy selection of dishes laid out in the kitchen—cold blocks of tofu sprinkled with
myoga
ginger and sesame leaves, accompanied by a salad of mustard spinach steeped in a dashi-based sauce.

“I picked up most of the stuff you dropped outside, Yusa.”

“Oh, thanks. Could you put it over there for me, please?”

Emi wasn’t thrilled at Urushihara pawing her personal possessions, but something stopped her from erupting in front of Suzuno. She turned to pick them up.

“Ugh. I
hate
the way you talk. All high and mighty like that.”

In Urushihara’s mind, she was unsuccessful at hiding her disdain toward the denizens of this tiny square dot of a castle. But she shrugged, uninterested in providing an excuse.

“And what’s with
this
thing? It’s like an oven outside, and you’re still doing energy shots?”

Emi should have expected no less from Urushihara. He had the small bottle of 5-Holy Energy β in hand, dangling it in front of her like a grade school bully as she tried to retrieve her bag.

Her internal reaction was less furious rage and more a light sense of panic. Small flasks of holy energy were not the kind of thing she wanted bandied around Devil’s Castle.

“Hey! Give that back!”

With a swipe, she snatched the bottle out of Urushihara’s hand, stuffing it deep into her bag. A bead of cold sweat ran down her back as she glared at him.

“If you drink that stuff, you’re gonna wind up crashing like Ashiya.”

“Crashing? What, don’t tell me the heat’s made you sick…”

Emi flashed an honestly surprised look at Ashiya, lying on the floor.

He clicked his tongue like an insolent child before turning over to his side, away from her.

“So what if it did? I don’t feel too well sometimes, either, you know.”

They may have lost all of their demonic energy, but to Emi and Ente Isla, the discovery that extreme heat was detrimental to demons’ health was nothing short of groundbreaking.

“Not feeling too well? Like, what happens to you, exactly?”

“I dunno, I kind of lose my appetite. It’s like my stomach starts bothering me and stuff.”

Urushihara was overjoyed to explain, “I wouldn’t find that enjoyable.”

Emi shrugged, not finding the topic enjoyable enough to pursue.

“I am not doing this to make you ‘enjoy’ anything, you…” Ashiya, his drained voice leaping upon Emi, seemed to be having the least enjoyment of all.

Given how Ashiya was always the one demon to constantly treat Emi as a hostile invader, this was a sight she wished she could record and use to blackmail him in the future.

“It would seem my attempt at charity was the unfortunate cause.”

Emi turned toward the girl.

Her kimono truly brought the best out of her well-defined, beautiful face. It was such a perfect package, Emi could have easily confused her for a samurai-drama actress. That was how dignified the aura around Suzuno was, like she wasn’t even of this world.

Emi found her eyes subconsciously attracted to her chest area.

About the same as me, maybe…?

She sighed. There was an odd sense of relief.

Suzuno may have been the perfect Japanese beauty, but at least one aspect of her differed little from Emi.

The girl, for her part, had a frozen look of anguish or regret on her face, blissfully unaware of Emi’s pointless self-comparison.

“I feel terribly remorseful about it. Perhaps I should have chosen something more nutritious to repay these fine men with.”

“No, no, Ms. Kamazuki, it isn’t your fault. I am enjoying every bit of these udon noodles.”

From within his blanket cocoon, Ashiya placated Suzuno, his voice a far cry from the one he addressed Emi with.

“Yeah. The problem’s the menu, really. I mean, yeah, it’s easy to cook and it tastes okay, but eating chilled udon day in, day out in this heat would make anyone keel over after a while.”

The observation from Urushihara, who had yet to lift a finger to contribute to the Castle food supply, drew cold stares from the rest of the room.

Just then, Suzuno stretched her body and turned toward Emi, as if remembering something.

“But I see I’ve forgotten the most important matter! My name is Suzuno Kamazuki. I have only just settled my belongings down next door in Room 202 last week. I come from a well-known family in a very remote place, one not exposed to the modern trappings of the world, so I remain rather unaccustomed to day-to-day life here. I do hope you’ll help a simple country girl make her way in this grand city.”

“Uh…yeahh… I’m Emi Yusa. Good to meet you.”

The unexpectedly stiff and polite greeting from the woman meekly kneeling before her made Emi feel obliged to arch her back straight upward as well.

“But…and I don’t mean any offense…I’m amazed you chose a place like this.”

Emi pointed a finger at the dusty, dry tatami mats that lined the Devil’s Castle floor, more than a trace of doubt in her speech.

Before she found the condo she currently lived in, Emi’s rental agent went into great detail about the things a single woman needed to be aware of living by herself.

Her apartment was on the fifth floor, but even now, she did things like purchase a couple of men’s boxers and such just so she could hang them up alongside the rest of her laundry. The buzzer intercom on the ground floor was another plus in her mind.

Villa Rosa Sasazuka, meanwhile, was cheap and close to the rail station, but from the eyes of an impartial observer, it was not at all suited for a young girl living alone.

It was constructed in the Stone Age; there was no bath or air conditioner or balcony; the doors had nothing but simple cylinder locks on them; most of the rooms were completely empty; and the only other tenants were a pack of sadistic monsters from another world.

Judging by the careful exactitude with which she dressed herself—kimonos can be such a pain to keep in good condition—and the apparent food charity she was giving to her destitute neighbors, the cut-rate rent couldn’t have been the attraction for her.

And judging by how familiar she’d already become with the group of grown men living next to her in the space of just over a week, she had absolutely no sense of the modern precautions any urban resident would take.

“As long as I have a roof to block the rain, four walls to block the wind, and a sturdy floor under my feet, I ask for nothing else.”

Suzuno seemed to read Emi’s mind as she silently worried.

“I have no interest in worldly luxury. I simply thought that being near the city would make finding suitable work a simpler task.”

Then she fell silent, her eyes fixed upon Emi.

“I wish to find a vocation here that will make my homeland proud.”

“A wonderful ambition! You could stand to learn from her, Urushihara.”

Ashiya heaped praise upon Suzuno from his sickbed.

Urushihara ignored it as he returned to his computer desk.

“Regardless, I am sure it is fate that brought the two of us together, in the same city within this vast country. I hope we will provide each other with warm support and goodwill toward our fellow human beings.”

Suzuno turned toward Emi and bowed deeply once more.

“Um, yeah. You, too.”

At a loss, Emi leaned forward to match her conversational partner.

“Whew! Thanks for the noodles. That was great!”

Maou, passing by as he polished off the remainder of his breakfast, let out a cheek-stretching yawn as he brought his utensils to the sink.

“Man, though…I’ve got so much to do, and remember, and stuff. It’s wrecking my mind.”

“What do you mean? You’re just manning the grill like always, right?”

Emi’s brows furrowed as she asked. Maou responded with an out-of-place grin.

“Oho! Well, that’s where you’re wrong. While you were off wasting away your life, I’ve made some serious advances as a member of human society.”

Human?
Emi resisted the urge to lunge at the obvious bait.

“Yeah, that’s right, Emi! Get a load of this! Starting on Saturday—tomorrow—I’m going to be the afternoon associate manager at the Hatagaya station MgRonald!”

Maou cocked his head back, hand on hip, the morning sun pouring in through the window behind him. Emi could feel her strength draining.

“Yeah, woo, congrats.”

She rewarded the show with a sarcastic nod and the world’s least enthusiastic round of applause.

“Hah! You don’t even believe me, do you? Well, it’s true! My first bona fide managerial role! And an hourly wage hike to match, too!”

“What I’m not believing is that you’re seriously trying to brag about it. But, hey, that’s great, I guess? Why don’t you just keep focusing on your career if you like it so much?”

Emi flapped a hand aimlessly at Maou as he fervently tried to fish for compliments.

“Pfft. So, what, you’ve got no aspirations whatsoever? Well, fine. Someday, I’m going to be way up high, and you’ll be gritting your teeth in anger while you’re still stuck here, falling down my stairs all the damn time!”

Maou stuck his tongue out at her, putting a final exclamation point on his manifesto. Emi countered by silently tossing a nearby tissue box at him. Maou easily dodged it, causing the box to land upon Ashiya beside him.

She was expecting some kind of verbal rebuke, but instead Ashiya grumpily flicked it aside and wriggled back into his blanket.

He didn’t look well at all, but Emi held little sympathy. She turned her eyes away, no longer desiring the triumphant-looking Maou in her sight.

“……”

“Wh-what…?”

Instead her eyes locked with Suzuno, still kneeling politely, dourly looking up at her.

“Emi…”

She stopped, stole a glance at Maou—still cheerfully grinning as he washed the dishes, comfortable in his conviction that he finally lorded it over Emi for a change—then brought her lips to Emi’s ear.

“Are you in a close relationship, perhaps, with Sadao?”

“Haaahhhh?!”

The cry of shock was genuine, enough to make even the resting Ashiya and the earphoned Urushihara turn around.

“Wh-what did you just say?!”

“Well, I merely noticed that your conversation was quite, shall we say, confrontational? Or perhaps
frank
is a more suitable word. There is certainly no sense of reserve between the two of you.”

“Yeah…I suppose it’s easy to get that impression, but…”

As Emi began, she noticed Urushihara staring at her, chuckling to himself.

“
You
stay out of this!”

A single glare was all it took to silence him.

They certainly didn’t hold anything back against each other, and Emi never had any intention to. Having that interpreted as the two of them being close companions was never something that occurred to her.

“Maybe there’s no reserve, but more than that, there’s no trust, no faith, no friendship, and no other kind of positive human emotion between us, either. Nothing! In fact, if he died in an accident on the way home from work today, I honestly wouldn’t mind much at all. So let’s just make sure we have
that
straight, all right?”

She made sure she was heard across the room, so she could already
feel Ashiya’s grimaced gaze and Maou’s easygoing grin pointed toward her.

“I—I see…”

Suzuno, meanwhile, had dropped the inscrutable, statuelike expression she seemed to prefer the most. In some ways, it seemed like a sense of relief crossed her eyes.

What would put her at ease about Emi and Maou not being together?

Thinking it over, Emi’s eyebrows arched downward. This had already happened before. There was another woman—the only one who still remembered Maou and Emi’s battle two months ago.

“I don’t want to pry…”

Now it was Emi’s turn to whisper into Suzuno’s ear.

“But are
you
aiming for that stupid Devil King, too?”

The reaction Suzuno showed at that moment was nothing short of seismic.