The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 5 (6 page)

All Emi and Suzuno could do was nod their agreement to Urushihara.

But Chiho watched Maou and Ashiya’s somewhat misguided arguing intently, an oddly serene smile on her face. “You wanted a TV that much, huh, Maou?”

Emi shrugged, exasperated. “Yeah, well, he mentioned he goes to movies and stuff, so he must’ve been interested in one for a while…”

Suzuno, still living quite comfortably thanks to her travel prep, had other things in mind:

“…Hmm. Perhaps I could consider one of my own, if the fancy strikes me.”

With the completely clueless and arguably witless Maou and Ashiya off to the real estate office and all of the major moving work complete, Emi and Chiho said their good-byes and left the apartment.

“It’s pretty nice, though, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

The pair struck up a conversation along the warm summer path.

“I mean, all of them making it back to Sasazuka, despite everything,” Chiho continued. “Maou and Suzuno and everyone having their apartments all fixed up. Everything feels kind of normal again.”

“Normal, huh…?” Emi grumbled. “I think I’m starting to lose my grasp of what ‘normal’ even means any longer.”

“I think it’s nice, too, how Maou and Suzuno both wanna get a TV.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

Suzuno was one matter, but having another appliance in Devil’s Castle indicated that, at long last, they had a little breathing room.

And having a little breathing room was all the reason Emi had to feel on edge.

They needed to team up just to carry a refrigerator a little way, and Emi had just watched them yelling about point cards like a pair of elderly retirees. But they were still arch-demons, tyrants who once made an entire world shudder in fear.

And—as she continued rolling the thought around her mind—even if they
did
have a little more breathing room, there had to be oodles more things they needed to buy ahead of a television.

Emi had learned just other the day that during those few days Alas Ramus was at Devil’s Castle, they were having her sleep on the bare tatami-mat floor with a rolled-up towel for a pillow. She gave all the demons a good slap on the head for that.

“I mean, now that Ohguro-ya’s gone, they’re jobless, right?” Emi protested. “But they’re still acting like that they have a bunch of money to spare.”

“I guess so,” Chiho admitted. “Our location doesn’t reopen until the fifteenth, either…”

MgRonald wouldn’t open for over a week. It was a tad difficult to imagine Maou and Ashiya vegging out in front of the TV that whole time. Urushihara, sure, but not the other two.

“But if I know Maou, I’d say he’s got something in mind. There’s still a lot of day labor–type stuff out there.”

“Hmm… Maybe.”

If Maou had any great ideas in motion right now, that made Ashiya’s opposition all the more bizarre. Ashiya had a habit of playing the “we’re so, so poor” card too often, but he was usually pretty tolerant when it came to sensible investments.

Emi arched her eyebrows upward. “Well, it’s fine by me. Not like it’s my problem if they spend themselves into a hole.”

There’s no need at all for me to worry about their financial situation. Why am I going on as if I care about what happens to the Devil’s Castle?

Maou mentioned several good points when he defended the TV purchase, but it wasn’t like a TV was a perfect font of constantly useful information.

To Emi’s mind, a lot of it was just celebrities she’d never heard of chatting with each other, or comedy bits that she hadn’t lived in Japan long enough to understand. Or home-shopping shows selling the kind of junk you only see in home-shopping shows and nowhere else. Gossip about this or that big name that had absolutely no bearing on your own life at all. Programs that Emi had no idea what the creators were trying to say to the world were all over the airwaves, often across every channel at the same time.

That was just the take of one alien visitor, of course, and the samurai dramas she preferred were no less time wasters than any other show format. But it wasn’t like obtaining a TV was a meaningful step in the demons’ plans for world domination.

Chiho, seeing all this complex thought written clearly on Emi’s face, chuckled to herself and opted to reel in the conversation a little.

“…But either way, if Maou and Suzuno are buying TVs, I guess that means they’re staying in Japan for a while, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Emi tilted her head a little, not understanding what she was getting at.

“You saw all those demon guys at Choshi,” Chiho began.

“Demon guys” made them sound friendlier than they deserved, but Emi nodded regardless.

“I was kinda scared that everyone would go back to Ente Isla because of that,” Chiho continued. “If they hadn’t shown up offshore like that… Like, if it was in the middle of Shinjuku instead—that would have been a huge disaster. At the time, I thought to myself, what if you and Maou had said, ‘We can’t put all this burden on Japan anymore!’ and took off?”

“I wasn’t
not
thinking that…”

The words fell from Emi’s lips. Chiho flashed a carefree smile.

“I don’t think a TV’s something you buy just because it’s cheap. You buy one because you’re expecting to use it for a while to come. So if they want one, I just thought that meant that you’re all gonna be in Japan for the foreseeable future.”

“Well, I appreciate the warm welcome, but aren’t you afraid at all?”

Emi had to ask.

“You’ve thought about it, right? If things ever go south, so to speak, all these angels and people and demons… We won’t be afraid to hurt this country if we have to. You’ve already faced death once, Chiho.”

Thanks to a human, not a demon, and one of Emi’s former companions, to boot. She still felt guilty about that.

“Mmm… I’m not all that afraid now. It was kind of a shock at first, but you and Maou have always been there to protect me, so…”

Whether she understood Emi’s feelings or not, Chiho’s reply was surprisingly straightforward.

“I don’t know very much about Ente Isla, but both of you—the strongest human in that world, and the strongest demon anywhere—are protecting me. It’d be kinda rude if that
didn’t
put my mind at ease.”

“Oh… I see.”

Logically, she was right. Chiho was about the only girl in the universe to enjoy close ties with both the Hero and Devil King. There were elderly clerics in the Church who could only dream of such powerful connections.

“…And I haven’t forgotten, of course, that you and Suzuno want to defeat Maou at the end of it. I know you could never forgive those guys for what they did to Ente Isla. So I’m always thinking about it. Thinking about how I can take all these people who’re really dear to me and have them all be happy.”

“Can’t be done.”

“You didn’t need to reply
that
fast…”

Chiho gave Emi a playful scowl. She knew to expect that from her; Emi made her outlook clear enough on a regular basis.

Chiho turned her eyes to the large shoulder bag the other girl was holding. “I know this is just a personal request and I don’t really have any right to ask you this or anything, but can I count on you guys for Alas Ramus, at least?”

“…That
is
an issue, I’ll grant you that.” Emi shrugged, reluctant to discuss the topic.

“Is she still asleep?”

“Yeah. If she doesn’t get up, maybe I should just take the train home before I bring her out.”

Alas Ramus was still fused with Emi as she enjoyed her afternoon nap.

That was the rule Emi stuck to outside of the nighttime hours. That way, she didn’t have to worry about the stifling summer heat inside Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

Still, she always carried diapers, water, a sippy cup, and a bunch of other gear in her shoulder bag. The whole “mother” thing was starting to seem familiar, even normal to her.

“It’s kind of a different thing, now that she’s fused with my holy sword. If she still thinks the Devil King’s her dad, I can’t really fight him with my sword. I can’t have her kill her own father like that. But…I know how children help bind the family together and stuff, but I gotta draw the line somewhere, you know?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Chiho bowed a bit to apologize for bringing it up.

“…That, and I’m not really in a position to go back home right now anyway. As long as the Devil King doesn’t get bitchy about the TV and decide to return to Ente Isla, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Not in a position to? You?”

This was the first Chiho had heard about this, but Emi shook her head softly. Chiho opted not to pursue it further, and the pair continued on in silence until they reached Sasazuka station.

“Well, guess I’m off.”

Emi gave Chiho a light wave as she approached the turnstile.

But then her eyes widened as a lightbulb went off in her mind.

“I’m sorry, Chiho, can you wait there a second?”

She made a beeline for a nearby instant-photo booth. Chiho could guess why—and, in a few moments, Emi emerged with a sheepish grin and a stretching Alas Ramus.

“She insisted on saying good-bye to her big sister.”

“
Nffhh
…aye-bye, Chi-sis…”

Her pronunciation wasn’t quite all there this early on from her nap, but she lifted her heavy eyelids high and waved a pudgy hand at Chiho.

The sight made Chiho relax her facial muscles.

“Bye-bye, Alas Ramus! Let’s play together again soon, okay?”

“Mnh… Let’s go splish-splash again…”

“Sure! Maybe we can all go to the pool together.”

“…
ooofgh
…”

“All right. Maybe you can nap a little more at home, okay? …I’m gonna have a hell of a time trying to go back into work mode tomorrow. Have a good night.”

Emi readjusted her hold upon Alas Ramus, already journeying back into dreamland, as she nodded at Chiho and made her way toward the turnstile.

With the child out in the public eye, there was no fusing her back into her body now. Chiho grinned as she watched them go, the memory of Alas Ramus’s face and hand bringing the warmth back into her face.

“Oh, hello! My, you’re home early today.”

When Chiho made it back home, her mother, Riho, was at the door to greet her, apparently about to leave herself.

“Where are you going, Mom?”

“Oh, just over to Shinjuku for a spell. An old school friend of mine’s in town, so I’m having some tea with her. I’ll be back for dinner, so could you start up maybe half a bowl of rice in the cooker for me?”

“Okay. Just half? Dad isn’t coming home today?”

“Who knows? He hasn’t called, anyway. If he does, I’ll just whip up some instant ramen for him or something.”

A police officer’s hours were generally pretty well set in stone, barring major incidents. But whenever disaster reared its ugly head, returning home could be a major challenge.

Her father had a bad habit of not keeping his wife informed about whether he needed dinner or not. But as she waved good-bye to her mother, Chiho resolved to fill the entire cooker with rice.
Dad deserves more than instant ramen, at least.

As she stepped inside, she was greeted by a blast of cold air from the AC, still lingering after her mother turned it off.

“Maybe I’ll just chill for a bit and take a shower. I don’t need to cook that rice until later anyway.”

It was just before three
PM
. No work, no club activities, and—for a change—no demon-related errands to run. Chiho wandered into the living room and blithely picked up the TV remote.

“I wonder what Maou’s gonna watch once he buys a TV, though. I bet he’d be into game shows and documentaries and stuff.”

Her mind conjured up an image of the three of them fighting over whether they’d watch a game show, a cooking show, or anime. It made her laugh out loud.

“Oh, brother… They’re always so serious about everything, too.”

Chiho watched a fair share of TV herself. Dramas and music shows gave her something to discuss with her school friends, although her personal preferences leaned toward travel and documentaries. There were one or two weekly quiz shows she never missed, too.

The influence of Emi and Suzuno on her life had driven her to give samurai dramas a try recently. Maybe talking about TV with Maou could make life more fun for them. Thinking about it that way, things didn’t seem entirely bleak going forward.

“Anything on…?”

Chiho picked up the program guide lying on the living room table and skimmed through the listings.

“Oh, they’re rerunning
Quaking Mad
in a sec. The news is on, too. Maybe I’ll turn on MHK first and switch to
Quaking Mad
later.”

She pointed the remote toward the TV set and pushed the power button. The two-second time lag between pressing the button and getting an image passed without incident.

Then:

“…Huh?”

The moment the screen turned on, the Sasaki residence’s living room was bathed in white light.