The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3 (14 page)

“Um, listen, um, I don’t know if this is related or not, but…”

There was no point hiding it. Emi decided to plow forward, revealing all she knew about Alas Ramus while deliberately skirting around who the girl thought her parents were.

“A small girrrl, done up like an apple? I’ve never heard of such a person, or devvvil for that matter, and here in the Western Island, we’ve not detected any large Gaaates opened lately apart from Crestia Bell’s.”

“You haven’t? …Hmm. I guess not.”

Ente Isla was a large place. There were countless alchemists capable of producing a Gate. Emeralda was a top bureaucrat from a powerful country, but she wasn’t omniscient.

“Well, sorry, but I don’t have any leads here, either. I figure maybe she’s related to Laila somehow, but maybe I’m overthinking it. I’ll keep my eyes open, though, not that I’m capable of too much at this point.”

“Oh, no no no. She was always something of a free spiiiirit, so she may decide to drop by my doorstep todaaay for all I know. I just thought I’d let you knooow. And I’ll see what I can dredge up about that child without arousing too much suspiiicion. Bye for nowwww!”

“Oh, wait, Eme…!”

With that, Emeralda ended the call. Alas Ramus was one thing, but Emi had never even laid eyes upon Laila once in her life. Even if she did care, there was almost nothing for her to go on. Excessive worrying about her was pointless.

“…Oh, well, I guess. She couldn’t be that dangerous if she’s my mother, anyway.”

Emi finally removed her sandals and left the front foyer.

Turning on the air conditioner and her TV set simultaneously, she flopped down on a chair.

“…Yeah. I really better hit the hair salon. Don’t want to look all sweaty and exhausted in front of him.”

She played with her hair with one hand as she muttered to herself.

The TV just happened to be playing an advertisement for some event or another taking place in Tokyo Big-Egg Town.

It was some kind of weird tie-in between one of the Sunday morning action hero shows for boys and a “magical transforming heroine” series for girls.

The next four days passed without incident. Everyone was prepared for something unforeseen to happen with Alas Ramus, but things remained surprisingly routine.

Not even Emi received any further information or contact from the “source” she had leaked her current situation to earlier.

The only very palpable changes were that Urushihara started to proactively bring his dishes to the sink for rinsing—apparently having his hygiene compared unfavorably to a two-year-old’s finally got to him—and everyone at Devil’s Castle got better at handling the diaper-changing process.

It was irresponsible for the gang to assume that tomorrow would be just as uneventful as today, but the combination of child-rearing and work duties left them with little time to ponder the future.

They had to find a routine they could fall into without too much fuss, or the dual responsibilities were going to suck the life out of them. That didn’t apply quite as much to Suzuno next door, but not even she had the time to attend to every little detail.

Either way, however, four days passed without major incident for everyone involved, and Sunday morning quickly descended upon them.

That day, Maou and Ashiya were drummed awake by Alas Ramus at seven in the morning. She remembered that it was the day of their big outing with Mommy, of course.

The demons had reluctantly agreed to meet with Emi at one
PM
in front of the Tokyo Metro Kourakuen subway station. Emi, try as she did, couldn’t get out of her scheduled work shift in the morning.

Maou’s work between today and the day they all agreed to visit Tokyo Big-Egg Town was nothing short of punishing.

According to Chiho’s testimonial, he was a dervish of activity from start to finish, attending to every MgRonald duty like a man possessed.

He was willing to fight tooth and nail for every yen he could possibly lay his hands upon. The assistant manager hourly wages at MgRonald were nothing to brag about, but it was still
something
.

That meant less time to spend with Alas Ramus, but Ashiya and Suzuno took turns taking her on walks and bringing her to MgRonald, ensuring she remained in a cheerful mood.

Emi, meanwhile, was largely out of the picture. Her sole interaction
with the toddler was over the phone, just once, when she gave a call to Suzuno.

It was funny that she could tell it was Emi by voice alone, but in a way, it was funnier how the idea of a telephone didn’t seem to faze her at all. She must have been too young for it to bother her.

It was still only nine by the time they were done with breakfast.

“Daddyyyy, can we go yet? Can we go yet?”

Alas Ramus was unable to wait another second, constantly tugging at Maou’s arm. Maou lightly brushed her off each time, but suddenly, he slapped his knee in realization.

“Oh, right. Man, I’ve been working so hard lately, I totally forgot. Hey, Ashiya, I’m going out for a sec.”

“Your Demonic Highness, where are you going?”

“Over to Mr. Hirose’s. I gotta talk to him about my bike.”

Dullahan II was still practically new; it hadn’t even been a week since Maou made Suzuno purchase it. What could he have to discuss with its seller?

“About you, that is, little one.”

“Oo?”

Alas Ramus tilted her head upward as Maou patted it.

Soon, in no small part so Maou could get Alas Ramus out of the house, the two of them were walking hand in hand, enjoying the Sasazuka morning.

The shutter had just popped open in front of Hirose Cycle Shop at the Bosatsu Street shopping center when they arrived.

“Mr. Hirose!”

“Hmm? Ohh, mornin’, Maou! What’s…up?”

Hirose was still shaking the cobwebs from his head this early in the morning. The sight of what Maou brought along with his hand was like someone splashing water in his face.

“Hey, uh, you can put luggage racks and stuff on the bike you sold me a bit ago, right?”

“Y-yeah, but…you didn’t…”

“Wahbf!”

Maou picked up Alas Ramus, fully enjoying Hirose’s quivering response.

“Do you have any seats that would fit a little girl this size?”

They spent the next little while browsing child seats with the dumbstruck Hirose before turning home.

“Man,
that
was refreshing. I couldn’t have predicted his response any closer.”

In the front yard, still not quite fully lit by the morning sun, Maou then spent the next little while attaching the five-thousand-yen child seat to Dullahan II’s front handle.

“That was terribly devious of you, Your Demonic Highness. What if this leads to certain untoward rumors around the neighborhood?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I told him I was just watching her for some relatives.”

Ashiya still scrunched up his face distastefully. Maou paid it no mind.

“…My liege, may I ask you a question?”

“Yah?”

“There may be little point asking now, but what made you resolve to take in Alas Ramus in the first place?”

“You don’t like it?”

“No, not…not as such, Your Demonic Highness, but I merely thought that leaving her in Crestia’s care would have presented little in the way of issues to anyone…”

“Yeah, well, I guess it’s pretty much you, Suzuno, and Chi taking care of her anyway, huh? Sorry ’bout that.”

“No, no, not at all…”

“You know, I just figured that, if something bad
did
happen in the end, I better be the one who steps up and takes responsibility for it. We don’t have any proof of anything, and
I
sure don’t remember anything about her, but…”

Maou gathered up the remaining plastic alongside the hex wrench included with the chair.

“But, you know, I got a little worried.”

He tapped himself on the forehead several times before returning to his room, leaving Ashiya confused behind him.

Ashiya’s gaze shifted between the upstairs room and the shiny and new yellow child seat on the bike. He shook his head before following his leader inside.

“Your Demonic Highness, please—
please
—be careful out there! You are dealing with the Hero, and there is no telling when or where she may strike!”

Ashiya made sure to read Maou the riot act before he left. Back in the demon realm, these roles would generally have been reversed.

“Chill out. If things get that bad, I’ll just haul ass over to security, okay? Whatever happens to me, I’ll make sure Alas Ramus stays safe.”

With these words, which did absolutely nothing to help Ashiya “chill out” at all, Maou left the Devil’s Castle behind him.

If Maou was the Maou he used to be, he would certainly have walked to Shinjuku, one rail stop away from Sasazuka, in order to save himself 120 yen on the way to JR Suidobashi, the nearest full-on rail station to Tokyo Big-Egg Town. But not with a young child in tow. It’d be far safer to meekly board the Keio New Line from Sasazuka station, pop off to the Toei-Shinjuku Line, switch at Ichigaya to the Namboku Line, then get off at the Tokyo Metro Korakuen station—the nearest subway exit to the park.

He took pains to give himself plenty of time, hoping to avoid getting yelled at for being late, but the sun was already near its highest point in the sky, bouncing its punishing heat against the city pavement.

The shoulder bag Maou normally used for his work commute contained cups, wet tissues, spare diapers, even Chiho’s oral rehydration formula. He was prepared for anything, and cheaping out on train fare after all that prep work would have made him look like an utter fool if it resulted in dehydration and other worries.

Alas Ramus was boundlessly excited at the chance to ride her first train, although the roar of the tunnel’s echo when they went underground made her betray a little distress.

After accepting all the “so cuuuuute”s the elderly couple at the
Shinjuku platform rained upon Alas Ramus, Maou made the unfamiliar transfer from the Toei-Shinjuku Line to the Namboku Line before getting off at Korakuen and taking the long, long escalator to the surface.

Just as he was about halfway up, a passerby looked up at them from the platform far below, the concern written plainly on his face.

“Nobody threatening nearby… My liege, I swear to you that I, Ashiya, will protect your back from the shadows that lurk among us!”

It was Ashiya. That much was clear from his fumbling, overt stalking. Standing behind a column and peering out from behind it while wearing a pair of cheap sunglasses made him incredibly conspicuous, and the way he paid zero attention to his surroundings apart from his target meant that his mission was doomed from the start.

“You’re the most threatening-looking person here, Ashiya.”

An exasperated voice erupted from behind his back. Ashiya shuddered.

“You should really get rid of those sunglasses. Did you buy them at the hundred-yen shop? They look terrible on you, and you’re sticking out like a sore thumb.”

“Ah! Ah, ah, ahhh! Ms. S-Sasaki!”

He leaped backward at the unexpected sight of Chiho, who was sporting an uncharacteristic hat today.

“Wh-wh-wh-when did you come here?!”

The sight of a Great Demon General being so easily discovered by a teenage girl made Chiho wonder what kind of qualifications Maou asked from his demon hordes in the first place.

“I was on the same train as you. Suzuno texted me your plan. …But, really, if something
does
happen here, aren’t
you
more of a problem than Maou is?”

“H-how do you…?”

“You don’t have a cell phone, right, Ashiya? How are you supposed to contact anyone?”

“I-I was planning to look for a pay phone, but…”

“…I kinda figured that’s what you’d say. If you don’t have any way of making contact… Maou doesn’t know you’re tailing him, right?”

“Um, yes, well, I thought it would be distracting if Emilia found me, so…”

There was no doubting the merits of that suspicion, but it begged the question of why Ashiya hadn’t at least tried to prepare a little more for the covert op.

“Well, I can lend you my cell phone if we need it. Let’s get going. We’re going to lose them!”

Pressed on by Chiho’s urgency, Ashiya clambered to follow before a question occurred to him.

“But, Ms. Sasaki, why are you…?”

Ashiya immediately regretted this bit of indiscretion once he saw Chiho’s face pointed at him.

“I know this is the right thing, but I’m still worried!”

“…Ah. My pardons.”

Chiho and Ashiya clambered up the escalator, attempting to keep Maou in their sights.

He was due to meet with Emi at the ticket gate near Korakuen station’s Marunouchi Line entrance.

Peering intently at the station map, Maou pulled the hand of Alas Ramus below as he began climbing a flight of stairs. He thought Alas Ramus might be tired out after walking all the way up from the Namboku Line turnstile, but instead she was running at full steam, prodding Maou to hurry up without even breaking a sweat.

Chiho, looking on afar, smiled a little bit to herself. The smile survived for only a moment.

“…!”