The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 1 (14 page)

Aboveground, the scene was chaotic, as if someone had dropped a hornet’s nest right in the middle of downtown.

Yasukuni Street was shut off to traffic, the site of the collapse ringed from far away by several dozen rescue vehicles. A starry field of red and blue lights disrupted the nightscape, and a herd of media vehicles were lodged just outside of the ring.

By the time rescuers made it to the underground corridor, Maou had already extracted all the victims from the rubble. None had any obvious injuries. The teams had arrived nervously expecting a grisly scene; now they were beyond surprise and into a sense of near-panicked disbelief.

The Devil King reverted back to Sadao Maou before the rescue was completed. The effort had understandably exhausted him; he was lying facedown on the ground with the other victims. But, given the circumstances of the scene, no one paid him special suspicion.

Maou, of course, was not about to report his single-handed rescue to the authorities. Once the victims came to, almost all of them rose back to their feet. It was to the point where Emi, with that superficial cut to her forehead, was the most severely injured of them all.

Chiho, put to sleep by Emi, immediately opened her eyes after a light slap on the cheek. Realizing she was back aboveground, she looked at Maou sitting next to her. She moved forward, about to say something, but then closed her mouth.

“Well, at least we’re okay.”

“Y-yeah…”

Chiho looked confused as Maou patted her head, but smiled weakly nonetheless. Paramedics and police officers ran to and fro around them as they corralled the “victims” inside a secure zone.

Seeing Emi Yusa being treated for her injuries inside a nearby ambulance, Chiho tried to recall their conversation before she lost consciousness. For some reason, it was all a foggy blur.

“Excuse me, are you both victims?”

A uniformed police officer sidled up to them, some kind of ledger in his hand.

“You’re both pretty lucky you weren’t seriously hurt. I apologize for intruding, but we need to confirm the identities of all the victims, so would you be able to write down your contact information here? We can use the information to provide compensation and any personal effects we recover later on.”

Several names and addresses were already jotted down on the ledger he handed them.

Maou obediently added his own contact to the list, then gave the book to Chiho, who followed suit.

“Hmm? Say, you aren’t Lieutenant Sasaki’s daughter, are you?” Chiho’s written address had apparently rung a bell in the officer’s mind.

“Um, if you mean Sen’ichi Sasaki from the Harajuku department, then yes.”

The police officer nodded at Chiho’s startled response. “Ah, I thought so. Lieutenant Sasaki’s somewhere out here on the scene right now, too. We’re having parents or guardians pick up the minors here, so I’ll go get him on the radio. Better if the lieutenant knew you were safe first, before he learned you were caught up in this.”

“Oh! Sure!”

As Chiho nodded her approval, the officer took out his radio and started speaking, no doubt calling for her father. Watching him, Chiho began to fidget restlessly.

“Um, Maou…?”

Maou, realizing what Chiho was about to say, gave her a smile, in part to calm her nerves.

“Your dad, right? Yeah, I can imagine. Even if nothing bad happened, I bet he wouldn’t be a fan of you getting involved in this because you were on a date with some guy, huh?”

“…I’m sorry.” Chiho sounded it, from every vein in her body.

“No, no, it’s all right! We’re both okay; that’s the important thing. I’ll see you at work, okay? Next time I’ll teach you how to maintain the ice cream machine. See you!”

His hand waving in the air, Maou walked away from Chiho as she bowed toward him. He turned around after a distance, just in time to see another uniformed officer in front of him, hurriedly jostling his way through the crowd. The man leaped toward Chiho.

“Whoa.”

The officer surprised him into reacting out loud. He knew that face.

Who could have guessed that the officer who discovered Alciel and the wounded Devil King as they wandered down a Yoyogi back road, fresh from escaping Ente Isla and falling into Japan, the man who drove them to the Harajuku police department for voluntary questioning, was Chiho’s father?

“‘Patrolman Sasaki,’ huh? That’s no coincidence. If that guy was responding at all to our magical force back then…”

“Devil King!”

“Gah!”

Maou, lost in thought and recollection, found himself pulled back to reality by Emi’s shout. She stood right behind his back.

“So you’re back to Sadao Maou now, hmm?”

Even with the bandage placed on her forehead, Emi’s sharp eyes were still focused squarely upon Maou. The horns were gone, the demonic legs that ripped through his denim pants now just a pair of pale, hairy legs visible through the rags.

“What do I look like, some kind of wild boar?”

“I’m not here to joke around with you, Maou.”

“I don’t know. It was a total coincidence that I reverted just now. I don’t know what caused it, and that little bit of exertion was all it took to turn back to this form, too.”

Maou found himself replying honestly. Not only was his joke a total failure, but Emi was still staring at him with those deadly serious eyes.

“It’s not gonna help you if you hide anything from me.”

His good-faith effort was meagerly rewarded.

“Man, you’re sounding less and less like a Hero every day. You can keep on stalking me if you want, but I don’t think I’ll be transforming again anytime soon. Though I
might
want to try taking action based on today’s events, you know.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know, go out to eat in more underground food courts, wait around for another collapse.”

“Don’t be stupid with me.”

“Ah, lay off. I’m gonna go home and sleep. I’m tired.”

“Wait!”

“Quit it, would you! Nothing else is gonna happen today, okay? Whether it was a coincidence or not, I had my magic power back, but
your
attack was a total failure.”

Maou unenthusiastically waved Emi off, trying to bring an end to the conversation. But Emi was unwilling to let that final jab go unanswered.

“My attack? What do you mean?”

“You were listening in on me and Chi, right? Like, starting halfway through?” Maou shrugged, exasperated. “No way is what she’s going through normal. All this happened when you and I were here. Someone hatched it on us. I don’t know if it was a sonar pulse or magical interference or whatever, but what I
do
know is, our cover’s been blown.”

Emi’s eyes burst open.

“So our enemy…”

“He’s right nearby, yeah. We just never noticed before. And I bet he didn’t attempt a second stab because I was about to return to my full Devil body.”

“B-but…but what
was
that? We’re in Japan. You can’t refill your strength; I can’t refill mine. How could they unleash this kind of force?”

Maou flashed a wry smile.

“Oh, I have my ideas.”

“What? Oh, come
on
!”

Maou’s expression remained firm, almost cold, against the agitated Emi.

“Not that I’ve got any duty to tell you. It’s not like you could do anything about it.”

Emi contemplated firing back for an instant, but resisted the urge. In his own way, Maou was right.

“But I’ll give you a hint, anyway. Don’t want you getting all panicked whenever things go down.”

“…A hint?”

“Sure. First off, whether it’s indirect or not, our opponent’s throwing around his powers like crazy, whenever he wants to. Think about who could do that in Ente Isla right now, huh? Someone who’s apparently confident that he can kill the both of us?”

Emi had deduced that much by herself. But who? She drew a total blank. Watching Emi lost in thought, a cynical smile grew on Maou’s face.

“Got it yet? I’m going home. I need to think about how to counter him. Plus, I’m tired.”

“W-wait! Wait a minute. I still need—”

“You still need to talk? Great. But how ’bout we take a rain check for today? You got company.”

Maou pointed over Emi’s shoulder. There, they found a figure stretching her body past the police tape behind the ambulances, excitedly waving toward them.

“Rika…”

“Oh, is that your coworker or something? She keeps calling your name, did you notice that?”

Rika Suzuki, still in her work outfit, began waving even more fervently when she noticed Emi’s look of recognition.

“So you
do
have some friends.”

“That’s none of your business! Stop bothering me!”

Emi spat out the words as she turned her back to him.

“Hey, I’m just being jealous. Here, go say hello to her.”

“But…you think they’re going to strike again once things settle down?”

This question came from the heart, the personification of her anxieties. This collapse wasn’t like the flurry of magical blasts from earlier; it had endangered a large number of innocent bystanders. If a third attack was forthcoming, it might get Rika involved next time. But Maou just laughed haughtily, voice full of confidence.

“Doubt it. He declared that both you and I were his targets. If he attacks one of us, that’s gonna set off alarms for the other guy, right? Trust me. I know how an evil villain thinks. I’m the best one out there.”

It wasn’t necessarily something to be proud of, but Maou still puffed up his chest as he spoke.

“Well? C’mon. Don’t keep her waiting.”

He gave Emi a push. It was a less than pleasant experience.

She took a step forward, then whipped her head around.

“Just for today, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah. ‘Don’t try anything funny,’ right? Sure thing.”

He doubted that she believed such an airy reply, and likewise Emi twisted up her face a bit before quickly jogging away. Her coworker behind the tape embraced her, tears running down her face. Her uniform was typical secretary gear, her sandals plain and unadorned. She must have thrown on whatever was handy when she heard the news.

Maou chuckled wistfully to himself. “If she’s trying to demotivate me, she’s damn well succeeding.”

He turned on his heels, preparing to walk away from the scene.

“Your Demonic Hiiiiighness…”

“Agh! Ashiya!”

He nearly collided with Ashiya, not noticing him lurking behind like some vengeful ghost.

“I-I’m so sorry, my liege!”

“What’s
that
from all of a sudden? For that matter, where
were
you?”

Ashiya sniffled pathetically in front of him, wailing as he pointed out an ambulance in the distance.

“I allowed Emilia to approach us… I failed to notice our advancing foe… And you even saved my
life
, my liege! How could I ever… ever
repaaaaaay
you?!”

Maou wearily pushed the dusty, blubbering Ashiya to the side.

“Look, will you shut up? Stop sobbing like that in public. You look terrible. C’mon, let’s go home. You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“N-n-no… No, nooo! Th-thank you for…for
caring
…!”

They were stopped three times by other officers to check their identities as they left; two of the officers gave them information about reparations and nearby hospitals. They then fled, nearly getting caught by the media covering the scene, but nonetheless cheaping out on train fare and walking the entire way from Shinjuku to Sasazuka. It was two hours later by the time they arrived home.

“Oh my
goodness
, what a surprise! You, like, always go down to that food court, right, Emi? I thought maybe you got caught up in all that, and… You know, I was just beside myself!”

Rika, after confirming Emi was fine, broke down in tears, as if the tragedy happened to her instead.

“I couldn’t get you on the phone, you didn’t respond to any of my texts… So I was like ‘oh, no’, so I ran over here, but no way would they let me in… I’m telling you, I was in a
panic
!”

“Sorry to make you worry.”

“No! No, it’s not your fault, Emi! I mean, if anything, it was just bad luck! Or maybe
good
luck, I guess, since you’re okay now! Were you hurt really bad?”

Rika had finally gained enough of her wits to notice the bandage.

“I cut my forehead a little bit. Enough to draw blood. But it’s nothing big. I didn’t need stitches or anything.”

In Emi’s mind it really was a tiny scrape, but to the standards of the average Japanese person, it was worryingly serious.

“So can you go home now?”

“Well, I gave the police my contact info, and the paramedics told me about hospitals and compensation and stuff. They said they’d take me to the hospital once things settle down, but this is really the only injury I have, so…”

“Ooh, well, you better not run off home yet, then! Better at least get a medical note from the hospital. Do you have your phone and some money?”

Emi, amazed by Rika’s utter zeal to help, thought it over.

“I have my phone, but everything else is in my bag, under the rubble. Ahh! My insurance card, my passport…my seal…”

She could feel her blood pressure drop. She just
had
to be carrying all her valuables in one place today.

“Okay, take this. Lemme know once you’re out of the hospital. I’ll meet you over there.”

Seeing her friend in need, Rika quickly took three 10,000-yen bills out of her wallet, pushing them into Emi’s hand.

“R-Rika?”

“Hey, you never know when you’re gonna need it at a time like this! Plus, you don’t want the media catching you, so call me, all right?”

With that, she pushed Emi back behind the tape, making shooing motions with her hands. Emi humored her, looking back once there was enough distance between them. She found a man, presumably media, confronting her, hoping to get a story from someone who spoke with a victim.

Rika was too far away to be audible, but she chased the man away, looking plainly annoyed, before disappearing into the crowd.

Once she was gone, Emi returned to the ambulance that bandaged her and meekly traveled with several other victims to the nearest hospital.