“Oh! Can I visit Suzuno? I have the question to ask her.”
“Hmm? You should be fine…but let’s ask.”
Acieth climbed the stairs behind Emi. The light was on in Room 201, Ashiya’s and Urushihara’s voices just barely audible. His date with Rika must be over, she surmised. A date that filled her with trepidation. But Alas Ramus came first.
“Hi, Bell! Hi, Alas Ramus!” Emi chimed.
“Emilia?”
“Mommy! Hiiii!”
Both voices made their way through the door, one after another.
“Can we come in, Bell? Acieth said she needed to ask you something.”
“Hmm? What is it?” Suzuno asked as she opened the door, letting both of them in after seeing Acieth behind Emi.
“Oh, you work, too, Accith?”
“No, big sis. I bought snacks, a little early.”
“I wan’ some!”
“Whoa, Acieth, don’t show those to her. It’s too late to eat those.”
“Aww, tell me before now…”
“Now, now, Alas Ramus, we’ll save that for tomorrow.”
“Keh!”
Ever since she heard about Acieth and Erone plowing through five-thousand-yen worth of MgRonald combo sets, Emi had grown a measure pickier about Alas Ramus’s eating habits. There was the small but rigid thought in her mind that she couldn’t let her daughter be as gluttonous as these guys.
“Mommy is telling you this so you don’t get cavities, Alas Ramus. You need to be patient.”
“Aww, but Accith’s eating them!”
Suzuno’s lecture had little effect on Alas Ramus, now engaged in a rare pouting session. The sight of the little sister being allowed candy treats while the big sister was barred from them must have put her off. The speed of their respective growth presented certain unsolvable problems like this all the time, but there was no point explaining it to her in detail, so Emi simply put Alas Ramus in her lap and rocked her back and forth.
“So,” she asked Acieth, “what did you want to ask Bell?”
“Not just Suzuno. I want to ask you, too, Emi.”
“Oh? What about?”
“I heard you both go out tomorrow. You will?”
““Huhh?””
Emi and Suzuno both gave her odd stares.
“Go out where?”
“Huh? You are not going?”
“Going where?”
The conversation from the surprised-looking Acieth was going nowhere fast.
“You and Suzuno, you go to Mom’s house, no? I heard.”
““Wha—?!””
That exclamation represented both Emi’s and Suzuno’s surprise.
“If Emi and Suzuno go, then I know Maou go, too, and Ashiya and Lucifer, too?”
“Uh? W-wait a second! Who did you hear that from?!”
Acieth turned toward the frantic Emi. “Chiho said to me, she said, ‘We go to Laila’s place tomorrow’! So I thought you go, too, Emi!”
If Chiho were here, she’d no doubt be rolling on the floor and holding her ears by now. Acieth stuck to her word, mentioning nothing about Rika, but everything else was fair game. She couldn’t be blamed for assuming “we” included Emi and Suzuno, given their cozy relationship, and the fact that Ashiya and Urushihara were enemies of Emi’s was a tad beyond her comprehension. But Emi never told Chiho she was coming, or anyone else for that matter, so having word spread to the contrary wasn’t exactly fair to her.
“We-we’re not going.”
“Uh? No? Suzuno, too?”
“Er, likely not, no. I had no intention, at least…”
Emi and Suzuno didn’t have a clue how this topic came up between Chiho and Acieth in the first place, but neither of them had any intention of going near the place.
“Wait, so when Chiho says ‘we,’ she only means Maou and Ashiya and Lucifer?”
“If you are talking about tomorrow, I heard nothing about Alciel and Lucifer visiting, either.”
“Huh?! So tomorrow, it is just Maou and Chiho and me?!”
Acieth was inserting herself into the equation for the simple fact that she couldn’t be too physically separated from Maou.
“I think my father’s going, too, but…”
“So Dad, Maou, Chiho, and me at Mom’s place… I have the feeling the talking there will be awkward. Nothing to say!”
It was a surprise to see Acieth demonstrate that much care for someone besides herself, but she was right. It was hard to imagine what kind of conversation those members could even have with one another.
“…So, yeah, sorry, but we’ve got no plans to visit Laila tomorrow. If it gets too awkward, you can always go inside Maou’s body, right?”
“Ooh, yes, but going on the long trip like this, you know…”
Just as Acieth was frowning at this—
“Goin’ on a trip, Accith?”
The word trip triggered a flag in Alas Ramus’s mind.
“Uh-huh! To Mom’s place with Maou and Chiho.”
“Daddy and Chi-Sis…”
““Ugh.””
The impending signs of doom emanating from the child atop Emi’s lap caused both her and Suzuno to tense.
“Mommy!”
“Um, what is it, Alas Ra—?”
“Field trip!!”
“F-field trip?” Emi parroted back, tone rising at her daughter’s resolute face, voice, and hands gripped around her arm. “Y-yeah, uh, how about we go to the park by the rail line with Emeralda—”
“No!! Wif Daddy!!”
Emi’s childish feint could never fool Alas Ramus.
“L-listen, Daddy has to go out on an important, um, job? We can’t be a bother to him…”
“Why’s Accith okay an’ I’m not?!”
“Um, well, Acieth is more grown-up than you at the moment—”
“No! I’m big sis!!”
“Y-yes, I know, but…”
The candy refusal earlier had put the child into full rebel mode.
“Uh, it is not really the ‘job,’ yes?”
The added dagger from the absentminded Acieth was enough to put even Suzuno into a panic.
“Acieth! Emilia is not talking about that!”
“Suzunooo, no lieeees! Parents, they do things like that sometimes, but if you think the child is fooled by that, ooh, you think wrong!”
“Why do you only start making sense at times like these?!”
“Mommy…you lie?”
“A-A-A-Alas Ramus, I’m not. I’m not lying! Daddy’s really out on a job, okay? It’s just that—”
“Daddy ’n’ Chi-Sis ’n’ Mommy, all same job! Why don’t you go, Mommy?!”
Describing it as a job was ill-advised. It gave Alas Ramus all the leeway she needed to hang on. She was being weirdly sharp and observant again, like how she was during battle sometimes, and Emi no longer knew if she could talk her way out of this.
“I mean, it’s a different kind of job from normal.”
“Accith said it’s nodda job!!”
“Mm-hmm! Not a job! No sir!”
“Acieth! Please learn to read the room a little!”
“Yeahh, sorry, but if it’s big sis, I take her side, okay?”
“Field triiiiip! Field triiiip wif Daddy!!”
“Whoa! Alas Ramus! It’s late…”
“Nnnnnn-waaaahhhhhh! Fieeeeeeeellllldddd trrriiiiiiiiiippp!!!!”
There was no bottling her up now. Alas Ramus was falling into a tantrum like none before.
“E-Emilia! Do something! I—I have never seen this before!”
“Me neither, Bell! P-please, Alas Ramus, just listen to me—”
“I wanna gooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”
And amid it all, it was Acieth who picked up the howling Alas Ramus and rubbed against her, cheek to cheek.
“Aw, sis, so cute!”
“What the hell’s going on in there?!”
“You’re keeping the whole city awake, dude. What’s up?”
“
What is the meaning of this? I only pray that you have not done physical harm upon poor Alas Ramus!”
“Stay out of here, guys! You’ll only make things worse!”
“Wwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!”
The sound of Maou, Urushihara, and Ashiya all storming out into the corridor and shouting through the door only agitated the child further. She jumped out of Acieth’s arms and toddled toward the front door, Emi and Suzuno falling to their knees and pleading to the heavens above.
“Daaaaddddyyyyyy! Fieeeellllddd trrrriiiiiiiip!”
“Wh-what’s going on? Emi, what’d you do to her to make her bawl that much? Open up, Suzuno! Don’t worry, Alas Ramus! Daddy’s right here!”
The concern was clear in Maou’s voice as Alas Ramus batted her fists against the door, still crying.
“Here I am.”
Acieth, the only person retaining any sense of calm, stepped up to unlock the door without the tenant’s permission. Alas Ramus took the opportunity to bound right into Maou’s arms, tears, snot, and all.
“Fiiieeeelllddd trriiiiiiip! Not just Acieth! Not faaaaiiiirrr!!”
“Huh? What’s not fair?!”
Maou turned to Emi and Suzuno for some assistance. Both of them were still too dazed to offer any.
“Maou, you go to Mom’s house tomorrow?”
“Um? You mean Laila’s place?”
“Big sis, she wants to go, too.”
“Oh? And that’s what’s making her scream at the top of her lungs?!”
“Fwweeeehhhhhh…snif…ngh…”
“All right, all right, calm down… Emi?”
“………………………………………………………………What?”
She held it in for ten seconds before half groaning out the one-word reply.
“Do I take this to mean you’re not gonna go? Seriously?”
“…………………………………………………………………No.”
The news of her refusal never did get relayed to anyone besides Suzuno. Until now. Having it revealed like this was beyond her wildest nightmares.
“Man…” Maou winced, then took closer looks at both Alas Ramus and Emi. “You don’t think I don’t wanna go is gonna work with this girl now, do you?”
“…I can’t just leave her with you or Chiho midway and go kill time somewhere else while you’re gone?”
“Dumbass.”
Emi’s pointless struggling was effortlessly flicked away.
“Laila’s meeting us at Shinjuku, but we have no idea where she’s taking us after that. If we go too far away and she’s thrown back into your body, how’re you gonna explain that to her?”
“……………………Erg.”
Emi groaned, still unwilling to accept defeat.
Even now, she honestly didn’t want to know a thing about Laila. The more she knew about her, she feared, the more the assorted categories of anger she had for her might grow diluted, indistinct. Exactly like it had against Maou. Even if all that anger faded away, there was no way they could ever have a normal mother-daughter relationship.
The mere idea scared her. She had no idea how she should deal with Laila going forward, assuming she learned more about her. She had no idea how Maou and Chiho were going to settle the rift between each other. The weakness writhing in and around Emi’s heart made itself known again—and it took Maou’s calm rebuke to drive it away.
“Look, if you absolutely can’t do it, I won’t make you, but I don’t think Alas Ramus is being so massively selfish here, either. If you can’t win her over and it ends up with her like how it is with you and Laila right now, don’t blame me.”
“…!”
Alas Ramus almost never threw a fit like this. She was much more attentive usually, able to tell right from wrong. If she could tell that Emi didn’t want to go, Emi couldn’t deny that it might spawn feelings of mistrust between mother and child.
Her rejection of Laila was a backward-facing rejection, caused by her failure to face up to the simple confusion and indecision in her mind. Even she knew that Laila was slowly but surely making concessions, gaining a better grasp of what made her tick. That was why Emi had no firm motivation for refusing the request out of hand, and while Alas Ramus might not understand the details, she had a keen sense of her mother’s indecision. That was why she wasn’t listening to her.
“I think, um, time for the giving up?”
“……”
Acieth had to be doing all that on purpose. But Emi had no way of proving it. She looked up, resigned to her fate.
“Mommy…”
“Emi?”
Her eyes met the weepy face of Alas Ramus and the stern face of Maou. She drummed up as much energy as she could, ready to admit defeat.
“…………………………All right. I’ll go.”
THE DEVIL AND THE HERO FACE UP TO REALITY
The western exit of Shinjuku station’s Keio Line, the sight of dramatic events last night that were sadly witnessed by nobody on this planet, had a remarkable number of people hanging out by the turnstiles.
“Whoa! Acieth! No running around! Just sit tight like Erone!”
“Oh, come on, Amane! I can smell it! The curry! It is making me the very pulse pounding!”
“Curry spices don’t work that way, man! Chill out or it’s back home for you, Acieth!”
“And after all that rice she ate before we left… I tell you, Alciel was about to cry his eyes out.”
“Are you feeling all right, Erone? You weren’t scared of the train, were you?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks, Nord.”
“I would thiiink the traaain would be more scared of hiiim…”
“Keep it down, Emeralda! Erone’s got a lot of hang-ups about that, okay?”
“Heavens be! Certainly are a lot of people in this station! Aren’t there, Emilia? Hey, and I wish you could tell that kid to get used to me by now, mm-kay?”
“No thank you. If you want him to, try getting out of Alas Ramus’s sight first!”
“Nnn. Why’s Garriel here…?”
If they weren’t all packed into a corner of the station, they would be a large enough crowd to block the flow of traffic during the evening rush hour right now.
Once all the bickering and carrying on subsided, the group assembled for the big tour of Laila’s Japan residence began with original members Maou, Chiho, and Acieth, then expanded out to Emi, Alas Ramus, Suzuno, Nord, Erone, Amane, Emeralda, and special guest star Gabriel.
“Really, Amane, why is Gabriel here?”
The archangel certainly stuck out from the crowd—both in his social position and in his clothing. He had been Maou and Emi’s nemesis for quite a while now, and even in this early winter day, he was still in his toga and T-shirt.
“Aww,” Amane replied, “well, if Erone’s goin’ on the train, then we all know for a fact that if something happens, I ain’t gonna be able to clean up the mess by myself, right? I think we all learned that the other day.”
“…Would you like some curry, Erone? You, too, Acieth.”
“Huh? Really, Dad?!”
“Are you sure?”
“Nord’s spoiling them again…”
Picking up on Amane’s discussion of the danger Erone posed, Nord decided to distract Erone himself with the stand-up curry restaurant right by the turnstiles, adding Acieth to the mix. Maou normally would’ve stopped them, but he could tell Nord was just trying to save Erone unneeded trauma, so he relented.
“So yeah, um, I’m here ’cause Ammie asked me to help, mm-kay? Mikitty gave me very careful instructions, so I promise I won’t pull any funny business with all you guys.”
“‘Ammie’…?”
Whether Shiba was that much stronger than him or not, why was Gabriel acting so kind to the landlord and her niece, to the point of doing whatever they instructed him to do? It was a riddle to everyone in Villa Rosa Sasazuka.
“Yeah,” Amane herself added. “And, y’know,
they’re all stable now, but there’s no tellin’ what kind of trigger might set Alas Ramus and Acieth off. If worse comes to worst, I’d have to face three Sephirah solo, you see? If you were me, you’d want a little extra muscle, too.”
“Sure thing, Ammie! Gevurah is one thing, but I’m kinda used to Yesod stuff by now, so— Though that pretty couple over there’s sure givin’ me the stink eye, so hopefully nothing happens, mm-kay?”
““We’re not a couple!!”” Emi and Maou intoned.
“““…To the last millisecond,””” Chiho, Suzuno, and Emeralda all sighed in unison.
But Gabriel had a point. Emi had seen Alas Ramus go out of her control once, in the pursuit of Acieth. When fighting Camael’s force in the Eastern Island, Maou could still remember how much Acieth’s personality took on a violent streak. They both had to accept Amane’s assessment.
“But stiiill, do you think we should let Erone and Acieth have curry right nowww? We meet with Laila at siiix, yes? Only five more minutes…”
“Nothing to be concerned about,” Suzuno blithely replied. “I know Acieth is more than capable.”
Chiho, for her part, pointed back at the restaurant. “See? They’re already out.”
“Wha—? That’s rather faaast, isn’t it?!”
It hadn’t even been three minutes since Nord took the two Sephirah inside.
“Mmph. Yes, that will last the thirty or so minutes.”
“Yum…”
“Urp…”
Compared to the completely nonchalant Acieth and Erone, Nord looked blue in the face and ready to hurl at any moment. Noting the horrified looks from the other diners rubbernecking at them from out the entranceway, Emi guessed at what just transpired.
“Must’ve tried keeping up with them. You all right, Father?”
“I—I think so…somehow. But I think I have discovered one of the grand truths of this world, Emilia.”
“Oh?”
Nord glanced sideways at Acieth and Erone—Chiho currently wiping both of their mouths with a handkerchief.
“Curry is really a beverage after all, isn’t it?”
“…”
She knew there was no point convincing him otherwise.
“So that’s what chugging is, then? I thought it was discouraged as hazardous to your health, but…”
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 13 Page 17