Almaz pounded on the door frantically, as he had been doing for the last three hours. Mao was honestly surprised he still had that much energy, especially because the noise was becoming extremely annoying.

"Mao-sama..!!" Almaz's pitiful voice wavered through the hard wood. Mao's eyebrow twitched; he stood and walked to the door, flinging it open with enough force to give Almaz's forehead an imprint of the wood that would remain for a whole day.

"Who are you calling Mao-sama? You're the Overlord! You're above everyone!" Mao began angrily, and Almaz cowered from the floor, rubbing at his bruised head with tears in his eyes.

"Mao-sama-" At Mao's glare, he swallowed roughly, "Mao... I can't be the Overlord! Can't I just make you the Overlord instead?"

Mao sighed, "No. The only way anyone could become Overlord is by killing you, or by you appointing an heir and then dying."

"B-but! Mao-sama! I'd make a terrible Overlord," he scrambled to his feet; Mao almost instantly nodded, agreeing.

"You've got to help me!"

Mao instantly froze, "...what?"

"Teach me to become a good Overlord! What am I supposed to do! I'm just a lowly human without any training for this kind of thing. I hardly know how to rule a school, much less an entire Netherworld."

"Pfft.. teach you?" Mao shook his head in disgust. What did his father see in this guy anyway? He was just a crying, loser, hero-wannabe. "And what do I get out of it?" His glasses shined eerily.

Almaz looked at him tearfully, "Y-you'll be helping a frien--"

The pencil Mao had in his hand snapped in two as he growled, "No one is my friend, let alone you!"

"Mao-sa--..." he took in a breath and assessed his friend, "Mao, do you still have to pretend even though you managed to open your heart to me?"

"I DID NOT." Mao protested once more, indignant, his face flushing red and voice growing louder from sheer embarrassment.

Almaz shook his head and sighed at Mao's constant self-denial, "Then how did I get my title back?"

Mao bit his lip at that one, "Well, maybe, I, just didn't find it precious anymore. After you died." The last part was said shortly and quietly, and Almaz felt like kicking himself for bringing it up.

He turned his head, "So you're saying that it was only precious while I was alive?"

"You wanted your title in order to return to the human world, didn't you?" Mao murmured, uncharacteristically tame, with a hint of sadness.

Almaz started, staring at him, "B-but I still had the title after being brought back to life..."

Mao simply shrugged and glanced away as he spoke, "Maybe that was... good enough. I was selfish to try and keep you here, and you ended up dying because of me. You also said you couldn't leave me alone, right? How could I take your title after that..?"

Caught off guard by his sudden openness, his eyes softened as he looked at the demon, "Mao... you're really..." Before he could finish the sentiment, Mao turned to him and pointedly glared.

"Shut up-- I'm in the middle determining whether I want to assist you or not!"

He knew that wasn't why Mao wanted him to be quiet, but he didn't finish his sentence anyway.

After a brief moment, Mao began to cackle, "Yes...yes! Sure, I'll help you out. But in return, you must become my experiment... I let that Super Hero get away from me, but I have a perfect specimen right in front of me." Almaz's body stiffened as Mao's glasses fogged up as he began to drool a little, "Haa...haa... oh, I wonder how much your body has changed since I last looked..."

He immediately started to regret everything when Mao's glasses twinkled in his direction and he, before he could even turn to run, was dragged into Mao's room-cum-laboratory.

"Wh-What-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T DO THAT..! MAO! THIS IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT..!!"