Ex-V: Hey there! It's such a pleasure to see you again! You guys are so wonderful, you said such nice things about me and about the last chapter of this story! I really hope you like this one too :)

MysteriousGexpert: Thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear that you like it, I spend a lot of time writing out templates for my characters, all sorts of different templates, to control the dialogue, because writing dialogue is one of my favorite things to do :D

SSTrans: You're the best, I appreciate you so much!

Naryu: I'm so happy that you liked it, I hope you dig the direction this story is heading in!

Coldwire: Thank you, thank you! Yes, I'm so excited to be able to focus on fanfiction again, I can't wait to be done with my last hundred pages, I really just want to write fanfiction all day again! I hope you like the new chapter :D

Reiuji: I really can't thank you enough for saying that, It means the world to me :') I will work as hard as I can to make you happy!

KFC black guy 25: Here's the next chapter for you! I hope you like it, but in case you don't, see if you like any of my other Devil is a Part Timer stories better, I have about twenty something Maou x Emi stories on my page! Hopefully, I can make you happy with some of them!

aVidReaDEr069: Oh my goodness, thank you so much for saying that! I'll be done pretty soon, and then I'll be able to devote all my time and attention to trying to make you happy with my stories again :D

NoirShip: I saw your reviews on my other stories, and I was so delighted to read them! Honestly, I really can't tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that, I will work my hardest to keep you happy, and to keep posting and updating my stories every week! From now on, I'll keep having more and more time to write fanfiction, and my stories will be getting more and more updates, more and more often! As for Mirror, I already posted the next chapter for that one, and it's pretty long! I have the next few chapters of that story already written out as well, and I will be updating it again very soon! I hope you like it, and I hope you like this too!

Thank you all so much, from the bottom of my heart! You guys mean the world to me!

(The next day)

The King of Hell, the Hero, and a Brunette sat together, outside in the sunshine, stirring their drinks.

"So." Emilia glanced at the Demon king, disparaging, and he sighed, as if in anticipation. "You said you were going grocery shopping."

"What about it?" He replied, confrontational and already irritated, as Rika giggled, plainly delighted. "I'm going tonight."

The brunette looked back and forth between the Hero and the Demon King.

"You didn't go yet! You didn't go, and Tonight is too late!" Emi glared daggers at him, brows furrowing. "It's way too late, and not even close. You get out at nine!"

"The grocery store closes at eleven." Maou leaned in towards her, patiently.

"And your daughter gets home at two thirty!" Emi wasn't having it, shaking her head, furious; stubbornly, she sniffed. Rika giggled again, thoroughly enjoying her favorite day-to-day entertainment. "And she'll be hungry, but nooo... You're going at Nine! Nine, so I guess she'll go hungry, and I'll have to explain that Daddy doesn't love her enough to make a quick trip to Stop n Shop-"

Rika spluttered into her coffee, cracking up. The King of Hell stood, abruptly, highly irked. "You can't think of something to make her, anything, out of the deli meat and bread we still have in the fridge?!"

Emi just snarled back at him, hotly. "I see, of course... That's how it is... Not only do I cook for you, clean for you, and do your laundry, but it's my fault when you forget to do the food shopping! I guess that's what I get, for being a woman, isn't it!"

The demon king stared down at her, for a moment, furious, before tilting his head. "Fine. Fine," he answered, in a low, cold voice, exasperated; Maou frowned. "Fine! I'll go now, then, and teleport, so that I don't miss work-"

He made to storm away, grabbing his coffee deftly in one hand on the way by. Emi jumped to her feet, as well, apoplectic and faintly crimson in the face; her heart rate spiked, furiously, in her chest. "No! No, Idiot! Moron! You promised you wouldn't abuse your magic like that-!"

Maou just waved, smoothly, to her, saying nothing, already stalking away. Rika cast Emilia a brief, apologetic look, and gave chase, hiking her skirt briefly up with one hand and hanging on to her coffee with the other.

With some difficulty, The older woman caught up to the Demon King, who shot her a brief glare.

"You know what this is, Rika. You know, don't you?" He scowled, sipping his coffee and sliding his coat on over his shoulders; highly irritated. Rika just nodded, still smiling subtly, secretively, to herself; she made a concerted effort to keep up with his long, striding pace. "She's been doing this for months, since we got back from Ente Isla-"

"Picking fights with you?" The older woman cackled. "Starting arguments over nothing, and acting suspicious?"

Maou stopped short, blinking; his eyebrows rocketed up, and he took a quick breath, eyeing her warily. The King of Hell crossed his arms, before rounding on her, and Rika stepped back, innocently, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You really do know, don't you...What she's hiding, you know! She told you!"

His voice sounded almost transfixed, mesmerized. His heart hammered inside him, as a tiny voice in the back of his mind whispered to him that Emilia might... She might have...

"Who, little old me?" the brunette nearly guffawed, covering her mouth sneakily with one hand. "Why, I have no Idea what you're implying..."

"You know." Maou accused, half-lamely. His eye twitched, slightly. "Of course you know... Tell me-"

His tone spiked, urgently, on the last notes of his sentence, but Rika only turned away, delighted. "You wanna know? You want me to tell you, what she's hiding? Why she keeps bickering with you, like this, and blushing whenever you look at her-?"

The silence, the silence in the wake of this statement washed over Maou like a titanic wave.

"No, You have to tell me-" The demon king almost begged, his tone pleading. "We were doing so much better, before the incident... In Ente Isla..."

"You mean, you were getting closer-?" She needled him, charmingly, and cackled when he snapped her a dirty look.

He trembled, though, as Rika didn't look at all convinced; closing her eyes, smugly.

"Tell me!"

"Isn't it obvious, Maou-?" The older woman gloated, thrilled.

"How can we be good parents...?" He managed, at last, desperately, after wracking his brain for a moment. "That was the whole point of moving in together! If it stays like this, If-?!"

Rika chortled, pleased, but somewhat reticent. "Oh, fine... Look at you, bringing up Alas = Rasmus... Like she's the real reason you want to know-"

Maou growled at her, covering his face with one hand and staring out at her through his fingers; well aware that Rika knew far too much about him...

The older woman had been teasing him for ages, claiming that he had feelings for Emilia. Which he did not...

Obviously!

"Just tell me, Rika. You know this is getting really old-!"

"That's what you think..." She chuckled again, slightly remiss, and shrugged when Maou glared at her. "Look, it's her secret. She told me in confidence, so you'll have to talk to her about it."

"Rika!" He hissed, highly aggravated. "Tell me!"

Meanwhile, she started walking again, smug, and he was following behind her, beside her, gesturing madly.

"Rika!"

"I can't, it wouldn't be right-" She sang, sweetly, poking his chest slyly. "But trust me, you should ask her! Oh, you definitely need to ask her..."

Rika guffawed, again, chortling. She seemed utterly thrilled, Maou noted sourly.

"What makes you think that's a good idea?" The King of Hell growled, eyes wide and glaring away. "That we won't descend into a bitter, bitter fight? If I just up and ask her, hey... What's your secret? You know, what have you been hiding from me, the past few months?"

"That's exactly what you should say. Say exactly that-" Rika cackled, having too much fun.

"It'll be a bloodbath! Rika, dont pretend it would go well!" He snapped, holding his head in one hand.

"No, no… You're right." She chortled, waving him down with one hand. He twitched, as she took pity on him from her pedestal, on high. "Let me tell you what you really need to say…"

Maou blinked, raising his head. Suddenly, Something in the tone of her voice was highly disturbing…

"This is what you say, Maou…" Rika whispered, covering her mouth with one hand and shuffling up close to his ear. "Say, 'Hey, Emi… Do you have feelings for me?'"

Maou stopped short.

The world also stopped.

(That night)

Emi wasn't talking to Maou.

Facing away from him, at the dinner table, with her back squarely to him, and giving him the harshest of cold shoulders, she fed Alas = Rasmus her dinner, chopped up hot dogs and steamed veggies.

Joyously, the child clapped her hands, unaware, in her blissful, childlike ignorance, that her mother and father were fighting again.

The King of Hell, for his part, was still reeling.

Rika's voice played on repeat in his mind, tormenting him, as he looked at the Hero in an entirely new, uncomfortably pleasant, light.

You need to say, Hey, Emi... Do you have feelings for me?

Maou cursed, to himself, in his mind.

That's what I need to say? Bullshit it is!

Even so, some tiny voice, in the back of his mind, was niggling at him.

What if she does love you? Wouldn't that make a lot of sense?

The king of Hell was trying desperately to contemplate this rationally, without letting his emotions get involved.

It didn't seem to be paying off.

"That's good, Sweetheart... Yes... " Emi cooed, softly, to her child, feeding her a spoonful of chopped carrots. "It's good that Daddy finally figured out how to make simple purchases, isn't it..."

"It's good?" Alas = Rasmus echoed, mildly confused, but not too troubled.

"You're really that mad?" Maou growled, balancing his chair back on two legs. She ignored him, coolly.

"Yes... Daddy is a moron, isn't he..." Emi continued, flushed, unwilling to face him. "Can't even go grocery shopping without his godlike magic powers-"

"Moron?" The child repeated, lost. Unable to get any clarification from her parents, the little girl decided just to enjoy her food, opening her mouth and swallowing the spoonful of minced hot dog.

"Shouldn't your priority be the food she needed?" Maou bristled. "I got her the food. Why does it matter if I teleported-"

Alas = Rasmus giggled; perhaps she sensed that at some level, both Maou and Emi were enjoying their little spats.

"That is the priority, yeah!" Emi whirled around, at last; scowling at him, with one eyebrow raised, utterly Unimpressed. "Which is exactly why it's so pathetic... Pathetic! That you couldn't take care of it, until it was so late that you had to teleport!"

Maou said nothing, for a moment, musing.

He stared over at her, transfixed, almost unable to believe what Rika claimed was happening in her heart… If it was true, the subtext of their entire relationship…

No, their entire lives, together…

He watched her turn away again, sniffing, and saw her turn her nose up, haughty.

Then again, if Rika was lying… If she was just messing around, he would probably die.

The King of Hell felt something strange, something incurable, stirring in his heart.

It wasn't like he had feelings for the Hero, of course.. Of course, he was just curious. He needed to know, obviously, He just…

Emilia was still muttering, darkly, under her breath, and feeding Alas = Rasmus.

"Emi." In something of a trance, Maou cleared his throat; rubbing the bridge of his nose. She twitched, ears pricking up, but didn't face him. Something, something in the tone of his voice was off, and she was instantly wary, heat beginning to rise in her face…

"What-?" she snapped, aggravated by the light blush that was already dusting her cheeks.

He paused, briefly silent. The space between them felt like a vacuum, like a universe of distance.

"Do you... love me?"

His words seemed to echo through the kitchen, hanging in the air, with the weight of an exploding star.

Ex-V: I hope you had a good time reading this chapter, I'll put the next one up within the next few days if you like!

I've also got a bunch of other stories to update, but I'll have much more time to write and update fanfiction as the weeks go by! This summer will be another summer full of fanfiction from me, so I hope you'll be happy with some of it!

Please, let me know what you think, and I'll be in your debt forever!