# stomach jitters Part I

Week 1

She was driving him bonkers.

What had he been thinking?

Sure, they needed more manpower at McRonald's.

Sure, he had wagered if he pestered her enough, she would apply here.

Sure, he had been technically prepared for the possibility, but figuratively?

He had thought it would take her a lot longer to cave.

Dealing with her from afar had been taxing enough, but with her in such close proximity?

He didn't know if he could handle it.

He had tried to get out of it on the first day he discovered he had a shift with her.

It was an irrational overreaction, but he went so far as to pretend he had a fever so he wouldn't have to deal with her.

Ashiya would have none of it though. So he had to go.

And it was a nightmare.

The male employees were jealous because he was the one training her. Could you believe that?

It pissed him off! They had no idea what a pain she could be.

Dammit, did she have to be that popular?

To make it worse, she haaaad to be better than him at everything.

Why the hell did she have to be better at everything she tried?

Even Misaki-san admitted Emi was probably more efficient than Maou and grasped things quicker.

Fine. That was fine. He could deal.

It was irritating, but it also humbled him a bit. So fine.

He would deal with these minute changes at his workplace.

What he couldn't deal with was Emi being somewhat 'nice'. To him.

What the hell was up with that?

He was too used to 'not nice'. It wasn't fair to him to suddenly change that aspect of their relationship when he had already resigned himself to 'not nice'.

He couldn't handle it.

How was he supposed to act around an 'Emi' that was 'nicer' than usualto him?

It terrified him.

It made him feel weird. Like really weird. And he didn't like it.

He didn't know what this new, restless feeling in his tummy was, but it was driving him crazy.

Arghf. He knew it.

She lived to irritate him.

No doubt about it.

She. Was. Intent. On. Driving. Him. mad.

And Oh. He really would prefer it if she called him Maou-san instead of Sadao-sempai.

Emi calling him by his first name and attaching the sempai suffix to it was too cute in a very disturbing way, and he didn't think it was wise to allow himself to get used to it.

Emi was the type who could turn from vulnerable kitten to ferocious beast in a matter of seconds and he liked to make sure he didn't get too caught up in either versions of her. He had felt the brunt of that mistake before.

But of course, she just did whatever suited her regardless of what he wanted.

That was Emi for you.

…..

Week 2

The restless feeling in his tummy had settled down a bit.

It still acted up around her sometimes, but he had gotten good at ignoring it.

She was still behaving all pretty and nice with him. And it was still driving him bonkers, that.

But he had gotten somewhat used to it.

He had forced himself to focus on the positives during the week.

One. Even if she was being 'nice', she wasn't being too 'nice'.

She still snarked at him from time to time. So that was a relief.

He didn't know what he would do if she stopped snarking at him.

Probably shake her hard; fall at her feet; and beg her to pleasepleaseSnark at him in tears.

Thank God he didn't have to resort to that sorry act.

Two. It was kind of nice, he supposed.

I mean, yeahh, it gave him random 'stomach jitters,' and occasional attacks of 'the awkward', and suure, it was really weird they weren't biting each other's heads off like before, but he felt this tempered, almost friendly snarking wasn't so bad either.

It almost felt like they were 'getting along'.

God forbid. If he said that out-loud, she would tell him to go die [or, go take a hike since she was being 'nicer' now…]

But he wondered wistfully if she was finally coming to some sort of conciliatory terms with her hatred for him after all?

I mean, he would absolutely hate it if she suddenly decided he was a waste of her time and returned to Ente Isla without him, however, he wouldn't be opposed to Emi thinking he wasn't so bad, and seriously considering that maybe him conquering Ente Isla wasn't such a bad outcome for all of them.

Yeah. He could definitely get behind that sort of change in Emi.

Maybe she would even be willing to help him in his endeavor.

That would be reaal sweet. Not very likely though.

He could almost see her sticking her tongue out and laughing derisively at him, "Hahaha. You wish. But it's never gonna happen."

Anyway, that wasn't the point. The point was he didn't entirely dislike Emi's fresh demeanor.

They were spending a lot more time together than he was used to, but he didn't really mind it.

If he was going to be completely honest, he was even looking forward to it a little these days.

Oh God. What was the world coming to?!

How did it happen that the demon lord was actually looking forward to spending time with the Hero?

What had she done to him?

He had no bloody clue, but as long as she didn't disappear on him like before he was content to go with the flow.

He didn't much care to dwell on the mysteries of it anyway.

He had a nasty feeling the realities of his potential discoveries would be much more frightening than he cared to figure.

Yup. He was better off not knowing.

Week 4

They had settled into a somewhat comfortable routine, stomach jitters and all.

They had even gotten into the habit of walking to their favorite intersection or the station together after shifts.

Like today.

However, there was an odd kind of tension hanging in the air between them now.

He broke it.

"Are you going?" he asked abruptly.

He noticed she was distracted. It irked him.

"Huh?" she responded, startled out of her thoughts.

"The date, stupid ", he said stoically. " Are you going?"

Now, what the hell had possessed him to ask about that?

Hadn't he decided he was going to pretend he hadn't heard the eager kid ask Emi out earlier? It was none of his business after all. There went that thought in the trash can.

"Y-you were listening?"

"It's not like I could help listening. I finish my shift around the same time, you know?" he threw back at her, rolling his eyes at her like she was stupid for not realizing that sooner.

He knew she had plenty of admirers at work, but this was the first time somebody had the gumption to directly approach her.

"Y-you should have waited outside until we were finished. Now that I think about it, you interrupted us before I could reply. You even barged in casually and acted like nothing happened. I-I thought you hadn't heard."

"Well, I did. Besides, even if I hadn't heard anything, it would have been obvious to anybody what was going on. You were so damn red. You know, you're pretty red right now too." He scoffed drily, an unnecessary bite to his voice.

So she turned red like a fire truck for things like this too.

She was cuter than usual when she looked like that, but somehow, he didn't like it this time. He had thought she only did that with him and only because she was angry or embarrassed.

Her red face - what did it mean this time?

"Sh-Shut Up!" she stuttered angrily, "Why did you interrupt us and act like nothing happened?!"

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"I thought you would appreciate the interruption. I was trying to be tactful. Just to be annoying. Or all three. Take your pick."

He suddenly halted.

"Wait a minute?! You're not actually thinking of going, are you?" he asked incredulously, finally catching on to her indecision. He didn't know why, but he was incredibly annoyed.

She had no bloody business looking so red and pleased because some stupid human kid who didn't know any better had asked her out.

"S-So what if I was?!" She snapped back at him, thoroughly irritated.

"You're kidding right? You're the Hero. You can't go out with some regular kid from this side of the world."

"Says Who?" she snarled at him, just to be contrary and added, "And that goes for you too, doesn't it!"

"Says the Demon Lord!" he bit out, and countered as casually as he could, "I'm not the one considering dating anybody from here, you know. Unlike you?"

"Then all the more reason for the Hero to disregard the Demon Lord's input, right?" she countered smartly, "And who said I was considering it? It's none of your business anyway."

"You're right. It's none of my business", he agreed pleasantly, even though in reality he felt really bitter for some reason and he didn't have a good comeback on the ready right then.

"Don't rain on my parade then. I don't see why you're so upset about this". She tilted her head to observe him, confused. She seemed to sense his unusual inner turmoil over the matter. "I mean, what's the big deal? You went out on a date with Chiho-chan once, remember?"

"That wasn't really a proper date, you know? She just needed some advice. And you happened to interrupt that one too, if you care to remember it more clearly?"

"Well, Duh. What kind of Hero would I be if I let an innocent, impressionable young girl go out with the big bad demon lord? It would have been akin to skinning a lamb alive."

"You've certainly got an unpleasant way of wording things when I am involved, Don't you?

She raised her brows at him condescendingly.

He sighed.

"Well, what kind of Demon Lord would I be, if I let the Hero go out with some unsuspecting, foolish kid who didn't know how vicious she could be? It would be akin to disillusioning every romantic bone in his body and scarring the sensitive boy for life.

"Ha Ha Ha…very funny." she said, infuriated.

He could feel the angry ticks forming on her forehead and her fingers itching to smack the smug, well-meaning look off his face.

"I think it's pretty noble of me, don't you think?" he continued to bait her intentionally, oddly not for his own amusement, but because he really was unusually aggravated about the whole thing.

Would she actually go on that date with him?

"I think there's something seriously wrong with your logic. You are the Demon Lord. I should be legitimately worried about unleashing you on anybody." Emi continued, equally aggravated, "I, on the other hand, am the Hero. Why should you be worried about letting me loose on anybody?"

…..

He couldn't say anything to that.

"I don't understand." She said tiredly. "I give up trying to figure you out. Are you going to ruin this for me too, like everything else in my life?"

He softened, suddenly feeling guilty. He hadn't meant to give her a hard time about it when he wasn't quite sure why he was so agitated about it himself.

"I wasn't aware this was something worth ruining for you?" he gently queried, very seriously this time.

"Is it so weird that I might be looking forward to going out on a date like a normal girl? I mean, I know I'm not normal and all that, but well, it's just one date. It's not like I like him or anything. I thought if I was completely upfront and tell him not to expect anything and If he was okay with that, then I could go or something… but…well, never mind…I just wanted to go out I guess. Whatever. You win. I'm going to turn him down tomorrow. It's not like I could ever be normal with someone like you around me anyway. I was being silly." She unconsciously burst out in a nervous ramble, gesturing wildly, and tugging on her braid endearingly.

She had completely stunned him with that exposition of herself.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out, stunning her in turn.

She shrugged his apology away, embarrassed.

"Forget it. I wasn't seriously considering it anyway. It's just because you started ribbing me about it and all… I got mad..."

They looked away from each other awkwardly, (he felt those blasted stomach jitters again), and noticed that they had reached the crossing.

An awkward but more comforting silence permeated them, as they waited for the signal to switch to permit pedestrian walk.

"…"

"….."

"Emi…?"

"…hmmm…?"

"If it's a date without expectations you're wanting, then how about going out with me?" he blurted out unexpectedly.

"What?!"

"I said-"

"I heard you! I just thought maybe you would take the chance to pretend you hadn't said anything." she retorted fiercely, flushing more furiously red than earlier.

"Sorry. No can do." he said stiffly, even as he cringed with embarrassment internally.

She turned to peruse him, completely caught off-guard. He stared back at her defiantly, enthralled by her flustered, confounded expression despite himself.

They were so engrossed in deciphering each other they didn't notice the street post signaling green or the vehicles moving past them.

He didn't know how long they stood there staring at each other without a sound.

He thought a world of disbelieving confusion and impossible possibilities passed between them, swirling chaotically in the profound backyard of their wide-eyed defiant orbs.

It absently occurred to him that this was like one of those 'time stood still moments' in the frivolous manga's he distractedly skimmed through during break-time.

He waited nervously for her to recover her senses and yell at him for losing his.

"No." she said quite abruptly and bluntly, jolting him out of his thoughts.

She forced her features to relax into an unsettling, blank ambiguity as if nothing had happened.

Her clear piercing green eyes had darkened to a dull storm.

"Huh? What's with that completely cold and dismissive response?" he pried instinctively, feeling the brunt of her pretended indifference seeping into him.

Maybe nothing had really passed between them and he had just imagined that exchange.

The feeling of time being out of joint for a bit there in the indecipherable oblivion of their gazes-It probably never happened.

"I don't want your pity," she stated unexpectedly, a tiny vulnerable tremble in her harsh voice.

"I'm not- "

"Or kindness. Or anything!"

"But-

"It Doesn't matter! I don't want to spend time with you alone! Not without Alas-Ramus or the others around. "

"….."

The rejection unexpectedly hurt.

It was surprising he was bothered by it. But he felt the sharp bite of it quite keenly.

"..Also," she rambled on flimsily, "you're the type of guy who doesn't have the common sense to dress up for dates on his own, aren't you? Ashiya had to force you to dress for Chiho-chan and you didn't bother to dress-up for our family dates with Alas-Ramus too,…so Yeah, I don't think I want to go out with a half-assed guy like that."

She turned her nose up at him as he narrowed his eyes at her, unbelievably offended.

He knew she was purposefully saying those things to shake him out of his odd mood and get a rise out of him, but her flippant objections still offended his sensibilities, so he set out to pointlessly counter all of them, even the pseudo-non-reasons, in an exaggeratedly slow manner.

"One. I don't do pity. Two. Stop making-up excuses. How shallow can you be to base your rejection on my lack of dress-sense? 3. To make it clear, I didn't dress up for our dates with Alas-Ramus because I was trying to act normal, and pretend it wasn't a big deal when it clearly was! And I can't believe you're holding that against me! Four. I can totally dress up for dates in the future if that's what you like. And Five. Don't you Dare ask me if my expenses can survive dress-ups and dates, because Hell yeah it can. I'll be sure to make sure of that. So there. Any more objections?"

She was really flabbergasted at his speedy outburst.

"You can't really be serious about this whole date thing?" she insisted, looking small and lost.

"I am though. Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" he added quietly but firmly.

"a million. Did you forget? We hate each other. I'm the hero, you're the demon lord. And then there's Chiho-chan. What about Alseif? Suzuno? Lucifer? Everyone in Ente Isla? Oh God, How can you still be going on abo-"

"It's just a date, Emi!"

"….Just a date? … Ooohhh. I see."

She suddenly looked really mad. What set her off now?

"W-what do you see?"

"It's the whole no strings attached deal to it that appeals to you, doesn't it? Are you looking for a meaningless affair without any expectations? Is that it?"

"Huuhhh?" Where the hell was she getting that angle from, dammit?

"I should have known. How depraved can you be?"

She had wildwild eyes right now and he was absolutely sure she would have stabbed him without hesitation if she had her sacred sword out right now.

"Oy, Emi! C-calm down Okay. Its not what your thinking. At all."

"Then what is it?" she snarled at him, "I don't understand…" , she added more hopelessly, stirring him.

"Would it really be so bad if we were to do this?

"What do you mean by it?"

Her piercing, lime-green orbs burned into him with confusion. His own, agitated crimson globes melted into a wistful sadness in response, as he wasn't quite sure himself what he meant by asking her out like that.

He knew he meant it. And that it wasn't just a whim.

Or a temporary, frivolous pursuit. Or some depraved, meaningless agenda for him.

But he also really didn't know what he meant by it. It's not like he had experience with this sort of thing.

Sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose in consternation.

"I don't know." He responded honestly, while looking directly into her eyes." I don't understand it myself."

She looked away from his direct gaze, filling him with uncertainty.

He continued bravely, "I guess I just thought it'd be nice for both of us to get a taste of 'normal' since we don't get a lot of that with the responsibilities of our roles and all…"

"I-I see…"

He couldn't tell if she was pleased or displeased with his answer as she still wouldn't look at him.

Atleast, she didn't seem mad at him anymore. He waited -

"I'm going home…" She said abruptly, "..tired."

Wait, was she going to pretend he hadn't just said that?

It's true that it was strange for him to say things like that, but she had been acting strange recently too. It wasn't fair to blame all of it on him alone. And it absolutely wasn't fair to make him stew about it all on his own.

But he couldn't bring himself to say anything and make more of a fool of himself than he already had.

There were obviously too many barriers between them to go on a stupid, meaningless date together and he'd been too stupid and blinded by unexpected-what-the-fuckness to realize it.

"Oh, I get it. So we're not going to worry about it."

"…" She made a non-committal sound.

"I'll just pretend I didn't just bare myself out to you or anything, shall I?"

"Yeah", she finally responded blankly, "Nothing happened. I won't say anything to anyone about anything. And neither will you. See Ya."

And with that last parting shot, she hastily crossed the street, leaving him behind, feeling a little bereft without her.

And that was that.

They never visited that moment of weirdness again.

That didn't mean he was over it though.

Three months later he still found himself deliberating on it at random moments.

It annoyed him, but almost against his will he couldn't keep himself from piteously brooding over his embarrassing what-the-fuckness phase.

He really just wanted to forget it all, but he ran into her every other day now.

That made it next to impossible to forget.

How was she doing it? Was it so easy for her to brush it all away like it was nothing?

Well, she always had it in for him much stronger than he had it in for her.

Guess all that hatred for him makes it easier for her.

For some reason, the thought made him feel more painfully miserable.

This-this was getting ridiculous.

Emi always had the power to affect him, but she had never affected him this badly before.

What was wrong with him?

He considered asking Chi-chan for advice, but decided against it.

Her feelings for him might get in the way of offering an unbiased opinion.

Suzuno?

Hmm…She seemed like a safer bet.

They had settled into a comfortable relationship though he hadn't responded in the affirmative to her confession, and she didn't explode into irrational fits of jealousy like Chi-chan tended to do.

Chi-chan being a regular human from this world would probably be more helpful than Suzuno, and while he had a good relationship with her too [despite her confession not getting her the desired answer either], her turning green and misunderstanding things when other women were brought up made it hard to ask her advice about other women.

Come to think of it, it probably wasn't very sensitive of him to spring such a thing on Suzuno either.

Well then, he would have to be as vague about the matter as possible if he was going to go through with it.

Alseif and Lucifer were demons, so he doubted they would be much help in this matter. Rather, they would make things more difficult and embarrassing for him if they got wind of it.

He could almost imagine Alsief's affronted visage. He was definitely better off not knowing.

Lucifer being a fallen archangel might know more about humans and have some useful advice for him, but he doubted he would give it freely. He also doubted he would get away without being mocked gleefully about his unholy preoccupation with Emi. He would rather avoid that if he could.

Yes.

Suzuno was the only one he could go to.

…. …. … …

That's it. He had decided.

He would do it tonight.

He would be vague about it, but he would definitely ask her tonight.

He rapped on her door after dinner.

"Suzuno?"

She opened the door, looking up at him curiously, eyebrows furrowed and raised inquisitively.

"Is something the matter? It's rare for you to come looking for me at this hour?"

"Ah, No." he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Can I have a minute alone? There's something I need to ask."

"Yes?"

"Well, I need some advice… can I come in?"

"You have come to seek my counsel?"

She looked smugly pleased.

"A-ah. Yes"

"Pray, tell, what do you seek my counsel on?" that odd respectful dialect in her smooth voice, making him feel like they were living in a different era altogether.

"W-well," he hedged, "there's a guy at work and he was having complex thoughts about this girl, so he came to his sempai for advice and..well, you know.."

"Oh?"

"Yeahhh…."

"So you being the dumb demon lord with very little knowledge about girls couldn't help his troubled kouhei and are now here to respectfully seek my superior knowledge on the subject?

"Hai", he said humbly.

"Alright then. You can come in."

They sat across from each other on the worn tatami mat, with the table between them.

"Proceed, Sir. I will hear you out and see what I can do to help."

"Uhh, right. Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it. Your dilemma?"

"Uhh, yeahh. Umm to make it short, its basically just needing advice on how to get a girl, unreasonably reluctant to go out with you - to go out with you?"

She raised her eyebrows at him and said bluntly.

"Your kohai should just give up. It's disrespectful to pester and force a reluctant girl to go out with a guy she doesn't want to go out with."

His shoulders slumped.

"I-Is that so?"

Suzuno was confused. He looked utterly crushed at her advice, so she tried to back track a bit to make him feel better. He must really want to help this kohai of his.

"O-Oy, Maou. There might be circumstances where you can get around it. Normally, a girl shouldn't be pestered to go out with a boy if she doesn't want to, especially if the girl already has somebody she likes- does this girl-"

"No." he said quickly, sitting up a little straighter.

"Ok then. She might have some reasons she doesn't want to go out with your kohai. Is he ugly? Cruel? Stupid? Do they have some kind of a history or is she simply not interested? I need to know more to be able to help you."

"that um. Well. He's not ugly. He's good-looking. And he is definitely not cruel. Or doesn't mean to be. He's not stupid either. He's a great asset at McRonald's." he said proudly, "And well, I-I'm not entirely sure about those last things. It seems like they know each other well and he might have done something in the past that caused her some grief, but well, he seems really sorry about it and wants to make it up to her but…I-I don't know all the details though." He said hastily, afraid he might have said too much.

"Hmmm… is that so?"

"yeah, just tell me if you have something useful for me or not already!"

"What's with that attitude? I'm going on half-assed information here!"

"R-right. Sorry."

Sigh. Suzuno was baffled. Maou was acting very odd.

"Anyway. It depend on the magnitude of the grief. If it was something she felt like she could never forgive, then it might not work out for your kohai. Sorry."

He looked impossibly depressed again.

"R-right. Of course."

"Maybe if he apologized properly and showed her that he was really sorry. Maybe she needs to know and see that for herself before she can forgive and move forward. Who knows. I'm sorry, Maou. It would depend on the girl and the crime in question."

"en. en. Ah. Thanks. I get it"

He didn't look happy about it when he left her though. It was rare to see Maou this affected about something. Then her phone buzzed loudly, interrupting her train of thoughts.

She picked it up on the second ring and said, "Hello, Emilia?"

….

"S-Suzuno! Hi! You picked up pretty quickly!"

"Yes. I did. You sound pretty odd. Did something happen?"

"What? Ah well, maybe."

"…"

"I'm waiting…"

"I won't go into details and I'm only sharing this with you because I think I might explode and you have to promise you won't mention it in front of Chiho-chan or Rika or anybody else before I go on!"

"O-Okay Emilia. If it's a matter of such deep magnitude and secrecy, I promise I won't. What is it?"

"I-I got asked out by umm, I guess, two sempai's at McRonalds about a month ago. And I, well, I sort of turned them down but I can't seem to forget about that second date request entirely. "

"…Is that all?"

"W-what do you m-mean, is that all? I-Its a date. Its something of the utmost importance to a girl you know! And honestly I tried to forget about it. As a Hero, I can't really be thinking about these things, but it's been stuck in my head for days now. "

"S-Sorry. You're right. Well, If you like him and you're thinking this much about it, then why don't you just go? There's no harm in trying it out, right?"

"What are you talking about? I don't like him at all! And I'm the Hero! I can't date him!"

"Huh? What did the guy do to get on your bad side this soon? He doesn't know you're the Hero, right? "

"t-that's not it! He didn't! Well-"

"W-wait! Is it Maou-"

"N-N-NO! NONONONONO"

"O-Ok. So why are you thinking about this date request so much?"

Suzuno was absolutely sure now that Maou was one of the sempai's who had asked Emi out.

"Well, b-because he said he wouldn't be expecting anything from me, and well, it would give me "a taste of normal", something I've never had since..well. . It's the same with him..I-I mean, he apparently has some grand family issues and he wants some normalcy in his life too…is what he said, so..W-what do you think?"

Maou's odd behavior earlier made complete sense now and she was shocked.

Were the Demon Lord and Hero actually becoming more than a little interested in each other?

Were they falling in love with each other but unable to recognize it because they were so adamantly against it?

"Suzuno?..."

She felt a sharp stab in her chest. She was still a little bit in love with Maou after all, but she understood.

"You should do it."

"W-what?"

"You should do it, Emilia."

I'm sorry, Chiho. I know that I am breaking your heart by encouraging this, but it can't be helped.

You and I are the same. So please don't think badly of me.

It had never occurred to her before, but somehow, Maou and Emilia just seemed right for each other. They would be a good influence on each other. Neither she nor Chiho would be able to match the incredible history and complicated feelings that connected those two.

God, they already behaved like estranged lovers. All they needed was the actual building up of feelings to solidify their bond and it looks like they are finally headed that way now.

"B-but.."

"Its Okay. No one will have to know. Just go and see if you can enjoy a day with this person. I won't tell anyone about this."

"Suzuno…"

"I promise."

"I-I- thank you."

"Atleast promise me you'll think about it?"

"Sigh, I-I'll think about it."

"Ok. Good. Bye."

"Bye."

She had gone and done it.

She had just set up a date between the Demon Lord and the Hero.

What was she doing?

She was already having second thoughts about this, but she was still convinced she had made the right decision. A million things could go wrong on this date, but she was sure now that the Demon Lord and Hero were meant to be.

Maou better be grateful for her behind the scenes effort. It was clear to her he really did want to go on this date with Emilia.

Sigh, it was actually quite funny now. Neither of them knew that they had both come to the same person to seek advice about the other and that she now knew about them.

Her and Chiho's heartache aside, she was almost looking forward to seeing how the events surrounding this date will unfold. Almost.

At least Alas ramus will be utterly overjoyed to know her mama and papa are getting on well.

Her happiness might serve to mollify everybody else's horrified reactions.