The time turned out not to be the issue this time, but the idea waterfall is starting to get stuck though I finally managed to get enough creativity (or something like that) to finish this chapter. Please enjoy!

The World God Only Knows

The End of Our Short Time

Chapter 6 – Tactical District Chief

Yukie was being her usual self, despite the fact that the contract she had with Haqua as her buddy had been released. As she had another door slammed on her face, the old woman looked up at the darkening sky with worry.

"Oh my, it looks like it's going to rain soon," pushing her Gokult cart in a rush, she hurriedly went to the next houses while completely unaware that she wasn't seeing dark clouds.

The clouds formed into the shape of the escaped loose soul as it flew away to find a host to hide in.

The valedictorian demon was woken up by the sound of the emergency alarm, prompting her to sit up immediately on her bed, "Emergency, emergency! All district chiefs please gather in the hall! I repeat, all district chiefs please gather in the hall!"

"I really don't miss hearing that loud announcement again," Haqua commented as she took her scythe with her before she went out and headed for the hall.

Haqua passed by Elsie's room, completely unaware of her calls, as she hurriedly went to the hall along with other district chiefs from the loose soul capturing team. Dokuro was showing them a magical screen which showed that one of the captured loose souls were missing from the list. A blurry footage was shown next as the escaped loose soul left Hell and was heading for the human world below them.

With instructions from Dokuro, the district chiefs were divided into different teams to track the spirit's location. Haqua had teamed up with the other district chiefs she hardly even knew, except for a certain demon who hadn't shown her face that morning. She looked around at the other groups who had started leaving the hall for the human world, but she saw no trace of her anywhere.

"Where's Nora?" Haqua asked the other devils in her team, but none of them had any answers for her and she let out an annoyed sigh, "We can't wait for just one demon to show up. We need to move now before that spirit makes a mess like before," The other devils reluctantly followed Haqua's lead as they headed down for the human world along with the remaining groups.

The sight of many houses soon came into sight, but there wasn't a single trace of the loose soul anywhere. The devils of the loose soul capturing team were spread out throughout the city to try and track the location of the spirit, though none of them made any progress. They were completely disorganized despite already put in teams so they could work together.

Haqua was on her own as well, but her own experience with the previous capture along with her knowledge on the soul's attributes gave her a better lead. The problem, however, she was on her own and she would definitely need assistance to recapture something far above her level of magic power. On the other side, her pride forced her to wander on her own as she tried thinking of another plan to try for a solo capture on her own.

Haqua observed the Maijima coast from the sky as her spirit sensor started reacting. It was just as she expected that the spirit was trying to recover itself and hid in a place filled with negative energy. She held the small detention bottle she was given before trying approach the rocky terrain, only to be tackled away by a powerful force from behind.

"Out of my way!" Haqua recognized the familiar voice as she regained her balance and looked at the devil hovering below her.

"N-Nora?!" Haqua called out, but Nora was focused more on the enlarged detention bottle she was carrying.

"Come out, already! We already have a deal last night!" Nora called out before she approached the coast.

"Last night…?" Haqua's eyes grew wide as realization finally hit her, "Don't tell me…"

A bunch of dark clouds suddenly came out of the hole on the rocky terrain and headed straight for the two unexpecting devils, flying quickly and away from them. Ignoring Nora's condition completely, Haqua sped away using her hagoromo to chase the spirit as it flew towards the other devils.

Haqua finally landed in front of a familiar building as the dark clouds were covering the whole building, "This place…"

"Haqua, is that you?" the sudden call after seeing the sight in front of her made Haqua let out a surprised gasp.

"K-Katsuragi?" Haqua was surprised at the sudden appearance of the God of Conquest, "W-Why are you here?"

"This is Maijima High School grounds, you know," while holding his PFP, Keima pointed at the school building behind him, "What are you doing outside that building again anyway?"

"It's… work! I'm doing my job here, so if you're not going to help then don't get in my way!" Haqua told him off while the God of Conquest just continued with his games.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Keima replied shortly before walking away, only to have the blade of the scythe in front of his face.

"W-Wait, why are you leaving just like that?" Haqua asked, but she only got a confused look for an answer, "I haven't seen you for a while and you're just going to leave me like this?"

"What do you-OW!" Haqua had hit him with the blunt side of her scythe, "Hey, what was that for?!"

"Katsuragi… you really are…" out of rage, Haqua swung her scythe at him, "AN IDIOT!"

"GWOOOHHH!" Keima was sent flying towards the nearby bushes, only to be followed by an explosion coming from the old building.

The impact of the explosion caused Haqua to be sent flying towards Keima and drew the attention of the other devils nearby. When the dust had cleared out, the escaped loose soul was surrounded by the members of the loose soul capturing team. The spirit looked more powerful than Haqua remembered and its growing power easily foiled the devils' capture attempts.

"Haqua! Are you okay?" Elsie had approached her as well, much to her surprise, "I heard an explosion here and saw you, so-Kami-sama!"

Elsie cut her worries short once she saw Keima, whom she tackled into a hug, "H-Hey! Elsie, stop it! You're going to break my PFP!"

"Elsie, what are you doing here?" Haqua asked as Elsie slowly released the struggling gamer from her hold, "Only district chiefs and above are sent here to take care of this!"

"But… I saw you and the others leaving…" Elsie played with her fingers as she pouted, "I don't want to be left behind…"

"Forget about that!" Keima spoke up to gain the attention of the two devils beside him, "I'm already done being involved with your Hell business, so why am I still in danger of losing my life because of that thing again?!"

"The loose soul…" Elsie looked at the rampaging loose soul before turning back to Haqua, "Haqua, do your thing again like that last time! That… that thing with your hagoromo!"

"I can't do the sealing barrier with just my own hagoromo," Haqua looked at the loose soul, "It's too big and it's running wild!"

"Then I'll get the others to help like before!" Elsie flew off before Haqua could get another chance to talk.

"You can't do it on your own, huh," Haqua turned to Keima after hearing his comment to see that his eyes were back to the screen of his PFP, "There are times when a conquest has to be done while working with multiple people. Each of them can have a specific role assigned to them, but real people aren't reliable enough to do their job right."

"A specific role assigned-wait, did you just say that I can't do my job right?!" Haqua glared at him as she pointed her scythe at him, "I'm a district chief and I can do what I'm supposed to do correctly!"

"Hm… that didn't work," Keima's comment on his games only made Haqua even upset, though Elsie had landed next to her before she could do any more harm to the gamer.

"Haqua, they said that they're waiting for your plan," Elsie reported, "Let's try and recapture it with everyone else!"

Haqua stared at Elsie for a moment, looked at the other devils above them, before nodding and turned to Elsie with a confident smile, "Okay, let's go!"

With the combined efforts of the loose soul capturing team available, the loose soul was recaptured in a new detention bottle. With their job finished, the devils had started leaving and went back to Hell while Elsie and Haqua were staying behind for a few more minutes. Elsie obviously wanted to stay longer with Keima and her friends from her band, but she wasn't allowed to even come back in the first place.

"You two are going back to Hell?" Keima asked with his usual poker face while his eyes were still glued to the screen.

"Yeah…" Haqua spoke up quietly, "Our job is finished, so we all have to go back."

"Well then, see you," Keima replied nonchalantly as he turned and walked away, "I'm forced to come for the exams today."

The two devils stood in their place with their minds all over the place. Haqua hadn't expected to be so attached to the human world before she arrived for the first time. She only thought about hunting those loose souls down and making a name for herself as she had graduated at the top of her class. Being the best had been the only thing in her mind then, but now she had more things in her mind. Certain someone, to be exact.

'Is this how our short time ends? Is this how I part ways with him?'