A/N: a lot of things happened, so I couldn't update as soon as I can hehe. My bad. Long story short, I had a talk with my older brother about what I want to be when I grow older, and I said I was having a difficult time deciding whether to take on law, or journalism. Anyways, enough about me. I rushed this, so it might sound bad. You'll laugh at the start then hate me in the end hehe. But, please enjoy it okay? I'll take away the omake for the time being, if that's okag. Peace out!
Never in his centuries of living has he ever laid his back upon something this divine. Yes, he only got limited space to move around on, not to mention he's also the kind of person who loves to toss and turn before falling dead asleep in bed. But, that doesn't matter.
Because the couch was, in essence, heaven.
Goodbye, tatami. Say hello to complete comfortableness.
Emi threw in some pillows and a blanket, and, after another snarky comment about his unrivaled ingenuity from his earlier display of not chaining his bike when he should have (he made a good comeback by saying that he could almost see what's underneath her night gown, and she retreated back to her room), he dived right in on the couch like a real professional swimmer.
Only, it turned out to be a stupid idea, because he just smashed his forehead on the armrest. Unrivaled ingenuity.
At first, he thought he wouldn't fit in the whole thing, but it surprised him to learn he could move to his left without risking falling down to the floor.
His own, two feet were dangling over the armrest, and when he woke up the next morning, energized with happy feelings of sunshine, rainbows, and, a bunch of other refreshing happy-go-lucky thoughts, the first words that he said were, 'I could get used to this'.
He looked down, and he saw that he was hugging the pillow she gave him. It made him remember the time when he woke up, spooning Ashiya, and they both screamed so loud after realizing who the other person was.
They promised to never speak of it ever again after that. And, he slept at the far corner of the room in case his 'hugging tendencies' would start acting up again.
"My, what a beautiful morning this is~. Birds are chirping their morning songs outside, as the sun lay its rays upon my poor, sleepy soul~", he swung his legs down and stretched, grateful for the lack of pain on his back.
"Now, what to do, what to do", he was starving. Maybe, Emi could whip up something nice for him. Nah, that's won't happen.
Last night's talk would mean he'll have to break things down to everyone. He already tried predicting what each and every of their reactions would be, and he's positive that what awaits him at home, was bloodbath.
He even considered getting in their good side by flaunting some coupons he snatched at work, but that won't get him anywhere. How about free tickets from Sentucky Fried Chicken? He doesn't have any of those. If he did, that'll be treason of the highest order.
Then, he remembered that Dullahan was gone, and his mood soured down. He felt like he was about to go fuming again, and it almost made him want to hunt down the smartass who's probably happily biking around somewhere with something that was only his. Oh, just you wait…
Dammit, I want to scream again, but Emi and Alas=Ramus might still be asleep.
He pulled at his hair, intent on taking out a bit of strand if it meant it'll calm him down, and he spotted the T.V remote lying next to his foot.
Gotta have to keep myself occupied.
He took the remote and opened the T.V, hoping that whatever channel he'll land at was enough to keep his mind of tha- ah, ah, ahhhh, no thinking today for you, Mr. Carelessness.
He was watching Disney channel, and he thought cartoons just might do the trick. The screen zoomed in on a purple building, and the smooth voice of someone talking in English gave him quite the chill.
Maou could understand most of the words it said, and the scene rolled into a human-looking robot wearing blue pajamas 'waking up' from bed, a catchy song playing in the background.
"Sunshine and bubblegum, happiness, here comes the sun, sunshine, happiness and gum"
He let his eyes close and his head dance along the beat, and he could feel some of his stress starting to ebb away. Yep. Pretty catchy.
"Gumshine, and bubblesun, happiness, we're having fun, happiness, sunshine and gum"
By then, he was already standing up, aimlessly moving around along the song while tapping his foot, and he chuckled at the slight mixed of words at the start. He was worrying a lot about the kiss before the amusement park thing, and now that things have finally settled down, he can't help but remember it all over ag-no, no, no, no. What happened again? Can't remember.
"Go ahead and move with feeling, you can even dance (you can dance)"
His bike was stolen? He's supposed to live in a quest for the sake of the most cutest kid in the world? Still can't remember. Memory-loss could make remembering things all fuzzy-like.
"If you can feel it, go ahead and screeaaam"
Speaking of Emi, he should wake her up, tell her 'thanks' and go right back home. He walked to her bedroom door, dancing on the way.
"If you're worried 'bout the sound, you could always scream into a-"
"Aaaaahhhhh!"
"Yaaaaaaaaa! You idiot!"
What a beautiful morning. The universe must really love messing around with his life. It's like it's only after him, specifically.
The door opened, revealing Emi wrapped in nothing but a green towel around her petite body, drying her hair with another towel. I'm so dead.
The moment their eyes met, they both started yelling as she began giving him his merciless punishment by sending him a barrage of kicks, slaps, and punches that his body has no choice but to accept. Note to self: wear protective gear when living with the Hero.
She hit him at every spot possible, face as red as a tomato, not even caring to check if her towel might fall off and accidentally letting him see her in all her glory. Okay, just like he said before, Emi's attractive, so he's having a pretty tough time deciding whether he should be looking her, or her punches.
"Emi, wait! Let me explain-"
"Be quiet and let me kill you!"
"Why makes you think I'll agree that!?"
He managed to duck one of her attacks, and he let out a small, victory laugh, which he regretted doing because it must've pissed her off even more, so she pressed on stronger than before, until his legs crashed into the couch.
He toppled over, knocking his head on the table in the process, and he desperately tried rubbing the pain away. If this keeps up, he's not sure he's going to survive long being in the same room as her.
"I'm digging my own grave if I'm going to be living here"
She cracked her knuckles, shooting him a death glare. "H-how dare you peek on me, you-"
"Here is a very good explanation why you could be misunderstanding this whole situation", he made sure to stay absolutely still if he wanted to get out of here alive, but inside, he's about to jump out of the balcony. Anywhere was better than facing an angry Emi.
She kept her distance from him, and she looked at the clock on the wall. "You have about 30 seconds to explain before I kill you"
Aw, crap.
Putting on a brave front, and taking one last look at her before she notices him staring, he explained. "I just thought you were still sleeping, so I thought I could wake you up"
She didn't seem to buy it, however. "So, why does it look like you were just standing there grinning like a huge pervert"
"I was dancing"
"Dancing. Oh, yeah, that's funny"
He waved his arms in the air. "I'm serious! Gumshining and suns and stuff", and then, as an afterthought, he muttered to himself. "It's not like there's something to look forward to se-"
He heard her cracking her knuckles, and he quickly bowed his head down and yelled, 'I'm sorry!'. This woman is grade-A scary.
"I'll let you off this time. I gotta have to go to work, so do me a favor and keep away from my room while I'm changing , okay?"
He stood up, dusting himself off. "Yeah, yeah, I get it"
He was lucky enough that he still has his wallet in his back pocket, but even though he could just take the bus home so he could take a bath and go to work early, he suddenly felt like walking.
He wanted to ask Emi about what happened back in the café.
At first, he had meant to apologize before they head to the amusement park, but he wasn't exactly man enough to initiate the conversation.
He had played the whole scenario by practicing in front of a mirror, and the results weren't really that promising.
He made it home at 6:45, and he was glad that today he was scheduled for the afternoon shift, because that means he could take a nap first before setting outside.
He climbed up the stairs, deciding that it was probably best if he just wing it and tell everyone the terrible news they're about to hear. Guess that means there's no nap for him, after all.
"Maou-san? Is that you?"
He looked down at the bottom of the stairs and saw Chiho wearing her school uniform, and his mind flew back to her text message she sent last night, mentally berating himself for letting his stupidity get the better of him again.
"Hey, Chi. How come you're not in school?"
She seemed surprised, and then she started pouting. "Maou-san, didn't you read the text I sent to you?"
"Whoops?"
She placed her hands on her hips, and he prepared himself for another one of her old-fashioned senpai-scolding. He really should've checked his phone before leaving Emi's place.
"I wanted your help with something"
That was pretty vague. He frowned. "You skipped school just for this?"
"Ah, eh, yes, um, you see, it's very important, actually"
She shuffled around, nervous, and it wasn't that hard to tell that she wasn't telling the truth. He pulled out his phone and checked his inbox.
'I'll be heading to your place in the morning, Maou-san. I need your help'
She sounded pretty straightforward, it made him even more suspicious with her very suspicious motives.
But, this was Chi-chan we're talking about. He's not about to turn her down when she just came all this way for him.
"Okay, yeah, sure, come on in, let's talk ins-"
"Actually", she stopped him, and she was now having a hard time masking away her anxiousness. "Could we talk somewhere else? Just the two of us?"
He didn't felt like arguing with her, since that means he has found himself a good escape away from his original objectives. Ashiya already knew the reason why he was gone the whole night, and he had to convince him so many times yet again that he was not, in anyway, being seduced by the Hero herself.
Telling him about his new living arrangements would definitely make him go berserk, so he could just use Chiho as an excuse.
"Just let me shower before we go. You sure you don't want to head inside?
"No, but thanks for the offer"
His whole arm felt heavy when he knocked on the door, and when Urushihara answered, he tensed up.
"You ready for him?"
He shrugged. "Where is he?"
He gestured back inside. "You might want to see this for yourself"
Ashiya was just sitting at the corner, holding up Emi's picture he had shown him before and drawing doodles at it. He was whispering something underneath his breath over and over again like a mantra, and it made him wonder if he was just sitting there whole night.
Urushihara went back to his spot in front of the laptop. "He's been like that since last night of that's what you're wondering"
Question answered.
Just as he was about to approach the lifeless form of the demon general, his phone vibrated again, and it turns out Emi left him a message. Did he forgot something?
Then, he froze up. She sent him a screenshot of her inbox. His name was there, but what really caught his attention was the name above his.
N-no. There's no way. It can't be.
His insides turned to dread. It hasn't even that long, and now this happens?
She sent him another screenshot, and he immediately dropped his phone to the floor upon seeing what is was, speechless.
Urushihara turned to look at him, annoyed. "Keep it down, will you-"
He saw how pale Maou was, and he asked him right away. "You okay?"
No, he's not. Someone sent Emi a message, and he has a feeling who that person was.
"Rika is going to have the time of her life. Sept. 9. F.S", he spoke out loud, the venom in his words evident.
F.S.
Freak Show