Maou doesn't know how long his mind could fight away his boredom.

He kept on flipping the 5 yen coin he got as a tip from a little 5 year-old girl earlier, and he tried to remember how many times the Mgronald's theme song has been playing around in the background. It was starting to give him a headache. And it's annoying as hell.

He let out a loud yawn, wiping away the tears off his eyes with his free hand all the while keeping a cautious eye out on the cup of coffee placed dangerously on the edge of some old lady's table. The only customer left.

"Tired?", Chiho asked from her usual spot next to him, but even she looked like she's about to burst out of the door and finish off their shift. It was 10 minutes before closing time, but it seemed like the more he stared at the clock the more time slows down.

"More like 'I'm so bored that I'm most likely going to end up insane'".

"That bad, huh? Today's a pretty slow day, so I can't really blame you", she propped both of her elbows on the counter, settling her chin on her hands while she hummed along the song. Slow day or not, Sadao Maou, one of Mgronald's finest employees, being completely out of his own game and acting all sluggish and lazy, was almost like impossible. It was like someone had flipped a switch on him and then 'poof!', he'd gone from serving each customers with a smile to giving them a sort of cringe-y smile. And he could only think up only one reason why he's so down in the dumps…

"Hey Chi…", she whipped her head around to face him, and he wondered from her surprised expression if she was just dozing off. It really kind of looked that way.

"What's up, Maou-san?"

"If a certain Demon Lord of another world decided to blast away that speaker to end that stupid song, fly away across town and kidnap back his daughter from her villainess mother, what would you do?"

She chuckled, playing with a loose strand of her hair that escaped from her pigtails. It was still a bit hard for Maou to digest that this small, high-school girl has feelings for him. Although, it was probably even harder for her to digest when he said he wanted her as one of his demon generals a couple of weeks back.

"Obviously, I'd call the police, but I'm pretty sure Yusa-san would have killed you by then", then her expression grew serious, "You're missing Alas=Ramus-chan, huh? Is that why you were looking at that little girl with that funny look on you face earlier?"

"Oi, you're making it sound like I'm some freakin' pedophile. But then again, you're right", he grumbled. "I just don't understand why Emi has to hog her all to herself for the past few weeks. That's just cruel. And brutal".

He slumped his head down on the counter, rubbing his nose on the ceramic tile in frustration. Even since he let Chiho out of his sights and got her abducted by a certain demon, Emi gave him quite an earful about him not being responsible enough to even watch over his friends (even though it wasn't technically his fault. No powers, remember?). He played with the buttons on the cash register, half-wishing that his little princess would come skipping through the glass door and yelling, 'papa!'.

Chiho must have sense his sulking, because she started walking up towards him and ruffled his hair. They stayed like that for a moment, sharing a knowing silence with one another. He was glad he met her. Back then, if she wasn't… well, her, he would have a tough time explaining the circumstances as to why he's actually working part-time here. World-domination is still on top of his to-do-list here in this world, along with climbing up the corporate ladder in Mgronald's.

"How about you make an excuse to see her?"

He tilted his head to the side a little to see her smiling. "Why do I need to make an excuse to see Emi?"

"No, not Yusa-san, silly. Your beloved daughter!"

He stood up straight, grabbing both her shoulders, and Chiho's eyes widened, startled.

"Maou-san?"

"That, my precious little kouhai, is pure genius".

She laughed, pulling down his arms. She turned on her heels and walked away, taking out two, small ice cream cones next to the plastic cup containers, before standing in front of the ice cream machine. Her eyes trailed along the list of flavors posted on each lever of the machine, and he frowned.

"Didn't realized you were that hungry, Chi", he twisted the coin around his fingers, and he stared at it for a moment, his mind flying back to when the little girl gave him this. He found her standing close to where he was stationed, and it turned out she wanted to ask for some napkins. He gave her some, and she ended up so happy she gave him the coin (got no idea why though). It was weird, but in the end he just shrugged it off as something cute. Besides, it strikingly reminded him of a certain silver-haired girl.

"Baka! This one's for you!", she gestured to the cone on her left hand. "What flavor do you want?"

"Chocolate's fine", he chuckled, putting the tip in his back pocket. She stuck out her tongue at him, and Mao found her pouting a bit childish. One of the perks in working in Mgronald's is that you can enjoy a little 'indulging' time. Of course, miss Kisaki would definitely flip out if she ever saw her workers taking out food for themselves (Believe it or not, she's much, much, much scarier than your average demon), but even he deserves an ice cream once in a while.

When she was done, she stretched out his cone to him, and he grinned, giving her a small 'thank you'.

"You know, whenever I eat this stuff, I can't help but feel guilty. Like, here I am, about to stuff myself with this chocolate-y goodness, and Ashiya's back home, cooking up some dinner".

She took a small lick at her vanilla ice cream, then gave a satisfied sigh. "I don't think Ashiya-san and Urushihara-san would mind if you only indulge yourself sometimes".

"I don't even give a damn about that fallen angel"

"Right, right"

"Although, you did just give me an idea", he did an experimental lick on his, and he almost trembled when he felt the sweetness attack his taste buds. "I just have to make up an excuse to get Emi to bring Alas=Ramus to Devil's Castle. The only question is what"

He took another lick on his frozen dessert. Man, if only he can find a way to bring home some ice cream without risking it melting on the way.

Chiho noticed one side of her cone has vanilla tear drops on it, and she quickly went to lick them all up, causing his overactive imagination go running wild. He gulped, willing himself to focus on looking at the Chicken Combo Bucket set on the menu.

He took a small peek towards her .It didn't looked like she noticed how awkward his actions were. Lucky him.

"What if there's no need for them to head to Devil's Castle? Emi always complains about how your place's not good for Alas=Ramus", she rubbed her chin, deep in thought.

"Yeah, it's always about how she always ends up sleeping on the tatami"

"She has a point though"

"So, what are you trying to say? I should meet-up with them somewhere?"

"What else?"

He bit down on his lip. The idea of taking out Alas=Ramus for another 'family fun time' again didn't sit well with him, considering the fact that wherever they go bad things happen. And who knows if another crazy angel sent to mess with them like Sariel will pop up right in front of his doorstep, or if a big, macho hunk like Gabriel about to take her away to heaven. Moving around town with his daughter with a target on her head just wasn't right, but at the same time, denying his little princess freedom sucked.

"I don't know, Chi. There's just too much weirdness happening around lately. Even I am still trying to grasp the sight of you flying around with a magic arrow on hand. I'm worried about her safety".

She shrugged, peeling off a chunk of her cone and eating it. "I guess you're right. Can't argue with that"

"I see you two are enjoying yourselves"

He jolted up, springing himself around towards the voice, and he knew instantly that they were screwed. Miss Kisaki stood right in front of them, hands on her hips, shooting them a scary look that screamed, 'What the hell are you two doing?'. At times like this, he half-wondered how this lady wasn't a demon. He shifted around, his nerves flying around his body.

"A-ah, miss Kisaki!", Chiho squeaked out, and he could feel the tension rising. "You see, a customer ordered three ice creams but it turned out he only wanted one, so he gave us some-"

"Save me your excuses", she trailed past them, and they both froze up. She grabbed a cup and turned the knob on the sink, pouring herself some water. They both looked at each other, and he mouthed back to her, 'we're doomed!'.

"Oh, relax, I'm not going to tell you two off just because of that. You're not the first ones I've caught taking out food", she started off.

"Really?", Maou finally managed to say, but then he realized that he might have come off a bit rude. "Sorry, that doesn't mean we should be as well"

"Just don't do it again", she turned off the sink and tilted the cup to her lips. "God, that's refreshing. Anyways, I wanted to give you guys this"

She rummaged around the front pocket of her uniform, pulling out two small, rectangular objects. Maou narrowed his eyes, and he realized from its overly-colorful designs that they were free entry passes to that newly opened amusement park across town.

She waved them around, fanning herself, and he had a distinct vision of her wearing a yukata with a fan over her nose. He scratched the side of his face, a bad habit he does that Ashiya insists he gets rid of, praying that this wasn't some sort of another scheme their manager planned whenever she has a special task for them. Not that he'd mind, though.

"You two have been working your asses off a lot, so I decided to give you a reward", she slapped the tickets on his chest. "They expire come Thursday, so I suggest you guys better get a move on"

"But, Miss Kisaki, it's on a weekday. We still got work", he took the tickets from her and gave the other to Chiho. "And I just asked you to change my shifts recently, so this is a bit too much"

"Then I guess you'll have to take a day off. No use coming to work if you're going to leave early"

"That's it, Maou-san! I have an idea!", Chiho squealed, bouncing up and down, hands balled into a fist at her side that Maou could only describe as girlish.

She pushed out her ticket in front of his face, and he flinched. What's going on with her? He glanced at her ice cream. Maybe it got too much sugar in it?

Miss Kisaki raised an eyebrow at her. "What's got you all worked up there?"

"He can use my ticket!", she exclaimed, then realized that she had been yelling her words. "Um, ah, Maou-san wanted to ask someone for a date, so I thought that maybe he can use this instead"

"Who will ask who now?", he shook his head, trying to make sense of what she just said. Was it so he can take out Alas=Ramus? He looked at her, and she only winked.

"Oh, is he now?", their manager smiled at him, "Glad to know you've found someone"

He took the ticket back. He hated letting Chiho go so far for him. Especially since he haven't answered her feelings, even if she was the one who told him she doesn't need one. Still, refusing her kindness was wrong.

He looked at her, hoping that he looked as thankful as he felt. He placed a hand on top of his Kouhai's head, and he swore he saw her face turned pink for a moment. "What could I ever do without you?"

"D-don't mention it", she took a massive step away from him, and her eyes suddenly had a sudden interest on the marble floor.

Miss Kisaki walked away, heading towards the aisle that leads towards the locker room and her office. "Well, I got a few paper-works to do so I'm getting myself some overtime. You guys can leave early; I'll patch things up here". He watched Miss Kisaki's retreating form. This is the first time their manager's going overtime. Or even close up all by herself.

"I-I'll stay here and help you. Maou-san, you head back home", she followed suit, not even daring to have eye contact with him.

"Are you sure?", he took off his cap. "I still got a bit of energy left in me"

"Don't worry about us. We can manage", she gave him a nod, and within seconds they vanished.

He was planning on heading straight to a nearby convenience store and buy some detergent, so after quickly changing and finishing off his dessert, he took off with Dullahan. He was glad that he never had to bring his trusty, old bike whenever the 'bad guys' come around, unlike the time when Emi attacked him, or when Sariel attacked Emi. The last time he had to deal with a flat tire, he had to sacrifice a 1000 yen just to get a new one. No one wants to sacrifice a 1000 yen (or maybe it's just them).

Within 10 minutes, he found himself at the back of a 7-Eleven store, taking out a small bottle of detergent and heading straight to the cashier. He searched around each and every aisle, looking for any kind of cheap snacks his pocket money could handle, but there weren't any. Maybe eating udon noodles up until next week wasn't such a bad idea after all.

He gave the cashier the exact cash so he wouldn't have to wait for his change, and he watched the pudgy, old man (mean, yes, but come on people he's the demon lord) put the detergent inside a paper bag.

"Wow, just as when I thought my whole day couldn't get any worse", he turned around, but now he instantly regretted it. Emi was in her office uniform, which meant she's fresh out from work. She was holding Alas=Ramus in her arms, but she was already fast asleep, burying her head along her mother's 'wash board' chest. He tried his best to fight down his laughter.

"Didn't expect to see your ugly face here", he rolled his eyes. He twisted a strand of his daughter's purple hair around his finger, and he felt all of the last few weeks longing and sadness washed away from his mind. Ah, nothing can compare from a father's love. He waited a long time for this.

"Why're you guys out in the middle of the night. Don't ya think it's a bit way past her bedtime?"

She glared at him, pulling Alas=Ramus away when he tried to make a reach for her. What the heck's wrong with her?

"Hey, last I checked, this kid is also my daughter", he crossed his arms, and now it was his turn to glare. He finally has gets a chance to see her, and Emi was just going to move her away from him like he's got some sort of infectious disease? That's his kid, and her dad is him. No one has the right to take her away from him, not even the Hero of another world.

"Don't get the wrong idea. She's sleeping, so don't even think about waking her up. Weren't you the one who said that it's way past her bedtime?". She shot him a smug look. If only he still got at least an ounce of his demonic powers, then maybe he can wipe off that stupid grin on her face.

She took a seat on a nearby table next to the sliding doors, and he could tell from the way her legs trembled that she was exhausted from carrying a baby as heavy as Alas=Ramus. "Rika invited me to a fellow employee's promotion party, so I took Alas=Ramus along. Then I came here to cool off a bit, it's kind of hot outside".

He couldn't believe what just heard. That's why they were here. The more he thought about their whole situation, the more he felt that he was about to blow up. "Meaning to say, instead of taking her to Devil's Castle so she could enjoy a bit of quality fun time with her neglected father, you took her with you. Why am I not shocked?"

He planted an accusing finger on her shoulder, and his blood continued to boil. They both sized up one another, their eyes having a small, silent battle. Emi no longer looked menacing and threatening after meeting her back at the intersection, so he never imagined she could deal some damage to him. But hogging his daughter when today she was supposed to bring her to his place without even having to tell her to, a quiet obligation she cannot escape was a damage he cannot tolerate.

Then something inside him clicked. It's like, someone had lit up a light bulb above his head and now he has this super, crazy idea, which will no doubt hurt his dignity and pride. But he was desperate. He finally had someone he can take care of, to shower love and attention, something that he wanted to have when he was still a kid named Satan Jacob. He gulped.

Emi re-adjusted her hold on Alas, and her face crunched up when she rolled her shoulders. "Look, Maou, I don't want to fight". She yawned. It's not his fault she was all tired, but the way she dismissed him by spraying carbon dioxide from her mouth to his face fueled both his anger and embarrassment.

"I'm tired, I want to go back home, head to bed, then sleep. That's it. I'm not in the mood for any conversation", she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Well, I don't really care", he knelt down right in front of her, and she instinctively moved even further away.

"What, you're brain's finally rotting? That's good", she gestured to him with her foot.

'I think so too', he wanted to say, but he knew it was best that he kept his mouth shut.

He put his head on the floor, and Emi's eyes widened, her insides filling with dread and fear.

"Why the fuck are you performing a Dogeza for!?", Emi yelled, though she wasn't sure if her words were even reaching his head anymore.

Maou had just dug his own grave. He couldn't get a grip on his thoughts, humiliation flooding his entire body. The only thing that was keeping him from dying in utter embarrassment was his weird willpower to have fun with his daughter.

Emi stood up, panicked. The cashier on the counter looked at her, and when he saw Maou, his face turned completely red. Heat rushed towards her cheeks. In normal circumstances, she would have made a victory dance for bowing his head down for her, but doing this in public made things feel wrong, especially since it looked like she was the bad guy around this parts.

"Hey, what's wrong with you!? Get up!", she half-whispered, half-yelled, kneeling down to his level to knock a bit sense into his stupid brain and also avoid the cashier's pitiful gaze.

"Please come to the amusement park with me and Alas", he lifted his head. Maybe because he was exhausted from work as well, or maybe it was from the ice cream, too. Either way, all kinds of talk about logical thinking was set aside.

"Then why didn't you just tell me", she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Sometimes I wonder if you even think at all"

"Well, you never took me seriously now", he tried his best to make sure his voice didn't sound shaky as he thought it was. No way was he going to back down now. "Whenever I called to ask how she was, or when I texted, you never even replied. And even if you did, you always give me a lame-ass excuse about how she doesn't need to monitored by me 24\7"

"Well, that's because it's true!"

"Excuse me, ma'am, sir, but I think you guys need to take your lover's quarrel elsewhere", the old man went out of his station and gave Maou's detergent to Emi. He took off his glasses and glared at her. "Out you two go, then"

"I am so sorry", she bowed her head, all the while glaring at Maou at the corner of her eyes, and he felt a cold chill on his spine. He stood up, dusting himself off, and she gave him his paperbag.

"Sorry, sir, won't do it again", he bowed as well.

He sighed, wiping his glasses with the hem of his polo shirt. "Don't worry; I've seen more crazy couples back in my time than you two".

A few moments later, they were both outside. He unchained his bike, hopping on its seat. Emi continued to glare at him, rocking her arms back and forth when Alas=Ramus started to stir.

"Hush now, mommy's here, mommy's here"

He rolled the bike next to her, putting the chain on his basket. The air around them felt awkward. He still felt a bit hazy, but at least the worst part was over.

He cleared his throat, "before I go, about what I sai-"

She swung her hand, slapping him hard on the face. Pain flared on his left cheek, and then gravity took hold. He stumbled down, along with his bike.

"Hey! That hurt!", he yelled as he struggled to find his footing.

Emi burst out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, holding on to her stomach. He frowned at her, and it took him awhile to notice he's laughing, too. He held on to his knees, balancing himself, keeling in laughter. It was weird. They were weird. But for the time being, it was nice.

He wasn't expecting things will get a turn for the better. They may be mortal enemies, and there's also the case where he destroyed her village, but they somehow developed this unspoken agreement that they shouldn't mess with each other's lives too much. It was refreshing to laugh with someone you hated, which was odd.

"You know, you could've put a scratch on Dullahan"

She was breathing heavily now, and she wiped off the tear from her eyes.

"What are you, a chuni? Who even names their bike Dullahan?"

He pretended he was offended, looking the other way and crossing his arms. "I'll have you know, Dullahan is a cool name"

"Oh yeah, you just keep on dreaming", she chuckled. It was amazing that even though they were making a huge ruckus Alas didn't even wake up.

He rubbed the side of head. "So, will you? To the amusement park?"

She took a step forward to him. "Of course I'll go", she smiled, but when she realized that she being all friendly with her arch-nemesis, she reverted back to being cold towards him.

"But that doesn't mean that what you did earlier was good", she caught herself, turning on her heel and walking away.

"And she's back. Miss Tsundere is back", he clapped his hands, "Want me to walk you guys home?"

She took one last look at him, thinking for a moment. "Nope"

When he was alone again, he thought about his relationship with Emi. They've gone from enemies to enemies who stopped trying to kill each other. He didn't know what to make of it, but he figured that there's no use beating himself about it.

He set off with Dullahan, and once he finally made it home, he remembered something. "Crap, I forgot to give her the other ticket"