New Devil of The Gremory House

Life 27: Owed

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The old man cleaned off his counter and wiped down his tools. On a good day he would feel sweat on his brow from being overworked by all the orders he was given. On bad days his utensils would just build up gunk from sitting around in the bowls and oils waiting to be used.

Today was definitely one of those days.

Just as he contemplated hanging up the sign and calling it early, he heard the door open and someone walk in. He looked up and nearly jumped back in surprise at the young man that walked in, "Hey, I don't want any trouble kid."

The young man looked like a foreigner, or at least mixed with his spiky blond hair. His orange and black outfit was torn apart from its zipper and whatever mesh clothing he had underneath had clear damage to it. He was dirty and ragged, covered in either grime or something he could only fear was blood. Was he some kind of thug?

"Seriously kid I will call the authorities if you try anything."

The boy with whiskers on his face tiredly shuffled to the front of the counter and sat back in a seat. He kept his head hung low and muttered something.

"Huh?" The older man strained his ears to hear. He cautiously leaned in closer to try and hear him.

"Miso…ramen…please."

Miyamoto looked at the boy skeptically after the sudden order the stranger had placed. Wary of the newcomer and keeping a close eye on him as he stepped over to his station, he started getting to work on the order. He saw through the corner of his eye that the young blond man swayed and struggled to stay in his seat like he was ready drop back and sleep right then and there.

"Order up."

He placed the bowl in front of his only customer and watched as the raggedy boy stared down at his presented meal. The young blond grabbed his chopsticks and with a little snap broke them into two. He clapped his hands together and let his utensils hover just over the broth as he waited. Something dropped into the ramen and made the broth wrinkle.

"Happy…birth…"

"Hey!"

Miyamoto quickly came around the counter and dropped to his knees besides the boy that suddenly keeled over. He came to the lad's side and slipped his hand under the boy's shoulder to lift him up, seeing the young blond struggle to breathe and his face drenched in cold sweat.

"Hold on kid, just hold on." The old man fished out his cellphone and called the emergency number, "Help, some kid came into my store and just passed out! No he's sick or injured or something I don't know! Please hurry!"

He might not last until the ambulance got here.

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"You seem unusually chipper since you came back from your holiday."

"I do?" Naruto asked as he wiped the bowls and plates down at his station, "I hadn't noticed."

"I have." Rias said from the counter as she leisurely sat with her bowl of noodles, a notebook in her hand and a smile on her face. Koneko sat beside her [King] and easily dug into her third helping as the redhead smiled at her boyfriend, "I think you're enjoying your free time back at the ramen shop after our trip."

The older man laughed, "Aww, that's sweet. Missed the old store that much while you were away?"

"More like I'm glad to have a small amount of normalcy back now that we're home." So many days of training with Sirzechs and his crazy monster friends, fending off Koneko's psychotic sister, meeting a God that really sucked out the amazement of meeting a God, and then suffering through the unending hell of studying under Venelana's tyrannical eye. A shiver went up his spine, "Plus it'll be good to get some money again after all this time away."

"Oh right, you need as much of your paycheck as you can get to cover your rent at that shitty complex, right? I still can't believe you allow yourself to live there. That place has to be in some kind of violation of the Geneva Convention."

"Actually the complex was bought out by someone else and refurbished recently, so it's not as bad as it was before." Rais informed, "You wouldn't even recognize it."

Literally. Because it wasn't a shitty little apartment complex anymore, but a towering hotel that didn't belong in the middle of a low-income area.

"Oh, well ain't that fortunate." Miyamoto laughed heartedly before looking to the redhead woman, "But I'm relieved. It was bad enough when he had to stay there, but when I heard you were living there too I was worried for your safety."

"Why weren't you worried for mine?"

"Well it's completely fine now. Although that's not to say it's still not dangerous. In fact it might be more now than it ever was before." Rias' eyes twitched with her peeved expression as she aimlessly glared forward, "It's under new management, and it's safe to say the new owners are a couple of idiots unlike any the world has seen before."

Koneko stopped eating and Naruto stopped cleaning to give a quick nod in agreement before continuing what they were doing.

"Huh, well that's unfortunate to hear." The middle-aged man apologized.

"Oh, it's not all bad." The Gremory girl relented with a chuckle, "I convinced the new owners to make some changes, and I even got to name the new building myself." She sat up proudly with her arms folded under her breasts, "I named it Arashi Heights."

The cleaning came to an abrupt halt as eyes turned to Naruto. The blond put down his sponge and plate and sighed before turning around to see Rias' coy smile. He narrowed his eyes, "I really hope that naming choice was coincidental."

"I think we both know it wasn't."

"Can you please change that name?"

"I could, but I chose it because I like it."

"I like it too." Koneko piped up in between slurps of her ramen, "Very tall, and stormy."

"You're talking about the hotel building, right?" The short freshman blinked in silence before returning to her meal. Naruto frowned, "I don't want people walking through seeing that eyesore and immediately associating it with me! It's like my damn name is on the thing!"

"It is?" Miyamoto tilted his head, "I thought your name meant fishcake?"

"N-No! I told you it meant maelstrom! That was one of the first things I told you!" He groaned before turning to his girlfriend, "Change it to something else! Like the Gremory Deluxe Lodgings or Kuoh Grand Hotel or Fucking Whatever Fancy Building!"

"Hmm," Rias tapped her cheek, "Now that last name has potential, but I think we'll stick with Arashi Heights for the time being." He glowered and she giggled, "Oh come on, it's kind of funny."

"Why do you enjoy making me suffer?"

"Hehe," Miyamoto shook his head, "Maybe you two should keep your disgustingly cute lover's quarrel for when you get home?"

"Yep. Barf-inducing." Koneko noted as she finished her last bowl and stacked it on top of the others. The white-haired girl let out a breath of relief before turning in her seat, "Boss, why aren't there any customers here today?"

Koneko was noting the unfortunate fact that besides her and Rias, no one else was occupying the empty space of the restaurant or making orders. Despite it being summer vacation still, and even the lunch hour, no one had come to eat with them.

"Oh yeah, we're apparently losing business." Naruto said with a frown as he stepped over to the counter, "Apparently there's a new store opened just down the road that sells soba and ramen and everything, Noodle World. It's supposed to be the start of some big new franchise that's going to sell food like that all over the country and even internationally."

"That name sucks."

"I think so too, but they sell food well."

"They're starting in a few districts, and this is one of them. They have more cooks and servers, and can get out to more people than we can." Miyamoto casually shrugged, the older man accepting the lack of business as it was, "I mean lately I've been holding down the fort by myself. Can't expect much in the way of good customer service when you only have one old guy doing the work."

"I'm sorry about that Gramps. I've been really busy lately. But hey, that won't be a problem anymore!" Naruto smiled, "Thanks to a little trick I relearned recently, I can help around the place while also getting attendance at school."

"I think you have that mixed up." Rias spoke up, "I think you meant to say that you can work hard and learn at school while also assisting Miyamoto-San with his business."

"Yeah sure, that's exactly what I meant."

"Aww, this is a quaint little place."

The small group looked over at the entrance and saw three people stepping into the little ramen shop. Two of them were men in expensive suits, while the middle one was a beautiful, buxom woman in business attire that showed off her considerable curves. They held themselves up in high regard and looked around the shop with disinterest as the woman stared at the people at the counter. She put on a smug smile and pulled off her glasses, "Can I assume you're the proprietor of this little hole in the wall?"

"That would be me." Miyamoto nodded, "How can I help you?"

"We're the representatives and executives of the Noodle World establishment of Kuoh Town. We had heard there was a privately-owned ramen store close to us and came to see it for ourselves." One of the men said as he looked around. He spotted Rias and Koneko sitting at the counter and smirked as he pulled two vouchers out of his pocket, "Hello there ladies, I see you've come to enjoy a bowl of ramen. If you want the best ramen around, you should come over and visit our restaurant. I promise it will blow your mind."

Koneko made a show of taking the voucher and immediately tossing it aside as Rias took hers and examined it carefully. A delicate eyebrow rose as she turned to regard the franchise owners, "So what do you hope to accomplish by coming to visit a small shop like this? Going by your attitude and confidence it hardly seems like you're scouting out your competition. It seems more like you're taking a victory lap."

"Oh perish the thought." The businesswoman waved off the redhead's observation with a chuckle that carried just a hint of self-satisfaction. She looked towards the greying man, "We just thought it was rather unfortunate for you to be located here just down the street of our new location. We're just starting to settle down and we're already getting quite a number of customers. And if your only workers are yourself and that young man beside you, then I'm afraid you won't be able to keep afloat for very long."

Miyamoto nodded, "And what does that matter?"

"We hate to see people such as yourself fall into disarray because of us." One of the men said as he pulled out his checkbook. He flipped it open and showed it off to his audience, "We would like to sign you a check for this property and ask that you sell this space and building to us. You can use the money to settle down nicely, add it to your retirement fund, and we can have this building to add to our inventory."

Rias looked put-off, "You'd come here personally just to purchase a man's business on a whim? Seems a tad frivolous and exceptionally arrogant."

One of the men shrugged, "Well he could sell the store to us, or wait a few weeks and watch it go bankrupt all by itself. Personally I'd take the money and enjoy my free time."

"I think you should go." Miyamoto answered.

The three executives looked between each other and complied by walking out. The woman lingered for a moment and stayed at the entrance with a smile, "We hope you'll reconsider and see things from our point of view. But please hurry, because our offer might decrease the longer we wait. Oh, and please enjoy your trip to Noodle World when you get around to it."

The business people finally stepped out and left them in silence to mull over what had happened.

"What a bunch of cunts."

They looked at Koneko in surprise as the young freshman crossed her arms, "Say what you want but you know I'm right."

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"You look annoyed. You feeling okay?"

"Nope. I'm pissed off from what those assholes said today to Gramps." Naruto angrily muttered as he and Rias sat back on a couch while some program played on the TV. One of the rooms of the Arashi Heights was a large, packed media room filled with every kind of game, system, and screen imaginable. And apparently it was a room on a floor for private use, so maybe not everything about Azazel's renovation was bad.

However it was clear that he really couldn't enjoy any of these new things while those executives and their attitude stayed in his mind.

Rias shuffled around and turned to look at him, "That's just how business works. One place opens, and then another that's bigger and works faster puts it out. I'm sorry but there's not a lot we can do to change that."

"I know...but it still pisses me off."

Rias placed her hand to his cheek and made him look at her. She shook her head, "It'll be okay. Miyamoto-San can use some of his retirement fund to hold himself over until he finds a new job. Or he can just start relaxing from now on."

"He doesn't have his retirement fund anymore." Her blond boyfriend grumbled before shaking his head, "He used it up and hasn't been able to make it up yet."

"Family?"

"He and his wife are divorced, and he hasn't had any contact with his son in years. It's just him." Naruto's eyes narrowed, "And I can't just let everything he's worked for fall apart like that."

"I see." Rias sat up, pulling away from Naruto as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the voucher she had received from the businesspeople. She turned around and smiled at him, "Then I suppose we just can't give up so easily."

"Hey, you two decent?" The door opened and Azazel walked in with a tablet in his hand as he worked over the screen, "I've been working all day on some very serious matters with both the school, the hotel, and also setting up meetings with other political figures that could end up changing the very nature of the world. In other words," He tossed the tablet over his shoulder for a satisfying crack, "I'm bored as shit. Anyone up for playing me in a fighting match? I promise I'll only kick your asses to the bare minimum."

"Not now Azazel. Naruto and I are planning something out."

"Oh, that sounds almost interesting. What is it?" Rias rolled her eyes before holding out the voucher. The Governor-General took the slip and eyed it curiously, "You going out to eat?"

"No, we're trying to figure out how we can help out the place I work at so it doesn't close down thanks to these assholes that set up shot close by."

"Oh! Corporate espionage!" The Fallen Angel seemed especially intrigued, "Can I join?"

Rias stared, "No."

"Oh. Well that's just cruel."

"Naruto, I think this will be quite beneficial." The lovely Gremory stepped up to the couch and looked down at her boyfriend, "Not only will we help Miyamoto-San, but you'll be completing your first ever contract as a Devil."

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A group of two high school boys and two girls ran up. They were left panting for air after their quick sprint over, "Hey, is this the place?"

His friend nodded, "I think it is. But looked how packed it is!"

"T-There are so many people." One of the girl's said as she pulled her friend's sleeve, "So many other people from school are already here!

"Are we ever going to get a seat?"

Several men walked out of the store and spotted the group of four. They stepped up to them, "Hi, will it be all four of you today?" They nodded, "Would you mind eating outside?"

"No, it's not that hot out today." A table was brought out and they were offered several chairs for them to sit down on. When they were situated the employee simply walked away before taking their orders or anything. One of the girls frowned, "Well that's just rude."

"How are we supposed to order if our waiter-"

"He isn't a waiter. Just a worker. I'll be taking your orders today, nya." The high school students looked over in surprise to see a stoic little angel in a maid outfit and with realistic white cat ears and tail. They gawked in surprise as Koneko tilted her head curiously, "Is something the matter, nya?"

"Koneko-chan!"

"Oh my god she's so cute!"

"Are your really here right now?!"

"Cat maid! She's a cat maid! Can we take pictures of you?!"

Koneko remained quiet but held up a peace sign, "Better take them quick and then place your orders, nya."

Pictures and selfies were taken and Koneko got their orders written down as they came down from their joyful high. She closed her notebook and made her way back inside before one of the men walked beside her, "Thanks for doing this."

"Buchou said you were going to help Boss after the crap those jerks in suits said yesterday, so I was jumping at the chance to help." The girl looked up and eyed the man carefully, "I really can't believe that's still you."

"It'd look weird if there were a dozen of me running around the place. Thankfully I remembered how useful Transformation was. But I promise it's still me." Naruto gave a familiar smirk despite his change in appearance. He then looked at the short freshman, "Are you sure you're okay with your ears and tail out?"

"I said I wasn't going to let these things hold me back anymore, and I'm sticking to it." She shrugged, "Plus no one thinks they're real. They look at me and-"

"Oh my god it's an adorable loli doing a cat maid cosplay!"

"Can we take a picture?"

Koneko followed their request and then looked up at the transformed Naruto clone. He gave an understanding nod before they walked in to see the hectic landscape inside the shop. Every table and seat was filled with high school students and people that had heard about the new waiting staff

"Okay, I think I've written down everything you asked for." Xenovia said to a group of underclassmen in a butler outfit that hid her assets and made her look much more masculine. She had been writing down their orders in Japanese for nearly a minute now, but the girls were just so charmed by her appearance that they didn't mind. The [Knight] proudly nodded, "I'll get your orders out as fast as I can. And if I got anything wrong, please make sure to tell me."

"You could do nothing wrong, Xenovia-senpai!"

"You look so cool!"

"Doesn't matter how I look! How am I supposed to learn if you don't tell me when I make mistakes?"

"So diligent~!"

"Excuse me." A table of girls gasped and squealed in delight as a silky soft voice got their attention. Standing with a tray in his hand was Yuuto, dressed in a tuxedo and looking even more dashing than ever. The blond swordsman showed the table what he was carrying as he carefully placed their orders before them, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting. We can only cook so much so quickly."

"I-It's completely fine, Kiba-kun."

"We wouldn't want to overwork you."

"H-Hey Kiba-kun," One of the girls dared to ask as all their faces were pink with excitement, "Why did you decide to wear a tuxedo?"

Yuuto smiled and pulled at the collar of his outfit, "Oh, it wasn't my idea. When Buchou suggested we do this, she said I should wear something fancy." He showed a charming smile, "And it's not like I could ever say no to Buchou."

"SO COOL!"

To the side a table of college men watched the disgusting scene of Yuuto's fangirls fawning over him. Scowls twisted their faces as they growled, "I didn't come all this way just to see some guy get hit on by some horny girls."

"Yeah, I came for a sexy maid and to ease some sexual frustration. Now all I'm being reminded of is my continued lack of a girlfriend."

"I'm not paying to see this. Let just-"

"Hello boys~."

A sweet, sultry voice caused them all to freeze with shudders running up their spines. They looked up and realized they, along with most eyes in the store, were staring at the lady coming to take their orders. She was dressed in a short female server's outfit, that accentuated her curves and hugged her considerable bust so tightly people were 'worried' that it might pop open. Her long ponytail was curled at the end and her wide hips swayed as she strolled up to the table.

Akeno smiled devilishly, "I'm so sorry for taking so long. I was just trying to get some other work done and thought taking orders could wait. Aren't I just naughty~?" Her husky voice made them all gulp in shock as she pulled out her notepad, bring it up her chest and sitting on the table. She made a show of crossing her long, slender legs for everyone to see before looking at them, "So may I take your orders?"

The college students just randomly poked over the menu while keeping their eyes glued to her skin.

"You gentlemen know that you pointed to everything on the menu, right?"

They nodded.

"So one of everything?"

Nodded again.

"Well alright then."

Akeno pulled herself off the table and went over to the counter to pass the order along. Her hips swayed with her walk, and every eye followed the lovely woman as she made her way through. Koneko and the Naruto clone watched her walk away before he muttered, "I'm surprisingly thankful for just how frightening she can be."

"Men are pigs." Koneko muttered as she glared hatefully at the curves of her senior. She then turned to the tall man beside her, "Promise me you won't be as much of a pig as them or Issei-senpai."

"Why do I have to be a pig at all?"

"Because Buchou is already starting to corrupt your mind, and you ogling Kuroka-neesama pretty much proved it. Plus whatever Xenovia-senpai is doing to get you all jumpy probably doesn't help." She patted his arm softly with a pitying look in her eyes, "You've already been taken, but you don't have to fall into total depravity if you don't want to."

Naruto stood there in silence as Koneko wiped the fake tears from her eyes and walked away. His face twisted with a scowl before he groaned and went back to work.

"Senpai," Koneko called as she came to the counter, "I have some more orders for the people outside."

"Thank you." The original Naruto snatched up her note and came back over beside Miyamoto as the ramen shop owner toiled away at his ration. He pinned the note up, "We got a few more orders on wait."

"Damn, I never thought we'd get this much business in just one day." The middle-aged man chuckled as sweat covered his brow while he worked, "I don't think I can give your new friends enough thanks for what they've done today."

"All of it goes to Rias. She's the mastermind."

"I'll remember to thank her personally when I have the time."

"Well we got a ton of work to do right now, so focus on the job right now and worry about kissing her boots later." Naruto cut some vegetables together before yelling over his shoulder, "Hey, busboy, you better be cleaning those bowls! I see one speck of dirt on them and I'll cut your pay in half!"

"Y-You aren't even paying me, Senpai! We're doing this as a favor!" Issei cried back as his hands furiously blurred over the dirty dishes in the sink. His hair hidden with a hairnet and a dirty apron covering his chest as he annihilated the dirt. He turned with a scowl, "Why the fuck do I have to do all the cleaning while everyone else is waiting tables?!"

"Because half the people here are women and who knows what kind of sick shit you'd do if you had to get up close and take their orders! Women would actively be afraid of the idea that you might lick their utensils or spit into their broth!"

"That's some psycho-stalker bullshit you're talking about right there! You know I don't do shit like that!"

"Yeah, but you're constantly staring at boobies and drooling over them! Do you have any idea how unnerving that is to customers!"

"I..." Issei chewed on his lip before giving a reluctant nod, "Okay, I guess I can't really argue that point."

"We need you to keep washing while we keep cooking. Leave everyone else to entertaining the crowd."

"Iyah!"

Everything in the little shop came to a halt after the sudden cry and loud crash. Bowls of ramen had cracked and shattered on the ground, and all of their contents had spilled over the floor. And at the center of this mess was a long curtain of gold hair with a fringe coming out at the top of it. The lovely young lady was dressed in a café maid outfit, with a top that showed her cleavage and stockings that went up to her thighs.

"O-Oh no!" Asia gasped as she pulled herself up to her knees and fretted about the mess she made. The young nun started to whimper before looking around the restaurant, "I'm so sorry everyone! I didn't mean to make a mess or disturb your lunch! I-I just tripped over my foot a-and all this..." She paused and wiped her eyes before looking towards the counter, "I'm sorry Naruto-San."

"It's okay little lady!"

"Just an accident! We all have them!"

"No worries!"

Naruto and Miyamoto watched in surprise as the entire restaurant started to console and lift the sad girl's spirit with words of encouragement. Issei stopped cleaning and sagely nodded his head, "No one would dare be angry or upset with an employee as sweet and innocent as Asia."

Oh, that made sense.

"It's okay Asia, don't worry about cleaning up the mess. We'll clear everything up." This time all eyes were on the lovely crimson-haired woman that came dressed out in business attire. Jaws nearly dropped to the ground as Rias fixed a pair of glasses up her nose and helped Asia get up to her feet. She fixed the younger girl's appearance up before smiling warmly, "We have someone on duty to do it. Gasper!"

A door to the side flew open and a short figure stood in it ready for the fight. They had a bucket filled with water and a garbage pail in one hand, with a mop and broom in the other. They had a small, slender, undeniably feminine physique that was dressed in maid attire as well. It would have been quite the treat for the customers to see...if it wasn't for the fact the person had a creepy paper bag with holes over their face.

"Janitor Gasper is ready to help!" The young [Bishop] announced as he dragged his stuff over to the mess and prepared to clean it up, "Thanks for letting me help, Buchou!"

"It's alright Gasper," Rias happily said as she watched the Dhampir start to clean things up while the patrons went back to their meals, "I knew you wouldn't like to wait the tables so I hope you're okay just cleaning things up."

"I'm absolutely okay with it!" The little freshman nodded as his bag bounced on his head, "I don't have to be in the crowd, I can stay in the supply closet until I'm needed, I can wear my bag on my head, and I still help with Naruto-senpai's request!"

"It's still a little weird." Koneko commented as she walked by with another order in her hand.

"N-No it isn't, Koneko-chan! You know my bag is essential for me to be out with other people!"

"I meant more about the fact that you're just sitting around in a closet and you still insisted on wearing a maid outfit, Gya-kun."

"I-It looked comfortable."

Miyamoto chuckled and looked at his whiskered employee, "I never knew you kept such lively and odd company, Naruto."

"They latched on pretty quickly and I couldn't get them off." The blond teen remarked with a nervous chuckle and sweat. When he looked up he saw a certain redhead watching him as she moved around the counter to join them, "And where were you this whole time?"

"Handling some other business with an associate. But I left the rest of the matter to them, so it should be fine." Rias pulled off her glasses with a sigh and let them hang off her lapel, "And how have things been proceeding here?"

"Everyone is staring at the help and ordering food to get their favor. Much better than it was when it was just the two of us." Miyamoto answered with a hearty laugh, "I really need to thank you, Rias-San! This was a great idea!"

"Well I thought about the process, but it was Naruto who thought we should do something to help." Rias said, "With all these customers, I'm sure we're taking back some of the interest from Noodle World."

"Should I be concerned that your first strategy to pretty much sell sex was so successful?" The crimson-haired Devil shrugged at her boyfriend's inquiry as she showed a devilish leer. He wiped his brow and smirked victoriously, "So what do you think? Will this be enough to stick it to those smug pricks from the other place?"

"Not even close." Rias said with a shake of her head, "This is only one day of significant profitable increase compared to an entire upcoming franchise's daily revenue. If we wanted to see a permanent increase like this, then we would need people on staff at all times to continue this theme indefinitely. And that would require numerous full-time employees and wages for them as well. Even then that would only be holding back larger businesses like Noodle World for so long until they adapted." His expression fell and he showed his worry before she smiled knowingly at him, "Don't worry. The goal of this request is to help Miyamoto-San, and that's what we're going to do."

"Well isn't this quite a stir up compared to the other day. You certainly changed things up for the better, didn't you?"

Recognizing the haughty tone almost immediately, eyes flitted up to see the same three franchise executives standing in the doorway, purposefully blocking out any potential customers from seeing the food or employees.

"Greetings." Akeno was the first to make a move and walked up to greet the businesspeople with a pleasant smile on her face, "Would you all like a seat?"

"No thank you. We aren't looking to stay here for very long." The businesswoman said, her amusement evident in her voice as she looked the senior student over with a hint of derision. She laughed to herself, "To think they would resort to cheap tricks like hiring a pretty young lady to get their customers stirring. Quite sad, don't you think?"

She waited for her associates to parrot her point, but they remained silent at her sides. She looked to both sides and saw the men too distracted by Akeno to properly respond. Specifically, the area below her neck but above her midriff. The businesswoman scowled and elbowed her cohorts in the ribs hard enough to make them double over. Whipping her hair over her shoulder, she stepped up to counter and smiled challengingly at the owner, "I guess you aren't ready to quit or go quietly with grace."

Miyamoto shook his head, "Some of the young blood convinced me to keep trying until I can't keep going. It's hard for an old man like me to give up when they're so damn inspiring."

"Clearly. Well if you are adamant to keep the business going despite its uncertainty, we can't change that." One of the suited men said with a casual shake of his head as he looked around, "It's clear that even though your employees were the one garnering so much attention, your food and service has been able to keep them staying for more."

"Damn straight!" Issei ran up to the counter from the sink to face the executives, "Naruto-senpai and Miyamoto-ojiisan put all their love and passion into these bowls! You jerks think you can just walk in and expect them to walk out like nothing just because you said so! No way in hell are they gonna give up that easily!"

"Clearly," The executives nodded and seemed to accept their defeat. However one of the men then showed a smug smile and snapped his hands, "But you might want to give one of our bowls a try before you start deciding that we've been done in so easily."

On demand an employee with a Noodle World apron ran in with a large serving tray in hand. Everyone watched as he made his way to the counter and laid the tray out before pulling off the top. It revealed a ramen bowl covered in a wrapper to keep the heat and flavor in. The employee quickly peeled off the wrapping and exposed the new dish for the entire crowd.

People were taken aback by the delectable aroma that lifted from the bowl and assaulted their nose. The scent of the broth, noodles, and meat was enough to immediately make mouths salivate. The noodles peeked out of golden-brown liquid with little flecks of vegetables flittered over it.

The executives of Noodle World smiled victoriously as the woman stepped up and pointed at the bowl, "Would someone like to try out our special new dish?"

...

Miyamoto tapped his young friend's back, "Naruto, you better dig in before you stain your shirt."

"I-It isn't that bad!" The whiskered Devil quickly wiped his mouth clean before anything could come out. Everyone watched the blond with their full attention as he gulped and reached out for the hefty bowl of ramen. He pulled it in and looked down at it with a hunger in his eyes.

As a ramen connoisseur, he couldn't pass up the chance to have such a delicious, hot bowl of ramen right in front of him. But he was the old man's employee and friend, and if he did this and praised it for its taste...

Naruto grit his teeth before taking the plunge and grabbing a pair of chopsticks. All of the customers, employees, and executives watched in silence as the blond Devil devoured the bowl of ramen like it was nothing. He breathed in the broth and noodles like they were air, chewing down on the meat and extra bits with ferocity until he was completely finished. He slammed the bowl down and stifled his burp as he stood in silence.

His shoulders shook and he bit down on his lip.

He felt a pat on his shoulder from both sides as Miyamoto and Rias consoled him, "It was really good, wasn't it?" Naruto's mouth opened and closed repeatedly as he struggled not to compliment the enemy's dish. Rias patted his head, "It must have been really good."

"Indeed. That's a Noodle World specialty! A recipe prepared by one of our finest and faithfully shared between our restaurants." One of the men announced, looking around the room and explaining the product to the people instead of simply to their competitors, "This dish is one of the most delicious meals we offer at Noodle World. Of course I won't lie and tell you it won't cost you, but perhaps we can persuade you to come and try it with a few free samples?"

Several more employees ran in through the door with trays in their hands. They pulled off the tops and showed the assortments of cup ramen they had on the platter for the people to try. The customers immediately took to the offered food and snatched it up. With the samples already opened and prepared with hot water, the customers dug in to their new meals.

"Oh my god! This is delicious!"

"I don't think I've ever had a bowl of ramen this good!"

"I-I need to save up my allowance! I need to have this as soon as possible!"

It was clear to the ORC that had lent their help to the little ramen shop. The attention and mood were changing from supporting their food to the interest in these new bowls offered by the folks in business attire.

The executives showed victorious smirks as they walked out.

Some people just went back to casually talking about other things while they enjoyed the new ramen.

But some paid off their bills and made their way out to visit the other ramen joint down the road.

They had lost the battle, and suffered for it.

||||||||Devil||||||||

"It was a good idea handing out these samples to our customers." Rias remarked as she sat down with one of the cup ramen Noodle World offered. She took in a strand of noodles and slurped it up before letting out a satisfied sigh, "Affecting your competition's customers by offering some of your best product in a much smaller amount than a bowl saves money while also getting the desired effect across."

"You seem to have a lot of praise to give the guys that are stealing our customers."

"Weren't you the one that started it by eating the ramen and failing to deride it?" Rias returned as Naruto hung his head and sighed angrily. The couple sat outside of the restaurant during a break Naruto was forced to have by Miyamoto. Rias grabbed a piece of meat with her chopsticks and ate it quickly, "He's only telling you to calm down because you seem so stressed. You seem even more wound up than he is about this whole situation."

"Well because I think the old man has pretty much resigned to the idea of the shop closing down. He's just okay with things ending now as they are and…and I'm not."

"You want to make sure he can live comfortably, don't you?"

Naruto sighed and ran his hand up his face and through his hair, "He used what money he had to pay for my recovery and treatment when I came to this world. I'd have died if it wasn't for what he did. So I owe him pretty big. And if I can't repay him and help him get back the money he needs to retire, he might never get a chance to rest. And if that's because of me-"

"I know." Naruto paused as he felt Rias' hand settle on his knee in a show of support. He looked up and saw his distinguished girlfriend lift the cup back and eat the rest of its remains. Once she finished she put it down and wiped her mouth, "That was a delicious recipe...but I think we can do better."

He stared at her in disbelief, "Are you serious? That was one of the most delicious bowls of ramen I've ever had."

"I think so too. But that doesn't mean we can't beat it." Rias said as she stood up and straightened out her skirt. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small notebook. She winked, "If my plans don't pan out, then we still need to do the best we can to help Miyamoto-San. And if that means we test a few things out, then so be it."

"Test what out?"

"Recipes." Rias flipped her notebook open and thumbed the pages, "I may have to revise it a little, but I'm sure I have one that can help us retaliate against those people."

"You have a ramen recipe? Why do you have a ramen recipe? Were you going to make ramen or something?" Rias remained silent and covered her face by looking intently at her notebook. However Naruto could still notice how her ears flushed and turned red with his attention, "You were going to make ramen? Why?"

"What do you mean why? Isn't it obvious?" Rias looked miffed as she pouted, "It's your favorite food. I wanted to try making it for you at least once."

"Seriously?"

"Don't look so shocked. Besides the surprise of it is ruined now." Rias inspected her notes before her eyes glinted challengingly, "Unfortunately I'll have those folks in suits trying out my new specialty before anyone else. Akeno! Asia!" Rias called out to the two waitresses as she entered the shop, "You'll need to take a break! I need your assistance with something important!"

"B-Buchou-San?"

"Ara ara, you seem fired up Buchou. I wonder why."

"I'll tell you why, Akeno." Rias smiled, "We're going to change the tides of battle with one fatal move."

||||||||Devil||||||||

"We got that little rinky-dink place good with the sample visit. Great idea with the cup ramen by the way."

"Of course. If it isn't in a bowl, ramen is best in a cup. Which reminds me, maybe we could try venturing out of just the restaurant and start selling our own brand of cup ramen as well."

"We'll take it up with the others on the board later. For now just enjoy the fact we're about to make our proper debut." The businesswoman leaned back in her chair, high on their victory as she smiled contently, "When Noodle World starts to expand, we can all lay back and-"

"Excuse me."

The group in business attire looked over and spotted the blond man and the crimson-haired woman standing in the doorway. They turned and faced the young duo before noticing that the once prisinte and well-dressed young woman now had some smudge on her face and flour over her arms. She wiped some sweat off her cheek before looking at the executives directly, "Hello again. Sorry to be a bother but I just finished preparing our new dish and I thought I'd inform you."

The executives looked bewildered, "Well…thank you for keeping us updated."

"We'll be waiting at the shop for you to taste test it."

Rias stepped out and the men and woman chuckled, "And why in the world would we do that?"

"She was just being courteous." Naruto got their attention at the door, smirking and waving them goodbye, "She thought it'd be nice to at least give you a chance to see how you get beat." His smirk stretched wider at their annoyed and perplexed looks as he stepped out, "I thought it'd be more poetic to just crush you without even letting you know what was happening but she's just too nice for that. Bye."

The trio sat in silence after the blond had stepped out, their customers looking in their direction as if awaiting their response. One of the guys turned and shook his head, "They're bluffing. All they're doing is trying to get back at us for the stunt earlier."

"He's right. Whatever they're doing doesn't matter. Even if they make a new dish that's better than ours, that means nothing. Soon enough we'll be going national and when that happens all the customers will come flocking here. We'll have that little shack out of business in a month – two tops."

The businesswoman remained silent and nodded her head in agreement. But after a moment she held down her skirt and sat up to make for the door. Her associates looked befuddled by her decision to follow before she looked back with a sneer, "You're right. Our success is basically a foregone conclusion. So what's the harm in humoring them a little?"

The trio made their way down the road and spotted the little shop that was trying to compete with them. They stepped in and immediately all eyes were turned to them. Some of the customers were looking anxious and excited for whatever they were anticipating, and the students that made up the staff were watching from the side.

The young brunette that had stayed behind the counter the whole day stepped up to the businesswoman and offered his hand, "Excuse me ma'am, would you like for me to take your jacket?"

"Buzz off." She swatted his hand away and stepped further in, "I'm not planning on staying for long or giving anyone my jacket." She looked aside and noticed the handsome young blond man in a tuxedo, "Well, maybe if the right person asked. Anyway, what's this dish you were so certain about to call us here?"

"This." Rias offered them the seats at the counter which they quickly took. Once they did, Rias stepped up to the counter in front of them to address the trio directly, "My friends and I have been spending the last hour making and fine-tuning this recipe for you to try. You can consider it our rebuttal to the dish you presented earlier."

"Well you sound confident."

"Yes," Rias met their smarmy smile with a smirk, "I am."

Bowls were quickly placed before them by Yuuto, Xenovia, and Naruto. The three students ripped off the covers and exposed the meals in their entirety. The three executives immediately froze in shock at the glorious smell that lifted into their noses. The entire restaurant stilled once the smell reached them, and mouths immediately watered.

"S-So?" Naruto attempted to sound unfazed, but his desperate attempts to wipe his mouth were failing that image, "They smell pretty damn good, right? Why don't admit you wish you had this recipe."

"S-Shut your mouth, kid!" The businesswoman snapped as she hesitantly grabbed a pair of chopsticks and prepared to dig into her meal. She attempted to eat a bite and be done with it, but noticed her hand was shaking as she and her associates were starting to breathe heavily. Why were their hearts beating so fast? Why were they so excited just for the chance to eat a bowl of ramen? It was ramen! Just a quick, unhealthy meal to have as a treat! They were making a business out of it and that was all! She refused to believe these amateurs and kids could make a dish better than their professional chefs just because they were determined or had friendship or some other kind of 80's movie bullshit they thought they had going for them!

The businesswoman forced the tip of some noodles in and slurped them down in one go.

Things went silent as they waited for her reaction or opinion. Moments stretched to seconds and threatened to go to a minute before the young woman finally did something.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes of tears that started to come down. She wept but continued to eat her meal despite her emotional state. The two men on either side looked at each other before they turned to their bowls and started to chow down as well. Everyone watched in surprise as they started to get emotional, welling up and sobbing as they devoured the food as quickly as possible.

"D-Dammit. Dammit, it's so good!"

"This can't be ramen! This can't be normal! It's too delicious!"

"I'm glad to see you like it." Rias muttered in surprise, just as shocked to see the reaction from the brash and haughty businesspeople. She felt a swell of pride grow in her chest as she patted the little notebook she used to keep track of what she wanted in her recipe, "I guess it wasn't a waste keeping all of these things written down."

"H-How?!" One of the trio managed to squeak out between slurps and eating, "How did you make something this good?! It's so raw and delicious and I don't think I've ever had something so good!"

"Oh, I've been trying a lot more ramen recently at the behest of a friend," She looked aside and saw Naruto sheepishly scratch his cheek, "I noticed there are a lot of different kinds of ramen with their own tastes. So I decided to keep a record of what was the best type of broth, noodles, garnish, meat, and vegetables that complimented each other."

"A-And you made this?!"

"Well I had to make a few prototypes first, but with some help from Asia and Akeno we got everything figured out."

"It's so good." The female executive whispered as she finished eating her noddles and resorted to slurping down what remained. When she finished she slammed the bowl down on the counter with shaky hands. She gritted her teeth as her companions did the same, "I-I don't want to say anything. I don't want to say how good it is! B-But - but-"

"IT'S-"

"SO-"

"GOOD!"

All three of them cried out in unison as the ORC and Miyamoto beamed with joy.

And then the woman's suit exploded off her body and left her in just her tattered clothing.

"AH! WHAT THE FUCK?!" She immediately reacted by covering her breasts and privates. Her face burned red as the crowd gasped and stared in shock. Her associates tried to cover her with their jackets, "WHY THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

"Whoa!" Someone from the crowd gasped, "It's just like that manga series"

"It's so good her clothes blew off!"

"It's like those foodgasms or whatever!"

While the crowd muttered and marveled to themselves, the ORC privy to what happened all turned to slowly stare at one member.

The pervert covered his bloody nose and gave them a thumbs-up.

"DAMMIT! WE WON'T FORGET THIS!"

"WE'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

The three executives forced themselves through the crowd and ran away as quickly as they could. The patrons of the shop immediately ran to the counter and ordered more of the same dish they had seen cause such a reaction in the trio

"Okay," Rias ripped some papers out of her notebook and showed them to Naruto and Miyamoto, "Looks like we've still got some mouths to feed."

||||||||Devil||||||||

"Son of a bitch!" The female executive screeched as she stomped into their empty restaurant while clutching the suit jacket around her. She seethed in rage as she looked back at her associates, "We have to get back at them! We have to make them pay! I am not going to let this end with us giving praise to that bitch's ramen!"

"We should just stop. We already agreed that if we waited long enough-"

"I don't want to wait! I want them to pay! Now!"

"And I don't want anything to do with them anymore! They just served bowls of ramen that almost got us to turn! It literally blew the clothes right off your body!"

"T-That had to be some kind of trick! No way food is so good it causes clothing to just erupt! Plus why didn't it happen to you two?!" She growled in anger as her fists started to shake, "They just tried to humiliate me! And if that's how they want to play it then-"

"Excuse me?"

The trio stopped and turned around to finally notice the man sitting at the counter in a suit and tie with his briefcase at his side. The mixed-haired man pleasantly waved to them, turning in his seat to face them, "I was worried that you might never show up."

"Sir, we have a lot on our plates and things to focus on, so we aren't open at the moment. I need to politely ask you to leave."

"Oh no, I'm not a customer. I'm just an investor interested in an aspiring and growing new restaurant chain." The man smiled confidently and reached into his jacket. He pulled out one of the fliers for Noodle World and showed it to them, "An associate of mine told me about your business and showed some interest in seeing how it grew."

"What kind of interest?"

"The kind that would like to buy the majority of shares."

"Are you insane!"

"Not really. Just an interested buyer is all."

"You know you can't just come in here and ask to buy most of a new company, right? For one thing we don't own all of it. It belongs to several other weather, influential individuals-"

"Who I've already made the trip to and convinced about my offers." The trio balked in shock as the shaggy man smirked, "I can be pretty persuasive."

"Y-You're being serious."

"I am. Now I'm not saying you should give all your shares over to me. I'm simply asking for a majority, 60% - 70% tops."

"Go to hell." The female executive snarled as she marched up to the man, ignoring her dire lack of proper clothing to face him firmly, "I don't care who you are or what you think we're doing! This was our big break! This is our chance to make a change in our lives! And if you think you can just walk in here and intimidate us into handing over our hard-earned shares-"

"Oh no miss, there's been a misunderstanding." He interrupted, chuckling to himself as he hefted up his briefcase and unlocked it, "I had every intention of buying them off you in a trade."

The briefcase was opened and the executive trio had to stop their eyes from bugging out at the sheer volume of bills packed into it. They gawked but the woman recovered, smacking her lips before shaking her head, "T-That might be impressive, but the amount possible if we keep our shares in the long run is more than that briefcase would be buying it off all of us."

"Oh this isn't for all of you. It's this...each."

...

"Each?"

"Yes. But if you prefer you could set the price for each share you would be willing to sell me."

...

"Each...share?"

"That's right."

"And your name is..."

"Azazel?"

"Well Azazel-sama," The trio quickly changed their tones, becoming much more accommodating before motioning to the counter, "We would be happy to negotiate the terms of the sale with you. And we hope you'll have your bank on call to make sure everything is settled."

He started offering these large buyouts pretty quickly when Rias suggested they go around and talk to the board and people in charge of this fledgling new franchise. But while he was willing to throw money around and get these matters settled quickly, Rias' business knowhow had serious chagrin with his waste of money. She stepped back, heading to meet with her peerage again and trusting him to use the money more wisely and be more savvy with their negotiations.

But they had money to burn and other things to do, so fuck it. What was the point in saving all of it up if it was never going to be used for anything?

And this way he finally got to join in on the fun.

||||||||Devil||||||||

"Whooooo, that was a long day. I didn't know cleaning up bowls and cups and utensils could be such a pain in the ass. I'll never complain about service at restaurants again. Those people have it hard."

"Y-Yes, I didn't know it was so difficult to carry so much at once." Unlike her brunette companion, the blonde girl was much more reserved and embarrassed about her mistakes and work at the restaurant today. Asia lowered her head in shame, "I dropped so many bowls and ruined so many orders. I hope Naruto-San wasn't mad at me for screwing up so much while serving everyone."

"No way!" Issei shook his head, "Senpai wouldn't be angry with you. He knows you were a little nervous, but in the end it all worked out. I bet there was a lot of money coming in today with that dish you, Buchou, and Akeno-San made today."

"I-It was nothing." Asia blushed from his praise before whispering, "It was mostly Buchou-San's effort on making the recipe while she and Akeno-San did all the work."

"But you made it happen too. You're great, Asia." She blushed a little deeper as they made their way home. Issei stared up into the black sky and took a deep breath, "I had no idea Naruto-senpai was working so hard to pay off the old guy for helping him with his recovery. Man, a few months ago I never would have thought he was the kind of guy to do something like that. Now I guess it just makes sense that he's the kind of guy that would want to go out of his way to help someone. But paying someone back like that...I don't know if I could do something like that."

"It's a strange feeling, knowing that you owe someone so much for helping you." Asia whispered from his side with a longing look in her eyes as she stared forward, "When you realize the new life you're living and all the new joys you are experiencing is because someone took the time to help you when you needed it most...I think it's only natural that you'd want to help that person in return, and make them feel happy." Asia paused in her walk and turned to face the pervert, a beautiful smile on her face that shined when she looked at Issei, "Issei-San."

"Asia?"

"I want to thank you for everything you've done for me since we met, and for giving me a chance to experience this new life as a Devil with everyone else." The short blond girl seemed extremely embarrassed by what was happening, but powered through as she faced the man she loved, "I'm not sure how I can ever repay you for what you've done, but I will spend my entire life at your side so I can find some way to do it."

"Asia," Issei stared at her before shaking his head. He chuckled to himself before stepping up to the nun with a smile, "You don't owe me anything. I'm just happy that you're happy. And if I get to see you happy forever, then that's all that matters to me."

Small tears came to her eyes, with a complicated expression on her face, "Issei-San-"

"So you share the sentiment too, Asia Argento-San?"

The two young Devils immediately flinched and looked aside to see a young man across from them in the street. Thanks to their eyes, his face was clear as day despite it being night. The young man had soft features and a very handsome face, dressed in unusual and expensive clothing.

"Hey!" Issei quickly stepped in font of Asia and faced the stranger directly with a scowl, "I don't know who you're supposed to be, jerk-off, but if you're showing up here late at night saying Asia's name then I'm gonna have a bad reaction."

"No no, please, don't misunderstand." He raised his hands defensively with the same smile on his face, "I'm not here to hurt either of you. In fact it's the direct opposite of that in fact."

"What?"

He looked towards the cautious blonde girl with his smile and nodded, "Asia Argento-San, I owe my life to your kindness. And I wish to repay you for that kindness however I can. So please," He held out his hand and gently spoke, "Allow me to make you happy."

||||||||Devil||||||||

"Things were pretty crazy today." The older man chuckled as he wiped the sweat off his brow while pulling out a beer, "I don't think I've ever had a day as packed as today."

"It was way more hectic than I expected. But glad we got everything sorted out."

"Yeah, and where'd all your friends go?" Miyamoto asked his companion as he worked behind the counter with a clean bowl, "I feel like I should be paying them off for all the work they did today."

"Nah, don't worry about it. They're good people from my club so they won't ask you for payment."

"And what about those other guys? They didn't look like they were from your club."

"Oh they weren't. Just some temps I asked for help. We're - uh - pretty close."

"Well alright then. Honestly, I'm just happy to see you interacting more nowadays." The shop owner chuckled to himself, "Took you awhile to finally get around to making some new friends."

"Yeah, well I just needed to find the right group of weirdos to help me settle."

"Glad to hear. Order up." Miyamoto placed out a bowl of ramen for his young friend as he chuckled, "This reminds me of the first time we met?"

"It does?" Naruto tried to recall how they had met but the details had been fuzzy. The only thing he knew about it was what Miyamoto had told of him, "I must have been pretty out of it when you met me."

"You creeped me out. I was close to calling the cops before you keeled over on my floor."

"Yeah, and that's what saved my life." Naruto smiled and rubbed his neck before looking up at the older man, "And since then I've been wanting to-"

"You two having another round of ramen?" Rias walked in the shop from the entrance. The lovely redhead had a black folder in her hand and walked over to the counter to join them, sitting beside her boyfriend, "I hope you don't mind if I can get a bowl as well."

"Not at all, Rias-San. I already have another batch on the cooker ready for you. I feel like the creator herself should have the chance to try out her work." Rias graciously nodded her head as the cook laughed, "So what had you so busy?"

"What I was doing," The young heiress opened up the folder and pulled out several pages of documents. She pulled out a pen and clicked it on before lying it on top, "Was just finishing some work with a business associate of mine to purchase the majority shares of the Noodle World business."

"What?" Miyamoto looked shocked and shook his head, "Kids, I-I know they were rude but if you did something to threaten o-or-"

"Oh no, Miyamoto-San you're misunderstand." Rias cut him off with a shake of her head, "We didn't force them to do anything. We actually offered to buy their shares. At a considerably higher price than they were probably actually worth." She sighed and rubbed her eyes, "I never should have trusted him with this. My mistake. Moving on. We simply offered to buy a majority of what they owned...and we wanted to offer it to you."

"M-Me?" The old man blinked, "Why..." He lowered his head and sighed before looking at the only person he knew to think of, "Why would you go this far?"

"I just thought that if we did this, then there could be a lot of money coming your way. And if there was-"

"Jesus, Naruto are you serious?" He asked in disbelief, "Is this still about trying to repay me back? Look I know you were worried-"

"Worried? You used your life-savings on me, Gramps! I took your chance to sit back and relax, just enjoy your retirement! You wanted to shut the shop down in a few years, right? But when I came around that plan was pushed back for - like - forever, wasn't it! But this way-"

"I didn't want you to worry about that." Miyamoto groaned, "I didn't want to help you just so you would feel indebted and try to work it off for me for the rest of your life. I wanted you to just be happy and have your own life."

"And I will!" Naruto stood up, facing the older man directly as he pointed to Rias, "I have Rias, and the others from the club. I have a life to be happy for and to cherish for a long, long time. I have that now. And I have that thanks to you." He pointed back down at the contract, "But I also want to make sure you're happy too! You're important to me too dammit! You're my friend! And I want you to live a good life! The same one you want for me! So that's why I...we..."

The silence hung for a while before Rias coughed and smiled at the older man, "Miyamoto-San, I don't think he's going to budge on this. You want him to be happy, right?" The old man nodded, "Well I promise I'll do my part to take care of that matter from now on. But he wants you to be happy too. He wants to make sure you can do whatever you want. So if you understand that..."

Miyamoto stayed quite before looking down at the contract. He stared at it for a moment before looking at the redhead, "Rias-San, can more than one name fill the line?"

"I think we can arrange something."

Miyamoto quickly turned the paper around to face him before writing his name on the line. When he was done he placed it down and turned it to Naruto, "Sign."

"What?"

"You want me to be happy? I want you to be happy. If I'm gonna retire, then I want to trust you with taking care of things while I'm doing it." The older man smirked as he looked at Naruto directly, "I was always planning on giving you this place when I decided to hang up the apron. It's pretty much the same thing, just bigger. So?"

Naruto looked to Rias and saw the foxy redhead watching him with amusement. The blond sighed and shook his head before leaning down and writing on the line. He finished it and dropped the pen, "Guess we're in business, again."

"Yes we are." Miyamoto laughed and Rias joined in as Naruto furrowed with annoyance. The older ramen shop owner chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye, "You know, now that I can retire I need to think about where to go."

"You could always dig up a little spot in the countryside."

"Or how about traveling?"

"Traveling. Now that sounds nice." Miyamoto laughed, Naruto and Rias smiling as they agreed with the idea, "I've always wanted to see the world."

||||||||Devil||||||||

Miyamoto watched from outside as the bedridden boy laid back in his bed with books in his lap. Whatever he was reading seemed to confuse or trouble the poor boy. Over a week of consciousness and the moment the lad had awakened he started asking about all these people no one knew about and places that didn't exist.

Some wrote him off as mad the moment he asked about what happened to some Ninja Alliance.

He had recovered physically from whatever had hurt him, but it still looked like he had to deal with its lingering effects for a bit longer.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you the man that was helping this poor boy when he got here?" Miyamoto looked back and saw a tall man, possibly a foreigner, with deep red hair walk up to him dressed in a suit. He peeked inside and saw the distressed form of the young man in bed, "I had heard the boy that had been in a coma for months had finally woken up. I wanted to see if he was recovering well."

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, my family owns the hospital. We're the ones that took up his medical bills after your initial payments start to dry out." The young man explained, "I had hoped I might get the chance to talk with him, but it appears he isn't in a place to speak about anything as he is right now."

"I'm sorry. Whatever that lad went through...it must have hurt him worse than those wounds did."

"I agree." The redhead nodded before turning to the elderly man and offering his hand, "You did a really kind thing helping this boy out in his time of need." Miyamoto took his hand, "If he's recovered and looking to try and get back on his feet, can you tell him we are offering a scholarship at the academy for him when he recovers. He may have to enter a little late into the new semester, but the offer stands of course."

"T-That's very kind of you, young man. Thank you." The redhead smiled and bowed his head before stepping away. Miyamoto walked through the door and pulled up a chair to sit by his bed, "How are you doing kiddo?"

"I-I'm gonna make sense of this." The boy muttered as his eyes panned the pages, "I just need a little more time to figure it out. K-Kurama will come back-"

"Take all the time you need, lad." Miyamoto said, "You'll figure this out soon. This will all make sense."

"B-But it doesn't. None of this makes sense." The blond muttered almost deliriously as he held his head, "It hurts so much. I-I'm confused and scared and...and I don't know what to do."

"Just recover for now." Miyamoto reached out and patted his back. The whiskered blond was still scared, but his comforting seemed to have some effect as his breathing slowed. He looked up to the older man, "My name is Miyamoto. What's yours?"

"Naruto. My name is Naruto."

They sat in silence before Miyamoto chuckled, "Fishcake. Well ain't that ironic."

"It's not fishcake. It's maelstrom."

||||||||Omake: To Fight A Trope||||||||

"Weird seeing Xenovia so enthusiastic about cooking." Naruto muttered while sitting at the counter waiting for the swordswoman to finish cooking her dish. He looked down, "Any idea what stirred this on?"

"She saw Buchou, Akeno-senpai, and Asia-senpai working so hard on their ramen and thought she should try." Koneko answered from her seat on his lap. Despite there being a number of empty seats, the little freshman insisted on sitting on his legs while they waited for their meal to arrive. She looked up, "I think she might want to try cooking."

"Well good for her. She says she wants to try a bunch of new things and I'm totally up for her doing this if she's interested. Especially if it means she doesn't have to try other things and explain them to me."

Koneko's brow rose, "What else has she been telling you?"

"I'm already a bad enough influence on you as it is. Don't make me say things that might scar you for life. They've already left their marks on me."

"I've finished!" Xenovia announced as she came out from the kitchen with pride in her eyes and some flour on her face, "I've completed my ramen recipe!"

"That was fast."

"Way to go, Xenovia-senpai."

"Cooking is so much more exhilarating than I thought it would be. And when I started I knew exactly what I was doing! It must be the skills and cuisine of my homeland coursing through me. Cooking is in my soul! My blood! My voice!"

"Your voice?"

"Sorry, don't know why I said that one. Anyway," Xenovia grabbed a ladle and poured two bowls before offering them out, "Order up!"

The bowl of black liquid, lumpy noodles, melted fishcakes, and still pink meat came to a slow jiggle before them.

Naruto and Koneko's faces froze in shock and horror.

"I can't wait for you to try it." Xenovia's eyes sparkled with more glee and joy then either of them had seen her show before. She waited in barely contained anticipation for them to try her handmade meal, "Go ahead. Tell me what you think."

"You first Senpai."

"You little-" Naruto muttered to the traitor in his lap as he gulped and picked up his chopsticks. He went for the broth and met a lot more resistance against the wooden utensils than he expected from a supposed liquid. He finally breached the murky unknown liquid, shuddering in horror before he picked up some noddles. He saw the multiple bumps and odd formations in the noddles' form and raised them to his mouth.

"Actually!" He stopped just short of taking the bite before holding them out, "Xenovia, did you know it's a tradition over here in Japan for first-time cooks to try their meal first?"

"It is?"

"Yep! Isn't that right, Koneko?"

"Tale as old as time."

"Oh, well if it's tradition then I have no place to shirk the customs of the country." Xenovia shrugged before leaning forward and opening her mouth, "Thanks for the-"

Her lips touched her noodles.

She dropped unconscious an instant later.

...

"We should call an ambulance."

"We should call Asia-senpai."

"You're right. This is probably more dire than we're giving it credit. Xenovia probably just ate the equivalent of a poison pill." They got out of their seats, "Koneko, check on Xenovia and contact Asia."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to obliterate Xenovia's ramen so it never sees the light of day."

"You are the hero we need, but not the hero we deserve.

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Done

New Devil of the Gremory House is a cooking story.

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