Hey guys, really sorry about the amount of time it took for me to upload this. If you want to know what's been up check my Explanation. Anyway, enjoy.
Emi walked into work a few days later on Monday, smiling brightly as she greeted her friend (her only friend, really) Rika, sitting down at her desk beside her.
An hour or so, and various clients later, Rika turned towards Emi, putting her headset down onto her desk, their sign that one of them wanted to talk.
A few minutes later, Emi bid the customer farewell, and turned towards the brunette. "What's up?"
Rika raised an eyebrow. "What's up? You apparently. You've been all smiles since you came in. Even when you had that guy yelling something about duct taping a stapler?"
"You heard that?"
"Half the section heard it. Not to mention Totyotsu bumped into your chair again, and YOU apologized. C'mon. It's Monday. You HATE Mondays. Justifiable so by the way," Rika continued. "But you're still all smiles. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were drunk or something. So c'mon, spill."
Emi shrugged. "I guess I just had a really good New Years. I went to a shrine. Got a 'Great Blessing' fortune."
Rika's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Mmm hmm. Y'know, it's a little strange to go to a shrine alone on New Years. Did you go with someone?"
Emi shook her head. "No. I just wanted to check it out. It was pretty lively."
Rika pursed her lips, still not buying Emi's story. Something happened over the weekend for Emi to be this upbeat. Not that Emi was normally a downer by any means, but Mondaysannoying callersinsensitive coworkers did not a happy Emi make.
However, before she could probe any further, her line started ringing. She gave Emi a quick glance. "We're not done here. We're going out after work. That little sushi place I like."
Nodding, Emi turned back to her own work, thinking over what Rika said about Emi's apparently positive attitude. 'I guess I have been pretty positive. But I don't think there's anything behind it.'
Her train of thought lost as her line began ringing, Emi greeted the caller and began to get lost in her work for the rest of the day.
———————
"Cheers" Rika raises her water glass to clink with Emi's.
"Cheers" Emi said, taking a drink from her water.
Cracking apart her chopsticks, Rika pointed one at her redhead friend across the table.
"So. New Years. What happened?"
Emi shook her head, splitting apart her own chopsticks. "Nothing happened. I spent New Years Eve at my house. Then I went to a shrine the next day and got a Great Blessing charm. No parties. No day drinking. Nothing exciting. I was just in a really good mood today I guess."
Rika chewed the salmon roll in her mouth thoughtfully. "And no one was with you for New Years Eve? Or went with you to the shrine?" Emi shook her head again. Rika pursed her lips. "Ok, give me the play by play of that shrine visit. You seem to focus on that when talking about your weekend."
Emi rolled her eyes at her friends further inquiring. "Why is this such a big deal? I'm just in a good mood."
She was met with a disbelieving look from Rika's hazel eyes. "I've been your best friend-only friend," Emi frowned. "For how many months now Emi? And if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you are never this happy on a Monday, and certainly, not in the morning. Something happened."
Rika sat back in her chair, spreading her arms arms almost as wide as her cheshire smile. "So, spill. What happened during your shrine visit?"
Sighing in defeat, Emi began to recount her weekend. Leaving out the part about why she went to the shrine in the first place (if it had actually refilled her holy energy, then she'd understand why she was in such a happy mood), she talked about buying food from the stands, throwing coins in the grates, having to get through a crowd of people to get her charm, but when she got to the part about actually getting her charm, Rika held her hand up.
"Wait," Rika started, taking a sip from her water. "So this dude just gave you the charm? You didn't talk or anything."
Emi shrugged in response. "No we talked a little bit. You remember that little chocolate cake we had for Christmas?"
"Yeah."
"He was one of the Santas selling it. He said he uh, recognized me," she finished, smiling a little bit towards her few remaining salmon rolls, not knowing her cheeks had taken on a rosy hue.
Rika's eyes widened to the size of a saucer plate. "Get out. Oooooh Emiiii," she squealed, surprising the redhead by reaching out and grabbing her hands. "What's his name? What's he look like? Is he cute? Does he have a cute friend? When are you going to see him again?"
The color of Emi's face began to match her hair at her friend's questions. "W-What? I-I don't know. We only talked for a little bit. I-I don't even know his name," Emi answered, a little downcast at the end.
Rika sighed, rolling her eyes with a small smile on her face, "You poor thing. You're so pure Emi. But, that's just part of your charm." Rika sat back again. After a moment, she nodded, as if confirming her previous statement.
She grinned up at Emi. "Alright. Well, when you do see him again, make sure you get his name. If not to at least be polite, you definitely need some more friends. I need more people to help me convince you to go to a bar on the weekends."
"He definitely wouldn't help you convince me to go get drunk after work. A-and what makes you even think I'm going to see this guy again?" Emi asked, frowning at the brunette.
Rika just shrugged in response, grinning slyly. "Just a feeling."
—————
Maou sighed, staring at the blindingly white lights on the that lit up the Fast-N-Mart sign. Normally, Ashiya would be the one to get their groceries, but today, with Maou's new job at a MgRonald's that he'd started a few days ago, he figured he'd grab a few groceries on his way home. However, staring at the luminescent light of the cheap market only seemed to drain him of his desire to do anything.
Things had been so much simpler back in Ente Isla, even with constant war raging all around him.
Maou shook his head. Getting stuck in the past was not a good thing right now. He just needed to grab the jumbo pack of ramen he saw that was on sale, and go home after this long day.
Unfortunately, due to his inexperience with grocery shopping, Maou had absolutely no idea where to begin looking for ramen. After what seemed like an hour of Maou wandering around lost in the mart he came to the aisle with the sign for the sale of ramen, but couldn't find the promised package. Making his way around the area, thinking maybe it would be close by, he saw one of the store clerks. He walked over, realizing the kid seemed to be about 15, and had some wired device in his ears, and Maou could hear a steady thumping of noise coming out of it.
"Excuse me," Maou started, smiling like he'd seen the MgRonald's worker at the register do.
No response.
"Excuse me" Maou tried louder this time, his smile growing strained as the teenager seemingly ignored him.
This time, the kid looked at him lazily, clearly uninterested. He let out a sigh. "Hello, welcome to Fast-N-Mart. What can I assist you with?" The worker drones lazily.
Maou brushes it off, knowing it was late. "Yeah I'm looking for the ramen that's on sale. Do you happen to know where that is?"
The teenager's bored look became tainted with disbelief. "Uh, the 5th aisle dude. Can you read?"
Maou's teeth gritted together, his smile turning into a barring of teeth. "Yes, I can read, and I just came from the 5th aisle, but I couldn't seem to find where the ramen packages are."
The worker huffed, and slugged his way towards the front of the store, the disgruntled Demon Lord's irritation rising with each step. He'd had a long day okay, and the last thing he needed right now was to be talked down too from some scrawny kid.
Passing by seemingly the only other customer and worker in this Devil forsaken store, the clerk typed some things into a computer at the cash register, before turning to address Maou.
"Sorry. Looks like we're all out of the Super Ramen Specialty Pack. Last one just got bought up. If that's all, have a good night," the worker said as he turned away.
"Hey!" Maou called out to him, reaching out. They couldn't be out, the sign on the door said the sale went on till noon tomorrow. They had to have some boxes in the back. He didn't have time to come back tomorrow, and Ashiya needed the ramen for meal prep for the week.
The worker ignored him though, and retreated to a different part of the store. Turning around, Maou looked across the rows of checkout lines and saw the other worker, a young girl, seeming to be the age of that girl at MgRonald's who was a new trainee with him - Liho? Chicho? Something like that - closing up her checkout aisle across the store. Knowing he had no other choice, Maou took off running towards her.
The girl let out a squeak as Maou appeared suddenly in front of her, panting slightly from the physical exertion (he really needed to start working out). He grabbed the young girl's shoulders.
"H-How c-can I h-help" she stuttered.
"I need the super ramen" Maou exhaled, still out of breath.
The young girl shook her head, and removed the strange man's hands from her shoulders.
"I'm sorry sir. I just sold the last package of our Super Ramen Specialty Package. If you come back tomorrow though, we'll definitely be restocked."
All the air left Maou like a popped balloon. Slumped over, he dragged himself to the exit of the market, his hopes and dreams crushed. He couldn't even understand why he was so upset over a simple pack of ramen. He supposed he just wanted to try to help ease the load off Ashiya, who'd seemingly been putting in more and more effort everyday towards adjusting to their new life. He wanted to show Ashiya he wasn't completely helpless without his powers as Satan.
Thinking about his route home, Maou tried to think of any other marts on his way he may be able to stop into and get some ramen on his way home. Even if they'd be more expensive and have a lesser quantity, it would still be something.
Lost in thought, Maou didn't see the figure approaching the sliding doors from the other side of the Fast-N-Mart, and was unable to get out of the way as a soft body ran into him as the doors opened, knocking him onto his butt.
'Just great' Maou thought, as he let out a groan. Another rude person in this dingy mart he'd have to talk to before he left.
"I'm so sorry I didn't see you there I was in too much of a rush. Here, let me help you up" a soft voice spoke in a worried tone towards Maou. A hand appeared in front of his face, and directing his gaze upwards crimson once again met with emerald, as both of them let out a surprised "eh" of recognition.
Maou flushed slightly red, pushing himself up and dusting himself off as he scrambled to compose himself in front of the redhead who he'd now met for the 3rd time.
"Are you okay? That looked like a pretty hard fall.You didn't hit your head did you" the pale woman asked the demon king.
Maou paused, probably providing fuel to her head trauma theory, but he was just still unaccustomed to strangers being polite towards him, especially after his interaction with the clerk earlier. He shook his head, focusing on the concerned green eyes locked onto him
"No, yeah I'm fine. Landed on my ass, that's all. Don't worry about it, I should've been looking where I was going I was just in a real rush to grab some ramen before I got home so I wasn't looking" oh god he was rambling maybe he did hit his head make it stop.
The woman looked surprised, and reached into what Maou now realized was a shopping bag with a Fast-N-Mart logo on it hanging in her arms. His eyes grew wide as from out of it she pulled the Super Ramen Specialty Pack he'd been looking for.
She pushed it into his arms. "I'm sorry I bought the last one of these. I was actually on my way back cause I'd bought one when I already had one. Here," she explained as she handed the huge pack of instant ramen into his arms.
Maou shook his head in disbelief. "Thank you, but I'm sorry I can't-"
Before he could finish, the red haired woman turned away and took up a light jog away from him. She shouted over her shoulder, a light laugh tickling her speech in the cool night air, "that's yours now. It's the least I could do, after all, that iced cake was pretty good."
Maou's lips twitched up into a smile as he watched her red hair disappear around the corner. He let out a long sigh of content, and turned to head home.