Suzuno let her body flow through the Gate’s torrent, as if floating in water. Unlike the trip to Japan, the other side of this Gate to Ente Isla was less than five minutes away.
In the meantime, she frantically tried to organize the feelings in her heart. Her eyes were closed, and behind those eyelids, she could see the flickering campfire she had gazed at with Maou, over in Efzahan. The warmth of his back against hers might have been exactly when her current feelings for him began to bud.
“A good thing my role does not put me in enemy territory.”
There was no concept of top or bottom in a Gate linking planet to planet. But the lone droplet that fell from Suzuno’s eye, like the remains of an emotion she had shut herself away from, flowed back toward the demon realms she had just left behind before disappearing.
“Ughh! When this is over, I am going to Kagawa, the home of Japan’s best udon, and I am going to stuff myself!”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was a typical weekday afternoon at Tokyo Station, and outside the crowded turnstile leading to the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train, Emi spotted a very unusual-looking sight.
“Where on earth have you been…?”
She eyed Suzuno Kamazuki partly with wonderment, partly with abject scorn.
“Oh, here and there.”
“Yeah, I can tell. You’ve definitely been having a lot of fun, haven’t you?”
“Good to see you again, Alas Ramus. You are quite a big girl now.”
“Suzu-sis, what’s that?”
“This is a kasa.”
“A casa? But it’s not a house!”
“No, a kasa. A traditional Asian conical hat.”
To be exact, it was a suge-gasa, made of bamboo. It matched the white she was decked out in from head to toe, a purple cloth draped around her shoulders. Noticing the target of Emi’s attention, she proudly grabbed a piece of the purple fabric.
“Yes, this is my monk’s stole. I found a rather nice one. Very eye-catching, is it not?”
“If you say so…but why are you back to the level of religious fervor you had when you first came to Japan?”
Suzuno was dressed in the classical outfit of a Buddhist pilgrim, perhaps on her way to visit the eighty-eight holy temples of Shikoku in southern Japan. But there was nothing particularly holy about Tokyo Station—nor the bullet train both of them had just gotten off.
“I get it if we happened to be on the same train…but were you dressed like that all the way from Shikoku?”
“I always did want to take a bullet train once, you see.”
That didn’t answer the question.
As Suzuno explained, she had gone on a tour geared for beginners looking for a taste of the classic Shikoku pilgrimage. It departed from Tokushima Airport and covered only the first twenty-three temple stops, from Ryozen-ji to Yakuo-ji.
“Back when I visited Kagawa to go on a foodie tour of their best udon noodles, I learned about this tour, and the fact that Okayama is quite close to Shikoku. So my plan was to take a flight to Tokushima, go to Okayama after the tour, and return by bullet train from there…but I had no idea we took the same train, Emilia.”
“Yeah. We got on at Shin-Kobe, but…”
Emi was glad, in a way, she ran into Suzuno here. If they had bumped into each other on the train, she wasn’t sure how she would have reacted.
“And, you know, the pilgrimage has always had an element of traveling for pleasure, but it is still a holy ritual—one where you consider your path in life, learn of the depths of the Buddha’s heart, and find enlightenment. Thus, I decided that from the moment I left home until the moment I came back, I would dress in these acolyte’s robes. There is nothing improper about that.”
“…The Church faithful back home would have a fit if they saw this.”
Even now, three years on, Suzuno was still one of the Six Archbishops, among the most powerful government figures on Ente Isla’s Western Island. Despite that, here she was going on about Buddha’s kindness—and she had a wheeled suitcase with a bag of souvenirs perched on top, suggesting the trip was a lot more secular than she let on.
“Ah, yes! I thought I would give this to you the next time I saw Alas Ramus. This is for Mommy, okay, Alas Ramus? You can have some later.”
“Oooh! Okay!”
“I will have a more proper souvenir for you once I return home, but…”
As Alas Ramus did an excited little dance, Suzuno handed Emi a box of caramels—“Sanuki Udon Flavor,” it read. It unnerved Emi.
“…Well… I had some Mongolian hot pot caramels once, and if you didn’t know that, they actually tasted pretty good…”
A bit concerned that the “more proper souvenir” wasn’t too proper at all, either, Emi shoved the small box of caramels into the deepest, darkest crevice of her shoulder bag.
Just then:
“Ah! There you are! Hey, over here!”
Emi turned toward the familiar voice. Maou and Chiho were approaching them.
“Hey, guys. Sorry to bring you out into this heat.”
“Hello, Yusa! And hi, Alas Ramus! Boy, have you grown!”
“Chi! Hello!”
Alas Ramus stood up as tall as she could, hugging Chiho as she kneeled down to greet her. Only then did Chiho recognize Suzuno from beneath her hat and robes.
“Huh? Whoa! Suzuno, is that you?!”
“Suzuno?! What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that? You got a lot of explaining to do.”
She paid little mind to Emi’s criticism, but the moment Maou started unloading on her pilgrim’s outfit, she suddenly grew resentful.
“This,” she plainly stated, “is nothing but a coincidence.”
“…Did you take a trip to Shikoku again? And then you took the train from Okayama and happened to share it with Yusa?”
“There, you see? Chiho got it on the first try.”
“Yes, and I think it’s pretty crazy that Chiho could, frankly.”
“Quit being silly. Why are you so proud of that? And what do you mean ‘again’? I had no idea you had gone to Shikoku multiple times!”
“Indeed, Devil King, I never told you. And I have no souvenirs for you, either.”
She made it sound so casual as she grabbed the handle of her suitcase.
“So what sort of gathering was this? I assumed you were still in Ente Isla, Chiho, but you have returned?”
“Yeah, just a little bit ago.” Chiho turned toward Maou and Emi. “But can I tell her what we’re here for, guys? I’m technically an outside party, so…”
“It’s basically for work,” replied Maou, “but really, I’m just gonna be Emi and Alas Ramus’s bag carrier.”
“Oh? Well, I had best take my leave, then. I would hardly want to get in the way.”
Suzuno didn’t want to get involved with Maou’s “work,” but Emi stopped her from departing.
“No, you’re fine. We’re not meeting with anyone you don’t know. If you have the time, why don’t we all have a meal together for a change? If he’s on time, he should be here before too long.”
“Is that so?”
Suzuno still seemed reluctant, but Maou nodded his agreement. “Yeah, stick around if you’re able. We reserved the tatami room at this soba noodle restaurant, so as long as you’re okay with it not being udon, we can fit one more in easy.”
“In that case, perhaps you will let me tag along? Is this other person coming by train as well?”
“No, he should already be here in Tokyo on business. I haven’t seen him in a while, either, so as long as it didn’t interfere with his work, I figured we could all say hello…”
So it was a work acquaintance of Maou’s, one he was willing to have Chiho meet, despite her just arriving back in Japan. Suzuno raised an eyebrow, unsure who this person could be, but the answer arrived very shortly.
“Oh, there you are. Hey, Yusa! Chiho! Maou! And…”
Suzuno turned toward the voice, not recognizing it at first, only to find one of the last people she’d expected.
“Um, Ms. Kamazuki, wasn’t it? Why are you dressed like a pilgrim?”
“Heavens! It’s you, Kazuma?!”
It was Kazuma Sasaki, Chiho’s cousin from Komagane in Nagano prefecture. Maou, Ashiya, and Urushihara first met him when Chiho’s parents invited them to work at the Sasaki family farm; he later met Emi and Suzuno after they ran up there to join the demons.
“It has been quite a while,” Suzuno said. “Thanks again for your help then. So you are working with Sadao here?”
“Pretty much. Plus those two.”
Kazuma pointed at two other people coming up to the group—two other faces Suzuno didn’t expect at all.
“…Nord and Laila? Hmm? What kind of gathering is this?”
“Hello there, Chiho. And hi, Bell. It’s sure been a while!”
“Oh? Bell? Why are you all dressed like a Buddhist pilgrim?”
Emi’s parents had come here with Kazuma Sasaki—a very unusual combination. Suzuno didn’t know what to make of it, and she couldn’t imagine what would be happening next.
“Well, we can settle down and chat later, but now that we’re all here, let’s get going. I had my wholesaler introduce this soba restaurant to me, but it’s really good. I can take your stuff, Kazuma.”
“Oh, really? Well, can you take this? It’s pretty light.”
“Sure. Ready for some soba, Alas Ramus? What do you want to eat?”
“Ramen!”
Her total dismissal of the idea made all the grown-ups laugh.
“Well,” Emi said, “Daddy made a reservation at a soba place, so you’ll have to make do with that. Maybe we can have ramen for dinner later, though. You can order whatever juice you want, too.”
“Aww… Mommy, ramen!”
Emi tried to placate her with a smile, but Alas Ramus still looked a tad miffed.