In the midday sun, with the heat seeming to work its way into his nostrils with each breath, Maou puttered down the side of the Koshu-Kaido road. He felt like a little more speed would help him cool down, but the old habits from his MgRonald delivery days made it impossible for him to go above 20 miles an hour. Speed limits on the street, after all, didn’t always match up with the law—but ever since he’d obtained the MgScooto, he swore never to break 20 mph on his way to and from work.
The Maou Company was a small business through and through, but he never fudged his staff’s work hours or other regulations, the way that was all too common with outfits its size. The way he ran the company, if a labor inspector came in five minutes from now for an inspection, he wanted to be sure they would uncover nothing untoward.
Unfortunately, this also meant that the company wasn’t as flexible as it could have been. So, despite the improbability of it all, Maou didn’t want to suffer an illness, injury, or any other setback. That, and if he wanted to retain this healthy organizational structure as the company grew, he had to exhibit model behavior as its first leader, even in places where people weren’t looking.
Fortunately, the Koshu-Kaido road was a wide one packed with stores and office buildings, along with parked cars doing this or that business. Even going 20 mph didn’t mean other cars were buzzing by him on the passing lanes.
“Man. The Devil King would never accept that.”
Noticing a truck parked by the curb—no parking space allotted, no cones put in place as the crew unloaded the back—Maou marveled at how the world carried on with its own business, regardless of what people thought was okay. But keep working that way, and you never knew when it’d come crashing down. Maou constantly reminded himself that he was a business manager, whether he liked it or not.
Making a right at the intersection in front of Sasazuka Station, he rode under the railroad overpass. By the time he’d passed the Bosatsu Street Shopping Center, he could faintly see his apartment building in the distance.
Villa Rosa Sasazuka had changed a lot as well. Every apartment was now equipped with an air conditioner—and, shockingly, the second-floor rooms now had expanded windows overlooking the backyard, opening up to small but functional balconies. There wasn’t room for private baths in each apartment, but compared to when he first started living here, the conditions had grown unimaginably better. By now, he couldn’t even remember how three men could live in one of these tiny rooms without any air conditioning. That, and despite the sea change in environment, the rent was still unchanged, at 45,000 yen.
“But then, Emi’s apartment is still 50,000, so I can’t be that thankful…”
Turning off the engine, Maou pushed the MgScooto to its parking space, removed his sweaty helmet, and let out a shallow sigh.
“Phew… Wish I could stop by the public bath before I leave.”
The local Sasanoyu public bathhouse used to be open early in the afternoon, but due to the proprietor getting on in age, it had recently moved its opening time back to three PM. His plans for today forbade him from lolling around his apartment that long just to take a bath.
“Well, I’ll change, anyway,” he said, making excuses to no one in particular as he carried his helmet up the stairs.
“Oh?”
Just as he opened the door to his apartment, he spotted something in the corridor that hadn’t been there when he’d left. It was a small used dish and cup, placed atop a plastic tray—the remains of somebody’s meal.
“…Well, I’m glad she’s eating…but this is from yesterday and there’s still some left. In this heat, you keep leaving it out like this, it’s gonna attract flies. Eesh.”
He picked up the tray as he grumbled, taking it inside Room 201. The air conditioner timer worked just like he set it, so the sweet nectar of cool air permeated the space.
Feeling the sweat evaporate from his skin, Maou opened the fridge and scanned its contents.
“I got onions and sausage left. Maybe I could make some kinda spaghetti…”
Working fast before the cool air could make him sluggish, he put the dirty dishes in the sink and washed them alongside the stuff he’d used for breakfast. Once everything was in the rinsing rack, he took a bag of precooked pasta from the fridge, along with some loose veggies, cut-up sausage, ketchup, and black soy sauce. A quick trip to the pot later, and he had a nice pasta meal plated out. There were more veggies than he’d thought at first, making for a hearty dish.
Letting it cool down a bit under the ventilation fan before delivering it, Maou changed out of his sweaty clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket. Then, grabbing a midsize tote bag, he put his wallet, tissues, a handkerchief, a small towel for wiping sweat off, and an antibacterial sheet for his hands inside. After that, he wrapped the plate of spaghetti he’d made and ferried it to the door of Room 202.
“Hey! I might be late tonight, so I put your food at the door. Try to eat your meals in order, okay? Even if you chill them. See you later!”
He knew there wouldn’t be a response. With a sigh, he placed the tray on the floor, checked that Room 201 was locked, and closed the door to the corridor.
“There you go.”
As he looked through the door’s window, he saw a pale, wispy arm reach out from behind the door of Room 202, grab the tray of pasta, and roughly shut the door again.
“What a pain. I really wish I could swap places with someone.”
Scowling, even though he wasn’t all that worked up about it, Maou walked down the stairs then set off for Sasazuka Station on foot. He checked his watch; it was a little past eleven.
“Crap. Maybe I was too slow again. It was twelve twenty, right?”
Checking his phone’s messages one more time, he stepped up his pace a bit, not letting the oppressive heat get to him.