It was a day in mid-July, exactly one month after the red moon of the demon realms had begun to accelerate. The summer was already starting to get harsh, but Maou was sweating for other reasons. His focus narrowed as he faced up to the warm machine in front of him. It spat out a checking account statement. Staring at the cold, hard numbers printed on it, he froze a bit in front of the ATM, unable to move.
For Maou, a self-styled contributing member of society, the numbers printed on the receipt didn’t exactly promise a smooth future ahead. But they were the result of a lot of hard work. He couldn’t lament that, and there was no reason to.
“Are we really gonna be okay?”
“Yes. I have checked everything carefully, my liege. There is no need for you to worry about finances until we complete our battle.”
“You’re really sure about that?”
Maou and Ashiya stared closely at the receipt, virtually boring holes into it.
“Yes. Extremely sure. As a rule, all of your utilities are being paid for through your credit card. That includes the water, gas, electricity, phone, internet, and everything else! So once we make it through the day of your card payment, you will see no more inappropriate withdrawals from your account!”
“Well, it’s not ‘inappropriate’ if I’m withdrawing from my own account…”
“I… Yes, I know. And Urushihara has mostly been in Ente Isla the past two or three months, so we’ve had no unexpected online shopping to deal with. I suppose I have come to see all purchases made via credit card as ‘inappropriate,’ you see…”
“Yeah, sorry we put you through all that trouble. And I guess we’ll have more for you shortly…”
“Please, Your Demonic Highness, enough with that nonsense! This is my just punishment, as leader of the Devil King’s Army… Or karma, I should say. But still…I am heartbroken, it is true. Right now, of all times…I cannot help but feel that we have been betrayed!”
“Whoa there.”
As the two demons lamented to each other in broad daylight, an exasperated Emi brought a hand to her hip.
“You just said something I think I better not ignore.”
“What?!”
“Who betrayed whom here?”
Ashiya raised a fist high into the air then pointed straight at Emi. “Emilia! You were fully aware of the poverty endemic to the Devil King’s Army, and yet you choose this moment to demand child support from my liege! What could I call it other than a betrayal?!”
“Hey, if I could ask you, Alciel—since when…did I ever…have to consider your stupid army’s budget in what I do?! You’re the top chef in Devil’s Castle! D’you know how much it costs to raise a kid these days!”
“Y-you dare say such things at this point?! You dare place a child and money on the scales of heaven? You should be ashamed of your selfishness!”
“Look, it’s a fact that finances are part of a loving family! In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t thanked me for not mentioning your king’s support obligations even once before now!”
“Man, this stereo presentation really brings me back…”
From the side, Maou exhaled at Emi’s and Ashiya’s arguing.
“It is nostalgic, yes. But from the outside, this is such an embarrassing argument to endure…” Suzuno put a hand to her forehead, blushing.
“Well,” Urushihara nonchalantly added, “whether you’re ashamed of it or not, you’d better pay out what you can right now, huh? Emilia and Ashiya may be going on like that ’n’ all, but at least in our future plans, all five of us need to act as equals, y’know?”
“Mmm… Yes, that is true…but what has gotten into you lately, Lucifer? You have been acting unusually sensible.”
“I’ve always been sensible with you guys, dude. It’s just that you never listen.”
“You should know that in this world, what you say does not matter as much as who is saying it.”
“Y’see, this is why humans are so stupid,” Urushihara continued. “They make no effort to grasp the essence of things, y’know?”
Suzuno rolled her eyes even farther back.
“So in this situation, who’s gonna speak up first, if it’s that important?”
“That’ll be me. It’s up to me to get the ball rolling.” Maou nodded to himself, face more solemn than anyone else’s here. “The battle awaiting us is one that none of us are guaranteed to emerge from alive. That’s why we have a duty to wrap up everything now.”
Maou’s words made the bickering Emi and Ashiya silently nod.
“Our battle against heaven has finally reached its climax. The future of Ente Isla and Earth… Well, not just that. The future of Alas Ramus and the other Sephirah as well…and the Sephirah who’ll be born in however many planets in the universe from now on… We owe it to all of them. We need to atone for our past sins today.”
“…Yes, you’re right.”
“Indeed.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Mmm.”
Emi, Ashiya, Urushihara, and Suzuno—all four of them meekly accepted Maou’s resolution.
“It’s not about humanity, or the Devil King’s Army. We represent all life in Ente Isla, and we need to stand up to our past, or we’ll never move on. So please, Emi. I’m barely gonna be scraping by for a while after this, so if you can go easy on the child support thing until after the battle’s over…”
“Stop babbling. I told you a hundred times.” Emilia—Emi Yusa—grinned a bit. “I know full well what takes priority here. So…you take the lead for us.”
“…Thanks.”
“Also, just to be sure, they understand what kind of business we’re visiting them about, right?”
“Of course they do. I explained everything to Chi and her mom in advance. That’s why all of us are here today. And the timing’s right, too. It was around this time of the year when we really started getting Chi wrapped up in this.”
The words “all of us” made all of them brace themselves a bit more.
“All right. Let’s go.”
Maou took out his phone and called the number he already had up on the screen. The other side picked up after one ring; he explained that everything was ready, and once that was acknowledged, he hung up. The call didn’t last more than about ten seconds.
His resolve renewed, Maou let out a deep breath and spoke to the four people around him.
“Sounds like they’re ready, too.”
The air grew heavier. But no one said anything. There, at the Sasazuka Station intersection with summer in full swing, the five figures steeled themselves as they began walking toward the 100 Trees Shopping Arcade.