Free The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 2 by Satoshi Wagahara

position.
    “L-l-let me down! What…what are you
doing
…?!”
    Emi felt her blood boil from head to toe. Her body was was currently scooped up into Maou’s arms.
    Maou must have grabbed her midfall, but the way he was cradling her body like a baby was adding insult to injury for the Hero, one she could barely stand.
    The summer heat and the sense of shame at involving Maou in this sordid scene were about to make her burst into flames.
    “Put…put me down right now! Wh-what’re you trying to do to me?!”
    Emi began to flail her arms and legs, her face glowing red despite herself.
    “Well,
you’re
the one falling off my stairs! Stop…stop squirming like that! We’re really gonna…
Erngh!
”
    Before he could finish the thought, one of Emi’s toes landed a clean hit on Maou’s temple.
    With a groan, Maou’s arms loosened their grip, sending Emi tumbling downward.
    “Agh!”
    It was a textbook landing—on her butt, right on the paving stones at the bottom of the stairs. She winced as she rubbed her tailbone.
    “Oooogh…”
    “Don’t ‘oooogh’ me! Eesh! No good deed ever goes unpunished with you, huh?!”
    Maou glared down at the wincing Emi, eyes tearing up a bit as he held a hand to his temple.
    “Good deed, my ass! You, you, you didn’t do anything weird to me while my eyes were closed, did you?!”
    Emi held her arms close to her in a defensive posture as Maou continued to rant and rave above her, eyes still lolling around.
    “Nothing happened while your eyes were closed! Nothing besides all of your crap bouncing off my head! Did you
aim
at me, or what?!”



“Well, that’s what you get for all the evil deeds you’ve perpetrated on a daily basis!”
    “I’m a law-abiding citizen! A lot more than
you
are right now, I’m guessing!”
    “What right do you have to say that?! Apologize to all the law-abiding citizens of this nation at once!”
    “Look, don’t even get me started, okay? Or how about I toss
you
down the stairs one more time? Maybe
then
you’ll show me some gratitude!”
    “I’d sooner go bungee jumping without a rope than thank you! What’re you even
doing
down here, anyway? I thought you slept past noon every day!”
    Taking another look at Maou, Emi realized he was wearing cotton work gloves. An old broom was lying on the ground alongside the dust balls and the contents of her shoulder bag.
    How
dare
the Devil King even
think
of doing something like sweeping around his apartment building!
    “I’m allowed to be wherever I want, all right? What’s so bad about getting up early?! I’m trying to stick to a healthy schedule so I don’t get sick this summer!”
    “You? Healthy? You’re practically the poster child for MgRonald!”
    “What’re
you
two doing…?”
    Urushihara, picking up on the pointless argument unfolding below, picked that exact moment to venture outside.
    “I simply must apologize. This would not have happened if I hadn’t thrown open the door so quickly.”
    The girl in the kimono bowed deeply toward Emi. She must have thought this was simply a wrong-place-at-the-right-time accident.
    “No, no, not at all!”
    Emi violently shook her head in response.
    “I just kind of lost track of my footing when I wasn’t paying attention.”
    Maou watched on, a sullen look on his face as he slurped up his cold udon in soup stock.
    A wholly unexpected sight unfolded before Emi’s eyes in the Devil’s Castle.
    First, there was Ashiya, lying down with a blanket over him, looking strangely gaunt.
    Then there was the gigantic box in the kitchen. Next to it, a girl in a kimono, apron, and head scarf busily slaved away at the counter.
    Beyond the udon she had heard about, Emi noticed a surprisingly healthy selection of dishes laid out in the kitchen—cold blocks of tofu sprinkled with
myoga
ginger and sesame leaves, accompanied by a salad of mustard spinach steeped in a dashi-based sauce.
    “I picked up most of the stuff you dropped outside, Yusa.”
    “Oh,