Now it was official. The devil and the manager truly had formed a rift in their bonds, and it bled over into their work environment. And by bleeding over, it was more like a limb had been torn off from their dynamic, as he found himself all alone during the night shift. Given her sudden resignation, he had yet to find someone to fill her spot on such short notice. So the man was forced to take care of things on his own for now.

Putting up the help wanted sign as he started off the shift was painful to do. It had only been a few months since the last time, but that seemed so far away now. The man felt as though he had closed a book of his life. A new volume suddenly ready before he properly had the chance to enjoy the previous one.

“Things sure are quiet when she’s not around.” He commented to himself. Being all by himself during the night hours was a bit unnerving. Of course, he never considered himself to be superstitious, so the man never felt afraid of the dark. However, his thoughts did change now that the idea of otherworldly people existed. What else could possibly be lurking about now, if that was possible?

Thankfully, he could keep his mind off of that by working hard. Given that the load suddenly doubled without her help, it was easy to find something to do to pass the time. Yet even with that, his thoughts still wandered. “I wonder if she was wrong?” He said, thinking about what Migane said to him.

Sure, he agreed that Rame was being overbearing, but there was good cause for it. That woman could easily be someone not to be trusted considering her circumstances. And if he continued to pursue a relationship with her, then… “Do you see me as an enemy now?” He wondered aloud. Perhaps why she got so angry, was that she saw his actions as a betrayal.

Suddenly, but not in any manner that would be surprising considering the workplace, the automatic doors opened up. Their signaling ring broke him out of his concentration as he dropped what he was doing, and thinking, to head over to the register to attend to that duty. If there was one thing he really needed help on, it would be a second person so he didn’t have to be in multiple places at once.

“Well, I just got off work.” It was Asaga, heading in for his usual stop for a quick bite to eat. “Hey, where’s Rame?” He had yet to hear the news, so of course Juuto had to say something he wish he didn’t have to repeat. “She quit? Ah, I guess the two of ya had a fight.”

“That’s a quick conclusion to jump to.” He commented. While it was the truth, he wouldn’t say that most people would normally come to that conclusion.

“Ah, well I can tell ya she wasn’t very happy when that lady came in our lives.” He explained. Apparently there was some level of intuition that someone as naive as him could have. “Now that was one fine lady, so I can’t blame her for being jealous.”

“Come on, you know that’s not true.” Juuto replied. “We all know that she’s being suspicious of her, but from everything that’s happened I can say that Migane’s a perfectly safe person.”

“She’s real pretty too.” He laughed, which caused the other man to roll his eyes from how lackadaisical he was being. “But don’t worry, I’d never consider approaching her. She’s yers, and we’re friends.”

“Friends…” Juuto muttered to himself as Asaga made a stop to the hot dogs to grab a couple for dinner. “Say, are we actually friends?”

“Don’t see how we’re not.” He responded as the man took some cheese on top of his hot dog. “Yer a real upstanding guy. Plus, it’s because of you that I’m on good terms with the demon lord of all people.” All this time, Asaga had been raised into thinking she was some awful monster. That certainly rang true to him when he saw her crashing onto his farm, destroying his life’s work and livelihood. But after getting to know a little more about the demon lord and her retainer, they seemed to have some good in them after all.

“I guess that’s good.” Perhaps he was wrong in thinking none of them could truly be friends. Asaga was a really good guy, and when the misunderstandings between them were fixed. Juuto couldn’t deny that it was nice to talk to him.

“You were feeling left out from us, right?” He asked, trying to figure out where this was coming from.

“Well, it’s hard for me not to notice the differences between us.” He replied. “None of you are from this world, so I’ve been feeling left out.”

“I could tell, ‘cuz I get how ya feel.” Asaga couldn’t deny the same feelings either. Something that Juuto had forgotten was how different that man was to the rest of them. Rame and Mifuru were demons. Akitomo was a powerful wizard prodigy, while Marie was a literal hero. Meanwhile, the farmer was just that, a common person with not much to his name. “But, even I can be friendly with them. Sure, they act all annoyed by how I am, and my accent, but we’re still buddies anyway.”

Indeed, they certainly did get annoyed when he would give them his usual demeanor of not caring one bit about their differences. Almost as if they should be above him, yet he never once backed off. To him, it wasn’t as if they were bringing themselves down to his level, but that they were already even in the first place.

“Hmm, I see you do make a good point.” It was weird, just moments ago Juuto was bothered by the silence. Yet here he was, making normal conversation with someone like Asaga. It seemed that perhaps, Rame wasn’t his only actual friend from this bunch. “But I don’t know about Akitomo and Marie, you know, since they nearly killed me.”

“That’s just an excuse for ya to not get to know them.” That was a really dumb assessment, but it was expected coming from someone as naive as this farmer. They really shouldn’t just excuse the things that had happened to him so easily. “To be honest, when I first came here to kill Rame. I was more than willing to accept ya as a necessary causality.” Apparently just being close to that girl really put Juuto’s life in danger. Yet even knowing that, he did still admittedly want to continue to be with her.

“Okay, fine… But right now I really messed up things between me and Rame. So it’s not like I can do anything with them until I fix things.” He wasn’t used to having this conflicts with other people. If Juuto had ever gotten split from someone, he was never the one to try and patch that bridge.

“Don’t worry about that.” Asaga said as he paid for his goods. “I got a plan.”

“What would that be?” The man responded by giving him a suspicious glare.

“Ah ah ah, that’s a surprise for ya later.” He didn’t like hearing that the man wasn’t going to tell him the plan. So it seemed he had to hope whatever it was he had in store for them wasn’t going to be stupid. “Anyway, have a good night.”

“I’ll try.” Juuto bid him farewell and returned back to the quiet emptiness of the store during the night. He assumed that was going to be the most exciting thing he’d have tonight, but that would prove to be untrue in a few minutes when another person came inside. This time, it was another familiar sight. “Hmm? Migane what are you doing here?”

“To see you of course.” She smiled at him. “I heard that you’ve gotten in a bit of a spat with your… Former coworker.”

“Oh yeah, but I’m going to try to make things right.” He replied. “I know you said she shouldn’t control my life, but she’s still my friend.”

“I certainly got no problems with that.” She said as the woman leaned onto the counter. “You care a lot about her, that’s why you’re always trying to take her side on everything.”

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Ah, that’s just an excuse to try and hide how you’re feeling.” That was an odd response from her. It was as if she knew that he was taking the convenient excuse of her being the demon lord to avoid another subject. “But it’s good that you want to keep her as a friend. I suppose that means you don’t need me anymore.”

“Uh, what?” He wasn’t supposed to be making any decisions between them, right? Juuto would’ve assumed that he was just going to get Rame as a friend back. But also, when did he need this woman? They had simply ran into each other on that fateful night, right? “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Heheh, well like you always say. It’s complicated.” She laughed and began making her way to the exit. “Anyway, it’s nice to see you realize that those friends of yours are just that, your friends. Looks like that’s one wish to have come true.”

“H-hey, wait!” He called out for her as she walked outside. Juuto quickly rushed to catch up to her, but the moment he stepped out into the cold air, she was not around. Impossible, he was right behind her. It was as if the woman had vanished into thin air, never to be seen by him ever again.