Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
"How do you have that?" Emi asked while pointing her holy sword, Better Half, at the copy Tatsuo held. "No, more important than that... Just who the hell are you? Are you one of the Devil's subordinates."
"Ha! Yeah right." Sadao said while trying his best not to burst into laughter. "I wouldn't try and subordinate this kid even if I could. I'm not suicidal, after all."
The dumbfounded expression on Emi's face was a sight to see. But she was not the only one who looked as if they had no idea what was going on, as Chiho's expression of confusion was even more pronounced than Emi's.
"We can talk about that later." Tatsuo said while waving the copy of Better Half. "For now, let's put these weapons away and move this stuff up to the penthouse. I've still got stuff to do after this."
Emi hesitated to put her sword away. But she did eventually do so. At the same time, her hair returned to its natural fuchsia color, as well. And when she dismissed her sword, Tatsuo also dispelled his [Projected] copy of Better Half. But he did not release the [Spatial Barrier] immediately.
"Oh, and just for the record, I'm not a demon." Tatsuo said while looking into Emi's eyes. "I was born in this world fifteen and a half years ago. But I'm not completely human, either."
"What?"
That surprised shout did not come from Emi. Instead, it came from Chiho. And when Tatsuo saw the expression on her face, he could only sigh.
"This is gonna be a long conversation." Tatsuo muttered.
Shortly afterwards, Tatsuo brought down the [Spatial Barrier]. Then, he, along with Tio, Chiho, Sadao, Emi, Shirō, and Hanzō, headed into the apartment building while he, Sadao, Shirō, and Hanzō carried the boxes from the moving van. Luckily, Tatsuo had access to his [Inventory]. So, it only took one trip to get everything up to the penthouse.
"Are we seriously going to live somewhere this nice?" Hanzō asked after the elevator doors opened and everyone stepped out. "This is unreal. There's no way we should be able to live in a place like this with Maou's pitiful salary."
"Well, maybe if you got a job, we could have moved somewhere nicer months ago." Sadao shot back. "But the only things you do are surf the internet and play games. "
"That's right!" Shirō exclaimed. "How dare you criticize his Majesty? Aren't you supposed to be some kind of hacker? Why don't you use your 'so-called talents' to make money, as well?"
Instead of engaging, Hanzō chose to remain silent while looking around the penthouse as if it were the most luxurious place he had ever seen in his long life.
Meanwhile, Emi was also looking around the penthouse apartment. However, unlike Hanzō, her interest was not feigned in the slightest. Though, that was not to say that she had never seen more luxurious places during her time in Ente Isla. Rather, she was wondering how long she would have to work at her current job before she could afford a place like this.
"Alright, let's put this stuff down." Tatsuo said while watching the others with a smile. "After that, we can talk. I know some of you have questions you want answers to."
That immediately drew all the eyes in the room to Tatsuo. However, Tio was the only one who did not seem interested in having any questions answered. Even so, when Tatsuo left the entrance hall of the penthouse, she was the first to follow him towards the living room.
"We're going to have to buy furniture." Sadao said in a somewhat depressed tone when he saw the empty living room. "Man~, that's gonna be expensive."
"You don't have to worry about that." Tatsuo said while dismissively waving off Sadao's concern after putting down the box he was carrying. "I have all the old furniture in my storage space. Well, except for the beds. We took those with us. But the couches and all that stuff is here with me. You can have it if you want it."
"Seriously?" Sadao asked with his eyes sparkling. "That would be awesome. Do you have any idea how many paychecks it would cost to furnish this place?"
"More than you could make in the next several years, probably." Emi said, clear jealousy in her tone. "But that's not important right now."
Emi then turned sharply to glare at Tatsuo.
"Just what are you?" Emi asked aggressively.
Hearing that question, Chiho looked at Tatsuo with curiosity, too. She had known him since the beginning of the second term of their last year in middle school. And she thought she knew him pretty well. But now, she finds out that there is a lot more to her friend than she would have ever imagined.
Meanwhile, Tio, Sadao, Shirō, and Hanzō stayed silent. They already knew about Tatsuo's race, after all. Still, they wanted to see how Chiho and Emi would react to the revelation.
"To be honest, I'm still learning exactly what I am." Tatsuo replied with a shrug as he made a couch appear from his [Inventory]. He then continued once he was seated comfortably. "I only learned that I was more than human a few months ago."
As he spoke, Tatsuo pulled out the other couch that once occupied this very room, creating enough seats for everyone. Meanwhile, Tio wasted no time taking the seat next to Tatsuo, as he was sitting near the armrest of the couch he was sitting on.
Then, once everyone was seated, with Sadao, Chiho, Shirō, and Hanzō sitting on the other couch while Emi took the seat at the other end of the couch with Tatsuo and Tio, Tatsuo raised his right hand for everyone to see. A moment later, purple dragon scales began growing from his hand.
"Apparently, I'm half dragon." Tatsuo said with another shrug. "A Void Dragon, to be exact. They have the power to control space in all sorts of ways."
"How is that possible?" Chiho asked as she popped up from her seat on the couch and leaned forward to get a better look at Tatsuo's hand. "Dragons… Dragons aren't real."
As she spoke the second sentence, Chiho's voice grew softer and softer.
"Yeah, dragons don't naturally exist in this world." Tatsuo replied. He then gestured towards Tio, Emi, Sadao, Shirō, and Hanzō as he continued. "But like them, my mom isn't from this world originally. And just as Yusa-San said, like Maou-San, Ashiya-San, and Urushihara-San, she's not human. Oh, and Tio isn't human, either."
"Huh?" Chiho exclaimed dumbfoundedly as she looked at the others in the room.
"Oi! Why are you just telling our secrets like that?" Sadao asked in a fluster. He then turned to look at Chiho with a bit of apprehension.
Emi, with a slight scowl on her face, also looked at Chiho, the only normal person in the room. Yet, she did not say anything. Meanwhile, Shirō was looking at Sadao with concern while Hanzō was the exact opposite, seeming completely unconcerned by the topic. As for Tio, she only continued to smile while sitting next to Tatsuo calmly.
"That's right.' Tio said serenely. "I am what is called a Dragonman. I come from a tribe who can transform into dragons. I suppose I'm what you'd call a demi-human."
"Then, does that mean you're a dragon, too, Maou-San?" Chiho asked with a completely lost expression on her face.
"Hmph! As if." Emi snorted before Sadao could answer Chiho's question. "Dragons are majestic creatures who exemplify strength. But those three pieces of pond scum are nothing like that."
"How dare you insult his Majesty like that?" Shirō shouted in outrage.
"You don't have to be so mean." Hanzō said, sounding slightly offended.
"Hmph!" Emi only snorted again in response.
"Well, she's not wrong." Sadao said with a shrug, completely unconcerned with Emi's insult. "About being dragons, I mean. Definitely not the pond scum part, though."
"That's debatable." Emi said in a scathing tone while crossing her arms in front of her rather diminutive chest.
"Then, what are you?" Chiho asked, much more interested in finding out more about Sadao than anything else. "And Ashiya-San just called you 'his Majesty.' What did he mean by that?"
"Well, we're demons." Sadao replied while scratching his cheek with an index finger. "And the reason Ashiya called me his Majesty is because… Well… Because I'm the Demon King, Satan, if you will."
"Whoa! That's so cool!" Chiho exclaimed while clenching her hands in front of her chest. "That means I know royalty! This is amazing!" {Pic}
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Sadao said with an awkward chuckle.
*Bang!*
Yet, before Chiho could get even more excited, Emi, with a furious expression on her face, slammed her hand onto the couch's armrest.
"Why would you say something like that?" Emi growled at Chiho. Then, she pointed at Sadao and continued angrily. "He's a demon! The king of the demons, in fact! That man is pure evil! Do you know how many people died because of him? And because of him, my father…"
Reaching that point, Emi could no longer continue, her anger making it hard for her to form words while her vision was blurred by the tears welling up in her eyes. Even so, her glare never shifted from Sadao.
At the same time, Sadao showed an expression of surprise. He always thought Emi's fervor when fighting his demon forces was a bit excessive. But since she was the hero ordained by the church, he never questioned it, either. But after her exclamation, he finally understood why she seemed to hate him so much.
While Tatsuo, Tio, Shirō, and Hanzō did not react much to Emi's outburst, Chiho was completely taken aback, looking at Sadao as if she wanted him to say it wasn't true. Unfortunately, Sadao's next words would disappoint Chiho.
"So, that's why you hate me so much." Sadao said while hanging his head. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that now. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I never meant for anything like that to happen."
"What did you just say?" Emi asked angrily as she stood up from the couch. "You started a damn war! How could you say you didn't want anything like that to happen?"
"*Sigh* I don't blame you for not believing me." Sadao said, once again scratching his face awkwardly "But I never intended for so much death when I sent out my army."
"Bullshit!" Emi shouted.
"Then, why did you send out your army?" Chiho asked in a confused tone. Clearly, she was inclined to believe Sadao based on the time they spent together since they met.
"You actually believe this evil demon?" Emi asked as she snapped her head towards Chiho with a dumbfounded expression on her face.
"I do." Chiho replied with a resolute nod. "The Maou-San I know wouldn't do something like that without a reason."
"He's a demon, what other reason does he need?" Emi asked angrily.
"Calm down, Yusa-San." Tatsuo said calmly. "Every story has two sides, right? Or did the church not teach something so basic to the daughter of an archangel?"
Tatsuo's question caused every eye in the room to turn to him with surprise.
"How? How did you know that?" Emi asked with her eyes wide open in shock.
"Mom knows a lot of stuff." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "Gathering information is easy when you can jump between worlds at your leisure. *Sigh* I can't wait until I can do that, too."
"Then, does that mean Yusa-San is an angel?" Chiho, her eyes once again sparkling, asked excitedly.
"No, I'm human." Emi replied while shaking her head. "Well, half human."
"Oh, you're definitely an angel." Tatsuo said with a grin. "I mean, what kind of human can spread a pair of angel wings?"
Hearing that, the light in Chiho's eyes brightened exponentially. Meanwhile, Emi turned a glare in Tatsuo's direction. But Tatsuo was completely unaffected by Emi's glare. Instead, he gestured for Sadao to continue his explanation.
"Anyway, like I was saying, I didn't intend for a war to break out." Sadao said. "All I wanted to do was strengthen my people. So, I ordered my army to strike fear into the humans on the other islands of Ente Isla. But…"
Reaching that point, Sadao shot a glare towards his two remaining generals.
"It seemed my orders weren't specific enough." Sadao continued as Shirō shrunk under his glare, and Hanzō only shrugged his shoulders. "I never told them to kill anyone . Just make them fear us. But I guess the only way they know how to make people fear them is causing wide-spread slaughter."
"But why would you do that?" Chiho asked, genuine confusion in her tone.
"Like I said, it was to strengthen my people." Sadao replied. "Because demons gain power from fear and other negative emotions. But killing them is counterproductive. Because when people die, all of their emotions disappear."
"I'm terribly sorry for my oversight, Sire." Shirō said while bowing as deeply as he could without standing up.
"You should have said that." Hanzō said at the same time. "We can't read minds. Howe the hell were we supposed to know what you meant if you didn't tell us directly?"
"Yeah, I forgot that I was an outlier in the demon race." Sadao said with a frustrated huff. "Most demons aren't particularly smart. I made a mistake by holding all of you to my own standards."
"Are you calling me stupid?" Hanzō asked indignantly.
"If the shoe fits." Sadao shot back.
"Of course, you're stupid." Shirō said, defending his king's point. "If you weren't, you would have a job already. Especially with the skills you supposedly have with the computer and the internet."
With that, the three demons continued to bicker, leaving everyone to watch. Yet, Emi was not interested in seeing the demons argue. Instead, she was contemplating what Sadao said about the reason for the war. However, before she could say anything to him, Tatsuo stood up from his seat.
"Anyway, like I said, I've got stuff to do today." Tatsuo said with a wave. "So, Tio and I are gonna get going. You all should come to the new house tomorrow if you can. We're having a housewarming party. And I'll be cooking."
*Gulp!*
When Chiho heard that Tatsuo would be cooking, her eyes brightened again. At the same time, she gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
"I'll definitely be there.' Chiho said excitedly. "I specifically asked Kisaki-San for tomorrow off. There's no way I would miss the chance to eat your cooking."
"We'll be there, too." Sadao added. "I had tomorrow off because of the move. "But with your help, everything has already been moved already. It's just a matter of putting stuff where it's supposed to be. As for anything else, we don't have enough money to buy everything we need, anyway."
"I'll be there, too." Emi said with a frown. "I've got a lot of questions."
"Cool." Tatsuo replied with a smile as he turned towards the elevator. "Well then, I'll see you all tomorrow.'
As Tatsuo turned away, Tio bowed politely before following him out of the living room, leaving the rest to discuss their situation themselves. Not long later, Tatsuo and Tio were climbing into the moving van.
"Well, that was fun.' Tatsuo said as he leaned back in the passenger seat.
"It was quite interesting." Tio replied as she started the van. "But you said you had something to do. Was that just an excuse to leave, Master?"
Rolling his eyes at the term of address, Tatsuo did not correct Tio, causing her to smile happily.
"No, I really do have something to do." Tatsuo replied. "James said that Aislynn is getting rowdy since I haven't come to visit in a while. So, I was gonna head to his world to see what's up with her."
"I see." Tio replied with an understanding nod.
"You wanna come with me?" Tatsuo asked nonchalantly.
"Can I?" Tio asked excitedly.
"Sure." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "It won't cost me much to bring you with me for a day."
"Then, yes." Tio replied with a smile. "I would love to. I'd like to exchange more pointers with Ayame-San, too. Conversations with her were quite enlightening last time we visited."
Hearing that, Tatsuo stiffened. He had completely forgotten that Sarutobi Ayame and Tio got along so well. Or rather, he did his best to put it out of his mind… mostly for his own sanity.
"Then, be ready to go an hour after we get back to the house." Tatsuo said with a slightly stiff tone. "I'll see if Kasumi-Neechan and Ayane-Oneesan wanna come, too."
"Not Mai-San?" Tio asked while tilting her head curiously.
"Nope.' Tatsuo replied. "The transfer requires her to be touching me, remember? And since she's still on punishment, that's a no-no."
Hearing that, Tio only shrugged her shoulders. Instead of feeling sorry for Mai, she spent her time thinking up topics to talk about with Ayame. And before long, Tatsuo and Tio had returned the moving van and headed home to get ready for their short trip to the Scattered Cherry Blossoms Universe.