The Devil Takes the Night Shift

Chapter 41: The Manager is Alone

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.