9 The Devil's Lunch Gets Rudely (And Dangerously) Interrupted

It appeared that this little 'date' wasn't going to be coming to an end any time soon. After all, what is a date, without a meal? Of course, if you asked Juuto about this. He'd still tell you that this wasn't a romantic outing. And he'd be right, considering the tone of how they acted with one another. Though that still wouldn't stop some from assuming that's what the pair was up to.

"Hey, guess who's here." Juuto announced himself as they entered the noodle store he was referencing. He was quite friendly with the owner of this establishment. Aside from being a regular and a friend, he had also helped the man through some tough financial and housing troubles. As a result, he earned himself the lifetime discount of 15% off every bowl.

"Looks like my best customer finally decided to show up again." The man, named Mikuto Kitaguchi, responded to him. "And I guess you finally decided to bring a-"

"Date. Yeah, yeah you're not the first person I've heard say that." He was cut off. Juuto was getting really annoyed with how often that was getting pushed on him. "And no, we're not on a date. She's the new co-worker and I was just showing her around."

"Uhuh…" Mikuto was not at all convinced about that. "Anyway, I'm guessing the usual for you, and the fine young lady would like…"

"Go ahead and get my order started." Juuto commanded, then directed his attention to his partner. "And you can take your time on building what you want. Don't overthink it too much, I'm sure it might be a bit overwhelming for someone not used to the menu.

"Whoa." She was in awe at what he meant with a complex menu. She had never thought that any of these things could be eaten with noodles before. The times when Mifuru would cook them, it was usually just the ramen by itself. If they were fortunate, then maybe there might've been a little bit of cheap chicken on the side.

However, there was so many thing for her to pick now. Not only that, but ramen noodles weren't even the only type of noodle she could work with. There was udon, soba, somen, and plenty more. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted the base of her meal to be, but her stomach was growling loudly to the idea of all of them.

"Aww… I don't know what to pick." She gave up, plopping her head down onto the table. A small whimper could be heard from her as she laid down. What was she going to do? Things were looking hopeless for her, until Juuto decided to step in.

"Just get her some ramen, egg and beef combo." He said. "You said you ate a lot of ramen, so that's fine, right?"

"Well, what are you getting?" She asked, only turning her head up to look at him.

"I always get the udon bowl, would you want to try that instead?"

"Udon?" She pondered about it. She was a little impressed that those noodles were very large. "Sure." So he changed her order to that of udon noodles, but with the same combo.

"Oh boy, this is going to be nice." This was one of the few times he had a smile on, as he rubbed his hands together. It wasn't as if he was always mad, sad, or anything, but people were always turned off by the way his face looked. It was like he was about to snap at them, but the people of the neighborhood had learned the type of person he really was. Rame never thought he looked like a mean guy, but most of the 'people' she was used to seeing were actually of the bad variety.

However, as they were getting their food, an uninvited guest made his arrival.

"Break time." It was Asaga, who had headed to his favorite restaurant whenever he got work and a break during this time. "Chef, could ya get me the usu-" He stopped when he witness who else had already made their presence here. His jolly face turned to a scowl when he laid eyes on Rame. "Thought your schedule meant you'd be at home right now."

After their last official meeting. He had spent a fair bit of time during these past few weeks getting to know what the demon lord did on her days. It was a lot of mundane stuff, as it would turn out. Every day, she'd get up at well past noon. Then, when there was time, she and her retainer would go to the nearby bathhouse to get washed

Workdays, it was clear where she'd be at. In fact, he had visited them multiple times after he got off his shift to grab his usual dinner. During the days where she had no shift, he noted that she'd read the magazines that were on sale at the store. When he first saw them, he thought they were of books with secrets to magic for gifted girls. Since the covers usually had some girl drawn in a style he was unfamiliar with. However, it turned out to be what people around here call, 'manga'.

The artwork wasn't showing people how to perform any special spells. But they did show those cute looking girls in some rather… Interesting positions.

So now thanks to her, he added a certain magazine to things to pick up each week.

"Um, should we be worried?" Juuto whispered over to her, worried about how this was going to end up. While Asaga was spying on her for a period of time, he had decided to give up on that rather quickly. It was just that Rame hadn't done anything wrong, nor did she appear to be trying. So he chose to just let up on the pressure for now.

"Look here." She ignored her manager for once. "I ain't doing anything wrong. Just having some lunch with my boss, that's all." Her reasoning was enough for the former farmer, but he wasn't just going to let her out of his sight with this newfound opportunity.

"That's fine then." He said, then chose to sit right next to their table. "Hope ya don't mind if I sit here."

"No…" Juuto responded with a dejected tone. "I guess you're free to sit there if you want." With that out of the way, their lunch had finally arrived. He ate it as he usually did, with a lot of slurping. That was just so he didn't have to talk all that much, since just hanging out with her wasn't really on the agenda.

Rame saw what he was doing, so she went about it the same way. When she tried the first bite of udon, her eyes light up with star from how amazing this taste was. While her retainer always did an impressive job with the little supplies they had. What was served her blew that roof off of what she had before with ramen.

She got the same feeling she had when she tried out a hot dog for the first time. Just the way the broth was flavored, which brought out the noodles' soft texture. Not to mention that this meat was much better than what they ate in the land of demons. All they ever seemed to have was turkey roasted over a fire, then mixing that with some bread.

Combining her love of the food, and her empty stomach. Rame ravenously slurped up all of the noodles and devoured the beef and eggs. Finally, she topped it off by picking up the bowl and drinking the delicious broth that was left over.

"You really have quite the appetite." Juuto commented, as he was only just halfway done with his food. If his mother was here, then she'd be telling her son to immediately wife up the girl. Because a lady with a big stomach, is a lady worth keeping for life…

He never understood where she got that idea from.

Actually, now that he was looking at them. Both her and Asaga ate a lot quicker compared to him. It seemed that they must've either lived life very hungry, or that they just really enjoyed the food. Maybe he had gotten a little too used to having these meals to properly enjoy them?

"How much does this cost!?" She asked him as she slammed down the bowl. He picked up the bill to show her, which immediately brought her mood down to rock bottom. Unlike the hot dogs, there was no way she was going to be able to eat these more than once a month. Unless Juuto was willing to pay for her, which definitely wasn't going to happen.

"Well you're free to leave whenever you want." He still had a fair bit left over in his bowl and he was going to make sure to enjoy every drop. "I got the check, and you don't have to worry about paying me back."

"I don't have anywhere to go, so I'll just stick with you." She said, since there really wasn't anything better for her to go. If she went back home, she'd probably just get pestered by Mifuru again. As much as she appreciated the studious nature, it wasn't as if they were living in a place that was infested in war anymore.

"That's… Fine too…" He sighed, it seemed that he wasn't going to have this girl leave him alone anytime soon. Which was just more trouble for him, considering the next person to come walking in the store.

"Ohohoh." A woman's voice filled the room. That voice belonging to Sunae, who was hoping that this was going to be the sight to greet her. Juuto put a hand over his face from this disappointment. Of course this was going to happen to him. She came to their table and sat down besides him. "Isn't this something?" The woman playfully teased him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked unamused. "And we're just getting something to eat. That's it."

"Sure it is." She giggled. The woman came her because she was expecting her plan on getting these two to begin working. From her point-of-view, it appeared that was the case. Then noticed that Asaga was sitting very close to them. "Hey you should be careful, I think that man over there has his eye on here." She quietly pointed over to the guy.

"I'm pretty sure that's just her ex or something." Juuto remembered their story that was given to the police. "Those aren't the eyes of someone that wants her for love."

"Oh no." That wasn't at all what Sunae wanted to hear. To her, that sounded like more complications to her friend's love life. "You gotta do something, or else he'll try and win her back."

First off, it's fine if he tries." After all, he was adamant about telling them that there was nothing between him and his new co-worker. "And secondly, I'm pretty sure she's not interested." Of course, she didn't' think that he should rest on his laurels. After all, that's a good way to turn this plot-line into a genre rather disliked upon people that enjoy these type of stories.

"So…" While those two were having their conversation, so were Rame and Asaga. "How'd ya trick the guy?"

"I didn't trick anyone." She defended herself. "I can barely use my magic as is, you've seen me." When she brought that up, it made her wonder how this man was holding up. After all, magic was pretty common among the populace of Enatis. It was probably 80, 90% of humans were capable of some form of it. All demons were also able to, but that was because the ones that couldn't were killed off.

"So it's ain't just me then." He revealed his former power. Fortune smiled on him in his old life, as it was water which was the element that he could use. That was very useful in caring for the crops. "I can't form it like back home, but I can still control sources of it."

Making sure the others weren't watching. He demonstrated his little power to her, by spinning a circle with his finger on the table. That little movement caused the broth in his bowl to begin to swirl in the same direction.

"Heh." He chuckled. "I can't believe how pathetic the demon lord has gotten here." To him, he was slowly beginning to lighten up about the damage she could cause here. However, he wasn't going to easily forgive her for the destroyed farm. "I've seen the weapons the humans have here. They'd destroy you fifty times over if ya don't got your old powers."

While him thinking she was mostly harmless was a little hurtful to her pride. At least that meant he wasn't going to be so hard on her anymore. Though despite that breakthrough, there magical troubles were far from over. The ground shook underneath their chairs, nearly tumbling them over. It scared the rest of the patrons within the store, as they feared an earthquake had struck. However, both him and Rame could sense the magic that was within it. This was no mere natural occurrence.

"Everyone, get under the tables!" Juuto remained calm in this situation, as he commanded the people here. They all did as he said, all except two.

Rame and Asaga instead told everyone to run out of the building. Which he thought as crazy and completely going to endanger everyone. As they attempted to run, Rame tripped, and Juuto was able to catch her. She was leaning onto his arms, as he held her in a tight hug.

"What are you doing?" He yelled at her. "Are you trying to get hurt? Come on, get under the table."

"You don't understand." She defied his orders, for she was aware of what was going to happen. "We have to get out of here, it's not safe to stick around."

"What makes you say that?" He got his answer, but it wasn't her that answered it for him. Instead, by the area in the kitchen, an explosion roared out. It pushed the two of them down, and nearly brought down the front wall.