Chapter 113: Accidental Encounter with Amou Kirukiru
The interior of the extended Nakiri limousine was a sanctuary of climate-controlled silence and cream-colored leather, isolating its passengers from the evening traffic of Tokyo.
Inside, however, the atmosphere was far from silent.
"Eh? You even met Kinokuni-senpai?!" Nakiri Alice exclaimed, leaning forward with genuine curiosity. "Wasn't she supposed to be in a Tea Ceremony club meeting all afternoon?"
Cerberus, sitting comfortably between Kobayashi Rindou and Akanegakubo Momo, was still babbling excitedly about the people she had met during her day trip to Tōtsuki Academy. The demon girl possessed a terrifyingly high level of natural affinity; her innocent charm and canine energy made her a magnet for attention.
It seemed impossible for anyone to dislike a girl who looked at the world with such sparkle—and who treated every snack given to her like a holy relic.
Cerberus nodded her three heads (metaphorically, as she was in human form) vigorously.
"Yes, yes, yes! Because Nene is so nice! She saw me looking at her jar and she gave me snacks!" Cerberus chirped, her tail practically waging a phantom rhythm against the expensive leather seat. "She gave me dried fruit!"
"Eh? Does Kinokuni-senpai have dried fruit? What kind?" Alice pressed.
"Dried fruit!" Cerberus answered helpfully, implying that the category itself was the flavor.
Kobayashi Rindou, who was lounging with her legs crossed, chuckled. The Second Seat of the Elite Ten grinned, her cat-like eyes narrowing with amusement.
"Oh~ So it's dried fruit. Then that sounds right. It's normal for Nene to have traditional snacks stashed away. I saw her making them a few weeks ago—persimmons and plums, I think. They looked delicious, but that stingy girl just wouldn't tell me her secret processing method no matter how much I poked her."
[Akarin's Note: Kinokuni Nene (Food Wars!) is the 6th Seat of the Elite Ten Council. She specializes in traditional Japanese cuisine, particularly Soba and tea ceremony accompaniments.]
Akanegakubo Momo, who was hugging her giant plush toy 'Bucchi', puffed out her cheeks slightly.
"How could Nene tell you, Rindou..." Momo muttered in her soft, drowsy voice. "That's her secret recipe that she painstakingly researched for months... She probably soaked them in a specific type of Mirin. But... hearing Cerberus praise it so much, I'm suddenly curious. Is there any difference between Nene's dried fruit and Shopkeeper Ren's dried fruit?"
Arato Hisako, sitting politely with her hands on her knees, thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"That seems impossible, right? Although Shopkeeper Ren is indeed amazing—a culinary magician, really—dried fruit is fundamentally a simple preservation method. It's just cutting up fruit, blanching it in honey water or sugar syrup, and then air-drying or baking it at low temperatures. This has nothing to do with cooking skills or knife work, right? It's just chemistry and patience."
Erina and Alice both nodded in agreement. The technique ceiling for dried fruit was theoretically low.
However, upon hearing this, Cerberus's ears twitched violently. She turned to look at the group with an expression of utmost seriousness.
"Ren's cooking is definitely the best!" she declared, her loyalty absolute. "Even the dried sweet potatoes he makes for me are better than the finest steak!"
Looking at the serious, defensive expression on the little glutton's face, everyone shook their heads and smiled.
"Ren's cooking is of course the best, we know that," Rindou soothed, patting Cerberus on the head. "But Hisako has a point about the technique. However... knowing Ren, his dried fruit is definitely not ordinary. We'll know tonight when we order a plate as an appetizer~"
"Agreed," Erina said, smoothing her skirt.
While the humans discussed culinary theory, Cerberus leaned back, recalling the people and things she had seen today. The stampede of animals, the strict Nene giving her sweets, the terrified students bowing to Rindou.
'Going to school was quite interesting,' Cerberus thought. 'But... if I had to go every day? Waking up early? Taking exams? No way. Staying at home and waiting for Master to feed me is definitely better!'
Beside her, Nakiri Erina gazed out the tinted window at the passing cityscape.
Ever since Erina had started visiting Ren's Dimensional Restaurant, her understanding of cooking—and the world—had fundamentally shifted. Although her 'God Tongue' was still as sharp and critical as ever, she realized how extreme her previous isolation had been.
She had begun to try "commoner dishes" that she would have previously thrown in the trash without a second glance. While they weren't as transcendent as Ren's cooking, she found that even simple street food had its own soul, its own valid deliciousness.
With one bloody fact after another laid out before her by Ren's dishes, Erina was proud, but she was no longer foolish or blindly arrogant. She was learning to appreciate the breadth of the culinary world.
Furthermore, Kobayashi Rindou's constant presence had acted as a catalyst, making Erina more approachable and friendly. The wall of ice around the Ice Queen was melting, revealing a normal, slightly awkward teenage girl underneath.
[Downtown Tokyo - Shopping District]
While the Totsuki group was stuck in traffic, Ren and Lucifer were enjoying a rare moment of peace.
The late afternoon sun cast long, golden shadows across the pedestrian paradise of the shopping district. Ren and Lucifer were taking a very leisurely stroll, their pace significantly slower than the surrounding crowd.
They had just come from the cinema. Because Lucifer was surprisingly interested in romantic comedies and had an incredibly low threshold for laughter, what was supposed to be a single movie date had turned into a triple feature.
Ren looked down at Lucifer. The Queen of Hell was walking with a slight, barely noticeble hitch in her step. She was leaning heavily on his arm, her face flushing every time their hips bumped.
Ren smiled gently, leaning in closer.
"Lucifer," he whispered, his voice teasing. "Don't you know any healing magic? You look like you're struggling."
Lucifer stiffened. She looked up at him, her crimson eyes swirling with a mix of embarrassment and pride.
"Healing magic?" she scoffed, tossing her silver hair. "That's very simple. High-tier demon magic can regenerate missing limbs in seconds. What's wrong? Did you get hurt, weak human? Do you need me to heal you?"
Ren shook his head, squeezing her hand. "No. I'm asking why you don't heal yourself. You're clearly... sore."
Lucifer's face flushed a brilliant shade of beet red. She looked away, biting her lower lip.
"This... this feeling..." she mumbled, her voice dropping to a whisper only he could hear. "It's the proof of what happened. It's... a sensation that I want to keep. It's better to recover slowly."
She squeezed his arm tighter. "Besides, using magic for something like this feels like cheating."
Ren blinked, surprised by her candidness. Then, a warm smile spread across his face.
"Is that so? But it should be almost time to open the shop, right? When are we going back?"
"Are you in a rush?" Lucifer asked, looking at a boutique window.
"If you want to continue shopping, then I'll reluctantly accompany you for a bit..."
Ren chuckled. "You're clearly in pain, Lucy. Alright, let's go back. Anyway, your legs aren't very convenient for a marathon right now."
"Hmph! Who said that?!" Lucifer protested, though she didn't let go of his arm for support. "I can run circles around you!"
"Alright, alright~ Let's just look at the bookstore over there on the way back. I want to pick up the new issue of Jump. Maybe we'll find something unexpected."
Ren found Lucifer's pouting expression adorable; this little Queen was really too cute when she tried to maintain her dignity while being clingy.
He led her towards the large bookstore on the corner. Lucifer didn't resist, letting Ren pull her along obediently. "Saying one thing and doing another" was practically her operational motto these days.
However, when Ren and Lucifer arrived at the alleyway adjacent to the bookstore entrance, both of them paused.
They saw a very interesting scene.
Or rather, a very violent scene.
"Die! Empress!"
"Get her!"
A group of delinquents—about five or six of them—were launching a coordinated attack on a single petite figure.
If one had to describe the outcome, it was a massacre. But not for the girl.
A black-haired girl wearing a specialized school uniform moved like a phantom. She didn't just dodge; she flowed through their attacks. With a brutal crack, she shattered one attacker's wrist, pivoted, and drove her knee into another's solar plexus.
It was a beating with absolutely no chance of fighting back. It was efficient, ruthless, and terrifyingly calm.
Ren was too familiar with this person. He watched for a moment as she broke a baseball bat with her bare forearm.
Ren lightly coughed to announce his presence.
"Kirukiru, what are you doing here?"
The girl, Amou Kirukiru, froze mid-motion.
[Akarin's Note: Amou Kirukiru is one of the main heroines of Armed Girl's Machiavellism. Known as the "Empress," she is a master of the Amon Style of karate and swordsmanship. She possesses a terrifyingly possessive and somewhat yandere personality.]
With one hand, she was currently choking a man, pinning him against the brick wall a foot off the ground. Slowly, she turned her head to look at Ren.
Her eyes, usually sharp and cold as obsidian, widened slightly. When she saw that it was Ren, her eyebrows clearly raised in surprise.
"Ren?"
However, her gaze then drifted down. She saw Lucifer. Specifically, she saw Lucifer clinging intimately to Ren's arm, her body pressed against his side.
Amou Kirukiru's mouth twitched. The atmosphere around her dropped ten degrees.
Crack.
The pressure in her hand increased slightly, causing the man she was holding to foam at the mouth, his eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out from oxygen deprivation.
Kirukiru threw the unconscious man aside like a bag of trash. She dusted off her hands and walked over to Ren, completely ignoring the groaning bodies on the ground.
She stopped a few feet away, her gaze locking onto Lucifer.
"You must be Lucifer," Kirukiru said, her voice deceptively polite. "We finally meet."
Lucifer blinked, sensing a dangerous aura—a rival predator's aura. "Uh… you're the Empress that Ren mentioned?"
"Hmm. In that case, it seems you're the first one he's told about me," Kirukiru mused, a dark satisfaction in her voice. "But it doesn't matter right now. Ren, why are you here? Are you stalking me?"
"I came to the bookstore to buy manga," Ren replied casually, unfazed by the violence. "I didn't expect to see you taking out the trash."
Amou Kirukiru nodded, a small, terrifyingly beautiful smile gracing her lips.
"Momobami Kirari went to your place, right? I heard from the grapevine. In that case, you should be participating in the Kengan Matches again, right?"
Ren nodded. "Yes, but Kirari said five matches would be enough for her purposes. Do you want to come and watch?"
"Of course," Kirukiru replied instantly. "I'm going with someone you know this time. Inaba Tsukuyo. She's really eager to meet you when she has time. She wants to test if your sword is as sharp as your cooking."
"Tell the Blind Swordswoman she is welcome anytime."
Ren nodded. As Amou Kirukiru turned to leave, she paused as she passed by a man who had "fainted" near her foot.
She looked at Lucifer one last time.
"Lucifer, right? Keep your lead. You haven't won the war yet..."
With those ominous words, she casually kicked the fainted man in the ribs to move him out of her way and walked into the crowd, disappearing like a ghost.
Lucifer looked at the man on the ground, then at the retreating figure of the Empress. She was stunned for a moment.
"Ren?" Lucifer tugged on his sleeve.
"Hmm?"
"Does this count as what they call a 'yandere' online?"
Ren thought about Kirukiru's history of breaking ribs to show affection.
"I guess so," Ren admitted with a sigh. "But I've never actually met a pure-blooded yandere before. She's more of a... battle-crazed possessive type."
(Somewhere in a different dimension, Gasai Yuno sneezed: "Eh? Did Yuki call me?")
Lucifer shivered slightly. "Suddenly, it feels quite interesting. The human world is full of dangerous women. Let's head back after we buy the books~ I feel unsafe."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm a little hungry. And I want to get away from here before she comes back with a katana."
"Okay~"
[The Journey Home]
A few minutes later, Ren and Lucifer walked out of the bookstore. Ren was holding a plastic bag containing the latest issue of a manga magazine.
"Eh? Why did you end up buying a manga?" Lucifer asked, peering at the colorful cover featuring a shouting protagonist.
"Why can't I buy a manga? Is it strange?"
Lucifer looked at the bag Ren was carrying. Inside was a hot-blooded Shonen manga she couldn't quite understand—something about pirates or ninjas—but Ren seemed to really enjoy reading it.
She shook her head. "It's a bit strange, because in my impression, you always have a sophisticated book in your hand. Either a light novel, a culinary thesis, or some highly literary classic. You look like a scholar. Suddenly switching to a manga, and a hot-blooded one at that, feels a bit... contrasting."
Ren smiled, adjusting his grip on her hand. "I'm not exactly the type of person who's completely retired into old age, Lucy. I still have a bit of a hot-blooded youth in me~"
Lucifer glanced at Ren sideways. She looked at her only beloved—this tall, mysterious chef who usually exuded an aura of calm detachment.
She tried to imagine Ren as a hot-blooded Shonen protagonist—shouting about friendship and effort while punching people.
'Pfft.'
She couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hot-blooded youth Ren..." she giggled. "That image is truly too amusing. It's like imagining Natsume Takashi trying to act like Naruto."
Ren pinched Lucifer's soft cheek, causing her to yelp.
"What? Is it strange for me to be hot-blooded?" Ren teased. "Playing tennis against Hyotei, participating in brutal Kengan Matches... all of that is very hot-blooded, isn't it?"
Lucifer rubbed her cheek, nodding. "That's true. You are surprisingly violent when you need to be. But I always feel like you'd be very interesting when you get genuinely 'fired up'. Why don't you show me your hot-blooded side more often~"
Ren leaned down, whispering into her ear.
"Wasn't this morning hot-blooded enough for you?"
Lucifer froze. Steam practically erupted from her ears.
"Morning... Morn... Shut up!"
She slapped his arm, burying her face in his shoulder. She remembered the fear—and pleasure—of being dominated by Ren earlier that day. Lying on the bed, sobbing and begging, she had only one thought: Is Ren's physique really human? The dignified Queen of Hell was defeated completely! It's too much!
Ren smiled and took Lucifer's hand firmly in his.
"Actually, just like your tsundere and unexpectedly domestic attributes, Lucifer, it's quite normal for me to have different sides. Although I don't get that 'fired up' feeling often, I haven't always been this peaceful either."
Lucifer thought for a moment, then nodded, leaning into him.
On the way back, Ren asked Lucifer some questions about the administration of Hell to pass the time. Her answers completely subverted Ren's impression of the underworld. It sounded less like a torture dungeon and more like a chaotic corporate office.
"Sigh... Lucifer," Ren remarked. "In that case, none of the people in charge of your Hell seem normal... You have a CEO, a glutton, a lustful demon... But you can actually manage so many people with strong personalities? That's unexpected."
A trace of embarrassment flashed in Lucifer's eyes. She puffed out her chest.
"Of course! I am the Queen of Hell! I have absolute authority! Don't you feel a great sense of accomplishment dating me now?"
(Denizens of Hell: "Don't exaggerate too much, Lucy! Who listens to you? You just bribe us with pancakes! Don't insult our chaotic nature~")
Lucifer indicated that since those guys weren't around to contradict her, Ren wouldn't know if she praised herself a little. It was her word against theirs.
[The Dimensional Restaurant - Sunset]
When Ren and Lucifer finally returned to the street corner where the restaurant stood, the timing was perfect.
They happened to meet Kobayashi Rindou and the Totsuki group, who had just gotten out of their limousine.
"Ren!"
Upon seeing her Master, Cerberus didn't hesitate. She launched herself like a missile.
"Ren, Ren, Ren! I'm back! I missed you!"
Ren caught the impact with practiced ease, stroking Cerberus's silver hair as she rubbed her cheek against his chest, whining happily.
"Welcome back, Cerberus."
Indeed, no matter how much a dog plays outside, what it loves most and wants to be closest to is always its owner.
Seeing that Cerberus had no intention of getting down, Ren glanced at Lucifer. Lucifer, who was also very fond of Cerberus, smiled softly. However, without Ren's arm to support her, she walked a little unnaturally towards Kobayashi Rindou and her group.
Erina, observing with her sharp eyes, frowned slightly.
"Eh? Lucifer, what's wrong with your leg?" Erina asked innocently. "Why are you walking so strangely? Did you fall?"
Lucifer's face went from pale to bright crimson in a split second.
Kobayashi Rindou, however, narrowed her cat-like eyes. A sly grin spread across her face.
Nakiri Alice, having lived in Northern Europe—a very open culture—for many years, was naturally not a sheltered girl like Erina. Although she had never been in a relationship, she knew exactly what that walk meant.
Alice's fair face flushed slightly as she looked at Lucifer's legs, then at Ren.
'Wow... Shopkeeper Ren is... intense,' Alice thought.
Lucifer coughed loudly, avoiding eye contact. "I... I twisted my ankle! That's it! Just a simple injury!"
"Eh? Is that so?" Erina asked, concerned. "Do you need a compress?"
Erina, Hisako, and Akanegakubo Momo actually believed it. But Alice and Kobayashi Rindou were even more certain now. That excuse was simply too cliché!
Ren, holding the playfully clinging Cerberus with one arm, walked over to save his Queen.
"You came so early," Ren said smoothly. "I thought you wouldn't be here for a while given the traffic."
Kobayashi Rindou smirked, looking Ren up and down.
"Coming early is good," Rindou teased, her voice dripping with double meaning. "It allows Lucifer to rest a bit more and get some good nutrition~"
Lucifer looked at Kobayashi Rindou, her eyes widening. She understood exactly what that meant.
Ren, of course, also understood. He didn't deny it, merely smiling comfortably.
"Hmm, that makes some sense. Rest is important. So, let's do that. Let's go inside first~"
As Ren spoke, he opened the shop door and went in, followed by Erina and the others.
Only Kobayashi Rindou and Lucifer were left outside for a moment.
Kobayashi Rindou leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. "Lucifer, you're really amazing~ Conquering the Demon King. But aren't you going to report the results? How was he?"
Lucifer knew she couldn't hide it from the sharp-witted chef. She cleared her throat, trying to regain her dignity.
"There's nothing to report! It's none of your business!" She quickly changed the subject. "Did Cerberus cause you any trouble today?"
"Not at all," Rindou laughed, backing off. "Cerberus was very well-behaved, and many people at school seem to have become her friends. She even earned a lot of snacks~"
Lucifer crossed her arms, relieved. "Hmm. Cerberus is indeed one of the few obedient children among my subordinates. Although she also enjoys pranks, I haven't seen her act up yet~"
"Is that so? Then I'm really curious what Cerberus's pranks would be like~"
"You..."
Before Lucifer could finish, she heard Ren call out from inside.
"Come inside and chat! See if there's anything you want to eat! I'm starting the prep!"
"Oh!" x2
Rindou winked at Lucifer. "Let's talk in the group chat tonight~ I'm still quite looking forward to your thoughts. In a way, I really envy you..."
"You..." Lucifer blushed again.
"Never mind! I'll ask you properly tonight. To learn from your experience~ for the future!"
After speaking, Rindou walked into the shop, leaving Lucifer alone for a moment under the eaves.
Lucifer looked at the sky. It was gradually turning dim, painting the horizon in deep purples and blues. Occasionally, a few birds flew across the darkening canvas—a sign that night was approaching, and a sign that the day was drawing to a close.
Lucifer took a deep breath of the cool evening air.
This was the second time she had truly felt the beauty of the human sky.
The experiences of this day were something Lucifer would never forget until her death. Because today, Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven... Lucifer, the Queen of Hell... Lucifer, who had wandered in loneliness for eons...
She finally had her own home.
"It really is... a day like a dream..." she whispered.
"Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer!"
Inside the warm, yellow-lit shop, Cerberus was waving at her frantically. Ren was behind the counter, tying his apron, but he looked up and met her gaze with a gentle smile.
That smile was her anchor.
"I'm here!"
Lucifer replied, her voice thick with emotion. She walked back into the Shop, taking down the 'Closed' sign from the door and flipping it to 'Open.'
This was the feeling of coming home. And it was the most relaxing feeling in all the worlds.
[Akarin Note:
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