Chapter 120: The Blue-Haired Girl in Military Uniform
The last echoes of the lively dinner had faded into the night. The clatter of plates, the laughter of the Totsuki girls, and the rhythmic chewing of a certain three-headed dog were just memories now.
The Dimensional Restaurant was quiet. It was a comfortable silence, heavy with the scent of old wood and the faint, lingering aroma of coffee.
Only Ren and Lucifer remained.
Ren leaned back in his favorite chair behind the counter, his long legs stretched out. In his hand was a weekly manga magazine he had bought earlier that day—the same one Lucifer had teased him about.
Lucifer sat on the stool next to him, resting her chin in her palm. Her crimson eyes were fixed on Ren's profile. Ever since the events of the afternoon—the intimacy, the "trust game," and the public declaration of their bond—she found herself unable to look away.
She enjoyed staring at him when she had nothing to do. She traced the line of his jaw, the curve of his eyelashes, the relaxed set of his shoulders. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, but watching him made the chaotic energy in her chest settle into a warm, steady rhythm.
Ren turned a page, the paper crinkling softly. He didn't look up, but a small smile played on his lips.
"Lucifer, do you really want to see? You've been staring at my ear for five minutes. Is there a bug on it?"
Lucifer blinked, snapped out of her trance. She blushed slightly but didn't look away. Instead, she stood up and walked around the chair to stand behind him.
She placed her small, pale hands on his shoulders.
"I... I also want to understand this place more," she murmured, her voice soft. "After all, this is my home too, isn't it? And you look stiff."
"Lucifer, you can even massage?" Ren asked, surprised by the sudden pressure of her thumbs digging into his trapezius muscles. "I thought Queens only received service."
"I just learned from a video on my phone," Lucifer confessed, concentrating on her technique. "I looked up 'How to Relieve Stress for Your Partner.' Is it... okay?"
Ren closed his eyes, groaning softly in appreciation. "It's very good. Surprisingly strong. As expected of Lucifer."
"If you know, then cherish it..." Lucifer grumbled, though her cheeks were pink with pleasure. "You insufferable man! Making the CEO of Hell give you a massage... you should be honored."
"I am, I am."
Although Lucifer complained, she continued to knead the tension out of his shoulders. Just as Ren had suspected, beneath the haughty exterior of the Demon Queen lay a hidden 'virtuous wife' attribute waiting to be unlocked. At this moment, Lucifer was experimenting with various strategies she learned online to solidify her position as the 'Main Heroine.'
Ren sat in the chair reading his manga, while Lucifer stood behind him, her chin eventually coming to rest on top of his head as she peered down at the pages.
They read together in silence for a while.
The manga was a classic Shonen battle series. The protagonist was shouting, explosions were happening, and the power of friendship was being weaponized.
Lucifer, who originally had zero interest in human comics, found herself drawn in.
"Wait, wait, wait!" she tapped his shoulder urgently. "Don't turn the page yet! I haven't finished the text bubble. The name of this hero's ultimate skill is three lines long! 'Super-Galactic-Neo-Armstrong-Cyclone-Jet...' What does that even mean?!"
Ren chuckled, pausing his hand. "It means he's going to hit the bad guy really hard."
They continued reading.
"Eh?!" Lucifer gasped, pointing at a new character. "So there are heroines in passionate battle manga too? She's quite pretty. Is she the love interest?"
"Usually," Ren nodded. "She's the childhood friend."
They turned a few more pages. The plot thickened. A villain appeared. A tragedy struck.
"Eh?!"
Lucifer's grip on Ren's shoulders tightened painfully.
"Ren! How did this heroine get killed?! Just like that?!"
"Ah... the classic tragedy trope," Ren sighed.
"This hero must have done it on purpose!" Lucifer raged, pointing an accusing finger at the weeping protagonist on the page. "He failed to protect her! The heroine dies and then he awakens a new power? What a scumbag! Sacrificing his woman for a power-up!"
Ren laughed. "It's a plot device, Lucy. Motivation."
"It's lazy writing!"
A few chapters later, a new girl was introduced.
"The second female lead took her place!" Lucifer screeched. "He's definitely a scumbag! He moved on in three chapters! Men are unbelievable!"
Ren listened to Lucifer's passionate critique with amusement. Her focus points in the manga were always skewed towards the romance and the interpersonal dynamics rather than the battles, but her indignation was surprisingly cute.
"It's over?" Lucifer asked as Ren closed the magazine.
"Manga is usually read very quickly," Ren explained. "It's episodic."
Lucifer pouted. She walked around the chair and flopped down onto the seat next to him, crossing her arms.
"Ren, the author of that manga definitely has a problem," she declared seriously. "The heroine had a perfect character design! And that second female lead is especially... ugh! How can such a scumbag be a hero! That Goddess who blessed him is as brainless as God himself!"
Ren gently put his arm around Lucifer's waist, pulling her closer. He smiled.
"Alright, settle down. This is just how manga plots go sometimes. Conflict drives the story. Otherwise, how could anyone read them if everyone was just happy eating cake? So, if you want a guaranteed good ending, you should generally choose straightforward romance manga. Or Slice of Life."
Lucifer leaned into Ren's embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. She sighed deeply.
"But... never mind.... I really still don't understand humans.... They enjoy suffering in their entertainment."
"Understanding me, and Rindou, and the others is enough," Ren whispered, kissing the top of her head.
Lucifer nodded. She pulled out her phone to check the time and froze.
"Eh? It's already 11:30 PM?" She looked at Ren in shock. "We watched for two hours? I don't feel like it was that long."
"This is probably a little magic between partners," Ren teased. "Time flies when you're having fun."
Lucifer narrowed her eyes playfully. "Did you learn that line from a manga too?"
"Just wanted to say it~"
"Oh..."
"That last sentence is what I learned from a romance manga~"
Lucifer puffed out her cheeks and playfully punched Ren's chest. "You cheat."
She settled back against him, scrolling through her phone. It was a peaceful interlude.
Every night around this time, the group chat usually exploded with activity. Since Momobami Kirari had tricked Suzuki Sonoko out of the diving area last time, the two heiresses had engaged in a fixed argument at this hour.
As Sonoko would say: "Anyway, that two-faced Kirari can't come through the phone, so it doesn't matter if I curse her out here~"
So Ren looked at his phone, scrolling through recipes, and Lucifer leaned against him, moderating the chat (mostly by banning people who spammed stickers).
When the clock struck exactly midnight, the atmosphere shifted.
Ren chuckled at something on his screen.
Lucifer, ever curious (and possessive), leaned over instantly. "What are you looking at?! Is it another woman?"
"No," Ren turned the screen towards her. "It's an illustration from the light novel volume I bought. What did you think I was looking at?"
"Oh..." Lucifer looked at the screen. It was a drawing of a demon girl. Her face turned red as she realized she had overreacted. "But... Ren, it's past midnight. Why haven't any customers come yet? Usually, the 'Other World' door activates by now."
Ren smiled, putting his phone down. "As for that question, you don't need to expect too much. The connection to other worlds is random. Everyone who comes here is destined. For a Restaurant like this, if no one comes, it's a night for peace and quiet. If someone comes, we greet them warmly. That's enough~"
Lucifer nodded, calming her somewhat eager thoughts. That's right. For any Restaurant, whether customers come is entirely up to fate.
However, Lucifer, having settled down, actually found the solitude quite nice. Leaning next to Ren, embraced by her lover, with only the two of them in the large, warm shop... Lucifer suddenly felt that it was better if no customers came at all.
She picked up the light novel Ren had placed on the counter. She flipped through the illustrations.
"Eh?"
She paused at a specific page.
"Beelzebub is in this book!" Lucifer exclaimed. "Someone actually wrote about that big fly? How strange~ And they drew her wearing a maid outfit? She would hate this."
Ren was stunned for a moment. He looked at the illustration Lucifer was pointing at. It was indeed a character named Beelzebub from a generic fantasy novel.
"Is there something wrong with Beelzebub?" Ren asked curiously. "In human mythology, she seems like a very famous demon. The Lord of the Flies."
Lucifer looked up, her expression turning serious for a moment.
"She is indeed a famous demon, and her strength is very great," Lucifer admitted, a shadow passing over her eyes. "But her situation in my world is a bit... special."
"Huh? What do you mean? Is she not on your side? I remember Beelzebub was one of the High Prosecutors or Lords of Hell~"
Lucifer nodded. "That's right. She was. But Beelzebub is sealed in the Abyss. She must not be released. She is... chaotic. Dangerous. As for the specific reason, you won't see her here, so there's no need to explain the messy politics of the underworld~"
[Akarin's Note: In the Helltaker game lore, Beelzebub ("The Great Fly") was exiled to the Abyss by Lucifer after a conflict. She acts as the narrator/secret ending character.]
Ren nodded, accepting the explanation. He then looked at Lucifer's outfit—her sharp red and black suit.
"Are all of you in Hell dressed like this?" Ren asked, genuinely confused. "In formal business attire? I always pictured... well, loincloths and spikes."
"Those in charge all wear suits," Lucifer stated proudly, smoothing her lapel. "We are civilized. The rest of the small fry are just a bunch of skeletons and mindless beasts. We have standards, Ren."
Ren nodded slowly. He felt that the image of Hell in his mind had completely changed.
The Hell in his mind was no longer a cavern of fire and brimstone. It was now a corporate office building with red as its main color, filled with skeletons doing paperwork, and a group of beautiful demon girls in sharp suits either puffing on cigarettes or drinking expensive alcohol.
At the very least, they were all working overtime with a cup of coffee...
'Is this really Hell? Or just a Japanese Black Company theme park?' Ren wondered.
Lucifer seemed to sense Ren's thoughts and felt a bit awkward. She suddenly wondered if the Hell she managed was a bit too much like a chaotic office sitcom compared to the terrifying Hell described in Dante's Inferno.
"I suddenly thought of something interesting~" Ren said, breaking the silence.
Lucifer was startled. "What?"
Ren smiled, his eyes twinkling. "What if there were other Lucifers in other worlds? Since the multiverse exists..."
Lucifer was stunned. She blinked, then her expression hardened into adorable determination.
"If they come, just let them know that there is only one true Lucifer! I am the CEO! I will sue them for copyright infringement!"
"What about Beelzebub?"
"Seal them all! One fly is annoying enough!"
Ren laughed. "What if it's a kind Beelzebub? One who manages Hell diligently like you, Lucifer? A Beelzebub who likes cooking?"
Lucifer tried to imagine it. She closed her eyes.
She immediately thought of the Beelzebub in her own Hell—the one who narrated everything with a smug tone and tried to turn everything into a grotesque monster.
'A cute and kind girl Beelzebub?' Lucifer shuddered. 'Impossible! There couldn't be such a Beelzebub! That violates the laws of physics!'
(Somewhere in another dimension, a maid named Beelzebub from Beelzebub-jou no Okinimesu mama sneezed: "Eh?! Did someone call me?")
Just as Lucifer was about to argue that flies could never be cute, a change occurred in the shop.
Hummmm.
A low vibration resonated through the air.
The chime above the door didn't ring with the wind. Instead, the frosted glass of the Restaurant door began to glow with an ethereal, pale blue light.
Lucifer's eyes lit up. She sat up straight, her combat instincts flaring slightly before settling down. She quickly looked at Ren.
Ren reached out and pinched Lucifer's cheek to relax her.
"Hmm," Ren said, standing up and wiping his hands. "It seems we weren't destined for a quiet night after all. A guest from Another World has arrived."
The light intensified, and then the door clicked open.
A gust of unnaturally cold air swept into the warm restaurant, causing the temperature to drop five degrees in an instant. Frost crept along the floorboards.
As soon as the door opened fully, a figure stepped in.
It was a woman. A tall, imposing woman who radiated an aura of absolute power and dominance.
She had skin as pale and smooth as milk, contrasting sharply with her long, flowing hair that was the color of ice—a vivid, striking blue. Her eyes matched her hair, shining with a predatory, icy gleam.
She wore a pristine white military uniform with gold accents, a matching cap set at a jaunty angle, and black thigh-high boots that clicked sharply against the floor. A long, slender rapier hung at her hip.
She stood in the doorway, surveying the restaurant not as a guest, but as a general surveying a conquered territory.
"Hmm?"
Her voice was cool, confident, and dripping with charisma.
"An interesting door..." she mused, stepping inside and letting the door close behind her. "It appeared in the middle of my command tent. Tell me... is this a new Teigu's dimension?"
[Akarin Note:
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