The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3 by Satoshi Wagahara

pride in Suzuno’s explanation. Chiho decided to put the whole thing behind her.
    The TV ads mostly depicted elderly retirees smiling vacantly as they gushed about how easy it was now to nag their grandkids in the big city, yes. But it wasn’t like Japanese law defined a minimum age for Jitterphone owners.
    Discovering the IR transmitter on Suzuno’s phone, Chiho lined it up with her own phone’s sensor. In half a second, they had traded contact information.
    “And there we go! I sent my phone number to you, too, Suzuno.”
    “My thanks to you. My knowledge of telephony before I came here was limited to large, black, rotary-dial models. The instruction manual was so full of unfamiliar terms, I simply wanted to throw my hands in the air!”
    Suzuno sheepishly accepted the phone as she spoke.
    “…Daddy!”
    Everyone in Devil’s Castle shuddered and turned to the source of the interjection.
    Alas Ramus, put to sleep just a moment ago, was now stirring, her sleepy eyes gauging her surroundings.
    “Grkkk…”
    Ashiya, caught off guard, let out a muffled groan as a piece of ginger-spice pork lodged itself in his throat.
    “Where’s Daddy?”
    Failing to find Maou or Emi among the grown-ups surrounding her, Alas Ramus’s face grew visibly redder as the group watched her erupt into large, globular tears.
    “Daaaaaaaddyyyyyyyy!!!”
    The explosion followed soon after. Forcing the pork down with a swig of barley tea, Ashiya hurriedly tried to assuage the girl’s fears, but was left to pat her head awkwardly as the firestorm of tears raged on.
    “Here, let me look.”
    Chiho, the only coolheaded person in the room, brushed the limp Ashiya away.
    “Ashiya, this diaper…”
    The diaper Alas Ramus sported was starting to look distressingly swollen.
    “Ah, yes, I purchased that yesterday.”
    Suzuno spoke up.
    “After Emilia left, Alas Ramus had quite the little accident. I failed to consider hand-washing her clothing, and the pharmacy was closed by then, so I had to visit the convenience store by the rail station…”
    Next to the Devil’s Castle john, a small pile of diapers was strewn around a hastily-torn plastic bag.
    “…Ashiya, you should really know better.”
    “What…what about?”
    “I mean, of
course
she’s crying. You didn’t change her diaper once since last night, did you?”
    Chiho’s voice was harsh and chiding as she took out a clean diaper and spread it on the floor. In a moment, Alas Ramus was lying on top of it.
    “There should be a bottle in my bag that looks like a big medicine dropper. Could you fill it up for me? Tap water’s fine.”
    “Y-yes, but, um, the pipes are hot right now, so it’s going to be a shade lukewarm…”
    “That’s even better. Hurry!”
    As Chiho nimbly gave orders, Ashiya and Suzuno watched as she grabbed both of Alas Ramus’s legs with one hand, lifted them up, and undid the tape on the diaper with her free hand.
    “All right, how about we get you nice and clean?”
    Accepting Ashiya’s bottle, Chiho pointed it downward and slowly squeezed. Ashiya and Suzuno was thrown off guard for a moment, but the diaper absorbed all of the excess flow.
    Putting the bottle down, Chiho used a wet tissue to wipe away theremaining waste, tossed it alongside the old diaper, and lifted Alas Ramus’s legs just a little higher to bring her into position.
    Showing the one-handed dexterity none of her onlookers knew she had, Chiho gently placed Alas Ramus’s rear end upon the new diaper, then briskly taped it shut.
    Before they knew it, Alas Ramus—crying with the strength of a mile-wide tornado just a moment ago—had stopped.
    Ashiya stared at the girl and her caretaker, eyes like saucers.
    “…She was crying out for Emilia, so I reasoned she was just feeling lonely…”
    “Well, I’m sure she
is
lonely, but babies don’t really have a lot of different ways to express their concerns, you know? If something bad happens to them, all they can do is cry out, the only