Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 2 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 1===


A sight that was worth being called a masterpiece.

A contrast of white and red, stimulating the appetite of the watcher. A brilliant colourfulness that covered the whole of the big table. It was beef that was cut so that it looked extremely delicious from any angle.

Yakiniku. In the restaurant, which was like an everlasting absolute justice for him, Toujou Basara sat at the table across his classmate Takigawa Yahiro.

"Wh- What's with these beef tongues? They look like they're laying sideways… They're at least 1cm thick, Basacchi."

"Yeah, let's grill them quickly and eat… There's still a lot of other meat too."

"O- Okay… Then here I go."

Summoning his resolve, Takigawa threw the beef tongues on the field called charcoal grill.

Along with a sizzling sound, the delicious smell of grilling meat instantly hung in the air.

"Th- Then I'll help myself first."

With a gulp, Takigawa nervously carried the beef tongue towards his mouth--- In the next moment,

"S- So, gooood. What's this!? This is no longer just beef!"

He widened his eyes and shouted. Basara inadvertently made a wry smile.

"No, it's beef alright."

"Watcha doing, Basacchi, eat up! Sweet… This meat is so damn good."

"Yeah, I will. But don't hold yourself back, Takigawa. The fine meat will burn if it grills too much."

Basara said so to Takigawa, who started to put the beef one piece after another on the grill.

"Pfft, like I would let them get burned. I'll nicely eat them all!"

Welcoming the peak of joy and excitement, the hands controlling the chopsticks and the mouths eating the meat didn't stand still.

Basara and Takigawa's meal started for real.

"---But is it okay, Basacchi? Treating me at such an expensive restaurant."

Takigawa asked without stopping his eating hand, whereas Basara nodded with "Yeah".

Basara had taken Takigawa to a Yakiniku restaurant called "Akagi".

"I told you, this restaurant has an all-you-can-eat only for students… and even at a student charge."

"But together with my share, it's 5000 yen. That's quite the sum."

Considering it was a high schooler repaying a small favour, 2500 yen per person was certainly expensive. However Basara had a different reason for bringing Takigawa here.

---The devils were currently divided into two big forces. Into the "Current Devil Lord Faction" which was a hardliner faction that wanted to resume the invasion of the human world, and the "Moderate Faction" which followed the will of the previous Devil Lord Wilbert, who wanted to avoid conflicts with humans as much as possible. Nonetheless, after Wilbert's death, the once powerful moderate faction quickly lost their influence. Leading to Mio being chased by the current Devil Lord faction, since she unwittingly inherited the Devil Lord's power from her father.

Furthermore--- Takigawa Yahiro's real identity was an observer for Mio, sent by the current Devil Lord faction.

Basara had fought with him due to some development. In fact, that was just the other day.

And now, Basara had formed a secret alliance with him under the mutual conditions that Basara wouldn't spread the news about Takigawa's failure to the current Devil Lord faction. Takigawa then implicitly admitted to be a secret spy from the moderate faction, which worked on protecting Mio like Maria does, against the current Devil Lord Faction who are after Mio.

It was an alliance on equal grounds. Even so, Takigawa gave Basara an important piece of information.

The true identity of the culprit who killed Mio's foster parents and drove her to fight the Devils that came after her.

But Basara hadn't told Mio about that yet. Mio's reason to fight stemmed from taking revenge for her killed foster parents. It would be bad if she were to emotionally go out of control when he carelessly told her, and the situation wasn't all too clear anyway. Thus it was better for only Basara to know about it for now.

Because of that, he owed Takigawa big time. Of course he didn't think that treating him to Yakiniku would make them even, but

"Don't worry about that. I still have my savings from each month."

"Okay then. But your dad is away these days, right? Didn't you get some money for living expenses? And this here practically falls under necessary expenses."

"You sure know your stuff… But I can't use my dad's money to treat you."

Currently he had gotten Jin's credit card. But Basara formed the alliance with Takigawa on his own judgement. So he couldn't use the card for it.

"Mhm, I see…"

Takigawa had finished eating all the meat on the grill and said so like he was seeing through Basara's intention.

"I thought for sure you were going to ask something of me again in exchange for the Yakiniku."

"I'm not so dauntless that I could demand valuable information or assistance just because I treated you once. Today's under the motto 'Let's get along from now on', that's all."

Therefore,

"I'll repay you for taking over my task from Sakasaki-sensei another time and the debt for telling me about Zolgear--- the murder of Mio's foster parents, I'll pay that back from now on as best I can."

"Jeez, why so serious, Basacchi~ All the stories I heard about Toujou Jin were epochal--- Are you really his son?"

Jin once was a Hero that hogged the title of the strongest Hero in the <village> all to himself. The stories Basara had heard were all unbelievable battle legends of Jin during the great war. According to the stories he had heard in the <village> from all those that knew the past Jin, Jin had apparently become quite pacifistic now, but

"…Guess he's famous in the demon realm too?"

"Well, duh. He killed quite a number of our high class devils in the great war. Amongst us devils, Toujou Jin is feared as our strongest enemy--- like a war god. When the previous Devil Lord Wilbert ordered the retreat, there were two reasons why the guys, who wanted to keep fighting, reluctantly obeyed. One was Wilbert's clout, who was the strongest devil back then even as a centrist, the other was the fear of Toujou Jin's monstrous fighting strength."

As expected, Jin was such an outstanding man that even Takigawa, a devil, told him the same again. As his son, it didn't feel bad to have his father praised. In fact, Basara was actually proud of him.

And then--- their conversation temporarily came to a halt. In this silence, they nicely ate the Yakiniku with relish for a while.

Continuing to eat even more silent than at a crab meal, they were about to get to the last plate of their first order when---

"Oh, right, that reminds me, I have some information I better tell you, Basacchi."

"Information? …You sure?"

"Well, it seems like I can trust you. Besides, now that we have teamed up it would be bad for me too, in various ways, if you were to get into a disadvantageous situation."

With that, Takigawa wearily made a wry smile and suddenly, his eyes turned serious.

"---During the incident at the park before, Naruse Mio let her power go out of control, right? It was quite devastating. I had to secretly patch it up with magic. The news of it still reached the current Devil Lord faction, but also the moderate faction. I don't know yet how the moderate faction will make their move, but--- the current Devil Faction has decided to appoint a new observer, since they have judged that Naruse Mio has awakened the inherited power from Wilbert."

Basara froze up on these words.

"A new observer… Don't tell me, you're being replaced and returning to the demon realm?"

He had no plans to fully rely on Takigawa, but right now Basara and the girls overwhelmingly lacked battle strength compared to the current Devil Lord faction. Thus he wanted to borrow Takigawa's strength until he could read the situation a bit better. If Takigawa goes back to the demon realm now---

"---No. My surveillance mission continues. The point is, it feels like they're sending in reinforcement just in case, since there's been development. I mean, the top brass has always been after the power Naruse Mio inherited."

"I see… I got cold feet, thinking you would leave."

"Still, don't let your guard down. With another observer, it surely will be harder for me to cooperate. And while I said reinforcement, it isn't necessarily someone weaker than me. Besides, the Master and Servant Contract between Naruse Mio and you is still new, right?"

"? What do you mean?"

Was there something with the Master and Servant Contract that he had to be careful about?

"That magic has a long history… Since long ago, it has been used quite often and was improved on various occasions. At first it only made you able to locate each other and activated the curse on betrayal, but now it can even amplify the power of the Master and Servant, when they share a strong loyalty and trust. The master can power up his servant and the servant for his master. That's why high-class Devils have a lot of servants with the Master and Servant Contract to increase their own strength."

"Is that so…?"

Maria didn't explain it to him to that extent. Most likely the important part for Maria was that it was a countermeasure that allowed them to locate Mio when she was in danger.

"---And on the other hand, it also serves the purpose of preventing information leaks, should the servant be caught by the enemy. Since being caught by the enemy and becoming a burden to the master is the biggest betrayal." said Takigawa.

"Regardless of the characteristic, the servant won't be able to survive when the curse activates at maximum."

"…Seems so."

The characteristic of the curse from the contract between Basara and Mio came from Maria. Since she lent her power for the chanting of the contract spell, she gave it the characteristic of a succubus' "aphrodisiac". From what Maria had said, if the curse is activated at maximum, the brain nerves would fry from intense pleasure. She was being half-serious, but it surely was the truth. It was quite a well-made contract magic, considering it even prevented information leaks from prisoners.

"So you better be careful. You guys made the contract spell from the succubus, since the one from Mio's inherited power would be dangerous, right?"

"Yeah… Guess so."

"This isn't an all too pleasant story--- High-class Devils live a long time and some of them purposefully make a Master and Servant Contract with the succubus' characteristic instead of their own. Living a long life makes them crave for some amusement."

"Amusement…?"

"For sex plays. Just like drugging a woman, the 'aphrodisiac' chains her with pleasure."

"…I see. Really not pleasant."

"Nah, that's still innocent. The real assholes switch servants amongst themselves and play around by purposefully letting the curse activate."

"Play around… wait, don't tell me they're meaninglessly killing their own servants?"

"Nah, not like that… Well, since you're so sincere, it's an unknown world to you." said Takigawa with a wry smile.

"The servant devotes his soul and body to his master and when someone else does something to the servant, it will be a perfect betrayal against the master. Because the servant couldn't protect his chastity--- What do you think will happen then?"

Ah, Basara changed his expression on finally realizing it, whereas Takigawa nodded.

"Yeah. Being done by someone else than the master--- That immoral feeling activates the curse. If you're lucky, the curse is too strong and you can die, but at worst you lose your sanity and can't even feel the immorality anymore. But they have no use for a broken toy. They dispose of them, get a new toy--- and repeat everything."

And,

"Incidentally, the deviser of this sick play was--- the murderer of Naruse Mio's foster parents, Zolgear."

Basara swallowed down his breath with a gulp.

"Th- Then… the reason you relieved him of his observation."

"Exactly. There's a possibility that Naruse's inherited power will disappear should she die from a weird stunt from Zolgear. The top brass judged that there was a risk that Zolgear, after killing her foster parents who belonged to the moderate faction, would lay his hands on Naruse as well."

Basara was at a loss for words from the shocking story.

"So be careful. Zolgear can easily tell that Naruse's under the Master and Servant contract. Should she ever fall into his hands, she would never be sane again when he does something to her, since he's the all so hateful enemy that killed her foster parents. Well considering her personality, she would bite off her own tongue before someone does anything to her--- But you would like to avoid that, wouldn't you, Basacchi?"

"Obviously…!"

That alone he would never let happen. Looking down, Basara tightly clenched his teeth.

"Well, the top brass won't let Zolgear near Naruse anymore and I don't believe they would do anything strange, since they don't want Wilbert's power to disappear when Naruse dies from the curse after it's known that she's under the Master and Servant contract."

That certainly was a big advantage. Quite big, but

"…But, they aren't the only enemies going after Wilbert's power."

Besides the moderate faction that tried to protect Mio, there were other forces that opposed the current Devil Lord faction. From their point of view, they could deal damage to the current Devil Lord faction by killing Mio.

The enemy of their enemy wasn't necessarily their ally.
Once again noticing how difficult it was to protect Mio, Basara made a serious expression, whereupon Takigawa suddenly said quietly.

"---Well, it's not like I'm out of ideas."

"Really?"

Basara raised his head in a flash.

"There are two ways to cancel the contract. The first is to annul it with the same spell in agreement with both parties. The other way is to 'change it into a vow'." said Takigawa.

"As a symbol for the contract, a mark like a collar appears around the neck. Its colour changes depending on the level of loyalty. With a low loyalty level the mark is blue, but with rising levels it gets violet-blue, then violet-red and lastly crimson red."

And,

"When it then raises to the highest level --- maximum loyalty, the mark disappears and the curse won't activate anymore. After all, the servant won't ever betray the master at this point. That's the phenomena where the 'contract' sublimates into a 'vow'. Though there are not many cases of reaching that state, even from the past. But it's said that no one was able to win against a master and his servant in that state."

"In other words, if Mio and I reach loyalty on the level of a vow, we'll become as strong as the former examples?… But Mio and I have only known each other for a little while, you know."
It surely was possible, precisely because Devils had a long lifespan.

"Guess so. But even if reaching the vow level is impossible, it's worth to deepen the trust and loyalty between you two. I mean, the contract magic changes your feelings for each other into strength… That said, if you give up before even trying, it certainly will be impossible for you."

Being told with a sharp cynicism, Basara inadvertently fell silent, whereas Takigawa said "Well,".

"You can't decide it by yourself. Discuss what to do with Naruse."

"…Yeah, I will."

In regards, Basara said just that with a low voice.

---It wasn't like he couldn't trust Mio. Basara had no confidence in himself.

He was not a person that could ever get Mio to trust him.

Toujou Basara could not believe in Toujou Basara.

In himself, who once committed a sin and banished a lot of comrades.

He couldn't tell her to trust him as he was, even if it ripped his mouth.



Basara once again recognized the grave situation they were in and fell silent, whereupon

"We have fine meat here, so let's stop the gloomy talk now… To begin with, you can't do anything about worst case scenarios, no matter how hard you think."

"……Yeah."

"I mean, this is an all-you-can-eat, right? Then we gotta order more for to make the most of our money."

He felt Takigawa's kindness from the topic change.

"You're right… Okay, let's stuff ourselves!"

Basara temporarily got his spirit back and called the waiter with an "Excuse me~". While looking at the menu with Takigawa, they discussed if they should either get beef ribs, pork loins or guts. After deciding, they ordered.

As they watched the waiter leaving, they moistened their throats with cola. At that time.

"---Oh. I was guessing those voices were familiar for a while now."

The boys looked up to the sexy female voice coming from the side.

"Hasegawa-sensei…"

There stood the school nurse of Hijirigasaka Academy, that Basara and Takigawa attended, Hasegawa Chisato.

Hasegawa spoke like a man, but with her pretty features and overly glamorous breasts--- she had a sex-appeal and beauty that were 
not appropriate for pubertal high school boys.

"Toujou and Takigawa… It's just the two of you?"

"Eh? Yes, that's right."

"Great. Sorry, but could you let me sit at your table? Actually I was supposed to meet a friend, but I just got a call that some urgent business came up." said Hasegawa.

"Since I'm here anyway, I wanted to eat alone, but guys from other tables keep calling out to me with 'Wanna eat with us?' Is it such a lonely thing for a woman to eat Yakiniku alone?"

"Well, probably…" 

"Ahh, not at all, Sensei."

Basara and Takigawa looked at each other and told her.

[[Image:Shinmai v02 049.jpg|thumb]]

"Anyways, they were just so persistent that I considered giving up on my meal and going home, but I've always wanted to try the food here. As students you might be opposed to eating together with a teacher, but I would be grateful if you would let me join you."

"Hah… If it's like that, I don't mind."

That said, if Takigawa was against it, he could only apologetically turn her down. Today they were here for their formed alliance. 
Basara asked Takigawa with a look that said "What about you?"

"Nah, I'm okay with it too, of course. There are a lot of people, students and teachers alike, who want to eat together with you, Hasegawa-sensei."

"…So he says."

"I see. Then allow me to take a seat."

"Okay Sensei, since it's decided, next to me is free."

Takigawa grinned and offered Hasegawa the seat next him, but the Hasegawa in question readily sat down next to Basara with an "Excuse me".

"Ah, but we're having the student all-you-can-eat, so sharing a table would be---"

"Don't worry about that. The shop isn't at fault, but they don't want to have me troubled. I'm sure they'll comply with it."

Just like she had said, the waiter came with a cold and wet towel and bowed with a "We're sorry" right after Hasegawa sat down at the table. Apparently the staff felt sorry for not being able to keep the other customers in check. Hasegawa ordered a drink and a few kinds of meat from the waiter.

"But I must say, I didn't know this restaurant had an all-you-can-eat for students. Could it be our students often come here?"

"I doubt it. Because it's quite a distance from school, with the station in-between. And while it's cheap considering the taste, 
it's still a bit expensive for a student to casually come here."

"Right. I didn't know of it either until Basacchi took me here today."

"So you knew about this restaurant beforehand, Toujou. Do you come here often?"

"No, it's my second time today. I only moved here during summer vacation… But I came here once with my father." said Basara.

"My father is a professional photographer and the owner here is apparently a fan of my father. He once requested a photo and the landscape photo at the entrance--- That was taken by my father." 

And additionally to the fee of the photo, we were invited here and treated to a meal.

"Hoo… To think this restaurant had a fan of 'JIN' too."

"You know my father?"

"Surprised? I'm not a passionate fan, but I like his photos. A critic said in a magazine or so that his photos capture the original charm of the subject--- a moment that no one else can capture. It can be called an art. Even an amateur like me gets fascinated by it."

"Thanks… I'll tell my father that you said that next time."

With that, Basara lowered his head embarrassed, whereupon the ordered meat and drinks arrived.

Since Basara and Takigawa's additional order and Hasegawa's order arrived together, the table was filled with plates at once.

"Well then, time to eat." 

"Okay, we better get serious too."

Along with their words, the various meats started to dance on the grill, giving off a delicious smell.

---Amidst that, Basara remembered Hasegawa's earlier words.

Jin had left the village along with Basara to protect him. The new path that Jin had chosen to make a living from was the camera. Basara had suffered a deep mental wound from the tragedy five years ago, and seeing Jin's photo that stirred up one's emotions from the bottom of the heart, saved him numerous times.

At that time, Jin had no longer been the Hero that saved the world, but even so, for Basara he was the Hero that saved him. 

Precisely because he saw Jin like that, Basara could honestly think now that he wanted to protect Mio and Maria.