The urgent devil incident Himeno had described was resolved the moment Kobeni briefly showed her face.
She drove her car right back to headquarters. By now, she had been given her very own private office.
Hearing the endless stream of "Senior Higashiyama" being tossed her way as coworkers passed by, Kobeni slumped into her soft, comfortable office chair with a long face.
Objectively speaking, she was already living the life of her dreams. She had money, a car, and a house. She was officially a rich person, just as she had always wanted. The other Devil Hunters treated her with immense respect, viewing her as a serious, tight-lipped senior and a prominent figure, always addressing her with polite honorifics. She no longer had to worry about dying on a mission either, since the vast majority of devils were utterly terrified of her and would rather steer clear of her entirely.
But why didn't she feel even a shred of happiness?
She rubbed her cheeks hard, left her office looking completely disheartened, and quietly retreated back into her little car. Resting her hands loosely on the steering wheel, she turned it a few times before letting out another mournful sigh and collapsing against the backrest.
She felt a wave of sadness. Yet, she couldn't quite pinpoint why.
They were all dreams, so why did Denji and Reze look so blissfully happy when theirs came true? Meanwhile, she was completely miserable. Even after buying a replacement car, she didn't feel any of the excitement she had felt the first time she laid eyes on the original.
A profound sense of emptiness was on the verge of swallowing her whole.
Lying back against the seat, she held up her hand and stared at her palm. What a boring world, she thought.
Kobeni never imagined a day would come when such a thought would cross her mind. In the past, she never believed she was capable of thinking this way; even when she was so desperately broke that she had to work grueling part-time jobs, she had never felt this kind of apathy.
The dividing line for all of this change traced back to a single moment.
"It's because of Mr. Demon! Mr. Demon left," Kobeni sighed deeply.
In truth, she had known all along. He had barely been gone for two days, yet she had already turned into this, completely unable to muster interest in anything. A brief contract had linked the two of them for a fleeting moment before abruptly snapping apart.
But there was no way she could just pretend it never happened. It felt as though a deeply important elder in her life had suddenly vanished without a trace.
"It feels so long..." Kobeni murmured.
After meeting Zoran, she had gained so much. Yet at this very moment, she would rather none of it existed. She would rather she had never taken that dark path after clocking out of her shift at the burger joint that night.
With another heavy sigh, she walked back into the headquarters building.
In the main lobby, Himeno was standing before a row of juniors, strictly lecturing them despite the heavy dark circles under her eyes. When her gaze fell upon Kobeni, her eyes lit up. She hurried over, grabbed the hem of Kobeni's sleeve, and dragged her right in front of the juniors.
"Come here! Why do you look so down in the dumps? You're a role model now!" Himeno said, straightening Kobeni's collar for her.
"It's Senior Kobeni Higashiyama!" one of the young juniors gasped in surprise.
"I heard Senior just scared off a powerful devil moments ago. It's truly amazing, I'm so jealous," another junior added, eyes sparkling with pure admiration as they stared intently at Kobeni.
"Ahem, it was nothing special, really. I'm not actually that amazing..." Kobeni coughed slightly, offering a strained smile.
"How can you say that?! I heard that when Senior was down in Hell a few days ago, you even defeated the ultimate Darkness Devil!"
"Huh? Seriously?!"
"Of course! It's officially logged as a major historical event!"
Kobeni was still incredibly poorly suited to these kinds of situations. She waved her hands awkwardly, fully prepared to make a run for it. But the juniors had already swarmed her, chattering away excitedly.
"Senior is a massive celebrity among Devil Hunters right now!"
"Yeah, absolutely! If we ever run into a devil, maybe just screaming Senior's name will be enough to scare them away!"
Kobeni suddenly froze. She spun around. "What did you just say?"
The junior shrank back a bit, fearing they had said something wrong, and stammered, "I just said... if we meet a devil, maybe shouting Senior's name might actually work or something..."
Kobeni's slumping spirit instantly completely revitalized.
"You're a genius!" She slapped the junior on the shoulder and suddenly ran straight out of the building, completely disregarding everything else.
She left the entire group of juniors and Himeno scratching their heads in utter confusion. What on earth could be important enough to make the incredibly powerful and usually somewhat aloof Senior Kobeni Higashiyama rush off in such a frantic hurry? Could it be a sudden devil outbreak?
Kobeni leaped into her car, and the "Car Devil" was officially back online. She sped toward the nearest beach, stepped out onto a grassy slope overlooking the shore, and shouted out toward the open ocean.
She had remembered.
Before Mr. Demon departed, he hadn't taken back all of his Moon Demon Chi; he had left a tiny, residual wisp within her. It was meant as a small reward for her exceptional performance during the incident in Hell.
She yelled toward the completely deserted beach, "Mr. Demon!"
Her voice dissolved into the air, caught by the sea breeze and carried right back to her. After that, everything returned to absolute silence.
"Mr. Demon..." Kobeni pouted. "He really did leave."
Refusing to accept it, she gathered all the strength in her lungs and bellowed toward the sky, the cosmos, and the direction of the moon:
"Mr. Demon! Honestly, I just wanted to say thank you!"
She hopped around on the grass, waving frantically at the sky. Even though she knew he couldn't see or hear her, her mood instantly felt significantly lighter.
As her voice drifted into the distance, Kobeni looked toward the coastline with a relaxed expression.
But every action leaves an echo. Throughout the infinite worlds of the universe, stories were unfolding everywhere; the ripples caused by the descent of the Moon Demon had fundamentally changed many people and events. Wherever the moonlight could reach, a shadow of his presence remained.
Kobeni spread her arms and legs wide, lying flat on the grassy slope as she stared silently up at the sky.
"I guess he really can't hear me, huh?" She wiped the corners of her eyes, resting her forearms over her forehead.
Suddenly.
A voice resonated abruptly right next to her ear. It startled her so violently that she immediately bounced up from the grass.
"Are you that bored?" the voice murmured beside her ear.
Kobeni trembled all over. It was Mr. Demon! He really could hear her!
A bright flush spread across her cheeks. She had just been scolded by Mr. Demon... yet her heart was bursting with absolute joy.
The voice vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. Kobeni kept chanting her thanks while running around erratically across the grass, looking exactly like a lunatically happy maniac.
Meanwhile.
Zoran's soul floated within the blood-red expanse of the Netherworld, holding a writhing, glowing blue orb in his hand. It was an authority he had seized from an entirely different world.
"Brother Tso Lan, who were you just speaking to?" Bai Tza, the Water Demon, looked at Zoran with a look of confusion.
This time, she was the one slated to be broken out of prison!
"It was nothing." Zoran withdrew his gaze, offering a slight smile. "Just a rather endearing junior, that's all."
He looked toward Bai Tza and said seriously, "Let us begin."
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