The two of them stood up, clothes rustling as they got dressed.
Cael glanced at the digital watch on his wrist.
21:18:35.
The numbers had not moved even a single second.
"So it really is busted," Cael muttered.
He was not sure how long that ridiculous farce had lasted, but it felt like around ten minutes, give or take.
Either way, the treatment itself had gone smoothly.
One by one, Cael had cleared the stray, tangled thoughts from Asa's mind. She was finally clear headed again. Clear headed to an almost absurd degree, like some enlightened sage.
Unfortunately, her face was flushed bright red, so red it looked like blood might seep through her skin at any moment.
Asa refused to think about what had just happened.
It was insane. Completely unhinged.
Too perverted.
She had f*cked Cael inside a devil's stomach.
"Asa, look," Cael said suddenly.
Compared to Asa's visible embarrassment, he looked far too calm.
"What?" she asked.
Cael pointed toward the wall clock on the right side of the room. "The time on that clock matches the watch."
"…Let me see."
Asa lifted the digital watch and compared it carefully with the wall clock.
"It's the same. Even the second hand position is identical."
Cael rubbed his chin. "When weird shit happens twice, it usually is not a coincidence."
"Huh… then could it be…" Asa copied his pose, stroking her own chin.
After spending so much time with Cael, her mannerisms were starting to sync with his.
"Is time completely frozen inside this devil's stomach?"
Her casual guess landed frighteningly close to the truth.
"That's probably the ability of whatever devil swallowed us," Cael replied.
Then it happened.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A soft tapping sound came from beneath the bed.
"Ah?!" Asa yelped.
Something was under there.
She immediately clung to Cael, gripping his arm like her life depended on it.
Luckily, she still had him.
"Relax," Cael said, patting her back. "You're fine."
Before transmigrating, this would have scared the hell out of him.
But after everything he had seen, this barely ranked.
Worst case scenario, it was just another devil. And honestly, how could it be scarier than the Falling Devil?
Cael's voice dropped, cold and sharp.
"Heh. Cut the bullshit. You've got five seconds to crawl out, or I drag you out myself."
Clatter.
"Y Yes!"
A familiar, trembling voice answered from beneath the bed.
A petite figure scrambled out, nearly tripping over herself.
When Cael and Asa saw the face beneath the black Public Safety uniform, both of them nearly lost control of their expressions.
"Kobeni?! Why is it you?!"
Compared to before, Kobeni Higashiyama looked noticeably thinner. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her cheeks were slightly sunken.
She turned her head away, unable to meet their gaze.
"I I mean… yeah. What a coincidence. You're here too…"
Asa's jaw dropped.
In her memory, Kobeni had fallen into Hell before she did. Asa had assumed she was already dead.
Relief washed over her, followed immediately by something far worse.
Pure, soul crushing shame.
If Kobeni was here, then that meant…
She had been in this room the entire time.
Which meant she heard everything.
Every word. Every sound.
I'm dead, Asa thought. My reputation is over.
She covered her face, wishing she could sink through the floor.
Cael inhaled sharply.
Yeah, it was awkward as hell.
But whatever. Asa was definitely going to be his wife someday anyway. Adults did adult things. No point losing sleep over it.
As long as he and Asa were not embarrassed, then the only one suffering was Kobeni.
Cael cleared his throat twice, dragging the conversation back on track.
"Kobeni. What do you know about this place? Any useful info, spit it out."
"Y Yes."
His calmness somehow made her even more nervous.
Kobeni explained that she had been hiding under the bed to sleep. She was a light sleeper, terrified out of her mind, and woke up the moment Cael and Asa appeared.
At first, she thought they were enemies and curled up, shaking in fear.
But once she recognized their voices, she nearly cried from relief.
She had tried to crawl out, but then… things started happening.
With no other option, she waited it out.
"I have to say…" Kobeni muttered, rubbing her dark circles. "You two are… really something. To still have the energy for that in a situation like this…"
Cael snorted. "Yeah, yeah. Focus."
"I heard you talking about time," she continued. "The clocks aren't broken. This place is an infinite loop. No exit. No end. Time is frozen permanently at this exact moment."
As she spoke, Kobeni crouched down and fumbled under the bed, pulling out a TV remote.
Click.
The television turned on.
On the screen, an idol group was performing on a brightly lit stage.
"Is that NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen?" Asa asked.
"Yeah," Kobeni nodded. "But look at the time display."
Cael squinted. "21:18:35."
The singers danced and smiled, but the numbers never changed.
Time here was completely stagnant.
Tears welled up in Kobeni's eyes.
"It's… it's really good to see you guys…"
She wiped her face sloppily and sobbed.
"Can you share some food with me? I've been sleeping most of the time to avoid getting hungry. I've slept under that bed more times than I can count. Every time I wake up starving, I drink tap water from the bathroom. There's nothing else here. Just water."
Hearing that, Cael and Asa searched their pockets.
In the end, they found only a single piece of chocolate.
"This is all we've got," Cael said, handing it over. "Eat slow."
Kobeni's knees nearly gave out. If Cael had not caught her, she would have collapsed on the spot.
She ripped open the wrapper and devoured it in seconds, chewing and swallowing like her life depended on it.
"Th Thank you… thank you…"
She even licked the wrapper clean.
Cael clicked his tongue. "Jesus. You eat like Denji."
Asa stared in shock.
Kobeni could not have entered more than a couple hours before her. Yet she looked like she had been trapped for weeks.
A moment stretched into eternity.
This devil was horrifying.
"This is obviously the Eternal Devil," Yoru said.
Asa relayed it aloud. "Yoru says it's the Eternal Devil."
"The Eternal Devil, huh."
Cael muted the TV.
He was not panicking. Dark Water could nullify devil abilities as long as he touched the devil's body.
Time still was not moving, which meant this room was not part of the devil itself.
It was just a real hotel suite.
What truly bothered him was the Falling Devil outside.
His earlier all out attack had not even scratched it.
That was when Cael realized something important.
Right now, the Falling Devil was unbeatable.
So he remembered Makima's words and adjusted his plan.
If he could not beat the Falling Devil directly, then he would break the contract between it and the Eternal Devil.
If I can't kill the chef, I'll beat the shit out of the customer.
If he caused enough chaos inside the Eternal Devil's stomach and forced it to spit them out, it would absolutely piss the Falling Devil off.
That was the plan.
Shift the problem.
Turn the conflict between ingredients and chef into a brawl between chef and customer.
Unfortunately, there was one small issue.
The Eternal Devil was still hiding.