The Help Club President is a Demon Lord

During the weekend after his discharge from the hospital, Akuma stayed inside his room. It was already afternoon. He was just lying down and reading manga. Yuurei called out to him.

"Onii-chan, someone's here to see you! Get down here quickly!"

(Huh? Who is it this time?)

He stood up from his bed and left the manga there.

"I'm coming. What's with the rush?"

He shouted back as he was already going down the stairs. When he reached the entry way to the living room, Yuurei was waiting for him and she stood in his way, blocking Akuma's view of who was his visitor.

"Explain this to me, Onii-chan! Are you cheating?"

Akuma took a step back as Yuurei was pressing on to him.

"What are you talking about? We don't have midterms yet—"

"I'm not talking about any tests! I'm talking about girls!"

"Huh?"

Akuma stared at Yuurei with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't act innocent with me! Why is another girl visiting you when you already have Onee-san?!"

"Another girl? Onee-san? I have no idea what you're talking about, Yuurei!"

He pushed aside his sister to see who was his guest in the living room.

"Good afternoon, Akuma. Sorry for the trouble of visiting on a weekend."

Sanaka was seated on the sofa. There were some cookies and tea on the table in front of her. She was sipping on tea and was holding a cookie on her other hand.

"Sanaka? What are you doing here? Did you come here to eat snacks?"

"O-of course not! Yuurei-chan offered them to me so I had no choice but to accept!"

She then quickly drank the tea and ate the cookie in one bite.

"I gave her food so that she'll loosen up and admit if you two are dating."

Yuurei refilled the cookies on the table and poured some tea on Sanaka's cup.

"Stop bribing her. And we're not dating."

"Yeah, he's not even my type. If he was something like the Vice President, then maybe there is a chance."

A vein on Akuma's forehead almost popped. Sanaka continued to eat the cookies.

(These two are a tough nut to crack. They must have practiced their scripts beforehand. I must get to the bottom of this, for Onee-san's sake!)

Yuurei was clutching the teapot with her hands while she stood and watched the two interact.

"I'll let that slide. So, what do you want?"

Akuma put both his hands on his waist.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot why I came here."

Sanaka dusted the cookie crumbs off her hands and took a notebook from her bag beside her.

"Here, it's from our homeroom teacher. It's all the assignments you missed from being hospitalized. Seems like the teachers thought of this."

Akuma took the notebook. Sanaka then grabbed another cookie and bit it.

"Our teacher said they wanted to appreciate your dedication to getting fit that you collapsed. Of course, that was your fault in the first place."

"Huh. Whatever. They just made more work for me. I would have appreciated it if they just let me off the hook and gave me a passing grade."

Akuma tossed the notebook on the sofa.

"Hey, I came here on my precious time just to deliver that. You should be more thankful and answer those."

Akuma then sat down on the sofa beside Sanaka and took a cookie from the table.

"Well, it seems like you've enjoyed your stay here, eating those cookies and all."

Sanaka almost choked on the tea she was drinking.

"I won't deny that… These cookies are great! Did you make these, Yuurei-chan?"

Yuurei loudly put the teapot down on the table.

"I'm sorry, Sentaku-san. I don't remember being that close for you to call me by my name."

Sanaka leaned over to Akuma and whispered to his ear while she covered her face with her hand.

"I feel like Yuurei-chan is angry at me. Did I do something wrong?"

Akuma replied by speaking softly.

"You didn't, she's just having this weird misunderstanding—"

"You guys dare flirt in front of me? Go take your whisperings outside! Onii-chan, walk her home."

Akuma pointed at Yuurei.

"Why are you kicking me out, as well?"

---

Yuurei forced Akuma and Sanaka outside of the house. Yuurei then slammed the door behind them as the two of them stepped outside.

"I wanted to ask Yuurei-chan for this cookie's recipe."

Sanaka was crying as she held the last cookie in her hand.

"Next time you see her, just ask her."

"But she's angry at me. I don't even know why…"

Sanaka was still crying as she was slowly nibbling at the cookie.

"So, how far do you live from here?"

"What, are you planning to really walk me home?"

Sanaka looked at Akuma as they were walking down the street.

"I don't have anything better to do. I got kicked out because of you, anyway."

"Eh, I don't want rumors about us to spread. What if the Vice President hears about it? I can imagine the disgust and disappoint in his face…"

Sanaka shook her head vigorously as her imagination started to drift to unwanted territory.

"Fine, I'll go somewhere else."

Akuma started to go on a different direction away from Sanaka. She stopped walking and pointed at Akuma.

"Hey, you should be more persistent than that! A simple rejection shouldn't dissuade you that easily."

Akuma stopped and turned around to look at Sanaka.

"You know what, you really are a pain to deal with. So, which is it? Do you want me to walk you home or not?

Sanaka's face turned red. She then averted Akuma's gaze.

"Yes, please… Well, it's only because you insisted!"

"I didn't."

---

They started to walk further and further away from Akuma's house. It has been quiet for some time now. Akuma took a peek at Sanaka to see what was up.

"You've been quiet. That's unusual."

"I am…? It's just that this might be the first time I walked home together with a friend."

"How unlucky you are, then."

Akuma looked straight ahead.

"Well, I don't consider myself unlucky that I didn't have friends. I had fun by myself most of the time, anyway—"

"I mean your first walk with a friend is with me. See, we're not even friends. You're my minion, remember?"

"Sure, sure."

Sanaka slapped Akuma's back while laughing loudly.

"Hey, that hurts! You're turning into that violent Saint."

"I've been meaning to say this to you. Calling her a Saint isn't much of an insult. She's calling you a Demon Lord. You should think of something with more impact!"

"It's not an insult. It's just who she was back in—"

"Hey, hey. Look, isn't that the… Vice President?!"

Sanaka pointed towards an arcade gaming center in front of them. Teki was standing at the entrance of the arcade center. He looked around to his sides before entering.

"What is he doing here?"

Akuma squinted his eyes to see better.

"I don't know, maybe he likes playing games?"

"Ha! That blowhard is so stuck up that he probably doesn't know what the meaning of fun is."

Akuma then had a realization. An ominous smile flashed on his face.

"Let's follow him inside."

Akuma dragged Sanaka by her arm.

"Hey, no need to pull me! I'll come along willingly, you know!"

---

Before entering the game center, Akuma and Sanaka peeked from the outside through the door. When people enter, the doors automatically slide open. They first tried to see if they can spot where Teki was before they tried to follow him. Once the coast was clear and he was nowhere to be seen, the two of them entered the center.

Inside the arcade center were different gaming machines. Near the entrance were several crane games where you use a crane to grab and pick up a prize. On the other side of the crane games were the pachinko machines where you try to drop metal balls on different slots corresponding to different prizes. Further inside the center were the fighting and racing games. There were also some shooting games and sports games like basketball and mini bowling.

"Wow… this place is nice and bright, with all those pretty flashing lights."

Sanaka's eyes darted around the place as she saw many colorful games and decors and lights.

"Hey, Akuma! I want to try this crane game! Look, there's a cute bunny toy inside!"

She tugged on the back of Akuma's shirt as she pointed at the crane game machine.

"We're not here to play games. Look for him already!"

Akuma was looking at multiple directions to see whether Teki was in the vicinity.

"Aww, I wanted that bunny toy…"

Sanaka placed both of her hands on the glass encasing of the crane machine. She put her face close to the glass as she stared at the bunny toy inside.

"Sure, I'll get you the stupid bunny toy later! Just look for that guy right now. Maybe we can get some dirt on him. That'll be useful down the road."

The ominous smile on his face turned more intense as he continued to frantically look around.