By 2 a.m., the heroes, generals, and Nyx had gathered every stray cup noodle, pushed over most of the soda towers, and wiped the worst of the spilled drinks. On the surface, the store looked… passable. Sort of.
Bella inspected the aisles, crossing her arms. "Not bad… but not good."
Arthos patted himself on the back, mop in hand. "We've conquered the mess! Victory!"
The manager walked in, clipboard in hand, eyes narrowing. "You call this clean?"
Nyx waved a hand. "It's… clean-ish. Maybe ten percent dirty, but who's counting?"
The Demon King slurped his noodles and glanced at the floors. "I'd say we've restored order to at least seventy percent. That's impressive, considering…" He gestured vaguely to the chaos around him. "…everything."
The manager stomped a foot. "Seventy percent is not enough! Look at these shelves—crumbs, sticky labels, and what is that?" He pointed at a half-melted candy bar tucked under the freezer.
Yuwen rolled her eyes. "Do you want us to magically clean it, or do we continue this… mortal labor?"
Varkos groaned. "I already lifted three crates. I demand credit!"
Drogan laughed, tossing a bag of chips behind him. "And I swept! Mostly!"
Bella knelt to examine a corner. Dust clung stubbornly to the floor, and a stray noodle cup teetered dangerously on a low shelf. "This isn't clean. You've done… acceptable work, at best. I've seen goblin barracks cleaner than this."
Arthos frowned. "We followed the instructions!"
The manager pinched the bridge of his nose. "Instructions are useless if you ignore half of them!"
Nyx grinned. "Okay, okay, maybe we can do… round two?"
Bella muttered, "Round two? I don't even survive a single shift, let alone a second one."
The Demon King slowly set down his cup noodles. "Fine. Round two it is. But I am not touching that mop again."
Drogan immediately dived into the candy aisle, trying to reorganize the shelves with exaggerated flair, sending more wrappers flying onto the floor. Kael, clutching his notebook, began furiously scribbling calculations of the "optimal shelf angle," only to accidentally nudge a soda tower that crashed into Lunaria's broom.
Lunaria swore under her breath as she floated backward, narrowly avoiding a spilled bucket of water. "This is worse than the Infernal Library of Shattered Tomes!" she muttered, flinging a cloth across the aisle in frustration.
Nyx was behind the counter again, this time hiding behind the cash register, tossing Pokémon cards into empty soda crates. "See? Organized!" she yelled. "Strategic placement!"
Yuwen floated overhead, arms crossed, muttering, "Children and mortals should never be allowed near retail equipment." She flicked her fingers at a floating bag of chips, sending it back onto the shelf with a thud.
Seraphine drifted through the store, murmuring a blessing over the aisles, her hands glowing faintly. "May the floor remain pure, the shelves strong, and the cup noodles eternal," she whispered. Somehow, crumbs clung stubbornly to the corners anyway.
Bella crouched, inspecting another corner. A small trail of soda led from the freezer to the end of the aisle. She groaned. "Even divine blessings can't fix sloppiness."
The Demon King sighed. "Perhaps we overestimated our ability to adapt to this world."
Arthos puffed out his chest. "No! We are heroes! We do not fail! We simply… need… more attempts!"
Varkos grunted. "I'm going to sit here and supervise instead." He plopped down on the floor and started eating chips.
Drogan tripped over him. "You're in my way!"
Nyx laughed so hard she nearly fell behind the counter. "This is art. Pure chaos art."
The manager threw his clipboard down with a thud. "I don't know whether to fire you all, call the fire department, or start crying."
Bella muttered under her breath, "At least in a dungeon, the monsters don't leave crumbs."
By 3:30 a.m., most of the floor was wiped, soda towers rebuilt (though slightly lopsided), and the shelves were… well, mostly straight. But crumbs still clung to the corners, candy wrappers peeked from behind displays, and stray noodles lurked near the freezer.
Nyx proudly held up a Pokémon card. "Mission accomplished!"
Bella rubbed her temples. "Almost clean… is not clean enough."
The Demon King stirred his noodles. "We may survive retail… but it seems retail will never forgive us."
And somewhere, unnoticed, a lone cup noodle teetered, ready to fall and remind everyone that perfection was a fantasy in the human world.