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Chapter Text

To his great annoyance, Professor Kalego walks into the Royal One’s classroom and finds all his students in a puppy pile group hug at the back table. Of course, the one at the bottom of the puppy pile, right in the middle of the ridiculous situation, is the class’s leader, Iruma.

“What are you all doing…?” Kalego asks in a gruff voice towards the pile of students.

Kalego rolls his eyes as he takes his high-backed chair at the front of the classroom. He gets his students' attention by using magic to hand each student a handout. After a few moments of noticing their homeroom professor, each student takes their regular seat around the classroom.

“Now then, as you can see on the handout, there will be fewer classes after today. Don’t get excited just because you have more free time,” Professor Kalego informs his students with a pointed glare, knowing his class of idiots. 

“What a bad attitude….” Lied comments.

Jazz agrees with Lied, giving him a conspiratorial nod as he notices Professor Kalego slouching against his hand with his elbow on the chair’s arm. Their professor seemed to confidently lounge in his chair at the front of the classroom.

“Anyway, it’s almost the end of the terminus. You should all get ready,” Professor Kalego announces.

“End of terminus?” Iruma asks Az, who is sitting next to him.

Around the room, the bulk of the misfit's class was celebrating, cheering about vacation time and how they wanted to spend their time off from classes.

“It’s the start of a long vacation. There won’t be any classes at school, and you can go home to your family or focus on your battler activities,” Az calmly explains to his master with a smile.

“But, before that, you’ll be tested on all your lecture courses,” Professor Kalego mercilessly interrupts his students' celebrations.

“Lecture Exams?!” almost the entire class gasps in horror.

“Hold on! We’re getting tested on all the lecture courses?!” Lied cries out, questioning Professor Kalego.

A little over half of the students panic loudly around the classroom.

“Yes, flying and magic, for example. Naturally, you’ll have to take supplementary lessons if you fail. Look at your schedule,” Professor Kalego stated before continuing to say, “Make sure you get scores befitting this classroom.”

“Are you smiling, Professor?!” Jazz asks the ridiculously smirking professor.

Az watches the panicking students of his class with a sneer, “Really now, those fools. It’s their fault for not being prepared. Isn’t that right, Iruma-sama…”

As Az looks over to Iruma next to him, he notices that Iruma looks ready to pass out, “Iruma-sama!”

After homeroom is let out, Az, Clara, and Iruma sit together on the floor in their Magical Artifact Research battler room. Each sits on a comfortable pillow initially coming from Clara’s magic pockets. The three sit in a circle facing each other.

“You’re bad at studying?” Az asks the sad face of his slumped master.

“I’m not used to it, or rather, I just don’t know how …” Iruma tries to explain his situation to his best friends.

In times like this, Iruma wishes he could admit his past to his two best friends. He wants to tell them that he was barely able to get in enough schooling before being adopted and that he is surprised he could even read, write, and do a bit of math. Before Lord Sullivan became his grandpa, Iruma had no choice but to be far more worried about earning money and finding enough food not to starve to death. Now Iruma is once again paying for the choices of his ex-parents, who wanted money and no responsibilities, far more than they ever cared for their child’s development.

“Is that so…However, I know you’ll do well, Iruma-sama!” Az states with bright confidence.

“Tests are easy peasy. Yep, yep!” Clara cheers.

Iruma feels his stress increasing at his friends' confidence and their expectations of him. Iruma feels his heartbeat quicken at the terrifying thought of disappointing his first-ever friends in his entire life.

To test where his master is in his studying for five of their lecture courses, Az creates some practice tests for Iruma and Clara to take. Az watches his master stressing as he works through each practice test before handing them over with a desperately sad look on his face. Az goes through each of the papers to score them and is shocked by the final scores.

Score #1: 6
Score #2: 5
Score #3: 0
Score #4: 2
Score #5: 3

Az stares at the scores he wrote down in utter disbelief, trying to double-check his scoring only to find no mistakes in his scoring. He looks at his master, Iruma, and sees him crying and feeling stressed and nervous.

“I’m sorry,” Iruma cries, feeling like he disappointed his friend.

“Eh, ah. No, I’m sorry!!” Az tries to calm his master.

“You can’t read? These are bad,” Clara comments on Iruma’s scores.

“I can …” Iruma says, disappointed with himself.

“That was so rude …” Az scolds Clara.

‘Yeah! Grandpa’s magic translates demonic letters for me, but…While I can read the words, I have no idea what they mean!!’ Iruma thinks stressfully.

Question Example: If someone were to chant an unregulated, forbidden curse verbally in battle, what would be the strength and radius of the spell?

Being able to read the questions does not matter if Iruma has no understanding of the words he reads. There is so much he does not know, and it clearly shows.

“No helping it then. Do you want Clara-nee-san to teach you?” Clara asks with a giggle and smirk on her lips.

Iruma squeaks in surprise at Clara’s confidence.

“Behold!” Clara declares, showing Iruma her own scores.

Clara’s Scores: 15, 18, 10, 21

“You are below me, dummy,” Clara cheers.

Iruma collapsed under the proof that his carefree green-haired friend got higher scores on each practice test than he did. He has no comeback to speak of as Clara laughs boastfully.

Iruma looks over at Az, who looks thoughtfully at his scores and thinks, ‘I guess even Az-kun would be shocked by that….’

‘What a strange guy…He possesses a strength that overcomes any hardship, yet is ignorant of how the world works…His kindness is rare amongst us demons…But that’s also why his compassion fills your heart,’ Az thinks to himself with a soft heart towards his friend and master.

Az thinks back to when Iruma, during his evil cycle, mounted the Demon King’s throne. ‘What I saw was the future,’ Az thinks as he remembers the feeling of kneeling before Iruma as his king.

“I’m sure that you can ace these exams!!” Az cries in passion to his Iruma.

“Eh?" Iruma yelps in surprise at Az’s impassioned declaration.

“Let us study here after class! If there is something you don’t understand, I will do my utmost to explain it to you!!” Az exclaims to Iruma.

Az calms himself down before happily explaining, “Those who do well on the exams can even increase their rank! This is a chance to become a Daleth (rank 4)!”

Iruma is relieved that Az is not disappointed in him because of his weakness in his studies.

“We can beat the exams if we’re all together!” Clara cheers.

“Let’s do it!” Az beams at Iruma.

“...Okay,” Iruma agrees, blushing at his radiantly supportive friends with a heartwarming feeling blooming in his chest.

“Right! The three of us are teaming up! And aiming for a perfect score!” the three friends cheer together.

“I have come!” calls out the senpai, who had been the one responsible for the change in personality of the student council president Ameri.

“What?” Asks the three friends who had just been celebrating.

“I am in your care from today - De Gozaru! Well, met fellows!” Schnell answers happily and absolutely oblivious to the feelings of the others in the battler room.

Getting a call from President Ameri, Iruma is given an explanation, “Sorry to drop this on you, but … well, it’s already been decided. Schnell is too much for us to handle, and it’s too dangerous to leave him alone. So we’re placing him in a trust-worthy battler where I can keep an eye on him, one without any other second-years….”

“And that is with us in The Magical Artifact Research Battler, huh?” Iruma asks into the hell phone, ignoring Az and Clara, arguing with Schnell in the background.

“Schnell did manage to make that personality-altering artifact on his own…He might act like a weirdo, but he has potential,” President Ameri explains, “I’m entrusting him to you.”

“And so, I look forward to working wi….” Schnell starts to speak.

“Go back!” Clara and Az yell at Schnell at the exact same time.

“Just when the three of us had bonded!” Az yells at Schnell as he stomps on the guy.

Clara hits Schnell with a broom as he calls out, “I am your senior-zo!!”

Iruma has gotten a new member for The Magical Artifact Research Battler. Eligos Schnell acquired.

“By the way, you can also lose a rank if your scores are too low,” Az adds as an afterthought to Iruma’s very stressful surprise.

How will the finals go!?

Chapter Text

Iruma Suzuki, 14, was sold to the elder demon Lord Sullivan by his deadbeat parents. He has even fought various predicaments and somehow managed to keep himself alive.

But right here and now…It is the most significant obstacle he’s ever faced… Studying!!

Iruma lies on his back in the middle of his bedroom, surrounded by a pile of books and notes and in a stressed sweat.

“It would seem that you’ve been studying hard, haven’t you, Iruma-kun,” his grandpa states with concern at the breakfast table, “But don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Okay,” Iruma says to his grandpa even though he feels like he is about to fall asleep in his breakfast. 

‘I really wanted to read a textbook, but I didn’t understand a single thing I read…’ Iruma thinks, depressed to himself. 

“Grandpa is worried!” his grandpa yells in his chibi egg form from his seat. 

“Do you want me to tell you what’s on the exams? Or if possible, we’ll give Iruma-kun only the easy questions!” his grandpa suggests conspiringly.

“Headmaster…” Opera says sternly, glaring at his master. 

“Opera-san,” Iruma says, trying to keep up with the conversation around him. 

“There is no need to go so far for Iruma-sama. On top of that, Iruma-sama is a serious and earnest person. He will definitely pass the exams with flying colors,” Opera confidently says. 

“I see! That’s right!!” his grandpa cheers in chibi form. 

Iruma is even more stressed by his family's apparent expectations and confidence in his abilities.  

“Well then, we’ll start preparing for your celebration!” calls out his grandpa as Iruma practically runs out of the manor for school. 

‘That really didn’t help what-so-ever….” Iruma thinks to himself.  

Walking into the Royal One’s classroom with his best friends, Iruma and Az are surprised by the scene in front of them. “Avoid Red Marks!!” is written huge on the blackboard in bright white chalk. The front two tables hold the furiously studying Lied, Jazz, Kamui, and Goemon. 

“Um…What’s happening here?” Az asks as he and Iruma look confusedly at the scene before them. 

“As you can see! We are studying, obviously!” Lied yells out with stressed intensity. 

“You guys!?” Az exclaims in surprise as Iruma’s eyes go wide. 

“So what!!” Lied yells. 

“We’ve decided to work hard!” Goemon cries out. 

“All so we can have fun!!!” Lied cries out in passion. 

“I don’t want to endure supplementary hell!!” Goemon yells. 

“I just want to be able to kick back during our long break,” Jazz says, scrubbing his face.

Iruma, Az, and Clara are taken back in surprise for a few moments at the answers the group of their classmates gave them. 

“So that’s what they have stored in their brains,” Az states with a deadpanned face.

‘Somehow, I feel a little relieved,’ Iruma thinks to himself, looking over at his classmates with a soft smile.  

“Let’s leave them alone and study over there amongst ourselves, shall we?” Az asks, corralling Iruma and Clara to one of the back tables. 

Iruma, Clara, and Az sit across from each other at the back table as Az spreads a bunch of workbooks in front of them. 

“The exams have a total of five subjects. By the way, Iruma-sama, what subjects do you excel in?” Az asks, sitting across from Iruma and Clara. 

“I’m not sure….” Iruma answers without confidence in his voice, just staring in worry at the workbooks. 

“Well then, let’s hit the workbooks and see what you do and don't grasp,” Az suggests to his two friends. 

“Yeah!” Iruma and Clara cheer in determination. 

The three friends start going through the workbook questions as a starting point for their studying. 

Question: Which family has belonged to the 13 Crowns for the last 8 generations? 

Clara: “Bero-Bero-Ba” (x)

Iruma: “I don’t know” (x)

Az: “Beelzebuth” (o) 

Question: If a Red Moon was 3 days ago, how many days later will a blue star be starting from today? 

Clara: “I am green” (x)

Iruma: “I don’t know” (x)

Az: “9 days later” (o) 

Question: What is the name of General of Terror Andras’ favorite torture device depicted in the picture? 

Clara: “Scissor Man” (x) 

Iruma: “Scary” (x)

Az: “Tongue-Biting Spear” (o)

Question: How long does a demon-eating Gondola Moray take to dissolve a 45kg demon?

Clara: “Five!” (o)

Iruma: “I don’t know” (x)

Az: “5 minutes” (o) 

Question: Which law states that oral and silent spellcasting simultaneously is impossible?   

Clara: “Ouroboros” (o) 

Iruma: Waves a tiny white flag of surrender (x)

Az: “Ouroboros’ Law” (o) 

Iruma collapses in on himself in depression. He could not answer even one of the workbook questions correctly. He was starting to feel really bad about this upcoming exam. Things are only getting more depressing by the minute. 

“I-It’ll be alright! Let’s take it slow!” Az exclaims, trying to reassure Iruma. 

“Don’t worry,” Clara chimes in, trying to cheer up Iruma. 

“Ughh….” Iruma groans in sad frustration. 

What if I really am not capable of studying after all? This question swirls around in Iruma’s mind, making him even more depressed. Then Iruma notices another workbook open to its questions. 

Question #1: How many limbs does a human have? 

Iruma’s Answer: 4

Question #2: What is the favorite food of a human realm cat?

Iruma’s Answer: Fish 

Question #3: Is a human realm “dog” an animal or a plant?  

Iruma’s Answer: Animal

“Iruma-sama?” Az asks, looking over Iruma’s shoulder to see him answering some of the questions in one of the workbooks. 

Once Az notices that Iruma is done with the questions in that section, he takes the workbook from him to check the answers. 

“Wow, 100 points! Great job Iruma-sama!” Az cheers in celebration. He is glad to give his master some good news regarding studying. Az knew that his master desperately needed some excellent news.  

“E-Eh!?” calls out the other students in the room who have been listening to the conversation in the back of the classroom. 

“W-Whoa, it’s true!!” Lied exclaims as he double-checks over the workbook and answers himself. 

“Iruma-chi, you’re so cool!” Clara praises Iruma with a bright smile, so happy that her friend finally got some answers correct. She did not like the sad, depressed look studying was putting on her dear friend.  

“It seemed quite easy….” Iruma shrugs, not understanding the sudden praise being heaped on him.

“That’s the ‘Imaginary Biology of the History of the Demon Realm’ workbook! To think you have such a talent!” Az praises his master happily. 

“Er-” Iruma squeaks in surprise, a warmth spreading in his chest at all the happy praise.  

“100 points is an amazing feat - degozaru!” Goemon compliments Iruma. 

“Wonderful,” Elizabetta gushes. 

“Guess he’s smart after all?” Jazz asks in the background. 

“Is that so?” Iruma asks, feeling more determined than just a few minutes ago. He is getting some earned praise from his friends, making him feel a little lighter.  

Iruma, having now done well in a single subject, feels a studying high. The pleasure of scoring points has made Iruma so excited he became an idiot. 

“The next lesson is ‘Demon History’ Iruma-sama, it’s the subject in which you scored 100 points. Why not master more of it right now!?” Az informs Iruma brightly, wanting to keep his master in this happy mood for a little longer while still helping him study for the upcoming exam. 

“Yes,” Iruma quickly accepts Az’s idea, “All right! Let’s go!” 

Iruma, Clara, and Az go from the Royal One classroom to the first-years’ tower as a group. Az leads the way for the group until they arrive at the large, arched double doors of the classroom where the demon history lecture is to be held. 

“The one in charge of ‘Demonic History’ is Professor Dali,” Az informs his friends. 

“Happy-happy Professor,” Clara comments brightly, giggling. 

Before Iruma can comment about being happy that the professor is one of the professors who is easy to ask questions about, the double doors slam open. A teenage guy comes running out of the classroom, screaming as he runs all the way down the hall before disappearing around the corner. 

“What?” Iruma and Az ask themselves in surprise. 

Noticing another student running away, Az yells out, “Oi! What’s the meaning of this!?” 

“Professor Dali is out due to his evil cycle, so Professor Balam is teaching his lecture,” the student panickedly explains to Az before continuing to run away. 

“Isn’t Balam the surname of the workbook author I scored 100 points in!?” Iruma exclaims, showing the workbook to Az.

“Professor Balam is quite the special case. M-Maybe we should stop for today…?” Az asks with hesitation in his voice since he has heard some odd rumors about Professor Balam. 

“It’ll be fine! Since we came all the way here already, I want to join Professor Balam’s class,” Iruma stresses to Az, now set in his mind to join the lecture, “Now let's g….” 

Before Iruma can finish his statement to Az, he is suddenly lifted into the air by a sizeable muscled arm around his stomach. Az squeaks in surprise, watching his master be lifted to the ceiling by Professor Balam. Now, the group of friends notices the many students wrapped in vines hanging from the ceiling. None of the other students look happy about the situation with the vines capturing them either, not one bit. However, Iruma is happy to note that none look hurt in any way; they are just unable to escape the classroom. Professor Balam is a giant and muscular demon who could tower over even Professor Kalego. He has bird-like legs from his knees down and long white hair. He wears a dark tank top, light-colored pants, leather gloves, and a metal mask over his mouth and nose. 

“I’m so happy to hear that! So let’s give this one a warm welcome!” Professor Balam tells Iruma, who is still in shock from being grabbed and lifted into the air by the professor. 

Chapter Text

“Okay, now then, let’s begin today’s lecture,” Professor Balam states after dragging Clara and Az into his hug, which he had Iruma in already. 

At the front of the class, Professor Balam sits on a vast, thick vine, hugging Iruma, Az, and Clara in his lap tightly. Iruma stays still, surprised at the unexpected group hug, and he is unsure what is happening; he has never had a teacher hugging his students during a lecture before. Az was not okay with this situation; he struggled in vain to escape the professor’s hugging grip. Clara was having fun giggling away in the professor’s hug, unlike her friends. 

“Creatures such as imaginary beings have been written about throughout demonic history,” Professor Balam starts lecturing as he pets Clara’s head, almost like Clara was some puppy.  

“The research of imaginary beings is a study of beliefs,” Professor Balam continues, now switching to petting Iruma’s head. While the action did not hurt anything, it certainly was not normal for a teacher to pet his head; Iruma felt awkward sitting in a captured hug and being petted on his head by a teacher.  

“The demonic realm is a vastly unexplored place, so it’s possible that new species exist,” Professor Balam lectures, now petting a very annoyed Az, who was most certainly not alright with a professor petting his head. 

“Do you know what imaginary beings eat?!” Professor Balam asks his surprised class of students excitedly.  

Az and Iruma have now been placed, so they sit in the front classroom desk seats wrapped in vines with their arms tight to their torsos, unable to move or use their arms like all the other students who could not escape Professor Balam’s lecture. On the other hand, Clara happily plays around in the giant professor’s lap as if nothing is odd about the situation.  

“I think I understand why everyone was trying to run away from the class now,” Iruma comments to Az while wrapped in vines and sitting at the bench desks. 

Az explains the situation that is Professor Balam. Professor Balam has a touch addiction called “Skinship.” 

“Not sure if it’s because he’s in charge of imaginary researching, but if he comes across anything that breathes, he’ll turn the lesson into a touch-fest,” Az explains with an exasperated sigh. 

“Oh….” Iruma says, looking around at all the captured students wrapped in vines around the classroom.  

One of the other students leans over to speak to Az and Iruma in hushed tones, “I heard a rumor that he touches you to determine whether you are a suitable test subject for his experiments. And if he likes you, he’ll experiment on you to no end, and on top of that….” 

“Now, for today, let’s talk about humans,” Professor Balam proclaims.

“There it is, the discussion of imaginary beings….” the gossiping student sighs, rolling their eyes. 

Iruma squeaks in surprise at the scary rumors about the professor. He is also now tense over the mention of humans.  

“If a human appeared before you, what would you do?” Professor Balam asks the students, pulling out a lifesize human doll and holding it up for the class with his vines.

“Obviously, eat them!!” a male student calls out. 

“Aren’t they super delicious!?” a female student calls out. 

“It’s all theoretical, though,” the student who had been speaking with Az and Iruma only moments ago sighs. 

Az gets a bit worried about Iruma as he notices him looking quite pale, close to fainting at any moment. Trying to look closer, Az wonders if Iruma also looks nauseous. Iruma does not look well or comfortable.  

“Well, without a doubt, the history and teaching of humans are that they are masses of greed and also a source of nourishment for demon folk,” Professor Balam states as he softly pokes the human doll. 

“Professor…What would you do?” One of the students asks. 

Professor Balam stares thoughtfully at the human doll, thinking about his answer. 

‘Don’t stay so damn quiet. It's scary,’ thinks one of the students. 

Another student thought, ‘He’s definitely thinking about experiments right now.’ 

‘Maybe eating them was the right answer after all,’ a female student thinks. 

Finally ready to answer, Professor Balam starts to speak thoughtfully, “Well, if I met a human, I think I would want to learn how it lives. Including humans, imaginary beings mostly consist of fragile creatures.” 

Professor Balam draws a line down the center of the blackboard with chalk. On the right side of the line, he draws pictures of a demon cat, a demon bird, and a demon dog (all of which have wings). Then, on the left side of the line, he draws pictures of the imaginary version (human realm), cat, bird (the only human realm animal with wings), and dog. 

Pointing to the pictures he drew on the chalkboard, Professor Balam continues lecturing, “As you can see, Netherworld living creatures could be described to high spec compared to these imaginary beings. Imaginary beings are quite primitive. It must be a relatively peaceful environment for them to survive in such a state. However, the Demon Realm is a very dangerous ecosystem, so demons have evolved to gain wings. Even without horns or even tails, with wings, at least you could es…ca…pe. Eh!”

At the end of the last bit of the lecture, Professor Balam came over to Iruma and Az sitting on the top of their desk. As he talked about every demon having wings, Professor Balam started to pet Iruma’s back. Feeling the professor’s hand petting his back has Iruma tensing up in shock and panic for multiple reasons. Professor Balam is shocked at what he is feeling under his gloved hand.  

“What!?” Professor Balam yells out in surprise and panic. 

Freaking out, Professor Balam suddenly picks Iruma right out of his seat and throws Iruma over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, running out of the classroom.

“Iruma-sama!” Az calls out in surprise, not liking the pure panic on his master’s face as he is carried out of the room by Professor Balam. 

“Iruma-chi!” Clara calls out next to Az. 

Before Az and Clara can rescue their friend from the professor, Professor Balam runs straight out of the classroom, calling back to the students, “You guys return to your classrooms immediately!” 

Iruma feels his heart pound out of his chest as his breathing comes fast and shaky. Iruma is unsure what is happening but has a sinking feeling in his gut that this situation he has found himself in will only worsen. Professor Balam suddenly slammed the door to the professor’s common office before crashing into the office, to the surprise of the professors who were already in the office.  

“Excuse me!!” Professor Balam yells, panicked once in the office, “Someone!! This is bad news!!”

“What’s wrong?” Calls out Professors Robin and Marbas in reply to Professor Balam's loud, panicked voice. 

“Professor Balam, what seems to be…?” Professor Momonoki tries to calmly ask the other professor why he is freaking out, only to have Professor Balam yell over her. 

“This is bad!! This kid has no wings!!” Professor Balam yells in a concerned panic. 

‘No, no, no, this can not be happening! Please leave me alone! Don’t touch me!’ Iruma screams desperately in his mind as he tries to wiggle to escape the professor as his breathing reaches hyperventilation levels.

Iruma feels his brain start to go fuzzy, and the only thoughts registering are his survival instincts yelling at him to get out of the professor’s hold. To get away from these people who are getting far too close. He can not think. All he can do is thrash around in the vines and arms of Professor Balam, holding him in place. His breathing came out in gasps.   

“His wings!?” Professor Momonoki asks in surprise. 

“He might’ve stored them into his back….” Professor Marbas proposes. 

“There’s no wing roots on his back either! Feel it for yourself…!” Professor Balams reports to his fellow professors. 

At the words of all the professors in the room, Iruma can now barely get air into his lungs as he sinks into a panic attack. His mind swirls with fuzzy thoughts, and no thought helps him out of this situation. Iruma wants to turn back time by a few minutes and stay to study in the Royal One. Darkness and pain start to take over Iruma’s consciousness. The thoughts and memories he can normally keep locked deep inside the deepest recess of his mind are starting to spill out into his mind. All the locked-away pain, fear, and panic leak into his very muscles, causing him to feel phantom pain throughout his body. 

“Iruma-kun! Show me your back!” Professor Robin exclaims, needing to know if his student is hiding his wings well. All the professors in the room needed confirmation that nothing was wrong with one of their treasured students.  

Professor Balam still holds the thrashing Iruma so that Professor Robin can lift up the back of Iruma’s uniform without entirely removing his shirt and jacket. What Professor Robin uncovers is nothing he could have prepared for. Professor Robin’s gasp of horror is the only sound besides the pained whimpers leaking from Iruma’s mouth. Professor Robin unveiled the horrors hidden under Iruma's uniform top. 

All of the professors in the office, Professor Balam, Professor Robin, Professor Blushenko, Professor Momonoki, and Professor Marbas, are shocked by what Professor Robin has just uncovered. Iruma’s bare back is on display for the shocked and horrified professors to see. Scars, the teenager’s back is covered in them. Scars from everything from burns, whips, animal claws, and even what looks to scars left by being carved into by knives or similar. Professor Marbas has the unfortunate mastery of knowledge to identify each angry, pain-filled scar on the young student's back. Professor Marbas can also tell that these scars have been built up basically the child’s entire life, which only has them wanting to torture the evil beings that put those scars onto a sweet child. 

While Professor Robin and Momonoki start quietly sobbing from the horror in front of them, Professor Marbas quickly steps forward to extract the trembling carefully and silently sobbing student from Professor Balam's hold, who had frozen in place at seeing the state of his student’s back.  

“Professor Marbas, am I reading his scars correctly? Is this child truly clipped?” Professor Blushenko asks in a harsh whisper to the professor in charge of the torture arts. 

Professor Marbas gently guides Iruma by his elbows to one of the office couches and sets him down on it before squatting down in front of the young student and whispering, “Iruma, can you tell me who clipped your wings?”

Chapter Text

“Iruma, can you tell me who clipped your wings?” Professor Marbas asks, gently placing the trembling and sobbing boy on one of the office couches, whispering. 

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Professors Marbas’ and Blushenko’s gentle questions send Iruma crashing into the depths of memories that his own mind has kept locked away since each of the corresponding events so far back in Iruma’s life. Memories of harsh jobs adults should not even be doing, many of them illegal, let alone a neglected child. Far too many nights were spent trying his best to survive the harsh wilderness. There was never enough food, and wild animals tried to make a meal out of him. Times that all he remembers of them are flashes of sharp pain coming again and again, seemingly with no end in sight. As Iruma’s mind slips him mercilessly into the memories of his very own personal hell, those words wake up; he starts to scream, a broken sound ripping directly from the depths of his very soul. Each professor freezes up at the heart-shattering sound coming from the young, sweet-hearted student. Not a single one of them knew what to do for Iruma. They were clueless about how to calm the boy down. 

“Silence! Why did two of my brats come to me complaining about Iruma being kidnapped by Shichiro (Professor Shichiro Balam)?! Now, I find him in this state. Explain now!” Professor Kalego barks out as he rushes into the professors’ common office after hearing the soul-piercing scream from outside in the hall. 

Professor Kalego goes straight toward Iruma, who has not stopped screaming. Even Kalego himself can not say how he knew what to do if it was an instinct as Iruma’s familiar or his inner guard-dog Cerberion, but he just knew what may help the small blue-haired brat. Without hesitation, Kalego goes straight to his student, kneels down, and grasps the elbow closest to him in a snug hold to hopefully help ground the brat in reality as he tries to help. 

“Iruma, I need you to come back to me now, please,” Kalego speaks directly into the boy’s ear with a calm but firm voice, needing the boy to hear him through his obviously panicked state.  

At Kalego’s words, Iruma stops screaming. However, his body is now racked with sobs. Tears streaming down the boy’s cheeks and dripping onto the couch the boy is slumped on.  

“P-P-Professor?” Iruma asks, sobs racking his body.

Kalego was more than a little concerned at the devastated, pain-filled, dazed blue eyes that looked up at him like he was the only lifeline in a deadly hurricane. Kalego feels his gut drop at the look. That look in the brat’s eyes should never be in anyone’s eyes, especially not in the eyes of a student under his protection.   

“I am right here Iruma. You are safe. I will not leave your side until you are in the arms of the chairdemon and Opera-senpai. I promise you,” Kalego promises his desperate student, meaning every word that comes out of his mouth. 

Hearing the words of his professor and familiar, Iruma finally lets himself collapse in on himself and falls into unconsciousness, letting the blackness cover his already fuzzy and narrowing vision. Iruma collapses into a puddle on the common office’s couch. Iruma is now lying mostly on his side across the cushions with his legs still hanging towards the floor.   

Noticing that Iruma is out cold, Kalego turns his harsh, questioning eyes on his fellow teachers. Robin and Momonoki are no help at all, sobbing together on the office floor. At the same time, Balam and Blushenko are frozen, stiff, and pale. 

Marbas explains the situation: "A few minutes ago, Professor Balam came running in here in a panic, yelling that he could not feel wings on Iruma’s back. Of course, we thought he was speaking nonsense, so Professor Robin checked the boy’s back to put minds at ease. Well, to put it simply, I can confirm from the scars that his wings were clipped, along with many other scars. When I asked him who clipped his wings, he started screaming. You came in at that point.”  

“Did you just say clipped!?” Kalego asks sharply, eyes going wide. 

“See his back for yourself, Professor Kalego,” Marbas whispers sadly, looking at the unconscious boy. 

Kalego does not want to believe the words coming from his colleague’s mouth. Deciding to see the truth for himself, he carefully pulls up Iruma’s uniform to look at the brat’s back. Looking at the skin of Iruma’s back, Kalego goes pale in absolute horror. Even to Kalego, the scaring around where his wing roots should be makes it evident that the boy’s wings, roots and all, were somehow ripped out of his body. Kalego pales even more, remembering when he pushed the boy off the cliff at the start of the flying race ranking exam—quickly pushing the guilt to the back of his mind, telling himself that he needs to deal with the present situation. Now, he needs to focus on his student who requires his help.  

“Alright. Marbas, you deal with the others here and keep this information to yourselves until I can speak with the damned Chairdemon and Opera-senpai. Absolutely no information is to be shared with anyone,” Kalego orders as he carefully scoops Iruma into his arms and quickly makes his way to the Chairdemon’s office with long, determined strides. 

Not bothering to knock on the door, Kalego walks directly into the Chairdemon’s office. He closed the door behind him and cast a spell once inside the office for privacy; even though he knows there are already privacy spells, it is always best to be as careful as possible. 

“Lord Sullivan, we must speak now,” Kalego speaks sharply as he carefully places Iruma on the office couch, soon met by Lord Sullivan and Opera. 

“Iruma-kun! Why is he out cold, Kalego-kun?!” Sullivan asks, concerned over the state of his grandchild. 

Kalego decides to be straight with Sullivan and Opera and not beat around the bush, “Why did I just now find out Iruma’s wings have been clipped? Why did I find out after Shichiro ran to the faculty office after not feeling wings when he petted the brat’s back? I went to check on him after I was told by two of my homeroom brats that Shichiro had kidnapped their classmate. Then, when I found him, he was screaming in pain and panic. Once out cold, I was told why I checked his back for myself. Why was I not told, and who dared to hurt the brat?!” 

After a few tense moments of silence, Sullivan starts to speak seriously, “Let’s sit down. It looks like I should start from the beginning. This is going to be a bit of a complicated story.” 

After Opera covers Iruma with a soft blanket, the three sit down facing each other. 

Taking a deep breath, Sullivan speaks in his rare serious state, “It all started when I felt some humans trying to summon me. I decided to answer and scare them off so that they wouldn’t try to do something like it again to another demon. However, things got complicated once I arrived in the summoning circle in the human realm. When I arrived, I found that a human couple had summoned me. The deal they wanted to make was to sell their son’s soul for money. Iruma was tied to a chair, bloody and so skinny, it was obvious they had starved and abused the boy from one look. However, the smell of his blood really had my attention more than just anger at the horror of Iruma’s injured state. His blood smelled and registered as the boy being a Demi-Demon, but when I appraised him with my magic, I found that some spell locked away his demon half and blurred some of his memories. With all this information learned in the first minute, I decided to take Iruma with me and make a deal with him instead of his parents. The deal was in exchange for helping him have a happy life like a place to live, good food, and education, and I get Iruma as my blood-adopted precious grandson….”  

“Wait, Iruma is a Demi-Demon, but he thinks he’s a human?” Kalego asks, interrupting Sullivan’s story. 

“Yes, that is the gist of the situation as of this morning, but I am guessing it was the mention of the fact that he has been clipped, which broke the spell that locked away his demon side and memories. This caused the boy to fall into a panicked state,” Sullivan explains. 

“Once Sullivan brought Iruma home with him, we did the blood adoption and worked on healing him up. We noticed that his wings had been viciously ripped out of him along with many scars of different kinds all over his body, though the most concentrated on his back,” Opera adds with a rare angry look in their eyes, their tail giving a flick of anger. 

“So ….” Before Kalego can ask his next question, an explosion of magic seems to wrap around Iruma’s body on the couch close to where they were talking, “What is happening now?” 

“It looks like his demon side is starting to merge with his human half so that he really will be a Demi-Demon. I will fly Iruma home immediately. Opera-kun and Kalego-kun, can you explain things to Asmodeus-kun and Clara-chan truthfully and privately? They are the closest to Iruma-kun,” Sullivan says, quickly wrapping Iruma in the blanket and picking up his grandson like a baby, and flies out this office window. 

“Did he just take the brat and run away?” Kalego asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Let's go speak with young Asmodeus and Valac before they come running in here or even go to the manor to find their Iruma,” Opera says, ignoring Kalego’s question and striding out of the office. 

Kalego rolled his eyes and quickly followed his senpai before he was left behind. The two of them quickly make their way to the Royal One. Kalego and Opera open the door to the Royal One and immediately feel something crash into each of them. Looking down, the adults find that Clara had run into Opera and Az had run into Kalego. 

“What do you brats think you are doing? I told you two to wait here,” Kalego asks his two students on the ground before him and Opera. 

“Eggy-sensei, where is Iruma-chi?!” asks Clara as she bounces back onto her feet, completely ignoring her professor’s question. 

“Is Iruma-sama alright?” asks Az, getting to his own feet with grace. 

“Follow us, you brats,” Kalego says, leading the group of four to the soundproof room after ensuring it is empty and carefully locking the door behind them. 

“What is all this, Professor Kalego? You are worrying us,” Az says, his voice quiet. 

“Sit down and let us try to explain some things to you before you stress too much,” Opera says calmly. 

The two teenagers did not like the direction of this conversation, but they sat down anyway, wanting to hear what they had to say. Opera gives his young master’s best friends a quick summary of Iruma’s present situation and a few pieces about his past. 

“Are you saying that Iruma-sama thought he was a human the whole time he has been in school? Though he is actually a Demi-Demon, one who is just now merging with his magic and other traits that come with being a demon, do I have that correct?” Az asks the two adults, slowly processing what he has just been told. 

“That sums it up well,” Opera confirms. 

“Before anything else, is Iruma-sama going to be alright? Can we see him?” Az asks anxiously. 

Az is unsure how to process what he has just learned other than that when the Chairdemon left with his master, Iruma had been unconscious. When it comes to the human side of Iruma, Az does not see him any different other than worrying about his friend’s sanity; as he thinks about the school song and being of human strength around demons, he can only be impressed by Iruma’s inner strength and determination. 

“I want to go see Iruma-chi now! Az-Az, let's go see Iruma-chi now!” Clara calls out with a rare, worried look on her face.

Kalego shrugs and turns to Opera, given that Iruma is under Lord Sullivan’s care. 

“It should be fine to have you both over. It will certainly help Iruma to know he is accepted by the two of you for who he is and have you know even a bit of his history and still be his friend. I know he has been worried about wanting to tell you he is human, or as you now know, half-human. He desperately wanted to tell you but also knew it could put him and you both in danger,” Opera tells the two teenagers. 

Kalego stayed to finish the school day as Az and Clara left early and went to Lord Sullivan’s manor with Opera. When Opera, Az, and Clara enter the manor, they move up to Iruma’s room and carefully enter it. What they find inside Iruma’s bedroom is not what they were expecting. They found Sullivan standing off to the side as Iruma could barely be seen inside a smoky black bubble of sorts. 

“Iruma-sama/-chi,” calls out Az and Clara, seeing their friend in such a state. 

“Don’t touch! It seems like his demon side is merging with his body all at once. From what it looks like, he will be fully a Demi-Demon and have all the traits of a demon coming in soon after his magic fully integrates into him. He will now have a true second gender, his own magic, and his own bloodline magic,” Sullivan explains to the others as he keeps his eyes on his precious grandson. 

“Now that I think about it, his alpha sent always smelled like it was not an exact match to him. Was that your doing, Lord Sullivan?” Az asks Sullivan.

“Yes, given his demon side was locked away, he smelled mostly human. Currently, Iruma is the only Demi-Demon in the whole of the Netherworld. I will figure out a perfume to cover his human sent, but he will have his own second gender scent and pheromones after this,” Sullivan answers the Asmodeus heir. 

“Will Iruma-chi be okay?” Clara asks without her trademark happy excitement. 

“So far, so good. Iruma-kun seems to be in much pain and stress, but he is also stable so far. I think he will be in pain physically when this is completed. Though, it is actually his mental state I am more worried about,” Sullivan smiles softly at the green-haired demoness. 

The four worried demons stand around Iruma’s room, watching the smoky black cacoon swirling around Iruma as they breathe as quietly as possible. It takes a full fifteen minutes of tense waiting before the black cacoon dissipates. Iruma is lying unconscious on his bed, giving off his true scent of half demon and half human. All four of the demons take in his scent and register that Iruma’s second gender is alpha. While the two adults take in Iruma’s scent to identify his new personal scent, Az and Clara feel something different after catching their best friend's true scent. 

The scent that is uniquely Iruma registers in Az and Clara, making them feel warm and fuzzy in their hearts. Before either of them can even think about what they are saying, they both speak simultaneously, “Mate.”

Chapter Text

The scent that is uniquely Iruma registers in Az and Clara, making them each feel warm and fuzzy in their hearts, and before either of them can even think about what they are saying, they both speak simultaneously, “Mate.” 

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The two adult demons' heads whip around at Az’s and Clara’s softly spoken words. Neither question their instincts to get closer to their alpha, their mate. Az walks right up to Iruma, lying unconscious on his bed, sitting beside the bed, and grabs Iruma’s hand. Clara carefully crawls up and curls herself up against Iruma’s other side.  

“Is Iruma-chi going to be alright now?” Clara asks the two adults in the room. 

Clara’s question also has Az looking over at the adults, needing the answer to that question. His mate had to be okay. Their mate has to be okay. 

“From my appraisal, he will be okay once he wakes up. Iruma-kun will be sore and not so sure about his mental state. However, he will need to get used to his demon side, including his alpha instincts, his own personal magic, and whatever his bloodline magic ends up being. I am not sure how all that will work with a Demi-Demon since each Demi-Demon is different,” Sullivan tells everyone in the room. 

“He might have thought himself a human, but he is already the alpha of our pack, and everyone will help him get the hang of things. However, it will also help Iruma-sama, knowing he has people to look after. He likes taking care of us,” Az says with soft determination. 

“Ya! I will help Iruma-chi too!” Clara cheers much softer than usual, given she does not want to wake up her mate, happy knowing her best friend and now mate will be alright.

Opera’s kitty-ear horns have finally perked back up, knowing that Iruma will be alright. Sullivan lets out a relieved sigh at having confirmed that his grandson has physically gotten through the merging with his demon side. 

“Now we just have to wait for Iruma-kun to wake up and go from there,” Sullivan states, looking at the young Asmodeus heir holding his grandson’s hand and the young Valac curled up against his grandson. 

The four demons wait for Iruma to awaken, only Opera leaving to grab some tea and snacks. It takes a total of three hours before Iruma starts to move and groan. 

“Iruma-sama? Wake up for me, please,” Az begs, close to Iruma’s ear.  

Iruma slowly feels himself coming back into consciousness to the sound of Az’s voice in his ear and a soft heat on his other side. Iruma struggles to wake himself up, but after straining himself for a few moments, he is able to force his eyes open. Though now conscious, Iruma is hit by radiating, searing pain. His entire body is in pain. He feels like he was hit by a truck or something like it. A few moments after opening his eyes, he grabs his head as memories flood in.

“Iruma-sama/-chi!” Az and Clara call out, seeing Iruma open his eyes, and immediately grabs his head and groans in pain.

Memories of neglect, abuse, torture, both those he had pushed down long ago and many that he did not remember before now. Memories of horrors that Iruma usually kept locked up tight deep in his mind. Before he had been sold by his adoptive parents to the demon, who asked him to become his grandson, Iruma’s life was rarely happy. His past had been about earning money for his parents and survival. He was doing what he had to so he was not killed by people, animals, or the environment around him. Even as his mind tries to get him to remember everything from his past, he feels two sets of strong arms wrap around him. One set from behind and the other from the side. Both sets of arms pull him snuggly into a group hug that radiates warmth. Iruma catches two distinct scents he breathes in, and both have a layer of sweet and calming scent. On top of the scent to his side was a layer of what Iruma found smelt like maple syrup from the human realm. On top of the scent to his back was a layer of sweet smoke. With both of these scents surrounding him, Iruma felt like the calming scent worked magic over him, having him relax into the hug.

Slowly re-opening his eyes, Iruma feels much calmer and clearer. He looks to see who is hugging him and finds him wrapped in Clara and Az's arms. Az is behind him while Clara is on his side. Not thinking about why his two best friends smell and feel even better than usual, Iruma starts to sob quietly, unable to handle all the memories that crashed into him all at once. 

“Let it out. Everything will be alright, Iruma-chi,” Clara whispers softly, hugging Iruma snuggly to her. 

“We are here for you, Iruma-sama,” Az whispers, hugging Iruma snuggly to his chest. 

It took several minutes for Iruma to calm himself down and stop his sobs. Getting a box of tissues from Opera, Iruma mops up his face and blows his nose before turning a bit in the group hug. Now, going back to having his back against Az’s chest, Iruma turns to be able to see the two adult demons in the room. 

“What happened? Who knows what now?” Iruma asks his grandpa and Opera. 

“Professor Marbas asking who clipped my wings,” Iruma answers after a few moments of hesitation in a whisper barely loud enough for the others to hear. 

Az and Clara simply hug Iruma tighter to help their alpha feel better. 

“Alright, so you do remember everything until you blacked out,” Sullivan confirms before continuing, “From there, Kalego-kun came in and told the professors present at the time to keep the information they just learned to themselves. Kalego-kun brought you to my office and demanded answers. He now knows about you being clipped and that until this whole situation happened, you believed you were simply human, and for all intents and purposes, you were. Kalego-kun also knows your demon half is coming and that you are now a full Demi-Demon. Also, all of this was told to Asmodeus-kun and Valac-chan, and they then asked to come to look after you after you had blacked out.” 

“Az-kun? Clara? You don’t hate me?” Iruma asks the two closest friends he has ever had in his entire life. 

“Of course, we don’t hate you, Iruma-sama,” Az states, lying his chin on Iruma’s shoulder. 

“Iruma-chi is Iruma-chi. Just because you are part human changes nothing!” Clara cheers with a bright smile. 

Iruma is relieved to hear the words from the first friends he has ever made and the two people he was closest to besides his grandpa and Opera. Even after discovering he is not fully a demon, his two best friends are not mad at him for hiding the human part of himself. Iruma lets out a sigh of relief. 

“What has, or will change now that I am fully a Demi-Demon? Also, why do Az and Clara smell so good?” Iruma asks, blushing as he asks his second question to his two guardians. 

“Let’s start with your first question. Within the next few days, you will be able to feel and use your own mana, but you will need to learn about how much magic to use since you have been using your ring’s leveling system so far. A part of you that has come from fully merging with your demon half is developing a second gender, and you are now an alpha, which comes with alpha instincts and pheromones. Also, you will soon figure out your built-in bloodline magic, though that will probably take a week or so to figure out for yourself. You will probably also grow some more demon-like features. We will all help you get used to everything,” Sullivan explains. “Now, your second question concerns a couple of factors…” 

Before Sullivan can think of a way of explaining things in a way that his grandson could understand, Clara speaks up, getting annoyed by all the long-winded explanations, “Az-Az and I smell super great to you because we are your mates, Iruma-chi.”

“Um…What do you mean by ‘mate’ exactly? The human realm has a few different meanings for that term, and I don’t want to assume anything, “Iruma asks hesitantly, unsure of what he wants from the answer. 

“Being mates means that fate has determined that you and your mate, or mates, are a perfect complement to each other in personality, magic, and general being. Finalizing a mating is like a couple getting married in the human realm,” Sullivan explains. 

Iruma took a few seconds to process this new information, and while insanely nervous about this new development, he felt warmth building in his heart, “Az-kun, Clara, how do you feel about this?”

When Az heard Iruma’s question, he was about to start panicking until he felt Iruma grab hold of his and Clara’s arms wrapped around him, making sure neither released Iruma from their hug. Az realizes that Iruma wants to make sure he and Clara are alright with the sudden change in the relationship and all the other changes going on around them with Iruma’s physical changes.

“Iruma-sama, you are my best friend, and adding romantic elements to that only makes me even happier,” Az speaks clearly to his alpha. 

“Az-Az and Iruma-chi are all mine!” Clara cheers happily, tightening the group hug. 

“I am so glad. I just can’t lose either of you. You two mean the world to me,” Iruma says, turning his face back into Clara’s shoulder this time, hiding his pink cheeks.

“I get an omega and an alpha! We are a full set, woo-hoo!” Clara cheers, happy as a clam in the group hug. 

“We will have to explain so much to you, Iruma-kun, especially given that you already created your own pack out of the Misfit class. You need to learn things like rules, how alpha, beta, and omega dynamics usually work, and many other things. Though for now, you can learn that little by little, you need to focus on the end of terminus exams first,” Sullivan states to his grandson. 

“Oh crap…I almost forgot about the exam. Az-kun, Clara, I need your help with studying. I never really got the chance to study before, and I need really got the chance to study before, and I need all the help I can get,” Iruma pleads to his friends in a panic. 

Don’t worry, Iruma-sama, we will study together,” Az comforts his mate.           

As Opera disappears into the kitchen, the rest make sure to go clean up and sit down at the dining room table. Lord Sullivan takes the head of the table with his grandson sitting to his right. Az and Clara sit across from Iruma as the group does their best just to relax. Thankfully, it takes little time for Clara to start pulling out board games. She gets the guys to pick a board game, and they all play while waiting about twenty minutes until Opera comes out of the kitchen with a cart piled high with food. Opera soon has the dining table filled with serving plates piled high with delicious-smelling food. 

“Wow, these demon senses are already kicking in, and they are powerful. Opera’s food smells even more delicious than it did just this morning,” Iruma comments as he drools over his plate of food before digging right in.  

As everyone starts to eat their full plates of food, Iruma polishes off a mountain of plates worth of Opera’s fantastic cooking. After dinner, the three teenagers return to Iruma’s room on their own for the first time since Iruma was kidnapped from their lecture by Professor Balam. 

“I have even more to learn now! Things I need to learn for the exam and everything I need to learn just about the culture of the Netherworld realm. I can’t believe I already created a pack without even trying that hard. I just wanted to care for my classmates, get closer to them, and become friends with them. I don’t even know what that means when it comes to the Netherworld and its society,” Iruma groans, throwing himself down face-first on his bed. 

“Studying, studying,” Clara sings, jumping onto Iruma’s back. 

“Starting tomorrow during our free study time at school, we can all work together and study for this exam,” Az says calmly as he sits beside his mates, Clara giggling away as she cuddles up to Iruma’s back.  

“Thank you, Az-kun, you're a lifesaver, but just to warn you, I had never got to go to school much, so I never got a chance to study before Grandpa adopted me, so I never learned to study well,” Iruma states, turning his face toward Az. 

Az tells his mate that they will all work together, though, in his mind, he wants to ask more about his mate’s past. Why was his mate tortured to the point of his wings being clipped? How, even after remembering his past, can Iruma still smile at all of them? 

“I realize this may be intrusive and something you are not ready for, so you can certainly tell me no, but after hearing you were clipped and had many scars on your back, I want to know you are at least not presently hurt. Will you show Clara and me your back? Though only if you feel comfortable,” Az asks Iruma hesitantly, wanting to know more about one of his mates and needing to know that at least Iruma is not currently injured. 

“As long as it is just you two, I don’t mind showing you. Though it is not pretty, and I am not sure how much of my actual history I want to get into at the moment,” Iruma replies, holding onto the bottom of his undershirt in a tight grip of his fists. 

“That's fine. You don’t have to do anything you are uncomfortable with,” Az states. 

Not sure what else to say, and knowing there is no way to warn his two mates just how much their scaring is on their back, Iruma just turns his back to the two people he trusts most in either realm and lifts up his shirt so that his back is on display for Az and Clara to see. 

Az and Clara can not believe what they see, even if it is right before them. Scars from everything from burns, whips, animal claws, and even what looks to scars left by being carved into by knives or similar. Both teenagers can see the thick and brutal scaring right where a demon’s wing roots are supposed to be, showing in great evidence the damage done to their mate so long ago. Az has to take a stranglehold over his fire magic so that his anger and devastation at the evidence of the pain his alpha went through so far in his young life. Clara feels tears start to stream down her face as she takes in the evidence of the pain her alpha has gone through, or at least the pain that left its marks edged into his very skin.   

Iruma is a soft ray of sunlight that pulls out the best in those around him and their pack. His strength just to smile now feels even more remarkable to Az, who could not be any prouder to be Iruma’s mate.

Chapter Text

Iruma is a soft ray of sunlight that pulls out the best in those around him and their pack. His strength just to smile now feels even more remarkable to Az, who could not be any prouder to be Iruma’s mate.  

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Iruma, Az, and Clara walk together to school the next day. This is the first day that Az and Clara realize that the true reason Iruma walked to school every day was simple and sad. Iruma does not have wings to fly. Thankfully, Clara is her usual bubbly and bouncy self, making Iruma laugh all the way to school. The three walk into their classroom in the Royal One to find an odd scene in front of them at the classroom’s first two tables. 

The two tables hold five of their collapsed, exhausted classmates. Lied is collapsed over the tabletop before him, lying on notes, pens, and notebooks. Jazz is slumped back in his chair next to Lied with his head back and eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. On the table behind the two guys are Elizabetta and Goemon, looking defeated with their heads on the table. Kamui is between Elizabetta and Goemon, lying spread out like a pile of feathers on top of the table. 

“W-What’s the matter, guys?” Iruma asks his moaning packmates. 

“We’re doomed, man!” Lied cries out. 

“I tried cramming at the last minute….” Jazz groans out his explanation with a shrug. 

Goemon, Kamui, and Elizabetta groan in agreement with their friends' words. 

“Ugh…you’ve only been doing this for one day,” Az rubs his face in annoyance before continuing, “Couldn’t you have found a more organized way to study? Such as asking someone more capable to teach you.” 

“Someone capable?” Lied asks curiously. 

“Okay, fellow idiots. Let’s group up over here,” Jazz calls out to the whole pack. (Only two are not present. Kerori is at work, and Soi is somewhere hiding) 

Splitting into two groups, the “dumb” and the “smart” groups. The smaller of the two groups is, sadly, the smart group. 

Smart Group: 

• Sabro
• Schneider
• Az
• (Kerori, not present)
• (Soi, not present)

Dumb Group:

• Picero
• Jazz
• Kamui
• Goemon
• Iruma
• Elizabetta
• Lied
• Clara

“Alright, dismissed!” Az yells out. 

“You’re already abandoning us!!” calls out most of those in the dumb group. 

“I already promised to tutor Iruma-sama. It’s not possible for me to help this many people,” Az states. 

Everyone in the room realizes that Sabro and Schneider are unsuitable tutor material. 

“Sabnock, you’re so smart!! Good boy!” Clara praised their giant packmate. 

“A good Demon King needs to be knowledgeable, after all,” Sabro tells the petite green-haired demoness. 

“So you’re an idiot too, Nee-san?” Jazz asks Elizabetta. 

“Is that not good?” Elizabetta asks with her palm to her cheek. 

“Nah, it adds to your charm,” Kamui answers. 

“Gah! Our summer is ruined!!” Lied cries out, panicking. 

“You guys already made plans for summer?” Iruma asks the guys in the class. 

“Yes! Listen here!!” the guys cheer. 

“The demon realm is full of places to have fun! But the number one thing to do is go to Walter Park!” Lied explains happily. 

“There’s the Bloody Pool! The Scream Fest! Or shopping at the Soul-Sucking Pavilion!” Kamui adds in. 

“They have all kinds of events too. It’ll totally wear you out,” Lied says. 

“Like a Battler’s training camp,” Jazz comments. 

“So many things to do!” Elizabetta gushes. 

Az glares with annoyance at his excited packmates, “These people they only ever get so excited when talking about playing…unbelievable…” 

Az was going to ask his Iruma about the ridiculousness of their packmates when he stopped in his speech, noticing his mate's bright, excited eyes. 

“Iruma-chi? You’re sparkling,” Clara says, surprised at her super happy mate. 

“Oh, It just sounds like so much fun!” Iruma states. 

For Iruma, this will be the first summer vacation that he will not be forced to work and survive. He is free to have fun with friends this summer, and Iruma is excited. 

“What!? You wanna go too, Iruma-kun!? Let’s go together!” Lied cheered. 

“O-Okay,” Iruma replies to his friend. 

Iruma, Lied, and Goemon start to jump around, cheering about the thoughts of an amazingly fun summer right around the corner. 

“There’s no point talking about it if you can’t pass your exams,” Professor Kalego says, glaring at his idiot students. 

The idiots cheering only moments ago are now on the ground in despair at remembering the nightmare of the upcoming exams. 

“Just so you know, your exam examiner will be me,” Professor Kalego tells his students. 

All but a few of his students groan like it's the end of the world. A few of the students try to get Professor Kalego to loosen up a bit when everyone notices Professor Balam trying to peek around the door to their classroom sneakily. Noticing the visually scary professor looking into their classroom, the whole class lets out screams of surprise and fear. 

“Professor Balam!?” Az asks, surprised. 

“Eh? Is he gonna catch someone for his experiments, like the rumors say?” Jazz asks hesitantly. 

“Who’s he aiming for!?” Kamui asks, freaking out. 

The students are surprised when Professor Kalego walks past them and up to the scary professor. To everyone's surprise, the two professors fist-bumped each other. 

“You look well, Shichirou,” Professor Kalego greets. 

“Hey, Kalego-kun,” Professor Balam replies in greeting. 

The class was surprised as the two professors started a civil chit-chat with each other. 

“Um…do you guys know each other?” Iruma asks out of curiosity, getting the attention of both professors. 

“Yes, on top of both of us being professors, we were in the same class here at Babyls back in the day,” Professor Balam answers. 

“We’re stuck with each other,” Professor Kalego grumbles, but with no heat behind his words. 

Kalego turns back to Balam to lightly scold his friend, “But you shouldn’t come out of nowhere like that.” 

“I guess so. I must’ve scared everyone, huh?” Professor Balam scratches the back of his neck. 

“Well, we were a little surprised….” Lied admits. 

“But what’s scarier is that…Professor Kalego actually has a friend!” Jazz and Lied say simultaneously.  

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Jazz and Lied cry out as Professor Kalego grabs the two by their heads. 

“Um…why did you come all the way out here, Professor Balam?” Iruma kindly whispers the question to the professor. 

“Well, originally, I was worried about you with what went down yesterday, but from the look of it, you’re having trouble with the upcoming exams,” Professor Balam says, whispering, “Tell you what. I’ll make you a secret weapon to help.”

Chapter Text

“Well, originally, I was worried about you with what went down yesterday, but from the look of it, you’re having trouble with the upcoming exams,” Professor Balam says, whispering, “Tell you what. I’ll make you a secret weapon to help.”

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Iruma looks down and reads through the cute little picture book in his hands. The sweet little book used kiddy versions of Az, Iruma, and Clara to clearly lay out different types of magic. It walks through the topics of verbal magic, non-verbal magic, and bloodline magic. The adorable picture book lays out the basis of magic. 

“I finally understand!!” Iruma yells out excitedly after finishing the picture book. 

“Woah, really?” Professor Balam asks excitedly. 

Professor Balam and Iruma are sitting together in the professor’s personal office. 

“You really made this entire book!?” Iruma asks Professor Balam impressed. 

“I’ve loved picture books ever since I was little, so making them became a hobby. But for some reason, when I try to show them to others, they run off,” Professor Balam admits sadly.  

Iruma can figure out what happened, given how scared most of the students at Babyls are of the professor. 

“But, this must have been a lot of work ….” Iruma comments with concern, looking at the well-constructed picture book. 

“What’re you saying!? I’ll have you know that knowledge of the Demon Realm is vital to your survival! I’ll make you picture books that cover other subjects, too, so be sure to read them!!” Professor Balam yells with intensity. 

Iruma quickly agreed to accept the professor’s cute and helpful picture books to help with his studying. Just from one book, Iruma has already understood something he had not understood even an hour ago. Iruma is sure that the professor is happy that someone is actually enjoying his books. 

After leaving Professor Balam’s personal office, Iruma meets up with Az and Clara in their battler room. The three sit on the floor around a small circular table. Az pulls a few different stacks of flashcards from his school bag. Each stack is for the different subjects the exam is to cover. Az’s omega instincts that tell him to help care for his alpha are content to help his alpha study. Az knows how determined and stressed his Iruma is to do well on the written exams and will do anything to help.

Az flips over the next flashcard in the stack, “Tell me the name of this plant, which can grow up to 30 meters with a single drop of water?”

Iruma’s brain came up with absolutely nothing for the answer. 

“I know! Niginigi Weed!!” Clara calls out happily. 

“Correct,” Az replies to Clara’s answer. 

Clara cheers while Iruma collapses, defeated, onto the little table in front of him. 

“Don’t worry. Repetition is key to memorization!” Az states, trying to be supportive.  

“Ugh…There must be an easier way…,” Iruma groans. 

Az softly pets Iruma’s back, trying to cheer up his frustrated mate. 

“I know! Singing works great!” Clara yells before she continues singing a song, “A single drop of water and the Niginigi grows like an elevator don’t cha know it loves to shower….” 

“Putting that ‘particular song’ aside, there are songs about subjects like the stars or torture that are common mnemonic devices in the Demon Realm,” Az explains as he rolls his eyes in amusement at his singing and dancing green-hair beta mate. 

Iruma liked the idea of trying different studying methods, so the group of three worked together on little songs and dances to help them remember the study material. They spent a little over an hour with Iruma and Clara singing the songs as Az watched them with an amused smile on his lips. 

Moving onto general academics, Iruma is attempting to get through some math workbook problems, having moved back to working at one of the Royal One classroom tables. Let’s just say the math problems are not going much better for Iruma. Once the problems are more complicated than simple arithmetic, Iruma is lost. After getting frustrated with yet another problem he had no idea how to solve, Iruma leans his head back, stretching, and lets his eyes wander the room for a few moments. As Iruma wastes time looking around the classroom, he notices Jazz lounging back in a chair with a book resting on his face. Seeing Jazz gives Iruma an idea. 

“Jazz, could you help me figure out how to do these math problems?” Iruma asks, walking up to the relaxing teenager. 

“Math?” Jazz asks, removing the book from his face to look at his Pack Alpha.

Iruma sits down next to Jazz and shows him the math workbook problems he was trying to work on. 

“You’re good at math, right? Can you help walk me through a handful of problems, please?” Iruma asks, pointing to the math problems on the page. 

Jazz looks at his Pack Alpha's workbook before shrugging and speaking up, “Those aren’t too hard. I can walk you through some problems.”

Jazz spends the next few minutes working on the math problems with Iruma step-by-step. For each problem they work on, Jazz helps less and less until the last five problems are done by Iruma on his own. 

“I’m done! You’re so smart, Jazz-kun!” Iruma cheers with a bright smile on his face before walking back to the table he had been at to do more studying. 

Jazz is stunned at his happily glowing Pack Alpha as Iruma skips away. ‘S-Smart,’ Jazz thinks.   

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When Goemon and Lied told Iruma that they had a study idea, Iruma did not think he would be playing a war-action video game. Goemon watches as Iruma and Lied use the two controllers to play the game. Blood, gore, and battle action have Iruma and Lied yelling with the game's intensity. 

“T-Too scary…,” Iruma groans after getting the ‘Game Over’ screen for the third time.

“General Andras is totes scary!” Lied agrees. 

“Commander Zepar and Sergeant Furfur were impressive generals as well!” Goemon cheers. 

“Games are great! It’s based on the events of the actual war!” Lied tells his friends. 

“Wow! Demon history is really cool!” Iruma yells, impressed. 

‘Oh? Guess so?’ Lied and Goemon think to themselves. 

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“I had no idea that a torture story could make me cry like this,” Iruma says as he sobs over the little picture book. 

Iruma is back in Professor Balam’s office to read a new picture book the professor created to help Iruma study. This latest book is titled The Lonely Torturer, and the story has Iruma in tears. 

“That’s quite the expression,” Professor Balam comments, watching Iruma sob over the book as he sips on some steaming tea, “So? How’s your studying going?”

“I’m still making many mistakes, but I’m improving…I guess,” Iruma answers, pulling himself together. 

“Improving, huh?” Professor Balam asks curiously. 

“I feel like I’m steadily bettering myself…It’s not so bad….” Before Iruma could finish his thought, he noticed Professor Balam writing in a notebook, “Wh-Why are you taking notes?” 

“Well, you’re interesting to observe,” Professor Balam states cheerfully as he finishes making notes in his notebook. 

Before leaving Professor Balam’s office, the professor hands over two more picture books he created to help with Iruma’s studying. 

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The following day, Iruma, Az, and Clara are working in the school’s library. Az is giving Iruma and Clara a timed practice exam to see how their studying has been going. 

“Time!” Az calls out with a pocket watch in his hand. 

Iruma and Clara drop their pens and raise their hands at Az’s words. Az spends the next few minutes grading both practice exams before putting the grade at the top before handing them back. Iruma looks at his score, and his eyes go wide. 

“A 55, woah!” Iruma cheers,” he says to his friends, who are glowing with proud smiles. 

“I got more right than wrong!” Iruma cheers, high-fiving Az. 

“The failure mark is 40 points! Now that you know you can pass, we should try for 100 points!” Az says with pride for his mate. 

“Hmph. You’ve certainly grown; your professor is proud of you!” Clara says in a haughty voice. 

“Iruma-sama!! Don’t let her get away with this! The professor’s score is only 58! She is not better!” Az cries out desperately in support of his alpha even against the obvious teasing. 

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Unknown to the three (Az, Iruma, and Clara), six of their packmates watch their cute little celebration. 

[Those watching: Goemon/ Jazz/ Elizabetta/ Lied/ Picero/ Kamui] 

*The Next Day*

As Iruma, Az, and Clara enter the Royal One’s classroom for the day, they stand in shock at the scene before them. Iruma is shocked to see the other academic idiots in the class are actually sitting down and studying. 

“You’re studying!?” Az questions in surprise. 

“Or, like it feels a lot more doable?” Elizabetta adds. 

“Check out these formula notes!” Jazz says, showing the two sheets of notes he wrote up. 

“Let me see!” Goemon calls out. 

“Hey, I’ll trade you the hints Professor Orias gave me about the exams!” Lied calls out, raising his hand. 

“Let’s just work together and pull our resources,” Sabro says, carrying another long desk with one hand and pushing it so the two tables are together to make the table area wider. 

Together as a class and as a pack, they all help each other to understand and learn what they need help with. Each person is helping others using their strengths. 

Later that day, Iruma is sitting in the library. He is so happy that Professor Balam’s picture books are easily understood. Az has been a great tutor, and Clara keeps everyone upbeat while studying. Everyone is united, and all studying together as hard as they can. Iruma never knew how fun studying could be. It’s thanks to everyone doing the studying together that makes it so fun. 

And so each person, students and professors, continued their preparations. 

“Now it’s time for the exams, begin!” Professor Kalego calls out to his class.   

Chapter Text

*The Day Before The Exam*

“Kalego-kun, come to my office now, please,” Chairdemon Sullivan’s voice happily chirps over the school’s loudspeakers. 

Just hearing Lord Sullivan’s insanely cheerful voice calling for him has Kalego growling. Before the announcement over the loudspeaker, Kalego had been patrolling the school peacefully for the most part, only giving a few students a glare here and there. Professor Kalego is unsure why the damned chairdemon wants to talk to him, but it will probably give him a headache. About 96% of Professor Kalego’s conversations with Chairdemon Sullivan are ridiculously painful in their stupidity or just to be cruel to him. However, when the chairdemon summons you to his office, you go, end of the story. The hierarchy of the Netherworld is very strict, and the chairdemon is ranked higher than Kalego. Professor Kalego walks straight up to the chairdemon’s office door and gives three strong knocks on the door. 

“Come on in, Kalego-kun,” calls out Sullivan’s voice. 

Kalego opens and steps through the office door, closing it behind him. Kalego steps up to Sullivan’s desk. Sullivan is sitting behind his desk with Opera behind their master.

“What did you need from me, Chairdemon Sullivan?” Kalego asks, wanting to deal with business quickly. 

“Kalego-kun! I have a job I will be entrusting to you,” Sullivan says in his cheerful voice. 

“What is this extra job you are throwing on me?” Kalego asks, growling a bit under his breath, eyes narrowing at the elder demon. 

“Starting after the exam, you will be tutoring Iruma in our home four times a week for about two hours at a time. You can set up your own schedule around those terms. My grandson had a hard life before I adopted him, and now he is involved in a whole new realm he knows almost nothing about. On top of all that, he is now part of a noble family, and I know you are the best teacher to teach Iruma,” Sullivan states half-cheerfully. 

“We also recently found out that Iruma has two mates in Clara and the Asmodeus heir,” Opera adds.  

“Damn, I hate it when you say smart things while giving me more work! Fine, I will make out a schedule and send it to you tomorrow,” Kalego grumbles before sulking out of the chairdemon’s office, not wanting to be in that office even a moment longer than required. 

Walking through the halls, Kalego is both annoyed by the chairdemon and honored to be trusted with Iruma, having had a peek at what the brat has been through. The scars that litter the small blue-haired demi-demon’s back tell a horrid story just on their own. Kalego can only imagine that the pain behind those scars is only one part of the pain and struggle of the brat's past. He had seen the kid’s dodging skills, which points to the fact that Iruma probably has many other skills learned from survival; this skill also probably means much of his struggles have not physically scared him once he learned the dodging skill. Just thinking about everything he has to teach the brat is giving him a raging migraine. Not only does the little alpha need to understand demon and demi-demon basics, but even the basics of the realm. Iruma needed to be taught how to function within the nobility and society as a whole. Just thinking about it all has Kalego growling in frustration. 

Kalego is not all that bothered by tutoring Iruma if he is being truthful with himself, though he is annoyed with the extra work but hates going over to that manor. Between Lord Sullivan and Opera, that manor is like a horror house. 

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*Back To Present*

“Silence! Any talking or cheating will be grounds for immediate failure and enrollment into supplemental class hell! Now it’s time for the exam, begin!” Professor Kalego calls out to his class. 

The moment Professor Kalego gives the misfit class the go-ahead to start their exam, the students put pen to paper. Each misfit student keeps their studying at the forefront of their mind. They are singing the songs in their heads, remembering as much as they can from all the studying they did together. The “dumb” group of the class is straining their minds and concentrating on each and every question on their exam. Reading and re-reading each and every question they come to. The entire morning is taken up by the students taking their exams; no one gets a break until the exams are turned in to Professor Kalego, and they are dismissed to get some lunch.

The entire misfit pack sits at a table in the back corner of the cafeteria. Even though they are not totally relaxed, given they do not have their scores back, they at least do not have the exam hanging over their heads anymore. Iruma is exhausted from the stress of all the studying and the exam finally being over. Iruma leans his shoulder against Az while Clara leans into Iruma as they all dig into their lunches. Az is happy to have his Alpha leaning against him, touching him in such a trusting way, even with it simply trusting Az enough to lean on him when he needs to.   

The entire pack is relieved to see their Pack Alpha no longer stressed over the exam and eating his normal ridiculously heavy mountain of food. The pack finds the three cuddled together to be adorable. 

“What does everyone want to do now that we have some time to relax until Professor Kalego hands us back our grades?” Lied asks, looking at his pack, wanting to play some games. 

“Sure! I could use the distraction. How about we play some games and relax in the Royal One?” Iruma asks his friends. 

“Fun! Fun!” Clara cheers as the rest of the pack quickly agrees. 

After everyone in the pack finished eating their lunches, they returned to the empty Royal One classroom to play some games together. The moment the last of their pack members enter, the Royal One classroom door slams closed behind them, though not before something comes flying through the door. None of them knew what was going on. Even without knowing what was happening, Iruma, Sabro, Jazz, and Az tried to run forward to protect the others from the thrown object. Before the object touched the floor or anyone could catch it, it blew up with a loud bang.

As the item blew up with a loud explosion, a cloud of lilac-purple smoke covered the entire classroom. 

“What the hell is going on!” Sabro yells. 

“I don’t think this will end well,” Iruma states worriedly. 

The cloud of smoke dissipates in a few seconds, which lets the pack take stock of what might have been affected. Everyone looks around to see if the other pack members are alright after that explosion. Iruma was the first to notice something was off when he looked over to check on Az but found something was very off. Iruma’s eyes go wide as he notices that Az has not only shrunk but looks to have turned into a toddler. 

“Az? Are you alright there?” Iruma asks cautiously.

“Want Iruma,” the mini version of Az wines softly holding tiny cubby arms up to Iruma. 

Not even able to hesitate with a thought before he moves, Iruma carefully picks up the mini version of Az. His mind takes a second to process what just happened and to really take in the changes of Az. 

“Oh no! How did Az get turned into a toddler?” Iruma asks, turning around and starting to freak out. One of his mates had been transformed somehow. 

As he turns around to check on the rest of his pack and other mate, he finds an adorable sight that only freaks Iruma out more. 

“Ja-Ja, want up,” a mini version of Lied calls out, trying to climb up Jazz’s leg. 

Lastly, there is a mini version of Kerori, who is trying to hide behind Sabro’s leg to the giant demon’s confusion. 

“How did Az, Lied, and Kerori turn into toddlers?” Iruma asks the others.

He watches Jazz pick up the mini Lied in a bit of a daze, letting Lied rest on his hip while letting the little guy play with his rings without a complaint. Sabro curiously picks up the mini version of Kerori and sets her on his shoulder, holding onto his neck and hair. Kerori sits quietly, looking around curiously while playing with the giant’s hair, giggling softly. 

“Wait, now that I think about it, why did only three of us turn into toddlers?” Iruma asks.

“From general observation, it looks like the only ones that were transformed were our pack’s omega members. That may have something to do with it,” Schneider says, speaking up. 

“Huh? Now that you mention it, you make a good point,” Goemon states, looking at the three mini versions of his pack mates.

“As cute as they are, we need to change them back. What do we do?” Sabro asks, petting the mini Kerori’s white hair as she plays softly with his own hair.

“Well, the obvious starting point is to go ask the professors. Let's start by going to the staff room; most of the professors should be there grading exam papers,” Iruma tells his pack members as he bounces the mini Az in his arms. 

“Ya, ya, let's go get Eggy-sensei’s help. Az-Az is too small now, like my baby siblings,” Clara says, poking softly at the tiny version of her omega mate. 

The rest of the pack decides that even if their professor is scary, he is still always there for them. The professor's job is to protect and help the students, so he will have to help them. Not wanting to waste any more time not knowing if their friends and packmates are alright like this, there could be other side effects they aren’t seeing. The pack practically runs to the professor’s staff room and frantically knocks on the door. 

The door is opened by a smiling Professor Suzy, “Good afternoon, misfit class; what are you all doing here? Yis.”

“We were hoping Professor Kalego or the other professors could help us. Some of our classmates have been transformed into toddler versions of themselves,” Iruma says, carefully holding out the mini version of Az to show Professor Suzy the problem. 

“That is certainly a uniquely adorable problem you got there. Yis. Come in; let's see what we can do for you. Yis,” Professor Suzy giggles, waving the students in to sit in the lounge area of the staff room before calling out into the staff room, “Professor Kalego, your class is here for you! Yis.”

“Silence!” Professor Kalego growls, coming out from his corner desk to see what is happening, only to be met by the sound of crying. 

Professor Kalego stumbles to a stop at the sight of two crying toddlers. The toddlers look way too much like his brats, Kerori and Lied. In contrast, a toddler looking just like Asmodeus sits in the lead brat Iruma’s lap. Jazz and Sabro try to calm down the toddler versions of Lied and Kerori, who each have a crying toddler in their laps. The only tiny version not crying is Asmodeus, who is pouting at Professor Kalego. 

“No, make friends cry,” Asmodeus says, pouting at Professor Kalego. 

“What the hell happened this time? Why are there mini-brat versions of Asmodeus, Lied, and Kerori? What the hell did you brats do?” Professor Kalego asks, glaring at the non-mini brats.

“We don’t really know, sir. After lunch, we went back to the Royal One to play some games together to relax since we finished our exam, but the moment we entered the room, something was thrown in after us, and the door slammed shut. The thrown item blew up before even hitting the floor and exploded, covering the room in a lilac-purple smoke. Once the smoke dissipated, we found Az, Kerori, and Lied had somehow transformed into toddler versions of themselves. The only thing that was brought up by Schneider is that it might have something to do with these three being omegas, but other than that, we are clueless. We figured you and the other professors might be able to help us,” Iruma tried to explain everything as the mini Lied and Kerori calmed down.

“Wait, you’re saying someone attacked you,” Professor Kalego grumbled, not liking the fact that his annoying brats were attacked. 

How dare anyone but the other professors pester his brats. 

“Alright, we better figure this out. The brats are bad enough as teenagers, and I do not need them as toddlers. Professor Suzy, can you tell Shichiro to meet us in the Royal One?” Professor Kalego grumbles. 

“Yis, yis,” Professor Suzy waves off Professor Kalego as she goes over to the loudspeaker to page Professor Balam. 

Returning to the Royal One, the misfit class and the two professors gather there. Professor Balam first uses his vines to bounce the tiny toddler-sized demons while also appraising what has been done to the young demons. Then, he lets the toddlers go back to their favorite people. Professor Balam uses tweezers to pick up pieces of glass that are shattered on the ground and place them into a clean zip-top bag so he can study it to hopefully find out what was used on the misfit class to change the omega members of the class into cute little toddlers. 

“I will go back to my lab and work on studying this evidence. Hopefully, I will find something quickly,” Professor Balam says, waving as he leaves to go study the glass shards he found on the floor. 

All the misfits turn to Professor Kalego as Iruma asks the question they have all been thinking, “Um…what are we going to do now? Hopefully, Professor Balam can figure it out in the next couple of hours, but what if it takes longer and the omega’s stay toddlers even after school ends for the day?” 

“Well, to be honest, it would probably be best just to have you all go to the damned chairdemon’s manor and stay there together till we can get this all solved,” Professor Kalego says, rubbing his temple as he starts to feel a headache coming on.

Chapter Text

“Well, to be honest, it would probably be best just to have you all go to the damned chairdemon’s manor and stay there together till we can get this all solved,” Professor Kalego says, rubbing his temple as he starts to feel a headache coming on.  

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“As horrid as Opera-sempai is to me, they are actually good with tiny brats like those,” Professor Kalego grumbles as he points at the mini versions of his misfits who are now trying to use their wings to hover as Clara cheers them on. 

“As adorable as they are, I don’t think they want to stay toddlers any longer than they have to,” Iruma says.  

“Next game! Next game!” Mini Lied cheers out, bouncing around Jazz’s legs. 

Jazz chuckles with a smile, turning to Clara to ask, “Hey Clara, do you have any games for toddlers?” 

“Of course I do! Let's play this candy-candy board game,” Clara says, pulling out a game box that is littered with cute pictures of candy. 

Professor Kalego sits at his desk working on grading exams as his stupid misfits start playing some kiddy board game with the mini misfits. Professor Kalego does his best to ignore the game-playing idiots and get some work done as he waits for either Professor Balam to figure out an answer to the misfits' situation or the end of the day when he can send the idiots home. However, the group is soon interrupted by Opera, who sneaks into the Royal One without anyone noticing until he makes his presents known to the Guard Dog, who looks ready to murder the cat-like demon. 

“Kalego-kun, you seemed to forget to send a schedule of times to Lord Sullivan,” Opera says, leaning in close to bother the Guard Dog of Babyls. 

“I have other things I am dealing with at the moment, Opera-senpai. Just look at the misfits,” Professor Kalego growls out, pointing to the students. 

They turned to look at their young master’s class to see what was stressing out the Guard Dog of Babyls, well, other than Opera themselves. Opera’s kitty-ear-styled horns wiggle as he notices that three of Iruma’s packmates are now tiny toddler versions of themselves. Finding their young master’s tiny packmates more amusing than Professor Kalego, Opera steps over to the table. The misfit class was playing a board game, Opera, making sure their steps made noise this time so he would not startle his young master. 

“Well, young master Iruma, it seems your Asmodeus has shrunk,” Opera says, looking at the three toddler versions of Iruma’s pack omegas. 

“Opera, ya, it seems that Az, along with Lied and Kerori, were transformed into toddlers,” Iruma says before explaining everything to the security demon that he sees as another guardian. 

Opera is not happy about his young master and his packmates being attacked. This development highlights why the Guard Dog is willing to be near the loud misfits. Opera knows that while the misfit pack is a great point of annoyance and stress to Professor Kalego, the Guard Dog of Babyls would never be okay with his students being attacked; whether the students are annoying or not, Professor Kalego is a teacher of Babyls and holds high honor in what that means. 

“You all are certainly welcome to have a sleepover at Lord Sullivan’s manor if necessary, but let's hope Shichiro-kun can figure out what turned some of you into cute toddlers,” Opera says, accepting Professor Kalego’s plan as a smart one, even if they do want to pester Kalego more.  

“They are quite adorable, aren’t they,” Elizabetta cheers as she cuddles the tiny Kerori for a few moments before letting the toddler get back to playing the game. 

“Kalego-kun, I am going to go see if Shichiro-kun needs some help and update Lord Sullivan on this situation,” Opera calls out. 

“Do as you must,” Professor Kalego growls, though he does make sure to make a note to make that schedule of availability for that damned chairdemon. 

About half an hour before the end of the school day, Professor Balam arrived with three small viles of light blue liquid in his hand. 

“Um…I figured out what that smoke was, and this should turn the mini version back into themselves, or they can just wait the three full days it takes to wear off,” Professor Balam says, holding his hand with the three potions viles out to Iruma. 

Professor Balam knew that the decision to trust his antidote lay in the hands of the Pack’s Alpha, Iruma, even if the pack is not totally paperwork-official just yet. Letting the transformation potion take its course and release on its own could be less risky.

“I trust you, Professor Balam. You would not have even suggested this antidote potion to us if you thought the risks outweighed the rewards, or at the very least, you would have warned me about such dangers. Also, I am pretty sure all of them want to be turned back to normal as soon as possible,” Iruma states, looking at the giant professor. 

Each member of the misfits' pack nodded in agreement with their Pack Alpha’s decision, even if they knew deep in their very souls that they would follow any decision Iruma made, even if it was to wait for the members to change back when the original potion wore off—nodding in thanks to Iruma, Professor Balam uses his vines to carefully administer the potions to the three tiny versions of his students. After a couple of gulps to drink the potion down, all of the vile was administered to each of the toddler versions of the pack members. Professor Balam’s potion took a few seconds, but soon, the pack's omegas were back to their normal size and age. 

“Thank you, Professor Balam. I feel much better now,” Az says as he tries to ignore the happy Clara, who jumps him for a hug, though secretly he likes his beta mate’s warm hugs. 

“That is not something I want to experience again,” Kerori says, trying to hide behind Elizabetta.

“I could have done without the being a toddler, but at least I got to play some games this afternoon,” Lied says, trying his best to ignore his rising blush. 

“I am so glad you all are alright now,” Iruma says, hugging his Az and Clara while giving his other two pack omegas relieved smiles. 

Each and every member of the misfit pack looked at their pack alpha, who seemed to be able to handle everything handed to him; even if he sometimes complained, he never turned his back on them, no matter how scared or freaked out he was. That caring smile on their alpha’s lips only proved their point, knowing that their alpha cared deeply for each of them, regardless of their rank or talent. 

“Good, now the lot of you can leave and go home. School is over in a few minutes anyway,” Professor Kalego grumbles, glad to have one less thing to stress about, at least for the present moment. Kalego knows he will have to help with the investigation into the situation later, but for now, he can get the misfits away from himself. He desperately needs a break and some hot tea. 

“Yes, sir!” about half of the misfits called out as they left their professor to his work and walked outside. 

After chatting for a few minutes, all pack members were glad that while they had a bit of a scare that afternoon, everything was back to normal. 

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Getting back home after walking home from school, Iruma decides to spend some time in his bedroom. So much has happened in a short period of time. Now, without the end-of-term exam over his head, he has time to think, and he is not so sure he is happy for the time. A demi-demon, clipped wings, all his memories becoming crystal clear, at least most of the ones since he was a few years old. Iruma is unsure why his magic was locked away. Let alone why his wings were ripped directly from his back. Most of the memories he could remember now were of random people hurting him, taking advantage of his horrid adoptive parents who wanted him to make them money, and the pain of survival. 

Iruma can remember so many times that he had to fight for his very life. He was running and fighting for his life against people, animals, and Mother Nature. He was never once able to relax until he was adopted as Lord Sullivan’s grandchild, even though the process started with his adoptive parents summoning a demon to sell his soul to.  

“May I come in, Master Iruma?” asks Opera as they knock on Iruma’s bedroom door. 

“Come in, Opera,” Iruma calls out softly. 

Opera walks in carrying a tray with two tea cups and a small pot of hot tea on it. Opera sets the tray down on Iruma’s nightstand as they gently take a seat next to their young master and ward. 

“How are you doing? I am here if you want to talk to someone, so is your grandfather and all of your packmates,” Opera says; they have noticed that sometimes Iruma finds it a bit hard to ask for help himself even though he will help anyone else without hesitation. 

“I know. I also have no idea what I am feeling right now. There has just been so much going on I am still trying to process everything that has been going on so far,” Iruma admits, leaning against the cat-demon. 

“Maybe you just need to give yourself permission to relax. Lord Sullivan believes it will take up to a few days for you to really start feeling your own magic and alpha-ness. Try your best just to give yourself permission to relax and process. A lot has happened in a short amount of time. It is alright not to understand everything,” Opera says. 

“Thanks, Opera. It’s just a lot to handle,” Iruma says, taking in the words and heat of the cat-demon next to him. 

“Also, it may make you feel a little better to know that Lord Sullivan has gotten Kalego-kun to become your tutor to help teach you more of the basics of culture, history, and etiquette, so don’t worry, you will learn everything you need to,” Opera informs Iruma. 

“Thanks, that does help with some of my worries,” Iruma replies before continuing to ask, “Can you just stay with me like this for a little while longer?”

“Of course, Iruma,” Opera says, letting the teenager they have come to love as their own kit lean into them to take comfort from their presence.

Iruma had been able to keep thoughts on his past at bay for the most part since they had been re-unlocked by the blind panic they had been feeling about learning everything they needed for the exam. The need to meet his family and friends' expectations to do well on the exam had held the memories from taking over. Though they have the time now, it is not good for his anxiety. Before he was sold to his grandpa, life was far more of a hell than the netherworld had ever been for him. The only things keeping him sane now that he had time to feel his past were those that he never had in his past. Now he has his adoptive family who, unlike those who called themselves his parents, actually cared and cared for him, caring about his thoughts and desires and listening. His grandfather and Opera stood by him. He knew if he called any of his friends, whom he just learned were actually his pack, they would not hesitate to help him, even if all he needed was someone to talk to. 

Learning that he has mates in Az and Clara and that Az and Clara want him to be their mate warms his very soul. He could fight against his past and the power it holds now because now he has people who will stand by him no matter what the future holds. That is all he needs to continue fighting the trauma.

Chapter Text

Learning that he has a mate in Az and that Az wants him to be his mate warms his very soul. He could fight against his past and the power it holds now because now he has people who will stand by him no matter what the future holds. That is all he needs to continue fighting the trauma.  

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Opera let out a sigh of relief when, after several minutes of silence from Iruma, they felt Iruma’s breathing change slowly until they could tell that their small ward had tired himself so much that he had fallen asleep against Opera’s shoulder. Opera let their ward sleep against them for a few more minutes before tucking the small teenager into bed. 

Opera observes the sleeping Iruma, feeling their heart tighten at the concern they have for Iruma. They wish they could read their ward's mind since Iruma still has not told Opera or Lord Sullivan much about the life he lived before being taken in by Lord Sullivan. The scars that litter the teen’s body tell a sad story of struggle and survival, even without any context to the marks. Opera is not used to not knowing how to fix something, but there is not much Opera can do without knowing what Iruma is struggling with. Though Opera is thankful that their presence this time around was enough to calm down Iruma, it even allowed the teenager to fall into a much-needed sleep.

Opera notes that they should look over things like helping teens and young adults with anxiety and trauma just in case Iruma needs their help later. Opera would rather have tools in their back pocket than be caught without any way to help their ward. Being prepared for a battle, any type of battle, is one of the golden rules of combat success.  

Opera quietly leaves Iruma’s room after turning off the light and making sure the alarm clock is set for the next morning. They then make their way to Lord Sullivan’s office to update their master on the fact that Iruma has fallen asleep.  

“Lord Sullivan, Iruma was having a bit of a stressful moment this afternoon and fell asleep. I tucked him in bed, so I doubt the boy will join us for dinner tonight,” Opera reports to their master. 

“My poor grandson is trying to process years of past trauma all at once. It can not be easy to handle it all. Thank you for taking care of him, Opera-kun,” Lord Sullivan says with a soft small to his security demon.

“Of course, Lord Sullivan,” Opera replies. 

“Kalego-kun sent me a schedule for tutoring sessions for Iruma. He will be coming over after he finishes class, given he will be one of the supplementary class teachers on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, along with coming after lunch on Saturdays. The first tutoring session will be tomorrow. Can you set up one of the empty rooms of the manor into a small classroom for them to work in?” Lord Sullivan asks Opera. 

“Not a problem. I will use one of the first-floor rooms not far from the entryway,” Opera replies with a bow. 

“Thank you, Opera-kun. If Iruma does not wake up for dinner, I will take my dinner in here tonight,” Lord Sullivan states. 

“Of course,” Opera replies before going to work on fixing up the tutoring room for Iruma to use. 

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Iruma is so glad that he feels more like himself this morning. He eats a bit more breakfast than usual to make up for sleeping right through dinner the night before. His grandpa informs him that his first tutoring session with Professor Kalego will be after school today.   

“Thank you for the amazing breakfast Opera,” Iruma says, smiling at the cat-demon. 

Opera simply nods their head at the compliment, holding out Iruma’s bag as the boy gets up from his spot at the dining room table. Grabbing his school bag from Opera, he calls out a goodbye to Opera, and his grandpa Iruma heads out to meet Az and Clara, who just arrived at the manor’s front gate.

“Good morning, Iruma-sama,” Az greets Iruma with a soft smile for his alpha mate. 

“Morning Iruma-chi!” Clara yells out with her signature loud cheerfulness for her alpha mate. 

“Good morning, you two,” Iruma greets his two mates with a warm smile as they start their walk to Babyls.

“We had our exam yesterday, so what are we doing today?” Iruma asks mostly Az as the three of them walk along the path to school. 

Iruma and Az are walking, but Clara is skipping around to her heart's content.

“Today is supposed to be easy, mostly just the teachers doing some review and maybe giving us a heads up on what to expect from next semester after the break,” Az answers. 

“That sounds good. Grandpa told me this morning that my first tutoring session with Professor Kalego will start after school today after Professor Kalego finishes whatever teachers do after the last bell rings. He will be coming to the manor to help me catch up on everything I need to know. I am excited to learn, but also a little nervous with how strict Professor Kalego can be,” Iruma admits to Az.

“Well, as hard as learning from Professor Kalego may be, I hate to admit it, but he is probably one of the best people to teach you. Professor Kalego comes from a prestigious noble house and is a great, if not terrifying, teacher. You will certainly learn if nothing else,” Az comments, though he is concerned with how strict their homeroom teacher can sometimes be, and with what has been happening the last few days, his Iruma has had enough stress to deal with.

Once the group of three makes it to the school grounds, Clara convinces her two mates to play a few short games before they drag her to their classroom in the royal one. Iruma and Az say their good mornings to their pack mates as they head to their seats. Clara decides to jump onto and climb Sabro as he exercises with some free weights in the back of the classroom.

As Az predicted, the school day was pretty easy. Most of the professors only talked to the students who were paying attention to their small review lessons or the small introductions to what they would have to look forward to for the next semester after their break. The misfit pack gets a lot of time to chat and relax with each other, which is nice, especially after such a stressful time before the exam. With Professor Suzy's permission, Iruma even gets some time in his botany class to tend to the smaller plants. Az watches his Iruma tend to the small plants with an amused smile on his face, which soon turns to a scowl as he has to rescue Clara from the carnivorous plants again before she worries their mate.

In the last class of the day, the misfit pack is back in their homeroom class, with Professor Kalego mostly just trying to ignore the horrid noise that is being created by his homeroom class. 

“Iruma, come here for a moment,” Professor Kalego growls out.

After waving off the need for Az or Clara to follow him, Iruma walks up to Professor Kalego’s desk, where the professor has been working on paperwork during class. 

“Please tell me that damn chairdemon told you that your first tutoring session starts today after school at his manor,” Professor Kalego says to his small blue-haired student. Getting a nod of confirmation from the teenager, Professor Kalego continues to speak, “Alright, it usually takes me about two hours after the last bell before I fly out of here, so you should have time to walk back to the manor and take care of anything you need to so that you are ready to learn when I arrive. You will not waste my time, correct, brat?”

“I will make sure to be ready, but just to make sure I estimate correctly how long it takes you to fly to Granpa’s manor?” Iruma asks. 

Professor Kalego does not let his face show his distaste for his student not being able to estimate flying times because some horrid creatures decided to hurt the brat so severely that they even took his wings. Not willing to get into the brat’s history, especially in the middle of the class, he just answers his question. 

“Takes about ten minutes from campus at an unhurried pace to get to that manor of horrors,” Professor Kalego answers.

“Thanks. I will make sure I am ready for your lesson. Opera is even setting up a little classroom in the manor for us to work in,” Iruma tells his professor. 

“Ya, ya. Just be ready to learn,” Professor Kalego grumbles, not liking the reminder that he will be around both Lord Sullivan and his sempai. 

Iruma nods before he is waved away to go back to his desk, where Az and Clara ask what Professor Kalego wants from him. 

“He just told me when I should be ready later today for my tutoring lesson,” Iruma tells the two.

After school is let out for the day, Az and Clara join Iruma for the thirty-minute walk back to Lord Sullivan’s manor. Once they see Iruma to his home, they go their own ways home. Iruma is met at the door by Opera holding the door open for him to come in.

“Thank you, and good afternoon, Opera,” Iruma says, stepping into the manor’s entryway.

“Good afternoon Iruma. I have placed some snacks and tea in your room so that you can eat and change into something else before your tutoring session starts,” Opera says with a slight bow. 

“Thank you so much, Opera. I will go change into something else and relax. Professor Kalego says it will take him about two hours and ten minutes to get here after the last bell, so that means I have just a little over an hour and a half until I should be ready,” Iruma says as they start heading for their bedroom. 

Opera nods in agreement before watching their ward head upstairs. Opera wants to have so much fun with Kalego but knows they will have to hold back for the most part. It is far more critical that the Guard Dog can teach Iruma what is needed to know to survive here in the netherworld. 

Walking into his bedroom, Iruma smiled at the tray of snacks and tea that lay on his desk. Iruma takes a sip of the hot tea before going to his large closet to pull out a more comfortable and relaxed outfit to wear now that school is over for the day. Iruma pulls out a pair of soft tan cargo pants and a light green t-shirt. Iruma is quick to change out of his uniform and into more relaxed clothing, leaving his uniform folded on the chair in the corner of his bedroom. Now more relaxed out of his school clothing, Iruma goes over and starts to eat his afternoon snack. Iruma was not sure what kind of sandwiches he was eating, but as always, Opera’s cooking tasted amazing, and Iruma ate all the prepared food, washing it down with the hot tea. 

After relaxing with his snack, Iruma heads downstairs to relax on the living room couch and waits for his professor to arrive. Iruma is unsure what to expect from this tutoring or what lessons Professor Kalego will teach him. Iruma did not have to wait all that long before there was a knock on the manor’s front door at precisely the estimated time Professor Kalego had given Iruma earlier.

Iruma quickly gets up and joins Opera as they open the door to greet Professor Kalego. 

“Welcome to the Sullivan Manor Kalego-kun,” Opera says with a bow that puts them close to Professor Kalego, whom the professor tries to lean away from. 

“Thank you, but can I just get to tutoring?” Professor Kalego grumbles, not liking that Opera is so close to him. 

“Follow me, Kalego-kun, Master Iruma, come along. I will show you to the new tutoring room I set up,” Opera says. 

Professor Kalego and Iruma follow Opera as they lead the two through the entryway and down the hallway on the right for a few doors before stopping in front of a door with a metal plack that reads “Tutoring Classroom” engraved into it. Opera opens the door with a flourish to show the other two the new room set up. Iruma steps into the room Opera set up for his tutoring sessions. The room is set up like a tiny classroom. In the middle of the bedroom-size room is a large table that could probably seat four people on each side set up horizontally to the wall, has two wooden chairs facing each other, and at the front of the room, the wall is mainly taken up by a chalkboard. 

“This will be most suitable,” Professor Kalego grumbles. 

Professor Kalego walks into the room and takes the chair that places his back facing the chalkboard. He sets down his bag and pulls out a clipboard and pen, setting them before him on the table.

“Sit, Iruma,” Professor Kalego states sharply, pointing to the chair in front of him. 

“Have a wonderful lesson, Master Iruma,” Opera says with a bow. 

“Thank you, Opera,” Iruma replies as he takes his seat across from his professor and watches Opera close the door to the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Chapter Text

“Thank you, Opera,” Iruma replies as he takes his seat across from his professor and watches Opera close the door to the room, leaving the two of them alone. 

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Professor Kalego was thankful that Opera only got a little too close and did not do their normal pestering for a change. He looks up at his blue-hair student and decides that since he actually has the time alone with the boy, he decides to ask some of the questions he has been curious about for a while now that started back at the entrance ceremony and have only become more significant questions now that he knows a tiny bit of Iruma’s history.  

“Alright, brat, let's start with you answering some questions I have had for a while now,” Professor Kalego states with a tired sigh in his voice. 

“Sure,” Iruma squeaks out. 

“Let’s start with what happened at the entrance ceremony. Why were you given the speech instead of Asmodeus? Why did you speak a forbidden spell before the entire first-year class?” Professor Kalego asks. 

“Oh, that was all Grandpa’s doing. The Entrance Ceremony happened not long after Grandpa adopted me; he was super excited about introducing me to the entire school, even though I just wanted to blend into the background and not be noticed. As for the speech, the forbidden spell I spoke was written down for me by Grandpa. I was still too new to question it,” Iruma tried to explain to his professor, sounding tired, just rehashing the situation. 

It took a good percentage of Professor Kalego’s discipline not to smack himself in the forehead in frustration at the ridiculousness that was another ridiculous situation orchestrated by the damn chairdemon.

“My next question is just why were you smiling so much before you summoned me as your familiar, and did you have anything to do with me becoming your familiar?” Professor Kalego asks.

“Actually, I was smiling because, during the explanation for the familiar summoning ritual, you said that anyone who couldn’t summon a familiar correctly would be expelled from the school. At that point in time, I thought I was fully human and that both the summoning ritual would not work and then you would expel me, which would not have been bad at that point since I was still terrified of everything, especially being eaten if I was found to be human. I could have been homeschooled if I had been expelled, which made me smile. How you became my familiar? I have no idea. Though Grandpa may know,” Iruma explains with a shrug. 

Professor Kalego pinches the bridge of his nose at the answer he got from his student. He understood the situation better after knowing some history and Iruma’s explanation. From the explanations so far, the brat sounds to have been on the wrong side of situations that were out of his control. 

“Last question before I get to the questions about our lessons. What is the full and true story of what happened during the flying exam? Also, now that I know you can’t fly, I must say I am sorry that I pushed you off the cliff. I thought you were just hesitating and would fly on instinct once you needed to,” Professor Kalego asks and bows his head in apology. 

“Ah! Raise your head, Professor Kalego! I forgave you for pushing me long ago. The situation turned out alright in the end,” Iruma says quickly to get Professor Kalego to raise his head. 

“Thank you,” Professor Kalego states simply. 

“Now, the whole story starts at the start of the flying race. As you found out, I do not possess wings to fly, so once you pushed me off the cliff, I simply started to free fall. Thankfully, in the long run, but not so great at that moment, a demon bird decided to grab me and was going to take me away to most likely be its next meal. After the demon bird is startled and drops me. I ended up in the nest that the child of the guardian of the valley was resting in. I somehow healed the child, who then took me toward its parent, though I did not know this at the time. When I noticed that Sabro was fighting the guardian, I jumped to see if I could help defuse the situation. Thankfully, all it took was for the child to tell its parent that I helped it—then, Sabro lowered his weapon. Then, as a thank you, the guardian offered to fly us back to the finish line. You know the rest of the story,” Iruma tells his perspective of the story.

“Thank you for sating my curiosity,” Professor Kalego tells him. 

“Not a problem,” Iruma says.  

To say Professor Kalego was surprised by most of what the brat had to say would have been an understatement. From Kalego’s new understanding of the situation, it sounded like Iruma did not usually have good luck and that Sullivan made a mess of situations for the boy. Sullivan seems to put more undue pressure on the boy by flaunting things to the public and shining a light on the brat.

“Now, let's figure out what you need lessons on and what you may already know,” Professor Kalego states, pulling his clipboard with paper already clipped into it and taking his pen into his hand.

“Ask away,” Iruma says with a nod of his head, “Though before we start, I want to admit that because of my old parents, I did not get to go to school much at all back in the human world. To be honest, I am surprised I learned to read, write, and do arithmetic with how little school I was allowed to attend.”  

“That answers where you are with academics, so if you have questions about things at school that you don’t think you should ask in front of the rest of the class, know that Professor Balam and I will answer your questions if you ask them. The next question is have you had any etiquette training?” Professor Kalego asks, writing notes down on the clipboard paper. 

“Other than some basic manners from where I am from in the human world, no training at all,” Iruma admits. 

“Do you know how to dance or play an instrument?” Professor Kalego asks. 

“No, and no,” Iruma says. 

“I was told that humans don’t have a second gender, so have you been taught anything about the different second genders yet?” Professor Kalego asks. 

“Other than there are three different types: alpha, beta, and omega, and that I am an alpha, I don’t know anything else,” Iruma says. 

“Sounds like I will need to start from the beginning, which on the one hand is frustrating; on the other hand, I can teach you correctly from the beginning,” Professor Kalego says, writing more notes with his right hand as his left pinches his nose in annoyance at all the work he sees in his future.

Kalego is reading between the lines with some history he was informed on from Lord Sullivan and the answers to his questions now. The brat in front of him has not only had to survive neglectful and dangerous situations but he was also neglected in areas like general care and education. Kalego is unsure if he should be worried or slightly impressed that the brat can still function in everyday life. Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he focuses on the subjects he wants to cover during this first session. 

“I have been told that you have been made aware of the fact that you are the pack alpha of the misfit pack made out of your classmates, though not paperwork official quite yet. Your pack is the only well-established pack besides the student council pack within the first three years of Babyls. With how presently important the topics are to you and those you lead today, our session will cover understanding some generalizations of the second genders and the importance of packs and the roles within said packs. Lastly, I will be going over the information you should know about mates, given I have been informed you are the mate of the Asmodeus heir and Valac girl,” Professor Kalego states, taping his clipboard with his pen. 

“Yes, professor,” Iruma says, his cheeks tinting red a bit at hearing his professor talking about Az and Clara being his mates.

Ignoring his now blushing student, he starts his lesson, “Do you know anything about the different second genders?”

“Only the three types are alpha, beta, and omega. While the human world has these terms, they are only used when talking about wild animals and fictional stories,” Iruma shrugs. 

“Then we will start from the beginning. I want to state that when it comes to society, no one is to be treated differently because of their first or second gender. The only true measure of a demon's station is their rank and personal skills, nothing else. However, there are some general differences between the second genders, though most traits have more to do with the individuals themselves than a demon’s second gender. Omegas have the most factual differences, so we will start with them. While a female of any second gender can give birth as long as their health allows them, male omegas also have this ability. Omega males are the only males with this ability. Omegas of both first genders also have to deal with heat along with evil cycles. While an evil cycle, depending on the demon, can be mild enough for the individual to work still, that is not so for a heat cycle. When an omega goes into heat, they give off pheromones that make them attract others to them to satisfy their heat. Very few alphas and betas have the ability to ignore the pheromones given off when omegas are in heat. On average, omegas have stronger children and are slightly more fertile. Now, any questions before moving on to the alphas?” Professor Kalego asks, watching the brat slowly turn red like a tomato. 

“You're saying that if they ever want to, Az and Lied can become pregnant in the future?!” Iruma squeaks out his question.

“That is correct. Any other questions?” Professor Kalego asks, monotoned, even though he is glad that even though the brat is obviously embarrassed, he is taking the topic seriously for his pack and mates.

“Please continue, sir,” Iruma squeaks out. 

“Alphas and betas traits show differently depending on an individual. Alphas usually have more natural leadership abilities and are known to be more aggressive and protective when it comes to caring about those they consider close to them. Alphas can be more dominant when necessary, but this can show in different ways depending on the individual. Conversely, Betas are the most common second gender, and traits vary depending on the individual,” Professor Kalego explains. 

“Understood, I think,” Iruma says, nodding at his professor. 

“Then onto the next topic, packs,” Professor Kalego states before continuing, “When it comes to the Netherworld, a pack is even more important than blood family. The source of this is that you choose the family you are most loyal to. If a demon has to choose between orders from their parent or pack alpha, they will follow the pack alpha’s order every time.”

Professor Kalego watches as Iruma’s eyes grow wide before asking, “Professor Kalego, are you saying that because the misfit class is my pack with myself as the pack’s alpha if I gave them an order that conflicts with their parents, they would follow my order instead?”

“Correct. It sounds like you are starting to understand your position,” Professor Kalego states, “Though I would talk to your pack about making things paperwork official. That would mean turning in paperwork with your Grandfather that makes your pack and the positions of those within the pack official to the leaders of the realm.”

“Um…Professor Kalego, why do I feel warm and fuzzy when I think of protecting my friends, pack?” Iruma asks his professor. 

“Because you care deeply for your pack members. As the pack alpha, you are the highest authority, and your demon side likes that what you say goes. You actually like taking care of those brats; that is probably what makes you feel that feeling,” Professor Kalego answers.

Iruma nods to himself, accepting that his demon half does not just accept that he is the pack alpha but is actually happy with the position and those in his pack. 

“When it comes to packs, you should be aware of a few important positions within them. As the Pack’s Alpha, you are in the top spot in the hierarchy, but there are other positions within a pack. Relating the positions to your own pack of brats, directly under you will be a second-in-command, which can be two different people. Depending on how a pack is set up, the alpha’s mate can either be the second-in-command or an officer. The position of First-Beta is the person who is second or third in command again, depending on how the alpha’s mate or mates are ranked. This means depending on which roles you give the Asmodeus and Valac will depend on how the other pack members sit in the pack order. Then there are the officer positions; these are given to individuals by the pack alpha who have been given a certain long-standing responsibility or the task of leading others in the pack in a certain area. Lastly is the position of elder, which is usually a respected member of the pack who is more of a mentor/advisor to the alpha. They are usually older than the alpha and more on the outskirts of the politics and hierarchy within the pack, and this also gives them more leeway in how they can act,” Professor Kalego explains.

“Wow, there is just so much to think about,” Iruma states. 

“And that is simply the outline of positions there are in a typical pack,” Professor Kalego comments. 

“Um…about my pack and class. Since my demon side has awoken in the last couple of days, I have noticed more that there seems to be another demon in our class. A Purson Soi, but what is going on even now? I can only see him in spurts. Otherwise, he is kind of like a phantom and disappears. Before a couple of days ago, I might have noticed him about for a second every few days and did not register him as real for some reason. Do you know why that is?” Iruma asks his professor the question that had been on his mind the last few days. 

“Sounds like with your new magic, you are able to see your classmate better. Purson Soi comes from a family of spies and intelligence-gathering demons. Their bloodline magic makes it so they can become invisible and much harder to notice. It should be fine to talk to him. He is a little shy but still participates in class; well, he comes to class at least,” Professor Kalego says with a smirk on his lips.

‘Maybe starting with a simple letter that does not force him to speak to me might be the best place to start,’ Iruma thinks to himself before giving his professor an understanding nod for the lesson to continue. 

“Now, to our last topic of the day. What mates are and the practices and traditions around them. There are two types of matings in the Netherworld. There are fated mates and chosen mates. You, Asmodeus, and Valac found out recently you are fated mates, which can be detected by smell after a certain age/maturity is reached, which differs depending on the type of demon. Some demons simply do not have fated mates since those are rare. A demon can somehow detect by instinct if they have a fated mate in the future. If not, there are chosen mates who choose to be mated to each other. For the most part, courting depends on the individual demons involved. Here is some information on mates, courting practices, and traditions,” Professor Kalego hands over a notes sheet of sorts for Iruma to review. 

Mates & Courting Practices/Traditions:

• Those who are members of a pack must get permission from their own pack alpha to pursue a courting with another. If the other is from another pack, they must also speak to that pack’s alpha. 

• Tradition dictates that the couple should inform and get their sire’s/guardian’s blessing once a fated mate is found and courting is to start, or a chosen mating is wished for after a pair gets close to each other. 

• When proposing the finalization of a mating (the human world equivalent of marriage), a mating gift is given by the one asking for the finalization ceremony. It can be anything thought felt, from jewelry to a weapon or anything in between. 

• At least one of the mates needs to prove that they are able to provide a stable home for the other(s) and the ability to provide financially. 

• No one is allowed to get between mates, and if someone puts your mate(s) in danger, you can fight or even kill the one responsible without any consequences.

• The mate(s) finalization ceremony is like a wedding, but instead of exchanging rings, they exchange bite marks that turn into magical tattoo marks between their shoulder(s) and neck. The mate marks match and make it so they have a particular kind of underlying sent that lets other demons know they are mated and unavailable.  

“That is all for today, but if you have more questions on these topics, remember to ask, or you can even look up books on the topics in the school library or maybe even see if the chairdemon’s library may have any information. Do you have any questions at this moment?” Professor Kalego asks, getting ready to wrap up this first tutoring session. 

“Are there any differences because Az’s mother is one of the 13 Crowns that I should know? Or even with Clara’s family?” Iruma asks, getting nervous and warm at the subject. 

“No difference in the tasks, just that you know that there is a political impact of you and Az’s families joining together given the family positions in the nobility. Also, while the Valac family is not one of the 13 Crowns, Clara’s parents earned themselves a Baron title of nobility not long ago,” Professor Kalego states plainly. 

“Thank you, professor, and I know that I have a lot to learn, so thank you for teaching me,” Iruma says, smiling up into the grouchy face of his professor.

“Ya, ya, we have a whole lot to drum into your head. Be ready. Now we are done. I am getting out of this horror house before Opera-senpai decides to pester me,” Professor Kalego says, standing up after putting his notes and pen away in his bag. 

“I will show you out now, Professor Kalego,” Iruma states. 

Iruma quickly leads Professor Kalego back to the front door, opens the door, and waves the professor off, saying, “Thank you again. I will see you tomorrow at school.” 

Professor Kalego growls softly at his small blue-haired student before sprouting his wings and escaping to the sky to head to his own home to try and relax while getting work done for the rest of the evening. 

“Aw, Kalego-kun escaped,” Opera says, sounding amused from around the corner, which has Iruma rolling his eyes and feeling a bit of sympathy for his professor. 

Chapter Text

Professor Kalego growls softly at his small blue-haired student before sprouting his wings and escaping to the sky to head to his own home to try and relax while getting work down for the rest of the evening. 

“Aw, Kalego escaped,” Opera says, sounding amused from around the corner, which has Iruma rolling his eyes and feeling a bit of sympathy for his professor.

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“Anyway, it’s time for dinner, Iruma,” Opera says a bit louder, waving Iruma back out of the entryway and leading Iruma to the dining room.

Iruma sits down at the dining room table, where he is soon joined by his grandpa and Opera, bringing out a huge amount of food on platers. All three are soon seated and eating Opera’s scrumptious cooking. Iruma is happily munching away when his Granpa speaks up. 

“How did your first tutoring session with Kalego-kun go? What did he go over today?” Sullivan asks in his little chibi-egg form.

“Professor Kalego went over a few things he said were the most pressing topics in his opinion. After asking a bit about my past schooling and what I might already know, he taught me some facts about second-genders, packs and the positions within them, and mates since I had just found mine in Az and Clara. He also mentioned that to make a pack paperwork official, I needed to ask you for the paperwork and information,” Iruma tells his Grandpa. 

“Given you already created a great pack for yourself, even without fully knowing what you were doing, that is a good place to start. Mates are also super important, especially your own mates. When it comes to the official paperwork, I will have Opera give you the paperwork and the official ritual informational booklet. That will help you understand things and how you want to proceed,” Sullivan nods in understanding.

“Though I must say that I was very surprised that the rare male omegas have the ability to give birth. No human male has that ability, only the females,” Iruma states, still trying to get used to this new fact. 

“That must have been quite shocking, then. Do you have any problems with the fact, though?” Opera adds to the conversation.

“It was definitely shocking, and it is definitely something that I will need to keep in the back of my mind, but other than knowing that male omegas have to be just as careful as females, I don’t have any problems with the fact,” Iruma states truthfully.

“That is a good stance to have, especially just having heard about it,” Sullivan comments before continuing to ask, “What did you think about what Kalego-kun taught you about packs?” 

“Honestly, I am a bit shocked that I formed a pack, which I have learned is even more important than blood family, without even trying. Though what I find most surprising is the warm and fuzzy feeling I get from thinking about having a pack, Professor Kalego says this feeling is my alpha demon side,” Iruma admits. 

“I was a bit surprised myself by how naturally you created your pack,” Sullivan laughs cheerfully, proud of his little grandson. 

“I am glad that I am learning about this realm’s common knowledge. It was getting hard to learn as I went, especially while keeping secrets,” Iruma comments. 

After the family of three finished eating their dinner, Iruma excuses himself to go to his bedroom. Iruma needs some time to himself. He learned a lot in the last few days. Professor Kalego’s lesson is only the latest things he has learned. The pack alpha of the misfit pack, learning that he has two mates and just how much power a pack alpha holds over those under them. It is a lot of responsibility and power to keep in mind.

Shaking his head to get his overthinking under control, Iruma decides that now is the best time to get down to writing that letter he wants to write for Soi. Iruma sits down at his desk, pulling out some paper and a pen from one of his desk drawers. Iruma sits at his desk, thinking about what he wants to put in the letter. Deciding to write the letter like Iruma simply was striking up a conversation since that is what he wants from the letter. 

After many failed attempts that ended up balled up and in the trash, Iruma finally writes a letter he is happy to give to Soi: 

  Dear Purson Soi, 

I am writing this letter to you after seeing you more clearly the last few days. After speaking to Professor Kalego about it, he thinks it is because my powers have been growing more recently, and I have seen you much better now. Professor Kalego confirmed that you had been by our side and part of the misfit class since the very beginning. You are just very good at concealing your presence for the most part. Just coming right up to you after so long would be presumptuous of me, so I am writing a letter so you can decide how you want to respond at your own pace and without the pressure of having someone speak to you directly. 

I wanted to ensure you knew I wanted to get to know you. You are part of the misfit class and deserve to be included more. Also, I want to give you my contact information so we can start with text messages if that works better for you. 

Hell-Phone #: (xxx) xxx - xxxx

Thanks For Your Time,

Iruma.  

Deciding that the letter was as good as it was going to get, he folded the piece of paper after getting an envelope from Opera to put it in. Iruma addresses the envelope with a simple ‘To/From’ note on the outside before slipping the letter envelope into his school bag to give to Soi tomorrow. 

Opera soon comes to check up on Iruma after a little while, “Is everything alright, Iruma?”

“I think so. I am doing better than last night, at least. However, after getting some of the basics of packs, mates, and second-genders from Professor Kalego, I wondered if we have any reading material. I don’t want to mess up my pack by not understanding things. Also, the information on making a pack official booklet of information,” Iruma asks. 

“I believe we have a few on those topics in the mansion library. Do you want me to pull some of them for you to read along with the pack ritual booklet, Master Iruma?” Opera asks. 

“Yes, please, the rules are just so different than where I grew up. I want to be able to understand all the common knowledge that I can,” Iruma replies.

“Then I will go pull some books from the library and that booklet for you. Though you only have about two hours or so before you should probably start getting ready for bed,” Opera says before bowing and leaving Iruma's room and heading for the library. 

Within about ten minutes, Opera brings back four books—one on each topic and a second on packs, along with the official packs' booklet. Iruma reads about an hour before getting overwhelmed and decides a calming hot bath is in order. After taking a hot bath and getting ready for bed, Iruma soon turns in for the night. 

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Like always, Iruma, Az, and Clara walk to school the next morning. Once arriving in their classroom, they learn they will be spending the entire morning in their homeroom, while after lunch, it will be time for their battlers until the end of the school day. Before sitting in his usual seat, Iruma pulls the letter from his school bag and places it in Soi’s seat. Az notices the action, but when Iruma continues to their table without mentioning it, Az decides to keep quiet about it for the moment as well. 

Before the morning bell roars, each and every student of the misfit class has arrived at their homeroom class. This includes Purson Soi, who is quite surprised to find a letter envelope addressed to him from Iruma sitting right there on his desk. In his surprise, Soi quickly disappears, as well as hiding the letter away for later. 

“Silence!” comes the demanding catchphrase voice of their homeroom teacher, Professor Kalego, as he walks into the room, quieting the chatting students.

Once all his brats have taken their seats, Professor Kalego goes through the routine of taking the roll of the students present before starting their day. Before Professor Kalego could suggest his idea of having his students go outside to burn off some of their energy, he felt a surge of magic power. Pinpointing the magic surge coming from Iruma, Kalego is about to step over to the brat when Iruma lets out a scream full of pain, grabbing at his head.

“Iruma!” everyone in the room calls out at Iruma’s scream. 

All those present in the room watch in concern as Iruma falls off the desk bench, grabbing his head with one hand and his lower back with the other. Screaming in pain, Iruma’s body starts to spasm out of control, and suddenly, Kalego can smell blood. Blood that smells quite deliciously sweet that Kalego has to shake his head to keep his mind from getting stuck on the scent of blood that also smells of Iruma. 

“Iruma-sama! Professor Kalego! Iruma is bleeding. This does not look good. The blood is already seeping through his uniform and head!” Az calls out to their professor, trying to keep himself from panicking at the obviously pained state of his alpha mate.

“Alright, everyone, listen up! Jazz and Sabro keep the others away if they look like they are hungry. Clara pull out Iruma’s phone from his bag and call Opera-senpai, try to have him come alone, and without the Chairdemon, we need to help Iruma not make an even bigger scene. I will call Shichiro to come to help Iruma!” Professor Kalego calls out orders as he pulls his phone from his pocket. 

Pressing his top speed-dial number to have his phone call Shichiro, knowing the information about Iruma should stay within his pack and those who already know the situation. Within those parameters, Shichiro is the best when it comes to the human half of Iruma’s being, understands the biology of things, and is even pretty decent when it comes to healing magic. Also, when it comes to people that Kalego trusts, Shichiro is the top placeholder on that list. Shichiro holds the highest level of trust in Kalego’s mind, though he likes to keep that fact to himself for the most part. 

“Kalego-kun? Aren’t you in class right now? What is going on?” Shichiro asks as his way of answering his phone, given he knows Kalego is usually quite strict about not using his phone during one of his classes, even if it is primarily a do-as-you-want type of day. 

“Iruma seems to be spasiming in pain and bleeding for reasons that are not obvious. I need you to grab your healing kit and come to the Royal One. Something is going on, and I am not sure how to help,” Kalego says into his phone. 

“You got it. I will only be a few minutes. Try to get Iruma comfortable, or comfortable enough not to hurt himself when spasming. I will be right there,” Shichiro says before hanging up so he can gather his healing kit and start sprinting to the Royal One classroom where he is needed. 

Clara pulls Iruma’s phone out of his school bag and presses the contact to call Opera. 

“Master Iruma? What is going on?” In confusion, Opera asks, answering their phone, given that Iruma has never called them during school hours.

“Actually, this is Clara. Eggy-sensei told me to call you. Something is wrong with Iruma. Eggy-sensei wants you to come alone, given he is worried that the Chairdemon’s response to the situation may only add to the problem and not help,” Clara does her best to explain quickly.

“I will come to the Royal One in a few moments. Thank you for informing me,” Opera says before ending the call and sprinting to his ward’s classroom. 

Even though it only takes a few minutes until Opera and Professor Balam sprint through the doors of the Royal One classroom, it is long enough for Clara to pull out a sizeable fluffy futon and a bunch of pillows from her pockets. Working together, Az and Clara work to situate Iruma into the futon nest to help keep their mate from hurting himself as his body violently twitches with spasms. The rest of the misfits watch the situation, worried for their pack alpha, who is in pain and bleeding right in front of them. While each and every misfit can smell the oddly appetizing edge to their alpha’s blood, they only want to know how they could help.  

Only a few minutes after, they had been called Opera, and Professor Balam crashed through the double doors of the Royal One. Neither stop their pace until they are within a few strides of Iruma. They take in the scene in front of them with Iruma screaming in pain as blood seeps from his hands, back around the tailbone, and his head. Iruma is spasming violently on the nest of futon and pillows, obviously Clara’s work. 

“Shichiro-kun? Can you help Iruma?” Opera asks with a bit of concern leaking into their voice.

“Let me double-check what I am pretty sure is going on,” Professor Balam replies, kneeling next to Az and Clara, who are trying to keep Iruma safe and obviously concerned for their mate. 

After casting a few different appraisal spells to check on Iruma’s overall health and to see if there was anything Professor Balam could do for the boy, the biology teacher is not surprised by his findings and reports them to the concerned people in the room, “We have a bit of a good news - bad news type situation here. Iruma is not in any immediate danger; this situation is from his body being strengthened and magic swelling in his system. The blood is because of his demon appendages growing in. The bad news is there is not much we can do but wait and help after the magic is done with him.”

“He is in so much pain because, and I am guessing from the split open and bleeding sites, Iruma is growing in his horns, tails, and claws?” Opera asks Shichiro. 

“That’s correct, though it also looks like his fangs are elongating and sharpening quite a bit. Also, his magic is boosting the strength in Iruma’s very bones and muscles. Other than watching and making sure nothing changes for the worse, we can’t do much. It most certainly is painful since it is happening all at once…” Professor Balam states before being interrupted by Clara. 

“Iruma-chi should be alright? Correct?” Clara asks with worry in her voice and pleading eyes at the giant professor. 

“While I am a tiny bit worried about the amount of blood if this continues for much longer, Iruma is not in any immediate danger, Clara,” Professor Balam stated softly and truthfully to the young demoness. 

Az reflexively grabs Iruma when Iruma flails much stronger and looks like he may injure himself. At Az’s touch, Iruma’s screams of pain turn into only groans of pain, and Iruma curls around Az’s lap almost instinctually. 

“Well, the Asmodeus seems to be helping,” Professor Kalego comments blandly, even though inside, he is thankful that Iruma seems to be taking some comfort from touching Asmodeus. He is also thankful the screaming has come to a stop.  

“Good job, Az-Az,” Clara cheers softly, moving closer to her two mates.

“Why do these things always seem to happen to Iruma?” Lied asks as the rest of the misfits creep forward a bit to get closer to their alpha, who is still in pain. 

“No idea,” Opera mumbles, just loud enough to be heard.  

Other than Iruma’s groans of pain, the people in the room wait around in intense concern for a good ten minutes before anything starts to change. All of a sudden, the tension is broken a bit by a sharp, pained gasp by Iruma, which has everyone in the room looking at him so they were watching as two triangle-shaped, blood-covered, and fluffy ear-styled horns sprouted from Iruma’s head. Next, from between Iruma’s shirt and pants sprouted a long, fluffy tail. Lastly, the others notice that his fangs have elongated and sharped along with his claws doing the same. Now, with demon appendages grown in, Iruma starts to breathe a little easier even though he stays curled tightly around Az with Clara petting his shoulders, a bit too worried about all the blood to touch any of Iruma’s new appendages yet. 

“Shichiro, is the brat still relatively alright?” Kalego asks, breaking the tense quiet of the room.

Professor Balam is quick to cast another appraisal spell on the small teenager to check if there is anything he needs to be concerned with, “It looks like Iruma is going to be just fine, though he is probably going to be sore for a while, but where his appendages grew out are already slowing their bleeding. We should probably have Iruma put some healing salve on those areas to heal them up quickly.” 

“First things first I will clean up all of this blood,” Professor Kalego states before waving his hand toward Iruma. 

With a wave of Professor Kalego’s hand, all the blood that had been on Iruma himself and anything that touched the boy was perfectly clean of blood. 

“Thank you, Professor Kalego, Professor Balam, and Opera can you help me with the healing potion? I am not sure I can move my body much for a few minutes. Everything hurts at the moment,” Iruma softly groans as he continues to cling to Az while intertwining one of his hands with one of Clara’s.

Opera simply nods, takes the salve pot from Balam, and goes to Iruma. Opera is quick and discrete as he puts a layer of healing salve around his ward's new long, fluffy, blue tail and his two new pointed, fluffy, blue ear-style horns. Not letting any of his ward's skin be seen by his pack mates. 

“Kalego-kun Iruma smells more wolf-like, doesn’t he?” Opera asks. 

“Cerberion agrees with you. Iruma smells to be some sub-type of wolf-demon,” Professor Kalego states, smelling the added scent of a wolf to Iruma’s person.

“Az-Az, Iruma has cute fluffy wolf ear-horns and fluffy wolf tail! It looks so perfect for Iruma,” Clara cheers.

Chapter Text

“Cerberion agrees with you. Iruma smells to be some sub-type of wolf-demon,” Professor Kalego states, smelling the added scent of a wolf to Iruma’s person.

“Az-Az, Iruma has cute fluffy wolf ear-horns and fluffy wolf tail! It looks so perfect for Iruma,” Clara cheers.              

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“I must agree with you, Clara. I find Iruma’s new features quite dashing,” Az says in a quiet whisper. 

“What happened, and why is Iruma only growing out certain features now? That does not even cover why Iruma’s blood smells so…sweet,” Jazz asks, wondering what is going on and how Iruma could be such a late bloomer when most of the latest bloomers grow in their demon features by seven years old at the latest. 

“The latest bloomer I have ever read about was eight years old, and that was considered quite the outlier,” Schneider comments.

“Thou do seem to have some explaining to do,” Sabro states in concerned curiosity. 

Before either of his professors or guardian could try and speak up on the subject or try and poorly sweep the situation under the rug, Iruma speaks up, “I will explain everything. Even if it is not paperwork official, we all treat each other as a pack. Those in this room are the people I trust the most, along with Grandpa, of course. No matter what, you all deserve the truth, at least the major parts.” 

“Are you sure that is wise, Master Iruma? You do realize the more people who know, the more danger you are in,” Opera points out in concern.

“I understand the consequences better than anyone, but I trust my friends who have stood by me so far, even with all the oddities that have been brought onto them because of me. Also, if they try to figure out my secrets on their own, things could get messy fast, and we all know it,” Iruma says, though obviously worn out by everything. 

“That’s the truth; no way these brats would sit curiously for long. They would try to figure out answers and make a huge mess of everything,” Professor Kalego growls out, annoyed and eyeing his idiotic students. 

“It is Iruma’s life that is on the line, so let's let him do as he sees fit,” Professor Balam says with a shrug.

“Az, Clara, can you help me sit up, and can someone make sure what I say or do next will not be overheard by others outside this classroom,” Iruma says to those in the room.

The room grew tense with curiosity and sad wonder at the serious tone their Pack Alpha had adopted at that moment. The misfits are much more used to their Alpha being happy and trying to make those close to him happy as well. The misfits watch as somehow pulls a whole armchair out of one of her pockets Az carefully sets his alpha mate into the armchair. As the misfits come to stand and sit around in front of Iruman’s chair, Professor Kalego casts a privacy spell over the entire classroom.

“The classroom is secure, Iruma,” Professor Kalego states as he, Professor Balam, and Opera stand behind the group of curious students.

“What is going on?” Lied asks, not liking the tense atmosphere.

“I guess I will start with what just happened and why my blood is so enticing,” Iruma states with a sigh, “You are all correct that it is very weird to be such a late bloomer, as you put it. I found out recently that I had a strong spell put on me when I was still a toddler that held my demon magic caged within my body. About a week ago, a situation arose that broke the barrier and let me remember many hidden memories and merge fully with my demon magic.”

“Wait, if your demon magic was caged from you, how did you grow up?!” Kerori asks in surprise.

“Until that incident about a week ago, I thought I was fully human. And after the incident, I understood that I am actually a demi-demon. Though I was adopted by Lord Sullivan when he discovered this fact when my adoptive parents in the human realm tried to sell me to him when Lord Sullivan tried to stop them from continuing to try and summon demons,” Iruma tells his friends, shrugging. 

“What!!” The entire misfit class cries out in shock and surprise. 

“You are half-human and half-demon. Lord Sullivan adopted you from parents who wanted to sell you, and you got through almost an entire semester of school all thinking you were a human?” Jazz asks with wide eyes.

“That is correct. For all purposes, I was pretty much human, though Grandpa did take some precautions,” Iruma replied.  

“You have stated an incident that changed things. What was the incident, alpha?” Agares asks with a yawn.

“That situation, well, as I am sure some of you had heard about Professor Balam’s cuddling habit. Professor Balam was cuddling me and others during a lecture the day after we were told about the exam. Long story short, Professor Balam panicked when he could not find wings or even wing roots on me,” Iruma says. 

“How could he not feel anything?” Sabro asks in a rare, soft voice. 

Getting tired of talking about things that he rather ignore, Iruma slowly turns around in the chair to turn his back to his pack. Whispering softly to Clara, Iruma directs her to lift the back of his uniform to show the others in the room what the situation was. Each of the misfits gets a good look at their Pack Alpha’s back. 

Each and every misfit gasped at the painful evidence right in front of their face. Their Pack Alpha, who cares for them and helps them use their magic and uniqueness as their strength, raised his own rank to Gimmel (3) while still thinking he was human. Their Pack Alpha, their Iruma, has a back that is full of horrid scaring. However, the worst of the scarring is huge scars right in the middle of his back where his wing roots should have been.

“You're Clipped. How have you survived grounded Alpha Iruma?” Elizabetta asks as she comes forward and envelopes Iruma into a warm sisterly hug, putting her pack alpha’s shirt back down to cover his skin back up.

“Well, I think Grandpa did something so that I could survive the flying race. Though other than that one race, I have been able to transverse any other activities that need flying ability by the power of awkwardness,” Iruma says with a shrug, even while still in Elizabetta’s warm hug.  

“Actually, I asked Lord Sullivan the other day when the same question came to my mind. On that day, your grandfather secretly added a bit of a potion to your scent-covering perfume. The potion was made so birds would want to keep you safe like you were a baby bird or other animal,” Opera states in a monotone voice. 

“That does explain a few things, but never mind,” Iruma waves off. 

“Let's leave more questions for later. We can all learn about each other slowly. Though I must admit, I find you even more impressive and worthy to be our leader and alpha. Don’t worry, other than maybe helping you fly around every so often, this information changes nothing,” Jazz states as all the misfits try to stuff down their sadness at learning that something so precious was stolen from the pack’s alpha. 

“Thank you, Jazz,” Iruma says as Elizabetta’s releases him into Clara’s waiting hug. 

“Can each and every one of you understand the danger Iruma is in and why this information needs to be kept secret?” Professor Kalego asks his students. 

“We promise your secrets are safe with us!” Calls out each and every one of the misfits with pride and determination in their voices. 

“Thank you all. I knew I put my trust in the right demons,” Iruma smiles at his class of misfits with a smile so soft it melts the misfits like a shining sun.

Chapter Text

“We promise your secrets are safe with us!” Calls out each and every one of the misfits with pride and determination in their voices. 

“Thank you all. I knew I put my trust in the right demons,” Iruma smiles at his class of misfits with a smile so soft it melts the misfits like a shining sun.

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Once things calmed down, Iruma’s horn and tail bases were checked for any chance of bleeding and was given a clean bill of health other than a bit tired out; all the misfits were sent off to get some lunch. This leaves Professor Kalego, Professor Balam, and Opera alone in the Royal One classroom.

“I still need to figure out what needs to be changed to accommodate the brat not being able to fly—also, everything he needs to learn in tutoring. Ugh,” Professor Kalego groans at all the work.

“It is probably best that Lord Sullivan made you Master Iruma’s professor because while you now know the kid can’t fly, you won’t baby him for his difference,” Opera states calmly, twitching tail behind him.

“Of course not! That damned brat needs even more education because of his differences! Also, that brat is the misfit pack alpha that should be enough of an explanation!” Professor Kalego growled in annoyance. 

Professor Balam chuckled at his ally’s, or using Iruma’s word friend’s, antics. While most of the students of Babyls found Kalego to be scary and uncaring, the misfit class seems to be able to handle the professor, and the professor is one of the only ones who can truly push the misfits, sometimes a bit too much, but that is a different issue.

“Since we are all here, Lord Sullivan wanted Shichiro-kun to be Master Iruma’s healer and keeper of medical records unless absolutely necessary to get someone else involved. We all think it is best to keep Master Iruma’s secrets within our close circle. Do you have a problem with this responsibility, Shichiro-kun?” Opera asks his junior.

“Of course, though, I should probably start asking more about what Iruma knows about humans and himself so far in his life. There is a lot we do not know about Demi-Demons as a whole other than the appraisal spells I used just a while ago on him, and whatever the chairdemon has done is all the internal information we have so far,” Professor Balam says, starting to think out loud. 

“I am sure the boy would like to spend time talking about things with you, and even more so since you can answer questions more easily that way,” Opera comments.

Professor Kalego could see even from a few feet away that his long-time ally, Shichiro, looked to have been pulled into his mind with curiosity questions about his favorite research subject. The soft, thoughtful expression on his ally’s face has been a constant since they were both in school. No matter how big Shichiro has grown, that soft, thoughtful expression will always be cute to Kalego, not like he was about to admit that to his ally.

Professor Kalego is thankfully quick to escape Opera while telling Shichiro that they should go have their own lunches before going to work on end-of-term paperwork. 

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In the back corner of the first-year cafeteria, the misfit pack eats their lunches around the same table. Even as most of his focus is on the scrumptious food that the school chefs made up for lunch, Iruma could still tell that his pack was trying their best to act normal but was failing in the eyes of their alpha. Pausing in his devouring of multiple plates, Iruma turns to his friends and pack members to speak. 

“I know what I told you was heavy and depressing, but stop worrying so much about my history or what you don’t know. The important thing is that since living with Grandpa and becoming close to all of you, my life has been amazing, and I am happy, so please perk up,” Iruma says happily with a soft and even a bit goofy smile to his friends.

The reassurance did not fix all of the misfits' moods but definitely helped get the students back in the mood to mess around and chat with each other again, which was all Iruma could ask for at the moment. Iruma is happy that by the end of their lunchtime, the misfits are acting more themselves and messing around with each other. This is how Iruma and his two mates left them to go to their battler room for the afternoon. 

“Alright, the love trio is gone let's find somewhere private to talk,” Jazz states to the rest of the misfit pack. 

Thanks to the fact they are the misfits, they actually have a few different hideaways to pick from, but they end up in Jazz’s hidden bunker room of sorts. The rest of the misfits politely ignore the stacks of shiny trinkets that line one of the walls of the bunker room. The misfits all collapse onto the pillows and cushions that are piled in the middle of the room until they are seated in a circle facing each other. 

“How could any adult rip out a child’s wings? Human or demon, I thought both species were supposed to care for and protect their children,” Goemon states out loud what they are all thinking. 

“From the way, Iruma-kun and the professors were acting, I think this is one of those there will always be evil and bad apples no matter what the rest of the species believe moments,” Kerori points out. 

“I regret to say I never thought to ask why Iruma-kun was riding the valley guardian’s child when they rescued me or why he never even thought to use his own wings in the flying race. I just thought that he was worn out himself,” Sabro groaned out of his own thoughts. 

“It’s not like Iruma-kun was going to wave that fact around with people he literally just met that day,” Elizabetta commented. 

“I am both incredibly sad and impressed that our Iruma-kun was able to gain so much rank and skill without even his full powers available to him. Iruma-kun also has so much baggage he has to carry and still is the brightest spot of sunshine in our pack,” Lied states.

“I think everything will work out as long as we keep being his friends and pack,” Elizabetta adds. 

“Did anyone else notice that Iruma-kun said that his own parents sold him to Lord Sullivan? Is it just me, or is the only reason Iruma is safe and happy because Lord Sullivan is so eccentric and wanted a grand-kid so much?” Jazz asks the rest of his pack. 

“We caught that fact too, but I have no idea how bad his parents had to be to try and sell their own child,” Kamui comments. 

“How can Iruma-kun sleep with so much baggage?” Agares asks in his sleepy voice. 

“Surviving trauma is such a difficult subject to understand because each individual handles it differently,” Schneider states. 

“It looks like Asmodeus and Clara-chan are taking even better care of Iruma than normal the last few days, and now we know why. They were probably told right after the Professor Balam incident,” Elizabetta comments. 

“I want to help protect Iruma-kun, but we are of the same rank, and he has proven over and over again that he can take on anything that comes at him or us. Hell, Iruma-kun is the one that pulls us all together to prove time and again that while we are misfits, that only means we can make what others believe is impossible become possible,” Jazz groans in frustration even though his heart is happy about how their pack alpha treats them. 

While the rest of the misfits continue their chat to ensure they are all on the same page and talk to each other about the new information they have just found out, Iruma, Az, and Clara are hanging out in their batter room, which only holds themselves. Their battler’s annoying senior is nowhere to be seen, though none of the three cared much other than being glad they do not have to keep an eye on the senior at the moment.

“Your new horns are so cute, Iruma-chi,” Clara cheers out as she tackles Iruma much more carefully than normal and uses a soft hand to touch her alpha mate’s new fluffy ear horns. 

To the surprise of all three of them, Iruma lets out a moan that is obviously not a sound of pain. Az and Clara froze at the sound that came out of Iruma’s mouth as Iruma slapped a hand over his mouth in surprise at the sound he had just made. Iruma can not believe the sound that just slipped out of his mouth. While Iruma is not totally innocent when it comes to information about others when it comes to sex and what goes around that subject, it is mostly bad knowledge but also a bit of good knowledge. Iruma’s entire life has mostly been about survival, and his little time to himself did not go towards things such as exploring self-pleasure. Before, Az and Clara Iruma never really thought about romance outside of books. Even with so little personal experience in the matter, Iruma could tell that his moan came from sexual pleasure. 

“Well, that was unexpected. When Nee-san and Opera touched my new ear-horns, all I felt was the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from a hug from one of them. Still, w-when you t-touched them, Clara, it f-felt, w-well r-really p-pleasurable,” Iruma says, both curious by the reaction and insanely embarrassed by the out-of-nowhere pleasured moan that came out of his mouth. 

“That was a fun sound, Iruma-chi!” Clara cheered with a giggle. 

“I would like to hear the sound again if possible, Iruma-sama,” Az agreed with a soft smile at his alpha mate as he scooted closer to grab one of Iruma’s hands and intertwine their fingers together. 

“If it’s you two, I don’t mind starting to move forward romantically,” Iruma says even as his cheeks become even redder than before. 

“If romance is good, how about we exchange smooches? I want kisses from Iruma-chi and Az-Az!” Clara says with a happy and slightly sly smile as she pulls her mates closer to her body in a snug group hug. 

“Lovely idea, Clara. How do some kisses sound, Az?” Iruma asks, even as his cheeks show that while he wanted to participate in the idea, it did not mean all his bashfulness was swept away. 

“I would love to share kisses with both of you, but I must admit a bit of background before we continue. Is that alright with you two?” Az asks his two mates, nervous about the information he is about to give even though he trusts these two no matter what. Even if Clara can be frustrating sometimes, he knows she will never betray him. 

“Of course, you can tell us anything, Az,” Iruma states quickly and seriously, noticing Az’s stiffing at mentioning that he had to tell them something from his background. 

“As you both know, my mother is the Head of Lust and part of the 13 Crowns. She is a succubus-type demon, meaning 50% of my genetics comes from her. I must admit that I don’t know my father, and my mother has never given an explanation or excuse for his absence. However, I do know that I have enough succubus in my blood to make me an incubus. This means…” Az is shaking in anxiety and distaste for how his kind is seen and does not want to be lumped in with the stereotypes.

“Az-Az, you don’t have to tell us. You look angry and sad,” Clara points out in concern.

“It is just Clara and I. We will never judge you, Az,” Iruma says. 

“I have hidden my true Bloodline-magic and let others believe that the fire magic that myself and many in my family are so compatible with and excel at the use of is my Bloodline-magic,” Az says, sounding like it is causing him pain to speak the words he is forcing out of his own mouth.

“Not everyone likes to show off their Bloodline-magic, or at least certain elements of their Bloodline-magic, so why are you so sad, Az-Az?” Clara asks with caring concern.

“I am pretty sure that most people have secrets that they don’t want to share with others even if they trust them,” Iruma wanted Az to know that neither himself nor Clara was disappointed in him for not sharing his Bloodline-magic until now.

“Before now, my Bloodline-magic was not necessary for you two to know. Though before I even get or give a kiss to either of you, I must tell you. You two deserve to know. My Bloodline-magic is called “Lust Empowerment”: its main power is that it allows me to take in sexual fluid or sexual pleasure of a partner or partners into energy, power, and or magic. This power boost is for a limited amount of time, depending on my skill level. Basically, if the action is physically romantic or sexual to my partner, it can give me power, though also, if necessary, I can use this power to drain energy both from willing participants/donors or unwilling ones in an emergency or necessary situations,” Az says no longer looking into the eyes of his mates, “You see I won’t just get pleasure from whatever we do, but it will give me power as well.” 

“I am sorry, Az, but I am not sure why your Bloodline-magic is so bad that you feel bad about telling us this. I can see why you might not want everyone in the whole school to know this, but just with us, it does not sound so bad,” Iruma states softly, in both confusion and concern for Az. 

“Iruma-chi, I think it is because of the way many demons think. We are known as a culture to use our power and skills to get ahead in all manners of life. Az-Az is worried because he gets power and strength out of action, and the two of us won’t gain the same rewards. Others may stupidly think that Az-Az wants to use his Bloodline-magic to take power from us and grow himself. However, I must say, Az-Az, that is a very silly worry with Iruma-chi and I. We love you because Az-Az is Az-Az, not because of power dynamics,” Clara says softly, booping Az on the nose to try and get him to look at them again.

“When put that way, I can see why Az would be worried about it. Though I must say, I agree with Clara that your Bloodline-magic does not matter when it comes to our feelings for you. We love you, and that is that the magic or power you gain will only help you grow strong, which is not bad,” Iruma says.

Chapter Text

“When put that way, I can see why Az would be worried about it. Though I must say, I agree with Clara that your Bloodline-magic does not matter when it comes to our feelings for you. We love you, and that is that the magic or power you gain will only help you grow strong, which is not bad,” Iruma says. 

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Az is surprised by how well both of his mates take his confession, though he probably should have remembered who he was talking to. Neither of his mates cares for many of the norms of demon society. The only reason they are concerned at all is because Az felt bad about it. Before Az can think to say more about the subject, Clara speaks up again, this time with a bright smile. 

“Now, can we kiss you, Az-Az?!” Clara asks, practically vibrating with happiness and anticipation. 

“Yes…” Az says.  

The moment Az spoke the word of consent, he found himself tackled by a happy Clara, who landed on top of him, laying him out flat on the floor of the battler room. Next thing he knows, his lips and the rest of his face are being peppered with sweet pecking kisses by the greenette in his arms.

“Ha ha ha, that tickles Clara. Do you want to try a different kind of kissing?” Az asks, letting his arms hug Clara close to his chest. 

“I don’t know how to do the soft kisses in the cute romance books,” Clara says, a bit bashful at her lack of knowledge. 

“That is why I said try. I have the theoretical knowledge from my family's education and training. Thankfully, I got my mother to teach me theoretically and not with practice, which would have started when I entered school if I had allowed it. This will be my first time tying it on anything other than a pillow,” Az answers bashfully. 

“It is romantic that we a get to learn together,” Iruma says from his spot lying down next to where Clara had tackled Az, facing his two mates with a soft smile on his face. 

Az’s cheeks redden a bit more at the soft attention from his alpha mate, but it does not stop him from slowly moving his head to be able to slot his lips perfectly against Clara’s for a slow kiss as he moves his lips softly and slowly against Clara’s. For once, Az is given a private showing of how adaptable Clara can be when she wants something. It takes a few tries to figure out, but Clara and Az soon enjoy exploring each other's mouths as they make out. Az and Clara are soon gasping for air. When Iruma thinks that Az has caught his breath for the most part, Iruma leans over Az and under Clara to place his lips onto Az’s. Az feels his heart warm after Clara kisses the stuffing out of him; he soon finds himself being kissed by Iruma on the lips even as Clara is still lying on him. Not only is this the first time Az has gotten kissed, but it is also the first time he feels the power he is granted from the actions of his Bloodline-magic. Az was surprised by just how much power the lovely kisses from his mates granted him. 

“Now my turn for Iruma kisses,” Clara says as Iruma pulls back from Az to catch his breath. 

Iruma soon finds himself with his arms full of Clara as she tackles him back onto his back and presses her lips against Iruma’s. While Iruma and Clara make out beside him, Az is so glad that he only feels attracted as he watches his two mates kissing each other only inches from him. Even as Clara and Iruma make out with each other next to him, Az scoots even closer to his two mates before using one of his hands to softly play with Iruma’s new ear-horns while he weaves the fingers of his other hand gently into Clara’s green hair. At Az’s touch, Iruma and Clara moan into each other's mouths as the extra set of pleasure radiates through them. Az notices that just the pleasure Iruma and Clara are feeling is coming off of the both of them in soft waves and being sucked in by his Bloodline-magic, making Az feel quite strong even after such an emotionally draining morning. It is getting closer to the end of the school day. 

“I am so glad you two were my first kiss,” Iruma says with a bashful blush at his two mates.

“Me too!” Clara cheers where she is lying across both Iruma’s and Az’s laps. 

“You were my first kisses as well, and I am honored to have been the first for you two as well,” Az says with a soft smile. 

Iruma, Az, and Clara spend the rest of the school day cuddling in their battler room before they head for the Sullivan manor on foot. When the three arrive at the Sullivan manor, they are met by an over-excited Lord Sullivan, who grabs Iruma in a twirling hug and gushes at Iruma’s new demonic features. 

“Welcome home, Master Iruma, and welcome Asmodeus and Valac,” Opera says as they carefully rescue their ward from their master’s dizzying hug.

“Thank you, Opera-san,” Az says. 

“Hi, Opera!” Clara cheers with a wave. 

“If you three would like, I have a fun project I set up in the backyard that I think you all will find interesting,” Opera states to the teenagers. 

“Oh, what did you make?” Iruma asks Opera as the group starts to walk around through the Sullivan manor to reach the backyard the quickest way. 

“Well, after your features grew out, I figured it would be best to help you get used to your new strength and magic in a safe place that is made for is outside of school. After remembering how we just had the yard for training for execution cannonball, I thought I would do some renovating to give us a secure place for exercise and training now that you are quickly growing stronger from your demon half,” Opera explains. 

The group is soon shown out the back door and into the backyard of the manor. The eyes of the three teenagers eyes go wide as they take in the new additions to the left half of the backyard. While the right side is made up of a huge garden, the left has been mostly empty space until now. Now, most of the left half of the backyard is filled with a few different things: a large running track, what looks to be an extreme obstacle course, and a target practice area. The new area has been transformed into an impressive outdoor training area. 

“Wow, this is amazing Opera. You made all of this?” Iruma asks, looking around amazed.

“Yes, I believe this will help you in many ways, Master Iruma. You are already pretty high energy, and now you will have even more energy, and your body will gain strength in bone, muscles, and magic. You will be able to train or even just burn off energy and exercise,” Opera says. 

“Thank you so much, Opera. I think this will help a lot, especially since so many changes are happening so fast. My body will not be able to keep up with my previous skills and gain new ones without work,” Iruma says, agreeing with Opera’s points. 

“Opera-kun made you a fun place to play, my sweet grandson. Your Asmodeus and Valac are more than welcome to use it with you whenever they wish!” Lord Sullivan cheers in his cute egg form. 

“Yay, new game stuff to play on!” Clara cheers, jumping onto Az’s back. 

“Exercise and training, Clara! Not a game!” Az tries to scold Clara even as he makes sure she does not fall as she jumps around on his back. 

“Actually, as long as she is just running around the track or doing the obstacle course, she can get some of her energy out,” Iruma says while chuckling a bit. 

“Yay, Iruma says I can play!” Clara cheers as she jumps off of Az to start running around the new running track. 

Iruma and Az watch Clara with amused smiles as she runs around, giggling happily.

“After how harsh your features growing in was, I don’t think you should start training using this until tomorrow, but I wanted to show it to you, Master Iruma,” Opera says. 

“I would have to agree while normal actions are not bad, I have to admit that I am a bit sore,” Iruma replies.  

“Then why do you smell even more like your Asmodeous and Clara than normal, and that is saying something?” Opera asks with an amused flicker of their ears.

“Um…I have no idea what you are referring to…” Iruma states with red cheeks and looking anywhere but in his guardians' direction. 

“As long as you three are careful with each other, there is not a problem,” Sullivan says with a hearty chuckle as Opera nods their head along with their lord’s words.

“Anyways, can Az and Clara stay for dinner?” Iruma asks his guardians both because he wants more time with his mates and to change the subject.

“Of course!” Sullivan quickly agreed to his grandson’s request. 

Chapter Text

“Anyways, can Az and Clara stay for dinner?” Iruma asks his guardians both because he wants more time with his mates and to change the subject.

“Of course!” Sullivan quickly agreed to his grandson’s request. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The evening was spent with everyone having a great meal together before playing some video games together before Az and Clara had to go to their own homes for the night. After his mates had left for their own homes, Opera popped into Iruma’s bedroom to see how his ward was doing. Opera finds Iruma sitting on his bed reading a book. 

“How are you doing?” Opera asks from the door. 

“Um…actually, I have been reading some of the books you have given me, but some things seem to be mentioned that are not detailed or are glossed over. I unfortunately only have some bad sexual education from things I saw in the human realm and a bit of fictional romance book knowledge, but not many concrete or healthy facts even from the human realm, and nothing in the demon realm. Do we have any beginner books on that subject?” Iruma asks with red cheeks and looking everywhere but at Opera. 

“That is important information to have as an individual with mates; that's even before you get too far into things as a pack alpha. Though we do not have any factually informative books on the subject, I know someone who can put one together for you. Whether fortunate or unfortunate for you, neither myself nor Lord Sullivan have much knowledge in the subject, so we can’t really give you the ‘talk,’ so to speak,” Opera states with a shrug at his uncomfortable ward. 

Opera left his embarrassed ward to calm himself down. With their heightened hearing, they can hear Iruma grumbling to himself that a little, or a lot, of embarrassment, is nothing compared to educating himself for the safety of his mates and pack. The embarrassed, grumbled words have Opera almost smiling at their ward’s willingness to protect his pack members. Opera takes themselves back to their own bedroom before pulling out their hell phone to call the only person they knew they could trust with educating their kit and had the knowledge to do so. 

“Opera-senpai, how are you?” Shichiro asks, answering his phone. 

“I was hoping you would do me a favor, Shichiro-kun,” Opera states. 

“What can I do for you?” Shichiro asks, wondering what his senpai might need. 

“Iruma bashfully asks me a biology-type question that I do not have the comprehensive knowledge or experience to answer fully,” Opera states before continuing, “It seems we all forgot that no one has gotten around to giving Iruma a sexual health education, which he correctly, and embarrassingly pointed out this evening is important given he now has mates and a whole pack to be in charge of.” 

“Um…ya, that is normally a family member type discussion before a kid reaches double digits or as late as right before teenage years. Given Iruma’s situation, I can see how that probably never happened. …you and Lord Sullivan aren’t the best people to give that information. I should be able to handle it if I only have to make a book for him to read and only answer a question here or there, though giving the whole talk myself would probably not go very well,” Shichiro says, sounding shyer and shyer as he spoke.

“That should be more than enough. Just add in anything you can think of along the lines of personal, mates, and pack education. I think the only other member of the misfit class that probably has a full ‘factual’ education in that area is Asmodeus, and that would not be fair,” Opera states in their monotoned voice. 

“No, it would not. I will start working on making a book for Iruma-kun now. I will try to get this done as soon as possible,” Shichiro says, still shy. 

“Thank you, Shichiro-kun,” Opera says before hanging up on his junior.

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The following day, the moment Professor Kalego starts the class, he gets right to the first task of the class for the day, “Alright, now I will be returning your exam.” 

“Please wait!” Cries out Lied, Jazz, Goemon, Kamui, Agares, and Elizabetta. 

“You gotta have time for us to prepare mentally!!” Jazz cries out. 

“We don’t want extra classes!!” Cries Goemon. 

“Give us time to Pray also!!” Cries Elizabetta. 

“The results are…” Professor Kalego continues ignoring the loud, panicked students. 

“Wait a moment!” Lied cries out at Professor Kalego, who continues speaking over them. 

“Unfortunately, the person who has gotten bad grades and will have to take supplementary lessons in this final exam is…no one,” Professor Kalego says with grumbled annoyance. 

“We did it!!!” cries the entire misfit pack, celebrating their success. 

“Everybody's safe!” cheers Jazz. 

“We can play now!” Goemon celebrates. 

“We did it Iruma-sama!” Az smiles with bright pride at Iruma. 

“Yeah!” Iruma replies with a bright smile and eyes. 

Az watches over Iruma as he goes and starts to text his grandpa, Opera, and Professor Balam with the good news about the good news. 

“Silence!! Also, you three over there. Line up over here!!!” Professor Kalego yells at Lied, Goemon, and Kamui, who freeze mid-celebration. 

Stepping up to their professor nervously, Professor Kalego begins to speak again, “Anyone at rank 1 ‘Aleph’ who got higher than average will be promoted to rank 2 ‘Beth’.”

“Really?!” the three are now practically shining with shocked pride. 

“And Allocer is promoted to rank 3 ‘Gimel’ from rank 1 ‘Aleph’ for getting the highest score in the year,” Professor Kalego continued. 

“Everyone did so great!” Iruma gushed with pride to Az. 

“Yes! As expected of you, Iruma-sama!!” Az replies to his mate. 

“Huh?!” Iruma asked, surprised by Az’s words.

Az continues his explanation, seeing his mate’s confusion, “To be truthful, I used to think that those who easily lose motivation wouldn’t get any better than bad grades. Everyone was affected by Iruma-sama’s studying spirit, and then all picked up their pens to study themselves afterward. You have the talent to change the people around you.”

As Iruma softly thinks over Az’s words, looking over his excited pack, Az cries, ‘And that is also a quality of a true king!’ but only in his mind with so much pride for his mate. Iruma watches his pack members gushing over different things they want to do over the summer vacation. 

Professor Kalego steps up to stand beside Iruma before speaking, “This time, you have improved the most. Though a rank up is still very far away…”  

“I’m going outside for a bit!” Iruma calls out quickly as he runs out of the classroom, with Az’s surprised voice calling out from behind as he watches Iruma runoff.  

Iruma ran outside and headed toward Professor Balam to tell him the good news about the exam since the caring giant helped so much with his studying. As he turns a corner around a building, he runs straight into the giant muscle-bound professor that Iruma had to go to see. Looking up at the giant, professor Iruma is shocked to realize that Professor Balam is sporting a new very short haircut. 

“Your hair! You cut it short,” Iruma says wide-eyed. 

“I thought to try something different for a change. More importantly, how was your exam score?” Professor Balam asks Iruma, a bit shy from the attention his haircut was getting.

Iruma happily shows Professor Balam his score sheet, which shows his ranking of 81/163 within the year 1 rankings. 

“It’s right in the middle!” Professor Balam says with excited pride at his student. 

“Yes, right in the middle!” Iruma cheers with his excited professor. 

Professor Balam grabs Iruma excitedly and spins the boy around in circles by his arms, though still very careful not to injure the boy in his excitement, “That’s amazing! It’s a massive improvement!” 

“You helped a lot with my studying, Professor Balam,” Iruma chirps as he is carefully set back on the ground. 

“It is because of your own ability to stay motivated and determined to learn. I bet your family will be happy with the news,” Professor Balam proudly states. 

“Yes. I’ve been getting many messages already from Grandpa and Opera,” Iruma admits, looking at the cute messages on his phone.

“Now. This is my present to you,” Professor Balam says as he holds out a cute fat demon flower to the boy. 

Iruma squeals in a slight panic, backing away from the flower. 

“What’s the matter?” Professor Balam asks. 

“Isn’t that a Salamander Flower? You know, the one that, when it blooms, will spit fire,” Iruma asks worriedly. 

“That’s correct! Your achievements are showing! The knowledge that you gained from this exam will definitely be helpful when protecting yourself! You have grown a lot. Don’t worry. I’ve already disabled this little guy’s ignition mechanism, so it should be fine. Learning by influencing and improving each other that is a privilege for living beings. You’ve said it already that you yourself have changed. Therefore, I’ll not only try to approach others but also to let others approach myself,” Professor Balam says.                   

“Thank you, Professor Balam,” Iruma says, giving the giant professor a large, sweet smile.

“Also, one last thing before you run off back to class. Opera asked me to make this for you to study with; you don’t need to read it until you get back home,” Professor Balam says shyly, handing Iruma a picture book. 

Iruma figured out why Professor Balam suddenly got shy when he looked at the title of the picture book he was handed, which reads ‘The Biology of Mates and Romance.’ Iruma quickly gives the professor a nod of thanks before running off to hide the book in his school bag.

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A few minutes later, as Professor Balam walks through the academy halls to return to his office, he hears his name being called from behind him. 

“Shichiro!!” 

Turning around, Professor Balam smiles at the man who called his name, “Kalego-kun.” 

“You…That hairstyle…wait a moment…” Professor Kalego is shacking in an effort to keep from laughing at his closest ally’s new hairstyle.

“Kalego-kun, you’ve been like that since long ago, having to repress your entire body intensely every time you laugh,” Professor Balam states with amusement. 

“Anyways, it’s good that you are more confident than before. After all, you are one of the most unique here in Babyls, Rivaling me. Both within rank 8 ‘Cheth’,” Kalego states with a smirk.

Gargoyle - ‘White Crow Guardian’: Balam Shichiro  

• Rank 8 - ‘Cheth’ 
• Balam Bloodline Magic: Chime of Deception “Buzzer” 
• “Buzzer”: Is able to detect lies and wrongdoings of the observed target instantly.  

“On the exam date, the trick of making magic covers the entire school like the surface of water… Only you were able to do it. Within this school, there must be no one you can’t manage…” Professor Kalego states. 

“This time, there was one student that I completely could not explain what he did at all,” Professor Balam freely admits to Professor Kalego’s surprise and continues to say, “and because of that, living beings are just so interesting…”

“Gotta say, that hair of yours is frightening in a completely different way now…” Professor Kalego states with an amused chuckle at his ally. 

“Eh?” Professor Balam replies. 

[An just like that, the exams have ended…Not in a totally smooth manner]

Iruma, Az, and Clara are having their own little private celebration during lunch in their battler room when Iruma notices that they are technically down a battler member and speaks up. 

“Umm, where’s Shineru-senpai?” Iruma asks. 

“He used an intelligence serum on the exam and got caught in a spectacular manner, and now he’s pulling his hairs out in supplementary lessons hell,” Az answers with a smirk at the stupidity of their battler’s so-called senpai. 

Chapter Text

“Alright!” Ameri states as she looks over the tea and snacks she set up in the room that she and Iruma have been using as their reading room. 

‘It’s time to relax with this reading session after the exam… Since I couldn’t contact him during the exam, I have called him here all of a sudden…’ Ameri thinks to herself as she double-checks that she looks put together.

“I’ve also even bought this tea that is rumored to have relaxation effects. This will surely make Iruma happy…” Ameri says to herself before she hears the door click and turns, “You have finally come, Iru…ma…”

Though Ameri is surprised not to see Iruma in the doorway but finds Clara standing there instead, Ameri is now quite confused to find Clara in the doorway. 

‘This is…What is going on…?’ Ameri asks in her head. 

“Iruma-chi’s not coming!!” Clara declares. 

“Huh?!” Amera exclaims in surprise, “What do you mean he’s not coming!?”

“Because the boys are having a party with each other!!” Clara declares, “I’m here to relay the message, ‘I’m busy right now, gonna contact you later.’” 

Ameri quickly checks her phone to find an apology message from Iruma saying close to the same thing that Clara just told her. 

“You’re coming with me, Lady Red-Hair!” Clara cheers all of a sudden, pulling Ameri all the way to the Magical Artifact Research battler room. 

Ameri soon finds herself sitting on the floor around a short round table that is now filled with tea and snacks, along with Clara, Elizabetta, and Kerori. 

“That’s the student council president…Isn’t it? W-why!?” Kerori squeaks in surprise. 

“It’s a girl group!! A relaxing break,” Clara cheers. 

“That’s Great! It would be unfair for only the boys to have something like this! Let’s introduce ourselves!” Elizabetta gushes to Ameri and Kerori’s surprise.

“I am Valac Clara!” Clara vigorously shouts.

“I’m Ix Elizabetta,” Elizabetta gushes sweetly. 

“Crocell Kerori,” Kerori says, simply a bit nervous. 

“I am the student council president, Azazel Ameri,” Ameri says, figuring going with the flow was for the best.

‘Why am I even here…They even opened the tea that I prepared…’ Ameri thinks. 

“Umm…What are we supposed to do in this girl group…?” Kerori speaks up a bit nervously.

“Obviously love!” Elizabetta speaks up cheerfully. 

“Love!!” Ameri and Kerori repeat in surprise. 

“Yes. Doesn’t everyone have someone that they’re interested in? Or at least has traits they are attracted to,” Elizabetta states to the rest of the girls around the table. 

“Interested in?” Clara questions. 

“The person or people that you like,” Elizabetta states more simply. 

“Yes, I like Iruma-chi and Az-Az!!” Clara cheers. 

Ameri is surprised, but it also makes sense, given how close those three are. 

“It’s true that Iruma-kun was very charming during his wicked phase. How wonderful,” Elizabetta giggles. 

“I don’t really know…I only feel that he’s very reliable…” Kerori states as Elizabetta looks over at her. 

‘I don’t really know either! If the boys smiled at me, then doesn’t that mean that they like me!?’ Kerori thinks to herself. (No need to be active. Occupation: Famous Akudol) 

The girls spend a while trying to figure out different traits they like, what they think about getting mated, and what age is the best—basically arguing light-heartedly, though intensely, until they all collapse a bit exhausted. Ameri also learns that Clara has actually found out that she is soul-mated with Iruma and Asmodeus. Ameri is a bit disappointed but also happy for Iruma, who she figures needs the stability of having mates so early on.   

“I did not expect that Kerorin would speak that much,” Clara says with a bright smile to a slightly annoyed Kerori. 

“I also thought that president-san would be someone terrifying,” Elizabetta comments. 

“Ah…you can just call me Ameri…though only when I’m not on duty…okay!” Ameri states to the other girls. 

“Ame-chan!” Elizabetta cheers. 

“Lady Red-Hair,” Clara gives Ameri a thumbs up.

“Ameri-san!” Kerori adds in. 

“That’s fast! You all are so quick to adapt!” Ameri states. 

“Let’s exchange contact information. There’s something enjoyable in all of this, right!” Elizabetta giggles happily. 

‘...Yeah!” Ameri happily thinks as she exchanges contact information with the three girls from the misfit class and pack. 

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Professor Kalego has not been so angry and annoyed since the last time Chairdemon Sullivan had one of his ridiculous ideas. The other professors stay back from the suffocating, angry aura seeping out of the pissed-off Naberius Guard Dog. 

“Ha ha ha. Now, don’t just be showing off that ‘I don’t wanna’ face,” Sullivan chuckles at the pissed-off Guard Dog in front of him. 

“Hey, Professor Kalego, I want you to make a home visit for each of your students in your homeroom class!” Sullivan says with a mischievous smile on his lips.

“That idiot of a principal!! What’s with all this ‘final consultation before the Final Day,’ It’s definitely not going to be as simple as you think!!” Kalego growls aloud as he flies to the first student’s home. 

However, due to the strict relationship between lower-ranked and higher-ranked demons, there’s no way Kalego could refuse, given that Chairdemon Sullivan is of higher rank than himself. 

“I will have to make it seem serious and leave immediately after I give my reports to the brats’ guardians,” Kalego growls as he angrily flies even faster to get this task out of the way.     

Kalego’s first stop is the Asmodeus Mansion, where he presses the doorbell. 

“Welcome, and thank you for your visit! Sir. Kalego,” Az speaks with his family’s security devil, David, standing behind him. 

Professor finds himself soon sitting in a parlor at a round table with elegant chairs. 

“Today I will be here to talk with you on behalf of madame,” David says with a slight bow towards his young master’s professor.  

“I see. Is your parent busy with work?” Professor Kalego asks. 

‘I cannot let mother have an interview with Professor Kalego…’ Az thinks, annoyed himself.

‘It seems like he didn’t even tell her at all…” Professor Kalego thinks. 

“Anyways, are you still talking to your guardians about things at school lately?” Professor Kalego asks to start off with. 

“Yes. Lately, Iruma-sama has been splendid,” Az starts speaking immediately. 

“Who asked you about how Iruma is doing?” Professor Kalego asked, annoyed.  

“But except for being an honor student, I don’t really have anything else to talk about…” Az says to Kalego’s frustration. 

“That’s right! Alice-niisama is someone very amazing!!” comes the older of two little girls from around the room doorway. 

“Viole! Lily!” Az says in surprise. 

David explains to Professor Kalego that the girls are his Madame’s children.

“Alice-niisama is very cool and very strong. Not only that, you’re also the one that we take pride in!! But recently, all you ever talk about is Iruma-sama, and you wouldn’t even play with us … and …Iruma-sama is a dummy!!” The little girls yell and cry in frustration. 

“Sorry…but for me, my mates will always be number one, which means Iruma-sama and Clara are my priority,” Az tries to explain only to his little sisters, only to have his hands full of upset little girls.

Professor Kalego ends up speaking mostly with David as Az and his little sisters argue. 

“Ugh…In the end, it took me an entire hour…damn it…the next one is…” Kalego grumbles to himself, already exhausted by these home visits after only one.

Unfortunately for Professor Kalego’s next stop is the Valac household. 

“Welcome, my professor!” yells Clara, her mother, and two of her brothers when they open the door. 

Already done with this ridiculous situation, Professor Kalego steps one food over the doorway before turning right around, “That’s it for my visit then; I’m leaving.” 

“Wait, wait, wait!” the family's three children grab onto Professor Kalego’s shoulder to pull the annoyed professor into their home. 

Professor Kalego is sadly pulled into the house. 

“It’s fine! It’s fine! Let me take care of your luggage! Ohhh, you’ve got so much paper with!” One of the boys says, digging through the professor's bag. 

“We’re not going to do anything bad at all!” the other boy cheers, holding onto the professor’s arm. 

“From now on, you’re also a member of the Valac Family!” Lady Valac chirps as the two babies climb onto the professor’s shoulders. 

“Stop it already!!” Professor Kalego barks out, frustrated with all the children, but knows using force on the small brats would be a bad idea.

“Hey! You’re troubling the professor, Nee-chan!” A far more composed and sparkling member of the family calls out. 

“Urara!” Cheers Clara.

Urara soon has the professor sitting across from them at a table with tea in front of both of them. 

“It is a huge blessing for my family, for someone as great as Sir. Kalego is to have made the effort of getting to this faraway place because of my sister.” Urara starts off with sparkling politeness, “I will take care of my younger siblings here. You can feel free to take your time in the interview.”

Turning to Lady Valac, Professor Kalego asks, “Did you kidnap this young demon?”

“He’s my real child,” Lady Valac giggles softly, “Well, sometimes he wonders the same thing.” 

‘It seems like he resisted some of the personality genes,’ Kalego thinks to himself. 

Professor Kalego is soon bombarded with questions from Lady Valac:

Question: Professor Kalego, do you have siblings!?” 

Answer: Yeah, a big brother.

Question: Then, have you made a family for yourself?

Answer: I’m still single…

Question: What about your hobbies? 

Answer: Collecting Catiuses…Ah, that’s enough about myself for now!

Professor Kalego finally gets the interview back to school subjects. 

“Then how was my child? Did she cause you any annoyance?” Lady Valac asks Professor Kalego. 

“Yes. There’s really nothing else except for annoyances… Um… To summarize, your child Clara is …” Professor Kalego finally gets to his reports. 

After an agonizing two hours, Professor Kalego finally escapes from the Valac household with bags filled with stupid souvenirs he does not need or want. 

At Goemon’s household, Kalego is bombarded with a request for sparing from Goemon's father. At Jazz’s place, Kalego has to threaten Jazz’s older brother so he is not stolen from while giving his report. At Lied’s home, his older sister decides that Kalego is an excellent candidate for mate. With Kalego’s noble blood, and has to escape with Lied’s help to escape from the young lady. Kamui’s home ends with an elegant but unnecessary meal before he can get to his report. Agares and his parents would just not stay awake for more than a couple sentences of the report at a time. Kalego even tried smacking Agares once to wake him up, but the brat only stayed awake for a few more seconds before going back to napping. Elizabetta spent far too much time giving Kalego a tour of her home and bedroom before getting to the school report. Allocer’s family wanted to go into far more detail than necessary.  

Professor Kalego arrives at the last student’s home for the day, Iruma’s house. 

Iruma opens the front doors with a bright smile, “Welcome. It is nice to have you here, Professor Kalego…”

Iruma is interrupted when Kalego picks the boy up by his arms. 

“Professor?” Iruma asks in surprise. 

“Where’s that Chairdemon? Quickly lead the way. We have to be done with this before That Person comes…” Professor Kalego says, looking around tensely. 

“Yo, Kalego-kun,” Opera states, appearing out of nowhere. 

Kalego flinches back, “Opera-senpai!” 

“Yes. Opera-senpai here,” Opera says with a wave, “The one who forced you to go buy bread, who made you carry our luggage when you were still a student, who has made so many fond memories with you, is non-other than this Opera-senpai.” 

“Y-you shameless person…!!” Kalego yells in frustration, using Iruma as a body shield, knowing Opera would not hurt the brat like they would himself. 

“You two were seriously senpai and kouhai!?” Iruma asks in surprise. 

“We’re even good friends,” Opera says, even though Iruma notices how Kalego shakes his head to dispute Opera’s words before Opera continues to state, “Anyways, the Chairdemon awaits for us.” 

Finally, Professor Kalego is sitting on a couch across from Lord Sullivan, and Iruma is on another couch with a large coffee table in front of them, with each of them having a cup of tea. 

“Professor, is my grandson doing fine? Is there anyone bullying him? Is he eating his meals properly?” Sullivan asks in his chibi-egg form. 

‘You want to have an exchange this way…? You’re also considered a teacher here!’ Kalego grumbles in his own mind. 

“Come on, the Guardian is asking. You gotta answer them,” Opera says as they and Sullivan poke an annoyed Kalego. 

“Aah…I’m so sorry for this…” Iruma tries to calm the room down.

Professor Kalego releases a frustrated sigh before continuing, “About your house’s Iruma-kun…During the final exams, his grades improved drastically. I hope he will continue to aim for even better results, which Shichiro and I are willing to help with during tutoring or when asked. Regarding his school activities, he often gets into trouble and is involved in various incidents. From that, he gained lots of experience and formed many connections. For his school life and throughout his life, this can be something significant. In addition, during the battler, he cleaned up and repaired magical artifacts in the magical artifact research battler. It also includes the training at the student council and the new challenges…” 

‘Such an amazing examination…’ Iruma thinks to himself with surprise. 

“Ohh, how great is that!” Sullivan says, pulling Kalego’s notebook from his hands. 

“Wait! Give it back…Old man…This is what I hate about you!!” Kalego yells. 

“Here look, Iruma-kun!” Sullivan says, holding the book open for his grandson to see. 

“It really is reassuring having Kalego-kun as your homeroom professor,” Sullivan says softly to his grandson. 

‘This is…An entire notebook about…Me only? Doesn’t this mean…That professor also did the same…for the entire class…for my entire pack,’ Iruma thinks with surprise and pride in his professor.

Kalego grabs his notebook back from the brat and says, “Iruma-kun has the ability to overcome all kinds of difficulties. It is a very precious talent of his. However, you must not think that your responsibilities and sense of self-sacrifice are the same. I hope you will pay attention to this.”

“Yes!!” Iruma responds, “Thank you very much!

“Then I’ll be taking my…” Professor Kalego starts to say. 

“Eh, are you not staying here overnight?” Opera asks, holding out an overnight stay set. 

Professor Kalego has to use most of his effort to escape the Sullivan Manor and mostly Opera. Naberius Kalego is a strict teacher and an extremely fiendish man.  

“To return the favor of you all for caring for me during my visits…The assignment for the Final Day vacation has been increased,” Professor Kalego tells his class the next day, to the entire class's annoyance.

Chapter Text

Saturday. On the first day of the final day's vacation, though, Iruma still woke up the same early as he does during a school day, even without his alarm clock on. Opera wished they could have been surprised that their young master was up as early as ever and came down to the kitchen. 

“Good morning, Master Iruma. I figured you would be up early, but I hope you know you can sleep in more. Not only is today a Saturday, but also you are on vacation. You don’t have anything planned until after lunch when Kalego-kun will be coming over for a tutoring session,” Opera tells Iruma as the teenager sits on a stool watching Opera prepare breakfast for their household. 

“I have gotten more and better sleep here than I ever had before since the day Grandpa adopted me. I promise I am getting enough sleep,” Iruma says calmly with a sweet smile at Opera. 

Opera is not sure how they feel about their young master’s words, though they are glad that they and Lord Sullivan are providing a safe place for the teenager to get a whole night's sleep. They are glad to be helping their young master get healthier. 

“I actually came in here also to tell you I am not feeling as hungry so that you can cook about a fourth less than normal,” Iruma tells Opera. 

“Are you sure?” Opera asks carefully, unsure if this is a bad or good change.

“Yes, I think I can be filled up more by the food than I had been before my demon half was released, especially since my horns and tail came out,” Iruma explains. 

“Huh…maybe since your demon magic is being integrated into your body fully now, you are able to actually absorb the full mana nutrients from the food now that your more human body could not process much of,” Opera thinks out loud. 

“That would make sense if I were not getting as much out of the food as a normal demon would out of the same amount of food I would need to eat more to feel as full. Though even though I will need a little less food, I still eat much more than the rest of the demons around me,” Iruma ponders.

“The large amounts of food you eat may be natural to you or even in your genetics. It is not like we know much about how you came to be,” Opera says. 

“I don’t mind not knowing about my birth family so much anymore. I have a found family in you and Grandpa. I also have somehow started creating my very own pack,” Iruma says with a soft smile toward his guardian cat-demon. 

“I am glad, Master Iruma,” Opera says with a soft look in their eyes and a happy twitching tail. 

“Um… I don’t know what I should do between breakfast and lunch. Since coming here, I have been going to school every day other than the weekend, which is more breaks than I have ever had before in my life, so with a vacation, I don’t know what to do with my time off,” Iruma tries to explain. 

“Well, you changed quite a bit in the last few days, and if it bothers you to stay still, it may help to use the new training area outside. Get used to the new power in your body and move around with horns, tails, and with some more natural strength to hone,” Opera suggests. 

“Thank you. I will do that!” Iruma agrees happily with a bright smile for the Opera. 

Iruma spends another fifteen minutes sitting quietly on the counter stool while he watches Opera owning the kitchen with their ever-present poise. Iruma likes to watch Opera and make everything look easy, even though he had a hard time just making stew out of what he could find when he was left out alone in the woods as a small child. Watching Opera is calming to Iruma, to watch someone who has earned his trust just go about their work. 

The three of the house members soon end up at the dining room table eating breakfast together as the family they have become. Iruma, while consuming less than he had the day before, still eats an immense amount of food for breakfast. After eating breakfast, Iruma returns to his room to switch out his jean shorts for shorts that remind him of basketball shorts before going outside to the backyard of the manor. 

As Iruma starts his workout in the backyard, Opera gives his master a run down on what they spoke about with Iruma before dinner. Lord Sullivan is still trying to figure out what to think about everything that Opera and Iruma discussed. However, Lord Sullivan is happy that his grandson seems to be happy and healing a bit in his home.

Outside on the new running track, Iruma starts off at a fast jog to warm himself up and get some endurance work in. Iruma lets his mind clear out a bit as his feet pound the track. He is trying to keep his mind on the sounds of his feet hitting the track surface and the sounds of nature around the manor’s back garden. He let his muscles work together to keep his jogging fast and steady as his mind went into a bit of a meditative state of mind, or as close to reflective as Iruma could get his mind. With his mind mostly clear, Iruma can notice that his jogging pace is definitely faster than it was just a few days ago. He sees that he is not only faster but also has more endurance before he is out of breath or feels the enhanced strength in his muscles with each stride. After speeding up to a run, Iruma stays at that speed for about an entire hour before changing to the obstacle course. The obstacle course took a few circuits before he understood how different his balance indeed was with his brand new appendages, especially his large fluffy tail. Iruma spends two whole hours on the obstacle course, split by an hour-long break for relaxing and stretching. 

After his long morning of working out, Iruma feels a little better; he feels like he spends his time wisely. With his time left before lunch, Iruma spend most of it in a relaxing shower to wash off the sweat and relax his muscles from his workout. Iruma soon wears clean shorts and a shirt and joins Opera and his Grandpa for lunch. After a yummy lunch, Iruma had not long to wait before Professor Kalego knocked on the manor’s front doors.

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It took time to get Opera off his back, but finally, Kalego is able to get himself and the brat into the tutoring classroom and close the door behind them so they can actually get to the tutoring. 

“Before we get started today, do you have any questions you want to ask?” Professor Kalego asks Iruma as they sit down at the table. 

“What is the history or story behind the final days' vacation? I wondered if there is a story behind it,” Iruma asks quietly.

“Not a bad question, actually. Once, a demon king was too busy. The stress fed his wicked phase until it burst out uncontrollably. For thirty days, the demon king went on a rampage of destruction, devastating all within his reach. This is the origin of the long, stress-relieving vacation that we now refer to as the final days vacation,” Professor Kalego explains.

“Well, that is certainly an intense reason for a vacation,” Iruma comments. 

“I must admit that whatever you did to study for your final exams definitely helped you improve. Keep on studying if you want to continue improving your grades and academic understanding,” Professor Kalego states. 

“Professor Balam’s books and Az’s patience with explaining things I had questions on as best as he could helped the most. Professor Balam’s cute picture books made so many of the subjects at least way easier to understand. Though the most difficult part was trying to keep all the information straight, it is just so much to learn,” Iruma tells his professor. 

“I’m not surprised it is a lot to learn you are trying to catch up on a lot of schooling that you missed out on,” Professor Kalego conceded, though he did not give Iruma much leeway since the brat still needs to catch up as quickly as possible. 

“I will keep learning. Too much is at stake if I don’t get caught up sooner than later,” Iruma states, more sober than Professor Kalego is used to seeing from the brat. 

“Good, I will be going over some of the things that you still need to learn. In these tutoring sessions, we will be working on manners, etiquette, ballroom dancing, playing the piano, posture, and more about common sense both in the general demon society and in the noble circles of society,” Professor Kalego tells the brat. 

“That is a lot of stuff to learn. Where are we starting?” Iruma asks his professor. 

“Today, we will start on body posture and food etiquette,” Professor Kalego says. 

With the strictness that Iruma has come to expect from his professor, he is told how to have good posture, both sitting down and standing up. The professor even places a dictionary on Iruma’s head and makes him walk around the room. Any time the book falls, Professor Kalego starts the number of laps of the study room over again. Iruma is not allowed to sit back down for almost an entire hour. Professor Kalego does not care and waits until Iruma can walk the perimeter of the study room four times in a row without dropping the book from his head before he allows the brat to sit back down. Then Professor Kalego takes a bag of what Iruma finds to be flatware from his work bag. 

Iruma spent the rest of the tutoring session learning and being quizzed on the different types of forks and spoons. Iruma had no idea that all the spoons and forks had different names and purposes. He thought it was because individuals might like using larger or smaller forks. 

“That is all for today. Now I will try to leave this hell house as soon as possible,” Professor Kalego says, putting his teaching supplies away into his work bag. 

After poking at and annoying Kalego for a few minutes, Opera lets his kohai escape the manor. Having finished his tutoring session, Iruma goes back to his room, wondering what he wants to do next. 

Ali-san exits the ring to join Iruma as he relaxes on his bedroom floor. 

Rolling around on the floor, Iruma speaks up and talks to Ali-san, “Now that I’m on vacation, I don’t know what to do.”

“There was always something fun happening at school, wasn’t there?” Ali-san replies. 

“Yeah, I guess I’m kind of sad…It’s weird…At first, I didn’t want to go to school at all…But now…I like going to school. Especially with my mates and packmembers being together at school,” Iruma replies. 

“It might be a break, but we could go see Az-Az and Clarin anyway…” Ali-san says while he changes his appearance to look similar to Clara.  

“But it is their vacation, too. After all, I don’t want to bother them on the first day of the vacation in case they have plans…” Iruma says nervously, though he is interrupted when he hears the ‘ding-dong’ of the manor’s doorbell. 

Yelling to Opera that he would get the door, Iruma opens the door to a happy surprise. He finds Az and Clara at the front door. 

“It’s the first day of the vacation, Iruma-sama!” Az exclaims happily. 

“Good afternoon!” Clara cheers.

“Good afternoon, you guys,” Iruma smiles at his mates. 

“Did we come at a bad time?” Az asks worriedly. 

“Not at all! I was actually just lying around trying to figure out what I wanted to do next!” Iruma cheerfully says to get Az to stop worrying.

Iruma happily leads his mates up to his bedroom and informs Opera about his guests on their way. Once in his bedroom, Clara jumps onto Iruma’s bed, giggling about how soft it is as Iruma and Az sit on the floor on pillows. 

“This is the first time I've seen your room, Iruma-sama! The other day, we just stayed downstairs after dinner,” Az points out, looking around his mate's room, quite impressed by the room.

“Same here! It’s actually the first time I have had any friends in my room…So what should we do?” Iruma admits. 

“Actually…We did have a reason for coming over today,” Az says. 

“Iruma-chi, are you ready for this?” Clara asks. 

“We want to go to Walter Park with you!!” The two say simultaneously, holding up a filer to the Walter Park amusement park.

Iruma grabs the filer in excitement, “Water park! You mean the Amusement Park?!” 

“Yes!” Az and Clara cheer. 

“It seemed to us you were looking forward to that the most Iruma-sama!!” Az says with excitement. 

“That’s why we wanna plan a fun trip there with you!!” Clara cheered before continuing, “I also convinced Az-Az that this would be an even more fun trip to invite the whole pack, and most of them said they could come tomorrow!!”

Within a few minutes later, the doorbell rings again. Most of the Misfit Pack has now entered Iruma’s house. The only pack mates missing are Allocer and Soi. The rest have joined Iruma and are all sitting and lying around in the living room. 

The group gathers around and looks at the guide and map to see what they may want to do. Opera and Lord Sullivan come in and out to check on the group of loud teenagers but refrain from interfering as the group plans out different places they may want to visit. They plan to arrive at the park before it opens the next day to spend the entire day having fun together. 

After setting up plans for the next day, the group leaves Iruma’s place about an hour before dinner. Iruma helps Opera clean up the living room and dishes his pack mates used while they were over. Opera soon has dinner on the table for the three of them.  

After dinner, while Opera goes back to the kitchen to clean everything up from the evening meal, Lord Sullivan drags his grandson up to his room to start packing a backpack for the trip he is going on the next day. Lord Sullivan did not want the boy to go without anything. 

Soon, the backpack will be double the size of Iruma's tall and almost four times Iruma's wide. 

“We’re done!” Lord Sullivan cheers, looking at the bag. 

“You’re not,” Opera says as he enters the room to find the stupidly large backpack that their master thinks will be going with Iruma, “There’s no way he could carry so much luggage, sir.” 

“But! This is Iruma-kun’s first time going anywhere that isn’t school! I’m worried!!” Lord Sullivan says, hugging Iruma and sobbing. 

“I will take him there and pick him up, sir. Everything will be fine,” Opera says simply. 

“If anything happens, call me immediately, understand!! Remember your grandfather’s promise! I’ll send some chaperones with you, too!!” Lord Sullivan says, grasping onto Iruma, who is surprised to hear about needing chaperones. 

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The following day, after a two-hour carriage ride with Opera driving, Iruma arrives at the vast, closed double doors to the amusement park. 

“Yo,” Jazz says, seeing Iruma arrive. 

“Iruma-kun, you’re here,” Lied says, waving Iruma over to their group.

“You guys are early! And in normal clothes!” Iruma says, seeing everyone out of their uniforms for a change. 

“Yeah, we were excited! I found out that Allocer is going to an academic conference with Professor Morax, which is why he couldn’t make it,” Lied says to Iruma. 

“Also, look over there…” Jazz says, indicating with his thumb over to the group of three adults. 

The three adults stood by, watching the teenagers without really joining the group. The three chaperones that were chosen were Opera, Professor Kalego, and Professor Balam. 

“Why am I here…!?” Kalego asks out with an annoyed growl. 

“Orders from the Chairdemon, we couldn’t say no. Besides, this seems like it’ll be fun,” Shichiro tells Kalego, used to Kalego’s growly personality. 

“Huh!? What part!?” Kalego asks, annoyed with his ally trying to see the bright side of things. 

“Are you still bad with crowds, Kalego-kun?” Opera asks before leaning into his kohai’s space to continue speaking, “Let’s take this opportunity to fix that! Don’t worry, Balam-kun, and I will help you!”

Kalego leans back and away from his senpai as he growls back, “What I hate is going anywhere with you!!” 

Iruma watches Opera and Professor Kalego argue with each other as some of his classmates talk with Professor Balam. 

“Iruma…” comes the familiar voice of Ameri from behind him. 

“Ameri-san! You really came. I am glad you are joining my class on this vacation outing it should be fun,” Iruma chirps, looking at the casually and nicely dressed Ameri. 

Ameri and Iruma are interrupted from saying more by an announcement from the entrance of the amusement park's grand doors. 

“Rise and shine, Walter Park! Good morning everyone! Be happy and have fun! We’re here to make you merry! Don’t let your cares get you down here in our magical amusement part of town! Walter Park!! Come and enter the happiest place in hell!!” the front door announcement rang out as everyone rushed into the park.

Iruma and his group run into the amusement park, ready for their fun day to start.

Chapter Text

Not far from the entrance of the amusement park, Iruma and the group gathered around a large paper map, discussing what they wanted to do. 

“Here” 

“Let’s do the scream coaster first!” 

“I want to go shopping.” 

“Where’s the king’s castle!?”

“On the other side of the map, maybe?” 

“The waiting time for this horrible though…” 

“Let us check the rest areas first.” 

“Food!”

“Eh, I say we should just go wherever we like.” 

“Okay, let’s go!!” Lied cheers to the group, and as some of the group starts to split off to have fun, they are stopped as the adults grab them by the shoulders before they can get away. 

“Not so fast,” the adults say simultaneously, finally on the same page about something. 

“If you want to split up, you’ll do it with a chaperone,” Professor Kalego grumbles at his students. 

“Can’t we just go and do whatever we like?” Lied asks. 

“No, you can’t,” Professor Balam states simply as he starts to pet the fluffy cloud that a sort of sleeping Agares is lying on. The professor switches to pet the top of Goemon's head as he continues, “Why don’t we split everyone up into three groups? We have three chaperones here, after all.”

“Why don’t we make it a competition while we are at it!!” Clara pipes up. 

“Compete, how?” Iruma asks, curious. 

“Which group has the most fun at the park wins!” Clara explains. 

“Oh, that sounds cool. When we group up together again at the end, we can see who had the most fun here…” Jazz comments. 

“I could ask the chairdemon be our judge. He asked for many pictures anyway,” Opera throws out into the conversation. 

“And the winning team will be treated to a meal by the adults!” Lied states with confidence.

“Don’t just go ahead and decide that! You bunch of idiots!” Professor Kalego shouts, annoyed by being ground out of him even more for this situation. 

“It should be fine, right? They’re here to have fun anyway,” Professor Balam says. 

“As adults, we ought to give them some leeway,” Opera says, agreeing with his giant kohai. 

“Fine, I seem to be outvoted, but if you have your little reward if you win… the group with the lowest fun points will have their homework for the vacation doubled!” Professor Kalego says to his students horror. 

After some grumbling by the group boys, Ameri asks Elizabetta if the crazy atmosphere in the group is typical. Opera ignores the craziness as he pulls out a cup of sticks with one of three colors on the end, each color corresponding to each of the chaperones.  Each stick had a color on the hidden end of the stick that corresponded with which chaperone they would be grouping with. Opera assigned themselves the color red, assigned Professor Balam bright white, and assigned Professor Kalego black.  

The stick-assigned groups were picked:

Balam’s Group:

• Iruma
• Az
• Sabro
• Agares

Opera’s Group:

• Clara
• Elizabetta
• Kerori
• Ameri

Kalego’s Group: 

• Jazz
• Lied
• Goemon
• Kamui

Over with Professor Kalego’s group, Lied puts a hand on Jazz’s shoulder as they share a look. 

“We already lost!!” Lied yells in despair as he pounds his fists on the ground. 

“How are we supposed to have fun with the emperor of darkness accompanying us!?” Jazz screams, pulling at his hair. 

“Over there! I want to be over there!! It’s a sausage fest here!!” Goemon says, reaching towards Opera’s team filled with all the group's ladies.

Professor Kalego glares at the brats that are left for him to watch over. He is not any happier about the situation that the teenagers he is now assigned to chaperone. Kalego does not consider an amusement park to be any fun for him. The smells, sounds, and sheer number of people are a lot for Kalego to have to sort through and handle with his heightened senses as one of the Guard Dogs of hell. 

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The three groups split up to have fun. Opera is happy that he got the group full of young ladies.

“Lady Red-Hair! Your casual clothes are so cute!” Clara says to Ameri. 

“Yes, they suit you very well,” Opera agrees. 

“I think you’d look even better in a one-piece dress, though…” Kerori states, looking at Ameri’s outfit and figure critically.

“Okay! Let’s go buy you a one-piece dress!!” Elizabetta says as she and the rest of the girls push Ameri from behind to go to the shopping area while Opera calmly walks along next to the girls. 

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The guys of Kalego’s group huddle together a few feet away from their chaperone, trying to discuss their fun challenge situation. While Kalego can hear the words his students are saying, he is not sure what their plan is. If Kalego had his way, he would be having a relaxing day of taking a bit of time to prepare for the start of supplemental classes at Babyls while he reads and just generally has peace and quiet. 

“So what now?” Lied asks the other guys in his group as they speak in a huddle away from their professor. 

“What should we do…” Jazz states. 

“Since we’ve already lost…perhaps we should just get over it?” Kamui asks the others. 

“Get over it!?” Lied asks in surprise. 

“But with determination to still have fun for ourselves,” Kamui adds. 

“Hey, you brats, just what are you whispering about…”Kalego starts to growl in annoyance but stops as the brats come straight up to him, with Lied even grabbing his shoulder in desperation. 

“It’s time to get serious! We’re going to have fun no matter what!!” Lied says with determination.

“Stop!” Kalego cries out as he is left to deal with the brat under orders not to mess with the brat's day or contest much, which does not leave him in an excellent spot to truly fight back against what the brats have up their sleeves for him.  

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Over in Professor Balam’s group, the professor is figuring out that much of Iruma’s pack is loud and crazy as he watches Az and Sabro argue while he softly pets the giant cloud that Agares is sleeping on and ignores the careful professor. 

“What nonsense are you talking about, man!? I said we need to hit the king’s castle first!!” Sabro yells. 

Az yells right back in reply, “And I said we need to consult Iruma-sama for his opinion before…Eh? Where’s Iruma-sama?” 

Just as Az looks around, Professor Balam points out Iruma to the worried Az and the now curious Sabro.

“Whoa!!” Iruma says with a bright and sparkly aura around him. 

Iruma is just so excited as he looks all around them at the amusement park. The walking platforms, the magical beast riders, and so much more. Everything is just so fun and entertaining all around them. 

“Well, someone is excited,” Sabro says as he and Az look at their pack alpha, who looks to be on an excitement high with all the fun stuff going on around them. 

Az just has to look at his super happy mate, and he is glad to show Iruma another type of fun he has not been able to enjoy up until now. Az wants to keep putting that dopey-excitedly-happy look on Iruma’s face as often as possible. Even Sabro is getting a warm feeling seeing his pack alpha look so happy, not that he is about to admit that. 

“What’s going on!? So many people are gathering around! It must be something fun that I’ve never seen be…” Iruma says, heading towards a crowd of people only to stop himself as he looks at a crazy sparkly parade, though what truly surprised him was the sight of Ronove Romier. 

“Is that Ronove-senpai!?” Az asks coming to stand by Iruma to see what he is staring at. 

“Well, well!! Been a while, hasn’t it!? Peasants!” Ronove-senpai says, having spotted Iruma and Az staring at him from the crowd. “You are Illuninati-kun, yes!?”

“It’s Iruma…” Iruma corrects, only slightly annoyed by the flamboyant upperclassmen.

A few feet away from Iruma and Az speaking with Ronove-senpai, Sabro asks Professor Balam who Ronove is. 

“What were you doing on that parade, Ronove-senpai?” Iruma asks. 

“Hnph! A silly question! I have nothing to hide from you! The fact is, this place is my sanctuary!! Or, in you peasants’ tongue, an amusement park that my father had built for me!!” Ronove-senpai says with even more drama than usual, even for Ronove. 

“Ehh!?” Az and Iruma say they are surprised at what Ronove is saying. 

“This whole wonderful place!? T-That’s amazing!!” Iruma says excitedly. 

“Hahaha! Indeed! I am, after all, an heir to a distinguished family with an amusement park that you can enjoy every attraction of…” Ronove-senpai starts to go on a tangent before he is interrupted. 

“Yes, but! You are here today on inspection!” says a frustrated man in a suit outfit before the man turns to Iruma and Az to ask, “Are you friends with the young master?” 

“Yes, uh…” Iruma states, surprised by this new person appearing. 

As Ronove-senpai freaks out about being touched by a man, the new man continues to speak with Iruma and Az. 

“I am Huetoto, a member of the Walter staff. The owner gave me this job, you see. The young master wants to build his own amusement park on the school’s campus one day, so I’m here to guide him through his park inspection. Although…The moment I take my eyes off him, he immediately runs toward an attraction…Or goes shopping at every store he sees or jumps on the parade without permission…” Huetoto says with a look of frustration on his face. 

‘Sounds tiresome…’ Iruma and Az both think as they listen to the poor, worn-out staff member in front of them. 

“This place may as well be my, Ronove Romier, garden! And I am allowed to enjoy my garden however I please!” Ronove-senpai replies. 

“Again, you’re here on inspection,” Huetoto says with annoyance clear on his face. 

“Ah! Good timing then!” Professor Balam says, speaking up as he explains the fun competition the teenagers are doing with Ronove and Huetoto. 

“I see! Your fun-measuring contest sounds most interesting! You can depend on me, the great Ronove Romier!! I shall guide you to my most special areas!! Areas that only those chosen among the VIPs can go! The most hyper secret dangerous tour!” Ronove-senpai says, pulling a ring of keys from within his shirt. 

“Young master, you can’t be talking about…!! You can’t take them to the Basement!!” Huetoto yells, freaking out at Ronove. 

“The basement?” Iruma asks curious why the staff member is freaking out.   

Huetoto goes into an explanation for the others to understand why he is freaking out, “As you can see, aboveground, we have an amusement park filled with all manner of attractions. But to operate all of them simultaneously, we require a huge amount of magic power! And the basement is where we put those power sources!!” 

“Power sources…?” Iruma asks.

Ronove-senpai continues with the explanation, “Prisoners! Below Ultra Park is a giant fortress prison!! Filled with the most delightful of demons!! It will be a sight to see!!” Ronove-senpai says with much too much excitement for the topic he is talking about. 

Huetoto tries grabbing his young master to calm the teenager down as he yells, “They’re not ‘delightful’! There’s nothing but weird and dangerous demons down there!!” 

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Taking a peak at the prison under the amusement park at that very moment, unbeknownst to Iruma and the rest of the misfits, actually holds someone they would recognize. Amy Kirio. 

The park seems to be rowdy today…” Kirio says as he listens to the noise from above the prison he is now a prisoner.  

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Back up in the amusement park part, the three groups of the misfits plus Ameri are doing their best to have the most fun of their group. 

The group of Opera and the ladies of the group have arrived at one of the many clothing shops in the park. Ameri gave in to the other girls’ convincing and decided to try on a one-piece dress that the other picked out for her to try on. Ameri pulls back the dressing room curtain after putting on the cute dress the other girls picked out with a slight blush on her cheeks to show off how the dress looks. 

“Aw, how cute,” Elizabetta compliments. 

‘Yes, she has a nice style…’ Kerori thinks as she looks at Ameri in the dress she helped pick out.

“It suits you so well, miss!!” gushes one of the lady shop staff. 

“You look lovely, Ame-chan!” Elizabetta cheers, loving the more soft feminine style of the dress on the student council president. 

“Is…Is that so…But won’t this be hard to fight in,” Ameri comments to the other girls. 

“Look! Don’t I look like a mermaid?” Clara says, showing off a flowy but too long for her to the other girls. 

“You kinda do…only the lower half, though,” Elizabetta says, looking at the dress criticly. 

“You…you shouldn’t pull the dress around on the ground,” Kerori worries at seeing a good few inches pulling on the ground as Clara moves around. 

“It’s fine…But it’s not quite the right size, is it? Hugh!” the shop lady says, calling out to someone else in the shop.

Out of nowhere, a tiny, gentlemanly dressed demon landed on Clara’s shoulder, “Pardon me, taking measurements of a woman’s body is infinite. The material, color, and length of the clothes differ per person. Knowing your own size is the biggest shortcut to raising your appeal.”

The tiny gentlemanly demon shows off his tailoring power by beautifully shortening the dress on Clara and adding details in only a few minutes. 

“You’re amazing lil’ grandpa!” Clara cheers. 

“Small gentleman!” Ameri says curiously.

“Miniature dandy!” Elizabetta gushes. 

“You guys, please!” Kerori says, worried, trying to get the other girls to stop staring at the tiny demon gentlemen. 

“Please excuse us,” Opera says, giving a polite bow to the petite demon. 

“It’s okay. It’s just natural for us to help you know your size,” the tailor says to Opera. 

“That’s right! We’re just doing our jobs! We will be your playmate wherever and whenever!” the lady staff member says. 

“Because we are Walter staff!! You know?” the tailor says. 

The two staff members pose with a ‘W’ shape between the lady’s finger position and the tailor’s arm position.

“Ooh! Your pose is flawless!!” Clara cheers at the staff members. 

“Because it’s decided!” the two staff members admit. 

“Let’s decide on a pose and take a picture to send to the others!” Clara pipes up. 

“Well then, feel free to choose a spot and pose as you like,” the trailer says. 

The group takes a picture with Opera in the center and the girls posing around them. 

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“That looks like so much fun!!” Lied yells to the others as he pulls out his phone and shows the girls’ group picture to the others of his group. “Oh, crap! We can’t lose to them!!”

“We gotta show them we’re also having fun!!” Goemon yells. 

“Colorful food!!”

“Ice cream!” 

“Balloon!”

“Animal ears head-band!!” 

Professor Kalego sits at a table covered with a bunch of random park food and merchandise he can’t decline because of the deal he made with Shichiro and Opera-senpai to not interfere with the stupid fun competition. 

“It’s hopeless!!” Lied yells as he pounds on the ground in despair. 

“This does not look fun at all!” Jazz yells, looking at the grumpy mess that is Professor Kalego's present look. 

“All of you better watch out when this is over,” Professor Kalego says, growling at the four of his idiot students.

“Hey, you guys over there, got some cash?” asks two sketchy-looking young men. 

“We got involved in something terrible!!” the four guys look over at the sketchy-looking guys who just walked up to them. 

“Nah, It’s fine! I’m sure the professor will protect us…” Lied says, looking over at Professor Kalego. 

“My hands are full right now. Sorry about that,” Professor Kalego says with a chuckle he will not be interfering with this idiocy unless it is essential. 

“Ah! Damit!” the guys yell. 

“Hm? Hey, we’re not trying to extort your money,” one of the sketchy guys says, annoyed. 

“Eh?” the guys ask.

“We just need an opponent to play target practice with. Let’s play together,” the sketchy guy says, showing the misfits a shooter park game, “The one who wins the most prizes wins, and the winner gets the loser's prizes, too.”

“Oh! Sounds interesting!” Goemon says. 

“Jazz. You do it! Come on!” Lied cheers, looking at Jazz. 

“Okay, let's do it,” Jazz agrees and switches on his ‘pit” stealth glance magic of his bloodline magic.

“Tilt to the right 60 degrees, then aim straight!” Jazz calls out directions to Goemon, who has the game's gun in his hands. 

Before the projectile could reach the target, though, the second sketchy demon of the two that looks like a skeleton gets in the way of the projectile. To the misfits' frustration, it took the boys a bit of effort, but they were able to win. They took pictures of the two guys they played with and their prizes. 

“Oh, now this picture looks like we’re having fun,” Jazz says as he looks at the picture before sending it to the whole group. 

“It’s all thanks to you, mister!” Lied says to the most talkative of the two guys. 

“Heh, heh, heh, well, that’s a given since…We’ll be your playmate wherever and whenever! We are Walter staff!!” the two say as they pose together to show their arms in the shape of a ‘W.’

The misfits argue a bit with the Walter staff guy before Jazz starts to get multiple pictures of Iruma on multiple different rides, looking at having so much fun. 

“What’s this??” Jazz complains, looking at the fun photos of their pack alpha. 

“Balam’s group suddenly sends tons of pictures!” Lied cries out, seeing all the pictures Jazz is looking at.

“Hmm, hey, what’s up?” the Walter staff guy asks. 

“Bro! Please tell us some playground recommendations! If this keeps up, we might lose!” Jazz states. 

“A place where no other group has been into…Is there something like a hidden gem in here…” Lied says while looking at the park map in his hands, “Oh! What about this place? Kararagi street?”

“Um, that’s…” the staff member says.

Kalego interrupts this conversation before it goes even further, “Don’t even think about going there. Walter Park was originally built for demons in wicked phases to vent out their stress. Therefore…That place is a back street where demons who have bad reputations reside doing shady and illegal business even on this day. Unless you want your wings to come off, stay away from there. Understood?” 

“Yes..but…to be honest, we’re too invested in that flower on your head that it’s not scar…” before Lied could say any more, he and Jazz were grabbed by the head by a now angry Kalego. 

“But sill…They haven’t stopped sending pictures…” Kamui says, staring at his own phone that keeps getting pictures of Iruma through their group message. 

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Iruma is having so much fun. He and Ronove are going on as many rides as they can. 

“Please…Just wait…! Just how much stamina do those two have…” huffs Huetoto as the Balam group follows around the very hyper Ronove and Iruma. 

Sabro and Az stand behind the haggard staff member as Az is taking pictures of his alpha mate with a smile on his face. Both Sabro and Az nod at the staff members' words. 

“As expected of my rival! He has to be energetic,” Sabro says, chuckling at the young man he sees as his pack alpha. 

“What’s important is Iruma-sama’s having fun,” Az chirps, happy that his alpha mate is having a happy new experience. 

“Huh? You’re really fine with this!?” Hueteto asks before turning to Professor Balam, continuing, “You’re the professor, please say something…Chaperone them properly!!”

“Huh?” Professor Balam asks, more focused on petting one of the dressed-up mascots of the park. 

“To be able to keep up with me, you’re not so bad, Irbert-kun!!” Ronove-senpai says. 

“It’s still Iruma,” Iruma calls back, “I’m having a hard time choosing since this place is full of interesting stuff!!” 

“Ha, ha, ha, don’t get separated now…” Ronove-senpai says, not even looking at Iruma.

‘Aah, so this is an amusement park! It’s so fun! So interesting! This is the best!!’ Iruma thinks with a smile on his face until he starts to look around himself. 

A sign near him reads ‘Kararagi Street.’ the place around him is very dark and looks more like a run-down industrial area than the amusement park that he had been in only moments ago. The place is dirty and creepy. His instincts are screaming at him, telling him that he needs to figure out how to escape this situation. 

‘I got separated…’ Iruma thinks to himself. 

“No…It’s going to be okay…I just have to call someone…” Iruma says to himself as he digs his phone out of his backpack only to find it dead. His phone is out of battery. 

Iruma is now starting to get a bit nervous about his present situation, ‘How could this be…I, Suzuki Iruma, a 14-year-old boy, am now… A lost child!! W-What should I do!!’

Chapter Text

“I’m telling you! The King’s Castle is the furthest attraction from here!”

“We can just take this road and go straight!”

“There’s no road there, you moron!” 

“We’ll get separated if you go wherever you want!”

Sabro and Az are arguing with each other while looking over the park map. While Professor Balam is petting his cloud, Agares tries to keep Sabro and Az arguing out of his ears with his hands. 

“Ronove is back!” Ronove says, running back, waving. 

“Phew! I had a lot of fun!” Ronove cheers. 

“Huh? Where’s Iruma-kun?” Professor Balam asks, worried, only seeing Ronove and no Iruma. 

“Eh?” Ronove asks, clueless as ever. 

All of the rest of the Balam group freaks out with the same thought, ‘He got lost!!’ 

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Iruma can not believe he got himself lost. He is 14 years old, not 4 years old. Being lost is so awkward at this age. 

‘My phone is dead, and I don’t know the way! What should I?’ Iruma thinks to himself, internally freaking out.

“This is bad, Iru-boy!” Ali-san says, coming out of Iruma’s ring. 

“Ali-san, thank god, I…” Iruma gushes. 

“Shaddup! I’ll totally tease you later for getting lost at your age, but first, let’s get out of here! Now!!” Ali-san’s freaking out at Iruma does not help Iruma feel any better about his situation.  

“Hello…young man…” comes a scratchy voice from one of the shadowy alleyways. 

“Eh?” Iruma squeaks out as a very eery-looking demon grabs his arm. 

The moment the demon lays a hand on his arm, Iruma just knows in his gut that nothing good will happen to go with this demon. Iruma starts to pull frantically on his arm. He tries to get out of the other demon’s grasp, but even with his increased strength, the demon can still keep his grip. 

Suddenly, he is grabbed by something soft that knocks the other demon away from Iruma. Looking up at the demon, a striking-looking lady had grabbed him away from the eery-looking demon’s grip. 

“Um…” Iruma says, looking at the lady who saved him from the other demon. 

“This way,” the lady says, leading Iruma towards what he soon found to be an area that was constantly getting brighter until they were finally back in the park proper. 

“We got out, thank you,” Iruma thanked the lady. 

“That street is hazardous and not a place any kid or teenager needs to be,” the lady says to Iruma, “The Lost Children station…is there…it’s a bit far still.” 

Iruma thought for a few moments about how ridiculous he was to get himself lost and how worried it must have been for the rest of his group, and being a burden was the last thing he wanted for his friends during their vacation outing. 

“You shouldn’t look so down in an amusement park. I will take you to the Lost Children station. Also, we can do a few things along the way,” the onee-san says to Iruma.

The lady takes Iruma to the petting zoo, where Iruma has fun riding a large sheep-like monster. 

“Did you have fun?” asks the lady. 

“Yes! But did we come here because you wanted to ride, too?” Iruma asks the onee-san. 

“Well…I…Animals get Scared…When I try to touch them like this…so…” the onee-san says while trying to touch one of the sheep but coming from the top looking to loom over the sheep, which does seem to scare the speed she is looking to pet. 

Iruma remembers something Professor Balam told him a while ago about how he learned to approach animals as a giant demon. He decides to tell the onee-san that is helping him, “Animals often get scared if you try to touch them from above…The trick is to hold your hand out from below them. Try with that chick over there.” 

The onee-san was quick to try what the boy told her and was soon covered in little chicks, so she had to rely on the boy to sit down carefully with the rest of the animals. Together, the two get a picture taken with some of the chicks. Next, the onee-san takes Iruma on his first time on a Ferris wheel. As the two ride the Ferris wheel, Iruma thanks the onee-san again for helping him. 

“Thank you very much! When I got lost, I was confused and nervous, but…Because you were so kind to me…I’m glad I came here after all…!” Iruma says.

“That’s great!” the onee-san says as she pats Iruma’s head softly. 

Only a few minutes later, Iruma is dropped off in front of the Lost Children station. Iruma only had to wait a few minutes before Professor Balam and the rest of his group arrived at the station to find Iruma standing outside, hoping he did not have to go inside to get the station to make an announcement. 

“I’m so sorry,” Iruma says, running straight for Az. 

“I’m so glad you’re safe!!” Az cries, grabbing his mate’s hand. 

“I’m so relieved we found you so quickly,” Professor Balam says, so relieved he does not have to tell Opera-senpai that he had let Iruma get lost. 

“A nice lady helped me find my way to the Lost Children Station,” Iruma tells Az as Professor Balam has Sabro update the other groups that they had quickly found Iruma safe and sound. 

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The onee-san that helped Iruma then arrives back into the staff area of the park. 

“Ah! There you are, Sheeda-kun! Don’t leave your post. You may work backstage, but we are all everyone’s playmates…” her boss tells her. 

“Right, because we are…The Walter staff,” Sheeda says, looking at her copy of the picture she took with Iruma and the chicks at the petting zoo. 

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*Down in the Basement Prison*

My name is Imp Rocky, a famous demon in my hometown. I did a blunder. Actually, that day, I was sick and got caught at the wrong time, sentenced to 15 years in prison for over-hunting rare herbs. 

‘Kya…I was ready for imprisonment…But I never thought I would be detained in this prison,’ Rocky thinks to himself. 

Wlavras Prison has approximately 1,600 inmates. The park staff also serves as guards it is an under-ground fortress that facilitates as a prion. The prisoners’ duty is to provide labor and magic. Their magic is what powers Walter Park on the surface.

“The sound from above is really annoying, and this hatred becomes the source and fuels our magical power. It’s just a vicious cycle,” Rocky growls out in annoyance. 

“Ditto,” comments another of the prisoners. 

“But there are some guys who volunteered to come here, an oddball,” another prisoner comments, looking right at Kirio. 

“An oddball is a bit…” Kirio states calmly. (Prison term 2 years) 

“What!? You wanted to be here!? Why!?” Rocky asks, surprised. 

“Well, it’s just that I …Really like to hear people’s laughter with this; my heart feels at ease…” though Kirio stops talking when he coughs up blood. 

“Your body is not at ease, tho!!” Rocky yells in concern as Kirio collapses onto the magic-sucking machine. 

“Are you out of magic power again, 1313!!” Yells one of the guards towards Kirio. 

“Someone, please take me to the sick bay…” whispers Kirio, still collapsed. 

A much larger demon grabbed up Kirio and Rocky and pulled away from the magic. Recharge machines. The large demon drags the two smaller demons until they are in a dark, circular dungeon-like room. 

Noticing where they are, Rocky freaks out, ‘This isn’t the sickbay!! It’s a room for the kicked phase demons!! This is bad!! The guy in the back especially looks super bad!! Don’t tell me these guys will…Will make us their punching bag!!’ 

“Are you okay, Kirio-kun?” the giant demon that dragged them into the room asks, topping Kirio on the head gently. 

“Coughing blood again, Kirio?” another of the wicked phase demons asks. 

“Dossan, we need your help again,” he calls the giant demon to the demon in the back of the room, even larger than himself. 

“Dossan has become used to it, huh.”

“Even though the first time his fan hand always hit his face.”

“It’s sure hard for Kirio-kun.”

“Hey, new gay, come sit here,” the original demon calls Rocky over. 

“Am I about to become a punching bag…?” Rocky asks the large demon. 

“We just brought you along because we had something to discuss,” the original demon says.

“The guards won’t even come here, so this place is perfect for secret meetings.” 

“Okay, seems everyone has gathered.”

“You’re lucky new guy. You come in right before our plan.” 

“W-What plan?” Rocky asks nervously. 

“Why, of course, when talking about plans in prison, what else if it isn’t…an escape,” the demon that dragged him into the room says. 

“An esc…?” Rocky starts to ask. 

Only for Rocky to be yelled at by the other prisoners to shut up before the guards could hear. 

“We got someone to help us from above. I’m sure you’ve heard their name. The group which has done every evil they are called…The Six Fingers,” the demon says. 

“Aren’t they the most famous group who follows primal demons?! Like the story of how they fight in ‘The Fall Of Demon Bridge’ or ‘The War Of The Valley’ they are amazing…!” Rocky comments

“That’s why their next target is this Walter Park, isn’t that right, Kirio-kun,” the demon says. 

“Right…” Kirio says. 

“He’s the one who contacted the six fingers, you see,” the demon says. 

“Eh!? Really!? Is he one of the six fingers!?” Rocky asks. 

“Well, I’m not one of them, although an acquaintance of mine is. You won’t miss out as long as you help The Six Fingers’ festival,” Kirio says. 

“Festival?” Rocky asks. 

“You just did it too, right, giving your magic power as fuel for Walter Park. We secretly send magic power to the locations that The Six Fingers has arranged. We don’t exactly know how they’ll use them, but…Their main goal is to destroy Walter Park, and that is what they are calling the festival,” the demon says. 

“So cool! To destroy, huh?” Rocky says. 

“We’ve also decided the escape route.” 

“That’s why we’re giving you a heads-up. If someone’s acting even slightly suspicious, we might fail,” the demon says. 

“Somehow, I’m feeling excited!! So!? When will it be!?” Rocky asks. 

“It’s today,” Kirio answers. 

“...eh?” Rocky comments. 

“Today marks the day Walter Park will be engulfed in flames, and we will break free from here,” the demon says. 

“This is… ‘Revenge to destroy,’ and it makes me extrememly excited” Kirio says, sounding omonis to Rocky’s ears.

Chapter Text

“Good Grief! You lost your way because you’re too relaxed,” Ameri scolds Iruma over the phone as they leave the clothing shops, though she is glad he was found so fast. 

“Well, it’s a relief you’re back safely! So, what are you up to now?” Lied says over the phone as his group is figuring out where they want to go next.

“Um, well…Right now, I’m…” Iruma says into the phone but is interrupted by a little kid screaming. 

“We are The Six Fingers!!” a little kid screams. 

“I’m playing a beast,” Iruma admits as three little kids attack him in a dragon costume while he is standing in the children’s playground. 

“Hahaha! This is quite an amusing penalty!!” Ronove laughs, looking at the scene of the little demon children attacking the costumed Iruma. 

“That brat…How dare he attack Iruma-sama!” Az growls in annoyance with a tiny flame on one of his fingers as he has to stand back as one of his mates is attacked, even if those attacking Iruma are just little kids. 

“Now, that’s what Iruma himself wants after all,” Professor Balam tries to calm the annoyed Asmodeus. 

In another corner of the playground, Agares is trying to sleep on his cloud. Though the children have some other ideas, one of the little girl's demons is not so bad as she is just cuddling the cloud soundly, which would not have been so bad if she was the only one, but a little boy had decided to attack Agares himself. 

“Let’s go, cloud-man!” the little boy yells, poking Agares hard with a toy sword. 

“Wait…Just stop it!” Agares yells at the boy.

“Come on, you guys, let’s not play so harshly…” Huetoto tries to speak to some of the kids. 

“Take this, Six-Fingered sword!!” the little boy with the sword yells, actually hitting Huetoto with his sword pretty hard. 

“Ouch!!” Huetto yelps, pulling away from the sword boy. 

“The Six, what now…?” Iruma asks, watching Huetoto trying not to be hit by the attacking little boy. 

“They’re a famous criminal group. Their bad reputation is loutless. They are the villain of the underworld, which consists of ‘Primal Demons,’ also called ‘Demons Back to Origins.’ They’re mysterious and strong. Which makes them quite popular,” Az happily explains what he knows to Iruma, who is unsure what to think of what Az has to say about the criminal group.

“This is so not fun…” Agares complains of feeling worn out from the children mainly. 

“Haha! It’s because of that stupid mask you’re wearing!! I’ll let you switch with me!” Ronove says, pulling Agares’s sleep mask straight from his face. 

“Hey! Ugh…It’s so bright,” Agares complains, having his eyes assaulted by the bright lights of the area they are in.

Everyone in their group is surprised by the striking beauty that was hidden under his ever-present sleep mask for the first time. Agares’s face is golden, striking, and practically sparkling with princely beauty. 

“T-This is…!” Huetoto says, too surprised to say more. 

“Such a beautiful face!” Sabro says in surprise. 

“Agares, you…Have been hiding that face all this time…” Az says, quite surprised himself. 

“I’m bedazzled…” Iruma admits. 

“Ah!” Ronove yells before shoving a paper bag with only small eye holes onto Agares’s head. 

“What are you doing!?” asked Iruma, concerned for his friend and pack member. 

“No…Ronove is..! This divine flashy aura…! It overlaps Ronove’s entire beauty!! It’s not allowed!” Ronove yells, freaking out in panic. 

“Nope, you’re not even in the same league,” comments Huetoto, Sabro, and Az with annoyance for Ronove.

“If you’re talking about beauty, then the Asmodeus family is a demon of beauty too in the first place,” Huetoto states, pointing to Az, who certainly has more of an elegant beauty but not the same aura as either Ronove’s or Agares’s auras.        

“Ancestry does not count!! This big, beautiful pair of eyes with long lashes! Curly fluffy hair that radiates a sparkly aura! His beauty is wasted!!” Ronove yells, pointing under the paper bag. 

“What is this guy talking about…So noisy…I don’t like him…” Agares says he does not care at all about his appearance. He only wants to go back to sleep. 

“Unacceptable!! You can’t walk around with that get-up!! I’ll give you the makeover you deserve!! Let’s go!” Ronove says, grabbing Agares off his floating pillow cloud and running towards the costume locker room. 

“Huh!? Just leave me alone…Let me sleep peacefully,” Agares yells in confusion at being pulled away. 

“Don’t worry!! With Ronove’s hands, I’ll transform you into a fine man!!” Ronove yells as they disappear through the door. 

“Help!!” Agares yells as he is carried away from his friends. 

“Iruma-sama, how about you go change back too,” Az states. 

“Everyone’s so lively,” Professor Balam comments in amused wonder. 

“Um, professor? Since it seems like they’ll play here a while, I’d like to report back to the office if you don’t mind watching Ronove and the other teens,” Huetoto asks Professor Balam. 

“Sure, I’ll watch over everyone extra carefully,” Professor Balam states, having upped his vigilance after losing Iruma for a bit. 

“Okay, thank you,” Huetoto calls back, leaving the area.

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Huetoto makes his way back into the backstage area of Walter Park, into the staff-only area with the offices. 

“Hey, good work,” one of Huetoto’s supervisors states as he notices Huetoto’s arrival. 

“Thank you,” Huetoto says simply. 

“Accompanying the young master must be quite tough, huh?” the supervisor asks with a chuckle. 

“Hahaha, well…yes, very,” Huetoto admits. 

“But, you know these new staff members are great. They’re excellent, work fast, and experienced. They’re the talk of the office nowadays. Ah, but you’re just average,” the supervisor states.  

 “Ouch, you’re so strict, Senpai,” Huetoto states, only slightly annoyed.

“Since the chairman of the prison below went on a business trip, managing it has become quite a handful. Let’s just do our best, alright?” the supervisor states before continuing as he walks off, “I’ll see you again.” 

“Okay,” Huetta states to the supervisor before turning to the person in the shadow, “How’s the preparations?” 

The mysterious staff lady who helped Iruma earlier, Sheeda, hid a bit in the shadow of the hall and replied, “Ready…Perfectly. We’re…waiting for your next instruction.” 

Huetoto and Sheeda go to the office building flat roof and walk straight to the railed edge.

“We’ll do it here,” Huetoto states. 

“It’s…connected,” Sheeda states, handing over a walky-talky to Huetoto. 

Huetoto thanked Sheeda before pressing the talk button and speaking to those on the other side of the walky-talky signal, “From now on, we will begin our plan because right now we are no longer Walter Staff. We will conquer Walter Park as The Six Fingers.” 

“Yes, brother,” comes four other voices through the walky-talky from the other walk-talky users. 

The other four are the two sketchy-looking staff members who played with the Kalego group and the two store staff members that Opera’s group met in the clothing shop.

“Heh, heh, I’m getting tired of waiting, bro,” the more talkative of the two that played with Kalego’s group says (5th finger: Atri). 

“It’s finally show-time, huh,” the skeleton adds (6th finger: Maemalo). 

“Can’t help it…I was asked to escort the young master so suddenly…It took a lot of time,” Huetoto admits over the walky-talky (1st finger: Huetoto). 

“I also got carried away and did my job properly,” the lady of the clothing shop says, giggling (4th finger: Miky). 

“It’s been quite an interesting job; I must say,” the tiny gentleman states (3rd finger: Hugh Derling). 

“I see. That shall end today. Everything we worked for our disguise was just for this one day,” Huetoto says with Sheeda standing straight next to him (2nd finger: Sheeda). Huetoto continues to speak, “From the back alley to the office, we’ve memorized every single place this park has, and with the chairman gone, today could not be any better. Our preparation has been going smoothly; all we have to do now is create a distraction with chaos and release the prisoner from the prison below as we are The Six Fingers, which bring chaos wherever we touch. The days we spend on this Walter Park has been…fun, so we have to destroy it to begin the festival,” Huetoto says before he and the other two partnerships in the six fingers drop a magical egg charm each, three eggs in all are dropped by the members of The Six Fingers members.

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*A few minutes before The Six Finger’s attack on Walter Park.*

“Hmm?” Agares makes a questioning sound, mostly to himself, as he feels something weird magic-wise coming from the ground.

“Is something wrong, Agares-kun?” Iruma asks, noticing Agares’s questioning noise, which is not normal for his normally quiet and sleeping friend.

All of a sudden, Agares lets himself fall off of his floating cloud and lands straight on the floor to be closer to the weird magical signature. 

“Hey, don’t sleep on the floor, it’s a bit dirty…” Az starts to scold before being interrupted by Agares speaking up. 

“It’s warm… definitely weird,” Agares says from the floor beside his cloud.

Agares Picero has a bloodline ability. “My Area,” he can control various surfaces. 

“You see, the ground in this park… has 3 points in which mana is abnormally concentrated; it feels like a bird is sitting in its nest and waiting for the eggs to hatch,” Agares tries to explain what he is feeling to his friends and pack members, even if he does want just to go back to sleep. 

“To hatch… eggs…?” Iruma asks, unsure what to make of Agares’s statement but also not liking that something was off. 

All of a sudden, Agares feels a surge of magic power. It feels like something nearby is going to explode. Agares is not about to stand by while he and his friends are in danger. Agares quickly slaps one of his friends onto the ground, shielding himself and his friends from the exploding magical power far too close to their group. 

All of the other members of their group make sounds of surprise as a protective shield of the ground changes their surroundings. Not one to take chances Professor Balam is not one to take chances when others notice things, especially with their bloodline magic; he uses his own magic to reinforce the strength of the stone protection around them. No more than a few seconds later, they all hear an explosion that sounds not far from them at all. 

A few seconds after the explosion, Iruma peaks outside the stone shielding Agares had made around their group. What he found had his eyes going wide and his heart beating faster. Right in front of his eyes is a ginormous red dragon. A summon Carmine Dragon magical beast stood not all that far away from Iruma and his friend, munching on what used to be the tracks of a rollercoaster. 

“What the hell is that?” gasps Iruma, grabbing onto Az’s thigh, instinctually needing to know where at least one of his mates was. 

“A magic beast!! But why the hell is it so big…?” Az tries to explain even as he is surprised and grabs Iruma’s arm back that his mate has used to grab his leg. 

“Let’s just evacuate for now,” Professor Balam states to the teenagers he is watching over. 

“Everyone! Please gather here!” A Walter Park staff member calls out not far from them.

“Is anyone hurt?” Professor Balam asks as the group moves with him out of the protective stone area Agares had made for them. 

“We are fine!” Iruma calls out for himself and Az. 

“No problem here!” Sabro calls out, pushing Agares on the pillow cloud before him.

“Thanks to Agares. He made a wall to protect us,” Az states truthfully. 

“Ronove is grateful!!” Ronove says as he hugs Agares with tears flowing from his eyes. 

“Let Go! I told you the ground felt weird. It was so warm; it was hard to sleep,” Agares tries to explain to his friends as he tries to push Ronove off of him. 

“You said it feels like a bird’s nest…Wait, Agares-kun…Didn’t you say…three nests?” Iruma asks wide-eyed, trying to understand the situation that is starting to come his way.

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“Re…Reporting…In various locations in Walter Park…We have confirmed the appearance of magic beasts!! There are three of them!! Three magic beasts!!” says a staff member reporting to the central staff office by walky-talky. 

While there is a Carmine Dragon near Professor Balam’s group, there is also a Panther Rat near Opera’s group, and a Mountain Bull by Professor Kalego’s group. 

“We have confirmed the appearance of magic beasts!! There are three of them!! Three magic beasts!!” calls a staff member, “Please cooperate…” 

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Looking up at the humongous Mountain Bull magical best in front of all four of the misfits on Kalego’s team, they are thinking about the same thing. 

‘What the hell!?’

In the distance, the guys could faintly hear Walter Park staff members trying to give patrons directions. The four misfits had most of their focus stolen by the chaos around the bull-type magic beast that had appeared not far in front of them. 

“This is bad!” Lied yells, staring at the ginormous bull. 

“...The hell is that?” Jazz asks no one in particular.

“We should retreat! It’s dangerous here!” yells out Goemon to his friends. 

“Professor, quickly!” Lied yells back to Professor Kalego. 

“The exit is … I can’t see it because of the crowd!” calls out Kamui. 

The guys circle up together to try and figure out a plan in all the chaos. Kamui pulls out his phone, trying both to text and call the other group. 

“Can you contact the other groups!?” Lied asks Kamui, seeing the short bird demon frantically pressing buttons on his phone.

“I can’t,” Kamui frets, still trying to contact the other groups of their pack. 

“Should we hide or run?” Jazz puts out there. 

Jazz suddenly feels a pat on his shoulder, and they all turn around to see Professor Kalego. 

“Professor!! What should we…?” Lied starts to ask. 

“I think…I have not had fun yet,” Professor Kalego states, cold as ice. 

“What?” all four of the misfits ask, clueless of what their professor is talking about. 

Pulling out his personal journal, Professor Kalego starts to talk, “Babyls professors’ guidelines always prioritize the development of students. I see…You brats are lucky…You can’t let this chance slip by. I’m here. And you four have a perfect opportunity for team combat training…It's a giant target you can practice on. You don’t have a chance to smash a giant magic beast with your full force every day,” Professor Kalego says, pointing at the bull behind them with his signature smirk on his lips.

“Y-You’re kidding, right?” Jazz asks, starting to worry even more, which he was not sure it was possible at that moment.

“What is he saying? Hey, just what is this guy saying? It sounds like he wants us to fight this thing…”Lied says, starting to tear up. 

“Get yourselves ready. Or should I say…Let’s enjoy this ‘attraction’ with diligence,” Professor Kalego says, grabbing all four of his students before they can run away.

Chapter Text

In the first year of the magic classes of demon school, students learn simple verbal spells focused on transformation and illusion. Mastering the fundamentals of magic and determining which kinds of magic suit you. Then, you begin to practice and apply those skills in the next year. 

“We have not learned to attack magic yet!!” the four misfits of Professor Kalego’s group yell simultaneously as they all start to run from the destruction surrounding the bull monster. 

“Bad! Very bad! Dead! We’re so dead!” Lied yells, using his legs for a change to run as fast as he can away from the monster and the things flying everywhere near them that could kill any one of them. 

“What magic would we even use against an opponent this big!!” Jazz yells to the group as he yells as fast as he can. 

“Look out!” Kamui yells as he throws himself into Lied so both of them would make it out of the way of a whole piece of cement that could have killed either of them. 

“Thanks Kamui!” Lied yells as he coughs because of the dust around them. 

“No worries,” Kamui says as he listens to the monster. 

Cain Kamui’s bloodline magic is ‘translation,’ and he can understand the language of any living thing and enable conversation. 

“Bother and nuisance, it seems to be calling us; it seems to be quite upset…” Kamui starts to comment. 

Soon, though, another massive piece of concrete comes far too close to Kamui and is only stopped by the wind blade from Goemon. Garp Goemon’s bloodline magic, wind blade, a transparent current of air that converges to become a blade. It is also possible to launch the blade like a boomerang. 

As Kamui thanks Goemon for his quick save, Jazz starts to think. 

‘Among us, [Wind Blade] is the only skill capable of attacking. It is…the only offensive bloodline magic!! I’m [Pit], Kamui has [Translation], and Lied has [Contoller]. 3 out of 4 of us have utility skills! We can’t be thrown into a battle. This makes no sense!! But if we can use simple spells, then…’ Jazz things. 

They have all put their backs on a large stone wall for protection. Jazz speaks up to ask Lied a question, “Lied! Can you take this thing’s sight?”

“Eh!? Which ones?” Lied asks, noting the six pairs of eyes that the bull monster has.

“Huh? Any will Do!” Jazz replies. 

‘We’ll steal your sight with Reed’s [Controller] and get your attention with Kamui’s [Translation]!!’ Jazz thinks to himself. 

“In your blind spot…Lafire!” Jazz says, casting the fire spell in front of Goemon. 

Goemon uses Jazz’s fire spell to create a harmonized spell, “Eat this! Fire-Storm Blade!” 

The blade of fire goes right towards and hits the bull right in the shoulder. Though to the four misfits’ disappointment, but not surprising, all their spell did was piss the monster the hell off, which got them blown back by an energy blast. 

As they all lay on the ground, they each call out for Professor Kalego to do something to help them. 

“Good grief…You’re going to gall back on me so soon?” Professor Kalego says as he sits in the only stable place in the area, even sitting in a chair with a drink on a table. 

“You’re our professor!”

“Our lecturer!”

“Homeroom teacher!” 

“Mentor!!” 

“This is a lesson for you. If you want to be strong, take advantage of everything you’ve learned, overcome this obstacle, and win. Now go,” Professor Kalego tells his students. 

All four students can think that the advice from their professor is just lazy advice. 

“Yeah, we can’t rely on adults…” Jazz says. 

“We have to protect ourselves…” Lied says. 

“Adults are the worst!! The idea of adults protecting children is just a lie!!” the boys yell. 

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Opera calmly catches a fast projecting pointed black tail of the rat beat in his bare hand to protect the four girls behind them. Opera uses their strength to throw back the spear-like tail so that it is away from themself. 

“Ameri-san, take everyone and evacuate,” Opera orders softly to the oldest girl in the group. 

“Er, and you Opera-san?” Ameri asks. 

“Leave it to me. Protecting those important to Iruma-sama is also my duty,” Opera states calmly. 

‘Oh! Adults are so dependable!’ the girls think. They are very impressed by Opera and how they are handling things. 

“Quickly Now!” Opera urges. 

“Yes!” Ameri calls out, gathering the girls and leading them out of the area quickly. 

“Now…” Opera states as they swiftly dodge another of the rat monster’s spear tails and land with their hands on the tail closer to the rat’s face, “Not the one to read the room, are you?” 

Landing a solid kit on the rat monster's cheek, Opera notices things, “You have quite the soft body…Did that even do any damage?”

They are getting a little more serious, going straight for the main body, though with the multiple spear-like, they are about to change focus when they are given help by another who kicks one of the tails away from Opera. 

“Ameri-san,” Opera calls out. 

“Everyone has successfully reached the evacuation zone, so I rushed back. As Babyls’s student council president, I can’t turn my back and run away in a moment of crisis,” Ameri explains calmly, walking until she is back to back with Opera. 

“This is really quite the reassuring backup. I’ll leave the tails to you, but be careful not to go too close,” Opera states. 

“Yes! I’ll be careful! I won’t do anything careless…” Ameri is saying, but both she and Opera feel something behind them, so they sharply turn around to find Clara hanging from one of the monster’s tails. 

‘What the hell is she doing!?’ both Opera and Ameri scream in their heads, wondering why the hell Clara is back and now hanging on the monster’s deadly tail. 

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Iruma is still trying to figure out what he thinks about the situation. He does not like that his friends and pack members are in danger, but other than that, Iruma feels like something else is bothering him. 

“Everyone! It’s dangerous to go near the buildings! They might collapse at any time! Please stay away from the buildings!” a staff member yells to the confused visitors of the park. 

Listening to his group members and visitors around him, Iruma has a bad gut feeling. He listens as Az admits he cannot contact anyone from the other groups. He listens as the staff members yell about directions on what they want the visitors to do. 

“What’s wrong?” Sabro asks, noticing Iruma has a far too thoughtful look on his face and does not like the look of it on his usually ridiculously happy pack alpha. 

Iruma is trying to figure out how to answer Sabro since he is not even sure exactly what he is feeling other than that the situation around him feels worse than the obvious. Iruma can hear bits of conversation going on around their group with other worried visitors.   

“But you know…This must be a terrorist attack, right.”

“If you think of it, 3 beasts were summoned simultaneously; it must have been planned.” 

“Can you explain those beasts?” Iruma asks Professor Balam, hoping to understand more of the chaos that their surroundings have turned into. 

“Um, those are summoned magic beasts. Someone must’ve summoned them. And judging from their size, the culprit might be…several people,” Professor Balam says both to Iruma and himself. 

Before Iruma can really think about the implications of the professor’s words, he hears a cry for help, only to look over and find one of the kids that Iruma and his group had been playing with not long before. The kid was calling from behind a bunch of rubble that he was obviously trapped behind and could not get to safety himself. 

What shocked Iruma even more than anything else in the chaos and danger of the situation were the things he heard around him after the kid had cried out. 

“I don’t wanna get hurt.” 

“Isn’t it already too late?” 

“There’s no way in hell I’d go there.” 

“Professor, why does no one care?” Iruma asks in shock, having no one ever not cared about children (other than himself) in the past. 

“Well, that’s a ‘demon’ for you. Their own well-being comes first, and they have very little to no care for others who are not related to them or their pack. If they can’t profit them, they won’t move even a pinky,” Professor Balam says, feeling worse as he looks at the disappointed look in the small demi-demon alpha next to him.

Iruma feels his body heat up, his ear-horns pinned back and tail limp behind him, showing his obvious displeasure to the outside person. Az gets worried seeing the change in his mate and pack alpha as his face twists until he sees a look that he has never seen on Iruma’s face. 

“I am sick of this,” Iruma mumbles before suddenly running towards the child before anyone can stop him. 

Az and the rest of their group have to watch with their hearts in their throats as the dragon moves, destroying another building that comes crashing down far too close to the child and Iruma. Az watches as Iruma grabs the little boy into his arms and weaves back and forth, dodging every piece of rubble that is crashing down around the two.

“He dodged it all!?” Professor Balam and the rest of the demons standing around scream in surprise.

Iruma’s overwhelming crisis evasion ability (Iruma is a master at avoiding dangerous things) is in full use, and Iruma gets the child to relative safety. 

“Are you okay?” Iruma asks the child, setting the kid down close to his group. 

“Yes! Thank you,” the kid's yelps relieved, no longer stuck. 

“The other kids are still inside, stuck, right?” Iruma asks, getting multiple rapid nods from the kid in confirmation.

He looks over to his group and starts to let out his thoughts by speaking up, “I was able to play with everyone and had a great time today, but for everything to fall apart so suddenly…I think this is why…I feel so irritated, so angry! I will help the children! Everyone else, please take shelter! I’ll be going now!”

Iruma’s own group, as well as other visitors, are surprised as Iruma leaves the child with a staff member and runs back into the rubble towards the trapped children.

“Hahaha, didn’t you hear? He said he’s angry,” Sabro says with a sly chuckle. 

“I will never forgive myself for not understanding how he felt…” Az growls with his hand coming to cover his heart. 

Agares feels the tense excitement and pressure in the group, slaps his hand on the ground, and uses his bloodline magic to give their group a good path to go through the rubble and help Iruma. 

“As you with, Iruma-sama. I have to be by his side at one,” Az calls out. 

“It’s common sense for rivals to stand on the same ground,” Sabro claims. 

“I will help that damn monster is too noisy,” Agares says, annoyed. 

“I am assigned to escort them, so I can’t leave them…geez. You all truly are the misfit class members,” Professor Balam states as the rest of the group catches up with Iruma. 

The kid Iruma had rescued had hitched a ride on Agares’s cloud, and Az was dragging a not-happy Ronove that did not want to go on a rescue mission. 

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*Down in the prison*

Down in one of the warden rooms, a beat-up guard gasps out, “You rascals…what is…your motive…”

“Isn’t it obvious to rescue the prisoner, duh,” Huetoto states cheerfully, even as the room is filled with beaten-up guards lying covered in blood on the floor. 

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In the Uraboras Prison 3rd level security room, the guards are panicking after hearing about the attack. 

One of the guards is yelling into a walky-talky, “Send staff to the surface! Has the anti-beast squad arrived yet!?” 

Another guard stumbles through the door, yelling, “We have a problem!!”

“What!?” the guards in the room call back. 

The guard who came stumbling through the door a moment ago continues, “Intruders have taken over the second-level security room! They disabled all the locks! The prisoners have escaped…” 

The main area of the prison is in massive pandemonium. According to the six fingers’ plan, the prisoners are revolting. All the prisoners are out of their cells and fighting with the prison guard. The prison is in total riat mode. The small group of prisoners is doing well on their escape plan. All things are going as they had planned.

In Uraboras Prison, the higher the level, the stronger the guards on it. And the guard the prisoners fear the most is the Deputy Warden “Handshaker” Triton. He is the first person every new prisoner meets, and then he engraves the fear of the guards on their bodies. The shackles are put on their crushed wrists, so they remember it every time they look at them. A grip that is said to be able to crush a dragon’s neck. 

The escaped group’s seemingly lead demon states, “If The Six Fingers weren’t involved…I would think escape was impossible, too…If they get ‘grabbed’ by that guy, it will be over even for them. It must be a fierce battle going on there.”

Unknown to the escaping prisoners, the smallest demon of The Six Fingers actually has the guard Triton screaming on the ground. The smallest demon, the little gentleman, has the most feared guard in the prison, bleeding from his prized hands. 

“I wonder how our little beasts are doing…Are they trashing the place properly…?” Atri asks while sitting on a pile of knocked-out guards. 

“Those beasts were fed with our mana. They won’t stop until they turn the whole park into ashes. No one can stop them. If there was someone who would face them…That would be some here,” Huetoto states. 

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“No! Don’t push me!! Don’t push me, I said!” Jazz yells in panic as the three other misfits push him in front of them. 

The bull's humongous fist almost punches Jazz and the other three misfits.

“That was too close, damn…” Jazz grumbles as they all hide behind some large rubble out of sight of the bull beast. “Why do I have to be in the front!?

“Because, at the moment, you’re the leader!” Lied yells. 

“Why the hell?” Jazz asks his friends in surprise. 

“Because you’re ranked 3, Jazz! The three of us are only ranked 2 at the moment!” Lied yells out. 

All of a sudden, Jazz is being bombarded with ridiculous pleas from his friends and pack mates, who normally don’t care about each other's ranks or anything that normal demons care about. It does not help that he has always known himself to want to be a big brother figure, which is different from his own sorry excuse of a big brother. A combination of the big brother complex, the begging of his lower-ranked pack mates, and the fact that his alpha instincts are yelling at him to protect his fellow pack mates, Jazz overlooks the blatant manipulation of his friends and decides to take control. 

“Oh, fine, I will think of something!” Jazz states. 

Jazz starts to think about their situation, ‘But what should we do? Our magic is not working…Isn’t it destroying too much? What is it trying to do!? How should we use our abilities?” 

Jazz = Pick-Pocket

Goemon = Wind Blade

Lied = Steals Senses

Kamui = Translation 

“Jazz, is that thing around your neck for show?” Professor Kalego asks from his chair. 

Jazz looks down at the flute that is hanging around his neck and thinks, ‘Ah…That’s right…We might win this…’

Chapter Text

The news is reaching the whole of the underworld. 

“Breaking news! This morning, three demonic beasts appeared in Walter Park! Right now, the Underworld Security Bureau is being dispatched to the park. The demonic beasts are Carmine Dragon, Panter Rant, and Mountain Bull!” States a news reporter to the whole of the underworld TV. 

With Jazz as their leader, their group now has a plan that they hope will get them a win. 

Kamui finds himself to be the first step in their plan. Kamui’s bloodline ability is ‘Translator’ (Good Friends). It lets him command other living things. 

‘Luckily for us, there was an aviary nearby…If they are the same species, I could command them faster! But my ‘translation’ magic won’t last long if I command this much in one go,’ Kamui thinks to himself as he has many birds creating a tornado-like situation around the bull beast.

One of the giant birds in the group is carrying the other three members of the group. Jazz, Lied, and Goemon are seated atop a giant bird, holding on tight to its feathers to keep themselves on the bird’s back as it flies at top speed directly toward the bull beast.

“Here I go!” Lied calls out to his two other group members next to him before continuing softer, primarily for his own processing, “I’ll have your sense of hearing!”

The Shax family ability is “Controller” (sense stealer). Lied can steal his target’s senses and turn it into his own. 

The moment after Lied stole the bull beast’s hearing, something the group had not calculated happened. The bull beast let loose a shrieking roar that was not only sharp and loud, but even with Lied holding his hands over his ears, the roar sent a continuous sharp and loud sound straight to Lied’s brain. The sounds seem to continuously throw molten lava through his ears and straight to his brain. Lied has never felt so much pain in his life so far. 

‘The hearing sense of that giant is too sensitive!! It’s pounding pain through my brain!!’ Lied cries to himself, trembling hard with a worried Goemon behind him, ‘I don’t understand why we agreed to fight a demonic beast…but, after hearing Jazz’s strategy, I felt like we could win, and if there’s even a chance to win…As a gambler, there’s no other choice but to seize the chance!!’

Lied can’t hear anything but the continuous roaring of the beast pounding in his head as he squints and sweats in pain, but he notices Goemon and Jazz trying to get his attention, most likely to make sure he is alright. 

Lied yells out, unsure how loud to be without being able to hear anything but roaring, “I’m fine!! You just hurry up!”

“Right, I just need a little more time. Hang in there…” Before Jazz could continue, he noticed the bull’s colossal tail come right for them. 

As Goemon gets in front of them with his wind blade to stop the tail, Jazz moves himself and Lied over some so that they won’t be in Goemon’s way. 

‘If you can’t handle the enemy’s attack, then…redirect it using its own power!’ Goemon thinks, coaching himself. 

“Oh! I…I redirected it!! Jazz-dono has gotten through safely!” Goemon calls out primarily to Lied, who is still beside him on their bird ride. 

Jazz is now hanging with one arm on the bull beast’s giant ear, ‘Thanks to all that distraction, I could come up to its ear…All that’s left is…The Ear Blast Flute that my brother gave me…I never thought I’d actually use the thing.’

The “Ear Blast Flute” emits a mighty wave, hitting everyone except its user. The more magical power you put in, the more unpleasant head-splitting sound it produces.

Lied feels Goemon tap him on his shoulder and point towards Jazz, who gives Lied the thumbs-up signal, “Alright, Jazz!! I’ll return the beast’s hearing now!”

The moment Jazz sees Lied’s ears, they are no longer black in color. He carries out the last part of his plan. The moment its hearing is restored, from complete silence to the highest volume. Jazz blows his flute with as much breath and power as he can. After a moment of shock, the bull beast falls straight onto its back on the ground to the shock of the misfits.

As Jazz and Goemon are trying to figure out if the bull beast is knocked out for the count or just a bit shocked, they both turn around to ask Kamui and Lied what they think when, all of a sudden, they feel a change in magic around them and turn only to find a huge bull fist coming right for them. Thankfully, this time, Professor Kalego jumps in front of them, holds out his palm, and stops the fist right in its tracks. 

“Good grief. This is why you brats are still missing at the last turn. Your plan just barely worked, and you instantly dropped your guard. Final scores Jazz 40, Kamui 30, Lied 30, and Goemon 35,” Professor Kalego states before releasing his power of Cerberion. 

The massive manifestation of magical power in the shape of the yellow lightning-covered three-headed dog soon smashes the bull into the ground with a single smash of its paw. Everything calms down, and the bull beast no longer creates chaos. 

Jazz turns to the rest of the group to comment on the crazy situation that just happened when he notices just how fast Lied’s breathing is. Lied is starting to panic as he tries to understand what is happening. He has been unable to hear anything since the bull’s roaring and giving the beast its ability to hear back. Lied starts to feel how bad his ears hurt now that the adrenaline seeps out of his system. Looking over at his pack mates, Lied notices that they are talking and trying to get his attention, but Lied starts to tear up when he notices he can’t hear anything they are saying, and his whole body starts to feel the pain radiating from his ears. 

“Help!” Lied calls out, throwing himself into Jaa’s chest and sobbing, he is scared, and it hurts so damn bad. 

“Lied, what’s going on? Why are you crying!” Jazz asks, a bit panicky, seeing his friend sobbing into his chest. 

Then Jazz smells blood and looks down at LIed in his arms and is shocked to see small streams of blood dripping from both of Lied’s ears and down his neck.

“Professor Kalego! Something is wrong with Lied!” Jazz calls out to their professor, starting to honestly worry for Lied as he wraps his arms tight around Lied, who is now shaking and sobbing uncontrollably into his chest.

“What’s going on?” Professor Kalego asks, hearing Jazz call him over. 

Kalego notices how freaked out both Jazz and Lied are and knows something has gone wrong. Kalego approaches his students as Goemon and Kamui stand nearby, now very worried about Lied. 

“I don’t know. Lied is freaking out about something that seems to be scaring him a lot, and his ears are bleeding, so I think it has something to do with that,” Jazz explains, trying to stay calm.

“Appraise,” Kalego says, casting the spell to see what is wrong with Lied, noticing the blood himself, “It looks like the beast’s roaring was so strong with the sensitivity of its own ears that it heavily damaged Lied’s ear drums. Lied is currently deaf and can’t hear anything at all. Thankfully, it looks like something that can be easily fixed once we can get him to a healer.”

“What!!” All three of the other boys yell, staring down at the shacking form of Lied in Jazz’s arms.

Lied has figured out that he can’t hear and that his ears are obviously injured, but he can’t stop the shaking or panic as he tries to burrow further into Jazz’s hug. Suddenly, Lied feels like his entire body is heating up like a heating pad had been laid on his back. After a few moments, Lied can smell something that he had not been able to a few moments before. He is sniffing closer to Jazz’s neck to take in more of the scent and double-check what he feels deep in his bones. 

“Mine!” Lied chirps with a cracking voice, hugging Jazz even tighter.

“Mate,” Jazz agrees in awe, unsure how suddenly he could tell that Lied is his destined mate.

“Wow, that is new. I have only heard of the theory from Shichiro that it could happen,” Professor Kalego states curiously, hearing Jazz and Lied’s words. 

“What do you mean, professor?” Goemon asks, surprised both by the apparent wording of his two pack mates and the confusing words of their professor. 

“It's pretty rare, but it is possible for demons who are close to the age of being able to detect their destined mates early if one or both of them are injured or in dangerous situations. I don’t really understand how it works myself, but I assume it is some sort of omega survival defensive mechanism…” Professor Kalego tells his students with a shrug.

“How can we help Lied?” Jazz asks, holding Lied close to his chest.

“I don’t have the skills to fix the actual ear problem, but I do have potions that will help with the pain from the injury until we can get to a healer,” Professor Kalego says, summoning a small vile of light green liquid handing it to Jazz, “Have Lied drink the whole vile though it may make Lied a bit sleepy, but that may help calm him down a bit till we can get to a healer.” 

It took Jazz a few moments to figure out a way to communicate with Lied before he remembered that only his hearing was affected by the injury, “Hey, Goemon, can you type up what Professor Kalego told us on your phone so that Lied can read it and know what is going on?” 

“Oh, yes, certainly that makes sense,” Goemon says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Goemon quickly typed up the conversation they had been having in the notes section of his phone. 

Once done typing things up on his phone, Goemon passes his phone over, letting Jazz hold the phone in front of Lied until he understands what he is supposed to do. Lied takes the phone from Jazz while staying in his arms to read what is written. Lied relaxes a bit, understanding a bit about what is going on with himself. Taking the vile from Jazz, Lied quickly down it in a few sips—the potion tastes like concentrated, cold, herb tea. Thankfully, the potion only takes about a minute to take effect. Lied starts to melt into Jazz as the pain lowers to only an uncomfortable throbbing, but it also makes Lied feel like his eyes are heavier than a few minutes before. 

Jazz quickly picks up Lied, who quickly understands what Jazz wants. Lied wraps himself around his mate, which is still mind-blowing to him, and holds on like a koala against Jazz’s side. Lied is only half awake, or he would probably be pretty embarrassed to be carried around by his friend and mate. 

After Goemon takes a picture of the sweet scene, the entire group slowly heads for the shelter, hoping to find a healer to fix Lied’s ears.

Chapter Text

Currently, team Kalego has defeated the bull and is slowly picking its way towards the shelter.

At the same time, team Balam is currently rescuing the children near the Carmine Dragon. 

Team Opera is split up with Opera, Ameri, and Clara near the Panter Rat, while Kerori and Elizabetta are at the shelter. 

During all this chaos in the park in the prison, the Six Fingers are infiltrating the prison, and a group of prisoners are making their escape. 

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Inside the Water Park emergency shelter, Kerori and Elizabetta are playing with a few little kids who seem to be alone. Elizabetta is tickling one of the little guys to help distract the kids from everything happening around them. Kerori is listening to those around them, almost everyone chattering about the situation, and the atmosphere is beyond negative and going towards panic.

Unable to handle the rising panic in the air, Kerori stands up and calls out to Elizabetta as she heads away with an idea in her head, “I’m sorry, Eliza-san, excuse me for a moment! I’m leaving the kids to you!” 

Having been left alone with the little children, Elizabetta is starting to feel the anxiety in her own heart rising as she tries to keep the little children calm at the same time. Suddenly, she hears a voice call out sweetly next to her. 

“Akudol Kuromu-chan?” Elizabetta says, wide-eyed with surprise.

“Why!?” 

“Oh, right! She has concerts in Walter Park today and tomorrow!” 

“She came all the way to the shelter in this situation!?”

‘That’s right…I am an Akudol, and an Akudol’s job is to make everyone smile,’ Kerori thinks to himself as she makes her way up onto the stage. 

“Everyone, Listen,” Kuromu calls out, “There are beasts outside. They’re terrifying. You must be scared. But please calm down! Keep calm and think! Are those beasts really that scary? What do you think? Between their ‘scary’ and my ‘cute,’ which one is stronger?” 

“Cute!!!!” comes the voice of her audience. 

“Kuromu-chan! You’re the best!”

“So cute!!”

‘Amazing…She took away…everyone’s ‘evil.’ Elizabetta thinks with admiration for the Akudol in front of her. 

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*Down in the prison*

“Oooh, our beasts are sure rampaging upstairs!” Atori comments.

“Right. They’re obediently destroying the park,” Huetoto states. 

“The visitors must be scared out of their minds, but…How to put this…They’re rather rhythmical…” Atori comments. 

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*Kuromu on stage in the shelter*

“Who is this girl you love!?” Kuromu sings, “Who am I!?” 

“Hyper-ultra lovely kuromu!”

“My eyes lock on! I won’t let you go! Invincible one! I’ll make you fall for me!” Kuromu sings.

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*Panter Rat Fight* 

Opera and Ameri stand down the Panter Rat magical beast in front of them while trying to figure out a good plan on how to handle both the rat beast and rescue Clara from playing on the beast's tail.

“I’ll keep it busy. Opera-san, please go and save Valac,” Ameri says. 

“But…” Opera says in a surprised reply. 

Three dangerously sharp tails come straight for the two of them and are close before Ameri quickly throws up her arm and silently uses a spell called “Transformation.” 

Ameri transformed the rubble around her into a shield to protect herself and Opera from the incoming tails. 

“I’ll be alright,” Ameri says with determination in her eyes that Opera can see. 

“The forehead, its body is soft, but that one spot is hard and protected. It must be the weak spot,” Opera points out, thinking to themself, ‘She was able to use non-verbal magic so swiftly…As expected from the ranked 6 and student council president.’ 

“Acceleration,” Ameri speaks the spell and uses it to flip out of the way of three of the rat’s tails. 

Opera is quick to save Clara from the tail she had been riding and keeps her close for the moment, not trusting his young master’s more hyper mate to keep her from getting herself in even more trouble. 

“Lady Red-Hair is so cool!” Clara cheers. 

“Hm…I want to watch for a while,” Opera states, keeping their eye on the fight before them. 

“I think it’s time for a counter-attack…You insolent pest…I will crush you with my family pride! I’ll show you what the Azazel family’s ability truly is…!” Ameri yells with determination at the beast, and her hair takes on a bright white color on the top of her head, gradually going to her natural red hair at the bottom.  

Suddenly, the rat beast strikes with all four of its strong piercing tails, which Ameri dodges, only for the rat to actually leap into the air and head straight for Ameri.

“I will not be crushed,” Ameri says with determination as she catches the giant rat before throwing the beast away from herself, “And I am strong.”

“I see, so that is…” Opera comments out loud, quite impressed by the young lady’s power. 

The Azazel bloodline magic “Romanticist” (king of delusions). By believing in her own strength, she can draw out her maximum power. It is the mightiest buff magic of the Azazel family who possesses a strong will. “Romanticist” is the ultimate self-hypnotism. It’s like a double-edged sword that may even hurt the user if they fear the opponent. For her to use it against a demonic beast at such a young age, she is indeed a demon with an iron will.

“Did she beat it!?” Clara asks, watching the fight. 

“Not yet…The beast can still stand up,” Opera replies. 

Suddenly, the rat beast’s tails were blowing out some kind of gas. Opera quickly covers Clara’s mouth and nose so that the girl won’t breathe in whatever the gas is until it dissipates at least a little bit.

‘Gas? Could it be poison!?’ Opera thinks before calling out, “Ameri-san! Did you inhale the gas!?” 

“I’m totally fine!” Ameri calls out, using some magic to blow away the gas around them. 

“Poison can’t even affect her. That surprises me. She doesn’t falter a bit,” Opera comments. 

“And her pose is cute!” Clara says excitedly.

“Yes, and by the way, is she singing something?” Opera asks. 

Ameri is letting herself sing as she fights, ‘This song, I heard this when I watched an Akudol concert once, and since then, I can’t get it out of my head!’ 

The lyrics give Ameri inspiration, ‘A maiden in love will never lose! I will make you fall for me!’ 

With a last, full-strength kick straight down on the crystalized area of the rat's head, which makes it fall down for the count, ending the fight. Ameri lets her bloodline magic fade out of her system now that the fight is over. 

“Lady Red-Hair! Amazing! You beat the beast! Like boom! Kapow! You looked super cool!” Clara cheers, running up to Ameri with stars in her eyes.

“Calm down, Valac! Don’t come near…Youch!” Ameri tries to warn the excited girl until Clara pokes Ameri, getting a pained yelp out of Ameri. 

“What’s wrong?” Clara asks, surprised by Ameri's pained response. 

“Her body is shivering in pain from that intense combat. No poking. “Romanticist” is a magic that releases all the user’s power without any restraint. Naturally, the aftermath is intense,” Opera explains, pulling Clara back from Ameri. 

“I’m pathetic…” grumbles Ameri, hating that she still feels so worn out after using her bloodline magic in actual combat.

“That is not true. Rather than ‘inexperienced,’ I would say ‘there’s still more room to grow.’ You’ve outdone yourself. But you can always grow stronger,” Opera tells Ameri, who feels better hearing the Security Devil’s words. 

Turning to Clara now that the battle is over, Opera asks, “That reminds me…What brings you here?” 

“I thought you might need some weapons! I can help you with that!” Clara says, pulling an ax out of her pocket as an example. 

Ameri tries to scold the girl about the danger she put herself in but is interrupted by Opera, “Ah. Then, can you get me one thing?”

“Oh! Sure! What do you need?” Clara asks with a smile. 

“A secret weapon,” Opera says with a bit of a twinkle in their eyes.

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Az and Sabro are standing on the roof of one of the few buildings that have not been destroyed yet, watching the roaring, smashing dragon. 

“Hmph, that is one loud lizard…” Az comments, standing next to Sabro. 

“What? Are you scared? You know you can still run away,” Sabro comments just to get a rise from the demon. 

“Nonsense! I can handle this by myself. You should head back,” Az replies. 

“Hahaha, as if!” Sabro says, “A great demon king would never run from a fight!” 

“Hmph, then take your chances,” Az says. 

They both say, “Just don’t slow me down.”  

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The park has turned into a disaster zone, and the trapped kids are in the middle of it. The kids are crying and hoping that they will be rescued when Iruma pops his head into a crack and is able to see the children. 

“It’s alright now. My friends and I are here to help,” Iruma says. 

With the help of Agares’s ground-moving magic and Professor Balam’s vines, they can get all the kids out and pile them on top of Agares’s floating cloud pillow Master. 

“Thank you, Master,” Agares thanks his cloud friend as it grows bigger so that all the kids can cuddle on top of it. 

“Is that everyone?” Iruma asks the kids to ensure they get everyone, and all the kids confirm that no other kids are trapped with them.  

“We have wounded kids let’s move to a safer place,” Professor Balam points out. 

“Will Az and Sabro be alright?” Iruma asks. 

“Hm…They were arguing when we split up…” Professor Balam replies, not sure how to answer Iruma. 

“Well…They’re acting as decoys, but I told them to just divert their attention without getting close. And to absolutely not attack…” Professor Balam is interrupted by a loud booming explosion, “...eh?” 

Professor Balam and Iruma look up into the sky to find Az and Sabro fighting the dragon and yelling at each other while attacking the dragon. 

“Are they arguing?” Iruma asks more to himself than the professor next to him. 

“After I told them not to…Do I…Have no authority as a teacher?” Professor Balam asks, looking about to cry. 

“It’s not that…” Iruma tries to calm the now sad professor. 

Az notices that Iruma has finished saving the children and sends another ball of flames. Sabro then sends a volley of short spears directly into the dragon's hide. Next, they both summon their familiars to help in the fight. 

As Professor Balam watches the fight, he thinks, ‘They’re pushing the Carmine Dragon back. To think they’re still only first-year students. Terrifying. But we can’t let our guard down. I need to back them up.’ 

Suddenly, the dragon’s mouth starts to glow as Az and Sabro are still arguing. 

“This is bad!” Professor Balam yells, covering Iruma with his own body. 

A beam of strong magic power goes straight towards Professor Balam and Iruma. It would have been a devastating hit had Balam not been able to block the beam with a magical shield over his arm. While Az turns to check Iruma and the rest of the group on the ground, the dragon turns another beam his way. 

“Az!!” Iruma screams as he watches with his heart in his throat as his mate is caught in the path of the beam. 

Whatever crisis Iruma had ended up in, deep inside his heart, he told himself, “Everything will work out.” But now that he is not alone, he drags his friends with him into any situation he gets himself into. Iruma’s eyes started tearing up, and he could tell he was panicking. 

“Look!” Professor Balam yells, noticing that Iruma is starting to think the worst. 

Following Balam’s finger, he finds Sabro standing over Az with a mostly melted shield in one hand and injured wings at his back. 

“Sabro! Az!” Iruma yells out, glad to see them both alive but not so happy about the injuries, especially Sabro’s wings.

“He blocked and withstood the beam. What a close call,” Professor Balam states, heart still beating with worry over the students. 

Az starts to bicker with Sabro about the bigger demon’s reasoning behind saving him, only for Az to notice the dragon starting to spew fire. Az throws himself into Sabro’s side, pushing both of them out of the way of the dragon's fire breath.  

“It also breathes fire!?” Az comments as they take cover with their backs to a wall. 

“That lizard’s full of tricks, huh…So, can you still move?” Sabro asks. 

“Of course!” Az replies. 

“Okay, not let’s…Retreat,” Sabro says, surprising Az, who starts to argue before Sabro continues to make his point, “Is fighting this beast your ambition?”

“Ambition…?” Az asks, a little stunned. 

“I won’t stop you if your ambition is to win against that beast, but you will probably die. About ‘my willingness to die’ and ‘my own immaturity’ because I’m serious about trying to become the demon king. I reflected on my thoughts and behavior, and I’m proud to say I’m growing! But, despite your abilities, you’re always distracted by Iruma…You have not even grown a millimeter! What is your ambition!? Is it to win here!? That’s not it, is it!? Don’t you want to be Iruma’s indestructible spear, no matter what the enemy is!? Don’t you ever mistake your own ambition! You idiot!” Sabro yells at Az, even grabbing him by the color. 

“Tch…Move,” Az says, walking to the end of the wall and letting his magic free. 

Az’s magic creates a flaming wall to shield them. 

“I’ve used all my remaining magi…This is the best way to retreat. This time, you’re right. I…was acting foolish,” Az grumbles. 

“Good! Let’s run!” Sabro calls out as Az starts to run by his side. 

“Hey! Why don’t you have your familiar, Kelbie, help you run!? Az asks. 

“I can’t! I don’t have any magic left to summon it!” Sabro calls back.    

“Why don’t you fly?” Sabro asks. 

“I don’t have any stamina left!” Az admits. 

“So, we’re both exhausted, huh?” Sabro comments. 

Az begrudgingly thanks Sabro for the earlier save, even though he dislikes thanking the brute. Before they can continue to run out of the line of fire, they notice the dragon getting ready to shoot out another beam, which they both know will not end well for them if it comes anywhere close to them. As the beam shoots their way, it is thankfully blocked by Professor Balam, who flies in front of the two students. 

“Both of you did a great job surviving. Now leave the rest to me,” Professor Balam states, unclipping his face mask and uncovering his scared mouth.

Chapter Text

“Az! Sabro!” Sabro and Az return to where Iruma was running towards where they had met in the middle. 

“Iruma-sama!” Az brightens instantly being close to his mate again. 

Though Az is surprised to be attacked with a hug by Iruma, who grabs him around the middle tightly. Iruma buries his face into Az’s chest and holds on tight. 

“You’re safe! I’m …I’m so relieved!” Iruma says into Az’s chest. 

“I’m sorry…” Az says he is not happy that he worried his mate so severely. 

“No, I should be sorry! I didn’t think it, though…I should’ve thought about the danger!” Iruma yells, worrying. 

“W-What are you talking about? I was the one who got careless!” Az argues. 

Before they can worry about who did what or apologize even more, Sabro hoists both more petite guys onto his shoulders and says, “We gotta run away now! Or we’ll be crushed.”

The three guys look over to see Professor Balam fighting the dragon with his own wooden dragon, “Nigyupnill.” 

“It’s a cousin of the Nigi-Nigi weed. The more mana you put into its seed, the faster it grows. The joints of your legs. Your neck. The base of your horns. I am a biology teacher. I know your strengths and weaknesses,” Professor Balam says before the dragon tries to use its fire breath against Balam’s wooden dragon, “Right…Wood is weak against fire. But yours isn’t strong enough. This wooden dragon is made from my mana. And the mana inside you is way…weaker. You dared to attack my precious students. I’ll make sure you regret it!”

Professor Balam’s wooden dragon lands a last chomp to the Carmine Dragon’s throat, taking the dragon down for the count. With the fight over, Professor Balam clicks his face mask back in place and heads back over to his waiting students. 

“Professor! That was awesome!” Iruma says

“Are you alright? You didn’t get hit by rocks, did you?” Professor Balam asks, getting back to his students. 

‘A power to bring down a magic beast…’ Az thinks, looking at the defeated dragon. 

“Professor BAlam! Will you please teach me combat?” Az asks the professor. 

“That’s not fair!” Sabro yells at Az. 

While Az and Sabro start to bicker, Professor BAlam turns toward Iruma, “I’m being looked up to…” 

Iruma thinks about how cute the giant professor is acting before the defeated dragon behind them starts to glow. Elsewhere in the park, the defeated bodies of the Rat Beast and Bull Beast also start to glow. The glowing beasts blast up and combine in the body of what used to be the dragon near Balam’s team. 

The guys start to yell at the new mutated beast while Balam yells at the students to fall back. Balam pushes the teens behind him as he uses his magic over his arm to block the beam coming from the beast again. Thankfully, when the smoke clears, he finds out why it is not as bad as he thought it would be. On either side of Balam stands Opera and Ameri, who helped block the beam with their hands and magic.

“Ameri-san and Opera-san!” Iruma calls out. 

“Are you alright, Iruma?” Opera asks calmly. 

“How did you get here so fast?” Iruma asks in surprise. 

“I followed your scent. The perfume you’re wearing has a very unique aroma. But that aside…What is that thing?” Opera asks, turning back towards the new beast as Iruma tries sniffing his own arm to see what he may be smelling like from the perfume he puts on the cover of his human side’s scent. 

“The light from a moment ago…It was like all the mana combined…Will you lend me a hand like in the past, Opera-senpai?” Professor Balam asks. 

“Of course. But…With just the two of us…It might be a bit tough…” Opera starts to say. 

“Eh?” Professor Balam asks. 

“Oooh? Would you look at that. What’s a summoning seal doing in here?” Opera asks while pulling out a summoning sticker. (The secret weapon Opera asked from Clara).

Oper sticks the summoning sticker right onto Iruma’s hand before raising the teen's hand to summon Kalego in his familiar fluffy bird form. Kalego is about to start yelling at Iruma for summoning him when Opera and Shichiro grab him. 

“Now then, Kalego-kun! Let’s combine our powers like the old days and defeat the enemy!” Opera says while viciously petting Kalego’s fluffy form. 

“Wait! Argh! This was your idea, wasn’t it!?” Kalego yells at Opera. 

“The beasts have merged. This is bad fluff, Kalego-kun! We have to deal with it soon, fluffy! You’re very fluffy-wuffy!” Balam explains the situation while excitedly petting Kalego’s familiar form. 

“Hey, calm down, Shichiro!” Kalego says to his closest ally, this being the main reason he had not shown his ally this familiar form.

“Iruma! Undo the summoning…!” Kalego yells to Iruma. 

“No can do. If you’re released now, you’ll be returned to where you were; look over there. We have to kill that,” Opera explains to the familiar form of Kalego before handing him back to Shichiro. 

“What!? Why do you need me!?” Kalego asks, knowing that Opera and Shichiro together are more than enough to take out a beast. 

“Easy, easy, just think of this as an experiment to see how your magic works in this form…” Balam says, petting his ally a little more calmly. 

“Master Iruma and the others, please stay back,” Opera says to Iruma and his friends, who take a few significant steps back.

“Now this…This will be good,” Sabro says with excitement. 

“Yes, we will get to see…Three high-rank demons cooperate up close,” Az states, looking at Opera and the professors. 

Az and Sabro are excitedly commenting on what the fight may be like, only for the fight to literally be only a single ridiculously strong attack to take down the beast. A concussive kick from Opera, a choking vine attack from Balam, and the clawing of a puppy-shaped Cerberus.

“Cooperation? More like…” Ameri comments. 

“Each one just beat it up themselves,” Sabro comments. 

“Grown-ups are ruthless,” Az comments. 

Kalego is freaking out a bit about how Cerberus got a lot cuter, looking more like a puppy in shape.

“But…With this…Finally…The beasts were beat!” Iruma says excitedly. 

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“The beasts were annihilated?” Huetoto asks with annoyance on his face. 

“Yes. They were beaten even in their merged form…In such a short time? It seems there are several high-ranked demons here…” Miki reports over the walky-talky. 

“Hey, ain’t this bad? We gotta wreck Walter Park according to the plan, right?” Atori asks, hearing the conversation over the walky-talky. 

“We just have to speed up. The rest shouldn’t be a problem,” Huetoto states. 

“Even up there?” Atori asks. 

“Yup. This beast is the child we bred from our wicked magic…And so, there’s still one last trick left,” Huetoto says with a dark aura around him.

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The beast starts to bulge out and glow dangerously. 

“It’s still alive!?” Ameri yells, shocked. 

“No…This is…It’s accumulating leftover magic from its body…To release everything, the self-destruct!” Balam tries to explain to everyone. 

“Agares!!” Kalego calls out, pointing to the ground. 

Understanding what his professor is asking for, Agares quickly slaps the ground with his hand and uses his magic to create a large and deep hole. 

“Now get in!” Kalego orders everyone, “The blast will burn everything! If you go underground, you’ll suffer less damage!”

“What will happen if that amount of magic is fired?” Iruma worriedly asked Opera. 

“Most likely, it will obliterate half of Water Park…” Opera starts to state, only to be interrupted by Az. 

“Wait! That direction is…It’s pointed straight to the shelter!” Az calls out, and the rest of the teens start to get ready for a fight. 

“Cut it out, you fools! That thing is already a magical bomb! If you attack it, it will explode!” Kalego yells at the students. 

“Is there any way to inform those in the shelter!? Iruma asks Balam. 

“It’s too far! Even if we tell them, there’ll be no time to escape,” Balam states. 

“Then…Can we do something about the beast?” Iruma asks wide-eyed. 

“We can’t do anything; it’s too late. It will…fire!” Balam admits to Iruma. 

“Stop it already, you stupid beast!!” Ronove yells in desperation, having been quiet up to this point, “How dare you! Break into the greatest park my legend-daddy made for me! Invading my garden! And even hurting them! You villain! You who tramples our ‘pleasure’. I, Ronove Romiere, will never forgive you! Come on, look at me!”

Ronove is shaking even as he uses the bloodline magic “charisma,” which enables Ronove to gather surrounding gazes on him instantly. 

“Great! It no longer targets the shelter!” Sabro says. 

“But! Now it targets Ronove-senpai,” Az points out. 

‘Ronove did not think about this…’ Ronove thinks to himself as he tears up with fear as the beast turns directly towards him. 

Ronove is surprised when Iruma runs right in front of him with determination in his eyes. 

“Can you do it, Ali-san!?” Iruma calls out. 

“Sure thing, partner!” Ali-san comes out of Iruma’s ring.   

Right before the blast of magic fires. 

“Iruma-kun!” Balam yells in panic. 

“That idiot! What is he trying to do!?” Kalego yells. 

Iruma turns his gluttonous feeder ring to “Ifrit mode”  before calling out to Ali-san, “We’re swallowing all this magic, Ali-san!” 

“Yeah! Wait, wait, wait!” Ali-san starts to panic a bit, “I agreed on a bit of an impulse! To swallow this amount!? I didn’t sign up for this!”

“But…The ring of gluttony consumes mana, right? So I thought we could use it…” Iruma says, and he and Ali-san bicker for a few seconds, which confuses Ronove. 

“Okay, we can do this; however, I really need your help, Irum-boy! Remember how you changed my appearance! Imagine it!” Ali-san coaches Iruma. 

“Sure!” Iruma agrees. 

“Imagine me swallowing this thing’s magic, understood? Magic means imagination!” Ali-san coaches. 

Iruma thinks about saving all of his friends and packmates. Iruma uses his imagination and uses a spell to transform Ali-san into a giant, hungry cat that leaps towards the beast with an open mouth. The beast explodes, and Iruma’s friends watch as the giant cat eats up all the power. 

“The magic! He ate it?” Az yells. 

Ali-san disappears back into the ring as Iruma falls back into Ronove, making them both fall to the floor, “Thank you for the meal!” 

“Iruma-sama!!” Az yells, worried, running toward his mate, “Are you hurt? Is everything all right?”

“That aside, what was that spell!?” Sabro asks. 

“Why do you always surprise me like that? A warning would be nice!” Ameri yells.

“Iruma!” Professor Kalego calls out to Iruma, “You moron…You did it again…”

“Professor…About what you told me, I shouldn’t get used to danger. I didn’t forget that. I was so used to danger that I started to take it lightly. But when people precious to me were about to be hurt…at last…I regained my sense of fear…I was really scared…The moment I stood before that beast, I thought I might die. I thought I would make them worry, and maybe I won’t even save anyone. So I strengthened my resolve and with this resolve. I tried to save everything! This is…This is my…Ambition!” Iruma explains to Professor Kalego. 

‘Your hand and voice are shaking you full,’ Kalego thinks as he looks at his student. 

Opera watches on as Kalego, in his fluffy form, scolds his ward and starts to think, ‘At first…I thought, ‘Why this child?’ I think now I understand a bit…Why you chose him…Lord Sullivan.’

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*On the first level of the prison*

“It should be past this rubble, right?”

“Yeah, the outside!” 

“We can go outside, at least.” 

“Where’s Kirio-kun?” 

“We got separated at some point.” 

“Hey! I see light! Outside!” 

“Great! Break the bars! We’re getting out!” 

Though, the moment that the escaping prisoners touch the bars that lead to the outside, they are zapped back by magic powerful enough the throw them all back on their asses. 

“Soneone’s outside!” one of the prisoners notices, looking through the bars. 

Kirio pops out of a door and climbs out to greet the people around the door. 

“How did you find that exit?”

“Whatever, just help us! We’re here!”

“Wait a sec. Around him…They are…”

The members of the Six Fingers bow in front of Kirio, “Welcome back, Kirio-sama. We, the Six Fingers, are here to escort you.” 

He has a sly look in his eyes as he asks a primarily rhetorical question, “Hey, what was the plan again?”

“Sir! Ball-sama’s orders were to destroy Walter Park and free Kirio-sama,” Huetoto replies with a smirk. 

“What!?” the still trapped prisoners freak at the words of the Six Fingers, “What does that mean? Kirio, you bastard! You betrayed us? Are you going to leave us here!?” 

“Now that sounds wrong. After all, I never said I would free you, right?” Kirio says, using a key to take his prisoner collar off his neck. 

Rocky stares wide-eyed and thinks, ‘Ah, I just realized. We were just bad. This soft-looking man…so different from the other prisoners…he was the true evil.’ 

“You tricked us…Pretending to help us escape and then betraying us! Bastard, why are you doing this!?” the trapped prisoners yell through the bars, angry with the situation. 

“Hey…I agree…It’s fine if we also release them, right? That way, Walter Park will be more chaotic, yeah?” Atori asks. 

“Nah,” Kirio states. 

“How come? I just don’t get it…Why take all the trouble to bring them up here, then?” Atori asks.

“I brought them up here specifically because I had no intention of letting them out. You listened to my plan, believed me, and helped me voluntarily. Then, your ideals fell apart right in front of your eyes. That is…The greatest despair. I’ve wanted to see…That look on your face for so long. If we let them out, they’ll soon get caught anyway.” 

“Right…Understood,” Atori says out loud while thinking inside, ‘I wondered why this weak guy could be one of our leaders, but I’ve never seen such a wonderful example…Of a demon who’s returned to origins as him.’

“Now, then! Should we go home?” Kirio asks cheerfully of the Six Fingers. 

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Iruma and his group meet back up with the rest of his pack at the shelter, where they find Kerori and Elizabetta handing off the last two kids they had been helping watch over to some Boarder Patroler Officers so the officers could fine the kids’ families. Jazz and Lied are sitting in a line waiting for a healer’s help since Lied’s ears are not close to being fatal. 

“What’s wrong with Lied he looks scared?” Iruma asks Goemon and Kamui, who come over to their group. 

“Lied is hurt. During our fight with the Bull beast, Lied got his ears blown out and is currently deaf. Professor Kalego appraised Lied and said that a healer should be able to fix it easily. Professor Kalego gave Lied a potion to relieve the pain, but it is making Lied tired for the moment,” Goemon explains to their pack’s alpha. 

“At least Lied will be getting help soon, right?” Iruma asks Goemon. 

“Ya, the healer only has a couple of people in front of Lied. They told us that they can fix Lied’s ears in only a few minutes once they can get to him,” Kamui states. 

“Good, good,” Iruma says before going over to Jazz and Lied. 

Lied is curled up in Jazz’s lap as they wait for the healer. Iruma softly taps on Lied’s shoulder, which had Lied jump a bit before turning a bit to see Iruma’s softly smiling face. Lied smiles at his pack alpha’s soft smile. While Lied is still on Jazz’s lap, Iruma softly hugs Lied to help reassure the other teen that Iruma cares.

The group thankfully only had to wait about ten minutes before Lied was seen by a healer and only about five before Lied was fixed up and could hear again. 

However, before the group can calm down and take some time to really breathe, Iruma and his group find themselves thrown into a parade. 

“Is…Is this fine? Holding a parade right after Walter Park was attacked seconds ago?” Iruma asks from atop a moving parade float, still running high on adrenaline and the magic he and Ali-san gobbled up, making him feel oddly too full. 

“That’s exactly why we must have one now! It’s the most exciting time!” Ronove cheers as he poses. 

“To have fun anytime, anywhere! That is the meaning of Walter Park! And you are our super VIP, you know!” Ronove’s father and owner of the park states while posing with his son while talking to Iruma, “This is how I show my gratitude for saving my Walter Park! Ah, I’m Legend Daddy. I’ve heard the story from Romiere! You all did a great job kicking the beasts’s butt! I owe you a great debt of gratitude!” 

Iruma and Agares, being the closest to the sparkly park owner, are squinting their eyes at the noisy and sparkly owner. 

“I’ll have to greet the professors later as well. Now, who is the leader?” Ronove Rosevelt, the owner, asks the group of teenagers only to have all the teenagers point right at Iruma without a bit of hesitation. 

Iruma squeaks as he is picked up by Ronove-senpai’s dad and held up in front of the crowd with both Ronoves, father and son, posing for the crowd. 

“Attention! This is our Walter Park savior! From Babyls, Iruma-kun’s group and Ronove! My son, Ronove Romiere! All hail our saviors!” Rosevelt calls out to the crowd. 

“Savior is a bit…” Iruma tries to speak. 

“You’re our hero!” Rosevelt says, interrupting the now anxious Iruma, “Your group’s efforts must be recognized! Just leave the cheering to me!” 

Unbeknownst to the people at the parade, Kirio had seen the parade and had been the one to save the amusement park.

‘Why…Are you here? Were you the one who defeated the beasts? Once again, you ruin my plan…This must be…Nothing less than destiny!!’ Kirio thinks to himself, ‘Ah, Iruma-kun…I knew it…You…Really are my...’ 

“Kirio…Are you there? Are you out yet? Report immediately,” comes Baal-sama’s voice over the walky-talky in Huetoto’s hand. 

“Huh, I’ve come back, big brother,” Kirio says with a sigh, speaking into the walky-talky. 

“What are you sighing for? I’ll strangle you, shitty glasses!” Baal-sama says, “So…Walter Park is still intact…Although I’d like it if it were completely destroyed and that outlet for wicked phases was gone for good. I don’t need such a happy place in my underworld. But the police are already arriving, and it’ll be too troublesome. So hurry back, Kirio.” 

“Yes,” Kirio replies. 

“It’s perfect now that you’re back to achieve our ambition…To spread chaos in our every action, we still need your warped mind,” Baal-sama says. 

“Yes,” Kirio says before continuing to speak, though not into the walky-talky, “Today…It is not the day. But, we will meet again since you are my destined enemy.” 

Back in the parade with Iruma, Opera comes up to his ward, “Here, I picked this up.” 

“My bag. Thank you so much. What a relief my phone and…” Iruma says, digging in the backpack before pulling out the note from his grandpa, “This is…The promise note Grandpa and I made together…”

Iruma smiles at the last promise on the page that reads, “Make sure to have fun with everyone today!”  

Even though so much happened that day with the beasts, at the end of the day. Iruma smiled, thinking that, for the most part, the day had been a lot of fun, and he loved spending time with his friends and pack.

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Back in the Sullivan manor, Lord Sullivan had decided to take a tea break and watch some TV when he noticed the story on the news channel. 

“Currently, Walter Park is in restoration…” the news lady said. 

“I got too lonely and locked myself in my room…What happened while I was sorting Iruma-kun’s photos?” Lord Sullivan asks himself worriedly, “Iruma-kun!! I’ll head there right now!” 

Lord Sullivan quickly lets his wings out and flies towards Walter Park to check on his dear grandson.

Chapter Text

The Six Fingers’ act of terrorism lets Kirio escape, but thanks to Iruma and the gang, Walter Park is not entirely destroyed. 

Lord Sullivan came running after learning about the incident. He’s now crying from joy because Iruma is safe. Lord Sullivan is hugging Iruma tightly while he cries an obnoxious amount of tears. They are all presently in the Rosevelt Hotel. A luxury hotel floating in the sky above Walter Park.  

“Iruma-kun! You’re safe! I’m so glad!” Sullivan cries. 

Opera just sighs while trying to dry up his master’s tears with towels while Iruma is being squished. 

“Mr. Ronove was so kind and prepared hotel rooms for us to stay in,” Iruma explains. 

“Because you’re the heroes who saved our Walter Park,” Rosevelt says.

Lord Sullivan and Rosevelt do a goofy pose together, to Iruma’s surprise. 

“And above all, you are Lord Sullivan’s students! Of course, you’re welcome here!” Rosevelt cheers. 

“Thanks, Rose-kun,” Lord Sullivan says.

Sullivan and Rosevelt whisper together for a few moments, which makes Iruma a bit worried before Lord Sullivan returns to Iruma. 

“I was really worried! Are you all right? You’re not traumatized, are you? Want to stop going outside for a while?” Sullivan asks worriedly. 

“No, no, no! I really enjoyed the park! Opera-san and the professors protected us, so I’m fine, really,” Iruma gushes. 

Sullivan squeezes Iruma in another hug, “You’re so brave! Opera, great job!” 

“Yes, yes, but you will dehydrate at this rate,” Opera states calmly. 

“Alright! From now on, you and the other two are Iruma-kun’s bodyguards!” Sullivan cries. 

“As you wish,” Opera replies. 

Though elsewhere in the hotel, Kalego feels a shiver of bad feeling while Kalego and Shichiro are walking through the hotel halls.

“So? Who was the culprit behind this attack?” Shichiro asks. 

“Well, it looks like it was a few members of the staff, but neither the other staff members, nor the prisoners, remember their names or even what they looked like,” Kalego says, reading the notes on a paper he was given by one of the Police working on investigating the situation, mostly so he would stay up to date and to share the information with Lord Sullivan, “Probably the effect of some spell…We’ve also got reports from others. Let’s continue this talk in the suite…” 

Kalego and Shichiro step into their two-bedroom suite only to find Jazz, Goemon, Lied, and Kamui snooping around the suite to see what they can mess with.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” Kalego yells at the ridiculous students.

“Oh, damn! He’s here!” Lied calls out. 

“He’s back already!?” Jazz asks. 

“Clean it! Clean it!” Goemon and Kamui say in a panic.

With a few more shouts, Kalego runs the students from their suite, with Shichiro waving at the teenagers from behind him before slamming the door behind the idiots.

“They like you!” Shichiro gushes. 

“They like to mess with me…They’re the worst!” Kalego growls. 

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Elsewhere in the hotel, the girls of the group were shown to a dressing room filled with so many different types of clothes. 

“Can we really have whatever clothes we like?” Elizabetta asks the hotel staff lady who escorted them. 

“Yes. It’s a present from the owner,” the staff lady says.

“Our clothes are all messed up anyway,” Ameri states, looking around at all the choices. 

“Lady Red-Hair was so cool! Like ‘hya’ and ‘bang’! And the ‘ka-boom!” Clara says to the other girls. 

“Kuromu-chan’s live concert was wonderful too! You’re her fan too, right Kero-chan?” Elizabetta chirps. 

“Anyway. It’s good that we’re all safe now,” Ameri says with a soft smile at the other girls. 

“Right,” the other girls smile. 

“By the way, dinner will be a buffet! There will be cake as well,” the staff lady says. 

“Yes!” the girls cheer. They are all hungry after everything that went down.

The buffet room was crazy. All the misfits and the rest of their group cleaned up for the most part and are ready to eat and relax now that the danger has been taken care of and they are all safe. Everyone is running around, grabbing what they want to eat. While most of his pack went a bit crazy at the mountains of food, Iruma only snacked on some of the desserts, to Az’s surprise. However, Az understands once Iruma admits that he is mostly full from the mana he and his ring took in. 

After Iruma fills himself up on sweets, he has to take a moment to himself. Iruma left the buffet hall and went up to the hotel’s roof. Iruma just needed to take a few moments of his adrenaline, leaving him with a lot to think about; so much had happened throughout the day. Both good and bad all mixed together, which oddly still made it one of the best days Iruma could ever remember having. He looked up into the night sky and thought about what had happened since that morning, up until the beasts attacked—the day had been one of the best he had ever had. Even in the attack, his friends worked together to help take down the beasts and save the park. 

Iruma recognizes the tension and oddly wired feeling over his entire body as the feeling of his adrenaline leaving his system. It feels similar to what he used to deal with after life-threatening situations back in the human realm, but the wired feeling is definitely stronger, and Iruma is not sure why yet.

“Iruma,” Ameri calls out after finding Iruma up on the roof alone with his thoughts. 

“Ameri-san, Oh, your dress is nice,” Iruma says to the girl who has become like an honorary big sister over the last several months. 

“M-Mr. Ronove gave it to me as a thanks! M-My clothes were dirty, so I had no choice!” Ameri says, flustered by the compliment.

“You have good timing! I…Have something to tell you,” Iruma states. 

“I’m always willing to listen,” Ameri states, calming herself down to listen to what Iruma wants to tell her.

“I don’t know if Clara explained it well at the girl’s meeting, but a few days before the final exam, I discovered that Az and Clara were both my destined mates. She told us she told you, but Az was not sure she actually explained it clearly,” Iruma admitted to Ameri with a soft chuckle. 

“I had a hunch, given how strongly she stated that she cares for the two of you more than just close friends. I am glad that you have the stability of having mates,” Ameri smiles at the soft smile on Iruma’s face. 

“We talked about ideals and ambitions before, right? My ideal is to have fun with everyone after all, but to protect that ideal; there’s still something more I need. I will change to achieve my ambition of ‘protecting my ideals, ’ so…Please watch me, Ameri-san!” Iruma says with confidence, looking at Ameri, that first person who helped him understand what actual personal goals were.

“I see…To save everything, huh? Greedy, aren’t you?” Ameri asks, but Iruma can see the smile on her face. 

Ameri lets herself think about the blue-haired boy in front of her, ‘Every time I let Iruma out of my sight with a sparkle, you become stronger and stronger.’

“Iruma-chi!” Clara calls out as she and Azz burst onto the roof, “Ah, Lady Red-Hair is here too.” 

Soon, his mates pulled him back into the common room, where the rest of his pack relaxed. When he looked up, he noticed that the others were watching the news, only for him to notice a news conference on the TV.

Interviewer: “So the saviors of the amusement park are Iruma-kun and his friends?” 

Lord Sullivan & Rosevelt: “Students from Babyls, Ronove, and, of course, Iruma-kun and his group are the heroes of Walter Park!” 

“What the hell are you two doing!?” Iruma yells at the TV where his Grandpa and Ronove’s father are telling the entire Nether World about him and his friends.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up in the two-bedroom suite, Shichiro found himself too nervous to even think about going down to the buffet to eat dinner. However, he does still need to eat something for dinner. Shichiro decided the best option for him was to order off the room service menu so that when he took off his face mask to eat, he would be in his own room so that no one would feel uncomfortable by the state of his mouth.

Shichiro is on the couch deciding what to order for dinner when the suite’s door is opened. Looking up from the menu in his hand, he found a grumbling Kalego at the door. 

“The damn buffet is crazy with the brats and that horrid senpai!” Kalego growls, “I couldn’t even eat my meal.” 

“Umm…I was thinking of ordering something from room service…” Shichiro starts before he watches Kalego enter the suite, pulling a trolly cart filled with plates of food, drinks, and even a few pieces of sweets. 

“I brought up enough for the both of us to share, so let's sit down and have a nice dinner away from that chaos,” Kalego says, rolling the cart of food up to the small dining room table for the two of them.  

“Thank you, Kalego,” Shichiro says with a soft smile behind his mask for his closest ally. 

“Ya, ya. Let's sit down and relax,” Kalego says, waving his ally into a seat as Kalego puts the dishes on the table for them to eat dinner. 

Shichiro feels relaxed and happy to be able to take off his face mask and have dinner alone with his favorite person in the Nether World.

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After the party started to calm down a bit, Jazz and Lied went into Lied’s bedroom in the four-bedroom suite they are sharing with Goemon and Kamui to talk to each other. They are alone, sitting on Lied’s bed with their backs to the headboard and softly touching shoulders. 

“How are you feeling about everything?” Jazz asks, speaking up first. 

“Well, my ears are all healed, so that is all fine now. The whole situation of fate and my body letting me find my destined mate early is still a bit jarring, but I am happy that it's you and that we know. It's just a lot of shocking things happened all at once, and processing everything is making my head spin,” Lied says with a slightly nervous smile on his lips.

“I feel I need to tell you that I am so thankful to not only have a mate at my side but that it is you, Lied. I have come to care a lot about you since we met; I am so happy we have already created the foundation of being allies or, as our pack alpha would say, friends. We will go at our own pace, both of our paces…” Jazz says, trying to lay things out load to start with good communication as their friendship becomes more. 

“Thanks. I know neither of us wants to hurt the other even without meaning to. I think what has me shocked the most is both how wired and shaky I am physically, but how warm I feel emotionally,” Lied admits, leaning more heavily against Jazz’s shoulder, needing contact with his friend and mate.  

“I think I would be more worried if you were totally fine after so much happened today. I don’t feel perfect either; I think it's the stress and adrenaline. We went from having a fun day, to a battle, to you being injured, then finding out we were mates even while you were still injured, finally getting you healed, and then all the parade and party stuff. It is just so much in only one day,” Jazz spells out what they are both thinking. 

“Um…would you be okay with a kiss or two now?” Lied asks softly, just a touch shy, asking for a kiss out of nowhere after only finding out they were mates hours ago. 

“I would love to,” Jazz says, turning softly, cupping Lied’s cheek before they both lean in together until their lips collide in a soft and sweet kiss.

Lied and Jazz let themselves indulge in four soft, warm kisses before laying back and lying curled in together on Lied’s bed, feeling significantly more stable than they did even a few minutes before. 

“We are going to have to really have a conversation with Iruma about this and that we truly see him as our pack alpha, aren’t we?” Lied asks with a soft chuckle. 

“Ya, but I think we can give ourselves and Iruma a few days for things to settle down again,” Jazz agrees with a chuckle of his own. 

Chapter Text

After a relaxed dinner, just the two of them, Shichiro and Kalego, sit on the oversized couch in the sitting room that is big enough for Shichiro for a change. Kalego is reclined across the couch with his feet in Shichiro’s lap. Shichiro mostly watches nature documentaries on the TV, while Kalego only partially listens to the TV while reading a book. 

“Do you have anything planned for your birthday tomorrow?” Kalego asks Shichiro, looking up from the book he is reading. 

“If you are not busy, I would like it if you could come over for dinner and tea, but other than that, no,” Shichiro replies. 

“I’m free for dinner,” Kalego says simply. 

Getting a quick agreement to another dinner together with Kalego on his birthday makes Shichiro smile softly and cradle Kalego’s feet in his lap. Shichiro loves to touch in general, but touching Kalego makes his heart feel warmer than anyone else does.

  Kalego is usually annoyed by people, even those that he cares about and protects, but ever since they were teenagers, Shichiro has always been the exception, the person who does not take energy to deal with. For whatever reason, Shichiro has always been the person that was calming to be around.

Kalego and Shichiro are happy to relax in each other's company after such a stressful day. Neither had thought they were going to have to deal with not only the craziness of chaperoning a bunch of teenagers at an amusement park but also having to deal with a terrorist attack of magical beasts being summoned on top of everything. Both demons understand the importance of relaxing after a stressful situation; becoming too stressed at once or building stress in too short of time only leads to an evil cycle, and no one needs to deal with that. When it comes to demons as powerful as Kalego and Shichiro, doing one’s best to limit the number of evil cycles is the best. The more powerful demons are, the harder it is to keep those around them safe when the demon is in their evil cycle. 

Time flew between their late dinner and relaxing; it was soon ticking closer to midnight before the two professors even realized it. However, they did notice something else that was about to change their lives forever just a few seconds after the stroke of midnight. 

Shichiro and Kalego both notice the shift in the smell of the air around them at the same time, but the two have vastly different reactions. The biggest reaction came from Shichiro. Shichiro knew that this year was the first year that he might be old enough to be able to find his mate, but none of his family members had the ability for a few more years into second maturity, so when he felt the rush of what could be described as soft electricity run threw his blood and then all of a sudden smell Kalego in a different light Shichiro was surprised. Not only did he now have the ability to sniff out his destined mate, and then be able to sniff out him in return, but his destined mate was the one person he most wanted to be his mate, but felt the least deserving of. 

Kalego was trying to process that smell marking his destined mate coming off of his closest and most trusted ally when he noticed Shichiro was starting to breathe far too fast.

“But you are so great. You are respected and skilled. How could I ever be good enough not to hold you back…how could you want me like that…just having you as an ally is a miracle…”Shichiro says brokenly to Kalego and out loud in general as he starts to be consumed by a full-blown panic attack.

Kalego has never liked how low his ally's self-esteem is when it comes to anything but combat and science, but not that he knows they are destined mates; he will not take Shichiro having a panic attack over not feeling good enough to be Kalego’s mate lightly. 

Kalego knows that he needs to act fast before Shichiro panics himself straight into either losing consciousness or falling into an evil cycle. Always one to go by the ‘actions speak louder than words’ motto for life, Kalego takes action to shock his mate out of his downward spiral of self-destructive thoughts. Kalego moved so quickly that Shichiro could barely register the feet moving from his lap before Kalego took over his lap. Not only did Kalego sit right down in Shichiro’s lap, but he also reached up with both hands, grabbed his face, and pulled Shichiro down into a hot kiss, not caring at all about Shichiro’s scare and exposed fangs. Kalego even swept his tongue over the exposed fangs teasingly. 

Shichiro did not even notice that he had stopped panicking and was starting to breathe normally now as he stared down at Kalego with wide eyes. 

“You are not only good enough to be my mate. You are the only one I have ever thought eligible for the position,” Kalego says with a smirk. 

“Y-You…want me…as your destined mate?” Shichiro asks hesitantly with wide eyes, his hands moving to clutch at Kalego’s waist softly, hoping to keep the man on his lap.

“The only one I have ever wanted is you,” Kalego says with a shrug, leaning into the larger man’s warm chest.

“Really!?” Shichiro’s lips spread into a genuinely happy smile that seemed to shine with warmth and pure happiness to Kalego.

“You would be able to tell if I was lying, Shichiro. I am very serious when I say I am very happy you are my destined mate. Now stop worrying about it,” Kalego says, rolling his eyes as he tucks himself even closer to the larger demon. 

“Thank you for waiting for me,” Shichiro whispers as he hugs Kalego snugly. 

“As I just told you, you are the only one I had eyes for,” Kalego says with a small smile before turning around in Shichiro’s lap until he is straddling the larger demon and leans in for an even deeper kiss this time. 

Their tongues play together as they lazily explore the other's mouth. Shichiro feels Kalego’s hands wander all over his chest, sides, and back. After a few minutes of making out with Kalego, Shichiro starts to loosen any inhibitions that he normally has when petting and touching others. Shichiro moves on from touching Kalego’s torso only and starts to explore even more. Kalego feels the first touch of Shichiro’s hand on his ass and freely moans at the feeling of the large warm hand kneading his ass, exploring. 

“Shichiro, how far are you okay going tonight? I don’t want to go farther than you are comfortable with,” Kalego asks as he takes in air after detaching his lips for a moment. 

“I would like to go all the way. We had to wait so long to find out. I don’t want to waste any more time. Though I am a bit nervous, it’s one thing to have book knowledge and a whole other to do something,” Shichiro says as he hides his bright red face in Kalego’s neck. 

“We only need to explore what we like together. We already have the knowledge we need to keep each other safe. May I have the honor to top this first time?” Kalego asks, cupping the back of Shichiro’s neck. 

“Yes,” Shichiro mumbles bashfully into Kalego’s neck. 

Kalego smirks to himself at his shy mate, trying to hide his blushing face in his neck. Softly and with careful hands, Kalego gets Shichiro out of his shirt before laying a trail of soft kisses across the larger demon’s broad shoulders. The fluffy and warm downy feathers are silky against Kalego’s lips. Kalego quickly removes his shirt, with Shichiro exploring each little detail with soft but determined touches.

“Let’s move to a bed before we get too far into this to care,” Kalego chuckles softly.

Shichiro quickly nods his head, picks Kalego up in his arms, and caries his mate to one of the bedrooms, closing and locking the door behind them as a second line of locks between them and the rest of the hotel. Shichiro carefully lays Kalego down on the oversized bed that was a good size, even for Shichiro and Kalego to sleep and play on together. Kalego removed his pants and underwear and threw them to the floor from the bed as Shichiro removed the rest of his own clothing before crawling in next to Kalego on the bed.

“What do you want me to do?” Shichiro asks shyly, feeling awkward and clumsy, especially now bare of any clothing. 

“Just lay back and relax, Shichiro, it’s just us. If you don’t like something, speak up,” Kalego says softly to his mate. 

Shichiro trusts Kalego with all of himself since they were students themselves. However, he has only been in such a situation in his dreams. He doesn’t want to do anything to ruin their first time together. He wants to please Kalego.

“Stop thinking so much, Shichiro,” Kalego says with a sigh, pushing on Shichiro’s shoulders to get the larger to lay flat on his back before climbing onto Shichiro’s torso and leaning in for another deep kiss.

“Sorry. I just don’t want to ruin anything,” Shichiro admits when the kiss ends so they can both breathe. 

“Just feel,” Kalego replies before kissing Shichiro all over the face and neck before moving down. 

Shichiro loves the feeling of all the searing little kisses Kalego is littering all over his shoulders and down to his chest. Shichiro lets out a squeaking moan when Kalego captures one of his nipples between soft lips and sucks. The pleasure goes straight to Shichiro’s dick, which has been hard since the first kiss they shared.

Kalego smiles to himself, proud to pull such pleasing sounds from Shichiro’s lips as he has Shichiro under him and at his mercy. Kalego loves the freedom of being able to touch and kiss Shichiro however he likes, bringing pleasure to his large gargoyle. Kalego switches his attention to the other nipple before continuing down Shichiro’s body, pulling adorable squeaks and moans from Shichiro.

“Are you alright with me casting the protection and birth-control spells on you? Or do it yourself?” Kalego asks as he moves to sit on the bed between Shichiro’s spread legs. 

“Of course, I trust you, Kalego,” Shichiro answers with a soft smile that has Kalego’s heart skipping a beat. 

Keeping eye contact with Shichiro, Kalego places his right hand flat on Shichiro’s stomach directly above the base of his monstrously big dick, which is proportional to the rest of the gargoyle. Kalego speaks the two spells, ensuring his hand heats up both times, signaling that the spells have been cast correctly. While they may want a kid at some point, neither needs Shichiro to get pregnant without a plan and talk about the future. 

With the spells cast, Kalego casts another to cover a few of his fingers with lubrication. 

“May I finger you open for me?” Kalego asks, petting Shichiro’s thigh. 

“Please,” Shichiro squeaks out. 

Kalego smirks as he starts by letting his slicked-up finger trace circles around Shichiro’s anus to get him used to being touched there. The moment Kalego touches the anus bud, Shichiro jerks in surprise, eyes flying wide at the ticklish, intimate touch of Kalego’s fingertips and having them swirling around the tight bud. Kalego continued the swirling of his fingertips until Shichiro relaxed back down. Feeling Shichiro relax under his hands, Kalego slowly but determinedly starts to press a single finger into Shichiro’s virgin ass. It takes a bit of pressure, but soon one of Kalego’s long and elegant pianist’s fingers wiggles itself deep into Shichiro’s ass. While the feeling of having a finger up his ass has a bit of pleasure to it, what has Shichiro panting is the knowledge that Kalgo is the one fingering him open.

Being an omega, Shichiro knows that his anus and that entrance have more pleasure nerves than an alpha or beta male (though all demons can feel pleasure from that entrance). However, having the knowledge is nothing compared to feeling Kalego’s elegant finger slowly wiggling around to relax his passage. 

“So beautiful,” Kalego says, catching Shichiro’s eyes as he starts to thrust a bit with a single finger inside Shichiro. 

“Kalego,” Shichiro moans.

Kalego loves the sounds spilling from Shichiro’s mouth. Kalego slowly and carefully pushes a second finger into Shichiro’s passage, earning him a winy moan.

“Better than any fantasy my mind could come up with,” Kalego admits as he starts to scissor his two fingers inside of Shichiro’s opening. 

“Same…ah…and we…ah…only…ah…just started,” Shichiro moans in reply to Kalego’s words. 

Kalego focuses on scissoring the two fingers inside Shichiro while using his left hand to rub and pluck at Shichiro’s nipples, getting more squeaks and moans out of the larger demon. Watching the moaning, twitching demon under him, Kalego is so thankful that his closest ally will also now be his mate. His heart warms with love, and his inner dog agrees, happily watching the scene from his mind’s eye. Kalego soon slides in a third finger to continue spreading the hole open.

“Please…” Shichiro wines, he is not even sure what for, but he feels very needy and wants more stimulation quickly. 

“I think you are opened up enough for me to enter you, but tell me if you need me to stop or pull back out,” Kalego says, pulling his fingers out of Shichiro before mumbling a spell to lube up his dick. 

“Yes…” Shichiro moans in reply.

Taking a deep breath, Kalego lines himself up with Shichiro’s opening before pressing forward ever so slowly. Kalego watches as Shichiro takes calming breaths to try and stay as relaxed as possible for Kalego’s dick to enter him. Shichiro grabs Kalego’s left hand and just holds it in his hand as Kalego starts to press into his opening. The first press to get his dick past the bud opening took a bit of pressure which has Shichiro feeling only a bit of a stinging pressure as his ass stretched to let Kalego’s dick pop into his passage.

“Pause…” Shichiro squeaks out once the head of Kalego’s dick pops past the anus muscles and into his passage; he needs a moment to get used to the stretch before they continue. 

The second the word came out of Shichiro’s mouth, Kalego froze in place, giving the larger demon time to adjust to Kalego’s intrusion. Keeping perfectly still takes more of Kalego’s self-discipline than he wants to admit. Though for Shichiro, he holds completely still. 

“I’m okay. You can move,” Shichiro groans as the sting dissipates and pleasure builds. 

Given permission to continue, Kalego starts to slowly press his dick further into Shichiro’s passage little by little. Feeling his dick surrounded by the amazing heat and tightness of Shichiro’s passage Kalego panting in pleasure as he slowly pushed ever further into Shichiro.

Kalego is soon all the way inside Shichiro; his hips flush against hot skin and scaling of Shichiro’s thighs. 

“Let me know…when I…can move,” Kalego says as he places his hands on Shichiro’s shoulders.

Shichiro grabs Kalego’s hips in his large taloned hands as he breathes deeply to adjust to Kalego’s dick inside of him. Shichiro only needs a few minutes to Adjust to the intrusion before telling Kalego that he can move. After a few slow thrusts, Shichiro starts to feel a warm radiating pleasure spread through him. With each thrust, more pleasure surges in Shichiro from his ass. The friction from Kalego’s abs on his dick adds to the growing pleasure. Kalego is amazed by the pleasure he feels from thrusting in and out of Shichiro’s body.

Neither Kalego nor Shichiro could believe they were finally fulfilling their heartfelt wishes to finally be able to call each other their mate and be as close as demons can get. The pleasure builds for both men very quickly, and they can finally feel the pleasure from the one they dreamed of. 

Feeling so close to cuming, Kalego uses one of his hands to reach between their bodies to grab Shichiro’s large, stiff dick into his hand and starts to pump. Only a few more thrusts and pumps have both demons pilling their cum with cries of pleasure. Kalego spills his cum inside Shichiro’s hot passage, and Shichiro cums between their bodies. Kalego collapses onto Shichiro, who wraps his arms around Kalego, hugging him. They both pant, coming down from their orgasms. 

“That was amazing, Kalego,” Shichiro sighs as he pets Kalego’s back. 

“I agree. I say we rest for a few minutes and go for another round,” Kalego suggests with a warm smirk. 

The two demons ended up snuggling up together, just relaxing after their third round of the night before they both decided that a shower was desperately needed. After washing up in the shower, the two relax in the huge bathtub. 

“I am not sure if you have figured it out yet, but you, especially your inner guard dog, have become the first elder of the misfit pack. This means we need to inform your pack alpha, Iruma, that you found your mate,” Shichiro points out softly to Kalego, who is relaxing in his lap as they enjoy the bath's hot water. 

“What!?” Kalego asks in shock.

“You have become the elder of the misfit pack. When the misfits screw up anywhere at school, the other staff don’t give out discipline but bring it to you, and you discipline the misfit in question. You and your dog have become more protective of all the misfits. Things have only intensified since they got the Royal One and then again after discovering Iruma’s true situation. The moment Iruma asks everyone to make it official, your instincts will have you becoming part of their pack,” Shichiro shrugs, trying to explain things from the outside perspective. 

Kalego takes a moment to look inside himself, mostly at his inner guard dog. After asking a few mental questions directed to the beast, Kalego lets out a deep sigh.

“Damn, Cerberion agrees with you. Looks like I have connected myself to the brats indefinitely,” Kalego growls out loud.

“Aw, it’s not so bad, and with you as their elder, those students of yours will only grow stronger,” Shichiro says softly while running fingers through Kalego’s silky hair.

“Ugh…It seems I have given myself one intense challenge. We can inform the lead brat in the morning,” Kalego grumbles, annoyed with himself. 

The two soon dry off, and with some magic, the bed is clean again. Together, they lay down in bed. Shichiro cuddled around Kalego as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

Chapter Text

*Heading Back Down From The Roof*

Walking back down the stairs from the rooftop with Clara and Az, Iruma notices little worrying things. While Clara is almost always hyper, at the moment, it is like she is vibrating with a force she is trying to keep inside herself. While cheerful with victory, Az also seems to be much stiffer in his movements. 

“How about we go to our hotel room, and you two can tell me what’s bothering you?” Iruma asks softly. 

“That’s probably for the best,” Az sighs. 

With the key in hand, Az heads the way to the room the three of them were assigned to, quietly thanking whoever allowed them to sleep in the same hotel room. The three soon stumble into their private room, surprised by its size and elegance. The first thing that caught their eyes was the huge bed in the center of the room's back wall, which looked even bigger than a king-size bed. They let the door close behind them as they continued to look around the main room. On either side of the bed are nightstands; in one corner of the room is a sitting area and a desk, a wardrobe with their bags in front of it, and an open door showing parts of an ensuite bathroom. 

“So big and fluffy!” Clara cheers, flopping out on her tummy on the bed and rolling around. 

“Clara…” Az sighs in annoyance but does not actually reprimand her, which makes Iruma even more worried.

“Can one of you explain what’s wrong? You both are jittery and restless. Is something wrong?” Iruma asks his two best friends and mates.

Az groans as he pulls two of the chairs from the sitting area and pulls them next to the bed, where Clara is still rolling around, before collapsing into one of them. Az waves Iruma to sit in the other chair.

“I shouldn’t be surprised you noticed the shifts in our behavior. You remember how stress that is not let out in a healthy way is dangerous to demons, and once too much builds up, our evil cycles take over. With everything that has been happening lately, both Clara and I really needed today to relax. Still, after the attack, we are under even more stress, and it is starting to affect us physically,” Az tries to explain, but Iruma notices that Az’s eyes keep going out of focus for a moment at a time.

“So you both need to feel secure and relaxed?” Iruma asks, “Um…Anything in particular that would help?” 

“Given Az-Az is an incubus and has his mates around; he probably needs some sexual-type stuff, but too worried it would feel pushy to say,” Clara chirps from the bed.

“Only observant when I don’t want you to be,” Az groans, running his fingers through his hair. 

“How about you, Clara? What do you need?” Iruma asks, placing a calming hand on Az’s shoulder.

“Not sure. I have never been this stressed so fast and never had friends to worry about till recently. This is the first time so many people I cared about were in danger,” Clara admits with a jerky shrug. 

“How about we start with spoiling each other? I bet some long hot baths, maybe a massage, and see about some more romantic and sexual exploration,” Iruma suggests, even as his face heats up.

“Spoiling?” Clara asks, intrigued. 

“Spoiling usually entails being fussed over, and when it is a romantic partner, friend, or family member, it usually involves special affection,” Az says with a huff to a confused Clara. 

“That sounds fun!” Clara giggles. 

“Who wants to go take a shower first?” Iruma asks. 

“How about we let Clara go first, then you, then me? I am sure Clara can pull some lotion or oil out of her pockets for messages,” Az asks. 

“Sounds good!” Clara cheers, patting her pockets to pull out a large bottle of lotion and a smaller one of body oil, putting them on the nightstand for later as she runs into the bathroom.

Iruma chuckles at Clara’s inability to stay in one place long, and Az rolls his eyes. Az keeps staring at Iruma until he feels like he is burning inside and decides that it is probably best to speak up before things go too fast from him holding back and his instincts kicking in. 

“Um…Iruma, could you come sit on my lap, please?” Az asks, trying to keep his blushing to a minimum.

Iruma’s blush heats up more, but he does not hesitate to stand up from where he is sitting and moves so that he carefully sits back down on Az’s lap. Az grabs Iruma and pulls him more fully onto his lap, wraps his arms around Iruma’s waist, and hugs him tight. 

“Do you not feel the stress of today, Iruma?” Az asks, mostly curious but also a little concerned.

“I think it has to do with how much I had to put up with when I was much younger. Though I must say having my pack in danger is more terrifying than anything in my past,” Iruma says, cuddling into Az’s chest.

“I am so glad you are here with us now,” Az states, holding Iruma close. 

“I am happier here with you all than ever in the other realm,” Iruma says softly. 

Az feels a bit better having Iruma in his lap and rubbing circles into Iruma’s back as they sit quietly, listening to the water spray of the show going in the bathroom. It did not take long before Clara bounced back into the room, this time wearing only a bathrobe that, while covering everything, had the two guys blushing, knowing she was probably not wearing anything under the robe at all. 

One after another, Iruma and Az take showers and return to their room, clad only in robes. 

“Let’s massage Az-Az first. There is no way I could lay still at the moment,” Clara says, pushing Az onto the bed before pulling a sheet from her pockets on the outfit sitting on the floor. 

Az rolls his eyes but figures he might as well go first, and his inner instincts like the idea of his mates pampering him. It took some tricky wiggling so that no one saw any privates yet, but Az was soon naked on his stomach with the sheet covering his legs and ass, leaving only his back bare. Even with only being a half-demon and only being in the demon realm for a little while, Iruma knows just how much trust Az has to have in him and Clara to lay on his stomach for them. 

Clara pumps some lotion into her hand before handing the bottle to Iruma to do the same, rubbing their hands together before they spread the lotion over Az’s back with their hands. Az loves the feeling of even just his best friends and mates touching his bare skin with their hands. The feeling gets even better once Iruma and Clara add pressure to massage Az’s back muscles.

“Az-Az, your skin is so pale and soft…” Clara giggles in awe as she massages his back.

Az blushes a bit into the sheets below him at Clara’s words. No matter what other demons say, the only people he wishes to be attractive to are his two best friends and mates. When random demons, no matter how highly ranked or what family they come from, complement him, he simply takes it as them complementing his family traits, but when Iruma and Clara compliment him, he knows it's their true thoughts. Az has had massages before spa-type events, which is common in the Asmodeus household. Having his best friends and mates being the ones to knead his skin and muscles is a whole new and far more intimate experience. Their hands on his back are like hot brands, showing him who he belongs to and will always protect.

Iruma and Clara love the feel of Az’s smooth skin under their hands but love his trust to lay on his stomach with his back and wings roots fully displayed for them even more. The trust they all have in each other is empowering to the others.

“Hey, Iruma-chi, how about you massage Az-Az’s legs while I continue massaging his back?” Clara asks. 

“Of course,” Iruma replies to Clara with a soft smile. 

Iruma is careful as he folds the sheet covering Az so that his legs are no longer covered, but his ass is still fully hidden by the sheet. Iruma feels like he is in a bit of a trance as he grabs some more lotion and lathers up both of Az’s legs. Iruma is careful and focused as he starts to massage Az’s legs. 

Iruma feels warm as he starts digging in and massaging the muscles, starting at Az’s right foot. Az lets out a light moan as he feels pleasurable massaging hands from both ends, his feet, and his back. Not only are his mates' bare hands on his skin, but they are carefully digging into his muscles to release knots he didn’t even know he had. Az can feel a low level of lust coming from Iruma and Clara as they massage him, enjoying touching his bare skin.

“Um…What do you two think about making our Misfit Pack ritual and paperwork official?” Iruma asks as his hands knead up Az’s calf. 

“After everything that happened today, I think all of us have our instincts wanting to make things official. I know I do,” Az replies. 

“Everyone should be together as a real pack so that no one can say anything about our dynamics,” Clara says more seriously than her normal tone.

“I feel like we should make things official sooner than later so that we all know that we have each other's backs and can lean on each other without interference. I want everyone to know they are part of our pack, the family of our making,” Iruma says. 

“Eggy-sensi and our class together in a real pack will be so much fun!” Clara cheers as she pauses in her massage momentarily to give Az a squishing hug.

“Now that you mention it, Professor Kalego does act as our pack’s elder,” Az comments. 

“I believe Professor Kalego has been part of our pack as our pack’s elder for a while now. Do you think he knows he will be our official elder?” Iruma asks with a chuckle. 

“Not sure, but I think Professor Balam realizes it, which means he will probably tell Professor Kalego. Those two seem close. I was really impressed by Professor Balam during his fight with the beasts,” Az states. 

“Speaking on Professor Balam, I have been trying to get used to identifying what I am smelling with my new, improved senses. Is Professor Balam an omega?” Iruma asks as he moves his hands to continue massaging up Az’s leg, at his thigh at the moment.

“Yes, and Professor Kalego is a beta,” Az answers before continuing to say, “Both Professor Kalego and Professor Balam are the highest-ranking professors in the academy at rank 8, Chet. Professor Kalego is known as the Babyls’s Loyal Guard Dog , while Professor Balam is known as Babyls’s Gargoyle . They are right under Lord Sullivan and Opera-san in the powers that protect Babyls and its students from all those that wish us harm.” 

“Eggy-sensei and Bally-sensei are super strong!” Clara cheers as she focuses her massaging hands on Az’s shoulders.

“They are both incredibly impressive with both combat and their specialties. Though that actually makes my thought process a bit more worrisome,” Iruma says, getting curious sounds in reply from both Clara and Az, waiting for him to continue his thought, which he does by continuing to say, “I started to notice the more underlying sweet scent on Professor Balam that seems to be a scent trait to those that are omega as we got to know each other. However, what worries me about Professor Balam being an omega is that he and probably some other professors or staff at Babyls are also omegas. A few days ago, all the omega members of our pack were turned into toddlers. If something like that can be effective on higher-ranking demons, Professor Balam and the other omega staff are at risk if that prank or attack happens again. That would severely weaken the protections that are normally protecting Babyls.” 

“Oh crap,” Az says. 

“Uh oh,” Clara says. 

“My thoughts exactly,” Iruma says with a sigh as he moves to Az’s other leg, starting at his foot again. 

“We should tell Professor Kalego and Professor Balam in the morning. They need to be aware of the risk to Babyls. They are probably investigating that situation anyways, so this will just add to what they are already trying to figure out,” Az says; he is starting to feel really relaxed by the constant kneading of his muscles by his best friends and mates.

Iruma feels happy touching so much of Az’s bare skin with his hands. Being able to spoil his best friends and mate makes Iruma happy. Iruma also really likes the little moans and sighs that fall from Az’s lips as they massage his body.

They soon finish with Az and try to give Clara a nice massage, but she has difficulty staying still, and after not even ten minutes of Iruma and Az massaging her back and legs, Clara wiggles back into her robe and lets Iruma have his turn. Iruma finds himself flat on his stomach, with only his ass covered with the sheet.

This is only the third time Clara and Az are seeing Iruma’s back and the first time seeing his legs, which are also very scarred, though not as bad as his back. Az and Clara can’t help but be careful as they massage Iruma’s back and legs. Az can feel his desire rise as he kneads into Iruma’s very stiff back and shoulders. His inner incubus loves getting his hands on his mates’ bare skin, but it wants even more sexual actions between the three of them.

After a while, Iruma wiggles back into his robe, and the three of them sit on the large bed for a few moments of companionable quiet before Clara breaks the quiet by tackling Iruma and going in for a deep kiss. Az feels the lustful energy radiating to him from the two as he watches to make out right in front of him. Not wanting to sit back and watch, Az lays beside them on his side and pulls down Iruma’s robe to access Iruma’s neck and shoulder. 

As Iruma was making out with Clara on top of him, he felt his robe get pulled down so that his neck and shoulder were bared. He soon feels Az’s warm lips giving shoulder slow open-mouth kisses, which makes Iruma shiver from his two best friends and mates kissing him at different places simultaneously. Az kisses across Iruma’s shoulder and up his neck, and Iruma feels like he is melting into the warmth their kisses are creating in Iruma’s throughout his whole body.

“Um…How far are you two comfortable going sexually tonight? I don’t ever want to do anything that either of you are not okay with or not ready for,” Az asks his best friends and mates as he and Clara pull back so all three of them can catch their breath.

“If sex is going all the way, I am happy with that, but I am not sure how creative I want us to get today. Maybe just keeping things more on the vanilla side of things,” Iruma says, with his face going as red as a tomato.

“Sex with mates yay! You two are all mine!” Clara chirps out. 

“Are you both sure it’s a huge decision and a big move forward? I don’t want either of you going farther than you are comfortable with just because you think I want or need it,” Az asks, wanting Iruma and Clara to be sure about their decision and not because of him.

“Of course, we won’t lie to you Az-Az. We know you would be really mad and sad if we let you do something that made us uncomfortable,” Clara says, giving Az a tight hug. 

“We promise to speak up if we are uncomfortable with anything we do or don’t feel good anymore, right?” Iruma asks. 

“I promise,” Az and Clara both say simultaneously.

“If we are all in agreement, we must get ready before we get into the heat of the moment and forget. Protective spells for each of us and birth-control spells for myself and Clara. We don’t want to hurt each other, and none of us are ready for kids any time soon. Also, Clara, is that body oil safe for more intamint places?” Az says to his two best friends and mates, feeling his inner incubus heat up in excitement. 

“Of course! You could drink the oil. It is that safe! Though I would not recommend it,” Clara says, she would never let anything unsafe be on their skin. 

“I have practiced those two spells a few times already, and my hand got hot as it should. How about you two?” Iruma says. 

“I have been practicing those spells since before I could truly understand the seriousness of the subject my mother was teaching me,” Az sighs. 

“Mommy had me practice a few times after giving me the sex talk a few years ago. I practiced a few more times again once I knew you two were my destined mates. We all protect each other!” Clara says, cheering out the last bit of her statement.

“I would really like to do the spells on you two and then have Iruma cast the protection spell on me, and Clara cast the birth-control spell if you both are alright with that?” Az asks. 

“I would be honored,” Iruma says with a soft smile. 

“Yup, yup!” Clara agrees happily. 

With their robes still covering most of their bodies, they cast the spells on each other by placing one hand with their palm flat against the other's lower abdomen and right above their private areas. Az listens carefully and ensures the hand of whoever is casting the spell gets hot. He will not slip in the protection of his mates in such an important moment. Once the spells have all been cast correctly for each of them, Az switches the lotion for the oil on the nightstand so that the bottle of oil is lying on the bed within easy reach of them before they get into the heat of the moment. 

“How do we start?” Iruma asks, looking a bit nervous between Az and Clara.

“I say more kissing and then go from there as we want,” Az suggests. 

“Yay, more smooches!” Clara says, tackling Az onto his back and planting her lips on his.

Iruma smiles in amusement as Clara attacks Az with kisses. After the two make out for a while, Az rolls them over so that Clara is on her back, and Az moves so that he is lying on his side on Clara’s right. 

“You take her left and follow my lead,” Az says before kissing behind Clara's right ear and working his way down towards her neck. 

Not wanting to miss anything, Iruma lies down on Clara’s left and starts kissing behind Clara’s left ear, following Az’s example. Clara lets out a soft moan at the pleasure that seeps into her as Az and Iruma start kissing her behind her pointed ears, at the same time sending tingles through Clara’s system. As they reach the top of Clara’s neck, her robe starts to get in their way. Az takes a moment to pull Clara’s robe down some to show the skin of her neck, shoulders, and cleavage. Iruma does the same on his side. Az and Iruma go back to slowly kissing down Clara’s neck and across her shoulders and collarbone. Az loves the feeling of kissing Clara’s bare skin, and the lustful energy coming off of her is strong and absolutely delicious. Clara loves the feel of her mates' lips on her skin and lets out a moan as Iruma and Az start to move her robe more on both sides slowly so that if she wanted them to stop, she would have time to, but Clara let them continue. 

Iruma and Az keep moving Clara’s robe until they uncover her soft, perky breasts topped with cute dusty pink nipples. Clara groans in pleasure as Iruma and Az each softly cup the breast closest to them in one of their hands. The added heat and pressure as they start to fondle her breasts softly has sparks of pleasuring heat pooling in her stomach. Clara lets out a squeaky moan as Iruma and Az start to kiss down her chest and onto her breast before Az starts to suck on Clara’s nipples, which Iruma copies on his side a few seconds later. Az loves all the little sounds that Clara is making as they suck on her nipples. Iruma feels heat grow in his own body as he sucks and rolls Clara’s nipple around in his mouth, feeling the nipple start to stiffen up on his tongue as he flicks it softly with the tip of his tongue.

As they continue to suck and fondle Clara’s breasts, Az slowly undoes the bow holding the robe together around and slowly pulls the robe open to uncover her lower half to Az and Iruma. Az and Iruma pause for a few seconds as they look over Clara’s bare body in awe. Clara is bare, other than half of her arms where the robe is hanging by its sleeves. Clara’s skin is pale and soft to the touch, and while she is not skinny or built with muscles, she has a petite athletic build with nice curves. Her pussy has a trimmed light green patch of pubes over it. In the eyes of Iruma and Az, she is the most beautiful woman in the universe. 

“Hey! If my robe is off, you two must also get your robes off!” Clara giggles as she sits up first to shuck the robe off her arms and toss it on the floor before reaching out to Iruma and Az to untie their robes.

Az pulls his own robe off the rest of the way before gently devesting Iruma of his robe and tosses both of their robes over the side of the bed. Clara and Az get their first look at the front of Iruma, and while they find him beautiful, they are also sad to see that while no part of him is as scarred as his back, Iruma still has many over his chest, stomach, legs, and arms. However, they thank Derkila that his neck and face seem untouched by scars. Az is pale elegance made into a young man, only highlighted by his pink hair and eyes.

Iruma and Az are both erect, having been stiff since massaging each other, only to get stiffer as they kissed and devested Clara of her robe. Both young men are of average girth and about the same girth as each other. Iruma is the longer of the two at about eight inches long, and Az is only a bit shorter at about seven inches. Both young men are larger than the average for demons of their size (which is about 5.5 - 6 inches in length). 

“I am hoping that you two will agree that it would be amazing to have our first time be all together, all three of us at the same time,” Az says looking at Iruma and Clara with light glowing just the smallest bit. 

“I would love that, but how do we make that work logistics-wise?” Iruma asks. 

“The love trio! All together,” Clara cheers brightly.

“If you are comfortable with it, I was thinking Clara on her back on the bed with me in her, and Iruma above both of us with him inside of me,” Az says to his best friends and mates. 

“Sounds fun! We get to sandwich Az-Az between us, Iruma-chi!” Clara says with a giggle.

“I agree as well. I want us to all be each other’s first, all together,” Iruma replies, smiling at his best friends and mates. 

“Now, we do need to take more time with each other, especially with this being our first time being penetrated. I will please and relax Clara, and I want you, Iruma, to prepare me for your penetration,” Az says, handing over the bottle of oil to Iruma with a smirk.

Iruma takes the bottle and turns to Az to say, “Just to be clear, since my only education about this was a book. Do you want me to finger your anus open with my fingers one at a time while lubed up with oil? And you will help direct me when something does or doesn’t feel good, correct?” 

“That is correct. Just go slow and steady, and everything should be just fine,” Az says, giving Iruma a tight hug before turning to push Clara flat on her back gently.

Iruma is entranced for a few moments as Az moves so that he has his back to Iruma and crouches over Clara, kissing his way from her sternum down her torso ever so meticulously until he reaches her right above her pubes. Az gently eases Clara’s legs apart so that he can fold himself between her legs and in the perfect position to lay a gentle kiss on her pussy lips that has a gasp falling from Clara’s lips. This position also has him leaning over so that Iruma has a clear view of the dusty pink muscle bud that is his anus.

Iruma is in awe of the beauty of his best friends and mates. Not only are they allowing him to see them without a stitch of clothing on, but they are allowing him to touch them in such intimate ways, filling his heart with love and his stomach with heat. 

“Now Iruma, put a good amount of oil over your fingers on your right hand and spread some over the outside of the ring of muscles first, then push in just one first slow and steady to start,” Az instructs before leaning down to lap at Clara’s pussy with his tongue getting gasps and mews out of her.

Not wanting to mess anything up, Iruma follows Az’s instructions. Twisting open the bottle of oil, he is pleased that it only has a slight herbal scent but nothing strong as he pours quite a bit onto the fingers of his right hand before twisting the cap back on. 

“I am starting now,” Iruma says to warn Az, not wanting to surprise him.

Iruma takes his now oil-slicked hand and gently touches Az’s anus and lets one finger swirl around the outside for a few seconds while Iruma gives into the impulse to kiss down Az’s back, starting about an inch under his wing roots and leaving little kisses down his spine. Az moans at the touch of Iruma’s finger and the hot kisses going down his back, and his moan sends vibrations through Clara, making her moan in pleasure as well. 

Iruma gets down to Az’s ass and lays a few hot kisses on each cheek before leaning back and saying, “I am going to press the first one in now. Please tell me if anything hurts or if you want me to pause or stop for any reason.” 

“Please, Iruma,” Az says, close to begging for Iruma to penetrate him. 

Iruma is careful as he presses his index finger against the bundle of muscles, and it takes a bit of force to press past the first ring of muscles, even with just one finger. Iruma only lets his finger go in until the first knuckle as Az gasps at the pressure of penetration. Iruma waits a few seconds until Az’s breath evens back out again to continue pressing his index finger millimeter by millimeter until it is all the way into the last knuckle. Iruma is surprised by just how hot and silky Az is inside, though Iruma feels no pain on his skin, which has Iruma thinking it is part of either his fire magic or being an incubus; it could even be both for all Iruma knows. 

“Can I start moving my finger, Az?” Iruma asks softly. 

“Yes,” Az groans in reply. 

“Az-Az’s tongue feels good, Iruma-chi,” Clara says while panting a bit.

Iruma smiles at Clara over Az’s shoulder as he starts to pump his finger in and out of Az’s anus in slow, measured thrusts in and out of Az’s ass. Iruma works his single finger around, wiggling and swirling around the edges of Az’s passage and entrance, wanting to loosen him up a bit before trying to put a whole other finger inside his entrance. 

“More. I am ready for more Iruma,” Az gasps out. 

“Alright,” Iruma says, being incredibly careful as he presses his middle finger next to his first finger. 

Even with a generous amount of oil on his fingers, it takes more pressure this time. Other than a sharp gasp, Az says nothing, but Iruma pauses when only the first knuckle worth of the second finger is past the ring of muscles. Iruma gives Az twenty seconds before daring to move his fingers again. He pushed in his second finger until it was fully inside Az’s passage. Iruma gives Az another twenty seconds or so before starting to thrust the two fingers together. Az groans into Clara’s pussy as he feels the pleasure of Iruma’s two fingers fucking him. Az does his best to lap and swirl his tongue to please Clara as Iruma’s fingers are pleasuring him, which are now scissoring and exploring his passage. It took a few tries to do the ‘come here’ motion with his fingers towards the front of Az’s passage, but at Az’s loud gasping moan of pleasure, Iruma was sure he found the prostate glad that one of the books he read spoke about.

Iruma feels heat and desire pooling in his stomach and his dick twitching in need, but it is all worth the wait just to hear Az and Clara moan in pleasure while two of his own fingers are deep inside Az’s hot passage. Iruma soon presses a third finger into Az, which has him mewing and moaning against Clara. 

Knowing that Clara is now as relaxed and pleasured well at the moment, Az very gently slips a single finger into her passage, getting only a gasp and small wine in return before Clara relaxes again, allowing Az to thrust his finger in and out of Clara’s passage and wiggle it around some. Az starts to speed up his tongue a bit as he adds a second finger, which gets another gasp and wine, but again, Clara soon relaxes.

After a few minutes of Iruma thrusting three fingers into Az’s passage, Az has three of his own fingers inside Clara’s. 

“Come on, Az, Iruma, more,” Clara moans pulling Az forward and into a deep sloppy kiss and dislodging Iruma’s fingers from his ass. 

“Are you ready, Az?” Iruma asks gently.

“Yes. I am more than ready,” Az moans. 

“Alright. Do you want me to enter you before or after you enter Clara?” Iruma asks, even as his heart beats faster in his chest. 

“I’ll enter Clara first. I want all my focus to be on entering her, not distracted by pleasure,” Az states, getting up onto his hands and knees before leaning forward until he is only an inch from Clara’s entrance when he says, “Now just breathe, Clara. If you need me to stop, just say so. I will be slow.”

Clara looks up into Az’s bright magenta eyes that hold love and desire as they look down at her like she is the most precious person in the world. Clara might not always understand Az, but she has never doubted his care and protection of her since a few weeks into their friendship. She knows that sometimes she is a bit much for Az, and he also has trouble understanding her, but he loves her all the same. This understanding between them has only grown leaps and bounds, especially finding out the truth behind Iruma’s being and that the three of them are destined mates. 

Clara gives Az a solid nod and a genuine smile before taking a deep, calming breath, placing her trust fully in Az. Az starts to push forward, and after a bit of pressure, he gets the tip of his dick inside her passage. There is only a bite of pain at Az’s penetration, thanks to him getting her ready with his fingers. Clara quickly grabs Az’s upper arms as he pauses right inside her entrance. She tries to calm her breathing and let the pain start slowly fading away as her body adapts to Az’s dick inside her, after keeping still for about three minutes before Clara gives Az a nod to continue. Az is deliberately slow as he enters Clara millimeter by millimeter. He will be as careful as possible with Clara; this is her first time just as much as his, and he is determined to make this a pleasurable memory for all of them. 

It takes a few minutes before Az’s entire length has fully entered Clara’s body. Az freezes again, now fully sheathed in the burning heat of Clara’s pussy. The heat and pressure surrounding his dick are more pleasurable than Az had ever dreamed it could be. 

“Clara, Az, are you both alright?” Iruma asks, petting Az’s back as he notices they both hold perfectly still. 

“I will be alright in a minute or two. Az-Az is big, and my body needs a minute,” Clara says between pants, holding onto Az’s arms to ground herself.

“While Clara gets used to me, please enter me,” Az pleads while panting for breath. 

For the first time in a while, Az thanks his incubus genetics as Iruma presses his dick into Az’s ass. While there is a bit of a sting in the stretch as Iruma pushes into him, Az is in very little pain, especially given this is the first time he has been penetrated with anything. Iruma is careful and slow, similar to how Az had entered Clara, giving Az time to get used to his size for the most part by the time he was completely seated against his ass. They are all panting in pleasure as they all freeze in place, letting everyone get used to the penetration and positions they are in.

“We are all connected together as one. I am so glad you two are all mine,” Clara whispers with a small smile on her lips as she looks up into the eyes of both her best friends and mates, so glad they are safe, together, and connecting in the most intimate way known to demons, before the full mating ceremony that is. 

Az is the one that starts to move, sandwiched between Clara and Iruma. Az is getting pleasure from both his dick and his ass. His nerves are registering only pleasure and lustful energy coming his way from both Clara and Iruma. Az thrusts forward deep into Clara and back, impaling himself back onto Iruma’s dick which seems to hit Az’s prostate with almost every thrust. After a few thrusts from Az back and forth, setting a rhythm that they could follow, Clara and Iruma start thrusting in time to meet Az’s movements, only making every thrust forward or back even more powerful and sending jolts of pleasure straight through each other. Given it is the first time for all of them, and so much pleasure is given between them, it only takes a short time before they fall. Az feels like he is about to cum, so he dips his head to suck one of Clara’s nipples into his mouth and one of his hands to fondle the other breast, which soon has Clara cuming under him with a cry of pleasure. Az and Iruma are quick to follow. Az cumming first, and his ass contracting around Iruma’s dick has Iruma cuming inside of Az. Thankfully, when Az and Iruma crash down to the bed after their orgasms seem to suck them of energy, they make sure to fall to the sides so that they don’t crush Clara with their combined weight. 

After a few deep breaths, Az and Iruma cuddle into Clara’s side as their breathing becomes less labored. 

“Anyone ready for another round? That was fun!” Clara cheers with a wide smile, hugging Az and Iruma close.    

Chapter Text

“Anyone ready for another round? That was fun!” Clara cheers with a wide smile, hugging Az and Iruma close. 

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Az and Iruma laugh at Clara’s enthusiastic cheer as they all come down from their first shared sexual experience together, blissed out from their orgasms. 

“I love you both so much,” Iruma says, wrapping his arm around Clara to grab one of Az’s hands.

“We love you too, Iruma,” Az and Clara say, hugging Iruma tightly back. 

“Um…Is it normal to feel even more horny and energetic after going one round?” Iruma asks since the few books he read about sex usually said most demons can only go a round or two before needing a long break. 

“Well, the problem with that question is that none of us is considered normal regarding the average demons. I am an incubus, which makes my genetics make for lustful and sexual acts and a higher libido than most. Clara and her family are known for abundant energy, which is off the charts for most other demons, which we know from experience. You, on the other hand, are half wolf-type demon, which is known for high libido with their mates especially, and we have no idea of how being a demi affects you,” Az says to Iruma with a shrug. 

“Yay, we are special!” Clara giggles. 

“Clara had a good idea about another round…” Iruma says shyly, putting his face into Clara’s shoulder, “Um…Az…If you want…Do you want to try toping me…” 

“I would love to, Iruma, only if you’re sure,” Az says with a small smirk on his lips, looking at Iruma with love and hunger in his eyes.

“I am sure,” Iruma says, looking up from Clara’s shoulder.

Clara wiggles and maneuvers herself, Az, and Iruma around on the bed until she has Iruma in her lap and Az kneeling right in front of them. Clara reaches up and starts to rub Iruma’s fluffy blue wolf ear horns with her fingers, which has Iruma moaning in her lap at the pleasurable jolts being sent straight down his spine and to his dick.

Az just watches Clara play with Iruma’s fluffy ear horns for a few minutes, enjoying the sight of Iruma turning into a puddle of moaning pleasure. Az watches as Iruma’s dick stiffens back up at Clara’s touch and loves the sound of the moans and gasps spilling from Iruma’s mouth. After a few minutes, Az gently maneuvers Iruma so that he is now lying on his back with only his head still in Clara’s lap. Az gently takes Iruma’s legs in his hands and bends Iruma’s knees before spreading his legs wide so that Az has all the access he needs to Iruma’s entrance. Az grabs one of the pillows from the top of the bed and places it under Iruma’s hips, lifting his ass up a little. 

“Az, please,” Iruma pleads as Az reaches for the bottle of oil. 

Az makes quick work of pouring some oil over the fingers of his right hand. Az swirls a single finger around Iruma’s bud of muscles to slick up the area and get Iruma used to touching that area. Az slowly presses a single finger into Iruma’s ass which has Iruma gasping and tensing up a bit for a minute before relaxing again. Az starts to thrust his single finger shallowly in and out of Iruma’s ass until he starts to moan at the feeling of Az’s thrusting finger. It takes quite a few minutes of slow and steady fingering before Az can fit three fingers inside Iruma’s ass. Iruma is a trembling mess as he feels Az brushing against his prostate more often than not, sending electrical shocks of pleasure pulsing through his system.

After oiling his dick up, Az gives Iruma a soft warning before starting to press his dick into Iruma’s ass. Iruma hisses at the small bite of the pain of the stretch around Az’s dick as the head of Az’s dick pops through his ring of muscles. With Clara playing with his fluffy ears and Az freezing so he has time to adjust, it does not take more than a few minutes before Iruma gives Az the go-ahead to move again. As Az buries his dick inside Iruma’s passage, Iruma feels stuffed full, and the bite of pain from the stretching of his passage is soon replaced with pleasure as Az starts to thrust, brushing against Iruma’s prostate with each thrust. Iruma also feels pleasure on his dick from the friction of brushing against Az’s stomach muscles and Clara playing with his sensitive fluffy wolf ears. With all the pleasure rushing through his system Iruma does not last very long before cumming between himself and Az’s stomachs. Az cums from the added pleasure of Iruma contracting around his dick, spilling his seed into Iruma’s passage. 

Clara smirks at her mates as Az collapses onto Iruma in orgasmic bliss. Now she has the heads of both her mates in her lap, and she is beyond happy as Az nuzzles her thigh while laying on top of Iruma as they both try to catch their breath. 

“I have got to say I like both penetrating and being penetrated. Both feel amazing, just different,” Iruma says after catching his breath, wrapping his arms around Az’s body, and hugging him securely to himself.

The three relax together for several minutes before Clara can’t sit still and decides they need another round. She gently rolls Az off of Iruma and moves herself so that she can kiss down Iruma’s body, starting at his neck. Iruma giggles, and moans at the little butterfly kisses Clara lays across his body from the side of his neck down his chest til she gets to the spurts of cum covering Iruma’s chest, which she laps up in curiosity about what it may taste like.

“Your cum tastes all salty,” Clara giggles which has Az chuckling and Iruma gasping at the erotic action. 

Clara continues to kiss and lick down Iruma’s body, earning moans from him until she reaches his dick and lips that too. Iruma moans in pleasure at the feeling of Clara’s warm wet tongue sliding along his half-erect dick. After a few licks and Clara putting a few inches of the dick into her mouth, Iruma is fully erect again.

Having gotten Iruma to full mast again, Clara is quick to swing a leg over Iruma until her pussy is directly over Iruma’s dick. Az lends a hand to direct Iruma’s dick directly at Clara’s pussy lips before Clara starts to press down. While she is slow to impale herself down Iruma’s dick, it is far faster than when Az entered for the first time, now able to handle a faster pace after already having one in her not too long before. 

Clara is quick to start bouncing on Iruma’s dick, using her legs to move up and down at a fast pace taking Iruma on a ride, and she does most of the work, though Iruma does meet her thrust for thrust, not wanting just to lay back and let her work. Mesmerized by Clara’s bouncing breast, Iruma feels like he is in a bit of a trance as he reaches his hands up and fondles her breast, pulling even more moans out of Clara while he feels Az reach over and pinch Iruma’s nipples gently getting more moans out of him. Clara sets a very fast pace chasing her own pleasure while bringing pleasure to Iruma; when Az uses a finger to circle around her clit she crashes into her orgasm, and when her pussy contracts around Iruma has him cumming into her passage soon after her. 

Clara only lets herself rest for a few minutes before doing the exact same thing to Az and riding him until they both collapse in orgasm. The last round of the night has Iruma topping Az again, but this time, it is just the two of them, with Clara petting them and lying next to them.

Laying down together in a sweaty pile, the three catch their breath when Az speaks up, “I feel so powerful and full of energy from the lustful energy I got from all of that, though I have got to say all of us are very far from the normal when it comes to stamina.” 

“That felt amazing, but I think we all need to wash off and soak in hot water, or we are going to be very sticky and sore come morning,” Iruma says with a fond smile on his lips. 

“Let's wash off in the shower and then soak in a hot bath,” Az agrees. 

The ensuite bathroom is large enough for them to help each other wash up in the shower before sitting in the tube as it fills up with hot water and even bubbles like a hot tub. Once the hot water fills up until a couple of inches from the top, Az turns it off and sets the tub’s tablet to keep it hot while they lay back in the bubbling water.

“This feels good,” Iruma says, laying back against the side of the tub. 

“From what my mother described as normal amounts of energy we normally get from different sexual activities as succubi and incubi, you two are more powerful than the norm. Add that to high stamina, and I feel like I am brimming with energy,” Az says with a bright smile and chuckle.

“It is kind of cool that smoothes, and more can give Az-Az more energy,” Clara says. 

“I must agree, especially given that Az is better at combat than the two of us at the moment. You protect us from a lot, and it’s nice to know we can help you if necessary,” Iruma states. 

“I think you two are some of the few who think that way so easily, but thank you. You two have been growing in power yourselves,” Az says with a soft smile to his two best friends and mates. 

“We should make our pack official before the end of vacation. I want us to be a real pack before going back to school,” Clara says in a rare, serious voice, knowing that Iruma wants to ensure everyone is ready to take the next step; Iruma does not like to pressure his friends.

“I agree it would make us all feel more secure and make our demonic instincts happier,” Az agrees with Clara. 

“I would love that. We should talk to everyone about that after things calm down from this situation. We can start with putting the thought out there with our pack members to see how they feel,” Iruma agrees, leaning against Az’s shoulder. 

After about half an hour of soaking in the tub, they all got dressed in pajamas and brushed their teeth, working towards going to sleep. Iruma checks his hell-phone as he puts it on its charger for the night, and other than texts from his grandpa, which he only skims since most are no longer relevant, he moves on to the few other text messages he has. Iruma finds a text message from Allocer in both of the pack group chats. One group chat was named ‘Teens-Misfit Pack,’ and the other was named ‘Full Misfit Pack.’ The only difference is that the full-pack group chat includes Professor Kalego, while the other does not. 

Allocer: Are you all alright? I saw the news they are calling you all heroes, but not your health state. 

Sabnock: Lied and I were the only ones with real injuries, and with a little help from the healers here, we are good now. 

Allocer: At least you're better now. Message me once you wake up, and let me know what you're doing because there is a lot of news coverage. 

Iruma takes a mental note to text Allocer when he gets up, but he has one other text that is a happy surprise for him. Purson had actually texted him. 

Purson: I saw the story on the news. It’s just like you and the rest of the class to get attacked and save an amusement park. Is everyone alright now?

Iruma: Thank you for checking on us, and yes, we are fine. Sabnock and Lied got hurt in the fight but were healed up right after. I will add you to our group text; that way, even if you don’t want to message us as a group, you will be kept up to date on everything.   

Iruma smiles as he sends his message to Purson and then adds him to the group chat without a name, just his number, so Purson can decide for himself if he wants to be identified with a name, but will also get all the correspondence from both of the group chats and won’t be left out of things. Once done checking his phone, he sets it down to charge overnight and climbs into the giant bed.        

The three crash into their big bed and immediately fall asleep in each other's arms.

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       Iruma Suzuki, 14 years old, is a demi-demon. Here in the netherworld, his human half is a first-rate delicacy, and if he gets found out by anyone not already loyal to him, he doesn’t know what they would do to him. That’s why he tries not to stand out in public! 

Presently, Iruma is in a nightmare of attention that he never wanted in the first place. 

“Is Iruma-kun in here!?” 

“Let me interview Iruma!”

“At least a picture!”

“Are the other students here as well!?”

Come the yelling voices of a whole damn army of loud and persistent reporters trying to get into the hotel through every door they can find, giving the hotel staff and security a workout trying to keep everyone outside. Opera is quick to pull their young master away from any door and windows so that any cameras will not catch him.

“Someone’s popular,” Opera sighs. 

Opera watches Iruma crouch in the sitting area, trembling and panicking at all the attention and commotion. Opera watches Az and Clara trying to reassure their friend even though the reporters still yell outside. 

“This is too much attention…” Iruma sobs in panic. 

“It must be difficult…” Sullivan says in his little egg form. 

“Although, it was the principal who declared you were ‘the hero who saved Walter Park’ on the news,” Opera states with frustration at their master having put Iruma in such a situation in the first place. 

Iruma calms down as everyone in their group congregates in the sitting room after finishing breakfast to make plans to go home without being trampled by the reporters on their way. 

Lied and Jazz come right up to where Iruma and Az are sitting, with Clara playing behind the couch they are sitting on. 

“Hey, Iruma, we need to talk to you about something. Is now alright?” Lied asks. 

“You can always talk to me. Go ahead,” Iruma says with a smile to his friends.

“After my injury in our fight, my omega instincts seemed to move my ability to sense my mate up in time. I found out that Jazzy and I are destined mates. We wanted your permission and blessing to start courting, given we both see you as our Pack’s Alpha,” Lied states with pink cheeks.

“Congratulations, and of course, you have my permission and blessing. Just treat each other well,” Iruma says with a bright smile, getting up to hug Lied and Jazz. 

Lied and Jazz step back and hang with the other misfits when Professor Balam walks up with a scowling Professor Kalego at his side.

“Come on, Kalego, you have to talk to him at some point,” Professor Balam says softly. 

“Oh, fine. Shichiro and I discovered we are destined mates and will be courting now. I have been made aware by Shichiro that I have somehow become the elder of your pack, and my inner guard dog seems to be committed to this chaos of a pack, so as rule state, I am coming to the pack’s alpha with this information,” Professor Kalego says growling toward the end. 

“Congratulations, you both have my blessing. I am happy for you, and if you two don’t mind, I had a thought yesterday that I feel I should run by you two,” Iruma says simply before changing the topic, knowing Professor Kalego did not want to be having this conversation with him in the first place. 

Professor Kalego is glad for the quick blessing of his courting of Shichiro and the change of topic, “What did you want to tell us, brat?” 

“It took me a few days to put together that Professor Balam is an omega, which would normally not make a difference, but with the fact he is one of the top four protectors of Babyls, including yourself, the situation with the omegas of the misfit class being turned into toddlers became a lot scarier to me. I was wondering if what happened to Az, Lied, and Kerori was just a trial run for a bigger prank or attack that would leave powerful protectors like Professor Balam shrunk down to toddlers,” Iruma told the two professors.

“Well, that makes far too much sense,” Professor Kalego grumbles. 

“I am not the only omega staff member; if all the omegas were turned into toddlers, Babyls would definitely be in trouble,” Professor Balam says, scratching at his mask. 

Other than the love trio and the two professors, the rest of the misfits excuse themselves and say their goodbyes, leaving out the back door with bags of souvenirs. Each misfit is wearing sunglasses to hide their identities until they get home. 

“Speaking of going home, given our families are so well known, I’m sure paparazzi must be waiting around your house as well…” Az speaks up, which has Iruma worrying again. 

“It’d be best to hide somewhere else until this dies down,” Opera says, knowing Iruma would get no rest from panic and worry if reporters surrounded the manor gate. 

“Then, wanna come to my house?” Clara asks, speaking up. 

“Well, if you go to that terrifyingly bright house, I will wait for you to return home to resume tutoring sessions. That will also give me more time to track down the person or plot behind the toddler incident,” Professor Kalego states. 

“That is fine; continue on the case with your extra time while Iruma is spending time with the Valac household,” Lord Sullivan says before breaking down and hugging Iruma, trying to get him to return home with him. 

Lord Sullivan is stopped in his tantrum when Opera grabs his collar and reminds his ridiculous master that Iruma has to hide until the commotion from Lord Sullivan’s own announcement is dealt with. Opera continues to scold their master until he relents and allows Iruma to go with only a few more tears.  

Chapter Text

Arriving at the Valac family home, a dome-shaped house with ram-shaped horns like Clara’s own, they are greeted by Clara’s mother, two younger brothers, and two baby siblings. 

“Welcome to my home!!” the five present members happily yell. 

To Az’s annoyance and bewilderment, he and Iruma are forced to watch a Valac version welcoming dance around a bond fire with drums and everything. 

“We’ve only been here for five seconds, and it’s already this loud,” Az grumbles to Iruma. 

After the welcoming fire dance, Clara opens the front door for them, saying, “Only our family can find their way in this forest! It’s great for hide and seek!”

“Well, we are absolutely secluded…” Az and Iruma whisper, both relieved and a bit nervous, knowing the Valac family can be wild themselves.  

“Stepping the first stairs with your left foot is the norm in this house,” one of the brothers says as Iruma and Az try to enter the house from the entryway. 

“While you lift your food, say, ‘I’m home.’ And always end your sentence with ‘Valac’s the best,’” Clara’s other little brother says. 

“That one’s definitely a lie!!” Az yells at the little boy, trying to mess with them.

“Aw, man! You caught me!” the brother yells at Az, who wants to smack the runt. 

“Hey, hey, aren’t you sister’s mate?” the other brother asks Iruma, whose cheeks have now turned as red as a tomato. 

“I told you not to ask stuff like that the second they step into the house!” Clara cries out, dragging her brother away as she calls out to Iruma and Az, “Okay, the living room is this way!”

Iruma and Az find themselves sitting at a large round table in a large circular room. The room is littered with toys, plants, and other items that neither could identify. Clara tries to semi-wrangle her younger brothers; her baby siblings are crawling around and playing around the room with the kids' toys. 

“Here is some tea. Please make yourselves at home here,” Clara’s mom says, giving both boys a steaming cup of hell-gray tea.

Az is unsure what to think of the strange but warm house belonging to Clara’s family. 

“There sure is a lot of unusual stuff in here…” Iruma says, trying to break the nervous atmosphere given it was Iruma and Az’s first time over at Clara’s place. 

“My hubby is an adventurer, so we get sent a lot of stuff from his journeys,” Clara’s mom gushes. 

“We have fields as well!” one of the brothers says. 

“A small pond and pokasuka hill and,” the other brother says. 

“Also machomupekepon,” Clara says in conclusion.  

“Those words keep getting weirder!!” Az cries out. 

“Book! Book!” one of the babies says, holding some picture books up to Iruma. 

“Eh? You want me to read it?” Iruma asks the baby. 

“Oh, dear! Then, I recommend this book!” Clara’s mom says, holding up a photo album she pulled from her pocket. 

Clara’s mom has the boys look through the photo album, which is full of adorable pictures of Clara when she was a baby and toddler. Az notices how similar Clara looked back when she was a baby to how her baby siblings look now as one munches on his sleeve. 

“Mommy!!” Clara yells, noticing what her mom shows her best friends and mates. 

Clara has to practically beg her mother to stop showing the photo albums. 

“Clara’s panicking…That’s rare…” Iruma says with a chuckle. 

“Well, mothers are the strongest in a family after all,” Azz just finished his statement when he was attacked with slime paint. 

“Az!!” Iruma yells out. 

“Oi!! What are you doing!?” Az yells at the boys, who are still holding more paint slimes in a bucket. 

“Because Az-Az’s clothes are white, so he’s a canvas!” the younger boys cheer. 

Az ends up chasing after the younger boys all around the living room as Iruma ends up being munched on by Clara’s baby siblings. It takes a while, but Clara’s mom soon rescues Iruma from the babies as she suggests that Clara take her younger brothers and friends fishing as a fun group activity. 

Even while Az does not like to handle or eat fish, he does not mind hanging out with his best friends and Clara’s brothers now that those little chaos creators have an activity to do. Az watches as Iruma and Clara’s two little brothers do most of the fishing, and while the little boys catch more fish each than Iruma, Iruma catches three huge fish. They must work together to bring all the fish back to the house. 

While Clara’s mom works on making dinner for everyone, Iruma and Az help Clara watch her little siblings as they all play card games together. Before dinner, they all took turns taking showers and baths, though Az had to stop Clara’s two little brothers from trying to peek in on Iruma in the bathroom. 

Az gives the little boys a good scolding about trying to peek at other people in the bathroom. Az knows that Iruma is self-conscious about his scars, and Az does not want anyone outside of their inner pack circle to find out Iruma is clipped. Being clipped is a huge deal in the netherworld, and Az does not want the information to get outside of the few professors outside of their pack. The more that we know, the more danger Iruma is in. 

At dinner, Clara’s mom saw why her daughter had warned her that Iruma ate much more food than the average demon, even if he was eating a little less lately. Seeing such a small demon eat so much food had Clara’s mom questioning her knowledge of how much food could fit inside one small demon. 

By the time Clara’s mom had taken the little kids to their rooms for bedtime, Iruma and Az could barely get themselves changed into their pajamas before collapsing onto the futon-covered floor of the room Clara told them they would be using for their sleepover. The large room is covered by futons that look to be sewn together to make the entire room a huge bed; it was a super comfy room full of blankets and pillows. 

“Ugh…I’m tired…” Iruma admits as the lays facing Az. 

“Children’s stamina…at least Valac children…is too much…” Az groans in exhaustion, not used to four kids at once who are far more hyper and chaotic than he was used to. 

“Both of you are tired already!?” Clara asks, having pillows already in hand and wanting to do a pillow fight with her best friends before they call it a night. 

“Whose fault is that!?” Az yells without much heat in his voice but with obvious exhaustion. 

“Okay, okay. Let's cuddle, and I will help you get to sleep,” Clara says, lying between them. 

As soon as they all cuddled up and situated, Clara started to sing a lullaby. The song has Iruma and Az feeling warm and calm. It helps the stress of the last few days feel like it is being swept away. It does not take long for both young men to fall asleep against Clara. Clara looks over at each of her best friends and mates with soft eyes filled with love. Finding some real friends had taken her a while, but meeting these two during her first week at Babyls started a very good domino effect. Now she has two best friends who are also her mates, a class that has become her friends and packmates because of Iruma and his charisma to pull them all together for the better. It might have been torture growing up, but now she sees the wait as worth it. What she had now was worth all the heartache she had to fight through to find where she belonged in her chosen pack.

The next morning, Az and Iruma find themselves helping the rest of the Valac family as they help harvest food from the many fields and gardens around the Valac home and even pick some things from the forest itself. Clara’s mom takes as many pictures as possible of her darling Clara and her destined mates as they work together to gather everything for breakfast and lunch. 

As the kids and teens work on harvesting the items for their breakfast, Clara’s mom takes a few minutes to put the pictures she took into a memory album with a smile.