Chapter Text
“After all, Iruma-kun~” Kiriwo cooed, “you’re human.”
Asmodeus leapt forward, flaming sword already in hand and familiar lashing out beside him. He knew it was pointless. He knew that Kiriwo-senpai would have a barrier in place, but he’d be damned if he wouldn’t at least try to mess up that euphoric smile on his face.
“You be quiet!” Asmodeus snapped, trying but failing to break through Kiriwo-senpai’s barrier. His familiar wasn’t having much easier a time of it. Everywhere it lashed out at, fangs and flames were deflected away from the demon, but Asmodeus’ flames had spread around the barrier. This time-! This time for sure! He wouldn’t let him get away! He’d remove the threat to his master if it cost him his life! By now, some of the shock was wearing off and the rest of the demons in attendance were slowly turning to look at Iruma who seemed just as shocked as they’d been but with a dash of fear thrown in. How were they supposed to interpret that? Iruma was human? That couldn’t be. He was a demon, right? “You all! Don’t just stand there like imbeciles! Get Iruma-sama away from him!”
“Really? After this heartfelt reunion, you’d separate us, Asmodeus-kun? When I’ve been waiting for this for so long?” Kiriwo asked, the same drunkenly euphoric look on his face.
“Silence! You don’t even have the right to be in his presence!” Asmodeus snapped.
“I can break that barrier!” A red foot came smashing down on one side of Kiriwo’s barrier, shattering it to pieces. Immediately, Asmodeus and his familiar rushed to fill the space, but suddenly, Kiriwo was gone.
“Well this has been… disappointing,” the senior sighed. Asmodeus spun around to see Kiriwo standing off several yards away. “I sadly don’t have much more time to play, so I’ll be back Iruma-kun~ Show me how strong your determination is even after everyone knows what kind of liar you really are.” And then he was gone. Asmodeus’ fiery wrath came down on barren earth, scorching the area around where Kiriwo had stood.
“Why that little-!” Asmodeus hissed. More than anything, the demon wanting to sink his claws into the other’s neck, but now he knew he had to switch gears. He turned to go back to his master only to find his beloved friend backing away from them. Something about it made something in his chest quiver “Iruma-sama!” He rushed over to his master, trying to figure out what he needed to do. “Are you alright, Iruma-sama? He didn’t hurt you right?”
“Azz-ku-… Asmodeus-kun, why-?” Iruma looked up at him with something between shame and fear, and the way he’d been so quick to stop using Asmodeus’ nickname nearly broke the demon’s heart. Meanwhile, Clara had decided to use his distraction to close the gap herself.
“What’s wrong Iruma-chi? Is there an ouchie? Ouchie boo-boo? I got band-aids!” she offered, pulling a large number of assorted styles of bandages out of her pockets. “This one’s got bats! And this one’s got a dragon! Oh- and this one’s-” She looked up at him, but her heart sank when she realized he wasn’t even looking at her. “Iruma-chi… Does Iruma-chi hate us?” Tears welled up in the imp’s eyes, threatening to spill all over her cheeks.
“Eh? No, I don’t- I can’t-…” Iruma tried to summon an answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond. How could he hate them? They were his precious friends! “Aren’t you the ones… who should hate me?” he asked finally, voice breaking as he looked up at the two demons who were looming over him.
A sigh came from behind Asmodeus. “Let’s all go back to Babylys, and then we should all have a nice chat,” Ameri stated. “Anyone present who wants to attend is welcome to come along, but to the rest, I’ll have you know now: knowledge of humans is strictly forbidden. If you tell anyone, you will be at the mercy of Demon Border Patrol. Understood?” the Student Council President growled. Varying words of affirmation came from the rest of the Misfit Class, but all of them looked like they had something they wanted to say, and everyone followed along silently as they all made their way back to The Royal One, each one contemplating the conversation to come.
Once they’d made it back to the classroom, everyone took a seat. Iruma noticeably took a seat off to the side before Clara and Asmodeus very unceremoniously picked him up and shuffled him over (with a lot of protesting and flailing) to the throne and set him on it proudly. Iruma was panicking about how to handle this when Ameri spoke up.
“Alright, I think it’s best we dispel any uncertainties and hear directly from the person himself about exactly what Ami Kiriwo was talking about.” Ameri motioned for Iruma to continue, but he sat frozen stiff for quite a bit. “Iruma, we will wait until you are ready, but I think I speak from everyone when I say we would like to hear it from you. Ami Kiriwo accused you of being a human. Is that true?”
Iruma cast his face down and gripped his pants. “Yes… I-… I, Suzuki, Iruma, am a human… I was born in the human world, and I was born to human parents…” He squeezed his eyes shut and could feel his shoulders shaking. How was everyone going to react? He couldn’t bear to look at their faces. What if they saw him with disgust? What if it was hunger? He wasn’t sure he could handle either. It felt like all 13 pairs of eyes were stabbing into him, and he couldn’t bring himself to even breathe let alone speak in his defense.
“So, what do you all plan to do about this?” Ameri asked, turning to the rest of the Misfits.
“I’ve known for a while, actually,” Asmodeus stated. The look of shock on Clara’s face was downright comical.
“So unfair! That’s unfair Azz-Azz! Keeping that to yourself is so unfair!” the imp cried out angrily. She immediately jumped on him and began gnawing on his shoulders, head, essentially anywhere she could reasonably get her teeth on while avoiding his attempts to pry her off.
“Hey-! You-! CUT THAT OUT!”
“I knew already as well,” Ameri stated.
“Eh? Ameri-san knew?!” Iruma asked, the shock finally kicking some energy into him.
“Well, for one, you can read books from the human world.”
“Ah-…” Yeah that was kind of a good hint…
“I suspected it before we even met though. Keep in mind, humans are a well-kept secret among high-ranked demons, but my family is in charge of border patrol. I know things about humans that other demons wouldn’t. And you creating that tree all but solidified by theory.”
“But then why didn’t you-… Surely you thought that was a problem, a human in a demon school…” Iruma replied, voice growing disheartened once again.
“I was quite put off at first however my curiosity won out, and you’ve proven yourself a kind, noble, and driven individual. You’ve earned your place amongst demons. I have nothing else to say on the matter… not to mention you’re the only one who can read the forbidden texts,” Ameri replied, her tone growing gradually shier as her explanation went on. “On top of that I…” She trailed off, muttering something unintelligible under her breath as her cheeks darkened. Almost immediately, Asmodeus and Clara had latched onto Iruma again.
“Iruma-chi is ours!” Clara hissed.
“We won’t hand him over to you!” Asmodeus declared.
Ameri sighed and shook her head at the two. “So is there anyone else who knows? Like Kalego-sensei?”
“I don’t think I want him knowing,” Iruma replied, paling. “He’d get suuuuuper mad at me." Everyone was easily able to close their eyes and picture it, all silently agreeing that this was only something Kalego should be aware of if they wanted him to explode... "Ah- But I think Azazel-san figured it out somehow.”
“Father did?” Ameri asked, surprised.
“He didn’t state it outright, but I think he was offering to return me to the human world. I declined, of course. If it had been a couple months before that, I might have agreed, but I was getting used to life here. I thought staying would be better than going back. I did tell Balam-sensei too, although it was kind of on accident.”
“I feel like I just heard a lot of incredible things… While we’re glad you chose to stay, ‘on accident’? Iruma, you should be more careful about that,” Ameri scolded.
“I-I know. Balam-sensei gave me a very long and harsh lecture immediately afterwards about being too reckless and needing to be more cautious. Kalego-sensei has given me a similar scolding for other actions…”
“Well, I can understand a bit why Iruma-sama would tell Balam-sensei. Despite his appearance, he’s a good teacher,” Asmodeus replied. “Even if he is a brutal training mentor…”
“Exactly,” Iruma said, managing a small smile. “… So… how did Azz-kun find out?”
“I ran into Kiriwo-senpai in the clubroom while we were celebrating the Music Festival results," Asmodeus explained. He watched as something like recognition seemed to pass through his friend's eyes. It wasn't hard to remember his behavior immediately afterwards. "He hinted at it… Well, not so much hinted at it as implied I was being blinded by my admiration for you. I think he was hoping I would figure it out on my own and turn on you, but you can rest assured, as your best friend, while I did my best to learn everything about you, I paid no heed to his attempts!” Asmodeus replied proudly. “However, I refrained from mentioning it to anyone else. I figured there was a reason you kept it from us, so I wanted you to tell us on your own terms.”
The rest of the Misfit Class, who until now had remained remarkably silent, began to speak up at this point.
“Yeah! Why didn’t you tell us?!”
“I am offended, my rival!”
“We wouldn’t have had a problem with it!”
“It explains a lot, really…”
“How can a human stand out so much more than me?!”
“Are we that unreliable?!”
“No no! It’s nothing like that. I mean, at first it was the whole ‘humans are food thing’… Remember the school anthem?” All the demons present stopped to consider the song and immediately paled. That… was a pretty good reason by itself. “I knew I couldn’t tell anyone- that grandpa and Opera could be the only ones who knew, but then, as I really got to know you all, I wanted to… I wanted to, but I was scared…" Iruma continued, voice slowly beginning to waver. "During the Harvest Festival, Orobas-senpai’s magic made me realize just how scary it was. I-… I can’t go back to being alone…” Small hands came up to grip at the sleeves of the two demons who were still wrapped around him as his small voice began to break. “I was afraid that you’d hate me for hiding it for so long. I mean, I don’t want to be eaten, but I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to leave everyone. I love the demon world! Everyone here is so kind and amazing, and I’ve gotten to experience so many things for the first time! Playing, friends, studying, and even birthdays! So I-… I wanted to tell you… I swear… but-…” Tears and snot were pouring down Iruma’s face. “I couldn’t stand it if you all hated me… Especially Azz-kun and Clara! I’m not sure I could live without you two anymore.”
“Iruma-sama…”
“Iruma-chi…”
A lot of things very quickly clicked into place for Asmodeus- the human world had been a horrible place to him. Humans could be worse than demons. Asmodeus wasn’t sure who had made him this way, but he promised to burn them to such a point that even ashes wouldn’t remain. And some similar thoughts seemed to pass through most of the members of the Misfit Class as well because almost immediately the rest of them glommed onto them, creating quite the large demon-pile with Iruma nearly crushed into the cushy throne.
“You lot get off! Iruma-sama is human, you might break him!” Asmodeus snapped.
“No breaking Iruma-chi!”
“But this was the obvious response,” Purson explained from his position latched to Iruma's right side.
“How can you expect us not to try and hug him after that?!” Lied complained from his position latched to his left.
Still, after a lot of firm glaring from Asmodeus and hissing from Clara, the demons all reluctantly released Iruma and his ‘army’ but didn’t go more than a foot or two away.
“So… you don’t hate me? And you’re not going to eat me?”
“WE WOULD NEVER!” everyone shouted at once, the yell shaking the room.
“We’re the Love Trio!” Clara declared proudly, flopping herself into Iruma’s lap. “Human or not, every day with Iruma-chi is so much fun! Things are no fun if Iruma-chi isn’t here, so I don’t care if Iruma-chi is a human or a demon.”
“Human or demon, I will continue to follow you anywhere, Iruma-sama.”
“Who else am I going to get to help me with Devidol stuff?” Keroli huffed. “I can’t rely on Lied-kun at all, and you already agreed to help me with this year’s events!”
“You volunteered us!” Lied snapped. “And there’s no way I could hate such a cute little brother.” Lied gave Iruma a thumbs-up, clearly taking the opportunity to get in a jab about where he thought their relationship stood.
“It only makes you more interesting,” Purson added.
“It really explains a lot,” Schneider said.
“If anything, this solidifies you as my rival for the Demon King’s throne!” Sabro declared.
“Ehhh?! But I’m human! A human can’t possibly be the Demon King!” Iruma protested. It was true that his granpa was trying to make it a possibility for him, but Iruma really wasn't sure how to feel about the idea.
“Wait, Iruma-sama. He might have a point. The prophecy states: ‘He shall unite all beings under his command; he shall form blood pacts and heal all demon-kind; he shall descend from a foreign realm; and he shall don the golden ring of Solomon.’” Everyone immediately turned to look at Iruma. “As expected of Iruma-sama! I’ve always known it suited you!” Asmoedus said, clearly getting excited. “Of course you would be fated to be the Demon King!”
“… I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chairdemon planned this,” Ameri stated.
“Huh? But they said they summoned him on a whim…” Iruma said, clearly confused.
“Who summoned him?” Ameri asked. “We have measures in place to ensure that demons can’t accidentally be summoned to the human world. Chairdemon Sullivan would have had to respond to them on purpose.”
“No, I genuinely wouldn’t put anything past my parents. If they think they can get money out of it, they’ll do it somehow,” Iruma responded seriously.
“…And just how did humans get the Chairdemon’s summoning seal?” Ameri asked, tone growing angry as she slowly began piecing things together.
“Who honestly knows where those two get anything,” Iruma replied, voice clearly growing irritated. He didn’t actually want to talk about it. Who would? “Like I said, if they think they can get money from it, they’ll try anything. Trying to summon a demon, which are a myth in the human world, wasn’t the weirdest thing they’ve done.” With that sentence hanging in the air, something seemed to click in a few of the demons’ heads.
“Iruma-sama,” Asmodeus began, tone bordering on murderous despite the happy smile on his face, “so just how exactly did the Chairdemon come to adopt you in the first place?”
“I’m eager to hear this as well,” Ameri stated, her tone and face a near match for Asmodeus’.
“Ah… well… he bought me,” Iruma replied hesitantly. “But grandpa has only ever been kind to me, I promise! I really don’t know where I’d be without him! I’m really glad he took me in!” He definitely didn’t want his now dearly-beloved grandpa to get in trouble for bringing him here, even if he had been taken against his will.
“So what you’re saying, Iruma-sama, is that your parents sold you to a demon for money?” Asmodeus clarified, flames starting to appear around them.
“Ah…” So that was what they were getting at. “Yes…” Iruma could only stare at everyone blank-faced as they overreacted and raged about, spouting obscene curses and threats to two humans that weren’t even there. Asmodeus was probably the scariest though with Clara and Ameri right behind him.
“Stupid Clara, it’s clear what we must do!” Asmodeus declared. “We should go to the human world and pluck out their eyeballs and rip off their fingers, and then I’ll burn them until even the ash is gone!”
“YEAHHHH!!!!! I’ll feed ‘em to Connor and Murf! Munch munch munch!!!”
“That’s illegal, but I’ll permit it just this once.”
“That’s a bit…” Despite the scary words however, Iruma could only smile and softly chuckle. In the end, everything had gone on just like normal.