Archive of Our Own

"Say, out of curiosity..." Balam puts down a book about mythical creatures onto the counter beside him. "If you were to meet a human, what would you do?"

The cup of steaming hot tea stops at Robin's lips. "A human?" He asked, and Balam nods. The archer tilted his head and placed a hand on his cheek. "Funny question to ask out if nowhere,"

but if I were to meet one...

"Good morning everyone!" Robin happily exclaims, dropping a brown book bag beside the purple desk. He's currently inside the Royal One, brimming with energy and ready to teach the misfits. Letting the students' greetings die down, he pulls out a bunch of clipboards from the bag, spreading them across the desk. "Today is the monthly check-up on your familiars! We'll be going over their health using these worksheets I've set up for you. If there's time, we'll also be checking up on their speed and strength. Now, come up to the desk a grab a seal!"

After explaining, Robin puts down a few summoning seals, allowing the misfits, excluding Clara and Iruma, to grab one, as well as a clipboard. Asmodeus, however, only took three clipboards, since Clara had brought out her own seals. Everyone placed the seals on their hands and summoned their familiars, and it took a while before the newly arrived guests could calm down. And once that was all over, Robin looks over at Iruma and sighs.

"Iruma-kun, where's your familiar?" Robin asks.

Iruma holds the back of his neck and gives off a nervous laugh. "Right... my familiar is uh...." Glancing to the left, he sees everyone shaking their heads. "...sick."

Some of the misfits, Lied and Purson specifically, gave him a look of disappointment. "What, it's all I got!" Iruma would've said if Robin wasn't looking his way.

Speaking of Robin, he was also giving a strange look towards the blue-haired boy's direction. "For the third week in a row?"

Iruma slowly nods.

"Even after you summoned them two days ago?"

Iruma pauses, then slowly shakes his head.

Crossing his arms, Robin frowns. "I've been able to excuse the last few times, but at some point I'll need to start taking off points for these unexcused absences."

Clara puts a hand on Iruma's shoulder and grins. "Come on Iruma-chi! It'll be fun seeing Eggie-sensei again!" She tells him.

Jazz chimes in, "she's got a point. Some of us haven't seen him in a week!"

"Which isn't that long if you think about it.." Kerori mumbles to herself.

Iruma looks at all his classmates concerned. "Right, but what if he's really busy? We could get in trouble!" He argued back.

"Aw... pretty pleaasseee..?"

Iruma looks down at Clara's pleading eyes and gulped. "A-ah... well.." It takes a second for Iruma to decide, and he ends up putting his hand on the table.

"Yippee!!" Taking this as a yes, Clara takes Iruma's seal and slaps it in his hand, yanking it into the air right after. A cloud of lavender colored smoke bursts from Iruma's hand, and the demons close by shut their eyes. Everyone else waited in their seats patiently, and soon enough...

"Wh-"

From within the smoke, a blurry image of a round, floating bird appears. As the smoke dissipates, the light purple bird spins around, locking eyes with Iruma. "YOU." Kalego growled, Iruma squeaked and clung onto Asmodeus' arm. The demon quickly shields Iruma with his free arm. Pushing the arm down and flying up to the human's face, the summoned teacher asks, "why did you summon me?"

It seemed like the question needed no answer, as right behind him the sounds of clapping could be heard. "Thank you Iruma-kun! Now, let's move outside and begin!" Robin says, walking out of the classroom with everyone following after.

Kalego stares at the doorway the class exited through, "I should've known..." he grumbled before looking back at Iruma. "You're lucky I just finished grading everything." He told the student, "now go."

Iruma quickly apologizes and runs after the class, with his birdified teacher floating close by.

The moment the Royal One's doors were opened, warm beams of light poured into the glistening halls of the mini castle. The class steps onto the huge patch of dirt in front of the building, chatting amongst themselves and stretching under the morning sun. The day was a little breezy, as the crimson red leaves swayed idly on the magenta branches of the trees. Birds soared high above their heads, cawing as if they were singing a song. Crunching of the dirt comes from Iruma as he hurries to the sides of his best friends. Dust rushing behind his feet as he skidded to a stop.

With a click of his red pen, Robin looks down at the role sheet and marks down everyone who's present. Lied, taking his chance, shuffles towards the love trio. "Yo, Iruma-kun!" He says, catching the other's attention. "How was your weekend?"

"Oh, my weekend wasn't too eventful. I was busy finishing up last week's homework." Iruma answered, completely unbothered by the fact that the teacher who assigned all that homework was right beside him.

"Gah, you too?" Lied pouted, "how lame!"

Asmodeus' head violently turned Lied's way, "did you just call Iruma-sama's weekend LAME?!"

Iruma puts his palms together, "now, now, he has a point."

Lied scoffs, "yeah, it's not like my weekend was any better."

"Of course it's not better! Nobody could compare to Iruma-sama's-"

"Ap ap ap ap! There you go again!" Lied interrupted Asmodeus. "All this favoritism is gonna leave you burnt out!" He joked, pointing a finger at the scowling demon.

"Oh don't you DARE make another fire joke in my presence again you!-" Asmodeus' grip on the clipboard hardens, his knuckles turning white.

From Kalego's view, he notices a flash of orange come from the noble demon's finger. "Hey wait-"

A second later the clipboard and paper attached to it is engulfed by a flame. It dies down as fast as it came, but when Asmodeus opened his palms, ashes were the only things he caught.

The three (and their familiars) stare at the near empty hand in silence. Then, Clara peeks over Asmodeus' shoulder. "Ah- the wood grim cracker disappeared!" She spoke in awe.

Kalego shooed her off the still demon's shoulder. "Idiot, it didn't disappear! This fool burnt it!" He angrily shouts.

Robin looks over at their direction and asks, "is there a problem going on over there?"

"Azz-kun here set his clipboard on fire." Lied blatantly says, earning a glare from the student.

"Oh!" Robin exclaimed, "then let me just..." He places his pen onto the role sheet as he bends down to pick up an extra clipboard. But his pen ends up rolling off the sheet and onto the page he was going to grab. Somehow, the pen ends up breaking upon contact with the board, causing red ink to soak the paper.

"Ah shoot!" The archer drops the role sheet and picks up the pen. Inspecting the pen, he quietly whispered to himself, "I could've sworn this pen was brand new!" He puts the broken pen aside and grabs the ruined paper to retrieve a different copy. However, upon glancing at the ink stain, Robin couldn't help but notice only one question was actually covered by the spill.

What is their species? [__________]

"...Hah! That's a funny coincidence." The green teacher thought aloud. He simply discards the sheet and hands Asmodeus another copy, continuing on with his schedule.

The next hour was spent going over each familiars weight, height, growth, as well as their mental health. All of the misfits' familiars were healthy, and to top it off there was still time left to start the second half of the check-up. Considering all that, Robin collects the worksheet and picks up the used equipment. He then calls for the attention of the class.

"Alrighty everybody!" He exclaimed, "stay here while I put these in the storage room. There's a few frisbees and balls in my cart to play with too! Just don't touch the other stuff in there, kay?"

The students nod before heading to the cart and picking out a few items. As they did so, Robin re-entered the Royal One. Before making his way to the storage room, the archer takes a quick detour to the classroom to put away the papers he collected. Once he walks into the classroom, Robin slips the misfits' papers into his bag, but not before checking one of the sheets. Placing Iruma's paper on top of the stack, he raises an eyebrow at the name he's given his familiar.

"Eggie-sensei?" Robin read aloud. "You know I don't think I've ever questioned that name before." There was a pause until he shrugged and resumed his original plan, taking out more equipment. Going out of the room and back on his path to the storage room, he finds himself lost in thought.

I wonder, do they call him Eggie-sensei because he teaches when he's not a familiar, or when he IS a familiar? It would be hard teaching as a familiar though. I mean, he's a little floating ball of fluff! Who could focus with that around? His gaze falls to the floor as the words continue, if I were a cute, fluffy teacher I'd totally have more recognition!

Eventually, Robin manages to finish everything he needs to do within the Royal One. All that was left was to bring the new equipment and start the second half of the familiar check-ups. The familiar teacher drags the equipment through the castle and to the gigantic entrance. But through the tiny gap between the doors, he could hear Kalego's name being said. Having heard Kalego's name, Robin hums in curiousity. After all, Kalego was in the main building, so why would he be here? Robin drops the equipment and places a palm on the left door, opening it slowly. He pokes his head out slightly but fails to find his coworker anywhere.

"Eggie-sensei Eggie-sensei!" Clara shouts, running up to the fluffy, lavender colored bird. "Can you tell me the answer to question 1337?" She pulls one of the many bookworks assigned for homework and shoves it into his face.

The floating familiar flys back and scoffs, "put that book away, you're in familiar class."

"Well we wouldn't need to do our homework in other classes if there wasn't much homework to begin with." Purson says, appearing out of nowhere.

"So on top of eating, talking, fighting and sleeping during class when I tell you EVERYTHING you need to know, you're also blaming me for your lack of education?" Kalego questions, crossing his stubby little pegs of an arm.

"Yes."

Kalego clicks his tongue and replies, "then perhaps you won't mind me handing you all an extra assignment to help you in your studies?"

All the misfits turn their head towards the birdified teacher in horror.

"You're joking right?!" Gaap asks in a panic, dragging the sleeping Agares to the group.

The teacher points at Purson. "You can thank him for the feedback."

"Woah woah woah!" Purson puts his hands in up defense, "you can't just put words into my mouth like that! All I said was a simple 'yes' and you think that somehow translates to 'I want more homework please? Get your ears checked!"

Clara slides in and stands next to Purson, pointing a thumbs down and sticking her tongue out. "Yeah yeah! Eggie is a meanie! Meanie Eggie Leggy!"

Bolts of electricity suddenly blasts everyone back. "Silence." Kalego's voice booms, "use that name one more time and none of you will be given a second of free time for the rest of your school days."

Everyone immediately shuts up and backs away. Iruma walks up to Kalego and apologizes, "I'm so sorry Kalego-sensei! Maybe summoning you was a bad idea.."

Wait- Kalego-sensei? Robin repeated in his mind, he's calling his familiar... Kalego-sensei?

The fluffy teacher turns his head to Iruma. "It doesn't matter anymore, what matters is that newbie getting back here so we can get this over with." There was a hint of vemon when he uses the word 'newbie'.

As for the other teacher hiding behind the Royal One's doors, everything was finally starting to click. A grumpy familiar who's powerful and can use lightning.. one who acts like he enjoys seeing his students suffer.. one who's close with the misfits and even uses his iconic catchphrase.. he always disappears when this bird appears and even Iruma-kun calls him!-

...

"SO THAT'S EGGIE-SENSEI?!"

Everyone looks over at the entrance to the Royal One to see Robin, with a face of disbelief. The shock on his face slowly morphs into one of wonder and excitement, and without a moment's notice Kalego finds himself trapped in the archer's grasp.

"Hahaha! This is unbelievable!" Robin squealed, messing around with the fluff of his coworker, who, by the way, is frozen in horror. "You're so fluffy and cute, no wonder everyone calls you Eggie-sensei! Why did you never tell me about this? What's it like? How are those little wings holding you up in the air like that? Ohhhh I'm never gonna let this one slide! Haha!"

Kalego shakes his daze away and forces himself out of Robin's grip. He summons an alarming amount of lightning and before the archer could react-

"SILENCE!"

. . .

Dusting his little paws off, Kalego stares at the overcooked Robin, laying on the floor. He then looks at the rest of the class. "Class dismissed." He states. "Iruma, undo the summoning now."

Iruma blinks a few times before realizing he's been called upon and nods. With a few rhythmic claps, a bright light followed by a cloud of smoke brings Kalego back to where he was an hour ago. The second Kalego left the area was met with an unnecessary silence.

Walking up to the group, Sabnock puts his hands on his hips and hums, "so what now?"

. . .

"Hmm? What are you cooking this time?" Orias asks, peeking over Robin's shoulder and staring at the four sizzling pans on the stove.

It's been a good few hours since the familiar class with the misfits. And when I say good few hours it's been at least more than ten. The two were currently standing in the kitchen, and Robin is nearly done making dinner for everyone. The counters beside the stove are lined with plates of hot, steaming steak, as four more plates are put down.

Turning off the stove and standing proudly, the archer twirls around and grins. "Steak!" He answered.

Ifrit, who happened to be walking by, stops and looks at Robin. "Wait, you actually cooked meat for once?"

The green-haired demon leans on the empty space of the counter and crosses his arms. "Sure I did! It's not like I can't cook it." He happily responds.

Murmur dashes into the dining hall and gasped, "wait do I smell steak?!"

Robin giggles and hands Orias four plates. "Here, help me set up the tables!"

"A-ah what?!" Orias stammered. Having two plates shoved into his hands and another two being placed on his arms caught him off guard. Pea-sized stars form around the astronomy teacher and the tips of his hair begin to float upwards. The tableware on his arms balance themselves out, and Orias sighs. "Devi... couldn't you give me a warning or something?" He complained.

"Oh, alright then. Heads up!" Robin takes another plate and carefully plops it onto the top of Orias' head. The plate wobbles from side to side, but luckily it straightens out before anything could drop. Afterwards, Robin grabs several more plates and balances them on himself. "Okie dokie... just moovvveee sloooowwllyy...."

The two demons in the kitchen make their way over to the lines of tables. As they rest the plates one by one, Ifrit and Murmur decide to head into the kitchen and help out with setting the tables too. Taking two plates, Ifrit looks at one of the plates before glancing at Robin, "so what brought this up anyways?" He wondered. Putting down the last plate onto the table, Robin looks back at Ifrit and tilts his head. "Well, you don't usually make meat dishes and today you seem a bit more.. giddy? Airheaded? I don't know, what's going on?" Ifrit then says, going back to the dining hall and placing down his plates.

"Oh!" Robin, who was back in the kitchen, picks up three more dishes before replying, "today I just found out the craziest thing! If I'm being honest, I think I may be dreaming!"

"Hmm? Tell us!" Murmur exclaimed.

Robin's looks up at the ceiling, recalling, "well, today at familiar class I came to the realization that Iruma's familiar is actually Kalego-sensei! Hard to believe, I know, but-"

"Oh you figured it out?"

Robin shoots a look at Murmur with wide, puzzled eyes. "Wait- you knew?"

Ifrit nods, "to be fair, you weren't exactly here on the day it happened." He tells the archer.

Taking two more plates, Orias chuckles, "some of the teachers were betting on when you'd figure it out. And I think Furcas-sensei guessed you'd find out this month."

"Ahah.. but to be fair, even if I figured out earlier, I don't think can believe it! Afterall..." Robin's voice trails off, not realizing he was now getting lost in his own thoughts again. Last time I checked, demons can't make other demons their familiars. I know humans have the ability to summon a demon but!...

Robin's eyes snap wide open as his pace halts. Orias, noticing this, turns back and raises an eyebrow. "Uh.. Robin-sensei?"

A human has the ability to summon a demon. Iruma has the ability to summon a demon. Gasping in a horrifying discovery, Robin suddenly drops all the plates onto Orias' (already full) hands. "I'm so sorry but I uhhh-" he pauses for a second, "-forgot to grade a few papers!"

Panicking over all the extra weight, Orias shouts, "hey wait! Can't you just-" he cuts himself off as the archer runs out of the room.

Walking up to Orias and taking some plates off his hands, Murmur glances at the direction Robin fled in. "Well that was sudden."

. . .

The door slams shut, the lights unlit. His back falls onto the door before his body slumps to the ground. He stares at his trembling hands then curls up into a ball. Those same unstable hands cover his mouth in an attempt to silence his quickened breaths.

It... it can't be right? Robin asks himself, and yet his mind continued to dig for evidence. His knowledge of the Netherworld is much smaller than an average teenager. And sure a demon doesn't need to have all these features but he's never shown any tails or horns or- oh Devi, was Balam-Sensei right about Iruma-kun not having any wings?!

His whole body felt tense, and it was like something was squeezing his lungs. Did it really matter if Iruma was a human? Actually it did, but what was he meant to do about it? He was a grandson of one of the three greats- or adopted grandson. Kidnapped grandson? Just how did Sullivan obtain Iruma if he was a human? Or were the accusations of him illegally entering the human world true too? All these thoughts popping out of nowhere were bringing Robin anything but peace.

I never thought humans were real! Would he really taste like how the books said he- wait why are you even thinking about this!? Robin slaps his face and tries to take a deep breath. Just. Calm. Down! Easy as that!...

...

Would the easy way out be to inform Border Patrol? The brows of the archer furrows and he continues to think, getting him back home with his family would be the right thing to do!

Robin clenches his chest with one of his hands, feeling worse than before. If it's really the right thing to do, why doesn't it feel... right?

. . .

"Morning Robin-sensei!"

The green-haired demon perks up after hearing his name and turns his head around. Now in front of him was his pupil, Lied. Robin smiled seeing his student and turns the rest of his body to face him. "Good morning Lied-kun!" He returns the greeting. Seeing the stacked books Lied's carrying, Robin couldn't help but ask about it.

"Oh these?" Lied asked for confirmation, referring to the stack. "Kalego-sensei wasn't kidding when he said he'd give us more homework so now I'm trying to find Allocer to help me!"

"I heard from some students passing by that Allocer was in the library. I've got stuff to grab there anyways so do you mind if I tag along?" Robin suggests. Lied thinks for a bit before accepting the offer.

The duo navigates through the halls of Babyls until they hear some familiar voices nearing towards them at the corner. Since Lied was too busy carrying all the books, Robin has to pull him back before he could crash into the group.

"WOAH!" Lied yelped, stumbling back a few inches. The demons turning the corner look at the duo and gasp.

"Fluffy-kun!" Clara squeals. She jumps at Lied and tackles him to the floor, sending all his books flying.

"Hey stupid Clara! You're getting his stuff everywhere!" Asmodeus scolds her and tries to pull her off. Iruma kneels down and begins to pick up the scattered books.

Clara, looking up, waves at Robin, who waves back. "Hey hey archer AU!" She says.

"What's up Toysaurus?" Robin replies.

"Hehe. You."

The two snicker as the other three look at them confused. "I don't think I like this development." Asmodeus whispers to the two, and they nod in agreement.

Finally acknowledging the other two, Robin turns out them and smiles. "And good morning to you two! Asmodeus-kun and..." He pauses as he looks at Iruma. "...Iruma-kun!"

Iruma smiles before handing Lied all of his books. "Are you still working on the homework?" With a nod from his friend, Iruma comes up with a suggestion, "how about we help you with it!"

Lied grins, "wait- actually?! Oh, but I was heading to the library, which is in the opposite direction."

"Don't worry about it!" Iruma brushes it off with a motion of his hand, "do you two mind?" His two other friends shake their heads. "Alright then, what about you Robin-sensei?" Iruma asks, looking at the teacher.

"That's right, didn't you have something to do in the-"

"Sorry but I have something to do back there," Robin interrupts Lied as he point at the hall he and Lied just came from. And before his pupil could say anymore, Robin sped off.

Iruma reaches a hand out but stops and grabs his wrist with his other hand. "Oh uh.. okay."

"...But didn't you have something to do in the library?" Lied quietly asks, being hear by nobody but himself.

. . .

OKAYYYYY SO THAT WAS AWKWARD. Robin yelled in his mind as he speed-walked through the halls. Is it really that hard to just ask him?! I mean, he might not even be human for all I know! IT SHOULDN'T BE THAT HARD!

And yet days after, he would find himself avoiding Iruma more and more. It only started off as a little greeting, and sometimes helping him if it was needed. But then he began turning back around if he heard him anywhere, or initiating conversations with other demons if Iruma entered the room. Obviously some demons would take note of this, and it was only a matter of time before Iruma himself would begin to feel uneasy.

Lying in his bed, Robin exhales and closes his eyes, ready to wake up in a new day. However, his phone begins to ring, causing him to bolt up from his position. He snatches his phone off the nightstand and squints his eyes to see the name better. "Nee-chan?" He mumbles. Accepting the call, he puts the phone up to his ear, "hello?"

"HEY Robi! What's the big deal huh?!" Bachiko yelled from the other side of the phone.

The green-haired demon winced from the sudden outburst and pulls his phone away from his ear. "What are you talking about?" He asked, hesitantly placing it by his ear again.

"Iruma told me you've been trying to avoid talking to him recently. Is that true?" She brings up.

Robin opens his mouth, but the words don't come out. "...I mean, didn't mean too-"

"So you are!" Bachiko exclaimed. She huffs and moves around before speaking, "why are you trying to avoid him? Iruma’s not that harmful (I think). If it has something to do with the Heartbreaker I swear-"

"No no no no no it's not that! I just, " Robin takes a second to breathe in, letting himself calm down, "I probably can't tell you."

Scoffing, Bachiko asks, "is it really that important? If you keep acting like this more demons will end up asking anyway!"

"I know that but this is serious! This is something that could put everyone in a lot of trouble if nothing's done!" Robin tries to argue.

The older of the two rolls her eyes and says, "then do something! I don't know! Or you can just leave it be for now and I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Robin glances at the clock in his room and exhales, "I guess.."

"Good, now go to sleep, you shouldn't be up so late." Bachiko tells him.

"Wh- weren't you the one who called me?" He asked, but Bachiko had already hung up. Turning off his phone, he stares at his darkened expression before setting it back down on his nightstand. He then pulls the covers over his face and groans, "is waiting really the safest option?" He mouths to the wall, which says nothing in return. Taking one last deep breath, he rests his eyes and falls asleep.

On the other side of the phone, Bachiko scoffs and puts her phone down. "And now there's attitude too!" She complained. "He's acting like this little secret of Iruma could cause world wars if it were to be exposed." Letting her head drop onto her pillows, she stares at that ceiling, still thinking back to the call. "Heh, it's not like he found out that Iruma's a human..." she giggles to herself and closes her eyes.

And proceeds to open them back up.

"OH MY DEVI THERE'S NO WAY."

Rushing to grab her phone, Bachiko presses on Robin's contact and tries to call him again, cursing at him for every call that ends in a voice-mail. Unknown to her, Robin had already silenced his phone for the night.

. . .

The next day comes around and everyone was feeling new. Except for Robin, his anxiety is still as old as yesterday's. Pacing around the Royal One, the archer constantly taps his finger on his cheek in thought. Just don't think about it, don't think about it! He'd repeat in his head like a broken record player. Suck it up and just make things right already! Stomping his foot on the ground, he spins around and looks at the chalkboard proudly. You're going to make things right!

As the bell screams, the misfits slowly enter into the class, taking their seats and waiting for class to start. Several minutes later everyone had arrived. Going up to the teacher's desk, Robin opens up a textbook as he greets everyone good morning. "Before we get on with the lesson how about we go over homework? Kay?" He then suggests.

Putting a hand in the air, Lied says, "I don't exactly understand question 6."

"The Inferno Iguanas are more likely to be summoned by demons of what nature?" Robin reads the question aloud. He looks up at the students and answers, "right, this is a preview question for our next unit, which goes into personalities of familiars and how they tie in with their masters. Basically, Inferno Iguanas are more likely to be paired with someone who's either violent, passionate, or tempered."

Lied nods and writes down the answer to the question, a few other misfits follow suit. Clara however, raises her hand and asks, "do they like bomubomu demons?"

"They do." Robin replies.

Looking at Clara in confusion, Asmodeus asks, "what does bomubomu even mean?"

"Oh, you know." Clara casually pulls out two green, ticking bombs out of her pockets. "Bomubomu."

Everyone widens their eyes and backs away from the clueless demon. Asmodeus drags Iruma back. "STUPID CLARA- PUT THAT AWAY!" He shouts.

"Oh ok." She aims the two bombs towards the doorway and chucks them out of the room, which explode upon impact with the ground. A loud boom echoes through the Royal One as hot smoke pours into the classroom. Everyone, who had ducked down before the blast, slowly turned their head towards Clara.

"Maybe we should just start the lesson." Jazz says after a good minute, inching towards his seat. Everyone else shakily agrees.

Robin nervously laughs off the explosion that occurred a few seconds ago and resumes class. Although, as he was picking his book up again, he caught a glimpse of Iruma's shaken expression. The feeling of uneasiness suddenly rose up as he had a realization. Wait. Was that even safe? He looked at the words printed on the pages, but they were all blurry. What if she didn't throw it away on time? Would they all be hurt? Would Iruma be hurt? Would he have had the tolerance to survive the blast?

Clearing his throat, Robin looked up at the class, letting one last thought roam free before beginning his lesson.

Is this school really safe for him?

. . .

A few hours go by, and it was time for everyone to head to lunch. The love trio sat in the cafeteria, watching Iruma feast on the towers of plates in front of him. This time, however, a certain Purson happened to be joining them. The lavender-haired demon was staring at the entrance to the cafeteria like a hunter would with its prey. Then, he saw Robin enter the room. The teacher scans the area before noticing the group at the tables. He takes a step forward but stops his other foot from making the next move. Robin's eyes fall to the floor in contemplation, before he exhales and looks away. Watching the archer walk to a different teacher, Purson slams his water bottle onto the table, catching the love trio's attention.

"Alright, this is getting really strange."

Iruma looks at Purson with a look his confusion. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Have you not noticed Robin-sensei being all weird this week? At all?" Purson clarified. The blue-haired boy cluelessly tilts his head and Purson holds his forehead up before it could fall onto the table. "Ever since he found out about Kalego-sensei being your familiar, he's been trying to avoid you. Talking to other staff to seem busy, backtracking if he sees you- no- hears you coming around a corner, and he's always staring at you with a look of concern! Even now, he just walked in and was about to come over here, but stopped himself and went to Suzy-sensei instead!"

Iruma perks up and turns his head around to see Purson wasn't lying. Looking back at the group, Iruma quietly said, "yeah... I've noticed."

Putting a hand to his heart, Asmodeus offers, "would you like me to speak to him for you?"

Iruma shakes his head and stands up. "No thanks, I think I should do it myself," he declined. Just as Iruma was about to head over to Robin, one of the staff came up to Iruma and tapped him on the shoulder. Checking his left, he sees the employee and smiles. "Ah- good afternoon! Do you need something?" He asks.

The staff nods his head before scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry Iruma! Some kids ended up breaking a wall a few halls away but the other repairer is out sick." He explained.

"Oh, I'll be happy to help!" The staff quickly thanks Iruma before leading him to the damaged property, leaving the other three at the table.

Packing up their stuff, Asmodeus stands up and looks at Purson. "Please excuse us," he apologizes before taking Clara and running after Iruma.

Purson's eyes follow his fleeing classmates before grabbing his bottle of water and huffing. "And they never even bothered to ask if I wanted to come along? Whatever." He stands up and exits the cafeteria, fading into thin air as he passes by the teachers.

Feeling a small gust of wind, Robin spins around and notices the remaining particles of Purson disappear. He takes a look at the table where the student was previously sitting at to see it completely empty. Suzy-sensei sighs and snaps her fingers, causing Robin to bring his attention back to her. "Robin-sensei, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing's wrong! Unless there is something wrong." He replies and smiles.

Suzy looks at him, unconvinced by his response. She pulls out a little, blue flower and places it in the other teacher's hand. "Here, keep it close to your face, its scent should help you calm your nerves." She states, wrapping his hand around the stem of the plant and bringing it up to his face.

Robin examines the flower before closing his eyes and taking in the calming feeling it gave off. "Eheh, thank you Suzy-sensei!" Opening his eyes and seeing the time on a clock in Come-Come's store, Robin jumps. "Gah! I gotta get going!" He exclaims and runs off.

Suzy watches the other teacher disappear into the crowd of students and giggles, "I guess calming the nerves doesn't exactly calm his energy down with it."

Skipping down the halls, Robin finds himself lost in the beauty of the flower. "Wow, Suzy-sensei really knows everything about plants!" He quietly told himself, slowing his pace down to take in the details of the flower. As he walks closer towards the doorway to the courtyard, he could hear metal bending, before a loud snap. Cries of distress bring Robin back to his surroundings as he rushes to the open area. Once he was outside, he plants his heels into the ground and brakes, observing the courtyard for the loud noise.

"Iruma!!"

Widening his eyes, Robin turns around to see Asmodeus, Clara, and one of the repairers circling around Iruma. Upon a closer look, he was holding his elbow, which was being tied up in a bloody cloth. Behind him, a broken ladder had fallen to the floor, along with some bricks that cracked from the fall. Releasing his grip on the flower, it flutters to the ground as he runs to the group.

"IRUMA-KUN!" Robin yelled, after reaching the group he drops to his knees and grabs Iruma's elbow. "Are you ok- of course you're not okay. Does it hurt? How deep is the wound? Were you stabbed or scratched? Did you break anything? What even happened?!" He rambled.

"The ladder broke while he was helping me fix the wall." The staff spoke up, he takes another towel and replaces the old one that was soaked in blood, "I didn't think to help because I thought he'd fly but... he fell right to the ground, with his elbow hitting the ground first."

Iruma was being comforted by Clara and Asmodeus, and was biting his lips in an attempt to distract himself from the pain. Tears dropped down his cheek as he winces from the towel rubbing against his skin. Robin's hands close to a fist as he takes a deep breath. "Iruma-kun," he says. The blue-haired boy shakily looked up, his eyes glossy and in pain. "Do you think you can walk?" Robin then asked.

Iruma motions Asmodeus to help him up, and the trio gradually stand up from their position. Robin looks back at the staff and bows, "I'll be taking it from here, please clean this mess up immediately." He orders. There was a pause before Robin bent down and whispered to the repairer, "and any item with his blood on it should be incinerated. Don't ask why." The staff nods and Robin quickly drags the love trio away, leaving the repairer to clean up the mess.

When the four got to the infirmary, Robin basically kicked the doors open, sending the tools Blushenko was holding out of his hands. Turning around, Blushenko asks, "who in the right mind just-"

"PLEASE HELP IRUMA-KUN IS BLEEDING AND-"

"IRUMA-SAMA IS INJURED AND WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE-"

"UUUUUUUUEEE-"

"Iruma-chi, do you need a cookie?"

Blushenko jumps back at the different responses being thrown his way. He stomps his foot of the ground and shouts, "BE QUIET!" Everyone instantly shuts up, except for Iruma, who was now weeping and munching on some cookies. This allows the teacher to notice the amount of blood dripping from Iruma's elbow. "Oh Devi, are you alright?!" Blushenko rushes to the blue-haired boy and takes his arm, his free hand casts a circle of light which makes the edges of Iruma's wound glow. "Just what in Derkila's name did you do this time?" He sighs.

"Iruma-chi did an oopsie. Like, a big, metal one!" Clara cried and tries to imitate the scene with her hands. "He went crash bang!"

Blushenko resisted the urge to slap his forehead. "Alright then, come over here and sit down." He cautiously takes Iruma and brings him over to one of the beds. After sitting Iruma down on the mattress, the teacher looks at Robin and smiles, "I'll take over from here."

Robin stays in place, staring at the sorrowful boy in worry before nodding his head. "Alrighty then, take care everyone.." Walking out of the infirmary, he shuts the door and closes his eyes.

. . .

When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring the the screen of his phone, the light from the device lit the surrounding area. He checks the time at the top left corner of the screen and rubbed his eyes. 12:56 AM. It was almost an hour after midnight and he was sitting in the dining hall of the teachers' dorms. All the lights were off, and everyone had left to either sleep or work somewhere else. The room was nearly pitch black, a complete opposite to his phone's screen. He gazes at the keypad of his phone and presses one of the numbers slowly.

It's going to be fine He tells himself, pushing the button of the second number.

This place isn't safe for a human. His mind said, as the third number appears on-screen.

I'm sure his parents are worried sick. Two more buttons are pressed.

But they won't need to worry, and neither will Iruma. Three new numbers show up on the phone.

He can't be hurt anymore once he's in the hands of Border Patrol. One more button is pressed.

You're doing the right thing.

His finger hovers over the last number of the contact, but he doesn't press it. He can't press it. He could feel his hand begin to tremble again, and he rests his forehead on his free hand. "Just. Call. Them." He grumbles to himself and pushes the last button. Looking at the call button, he gulps and puts his finger on the button.

"Oh- Robin-sensei?"

"GAH!" Robin drops his phone and shoots up, spinning around to see the demon behind him. Balam was looking down at him, holding a tray of sandwiches.

"Ah! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Balam apologized, rubbing his mask.

Picking up his phone, Robin chuckles, "no it's all good! But uh... what're you doing up so late?"

"I could say the same for you too." Balam says, he glances at the tray in his hands, then at Robin and gasped. "Would you like to join me in the prep room? I have some stuff that could help you sleep if you're having trouble with it."

The green-haired demon hums, "actually, that sounds nice." He picks up his phone and turns it off, following Balam to the prep room.

Sipping his cup of tea, Kalego sighs and leans back against the couch. Placing the cup down on a coaster, he picks up his book and opens its pages, taking out the bookmark and putting it on his lap. A couple seconds later and a knock comes from the door. It then opens slightly, and Balam pokes his head into the room.

"Kalego-kun, I've brought some food!" He exclaims, he suddenly checks both side before apologizing and repeating his words in a softer manner. Walking into the room, he opens the door wider to let...

Oh no.

"What is this?" Kalego angrily asked and points his book at Robin. "You said you wouldn't bring anyone along. ESPECIALLY him."

Balam shrugs and walks to the coffee table, putting down the tray of sandwiches and gesturing Robin to sit with them. "Don't be so upset about it! He's not going to bother you."

Kalego frowns and opens his book again, "fine, do what you want. But if he acts up I'm leaving."

And, surprisingly, he never had to leave. The prep room had been silent for a whole fifteen minutes after Balam came back with Robin. Right now, Balam was looking over a storyboard for a new book he wanted to make for Iruma. He breathes in and grabs his neck, rolling his head around to stretch it. He ends up catching a glimpse of his smaller coworker staring at his phone with a frown. Stopping to get a closer look, he notices the number of Border Patrol on the screen of his device. Then, the screen goes black. An image of an empty battery pops up on his screen, disappearing a few seconds later. But the demon beside him continued to stare at the screen, as if he were unaware that it died.

"Er... Robin-sensei?" Balam called out, putting a hand on the archer's shoulder.

Robin blinks before turning his head towards the taller demon. "H-huh?!" He looks back down at his phone to realize the blacked out screen. "Oh Devi please don't-" he tries to turn the phone back on, but it fails.

Balam moves his hand to the phone and takes it from Robin's grip, setting it down on the coffee table. "What's going on?" Balam questioned, "you haven't been as energetic as usual."

Robin looks at Balam and opens his mouth, "It's not.." he then stops to think about his answer. Eventually, he speaks up again, "let's say, hypothetically, if you were to figure out that a student who's been attending this school for- I don't know, a year? Was... a human... what would you do?"

Balam stops reaching for his tea and snapped his head towards Robin, staring at the archer in shock. "What?" He said.

"Would you protect them? Eat them? Kill them? Call Border Patrol?" Robin adds.

"I uh... well..." Balam struggles to find a way to answer this, being put off guard by the random question. Did he figure out Iruma's true identity?! How?! He screamed in his head. Clearing his throat and trying to compose himself, Balam says, "Hmm, you see..."

"Do you really think it's up to you to decide that?"

The two demons stop to turn their attention towards Kalego. He still had his eyes on the book, but it was clear the question had intrigued him.

"What do you mean by that?" Robin asked.

Kalego glares at the teacher sitting across from him. "You're being nothing but a fool right now, thinking you're the one making the choice." Kalego stated and crossed his arms. "You say he's a student. And yet you're only thinking of him as a human."

"If this hypothetical human actually had a problem with being in this world, then they would've said or done something by now. And how long did you say they've been here for?" Kalego asks back.

"A year.." Robin repeats, his hands fall onto his lap as he holds his knees tightly. The cold gaze Kalego was giving him was starting to make the archer shiver.

Kalego scoffs, "and yet despite all that you think that the moment you learn they're human they suddenly want to go home."

Robin tries to argue, "but the Netherworld is dangerous! What if they get hurt and-"

"Things get hurt all the time!" Kalego cuts him off. The older teacher rubs his own forehead in attempt to calm his nerves. "Demons get killed. Plants are trampled on and animals get hunted. What makes you think a human can get away from all the dangers we ourselves face?"

"It's obvious this student has the capability and knowledge to live in this world if they're still alive. And you're acting like they live with no one around to assist them. When you see them, do they walk alone? Are they beaten black and blue or do they stand beside every other student in this school?"

Robin gaze falls to the empty tray on the table. "They do stand with the other students." He mumbles to himself.

"Then why would they want to back now?" Watching the demon across from him go silent, Kalego then states, "only the student is allowed to decide if they want to stay or leave. And it's the teacher's job to follow through with the student's desires. So if that student is set on living their life in the Netherworld," Kalego slams the book in his hand shut, causing Robin to flinch, "then get your head out of the gutter and start working to keep that kid safe."

Kalego then points the closed book at Robin, "you are a teacher after all."

A drop of sweat runs down Robin's face as he takes in his co-worker's words. He's right.. I- wait a minute. Robin's eyes widen as he look up at Kalego. "You.. actually see me as a teacher?" Robin asks.

"What. Are you not already a teacher?" Kalego sarcasticly asked back.

"No no, you're right. I..." I just couldn't find a real reason to call my self a teacher. Robin trailed off into his head. He looks down at his hands, which were now balled up into fists.

I thought the only way to be seen as a teacher was to throw that word around since I couldn't be as mature as the others. Since there were times I couldn't complete my tasks no matter how perfect things would line up. I thought I'd finally be a real teacher if Kalego-sensei would stop seeing me as a newbie and yet it were those thoughts that stopped me because...

Because he already recognized as one.

It was like a train of realization had hit Robin, as every bit of worry had shattered into fractions. Fractions of a hole he felt he couldn't escape from. He could feel his body tremble with this newfound excitement. He sits up tall and shoots his arms to the sky, "I'm a teacher!" Robin cheers, laughing off the remaining clouds of doubt that was still lingering in his mind. He could feel the life being brought back into him, as well as a desire to keep working harder.

Balam watches the demon beside him as he happily dances about this new determination. Behind the mask, Balam couldn't help but smile. "Looks like someone's gotten an energy refill." He chuckled to himself.

Rolling his eyes at the mini celebration, Kalego wonders, "why did you ask such a weird question anyways?"

The two demons sitting on the couch beside him freeze. Putting his arms down, Robin pursed his lips as he tried to come up with an answer. "Uhh Balam keeps talking about humans and I guess all the eavesdropping got me interested." He lied.

"Is it true?" Kalego asked Balam for confirmation.

"It is." Balam also lied.

Standing up, Robin skips over to the door and twirls around. "Anywayysss, I'm gonna head off now! See ya tomorrow!" His hand grabs the handle but he doesn't open the door, "or I guess later today." He corrects himself. Then he exits the room.

Balam picks up the empty tray on the coffee table and gets up too. "I should probably put this away." He mumbled. He walks to the door when he pauses, looking back at Kalego. "Say, why are you here so late anyway?"

Kalego gives Balam a look of disappointment. "You're just asking that now?"

. . .

Messing around with his sleeve as he walks, Iruma frowns. Earlier this morning, Robin had asked Iruma to meet him in the Royal One after school. It was unusual, being ignored by the teacher and then suddenly meeting them after a week of barely any contact. Iruma stops at the entrance to the castle and looks up at the giant doors. The golden ring on his finger glistens and a small shadow bursts out of it, flying around the boy until it stops at his shoulders.

"What're you doing back here Lil' Iru?" Ali asked, standing on Iruma's shoulder.

The blue-haired boy looks at Ali and replies, "Robin-sensei asked me to meet him here."

Gasping, Ali jumps off his shoulder and floats away. "Do you think he's finally going to tell about his reasons for ignoring you?"

"Probably."

"The guy's got a lot of nerve for doing so!" Ali exclaimed. He puts up his arms and pretends to punch the air. "If he even thinks about insulting or hurting you I'll knock the lights out of him!"

Iruma chuckles as he opens one of the gigantic doors, "and how will you that with your size?"

"I'll make myself bigger! I've done it before." Ali huffed.

The two make their way to the doorway of the classroom and see Robin sitting at one of the desks. A book about mythical creatures laid open in front of him as he read it. Iruma feels his chest tighten as he takes a deep breath.

"Ali-san."

"Right."

Ali flies back into the ring as Iruma steps into the classroom. Knocking on the wall, he says, "Uh.. Robin-sensei?"

Robin perks up and looks at the entrance furthest away from him. Seeing Iruma at the doorway, he smiles and pats the seat beside him. "Good afternoon Iruma-kun! Please take a seat."

Following his orders, Iruma walks to the desk the teacher was sitting at and sits down, glancing at the book on the table. "G-good afternoon.." He stammered.

Closing the book and placing it on his lap, Robin checks around the room before looking back at Iruma. "First off, before we get started, I'd like to apologize for avoiding you these past few days." He says as he holds the back of his neck. "Something occurred to me and I got too caught up in my emotions to notice how uncomfortable I was making you."

"Oh it's alright!" Iruma responded, "I admit I did feel a bit worried when you suddenly started to avoid me but at least you're actually sorry about it."

"Right.." Robin pauses and looks down at the book in his lap. "Now, about the reason why, I won't force you to answer, and you don't need to answer honestly too. But..." Inhaling and staring at the student with a serious look, Robin asks, "are you a human?"

"...what?" Iruma widened his eyes and grabbed the bow on his uniform, "where'd you get that from?"

"I don't know if you know this but demons can't summon other demons. However, humans can." Robin explained.

Iruma's hands begin to shake as he feels sweat drip down his forehead. "I..." He shuts his eyes as he musters the courage to answer, "I am..."

Shutting his eyes tightly, Iruma mentally facepalmed. HHHHH HE GAVE YOU A CHOICE. You could've just said no! I mean sure Robin-sensei is a good teacher but there could be a chance he actually does something unlike Balam-Sensei or Master! Please don't please don't please don't please-

"Alright then."

Iruma opens his eyes and looks at Robin confused. "..huh?"

"What? I just wanted to make sure this wasn't a big misunderstanding." Robin said.

"Oh.. but aren't you going to do something about it?" Iruma asked, his hands gradually releasing the eye of his bow.

"That all depends, would you like me to do something about it?" Robin asked, "if you need me to, I can call border-"

Iruma jolted and made an 'X' with his arms. "No thank you! I think I'm good." He declined, "but why are you being so... nonchalant about this?" Actually I could say the same to everyone who knows about me being human. He silently realizes.

Robin taps his fingers on the book as he tells Iruma, "well it isn't my decision to choose what happens for you. It's my job to protect whatever a student truly desires. And if you wish to stay here with everyone, there shouldn't be any harm in that!" Iruma stares at the teacher before bursting into laughter. Robin tilts his head, puzzled by the strange reaction. "What, did I say something funny?" He wondered.

"No no, it's not that I.." Iruma takes a moment to calm himself down. "I keep thinking that every time a demon figures out, they'll either eat me or send me to Border Patrol. And yet, it never happens. I doubt every demon will respond the same way but I'm starting to realize that maybe... I really am cared for here."

Robin grins and exclaims, "are you kidding?! You had Kalego-sensei scolding you for having zero points in the Harvest Festival! He didn't do that with aaaany other demon with zero points!"

Iruma giggles and asks, "speaking of Kalego-sensei. Did you get the whole teacher thing from him? No offense but those words sound too strong to be your own."

"Aww you're right, but I even tried to make it sound like my own!" Robin whined.

Iruma suddenly paused and looked at the teacher in horror, "wait- did you tell him about my secret too?!"

"Nope! When he asked, I just lied about Balam being too invested on humans." Robin admitted, "surprisingly, he didn't call me out on it either."

Uhhhh, should I tell him..? Iruma thought, he shook his head and saved that idea for later. "Yeah... in any case," the student places a hand on his heart and smiles, "thank you for keeping this a secret."

Robin looks at his student and grins, "no problem!"

. . .

"Say, out of curiosity..." Balam puts down a book about mythical creatures onto the counter beside him. "If you were to meet a human, what would you do?"

The cup of steaming hot tea stops at Robin's lips. "A human?" He asked, and Balam nods. The archer tilted his head and placed a hand on his cheek. "Funny question to ask out if nowhere, but if I were to meet one..." He gazes at the ceiling as he gives a question a thought.

"I don't know, there's a lot of things I feel like I might do." Robin then looks at Balam, "but for the most part, I think it would be fun being friends with a human."

Glancing down at the tea in his hands, he smiles. A warmth emits from the drink as his reflection clearly smiles back.