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It's been a few months since Iruma started dressing up as Ireene in the privacy of his own home. He's extremely grateful for his grandpa and Opera for allowing this.
Because of their generosity, he's been able to figure out that he… likes being Ireene more than Iruma. By a long shot. Anytime he's Ireene, he feels like she's who he's always meant to be—like she should be the one walking around.
And that itch that Iruma always has? He's decided that it's Ireene scratching at his skin trying to replace him. But even with how terrifying that sounds… Iruma finds he doesn't mind being her, and just having Iruma go away.
But that'd be weird. The misfits only know him as Iruma—with the exception of Kerori and Leid (and technically Azz and Clara)—so she can't just randomly show up and say: “Hey! My name's Ireene, Iruma is no longer! But don't worry, I'm basically just Iruma as a girl!”
Yeah… that'd be weird. Besides, Leid would probably freak out the same way he did when Kurmou and Gyari practically declared the two loved each other.
Although, Leid was accepting towards them… just a little freaked. And the fact that Leid was hoping he had some sort of chance with Gyari might've played a role—but! It'd be hard for people to just change pronouns and names for her, right?
Obviously.
Because even Grandpa and Opera… sorta have a hard time?
Iruma sighed as he pushed open the door to the dining room. He was starting to get tired from all the back and forth. The excuses and reasonings.
It was like Iruma and Ireene were arguing.
But either way, he decided today was going to be the day he told his soulmates about Ireene. But because of that, she was up later than normal thinking about all the different ways they would react.
She even decided that she was going to bring a dress in her bag, and change before she went to meet the two. She has a whole plan. Sort of. All she knows is that she'll put on the dress, and a few bits of makeup (which she'd gotten better at, and has even learned graphic liner!), go out there, tell them. And then… he doesn't quite know.
It got so bad that Ali had to put a sleeping spell on her. Which is… rare, to say the least.
“Iruma?” His grandpa called his attention. The name made the Iruma—Ireene?— flinch. “My apologies, Ireene. How was your rest, my darling granddaughter?”
Ever since his grandpa named her, Sullivan has been calling him “granddaughter”. But he hasn't found any reason to tell him to stop. Thankfully, the demon doesn't call him granddaughter in public—he doesn't think he could handle Ireene being seen by the masses so soon. Even though she secretly wants him to.
“It was ok. Definitely not the best I've had in a minute.” Iruma responded, his restlessness evident on not only his face, but also his voice.
“Here's some tea that should assist in waking you up, Ireene-sama.” Opera set a tea cup in front of Ireene, and she gladly accepted it.
“Is there something bothering you, dear?” Sullivan took his tea from Opera as well.
“Uhm, well, I've decided that I'm gonna tell Azz and Clara about Ireene,” Iruma stuffed his face with some food, and then shuffled in his seat while chewing.
Unbeknownst to Ireene, Opera and Sullivan exchanged a knowing look. “I'm sure they'll accept you, especially Asmodeus.” His grandpa rested a hand on Iruma's shoulder, causing him to look up.
“Hm? What do you mean?” Iruma tilted his head, his ahoge forming a vague question mark.
“What Sullivan-sama means, is that he'll understand more than you think he will.”As soon as the last word left the butler's lips, Iruma heard Azz and Clara call for him, ready to start the day.
Iruma chuckled, “speak of the devils.”
Iruma got up, having found a new resolve to actually go through with his plan. “Thank you, once again.”
“Anything for my darling granddaughter!” His grandpa hugged him tight.
“I shall escort you out, Ireene-sama,” Opera bowed, then started towards the entrance.
꧁☆❀♡❀☆꧂
The entire walk to school was awkward. At least, to Iruma it was. First, he kept hearing “he” “Iruma” and other masculine wording. Those only served to make Ireene want to burst through his skin and make it hers.
Second, he was worrying over potential reactions of the two. His bag felt heavier from the dress, and that just served to make his anxiety peak due to the reminder.
How would they react? His mind kept showing Clara having a face of disgust, calling her not fun anymore. Saying that she can never love a freak like that. Her mind showed her Azz giving her the cold shoulder and the icy glare he gives everyone else.
Even with those words Opera and Sullivan gave her, her mind just kept playing those made up scenes over and over. All with different wording, facial expressions, actions, so on and so forth. But even with the variety, none of them were positive.
He was so caught up in his thoughts, that he didn't realize they were at school until Clara handed him some detection warding glasses. It's become habit to wear them while they're going to the Royal One—the three of them attract too much attention from the students, so it's easier this way.
It makes the walks to their chaotic classroom feel more peaceful. It also allows the three to keep whatever bubble of warmth they've developed from the walk beforehand.
“Thank you, Clara,” unfortunately, his voice shook.
“Iruma-chi? Are you alright?” Clara looked at him with round eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you feeling all icky ooey? Mommy always gives us forehead kisses and she can always tell that we have sicky face syndrome!”
“A fever,” Azz provided the correct word for it. “Stupid Clara does have a point, you seem quite pale. You also haven't been talking—or even reacting to Stupid Clara's antics.”
“Oh uhm! I'm ok, I promise!” Iruma waved his hands around frantically. “Just… a few things on my mind. I'll tell you guys about it after school, how's that sound?”
“You should tell us now!” Clara whined.
“Iruma-sama said he was going to tell us after school, be patient.” Azz reprimanded her, and they devolved into a fight once more.
Their fight got Iruma to focus off what could happen, and instead what's currently happening. Even if the break from his mind was brief, it was welcome.
꧁☆❀♡❀☆꧂
All throughout school, Iruma had trouble concentrating on what the teacher was saying. The day was full of talking, and not much action—meaning Iruma found his mind wandering a lot.
Most times, Azz and Clara would get his attention and see if he's alright. Most times his response would be: “Just thinking about how to tell you guys my problem later.”
Which wasn't entirely a lie. He was thinking about the problem, but not how to tell it. He's made up his mind with that part—no, instead his mind was occupied by the imagined reactions his soulmates might have.
Not only did he have that problem, anytime someone referred to him as “he”, his chest knotted itself into the most horrendous tangle known to demonkind.
Iruma didn't understand it. But what he did understand was that he wanted to run to the bathroom, put on his dress, and be perceived as a girl.
…
Even though that's weird.
Eventually, the last bell of the day rang, and Iruma asked Azz and Clara to walk with him to part of a forested area. It was private enough that he would feel comfortable enough to freely talk, but open enough that he can easily run away.
“Iruma-chi, are we gonna have a picnic?” Clara excitedly asked, her green eyes sparkling.
Iruma had to look away so he wouldn't be rendered speechless by her beauty. “Unfortunately, no. You guys stay here, I've gotta go do something really quickly.”
Iruma started to run off until he hastily tacked on, “I promise that when I come back, that I'll tell you everything.”
“We'll be waiting, Iruma-sama.” He distantly heard Azz respond, likely bowing as he said it.
“What Azz-Azz said! See when you get back, Iruma-chi!” Clara yelled after him.
Iruma brought his bag with him, and went a little deeper into the forest. He wasn't ready for other demons to see her just yet, so the day previous, he went looking for the perfect spot.
Far enough away from where students walk about, but close to the spot he left his soulmates.
As he set his stuff down, he finally let Ireene burst through, the way she's been wanting to everytime Iruma is the one being presented. He grabbed his mirror that he brought, and hastily put on some concealer, simple eyeliner, mascara, and a little bit of lipgloss.
The feeling of the makeup on her skin felt nice—it felt like instead of putting on a mask, she was removing it.
When she finished her makeup, Ali materialized from the ring. “Lil’ Iru. I can feel your anxiety from here. Chill out girl, remember what Opera said.”
Ireene looked at Ali and was quick to deny “But I don't feel anxiety right now.”
“Girl, yes you do.” Ali turned into Ireene, “oh what if they react this way! Or maybe this way! Oh I don't know what I'm going to do!”
Ireene glanced away, embarrassed. “Ok, maybe I am a little nervous…” Ireene scratched her cheek sheepishly.
Alikrid floated in front of her, now taking the form of Opera, “‘he will understand more than you think he will’ that's what Opera said.” Ali turned back to his normal form. “Don't tell you haven't been thinking about what that means?”
“Uhm. No, uh, not really.” Ireene avoided Ali's one eye once more. As she did so, Ali flicked her forehead.
“Well you better find out! It's been killing me this entire time,” Alikrid put his hands on his hips, his featureless face somehow conveying irritation.
“Sorry!” Ireene thought about it for a little, and honestly, she had no idea. It just—didn't make any sense. What could Opera have possibly meant by that sentence?
Does Azz also crossdress?
At that thought, Ireene went stiff. She couldn’t see that happening. He looked so awkward and uncomfortable when he was forced into a dress.
Ali once again flicked her forehead. “If you don't get dressed now, they're gonna come looking for you.”
“Ah! Right!” Ireene fumbled in her bag for her dress. Quickly, she stripped Iruma's clothes, and dressed in her own.
The dress she chose was simple. Just a cute light blue sun dress that hugged her figure slightly. It was nice and girly.
She finally felt at home.
With that thought, she drew a breath, gathered her clothing, and was off towards her soulmates.
꧁☆❀♡❀☆꧂
(Just after Ireene left)
“We'll be waiting, Iruma-sama.” Azz called after Iruma as he left—bowing even though he couldn't see him. He was already missing the blue-haired boy.
“What Azz-Azz said! See when you get back, Iruma-chi!” Clara yelled after him as well, hands cupping her mouth.
.
.
.
“Wanna play a game?” Clara broke the short silence that developed.
“As long as we don't move from this area. Iruma-sama put us here.” Azz agreed, only due to the fact that he wished to quell Clara's energy before it spiked.
Stupid Clara surprisingly also had extremely effective puppy eyes.
Clara cheered then started to explain her nonsense game.
“Ok, this is gonna be: guess what Iruma-sama wants to tell us!” The statement was then punctuated by jazz hands.
Azz looked at her, expecting more. When she just looked at him—still holding the jazz hands—he finally asked:
“Anything else to it?”
“Nope! All we do is say our guesses!” Clara was practically bouncing around, her tail flicking this way and that.
Azz has to draw his gaze away from it so as to not be drawn into fantasies. Honestly, she was just a whole risk to look at for a plethora of reasons.
“Alright, sounds easy enough. Who shall go first?”
“I will!” Clara raised her hand, her beautiful emerald eyes sparkling. “I think Iruma-chi is gonna tell us that he's some sort of mythical animal that actually exists!”
“Stupid Clara, that makes no sense. Iruma-sama is a demon, no doubt!” Only a powerful demon could do all that Iruma does.
Clara blew a raspberry at him. “But wouldn't human Iruma-chi be so interesting?”
“Human Iruma-sama would be insanely dangerous.” Azz immediately refuted. “Besides, what if he were to bleed and we lose control. I would never wish to cause harm to Iruma-sama—not that he wouldn't win if we fought.”
He also doesn't think he could bear the idea that he could possibly be the reason a mark got on his skin. Not that it would make Iruma any less handsome.
Clara looked at him with a blank stare, then randomly—“Wait! I don't wanna hurt Iruma-chi!”
Azz just gave her a dead stare. “Well, back to our game. I think that Iruma-sama is going to tell us that he's trans.”
He'd actually been suspecting this for a long time. Whenever he'd been staring at the boy's side profile, he'd notice the small flinches at his name, or when demons used he/him pronouns.
There were even a few times where he noticed that Iruma looked slightly uncomfortable in the boy's uniform.
Most others didn't notice it due to the reactions being so terribly minuscule—but Azz paid more attention to Iruma's body language than most do to their needs.
Whenever things like that would happen, Azz would try his best to change the topic if he could. But if he couldn’t, he'd try to get the boy somewhere quiet where it was just the 3 of them.
So safe to say, this deduction had been long in the making. Likely longer than Iruma had been questioning his own gender—if he'd gotten to that point.
“Trans?” Clara parroted with a head tilt.
Azz sighed, dreading having to explain this to her. “Trans is whenever demons transition to another gender that they weren't at birth.”
With Stupid Clara still just staring at him—for the nth time in the time they've been alone—he had to think of another way to explain it.
Before he could, his ears picked up sound from behind him. Immediately he knew it was Iruma due to the sound of the footsteps that soon followed.
“Iruma-sama/-chi!”
꧁☆❀♡❀☆꧂
Before Ireene stepped into the clearing, she was greeted by the smooth voice of one of her soulmates—Asmodeus.
“Trans is whenever demons transition to another gender that they weren't at birth.”
Wait- why were they talking about that?
Why is Ireene so panicked?
Why does that feel so personal?
In her frazzled thoughts, she moved a little, causing a stick to move. She freaked out a little and started backing away. Azz and Clara turned towards the sounds like hound dogs and yelled out his name.
Ireene felt like puking at the name. She hated it so, so much.
“Iruma-chi? What's wrong?” Clara looked up at her from where she planted herself against her chest.
’When did she hug me?’
“Ireene.” She smiled slightly.
Clara tilted her head, “what? Did you forget silly, my name is Clara! Not Ireene.” She smiled brightly
Ireene heard a small “oh” sound come from her left. She looked towards the source, being none other than Asmodeus Alice himself.
“Stupid Clara,” the nickname the fire demon gave her sounded fond, “that's her name. Iruma goes by Ireene now.”
“Ohhh! You coulda just said that! You're such a silly b-”
“Girl,” Azz cut in with a correction. It made Ireene's heart swell with affection. She was grateful that she didn't have to explain anything to him.
“Is this the trans thing you were talking about Azz-Azz?” Clara questioned.
“Ask her, not me.” With that, Clara turned her head towards Ireene—still having yet to let go of the other girl. “Also, release Iru- Ireene-sama.”
As Clara followed through with the command, Ireene started to explain. “I don't think I'm trans. Pretty sure I'm just a crossdresser. But I don't know! I'm just so confused with all this gender stuff, it's making my head a mess.”
“Yes, gender is quite confusing.” Azz affirmed as if he had gone through this too.
“Huh, I don't get you guys.” Clara looked between her soulmates. “Everyone is someone and they should be loved!”
Azz chuckled and looked at her with soft eyes, “Yes that is true. But you haven't gone through what Ireene-sama and I have.”
Ireene blinked, could this be what Opera was talking about earlier? “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, uhm.” Azz looked embarrassed, his face was all flushed and he was just a general mess. After a few seconds, he drew a breath.
“You don't have- ”
“No I don't, but I want to.”
Azz closed his eyes, and Ireene examined the light pink eyelashes fluttering against his slightly freckled cheeks. In this moment, Ireene understood better than anyone the appeal that the female students saw in him.
“C'mon Azz-Azz!” Clara declared, as impatient as ever. She always made stressful situations feel lighter—it was a Clara specific superpower.
“Devi, ok! I'm trans!” Azz looked at the green-haired girl with rage.
“Wait- so you're a girl now? Like Ireene?”
“No, I was a girl in the past. But when I was around 10 I realized I didn't like being referred to as such.”
Oh wow- that was a long time to have this realization. Ireene couldn't help but feel slightly salty about it.
“Ohhh, that's not as long as I thought it'd be,” Clara broke Ireen's thoughts.
“I suppose, but it took me years to get to that point.” Azz then looked at Ireene with the same soft eyes he'd been giving Clara, “That isn't to say that every journey is different. Or that you're even trans.”
Azz walked up to Ireene and bowed down to take her hand into his own. “You could very well just be a crossdresser, and I'd still serve under you. You'd still be our soulmate.” He then kissed her hand.
“Yeah! Even though I don't quite understand the confusion you have, I agree with Azz-Azz. I'll always be your playmate!” Clara was quick to cling back onto Ireene—she also planted a quick kiss on Ireene's cheek.
“Thank you guys!” Ireene pulled Azz into their hug and all three soulmates fell to the floor. Ireene not caring that her dress will need washing.