Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: Babyls Academy Rom-Com Mayhem
Iruma Suzuki has a secret: he's a human attending a school full of demons. His goal? Blend in, keep his head down, and survive. Simple, right?
Except nothing about Iruma's life is simple. Sold to a demon by his garbage parents, adopted as the beloved grandson of the Netherworld's most powerful chairman, and now enrolled at Babyls Academy—the most prestigious demon school in existence—Iruma just wants a quiet, peaceful school life.
Too bad his inability to say no to anyone in trouble keeps gett
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: Babyls Academy Rom-Com Mayhem - A heart being torn apart, and the first warmth
The pale blue light of the magic lamps stretched long down the stone corridor.
Suzuki Iruma walked beside Asmodeus Alice, making his way toward the classroom. His sleek black hair swayed slightly with each step. His deep brown, round eyes were narrowed just a little, still heavy with sleep.
"Good morning, Iruma-sama."
Alice greeted him in a clear voice. His fluffy, bright pink hair shimmered softly in the light of the magic lamps. His violet-red eyes grew meltingly gentle only when they rested on Iruma.
"Morning, Alice."
Iruma returned the greeting with a small smile.
It had been a little over two weeks since enrollment. Having Alice by his side had already become routine. At first it had flustered him, but now this distance felt strangely comforting.
(Alice really does look out for me every single day.)
Iruma glanced at Alice's profile. Perfect posture. The valedictorian's badge gleaming on his black uniform. Faint burn marks on his fingertips—remnants of fire magic training.
"I will protect you at your side again today, every moment."
Alice placed a hand over his heart as he spoke.
"Yeah, thanks."
When Iruma nodded honestly, Alice's face lit up brightly.
That was when it happened.
Alice smoothly slipped an arm around Iruma's shoulder.
"Iruma-sama, let us slow our pace a little. The corridor floor is slippery."
"Ah, okay..."
Alice's hand rested gently on Iruma's right shoulder. Its warmth made Iruma's heart skip, just a little.
(Alice's been touching me more often lately...)
That was the moment the thought crossed his mind.
"Iruma! Good morning!"
A cheerful voice came flying from down the corridor.
Bright green, fluffy twin-tails bounced up and down. A big ribbon swayed like a pair of wings. Her large yellow-green eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Valac Clara came running at full speed.
"Ah, Clara. Morning."
Just as Iruma started to raise his hand to wave—
Clara stopped dead in her tracks.
Her big eyes were fixed on Alice's hand. Alice's right hand, resting on Iruma's shoulder.
"...No fair!"
Clara shouted.
"No fair, no fair, no fair! Only Alice gets to touch Iruma! Clara too! Clara wants to touch him too!"
With that, Clara latched onto Iruma's left arm.
"Whoa!"
Iruma's body tilted to the left.
"Valac Clara, let go. You're troubling Iruma-sama."
Alice's voice dropped suddenly. His violet-red eyes flashed sharply.
"No! Clara wants to cling to Iruma too!"
Clara hugged Iruma's left arm even tighter.
"Then I shall do the same."
Alice pulled Iruma's right shoulder firmly toward him.
"H-hey, both of you!"
Iruma's body now tilted to the right.
"Ow ow ow! Don't pull! Both of you, stop pulling!"
Iruma cried out.
He was being squeezed and tugged from both sides. His right arm by Alice, his left by Clara. Iruma's body was like a rope in a tug-of-war, about to be torn in two down the middle.
"What's going on over there?" "The valedictorian and Valac Clara are fighting over Iruma." "A battlefield first thing in the morning?"
Whispers rose from all along the corridor.
Before anyone noticed, the hallway in front of the classroom had become a crowd of gawking students.
"Both of you, calm down! Please? I'm begging you!"
Iruma raised his voice as loud as he could.
But Alice and Clara kept glaring at each other, neither letting go of Iruma.
"Valac Clara, you are a little too close to Iruma-sama."
"You're one to talk, Alice! Iruma is Clara's friend!"
"I am also Iruma-sama's friend. Moreover, I have sworn my loyalty to him. Protecting him is only natural."
"Clara protects Iruma lots too!"
The argument kept heating up.
Iruma could only flail helplessly between them.
(What do I do, what do I do? They're not listening to me at all...)
The crowd kept growing.
"That honor student really is something else." "To have both Lord Asmodeus and that energetic girl fighting over him." "What's even happening?"
The onlookers' voices poured mercilessly into Iruma's ears.
Iruma turned bright red and hung his head.
(I keep telling myself I just want to stay inconspicuous...)
He heaved a deep sigh in his heart.
The classroom door flew open.
"Hey hey, a battlefield first thing in the morning!"
Spiky hair, blazing red eyes. Wearing his black uniform loosely, the hot-blooded brawler of the problem class—Sabnock Sabro—stood there like a guardian deity.
"If it's a duel of love, I'll be the judge! Settle it fair and square!"
Sabro clenched his fists and bellowed.
"Sabro, it's not like that! This isn't what you think!"
Iruma denied it desperately.
But Sabro wasn't listening at all.
"Right then, I, of all people, shall judge your duel fairly! The venue is the arena! Come now!"
"I'm telling you, it's not like that!"
Iruma's voice was completely ignored.
"Heh heh, Iruma, you really are a sinful man!"
Sauntering over with a grin was the problem class's resident jokester, Shax Lied. Wearing a flippant smile, he clapped Iruma on the shoulder.
"You're the academy's hot topic! Courted by both the valedictorian and Valac Clara—what are you, anyway?"
"I'm not being courted! It's a misunderstanding!"
Iruma shouted desperately.
"A misunderstanding? Oh yeah? Where's the misunderstanding?"
Shax peered into Iruma's face, thoroughly amused.
"I mean, Alice is just worried about me, and Clara just wants to cling to me as a friend..."
"Whoa whoa, that just makes it sound even more suspicious. Right, everyone agrees with me, yeah?"
When Shax called out to the crowd, the onlooking students burst into laughter.
"That's right!" "You're the only one who thinks it's a misunderstanding!" "You're already going out, aren't you?"
The whole classroom erupted.
"N-no! We're not going out! We're just friends!"
Iruma shouted, his face bright red.
"Just friends... just friends, is it?"
Alice's voice dropped strangely low.
"Iruma-sama, those words slight my loyalty far too much."
Alice pulled Iruma's right shoulder even closer.
"Eh? No, that's not what I meant!"
"Clara doesn't think of Iruma as just a friend either!"
Clara squeezed Iruma's left arm tight.
"Clara loves Iruma so much! Among all her friends, he's a super special friend!"
"Valac Clara, you just now said..."
"Clara loves Iruma more than anyone in the whole world!"
At Clara's words, the classroom went dead silent.
The next instant—
"WOOOOOOH!"
Sabro let out a battle cry.
"This is it—a duel! A duel of love, officially established! The judge shall be none other than I, Sabnock Sabro!"
"Yeeaaah!"
Shax clapped and egged them on.
The classroom dissolved into cheers, jeers, and laughter.
"Everyone, calm down! Don't fight! F-first, let's all just calm down, okay?"
Still wedged between the two, Iruma tried desperately to mediate.
But no one was listening to him.
"A duel of love! A duel of love!"
"The judge is me!"
"Now it's getting interesting!"
"I will protect Iruma-sama!"
"Clara protects him too! Clara protects him lots more!"
The classroom had become a complete battlefield.
Shaken left and right between the two, Iruma simply slumped and stared up at the ceiling.
(Whatever. Do what you want...)
And that was exactly when it happened.
Outside the window, a black shadow flickered for an instant.
Iruma's movements stopped dead.
(That just now...)
Across the courtyard from the classroom window, on the roof of the opposite building.
Someone was standing there.
A black uniform. The uniform of the Banned Books Bureau.
An organization under the direct authority of the Demon Realm Council, tasked with collecting and sealing books from the human world as "dangerous knowledge." A demon in that uniform was staring straight at him.
(The Banned Books Bureau...)
Iruma's heart gave a violent lurch.
"Iruma-sama? Is something the matter?"
Alice peered anxiously into Iruma's face.
"Ah, no, it's nothing!"
Iruma hurriedly forced a smile.
Then he looked out the window again.
No one was there.
The black shadow that had definitely been standing there moments ago had vanished without a trace.
(It was just my imagination... right?)
Iruma told himself.
(Just my imagination. Yeah, definitely just my imagination.)
But something cold was spreading slowly through the depths of his chest.
The heat of the classroom, so noisy just moments ago, drained away.
The voices around him grew distant.
Only inside Iruma did a cold fear swirl quietly.
(If they find out I'm human...)
Just imagining it sent a chill down his spine.
Something cold crawled up from the nape of his neck to his lower back.
(What would happen? I'd be caught, and then...)
Unconsciously, Iruma was touching the gluttony ring on his right middle finger.
The black stone felt cool against his fingertip.
"Iruma, what's wrong? You're pale as a ghost!"
Clara peered up at Iruma's face from below.
Her big yellow-green eyes wavered with worry.
"N-nothing! I'm fine! I just got a little startled!"
Iruma forced a laugh.
Behind that good-natured smile, Iruma's heart was beginning to be shrouded in cold unease.
After school.
Iruma had climbed to the rooftop alone.
The main building's rooftop was normally off-limits, but the problem class members had secretly picked the lock and used it as they pleased.
A purple sky spread overhead.
The wind whistled through.
Iruma leaned against the fence and looked up at the sky.
(Today was really exhausting...)
The morning battlefield. The huge uproar in the classroom. And the black shadow outside the window.
His heart hadn't had a moment's rest all day.
(The Banned Books Bureau... So I really am being watched after all.)
That notice he'd seen on the bulletin board.
"Surveillance Record of Persons of Interest — Subject: Suzuki Iruma"
Those words wouldn't leave his head.
(Why me...?)
Iruma gripped the fence tightly.
The coldness of the iron bit into his palms.
"Iruma-sama."
A voice came from behind him.
He turned to see Alice standing at the rooftop entrance.
"So this is where you were. I've been looking for you."
Alice walked over to Iruma's side.
"Alice..."
"Is something troubling you? You've seemed a little off for a while now."
Alice's violet-red eyes fixed steadily on Iruma's face.
"No, I'm fine. I was just thinking about some things."
Iruma laughed it off.
That was when—
"Iruma!"
Clara came bursting out of the rooftop entrance.
"Finally found you! Clara's been looking everywhere!"
Clara ran to Iruma and, without missing a beat, leaped onto his back.
"Whoa!"
Iruma nearly pitched forward.
"Valac Clara, what are you doing! That's rude to Iruma-sama!"
Alice's eyebrows shot up.
"But Iruma seems kind of down. Clara's going to share her energy with him!"
Still clinging tightly to Iruma's back, Clara beamed.
"Clara..."
Iruma felt his heart loosen just a little at Clara's warmth.
"...Valac Clara, there's something I want to say to you."
Alice turned to Clara with a serious expression.
"Huh? What? Alice?"
Clara tilted her head.
"I want to protect everything about Iruma-sama. That is my pride."
Alice's voice was quiet and strong.
"So if you do anything that troubles Iruma-sama, I will not stay silent."
"Clara wants to protect Iruma too!"
Clara shot back in a loud voice, refusing to back down.
"Clara just wants to be with Iruma! Is that not allowed?"
Clara's voice carried on the wind across the rooftop.
Direct, unclouded—Clara's true feelings.
Alice was at a loss for words for a moment.
"...Being at Iruma-sama's side is the greatest happiness to me. I have no intention of yielding that place to you."
Alice said.
"Clara won't yield either! The spot next to Iruma belongs to Clara!"
The two faced off head-on with Iruma between them.
Iruma looked back and forth between their faces.
Alice's earnest gaze.
Clara's straightforward eyes.
Both of them were serious.
They truly cared about him.
(...Ah. I see.)
The center of Iruma's chest grew warm.
(I've never been needed by anyone li
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