Rimuru POV
The three of us are walking down the hallway, heading to go pick up our schoolbooks. As we get closer, I come to the (unfortunate) realization that all of those horrible noises I have been hearing are coming from our destination. As we approach a large pile of boxes in the hallway, I sense that a person-sized 'something' is barreling towards us. Azz noticed too so he stops and puts his arms in front of Iruma and me.
"Stop, Masters."
"What's wrong Azz?" Iruma asks.
Azz doesn't even have time to answer before a green 'ball' comes crashing through the wall, smashing into the boxes. That 'ball' turns out to be a student, a girl with green eyes and hair, pointy teeth, and two ram-like horns.
[[Master, get away from that girl! There is something very wrong with her!]]
Ciel!? What do you mean!?
[[I-I can't predict her actions! Not at all! This has n-never happened before!]]
Calm down! Is this really that big of a deal?
[[You don't understand Master! She defies all logic, all probability, all common sense! Such a creature shouldn't exist! We need to destroy this monstrosity!]]
Get ahold of yourself, Ciel! We can't go around 'destroying' other students! I can tell that she isn't very powerful or hostile, so we don't need to predict her actions.
[[But…]]
Do you think with enough observation you might be able to make predictions about her?
[[It may be possible…]]
Think of it as a learning opportunity and focus on that instead of freaking out! That doesn't do either of us any good, you know!
[[Yes, sorry Master. I will do that.]]
Since developing human emotions, Ciel still hasn't gotten them completely under control. She unfortunately panics occasionally like this. She's extremely intelligent, but when something in her plan goes wrong, which is rare, she tends to freak out.
"STRIKE! AHAHAHAHAHA!" the strange green-haired girl yells, clearly happy with her 'achievement' of destroying the wall and stack of boxes.
"A-are you ok?" Iruma asks. He is concerned because in his eyes, if a person is propelled with enough force to smash through a wall and keep going, they must have been hurt in the process. Although, this time she seems completely unharmed.
#Don't talk to her, Master Iruma! She is infamous for being a weirdo! You can't talk to her, or she might get attached to you and cause trouble!# Azz whispers to Iruma.
"Hi I'm Clara! My right foot's named Connor and my left foot's named Murph!" She says pointing at her feet. She is wearing weird green slippers with eyes and mouths.
Did I just see one of those shoes blink? I'm not just seeing things, right Ciel?
[[You are not seeing things, Master, this freak-of-nature's shoes seem to be either alive or possessed, I am not sure which. Analysis has revealed nothing conclusive.]]
'Freak-of-nature'? That's a bit harsh, even for you Ciel!
"Don't you just loooove watching things go KABOOM! I'm gonna do it again, watch me! HAHAHA!"
She sings a weird song to herself as she restacks the boxes, at least the ones that are still intact. A teacher sees what is going on and rushes over to stop Clara when he spots the three of us standing nearby.
"You're Asmodeus, Iruma, and Rimuru right? I'll leave the rest to you!" he attempts to tie the four of us together with rope using telekinesis (I think), but I stop him by using magic manipulation to cancel out his power's effect.
"Yeah, no. That little trick won't work on me. If you want us to help you out, just ask!" I say to the teacher.
#Sheesh, so rude!# I say under my breath as I neatly coil up the rope. I don't mind helping others, but when people try to force their work on me without even asking it pisses me off.
"C-could you please h-help me by escorting Clara Valac away from h-here?" he asks me. He looks a bit shocked; I probably surprised him when I neutralized his magic so easily. I'm sure being called out by a student didn't help much either.
"See? That wasn't very hard, now was it?" I say in a patronizing tone as I toss the rope back to him. "C'mon Azz, Iruma, and Clara too…I guess."
"Yes, Master."
"Okay."
"Yaaaay! Riri, take me somewhere fun! I want to play with you, Azz-Azz and Iruma-chi!"
Riri!? Is that some kind of stupid nickname for me? Ugh…
"Can we please have our books too? That's why we came over here in the first place." I ask the teacher.
"S-sure…here you go." The teacher says as he sends four bundles of books our way using his telekinesis.
After grabbling our books, the four of us backtrack down the hallway. Suddenly, I get a sinking feeling in my gut. It's a feeling that's telling me if I don't get away right now, I will be roped into doing something really embarrassing or annoying. I've developed a sort of 'sixth sense' for that kind of thing after years dodging forced 'dress-up doll' sessions with the women of Tempest. I decide now's the time to bail before it's too late.
"Hey, guys? I'm sorry but I have something I need to go do. I will meet up with you later, ok?" I say to them. I want to take a stroll around whole school so I can learn where everything is. I could just map it out with universal detect, but where's the fun in that? I'm gonna use that to keep an eye on Iruma while I am away, though.
"But I wanted to play with you, Riri!" Clara complains. Yup, I think that is the source of the feeling I got. I bet this 'playing' is going to be something absolutely humiliating.
"This is important, sorry. Also, my name's Rimuru, not Riri." I respond.
"B-but…I like…Riri…" Clara says, almost looking like she's gonna cry. I'm not in the business of making girls cry, so I decide to just let her call me by that dumb nickname because it seems like less trouble.
"Fine…call me Riri…" I say reluctantly and she immediately cheers up.
"Want me to accompany you?" Azz asks.
"No, I need to go alone." I tell him.
"See you later, Rimuru!" Iruma says as he gives me a little wave.
"See ya! Have fun 'playing'!" I say, a bit sarcastic with that last part. After saying goodbye, I erase my presence completely, essentially turning invisible. I did it right in front of their eyes so I could see their reactions.
"W-where did your sister go!?" Azz asks, very confused, his eyes are darting around trying to see where I went.
"Rimuru is…um…fast? Y-yeah, yeah she's very fast! So fast that when she runs, you can't even see her!" Iruma frantically makes up an excuse. I'm sure he thought I teleported since I've done it near him before. Despite Iruma probably thinking the wrong thing in this case, he's technically right without knowing it; I can run that fast.
"Riri's so cool!" Clara says.
"Woooow! As expected of one of my masters, having such amazing athletic abilities!" Azz exclaims.
This Azz guy sounds exactly like Diablo right now! They're way too similar, it's honestly kinda unsettling. Maybe I should introduce them to each-other?…On second thought, they would probably compete so that might not be a good idea. I don't need another 'Diablo vs. Shion'-like rivalry on my hands.
Once I am out of the three's line of sight, I make myself visible again. Being invisible can be helpful but it definitely has its downsides. For example, when others can't see you it makes it very easy to bump into them. I also have a bad habit of forgetting I'm not visible and talking to people, scaring the shit out of them. It can be pretty damn funny startling people this way, but it definitely has its time and place.
As I walk through the various hallways, I feel a pair of eyes watching me, following me. I'm not talking about the eyes of that tall red-haired girl from this morning but someone else's. They don't have the same sharpness or hostility like hers did; these eyes feel like they are curious and interested in me for some reason. This person has been watching not just me, but Iruma too ever since our performance on stage at the entrance ceremony. I've honestly been trying to just ignore them, but it isn't easy. The 'stalker' is a blonde-haired and yellow-eyed girl with small black horns who's about the same height as me. From what I could overhear from her dinosaur-looking buddy, her name is Eiko. When I look in her direction she ducks behind the corner she was peeking around. I decide to continue to ignore her for the time being and keep walking. Her stalking may be annoying but seems harmless.
Continuing my little stroll around campus, I decide to stop at the school library to let Ceil have a little fun. I mean, learning new stuff is one of her favorite things, right? All I have to do to let her soak up all the knowledge in the books is touch them for a moment. I casually walk along, running my hand across every book as I go like it's a completely normal thing to do when visiting a library.
"What were you just doing with those books, child?" the librarian asks me, stopping me on my way out.
"Reading them." I say bluntly, not really telling the truth since Ciel is doing the 'reading'. I mean, I'm technically not lying to her but I'm not going to explain myself completely. She pauses for a moment before responding, looking completely flabbergasted.
"Wait…reading them? How was that reading!? All you did was touch them!"
"That's a trade secret!" I say with a wink and grin.
The librarian says nothing in response. She's probably thinking I've totally lost my marbles, based on the look on her face. I feel a bit of deja'vu since I got a similar reaction when I did the same thing back in Ingrassia.
I exit the library and resume my self-guided tour of Babyls. I happen to walk past some kind of bulletin board with what appears to be a school newspaper pinned up on it. Plastered right on the front page is the faces of Iruma and me, probably a picture taken by Sullivan. The article is about all the shenanigans that went down at the entrance ceremony, including the duel with Azz. Sequestered in the lower corner, I notice another article about what appears to be some kind of celebrity called a 'dem-dol'. The article is talking about her winning some kind of award. This 'dem-dol is a girl, probably around the same age as Iruma, wearing a flashy outfit and holding a microphone.
Shouldn't a celebrity winning an award take precedence over two rando's that nobody's even heard of until yesterday? It's kinda weird that we are the center of attention in this paper.
Leaving the bulletin board behind, I wander around the school aimlessly for a while longer. Not much of note happened except for when I ran into a strange student with teal-colored hair and unevenly sized horns. He wore glasses and a choker with a strange square purple charm, almost making the choker look like a dog collar. He gave me a weird feeling, so I had Ciel analyze him. He has much less magic power than an average demon here, but Ciel noticed something very strange. That odd charm on his neck contained a massive amount of magic, at least compared to the amount possessed by the students here. According to Ciel, that charm is meant to store the wearer's power so it can be used later. If this weak boy managed to pump that much magic into it, that means he has been doing so for years. Why would someone do this? That's the suspicious part. He could just be keeping it for emergencies, since he's so weak, but I think he is planning something much more sinister. At least that's my gut feeling about it. When I looked at him as we passed by each other in the hallway, he smiled at me. His smile made my skin crawl. I have seen that kind of smile before from only one other person; Yuuki Kagurazaka. It was a perfect friendly-looking façade that would fool most people, but I know better, at least at this point. That smile belongs to someone plotting something evil, something dangerous, I just know it!
Ciel, keep a close eye on this dude with universal detect. I need to know if he starts doing anything suspicious, ok?
[[Understood. I will report anything out of the ordinary to you, Master.]]
Putting my thoughts about the suspicious student aside, I go to check on Iruma. I use universal detect to track him down and begin heading his way. It seems he is messing around in the courtyard with Azz and Clara. I teleport about a foot directly behind him to cheer myself up after the tense encounter I just had. I notice both Iruma and Azz look exhausted while Clara still has too much energy for her own good. All three of them are covered in what looks like paint for some reason. Azz in particular doesn't seem to be very happy to be coated in the stuff.
"Boo!" I yell playfully right next to Iruma's ear.
"Whuaaaa!" Iruma spins around, surprised. He loses his balance and flails his arms around before landing on his ass. "Rimuruuuuu!" he wails. I laugh a bit before I look over and notice three kids are pinned under a vending machine for some reason. We are out in the middle of a grassy field, so where did a freaking vending machine come from?!
"Riri's here to play! Yaaaay!" Clara says, very excited to see me. I really don't know why, since I just met the girl.
"Hey, what's up with those guys over there?" I say, pointing at the three boys pinned to the ground.
"Don't worry about those miscreants, Master, they just got what they deserved!" Azz says to me.
That doesn't really answer my question but ok…
"But what did they do to deserve that?" I ask. I get that they probably did something bad but death by vending machine seems like a pretty severe punishment.
Iruma explains that Clara has an ability that lets her conjure up anything she has seen before with her magic. This means snacks, toys, candy, drinks, whatever she wants. These bastards have been taking advantage of her ability. They pretend to be friends with her so they can get stuff out of her, but then ditch her when she wants to spend time with them. The poor girl is so desperate for friends that she lets them get away with it too! At least that was the case until now. Iruma and Azz(?) have become real friends with her, having played with her the whole time I was gone, so she doesn't need those assholes. They came over begging for drinks, so she gave them some; by dropping a vending machine on their heads. Pretty brutal, but really funny! Reminds me of something out of a slapstick cartoon.
"How long have they been under that thing?" I ask.
"Around an hour." Says Iruma, now looking concerned.
"Well, we should probably get them out before they die or something. I'm sure they have learned their lesson at this point." I say as I walk over to the three pinned boys. I lift the vending machine off of them and toss it to the side with ease. I notice they don't seem very hurt as they thank me and stumble away. They're definitely bruised up but nothing major seems broken.
Maybe these demons are sturdier than I thought. I took out Azz so easily that I might have underestimated them.
I decide leaving a busted-up vending machine laying in the school yard would be inappropriate, so I consume the thing with azathoth.
"Where did the vending machine go? What did you do with it?" Iruma asks me.
Oops. I just did that right in front of them without thinking didn't I?
"What?" I try to act like nothing happened just now.
"The vending machine is gone! What did you do!?" he asks desperately.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I play dumb and innocent.
"B-but…it was right over there just a moment ago!" He yells at me. Iruma turns to Azz and Clara with a look of desperation on his face as if asking 'I'm not going crazy and guys saw it to, right?'. They just shrug their shoulders, just as confused as he is.
"I still have no idea why you're freaking out. Why don't we go get some snacks or something? I'm getting hungry." That last part was a lie, of course; I don't get hungry. I guess the first part was too, but I'm not going to explain what I just did in front of everyone.
"But…right there…gone…how…?" Iruma is muttering to himself as we walk to go buy some snacks. We could have Clara make some for us but with what just happened I don't want to ask.
{{Iruma, I'll tell you some more details later. Just forget about it for now.}}
Iruma looks at me and gives me a small nod. It is really annoying that my thought communication can only go one way with him. I hope I can eventually find a way to fix that.
As we are walking, I hear Azz mumble something strange under his breath.
#I can't believe Valac made play a cheating housewife in her stupid game…she even had Master Iruma play a dog, unacceptable!#
Wait, what!? That sounds pretty damn humiliating! I guess I was right to bail earlier if that was the kind of stuff they were doing while I was gone.
I give him a look of pity and he responds with one of defeat. Words aren't needed for me to show some sympathy to him as we lock eyes. In the past I've been forced into a bunny suit, a maid's uniform, bikinis, frilly dresses and many other embarrassing outfits countless times so I know exactly how he feels. Hell, I'm wearing one of those outfits right now! I'm not exactly thrilled to be dressed like a stereotypical schoolgirl.
[[But you look so cute, Master! You should wear stuff like this more often.]]
Oh, don't start with that stuff again, Ciel! I already told you, cute is not the look I want to go for!
[[I should come up with more adorable outfit designs for you and relay them to Shuna! I am feeling inspired!]]
Please don't! Anything but that!
[[Hehehe…]]
Knowing there isn't anything I can do to stop Ciel from doing whatever the hell she wants, I give up. I guess I should mentally prepare myself for another 'dress-up-doll' session next time I'm in Tempest. I'm now wearing a look of defeat similar to Azz's. While I shuffle along, dreading what awaits me upon visiting home, I feel something heavy hit me from behind. Clara is now clinging to my back, hanging off of me. If I was a normal person Clara would've easily knocked me down doing that.
"Hey! Why are you on my back!?" I exclaim, surprised that this girl just hopped right onto me with no warning.
[[I would have warned you, Master, but like I said earlier, this creature is completely unpredictable.]]
Yeah, maybe that is more of a problem than I first thought…
"I want to play with you, Riri! You can be the horse!" Clara says excitedly.
"Get off! I don't want to 'play' right now!" I complain. I've got enough problems to think about right now without an overenergetic child clinging to my back.
"But Ririiiii! We didn't get to play earlier! Pleeeeeaaase!" Clara pleads with me.
"Fine, whatever. You can ride on me, just be quiet so I can think. I have a lot on my mind right now." I once again give in to her demands.
"Yaaaaaaay!"
Carrying her really isn't a problem for someone of my strength so I just put up with it; I'm sure it looks absolutely ridiculous though since we are essentially the same size. I can't stop thinking about that boy from earlier; the one with the weird choker. He really gives me the creeps. I still can't decide if I should warn Sullivan about him yet since I don't have any solid reason to be suspicious of him, just a hunch.
The school day soon ends, and I walk home with Iruma. When we got back, Diablo was eagerly waiting at the door. Apparently he was antsy all day long, pacing back and forth. He must have hated not being allowed to contact me unless he had an emergency. After eating dinner, I approach Sullivan, needing to ask him for something.
Once we are alone I ask "Hey, is there any way you would be able to give me more authority when it comes to investigating risks to the school? I can only do so much in my current 'role' as a normal student."
"Why are you asking for this so suddenly? Did you find something of concern?" Sullivan asks, looking worried.
"Not exactly something but someone. I can't give many details since it is mostly just a hunch, but I stumbled across into a student who I think might be plotting something dangerous. He gave off the same vibe as a very crafty enemy I had to face in the past. I know that isn't much to go on, but you did promise I could have full access to information and freedom of movement at Babyls." I explain to him.
"I see. I do have an idea of something that might help you, but I need to work out the details before I can implement it. Give me some time to arrange things."
"Yeah, no problem. Thank you for listening."
"No, thank you Rimuru. You have barely even started the schoolyear and have already sniffed out a possible threat. I am quite impressed."
"I haven't really done anything that impressive at this point, but I appreciate your compliment."
Sullivan pauses for a moment looking downwards. He appears to be debating whether he should say what is on his mind.
"Rimuru, are you good at assessing threats?" he asks me.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. It is actually one of my specialties." I say to Sullivan. Technically it is one of Ciel's main strengths, not mine, but she is a part of me, so it isn't a lie.
"So, you can determine when it is your last chance to intervene in a dire situation?"
"Of course."
"Then there is one thing I want to ask of you. This is just a request so keep that in mind. If Iruma gets involved in something dangerous, only act when things become absolutely dire. Wait to intervene until the last moment that you are capable of stopping the disaster from becoming deadly. As much as watching Iruma struggle pains me, I want my precious grandson to grow as a person; trials and tribulations are necessary for that."
"So, you want me to investigate but only intervene when absolutely necessary if Iruma somehow gets involved?"
"Exactly."
"Alright, I think I can manage that. It should also be more fun than crushing the threat before it comes to fruition. Isn't swooping in and saving the day at the last moment stereotypically heroic? A demon lord acting like a hero, their opposing counterpart. That's pretty funny stuff!" I say with a chuckle.
Sullivan looks at me with a concerned face. He probably doesn't think I am taking this seriously enough.
"Don't worry though, I'm not treating this as just a game. I am taking this just as serious as I need to keep everyone safe, I'm just getting a bit of entertainment along the way. I did tell you I came here to alleviate my boredom." I reassure him.
"Yes, you did say that. Very well, as long as everyone is safe I don't mind if you find it fun." Sullivan says with a sigh.
"Great, I'm happy you've agreed to my 'methods'."
After finishing with Sullivan, I head up to my bedroom. I call Ranga out of my shadow so we can spend some time together. I play with and pet him a bit before the two of us lay down on my bed together. I can sleep if I really want to and with all that happened today, I really want to just shut my mind off for the night.
Ciel, I want to go into sleep mode until tomorrow morning.
[[Alright, Master. Activating sleep mode until 7 am tomorrow.]]
Thanks, Ciel, good night!
[[Sleep well!]]
My senses black out as the sleep mode is activated, putting an end to my eventful day first day at Babyls.