CREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAK.
A young boy crept quietly into the classroom, careful to hold down his bright blue tendrils of hair in order to remain undiscovered. If he was found, who knows what kind of chaos would erupt; after all, the Overlord of the Netherworld coming to supervise a class? It sounded almost ethical. Ridiculous!
He found a hiding spot by the cubbies near the back of the class, and crouched behind them, his crimson eyes peering just over the top. It seems that the class was not of his concern at all. "Hmm…" he mused, "What's that stupid love freak up to now?" Wait. Laharl, what the hell are you up to now?
He spied on a familiar young girl, blonde hair, blue—no red eyes. She'd changed a bit since the last he saw her; in fact, she'd sprouted two demon wings to replace her two angel wings. She even had a tail. He nodded to himself. Satisfactory adjustments. The Netherworld was no place for an angel anyway. Her new form was better, more fitting. More acceptable. He shook his head. More acceptable? For what?
He jumped at the sound of the mass of children crowding towards the girl. He felt a pang of—… What? A pang echoed deep in his chest. He watched as they grabbed their grubby little fingers at the stupid girl. He felt a malicious smile come across his face as he imaged plucking the fingers from their hands, one by—!
"Now, now everyone," the stupid girl began speaking.
The boy perked up.
"Can anyone tell me what special day today is?" she said in that same, cheerful tone she always spoke in.
He watched as the love freak attempted to maintain order in the class, and snickered a little at her flustered attitude. It seems that she wasn't aware of the fact that demon children are rather difficult to maintain. Stupid girl, what'd she think they'd be like? Angels?
"I know, Miss Flonne! I know!" a little demon girl raised her hand up high.
Laharl thought this was getting boring, regardless of how entertaining the girl's flustered-ness and inability to control was. He wondered if Etna was doing anything fun, like torturing the prinnies that work around the castle. He retired from his hiding place and began creeping towards the door.
"It's Valentine's Day!"
He stopped dead in his tracks, and zoomed back towards his hiding place. He didn't feel his face suddenly grow hot; he didn't feel the blush that was slowly appearing on his face. Valentine's Day? What a joke, he thought. But if it was such a joke, why was his interest suddenly revived?
"That's correct, Sandy!" the stupid girl exclaimed joyously. She took a pink piece of chalk and scribbled furiously on the board to reveal, "VALENTINE'S DAY" in giant, bold letters. "It is Valentine's Day! A full day devoted to sharing your love with those you care about!" she giggled.
Laharl gagged.
"Now, does anyone know any typical traditions that occur on Valentine's Day?" She looked almost as if she would hover above the ground in excitement. Her eyes beamed with happiness. Looks like this is the perfect kinda day for a love freak like her.
"I know!" a little boy shouted. He kicked back in his chair, relaxing his feet upon his desk. "The girls all go slave in the kitchen and make delicious chocolates for the boys!" he said confidently, a smug smile spreading across his face.
Flonne wasn't quite sure how to respond, but attempted it anyway, "W-well… I guess that's sort of how it works… But I wouldn't say slaving… Although, it does take a while to make the chocolate, and…" She seemed lost in thought. She contemplated the boy's response.
Laharl's jaw dropped, his eye twitched. He was in shock that she actually took a moment to contemplate the boy's response. Though there wasn't really anything wrong with the response (in fact, that would probably be Laharl's preferred response, if anything), even he knew that it was… Well, wrong. Not that he read up on Valentine's Day much, no sir. He didn't know anything about Valentine's Day, or White Day for that matter.
… Was White Day ever mentioned?
"Yes! I'm going to say that you're correct, Peter! Girls usually slave in the kitchen making delicious chocolate for the boys to eat!"
How could she say that with such a cheerful face? Laharl groaned silently to himself. She really was a stupid love freak.
"Pfft. Of course I'm right," Peter scoffed. "I'm always right!"
Laharl raised a brow at the defiant young boy. He held a fireball in his right hand, aimed and ready to throw when suddenly someone grabbed at his wrist. He quickly extinguished the flame and turned to see a certain pink-haired vassal, smiling mischievously down at him. "ETNA," he whispered harshly. His head whipped back towards the class. Seeing that they were still quite absorbed in their lesson, he turned back towards his vassal. "What the hell are you doing here?" he sneered.
"Oh? But prince, I could ask you the very same," she said in a sly tone. She bent down to his eye-level, a wide smile on her face.
He averted his eyes from her gaze and slouched a little. He should've picked a better hiding spot. "I'm… Just checking the progress of the school. You know, official business stuff," he whispered, quietly this time. He never took his eyes off the floor.
"Oh really?" Etna smirked. She glanced over at the chalkboard, and snickered when she saw the words written upon it. She looked down at her prince and said, with an apathetic tone, "Y'know, Flonne spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen last night… I wonder what she was doing…"
Laharl's ears perked up. He quickly turned his back towards Etna and crossed his arms, stating, "Wh-what do I care what she does?" He fidgeted nervously, unsure of what to say, what to do. This feeling was everywhere, inescapable; and he didn't like it.
"Oh teacher~!" Etna's voice rang, in sing-song.
Laharl twitched and waved his arms furiously at Etna as he mouthed, "GET. DOWN." He pulled at her arm, but her body protested and instead of falling to the ground, she stood… Just… A little tilted to the side.
"TEACHER~!" Etna shouted again.
"Oh?" Flonne looked towards the back of the classroom to see a grinning Etna… Strangely tilted to the side. "Hello Etna! What a pleasant surprise!" Flonne beamed. She started off towards Etna, "What are you doing here today? Going to help with the lesson, maybe? We're discussing Valentine's Day!"
"Valentine's Day!" The children repeated, trailing behind her.
"A day of love!" shouted Sandy.
"A day of slaves!" shouted Peter.
"A day of love slaves!" chimed James, the boy behind them.
"Oh no, no. I'm not here to help with the lesson, but I caught a delinquent child skipping class in the back here!" Etna pointed directly at Laharl with her free hand. He proceeded to send her a piercing glare, his eyes burning bright red… Not to mention his face.
"A delinquent!? Oh dear, we can't have that!" Flonne stepped closer.
Laharl felt his heart suddenly begin to beat faster and faster… A rather uncomfortable feeling. His eyes still beamed up towards Etna, with almost a childish sense of anxiousness. He threw Etna's wrist down and bolted towards the door… But missed. He hit a pillar standing to the side of the door instead, and found himself on the floor once again in a matter of seconds.
"Ng'Ow…" He cupped his face in his hands.
"Laharl!" Flonne's high pitched voice squealed in delight.
He heard her running, maybe skipping towards him. Well, at least she wasn't freaking about how he just rammed his face into the pillar. "Y-Yo," Laharl said, saluting with one hand, cupping his nose in the other. He attempted a cool greeting after his not-so-cool attempt at an exit.
"I'm so glad to see you! I heard you came back a while ago, but whenever I went to visit, I could never find you!" she shouted, at first happily, but slowly her voice became rather distraught. "Where have you been?" she asked.
Laharl suddenly recalled hiding behind the throne.
… Under the table's tablecloth in the dining hall…
… Inside the cabinets of the kitchen.
… How degrading.
"N-None of your business!" he snapped and turned his face away as he crossed his arms. "I had better things to do than come see you, you stupid love freak," he muttered quietly, to make sure his point went across, since she was a stupid love freak. He heard nothing. He turned his head and was mortified to see…
A tear-filled Flonne, attempting to hold back the tears with a smile, "W-Well! I-I hope you got all of those things accomplished, Laharl! I'm glad that you're… You're…" She exploded with sobs. "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHAHHHH!"
Etna slipped out of the room, her mission having been accomplished.
His jaw dropped and he stood, reaching out towards her, but then recoiling back. He couldn't. It wasn't right anyway. Besides, why should he have to comfort her? He didn't care at all. He was the one who made her cry. He wanted her to be this way.
… Didn't he?
"Hey! You made our teacher cry!" Peter shouted angrily, bearing his fangs.
"Yeah! Apologize! Apologize!" Sandy insisted, stomping her feet firmly on the ground before him.
"Apologize for making our teacher cry!" James shouted, waving a fist in the air.
Of course, none of this fazed Laharl. His attention was centered on the young girl crying before him. He was too concentrated on shutting her up, she was loud. At least, that's what he thought he was trying to do. Shut her up, that is. "S-SHUT UP, ALREADY! STOP BEING SUCH A CRY BABY!"
Surprisingly, she complied. She stopped her tears, and sniffed. "Y-You're right, Laharl…" She turned around and headed back towards the front of the classroom. "I have to keep class going so… So could you leave now, please?"
"Wha?" he almost scoffed. SHE was asking HIM to leave? The Overlord!? Outrageous. Unheard of! He would not oblige! He didn't take orders from anyone.
… But then… His feet moved slowly towards the door. He shut it behind him, and his legs suddenly gave way; his back leaned up against the door, as he slid slowly to the ground. He slapped hand over his eyes and sighed.
… What the hell?
