I was originally going to wait longer before posting this one but I decided to just post it now. This takes a look around the time when Clara first meets Iruma and Azz.

Desperate to Please

Iruma had been caught off guard when Clara called him Iruma-chi. It was honestly the first time someone his age had been so friendly the moment they met.

And yeah, he'd been forced into playing with her because she said please but he really was having a ton of fun. He'd never gotten to play any games or anything like that back in the human world. Working kept him too busy. Even for the short time he was able to go to recess at school, the other kids didn't want anything to do with him. He was already having to support himself and both good clothes and good showers were hard to get…in fact, he would become imfamous for raiding the lost and found and occasionally be caught while stealing food from the pantries in multiple schools in the area. So, yeah, even when he was around, he was seen as someone to avoid and didn't get to play much.

Iruma supposed the closest he ever came was fixing appliances, which was kind of like solving puzzles, sometimes.

And so, he put his all into the games with Clara and her possibly sentient shoes. It was so much fun! Just pretending or running around for the sake of doing it. And although Azz would never admit it, Iruma could tell he was enjoying himself, too, a lot of the time. Sure, Clara went overboard sometimes, like how she rode Azz like a horse and released an angry, toothy book on them but she clearly meant no harm by it.

But as time went on, he started to notice certain things. At first, he didn't really think anything of it when Clara gave them drinks and snacks whenever they started getting tired. It just seemed nice of her.

Then Clara responded to a trio calling out to her, referring to Iruma and Azz as her new 'owners,' while petting her in a manner that felt awfully familiar to Iruma.

It was how his parents would sometimes treat him when he was younger as they praised him for being such a hard worker, right before asking him to do another chore around the house for them.

Sure enough, the boy immediately followed the action with a request for drinks before thanking her in what was even a similar tone to them before walking off, his friends snickering at her as they walked behind him.

Had his parents found his obedience entertaining, too? Almost as soon as the nauseating question popped up, he tried to push it to the back of his mind, hoping that there would be enough things of greater importance that he would never need to focus on it ever again.

Even then, Iruma was worried that maybe he was just projecting—until he asked her about them and she talked about how she made them happy and the things they'd do to have fun 'with her' sometimes.

Iruma recalled how Azz had said everyone avoided her and he could see from the way she talked about it that deep down, she knew exactly what they were doing. She was just so desperate for interaction that she'd take what she could get.

Iruma should know; he'd been there, himself. Although, he eventually found that he could pour himself into his work to chase the worst of the loneliness away. And considering that his survival often hinged directly or indirectly on his ability focus made it incredibly easy to bury it, like the thought he'd just had about his parents.

But Clara clearly hadn't given up on it the way he had. He could see it in the way she awkwardly admitted that he and Azz were the first to actually play with her, clearly nervous that they'd stop.

How could he say no, when she asked him to play with her again? Although, Azz's reaction told him that maybe they'd done enough for one day.

Of course—once Iruma knew to look for it—he noticed how, whenever he and Azz slowed down, Clara would shower them in more gifts before suggesting another game. And as she did, it became more and more awkward for him, that she was trying to use them as bribes to keep their interest. He couldn't stand the thought of her thinking that they were just there because they could use her. So, he waited for the right opportunity.

At the start of their third day, that opportunity unexpectedly arrived.

Clara startled him as she leapt out of a bush, yelling "Crash!" as she knocked him off the bench.

He was about to tell her that she was taking things too far as she giggled, seeming more manic than usual.

Then she started making items like crazy, listing them off rapid fire as she pushed the ever growing pile toward him, quickly making it clear that the behavior was out of desperation but it was her last words that stood out to him: "I'll give you anything you want. So! So please…keep playing with me."

It was just like how he'd throw himself into his chores in hopes that his parents would continue to love him, to show him a little more affection. He'd dust, sweep, mop, fold the laundry and figure out how to fix every appliance in the house if it would get him a hug. A head pat. Even light praise. Just please, don't…

Iruma stared at the pile of begging given physical form and said, "I don't need them."

"You hate this snack? Then…" She didn't understand.

"N-no!" he yelled, trying to get her to stop while he found the words.

And he saw her take it to mean the worst, bag of snacks in hand as she stared at him with shining eyes, her usually rapidly swishing, swirling tail sinking to the ground.

"Sorry Clara, I…"

But he didn't get to finish before she started crying, loud and miserable, reminding him of the first time he'd been forced to sleep away from home because his current work was too far away to make the trip every night. When he talked about finding something else, his parents had been upset, saying he needed to learn to take care of himself. That last night, he'd cried in his room so hard. At that moment, even without realizing how hard it would be or that it would be dangerous, he knew it would be lonely. And he didn't want to be left alone.

"Wai…"

"Again! It's always like this! You stop playing with me cuz you're bored!"

"No, that's not it!" He'd never make someone go through anything like that. He knew too well how it hurt.

"You said you don't need it!"she cried.

"Hear me out!" He understood how easy it was to jump to that conclusion. For years, the only reason most people interacted with him at all was because of the stuff he could do. What he could give them. He got why she would think that this was more of the same.

But she kept going. "That mean's it's over! I'm an idiot! That's why you won't play with me unless I give you something. It's my nuisance fee!"

"Even without those things, I'll still play with you…"

She stopped and stared at him, disbelieving.

"…Because playing with you is fun!"

"Really?"

"Really!" He clasped one of her hands and said, "My parents taught me to accept gifts but I think gifts aren't needed to play together. You do go overboard sometimes but I'm a bad player, perhaps going overboard is within limits for you. That's why, won't you continue playing with us?"

"Yes," she replied tearfully before exploding with excitement and tearing through several trees and bushes. "This is the first time anyone's asked me to play! What to do, Iruma-chi?"

Then a familiar voice called out. The boy who'd demanded she give him a drink, the other day.

Iruma wanted to tell Clara that she didn't have to go, but the smile she gave as she said "watch me," made him fall silent.

Once he was sure the other hadn't been too seriously injured by it, standing as further testament of how sturdy demons were compared to humans, Iruma found something satisfying in how that vending machine fell on the jerk's head.

Alice silently stalked over to the familiar set of voices. After Iruma had explained why Clara had been giving them so much stuff while playing with them. He'd been appalled. The idea of a demon being accepted not because of some quality such as loyalty or patience but rather because of 'perks' they could provide was low.

That it could be so damaging to the one seeking out the interaction never crossed his mind as a possibility. That this treatment could dig out a weakness and push someone to despair while it remained hidden beneath the joyous façade…

Iruma was truly a great demon, to perceive the problem and step in to pull her out of her spiral. He wondered how much further she could have been pushed before succumbing to an evil cycle. Even without considering the implications of what happens when playful demons slip into such a state, the idea that someone could be driven to such levels of misery without anyone knowing or even caring, as long as they could get more snacks and beverages off of her, was disgusting.

Alice would be sure to be more tolerant during their games from now on.

As for the people who used her so cruelly…

"You will not use Clara Valec like that, ever again. " Alice summoned a wall of flame to encircle the boys before enclosing it so that it forced them close, unused to the heat of the flames to which he was highly resistant. Once corralled so that he could easily tower over them, he glared down the end of his nose at them and intoned, "Swear it and I shall spare your miserable lives."

"We swear we will never user her again!" They all said at the same time, the undemonic unity with which they said it and bowed a clear indication of their pure terror.

Satisfied with the response, Alice finally released his flames and left them cowering. To the onlooking students, he declared, "Let this serve as a warning to all of you: any affront to Clara Valec is one to Master Iruma and myself as well and will be treated accordingly." He finished by summoning pillars of flame around him in a display of power that left everyone in the hall trembling in terror before walking away.

As Alice approached the courtyard where Iruma and Clara were waiting, he could smell that he burnt his clothes. Knowing that it would worry Iruma, he considered how best to reassure the other that he hadn't 'gone overboard' and harmed anyone, despite it being well within his rights after they hurt Iruma's second willing servant.

Surely a bright smile as he promised the other that their problem had been dealt with would be assurance enough.