Chapter III-A. Ryūko, Iruma, Isabelle, & Clara

Ryūko, Iruma, Asmodeus, and Lavande met a very hyper demon girl, who is currently stacking up cartons while singing a random song. A teacher walks up to her and tells her to stop stacking the cartons.

"Who is that girl?" Isabelle asked.

"That's Clara Valac. She's famous for being a colossal weirdo." Asmodeus whispered to Iruma, Ryūko, and Isabelle, "She can be majorly clingy, so people avoid her."

"Really?" Ryūko said as she raised an eyebrow.

The teacher eventually addressed them, "You're Iruma, Ryūko, and Isabelle... and you two must Asmodeus and Félin, right?"

"Iruma, Ryūko, Isabelle, Asmodeus, and Félin!" Clara was surprised upon hearing this.

"You can handle this."

He then used magic to levitate the six students in the air and tied them up with ropes before sending them away.

"Off you go. Oh dear, you forgot your textbooks!" Said the teacher as he made the group's textbooks levitate with them.

"Thank you!" Isabelle called out.

Outside the school, they somehow got themselves out of their bindings and Clara is now frolicking on the grass.

'I've heard of being jovial, but this is ridiculous.' Isabelle thought.

"Iruma-kins, Azz-Azz, Ryūko-kins, Lave-Lave, Issy-kins, what do you wanna play?" Asked Clara giving the mature people random nicknames.

"Uh... Issy-kins?"

"Iruma-kins?"

"Azz-Azz?"

"Lave-Lave?"

"Ryūko... kins?"

"I got tons of things! A spiky ball! A nom-nom book! A broken, blood-stained family murder house set!" Said Clara showing her stuff.

Asmodeus whispers to the other four that they should flee (with Isabelle agreeing since she didn't want to spend another minute with a psycho like Clara), however, Clara decides to pick a game called "Murder House", maybe the same as normal House in the human world.

"Iruma-kins, would you please be the tree in our yard?" Clara requested.

Iruma can't decline a request from anyone and is a total pushover. Not only did he play a tree, but he also played as a strong set of wind and Clara's demon dog, which Ryūko finds cute.

"Azz-Azz, you'll be the housewife next door that my husband cheats on me with." Said Clara, "Lave-Lave will be the cat, Issy-kins will be the housekeeper, and Ryūko-kin's will be the husband."

"This is unacceptable! How dare you make Master Iruma a pet?!" Retorted Asmodeus, unsatisfied.

Lavande is... who knows where or what?

"Hey, has anyone seen Lavande?" Ryūko asked.

Right at the queue, a small light purple cat with a fluffy mane, violet eyes, and two fluffy tails came out of hiding with a 'meow'.

"Ah, it appears milady has reverted to her feline form." Said Asmodeus, referring to the cat.

"Wait, so Lavande is the cat here?!" Asked Iruma.

"She must be under the cat demon race." Said Isabelle, petting the purple feline, "Cat demons have the natural ability to have not only the senses of cats but to also have a transformation of themselves as cats. Now, where were we?"

"Miss Isa and Miss Ryūko?!"

"Let's play together, Azz-Azz." Said Iruma.

Nonetheless, Asmodeus places a blue flower accessory on his hair and hangs the weirdly drawn picture of a woman drawn by Clara.

"Will you hurry up and divorce Ryūko?! You're the worst wife ever!" Said Asmodeus in script mode, "I'm abandoning the much older husband I was forced to marry, then I'll show your husband some much-needed euphoric bliss!"

Ryūko, Isabelle, Iruma, and Lavande (still a cat and now grooming herself) were impressed with his natural acting skills.

Out of nowhere, an axe was swung down in Asmodeus's direction and he dodged at the last second. Clara was the one who swung the ax at him.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Questioned Asmodeus while Clara was saying: "Yay! Witness the bloodbath of a lovers' quarrel!"

She then turned to Iruma and Lavande to stop them.

"Huh? How are the dog, the cat, and the housekeeper supposed to do that?" Asked Iruma.

Ryūko told Clara that they're missing the grandparent characters before Clara takes her slippers off.

"Connor and Murf can play them." Said Clara before holding them in front of Ryūko, "Here you go! But first, say 'hi'!"

Is she crazy? How can slippers talk? Ryūko firstly greets the slippers naturally until she froze when she noticed that the slippers were staring at them.

She decided that she was just seeing things before continuing to play Murder House as Clara cooked up a weird "mud" dish.

"Now, now, my husband, young wife next door cheating on my husband, you too, housekeeper, doggy, and kitty. Just relax for the day." Said Clara playing her part.

Lavande stretched her back out of boredom and transformed back to her normal form behind some bushes.

"I don't seem to be doing much, as compared to Sir Iruma." Lavande said while stretching her arms.

"I agree." Isabelle said as she laid down on the grass. "There must be something else we can do."

"Why not a fantasy role-play?" Suggested Ryūko, "Role-plays are interesting and you can add some plot twists to the current stories you try to make up."

Iruma got interested and now wanted to do something more fun for everyone. Clara decides to go for that and Ryūko drew character pictures on the hanging signs used earlier for everyone.

Clara gave Asmodeus the foreign prince role and the Suzuki twins just wait for their turns while Clara wants to do something unexpecting; she just gave Lavande the princess sign, which made the knight blush for a second.

"W-What? Must I be the princess of this story?" Asked Lavande with her ears drooping down in embarrassment since this was out of her character.

Clara tells her to at least try this role, Asmodeus is still figuring out how would this work since he has the same problem, Ryūko selected to be a spider witch for some reason, Iruma was playing as Asmodeus's right-hand man, and Isabelle picked the role of lady-in-waiting. Clara is just going to see how it works before choosing a role.

The roleplay goes quite smoothly and Clara jumps in to be a villager. Now, Lavande and Asmodeus are trying to find a good plot twist. The knight comes up with an idea and brings Asmodeus up with her in a tree to share her idea.

"Lady Félin, what are you intending?" Asmodeus asked in a whispery voice.

"If we are to make this interesting, then I have an idea." She whispered her plan and Asmodeus seems to approve of the idea.

He makes a small flame appear in his hand whereas she summons some flower petals and lets each burn one by one to form a large smoke silhouette with the appearance of a dragon. The other three are wonder what's going on until Asmodeus emerges from the tree while holding a blushing Lavande in his arms. Once he lands on the ground, acts of protecting Lavande as he summons his fire sword, fighting off the silhouette.

Later on, Clara is riding on top of Asmodeus while smacking his backside a few times.

"You okay down there?" Asked Iruma.

"Perfectly fine." Said Asmodeus hiding his anger, "You're gonna regret this, Valac..."

Afterward, Iruma, Ryūko, Asmodeus, and Lavande were being chased by the picture Clara mentioned earlier, with Isabelle trying to catch it. Asmodeus fell victim to it and Lavande and Isabelle tried to help him get it off, leaving Ryūko and Iruma standing in front of a huge red door with golden chains and locks on it.

"I wonder what room is this..." Said Iruma.

"Same with me, but we should get back with the others." Added Ryūko.

Clara's energy level seems endless, the others were already either sitting or lying on the ground of exhaustion after playing non-stop for two whole hours.

"Hey, up. Come on." Clara said as she tapped on the yellow pouches on her skirt. She summoned a drink, passing three bottles to the twins and Isabelle before bringing out a packet of snacks. "Here. I have snacks, too."

"Oh, thanks a lot. What's that?" Asked Iruma.

"They're my family specialty." Said Clara before summoning a trident and snake, "I can make anything I've seen before appear!"

"Really? Cool!" Complimented Iruma.

"Your pockets must hold a lot." Isabelle added as Clara nodded.

"Unfortunately, I must agree to disagree regarding this power." Said Ryūko.

Iruma asked why and Ryūko opened her mouth to speak, but then the conversation was cut off by a blond male demon calling Clara.

"Hey, Clarin. What's up?" He said.

"Yocchin!" Addressed Clara as she ran over to him.

"Well, well. Did you acquire some more owners?" Asked the blond demon.

"Uh-huh!" Replied Clara.

'Owners?' Questioned Iruma in his head.

"And this is what I was talking about." Growled Ryūko gritting her teeth and tightly forming a fist with her hands.

This guy named "Yocchin" asked Clara to get him and his two friends some drinks. Without hesitation, Clara pats on her pouches and gives him and his friends three bottled drinks. After these people walking off, Iruma and Ryūko walked over to Clara and asked: "Who were those guys?"

"Well, see, when I do favors for them, it makes them happy, and then they sometimes play with me." Said Clara before recalling all the times she spent with Yocchin and his friends. But the one flashback where they played hide-and-seek and he told her to count to 50,000 struck Ryūko with a rage.

"Valac! What they did with you is not what you think!" Shouted Ryūko, "It's because of your power! They're not exactly playing with you, they're actually taking advantage of you. You need to protect your powers otherwise they'll be used up by others so that you'll do their bidding!"

Iruma was shocked by the massive amount of rage Ryūko was filled with.

"S-Sis! Calm down!" Said Iruma trying to calm Ryūko down.

"Oh, but... you five are the first ones to actually play with me." Said Clara changing the topic. "Anyway, so, uh... Will you... play with me again?"

Hearing those words calmed Ryūko down and Iruma and Ryūko replied with "Sure!"

Asmodeus and Lavande finally were able to get up. The pink haired demon suggested not to play with her anymore.

"Please let's not, my lieges... We might catch her crazy." Said Asmodeus.

"Azz-Azz, you alive again? Wanna play with us?" Asked Clara, "Let's run a hellish demonathon! You ready?"

"Lady Valac, why don't we stop for today." Suggested Lavande

Isabelle agreed, "Yeah. We are all very much worn out."

The Next Morning

Waking up didn't start so pleasant for Iruma. The hellraiser clocks his grandfather gave him and his sister made hellish sounds, which made Iruma jump out of bed from the fright.

"That thing's gonna give me a heart attack!" Said Iruma.

Isabelle, on the other hand, calmly turned off her hellraiser clock as she had gotten used to the awful and startling sound. As she got up from her bed, she opened the drapes to greet the sunshine.

As for Ryūko, she punched her clock on its side, not too harshly but just enough to make it stop the sounds. Not like she's scared of the noises anyway, she's a cold goth girl after all. But once she took a glance at her standard uniform, she feels that the style and color don't match her hair color or even her image. Well, that doesn't matter, Sullivan told her that a change of her uniform is fine if that's what she wants, but she's just going to wear it for two more days.

Iruma/Ryūko/Isabelle: "See you later!"

Sullivan: "Bye, pumpkins. Have a good day!"

"It would appear they're adjusting to that school nicely." Said Opera.

"Yes! They're growing up so fast, I'm just filled with joy!" Cried Sullivan in happy tears.

It was another day to play with Clara. Ryūko, Iruma, Asmodeus, and Isabelle watched her stack random objects on top of another. After this, they played a card game where Asmodeus is having a hard time figuring out which card to pick from Iruma, Clara took the opportunity to peek into his cards.

"No peeking!" Said Asmodeus.

"Don't be so shy, Azz-Azz!" Teased Clara leaning closer to him, which results in Lavande being pushed too since she was sitting on Asmodeus's left side. Iruma, Ryūko, Isabelle can't help but laugh at the scene. Lavande tells Clara to stop leaning against Asmodeus but it was too late to stop it as Clara pushed him too much that he ended up falling to his left and Lavande falling back first on the ground. Before they knew it, Asmodeus was on top of Lavande and now both demons have red faces from the awkwardness as they get off of each other.

Clara then takes out five bottled drinks from her magic pouches for Ryūko, Iruma, Asmodeus, and Lavande.

"Okay, one for each of you." Said Clara. Each of them took their bottles and Asmodeus wordlessly starts consuming his beverage whereas the other four thanked Clara for the beverages. Ryūko and Iruma stared blankly at their bottles and then the sweets on the blanket. It is really alright? Is something bothering them?

The Next Day After That

Clara was walking down the school hallways, happy to play with Iruma's group again. She halted her footsteps when she hears Yocchan and his friends conversing with each other.

"Those honor students sure like weirdos." Said one of them, "I mean, they're still hanging out with her."

"Why would they bother with that crazy chick?" Asked another of them.

"Duh, you guys. It's because she's so convenient to have around." Said Yocchan, "All you have to is humor her once in a while so she'll use her powers for you, and you're gold, know what I mean? I'm sure they'll get sick of her soon enough, too."

"You rock, Yocchan!" Laughed the other two demons before Yocchan laughed with them. Clara, overhearing this behind the corner, no longer has her smile present.

"That's nothing new." She whispered, "Maybe Ryūko-kins is right."

Isabelle, Ryūko, and Iruma were on a bench thinking about Clara, and the said girl jumps out of the bushes behind them. Iruma ended up upside down with his legs over some other bushes, Ryūko landed on the ground, feet first in a somewhat fighting stance, and Isabelle flew up thanks to her wings.

"Clara/Valac..."

"Clean hit! Hey, know what? This is my favorite snack! And drink! And book! And I even have a plushie! I got almost everything here!" Said Clara taking out her favorite things and shoving them to Iruma, Isabelle, and Ryūko, "You can have them all! I'll give you anything you want, Iruma, Ryūko, and Issy-kins! Go on, look! So, uh... Will you play with me again? If you do-"

"W-We don't want them." Said Iruma.

There stood a long and awkward silence until Clara decided to break the soundless atmosphere.

"This snack is super yummy! I have some drinks, too! Oh, actually this one's-"

"Sorry!" Apologized Iruma.

Ryūko knowing her previous words, decides to speak up, "Valac, did you forget what I said the other-"

Clara's heart-shaped tail drops to the floor and she purses her open-mouthed smile into a frown before starting to cry.

"This always happens!" Cried Clara, "Everyone gets sick of me and never wants to play again!"

"No. That's not it!" Said Iruma trying to clear things up.

"You two said you didn't want them!"

"Clara, relax!" Isabelle tried to ease her down.

"No, it's no use! Everyone thinks I'm nuts, so I have to give them things so they'll play with me!" Continued Clara, "It's all to make up for it!"

Ryūko looks down to her chest, where she placed her hand over her beating heart. "Valac! What they did to you is not what you think! It's because of your power! They're not exactly playing with you, they're actually taking advantage of you! You need to protect your powers otherwise they'll be used by others so that you'll do their bidding!" Her words flew through and might have been used against her.

"This is all on me!" Whispered Ryūko. "I told her that she'll be used and now she misunderstands what we're saying."

"It's okay, Ryūko. This isn't your fault." Whispered Isabelle.

"I still have to fix my mistake!" Stated Ryūko.

Iruma and Isabelle saw her plan through her emotions.

Iruma took Clara's left hand while Ryūko took the right.

"We don't need any of those things!" Said both siblings, "They're not why we were playing with you. We did it because we're having fun. Don't you see?"

Clara's heart-tipped tail starts to wave around.

"You really mean it?" She asked.

"Yes, of course." Said Ryūko, "I mean... we sort of took the stuff you gave us anyway."

"Hear that, Clara? Besides, you don't have to bribe us to play. We already enjoyed it." Said Iruma.

"You do go a bit overboard, and we're not the best at playing, so we think you going a little overboard is just right. To be honest, being with you around is really fun. You really know how to lighten the mood, even if sometimes your joy cannot be understood." Isabelle as said as she and her housemates exchanged smiles to each other before turning to Clara asking: "So will you play with us again?"

Clara's face heats up and she nods, getting so overjoyed she even started rolling against trees, destroying them in the process.

"Wow! No one's ever asked me to play before!" Squealed Clara, "This is the first time! The first time! It's the first time someone's asked me to play! What should I do, Iruma-kins, Issy-kins, and Ryūko-kins?! What should I do?! Wh-Wh-What should I do?! This has never happened before!"

"Daaamn, girl. You're happy. I'm glad to hear that!" Chuckled Ryūko in amusement.

"I think this is the first time we've asked someone to play, too." Said Iruma.

Yocchan and his friends just so happened to pass by.

"Hey, Clarin! We're thirsty! Could you give us some drinks again?" Asked Yocchan.

Clara walked towards that group and Ryūko told something until she shows her a mischievous smile.

"Just watch me!" Clara pulls out a whole drink vending machine and chucks the machine at Yocchan's face! Wow! Can't you believe it?!

"Just put some money and it's all you can drink. Bye-bye!" Huffed Clara with confidence.

"Yeah, you definitely go overboard." Said Iruma.

"Damn. She definitely kicked that son of a bully's a**!" Said Ryūko.

"You got that right." Sighed Isabelle as she nodded.

Clara shouted to them: "Did you two see what I just did?! It was great, right?!"

Ryūko gave a thumbs up and a nod while Iruma just laughed and Isabelle clapped her hands.

A Few Minutes Later...

"As you commanded, we made certain the lot that was bothering Valac promised never to stay the hell away and never to trouble her again." said Asmodeus and Lavande.

"T-Thanks, Azz and Lavande." Said Iruma. "By the way, it was just a conversation, right?"

"Quite a productive one." Said Asmodeus.

"I speak of the truth, we did not." Said Lavande.

"The marks on your clothes don't lie." Said Ryūko, pointing the burn marks on their clothes.

Clara suddenly throws a piece of green slime at Asmodeus.

"It's a direct hit! You get to be my canvas, Azz-Azz, 'cause you're dressed all in white!" Said Clara.

"Why, you..." Groaned Asmodeus.

"Have some slime paint! You can take the blue one, Iruma-kins. Ryūko-kins, you can have the red. And Issy-kins will go for the yellow." Said Clara handing over some slime paint to the twins.

"Sorry, I can't. I've got a terrible arm." Said Iruma, but he took it anyway which shocked Asmodeus. Lavande summons a white shield from white flower petals that flew in the air.

"Take my shield, if you would." Said Lavande passing the shield to Asmodeus. The fire demon thanked the feline knight and secretly blushed from her kindness. She makes a shield for herself as the four playful teens throw slime paint at them.

Thus, Ryūko, Iruma, and Isabelle have acquired a violently cheerful playmate, who enhanced their high school lives.