Fear
As Asmodeous prepared to throw the ball, Iruma recalled what Opera had said to him that morning as he prepared for school.
"It's a belief from the old wars, but, for demons, fear equals humiliation." Opera paused and took a moment to sip the tea in their hand. "We demons have to survive in the competitive world of demon ranks since birth. And we have to keep this in mind. So, the only way to get out of there before the situation turns dire is to turn fear into excitement."
At the time he'd still had trouble processing what Opera was saying. It always caught him off guard, how different an outlook can be. For Iruma, growing up as he had, fear had been one of the driving forces that kept him alive. Fear helped you figure out what was dangerous. The philosophy came into how he reacted to the fear.
Which, he supposed this was the same in that regard, except never had excitement been one of the things that crossed his mind. With life or death stakes, the idea of hyping himself up seemed like an act of deadly stupidity. It certainly wouldn't have helped him with lingering fears of dying from cold or starvation; of losing a job or getting a pay cut that would in turn displease his par-…leave him with less for himself after the money was distributed. And it sure as hell wouldn't have helped fleeing from wild animals or the Yakuza.
But, what did help was hiding. Hiding meant blending in. Still, he'd been worried that, when the time came, He wasn't sure he could do it. Hide the fear that might give away his true weakness to the demons around him? He wasn't sure and that scared him.
Now, standing before Asmodeous as he prepared to throw, Iruma was surprised at how easy it was in this moment. He remembered how much work he had put into preparing for this moment. He felt the excitement from everything building up since the game had started. Now, it just down to him and Azz.
So, he focused on that as he rushed forward, ready for the ball as Azz threw it at him.
