Sabnock waited patiently with the others, all in tracksuits, as they looked at the board inside of the dancing hall. The Royal one was surely worth it, and Sabro would go PLUS ULTRA for the chance to keep it … even if it meant he … couldn't be the Demon King. He internally shuttered.
"Alright then, the performance that won through majority vote is Lilith's Red Carpet." Kerori spoke, writing it on the board.
"... Never heard of it." Everyone turned to the boy. "... Let me guess, terrible grandpa?"
"Actually I think it's your mothers fault this time around." That got his rival to raise an eyebrow at the student representative. "It's a … fairly adult tale in its fullest."
"Oh, okay so it's provocative, got it." Izuku calmed down. "You were one step away from getting sent out a window, buddy."
"Again, we don't have windows." The boy replied.
"Actually it's a fairly interesting tale." Sabro spoke. "It was vital in the creation of ranks, where eight demons failed to gain the heart of Lilith, the ninth was Lilith herself as a form of self love, Tet, and the hypothetical Demon above all others, Yodh."
"So the rank system was partially made by a song of a woman trying to fall in love?"
"More like waiting for a man to catch her heart, before realizing no man could ever claim it." Schneider spoke out. "It was apparently a half history tale, told so long ago it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't. The point was she was the most wanted woman in all the lands with no one to match her perfection in full."
"Okay, cool. So does that mean we're going to play the parts of the ranks?"
"They're going to be. You and Purson are going to be on music."
"Boo, Kerorice should let him play with us!" Clara shouted, climbing his back like always.
"Ah, not that I'm not willing to do so, but I don't know the first thing about playing music of any kind." Izuku admitted, which was a fair point. His rival was awful when it came to Karaoke, only having the voice for one Kuromu song and nothing else.
"Let's be honest, if you're on stage you're going to draw all the attention away from us, and we need someone on music other than Purson to help choreograph." Kerori huffed. "You're the only one he talks to at the moment, so we need that cooperation. Not to mention you're a good learner, you can pick it up fast."
"I can see that … What about Azz and Lied?" Izuku pointed to the other Dalet(4) and the one He(5).
"They'll have minor roles, on stage once near the early and end parts. Every Gimel(3) will be a constant presence that for a single moment gets a moment in the spotlight." She began to draw it up. "Ironically, Asmodeus will be playing AS Gimel."
"That pun was terrible and you know it." Asmodeus slapped his forehead.
"What pun?" She asked, confused. "Oh … oh that's actually kinda funny." It wasn't, but he didn't have room to argue.
"Glad we got that covered, but how am I going to learn piano in such a short amount of time? I could probably ask Grandpa, but he's busy this month."
"Oh, I already asked Kalego-sensei. He was a winner of the Music Festival back when he was in school."
"...I thought you stopped hating me? Why are you still trying to kill me?"
"You're getting it easy." She shrugged. "You only have to work with Kalego's brutality and Purson being antisocial. I have to deal with ten morons on a daily basis for the next month."
"I'm assuming Elizabetta isn't included in that line-up of morons?" Jazz asked rhetorically. "Well, time to get busy dying. We don't have to dress in drag for this, do we?"
"...I mean to help one get into the Demdoll spirit I brought some." A fireball was launched at the box of clothing. "But if you wanna be lame about it, I guess we don't have to." Never thought he'd feel grateful to his second rival, but here he was. "Now then, we're starting in groups of three, except for Asmodeus and Clara's pair."
"If I figure out how to unburn clothes will you make the headache go away?" What was that old saying? There's no rest for the wicked. This was probably Asmodeus's hell for being such a douche all year.
Goemon was quite proud of his humble trio. Despite being enemies to the death, Kamui-dono could follow movements quite easily, probably to charm the females. Schneider-dono himself apparently had a 'predictive memory' and although made a few mistakes in the beginning, quickly began to mimic them quite easily. Goemon's humble self was a trained swordsman, and as such made even less mistakes by following fast and changing movements.
"Remember, we're allies until one of us makes a single mistake!" Kaumi-dono reminded them. "The moment you do, you spill every detail you have on your new lady companions!"
Ah yes, Kamui-dono had an interesting idea half way through. Seeing as no one had made a mistake in quite some time, the bird demon decided to 'up the ante' as the modern man says. Lighting a fire was a sure way to motivate them … however his choice was quite a dangerous one.
"Then I shall never falter! I am sworn to the sword! I don't divulge any private matters about the fair allies of my kingdom!" Yes, he would keep quiet. Honor bound he was, he still had a few … moments inside of that castle. Goemon blamed survival instinct at the upcoming doom and it just felt right! The shame would haunt him, and he would take it to the grave!
"Never! I shall not betray Furcas-san's trust by discussing that night on the Sabbath!" Oh yes, to think Schider-dono was a lady-killer underneath that friendly smile. Such a deceptive alley. He needed to be more careful about choosing them in the future.
"Then it seems we must dance harder than before! Double the speed, for the lovely Music Festival we train!" This was a nightmare! Truly all of his work would be put to the test, but he could not let his allies down! He would train as he always did, until he became good enough to match with them!
"ONWARD, BRAVE SOULS AND ANCESTORS, HELP ME IN THIS TIME OF NEED!" He shouted to the heavens.
"OH CALAMITY, WHICH BRINGS JOY TO FRIENDS AND SUFFERING TO ENEMIES, HELP ME BRING FORTH A MIRACLE!" Schneider called out, the supposed atheist suddenly praying to the force of Chaos that powered the Calamity Cult. It seemed Midoriya succeeded in bringing the entire class to his fold. Goemon would kneel to his rule when the time came. Obviously, this was a battle he could not win.
Elizabetta mentally clapped as they made it through the first step. Physically would mean they needed to start over. "Well done everyone, you were amazing." She spoke to H1 and PH2.
"Yeah, I guess we were." H1 smiled at her. It's been weird, some days she found him ogling her like usual, which she adored, other days she found him trying to put some sort of distance between them. What was wrong here? She was certain she made her feelings well known by this point.
"Obviously, I was at the top." PH2 spoke between them, smirking. "Never make a single mistake."
"It's true Sabro, you were very good." And for some reason H1 just glared at PH2 before looking down again. What was wrong with complimenting someone? "After all, a demon king must have perfect coordination."
"Yeah, well, I'm a young king! I always have perfect coordination! I'll be better for you Elizabetta!" He declared his love, aww how sweet. "I mean, as a leading partner!" Aw, he was embarrassed.
"Just because thou art a young king doesn't give thou perfection. Last I checked, I'm a close partner." PH2 spoke out. "The greediest and most powerful compared to a naive nobody."
"You certainly have the greedy part down." H1 grumbled.
"Now boys, behave." She spoke to them. "We have to keep going, we took a long enough break as it is."
"Right, let's get back to work! All my hours training at Devi Dance Revolution will finally pay off!"
"Thou mean the five hours thou wasted getting taunted by a hologram in the game room?"
"I got a high score you bastard, what say you!?" H1 screamed adorably.
"I got a perfect score." … They both turned to him in confusion. "I was told the Demon King could dance, so I mastered it."
"Are you just hyper competent at anything involving the Demon King?" H1 asked with a downed tone, kind of like a kicked puppy she wanted to cuddle. "I'm so glad I'm not your sidekick."
"Oh, so thou finally admit thou servant status?" The scream from H1 was like an adorably mad kitten. "Don't worry, once thy name is known as Demon King, thou shall be the first servant I consider."
Jazz didn't know what having little siblings entailed until he started attending the Misfits class. Originally, he assumed it was just about looking over them and occasionally carrying their bags for them, while at the same time snagging a buck or two in compensation. What he didn't prepare for was having said little siblings argue with each other.
"You have to be amazing!" Kerori shouted with anger.
"I don't want to, I'll just be on the side!" Picero retorted.
"You have a duty because you're beautiful!"
"I'm not beautiful, I'm average!
It was the weirdest argument he's ever witnessed. He never thought somebody was capable of getting pissed off from so many compliments. Yet here he was, watching the two bicker over the stupidest thing.
"In what world are those sparkly eyes average!?"
"The world I live in back at home, everyone in my family shares my face!"
"Then your whole family is beautiful! It's a crime to hide it from the world! Stop being so selfish!"
"I housed hundreds of students for a war, I've filled my quota for selflessness for the year! In fact, it was you I was protecting them from!"
"They rejected their true queen, vengeance was inevitable!"
"You're crazier than Midoriya!"
"Take that back! I only asked for what I was owed! Nothing more!"
"You were owed death because people didn't agree with you? Sounds like the words of a sociopath to me!"
"This is the Misfit Class, everyone that's not Izuku is a sociopath!" He couldn't argue with that one.
Alright then, what would a big brother do. Work out their differences with a mediator. "Now then, why don't we all just calm down over some hellgrey tea?" He asked them with head pats.
"Butt out of it Jazz! Go back to your steps, you're too slow!"
"Why aren't you telling him to smile too!?"
"He's fine the way he is!"
Well that failed, it was time to go rest and wait it out.
Clara sat in silence with Azz-Azz, they were both super tired because he wasn't moving cool enough. "Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way." She heard him say while she looked at the sky. "Maybe the reason we can't dance in sync is because we can't think in sync."
"Right, our brain juices are different! We haven't talked alone with each other for a while, not since the Calamity Cult expanded to the whole class." Clara agreed. "We talk eye-to-eye and then we can get the dancing down perfectly!"
"Right, now then, let's be open." He sat up, she followed thanks to the wrist thingy making them move together. "For starters … you're obnoxious."
"Screw you too, Azz-Azz, you're obnoxious too, with how you always dress in white. Seriously, it's so boring! Change it up, add colors that don't make me fall asleep!" Seriously, just ask her for some paint, she could fix this quite easily for him.
"See, right there, right there is what I'm talking about!" Azz-Azz yelled at her. "Stop committing to the confused child act or stop saying profanities! You can't do both here! It clashes and I want at least a little order with the chaos in this group!"
"Of course I act like a child, I'm fourteen. Who wants to act like an adult when you're still young? Besides, me and Mommy still play despite her age, unlike your Mommy!"
"My mother is the bane of my existence. The closest thing I ever had to story time was her retailing her sexual exploits as a student! With that always around me, I have to act like an adult! Which I constantly have to do to prevent you from killing yourself!"
"Oh please, like your one to talk about killing people. I know how to handle my bloodline, you're always aiming to hurt someone, constantly flinging your fire around anyone that breathes around you funny."
"Oh really, every other game you come up with involves spikes of some kind! Last time I checked, those could kill people just as easily! "You never know when to stop playing!" He shouted angrily. "You never know how to take things seriously!"
"I took Amy seriously!" They both went silent at her very loud shout!
"Clara…"
"I thought it was a game, okay!? I thought we were playing hide-the-fire flower, but that asshat talked about smiling as everyone got killed and wanting to force Izuku-kins to watch as he wanted to share that misery with him, but then Izuku-kins smiled and jumped out the window with the firework and turned bunny and almost died until Amy saved him! He was going to get himself killed because of the horrible guy and …" she cried a bit. "I couldn't do anything. I didn't realize until it was too late, I couldn't break the barriers, I couldn't save Izuku-kind from falling …I, I couldn't keep him happy!" She fell to the ground, but Azz-Azz caught him.
"It's okay, Clara. You're not the only one that failed him." Azz-Azz sighed. "I failed the very day I met him. I nearly killed him and a few days later, he offered me friendship. Even when I turned it down, he still cared about me. I thought maybe, maybe after Walter Park, after saving him, we'd be even, but no. I still want to protect him, I still want to keep saving him. And..and yet, I still feel like there's this deep dark section inside me that won't be filled up or fixed because I was willing to save us instead of some kids."
"Yeah...yeah that sounds really messed up." She laughed, returning the hug. "Heh, do you know what's funny about this?"
"I fail to see the humor, but continue." She could feel the smile on that face of his.
"I don't give a crap about anyone except Izuku-kins, and..and you, and Eistring and Dragon Lady. I-I think we're both terrible at making friends."
"…. We are aren't we? I'd never have hung out with anyone if it wasn't for my curiosity on Izuku."
"Yeah, and, and I wouldn't even be talking to you or Eistring or Dragon Lady if Izuku-kins didn't talk to you first. Let's face it, none of us have anything in common with each other other than liking Izuku-kins. If it wasn't for him, we'd probably never even met each other, let alone talk like this."
"Yes … now let's work hard and not let him down shall we?"
"Midoriya, I don't mean to be a bother … but the piano is choking me." Purson called out. Kalego hadn't come in yet as Izuku tried to figure out how to use the thing. Unfortunately he couldn't tune and focus at the same time without questions coming out of his head, and thus half the time it came to life violently. It once almost hit his fingers because he didn't bow to it.
"Sorry! I'm still trying to figure out how this works exactly. It keeps changing shape whenever I try to touch it, and it either sends out whips or tries to bite my fingers off."
"Maybe it's because you treat the piano terribly with bad music." Purson was still as blunt as ever. "You really suck. It's your first time, so no wonder you're so awful at it. You're like a little baby chick that hasn't developed its wings, although that metaphor might be a bad example since you don't use your wings unless you're in your Wicked Phase, which is just weird I have to say. You just need to practice, but since the festival is coming, you need to do more than just that."
"I know, I know." Izuku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "That's nothing new. Ever since day one I've had to work twice as hard as everyone else. I just need to put in even more work." He played some more keys as the strings came out, trying to strangle him. Not the best way to practice.
"Silence." So Kalego-sensei can make pianos quiet to, impressive. "What are you doing, morons? Apparently I was foolish to think you couldn't turn something like music into something dangerous."
"Sorry, Sensei!" He and Purson bowed, both frustrated at the situation but also knowing better than to show any of that near Kalego. "I'm just waiting for the Piano to stop trying to kill me."
"The Piano's treating you like prey because you keep thinking of it as some sort of predator. Keep up that attitude and you'll get eaten by it before you play the first note." Kalego-sensei moved them both out of the way and sat down, the Piano shifting it's form again, growing charcoal colored skin, wings, and tail. It still looked terrifying, but it now had an aura of submissiveness to it. "Now then, a demonstration."
Kalego-sensei then began to play a tune. Admittedly, they probably should've thought to listen to the song before attempting to play it, but there's nothing to do about that now. "The song you chose is a tricky one. It is a tale about Lilith, a beauty who controlled the Netherworld itself. Her path was called 'the red carpet' because it was covered in the bodies of me who vied for her favor."
As Kalego-sensei got deeper into the song, Izuku suddenly had a mental image of a demon. A faceless beauty as tall as she was sensual. He even imagined Kalgego, or a faceless representation of him, approaching her, leading her around, attempting to get close, only to be forced away. "The song is about the fools who dared to woo her. In essence, the theme of it is love."
Izuku's eyes widened, not knowing how to respond to Kalego taking such a topic so seriously, but Purson apparently couldn't resist sending out a single snort. The boy got a Cerberus paw to the face in retaliation. "Sorry, you said Love and I couldn't comprehend it."
"I can love, it just doesn't come easy." Why did that make him feel so uneasy? "As performers, they are characters in the story. As the musicians, your music is the world. You are creating the very world for your classmates to enter, Lilith's world."
He could understand that at the very least, getting into the performance. "You're very into this for a change." Izuku admitted.
"I'm a teacher of Babyls, if you seek help to actually learn instead of causing Chaos, it's my duty to help you." It was sad he could argue that. "Now then, I'll be beating the basics into you."
"... You mean teaching the basics into us, right?" Purson asked.
"Did I stutter?"
"Well everything important in my life I've had to get beaten into me, so this isn't that surprising." Izuku cracked his neck. "Alright Sensei, bring on the pain."
