Mommy Valac clapped as the two teams began to battle. The music was very lovely. "It's half good and half bad, a very odd mix." She could hear Aggy-sensei mutter.
"Oh I can see what they're trying to do, but there's a better way to do it." Inky-chan spoke up close to Aggy-sensei, real close, almost cuddle-buddy close. "Probably would've been better if they'd played rock music with the orchestral instruments. It would've made the sound a little more palatable."
"They probably spent so long trying to come to an agreement they just realized that they hated each other, dissolving into violence." Turtle Dragon spoke.
"You would be the one to understand violence best, wouldn't you?" Peachy muttered with a minor glare.
"Now, now, no need for a fight~" Amaymay spoke funny like she always did, dragging Peachy into a super fun hug! "Let's listen to the words of the Love Bunny and stop hating each other."
"Ah, yeah, I have questions about that." Inky laughed. "Naberius, exactly how much of that play was true? I know Izuku and Azz didn't die, but some parts of the performance still has me...concerned and confused, mostly confused.."
"As far as the facts in the play go, he did actually stop a war by making everyone love … mostly through pheromones, he's been using other classmates' powers and those happen to fall in line." Aww, how sweet, sharing power. Now Clara had a playmate that could make super fun stuff with her when they finally lived together as big kids!
"Oh good, I haven't asked too many questions about his ring, so I'm just glad he has a way to defend himself." Inky sighed happily. "Thank you for sticking with him this entire time. I don't think Izuku's ever had a better teacher before you, one that actually does his job." Inky laughed. It was different from the times she did when Sin-Sin and Ran-Ran attempted to scale the 'Midor tree.' In fact now they were trying to climb the 'koopa castle'.
"Of course, being professional is what I strive to be, and bringing out the best in students." Aggy-sensei's scary face looked a little less scary when saying that.
"So you trust your students are going to make it, besides ours or course." Amaymay spoke as she leaned into the conversation. She really seemed to have mixed emotions about the man.
"I'd trust that they're not going to give more than one hundred fifty percent effort into the performance." Aggy-sensei huffed, not turning to Amaymay to answer her. "Whether or not the judges enjoy the effort is another matter entirely."
"Right, because of the asshole super critic." Peachy glared at the three individuals. "Just because Sullivan's an idiot doesn't mean he should take it out on the class. So what if they have the Royal One? It's not like it was getting any other use before they earned it."
"He's just an asshole like that." Amaymay said as she looked at the man in question. "Always going on about how the Demon King is perfect and immortal, and that all things that were once touched by Delikra should never be touched by filthy mortal hands. The bitch would probably kill the Great Lords if any of them tried to take the throne." Sounded like super-sour meanie pants.
"Makes me glad Papa hasn't mentioned him before now. In fact, he's only talked about Demon King Derkila one other time." Inky wondered. "Does anyone know where he is? I only hear him being referred to as the 'missing' Demon King. Herni, you don't have any…" She turned to where Azazey was sitting, but his chair was empty. "Where'd he go?"
Henri moved to his daughter, taking a seat next to her throne. They let silence go on, only filled by the music battle on stage. "... Would you like to talk about it?"
"I love Izzy-kun." His daughter immediately said, looking at the stage as she held that doll even tighter. "He doesn't know...by devi, somehow he doesn't know. I can't tell if that's a blessing or a curse."
He was filled with an immense rage, but he quickly killed it. "I...see." He would've called bullshit, but the first performance by Oni said a lot that didn't need to be said out loud.
"He doesn't get it … it had to be drilled into his head … if this performance didn't shock him out of it I don't know what would have." His Princess squeezed the doll evern tiger, the seams starting to tear. "That's what would've happened eventually if no one said it..what he was going to do to himself if no one got in the way..."
"Didn't you?" He asked. "At Walter Park, you carried him out of the way." She remained silent.
"I did, didn't I?" Ameri released her grip ever so slightly. "And he then proceeded to use his blood to heal everyone. It sounded exactly like the demon king prophecy." … He would need to double check that, because if he was correct Delikra just screwed over all demon-kind. "Even when being saved he's still self sacrificing."
"Sounds like a bleeding heart in the literal sense." Henri stated, and Ameri nodded immediately. "Look Ameri, I..I know a lot about the Midoriya's situation, I..you know it's dangerous for him to be here, right?" He wasn't one hundred percent certain his princess knew about the Midoriya's being human, but she was genuine in wanting to keep the bas..to keep Izuku safe.
"I know...but every time I see him in trouble, every time I see him struggle, I see him get back up and overcome the odds. I always see him go beyond everything people expect of him..and I want to keep him steady." For the first time in years, Henri saw his daughter cry. "I want him to know he can get a good night's sleep on a nice warm bed, and wake up to someone who loves him."
He twitched at 'love', but held it down. His daughter's tears were more important. "I know, honey. I've seen many demons in my line of work dedicated to the job and nothing more. I've seen them work till the day they died from old age, I've seen many forget about the families they had, it's why I always made sure you were my number one priority above all else."
"I know … but how can … how do you tell someone to calm down when they genuinely do good by not stopping?"
He paused, a little unsure how to answer. For all the kid's faults, Izuku did more good than harm through actions alone. His presence in of itself was another matter, alas, it wasn't something relevant at the moment. "You catch up to them, and slow them down till they listen. They may resist, they may assume you're holding them back, but in the end, you'd rather see them mad and alive than loved but dead." His princess flinched. "If you truly….lo-love him, you'll help him, right?" She nodded. "And if...if he l-loves y-you back…" He needed to buy mouthwash after this. "He'll thank you for it one day."
"... Thank you dad." She hugged him, and his days never felt better. "... Did you do it with mom?"
"Ah...I think that's enough of that for one day." That was a whole can of worms he didn't want to get into at the moment, or at all for that matter. "So...Oni likes Midoriya too, doesn't she?"
"And so does Valac … and Ix … and Nafra …" Okay Henri could let most of the stuff he's done to her daughter slide at the moment, he was a self sacrificing moron, but he wouldn't stand him as a womanizer! "He still doesn't see it though. It's why I count his ignorance as a blessing." Oh boy, the Calamity Cult needed a therapist fast. "And I suppose you like Ms Midoriya too, correct?" … What? "I'll be rooting for you." Rooting for what!?
Eiko smiled into the music. "It's really nice, right Izu?" She asked the boy, hand on his arm.
"Yep, right, super nice. Interesting mix. I need to, um, bathroom. I'll be back." He left her grasp and rushed out. He's been super on edge ever since he woke back up. Must have been nerves for his performance, that Amduscias would likely be really hard to get a nice score from.
"It's weird for him to actually know now, you know?" Gaako said from beside her.
"Yes, the reason he's been comfortable around us is because he thinks of us like friends and doesn't get really nervous." Clara spoke out. "And Eistring ruined it."
"Uh, ruined what?" What were they talking about? "He's been a little jittery, but he's about to put on a show that'll make or break the Misfits' status in the Royal One. Of course he'd be nervous. I'll do whatever I can to ease him though."
"You're the one that put him on edge." Jazz spoke out. "I mean I get it, the message and all, but it was just a shame you went before us." Why was it a shame?
"He just got out of a mind-fuck drinking that medicine the chairdemon gave him, and here you go confessing everything to him in front of a live audience." Lied rolled his eyes. "I mean, I was rooting for you, but you could've been more subtle."
"Confess?" She asked with wide eyes, shaking her head. "Nononono, I just said what was on my heart."
"About how much you care and want to hold him?" Azz asked rhetorically.
"About how much you've been reaching out to him from behind as he keeps trying to keep everyone safe?" Kerori rolled her eyes.
"About how much you cry for him to notice you." Kaumi deadpanned. "It was lovely, but something like that would even give me shaky legs too.
"About how much thou love him." Sabro stated out loud. "Art means, it was bold! It was fantastic, nice to see thy rival's has inspired such a woman to be as bold and daring as him. Art haven't felt so moved since reading about the Demon King on my own for the first time!"
Quickly realizing how badly she fucked up, she turned to the lion student. "... Schneider, how close are you to time travel?" She asked for her last hope.
"Not close enough for anything before graduation."
"Shit. Shit. SHIT!" It wasn't supposed to be like this! "I just wanted him to know there's people out there willing to help him, that he didn't need to run himself dead to save everyone!"
"And the fair lady instead succeeds in getting through Midoriya-dono's thick skull. A mighty feat indeed."
"Problem is you broke down all the thick doors in his head at once and made him recontextualize his entire life … including your actions." Azz spoke.
"I-ah...no! I-I..Damn it! I screwed up! I just told the boy I loved that I didn't want him to die because I love him so much!" No wonder why people were crying! They took it as a tragic romance! "I messed up, he's going to get super nervous, you guys are going to do bad. I fucked up your chances of winning!"
"Oh no you didn't. We're going to win, that's an absolute fact." Elzabetta reassured her. "We just have to double our duties and keep a close eye on Izuku until it's time to perform. Lied's using his bloodline as we speak."
"Right now he's entered the bargaining stage. He's deliriously asking his ring to make him 'deku' with no response."
"Wait, so Li..never mind!" She had enough revelations today as it was. "How are we going to talk after this? I called myself his little hamster because I want to snuggle up to his fluffy bunny head and-agh! Why is love so confusing!?"
"Because love is more than just making yourself happy." Clara looked at her with strangely serious eyes. "You love him, I love him, there's no doubt about it, right guys?"
"You do know we have a betting pool around this, right?" Jazz took out a chart. "Hm, not sure if Ameri's chances are looking good now….double or nothing?"
"Sure, also still surprised Asmodeus is somehow still in the lead, we really need to double crunch the numbers." Schneider commented.
"How am I … forget it." Azz groaned. Eiko needed to hunt down anyone that was still continuing those rumors.
"Are you going to be alright, Eistring?" Clara asked her, once again continuing this odd state of being weirdly serious. "Izuku-kins will calm down eventually. We don't need the Mutter Duo to both be sad."
"Yeah, yeah I'll deal with it." Eiko sighed. "I've admitted my love for him out loud so many times, I've said it so often that I completely overlooked what I was singing! Why did this have to be the time for him to know?"
"Sorry about that, there was a line." They turned to Midoriya nervously, walking back and taking his seat. He blushed, oh he knew. He knew and he was right there trembling slightly.
"Look at the honor student." One student muttered. "His danger tremble is back."
"Oh he's getting excited isn't he?"
"Must be viewing this as some genuine competition."
"Who wouldn't get excited? He's approaching Mad Oni."
"And he's going to have to beat her performance of sixteen points. Pretty high, just two from perfection."
"What'll he do to her if he beats her? What'll happen to him if she beats him? The school might not be left standing after today."
"Another war approaches, we must batten down the hatches."
… For some reason that seemed to rejuvenate Midoriya. "People coming to the wrong conclusions almost instantly … reminds me of the start of school."
"Yeah, you try to be a hero, and you end up a thrill seeker." She was twitching her tail, wrapping it slightly around her arm. "I..I'm happy to see you again Izu. We need to stop having these month-long breaks apart. The Battler Apparati will get rusty at this rate."
"Well there's no more rank up events so … I guess we can all hang out after." He smiled back and she felt her heart thump. Just hold out until the end of the Music Festival, work on it after … Having patience sucked.
Soi listened to the performance. It was fine. The instruments played loudly with emotion. It was fine. He was simply waiting outside instead of talking with the misfits … it was … fine.
He listened to the first performances as well. They were...they were more than fine. Oni really seemed to be an ace at everything. She dedicated herself so hard just for the sake of one guy. It was ridiculous, yet the guys she liked were equally ridiculous, so it seemed like a perfect fit. The war reenactment was probably the most amusing piece of work he's ever heard. It...It was great. If he could, he wouldn't let any of them live it down...he would've talked to them...he...he wanted to be there, just...being among those insane misfits.
"Are you going to continue just listening out here?" His mother snuck up on him. It was fine. She didn't have any special talents, but she could always seem to find him and his brother when they were little. When asked she called it 'mothers intuition'.
"What else can I do? I'm not standing out, just like father wants, going completely unnoticed too. I also get to do the closest thing to what I want this way." He could still be forgotten and miserable like always.
"Your father is a moron." Well that was new. "I always found our family motto lame and stupid." She what!? "Neutrality is different for every person, so by that logic no one could ever truly be neutral no matter how hard they try." Huh, now that was interesting…"Take someone standing in the middle of a wall. To them, there in the center, but to someone else, they could just be a little off to the left. There's always a different perspective to these things. There's a lot of demons that fail to realize that."
"Wait, so…"
"I want you to make your choice, but I'm biased so I also want you to choose music. I gave you that trumpet for a reason. Do you know how long it took me to search the store for something that would fit you? Not easy, since you don't own anything or never had the chance to express interest in anything. I've haven't talked to anyone outside of our family in years and I feel like I'm two seconds from kicking your father off a cliff."
"Okay, but I.."
"Despite that, the reason I stay with him is because I'm deeply in love with him." Ew. "The way he walks in a corner makes the pitter patter of his feet sound melodious." Gross. "And when he rests on his hand to think, I want to paint a picture of it." How would she see it!? "He's also super lonely despite his insistence on keeping up with family traditions, which is actually a bit hypocritical of them since if they really wanted to remain completely neutral, they wouldn't allow anyone to marry at all. In fact, the fact you exist right now is completely unneutral. You wouldn't believe the passion the man built up when we had our first time together, all that time alone must give people like him too much time to imagine.."
"Mom, please stop talking about you and my dad." He pleaded. This was a horrible punishment only Asmodeus deserved to go through.
"Regardless, it's your life, your call." He was silent at that. "Now then, I'm going to that mom group and showing off baby pictures." NO!
"Don't show them off to ! I see what she does to Asmodeus! She's frightening as hell! She's so scary that Kalego is in love with her!"
"Sounds like a lovely woman, I should definitely get to know her." WHAT HAS HE DONE!?
Sharon saw the low scores as he entered the back, everyone getting everything ready. "Okay, so bad news, the first performance still outclasses everything, but the good news, the last two didn't rack up as high, and there still hasn't been a perfect score! This is our moment!"
"The man hasn't given anything higher than a four is the reason, and the four was a heart wrenching performance that stuck souls. You really want to go up against that?" TonTon asked with sanity. Hah, where they were going, they wouldn't need sanity.
"That just means he's waiting for the best performance, which is going to be ours!" Sharon shouted. "I've poured my blood, sweat, tears, and various other bodily fluids into making this performance, and I'm not going to let it go to waste!"
"What was that about various other fluids?" GrandMaster asked as he gently held away the sheets.
"This is going to be supper fun!" Zom laughed. "We're going to make the stage go boom!"
Sharon simply grinned back. "Yep, the four of us, through thick and thin are going to show the world one important message." He could hear Dalton beginning to get on the stage. "That we're the Main Characters as well." Determined nods followed as they made their way on stage.
