Ameri's Affliction

Rimuru POV

I walk all the way to the Student Council's meeting room and find all the members huddled in the middle of the room. Ameri is sitting, covering herself with a blanket while the others are standing close to her and looking concerned and upset about something

Upon noticing me, they all turn and look at me as I close the door behind me.

"What's going on? It must be pretty serious for you to call me here in the middle of class."

"We are having an emergency meeting; you were the only one not here so we had Baraki call you over. We have an…issue, you could say."

They step aside, revealing that they were all crowded around Ameri. Something's different about her though. The two cat-ear-like horns on the top of her head are drooping and the confident air she normally gives off is completely gone. If anything, she seems even more timid than Iruma right now.

"As you can see, something has happened to the President." Smoke says as she gestures at Ameri, who is cowering in her chair, covering herself with a blanket and looking embarrassed.

"H-hi Rimuru…" Ameri mumbles quietly, looking down at her feet.

Ciel?

[[Once again, I will ask if you want me to spoil you, Master?]]

No, no…I'll figure it out myself.

I can tell immediately on my own that some kind of magic is involved, but not what kind. I'm also smelling some unusual coming from her; that sounds strange but Ameri doesn't smell like her usual self. Damn, that sounds super creepy of me, but it wasn't something that I was paying any attention to until now.

"I can tell some kind of magic has been used on her. Do you know what happened?"

"The President was called to prep room 3, as you probably heard over the devi-com before we called you here. When she didn't come back right away, one of us went to investigate, but we found her unconscious on the floor when we arrived."

"Yes, and once we woke the President up, she was like…this…"

"Someone commandeered the devi-com and sent that message to bait the President into that room, but we're not positive who was responsible yet. Whoever it was, though, is likely the person who did this to President Ameri."

"I suppose we should involve the teachers in this…" I say, internally reluctant. Ciel could probably fix this issue, but since I'm acting as a student, I need to get the people in charge of this place to take care of it instead.

[[Yes, Master, I could figure out a way to remove the spell, but it would take some time. I am still not completely familiar with the magic here and this spell appears to be having a psychological effect on her, so removing it improperly could lead to permanent mental damage.]]

Let's just get the teachers then. They might know more about how to fix this.

The others nod in agreement.

"I'll go inform Professor Kalego. He didn't seem too happy about me suddenly leaving in the middle of class so I shouldn't leave him hanging; plus, maybe he can help with this. I'll be back in a few minutes." I say and leave the room.

I'm wondering what the motive behind something like this might be…altering someone's personality with magic is a pretty sinister thing to do.

[[I suspect that the perpetrator wants to-]]

No, Ciel, no spoilers. I'm actually a excited for this, having a mystery to solve! As long as you think it's something I can handle, please don't tell me.

[[You are fully capable of solving this mystery without my help, Master…]]

It seems like my wanting to do this myself has upset Ciel. I know she loves feeling needed by me. I guess I should give her something to do in the meantime so she doesn't feel disheartened.

Hey! Don't sound so sad, Ciel! It's not like I don't need you around, I just want to use my head for once and figure this out alone. Still…you should work on finding a safe way to remove that spell, just in case nobody knows how and it's permanent otherwise, okay? That'll help me out.

[[I will do so then, Master.]]

Maybe you could have that Alikred guy help you too? You said he knows some stuff about the way Netherworld magic works, right?

[[I will get his assistance if I deem it necessary.]]

Ciel sounded particularly annoyed as she said that last thing.

While I was conversing with Ciel, I was also walking back to the room I just left. When I get back to the classroom, I quietly open the door, poke my head in and make eye contact with Kalego, and gesture for him to come here. Iruma seems to have noticed though since he's looking at me curiously.

"What is it?" Kalego asks sternly.

"I need you for something."

Kalego squints his eyes at me suspiciously but still joins me outside. He immediately starts questioning me, which I expected.

"Could you elaborate on why you need me?"

"It's not the easiest thing to explain so just come and see for yourself," I reply casually as I start to walk toward our destination.

"This is not one of your childish pranks, is it?"

"If I was joking around, do you really think I would be asking for your help? You said if I needed help I should come to you for it, so I'm doing exactly that. Something happened that I think you need to see so please just follow me to the Student Council's room."

Kalego doesn't seem too happy with me, as usual, but he still follows me back to the meeting room. When we arrive and step inside, I see that one of the other battler members has grabbed another teacher too; Ms. Momonoki.

"I'm back with help," I state as I walk inside.

"Oh, good! You're here as well." Ms. Momonoki says with a smile as she sees Kalego. She's blushing slightly too; maybe she has a crush on him or something? I've heard rumors about her having a thing for Kalego, so that's probably the case.

"I plan on interviewing Miss Azazel to determine what happened, Professor Kalego." She continues.

"Yes…I see something is off about her…inform me of what you already know," Kalego demands from the whole room of people.

"She was lured into an empty room and someone used some type of spell on her, but we're not sure what kind yet," I explain what I was told to both of the professors.

"Well, Professor Momonoki, proceed with that interview so we can get to the bottom of this."

Professor Momonoki goes ahead and starts asking Ameri a long checklist of questions. Some of them seemed to be testing to see if her memory was affected, others gauging her responses to different statements in situations.

From what I could tell from the interrogation, her memory was not damaged by the spell, but her personality has been almost flipped a whole 180 degrees. Ameri's answers sounded nothing like what I'd expect from a proud, almost arrogant, and often intimidating (to others since I'm used to dealing with people like that) girl like her.

She's almost the exact opposite. Quiet, timid, shy; if it wasn't for her appearance, I'd think she was a different person entirely.

All Ameri recounts of what happened to her are walking into a dark room and being covered with some kind of smoke by a mysterious person. She collapsed right afterward and by the time she was awake, the perpetrator was long gone. The room was too dark to see their face so she has no clue who it was.

"Her case is quite serious. Thankfully her memory seems intact, it's probably safe to assume that a powerful psychological spell has been cast on her." Kalego explains to all of us.

Pretty much the same conclusion I came to.

Professor Momonoki pauses for a moment, thinking, before speaking up again.

"She mentioned that she was hit with a mysterious smoke, but I've never heard of one that could render someone more ladylike…" Momonoki adds.

"Is it something you can break? The spell, I mean." I comment.

"It's very tangled and messy for sure. Imagine a sweater knitted by an amateur. Miss Azazel's normal personality, emotions, and memories are all being affected by this spell very oddly. It'd be impossible to undo it by force, but the spell itself is rather simple. So as long as she follows her usual routine, given some time, she should return to normal. All we can do is keep an eye on her until then."

So it's a wait-and-see kind of thing; at least I know it'll wear off on its own. We still have the mystery of who did this and why, but since the effects aren't permanent, things aren't as dire as they could be.

The other Student Council members seem pretty down right now after what Professor Momonoki revealed. They're all moping and looking sorry for themselves; I guess they're pretty dependent on Ameri, unlike myself. In the time I spent with them, I got the impression they all lean on her a lot. It kinda reminded me of how things were in Tempest pre-Falmuth; how my people adored and looked up to me, but relied on me too much and failed to think for themselves.

"Straighten up you four!" Professor Momonoki scolds them.

This immediately snaps them out of it.

" " " "Yes ma'am!" " " " They all yell.

"We will find the guilty party!" Johnny declares.

"And capture them immediately!" Kimaris adds.

Soon after, Kalego tells Professor Momonoki to escort Ameri out of the room so he can talk with Iruma, me, and the other four Student Council members.

"The Student Council members are the role models of Babyls. The Student Council President who should set a good example for all appears inept. If this persists I will consider shutting down the Student Council."

The others gasp at this while I keep a neutral expression. This doesn't concern me too much, to be honest; either way, I'll fulfill the role I took on; protecting Iruma and the school. I really don't need these children's help to do that, but I do feel a little bad for them. Everyone wants a purpose and it seems the council is what these four have picked as theirs while they're in school.

After making his point, Kalego leaves us to stew in the fact that the Student Council may be disbanded. Once he's out of the room, they all start muttering to each other about what might happen and what they should do to solve this problem.

As inappropriate in this situation as it is, I'm getting excited to solve a mystery like this; it'll be like one of those old 'Sherlock Holmes' detective shows back in Japan. I never get the chance to investigate anything back home since Souei and his team are so good at their jobs. Ciel also figures out everything for me most of the time too so my opportunities to solve things myself are limited.

This shouldn't be too hard and the stakes aren't high compared to what I'm used to in Tempest so it's a good chance to break out my puzzle-solving skills and use my brain for once. Well, I don't exactly have a brain (because of slime cells), but you know what I mean.

"Well, there isn't anything we can do during classes, so everyone should go back to their normal routines. That's what President Ameri needs, right?" I say to try to finish things up.

"So you're taking charge in the President's place, Rimuru?" Kimaris asks.

"Uh…no? I wasn't planning on it." I reply, a little dumbfounded that he's asking me this. I know I make a decent leader, but I wasn't expecting a reaction like this.

"But, even though you are new, you've shown a lot of potential when it comes to leading and being productive. I hate to admit it but I think the President was somewhat jealous of your capabilities…" Grave adds.

If Ameri heard him say that she'd be pissed! Well, maybe not the current Ameri, but still.

"Stop that. I'm less involved than any one of you so I'm not gonna fill in for her. I'm just trying to lay out the game plan for how we're going to deal with this mess." I say, shutting down that nonsense. The last thing I want is to be roped into all the paperwork Ameri is responsible for.

"Yeah, it's not like the President's gone or something so she should be able to do the same stuff she always does." Smoke says.

"Yes, that's for the best based on what the professors said," Kimaris responds.

"What about finding the perpetrator?" Grave asks.

"Oh, you don't need to concern yourself with that," I say, waving off his worries.

" " " "Huh?" " " "

"I'll take care of it. I like a good mystery to solve!" I say excitedly.

I'm met with deadpan stares from all five teens.

"In the meantime, we should all get back to class," I suggest.

They all nod in agreement.

"Great. I'll see you all later."

I leave the room, lost in thought about who could be responsible for this mess.

They all seem so reliant on Ameri…I hope they can handle things without her since I get the feeling she won't be very productive right now…

Well, if I'm going to investigate, I should go talk with Sullivan about this.

So, instead of going back to class, I make my way to his office. Knocking politely on the door before opening it, I enter after hearing Sullivan's voice call me inside.

"Oh, Granddaughter, it's just you. Do you need anything?" Sullivan asks, looking up from his desk.

"I've got a little mess on my hands, I'd like access to all the school records and permission to skip classes for the next few days at least. In an official sense, I mean, so I don't have people coming after me." I explain.

"A mess?" Sullivan asks, sounding concerned.

I give him a quick run-down on what just happened.

"So, I'm gonna figure out who's responsible and I need resources and time to do that." I finish up after explaining.

"I understand; do what you need to do and I will make sure nobody stops you." Sullivan agrees.

"That's exactly what I need, thanks. Oh, and could I use one of the empty classrooms too? I need somewhere to look over the records and interview potential suspects." I add.

"Yes, go right ahead." Sullivan nods.

Hmm…I should probably get Iruma involved in this too. It'd be nice for him to keep an eye on Ameri in the meantime. Those two are pretty close too so he'd find out on his own eventually anyway.

Iruma POV

Rimuru never came back after being called away; I wonder what happened?

I leave the classroom and start walking to my next class. I'm worried, but not horribly since Rimuru can handle things herself.

"Oh, there you are!"

I turn toward the voice, slightly startled by its sudden loudness.

"Wha-…oh, Rimuru, it's just you. Why didn't you come back to class after being called away?"

"I have more occupying and higher-importance matters to attend to than classes right now. Things I could actually use your help with." Rimuru says with a wide grin with slightly glittering eyes.

Rimuru looks like she's having fun…I wonder what this is about?

"What do you mean?" I ask, a little nervous because of that smile. It doesn't usually mean anything good when Rimuru smiles like that; the's probably up to something.

"You see, something's happened to your little girlfriend Ameri and I'm gonna find the culprit behind that!" Rimuru says, sounding a little excited.

"Something happened to Ameri?!" I ask desperately.

"Yes, something happened to her but you don't need to worry too much. Someone used a spell on her and she's not exactly herself at the moment, but the teachers and Ciel say it'll wear off on its own. I'm trying to find who did this right now." Rimuru replies in a casual tone, not at all concerned.

"What do you mean by not herself?" I question.

"The spell affected her personality; when I saw her she was acting very quiet and much less assertive when compared to how Ameri usually is," Rimuru explains, making me even more concerned.

A spell that affected her personality!? That's horrible!

"I want to help!" I insist.

"And you can by sticking with Ameri and keeping an eye on her for me. I'm concerned that whoever did this to her might try something else and I knew you'd want to be involved. I think she's with the Student Council right now. Maybe you can help them out some too; I get the feeling they have their work cut out for them right now. If they ask, just say I sent you, okay?"

"If it'll help Ameri, I'll do it!"

Determined to help my friend, I go to find the Student Council's room but instead end up running into the members themselves. They're all sitting on a bench in the hallway with their heads in their hands, but for some reason, Ameri isn't with them.

"Hey, uh, where's Ameri? I want to help her since I hear about what happened." I say as I approach them.

"Oh, you're Rimuru's brother, aren't you? I remember you from when you joined us for lunch that one time." Smoke says, noticing me.

"Yeah, he's close with the President too," Kimaris adds.

"So you came to help us?" Grave asks.

"Yes, Rimuru said I should help you until Ameri is back to normal. She said you 'probably had your work cut out for you', hehehe…" I say, laughing nervously at that last part since I felt awkward repeating Rimuru's words.

"I suppose we shouldn't turn down any help we can get. We're trying to find out who is behind this, currently." Grave replies with a sigh.

"I thought Rimuru was taking care of that for you?" I ask, wondering why they aren't just leaving that to Rimuru.

"Uh…I'm not trying to be rude, Iruma, but we have a reason why we're investigating as well…" Kimaris answers hesitantly.

All four of them look away as if they're hiding something from me.

"Huh? Rude? How is that rude?" I ask, very confused why everyone looks so nervous all of the sudden.

"Let's not talk about your sister, okay? Just know that we want to investigate as well to be safe." Smoke replies, not at all answering my question.

I think Rimuru is one of their suspects…why else would they not tell me?

"You think Rimuru is responsible, don't you?" I ask.

All four of them freeze for a moment, surprised that I figured that out so easily.

"She may be on our list, but I wouldn't say she's at the top of it. Many people have the motivation to do something like this." Kimaris explains.

I begin walking with the four to somewhere; they seem to have somewhere they need to be.

"It's not surprising that people might envy or hate the President…however, there's a top likely suspect." He continues.

I wonder who that could be…

"Hang on a sec, the Student Council office's door is open!" Grave exclaims.

"What is this?!" Johnny shouts before running ahead and bursting through the ajar door. "What are you doing in here?!"

"Well, hello Student Council peasants! Sure took ya long enough!" A tall, long-haired boy with a large tail exclaims from the couch in the center of the room. His white button-up shirt is halfway undone, exposing his chest and his black pants are skin-tight, showing off his legs.

Two girls are standing behind the couch he's resting on, fawning over him as he poses dramatically on it.

"Ugh…of course it's you!" Johnny groans.

"Yes…yes it is I! I am Ronove Romiere!" he declares loudly.

There's something…strange…about this boy. For some reason, my eyes and ears are drawn to him as if his presence demands my attention. It's not that I'm biased to like him or anything, but more like I can't seem to ignore him even if I try.

"Who is that?" I ask since the others seem to know him.

"That is the aforementioned top suspect." Kimaris answers.

"He wants the boss' spot. He's the president of the disciplinary battler now." Grave explains.

"Huh?!" I exclaim.

"Hey hey! Keep talking about me a little louder. Please!" Ronove says while wiggling his way closer to us and throwing handfuls of rose petals in our faces.

He sings out his name loudly, sounding very proud of it for some reason.

"Oh, my name is so stunningly fabulous! Even I can't help but call it out again and again! I've been ignored by the Student Council for too long! So now, let me fabulously declare that we, the Babyls Disciplinary Battler have come here to take over the Student Council! I, Ronove Romiere shall become the new Student Council President and you will do nothing but ~LOVE IIIIIT~!"

Ronove then sings a song about himself and how he's going to take over the council, invading everyone's personal space in the process. The two girls continue to cheer him on the entire time, helping him throw more rose petals in the air and put on a show.

We all just stand and watch, flabbergasted by the over-the-top performance and self-centered lyrics. Johnny tried to get him to leave multiple times throughout, but Ronove acted like he didn't hear him at all and simply continued singing and dancing to his weird song.

"…what's the disciplinary battler?" I ask, still stunned by the strange sequence of events that just happened.

"The self-proclaimed rivals of the Student Council. Their activities are similar but they're just a bunch of show-offs that want to cause trouble." Kimaris adds.

"Yes, which means…" Johnny says angrily before grabbing Ronove by the shirt. "He's someone that would benefit from the president's ruin! Are you the one that went after her?! Don't lie!"

"What are you talking about?...but more importantly, you'd best unhand me!" Ronove says, starting to look like he's not feeling good. " A man touched me for 6.6 seconds…I've reached my limit!"

What the heck…?

"And they have weird personal rules like that, so they rarely even bother to go outside," Kimaris explains.

"Now that the president is weakened my time has come!" Ronove turns to Ameri, pointing a finger right in her face. "I declare a one-on-one! The dissolution election!"

Everyone around me gasps.

"Wahahahaha!" Ronove laughs loudly as the entire Student Council comprehends what he just said. I look around to see if anyone is going to explain what this 'dissolution election' is.

"Plenty of signatures, see?" Ronove says as he unfurls a ridiculously long scroll of paper and his two 'cheerleaders' stroke his ego again.

"These are from all the battlers we ever cracked down on!" Kimaris gasps in amazement.

"The reason I hadn't requested this duel earlier is simply that Miss Azazel's was absolute and unassailable. But now she's nothing more than a dainty flower wilting in the sun!" Ronove says as he stretches out a hand and cradles a section of Ameri's hair, getting uncomfortably close to her. "I suppose I wouldn't mind appointing you as my secretary in the new vastly-improved Student Council!"

I'm already feeling a burning pressure in my chest watching this unfold, but I feel lost as to what to do about it. But then, Ronove leans closer to sniff Ameri's hair, and my body moves without thinking. I quickly step forward, not standing for something this rude and invasive, and slap Ronove's hand away and put myself in between him and Ameri. She was obviously uncomfortable with what Ronove was doing and there's no way I could let him continue!

Everyone in the room gasps with surprise, and I don't blame them. I've never been this aggressive before so even I've surprised myself!

"A man touched me for 0.6 seconds!" Ronove shouts in horror but quickly calms himself. "And you are…?" he asks me.

I just now realize the pickle I put myself in.

"Uh, sorry about that, but you see…I just think it's rude to touch a girl's hair, especially without her permission."

"Oh…so it's rude…" Ronove mutters before going into a dramatic sulk, sinking to the floor and burying his face in his knees.

"You monster! Don't you ever lecture Master Romie!" The orange-haired girl with him scolds me angrily.

"Yeah! That's so mean!" The green-haired one adds.

"Very well, I accept your spite! But just you wait! I, Ronove shall make you all retire! You'll be washed up and cast out!" Ronove shouts as he leaves with the two girls, laughing loudly as he does.

"The nerve…" Johnny grumbles as he watches the trio leave.

"Did I…uh…d-did I just do something I shouldn't have?" I ask, scared I messed up by slapping Ronove's hand away without thinking.

"On the contrary!" Johnny responds.

"You beat me to it by seconds!" Kimaris chuckles as both boys slap me on the back.

"C-could someone tell me what this dissolution election thingy is? I'm so confused…"

"An election to determine which battler gets to continue existing. If Ronove wins it, the Student Council as we know it will be gone!" Kimaris says painfully.

"No! But that's Ameri's ambition, to run the Student Council! We can't let that happen!" I shout, shocked that my friend's dream could be crushed by that boy.

"Exactly, that's why we can't stand for this!" Johnny says angrily, gritting his teeth at the bad situation.

Yes, I can't allow that to happen, for Ameri's sake…

I glance at her since she's been awfully quiet this entire time.

"Don't worry Ameri, I won't let that happen," I reassure her and place a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

When I do this, she blushes and averts her eyes for some reason.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I immediately apologize since I think I just made her feel embarrassed.

"N-no, it's fine Iruma…I'm fine…" Ameri mumbles and gives me a small, happy smile.