Pressure

Iruma POV

I still don't know why Aoki doesn't like me…

I grumble a bit while walking to the cafeteria. I really don't want Aoki not to like me, it may become a sour spot with Rimuru. I really didn't like when we were fighting, so that would be the worst.

But, I'm sure I can fix that later. Right now, I have something else on my mind.

I really wanna try out my new skills, though. I hope Rimuru asks Hinata soon.

Stepping into the now-familiar cafeteria, I spot the exact person I was thinking about. Hinata, sitting at one of the tables, sipping at a hot drink of some sort.

With eyes like an eagle, she locks her gaze right onto me as soon as I step inside the room and I involuntarily shiver.

Oh no…she looks mad…

I can tell she wants me to join her for some reason, but I kinda freeze up under her intimidating stare. But, after a few seconds of tolerating it, I finally work up the courage to walk over to the table and sit across from her. Food isn't on my mind anymore, though.

"G-good morning…H-hinata…" I stutter a bit as I try to talk to her.

"Tell me what happened."

In an instant, she seems to see right through my feeble attempt to hide what I'm worried about.

"Wh-what? What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I don't believe it's your fault, but I'm sure you know about it."

She squints her sharp eyes at me, applying pressure.

"Are you asking about Rimuru's…" I hesitate for a moment, knowing I'm supposed to stay quiet about this, but knowing that Hinata is both Rimuru's friend and seemingly already aware that something's up, telling her shouldn't do any harm. "...child?" I whisper.

"Rimuru is fine…correct?" she asks with a hint of worry.

"Yeah, Rimuru is perfectly fine!" I assure her.

"And the child? They haven't rampaged or anything? Devoured any cities or possibly killed anyone?" Hinata asks with surprising nonchalance.

"They almost punched me in the face…but nothing else, really. Aoki has been asleep up until just earlier this morning."

"Aoki is their name then…figures that slime would name them right away, not considering what monstrosity he might create…" Hinata grumbles, looking down at the liquid in her mug contemplatively, "Who is the mother? Or other parent, rather?"

"Nobody. Rimuru just named a slime as his kid, that's all."

Hinata sighs and stands up, not bothering to finish her drink.

"I've waited long enough. Rimuru and I need to talk."

"Wait! Rimuru wants to be alone with Aoki right now! I promise everything is fi-"

I get cut off by Hinata's disapproving glare forcing my words to catch in my throat.

"A-and…Rimuru wants y-you to…t-tutor me…" I manage to force a few more words out, even though Hinata is still staring at me all scary-like.

Hinata just shakes her head a little and continues walking away, probably right to Rimuru's office if I were to guess.

I hope Aoki doesn't try to punch Hinata too…I don't think that would turn out well…

Rimuru POV

"I can explain!"

"Didn't we just have a conversation like this, Rimuru?"

"Maybe?" I shrug.

Hinata is again questioning me over my actions, and just when I was about to start getting some work done. I'd let Aoki out to explore a bit, keeping an eye on them from a distance with Universal Perception.

"I assume that little blue-haired toddler I encountered in the hallway is Aoki?"

Yeah, they ran into each other a few minutes ago; I'd noticed. It was a pretty funny interaction.

"Yup. I'm letting them explore a bit."

"Without you keeping an eye on them!?" Hinata asks, sounding appalled.

"Hey, I am keeping an eye on Aoki; from a distance," I explain calmly.

C'mon, Hinata, you should know that I wouldn't let my kid run around without any supervision!

Hinata just rolls her eyes at this.

"Your other kid, the human one, said you were fine. Are you really?" she presses.

Wow, I think she's actually worried.

"Oh wow, Hinata, are you actually concerned about me? I'm flattered!" I tease her a little, flashing her a smirk.

"N-no, you idiot!" Hinata complains, her cheeks a little redder than before, "I-I just don't want you dying because you spontaneously had a child! That isn't something monsters can take lightly!"

"I didn't take it lightly, and I'm healthy as I can be, so you don't have to worry about me kicking the bucket anytime soon, or ever, for that matter."

Hinata looks to the side for a few long seconds, her arms still folded.

"They remind me of you when we first met," she mutters quietly.

"Hey! I wasn't that short back then, Hinata!"

"That wasn't what I was saying." Hinata sighs, "Aoki is already comparable in magical force to you the first time we fought."

"Oh." So that's what she meant…

Still, I'm surprised that she remembers our first fight so well. I guess it really left an impact.

"So don't let them get out of hand. For all you know, Aoki might end up stronger than you one day, as exasperating as that is to even consider…"

Stronger than me, huh? That's hard to believe, but I guess it's not out of the realm of possibilities.

"Well, as long as Aoki keeps everyone happy, I wouldn't mind that," I shrug.

"Rimuru!" Hinata shouts as she bonks me on the head with a nearby book with an alarming amount of force. Nothing I can't handle, of course, but the poor book sure couldn't and ended up shredded to bits by the impact.

"I don't think my book deserved that, Hinata…"

Hinata just stands there muttering to herself things like "What am I going to do with you…?" while I use my skills to clean up the confetti mess she just made all over my office, as well as replicate the destroyed book, setting the new copy in the old one's place.

"And what is this about me tutoring Iruma?"

"Oh, he mentioned that? He earned some skills recently and I thought you would be the perfect person to train him up a bit before he leaves Tempest in a week or so. Are ya up for it?"

Hinata thinks for a few seconds before nodding and answering.

"Allow me to train Aoki too, then. Not at the same time, but after I am done with Iruma."

This is pretty much the last thing I expected her to say. Why would she want to train a toddler-sized slime?

"Hey, wait, they're, like, super young. I don't know if your brand of training would work with them."

"And? They are several-hundred times the strength of Iruma. I see no problem."

"They are like… two days old!"

"I still see no problem."

Wow. Ruthless. As to be expected from Hinata…

"Can I ask why exactly you want to tutor Aoki?"

"Obviously so I can properly educate them. We don't need two balance-breaking cheat-level slimes spreading chaos in this world."

"To be fair, Hinata, I'm not 'spreading chaos'."

Hinata raises a questioning eyebrow at me, her arms still folded.

"You are literally called the 'Chaos Creator'."

"That's just my ominous, cool-sounding Demon Lord title. That doesn't mean anything!"

I don't seem to be winning at all in this…time to change the subject.

"I suppose Aoki can learn under you. Just don't be too harsh on either of them; both are still kids."

"Of course."

Hinata stands up to leave.

"So we're done here?" I ask.

"Yes. Have Iruma meet me at the school later."

"Sure."

Hinata gets up to leave, before stopping at the door, turning to glare.

"You aren't planning on having any more kids any time soon are you?"

"Who knows?" To be honest, I'm not considering 'having any more kids' at all, but I'll leave it up in the air for now when it comes to my answer for Hinata.

Although, maybe Ciel knows… you aren't planning on having a second kid already, are you?

[[...]]

Please don't give me the silent treatment right now…you're making me nervous.

[[There is no such plan.]]

Thank you.

…

"Yeah, so to help keep Iruma protected for when we go back, I'm having him train a bit with a friend of mine," I explain to the two demons in the room who I called in shortly after Hinata left.

I thought it right to let Sullivan and Opera in on my plan to have Iruma train with Hinata for the week, considering their his guardians and all. Plus, I know that they've wanted to talk to me since Aoki's 'birthday party' and haven't gotten the chance.

"Will my precious Iruma be safe with this 'friend'?" Sullivan asks with puppy-dog eyes behind his small, round glasses.

"He'll be perfectly safe. Hinata can be pretty brutal at times, but she's a great teacher. I don't think there's anything to worry about. Plus, he's handled Kalego just fine, so handling Hinata will be a piece of cake for Iruma."

"I still feel uneasy about this, Sir," Opera says quietly to Sullivan. "Perhaps I should observe this 'tutoring' for his safety?"

"No, I will make sure that this Hinata isn't hurting Iruma!" Sullivan objects.

"You two, please! Don't do that, it'll just make her mad!"

"But as a Grandfather and a fellow educator, I should be there!" he continues insisting, being as stubborn about this sort of thing as always.

"I promise that Iruma will be unharmed! I think they're going to the Labyrinth to train, and Hinata has ample access to high potions, as well as holy magic, to heal any scrapes or whatever. Hinata knows better than to leave someone I care about in a bad state."

"I still would feel more comfortable if I could be there…just to assess her teaching method and make sure it's a good fit for Iruma!" Sullivan pipes up.

I know it's just an excuse he is making as he wants to be there and watch Iruma's lessons while taking pictures but I really don't want to make Hinata angrier at me than she already is.

"You know, saying that makes me concerned you don't trust me or my judgment of others." I point out, folding my arms.

"Th-that's not true at all, Rimuru. Of course, I trust you!"

"Then can you please trust me on this? Iruma will be fine with Hinata; she just doesn't like to have non-students hanging around gawking while she teaches."

"...Very well…"

Sullivan, now on the brink of tears, sulks in his seat, dejectedly muttering about not getting to see Iruma, while Opera pats him on the shoulder comfortingly.

I should distract him from all this otherwise he might end up tracking down Iruma and crashing his training session with Hinata despite my pleading. If that happened, I'm sure she'd blame me for it since he's my guest.

I turn my attention more on Aoki and see them being dragged by a direwolf, hanging from their tail as they desperately run and try to shake the tot off. There are also some people chasing the two down, probably also trying to get Aoki to let go and calm the young-looking direwolf down.

I open a tear in space large enough for a little kid to fit through, opening the other end right next to Aoki. I reach my arm through and grab them by the collar of their shirt and pull them through, forcing them to let go of the wolf. Plopping the mischievous tyke into my lap, I close the hole and pat the top of their head.

"Direwolves won't let you ride them without asking first, Aoki. You need to respect their boundaries."

"Rimuru! Mother!" Aoki turns and hugs me as soon as they notice what just happened.

"No, Aoki, I'm your father, not mother." I correct them, but I don't think Aoki is very convinced by it.

"Hey, I guess Aoki is sorta your great-grandchild, huh?" I say to the sullen Sullivan sitting across from us, "Wouldn't that make you the only one of the Three Greats with a great-grandchild?"

This'll cheer him up.

And it does. His eyes immediately light up at the idea.

"You're right…" he mutters, his excitement visibly brewing.

"Wanna hold Aoki?" I ask.

But as soon as I say this, Aoki pouts and partially de-transforms, using their slime body to stick to me like glue. Their hands and feet are now nothing close to human, just being a blobby, blue mess clinging to my skin and clothes.

"No!" they defiantly squeak.

"Don't be shy, Aoki, Sullivan is a very nice old man."

"NO! I want to stay with Mother!"

"Aoki," I say much more sternly, and they let go, now just staring up at me.

Now that they're being more cooperative, I hand Aoki to Sullivan. They stare at the demon for a moment, before reaching up and taking the glasses off of his face and putting them on their own.

"Ohohoho…you are very cute, Aoki!" Sullivan coos, now smiling instead of crying, while Opera takes a few pictures on his behalf, capturing the moment.

Aoki looks around the room with the glasses on for a few seconds. Honestly, they looked very cute with those on.

"Glasses…" Aoki mumbles, "Useless."

Aoki sticks them back on Sullivan's face, not quite perfect but close enough.

Looking him straight in the eye while standing on Sullivan's legs, Aoki says to him, "You taste bad."

Uh…

"Wh-what?!" Sullivan asks, clearly surprised.

"Before. When I was hungry." Aoki clarifies, but I still have no idea what they're talking about.

[[When Aoki was left at Sullivan's mansion while Master was at Walter Park, they grew hungry and sought magicules from Sullivan, the nearest large source. Because of the difference in magical nature between Netherworld demons and Cardinal World monsters, Aoki did not find the magic they gained through absorption to their tastes.]]

Thanks for the explanation, Ciel.

"Aoki, it was Sullivan's magic that tasted bad to you, not he himself. Still, you shouldn't eat people, it's a bad thing to do in most cases."

"What is 'people'?" Aoki asks curiously.

"That's…a very complicated question. I guess I'll say beings with intelligence are people."

Aoki ponders this for a moment before asking another question,

"What is 'most cases'? Is learning by eating a bad thing with people? Is eating people to get new shapes bad?"

"Don't eat people without permission from me and me only. Eating people is a very serious thing. If you can't ask me, consider it not okay."

"I understand, Mother."

They aren't going to stop calling me that, are they?

"Aoki is quite…smart," Sullivan mutters, a bit confused by our honestly fairly complicated little Q&A.

"Yup, you've got a very smart great-grandchild!" I affirm, trying to get his mind off of some of the disturbing implications of Aoki's questions. Though he's a very old demon, so maybe he isn't as bothered by it as the average human would be.

"I suppose I do!" Sullivan smiles, while Opera just looks disturbed as he quietly sits next to him.

Aoki leaves Sullivan and returns to me, this time going into their natural slime form after placing themself on my lap.

While petting them a bit, I wonder to myself I wonder how that training is going? I don't think it'll hurt to take a quick peek, as long as I don't show up in person.

So, I turn my perception to inside the Labyrinth while the two demons start looking through the photos they took with their camera.

Iruma POV

Just like Rimuru told me, I showed up outside of the school Hinata works at. I'm a little nervous since I don't know what kind of training we'll be doing exactly, but Hinata has been nice to me in the past so I'm not too worried.

Just like Professor Kalego, she can seem cold, but she means well…

"Good. You're on time. Follow me." Hinata shows up with no warning, but that's not the first time she's done that.

"Yes!"

Walking fast to the point where I can barely keep up, Hinata leads me to somewhere familiar; Tempest's Labyrinth/Dungeon.

I have a bad feeling about this…

My eyes are drawn to the thin, incredibly sharp sword at Hinata's hip.

I hope she isn't going to use that in my 'training'...

I check my wrist to make sure I have that special bracelet I was given before, knowing that not having one could end up getting me killed.

She leads me to one of those training rooms that I'd gone to previously with Gobta and Hakurou, and images of that 'incident' flash in my mind.

"H-hinata?" I nervously ask as Hinata throws off her coat and does a small stretch.

"You will call me 'Sensei' today."

"Um…Sensei? What exactly will you be teaching me?"

"I will be assessing you today."

"Uh…could you please be a bit more specific?"

"Rimuru told me nothing about your abilities, so I need to figure that out myself. Do you have any combat experience?"

"Not really…I played a really crazy magic version of dodgeball a few times, does that count?"

"No." Her eyebrow raises slightly in confusion.

The hilt of a sword is in her hand; just the hilt. It's not the one that was on her hip a moment ago, she's already gently set that against the wall as she prepared.

Suddenly, with a flash of light, a glowing, sort of ethereal-looking blade grows from the hilt and Hinata gives it a little wave. A trail of faint light glides through the air behind it as it moves.

"This way I won't have Rimuru complaining to me later…" she mutters to herself while looking at the strange sword in her hand. "I've had enough of those lately…"

"Should I grab a sword too?" I ask, thinking it is only fair.

"I'm not teaching you swordplay, so no."

"Uhhh… What's that sword for then?" I ask, backing away a step as my sense of danger grows.

"As I said, I will be assessing you and your abilities." Hinata steps closer, glowing needle of a sword still in her hand.

The next thing I know, Hinata lunges at me with terrifying speed. But strangely, I feel sluggish…I'm not moving as fast as usual. Still, I manage to barely get out of the way of the jab Hinata took at my shoulder, getting grazed instead of stabbed.

I fall to the floor, having lost my balance, and I feel like I can move normally again after.

I hold my hand up to my arm, the pain still burning, but after a few seconds, the sensation fades. I pull my hand away, expecting to see blood, but strangely, the sleeve of my shirt isn't stained or even torn.

"Falling in a fight will end up with you killed." Hinata scolds.

"I…" Confused, I stand up and face Hinata again.

"Don't react so severely. Only move as much as you need to avoid getting hit."

"But I wasn't expecting that!"

"Doesn't matter."

Hinata strikes at me again, this time at my stomach, and I flail to the side, nearly tripping over my feet. Again, I see the attack, but my body reacts slower than I expect, then I notice something…the way Hinata's hair is moving. With her quick step forward, the air caught it a little before it settled back down, but this happened slower as well.

What…? It's like slow-mo in a movie…

"Focus."

She jabs at me again and my side gets grazed, burning with pain for a few moments before, just like with my shoulder, the feeling fades.

Wait, wasn't one of the skills I got called Thought Acceleration?

Then it dawns on me; that's why I keep feeling like I'm slow! It's not that my movements are slower, but that the skill is making my thinking faster!

I guess it turns on when I feel like I'm in danger?

"Pay attention!"

A flurry of seemingly angry jabs comes my way and I dive and juke, trying to get out of the way of each, but it still feels so weird to move with sped-up thoughts like this. That's when I make a mistake; my right foot catches on my left and I stumble, which Hinata doesn't let me get away with.

Her light sword pierces right through the center of my chest and a pain unlike the others I'd felt so far assaulted me.

I gasp and drop to my knees, clutching the spot I was stabbed, holding back tears from the immense pain. My vision is foggy, fading in and out as my head spins.

"Get up."

"I…can't…it hurts…"

"Get. Up."

Sniffling a little and wiping my eyes dry, I stumble to my feet. The pain is fading by the second, but it's taking longer than before.

I should use my other skills too…that's why I'm here…

Body Boost was one of them, I know that. But, unlike Thought Acceleration, that one doesn't seem to be activating on its own.

It's not like when I used borrowed skills from Rimuru…I'm not sure how to trigger them.

"Sensei? How…do I use skills?"

"...You don't know how to activate your skills?"

"No."

Hinata actually stops attacking and pauses to think, looking dumbfounded that I'm even asking her this.

"You should just know how from within yourself."

"From…within myself?"

Then, out of my ring, a familiar black smoke pours, manifesting into Ali.

"No, no, Ciel! Don't kick me out near this terrifying, brutish wom-...uh, hi kiddo!" he sounded scared for a moment but then changed to his usual cheery demeanor. "Ahem. I am here to help, as always! Rely on me in your time of need, Iruma-boy!"

"What is that…thing…? Some sort of spirit?" Hinata asks me.

"This is Alikred, my friend! He lives in this ring!" I say, holding up my right hand for her to see.

Honestly, I'm not sure what Alikred is exactly, but that doesn't matter. I trust him.

Ali, looking cautious of Hinata, perches himself on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, "Why must you meet so many dangerous people? I swear…that one is almost as bad as Rimuru if I were to take a wild guess. Much like that pink-pigtailed fiend you met…"

"Can you help me then?"

"Of course, of course! Ciel told me all about how to help you! I'll help with activating those pesky skills; all you have to do is think of them! Just like with those ones that were shared with you before, understand?"

I nod thankfully, "I appreciate it, Ali!"

Ali returns to the ring and I give Hinata a nervous smile.

"That will do for now, I suppose."

Hinata takes up a focused stance again.

Okay…let's try out Body Boost then, Ali!

Almost instantly my body feels almost lighter, I leap to avoid a jab from Hinata but go much further…and faster than I intended, crashing into the wall at relatively high speed expecting to feel pain but I hardly felt a thing and it seemed like the wall took more damage than I did.

Hinata hardly shows any surprise at what happened, she's probably seen stuff like that all the time.

"An enhancement skill, huh? You need to get used to the change it gives your body, if you were in a real combat situation losing control like that could be the end of you."

Without hesitation she immediately closes in resuming sending jabs my way while I repeatedly jump in various directions, crashing numerous times and hardly feeling it but slowly getting more used to how much spring push I need to put into my feet to throw myself the distance I'm aiming for.

Alright Ali, let's try Thought Acceleration combined with Body Boost.

I notice immediately when the skill is activated, as everything suddenly slows, leaping clear of a jab. I'm surprised to see how quickly Hinata is already shifting the direction of her attack to follow my movements, despite me having Thought Acceleration active.

I keep this up, feeling fast and light on my feet, but stumbling a few times since I'm still getting used to moving faster, even with my thoughts being faster at the same time. Hinata was getting faster too, each strike feeling more elusive and hard to predict.

It gets to the point where I can't even dodge properly anymore, no matter if I screw up or not. Hinata's jabbing at me multiple times in a row by now, stabbing me all over each time while I just have to grin and bear it, not stopping for even a moment.

Then my legs just give out on me out of nowhere and I feel my thinking speed return to normal, although my mind is now in a haze. My body feels numb, yet achy, from all of the hits I took from that sword.

It's similar to that time I tried out that body-strengthening skill with Rimuru and overdid it.

I'm expecting Hinata to yell at me again for not getting up right away, but she surprisingly doesn't.

From my position laying on the floor, gasping for air, I see her dissipate the magic sword she's been using to cause me so much pain.

"That's enough for today."

I can't even muster the strength to respond with words.

Hinata crouches down and scoops my limp body up in her arms and my consciousness faded before going black.

…

When I open my eyes again, I realize I got carried to that bar again, the one I'd had hot chocolate with Hinata in before.

"Good, you're up. Now I can lecture you about all things you did wrong."

I groan and sit up on the couch I'd been laid on.

"Why do I have leaves on me?" I ask, noticing the scattered small green specks all over my clothes.

"She went to the trouble of healing you so you wouldn't sleep for the rest of the day," Hinata answers, nodding toward Treyni the dryad. The green-haired woman flashes me a warm smile while wiping the inside of a glass with a cloth, using vines instead of her hands.

"Hello," Treyni kindly greets me.

"Hi…uh, thanks for the healing."

"You're very welcome."

"Could I have some hot chocolate again, please?"

Treyni nods and gets to work preparing my drink.

"Do you know why you passed out so quickly?"

"Uh…because you were chasing me around with that sword for hours?"

"It was not hours, only about 40 minutes. And that was not the main reason you exhausted yourself." Hinata sighs and takes a sip of her coffee, "You are using your skills wrong, activating them with all available magic power, constantly."

"What do you mean? Are there different ways to activate skills?" Rimuru had explained it as just focusing on the skill, and Alikred seemed to say something similar. So I stand confused.

Hinata stares completely blankly before turning to Treyni, who looks just as dumbfounded.

"What is it?" I sit up fully and stretch out my arm. To my surprise, it feels nice and refreshed rather than sore like I was expecting.

"Skills can be activated in any number of ways, but the most common way of activating a skill is by modulating the magic power you assign to it. Were you not thinking about how much you were using?" Hinata explains it slowly, despite saying so much.

"Rimuru just said to focus on the skill, and Ali said to just think about them." I tilt my head a bit. "So you are supposed to control the amount of magic going into it?" I ask as I take my first sip of hot chocolate that Treyni just handed me with one of her vines.

"There is more to it, you should control where things like enhancement skills activate as well. They can be dangerous to use on certain organs." She says that like she'd seen it happen before.

"That is a lot to keep in mind..." It already seems like skills are way more complicated than Rimuru and Ali think they are.

"Don't worry about that, both of the skills I saw you use should just be modulated and activated. What I want you to focus on for that though, is actually quantifying the magic power you have, and assigning those quantities to skills. That kind of thing helps a lot, and is generally how both monsters and humans use skills at higher levels."

That's a lot to think about…

"But for now, get some rest. I will meet you in front of the school again tomorrow at 6 am sharp."

"Sure, I'll be the-...wait, 6!? In the morning!?"

Hinata gives me a look that I can, in no way, argue with.

"Yes! 6! I'll be there, Sensei!"

Hinata nods, stands up, and pats the top of my head before leaving.

I take another sip of my drink, enjoying its warmth and sweetness.