The day following Izuku's outing with Akudol Kuromu, aka his classmate Kerori Crocell, Izuku found himself once more clad in his school uniform as he joined his grandfather Sullivan at the dining table for breakfast.
"Izuku-kun~! How was your day yesterday?" Sullivan asked with a warm and gentle smile. "I hope you enjoyed the pass I got you!"
"It was wonderful!" Izuku replied mirroring Sullivan's smile. "I learned a lot of new things and had a great time. Kuromu and her manager were also very kind to me."
"Good," Sullivan nodded his head. "Was there any trouble while you were there?" he asked.
"Well, not exactly 'trouble,' but there was an incident," Izuku admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh, what kind of incident?" Opera interjected, having finished serving breakfast and now focused on Izuku. As Izuku recounted the events of the previous day, including his disagreement with Gyari, Opera's expression grew serious. "Hmm, perhaps I should pay a visit to Devimuse Akudol Agency," they mused with a dangerous glint in their eyes.
"I might accompany you as well, Opera," Sullivan added in a calm tone as he took a sip of his tea. "Kyupa seems to have grown complacent in recent years."
"Guys, please, let's calm down," Izuku intervened, as he sought to diffuse the tension. "I don't think we need to escalate this."
"Izuku-sama, while our anger is indeed for your sake, there's more at stake here," Opera clarified. "Not only did that girl... Gyari was it? publicly insult you, but she also did so while you were wearing a ring bearing Sullivan-sama's emblem. This act could be perceived as an attack on Sullivan-sama's reputation alone."
"Izuku-sama, do you recall what I told you when you first received that ring?" Opera continued, prompting Izuku, who nodded quietly, his gaze fixed on his lap. "When you wear that ring, you represent one of the most esteemed personalities of the Demon World. Therefore, your actions while wearing it carry significant weight."
"Izuku, I don't want to pressure you into doing something you do not want to do or act in a way you are not comfortable with. However, sometimes it's better to put the fear of consequences into people before they do something stupid against you or your loved ones," Sullivan explained with a gentle smile on his face.
"I understand what you are saying, but..." Izuku sighed. "I don't like the idea of throwing your name and status around. I don't know how to explain this; it just feels wrong to use your name like that."
"You know, having that kind of moral compass already sets you apart from many in your position," Sullivan remarked with a soft chuckle. Then, his expression turned serious as he fixed his gaze on his adopted grandchild. "Izuku, remember this: just like a sword or a spell, status is a tool as well. A tool that can be used in a good or a bad way depending on the user. And my boy, you have my complete trust that you would not use my name for some dubious reason."
"He's right, Izuku-sama," Opera chimed in. "Don't dismiss any tool at your disposal, especially given your unique circumstances here in the Demon World."
"I'll remember that," Izuku acknowledged with a nod, choosing to table the discussion for the time being. "However, I still believe we shouldn't escalate the situation with Gyari further. I feel confident in how I handled the situation yesterday. Besides, Kuromu intervened and supported me against Gyari before things could escalate further. That's why I would feel bad if she got into trouble because of me, considering how stressed she always seems to be."
"Very well, Izuku. I will let it slide this time, considering her arrogance as a childish mistake," Sullivan said. "But let me be clear, there won't be a next time. Should she dare to insult my grandson again, there will be consequences," he concluded, his tone sending shivers down Izuku's spine.
After that, they chatted for a little while before Izuku and Sullivan headed to school together.
******
After finishing the first half of their classes for the day, Izuku and his friends strolled toward the cafeteria for lunch. The group comprised four individuals: Izuku, Alice, Eiko, and Clara. Izuku and Alice led the way, engaged in a discussion about the morning lessons, while Clara walked close to Izuku, chatting animatedly with Eiko, who accompanied them side by side.
Eventually, the four of them reached the cafeteria, where they were soon joined by Daki. They found an empty table and settled down with their food. However, just then something unusual happened as two people approached their table. Looking up from his food, Izuku saw Kerori standing next to his seat with a pleasant smile, along with Elizabetta, who appeared smiling yet slightly confused, holding their lunch trays in their hands.
"Hey, Izuku," Kerori greeted in a friendly and familiar tone, drawing a few curious glances. "Mind if we join you?"
Oblivious to people's reactions, Izuku smiled at her and made space for her. "Please do."
"Thank you," Kerori returned Izuku's smile and settled into the seat beside him, with Elizabetta taking the seat opposite. Leaning closer to Izuku, she whispered, "Remember yesterday's incident with Gyari?" She paused as Izuku nodded in acknowledgment. "Well, it seems President Kyupa wasn't pleased with her barging into her agency like that." Kerori couldn't suppress a snicker as she continued, "She even had a word with Gyari's agency president and got her banned from ever setting foot in my agency again, plus fined a percentage of her next show's fees."
"Wow, that's a lot," Izuku whispered back, clearly surprised. "I'm even more amazed that she accepted it without causing a scene."
"Oh, she definitely tried," Kerori replied with a sly grin. "But she quickly backed down when she was reminded of your true identity. Eventually, she was given a choice: accept the consequences or face the consequences of insulting Sullivan-sama's grandson. And even she isn't foolish enough to defy Sullivan-sama."
"Well, I do think her punishment is a little harsh, but you won't hear me complain," Izuku remarked with a shrug. "I just hope she learns from this and manages to rein in her mouth and temper."
"Let's be honest, Kalego-sensei would start enjoying cute things before she would overcome her temper," Kerori quipped, prompting both of them to share a laugh.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Izuku and Kerori, they had attracted quite a bit of attention. Even Izuku's own friends couldn't help but notice the newfound closeness between him and Kerori, leaving them puzzled. However, amidst the crowd of students, one pair of eyes remained particularly focused and critically observant while scrutinizing the duo.
Ameri Azazel, the president of the Student Council, sat across the room with the rest of the council members. However, her gaze was fixed on a particular pair of first-year students, observing them intently.
'This is so stupid,' Ameri thought bitterly as she stabbed at her food. 'He's in a different class and younger than me. Of course, he's going to have other acquaintances, and of course, some of them are going to be girls. There's no need to be worked up over it!' she tried to reason with herself.
Yet, despite her attempts to rationalize the situation, witnessing Izuku getting along so well with Kerori kept giving her a nagging feeling in her stomach. A part of her just wanted to march towards Izuku and confront him. However, she knew that but she knew it would be an extremely embarrassing ordeal for both of them. More importantly, what right did she have to question him? What right did she have to tell him who to socialize with?
So instead of creating a scene, Ameri abruptly rose from her seat and stormed out of the cafeteria, ignoring the confused shouts of other council members. She quickly made her way towards her office and locked herself inside.
"I'm being ridiculous," Ameri admitted to herself with a weary sigh, slumping into her chair. "I just need some time to sort out my feelings."
As she began to calm down, her eyes fell upon a document resting on her desk. "What's this? I don't recall seeing it before," she muttered, picking up the document and scanning its contents. "Of course, this has to be dealt with today..." she grumbled quietly. "Just when I was hoping to avoid him."
"Well, avoiding it isn't an option," Ameri conceded with a sigh, reaching for her phone to send some messages. "Let's just get it done with," she muttered before slumping on her chair once more.
******
Later that evening, Ameri once again found herself in her office. However, this time, in front of her were four people: Asmodeus Alice, Clara Valac, Ume Daki, and Izuku Midoriya, aka the members of the Magical Tools Research Battler.
"Thank you all for coming at such short notice," Ameri began in a professional tone, addressing the group before her. "Please, take a seat. We have something very important to discuss," she continued, gesturing towards the vacant chairs opposite her, which were promptly filled by the four individuals.
"This is about our Battler, isn't it?" Daki asked with unusual seriousness in her voice.
"Indeed, what I want to discuss with you today concerns your Battler, particularly your former member," Ameri said, immediately noticing a shift in the mood in the room as all the occupants became serious, even Clara, who had a frown on her face. "I don't believe in beating around the bush, so I'll get straight to the point: Magical Tools Research Battler has been disbanded," she announced, sliding an envelope across the table towards the group, bearing the school's emblem.
Daki swiftly seized the envelope, scanning its contents before her gaze snapped back to Ameri with a glare. "Has the school gone mad? How can they disband our Battler like this!?" she demanded.
"I agree with Daki-senpai here," Alice added, getting up from his seat as well. "The school cannot make such a huge decision without consulting members beforehand."
Clara, too, expressed her displeasure with the decision, her discontent evident in her animated protests.
Ameri meanwhile maintained her composure as she allowed the three occupants of the room to voice their anger and frustration. However, even amidst the commotion, her eyes remained fixed on a single individual who sat calmly in his seat, patiently awaiting her response. He returned her gaze, holding Clara's collar in case she decided to pounce on Ameri.
"Calm down, everyone," Izuku interjected, his voice cutting through the tension in the room and drawing all eyes towards him. "Let's hear Ameri out before jumping to conclusions," he urged, noticing Daki was about to protest, so he cut her off. "Daki-senpai, please, give her a chance. I am sure there is more to this situation."
"Fine, but only because you're asking," Daki conceded with a huff, sinking back into her seat, followed by Alice. She then fixed her gaze on Ameri. "There'd better be a good reason for this."
"There is indeed," Ameri affirmed, offering a grateful nod to Izuku. "Recently, the investigation into Amy Kirio reached its conclusion. While I wasn't privy to all the details, I do know that your names were omitted from the official report. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for your Battler. I regret to inform you that since it has been mentioned in the official report, you are compelled to disband your Battler," she explained, sighing as she observed the defeated expressions on the faces of the four students.
"Is there a way to get out of this situation?" Izuku asked after a moment of somber silence.
"I'm afraid not," Ameri replied with a regretful shake of her head. "However, the Principal did have another message he wanted to convey to all of you," she continued, noting a glimmer of hope returning to the four pairs of eyes before her. "While you cannot continue with your current Battler, you have been granted special permission to form a new one mid-year, albeit with some conditions, of course."
"What are these conditions?" Alice inquired.
"There are only two, actually," Ameri explained. "Firstly, your new Battler must have a legitimate name and purpose for its existence. You can't simply concoct a random name or reason to reform your Battler."
"The second, and more crucial condition, is that you'll require a third-year student to lead and oversee your Battler," Ameri concluded.
"Alright, we can work with that," Izuku declared, promptly accepting the terms, while the rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"Understood. You have two weeks to submit the necessary documents for your new Battler. Otherwise, the faculty will assign you to different Battlers they deem suitable," Ameri informed them, pushing a few more papers towards the group. "Participation in a Battler is optional, of course. However, if you choose not to join one, you won't be able to take part in Battler-related events and competitions, which contribute to your end-of-year scores."
"Now, does anyone have any questions?" Ameri inquired but received no response. "Very well, then. Our meeting is adjourned. You may all leave," she stated, watching as each student except Izuku exited the room one by one. She then turned her attention to the remaining boy, who remained there with a deep frown on his face. "Do I need to repeat myself?" she asked, noting the frown on his face.
"Ameri, is everything alright?" Izuku asked.
Izuku's concern caught Ameri off guard, but she swiftly composed herself. "Thank you for your concern, but I assure you, I'm perfectly fine," she replied, masking any hint of unease.
"Are you sure?" Izuku pressed, his worry evident in his eyes. "You don't look okay to me."
"Izuku, I said I'm fine," Ameri replied sharply, her irritation creeping into her voice. "And even if I was not, I don't think I need to tell you everything going on in my life," she added, inwardly cringing at the harshness of her words. When she looked up, her heart sank upon seeing a flicker of hurt in Izuku's eyes. "Izuku, please, just leave. I'm not in the mood to talk right now."
"Okay, I'll leave, if that's what you want," Izuku responded quietly, sensing the growing awkwardness between them. Seeing that Ameri wasn't going to say anything further, he turned away and headed towards the door. However, just as he was about to open it, he paused and glanced back over his shoulder, intending to say something. Yet, in that moment, his mind seemed to fail him, and despite his efforts, no words came out of his mouth. With a heavy sigh, he exited the room, feeling weary and disappointed in himself.
Meanwhile, Ameri saw the entire emotional conflict within Izuku and cursed herself. "Why did I have to lash out at him like that?" she lamented, burying her head in her arms. "It's not his fault that I can't handle my own emotions."
Then after a moment of silence, Ameri spoke again, her voice tinged with vulnerability and quieter than before. "I don't want to lose him," she whispered to herself. "Certainly not over something so stupid," she added before letting out another sigh.
******
'Nana, do you think I did something to make her mad at me?' Izuku asked with a furrowed brow as he walked through the corridors of Babyls.
'No, you didn't,' Nana replied. 'Izuku, in my honest opinion, I think you should do what she told you and leave her be for now. She's clearly going through something, and your attempts to push her to open up might only make things worse between you two.'
'Are you sure?' Izuku asked while biting on his thumb. 'I am really worried about her.'
'I understand that you're worried about her," Nana responded gently. "But sometimes, people need to work through their problems on their own. Ameri is a strong girl and she can definitely handle herself. Let's give her some space to figure things out while you focus on your own problem.'
'You're right,' Izuku acknowledged, taking a deep breath as he arrived outside the room assigned to his now-disbanded Battler. 'Let's take care of this Battler situation, shall we?' he declared, cracking his knuckles before stepping into the room.
"So, guys, what do you think?" Izuku asked as he entered his ex-battler's room, taking note of the varying degrees of sourness etched on the faces of the three students seated there.
"I think I'm done with all the bullshit that's going on here in this stupid school!" Daki erupted with frustration and anger. "First, they robbed us of our rightful first place at the Battler Party, and now they've decided to disband our battler without even bothering to inform us!! Fantastic, just fantastic!"
"I agree with her," Alice said, sounding just as furious as Daki. "And I maintain my stand that it was totally unfair of them not to involve us in this decision."
"Lady Red-Head was so mean!" Clara pouted, her arms flailing in frustration.
"Tell me about it!" Daki chimed in, nodding in agreement with Clara. "Lording over us just because she's in the position of power!"
"Now, now, let's not shoot the messenger," Izuku interjected calmly. "Ameri just passed on the message to us; it's the school that made the decision to disband our battler."
"I know..." Daki grumbled, slumping to the ground. "I just need to vent my frustration and find someone to blame."
"If you're looking for someone to blame, point it at Kirio; he's the root of this mess," Izuku stated, his eyes flashing with anger.
"You don't need to tell me twice," Daki declared, her eyes darkening as her ribbons curled around her arm. "He's going to feel tenfold pain for every single problem he's caused us!"
"Forget about him for now; right now, we need to focus on the matter at hand," Alice sighed and turned towards Izuku. "Do you think I should talk to my mother? I'm sure she can put enough pressure on the school to reverse their decision."
"That's a brilliant idea!" Daki exclaimed, hope flickering in her eyes once more. "Amaryllis-sama is the Head of Lust of the Thirteen Crowns! I'm sure she can make the school overturn their decision."
"Even if it might work, I don't think you should trouble your mother with this," Izuku said seriously to Alice, prompting a whiny 'Why?' from Daki, while Clara held up a big banner with a question mark over Daki's head. Ignoring the whining girl, Izuku continued, "First of all, I don't think this situation is big or dire enough to involve one of the Thirteen Crowns. And second, forcing the school's hand like that will reflect poorly on our part, especially yours."
Alice pondered over Izuku's words and couldn't help but agree with him. He himself wasn't a fan of asking for a favor from his mother and preferred solving his problems on his own.
"You're right, let's not get Mother involved," Alice said, and Daki once again slumped on the floor. "So, about forming a new battler, got any ideas?"
"What is there to think about? We can simply reframe our battler name differently, and the purpose of our battler could remain the same," Daki suggested. "It saves us a lot of time, and all we have to do is find a third-year student to oversee our battler. It won't be as easy as I'm making it sound, but it's not impossible."
"I don't think that's a bad idea," Alice said, rubbing his chin. "But as you said, finding a third-year would be troublesome. By now, most of them must already be in some kind of battler, and those who are not are mostly eccentric," he said, glancing at Clara, who was stacking things on the banner she had produced earlier. "Or are too useless to be selected by any battler."
"Yeah, we need to be careful," Daki bit her thumb. "We definitely don't need someone worse than Kirio to be our new leader." Just then, however, Daki noticed Izuku standing there, oddly quiet and lost in his own thoughts. "Midoriya, what's the matter? Something's on your mind?" she asked.
"Yeah, I do actually," Izuku replied.
"Share with the class then," Daki said.
"I was just thinking about why the Magical Tools Research Battler was formed," Izuku said. "And no, I'm not talking about Kirio's whole 'Destroy the school to spread despair' plan. I'm talking about the 'real' reason you guys decided to join."
"Well, I wanted to create tools and you know..." Daki said, hinting at her family's history, which she didn't want many people to know.
Understanding her intentions, Izuku nodded and turned towards Alice. "And what about you?"
"None of the other battlers interested me enough to make me join them, and since you joined this battler, I just went along," Alice shrugged.
"I want to be with Izu-kun and play with him!" Clara added.
"For me, it was the vision that Kirio showed me that drew me in," Izuku began, sharing his own reason for joining the battler. "His speech of wanting to help less fortunate demons with magic tools is what made me join despite having no knowledge of magic tools or how to make them."
"Midoriya, where are you going with this?" Daki asked.
"I was just thinking this whole disbanding battler might be a blessing in disguise," Izuku said. "I mean, look at us. None of us are here just for making magic tools. We have our own goals and ambitions that are bigger than just that. And just like that, our battler could be much more than what we currently are."
"And what is that 'more'?" Alice asked.
"I... don't know yet, but we still have two weeks to figure it out," Izuku said, rubbing his chin. "Okay, here's the plan. Daki-senpai, draft the details for the alternate title of the Magical Tools Research Battler as our backup, just in case we can't come up with something else. Otherwise, use your free time to scout third-years who you think are qualified to lead us, and keep thinking about your own vision for our battler. And Clara, you will work as our moral support."
"That works, I guess," Daki shrugged. "I don't get the whole reinventing our battler thing, but I won't stop you from trying. As long as I get to invent stuff, I'm fine with whatever becomes of our battler."
"That does sound good," Alice said. "It gives us time to attend to our other responsibilities."
"I'll do my best as well!" Clara said as she produced pom-poms using her bloodline magic and started waving them around.
"That's right, Clara, let's do our best!" Izuku said as he and Clara pumped their fists in the air.
To be continued...