Iruma POV
I enter my bedroom, followed by the mysterious child named Rimuru. She walks over to my bed, climbs up (with some difficulty), and sits on the edge, her little feet dangling. Looking at me with a smile on her face, she pats on the bed indicating that she wants me to sit next to her. I walk over and awkwardly sit down.
"Soooooo…before we get to the main topic I want to talk about, I have a different question for you. Are you Japanese?" she says with an almost excited look in her golden eyes. Thrown a bit by a question different from the one I was expecting, I hesitate for a moment before answering.
"Yes…"
"I knew it!" she exclaims "As soon as I heard your name, I knew you were Japanese!" she says with excitement.
"Why does a demon care that I'm from Japan?" I ask, feeling confused.
"What makes you think I'm a demon?" she looks at me puzzled.
"Wait…what?"
"I never said I was a demon, kid. Where did you get that idea?"
"But you said you were a Demon Lord…and why do you keep calling me 'kid'? I'm clearly older than you!"
"I am a Demon Lord, but that doesn't mean I'm a demon! Those are two completely separate things!" she says this as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. "I guess I technically am a demon, in a sense, but not the same kind as Diablo or Sullivan. I'm something different." She clarifies after pausing to think.
"Also, for your information, I'm much older than I look, so calling you 'kid' makes sense! I can change my appearance at will, at least to a certain extent. I just happened to pick a very young-looking one today." Rimuru says in a casual tone.
"W-what are you then?" I ask, honestly a little scared to hear the answer.
"Ok, I'll tell you. I'm a type of monster, a magic-based creature. This form I'm in right now is a transformation, a mimic of a human, and a gift from a friend who passed away a long time ago." Rimuru says, showing a hint of sadness when mentioning this old friend. After a few moments of contemplation, she asks "Do you want to see my true form? If I show it to you, you have to promise not to freak out! I tend to startle people pretty bad when I show it to them for the first time."
Freak out? She did say she was a monster…so is it going to be really scary?
"Sure, I'm ready for anything…" I say, trying my best to sound confident.
"Okaaaay…" Rimuru says. I watch in horror as she begins to melt into goo right before my eyes! I stare in disbelief at what's left of her body. A light blue blob, similar in color to Rimuru's hair, is now sitting on my bed. I instantly recognize what she is, having seen them before in games and stuff.
"You're a slime!? I say, my jaw about to hit the floor.
"I told you not to freak out! Sheesh…you said you were ready for anything, kid!" the slime sitting on my bed says in a scolding tone. She'd probably be rolling her eyes at me if she had any.
I watch as the slime begins to stretch upward before reforming back into a human shape, this time one that's much larger. Now sitting next to me is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She has golden eyes and long, silvery-blue hair flowing down her back, her smooth, pale skin almost glowing. From what I can tell, it's an adult version of the human form I've already seen. I stare at her entranced, in awe of her overwhelming beauty.
She's like a goddess…
Rimuru POV
"This is the full size of my human form, although I don't use it very much. I don't like being seen like this by strangers so I usually go with something in-between this form and the one I took when you first met me." I say, before turning to look at the boy. I feel a frown form on my face at the sight of his expression.
Goddammit! Why do you have to look at me like that!?
[[Calm down, Master.]]
After years of dealing with this kind of reaction, my blood (not that I have that stuff anymore) boils at the sight of the expression the boy has on his face.
"I don't understand, why would a pretty lady like you want to hide how she looks?" Iruma asks me innocently.
Why does this always happen!?
[[You are losing control; you need to calm down!]]
#...because I'm not a lady…# I say through gritted teeth, my face buried in one hand.
"What? I didn't he-"
[[Master! Listen to me!]]
"Because I'm NOT! A! LADY! I'm a guy! A man! One who doesn't want other men to give him looks like the one you just gave me! Every time! Every. Goddamn. Time. I use this form around people who don't know who I am, I get dudes gawking, or yelling shitty pick-up lines at me, hell, I've even had men propose to me on the spot! I am so sick of it!" I yell, throwing my hands up, completely exasperated. I, unfortunately, let out a tiny burst of my aura in my anger, scaring the human boy sitting right next to me. Thankfully, it was small enough that he wasn't hurt by it, just a bit intimidated.
Iruma is shivering and sweating with a scared, shaken look on his face.
Whoops, now I feel bad…
[[You need to control yourself! With your amount of power, it is very dangerous for you to lose control like that; even if it is only a little like this time!]]
I know, I know.
"S-so you're really a guy? I had no idea, sorry I made you so uncomfortable…" Iruma says apologetically, still shaking a little.
[[The child feels guilty, you shou-]]
I know, I know, I should apologize, right? I shouldn't have screamed at him like that, and I know it isn't his fault.
*Sigh*"…It's fine…it's fine…I'm sorry I lost my cool a bit there." I say, patting him on the shoulder. "Despite just insisting I'm a man, I'm technically not male or female; slimes, like me, are sexless creatures. This human form is a dying gift from an old friend. It's an imitation of her body (minus the 'parts') so it's understandable why you would think I'm a woman based on my appearance alone. I tend to consider myself a man, at least on the inside, because I have memories from my past life where I was one. A human man from Japan named Satoru Mikami."
"You used to be human, and you're from Japan too!? So that's why you asked if I was from Japan!" he says, now understanding my motivation.
"Yes, yes, and yes. I've mostly let go of my former 'maleness'-, but part of me still wants to deny the facts. I let that part of me get out of control a moment ago. Since I've revealed to you that I don't have a gender, feel free to call me whatever pronouns you want. I'm honestly too old to care about that crap, as long as I'm not getting 'unwanted attention' from creepy dudes." I say as I revert to slime form again before reforming into the small human child form I used earlier. "This form is less 'distracting' for you, yes? Don't try to deny it, I know I'm right! I was once a teenage boy myself, y'know!" I say with a sly grin and a chuckle.
"S-sure…" says the boy, looking a bit uncomfortable. "You said you were human in your past life, how did you die if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, you wanna know about that ancient history? I was stabbed." I state bluntly as if doesn't matter to me at all, which honestly it doesn't. What happened, happened. Technically it wasn't even the current me, Rimuru Tempest, but the previous me, Satoru Mikami, who was stabbed. A completely different individual whose memories and soul I happen to possess. Ever since I went back and resurrected Satoru Mikami and witnessed the stabbing from the perspective of an observer, I've gradually disassociated myself from the whole incident and even from my previous life in general. I'm not the same person I was in my previous life, so why should I get hung up on Satoru's death? Thinking about it, the current me wouldn't even exist if that incident didn't happen. I may still share a lot of Satoru's desires and personality traits, but I'm not him, I'm Rimuru.
"S-stabbed! That's horrible! How!?"
"Satoru Mikami, my previous incarnation, was walking down the sidewalk talking with two of his coworkers, Tamura and his fiancée, Sawatari. Out of nowhere, some lunatic started running at him with a knife. Satoru pushed Tamura out of the way and ended up getting stabbed instead. Made a huge mess by bleeding out all over the street, looked like a scene from a horror movie. The stuff got all over Tamura too, the poor guy cried like a baby as he held him in his arms before he kicked the bucket. Don't worry though, I went back there and brought poor Satoru back to life! You should have seen the look on Tamura's face when I did that right in front of him, it was priceless! Hahaha!" I casually blurt out without much thought. After a moment, I realize I just did something really stupid.
Oh, great, I've really done it now! I just casually told the kid that I can time travel and bring people back from the dead! How am I going to explain all that to him!?
[[You were careless with your words again, Master!]]
I just got a bit caught up in the moment, that's all!
[[You need to learn to control your impulses better.]]
I know that! I'm sorry, ok? I can fix this, just wait!
"What do you mean 'went back'. You can't time travel, can you? Hahaha…" Iruma asks, laughing awkwardly.
Noooooo…
"Um…actually…yeah…I can manipulate time, but I rarely do it! Screwing around with time can get pretty messy, y'know." I say as casually as possible, trying to make the situation sound completely ordinary.
"Wait…seriously!? What kind of crazy powers do you have, Rimuru!?" The boy says, freaking out.
"If I go into all that, we will be here for hours. Do you really want to know? I honestly don't think you do." I say, trying to convince him to drop the subject since I don't plan on revealing all my secrets to him any time soon.
"Fine, I change my mind. I don't want to know anymore. You're honestly starting to freak me out again, Rimuru!" He takes a deep breath. "You were asking me about how I came to the Netherworld, right? Let's talk about that instead."
Good, he dropped it.
"Sure, kid. I don't like talking about my powers and stuff anyway so let's move on."
"I know now that you're older than me, but can you please not call me 'kid' when you look like that? It feels really weird." He pleads, clearly uncomfortable with the nickname.
"Sure, sure. I'll just call you Iruma then, is that okay with you?"
"Yes, that's much better!" he says with a look of relief on his face.
"Alright Iruma Suzuki, tell me your story."