Contract Renewal

Chapter 1

A/N:

Inspired by (Story Idea) Contract Renewal, by Loki Avalon on archive.

* Don't own this idea to myself, the idea came from loki_avalon and 9844. Neither do I own the manga or anime. I also couldn't be bothered proof-reading it so soz in advance lol. Well, if anything, prob the pacing/small details/setting switches/flow.

'Even though Kalego-sensei reassured me that I'll be fine without him being my familiar, a sense relief flooded over me amidst apologizing when the contract ended up being renewed again. That didn't stop me from wondering why the contract renewed despite having broken it. Even if I'm human, surely at least some of the rules would apply, no?'

"Balam-sensei! Before you go home, I've got a few questions I'd like to ask. Would that be alright?"

"Hmm? Sure~. I wasn't planning on going home any time soon anyways. I gotta write everything that occurred tonight down so that I won't forget!" Balam-sensei was practically beaming.

"Then we can go to your prep room, it's a better spot to talk than the hellway." (yes it's on purpose :P)

"Ah, yeh, true. Let's go then." 'From the looks of it, Balam-sensei understood my hidden message.'

Now, you must be wondering where Kalego-sensei and Opera-san were. Quite simple, Kalego-sensei is in the nurse's room, recovering from his shock before going to head out whereas Iruma told Opera that he wants to talk to Balam-sensei for a bit and so is waiting for him at the gate. Afterall, it is dangerous for Iruma to head home this late at night, especially as a human. (Not that any other time of day is much safer...)

Once in the prep room, Iruma was told to wait on the couch while he makes some relaxing tea for both of them. Before you question, yes, Iruma told Balam-sensei that he was fine waiting till after Balam-sensei wrote everything down. It was immediately smacked down saying that as a teacher, his students come first.

Coming back with two cups of hell tea, he gave one to Iruma before sitting down.

Iruma gives his thanks and lets the tea warm up his hands while he organizes his thoughts a bit more.

Seeing that Iruma is struggling to start the conversation, he decides to prompt him a bit "So... What did you want to talk about? Does it have to do anything with tonight?"

"Um... yes. I'm mainly just wondering why the contract renewed even though Kalego-sensei and I broke it... Even if I am a human instead of a demon, surely there must be rules that apply to both species, right?"

"Hmm, I can see why you think that. Definitely, the fundamental rules of this world would apply to both of us, like what to do and what not to do when dealing with the various dangerous creatures that can kill us. But humans and demons haven't interacted with each other for thousands of years. At least not without hiding their identities. So there definitely are rules which apply to demons but not with humans. This is just my hypothesis, but as u know, demons summon magical beasts whereas humans summon demons. Its pretty obvious since it's supported by what you knew about humans and demons in the human world. The rules with summoning in the netherworld are based off a demon summoning a magical beast. There are definitely undiscovered rules with humans summoning a demon. A possible rule being that the closest and strongest demon near a human summoner will be the one summoned, as long as that human has a clean streak or has broken the previous contract."

The room fell into silence while Iruma drank his tea and processed everything Balam-sensei said.

Meanwhile at another location in the school......

Kalego-sensei had finally recovered enough from the contract shock during Balam-sensei's speech and was heading out when he noticed that the prep room's light was on. Now, that wasn't so surprising as he knows Balam-sensei sometimes stays the night at school. What did shock him, probably more than the renewal, was right when he was going to go past with his silent footsteps, he heard Balam-sensei drop the bomb, "There will be exceptions to everything, in every subject, especially when you are a human in this netherworld, Iruma."

'Human... in this netherworld... Iruma... what?' He couldn't believe what he just heard. So much that he froze like ice mid walking. Even his usual stoic face had stunned, and confusion written all over it. But of course, even if he is solid ice, time keeps ticking and so,

"I know, I know that I'm a human."

The kind Iruma gave him a rude awakening. How ironic lol.

'I must have been hearing things. Iruma a human? No no no, I really must have been imagining things. They must have been talking about... about a new picture book that Shichirou made... Yeah, that must be it......
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Ok, that was a pretty pathetic excuse even from me.'

Iruma now hugging his legs and on the verge of tears, "I know I'm a human, but I felt disgusted at myself when a sense relief flooded over me when the contract ended up being renewed again. Deep inside, I wanted Kalego-sensei to keep being my familiar. *sniff* Even though Kalego-sensei reassured me that I'll be fine without him being my familiar. *sniff* Even though he hates being my familiar, I just had to renew it. *sob* Because I'm a human and not a demon." Trying to stop his tears, Iruma rubs his eyes with his school sleeves.

Seeing/hearing as Iruma was practically bailing out, Balam-sensei frantically yet gently put Iruma on his lap and was comforting him.

"Shh, shhh... It's ok Iruma. I completely know what you are going through. Actually, maybe not completely coz I'm not a human but I definitely get why you want Kalego-kun to stay by your side. So don't feel disgusted."

Kalego on the other side was just about to open the door to rush inside when he faintly heard Balam comforting him. Realising what he was about to do, he embarrassingly scratched his head and sighed.

'what am I doing, this isn't like me at all.' But deep down he knew why he was acting like this. Iruma had wormed his way through to his heart and decided to stay in the home where Shichiro lived. Kalego wanted to comfort him like a father would to his child. But unable to accept that was what he was feeling, the conversation inside continued.

"I know there is no need to feel so disgusted at myself when there is nothing I can do to change the fact that I am human. It's a bad trait of mine... Back in the human world, I was so used to being on my own with no one to support me that I didn't realize how much envy I had towards normal, happy families that I would pass by. Only when Oji-chan brought me to the netherworld did I start to recognize that it was envy... As I became closer with everybody, Oji-chan, Opera-san, my classmates, you and Kalego-sensei, it disappeared and slowly thought of us as my family. (Kalego and Shichiro's heart skip a beat) But when Kalego-sensei wanted to break the contract, I woke up. I'm a human, no matter how close we get, it doesn't change the fact that I'm human and they're demons... If I'm exposed that I'm a human, wh-who knows what they might do. They might want to e-eat me. T-They might abandon me just like my parents... I just want a place where I belong without fearing that I'll be eaten...I just don't want to be alone anymore..."

While Balam-sensei consoles Iruma, saying that he won't do any of that, nor Sullivan or Opera, his and Kalego-sensei's hearts broke for this poor boy who was in desperate need of family love.

So,

Steeling himself for what he is about to do since his gut is telling him that his heart won't be able to escape from Iruma's hands when he does it, 'well there won't be much different then.', Kalego-sensei runs away.