Come Back Soon, Your Majesty.

Chapter 6: Tension.

Even after the meeting, the room remained tensed.

All thirteen of the Misfits stayed within the room. The informant, stumbling his way out as he excused him the minute the meeting had ended.

"Hm? The meeting has already ended?" asked another one of the informants, curious as to what could've brought the other stumbling out of the room.

"Oh my, don't tell me the Thirteen Crowns are fighting again. Should we stop them?" yet another spoke,

The stumbling informant was quick to interrupt, "I encourage you not." he pressed the bridge of his noise. A deep, loud sigh escaping his lips. "I think we should all leave. The Thirteen Crowns are not in the best mood."

Another informant raised a brow, "I can't leave without Shax-sama, I'm his supervision." he explained.

"I don't think Shax-sama will be out for awhile." he turned to the now closed doors leading to the meeting room, his voice sullened.

"For a matter of fact, I don't think any of them will be out for awhile."

——

Even after the informant left, the meeting room was tense.

That was unusual.

Lied first was first to break the silence, leaning into his chair as he stretched his arms into the air. "I don't wanna go out! The informant Azz-azz assigned on me won't stop pestering me!" he complained.

Allocer flipped through his cards, humming. "That's your fault. You shouldn't have wasted thousands on gambling. Or at least, had a strategy."

Lied sat up, glaring at Allocer childishly. "Hey! If Azz-kun didn't barge in halfway during the tournament, I would've won!" he retaliated.

Purson yawned, "Says the one who was already a thousand ven in debt." he stated mercilessly.

"You all are just the same."

Admist the silence, the Asmodeus head spoke.

It was unusual. Sure, Asmodues did nag a lot, but today just felt. . off.

Was the AC broken?

"You wasted thousands of ven in a stupid game." Asmodues stated, looking to the table with clenched fist.

Before Lied could reply, the Asmodues head continued, "Andro and Allocer, you to. You think I didn't see you both there with Lied that night?"

"Hey, wait! You guys were there to?!" Lied immediately intervened, fwiping his head faster than light towards the guilty duo.

The two purposefully avoided both Lied, and Asmodues's gaze, scratching their heads nervously.

"Well, I-" Andro, amidst his explanation was immediately interrupted.

"All of you." the pink-haired said with a stoic voice, the room starting to burn up.

"All of you have been acting so. . so unprofessional."

Glances, except Asmodues's was sent throughout the room.

"Well," Kerori spoke up, combing through her long, light blue hair. "It has been stressful recently. Everyone needs a break every now and then."

"Our exhaustion does not excuse our absurd behaviour." said Asmodues, his tone still stern. "Were supposed to set an example for the Netherworld, not drive it into more debt." he glared a glance towards Lied, who purposefully went on to avoid his side-glare.

"Asmodues." said Sabnock, looking towards the pinkette seriously. "You seem a little stressed today, is your evil cycle approaching?"

"This has nothing to do with my evil cycle." he stood up suddenly, causing the whole room to flinch at the suddenness. "It's just a complaint as the right-hand-man of the Demon King on your recent performances."

"C'mon Azu-Azu! Lighten up a bit! Come on, let's go and have some fun! I have so many games and snacks and sweets and-"

"Valac." he turned his head towards the girl, who's eyes seem to darken after the name-call.

"Stop acting so childish." the pinkette said. He slammed his hand onto the desk, catching everyone's attention.

"All of you, stop acting so childish. We aren't in highschool anymore. Things aren't how they used to be. We can't just. . fool around like we once did! We have responsibilities- burdens to carry!" he yelled loud enough for the room to echo.

"But Azz-kun," Andro spoke admist the tension.

"We've been doing this for a. . really long time now. And we've been. . carrying burdens for as long as we remember. Now that we've reached this point, don't we deserve a break?"

And just then, the Asmodues was stunned. He stood there in tensing, awkward silence as memories trailed through his head.

His voice, barely a mutter. "But. . we haven't been doing anything. ." for a moment, his eyes turned nostalgic.

"since. . Iruma-sama's been gone. ."

Clara seemed to squeak at the mention of the familiar name, she turned her head away, hiding her frown.

Lied gritted his teeth. "Azz-azz. ."

But before Lied could speak, Asmodues's footsteps were heard marching down the exit of their meeting room. Unable to put in a single word, the Thirteen Crowns simply watched as the right-hand-man of the Demon King, left without another word.