#so i guess iruma healed not only balam but me too

[umeji-writes]

Okay, but let's talk about Balam's hair for a hot second

(Yes, it may have become one of my fixations) You know, the guy not only cut it radically - and we know it's because of Iruma - he also let it grow back, and now he grooms it much better than before. Why? While my wishful thinking headcanon is that Kalego offered to brush it after they declared their feelings for each other (they are definitely introduced as best friends, but c'mon, look at them here)

...I also recognize this is not canon, so it can't be the actual reason. So I was wondering: why this difference? IMO it signifies personal growth, but what caused it, if Iruma led to the haircut? And then it hit me. Meeting Iruma, again - but in a deeper way than I thought at first. According to Balam's own words, he decided to cut his hair to appear more approachable. But why not brush it and style it as he's doing now? Everything we know about Balam's past points to him being treated like a weirdo and marginalized, not only because he likes picture books, he was also hyperfixated with the existence of humans.

This went on all his life, from bullies at school to his own students. He was likely wounded, full of self doubt and possibly shame, so he withdrew into himself, and his hair was messy because why bother if people avoid you anyway. So imagine finally having tangible proof that you were right all along. That's life changing, not only because of the discovery itself - it can make you reevaluate your whole story, and yourself. A radical cut was a logical thing to do, to break with the past. But why letting the hair grow back then? I speculate that Balam is most comfortable with long hair after all, and he feels more like himself this way (I mean, he had medium-to-long hair in all flashbacks). I like to think that his personal grooming is a metaphor for his newly found self confidence and self love: he can be himself to the fullest, he likes the demon he is, and he's not afraid of showing it to everyone else now, by making his hair prettier. He was right all along, and everybody else can shut it.

Such a small detail in the grand scheme of things, yet enormous for the single character. I love this manga so much ♡

[naehja]

The Teachers Familiars

I tried to guess what were the familiars of the others teachers, since we have seen only Balam's familiar (and Cerberus but he's not a familiar).

So i used Demonology to help me

Ifrit

I think he's in the same situation that Kalego, his "spirit" of fire is the manifestation of his magic and he can't have a familiar because of it.

But if he HAD a Familiar, it would probably be a phoenix, since Ifrit fire is stated to be the most pure of all fires.

Dantalion

He's apparently a demon who can make a lot of different forms. but no mentions of a animal with him.

I could see him having a DRAGON, since he sees his students like a tresor that he must protect.

(and i joked with other persons about him turning SUPER overprotective in his wicked phase)

Suzy

"""Stolas is a Great Prince of Jinnestan, commands twenty-six legions of demons, and teaches astronomy and the knowledge of poisonous plants, herbs and precious stones. He is depicted as either being a crowned owl with long legs, a raven, or a man."""

So maybe a Raven?

Or there are nothing to see with the demonology (where Stolas is a man XD) and she has a plant monster? A animal/magical creature who has a tie with nature?

Marbas

""In demonology, Marbas or Barbas is a demon described in the Ars Goetia. He is described as the Great President of Hell governing thirty-six legions of demons. He answers truly on hidden or secret things, causes and heals diseases, gives wisdom and knowledge in mechanical arts, and can change men into other shapes. He is depicted as a great lion that, under the conjurer's request, changes shape into a man.""

**mechanical arts** yeah right XD

No mention of any animals in his desciption; except the form that he can take when he's summoned by human (who is commun to a lot of demons, yeah a lot seems to take a lion form) :/  (so if Iruma had summoned him, he would have been a adorable little lion? XD)

I had one time joked that Marbas could have a cute (but super dangerous) familiar to contrast with his **fanboy of torture tools** side.

Robin

in demonology, the demon Barbatos is associated to a bear.

So Robin could have demoniac bear or he could have a hawk or a eagle who are associated to good eyes (he's kinda a sniper with his bow).

Orias

""In demonology, Orias (also spelled Oriax) is a Great Marquis of Hell, and has thirty legions of demons under his command. He knows and teaches the virtues of the stars and the mansions of the planets.""

And also ""The Fifty-ninth Spirit is Oriax, or Orias. He is a Great Marquis, and appeareth in the Form of a Lion, 3 riding upon a Horse Mighty and Strong, with a Serpent's Tail; 4 and he holdeth in his Right Hand two Great Serpents hissing.""

So it's likely that Orias Familiar would be a horse with a serpent's tail. Maybe with wings too.

Badass, right?

Ipos

""In demonology, Ipos is an Earl and powerful Prince of Jinnestan (a Duke to some authors) who has thirty-six legions of demons under his command. He knows and can reveal all things, past, present and future (only the future to some authors, and past and future to others). He can make men witty and valiant. Some who have summoned Ipos have stated that he is the same entity as the Egyptian god Anubis. Anubis is said to be nearly ten feet tall and muscular with the head of a jackal. In this form he acts as a protector and guide for souls of the deceased.""

So his familiar could be a jackal, maybe? or maybe a Howl since this bird is associated by knowledge and strategy? or maybe mix of Jackal and owl?

Murmur

"""In demonology, Murmur is a Great Duke and Earl of Jinnestan, and has thirty legions of demons under his command. He teaches Philosophy, and can oblige the souls of the deceased to appear before the conjurer to answer every desired question.""" And ""Murmur is depicted as a soldier riding a Vulture or a Griffin, and wearing a ducal crown. ""

So his familiar may be a vulture or a griffin. i rather the griffin, it's more badass. XD

Buer

"""Buer is a spirit that appears in the 16th-century grimoire Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and its derivatives, where he is described as a Great President of Hell, having fifty legions of demons under his command. He appears when the Sun is in Sagittarius. Like Chiron, the chief centaur of Greek mythology, he teaches natural and moral philosophy, logic, and the qualities and uses of all herbs and plants, and is also capable of healing all infirmities (especially of humans) and bestows good familiars. He has been described as being in the shape of Sagittarius, which is as a centaur with a bow and arrows"

So his familiar could be a kind of horse/kind of centaur, or maybe a snake since it's a animal who is often associated to medicine.

Morax Family

"""in demonology, Morax is a Demon, Great Earl, and President of Hell, having thirty legions of demons under his command. He teaches Astronomy and all other liberal sciences, and gives good and wise familiars that know the virtues of all herbs and precious stones. He is depicted both as a man with the head of a bull, as well as a bull with the head of a man. It has been proposed that Morax is related to the Minotaur which Dante places in Hell"""

so we could guess that, in this family, the familiars are bulllike. Demoniac Bulls. Maybe the Grandpa has a kind of minotaur, while his grandaugther has a bull.

[thefallencrestfamily]

"The Fallen Crest Family"

Chapter 4: Mela Ami, The Mysterious 14th Misfit Student (2)

As the lunch bell rang, Ameri shows up out of nowhere and drags both Iruma and Alice to a room and lock themselves inside.

Ameri: "Sorry for the sudden rush but this was important and I had to be sure no one else can hear us. Do you remember when you asked for research help about the Crest Family?"

Iruma: "Y-Yeah."

Ameri: "Well, I actually had the liberty to ask my father for the closed case files about it, but I promised him not to tell anyone else and to give it back once we all looked at it, I'm sorry, I couldn't just text classified info."

Iruma: "It's alright Ameri, I appreciate this. Thank you."

All three of them look at the files, as it talks about the crime scene. Pictures of the place burned books and dried blood stains. It seemed like the building itself was still perfectly intact. The case files talked about every name that was counted in as deaths, all except one.

Iruma: "...Melody Crest."

Alice: "It says that she was the only one who wasn't counted as dead, since her body was never found and was reported missing for years until the case file got closed."

Ameri: "It's too bad too, I was told she was a prodigy student of Babylus who was labeled as a Misfit."

Iruma: "...By chance, do you guys know what the Crest Family Bloodline Ability is?"

Alice: "Their Bloodline Ability? Oh, their ability is very rare and was told that the family members barely shows it off unless it was for emergencies. Balam knew Melody Crest during his time with her so he remembers it well, once and only once she has used it in battle. The Bloodline Ability Sacrifice, the ability to sacrifice a piece of themselves in exchange for power be it healing, strength or protection. The more power needed, the more they have to sacrifice themselves."

Iruma: "Sacrifices a piece of themselves..."

Ameri: "We should ask more details with Balam then if he knew about the Family Bloodline and we can go to the Crest Family home afterwards."

Iruma: "Oh yeah, speaking of which. Ameri and Azz, can we have one more person help with the investigation. She too want to learn more about the Crest Family Slaughter, and she knows a lot about the Crest Family through her own solo research before."

Alice: "What's her name?"

Iruma: "Her name is Mela Ami-."

Alice: "Iruma Sir, did you just say Mela was a Ami?! Like part of Kirio Ami's family?!"

Iruma: "Um y-yeah?"

Alice still remembered when Kirio returned to the Battler Room. His eyes that has been taken over by the succumbed by his wicked phase and returned to origins. If Mela is a Ami, then he can't take chances with her being a accomplice to Kirio.

Alice: "Why didn't you say she was a Ami?!"

Ameri: "Alice calm down. Iruma, you are aware of the problems this might turn out if we bring her right? You know the reasons Kirio left the school, so why would you associate yourself with another Ami?"

Iruma: "Because she was a illegitimate child of the Ami Family and was abandoned at a young age, so she resents her family and prefers not to be mentioned as a Ami. I doubt she even knows who Kirio even is."

Ameri and Alice looked to each other. Both had their suspicions, but it was clear she probably hasn't even met Kirio. Suddenly a phone call from Clara in Iruma's phone stops the silence between them.

Clara: "Iruma-kins, where are you? Me and La La already finished our lunches in the Cafeteria and playing what she calls Luffy Pow!"

Alice & Ameri: "Luffy Pow?"

Iruma: "Sorry Clara, something happened but me and Azz are on our way."

Iruma and Alice say their goodbyes to Ameri, as they go off to see Clara and Melody of the aftermath with what was basically a paintball fight but with giant cotton balls.

Melody: "That was so much fun!"

Clara: "Let's play again soon like this, okay La La?"

Melody: "Yeah! I look forward to it! But first... Clera Ricos Disineria!"

Immediately after saying those words, the paint cotton balls surrounding them disappeared. All three were shocked as they never saw a spell like this before.

Alice: "Where did you learn to do a spell like that? I never seen anything like it."

Melody: "Oh that spell? It was self taught. It's a spell I made myself."

Alice: "You made that spell?!"

Melody: "Yeah, it's something I've been passionate about for a long time. It's also how I was able to move up the ranks in my first year. Without my spells, I wouldn't be where I am."

Alice: "Spells? As in plural?! You have more?!"

Melody: "Why yes. After my exams, I can teach you guys a few easy Mela Spells I came up with if it interests you."

Alice, Iruma & Clara: "Yes!"

---------

Time passed by so quickly, that school ended and everyone already left to go home. The teachers had a meeting with Lord Sullivan, who need as many teachers to volunteer to judge the Talent Exam. After a lot of discussions Kalego, Dali, Robin, Suzy & Raim decided to be the judges. Similar to the Musical Festival, she had to perform to pass with a 666 marm. But this would be different. No music specialist judges could come at last minute, so she would have to fight against teacher judges for a 66666 mark.

Dali: "Are you sure this is okay? Sure she finished the Written Exam with ease, but don't you think getting a perfect 66666 for all five teachers is a little too much to ask for the poor girl?"

Kalego: "She can handle it if she is ambitious enough to join the Misfits in Royal One."

Robin: "Well I just look forward to see what she has in store! If she passed Kalego's Written Exam so quickly, I'm dying to know what she'll do next."

Suzy: "Mm hm, same here."

Raim: "Hold on... do you guys hear that?"

Kalego: "Yeah, no one else should be in this school but us."

Kalego and the 4 other teachers decide to investigate the sound and as they got close they realized it was more than one sound. The sound of a orchestra coming from outside.

The peeked over to see multiple clones of Melody playing many different classical instruments with several other Melody clones singing in a chorus. The piece they were playing was Six Trillion Years & Overnight Story, a song they never heard before.

Robin however stepped on a twig from behind and in a panic, Melody stopped her music from loss of focus and turned off her clones, as they disappeared with their instruments.

Melody: "Who's there?!"

Kalego told the four other teachers to stay as Kalego was the only one to decide to reveal himself instead. Melody sighed in relief from his presence as he approached her.

Kalego: "What are you doing in the school grounds this late?"

Melody: "I was just practicing is all. I couldn't do it at home, and since the music rooms tend to close off bookings after 6pm, I had to find open space."

He remembers that he had locked and kicked her off the Royal One room because school ended for the day. And if she stayed in the music room after school, she practiced for another 3 hours. That means she has been practicing all day, how is she not tired? But he looked at her face and saw worry and stress.

Kalego: "You have a gift for musical talent. And to be able to play so many roles with mirror clones of yourself takes a lot of focus. And it looks like you have a performance picked out. So what's bothering you that can make you stay in school grounds this late?"

Melody: "To be honest, I haven't chosen a performance yet. All the stuff you saw, it was just to help me think of ideas to make the performance better."

Kalego: "But your performance was-."

Melody: "Good? I know... but I want a performance that represents me. I wanna tell my story as I sing. I don't just aim for scores, Mr. Naberius, I aim to tell my identity on stage."

For a small moment, Kalego saw "Mela" as Melody, repeating those same words all those years ago. But the moment stopped when he felt a hand touching his face, realizing he started tearing up.

Melody: "Mr. Naberius? Are you okay?"

Kalego: "I'm fine, get your hand off me."

Kalego pushed her hand away as his tears dried off. Why was he remembering now? He pushed his memories of first year away because of the incident with the Crest Family was preventing him from pursuing his ambitions. He had to give up on her and deliberately tried to forget her. And yet, this girl who appeared so suddenly makes him remember the girl he tried so hard to push away. And then finally he asks."

Kalego: "Have we met before all of this?"

Melody: "No, we haven't. I only met Balam in a bookstore beforehand."

Kalego: "...Tell me how you saw him without him detecting you?"

Melody: "I use detection warding glasses."

Kalego: "Why would you need them when going to the bookstore?"

Melody looks down, twiddling her thumbs as her face turns a little red. Was she blushing?

Melody: "O-Oh that... Well um... It was... because I was banned from going to the bookstore after multiple accidental spellcasting incidents from reading the spellbooks. I got too excited and I was always a curious person when it came to spells so I... I wasn't always thinking about the consequences. So when I would go there, I would use the detection warding glasses and for extra measure, I'd use a temporary silence spell I made myself so I don't speak out spells in the store anymore."

So that's what happened. It would make sense that a girl who caused so much trouble at a store because of her ambitions and interests. Sullivan was right, she was a troublemaker when it came to her love for spellcasting. If she passes, chaos would ensue, he would have to ensure limits on the girl.

Kalego: "...Tell me. How many times have you caused trouble with your experiments on spells? Give me a average number."

Melody: "I guess like... 3-7 times a day."

Kalego: "And how many of those are serious?"

Melody: "Like... 1 or 2 a day?"

Kalego facepalmed himself. She's worse than Iruma's attraction to danger. At least with Iruma, he tries to dodge danger and unintentionally puts himself in danger through reactions, with her though she speeds head on. Now worried about this girl's future, he's just thinking how her home life by herself. Probably a mess.

Kalego: "You know what...I kept you here too long. Let me take you home."

Melody: "Are... Are you sure?"

Kalego: "Yes, and I guess I can help you try to decide your song as we go."

That confused Melody for a moment, as Kalego didn't make eye contact with her.

Melody: "Why thought?"

Kalego: "Because I was suppose to kick you out originally but ended up stalling instead, so I take full responsibility for tonight. I don't want you doing this again, you got that brat."

Oh. He was just worried in his own way. Kalego was always stubborn.

Melody: Sure okay I guess-.

Kalego: "Also, I want to see the state of you home. You live alone right? I need to inspect so I can confirm you living situation."

Melody: "...Wait what?!"

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