Chapter Text
“Your big brother doesn’t make mistakes.”
BLAM!
“Don’t get any closer to the kid, Iruma.”
CRACK!
“He’s the most loathsome thing of all.”
BOOM!
Kalego couldn’t remember when the last time he genuinely wanted to scream was. This week so far has been nothing but pure hell. But a Naberius is a silent and ever-vigilant watchdog, always and forever.
So rather he just raked the entire underground training ground into ribbons.
Cerberion was going berserk over the dummies, the equipment, the ground, the walls, the ceiling, anything and everything it could touch was getting shredded. Kalego dearly wished he could do the same with his own bare hands, but he had to settle for the supposedly sickeningly satisfying feeling of crumbling stone and metal that radiated from the claws and maws of the beast back into him. Unfortunately, today it seemed nothing was enough to calm him down. He just got through an Evil Cycle, for devil’s sake, he really didn’t want to fall face first into another one so soon! But what in the hells was he supposed to do here?! Every last forsaken teaching of his clan was failing him in this thrice-damned scenario!
The firstborn sons of each family within the clan go to the Demon Border Control to watch over all the Netherworld’s present.
RATTLE!
Every other son goes to Babyls and various other high-prestige schools, to watch over the Netherworld’s future.
BANG!
By nature, Naberius are lone wolves, each patrolling their own territory.
CRASH!
Yet, all Naberius understood that should the situation truly call for it, they can call for backup from each other.
THWOP!
They can rely on each other with full trust. The Naberius is one clan, one pack regardless of physical and social rank distance, now and forever.
KKKK-KRAKK!
Except that Kalego was howling in desperation for help now, and no answer was coming.
Cerberion slashed the opposite wall in its entire length with an unholy roar. Kalego realized a moment too late that he’d imagined Narnia’s face there a second ago. He flinched back in dread, pulling back the raging lightning beast. He sat down hard on the ground, Cerberion curling around him as a barrier. The beast still wanted to destroy, crush and maul everything it saw but the demon was losing his strength to go on. Kalego was heaving, he realized with shame. He wanted oh so badly to regain his footing, to stand back up, go about his duties like nothing happened, but those seemingly average goals suddenly looked well beyond the realm of possibilities.
The big brother who was never wrong, who was the very role model the young Kalego always held onto, through thick and thin. The pinnacle of what a Naberius should be…
Narnia has lost his damn mind, of that Kalego was certain. He hated it with every fiber of his being, he wanted it so badly to just have been a bad dream, the whole damn mess with that wretch Atori, the Deviculum, everything… But all of that was real and true and Kalego just wanted to claw his own eyes out and ears off. He’d been calling out since his Evil Cycle ended, sending distress signals to every elder, every cousin, every aunt and uncle and distant whatever-the-hell-removed relative or even non-related clan members he could possibly think of. The Guard Dog of the Netherworld is compromised, there is something wrong with him, help, for devil’s sake! Please help! …
Silence.
Did the pack fall apart, were there only now truly lone wolves out in the cold world, all alone? Did they all now fear the one who became a Crown and not even attempt to rise against him? … Or did the Crown gather the clan around himself and ostracized his younger brother behind his back, painting him as the failure and isolating him from the pack?
There was no way to tell, and it drove Kalego insane.
Cerberion let out a pitiful mewl, its heads resting on the ground next to its owner. Kalego sat with his legs crossed, his elbows resting on his knees. He let his head fall deep as Cerberion disappeared.
oooOOOooo
He was so going to end up in another Evil Cycle by the end of the week, he just knew it.
And no, that wretch Opera’s thrice-cursed “beach day off” idea most certainly did not help his state of mind.
Everything was too loud. Every smell was too sharp. Every light was too harsh. Kalego’s keen senses were turning against him, feeding his frustrations further. The Misfit Class, reincarnations of chaos itself, were exceptionally annoying this week (were they, though?), and the flood of homework only made their undignified whining louder. Robin was exceptionally obnoxiously happy this week (was he, though?), and the many slaps at the back of his neck and the extra paperwork didn’t seem to damper his mood. Shichiro was exceptionally overbearing with his stupid worrying texts sent from the Levialon Academy this week (was he really, though?) and Kalego had to mute the demon’s number (he would have to apologize later).
Kalego fell back on what he always did best – work. Overwork, specifically. More homework for the class meant more to grade and correct but that was perfectly fine with Kalego. More than fine, in fact. Meeting schedules for five months ahead? No time like the present, clearly. Security reports and routes? Always important, especially after all the insane demons who’s gotten inside the walls lately. One of them thanks to Na—
Do not think about him!
Kalego found himself once again late and alone (always alone) in the faculty office Thursday night, correcting yet another homework. Considering the amount of red ink he was using, it was probably Lied’s or Kamui’s. It was a bit difficult to remember whose papers he was exactly looking at after a whole day of nothing but work. The sky was pitch black outside thanks to the new moon. Kalego didn’t bother to look at the time. It was late, end of story. He would grade these papers, get sufficiently drained, then go home, basically faint into his bed and sleep until morning. No time or energy for intrusive thoughts, anxiety or dread or—
His pen’s tip broke against the paper with a sickening crunch, spilling the remaining ink in an ugly spot. Kalego felt a jolt run across his entire being, as if feeling the recoil. He flung the useless thing aside with a grunt. Everything was failing him today! Exhaustion slamming into him finally, Kalego leaned on his elbows on the desk and rested his forehead in his palms.
Breathe. Breathe, damnit! It’s just a pen. You are fine. Go home and sleep. You are fine…
- Uhm. Professor Naberius?
Kalego nearly fell back with his chair as he reared back. He blinked owlishly, clearing up his blurry vision with some difficulty:
-… Ms. Morax?
Momonoki Morax, one of his colleagues was standing in front of him on the other side of the desk, her hands behind her back. She looked down at him with worry, her light blue eyes shimmering in the faint light of the desk lamp. In the surrounding darkness, her pale skin and silver hair seemed to shine with an inner light almost.
- What are you doing here so late? – Kalego asked, trying to regain his composure.
-… I could ask you the same question, with all due respect – Ms. Morax gently retorted, her voice surprisingly soft and easy on Kalego’s overstrained hearing.
Kalego wasn’t entirely convinced he didn’t actually fall asleep at his desk. Ms. Morax was never this well-spoken in his presence, unless it was an official matter. She was a talented teacher of the magical arts, he’d mentored her in the past and her lectures were generally liked by the students. It was no coincidence that Kalego specifically wanted her to be the temporary homeroom teacher of the Misfit Class while he was going through his Evil Cycle. But strangely whenever he was around, Ms. Morax would stutter and blush a lot, especially when they were talking about informal topics.
Now none of that was present, which made him greatly suspicious of the reality of the situation.
- Eh, there is too much to correct in these homeworks. Pitiful work, truly – Kalego grumbled, staring down at the paper (ruined by him). – But surely there is nothing keeping you in here, Ms. Morax.
He figured he might as well indulge in this dream, maybe he’ll wake up faster.
- I’m… I’m sorry, Professor Naberius, I’ve been watching you these past few days. I can see you are having a bad week – ah, there was a slight blush on her cheeks now as she glanced away.
Still no idea why it was there to being with, but Ms. Morax was now looking a bit more like how she usually did around him. The dream was catching on.
- It will pass – Kalego waved the comment away.
Will it, though?
- Certainly, but… I admit I’m worried about you.
- Appreciated, but no need.
- I take the Deviculum was rather shocking?
Kalego stopped. With a sigh, he stood up from his desk, towering over Ms. Morax. The demoness maintained eye contact with zero issues, however. That was good, he didn’t mean to intimidate her, not even in a dream.
- That is… one way to put it – Kalego rumbled tiredly.
- I’m sorry, it’s not my place to know. But, uhm… – here, she seemed to lose her confidence again –, I, uh… I wondered maybe I can help somehow?
Help would be nice.
-… Again, appreciated, but no need – Kalego crushed that little thought quickly.
It was a dream. He was a lone wolf. Also, Ms. Morax wouldn’t be able to do anything, and the least number of demons that got dragged into this absolute mess, the better.
- Well… if there’s anything, do let me know, Professor – Ms. Morax slightly smiled at him. – And uh… one more thing?
She finally pulled her hands from behind her back. Her slender fingers were curled around a smaller clay pot with a healthy cactus inside. The plant itself was nothing special with its green color or simple shape, but it had a frankly beautiful peach-colored flower blooming right at its top. Kalego blinked at it, his slightly sluggish brain suddenly failing to connect the dots.
- I thought I’d try to lighten your week a little bit with this – Ms. Morax slightly ducked her head, blushing brighter as she offered it to him.
Sure it was a dream, but Kalego usually didn’t imagine such strange turns. He was far too practical and rigid for such creativity. The weirdest part was that he loathed pity in its every form, yet he couldn’t pick up a trace of it in this gesture.
- I… I appreciate it, but I can’t accept it – he finally found his voice.
- Oh… you don’t like cacti? – Ms. Morax sounded genuinely deflated and that somehow didn’t sit right with Kalego.
- No, I mean… I like them, but I just… don’t believe you should be wasting this gift on me – he tried to explain himself. – But I appreciate it. Really.
He didn’t even know where this sorry excuse came from. Then again, none of this was really happening. Still, Ms. Morax looked disappointed in surprising detail, her eyes shining with an almost sad light.
- Right – she glanced down at the cactus, then back up at Kalego. – Still, uhm… I think it would look good on your desk here, at least. Bring some color, maybe…
She gently placed the pot onto his desk.
- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude or waste your time – she quickly said before he could get a word in. – I hope things turn around for you soon.
- I… thank you – Kalego nodded, resigning himself to that even a dream he couldn’t help his aloof communication style turning others away. – You should go home, Ms. Morax. It truly is late.
- It is – the demoness agreed half-heartedly, slowly turning away from him but keeping her eyes on him a bit longer. – Good night, Professor Naberius.
- Good night, Ms. Morax – Kalego slightly bowed his head.
He closed his eyes, heard the soft steps of Ms. Morax on the floorboards. This would be a fine point to finally wake the hell up, enough fooling around. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers right next to his ear. The uncomfortably sharp sound stabbed into his worn-out brain, his ear twitched. This should do it.
When he opened his eyes, he was still standing in the same spot as he did in the dream. Strange, he usually wasn’t one for sleepwalking… then again, he also wasn’t one for being a nerve-wreck unlike as of late. But Ms. Morax was indeed gone, and no doubt she never even was here to begin with. Kalego had to silently wonder: why did she, out of all possible demons, appear in his sleep? With a soft hum, he turned to his desk to finish the paper, reaching for the back of his chair. He froze mid-movement.
The cactus with the peach-colored flower was still on the table.
oooOOOooo
Well, sleep was clearly out of the question.
Having finally gotten home (carrying the new cactus with great care), Kalego wanted nothing more than to just sleep for a few hours at least. But no, of course not. Instead he was tossing around on top of his bedsheets like a genuine moonstruck fool. Despite being so desperately tired, he still somehow had the energy to overthink things.
Like an army of unruly Cerberion pups, his half-formed thoughts chased each other in a maelstrom of stress: tasks and papers for tomorrow; Narnia’s deceivingly empty eyes; Wondering what insanity the Misfit Class would try or just straight up do next; His brother’s cold tone, not even trying to be reassuring; Oh right, Kalego should also apologize to Shichiro; Narnia’s letter of, “recommendation” for a wretched primal demon; Ms. Morax really was there and she really did gift him the cactus; Her voice really was so easy, almost soothing to his painful ears; Kalego should find a proper place for that cactus to predominate in the scene with its flower…
Kalego sprawled out on his back on the wide bed (made for two, but there was never anybody else), staring up at the baldachin above him in utter defeat. At least another Evil Cycle would give him the perfect excuse to stay home and sleep in. Damn shame he wasn’t a lazy piece of trash like so many other demons.
Maybe he should take a week off and try to hunt down as many… or any clan members he possibly could to warn them in person and seek help. But then Babyls would remain with weakened defenses… if not against an intruder, then against the Misfit Class and their shenanigans. Iruma especially was a magnet for trouble – Demon Border Control levels of trouble, apparently. Kalego was fully expecting all of the Thirteen Crowns and the Three Great Hero families getting involved by next month at this point, because why not.
What is that child, really?
Shichiro didn’t answer his direct question and Kalego decided to take that as a “definitely not a human, don’t be crazy”, for his own sanity’s sake. He knew damn well he was turning a blind eye to the whole situation and that he was straight up lying to himself. But Iruma was still one of his students and he was responsible for his education and his safety. That was the long and short of it, as far as Kalego was concerned.
Hm, the new cactus might actually look better on the side of his home desk. The natural light would reach it more direcly, and the surrounding dark leather files, pens and ink bottles would certainly help the flower stand out—
Kalego groaned and tore his gaze away from the plant on his vanity table. He couldn’t keep his head straight for a single minute. Did Narnia secretly put some kind of a confusion curse on him? (As if the elder needed anything else beyond mere words to utterly demolish his little brother.) Or was this a genuine midlife crisis, to which no Naberius elderly wisdom ever prepared Kalego for? Maybe it was a rite of passage in life nothing and nobody can help you with, you had to face it all alone and get through it or die trying. Great, now he was getting philosophical. He really should’ve just stuck to practicality… for example, what would the most practical way be to keep that cactus flower dust-free without damaging the petals?
Kalego had to once again get a hold of himself and turn his head away from his vanity table.
- I’m going insane – he made the observation.
Inside his soul, Cerberion was also restless, swinging between trying to settle down like his owner was, and wanting to lash out uncontrollably and attack something.
<Fight!! No—no, rest? Sleep? No, fight fight! Defend!—Stand down…? No! …>
Kalego reckoned this would be the true test of the discipline training he and Cerberion had to face in his childhood years.
To have such a destructive ability and not have total control over it was unacceptable, for the sake of all demonkind. Kalego had been extremely proud in that moment when the clan elders declared him and Cerberion well-disciplined and stalwart, a whole year earlier than what it takes on average for Naberius kids to tame their magic. Not even Narnia could bridle his own this fast. That was the first and the only time he ever actually surpassed his older brother in anything. Back then, Kalego was perfectly fine with that, he was happy to have his older brother be always in the lead and as a role model.
Now, however…
Maybe his Cerberion could be tamed faster because it was much weaker than Narnia’s wolf-like beast. The elders never said, Kalego never asked. The idea never even occurred to him because it never mattered. Now… what would happen if he had to physically confront Narnia one day? Over Iruma, or the school, or Kalego’s very place within the clan? The mere thought of this possibility flooded Kalego with dread. He was aloof and solitary but he didn’t hate his family. He could thank a lot to his parents and the clan elders in general, although his father had been mostly absent, busy with his duties and preparing the firstborn for his future role in the Demon Border Control. He didn’t want to lose fully contact with his relatives, but now a close family member might have been hard at work either cutting him off from the rest of his pack or backstabbing him in any other way, all the while endangering Babyls and his students.
Kalego found himself once again staring at the cactus flower, only now he didn’t even bother to avert his gaze. He was trying to find some kind of solace in the color and the shape, both of which were so much more different than what he normally surrounded himself with.
“I admit I’m worried about you.”
Ms. Morax’s sudden kindness was still fresh in his mind, and he’d yet to fully process it. It was not a gesture he was used to, certainly, nor did he ever expect anyone to aid or cuddle him in any way. (Although Opera could really go and finally die in a ditch with his constant antagonizing and gaslighting attempts). Shichiro’s inexplicably enduring comradery was a welcome break from the norm, but ultimately the protection of the students and all of Babyls fell solely on Kalego’s shoulders. Much akin to previous Guard Dogs before him who had shielded the school from any number of threats.
Only in his case… it may very well be another Naberius he would have to rise against one day (soon).
“I wondered maybe I can help somehow?”
Some part of him desperately wanted some support in this storm, but Ms. Morax (and everybody else, for that matter) had to be kept out of the way (and claws and maws) of the Guard Dog of the Netherworld by any means necessary. As long as Kalego could keep the wolf’s attention on him and him alone, that could be considered a win.
Until the fangs don’t clamp down on my throat, that is…
Kalego inhaled sharply, staring up at the baldachin, a drop of sweat running down on his temple. He realized he’d been holding his breath as if trying to hide from a predator. In his soul, Cerberion flattened completely against the ground in an attempt to appear smaller.
<Hide?> it groaned with genuine worry, confused by the thoughts and feelings of its owner.
Kalego had to calm down. He was thinking too far ahead and imagining too wild scenarios. There was no guarantee Narnia and Kalego would have to come to blows eventually. Maybe his brother just overworked himself and was seeing ghosts and danger everywhere. Surely earning a place among the Crowns took a lot out of him. He might just calm down after settling into his new role, and everything might just work itself out.
He smuggled a primal demon into our midst.
“Your big brother doesn’t make mistakes.”
Kalego took another deep breath, he turned to his side. His eyes fluttered back at the cactus flower. He always had a method and a plan, he was never one to just… hope for the best.
Devil help him, he had no idea what else he could possibly do now.
oooOOOooo
Many (many many many) demons believed Kalego was scary. He was always gloomy, always frowning, incredibly strict, no sense of humor, tormenting students and teachers alike with his spiteful behavior, and he often dished out physical punishment to all those who got on his nerves.
None of those demons had been mentored by him, though.
Momonoki knew under the mask Kalego was nothing like what the public believed. He was an overly reserved personality that needed some getting used to, absolutely. But he wasn’t the humorless gloomy monster, not when you understood his language. If Kalego saw you striving to do your best and be efficient, actually paying attention, actually heeding his word and actually understanding the method behind everything, then he was surprisingly mellow… dare she said, kind even. Not the “wide smiles and cracking jokes” sort of “kind”, but the soft-spoken, attentive and earnestly praising “kind”. Even protective, which honestly was the main reason why Momonoki had fallen for the professor so embarrassingly damn hard.
When she’d been hired at Babyls, she took her new teacher status very seriously. Partly because this was her dream job and she valued it greatly, and partly because her grandfather was already an established professor among the staff and she didn’t want to bring shame to his and the family’s name. It just so happened that Kalego had been assigned as her mentor. At first, Momonoki was afraid of him – he was tall, gloomy and serious, he spoke firmly and always to the point, and the other teachers regarded her with genuine pitying looks upon learning of her “fate”. But as she took up the rhythm of the everyday teacher life rather quickly, taking notes diligently and asking important questions about the whole system and truly understanding the real mission of a teacher, she had to realize that Kalego was not even remotely scary. He simply expected proper and honest work, a good head on one’s shoulders, and his introverted boundaries to be respected. That was really the key to the mystery. They’d found the common ground surprisingly quickly, to the point where Kalego even let some of her jokes and more light-hearted comments slide without a single remark.
And then that infamous “team building” (drinking party) happened. Kalego had of course declined the invitation, but Momonoki tried to be a good sport and foolishly attended alone, without having any friends within the teaching staff first. To be fair, everyone was very kind and welcoming, but unfortunately some grew a tad bit too friendly as the night wore on. Momonoki had to decline multiple advances from one older teacher in particular (who had since left the staff, thankfully), but unfortunately the alcohol made it impossible for her words to properly register with the guy. Full disclosure, the others did try to peel him off her, they didn’t turn a blind eye to it, but everyone was overly drunk at that point except for her and their attention was not exactly stellar. At some point when a sing-along ensued, her really unwanted suitor had tried to pull her outside to kiss her despite her loud protests. That was the moment when Kalego appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the demon’s head with one hand and smashed his face into the wooden wall of the bar so hard the entire building seemed to shudder from the impact. All the while he made sure to stand between her and the suitor. He then threw the knocked out teacher back inside, chewed out the deeply ashamed (and rather tipsy) Professor Dali for letting this happen, then he offered to escort Momonoki home. Turned out Kalego had realized a few hours after workday ended that it might not have been a good idea to allow the newbie young demoness to go to a drinking party all by herself and he rushed to the scene just to make sure everything was alright. He didn’t intend it to appear as stalking but he still apologized for it.
To be honest, the exact moment Momonoki hopelessly fell in love with the professor was when Dali had shown her a peek into Kalego’s personal journal he’d kept just for her progress. But that drinking party was most certainly only fuel to the fire, and a large one at that. (Also, that was the incident that made her grandfather so annoyingly overprotective in every future gathering.) When Momonoki became a fully-fledged professor, it was Kalego who presented her with the title and he admitted she had been his best protégé. That made her feel like she was walking on clouds for the entire week.
Since those days, her crush grew to embarrassing levels. Whenever it wasn’t an official matter, she was constantly blushing, constantly stammering around him, often barely registering the actual topic being discussed. When one first-year student somehow summoned Kalego to be his familiar, Momonoki was head over heels at just how adorable and fluffy the professor was in that form. She kept track of when the Misfit Class were having Familiar-taming lessons and she always tried her best to check it out from afar. Devil help her, she even allowed the Misfit Class to bribe her with Kalego’s “lost” personal journal during the whole fiasco over The Royal One. And let’s not even mention the “illusion” incident during the Heartbreaker exam…
The worst part about it, which she didn’t even fully realize before this dreadful week, was just how much of a problem her behavior was. … Or that she was acting very similarly to that unwanted suitor on that drinking party. It didn’t matter one bit that the genders were reversed, she was just as obnoxious and invasive as that older teacher had been. Momonoki wanted to just bury herself alive in shame when the double realization dawned on her in her home one night.
Again, Kalego himself was not scary. Watching him almost visibly unravel this week, was absolutely terrifying, however, and it felt like Babyls itself was crumbling. It completely shocked Momonoki out of her foolish love-smitten mindset and she started to see both Kalego and herself clearly. She had of course heard about the absolute chaos of “The Deviculum of the 13th” where two new Crowns had been announced. Kalego had attended it, despite his introverted nature, but Momonoki had to wonder if it was the unexpected betrayal of Crown Behemolt that had shaken the professor this badly… or something else entirely. After all, one of the new Crowns was his older brother, Narnia Naberius. Surely, having a close relative achieve this incredible rank should have been joyous news, yet… there had to be something else in the background, her female intuition insisted. Momonoki knew she had no right to know the details (and seeing her previous behavior, she probably had no right to even talk to Kalego ever again), but simply understanding that ball had been the starting point was enough for her. The professor even had an Evil Cycle right after that event, that could not have been a coincidence.
Once Kalego returned to work and was clearly buckling under some kind of mental stress, Momonoki kept a close eye on him. Only this time, she was finally seeing and thinking clearly like a proper adult should. The professor was overworking himself, actively choosing to deal with matters that could have waited for weeks without even getting close to the deadline. On Wednesday he disappeared for an hour after classes wrapped up, and later the other teachers said they’d found one of the largest underground training areas in complete shambles. Professor Balam, Kalego’s closest colleague was still away on some work at the Levialon Academy. Robin wasn’t helping matters with his usual energy, but at least he wasn’t doing it out of pure unadulterated malice unlike Opera clearly was. The newest addition to the faculty staff delivered constant covert jabs and extra paperwork to the professor. Lord Sullivan”s security demon thought he was so damn clever with his unreadable expression and even voice but Momonoki saw the intent to gleefully torment behind it with ease.
She knew she had to do something. She felt like Kalego needed some kind of gesture that was out of the ordinary, something that might cheer him up however slightly, or at least ease the troubles on his mind. However, Kalego was also a strong, stalwart, proud and no-nonsense demon and Momonoki was truly afraid her attempt might be interpreted as pity instead of support. He would not accept that, and she couldn’t blame him.
Still, she couldn’t just sit idly by and do nothing. So on Thursday, she finally worked up the courage. Kalego wasn’t some kind of scheming backstabbing drama queen – if he was going to get offended by her attempt, he was going to tell her straight away and to her face, and she would be able to explain herself then. So after work, she dropped by Magical Street and bought the only possible gift she could think of in that moment: a cactus. Her being her, she couldn’t stop herself from choosing one that had a cute little flower on it (the others looked so dreary, honestly). Still, she took her sweet time browsing and scrutinizing each and every plant closely (she didn’t know a thing about cacti, but at least she could tell when they were artificially boosted by blooming spells) because unfortunately she had a strong guess that by the time she’d get back to Babyls, Kalego would still be there working.
And indeed, he was. Even worse, he seemed to be… not entirely there, so to speak. After the initial scare Momonoki had managed to give him, his purple eyes struggled to focus on her and he had a little wobble in his step as he stood from his desk. It was genuinely terrifying to witness, but Momonoki tried her damnedest to keep her tone calm. As expected, Kalego danced away from any kind of help, even in this greatly weakened state. One some level, Momonoki admired the inner strength and pride to pull this off. But it was also incredibly worrying and frustrating to hear, if she had to be honest with herself. Still, she kept her composure (she wasn’t even blushing, now there was an improvement!), and finally offered her gift:
- I thought I’d try to lighten your week a little bit with this – alright, so she did end up blushing by the end of her speech, she couldn’t help it.
Kalego fell silent as he stared at the plant, although he didn’t appear to be angry or offended. He just looked… incredibly confused, and almost like he had some difficulty even processing what he was seeing. However, before Momonoki could speak up in the uncomfortable silence, he finally answered:
- I… I appreciate it, but I can’t accept it.
Momonoki suddenly felt like a freshly pierced balloon, her conviction leaving her at high speeds by that comment.
- Oh… you don’t like cacti? – she tried weakly, knowing full well she sounded downright pathetic.
This wasn’t about her, she shouldn’t have been feeling let down. Yet…
- No, I mean… I like them, but I just… don’t believe you should be wasting this gift on me. But I appreciate it. Really – Kalego explained, sounding exhausted.
Momonoki pressed her lips together, glancing down at her would-be gift before returning to Kalego:
- Right. Still, uhm… I think it would look good on your desk here, at least. Bring some color, maybe…
She felt foolish still pushing this stupid thing onto him but she honestly didn’t know what else she could do here. Her previous conviction was basically entirely gone at this point. She reckoned it was best not to drag this failure out any longer:
- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude or waste your time. I hope things turn around for you soon.
I wish I could have been helpful.
- I… thank you – Kalego nodded listlessly, looking like he would fall asleep on the spot. – You should go home, Ms. Morax. It truly is late.
- It is – Momonoki gave up. – Good night, Professor Naberius.
- Good night, Ms. Morax.
The demoness quickly rushed out of the faculty room, head hanging low. She didn’t feel let down because her lame gift wasn’t accepted, she realized. She felt let down by herself, thinking this pathetic attempt would have any kind of positive effect. Obviously it wouldn’t. It was a stupid cactus, and Kalego was struggling with something far greater. She wasted his time and clearly drained even more of what little energy he had left.
Absolutely stellar job by her.
As she took wing towards the teachers’ dormitory, she wondered if she should just get out of the way and be a silent observer.
Yet despite this massive failure just now… that notion didn’t quite sit right with her.