Chapter Text
The walk home was long and quiet.
Soi had wrapped his arm under Iruma’s shoulder and was supporting him the best he could. Iruma could walk fine, but Soi still felt like he needed to be there for him in case his knees somehow buckled. The snow had let up completely, and the sound of crunching ice below their feet was the only thing they could hear besides their own breathing.
Iruma’s house wasn’t actually that far from Babylus- only around a ten to fifteen minute walk- but the cold of the air and the silence between the boys made it feel much longer. Soi wanted to say something, but he didn’t. It wasn’t like Iruma could respond back anyway.
They eventually reached the Sullivan household. Soi let go of Iruma and sighed softly. He looked up at his friend. “Are you going to tell your grandpa what happened?”
Iruma hesitated slightly before nodding. It wasn’t like he could hide it. He would have to explain why he was home early from Clara’s, since that was the story he had told Sullivan and Opera, and he hated lying to his grandpa. After all that man had done for him, lying to him felt like stabbing the old man in his bald head. Besides, he could trust his family. He knew he could.
“Okay, good,” Soi said, a tinge of relief in his voice. “Um… listen. Please, please, text me if you need anything. I can bring stuff to you if you want, or if you just want to talk about it, or- just anything. I’m here for you, Iruma. I really am.”
The human’s shoulders relaxed slightly. He smiled a little and gave Soi a thumbs-up. It was so obviously forced, done through clenched teeth, but if Soi noticed that, he didn’t say anything. “All right. Do you think you’ll go to school tomorrow?”
Iruma shrugged.
“Yeah, figured. Just let me know tomorrow morning then. And for the love of Derkila, text me. ”
The human nodded, sighing rather exasperatedly. But Soi paid no mind, instead just giving Iruma a friendly pat on the shoulder before he went inside the manor.
Iruma hadn’t expected anyone to be awake at this hour, but the moment he shut the big double door behind him, he turned around to see Opera standing across from him with their arms crossed. His throat closed up when he made eye contact with the security devil. What the hell was he supposed to say now? How, physically, was he supposed to explain what had happened to him? Even if he could talk, he wouldn’t want to speak about it. It was hard enough hearing Soi talk about it, right to his face-
“Iruma-sama.” Opera sounded calm. It made Iruma feel sicker. “Is everything alright? Why are you home so early?”
Iruma opened his mouth and shut it again. He clenched his fists together. This was impossible.
Opera seemed to immediately understand that something was wrong, because they moved forward quickly, crouching down to meet Iruma’s height to examine him. It only took a few moments of them staring directly into Iruma’s tearful eyes for them to realize-
“You’re under a spell, aren’t you,” Opera breathed.
Iruma’s eyes widened. How in the world had they come to that conclusion so quickly. Perhaps they were just able to sense it? Could Opera feel the mana- Kirio’s mana- seeping off of him? The human boy nodded, more tears coming to his eyes.
“Can you speak, Iruma,” interrogated Opera, their hand on Iruma’s shoulder holding uncomfortably tight. Their words came out less as a question and more as a desperate statement.
Iruma shook his head. He haphazardly pointed to his throat while doing so.
“Your vocal chords,” whispered Opera, “they’re frozen, aren’t they?” Another nod, and Opera cursed under their breath. Their eyebrows furrowed and their ears stuck down to their head. “What happened?”
How am I supposed to tell you that? Iruma thought, but he just stood there silently. Even if his vocal chords did work, he probably wouldn’t be able to get a sound out just from how choked up he was getting.
“Okay, I’ll just ask yes or no questions.” Opera led Iruma to sit down on the nearest chair while they stood up in front of him. “You told me you were at Miss Valac’s house. Did someone in their home do this to you?”
Iruma frantically shook his head. The thought of any of the Valacs doing anything like that made him shiver. (They would do it if they knew he was human.)
“... Iruma, were you really at the Valac residence? Or did you go somewhere else?”
Guilt shot through Iruma’s veins. He hesitated, but he nodded, lowering his head in fear and shame.
“It’s alright, you aren’t in trouble. I promise,” said Opera. “While I’m not proud that you lied, your safety is much more important to me. Are you able to tell me where you went?”
Iruma thought for a moment, before slowly mouthing one syllable at a time, Babylus.
“You were… at school?” Iruma nodded and Opera sighed again. “Alright. Did you encounter anyone while you were there? Someone who cast the spell on you?”
Iruma clenched his fists again while nodding slowly. His fingernails dug into the skin of his palm. Opera reached for his hand, noticing that he was hurting himself, and Iruma reluctantly gave it to them. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” they asked with a sort of trepidation that made Iruma believe that they desperately wanted the answer to be a no.
But sadly, Iruma couldn’t bring himself to be dishonest with his security devil any longer. He motioned to his arms and shoulders, and then his thighs, and then his neck again to accentuate that the loss of his vocal chords was hurting him, and then finally, with all the enthusiasm of a dead person, he gently rested his shaky hands over his pelvic area.
Opera got the gist of it way too quickly. Their eyes widened to the size of the fancy china dinner plates their household used. “No,” they breathed. “Iruma, were you…” Their voice got caught in their throat slightly while speaking (Iruma understood that feeling the most of any of the feelings he’d felt in the last four hours) before whispering, silently, like they didn’t want to speak the words, “were you raped ?”
Iruma wished Opera had put it a little lighter. Maybe used the words “assaulted” or “attacked.” At least he was used to those things. But the use of such a heavy word- rape - made Iruma crumble into a little ball in the chair right in front of Opera and start crying. He sounded just awful , his vocal chords begging to spit out any sort of scream or sob they could, but all he could muster was chopped sounds of pain as he nodded his head wildly.
The cat demon stepped back slightly, taken aback at Iruma’s response, though once he saw how sickeningly enthusiastic he was nodding- essentially saying to Opera yes, I was raped, please fucking help me I can’t do this anymore - guilt and empathy and pity rose through the security devil’s entire being. “Oh, Iruma,” Opera whispered, gently resting their hand on Iruma’s shoulder and trying to shove down self-blame when the boy instinctively flinched at the touch. “I… I am…” They went silent, because what are you even supposed to say in this sort of situation? Apologizing didn’t seem like the right move, because obviously Iruma knew that they were sorry, but they had nothing to be sorry for- what would they apologize for, not being there? How were they to know? How was Iruma supposed to know?
Opera took a deep breath, composing themselves. Iruma was already freaking out enough- they had to stay strong for him. “Who… who did this to you?” they asked after a bit.
Iruma opened his mouth and took a big breath in and out. He swallowed deeply.
The pain in his throat was gone.
“Kirio,” he said.
His voice sounded foreign to his ears. All at once, the pain and tension that had been bubbling in his neck and throat and tongue was gone, and he felt like he could breathe a little easier. Iruma made eye contact with Opera, who also looked surprised to hear Iruma’s voice.
“The spell wore off,” Opera quietly exclaimed. “...okay, that’s good at least. I was… I was quite worried that it would've dealt permanent damage…”
“Y-Yeah, I guess,” Iruma replied. His voice was still shaky and a little chopped, like he was speaking after getting over a cold with a nasty sore throat. “Um… i-it was… Kirio. From Magitools…”
Opera sighed and pressed their fingers to the bridge of their nose in frustration. Of course. Of course that bastard, that poor excuse of a demon, would be the one to hurt Iruma like that. From everything Opera knew about Ami Kirio from Sullivan and Kalego, it made a disturbing amount of sense. Kirio had always been infatuated with Iruma, for as long as the two had been acquainted, and when Sullivan told Opera about the things Kirio had said to Iruma before- about wanting to make him despair, about wanting to take him away forever and consume him so no one else could have him- Opera had kept these thoughts to themself, but they’d always thought there had been a weird sexual undertone to it all. They’d never said that to anyone in fear of it just being a fact of them overthinking it.
How they wish they had pointed it out before.
“Iruma,” said Opera, “I… I’m going to have to ask you some uncomfortable questions about… about what happened, about what he did. “I’m sorry, I just… I need to know that you’re okay.”
Iruma lifted his head, trying his best to blink the tears out of his eyes and put on somewhat of a stoic performance. “Physically, I’m alright now,” he said. “I had help.”
“You had help?” Opera inquired. “Was there a teacher there after the matter?”
The human curled in on himself a little more. “Um… n-not exactly.” He bit his lip and blinked more tears out of his eyes, which landed on his face, leaving streaks of moisture on his chubby cheeks. “My classmate, Soi Purson- he, um… saw everything happen to me.”
One more surprise about the situation and Opera might have a heart attack. “Purson… he’s the one who can disappear, correct? The chatty one, the one who played the trumpet during the Music Festival.”
Iruma nodded. “Y-Yeah. He was there before I arrived, and I couldn’t see him. I don’t think K-Kirio could either.” His voice shook a little. “I’m pretty sure that he was there the whole time. He only revealed himself after Kirio left…”
As much as Opera felt bad about thinking this about a child, anger was bubbling up inside them. The thought of Purson- someone who Iruma was really close to, from what they knew- just sitting there, invisible, while Iruma was being hurt in such a way…
“Don’t blame him, please,” Iruma said quickly, as if he could sense Opera’s anger. “He didn’t know what to do. He said that he thought that, if he revealed himself, it could’ve put me in more danger. A-And as soon as Kirio left, he helped me. He cleaned my wounds, he gave me a shower and clean clothes, and he walked me home- please, it’s not his fault.” It’s mine, was left unsaid.
Opera took a moment to breathe, before relaxing their shoulders and nodding. “I understand. I… I can’t say I would know what to do if I was in Purson’s place…” they said softly. “What kind of injuries were inflicted? Is there anything that needs immediate attention?”
Iruma looked away. He gently scratched at his arm. “Um… Soi told me that… my shoulders, they need to be looked at more carefully- but he said everything else looked okay,” he replied. “I have some scratches on my arms and legs, and um… bite marks. Down there.” Tears welled up in his eyes as memories came rushing in of Kirio’s mouth all over his lower half. “Neither Soi or I looked down there much. I… I couldn’t bring myself to-”
“It’s alright,” Opera interjected. “I can contact Professor Blushenko to take a closer look at it as soon as possible. If that’s okay with you, anyway.”
No no please I don’t want anyone near there again -
“Yeah, that’s okay, I guess,” muttered Iruma.
“Okay.” Opera squeezed Iruma’s hand gently. It was very, very obvious that the both of them were deeply shoving down their true feelings about the matter. Opera was doing their best to remain as calm as they could for Iruma’s sake. And Iruma… none of it had been processed yet, if he was honest with himself. He was able to let out a little of his emotions earlier, when Opera had said the word , but since then, he’d numbed himself.
The situation was only real if you let it be, after all. That’s always what Iruma had told himself.
Opera, after a bit of silently stroking the top of Iruma’s hand with their thumb, spoke up. “What do you want to do next?”
Iruma didn’t know the answer to that question. Soi had asked him that multiple times when they were still at school, and every time, he’d responded the same way- “I want to go home.” But now that he was home, thinking about the future, even just a few minutes of it, felt like a chore.
Opera sensed Iruma’s internal conflict. “Alright, let me rephrase that. What do you want me to say to your grandfather?”
Right, Sullivan. His grandpa, who he loved so much, was asleep, probably peacefully, blissfully unaware that his only grandson had just been sexually assaulted. “I… I don’t know,” Iruma whispered. “I don’t know if… if I want to tell him anything.”
“It’s okay, I can tell him for you-”
“No, it’s not that,” Iruma interrupted. “It’s more that… Grandpa always does so much for me. I get into trouble so much, and he’s always able to drop everything and come help me. I know it’s because he cares about me, but I just always feel like he does too much, that I should be able to handle things myself more often so that he can focus on his own things- like running Babylus, or working with the Thirteen Crowns, or anything else like that.” He sniffled as pictures of his grandfather came to mind. His amazing grandfather, hugging him and giving him food and shelter and love, things he’d never had before. “It’s my fault I’m in this situation. I didn’t want help from Soi really, and it took a lot of convincing from him to even tell you- I just can’t let Grandpa know that-”
“Let Grandpa know what?”
Both Opera and Iruma swung their heads to the side.
His grandfather had walked downstairs. He must’ve heard them talking. Iruma froze in his seat, before the floodgates opened once again. Tears started pouring down his face, and he crumpled in on himself again. Opera immediately moved closer to Iruma, holding onto his shoulders gently, rubbing his back, soothing him with both touch and words.
Sullivan immediately rushed over as soon as Iruma started crying. He silently took his place on Iruma’s other side and started trying to calm him down as well. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s alright, Iruma. Grandpa’s here.”
They stayed like that for a while, until Iruma’s voice was becoming so hoarse from crying that you might’ve thought the spell kicked in again, until Opera and Sullivan’s arms were getting tired from soothingly rubbing Iruma’s back and petting his head. Iruma was so tired, both emotionally and physically, that he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. But his body wouldn't give him the great mercy of sleep, not when there were still tears to be cried, not when there were still silent apologies to be whispered to his family.
When the tsunami of tears finally calmed down to a light stream, Opera looked up at Sullivan. “We should put him to bed,” they whispered, trying not to let Iruma hear.
“I agree,” Sullivan responded just as quietly. “Then you must tell me what happened. I need to know what made my darling boy like this…” He squeezed Iruma’s shoulder in a way that was more soothing to himself than his grandson.
Opera leaned down and gently pressed a kiss to Iruma’s temple. “Hey,” they whispered. “Do you want to go to bed now?”
Iruma nodded slowly, sniffling. “Yeah. I’m tired.”
“I’ll bet you are.” Opera gently picked Iruma up in his arms. If Iruma was uncomfortable with the touch, he didn’t react, perhaps he was too sleepy. “Here, let’s go upstairs to your room. We’ll stay in there until you fall asleep, both of us.”
The three of them walked up the grand stairs, through the hallways, and to Iruma’s bedroom. Sullivan lifted the covers of his bed while Opera lowered Iruma down and gently placed him down on his mattress. The two of them then tucked the boy in and sat down on the bed next to him on opposite sides.
Iruma looked up at Opera, who was staring down at Iruma with a protective gaze. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, just to the cat demon. “For all of it.”
“Oh, Iruma,” Opera whispered back, “it’s not your fault. I’m always going to be here for you.” They gently brushed some hair out of Iruma’s face and tucked it behind his ear. “It’s going to be okay tonight. Grandpa and I got you. You can sleep.”
Iruma mumbled, “you promise?”
“I promise.”
The boy shut his eyes, taking a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders and slowly beginning to drift away. “Okay,” he mumbled sleepily. “I love you, Opera-san.”
Tears came to Opera’s eyes. How could anyone be so evil as to hurt Iruma, their sweet boy, so brave and smart and strong… They blinked away the tears and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his temple. “I love you too, Iruma-sama,” they whispered. “Sleep well.”