Into the Netherworld || Naberius Kalego x Reader Fanfiction

### Chapter 4: School Days

A few months had passed since the school year had started, and both Hanako and Iruma gradually adapted to the new environment of the demon world.

Iruma had made it his goal to slowly increase his rank, and Hanako supported him as much as she could. He had also grown closer to his classmates and made two close friends who stayed by his side, which made Hanako incredibly happy for him.

As for Hanako, magic had always intrigued her. Therefore, Sullivan and Opera occasionally trained her throughout the week, starting with small spells and castings. It was a very interesting and fascinating experience learning magic.

Hanako had also bonded with her colleagues and students, even made a friend some what. Robin, a new hire at Babyls, just like her. But how does one forget to go to work for an entire month? Either way, teaching demons turned out to be surprisingly similar to teaching humans, though the occasional chaos reminded her of the unique nature of her job.

Of course, not everything went smoothly as it seems.

One such incident was the attack on the school by a student, during which Iruma got slightly hurt. Hanako had scolded and lectured him on being too nice and urged him to be more cautious. And after that, with the whole Evil Cycle and The Royal One classroom, it was incident after incident. She was just incredibly relieved that he hadn't been seriously injured.

"Hanako-sensei!" Balam's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Turning to direction of his voice, she saw Balam approaching her.

"Balam-sensei. I apologise, I was thinking about things." Hanako stood from her desk.

"No need to apologise. I was wondering if you could help me carry this to my lab?"

Balam referred to the stack of papers. Exam season is coming up.

"Of course," Hanako nodded, picking up some of the papers.

"Sorry for asking you right before you're leaving. It's been really hectic with exams coming up. There's a lot of preparation for it."

"Oh, I don't mind helping," Hanako then chuckled. "Exams are in slightly less than month. I'd bet some of these students will only ask questions last minute."

"They always do that. Exam season is always busy for us," Balam nodded in agreement.

Hanako nodded at the statement. While walking to Balam's prep room, they continued chatting about school and various other topics. Hanako realized her mentor really liked talking— or more accurately, ranting to her about demonic history, which was interesting to hear, as well as imaginary creatures, what demons called humans. Luckily, Hanako pretended to be interested in the topic so that she didn't really need to say anything and could just listen to Balam's talks.

As they reached Balam's lab, Hanako marveled again at the odd assortment of items and curiosities scattered around. Shelves crammed with ancient tomes, jars containing various strange substances, and an assortment of artifacts that Balam had collected over the years filled the space. Every time she entered the room, it never gets old.

"You can sit and do some of your work while you wait if you'd like," Balam offered.

"If you don't mind," Hanako sighed. She still had to prepare worksheet questions for her students.

"I don't mind. Take a seat," Balam said, gesturing to a couch. Hanako settled down, taking out her materials. While waiting for the tea, she wrote down some questions that she could use for the worksheet.

"Shichirou!" The door suddenly burst open, and Kalago stood there.

"Tsk, Shichirou, do you have— " Kalego started, then stopped abruptly when he noticed Hanako. Flustered, Hanako stared back at him.

"Ahem, what are you doing here?" Kalego asked, his gaze intense. Despite having talked to him numerous times, Hanako still felt a twinge of fear around Kalego. His aura was intimidating, making her want to run every time she saw him.

"Eh— Balam-sensei..." Hanako stammered under the pressure.

"Kalego-kun, what are you doing here?" Balam returned with the tea, oblivious to the tension. Hanako inwardly sighed in relief.

"I came to grab something I left the other day," Kalego explained, heading to a drawer to retrieve some papers. Balam set the tea down and poured two cups.

"Hmm, right! Kalego-kun, I have some questions about the exam papers. Also, why don't you sit and have some tea?" Balam suggested, moving to grab the papers. Kalego tried protested but was ignored, he sighed when Balam left the room. Hanako felt like she would intrude, so she decided to pack her things.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kalego asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Um. Well..." Hanako shrinks under his gaze and hesitantly reply. "If Kalego-sensei and Balam-sensei are discussing important things, I should leave."

"You don't have to. It's not really confidential to teachers. Plus, Shichirou is fine with you here," Kalego stated.

"Yes, Hanako-sensei, it's fine if you're here. You still haven't finished your tea yet," Balam reassured, returning with the exam papers.

"Well, if you are sure..." Hanako settled back down on the couch feeling slightly more at ease, she continued on with her work.

As she worked, she overheard Kalego and Balam discussing the exam papers.

"Humans?"

Hanako was surprised to hear the word and even more surprised that she had said it out loud. She tensed up, her heart racing.

"Yes! It's for the exam. I was debating whether to include this question about human biology. But for first-years, it might be too difficult if they haven't studied much," Balam explained, his enthusiasm evident.

"Shichirou, you're rambling again," Kalego sighed.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I just get really excited when talking about imaginary creatures. They're just incredibly interesting."

"It's most likely a myth," Kalego dismissed it. Hanako couldn't help but wince at that.

"Hanako-sensei, what do you think about them?" Balam asked.

Putting on her best poker face, just as she's been doing for the past several months. "Well, according to history books, there hasn't been sightings of the human species in thousands of years."

Hanako calmly recalled a historical book that she had read of imaginary creatures. A book that Balam had laying around in his room.

"You're right, there is a theory that they used to exist back in the past but went extinct..." Balam continued on, excitedly explaining the theory.

Kalego sighed at his friend and Hanako couldn't help but chuckle.

***
Note:
Here's chapter 4. Thanks for reading :)