The Demon Idol Kuromu Arc is the 6th Story Arc of the Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun manga series.
The arc centers around Iruma unintentionally finding out that his misfit classmate, Kerori, is secretly the popular demon idol, Kuromu. Kerori dislikes Iruma due to him hogging the spotlight at Babyls, but due to a mess he accidentally causes at one of her idol performances, this results in Iruma choosing to help her finish the performance as the evidol "Irumi." In the end, Iruma and Kerori wind up becoming friends, but she's still irritated that his efforts as "Irumi" is once again taking away the spotlight from her.
The arc consists of chapters 40 to 43, and was adapted into episodes 21 and 22 of the 1st season of the anime.
Demon Idol Kuromu Arc Summary
Chapter 40: Akudol Kuromu-chan
One day during class, Iruma sees in the school newspaper that his Battler Party accomplishments have resulted in him getting the main headline for everyone to see. A surprising result as it means that he's standing out more than the school newspaper's second main topic, Kuromu; an up-and-coming Akudol performer, which is basically the demon world's version of the idol singer. His classmates then inform Iruma that Kuromu's got a live performance coming up this afternoon.Meanwhile, Kuromu is seen at Makubari Dome getting herself ready for her live Akudol performance. Within the waiting room, she takes off her Akudol wig while putting on a pair of glasses; revealing that she's actually Iruma's seemingly shy Abnormal classmate, Kerori Crocell. Despite being unable to get used to how revealing her Akudol dress is, Kerori assures herself that she has to push through it knowing that her extreme cuteness has the power to calm down demons, which is the main reason as to why she's pursuing to become the top Akudol. She's also doing this to prove to her emotionless Crocell family, who don't seem to think much of her, that she is also someone worthy of praise for her success at becoming the center of attention. However, upon looking at the school newspaper, she starts to get overly emotional and angry due to not being able to understand why Iruma's been getting more attention than her. She's given a warning by her manager, Mal, to keep her emotions in check, which Kerori returns to focusing on the first-half of her live performance. As she takes the stage however, she's stunned in disbelief at the sight of Iruma cheering her on from the audience's VIP seating.
Chapter 41: Carelessness...
Following the first-half performance, an irritated Kerori still in her Kuromu disguise finds herself during the intermission sitting opposite Iruma within the waiting room. Iruma explains that he got here thanks to the extra VIP tickets that the school's Broadcast division thankfully provided him, and that he won the live performance's random drawing lot where the winner gets a chance to have a private conversation with their precious Akudol during intermission. Not liking the situation, Kerori's emotions begin to act up again, which results in her ice powers activating and encasing Iruma in ice. Realizing she screwed up by exposing her bloodline ice power, Kerori tries to hide any other sign that may show Iruma who she is, such as trying to hide her glasses. However, in the end, Iruma is able to piece all the hints together that Kuromu is indeed his fellow Abnormal classmate, Kerori.Despite feeling glum that she dug her own grave at trying to hide her identity, Kerori starts to have a better impression believing that Iruma is actually a huge fan of hers since he noticed her hiding-thumb-in-palm habit. However, she's caught off-guard when Iruma points out how jealous he is of her that she's professional enough to remain out of the spotlight despite being an Akudol. That his carelessness has resulted in him being in the spotlight. He asks Kerori to teach him how to be like her at not standing out, but all he succeeds in doing is pissing Kerori off since she's aiming for the exact opposite. Threatening Iruma with her ice powers acting up, Kerori is unable to believe that her best efforts at standing out had been losing to someone who was being completely careless. However, her emotions act up so much that it causes Kerori to suddenly develop a fever, and falls to the floor unconscious.
Chapter 42: A Sparkling Impact
Manager Mal arrives in the waiting room to take care of the unconscious Kerori. She informs Iruma that it's because of the girl's Ice Surface bloodline ability that she's unable to handle heat, such as heat caused from a flood of emotion if she poorly reacts to something. As a result, Iruma feels bad knowing that this was his fault. Mal gives her fellow workers the order that their only option is to postpone the remainder of the live performance, but Kerori wakes up begging her to go through with it. Kerori explains her reasoning to them of how she needs to become a top Akudol to regain the trust of her family, and because she's such a lovely girl that she can definitely pull it off. However, she ends up falling unconscious again due to her fever. Seeing Kerori's determination, Iruma decides to think up a plan in order for the live performance to not get postponed.While unconscious, Kerori dreams about her desire to finally receive acknowledgement from her family for her work as an Akudol, but her family remains emotionless. She then wakes up with her fever having finally deteriorated. Looking at the clock, Kerori sees that she woke up late for the remainder of the live performance, and begins to cry at her failure. However, she suddenly hears cheering from the audience, and goes to the stage to see what's up. Upon reaching the stage however, Kerori is left stunned in disbelief at the sight of 3 new Akudols putting on a performance for the audience. The Akudol performers being Iruma and Azz, who are both crossdressing, along with Clara.
Chapter 43: For Someone
Shortly beforehand, Iruma had recruited Azz and Clara to help him with a plan to create an opening act that they will perform until Kerori is ready. Azz will put on a show using his fire-magic as Iruma goes about using his high evasion skills to make it look like he's putting on a weird dance routine amongst the fire. Meanwhile, Clara makes them their Akudol outfits using her summoning magic along with taking the role as the drummer to provide music for their performance. On stage, the disguised Iruma introduces himself as "Irumi," and they begin their opening act performance, much to surprise excitement of the demon audience. As Kerori watches Irumi's opening act, she finally realizes the type of person Iruma is. That he's someone who will choose to sacrifice his desire to not stand out in order to help someone in need. As a result, Kerori becomes interested in Iruma having never met such a person before. She then puts back on her Kuromu disguise, and finally makes her reappearance on the stage. Iruma tries to leave believing that his task is done, but the thankful Kerori forces him to sing a duet with her. Thus, resulting in a Kuromu/Irumi double performance.Afterwards, everyone celebrates over the Makubari Dome live performance being a success. In addition, Kerori receives a letter from her mother asking her daughter to take care of herself. Thus, revealing that her mother does actually care, and even attended the performance without her daughter knowing. Shortly after, Iruma and company have returned to school, which Kerori sees that the Kuromu/Irumi double performance made the school newspaper. Kerori announces to Iruma that she hasn't given up at beating him when it comes to being the center of attention, but also shyly asks him to go easy on her due to him knowing her secret identity. In the end, Iruma and Kerori are now officially friends.
