The Music Festival Arc is the 16th Story Arc of the Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun manga series.
The arc centers around the first years' training and eventual performances for the Music Festival. The performance the Misfit Class decides on is Lilith's Red Carpet with Elizabetta playing the lead role and Soi as the incredible trumpeter since the two of them need to stand out the most still being at the lowest demon ranks compared to the rest of the class. However, Soi's father wants him to remain hidden as their family's upcoming new leader, which leaves him stuck between two worlds of wanting to please his father, and standing out in the festival. Their mission to put up a great performance becomes even tougher when it turns out that Amduscias, the great musician from the era of Demon King Delkira, is serving as one of the judges.
In the end, Soi chooses to do both where along with standing out as a misfit student of Babyls, he will also become the hidden family leader. He joins in at the end of the Misfit Class' performance standing out as the trumpeter while Elizabetta stands out as the Lilith lead. During judging, Amduscias is left unimpressed by Iruma's ameture piano playing, but admits that they overall put up a great performance, and that Iruma even reminds him of his past time with Delkira. Thus, Amduscias rewards the whole Misfit Class with promotions up to Rank 4 (Daleth), but he promotes Iruma up to Rank 5 (Hé) as proof that he's the leader of the misfits that helped everyone get this far.
The arc consists of chapters 152 to 172.
Music Festival Arc Summary
Chapter 152: The Student Council Parade
In order to keep the school running smoothly, Ameri assigns her newest student council members, Naphula Ampsey and Ronove Lomiere, to review the performances that the first-years are practicing for the Music Festival. Ronove remains disinterested believing that such a trivial task is too little for him, and that he doesn't want to deal with Naphula's horrid stench, but Ameri manages to convince him by claiming that it's an opportunity for the showboating Ronove to make a name for himself amongst the first-years. After Ronove and Naphula head off, Ameri is left imagining what kind of performance her Iruma is going to put on.Ronove and Naphula go around school to each of the first-year classes to hear from the students what their performances will be. Every time Ronove hears their idea however, he criticizes their performances for being to ordinary and boring. Thus, he ends up causing trouble for the first-years by implementing his own crazy ideas to try to make their performances more interesting. The other student council members report Ronove's troubling antics to Ameri, but she remains content with letting it happen due to this being a chance for Ronove, who's usually on his own, to interact with other students. She also claims that it makes sense to have Ronove provide the first-years advise as it turns out the Ronove was the overall winner of last year's Music Festival, and achieved as high as Rank 5 (He).
Ameri whole-heartedly believes that Ronove will be a great inspiration to the first-years, which all the classes are seen making changes to their performances having taken Ronove's advice into account. With only one class remaining, Ronove and Naphula arrive at the Royal One classroom to review the Abnormal class' performance. However, it comes as a shock to the duo when they see such a gloomy atmosphere where most of the Abnormal students have fallen to the floor completely exhausted.
Chapter 153: Hell Dance
Iruma explains the mess they've made to Ronove and Naphula that it was a result of trying discuss what their Music Festival performance will be. The story flashes back to moments beforehand where the Abnormal class are all trying to figure out how to do a class performance while Purson remains off the stage. Azz suggests they do a "dodging his fireballs" dance similar to what he pulled off with Iruma, but they all view it to be a hellish plan, and refuse to risk their life on a Music Festival. Given her secret idol work, such a claim pisses off Kerori asking if they're taking stage performance lightly, which she prepares to use her ice magic. Azz claims that they must follow Shichiro's words that "practice makes perfect" as he and Kerori begin firing their fire and ice magic at the class, which results in chaos to the point of everyone falling over completely exhausted.Returning ot the present, Ronove is set to return to the student council having confirmed that the Abnormal class will have no performance, which they all grab at him to get Ronove to stop. Shortly after, the Abnormal class has finished informing Ronove of the general performance ideas they came up with, but like the other classes, he deems their ideas to be too lame, much to their shock. Ronove figures they're just trying to do what's popular amongst the students, which they admit that they're trying to follow the current trends. However, Ronove explains that following trends is wrong, and that they must put on a performance that shows a passion that their desire is stronger than others. That it's only those who are truly enjoying themselves that are worthy of winning the Music Festival. Ronove's words leave such an impact on the Abnormal class that it surprises them that what he's saying actually sounds like it makes sense. Focusing on Iruma, Ronove asks him what he desires, which Iruma answers that he desires for the 13 of them to perform as a team.
Ronove admits that a team performance sounds like a new idea, which Kerori gets an idea. She suggests to go with the Evidol forbidden dance known as the "Hell Dance," which is known to be the most gorgeous and extravagant act where a group of six in an Evidol Group provide entertainment doing a coordinated dance, but is the most torturous to learn. Apart from Iruma, the Abnormal students all fear the idea of coordinated dancing as staying focused has always been one of a demon's worst aspects. Even during Kerori's idol work as Kuromu, there was only one other performer that was actually able to properly keep up with her for coordinated dancing. Kerori warns them of how tough the "Hell Dance" is, and that just one person slipping up will result in failure and possible rank demotion. However, the Abnormal class all get hyped up to try given their desire to beat the impossible, much to Kerori's excitement. With their performance decided, Ronove and Naphula confirm that the Abnormal class' performance is going to be a "Hell Dance."
Chapter 154: An Evidol's Essence
A brief flashback is seen of Kerori as Kuromu being unable to convince her fellow Evidols to practice together to form an Evidol Group as they're unable to keep up. Thus, Kerori is left alone complaining as she really wants to see cute Evidols singing and dancing together. In the present, the Abnormal class minus Iruma and Purson are seen having been brought to the studio room of Royal One. Kerori stands before them serving as their coach to begin teaching them the "Hell Dance," which she makes it clear that they must all become Evidols to pull it off. Seeing her classmates' confusion, Kerori shows off a video of an Evidol. She explains that Evidols are the ultimate performers as the true embodiment of charm, and that along with being cute, it's through their steps, songs, and looks that they polish it all in order to enchant the audience. Thus, Kerori claims that it's for these reasons that they should use Evidols as their model to perform the "Hell Dance."The men begin to fear that they're going to be dressing up like girls, but Kerori assures them that male Evidols exist, which amazes them when they see video footage of performing male Evidols. Some of the Abnormal students remain unconvinced that they could pull it off finding performing as an Evidol a bit embarrassing, which strikes a cord with Kerori. She orders them to watch her carefully as she believes that seeing a live performance would be more convincing than having them just watch it on video. Despite still appearing as Kerori, she performs as Kuromu in front of them by starting a performance as if she's taking the stage as an Evidol; showing off her cuteness, beauty, and coolness. The men end up seeing the image of a male Kerori performing, which leaves the males impressed to the point of the whole class cheering at how awesome that was, which Kerori freaks out realizing she took it a bit too far almost giving it away that she's an actual Evidol.
Getting back on track, the excited Kerori asks the class if pulling off a performance like that in front of everyone makes their heart race, which they cheer that it does. Turning her attention to Clara and Elizabetta, Kerori orders the two of them to come along with her as the three of them are going to be training really hard to be the lead dancers. Kerori then orders the Abnormal class' male students to start simple by just getting a handle on saying "I'm so cool!" 666 times. Kerori next turns her attention to the nearby room to check on how the music team is doing. Within said room, Iruma's seen sitting at a piano while Purson's ready to begin playing his trumpet.
Chapter 155: Underworld Piano
Purson stands by listening to Iruma play the piano, but it turns out that Iruma sucks at it given that it's his first time. Trying to reassure Iruma, Purson tells him that he will get better as long as he practices, which Iruma agrees that he will work harder given that this is the role that the class gave to him. The story flashes back a bit to the moment where Kerori is separating the Abnormal class into two groups for the "Hell Dance." Purson and Iruma are put in the music group as the main trumpet and piano support respectively while everyone else is the dance group. Azz complains as to why Iruma's only support, which Kerori answers that along with keeping the people already at Rank 4 (Daleth) out of focus since they don't need to rank up, having Iruma in focus would just cause problems as everyone will look at him given his high reputation instead of Purson and Elizabetta. She also explains that Iruma has a good enough ear to play piano, and that he's best suited to cooperate with Purson given that he's interacted with him the most. Finally, she figures that Iruma is best suited to lead them from the piano. She asks Iruma if he's willing to lead them, which Iruma excitedly agrees to do so.The Abnormal students go about praising Iruma to do his best at the piano, which in the present, Iruma remains excited since this is the first time he's actually hyped about being asked to do something. Kerori is seen in the music room having witnessed Iruma struggling, which she assures him that she's already assigned him a teacher. Said teacher turns out to be Sabro, who goes about playing the piano perfectly as he believes that it's necessary for one who will be the future Demon King. Iruma prepares to practice with Sabro, but as he approaches the piano, the lid instantly shuts on him as the piano will only allow one to play if they show it respect first by bowing to it; implying that the piano has some form of sentience. Sure enough, Sabro plays the piano after bowing to it, which it turns into a heavy metal piano reflecting Sabro's persona. Meanwhile for Iruma, the piano turns into safe childish cushions, which Sabro assures him that the piano will fix itself to look more normal as long as Iruma remains focused on playing.
Iruma's able to go along with Sabro's piano training, but later on when he tries to practice solo, he winds up struggling again, which Iruma complains that he needs Sabro. Despite the struggles, Purson is surprised to see that Iruma remains happy. In return, Iruma explains that it's because he can't get over that the class doesn't just want anyone to do it, but just him specifically. The two of them make their way over to the Royal One dance studio to retrieve Sabro only to find Kerori at the door keeping them from entering as the rest of the Abnormal class are all busy practicing the "Hell Dance." However, Kerori claims that she already put into account that Iruma was probably going to continue struggling without Sabro. Thus, she reveals that she already decided to ask someone else to coach Iruma, and advises them to head back to the music room. Iruma and Purson do so, and upon returning to said music room, they find Kalego playing the piano perfectly, much to their shock. Kalego then turns to face Iruma and Purson. He orders said amateurs to sit down in order to begin teaching them about music.
Chapter 156: Lilith's Red Carpet
The story flashes back to Kerori meeting up with Kalego to ask him to teach Iruma how to play piano. Kalego asks why it has to be him specifically, which Kerori reveals that she did her research that Kalego won his class' Music Festival, and that Shichiro even informed her that Kalego is capable of playing almost any instrument. Kerori tries to further explain that she doesn't believe she's capable of training the whole Abnormal class herself, but Kalego quickly agrees to go along with it claiming that it's the teachers duty to prioritise the students' growth, and that Kerori made the right choice asking him for help. In the present, Kalego is seen in the Royal One music room determined to teach Iruma and Purson the basics of playing music. The two of them are playing their respective trumpet and piano trying to match each other's rhythm, but their constant struggle to Kalego's strict teaching leaves them both exhausted after 6 hours.Continuing the session, Kalego admits that while Iruma and Purson are starting to catch on, they still have a long way to go. He goes over the music piece that the Abnormal class has chosen to perform, and is surprised that they chose a tricky piece known as "Lilith's Red Carpet." Lilith being the most captivating demoness who controlled the underworld, and that the path she walked was known as Lilith's Red Carpet, because it was a path of bodies consisting of the men who vied for her favor. Kalego explains that the theme surrounding the Lilith's Red Carpet music piece is love given that it's about praise and adoration regarding the fools who tried to woo her. Thus, the primary objective is to create a world with their music that suits the story of Lilith. Kalego takes to the piano, and plays his version of Lilith's Red Carpet, which the world is portrayed as a mature encounter where Kalego tries to woo the demon known as Lilith, but is unable to do so.
Seeing Iruma and Purson caught off-guard by such an adult moment, Kalego advises Iruma to make a music world that suits him rather than trying to copy the teacher. Iruma takes his turn at the piano, which Kalego orders him to think of a moment where he tries to woo Lilith. While trying to play Lilith's Red Carpet, Iruma thinks over how to have fun with the demoness, but ends up struggling as the only world he's able to come up with is eating lots of meals together with Lilith. An irritated Kalego grabs Iruma's head claiming that he has to fix his priorities first, which he orders his two music students to call their guardians to stay late tonight for more music practice. After informing Sullivan and Opera over the phone, Iruma remains determined to work hard. Meanwhile, Azz and Clara are seen elsewhere tied up together by their hands and feet with Mimicry Wristbands. Despite clearly being tired, they both remain determined to learn how to coordinate their dance together.
Chapter 157: Friends
Within the Royal One dance studio, the dancing group is seen using Mimicry Wristbands to keep their hands tied up as they practice coordinated dancing together. However, they end up continuing to struggle and fall over. As a result, Kerori orders everyone to form smaller groups to have an easier time practicing with fewer people. She also orders Azz and Clara specifically to really get it together as them working as a pair has been the biggest struggle. Shortly after, Azz and Clara are seen within the Royal One's Indoor Garden in order to privately learn coordinate dancing together. However, their styles don't mesh at all as Azz tries to dance perfectly while Clara's dancing is more chaotic, which results in them continuing to argue and struggle. Azz remains worried that he's not going to be able to face Iruma over his failure, which Clara suggests that they go observe how the other dance pairs are doing.Within Royal One's nap room, Azz and Clara see the Kamui/Goemon/Schneider group all perfectly coordinate dancing together. As it turns out, Kamui suggested to turn it into a competition where the first one to mess up has to spill information on their lady friends. Thus, Goemon and Schneider take the dancing seriously to not give away their lady friends' secrets while Kamui dances seriously to not be the loser wanting to hear what his teammates say about other women. Azz and Clara next visit Royal One's study room, which the Elizabetta/Sabro/Lied group are all seen getting the hang of the coordinated dancing. Though Lied continues to get annoyed that Sabro's getting in the way of what could be a romantic moment between him and Elizabetta. Finally, Azz and Clara pass by the room where the Kerori/Picero/Jazz group is practicing. Kerori being the one seriously coaching Picero and Jazz how to properly show off and dance given that they're the two laziest of the Abnormal class. Having witnessed the other groups trying hard to get better, Azz and Clara return to the Indoor Garden for a private heart-to-heart as to why they're failing to mesh.
Azz and Clara go about arguing a lot over each other's negative aspects until they're both lying on the ground completely exhausted. They both claim that they want to see Iruma, which they brighten up realizing that they finally see eye-to-eye on something. Clara points out that her and Azz would probably have never met one another had it not been for Iruma, which Azz agrees with. They both go about happily praising Iruma for bringing them together, which leads to a calm Azz finally calling Clara by her proper name, much to Clara's happiness as Azz usually just called her nicknames. The two of them go back to practicing. Despite knowing that they're rarely ever on the same page, their connection with Iruma is enough for them to continue. Some time after, the Abnormal class is all gathered together, and thanks to their practice, they all manage to pull off a complete coordinated dance. They all cheer at their accomplishment as Kerori claims the dance group is ready. Though like usual, Azz and Clara are back to arguing over their mistakes.
Chapter 158: Courting
In the Royal One dance studio, the Abnormal class' dancer group are all seen gathered up since it's time to rejoin with the music group. Iruma and Purson both appear alongside Kalego dressed up in their fancy performance suits, which surprises everyone at how sharp they're looking. Taking a bouquet of flowers, Iruma performs in front of Elizabetta as if he's trying to woo her, and even provides her a love note asking her to accept it. The performance comes as a shock to Azz and Clara while Lied becomes enraged calling Iruma a traitor. Before Elizabetta could reply, Iruma asks her to only give her answer after he finishes his performance.With Purson beside him ready to play his trumpet, Iruma takes his place at the piano, and begins to play Lilith's Red Carpet for Elizabetta. They all watch Iruma perform unable to understand why he's playing the piano so quietly as if he wants to focus on him. The story flashes back to Iruma and Purson in the music room. Seeing Iruma struggling to write something, Purson asks what's wrong. Iruma explains that Kalego ordered him to play Lilith's Red Carpet as if it's a love letter to her, which he came up with trying to write an actual love letter. Purson thinks it over himself questioning how Lilith must have felt trying to be courted by so many men, which Iruma realizes what he was missing. That he shouldn't be trying to channel his own feelings into the song, but that the music should be focused from Lilith's perspective. In the present, Purson joins Iruma's piano playing with his trumpet as their musical world is seen showing them trying to provide Elizabetta many presents in an attempt to woo her.
The excited Elizabetta plays along performing as if she's unable to feel swoon from anyone trying to woo her. With Elizabetta at the center, all the dancers get caught up in the flow. They join in with the music, and perform their coordinate dance; striking a finishing pose the moment the music finishes. With the performance over, all of them are left shocked and amazed at what they pulled off. Iruma asks Elizabetta once more if she will accept his letter, which she plays out her role as Lilith offering a trade by accepting the letter, but orders Iruma not to speak to him anymore. In return, Iruma's satisfied that she looks and sounds just like Lilith. As the Abnormal class all continue to cheer about their performance, Kerori watches them with Kalego. Kerori figures that the unpolished performance just now will serve as good framework to work from, which Kalego agrees that the Abnormal class has reached the starting line. Meanwhile, Purson's cellphone is seen having missed many calls from his father.
Chapter 159: The Future From Now On
The Abnormal class spends time in the Royal One nap room trying on clothes for what they're going to wear for their performance. Kerori makes it clear that everyone except the two star performers should be wearing black to not stand out as much. As a result, Elizabetta is seen wearing a beautiful dress while Purson is wearing an odd looking outfit with a veil that covers his face. Purson remains confused as to what he's wearing, which Kerori explains that his outfit is made up of a Secret Veil that's designed to hide one's presence. She further explains that Purson will be like a mirage floating around the performance as the real "Pixie" with the audience being unable to tell that the veiled performer is actually Purson playing music in front of them. Kerori and the other 11 Abnormal students all remain confident that this is the plan to have all 13 of them standing on the stage together, which leaves an impression on Purson.Iruma is left amazed that Kerori is providing them so much material to work with for their performance, which she makes it clear that it's not cheating. That she's just using the fruit of her labor to her advantage (referring to her Evidol work). Purson takes Kerori's words to heart thinking about his trumpet playing, which everyone gets excited to hear Purson play some more. In return, Purson plays his trumpet once more as everyone sits back and listens. Afterwards, the Abnormal class spends the next days continuing to practice their performance. One day, Purson is seen on his own walking down the school hallways air practicing with a pretend trumpet. He catches on that this is the first time he's ever truly practiced music, and feels happy that instead of just being satisfied with being alone, he's actually feeling excited to perform with the Abnormal class along with continuing to hang out with them. Suddenly, an announcement is heard for Purson to report to the teacher's office.
Arriving at Kalego's office, Kalego hands Purson the phone informing him that its his father. Purson takes the phone to listen to his father speak to him, and while he starts off accepting whatever it is that his father's saying, his father says one final thing that hits Purson deep. Following the phone call, Purson makes it clear to Kalego that he's made his decision, which Kalego asks if Purson is really sure about this. Despite providing a slow answer, Purson answers he is. Back at the Royal One dance studio, Iruma notices the oddity that Purson is late today. Meanwhile, Purson is seen having left Kalego's office and disappears while holding a withdrawal form; showing that his father told him to leave Babyls.
Chapter 160: Even If We Can't See Him
The story flashes back a bit to Kalego on the phone with Purson's father, who orders Kalego to send his son home due to how absurd it is to have Purson perform in the Music Festival. Purson's father explains that the whole point of his son going to Babyls was for Purson to learn how to hide in plain sight, which there's no point if they're going to be making him stand out. Kalego counters that in order to polish out the best of their students, it's only right to honor both Purson's musical talent and independence, which angers Purson's father claiming that his family doesn't need individualists, and calls Babyls' teachings too lenient. In return, Kalego gets angry knowing that Purson's father is questioning their education principles. Knowing that things are heating up, teacher Dali takes over making it clear to Purson's father that since they're a school that puts their students' ambition first, they can't do anything without a student's concent. In return, Purson's father orders them to call Purson. That he, himself, will make him withdraw.Returning to the present, Kalego stands before the Abnormal class wrapping up the story of Purson needing to leave Babyls for personal reasons, much to the shock of everyone. Kalego points out that Purson's departure makes the performance a lot more easy and convenient for them, but Lied voices his frustration due to how far they've come. Continuing on, Kalego explains that they have 5 days remaining to continue practicing, and that he won't be able to supervise them since not only will he be pretty busy preparing the Music Festival, he has to search for a missing student: Purson. Iruma and company end up surprised to hear that Purson's gone missing, which Kalego informs them that his family's been constantly calling up the school asking why their son hasn't returned. The Abnormal class all discuss in confusion if this means that Purson ran away from home, which Kalego states that the answer is obvious. That Purson doesn't know what to do being someone stuck between being ordered to go home, and wanting to perform in the Music Festival. Thus, he chose to just disappear, but is still with them in this very room.
Wanting to speak to the invisible Purson, Iruma yells out that he wants to perform with him in the Music Festival. The other Abnormal students all join in yelling out how much fun they had together, and provide their reasons as to why Purson should perform with them. Iruma finishes with the claim that they will practice to match Purson's skill so that when it's time to perform, all 13 of them can stand together. Afterwards, the Abnormal class all return to practicing their parts for the performance throughout the final days before the Music Festival fully expecting for Purson to show.
Chapter 161: Siege of Praise
For teacher training, the Music Festival is set up each year to have the newest Babyls teacher be the one who acts as the spokesperson. This results in Robin being the one announcing to the school that tomorrow is the start of the Music Festival. Given his inexperience, he has to receive helpful cue cards from fellow announcers, Dali and Suzy. Along with announcing that upperclassmen and the first-years' families will be watching the festival, Robin reveals that there will also be 3 judges attending: Kyupa of Evidol Enterprise "Devimuse," Meimei of the musical "Dande Group," and Amduscias. The last of which is a former 13 Crown member, and was once Demon King Delkira's exclusive legendary musician. Teacher Oswell takes over for Robin by explaining that each judge provides a score from 1 to 6, and that the order of presentations will be decided by a draw of lots. In addition, rewards for a successful performance include rank-ups, and the potential to be scounted out by the judges to become a star in the demon world.Robin and Oswell wrap up the announcement ordering the freshmen to steal the show as everyone cheers in excitement. Meanwhile within Royal One, the Abnormal class is seen having witnessed the announcement on a television. Following the announcement, Kalego tries to get his Abnormal students to focus on winning the Music Festival, but the class has fallen into a state of panic as they're all feeling nervous now that the Music Festival is finally upon them. In order to calm down everyone's nerves, Kerori comes up with a plan to use a confidence-building ritual that's used by Evidols. Calling Jazz to be the starting guinea pig, Kerori has all the Abnormal students gather around him, and state tons of praises to him to make Jazz feel better about himself. Seeing Kalego confused, Kerori explains that this is the "Siege of Praise" Evidol circle technique to help others gain confidence. Following Jazz, each Abnormal student is given their turn in the middle of the circle as they receive praise from their classmates, which by the end, they're all excited and cheering over how fun that was.
Once the day is over, the Abnormal class leaves Babyls in a cheerful mood ready to take on tomorrow's Music Festival. Iruma doesn't leave just yet, and instead begins to walk up to the school roof. He thinks to himself how relieved he is that despite everyone's nervousness, no one's afraid anymore, and that they continued to believe on waiting for a certain person. Arriving at the top of the stairs, Iruma announces to the seemingly empty rooftop that he knows Purson's here, and desires to chat with him.
Chapter 162: Chatting
On the school roof, Iruma continues to speak that he knows from past experience that Purson always goes to the roof to play his trumpet as the "Pixie" at 5pm. Thus, he figures that Purson must currently be here. Pulling out a stack of papers titled "Anonymous Report," Iruma announces that he will begin to read the "Purson's Secrets Revealing Party," which the roof's 'emptiness' gets confused showing that the invisible Purson actually is here, and is unable to believe what he just heard. Iruma begins to read through the list of embarrassing facts he gathered about Purson that were noticed by anonymous teachers and students, which finally causes the sweating Purson to reveal himself, and covers Iruma's mouth with his hand begging him to stop. Purson looks through the report unable to believe that this was what got him to reveal himself, which he becomes even more confused when he suddenly spots Iruma setting up snacks and two bed sheets on the roof so that the two of them can have a proper chat.Sitting on one sheet, Iruma claims that Purson must have a lot he wants to say, which Purson accepts sitting on the second sheet to begin their chat. Purson's unable to understand why Iruma's not angry about his sudden withdraw and disappearance, which Iruma admits that while it was surprising at first, they were really just worried, and wanted to talk. Iruma next asks about when Purson first played the trumpet. In return, Purson answers that his mother gave it to him long ago as a way for him to let out and channel his words that he's unable to say. Purson goes over how he loves his parents, even his strict father who's someone who actually does care for the family. He also goes over how he's happy with taking over the family business of remaining in the shadows, but that becomes a huge problem as it doesn't line up with his desire of wanting to stand out and play the trumpet for the Abnormal class in the Music Festival. As a result, Purson bursts into tears crying that he doesn't know what to do.
Iruma admits that he gets the gist of the story, and states that he will listen to what Purson has to say. In return, Purson lets it all out going over pretty much everything that he's witnessed, what he wants to do with Iruma and the Abnormal class, and provides his opinions on Iruma, which the latter just continues to sit back and reply to it all with brief comments. Afterwards, Iruma and Purson are left exhausted. Purson apologizes as he doesn't have an answer since he wants to both stand out in the Music Festival and keep the promise to his family by remaining in the shadows. Iruma admits that he understands Purson's predicament, but he also apologizes as it doesn't change the fact that he wants Purson to participate. That it can only be Purson standing on the stage with them so that the 13 Abnormal students can perform together. Unable to stay awake any longer, Iruma ends up dropping to the floor and falls asleep. In return, a grateful Purson gives the sleeping Iruma a pillow and covers, and departs.
Chapter 163: Amduscias
The next day, Iruma's surprised to find himself waking up already moving quickly through the forest. It turns out that he's being held within Opera's arms, who arrived at Babyls to bring the missing Iruma home only to find the boy sleeping on the school's roof. Needing to prepare Iruma for the big day, Opera returns Iruma home, and takes drastic measures to make sure that the boy's in good shape fod the Music Festival, such as providing him a questionable looking special medicine that Shichiro came up with. Meanwhile, Sullivan is relieved to see that his missing grandson is fine, and gets dressed up in a cooking apron to feed Iruma for breakfast. However, with the Music Festival starting in 5 hours, he's reminded by Opera that he needs to hurry to welcome the festival judges, which Sullivan hurries off to Babyls.At Babyls, teachers Dali and March are seen inviting their special guests to the Music Festival, which turn out to be the 3 judges: Kyupa, Meimei, and Amduscias. All the students are hyped to see such demon celebrities, especially Amduscias given that he's a former 13 Crown member. Kyupa and Meimei take their seats; Meimei expecting to hear great music while Kyupa hopes that there's a diamond-in-the-rough to recruit at the level of last year's winner, Ronove. As for Amduscias, he doesn't sit down, but instead yells out wanting to see Sullivan due to being angry at the moment to the point of wanting to slap him in the face. Once Sullivan appears, Amduscias is left confused as to why Sullivan is in a cooking apron. In return, Sullivan answers that he was about to cook for his participating grandson, but had to hurry to school to greet the judges. The revelation that Sullivan has a grandson shocks and confuses Amduscias given that Sullivan has no son. He quickly starts interrogating Sullivan if he had a child with Demon King Delkira, which Sullivan notes is obviously impossible.
Amduscias goes about complaining that Sullivan always got to hang out with "his" Demon King. Thus, showing that Amduscias is actually gay, and wanted Delkira all to himself. The sight of a complaining Amduscias surprises everyone having turned out to be someone they weren't expecting, but Sullivan assures them he's the real deal being known as the legendary sound demon who stalled his enemies for 666 hours with a concert. Given how much he cares for Delkira, Amduscias goes back to why he was originally angry to begin with, and demands to know why they opened the Royal One classroom, and will kill the one who did. However, Kalego appears to inform him that his class of misfits have taken the necessary steps to earn the right to use Royal One as their classroom. Instead of being mad, Amduscias goes to hug Kalego liking how the latter looks. Kalego then answers Amduscias' question that it was Sullivan's grandson, Iruma, who earned the right to open Royal One, which catches Amduscias' attention. Meanwhile, Opera is seen still bringing Iruma to school, but Iruma's acting all odd and out-of-sorts due to the special medicine he drank.
Chapter 164: Declaration of War
The Abnormal students with the exception of Purson are all currently within Royal One waiting it out until the start of the Music Festival. Due to still being under the effects of the special medicine, the out-of-sorts Iruma rests on the Demon King's seat. Before leaving, Opera assures the class that Iruma should be back to normal in about an hour. Suddenly, Amduscias bursts into Royal One carrying Kalego along with him, and gets all excited at how nostalgic it is to be back within the Demon King's classroom. However, he winds up annoyed seeing the sleeping Iruma sitting in the King's chair, and throws him off. Kalego introduces the class to Amduscias of the 13 Crowns, who's now sitting on the Demon King's chair. Amduscias states that he's here to see the man who took over his Demon King's classroom while pointing out that said classroom is the love nest of him and Delkira, which confuses the class. He orders the man known as Iruma to show himself only to end up confused as well when he sees Kalego introducing the still out-of-sorts sleeping Iruma to him.The shocked Amduscias is unable to handle that the seemingly weak Iruma is the person that he desires to declare war on. The announcement of war coming as a shock to the Abnormal class. Amduscias explains that he heard about the Abnormal class' current assignment that they all need to reach Rank 4 (Daleth) in order to stay within Royal One, and smugly states that it will be easy to make them lose given that he's a judge for the Music Festival. However, Sabro interrupts claiming that it's unreasonable to arbitrarily decide the outcome just because one desires it. In return, Amduscias finds Sabro to be a fine man and decides to hug him. Hearing Sabro's beating heart, Amduscias catches on that the boy's feeling anxiety. He notes that the rest of the class also has a sound of anxiety going on, and questions how they're going to make a sound that will satisfy him when they're in such a sorry state. However, the sleeping Iruma says in a serious manner that Purson will come, which catches Amduscias' attention. Amduscias then begins to notice that the sound amongst the class has gone through a change to the point of them all not feeling anxious anymore.
Standing with the rest of her now unconcerned class, Elizabetta steps forward to tell Amduscias face-to-face that they will pierce him with the finest sound. In return, Amduscias accepts the challenge, and orders them to seduce him. Amduscias leaves Royal One to join up with the other two judges at the stage for the Music Festival, which Robin serves as the spokesperson. Robin explains that the 6 first-year classes will be given 20 minutes each for their performances, and that the judging will be very strict. The Abnormal class ended up drawing to perform last as Class A comes out first to perform. With Orobas as their lead charismatic performer, Class A puts on a play called "Rise of the Spirit Prince," which seems to impress the judges.
Chapter 165: The Music Festival
Class A goes about executing their "Rise of the Spirit Prince" stage performance where Orobas is basically a prince that gathers power until he's able to birth a new nation. Once the performance is over, the crowd celebrates over Class A's incredible starting performance, which the Abnormal class starts to feel anxious that they might be in trouble. However, Iruma is the exact opposite where he's left amazed by what he just witnessed, and deems the Music Festival fun as the other classes are showing that they practiced just as hard as them. Iruma's excitement helps calm the nerves of his classmates down as it's now time for the judges to provide their scores (1 being the lowest, and 6 being the highest). Kyupa and Meimei give them a 5 and 4 respectively, but Amduscias only gives Class A's performance a 3, which spokesperson Robin is unable to understand why. Amduscias goes about explaining why he only gave them a 3 by criticizing every mistake that Orobas and his class made that wasn't noticed by the viewers, but he notes that Orobas has a knack for this.Iruma catches on that Amduscias is a really strict teacher as it's now time for Class C's performance. The judges remain indifferent as they don't believe the next will live up to the opening show-stopper, but they're greeted by Class C's leads, a violinist and guitarist, completely rocking out against one another. The audience is stunned by their performance duel, which the violinist and guitarist explain that they took Ronove's advice to heart. That instead of working together, they'll duel to show off that their music is better than the other. Naming their performance the "Chaos Concerto," the music duel engulfs the entire class with performers from both sides of Class C trying to outdo the other. Amongst the judges, Meimei is shown getting the most excited while Iruma and company are also cheering at the performance. Meanwhile outside the Music Festival, Purson is seen appearing at the entrance gate.
Chapter 166: The Path You Choose
At the Music Festival entrance gate, Purson talks to the emptyness behind him that he knows his mother's watching, which Purson's mother drops her invisibility. She calls out her son that she was watching him restlessly walk back and forth unable to decide if he should go in or not for the past 30 minutes, but is glad to see that Purson's alright. Purson apologizes for making his parents worry, and asks how father's doing. In return, his mother explains that it's the usual where his father wishes for his son to return as he still believes that Soi Purson can become the fearsome leader of the Purson Clan. Purson's mother claims that she's just like her husband where she wants her son to return, which leaves Purson conflicted. However, she makes it clear to her son that if he's come to a decision, he should follow it properly, which catches Purson's attention. Remembering back to the enjoyable sight of Purson in his younger years playing the trumpet, Purson's mother assures her son that if he chooses music, she will support him.Purson remains conflicted given the family creed to stay hidden, but to his surprise, Purson's mother agrees that said rules are annoying. She explains that neutrality to stay out of things is subjective, and that standing in the middle doesn't really matter due to perspective. That you could remain in the middle, but the middle could be anywhere along the line. Purson's mother then points out why she's choosing to side with her father, which she goes into a long speech claiming that she loves him, and describes all his good characteristics that she enjoys. Thus, showing that Purson gets his chatter box trait from his mother. Purson begs his mother to stop, which she apologizes and gets back to the main subject. She tells her son that it's alright to choose his own middle, and asks what his ambition is. Purson is left thinking over what he wants between being the head of his family's Clan, and playing the trumpet.
At that same time during the Music Festival, Class B is seen in the middle of executing their performance, which some of the class is the four female first-year group (Haruno, Azuki, Konatsu and Dosanko). Class B puts on a tragic play called the "Bloodstained Marriage" where the princess, Haruno, chooses to fall in love and marry a dangerous dragon demon who destroys the kingdom. Everyone cheers on the performance, and to everyone's surprise, Amduscias provides his highest score yet awarding Class B with 4 points. Eventually, the Abnormal class is the only one left to perform. Kalego informs his Abnormal class that it's time, which they all stand up, and head off. Robin makes the announcement for the Abnormal class to head backstage to prepare for their performance. As they go backstage, Iruma and his fellow 11 Abnormal classmates behind him (minus Purson) are all shown ready to perform.
Chapter 167: The Sound of Anticipation
While Amduscias reminisces over a moment where Demon King Delkira is enjoying music, his attention's brought back to the Music Festival. His fellow judges, Kyupa and Meimei, go about discussing the splendid performances that they just witnessed. Along with Amduscias, none of the judges are all that convinced that the Abnormal class is going to put on a performance at the level of what they've seen so far, but they start to become confused as to why the audience seems more hyped up than usual cheering for the misfits before they've even taken the stage. The Student Council is also seen attending the Music Festival, which Ameri's set herself up nicely in a chair and video recording gear in order to watch Iruma's performance. Ameri announces her excuse to the other Student Council members that must lead by example to enjoy the Music Festival more than anyone else.Along with Sullivan and Opera, the families of the Abnormal class are all seen attending the Music Festival. Robin provides the announcement that the Abnormal class is now about to perform, and reminds them of all that they've accomplished so far. However, Robin is suddenly interrupted by Lied popping out of the curtains crying and yelling where "she" went. This turns out to be part of the performance as the rest of men in the Abnormal class all start popping in, and argue that "she's" going to pick him. The curtain then raises, which Elizabetta appears dressed up as Lilith while the men all begin their coordinated dance for her. The audience are left stunned by what they're witnessing as Elizabetta looks to them, and welcomes everyone to her Red Carpet.
Chapter 168: The Misfits Present: "Lilith's Red Carpet"
As the Abnormal class starts their performance of Lilith's Red Carpet, Iruma takes his seat at the piano to begin playing; still believing that Purson will show. Meanwhile on stage, the performance plays out with Elizabetta as Lilith, Kerori and Clara as her two main dancing supporters, and the 8 Abnormal men all performing the coordinated "Hell Dance." The goal is for each of the men to take their turn in an attempt to woo Elizabetta. Lied starts off as the Rank 1 (Aleph) demon portraying himself as an innocent small town boy trying to woo Elizabetta. Jazz and Azz are next as the respective Rank 2 (Bet) and Rank 3 (Gimmel) demons trying to woo her as black-and-white serpentine danseurs. Jazz shows himself off as a dangerous man while Azz is sparkling like a gem.Next are Goemon, Kamui, and Schneider as the respective Rank 4 (Daleth), Rank 5 (He), and Rank 6 (Vav) demons. They attempt to woo Elizabetta where Goemon is the kind warrior, Kamui is the passionate gentleman, and Schneider is the clever professor. Following them is Picero as a Rank 7 (Zayin) demon, who tries to woo Elizabetta as a selfish prince who eventually smiles. Finally, Sabro as a Rank 8 (Chet) demon attempts to woo her as a noble of pure greed who wants everything. In the end, Elizabetta as Lilith isn't satisfied with any of them as she's a Rank 9 (Tet) demon that no one can reach. Her Lilith perfomance falls into depression due to not being able to find love, but she reassures herself that there must be someone still out there. While the audience cheers towards the performance, Iruma's left wondering if Purson is listening to such a great atmosphere. The performance continues towards its finale with Lilith calling out to the one she's been waiting for. Sure enough, Purson in a suit without the Secret Veil to cover his face appears at the highest point of the stage playing his trumpet.
Iruma and company are all amazed by what they're witnessing as Purson blasts into his trumpet playing a song that channels all that he's wanted to say. With the 8 other Abnormal men dancing behind him, Purson takes over as the lead performer as the Rank 10 (Yodh) demon attempting to woo Lilith with his music, which she happily accepts. The audience all cheers louder than ever, and in return, Purson gives the crowd a big smile. Meanwhile within the audience, Purson's mother can be seen happily clapping towards her son's performance while a white cloud is seen next to her; implying that Purson's invisible father was also watching. Once Lilith's Red Carpet ends, the Abnormal class all gathers around Purson to praise him for his performance, which they all then bow before the still cheering crowd.
Chapter 169: The Demon King's Sound
Amduscias reminisces about a time that he spent with Demon King Delkira where the two of them had fun together creating new music. Eventually, Delkira informs Amduscias that he will be traveling again to some place north, which Amduscias claims that he will be waiting for his Demon King's return so that they can play some more music together. Returning to the present, the Abnormal class is all seen waiting on standby for the judges to provide them their scores. The audience tenses up as well, which results in them and the Abnormal class all cheering when they see that Kyupa and Meimei both provide a perfect 6. Kyupa mentions that the "Hell Dance" was worth it while Meimei was impressed by how much the enchanting music moved the audience. To everyone's shock however, Amduscias gives the Abnormal class a score of 1.Lied yells out his complaint that the score is just Amduscias' attempt to kick them all out of Royal One. In return, Amduscias chooses to go about providing praises, such as calling Kerori phenomenal for flawlessly training the dancers. He provides other praises, such as Elizabetta and Sabro playing out their roles well, and praises Purson's music for being out of this world. However, Amduscias gets to the rotten egg in the room as to why he provided a 1 score, which is that Iruma sucked at the piano, and was such a beginner that he wasn't able to keep up with Purson's trumpeting. As Iruma tries to apologize for his failure, Amduscias hides in his face, and continues to complain that he's pissed that despite Iruma being a boring amateur, he's unable to understand why Iruma reminds him of "him." Based on Amduscias' memory, an image of him playing music Delkira plays out exactly like what Amduscias just witnessed regarding Purson playing music with Iruma.
Seeing an image of Delkira behind Iruma, Amduscias questions why he's unable to understand why Iruma's so unbelievably happy, and has a sound in his heart just like the man he once knew. After re-establised himself, Amduscias explains that the man he knew once told him that "the kind of sound he likes most is the one that's the newest and most thrilling." Thus, he decides to provide a new score. Not as a number, but as a musical note. Amduscias turns the 1 on the score he provided into a "b," and asks the Abnormal class to accept this, and that they should be proud of it as the performance they provided was a fine sound. The final score for the Abnormal class ends up reading as "6, b, 6," which they all cheer in excitement as it counts as 6, 6, 6.
Chapter 170: Salute to the Winners
Having scored a perfect 18, the Abnormal class is announced the winner of the Music Festival. As the audience looks on in amazement, Sabro picks up Elizabetta and Purson, and holds them up on his shoulders while walking through the crowd in order for the audience to get a good view at the two star performers. Iruma worries about Purson being nervous, but is glad to see him waving at the crowd without worry. Meanwhile, the rest of the audience all start going after Iruma and the other class members given that they were part of the winning performance. Judge Meimei attempts to scout out Purson while judge Kyupa congratulates Kerori for a job well gone given that she's Kerori's Evidol boss. Meanwhile, Ameri is seen hiding due to being unable to handle how hot Iruma looked during the performance.Sullivan and Amduscias watch the students celebrating from afar, which the former figures that the latter must find his grandson amazing. Amduscias tries to deny it, but Sullivan smugly states that he figured from the beginning that Amduscias was going to like Iruma. Amduscias once more denys it finding Sullivan's "know-it-all" attitude annoying as he picks up Iruma and Purson to take them elsewhere. Meanwhile, the rest of the Abnormal class follows after. Amduscias and the Abnormal class arrives back at the gate of Royal One, which he asks for Purson's trumpet. He warns the Abnormal class to not mess with Royal One as its his love nest with Delkira, or else, and then proceeds to turn Purson's trumpet into a much larger one. Amduscias then begins to play music with it, which he deems to be a salute to the winner of the Music Festival. Water flows all around during the salute as the Abnormal students all get caught up in it.
Handing Purson back his trumpet, Amduscias orders the Abnormal students to all hold out their hands. The water from the musical salute all grabs hold of their ranking badges, which Amduscias announces that as a former member of the 13 crowns, he claims them all to now be Daleth demons. The Abnormal students look at their badges, and see that they've all been promoted to Rank 4 (Daleth); meaning that Elizabetta and Purson succeeded in getting double rank-ups. The misfits all go about celebrating their promotions up to Daleth, but Amduscias reveals that not everyone is Daleth. That he left Iruma out specifically as it would be boring to just have everyone at the Daleth rank. Looking at his badge, Iruma sees that he's actually been promoted up to Rank 5 (He), much to the shock of him and the rest of the Abnormal class.
Chapter 171: A Grand Banquet
As a brief recap goes over all that the Abnormal class has accomplished so far, they're seen within Royal One celebrating with a party at the fact that they achieved their goal of keeping the prestigious classroom by all reaching Rank 4 (Daleth). Iruma asks if it was truly okay to leave the Music Festival early, which Picero explains that they only missed the closing ceremony, and that all the other first-year classes will be having their own after-parties anyway. Iruma and company all see that they've been getting congratulatory messages on their phones, which Ameri sent a message hoping to congratulate him directly at some point. As the Abnormal class continues to celebrate, Lied points out the elephant in the room that they still have yet to receive praise from one specific person: their teacher, Kalego, who's been sitting in a chair watching them.Kalego admits that their accomplishment is remarkable as it's the first time there's ever been an entire Babyls class reaching at least Rank 4 (Daleth) within just their first year, and that they should take pride in how much they've grown. However, he praises his own magnificant guidance for their success, which annoys the class. Jazz adds in that, at the very least, Kalego should give praise to his music students, Iruma and Purson, which Kalego proceeds to pat them on the head with his teaching baton. Despite how weak such an action looked, Iruma and Purson happily accept the praise. Everyone then starts to shout praise at Purson for standing with them on stage, who gets embarrassed by not being able to handle such kind words. They even tease him about the stand-out sharp suit he choose to wore, which Purson tries to explain that it was just traditional attire of his clan. Afterwards, Iruma and company all return to having fun at their celebration party.
Eventually, Iruma becomes exhausted, and takes a seat next to Kalego, who's still watching over the class. Kalego provides Iruma a warning to be more vigilant from here on out as a first-year achieving Rank 5 (Hé) is quite rare, and will be a weight that Iruma will have to carry from now on. Iruma remains confused by what Kalego means by that, but their conversation is suddenly interrupted by the Abnormal students trying to have fun with him once more. They then turn to who they believe to be Purson to get him involved again only to instead see Purson's mother trying the cake, which embarrasses her son. Purson's mother introduces herself to the Abnormal students as the embarrassed Purson is trying to get his mother to leave. She agrees to do so, but first hands Purson her phone; informing her son that his father wants to speak with him.
Chapter 172: Thirteen Misfits
Purson walks outside of Royal One in order to have a private talk with his father over the phone. Knowing that Purson performed in the Music Festival, his father apologizes for having never noticed that his son is talented at music. He then reminds Purson that his decision still stands, and orders his son to return home. Purson's father explains that rules are rules, and that while punishment would be normal for this, he will make this one exception given that it was to satisfy his son's musical ambition. In return, Purson remains silent until he's about had enough. He yells at the phone that he's become annoyed by this whole situation, which surprises his father. Purson breaks out into a whole speech about how father is too stubborn, and that father's too much of an airhead to say the proper things, such as sending off the son with kind words. Overall, Purson calls out his father's way of speaking and thinking to be too out-dated.In the end, Purson states that he's made his decision thanks to the influence from a certain someone (Iruma). That he wants to both play music, and become the leader of the clan. Purson assures his father that he will become a great leader, which his father doesn't seem convinced asking if Purson's truly going to stand out more. In return, Purson claims there's nothing to worry about as he's Soi Purson of the Abnormal class, and then hangs up. Meanwhile on his father's end, the mother is seen watching her husband on the phone. After the call ends, Purson's father finds it surprising that their son spoke his mind for the first time, which his wife claims is a given as he inherited his father's stubbornness. She assures her husband that given how Purson's their child, he will become a strong and capable leader.
Purson re-enters Royal One only to become confused by the place being empty apart from Kalego. He asks the teacher where everyone went, which Kalego points at Purson claiming that they're still here standing with him. Sure enough, the Abnormal class all suddenly appears as they were all wearing Detection Warding Glasses to hide their presense from Purson. They all happily gang up on Purson that their prank was a success, which Purson just smiles and goes along with it. Shortly after, Purson returns to the school roof and plays his trumpet again as the "Pixie." The students all listening discuss how surprising it is that one of the Abnormal students went unnoticed to them until the Music Festival. First-year Haruno counts up the amount of Abnormal students they know about now, and realizes that there's 13, which she deems them to be the 13 Crowns of Babyls. Meanwhile alongside Purson's trumpeting, the rest of the Abnormal class is seen having fun with him on the roof playing their own instruments, and Amduscias is seen walking down the school hallway happily waving his conducting stick to the music being created by the Abnormal class.
