Some time ter, he couldn’t tell exactly how much, the sky was always a bck void in the inner world, Thomas felt calm enough to go back to the garden. The roommates already went back to their original activities, Anne-Antoinette was cooking in the glitchy living room, Fotgely was in her cell, Peacock wrote poems under the trees, and Larotte was running around and pying with dirt. It looked like a movie with a time loop plot, but it was only because the personalities had nothing else to do.

  Thomas looked at the strange building for a while. It had been so long since Mariane’s mentality had evolved and this pce had changed. The inner world may seem cozy for those who never went to the control room, but for the others it was like being put in a sensory deprivation prison. That was the reason Fotgely always stayed in her room, reducing her consciousness to the minimum in order to enter a dormant state. This practice was dangerous, since it meant that she could disappear anytime if the system was shaken, but Thomas understood. Even if he liked the peace and quiet of this pce, and its residents, living inside another’s mind without a real taste of a normal world was a pain. If only he didn’t know what the outside was like, maybe it would have been better.

  Suddenly feeling a pull, he readied himself to enter the control room, when a small voice reached his ear.

  “Are you not mad anymore ?”

  Larotte was looking up at him cautiously. Thomas smiled.

  “I was not mad, just a bit upset. I’ll see you ter, ok ?”

  “Yeah !”

  The small child was the st thing he saw before he opened his eyes again. He tried to look around him, but couldn’t move his head, so he knew that he was cofronting.

  “Hello, Mariane.”

  He saw the hands flinch on the desk.

  “Oh, hi Thomas…”

  She sounded awkward, probably because of the discussion they shared before. Ignoring it, Thomas looked at what the eyes were seeing. An old cssroom filled with modern equipment. They were at school. Since css was in session, he decided to stay silent and observe. The lesson was about the history of Hell and the war against the Heavens, which resulted in Lucifer being sent as the first king of Hell.

  ‘It’s interesting to see the links with religion. I guess the creator of the game had a lot of knowledge about christianity. Even the names of the princes, the king, and his aide come from Ars Goetia. It’s fascinating.’

  Thomas was still uncertain about if this realm was a game or not, but the obvious references reinforced his feeling. For example, that young demon in the front row, who suspiciously looked like the protagonist of a manga about ninjas. The inspiration was so obvious, he couldn’t help but think his theory was a real possibility.

  “Why can’t you focus ?”

  Paimon, sitting at Mariane’s right, was whispering in a disapproving tone. Mariane whined in response.

  “But it’s so hard, I can’t understand anything !”

  “You didn’t have any trouble with harder subjects the other days.”

  The prince seemed severe, but Thomas felt that he had become softer than the st time he had seen him.

  “Why are you so needlessly good at studying ? Now everybody thinks I’m smart !”

  “I just listened to the csses. That’s what you should be doing too.”

  Thomas was a bit annoyed at Mariane’s banter. He was trying to follow the lesson, but it was hard when she wasn’t paying attention. He internally gritted his teeth when she once again turned away from the bckboard to look at Asmodey on her left.

  “You’ve been going to school for a hundred years, how do you do it ?”

  The demon answered with a seductive smile.

  “I block my ears and fantasize about handsome people taking off their clothes for me. Helps everytime !”

  Mariane replied with a scandalized look, and turned her head back to the front. But Thomas couldn’t concentrate anymore, he was uncomfortable with how close she seemed to the princes.

  “Tell me, how much time has passed since we arrived in Hell ?”

  “It’s been a week, I think. Why ?”

  “No, nothing.”

  A lot can happen in a week, when a group of people live together and go to the same school. It wasn’t strange for Mariane to adapt, but the more she did, the more Thomas had a bad feeling.

  The css ended and Mariane gathered her stuff, ready to move to the next one. In the corridor, Thomas noticed the hungry looks on them, there was a lot more than st time.

  “Considering that it’s a dating game, there needs to be an incident to happen for you to get the guy’s attention.”

  “Stop joking around, I already told you that this is not a game !”

  “If you say so. I’ll bet on you getting attacked by one of the demons at school, and the princes rushing to save you like knights in shining armor.”

  “Don’t even joke about that, aggression is bad !”

  Thomas wasn’t joking. He had read numerous romance books, and pyed a lot of dating games with Mariane, it was a genre she liked, so he immediately connected the dots. In fact, it was more surprising that Mariane herself didn’t realize the absurdity of the situation, and how it was unfolding exactly like one of those stories. But, well, she never was the most ripe apple of the basket. She was cute, but certainly not clever.

  “Be careful.”

  Paimon grabbed her arm as she was about to trip on the carpet. He helped her find her bance back, and she thanked him with a big smile. Inside, Thomas felt his skin crawling.

  “Remove his hand from our arm, right now. How come he touches you that easily ?”

  “Rex, he is just being friendly !”

  It was not a friendly touch. The feelings in Paimon’s eyes weren’t clear yet, as they were just blooming, but Thomas had read too many romance novels not to recognize what was happening.

  “He finds you interesting. It’s the first step.”

  “Can’t you shut up ?”

  As they were arguing, a tall man with broad shoulders and red hair appeared in front of them. It was the king.

  “How is school, Mariane ? Any problem ?”

  The bubbly woman smiled and bowed her head respectfully.

  “No, everything is good ! It’s a bit hard for me to understand everything, but I’m sure I’ll get over it soon !”

  Bael smiled at her words, and his eyes gleamed as he looked into hers.

  “Do you think he sees me ?”

  At this moment, the king slightly furrowed his brow. But he didn’t say anything, simply nodding and greeting the students while walking away. Mariane was anxiously toying with the sleeve of her uniform.

  “I didn’t dream, right ? He reacted to your words !”

  Contrary to her, Thomas was smiling inwardly.

  ‘I really like this king.’

  ***

  Over the next few days, Thomas fronted occasionally, and everytime he did, he tried to emute Mariane, but with great difficulty since he was genuinely interested in the lessons, and couldn’t replicate her carefree nature.The princes were getting closer and closer to him, to the point were accidental touches were multiplying. Everytime it happened, Thomas inwardly flinched, but responded with a smile as Mariane would. However, it made him feel bad everytime, as if cold water was poured on him. He could somewhat deal with it at school, since they weren’t always in the same css, but the real struggle came when Thomas was still in the control room after the evening bell rang.

  That day, it was his first time exiting the building and walking towards the dormitories. Behind him, the academy was an enormous castle made of bck stones, with beautiful sculptures representing traditional demons from Ars Goetia. Some had several heads, others looked like toads or lions, and the details were crafted with great attention. It would probably be terrifying for Mariane, but Thomas found it fascinating. Noticing his gaze, Pursan, the small prince with high energy and a vicious tongue, couldn’t help but comment.

  “You are really strange sometimes, Mariane. You act the opposite of how you normally do.”

  Thomas flinched inwardly.

  ‘Did I make a mistake ? I was so surprised by the appearance of the school that I didn’t check my facial expression.’

  He took his best Mariane’s ‘anxious but also want to be friendly’ face, and answered in a high pitched voice.

  “I guess I’m still getting used to this pce. It’s not easy suddenly being in Hell…”

  Thomas raised his eyes. Was he convincing enough ? The princes were just shrugging and continuing to walk. He had passed. Breathing a sigh of relief inwardly, he continued to follow them.

  The dormitory was more like a small manor, made out of the same bck stones as the school. The big hall was arranged like a dining room, with two flights of stairs on each side leading to the floor where the bedrooms were. On the right, there was a big kitchen and a living room, and on the left a library and a music room. It looked luxurious, like a victorian manor, but equipped with the test technology.

  “Hello, Thomas !”

  “Good evening, Mariane.”

  “Oh, you’re home ! Go upstairs, I’ll show you my room !”

  Thomas smiled and waved his hand at the princes before climbing the stairs. He was not sure if it was the way Mariane greeted the guys, but she didn’t make any comment, so he wouldn’t be far off. She guided him to the end of a corridor, and Thomas opened the door to find a nicely decorated bedroom. The walls were a pale blue, with paintings of the sea, and the bed was a king size with cotton sheets. In the corner, there was a wooden wardrobe, and a small desk filled with school supplies. It was very muted and somewhat peaceful.

  “It’s cool, right ?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  In reality, Thomas felt nothing towards the interior design, but he had learned to like the same thing as Mariane, so he simply nodded.

  “It’s a nice room.”