It was another typical day in the inner world, which meant nothing happened. Anne-Antoinette was in the living room, cooking the same dishes in the glitchy kitchen, Larotte was pying with dirt again, Peacock was still writing poems, and Thomas was overseeing them. The st personality was nowhere in sight, but it was usual, as she preferred to stay in her bedroom. Suddenly, Thomas felt a pull, and he was in the control room again. He was the cofront this time, and he could see what Mariane was doing. Nothing interesting, really, she was eating a bowl of rice while watching videos on her computer.

  “Good morning.”

  “Oh, you are here ! Hello ! How are you ?”

  “As usual. And you ?”

  “Fine, I’m not doing much. Is Larotte still pying with dirt ?”

  “Yes, it’s her new hobby nowadays. It’s better than when she was trying to cook.”

  “Anne-Antoinette was so mad ! It was funny.”

  “If you say so.”

  They watched the video together in silence. They had nothing else to do anyway. It wasn’t interesting for Thomas, but what could he do ? It was not as if he could leave the control room and go elsewhere.

  Then something strange happened. There was a fsh of pink light, and strange characters appeared before their eyes. They didn’t have any time to react, as they were pulled into a portal that opened under their feet. In less than a second, their environment changed and they violently smmed into the ground.

  Mariane slowly opened her eyes, as a concerned voice was reaching her ears.

  “Are you okay ? Oh my, I’m so sorry, I thought you had a magic barrier activated.”

  She raised her head, and screamed. In front of her, there was a crowd of strange men. Some had peculiar hair or eye color, one of them had wings, and they were all incredibly attractive in their own way. But that wasn’t the point. Mariane was in a strange pce, a big room with stone walls and an enormous chandelier. She was ying on a red carpet in front of a stage where the men were standing. And, most disturbing, the sky was dark red outside the window.

  “Where am I ? What’s happening ? Who are you ?”

  She was clearly panicking. However, Thomas was calmly assessing the situation.

  ‘The light from earlier looked like magic. The guy talked about a magic barrier too. I would be inclined to think it was a joke or a camera prank, but the wings on that man’s back look real, and there is no way someone can transport us to another location in less than a second. This looks like the beginning of a game. Since all the people here are attractive men and Mariane is a girl, I would say it’s a dating game. From the aesthetic of the pce and the looks of these guys, I would say we are in Hell or something simir, and they are demons.’

  The man who had spoken to Mariane earlier, a red scruffy haired guy with rge shoulders and a mischievous air, scratched his head in confusion.

  “I already talked to the Magic Academy’s headmaster and he told us he would send two human mages for the exchange program with the seven princes. Weren’t you notified ?”

  The gears in Thomas’ mind were turning at full speed.

  ‘Magic Academy… I guess the plot must be something like this : A mage was supposed to come, but there was a mishap and a normal girl was teleported in their pce. They will take a while to resolve the issue, and during this time they will all gradually fall in love with her. By the way, there are two possible directions for this story. Since he talked about an academy, it could be a school life plot. But he also mentioned seven princes, which could mean politics. Mariane is not smart enough for court intrigue, I’m worried.’

  Not able to hear his thoughts, Mariane was still shaking on the ground.

  “What do you mean ? Magic ? Princes ? I was just eating rice at home, why am I here ?”

  This time, another guy spoke. He had short blonde hair and vivid yellow irises. He looked like a delinquent, with a bad look in his eyes and a cruel smirk.

  “She seems to have nothing to do with all of this. If she’s here by mistake, it should be okay for us to eat her, right ?”

  The red haired man who had talked earlier looked at him with a friendly smile, but his chilling gaze froze the delinquent in pce.

  “What did you just say, Beliar ?”

  “No… Nothing…”

  Thomas immediately picked up on the power dynamic.

  ‘The tall guy in front seems to be the leader. It’s also the one who talked to us first. The man in a bck suit behind him looks like his servant or his aide. If we exclude those two, there are seven people, they must be the seven princes he talked about. If he can control them, he is either the headmaster of the academy, the king, or both.’

  He soon had the answer, when the red haired man turned to the terrified Mariane again.

  “I’m really sorry, there seems to be a mistake. But since we can’t send you back right now, we will assure your security until then. Let me introduce myself. I am Bael, king of Hell and headmaster of the Demonic Studies academy.”

  ‘Looks like I was right. But, a fun looking guy like him, the king ? And he has the time to be a headmaster ? I’m sure he doesn’t do the work himself, must be his aide. But that’s reassuring, it means there won’t be any politics. School life is a nice genre to evolve into, I think every one of us can adapt pretty well. If Larotte had popped up in a political story, it would have been chaos. But I really like this guy, he seems fun to be around and he has the highest authority without doing any actual work. Truly a smart man.’

  His assessment done, and judging there weren’t any threats to their safety, Thomas spoke to Mariane.

  “We should be fine, I think it’s the best situation possible. You will enjoy a nice school life in a dating game with seven potential love interests, eight if the king is included. It’s way better than doing nothing at home.”

  “What do you mean a game ? Stop joking around, something strange is happening !”

  Well, it would have surprised him if Mariane had accepted the situation right away. It wasn’t a developpement easy to wrap your head around. But Thomas was fine with it. Everything was better than the endless days trapped in the inner world, or cleaning up Mariane’s mess. But something suddenly clicked in his mind.

  ‘Wait… I’m trapped here too ! Does that mean I will have seven men following me around and trying to seduce me ?’

  Suddenly, the situation wasn’t fine. It wasn’t fine at all. He was trapped in Hell, a pce he couldn’t escape, with seven demons, probably using magic and being way more powerful than him, trying to follow him around and flirt with him. He could emute Mariane to hide his presence, but when they would be getting intimate, what should he do ? Refuse ? If he followed the cliches of the genre, there would obviously be a scene where one of the male leads forces the protagonist into a kiss, right ? And if Thomas was fronting at that time, did it mean he would… ?

  His skin crawled at the thought. Just imagining it was nauseating. The idea of getting intimate with anyone was already bad enough, but with seven walking cliches from a dating game ? He would rather disappear.

  “You’re right, what the Hell is happening ? Ask how we can go home.”

  “Okay, I’ll try…”

  Mariane gathered all her courage, just as the king was about to introduce the other men.

  “Wait… How can I go home ? I don’t want to be here, I want to be at home…”

  A red eyed man with long blonde hair and round gsses replied in a strict tone.

  “We already told you, we can’t bring you back now. Teleportation between realms is a complicated and costly spell, it needs some time before being performed again. Please listen to us, it’s annoying to repeat the same thing several times.”

  The king patted the guy’s shoulder.

  “Calm down, it’s normal to be confused. This guy is Paimon, he is the oldest of the seven princes. In order, it’s Paimon, Byleth, Pursan, Asmoday, Vinea, Zagam, and the st one is Beliar.”

  He pointed to all the guys one by one, and finished with the delinquent looking man, who still showed a cruel smirk.

  “Well, you will have time to know them all, since the room we prepared was in their dormitory. Please settle there and attend the csses with them. You probably won’t understand much in the beginning since you know nothing about magic, but we will try to figure things out during this time, and it’s still better than being trapped in a room, right ?”

  He offered Mariane a bright smile, but Thomas was mortified.

  ‘We will live in the same dormitory ? Is he crazy ? It’s the best way to encourage romantic retionships ! I get that it’s the point of the game, but he makes it way too obvious ! At least it’s a school life dating game, there is a good chance it’s for all public. With a bit of luck, when Mariane will choose her guy, the game will end and we’ll go home. Yes, let’s hold onto that.’

  Mariane was still stuttering while standing up, faltering on her feet.

  “You said you are the king of Hell ? Does that mean… You are a demon ?”

  Asmoday, a seductive looking man with wavy auburn hair, giggled and winked at her.

  “Yes, honey, we are as demonic as can be ! Want to see my wings ? Or my tail, maybe ?”

  The terrifyingly massive Byleth bared his teeth to his brother.

  “Can’t you hold back for one second ? We are doing something important here ! Even if it’s for a short while, she will be living with us ! Is that really the kind of image you want to show ?”

  Asmoday stuck out his tongue and giggled again, which infuriated Byleth. His bck hair started to rise all over his body, and massive webbed wings sprouted from his back. Big angur horns appeared on his forehead, while he screamed in anger.

  “I can’t stand you, you’re just a horny beast !”

  “Me, a beast ? Ha ! That’s funny coming from a muscle maniac who probably has more testosterone than a wolf in a rut !”

  The seductive man was starting to change too, unable to reign in his anger. But someone appeared before the two and…

  -Smack !

  Hit them on the head so hard that both fainted and fell on the ground. It was the king, who still showed his big smile to Mariane.

  “You know how brothers can be, always at each other’s throat ! Well, if they get rowdy or if you have a problem, call me with that.”

  He handed Mariane what looked like a modern phone. Thomas was stunned.

  ‘Wait, this isn’t medieval fantasy ? Are we in a modern story ?’

  While he was looking at the object in confusion, the man continued.

  “I already put my and my aide’s number inside, it’s Baam, call him if you can’t reach me. Of course, the brother’s numbers are also inside. Well then, Baam, can you guide her to her room ?”

  The aide bowed and showed the way. Meanwhile, Thomas was getting pulled back inside the inner world, leaving this chaos.

  ‘I have a bad feeling about this… A very bad feeling…’