Fanfic / An Apple For The Teacher

An Apple For The Teacher is a Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun fanfiction by SugarButterfly432.

During one of Stolas Suzy-sensei's lessons, Iruma accidentally makes another tree that only exists in the Human World. But this time it's an apple tree. Seeing the fruit that he created, Iruma decides to give one to Kalego as a thank you gift. However, there's also something about this strange fruit that Kalego can't help finds it to be familiar.

You can read the story here and the AO3 link here. For the trope with a very similar name, go here.

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The story has the following tropes of...

• Abusive Parents: Much like the canon series, Iruma's parents were horrible towards him before selling him to Sullivan to make money. Making him work to the bone in dangerous jobs that could've killed him easily, not sharing their food with him, and forcing him to live in the wilderness. Iruma's father even said that he was tired of Iruma and asked his wife how long will they have to take care of him. It's even revealed that Iruma's father never wanted him in the first place, saying he was an accident, and wanted to give Iruma away when the doctor gave him to them.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Iruma's parents appear to love each other, based on their interactions with each other and their enjoyment of abusing and neglecting their son. Here, however, their relationship is an unhappy one, with Iruma's mother violently lashing out at her husband whenever he angers her. It's implied that the love between them died years ago, as Iruma remembers their wedding picture having them being happy together.
• Adults Are Useless: Like in canon, the human adults in Iruma's old life did nothing to stop the abuse he endured from his parents. They were either unaware of the abuse or they ignored it as they felt it wasn't their problem. His former teachers didn't even care if he was missing class and his old employers also didn't care if he was underage to work.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Two times Iruma receives head patting that has different meanings to it.
  • The Tall Clown pats him on the head in a way a father would to his son. For a mere moment this action causes the boy to relax, only for the clown to push Iruma to the ground and try to eat him.
  • After saving Iruma from getting eaten, Kalego gently patted his head awkwardly, but it's the effort that caused Iruma to calm down.
• Alcoholic Parent: Aside from being Abusive Parents, some chapters show that both Fuyuki and Chiyo were also drinkers and tended to leave their empty bottles of alcohol around their apartment, with Iruma usually being the one to clean up after them.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unknown what happened to Kalego's lover and what made him forget about her in the first place. What's more, Sullivan reveals that Kalego was the one who wanted to have his memories of her erased, implying that something happened to her that caused Kalego to wanted to forget about her.
• Amnesiac Lover: After Iruma gives him an apple, Kalego finds out that some of his memories of his mystery lover have blocked. It's after this that Kalego looks for clues about his missing past and the current location of his lover.
• Amusement Park: Sullivan forces Kalego to take Iruma to the amusement park so they can spend time together after the boy tells Kalego about his abusive upbringing and that Kalego is his grandson's familiar. Kalego is at first reluctant since such places are filled with three types of people he despises: obnoxious, brash, and inconsiderate. It's only when Opera appears that Kalego agrees, as he can't say no to Opera out of fear they might take him to their old hang out and make him change his mind for Iruma's sake.
• Anger Born of Worry: After saving Iruma from the clowns, Kalego heavily lectures Iruma for two hours for scaring him while having his shaking hands on the boy's shoulders, showing how much he was scared that something had happened to him.
• Apple for Teacher: As the title says, after Iruma creates his apple tree, he gives all his teachers apples, as he's never gotten the chance to give one to his old teachers back in the Human Realm. Pretty much all of Iruma's teachers end up fighting over the apples. After Kalego bites into one, he discovers that he has missing memories that even he wasn't aware of.
• Asshole Victims: It's hard to feel bad for Iruma's former human teachers and employers once Sullivan reveals that he placed a curse on each on them, but considering that the teachers didn't help Iruma or stop his parents from hurting him and the employers hired an underage teenager to work in their companies that could've easily killed him, they very much deserved to have their lives made miserable by Sullivan's curse after practically helping two horrible people abusing their son.
• Beach Kiss: Chapter 6 has a flashback of Kalego and his lover on a beach, with his lover playing in the water and twirling around while Kalego watches her in case she falls on her face before she runs up to him and kisses him.
• Becareful What You Wish For: In Chapter 23, Sullivan reveals that Kalego wanted to have the memories of the woman he loved erased after apparently something bad happened to her that caused him to want to eased his pain. He goes to Henri to forget about her and everything he created with her. Henri even asks Kalego if he is certain about wanting to forget about his lover. Kalego is shocked and ashamed of his past action.
• Big Eater: Much like in the actual series, Iruma has a monstrous appetite, to the point that he eats thirty-six plates of food at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, much to the shock of the other customers. Iruma not eating much greatly concerns his loved ones.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Just like in canon, Iruma's parents pretended to be loving parents to him when he was younger, as they knew he wanted them to love him just as much he loved them. They also put pictures up of the three of them being a happy family when Iruma's 1st grade teacher came over to their apartment for a home visit.
  • The clown group tries to be friendly when they try to "help" Iruma, but the narration and Iruma's senses make it clear that their intentions towards him are anything but good.
• Broken Bird: Iruma went to Hell and back for his parents, so they could have a roof over their heads, but they only returned his love by abusing and neglecting him, with his old teachers and employers either ignoring or endangering him. It's not surprising that Iruma still suffers from the impact of his previous life despite the fact that in his new life he has friends and family that actually care about him and his well-being.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: From what's shown in the flashbacks, Kalego was the strict, harsh, and often sadistic (mostly towards his students) Brooding Boy, while his lover was the kindhearted, sweet, and soft Gentle Girl.
• Bystander Syndrome:
  • Iruma suffers from the inaction of the human adults who did nothing to help him with his parents, with many of them seeing his troubled home life as not being their problem.
  • Zigzagged with the demon children, who are also in line for a balloon with Iruma, but do nothing to warn Iruma of the Flame Butterfly when it was near them and try their best not to look at the Flame Butterfly's wings. Although this is somewhat understandable, as they're demons and don't care for others who don't have relations to them, much like in canon. Chapter 21 does reveal that the kids did tell Kalego what happened to Iruma when he was looking for him.
• Cain and Abel: Iruma's mother and aunt. Chiyo is the selfish, cruel, remorseless Cain, while Ai was said to be the extremely kind Abel when she was alive.
• Cherry Blossoms: A flashback in Chapter 2, Kalego's first recovered memory is him relaxing and resting his head on his lover's lap under some cherry trees after biting the apple Iruma gave him.
• Child Eater: The six clowns from Chapter 20 have no problem trying to eat Iruma while under the belief that he's a much younger child.
• Declaration of Protection: After Iruma tells him about his upbringing (while leaving out the important detail of being human), Kalego promises to never let anyone else hurt Iruma again.
• Doting Grandparent: Like in canon, Sullivan deeply loves and spoils Iruma a lot, even to the point of taking him to an all-you-can restaurant when Iruma isn't eating normally just so he will feel better.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Iruma's mother was close to her young sister Ai before the latter's death.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • According to Sullivan, even demons find child abuse disgusting, as children are the most precious thing in the Demon World.
  • While Kalego may not be the nicest demon to be around, he does have standards as a teacher.
    • He's angry when he overhears a student was planning to give a love potion to Momonoki so she would fall in love with him, not caring how this act could've destroy her reputation and caused her to lose her job as a teacher.
    • Upon hearing how horrible Iruma's former life was before he was adopted by Sullivan (without Iruma revealing that he's human), Kalego becomes livid to know that there were many adults who knew about the abuse Iruma's parents put him through, but did nothing to stop it. His anger is especially towards Iruma's old teachers who should have protected and guided him, and his former employers who allowed an underage child to work for them.
    • Kalego is also angry that Sullivan adopted Iruma as his grandson by buying the boy from his parents instead of alerting the authorities, considering it to be the stupidest thing the older demon has ever done and causing his opinion of the former to become lower than it already was.
• Faux Affably Evil: The clowns who wanted to eat Iruma keep their friendly and cheerful façade even when they begin to mess with him. It's only when Iruma refuses to submit to them and some powerful force starts coming from him, that they finally become pissed and drop their act as they try to eat him.
• Figure It Out Yourself: Sullivan tells Kalego that it's up to him to remember his lover when he faces the truth of what really happened that led to the erasure of his memories.
• Flight of Romance: Chapter 12 has a flashback of Kalego once taking his lover flying with him while she was in his arms. Though they're interrupted by Sullivan, who happily cries out that he has been looking for Kalego.
• Good Parents: Like in canon, Henri is a caring father to his daughter, Ameri, such as bringing her her lunch that she forgot from home by himself instead of sending a servant to bring it to her. It's implied that his not telling Ameri about her absent mother is his way of trying to protect her from the painful possibility that his wife may have not wanted her.
• Happily Adopted: Just like in canon, Iruma is much happier with his adoptive demon grandfather, Sullivan, who loves and dotes on him greatly. His adoption is the one thing that he actually is grateful for to his biologically parents.
• Hidden Eyes: Whenever Kalego remembers his lover, her hair covers her eyes, showing that he has yet to remember her properly.
• Hot for Teacher: Chapter 13 shows that a male student has romantic feelings for Momonoki and planned to give her a love potion to get her to feel the same way, not caring how this would seriously damage both her reputation and her career. It's a good thing that Kalego was nearby to hear the student explaining his plans to his classmates before entering and silencing them.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The story describes Kalego to be taller than his lover.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: During the Abnormal Class's trip to the school library, Iruma finds a book about how humans are seen by demons, while Iruma himself believes that the book isn't wrong on the behavior of humans, such as colonizing other nations and killing each other for being a different race. Iruma even lampshades how demons are only cruel because they're driven by their instincts, while humans hate each other just for the sake of it. Iruma even admits that humans are worst than demons.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When he starts remembering memories of his lover, Kalego is fine with his lover being with someone else once he finds her, as he just wants closure for his missing memories.
• Interspecies Adoption: Just like in canon, the human Iruma was sold off by his own parents to the demon Lord Sullivan, who adopted him as his grandson, showering with lots of affection and and gifts, something Iruma's biological parents never gave him.
• Interspecies Romance: Chapter 12 reveals that Kalego's mystery lover was a human.
• Irony: Kalego tellz Iruma that erasing one's memories will bring more pain and will end up regretting it. Yet he later finds out that he erased his memories of his lover after a terrible event that caused him so much pain that he wanted to forget about her.
• Is That Cute Kid Yours?: During their time at the amusement park, an old woman mistakes Iruma for Kalego's son, much to Kalego's embarrassment. She compliments Kalego for having such an adorable and happy child in his life, before he can explain that Iruma isn't his son.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kalego is well-known to be the most strict and sadistic teacher of Babyls, but he does care about his students and fellow teachers. This is shown when Kalego saves Momonoki from a love potion that a student was going to give her, and he shows genuine concern towards Iruma after Iruma reveals his tragic past to him.
• Karma Houdini: Just like in canon, Iruma's parents, Fuyuki and Chiyo, never receive any kind of punishment for the abuse and neglect of their son. Unlike Iruma's human teachers and employers, neither Fuyuki or Chiyo suffer from the the curse that Sullivan gave the others.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Much like she does in canon, Iruma's mother, Chiyo, once promised to give him a younger sibling if he finished cleaning the master bedroom when he was a child after Iruma expressed his desire of having a sibling to play with, unaware that he was falling for her cruel trick.
  • Whenever Iruma tries to escape from the clowns and find his way back to the amusement park, the Lady Clown uses her magic to make fake laughter and carnival rides sounds to make Iruma think he's safe from them, which leads Iruma right back to the same alleyway where he met the clown group. She does it multiple times before they eventually drop their cheerfully façades to try and eat him.
• Killer Rabbit: While Flame Butterflies aren't exactly pretty, as they have human skulls for heads, their wings are very beautiful and are use to hypnotize their victims to ignore dangerous situations. Despite being tiny bugs, they're one of the dangerous creatures of the Demon World, that parents warn their kids to never look at the wings of a Flame Butterfly.
• Lack of Empathy: Almost all the humans from Iruma's old life who knew he was being abused by his parents saw his struggles as none of their business and did nothing to help the boy. His own parents, especially, did not mind selling his soul to Sullivan to make more money while not caring what might happen to him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Sullivan reveals to Kalego that he placed a curse on each adult who knew that Iruma was being abused by his parents but did nothing to help. The employers have their businesses shut down or at the edge of doing so, while the teachers are probably losing their jobs. While they're not in prison for their equally shared crime of hurting Iruma, it's a well-deserved punishment for not helping a child out of a terrible situation.
• Love Martyr: A parental example. Back when he lived with his parents, Iruma loved them unconditionally and wanted them to love him back. Unfortunately, all they ever gave him was abuse and neglect while making him their slave. It's not surprising that by the time Iruma's older, all the love he had for them now belongs to Sullivan and Opera.
• Misplaced Vegetation: In-Universe, apples don't exist in the demon realm. Kalego not being able to find a similar fruit causes him to be suspicious of Iruma.
• Missing Mom: Ameri lost her mother when she was just a baby. Her father never told her what happened, but he seems to be trying to protect her from the truth about her mother.
• Momma's Boy: As a child, Iruma wanted to have a closer relationship with his mother than with his father. This is no longer the case when he becomes a teenager.
• Monster Clown: Chapter 20 has the six clowns terrorizing Iruma and trying to consume him. Even before they begin their cat and mouse game with him, the poor boy can readily sense that the group is bad news.
• My Greatest Failure: The rich old woman who Kalego meet tells him that she and her husband deeply regret damaging their relationship with their daughter after they forbade her from seeing her boyfriend, who came from an impoverished background, since this caused their daughter to no longer wish to see them and refuse to allow them to see their granddaughter.
• Named by the Adaptation: Iruma's parents in the story are named Fuyuki and Chiyo. In the canon series, they're nameless due to their Small Role, Big Impact on the story.
• Nice Girl: According to the people who know Iruma's parents, his aunt Ai was said to be a kind woman when she was alive.
• Not His Blood: In Chapter 22, Kalego suffers from a nightmare of having blood coming out of his mouth and staining his white shirt. However, he knows that it isn't his blood, but rather someone else's, as it tastes too sweet to be his. To his horror, the blood reveals that it belongs to his lover, which makes Kalego fear that he might had killed her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Iruma not eating anything causing his friends and family to become concern for his health and well-being.
• Original Character:
  • Iruma's maternal aunt, Ai, is an OC for the story, as he doesn't have any other blood-relatives in the canon series.
  • Flame Butterflies are creatures that only exist in the story: they don't exist in the canon series.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Sullivan reveals to Kalego that after he bought Iruma from his abusive and neglectful parents, he warned the terrible pair if they ever tried to make contact with Iruma again, there would be serious consequences, as they had given up any guardianship they had over him. Not only that, but Sullivan also tells Kalego that he has placed a curse on each of his grandson's former human teachers and employers who knew about the abuse that the boy was suffering from his parents but did nothing to stop it.
  • Kalego ends up becoming protective of Iruma after the boy reveals his former life and his Abusive Parents who made him work regardless of his young age. Kalego even promises to never allow anyone else hurt Iruma again, which he shows when he saves the boy from a clown group by sending his familiar Cerberion after them.
  • Well, a mixture of Mama Bear with Opera, but they're extremely protective of Iruma and will stand against any threat towards him. They make Kalego promise to take of Iruma at the amusement park and protect him with his life, as well as telling him there will be serious consequences if he fails to keep Iruma safe, by which Kalego knows that his life will end. Upon hearing Iruma was attacked by a group of clowns, Opera goes to deal with them for hurting their beloved young master, even moreso when they see a large bruise mark on Iruma's neck, which he got after the Tall Clown choked him.
• Parental Abandonment:
  • Much like in canon, both Fuyuki and Chiyo cruelly sold Iruma to the demon Sullivan to make money while not having any remorse over how this would affect him. Sullivan even reveals that they completely gave up any guardianship they had over Iruma after the deal they made.
  • Chapter 25 reveals that Ameri lost her mother when she was just a baby. She never knew what happened to her mother because her father Henri didn't tell her what happened. Ameri hopes that her mother didn't chose to have her memories of Ameri erased and Henri is trying to protect his daughter from the painful knowledge that her own mother didn't want her.
• Parental Marriage Veto: The rich old woman and her husband didn't approve of their daughter dating a poor young man and forbade her from seeing him, since they wanted her to marry someone with money. However, they came to regret their behavior after their daughter left home to be with her lover and marry him, especially once their granddaughter was born and their daughter banned them from seeing the child.
• Posthumous Character: According to Iruma, his aunt Ai passed away shortly after he was born.
• Repressed Memories: Much to Kalego's surprise, he discovers that his memories were blocked years ago, including the memories of his past lover, who he doesn't remember.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Both Sullivan and Opera knew about Kalego's past and missing memories of his lover before Kalego himself found out. It's unknown why they didn't help Kalego remember everything prior to the story.
• Siblings Wanted: Chapter 1 reveals that Iruma once asked his mother for a younger sibling for him to play with. Of course, being who she is, she falsely told him that if he finished cleaning her bedroom by the time she returned from a party with her friends, she might consider it.
• Skull for a Head: Flame Butterflies have human-like skulls for heads to show they're not like the ones from the Human World and are more dangerous.
• Social Services Does Not Exist: Like in canon, no one in the Human World bothered to call social services to help Iruma with his parents, as they were unaware what was happening at best or saw it as not their problem at worst.
• Tempting Apple: The apples that Iruma creates aren't special by human standards, but they're delicious to the teachers of Babyls, to the point that they begin to fight over who will have the first apple each morning before Kalego decides to let Iruma take his apple tree home with him to end the madness. It's also thanks to these apples that Kalego eventually remembers about his past with his lover.
• Uptown Girl: The daughter of the rich old woman met and fell in love with a young man who was an employee at the amusement park she and her parents were visiting. After she left home and married her boyfriend, he eventually made his own wealth by the time their daughter was born.
• Urban Legends: Like in canon, the Demon Border Control can erase the memories of any human or demon if they discover their respective worlds. This is treated as an urban legend by demons who, just like in canon, believe that humans are nothing but myths.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Iruma's rotten parents invoked this, claiming the fact that they gave Iruma anything to eat makes them good parents, and other people would starve him.
• Was Too Hard on Him: Kalego feels guilty for lecturing Iruma for two hours after saving him from the clowns that were going to eat him, especially after seeing Iruma getting ready to cry after being lectured.
• Wistful Amnesia: Kalego discovers that a few of his memories are blocked, with the memories of his lover still remaining a mystery, as he tries to find clues about what happened to him and the reason why he and his lover broke up.
• Would Hurt a Child: The six clowns show they have no remorse about harming and eating any demon child they came across. The Tall Clown, who's implied to be the leader of the group, even threaten to teach Iruma about good behavior with his fire magic while choking the poor boy.

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