Chapter Text
Just like most chaos happening in Babyls, it started in the Royal One. The morning sun of the Netherworld hit the stained glass of the Abnormal Class classroom, casting long shadows across the floor. Lied was currently slumped over a gaming console grumbling about a boss fight, while Jazz was sitting on his desk, practicing finger-flicking coin techniques.
Suddenly he stood up, catching the attention of all other 12 misfits.
‘I’m bored,’ He announced, ‘Not like that “let's go stealing wallets because I have nothing to do” bored but like the “I want to see something funny” bored.’
Clara popped up from behind him, jingling with chaotic energy. ‘I have just the thing. Lookie. Lookie.’
She tapped her bottomless pockets twice, causing it to glow, and she pulled out a stack of neon-yellow squares. They were bright, sticky, and tiny.
‘Paper?’ Lied squinted, looking up at Clara. ‘Clarin, we have regular paper.’
‘No! These are sticky-stickies!’ Clara lunged towards Lied, slapping one on his arm. ‘They stick! And never let go!’
Iruma, who had been quietly looking at a picture book Balam gave, leaned over with a small, nostalgic smile, ‘Oh Post-it notes! We used those all the time in…my old school. For reminders and stuff.’
‘Reminders?’ Jazz’s eyes gleamed with a new-found light. He took a stack from Clara and looked at them, before turning to Iruma. ‘I think I have a better way to use them? A more… our way.’
Jazz turned his head towards an empty desk in the back of the room, ‘Purson, you’re there, right?’
The air shimmered slightly before revealing Purson, looking as unenthusiastic as a demon walking to detention. ‘I was hoping you’d forget about me for another hour.’
‘Not a chance,’ Jazz grinned, fanning the neon squares. ‘Iruma-kun says they’re for reminders. But I say they’re for delivery. With your Detection Warding, you could cover the whole school in these and no one would know.’
‘No. With great power comes great responsibility.’ Purson looked at the yellow square.
Jazz said, ‘Think of it as training. Responsibility with a splash of yellow.’
An hour later the Abnormal class was slumped over their desks during Momonoki-sensei’s magic class. The room was silent except for the usual stifling of yawns or scribbling notes.
In the row in front of them, was a student from class 2-C, who looked like they hadn’t drank water since the start of the semester. Their skin appeared sickly, pale and staring blankly at the book in front of him.
Elizabetta turned to Jazz, whispering, ‘Oh dear, they look so dehydrated. Its quiet a tragedy.’
‘Say no more,’ Jazz whispered back, an excited smirk growing on his face. He scribbled on a note and handed it to a pair of hands that weren’t visible to anyone. Without a sound, the post-it note disappeared from Jazz’s hand.
Six exhausted seconds later, the student blinked. They didn’t feel the light pat on his shoulder. Instead they heard a small crinkle coming from behind them. They turned their head over and saw it. They reached back, and pulled the note off to read it.
Drink Water. Seriously… you look as pale and frowny as Kalego-sensei. Its scary.
The student felt a shift in the energy of the classroom. His eyes went wide, as he looked around frantically, but everyone was ‘studying’ diligently. With a trembling hand, he raised his hand to ask Momonoki if he could get water.
The students behind him, Lied and Kamui bit their tongues to hide their laughter .Jazz smirked. One down.
The bell chimed to signal the end of class, as the students began to pack their things and shuffle out. Momomonoki stood at the podium, stacking papers into a perfect pile. ‘Don’t forget the reading for tomorrow’s practical!’ she called out, her voice sharp and professional.
As she turned to grab her bag, a single neon-yellow paper square floated through the air, carried by a breeze. It landed right in the middle of her lesson plan for the third year students.
Momomonoki blinked. She picked it up, expecting it to belong to a student. She blue orbs scanned the messy, hurried handwriting:
If you wait any longer, Balam-sensei will steal Kalego-sensei from you
Momomonoki’s face went from its usual to bright shades of red. The mana flared, making the papers on the podium to flutter.
‘Wha-Who wrote this!?’ she squeaked, her voice jumping three octaves. She spun around, clutching the note in her hand, treating it both like a treasure, and a detonator.
The classroom was almost empty. The only ones left were the Abnormal Class students, who casually strolled towards the door.
‘Is something wrong, Momonoki-sensei?’ Iruma asked, tilting his head to the side with pure, innocent curiosity.
‘N-nothing! Nothing at all! Class dismissed.’ she yelled, quickly shoving the note in her pocket, and hurrying to the faculty lounge.
___
Back in the hallway, the misfits celebrated with high-fives, and tried (and failed) to keep quiet.
‘Did you see her face?’ Lied wheezed, leaning against the wall. ‘She looked like she was going to combust!’
‘I told you,’ Jazz said, checking the remainder of his stack of notes. ‘Reminders are fine, but chaos? Much better.’
Pusoon flicked into view, a small smirk on his face, ‘she’s still holding the note, and staring at it. She didn’t throw it away.’
Iruma watched them, a worried expression on his face, ‘Jazz-kun, maybe we could control ourselves a bit more?’
‘That,’ Jazz grinned, ‘is exactly what we’re not trying to do. Control is for the student council,’ Jazz laughed, handing a fresh blue stack to Clara. ‘We’re adding much-needed color here.’
Jazz pocketed the remaining yellow squares, his grin widening. ‘If a single note can make a teacher sprint, imagine what a hundred could do.’
As they walked away, a bright pink square suddenly appeared on the back of Jazz’s cape, placed by a giggling Clara. It simply said: 'Sticky King!'
A Third-Year student from3-B rushed out of class to go to his battler when he felt something stick the sole of his shoes. He peeled off the neon-yellow square that read: 'Drink Water. Seriously… you look as pale and frowny as Kalego-sensei.'
He snorted, ready to toss it. But then he looked around and saw a pale classmate march towards the water taps, aggressively chugging down water from a large water bottle. He saw the ‘victim’ follow advice with vigor, a slow devious grin spread across his face.
‘This is…genius.’ he whispered towards himself, immediately heading to Camu Camu’s store for his own pack.