Turning away from me, Sonju crouched down to eye-level with the other two gracefield children. "What's up with these two? They look awful..." 

"W-why... did you help...?" Ray uttered, his voice dry and seething fear. 

"They're like that because you're hovering over them with that thing, Sonju. The poor things are terrified!" Mujika sighed before looking over to me who was still staring at the plant. "And Y/N, we have other food prepared already- no reason to risk your life trying random berries in the middle of an uncharted cave" She scolded. I giggled and stood up, walking over to the two demons. 

"Nonsense!" Sonju was speaking. "What about those little ones over there?" He exclaimed, worrying about them getting hurt on his massive harpoon. "Though, sure, I do take care not to let them touch it!" 

Ray's face looked completely dumbstruck. "W-why...are... you demons... hel-" He began a second time but was interrupted by Emma's shout.

"Where are the children?!" Emma shouted, turning a deadly gaze to Sonju. She then dashed in the direction that Mujika came from.

"HEY EMMA-!!" Ray called after her. I let out a low whistle. Remind me not to piss Emma off. She may be a cinnamon roll, but she's a dEADLY cinnamon roll. 

"Heh heh heh..." Sonju let out a throaty chuckle. "My bad, kiddies. About your question, then..." The large large demon let out a long sigh, imbued deeply with amusement. "Why would we demons save you, eh..." 

I swayed from leg to leg, debating what to do now. I could stay here with Ray and talk to Sonju, or I could go relieve my plant of their worry... 

"Demons..." Sonju was still speaking, reminiscing on the old times. "How nostalgic... Yes, we used to be called that..." We began walking towards the other room that contained Emma and all the other cattle children, so I was grateful to not have to choose between the two groups.

"I'm sorry to've scared you so much..." Mujika said as we entered. "we really didn't mean to add to your troubles. I'm Mujika, and this is Sonju. We don't eat humans. So relax, we don't have any intentions of harming you or your friends." Mujika spoke calmly, her voice sweet and relaxing. 

My plant then took notice of me, raising from where they were sitting. "Y/N!" Poppy called, running over to me. 

"Are you okay?" Daisy asked, checking my face for wounds. All of a sudden there was a harsh smack across the back of my head.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, rubbing it. Reina stood over me, her face looking harsh.

"Really... You big idiot!" She yelled, tears beginning to sprout from her eyes. "You didn't even say anything about where you were going and just disappeared!" She began berating me.

"Ahaha..." I sent Poppy a look for help but she rejected it with a glare.

"I may be reckless, Y/N, but that was the most reckless thing I've ever heard of!" And then my second mom- or technically my 3rd- wait, or 4th?!-  began berating me too, without pause for breath.

"...Hayato, what about you?" I asked, clawing out desperately to get away from the army of kids nagging me. 

"... you did stupid." He said, turning back to his food. 

Defeated, I slumped towards Hannah. I wrapped my arms around her neck. "Hannah? You love me right? Get them to stop being mean!!!" I groaned, actively turning into goo. 

Hannah huffed and stood up, letting me fall to the floor. "Sorry..." Niko mouthed, giving me an apologetic grin as she followed after her angry best friend to the other side of the room. 

I turned into mush on the floor, sighing. A few minutes later, Poppy and Reina finally stopped, leaving to go get their own helping of stew. I lay there in dejected silence until I heard a scuffing of footsteps.

"...you look pathetic." The one-and-only cyclops emo boy Ray himself declared, nudging me with his foot. I rolled over and brushed my white hair out of my face. Ray rolled his eyes and sat down, handing me a mug of the stew. 

"OOo thanks!" I said, taking it from him gratefully. I smiled and did a little dance as I ate, as if expelling the demons from my body. "It's so good!" I exclaimed, turning to Ray who rolled his eyes and smiled.

"It's better then the rations we had prepared, at least." He said, eating his own food. 

"Stop being such an emo boy and admit its good." I said, handing the mug to Sonju for seconds. 

"That was fast." The demon man said, filling my mug up graciously. 

"Oh believe me," Reina was speaking from across the room while she set down her own mug of food. "She can eat faster." I gave her a look and continued eating my stew gratefully. 

Poppy laughed. "If anyone can eat fast here, its Y/N! She practically inhales the cookies mama would give us back at the house!" 

'house'... 'mama'... Everyone thought. Can you really call the farm they were raised on a 'house'? 

"I miss everyone" Daisy was speaking, her voice trembling as tears threatened to spill. "We left them to-to...the demons..." The yellow-eyed girl began to cry, Chris comforting her with a hug. 

I sighed, my heart aching again. Would it have been best to leave them behind after all? To let them live without a clue until the moment they died? But the sight of the group of kids laughing together while they ate only a little while later changed my mind completely. Even if it was a small number at least I managed to save a few that were destined for death. Silver lining...right?

Less than few hours later all the children were sleeping peacefully, the two plants intermingling while they slept as they got closer together. I gave them a smile then walked into the dining room where Sonju was still dwelling. 

"So you're still awake?" The demon man asked as we entered.

'are you kidding me?' I wanted to say. '12:00 am is rookie numbers for an experienced weeb.' Alas, I made the responsible choice of keeping my mouth shut.

"Can we talk now...?" Emma asked quietly while Ray sulked per usual. 

"Can't see why not." Sonju answered, beckoning for us to sit on a nearby mat. "You three were running around like headless chickens last night and didn't sleep properly, right? You should stay put and rest until you recover fully."

I snorted, wondering if the 'headless chickens' part was in the original manga or if Sonju has a little more spunk in this universe. 

"We're going to get a full night's sleep again later, don't worry." Emma said, sitting on her knees. I considered sitting formally like the Japanese but decided to sit cross-legged. 

"Heheh" I chuckled quietly at the mention of a full night's sleep. When was the last time I'd had one of those. 

"...right, Y/N?" I heard Emma say, sounding as if she was threatening to blow my brains out if I didn't sleep properly. 

"A-Ah, umm... yyyeeesss?" I lied through my teeth, giving her a convincing smile. 

"Good." She said, as if removing any chance I would be lying by doing so. Emma then took a deep breath and turned to the demon man who saved our lives.

"Thank you." She said, and Sonju turned to her, his interest peaked. I listened along as the two races intermingled and spoke, with Emma thanking Sonju and apologizing while Sonju reaffirmed that being skeptical of demons was a good thing and explaining that he doesn't eat humans due to his and Mujika's religion. 

Seeing as I already know all this, I turned to Ray and tapped his shoulder, holding my pointer-fingers out to play chopsticks.

(If you don't know the game chopsticks just replace it with OO7 or rock-paper scissors, or maybe even stella ella ola)

-----

I let out a loud groan. Apparently having a massive intelligence increase didn't mean that I got better at small games. 

"This is so unfair!" I groaned, interrupting Sonju and Emma's conversation. 

"What do you mean, unfair? You're the one who suggested we play." Ray reprimanded, as he added the 15th tally under his name, scratching it into the dirt. I looked longingly to my side of the T-chart, which didn't have a single tally present. 

"...I've been meaning to ask you all this while, but what exactly are you two doing?" Sonju asked curiously, turning his attention to us. 

"We're playing chopsticks! Oh! I could teach it to you at some point if you like!" I exclaimed, turning my own attention to the red-haired demon. 

Sonju hummed in consideration. "Perhaps later." He said before turning back to Emma. "As you were," He waved, giving her the opening to continue the conversation.

Realizing I was likely being too distracting for Ray, Emma, and Sonju I turned my attention back to them and decided to listen properly this time.