Ball of Nothing

Zero's class began on the very next day. The young doctor was up before even dawn and had gone through Hua Tuo's morning exercises twice. In fact, he had been too excited for any form of proper sleep. He checked his timetable several times just so he knew what to expect throughout the day.

Beelzebub didn't return at all that night and Zero was worried. Still, Baal said not to worry so Zero wasn't going to pry in other people's business. Besides, there were things that he had to do. Worrying wouldn't be of any help. With Mii's assistance, the young doctor had everyone on the suspect list added to the map's auto-detect list. Once Zero comes in close proximity, it will mark them as a watched target.

Zero wondered if it was possible to add a few more people who were not on the suspect list to his watchlist on a lower priority. For one, the librarian was very suspicious. Zero had already decided to drop by the library and check out on some recommended readings by Baal. It was rare to find a dragon and even rarer to find a dragon-demon. Olaf was quite the mysterious character and even if Zero didn't think he was a bad person, the young doctor would rather be safe than sorry.

The first thing Zero did before the bell rang was to head to the cafeteria where breakfast was waiting. Due to the early hour, there was hardly anyone in it. Zero enjoyed the reprieve and relished the moment. The cooks were pleasantly surprised to see the new student and heaped a huge variety of freshly baked pastries onto his plate. Zero couldn't even begin to offer his gratitude when the pile on his plate overflowed.

After much bowing, thanking and refusing extra morsels, Zero finally sat down to begin his meal while checking on the movement of his targets. Most of the students Class-A do not attend the lectures in the morning and only gather in the afternoon for compulsory modules. That was one of the privileges the special class had.

"Mii, could you show me the profile of the targets again?" he asked through their mental connection.

The strawcherry fairy went through Zero's massive library of information in their mindscape and pulled out a pair of tiny glasses to facilitate her in finding that one particular book. Zero watched her pull out a particular book in his mindscape all while eating on autopilot. The pile of food gradually reduced and Zero was only able to half-heartedly enjoy the taste of the various pastries, all of which were no doubt knowledge that Lucifer brought along with him from Heaven. Even without paying attention to the flavour, Zero's tongue danced in delight at the exquisite sweetness of the seven-berry cake.

"Found it," Mii reported and flipped open the first page of the memory book. With Bob's suggestion, they decided to reorganise the mindscape a little. Zero had simply too many fragments, memories and unknown sources of powers. It was also easier to find things when they were neater and Mii self-assigned the job to be Zero's mindscape librarian. Bob sulked at that but there wasn't much he could do. Mii was better at locating things after all. She was also good at categorising things. The book she was holding was also known as Zero's memories. It wasn't particularly thick yet because it hasn't even been a year since Zero fell out of the void.

"The first target from Class-A is someone you've already met yesterday. His name is Jeremiah and despite behaving like an idiot, he is a child genius best known for his unique abilities to charm others with his music. It should be no surprise that his voice has hypnotic powers, he is a canary demon after all."

Zero hummed in response and licked his fingers before returning his tray while Mii continued. He briefly remembered that snobbish looking student with a narrow mind to match his attitude. Jeremiah had black hair except for that one streak of yellow in the middle with all the strands slicked backwards. The oddness did nothing to deter his androgynous beauty. In fact, the swallowtail uniform blazer and tight iron pants only highlighted it. It solidified Zero's belief that this person was a thorough snob was when he made his hasty escape with those shiny black shoes with short heels that go click-clack on the hard tiles.

"Who's the next? I remember we have five targets in total, three from Class-B and one from Class-A."

Mii turned the page. "There is also Kruz, a bat demon. He's anti-social and although he isn't someone who looks like he would be involved in such a scheme, he is on your target list."

Zero looked at the picture attached in Kruz's profile. He hadn't seen the bat demon at all and Kruz looked like a very small demon who was about Zero's height. Unlike the other demons here who looked more humanlike, Kruz still retained his animal parts such as patches of fur on his arms, wings and ears. His eyes also looked like a bat's and Zero found the bluish hue on his skin very interesting. How did the pigmentation work?

"What about Beel's target? Are any of them in the vicinity?"

Mii scrutinised the map window and looked back at the book. "The other three suspects are Rayneld - a Manta Ray demon, Chitta - a succubus and Koblaq an obsidian demon."

Zero blinked. "Obsidian demon? What's that?"

"It's a demon that is born from the lava river. He's actually a gargoyle but you won't get to see him in action. Koblaq is known to be good at aerial battles with very high defence magic. Normally you can see him wearing a black hooded jacket over his uniform sleeping at the back of the class. It isn't uncommon to find him participating in riots outside of school hours. This kid has had several warnings from the Academy but he just doesn't stop."

"How about Chitta and Rayneld?"

Mii flipped another page. "Chitta's just really sociable and fits in very well with the profile of an information hunter. She happens to be good at assassination."

The image showed a young girl shorter than Zero with pink shoulder-length hair that curled at the ends. She had purple irises and a diamond birthmark on her left cheekbone. Zero didn't think she looked like a harmful person but that only meant that she was very skilful at hiding her real personality. After knowing Lilith and Coux, Zero could understand why succubuses were scary. They were masterful actresses who knew exactly how to get what they wanted.

The young doctor looked at the picture of the last target. Rayneld was a very odd looking demon despite his human form. The Manta Ray demon had blue skin. It wasn't bluish like Kruz's, it was actually teal. Half his head was shaved and he had several facial piercings. Zero noted how he had piercings on his ear, eyebrow and lips. His eyes were a translucent shade of aquamarine, giving it a magical vibe.

"That is the last suspect. Rayneld is known to be the best when it comes to underwater operations. He is essentially a one-man army and nobody wants to mess with him in his true form. He is a model student of the Academy and the only reason why he is on this suspect list is due to his perfect record. Despite some of the Academy's best efforts to investigate into his past, nobody has found anything useful. He simply appeared one day claiming to be the child of Charybdis and proved his strength through the interviews to get accepted on a permanent scholarship."

Zero nodded. Now that he had a better understanding of the targets, it was time to make his move. He already knew one of the targets. He met Jeremiah by chance after all. Of all the suspects, Zero thought that the least suspicious person on the list was Chitta because she was Lilith's kin. Even if she was a spy, it was highly unlikely for the succubus to work for the enemy. Lilith didn't take to traitors very kindly after all and would have taken care of Chitta if she sensed something off.

Truth be told, the young doctor was very curious about the bat demon. Kruz gave Zero the impression of a wounded patient and as a doctor, Zero wanted to heal whatever was causing the demon pain. For some odd reason, Kruz appeared to Zero as a very lonely person. The ones he didn't particularly want to get along with were Jeremiah for obvious reasons and Koblaq because the latter was a violent person who went against Zero's personal beliefs about resolving conflicts.

"Where does Chitta usually hang out?" he asked Mii as he left the cafeteria. Zero wanted to visit the library but first, he had to mark his targets out and track them using the map. He didn't think that it would be much use if they left the Academy but that would only give Zero more reason to suspect them if they did.

"She is usually found in the atrium hanging out with friends when there are no classes although according to the investigators' report, she can sometimes be found relaxing in the greenhouse."

"Greenhouse?"

Mii smiled. "She's a huge fan of sunflowers for some reason. It was specially grown there, a hobby of hers. Nobody else is keen about the greenhouse apart from hosting petty tea parties in there. Other than Chitta and the gardener, nobody really visits that building."

Zero hummed and opened the map of the Academy in his inventory. The greenhouse was a good ten-minute walk from the cafeteria building. It was a beautiful dome-shaped building made of tinted glass that changed colour every hour interval. Although the library fascinated the young doctor, the greenhouse was a beautiful place that piqued his interest. He didn't think that Chitta would be anywhere near the Atrium now, it was way too early. If luck was on his side, he might just make his first contact today.

With a destination in mind, Zero made his way over to the greenhouse.

Beelzebub passed by the young doctor and was fairly surprised to see how the brunet didn't notice him. Zero must have been in a real hurry to be so absent-minded about his surroundings. That was a novice mistake. In the demon world, if you let down your guard, you get eaten. The Demon Lord only rolled his eyes at Zero's carelessness. Who cared about that naive brat? It wasn't any of his business. ignoring his mission partner, the Lord of Gluttony entered the cafeteria.

The moment he stepped into the cafeteria, the peaceful atmosphere changed. Cooks begin warming up their pans and servants rushed to replenish the depleted items. Beelzebub wasn't going to hold back either today. He didn't know if Zero was aware of the unspoken agreement on the campus but from eight thirty in the morning till nine, the cafeteria was closed for business. It was something the school's dean arranged for him. Beelzebub needed all the cooks they had on deck for every meal and to avoid causing inconvenience to the other students, the cafeteria was reserved for the Lord of Gluttony. Once Beelzebub had placed his orders, the kitchen would busy away until he was sated. For Zero to be at the cafeteria so early only meant that he was plotting something again.

"Why do I care? He can die for all I know..." the Demon Lord scowled. Staying out all night made him hungry. It wasn't easy to tail Koblaq last night. The stupid gargoyle had to get into another messy brawl with the local authorities. If it weren't for his mission, Beelzebub would have simply ignored the idiot. Wasn't it common knowledge to commit a crime without any witnesses? sometimes the Demon Lord wondered how such a dumb person could be accepted into the Academy as one of the more talented individuals.

He highly doubted that such a dumb person would be involved with such organised crime. The organisation wouldn't possibly enlist such an obvious buffoon into their ranks only to give them away. Still, a mission was a mission. The Demon Lord felt his mood getting darker at the thought of having to submit his weekly report on the suspects soon. He was making absolutely no progress with Rayneld or Chitta and Lucifer wasn't too happy about it. Still, he refused to ask Zero for help.

Unique gift or not, he still had his pride as an underdog who made it to the top with nothing but his own effort. He wasn't about to ask help from an overly pampered and spoiled brat who knew nothing about the sufferings of this world.

He made it so far on his own, there was no way he would lower his head and ask for help from some pampered kid who thinks that the world would bend at his will. As the Demon Lord of Gluttony, he would deal with it on his own the way he always did.

He would chew them up and spit them out.