I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!-Chapter 580 You want to see?

Drake shook his head weakly, the movement small and exhausted, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes and disappearing into the sand beneath him.

"I don’t want it..." he whispered, his voice so small it barely reached.

Blaze’s expression softened deeply, something raw passing through his eyes.

"I know you don’t," he said. "I know you don’t want this. No one wants this part. But this is how you grow stronger. This is how you become who you are meant to be."

Drake sniffed, his breathing uneven, his small chest rising and falling too fast.

Blaze continued, his voice low and calm, grounding. He needed to explain. He needed Drake to understand, even through the pain.

"You know how children lose their baby teeth?" he said gently, his hand still resting against Drake’s snout. "It hurts when the teeth get loose. It feels strange. It makes them uncomfortable. But then the new teeth come in. Stronger teeth. Teeth that can chew harder food. Teeth that last their whole lives."

He paused, letting the words settle.

"Your old scales are like baby teeth. They protected you when you were small. They were good scales. Good scales for a baby dragon." He brushed his thumb across Drake’s cheek. "But you are not a baby anymore. You are growing. And growing means you need stronger scales. Scales that can take more heat. Scales that can protect you when you fly higher, when your fire burns brighter."

Drake’s big eyes flickered, still wet, still glassy with pain, but something in them had shifted. He was listening.

"It hurts..." he repeated quietly, but the words were softer now. Less a plea. More an observation.

Blaze nodded.

"Yes," he said simply.

He did not deny it. He did not soften the truth. He had learned, from his own father, that lying about pain only made it worse. Children knew when you weren’t telling them everything.

"It hurts because your body is working hard. It is pushing out the old so the new can come in. It is making room for something better."

He carefully brushed away a loose scale from Drake’s side, near his ribs. It came off easily, the edge already lifted, the connection weak. Beneath it, a new scale shimmered faintly, deep red and fresh, soft as silk but already harder than the one above it.

Blaze cupped his hand and showed it to Drake, letting him see the scale in his palm. It was small, no bigger than a fingernail, but it glowed in the dim light, catching the warmth of the chamber.

"See this?" he said softly. "This is yours. This is the new scale growing underneath. It is stronger than the one that fell. It will protect you better. It will carry your fire farther."

Drake looked at it through teary eyes, his breath hitching.

"...Really?" he whispered.

"Yes."

Blaze leaned closer, his forehead gently touching Drake’s. The contact was warm, familiar, the way dragons had comforted their young for centuries. Scale to scale. Heat to heat.

"Really," he repeated. "Your body knows what it is doing. It has been waiting for this. Preparing for this. All those naps. All that food. All that running around with your friends." He smiled slightly. "Your body was building strength. Getting ready to become something more."

Drake let out a small, shaky breath, the tension in his shoulders easing just a fraction.

His body still trembled slightly, the involuntary shudders of a small creature in discomfort, but his crying quieted just a little. The sharp, broken sounds gave way to softer whimpers, to uneven breathing that was slowly, slowly evening out.

Blaze continued to stroke his snout slowly, steadying him, his hand a constant presence in the shifting heat.

"I am here," he said, his voice low and certain. "I am not going anywhere. You do not have to go through this alone."

Drake closed his eyes halfway, still in pain, still uncomfortable, but no longer panicking the way he had moments ago. His claws uncurled from the sand. His wings relaxed against his back. His tail, which had been thrashing, lay still. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

His breathing slowly began to even out.

Outside the chamber, Pyrra sat with her hands clasped tightly against her chest, her forehead pressed against the stone wall. Every faint sound that reached her made her heart clench. Every small cry made her eyes burn.

She wanted to go in. She wanted to hold him. She wanted to take the pain away, to make it her own if that would help.

But she couldn’t.

This was his to carry. This was his to grow through.

***

"I was wondering... Lina, can I see the kindergarten where you work? I have never seen it..." her aunt said casually during the video call, leaning slightly closer to the screen as if that would bring her nearer to the place she was asking about.

For a second, Alina didn’t react.

The words floated in the air, ordinary and harmless, the kind of question any family member might ask about a loved one’s workplace. Normal. Innocent. Impossible.

Then her body stiffened.

Her fingers tightened slightly around her phone, the edges pressing into her palm. Her breath paused somewhere in her chest, caught between her lungs and her throat, refusing to move.

On the screen, her aunt’s face was open, curious, genuinely interested. Behind her, Alina could see the familiar curtains of their home, the soft afternoon light filtering through the windows. Everything about the image was normal. Everything about the request was normal.

That was the problem.

"...You want to see?" she asked slowly, forcing a small smile onto her face. The words came out steady enough, but her heart had already begun to beat faster, a dull thrum against her ribs that no one else could hear.

On the screen, Aunt Lyla moved the phone, and her mother appeared beside her, leaning forward eagerly, her eyes bright with excitement.

"Yes, yes, we both want to see," she said quickly, her voice warm and animated. "I can walk properly these days, and I feel so happy. Geo said my recovery is going very well. I just..." She paused, her expression softening. "I wish I could see your kindergarten once. Where you spend your days. Where you teach. Where you are so happy."

Her voice softened a little more, almost shy.

"Please, Lina... ask Dante."