The Country Mice

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/48442660.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: F/M, Gen
Fandom: Chainsaw Man (Manga)
Relationship: Denji/Reze (Chainsaw Man), Denji & Nayuta (Chainsaw Man), Kishibe
& Quanxi (Chainsaw Man)
Character: Denji (Chainsaw Man), Reze (Chainsaw Man), Kishibe (Chainsaw
Man), Quanxi (Chainsaw Man), Katana Man (Chainsaw Man), Nayuta
(Chainsaw Man), Higashiyama Kobeni, Yoshida Hirofumi
Additional Tags: Mentioned Hayakawa Aki, Mentioned Power (Chainsaw Man), Angst,
Loads of Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Minor Original Character(s),
OC Devils, Alternate Universe, Denji Needs a Hug (Chainsaw Man)
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-07-08 Updated: 2023-08-27 Words: 15,023 Chapters:
5/?

The Country Mice

by Teuchi_77

Summary

The Chainsaw Man is making fewer appearances in public nowadays, why is that?
Probably because he's too caught up in figuring out what he wants to do with his life to care
about killing devils. Sure, killing devils is cool, but what's the point if no one knows it's
him? And even if they did, what's stopping them from coming after his heart all over again?

That all changes when he meets a few old friends, and realises that maybe he does know
what to do with his life now.

Notes

Listen, I'm on copium alright? I read and caught up to Chainsaw Man recently, and boy was
it a journey. Fujimoto really is gifted in the stories he writes, and him leaving Reze alive
after the Bomb Devil arc was probably the happiest ending us DenReze fans could ask for.
While I love Asa and am totally fine if she does end up with Denji, I needed to write more
with these two in a kinder world. Very original I know. This fic's probably gonna be a few
chapters long, maybe more than that depending on how well it does.
 Reunion

What could he dream about now? What was left to dream of? How could he know whatever he
wanted would actually give him gratification and not be snatched away in an instant?

Such thoughts and more flew through Denji's brain as he sat awake at night. It hadn't been too long
from previous events that had taken place. He didn't want to remember them, but it's not like he
could forget. His best friend showing up at his house with a gun for a face. His other best friend
popping like a balloon right in front of him. And of course, the woman of his dreams being behind
it all, never caring for him as a person and taking pleasure in making his life hell.

The same woman who had now reincarnated as his younger sister. It hurt his brain.

"Grrr..." he grumbled. "Can't... sleep..."

The boy known as Chainsaw Man sat up in his futon. He noticed that Nayuta and his dogs were
still asleep.

"Fuck do I do now..." he rubbed his head as he checked the time. 6 AM. On a weekend. Usually
he'd be awake by 9 and chowed down on some nice breakfast with Nayuta. A cat approached him
and sat in his lap as he pet it.

"You're up too huh Meowy?"

Denji got up and took a shower. He wasn't going to get sleep now. Might as well go for a walk.
Nayuta was definitely not waking up for the next couple of hours. He put on some decent clothes
and stepped outside.

It was chilly this time of year, hard to operate as Chainsaw Man when his chest felt like it was
going to freeze off. Speaking of, he hadn't gone into that form in weeks. Half because there weren't
many devils around worth his time, and half because there was no reason to. What was the point?
What was he gonna get from it? He didn't care of the wellbeing of some stupid no-names.

As he headed closer to the nearest convenience store, someone's arm wrapped around his neck. He
recognized that ironclad grip.

"Old man?" he looked to his right.

Kishibe was here. A man Denji hadn't seen since he left him with Nayuta.

"Denji. Been a while. I was going to call you from your house directly, but seems you've spared me
the journey."

"Whaddya want?"

"Not here." Kishibe motioned to a nearby restaurant.

The two headed in as Kishibe took a swig from his flask. It was comforting to know this geezer
was still alive and drinking, Denji thought.

"Y'know, one of these days I wanna be at these fancy cafés with a hot girl."

"This isn't just any 'fancy café'." Kishibe stated. "You should recognize it."
"Wuh?" he took the surroundings in for a second. "Ohhh! It's that one."

Kishibe sighed. "One coincidence after another."

Denji remembered spending hours here for a date that never came. It felt like it was years ago but
it wasn't. What was her name? He'd blocked out some memories of that time so it was all hazy to
him. He was pretty sure she'd ditched him after trying to kill him. What else was new?

"Onto why I brought you here." Kishibe took another sip from his flask. "I have some news."

"News? Why should I care?"

"It concerns you. I've noticed that you're appearing less and less in public nowadays. The media is
getting concerned. Your fans think you've abandoned them."

"I see that on TV anyway. Why should I care? Not like I get anything from being their hero. No
one knows it's me."

"And if they did?"

Denji paused to think about it. "Hey... if they did..."

"That's another can of worms I'm not opening. Regardless, your inactivity has lead to more devil
hunters dying trying to deal with the devils that keep popping up."

"Meh. I don't care about some dorks in suits dying. As long as I get to go to high-school and live
my life, I'm happy. All of this devil bullshit can stay gone."

Kishibe's hundred-yard stare pierced through Denji. "I see. So you've lost interest in fighting
devils?"

"Something like that. There are some times I wanna pull this cord and go ham but..."

"I don't blame you. You've gone through enough. Still, being the head of all public safety workers
means I had to work on a solution."

"I'm not working for anyone again."

"...What do you think you'll have to do after leaving school?"

"I ain't being a devil hunter dog again! I'm doing my own shit! You have some balls coming here
after dumping me with a brat!"

"The higher-ups did pressure me to force you into working for us or arrest you. But I'm not doing
that."

Denji tilted his head.

"Like I said, I'm here only with news. Said news is that we've been keeping the bodies used by
Makima in her war against the Chainsaw Devil."

"Bodies?"

"You may not have a great memory of this, considering the first time you saw them you weren't
even conscious. But think about the graveyard where you killed her."
Denji thought hard. He wasn't the one who did the heavy lifting there, he was more concerned
about hiding from Ms. Makima and trying to hit her with a sneak attack. But he did remember a
few minions she had under control.

"Ain't ringing a bell. So what, she had some rando devils with her."

"Not just devils. Devil-humans, or hybrids, rather. Just like you."

"Huh?"

"Tokyo Special Divison 5. Consisting of hybrids Makima had amassed over a short period of time
to act as her pawns. Seven weapon devils, all in a contract with humans. You should remember
some of them. The Katana Devil, The Crossbow Devil and The Bomb Devil."

"The Katana- Wait that asshole?! And Bomb Devil..." Denji's eyes widened. Reze. That was her
name.

The memories came flooding back. Him giving her the flower, her teaching him swimming, their
kiss...

"It seems one of those got a particularly strong reaction out of you."

"They're alive?!"

"All of them, technically. However, we're only making use of two of them. After a lot of back and
forth between their home countries, they've agreed to let us keep them in exchange for Japan's
remaining supply of Gun Devil remains. 1.3%, split equally between the Soviet Union and China.
As well as other devils in our possession."

"Making use..." Denji processed all of that information. "You're gonna replace me?!"

"Do you not want that?"

"Of course not! I don't wanna be thrown aside like some used toy! Fuck that!" he yelled.

"So you don't want to be replaced, but you also don't want to do your job... Then that's your
motivation. Return to being Chainsaw Man, or else someone else'll take your place ."

"Fine, fine. You're gonna have a hard time convincing my loving fans to cheer anyone else
anyway." Denji got up. The owner of the café walked up to him.

"You... You're not gonna buy anything?"

"Nah. I'm broke." Denji shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out.

"Denji." Kishibe called. "Friday, 6:30PM. At the graveyard. If you're serious about coming back,
then you'll meet me there."

"Why?"

Kishibe took a swig of his flask and adjusted his coat. "We have an assignment."

"I ain't a dog anymore."

"If the government deems the hybrids unsuitable as combat units, then they'll have their hearts
harvested. And judging on your reaction just now, you don't want that."
Denji grimaced, then sighed. "I'll be there unless some hot girl asks me out."

Kishibe nodded then walked off.

Denji made it back home. Reze was alive. He wasn't exactly sure how to feel, she'd stood him up
after all. The question was how Ms. Makima caught her. Maybe she was caught before she got on
the train? But that didn't matter. Ms. Makima was gone, Reze wasn't. Surely if she was working as
a devil hunter she wouldn't want to kill him. Right?

He was broken out of his stupor by two dogs nuzzling up to him. "Oh, you two are awake."

"Three." Nayuta rubbed her eyes as she followed behind them. "I'm hungry."

"Too lazy to cook. Gimme an hour or somethin'." he leaned back in his chair.

Nayuta pouted. "No. I want food now."

Denji groaned. "Then get something from the fridge."

"You smell weird." Nayuta noted. "Like an old man."

"You stink too y'know. Did you not shower last night?"

"No. I was cuddling with the dogs." Nayuta shrugged.

"Nayuta! You're supposed to shower daily!"

"I don't wanna! The water's too cold!" Nayuta crossed her arms.

"I'll buy you an extra tub of ice cream."

Nayuta considered the offer, then huffed and walked away. Denji sighed, money was already tight
as it was, he should've asked Kishibe about the pay.

---

The days passed rather quickly, Friday came sooner than expected. Denji prepared to head out.

"Nayuta, I'm leaving."

"Okay."

"Food's in the fridge. Sleep on time."

Nayuta gave him a look. "Not a date, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just gonna kill some devils probably."

It was a half lie. He probably was going to kill some devils. But he also was going to meet a girl he
once loved. Though he wasn't sure if he was still into her. Or if she was ever into him. Reze tried to
kill him after promising him a kiss. That was the first time in his life he looked past his job, that he
looked past Makima.

And then she bit his fucking tongue off.

She kept saying it was all a ruse but then if that were true she would've killed him sooner. The guy
he was that time was a cocky prick who thought he could get with anyone, even with the girl who'd
just broken his neck. He'd gotten too comfortable in his cushy life. Now that it had all gone away,
did he still want that date? What was he supposed to feel now?

Denji ruffled his hair. He was getting cold feet now. He didn't want to go to the graveyard again.
Not so soon after...

"Man..." he sighed. "What is wrong with me? Why am I being so mushy?"

Deciding to go through with it, if only for the chance to feel something again, Denji made his way
to the graveyard. The thought kept nagging at his brain.

Ms. Makima was a manipulator through and through, she never gave a rat's ass about Denji. Only
about Pochita. But Reze wasn't like that. She actually tried to get to know him. Why?

The sun began to set as he made his way in. Crosses covered the vast green fields that were now
coated in a crimson glow. He walked past numerous names he has a faint recollection of. Himeno,
Arai, Kusakabe... Okay maybe he didn't remember the last guy.

He made it to a grave he did recognise though. Aki Hayakawa. He hadn't seen his grave after the
first time. He didn't want to. Tears began to form in his eyes.

"Shit on a stick..." his voice broke as he wiped his eyes. "I miss ya man."

He killed Aki. He killed his best friend, the closest thing he had to a brother.

"You know... I kinda know how you felt now." he said somberly. "I got this annoying little sister to
take care of. She's a lot like... Power..."

"Why am I doing this?" he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Where the hell is that old fart
anyway?"

"Denji?"

He turned around. There she was. Her long messy purple hair, her beautiful emerald eyes. And that
grenade pin in her neck.

"You..."

"I-It's been a long time so-"

"You stood me up you bitch!"

"Huh?!"

"I asked you out on a date and you didn't show up! I waited at that shitty café for hours!"

"I was going to! I just... got caught."

Reze was alive. And she was going to show up for their date! She was going to run away with him!
He assumed Ms. Makima had caught her on her way back home.

"You were?"

"Yeah..." she blushed.

Denji's face went red. Shit. He still liked this girl after all.
"H-Heh..." he smiled giddily. "Y-Your charms won't work on me! I can-"

He was interrupted by a punch to the face.

"That's for calling me a bitch."

"Owwww fuck! I think my nose is broken!" he squirmed around on the floor.

"Nice shot." he heard another woman's voice.

"Looks like those lessons I beat into you are fading with time. No self-respecting devil-hunter
trained by me would've gotten his ass knocked out by a punch like that."

Kishibe walked up to the pair of them, accompanied by a tall woman wearing an eyepatch. He
remembered her from the time with the assassins. She was the weird crossbow lookin' chick.

"So he's one of your students? Did you lose your touch?" the woman asked.

"Give me a break Quanxi. I never trained him on how to deal with women." Kishibe retorted.

"Not like it'd make much of a difference if you did." Quanxi shrugged.

"Do you two have a history?" Reze asked.

Kishibe took a long sip from his flask. "It's a complicated one."

"Fuck I can't breathe, it's all blood!" Denji covered his face.

Kishibe sighed and ambled over to the boy, but Reze stopped him. "I'm the one who broke his
nose. I'll do it."

Using one of Kishibe's knives, she slit her wrist, pouring blood into Denji's mouth.

"Sorry about that." Reze smiled.

"Nah, I was acting up. Guess I shoulda known you couldn't resist me." he flashed her a toothy grin.

"Listen, I'm sorry for everything that happened before too. Like, genuinely. I promise I'm not doing
this to manipulate you or anything. Kishibe told me what happened and... I'm sorry about your
friends-"

"Don't." Denji interrupted her again. "I don't talk about that shit anymore."

Reze looked down dejectedly. Quanxi crossed her arms.

"A lot changed while we were gone huh?" she looked at Kishibe.

"You don't know the half of it." The two walked a little further away, getting into a conversation of
their own.

"I know you'll probably never trust me again. I just punched you after all." she laughed nervously.
"But now that I'm free- well, relatively speaking- I want to be there for you."

"You do?" Denji kept his distance.

"I did try to kill you. I'm not going to deny that. And most of my actions to you were faked but..."
she grabbed her arm. "I did feel something when I was with you. At that school."
Denji grinned. "I go to school now y'know. It's a drag but there're some cute girls there so it's
doable."

"Oh..." she giggled.

"What's so funny? Yeah my grades are in the toilet but I don't give a fuck! Not like I have parents
to scold me." he joked.

"It's not like that." she adjusted her hair. "I never got to tell you did I?"

"Huh?"

"I never went to school either."

 Entomophobia
Chapter Summary

The three hybrids are tasked with killing the powerful Insect Devil. There's so much
unresolved tension in the air, its almost buzzing. Or is that from the copious amount of
bugs?

Chapter Notes

Super long one this time! Trying to emulate Fujimoto's chaotic fights was pretty hard,
but I think I did my best. The Insect Devil was also a lot of fun to come up with, even
if it isn't exactly how such a devil would be in the world of CSM. Still, hope you
enjoy!

"You what?! B-But you were like... Really smart 'n' stuff!"

"That doesn't mean I went to school!"

"Huh?"

"Well, I was given an education. But not at a school. If that makes sense."

"Uhhhh..."

"It doesn't matter. The truth is I didn't have much of a childhood. Never knew my parents or... had
any friends. I was raised to kill. When I saw you, a guy who had the freedom to do whatever he
wanted, to the point where you were fine with ditching your job to run away with a girl you just
met..." Reze sighed. "It made me jealous. I envied you. I wanted to know more about the life you
led because I wanted to live like that too."

"Yeah well... Look where that got me." Denji responded despondently.

The conversation died down as the two walked over to Kishibe and Quanxi.

"I brought you all here today for one purpose. The government wants to dispose of a dangerous
devil we have in captivity." Kishibe explained.

"Why? Wouldn't it be more useful to make contracts with?" Reze asked.

"No. It has become uncooperative. It asks too much from hunters when forming contracts,
seemingly trying to rebuke them on purpose. As such, we've been tasked with killing it. Usually
such a task would be simple, most devils in our captivity our weak enough to be subdued by
humans with contracts. Not this one."

"How the hell were you keeping it in there then?" Denji inquired.
Kishibe looked at Denji, his piercing gaze and enigmatic eyes impossible to read. "Control."

Denji's eyes widened, he then grimaced.

"I caught it decades ago, somewhere along the line Makima must've pummeled it into submission."
Quanxi noted.

"The Insect Devil. There are a lot of devils that represent the fears of separate insects, but this
represents the fear as a whole. Meaning the fear of every single insect powers this one." Kishibe
explained. "Makima had an affinity for insects, she made use of many insect devils. Even the
spider devil. All because she made their leader submit."

"But... spiders aren't insects." Reze interjected.

"They may not be biologically-"

"Wait, they're not?" Denji muttered.

"-But the human collective treats them as one in the same. The insect devil has governance over
anything that is even considered an insect. Whether it's erroneous or not."

"Now that she's dead and gone, her control over it has waned. The same reason we're able to think
freely now." Quanxi pointed out.

"Enough with the blabber already! I'm bored!" Denji complained.

"How you manage to sit in a class for 6 hours..."

---

"Here we are." Kishibe gestured to the place. "Place is filled to brim with devils, so if you're gonna
make a scene then try not to cause too much damage."

"You really expect me to not cause any damage?" Reze asked.

"Bring it out into the open if you have to, we've evacuated most of the district anyway. Whatever
you do, do not break any other devils out of their cells."

"What can this devil do exactly?" Reze asked.

"A lot of things. Predominantly manipulation of insects and insect parts. Hell, even other insect
devils." Quanxi said. "Even though we're hybrids, getting hit by its attacks will lead to paralysis. So
watch where it hits you."

"I ain't scared of some stupid bug." Denji crossed his arms.

The four walked inside and went into the lower levels as other devil hunters ushered them to the
cell.

"Do you have a plan?" Kishibe drank from his flask.

"Somewhat." Quanxi said. "I can take this devil down myself, I don't need these two. Which is
why I want you three to stay out here. I'll kill it and we'll be done for day."

"You fuckin' kidding? The only reason I came was to saw devils in half! I'm not gonna sit on my
ass and watch you do it!"
Quanxi gave him a look. "I don't care what you want. If I can gain a modicum of freedom by offing
this bug then I'll do it in the most efficient way. And that is without your intervention."

"It isn't just you who's life is staked on this!" Reze intervened.

Denji grimaced and walked towards her, only for her to point one of her blades at the boy.

Kishibe's eyes narrowed. "Behave."

Quanxi rolled her eye and walked inside the cell.

"Now what? This blows." Denji kicked the cell door.

"I guess we wait?" Reze tilted her head.

"Until what? She kicks its ass?"

"Better than her kicking ours."

The insect devil resembled a regular human of unknown gender. It shared a similar zipper on its
face with Princi the spider devil, except it was dressed in an elaborate suit. It's dark eyes pierced
into the first devil hunter.

"You." its voice sounded layered with male and female voices.

Quanxi drew her blade and got low to the ground.

"No words huh? Just business. You've come here to kill us."

Not allowing the conversation to continue any longer, Quanxi bisected the devil, then beheaded it.

"Most devils that are humanoid are friendly towards humans. Nice façade disguising yourself as
one. Show yourself."

Insect-like appendages burst from the cut body parts as the body reconnected itself. "We like the
human form. It is quite pretty."

Quanxi tried to lunge for it again but a hand burst from its face. Catching the blade, a massive
devil stepped out of the zipper of the insect devil. The devil grabbed her in its four hands as it
walked out of the insect devil's head, warping and growing to a massive size as it's back pressed up
against the roof of the cell.

"Meet the cockroach devil. You didn't know did you? Any insect devil currently alive on earth we
can summon to our aid. You just happened to catch us at an inopportune moment last time." the
insect devil grinned.

Quanxi easily broke free of the cockroach devil's grasp and cut it's fingers off, but the behemoth
lunged to bite her. She managed to grab it's mouth, but it sprouted wings from it's back and
obliterated the roof, flying out.

"You're immensely strong. Which is why we can't have you near us."

Kishibe noticed the commotion going on inside. "Looks like it hasn't gone very well."

"Finally!" Denji kicked the door, only for it not to budge and him to break his toe. "Aw fuck!" he
hobbled around.
"You didn't let me unlock the door." Kishibe mumbled.

"What are you going to do?" Reze asked.

"Watch. I'm not stupid enough to run into a bloodbath."

Denji and Reze burst in, noticing the insect devil. "Ah, more of you. We must introduce ourselves.
We are the insect devil. You may refer to us as En."

"I don't give a rat's ass what your name is!" Denji reached into his shirt and pulled his cord as
chainsaws burst from his limbs. "Woooo! I forgot how good this feels!'

The chainsaw hybrid leapt at the devil, lopping off it's arms and sticking his chainsaws into its gut.
En sprouted wings and flew through the hole.

"Denji! Wait up!" Reze pulled her pin, resulting in an explosion that shook the foundation of the
cell as she turned into her hybrid form. Using her own explosions as propulsion, she followed after
the two.

The insect devil's head split yet again as two more devils crawled out. One was vaguely humanoid
with a bee's abdomen attached to it and the other was an incredibly large, muscular devil with six
arms and large wings. Where its nose would've been was a long proboscis.

"You can keep summoning as many bugs as ya want! I'll keep mowing 'em down!" Denji yelled as
he dodged a punch from the mosquito devil, running up its arm with his chainsaws cutting through
it. It used its other arms to dislodged him, taking to the air on its large wings and slamming into
buildings trying to shake him off.

"He says he's changed a lot but he still fights the same." Reze noted.

"How odd, is that... guilt we sense from you?" En asked. "Quite the scent."

Reze's expressionless devil head turned to face the insect devil. Saying nothing, she lifted her hand
a flicked a spark at it. The spark detonated into a massive explosion. The wasp-like devil retaliated
at its master's behest, charging at Reze with its stinger.

Propelling herself upwards with her explosions, she grabbed its face and detonated it. It flew back,
stunned, as she launched more punches, explosions bursting forth from each one. She then went for
a roundhouse kick, forming her leg into a bomb as she launched the devil away. It crashed into a
building as its intestines spilled out of its abdomen.

"Good job. You've already killed the Wasp Devil." En noted as it walked out from the wreckage.

Reze leapt at it, forming her arm into a massive torpedo, however she was stopped when En
opened its mouth and let numerous insects fly out. Remembering Quanxi's words about the
stingers, she backed up and slammed the bomb into the road, causing a huge eruption of debris and
killing many of the insects.

Using the smoke as cover, she made it behind En, but just as she was about to kill the Insect Devil,
the massive form of the mosquito devil fell on top of them, crushing the two.

"YEAH! EAT SHIT!" Denji yelled as he stood atop the corpse of the mosquito devil. He had
tangled the devil's multiple arms with his chains and then disemboweled it, ending his onslaught by
tearing its head off.
"Ow..." Reze muttered as she crawled out from under its body. "You could've watched where you
were aiming, I think my legs are broken."

Denji ambled over to her and ripped off one of the mosquito devils arms. "Here." he squeezed
some blood out of it.

"Eugh. It tastes horrible." Reze groaned as she made it out from under the corpse.

"Heh. Y'know when I first fought ya I was kinda sad your pretty face disappeared behind this gross
devil head."

"That was what you were sad about?"

"Well, I guess I was also a bit mad about you trying to kill me. But everyone's tried that at some
point. Plus, you were just forced to by your boss right?"

"Something like that. Are you... not mad at me?"

"Nah. I had it easy with you. Next day I was back to my normal life eating jam and toast. It was
better than..." he went quiet. "Better than what'd come later..."

The two sat in silence.

"Denji I never told you this but, you sparing me made me think about my life. Both of us were
robbed of our childhoods. Both of us never went to school or had anyone tell them they liked or
cherished them. You genuinely said you liked me, even after everything that I did to you and your
friends..." Reze deactivated her hybrid form. "I liked that. It made me realise that, I did want to
come back to you. To escape together. Well, before you-know-who intervened."

Denji looked at her, his face a mix of admiration and hurt.

"I don't know what exactly happened before I made it to the café, but when I woke up all I thought
of was you. It's annoying that you made me feel this way, because I was so sure I'd done such a
good job leading you along with my acting. I guess my feelings weren't all fake."

"Heh. I knew it." Denji grinned. "No girl can- Gh!"

He was interrupted as a long proboscis stabbed him through the chest.

"Denji?!"

The insect devil burst from the back of the deceased mosquito devil as it sucked Denji dry of his
blood, his skin losing its colour. The proboscis retracted into its finger as its wings buzzed.

"How romantic." it boasted. Before Reze could pull her pin, an insect stung her in the arm.

She grunted as her body failed her, falling to her knees as the venom seeped through.

"You can't move a single muscle. You may watch as we kill the chainsaw. His heart will prove
great sustencance." En chided.

The insect devil picked up Denji's limp body and tried to fly away, but was interrupted by a kick
from Kishibe, who sent it hurtling towards the floor.

"Human." it snarled.
Before it could react, he produced a knife and cut off its arms, grabbing Denji and setting him
down. En produced sharp appendages from its stumps and leapt at Kishibe, who deflected the
attacks, duel wielding two knives. Forming more legs from its back, it engaged in close-combat
with Kishibe. The devil hunter ran circles around it, stabbing multiple holes into its body with his
knives.

It grew frustrated and let loose another swarm of insects. Kishibe maneuvered away from them as
they closed in on his location, utilizing multiple flips and rolls. However, the insects continued to
follow him. Realising he had no choice, he stopped a small distance away.

"I offer my right hand and right eye. Needle devil, destroy every insect." the Needle Devil
materialized behind him, a smaller creature made of what appeared to be a mass of syringes and
sewing needles. It put an arm out and formed the same number of needles as there were bugs and
shot them at the swarm, taking out every single one. They cut through the bugs and went towards
En, who swatted them away.

"Good job. You managed to only neutralise the attack." En said mockingly.

Kishibe looked at his missing hand as his empty eye socket bled out. "That was the plan."

En's eyes widened as it was cut in half by Quanxi.

"You're back!" it grimaced.

"And you're out of options." she opened her eyepatch and pulled out an arrow, transforming her
into her hybrid form.

"Playtime is over." En's human form fell away as it was revealed to be a conglomeration of insect
parts. Its lower half was composed of a swarm of bugs. Waist up was an exoskeleton made of
miscellaneous exoskeletons as they all swarmed around. It's right arm was consisting of centipede
like wrapping ending in a massive stinger while its left arm was made of a swarm of ants. It's head
was massive and grotesque, eyes covering every possible surface while mandibles jutted out where
its mouth would've been.

"There you are." Quanxi fired off swathes of arrows, penetrating the insect devil's body. However,
every shot was covered up by a bunch of insects. It was a living swarm.

"So its true body is hidden in there somewhere?" Kishibe asked.

"Yeah. Annoying part is hitting it." Quanxi fired off more arrows as she avoided the swarms of
insects from its lower half. It shaped the ants on its left arm into a giant hammer and slammed it on
the ground.

As Quanxi engaged the insect devil, she began to get the upper hand.

"Gh!" it gasped as she let an arrow fly past its right shoulder. She was getting closer. "You shall not
kill me so easily!"

It stuck its stinger into the deceased mosquito devil. The devil convulsed as it rose to its feet.

"My swarm can animate the dead." it mentioned as it revived the massive wasp devil as well.

Quanxi held off the trifecta of devils, but it was becoming clear that she was starting to get
overwhelmed. Her immense speed allowed her to make short work of the reanimated devils, but En
merely manipulated their body parts with the swarm.
Kishibe walked over to Denji. He didn't have much blood to spare the boy, but his bleeding stump
would be enough for one hybrid to get their fill. The problem was that there were two.

"Hey... old man..." Reze managed. "Give me some blood and pull my pin."

Kishibe's analytical eyes looked at hers. "The explosion will probably send me flying. Meaning no
one to supervise you. And no one to pull the plug if you decide to leave."

"...Pull the plug?"

"Before we revived the two of you, I made a deal with the Claw Devil to destroy your hearts by
sacrificing my arms if I so wished."

"Please. I won't."

Kishibe's eyes narrowed.

"I can't leave Denji... Not again..."

Kishibe sighed and fed her the blood from his stump. As she began to recover, he pulled her pin.
Her head detonated, sending him flying into an unoccupied car.

Quanxi managed to reduce the other devils to pieces, but she was slowing down. She'd done no
real damage to the main devil and was losing blood. She probably would be able to take it down,
but she'd need to get a lucky shot.

"Quanxi!" Reze yelled. "Throw my head!" her decapitated head rolled not too far from her still
paralyzed body.

Quanxi sped towards her and grabbed her head.

"Kick my body towards Denji too."

Quanxi kicked Reze's limp body towards the anemic Chainsaw Man as she chucked Reze's head at
the insect devil. En gasped as the Reze's head broke into a bloody grin.

"Boom." a massive explosion engulfed the devil as Reze's devil form materialized again.

En hissed as it backpedaled, letting loose another swarm of insects that Reze reduced to ash. "You
keep its attacks at bay, I'll try and hit its core." Quanxi said as she fired another volley of arrows.

The insect devil materialized a whip out of its left arm and swung it around, destroying the nearby
buildings. Reze and Quanxi dodged its attacks as they continued their assault.

"Ugh, my head..." Denji grunted as he woke up. Kishibe stood above him, having fed the blood
from Reze's body to him. "Old man? What happened to you?"

"I used the Needle Devil to attack it. Unbeknownst to that thing the needles it deflected from my
attack were merely containers for microscopic ones that got lodged all over its body. The Needle
Devil can tell me where its core is."

"Reze?!" he looked at her decapitated body.

"Relax, she's fine. But the fact of the matter is her and Quanxi won't last forever. You'll have to get
in there and take out the core. Based on what the Needle Devil has told me, there's a set sequence
the insect devil follows to move its core."
"Sequence? You're telling me I gotta use my brain?" Denji groaned.

"What else do you go to school for?"

"To get chicks!"

Kishibe sighed. "This is going to be a headache for both of us."

En was getting more and more frustrated as time went, it's left hand morphing into numerous
weapons as it swiped unsuccessfully at the two hybrids. Reze lept up to its head and shot a spark at
it, causing it to stagger. Quanxi continued to fire her arrows, slowly catching on to locations where
its core could be.

The insect devil tried to flee, its massive wings lifting it up. Reze intercepted it, obliterating its
wings with a giant explosion.

"Running low on sparks over here!" she yelled. "Tell me you can shoot its core!"

"I've narrowed it down to a few places."

"Screw it, I'll do it myself then." Reze jumped at it, forming her arm into a missile. En lifted its left
hand, forming the ants into a spear. The two connected, resulting in another huge burst of light.

"Dammit!" Quanxi grunted as En leapt at Reze with it's right arm about to stab her. She tried to
shoot it, but it let loose a swarm of insects to keep her occupied.

Before it could make contact, Denji cut its right arm in two. It hissed in pain.

"Denji!" Reze got to her feet.

"You're naked again?!"

"I had to regrow my body from my head, can't exactly grow clothes now can I?"

"Heh." Denji revved his chainsaws. "I've got a foolproof plan to kill this son of a bitch."

The insect devil leapt at them again, but was shot in the head by Quanxi with an arrow. The
Crossbow Devil lunged at it, firing arrows and forming numerous holes in its swarm-like body.

"Hey fuckface! Over here! Come get me!" Denji waved.

En hissed at shot a swarm of insects at Denji, which Reze blocked with a blast. Denji then ran
from behind her, dodging swings from its left arm and leaping at it. He embedded his chainsaws
into its chest, but didn't hit anything.

It's eyes narrowed into what appeared to be a grin. "You missed."

As it prepared to hit the Chainsaw Man, he laughed loudly. "Missed? I wasn't aiming at anything
asshat! Reze!"

"Heh. Nice one Denji." she looked at her missing fingers. "Boom."

En exploded from the inside, shattering its carapace as revealing its damaged but still intact core: a
grotesque bug about the size of a heart. It buzzed as it tried to fly away, only for Denji to catch it
with one of his chains, extending from his decrepit arms.
"You ain't escapin'!" he yelled.

"N-No! This can't be!" it said in a squeaky voice. "I can't die! Not agai-"

It was interrupted by an arrow shooting through its body, eviscerating it and killing it.

"Hey! I was gonna kill it!" Denji complained.

"If its dead, its dead. Doesn't matter who killed it." Quanxi stated as she turned back into her human
form. "Plus, you look like you're going to fall over any second."

Kishibe walked up to the group. "I'm surprised you aren't all dead after what happened."

"That was a nice strategy Denji." Reze walked up to him. "I didn't expect that, but it was pretty
obvious in hindsight."

"There was no way he was going to be able to figure out where the core would be given how
complicated its movements were, so I gave him an approximate area the core would be at any
given moment." Kishibe explained. "Everything after that was his idea."

"You sacrificed your hand and eye for nothing then?" Quanxi asked.

"Eh. Don't need 'em."

Denji reverted to his human form. He grimaced as he looked at his severely damaged arms and
charred torso.

"You wanna eat the carcass?" Quanxi looked over at the insect devil's body.

"That shit's gross as hell but... Guess I got no choice." Denji took a bite of the devil carcass.

"What now?"

Kishibe taped up his stub and drank from his flask. "I'll get your living arrangements sorted. Still,
you will be on 24/7 surveillance."

"Yipee."

"Eugh. Feel like puking." Denji stuffed his mouth with devil guts as his arms regenerated. His shirt
was torn to shreds, which was a shame. He liked that shirt.

"Denji." Reze walked up behind him, having changed into the clothes of her still intact body. She
promptly snapped and blew it up. He turned around to face her.

"Oh. Want some?" he offered her an intestine.

"N-No thanks." she played with her hair. "So... about what I said-"

"Wanna go on a date?"

She stood speechless. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I thought- Well..." she struggled to find words. "After everything that happened you're still serious
about wanting to date me?"
"I just found out the girl who stood me up didn't actually stand me up and wanted to go on a date
with me. Why wouldn't I be serious?! And, she knows I'm Chainsaw Man, so I don't need to bother
with the secret identity crap! Not that I'd bother with it at all though..."

Reze laughed, similar to that time on the beach. Except this time it was more genuine. Denji wasn't
some starry-eyed idiot frothing over a girl, he was hurt. He had everyone he loved taken away
from him yet he still found the happiness to smile. Still found it in himself to forgive her when she
couldn't even forgive herself.

She grabbed his hand. "Can I hug you? I promise I won't do anything else."

Denji's cheeks went red as he broke out into a grin. "No blowing up?"

She hugged him tightly. "No. Never again."

 Healing Wounds
Chapter Summary

Denji has a bad nightmare the day after his reunion with Reze. Is she truly going to
remain a part of his life if this keeps happening? He's unsure, and Nayuta has other
ideas...

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"Any happiness or normality you'll experience from this point on? I'll be the one to create it all and
destroy it all. If you overcome your grief and make friends, I'll kill them immediately. If you get
married and start a family, I won't allow your wife and children to live long."

Denji trudged through a snow filled forest. He was bleeding. Why was he bleeding? The white
snow was dyed red as crimson dripped from his hands.

"Make me some money you useless piece of shit! Get the fuck away from me! Your fucking mother
never should've given birth to you! I should've killed her before her heart did!"

Dad. He'd killed dad. His mom died before he could even register it too.

A snowball hit him in the face. He turned around.

"A-Aki..."

Hayakawa stood in front of him, a massive, gaping hole in his chest, exposing his ribs and beating
heart. His face looked sad and despondent.

"You killed me Denji. Why? Why did you kill me?"

Denji tried to speak again but his mouth felt wired shut. Aki's single question of 'Why?' echoed
throughout the forest. He had no choice right? He had to kill him. That was all he knew how to do.
Kill. Shred. Rip. Tear. Even going to school now didn't help things. His grades were abysmal, he
sure as hell wasn't going to college. What skills had he developed for a job? How the hell was he
going to support Nayuta?

Nayuta.

The forest around him darkened as his eyes flew open. He sighed. Back home. He was awake. He
looked around, Nayuta was looking at him from across the room.

"Nayuta?"

"Someone's at the door."

The bell rang. Nayuta stood by his side as he walked up to it.

"Don't open the door Denji."

"Huh? Pochita?"

"Don't-"

"Open the door quickly!" Nayuta exclaimed.

Denji's hand trembled as he reached for the handle. Was it Reze? This early in the morning? How
did she even know where he lived?

The door flew open. Denji's eyes widened.

"Denji..."

Power was there. Power was holding a cake.

He tried to back away but his legs wouldn't move. He turned to look at Nayuta. Nayuta wasn't
there. She was. Ms. Makima was.

"Bang."

The blood fiend's torso exploded as her head fell lifelessly to the ground.

"You helped me kill Power." Makima spoke but he could hear Nayuta's voice mixed in. "There
might have been a way to save Hayakawa, but you killed him too. You even murdered your father.
Who's to say she won't be next?"

"N-Nuh uh..." a sad squeak came out of Denji's mouth. The walls of his house fell down, reverting
to his old apartment with his father. His dead body lay in front of him.

"And yet after all that. You still love me don't you? Is there room in your heart for another
woman?"

More dead bodies. Aki. Power. Kishibe. Reze. Pochita.

He liked her. Even after every, single, little fucked up thing she did to him he couldn't find it in
himself to hate her. Why? Why was he such a broken person?

"Someone as broken as you has no right to live a normal life, do they? Nobody will ever love
you. Anyone who does will die, either by my hand, or by yours. Tell me Denji. Do you deserve a
happy life?"

"GAHH!" he shot up in bed, screaming. He clutched his head. Was he actually awake? Was this
another nightmare? What the hell was going on? He hadn't thought about this shit in ages!

"Mmmm... You're so loud." Nayuta got up in her bed next to his. "Why're you screaming?"

"N-Nayuta..." He backed away from her a little. "Am I dreaming? Where are we?"

Nayuta tilted her head. "No. We're at home."

"Oh thank fuck."

"Another nightmare?"

"...Yeah." a dog snuggled up to him as he patted its head.

"I thought you said they were over."

"Well, yesterday I-... Uhh..."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Listen, it was just a weird day alright."

"You were smelling pretty gross yesterday. I wanted to come see. Lemme come see next time."

"Eh? No. You've got school and stuff." he got to his feet and walked into the kitchen.

"I want ice cream!" she called.

"No ice cream for breakfast!"

"Why not?!" she complained.

"'Cuz it's bad!"

She pouted. "I'm gonna watch TV."

Denji quietly made some breakfast. Wasn't much, he'd forgotten to buy groceries. The two ate
scrambled eggs as the news was covered.

"In other news, numerous devil corpses have been found near the train station downtown. Could
this be the work of Chainsaw Man? Has he finally returned?" the news anchor spoke. "The hero
hasn't been seen in weeks as devils have been running amok, we're at one of the fan meetup
locations right now where his adoring fans have gathered en masse to celebrate his return."

"Wow. I'm popular again." Denji noted.

"Lets ask this young man first. What do you think about Chainsaw Man's possible return?"

"Oh man I'm so hyped! My buddies and I saw him a while ago and he was so metal!"

The anchor continued to ask others.

"Man, I really hope he's toned the violence y'know? He destroyed my car."

"Err, there's no proof that he's back right? I saw some evidence of explosions so maybe it was some
other hunter?"

"I don't really care man. As long as the devils stop attacking."

"I'm a huge Chainsaw Man fan! He's a true inspiration for me!" a girl with short hair and glasses
exclaimed.

"Kyaaa! We love Chainsaw Man!" A group of girls cheered.

"Heh." Denji grinned. "Really am big with the ladies now."

"But they don't know it's you, idiot." Nayuta said in between bites.

"Dammit. You're right. Maybe I should reveal myself to the public."

"Are you sure you wanna do that? Then we'll have bozos coming to our house and stuff."
"If they're hot girls I don't mind." Denji leaned back in his chair. At that moment, the doorbell rang.
Denji's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting anyone now. Kishibe told him he'd be out for a few
days after he'd paid him yesterday. No. He wasn't still dreaming was he?

"You gonna open the door?" Nayuta asked.

"Whuh? Oh... yeah..." he got to his feet and approached the door slowly. Was he scared of doors
now or something? His hands trembled as he approached the handle. He took a deep breath.

He opened the door.

"Morning Denji!" Reze greeted him.

"Reze? What're you doing here?!"

"Just wanted to say hi. You're not busy are you? Kishibe told me where you live so I thought I'd
visit."

"What? He ratted out where I live? That's supposed to be top secret shit!"

"Relax. He only told me. And I won't tell anyone else."

"Uhhh... That's not the problem..."

"Who is it?" Nayuta walked up to the door, accompanied by the overly eager dogs.

"I-It's no one! Yup! Nobody!"

"What's that voice? Kishibe mentioned you had a little sister I should be worried about. Was he
kidding or is she really a handful?" Reze asked.

"Nayuta wait-!" Denji tried to block her but she picked up Reze's scent. Her gaze turned cold.

"She's dangerous. Can I kill her?"

"NO! She's my uh... friend!"

Reze didn't know what to make of this girl. Her entire aura seemed familiar. She was sure she'd felt
it before. But she couldn't place it. Did she say she wanted to kill her? Was Denji's sister a fiend?

"Hi, name's Reze. I'm Denji's co-worker." she introduced herself.

Nayuta walked up to her and held out a hand, Reze tried to shake it but at the last second the child
shot a chain through her head.

"Nayuta no!"

"Nayuta yes." she said smugly. "She's going to try and kill you."

Reze fell to her knees as the dogs interacted curiously with her.

"She already has! But-"

"Then she's my dog from now on."

"Nayuta, listen to me." Denji grabbed her shoulders. "She's hot and she's going to get killed if she
tries to start shit with me anyway. This is literally the one chance I've got to get a girlfriend! Plus
I've already beaten her before, I got this!"

"Was she the girl who bit your tongue off?"

"Wha-? Oh. Yeah."

"Heh. That would've looked funny."

"Turn her back Nayuta!"

She considered it for some time. "She'll be killed if she tries to attack you?"

"Yeah. Kishibe put some stupid contract on her."

She considered it for some more time. "Fine. She's pretty weak anyway. But only if I get ice
cream."

"Do I get some?"

"No. Only for me."

---

Reze's eyes fluttered open as a cat approached her curiously. She immediately jumped away,
surveying the room with a hand on her pin. She couldn't remember what had happened after she'd
rang Denji's doorbell, had she been kidnapped? Wouldn't be the first time. She was in a pretty run
down apartment with weird posters on the wall. Did that one say 'March Farts'? On the same poster
she noticed Denji's name. And Nayuta. She was dangerous, it was her who did something.

"Denji?" she called.

She heard some crashing noises as he (along with a couple of dogs) bounded over. "Reze! You
alright?"

"My head hurts, but I'm fine."

"Fuck. Should've told the old man about Nayuta's personality." Denji crashed on the couch next to
her.

"You could tell me what the hell happened."

Denji sighed. "Promise you won't freak out?"

"I'll try not to."

"Did Kishibe tell you what happened with Ms. Makima?"

"Not in detail. He just told me she was neutralized. And that I was under her control for a while."

"Yeah. I kinda remember her talking about the weapon devils or somethin'. Well the thing is I
killed her. Then I cut her into pieces and..."

"And what?"

"Ate her."

Reze's eyes widened, then her face returned to normal.

"You're not weirded out?"

"Nah."

"So after that, Nayuta showed up. She was found in China and brought to Japan. She's Ms.
Makima's... reincarnation thingy."

"Oh. And you adopted her."

"Pochita told me that Ms. Makima had a shitty life. She never had like a family or anything. Or
friends. Which is why she ended up being like that I guess. Kishibe told me to raise Nayuta. Pay
for her education and all that. She's a bit extreme sometimes. So she turned you into a dog for a
bit."

Reze pondered his explanation for sometime. On one hand she was not sure about letting the
Control Devil live a regular life with someone like Denji, especially after what the last incarnation
tried to do with him. She hated Makima's guts, obviously. She hated being a pawn most of all, but
Makima had stolen her away from her life as well. If it wasn't for her who knows what she'd be
doing right now?

On the other, Nayuta had a family, and probably friends too. She was living the life Reze wished
she could, even getting an education. Who the hell was she to deny someone that? It was clear
Nayuta didn't have any memories of her previous life, no devils did. But she was dangerous. Too
dangerous to be loitering around with Denji.

"Hey look, I get it. Ms. Makima was kinda horrible-"

"Why do you still refer to her that way? She's dead. No need to add honourifics or anything."

"Meh. That's just how I always called her. But Nayuta's not anything like her I swear! She's just
kinda bratty."

"You'd better hope she didn't hear that."

"She won't. One of her friends called her to play so she went with her."

"And you're okay with that?"

"She ain't an idiot. Hell I don't even know what she's doing in grade school, she could kick my ass
in high school if she wanted."

"Denji, this sounds incredibly dangerous."

"Fuck else can we do?"

Reze didn't have an answer.

"If you don't wanna talk to me anymore over all this it's fine. Wouldn't be the first time Nayuta
stopped me from having a girlfriend. She's super overprotective that way." she could see the pain
in Denji's eyes in saying that. She was probably a big reason as to why Nayuta was so possessive of
her elder brother. "If she reminds ya too much of Ms. Makima then I guess its alright."

"Me? Denji it's not about me! Are you seriously telling me you're alright with letting the Control
Devil live with you?"

"Again, not like I have a choice do I? And Nayuta's great! She's nothing like Ms. Makima, she's
way nicer!"

"You said the same thing about Makima when you knew her! There's so much else you can do.
You don't have to live with her just because the suits at the top forced you to!"

"What?!"

"Denji, I'm saying this for your own good-"

"Fuck do you know about my own good?!" he raged, getting up from the couch and confronting
Reze. Three of the dogs approached him cautiously, wondering what the commotion was about.
Meowy darted to Nayuta's room.

"Out of all the fucking people of course I know how scary Ms. Makima was! She... She killed one
of my closest friends right in front of my eyes! I still have nightmares about that shit! I'm not doing
this because the old man forced me to! I'm doing this 'cuz I wanna! For once in my fucking life I
have a responsibility! I have a choice to do something outside of picking what food I wanna eat for
breakfast. And I'm not gonna let anyone tell me what they think is right, get that? Nayuta is my
family. If you ain't gonna accept her, I'm not accepting you."

Fuck. She'd really messed up. Why did she say that? It was obvious Denji knew all of that best. He
knew what Makima had done much better than she did. She was being hypocritical. Here she was,
having tried to kill Denji in the past, talking about his own wellbeing. She'd gotten too
comfortable, it was clear her actions had still deeply affected him, even if he said he'd forgiven her.
He was right, she didn't know a damn thing about him.

"It's just... I don't know what to do man." he ruffled his hair. "Why do I feel like this? It feels like
shit. I was going fine for a while and all of a sudden these nightmares come back and I feel all sad
and crap."

"You're right."

"Huh?"

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be coming into your life and telling you how to do things. You
know better than everyone what Makima is capable of, and yet even after everything that
happened, you managed to find it in yourself to forgive and forget. You decided to adopt her
reincarnation so that she wouldn't end up the same way. That's the reason Kishibe left her with you
Denji. Because you're the best of all of us."

"..." he stared at her. "It's not like that. I'm not such a good guy."

She hugged him. He wasn't resistant to it like last time, he at the very least knew he was safe with
her. But he still didn't fully reciprocate.

"You said you still have nightmares right? Even despite all of that you still manage to be there for
Nayuta. The more I get to know the real you Denji, the more I realise why I fell for you on that
day. And I realised why Nayuta's so protective over you. 'Cuz you're a great guy. Not because
you're Chainsaw Man, but because you're you."

That's it. That's what he'd needed to hear. She liked Denji. Not Chainsaw Man. Not Pochita. Him.
Who he was.

"Fuck. You've got me crying man..." tears began to form.

 "It's okay. You can let it all out. I know I have no idea how it must've been. I know out of everyone
I'm probably the last person you'd want left alive. But I'm here for you."

Denji hated getting all touchy-feely about his friends' deaths. Was better to just block out all the
memories and live his new life as if nothing happened. But even though he kept trying to move on
the nightmares wouldn't stop.

He heard the door creak open as Nayuta walked in. Denji froze, locking eyes with his sister.
Nayuta's eyes narrowed as she observed what was going on. He gave her a big grin and a thumbs
up. Though tears were still rolling down his face.

"What're you looking at? Oh." Reze turned to look at Nayuta.

"No hugging my property."

"I'm my own property!" Denji exclaimed as the two awkwardly let go of each other. He rubbed off
his tears.

"Better not kiss him either. You're too gross."

"I think we'll hold off on the kiss. I don't think Denji wants one from me." Reze smiled bashfully.

"Hey! That's not true!" Denji looked at her.

"Didn't she bite your tongue off?"

"Aside from the tongue biting off thing, it was kinda hot." he admitted.

"Denji... Seriously?"

He shrugged.

"Anyway, I'll let it go this time. You two better not be all lovey-dovey and yucky again or else."

"Nayuta, you better not turn her into a dog next time." Denji reprimanded.

"I'll turn her into a penguin."

"Wait, I like penguins."

"Hey! I'd like some say in what animal I'm being turned into!"

"No. That makes it less fun." Nayuta crossed her arms.

"Well..." Denji stretched. "If you ain't happy about it Nayuta I'll take her out."

"H-Hey!" Reze yelped as Denji grabbed her arm and sauntered out.

Nayuta watched them leave. "Hmph. Thief."

Chapter End Notes

After the action-heavy chapter before this one, I wanted to do a more somber and
fluffy part. Somber Denji is pretty hard to write, the dude is not the kinda guy to feel
angst over his friends deaths a while after its already happened, but I think nightmares
are a good way to go about it. He's not actively sad over them in his day-to-day life, he
just hates getting reminded of them. I also like DenReze because most enemies-to-
lovers are pretty slow burn, but Denji basically forgives Reze right after he beats her.
Though I think Part 2 Denji would be a lot more apprehensive about it, which is why I
had them have a little argument. Anyway, I hope I got what I wanted through!
 The Past is in the Past
Chapter Summary

Denji and Reze continue their date as they run into a few familiar faces.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"So, where are you taking me again?"

"Dunno. Where'd you wanna go?"

Reze walked beside Denji as he shuffled along the street.

"Denji! It's not right to ask a girl where to go for a date!"

"It isn't? But you took me to that school last time."

Reze sighed. "Don't remind me. On one hand I wanna assume a part of me was really into you at
the time. But on the other, what I did to you when we kissed, what I was thinking the entire time..."
she shuddered. "Honestly I expected you to hate me. Especially after what Kishibe told me. I was
genuinely frightened when I heard that you were coming. That's how much of a coward I am."

"Eh? Past's in the past. And hey, you aren't scared of me anymore!" Denji grinned. "Plus I told you
I didn't care about all that. You ain't the first girl in my life to try and kill me. And I ain't talking
about Ms. Makima."

"I guess. But it's not like I was nice to you even after you saved me. I was so frustrated. So mad
that I'd killed people who were trying to protect you, tried to kill your friends and so much more.
And yet you wouldn't hate me. You wouldn't allow me to accept that I was a murderer who
deserved to be hated." Reze clenched her fists. "Tell me Denji. Would you still do the same thing
today?"

"What?"

"If you only met me today and I tried to kill you, would you still forgive me? Would you still want
to run away with me?"

Denji wondered about this. "Nah. I can't run away with anyone now. Not while I got Nayuta."

Reze nodded as she looked despondently to the floor.

"Ms. Makima taught me a lot of things. That I can't accept shit from sketchy girls 'cuz it might be a
trap. I gotta be more careful and stuff. But then I see a hot girl and I can't help myself. Same thing
that happened with you. If a girl likes me, then why the fuck would I say no?" Denji explained.
"People keep calling me a creep at school 'cuz I let girls sit on me for cash 'n' stuff."

"Sit on you? Like a chair?"

"Yeah. Doesn't get me any action though. Neither does being Chainsaw Man. I've been thinking of
just coming out as him but that's gonna attract more than just hotties. But you're like, the first girl
I've met who actually gets me y'know?'

"Gets that you're horny as hell?" Reze smiled slightly.

"Exactly! I know what to expect from ya. That's why I'd say no if I met you today. 'Cuz I've
already got you. I've already got a girl who likes me. And yeah I'd like more girls who like me, but
I'm willing to take it one at a time y'know?"

Reze punched Denji in the arm. "You want more than one girlfriend?"

"What kind of guy doesn't?"

She laughed. "Denji, you really think so many girls would fall for you?"

"One already did. How hard could it be?"

"Pretty hard if I'm the best you can do."

Denji scratched his head. "But... you kinda are? I mean, Chainsaw Man has a fuckton of girls in his
fanclub but they don't know the guy behind the chainsaw. Bet if they knew who I was they'd treat
me the same way the girls at school do."

"How is school by the way?"

"Meh. I'm just there for the girls. Now that you're here I don't even know if I should go."

"You don't want to go to university?" she asked, then immediately realised who she was talking to.
"Nevermind."

Denji put his arms behind his head. "Not like I need the money. Chainsaw Man's probably gonna
be my job. Kishibe sends over money monthly. Though I still wanna spend more on shit. All he
gives me is enough to get food and buy some clothes. I wanna live that fancy ass rich life, eating
steak on a plate made of gold. So I work some odd jobs sometimes."

Reze laughed. "I thought you were already living the dream life?"

"Thought I was. Turns out it wasn't even my life, just an elaborate plan to get Pochita out of me."
Denji fiddled with his cord under his shirt.

"Listen. I know you probably already trust me, but I promise I'm not doing this to take your heart
alright?"

"If you wanted to you probably could've like a million times already."

Reze didn't respond.

"Reze?"

Quicker than he could react, she tackled him to the floor.

"Reze! What the fuc-!"

"It's a devil!" she pointed to the building just opposite them, as a massive devil resembling a
chameleon revealed itself, its enormous tongue retracting into its mouth. The people took notice
and immediately ran in various directions, terrified of the giant lizard.

"The hell? Now? Fucking cockblock!" Denji yelled at the devil.

The chameleon's massive eyes looked at Denji as it fired its tongue yet again. Reze motioned for
her pin, but just before she could an octopus tentacle grabbed her hand. She grunted as she noticed
it grabbing the chameleon's tongue.

"Sorry you two, but I can't have Bomb Girl over here destroying the populace for every devil she
fights."

She struggled to break free. "Who the hell are you?"

A dark haired boy with equally dark eyes revealed himself from the mess of octopus tentacles.

"Hey! Let her go dipshit!" Denji snarled.

"Easy Denji. I'm not here to hurt her. Just to make sure no civilians die."

"I don't remember talking to you. Who the fuck are you?"

"Ouch. That's hurtful. I'm Hirofumi Yoshida. I was with you when we fought against the assassins
remember? Against Quanxi and Santa Claus?"

"Oh yeah. That guy."

"Wait, the Santa Claus? You fought him? I thought he was an urban myth."

"Was a chick when I killed her."

"You fought and killed him?!"

"Yep. Nothin' to it."

The two watched as Yoshida used to Octopus Devil to rip the Chameleon Devil's head off.

"I hope that wasn't super bothersome for your date." Yoshida looked at the two as his summoned
devil retreated into a black cloud.

"Nah. Glad I don't gotta be covered in devil guts again. That shit doesn't wash off."

"Wait, how do you know we were on a date?" Reze's expression darkened.

"I have my ways. I guess you'd have to find out sooner or later, but my organisation is tasked with
keeping an eye on you and Quanxi. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, I hope we can get along."

"So you've been stalking me without me knowing?"

"High praise coming from someone of your talents."

Reze's eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "You don't have any ulterior motives?"

"As long as you behave, I won't interfere. It saves me a lot of trouble if Denji's around you too.
Anyway, I've got somewhere to be." Yoshida waved as he headed off.

"Huh. Everyone ran off."

"Yeah. Except her." Reze pointed to a lone girl sitting in a car, her head against the wheel as the
chameleon devil's head was on top of it.

"Hey. I know her. She was that uhhh..."

"Denji, is she your ex?"

"Whuh? Nah. I barely knew her. She was one of... One of Aki's friends."

"Oh. On second thought, I have a faint memory of seeing her. Is she... dead?"

Denji walked up to her car and kicked it, startling her.

"What?" she looked at Denji. "AAH! W-What're you doing here?!"

"She's not dead." he called out to Reze.

"Somehow." she mumbled. "Ughhh... This always happens to every car I buy."

Reze walked up to the girl as she exited her car.

"I stopped seeing Chainsaw Man on the news so I thought you died. Well, until now at least." she
sighed.

"I ain't dying like that. Hell I'm not even sure I can die at all." Denji wondered.

"You look a lot better than you did all that time ago." she noted.

"Yeah. What're you doing now?"

"College. I managed to get into one without my family knowing. Public safety helped."

"Ohhh. Sounds boring."

"Denji, mind introducing your friend?" Reze asked.

"Oh. Yeah. This is..." Denji blanked.

"...Do you not remember my name?"

"I'm bad with names one sec..." he thought for some more time. "...Kono?"

"Kobeni."

"Ah, yeah. Kobeni. Sorry."

"It's fine. I mean, it's not like we knew each other much." she shuddered.

"This is Reze." Denji gestured to her as she waved politely.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Denji grinned. "Yeah. So you could say I'm doing pretty well for myself."

Kobeni looked at her uniform. "Are you a devil hunter?"

"Sort of."
"She's just like me. She pulls this pin in her neck and she explodes and turns into a bomb chick."
Denji tried to touch her pin but she grabbed his arm.

"Denji! Don't pull my pin so close to others!"

"But it's cool!"

"You and me will survive the explosion, she won't!"

As the two bickered, Kobeni went pale. "D-Did you say b-b-bomb?"

"Yep."

"Y-You mean the woman who attacked you that night?"

"Yep."

Kobeni began to sweat heavily. "I-I...um..."

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not like that anymore, I-"

"I-I gotta go somewhere else!" Kobeni dashed off.

Reze sighed as she clenched her fists.

"What happened?"

"I hate myself."

"Why?"

"Look at how she reacted to me the second she found out who I was! I bet I probably murdered all
of her friends that night. I mean, not like I care about them now, or her for that matter, but every
time I try and live like a human for the first time in my life I get blindsided by my past. Wish I
could just run away from this hell."

"Yeah. I getcha."

"Do you? Denji you're not like me. You're not a murderer. You haven't killed hundreds without
remorse or care."

"I am a murderer. Killed my old man."

Reze's eyes widened. "Why?"

"Don't remember exactly. Probably 'cuz he was an asshole. Wiped it from my memory before it
was coaxed out of there."

Reze remained silent for sometime as the two walked over to an unoccupied restaurant. Denji got a
drink from a vending machine for the two of them.

"Denji, do you know where I'm from?"

"Soviet Union right? That place that's super cold and shit?"

"Yeah. I told you I never knew my parents or had any friends. That second part was a lie. I did have
friends. The people in the room told me that my friends all found families so they left. Later I
found out they were all dead because their bodies couldn't handle being fused with a devil." Reze
explained, a cold expression on her face.

"Hell, when I found out about it I barely cared. I was alive, they weren't. That's all that mattered. I
never got to see the outside of a cell until I was 10. Every time I successfully completed a mission,
right back in I'd go until I was needed again. Of course they'd train me relentlessly. Break my bones
and feed me blood so I could get back up and keep fighting. I never questioned it. They told me it
was for the good of my country, and that it was what my parents would've wanted."

Denji looked at, his face clouded with numerous emotions. "Assholes."

"I've done some fucked up things. Killed innocents. I don't know what changed after the fight with
you. I sure as hell didn't think I'd come running back to you. Maybe I just wanted an escape, just a
way to leave that room. Maybe it wasn't about you. But when I woke up, and Kishibe told me what
happened to you, I felt that same fishbone in my throat. Even if I wasn't shackled to the
government, I don't think I'd run away. Not until I apologized to you at least."

"I was never super mad at you to begin with. I don't know why, I don't really hold grudges and
stuff. Coulda stayed pissed at the whole fucking world for making my life shit but I'm not smart
enough to do anything about it. So you don't gotta be pissed either. You ain't that kinda person
anymore right?" Denji leaned back into his chair, throwing away his canned soda. "Who the fuck
cares if you killed people? Not like they can come back or anything. It's all in the past."

"Not if the present won't let you forget about it."

"Ain't that the truth. But life's like that. Can't do much except live for what you want."

"And what do you want Denji?"

He turned to her, a smile forming across his face. "Sex."

He expected her to laugh or brush it off as a joke. It wasn't exactly a respectable goal, he was self
aware enough to know that. But he'd never gotten it in a way he'd liked. There was always some
other circumstance making his relationships with girls a pain in the ass.

"So not much has changed huh? You have the will to keep on living just because you wanna have
sex? What'll happen after?"

"Have more sex."

Reze smiled slightly. "I love you Denji."

Denji blushed. Those weren't words he expected to hear. She'd said something similar during the
fireworks. Spending more time with her had made that night more vivid in his head. She said that
just before she kissed him.

"I know that me loving you makes you happy. That you want to date me for that reason alone. And
that you're willing to forgive all my past transgressions just to make it work. But, I can't forgive
myself for what I did to you. Especially because of what happened after."

"..."

"You don't have to be with me. I bet there're tons of other better girls for you out there. Girls who
didn't try to ruthlessly kill you and your friends. Girls who didn't manipulate you. Girls who aren't
me. I'm just a tool. Always have been. You have an actual future to look forward to, I'll probably
just keep killing devils until they take my heart and use it for something else." Reze's eyes began
tearing up. "I'm-"

Before she could complete her sentence, Denji leaned over the table, kissing her. He'd never taken
initiative before. It felt hot.

"I wasn't listening to half the shit you said. I love you too." he grinned.

"Denji I'm serious!"

"And I'm serious too! I dig you! I've liked you ever since you taught me how to swim and showed
me what school was like. Yeah I was pissed when you bit my tongue off, yeah it fucking hurt. So
what? I've managed worse. If you don't have any other reason to live, then live for me dammit!
Hell, I'll even ask Kishibe to get you into Fourth East High! We can go to school together!" Denji
took her hand. "And we can have the craziest fucking sex too."

She hugged him tightly, her face buried into his chest. It was funny that he'd been in this position
with her about an hour ago. Regardless, it was clear Denji wasn't changing his mind on her. She let
go of him and smiled.

"Heh. That's the same smile you gave me when I first saw ya."

"I promise this one isn't fake."

The two noticed the restaurant owner returning and escaped.

"So, wanna go back to my place for lunch?"

"We aren't eating outside?"

"Nah. Nayuta hates eating leftovers unless she has to."

"You're sure she won't react badly with me being around?"

Denji thought about it. "Maybe. But as long as you don't kiss me I think she'll be fine."

"It's hard to resist."

"Must be. Kisses feel real good when there's no vomit. Or blood."

"Vomit?"

"Yeah. Long story."

---
Kobeni ran over to a nearby alleyway. She wanted to stay as far away from her old life as possible,
she was genuinely having fun in college and she didn't need the Chainsaw Man's antics following
her around. Still, she did feel a little bad about running away like that.

As she deliberated, a hooded figure approached her from behind.

"Oh. There's a cute girl here."

"EEP!" Kobeni turned around. "W-Who are you?"

He put an arm around her. "There was a devil attack y'know. You shouldn't be out here alone."
 Kobeni began to panic. "S-Stay back! I mean it!"

"Kobeni Higashiyama." he turned to meet her gaze. It was a regular looking man with dark hair. He
was good looking, but the only thing Kobeni noticed about him were his eyes. He had none. Where
his eyes should've been were empty sockets, with black mist exuding from them. "You have quite
an interesting past."

Kobeni quickly drew a dagger and cut off his arm.

"Ouch." he looked at his arm stump before it reverted to its original shape. "I'm just here to talk. I
want you to do something for me."

Tentacles grabbed him as Yoshida approached, signaling for Kobeni to leave.

"Hirofumi Yoshida. You interrupted me."

"You're too powerful to be a fiend." Yoshida noted. "What devil are you? Humanoid devils tend to
be on the nicer side, but you're trying to prey on a poor young girl."

The man grinned. "That is inaccurate. I just needed her help."

"For what?"

"A plan I have. To get the Chainsaw Man's heart."

"How forward of you. Usually you don't get people's plans straight up."

The devil locked eyes with Yoshida.

"Can you see? It looks rather weird that you're looking me in the face. I'd say I'm flattered but
now's not the time." Yoshida joked.

"Nothing of the sort. I can see just fine. Now..." the devil broke free of the Octopus Devil's grip. A
man jumped at the devil hunter from the shadows. He swung a knife at Yoshida as the devil
walked off.

Yoshida easily defeated the man. As he subdued him, he watched the devil leave. "Where're you
going? We only just met!"

"Did we now? I'm sorry, I can't quite remember who you are." he grinned.

Yoshida gasped and clutched his head. The man on the floor muttered.

"Make it end. Make it end. Make it end. The past is in the past. The past is in the past."

His face turned to a smile. "Thank you for... making me forget..."

Yoshida snapped back to his senses as a dead man lay before him, bleeding from his eyes and ears.

"Where am I?"

Chapter End Notes

I know, I know. More angst. But I want it to be kind of the theme of this fic. Denji's
past still haunts him in the manga, and while I don't plan on doing much more of him
moping over Aki and Power, him being in distress will be a theme during this fic. Still,
I hope you enjoyed this shorter chapter, and hope you look forward to where this goes.
I think it goes without saying who the devil at the end is...
 Blackout
Chapter Summary

After their tumultuous date, Reze and Denji decide to spend the day relaxing at his
house. They'd like to at least, but an issue arises. One that might put Denji's life in
danger once again, though this time, Reze is there to protect him.

Or is she?

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"So yeah. That's how I ended up in that balls kicking contest." Denji reminisced.

"You won right?"

Denji grinned. "As if I wasn't going to let that buttmunch have it."

Reze laughed, then her tone turned slightly serious. "This... Aki you speak of... He was the man
with the tied up hair right?"

"Oh? Yeah. Topknot. He's uh..."

"You don't have to say it."

"Nah. He's dead. I gotta get over it some day." Denji scratched his head. His eyes seemed dull, it
didn't look like him holding back his emotion as much as it did him feeling tired about having to
remember it. "Killed him myself. Guess that's another murder on my hands huh?"

"You wouldn't have done it on purpose."

"The old man must've told ya about the whole Gun Devil thing. Killed a bunch of dudes in Japan.
Last one it got to was Aki. He got turned into a fiend and I had to kill him."

Reze sighed. She grabbed Denji's arm and squeezed it, letting him know she was there for him.

Denji unlocked the door to his apartment as he entered. The boy took off his jacket as Reze
followed him in, earning a glare from Nayuta.

"Hmph." Nayuta huffed as Denji entered the kitchen.

"Denji, you know how to cook?" Reze asked as she followed him.

"Sorta. Got pretty good when I was cooking Makima. What about you?"

Reze sighed. "No. Not really. I don't really know how to do things that aren't related to my job in
some way. Was never taught it."

A smile crept onto Denji's face. "Want me to teach ya?"

"If you'll have me." Reze rolled up her sleeves.

Nayuta watched as the two flirted openly in the kitchen. She was nuzzled up too comfortably
against two dogs, otherwise she probably would've made a scene. It irked her that this weirdo devil
girl was being all smoochy-smoochy with her brother, but she wasn't powerful enough for her to
force her out of his life. Her brother was cool, but he was an idiot. And he let himself get trapped
by too many girls. He always looked so sad when he talked about the girls he liked.

Seeing him happy with a girl who loved him was gross anyway. It was like her loser teacher who
always talked about her husband. But at the end of the day, Nayuta was happy if her brother was
happy. The bomb girl knew she was in for hell if she ever hurt Denji.

"Wow, Denji, this is really good!" Reze commented as she ate.

"Heh. Wasn't all me though."

"Stop it, I barely helped. Honestly I think I only made it harder for you."

Denji took another bite of his rice as one of the dogs tried to eat some of the scraps, the boy
shooing it away. "Lishun-" he said, his mouth full. "-you ain'f that baf."

"Thanks." Reze blushed.

"You made this?" Nayuta mumbled as she ate.

"I helped, Denji took the lead though."

"Hey Nayuta, y'know how I told ya I never knew how to swim until recently?" Denji leaned back
in his chair

"Yeah?"

"Reze taught me how to swim. Was like our first date and everything. Plus it was the first time I'd
seen a naked girl in person."

"Denji!" Reze playfully pushed him. "Don't say stuff like that in front of your little sister!"

Nayuta rolled her eyes. "Who cares? It's not like you two had sex right?"

Reze's expression went blank. "Honestly, I don't even know why I bothered."

"What? I knew about that kinda stuff when I was her age. Sorta." Denji explained. "Found a nice
porn mag from one of the old man's cars. Though he did kick the shit out of me for stealing it."

"Old man? Kishibe?"

"No no. Another old man. Former Yakuza I guess. Long story but he tried to kill me, then Pochita
made the contract with me and stuff. The same guy who that katana dick was pissed about."

"Oh." Reze chuckled. "Do you still have it?"

"Nah. I pawned it off for money. Had it for a good few years though."

"I'm sure you treasured it."

"Yeah. Was a sad day. 'Bout as sad as that time Nayuta's teacher took one of mine." he accused her.
"Hey! Kotaro said he wanted to see!"

"Doesn't mean you take my best one! That one had the girl with the huge boobs on it!"

"You let her read them?" Reze gave Denji a look.

"Hey, it's not like I give them to her!"

"They're so gross. There was this one book where there was a giant octopus and-"

"Shhh!" Denji put his hand over her mouth.

"Sounds fun." Reze smiled. "Nayuta, since you're so interested in reading, do you want some book
recommendations?"

Nayuta gave her a curious look. She was still incredibly skeptical of Reze, but that wall was
beginning to crack.

"Ummm, I dunno. Big bro says books are boring." Nayuta shrugged.

Denji nodded. Reze really liked the two's relationship. Denji obviously wasn't a perfect sibling, but
Nayuta really seemed to be loving her life. Even if they weren't amazingly well off or anything,
their bond was enough to make the house feel comfortable.

Comfort. Reze's posture straightened. Was she letting herself get too comfortable? She didn't notice
Yoshida trailing them during their date, and she'd completely lost herself in the atmosphere of the
house too. She was never to let her guard down. That was Rule 11.

"The General expected better results." a man's voice echoed in her head, in English, tinged with a
Russian accent. She'd never been formally educated in english, but she'd picked it up.

"The target was supposed to be brought back alive. You will need more correction."

She shuddered. She had to move on. It was all behind her now.

As she was thinking, her phone began to ring. She'd gotten a new phone when she came to Japan.
Did Denji have one?

She picked it up as Nayuta and Denji watched curiously. Kishibe's coarse voice came through on
the other end.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Denji's house."

He paused. Then continued to speak. "Return to HQ. There's a situation."

"Now? Seriously?"

She could hear a sigh on the other end. "Yes. Now. And don't bring Denji with you. This is about
his safety."

"Shouldn't I stay here then?"

"No point. As long as he remains around Nayuta it's unlikely any devils are targeting him."
Reze nodded her head as she got up.

"Who is it?" Denji asked.

"Kishibe. I... need to go. Thanks for the food!" she began to head out.

"Where're you going?"

"Back to headquarters. There's a situation."

"I wanna come too! Killing buzzface makes me wanna shred some more." he got to his feet.

Reze put her arm on his chest, a pained look on her face, which she quickly hid with a smile. "I'll
let you know if there's any devil to kill, but this is like... paperwork stuff."

"Aw." Denji slumped to the floor. "Guess I'll catch ya later."

"Do you have a phone Denji? We could exchange numbers."

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I guess, not like I ever use it though." he went to his room and fished out a phone.
"Only use it to call Nayuta."

"I'll call you when I'm done okay?" she hugged Denji and gave him a kiss and left. "Stay safe!"

Denji blushed, a wide grin on his face. Nayuta kicked him in the shin.

"Ow! The hell?!"

"Wake up doofus!"

"I am up!"

---
Reze quickly made her way to the meetup point. The Public Safety commission had changed a lot
since Makima was killed, probably because so many members were killed off. Now it heavily
relied on numerous private groups that all had their own contracts with the government to do
licensed work around the country. Most of the public sector hunters were incredibly weak, having
a single contract at best. Overall, the organization was a shadow of what it once was. Regardless,
Reze and Quanxi were the only members of the new Special Division 5. And they were probably
the biggest assets the public sector workers had.

She walked into Kishibe's office, where Quanxi along with Yoshida and a small group of others
were waiting. Kishibe acknowledged her with a glance.

"Reze. I guess I'm lucky you decided to go the safe route and return to the Control Devil." Yoshida
spoke.

"What happened?"

"Well, usually Kishibe wouldn't even need to call you, because I'd be shadowing you and Denji.
But there was a setback."

Reze's eyes narrowed cautiously. "What happened?"

"I don't know. And that's the problem. I blacked out." Yoshida put a hand through his hair, his
expression enigmatic. "Octopus Devil couldn't make out what happened either."
"What we do know is that another girl who was a former devil hunter was nearby and also cannot
remember anything. However, she did have a knife coated in blood. Devil's blood." Kishibe
explained. "As well as a dead man who was muttering incomprehensibly before he passed."

"Did you make out what he was saying?" Reze asked.

"Something about the past." Yoshida noted.

"This whole scenario makes it pretty obvious who the culprit here is." Quanxi crossed her arms.
"The Past Devil."

Reze's eyes widened. Swathes of people were scarred by their pasts, it was likely a concept feared
by many. This devil was powerful.

"A humanoid one. Until now it has never harmed a human. In fact, he seemed content with being a
therapist of sorts, allowing Devil Hunters to retire and forget their trauma for a contract. Usually
very demanding contracts that would cripple the Hunter for life, but many took him up on his
offer." Quanxi said despondently. "He would travel country to country for the highest bidder for
his services. However, now that he's in Japan and seems to be acting maliciously..."

"We have to take preventative measures. He was encountered close to both of your locations, but
considering Kobeni was also targeted, it's likely he's after Denji. As usual." Kishibe took a sip from
his seemingly never-empty flask.

"What does that mean for me then?" Reze asked.

"Should be pretty obvious. Most of our men aren't close enough to Denji to keep him safe without
him getting annoyed and rebelling. And he sure as hell won't stay put if I tell him to. So he's your
problem now. Keep him safe until we get this problem solved."

Numerous expressions played out on Reze's face, first surprise, then contemplation, then sheer
happiness, then mild anger, and back to happiness again. She coughed. "I'll do my best."

"No need to keep your obvious hots for him a secret." Quanxi scoffed. "You two were more
interested in flirting than fighting last time."

Reze blushed slightly. "Isn't my fault someone's jealous they haven't found a guy they like."

"I don't ever plan on finding a guy." Quanxi responded nonchalantly.

"Nevertheless, if you are going to be attached to him at the hip, you'll have to accompany him to
school too. Which is mainly why I called you here." Kishibe rose from his chair. "We'll have to
forge you a student record."

"Y-You will?!" she gasped.

Kishibe regarded her with his cold eyes, saying nothing but affirming her happiness all the same.
She was going to school. For real this time.

"Unfortunately, suits are a pain in the ass to talk to. So it'll be a long meeting." he spoke.

---
It was dusk as Reze left back to her living quarters. Of course, she had a team of men shadowing
her, now that she was on her own she was aware of every step and shuffle behind her. She reached
her dingy apartment building. Government lodging wasn't amazing, but she'd lived in far worse
 conditions.

"Hey. At least let a girl sleep in peace." she muttered to her entourage. They seemed to back off, if
only slightly. She opened her apartment, ready to call it a day. However, as she turned on the
lights, she saw a man. He wore baggy clothing: a loose jumper with a hood as well as dark
trousers. It made it so his silhouette was vague and ill defined, almost like a shadow. He looked up
at her.

She immediately drew a knife from her sleeve, ready to pull her pin if she needed to. "Who the hell
are you?"

He smiled, then looked up at her. She saw his empty, eyeless sockets. She grimaced.

"I am not here to harm you, Reze. Though that is not your real name. Unfortunately, you were
never made aware of your real name, were you? Only ever referred to as Субъект №40: Бомба."
the man smiled.

Reze's eyes widened in horror. "How did you..."

"Think of me as an old friend, девочка."

"How do you know who I am?"

"I know all about your past Reze. That is who I am after all. Your past sins, given flesh." the Past
Devil spoke. "You could call me Koshi. Or прошлое, if you prefer."

"So you're the one." Reze was about to pull her pin, but the man uttered one sentence.

"Cпи, а то тебя снова отправят в комнату." he spoke. "Отдохнем после обеда, чем занимались
утром. Мы будем вспоминать и говорить, но скоро не вспомним. Мы не вспомним, когда
ночевали в церкви."

Reze immediately went silent. Her body frozen. The devil, referring to himself as Koshi, grinned
widely. "When I say 'mouse', you shall wake up."

Reze blankly nodded. "да сэр."

"Good. I appreciate your help. You will not remember seeing me of course, but you will remember
the mice. Сердце Джейн будет моим." he muttered in Russian before leaving.

Reze came back to her senses. What just happened? She looked around. Right, she just entered her
house. She had a vague feeling in the back of her head that something was wrong though. But she
wasn't sure if it was just one of her 'episodes' again. The dreams of her past would sometimes pop
up in her head when she was wide awake. Luckily, they'd reduced a lot since she'd come to Japan.

She sighed as she flopped onto her bed. She had to save Denji now. Finally, a chance to make up
for her past mistakes.

She wouldn't let him down.

Chapter End Notes

 Yep I tried to include a bit of gratuitous Russian in there. I'm sure it isn't perfect by
any means, and I'm sorry if I got it wrong, but I thought it'd be cool considering Reze
does speak in Russian in the manga for a bit. Still, this was a lot of fun and I'm excited
to write more, as well as read the manga because the hybrids are coming back(!!!).
While I doubt Reze will get back with Denji at all, I'm still excited to see my girl
return.

Субъект №40: Бомба: Subject No. 40: Bomb

девочка: Girl
прошлое: Past
Cпи, а то тебя снова отправят в комнату: Sleep, otherwise you will be sent to the
room again.
да сэр: Yes sir
Сердце Джейн будет моим: Jane's heart will be mine.
(The rest of the Russian is just from Reze's poem lol, translations are available online
if you wanna check it out, specifically the last 3 lines).

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