You haven't even hugged a woman, and you want to die?

"What I mean is..."

"Look, your master's treating you to great food, hot springs, and devil hunting. In the future, you'll have to hold your own and protect me, becoming the most steadfast pawn standing in front of your master."

Listening to Meng Fan's animated explanation, Denji scratched his head. "Master? I don't think I ever agreed to let you be my master."

"You're sure you don't want to be my disciple?" Meng Fan grinned and held up his right hand, counting on his fingers. "One night at the hotel, fifteen thousand yen. Hot springs, two thousand. Gas, one thousand. Being hand-fed bread and spread by a classy beauty at the restaurant, twenty thousand. And..."

"Wait, don't bring up money. I'll agree, okay?" Numbers alone gave Denji a headache, and he immediately stopped Meng Fan from tallying up the bill.

"Smart choice. Otherwise, you'd have even more debt." Meng Fan planted his hands on his hips and spoke casually. He had over a hundred ways to keep Denji in line.

"You said you were going to a casino earlier? Can you take me along?"

"You're not sleepy anymore?"

"I don't know why, but suddenly I'm not. Maybe I was sleepy because sitting in the car was boring."

"You'd better get some sleep. I'm going to the casino to settle a score, not to play."

The words had barely left his mouth.

A wave of drowsiness swept over Denji's mind.

He closed his eyes, flopped onto the bed, and fell asleep.

The next day.

One blink, and an entire night had passed.

After waking up, Denji patted Pochita, who lay drooling beside him.

"Pochita, wake up. Where are we?"

The room and bathroom of the presidential suite before him.

They were several times fancier than anything in his dreams.

Pochita slowly opened his tired eyes.

He had spent twelve hours last night dreaming about soaking in a hot spring with a toy poodle.

He woke up completely drained.

But the sight before him startled him too.

Only it was delight rather than shock.

He bounded off the bed and raced back and forth across the carpet.

"Could it be... that wasn't a dream? It really happened?"

"Your master's back."

Just then, the door opened.

Meng Fan entered carrying a bag of breakfast.

"You..."

"Yesterday!!"

"Stop wondering. Everything that happened yesterday was one hundred percent real, not a dream."

"Come eat breakfast. We've got bread with honey today."

"Bread with honey?!"

Nothing perked Denji up more than a good meal.

Except, perhaps, boobs.

"Oh, right. I still don't know your name."

"I'm Meng Fan. Didn't I tell you yesterday? Just call me Master."

"M-Master," Denji said stiffly.

"Hurry up and eat. I'll take you back afterward."

They wolfed down their food.

After breakfast, they drove back to the countryside.

"By the way, Master, what devil do you have a contract with?" Denji suddenly asked from the back seat. "As your disciple, I should be allowed to know now, right?"

"Fine, I'll tell you, so you'll stop asking over and over."

"We ought to get to know each other. I don't have a mom or dad, and Pochita here in my arms is the Chainsaw Devil."

"Your circumstances are just like mine. Only my devil is the Dream Devil, or the Nightmare Devil. You can call him the Nightmare Devil too."

"..."

"Why does your devil have so many names?"

"Humans make up names themselves. It's like asking why a mosquito is called a mosquito. Stop asking pointless questions."

"Okay, then. But the Dream Devil really should exist. I have nightmares all the time. Sometimes they even scare me awake."

"Got it," Meng Fan replied dismissively, seemingly reluctant to discuss the subject.

"So what powers does the Dream Devil have?"

"Naturally, the Dream Devil controls dreams. Pochita's dream last night, for example-I arranged that specially."

"Woof!!" Pochita barked indignantly, apparently unhappy with the leading lady in last night's dream.

"You can control dreams!! Then can you make me dream about hugging a girl tonight?"

"Look at those lofty ambitions. Instead of hugging a real girl, you insist on hugging one in a dream."

"It's easier to make it happen in a dream!!" Denji rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

"All right, we're here."

Meng Fan had deliberately sped up along the way to keep Denji from asking more questions.

Finally, the car drove up the slope.

Denji's little wooden shack gradually came into view.

But the sight made both boy and dog freeze for a second.

They even wondered whether Meng Fan had brought them to the wrong place.

Only after recognizing the surroundings did they confirm they were in the right place.

"My house!!!"

Denji got out of the car with a vacant stare and walked up to the shack.

"You can't really call it a house anymore."

Thin wisps of white smoke rose from the wooden shack before them. Most of it had been reduced to ashes.

Run-down though it had been, it was Denji's only home.

His only keepsake.

A place he would never forget, no matter how far he went.

Meng Fan walked over and patted Denji's shoulder. "Since the house is gone, it's time to put an end to things with the Yakuza too."

"Who burned down my house?"

"Do you even need to ask? Obviously those Yakuza bastards. This shack might've been shabby, but it still counted as an antique. Just make them pay a few tens of millions in compensation."

As the two stood looking at the shack and discussing compensation.

Car horns suddenly sounded behind them.

One Honda and two Toyotas sped toward them.

The three cars stopped around the pair.

A car door opened, and the Yakuza Boss slowly stepped out. His first words were, "Denji, where's my money?"

Seeing the Yakuza Boss arrive so suddenly.

Denji was angry, but he still wanted to demand an explanation.

"Didn't I say I'd hunt devils for you and pay you back little by little?"

"Not that. The money the client paid you for killing the Cucumber Devil yesterday."

The underlings got out of their cars, every word out of their mouths about money.

"Yesterday's money!!" Denji suddenly understood.

"That's right. We got you that job. Otherwise, why would a kid like you get the chance?"

"So you want a finder's fee," Meng Fan said.

"Denji, you're becoming a disobedient dog."

"Who are you calling a dog? He's my disciple. If he's a dog, what does that make me?"

"What are you going to do about it, then?"

The Yakuza Boss shouted coldly.

Taking the hint, the surrounding underlings immediately drew their handguns and aimed at Meng Fan.

Looking at the guns pointing at him from every direction, Meng Fan said disdainfully, "You've even got guns!"

"But you weren't wrong earlier. Denji really can be a bit of a dog sometimes."

"I thought you were going to do something. Turns out you're all bluster," one underling sneered.

"Denji, I never beat you before because you were an obedient dog. But what you did yesterday really disappointed me."

"Boss, isn't Denji usually pretty obedient? Maybe that guy next to him put him up to it," Ino interjected.

Ino looked down on Denji, but he also held grudges.

Meng Fan had dumped him by the roadside yesterday, so today Ino came up with the idea of having someone else do his dirty work.

"Is that true, Denji? Did the man beside you teach you to misbehave?"

Denji glanced at Meng Fan, then answered with determination in his eyes. "No. I took yesterday's money myself. He's just someone I hired to help."

"This has nothing to do with him. Let him go. I'll give you the money."

"Denji, you're making your master feel ashamed. I even called you a dog just now to avoid getting shot."

"Whatever. Just go."

"Wait. You think he can leave just because you say so? Whether he's involved or not, neither of you is going anywhere," Ino suddenly shouted.

"If you don't let him go, I won't tell you where I hid the money."

"Oh, the dog's learned to bargain?"

"If you don't want the money, you can kill me right now. I owe you so much anyway. I've wanted to die for ages."

Then he looked at Meng Fan again. "Thanks for taking me into the city yesterday. Even if I die today, I don't think I'll have any regrets."

Under Denji's heartfelt gaze, Meng Fan smiled faintly, seemingly very pleased. "Would you really be okay with dying before you've ever dated anyone?"

"I already hugged a girl in my dream yesterday."

"Dreams aren't real enough. Your master will definitely get you a real woman to hug. That guy's young wife, for instance."

Meng Fan cast a pointed glance at the Yakuza Boss.

That immediately set off the Yakuza Boss's fury.

"Keep Denji alive. Kill him first."

Gunfire suddenly rang out.

Meng Fan extended blade claws from both hands and swung them rapidly.

Clang, clang, clang!!!

Meng Fan blocked the bullets with his blade claws.

Only when the gunfire stopped.

Did Meng Fan retract his blade claws and slowly say, "That's it?"

The Yakuza around him tilted their heads in bewilderment.

"You're pretty impressive," Ino was the first to speak.

"Since you know how impressive I am, get on your knees."

"I meant it's impressive that you took over a dozen bullets and still haven't fallen."

"I got shot?" Meng Fan looked down. Blood was streaming from the bullet holes in his body. "Fuck, I didn't block a single bullet!"

With that, he toppled backward onto the ground.