"Aki, your apartment's pretty nice."
"How much do you make a month?"
The three of them stood outside Aki Hayakawa's apartment.
Aki Hayakawa opened the door, and the other two followed him inside.
"Take your shoes off before you come in."
"Take our shoes off? What kind of rule is that?" Denji clearly wasn't used to taking his shoes off indoors.
"When you're visiting someone else's home, you should follow their rules."
Meng Fan took his shoes off first to set an example.
For the sake of getting a meal, Denji had no choice but to comply.
But soon, a foul smell crept into the other two men's noses.
"Holy shit, Denji, did you step in dog crap?"
"I just worked too hard today, so my feet got sweaty." Unlike the other two, Denji wasn't pinching his nose.
To be fair, they really had done a lot of work that day.
They had fought the Fly Devil that morning.
Then, that afternoon, they had encountered a mysterious devil that ate people and spat out their bones.
Their first day on the job had been packed to bursting.
"Here, spray this on and go wash your feet." Aki Hayakawa grabbed the deodorizer nearby and handed it to Denji.
Deodorizer was an indispensable part of the shoe-removal ritual.
After all, the island nation had a temperate maritime monsoon climate, with high temperatures, abundant rainfall, and high humidity, so even paved roads left shoe soles covered in mud and water.
To keep homes clean and prevent damage to the floors, entryways were built so people could take off their shoes before going inside.
With the deodorizer's help, the other two could finally stop pinching their noses.
"The bathroom's over there." Aki Hayakawa pointed Denji in the right direction while continuing to douse his shoes with deodorizer.
Once the sound of running water in the bathroom stopped,
Denji came out wearing dry slippers.
"Aki, your place is pretty big. You couldn't afford somewhere this spacious without a decent monthly salary." Meng Fan steered the conversation back to pay.
After all, salary was what working people cared about most.
Meng Fan was no exception.
"Newbies shouldn't worry about pay. Learn how to stay alive first." Aki Hayakawa looked as though money meant nothing to him.
"If there's no pay, I'm not busting my ass killing devils like I did today."
"Miss Makima said that if you quit or run away, you'll be executed as devils. You won't have the freedom you do now."
"Huh? So I have to keep doing this job until I die?" Denji cut in.
"That's right." Aki Hayakawa chuckled, actually hoping to scare Denji off.
Deep down, Aki Hayakawa looked down on Denji.
He thought Denji had simply been bewitched by Makima and stumbled into joining the Public Safety Devil Hunters.
Getting Denji to leave would really be for his own good.
But a second later, Denji broke into a bashful smile. "Awesome! That means I get to see Miss Makima every day. Oh, right, Miss Makima doesn't have a boyfriend, does she? Is she married?"
"I suggest you stop getting ideas about Makima. You two live in different worlds," Aki Hayakawa said coldly before walking over to the fridge. "What do you want to eat?"
"Anything edible. I'm not picky."
"Same."
Aki Hayakawa shook his head helplessly, took out some ingredients, and headed into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Meng Fan and Denji looked around the apartment.
"Master, Miss Makima's so young. She couldn't be married, right?"
"Relax, Makima doesn't have a boyfriend. She only likes simps."
"Ding-dong..."
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Denji, get the door. I'm going to take a dump."
"Okay, Master."
Denji dashed to the door.
After looking it over for a while, he finally opened it.
A woman with a pair of antenna-like horns on her head shoved Denji aside and swaggered in.
"Is the food ready? I'm hungry!"
Without even taking her shoes off, Power went straight into the living room and started shouting.
As though she feared someone might miss her booming voice.
"Who is it?" Aki Hayakawa poked his head out of the kitchen.
The moment he saw Power, his expression turned tense.
He turned around and grabbed two kitchen knives.
He could tell at a glance that Power was a fiend.
A fiend was a devil that had taken over a human corpse.
It retained a half-human, half-devil appearance.
"Hey, what's with the knives? You want to take me on?" Power looked utterly fearless, not taking Aki Hayakawa seriously at all.
"Aki, wait!" Himeno, who had arrived a little late, rushed inside.
"Himeno, what brings you here?"
"I came to introduce Power to you guys. She's joining your team too, Aki."
"A fiend's joining my team?" Aki Hayakawa was startled, and his words betrayed more than a little reluctance.
"Sure. You've already got two teammates who can turn into devils, Aki. What's one more?"
"You're my teammate?" Power suddenly chimed in.
"His name is Aki Hayakawa, and he's your captain. This is Denji. He can turn into a devil. And there's one more..." Himeno looked around. "Where's Meng Fan? He hasn't run away, has he?"
"I was cooking. I didn't notice."
"My master's in the bathroom."
"I'm here, and he's hiding in the bathroom? Hey, get out here!"
Too impatient to wait, Power kicked the bathroom door open.
At that very moment, Meng Fan had just stood up and was about to pull up his pants.
But before he could get them up,
he was exposed in front of everyone.
The worldly Himeno immediately covered her mouth, the words "so big" nearly slipping out.
As a fiend, however, Power didn't care about that at all.
She just wanted to be the center of everyone's attention.
"Can't you fucking knock?!" Meng Fan yanked his pants up and roared.
"I'm here! What are you hiding in here for?"
"I'm taking a shit!"
"Do it later. Come out and cook for me first."
"Cook, my ass! Want to eat what I just crapped out?!"
"Enough. Everyone shut up." For the first time, Aki Hayakawa experienced just how noisy his home could get.
He grabbed Power by the back of her collar and dragged her aside.
"Get out of my home. Fiends aren't welcome here."
"I'll leave after I've eaten. I'm not staying here forever."
"Power, you're going to be living here from now on."
Himeno suddenly dropped that bombshell, making Aki Hayakawa's brows knit tightly.
"She's living here?"
"Not just Power. Denji and Meng Fan are staying at your place too."
"What?!"
Aki Hayakawa looked utterly unwilling.
"These are all Miss Makima's orders. She said she believes you'll be able to keep them in line, Aki. After all, you're the man she trusts most."
"Makima said I'm the man she trusts most?" Aki Hayakawa's attitude changed instantly.
"Yes, that's exactly what Miss Makima said. If you're unwilling, you can talk to her about it."
"Never mind. Since Miss Makima trusts me so much, I don't want to let her down."
"Also, Miss Makima will give you an allowance, and once these three start earning salaries, those will all be deposited into your bank account too."
"Whatever. I don't care about the money. I just don't want to make things difficult for Miss Makima." With that, Aki Hayakawa turned and went back into the kitchen.
From that moment on, Aki Hayakawa's roles as mother and babysitter were set in stone.
(Sorry for the late update. Is anyone still awake?)
Before you continue