Claw Devil

Denji?

His first thought was that Denji had already merged with Pochita and become Chainsaw Man.

But when he turned around, he saw a Devil Hunter swinging a chainsaw straight at him.

His body reacted instantly.

He ducked and swept the man's legs in one fluid motion.

The Devil Hunter holding the chainsaw hit the floor.

The chainsaw in his hands slammed hard against the ground.

"Got a death wish?"

When the chainsaw man tried to get up again, Meng Fan lashed out.

Meng Fan's foot struck the man square in the chin.

The kick sent the chainsaw man sprawling.

This time, he stopped moving altogether.

"Woof, woof!!"

Pochita suddenly barked.

Meng Fan hurried over.

He found Denji under a dining table, clutching his head.

"You okay?"

"Just dizzy. Nothing else."

"No rats bit you?"

"The Rat Devil just wrapped me up with his tail and threw me."

"Good thing you weren't bitten. Otherwise, we'd have to cut your belly open to get the rats out."

"Don't make it sound so scary, okay?"

He pulled Denji to his feet.

The two of them surveyed the restaurant.

Corpses and blood had given the restaurant a whole new look.

The stench of blood drowned out the aroma of food.

"That's disgusting!!" Denji covered his mouth, almost throwing up.

"What a shame."

"What's a shame?"

"If I'd known it was free, I'd have eaten more."

With that, Meng Fan walked straight into the private dining room.

The two shaken waitresses huddled together in a corner.

"Go home. With the restaurant like this, it won't be opening again anytime soon."

"I want to, but the devil outside..."

"My apprentice already killed the devil outside. Remember his name: Denji. He saved you. He's your hero."

"A hero..."

Meng Fan walked over to the dining table.

He picked up a stack of bills from the table and tossed it to the waitresses.

"Get going. The Rat Devil might come back to life again."

"Thank you." The two waitresses quickly stood up and left the room.

Meng Fan slung his crossbody bag, packed with cash, over his shoulder again.

The devil incident at the restaurant had already driven most people far away.

After sending the waitresses and Denji away, too, Meng Fan stayed behind.

Meng Fan shut the door, turned off the lights, closed the windows, and drew the curtains.

He remained inside alone.

A few minutes passed.

The restaurant door opened.

Meng Fan stepped outside.

"What were you doing in there? Don't tell me you were stealing money."

"Yep. Stole quite a bit." Meng Fan grinned.

"You're the Robbery Devil, aren't you!!"

Meng Fan ignored Denji and told him to get in the car instead.

This time, Denji sat in the passenger seat.

Half an hour after the two drove away, someone arrived.

She had medium-length pink hair in a hime cut, tied into a braid that reached her shoulders.

The woman, with ringed eyes and an excellent figure, wore a business uniform as she approached the restaurant entrance.

A group of Public Safety Devil Hunters followed behind her.

As they pushed open the restaurant door, a heavy stench of blood hit them.

The lights inside were off.

It looked decidedly eerie.

Aki Hayakawa gripped the Special Katana tightly and moved slowly forward, shielding Makima.

Aki Hayakawa had been to this restaurant before.

It had been closing time when he visited.

So he had noticed where the light switch was.

When he turned on the lights, the corpses inside came into view.

Aki Hayakawa, however, had long since grown used to such sights.

His composure barely changed.

"Be careful, Miss Makima. The Rat Devil could still be hiding nearby."

"He's already gone."

Makima had a face that looked utterly harmless.

Her voice was soft, yet it carried an overbearing air.

She was Aki Hayakawa's direct superior.

"Ah!! It hurts!"

"That damned devil shattered my jaw."

The chainsaw man sat up, clutching his chin.

"Who's there!!"

Aki Hayakawa warily stepped in front of Makima.

But Makima pushed him aside, as if to say there was no need.

"Do you know what happened here?" she asked, walking up to the chainsaw man.

"Who are you?"

"We're Public Safety Devil Hunters." Aki Hayakawa came over as well.

He positioned himself protectively beside Makima.

"Public Safety Devil Hunters!!"

"Thank goodness, you're finally here! There's a devil here."

"We know, but we didn't see one when we came in." Aki Hayakawa continued questioning him while Makima stood aside and listened.

"He's gone? Then he must have run away."

"What happened to you? Why are you still here?"

"I was knocked out by a devil with Blade Claws for both hands."

"A devil with blade claws? Not the Rat Devil?"

"It was the Rat Devil at first, but after he was killed, a bunch of little rats suddenly came out of his body. We didn't pay them any mind. We never expected him to revive through those little rats, and he was much stronger, too. We couldn't beat him, and he took us all down. I was protecting a young boy with a chainsaw at the time."

"A young boy with a chainsaw?"

Aki Hayakawa kept asking questions.

He felt there had to be more to this story.

"Yeah. He was young, but he called himself a Devil Hunter. He was also holding a chainsaw dog called Pochita. That dog was probably a devil."

"Pochita?" Makima murmured, suddenly interested. In an even tone, she asked, "Where did the boy who was with Pochita go?"

"I don't know. Maybe that Claw Devil killed him?"

"The other one was the Claw Devil?" Aki Hayakawa rubbed his chin.

"I don't know what kind of devil he was, but his weapons were blade claws, so he was probably the Claw Devil."

"He killed the Rat Devil. I tried to ambush him, but he knocked me out with one kick."

"A devil killed another devil? Are you sure you're telling the truth?"

"Absolutely. I saw him come out from over there, saying something like, 'That stench is really ruining my appetite.' I'm guessing he was eating people in that private room. He probably thought the Rat Devil was trying to steal his territory, so he killed him."

"If the Claw Devil killed the Rat Devil like you said, where's the Rat Devil's body?"

"The body's gone?"

The chainsaw man looked all around.

He tried to find the Rat Devil he'd been talking about.

After all, the Rat Devil was three meters tall and enormously fat. He should have been easy to spot.

But all he saw were human corpses and large pools of blood on the floor.

"That pool of blood is where the Rat Devil died. I don't know why his body suddenly disappeared, though."

Those very words made Aki Hayakawa suspicious.

"Either way, take him back first. We'll decide what to do once we've cleared this up."

Aki Hayakawa addressed the Public Safety Devil Hunters behind him.

"Yes, sir." Two Public Safety Devil Hunters helped the chainsaw man up.

They headed out to the police car first.

"Miss Makima, do you think that man was telling the truth?"

When he turned around, he found that Makima had already entered the private dining room.

"Be careful, Miss Makima. The Claw Devil might still be here."

Aki Hayakawa immediately quickened his pace and followed her.

The two entered the private dining room.

As soon as they pushed the door open, they saw two bodies.

"The Rat Devil killed people outside, while the Claw Devil killed people in here. Just like that man said."

"He didn't kill them. The bodies are covered in rat bites. They were probably two people who fled into this room after being attacked by rats."

"Attacked by rats!" Aki Hayakawa examined the two bodies closely.

As Makima had said, one body showed signs that the victim had been attacked by rats before dying, with no blade wounds at all.

The other body, however, had five blade cuts across the neck.

He glanced at the name tag on the corpse.

The dead man was the restaurant manager.

"Going by what that man just told us, the Claw Devil was eating here. He killed the manager and was going to eat him, but the Rat Devil's killing spree outside ruined his appetite, so he killed the Rat Devil."

"None of that matters anymore."

Makima showed not the slightest interest in the massacre at the restaurant.

Then she spotted a strand of pet hair on a seat.

She walked over, picked it up, and sniffed it.

The corners of her mouth suddenly lifted slightly.

It seemed she had found what interested her most.