About soaking in a hot spring, stargazing, and discussing life, only to find a severed head

"Denji, hurry up."

"Where are we?"

Denji stared at the sign above his head.

He couldn't read, so he had no idea where they were going.

"You'll find out once we're inside."

"No way. Just take me and Pochita home."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!!" Denji's gaze was unwavering.

"That's a shame. Guess I'll have to bathe with all those beautiful women by myself."

"Bathe with beautiful women?!!" Denji was stunned.

He had never imagined there could be a place in the world that offered such happiness.

His resolute gaze crumbled in an instant.

An eagerness to explore took its place.

"That's right. This hot spring lets us soak with beautiful women we've never met."

"A hot spring!" Denji had never tried one, but he'd heard of them. "You're taking me to a hot spring? Hell yeah!"

"No, no, no. I'm taking you home first, then coming back to soak by myself. After all, you insisted on going home."

"I'm heading in, then."

Denji completely ignored Meng Fan.

Holding Pochita, he dashed off with a spring in his step.

But within seconds, he was kicked back out to the entrance.

The reason was that he'd brought a chainsaw to a bathhouse, making them suspect he was a terrorist.

"They won't let me bring Pochita inside."

"No kidding. I was planning to put Pochita in my clothes bag before going in, but you just had to give them a heads-up. Now they'll definitely be watching us and checking our belongings."

"Then what do we do? Pochita can't come in?"

Pochita gave him an expectant look too.

"That's right. We'll leave Pochita in the trunk for now and go in ourselves."

"Woof, woof!!" Pochita barked indignantly.

"Nothing we can do, Pochita. It's my fault for rushing in. I'll bring you next time."

With no other choice, Pochita had to stay alone in the trunk.

Meng Fan gently stroked Pochita's forehead.

He smoothed down the fur on Pochita's head.

Under his gentle strokes, Pochita slowly closed those eyes and fell asleep.

"Whatever Pochita can't see at the hot spring, Pochita will see in dreams."

With that, he closed the trunk.

"Then let's hurry inside."

Denji dashed back in again.

This time, without a chainsaw in his arms, he entered the hot spring with Meng Fan without any trouble.

"Welcome."

"Room ten is the third room on your right. Your clothes and other supplies have already been prepared in the room."

"Thank you." Meng Fan thanked the attendant and turned right.

Denji stayed where he was and asked, blushing, "When do we get to bathe with the girls?"

"Huh?" The attendant was startled. Plenty of people wondered about that, but hardly anyone actually asked aloud. "Do you mean mixed bathing?"

"Mixed bathing means we can bathe with women? The kind where you don't wear clothes?" Denji's attention was fixed entirely on mixed bathing.

"Even in the mixed bath, you still have to wear a towel." The attendant smiled awkwardly.

"Oh, so... then... mmph..."

"Sorry. He's watched too much Crayon Shin-chan." Meng Fan hurriedly covered Denji's mouth from behind, unwilling to let him embarrass him any further.

The attendant looked mortified, but could only bow as they left.

Only after they entered the room did Meng Fan release Denji's mouth.

"You lied to me. There's nothing like that here."

"If you're not satisfied, I can have you sleep in the trunk with Pochita."

"Um... actually, I don't care whether they're wearing clothes or not."

"Quit wasting time and get changed."

"That damn rat splashed blood all over me. I need a nice, relaxing soak."

Meng Fan tossed Denji his bathing clothes.

The two changed in the room.

While they were changing, Meng Fan deliberately glanced at where one of Denji's balls was missing.

Noticing his prying gaze, Denji immediately turned around.

"Hey, it's rude to keep staring at someone else's junk."

"Sorry. I was just curious."

With that, he opened the door on the other side of the room.

An open-air hot spring lay just outside.

"Whoa, this is way too convenient."

Denji hadn't expected the hot spring to be right outside their room.

He'd thought it would be like the village bathhouse, with a bunch of men crammed together.

"You get what you pay for. Besides, the women's bath is next door."

"The women's bath is next door!!" Denji immediately perked up.

He plunged headfirst into the hot spring.

Then he screamed and scrambled right back out.

"It's so hot!!!"

"..."

"Are they trying to boil people alive?!!!"

"It's best to rinse yourself with water before getting into a hot spring, to give your body time to adjust."

"You could've told me sooner." Denji sat huffily on a stool nearby, scooping water into a wooden basin and pouring it over himself.

This was also how Denji normally bathed.

His wooden shack had no bathroom, no bed or furniture, not even a toilet.

There was only a space of less than twenty square meters.

Even when he slept, he could only lie on wooden boards.

But Denji had no complaints about any of it.

Instead, he felt happy just to have somewhere that sheltered him from the wind and rain.

He asked for virtually nothing in the way of material comforts.

After finishing his rinse beside the hot spring, he was ready.

Denji cautiously tested the water with his foot.

It felt like he could handle it.

Then he slowly lowered himself in.

It still felt hot.

But after he endured it for a little while, a feeling of comfort washed over him.

"Whoa!! This feels amazing!!"

Looking blissful, Denji tilted his head back toward the night sky.

The countless stars overhead were a nightscape that hadn't existed in Meng Fan's era.

And gazing up at the stars was also Meng Fan's favorite thing to do while soaking in a hot spring.

In his mind, he connected the stars one by one to form a picture.

"How do you think devils are born? Why are there devils in the world?"

Denji's sudden question interrupted the picture taking shape in Meng Fan's mind.

"Why are you suddenly asking that? Do you think I'm your teacher?"

"Just asking. If you don't know, I'll drop it."

"Devils are born from human fear. The more humans fear them, the stronger they become. Conversely, if humans stop being afraid, devils grow weaker."

"Then everything would be fine if humans just stopped being scared."

"Fear is a human instinct. No matter how strong someone is, there's always something they're afraid of. Besides, even devils have things they fear most."

"Devils are scared of things too? What are they scared of?" Denji stopped looking at the night sky and focused on what Meng Fan would say next.

Their eyes met, and Meng Fan smiled. "All devils are afraid of Pochita."

"Tch. What's so scary about Pochita?" Denji said, bored. Then he remembered something interesting. "Oh, right. How were the Tomato Devil and the Cucumber Devil born? Are people really afraid of that stuff?"

"People used to think tomatoes were poisonous fruit, so everyone was scared of them. Now, even though they're edible, some people still throw up nonstop after eating them."

"Oh, okay. That explains the Tomato Devil. What about the Cucumber Devil?"

"The Cucumber Devil? Once we meet Power, I'll tell you why there's a Cucumber Devil."

"Who's Power?"

"A pretty girl with horns on her head, no tail behind her, and A-cup breasts."

"Tch. This isn't some dirty joke, is it?"

"There's absolutely nothing dirty about it. And it's backed up by solid evidence."

As the two of them talked, something happened.

A woman's scream suddenly rang out from the women's bath next door.

Both hurriedly looked behind them.

Immediately afterward, an unidentified object flew over the wooden partition.

Splash!!!

It landed in the water.

Blood stained a small patch of the water red.

A woman's severed head slowly floated to the surface.