Japan, Tokyo.
A boy wearing a pure white trench coat had delicate features that still held a hint of youth. His irises were deep red, each bearing three sickle-shaped tomoe.
Before Asaba Kotone stood an orange, dog-shaped devil, with a chainsaw jutting from its head and a tail shaped like a pull cord.
The Chainsaw Devil watched him warily with a fierce expression, but sweat covered its body. Several bullet wounds in its belly were bleeding.
It was already in terrible shape and would probably die of blood loss soon.
[Album entry activated: Chainsaw Devil] [Reward obtained: Constitution +1] [Current affinity: 0%]
Asaba Kotone held his right forearm out to the Chainsaw Devil. "Go ahead, bite me. Drink my blood, and your wounds will heal."
The Chainsaw Devil hesitated for a moment, then sank its teeth into his forearm.
The fierce look on its face remained unchanged, and it did not bite gently. Its sharp teeth tore open a sizable wound, sending blood spilling out.
The pain made Asaba Kotone frown slightly. It felt as though a wild beast were tearing into his forearm, even twisting the muscles.
The Chainsaw Devil drank copious amounts of his blood, and the bullet wounds in its belly slowly began to heal.
Only after a while did it release his arm. Asaba Kotone said nothing.
[Affinity +5%]
"Take your time recovering."
Asaba Kotone sat on the grass, studying the Affinity Album as he waited for the wounds in the Chainsaw Devil's belly to heal.
At a thought, an album appeared before his eyes. It was something special that only he could see. After all, he had transmigrated.
He had been lying in bed reading the Chainsaw Man manga when he suddenly found himself in the world of Chainsaw Man. He had also received the Mangekyō Sharingan ability "Kamui," the Affinity Album, proficiency in every country's language, and a fabricated identity as a Japanese citizen. That was where his name, Asaba Kotone, had come from.
Most importantly, he had received Kamui in both eyes, not just one.
There was no need to explain how powerful dual Kamui was. Although his body had no chakra, he could still use Kamui. In the Naruto world, ocular techniques consumed chakra and ocular power; in his case, they consumed his bodily resources and ocular power instead.
However, his bodily resources were only those of an ordinary person. Even a casual use of Kamui would leave him utterly drained. In Naruto, Obito Uchiha could freely use single-eye Kamui only because he had Hashirama cells. Kakashi made it clear just how terrifying Kamui's cost was without them. Dual Kamui would only consume more than its single-eye counterpart, and that was where the Affinity Album became important.
Asaba Kotone opened the album before him with a thought. The first page showed an image of the Chainsaw Devil, with an affinity progress bar along the bottom. Its affinity was currently only 5%.
10%, 20%, 30%... every ten-percentage-point increase in affinity granted an achievement reward: constitution.
This constitution stat was rather special. As it increased, his physical capabilities, bodily resources, and ability to recover would all improve. That recovery also included restoring his ocular power. As long as he did not consume too much ocular power all at once and go completely blind, both his ocular power and his vision could recover.
Activating a character's album entry for the first time also granted a constitution reward. For example, when he had just encountered the Chainsaw Devil and activated its entry, he had received "Constitution +1."
Next, Asaba Kotone turned to the album's second page. The image there was Denji, the protagonist of the original Chainsaw Man story.
However, the image was still gray. He had not encountered Denji yet, so Denji's entry had not been activated.
The third page was blank. Only two character entries could initially be unlocked and available at the same time. Even if he happened to encounter a character whose entry had not yet been unlocked, he could not activate it.
Only when either the Chainsaw Devil's or Denji's affinity reached 50% would a new character entry unlock. If both the Chainsaw Devil and Denji reached 50% affinity toward him, then four unlocked character entries could be available at once.
Just then, the Chainsaw Devil licked the wound and spilled blood on Asaba Kotone's arm, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Have you recovered already?"
It really does hurt a little...
Enduring the pain, Asaba Kotone gave his right forearm a simple bandage. All he needed was to stop the bleeding; the wound would heal on its own. His current constitution was not very high, though, so his recovery was not particularly fast.
Noticing that the fierce look on the Chainsaw Devil's face had faded, he said, "Stay with me from now on. I'll call you Pochita. How does that sound?"
He preferred the name Pochita to either Chainsaw Devil or "Chainsaw Man," the name Makima used for the Chainsaw Devil.
Pochita was silent for a moment, then gave a bark.
[Affinity +5%] [Affinity has reached 10%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]
As those words appeared before his eyes, Asaba Kotone's constitution received another considerable boost.
It might only say "Constitution +1," but the actual improvement was far from small.
There was a way to quickly raise Pochita's affinity toward him: hugging Pochita. In the original story, Pochita's dream was to have someone hug it. Still, he felt that now was not the right time.
The higher its affinity rose, the harder it would surely be to increase it further. Once he truly could not raise it anymore, that trick would work wonders. In short, his approach was to take things gradually.
Besides, he had clearly met Pochita before Denji did, so Denji should be somewhere nearby.
Asaba Kotone glanced around. With the exceptional perceptiveness afforded by his Mangekyō Sharingan, he easily spotted Denji in the distance.
The little boy with short blond hair stood before a grave, seemingly mourning a deceased family member. A car was parked behind him.
"Hanged himself before he even paid this month's installment... Brat... I don't care whether you beg or sell your body. Have seven hundred thousand ready for me tomorrow, or I'll chop you up and sell the pieces."
An old man wearing a hat delivered those words from inside the car, then drove away, leaving only the little boy's thin, lonely, forlorn figure behind.
[Album entry activated: Denji] [Reward obtained: Constitution +1] [Current affinity: 0%]
Just as Asaba Kotone had suspected, he had arrived at the point in time when Denji and Pochita were supposed to meet.
Denji's father had abused him in a drunken rage, forcing Denji to kill his own father in self-defense. His father had also owed an illegal organization an enormous debt of tens of millions of yen.
Normally, something like that would have landed Denji in prison. But to keep him available to repay his father's debts, the creditors had passed his father's death off as suicide by hanging. Denji himself had also selectively forgotten the memory of killing his father.
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