The Young, Inexperienced Aki Hayakawa

Noticing someone approaching, Asaba Kotone turned and saw a handsome young man with a sword strapped to his back.

He did not react at first, but the longer he looked, the more familiar the young man seemed.

Was that... a young, inexperienced Aki Hayakawa?

The younger Aki Hayakawa had only appeared in flashbacks in the original story, so Asaba Kotone did not remember him all that clearly.

He remembered that Aki Hayakawa already had three years of experience as a Public Safety Devil Hunter in the original story, which meant he had still been a Private Devil Hunter three years earlier.

The current timeline was four years before the original story. Aki Hayakawa had yet to join Tokyo Public Safety, so it made sense for him to be a Private Devil Hunter now. Asaba Kotone simply had not expected to run into him here in Chiba Prefecture.

But wasn't the sword on Aki Hayakawa's back the one belonging to the Curse Devil? More precisely, it was a long nail shaped like a sword.

So Aki Hayakawa had made a contract with the Curse Devil this early. He had probably already contracted with the Fox Devil, too. After all, he could not casually use the Curse Devil's power; even a single use would shave years off his life. He probably relied on the Fox Devil's power most of the time.

"Did you kill this Crab Devil?"

Aki Hayakawa asked Asaba Kotone, his face expressionless.

But when he spotted Pochita in Asaba Kotone's arms, an almost imperceptible change came over his eyes.

With the exceptional perception granted by his Mangekyō Sharingan, Asaba Kotone easily caught the change in Aki Hayakawa's expression. It was a flicker of disgust.

He knew very well that Aki Hayakawa's parents and younger brother had been killed by the Gun Devil when he was a child. That was why he hated all devils, and regarded the Gun Devil as his mortal enemy.

"That's right, so I'll be taking this corpse."

With that, Asaba Kotone sucked the Crab Devil's corpse straight into his Kamui Dimension.

Watching the Crab Devil's corpse vanish without a trace, Aki Hayakawa could not help being a little startled. He had vaguely noticed the space over there seeming to warp, but it had happened too quickly for him to get a clear look.

Apparently, the other man's devil power was rather unusual. He had never seen anything like it.

"Are you a Private Devil Hunter, too? Or are you with Public Safety?"

Aki Hayakawa asked again.

"Yeah, I'm a Private Devil Hunter from out of town. I'm planning to stay in Chiba for a while."

Asaba Kotone struck up a conversation with Aki Hayakawa.

He did not yet know whether Aki Hayakawa would be included among the entries that remained locked, but he figured a major character from the original story was likely to have one. Either way, there was no harm in getting acquainted early.

If he raised Aki Hayakawa's affection beforehand, then once his entry became available, his starting affection would not be zero percent like Denji's and Pochita's.

"I see."

Aki Hayakawa said nothing more and prepared to head back.

Asaba Kotone did not intend to go out of his way to get closer to Aki Hayakawa, either. Instead, he hailed a taxi so the driver could take him straight to the Civilian Devil Hunter Guild, sparing him the trouble of asking for directions.

Although taxis in Japan were much more expensive than those back home, that little expense meant nothing given his wealth.

However, the taxi driver had just witnessed Asaba Kotone kill the Crab Devil. If Asaba Kotone had not intervened, the driver might have been eaten, so he waived the fare as a token of gratitude.

By coincidence, Aki Hayakawa hailed the same taxi. Apparently, he also intended to take a taxi back to the Civilian Devil Hunter Guild.

Both of them sat in the back seat. Watching Asaba Kotone set Pochita on his lap, Aki Hayakawa could not help asking, "Is that the devil you have a contract with?"

"You could say that. He's my companion. His name's Pochita."

Asaba Kotone replied.

"A devil as a companion? Sorry, but I can't understand that."

Aki Hayakawa spoke without expression.

"Most devils certainly commit all kinds of atrocities, but a very small number don't bear humans any ill will. Isn't that right, Pochita?"

"Woof, woof~"

Still, Asaba Kotone knew that although Pochita bore humans no particular ill will, he held no particular goodwill toward them, either.

If someone provoked Pochita in his fully transformed Black Chainsaw form, he would kill them without a second thought.

"I'm not interested in any of that. All I care about is killing the devils I want to kill."

Aki Hayakawa's expression was cold, and so was his voice.

Asaba Kotone said nothing more.

About ten minutes later, Asaba Kotone and Aki Hayakawa arrived at the nearby Civilian Devil Hunter Guild.

Of course, Chiba Prefecture had more than one Civilian Devil Hunter Guild. It was such a large city, after all, and there were guilds throughout its various districts.

"By the way, do you know where Chiba Rissei High School is?"

Asaba Kotone asked Aki Hayakawa.

"It's in this district, not far from here. Why?"

"No reason. Just asking."

Then Asaba Kotone and Aki Hayakawa entered the Civilian Devil Hunter Guild together.

Not long after they stepped into the lobby, a female attendant approached and said to Aki Hayakawa, "Have you finally found yourself a partner, Hayakawa?"

Judging by her expression and tone, the waitress seemed quite warm toward Aki Hayakawa.

After all, Aki Hayakawa was young and handsome. His cool, aloof demeanor probably appealed to girls, too.

"No. We just happened to meet. I don't need a partner."

"Honestly, there you go again, Hayakawa. Devil Hunters generally need partners, you know. If you run into a really powerful devil alone, you'll be in trouble."

"No trouble. Either it dies, or I do."

Aki Hayakawa was not merely showing off by saying that. With the Curse Devil's power, he genuinely had the strength to back it up.

Once the Curse Devil's power activated, death was certain. It might have seemed useless in the original story, but the key was that every opponent it had been used against was a weapon human.

Weapon humans could never truly die. As long as they had enough blood, they could revive endlessly, making the guaranteed-death effect pretty damn useless.

Looked at another way, against a powerful devil with only one life, that guaranteed-death effect would be terrifying, though the lifespan-shortening side effect was equally terrifying.

"Anyway, is there anything I can help you with?"

The female attendant turned to Asaba Kotone.

Perhaps because Asaba Kotone was fairly good-looking as well, she was quite friendly toward him, too.

"I'd like to know where the nearest black market is."

Asaba Kotone took the opportunity to ask.

"The black market..."

The female attendant gave Asaba Kotone detailed verbal directions.

Asaba Kotone planned to sell the Crab Devil's corpse at the black market. Transactions made there would also be recorded at the Civilian Devil Hunter Guild, effectively adding the kill to his record.