Helping Denji

Asaba Kotone walked toward Denji.

On the gravestone was a photograph of a haggard middle-aged man.

Asaba Kotone struck up a conversation with Denji. "Was that man just now your creditor?"

"...He was my dad's creditor originally, but my lousy old man's dead now. Mom died ages ago too, coughing up blood because of a heart condition. Now all their debts are on me..."

Denji looked dejected, his eyes utterly lifeless. He hadn't even bothered to see who was speaking to him from behind. He just wanted to vent.

His debts totaled tens of millions of yen. How could he possibly pay that off on his own? Even selling every part of his body wouldn't bring in that much money.

Worse still, he had to scrape together seven hundred thousand by tomorrow. If he couldn't, that gang boss from earlier would chop him to pieces.

He was already at a dead end. All he could do was wait to die.

"An older relative of mine was a friend of your mother's. They asked me to take care of you. Your name's Denji, right?"

Asaba Kotone had made that story up to get close to Denji.

"Huh?!..."

Startled, Denji immediately turned around. Only then did he see a boy wearing a pure white trench coat, though for some reason, his eyes looked very strange.

A strange little orange dog followed at the boy's feet. Was that...a devil?

At the sight of Pochita, who looked suspiciously like a devil, Denji couldn't help taking a frightened step back.

"Don't be scared. This is my friend Pochita. He won't hurt you."

Asaba Kotone crouched down and patted Pochita's head. "Right, Pochita?"

"Woof~"

Pochita answered with a smile.

Although Pochita bore Denji no ill will, he didn't feel any particular affection for him either.

Asaba Kotone's arrival had prevented Denji and Pochita from forming the bond they had in the original story.

That was precisely why he was helping Denji-not just for the constitution rewards, but also to make it up to him.

Denji relaxed a little, though he still couldn't help feeling somewhat afraid.

"W-was what you just said really true?"

Denji asked with a look of disbelief.

Actually, when Asaba Kotone had said his name, Denji had already pretty much believed him. After all, how would a stranger know his name?

It just felt too unreal. Someone had appeared to help him at the very moment he was most desperate.

"Of course it's true. My name is Asaba Kotone. I'll take good care of you from now on, and you won't die tomorrow."

[Affection +20%]

[Affection progress has reached 10%. Achievement reward received: constitution +1]

[Affection progress has reached 20%. Achievement reward received: constitution +1]

Denji's affection instantly rose by twenty percent. He was a simple soul, after all. All it took was treating him well.

"Grrr..."

Just then, Denji's stomach rumbled.

Only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten anything all day.

It wasn't that he didn't want to eat. He simply couldn't afford to.

"Hungry? I don't have any money on me right now either, though. I'll have to hunt some devils to earn a little. Let's go home first."

Asaba Kotone had only just crossed over into this world, so naturally, he didn't have a penny to his name.

Still, earning money would be fairly easy for him. The existence of devils in this world had given rise to the high-risk, high-reward profession of Devil Hunter.

Public Safety Devil Hunters enjoyed high salaries and various benefits, while private Devil Hunters could take on private commissions for payment. They could also sell the corpses of devils they killed on the black market for a good price.

Whether they worked for Public Safety or privately, the vast majority of these Devil Hunters were humans who had made contracts with certain devils, paying a price in exchange for their power.

Although Asaba Kotone hadn't made a contract with a devil, his abilities were more than enough for him to become a private Devil Hunter. Not only did he possess Kamui in both eyes, but he could also use Pochita as a weapon.

"Okay..."

Denji led Asaba Kotone back to his home.

On the way, remembering what the other boy had said about hunting devils for money, Denji couldn't help asking, "Are you a Devil Hunter, Kotone?"

"More or less."

Asaba Kotone nodded slightly.

Denji didn't doubt him. Seeing how well Kotone got along with the devil named Pochita, he figured Kotone must be a Devil Hunter who had made a contract with him.

There was a small city not far from here, but Denji's home wasn't in the city. It was halfway up a hill nearby.

"By the way, Denji, how old are you?"

Asaba Kotone asked him.

"I was born in 1981, and it's 1993 now..."

Denji counted on his fingers twice before settling on his age. "Twelve. I should be twelve."

Having never gone to school or celebrated a birthday, he could only work out his age this way.

"Twelve, huh..."

Now Asaba Kotone had fully pinned down the timeline.

The original story took place in 1997, which meant he had arrived in the world of Chainsaw Man four years early.

One thing that intrigued him was the Gun Devil. It had descended upon the human world thirteen years before the original story, in 1984, but who had defeated it afterward?

Judging by the bullet scars on Pochita's belly, Pochita had most likely done it. His strength certainly fit, and the timing lined up too. He had suddenly vanished while surrounded by the Four Horsemen and arrived in the human world, where he had defeated the Gun Devil single-handedly and been left with bullet wounds in his belly.

Incidentally, the full-strength Gun Devil's power was also a mystery. That had been a period when humanity's fear of firearms was at its peak. Aside from Pochita, it was hard to say who in the human world could have defeated the full-strength Gun Devil. Makima probably hadn't come to the human world yet at that point either.

They arrived at Denji's home, a tiny, run-down house that made it clear just how hard his everyday life was.

"Stay home and get some rest. I'll go hunt some devils."

Now that he knew where Denji lived, Asaba Kotone didn't linger.

"Yeah..."

Denji stood in the doorway, watching Asaba Kotone and Pochita slowly walk away.

After leaving, Asaba Kotone and Pochita naturally went looking for devils.

Devils were born bearing the names of all kinds of things, from plants and animals to concepts. The more terrifying people considered a name, the stronger its devil became. Death, Famine, War, and Control-the Four Horsemen-were examples.

Even devils that people didn't fear much were still monsters, and ordinary people couldn't handle them.

Anything could give rise to a devil. Moreover, devils that died in the human world would revive in Hell, while those that died in Hell would be reincarnated in the human world. They could never be erased unless Pochita ate them.

Thus, devils ran rampant everywhere, including the small city they were in.

It didn't take Asaba Kotone long to discover the Field Mouse Devil in a field.