Asaba Kotone followed Denji's gaze to a bag of cheap, ordinary bread. The slices inside could even be sold individually.
"Bread? You can have whatever you want. You don't have to hold back."
"Whatever I want? Really?!"
Disbelief showed on Denji's face.
"Of course. Didn't I say I'd take good care of you? Let's find a decent restaurant."
"Yeah, yeah!"
Denji nodded vigorously, so excited that he forgot his hunger.
He usually filled his stomach with the cheapest bread he could find. He had no idea how long it had been since he'd eaten a proper meal.
Before long, Asaba Kotone found a restaurant that looked pretty good.
"Pick whatever you want."
"I want... I'd like some udon noodles. And, if that's okay, some grilled food too..."
Denji still couldn't quite let himself go.
"One bowl of udon, a grilled sausage skewer, and a grilled chicken drumstick skewer, please."
Asaba Kotone ordered for Denji, then scooped Pochita up in both hands and asked, "What would you like to eat, Pochita?"
"Woof!"
[Pochita's affection +5%]
Asaba Kotone had no idea what Pochita was saying. In the original story, Pochita could actually talk; he simply hardly ever did.
Even in Makima's recollection in the original story, the Chainsaw Devil in Hell had never spoken. It wasn't until Denji's final battle with Makima that Pochita deliberately imitated Denji's speech to mislead her.
"...Then you can have whatever I'm having, Pochita."
Just as Asaba Kotone was about to order for himself and Pochita, he noticed the restaurant owner staring at them fearfully.
"Um... sir..."
The owner's fearful, disgusted gaze was directed at Pochita.
It wasn't just the owner. The other customers who had been about to order were keeping their distance too, afraid to get too close to Pochita.
The owner's aversion to Pochita mainly stemmed from the impact he would have on business.
"I'm a private devil hunter, and this is my devil companion. He means no harm to humans. Sorry for scaring you."
Asaba Kotone showed his identification as he spoke.
After checking Asaba Kotone's ID and confirming that he was a licensed private devil hunter, the owner relaxed a little.
"Two more bowls of udon, please."
Asaba Kotone finished placing their order.
There wasn't anything he particularly wanted to eat, so he simply ordered udon to fill his stomach. The second bowl was for Pochita.
Their food arrived shortly afterward.
Looking at the udon, grilled sausage, and grilled chicken drumstick in front of him, Denji felt as though he were dreaming.
Until now, these were delicacies he could only dream about in his sleep. Now they were sitting right in front of him, real as could be.
"Eat while it's hot."
Asaba Kotone gave Denji a reminder.
"Yeah!"
Denji dug in to his heart's content.
Pochita stood right on the table as he ate his udon.
[Pochita's affection +5%] [Pochita's affection has reached 30%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]
Pochita's affection was progressing at a decent pace, largely because it wasn't difficult to raise.
With someone like Makima or that gorgeous girl, Master, raising their affection would be much harder.
Of course, Asaba Kotone wasn't sure whether Makima and Master were even in the still-locked portion of the compendium. He was only using them as examples.
[Denji's affection +20%] [Denji's affection has reached 40%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1] [Denji's affection has reached 50%. Achievement reward obtained: Constitution +1]
"Whew! That was awesome!"
After a thoroughly satisfying meal, Denji's affection soared again, reaching fifty percent.
By all rights, the affection compendium's third page should have unlocked as well.
With a thought, Asaba Kotone brought the affection compendium into view.
He mentally turned it to the third page. Sure enough, it had unlocked, and the new entry was named Kobeni Higashiyama.
The compendium also provided information about Kobeni Higashiyama. She was sixteen, attended Chiba Rissei High School, and lived at the Higashiyama family home in Chiba Prefecture.
Kobeni Higashiyama was twenty in the original story's timeline, so four years earlier, she would indeed be sixteen.
Still, Asaba Kotone hadn't expected Kobeni Higashiyama to be the third entry.
It seemed he would have to make a trip to Chiba Prefecture later.
Although Chiba Prefecture was near Tokyo, it was still quite a distance away. He wasn't in a hurry to go there and planned to sort things out with Denji first.
"Thank you so much, Kotone..."
Denji looked a little gloomy as he continued, "But you should leave before tomorrow... A debt collector wants me to pay back seven hundred thousand tomorrow. There's no way I can come up with that much, and I don't want to drag you into it..."
Denji voiced his concerns, hoping Asaba Kotone would leave soon rather than get caught up in his troubles.
"Mm..."
Asaba Kotone said little. He had no intention of telling Denji that he planned to take care of that old bastard Hamano next.
After all, a restaurant was full of people who might see or overhear them. It wasn't the place to discuss something like that.
That afternoon, Asaba Kotone rested at Denji's home, restoring his ocular power and his body to peak condition.
Toward evening, Asaba Kotone took Denji out for dinner again.
[Denji's affection +5%]
Denji's affection increased by another five percent. Incidentally, though, a five-percent increase at this point carried a different weight from a five-percent increase when they first met.
Denji already had a baseline affection of fifty percent toward Asaba Kotone. The higher that baseline, the more weight each further increase carried.
When they had first met, his baseline affection had been zero percent, making a five-percent increase extremely easy to achieve. The difference in weight was therefore considerable.
"I have something to take care of, so I'm heading out for a bit. I might be back very late tonight."
Night had fallen, and Asaba Kotone was ready to act. Before leaving, he let Denji know.
"Okay..."
As he watched Asaba Kotone walk away, Denji looked downcast and reluctant to see him go.
He thought this was probably Kotone's way of gently excusing himself and leaving for good. After all, Denji had told him about the debt collector coming tomorrow.
Although he wanted Kotone to leave in time to avoid getting dragged into his troubles, he had never met anyone as kind as him. Kotone had been so incredibly good to him.
Now that Kotone was leaving, he couldn't help feeling sad and reluctant to part with him.
But Denji soon made peace with it. He had eaten so much delicious food today, and he was already happy and satisfied.
Even if the debt collector really cuts me up to pay off my debt tomorrow, I won't have any regrets... maybe?
Before you continue