Chapter Text
The date was a disaster.
He's back from his date, in the apartment complex, climbing the stairs to his apartment.
Denji honestly couldn't think of a single time he's gone after a woman and it hasn't gone to shit. If he remembers correctly, in order it has been Makima, Power, Himeno, Reze, and now Asa.
He feels a sting in his chest and eyes recalling some of those names; he shouldn't have reminded himself that they existed. Acting like nothing had happened was going so well, too.
Another wave of aching goes to his heart and vision. Denji can't help but feel guilty of ignoring their mark on him and the world. It makes him feel disrepectful.
That reminds him; it's been a while. He should visit the Hayakawa family grave. He is a Hayakawa now, after all.
He made it to the floor of his apartment, and down the entryways. The boy quickly opens and closes the door into the apartment. He should really move somewhere that has an entrance with windows. It would really help clear his mind.
His thoughts are interrupted by an onslaught of barking. Ah, yes. Dogs. Her dogs. Shit. Wait. Whose dogs were they again? That's right. She has never existed.
Now that he's stepped foot into his own home, he can't help but notice just how uncomfortable his outfit has become after lord knows how long in that aquarium. He ought to change into something more comfortable.
A Chainsaw Man T-shirt and gray sweatpants. The perfect combination of comfortable and breatheable. Plus, chicks love gray sweatpants, right?
It felt like an eternity since he was able to relax the neck and shoulders supporting his head. He takes a nice period of time to properly stretch. He remembers that Kishibe taught him these stretching techniques when he had to do training with. . .
Denji kind of had to take the old man's word for it, and he didn't disappoint. The drunkard had to be so flexible at such a jurassic age for a reason, the boy supposed.
It's dog walking time.
The jingling of the metal parts of the harness instantly alerts all of the dogs in the apartment of what was next; 'walk'. The sound of paws slipping and sliding on the hardwood floor is enough for Denji to snap out of his thoughts. He attaches their leashes to their collars and heads out.
It was actually a nice day outside. The sky was adorned with a flattering, almost glowing, lilac sky. No clouds in sight, either. It was the perfect sight to share with someone while on a date. Now that the boy thought about it, the date with Asa had the potential to be a perfect date.
It's the circumstances Asa brought to the table that ruined the date.
Well, it wouldn't be fair to blame it all on Asa. Denji also involuntarily brought Yoshida everywhere he went, he supposed. And, he made a new friend as a result of the date.
Once he picks Nayuta up from school, they should go over kanji together. Well, the girl should be more focused on learning her time tables at the moment, but she's a very gifted kid. The teachers seem to let her just do whatever she wants since she understands the material quick enough to complete all her homework during classtime. Less work for Denji to take care of.
The dogs usually bring a lot of attention from kids on his way to pick up Nayuta. He hopes that some day one of them will stick around long enough to meet Nayuta. She could really use some help to get friends. If only she put in the effort.
Speak of the devil, its the devil herself, waiting on the pick up corner. There's a kid trying to speak with her, too. They don't seem all too interested in keeping up the conversation with the devil child, though. Probably a result of her usual one word answers.
He's been noticed. The sight of the devil child walking over to someone might give the reciever uncanny chills. Not Denji, though. It's a familiar sight, and a comforting one at that.
The dogs have also taken a notice to her, and ran up to her as a greeting. The devil child takes her time, patting each dog on the head with her small hands individually. The pats themselves seem haphazard, but each pat is done with care and love. The fact she's so insistant to give each dog a rewarding greeting is oh so very endearing to Denji. He's glad she seems satisfied with her current life.
The hand that was patting each of the dogs eventually goes to pat the teen boy's hand.
She wanted to hold hands. He'll let her indulge.
"Want to head to the playground near the library?" He has some books to turn back in. Now that he's finally gotten the privlege of a proper education, Hell knows he's not about to take it for granted.
She simply nods her head in response.
By the time they arrived, the lilac skies turned to a dark bergundy. The streetlights occupying every other step of the sidewalks turn on.
Said playground near the library also was near a park. Nayuta seems extra fond of staying near the park that day.
Denji croutched down to eye level with the girl. "I'm going to head into the library to return some books. I'll be back as soon as possible. Stay out of trouble, okay?"
She nods.
Off he goes into the library.
The current books he had borrowed were for studying english and to improve his ability to read kanji. The book to help him study english was The Great Gatsby. His teacher insisted it was a classic amongst americans. Some of the characters hit a bit too close to home for Denji's comfort, though. Not to mention, the book was a bit queer. Were all american classics like that?
The one he checked out to help him learn kanji was a bit more embarassing. A middle-school level how-to learning guide on kanji. A buddy of his at school recommended it to him. Of course, not only did it help Denji, but Nayuta also found the concept of kanji to be useful.
He dropped off the books.
Of course though, as a reward for his studying, he decided to check out some documentaries. Lord knows why he wasn't as fascinated at Asa's lecture of sea life as he was with documentaries. Maybe his short attention span needed complimentary visuals of the stuff being described in order for him to be truly invested. Nonetheless, he absorbs all information given to him.
He decided on a documentary about the philosopher Diogenes, and a tape of the entire season 4 of Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Satisfied with his selection, after checking them out Denji sticks the two tapes in the pocket of his sweatpants and goes back out for Nayuta.
The cool night air hits his unsleeved arms. From the distance he can see Nayuta sitting next to a tree, in a throne made of doggies.
He looks left, then right, and crosses the road. He learned that lesson the hard way when he got hit by Kobeni's car. He's on the other side of the road, now, making his way to Nayuta.
"You shouldn't leave a kid alone outside, especially during nightfall."
Denji turned around to the source of the voice.
Oh great. Of course he had to run into that face.
"Hey, Yoshida." He replied lazily and continued his travel to Nayuta.
"You seem to be in a pretty good mood for someone who just had his date ruined."
Denji will be kind enough to entertain Octoboy, this time, "Honestly expected at this point."
"Is that so? Care to elaborate?" Yoshida seems way more interested than appropriate. He's not his therapist, for God's sake.
"Ehh. Love life's just not lucky, man." When Yoshida didn't say anything else, Denji continued, "It just feels like every woman who gives me a chance has alterior motives, y'know?"
"Damn. That must suck." Was Yoshida always this boring to talk to or was he just genuinely speechless?
"Well, could be worse, I guess." They made it to the little girl, still content in her chair made of doggies. Maybe Nayuta's ability to drive people away will make Yoshida leave Denji alone for a change.
Seeing Denji, the dogs get up from their resting positions. Nayuta gets up, too. Denji puts his hand out, silently asking Nayuta to hand him the leashes. She complies.
Amidst the panting of the now excited dogs, there's a lone bark, then a sneeze.
Nayuta points at Yoshida. She speaks. "Tiramisu says you smell nervous." It's hard to counter that. She says everything in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Denji goes from counting each dog to his eyes falling on Yoshida. It seems his exhausted maneurisms are just his default, and were now masked by a new layer of concern. "Damn, dude. Something on your back, bro?"
Yoshida had multiple things to worry about; the Devil Hunting Club being aware of his job and now this young girl he was unaware of being in Denji's possession. Yoshida deflects the question. "What a perceptive kid you got."
Denji scoffed at this. "Yeah, yeah." He changes his posture to face Yoshida, "Spit it out, man. What's got you so uptight?"
Yoshida was about to walk away from the situation entirely, but he felt a small hand grasp at his jacket sleeve. He looked down. It was the little girl. He could feel both the girl's and Denji's eyes burrowing holes into him.
In situations like these, Yoshida could undoubtedly keep his cool. He was tasked to gather information and to stay on guard due to his abilities. Yet he couldn't help but admit the little girl has an undeniably overpowering presence. Just what exactly is this girl? He'll have to ask Kishibe if he has records on this girl.
He's snapped out of his thoughts when the girl lets go of his sleeve. He made the wrong assumption by thinking it meant he's excused from this conversation, because just as he was about to say an obligated polite goodbye, the little girl opts to take Yoshida's hand instead. In a surprisingly firm grasp, might he add. Even if he tried to pry her hand off his, it would more than likely be futile.
Well, he could absolutely try prying her off with his octopus. Wait, no, that would cause distrust and further arise suspicion from the girl and Denji, thereby ruining his mission. He could also probably lift the little girl up. Having her dangle awkwardly from his hand could make her feel powerless enough to surrender. But then again, he can't forget the pack of large dogs under both Denji and the thing presenting itself as a little girl's loyalty and command. If he dangles the kid, it could provoke the dogs to pounce and knock him over. He could fight back against the dogs, but that would also cause distrust and suspicion torwards him. Maybe he can stare back at the girl's gaze to assert dominance and make her surrender. But now that he thinks about it, she hadn't blinked a single time throughout his time there. Although Yoshida was well practiced in the art of staring, he would definitely loose the staring contest. Perhaps he could--
While Yoshida was busy pondering the different options on how to get out of this situation, Nayuta drags him by the hand. Using her freehand, she takes grasp of Denji's hand. It's clear she's ready to go home.
"You wanna bring him along?" Denji inquires.
Nayuta gives a firm nod in return.
"All right, off we go, then." Their trip back to Denji's apartment begins, along with Yoshida following them along on auto-pilot.
Yoshida's intense train of thought is interrupted when he feels the elevation of where he's walking change. He's crossing a road. His vision is downcast. He hasn't been watching where he's been walking the entire time. In fact, he hadn't been using his eyes at all.
He finally looks up, only to be blinded by the streetlights. It was night out.
Something squeezed his hand. The little girl was still holding it. She must have noticed his realization of what was going on.
Denji, on the other hand, was whistling absentmindedly. Yoshida couldn't recognize the tune. Maybe it's because the jingling of the dogs' collars makes it hard for him to find the pace of the tune.
The part of town they're in was densly populated. If he tries to escape, he'll probably cause a commotion.
He might as well go where they're going. He's already gotten this far.
"We're almost there, if you're wondering." Denji's looking back at him. "You wanna stay for dinner?"
Yoshida considers his options. "What's for dinner?"
"Whatever's in the fridge, man." Denji chuckles at himself, full of pride, "I'll make it work. I'm basically a master chef, y'know!"
"Yeah, sure." If it was any other person that said that about themselves, Yoshida would have to restrain himself from visibly grimacing, but Denji makes it endearing.
Yoshida would rather think about the reason for that later, especially considering the type of standards Denji has when it comes to food.
Speaking of the topic, there have been a vast amount of frenzies in the school's 'gossip lore' whenever Denji eats something particularly rancid. The most recent was him being caught by a school chef in the school kitchen, boiling a then dead rat he found in his homeroom. He then promptly demanded the lunch attendant thank him for contributing to pest control and lowering school waste. According to Denji, the rat was alive when he found it.
After the rumor spread around the school, he went to walk with Yoshida to express his exasperation and shock that the school population found something so 'tame so intriguing. 'I even cooked it! What's so gross about that?'
The most notable of his food frenzies was when he asked someone if he could eat their scab. Yoshida has also experienced, first-hand, Denji eating a juice box. Like, chewing the box, still full of juice, with the accomidating wrapped plastic straw still attached to the side with cellophane. And swallowing the damp chewed up cardboard.
Now that he thought about it, it was no surprise that Denji was having trouble finding a girlfriend. They were probably concerned with where exactly Denji's mouth has been. That just had to be it.
Denji was an astonishingly quick learner, charming, and responsible. Not only that, but he was pretty cute--although no one will hear that coming from Yoshida any time soon.
Nayuta let go of Yoshida's hand.
Clang, clang, clang
Yoshida looked up to see Denji and the little girl climbing the metal stairs. This must be their apartment complex.
Truth be told, Yoshida doesn't actually know where Denji lives. He's still a student who needs to study and do homework and such. Looking after Denji's home life was Kishibe's job.
Running into him was a genuine coincidence, for once.
And it appears Kishibe's either doing jack-shit on the job, or he's purposfully hiding the small child that lives with Denji from Public Saftey. Yoshida's no snitch, though. He's known Kishibe for as long as he can remember, Kishibe has to have a good reason to cover up such a detail in the reports.
Yoshida continues following the riot of dogs and devils up to the floor of Denji's apartment. Denji walks up to a door and opens it.
"Why'd you leave the door unlocked?" Yoshida asked.
"Well, I figured if anyone wanted in, they could just let themselves in." Denji countered, voice quivering slightly.
"I have a feeling there's another reason."
"Are you going inside or not, dude?" Denji's standing there with the door opened. Yoshida enters the apartment.
It's a clean apartment, considering there are 10 inhabitants. Yoshida takes off his shoes and closes the door behind him. The residents seemed to have already made themselves at home; the kid's washing her hands while Denji reaches up in the top cabinet. The cabinet contains dog food and a blue hand-sized plastic shovel.
"Ey, Nayuta, could you feed the dogs for me?" Denji takes the goods out of the compartment and puts them on the counter next to the girl, whose name is supposedly Nayuta. Nayuta nods and grabs the bag and shovel.
Nayuta really is strong. The bag of dog food is considerably large, around the size of her body, and she's carrying it in one arm with little to no apparent struggle. Of course, although she's strong, she lacks the height to put it on the counter next to the dog bowls, out of the dogs' reach. Yoshida is more than happy to help with that.
Once he's done helping with setting the dog food, Yoshida awkwardly stands next to the dog bowls as the dogs chow down. Denji looks up from his hand washing and seems to notice.
"Make yourself at home, dude. There are movies and comedy shows in the drawers of the TV stand."
Yoshida robotically turns to the TV. Cool, he could watch TV, but what should he watch? The selection was small. Why were almost none of them in japanese?
While browsing through the options, there's one that's completely blank. Just a white cover.
"Hey, there's this blank one." Yoshida inquisites.
"Ah. Yeah, that's a tape I recorded of a compilation of Nayuta's favorite shows." Denji replies, aggressively dicing, almost slashing, onions.
Well, if Nayuta likes it, it should be somewhat entertaining. Yoshida never had the time to watch kid's shows before. This will be a new experience for him.
He picks up the tape and moves it torwards the TV, but nothing was happening. Damn. He actually doesn't know how to operate a VHS. Nayuta notices, takes the tape out of Yoshida's hands, and puts the tape in a little compartment of the contraption.
Was he really that easy to read to this little girl? He doesn't think about it once Nayuta hits play.
At first the screen shows static noise; then the black screen flashes to white. On the screen, there was a book opening by itself, one titled "Blue's Clues". Immediately, once the contents of the book is visible, they see some green sweater wearing dude poking out the window of a crude drawing of a house. The man shouts, "Hi out there! It's me, Steve! Have you seen Blue, my puppy?"
Nayuta immediatly jumps up from her sitting position to point to the screen, "There she is!" Then she excitedly runs to the couch and jumps up it to sit down, her feet kicking back and forth in excitement. Yoshida follows her to the couch, sitting on the opposite end of her.
The camera was positioned for the viewer to be now inside this "Steve" fellow's house.
A couple of Denji's dogs decide to crowd around the couch. Are they also fond of this TV show? There were a couple of stragglers who decided it was far more worth their time to bother Denji in the kitchen, though.
Yoshida hears the hisss of vegetables being placed on the buttery pan in the kitchen, along with the complimentary thump thump thump of Nayuta clumsily climbing off the couch to go and adjust the volume of the television. The entire apartment became loud despite no one opening their mouth. Not even the dogs.
Now the TV depicts the blue dog incredibly excited. The premise of the show seems to be that due to the language barrier between the dog and Steve, Steve has to use clues from the dog to decipher the reason for the dog's emotions.
An interesting concept, Yoshida concedes.
The sound of more sizzling arrives of what he can only assume is more food being cooked. That and the bright colors of the television leaves a new and interesting feeling in Yoshida's chest. It's hard to explain. He's never felt so. . . not alone?
He looks over to Denji, as if the boy was emotionally wise and all-knowing enough to read his mind and tell Yoshida the emotion he's feeling. And although he doesn't catch his attention, Yoshida's completely fine with that just by the sight he sees. Denji looks content here, almost happy. This life-style Denji lives, it feels as though the ridged boy has never once taken a single thing he has for granted. Maybe Yoshida should invite him over to the cafe after school again tomorrow. Denji would be guarenteed to appreciate it no matter how bad it goes, and Yoshida seldom feels appreciated.
He feels another pair of perceptive eyes peering at the back of his head. Shit, he's staring. He animtronically moves himself to face the TV again.
Steve is now opening the door. The way he interacts with the cartoon world while infront of a greenscreen is almost comedic. Now there's a magenta dog, too. Are they best friends with the blue one? By the way the blue and magenta dogs are jumping around at each other's presence, he can only assume yes. Once the dogs are done jumping around, the magenta one pecks the blue one on the cheek.
Nayuta gasped, and scooched to the edge of the couch, covered her mouth, and whispered an excited "girlfriends..."
It was quite the cute sight. When Yoshida first saw the girl, the last thing he imagined the girl to do was to fangirl over two dogs having a play date.
"Looks like you're enjoying yourself." Denji handed Yoshida and Nayuta each a bowl of ramen.
"That was fast." Yoshida was honestly impressed.
"Heh. Thanks. I've made this stuff every day for like a month straight, dude." Denji gave the two seated on the couch a mock bow before lifting his head and retrieving his own bowl. Denji decided to sit on the couch as well, inbetween Nayuta and Yoshida.
"Say, I don't think I saw you put any effort to escape during the aquarium trip. What's up with that?" Yoshida asks.
"I was busy collecting infinite money. I got a good 1,000,000 yen or so from that trip alone, man. And, by the way, it did help us escape. You're welcome." Denji seemed so proud of himself. "My turn to ask a question. Why the hell are you still wearing your school uniform?"
Yoshida looks down. Yep, he's still wearing it. What else can he say but, "I'm a busy man."
Denji wore a face of obvious skepticism. Instead of saying what was on his mind, he, for once, opted to continue eating his meal.
The clatter of chop sticks against containers plays alongside the goofy little fiasco happening on the television. The Steve Fellow walked up to the camera, waved a goodbye, and the ending credits rolled in. About halfway through the end, though, the sceen abruptly flashed white to black.
Denji changed his posture to prepare to get up and turn off the TV, but just as he was about to stand up, the screen flickered to white again.
This time, the screen depicted a CGI model of a helicopter propeller engine. Instead of getting comfortable again with the knowledgy another program was playing, Denji frantically got up and switched the TV off, took the tape out of the VHS compartment, and placed it on top of the TV.
"Shit- that was there for me to watch, not Nayuta," Denji blurted out as he stood there with his bowl still in hand.
The silence was awkward, to the point where Denji is scarfing down his ramen--still standing up, keep in mind--like it's a compitition and quickly moves to place his bowl in the sink.
He clearly has a goal in mind as he speed-walks to another cabinet in the living quarters and takes out some crayons and some pieces of paper. He looks over at Nayuta to find her still eating, so he goes back to the couch and sets the art supplies on the low-leveled table in front of it.
Denji takes a seat on the floor, despite the couch being centimeters behind him. Instead, he bends his arms back and rests them on the cushion where he once sat, his forearms balanced off the edge. He strains his neck to look up at Yoshida upside-down; to the point where the back of his head rested on the front of the coushin alongside his arms.
"So how long ya stayin'?" he asked. His voice was quiet, strained, and breathy, probably as a result of the uncomfortable position of his neck.
Before he had the chance to respond, Nayuta answered for him. "Until bedtime." She says it like some sort of command.
Yoshida looks up at her to protest, only to be stopped from the collision of deja vu. Nayuta was staring at him straight in the eyes. They were uncannily large; her eyes bright yellow, almost designed to bring attention like the neon yellow paint of a target. Actually, her eyes were practically identical to a target; each pupil the bullseye.
The Control Devil.
This would've been cherishable information to know beforehand. He'll have to discuss this with Denji. Maybe during lunch tomorrow.
Spending time with Denji after school is proving to be quite the entertaining predicament. He might actually stay until this proclaimed 'bedtime' out of his own free will. Yoshida replies with a defeated, "Sure. Till bedtime."
Denjo replies with a simple, "Aight."
Nayuta gets up from the couch and sets her plate in the kitchen sink, stacked on top of Denji's. She quickly runs back and sits next to Denji on the ground. This must be a routine for them.
Yoshida doesn't want to be caught slacking, so he continues to munch on his dinner, even if his appetite is ruined by the knowledge of his shared presence with The Control Devil.
He copies Denji and Nayuta's lead to stack the dishes in the sink and also decides to sit on the floor. The paper on the table next to the crayons are surprisingly of high quality.
"So what now?" He's the guest here, but even then he doesn't want to be intruding.
"I like to end the night by reminiscing and appreciating the journey I had through the day and to put my thoughts on paper." Denji stated it as if this was common practice and not overwhelmingly and emotionally wise. "Not to mention, I've got quite the artist on my hands," he adds as he ruffles Nayuta's hair.
When Yoshida answered with nothing but a blank stare, Denji elaborates, "Basically just draw whatever you feel like drawing, dude." And immediately proceeds to snatch an aqua crayon and starts scribbling on his section of paper.
What did Yoshida's day comprise of? Well he looked after Denji most of the school day, as he did almost everday recently. He could draw Denji? He felt his face heat up at the thought of showing Denji, though. He could draw fish. Remembering the putrid smell of rotting fish he experienced for what felt like days, he'll draw something else to prevent himself from regurgitating his recently finished meal.
He feels a firm pat on the shoulder and looked to Denji, who in return, pointed to his drawing. It was a five-pointed polygon drawn in aqua crayon. Yoshida would call it a star, but it was so asymmetrical that it looked more like a banana peel.
He made an educated guess, "Starfish?"
"Yeah! I ate some for the first time today. Kinda gross." Denji stuck his tongue out.
Yoshida looks over to Nayuta's drawing. She has 5 different crayons hoarded to herself. No wonder Denji decided 8pm was a good time to start this 'before bed time' activity. Nayuta was clearly taking her time.
He looked over to the blank of his side. "What should I draw?" Yoshida asked, feeling cornered.
"I dunno man. The whole point of it is to think for yourself." Denji responded almost defensively.
Think for yourself. Huh. Yoshida does that sometimes. Like when he doesn't want to do something he'll decline. He wouldn't consider himself a people pleaser by any means. He knows what he doesn't want to draw, but what does he want to draw? He wants to draw Denji. But he's right there. For some reason Denji sitting next to him is what's stopping him. But then again, Yoshida doesn't by any means consider himself a people pleaser, so he shouldn't care. So what makes Denji being there different?
What does Denji change to make eating with no silverware from slobbish to charming? What was changed to make doing shady trades endearing instead of desparate? Eating off the ground resourceful and not revolting? At this rate, if he kept thinking about it, Yoshida's brain was going to overheat.
"Woah, dude, chill! You don't have to participate if you aren't feeling it." Denji exclaimed with the softest undertone of shock.
Yoshida realized he had forgotten to breathe as his vision became airbrushed with dark red-purple hues due to lack of oxygen. Luckily, Denji's fast reflexes catch him before his face hits the blank part of the page residing on the table. He rests the back of Yoshida's head against a pillow that's laid atop the couch coushin.
"Shit, dude, I didn't know you were anemic!"
Before Denji could get up to get some iron-rich food, Yoshida grasped his shoulder.
"It's fine, I mustn't have gotten proper sleep in the aquarium." He quietly says. He hopes it's true, because he's currently thinking very abnormally; either that or being in such close proximity to the Control Devil is really getting to his head. Yoshida attempts to regain hid compsure. "I'll be heading home for a much needed rest. Thank you for having me over."
He takes his shoes and leaves. He must be high off the scent of rotting fish or something. He's not thinking straight. He'll interrogate Denji about the Control Devil tomorrow.