Archive of Our Own

Today was the day Asa would visit Denji’s house for the first time. Both for her “mission”, and for her own… personal reasons.

It’s Saturday, the day after they decided to have the date. Asa was just done getting dressed, to then grab a plastic bag that she had left on the floor some minutes ago.

The contents of said bag were mostly movie cd’s she had saved from her parents, from before their player broke. She knows Denji’ll probably have something to watch, but you never truly know with the guy.

-”Getting ready, huh? I see you’re having fun with this.”-. Yoru was teasing her from the back of her mind, looking at her with a cheeky smile.
-”Shut up, will you?”-. She looked a little red and angry, as she started to head towards the door.

-”Just don’t annoy me tonight. Please? I can get your mission done if you don’t scream at my ear all night.”-. She doesn’t want to. She really does not. But, at least she can try to appease the devil within her a little.

-”Whatever, girl. Just go already.”-. Asa looked at her with a smile, and went on to get out of home and directly go towards Denji’s apartment complex.

The boy had awoken at like, 7 AM. Completely nervous, and wanting to die, if only a little. He showered and prepared breakfast for himself and Nayuta, as the little girl provided the animals with their food.

-”Hey, Nayu…”-. He told his little sister, as they both sat on the table to eat their food. She only responded with a little hum. -”Tonight, a girl’s coming. We’ll be watchin’ some movies n’ all that, so I wanted you to know.”-. He had told her about his last date, with devil attack and everything. He just wasn’t sure if she even remembered.

-”She’s a nice girl. Don’t think she’ll bring any problems.”-. He calmly ate his food, which a year ago would’ve been a travesty. -”I’m not telling you to lock yourself in the room or anythin’ like that, just… don’t scare her. Please.”-. The girl’s eyes glared at him, and he knew that glare would freak out any normal person, at least to some extent.

Not him, obviously no. He knew those eyes well, after all. -”You know I love ya, and I’m sure she’ll love ya too. Just try to be nice, yeah? Do it for me.”-. He sounded soothing, and a little guilty. He didn’t like talking to her like this, but at the same time felt he’d need to. She nodded, slightly.

-”For Denden!”-. She raised her fork to the air as she spoke with her mouth full. Denji smiled at her, with warm eyes and genuine happiness. -”Don’t talk with ya mouth full.”-. He ruffled her hair a little with his free hand, as she quickly closed her lips and tasted the food.

Denji spent the rest of the day cleaning the house, and telling the dogs not to fuck anything up. Multiple times. He even showered a second time, just to be sure.

Finally, the sun was starting to set, and it was time.

Asa stood infront of the door for some seconds, recollecting her thoughts.
“What am I even doing here? The guy doesn’t like me, why should I–”
She knew that wouldn’t stop her, as her heart was quickly beating and her face was getting redder. Finally, as she calmed down a little, she decided to finally knock on the door.

30 Seconds or so happened, and she heard something from inside as she started to get annoyed. -”Sorry! Sorry! Comin’!”-. That unmistakable voice, that couldn’t belong to anyone else but a dumbass.

-”A dumbass you love, or am I wrong?”-. Yoru was right behind her, and she didn’t want to even face the demon. “Shut up.” she responded, within her mind.

The door finally opened. The man behind it was slightly smiling at her. -”Heya. Come in, no need to stand there.”-. As he talked, she could feel a sense of warmth coming from his smile. God, her brain is spinning.

-”Thanks...”-. She looked away from him as she spoke, to then take two or three steps inside the place. -”This… this looks nice.”-. The apartment was squeaky clean, and she could even see her reflection on the floor. Not a soul in their school would’ve taken Denji as the clean type, that’s for sure.

-”Glad you like it. Here, take a seat.”-. He guided her to the couch, which was placed in front of a table and a big CRT TV. Asa slowly sat on the side of the couch, as she noticed a little presence near it.

-”Oh– Hello.”-. It was a little girl, who she supposed to be Denji’s little sister. The little girl looked at her a bit weird, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t at least a little cute.

-”That's Nayu. C’mon Nayu, say hello.”-. Denji looked at the little girl, as he sat on the side opposite to Asa’s.

-”Hi.”-. The little girl hadn’t taken her eyes away from Asa’s, and she sounded rather timid, something Asa could relate to. -”Hi! My name is Asa–”-. Asa responded lightly, trying to come off as anything that would be good around children. As she spoke, though, she noticed– Crayon marks? around Nayuta’s mouth. She decided not to mention it, though.

As Nayuta ran off to the other side of the room, Asa noticed Yoru looking at her… weirdly. “Something wrong?”. Asa spoke to her, within her mind. -”Don’t mind me.”-. Yoru looked puzzled at the child, but Asa decided not to give it any more thought.

-”So– I couldn’t get any mummy movies, but we do have a bunch. What do ya like?”-. Denji approached a box that was right beside their TV, shuffling through the movies. He hadn’t even noticed she brought her own, but she didn’t mind it too much.

-”Anything that isn’t too weird or scary, I guess.”-. Actually, yeah, what movies DID she like? She never was one to go watch them willingly, and never minded any one too much.

-”I have this one. Pretty sure it’s just some fun comedy or somethin’-- It should work.”-. As Denji took a cd box out of the bunch, Asa could notice that there was something written, right under where the title was. It had the kanjis for the word “Power” written… haphazardly, let’s say. She also decided not to mind it too much.

-”If you say so. I brought my own in case yours sucked, though.”- She took her plastic bag and raised it to Denji, it clearly having like 3 to 5 other movies inside.

-”Hey, my movies don’t suck!”-. He told her as he was putting the disc inside the player, and walking back to sit on the couch. -”Let’s see then.”-. She told him with a little smirk on her face.

The movie was somewhat comedic, about some highschoolers, probably around their age. just being normal students. None of them paid it too much attention, as they spoke over it with each other, be it talking about the movie or their lives.

It wasn’t boring, though. At one point, one of the characters was shown having… bullying problems, basically, and it was affecting a lot of the character’s, well, character. Asa looked at the screen, focusing on it.

It reminded her a shit ton about Yuko. How the kid in the movie was taking their situation, and how they were living through it, it screamed Yuko to her, and a lot of moments and images started popping inside her mind, making her fall silent for a while. Denji looked at her every minute or so, and so he ended up noticing her displeasement, a little worried.

-”Somethin’ wrong? We can change it if ya want–”-. He sounded somewhat caring, and his voice turned her out of her trance. -”Oh– It’s nothing, don’t worry. We can keep going–”-. Her voice sounded a little nervous, and Denji glanced at her for a second, making her a little pink on the cheeks.

-”You sure? You seemed annoyed, or somethin’ like that. I don’t want you uncomfy or anything.”-. God, why does he care so much?, she thought. She told herself not to go too over the top, not to overshare or anything– But the words started to fly out of her mouth, like flies.

-”It’s just– I had a… friend, like that. She was really nice and all, and she was also… bullied, like, a lot.”-. She is so bad at talking, fuck. She knows there’s a million ways to word this, or even better, ways to avoid wording it altogether. But at this point, she couldn’t really stop.

-”She was a Chainsaw Man fan too, like you.”-. That took Denji aback, only a little, something she decided to ignore. -”But, one day– She kind of… crossed the line, I guess? It’s hard to explain–”-. Yoru had taken notice of their little conversation, and was looking directly at Asa’s eyes, making her even more nervous.

-”What happened? She sounds pretty cool to me.”-. Of course she did. She was. -”She… wanted to get rid of her bullies.”-. Denji’s eyes widened a bit, as he was probably trying to tie together what that even meant.

-”She– made a contract. With a devil.”-. She could notice how Denji’s eyes widened even more, his jaw almost dropping a little. -”She told me it was for justice, or something like that. Something like, “This is what Chainsaw Man would do”. The thing had blinded her completely, I guess.”-. Asa looked to the side, as the movie continued going, but not one of them paid attention to it.

-”Did she–”-. She knows Denji is bad at speaking in matters like this too, but she can’t blame him. -”Yeah. Remember the devil attack at our school? That– That was her.”-. Tears started to form on Asa’s eyes a little, as Denji looked at her a little bewildered.

-”I shouldn’t tell you all of that, but I hope you don’t–”-. You don’t spread the word, she thought, as the image of fiend Yuko showing up at her doorstep appeard on her mind. Why the hell am I telling him this?! Am I that stupid!?. She already wants to leave, fuck.

Denji put his hand on her cheek, swiping away her tears with his thumb. -”Hey, don’t get all sad now. You ain’t the only one.”-. What?. What could he mean? He looks a little more… down? She can’t really tell the emotions that are coming from his voice and eyes, aside from them being… soothing, somewhat.

-”What do you mean?”-. She couldn’t bring herself to take his hand away from her face, even if she wanted to.

-”A pal of mine, lived with him for a year or so. One day, he left the house for a few hours…”-. He looked away, like what he said was wrong, like he shouldn’t.

-”He… he came back. With a big ass gun on his forehead, and a rifle on his arm. Don’t know what happened, but the Gun Devil possessed him.”-. He still was looking away from her. Like he couldn’t bring himself to look at her as he spoke, Asa supposing it to be out of shame.

-”Wait– You mean–”-. Then, it clicked. She remembers hearing about the Gun Devil’s attack near her house, some months back, and how the Chainsaw Man had defeated it. -”Chainsaw Man–”-. She couldn’t finish the sentence, as he himself did.

-”Killed him, yes.”-. Denji looked at her directly again, tears forming in his eyes too. They both were crying, like little babies. -”Guess you can’t blame the guy. Ak– He was doing a shit ton of damage.”-. Asa looked at the ground, the memories of that day and the night afterwards still creeping her mind. Why did she have to bring it up? Now the guy’s depressed too, fuck.

-”What I’m tryna say is– You don’t need to feel down and sad about it. I know how it feels, believe me.”-. She easily could, his eyes always looked too damn empty, and those bags under them still annoyed her. -”Shit happens, we can’t do much about it.”-. Liar. She could’ve stopped Yuko, she could’ve done something– Of course he doesn’t know, though.. -”What you have to do is keep goin’. It’s been shitty for me, but I’m not stopping. For Aki’s sake, I won’t.”-.

He gasped a little as he noticed dropping the guy’s name, like it was a big deal. But… his words do resonate in her head. She thinks, where’s Yuko now? Probably dead. Certainly dead. But, what could she do anout it now? She’ll have to keep going, like Denji said. That’s what she’d wanted.

They fell silent for a little while, until Asa’s stomach started to make sounds. -”Huh. Wanna order something?”-. Denji looked at her, like he hadn’t just given her some of the best and most obvious advice of her entire life.

-”Yeah. That’d be nice.”-. She wiped the remaining tears from her face, as Denji got up and went to his telephone. -”Does pizza sound good to ya?”-. He said, already marking the numbers. -”Sounds great.”-. She said, with a little smile on her face.

They spent the rest of the night talking, like nothing happened. They just, kind of, took the cd from the player, and ignored the whole movie night part of the date.

Asa felt great, really great. Denji may be weird, and a scammer, and annoying, and a little of an asshole, but he’s sweet. He’s nice, and cool, and a good dude. She can’t bring herself to betray him, especially not after knowing of his experience with devils. She won’t.

Finally, the doorbell rang. She didn’t notice they had one when she came, so it took her specially off guard.

-”That must be the food. I’ll go take it.”--. As Denji took the money, and went to the door, she looked at him fondly, with a soft smile.

-”Don’t get THAT attached, god. I’m gonna puke.”-. There’s the bastard. Yoru was glaring at her, from some feet away. She ignores her, though.

As Denji opens the door, he’s taken aback. Asa wouldn’t notice, as the door and the couch are well apart, but he almost screams.

-”Hello, Denji.”-. That fucking asshole, Yoshida. How the fuck?, he thinks. Denji gives him the money right away, looking at his eyes. Big, dark eyes.

-”What the hell are you doing here?”-. He’s more annoyed than surprised, really. Just can’t believe Yoshida would go out of his way to stalk him like this.

-”Making sure you don’t slip up, Chainsaw Man. I heard you talk about Haya–”-. HOW!?. Whatever, he’ll ask another day. Now, he’s just pissed.

-”And what if I did, huh? I specified how the Chainsaw and I are different people n’ everything.”-. He’s mad. He’s been somewhat accustomed to Yoshida’s bullshit already, but this was crossing the line. No one tells him how or when to talk about them. No one.

-”...Sorry.”-. Yoshida finally drops his creepy smile, and looks actually somewhat guilty. Denji can’t believe it. -”It’s my job. I understand, don’t worry. I won’t say anything about this to Kishibe.”-. That, was a Yoshida slip. Denji didn’t know the old man had anything to do with this. He’ll talk to him later.

-”That alcoholic bastard…”-. He can’t bring himself to hate Kishibe, but his experience with alcoholic old men wasn’t good already. He’s annoyed, but it’s not hatred. At least, not yet.

He tells Yoshida goodbye, as he can’t bring himself to hate him right now. Now, he knows this is Kishibe’s fault, and Yoshida also just delivered him pizza. That’s cool. He goes back to Asa, who was left waiting a bit too long.

-”What happened?”-. She asked, a little distraught. Guess he did spend too long talking to the octopus guy. -”Just a weird delivery guy. Don’t mind it.”-. He sets the pizza on the table, and they eat.

He even calls Nayuta to come and gives her a fourth of pizza, as she eats a lot. Probably took it from him. Asa doesn’t care though, which is great.

Eventually, it’s already too late. Like, 12 AM late. Asa notices as she looks at the clock, some hours after eating and just watching random movies with Denji.

-”I think I should get going, it’s late.”-. She says, as they rest on each other, sitting on the couch. -”Damn, guess you’re right.”-. Denji sounds… disappointed? No, more sad or something. It warms her heart a little, like he wants her to stay.

-”Well– I’ll go open the door for ya."-. He stands up, directly going to the door. -”Thanks.”-, Says Asa, as she follows him.

The door’s wide open, and the night sky looks beautiful. Full to the brim with stars and the like, of which Asa doesn’t really see much around her side of the city.

-”...Denji?”-. She calls for him, as he had lost himself looking at the city. -”I– wanted to tell you– It was great. I thought it could go badly, but–”-. Her cheeks are crimson, and her heart is rapidly beating. -”It was great. I– I look forward to spending more time with you.”-. God, she said it. It’s like she’s going to start puking out all her organs, one for one. But, it also feels nice, like a weight off her shoulders.

-”Next time, your place. I can cook something for us to eat, that’d be less expensive than pizza.”-. He looks at her eyes, with his own amber colored ones. Only now she realizes how pretty they look, even under the dark sky.

Without even thinking, she approaches him further, feeling the warmth of his own body emanating onto her. She can even hear his heartbeat, if only a little, and how it’s raising. Just like hers.

Her own body moves by itself, but it isn’t Yoru. She doesn’t understand how, or why, but her lips press against his. He bows down a little, as he is taller than her, by two or three inches.

He grabs her by the arms softly, to then wrap his arms around her body. Why is he so natural about this?, she thinks, completely impressed. The heat in her face is almost as hot as the sun, but she doesn’t want to pull away. She wants to stay like this, forever.

Eventually, the kiss fades away, both of them red like tomatoes.
–”Th–that was… my–”-. She can’t bring herself to complete the sentence, just because of how nervous and excited and full of love and— she is.

-”First kiss? Yeah, it was my first normal one too.”-. Normal? She looks at him, a little confused. -”A chick vomited on my mouth once. Didn’t taste great, I’ll tell ya.”-. Yeah, yeah. That sounded like a Denji anecdote. God, his life is weird. But then again, who is she to say anything?

-”Hey, take care. I’ll see ya at school.”-. He looked at her, with warmth and confidence in his eyes. She hadn’t really seen that much on them, as they were mostly tired. -”Yeah, you too.”-. She looked at him, full of joy, as she started to leave the place.

By the time she was going down the stairs, and the door had already closed, she could faintly hear a “FUCK YEAH!” coming from the apartment. She didn’t mind it, though, as she found it more funny and… cute, than anything.

-”God, you’re disgusting.”-. Yoru reappeared, because obviously she did, and now she’s looking at her with heavy, judgemental eyes. –”Leave me alone. We’re closer now, right? You can turn him into a sword or whatever later.”-. She really fucking hopes she doesn’t.