Chapter Text
"I'll help you." Denji looked over at Yoshida in his seat, raising an eyebrow.
"Huh?" he said. "Help..?"
"I'll help you in getting Asa to be your girlfriend," Yoshida responded, resting his head in his hand. "You like her, right?"
There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
"Why would you wanna help me?" Denji muttered.
Yoshida was annoying. Plain and simple. Every day at school, he clung to Denji like a lost dog trying to find its owner. Talking to Asa? Yoshida was right behind him. Going to class? They coincidentally both had the same schedule. Denji hated it. Why- no, how- was a dude even earning this much attention from him? Did he have no other friends?
Denji thought for a second. He didn't really have any other friends, either. He had no room to judge.
"Why not?" Yoshida spoke. "You want a girlfriend, don't you?"
"Hell yeah I do!" Denji barked.
"And you like that Asa Mitaka girl, right?"
"Without a doubt!"
"I can help, then," Yoshida said, leaning towards him. "As long as you stay silent about the fact you're Chainsaw Man, I'll help you ask her out. You date Asa, nobody's identity is exposed in the process. We both win, right?"
Denji ripped his gaze away from him, opting to stare at the floor. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. Putting up with this guy would be exasperating, but it would only be for a short amount of time. He looked up at the clock. It was lunchtime; a seamless time to speak to Asa.
"Alright, fine," he said, shooting up from his seat. "But don't try anything funny."
Yoshida smirked. "Of course."
The entire thing was a complete fail. For the past three days, the two boys had used several tactics to try to gain Asa's attention. On the first day, Denji invited her out on a date. She agreed, but the date got ruined several minutes in due to the fact they got trapped inside. On the second day, he asked her about her type, to which she responded, "Not you." By the third day, Asa was completely avoiding the both of them and seemed to be distracted by other things.
"I don't think this is working," Denji admitted bluntly, approaching Yoshida in the hallway. "Hey, dude, you said you'd be good at this. Why ain't she head over heels for me yet? Matter-of-fact, I should be charging you for this!"
"Easy now," the purple haired boy answered. "I never said my services were going to always work, just that I'd provide them."
Provide, my ass. This guy's no help at all.
He scanned his surroundings. There were a ton of cute girls in Fourth East High School. He was sure that at least one of them would offer to be his girlfriend, but for some reason, he wasn't interested in any of them in the slightest. That left an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
"Feeling stuck?" Yoshida broke the silence, his dark eyes piercing right into Denji. "I have another idea, but it might not work."
"Screw off," the blonde haired boy growled, frowning slightly. "I don't know why I agreed to work with you. And stop stalking me. It's weird."
Before he could hear Yoshida's response, he stormed off, grumbling to himself. He didn't need anyone's help. He was just going to use his last resort; telling Asa he was Chainsaw Man. He was fully confident it was foolproof and she would be all over him. He couldn't just rush into it, though, definitely not. He needed the perfect time, the perfect atmosphere to heighten his chances. And that day was going to be tomorrow, Friday, during lunchtime.
"Stupid Yoshida," Denji whispered under his breath. "I, Chainsaw Man, have tons of fans. The ladies would be all over me if I told everyone. He just doesn't get it."
Friday morning had arrived. It was six a.m., to be exact. It was an ordinary day. The sun was rising, the birds were singing, the morning news was playing quietly on the television.
Denji had woken up earlier than usual to prepare for the special occasion. If he was going to break the ice and let Asa know he was Chainsaw Man, he'd have to look extra respectable. He checked in on Nayuta, who was still asleep and snoring peacefully, then headed for the bathroom.
He yawned, his eyes bleary and his body heavy. He grasped his toothbrush, squeezing a small amount of toothpaste onto the bristles.
The minute his eyes flickered up, and he looked at himself from the reflecting glass of the mirror, he froze. The toothbrush clattered onto the ground, leaving toothpaste scattered all across the floor with some of it dripping from Denji’s mouth.
Was he seeing things? Was he dreaming? He must’ve been.
He rubbed his eyes once, twice, then slowly opened one eye, then the other, just to meet the same reflection. This wasn’t a hallucination, nor a dream. This was reality.
“Holy shit…” Denji murmured to himself, squeezing his chest for confirmation. “I’ve got a chick’s body.”
His hair was slightly lengthier, the blonde strands resting just above his shoulders. His jawline was softer, his eyelashes prettier than usual. His body was smaller, yet still strong, with a pair of boobs to accompany it.
A few minutes had gone by as Denji stood there silently, bewildered by his own appearance. How did he turn into a woman overnight? He blinked slowly a few times, finally wiping the dry toothpaste from his lips.
Okay, calm down, Denji thought. Surely this isn’t actually happening…right?
He gulped, swallowing the lump in his throat as his shaky hands tugged back his pants. He looked down, and screamed.
Within seconds, Nayuta came hurling through the door, almost breaking it down.
"Denji, is everything oka-"
She paused, looking Denji up and down, then up and down again, over and over.
"Who are you?" she said fiercely. "And what'd you do to Denji? Where is he?"
"I...I am Denji," he responded. "Okay, I know I don't look like me, but it's me, I swear. I just... I don't know what's going on, either."
Silence filled the air for a few seconds before Nayuta's suspicious face relaxed and she sighed.
"Are you seriously gonna go to school looking like that?"
"What if it doesn't return to normal, Nayuta?" he cried out. "I was supposed to ask Asa out today! I was gonna tell her my big secret! I'm not even Chainsaw Man anymore, I'm Chainsaw Woman!"
Nayuta didn't have much of a reaction to the situation, but Denji was completely freaked out. Part of him still felt like this was some prank or dream, but the burning pinch marks left on his skin brought him back to reality. He didn't have a plan on how to turn back to his normal self; all he knew was that he had to hide until it went away. Surely it would, right?
One day turned into two days. Two into three. Three days had passed since Denji locked himself in his room and each time he would still wake up as a girl. No changes at all. He was beginning to grow more timid than ever. Timid and desperate.
As he looked up at the ceiling in total defeat, he heard a faint noise.
Ding dong.
"Who would be at the door at this time?" Nayuta shouted through the hallway.
"I can't answer it looking like this," Denji said, peeking his head out of his room. "Who is it?"
Nayuta strolled over to the entrance of the house, peeking through the window. "It's... some random girl. Denji, are you inviting weird girls over again? I told you, I don't trust any of them."
A weird girl? Denji didn't know any weird girls, unless you counted Asa or Fumiko or Fami. Okay, he knew a lot of weird girls, but which one?
He ordered Nayuta to go back to her room, then twisted the doorknob and braced himself for whoever was at the door. He'd have one hell of a time explaining that the universe turned him female overnight.
As the door cracked open, a small gust of wind hit his face, and what stood before him was indeed a strange girl. A bit taller than him, with long, purple hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were dark and eerie, almost like Yoshida's.
Wait.
....Yoshida?
He examined her face. She had a mole exactly where Yoshida's was.
"Hey, Denji," she said nonchalantly. "It seems we've both turned into girls. Isn't that funny?"