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This is definitely something I didn’t expect, Angel thought, taking another bite of his takoyaki. His Public Safety buddy squatted behind the trash can, with hood over his head - probably to conceal his identity - and kept observing the arcade on the other side of the street. Angel, who simply was happy because not only did he got to skip work, he also got a bag of snacks from the nearest conbini out of it, considered it stupid. Sure, his face was covered but how many people paraded around with a devil that had a halo and a big pair of wings on the back? He didn’t dare to comment on it, though. For once found the existence of Chainsaw not a bother. And all because he apparently went on a date.
“You won’t be able to stalk him from here,” Angel said, finishing his snack. He didn’t bother to hide his presence, proudly standing next to the trash box and dropping various pieces of paper around it. Another one fell to its fellow comrades as Angel pulled another thing to nibble on. “Even I can’t tell what they’re talking about.”
“Shut up,” Human forced his words through gritted teeth. Angel ignored it, biting his crunchy umaibo stick instead. “It’s not stalking.”
“And what is it?”
“Reconnaissance mission.”
Angel stared down at Aki, not saying a word. His face apparently still managed to send a point across.
“Denji got a date. With a girl. What does it sound like?”
“Like a lie he tells himself is gonna happen one day,” Angel said without thinking, chewing slowly. “Why?”
“And the fact that it’s happening?” Aki pointed at the arcade centre, his face looked like one of a mad man. “And said girl went there willingly? Worse, she may actually like Denji.”
Angel furrowed, stopping chewing in genuine surprise at the idea. “No way. That’s bullshit.”
“See!” Aki exclaimed, for once agreeing on something with the devil. He didn’t realize it himself, too focused on the task at hand. “That’s why I need to know what really happens.”
“That doesn’t change the fact you won’t see a thing from here.”
“I can’t go there!”
“Why?”
“Well,” Aki pulled his eyes away from the window where he could barely see the silhouettes of Denji and the other girl, “if I go there alone - they might take me for a creep and throw me out. Besides,” he squinted his eyes, glaring at the devil next to him, “I’m obliged to keep an eye on you.”
“Just go there with me,” Angel suggested with a shrug. “I’ll be sitting in the corner, eating, and you’ll keep stalking Chainsaw.”
“It’s not stalking, Angel. Besides,” Aki looked up and down his buddy. The wings were so big people had to walk around them, “you know.”
“If it’s the suit - I can change.”
“Huh?”
“I guess it pulls attention.” Angel studied his tie closer, currently decorated with many different types of crumbs. “Humans see this and know Public Safety came.”
“That’s…not what I meant…”
“Hey, we can put on school uniforms. They’ll take us for highschoolers skipping classes. Well, they’ll take me because I’m short. You, on the other hand…maybe a college student?”
“Why are you weirdly cooperative?” Aki asked, suspicious. He was a self proclaimed Devil Hater number one but he also was forced to live with two (which only fuelled his hatred even more. There was never this much cleaning when he was alone!) and learned a thing or two. And one was that: there’s never any sort of cooperation without a bribe. “Usually it’s harder than pulling a tooth out.”
“Well, if the rumor is true and she likes him - a miracle, I know - then I want to know what we’re dealing with. I can only stand so much of Blood Fiend and Chainsaw in one week. If the number grows up, I’m asking Makima to change divisions.”
“You would know about miracles.”
“Which is why I’m willing to cooperate.”
Anything to avoid working
“I can wear a female uniform by the way. Just make sure the skirt is at least knee-length long.”
“You would wear—That’s not the issue! What about the wings?!”
“Oh…” Angel looked back, as if he only now remembered that he, in fact, had a pair of wings attached there. “That’s gonna be a problem.”
“You won’t say?” Aki said in the most deadpan voice.
“NO WAy! She said that?!”
“I knoow, riiight?!”
A pair of girls walked past them talking loudly and excitedly - like all girls at a certain age do. The matching uniforms suggested the same school but that wasn’t what had caught their attention.
“Gurl, you’ve seen that chick there?”
“Yaas! I can’t believe it. How did she afford such a pricey backpack?!”
“Her boyfriend had to buy it! There’s, like, no other way!”
On their backs were school bags but they didn’t look like something Aki remembered from his time at the said facility. One girl had it shaped like an oversized cat, with big eyes and a grin where the zipper was. Distantly, Aki thought Power would definitely like it. The second one had a blue bag with wings attached on both sides of it. They weren’t as big as the ones Angel had but they surely were taking space. And, if their conversation was anything to go by, Angel looked like he was also currently wearing one.
“I guess that answers one thing.”
All in all, Aki was forced to spend more money on clothes that would help them pass. He had his hoodie on, covering as much of his face as possible in case Denji would look his way. Black trousers from the suit were replaced by more simple jeans. Aki knew he hated them the moment he saw them - they had a chain attached that he couldn’t get rid off. That stupid thing is gonna jingle with his every step. And did it need that skull? He truly was hoping no one would recognize him. Angel left his shirt on but, despite Aki saying there was no need, he still forced his buddy to pay for a skirt.
“Humans always assume I’m female. Chainsaw knows I'm a guy - he won’t suspect a thing this way.”
“He saw you.”
“I’ll just do this.” Angel pulled his hair up, making a messy ponytail on top of his head. His face was still covered by a few bangs, making it hard to recognize from a distance. “Just give me your hair tie.”
In the end, Aki sacrificed his dignity and hair tie - only to see what Denji did this time. He avoided looking into any mirror-like surface, scared of what he could see there. He could deny that he looked like a creep only as long as he didn’t see his reflection. And because Future wouldn’t show up that way to laugh at his misery…more than usual. His only hope was that no one he knew would see him now. There was no explanation for why he would be seen with a high school girl and the ones that existed…he didn’t like a single one of them.
Angel pushed what little snacks remained into the backpack Aki had bought, marching into the arcade with energy you would hardly see on him on a regular day. It was eerie how well adjusted he looked in the place - just another tomboy school girl that ran away from PE or math class. The halo that was supposed to eternally float above his head and shine got shrinked. It still was bright enough to be visible but the circle was definitely smaller.
“Dude?”
“Yeah, dude?”
“I think it got me, dude.”
“Whoa, whoa. What got you, dude?”
“Love, dude!”
“Dude…love?”
“That chick over there. You see her, dude?”
“Duh, I’m not blind, dude.”
“It’s her - I know it, dude.”
“Dude…”
“Her presence brightens up this room, dude.”
“Dude! You got it bad!”
“I know dude!”
At least we know the disguise is working…Aki thought, ignoring the apparent crush some poor guy got from seeing Angel. Best to avoid that corner. Angel, unaware of what he caused or simply too focused on the various bright lights around, walked to the closest machine. “I never used one. How do you do it?”
“You buy a coupon and insert it there. Then you can play. Or you push a coin in, depends on the model.”
“Hmm.” Angel tilted his head in curiosity, normally reserved only for new flavors of his favorite snacks. Pixelated space ships kept moving in idle animation on the screen, awaiting a poor soul ready to blow up their money. Angel looked, without luck, through his pockets for some spare coins. “Human, do you have—”
Angel never got to finish his sentence. Aki pushed their bodies between two machines as a mop of familiar blonde hair showed up. Next to him was a quite tall, pretty girl with dark hair pulled up into a bun - much less sloppy than whatever Angel would ever do.
“Be quiet!” Aki whisper-yelled at Angel, observing through the space between machines what his idiot of a roommate was doing. Angel didn’t spare him a word, deciding for a long stare in its place. He still wiggled for more room - there was always a possibility of draining this stupid human’s life by accident. The last thing Angel would like to do was to fill up paper after paper about the incident. He had enough work with the human already - he didn’t need more!
“Hey, look here!” Denji ran up to one of the machines, pointing at it with excitement that wouldn’t look bad on a ten year old but on him was overly childish. “Don’t you think they look stupid?”
The girl chuckled, covering her mouth as she did so. “A little. I think they’re supposed to look dumb.”
“I’ve seen dumb yakuza members,” Denji declared, pointing at the painting of a stereotypical looking man with tattoos and some gun. “They look nuthin’ like this. This is just stupid cariercature!”
“The what now?” Angel asked, too stupified to understand. Aki, on the other hand, has recently become fluent in moron.
“Caricature. He means caricature.”
To make it more horrifying than it already was, the girl was genuinely laughing - probably thinking it was some joke.
Wow, she must really like him, Aki thought. No one he knew would find such an obvious mispronunciation funny. Power wouldn’t even notice it! Or she’d said something even more jumbled up.
“Say, Denji,” the girl came closer, laying hand on Denji’s shoulder. Both Aki and Angel gasped in surprise, “wanna battle? Let’s see who will take down more of them.”
“Alright!” Denji raised his other arm in the air. “If I win, I’ll take ya out for lunch!”
“Okay,” the girl agreed with a smile. With each passing second Aki’s world just kept falling apart further. “But - if I win - we’ll go play some other game!”
“You betcha!”
“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?” Angel asked absentmindedly but no one answered him. “Hello? Human?” Aki just kept staring at Denji - the same Denji who would pour seven different jams on toast and asked him to eat apple rinds - actually scoring a girl…that looked and acted fairly normal(for now). Seeing the lack of response, Angel tried to use the occasion to sneak out and maybe hide in the back in one of those little boxes with computers inside - to nap and maybe watch some movies he wasn’t allowed to in his cell. Before he could take his third step in that direction a hand caught his wrist.
“You can’t leave my side. Makima’s orders.”
All Angel could do was sigh at his misery, pulling strawberry ricecake out of his new backpack to soothe his mood. If he had to suffer watching Chainsaw boy on a date then at least he could do it while eating sweets. The human at his side wasn’t opposed to that. “You waste your remaining years in the weirdest way…”
Denji was confident he could do well in agility related stuff. He had to be very agile as a Devil Hunter. What he didn’t take into account was that the agility in battle and skill based game were two different things. While his score wasn’t awful, Reze won tremendously. He could have problems reading but he knew numbers and was good at counting. A single look told him she had almost thrice more points than him.
“It’s your win…” Denji admitted, a little disappointed. He did find a nice place to take a girl out and hoped to do so today. “So? What do you wanna do next?”
Reze smiled, putting one strand of hair behind the ear. Despite it technically no longer being his, Denji’s heart skipped a beat. It always did whenever he was with Reze. Blind to what was going through his head, she reached out to take his hand and pull him with her. It was such a simple gesture, yet Denji felt like his entire world kept spinning. Like when Power kicked him inside Laundry Devil’s mouth except this time…this time it felt like a pleasure. Reze’s hand was smaller than his. It was also softer than Power’s but not as soft as Makima’s. She also had some bumps on her fingers, similar to the ones he sometimes would notice on some yakuza members…nah, that was stupid. They were playing that game for so long his brain kept spinning around the yakuza.
“Denji, look!” Finally, Reze stopped in front of mats with glowing arrows. Next to them were also big screens with a menu similar to the one Denji saw once in karaoke. “I always wanted to try one of these!” Reze let go of his hand, walking quickly to the closer mat and caressing the screen. “People around kept saying how fun this is but I never got a chance to try.”
“Never?”
“I had strict rules to follow.” She shrugged her shoulders with a sheepish smile. “Music wasn’t allowed.”
“Well, I never had time or money to buy a CD or try one o’ these. I once found a walkman with a cassette inside though.” Denji jumped on the other, squinting his eyes as he tried to read the kanji. “What do you do here?”
For some time, Reze kept looking at him but he couldn’t quite understand what was the meaning behind her gaze. All he could tell was that he felt lost - like when they had sneaked into school and she said him not going to school wasn’t normal. “You chose a song and dance. The screen will show you symbols and you have to step on them in the mat.”
“Oh! So this is DDR!” With a new found enthusiasm, Denji stared at the blinking neon arrows. His skin changing colors between blue, pink and green. “Sick! I’ve never seen one so close!”
“Yeah…” After some time, Reze pulled her gaze away. She didn’t expect to have someone else as excited to experience the simple joys of the world as she was. She always knew she was missing out on the things kids her age were supposed to enjoy. It was different to meet someone who was in a similar situation but was too innocent to realize it. Maybe she can try to stretch it all as much as possible. “Denji, we have a problem.”
“Huh?!”
“I don’t know any of these songs. How about you?”
Once again, Denji looked at the screen. Nope. He still couldn’t read most of the kanji. “Same here. Should we…just choose something randomly?”
“Is that the only option?”
Denji shrugged, not knowing what he was supposed to do here. He should have asked Miss Makima for some recommendations!...except it felt wrong to do so, now that he thought about it. At least in relation to Reze it felt wrong. Like he was two-timing. “We can also read the titles and pick the one that sounds the most like balls.”
Hearing that, Reze laughed as if Denji told the funniest joke in the last twenty minutes. Denji didn’t understand that but he wasn’t going to argue with a happy girl.
“Y-Yeah. We can try that!”
“What the fuck?!”
Denji turned back to see who yelled so loudly and why. It turned out it was just some homeless looking guy. Denji didn’t have a chance to take a closer look, because the bastard was currently being dragged away by his girlfriend in high school uniform…did she have some weird glow in the dark hairclip? He could swear he could see a glow above her ponytail.
“Calm down or you’ll make a show!” A high school girl chastised her boyfriend in a monotone voice. “Remember, it was your idea to do this.”
“Uwah~ Someone doesn’t have a good time on a date,” Denji declared, turning his back on the arguing couple. Poor girl. It’s not her fault that that dude was an asshole. “You can go first, Reze!”
“Are you sure?”
“Mm!”
“Okay!”
“Over two thousand years on Earth and this is how humans think a stalking mission looks?”
“It’s not stalking!”
“Whatever,” Angel let go of Aki’s jacket. “I can’t believe you're a technically superior species…”
Aki rolled his eyes, turning his back at the devil that saved him from being found. He’ll buy him those icecream later as thankyou, but now he had to understand what was going on. Why would a girl think Denji, of all people, would be worth going on a date with. He wasn’t ugly, sure, but the moment he opened his mouth all charm should disappear. How much can one listen about food and boobs?! Especially above the age twelve, especially a female.
“Human?”
“What?!”
“We’re leaving.”
“Huh?!”
“I ran out of snacks.”
“Oh for—, just buy some in the vending machine!”
Angel blinked once, then twice, waiting for when it will click for the human. Apparently, he could be so one tracked that he had no place in his brain to spare a thought that it was impossible. “With what? You don’t pay me.”
“Stop sulking. Will you die if you won’t eat for a few hours?!”
Angel entertained the idea for a moment. “I wish…”
Aki mumbled something under his breath and then pushed something in Angel direction. “Take it! I don’t want to hear any more complaining.”
Angel without a word took the gum and popped it into his mouth. He quickly discovered he didn’t like it - chewing it required too much energy. Aki, on the other hand, focussed on Denji and the mysterious girl jumping and laughing. They both were terrible at this. He could laugh at how bad it looked. Maybe he should later ask the place owner for the security footage so he could later show all his friends (and Power) just how bad it was. They all would die from laughter seeing this. The worst part of it all was the fact that, if you forgot about the cord that would sometimes poke through the shirt, the two looked just like a pair of weird, awkward teenagers.
“Hey, Angel?”
“Hmm? What’s it, Human?” Angel asked, right before making his first attempt at making a gum balloon.
“Do you think…that girl,” Aki pointed at the dancing and laughing girl who kept asking Denji to keep up with her, “might like Denji?”
The balloon popped loudly all over Angel’s face. The devil collected as much as he could with his tongue before responding. “Why do you ask me?”
“I mean…look at them! Doesn’t it look, well, kinda real?”
Angel looked at the two doofuses. Chainsaw tripped and landed on his butt, cursing loudly. The girl laughed, holding her sides but the sound she was making was far from the vile laugh he heard from Blood Fiend. For some reason, his chest hurt. “Dunno. I was never in love. How should I know how the real thing looks like?”
“Right.” Aki sighed, shaking his head. “I forgot I asked a devil.”
Another balloon popped, loudly this time. “I'm an angel too.”
“How could I forget…” Aki couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“I think that, if she was willing to spend so much time in Chainsaw’s presence, then she must like him.” Angel put another gum into his mouth, curious if the taste would change if he mixed a few of them. “Afterall, she still didn’t slap him, run away or both, right?”
“That’s…” Aki could see where it was coming from. Weirdly, it even made some sense.
“Plus, he just told a joke about balls and she’s laughing at it,” Angel pointed out, making another balloon - slightly bigger this time.
“But…she looks so normal,” Aki insisted. “She’s not a Devil Hunter, doesn’t have a bracelet on the ankle, is pretty—how?!”
“I’m as surprised as you,” Angel agreed, with another pop of gum. “Can I try this?”
Aki followed Angel finger, curious as to what caught the interest of the impassive devil. Once his eyes fell on one of the arcade machines - or more precisely on the theme of that particular machine - he rolled his eyes. “Out of all the games here…”
“What?”
“You don’t know? You play as mecha robot and fight angels that attack the city.”
“Hmm~” Angel tilted his head, then raised eyebrows in subtle surprise. “I thought you had no interest in such things.”
“I don’t. I read about it in a magazine.”
It was in an article next to a coupon for a jam.
“Is that so…” Angel pulled his gum out, throwing it in the general direction of the trashcan. “I’ll give it a go then.”
“You have no money,” Aki reminded him, expecting his words to end the idea. What he got in return was a hand pulling his sleeve. “What?”
“Give me a 100 yen coin.”
“What?!”
“Or I’ll tell Chainsaw you were stalking him.”
Once again, Aki forsaken his money to the devils, hoping it would bring him some peace. It only brought more background noises from the machine as Angel was trying his hardest to learn controls. Also, he hoped no one would notice that Angel’s wings were moving. Just like Denji would poke out his tongue in concentration, Angel’s wings would tremble.
“I think we did good!” Denji declared, pulling out of the slot three red tickets. “What do we do with these?”
“Hmm~” Reze looked around before her face lit up once she found what she was looking for. “Perfect! Let’s go!”
She took Denji’s hand, pulling him behind her in the direction she found interesting. Once again, Denji could only think how her hand felt in his. And hoping his hand wasn't sweaty. They ran past that one couple who apparently had made up. The girl kept playing one game while that hobo dude stood by. His voice sounded vaguely familiar though… But more importantly, he had such bad manners. The least he could do would be to hold his girlfriend’s backpack but he kept standing nearby with his arms crossed. What an asshole - that had to be heavy! Not to mention those decorations! It couldn’t be easy to play with over a meter long wings attached to the back!
“You can exchange tickets for the prizes!” Reze said, showing Denji a little station full of various toys. “Which one do you want?”
“Which one…”
Denji looked around. There were a lot of plastic cars that he had dreamt about having while growing up. There was also a console but he was prettty sure three tickets wouldn’t give him that. There was also some accessories to hang on the phone - but he didn’t have one and he never saw Reze using one. There was also some instant ramens cups but he didn’t feel like getting it. And, most and for all, there were mascots everywhere, of all shapes and sizes. Maybe he could pick one?
“Hey, old man!”
“Huh?!”
“Can I get that plushie with this?” Denji asked, waving his tickets. The man took one look at the mascot Denji was pointing at before opening his mouth in surprise. “Is it not enough?”
“...are you sure you want this one?”
“Mm!”
“...okay. It’s your choice, kid.” The man took tickets from Denji, handing him over a dusty, pink mascot of a mouse. “Thank you for your purchase.”
“Sweet!” Denji smiled, looking at the mascot before handing it over to Reze. “You said you like mice, right? This is for ya!”
Reze opened her mouth in surprise. She was ready to make a joke but the words died on her tongue. For some time she only stared at the tiny plushie, not believing the reality she was in. Eventually, she reached out to take the tiny mouse from Denji's hands. Black beads that made eyes reflected her surprised expression. A boy bought a girl a toy shaped like the animal she liked - it was simple like that. Just a normal thing that would happen anywhere in the world, at any day possible. It was just a cheap toy. It wasn’t even cute. She was sure it would fall apart if she tried to wash it even once…yet it made her so happy. This little toy, handed over by the smiling boy in front of her, made her so happy.
“...thank you,” she said, holding it closer to her chest. “Thank you, Denji.”
“I’m glad you like it!” Denji simply responded, unaware of what he had caused to Reze. “If you want, I’ll buy you a plushie in every place we’ll visit!”
“Oh?”
“There’s a festival in a few days - I can buy you something there.”
“...yes, I’d like that.”
“Or! We can go to the aquarium! I always wanted to see penguins. I bet they have some cute toys there!”
“Mm…”
“I wanted to take you for lunch to one place. Aki said they have great omurice. I hope they at least have a better coffee than your shop. Maybe they have a mascot or something too? I can buy that one too!”
“That sounds great!” Reze silenced Denji in the only way she could come up with - by standing on her toes and kissing his cheek. It was very effective, not to mention pulled a gasp out of a few people around. “Let’s go to that festival then, okay?” She flashed him her best smile and left the arcade, leaving behind a very red, very confused boy.
Once Denji regained some of his cognitive functions, he turned to the shopkeeper. “I wasn’t dreaming, right? It happened, right?! S-She just— she ki-ki-ki—”
“Yeah, sure kid.” The old guy nodded, used to similar scenes happening from time to time. “She likes you and asked you out on a second date.”
Denji squealed, exhilarated with the idea. This was such a good day! Nothing could destroy it now!
“Thank you old man!” Denji said, leaving the arcade in drunk-like state, jumping with joy. Yes, he had a heart afterall.
“Where did he learn that?!” Aki whisper-yelled after witnessing the scene of handing a plushie. Was that really Denji? Not some imposter? Maybe a shapeshifting devil?
“I wouldn’t know,” Angel said, pulling a hair tie out. His head was hurting because of the ponytail and he sighed with relief once the hair fell down. “Better. Human, what do we do with this?” Angel asked, pulling out his tickets. Somehow, despite never playing it before, he was surprisingly good at it. Aki thought he could use some of that reflex during their job.
“Throw it away or spend in that shop. I don’t care.”
Angel raised eyebrows, which on his bland expression was an enormous move. “You’re serious? You’ll let me buy stuff?”
“Yes, whatever. Just be quick.” Aki waved it off, pulling his hair back with the hair tie he had reclaimed.
“I’ll be back soon then.”
Angel wasn’t back soon, but once he came back he had his hands full of all possible cheap snacks, a few instant ramen and a fish plushie, for some reason. There was also a keychain dangling from the backpack with a plush mouse that wasn’t there before.
I guess I’m not getting that back, Aki thought, noticing how the buckle was barely keeping it together, trying its hardest to contain whatever was inside (probably more snacks, if Aki were to guess).
“Took you long enough.”
“Here.” Angel raised his arm, handing over to Aki what would look like strawberry bubblegum. “You smell like tobacco.”
“Shut up, devil.” Aki took the gum, hiding it in his pocket. No chance in hell he’ll try strawberry out of all flavors. “Time to get back to HQ.”
“Hmm,” Angel agreed non comically, already munching on the crackers. Before he could move to the main exit, Aki caught the backpack and pulled.
“Denji went that way. We’re going in the opposite direction.”
Angel looked over his shoulder, letting himself be dragged. “So you know how to act during a stalking mission.”
“It wasn’t stalking!”
Angel shrugged, not willing to argue further. The skirt he had on fluttered slightly, expossing his legs to the cold. “Can I at least change clothes?”
They did change clothes, but it was behind a dumpster, behind the arcade. Aki looked at his watch, cursing. If they won’t hurry up, he’ll be late to return Angel. Makima wouldn’t like that. She expected him to be reliable. He somehow managed to be just on time, running into standing in the lobby Denji. His expression looked as blessed as when Aki had bought that chocolate cake for the three of them to share.
“You waited for me?”
“I went to see how Powy is doing. With the whole blood thing, ya know.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s gonna take one more day. Wanna celebrate some peace?”
“Gladly.”
“Sweet! Let’s do some shopping and I’ll tell you about that one asshole I saw today. He was on a date and treating his girlfriend horribly!”