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“Ahahahah! We’re here!”
Power let out a loud yelp, nearly crushing Denji against the car window as she leaned towards him, looking outside at the new scenery, her palms flat against the window as she stared out in awe. Denji let out a muffled complaint as he pushed against Power’s arms, the two of them having a small scuffle in the back seat.
Peering at them in the car mirror, Aki could only sigh at this - he’d have a whole day and night dealing with the two of them in the wild, literally. At Makima’s request of course.
—
“Hayakawa, you know, you deserve a nice break. Especially after the whole ordeal in Hell. And you're barely used any of your vacation days lately, and they’re bound to expire soon.”
“Oh, is that so, Makima?”
Aki found himself standing in front of Makima’s desk, gazing at her seated form as she tidied up some paperwork strewn about. He had given her an update on Power’s condition, and some reports on some mundane devils he had slaughtered in the day for his quota. She seemed preoccupied however, not even bothering to look at him.
“Well, it just so happens that I managed to win a radio contest. I have some tickets for a private one-day camping experience at a nearby campsite, but it turns out that I can’t go. So how about I give them to you, Aki?”
Aki couldn’t help but slightly smile a bit and feel bashful - a gift from Makima-!
“Well, I do think it would be a good idea for you to head out to the countryside.” Makima continued, her eyes glancing outside the window at the bustling city below her. “ Besides, I’m sure the three of you will have fun?”
“Th-three?”
Well, it seemed after a few more lines of discussion that Makima wanted Aki to go on a vacation for some “team building” or “relaxing time” or something of that nature with Denji and Power, since they had all been through a much unappreciated impromptu visit to Hell. Aki couldn't really remember doing the paperwork to sign out Power, or filing his vacation leave request, as all of it was somewhat hazy - but it was definitely official; a camping trip for the three of them was planned.
—
“Hey, give me those! I wanted the last bag of jelly worms!”
“No, they’re mine Denji! Find another snack to eat!”
Aki had only been camping a few times, back when Taiyo wasn't as sickly. His golden-filled, soft memories floated back to him - the day before the trip, after all the equipment was loaded into the trunk, his parents would allow him and Taiyo to go to the convenience store and pick out a treat to munch on in the car. Aki would always choose something utilitarian like jerky - since it kept you full for so long, as his younger self would have proudly said - while Taiyo would buy some kind of gummy or treat or whatever was popular at the time.
Aki found it silly that Taiyo would finish his own treat so quickly, and he often found that his parents would ask him to share his jerky halfway through the drive - but as the good older brother, he’d cut off a piece and give it to him. At the time Aki felt annoyed - but thinking back to the memory of his brother smiling as he munched on Aki’s gift, he couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy.
“Hey Aki!!”
“No need to get Topknot involved!”
Aki looked up to see Power and Denji staring at him at the end of the aisle - the two of them frozen in a fight for the last bag of jelly worms. At least Denji had the decency to look a bit remorseful for their tussle.
“Power kept on trying to snatch my candy!” Denji grumbled, his eyes twitching as he glared at Power.
“Well, it was mine in the first place! I own the candy store that made the gummies!” Power retorted, sneering back.
Aki could see the old lady at the counter staring at them for making such a racket. “Well, none of you are getting it. Give it to me.” He walked up and snatched the bag of jelly worms, before they could react, putting it in the cart and walking away.
Ugh, they’re just like little children…
“The gummy worms are mine, so choose some other treat. And I'm only buying one for each of you. If you want extras, buy it with your own money.”
Denji ended up choosing a bag of sweet potato chips, while Power bought a chocolate gift set (much to the chagrin of Ak’s wallet). And Aki, after he found some needed kerosene tanks and paper plates and towels, ended up buying the bag of gummies for himself.
—
The car ride was probably the most noise Aki had heard in that small of a space.
At the beginning, things seemed strangely… harmonious. Power insisted that the three of them take Meowy “to see the great outdoors” as she said, so she napped with him purring on her lap as Denji stared outside at the fading concrete cityscape. As the buildings slowly morphed into trees and mountains, Aki let out a silent sigh of relief. The radio played softly as he stared ahead and drove on the winding road.
This isn’t so bad…
He shouldn’t have said that so soon, as then it got worse.
Denji felt carsick, so he hastily opened the car window and retched outside - probably from scarfing down his potato chips too quickly in the first few minutes of the drive. Aki felt bad for the next driver who had to see a trail of potato-coloured vomit on the road. The commotion woke up Power, who then started arguing about who knows what, which then had Aki trying to drone out the noise. Meowy had migrated to the passenger seat next to him, curled up into a ball and oblivious to the commotion in the back.
“Hey you two. Shut it!” Aki yelled after a few minutes. The noise stopped.
“Hey my bad Aki, ya know, it was Power’s fault since she-”
“No you got it all wrong! Denji was just-”
The argument almost ignited up again.
“Hey. Hey! As long as you guys don't argue, I’ll split my candy with you.”
“Really?” Power grinned.
“Yep. But you have to share it equally.” Aki grabbed the gummy worms in the cupholder beside him, and chucked it to the back. He heard some shuffling and Denji grabbed the bag and ripped it open, the worms tumbling out and spilling all over the seat haphazardly.
Ugh. More things to clean.
Power probably snatched up most of the worms, but as Denji and Power munched on their newfound snack, Aki didn't feel all so bad, similar to how he did with Taiyo. At least the car was quieter now.
—
They finally reached the campsite - a clearing up in the nearby countryside mountains. It sort of looked like the campsite he went to as a kid, Aki mused. As he backed the car into the designated parking spot, Power and Denji stood outside the car and gazed around, taking in the sights.
Unlike the thick smog of a Tokyo morning, the air was light and clear - and sunlight filtered through the trees that stood around the campsite. Beside Aki’s car was a fire pit and some logs, and a small wooden picnic table. The two of them could hear the rush of a river nearby.
Aki stepped out of the car and opened the trunk, gesturing for Denji and Power to come over.
“Okay, we’re here. So now, we have to build our tent.”
“Tent? Whaddya mean, tent?’ said Denji.
“You know… where we’re gonna sleep?” Aki was dismayed. Did he think that they were going to pull up to some fancy house or something? Denji gave a sigh and walked towards Power, who had found a log full of bugs.
Ah, thought Aki, guess camping wouldn’t be all that fun for him. Maybe reminiscent of his old life?
He didn’t have the best idea of what Denji was up to before he met him, but he knew it was a pretty crappy situation, from snippets he heard Makima mention in passing.
With Power stomping on the little critters while Denji watched, Aki was left alone with the bag full of tent material. Oh well. Guess he’d have to go solo for now - he’d get Denji and Power to help with the cooking anyways. Since their trip to Hokkaido, he’d slowly taught Denji and Power how to cook more tasty meals, ever since their first concoction made him vomit. If you start from the bottom, you can only climb to the top… he hoped. Denji had been showing substantial improvement.
Sighing, he started to unpack the material and lay it on the ground. Aki methodologically placed all the tent poles in the sleeves and hammered the tent pegs into the dusty ground, setting up the groundwork for a solid tent. He found himself at this task for a few hours, occasionally glaring at Denji and Power who were obliviously playing in some glade, chasing butterflies. Ah, to be as selfish as them…
Making a tent with one hand was quite the challenge, Aki realized. Couldn’t the two people with two working pairs of hands at least try to help him out? The aid never did come though, so Aki persevered and wrestled with opening the bag containing the tarp.
But alas, the tent was… somehow assembled. The midday sun shone over Aki as he stepped back to admire his work, sweat glimmering on his head. The tent stood sort of lopsided, but it was big and sturdy enough to hold the three of them.
“Denji! Power! The tent’s ready!”
The two of them came bounding towards the clearing, Power tightly holding a brown spotted frog in her hand, which squirmed and flopped around in her grasp.
Huh… guess there would be frogs in this area. Aki recalled that Taiyo liked to run after creekside frogs and try to catch them in a bucket.
“Are we sleeping here?” Power seemed unamused, turning her head at the tent. “It’s so small, you guys will have to sleep outside. Only Meowy and I can enter.”
Meowy, sitting on the bench, let out a content mewl of agreement.
Aki had gotten used to Power’s irrational declarations by now. “What if Denji and I make you food?” He tried to offer, his lips trying not to grimace in frustration. “I have some chicken karaage in the trunk we can warm up, and I can make sandwiches too. No veggies of course”.
“...Okay, I’ll allow it this time.” she harumphed. “It better be a good sandwich though, Topknot!” She scampered off to who knows where with the frog, while Denji stood tiredly in front of him, looking at the greenery before him.
“Aw man, I wanted to check out the stream too…” he wistfully groaned.
Aki gave him a slight, matter-of-fact smile. “We’ll go after the food’s done, Denji. I’d like to see what things are there as well.” Denji gave a slight nod, and headed towards the car trunk to unload the kerosene tanks. Lunch awaited them, and Aki wanted nothing more but to take the time to sit down and enjoy a nice meal.
—
Cooking with Denji, Aki realized, was not as easy as he thought it was. Denji, bless his heart, as hard as he tried, burnt about half the karaage, so Aki had to begrudgingly take over and sent him over to sandwich duty. At least he could make a decent sandwich - even if Denji tried to greedily stack on all the salami and ham that Aki brought.
But finally, all the food was finished. The fruit of Denji and Aki’s labour was laid out on the picnic table - three western-style sandwiches (one with an exceptional amount of meat) and some chicken karaage in a covered bowl to keep it warm. The ones that Denji cooked had the burnt bits meticulously scraped off, so they looked sort of bald.
Cooking… takes a lot of time. Back at home, Aki could immediately run to the fridge for some mealprepped food or order takeout if he wasn’t in the mood to go to the kitchen - and given that he was up to a lot of hectic things as of late, it was a while since he actually took the time to slice something with his bare hand. Even though cooking something was therapeutic in and of itself, before he knew the entire day was spent, the orange hints of a late August afternoon starting to streak the sky.
“Ugh, I missed the chance to go explore, man!” Denji groaned as he looked at the dimming sky. “Wonder where Powy went…”
Aki felt a bit bad for making Denji’s first camping trip filled with labour. When he was a kid, his parents tiredly but happily prepped everything while Taiyo and him explored the campsite - maybe he should have just let Denji go hang out with Power. Maybe she was lonely too? But then again, cooking wasn’t all that bad, was it?
Aki gave a slight apologetic smile. “You know, the real fun of camping isn’t just going around the site - it’s for what happens at night. I have a s’mores kit, so we can try and make that and tell stories around the campfire. That’s the best part of camping, I think.”
And besides, if they were comparing, Aki had it way worse. He’d just been doing camping prep the whole day! Not even a moment of repose for him.
Denji seemed quite content with the idea of s’mores, his eyes beaming again. “Kay then!” he chirped happily. Man, this guy was easy to satisfy…
“Power! Food’s ready!” The two of them called for their third companion who was who-knows-where. Power excitedly bounded out from the thicket of trees, her pants rolled up and her feet wet. It was clear that she had been frolicking in the stream. Or getting up to some mischief, depending on how one looked at it.
“Denji! Topknot! Look! I found a bunch of frogs!” Power proudly held up a jar as she skidded to a stop, in which there were small little frogs bouncing around feebly searching for freedom. Aki couldn’t help but let out a groan. Of course she’d be up to some strange activity. He didn’t want to have frogs pitifully gaze at him as they ate their late lunch.
“Power, you’re letting them out. Come on.”
Power shook her head intentfully. “Nope! I’m keeping them as my little servants! Gyahahaha!”
Aki then stood silently for a moment before quickly jumping at Power, trying to snatch the frog jar from her hands. Power let out a big yelp and tried to evade Aki’s sudden lunges, while Denji stared onwards in awe. Meowy was probably hiding under the table, eating up the stray salami bits that fell during Aki and Denji’s cooking session.
Power managed to dodge Aki’s attempts to capture her treasure, but eventually Aki succeeded in getting a grip and pried the container from her arms. Poor frogs, thought Aki. They must be really dizzy…
“C’mon Aki! They’re mine! Rahh!”
With a cry, Power pounced at Aki, knocking him over and sending the frog jar flying. It landed on the table and shattered, broken glass falling all over the sandwiches. The frogs jumped out, clearly dazed and disoriented, but all hopping all the way back to the stream.
Denji and Aki stared wide-eyed at the messed up food, back at Power, then back at the food - Aki could swear he saw Denji’s eyes get a bit watery. He did seem really excited to eat the sandwich…
Power looked somewhat sheepish, at least. Even somewhat sorry- but no apology came out from her pursed lips. But as Aki glared meanly at her, she evaded eye contact, staring at her feet.
Denji was the first to break the silence. “Um, at least we have karaage, right? ‘Cause we covered it up, so we can just open the cover and eat it.” His voice wavered a bit as he took his sandwich and chucked it into a plastic bag Aki had set up for waste.
Power scuffled away from Aki, and silently began to help clear the glass-filled plates. It was sufficient of an apology from the hot-headed blood fiend, who rarely felt remorse of any degree.
The three of them ended up having soggy warm karaage for lunch-dinner, after Power helped sweep up the glass shards on the table.
—
“And so… as the people heard the groaning voices from the other side of the mountain, they sent in a team to investigate.”
Denji and Power stared wide-eyed as Aki began to finish his tale, the sky now dark and the only source of light being the flickering, nearly-dead campfire. They sat down a while ago, listening to Aki’s scary tale with great attention.
“On the other side, the holes weren’t human-shaped anymore - but instead in some twisted strange archaic form. And as the investigation team peered into the crack… they saw something coming out from the inside.”
Power let out a preemptive yelp as she scooched closer to Denji, who seemed equally creeped out, but stood rigid, trying to save face.
“What had entered the hole was no longer human anymore… and as it slowly tried to slither out, its mournful, pained cries got louder and louder…”
“The end.” Aki said abruptly.
“Huh? What do ya mean, the end? What happened to the man?” Power yelled, swinging her marshmallow skewer around. “The story just can’t end there!”
“Well,” Aki chuckled quietly, “that really is the ending.” Power still seemed spooked, and she stayed uncharacteristically quiet, staring at the fire. No matter how hard she tried to put up a brave front, both Denji and he knew that these kinds of stories did have an effect on her. It was the same for Aki when he first heard it in elementary school, whispered amongst his classmates as they discussed the weekly horror manga. He had to sleep with the light on for a week.
Denji didn’t really say anything, because he was too focused on his marshmallow by the campfire - before realizing that it had been burnt, as an unlucky ember attacked his stick. “Ack, it’s all black and crispy now!” He groaned, swinging it around to get rid of the flame.
Denji then turned around and looked at Power’s perfectly golden-brown marshmallow with an envious regard, before opening his mouth. “Power, since you ruined my sandwich, it’s only fair that ya give me your marshmallow! C’mon!” Denji declared, as he held his palm out expectantly. “Ya gotta pay me back!”
Power actually seemed to consider his request, before shaking her head. “Nope. It’s my marshmallow. Make another one.”
“Nah, give it here!” Before Aki or Power could react, Denji swiped Power’s marshmallow skewer, and grabbed some chocolate and graham crackers to make a quick s'more. As he was trying to quickly assemble it, Power tried to grab her marshmallow back and the two of them got into yet another tussle.
Aki let out an internal sigh. These two always did resort to silly little arguments about nothing, didn’t they? Strangely, he had come to find it… somewhat endearing in a sense- like two puppies fighting over the same bone. He looked up, staring at the stars flickering in the sky.
Aki remembered stargazing with his family at nighttime, when all the day’s activities were done. His dad would pull him and Taiyo close as they sat on the hood of their car, and he would point out constellations with his fingers, while the and his brother would look about in awe. One evening, the sky was so clear that a trail of stars formed in the sky, making Taiyo squeal out of excitement when he exited the tent at night. That’s the Milky Way, his father would say and Aki tried to play it cool - but deep down he was just as excited to see it as his brother.
No Milky Way tonight, mused Aki. The fire died out eventually, starlight and the moon being the only thing illuminating the campsite. Power and Denji did stop fighting too. All the s’mores were greedily eaten as well, perhaps by Denji - or by Power. The world fell silent.
And it was then that the three of them sitting, staring upwards as cicadas and creatures of the night emitted the sounds of a dying summertime.
Aki felt… at peace. He hoped that Power and Denji were happy too.
—
They set off for Tokyo early in the morning, after all the belongings were sleepily (and albeit carelessly) packed and pushed into the trunk of the car. At least Denji and Power helped take down the tent as the sun rose.
The two of them were probably exhausted, as there was no argument or even any noise from the both of them, much to Aki’s relief. They closed their eyes serenely in the back seat, Denji laying his head on Power’s shoulder as the two of them dozed off into dreamland. Meowy sat in between them, the summer sun hitting his back and keeping him toasty-warm.
Aki could see the buildings of central Tokyo start to peek out of the horizon, signifying that their little excursion had come to an end.
To be honest, Aki thought to himself, it wasn’t the ideal camping trip he had in mind. He wasn’t even able to relax all that much - and he hadn’t managed to eat a nice campside sandwich. Hell, Denji and Power had been arguing for most of the time!
Still, it was nice in its own strange way.
Aki found himself lost in thought. Hm. Maybe after they’d kill the Gun Devil, he’d surprise them with an even nicer camping trip… maybe the campsite his parents took him to. They’d probably like that way more than this motley old lot, and there was an even bigger stream and thicker trees to climb! Power would be elated when she saw that. And this time, he’d get the both of them to help with the setup, so they could all relax at the end of it.
Aki smiled as he looked at the car mirror. Good thing that the rest of them were sleeping, or they would have poked fun at Aki’s sentimental gaze in the rearview mirror. The first thing he’d do after they went back home and unloaded all the things was to look for that campsite’s name and book tickets. He wanted to show them the Milky Way, just as his father had instilled that wondrous joy all those years ago.
But that trip never did happen, of course.