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Asa could feel the burn in her lungs. She needed to breathe. If she stayed underwater like this, she would eventually drown and die inside of her bathtub. It wouldn't be as cruel of a fate than being condemned to share a body with the War Devil. It had been so long since she actually felt miserable and craved the cool embrace of death to take over and end her suffering. Death would be much easier than dealing with Yoru and her family drama.
But if she died, she would never see Denji again.
Somehow, Denji had wormed himself into her heart and she began to care for him. Some (most) of her feelings towards him were romantic, but there were a few that were just mostly platonic. It had been so long since she had someone listen to her as she ranted or seem somewhat interested in her as a person. If this was a rom-com, she could see them tripping over themselves and falling in love. He would most likely be the one to confess to her first and she would pretend to think about it before accepting and they'd live happily ever after. This wasn't a movie. It was her life. And her life was ruined by the secondary presence in her body that was focused on ruining every single connection she made.
Death would be easier.
Asa's raised out of the water, gasping for breath. It wasn't in Asa's control anymore though.
Yoru glared at Asa from the opposite side of the bathtub. "I thought we had an agreement, Asa."
"I wasn't going to kill myself," Asa said. "I was just testing something."
"We share a mind, Asa. I know what you were thinking."
Asa puffed out her cheeks. That was the hard part of not having complete control of her body. Her mind was open for Yoru to read and mess with at will, but it didn't work the other way around. Yoru could pick and choose to pull at her emotions and twist them to fit whatever messed up plan that she had. She could force herself into control of their body and out of it, while Asa remained a passenger. It wasn't fair. Asa supposed the only consolation was that she could use Yoru's powers as she pleased, though they were of little use to her.
What's the reason for a weapon when she didn't want to fight to begin with?
"Tell me about your family again," Asa said, changing the subject. "In detail this time. You explanation skills are at the level of a two-year old."
Yoru held up three of her fingers as she spoke, "I have three sisters. Two older, one younger. Death, Famine, and Control."
"I'm guessing that Fami would be Famine," Asa said.
"That's correct," Yoru said. "I guess your head isn't empty."
Asa rolled her eyes. There was no use in arguing with Yoru. Yoru was basically a toddler with an obsession with war. She poured a bit of shampoo onto her hands and began to scrub it into her hair gently but firmly, making sure every part of her hair was coated. She dunked herself underneath the water but didn't stay for too long this time. She let Yoru was her hair once and it was miserable. Never again.
Once Asa raised out of the water, Yoru continued talking.
"The eldest is Death. She's been around the longest and is what we consider to be a primal fear."
"Primal fear?"
"Something all humans are programed to fear," Yoru said. "Unlike war or control, all living creatures are born fearing their demise. That fear only becomes worse the more aware they become of their existence. It drives humans to want to control their surroundings and the people in it. It's why wars are so devastating. The reason why people are afraid of famine. All three of those led to Death. She's the strongest out of all of us."
"And we're meant to kill her?" Asa asked.
"If I regain my power that I lost to Chainsaw Man, I can fight against her," Yoru said, proudly. "Nuclear Weapons was my baby. He was one of the strongest all of the children that I've created until now. All we need for Chainsaw Man to vomit him back up. If I can get the rest of my children, that'd be great. Bomb was a personal favorite of mine. It was just something about her."
The next thing Asa grabbed was her conditioner. It was the rose scented one that she had recently switched to. The idol in the commercials was pretty and had this beautiful long hair. She wasn't too pretty either. Asa knew that if she really wanted to, she could be even prettier than the girl that was advertising it. Advertisements always choose people with flattering features to sell things to average everyday people. Asa wasn't completely average though. She had her own special charm that couldn't be captured only on the TV and magazines.
"You're doing it again," Yoru groaned.
"I'm not doing anything," Asa said, lathering her hair in conditioner. Once she was satisfied with the amount of conditioner in her hair, she leaned back against her tub to let the conditioner sit for a few minutes. It wasn't like her deep conditioner that she could just let sit in her hair for a long period of time. This one would need to be rinsed out in about six minutes. "Continue."
"I can sense that my sisters are alive," Yoru said. "All three of them are walking around in vessels like I am. If I'm near them, I'll be able to identify them."
"You could barely identify Fami," Asa pointed out.
"She just happened to catch me off guard!" Yoru shouted. "We were on a date, remember?"
Asa did remember. The aquarium date was her first date, and it was ruined by the Eternity Devil. The only bright side to that failed date was that she managed to get closer to Denji and that she was starting to get a hand on Yoru's powers. It relied mainly on her perception of what belonged to her. Asa wasn't anywhere near Yoru's level of delusion to think everything belonged to her, so it took a bit more work for her to truly own things.
Buying things and technical ownership worked best for her.
"Tell me a bit more about Control."
Yoru groaned, "She's my younger sister. The youngest out of all four of us and a major brat. She thinks she's better than us all because of her stupid chains that can make people hers. I hate her and I don't trust her a bit more than the rest."
"I didn't know you guys did the younger sibling stuff," Asa hummed. She slipped herself underneath the water again washing out the conditioner from her hair. She lifted her head back up and began to brush out her hair. "I figured you all just spawned down in Hell."
"We did spawn in Hell. There was just a certain order in when it happened. I'm pretty sure Death came first, then Famine, then I was born, and finally Control was born," Yoru explained. "I remember just waking up one day and knowing that I had sisters. I know that it's the same for the rest of them. Maybe not Death though."
"Do you really think we can kill Death?"
"We don't need to kill her. All we have to do is delay the apocalypse," Yoru said. "Once I make Chainsaw Man a weapon, I'll do just that."
Asa got out of the tub finally, allowing the water to go down the drain. She wrapped herself in a towel and made her way over to her mirror. All of that sounded like a lot to do and a bunch of stress placed onto her shoulders. There wasn't just a single Chainsaw Man. There were two of them and she didn't want to make the mistake of killing the wrong one, especially after he saved her. She would be even more miserable than she was before if she killed her savior. "And you'll give me back my body?"
"I will. I will," Yoru said, waving her hand. "Let's get something to eat. I'm hungry."
"After I'm done drying my hair."
"That's going to take forever."
"Stop whining."