Chapter Text
"Thank you, Chainsawman"
Those were the words the girl had said to him. He didn´t know why those words made his heart race the way it did. By the time he though to ask her anything else, she was already gone.
For a few seconds, he simply watched her from a far as she played soccer with her classmates, as if nothing happened. The sight was strangely conforting.
At the time he didn´t think much of it and simply continue with his routine. Wake up, go to work, tolerate the demands of Power, returning home, eat something, sleep again. It was pretty simple. He barely had the chance of thinking about anything else than his present.
Then the dreams started.
Sometimes he dreamed that he and Power were living with someone else. A bad-tempered guy who always wore his hair in a topknot.
Other times, he dreamed about living with Nayuta and her dogs, walking her to school every morning and cooking dinner for her every night.
Sometimes Kishibe-sensei would appear, encouraging him to eat something.
Or someone.
The dreams were kinda annoying. They put him and the people he knew in ridiculous situations.
But they were so painfully real. Most days, Denji tried not to think about them. He buried the memories beneath work, missions, and whatever else life threw at him.
But then he started dreaming about the aquarium.
The deep blue glow of the tanks, schools of fish drifting peacefully through the water, small creatures crawling across the sand of that artificial world.
And then there was she.
Black hair, twintails and blue eyes.
It was the same girl he saved from falling onto that weird chicken Devil.
She ran beside him through the aquarium corridors while the two of them laughed like idiots.
Her lips moved. But Denji could never understand what she was saying, it was as if they were underwater. But that didn´t bother him that much.
A smile from her was enought to make everything feel alright to him.
He just accepted it and continue running with her.
After a while, the dreams began to change, but she was still there with him.
Sometimes they floated through the air while entire buildings and mountains of rubble spun around them.
Other times they rode bicycles through the city, fleeing from an angry crowd.
Sometimes buildings collapsed all around them while she shouted something at him with desperate urgency.
Words he could never quite understand.
Except for one.
Yoru.
It was the only word he had ever managed to make out clearly. Was that her name?
Whenever Denji said it out loud, a chill ran down his spine.
Everytime he tried to connect that name to the girl of the aquarium, something inside him resisted.
Something felt wrong. That word simply didn´t fit with the girl.
Even so, for a long time, it was the only name he had for her, until he dreamed about the school.
It was the same school he and Power went to kill the Crab Devil. The same school of the Chicken demon Girl... Or Aquarium girl... Whatever.
In the dream he was climbing the staircase, and he wasn´t alone.
A few steps ahead of him was the insufferable Hirofumi Yoshida, one of the Devil Hunters Denji had met after joining Public Safety.
Eventually they reached a door.
When Yoshida pushed it open, they were greeted by a gentle gust of wind.
They had arrived at the rooftop.
And standing only a few meters away, leaning against the railing, was the aquarium girl.
She turned toward them, confusion crossing her face as she noticed their presence.
“Denji,” Yoshida said.
“I'd like you to meet Asa Mitaka.”
So that was her name.
Asa Mitaka.
Denji stared at the building across the street.
The Fourth East High School loomed in front of him. He watched it through the car window while Madoka and Yoshida argued quietly in the front seats, pointing at a set of floor plans Yoshida had pulled from his backpack and spread awkwardly across the dashboard.
Students poured out through the doors, animated by the arrival of the weekend.
It had been a long time since Denji had come anywhere near this place. Ever since the strange dreams had started, the idea of finding Asa again had lodged itself in his head, but work and circumstances had never given him the chance.
Asa.
That was what he had started calling her. After all, it was the only name he had.
He had told himself countless times that calling her Asa was stupid, that he didn´t even know if that was her real name.
But it was better than calling her Yoru.
Madoka's phone rang. He stepped out of the car to take the call, leaving Yoshida alone with the plans.
“Hey, Yoshida,” Denji said. “What exactly are we doing here again?”
“You weren't paying attention during the briefing?”
Denji stared into space for a moment.
"Nope, just heard something about some disappearances and stuff."
Yoshida opened one of the folders with a look of mild exasperation. He turned around and showed it to Denji.
Two photographs caught Denji´s attention.
Two female students.
“Both disappeared a week ago,” he explained. “Both belonged to the school's fencing club. This was the last place they were seen entering, and there is no record of them leaving.”
He shuffled through the papers again and produced another photo.
A boy this time.
“He disappeared a month ago. The school has a history. About a year back, demonic remains were found on campus. There wasn't an actual attack at the time, but these three are among eight students who've gone missing over the past few months.”
“Then shut the school down.”
“That's the problem. The school administration is resisting. They say there's no conclusive evidence of demonic activity.”
“What about the Crab Devil? We killed that thing months ago, remember?”
“Yes, but that was a direct attack. The disappearances continued afterward.”
Yoshida pulled out another file and turned it around so Denji could see.
Inside were photos of Yoshida, Power, Fumiko Mifune, Madoka, and Denji himself.
“Fumiko and I will pose as students. You and Power will patrol the school during class hours looking for anything suspicious. Madoka will coordinate communications. Simple enough, right?”
Denji lingered on Fumiko's photo.
He couldn't help the flash of resentment.
When they'd first met, she'd seemed pretty cool. Then, mission after mission, he'd noticed that whenever things became dangerous, she had a habit of disappearing.
“Her?!” Denji blurted. “You can't seriously trust that woman.”
“She's annoying,” Yoshida admitted. “But she's useful.”
“Useful? You've got to be kidding. You're probably saying that because you're sleeping with her.”
Yoshida stared into space for a moment as if genuinely considering the idea.
“Believe me, that would be the last thing I'd do. Besides, you don't need to worry. You'll have Power protecting you, and if things get ugly, Madoka will call for reinforcements. It'll be easy.”
Yoshida turned back to the plans.
Denji caught his own reflection in the rearview mirror and remembered the dream: Yoshida as a part-time Devil Hunter, attending school, living a normal life except when Public Safety called him in for work.
Could he know Asa?
“Hey,” Denji said. “Didn't you go to school here?”
“No. I attend another school farther north.”
Oh. So asking him would be pointless.
“And have you talked to Nayuta about it?” Yoshida asked.
“Huh? About what?”
“You told me you wanted to go back to school, remember? Have you talked to her?”
Denji had, in fact, discussed it with his boss.
“And you're really planning to go looking like that?” Nayuta had said, pointing directly at his face. “With that eyepatch? You're definitely going to get bullied. Schools can be pretty brutal these days.”
Denji had frozen on the spot.
“But if you really want it,” the girl had continued, “I'll see what I can do.”
“Denji.”
Yoshida's voice pulled him back.
“Uh... yeah, I talked to her. But I don't know. Do you really think it's a good idea?”
Denji raised a hand to his right eye, touching the patch.
Yoshida noticed immediately.
“Of course it's a good idea. You should try getting into the same school as me. I can talk to Nayuta for you, if you want.”
That answer caught Denji off guard.
He looked at Yoshida for a moment, then turned his gaze back toward the school across the street.
Students were still pouring out of the front gates, laughing and talking among themselves.
“That'd be awesome,” Denji said.
He leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh.