In the Sea

by ThoroughlyUninvolved

Summary:

A standalone story shoved between the Control Devil arc and Part 2.

Reze has returned. She's offered a chance to earn the true unbound freedom she's wanted her entire life, but the memories of her past bind her.
Denji no longer works as a Public Safety hunter, but without purpose or his found family, what's left?

Maybe it takes two broken people to put something special back together.

Chapter 1: Born again, and again, and again.

Notes:

I'm definitely bending the timeline a bit here, no Nayuta in this one.

I'm slowly rereading the manga, but after watching the Reze Arc movie I got inspired to do a what-if with a less cheesy tone, and a more focused exploration on the things that Denji and Reze carry with them, and who they are after all that they've seen.

If I flub some lore, forgive me, I read it forever ago.

No one ever prepares you adequately for death. Humans have spent millenia searching for an answer, a glimpse of what lies beyond their final breath; but for someone like Reze, the only thing that awaits is stillness. The curse of being an immortal comes with its own set of disappointments, death being the least of them. Her first death taught her this in spades. Though her memory wouldn’t allow her a vivid look, what little she did remember left open scars in her mind. The even-toned scientists measuring things on devices she had been attached to, the frigid cold air filling her lungs, the burning fluids flooding in from various needles and tubes.

 

She expected the pain to end and perhaps a vision of light to fade away her final moments; what came instead was a silence unlike anything she could've predicted. There was no agony, there was no relief, there was simply nothing. An empty black void deprived of anything to stimulate her senses. Her first moments in this purgatory were spent panicking about what it meant, if this was what the afterlife truly was, but that subsided and was quickly replaced with apathy as she realized that there was nothing she could do except wait here for as long as she was meant to. 

 

The first death she remembered vividly was at the hands of a witch and an angel.

It was stupid. I could’ve just run away. 

 

Was it stupid? Would she have chased me if I had left her pet alone? Would she have let me live? No, the cat never lets the mouse live.

 

Her mind lingered on this train of thought, but the pit in her stomach told her it was a pointless endeavour. She was always going to go back to that cafe, her heart was always going to chase that slim chance at freedom. She was always going to die in that alley, her last view of that life was always going to be a bouquet in the window. The spears in her body hurt, but watching those flowers until her vision faded was going to be a new trauma in her growing collection.

 

Her next death came as another blurred memory, just a fragmented set of shapes and colors. She couldn't exactly remember what was happening, but she remembered her mind being wrenched away from her. She remembered the violating feeling of her body being pulled along without her input, the sickening vertigo she felt trying to anchor herself back to reality. What Reze was in these moments was something she couldn't name, but something she never wanted to remember. 

 

Once that episode came to a close, she was back into the still recesses of the void. Having been in this purgatory a handful of times now, she understood that resistance was pointless. She resigned herself to the silent nothingness, an eternity of thoughtless patience. For a moment she reminisced about what led her here, but tracing her memories back far enough involved facing a pain that she wasn't equipped to handle yet. She concluded that maybe this isolation was better than facing her past; she had plenty of time to make progress after all. 

 

===============================================================

 

Reze let out a violent cough. Her throat burned, dry from months, maybe years of disuse. She couldn't tell, she couldn't tell anything really. But she noticed that there was something here. Something real. The taste of blood ran over her tongue as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. The skylight above leaked moonlight into the concrete room she found herself in. This wasn't her imagination, or that void she had spent too much time in, this was real. As her vision returned and focused, she realized that she was laying in some sort of hospital bed. Wires and tubes surrounded her like webs, claustrophobic, familiar, terrifying.

 

No, no, NO! Not again, please not again! Anything but this! 

 

Her mind raced, weaving between panic and pain. Had she been sent back to the Soviet Union? Was this her punishment for failure? Were they going to put her out of her misery at last? 

 

At least if they’re going to rip the Devil out of me, I’ll finally have a chance to rest. That’s a good thing, right?

 

The idea festered in her mind for a moment, but imagining it felt sickening. 

 

…I’m not done here... 

…I haven’t gone to school yet…

…I haven’t gone to see a movie, or to visit a theme park…

…I haven’t gone to an aquarium, or to a party with friends…

…I haven’t done anything…

...I’ve never had a chance to be normal…

…I’ve never had anything…

…I want to apologize to Denji…

…I want to live..!

 

She struggled against the restraints that bound her wrists and ankles, but she was still too weak. She hadn't recovered yet, she needed blood. Any blood. Anything to let her escape the agony that she knew was coming. Slow, heavy footsteps approached her from the darkness. The faint ember of a cigarette lighting the edges of an exhausted face. 

 

She grew frantic, yanking against the restraints until her joints were about to dislocate. There was so much she still wanted to do, she couldn’t die here. 

 

From the darkness spoke a gruff, tired man.

"Well then, looks like the little mouse finally woke up"

 

Reze paused for a moment, something was off.

 

That was Japanese, not Russian. Who is he? Where am I? 

 

A light switch clicked and a dim light filled the room. Standing before her was a tall man, aged but imposing, dull blonde hair framing a scowl on his scarred lips. She tried to speak, but all she could muster was an empty exhalation. Her throat was too raw, too dry. She choked on her own breath, regretting ever opening her mouth.

"Right, I suppose it has been a bit since you've had water hasn't it?"

 

The man reached under one of the medical devices and retrieved a bottle of water, placing it gently up to Reze's lips. It was painful, her throat was almost too damaged to swallow. Her senses were returning, but her strength was still sapped.

"Let's try that again. Welcome back to the land of the living."

 

Reze laid back down. Her senses returning unfortunately included the oppressive weakness in her muscles.

"Where am I?" she asked.

 

The man retrieved another cigarette from his coat. A lighter flashed and blinded Reze's sensitive vision. 

"Somewhere safe." He exhaled as he grabbed a chair from across the room and sat beside her. 

 

"You're in a bit of a unique place. It's off the books, just some innocuous building no one would think twice about..Not really something to concern yourself with just yet. It's just you, and me, and those straps holding you down. I'm sure you're feeling a bit cornered, and I’m sure those sedatives aren’t making it any better."  he said, flicking one of the tubes running into Reze’s arm.

 

The numbness in her limbs stung at her nerves, attempting any more force was futile it seemed. Reze's training had forged her mind into steel, but in this moment, it began to crack. Maybe it was that sedative. It could’ve been the incessant pain and stress that she’d experienced in her last three lives. Something was piercing through her defences. She wanted to cry. She willed herself not to. She knew how not to. She knew better than to show any weakness to an enemy. She followed a familiar pattern, willing herself to dissociate her emotions, they weren’t going to be helpful here after all. For now, all she wanted to be was a machine of logic and flesh. 

 

“Why am I alive?” she choked out from her cracked throat.

 

The man laid back in his chair and took a long drag from his cigarette.

“That’s a complicated question.. Do you remember what you were doing the last time you were alive?”

 

She paused and probed her memories. The last clear thing she remembered were those flowers in the window across the street. But there was something between there and now, she just couldn’t put words to it. It was a collage of blurs that she knew contained violence, but the memories were too vague, too distant to make sense of. 

“I don’t know, I don’t even think I was myself last time I was alive.” she answered.

 

It felt like an excuse. Any normal person would’ve called her a liar.

 

The man sighed, not with disappointment but with understanding.

“In a way, you weren’t yourself. You were a weapon being pointed like a gun at that Chainsaw boy. The Control Devil, Makima, had you and the rest of her collection of freaks acting as her army; it’s no wonder you don’t remember much.” 

 

Reze’s head pounded harder now. That statement had too much to unpack, too much to make sense of at this moment. She had just one burning question:

“Is he alive?”

 

The man’s lips turned to a barely perceptible smile.  

“Yeah, he’s still kicking. Just as annoying too.”

 

Her training finally failed her, and tears silently streamed down her face. At least there was one small joy she could grasp onto, she thought. She didn’t know if she could face him, but she was content knowing that his leash was finally off. He could finally taste that freedom that they both had robbed from them.

 

The man stood up and stomped the last bits of his cigarette. He stood at the foot of the bed and spoke. 

“To answer your question, you’re alive because the world has become quite different since you last saw it clearly. Between the Gun Devil and the Control Devil’s deaths, a lot has changed. Public Safety isn't what it used to be, devils are still as threatening as always, except now there’s less of us to stop them. I let that Chainsaw brat leave us too,  which is where we need you to come in.”

 

Reze’s pulse quickened. Her eyes narrowed with fury at the idea.

“I’m not bringing him back to you! You all caged him and used him! Kill me! I’d rather stay a corpse than be a part of this!” She yelled, her words laced with as much venom as she could muster. 

 

The man smiled, a real smile. He turned around, and then let out a quiet laugh.

 

“Didn’t anyone teach you manners? Don’t interrupt your elders when they’re talking.” He said, falling back into his stoic demeanor. He leaned over the foot of the bed and looked her in the eyes. He furrowed his brow and corrected her.

“I don’t want you to bring him in. That boy needs to live a real life, not as a dog, but as a person. But I need you to replace him, we need someone with power to help us keep order.”

 

Reze was stunned. She vividly recalled killing an entire department of Public Safety devil hunters, something that was beginning to weigh on her. To some extent, she understood that it was her lashing out. Unfortunately lashing out resulted in no less than 87 deaths. 

 

 But it’s Makima’s fault, right? If Denji wasn’t being dragged along by her, we could’ve left peacefully. She had to ruin the moment, ruin everything. She set me on that path! She could’ve killed me the second she noticed me! 

 

The irony in that statement clung to her. Reze paused and took a breath, meeting the man’s eyes again. 

“What’s stopping me from killing all of you again? Why do you think I would actually help you? Why wouldn’t I just run away?” She asked, her voice wavering. The bluff wasn’t going to work. She knew that already. But she needed to get a grasp on the stakes of this situation.

 

The man sighed, and answered.

“Because if you do what we’re asking, I can promise you amnesty. I can clear your name, and give you the freedom to live the life you want. After the incident you caused, everyone knows about the Bomb Devil. All I have to do is reveal your face as the Devil's true identity and you lose any chance at a peaceful life. However, play by my rules and I'll have your kill count quietly expunged. You can be free to go live in any place that you’d like after you’re done.” 

 

Reze’s mind was swimming, the sedative was starting to sink into her consciousness now. 

 

What does he mean when I’m done? What does done mean?

 

A feeble question escaped her lips:

“And if I run after I accept your terms?”

 

The man’s smile eased back into a small frown. 

“I'll let the Soviets know that you're wandering around Japan, and I'll have a hefty bounty placed on your head. I'll release the statement about your identity, and every hunter in the country will be after you, and if you do manage to slip away, then the Soviets will have no trouble amassing hunting parties around the world to collect their precious Bomb Devil. They have the resources to check every little village in the countryside of any place in the world. If the Americans catch wind of it too, then I'm sure they'll be interested in seeing what makes you tick. Hell, they might even want to repurpose you into their own weapon. I've heard some talk about the CIA developing some brainwashing tactics specifically for Devils, I'm sure a hybrid wouldn't be any harder.”

 

Her heart skipped a beat. This was too much, there were too many factors to consider and she was too drugged to parse them. It was an eternity in that void or temporary enslavement. She didn't know which was worse. What she did understand through the murky state of her mind is that she wanted to live. The only thing she could do was trust her gut, and pray that this time it didn’t end with her being skewered in an alley.

 

“It sounds like an awful job, but it’s that or lie here as the loveliest corpse in your collection. I don’t imagine you’d hand my remains over to the Soviets anyway, the Bomb Devil is too valuable. So I’ll probably just sit here until you find a way to rip it out of me, right?”

 

The man let out a small chuckle.

“Correct, 60 points.”

 

Reze’s vision was finally beginning to fade. She whispered out with her last waking breath.

“So be it, I’ll do it."

Notes:

Not promising a regular update schedule, though I will vaguely aim for once a week if I feel inspired. I also don't think this is going to go on for more than maybe 12 chapters or so, I'll probably eat my own words though.

Chapter 2: Embers to Inferno

Denji stood in the alley he had seen a dozen times, the edges of his vision crawling with oncoming darkness. He held his beloved Pochita in his arms as he nervously turned the corner, already expecting that same door that had haunted him for years. He already knew what lay beyond, it housed nothing but pain and guilt. This time things were different though. The hallway extended much further than he remembered, longer than any building should be. Every synapse in his brain told him to get away, to leave this alone. His body pressed on, however. 

 

It felt like an eternity before he could see the end. His body had grown exhausted and his breath ragged by the time he saw the end. This time, the door was wide open, inviting him to peek inside. His heartbeat intensified, he didn’t want to see this again. He never wanted to see or think about this ever again. He couldn’t help it. He eyed the crumpled form of his father tucked in the corner, dried blood surrounding him in a perfect circle. Denji felt the nausea coming as he stumbled inside, the shadows writhing at the edge of his vision threatening to overtake the last remaining bits of his sight.

 

The door slammed behind him as he collapsed onto the floor. The room was pitch-black now and only then did he realize there was something in here. He was too weak to get up and he could hear the heavy footsteps of a beast making its way towards him. There was no escape now, the beast couldn’t be any further than a few inches from him. Denji felt its acrid breath caressing his face. Only then did he finally catch a glimpse of the monster preying upon him, its gaunt, emaciated face salivating as its glowing yellow eyes stared through him. 

===============================================================

 

Denji awoke with a start, a cold sweat enveloping his face. 

 

Again…? 

 

The late afternoon sun cast a warm glow across the empty apartment as Denji dropped back onto the carpet. He stared at Power’s cat as it stretched out across the warm patch of light granted by the last rays of the afternoon.

 

You have it so easy, and you don’t even know. 

 

The ceiling sprawled in front of him, small tangles of cobwebs had formed in the last few months. Aki would’ve had those gone the second he’d seen them. Denji couldn’t be bothered. The leftover dishes from his lunch, and the one before that, and the dinner before that, were all spread across the coffee table. They had long been licked clean by Nyako, but Denji had no intention of washing them or putting them away anytime soon. 

 

It's not like the cat’s going to judge me. As long as she gets my scraps, she couldn’t be happier. 

 

This malaise had become routine for him. He had long since finished disposing of Makima’s remains, and as such, had nothing left to do but try to live. That alone felt like a daunting task.  

 

What does living even mean? I’ve never been to school, I’ve never had a normal honest job, what does anyone do besides that? What do people do when they have no one to tell them what to do?

 

“...Hey Pochita, what were we like before all of this?” Denji asked, gently rubbing the ripcord on his chest. Pochita didn’t have an answer for him, no response at all in fact. Denji expected as much, Pochita probably wasn’t happy with him wasting away at home. 

 

I can’t help it though. 

I had friends, sort of a family even!

I can’t even remember what life was like before that!

Besides the whole starving and selling my organs thing. That’s still pretty clear.

But still! What did I even do with my time!

 

He knew the real answer, it was just much too boring. Working to pay off a Yakuza debt couldn’t compare to the Devil hunting he had spent the last year doing. Even that was ripped away from him the moment Kishibe let him go from Public Safety. The only thing he had left to do was sit here in an apartment originally meant for one, filled by three, and now left with one again. And a cat. Kishibe had been very clear that what he wanted Denji to do was live a normal life, enjoy the rest of his adolescence in school, grow up and be a normal man. He could try, but without Aki to scold him, he wouldn’t want to stay in school and commit to something so tedious. Without Power to tease him, he’d have no drive to leave for school to have a break from her antics. Without them it all felt too difficult. Too quiet. Too empty. 

 

It all felt suffocating.  

 

He stood up and shambled his way over to the fridge, already knowing it was empty aside from some condiments and leftover sauce packets. He tore open a packet of ponzu sauce and squeezed it into his mouth. He hung his head in disappointment. 

 

Tastes like shit. 

 

“Ah well, guess I was gonna have to leave the house eventually right Pochita?”

 

His heart skipped a beat, Denji took that as an approval from his last remaining friend. He grabbed one of Aki’s coats and walked out into the icy winter air, the last traces of the late afternoon sun peeking from the edge of the horizon. 

 

===============================================================

 

The grocery store proved a harder challenge than usual without Aki to stop him from buying junk food and suspicious magazines. His budget only had so much room to play with, after all. He had been receiving a stipend from Public Safety, a sort of “early retirement” pension to live off of as a reward for all he had done. It didn’t feel rewarding to him, but he was thankful nonetheless. A week’s worth of groceries and cat supplies later, and he was tight on money yet again, at least until his next payout. 

 

He wandered a bit on the way home, longing to stay away from that apartment for as long as he could manage. He detoured to the movie theater he had wasted a day at with Makima, truly feeling like it was a waste now. They were showing some new American films, maybe it’d make a good excuse to get away from home. He continued and spotted the ramen bar that he and Power used to frequent. Denji’s eyes focused on the last empty seat at the bar, wavering between getting a nice warm dinner or having to cook something. He checked his wallet.

 

Just enough to get a bowl, and enough to get home. 

 

Denji smiled and sat down, placing his bags on the hook underneath the bar. Maybe this was all he needed. The old man behind the counter glanced at him and already knew his order. A couple of minutes passed and a hefty bowl of spicy tonkotsu ramen was placed in front of him, with a smaller bowl of broth in front of the old man. Denji looked at the old man, puzzled. The old man lifted the small bowl softly proclaimed “In her honor” before drinking the broth.

 

Denji was stunned for a moment, but followed his lead, uttering “In her honor” mournfully before taking a hearty sip of his own broth. 

“How did you know?” asked Denji, grimacing.

 

The old man calmly placed his bowl in the sink and answered softly.

“She wouldn’t miss this place for the world. A fiend, and working for Public Safety, it's not too hard to connect the dots. I’m sorry, young man.”

 

Denji stared at his own reflection in his ramen broth. He watched as a couple of tears slid down his face, then into the broth, breaking the oily mirror in his soup. He sniffled, then began to eat with determination, the way they used to eat together. The way it should have been. The old man smiled wistfully at him, admiring the fervor he knew all too well by now. Denji finished off the spicy broth furiously, the heat helping to hide the sadness in his eyes. With a satisfied slam, he put the bowl back down and laid his chopsticks across the rim. 

“Thank you, for everything!”

 

Denji began pulling out his wallet, but was stopped by the old man’s hand. 

“Not today, it's my treat.”

===============================================================

 

He didn’t feel amazing, nor did he expect to, but Denji had to admit that this was a better use of his evening than wallowing in the living room. A full belly and some kindness went a long way. The dread of returning home was beginning to set in though, and his pace began to lag the closer he came. The train station back to his neighborhood was in sight, and there was nothing left to do but take the ride back. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of something in the air. It was odd, hard to identify at first. 

 

Sulfur, chlorine, and…blood?

 

His gaze stiffened and he began following the scent. He glanced at the people around him, no one seemed to acknowledge what he was sensing. How was no one noticing this? The smell was becoming more pungent and offensive to his nose as he stepped away from the crowds of people and into the back alleys of a strip of restaurants. He was getting dizzy, this putrid odor was too intense. He put the grocery bags down by some scaffolding and blocked his nose with his coat before continuing down the corridor. He turned a blind corner and there he saw it at last. A towering humanoid mass of stone and magma and in its grasp was the separated halves of a charred human corpse. 

 

Denji hid around the corner for the time being. This wasn’t his responsibility anymore. He was a civilian now, his only duty was to report this to Public Safety and run. The only job he had was to try and live a normal life. Kishibe was crystal clear about that part. 

 

Its too bad, this could’ve been fun if I was still a hunter. 

 

He turned away from the creature, calmly took off his coat and shirt and placed them neatly over a railing. He stretched his arms out high and took a deep cold breath. 

 

But that's exactly why no one can stop me either!

 

His mouth relaxed into a satisfied grin and he pulled the ripcord on his chest. He felt his bones crack, his skin pierce, and smelled the motor oil burning inside him; it was heavenly. This was familiar, a sort of twisted comfort. He stood still for a moment, reveling in the liberation he felt. This wasn't a weapon someone could wield anymore, it was his freedom. He stretched once more, getting a handle on the length of the blades and testing their weight with slow, wide slashes. It had been weeks since he had transformed but it still felt like the most natural feeling in the world. 

 

Denji rushed back around the corner and impaled the lava creature from behind; he had caught it totally off guard and unprotected. With a joyous scream, Denji revved the saws and fragments of searing hot stone began flying throughout the alleyway. He swung out, causing the Devil to shift its balance and collapse onto the floor. Denji stood over the beast and began hacking away, carving new angles into his sculpture of gore and heat, shaping it into something unrecognizable, something horrific. The Devil tried to swing its arm in retaliation only for the blade on Denji’s forehead to split it clean in half. Denji laughed, finally feeling something for the first time in months. He had finally found an ounce of joy, and he was going to indulge in it for as long as he could. Every grinding slash felt euphoric, every counter and parry felt unbelievably satisfying, this was it. 

 

===============================================================

 

Denji walked with a skip in his step back to his clothing and covered himself back up. He felt the strangest sense of relief, like the weight he carried had lifted by just a little bit. He took another long, cold breath. Behind him he could hear the scratchy sounds of radio static, emanating from where the Devil once stood. Looking over the remnants, he saw a handheld radio with a large antenna on it. Denji picked it up and fiddled with the dial, curiously trying to tune into something useful. Suddenly, a clear voice came over the airwaves, a loud, authoritative man.

“Has anyone found Okada yet? He’s been out of contact for over an hour!”

 

A shaky voice answered the question.
“N-no sir! Last we heard he was chasing the Magma Devil somewhere by Kanda!”

 

The first voice was beginning to lose his patience.

“All units, priority one is finding him! Anything else can wait!”

 

Holy shit, this is a Public Safety radio isn’t it? 

If I keep this, I'm sort of stealing from a dead guy right? It feels kinda gross. 

But this…the rush of a fight… 

The adrenaline rushing through my head… 

It feels…better.  

If you think about it, I'd be doing them a favor. 

 

Denji turned the radio off and stuffed it into one of the grocery bags. He knew this wasn't the answer. Grieving alone at home wasn't working though, and if this breaks that cycle for just a moment, it would be well worth it.

Notes:

I was flattered by the nice comments on the first chapter, to be entirely honest this is my first time doing creative writing in...maybe 10 years? I'm forever going to be critical of it, and I wasn't sure I even wanted to publicly post it at all but here we are.

This chapter was kind of fast to write, but I wouldn't expect the next one for a bit; I want to take my time and polish it for a bit longer. Don't be surprised if this one gets edited a bunch in the coming days too, I've noticed I'm a nitpicker for my own word choices and grammar.

But yeah, thanks!

Chapter 3: Autumn Fades, Winter Dawns

Reze began her morning with her face buried deep into a pillow, her hand already slamming the top of the alarm clock before it could eek out its second beep. She felt around for the top of the comforter and pulled it over her head; she wondered how she was ever a morning person before. At least the beds here were surprisingly luxurious, Public Safety knew how to take care of their staff. 

 

She had been alive for a week now, having spent the first three days in a Public Safety-run hospital recovering and testing her health, the rest here in her own private dormitory in the headquarters she had been stationed at. She had been left to relax while she became accustomed to her new environment, but today was the beginning of her new life at the service of the man named Kishibe. 

 

During her time in the hospital, the man had introduced himself as the Captain of Special Division 4, a title that meant nothing to her, at least not yet. At first glance, Reze had read him as a strong, stoic wall of a man, the type that would rather die than feel any kind of shame or sympathy. After a few visits in the hospital, she began to see past that facade and the person under that was someone who had seen too much, and lost even more. Reze didn’t fear him much after this, but she respected him deeply. His hospital visits had largely been to check on her recovery, hardly about business. Reze understood that she was a combat asset, but this quiet kindness was still more than she expected when she accepted the deal. 

 

Kishibe had filled her in on what happened while she was gone; thankfully, it had only been a few months since her vivid summer memories. She had missed a lot, but most importantly, her battle with Denji that summer night had put international crosshairs on his head. 

 

Another pound of guilt for the pile, I suppose.

 

The Gun Devil had been put down, and that alone nullified her initial reason to kill Denji; it took her a minute to let that sink in, but the relief set in not long after. The only matter left unexplained was Makima, the creature that killed her. Kishibe talked at length about the arduous battle that led to her demise, but Reze couldn’t focus on his words, the only thing she cared about was that she was gone. There was still some vivid pain on the flesh where the spear pierced through to her heart. She couldn’t make sense of it, she should’ve been fully regenerated, but the burning sensation was unmistakable. 

 

She had the audacity to kill me, then puppet me around. What a disgusting creature. It only seems right that one of her dogs would bite her back. 

 

She paused at that thought. 

 

Denji…

I hope you’re okay. Just give me some time.

 

She was reaching for the dresser when the phone in her room began to ring, breaking her out of her rhythm. 

“Yes, Reze speaking.”

 

The gruff voice was curt and rough.

“You’re doing physical training today, dress appropriately.”

 

Reze relaxed, this was going to be something familiar at least.

“Understood captain, will you be there? I think we agreed on a walkaround on my first day, right?”

 

Kishibe let out a small grunting sigh.

“I suppose I did say that, didn’t I. Fine, be down there at 9. I’ll be waiting.”

 

She returned the phone receiver back to the wall and began getting dressed. 

 

==========================================================

 

The training room was lined wall to wall with rookies of all different sizes and builds, men and women wearing the full spectrum of confidence and fear on their faces.

 

There’s too many people. I’m surprised they’re still recovering from their losses to Makima.

 

In the center of the room stood Kishibe in his usual suit and coat, beside him another senior member appropriately dressed in workout gear carrying a box of sparring equipment. Kishibe met Reze’s eyes and beckoned her over. A small rumble of whispers began throughout the room as Reze stepped forward. 

 

Kishibe placed his fingers on the corners of his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. 

“Alright, quiet down. Let me introduce our newest recruit. This is Reze, she’s going to be joining us from here on out. You may learn a thing or two from her, she's been in real combat before and we're lucky to have that in our ranks considering the sad state of affairs around here.”

 

“What'd she fight, a Tomato Devil?” 

A lean man in the corner heckled. Giggling began to spread through the room. Reze knew better than to bother answering, this was beneath her. Kishibe took a step forward and pointed at the heckler.

“Amada, grab your gloves. Reze, you as well.” 

 

Reze sighed.

 

Why are you indulging him?

 

She scrounged through the box by the instructors’ feet, finding different varieties of boxing gloves, headgear, and eventually fingerless MMA gloves. 

 

“Mind if I use these?”  she asked, holding them up. 

 

“Use whatever works best for you.” muttered Kishibe, uninterested looking towards her direction. 

 

Amada bent down and grabbed a pair of boxing gloves, smirking at her as he passed by.

“I’ll be sure to go easy on her captain, wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty face of hers right?”

 

Kishibe looked at Reze, then back at Amada.

“I don’t think you’ll have the chance.” he muttered.

 

Amada began bouncing around, arms up in a boxing guard. Reze walked slowly around him, her arms loose by her sides. She wasn’t impressed. This was at best a kid who might’ve won a sparring match. He had served an amateur to a trained killer. She looked over at Kishibe and he gave her a small shrug in response. 

 

“Didn’t anyone tell you not to take your eyes off your opponent?” spat Amada as he rushed forward with a haymaker towards Reze’s face. Before he could process and adjust, Reze sidestepped it and raised her arm. It was too fast for Amada, but his hand was suddenly in searing hot pain. He only managed to catch a glimpse of Reze’s punch going past his wrist before she spun and delivered a swift kick to his side. Amada landed in a roll and collapsed in a pile a few feet away as Reze returned to her fighting stance. Her training hadn’t rusted one bit. 

 

“I warned you.” said Kishibe as he took a swig from his flask. 

“As I said, you could all learn a thing or two from her. Experience is a rare commodity nowadays, waste it at your own peril.” 

 

Reze walked over to Kishibe, she had questions now.

“Am I here to learn, or to be an instructor? What I know isn’t exactly a skillset for hunting Devils. I’m also not sure how valuable any of this is going to be for me either, these all look like amateurs.”

 

Kishibe put away his flask, and calmly took off his coat. 

“You never stop learning. Even as an instructor, you can learn how to polish a jagged stone into a smooth sphere. That’s the beauty of being human.”

 

He leaned close to her ear and whispered with a dry threat in his voice.

“Which are you then, Devil or Human? If you’re so confident that you’re above this, show me.”

 

Reze backed away slowly and raised her fists. She had sensed danger in his movements before, but there was something oppressive radiating from his posture now. She blinked, and suddenly there was a fist crushing her nose. She fell backwards but rolled back onto her feet. 

 

Two can play that game.

 

She wiped the blood off her nose and dashed forward, applying some of her unnatural speed. Kishibe was still faster, leaping and dropping an axe kick from above. Reze sidestepped it, only for a fist from below to meet her jaw. 

 

Who is this guy? How can he move like that?

 

Reze was fully alert now, all she needed was for him to make one mistake and she could turn this around. She only needed to be patient. Kishibe twisted and swung a kick towards her head.

 

There.

 

Reze swung her fist at his knee, and finally, she made contact. 

 

That should put you down for a minute.

 

Kishibe calmly pushed past her punch and shoved her with the momentum left in his kick. Reze paced backwards, she was beginning to feel cornered. This man wasn’t human, he couldn’t be. Even she didn’t have that reaction time, that speed. Reze didn’t have any more time to think, the next punch was coming, this time for her ribs. She took a step back and kicked high, missing intentionally then recoiling her leg around his neck and jumping to swing behind him. She wrapped her legs around his chest and barred her arm around his neck. She swung the rest of her weight backwards trying to drop him to the floor. It was over. She wouldn’t kill him, but a little oxygen deprivation should keep him down.

 

Kishibe didn’t budge. He calmly walked towards the center of the room as Reze strained, applying as much pressure as she could manage to his throat and lungs. “Are you done?” Kishibe asked, unfazed. Reze’s eyes filled with panic.

 

“Ah shit.” she uttered, before being grabbed by her arms and thrown several feet away onto her back. Her breath escaped her lungs with the impact, causing her to gasp for air as she pulled herself back up. The pain by her lungs was intense, definitely a few cracked ribs, maybe a lung puncture. Kishibe kneeled to grab his jacket and flask and assumed the same position he was in before their fight started. 

“As you can see, experience is tantamount to success. However, you need to learn. You have to want that knowledge. You have to crave it. Anything less and you’ll be like the rest of the corpses in the Public Safety graveyard.”

 

Kishibe retrieved an opaque bottle from his coat and shoved it into Reze’s hands.

“Its got blood and water. Can’t have you dying on your first day, can we?”

 

Lesson learned. Don’t underestimate the old man.

 

===============================================================

 

Having recovered and regenerated the bones Kishibe had shattered, Reze followed him towards their next stop of the day. 

 

“This is the least glamorous part of our day, uniforms.” he said with some bitterness. 

 

He opened the door for her and inside that room was what seemed like the most uninteresting clothing store ever conceived. Rows of black pants, white dress shirts, black ties, and surprisingly, a small collection of various sneakers. Reze sighed in disappointment. Something about the uniforms pricked at her mind, she couldn’t rationalize it but they made her nauseous. She stepped towards the counter where an older balding man was solving a puzzle in today's newspaper. 

“Find your size and take five of everything, except shoes. You get one pair of those until they wear out.” He said, uninterested in breaking his focus. 

 

Not happening.

 

Reze perked up and wore her practiced smile before leaning on the counter and gently sliding the newspaper to the side.

“I was actually hoping you could take a special order! I know it's not exactly the standard, but it would really help me a bunch!” she asked with a flirty yet innocent pout.

 

The man’s face turned pink as he slowly turned away to grab a notepad.

“Fine, what do you want?”

Reze beamed as she described her perfect outfit.

“The dress shirts are fine, but I want some ribbons instead of ties. I also want some high waisted formal shorts and some sheer tights, and I’m not much for sneakers, so some ankle boots with zippers would be nice too!”

 

“And the coat?” asked Kishibe, clearly uncomfortable with what was unfolding before him.

 

Reze’s eyes widened and her smile grew even brighter.
“Oh yeah! I’m not much for coats, but I’d LOVE one of those cloaks that sort of just hangs off of your shoulders! I think it's called a capelet? You’re the best!”

 

The tailor clearly looked baffled at his own writing. With a sigh, he continued.

“I guess let's take your measurements real quick…”

 

Reze gave Kishibe a smug grin before walking away to get measured.

 

He sighed and raised his flask to his lips.

“Why do I always get the problem children?”

 

===============================================================

 

Reze and Kishibe sat on a bench outside the building, having finally escaped the bureaucratic nightmare of meetings and registration forms. Reze was beginning to feel the exhaustion, she had expected more in the way of learning how to hunt Devils but the most strained part of her body was unfortunately becoming her eyes after reading and signing stacks of paperwork. The sun was setting, and her stomach was beginning to grumble. 

 

“Is there any food around here that you’d recommend?” she asked, exasperated. 

 

Kishibe pulled a 2000-yen note out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

“There’s a sandwich place around the corner, get me a tonkotsu sando and spend the rest however you’d like.”

 

Dangerous game you’re playing. You’re letting me out of your sight, you know.

 

“Don’t even think about it.” he uttered.

 

Reze smiled, she knew it was pointless anyway. He proved that earlier.

 

Two tonkotsu sandos and a pair of UCC Coffee’s later, they sat in comfortable silence. Reze questioned if this was going to be her normal life now. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t forever. She wondered about that. Maybe now was a good time to ask. 

 

“...part of the deal was that you’d release me when I’m done. What does that mean? What’s the goal here?”

 

“It's your first day and you’re giving me a headache.” Kishibe uttered spitefully.

 

“And you’re sure it's not a hangover?” teased Reze with a smile.

 

Kishibe drew a long sigh and released, watching his breath fog up in the early November air. 

“We have a situation that we haven’t exactly found a solution for yet. Two really, but I don’t think I need you for both. The first is probably not going to be your problem, unless we're still understaffed; we have what seems like a serial killer out on the loose, but here’s the kicker: they’re hunting Devils. Public Safety officers keep getting knocked out, and when they wake up, the Devils they were chasing are reduced to mincemeat. No chance of it being private sector either, no one’s claiming the rewards for these.”

 

“That is kinda weird huh? But isn’t it a good thing?” she asked curiously.

 

He stared at the headquarters building wistfully. 

“You’d think that, but there’s reckless endangerment of civilians involved and it robs us of a chance to capture some of them for contracting. It also doesn’t help that it’s making Public Safety look inept, considering they keep getting knocked out without ever seeing the guy. Anyway, the real problem I need you to help with is the opposite. We have a serial killer hunting Public Safety officers. One of the victims managed to survive long enough to whisper something that sounded a lot like ‘Echo Devil’. We’re still scratching our heads on that one, we have no record of an Echo Devil but regardless, we have our people dying when we’re already understaffed. Considering the zero-percent survival rate, we need someone who can take a beating and deliver one. That’s where you come in.”

 

Reze idly toyed with the pin on her neck. It had been a long time since she had last pulled it, and now she didn't quite feel comfortable about the idea. She wondered if she ever would again. 

 

I doubt people have a short enough memory to forget about the Bomb Devil. I can’t use it until I have to. It hurts anyway, and I’ve got enough training to deal with most things without transforming anyway. Right?

 

Reze pulled her jacket closed, anxiety beginning to well up in her. She felt a headache creeping in. The image of the Makima dodging her knife effortlessly began flooding her vision. She felt sick. Something was stirring in her memory. She needed to get away.

“I think I need to go back inside. I’ll see you tomorrow Captain.” 

 

Kishibe gave her a lazy wave as she returned to the building.

 

===============================================================

 

Reze slammed her door closed, something was wrong. She collapsed onto her bed as her heart accelerated, her head pounding more intensely. Her mind began to wander towards a memory, faint at first, but slowly it came into focus. The spear, the pool of blood, the flowers, the boy. She watched her death repeat in her mind. She felt the stabbing pain in her heart, the concrete on her skull, the blood surrounding her body. It was vivid, it was real. 

Again. The blood, the flowers, the boy. 

Again. The blood, the flowers, the boy. 

Again. The blood, the flowers, the boy.

 

She trembled as she gripped the covers tight, biting into her pillow as the memory became too vivid to bear, too agonizing to ignore.

 

The blood, the flowers, the boy.

===============================================================

 

The wind whipped around him, blowing Denji’s hair towards his back as he stared down at the lights of the city. He had established a hideaway of sorts on the roof of an abandoned office building in Shibuya, and it was there that he sat waiting. Soon enough, another call would come in. They always did. He bit into the red bean bun he had bought from the nearby Lawson, delighting in the warm sweetness. This was his new routine. Eat some snacks, steal a hunt, eat a late dinner, then pass out before the sun rises. He had been at this for weeks now. There was almost always some sort of hunt in the night, almost always more of a nuisance than a threat. Still, that was easy prey if nothing else. Denji sighed. He had been waiting for hours, but unfortunately the city seemed safe tonight. 

 

Hey Pochita, why do you think I’m doing this?  

 

Silence, no response. It was exactly what he expected, he knew deep inside that this wasn’t what Pochita wanted for him. Denji began picking up his food wrappers and the empty bottles, when the radio began receiving a new transmission. His ears perked up immediately as he dropped his trash back onto the floor.

 

“Section 2, reporting in. We have eyes on some kind of ape or monkey Devil, it’s running, er-swinging through Harajuku headed towards Shinjuku. Its fast! Requesting reinforcements!”

 

Coming right up!

 

Denji stepped off the roof as he pulled his ripcord, deploying loose chains onto adjacent rooftops and slingshotting himself across the city towards Shinjuku. It was the first night of December now and the city was slowly lighting up with strings of small colorful lights. It was a lovely sight, especially from high above, where the cold air sliced into Denji’s skin. He sensed the pain, but it felt dull. Most things felt dull now. Even the city glowing brightly felt like it was being robbed of color. 

 

In the distance, Denji saw it, the puffs of concrete dust erupting from the alleyways. He dove down and began pushing off buildings and kicking off ledges, shooting himself towards the Devil. His blood began to pump, color began returning to the world. This one should be free, it's too fast for them. He landed on the rooftop in front of its path, aiming to cut it off, only for the creature to launch itself above Denji. He took a good look at the beast as it sailed above and past him, its golden fur and pink flesh reflecting the shine of the city lights. Denji began sprinting, determined to catch this thing before any backup could ruin his plans. The ape was faster, but Denji had been getting craftier. He launched chains repeatedly at the Devil, until finally one of them snagged its foot. 

 

“WOOOOOOOOO!” Denji exclaimed as he used the blades on his feet to ski across the rooftops. Meter by meter, he retracted the chains, inching closer to striking range. Finally, he impaled his blades into the floor, launching him forward and onto the back of the ape as he cleaved into its flanks spraying indigo blood across the rooftops. The Devil began to lose its speed, opting to swipe at Denji before it continued forward. 

 

You’re not fast enough to stop me! Denji’s always on top! 

 

Denji sawed into the palms that aimed to crush him, causing the ape to roar intensely.  It had stopped running entirely, it was time to fight. The beast turned and flung itself onto its back, landing hard on top of Denji and crushing him into the building. He coughed out a dry bloody heave, then revved his saws, cutting a hole below him and escaping inside.

This thing won’t die! I’m running out of time, without this idiot running around, those Public Safety clowns are gonna catch up quick. Time to speed this up!

 

Denji leapt out of a window and swung from the edge, stabbing his blade into the wall and leaping upwards. The ape was panting, but upon seeing Chainsaw Man diving towards it, it leaped off in the direction of a nearby park. It trotted as fast as it could, colliding with traffic and bystanders all the same. Denji kicked off the building and chased. He was close, this was almost over. He leaped into the air one last time and impaled his blades into the spine of the ape, causing it to finally collapse onto the grass of the park. Denji struggled to catch his breath as he walked towards the neck of the creature, preparing to put it out of its misery. He revved his blades and lifted his arm high, when suddenly he was launched off of the beast by a high velocity impact to his metal skull. 

 

Shit! Did I just get shot? Ugh, at least my head can take it, but the world’s really spinning now…

 

Before he could regain his footing, flashlights began filling the area and people in suits surrounded him and the Ape Devil. Backup was here. His window of escape was closing rapidly, he tried to sprint past the weakest looking group before getting another bullet to the head. His head reverberated, he wasn’t going to make it out at this rate. He stood back up, watching a small group of 3 approaching him calmly. He was still dizzy, he was going to have no choice but to threaten them. He revved the blade in his arm and thrust it forward, only stopping it inches away from the face of a girl who didn’t even blink in response. Entirely unphased, she smiled and stared at him with her deep green eyes.

“I had a feeling it would be you, Denji-kun.”

 

Denji stood paralyzed as his transformation melted off of him. It had been almost half a year, and before him stood a face he never expected to see again. He was sure that she had left everything behind, moved on to a new life. But here she was, more beautiful than ever,  approaching him calmly.

“...Reze?”

 

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she approached him, smiling sweetly, her cheeks flushed a gentle pink. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.

“...Sorry I’m late, I guess I missed my chance for that bouquet huh?”

 

Denji’s heart sank. 

 

How did she know about the bouquet? 

Wait, she's back? Then why didn’t she come see me? 

Where has she been all this time?

 

Reze tucked her head gently onto his shoulder, her breath warming his neck.

“I have a lot to say, but for now, this is the only thing I want.”

 

He didn’t have time to think any more as she softly placed her hands on his face, the sweet expression she wore fading into uncertainty. She gently pulled him in with a tender kiss. Her tongue danced softly across his, she tasted just like he remembered, like soft wisps of sugar and coffee. Why was this happening now? Why was she with Public Safe-

 

A sickening crack filled his ears. 

 

Denji’s limp body collapsed onto the grass, his neck bent at an extreme angle. 

“..again? Why..?”

 

Reze crouched by his head and ran her fingers through his hair, the sadness in her eyes betraying the forced smile she wore. 

“You know Denji-kun, I tried to teach you this lesson back on the beach. I guess I'll have to spell it out for you this time; you really shouldn’t trust every pretty girl that gives you attention.”

Notes:

It's funny, I didn't expect to be releasing stuff so quickly but this is sort of just writing itself in my head while I do other things. Still won't guarantee that I can keep that pace, my irl life is fairly busy, especially with the holidays coming up. I'd like to have one more chapter out before the year ends, so hopefully that works out. Also something about this chapter feels off to me, so I'll probably be editing details here and there, but the story won't change at all.

Edit: Just clearing up a bit of an unclear detail; the Reze side and the Denji side have about a month of time between them, hence the whole Autumn and Winter thing. Hope that clears up some of the questions about Reze's behavior.

Chapter 4: Echoes: Act 1

Notes:

I'll end up adding it to the notes at the end of last chapter since I wasn't obvious enough in the text, but the Denji and Reze sides of last chapter have about a one month gap between them, hence the whole Autumn and Winter title and descriptions. I hope that clears up any confusion about Reze's behavior at the end of that one.

Kishibe generally only cared about results, but he wanted to question all the things that led him to sitting in an armored transport with Denji, of all people. Denji had been bound and his arms secured inside specialized iron cylinders, he wouldn’t be pulling that cord anytime soon. This containment method was one of Kishibe's newer experiments; he figured hybrids would be much more manageable if they couldn’t trigger their transformations. Watching Denji struggle fruitlessly brought a satisfied smile onto his face. 

 

Kishibe nudged Denji with his foot. 

“Once we get to HQ, everything's going on record. We have a 15 minute gap here, if there's anything you want to say to me, now's the time.”

 

Denji gave up his struggle with the restraints and laid back against the seat. 

“I've got nothing to say to you, sensei.”

 

Kishibe swirled his flask for a minute, staring daggers into Denji's eyes. 

“Fine. Suit yourself, you'll be answering questions one way or another back at the precinct.” 

 

Denji hung his head. 

“Using Reze was low, even for you.” 

 

Kishibe's ears perked up. 

“Funny, she wasn't even supposed to be here. I had her investigating a case by the Metropolitan Government Building. The call for backup came in, and her squad happened to be the closest. I knew you both destroyed a hearty chunk of the city together, but I didn’t know you too had history. You gonna tell me what that’s about?”

 

Denji leaned back and stuck his tongue out. 

“As if I'd tell you, dumbass! What's she doing with Public Safety anyway? I thought she escaped. ” 

 

“That's classified. She's remarkably effective though, I can say that much. In one month she’s closed more cases than some of my veteran hunters close in a year. It's like having you and Aki in one package, except she actually listens to my orders.” 

 

Denji trembled at the mention of Aki. 

 

He would probably hate what I'm doing right now. He'd probably ask me if I was stupid enough to put down, hell, he'd probably chase me around every night and hack me to pieces himself. 

 

Kishibe took a sip from his flask and continued. 

“You've caused a lot of trouble kid, a lot of people got hurt here. Like it or not, you're going to have to answer for that.” 

 

Denji grit his sharp teeth. 

“I also stopped a lot of people from getting hurt, some of those things were real dangerous!”

 

“You know better than that. There's a reason we evacuate people and seal off buildings. That Ape Devil alone crashed through a dozen cars and stomped on a few people outside the park before you brought him down.” chided Kishibe. 

 

Denji turned his head away, he knew Kishibe was right before his mouth even opened. He was well aware that this whole thing was a mistake. Selfishness hadn’t really been a factor in his life until now, but this was extreme. This entire hunting spree was for his own satisfaction and nothing more, he hadn’t considered anyone else’s safety, honestly he barely even considered his own. The thrill of the hunt was the only thing that mattered. 

 

Kishibe relaxed back into his seat and exhaled a long breath.

“I gave you an out, you should’ve taken it and run as far away from all of this as you could. Now we’re going to have to contend with people that are going to want you-”

 

Suddenly, an impact. 

 

The truck began spinning violently, flinging Denji and Kishibe into the divider that separated the driver’s cabin and the rear. Kishibe knocked on the divider and yelled.

“What the hell was that? What happened?”

 

No response from the front. Kishibe pulled himself up and peeked into the small window that looked into the cabin, both officers were out cold. He reached for his radio and called in.

“Status report! What hit us?”

 

The only response the radio gave was static. He placed the radio in the pocket of his jacket and stood back up, right before a second impact struck and spun the truck once again. 

 

Denji tried standing, fighting through the daze and concussion. They needed to get out of this truck, and soon. He yelled and charged at the rear door with his shoulder, the impact only shaking the door a bit. Kishibe stood up and delivered a charged kick at the door as well, this time forming a dent, but not an opening. The sounds of car impacts from outside were coming closer, time was running out. Kishibe was preparing another kick when a crowbar pierced between the armored doors, forcing them open a few inches. Kishibe didn't miss his opportunity and flung one last kick, bursting the rear of the truck wide open. Standing there, a wide cut over her eye and a streak of wiped blood from the corner of her mouth, stood Reze. Her uniform was bloodstained and torn, her hands bleeding and burnt. 

“Nap time's over boys, rise and shine..!” she joked with a pained smile, her chest heaving as she caught her breath.

 

Kishibe pulled her inside and sat her on the seat, pulling the bottle of blood and water from his coat before handing it to her. 

“Threat assessment, and a Situation Report. ”

 

Reze downed the bottle, her wounds were beginning to seal slowly. Her voice was exasperated as she delivered her report.

“Definitely Devil, can't confirm if it's just one though. I'd guess at least two, there's too much going on for it to just be a single enemy. It's got some kind of either invisibility or telekinesis, it strikes without telegraphing anything. There's also some kind of fog obscuring everything around us, likely a second Devil.” 

 

She took a deep breath as explosions were beginning to go off in the distance. 

“My team is injured but alive, I dragged them into a metro station down the street. Amada's squad is lost, as far as I can tell. I saw what's left of their car smashed into the third floor of a building…I couldn’t get a good look at the rest though.”

 

Kishibe stared at the chaos outside mournfully.

“...these kids were barely here for a month.”

 

Reze stood up shakily and took off her capelet.

“Captain, permission to go all-out.”

 

“Granted. Acceptable civilian casualties zero, acceptable collateral damage low and contained.” answered Kishibe without turning away from his view.

 

“I’m also taking him. I need the scales tipped in our favor.”

Reze said, turning towards Denji.

 

Kishibe stood silent for a moment before grunting affirmatively. 

“Fine. Denji, you’re coming back with us, like it or not. If you run, I’ll hunt you and I’ll store your corpse in a cold locker until I grow an ounce of pity for you.”

 

Denji scowled, but nodded.

 

Reze walked over and knelt in front of him. 

 

Denji instinctively recoiled away.

“Stay away from my neck, you don’t have that privilege anymore! What’s your deal anyway? It was already hard enough to understand you the first time, I don’t even know where to start with you now!”

 

Reze’s eyes turned away, her face stiffening. She leaned in close to Denji’s ear and whispered.

“I know… I owe you a lot of answers. Let’s deal with this first, then… we’ll have all the time in the world, I promise. I’m sorry about your neck, it was the safest way I could think of to capture you. I know it’s hard for you to trust me right now-”

 

“Well to be fair, you literally told me to stop trusting pretty girls who show me affection!” Denji interjected.

 

Reze’s bloodied mouth broke into a small grin.

“Attention, but sure, that too. I did what I had to Denji, there are things I’m bound to right now and I just have to play with the hand I’ve been dealt.”

 

She paused for a moment, leaning her head on Denji’s. He turned his head and reluctantly leaned on hers too. He needed to know.

“Was that kiss part of your plan too?”

 

“...No, I’ve just been waiting for that for a very long time… too long.”

 

An explosion detonated and shook the truck. It was now or never.

 

Reze slid her hand under Denji’s shirt and hooked her finger onto the cord in his chest. Her other hand wrapped itself around the pin on her neck. She turned and gently left a kiss on his lips, an apologetic smile forming on her face.

“One more for good luck.”

 

She pulled the pin and the cord.

 

===============================================================

 

The truck burst open as Kishibe emerged, knife and pistol in hand. The roar of chainsaws erupted behind him as the Bomb Girl and the Chainsaw Man emerged from behind. The truck had been struck by a sedan, its occupants no longer alive enough to complain about the damage. It was hard to tell, but it seemed they were somewhere in Shibuya; there was a blanket of strange silvery fog obscuring their view of the buildings, but their familiar neon signs still glowed distantly.

 

“Be careful, I was dead serious about this thing striking from out of nowhere.” Reze warned them.

 

Kishibe took a deep breath, there was a faint smell of something rotten in the wind.

“Definitely Devil. It may be invisible but it still reeks like the rest of ‘em.”

 

The fog suddenly parted as a car flew towards Denji, his saws slicing it at the last second.

“The hell? Reze, get some air and try and see where that came from-”

 

An impact suddenly struck Denji and shot him backwards. Reze and Kishibe watched it happen, but couldn’t understand where the blow came from. There was no projectile, no object that collided with him. 

 

Reze detonated the ground beneath her, launching her high above the fog. Her eyes scanned the street they had been in, but there was nothing; there wasn’t even any displacement in the fog. That was when she noticed a manhole spinning towards her rapidly. She primed her punch and knocked it away, watching as it exploded in the distance. 

 

But where did it come from?

 

She didn’t have time to continue that thought as an invisible impact crushed her ribs. If she didn’t know any better, it felt like that manhole from before. She dropped from the sky, her breath drained from lungs. As her body impacted on a crashed car, she felt the shattering of bones in her spine. The feeling of her lower half left her senses. 

 

Off to a good start, at least these dead folks won’t mind me taking a sip of their blood.

 

She pulled herself through the window of the car and sunk her jagged teeth into the neck of the closest victim.

 

Kishibe was alone now, he lit a cigarette and put his knife away. 

“You’re after me, aren’t you?”

 

The stillness in the fog parted, and a tall lithe man in a tattered suit walked through the gap. His messy black hair shrouded his bespectacled face, his glasses cracked on one side. Through the tatters, his arms were streaked with perfect gridlike cuts, dripping blood on the street as he walked. 

“What makes you say that, Captain?”

 

Kishibe raised his gun.

“Because the only people that seem to die like this belong to Public Safety. Why?”

 

The man put his left hand on his right bicep, and raised his hand upwards. He closed his fist and another line was cut through the suit and into his arm.

“Overture.”

 

From above, one of the neon signs tore off of a building and began soaring towards Kishibe. He leapt, planting his foot on it to jump as it narrowly missed him. As he fell, he took aim and fired his pistol at the man. The man dodged while moving unnaturally, like his movements didn’t match the weight distribution of a human body.

 

Kishibe reached for his knife and dashed towards him. The man smiled and raised his left arm, closing his fist again. A new slice appeared in his arm through his clothes.

“Reprise.”

 

Kishibe felt the impact of something invisible strike his legs, knocking him into an uncontrolled roll towards his target. 

 

Cocky little asshole. I think I get your little game now.

 

Kishibe struggled to get back up as the man closed in on him. He raised his gun, only for the stranger to kick it out of his hand. Kishibe shot a punch out towards him, impacting the man’s chest.

 

That should do it.

 

The man staggered backwards but recovered and stepped forward once more. 

 

Kishibe grunted.

“The organs of any normal person would’ve burst from that. What are you?”

 

The man laughed, amused by the question.

“I’m the sum of the many sins placed upon me by others. It’s only right that I reciprocate, no?”

The stranger rushed forward, drawing a knife of his own and leaping towards Kishibe. Then suddenly, he was kicked aside, replaced by the boy with the chainsaws.

“Oi, oi, oi! Hands off the old man! I’ve still got business with him, creep!”

 

The strange man picked himself back up and raised his arm. Before he could close his fist, the ground beneath him began to glow a hot red before exploding, knocking him back into the fog. Denji chased after him, fruitlessly seeking any glimpse of his shape in the mist.

 

“He’s heading to your right!” yelled Reze from above.

 

Denji pivoted and launched himself right, towards an alley, the fog was beginning to disperse now. There was a trail of blood, he was getting close. Denji sprinted, but the trail was growing fainter the further he went. By the time the trail had faded entirely, the fog had fully dissipated. 

“UGH! You filthy rat!” he exclaimed, punching a wall.

 

===============================================================

 

The three of them sat in the medical wing of the Public Safety HQ, their faces still stern, still full of adrenaline.

 

“What the hell was that guy?!” exclaimed Denji.

 

Kishibe groaned as he stretched his legs across the hospital bed.

“Whatever he is, his body isn’t human. At least not anymore.”

 

Reze sat quietly with her leg crossed over the other, sipping on a fresh cup of coffee as her eyes stared at the empty space in the room. Something was beginning to click in her mind. Denji glanced at her, it was his first time seeing her so focused on something that didn’t involve killing him. Reze suddenly stood up, spilling a bit of coffee onto the floor.

“The Echo Devil. I think I get it now.”

 

Kishibe and Denji met her eyes. She walked over to a desk and grabbed a pair of pens and began motioning one of the pens moving forward, then pausing, then the second one following the same path, then stopping. Denji and Kishibe looked at each other, then back at her. She looked at Kishibe and asked.

“How many times did your truck get hit?”

 

“Twice, both from the same side.” he answered, beginning to piece it together.

 

“Yet somehow, there was only one car that crashed into it, right?” she continued.

 

“I see, clever little prick.” Kishibe quipped.

 

“I don’t get it, what am I missing here?” Denji asked with a tilt of his head.

 

Reze repeated the pen demonstration, narrating it this time.

“The first blow came from the car actually hitting the truck, right? The second one had no evidence of a second car for the impact. That’s because there was no second car, just an echo of the impact. It happened to me too, I deflected something that got thrown at me and a moment later, it felt like that exact object struck my ribs.”

 

Denji stood up quickly.

“Then the car I sliced, that’s what hit me!”

 

Kishibe sat up from his bed.

“Exactly. He can repeat the action and impact of anything he throws. It's not too complicated once you think about it, but countering that is gonna be a pain in the ass.”

 

“How do you want to proceed, Captain?” asked Reze.

 

Kishibe let out a slow breath and laid back down.

“Its not like we have much to go off of right now. We know how he fights, but not what or who he is. He gave me a clue, sort of. I’ll look into it when I get out of here, but for now you can take some time off Reze.”

 

Kishibe shifted his gaze towards Denji.

“Normally this is the part where I’d ask you to go stay in a holding cell until we have to deal with you. Unfortunately though…” 

 

Kishibe sat up once more and reached for his smokes.

“You saved my ass this time. I’m not letting you off the hook, but you’re free to do whatever you want for a couple of days. If you try to run away, you already know what’s gonna happen.” he said, lighting his cigarette. 

 

He eyed the two of them one last time.

“Also, I don’t know what the history is with you two, but I need you to deal with it and move on. If we're going to take this guy down, I need you both focused on the task at hand. Figure it out."

 

They politely bowed and left the room. 

The hallway was quiet and empty as Reze reached for Denji’s hand and led him to the nearest break room. She closed the door, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. She pressed her head to his chest, listening to the accelerating rhythm of his heart. Denji hesitated, but reluctantly embraced her, gently placing his chin on her head.

 

…she'd better have a good explanation. Why does she think she can just show back up in my life and act like our summer never ended? Like she didn't leave me behind? 

 

…why does this still feel so right?

 

They stood in silence for a long while, the stillness feeling strangely comfortable. Finally, Reze looked up at him with a smile and small tears forming in her eyes, and she whispered.
“I finally made it back to you..!”

Notes:

I'm also apparently a filthy liar, I keep getting inspired randomly and a new chapter just keeps popping out every couple of days, so there goes that once a week idea I posted earlier. Whatever, if the pace slows down, don't kill me! I don't like writing for the sake of just finishing something, so it'll happen when it happens.

Chapter 5: The Blood, the Flowers, the Boy

“...I don't get you.” muttered Denji, his voice wavering as he pulled his arms away from Reze. 

Reze took a step backwards, hanging her head as she wiped her eyes dry with her sleeve. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't muster the words. Denji deserved answers, but she didn't even know where to start; he wasn't the boy she had left on the beach anymore, and she had become something she barely recognized as well. 

Denji interrupted the silence, his voice shaking as he tried to articulate his feelings.

“First you made me fall for you, then you tried to kill me. I waited for you in the café, and you abandoned me. You show back up, give me the best kiss I've ever had, then you snap my neck. You capture me, and now you're here telling me that you ‘finally made it back to me’?”

Reze's mind grew more erratic, her thoughts becoming increasingly disorganized as her guilt began getting the better of her. She nervously reached out to grab Denji's hand, but hesitated as he took a step back. 

“Denji, I can explain, I just need time to-” 

“Which is it? Do you want me dead, or do you love me? That's the only thing I want to know, Reze.” Denji somberly interjected. 

Reze raised her head and took a deep breath. She felt the heat of her cheeks beginning to flush as she met his eyes, her conviction finally settling in. 

“...it's always been love, Denji. I only tried to kill you because I had to, and even then, it was only after I got hurt expecting you to love me too. I promised myself that if you ran away with me, I'd leave everything behind and I'd keep you safe… that's the ending I wanted… but you weren't ready yet.”

The door to the break room swung open as a pair of suited hunters came in and greeted Reze with a wave before taking seats at the other end of the room. Reze averted her gaze away from Denji. 

“Let's do this somewhere else.”

============================================================

The pair wandered aimlessly through the night, searching for somewhere they could peacefully talk in private. The mood had simmered down and they eventually settled on Yoyogi Park in Shibuya. They stopped to buy some hot coffee and began strolling among the rows of Ginkgo trees, illuminated by the strings of holiday lights that hung from their tall, leafy limbs. 

I bet this is beautiful in the daytime too… 

Reze thought, idly running her fingers across the yellowing leaves.

 

 

Denji pointed at a bench by the lakeside, shrugging a question at her. She nodded and they sat, watching the still reflection of the lights across the water, like a sea of stars laid out before them in the cold December night. 

Denji took a sip of his coffee, grimacing for a moment before savoring the heat. 

“I thought you hated coffee.” Reze quipped, sipping her own coffee joyfully. 

Denji took another displeased sip and answered. 

“...it's complicated.”

Reze gave him a smug smile before nudging him with her elbow. 

“Is it because it reminds you of me? Or maybe it reminds you of all the messing around we did at the café?”

Denji turned away slowly and pulled his scarf over his cheeks as they began to blush. 

Reze quickly realized that her teasing might have been a little too accurate. 

“...wait, I'm sorry, I was just messing around; I wasn't trying to make fun of you or anything…”

Denji glanced at her from the edge of his view. 

“...yeah coffee reminds me of you. I guess I don't hate it, but I don't really like the taste unless I load it with sugar and milk.”

Reze gently placed her fingertips at the edge of Denji's hand. She expected him to pull away, but instead he inched his hand just a bit closer. 

“Wait a second, I didn't see you put any milk in yours, Why?” asked Reze. 

Denji turned towards her, his face still flushed pink. 

“...because otherwise it wouldn't taste like you.”

This time it was Reze's turn to turn away bashfully. 

…I guess we never did figure out what we were to each other, did we?

Reze realized that she needed to clear things up before they got worse. She didn't know where to start, but she needed to figure it out, now. She wasn't sure how many more chances she'd have before he loses his trust and faith in her.  An intrusive thought began crawling into the forefront of her mind. 

…any freedom Kishibe is offering means nothing if Denji isn't with me. 

She recoiled at that. It was selfish. It was possessive. It was absolutely immature, and especially shortsighted. The embarrassment of placing that much value on someone she didn't even have a chance to truly love was fracturing any sense of self-worth she had built up in the last month. Nevertheless, it's what she was feeling at that moment. 

She raised her head and locked her gaze on his almond-hued eyes. No turning back now. 

“...I'm sorry, Denji. There's so much I need to tell you, and I don't know where to start.”

Denji broke the stare and took a sip of his coffee. 

“How did you know about the bouquet?”

The now-familiar anxiety began scratching at her nerves, the wound on her heart began to ache and burn. Her breath grew heavier, her vision blurred. She put her coffee down on the grass and grabbed Denji's arm, holding tightly as she began hyperventilating and her tears began to stream down her face. 

The blood, the flowers, the boy. 

This time the boy was here at her side, however. 

Denji realized something was horribly wrong, he had never seen her this scared, this panicked. He pulled her in close and wrapped his scarf around them both. Reze clutched his jacket and squeezed it tight, as if she was in immense pain. She pressed her face into Denji's chest and sobbed, trembling as if her entire nervous system was retaliating against her memories. Denji could only hold her and stroke her hair gently, hoping that his comforting could wear down this nightmare. 

===============================================================

Reze nestled her exhausted face into the curve of Denji's shoulder. His hesitation had worn down and his doubts were fading as he held her close. For the first time in Denji's memory, Reze felt so small, so frail. He had seen her fight more fiercely than most Devils, but in this moment he was reminded that she was just like him. Beneath the weapons they wielded, they were both just teenagers that the world had taken advantage of and discarded. Reze was still shaking, but her sobbing had finally ceased. 

“...you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. If it hurts, we can just put it away and never open that box again. It's not like I need to know, we can just find a way to start over or something…” Denji reassured her as he softly wiped a tear from her cheek. 

Reze wiped the rest of her face with the sleeve of her jacket, then wrapped her arms around Denji's neck before laying her head back in the spot next to his neck. 

“That's sweet of you, but I can't do that Denji. It's precisely because it hurts like this that I need you to know.”

Denji reluctantly nodded, his face twisted with worry. 

She took a deep breath, watching the fog from her exhalation cloud the starry reflection on the water. 

“I ran away, Denji. When I left you on the beach, I really did try to run away. I even made it to the train, headed for the countryside.”

Denji lowered his head, his heart aching at his fears being justified. 

Reze nuzzled his neck for a moment, reassuring him. 

“I couldn't do it. I watched the train leave without me. I knew you were waiting and I knew that maybe, just this once, you chose me over your life in Tokyo. I also knew that Makima was holding your leash... and I was fully aware that she doesn't let her pets leave her sight.”

Denji tensed up at hearing that name. He had disposed of her himself, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was still watching. Still guiding his every move, limiting his world to whatever she deemed correct. He knew it was irrational, he had seen to her destruction firsthand. But those eyes he saw in his dreams, the feeling of being watched in his waking hours. It never went away. 

“...what did she do, Reze?”

Her shaking had stopped, but her body felt heavy, she had expended more energy than she had left after that encounter earlier in the evening. Reze couldn't stop here though, she needed to see this through. With a warm breath exhaling onto Denji's neck, she continued. 

“...she killed me, Denji. I turned around at the train station, and I ran to you. I took every shortcut I knew, I had the route memorized so clearly, but time was never the problem. She was always going to stop me in the alley in front of the café. She cut my arm off before I could pull my pin, and before I knew it, someone had thrown a spear through my heart. She held me as I bled out and she placed me down, making sure I could see that beautiful bouquet in the window with you sitting next to it.”

A soft sob escaped her mouth as she tightened her embrace.

 “I'm sorry I couldn't make it that day, I tried, I tried so hard..!”

Denji sighed. It made sense, it sounded exactly like something Makima would’ve done. She wouldn’t have allowed Reze to take him away, not without a contingency in place. 

Maybe we’re better off like this, if Makima had let her stay then Reze might’ve gotten killed off for good if it meant hurting me more and voiding my contract with Pochita.  I wouldn’t be here holding her like this. I would’ve gotten my neck snapped one less time though, which would’ve been kinda nice. Sensei would’ve captured me in a much less merciful way though, so maybe the whole broken neck thing isn’t so bad.

Denji smiled painfully at that thought, glad that Reze couldn’t peek at his face. He reached down for her coffee and brought it up to her, the warm fading aroma tickling her nose. She sniffled and took it, taking a long sip and placing the empty cup back on the bench.

“...I got rid of her, you know. It wasn’t just you that she took from me, she took it all.” Denji admitted, sheepishly.

Reze pulled away gently and rested her body on the back of the bench, leaning her head back onto Denji’s arm.

“...Do you want to talk about it?”

Denji thought about it for a moment, remembering the harrowing fates of his precious family.

“...Not really, but since we’re trying to figure…us out, it's something you oughta know.”

Reze reached for his hand, interweaving her fingers with his. 

Denji braced himself and let out a long, mournful sigh.

“Makima pulled me out of a miserable life, crazy I know. I used to be doing strange shit like selling my organs and doing weird odd jobs to pay off a debt that my old man had left behind when…he died. If you thought I had it bad in Public Safety, I can promise you that this was probably worse. I starved, I lived in a shack with Pochita, and there really wasn’t any hope for someone like me.”

“...who’s Pochita?” asked Reze.

Denji paused for a moment, then smiled.

“He’s someone very special to me. He’s my heart right now, the one you tried to take from me that one time. He’s the Chainsaw Devil, but I didn’t know that when I met him. I gave him some blood when I found him injured, and we sorta just became friends after that. I guess I can’t really show you now, but he looks kinda like a cute dog. ‘Cept the part where he has a little chainsaw coming out of his head.”

Reze sat up and looked at him with worry.

“...What contract does he have over you?”

Denji laughed for a moment, preparing for the absurd answer he was about to give.

“Funny you say that, because it’s not like any other contract I think I’ve ever seen. He wants to see my dreams. That’s it. I guess I just need to make my dreams come true or something, I don’t really know how else to put it.”

Reze stood there with her mouth agape, in disbelief that any Devil could possibly be that benevolent. 

Denji cleared his throat and continued.

“...anyway, Makima saved me from that life. She brought me here, to Tokyo, and she had me join Public Safety. I lived with a couple of other people that she had collected, and they sort of became the entire life that I had. I had a difficult, but kind older brother named Aki. I didn’t appreciate him as much as I should've, but I also didn’t know how little time I’d have left with him… He ended up possessed by what was left of the Gun Devil and tried to kill me. I… there was nothing I could do except put him down. There was also a fiend with us, the Blood Devil in a human body; her name was Power. She was a messy, narcissistic, pathological liar, but she was… like a little sister. She was trouble, a real handful, but… she was my family too. Makima took her out personally… in front of me. In the end, Power was sort of what let me kill Makima, so at least she got her revenge.”

Reze pulled her legs to her chest as she stared at the flickering lights in the water. 

I knew Denji had it bad, but… not like this. He really did lose… everything.

“...I’m sorry, that’s… awful.” she whispered, squeezing his hand softly.

Denji smiled wistfully and squeezed back.

“Yeah, it's been pretty awful since then. Kishibe let me out of Public Safety after it was all over. At first, it seemed like a blessing. It gave me time to grieve and maybe put it all behind me. The thing is, when you have nothing to keep you busy, all you do is grieve. Everything in that apartment reminded me of them. I even still take care of Power’s cat, the poor thing probably has no idea that she’s gone too.”

Reze turned her puffy eyes and met his.

“Is that why you’ve been…”

Denji nodded.

“Nothing made the pain go away. I accidentally stumbled on a Devil that had killed a Public Safety guy, and I just sort of decided that I wanted to chop it up. I thought I was helping, but underneath that I think I just wanted to feel… something. When I destroyed that thing, I felt… I don’t know, something other than the pain. Maybe the adrenaline, maybe just a familiar feeling. I don’t really know, but what I did know was that it was better than being alone at home. I still pop in to feed the cat and clean up after it, but being out here… it's better.”

“I get it… I think.” Reze muttered.

“Your turn again, what’s with you and Public Safety?” Denji asked. 

Reze smiled weakly, leaning more of her body into his.

“It’s my only way out, Denji. Captain Kishibe was the one who brought me back to life, and he let me live as long as I helped him deal with a few things. If I complete my end of the deal, he makes the mistakes I’ve made… go away. Then I can walk away, free.”

“That’s awfully generous of that old geezer.” said Denji with a sarcastic smile.

Reze let out a small chuckle.

“He’s really not too bad once you get to know him, he’s really kind sometimes.”

Denji’s smile faded as he slowly pieced together what that agreement meant.

“...so then what, you capture me, kill that Echo asshole and then you leave again?”

Reze let out an exhausted sigh as she tried to piece together what she wanted to say.

“Catching you was just part of the job, I didn’t really even know it was you until today. I wasn’t even going to answer the backup call but… I don’t know, I had a feeling. Like I needed to be there, just in case it could’ve been you. Anyway, yeah that guy with the Echo Devil, that’s the last piece of my contract with Kishibe.”

Reze paused, her heart beginning to pound nervously.

“...I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after that. I could leave, just start a life somewhere far away from here, far from the Soviets… That was the plan before I ran into you again.”

Denji’s words caught in his throat, he had to know, but he was too scared to ask. He could only look at her, his eyes longing for her to stay.

Reze turned and fixed her gaze on him once more, her face stiffening with determination.

“...I won’t leave you behind this time. I’ll find a way to get Kishibe to let you go, and from there… I don’t know but we’ll figure it out together.”

She trembled a bit, her eyes beginning to water again.

“...You’re all I have left, Denji-kun. I can’t force you to come with me, but…”

Denji cupped her face with his hand and leaned in, his warm lips enveloping hers. Reze leaned in, hesitantly at first but with sudden desperation she reached for his head and pulled him in.

The remnant flavor of sweet coffee danced across Denji’s tongue before he pulled away and gave her his answer.

“...I’ve lost everything else, Reze. I thought I lost you too, and even now… I thought you were just playing games with me, maybe like Makima was or something. I… I think I understand now, I just… I don’t want to sit there and wallow in that apartment, stuck wishing that things were different..! I don’t want to be alone anymore..!”

Reze’s tears began to flow freely now, her mouth in a pained grimace.

“You won’t be, I won’t let you! Even if you get sick of me, I’ll still be there! I’ll drag you out, we’ll go on dates, or walks, anything! I’ll kill this stupid Devil and run back to you, I promise!”

Denji tried his best to hold his oncoming sobs back, but it was too much.

“Like hell I’m letting you do it by yourself! We’ll kill it, and then we can ride off into the sunset, or whatever!”

Reze gave him a tearful smile and held him close, the guilty weight that was crushing her heart finally beginning to give away.

===============================================================

Hand in hand, they followed the path out of the park. Denji was glad it was dark, his face must’ve been the most flushed it had ever been. 

“I guess you have to head back now, right?”

Reze squeezed his hand and leaned into his arm, her tired face melting away into a small smirk.

“The captain did say I could take some time off. Do you mind if I stay over tonight?”

Denji’s heart skipped a beat.

“I-if you really want to, sure.”

Reze’s mouth formed into that dangerously sweet smile that Denji had long since seared into his mind.

“No funny business though, you still owe me flowers. I want that bouquet I missed out on.”

Denji smiled, his thoughts beginning to calm back down.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Notes:

...finally. If you read the oneshot I posted a little bit ago, then some of this may feel a bit familiar; kill your darlings and all that, but at least I found some stuff I really liked in there that made its way into this chapter. I will now go to bed and agonize on whether this was a satisfying enough reunion. As always, thank you all for reading! I'm glad that people have found something valuable in my work, it really means a lot.