1
As I shoved the key into the keyhole and turned it, there was a crisp click. That meant the door had opened.
I went straight inside, opened the fridge first, and started putting away the heavy shopping bags in my hands.
Tofu and bean sprouts needed to be eaten right away, so they went in front. Sausages could wait a little longer, so they went slightly farther back. The lunch boxes had to be eaten tomorrow, so I put them somewhere easy to spot. Vegetables went in the vegetable drawer.
And the snacks...
"Hey, take the snacks!"
To that damn buddy.
When I yelled, one bastard crawled out from the living room.
"Oh~ Pocky, right?"
"Yeah. Hurry up and take it. I’ve got to cook."
At my words, he took the snacks and went back to the living room.
That bastard’s name was Galgari. A Violence Fiend. Also my new buddy.
You’re wondering if I beat the Violence Fiend to death? Yeah, I did. He just came back to life.
I have no idea how he revived. I can’t even remember my mother’s womb, so how the hell would I know about the hell where devils are born?
...Well, I can make a guess.
Apparently, when the old man went back to the abandoned factory to recover Arai’s body, Arai’s corpse was nowhere to be found, and that bastard was there instead.
Yeah. He was probably the Violence Devil occupying Arai’s body.
Of course, since Arai’s body was in such terrible shape, I couldn’t say for sure.
But considering there was something similar in the original story’s trivia wiki, the odds seemed extremely high.
Clack.
I closed the fridge door once I was done organizing, hung the shopping bag and my jacket on a nearby rack, then went deeper into the kitchen and grabbed a frying pan.
Then I peeled the sausage and onion I’d deliberately left out of the fridge, tossed them into the pan, and started stir-frying.
Galli-Galgari—I was calling him that because his name sounded weird—had already set everything up the way I’d told him earlier, so I could start cooking right away without any prep.
"Galli, what time is it?"
As I filled a side-dish container with food, I tossed out the question. Galli answered.
"Five. Two hours left until the newbie welcome party."
The newbie welcome party... the episode with [that] kiss scene... I’d ended up stepping into that episode too.
You’re asking if I planned to stop [that] kiss scene? ...Why would I? What a pain in the ass. Unless my brain had gone rotten and my instincts rejected it, I didn’t care.
I just wanted the fancy food paid for with Public Safety’s corporate card.
Anyway, if there were two hours left...
"Galli, go wash up. I’m going to finish making food for tomorrow."
"Okay~"
I poured beaten eggs into the pan.
At the same time, Galli came back and asked me,
"Gongja, aren’t you going to wash up?"
"Too much trouble."
Wow, I could see it... that disgusted expression. Even with a mask on, I could see it.
"You said you were going to seduce Makima."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Future told me at night."
That little shit, seriously.
I ended up burning the eggs while explaining myself.
@
In the end, I washed up. Galli was yelling that if I showed up reeking of sweat, I wouldn’t get invited to the next drinking party, and since he was right, I couldn’t exactly refuse.
The only problem was that I was about thirty minutes late because of it.
When I opened the door and stepped into the restaurant, the noisy racket started assaulting my ears.
Just as my ears, apparently masochists, were somehow enjoying the noise while I stood quietly at the entrance, one of the tables called out to us.
"Sorry. We didn’t mean to come this late..."
Galli and I bowed politely and apologized.
"It’s fine~ It’s fine! Hurry up and sit down and eat!"
Then Himeno shoved a drink at me and said that.
Thanks to her, we were able to blend into the gathering naturally.
The welcome party went smoothly. Well, in the original story, this wasn’t exactly a huge event... I mean, there weren’t any character deaths in this episode, so it made sense.
I happily accepted the drinks Himeno and the seniors kept handing me. By any reasonable standard, that probably wasn’t okay, but in the end, all the big incidents would be over in a year at most, and if Aki survived, I was planning to die anyway, so it didn’t really matter.
...Wait. But wasn’t this drinking party supposed to happen now because of something?
I didn’t know. Whatever. I’d drink first.
The food was delicious. Especially the karaage. That was insanely good.
Crispy batter, sweet-savory seasoning. It tasted a lot like the seasoned fried chicken my parents used to buy sometimes.
After I’d roughly eaten about three bowls of just karaage, someone came looking for me.
"Um, I... I’m lost..."
The woman was decently pretty.
"Kobeni-chan, Kobeni! Over here."
Kobeni-chan? Koben...
...Who was that again?
I was sure I knew who it was, but I couldn’t remember. ...No, I felt like I should know, but for some reason it just wouldn’t come to mind.
After thinking for a moment, I decided to empty my head and just keep eating and drinking. Today was a historic day—the day the old man’s training schedule had changed from every day to once every three days—so there was no need to strain my brain too hard.
I picked up my chopsticks and reached for the karaage... huh? Where’d it go?
I looked around, searching for the karaage. Where the hell had all that food gone?
And before long, I found it.
The karaage was inside Power’s arms.
"...."
"... I-I said all the karaage was mine, human!"
When I glared at her, Power flinched and said that.
"What are you talking about?"
I shook my head, ordered two draft beers and two more karaage portions, and ate and drank.
And then the film cut out.
2
"My name is Shin Gongjaaa!! The devil I contracted with is Futuureee!!!! The best... my age is... twenty-one..? How old was I again.."
After introducing himself after Kobeni, Gongja collapsed face-first onto the table.
"Puhahaha!! Gongja-kun, you’re wasted!!"
Himeno shouted with laughter. She didn’t realize that she was even more drunk herself.
"You’re the one who’s more drunk!!!!!!!!"
Gongja shouted at Himeno, then collapsed again.
-That human... I like him. Can I talk to him for a bit?
Meanwhile, the Fox Devil took a liking to Gongja and asked Aki that.
Aki ignored it.
Then, in the middle of all that.
"So I’m having my first kiss today."
"Kiss?"
"Huh??!"
"Makima-san~~!"
Makima arrived.
"Maki... that bitch— bwah! Mmph!"
"Hey. Keep your mouth shut, idiot."
Thanks to Galli, Gongja barely managed not to say something stupid.
He glared at Galli, who had clamped a strong hand over his mouth, then settled into a more comfortable position and, after downing another beer, started watching the original scene unfold.
'Right, now the kiss whatever scene is coming. I don’t know. I can’t remember it well... Still, this is more entertaining than I expected. There’s a big difference between seeing it in a drawing and seeing it in real life.'
But things went differently from Gongja’s expectations. Makima didn’t latch onto Denji’s use of the word "kiss" and just quietly drank her beer. For some reason, she was looking at Gongja instead.
In truth, Makima had recently become more focused on one crazy bastard than on [Chainsaw Man], so she’d intentionally avoided talking to Denji. That way, she could buy herself a little more time to observe the lunatic.
But Gongja had no way of knowing that.
"Do I have some kind of problem?"
And so, a bizarre scene unfolded: Gongja suddenly got up, looked down at Makima, and started picking a fight.
"No, you don’t have any problem."
Makima answered expressionlessly.
But that expression didn’t last long.
"Bweh... uweeek..."
Because Gongja, in that exact state, vomited all over Makima.
Splatter, splatter...
Partially digested chicken pieces rained down on her head, and beer mixed with stomach acid streamed down her face.
As if having a big chest was a crime, the nearly digested remnants that had been pushed out by this unfortunate accident coiled themselves over her breasts.
The white dress shirt she wore, trying to salvage the visual with stomach acid and all, clung to Makima’s skin and attempted to create a different atmosphere, but it only backfired.
At this rare spectacle, most of the room froze, Makima included.
Except for...
"Puhahaha!! M-Makima-san... got vomited on... pffft!!"
the thoroughly drunk Himeno.
Then.
Bang!
Seizing the mood and downing a beer in one shot, Himeno grabbed Denji’s cheeks much earlier than in the original.
And then she tried to push her tongue in—
Thump.
"Hm?"
She couldn’t.
Because Gongja shoved her away.
"Vomit... disgusting..."
He was completely out of his mind right now.
Denji saw Himeno collapsing, and Himeno saw Denji. Gongja saw both of them.
Denji tried to catch Himeno, Himeno didn’t get caught, and Gongja just watched.
Thud! At last, Himeno hit the floor. She then...
"Uweeek..."
threw up.
And passed out.
Denji’s horrible first kiss had flown away.
"".....""
A brief silence.
The one who broke it was none other than...
"My first kiss!!"
Denji’s shout, as he grabbed Gongja by the collar and vented his resentment.
Denji shook Gongja by the collar for a long time.
Then Gongja said,
"You like kissing that much?"
Denji nodded.
"You’re that pissed off?"
He nodded again.
"Then should I do it for you?"
He nodded... then stopped halfway.
And he sensed something was off.
But it was already too late.
"Mmph!! Mph! Gahh!"
Gongja’s lips touched Denji’s lips, and...
'Disgusting! Kissing some guy... his tongue too? Wait... hold on... this is...!'
"Bwaaaah..."
Gongja vomited in that exact position.
""......""
Another brief silence.
"Puhahahahah!!"
This time, Power broke it.
Of course, no one else laughed.
They just quietly looked back and forth between Makima, who was covered in vomit, and Denji, who had ended up with a "man" and a "vomit kiss,"
and silently resolved never to give Shin Gongja alcohol again.
@
-Pffft! Puhahahahah!!
"...What the hell did I just do?"
Gongja thought as he drank the hangover remedy Aki had bought him.
But he gave up on figuring it out before long.
-As expected, contracting with you was my best choice!
It was because of the Future Devil.
For the record, the welcome party continued just fine. Maybe it was thanks to Denji sacrificing himself, or maybe everyone was too crazy or too drunk to think about anything. Gongja decided to just chalk it up to Denji’s sacrifice.
And while Gongja was sitting there blankly, spacing out...
"Gongja-kun?"
Makima came over.
After realizing at once that this obnoxious brat who had vomited on her was not just some ordinary lunatic, and not just ordinary drunk either, she had come separately to fully dominate him.
'It didn’t work last time, but that was probably because there was nothing special going on then. This time the conditions are right, so it’ll work.'
Conditions. The Control Devil’s condition was simple. Makima herself had to think the other person was beneath her.
Last time, maybe it hadn’t worked because there were still vague thoughts like, What if he came from another world? What if he’s a new devil? But now? She was certain he was a lowly existence who drank too much and vomited without caring where or what.
So this time, it had to work.
"Gongja-kun. Listen carefully."
"Euh?"
Gongja was still not fully sober.
"I helped you last time."
"What the hell are you talking about, you bitch."
Makima was briefly flustered, but quickly recovered and pulled Gongja into an embrace as she continued.
"You love me, don’t you?"
Gongja fell silent for a moment at Makima’s words, then moved his arms. Toward her neck and back.
Was he going to hug her? Yes. There was no way it wouldn’t work. A lowly creature. You’re just one part of my plan. My grand plan to be with Chainsaw Man forever—
Slap!
"Eh?"
Slap! Slap!
Gongja pinned his arm against Makima’s back, then used the snap of his wrist to slap her cheeks.
"You little Control Devil bitch... where do you think you’re goin’..."
Makima’s pupils shook violently.
"Hey!!!"
Gongja shouted. Startled by the cry, Makima stepped back.
Why isn’t it working? Why? Why the hell not? No, more importantly, how does he even know my identity...?
Makima was thrown into complete confusion.
But Gongja, who had no idea what was going on in her head, kept going.
"You damn Control Devil bitch..! Can’t even fit into society because you don’t have a family..! You that pissed off?!"
Makima, no longer able to keep her expression in check, answered while trembling in a way unlike herself.
"...W-What are you talking about? Uh... Gongja... no, Gongja-kun? What do you mean...?"
"You’re just... drowning in paranoia! Not even trying! Trying to make a family out of fear alone! Picking on poor Denji! Killing Aki! And you’re the one controlling the gun, aren’t you?"
Not only did he know her identity, he knew her entire plan too... and her ability still wasn’t working. What was she supposed to do with this man now?
Makima could no longer answer.
"Seriously, damn it... you worthless bitch... you old bastard... shit..."
Gongja said all that, then plopped down in place.
And then he gestured at Makima and continued,
"Get lost... I said all that, but I can’t beat you, and I’m not even thinking about beating you. So please, just get lost. I won’t tell anyone about this. .....And don’t touch Aki or Denji. No, just don’t touch anyone. Got it?"
"...."
"What’s the matter? You’re uneasy? Then should I die in your place? You kill just me, the one who knows your identity, and leave the others alone... a contract? Yeah, let’s make a contract. Take my life as collateral in exchange for leaving everyone else alone. Deal?"
Makima couldn’t hide her bewilderment. She didn’t even know what this crazy bastard was saying, and more than anything...
'The meaning of family? ...What is that? Friends? Hah, have I ever even tried?'
Her head throbbed painfully from Gongja’s words.
They sounded random, sounded unrelated, but for some reason they also seemed to hit the mark. Because of those words alone, she couldn’t do anything.
'Should I... kill him?'
No. Her ability wasn’t working.
No, even if she somehow killed him, she felt like she had to resolve this question first or she’d regret it no matter what she did. No matter how lowly he was, Makima knew that if she killed him without answering this question, she would regret it for the rest of her life.
Makima looked at Gongja. At the Gongja she needed to ask.
"Damn it... shit bitch... old man... fuck..."
Gongja was already asleep.
"...."
Makima stood there for a long time.
Until the welcome party ended.
"Oh? Makima-san? You were still here?"
Aki asked. Unlike in the original, Aki hadn’t gotten drunk and partied with Makima, so he was relatively fine.
"...I’m going to head out now."
Makima said, looking at Gongja.
In the end, she decided to leave the next move for later.
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