Chapter 8: Muscles, Contracts, and a Handshake
Eigo slowly took a step forward.
The Devil flinched and retreated half a step toward the child. Its long body wriggled, but it showed no sign of attacking.
If he had to guess, it looked frightened and was trembling.
"It’s okay," Eigo said quietly.
"I don’t intend to hurt your friend."
Some of the tension drained from the child’s shoulders. But he still stood with his arms spread wide, shielding the Devil.
"Really...?"
"Yeah."
Eigo bent his knees to bring himself down to the child’s eye level.
"But could you tell me exactly what happened? We received a report that this thing kidnapped you."
The child’s face stiffened.
"That... people got the wrong idea."
The child bit his lip for a moment before carefully continuing.
"I was the one who ran into the forest. I didn’t want to go home...."
Eigo did not rush him. He simply waited until the child could speak on his own.
"This kid came up to me first. It looked scary, so I tried to run away... but it just watched me without doing anything."
The child raised his head and looked up at the Devil.
"Then I fell down, and it helped me up.... I was scared that if I went back to Mom, she’d hit me again...."
The Devil’s tail gave the hem of the child’s clothes a tiny tug. The child gently took hold of it.
"It’s okay. I’m not leaving."
At those words, the Devil’s body lowered slightly, as if it had breathed a sigh of relief.
Eigo watched them and let out a quiet breath.
This is a problem. But....
Slowly rising to his feet, he stared straight at the Devil.
"Do you have a name?"
The Devil tilted its head. It opened its mouth, but only meaningless sounds came out.
"Looks like you can’t talk."
Eigo nodded.
"You understand me, though."
He stepped closer. The Devil reflexively backed away, but the child was holding its hand, so it could not flee any farther.
"You don’t seem like you mean to hurt this kid."
Eigo spoke evenly.
"The problem is... even if the two of you want to stay together, that’s going to be difficult...."
The child’s eyes trembled wildly.
"Then... are you going to kill it?"
Eigo shook his head.
"No. That’s not it."
He shifted his gaze to the child.
"I’m going to give you some options now."
Both the child and the Devil looked at Eigo. He raised one finger.
"First. I kill the Devil and return you to your mother."
The child, his face gone pale, violently shook his head. Signaling that he was not done, Eigo raised a second finger.
"Second. The Devil leaves this forest immediately. It never shows itself before humans again. And you... I’ll take responsibility for returning you to the adults."
"I don’t want that.... Mom will hit me again...."
Eigo gently stroked the child’s head.
"I’m not sending you to your mother this time. I know a place where kids like you live together. I’ll take you there. I promise I won’t send you back to your mother."
The Devil let out a low, almost sobbing sound. Its snow-white body shook as it shook its head in protest.
Seeing that reaction, Eigo smiled faintly.
"All right. Then I’ll kill you."
In an instant, the Devil’s head flew off. When it spun through the air several times and hit the ground, the Devil spoke in a voice full of shock.
"Kehk...! How... how did you figure it out...?"
"Who knows.... A feeling? You were planning to use this child to lower my guard before attacking me. Oh, and you...."
Bright-red muscles burst out from the Devil’s severed torso.
"How did you figure out that I, the [Muscle Devil], was controlling that little brat?!?!"
"How did you figure out that I, the [Muscle Devil], was controlling that little brat?!?!"
As if he had expected it, Eigo lightly dodged the Devil’s attack as it tried to grab him.
"...That’s what you were going to say. Am I right?"
There was a touch of playfulness in Eigo’s voice.
While the severed head writhed on the ground, the mass of red muscle that had burst from the torso pushed itself up from the earth.
It looked like exaggerated human muscles stretched and stuck together. Veins writhed and pulsed as though they were alive.
"Damn it...! I thought I’d fooled you perfectly...!"
The Devil reattached its fallen head, its voice bursting out through ragged breaths.
"A terrified child, an abusive home, a weak, pitiful appearance...! Humans are always vulnerable to that kind of pattern!!!!"
Eigo glanced toward the child. The boy had collapsed on the ground and appeared to be unconscious.
"You insolent bastard—!!"
The [Muscle Devil] kicked off the ground and charged. Explosive speed erupted from its grotesquely swollen muscles.
Even as the Devil’s maw came right before his nose, Eigo did not move an inch.
"You know."
But in the fleeting instant it took him to exhale once, Eigo had vanished from the Devil’s sight.
"Haven’t you realized yet that you’re already dead?"
The [Muscle Devil] wondered why its body would not move. Its many eyes rolled around to assess its surroundings, only to find its body scattered in several severed pieces.
"W-what is this?! You... what the hell are you—?! What Devil did you make a Contract with...? How did you obtain such an unfathomable power?!?!"
"A Contract...?"
Eigo tilted his head, then stomped on the Devil’s head and crushed it. The Devil’s enraged scream did not last long, and silence fell over the forest once more.
"I’ve never made a Contract with a Devil. This is... just a power I suddenly got one day.... I don’t know how it happened either, Makima."
And before long, that silence was broken as well. Makima emerged from between the trees.
"You did very well, Eigo."
Eigo slowly raised his head to look at her.
"As I thought, you were watching."
"Yes."
Makima honestly nodded.
"So what happens to me now?"
Makima swept her eyes over the Devil’s remains scattered through the forest, then turned her gaze back to Eigo. Her smile remained gentle and impossible to read.
"First... thank you for your cooperation. Thanks to you, Eigo, the incident has been resolved without serious civilian casualties. And congratulations. You have proven yourself innocent of the suspicion that you are a Devil contractor."
Eigo casually brushed his bloodless hand against his pants.
"Then can I go home? Ah, I don’t have a home, so... does that mean I’m free again?"
Makima shrugged.
"It would be nice if it were that simple."
Eigo glanced toward where the child had been standing. The boy was now under the protection of one of Makima’s subordinates, wrapped in a blanket.
"But... it seems things have become rather complicated."
Makima paused. Wind passed through the forest, lightly stirring her hair.
"To get straight to the point, Eigo, you are an extremely unusual human. There is almost no precedent for someone like you in history."
Her tone was utterly calm.
"At the convenience store earlier... I said that you smelled neither like a Devil nor a human, didn’t I?"
"You did. You said it was a joke, though?"
"I believe that your heart may not actually be your heart, Eigo."
"What? What does that...?"
"I have quite a good nose. You carry the scent of both a human and a Devil. In particular, the closer one gets to your heart, the stronger the Devil’s scent becomes."
Makima stepped closer with a soft whoosh. Her cherry-like scent tickled Eigo’s nose.
"Ordinarily, we sometimes find Devils called Fiends, Devils that have taken possession of human bodies... but their intelligence is greatly diminished compared to a human’s. It isn’t as if no Fiends possess intelligence equal to that of a human, but no Fiend has ever retained the memories of the human whose body it took over."
She took a step away from Eigo and opened her palm as though presenting him with a choice.
"Now, Eigo, you have two options."
Eigo’s eyebrow lifted ever so slightly. At last, the real point.
"First. Today’s incident will be reported as having been resolved by me. Eigo, you will be treated as a civilian who happened to be at the scene, and you can go back to wandering around as you did before."
Makima held up her index finger.
"However, because your case has almost no precedent in history, you will henceforth be classified as an ordinary Fiend. In other words, you will be treated like a Devil. Not only will you be denied even basic human rights... you will become a target for extermination by Public Safety."
Eigo quietly exhaled.
"And the second option?"
Makima’s smile deepened ever so slightly.
"You join Public Safety."
Eigo’s gaze fixed on her.
"You mean become an official Devil Hunter?"
"Yes."
Makima nodded.
"In that case, you will be closely monitored by Public Safety.... But looked at another way, it means the state will guarantee your safety."
"In other words... I can put a leash around my own neck in exchange for guaranteed comfort, or wander freely with a blade at my throat. That’s what you’re saying."
"Exactly right."
Silence descended upon the forest again. When Eigo looked up at the sky for a moment, sunlight spilled down in fragments through the leaves.
"Haa.... I’d feel pretty bad about getting innocent Public Safety people hurt just to catch me... so I guess there’s no helping it."
After a long deliberation, Eigo held out his hand to Makima. Looking satisfied, Makima took it.
"I look forward to working with you, Eigo."
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