"Phew…" Kancho exhaled, wiping his brow. "Quite the fighter, huh?"

"Just means it's a good catch!" Denji remarked, pulling Pochita's chainsaw blade out from the guts of the Tomato Devil. "Gross..."

'That usually means good returns…' They heard the sound of a car approaching and stopping somewhere out of their line of sight. 'Is that him? This fuckin' early?' Kancho questioned with a slight scowl; the man infuriated him, continually increasing their debts and whatnot.

"That's gotta be the boss," Denji replied and turned his head toward the footsteps approaching from the side entrance to the broken villa. "Over here!"

The man walked unhurriedly and stopped a few inches before the Tomato Devil's blood touched his expensive shoes, appearing unimpressed as per usual. "Hm."

"This one's a Tomato Devil, sir!" Denji commented. "It'll come back from the seeds, so you should burn it!"

"Or don't and get yourself eaten for our sakes…" Kancho murmured while he cleaned off some of the blood on his trenchcoat. "Piece of shit tax collector."

"SHUSHSHSUHSH—Don't let him hear you!" Denji reminded in a hush-hush voice; no matter what could be done, nothing could remedy Kancho's hatred of the guy's guts. It was the accumulation of years of both hardship and attempts at trying to be cordial in their business, a waste of time.

'You'll see what I mean.'

"Good job, you two. This heap'll fetch a hefty sum on the black market." Uttered the old man, congratulating them in the most monotone voice ever. "The reward for this one's four hundred thousand."

"Wow, thanks!" Denji exclaimed, unprepared for what was coming next out of the old man's mouth. "Y'see, Kancho? He ain't all bad—"

"Wait for it…" The old man has never been lenient with them but always made time to be slow in delivering news that usually reminded the boys of how much debt they have and how much 'work' the man and his organization put into 'helping' them.

"Which is one hundred seventy thousand after subtracting your debt and interest."

"Ah…" Denji hadn't expected it to go down so much; even after all these years, he still hasn't gotten the hint the yakuza ain't some normal organization you stay on friendly terms with after attaining some debt.

"Then after taking out the finder's fee, et cetera…"

"Uh—"

One Hour

"Man, it really is crazy how right I was."

"Shut up." Denji frowned, seeing he and Kancho only managed to get seventy grand after all that fighting. "Only this much left for us…"

"Simply mind-boggling."

"AND AFTER YOU GET DONE PAYING THAT WATER BILL AND PAYING OFF ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE YOU OWE MONEY TO…" Ono added, muffled as he was inside a coat pocket.

"Brings us to about… what? Two thousand yen?" Kancho presumed."That sounds about right."

"Ha, that's funny…" Denji expressed his displeasure with a slight chuckle and a disbelieving look at the once full-looking envelope. "Already down to eighteen hundred yen…"

"Dang, down by two hundred this time? That's crazy, man. Just crazy."

"Ugh…" Denji moaned. "And we got nothing to eat at home…"

"OH, SHIT—" Kancho slapped his forehead at this sudden realization; he hadn't eaten all day either, so the realization setting in just made it so worse. "DAAAAAAMN!"

"We'll have to live on this money for the next month," Denji remarked. "Guess that means we're gonna be carbivores!"

"Woof!"

"That's right, Pochita. Our meal for the day is a single slice of bread."

"Have we ever, like… tried to steal food?" Kancho questioned. "I wouldn't think it'd not be an option for us at this point."

"Forget about it." Denji dismissed. "We'd probably just get caught."

"Woof woof!"

"Nighttime exists for a reason… and there aren't even that few people that live in this town that'd know who we are," Kancho shook his head. 'Guess'll... try and steal some apples or something later when it's gotten darker...'

X

"I gotta ask, why are we employing some lanky-ass kids as Devil Hunters?" The driver asked the man in his backseat, right as the exact pair of lapdogs he was talking about passed them on the curb.

"We're making the first kid pay his debt back to us. Or, more accurately, his worthless dad's debt." The man stated, looking right at Denji before turning his eyes to look at Kancho. "The other one's just stuck with that kid for some reason, helping him pay his debt off. So I guess he's just some free labor…"

The driver blew out some smoke fumes before asking a follow-up to his question. "I gotta ask… are those kids—with their pet Devils or whatever—really fit to be Devil Hunters?"

"Listen… no Devil Hunter worth their salt is gonna be caught dead dealing Devil corpses to the yakuza, right?" The Debt Collector oppugned. "That's exactly what's nice about those two. They always do what they're told, especially Denji."

"And the other one?"

"... I'd kill him if he weren't so close to Denji."

"Hold on…" The driver pulled up near the two boys, taking out the half-used and still-smoking cigarette from his disgusting mouth; he wanted to test something on them. "HEY, FIDOS! I'LL GIVE ONE OF YA A HUNDRED YEN TO EAT THIS CIG!"

'This guy… we may be poor, but there's no way in hell we're gonna look that desperate,' Kancho declared—not even deeming the man worthy of his direct attention—and continued in his pace. "No one in their right mind—"

"You really mean it, sir?!" Denji exclaimed, grabbing the cigarette from the man's hand. "Bottom's up! And no takebacks!"

"Eh?! What?! Are you stupid or something?! That's—so damn obscene!" Kancho's counsel bore no fruit once he heard a loud 'GULP.' "Come on, bro…"

"AHHAHAHAHHA!" The back of the car's window slid open slightly; it was the Debt Collector again.

'DAMMIT—AND THIS SHITHEAD'S BACK?! JUST GO AWAY! AWAYYYYY!'

"GRRR…" Pochita hated the man as much as Kancho did, if not more so as it were his owner on receiving end of the stick. "WUF!"

"We'll call you again the next time there's a Devil," He instructed, and his driver tossed a hundred yen cent in the air, still chuckling from the fact the 'dog' ate his cigarette. "And remember, if you run away, you'll be pig slop!" Then, they just drove off.

"..."

"..."

"You wanna spit it out of your mouth now?"

"Mhm," Thankfully, that cigarette in his mouth didn't stay for long, and Denji threw it away immediately once the two yakuza had sped off. "Bleh..."

'Wish he didn't go so far for cash…' Even though he disapproved of the sheer desperation he often witnessed, Kancho was incredibly thankful for his friend's unique character and resolve as they were probably the two most powerful things about him, apart from being friends with Pochita, who was literally a living chainsaw. "That hundred ain't much if we're being honest, though. I think we should've gone for more when we had the chance."

"Nah, it's okay," Denji reassured, placing the single coin in his coat's pocket and rubbing Pochita's fluff with both his hands. "Now we'll be able to eat for the next three days!"

'Unlikely…' He knew that possibility was implausible at best, causing him to make a somber expression; Kancho always pitied his friend and his loyal pet, especially whenever he saw their close interactions with one another. Honestly, it made him question himself from time to time on how and why a closely-knit friendship such as theirs should have to go through so much heartache and trouble; it really made him wonder if there was indeed a God out there, watching from above. 'But we can least hope, at least we have that… always.'

Thirteen Hours

They lived in a small shack near the countryside; it was drizzling, but it felt as if they were getting bombarded, mainly due to the sounds of water hitting the metal and wooden walls and the glass windows. Sometimes, the rain would even slip in through the cracks of their rusty ceiling, adding to their hellish existence. Kancho returned from town just a few minutes ago, bringing apples—and by sheer luck, some cinnamon—as he had promised earlier.

"I heard something recently…" Denji began, feeding Pochita a bit of his newly made invention: an apple and cinnamon-infused sandwich. "It's weird."

"Nom… nom…" Pochita ate slowly, doing his best to leave half for Denji to eat for himself.

"Which is…" Kancho said, taking a large bite of his cinnamon-covered bread slice; he luckily didn't have to share anything as Ono didn't require food. "Mm?"

"Apparently, it's 'normal' to eat your sliced bread with jam on it."

"Pffft…" Kancho spat out some of his food since he couldn't believe Denji thought 'that' was a weird notion or thing to do. 'I guess years of eating whatever you want does that to a person.'

"Do tell."

"Yeah! A-And people are normally just supposed to put peanut butter on bread, too, or just regular butter if they're tryin' to be fancy!" Denji continued, taking a bite of his own sandwich finally. "Haaa, I wish I could imagine us doing things like that in any lifetime! But it really is just a pipe dream, ain't it?"

"Nah… it doesn't have to be a pipe dream, Denji," Kancho finished the last of his food before crawling atop his bed table. "Anything can be called 'normal.' It's just that… whenever someone is talking about or using the word 'normal,' they're usually talking about some… surefire standard most people can always follow in their everyday lives."

Denji scratched his head in confusion; he hadn't a clue about what Kancho was going with. "Uh… I don't get it…"

"Think about it, if eating bread with weird ass toppings is just part of our daily life, then why shouldn't it be considered normal as well?" Kancho inquired. "So if that's the case, which it probably is, that means anything we do now should be considered 'normal' on our own terms cuz of the life we're in!"

"YOU ARE QUITE THE PHILOSOPHER, AREN'T YOU?" Ono remarked atop his vast pile of AXE sprays. "WHAT YOU JUST SAID CAN BE PUT INTO SHORTER WORDS, Y'KNOW."

"Oh, really? Show me, then. Prove it."

"EASY, 'LIVE YOUR LIFE.'"

'Shit, that sounds badass and cracked with wisdom…' Kancho admitted. "Can't it be interpreted wrong, though?"

"THAT'S THEIR FAULT, NOT MINE," He said with a short gas spray. "DO WITH IT AS YOU WILL."

"Right… what do you think about that, Denji? That answer your question?"

"... I'll prolly never get to go out with a girl, y'know." He replied, immediately making the room's mood go down a couple of notches. "Can't ever ask a girl to come over to this run-down shack, and I don't got any money for a date either."

"Vuuuu…" Whimpered Pochita, moving toward his owner to try and comfort him some more.

"If dreams do come true…" Denji looked outside the window, holding Pochita tightly to his shivering body. "I wanna hug a girl before I die…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"AW, C'MON—DON'T BE SO DOWNCAST, GUYS! SOMEDAY, EVERYTHING WILL GET BETTER! I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT MUCH!" Ono declared with absolute conviction, getting all of their attention. "AREN'T I RIGHT, KANCHO-BOY?"

Kancho raised an eyebrow at Ono and took a moment to look at his roommates, examining their guises in order to formulate a proper response; they were miserable, so much so that it made sympathy for them almost impossible. "I-I don't—"

"BOY."

"I mean—yeah, that's right. That is very true, Ono. It's all gonna be good in the neighborhood." He said, answering quickly; Kancho wasn't good on an emotional level, so not a lot else could be done.

"SEE? WE'RE GONNA BE OKAY!"

"Wof wof!" Pochita yipped; at least one of them got slightly better.

"Yeah…" Denji said, keeping his pet close to his chest before turning to his side and falling asleep. "G'night, guys…"

"Night."

"AND DO NOT ALLOW THE INSECTS OF THE TIME BETWEEN NINE AND FOUR TO SINK THEIR MOUTHS INTO YOUR—"

"GO TO BED!"

Thirty Minutes

"Kancho."

"..."

"Kancho."

"Hm…"

"Kancho—"

"What do you want maaaaan…" He bemoaned.

"I can't sleep. I'm hungry."

"What?" Kancho turned to look at Denji. "What are you talking about?"

"When I sleep, I think about my debt, and then it's even harder to sleep…"

"... Uhm, so what do you want me to do about it? Tell you a bedtime story or something?"

"..."

"Holy shit, dude—SERIOUSLY?! YOU'RE ALMOST MY AGE!"

"I'm just sayin' that a good story never hurt nobody's chances of getting some sleep, am I wrong?"

"Woof!"

"I ALSO WANT TO HEAR STORY," Ono also moved for a bedtime story, not because he couldn't sleep, but because he wanted to fuck with Kancho's sleep again. "SING MONKEY!"

"WHY AM I THE ONE TELLING IT?!" He retorted. "Ugh… can't you just dream about something else than our problems? Like… food or something."

"Huh?" Denji was interested in what he meant by thinking of something else while sleeping; it was an ingenious theory, and it might just work in this case. "You mean… like a ham?"

"..." Kancho turned his back to Denji again and went back to trying to fall asleep "No… not like a ham. I was thinking more along the lines of… quite literally anything else."

"..."

"..."

"This is what I'll dream about when I fall asleep tonight then…" He monologued aloud, inciting Kancho to turn his body slightly to listen in a little. "I'll spread jam on sliced bread and eat it with all of you, I'll flirt and stuff with a girl, we'll play video games in our room together, and I'll fall asleep in her arms…"

"Huh…"

"Good dream, huh?" Denji quipped.

"Woof!" Pochita seemed to agree.

"Right, Kancho?" Denji asked once more.

"In that order…?" The first part was okay, but with a personality like Denji's… getting a girl was definitely gonna be next to impossible.

"You sound unsure of my great dream…" Denji replied, feeling as if his dream's integrity was just threatened. "Then, what about you, huh? What's your big dream?"

"Me…?" Kancho wondered. "A dream? Nah, man… no dreams, I haven't a clue on what I want, apart from not being hungry every single day..."

"... That's kinda stupid."

"HE'S RIGHT!" Ono said from inside the bag. "I HAVE MANY DREAMS, SO YOU SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE IN MIND!"

"What dreams can a Devil like you have, Ono?" Kancho questioned. 'Probably wants to kill all humans or something morbid as f—'

"I WANNA CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN." He interrupted, causing Kancho to raise an eyebrow in confusion: what did Ono mean by that?

"A what?" Kancho repeated. "Why a mountain?"

"NOT 'A' MOUNTAIN… 'THE' MOUNTAIN! THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS! THE ONE THAT'LL—" It was then that Ono noticed all six eyes in the shack were now wholly fixated on him; Denji and Kancho didn't know what he was talking about at all.

"Woof woof woof!" Pochita, on the other hand, seemed to know something they didn't—but thanks to a language barrier—not much could be done.

"AH… NOTHING… I'LL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU ANOTHER TIME."

"Pssh… whatever, man. Let's all just go back to sleep…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

'I think… I'd like to see the world,' Kancho decided. 'Yeah, that sounds nice, and I might even be able to meet a nice—'

Abruptly, two loud "TAKS" can be heard pounding on the door outside; someone was either trying to get in or trying to get their attention. "Denji! Kancho! Got a Devil. Time for work."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Fuck."

Twenty Minutes

They went for a short car ride late at night; Denji thought it was a good idea not to get his coat stained in blood, so he left it at home, while Kancho kept it on as he felt it was too damn cold. They stopped at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the town, completely isolated and perfect for any unseen killings or murders.

Kancho tried asking the Debt Collector why he had brought him and Denji there so late at night, but he wouldn't answer, only telling him to shut it and let him drive in peace. Currently, they were all walking through the dark factory; without even a flashlight to illuminate a bit of the darkness.

"A Devil showed up here, sir?" Denji asked, keeping Pochita in his hands at the ready since there were so many spots for a Devil—or anyone, in general—to pop out and attack them; this was really the worst environment for anyone to be in.

"That's what he said," Kancho replied, keeping Ono close alongside his satchel of various AXE sprays and fragrances whenever Ono got 'hungry' sometimes. "Though, it's probably hiding by the looks of it…"

The old man said nothing except walk forward in an automated fashion; it was strange, Kancho thought, but he was probably just getting really fucking old. "Boys… we're grateful to you two, y'know?"

"Uh, yeah…?" Denji said with a short smile at the 'compliment.' "Oh, uh—I mean—yes, sir."

"Okay," Kancho hadn't expected the off-putting response; something was up. 'Weird.'

"You two are pretty obedient." The man clarified. "Like a pair of hounds. Dogs."

Those words compelled Kancho to tread slower; something was definitely wrong, he realized; the words he was using were very out of character—they were too direct. 'Hm…'

"Uh," Denji, of course, didn't know how to respond. "Uh-huh…?"

"Though, I can't say the same about Kancho. He's a bit of a thorn in my side if you catch my drift."

'I don't like this… I feel… dread.'

"I find it pretty ironic since I hate dogs," Several footsteps could be heard coming up from behind Denji and Kancho; they were quick and linear. "You see… I can't stand their smell."

Something suddenly felt strange to both Denji and Kancho's bodies; for one, they had just involuntarily exalted some of their lung's precious air, and two, there was a foreign pain that abruptly came after. It wasn't long until they glanced down and noticed they were stabbed right through their chests by some strange-looking characters from behind, both dead-eyed and lifeless as if they were drones.

"GAH—" Kancho felt the knife as it was pulled back out of his chest; the pain was unbearable, and there was nothing he could do to stop the blood that was coming out of his chest and mouth. "Motherfucker…"

He and Denji then fell to the ground; no amount of adrenaline in their bodies could keep them standing for too long. Kancho looked over to his friends, who were also spouting blood from their mouths, slowly dying alongside him from blood loss.

"YOU DAMN BASTARDS…" Ono murmured before breaking into a bloodcurdling scream. "WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"We yakuza boys…" The Debt Collector continued; a large rope-like tendon can be seen protruding from his back, lifting him slowly into the darkness. "We wanted to get stronger too. To make more money. So we decided to do like you and make our own deal with a Devil…"

"Wha…" Kancho looked up and finally saw what the mobster was talking about; it was the Devil that was being insinuated by the older man, the largest one he had ever seen, too.

Its form was that of a giant, and floating, limbless torso with multiple exposed organs, including a brain from which its long tentacles emerged. A large human-like face seemed to emerge from the right side of the Devil's torso, unconnected to where its head should actually be. It was by far the ugliest fucking Devil Kancho had ever laid his eyes on. "The fu…"

"AND WHAT I WANT IS THE DEATHS…" The Devil began, allowing the other infected yakuza from his contract to emerge from the shadows; some were even directly connected from their back to the Devil via its brain. "... OF ALL DEVIL HUNTERS!"

"ZOMBIE DEVIL?!" Ono remarked. "THESE FUCKING IDIOTS MADE A DEAL WITH HIM?!"

"HEY, LITTLE DEVIL HUNTERSSSS!" The Zombie Devil goaded with detectable malice in its twisted speech. "WHEN I SAID I'D GIVE THEM MY DEVIL POWER… THEY BECAME MY SLAVES FREAKIN' WILLINGLY!"

Kancho and Denji were too distracted by the soaring pain in their stab wounds to care about what the fucking demon was saying, especially with the urge and desire to escape the wretched factory they now found themselves trapped. "CAUGH…!"

His pawns were carrying knives, swords, machetes, and other sharp objects to cut them open, and Kancho decided it was time to haul it out of there; though, he made sure he had grabbed his buddies with all the strength he had left before he tried to make any dash for the nearest exit. "W-We… need to get out of here… now…."

Every turn they made led to a group of zombies, and things began to seem hopeless. But then, they saw an exit; it was a perfect straight away, and all they had to do was run to it. "LOOK, AN EXI—" Kancho pointed out right before blurting out some more blood.

"KANCHO…?" For the first time, Ono sounded a little scared.

The amount of blood loss and wheezing they did for every step led them to lose almost any strength they had left, leading to Denji and, subsequently, Kancho getting stabbed in the back by a zombie that got too close.

"SHIT…" Kancho went down with a tumble with Denji, both hitting the floor with a loud 'THUD.' "UGH…"

"The exit… it's…" Denji wheezed, crawling with Pochita by his side as a few zombies moved past Kancho to stop him from moving anymore.

Upon seeing this, he started using Ono to spray any undead that got close, doing some damage but not enough to prevent all of them from getting closer. "FUCKING…" Kancho looked to his side and saw that Denji was still crawling, desperately trying to escape the factory they stupidly found themselves in.

All he got in return was a flurry of stabs in the back before finally getting one jammed into his brain, utterly acting as the kill shot and silencing his screams for good; Pochita had stayed by his side to the very end.

'If it's going to be like that…' Kancho realized it was all over and began holding onto Ono tighter than before, spraying everything he could in close proximity; the gasses started to affect him, too, but he didn't care in the slightest. "I'LL TAKE AS MANY AS I CAAAAAAAAN!"

Twenty Minutes

Their cut-up bodies were thrown in a nearby dumpster haphazardly; most of their clothes were ripped up, and any zombies killed in Kancho's rampage joined them in the rubbish. It was just another pile, in the Zombie Devil's opinion.

However, by a stroke of luck, the blood from both teenagers began flowing down into the mouths of their Devils, reviving them for one last time.

"Pochita…"

"..."

"I understand now…"

"..."

"Remember that one-time Denji told you to take his body over?"

Pochita immediately understood what Ono was saying and began fusing his body to Denji's, allowing a complete mending process to commence; Ono followed him, and the body parts of Kancho started to reconnect with each other just like Denji's, except with dip tubes instead of chainsaw wires. Both of their eyes began to open at the same time.

?

Denji and Kancho now appeared inside a much smaller dumpster now; crowded but altogether nevertheless, which incited them to a breath of relief once they saw each other again alive and well; sadly, what they didn't know was that this was going to be the last time they would ever speak to each other: Can and Man, and Dog and Boy.

"Pochita…?" Denji asked, a little surprised.

"Woof!" He barked happily.

"I'm also here…" Kancho muttered, trying to move into a better spot. "Uncomfortable but okay."

"I AM ALSO HERE!" Ono said with a short blast of fragrance that smelled better than usual in the dream-like container. "HEY, GUYS!"

"Can't say I ain't surprised," Denji remarked with a smile before turning to speak with Pochita. "Did you take my body? Like I told you to?"

"..."

"..."

"I've always…" Pochita began, his voice being formal yet affectionate. "... loved listening to you talk about your dreams."

"..."

"Just as I loved watching Ono and Kancho arguing as if it were a scene in a cartoon, it was beautiful."

"Don't put it like that…"

"YEAH, IT'S WEIRD!"

"Anyway… I want this to be a contract between you and me, Denji. I want you to take my heart and, in exchange… show me your dreams."

With that, Denji and Pochita disappeared out of thin air, leaving Kancho alone with Ono.

"I'm getting that deal, too, aren't I?"

"YEAH, YOU'RE GETTING YOURS BACK. NO STRINGS ATTACHED. YOU'RE WELCOME."

"... What brought this change to our original agreement?"

"I SEE YOU AS MY FRIEND NOW, KANCHO," Ono declared. "THAT'S WHY."

"Okay…" Kancho muttered, unsure of what that was supposed to mean, apart from being a way of saying that 'I have recognized this association we have as a friendship.' "Now what?"

"YOU WILL SHOW ME YOUR DREAM ASWELL AND DO YOUR BEST TO ACCOMPLISH MINE."

"Huh?"

"GOOD LUCK, IT'S A REAL DOOZY!"

Five Minutes

"POCHITA!"

"ONO?"

The two boys had returned to the land of the living, whole, but with subtle changes to their bodies that connected them to their Devil pets. "They're gone…"

"My wounds…" Denji looked at his arms; he could've sworn they were cut off just minutes ago. "They're…"

"Gone…"

Denji started to get teary-eyed once he noticed Pochita's tail was now attached to his chest; Kancho didn't see any remnants of Ono and began to get worried, but was able to figure out where he had gone by grabbing the back of his head in stress; there was something there, a square-shaped button.

He then looked to the side and saw his reflection; he was alive, and a moderately sized AXE spray push button had appeared on the back of his head; Ono was still with him as his very brain.

The zombies, unfortunately, seemed to have taken notice of the resurrected duo and began stumbling toward them with their remarkably sharp weaponry. "These bastards…"

"HUH?" The Zombie Devil was also surprised to see the two he had just ordered to get chopped up were still alive. "WE CUT THEM TO RIBBONS, AND THEY'RE STILL ALIVE?! THAT'S REALLY FUCKING GROSS! MAN, THIS IS WHY I HATE DEVIL HUNTERSSSS!"

"You think you can just…" Kancho murmured, starting to get pissed off. "Get angry with us? After putting us through all that hell…?"

"YOU GUYS! EAT THOSE FREAKS!" The Zombie Devil's command rang true, and all the undead he had reanimated began moving faster at the two boys with only the intent to kill.

"And making us lose our buddies…" Kancho added; Denji started feeling the sudden urge to yank the chainsaw cord on his chest. "You think you have that fucking right…"

"Oh, man…" Kancho's eye began twitching, and he went to the button attached to his head, about to push down on it with all his might. "OH, MAN… FUCKING MAN—ARE YOU SERIOUSLY READY FOR THIS?!"

"If you are gonna get in our way—" Denji yanked his cord with one finger, and a loud revving sound could be heard for an instant. "THEN YOU SHOULD JUST—"

"—FUCKING DIE!" Kancho pushed down on his head's new attachment and heard a loud "PSSSSH" go off from nowhere; everything around him was suddenly engulfed in darkness as he was now dogpiled by the undead, who began ripping into them with their bare hands.

Several seconds of zombie moaning and groaning was all that could be heard; their creator was satisfied, thought he had won by the looks of it, believing that the liver and stomach they had just thrown out from the attack was proof enough. "THEY HAVE GOT TO STAY DEAD ONCE THEY'RE EATEN, RIGHT? IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE—"

Sadly for the Devil, that wouldn't be the case for long once a loud chainsaw can be heard revving inside of the zombie horde, alongside a multitude of smaller blares that could only resemble that of exploding gas canisters.

Then, they appeared for the first time.

Denji's face had morphed into that of a demonic, mechanical shape with long, jagged fangs and a chainsaw handle on the back, precisely one of the Makita brand. Large chainsaws also emerged from his forehead and arms: razor-sharp and ready to cut into something other than a log.

Kancho's head also changed, apart from showing a more robotic, mechanical-shaped countenance or, specifically, a contoured version of an AXE spray cap with its iconic square-shaped trigger on top of the head. The nozzle, supposedly located inside of his forehead, had elongated and become as long as Denji's own chainsaw blades.

Regardless of the changes to their heads, the rest of their bodies' complexions—apart from the Denji's arms—remained completely unaltered; these were the forms of the AXE and Chainsaw Devil Hybrids, and they were out for blood.

"WHAT ARE… D-DID THOSE SMALL FRY DEVILS TAKE OVER YOUR B-BODIES?!" The Zombie Devil questioned, sweating immensely at the arrival of two much more menacing-looking Devils. "B-BUT, DOESN'T THAT ALSO MEAN YOU GUYS ARE ONE OF US—"

"YOUUUU!" Kancho yelled, pointing at the floating Devil. "YOUUUU BASTARRRRDDDD!"

Kancho suddenly leaped toward the Zombie Devil; with his nozzle facing his opponent directly, he made contact with its flesh in mere moments, jamming his forehead's nozzle into the monster's eyesocket repeatedly as it screamed in terror and anguish. "DENJIIIIIIIII!"

"HEHAHAHAAA!" Denji soon followed with terrifying, demonic-sounding laughter; he tore into the Zombie Devil as well and began cutting up his other eye.

"I CALL DIBS ON HIIIIMMM! THIS FUCKER'S MINEEEEEE!"

"NOT FAIRRRR! I WANT SOME OF HIS GUTS, TOO!"

"Y-YOU MONSTERS—STAY AWAYYYY!"

Kancho and Denji were suddenly thrown a couple of feet into the air by the Zombie Devil's brain tendons, only to be stopped mid-flight after hitting some of the factory's old ceiling joists with their backs. "STAY AWAY FROM MEEE, YOU CRAZY BASTAARRRDSSS!"

Luckily, they fell back down onto their feet before hitting the ground, mitigating the damage substantially. "HRRRRR…" Kancho groaned angrily, wanting to get back at the devilish goliath for this outrage.

"Ow…" Denji moaned, feeling more pain in his back than his counterpart did.

At the same time, a bulky zombie slowly moved in front of Denji and hit him over the head with a heavy pipe, causing some sparks to fly but no real damage to be delivered. "Heh—"

Denji immediately ripped into the undead's body with his chainsaws, lifting him up off the ground before throwing him to the side to continue his killing spree. Kancho, concurrently, was having a good time as he began tearing into his zombified opponents—piercing their bodies with his head's rod while also snapping necks and removing heads using his bare hands.

"PUSH FORWARDDDD!" Kancho shouted as he destroyed a zombie's head with his foot. "I'M GONNA CURB STOMP THESE FUCKIN' SHITS!"

"IT HURTS! I CAN'T SEE!" They could hear the Zombie Devil crying; he had started to throw zombies at them to try and keep them out; without both of its eyes, it was throwing them in a foolhardy way that only hit its own troops or sent them out of bounds totally. "STAY AWAYYY!"

Denji and Kancho started getting busy cutting up the zombies that were successfully being used as projectiles, turning each one into mincemeat until Kancho decided he'd had enough and began charging toward their sender. "I'M GONNA KILL YOUUUU!"

"DON'T COME ANY C-CLOSER!" The demon pleaded, not knowing if Kancho was or wasn't already next to him already. "OH, MY GODDD!"

He dodged and weaved past every undead, focused on getting their boss by any means; he even began jumping onto their heads, using them to pick up speed. Denji followed closely behind, who had also started running on zombies' heads, too, picking up speed until he and Kancho were together. Finally, they leaped hard enough that they began gliding toward the Zombie Devil; this was how the bastard was gonna die.

"DIEE!" The Zombie Devil screamed, using its massive muscles to try and fling the two away again but to no avail, as Denji had already started cutting into the flesh, riding it like a roller coaster with his chainsaws; Kancho instead went for a different route and avoided the tentacles by flipping his body around at an angle; it was about to be over. "N-N-NOO—"

Kancho made it to him first, using his nozzle to stab the monster's brain right before ripping it out again to stab the most vital organ again and again until it was presumably seen as only a mushy paste. Denji went to the top of the Devil's head and started cutting downward with his chainsaws, slicing the Devil clean in half as it screamed and cried out in pain.

The halved body then fell to the ground with a loud 'THUD,' spreading its blood all across the floor, signifying its pathetic end.

"Ugh…" Kancho and Denji took a moment to breathe and looked around; they were still surrounded by a shit ton of zombies who seemed pretty angry that their master had just been killed; all of them already started treading on over slowly.

"Only a bunch of fucking deadies now…" Kancho noted as he saw the stumbling yakuza who once were among the living they owed a debt to; now, they were just a bunch of mindless corpses. "Fuckers."

"Well, they hired us to be Devil Hunters…" Denji remarked, pulling his chainsaw cord once more, and began ripping into more zombies. "SO WE BETTER KILL THEM ALL, RIGHT?!"

"EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING, DENJI!" Kancho shouted as he was stabbing the brain of yet another reanimated yakuza. "AND ONCE THEY'RE ALL DEAD…"

"I WON'T OWE A DAMN THING! GYAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"HELL, YEAAAH!"

Nine Hours

Any ghoul that 'lived' during yesterday's encounter never made it to the following day. All of them were killed in the Hybrids' kill spree, no doubt about it. "UREEEEH…"

"..." They took it upon themselves to see who killed most, a contest that came as a result of Denji's kill stealing. "Fall… over…"And even though both were tremendously exhausted, they made it a point that the loser would be the first one to fall over.

But before any of that could happen, they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the factory's doors creaking open and an eruption of light that brightened the dark space they inhabited; upon seeing this, Kancho instinctively hid behind something to evade whoever made the break-in; he tried getting Denji to follow his example, yet he seemed too distracted by who was standing in the doorway.

Three people came in and stood in front of the roughed-up bodies that the two had left behind; the smell of dry blood and death could be smelt everywhere and was overwhelming.

"Looks like someone beat us to the punch." Sounded a female's voice; this one appeared to be looking at the ground prior to staring up at Denji, who stood a feet few feet away, covered head to toe with blood.

She walked over to him, unafraid of whether or not the assumed Devil was hostile or not; her colleagues did nothing to stop her. She then stopped in front of him, looking at his form entirely before speaking again. "Hmm…"

'Who dis?' Kancho wondered, keeping himself hidden until he knew it was safe to reveal himself or just in case he had to protect Denji from a new adversary. 'This woman looks like an official of some sort, which really isn't good… Denji might be in danger…'

"You've got a strange smell. Very peculiar as it isn't human or Devil." She noted. "Did you do this?" She asked with a smile.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"H…" He began falling backward. "H-Hug me…"

She caught him just as he began falling, hugging him just as he asked. 'That's… and why is she smiling…?'

Denji's demonic parts began to melt like butter on a hot plate, dripping off his body until his true face was shown for them to see. "He's human." The woman said, looking at Denji's blushing face herself.

"Any chance he's possessed?" Asked one of the men dressed in business attire, still unsure whether or not Denji wasn't a Devil in disguise.

"No." She then placed Denji on the ground and laid his head on her lap; next, she proceeded to speak to him in the tenderest of voices—in his opinion, of course. "I'm a Devil Hunter with Public Safety, and I'm giving you two options: I can kill you like a Devil, or I can keep you as a human."

"..."

"If I keep you as my pet, I'll ensure you're fed every single day." She said, hinting at her preferred course of action.

"..."

"..."

'There ain't no way… he's actually considering—'

"When you say it like that… what would I get for breakfast?" Denji asked, seeming to be entirely on board with her proposition; Kancho couldn't believe his ears and squinted inwardly upon hearing Denji's words. 'HOW DOWN BAD IS HE?! I've known him for fuckin' years! Could he be a closet perv at heart, and this is his first interaction?!'

"Let's see… bread with butter and jam… salad, coffee… and maybe a dessert of some kind?"

'AND SHE DOESN'T CARE?! WHAT THE FUUUUCCKK?!'

In response, Denji looked up to the woman as if she were a Goddess; she had unknowingly planted seeds in Denji, even when she hadn't truly started anything yet. "That's a dream come true…"

"Wonderful," She replied with another soft smile. "Now, let's—"

"Hey…" Kancho had decided now was the best time to make himself known. 'If crazy-ass Denji can get a free ride, then why can't I?'

"I got something to say…"

She saw him and immediately pointed her finger at the teen, which stopped him in his tracks; she could sense Denji, but Kancho was someone who had no smell at all, apart from the considerably different amount of odors that surrounded his body, not at all appealing to her nose in the slightest. "And you are?"

"Some guy…" He answered slowly and then pointed at Denji. "And... his buddy."

"Oh?" She remarked, putting her hand down slightly. "A brother, perhaps?"

"Not exactly… but what I'm really tryin' to say here is…" Kancho went up to close Makima and knelt before her; he had to keep a good image as he still looked like a monster. "Can I…"

"Yes?" The fact Kancho was seemingly another Devil that could be cordial was a rare sight.

"... Get a job? As a Devil Hunter, I mean…"

Upon hearing this, she placed a hand on her chin and thought about it for a second: there had already been a Fiend in the new squad that was created, so another Devil should be a welcome addition to her asset repertoire, even if his scent were slightly upsetting to her nose. "You'll earn around five thous—"

Kancho immediately took her hand, shaking it up in down in a quick manner; his face had already begun regressing to its original human state. "You had me at five," He said, turning to Denji, who wasn't listening in on the conversation. "Ya hear that, Denji? I got us some cold… hard… caaa…" His voice began to wander, and his legs weakened to the point where he collapsed.

However, as he gradually reached his resting point, he grabbed the nearest thing on the ground to brace him from the fall; it was the cavalier hat, the old bastard's cavalier hat.

"Strange friend you have," The woman quipped, gazing back at Denji, who had been quietly staring at her chest the whole time. "So, where would you like to go next?"

"..."

"..."

"C-Can we… go eat somewhere?"

AUTHOR

Sorry for the late chapter; I was writing and got really tired. Anyway: leave comments or whatever, and enjoy the read.