Chapter 2: A New Life
Tristain Academy of Magic, Tristain, Halkeginia
Opening one eye, Denji started to wake up. Forgetting where he was, he looked around the room and quickly eyed the pink-haired girl who summoned him. "Oh, you again…" Denji said without much interest. Noticing the chains binding him to the wall he looked back to Louise sitting angrily at her bedside. "Uhh… can you maybe take these off…"
"No!" She retorted. "I will only take them off if I can trust you not to run off again. Besides, I need you to do my laundry. It is the familiar's job to take care of their master, including chores."
"Dude, didn't I tell ya to take it to a laundromat?" Denji questioned while shuffling around on his straw bed. "It may cost a bit of money, but it beats washing clothes in a dirty stream," Denji added as he yawned.
"I can't believe I got stuck with you of all things. I wanted something divine and powerful, like a griffon or a dragon…" She looked back at Denji and narrowed her eyes. "But instead I got this mangy dog!"
"Obedient like a dog. Happy to work for cheap treats like a dog too," The words of the Yakuza debt collector resonated within Denji's head. "A dog, huh?" Looking up at the ceiling, Denji pondered the old man's words. "Thing is though, I hate the stench of fucking dogs."
"What's so bad about dogs?" Denji asked looking off into a corner. "Pochita…" Feeling his heartbeat in his chest, Denji's expression saddened a little.
"I'll explain later, familiar. Just do my laundry for me, and wake me up in the morning," With that, Louise clapped her hands, causing the candle in the room to go out. Denji flinched a little when it happened, but decided to get some rest.
"Familiar?" Denji asked himself laying on the straw bed. Looking over the runes on his hand, his eyes closed.
As Louise lay in bed, drifting into a deep sleep, her eyes fluttered open to reveal a different scene: a strange building, with metal supports, and a large hole in the ceiling, letting moonlight into the room building. She quickly noticed a putrid smell, the same as when she summoned her familiar. She heard someone screaming in pain near her, she turned her head to see who it was.
"F-familiar…?" Louise watched as her familiar, wearing an eyepatch and holding an orange creature, was pinned down to the ground and stabbed over and over again. "W-what are you doing to my familiar?!"
Louise could only watch in horror as the undead humans started tearing him apart while he still alive, and then throwing him into a trash bin.
She fell to her knees out of fear, hearing a rumbling sound echo through the building. Her vision faded to red as she heard a feminine voice speak to her. "I will have him…"
A woman with light auburn hair, and strange eyes approached Louise, staring at her with a soft smile.
"W-who are you?" Louise said with her voice trembling. "What do you mean?"
"I will have his heart… I will have Chainsaw Man."
Louise shot up from her bed, in a cold sweat. Looking around her room, she noticed it was already morning. "A-a dream? Who was that?"
Denji yawned over to the side of the bed. Slowly raising his head off of the straw bed, he looked over at Louise. "Huh… mornin' already?"
"You were supposed to do my laundry and wake me up, familiar," Louise scowled at him, but her expression softened as she remembered that dream.
"Kinda stuck to the wall here, and I was tired," Denji responded with little enthusiasm. "Couldn't really do much."
Opening a drawer, Louise pulled out a key and unlocked Denji's shackles. Despite being in those shackles, he never was uncomfortable while sleeping. As Denji got up from his straw mat, Louise held her arms out.
"Dress me," She demanded only getting a confused look from her familiar.
"Why?" Denji questioned. "Can't you do that yourself?"
"A noble doesn't need to dress themself when they have servants," She stated with pride. Denji continued looking at her with a stupid look.
"Servant? I know you called me familiar a lot, but now servant?" The boy's confusion only grew.
"A familiar is the closest servant of a noble."
"Okay…" Denji just looked at Louise. "So do you still want me to dress you?:
At this point, Louise grew too impatient and sighed. "I guess I'll just dress myself since my stupid familiar can't even do even the most trivial of tasks."
Denji didn't even flinch at her insult. After putting on her school uniform, Louise looked at Denji and signaled for him to go with her.
"So, where we goin'?" Denji asked with his hands behind his head as the two walked down the stairs.
"Breakfast," She stated, not even eyeing her familiar.
"Wait… does that mean…" Arriving at the dining hall, Denji glared in wonder at all the food strewn out across the tables. "Holy shit…"
Denji ignored Louise's rant on how magnificent the dining hall was, he was practically drooling at the sight of all the glamorous meals in the room.
"Familiar! Are you even paying attention?" Louise snapped, finally getting Denji out of his trance.
"Huh… what?" Louise shook her head in frustration as she scolded her familiar.
"Pull out my chair, surely you can do that," Denji grumbled in response as he pulled out a chair for her. Pointing to the ground, she spoke again. "Only nobles are allowed to sit here, your place is on the floor."
"Do I at least… oh," Denji noticed the plate on the ground. A smile grew on his face when he saw it: food. "I-is this for me?"
"Yes, it is," Louise said, not even batting an eye toward him. "If you have a problem, you can go outside with the other-"
Denji cut her off before she could finish. "This is more food than I've had all week!" Tearing off a piece of the stale loaf of bread, Denji's smile grew. "Food that you don't have to pay for tastes so much better!"
"A-a week?" Louise questioned as she looked at her familiar eating the small loaf of bread. She lost her appetite as she remembered her dream. "Just what kind of life did you have before I summoned you, familiar?"
"Yeah, didn' have much money sho I couldn' eat mucsh," Denji said with a mouth full of food. "If being your familiar or whatever means free shelter and food, I'll gladly take ya up on that offer."
"You really are a dog," Louise scoffed, turning away from him.
"What's so bad about dogs?" Denji questioned before taking another bite of bread.
"They stink, beg, roll around in filth, and have no loyalty," Louise stated. "Do you get it?"
Denji thought a little about it before his smile faded. "I guess Pochita was really different from other dogs…" Feeling his own heartbeat, Denji remembered all the time he spent with his devil dog before they fused.
Louise's curiosity got the better of her as she looked back at her familiar. "Who's Pochita?"
"Pochita… was special. Basically the only family I ever had. He wasn't quite a normal dog," Denji ate the last piece of the bread before standing up. "So, what now?"
"Well, today there won't be any classes. Today, we are to bond with our familiars," Louise remembered the orange creature that Denji held in her dream. "Was that… Pochita?"
"Oh, cool I guess," Denji responded casually. "So what does that mean?"
Louise sighed in response and looked at him. "I'll explain later."
…
The two made their way outside, where all of the other second-year students were with their familiars. Denji looked around at all of them and once again remembered Pochita. All though he knows Pochita is part of him… he still misses his devil companion.
Sitting down at one of the many circular tables outside, Louise looks at Denji. "Familiar, you are to serve me tea." She demanded.
"Sure, sure," Denji said carelessly, "If that gets me a place to sleep and food to eat, I'll do it."
Looking around to find where he can get some tea, Denji bumps into someone. "Hey, watch-"
Looking at who he ran into, Denji sees a young woman in a maid outfit. "Holy shit…"
Scrambling to pick up the stuff that fell off her tray, she notices a hand holding one of the dishes she dropped. "Oh, thank you very much! I didn't mean to bump into you."
"No problem," Denji replied casually. "So… got a name?"
"Oh, yes… my name is Siesta," The maid got a better look at Denji, recognizing him as the boy she had cleaned the blood off of yesterday. "Y-you're the plebian familiar Miss Vallière summoned the other day?"
"Yup, name's Denji,"
"Denji…" Siesta muttered. "Why were you… covered in… that blood yesterday, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Huh…" Denji quizzed in response. "Oh uh… got in a fight with a Devil."
"Mr. Denji, you don't have to make excuses," Siesta responded. "Everyone knows that devils are just fairy tales to keep kids from acting up."
"Uh… y'know ya could just call me Denji, right?" The two got up, and Denji spoke again. "And you said devils weren't real… that's kinda odd I guess, might be where I'm from I guess."
"Well, Denji, I would like to continue our conversation, but I have to get back to my duties," With that, Siesta went on to serve the other nobles.
"Huh… she's kinda cute I guess," Denji grinned. "Now, what was I doin' again… OH! Right, tea."
"Look what you have done, maid!" Denji heard someone yell. "You have just broken the hearts of two young maidens, you will be punished for this!"
Remembering the voice as the blonde dumbass from last night, Denji walked over to investigate.
"I-I didn't mean to, Lord Guiche!" Siesta quickly bowed her head before Guiche. "P-please forgive me for my ignorance!"
"Why you-" Before Guiche could finish, a voice interrupted him.
"Oh, it's you again…" Denji said resentfully. "Fuckin' asshole…"
"Well, if it isn't Zero's plebian familiar." Guiche said mockingly. "Clearly someone has not learned their place."
"Yeah… shut up, dude…" The dirty-blonde teen retorted.
"Yeah Guiche, it was you who was caught two-timing!" A student to the side said.
"Two-timing, what the hell man?" Denji spat. "Takin' all the girls for yourself, ya ungrateful bastard!"
"I will not be insulted by a peasant." Guiche declared with pride. An idea suddenly pops into his head as a smile grows on his face. "Listen here commoner, if you want me to forgive your maid friend, then I challenge you to a duel!"
A few gasps were heard within the growing crowd. Siesta looked at Denji nervously. "D-Denji, you don't have to, it was my fault! Please don't fight Guiche, a commoner could never beat a noble!"
"So what do you say, peasant…" Guiche jeered.
"Hmm…" Denji thought. "No."
"W-what!" Guiche was surprised by his answer. "Y-you can't decline a request from a noble!"
"Fine." Denji sighed.
"Hmph, the duel will be in Vestri Square, in one hour." Guiche turned around. "You better show up, peasant."
"No, how about right here, right now, ya bastard!" Denji yelled with a grin.
"Huh, what?" Before Guiche could say another word, he felt a great pain in his nether regions. "GWA-HAAA!"
DING!
Denji had lifted his knee up into Guiche's crotch, a fatal blow to any man.
DING! "BWWAAAGH!" Pain overwhelmed the blonde's mind, replacing the pride he once displayed. "Y-you…" He said weakly.
"This is a duel, right?" Denji grinned while staring down at him. "Well listen here ya bastard…
DING! "YAOUTCH!"
"...when I fight dudes…"
DING! "GAAACK!" DING!
"It's nuts…!" Denji's smile grew as he pulled his leg back for another kick.
DING! "AUUGH!"
"Or…" DING! "NOTHING!" DING!
DING! DING! DING!
Once Denji stopped, Guiche held onto to his family jewels, crying. The once pride filled noble laid in a fetal position, completely forgetting about the duel. Soon enough, the two-timing blonde passed.
"Ha… dumbass!" Denji exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.
"D-Denji, d-did you just…" Siesta stuttered, looking upon the broken-nut noble. "Oh Brimir…"
"Familiar!" A pink-haired girl shouted. "What are you doing?!"
Louise's eyes travel up to Denji and down to Guiche. "D-did you attack him?!"
Putting up a mock salute, Denji responded. "No, a Nut Devil appeared and went apeshit on his testicles!" A few snickers were heard amongst the crowd.
"D-do you know who he is?!" Louise started to feel a little nervous.
"Not a clue," Her familiar responded casually as he put down his mock salute. "Just some dumbass who challenged me to duel, so I-uh I mean the Nut Devil, kicked him in the balls!"
Louise's face twitched in a mixture of confusion, frustration, disgust, and a small hint of surprise; Confusion as to why the duel was initiated, frustration as to her familiar going off to fight without her permission, disgust in his way of fighting, and the slight surprise in the fact a commoner beat a noble.
"You…" Louise gave up, and started dragging Denji by the collar of the spare shirt he was given by the staff.
"Bye Siesta!" Denji waved to the maid with a grin.
"B-bye, Denji…" She returned the smile.
…
Meanwhile, up in the headmaster's tower, an old man watched as the boy was dragged off by his pink-haired master. "Interesting, the boy defeated the Gramont boy with relative ease. Despite him being a dot-class mage, I'm still surprised."
"That's not the only thing, Old Osmond," Professor Colbert responded. "I looked into the runes on the boy's left hand, and I found something you need to see."
Holding up a book to the headmaster, he raised his eyebrows with a bit of surprise. "Gandálfr, the Left Hand of God…" The old man rubbed his beard as he thought. "Jean, do not let anyone hear of this, not the other staff, nor the princess herself."
The balding professor looked a little confused but decided to agree. "Y-yes, I'll make sure nobody finds out."
Next Chapter: Life of a Dog
Oh my, already a good anount of people commenting and reviewing this. That's a surprise.
I expected this to get some attention, but not this quickly. Keep up the reviews and feedback, it really helps keep me motivated to make more content.
Also, quick note, I plan to work on this fic every other week, and use the time in between to work on the other story I'm writing.
This is Pyrite, signing off.