Chapter 6. Star Chainsaw

"OPEN!"

Power was banging her fist fiercely on the pale door. Denji yawned slightly looking at the scene unfold behind his eyes, as he checked the map and the photo, he had been given only a few hours earlier, squaring them up from various angles. The place was exactly that; the street marked on the map corresponded to the one where they were standing, and the doorway printed on the photo was also the same one Power was about to unhinge with her blows.

"Stop, Powy - he blocked her arm - Maybe there is no one in there... the restaurant is still closed."

Denji could see the passers-by watching them, but not for long, pretending not to as soon as he caught them in the act.

"You sure are fucking dumb, can't you hear her inside? C'mon, OPEN UP!" she went back to knocking heavily against the door.

"If you don't leave now, I'll call the police!" a firm voice, which however broke towards the last syllables, answered from inside.

"We're from Public Safety" announced Denji annoyed, taking his badge to the porthole of the door where the woman peeked out to look. She was surprised to see that Denji was indeed holding a badge.

"What do you want? Devil Hunters only bring trouble!"

"We'd like to have a word with you."

A totally untrue statement on Denji's part. If he had been asked why he was there that morning, he would have answered that he did it out of pure curiosity. 'Curiosity killed the cat', recited a proverb that Aki repeated to them far too many times, scolding them. Instead, in that case it had killed all his good intentions to work.

It all had begun early that morning in the Public Safety offices. Denji was walking happily followed by Power: they had just left Makima's office. As soon as they were a little further from the door, she threw herself on him, hugging him tightly around the neck.

"Pretty soon you'll be making 'wof wof' for that snake, if she asks for it."

"Hey, don't talk about Miss Makima like that! And, by the way, I already did..." he blushed slightly, embarrassed. What he wouldn't do for Makima, actually.

"Tch-tch - Power snapped her tongue - you humans just have no sense of shame. I would never ever have done that, do you have any self-respect or not?"

"Liar! You do much worse, plus I don't care about what you think, she even complimented us for our work. That only means one thing: I'm one step closer to going out with her again! Ah, I can't wait... we could go out to eat, or to the cinema again. Miss Makima loves movies' he said dreamily as Power grunted in discontent.

Many different scenarios crowded into his head and he was ready to lose himself in his fantasies about his boss. He had yet to fully recover from what had happened with Reze, he had been hurt when she had not shown up at the coffee shop... he had been hoping there was something more between them.

Even though they had fought, even though she had almost killed him, and even though he and his colleagues had tried to do the same to her, he actually thought she liked him; he liked Reze madly. Instead, she had ignored him, he felt like a fool. That was why he was devoting himself as much as he could to working to win Makima; she was the woman of his heart and he would never share it with any other girl again.

"Don't start talking about Makima again, I can't stand it any longer!" she told him, mussing his hair.

"Blood Fiend... Chainsaw..."

The two turned towards the voice that had spoken.

"It's the shorty Devil!" Power exclaimed in surprise, still running a hand through Denji's bush of blonde hair.

"What the fuck, Power, you're not holding one back!" blurted Denji in response, trying to not laugh, in vain.

The Angel Devil was looking at them expressionless, as if they hadn't just insulted him.

"What do you want anyway?" asked Power, recomposing herself and removing her hand from Denji's head. She brushed her hair away from her shoulder, shooing it with a firm gesture, with an air of superiority.

"I need your help" the devil said, looking up at them from under the heavy lashes.

"Go ask Topknot, he'll be happy to help you" Power replied, ready to end the conversation.

So... "...You didn't understand absolutely nothing?" asked Denji in astonishment, barely widening his eyes.

"WHAT?!" shouted Power and turned her full attention to him, jolting. Because if there was one thing Power hated, it was realising that she didn't understand something; Denji was aware of that. She always prided herself for knowing everything, even what she clearly didn't; catching her in that big misstep would prove to be a perfect trump card for their upcoming squabbles.

"They had a fight" Denji pointed out with an air of satisfaction and pride for winning that contest between him and the fiend. The Devil Angel sighed blatantly.

Denji just couldn't figure what was going on inside the devil's head, and he didn't get how Aki could understand it. He seemed to have incorporated an 'Angel Devil'/'Normal World' translator. What weirdos... only those two could understand each other.

"WHAT?! - repeated Power dramatically, raising her voice even higher - But when? He didn't say anything at home."

"Exactly, he didn't talk about..." Denji shot a knowing, lightning-fast glance towards Angel Devil, which Power followed. The girl's eyes furtively rested on the Angel Devil and then she turned them back to Denji, barely parting her lips in astonishment. Denji was sure that their telepathic speech had worked. The Angel Devil, on the other hand, seemed not to have noticed it at all. Perfect.

"Last week, I think?" he continued. He suddenly felt his throat go a little dry at the memory.

Power thought about it for a second longer and brightened up, having finally connected all the dots.

"Yes! Of course! - she turned to the Angel Devil, posing with one hand resting on her hip and the other pointing at him - you fought, of course, I knew that! So now you've come to the great Power and her underling for help, huh?"

Denji sighed wearily. Unlike her, he remembered all too well what had happened the past week.

The first sign something wasn't right was that Aki hadn't picked them up from Public Safety. 'All right' - he was only dismissed from hospital in the morning, but when he and Power visited him, Aki had expressly promised to pick them up and go shopping together. Denji had felt a strange, he almost missed him when, for the previous two nights, Aki couldn't come home and he ended up scouring the kombini with Power, looking for a good, healthy dinner. They went through those days only with chips and pre-packaged sushi... he must have felt that way because he wanted the curry Aki made every Wednesday night, he was good at cooking. In the end, he'd convinced himself he didn't go to pick them up because he went home early to rest. Nothing serious.

The second sign was when he opened the front door, turning two turns of the key, and found everything dark. Power exclaimed in amazement that she could see nothing, and he was disappointed when he realised that the dim kitchen light was not on. It was used to that sight when coming back home.

The third sign was when he stepped inside and his lungs filled with smoke. He coughed and started striding down the corridor, standing in front of the sliding door to Aki's room. He opened it.

A cloud of smoke enveloped him, making it almost impossible for him to breathe; he could barely see the faint light of the abat-jour on the bedside table. On the bed lied Aki, still dressed with outdoors clothes, snoring. On the floor were cans of beer and he didn't need to count them to know there were far too many. He also spotted a bottle of sake.

What the hell was going on?

"It stinks, what is that?" said Power catching up with him. She also stopped to observe the scene ahead.

Denji avoided the cans, careful not to step on them, making his way to the balcony. He opened it wide, smoke slowly beginning to pour out. The air was clearing. Then he turned towards Aki again. Seeing him like this caused him a strange reaction. It was sickening, it was suffocating.

"Powy, go get something for dinner" he said decisively as he rummaged through his trouser pockets and threw his wallet at her. Powy caught it on the fly; she turned and left without objecting. Hearing the sound of the door closing awoke him from his thoughts, which were now wandering in distant, past directions.

"What have you done?" he whispered softly, more to himself than to Aki.

Denji could not remember ever having seen Aki reduced to that state. He took off his shoes without unlacing them, kicking them off his feet, and climbed onto the bed, placing himself beside him.

He turned Aki on his side; he did not know why, but he knew he had to. The thought came to him automatically, all too naturally. After doing so he did not move his hand from Aki's arm, he stroked it from above the shirt, trying to comfort him.

"Dude, if you have a problem, you need to talk about it don't reduce yourself like this..."

Aki didn't answer, he had completely collapsed in his sleep with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, his face was flushed with red and a trickle of saliva was running down the side of his mouth. The only thing Aki did was curl up slightly on himself. Denji looked at him, feeling a sad. He wondered why... He thought he knew Aki; he didn't think he could get drunk like that, not even at company dinners it happened, even though he had seen him drinking and raising his glass a lot; but at home, he always drank responsibly. Besides, how much had he smoked? The stench was almost nauseating.

He was uncomfortable in that situation; he had never seemed the type to let himself go. Aki was the definition of a responsible person, the commander of that house; he took care of everything: groceries, dinner, clothes, cleaning... of Power and him. Seeing Aki in that condition made him look so young in Denji's eyes; for the first time he saw just a 21-year-old boy, not so much older than him. It was as if he had just realised it for the first time. He sighed bitterly.

He also laid down on the bed. Those thoughts hurt his head. He felt the need to stay there, next to Aki.

In the end, he didn't eat dinner and hadn't even gone to his room to sleep with Power. He stayed and waited for Aki to recover a bit, eventually falling asleep as well. During the night, however, he woke up, to some muffled noises. The balcony was closed, the abat-jour was off and there was a blanket covering them. His arm was squeezed by Power who had clung to him and was resting on his shoulder. He turned towards the source of the noise, which he realised was a lament. Aki, at his side, seemed to be crying as he ranted incomprehensible things. Denji pulled himself up a little to get a better look at him, being careful not to wake neither of his friends. It seemed Aki was having a nightmare. He thought it was time to wake him up, but before he could do so, Aki said names Denji understood: "Taiyo... Himeno... Angel..."

"Aki, wake up" he shook him lightly.

"...You all died because of me... everyone else will die because of me as well."

When, without realising it, Denji ended up hugging and comforting him, he understood why Aki did what he did.

So, yes; that day he was sitting on a soft chair in a peculiarly designed and too-blue French restaurant, talking to a woman, who was clearly frightened by the situation, because he had accepted the Angel Devil's request and because he had followed his nosy instincts and those of Power, who was notoriously even more invasive than him. Out of sheer curiosity... there was no other reason. Denji laughed bitterly to himself.

"What do you want, then?" asked the owner of the restaurant, irritated and on alert.

"A week or so ago, a colleague of ours came to dine at this restaurant we wanted..." Denji began to explain politely, as he was told to do on such occasions. He didn't want to blow it with his impulsiveness. Power, sitting next to him, was rocking back and forth, straining her balance and the strength of her chair legs.

"Ah, yes! Those two who then ran away, of course. How can I forget them! I don't forget any of my customers, and besides, they're the only Devil Hunters who came here" she said a little rudely.

"So, they were doing an investigation and they chased a guy. Maybe his name is on the bookings, we're looking for him..." continued Denji trying to keep calm.

"That's not what happened, they just got up and left."

Denji and Power exchanged a look.

"Look, if you tell lies, the devils will eat you!" Power threatened her. The sound of her chair crashing to the floor was almost faster than her as she jumped and lunged at the caterer, showing her sharp teeth.

"IIIIH!" the woman cried. She protected herself by crouching down and bringing her arms over her head.

"Calm down!" Denji pulled Power away by the arm.

"T-there was no one there, I swear! They ran off not to pay the bill. The tall one even said he'd come back to pay and he never did."

"He's clearly been busy" Denji felt the need to defend Aki.

"Go away, I've told you enough already!"

Denji and Power were thrown out roughly, and the caterer barricaded herself inside again.

Well, they really didn't get anything out of that trip to Shinjuku. The Angel Devil had sent them there saying that he might had figured out which devil had attacked him and Aki, but he needed more proof.

Denji sighed defeatedly: "We're back to the start... the chick covered the guy, that's for sure. Aki would never make such a thing up."

"And why would she make up a lie? I get that you humans are stupid, but it just doesn't make sense..."

Denji thought about it. Indeed... Power might have been right. He tried to reason why she would lie, but the further he went the more he fell into the conclusion it didn't make sense.

"Let's say she was telling the truth: then where did this guy come from?"

"Haha, simple, he may never have existed! It makes more sense that way, doesn't it? Topknot saw him and she didn't, that's why she was so pissed off."

His head was short-circuiting from all that lucubration. He wasn't entirely convinced: he was going to talk about it with someone who might understand more than him, whether it was Aki or the Angel Devil.

Denji decided it was time to get start with the tasks Makima had assigned them. In any case, they had nowhere else to go to look for information for the Angel Devil, as the place where they had been attacked was under investigation by the bureau.

They had already been walking for a good twenty minutes and Denji still could not get the feeling of failure out of his mind. He was playing with a can of Fanta, kicking it and carrying it along the path, pensive. Power in front of him was leading the way and ranting about which route they should take to arrive faster, pointing first one way and then another. Not that he cared whether they had walked more than necessary or not, or if they were taking the right path, nor about the work they had to do. The only thing that came back to his mind was what had happened at home the week before and it annoyed him to see Aki's face look so pitiful in his mind. Maybe, he had to admit, he didn't go there merely out of pure curiosity and to play the matchmaker with Power, as they had joked several times before, or to amuse himself by thinking he was on a special spy mission; he had gone to help that stubborn asshole, who was too proud to ask for help. How stupid... it irritated him. But not in a cruel way, it was just wrong for Denji to feel that way and he wished Aki would go back to normality as well by yelling at them as usual, not in an exaggerated way or by ignoring them. He was freaking out those days: he even started vacuuming at dawn. And to make matters worse, the morning after the hangover, he got up and acted like nothing was wrong, the fucking idiot!

Denji kicked the can, unintentionally hitting Power. They had just arrived at a large crossroads, they were waiting for the light to turn green.

"Oi, Denji, you want to catch these hands or what!?"

"Huh?"

"What are you thinking? You haven't said a word since we left the restaurant, you're no fun like this. Pull yourself together! We are going to see a crime scene, isn't it exciting?"

"Do you think we'll be able to solve this stuff? It seems really impossible if even Aki can't figure it out, he is the smart one between us..."

"Nah-ah! You're wrong. You're dead wrong! He may be smart, but never as smart as your mighty Power. I'm a future Nobel Prize winner, right?"

"Ahah... yeah, sure..."

Power gave him a sharp smack on the head shouting 'chop'. The light turned green and they started to cross the street.

"Of course I do-" she paused, widening her eyes. "Do you smell that?"

"What? You didn't take a bath this morning either?"

"Shut up, you fool, I did! - she lied - It's the smell of a devil... it's getting closer, come this way. This is a strong one."

Quickly Power dragged him, and they hid in the first side street nearby. They barely leaned out, Power rested her chin on his head: they saw two girls with long light hair walking. One of them, the taller of the two, was completely engulfed by her loose clothes, which left not a single inch of her skin uncovered. It was strange, it was really hot that day. Even her face was covered by a mask and a pair of large, extravagant sunglasses.

"It's them!" exclaimed Power softly. The two targets turned into the next alley.

Cautiously the two of them walked along the side street and circled around to get closer, lurking and trying not to be seen. Power was trying to lean as far as possible over the building that covered them, but he was trying to hold her close, covering her mouth so she wouldn't scream. One could never be too careful with her. Denji shot a quick glance to study the two girls. What caught his attention at that moment was the shorter one. She sat dishevelled on the lid of a large black dumpster with one leg at her chest and the other dangling. The first detail Denji noticed was her clothing: she wore a green military cap, from which a large bodacious tuft and long straight blond hair emerged; a sweatshirt, also green, with a red T-shirt underneath; military cargo trousers and massive black boots. She had a lollipop in her mouth. Denji hid again to avoid being seen.

"So, can you help me?"

"What do you think, it'll be a piece of cake! Am I or am I not the best PR in the whole Tokyo? Gathering all those people will be super easy, you can tell her she can aim for much higher..."

"Great, you really are the number one, Shion!"

"I already know the perfect place: the Jigoku in Roppongi, everyone wants to party there. When then? On the full moon?"

Denji leaned out again followed by Power. The girl with the cap was giggling and had brought both legs to her chest, she sucked in the lollipop before taking it out of her mouth with a resounding pop. Denji also looked at the other girl, the taller one, but she was giving him her back slightly, the only thing he could see was her long platinum blonde hair, almost white.

"No no, it's already too late, we're behind."

"I get it, I'll see what I can do to arrange it as soon as possible" the woman with the cap spoke again and looked right at his direction. The girl's slightly elongated and viscous black eyes met Denji's brown ones just for a moment. She widened them, squared him and then sneered.

She knew that he and Power were there, fucking listening to their conversation. As fast as he could he returned to his hiding place, dragging Power, who was still struggling to free herself. He heard a high-pitched laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll throw a party that will be on everyone's lips before and especially afterwards. I got you some special guests too, I bet your friend will be delighted... and I'll also make that bitch pay. Let the fun begin in Roppongi, you Devil Hunters are invited too... It's going to be freaking explosive!"

Author's note:

Hi and welcome back! As I already mentioned, I'm taking a break from posting because I have to graduate soon and the deadline is approaching sigh. I'll be back once I'm done with all of that. Next chapter will be 'You & Crappy Movies'. Thank you for reading this far, I hope you liked it! :3