'God… what have I done…?'

Aki tried to distract himself from the scene playing out in front of him, finding himself suddenly regretting giving that girl the benefit of the doubt.

'I'm lenient on her, and this is what I get in return?!'

The source of Aki's ire was, of course from the two resident hybrids, or more specifically what they were doing while he was trying to enjoy his breakfast…

"Say ahhhh Denji!"

Aki and Power watched in thinly veiled disgust as Reze guided a half-slice of toast into Denji's open mouth, the boy chomping down on it enthusiastically. Denji smiled in contentment as he chewed the toast, humming happily as the taste of melting butter hit his tongue.

'Ahhh… This is the life, eh Pochita?', Denji was smiling broadly as he chewed, 'Tastes pretty good, could use some jam and honey though…'

He looked down at Reze and smiled, the girl smiling back at him wryly as she reached up and wiped off a smear of butter from the corner of his lips with her thumb.

"Stop smiling like an idiot Denji", she spoke teasingly, before nudging her plate of toast over to him, "You wouldn't make a girl feed herself now, would you?"

"Oh, Yeah, right!", Denji quickly moved with gusto, lifting a piece of toast from the plate, almost dropping it in his rush to feed his girlfriend.

As the happy couple took turns feeding each other, Aki and Power glower from the other side of the table in shared disgust, Power's eyes peering from over the rim of the table she was half hiding under, her face slightly green as she looked at them as if they were a pair of vegetables that had made their way into her food.

Meanwhile, Aki just fixed his gaze off to the side, trying (and failing) to ignore the loved-up teens opposite, 'This is my life now… Well, what's left of it anyway…'

The thought of his impending death only served to sour his mood even further as he stewed, trying to calm his annoyance by taking a sip of his morning coffee, only for a loud crash to make him almost choke on it.

"GAAAHHHH!", Power yelled as she slammed her hands down on the table in frustration, causing Meowy to scarper away off of the fiend's lap, "STOP IT, STOP!"

Power points towards a confused Reze and Denji accusingly, "Your fornicating is disgusting! T'was awful enough that my darling Meowy has been unfaithful and slept with Denji, but know Denji is sleeping with this new harlot?! Unforgivable!"

"What the hell are you on about Powy?!", Denji responded to the fiend's rant with exasperated annoyance, 'Geez… what's her problem this morning…?"

While Denji began arguing with Power and Aki coughed, recovering from choking on his coffee, an idea came to Reze's mind and a mischievous smile came to her face, 'Call me a harlot, huh? Well if that's what she thinks…'

"Power! Stop throwing your damn fo-!", Denji was yelling at Power, who had moved on from arguing with him to pelting him with whatever came to hand, only to be interrupted as Reze inserts herself into the fray, clutching Denji's arm and looking at the fiend with faux confusion.

"But Power…", Reze was barely trying to hide her amusement, "Why wouldn't I be sleeping with Denji? It's perfectly normal for me to sleep with my boyfriend".

"Hey, Reze! We haven't eve-!"

"AARGHH, WHY YOU-", Power rose from her seated position as if to lunge towards Reze only to freeze as she noticed an icy look in Reze's eyes as if the girl was daring her to attack her again. Power withered under the girl's gaze, slowly sinking back down till she was sitting back down, glaring off to the side in anger and frustration.

"Enough! All of you!", Aki, who by now had recovered from his coughing fit, turned towards Denji and Reze, "You two, try to avoid antagonising Power, she's difficult enough as it is"

"But weren't doing anything!", Denji protested at the perceived unfairness of this order, whilst Reze looked away, her face the image of innocence.

Aki fixed them with a deadpan look before pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh, "Sure you weren't, just… try to keep the flirting to a minimum when there are other people around".

He then points at Power, who returns Aki's tired stare with defiance, "And Power, I want you to try to get on with Reze from here on out". Power, who had opened her mouth to respond with another angry tirade, was cut off by Aki, "It may not be ideal, but remember, this… arrangement… was deemed necessary by Makima herself", he raises an eyebrow as Power froze at the mention of their boss, "If you have a problem with it, I'll have to raise it with Makim-"

"NO!", Power quickly shot down that idea, her face white as a sheet and her eyes flicking around frantically, "N-no… Tis no need t-to involve h-her…"

"Good. Now that that's sorted, can I eat my breakfast?", Aki didn't wait for an answer as he began eating, pointedly ignoring his three roommates.

"Oh gee, I get to play buddy-buddy with the brat fiend… the joy…", Reze muttered to herself, with only Denji picking up on what she said.

"Ah, don't worry about Powy too much Reze, she'll warm up to you in no time!", Denji said, excitedly forgetting his annoyance at Aki's new house rules, "Isn't that right Powy?"

Power had stood up by now, clearly uncomfortable as she began to walk back to her room, looking over her shoulder as she walked to join Meowy in her room, "S-sure, I suppose I could allow you to be my subordinate!". Power's eyes widened in realisation as she turned around to face them fully again, "Yes! You can help me beat that awful woman! What say you!?"

'So she's afraid of Makima too, huh?', Reze was busy wondering about just what Makima had done to the fiend to make her so terrified of her, only to realise what she had just acknowledged: that she was afraid of Makima. Not since she was a child had she ever been afraid of someone like this…

'I like the country mouse too'

She shuddered again at the memory of her conversation with Makima in the interrogation, the revelation she'd been listening to her and Denji, the gaps in her memory…

"Yeahhh… you'd best just agree with her Reze, it's easier that way", Denji was looking at her worriedly, with Reze quickly snapping out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah… sure", Reze responded to the fiend dispassionately, not that that mattered to Power, with the fiend already having deluded herself that she was now the leader of an anti-Makima insurrection. Power, now satisfied, turned and walked off to her room again, not caring to wait for a further response from Reze, crowing to herself as she went, "Haha! Yes! Beware Makima, it won't be long till I, Power will be the mighty tyrant of Public Safety! Kneel before me!"

"Thanks for the coffee Aki!", Reze chirped, with too much cheer than what was strictly necessary as Aki put a cup of coffee in front of her and Denji respectively, pointedly ignoring the girl as he went to get Power from her room, having tired of waiting for the fiend to come out of her den.

Denji gave Reze a sly look, clocking on to what she was doing, "Are you just trying to annoy Aki now?"

She takes a sip from her coffee, a content smile on her face, "Hmmm… and if I was?"

"Well, me and Power have plenty of experience…", he grinned at her conspiratorially, "Could give you some pointers"

She raises an eyebrow leaning in towards him, her attention piqued, "Oh, and what pointers would that be, pray tell?"

"Well y'see as a prank, me and Power put shi-"

"THAT WASN'T ANYTHING CLOSE TO A PRANK! IT WAS SICK!", Aki barked as he dragged a writhing Power out of her room, whilst Denji and Reze looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

"How dare you not make me coffee Topknot!", Power added to the cacophony of noise tormenting Aki, "I demand that this oversight be rectified!"

"You threw up last time you had coffee!", Aki snapped, nearly losing his head at the blood fiend, "I'll make you coffee in the morning when you develop a taste for it like Denji did!"

By now the two hybrids had recovered from their fit, with Reze looking at Denji knowingly, a mirthful smile still on her face, "I wonder how that happened, hmmm?"

Denji looked away, his cheeks slightly red with a small smile on his face, "Guess we'll never know…"

After Denji and Reze finished off the dregs of their coffees, Denji blinked as if he had a realisation, "Yo, Aki! Why'd you drag Powy out of her room anyway? Thought she wasn't goin' in today?"

Aki turned to look at him from his position leaning against the counter, "Makima wanted to see all of us in HQ for some reason. She didn't say what for, but it didn't sound like it was bad news for once…"

Shortly after they all packed into Aki's car once again, Denji buzzing with excitement at what Makima could want to see them for, whilst Power tried sneaking back to her room, only to be dragged back towards the door by Aki.

Meanwhile, all Reze felt was a gnawing sense of dread in the pit of her stomach, cringing at the news. She didn't know what Makima wanted to see them for, but she did know one thing: it couldn't be anything good…

"Since I've been busy for a while, I'm going to take some paid time off and visit Enoshima. I was wondering if you would all like to join me?"

Aki, Denji and Reze stared for a moment, processing what Makima just asked them. They hadn't been long in Makima's office before the woman had hit them with the bombshell offer of a weekend holiday to a small island off the coast of Sagami Bay.

"Wooo-hooo!"

Needless to say, opinions on the idea varied greatly depending on which member of the Hayakawa household you asked. Denji was exuberant, jumping for joy in excitement, whilst Aki nearly instantly agreed, his gaze focussed solely on Makima.

In contrast to the reaction of the two men, Power and Reze were much less enthused about the idea, with Power simply staring at Makima blankly as the blood drained from her face.

"I have an urgent meeting that day…"

The fiend's excuse didn't wash with Makima however, with the woman replying with the same easy smile on her face, "We still haven't chosen a day Power."

Reze meanwhile was torn, she'd always wanted to go on a holiday, and going on a beach trip with her boyfriend was a tempting proposition, but…

'The woman who press gangs kids into being killers, inviting us on a holiday with no ulterior motives? Yeah, that seems about as likely as the Politburo giving me a free spa day…'

"So, it's clear the boys agree, what about you Reze? It's paid totally out of Public Safety's pocket", Makima turned her attention to the one remaining holdout, her spiralled eyes meeting Reze's own.

'As if money's the issue here, you damn witch…'

"Yeah. Sure, I'll go", Reze spoke emotionlessly, averting her gaze from Makima, who simply smiled at the younger girl for a moment before clapping her hands.

"Well, it seems we're all in agreement then", Makima says turning to Aki, "I'll work with your schedules, just let me know what day you can take off"

"Well, I haven't used any of my PTO, so anytime works for me", the usually workaholic Aki suddenly felt that he wouldn't mind a day off, especially if Makima was the one suggesting it.

As Makima and Aki were talking about possible dates, Denji turned to Reze, his face lit up in excitement as he began gushing about the trip, not noticing that his girlfriend didn't quite share his excitement…

"Aww yeah! This is like a dream Reze! We're goin' on a beach holiday!"

Despite her misgivings, Reze found herself smiling at his enthusiasm, "Hmmm, now that you mention it, I guess this'll be the first time both of us have gone on holiday huh?", Reze leans in to whisper in his ear, "And lucky for you, I was planning on going clothes shopping on my next day off, and since I need to get a swimsuit, maybe I'll pick up something… Just. For. You."

Denji's mouth was agape as his imagination went wild, with images of Reze in every bikini imaginable flashing through his mind, his face red he nevertheless quickly nodded his head in affirmative, "Yes ma'am! I'll be good!"

Reze giggled at his eagerness, lightly flicking him on the forehead, "Down boy! Down!"

After she was done laughing at the boy's antics, a thought crossed her mind, "Hey, Denji?"

"Yeah Reze, what's up?", Denji, his face still red, quickly snapped out of his reverie at the girl's question. "Oh, it's nothing much honestly, it's just… Why would we be going on this trip?", she looks at Denji with her face scrunched up as if there was a puzzle she couldn't figure out, "I can get Aki going, but Devils…? I just can't see why Public Safety would allow something like that…"

"Huh… I guess I… Don't really know?", Denji shrugged half-heartedly, "I never really thought about it… Could be a way to take our minds off things, y'know?"

"Ah, very astute Denji!", Reze flinched as Makima chirped up, having picked up on their conversation.

'Damn… That was sloppy of me', Reze admonished herself for her naivety in having assumed Makima was busy talking to Aki, 'Though, I suppose it doesn't matter, she could probably hear us no matter where we are…'

Reze turned to face the woman along with Denji, glad that her thoughts were at least private as Makima continued speaking, "With how busy the division has been, and with how many… unfortunate… losses we suffered as a result, I was able to convince a couple of the Kyoto bigwigs to greenlight this little scheme"

"Thanks, Miss Makima, you're the greate-!"

Denji's praise was suddenly cut short as the door clicked open, causing everyone to turn, only to see a column of assorted devil hunters marching into the room. The hunters made a beeline straight to Makima, Denji and Reze having to quickly move out of the way or risk being trampled.

The Hayakawa household watched in silence as one of the hunters whispered something in Makima's ear. Makima's face quickly turned stony as he continued talking.

"What's the ruckus?", Power asked, looking nervously towards Makima, anything that alarmed Makima would no doubt be even worse news for them after all…

Makima turned her attention back to them, a pair of Public Safety clerks wheeling in an old TV as her lips set into a small frown, eyes narrowing slightly as she addressed them.

"We have a problem."

Reze felt queasy as she watched the screen, a newscaster narrating as images of Denji's hybrid for flashing on the screen, ranging from him fighting with what looked like another hybrid on top of a train, all the way to him fighting Reze in the chaos caused by the Typhoon Devil. One of the clerks flicks through the channels, each showing the same scenes, with some even being in different languages.

Seeing the carnage that she'd caused played back to her made her feel… ashamed. Or at least more ashamed than she already was at any rate. She never enjoyed killing, so after it was done she usually tried to just forget about it, but having it played back to her on repeat… That made it more difficult to run from…

As Reze watched the reports in disgust, Denji and Power were engrossed in them for totally different reasons.

"It's Denji fighting on a train!", Power gushed at the sight of the train-top fight between Denji and the Katana hybrid, whilst Denji excitedly turned around to see the reactions of the others in the room, "Being on TV feels pretty good, doesn't it?!"

As it turns out, he and Power were alone in their excitement, the other devil hunters focussed on the TV, the faces like stone. Makima turned her attention to Denji and Reze, looking down at them, the easy smile from earlier replaced with an icy stare.

"Looks like young Reze here fulfilled her task after all", an odd look crossed Makima's face, her expression unreadable as she spoke, Denji and Reze looking back, clearly confused.

"Huh?"

"W-what do you mean?", Reze was especially confused, having no idea what the woman was talking about, "My only mission was to retrieve Denji's heart", she gestured to the boy next to her, "It's pretty clear I failed."

A ghost of a smile played on Makima's lips, "Well, I'm sure they didn't share this with you, but these reports seem to suggest that the Politburo sent you here with a secondary goal: draw the world's attention to Chainsaw Man."

"I'd been imposing restrictions on the media through Public Safety, but it failed this time. Your fight with Denji caused far too much damage to be swept under the rug as a run-of-the-mill devil attack."

It was then that Reze saw an odd look flash across Makima's face, the red-haired woman watching the reports on Chainsaw Man with a small yet satisfied smile, almost akin to… admiration. And then, just as quickly it was gone, replaced again with that neutral frown, leaving Reze to wonder if it was ever there in the first place.

"The Chinese and Americans will both be after him for sure… Those like Denji and Reze are rare, and valuable", Makima was pacing now, coming to a stop next to Aki, with Reze and Denji, who had now forgotten about the television, listening to her closely.

"But why would the Soviets deliberately increase their competition?", Aki chipped in, voicing his confusion, "They aren't exactly on good terms with the Americans or Chinese."

"Well, after Reze here failed in her mission, the Soviets lost their trump card", Makima was staring into space now, "Seems to me that the Soviets have calculated that informing their rivals about Chainsaw's existence is their next best move"

"They probably don't care much about who has their hands on Denji – as long as it's not me"

"So…", Denji spoke, looking at Makima with an unsteady smile, "We're still all going to Enoshima… Right…?"

No one was truly shocked at the answer as Makima replied, "Denji. The trip is postponed."

"Oh…", Denji visibly deflated, he'd kind of expected that answer with the way Makima was talking before, but it still came as a bitter disappointment, 'Damn it! I was lookin' forward to going to the beach too!'

His mouth tugged down in a frown as he turned his head away to the side in a sulk, only to jump slightly as a hand grasped his own softly. He turned to see Reze holding his hand, giving him a small smile which he returned, squeezing her hand gently in thanks.

He sighs as another thought returns to his mind, 'Man… I really wanted to see her in a bikini too…'

Makima began walking towards the group of devil hunters, Aki trailing along beside her as she began giving them orders in a tone resemblant to the way someone would order lunch.

"Call in Kusakabe and Tamaki from Miyagi Public Safety Extermination Division 2 and Subaru from Public Safety Extermination Division 1"

"Understood"

"And extend the contract of Hirofumi Yoshida for another month, he'll continue accompanying Power going forward"

"Understood"

As Makima began walking towards the door, flanked by Aki and a near robotic-sounding hunter, she suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder at the two hybrids one more time.

"Denji, Reze. In the days ahead, assassins from all around the world will be coming to try and kill you. You both can consider yourselves without freedom for the foreseeable future."

With that she left the room, leaving the two hybrids standing in the middle of the room, somewhat in shock at how quickly events had transpired.

"THE TRIP IS CANCELLED! YAHOOO!"

Needless to say, Power was taking the news a lot better.

"Hahaha! I knew I was wise choosing the Bomb as my minion!", Power was relishing in her 'victory' as the remaining trio sat around a table in the lobby of Public Safety, waiting for Aki to give them a lift back home, "Indeed, she is a brave heroine! Saving the mighty Power from the clutches of the insidious Makima!"

Reze rolled her eyes at the fiend's antics, glad at least that she seemed to have given up on trying to kill her for the moment. Besides, she was more concerned about Denji, who had been unusually quiet since what happened in Makima's office.

"Hey, Denji…", Reze put her hand on his, "Sorry about all this"

Denji looked at her questioningly, "What are you apologising for Reze? Not like you knew what they were wanting you to do, don't worry about it."

His melancholy attitude faded away as he talked to her, Power's crowing fading into the background noise as he smiled at her. In response, Reze sighs and shakes her head, "You say that, but it's true that I caused all of this to happen."

She smiles bitterly as she continues, "I was so focussed on being a good little soldier that I didn't think of the possibility that my superiors were sending me on a kamikaze mission…"

"Ah, stop worrying about crap like that Reze, it's not like you're a mind reader", Denji's dismissive response caught her off-guard for a moment before she notices that he was grinning at her, "Knew that'd break you outta that funk. You've got to stop blaming yourself for everything all the time."

Reze thought about arguing that point, after all, she'd done plenty of stuff that certainly was her fault, but the way her boyfriend was smiling at her in an attempt to cheer her up sapped that desire from her. She instead settled for letting out a deep sigh, resting her head on Denji's shoulder, a faint smile on her face.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

Denji's chuckles as he shifts in his seat, getting in a more comfortable position, "Funny enough, someone's been reminding me a lot recently…"

"I was thinking we could watch a movie when we get back, Aki has some lying about in his room I think", Denji glances down at her, "What do you think?"

She pretends to think for a moment, "Wellll… I could be persuad-"

"Hey, I'm still here!", Power nearly shouted as she reminded the couple of her presence, unhappy that they had clocked out of listening to her monologue practically as soon as it started, "Leaving out a devil as beautiful as me! Tis a travesty!"

"What does that have to do with…", Reze starts to respond only to turn to look at Denji, both of them sharing a look before deflating.

"Would you like to watch with us Powy?", Denji asked in a near-monotone voice, clearly unamused at the fiend imposing on his alone time with Reze.

Not that the horned fiend cared as she celebrated, "Of course! I shall join you with Meowy as soon as we get home! Any movie picked out by yours truly shall be magnificent indeed!"

Reze, though a bit deflated, found herself smiling as the fiend celebrated, finding Power's sincere joy oddly charming. Sure, she was a pain, and had already made a couple of attempts on her life, but she certainly made things a lot livelier.

"Sure Power, while you go and pick out the movie from Aki's room, me and Denji can fix up some grub. Sound good?"

Power's eyes lit up at the mention of food, looking at Reze as if Christmas had come early, "Indeed! There must be meat, I will not tolerate that… poison… that topknot tries to feed me!"

'Heh, she's like a little kid…', a thought crossed Reze's mind, 'I wonder…'

"Well, if you promise to behave, we can stop at the garage and get you whatever meat you want. How about it?"

"Deal", Power quickly agreed to the deal, standing to attention. With how she was standing, Reze wouldn't have been surprised if the fiend had saluted her.

Maybe she could get on with the little brat after all.

I've been a bit busy, so it took a little bit longer than usual to get this chapter out, but with this chapter we're finally into the International Assassin's arc! I also finally got around to updating the old summary that had been bugging me (literally the hardest thing to write for me lol).

As always, I really appreciate everyone who's followed, favourited and especially reviewed. Since I have IA's fully planned out, I should hopefully be able to get the next chapters out more quickly, so here's hoping!