Chapter 8: Enoshima
The world around him was dark and blurry. All he remembered was handing Reze a drink, then he was splayed out on his back, staring up at the rafters of the station roof, the sound of a train rattling away into the distance being all he could hear. He couldn't speak, he couldn't move to get up; all he could do was lie back, a creeping chill emanating from his chest, slowly spreading throughout his body.
Denji tried to speak, only to croak out a rattling groan, then he felt some small amount of warmth, as he coughed up frothy, warm blood.
It was a feeling he hadn't felt since before Pochita saved him back at the warehouse, back when coughing up blood in the morning was a regular occurrence. His mom had died of a disease, some problem with her heart. As the blood dribbled from his mouth he thought about his mom, she had died when he was he was still young, too young to even remember her face.
'Wonder… what she was… like…'
He wondered if she was kind, if she looked like him, had she loved him, or was he just a burden to her…?
As the cold overtook his senses, the scenery of the train station around him turned pitch-black, only darkness surrounding him. Whilst his whole body was ice cold, Denji found that he could now move his head freely, weakly craning his head to look down at his chest. All he saw was a circular hole carved through his chest, there was no blood, no pain and no heart. Just a deep hole leaking inky darkness.
Upon seeing this, Denji again found his strength failing him, slumping back down, looking blankly up into the dark sky above once again. Suddenly, a soft, ominous voice echoed out from the darkness above.
"How could someone like you ever be loved?"
"Someone who felt nothing after your so-called 'friend' was killed?"
As the voice echoed throughout the darkness around him, in the dark sky above him, red spirals pierced through the darkness, gazing down at him, growing brighter and brighter each time the voice spoke.
"How could anyone love someone who doesn't even have a heart of his own?"
Denji squeezed his eyes closed as the oddly familiar voice wormed its way into his head, 'No! I do have a heart, Miss Makima even said so!'. Denji squirmed under the domineering gaze, the intensity of the spirals growing stronger and stronger, Denji not being able to escape the red light by closing his eyes.
Then it stopped as if some had just flicked off a light, the vicious red light returning to black, the previously oppressive darkness now seeming pleasant in comparison, with the darkness offering respite from the all-seeing spirals.
Denji's eyes cautiously opened, as suddenly he felt a gentle pressure on his chest, warmth emanating throughout his body from that point, 'Wh-what…?'
Denji once again craned his neck, looking down at his chest, only to find that in place of the inky hole that was there before, his eyes met the bright green eyes of a girl. She was resting her head on his now healed chest, smiling faintly as she held her ear to his beating heart.
"Of course you have a heart, Denji", the girl spoke, her voice soft and soothing, "You're the funniest, kindest person I've ever met". The girl smirked slightly, "Hell, even if you don't have a heart, then I'd say that you wouldn't need one, after all…", she reached up with her hand, caressing his face, "You made me fall for you…"
"Reze…", Denji uttered the girl's name softly just as her arm flopped back down from his face, as if it was the arm of a puppet that just had its string cut. Reze was still smiling fondly, head resting on his chest still as her eyes began to close.
"Reze!", Denji yelled as loudly as his battered body would let him. There was no response beyond light, shuddering breaths.
'Knock, knock, knock'
Denji turned, the piercing sound of a door knocking coming from his right. There he saw it, it was at the end of an alleyway, the door being covered in blank posters, the only other features on the battered door being a peephole and mailbox.
'Knock, knock, knock'
He tilted his head as someone knocked on the door again; he knew that he had seen that door before, but for the life of him he could pinpoint where…
"Denji!", he jumped as a hand, slick with blood, weakly grabbed his own. He turned to look at Reze once more. She was now barely conscious, blood flowing from her mouth, her abdomen a bloody mess and her sole remaining arm being outstretched to hold his hand.
"Denji…", Reze looked at him pleadingly, her strength visibly fading, "Please.."
"Don't…"
"Open… it…"
With that, Reze faded into the encroaching darkness, Denji reached out towards where she had been, his hand still covered in her blood. He tried to call out her name, but all that came out was a gush of blood. He slumped back down to the ground once more, his consciousness fading as the knocking began anew.
'Knock, knock'
'Knock, knock'
'Knock, knock'
'Knock, knock'
'Ka-thunk, ka-thunk'
'Ka-thunk, ka-thunk'
'Ka-thunk, ka-thunk'
'Ka-thunk, ka-thunk'
Denji's eyes slowly crept open, woken from his slumber by the steady rhythm of a train moving along its tracks, wincing as bright sunlight assaulted them. He shifted groggily, moving his head and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, only to meet the gaze of a pair of ringed eyes. He froze for a moment, feeling what almost felt like a fight or flight response before dismissing the feeling, after all why would he need to run?
"Hey Miss Makima, where are we anyways?!", Denji nearly jumped out of his seat in excitement, only to be stopped by a weight clinging to his arm.
Makima smiled calmly, a finger up to her lips shushing him, "Quiet now Denji, you don't want to wake her up yet, she only fell asleep a short while ago".
Denji barely heard what she said as he settled back down, looking down at the sleeping Russian clinging to his right arm, with his sudden movement causing her head to shift and rest on Denji's shoulder.
Denji's surprise at the girl's position was quickly replaced by a fond smile as she snuggled into his side.
"To answer your question, we are on the train to Enoshima", Denji's attention was quickly diverted back to Makima as she spoke, "Don't tell me you had forgotten already, we've had this work vacation day planned for a while now".
'Oh yeah, I remember Aki sayin' that we get an annual work trip as part of our contract, gotta love jobs!'
Aki himself looked up from the small novel he was reading, fixing Denji with an exasperated look, "Don't tell me your memory is that bad, I thought a punk like you would at least make sure to remember his paid leave…"
"Oh, shut your mouth top-!", Denji stopped his retort remembering Reze was fast asleep next to him, quickly checking that she was still sound asleep before continuing in a more hushed tone, "Shut up Aki, it's not my fault you're too boring to listen to!"
"Yeah, yeah, and it's not my fault you and Power don't listen to a thing", Aki rolled his eyes, going back to reading his novel, Denji squinted, trying to make out the title of the book, a feat easier said than done, he hadn't had as much time to practice his reading recently.
"The book is called 'Kokoro', written by Natsume Soseki", Denji jolted as a teasing voice came from beside him, Reze grinned at his surprise before continuing, "If memory serves, it's about a young, impressionable student and his teacher, whom he admires", she raises her free hand to her chin, trying to remember some details of the book, "A lot of pretty dark themes in it I think, stuff like the past determining peoples fate and the consequences of human selfishness".
She looked at Aki pointedly, "Of course, Topknot would be reading a dour book like that…"
"Can it!", Aki grumbled, burying his nose in the novel grouchily.
"Wow Reze, you're so smart!", Denji gushed, causing the girl in question to giggle, making no move to decouple herself from his arm.
Denji looked at her curiously, "By the way Reze, how long have you been awake anyway?"
"Oh that, she's been awake the whole time Denji", the response came from Makima, who had been listening with the same unchanging smile on her face the entire time, "I just thought it would be more entertaining to play along".
Denji pulls a face at that, huffing as Reze bursts into a laughing fit, "ahahaha, the look on your face- ahahahaha!"
"Oh yeah, Miss Makima, where 'bouts is Power anyway?" Denji asks, looking to change the subject, "Is she coming, or is she gettin' her blood drained again?"
"Oh, Power is just on another carriage", Makima responds with a light chuckle, "Aki here asked Himeno and Angel to take her off his hands for the trip down, she seemed all too happy to oblige".
Aki puts down his book, seemingly giving up on reading anymore and joining in the conversation, "Power is still afraid of Makima, she nearly ran away with Angel and Himeno".
Makima chuckles again at this, "Oh yes, Power is quite the drama queen, I think she just associates me with getting her blood drained", Reze looks up at this, now recovered from her laughing fit, "So… does her getting her blood drained… hurt her or something?"
"Hmmm… I wouldn't say that it would hurt her, though it's not especially pleasant either", Makima's face took on a more neutral expression, "All we do is keep her in isolation for a while and wait until she burns through her blood stockpile.
"Huh…", Reze turned to look out the window, a pensive look on her face, "Sounds kinda lonely…"
"Nah, Miss Makima is right Reze, Powy's dramatic about everything, hell she threw her dinner over Aki the other week just 'cause she didn't like carrots!", Denji shrugged off Reze's concerns, smiling at her as he regaled her with Power's antics.
Reze turned back to him, a small smile on her face, "Heh, I suppose you're right, it's just… well it just reminded me of something is all…"
"Well, since everyone is wide awake now and with Enoshima only being a short while away, I think it's a good time to go over the itinerary for our trip", Makima interjected, directing the conversation back towards their destination, "The most famous location there is the Enoshima Shrine, though in reality, it's more like three separate shrines each dating back to the year 552".
Reze perked up at this, her eagerness to learn something new shining through, "Oh, I'm not very familiar with Japanese religion at all, what are the shrines dedicated to?"
"Ah yes, each of the three shrines is dedicated to one of the three Munakata-Sanjoshin, the three sister goddesses of the sea, water, fortune and wealth", Makima continued, seemingly enjoying her lecture, "The three shrines of Enoshima together are one of the three Nihon-Sandai-Benzaiten, with the other two being located at Miyako Island in Aki and Chikubushima Island in Omi".
"After the shrine, we'll head to the Sea Candle lighthouse to see the view, and then visit the Samuel Cocking Gardens nearby".
"Samuel Cocking…?!", Denji repeated the Garden's namesake with difficulty, confusion on his face as he enunciated the words, "What does that mean, is it another language or something?"
"Ding-ding-ding, 10 points to Denji!", Reze exclaimed teasingly grinning, "You're right, that's an English name Denji, though the name itself doesn't really ring a bell…", Denji pouted at Reze's teasing, blushing as the girl leaned back on him.
Aki rolled his eyes at their antics, "Maybe if you two stopped flirting and listened to Makima, you'd find out who he was!".
Denji looked at Reze, a deadpan look on his face, "Damn, he's got a shitty attitude today…", Reze returned the look, "He's just mad his girlfriend's on the other carriage". At that their façade broke down, with Denji and Reze breaking down into gales of laughter, as Aki stewed in anger, grinding his teeth.
"Shut it you two, or I'll stick Power on kitchen duty when we're back!"
The two hybrids froze, their laughter coming to a sudden end as they turned to Aki and spoke in tandem.
"Yes, Hayakawa, sir."
"Shutting up now, Mr Hayakawa."
Makima chose this moment to continue, "Well, as I was saying the gardens were founded by an English trader by the name of Samuel Cocking sometime during the Meiji era. I heard that it used to have a greenhouse, but that it was destroyed during the Great Kanto earthquake", a small frown was visible on her face, "A shame, apparently the greenhouse was home to many exotic tropical plants, wonder if they'll rebuild it someday…?"
"Oh, oh!", Denji intoned excitedly, "What about food!?"
"Oh yes Denji, of course", Makima's usual smile was solidly back in place, "Once we finish up sightseeing, we'll all head down to the beach to unwind, there's also several local delicacies to try as well."
Reze pokes Denji in the side, pouting as he turns to look at her, "Geez, I went out of my way to buy a nice bikini for the beach, and you're asking about the food…?"
Denji's gaze quickly snapped back to Makima, his face dead serious, "Miss Makima, permission to skip sight-seeing and go to the beach?!"
"Denied", Makima hid her laughter with one hand as Denji visibly deflated and Reze burst into a fit of giggles, her face taking a noticeably rosy hue.
"Don't worry Denji, once we're finished seeing the sights, you and Reze can go and do your own thing, maybe you could see if there are any brochures advertising date spots at the train station".
"M-miss Makima!", Denji spluttered in embarrassment, conflict clear on his face.
'Why is Miss Makima saying this, wouldn't she be mad since we just went on a date?!', Denji's thoughts were all over the place at Makima's teasing, 'Though… I guess it wouldn't be all that bad… me an' Reze have a lot in common, she's hot, and funny and…', Denji looked back down at Reze who had settled upon resting her head on his shoulder, a contented look on her face, 'Yeah… that doesn't sound too bad at all actually…'
As Denji was occupied thinking about his love life, Aki looked at his watch, "We should be arriving at Enoshima station in the next ten minutes, so everyone make sure you have all your luggage before we get off!"
As Denji disentangled himself from Reze, much to her chagrin, he couldn't help but look forward to getting to Enoshima and as he pulled his and Reze's luggage down from the overhead storage above their seat, he couldn't help but look forward to swimming with Reze… again.
"Ahhhhhh…!", Reze stretches as make their way out of the station and into the pleasant sunshine of Enoshima, not noticing Denji swipe a small brochure from a stand by the door, "It's great to finally be off that train, those seats were playing havoc on my back!"
"Heh, well you seemed pretty comfy to me…", Denji looked at Reze from the corner of his eyes the sceptical look on his face being matched by a smug smirk.
"Not my fault you make a great pillow", Reze smiled back, lightly swatting his arm in response before pointing in front of them.
"Oh there! There's Himeno and Angel!", Reze exclaimed as the devil hunter and devil came into view, Himeno was wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans combo, whilst Angel had opted for his usual Public Safety suit.
"Oh yeah- wait where's Pow- ARGH!", Denji was cut short as the fiend in question sucker-punched him in the back of the head.
"FOOLISH DENJI! THAT WENCH HAS DULLED YOUR SENSES!", Power screamed in Denji's ear as he clutched the back of his head in pain, "HOW ELSE COULD YOU NOT NOTICE THE PRESENCE OF ME, THE MIGHTY POOOWERR!"
"What the hell Power?!", Denji looked up at the crowing fiend, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes, "And stop being so loud, everyone'll stare!"
"And who are you calling a wench you smelly little zasranets!", Reze cussed out the fiend, incensed at Power's flagrant insults as she shoved her away from Denji.
"HOW DARE YOU ASSAULT ME MORTAL-"
As the girls bickered, Denji felt an arm drape itself over his shoulder, dragging him away from the two girls.
"Let's leave them be for the moment Denji, I have a few questions for you…", a playful voice whispered in his ear as turned to see Himeno's distinctive eyepatch and trademark grin.
"So, first of all, what's going on over there anyway, trouble in paradise or something?"
"Wh-what!?", Denji stuttered in confusion as Himeno released him from her grip, having dragged him off to the side, "No, no nothin' like that! Powy was…", Denji scratched the back of his head, "Well she was just actin' like herself really…"
"Ahhhh… I see…", a mischievous glint came to Himeno's eye, "so things are going well with young Reze then… so where does that leave our deal then?"
"Eh…?", Denji looked at the woman in confusion.
"Ehhhhh… don't tell me you've forgotten already, you helped me get with Aki, so I'd feel kinda bad if I didn't keep my end of the bargain and help you get with Makima", she looked at him quizzically, "But… if you're going with Reze I guess that means you aren't interested in Makima anymore?"
"I- uhhhh, I-", Denji stammered, failing to get out a reply as Himeno continued on.
"Honestly, probably a good thing you aren't barking up that tree anymore", Himeno frowned, a strange edge in her one eye before she sighed, the tension leaving her as suddenly as it came, "Well I suppose it doesn't really matter, if you need any help with Reze, I'll always be willing to lend a hand".
She grinned again, "After all, with me and Aki going private, I'll have plenty of free time to help out".
"Huh! You and Aki are leavin' Public Safety?!", Denji almost shouted before catching himself and lowering his voice, "What about the Gun Devil, thought he was set on killin' it?"
She looked at him, giving him a kind smile, "Well, take it from one friend to another… some things are just more important at the end of the day".
"Anyway, speaking of more important things, it seems like that's all the time we've got to chat for now, looks like Aki managed to wrangle Power and your girlfriend", Himeno points to Reze, who was jogging towards them, an annoyed look plastered on her face, "I'll leave you two kids to it", Himeno winked as she walked off, waving over her shoulder as she went.
'What do I want? What is more important to me…?'
As Denji watched the girl jog towards them, he thought back to his deal with Makima, when she had promised him a single wish if he succeeded in killing the Gun Devil, for a while he thought he knew what his wish would be, but now…
As Reze jogged closed in on him and Himeno the annoyed expression had left her face, replaced with a small grin, a thought crossed Denji's mind, 'Wonder if I could use that wish to go to school with Reze…'
"You alright Denji, something on your mind?", Reze stopped in front of him, her face framed by her hair, now slightly dishevelled from her scuffle with Power, "Nah… nothing important, was just thinking about something Himeno was sayin'… what happened over there with Power anyways? I didn't get a good look".
"Oh, Aki managed to get her off me, last I seen them Aki was leading her off to Makima in a headlock", Reze rolled her eyes, tidying her hair as she spoke, "I have no clue how you stand her… is she always that aggressive?"
Denji shrugged in response, "She tried killing me the first time I met her, so yeah, that's pretty normal for her…", Denji stopped and thought for a moment, "Though now that I think about it, she actually hasn't tried to kill me for a couple of weeks…"
"Geez… If that's her mellowed out, I don't think I could handle living with her back then…"
"Hey! Lovebirds!", Reze's griping was abruptly interrupted by a shout from Himeno, who had rejoined Aki, Angel, Power and Makima, "We're going to start walking up to the shrines now, you's coming or what!?"
"Coming!", Denji and Reze shout back, with Reze grabbing his hand as they jogged towards the group. Reze looked back with a grin, "I think I overheard from Aki that Makima is buying us all some of Enoshima's famous ice cream, so we better hurry up before Power steals our share!"
The group of devil hunters were standing in the middle of the Benten Bridge which led to Enoshima proper, the group waiting as Makima and Aki returned from the small food stand located at the halfway point of the bridge, the two senior devil hunters carrying a number of oddly coloured cones of ice cream.
"Huh, what the hell is this?", Denji turns up his nose at the ice cream as he grabs it from Aki's hand.
"It's a local delicacy, it's matcha ice cream topped with fish", Aki answered Denji as he handed Reze and Power a cone each. Denji shrugged, taking a bite out of the ice cream, his eyes lighting up as he savoured the treat. "Crap, that tastes really good!"
Power cringed as she scarfed her ice cream, shuddering as the taste hit her tongue, "Urghh… it tastes like the sea…", her disgust quickly turned to anger, "I am bewildered that anyone would dare put fish on ice cream!"
"What's your problem with it?", Denji looked at the blood fiend, bewildered, "You get to eat ice cream and fish at the same time. It saves time and you like meat anyway!"
"Hey, what do you think Reze?", he turns to Reze, seeking her opinion on the odd snack, only to see that she had nearly finished it already, "Huh, wha-?", Reze looks at him surprised, quickly wiping the ice cream from her mouth, "Y-yeah it's pretty good, though I've never had ice cream before so it's a bit of a strange first time…"
"Huh, guess you two aren't picky eaters, huh?", Aki gave Denji and Reze a mildly disgusted look, before fixing his own cone with an apprehensive look, taking a tentative bite.
"That's not half bad actually", Aki's eyes widened in appreciation, taking another bite, "The sweetness of the ice cream compliments the saltiness of the fish better than I thought it would."
"You sound like a pretentious food critic, Topknot", Reze smirks at Aki's commentary on the ice cream, with Denji choosing to pile on as well, "You act grossed out, then say you liked it, make up your damned mind already!"
"Yes, Topknot, your damned mind needs making!", Power chipped in, not wanting to be left out of their customary bullying of Aki.
Aki sighed in response, "I'm just expressing my opinion, you can leave the badgering for when we get home…"
Makima chuckled as she, Himeno and Angel slowed down to match the pace of the Hayakawa household, "Nice to see that the Hayakawa family is so close".
"Yeah, Aki really is a mother hen, huh?", Himeno grinned at Aki mischievously.
The four members of the household looked at each other, with Aki letting out a sigh, "I'm not sure about close, it feels more like I'm the parent of a bunch of rebellious brats…"
"Sheesh, real nice Aki…", Denji grumbled as Power began crowing obnoxiously once more, "I daresay it is we who are always looking after you, Topknot, you should consider it an honour!"
"You say you're like a parent, but half the time you act the part of the overbearing big brother!", Reze snarked at him from the sidelines, with Himeno pouncing on the comment, "Oh, oh, oh! Does that make me the cool older sister?", the woman chirped in eagerly, playing along with the joke.
"Sure, sounds good to me 'big sis'", Reze and Himeno laughed together as Aki grumbled, Power and Denji continuing to badger him as Makima chose to give her piece, "No I think Aki was right, he does seem like their mom".
Aki's jaw nearly hit the floor as he stood there, shocked, "Their m-m-mom…?".
Denji, Power and Reze all fell into a laughing fit.
"You're a mommy Aki!", Denji crowed, Reze tittering beside him, "He's just a single mother trying to get by, ahahaha!"
"A mother with a topknot!", Power was on the ground now, rolling in laughter.
"Shut up you three!", they were all dodging Aki's blows as they danced away from their seething 'mother', as the group steadily made their way through the shopping street until they reached some steps leading up to a large torii gate.
By now the group had settled down, growing tired of harassing Aki and instead taking in the sights "That's Enoshima Shrine just ahead", Makima announced as they climbed the steps, walking through the torii gate. Aki was reading from his guidebook as they climbed, pointing out the three halls of the shrine whilst reading off a smattering of historical anecdotes.
This historical lecture was going straight over Denji's head until Reze swatted his arm, "You should be listening to this Denji, as boring as Topknot is, the history itself is quite interesting", Denji threw her a lopsided grin, "I'll leave all the smart stuff to you Reze, you can tell it all to me later, maybe grab a coffee?"
Reze giggled at that, "Sounds like a plan to me, though first things first… do you have any idea what to do once we get to the shrine?", Reze asked, "Because I don't have a clue…"
Denji scratched the back of his head, "Nah, I'm in the same boat, the only time I've been to one was when we went to that festival…"
"Welllll, let 'big sis' Himeno educate you both", Reze and Denji jumped as Himeno put herself in between the two of them, one arm draped over either teen's shoulders, "Basically, when we arrive at the shrine over there, you want to pay respects to the Gods, so you throw in some money and make a wish and, If the Gods are feeling generous, they may just grant it".
"There, see how Makima just made a wish", Himeno pointed the teens towards the red-headed woman, "Just do what she did, drop your offering into the box, bow your head, clap twice and bow again with your eyes closed".
"That's quite a lot of steps, feels like it could be more straightforward…", Reze frowned in confusion, fixing Himeno with a questioning look. Himeno just shrugged.
"Hey, don't look at me! The Gods are capricious, I don't make the rules!"
One by one, each member of the group went up to make their offerings. Most kept their secret, with only Power choosing to loudly proclaim all of her three wishes: that all humans would die, that she would win a Nobel prize and that Makima would vanish from the world.
Needless to say, she received a tongue-lashing from Aki for the last statement, with Angel, Himeno and Reze oddly smirking at Power's declaration, with Makima herself being strangely chipper about the whole thing.
"Power, you aren't meant to say your wishes out loud Power dear. If you do they won't come true", Makima lightly scolded Power, seemingly amused by the Blood fiend's attempt at assassination via divine intervention.
After a brief attempt by Power to fob off her wish as being Denji's idea, much to his chagrin, it was Aki's turn to go up.
"I'll be keeping that to myself, thanks", Aki brushed Denji off as the blonde continued to to prod at him, "I bet I can guess! It was, like, revenge or something, right?"
"That would be a better wish than the ones Power made, but I'm not going to bother the Gods with that", Aki responded, "I can get revenge on my own".
"What was it then?", Denji continued interrogating him, refusing to take a hint.
Denji was then joined by Power and Reze, who started whispering to each other in a huddle.
"Sounds sketchy…", Denji whispered, "Do you think he wished for something, y'know, filthy?"
"I don't think, I know!", Power proclaimed with certainty, "He may act like a prude, but the animal lust rolls off him!"
"Oh definitely, probably wishing that big sis would-", Reze's addition was cut short as Aki finally snapped.
"Would you three shut it!?", Aki's eye was twitching now as he snapped at the three, before his voice became very quiet, "I wished for you three to find happiness".
The three teens looked at each other in silence for a moment. Before they broke out in peals of laughter.
"What, like, seriously!?"
"How much of a sap can you be!?"
"You pray for the dumbest of things, Topknot!"
"Dammit, I take it back!", Aki fumed, walking off as the trio continued laughing, with Makima being forced to interject and calm them all down, "Now, now you three, be nice to your mother".
"I'm not their mom, Ms Makima!"
As the group calmed down again, Reze gave Denji a sharp prod in his side, having just come back from making her own offering, "Denji, it's your turn, get a move on!", Reze said all of this with a teasing smile on her face, amused that Denji had forgotten the point of coming up to the shrine when they were mocking Aki.
Denji unsteadily walked up to the shrine, "Geez… um… okay…", he stood uneasily in front of the offering box, before throwing in some change, clapping and closing his eyes as he'd seen everyone else do. Though when he closed his eyes he found he had no idea what to wish for.
First, he thought of Pochita, but Miss Makima had said that he was alive inside of him and… well it felt wrong to ask for more than that…
He was also living a normal life, hell he was even on a beach vacation with Miss Makima, his life was going pretty great!
There were a ton of things he still wanted, of course, to eat tons of different food, before he met Reze he probably would've wished for tons of girlfriends… not that he would know what to do with them…
'Huh… does Reze count as my girlfriend, I never really asked her…'
Denji, wasn't sure what to wish for, though he did have a vague notion that if he wished for all of them, nothing would come true.
He thought about wishing that he and Reze could go to school together, but that seemed kinda pointless, after all, he was going to ask Miss Makima to grant that wish for him, and she would definitely do that if he killed the Gun!
Finally, he arrived at a decision.
'I wish we could all come back here again…'
As he walks back, Reze moves to meet him, stopping in front of him, "So what did you wish for Denji?"
Denji scratched the back of his head, acting coy, "Oh, nothing much, just wished that we could all come back here again someday, how 'bout you?"
Reze's face took a somewhat dour look as she looked away, responding in a quiet voice, "I just wished we could live a peaceful life…"
She turned to face him, grabbing his hands and looking him in the eyes.
"You need to wake up Denji"
"H-huh", Denji flinched, bewildered at the girl's sudden change in tone, "Wh-what do y-"
"Wake up"
"Wake up Denji!"
Denji's eyes snapped open and he quickly panicked, looking down at his chest, only to find it fully intact. Letting out a sigh of relief, he looked up to find himself eye-to-eye with Aki, who was flanked by those devil hunters from Kyoto, 'What were their names again, Tendo and Kurome or somethin'…?'
Then the panic hit him again as the events of the train station came back to him, he remembered being on the ground, bleeding out, but he didn't see what happened to Reze!
"Aki- Reze, where is she!", Denji shouted, straining against the cuffs tethering him to the chain.
"We'll get to the terrorist in a moment, but first you'll explain why you thought it was a great idea to try to run away with someone who was trying to kill you yesterday!", Aki snapped back at Denji, clearly holding back his anger for the benefit of the other two devil hunters, "In case you've forgotten, you can't just run away like that, as a devil you are considered the property of the state, where would you even run to!"
"Do y' think I don't know that already!", Denji shouted back, before lowering his voice and continuing, "If you wanna know why I ran away, it's because I like her…", Denji looked away, "Reze had every chance to kill me when we first met, you know? But she didn't!"
"Instead she laughed at my jokes, fooled around with me at her work, she showed me what school is like, she taught me to swim…", Denji turned back to look Aki in the eyes once more, "She just wanted to escape, and… some things just matter more than workin' here, y'know?"
Aki flinched at that, memories of countless nights out with Himeno ending with her asking, sometimes nearly pleading that he leave Public Safety with her. He found that he understood Denji far more than he'd admit.
"I suppose that's good enough for now", Aki sighed, fishing out a packaged sandwich from a bag below the table and pushing it over to Denji, "Eat that". Aki turned to Tendo, "Would you mind uncuffing him, Tendo?". The tall woman moved to do so, though the unsure look she gave Aki made clear how she felt about it.
"And you're in luck, Denji", Aki spoke as Denji grabbed the sandwich with his now free hands, ripping open the packaging and beginning to devour the food, "Because Makima has decided to overlook this incident, just this one time".
Denji froze, swallowing the last bite of the sandwich before responding, "B-but what about Reze!?"
"I don't know myself…", Aki looked away, on one hand, he felt guilty that he couldn't assuage Denji's fears, on the other… well he wouldn't be shedding any tears for the terrorist who had killed Nomo, "But Miss Makima did tell me that she wanted to inform you of Bomb's fate herself".