"Your perceptions may have been maliciously altered by some force."
"Maliciously… altered? Renji… what… what are you talking about?"
The Angel Devil's face was full of disbelief. She looked at him, wondering if he was playing a joke on her.
But at the same time, a sense of discomfort surged from the depths of her mind. Inexplicable images flashed before her eyes.
A small seaside village…
Someone taught her human language…
Someone helped her build a home…
Someone taught her to dive…
Someone brought her food… a little girl… she seemed to be… her best… her best friend…
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's confused emotional state. System rewards 20 points.]
The Angel Devil rubbed her head and shook it, waiting for the discomfort to subside.
"Ugh… my head hurts… Anyway, I understand what you mean, Renji. You're saying that a place called Nagasaki should exist—Nagasaki City—just like Tokyo and Kyoto?"
Renji nodded.
"Yes. Nagasaki City exists, and it's geographically adjacent to Tokyo. In fact, it's not just Nagasaki—there are many other cities. But for some reason, all of you have forgotten about them and are trapped in Tokyo and Kyoto."
"How… how is that possible? And Renji, how… how do you know all this?"
The Angel Devil started to ask, then suddenly caught herself and quickly waved her hand.
"Wait… wait a moment. I'd better not ask. This must be very important information. If I knew it, I'd be completely bound to you in the future—unable to separate."
After speaking, she suddenly remembered that just moments ago, she had truly, literally been "completely bound together, inseparable" with him.
She raised her head and sighed in despair.
"Never mind. Renji, you… you'd better tell me."
So Renji told the Angel Devil about himself—how he knew these things, and how he had transmigrated from another world.
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's shocked emotional state. System rewards 10 points.]
The Angel Devil was stunned by his words, her expression shifting strangely.
Fortunately, she understood—after all, she was not a normal person to begin with, having been reincarnated herself. Seeing that she grasped it, Renji continued.
"Let's try something now. Since you had no reaction when I mentioned Nagasaki, let's test some other city names. Hmm… let me think… what are some Japanese coastal cities…"
Renji paused for a moment, then began reciting coastal city names from memory.
"Kobe, Fukuoka, Hakodate, Hiroshima, Nagoya…"
As he spoke, he also watched the Angel Devil's micro-expressions. But each name was like a stone dropped into the sea—failing to elicit any change from her.
It wasn't until Renji uttered the two words "Yokohama" that the Angel Devil's expression finally shifted. It was an expression of confusion.
"Wait… just a moment…"
The Angel Devil hastily interrupted him, her voice even tinged with urgency.
Because that familiar yet strange memory flash had appeared again.
Her face full of bewilderment, she tightly closed her eyes, trying to clear her thoughts. After a while, she opened them again, but her gaze still revealed disorientation and incomprehension as she murmured to herself.
"Just now… a girl's figure flashed in my vision… The girl's background was… the sea… and there was a small boat nearby…"
Hearing her description, Renji jumped down from the large rock.
"So it seems… it's Yokohama."
He frowned and began to recall his knowledge of Japan's modern map. After a moment, he looked east.
"It's probably less than thirty kilometers from here. Not far."
Yokohama is only about 28.8 kilometers from Tokyo.
In modern society, even at the slowest speed, it would take at most an hour to reach the destination. For various reasons, the Chainsaw Man worldview is similar—not many years have passed, and the technological level is not much different from modern society.
Moreover, neither of them was ordinary. One was a Devil; the other had cheats.
Along the way, the two walked and stopped along the coastline, entering abandoned towns and village ruins.
At each location, they would stop and search carefully, hoping to find items or clues that could prove the area's name. This delayed them somewhat.
After about five hours, Renji and the Angel Devil arrived at another desolate area.
The faint outlines of a former small village still remained on this land, but like everywhere else, it was already dilapidated—difficult to discern its original appearance.
As usual, Renji bent down and carefully searched the ground for any useful clues—any discarded scraps of paper.
This time, the Angel Devil did not join him. She stood quietly in place, slowly turning her body, her gaze constantly scanning the surroundings.
Her expression at this moment revealed a deep sense of bewilderment, as if she was lost in the depths of her memories.
Renji also found a tattered book, likely a newspaper, on which was written: "Yokohama Today's Expre..." The rest was completely illegible, too ruined to make out.
At this moment, Renji also noticed Angel Devil's unusual behavior. He stopped what he was doing, dropped the ruined book, stood up, and walked to her side.
"Is this it?" he asked gently. "The place where you were born?"
Angel Devil seemed completely engrossed in her own thoughts, showing no reaction to Renji's question. She merely gazed blankly at the surrounding scenery. Although everything seemed so unfamiliar, a strange sense of familiarity welled up from deep within her heart.
Suddenly, a scene flashed through Angel Devil's mind.
On the vast and boundless coast, she was happily playing with an innocent and lovely little girl. They joyfully had a water fight, splashing crystal-clear water droplets, accompanied by bursts of clear and pleasant laughter echoing in the air.
"I think... I think I have some impression..." Angel Devil murmured, her voice now as soft as a breeze across a string. "This is it..."
Then, involuntarily, she took a step and walked towards the sea.
When she reached the seaside, she stopped and pointed her slender finger at the sand nearby.
"I think... I really like sitting here," she spoke softly, her eyes filled with tenderness. "The view here is very wide."
She paused, lost in the memory surfacing within her.
"This is the place… I remember… in the beginning, there was often a little girl who brought me food. I clearly told her I was a devil and to stay away from me, but she still enjoyed it."
A soft, wistful smile crossed her lips.
"Every time we met, she always smiled so brightly and happily, asking if I was bored, then dragging me to swim and play with her."