"Ah!"
Reze was startled and stumbled back a few steps, falling hard onto the soaked terrace floor.
She didn't wait to think, adrenaline flooding her veins. She scrambled to her feet and limped away, sprinting toward the stairs.
Skinner rolled his eyes and trotted after her with a twisted, gleeful grin.
"Hey, didn't we agree to go pee together? Why are you running away?"
Reze reached the stairwell and paused for a moment, debating her options. Finally she turned and bolted upward toward the rooftop terrace.
Skinner laughed, swinging his long, wicked knife in a sinful arc as he followed. "Wrong way, missy! The bathroom's further down! We don't… pee up here~"
Reze clutched the railing, breath ragged, heading up every step like her life depended on it.
Bang!
She yanked open the terrace door.
Rain poured down in sheets.
With no other escape, Reze stepped out onto the terrace, drenched instantly.
Skinner followed with that same disgusting grin still plastered on his face.
"Hey, hey, hey," he crooned like a deranged carnival barker, "miss, this is not good bathroom etiquette. Do you usually pee on rooftops?"
"Who… who are you?" Reze gasped, heart pounding like a war drum. She backed up until she had about three meters of space between them, eyeing his knife with justified terror.
Skinner tilted his head and touched his unruly red mohawk, his voice slack with madness.
"Before you figure out who I am, Miss Pee‑Everywhere, do you even know who you are?"
"Huh?"
Reze's mind spun.
Skinner looked up at the stormy sky, letting rainwater stream down into his empty eye sockets. His eyes rolled back grotesquely as he muttered like he was narrating a bizarre dream.
"But I know who you are. You are… *cheese…"
"Cheese meant to lure the mouse out of its hole~"
Reze recoiled, confused and rattled.
"I don't know you at all, and I have zero clue what you're saying. Stop this!" she yelled, backing away.
Skinner planted his knife on his shoulder, swaggering forward like some unhinged carnival attraction.
"Next, I'm going to skin you, gouge those opal eyes right out, and take them to Cael, telling him this…"
His voice went soft, dripping with lunacy.
"Actually… your precious woman is still alive~"
Hee hee hee hee…
Skinner laughed unevenly, flicking out a scarlet tongue to lick the corner of his mouth.
"I don't know why, but every time I do this, everyone becomes surprisingly obedient," he said proudly.
"Don't worry, Miss Reze," he added with a casual shrug. "I only want your skin and eyes, I'm not actually planning to kill you yet~"
Without warning, Skinner lunged forward with his blade raised.
Reze's breath hitched in her throat, terror clawing at her chest.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
But before he could strike, she moved.
Fast.
Like a flash.
Reze leaped onto Skinner's torso, legs locking around his waist in a perfect grapple.
Snap!
She twisted and in an instant distorted his wrist, snapping his knife‑wielding arm like a twig.
The blade clattered to the rain‑soaked concrete.
Reze didn't stop there. She slid gracefully around him and climbed up his back like a shadow.
"What?!"
Skinner never even got the chance to scream.
Reze's slender, rain‑slick arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
She locked in a rear naked choke with unshakable precision.
Using her body weight, she leaned back hard.
Thump!
Both of them crashed to the terrace floor.
Skinner's face turned beet‑red, his eyes rolling helplessly as the choke cut off his breathing.
Patter, patter.
Rain continued to fall in heavy sheets.
Reze's forehead hair was plastered with water, but her breathing had steadied, and calm filled her eyes in an almost eerie way.
The pounding rain and Skinner's weak gurgles were the only sounds.
Then, in a flat, almost sing‑song voice, Reze hummed,
"Мы с Jane встречаемся сегодня.
Everything is ready…"
Splash.
Skinner twitched helplessly, limbs flailing, trying to breathe.
"…In the morning we'll go to church…"
Ttap, ttap, ttap.
"…then a cafe for fried eggs and coffee…"
Skinner's head sagged, his body going limp.
Finally, the cruel killer's struggles eased, and he stopped moving.
Reze's gaze stayed calm, almost detached, as she continued her eerie little tune,
"…then we'll stroll in the park
and after lunch, we'll rest
and talk until we remember
We won't remember…"
…Reze let the rain wash over her.
She slowly stood, brushing rain‑soaked hair out of her face and straightening her clothes with a cold calm.
Her gaze drifted to the swirling water near the terrace drain.
"The one who trapped us in this storm… was you, wasn't it, Typhoon Devil?" she said with deadly quiet.
There was a ripple in the water.
The Typhoon Devil appeared in its swirling drain form, stunned by her presence.
It hadn't expected Reze here.
And it definitely hadn't expected her to be this tough.
In canon, the Typhoon Devil made a deal to gain power in exchange for Denji's heart, and its contract partner turned on it during Reze's arc in the story, leading to its defeat and complicity under her influence.
The Typhoon Devil's voice trembled slightly, tone respectful bordering on fearful.
"Sorry… Lady Reze, I truly didn't know you were present. If I had known, I never would have let that human attack you."
Reze snorted with cold insignificance.
"Hmph," she said simply, "You're forgiven this once. But as payment, you will obey my orders for now."
"Thank you for sparing my life, Lady Reze," the Typhoon Devil said with a deference it rarely showed.
"Leave, and dispose of this man's body thoroughly," she ordered.
"Understood," it replied, disappearing back into the drain swirl.
Back Inside
Reze patted her cheeks, sighing in relief.
She peeked into the classroom with a mischievous smile.
"Ta‑da~"
Her voice echoed like sunshine returning after rain.
"Hi, cat‑eating mouse, the country mouse is back! By the way, looks like the rain stopped~"
The Typhoon Devil's storm faded, and the weather brightened almost instantly.
Cael looked up at her, soaked from head to toe, hair plastered to her face.
"Hey," he said with a puzzled frown, "weren't you just heading to the bathroom? How did you get so drenched?"
Reze drew out a dramatic sigh, pretending to be annoyed.
"Don't ask. The bathroom window got blown off by the wind, and I got blasted with rain. Turns out even big Tokyo buildings have crappy construction, haha~"
Cael frowned in genuine concern.
"Well, go get a shower and change. It's not heated in here like the cinema, and you'll get sick."
Reze rolled up her sleeves with unshakeable energy.
"Hey," she shot him a grin, "since I'm already here, let's finish setting up the fireworks before I go."
Cael exhaled, looking half exasperated, half amused.
"You got into this mess because of my stupid ideas…" he said.
"Why apologize? Isn't this kinda fun~?" Reze said, smiling wide.
She jumped right into instructions.
"You, the country mouse, take charge of the western fireworks! And me, the cat‑eating mouse, I'll take the eastern building! Let's go~"
Reze was all action, grabbing boxes and heading off with fiery determination.
Room 606
Inside her room at Fourth East High School, after a cold week of silence, Asa Mitaka finally examined her thoughts with clear logic.
Why did she think Cael didn't like her?
He had obviously called her every day, left food she liked exactly the way she liked it, and 999+ intercepted calls didn't lie.
Every one of those things was proof he cared, right?
As for why her ability failed earlier?
Totally explainable — the Blackbeard Devil's power interference made the ability glitch. And Yoru was weak in that moment anyway.
So the failure wasn't rejection.
It was a technical error.
Asa buried her head in her pillow, guilt washing over her like a tidal wave.
She should be the one apologizing.
Yes.
She made up her mind — the next time Cael came by, she would explain everything clearly.
Wait —
Strategy first…
Maybe it'd be better if she went to find him — that would be proactive.
Yoru — living in her head like spilled tea and sass combined — snapped angrily.
"Asa is thinking about Chainsaw Man again? Not allowed!"
Asa snarled in response, pushing Yoru's interference aside.
"I will! I'll think about him while staring at our photo!"
She bolted toward the bedroom desk, searching for the photo frame they kept together.
That photo.
The one she never threw away, even in anger.
"Eh? Where's my photo?" she muttered, rifling through drawers.
Then —
Slap!
She smacked her forehead.
"Oh no! I left the photo frame at school!"
Realizing this, she immediately threw on her coat, changed shoes, and bolted out the door.
She had to see that photo. Right now.