Across the Pacific, on the other side of the world.
A lavish party was underway in the courtyard of an American estate. The Nakiri family entourage, Soma Yukihira, Megumi Tadokoro, Ryoko Sakaki, and the rest of the players from the Food Wars world had rolled up their sleeves, personally preparing a feast worthy of their talents.
Scattered among the courtyard were Ayano Yukinoshita, the Akizuki mother and children, Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko Miura, Ai Hayasaka, Kotonoha Katsura...
Nearly every player who'd crossed over into the Chainsaw Man world had gathered here, with the exception of the Kudo family, Sekai Saionji, and Makoto Itou.
Oh, and the Yukinoshita sisters hadn't come either, nor had Shizuka Hiratsuka, who'd been traveling with them.
Originally, Makoto had only planned to bring Leonora and Alice Nakiri to see Soe Nakiri, giving the family of three a small reunion after years apart.
But then he'd thought, why stop there? If they were throwing a get-together anyway, might as well invite everyone.
So he'd summoned every player he was on good terms with to this one location.
Worth mentioning: this villa served as the base of operations for Utaha Kasumigaoka and Megumi Kato's squad.
After leaving Japan, they'd come to the States and used the abilities they'd picked up in the Naruto world to kill the villa's original owner and take her place.
With Transformation Jutsu, that sort of thing was trivially easy. One shape-shifting technique and the mundane world became your oyster.
"Isn't this... kind of wrong?" Ran Mouri whispered to her teammates, her natural kindness bristling at the method.
"Relax. We did our homework." Utaha, now twenty-five and radiating the kind of allure that hadn't existed in her high school days, took a slow sip of red wine.
Every gesture carried a poise her younger self had never possessed. "The woman who owned this place? Her mother embezzled the resettlement funds meant for hundreds of laid-off workers. Over a hundred of them froze and starved to death that winter. After her mother went to prison, she fled to the States with the stolen money and even wrote a song to celebrate. Honestly, we gave her a merciful end."
Ran's conscience eased a little at that, though she still couldn't entirely accept it.
Her gaze drifted to Makoto, whose bearing had only grown more refined with the years. "Sensei," she began, "about Shin..."
Before the name could leave her lips, Eri Kisaki's hand clamped over her daughter's mouth from behind. "Ran," she hissed. "Do not mention that man's name."
Eri's opinion of Makoto wasn't exactly glowing, but it was leagues better than how she felt about Shinichi Kudo. And considering that returning to the real world hinged entirely on Makoto's cooperation, she had to eliminate any chance of offending him.
"Makoto, are we really safe having this party?" Yui sidled up to him, keeping her voice low.
She looked more like her mother with every passing year. If she'd let that signature bun down, the resemblance would've been uncanny. And it wasn't just Yui. Ran, Eriri, Alice Nakiri... all these girls who'd once been teenagers had, after nine years, begun to mirror their mothers in striking ways.
"We're fine. The Control Devil is powerful, but her reach only extends across Japan. Besides, I used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring everyone here. She won't detect a thing."
The certainty in his voice let Yui breathe easy.
"Oh no, we're out of drinks! Who wants to come with me to grab more?" Soe Nakiri, several glasses deep by now, noticed the liquor supply had run dry.
Soma spoke up immediately. "I'll go. I need wine for the beef bourguignon anyway."
"N-no, Soma, let me handle it..." Kazuya Kinoshita cut in.
Ever since being selected as a player, his life hadn't changed much from reality. Work odd jobs, scrape by, and wait for Makoto to clear the scenario so everyone could return to the real world.
In this new world, he'd managed to attach himself to the men's group through the Food Wars protagonists' sympathy, but compared to the super-powered Hachiman Hikigaya couple, or Soma's culinary genius, he couldn't contribute much. So he volunteered for every menial task he could.
"Sure, thanks." Soma nodded without fuss.
Two still wasn't quite enough, so Spencer Sawamura, who rarely drew attention to himself, tagged along as well.
The party rolled on.
As the thread connecting every player together, Makoto was the undisputed center of attention. Pochita, meanwhile, was being passed around among the women like a plush toy, each of them cradling the little creature and petting it in turn. The mingled scents of perfume and body wash flooding its nostrils left the poor thing dizzy.
More than a few of the women cast lingering glances Makoto's way. Over the past several years, he'd been using the Flying Thunder God Technique to visit them every few days, ensuring none of them had to spend their nights relieving their loneliness by hand.
Everyone had been drinking tonight, and the feelings simmering beneath the surface grew harder to contain.
"How come Dad and the others aren't back yet...?" Eriri rubbed her slightly swimming head, mumbling under her breath.
Sayuri Sawamura, mid-conversation with the other mothers, snapped to attention. "You're right. It's been far too long for a simple liquor run."
"You don't think they got mugged, do you? This is America, after all..." Mr. Kasumigaoka said, worry etched into his face.
"I should've gone instead of Dad..." Eriri's face creased with concern.
Three familiar silhouettes appeared at the courtyard entrance.
Soe Nakiri, Kazuya Kinoshita, Spencer Sawamura. Back with the drinks.
"Sorry about that. The store was packed. Took longer than expected." Soe flashed an apologetic grin.
Leonora Nakiri, Sayuri, and the others let out a collective breath of relief.
Then Makoto spoke.
"Did you know that energy flows through the human body? And that when someone is possessed by a devil, that flow becomes fundamentally different from a normal person's."
Every head in the courtyard swiveled toward him.
Megumi Kato's brow furrowed slightly. "Makoto, why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"
A faint smile crossed his lips. "Here's the thing, Megumi. Sensory-type shinobi detect enemies by reading their Chakra signatures, right? But people in this world don't have Chakra, so that ability is useless here. The Sharingan, though... the Sharingan can see it."
"What are you going on about?" Kazuya set down his glass with a laugh. "Are we partying or what?"
That laugh made the men's group freeze. Soma, Hachiman, all of them. Because the Kazuya Kinoshita they knew was a meek, anxious wreck. He would never grin that openly, that confidently.
"What I'm saying," Makoto continued, his voice flat, "is that I can tell when someone is wearing a disguise. Even if they used a devil's power to change their face."
The color drained from the faces of all three men who'd gone to buy drinks.
Before any of them could move, a colossal skeletal hand erupted from thin air and seized Kazuya in its grip.
"Mr. Nishikado, what are you...?!" Megumi Tadokoro went pale, as did Ryoko and the others who'd been his roommates.
The Susanoo's fist clenched.
With a sickening crunch, it wrung Kazuya Kinoshita into a mangled heap of flesh.
Screams tore through the courtyard. Megumi Tadokoro, Yuki Yoshino, and the more timid among them shrieked in horror at the sight of someone they knew being crushed before their eyes.
But what came next shocked them even more.
The skin on the mangled corpse's head began to slough off like a snake shedding its skin, peeling away to reveal the face of a complete stranger.
"That's... that's not Kazuya?!" Soma's eyes went wide.
Every player's gaze snapped to the other two who'd returned with the imposter: Soe Nakiri and Spencer Sawamura.
"Run!"
Soe bellowed the word, and both men spun to flee.
They didn't get far. Makoto didn't even need to lift a finger.
Utaha and Ran moved simultaneously.
Utaha flicked out shuriken trailing Chakra threads in a sweeping arc around Soe, then yanked both hands back. The wires cinched tight, binding him where he stood.
Ran closed the distance with raw, brutal speed. A Leaf Whirlwind crashed into her target's ankle, sweeping his legs out from under him. She followed him to the ground, locking him down with a clean submission hold.
Makoto walked forward, unhurried. His eyes had already shifted into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.
"Drop your pathetic disguises."
Their pupils glazed over instantly. The skin on both their faces peeled away on its own, the same way the first imposter's had, revealing two more unfamiliar men beneath.
"Who the hell are they?!" Kogoro Mouri shouted.
Makoto studied the two for a long moment. "The Immortal Brothers."
"The Immortal Brothers? What's that?" Yotsuba Nakano pressed.
"Famous freelance devil hunters here in the States," he explained. "They're contracted with the Skin Devil. It lets them peel the skin from a corpse and wear it as a perfect disguise." The principle wasn't so different from Orochimaru's Vanishing Facial Copy Jutsu.
The words "peel the skin from a corpse" hit like a physical blow. Alice Nakiri's eyes went wide. Eriri's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
"So that means... Dad is already..."
Eriri staggered back two steps, her legs buckling. Megumi Kato caught her before she could fall.
Kogoro Mouri exhaled long and slow, his heart hammering with the weight of how close he'd come.
Thank god he hadn't volunteered to go buy drinks.
Otherwise, the dead man could easily have been him.
When he did the math, the answer was grim. Of every father present at that party, the only one still breathing was Kogoro Mouri himself.