In the evening, a rumbling vibration shook the entire apartment building.
"What could it be..."
The elderly woman living in the room hunched over, looking anxious.
Just before the shaking began, a deafening roar, like something exploding, echoed from the upper floors of the apartment building.
It's not an earthquake.
Did a gas explosion occur?
The elderly couple exchanged glances across the dining table, then cautiously looked around.
"a..."
Beyond the square-framed window of the balcony, the sky, tinged with a pale orange, was torn apart by layers upon layers of rubble. Pieces of concrete of all sizes fell. Glass fragments glittered as a curtain of flames fluttered in the wind.
"This is no ordinary matter," the elderly husband said, beginning to rise from his seat.
At that moment, I heard a loud bang from the balcony, like something was being detached.
I slowly approached to check.
The emergency exit on the upper floor was removed, and dogs began to jump down one after another. In an orderly fashion, a total of seven large dogs gathered in the corner of the balcony.
Finally, a girl about the height of a middle school student landed silently on the balcony.
"...Phew. I think I'll be alright now that I've come down this far."
She was brushing the soot off her sailor uniform with leisurely movements, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"Hey little girl, did you come down from the upper floor?!"
"Are you... not hurt...? Oh no, this is awful..."
"This is just dirty."
The response was brief and to the point.
"I wasn't involved."
In stark contrast to the distraught elderly couple, the girl maintained a serene expression even in this life-threatening situation.
The girl's name is Hayakawa Nayuta.
Nayuta gently stroked the dogs clinging to her feet. Her eyes were narrowed, and her voice was calm. But inside, a storm was raging.
"...You've done it."
Deep within those glassy eyes, the flames of a demon flicker.
"How dare you do that to my Denji!"
Running across the ground, kicking off walls.
A Soviet agent, intimately familiar with the art of efficiently maneuvering the human body, leaps through the city with demonic power. Twisting his body in mid-air like a cat to change his trajectory, he lands on five points and accelerates at full throttle. The Scissors Demon turns around, hooking two fingers onto a telephone pole and slashing it in a straight line, while Bomb Girl pursues him, igniting her fist and clenching it tight.
At the moment of crossing, the air burst.
If anyone had been there to witness the collision, they would surely have thought that the two people who exploded into pieces died at the same time.
The trajectory is similar to that of a billiard ball being struck.
Two human-shaped objects were bounced in opposite directions.
The girl with the scissors spins as she's slammed against a building sign, while the bomb girl rolls nearly 20 meters down the street, scattering blood everywhere.
"--"
"--"
The two girls lying there did not move.
Only the pool of blood spread silently.
The impact was beyond anything a human could withstand. It was enough damage to render an average demon dysfunctional.
However, even so, the two were highly trained warriors.
The technique of taking hits was ingrained in him, and he knew how to endure the pain. And above all, the demon's endurance wouldn't allow him to remain lying down.
He suddenly sat up.
Even as organs spilled out of his abdomen, he showed no pain, nor did he try to protect them. He calmly carried out the repair procedures, stepping forward each time to end the other's life.
"A...a monster..."
Stop walking.
When I looked over, I saw an electronics store employee slumped on the ground right beside me.
It's not just one person. More and more people are peeking out from behind buildings, shops, and around corners.
A massive explosion in the apartment building, followed by the sounds of explosions and scraping from the fighting, drew the residents in.
In a city that should be peaceful, two soldiers who bring about slaughter confront each other.
"Has the audience size increased?"
Veronica spills blood as she sips it from her flask.
"Hehe. This is getting interesting."
"...Are you planning to continue?"
"Of course! Mission accomplished is the top priority."
"Your true identity will be revealed, won't it? What if you're shown on TV?"
"There's nothing we can do."
Veronica wipes the blood from her mouth.
"There are no secret rooms in the Soviet Union, and we don't keep guinea pigs...that's how they'll just make excuses again. Even if my image is recorded, they'll just say, 'We don't know this demon,' and that'll be the end of it."
He throws away the empty flask.
A high-pitched metallic sound was heard, and a child nearby let out a short scream.
"You were just as wild and crazy back then, weren't you? What are you even saying now?"
"..."
"Ah, I see."
I reach into the inner pocket of my tattered blazer.
What he pulled out was a handgun.
"Prioritizing the lives of citizens...that's how they adapted to Japan's rules. Truly a 'model student'."
Its eyes were scanning the surrounding area for prey.
They see unrelated ordinary people as tools to get my attention.
It was an unpleasant negotiation.
I glanced at the dead body on the street.
(I guess it's right in the middle...)
Denji is lying halfway between me and Veronica.
If I can draw a starter card and revive my units, it will become a 2-on-1 situation. I should be able to overwhelm them very quickly. Veronica knows this, which is why she's trying to keep me away.
Suddenly, I start to imagine the worst-case scenario.
If civilians were taken hostage, what should I do?
"Let me ask you a question."
Veronica starts twirling the pistol around.
"A terrorist attack occurred at a theater, and 300 audience members were taken hostage. How did the Soviet government respond?"
"They used a thermobaric warhead to completely obliterate the building."
"You should try it too."ильный оcorrect answer
"Even harassment has a degree of dignity, doesn't it?"
"I've never been taught anything like that."
"That's a lie."
I raise my right arm, touch my fingertips together, and point it towards Veronica.
They threaten to send explosive particles flying by striking the object.
"You can't become a spy without knowing the common sense of the world and society. We should have received that education."
"Oh, that's right."
He tilted his head and lowered his line of fire slightly.
"But that's just nonsense from flies buzzing around in a world of lies. You don't need to lie to me."
Bang
"Damn!"
I instinctively shielded it with my hand.
The electronics store clerk, who was standing nearby, was so shocked he almost fainted, and gasped.
I kind of expected they'd actually shoot...
"Wow. What a fine guard dog. I'm truly impressed."
Two, then three, holes were pierced through my body.
The pain can't be made to disappear. More importantly, the loss of function is the real problem. Even so...
"Are you... protecting me? You're not a demon...?"
"Hide quickly."
"Ah, ah!"
He got back up, and was hit with another shot. He blocked that too.
"Ku..."
I knelt down, enduring the pain.
The man hides inside the store. Now, a gunman can't reach him.
But there were still many onlookers lurking in the streets. Some were even letting people peek at their phones, even though it was dangerous to hide further inside. I was getting increasingly irritated by their stupidity, perhaps wanting to take videos or photos.
"If this were my homeland, I wouldn't mind abandoning it."
For now, pull the pin and try to repair it.
But it hardly recovered.
Too much blood was used.
"Hey, I've been wondering about this for a while now... Why don't you get a blood transfusion? Are you perhaps not allowed to possess it?"
"Who knows?"
"Our selling points are our demonic power and regenerative abilities. We're working so hard, yet you're so cold. Well, I guess it's the same everywhere."
Splat.
Veronica took a step closer.
"Thanks to that, I can relax."
He held a pistol in his right hand.
The left hand is open wide, ready to grasp.
It was a critical situation. We still had some strength left, but we didn't have enough blood to take down someone as skilled as Veronica. I think winning is almost impossible. So, should we retreat for now?
Veronica is getting closer, step by step.
I'm just a few steps away from Denji.
"..."
No, that won't work.
Didn't she just say that?
There are two tasks. The first is to seize or destroy Chainsaw's heart.
If we run away now, Denji will be kidnapped.
If your heart is taken, you will obviously die.
Yes, you'll die.
I'll never hear their voice again...
That's absolutely unacceptable.
I stood up, using my knees for support. The wounds that wouldn't heal cried out in pain, but I silenced them. Now was not the time for that. If I lost here, all meaning in coming to Japan would be lost. Having abandoned the distorted trust I had from my homeland, Denji was all I had left.
We absolutely must win.
That's why I said it.
"Let's have a competition."
Veronica's eyebrows twitched.
"I've become anemic. I think this is the last cup. What do you say, want to give it a try?"
"I have no obligation to date you."
"It's a matter of obligation, but don't you want to settle this?"
Veronica stopped walking.
Right next to Denji.
He's looking at me with a serious expression. "Glaring" would be a more accurate description.
"...Okay."
He tucked the pistol into his chest pocket and let his arms hang limply. His forward-leaning posture resembled that of a menacing wolf.
I'm motivated.
Let's summarize the information about the Scissors Genie.
—Its ability to cut through everything between two points of contact is a huge advantage in close combat. If you only focus on its cutting properties, it might seem the same as a knife. But what sets it apart from a knife is that even if you block the handle, you can't completely defend against it.
For example, if you grab someone's wrist, that becomes one point of force. And if they touch you anywhere else, it's game over. The flesh in between will be cut in an instant.
It's impossible to defend against it. It's impossible to even minimize the damage. If you take the hit, you'll be instantly dismembered. And Veronica isn't the kind of amateur who would miss such an opportunity. In the next moment, you'll be torn to pieces.
Even so, close-quarters combat was the only way to survive.
Bomb's power also includes ranged attacks. However, it seems unlikely that an attack slower than a pistol bullet would directly hit her.
With the meager amount of blood remaining, the attack had to be a sure hit and absolutely deadly to end the fight.
I unleashed an unavoidable explosion right in my heart.
"Okay, let's do it."
He generated enough explosive to reduce something to ashes without even touching it, and gathered it on his right arm. The fuses tightly packed together, forming a warhead. Veronica narrowed her eyes at its obvious shape.
The air suddenly became tense.
Which will come first, the cutting or the explosion?
Here too, lower your center of gravity and bend your leg muscles.
There,
Black pebbles fell from the sky.
"!?"
A mysterious swarm of creatures rapidly scraped the ground and attacked Veronica from directly beside her. A rain of black projectiles—they were crows. A massive horde of crows attacked the Scissors Demon in a swift, all-out assault.
"What?!"
Fighter jets with beaks flew around. A few were cut down, but there were simply too many of them. Veronica couldn't handle them all, and more importantly, their outstretched black wings obstructed her view.
From that gap, a man appears as if he had been summoned.
"--!"
The metallic sound of sword slashes clashing together.
Blood splattered everywhere.
"Kishibe-san...?!"
The strongest devil hunter, wielding large knives in both hands, swiftly steps forward and unleashes a single, powerful strike.
Another metallic sound.
Veronica's upper arm splits open.
Upon closer inspection, that wasn't all. A tremendous amount of blood was gushing from his chest, possibly from the initial blow.
" ...!"Неу,желиWhat?!
Veronica stumbles and readjusts her stance. Blood is dripping profusely. Despite being a fatal wound, she's not trying to stop it. Has she figured she can't defeat this opponent with one hand?
Veronica quickly raised her right hand.
Meaningless actions in combat. Why? What was the intention behind them?
sign--?
Shup!
A rather silly sound came from afar.
It sounded familiar.
My skin instinctively tingles, and I turn my eyes to look.
A smoke-emitting object was spotted flying in at high speed from far behind Veronica.
Unable to discern it immediately, I stared at it intently for what felt like an elongated period of time.
RPG-7—a portable anti-tank grenade launcher, and its warhead.
The camera zooms in on the two characters facing each other, following rough, freehand-drawn lines.
The projectile hit the building right next door.
The explosion swells and propagates through the air.
Blinded by the flash of light—
Shup!
Shup!
Shup!
No way.
I can't believe it.
Are they really going that far?
In a world bathed in white light, three more warheads were haphazardly heading towards us.
I can see it clearly.
The shots were fired from a large white van approaching from the back of the street, into which were three boys and girls—probably new guinea pigs.
But we don't have time to worry about that.
The top priority is dealing with the three shots fired at us. Two of them were off course, so that's fine, but the remaining one is heading towards the shadow of a building, and there,
A little girl who was so terrified she could barely move,
"...!"
Run, reach out your hand.
While stretching, I listened to the protests based on experience.
Not that way.
The priorities are wrong.
I knew it.
Whether for duty or personal reasons, securing Denji is the top priority.
But if we leave the little girl in front of us, she will surely die.
I had no choice but to protect him.
...Do you know how to make child soldiers?
First, I'll take everything away. I'll take away their money, their home, their family, and maybe even their name, their family register, their hometown—I'll just wipe them clean. Once I've completely destroyed their foundation, I can create a new person. They'll do whatever I tell them to, and I can even overwrite their sense of morality.
Why don't you resist? You've had something precious taken away from you, haven't you? For example, if my parents were killed, I would think about revenge.
That's because you have other things you want to protect. Everyone else is like that. If you still have something to lean on, you'll do all sorts of things to protect it. But, as I said before, someone who has lost everything becomes nothing. They're not much different from a dead person.
I lost everything...
And so, to those creatures who have nothing left but "the present," we then give them "tomorrow."
If you obey, you'll be recognized. You see your peers who came before you being treated as full-fledged members of society. Then, you vaguely start to think that you want to be like them.
They pick up a gun out of envy for the grass on the neighbor's side. Everyone around them is shooting. If they kill and go home, they'll be accepted. So they shoot. Then they realize how easy it was. They've learned firsthand that morality is useless, so they have little hesitation. Once they experience success, they become eager to go to the battlefield, they kill many people and get a taste for it, and their desire to climb the ranks leads them to resort to more extreme methods. It's a tactic still used in the Middle East and by cults today.
Is it really that easy?
It's nothing special. The path they're following is the same as any child who wants to become a soccer player. It's just that in peaceful countries, it's considered an "unhealthy" ideology and is therefore shunned. But for child soldiers and followers of cults, it's the only "healthy" ideology that won't betray them.
Well then, this guy, and those kids who ran away...
I wonder... These guys are raised to be spies. If they only know a narrow world, they can't carry out infiltration operations, so they must also know the health and stability of peaceful countries.
...So, these Soviet guinea pigs are aware that they are abnormal, yet they are working as agents?
Probably. But I have absolutely no idea how someone could create such a contradictory person.
"..."
My vague thoughts began to take shape.
I listened intently with my eyelids closed. I could sense people nearby. Three, four... and a little further away, there was a commotion.
Check the physical condition while lying on your back.
...It can be moved. It's not being restrained.
I slowly opened my eyes.
I stand up.
Nearby stood Mr. Kishibe and a hulking man with a crew cut.
...Ah, so this is the person who gave me a tour at the Devil Hunter Tokyo Headquarters.
"What's the situation?"
Looking around, I noticed the signs of destruction. Parts of buildings had collapsed, and the streets were torn up. A faint wisp of gunpowder hung in the air, making it look like a battlefield.
"Veronica got away."
Kishibe-san gave me a simple explanation.
Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the indiscriminate firing of RPGs in the city, they jumped into a large white van and made their escape.
The children who were with them were... probably Soviet agents, just like Veronica.
and,
"Denji was kidnapped too...?"
A dead boy, especially one with only his upper body and no arms, would be easy to carry.
In that chaotic situation, anything could happen.
However... I can't help but wonder. What if I hadn't made that choice back then?
"..."
No, let's stop thinking about it. There's no point in thinking about that.
My body felt incredibly heavy, and even opening my mouth felt like too much effort.
"What about the tracking...?"
"It's working. In real time. Thanks to this thing."
He turned his chin in that direction. Standing there was a girl in a dirty sailor uniform.
"Oh, Nayuta-chan... You're safe."
He nodded slightly.
Dozens of crows perched on the building's scaffolding overhead, each one reflecting its master, Hayakawa Nayuta, in its eyes. I realized they were waiting for the next command.
The girl, who commanded countless birds and beasts, was truly like a witch, and her cold gaze even carried an ominous air, yet for some reason, I felt that there was no one more reassuring to have on my side.
The little devil opens its mouth.
"My power is on Denji. Even if he becomes a corpse, I can still locate him."
"...Okay. That's good then."
It can be tracked.
It can be recovered.
I feel like I've been given a glimmer of hope.
The opponent is a car. Normally, it would be difficult to catch up. However, I can fly using the power of bombs. I can move in a straight line regardless of traffic conditions. I can catch them easily.
We must leave immediately.
Thinking this, I put my hands down to stand up, but I couldn't put enough strength into it.
"There's not enough blood..."
At this rate, I won't be able to transform properly.
"Um, Mr. Kishibe, could I possibly get a blood pack or something?"
"Oh, in that case,"
"Please wait."
The one who interrupted was a man with a crew cut.
"There's just one thing I want to ask."
...I wonder what it is.
I slowly turned my eyes.
The hulking man glared at me. At his feet, an adult woman was kneeling, holding a little girl in her arms.
I recognized the child.
"Are you okay, devil sister?"
This is the child I protected. Is that her mother holding her?
"Thank you... Thank you very much..."
"You know, this older sister helped me."
It was a strange sight.
Adult women and little girls were staring at me with intense gazes. I knew intellectually what emotions were contained within those eyes, but this was the first time I'd experienced it firsthand. It just didn't feel real.
With a tingling itch on my skin, all I could do was vaguely look back at it.
The hulking man with the crew cut opened his mouth.
"Why did you help? Is it because it's your job?"
"...No, that's not it. I just..."
just?
...But, what is it?
I can't put it into words properly. I just stare blankly, half-open, trying to gather up hazy memories.
In that moment, I reached out to save this child.
Why?
Why did I save this child?
"...I helped because I was helped."
That was the only way to put it.
It's not out of self-interest, nor is it for the purpose of gaining profit or security.
Just because.
Just because.
"I thought it would be better not to die."
The man wore a bitter expression. I could sense his frustration, but I couldn't figure out what was bothering him, nor was I smart enough to try and guess.
There's definitely a blood deficiency.
"In your interview, you said you wanted to join the Public Security Bureau because you wanted a respectable job. Was that really true?"
...?
Why would you ask such a meaningless question?
Anyone can say anything with their mouth.
Truth and lies can go back and forth, can't they?
"Now, which one is it...?"
Even so, I didn't want to say anything arrogant, even if my mouth were to split open. That's how I felt.
The man looked displeased.
"Hmph. How can I praise a former terrorist?"
I reached for the sword on my back.
"...But, I can't really put it into words."
He drew the sword and held the dull, gleaming blade against his own arm.
Blood is seeping out.
"I became a devil hunter to help people too."
The man thrust out his injured arm.
The drops of life overflow, dripping down in a gush.
"You need blood, right? Use it."