"Master, look! You're on TV again!"
In the living room, Denji pointed excitedly at the evening news and shouted.
"Being on TV is an everyday occurrence for your Master. No need to make a fuss over it."
Arata was sprawled on the sofa in a signature "couch potato" slouch. This posture was universally recognized as the absolute best way to slack off and rot away the day.
Denji and Power were sitting on the other side of the couch. Power was hugging a bucket of popcorn, continuously stuffing handfuls of it into her mouth.
"The Great Me has been on TV too."
"You've been on TV? Are you kidding me?" Denji cast a side-eye at Power.
"What? You don't believe the Great Me?!" Hearing herself being questioned, Power became extremely displeased.
"Your words are just like your chest—completely untrustworthy."
"What?! You dare look down on me!" Power threw her entire handful of popcorn right in Denji's face.
"What are you doing?! Don't waste it if you aren't going to eat it!"
"If I have been on TV, you have to get down on the floor and eat all this popcorn!"
"And if you haven't been on TV, you're never allowed to wear your breast pads again!" Denji retorted in annoyance. Only a dog would crawl on the floor to eat popcorn.
"The Great Me will 'get on TV' and show you right now!" Power angrily grabbed a step stool and placed it right next to the television, getting ready to climb on top of it.
"Power, get down from there! I only have a hundred or so TVs left in my inventory, don't step on and break this one," Arata scolded, which finally stopped Power's idea of physically climbing onto the television.
"See that?! The Great Me was this close to getting on TV! Wait until Arata isn't home, I'll demonstrate it for you again."
"Are you kidding me?! That doesn't count as being on TV!!" Denji roared.
"Hurry up and crawl on the floor like a dog to eat the popcorn!"
Power didn't take no for an answer and pounced straight at Denji. The two locked hands and started sumo-wrestling on the sofa. But accidentally, Denji grabbed onto a certain something he shouldn't have. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Power grabbed the back of his head and forcefully shoved his face into the floor.
"Let me go!!"
"Learn to eat popcorn like a dog for the Great Me!"
The two were purely messing around; neither was actually fighting for real.
At this moment, Quanxi walked into the living room with her four women. Seeing that Quanxi and her women were actually fully clothed, Arata abandoned his couch potato slouch and sat up straight.
"Where are you guys going?"
"The soundproofing in that room is terrible, so the five of us are going to stay at a hotel."
"You're heading out?!" Denji broke free from Power's grip and jumped up. "It's fine, really! You don't have to worry about my feelings!"
"I wasn't worrying about you," Quanxi said coldly.
"You don't need to worry about everyone else's feelings either! Plus, Aki really, really wants you guys to stay!"
"Don't drag me into your nonsense, kid!" Aki Hayakawa yelled from his room. He actually desperately wanted Quanxi's group to leave as quickly as possible. He had been forced to wear earplugs all of last night.
Only Denji was exceptionally excited. He had even made excuses about needing to go to the bathroom just so he could listen more closely from a shorter distance.
"It definitely is a bit distracting. I'm a man too, after all. If this keeps up, I might just end up charging into your room," Arata joked.
"You might be incredibly strong, but in the bedroom at night, you wouldn't necessarily be a match for us," Quanxi challenged.
"Uh... in that case, you guys should probably go ahead." Arata stood up to see Quanxi out.
"Are you really leaving? Just stay one more night!" Denji still tried to make them stay, chasing them all the way to the door. But Quanxi treated him like complete air.
"We will return to China the day after tomorrow. When the time comes, I'll be waiting for you in P City within S City," Quanxi told Arata.
"Then you guys head back first. If anything happens, remember to call me."
"By the way, can your Mirror Gate take you all the way back to China?"
"You really think my Mirror Gate is Doraemon's Anywhere Door? The distance between countries is too far; it can't reach. But when the time comes, I have other ways to find you."
Quanxi nodded and then left.
Returning to the living room, Arata glanced at the wall clock. It was only a little past 8:00 PM. He decided to take Denji and Power out for a late-night snack.
"Aki, you want to go out for some late-night snacks?" Arata called toward his room.
"No thanks," Aki said lazily.
"You want us to bring anything back for you?" Denji asked.
"I don't have the habit of eating late at night. Go early and come back early," Aki said, stifling a yawn.
Bang!
The front door closed. Arata and the others gradually walked away down the street.
An hour later.
Aki Hayakawa was lying in bed alone, reading a book.
The ceiling light above him suddenly flickered. He glanced up but didn't pay it any mind.
A few minutes later.
The living room light also flickered. Aki didn't see it.
Consecutively, the bathroom light turned off, Denji's room light turned off, and Power's room light turned off.
Aki let out a few more yawns. He closed his book, got out of bed, slipped into his slippers, and headed for the bathroom.
As he walked past, he noticed the lights in the other two rooms were off.
"When did these guys learn to save electricity? Normally, they never turn the lights off."
Aki entered the bathroom and began to brush his teeth and wash his face.
Click!
Just as he picked up his toothbrush, the bathroom light suddenly went out.
"What's going on?"
Aki turned around and flicked the light switch up and down a couple of times. The bathroom light came back on.
After finishing his routine, Aki walked back toward his room.
Click!
A soft sound came from behind him. Denji's bedroom light had suddenly turned back on.
Aki's back was turned, but he still sensed that something was very wrong. He turned his head and saw that the light in Denji's room was indeed on. He remembered very clearly that when he went to the bathroom, Denji's light was off.
So who turned the light on? The light couldn't just turn itself off and on, could it?
Realizing something was amiss, Aki returned to his room and grabbed his black katana. With cautious steps, he slowly walked toward Denji's room.
"Denji?"
"Arata?"
He called out twice, but no one answered.
Aki suddenly quickened his pace and rushed into Denji's room, holding the black katana ready in front of his chest. But he saw Denji lying in bed, fast asleep.
Phew~
Aki let out a long sigh of relief, his tension easing slightly. Didn't this guy go out with Arata for a late-night snack? Did he end up not going?
Seeing Denji lying quietly in bed, Aki didn't pay it any more thought. He turned around and was just about to step out of the room.
Suddenly, every hair on his body stood on end. A bead of cold sweat rolled down from his temple to his chin.
Something is wrong!!!
How could Denji possibly be lying in bed, sleeping quietly all by himself?!
Even more bizarrely, Denji's head was resting on the pillow outside the blanket... but the blanket itself was unnaturally flat.
It was as if there was just a head placed on the pillow, with absolutely no body underneath it!
Aki Hayakawa swiftly spun around.
Click!
The light in Denji's room went out again. The lights in the other rooms also extinguished themselves in sequence.
In the sudden darkness, panic instantly gripped Aki. Looking toward the bed, Denji's head was still there.
SWISH!!
Without a moment's hesitation, Aki slashed straight at Denji's head. The head was cleaved cleanly in half.
The tactile feedback of the blade slicing through felt absolutely indistinguishable from cutting real flesh and bone.
At this moment, a noise came from the bedroom window. Turning his head, Aki saw a headless corpse plastered against the outside of the windowpane.
The lights began to flicker erratically. The headless corpse pressed against the glass scurried upwards with terrifying speed.
Aki's face turned deathly pale, and he bolted out of the room.
But when he threw open the front door, the very same headless corpse that had been on the glass was now standing right outside.
Although horrifying, Aki was an experienced Devil Hunter after all. His heart was racing wildly, but he didn't lose his composure. He quickly swung his black katana at the headless corpse.
But the corpse effortlessly dodged the strike and kicked Aki squarely in the chest, sending him flying back into the living room.
BANG!!
The front door slammed shut.
Inside the apartment, the lights began to flicker violently again. A massive gecko was now clinging to the living room wall.
From the other rooms, two more headless corpses crawled out in succession. Their speed was incredibly fast.
In the blink of an eye, they were right in front of Aki Hayakawa's face.
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